Forgotten Fotos of New Mexico Century Plant (2012)

Last month I perused my computer for images of sky objects, predominantly moon shots. During my file manager tour, I ran across a series of pix of a smallish century plant that inspired me to make it this month's topic. It already showed its stalk pointing upward from its base of leaves, aka rosette. The stalk's branches and bloom clusters progressively grew in quantity and size.

2000 or 2012?

The pix date stamps indicated March 2 through May 8 2020. I went down the wrong garden path when I considered the pix to be from 2000. My title would have been a spiffy-sounding " Y2K Century Plant, 25YO Forgotten Fotos". I kept getting some naggy feeling about time frame, so to speak. I happened to also spot a folder that I apparently did some low-level edits, such as rotating, then resaving to png. Those images had date stamps of July 4 through September 8 2012.

I pored over folders and camera-issued sequence IDs. The agave pix numbered from 1875 through 2077 (year saved, 2000). I recalled that I have some pics with 1861, 1862, and 1866 numbers for sequence. The saved date was June 28, 2012. I ran across some other pix in the number sequence neighborhood, but they had 2000 for save year.

Google Maps Nudging Time Frame

I poked around Google maps to find the address where I'd seen the plant. I saw the most recent property image from April 2024, but also saw images from March 2022, July 2019, February 2015, April 2011, June 2009, and Dec 2007. Lucky me! The agave showed up in 2007, 2009, and 2011. However, it was nonexistent in 2015, 2019, and 2022.

I decided that July 2012 was reasonably more likely a time frame for my set of pix than 2000. A small brain nudge was a Google image screen capture July 4 2012—good enough for me to consider that date as an origin.

How Special Was this Agave?

What was so special? It was smallish, shorter than some other century plants that have rosettes taller than people and seemingly wider than a roundish car. This agave was a peewee that I could approach closely, its height maybe only 8' high. The diameter of the base (rosette) was about the diameter of a manhole cover. An oddity I've not seen before or since is the stalk's initial angle about 33° from the rosette, then its continued growth aiming skyward.

I searched the web for smallish agaves. Two sources had images and descriptions that lead me to conclude it was a New Mexico agave.

"New Mexico Century Plant (Agave)" includes rudimentary info resembled my specimen. The following physical info piqued my curiosity:

Mature Height 15-18" tall
Mature Spread 24-30" wide

No Americana agave here! "Agave americana (Century Plant)" includes physical info as follows:

Height 3-6'
Spread 6-10'

Note: The images of the rosettes do not show stalks. Thinking that the height dimensions refer to distance from the ground to the tips of the tallest leaf/leaves.

"Agave parryi subsp. neomexicana (New Mexico Agave)" provides a good description of the plant.

Agave parryi subsp. neomexicana is an ornamental succulent that forms rosettes of ascending, lance-shaped, gray-green leaves with sharp teeth along the margins and a dark brown terminal spine. The rosettes grow up to 1.5 feet (45 cm) tall and 2 feet (60 cm) in diameter, usually accompanied by offsets around the base. Leaves are up to 1.5 feet (45 cm) long and 2.4 inches (6 cm) wide. This subspecies has slightly thinner, shorter leaves than Agave parryi subsp. parryi. Also, it has more open rosettes, larger flowers, and a greener, less glaucous coloration.

The mature rosettes, 8 to 20 years, send up an up to 10 feet (3 m) tall spike adorned with tufts of flowers on many lateral branches, usually in summer. The flowers are yellow to yellowish-green and red to orange in bud. Fruits are oblong, up to 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) long capsules with black seeds. The rosettes die after setting fruits.

Some time, I plan to do one or more pic tour of an americana century plant. I just rediscovered a folder of such pics from 2009! More recently, I collected daily pics of a century plant in 2017 from March 7 to May 5.

Sky Objects, Mostly Moon Shots

The pix in my YouTube collection are from having used mostly two point-and-shoot cameras. Incidentally, smart-phone cameras also have capabilities for taking similar sky pix.

For people who haven't considered photographing sky objects, look, up in the sky. It could be Supermoon! Build your own pic collection for day or night moons! Also, pick other sky objects that catch your fancy.

I recently perused my cloud account for pix I've uploaded there within maybe 10 years. One folder that caught my eye—"NearSkyObjects-Canon PowerShot ELPH 190 IS". It consisted of eight images from 2020 and six in 2021. I poked through my computer listings, seeing additional sky images I could include in my slide show.

