When will we ever sleep?

I love newer technology. Better. Modern. Hopefully cheaper. The wife and I have debated for years on buying a telescope. Then it needs this to look through via a camera to snap pixs. Need a laptop and apps/programs to find stars galaxies and stuff, but now you need a gyro to make it turn.... the list and needed additions go on and on. We've been reading in recent months of the See Star s50. It's a "smart telescope". Sure, I'll bite: does it do tricks and serve tea? Then online, I've been seeing mentions of it with images in recent months and weeks. Nice images but nothing to brag about. Then a few days ago, the wife saw a post by someone online with images that were supposedly created using this SeeStar. These were better, MUCH better than the images I've been seeing. These were like images, really nice images!! We commented on the images and the person who posted explained that yes, it was created using the seeStar and other than using it, it was easy to obtain! A week later, we both now have a SeeStar, plus images!! The first two days of having it, it was cloudy and cold... freezing and windchill below freezing. No problem... we practiced indoors and used it to death so we knew how to do what we needed to do and hopefully have it do and find what we wanted it to seek and display. The next day after shopping, Sheila noticed it was partly cloudy and the moon was visible, though clouds were passing in front. We quickly got out our SeeStars and began setting up. Within minutes, we had our first images of the waxing crescent Moon. Turning around, we noticed the Sun was visible too. Ran inside the house to get the provided sun filter and got it turned around quickly, and started snapping the Sun. It hadn't been a full 24 hours yet since it arrived, and we now had our images of the Moon and the Sun! A few days later we imaged M42, the Orion Nebula. I sent a copy of the Orion Nebula to a friend, and he quickly replied stating he was surprised and shocked to see such great results already but only after a few days of its receipt, and having no real prior experience with telescopes at all, we got such great results! I felt exactly the same way: I was and remain so shocked that with NO prior training in telescopes, and not even reading a manual, I basically got these pixs which were - to us - so fantastic, nobody would believe we got them within days of its receipt! Now as Winter slowly crawls to bed with us, and Spring finally arrives, then summer, my only huge worry and question: when will we ever find time to sleep?

Riding [a PORTiON] of the Erie Canal

 Recently during a not misty smoky day, our eBikes took us to the Erie Canal near Pendleton, New York for a short ride. We have always wanted to ride alongside the Erie Canal but to do so takes determination. It's a looong ride. Even on a short ride as we did, there isn't much to see of the canal but Trees bushes and clouds! Really!

The best views of the canal are while in canal cities and towns, or by the small bridges that cross the canal.

If riding the canal for a short distance as we did, there's not much of the canal to see. But the Erie Canal remains an important landmark of New York State history, and a part of western New York's history also, as it begins just north of Buffalo in the Tonawandas!

Here's a memory of our folding 16" eBikes parked next to a very tiny portion of the Erie Canal. 

Not seen in this image are the many mosquitos

 

The Beauty of WNY Wildlife

 We were out again to escape the constant updates to our new home, and decided to go to a very popular and busy nature preserve in Buffalo where a Roseate Spoonbill had been sighted. We departed early and spent the better part of the day there....  over five hours there in the light rain, clouds and finally the sun broke through. Saw a bunch of birds which were the normal, but no spoonbill. Many others seemed to be out with long lenses and binoculars, so guessing we weren't the only ones interested in seeing the spoonbill. We have already seen spoonbills in the wild in SW Spain and in Florida, but spoonbills are a rare occurrence in western New York. Last year there was a wayward Limpkin in the area, and the year before it was a Virginia Rail. 

I kept joking that once we decide to leave, the spoonbill will make its appearance, and we will have missed it. That's exactly how it went: we were actually departing and out of the corner of my eye, saw something of a pinkish color fly in fast and low, then landed not even 42 feet away!

The one thing that always bothers me is that it seems human is such a controlling species. The humans really are the true invasive species of the planet, who have, for centuries and more, just gone any and everywhere, seemingly to explore new lands, but in reality we are now discovering that the true intent was to conquer and enslave other people, steal their treasures, their lands, and if that wasn't enough, humans just wanted to remove others from the planet. 

In addition to that goal, which they've done quite well through the centuries, is their desire to trash and pollute this planet everyone calls home. I haven't been everywhere, but I've been to a few countries, and the one thing I have discovered is the vast amount of trash left by humans everywhere! What is most disturbing is the amount of trash left everywhere, and seemingly, even in the most scenic, beautiful, natural and popular areas will be trashed and polluted the most! Even with plenty of trash bins and signs, humans do as they wish, and their main objective is always the same: to trash the area no matter how beautiful the area is. That doesn't mean that for some area not considered to be the best, should be trashed. THiS is our home: the Earth. There is only one Earth and it's already gone through centuries of pollution on a grand scale. While it's less now, it's still a lot more considering the trashing and pollution of our HOME affects eventually everyone, and all species. 

