photos – Page 2 – A Jaunty Little Blog

January 8, 2020January 9, 2020

A Most Wonderful Time

Friends,

The holidays took a busy turn this year. As in previous years, our trip started in the mountains, dropping our elderly pups at the Damp Dog Lodge so they don’t get under foot and drop our elderly parents at their home in the desert.

With the puppy dogs safely napping in front of the fireplace, we headed down the hill for the day.

We had snacks and ate too much…

…then settled into dinner and ate far too much.

Gifts were exchanged in our gift exchange wherein I arbitrarily raised the spending limit this year, which elicited an audible gasp from my Mom.

When we returned, the snow wasn’t terribly deep. When we left on Boxing Day, the berm created by the snow plows was an obstacle that the definitely-not-designed-for-the-snow Michelin tires could not handle.

I’d say that we had a delightful time over the three days. It was nice to see the family, the hill was resplendent in its winter garb, and except for nearly crashing the Jeep, it was pretty relaxing.

The next week was a little less relaxing. More on that in a bit…

Your pal,

– bob

June 4, 2019

Filling In The Blanks – Dark Mode Edition

Friends,

I know I’ve been awfully quiet lately and I’d like to be able to tell you there’s a good reason for the silence. I almost dropped the cliché “life got in the way” nonsense, but really it’s been a result of me changing up the editorial stance here. (not so fast, buster. there’s only one editor here. -ed That’s not what I meant.) When you find out that the boss is reading, one might think it’s time to tone it down a bit. I’ll leave it to you to decide if I’ve actually toned down much of anything.

A brief, but very important note: My nephew just got his first car. It’s one of those Toyota Camry wagon things and he’s pretty excited about it. Despite its official name, it has little or nothing to do with Scotland, and nothing at all to do with this. Also it’s should be mentioned at this juncture that this development makes me feel very old.

If you look in the right middle 2/5ths of this shot, I’ve since cut a bunch of that down. You see, the Idyllwild Fire Protection District folks stopped by and observed that the weeds were too high and the branches were too low and all that had to go. I filled up four 5’x9′ trailer’s worth of leaves and pine needles and branches to haul to the dump. It took all weekend and I was left feeling like a human-sized cramp. Or a bruise. Or maybe an enormous scrape.

We headed to the desert a couple weeks ago for my uncle’s 80th birthday. If you had told me he would’ve hit his 70th, I would’ve been surprised. The party was fine, but everybody’s looking pretty frail nowadays.

More later, like trip planning, cheese graters, tiny cars, and maybe a little something about organ music!

Now how excited are you?

Very. Right?

Your pal,

– bob

May 6, 2019May 6, 2019

What Are You Doing? Digging Through The Photos Edition

Friends,

One of the big reasons I’ve started taking a lot more photos is to be able to have something for every post here. Recently, it’s been the reverse. I find that I’m digging through albums to find something interesting to write about.

This is not one of those times. I just saw this glassware in a resale shop lit with a black light and snapped a quick shot.

Oh! This here Internet fever dream received a nice endorsement today from my boss…

“https://www.bobtherieau.com/ is good blog to go to if you want a fun read.”

Granted, it was mentioned to me in a private direct message and apropos of nothing, but I appreciate the sentiment. You know, you can actually like this thing too. Comments are open, or you can go old school and send links this way.

Keep doing that thing you’re doing. It’s really working for you.

Your pal,

– bob

March 18, 2019

I See You – Telescope Thing

Friends,

I saw this fun gizmo at B&H Photo a few weeks ago at a steep discount, so I grabbed one. It connects to an eyepiece on your telescope and lets you clamp your smartphone camera over the lens. I just started playing with it, but I can see the potential.

There might be a little editing involved, though.

Your pal,

– bob

March 12, 2019March 12, 2019

Filling In The Blanks: What Are You Doing For Fun?

Friends,

I’ve been having a good time taking a lot of pictures to fill out this hot mess of a blog, but lately I’ve been taking it a little more seriously. By serious, I mean that it is my intention to figure out what all of the Fs are stopping and the ISOs are in search of. I’m also very keen to get out to take trips specifically to take photos. The new DSLR (Dark Salad Lettuce, Romaine) camera is complicated but fun to use. Expect a lot more of shots once I get a little more comfortable with the thing.

