A Very Lemmingful Summer

03 Thursday Nov 2022

Posted by danielwalldammit in Alaska, Animals, Bad Photography

Tags

Alaska, Animals, Foxes, Lemmings, Owls, Snowy Owls, Summer, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography

This last summer seems to have been a good one for lemmings. I even caught a few decent pictures of the little guys, but more importantly, lemmings bring friends with them.

By friends, I of course mean, predators.

Which isn’t very friendly, but…

The owls mostly left a little over a month ago. I’m sure, there area few still around, but not in significant numbers, For their own part, the foxes got a little too numerous and a little too dangerous to the two-legged population around here.

Culling happens.

Anyway, it was an interesting summer.

(Click to embiggen)

(No, really. Click to embiggen!)

A Southerly Glimpse, Vol II.

04 Thursday Aug 2022

Posted by danielwalldammit in Alaska, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Alaska, Barrow, Midnight SUn, Oscar Alajandro, Summer, Utqiagvik, Venezuela, Visitor, Youtube

I posted a video detailing a visit to Barrow from Oscar Alajandro this winter. Oscar has been looking to come back this summer, and apparently, he made it.

Leetul Buurdz!

12 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by danielwalldammit in Alaska, Animals, Bad Photography

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Alaska, Awe, Birds, Cute, Snow Buntings, Squee, Summer, Tiny, Wildlife

I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I need a cuteness break, right about now.

So, I’m going to post some pics of these little birds we get here over the summer. they usually arrive in April or May, and it seems like they disappear with the first few snows of the Fall, so usually by October. I’m told they are called “snow buntings.” I don’t think these critters are really all that unusual. I probably saw plenty of snow buntings when I lived in the lower 48, but I sure notice them a lot more now. Their arrival is a welcome sign that what counts as Spring here is actually starting to happen. I hear them singing first in the Spring often without actually seeing any for a couple weeks. Finally, the numbers get large enough to enjoy the sites.

Love these little guys!

I took these pics over the last couple summers. (Click to embiggen!)

Summer at the Beach

06 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by danielwalldammit in Alaska, Bad Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Alaska, Beach, Ice, Ocean, Photos, Pics, Sea Ice, Summer, Water

36868123_10216821637638330_8479229804195872768_n Damn!

I have papers to grade. So, I guess summer is really over.

I was planning to take it easy this summer, but it didn’t exactly work out that way. A move across town took up a lot more time than Moni and I expected. Our trip to Valdez is still the highlight of the season for me, but I also made it down to Montana on a work-related trip and down again to Fairbanks to help put on the Motif Film Festival. When I wasn’t traveling or taking boxes upstairs, I was busy working on class materials and whatnot. Suffice to say, it was an interesting summer.

One of the most interesting things about this particular summer is just how long the sea ice seemed to remain intact, and how long much of it stuck around shore. It seems like this last winter got started late (snow didn’t start sticking here in Barrow until well into October), so I suppose it’s fitting in some sense that the remnants of that winter would linger a bit. It certainly made for some beautiful views. Few sites compare to the midnight sun shining down on an entire ocean served on the rocks, so to speak.

Yeah, people do swim in this stuff, usually just for a minute or two, just long enough to say they did it.

Other people do this.

Not me.

(Click to embiggen.)

Looks like I tweaked this pic a lot, but I really didn’t tweak it much

Just Cold!

Clear and peaceful evening

Mid July

Okay, this might not be sea ice

This little guy really wanted me off his beach

A touch of yellow

Lotta Blue

The cloud here steals the show.

Icy Reflections

…and the world gets diagonal

A little sea life in the fog there.

Hadda zoom a bit for this one

An ice bow, some sea ice, and an annoying little blue dot.

Sorry, for the poor quality of this video, and in particular for my very shaky hand.

A Wondrous Road Trip!

23 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by danielwalldammit in Bad Photography, Travel

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

California, New Mexico, Road Trip, Route 66, Santa Fe, Summer, Taos, Travel, Wonder Woman

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Just south of Taos

It was the summer of Wonder Woman. I mean, I know she was in the theaters this last summer, and I certainly enjoyed the movie, but that’s not what I’m talking about. She was in our car. Wonder woman, I mean. She was in our car.