Most images are of the moon—day, night, various phases. Several are in plant views. The final item is my time-lapse slide show of May 16 2022 lunar eclipse. Final tally of my sky objects for this blog topic is 23. (The count does not include YT videos from 2023 and 2024.)

Want additional astronomy-themed articles? Click for "astro topic" search results in my blog.

Related: 4-sky-objects video—
Sky Objects, Mostly Moon Shots (Minute Teaser)"

Followup Raspberry Cake, Fluid Deconfusion

A mysterious title, eh? The cake is a followup to "Raspberry Con-fusion Cake". I "deconfusioned" by using the amount of gelatin fluid I intended originally—1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk into a bowl with a packet of sugar-free raspberry gelatin. The newer cake tastes as good as the first one, nice density and no crumbliness. The layers' heights don't seem much different.

During the six days of consumption, the newer-version cake was consistently moist and without the frosting becoming more gooey.

If you try a similar gelatin with cake recipe, this one is improved. If you happen to follow the gelatin's directions for gelatin instead of halving the liquid, the result won't be a disaster. Consider consuming the cake in less time before frosting gooeyness. I don't recall the rest of the downsides of the first cake; I don't plan to repeat my mistake.

Calories and Sodium

Note: Using sugared Jello instead of sugar-free HCF adds about 320 extra calories (~27 C/svg) and 320 extra mg of sodium (~27 C/svg) to the cake. Between the two sugar-free brands, the amount of calories is negligible. The amount for sodium is more significant. The following abbreviated table compares calories and sodium for HCF, Royal, and Jello raspberry gelatins.

Visit "Raspberry Con-fusion Cake" for resources for other gelatin and cake recipes.

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Got cake sweet tooth? Get results for some of my cake blog articles.

Hearting Valentine Times in 2025

 

I missed putting out a Valentine item in February. March roared in like a lion. I'm beating April Fool's Day with my Valentine-theme video and article. Inspiration started with kin's visit on February 14.

The relatives brought flowers. I'd baked Valentine theme cookies made from Red Velvet and Strawberry cake mixes. I searched for kiddie Valentine cards and found one card, no envelope. A few days later, after they'd left, I found a stack hiding in plain sight.

My journey in creating the Valentine blog theme started out small, but became gargantuan when I collected hearty items to group together, created kid-like artsy photographable items, and integrated videos in my mix. The journey was quite an adventure in inspiration, organization, and implementation.

Heart Use as a Verb

Hearting is an obscure but increasingly creeping use of heart as a verb. Creeping, as in slowly moving, not creepy as nervousness inducing. Consider "I heart NY" and "I heart radio", which seem normal in use of heart as verb. As a thought, maybe "I heart [something]" can seem less tension than the "L" wprd.

Indoor Shots

My video includes indoor images and also outdoor images. I got in touch with my inner creative child for cutouts, punches, arrangements. I also rustled up images for Valentine cookies that I'd baked occasionally over many years. BTW, cake mix amounts in boxes have downsized over the years that cookie dough dollops were less mannerly this time around.

Outdoor Shots

I mentioned creeping use of heart as verb. A piece of my video shows a hybrid of Halloween creep and hearty Valentine approach. Numerous other outdoorsy shots include archives of heart-shaped prickly pear plants from February 2010 and also February 2025. Eh, the 2010 ones were more plentiful and cuter; the more recent environment wasn't as, uh, fruitful. For my non-prickly pear plant shot, the red bud tree with a heart-shaped bloom had caught my eye.

Related:

• "A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch"
• "Heart 2 Heart"

Astro Imaging Session Piques Three-item Topic

What arose when the sun set down at the dark site we went to? Dark skies and objects (constellations, star clusters, nebulae, ...) that don't show up well in light-pollution, densely populated areas. What three items am I talking about? A TV tray table, a transparent cookbook stand, and a thin, portable gaming monitor.

In the Beginning (of the Astrophotography Session)

We met with another astronomy photographer (AKA astrophotographer) at a dark site, both parties for a nebula 1000 light years away. Our friend stayed long enough to also photograph a set of galaxies 60 million light years away. BTW, astrophotography is not merely taking one pic and seeing loads of details. Each session for each target tends to take hours, sometimes multiple sessions, specialized equipment for taking out-of-the-world pix, and cooperative climate conditions.

Portable Gaming Monitor

Our friend showed a new acquisition for showing audience members at outreach events—a portable gaming monitor that he read about in a NYT Wirecutter article, maybe "The Best Monitors". Arzopa seems eye-poppingly low cost, compared to other reviewed monitors. "Arzopa Z1FC 144Hz Portable Gaming Monitor Review" lists the measurements as 8.2 by 14.9 by 0.5 inches, weighing 1.7 pounds. (The traditional dimension reference is 16.1 (corner to corner).