This shot, however, is of a new Hot Wheels Jeepster that was taken with a macro lens clipped onto my phone. Also fun.

Your pal,

– bob

May 20, 2016

An Ungodly Early Hour

Friends,

It’s been six weeks, so I suppose I should finally spill the beans: I decided to take a job off the hill and away from my lovely forest. The decision was easy to make since I was as broke as a joke, but it’s been a tough transition and doesn’t seem to be getting easier.

Waking up at 3:30 every morning is beating me up. I don’t know how people do it. The new coworkers in the new office in the new town at the new job are nice enough, but I’m so sleepy that I don’t feel I’m holding up my end of the bargain. Yeah, you read that right. Three-effing-thirty.

Thankfully, a sweet girl I know has been more than generous in playing along with this absurd schedule shift. She’s been a good sport, but she surely must be growing weary of my alarm going off in the middle of the night.

However, I have a plan…

Your best pal,

– bob

March 31, 2016

A Bird In The Hand

Friends,

As you may have heard, we’re in the middle of the Spring Hiring Season. What this means as far as I know is that companies have finally shaken off last summer’s hiring doldrums, last autumn’s hiring malaise and last winter’s hiring freeze. It’s a rebirth, if you will (and won’t you please?).

I’ve tried to weather all of those various seasonal shutouts, but the job climate now is very different. Offers have been pouring in over the last several weeks and it’s been hard to keep them straight. One is barreling ahead at full speed, but the one I’ve been hoping for over a bunch of months looks like it might also work out. All I have to do is be patient for another week.

Another. Week.

Surely I can hold on for another week, right?

Right?

Your pal,

– bob

August 15, 2015

Not The Future

Change the oil and she’ll fire right up!

Friends,

I applied for a copywriting job at a cute little agency housed in a cute little Victorian about 50 miles away from my piney paradise. 50 miles you say? Isn’t that the distance I crabbed about not that long ago? Yes, but the old gig was in a sea level men’s room hand dryer, not in an old neighborhood with quaint tree-covered lanes.

The setting was great, the people were welcoming and the job was something I could do standing on my head. How do I know? During the selection process, I was sent writing tests, including a timed test, that I took to like a kitten is drawn to a webcam. A long week waiting for an answer ended with polite rejection. As is my custom, I asked what I could have done differently as a way to figure out why my application was turned down. I received this:

“Your qualifications and interview was excellent. You were one of our top three candidates. Ultimately, it came down to the best fit for our company and our future.”

I’m not entirely sure how I might not have fit into the company, since we seemed to get along very well in the interview and subsequent email correspondence. What I’m worried about as I, ahem, gain more life experience, is the perception that I won’t be around for a company’s future. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got another good 100 to 150 years left in the tank. Putting in another twenty until some people might think I should retire is a wildly optimistic number for any business concerns’ hopes of longevity if you look at the numbers.

So what does this mean? It’s back to the drawing board, or writing board, or keying board. I’m sure somebody needs the savvy and experience I’ve earned. Sadly, the folks I had hoped would see that, didn’t.

Your best pal in the whole wide world,

– bob

January 9, 2015

Things I Learned While Staring At Trees

Friends,

I was really looking forward to having a respite in 2015 from the nightmare that was 2014. Make no mistake, 2014 was no picnic. I had to quit the job I relied on to get away from an evil boss. Racial turmoil and mass shootings roiled these United States. War, disease and privation made above the fold headlines every single day. Soft media concerned themselves with glossy asses and selfie sticks. Surely, the jackals could take a moment to reflect and step away for a while. This was not to be.

The Paris offices of French magazine Charlie Hedbo were shot up yesterday by Muslim extremists, killing 12 and shocking a nation. This was one of the few publications that republished the cartoons depicting Mohammed published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005, earning the magazine a fatwa.

The day before, a chapter of the NAACP in Colorado Springs was bombed, leading to hardly a peep of news coverage. Apparently, this wasn’t fireworks or a gas leak as some have suggested. Rather, this domestic terror attack was intentional, but the outrage machine has been mostly dormant.

