Sunday, March 7, 2021

I Spy with my Eye

I got a grace period on writing this blog entry since P.J. posted his photo challenge for the month of February a little bit late this month. I'd checked it out and I had taken enough photos last month to get something together, so here goes. Last month's challenge was, I Spy with my Eye, a pretty broad theme, so just about anything goes.

1. Sunset

While I can't control what the power companies hang in the back yard easement, I can enjoy a beautiful sunset. I was standing in the kitchen looking to the east thinking, what the heck is that glow outside? I decided to check out the view to the west and was greeted with this. I called to everyone in the house to get out and check this out and then took a couple of shots. Should have taken the shot first, then called to everyone, but it still turned out nice even though it was already fading by the time I took the shot.

2. Covid Hair

Most of my friends are well aware that I've been growing my hair out since the pandemic started, not because I thought I'd start a different look, but more that I didn't feel like walking into a place with lots of other people while a disease was possibly about. More than likely, I'll get my hair cut once I've received my vaccinations, but until then, my hair continues to grow. This shot was taken on my birthday last month, 4 days after I'd passed one year without getting my haircut. Once I'd started embracing a short hair look, I figured my "long hair" days were gone and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the longest my hair would ever be would be after I turned 63.

3. You Make Me Happy

For those of you following along, one of the pleasures I've gotten this past year is viewing some of the artwork of talented people and the randomness of finding painted rocks out and about. I spotted this rock along a loop trail in the wilderness park north of my house while I was out cleaning up the trail. In reality, I probably should have picked this one up, but decided to leave it for others to enjoy. I also knew that eventually, it would disappear and I was correct. The next time I hiked that particular section of trail, the rock was gone, either picked up by rangers who would have considered it trash, or by another collector of painted rocks. 

4. Strengthening mind and body

This shot was taken on one of the many trails in the foothills north of my house. I love to hike on these trails just to clear my thoughts, get in shape and think about possible spots where I could hide a new geocache. Right down that fire road to the right about 200 feet or so is an old geocache, hidden by another person, that I found many moons ago, so I can't hide anything here, but that's not the point. I got out, got some good exercise and had a great view. And for those of you who are curious, the mountain on the right is the taller of the two peaks. Cucamonga Peak tops out at slightly over 8,800 feet above sea level.

5. It's too early

This photo was taken on February 23rd. It's the middle of winter, for crying out loud, and snakes should not be out and about at this time. But as climate change happens, we can expect to see this more and more unless we wake up and realize that there are things we can do to mitigate what could be a global crisis. I guess this is also a public service announcement, especially for people who live in Southern California, that you should always be careful when you're out on a hike or looking for geocaches, since we know these creatures could be active at any time. This gopher snake is pretty harmless, but I've seen rattlesnakes out and about this winter too.

And there you have it, my take on the theme I Spy with my Eye for P.J.'s photo challenge for this month. Click on the link to see his and other people's interpretation of this month's theme.





10 comments:

  1. The is one stunning sunset! And, a little photo editing would remove all traces of the power lines! Now that we're not in the Polar Vortex deep freeze anymore, I look forward to getting out and about more to strengthen my mind, body and spirit. No self-respecting snake would have been caught out in our February weather. Wouldn't[t it be fun to post two pics....one before the haircut and one after!? I love finding painted rocks. My grandlittles would love to paint and leave them somewhere. Hopefully, no one would think they were trash! Great set of pics. Happy March!

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    1. Thanks. I have tinkered around with some photo editing on other shots I've taken from my backyard. If I weren't so lazy, I could have moved out into the front yard and probably eliminated the need for any photo editing altogether.

      And I do plan on taking a before and after photo. Problem is my wife really likes the long locks, so now I have a bit of dilemma.

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  2. Great photos again this month. I've had one haircut in the last year. Fortunately, I got shorn pretty short late last February just as we realized how bad this was. I had a friend shear me a few months ago. It's starting to bug me once again. And I'm with you, way too early for snakes!

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    1. Thanks Mike. I kept my hair short, but just decided to let it grow during this time.

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  3. Long hair suites you well, or maybe it's your bright smile? Either way you look happy.
    Love the sunset. The snake though? Not so much.
    How long till you may expect the vaccine?

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    1. Thanks Tamara.
      I'm enjoying life, although it would be nice to get out and really get out there again.
      No set date for when I can get the vaccine. California is still at age 65 tier or education related. Next tier, I should be eligible.

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  4. Wow - that sunset is stunning! We've been getting out and about on familiar trails for a good year now...it helps to think about hiding geocaches, looking for signs of changing seasons (more so here than there) and sometimes choosing a photo theme for the day. Anything to bolster physical and mental wellness. As for geocaching, have you logged the travel bug on Mars yet? I just did it earlier this week. I had a haircut last May, after the first round of restrictions eased. My hair is now longer than it's ever been in my life. And I'm so glad I grew out my bangs in 2014...that could have been the frosting on the cake of a bad year.

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  5. Thank you very much.

    And yes, I logged the Mars bug on March 17th.

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  6. I could never go without a haircut for that long. I waited quite a while, but got one when NY opened it up. There were a lot of restrictions in place though, so I felt pretty safe. On the other hand, I've grown a beard over the whole time (though I do trim it) and actually like it. I've never done it before, so it'll likely stay for a while.

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    1. I had a beard for a long time. In fact, I think my youngest was five years old when I finally shave off both beard and mustache and my wife saw my "naked" face for the first time. I grew the beard back two or three more times, but the last time, it came in totally white which makes me look a lot older than I am.

      When I shave my beard off in the summer of 2018, one of my co-workers dubbed me Benjamin Buttons because she said I was getting younger every day what with the new beardless face and the anticipation of that being my last year before I retired.

      Now my wife says I can continue to grow the hair, but don't grow another beard. She doesn't like them.

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