Operation: Something To Crow About

Ever have one of those days when you look back and wonder how you got everything done on the must do list?  How about two days in a row of that?  Three?  Well, I can honestly say the last FOUR days have been one for the ages.  It is fairly late on Sunday and about the first time I’ve been able to sit for a few minutes not to mention reliving my college years sleep cycle.  I’ll leave out the details for now since the last four days have been filled with upcoming blog topics, but for a short summary the real journey began after work on Thursday with hauling water and working on decorations.  Friday morning began with decorations and doing my best to get stuff ready for Saturday without tiring myself too much and avoiding injury at all cost.  Friday night was spent running a half marathon in a cemetery (until midnight)  followed by Saturday morning early rise to spend ALL day setting up the haunted trail for the cookout that night.  Up early again to haul everything back out of the woods during the day and then finding out Project Auuuunnold was going to go into a new phase tomorrow morning requiring me to spend all night prepping for that.  Of course, a big thanks goes to Linda as well otherwise this would have been pretty much a non-starter.  The good news is it’s done and there’s plenty of time for sleep and recovery!

Since Halloween is officially coming up later this week, figured I’d pay tribute to one of my favorite past times – that’s right, the annual pumpkin carving (and the images were already processed which helps out when trying to get a quick post out).  Thought you might be interested in the process I use for my pumpkin carvings.  I tried to take a number of pictures during the process to help show the different stages.  In fact, there are so many pictures in this post I’ll likely let them do the talking and go light on the text. … and we’re off..

The first step in the process is to figure out the theme.  Every once in awhile I have a subject already picked out, but more often it is usually a night spent parading through pages after pages of Google Images.  This process can get a little dark and be warned you might stumble upon some images that just might be emotionally scarring.  Search terms such as demon, haunted, warlock, devil, gothic, horror, vampire and … ummm yea, I’ve taken “terror” off my search list for obvious reasons.  Each one of those words will produce a very healthy (err. better word..  large) collection of images.  Your goal is to find one with a lot of contrast that works in a 3 color palette.  I usually download a number of images and then proceed to do test palette reductions to see which one works the best.

This year’s winner was…

I actually found it under the gothic category.  As a big fan of The Crow this seemed like a perfect fit.  Before going further, always heed any copyright issues.  The site AllBackgrounds.com listed these images as free but just in case, all rights to this images remain with the original owner – my use is personal only and no revenue is generated off the resultant pattern or carved pumpkin.  With that out of the way, the next phase is to convert the image down to a 3 color palette.  This takes a lot of trial and error and recommend only reducing the colors a little at a time to make sure the conversion thresholds work with the image you are trying to produce.  Paint Shop Pro is my go to tool due to the relatively simple menus (still using version 7 before they went off and tried to compete with Adobe).  Save often and be prepared to backtrack if you lose a feature.  The following shot was pretty far along in the reduction process.  Notice how crisp the lines ended up (thanks to  some quick zooming in and pixel correcting where necessary) which is perfect for the end pattern which maintains the desired effect.

At this point I start the more creative aspect of the project.  Basically you have to zoom in and hand correct any dithering that still remains and add any “pumpkin nuances” that are required.  These little features are needed to generate a pattern that can actually be carved and once cut will help extend the life of the end product.  I am absolutely fed up with all the sites on the internet offering up free patterns that DO NOT WORK!   These fakes are easily noticed once you know what to look for ..and/or if you’ve blown a few pumpkins like I have in the past.  Look for areas that are not cut out – if you see a cut that make their way all the way around it .. bad pattern!  Trust me, you will start noticing the fakes now – they are generally produced on a graphics program, converted to the proper colors and slapped up on the website as a freebie patter (really irks me).  Do you notice any of the features I added below….

Hit the Jump to see how the pattern turns out!

Continue reading Operation: Something To Crow About

Introducing Nihil and a Visit From an Old Friend

As I sit here in my forced ban on all things political for the moment I thought I’d crank out another post.  Actually I just finished another project which will soon be making its way to the blog (yeah) and it occurred to me that I had a quick one in the hopper that needed to be finished up.  Next week is going to be a whirlwind and don’t need to have the quota hanging over me to add any additional stress.  Ironically, nothing relieves stress like successfully dealing with a destructive pest.

