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Wildlife XV: The Shining

August 16, 2016

I left the wildlife camera out while we were away. It captured the usual suspects (squirrels, deer and birds) but also some of the rarer visitors to our yard. In total there were over 300 photos taken, almost every one of which featured an animal of some sort.

I’ll confess I didn’t put much thought into placement, and am quite surprised it didn’t fall over while we were away (I half-leaned it against the house). The above shows what you’re looking at, since many of the following shots are at night.

Two different unknown cats. There were many shots of the fluffier one in particular, suggesting that s/he looks into the french doors to peep inside our house. My guess is Emi and Yoss know about this cat (and vice versa) because they spend time every night downstairs looking outside.

One of many opossum shots. In fact there were probably more opossum photos in this one period than in every previous use of the camera combined! He’s no stranger to our patio!

A big raccoon, exiting stage left! He was only in this one frame, which suggests he was moving quite quickly. While I’ve captured raccoons before on the camera (including on video), I’ve not yet seen one with my own eyes.

Speaking of raccoons…

These actually appear to be two baby raccoons! While they were in several shots, they never got close enough to the camera for a very clear photo, and this is the best there was. But they are obviously smaller than the guy above and appear darker-furred. That and the little stripey tails tell me they may be babies! What do you think?

Lastly I’ll leave with the guy that just had to be the center of attention:

Fire In The Sky

June 23, 2016

It’s almost July 4 and once again fireworks are back in stores. Last year was the first time they were sold here in NY in many years and we had a great time setting them off. This year the selection is incredible… and we’ve invested heavily!

That’s the haul so far. I don’t want to calculate how much we’ve spent already but I think we’ve layed the groundwork for two fireworks shows to celebrate JAF’s birthday in a little over a week 🙂

We’ve got big ones and small ones and sparklers and cracklers and smoke bombs and even a frog! Still no launchers though; they’re still not legal here. We’d have to drive to Pennsylvania to buy some of those…

That’s the biggest we’ve got so far. It cost $25, stands about a foot tall and judging by the disco ball in the art will probably dazzle us with holograms and shooting stars and maybe silhouettes of dancers made of living fire! The little guy next to it was only $2 and is similar to most of what we had last year. We’ve upgraded 🙂

This is a two pack: “Rocketman vs Rage Monster”. They’re both quite large, and (again) judging by the art I’m expecting cybernetic warriors made of flaming smoke and a terrifying monster radiating purple fire and bellowing curses from the deepest pits of Gehenna!

We accidentally bought two of these two packs. So double everything I just said 🙂

This is the most expensive one we have so far, at $35. It’s a large fanning fountain, which means the showers of sparks will not just go up but also out to the sides. If I position it carefully in KLS’s parents backyard I may be able to incinerate trees on both sides simultaneously!

It’ll be a night we’ll never forget!

Sparkzilla. Sparkzilla! I don’t know who named this but he was a genius. Although fairly large in my hand, this isn’t even in the top five of biggest fireworks I’m waiting to ignite. But it has to be the best, based solely on that name: Sparkzilla!

Im expecting a titan of ash and cinders rising out of this box, trumpeting with the joy of freedom as it mercilessly rains destruction down upon us. I wish you could be there to see it!

And then we have the ‘Fiery Frog’. Like a green Pac Man from hell, this one boasts of glowing mouth and eyes as the purifying flames issue from its head. I’ve never seen anything like this and cannot wait to set it on fire.

That’s just a portion of what we have so far. And I don’t doubt there’s more to come. Yes it will all – quite literally – go up in smoke, but watching it happen is going to be glorious!

Wildlife XIV: The Cage

June 10, 2016

I placed the wildlife camera on the back patio over my trip, carefully aimed at one of our bird feeders, which itself is cleverly designed to keep the squirrels out via an impossible-to-penetrate cage.

Here’s one of the first photos it took:

As you can see, the cage works imperfectly!

All told 191 photos were taken in a single day. This was because the seal on the camera had apparently failed and water had gotten inside, which seems to have prevented it from taking photos for most of the time it was placed. I’m not sure if it is permanently ruined or not; I’m drying it out now before trying again.

At any rate, in the several hours of the first day it was out almost every single one of the photos was similar to the above, featuring suspicious squirrels:

Brave squirrels:

Friendly squirrels:

And even in a few shots – thankfully! – a bird:

That little bird is a wren (named ‘Kylo Wren’) who is currently building his nest in our wren house and singing for a mate. We assume he’ll be successfully; many little wrens have been hatched in that house over the years.

Also, you’ll note the chipmunk in the last two shots. This is the first time I have gotten clear, focused shots of chipmunks on this camera. This is no small achievement since they spend most of their lives invisible and moving at light speed. I guess the lure of the 110% delicious cracked cown and sunflower mix I put out was too much for them 🙂

My neighbour recently told me she has seen groudhogs (yes multiple, possibly a parent and child) wandering in our backyard. They will be the next target of the camera assuming it still works.

Robot Claw