The 2016 Chevy Volt was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show the day before that. One of its key features is the ability of the car to extend to you GM’s “commerce and engagement offering” by showing you ads and offering you coupons when you drive by participating businesses. You can also receive a discount on your insurance via the car’s built-in connection to Progressive Insurance by opting into allowing the car to tell them if you’ve been speeding or doing other naughty things. Hashtag: snitch.

We have also been bombarded in this nascent year with the news that our New Year’s snow storm did not put a dent in California’s drought. which is the worst that has ever happened in the history of forever. We will need, it is supposed, 11 trillion gallons of water to cure this deficit, which is an unimaginable and unattainable number. Therefore, we are doomed.

Or are we?

Okay, yes, maybe we are doomed. What has changed is that we’re being constantly beat over the head with our own failures and our own suffering. The bludgeoning by the media with the cudgel of despair must drive ratings or SEO or clicks or something, but I can see a way to manage the gloom…

Require the media to offer solutions.

None of this “spark a dialog” or “encourage a conversation” nonsense. I’m talking about real solutions. If the drought is caused by too many of those little silica desiccant packs in our packages drying out the air, let’s get rid of them. If the bombers in Colorado mistook the NAACP building for an Arby’s, let’s find a way to get them better maps. If French Islamist extremists don’t understand that cartoons aren’t actually photographs of the prophet, let’s give provide them with a better arts education.

Okay, I couldn’t think of real solutions for any of those problems except for this: Never buy a GM product with OnStar. Ever.

Your pal,

– bob

December 6, 2014

A Small Business, Man

Friends,

No, I’m not giving up on finding a commuting for an hour, sitting in a cubicle 9-to-5 job, but the benefits of a freelance career have their appeal. For instance, I can step outside and take pictures. Also, Mme. Puppy Dog isn’t getting any younger, so it’s nice to spend time with her.

The only hiccup is getting new clients, and recurring clients would be nice. Maybe you know someone who needs a press release or a new website or who’d like to start a direct mail campaign. I know someone who can make that happen.

You know who.

– bob

February 4, 2014

Birthday Holiday Season! Kickoff! Recap!

[note: the pictures that are supposed to be in this post, and help it make sense, are missing from the server. our crack team of researchers are looking into it and hope to find them very soon. -ed]

Friends,

These are some of the things that happened yesterday as I kicked off my 2014 Birthday Holiday Season. As you know, your own birthday holiday season begins when you receive the first gift, or cake, or card and ends when the last candle is extinguished. Using this time-tested formula for happy funtimes, a given birthday holiday season can last for months—as it should.

Let’s begin with the good news that the football team that I’ve been rooting for in a somewhat ironic way for the past few years actually won the Super Bowl. Why did I choose them as my team? Because they represent the largest geographical area of any major sports team in America that I can think of. Nice old ladies in Alaska are Seahawks fans. People from Idaho to Oregon are Seahawks fans. Becoming a fan of this team seemed logical.

As you know by now, yesterday also marked the passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Gifted and troubled, his death struck me in a weird way. I knew that he was a genius and labored under his addictions, but there was one thing that stood out on the day of my birth; he was only 46.

I’ve always found the coincidence of my birthday falling on Groundhog’s Day to be a bit unsettling, mostly because the ritual is pretty damn stupid. It warmed my heart then to find this picture of the new mayor of New York City dropping a groundhog during their own dumb ritual thing.

Here in drought-stricken Southern California, we haven’t seen much in the way of precipitation this winter. That’s bad news for a place like Idyllwild, that relies solely on moisture that falls right here for drinking water the rest of the year. I’m happy to report that we received a light dusting of snow last night and it is currently raining.

And that’s something to celebrate.

Your pal,

– bob

UPDATE: Punxsutawney Dr. Phil, from the Conan program.

August 20, 2013

Vengeance Of The Dandies

Friends,

Sometimes people can come as close to missing the forest for the trees as one possibly might without being mauled by a bear. We have new neighbors up here in Fern Valley Corners, a grand new addition to the lodging inventory of available beds in town, and I attended their open house last weekend.

Nice folks, and justifiably proud of their vision and the craftsmanship they’ve put in to realize that dream. Last weekend also featured a concert that was attended by the monied class to benefit a local private high school. Once the concert was over, the wine and cheese crew headed over to the open house for free wine and no cheese.