Readers of this off ramp on the Information Super Highway should be very familiar with my absolute distaste for MOLES (shudder even typing it).  They are right up there with clowns on my top ten antagonist list but unlike clowns these fur demons regularly manage to make their way onto my property.  To normal creatures the homestead is a sanctuary of sorts.  Rarely does anything meet their fate by my hands when they mind their own business and refrain from too much visible damage.  This includes the deer that enjoy grazing through my landscape, raccoons that grow out of their cute stage and start taking liberties with the bird feeders, spiders that somehow find their way into the house and the mice that refuse to believe our propane tank is not their pleasure palace.  All of these incidents pass without harm.  That is all fine and dandy until I see that trail of dirt streaking across my lawn – blood boils, words are cursed and then I am pressed into action which means war (link here).  With all the Project Auuuuunnnoooold work this year I have not been as diligent as usual.  A few tails were seen at the edge of the yard but gave it the benefit that it mistakenly left the safety of the woods but would soon correct the error of its ways.  That was until a couple of weeks ago when a line showed up in MY FRONT YARD.  This is completely unacceptable.  If you recall from a very sad post sometime back (link here), I had lost a good friend.  I had not pulled out the new ones yet so opted to go with the old one.  It had been giving me some concern due to how tight the springs seemed to be lately.  All but the main line was stomped down and the trap set.  Soon there were would be snapping in the air.  Yet when I got home the next day, the trap was still set and all the side mounds were back up DAMMIT!  This must be an uber smart one.  Time to bring out Annihilation or Nihil for short.  Based on the difficulties setting it, Trigger (as in Hair Trigger) might have been a better name.  I’d set it, take a step and it would spring.. set, step, spring, set step spring – eesh.  Eventually it was worked enough to hold but still cautiously made my way out of the kill zone.

A quick check a few hours later brought a smile to my face…

Not even an uber-smart mole can defeat me.  Nihil comes through on its very first outing.  Problem solved!  Let’s all give a warm welcome to Nihil for he shall have a long and prosperous life (whatever you do, don’t mention the fate of Termi).   For those that like to keep track, the 2013 tally is now Brian 1 Hellspawn ZERO.  How about another joyful shot….

all it had to do was stay in the woods and it would still be grubbing it to the day it died of natural causes.. or the coyotes found it.. or it dared to even look at my neighbors manicured lawn.  …. but NOOOOOO it decided to play with fire.

Hit the jump to see an old friend!

Continue reading Introducing Nihil and a Visit From an Old Friend

A Juvi or a Bittern – Tough to Tell

Looks like today I can report the tale of two lists.  First off, thanks to confirmation from Ron I can now add two more check marks to my birding list.  This is definitely one of those very pleasing moments when I can make that mark next to another entry, but when you actually get to make two marks at once .. through the roof.  If you recall, a few posts ago (link here), I had made some speculation on some bird identifications that were stumping me.  Figured the suggested identifications were my best guesses, but looks like Ron was in agreement with both of them – SWEET!  That Yang and the Um thingy once again makes its presence known around here.  With the good of the bird checks comes the equally bad entry on The List.  Those who know me, know you never ever want to make it on that list since it signifies a personal lifetime ban.  Surprisingly, I was able to locate an old copy of it online (link here).  I have to admit that Best Buy made its way off the list thanks to Circuit City closing leaving no other competition in the area.  There are some other additions, but today’s add is Eddie Vedder and of coarse ANYTHING he is affiliated with.

