Today's walk report: 121519

The strength of the moment lies with you.

I was tardy. I meant to leave about an hour earlier than I did. I don't know what happened. Upper 50ºs plus a nippy breeze. It's all relative.

Here are some photos.

When I was much farther away than this and was looking pretty much right into the sun, I thought this might have been an American Kestrel. I got a little excited because I haven't seen one for at least... well, let me look... A quick cursory search on my computer indicates I haven't taken a photo of an American Kestrel since January of 2015. That bothers me. I have reasons for it to bother me. However, I won't bother you with them. Anyway, turned out this is a young red tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis),

Some random milkweed and a random location.

And finally here are a few shots of the trusty Rusty G. Alpha (Selasphorus sasin). Winter plump?

Music taking me home was randomly accessed.

Tales from Topographic Oceans and it was side two (22:22 into the YouTube video)
"The Remembering (High the Memory)"
 But you should listen to the whole thing because you probably never have and never will otherwise.

Today's walk report: 120819

Today (see yesterday) I looked at and trusted the weather.com hourly prediction which stated that I was in the clear on precipitation for at least a few hours. I even took the advice of a wise man who stated in an email to me this morning "to watch the animated maps on that website, using the ‘future’ setting." That showed the rain moving way north of me.

There were patches of blue sky and some sunshine was beaming down around me. But it wasn't going to last. The entire walk home, about 1.25 miles, I was getting poured upon. Nevertheless, for the most part, it was a really nice peaceful walk.

See the blue sky...

Only 10 minutes later...

It's getting gray again, was this turkey vulture an omen?

By this point I had circled the garden twice. I did not see a single hummingbird, I was looking for hummingbirds and it was starting to drizzle so I decided to leave. Standing under a palo verde tree on my way out I stopped to take this picture of one of its fallen flowers. That's when it started pouring. Total walk, 2.7 miles or 4.34 km.

Music was on shuffle. This song took me home...

Today's walk report: 120719

It wasn't much of a walk and there was all sorts of something doesn't feel quite right. But it was the weather that turned me around. The one thing I always seem to check, the hourly forecast, I simply zoned out and forgot. BUT, I had checked just two hours earlier and I looked safe then.

What I got were showers. About 3 minutes before the rain started I took this picture of 9 doves. Moments later I tied a plastic bag over the camera (yeah, thought of that).  Another couple 100 yards in it was obvious I needed to turn around. The total walk was just over 1/2 mile, about 1 km.

The music attached to my head was and still is...

Today's walk report: 102719

One subject, 377 photos.

What a beautiful day! It was about 65º f, partly cloudy when we left and right now, 3 hours later, it's only 68º. That's a big deal because for the past six days we've been in the low to upper 90ºs. Unseasonably warm, dry weather, often referred to as an Indian summer, or as we like to call it, normal, sucky, early fall.

When we got to the garden our old friend Rusty G. Alpha showed up in his usual locations and was more than cooperative. He was, in fact, especially enamored with our camera beeps and wonderfully curious about our presence. He literally did an aerial dance in front of us a few times, head high and within arms length.

Thanks for stopping by!

Today's walk report: 100619

Happy October!

I like October. With October comes cooler climes, precipitation (albeit late October) and Halloween. Halloween doesn't mean parties, not since the 80s anyway, it's just a fun mood. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is still a joy to watch after 50+ years. And you know what else is highly entertaining around Halloween? Frank Zappa. Here's some Zappa merriment with musicians extraordinaire which will help march in Halloween in this house and in my head...

Frank Zappa's legendary Halloween NYC concert extravaganza, 1977. 15 hours of live Zappa.
and...
Baby Snakes.

If I don't get back to you... Happy Halloween, everybody!!

Here's a slightly modified image from today's walk with the lovely Docken, to help set the mood.

Boo!

Today's walk report: 092919

Rusty G. Alpha is back?

Based on behavior and location I'm going to give this question a qualified, yes. He hasn't finished with his molting yet around his beak. Molting occurs in mid-to-late summer before Allen's hummingbirds migrate south after mating.

P.S. I think it's really fall here now.

Today's walk report: 090819

It was a really nice walk with my Dock. 68º when we left and only about 74º when we got home. I've got a bunch of stuff to do so... you just get the pictures. Hint: Look back on past reports and you'll get a cast of characters.