I was inspired to write this song after reading an article in the New York Post by Isabel Vincent about Julio Santana who retired as a hitman after 47 years. The story fascinated me, and the fact that he could live long enough to retire without getting knocked off seemed incredible. I worked on this song for over two years. The lyrics and music went through many rewrites before I came up with the final version of the song. Whether Julio’s story is real or not, Ms. Vincent wrote about it and I put it into a song.
Venus in focus through blurry tree (Bazooka). Mia’s Tree with Venus (iPhone 13 Pro). Tree in focus with Venus in the background (Bazooka).
Jupiter with three moons shot with the Bazooka. Moon shot with iPhone 13 Pro. Moon blasted by the Bazooka.
I traded in my iPhone 12 Mini for an iPhone 13 Pro. I decided I wanted the camera with the LiDAR scanner†. As you can see from the two moonshots, the iPhone has a long way to go before it can compete with the Bazooka, but I’m really impressed that I was able to control the exposure well enough to get as much detail as I did shooting a bright moon at 15x zoom†† on the iPhone. I had to lock the focus on the moon while I adjusted the exposure because the moon was jumping all over the screen with the slightest movement at 15x zoom.
Here’s the kicker, since I got a decent discount on the iPhone 12 Mini when I bought it, between Apple’s trade in allowance and T-moble’s trade in allowance, I got $75 more in trade-in value than I paid for the iPhone 12 Mini. The iPhone 13 Pro is larger than the iPhone 12 Mini, but I think it will be worth the larger size for the camera upgrade.
†The Wiki article on LiDAR states LiDAR scanners are available on the iPhone 12. That is not true. It’s only available on the iPhone 13 Pro, currently.
††15x Zoom on the iPhone Pro 13 Pro is equivalent to 390 mm. The Bazooka on the Canon 7D Mark II body is equivalent to 640 mm.
Miss Mousie (House Mouse, Mus musculus) in our grill in her nest of pink insulation after I had removed her nest and five tiny mouselettes so I could use the grill. She and her mouselettes were lucky the insulation kept the third burner from lighting before I saw her nest of insulation and turned off the other two burners.
Little Miss Mousie faced the flames of hell Under cover of an accommodating grill The third burner it didn’t light Covered in insulation she stole in the night Mouselettes were lucky they were not well done As I gathered them up one by one
I moved them to a waiting pan With pink insulation she had on hand I put them in a safe place well hidden While I grilled the thighs of a Costco chicken Cleaned the grill shut off the gas With the mouselettes tucked deep in the grass
I put things in order, went in for the night I fed the cats, I turned out the lights When morning came I wasn’t thrilled To find that Little Miss Mousie was back in the grill.
Silver: “You saved mouselettes instead of grilling them for me? What kind of low life, pathetic, paparazzo, loser of a cat herder are you, anyway?”
Me: “I’m not going to murder innocent little mouselettes who you wouldn’t eat, anyway! Besides, Shey’s Dudes would never forgive me.”
Silver: “Well I think I’m insultated you morbid, mouselette mothering Monothelite!”
Me: “Do you mean ‘Philistine’? I’ve never heard of insulting anyone by calling him a ‘Monothelite’ other than by you completing an alliteration!
Silver: “Are you saying I’m ‘alliterate’? Now I’m doubly instultated! You profligate, pink, pasty skinned prelate of Peromyscus!”
Me: “OK! You’re not ‘alliterate’! BTW, while on the subject of morbid mothering, Silver, the last rather large mouse you carried in the house from the catio like it was a wee little kitten is still hanging out under the stove in the kitchen.”
Splash and Dash are when pilots land their balloons in the Rio Grande and then take off again. The river is low enough right now that the gondolas can sit on the bottom of the river since there are only a few inches of water in most places. When the river is running higher, they truly “splash and dash”, or they risk getting carried away by the current if they linger in a higher, fast-flowing current. In 2015 one balloonist hit the water like a Kamikaze. You can see the post at https://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/10/splash-down. Today the pilots mostly sat their gondolas in the swallows for a few minutes before taking off again. Several balloons splashed in more than one location. The 5-minute video below shows balloons floating in for their splashes and dashes.
Early balloon at dawn.
The green dragon is popular. Here he is from three sides.
The stork balloon belongs to the doctor who delivered Tristan. She was born during the balloon fiesta. Poor Dr. Komadina was going to have to miss the balloon event that morning, but there was a freak snowstorm the night before leaving a foot of snow on the ground the morning Tristan was born. The balloon event was canceled that morning.
Off Center & Not Even 