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Pearl Jam fan when I bought Ten

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden fan when I bought Temple of the Dog

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Pearl Jam fan when I bought Vs

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Pearl Jam fan when I bought Vitalogy

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Pearl Jam fan when I bought Yield

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Pearl Jam fan when I bought Ten for Rockband

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Pearl Jam fan when I bought their guitar sheet music for Ten

I was a law abiding 2nd Amendment practicing Eddie Vedder fan when I wisely chose not to buy his craptastic solo album

… and now this fuck wishes bad things to happen to me (link here).  I wonder exactly what this asshole would think if someone went after his First Amendment rights?  It isn’t worth wasting anymore time on this topic – the money saved on not buying his latest album will nicely offset the cost of the ammunition spent while substituting those CDs for targets.  Welcome to The List.

Cleansing breadth … crap Kozma is sucking it up at the plate for the Cardinals tonight… cleansing breadth.

There, much better.  On to the real topic of this post.  The last plea for bird identification help worked out so well, figured it was worth trying it again.  Once again there’s another bird shot the second day of the Henderson Nevada Bird Viewing Preserve that has me in a quandary.  What seems to be the norm these days, the expectations going into the identification phase were high due to the key features this particular bird possesses.

Stocky frame, dark coloring palette and takes the standard Heron/Egret form in flight.  No problem right.. this has to be a Green Hero… uh, hmm uh.. let me look at those reference books again.  From the reference images, the Green Heron tends to have a rustier neck and a little more yellow on the bill.  They are also a lot more stockier than the specimen here.  Hold on, there should have been a post on one.  Yes, yes, here it is (link here).  Now it is coming back to me – that bird found at Jubilee Park looked a lot different than this one – mainly again due to the stockiness and the varying yet pronounced colors.  This next shot doesn’t show a whole lot more, but does provide some clues to the neck coloring.

Hit the jump to continue the quest to identify this bird

Continue reading A Juvi or a Bittern – Tough to Tell

Book Recollection: One Bullet Away

Stepping up my game a little here.  This will be my third Book Recollection in four months.  Definitely an approval over my last drought.  A trip to Vegas was a big help in getting through this offering – nothing like sitting by the pool in the Vegas sun reading a book and getting grapes delivered to you by the help.  Of course that is probably more of Linda’s doing than mine but got’s me sum tasty grapes anyway (rumor has it Vegas sun does something to your brain).  If you recall from the last recollection (link here) I alluded that a superior offering was forthcoming.  Without further delay I bring you One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine  Officer.  This particular work was everything that I had hoped for with American Sniper and then some.  From all the other reads this author (Nathaniel Fick) has come the closest to matching my pedestal on which sits Lone Survivor.   It has been so long now I am unable to remember what prompted me to put this on my reading list but somewhere, somehow this book caught my attention (likely due to being a New York Times Bestseller but it might have actually shown up as a recommended read in Entertainment Weekly).  It doesn’t really matter where – just go out and get this book if you want an informative and compelling read on what it takes to be a Marine officer.  Captain Fick was (or maybe “is” – not sure you lose your rank when you leave the militarily honorably) served as a Marine infantry officer and became a Captain in the elite First Reconnaissance Battalion.  New to me was that the Marines do not have a designated elite division electing not to participate in the special operations command – “there will be no special Marines.”  Frequent readers know a lot of this blogger’s time has been spent pouring over books on the Seals and Special Forces units – the Marines were a new branch to explore.  Turns out there is an unwritten elite within the Marine ranks and that (as you probably guessed) is the Recon Unit.  From this read, these soldiers truly live up to their motto Swift, Silent and Deadly.  They are the tip of the spear and thrive there through skill, determination and all the firepower they can muster into the field.  Based on Nathaniel’s accounts the Silent part often takes backseat to the Swift and Deadly as he recounts time after time driving their Humvees directly into the heart of the enemy and establishing superiority.  While on the subject of deadly, my mouth dropped open when I read that “Marksmen” are actually the LOWEST on the shooter qualification standard – “Sharpshooter” is above that and “Expert” beyond that.  As Nathaniel points out, you don’t want to introduce yourself to the men you are going to lead into battle as just a Marksmen.