Yep!

We were wondering what that strange sound was coming from the back. We didn’t hear it often, at first anyway, but it was just an odd sound. Were the Jarritos bouncing up against the Mexi-cokes? Maybe something was falling out of the luggage? No, not that over and over like that, and it doesn’t sound like bottles. Neither Moni nor I could quite place it. And then an impression started to form, but it just couldn’t be right. I thought perhaps all those years of role-playing geeketry were playing havoc with my ears, because I couldn’t possibly be hearing it right. Still, the more I listened, the more convinced I became.

“Is that a sword?”

“It does sound like a sword, yes.”

Hearing Moni confirm my seemingly-impossible impression was a little reassuring. It was also a little disturbing. Why in the hell would the sounds of sword fighting be coming from the back of our vehicle? And then Moni remembered the costume. I had bought her a Wonder Woman costume for super-hero day at her gym. It came with a plastic sword and that sword made sounds whenever you moved it around. We meant to give it to one of of her nieces or nephews, but I guess we never got around to it. Instead, the noisy blade was buried somewhere in the back beneath a pile of luggage, snacketry, random shoes, and countless things we probably didn’t need. Evidently, the sword had room to juggle. So, Wonder Woman had room to fight in the back of our vehicle.

No matter! We would dig her out soon enough.

I think we first noticed the sound on a trip to Sequoia National Park. We could still hear Wonder Woman doing battle after a diversion to Monterey, another trip to Sacramento and San Francisco, several small trips around Los Angeles, a road trip to Santa Fe by way of the Navajo Nation, at least three trips back to to Taos Pueblo through Espaniola, one to Bandelier, one to Kasha Katuwe, and one each to Santa Ana Pueblo and Cochiti. We never did find her, or if we did, we missed the chance to find her a new home. Hell, she was still fighting her foes when we made it finally back to California at the end of the summer.

We actually did make an effort to find Wonder, but we were thwarted by the piles of unnecessary baggage. So, Wonder Woman spent the summer with us. She protected us from evils all across the southwest, and even scolded us when we did wrong. She could be kinda bossy that way, but otherwise, I must admit the living weapon herself was actually pretty good company.

Presumably, her sword is in storage now.

It’s been a little over six months now, so I guess it’s time to share some pics from our road trip, the one Moni and I took with Wonder Woman.

I’ve already blogged about a few of these things, but I do plan to produce at least one more post about the street art in San Francisco. I’ve posted about the Institute of American Indian Arts before, and about Santa Fe. These are definitely favorite stops of mine. Here are a few pics (click to embiggen)!

Moni’s Nephews in the Kiva at Old Pecos

Little Sister isn’t impressed with the Quinceañera pics

Institute of American Indian Arts

Bandelier

We need one of these trucks here in Barrow before the next 30 days of night

Restaurant in Taos

Just south of Taos

Church at Taos Pueblo

Institute of American Indian Arts

Old Pecos Pueblo

Near Bandelier

Whaling Wall in San Francisco

Old Pecos Pueblo

Pecos

Tragedy at La Brea Tar Pits

Muckrock Mural at Taos

Somewhere in Northern California

Window Rock, AZ (I used to work a short stroll from here)

Bandelier

Santa Fe

Three Amigos?

Fat Man replica at Los Alamos

Horseshoe Bend

Taos Pueblo

San Dimas

Santa Fe

Kiva at Old Pecos Pueblo

San Francisco

The Institute of American Indian Arts

Somewhere in Los Angeles

Madrid, New Mexico

Getting some shade near Horseshoe Bend

This guy was bathing in a fountain at Window Rock, Navajo Nation

Note the building from another pic

Face off!

