Wednesday pictorial

We have a few natural landmarks nearby that just beg to be photographed.
Yesterday the sunset really drew out the photographers at Mt. Shasta.

from the west (probably Lake Siskiyou)

from the south (McCloud?)

Anyhow, those two showed on f/b, posted by friends.

just wow!

First time in awhile

Woke up to this yesterday morning.

Haven't seen morning clouds here in recent memory . . .

. . . or looked up at the Moon.

Also recently seen [in the inbox] . . .

. . . three of my favorite people.

Then, because it's my blog and I can do about anything I want . . .

Yep . . .   my ship could do that!

boom!

Monday update

Has anyone been watching f/b lately?
Let me just say that a certain player on a Bay Area pro football team has been getting a lot of attention for something he didn't do on Friday night.
It seems like everyone has an opinion.
It is exactly what he wanted . . .   attention.

If you are a regular here, you already know the NFL has fallen into disfavor in this household.
College football isn't far behind.
High schools and the PeeWee game is nothing much to brag on either.

My biggest complaint about the game is it no longer about fun and more about ego.
Oh, yeah . . .    and money.

Anyway . . .   that player, who shall remain unnamed, his actions, and the team for which he plays, are one more reason I am no longer a fan [go ahead correct the grammar].

Maybe f/b should be called Bandwagon?

whatever!

I was

. . .  going to write a post.
But then I saw a squirrel.*

Actually I saw it yesterday . . .   over here.
Perfidious is an interesting word.

maybe tomorrow

*do I really have to tell you that's a metaphor

Bonus post on Saturday

Eventually . .

. . . some people download pictures and forward them.

Sharon's brother, Tom, and I at the Independence Day celebration last month

It's always fun to get together with another Tin Can Sailor.
He was on the USS Laffey long after it made its mark in history.
Another couple of days and this would've been history, too.

he's Irish, too

Friday's felines

source: Daily Timewaster

I figured if I am going to steal stuff from other bloggers they should get total credit.
I know a cat who is just as capable.

best part is no thinking involved

Sure Happy It's Thursday

Sometimes I find it difficult to come up with a topic.
I decided to look at other blogs for inspiration.
The Cranky Old Man [see sidebar] seems to have a really good plan.
Whenever he runs out of ideas he posts grocery shopping lists or, lacking a shopping list, posts something he posted before [me, too!].
I have one issue with posting the shopping list.
I can't find anyone to write one for me.

now leave me alone

Memes

Who likes 'em?
I guess they're okay to read.
But boy can they be a real pain if you're tagged.
Ask my swell friend Suldog.
But whatever you do, don't tag him unless you want to bring down the roof..

Oh, wait!
That's awards.
Don't give him any awards.
He goes absolutely fruitbats when he get an award.
I wish I'd saved the links to all of his acceptance posts.
They're truly entertaining, if "R" rated.

Anyway, memes are okay to watch.
But I don't want to be in one.

...and to my brother in law, Tom . . .

We're late

Today's word is odium - (noun) Strong dislike, contempt, or aversion.
It kinda fits with yesterday's word.

I'm late because I slept until almost 7am.
Also, I wasn't much inspired by anything I've seen this morning.
At least not enough to conger up anything more than this.

meh

It's Monday

. . . and I found the perfect word.

Hey!
It was that or the weather [which ain't too bad at the moment].

The word suits the day, particularly this morning.
Another blogger went off about newsmen and I was reminded about how much I dislike what has happened to newspapers.

Could it be that, in the interest of making money, publishers have removed all any of the fun from the news?

rhetorical question
no answer necessary

Whatcha been doin'?

Friday first . . .

I promised a neighbor, a friend, to take her to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for an outpatient procedure.
She would let me know what time we had to be there after they contacted her.
The notification was received at 7pm Thursday that we had to be there by 6:30am [the folks who live in Sacramento are not any more aware of the fact that they're not even in Northern California than the rest of the folks in the world     . . .they just think they're in Northern California].
That meant that departure would have to be sometime around 3am to allow for any delays.