Captain Fick puts you in the passenger seat as he takes the battle to Afghanistan and then on to the hot sun of Iraq.  Much like Lone Survivor, the author does an excellent job of painting the situation and recounting the actions taken.  More importantly, Fick takes you inside his thought process, laying out the options, correlating his training, taking you through the determined action and then assessing the results.  I can’t complement the author enough on his candidness admitting his mistakes and giving due credit to his team.  Absent was the sense of pure cockiness so evident in the American Sniper book.  Nathanial was trained to be the best and characterized his superior actions as just doing his job.  This is a must read if you want to understand what it takes to be a Marine officer, what you have to endure to be considered a Marine, the expectations superiors place on you when lead men into combat and what those soldiers rely on to make it out alive.  If you are like me, you always ask yourself “could I do that”, “could I make it through that experience”, “do I have the drive and determination to endure the hardships imposed on officer candidates and ultimately be effective in the field.  In this specific situation the answer is clearly NO (as the ego deflates).  I might be able to make it through the infantry training (with a hell of a lot of luck) but the Recon training would do me in – even if I could make it through some of it, the torture preparedness would  be my Uncle.  That chapter gave me nightmares for weeks.  Adding to that, Fick provided a side of war that is often glossed over in similar works – the theater of the gruesome.  The damage that today’s instruments of war can inflict on the human body is horrific at best and hammers home the difficulties soldiers must face as they assimilate back into society.  As a hint, they literally spend time in emergency rooms during their training to become desensitized to the scenes they will experience in action – not to mention an entire class on Killology to get them mentally prepared for the “shock”.  Let’s all be thankful there are individuals out there willing to put country first and body second.  To all those we owe a a great deal of respect and unlimited gratitude.  Well done Nathaniel, well done!

Hit the jump to read about the MANY takeaways from this read

Continue reading Book Recollection: One Bullet Away

To Check or Not to Check

I can’t believe it is October already!  Seems like this year is flying by way to fast – pretty soon it will be snowing in Denver.  What!?!  holy crap, it is snowing in Denver today.  Those Globull Warming dudes got some splaining to do.  I warned you on the last post we would once again be spending some time at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve  in the coming posts as I try to close out the second day of shooting there.  The good news is we are almost through that visit.. bad news is we had the opportunity to head back there a few months ago so we are far from over at that birding paradise.  To start the month off, I’m in need of some more help.  I am always amazed at how hard bird identification can be even with what I would consider unique features.  Two birds are featured here that gave me some troubles and thus not entirely sure if I have them right.  If I do, then there will be two new checks in the Bird List.  Always pleased when I can mark up the list and as you have seen in the past posts, this particular birding site was a goldmine of check marks.

First off I bring you this rather plain looking bird:

I suspect your first inclination is to ID it as an American Crow.  Pretty common bird around here so I have the advantage of seeing it just about every day.  I’ve spent a fair amount of time out in Yellowstone so I can definitely tell you how those compare to the mammoth Ravens out there.  But something just didn’t seem right about this one.  It was black (I can always get the easy ones) but the beak just didn’t seem to fit the large but blunter ones on the Crows around here.  The other part that was causing me some confusion was the tail.

It seemed to long and slender relative to the more stockier body frame of the Crow (and definitely smaller all around compared to those Ravens).  This concern sent me pouring over bird references looking for some other alternative.  Eventually I made my way to the Grackles.  Typically the Grackle is easy to distinguish due to the iridescent purple coloring when the light hits them right.  It is hard to tell in this picture due to having little sun at the moment this was taken but the shape is darn close from my perspective.  Post processing may have taken some slight shimmer out since I was thinking it was just a nicely posed Crow at the time.  The yellow eye definitely stands out which is a defining feature for the Grackle – the Crows and Ravens tend to have black on black eyes.  Now the hard part.. which Grackle.  The Common one is close but the images in the books definitely show more of a purple hue and/or more brownish than the full on black this one is sporting.  That left the Boat Tailed, but that is NO WHERE near where we were out in Nevada (more East Coast).  Could it be the Great Tailed Grackle?

To the web!

