Friday Night Photos - Snow Aplenty edition

It's coming down out there. Nae doubt about it, there'll be shovelling hell tomorrow.

So something from a warmer time:

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Bollox Ref's picture

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

Can you explain to me how cats so comfortably sit so close to the fire, that when you touch them with your hand you feel burnt?

Beautiful, frilly orchids!

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Bollox Ref's picture

@janis b

A vet told me that cats can tolerate heat far better than those that supply the daily kibble.

Purfleet likes to sit in the alcove above.

Also too, I believe the plants are irises.

I would supply music, but listening to Stanford's "A Song of Agincourt" was uninspiring. Bollox Minor texted to remind me that a distant grandfather fought along with Henry V in 1415, but it didn't make the music really come alive.

Oh well.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref @Bollox Ref @Bollox Ref

Has Purfleet always sat in the upper bunk?

I thought you might enjoy Agnes Obel.

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Bollox Ref's picture

@janis b

Being used as the introduction to a film set in the wilds of western Ireland.... Dark, comedic, but unresolved essentially.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

Do you mean the abrupt ending? Maybe there's a more complete version. I'll look.

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Bollox Ref's picture

@janis b

But, the piece conjured up the idea of a film. The abrupt ending was part of the thought.

When I hear pieces of music, I sometimes think of how they would work with film.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

thanks for illustrating more of your way.

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janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

that's a little too far back in time.

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janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

because of the 'Y' shaped centre. Thanks for the correction.

Cheers!

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RantingRooster's picture

@Bollox Ref Gigi, likes to tuck her paws under the radiant heater. It was 78 degrees outside yesterday but she is always cold.

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

dystopian's picture

@RantingRooster Hey RR, I love yer floor and sig file signoff

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

RantingRooster's picture

@dystopian a huge floor rug my wife bought, I think to hide all the cat fur balls. (We had 4 at the time) lol.

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

janis b's picture


.

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janis b's picture

dystopian's picture

@janis b So inviting. How I would love to walk your trails with my binocs. It looks lush.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

on that walk, for knowledge and inspiration.

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janis b's picture

@janis b

http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/trees-native-botanic...

Most of the many trails in the Waitakere Ranges are closed due to Kauri Dieback.

The council put a lot of time and effort to open this one, with raised trails and boardwalks, so that feet didn't touch the roots. But that doesn't exclude possums and rats from walking around the bush.

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dystopian's picture

@janis b Very interesting plant, thank you for that! There is nothing like the natural world to ceaselessly amaze me.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

boriscleto's picture

This time I took my 150-450 F4.5-5.6. A much better lens than my 55-300, but very heavy (2000 grams). Plus the 800g camera, and the tripod, and the gimbal...

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

janis b's picture

@boriscleto

especially for the goats (?) looking at you questioningly.

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boriscleto's picture

@janis b A subspecies of takin or goat-antelope.

The big one and the little one were sparring...(The blonde coat is thought to be the origin of the Golden Fleece legend)

Syracuse is one of about 22 zoos in North America that have them.

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

janis b's picture

@boriscleto

The large, moose-like snout has large sinus cavities to warm up the air a takin inhales before it gets to the lungs. Without this adaptation, takins would lose a large amount of body heat just by breathing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_takin

It makes me wonder whether some animals whose environment is a zoo, retain their natural capacities. What do you think?

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boriscleto's picture

@janis b So they must have thought they were on the Tibetan plateau...

It was in the 40s when I visited this week...

They can stand up on their rear legs to reach for higher vegetation. They retain that ability...

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

janis b's picture

@boriscleto

so that they can exercise their lungs in the cold. But you, as a human, may feel differently ; ).

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dystopian's picture

@boriscleto GREAT photos BC! That is what you get for lugging that weight around. Wink Wonderful pix! So on photo #2... I would swear those are the tertials of a Falcated Duck (formerly Teal)! Named after the long curved (falcated) tertials (inner wing feathers that ride on the side over the wing when swimming). I presume this is perhaps a first-winter male just acquiring its first adult plumage? Are they breeding them there? The adult males are spectacular. I saw the first modern Lower 48 record at Newport Bay, CA, about Jan. 1970.

Again, GREAT pix!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

boriscleto's picture

@dystopian I have a photo of the male on January 2nd.

The ducks always seem to be changing. There used to be Mandarins, but I didn't see any this year, or in the summer when I went. No Common merganser or Smew. There I didn't see the Baikal teal either.

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

janis b's picture

@boriscleto

reflection of environmental change. Who knows?

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dystopian's picture

@boriscleto Sounds like they have a GREAT waterfowl collection. I wonder if they could be going to a local city park pond for a bread line? I am fairly sure the female Falcated Duck never acquires any color on the head. But it can get some of those black and white feathers on the breast. Be neat to get a series of shots as it molts showing the changes. This is a rarely seen plumage (save in captivity) for us in the Western hemisphere. I watched a Ruff once go from 90% bright breeding plumage all rufous to dull winter brown in less than 3 weeks once. Got some shots on the way.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

boriscleto's picture

@dystopian Are the mallards. They are not tagged. The rest of the ducks are tagged and have the flight feathers clipped.

Sometimes the move some of the ducks into the aviary. Last year it was Mandarins, this year it was Wood ducks. They used to have a second swan pond but that is now the African Red River Hog enclosure.

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

dystopian's picture

@boriscleto Sounds like you have a great zoo there. Nice to have something like that handy! Especially for a photog!

I looked again and I see a few black and white feathers coming in on the flank of the Falcated Duck above. Only a male would get those. So I think between the color on the head and that, it must be an immature male. The only other possibility is an adult male and they go full brown like female or imm. in eclipse plumage. Again, we don't get to see these like this here. Lucky to get an ad. male in a No.Am. field guide.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

dystopian's picture

Beautiful Iris photo BR! Love that purple. Those 'teeth' say Iris. We got 3" of badly needed rain the last 30 hours or so and might get more. Finally. But don't get to use my snow shovel on it. Down here near San Antonio they looked at it and it was like the SNL skit with Murray and Martin "What the hell is that thing".

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5 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

[video:https://youtu.be/yuFI5KSPAt4]

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dystopian's picture

@janis b Thanks for the tune, great song. They were a good band. Fellow LA people.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

dystopian's picture

Hope all are well!

Long-billed Thrasher, a distant relative of the Red-bottomed Bed-Thrasher.
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White-eyed Vireo at our birdbath.
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Have a great one all!

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7 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

Heya, silly bizarro snowmen of yesterday! Guess where I am (pictures not necessarily related, but there is a certain "fun in the sun" theme, because come on people, it's JANUARY!)?!?

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

janis b's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

somewhere between a rock and a hard place ; ).

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