The only real plus is that the temperature at that time of day is somewhere around 72°F.
Traffic wasn't bad either.
We were there before 5:30
(if I say how much before 5:30, I might incriminate myself)

The procedure was quick and uneventful.
We were back at our respective homes by 12:30pm

I was barely able to stay awake Friday evening long enough to see the final score of the Giants game.
Then I slept until 7am Saturday.
(I seldom sleep past 6:30)

On Saturday . . .

After feeding the cat I went to the usual "meet with friends and have a donut."
(that also involves driving a neighbor but there's no story)

I was home by 10am, straightening up around the house and preparing some materials for a meeting I am leading this afternoon.
Then it was back in the car at about 12:30 [yes, in the triple digit heat of the day] for another trip south to Northern California . . .  after booting Sebatian out of the house.

This time it was to Vacaville.
It is called that because Cowville doesn't roll off the tongue quite so nicely.
It used to be a wide spot on U.S. Highway 40.
Today it doubles as a distant suburb of the SF Bay Area and Sacramento.
It is 50 miles from the former and 35 miles from the latter (YMMV and so will the travel times).
Hwy 40 is now I-80 and ten lanes.
There is a huge complex of outlet shops, restaurants, and big box stores.
There were millions thousands lots and lots of people.
I browsed some shops before meeting with friends for dinner.

We met there because it was a central location for the four of us, who traveled from three different directions.
We'd decided to meet at 4 to avoid the dinner rush.
The restaurant folks were really accommodating, allowing us to hijack a table for fours hours during the busiest part of the evening.
We always seem to have much to talk about.
[yeah, yeah, bad preposition placement  . . . suck it up buttercup]

One thing we decided is, we're gonna do it again in early November.
We have some plotting to do.

A thought about the two drives:
There are already driverless cars out there on the roads.
There's someone behind the wheel who has no clue about what they should be doing.

After two round trips, totaling 620 miles, I came home to find Sebastian waiting for me on the roof, whining to be helped down.
He was still up there this morning when I got up.
It only took a couple of minutes for him to figure out I was not gonna help.
He got down by himself.

So . . . what's gon' on?

That's not today's quote.
I saw it Thursday.
I had already posted and knew I was posting a cat on Friday.

I saved it for this morning.

That gave me time to think about this post.
There's been lots of thinking lately.
More aptly, there's been lots of reflection lately.
Mid-August does that for/to me.
There are a couple of dates I can't get past without at least a little acknowledgement.

I would like to be able to just wave as they pass.
But they've had too great an effect.

enough foolishness

Friday's felines

The things I discover from following other bloggers.

saves a lot of effort, too

What's in a word

Yesterday's:

I immediately thought sarcasm, irony, antithesis.
Being positive is not a passive thing.
You gotta work at it.
Obviously, I have to work a little harder.

Then there's this . . .

source: APOD

That's what we were seeing last Friday night.
(not so much the stars, but the streak for shizzle)

Like this . . .

source: APOD

. . . only different scenery.

who wants to move to the mountains?

I'm positive . . .

Really!
The media makes it difficult,
But, this blogger is making every effort to remain positive.

One of the things I am positive about is that I will probably not watch any of the events at this year's Olympics.
Well, that is, other than what I saw of the opening ceremonies.

Much of the reason I won't be watching is that I seldom turn on the tube before 5pm.
The local PBS affiliate has been broadcasting good stuff that may be new content, or it might be something I missed earlier.
In any case it holds more interest for me than the Olympic events.
Also . . .
Whenever a U.S. participant fails to win an event, the folks announcing seem to feel it is a failure on their part, rather than the success of their opponent.

Yeah, I'm positive I will probably continue to boycott the Olympics.
I like them better when the participants weren't career athletes anyway.
Avery Brundage had the right idea.

I did enjoy the interview with the Irish rowers.
(There's no link because nobody can vouch for it's security)

maybe if they paid me

What . . . no post?

Last Thursday and Friday night were the full force of the Perseid meteor shower.
Here in the valley the light pollution does not aid in observing that wondrous sight.
It is an entirely different story in the mountains.
Even in the narrow valley among the trees the scene was awesome.

Several of the men at the retreat took the viewing a step further.
They drove to Mt Lassen, a distance of about 20 miles, hiked to the summit, and viewed it from there.
Quite a story they had to tell.
But, no, there are no pictures.