Take a gander at the set of images at AllAboutBirds.org (link here).  As mentioned, not positive, but it definitely looks similar to the Great Tailed Grackle shown there – and we can definitely dismiss the Common version. Would appreciate any help on this one.  I have no problem accepting that it is a Common Crow or possibly something I overlooked, but keep in mind that yellowish eye.  Definitely distinct.  Sorry I can’t give you any other angles, this was about the sum total of the shots.  With all the new birds there I likely didn’t spend much time on what I assumed at the time was a common bird.  Regardless of what the ID comes out as, the composition turned out nice especially with the first and this one.

The tail matched the twig angle and the head aligned with both the upper and lower branches giving a nice framing effect.  If you have time, take a stab at it and use the comments for any ideas.

Hit the jump for the second bird featured in this post!

Continue reading To Check or Not to Check

My What Big Ears You Have

Howdy Everyone!  Guessing you were thinking I had forgotten about getting my 6th post in for the month and was sharpening your claws to pounce all over me for finally blowing the streak.  No worries, although blasting out all the posts early in the month does make me get a little lazy for the rest of the days – well on the post front that is, the rest of the time  is pretty busy in the digital darkroom trying to get the next set of images done.  You may be happy to know that the shots from the second day at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve are now completed.  Unless you are totally fed up with that topic from all the posts over the last couple of months, in which case you will probably NOT be happy since you can guess what is on the schedule for October.

This weekend has been quite the whirlwind for us.  As of last count I think I put myself in peril at least twice over two consecutive days and managed to make a quick run up to Chicago to see a friend married off.  Originally we planned to try and get by to see my brother who lives in “The City” (he loves it when I use that reference – for the record anyone East of 39 and North of 80 lives in “The City” for us downstate hicks.  Timing ended up not working out but we need to make it up there one of these days to see his .. wait for it .. CATS (my dogs just shuddered).  The wedding ended up taking place at the South Shore Cultural Center and I’ll probably end up making a post devoted to just that.  For those not familiar with this place it is where the Obama’s got married – a feature this is COMPLETELY LOST on me.  It was definitely quite the gala which appears to be the norm these days in “The City”.  Details likely to be forthcoming, but let me give you one key piece of advice that you best heed unless you like to live on the edge.  Peril event number one was trusting the GPS to get us from Countryside to the Center.  It declared a quick 30 minute trip that basically took us directly east to the location.  Not being familiar with the area we left an hour early instead.  1 hour and 20 minutes later we were sneaking our way into the ceremony (luckily it started 15 minutes late so we just missed the opening parade.  Let me tell you, that 1 hour and 20 minutes was one of the scariest trips I’ve taken in a loooong time.  Linda about heaved that GPS out the door … to afraid to actually roll the window down ended up saving it.  Every stop light/sign was a test of nerves while everyone standing around on the street (and IN the street) was looking at us all dressed up in the Beemer.  I don’t profile.. I use deduction.  Where the HELL is that conceal and carry bill going to be actionable!!  We went a different way back that took us all of 20 minutes and didn’t cause any additional gray hairs.  Just to round out the other peril, I had to get back early today to get my 12.5 mile run in – another half is coming up and I need to solve whatever happened last time before toeing that line again.  Had to spend some quality time getting my head cleared after that run and the legs are STILL screaming at me.

“What the hell is the purpose of this post Brian!”  Oh, sorry about that, mind started drifting again (did I mention I had to run 12.5 miles today..).  This topic was actually picked last night during the wedding ceremony.  There are some statements I am pretty sensitive to and I always pay special attention to the vows (my wife stating “To Honor and Obey” is a highlight of my wedding and on no less than 10,00o copies spread out in various locations for security just in case something (err more like someone)  should ever happen to it (hehehe).  My friend failed to get this sneaked in, but the sermon was intriguing.  I’ve never seen the person presiding over a wedding concentrate so much on the bad side of marriage – he must have spent 20 minutes talking about “When she annoys him” and “When he makes her mad” (and I swear he said pisses off).  Odd, but then he referenced “When they have children”.  Whoa – that just seemed presumptuous to me .. if nothing else definitely puts pressure on right from the start (I may just be overly sensitive to that).  For some strange reason I immediately decided on my next post.