Table Slots Between Slats a Hindrance to Stable Monitor Support

Anyway, he is understandably concerned about the monitor's thin foldable corner support falling through slots on his display table (square with narrow gaps between slats). Noting the monitor's thinness, I mentioned having a plastic, transparent cookbook stand that would probably work with such a monitor.

Another idea was trying a different table. I thought of our foldable TV tray table that measures 14.5 x 19 and has no gap hazards. BTW, Google images search shows good results for "acrylic cookbook stands" and "foldable TV trays". BTW, a quick, low-effort, low-cost solution to preventing monitor support fall-through, using a square piece of cardboard the same size as the square table would help.

Music Stand as Monitor Support? Nah!

An idea for stable displaying of the monitor briefly arose—using a music stand. It has variable height and tilt adjustments and horizontal lip. Downsides, however, are heaviness from metal weight and feet that take up space during transport. Furthermore, securing a monitor to avoid tipping or toppling it is concerning.

Musing Monitor Support Using No-slat TV Tray Table and Cookbook Stand

The next day, I thought about taking pix showing my cookbook stand and TV tray table. I took a set of pix—one of the stand (with open book) atop the table, one with additional items, and several showing different-angle views.

It occurred to me that I had the makings of a blog topic that included some idea exchanges about items not specific to astronomy. Also, I got to thinking of how to organize and create a helpful slide-show video.

Besides Monitor Musings

Some additional items in the video are are a yardstick and a set of trekking poles. The yardstick provides dimensional references. The sticks were mentioned during the imaging session. FWIW, a dark site can be challenging for those unfamiliar with the terrain. Even more challenging is navigating after the sun goes down. Better to have sticks and not need them than need them and not have them.

Update: Additional Info After Video's Upload on Feb 28 2025

After publishing the blog article and uploading the movie, our friend sent an image of his table and portable gaming monitor with the monitor's support leg. His fix for possible leg fall-through was a bottle cap.

A bottle cap does the job for the leg and the display is too thick to slide through. The [table's] gap actually cradles the bottom of the display! ... I added a couple of bits of foam insulation to the bottle cap to keep the leg centered in it.

The video's thumbmail shows the initial suggestion, the friend's pic, and additional ideas. The newer items include bungee cords for better securing a monitor for display and avoiding pit falls.

View use of slotted aluminum folding table and bottle cap.

Want additional astronomy-themed articles? Click for "astro topic" search results in my blog.

Raspberry Con-fusion Cake

I wanted to Kool-Aid my cake using Raspberry Kool-Aid, but the supermarket didn't carry that flavor. I thought about using Jello, maybe make a poke cake. Fortunately, I found info for helping integrate raspberry gelatin and cake in a non-pokey way. The result was my raspberry con-fusion cake (details farther down).

No Hokey Pokey Cake for Me, but Something Else

When I read elsewhere that a poke cake would deteriorate in a few days, I abandoned the idea. Besides short life, the recipe looked like more work than I wanted to do. I later thought about making something with raspberry gelatin and cake. Did some poking around supermarket prices and availability. Jello's small size cost nearly as much as the family size. I noticed that the store carries both Royal and Hill Country Fare raspberry sugar-free brands.

I found a few resources to use gelatin in cake besides making poke cakes. Several commenters recommended merely following the cake box's instructions and mixing in the gelatin powder. I've run across info about enhancing cakes by adding an extra egg and using milk instead of water, In my zeal to try a few different details, I put in too much fluid.

My Con-fusion

My con-fusion with this cake resulted from using the amount of fluid called for if making a small gelatin batch. For integration into a cake, I needed to put in only half the fluid. Regular instructions for small-package gelatin calls for 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup of cold water. Normal box cake recipes call for 1 cup of water total. Sooo, I put too much fluid. I decided to just carry on and see how the cake turned out.

To adjust for too much fluid, I baked the cakes for several minutes longer, hoping evaporation would help. The cake layers baked; the toothpick test came out well. However, they did not rise. The finished cake cut cleanly with no crumbs. The mouth-feel texture was dense, like pound cake. Within the six days of consumption, the cake became more moist, even watery. The frosting seemed to almost liquefy to saucy consistency.

If inclined, Google "what happens if you add too much fluid to cake batter". The next time I retry the recipe, I'll remember to use only half the amount of fluid.)

