Using the built-in Gallery widget and bird images from a recent shoot.
A gallery experiment
Month: March 2023
Run 767: OCD undone
After not running my normal schedule this week for various reasons, I set about to do a run today. And then a downpour started. I had already changed, which meant the chance of me skipping out was actually quite small.
I waited out the downpour and then headed out, opting to do a shorter 5K run on the river trail. It would be shorter, sure, but also faster. Plus, it was still showering, and I’ll admit, I just didn’t feel like running a 10K in the rain.
It wasn’t that bad, though. I wore two layers and never felt cold, despite it being 7C, and had no issues other than feeling just a touch stiff at the start, given the four days of not-running.
There were a few people out walking because some people will go out for a walk in any kind of weather–usually with a dog–but overall, it was a pretty quiet outing and in a way, kind of nice. I mean, I’m not saying I want to keep doing runs in the rain, but the river trail is a very different running experience and change is good and all that.
Stats:
Run 767 Average pace: 5:35/km Location: Brunette River Trail Start: 12:56 p.m. Distance: 5:04 km Time: 28:08 Weather: Showers Temp: 7ºC Humidity: 90% Wind: low BPM: 152 Weight: 163.7 Total distance to date: 5705 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (377 km)
Let there be (night) light
A light fixture outside a home in the neighbourhood casting funky shadows.
My subconscious is trying to cheer me up via dreams
I’ve had a lot of dreams the past few nights, and I’ve actually remembered several of them. They are both silly and weird, as all good dreams should be. Given the stress I’ve gone through lately, it almost seems like my subconscious mind is trying to offer a calming balm of sorts. I’m good with that.
Dream #1: The cat and the keyboard
This dream involved one of my internet gaming pals, Circuit. It played out over some kind of webcam he had set up. He was showing off a couple new things: a shiny new black keyboard with a knob (like the one I have). For some reason, the keyboard was on the carpet. I remember the carpet was yellow. And he also had a new black cat, though I never got the name. Circuit mentioned that one issue is the cat seemed to barf a lot and just as he said this the cat barfed on his new keyboard. That’s where the dream ended.
I laughed when I woke up and remembered the dream.
Dream #2: Mom and the duck device
The second dream featured my mom, who is now 88. In the dream, she looked like she was in her late 40s or early 50s, but I couldn’t tell if the dream was in the past or if she was unnaturally young in the present. It started in a booth of what I think was a McDonald’s. I don’t recall seeing anything to positively ID it, but that was the vibe. The scene abruptly changed to outside, near a tree by the road that went past the McDonald’s. I think it may have been the McDonald’s in my hometown of Duncan, so the road would be the island highway, though due to its location, traffic does not go roaring past here. My mom was talking to a man who was down low by the tree, dogging or something. He apparently had something controversial to report, and she was acting like a news reporter, complete with audio recording device. She promised not to use his name and turned the device on to start recording their conversation. The device was disguised as a duck and to turn it on, she had to squeeze the duck, which caused it to open its mouth and quack. She then held the duck to him and started the questions. That’s where the dream ended.
I not only laughed when I woke up and remembered this dream, I laugh every time I think of it. My mom was holding the duck like an Uzi, too.
March 2023 weight loss report: Up 2.2 pounds
Good news: I am still down for the year!
Bad news: I gained 2.2 pounds instead of losing the 1.5 pounds I wanted to.
Mediocre news: This means I didn’t fully undo the weight loss of February, just…most of it.
March has been a tough month and I dealt with it mostly through comfort food, which is wrong and bad, but perhaps understandable.
My goal for April is to keep running regularly, and to get below 160 pounds, the same goal I had for March. The difference is I now have to lose 3.7 pounds to achieve it, nearly a pound per week. It is possible, but it’s going to take a lot of discipline.
I may take up meditation.
Let’s see where I’m at in 30 days!
Stats:
Weight: January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds Current: 163.7 pounds Year to date: Down 0.5 pounds March 1: 161.5 pounds March 31: 163.7 pounds (up 2.2 pounds) Body fat: March 1: 23.5% March 31: 24.1% (up 0.6%) Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
A Flickr test using a Flicker
UPDATED, April 21. 2023: I removed the Photonic Gallery plugin, so the image is no longer showing from Flickr. But I've added a local version of the flicker, so the post doesn't look weird.
Just testing to see how photos look using the Photonic Gallery plugin with a free Flickr account.