I just walked around the corner and up the grand driveway to the grand entry, but noted that nobody was looking at the building. All cameras were trained on deer grazing on manzanita berries just past the parking circle. A magnificent bit of nature nearly close enough to touch. Breathtaking.

But one polo shirted, tennis shorted, sexagenarian in the group decided that this reasonably rare collision between the wild and the wide-eyed was boring. He walked up to the deer, then turned on his heels to check out the blue Jaguar.

Jaded? Maybe a little!

Your pal,

– bob

August 6, 2013

Wait! Come back!

A lovely centered picture of a girly dog spying something very interesting and smelly.

Friends,

I’ve hit my head very hard this evening on the kitchen cabinetry and I’ve surely earned a concussion for the effort. There’s every reason to believe that I’ll be fine, but I’m a little worried that the dizziness and confusion I’m experiencing at the moment signal something much more than a little bump on the noggin.

But that’s boring, so let’s get on with a little housekeeping!

Since I last uploaded something here over a month ago, we’ve had two fire scares. One that prompted the mobilization of over three thousand men and women to beat down the furious blaze that eventually consumed over 27,000 acres, and a smaller one today that was put out fairly quickly through our own corps and the quick attention of neighbors in Fern Valley. In the words of internationally noted photographer Jenny Kirchner on Facebook, “Yard abatement is important.” Indeed it is.

I don’t really have a headache exactly. Truth is, my head feels mostly okay. There’s going to be a bump for sure, but the biggest worry is that I don’t really have a good idea where I am right now. Well, never mind that. On with it…

During the Mountain Fire, I evacuated myself, papers, photographs, and Mme. Puppy Dog to the desert. From our emergency evacuation center in Cathedral City (whose city council has never met a boondoggle it wouldn’t agree to fund in full), we could watch the flames charging along the ridge towards the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway’s Mountain Station. Horrifying. I took pictures, but they’re kind of terrible camera phone shots not worth posting. This one is nicer.

Let’s see, what else happened? I got a new boss at the Far Eastern Outpost of a charity from out west somewhere in a city with a mayor. You know, that mayor. Mayor Headlock, they’re calling him. “Mayor Fingers” is creepier, so I’ll stick with that, since all signs point to him being really creepy.

Sorry, a little confused at the moment. I should get back on topic. Crickets are interesting, aren’t they? 78 degrees in the house, shouldn’t be sweating. Sweating might be bad.

I started installing a new french door on the weekend before guests were to arrive a couple weekends ago. Here’s a tip, all of the locksets you can buy at the hardware store have a defined offset. The offset is the distance between the edge of the door and the center of the lock and most are between 2 3/8 and 2 5/8-inches. You can get shorter deadbolts if you trim down the side of your door to be a lot narrower, but they’re blindingly expensive. You are hereby warned.

Very sleepy all of the sudden. Goodnight everyone.

Your pal,

– bob

February 5, 2013

Does Your Dog Bite?

A lovely centered picture of a differently-abled dog.

Well, technically, no.

– bob

October 19, 2012

Smile.

Friends,

The way the day started was perfectly fine, save the alarm going off at 4:00. Cozy flannel sheets, breakfast with Mme. Puppy Dog, getting on the road a little late but making up the deficit and getting to work on time. I wasn’t even too concerned when my first press release went out with bizarre characters mucking up the formatting. At least I was ticking off boxes on my bloated end of the year task list.

It’s a poorly kept secret that I applied for the newly relaunched automobile columnist position at the Orange County Register a few months ago. This is my dream job, the sort of gig you’d drop everything to do. I dreamed about it. I wrote stories in my head about taking an Aventador to Albertson’s. Stories about canyon carving in a Corolla. And stories like the distributor post from a few days ago to explain why these may be the best times so far for reliability and economy in our cars and trucks.

I found out today that I didn’t get the job over the internet.

Then the phones at work went down.

Then the live Verizon tech support lady told me in a chat window over the internet that I’d need to file a report over the internet.

Then my colleagues forgot how to work stuff. A global, universal tech stroke, if you will.

So what do you do with a plate of late-afternoon picnic potato salad like that? Do you smile in the host’s direction while choking it down? How much worse could the stomach ache get?

I took a different tack and wrote jokes about moon monsters instead.

It’s therapeutic.

– bob