Personally, I won't even hike that trail in the daytime.
Once upon a time it would have been a piece of cake, but I'm not in that kind of shape now.

Refreshed

. . .  if not necessarily rested.

I am returned from a two day sojourn into the wilds of the Northern Sierra Nevada Mountains.
It was here . . .

click to embiggen

 . . .  at the red marker, not too far south of Lassen Park.

I did not take many photos because I didn't go to take any photos.
I do have one of the high point, though.

You probably didn't think I meant literally, huh?

Here's a shot of the sleeping quarters . . .

I was in the first bunk on the left.

Looking back at the weekend, it was most refreshing to be off the grid.
Yet is was only an hour and twenty minutes from home.

already looking forward to next time.

Since I'm still not here

If you didn't do it yesterday, go HERE.
Even if you did, do it again.

don't ask how this was posted

Since I'm not here

Go HERE.
Listen to my good friend Suldog on WBZ.

For the first time . . .

. . .   in recent memory, that is.

My cousin and I won't be celebrating our birthday together.
We had tentative plans to meet in SF and attend a couple og Giants games.
However, this weekend turned out to be the only opportunity for his grandkids to visit.
He hasn't been home much this summer and they start school too soon.

It seems like school starts way too soon everywhere now.
But that's a digression and we don't follow those much.

So, almost immediately after our plan fell through, the opportunity to attend a men's retreat this weekend came up.
So that's what I shall be doing.
It is near, but not in, Lassen Volcanic National Park.
There's no wi-fi and I don't plan on using my cell phone.
So it should be kinda quiet from this part of the world.
It should be cooler in the mountains, too.

A glimpse.

source: Mill Creek Conservancy

see y'all Monday

Who knew?

Tomorrow is World Elephant Day.

source: Wikipedia

there's something else, too

Oh, yeah . . . click that image to embiggen

A year ago

. . . and something for Sarge.

We traveled across Ireland from Galway.
We found ourselves in a flat right next to the light rail.
Sometimes it's fun to look back.

A year ago today the laptop stopped working.

It works fine now.
Go figure.

maybe that's what normal is

Interlude?

Among my least favorite things is answering the telephone.
It ranks just below talking on the telephone . . .   and colonoscopies, and root planing.

That hasn’t always been the case (I mean the phone thing, not the other two).

Once upon a time,* when I was small, the phone held forth the idea of adventure.
The phone has taught me the difference between knowledge and wisdom.                      
As a youngster I was full of knowledge about all the advantages of having a phone.                   
As an adult I have become wise to all of the disadvantages of having the world be able to reach me at almost any time and place.

This weekend I shall, hopefully, be undisturbed for about 48 hours.
Also, I should be able to observe the Perseids with little local light pollution, provided, of course, the night sky is cloud free.

source: APOD
Image Credit & Copyright: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography)

*SJC

Found this yesterday

Seems like the best ones are always late.

Easier said

that even makes the ocean look really tiny

Busy morning

I haven't posted much about the monthly breakfast at the Senior Center lately.
The cat isn't allowing me much opportunity to post about it now.

Think!

with possibly one caveat

Let's celebrate

Today my oldest sister is going to be nine years younger than I . . .
. . . for a week!

I have been remiss on this blog in wishing her birthday wishes.
I have excuses, but none are really good.

I am truly blessed to have two of the best sisters a man and his brother can have . . .     particularly considering the way they were tormented when they were little.

If I were to actually search out a card to send, it would probably contain sentiments similar to the following:

 Happy birthday to a sister who never ran me over with the family car.
    Boy, you’re tough to compliment.

and

    Nothing tests one’s character like coming upon a steamroller with keys in the ignition.
    May your birthday be filled with unexpected opportunities.

Instead, I made a card [thanks to cut and past].

was it mailed?

It's 8:30am

So, where's your blog post?

this is it

Heh!

oh, noooooo . . .

Diversion

Sometimes I follow up on articles I read.
This weekend I read about this group in the Economist.



Hey! I was curious . . .    okay?

funky

Good way to start off August.

Spectacular!