The Mallards are happy to have water in the clearwater ditch again.
Taking flight.
Jake was having a ball running and shaking on the beach.
The Sandias from the beach. Clouds over the Rio Grande. Beaver Dam in the clearwater ditch
Cranes grazing in the orchard.
Jupiter, Crescent Moon, and Venus in a bent line. Saturn’s between Jupiter and the Moon, but it’s not bright enough to show up in the wide-angle photo.
Moon over the Rio Grande at dusk.
Moon over cranes in the Rio Grande at dusk.
Moon in the Tangle Heart Tree.
Jupiter with moons and stars.
Cranes: What’s the big deal? We could fly up to the moon if we wanted to!
After I “set up us the bomb” over the past two days with 1) my confabulations on free will, evil in the world, weed, euthanasia, and problem-solving through procrastination, among other answers to Eleanor’s questions, and 2) my psycho-delic visualization of T.U.L.I.P., I’m falling back with the time change, and offering straight photos that you can simply enjoy without a lot of thought or assault on your auditory system.
Shey’s tree finally turned yellow. It was holding out for the longest time. Jupiter is a spec of light in the upper right-hand corner of the photo.
Low hanging haze under mostly clear skies provided a nice gradation of colors in the after sunset glow. Venus is shining bright on the left.
Run in stocking’s toe
Hole in my compression sock
Toe freed from the squeeze
My friend Ron, who was born four days after me in the same hospital, we grew up together, and there is not I time that we can remember not knowing each other, sent me a photo of my horoscope as part of his wishing me a happy birthday. He commented that 41 days was an odd number of days to be extraordinarily lucky. Forty-one is truly an odd number, and prime, as it is only divisible by 1 and 41, and I told him it was odd because it was between Biblical and the answer to life, the universe, and everything. The horoscope is very positive. Another interesting aspect of the horoscope is that the first four of my lucky numbers add up to be my age, and the fifth number is Biblical.
I ended up doing a lot of errands on the way home from work, and a lot of different chores after I got home this afternoon. The weather was clouds moving through, being pushed by high winds and the temperature had dropped significantly from yesterday. Well after sundown, facing wind and cold, I walked out to the river and got photos of the cranes in the darkness, the wild clouds, and the colors lingering in the dusk.
At dusk looking south with Venus overhead.
Jupiter only had two moons tonight. The bazooka is such a blast as it got a tiny Saturn with its rings.
The Hunter’s Moon making its way over the Sandias. Sandhill Cranes in the moonlight.
The Hunter’s Moon rising.
Moon tunnel. Moon glow through the trees.
Mia’s Tree under Venus.
Jupiter with four moons.
When I went out on a walk this morning, I found Daddy Owl in the tree he sits in when he watches over the owlets. Mama Owl’s ear tufts barely stuck up above the edge of the hole in the tree. A few cranes flew over close to the tops of the cottonwood trees. Most of the cranes have headed north. Only a few cranes are holding out.
Then I saw something moving in the cottonwoods. It was a female Wood Duck hopping and flying around between branches. A male Wood Duck soon followed. That was the first of three pairs of Wood Ducks I saw in the cottonwoods as I walked in the bosque this morning.
A couple of months ago there were some birders looking for the elusive Wood Ducks. I told them they were too early. They looked at me like I was crazy. The birders acted like the Wood Ducks are rare. Well, they were quite rare in the middle of the winter, but they are not rare now.
I took a lot of photos of the Wood Duck pairs. I was thinking about the best way to show a lot of Wood Duck photos and decided I’d write a song and put the photos to music. The song is not very polished, but I had fun doing it. I hope you enjoy Wood Duck Daze and the all photos of the Wood Ducks.
On the 29th day of January, the Owls said to me: “Look! There’s a Pterodactyl on the Tangle Heart Tree.” I turned around and sure enough, the Pterodactyl was perched on the Tangle Heart Tree.
The Pterodactyl flew off into the sunset.
I checked out the cranes grazing on the east bank of the Rio Grande.
After the clouds cleared the half-moon hung in the sky.
Sunset on the Sandias with cranes in the foreground from Southbend.
Just after sunrise one of the cranes made quite a show of dancing for another crane. There are 21 photos in the sequence with three intermissions. At the end of the post, I included an animated GIF that shows the crane dance in motion.
Quarter moon at sunset.
Daddy Owl slept through the show.
Off Center & Not Even 