This won’t be a very long post about the new camera in use here, but I wanted to display this photo of a Gila Woodpecker that perched on a backyard Mesquite tree this morning; the new camera seems to be doing an excellent job of delivering crisp and graphic photos of our fauna and flora, as well as astronomical objects, people and so forth.
Gila Woodpecker in Mesquite tree. Click to open the Image Viewer.
There will be more images down the blog as time and energy permit.
Well, this (clickable) photo taken this evening is not technically the actual full moon which occurs sometime tomorrow afternoon, Arizona time, it looks full enough to us to qualify as the January “Wolf Moon.” The naming of the wolf moon supposedly comes from the howling of wolves that occur at this time of the year. All we get here, is the occasional coyote pack serenading the neighborhood.
Since this is the first post of 2025 on this blog, let me wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year. And for those displaced persons in the Carolina/Tennessee hurricane and California fire areas, Godspeed and prayers. We’re supporting those charities which will direct help to those areas despite the efforts of government bureaucracies to hinder their efforts. More power to those organizations and to the volunteers working the problem areas.
The image you see above will probably be one of the last taken by me, using my trusty Canon Rebel EOS SL1 camera, since I ordered a new Canon EOS Rebel SL3 to replace the old one. The new camera has several features which will enhance my ability to take and render photos. A couple of new features (which I cannot describe before using them), including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I’m sure they will be handy for me with the apps that Canon provides.
The lunar photo specs follow: Canon EOS Rebel SL1 with EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Lens. Settings: 1/640 sec, F9.0, ISO 800, Focal Length 250mm using the camera’s Normal Program automatic mode. Click on the image to enlarge.
The old camera is likely to wind up being used by my eldest granddaughter, who will be putting it to use in her professional photography endeavors. Our three grandkids (all girls) all live in Northern California. Our youngest granddaughter will be giving birth to her first child, our fifth Great-Grandchild sometime in February.
Damsel and I attended the annual “Cops Who Care” Toyz for Totz Car Run and Show today. We were early, and the entire field had not yet shown up, but since we were both a little under the weather, we did not stick around too long. However, Between Damsel’s Camera and my Samsung phone, we managed a few good shots of some of the action.
First, who can remember 55¢ Big Boys and 30¢ shakes from Bob’s Chain in the 60s? Good times.
And how about this good lookin’ 1957 Ford Panel Truck?
And there were many other old classics, most notably this old red and yellow roadster …
… and a seldom seen REO roadster. Click on any image to enlarge.
Before leaving, we deposited a couple of unwrapped toys for the kids that benefit from the Car Run.
It seems unusual to have flowers from the Cherry Red (Trichocereus Grandiflorus) cactus this late in the year. Nonetheless, these two opened up today on one of the several Cherry Red cacti in the courtyard. I looked around for more flower buds but found none.
The late arrival of these flowers may be due to our unusually warm temperatures in September and part of October. Keep in mind, however, that the Sun and not man-made climate is the cause of weather fluctuations on planet Earth.
Click on the image to enlarge.
We may have posted a classic Chevy like this one years ago on the Minstrel site when we saw it in Torrance back then. Today, however, this classic rolled up into the parking lot while we were collecting mail from the PO Box. A very nice gent allowed as how he would be OK with Damsel taking these photos of his treasure.
Images: 1958 Classic Chevrolet Impala Convertible with Continental Kit in mint condition – credit Damsel – click on any image to view enlarged.
This past Monday evening, I photographed the above image after I noticed the normally flat-bottomed cumulus cloud had these predominantly rounded protrusions below. I recognized them as mammatus.
Mammatus is a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud, typically a cumulonimbus raincloud, although they may be attached to other classes of parent clouds.
I remember from my days as a commercial instructor pilot that these cloud formations were to be avoided. There can be up/down drafts, microbursts, wind shear and possible other airborne hazards.
Not long after the photo was taken, we got some steady rain for about fifteen minutes. The ground got a good soaking with little runoff. Last night, however, several thunder cells rolled through the area and left plenty of rain. There was no evidence of flooding afterward.
Now, speaking of weather, I saw a couple of interesting articles on the topic of the Farce of Anthropogenic Climate Change. The first one “Greenhouse Gases Are a Scientific Myth” from American Thinker, discusses, as the title indicates, “climate stupidity” with regard to so-called “greenhouse gasses.”
The most recent climate stupidity suggests that American factories report their greenhouse gas emissions. As we learned from our country’s first cap-and-trade rule in California, reporting led to required reduction of clean-burning natural gas. Most factories in California have closed because of that rule. It required a 75-percent reduction of natural gas — the factories’ only heat source — over five years.
The next article, from long-time blogger “GREENIE WATCH,” discloses a study debunking CO2’s adverse effect on the weather.
A powerful peer-reviewed scientific study delivers substantial evidence that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere have zero impact on the Earth’s global temperatures. The study concludes that even though most publications attempt to depict a catastrophic future for our planet due to an increase in CO2, there is serious doubt that this is, in fact, the case. Instead, the study authors deduced that their research unequivocally means that the officially presented narrative that human activity is causing a detrimental CO2 increase on Earth’s climate is merely a hypothesis rather than a substantiated reality.
We’ve long known that the notion of man-made climate change is as follows:
This morning, while walking the dogs, I photographed them inspecting the myriad of bean pods recently fallen from the Mesquite tree in front of our house. You can get an idea of how numerous the pods are under this and other trees in the area from the (clickable) image above.
During the spring and summer months, the Mesquites produce these pods, which are said to have been a staple food source among the native Indians and this area’s early settlers.
From American Outdoor:
The yellow pods were once used by all the indigenous inhabitants of the desert regions, usually ground into a flour and eaten. The ripe pods are sweet, and when ground into flour, can be used to make a variety of tasty and nutritious dishes.
This shrub, or one of its close relatives, can be found throughout the deserts of Southern California, southern Nevada, parts of Utah, in Arizona along the full lengths of both the Colorado and Gila Rivers, southwestern New Mexico, and even east to Texas along the Rio Grande River.
There is no point in attempting to clean up the pods since the desert critters and other conditions do it eventually for us. Moreover, it is too warm to be handling a rake in the 105+ degree daytime temperatures here.
By the way, Cabela (on the right above) will celebrate her SIXTEENTH birthday tomorrow. Other than partial blindness due to cataracts, she is still going strong. We expect that she’ll be with us for quite a while longer.