Just seemed fitting at the time.  This was taken at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve and, as indicated above, on the second day of shooting.  Actually, to be more accurate, it was taken as we were heading back to the visitor center from another long day of shooting.  I like rabbits and do my best to let them live a happy a life on my property.  Sure it is a pain in the butt thanks to the dogs thinking they are a lot funner chasing than playing with their boring toys.  Our youngest dog also thinks their droppings are a delicacy – he needs to be reminded every time he goes out that the nose stays out of the grass.  Unfortunately, those pesky Coyotes think the bunnies are the delicacy and keep them pretty much on the run.  The enemy of my friend is my enemy too as a slight derivation of the adage.

Hit the jump to see a couple more pictures of this specimen

Continue reading My What Big Ears You Have

Only a HALF but it took a WHOLE Lot Out

There are races where everything works out perfect

There are races where you have to dig down deep to get the desired results

There are races where you start second guessing yourself but in the end turn out to be unwarranted

… and then there are races where you have some concerns and they turn out to be all that and then some.

Today’s race  falls into the latter category.  This morning IVS held their Half Marathon in Springdale Cemetery.  This was my third running of this particular race but unlike the last two I was a little worried for a number of reasons.  First off, the training had not been going to my liking.  This was the first year I did not get a full 13 miler in before race day.  I made it up to 12 twice over the last month, but that left myself with a mile of uncharted territory.  Add in the trip to Vegas in the midst of my ramp up wasn’t ideal (although I did get in an 8 and a 6 in the dry heat).  Probably more concerning was dealing with some major problems with my calves as a result of the new running mechanics.  Turns out I migrated to the new form quicker than normally seen which left my calves unable to handle the stress of the new style beyond the 6 to 7 mile mark.    I thought I had those problems mitigated with a  battery of deep tissue massages and a few chiro visits.  What I wasn’t expecting when I woke up this morning ended up being the one element I didn’t want.

A quick rain last night and the rising temps left a very muggy morning.  Our porch thermometer showed high 70’s and the air was already thick yet I was 1.5 hrs from start time.  Not what I wanted on a day I was going to be battling all the other issues to get through 13 miles in the hills.  I can’t control the weather so the best thing to do is suck it up and do my best.  As always, I was blessed with my own personal photographer – thanks to Linda for giving up her dog show day to take care of me – and I was definitely glad she did!

The traditional pre-race shot

You know I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity this statue left me with….

Heheheheh – I crack myself up.  Humor is always the best way to deal with stress.

Hit the jump to find out how this race went .. hint.. not well

Continue reading Only a HALF but it took a WHOLE Lot Out

A Prized Pecker

This week I’ve been focused on avoiding ANY activity that would cause some form of injury up to and including the very painful hangnail.  That means no working on Project Auuuunooollldd, no work to shore up Serenity, no constructing the new mailbox support structure and definitely no cleaning tubs or vacuuming (long story but that one cost me major damage to the shoulder some time ago).  Oh, and doing dishes and cleaning up after myself is right out (hehehe).  What’s left with all the fun stuff banned… well, you blog.  You probably already noticed I am way ahead of schedule at the moment, but sitting and typing is about the safest activity I can pick.  Luckily, the post topic hopper is pretty full.

I promised you a break from Henderson, but that didn’t mean you were free from birds.  This post has been on my mind ever since the day before we headed out to Vegas.  That Saturday a friend of ours (John Best) put a post on Facebook that he might have heard a Pileated Woodpecker while hiking out at Forest Park Nature Preserve.  The minute Linda relayed that message to me we were headed for the car with the Beast in hand.  If you are new to the blog, the Pileated Woodpecker was on the TOP of my bird wish list.  John’s wife actually thought she had seen one at our house one day but I originally dismissed it based on the mere fact I had NEVER seen or heard one in the area from the day we bought the land.  Not to long after that I was busy apologizing to her because one flew into our yard one cold Sunday morning.  That was followed by chasing that damn bird through our entire 15 acres trying to get a decent shot .. big failure on that endeavor – did I mention I was in my jammies at the time (Linda had quite the laugh).  My only other sighting of this bird was in the Porcupine Mountains (link here .. at the bottom).  Once again unable to get it in the tin so no checkmark.   Very frustrating, but maintained hope that one day I’d be able to shoot it.