A totally on point YouTube comment
I don’t discuss politics much here any more (one of the perks of generally avoiding news sources), but I was amused by this YouTube comment made in response to a video covering today’s announcement of former President Trump’s (first) indictment:
Birding, March 25, 2023 (Centennial Beach and Crescent Beach)
In which I got mercilessly pelted by hail.
Where: Centennial Beach, Crescent Beach Weather: Clouds, rain, hail, sun, 5-7ºC
The Outing
More like CentenniHAIL Beach, amirite? (I am right, see below.)
After last weekend’s lovely spring-like weather (it was technically still winter), this outing’s weather was decidedly less lovely and winter-like (it was technically now spring).
We expected the morning to be cool and cloudy, and it was. We headed out, with the usual low tide, capturing a few shots on the vast mud flats before moving up the trails. We neared the end, having spotted a few of the usual suspects–golden crowned sparrows, wigeons and others. It started to get drizzly, which was not ideal, then the drizzle turned into an assault of hail. This was totally not ideal.
Fortunately, we were close to the 12th Avenue pump house, which has a nice covered area to hide under in situations like this. I assured Nic that hail never lasts, so it wouldn’t be long before we could venture out from under cover.
Fifteen minutes later, we were still waiting, with the hail varying between relentless and slightly-less-relentless. I have never seen such persistent hail. It started piling up like snow. I finally made the call to head out when the worst of it seemed to have stopped, so we headed back at a brisk pace, getting pelted for most of the way. As expected, the storm pretty much stopped by the time we were back where we’d started, so we took the opportunity to shoot some ducks, robins and Brewer’s blackbirds.
Still soggy, we headed out to our Plan B backup, Crescent Beach, noting, ominously, that it appeared to be clearing up everywhere except precisely where we were heading.
When we got to Crescent Beach, it was showering, so we sat in the car and waited. About 15 minutes later, the last of the rain passed and the sun came out and I was all yay!
The tide was out here, too, which was the first time I’ve seen it here, so the usual boat shots were not to be had, as there was literally no water for them to run through. We did see lots of gulls and some wigeons and green-winged teals, along with a rare group of Northern flickers clustering in a stand of trees. It was just nice to have a bit of sun, though.
The Shots
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Blackbird
- Brewer’s blackbird
- European starling
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Northern flicker
- Song sparrow
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
- Northern shrike
Waterfowl:
- American wigeon
- Dunlins
- Gadwall
- Great blue heron
- Green-winged teal
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Mallard
- Sanderlings
Common:
- Crow
- Pigeon
- Seagull
Non-birds:
- Maybe a crab somewhere in the low tide?
Water at Burnaby Lake
It seems kind of obvious, but in this case it’s actually kind of weird!
For the last year, there’s been a large chunk of exposed land to the east of Piper Spit that was previously underwater. Today, I went there to take some photos because it was sunny and warm(ish), and lo, the water has somehow surged enough to almost completely submerge the land once more:
It was also windy as heck, hence the ripply waves. I’ll have more photos soon™.
Bird art: Great blue heron
A more detailed version compared to the first heron I did in this style. Based on a photo I took at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on March 18, 2023.
Run 766: Unplanned, OCD addressed
I got the urge to do some kind of exercise today and didn’t want to be stuck mid-evening on the treadmill, so off I went for a late afternoon 5K run on the weekend, something I basically never do.
And it was fine!
I did a short loop counter-clockwise, running to the 3K marker, then turning back. I had a decent BPM of 152 and matched my last 5K pace of 5:38/km, with only the second “okay, put on the brakes a bit” km being the outlier at 5:52/km.
No issues at all and despite wearing two layers, I didn’t feel overdressed, as there was a bit of a chill in the air, especially with the sun hiding behind the clouds most of the time.
The OCD part: My total distance to date had been 5695 km prior to today’s run, meaning every time I ran 10K, it would never be a nice, even number. By doing a 5K today, it now stands at not just a nice even number, but one that’s easy to remember: 5700 km. Woo!
Stats:
Run 766 Average pace: 5:38/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 4:03 p.m. Distance: 5:04 km Time: 28:21 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 9ºC Humidity: 71% Wind: low BPM: 152 Weight: 163.5 Total distance to date: 5700 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (372 km)
Bigfoot eating pancakes
Adobe has gotten into the text AI business and claims their system avoids the whole “using artistic works without the artist’s permission” thing–which is great! They’ll probably attach a hefty subscription price to the service once it’s out of beta, which is…vintage Adobe.
For now, it’s free, and I’m in the beta, so here is Bigfoot eating pancakes on a sunny outdoor deck.