Update April 29 2025: "Followup Raspberry Cake, Fluid Deconfusion" (article, video)

Resources for Using Gelatin in Cakes (Excluding Pokes)

• "Jello Gelatin Mix In Cakes??"
• "What happens if you add jell-o gelatin (not pudding) to cake mix? ..."
• "Is it true you can put jello in cake mix and make a cake that is a combination of jello and cake? "
• Related: "How To Make: Jello from a Box"

Calories and Sodium

The calories and sodium differ on whether you use sugar-free or sugared Jello gelatin powders.

Note: Using sugared Jello instead of sugar-free HCF adds about 320 extra calories (~27 C/svg) and 320 extra mg of sodium (~27 mg/svg) to the cake. Between the two sugar-free brands, the amount of calories is negligible. The amount for sodium is more significant. The following abbreviated table compares calories and sodium for HCF, Royal, and Jello raspberry gelatins.

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Got cake sweet tooth? Get results for some of my cake blog articles.

2024 Christmas Decorations Tour

My previous video and article included decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even a smattering for Christmas. For this touring, I saw a few decorations that served dual-holiday purposes, the residents having creatively adorned them. Got most of the images from a few days of drive-byes. Surprisingly, seems fewer places had decorations than previous years.

Most decorations I imaged were inflatable balloons, which included Santa, snowmen, reindeer, penguins, a few dogs, live white-tail deer, ... Many goodies images were of candy canes and red/white or green/white round mints.

One video section includes a collection of Halloween/Christmas visuals that I culled from other clips. Look for these items in the neighborhood sections among the more obvious Christmas-theme figures. Happy touring! Also look for Halloween/Christmas in my blog and YouTube channel.

2024 Halloween Imaging in November

Halloween this year was on a Thursday. I incorrectly guessed that people would keep their Halloween decorations into the weekend. Besides a few people having already started taking in items, a few balloons were deflated.

Imagining I might take good daytime images, initially hoped to capture more striking nighttime versions. Having less stamina than in the past, and also seeing dismantling of decorations lessened ambition for an evening pic excursion.

In the last day of movie-making, I shoehorned a few clips and pix from the rest of November during the rest of November. Look for a li'l Thanksgiving and Halloweenish Christmas peeks.

Lesson learned for 2025—take pix and videos a few days before Halloween (daytime for one session, nighttime for another session).

Visit past Halloween videos ("Halloween Decorations Galore!") and related blog articles.

Last of the Cedars Downed

Upon moving in, the cedar trees numbered 11. Arborgeddon (in 2023) wiped out maybe five. The last cedar became weakened maybe a year later; it could fall and harm or worse in a bad moment. Got it cut and removed mid-September.

The video revisits some memories of Arborgeddon damage. A segment shows abbreviated cutting and removal of the last tree. Besides wanting to document the majestic tree's demise, I wanted to closely view the cedar stump surface.

Based on meandering to view previous cedar stumps, I wasn't sure what the surface would look like. The center part is heartwood, prominently "ringed" by the sapwood.(It measures about 9" x 12".) Anything about the shape and colors remind you of anything? For more info about tree anatomy that also mentions barks and cambium, with ID-labeled image, visit "Anatomy of a Tree".

 

The irregular perimeter made me wonder how weak the trunk itself might have been. That stump doesn't resemble the nearby one, also a cedar. They both look like their trunks had been lacking in solid mass.

Visit my other articles and videos of cedars, now in the past. No longer any cedars to hack at errant branches and their needly, junipery foliage.

• "See Dere Cedar Stumps, Plus One, Sizing Up" article | video
• "See Dere Cedar Stumps" article | video

Related: "2023 Ice 'N' Arborgeddon" article | video

Revisiting Lemon Poppyseed Mini-cupcakes

My first batch of lemon poppyseed mini-cupcakes was in June 2012. Coincidentally, I used the same lemon cake brand and poppyseeds. The two emphases were as follows:

• Regular-size vs. mini-cupcakes made using aluminum pans that had round wells
• Separation methods between the cake batter and pan wells

This time, I triedd using silicone pans with square wells. One panful, I used scoops/spoon to dispense batter. The other panful, I pitcher-poured. (Pitcher dispensing is so much faster!) I also enriched the recipe with an extra egg and used milk instead of water. Richer flavor and body.

Wellll, the session did not go anywhere as well as I'd hoped. Various websites touted non-stickiness of silicone, and that the physical flexibility would allow quick release of baked items.

Alas, throwing caution to the wind, my un-oiled pans, filled with ~95% batter, yielded cringeworthy amounts of baked cake in the wells. The hoped-for flick-of-the-wrist cake releases kind of worked. They were fugly, better served in dim lighting.

