General
These posts defy normal categorization.
2023
2023-03-11 Web Upgrades to v5.1
Before finishing my tour of North America in 2022, I began dreaming about my next expedition. It was the maritime provinces in Canada that I most wanted to explore next.…
WebWork Underway
Recently, my web team began working on improvements to the shadeTreeImaging website. There may be an occasional hiccup as changes are being implemented. Please be patient!
2023 – The Road Ahead, The Road Behind
A Word On My Recovery: The injuries I suffered from the fall I took from my bike last November, which put me in a Trauma Center for a week have…
2022
2022-12-04: I’ve Had Better Novembers
Some of you may have heard about my recent injuries. I thought I’d share some details and bring my saga up to date. November was an awful month for me.…
Memories of My Friend Jerry Goffe
Ken, a friend in Albuquerque, called me on Monday to let me know that our mutual friend Jerry Goffe passed away Sunday night. Ken and I talked at length about…
A Little Whitehorse History
[and an unexpected connection to a certain pumpkin-headed ex-president.] I did a little digging into the history of Whitehorse, and among the tidbits I gathered, I learned Don-the-Con Trump’s grandfather…
Preparations For My 2022 Expedition
The homeward-bound leg of my 2021 trip to Texas turned up several problems with my RV, and I vowed to update, upgrade, and repair all the systems I rely on…
2021
Bird Gallery Update: Now Completed
Before my recent surgery on Oct-25, I’d completed the revisions for the descriptions on all but one group of birds in my collection. That group was the Pelagic set. For…
Warbler Galleries Updated
With 40 species in the set, it was quite a chore to get them all updated. It is still an educational experience for me to sift through scholarly articles looking…
Revisions, and My Continuing Education
I finished revising the collection of birds in the “Thrush” clan, and earlier this week I completed revisions to the “Thrasher” clan. Both sets are now ready for prime-time viewing…
Is It Your Tern To Swallow?
In between my MacGyvering projects with the RV, I’m working on the species galleries. I’ve been revising these accounts and their descriptions most of this year (2021). In July, I…
Updates To The “Sparrow” Galleries
I’ve finished revising the species collection I call “Sparrows”. Besides the classic sparrows, it includes buntings, juncos, and towhees. There are 39 species in this set. Included now with the…
Updates To The “Shorebirds” Collection
I’m working my way down the list of species in my collection, group-by-group. Some of these pseudo families are extensive, and rather than sharing a set of these larger collections,…
2021-07-31, More From Behind The Scenes
My RV projects are going well, but slow. I found a few weaknesses in the boat-lift (I’ll have to share details sometime, but not just now.) I still have some…
Working Behind The Scenes
Since returning home from my second expedition to Texas this spring, I’ve occupied my time with improvements to my RV. The time I spent on the road these past months…
2021-03-09 Tuesday’s Quick Visit To Louisiana
I woke up this morning and had plans to visit the Rockefeller Wildlife Nature Reserve in Louisiana. I took a ferry ride across the waterway at Cameron and drove past…
2020
2020-11-28 End of November Gallery Updates
I finished the gallery updates from my half day at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. As I pen these words, I’ve made my way into New Mexico. I’m in Glenwood, where…
2020-11-24 Late November Gallery Updates
Sometime next week I expect to be back on the road in search of new birds to meet. For now, I’m still working on my friend’s home in Thatcher, getting…
2020-11-20 Mid-November Gallery Updates
I know I’ve been posting a lot lately about the updates on the bird species galleries I’ve been doing. This updating process is going to take a while. After all,…
2020-11-02 Recent Updates
Considering we are into November here in Idaho, the weather has been mild. Days have been mostly in the sixties, while nights have been in the twenties and thirties. I’ve…
2020-10-22 Gallery Updates and Stories From The Road
In the nine days since my last post, I’ve been sharing my work on my Facebook page. I’ve updated eight more galleries and recalled an old memory of a great…
2020-10-13 More Gallery Updates
I’m close to leaving on my next road adventure. I’m headed to Idaho via the long and winding road, where I plan to spend time with friends. I haven’t made…
Is This A Hate Letter?
