Fog and the Flock

The dogs and I were out recently, a pleasantly foggy dawn, enjoying the new day.  When we got out to the misty campground, looking over to the boat ramp, the sky looked like this:

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Where Have All the Pelicans Gone?

Two years ago I used to see large squadrons of pelicans flying along the south shore of Alameda (and thus south along the eastern shore of SF Bay) most morning I went out there. The pelicans congregate starting in late July through September, and I often saw waves of dozens and dozens of them, easily totaling 50 [...]

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Looking Out My Backdoor

Do you remember Creedence Clearwater Revival? Have you heard “Looking Out My Backdoor“?  I’ve been reminded of the song recently, while out on our back porch.

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A hike up a hill

A few years ago, a friend and coworker of mine told us of a nice place to go for a walk up near Sonora, called Table mountain.  Table mountain is a mesa, and just below the ridgeline there is a nice trail, through a pasture.

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Breakfast Ker-plunk

We walked out along the bay shore this morning, enjoying the slanting dawn light rising over the east bay hills, casting long tree shadows across the open fields. I heard a splash to my right, and saw a small least tern rise from the rippling water, then noticed another and another.

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Feathered foes and friends

 We have numerous flowering plants and a half dozen or so trees in our long thin backyard, so that it’s green and leafy for most of the year. As such, we get a lot of birds stopping by.  Once, just as I flung a rawhide chew toy off the back deck while our Ernie boy [...]

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Dis Order out of Randomness

 Tagged again, or memed, as Amuirin put it. Meme is one of those slippery weords for me which I have to look up to find it’s a cultural concept that gets passed around, but still somehow it remains elusive for me, so I keep looking it up.  (And weord is so a word, it’s just one I made up, combining weird [...]

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Gone to the Birds

I’ve found a “new” song I like. It’s the theme to the Reebok commercial “Join the Migration.” The singer’s voice is gorgeous, and the song has this alluring, haunting quality. I like it so much I’m almost ready to buy one of their t-shirts. It begins with men looking slowly skyward and includes bird imagery; [...]

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Charity, Beginning at Home

I want to give some money away.
I do not want to give my money to people who will use it to send me more solicitations for money.

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No more excuses

I have no excuse.

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