The video shows straightforward steps that worked well until I got to the dispensing, baking, and cake extractions. (Pay attention to the kitchen versions of road caution signs.)

Calories and Sodium

The yield was from filling the cupcake wells higher than I should have. I have a recollection that I'd wound up with 77 at another baking session. Another wrinkle to the calculations is that much of the cake stuck to the pans. More units, fewer calories each. Same amount of units but successful detachments from pans, more calories each.

I did not list poppyseeds in the table. Google results show negligible stats for calories, sodium, or practically any other noteworthy nutrient.

Silicone Pan Resources That Seemed Persuasive at the Time

• "Silicone vs Paper cupcake liners"
• "How To Use a Silicone Muffin Pan?"
• "Webake Mini Brownie Pan Square Silicone Baking Mold for Keto Fat Bomb, Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Blondie"
• "24-Cavity Metal Reinforced Silicone Mini Muffin Pan by Celebrate It™"
• "Good Question: Help! Why Do Cupcakes Always Get Stuck In These Silicone Muffin Cups?"
• "What are the advantages of silicone molds?", subsection of "Grease the silicone mold - is it really necessary? - Wisefood"

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Related: "Lemon Poppyseed Mini-cupcakes"

Betty Crocker Butter Pecan Cake Mix Cookies, MImicking La Moderna Marianita Cookies

It'd been awhile since I'd baked cookies using cake mix. Betty Crocker caught my eye with the Butter Pecan cake flavor. The sale price of $1 was compelling. I tried to duplicate La Moderna Marianita pecan flavor cookies, cheap at about 68 cents for a roll of 28 cookies (6.5 ounces).

The Marianita cookies are crunchy and don't contain actual pecans. The flavor has a hint of pecan nut skins, smidge of bitter aftertaste. For attempting crunchiness, I had hoped baking at 325, not 350, and baking cookies longer than typical cookies would work. I also hoped that the BC's reduced amount of powder (from 15.25 to 13.25 oz) wouldn't affect the outcome.

Wellll, the lessons learned for the next time will be to raid some other cake mix box for two ounces of powder to add to the recipe. The dough didn't firm up like in other cake mix cooky dough. It was stickier and harder to load into my cooky press and dispense. Also, next time, I'll try baking the cookies at least 13 to 14 minutes. Sure, I like soft and chewy, but I was trying to obtain the Marianita crunchiness.

View the video for step-by-step process. See the final image for comparison of a plateful each of BC Butter Pecan cake mix cookies and La Moderna Marianita pecan flavor cookies.

Making cookies at home take way more time and energy than buying shelf-stable store cookies. Be sure to block out time for gathering ingredients, equipment, mixing, dispensing, baking, and cooling. Oh, yeah, remember cleanup time and effort!

Cookies and other wheat-dominant products have gotten pricey over time. On the good side, the ingredients for the project came to less than $2: $1 for box of cake mix, 29 cents for 1/3 C oil, and 50 cents for 2 eggs. The yield was 42 cookies. FWIW, cookies baked at home seem to take longer to consume than store-bought. More appreciation for the effort expended? Definitely tastier!

Calories and Sodium

As a side thought, I considered adding chocolate chips. Doing so would have added extra calories (~30C/cooky) and cost ($1.50 additional for project). Mmmm, butter pecan flavor with chocolate chips! Related: "Low-effort Choco Chip Cake Mix Cookies" (article, video)

La Moderna Resources

La Moderna cookies are a niche item at HEB. I've not been inclined to seek other products from this Mexico-based company. Memory aid that Moderna is one of the big-name Covid-19 vaccines.

• La Moderna manufactures pasta and soups as well as cookies. Amusingly, La La Maderna's cooky page does not include the pecan flavored ones.
• "La Moderna Marianitas Cookies", 71 cents for 6.5 oz Nutrition info claims 6 servings, 5 cookies per serving. I counted 28 cookies.
• "La Moderna Pecan Marianitas, Authentic Mexican Pecan Cookies, Fun Snacks For Kids, 6.53 Oz, Pack Of 20"

Get the Most Out of Shampoo/Lotion Bottles, Etc.

Got frugality inclinations? How about extracting the last of shampoos and lotions near the bottom of their bottles? My topic is primarily modifying and repurposing suitable size/shape plastic bottles so they can hold those almost-empty bottles upside-down. With gravity, the positioning of dispensers with remaining slo-mo fluids does away with numerous bottle tip-overs, shakes, and/or flow waits.