Does hate exist? From a philosophical perspective, a case could be made about the non-existence of things negative (hate being the negative of love). In short, the argument goes that…
Blood In The Lungs, 2020 Edition
For a report on my December 2015 health crisis, read <This Post>. The last health report I posted was short on facts. Important information has since been revealed that explains…
2020-07-18 Recent Covid Scare
For the past two weeks or more, I’ve been experiencing a slight cough for several minutes after starting a horizontal vacation. In the beginning, these coughs were mild and didn’t…
2020-02-21: The Road To Texas Begins
My journey into Texas has been delayed while I’ve been preparing my travel gear for the trip. I put a lot of my energy into a kayak I’d hoped to…
Bird Galleries and Much Needed Maintenance
I don’t know how many folks have looked into the “Birds I Have Known” galleries lately, but recently I discovered it’s been a mess for several months. Yesterday I began…
Looking Forward to Miles and Miles of Texas
I’m getting closer to making good on my threat to hit the road in earnest. Texas is calling. My goal outbound is to connect with some friends in Arizona and…
2019
Alzheimer’s: Pain and Tragedy
I got a surprise email recently from a friend in Arizona. I’d not heard from him since I had an unpleasant conversation with his wife three years ago. I tried…
WebSite 5.0 New Feature List
What is the vision for this website you may ask? My first goal or hope is to cause the viewer to love nature. I believe when people love something, they…
Website Version 5.0 Coming Soon
When “out of the box” solutions come up short, it’s time to find a new store. I’ve had a vision dating back a dozen years about delivering my image captures…
The Tapestry; A Short Story
Once upon a time, an enormous woven tapestry was discovered by a wandering troop of people. They knew nothing of its origins, but they admired its intricate beauty. As they…
2018
2014 Blog Image Sets (Re-Direct)
Sorry for this, but I moved the page that this link should point to. Click <Here> for the intended page.
2014, A Year I Almost Forgot
This post preceded a series of posts I went to the archives for an retold those lost stories. I have images catalogued by date going back to 2003. Before that…
Flame In A Bottle
This video is from “back-in-the-day” recorded on 8mm film. The ‘Flame-In-A-Bottle’ trick is something we used to enjoy back in the late sixties, when our lifestyles were more in tune…
Excerpts From “The Teachings Of Don Juan”
“Then what must a man do to become a man of knowledge?” “He must challenge and defeat his four natural enemies.”
2018-06-16 Busted Web Pages
The notes about my previous unpleasant experiences don’t apply anymore. As of July 2019, I’m finally seeing the materialization of my vision. It has been a challenge to find a…
2017
How To Save The Environment, Two Views
I found myself in a disturbed state recently. Earlier this season, the museum’s science team permitted me to photograph Elf Owls (endangered in California) at a remote location. The museum’s…
Collisions In The Eastern Sierra
Later this week, I plan to drive north to visit friends and chase birds in the Eastern Sierras. I always enjoy travelling to the region, because of the spectacular scenery.…
New Gallery Added (Eggs And Their Shapes)
I recently posted a set of ad hoc galleries to show images of bird eggs. I’ve since updated and migrated these images to the Gallery (see main menu). To view…
Cutouts: A Retrospective
I’ve been pursuing generating images I call “Cutouts” for several years. Truth be told, I wanted to display them in my galleries as thumbnails for the species albums. I have…
Rat Theater Version 2.1
Processing images from the boat cruise consumed all my time this month. Recently Scott Tremor (San Diego Natural History Museum) and I camped out in our local desert to trap…
Memories: New and Old
Whether I leave my old homestead or I hang onto it, there are many memories connected to this house and the neighborhood. I was about to start the 7th grade…
Trusting the Universe
There is no wrong course, except for no course. The fallout from selling the property has ramifications on the rest of my life. If I stay, I risk stagnation by…
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
I decided to put the Poway property on the market. I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of moving on, and the pro’s list seems longer and stronger. I will ask…
Introducing: Debbie Merrill
One joy for me as photo editor for the upcoming book, The San Diego Mammal Atlas, has been the opportunity to work with some very talented local nature photographers. One…
On The Existence Of Shadows
Sometimes when my brain quiets down and the noise of worldly things subsides, philosophical thoughts will creep in. Shadows, and their very existence, and all the parallel concepts (such as…
2016
When You Come To The Fork In The Road …
Take it! Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra was a special kind of genius. His colorful sayings may have confused us, but he was not confused. His way of looking at the world…
2016-06-04 I’m Baaaack!
After about a month of grinding, I’ve converted all my galleries, which were handled by the old server (remember that it crashed for 3 weeks) to a newer, more integrated…
2016-05-07 Stuck In Modoc Mud (With a Poem)
Driving south on Highway 139 out of Tulelake California, I found a quiet side road to pull off and camp for the night. Tulelake resides in Siskiyou County, but the…
2016 January – A Little Ketchup B4 I Get Started
Before I launched on my recent trip to New Mexico, I had a couple of local photo outings (even during my health crisis). I don’t think any great images came…
After A Long Absence
I’ve been slowly moving towards getting on the road again. Health issues have played hell with my body and soul. I made a big move that was driven by a…
2015
Health Drama (blood in the lungs)
I recently spent some time in the hospital, immobilized and hooked up to tubes. I’m told I was in considerable danger for my life. It had been two months of…
What Is Gossip?
What Is Gossip? According to definition, it is “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.” In daily life,…
No Matter Where You Go
I sometimes get a phrase or idea in my head that curiosity runs rampant with until I can learn the source. Recently, the phrase “No matter where you go, there…
What To Tell Editors: Just Say “NO”
I’ve spent time of late considering the relationship of how to balance my verbal presentations with the almost Nazi-like hacking by of the grammar checking software tools at my disposal.…
Technology, Love It or Hate It
I love technology when it works. I am guilty of dependence on things technical. When I take pictures the computer becomes an indispensable tool to process the files into a…