It seems customary to review the year past, so here’s my take on it
as a video. This consists of all the noon-time frames from my weather camera.
Click the link to play the video on youtube.
2021 in review
Leave a reply
What a year
I hope everyone is having a good Solstice, be it the Winter or Summer Solstice, depending on your half of the world.
It’s a bit hard to believe that it’s been a year now since my Dad passed away, and I am reminded of what I wrote then:
It’s very easy to see omens and portents in things are are probably coincidences, but sometimes doing that helps us see events in a constructive manner. My Dad passed away on the Winter Solstice (he didn’t mess with Christmas), our longest dark night of the year. It marks the beginning of winter, which is a hard time indeed for many, especially my wild familiars. But the lengthening daylight attests to the promise of a spring that will come, with it’s renewal and new life. We will have cold, dark days ahead as we come to terms with this, but we will emerge renewed, into the spring sunshine.
Somehow, right now, with all that’s been happening, it doesn’t feel like much renewal happened, but let’s remain hopeful. One thing about this world and nature is that she keeps trying. It’s an iterative process.
Regarding my Dad, I just heard back from Arlington National Cemetery about his eligibility to be interred there: YES. So we’ll be going to Arlington. If you want to be in on that and haven’t already heard from me, drop me an Email at the address on my About page. It’s going to be “months” before we even get to talk to someone about scheduling, so there’s time.
Walkin’ in the rain
While we’ve had some really nice weather lately, so much so that I’ve been able to work outside a good bit where the insect-eating Green Anoles would help me “debug” my code,
today was the kind of day that says “knock knock, guess which season is at the door?” 44F/7C degrees, overcast. light rain, northeast breeze.
This is the sort of day a lot of humans would say “ugh, I’m not going out, I’m going to stay in here with a hot beverage and good book”. But I take my cues from nature, and all the other birds were out and about this morning, so why shouldn’t I be out there too (albeit with a good coat and hat)? Getting out on the lake didn’t seem like a good option, but a walk in the woods? You bet!
The leaves are finally starting to change color here in earnest. Here’s a few pictures from the woods along the lake.
There’s still a good bit of green around though.
Sorry, no Great Blue Heron picture, but I did see one along the shore.
Strange idea #2: What you don’t know about the forest
“Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another.” – Pope Francis
The forest is dark, but not quiet. Crickets, cicadas, foxes, owls, coyotes, frogs, and countless others all call out as they go about their nocturnal duties.
A blue jay calls out a single, long clear note into the night. This is answered by another, and another, until several jays are exchanging notes across a circle up in the trees. The jays position themselves to catch the patches of dappled moonlight coming through the trees, so each one seems to possess a Cherenkov-blue glow.
Soon other forest denizens respond in their own way, adding their notes to the whole, and take up places in the moonlight to glow in their own fashion. Owls and vultures up in the tree tops, crickets down on the forest floor, coyotes come, adding their bass howls, the tree frogs in a tilted circle, all forming a sphere. Even those who normally do not communicate vocally, like the deer, rabbits and lizards come to contribute their presence.
So far this Sphere has been defined only by the sounds around it, but now the trees and plants lean towards the edge of The Sphere, giving it a physical shape. Fireflies light the vague boundaries.
The Song that forms is not so much a song of melodies and lyrics, but of lives. Lives that are intricately interconnected, each one dependent on each and every other one, all reliant on each other. Even as they compete with, or prey upon, each other, they’re all still working in concert to ensure the survival of the whole.
A soft white glow forms in the center of The Sphere, filling it with a welcome and welcoming presence…
Not far away, another creature senses the rite in progress and awakens from a dream-laden sleep. This creature is not like the others. Physically they are almost indistinguishable, having a familiar 4-limbed format and the same basic DNA-driven processes that all life here uses. But this creature knows nothing of The Song, and that makes all the difference in The World.
The creature climbs out of a fabric shelter that is made of nothing found in the forest, and moves towards The Song, shining and following a light neither bio-luminescent nor celestial.
Upon reaching the place of The Sphere, the creature beholds ….
…… nothing. The forest is dark, but not quiet. Crickets, cicadas, foxes, owls, coyotes, frogs, and countless others all call out as they go about their nocturnal duties.
The creature follows the light that is neither bio-luminescent nor celestial back to the fabric shelter that is made of nothing found in the forest, and knows something, something of vital importance, has been missed and lost, but just might be found again, and not far away.
Creature Feature 2021 #6
I know, where have I been? I was all set to make a trip out on the lake about a month and a half ago when I was alerted to an advisory for a hazardous algae bloom, and while boating was not discouraged, in a small kayak you might as well be in the water. But, with the advisory now lifted, it was time to get back Out There! I just hope none of my wild familiars were harmed by the algae.
Is that a little touch of color in the trees? That might be more due to the dry spells we’ve had than any change of seasons:
I’m not sure who these geese are; they’re definitely not Canada Geese:
This guy passed right near me…
and the encounter ended predictably, for a Beaver:
This Crow was surveying everything from the very tiptop of a lone tree:
It’s the time of year to start seeing Great Egrets. This one found brunch to go:
While this Killdeer pondered the menu in this very productive little end of the lake:
I guess something you just have to stretch your legs on a long flight, even if you’re an Osprey:
This one threw me the first time I saw one. The bird in the foreground is actually a juvenile Little Blue Heron. Notice she doesn’t have the yellow peak of the Great Egret in the background:
And of course, we have to have the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:
Yup, another one, yawn.