Additional slo-mo fluids besides shampoos and lotions include mustards and liquid hand soaps. (The liquid soap hack is repurposing a soda bottle top into a funnel, described farther down.)

Cutting A Prospective Empty Bottle for "Cradle Cup"

The modifications of bottles require careful handling when cutting. I used an xacto knife and pair of scissors (not shown).

I rinse and air-dry a suitable empty plastic bottle. (Suitability means the empty "cup" cradles the product bottle vertically with only a little extra gap.) With an xacto knife, I slowly poke short, horizontal slits into the upper portion of the bottle until the top portion detaches or becomes loose enough to easily remove. I then use a pair of scissors to gingerly trim the cup's edge neatly.

Rant about Some Shampoo and Lotion Dispensers

Ever wonder if shampoo and lotion companies deliberately package their products to have the consumer waste the last drops? Most bottles have press open/close lids or fliptops for easy dispensing. Less convenient dispensers are screwtop caps and pumpers. Least convenient are bottles that manufacturers have attached snapped-on dispensers.

J & J Baby Shampoo exemplifies the worst of dispensers--snapped on pumper. The top requires prying off, and the straw is too short, making end-of-product extraction difficult. Suave shampoo is flip-top, but the top also requires prying to remove it.

J & J travel size shampoo is cute. It has a flip-top dispenser. However, the mouth diameter is so small that only an eyedropper would fit, making refilling impractical.

My advocacy for cuppish bottles doesn't address snapped-on dispensers for some shampoos. About all I can advise is the following steps:

1. Use as much of the shampoo as possible. Inverting the bottle is helpful, maybe even with a modified cup.
2. Pry the dispenser off.
3. Add a little water to make the shampoo easier to pour out.
4. If the bottle is a suitable size/shape, cut it open and reuse it for holding inverted product bottles.

Beyond Shampoos and Lotions

I have emphasized bottles for shampoos and lotions. Another item that is suitable for upside-down cradling is a mustard bottle. Coincidentally, I found a salad dressing bottle to be a good size and shape for the cradling cup.

A specific use I have for another cradle cup is for placement of a small bottle of baby oil at the sink. The cup's slightly larger size and wall prevents the smaller bottle from tipping over.

Prospective Cradle Cups

If you already stand your low-supply bottle upside down, do you position the bottle amongst other containers? Lean it into a corner? Use a cuppish item? Want ideas? Look the kitchen, pantry, and bathroom for prospectives for plastic bottle cradles. Some existing and prospective examples:

Soda Bottle Funnel Frugality

Liquid hand soaps, imho, are way too concentrated. Undiluted, they tend to run out fast. For a long time, I used a standard funnel to pour half of one bottle into another, then add water. The process was slow for both pouring the full strength liquid and adding water.

It occurred to me that a 2-liter soda bottle might have a mouth diameter that fit the liquid soap bottles. Voila! If you dilute your liquid hand soap and haven't tried this hack. the video includes the info.

My method for making the funnel is similar to making previously mentioned holders. The soda bottle material is much thinner than previously referenced plastic cradle cups. (I made a second funnel as an example for method, which I discarded afterward.)

The modifications of bottles require careful handling when cutting. I used an xacto knife and pair of scissors (not shown).

I rinsed and air-dried an empty 2-liter soda bottle. Halfway up the bottle, I used an xacto knife to slowly pierce some touching horizontal slits. The gap became long enough for pressing the wall and easily slipping in scissors. I then cut and neatly trimmed the edge.

Ready to squeeze out more of your liquidy products? Hope I've provided some food for thought.

See Dere Cedar Stumps, Plus One, Sizing Up

 

This topic is a followup to March's "See Dere Cedar Stumps" (article, video). At that time, I noted nine cedar (ashe juniper) stumps. Six of those trees got damaged and needed removing only last year because of Arborgeddon in my area (article, video).

During a recent backyard weed-pull session, I saw that I overlooked yet another cedar stump. I took a new set of pix. For good measure, I used primarily an 18" transparent drafting scale and a wooden yardstick. Previously, I used a metal tape measure that was unwieldy although doable enough.

For this set of images, I emphasized ascending cut-surface spans, scaling the images in reference to each other and also including span dimensions. View the images from smallest to largest spans, which range from just under 8" to almost 23". (The plus-one stump is mid-range size—~12 1/4.) Note the stumps' irregular perimeters, and lack of roundness and symmetry.

