Category Archives: Sunrises

Back to work

Posted on by

I almost never get up early enough to see this kind of sunrise.

On Friday, however, I had to get up early enough so that I could drive over to Huntsville, Al, to get my fingerprints made, and my appointment was at 9:30.

I have been doing a little work every so often for the company I used to work for. Till now, each job has amounted to less than a full day, and I could do it at home. A few days ago, my old boss called and asked if I would be interested in doing some more work. She said, “You can make a lot of money!” That got my attention.

The job, which I agreed to take, will be about half time for six months. The fingerprints, which were done electronically, were required since it had been so long since I had been printed. So, I drove over. It’s about a two hour and fifteen minute drive. The prints were made at a company that specializes in that. After I left there I went by my old office to see a former colleague, Kenneth.

We talked for a while, and then I said I had to leave for home. Kenneth said since it was almost lunch time, I should stay and go to Rosie’s, my favorite Mexican restaurant. I couldn’t resist that.

I took our new dog Zoe with me. She loves to ride, or maybe she’s just afraid she’ll be left behind if she doesn’t hop up into the truck. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to take her with me to work. That means Leah will have to do all the dirty work with the dogs, and Zoe is still not leash trained.

Leah is not entirely onboard with my new job. She doesn’t like for me to be gone that much, and she is not looking forward to trying to walk Zoe. To be honest, I am ambivalent about going back to work, even half time for six months. There was, after all, a reason that I retired, and I have been enjoying having all my time free.

Except for doctors’ appointments, of course.

November Sunrise

Posted on by

This was what greeted me last Monday morning when I got up a little earlier than normal.

A few minutes later it was lighter, but the sun was still below the horizon.

I would get up early every morning for sunrises like this.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving today, if you celebrate. We are having Thanksgiving with my aunt, the last surviving member my father’s generation.

Sunrise, 2 October

Posted on by

This greeted us Monday morning when we woke up.

It was the best sunrise we’ve had in a while, although we appreciate every sunrise, dramatic or not.

Nothing much has been happening around here, or at least nothing very noteworthy. Summer is fading into fall. We’ve had pleasantly cool nights and days that were warm rather than miserably hot and humid. The only bad part is that we have had very little rain.

Molly seems like she is at home now; in fact, she seems a little too much at home. She’s bullying Chloe, so Chloe doesn’t want to come inside. She plays enthusiastically with Smokey; we’ve had to warn Smokey that he needs to tone it down so that he doesn’t have a heart attack. She likes to ambush Sam when he comes down the hall. And she has finally learned that it’s OK to relieve herself outside. She is still using a litter box at night, and occasionally during the day.

Zeke is still escaping every once in a while, but he’s slowing down. I have to go out in the truck to pick him up. He’s hesitant to come to me, but eventually he will. Once the children of the people who bought our old house brought him home. He kept turning his head to look at them as they walked back home. I think he might like to visit a little longer with them.

Sam is still chewing on Zeke’s legs, neck, face and ears on every walk. They are such buddies, I worry about what will happen when Zeke is no longer around. After all, we’ve had Zeke 11 years, so he’s at least 12, maybe older. That’s pretty old for a big dog like him.

Lucy is still barking, and, unfortunately, peeing on dog beds. She loves to sneak out, go around the house, climb the steps up to the front porch, and eat the cats’ food. She absolutely does not want to go on our longer dog walks, so sometimes I leave her at home.

Leah’s feeling some arthritis pain, and what I think is sciatica. My knee hurts.

And that’s all from here.

Sunrise, sunset

Posted on by

I rushed to grab my iPhone Wednesday morning to get a shot of the sunrise.

These last only a few minutes and I was in the bedroom, where I keep my phone by the bed. If I had taken the time to get the camera, it would have been a different sunrise. I wonder how different the shot would have been with the camera. Better? About the same?

Later towards sunset, which we can’t see from our house, I looked towards the east to see what I could see. How about pink virga?

This was so late that the sky was dark just a few minutes later. I used my new Olympus camera for this shot.

Thursday evening Leah went onto the porch to check on the cats. She urgently called me to come out to see the moon rising from behind the mountain.

This is a fairly long exposure, probably a second or more. I swapped to a telephone lens on my camera, so I had to prop the camera on the porch railing. Several shots were blurred, but this one turned out OK. A tripod would have worked better, but moonrises are fast, just like sunrises, and getting it out would have taken so long that the shot would have been gone. As it was, I missed the shot with the moon just peeking over the ridge line.

Dawn of the dogs

Posted on by

We woke up Thursday morning to the sound of Sam and Zeke tap dancing in the living room. Leah got up to shush them and then saw the sunrise through the living room window. She came to get me up, and this is what I shot with the new iPhone’s camera.

sunrise8dec16

I love the view from our bedroom window.

A little while later Zeke started bowing, a sure sign that his hips or back are bothering him. This is an occasional problem. He gets restless and starts stretching. If it gets bad, he whines. The vet we used to take him to couldn’t find anything specific, but suspected arthritis. We have some prescriptions that help after a few days. I started the medication immediately. He seemed a little restless Thursday evening but wasn’t stretching, so maybe this episode won’t be bad.