I just noticed that I had the wrong photos on my last post. When I was replying to comments I suddenly saw that what I posted was a south east photo at the wrong time of the year. I picked the photos by appearance rather thin by dates.
So here are Solstice photos from 2018. I went for a bike ride about 9:30 PM and the photos were taken from about 9:45 to 10:15.
The summer solstice is one of my favorite days of the year. We have the excitement of the longest day and then the beginning of shorter days.
Here the sun rose at 5:13 AM and sets at 10:00 PM for a total of 16 hours and 47 minutes of sun up.
If we watch we can see twilight at mid night. When I was in the Arctic the midnight sun was always a special event.
I took these photos in 2019 in my yard around 10PM . It was still very pleasant in the evening.
Our garden plants start to develop very quickly with the long days.
I eat at the casino 2 or 3 times a week. It's good food and a good price.
Every Wednesday is senior day. Your meal is $10.00. They have one western dish and one Chinese dish you get to choose from.
Business on Wednesday is great as the seniors like the food and price.
On Wednesday there is always a draw for $500.00. I have won this draw 3 times in the last 7 years.
Today they phoned me and I had won the Father's day draw which is a variety of things worth $500.00. Now one thing is a golf package and I don't golf.
So a phone call like this just made my day.
A few years ago I was seated on my favorite viewing platform quietly watching a patch of wetland. I was watching for ducks and geese and other wetland birds.
There were many reeds around the platform. It was a quiet calm day. All if a sudden I noticed a reed waving back and forth. Something was at the bottom of the reed where I could not see it. After much more shaking, I noticed a small mouse climbing up the reed.
And then, the reed broke off sending the mouse into the water below with a loud plop!. So I thought, "Good bye mousy." No sooner did that thought come into my head when I saw another reed shaking and after a while a mouse climbing up the stem. Well the mouse fell in again and went some where else as obviously it could swim.
So this was my first encounter with a western jumping mouse. They quite often are found in wetlands. Their most common predator is the northern pike!
I had never heard of a jumping mouse before and I have spent lots of time outdoors in natural areas. I haven't seen a western jumping mouse since.
They are interesting little characters and can make tremendous leap. They can jump about 6 feet horizontally and 2 ft high. They move like lightening and before you get a good look at them they are gone.
So on the day of my sighting, I stopped at the nature center to report my siting. They were familiar with the jumping mouse.
Brian Wilson passed away a few days ago after a very productive music career and a life full of struggles.
Brian Wilson and his two brothers started the Beach Boys about50 years ago.
I'm always far behind when it comes to music. I knew who the Beach Boys were and some of their music. With the coming of the internet and You Tube I became familiar with the Beach Boys. I liked their vocals and harmonies. I was amazed at how many instruments were used to make their sound.
With all the ups and downs with personal problems, Brian Wilson left us with some great music and influenced other musicians.
He will be remembered.
We all have close calls from time to time. Sometimes it could be very serious . Other times not that serious if the close call had happened.
I had a close call yesterday that was serious.
I was going through a traffic circle. Now I can hear people saying, "I hate those things." If you are used to them it works. One problem is that the traffic people keep swinging back and forth. Sometimes we get traffic circles and then for a few years traffic circles are torn up.
All right, getting back to the traffic circle. As you come up to a traffic circle there's a lane that allows you to go right without entering the traffic circle. There's another arrow that lets you through to an exit that takes you in the same direction. You stay in the outside lane. The third arrow takes you 3/4 or the way around. Which allows you to proceed left.
Yesterday as I approached the traffic circle there was no traffic so I could enter the outside lane. I was entering and all of a sudden there was a blue blur crossing in front of me at high speed.
I thought I was a goner . Between his excessive speed and my breaking we did not collide.
However, my heart was beating rapidly
This traffic circle has shrubbery in the middle to make things look pretty. If everybody plays by the rules it's attractive. One idiot going through at high speed makes it a hazard.
I am an elderly driver so I don't need any close calls.
I guess we all have to have a bad day or two once in a while.
So, here's my story.
We have been trying to downsize for many years. One of us thinks that not much progress is made and the the other one thinks that we are getting rid of some "stuff"
So the neighbor across the corner was having a garage sale today. The micro manager thought that this would be a good opportunity for us to put things out and people may visit our garage sale while going to the other.
It was a very nasty day. Wind gusts were well into the 60 km range. It was plus 12 C. Now those two things are enough to tell me that it will be a very nasty day. I said we shouldn't have a sale with such poor weather. The Micro manager thought that it was a great opportunity for a garage sale. Words were said. Strong words were said. Finally I gave in and we rounded up stuff to put out.
Now a few things about garage sales. There's more to it than just putting things out. People like to see a sale with much stuff displayed. They look at a sale with only a few things and they don't stop. You need an attractive sign. Your sign must be clear. It was so windy today that the sign was blown across the yard. Put things out so that they are attractively displayed.
Finally about 3 PM the micro manager gave in and said let's quit. The neighbor next door wanted some of these articles so we invited Darcy for a visit. Darcy took about 75% of the stuff. What was left, we took to bibles for missions.
Did we learn anything? Probably not.