Women’s Building in the Mission District in San Francisco

Yeah…

San Francisco

Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River

Moni and Annie at Harvey Milk’s old haunt

Seems to be a car show in town (San Dimas)

Coastline near Monterey

Stump in Sequoia

Big Stump

I think Moni wanted to drop me off here, not sure why

Pomona

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San Juan, Fiesta

Thai Restaurant in San Francisco (I think this was our waiter)

The Ned Hatathli Center at Diné College

San Francisco Mural

This Guy lives near Williams, ARizona

With Apologies to the Moths Along I-40; My Summer! (Includes Pictures)

10 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by danielwalldammit in Bad Photography, Las Vegas, Write Drunk, Edit Stoned

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Cooking, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Mexico, Road Trip, RPGs, Story-Telling, Summer, Vegas

Just an excitable boy!

Stays in Vegas, my ass! What happens in Vegas gets bigger, wilder, and more sordid with every retelling of the story!

My summer in Vegas might even have included the slaying of giants, for example. Dice might have been involved, but let’s not dwell on the details. Other frequent activities included book night. Book club did involve Scotch I believe, or at least a Corona. I could say that I really don’t remember the books and leave it at that, but it’s entirely possible that no books were to be found at book night.

…or even discussed for that matter.

And if RPGs and an occasional beer ain’t wild enough for a good Vegas yarn, then let me tell you about the museums. Yeah, that’s right. Vegas has museums! No, I’m not going to tell you about the mob museum, because that’s just what you’re expecting me to do. But Las Vegas does have a Mormon!

…Fort.

I do recall a bit of neon!

And then there was the place that went boom! Lots to lean at the museum that goes boom. More on that on another day. The Mojave Penguin at the Clark County Museum was cool! The Springs Preserve was annoying, then amusing, then kinda cool, but there were absolutely NO butterflies, dammit! Pin Ball, you already know about, and of course there is the sexy museum that isn’t really that sexy! I took a former student to that place. He declined to go next door. Otherwise, we’d have some real story to tell.

I met an old friend in an alley. Shhhhhh….

Downtown is always fun, and the Container Park rocks!

…sometimes literally.

I narrowly escaped a giant flame-spouting mantis somewhere in that area. No big deal. So did the others, you might say. I know. I saved everyone!

Hoover Dam is still there. Much of the water isn’t. Dammit!

Also I biggened the moon while I was in the area. Yes, I did!

The strip? What happens on the strip might as well stay on the strip, cause I couldn’t care less.

Apparently, I am now on Instagram.

Bob still makes great steaks, and Pam hasn’t greened a chili in a long time, but this summer was special. Plus Moni approved my gringo tacos, so I is a happy cookery-guy!

Vegas might well have included the Santa Monica Pier and a visit to Church, unless I was just sober. Not that I’m not often sober, or that any of this will make sense to you, but I don’t give a damn.

If you make sense to people, they will only make sense back at you!

Vegas might also have included a Corn Dance and a lovely stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but hey, I told you what happens in Vegas gets bigger with every retelling. Sometimes Vegas itself gets bigger with every retelling.

Or so I telled you!

Big skies happen!

Moni almost went boom at the corn dance. My fault on accounta I’m a bad person, but red chili be praised! She came out okay. My thanks to the kind people at Santa Ana Pueblo!

On a serious note, I really enjoyed our stay at Rancho Gallina and a chance to visit a couple of old friends. If you are ever planning a stay in Santa Fe, do yourself a favor and check out this bed and breakfast!

Yeah, there were utility boxes too, in vegas I mean, and the utility was sometimes amazing! I mighta seen a few other street-arts, some of which were quite cool. Or maybe they were hot, but only if being hot is cool, if you’re cool with that, I mean!

Hot pots also happen!As does Kimchi! And Origami statues happen! Lots of happenings happen, as it happens.

The View from Pikes Landing

I would tell you that Vegas included the Chena River, but that might be stretching the bounds of credibility, so I’ll just admit that was Fairbanks. I went to Fairbanks before I became really Southy, and Fairbanks was cool. That said, credibility is a damned kill-joy and he’s not invited into any more of my stories!

Also, I really am a bad man, and I will probably be kicked next time I go to Vegas.

That’s ‘boiled alive’ in What-happens-in-Vegas talk!

***

You may click to embiggen!