How is your day Today? Chat about your plans and achievements 2025....

Per above, post processed my images from yesterday's hike in the rain work. Deleted 2 subjects due to too much leaf movement but 3 fungi subjects were strong. The below downsized for web image, a 2 frame stitch blend, from the 4000 by 9300 pixel original, is door poster sized. Fungi on a coast live oak trunk with moss. If I had known these two were the only trees I'd come upon, I'd have shot them a bit more.

(right Mouse select "Open Image in New Tab", then + )
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Here is a 1200 by 1200 100% pixels crop from the above showing the fine detail:

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Downsized for web with the original 4100 by 6150 pixels, a single frame subject. This tree trunk was near the other and there was plenty more I could have worked. About a 1.5 mile walk I just may return to:

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Downsized for web with the original, a single frame of 6150x4100 pixels. These mushrooms were large, but have not yet looked up the species and all were growing on a tree trunk and its roots. Same color as banana slugs. The wet elements from all our rains made landscape elements extra saturated with color. An advantage to working in such wet conditions.

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Here is a 1200 by 1200 100% pixels crop of the mushrooms at frame right, showing the real detail. A rather awkward tripod set up.

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WheatenLover said:
I noticed that when I've put out something to measure rain in. Snow too. Except you don't usually need a container for snow since it sticks around.
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My ex is a meteorologist. (Every yard at every house we lived in had a rain gauge stuck into the ground.) Both rain and snow are quite hard to measure because of the wind. The snow up here is very hard to accurately measure because we almost always get a light snow, and the winds often gust up to 30–45 mph (48–72 kmh). Seeing a patch of land that is virtually bare and then, just a few feet away, a snowdrift that is several feet high, is not unusual here.

That is a lot of rain you got, @StarSong!

With respect to today, it's a quiet day for me; I'm just working . . . and trying to get motivated to work, which isn't going so well. 😆
 

KSav said:
My ex is a meteorologist. (Every yard at every house we lived in had a rain gauge stuck into the ground.) Both rain and snow are quite hard to measure because of the wind. The snow up here is very hard to accurately measure because we almost always get a light snow, and the winds often gust up to 30–45 mph (48–72 kmh). Seeing a patch of land that is virtually bare and then,just a few feet away, a snowdrift that is several feet high, is not unusual here.

That is a lot of rain you got, @StarSong!
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There was virtually no wind with this storm. As I said, my experience has been that rain is always underreported, and significantly so. If I didn't have a backyard pool with a water level I can easily see, I might not be so skeptical. But since I can, I am.


I grew up with snow and agree about varying heights due to drifts.
 
Southwest desert wildflowers are certain to soon go into an uncommon bloom cycle like last occurred in 2016 or 9 years ago. Thus am likely to do some long road trips by late January with Death Valley National Park and Anza Borrego State Park within the Sonora Desert, the first to show reports that will be at DesertUSA. Antelope Valley also saw its second good rains this fall and Carrizo Plain National Monument has had its best rains in more than a decade.

In any case, it is early in the wet season, that will merely knock annual seeds out of dormancy while perennials that are storing water in their roots, are certain to go big by late winter. The annuals will only go big if we receive more rains in January when winter temperatures begin rising.

The below was in Anza Borrego in 2005 when I was using a 4x5 view camera. One of the most awesome experiences for those of us that love nature, is to be in our Southwest deserts after rare wet winters.

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So far, I've had a great day!! It's windy, but it's been sunny and 83°F!

We went to town early this morning, and got a lot of things done.....

💉 At my doctors office, I got my annual bloodwork drawn. Then I went to my Orthopedic Surgeon and got a shot in my knee. After that I went to the Health Department and got my flu shot. I've had so many holes poked into me today that I'm afraid to have anything to drink....I'll leak like a sieve!!!!
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📚 I also went to the library and got the next book in the series that I'm reading, and I scanned 118 pictures!! That will keep me busy for a while!!

💰 There was a stop at the small grocery store, along with a few other quick errands.

🍕 Today is pizza day! I didn't have to cook when we got home!

