Cool Photoshop hack

Note to self:

Next time you want to remove someone or thing from a photo try this:

Morning report and Salvador Dali's dream

It's snowing this morning and Shelby the hawk stopped by for breakfast. As I've said before, hunting in the Bird Park is not okay. I'll have to post a sign. Of course hawks have to eat and feed their young but this place is a tiny little refuge not a free-for-all. There are enormous open spaces right nearby, compete with wild horses and bears. He can hunt there like everybody else.

Usually just opening the door is enough to empty the Bird Park. Not Shelby. He didn't even bother to look my way. I got almost all the way up to him, and was beginning to fantasize tapping him on the shoulder and telling him to go, before he finally got the hint.

At the moment Shelby is the only hunter who hunts here but, if I let him stay, soon enough the fence would be lined with raptors. It's calving season. The valley is filled with predators and soon all that would be left of my little friends would piles of drifting feathers.

So... now a peak at some of the cool exhibits going on at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg Florida.


Source: Huffington Post and The Dali Museum on YouTube

Artist as Visionary

Jean Dubuffet working in his studio in France.*

I found a very entertaining compilation of photos at Pinterest titled Artist as Visionary. The board is part of a greater collection of art, music and literature related photos all collected by an artist named Kim Zoph. Well worth a coffee break.

*Photo saved from ackermansfineart.com via Artist as Visionary (Pinterest)

Squirrel Appreciation day 2016

 photo credit: djpsychochild

It's never the wrong time to appreciate squirrels but today, Jan 21, is their official day. However, if you missed today, get some peanuts and do it tomorrow or the next day or the next — whenever you can. These plucky little guys always appreciate being appreciated.

Booklice and giants

I read in the Guardian this morning that entomologists studying “clean and normal” homes in Raleigh, North Carolina found more than 100 species living there and this was without opening drawers or ripping carpets up. Their list included spiders (that do and don't make webs), lice, centipedes, flies, beetles, ants, telephone pole beetles, miniature crickets and booklice.

Booklice. I had to look that one up. The image of books infested with their own special variety of lice is disturbing. And yes — according to the Wikipedia article — books do have lice. But books, or more specifically the paste holding books together, is a newly acquired taste for booklice. These guys have been around for 295–248 million years. But if you're a reader, don't worry. The article is quite clear that booklice don't eat humans, even if your book is an ebook.

Researchers also observed creatures never before seen in the wild including the world's smallest wasp. Of course, findings would vary probably in other locations. Maybe here in Nevada we have microscopic desert lizards on our walls.

The idea of our homes being teeming microcosms doesn't bother or surprise me. After all, there's more than the eye can see and we humans used to live in caves and, before that, trees so no big deal. Now we live in a microscopic jungle. That means we get to be the giants.

Allen Rickman, farewell.

WTF?! Now Allen Rickman dies? I'm not prepared for all this. David Bowie now him? Damn. Meanwhile, out in the Bird Park, the Flicker eagerly pummeled one apple to a husk and is now working on another. Her day is off to a good start anyway.

So, Allen Rickman. I loved that guy. They say his irrepressible glimmer redefined Hollywood's idea of villainy. Whatever the role, he was a great actor and, as I read, a wonderfully intelligent, kind man. This clip even brought a tear to my eye. What more can I say?

As Joshua Madoc wrote, "By Grabthar's Hammer, Sir, by the suns of Warvan... you shall be dearly missed."

Breakfast at 07:54

Well we're home and, as per, Maggie the 7 o'clock Magpie just dropped in for breakfast. First day, as usual. That's my girl. So far it's just her. She took one peanut and flew off but she must have gone off to tell the rest of the tidings because they all just arrived plus a few grackles, the Dove couple and a beautiful Northern Flicker with red underwings. Home again.

And, now that we're home, I'm hoping to get some writing done. It seems impossible when we're in Portland. Kids consume the time. I don't even have have the energy to do a blog post when we're there, yet I goad the Deconstructionist for letting her blog go dormant. It's been 10 months since her last post. However, I hear mumbling coming from her direction. I suspect a new entry is in the works.

Morning update 09:16

"The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before."
- Neil Gaiman

This morning, being gray as yesterday, calls for another log on the fire and a hot cup of coffee to get things kicked off or, if you have neither, perhaps the Neil Gaiman quote would do. It got me going. Also along with my lukewarm morning cup of coffee, I read a good article at The Atlantic by Colleen Gillard titled "Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories". It's worth reading if you have young kids or if you're any kind of storyteller.

So, that's it for the moment. I've been away from my post here in the borderlands, tending grandchildren for awhile. It was wonderful but now we're back in the swirl, moving south and, by next week, we'll be back in Nevada though M. Lee is already planning a next adventure.

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Note: There is a good discussion of Gillard's article on Metafilter. On the whole, seems the Mefites are quite critical of it. Lots of good points. 

The longest night

Happy New Year!

Last night we rode Santa's holiday train

The winter solstice this year occurs on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 04:49 UTC. At the moment, I'm in Portland Oregon so that means the solstice happens here today, the 21st, at 8:49 PM. For me, the winter solstice marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new so .... wishing all a good new year.

Baby Chance wasn't so sure about Santa
but he liked the candy cane, his first.

The train wasn't going very fast. Cyclists were passing us on the bike path that follows the tracks but it was enough to make for a thrilling ride and shaky cam photos.

Off into the longest night