"Ashe Juniper" mentions "easily recognized by its irregular shape, fluted, twisted trunk". The site describes it in deeper detail for characteristics and environs. Various images round out the info.

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Related: "See Dere Cedar Stumps" article | video

April 8 2024 Total Solar Eclipse (44-sec capture)

Why only 44 seconds instead of reported totality of 2 minutes and 35 seconds? Clouds interfered with and distorted the capture, eventually totally obscuring the corona after ~43 seconds. My entire recording was 2 minutes and 26 seconds, but the viewfinder showed only darkness from about 44 seconds till the end. The video shows real-time speed (~44 seconds), then half speed.

Eclipse Day Decisions Made For Better or Worse

I couldn't order the weather. It was fickle for a good amount of Texas, including my viewing site, Austin. Weather forecasts and updates seemed to constantly change. Inclinations to travel were tempered by fears of encountering vehicular multiple-dimpling and hail-caused car window smashings. Also, destinations required real time to reach; available time required for traveling eventually evaporated. We stayed put.

From hearing stories about past eclipse events. area population swelling and travel would be challenging for residents and visitors alike. Highways and smaller roads could result in no-gos from traffic overflow or collisions or combinations. News frequently broadcast alerts about having certified solar glasses, stocking up on food, ensuring full gas tanks, and preparing for hours-long departures afterwards. We took the advisories seriously.

I should have thought of using a tripod for my Canon IXUS 180 (PowerShot) camera. As much as I tried to hold it steady, it shook. After I truncated the recording from 2 minutes and 26 seconds, I manually aligned the frames using GIMP. The process was similar to how I aligned the October 2023 annular eclipse frames.

Article:"Partial Annular Solar Eclipse Oct 14 2023, Austin"
YT video ~35 sec): Side by Side Eclipse Views, Austin Area Oct 14 2023"

Another should-have-done was aiming the camera downward a few seconds before totality, turning it on and starting to record, then aiming the camera upward. I would have captured the timer beeper for start of totality. (I did manage to capture the timer's end-of-totality beep.)

GIMP and OpenShot Image Processing

In short, I used GIMP, with grid display to align the images in layer views. The task was much more difficult than October 2023 annular eclipse because of moving-clouds distortions and obscuring. Several times, the view transitioned from disk to arc to smudge, in different directions and varying focus qualities. Clouds! Consolation is that some of the corona was viewable, and we got no rain.

As for OpenShot, I had help with converting the clip to individual frames, then re-assemblling the edited frames into a view-stable disk-centric movie. Turns out that trying to use OpenShot to assemble the frames froze the tool. We used ffmpeg in a command window.

Extra Touches

Some features I hadn't tried ever, or in a long time:

• I used some OpenShot's capabilitiese to crop, scale down, and move an inset movie of a kitchen timer.
• I extracted about 50 seconds of audio in OpenShot, then opened and edited it in Audacity. I added it to the video, along with the image of the graph.
• I created an outline circle to note the major visible prominence at 4 o'clock position.

If I Knew Then, ...

I discovered many of my actions generated a lot of heat before light. Glad to have learned shorter steps eventually. A thought kept me going for creating the video. I'd never think about processing another eclipse set of images. Not inclined to go to another eclipse site any time soon.

"Can’t get enough of the total solar eclipse or got clouded out? Here are the next ones to watch for" provides some years to consider next US eclipses.

The next U.S. taste of totality comes in 2033 when an eclipse brushes Alaska and Russia. And in 2044, one will cross Greenland and western Canada, touching swaths of North Dakota and Montana. ... An eclipse on the scale of Monday’s event won’t happen again until Aug. 12, 2045.

"Future Eclipses" provides some info in tables for future solar and lunar eclipses. Long haul to get there.

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See Dere Cedar Stumps

 

While recently pulling out spring weeds, I noticed some of the cedar stumps didn't have round, smooth perimeters as I'd expect. Turns out that all nine stumps looked different from typical cylindrical tree trunks of live oak and Spanish oaks. Interestingly, these cross sections also looked different from each other.

While poking around on the web, it turns out that these trees are also known as ashe juniper trees. (A long time ago, I was told that these trees were cedars.) I'm keeping the theme title, but keeping in mind that the tie-in to junipers is the foliage.

Cedars and Junipers

The following resources indicate that the cedar tree and stumps in the backyard to be ashe junipers.

"Cedar vs. Juniper: Why we call it ‘cedar fever’ when cedar isn’t to blame" focuses on "fever". The accompanying video provides good videocam panning of the trees. About 15 seconds into video, the tree resembles the lone remaining backyard "cedar" tree. Notable: "the tree was finally formally identified as ashe juniper in 1932."

