The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning
Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.
Other creatures in our world
This chipmunk has been hanging out near the collection of yard & garden tools on the patio:
When threats appear, the critter vanishes into the clutter and waits until we go elsewhere. It’s almost as good as the roof gutter pipe!
Those stripes remain surprisingly visible in the shadows between stacks of clay pots, though, if you know where to look.
Mary saw a fox trotting behind the garden, gripping a (dead) turkey chick in its jaws, with the hen in hot pursuit. The fox dropped the chick, circled the pine grove, picked up the chick, and departed stage right. The hen eventually led her remaining chicks into the yard, but gathered them underneath while watching for danger:
She settled down for a few minutes:
With the fox safely departed, she released the chicks:
Then they returned to foraging, with one chick trying out its wings:
Two days earlier, she led nine chicks through the yard; we think the fox picked off a chick a day. She lost two more during the next four days, suggesting they rapidly improve their ability to scamper out of harm’s way.
A loud rat-a-tat-a-tat drew our attention to a Pileated Woodpecker excavating a tree along Rt 376:
Pileated woodpeckers sculpt their holes with great care, often inspecting their work for smoothness and, perhaps, lunch:
Those holes go deep enough inside the tree to serve as shelters for smaller birds during storms.
We occasionally see and hear them, as well as their smaller relatives, remodeling trees around the house. Good hunting!
Taken with the Pixel XL zoomed all the way tight, cropped and sharpened a smidge.
Spotted in Lake Walton on an out-and-back ride to the Hopewell Junction Depot end of the rail trail:
Mary counted & guesstimated fifty turtles in the backwater.
They’re the snuggliest turtles I’ve ever seen:
Taken with the Pixel XL at maximum zoom, hence the gritty overpixelization.
It’s early springtime in the Hudson Valley:
The birds have been making companionable springtime noises, but it’ll be a while before the nesting season starts up.
Taken with the DSC-H5, diagonally through two layers of 1955-ish window glass.
We spotted a motion twitch outside and finally figured out what was going on:
There must be something yummy down inside that branch scar, but you gotta keep checking your six:
Where’s a hawk when you need one?
We spotted this anomalous situation halfway up Cochran Hill Road:
It looks like a Verizon FiOS cable box filled with jumpers for all the houses along the way:
You’ll note the missing lock and misplaced latch. The box face isn’t scarred, so getting in must not have required much effort.
The box carries no company identification or emergency numbers, but it does have two theft deterrents:
Perhaps the deterrents worked better in warmer months.
Given how little Verizon wants to hear from its FiOS customers, I have sub-zero motivation for devoting the hours required to find out if it’s their problem. Somebody along Cochran should have enough standing for the case.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 