Panorama Fire Pit

I had a relaxing fire last night, and a good conversation with Mom.  The mosquitoes were terrible so I had to spray myself head to toe with repellant, and resign myself to having to take a full shower again today to clean up before bed.

Recently I needed to upgrade my phone from a Pixel 7A to a Pixel 9A because my battery was going.  Last night I found out how much better the panorama feature is on the new phone, likely AI assisted.  I notice only one error stitching images together, the back steps and roofline of the house in the first picture.  But if you open the pictures full size you get a lot of detail of the back yard with no real distortion.

Just got home from a nice dinner on the bank of the Yahara river.  Dining, relaxing, and watching the boats go by on a beautiful Sunday evening...

Madison's Peregrine Falcons

Peregrine falcons are one of the most widely distributed birds in the world, but fascinating none the less.  There is a livestream of a nest on the MG&E building downtown Madison, overlooking Williamson (Willy) Street and Lake Monona.  (The same building with the three tall smokestacks seen in background of this recent post.)  The falcon home page with the livestream is here, if the embed doesn't work or last below.

It's hard to catch them at home sometimes, but you can back up the stream to see them.  I did a deep dive on them recently, pun intended, and they are a fascinating creature.  I'd love to witness the hunt in real life sometime.  A good four minute video is here if interested.  And a good story on the site linked in the previous paragraph of the origins of the nest and happenings since 2009.

*Edit: I just found this page that has livestream links to other peregrine falcon nests at other power plants in Wisconsin.

Labor Day is Monday, so we have a three day weekend.  Today, I made two batches of flatbread this morning, we went out for burgers for lunch and now I'm watching the Brewer game while typing this.  This evening we're going to grill out jerk chicken and I'm hoping to have a fire.  I also need to call my Mom and plan an overnight trip as I have a week off coming very soon.  My wife will have things to do for her dad the next two days for several hours each day, but we'll still have some time to rest and recreate together.

I know I've had some pretty shallow posts recently, but there really hasn't been much to say.  I'll post some pics if I have a fire tonight.  Or if I'm too tired then tomorrow looks like good fire weather, too.

Henry Vilas Zoo on Friday

I had the occasion for work to visit our local Henry Vilas Zoo again recently.  Not a group outing this time, just me and a client taking advantage of an opportunity to join another staff and client's outing for a few hours of strolling through the zoo on Friday morning.  

A beautiful day and very busy, as always, but if you can find parking it's a great way to fill time and spend zero money.  I was working so my full attention was on my client, but still I couldn't help but take a few quick pictures of some of the residents of our very nice local zoo.  It's easily taken for granted to have this in our city.  I didn't spend a lot of time getting every exhibit or even perfect shots, even though I managed to omit getting the many people, including many moms and lots of kids, in the pictures I did take.  Enough pictures I thought it would be good to share, so please enjoy.

There's a few of them, so after the break, of course.

Dog Days of Summer

We had planned to go to a Jamboree to sample different foods from black-owned restaurants last weekend, part of Black Restaurant Week here in Madison, but it was postponed due to rain until this Sunday.  Because of that, it will be in a different location farther from home and the weather is questionable so I'm not sure if we'll go tomorrow.  

We considered going to Schenk Corners Block Party last night, but instead went out for dinner then to a neighborhood bar for drinks.  Still, a good night out for us.

Mom came up to the house last week.  She had a gathering at her brother's just a bit south, so wanted to make the short extra trip up to see me and Kate.  We set up our screen gazebo tent in the driveway, grilled out dinner and enjoyed a nice visit.  I'm glad she made it up to the house as the big city traffic can get pretty nuts so she tends to stay away, and I don't blame her.  My next visit down to see her will be next month, sometime during my vacation.

Today was to be partly sunny with scattered strong storms, and indeed it has been all overcast and very wet so we will not be going to Eken Park Fest this afternoon after the Packer game, nor the previously mentioned block party tonight.  Instead we will be staying in and I'll be watching the Brewers go for a franchise-record 14 wins in a row.

Starkweather creek, from this morning's walk.

A bit disappointing after having bigger plans, but the rest is needed and even welcomed.  I even napped for the last half of the Packer game today, waking up to another storm approaching and scuttling any plans outside the rest of the afternoon.  I'm not sure what similar events are left yet this year, but that's okay.  It feels like we are entering the dog days of summer.

Sunflower and afternoon rain and wind today, dark enough at times for the garage lights to turn themselves on.

Not a lot new here, otherwise, at least nothing that I want to discuss here.  The sunflowers continue to grow and bloom, and ordinary life continues.  Mostly drama-free, which is good but doesn't provide much writing fodder.  Blissfully mundane, I guess you could say.  

The Brewer game is about to start, so that will be most of my evening.  Hope you are well.

Saturday Picture Post +

Plus commentary, that is.

My wife and I spent time on separate chores this morning, mine at home and hers more unexpected and difficult.  By early afternoon we were able to be done and go out for a nice, but very filling lunch together, then relaxed at a pub for a few drinks before coming home to watch the Brewers win their game and extend their lead in the division, league, and all of Major League Baseball.  

'Chuffed' isn't a word often used here in the US, but seems to aptly describe our pride as fans of our small-market team doing so well.  It's happened with our different Wisconsin teams at different times, but it's always really nice to look at the standings and see your team on top and enjoy it while it lasts.