I have even seen people throw trash on the ground though there's a trash receptacle just a few feet away. It's not the responsibility of others to advise you of your trashing the area; WE should be able to remember that the ground we transit each day is not a garbage pit we think it is no matter where we are. We need to, and should have the common sense and personal responsibility to hold the trash till it can be disposed of properly.

Enjoy your day, week and season, and please remember to not trash our home nor our planet. It reflects on us as a species, and shows everyone what little regard we have for our own home, let alone for other people and species.

FogBow seen in my Past

 So the other day while working on moving my trillion and five image files from older external Hard Drives [eHDs] to smaller faster eHDs that fit within my folded hand, I've also been looking through some of the files for lost and great memories! Last night while Sheila was looking through her social media feed, she saw someone's post that displayed a rainbow, and that one rainbow post lead to another, so I searched online for how many types of rainbows exist and was shocked by the result! Soon enough my eyes stumbled upon the rare occurrence of a fogbow, which is a colorless bow usually seen during a foggy day. This got me thinking because I have seen a fogbow, and many times while in my foggy San Francisco, and waaay back in 2016 [below]while visiting friends in Norway! 

Have YOU seen a fogBow?  

Still Alive after all these [UNpacked] Boxes

So, we are still alive, just barely in this blistering humidity of New York state. A few weeks ago I saw a bulldozer moving an almost intact wooden shipping crate over to the side of the road to be taken off as trash. I mentioned this to Sheila, and we went over to check it out. Seems it was trash that had been sitting around for some time, with a lot of dirt and webs on it. 

Nobody wanted it but we took it to our new home and thought we might use it as a shell and a helping start for a shed, though small. That was weeks ago. We finished the move but the unpacking and organization is taking time, especially on my end. I hate boxes, but they hate ME more and I have the cuts and scars of many years on my shins to prove it!

So we've been working on this shed even before we even finished moving our stuff from the old to new. We had called a small local company to move the piano, a small upright that Sheila's had for decades. Our biggest items were still in the house also: bed frame and mattress, three big and awkward heavy dressers, portable air conditioning unit, a refrigerator we were going to swap between one left at the old and new home, and a few big heavy bulky boxes of miscellaneous items. The local Buffalo moving company did so well, the piano didn't even have to be tuned, but that in itself isn't a problem, since Sheila knows how to tune her piano also!

Is there ANYthang my Sheila does NOT know how to do? Nooooo, I've learned over our many years that Sheila has a vast knowledge, plus the power tools to build every and anything!

So we are up to our last few major steps in this shed. No blueprints. No downloaded online plans. Not even a scribbled plan on a torn sheet of paper. We are working completely out of our minds [really!] and without a script or plan of any sort, with our limits being the sides of the crate we salvaged! Really!

I estimate about a week has been lost in finishing this shed due to the high humidity. We will go out after the sun is much lower in the sky, to avoid the heat. Then the other problem was the rain, which has been extreme in the last weeks! We might work for two days, with three days off due to rains all day!

We had the roof of our little shed lower than the current wooden hand-built shed we inherited with our new home. It's a bigger shed but obviously handmade as ours is, but just more worn....  a lot more worn. We had already nailed down the roof, BUT slowly but surely, raised it to the same height of the older shed. In addition, we left a gap between the old and new sheds of about two feet wide. Within this narrow space will go our trash and recycle bins, plus yard tools with long handles. 

Today we put the finishing touches to our doors for the shed, and placed the two uprights on either side to hold the doors. Sheila nor I have never mounted a door hinge before, so that will be a first. Even the hinges we are using will be second-hand, as these were saved from an older door that was removed! Sheila calculated today that we have spent less than $25 on this 4x4-foot shed as we are constantly using old wood she's had or purchased for other projects, and had wood left over! 

I am just hoping that the coming days will NOT be as immensely humid as it's been for several days along with hours of rain recently, so we can actually spend a whole day to finish it! 

I might even post a picture of it when it's completed!

I still haven't had the time to get my portable folding solar panels mounted on the roof yet! Actually, we have NO idea where it will be mounted, but hopefully within the next week, it will be mounted, and start anew in charging our three 300w solar batteries!

Otherwise, I have also updated my online portfolio gallery, revamped the site menu, added more pictures, along with a few new galleries:

  ~ On the Road:: Travel imagery

  ~ Panoramas

  ~ Faces People and Sports

  ~ Architecture Churches and Bridges

  ~ Western New York - Upper Niagara Areas

Of course YOU are invited to visit/reVisit my portfolio, which was most likely created while I was still living permanently in Spain before I booted meself out due to the high cost of living due to the monetary change from pesetas to the gawd-awful euro....  a lot of people I know have departed the premises.

If you do visit to see my galleries, por favor drop me a line please to advise me you did visit, and if you didn't like the changes!

I thank YOU in advance, and hoping you and yours stay safe and well!