🐎 One more stop...to give an apple to the horse on the corner of our road (I call him Socks.) He was so happy that he came running over from the far side of the field, kicking his back legs in the air the whole way! As he got closer to me he did a very impressive slide/skid stop, spraying gravel everywhere!!!!
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🎄 I did manage to get the outdoor Christmas tree out of it's storage spot, along with the new lights. I'll get that tree restrung yet!!!
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StarSong said:
There was virtually no wind with this storm. As I said, my experience has been that rain is always underreported, and significantly so. If I didn't have a backyard pool with a water level I can easily see, I might not be so skeptical. But since I can, I am.


I grew up with snow and agree about varying heights due to drifts.
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That would actually be an interesting solution, that is, a pool of water that's large enough to not be affected by wind and with an easily observable water level.

And I'm very envious of you, having a pool. I have always wanted one. It never worked out.
 
Y'all remember my kitchen clock that I change the batteries when the time changes every year in the spring? The one that just kept on ticking and ticking? I think it's been three years, and the batteries finally gave up the ghost. Changing the batteries has been the highlight of my day.

There's just no ending the excitement of life in the fast lane🏎️
 
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After 5 earlier fall leaf trips so far this year, am getting more excited motivation about getting outside again for tomorrow's field work. So will share a bit of that enthusiasm below as an example of how being an active outdoor senior can still be exciting and fun. Nature including hiking is a passionate activity for many and a key reason so many are attracted to living in this coastal region.

The below link is a website park information example of one of many such San Francisco Bay region places we are so lucky to be able to enjoy. That is despite our having had loggers a century ago like a plague of unstoppable locusts, decimate our regional forests with very little old growth still surviving. Like they were not satisfied until nearly every last large tree was squeezed for short term myopic wealth.

Purisima Creek Redwoods Preserve

This will be along Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just to my west by northwest, that may be about a 65 mile twisting drive at sunrise. Weather forecast shows some of the thickest cloud lighting yet, including some mid day dense marine cloud fog with drizzle and low 50F temps.

Thus, will be wearing jacket and rain pant gear and will at least be carrying the hands free umbrella. Mid day is the best time to have such atmospheric light because the sun is more directly shining vertically downward through whatever cloud deck and between trees and vegetation for more even light. I did hike that second growth redwood creek so many years ago that I recall little now except it was a bit like Waddell Creek from the Pacific outlet.

Checked that area out closely on caltopo dot com maps and Google Earth. Do expect some more big leaf maple situations with its large bright yellow leaves with red petioles (stems to leaves). And will be especially looking for more fungi and mushroom subjects that I love to work framing up precisely with my tripod. With fog, could make get some mist between redwood trunks shots. Supposedly lots of poison oak there that can add some nice red colors.

So need to be very careful not to pick up or touch any wet ground and leaf matter on my big tripod's feet as an very allergic. Two species have red berries and another, snowbush, has pretty round white berries. With all the rains, lots of nicely bright tiny green herbs rising atop all the bare ground areas.
 
Earlier this morning, Richard, the fellow who services and looks after, mechanically, my old MG car, took me along to a salvage yard of old scrapped cars. This particular salvage yard has a large stock of much older cars, the proprietor has found a niche. He buys from scrapyards elsewhere, he actually buys the older models, much of which he dismantles and then sells as spares.

The reason Richard wanted to take me was to show me the old MG that was saved from the crusher and restored to it's former glory. He also bought some spares for another customer's car that he is currently repairing.
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What an amazing car, on our way home I asked Richard how much he thought the restoration cost.
"Much more than is sensible," he replied, meaning that the car's market value is less than the money
spent on bringing it up to the standard that it is today. Nonetheless had I that sort of finance...............
 
Capt Lightning said:
I'm supposed to go for my flu jab this morning, but it snowed / hailed quite heavily overnight and I'm not sure about driving conditions.
That's one problem with village life - main roads are cleared of snow, but the smaller places get ignored. Forecast for the next few days isn't great.
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yep , snow and ice are not cleared from here either.. and we take our lives in our hands when it snows if we need to drive...particularly as most of our roads from here are through woodland , down narrow bendy country roads...
 