So, there Linda and I were standing in the park trying our best to locate a large black bird with a red head.  Look to the left, look to the right, look up, look down, walk a ways and repeat.  Nuttin’!  Beginning to think John might have been mistaken we were just about to give up when we heard a loud call ring out from atop the hill to our left.  Pileated Woodpeckers have unmistakable calls that rivals the Sandhill Crane squabbles.  I need to stop doubting the Bests, that’s for sure.  Only problem was finding a way to it.  This isn’t a free ranging park and there didn’t seem to be any paths leading up in that direction.  A huge relief when we found a winding trail further down the main path.  The hunt was on.  Halfway up we stopped for a bit to wait for another call.  5 or 10 minutes later we heard it again this time followed by a jackhammer pounding against wood.  Of course, it was coming from the top of the hill so we continued our climb up the steep hill – kudos to Linda for sticking with me. Once at the top we started a more thorough scan.  all of sudden we see movement from a large black bird…

Ladies and gentleman, I introduce you to the reason for a very prestigious check mark.  There it was in all its glory, the long sought after Pileated Woodpecker.  The tree canopy put the Beast at a disadvantage both in the lighting conditions and the amount of interference.  The ISO was jacked up to provide enough shutter speed to keep most of the blurring down and there was a lot of foot focus going on in desperate attempts to get a straight line of sight to the bird.

This guaranteed there would be no gallery shots, but definitely good enough to qualify for a check mark.  You should have seen the blurred shot I got while running around our lot in my PJs – you could tell it was black and had some reddish in it, but saying it was a bird was reach.  Linda probably thought I was a kid in a candy store running up and down the trail trying to get as many shots as I could.

Hit the jump to read more about the prized Pileated Woodpecker

Continue reading A Prized Pecker

Book Recollection: American Sniper

You can take a long deep breathe and relax because today’s post has nothing to do with birds!  Now, of course, if you like birds as much as I do you might be a tad disappointed, but I think in that case you have had a pretty good run as of late.  Going from frequent to the rare, I have another book recollection for you.  The last one was all about peace (link here), so took a book on war as the latest read.   I like to maintain a good Yang and Um state – good for the soul.   Somewhat ironic given the latest happenings in the world with the Waffle Boys falling all over themselves trying to save face.  The offering today was recommended by a number of my friends as a great read – American Sniper by Chris Kyle.  I think I might have been a victim of setting my expectations bar a little too high.  The individuals that recommended this title had all read (thanks to my strong urging) the Lone Survivor book by Marcus Luttrell.  They implied Chris’s book was just as entertaining which makes for some mighty big boots to fill knowing that I put Survivor in the BEST EVER reads category.  Before opening this book there was a little space reserved next to it on my mental bookshelf.  It is with a heavy heart that I inform you this book did not live up to those lofty expectations.  On reflection it probably was not that bad, but when you get yourself so pumped for a read and it fails to captivate to a point of not wanting to put it down… well, it tends to disappoint.  Lone Survivor grabbed me to the point I felt like I was right there falling down a mountain side with Marcus wondering where my rifle was going to end up.  Dick Couch’s works made me feel like I was suffering through the same ordeals as our elite soldiers were experiencing during their training.  In contrast I simply felt like a third person being subjected to random accounts at a guest speaker engagement.  Not sure at this point whether it is the stories itself or the ability of the writer to set a compelling framework.  The money bet is on the latter primarily due to reading about one encounter followed immediately by a recollection which seemed like an afterthought.. oh yeah, and this happened too.  That may work in blog posts (hehehe), but does not provide for a comfortable long read.