When I got back to the boat ramp, there was a bit of a traffic delay, where these ducks were also using the ramp:
But they moved on and I was able to complete my trip.
Creature Feature 2021 #5
I snuck out early this morning to beat the forecast thunderstorms. Turns out that was a good idea as the weather started getting convective right around noon.
Last time I was on the lake I was surprised to see an Egret this time of year. Looks like that wasn’t the only one, or maybe this was the same one; birds do get around:
Speaking of getting around:
The usual residents were out and about:
There were several swarms of these guys. These two got caught in a spider web, and there was no untangling them. Another one of those predator-prey relationships:
The water level was down a bit, but no so much that I couldn’t get into at least one of my little hangouts:
And, of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:
Return to Croft!
Last week I decided to play hooky for a day (well, ok, I used some PTO, so it was legit) and make a Long overdue trip up to Croft State Park. I really missed being able to do that during the pandemic. In fact, it was so special of an occasion (first time back since the pandemic, first time in the summer, …) I didn’t take many pictures. But I did get some, and here’s the pick of the litter.
These ducks were hanging out on the Fairforest Creek doing some of that “airframe maintenance”:
and weren’t bothered by the bridge being out just upstream. This bridge washed out during a period of heavy rains way back before the pandemic.
It was a pretty substantial bridge. I can only imagine the force involved in ripping it out.
Flowers were blooming here and there throughout the forest:
This looks like one of those little predator-prey relationships. I can make a pretty good guess which is which:
From the moment I first went past the entrance gate, I’ve felt that Croft State Park was somehow different. special, and just a great place to be a bird. Sing it from the treetops!
Creature Feature 2021 #4
My plan to take advantage of this holiday was to get out on the lake early. But, the weather continues to be screwy and this morning I awoke to a tempeature of 12C (54F). I decided to wait a bit until it warmed up a some. Even then, it was a cool, overcast morning. In fact, it stayed overcast almost all day, contrary to the forecasts. This was another one of those cases where the TAFs keep getting updated to match the reported conditions.
Even the wildlife seemed to be keeping a low profile under these conditions, but the Geese were keeping watch over their gooselets:
As were the Osprey (well, keeping an eye on their osprats, they wouldn’t care about the gooselets):
This Osprey was soaring way up high under a rare break in the clouds:
From there I made my way all the way up the eastern arm of the lake without much to write home about. Arriving at the northern end of the lake, though, Nature threw me another curve ball. I hadn’t seen Egrets around here until late summer and into early fall, but here was one in late Spring:
I’m always interested in how these large birds get around, in particular how one might do something that looks difficult like landing up in a tree.
Made it! And made it look easy…
Killdeer were hunting around the shallows:
For a while anyway, then time to go!
I didn’t see any turtles on my way up the lake, maybe they figured it was warmer in the water. On the way back though there were a few out.
And, of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:
Creature Feature 2021 #3
I’ll kick off this creature feature in my back yard. I went out back doing a couple of chores and something caught my eye. There, under a couple low branches, was a small fawn in the grass. He was so small I could probably have picked him up with one hand (not that I’d try of course):
They grow fast though:
There was plenty of “lawn maintenance” going on this morning. These geese were
working on the lake dam:
And crows were working the other side of the lake:
The new nesting platform that was put up for the Osprey looks to have had some activity since I was last out there a few weeks ago. Seems kind of late in the season to be starting a nest, but I’m sure the Osprey know what they’re doing.
And, of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:
Plus a bonus!
More on Fluffy
Fluffy had a home here,
and she still does:
Visitation by appointment please.
There’s one more story about Fluffy that needs to be told.
Many years ago now, at work we were putting our first web site up on the wild Internet. There were two groups of people involved with this.
There were the web site developers, sort of like the playwrights and scenery designers. They do all the stuff that you see when you visit a web site: the graphics, text, forms, etc…
The other group, mine, was the system administrators. We were charged with all the stuff you don’t see: making sure the sound and lighting work, the stage doesn’t creak, and making sure everyone comes in through the front entrance and no riff-raff slips in through the stage door.
Normally, for a web server, that stage door is blocked off from the street: you have to go in through the parking garage and through multiple security checkpoints to reach the stage door. You can’t just walk up to the door from the street.
Well, the developers wanted to be able to get in quickly and correct any problems with their web site, and so wanted to have access to that stage door from the street (Internet). The system administrators said that was a Really Bad Idea, because everyone would be trying to get in that door, trying all sorts of user IDs and passwords. A compromise was reached and we left that door accessible for just a few days, in case there were some early problems with the web site that needed to be corrected quickly.
But we watched that door carefully. If someone snuck in there, it would be game over. And as we expected, we saw people trying to log in to our web server with all sorts of known-powerful user IDs: system, admin, oracle, dba, fluffy, root, administrator… Wait… WHAT? Someone was trying to hack into our server with the user ID “fluffy”??
Fast forward to 2012. My Dad and I adopt a cat, whose name just happens to be Fluffy. That started the legend of the l33t hax0r (elite hacker, in the lingo) Fluffy.
Last year as fiber was being run down the road in front of the house, Fluffy watched the crews with great interest, no doubt eager for more bandwidth to support her hacks in to the NSA and Russia and who knows what else…..
After I began working from home due to the pandemic, Fluffy would sometimes come into my home office for something, and I’d have to explain (again) “Fluffy, I’m at work now, if you need something, you need to put in a help desk ticket.” Apparently she didn’t like our ticketing system any more than the rest of us, because she never did hack that system to enter any tickets. Not that I have any doubt that she could.