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Well…I brought my sister to the airport yesterday evening. Her plane did not pass pre flight inspection…resulting in a long and difficult replacement itinerary. She is currently stuck for the next six hours in DC. This will make her flight essentially about 36 hours long…yuch! Today I will put the tree up…and my guy should finally be home tonight. And…I am going to have cobbler for breakfast…
 
It's 2pm... its been raining all morning, just stopped now...

I hate ironing, I can't tell you how much, so 90 % of my clothes are non-iron... but sometimes there are things that cannot do without ironing... so I leave them until there's a pile , and today was the day to do them...
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....my back is killing me now... sheesh...

I've got all the kitchen cleaned.. and the floors done......and I even ironed 2 canvases to get them completely flat for framing...

I saw this morning that I have what look like 2 more carcinoma's on my skin... and I still haven't had an appointment from the dermatologist I saw at the beginning of September for the first 2.. and when I try and chase them up, I'm told there's a long waiting list *sigh*

Anyway enough whining...for a Wednesday lol....

Have the best day you can peeps of SF.... 🌺 🌺
 
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Another cloudy, warm day - it's Sun Valley, ID it's supposed to be sunny and cold or cold and stormy this time of year so a bit anxious about that. The mild wx has reduced the urgency, and enabled procrastination to get everything under cover for the winter so more trips to storage later this week.

So yeah it's kinda boring right now in between seasons, but town is quiet - relatively free of tourists - so that's nice!

Be well!
 
My house was starting to look like with a shoe store with the returns to Amazon and another store lined up to go back. Will be doing the return on Thursday. Found two pairs locally. One is like a tall Uggs and the other like a short one. I don’t really love either one but I can’t chance walking in snow without proper soles.
 
hollydolly said:
It's 2pm... its been raining all morning, just stopped now...

I hate ironing, I can't tell you how much, so 90 % of my clothes re non-iron... but sometimes there are things that cannot do without ironing... so I leave them until there's a pile , and today was the day to do them...
pngtree-cartoon-woman-ironing-clothes-png-image_13555092.png
....my back is killing me now... sheesh...

I've got all the kitchen cleaned.. and the floors done.
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All our working lives we have had an ironing fairy, we could probably still afford one but it's hard to justify. Nowadays your's truly is the ironing househusband.

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We have got a new gizmo for when the weather is inclement and not possible to hang the laundry on the garden rotary airer.

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It's an indoor rotary airer, far cheaper to run than the tumble drier, although we still use that for large items like sheets and bath towels. The airer blows a gentle current of warm air from the base. clothes are hung on the arms and the zipper bag encloses it. Much of the finished laundry doesn't need ironing, but I still give it a smooth over.
 
Looks like our life may become hectic this week.

Oldest son has made plans to haul one of hubby's Corvettes to Chicago, for engine work.
Means hubby should 'clean' that car & get whatever they need ready

So far it looks like dog & I get to stay home,,,,,yippee?

Haven't said anything to the deer hunter son,,, who plans to hunt with hubby.
Not sure if time frame could be bumping into his plans.

Hmmm,,,,, been awhile since I've gone deer hunting,,,,brrrrrrr. ?:oops:

SF folks keep smiling what ever happens today.:giggle::giggle:
 
Day 2 of a hard Tai Chi run this week. Tues / Weds regular classes and Friday group session in the park aer the norm. With Thursday off to recoup. But this Thu I have a 2 hour 1-2-1 with my teacher. NOT a day off by any means. Other than that and a very wet day yesterday, it's been glorious sunshine today and a crisp 3DegC. -3Deg forecast for tomorrow! Time to dig out big coat and gloves!
 
horseless carriage said:
All our working lives we have had an ironing fairy, we could probably still afford one but it's hard to justify. Nowadays your's truly is the ironing househusband.

View attachment 466870

We have got a new gizmo for when the weather is inclement and not possible to hang the laundry on the garden rotary airer.

View attachment 466871

It's an indoor rotary airer, far cheaper to run than the tumble drier, although we still use that for large items like sheets and bath towels. The airer blows a gentle current of warm air from the base. clothes are hung on the arms and the zipper bag encloses it. Much of the finished laundry doesn't need ironing, but I still give it a smooth over.
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I know people with those..they take up far too much space to be of real use to anyone... and you still have to iron the clothes as well after....
 

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