So, here is my overall summary – Chris Kyle is one damn good shot.  He is also one cocky asshole that doesn’t appreciate the decision makers above him and generally treats his family as a secondary entity to his love for the adrenaline of combat.  Is this an accurate reflection of who he was?  I have no idea but this is the picture the author painted for me.  I can’t count the number of times I sat through the civilian bar fight paragraphs and standing up for this and not backing down from that and we have each other’s back etc.  I get it and appreciate the fact he earned the right to be confident successfully making it through the training and missions.  Those that don’t need to boast about it in public are the ones that demand the greatest respect – the ability to crack open a local bar patron is pretty much in my given category and not worthy of the time allocated to it in the book.  The other element that kind of bothered me was the stunning admittance he put combat above family.  Sure, this is understandable in the context of your first few tours, but when you have a child and you are opting up for the third – fourth etc. you have to kind of wonder if you are fulfilling duties as a Father.  This is difficult for me to really harp on too much having no kids of my own and no military experience but when his own wife is quoted stating her discontent with it … you have to take it into consideration.  Oh, the last comment reminded me – one nice aspect of the book was sections added from the wife’s perspective.  An interesting viewpoint especially due to how unflattering a lot of them were to Chris.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Chris for his service to his country.  For those that may not be aware, Chris is no longer with us.  He was killed on February 2, 2013 by a someone he had brought with him to a shooting range.  If I remember correctly he was trying to help out fellow soldiers suffering from PTS syndrome and guessing something might have gone terribly wrong with whoever he brought to the range that day.  Chris is also the one that was in a defamation lawsuit with Jesse Ventura after Chris claimed to have punched him …. no surprise… in a bar.  According to our friends at Wikipedia, Jesse is even continuing the lawsuit post death against Chris’ estate.  Real class act Jesse, way to be the better man (guessing the “I ain’t got time to bleed”  dude needs money for acting classes)

If you haven’t read Lone Survivor – opt for that over this book – if you have, then wait a bit for my next recollection on another book I’m currently reading.  So far definitely superior to this offering.

Hit the jump for the takeaways from this read

Continue reading Book Recollection: American Sniper

A Long First Day in Paradise Comes to an End

Welcome to the latest offering from Life Intrigued.  I had quite the debate with myself on the topic for today’s post.  Should I go with a discussion on the results of a key bird hunt?  Maybe a summary of the various happenings while we were in Vegas (when you run a blog, there is no such thing as What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas – rather What Happens in Vegas is Another Post!).  I do have another book recollection to get to, but need to get the graphics ready for that first.  Why don’t I just close out the First Day at Henderson Series.  I promise I’ll give you a break for at least two posts before diving into day two.

To wrap things up, I’m going to throw you a hodge podge of birds.  None of these were firsts for me, but wanted to let you know that there was a nice collection of the more common birds to go along with all those new check marks.  First off is the Northern Shoveler.

To say there was a lot of these hanging out at Henderson would be an understatement.  There were actually more there than I’ve seen collectively at Havana’s Emiquon (link here).  What did catch my attention was they isolated themselves to a specific pond.  Not sure what the real attraction was, but it was one of two that had an island in the middle providing pretty good cover from the sun and Harriers circling the skies.  You almost got the sense they were keeping one eye on the water and one eye looking for danger.

Of course, they may have seen what happens when you venture too close to the shores (link here).  Fortunately, this didn’t prevent them from engaging in their unique feeding ritual.  This was observed at Havana, but only two or three of the Shovelers were involved and didn’t give the full effect.  At Henderson, they were in full whirlpool mode.

Reminds me when I was a kid and we would quickly traverse the outside edge of a neighbor’s pool to create a similar effect.  Of course, we were not doing that to make food more accessible (wow, the thought of a Baby Ruth just crossed my mind hehehe).

Although not completely positive thanks to the number of female breeds that look a like, I think the following shot is of a Shoveler coming in for a landing.  Both the water and wings were frozen in motion which is rather difficult to do with the Beast.  Our lighter 2.4 70-200 is more handy for those kind of shots being easier to hit the focus marks and most of all LIGHTER!!

Hit the jump to see more of the birds of Henderson

Continue reading A Long First Day in Paradise Comes to an End