"How Austin’s most hated tree benefits humans and the environment" states "Though not technically cedar, the Ashe Juniper trees have been referred to as cedar since the first settlers arrived in Texas, and the name stuck." The accompanying video shows several trees that resemble the ones in my yard from pre-arborgeddon in 2023.

"Ashe Juniper" shows a good image of tree bark, accompanied by description that suits the cut-off trees well.

The tree is easily recognized by its irregular shape, fluted, twisted trunk, and dark green foliage. ... Its bark is gray or reddish-brown often with white patches. ... Another identifying characteristic of the bark, especially on mature trees, is its shredding into long narrow strips.

"CEDAR 101" explains mountain cedar as "technically, it is Ashe juniper (Juniperus ashei). The name 'mountain cedar' comes from its visual similarity to Eastern Red Cedar and its preponderance in the Hill Country, or Edwards Plateau ecoregion, of Texas." The image of stacked logs provides various looks of cross cut edges. The site describes how the lumber is sized and graded for selling.

"Numerous Juniperus, but Neither Were Cedar!" is longish and detailed. About 2:29 into the video, the narrator holds up a small branch and states "This is an ash(e) juniper. This is the most common tree in Austin."

"A Forest Grows Under Ashe Juniper" includes the phrase "Ashe juniper (commonly called cedar)" in the video description

"Ashe Juniper is Native to Central Texas" includes historical and current info about ashe junipers.

Some Juniper/Cedar Cross Section Views

Besides the stacked logs image at Cedar 101, you can view additional cross sections. Some are comparable to the stumps in my "See Dere Cedar Stumps" video.

• "1" - 2.5" Red Cedar Log Bundle, ..."
• "Eastern Red Cedar (Juniper) r/firewood"
• Etsy's "Cedar Stumps" has loads of images for viewing. I've pasted links to some of the more interesting specimens.
• "16" x 3" Red Cedar Cookie, Slab, ..."
• "Red Cedar Log 319"
• "Very large thick unique red cedar wood slice ..."
• "Red Cedar Stump ..."
• "Red Cedar wood cookie slice ..."
• "Need some advice on drying and preserving these large juniper tree rounds " is a non-etsy page showing a multi-lobed cross section.

Additional Localized Resources

"7 Types of Cedar Trees in Texas: Identification Guide (Chart, Pictures)" provides info on seven types of cedar trees. I initially thought that my cedars were alligator cedars. I changed my mind when I saw the bark resembled organized mosaic tiles. BTW, the rock cedar (Juniperus ashei) apparently is another name for ashe juniper.

"What Kind of Cedar Grows in Texas? | Cedar Tree ID | Brush Management" contrasts ashe juniper, redberry juniper, and Eastern red cedar trees.

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Related: "See Dere Cedar Stumps, Plus One, Sizing Up" article | video

Cruisin' with Cartoons

I thought about a dozen cartoons that have aired on "Toon In With Me" in the last few years. They are entertaining for having themes from even before WWII. Viewing them across generations provides different perspectives of childhood, parent-agehood, and oldsterhood. Despite mostly 2D looks, these animations are amazing in indicating movement, character looks consistency, and great imaginations for improbable realities.

What kind of improbable realities? How about characters that get totally destroyed in scenes, yet recover to perfect health and wholiness within seconds? Violations of laws of physics with backgrounds that snap out of rigidity and back to immovable state? How about constant uses of dynamite, TNT, office safes, anvils, and the like for attempted destruction between adversaries? Such cartoons and items include the following characters: Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, Bugs Bunny and adversaries (Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Tasmanian Devil, ...), Tom and Jerry, and Tweety and Sylvester.

Thinking of various gadgets WRT to Wile E, the devices from Acme always fail him. Ordering delivery of a chicken meal would be more effective, filling, and less harmful to his health. Expanding thoughts wider about cartoons, some specific ones come to mind, with or without the usual weapons of personal destruction that I've mentioned.

Note: Links for cartoons are for full versions. Most are from YouTube. Ones from Daily Motion have slightly different play and audio controls; be sure to click "unmute".

Spider and Fly Interaction, Fly Saved By WWII Regulation

For "Meatless Flyday", the spider has four arms, four legs. Gloved hands show three-fingers and thumb most of the times. Feet are shod. In one instance, his shoe is cut open, exposing five toes. He counts his now five-digit hands to confirm full counts. The fly has two arms (gloved fingers) and two legs (three toes per foot). Comically improbable--a horseshoe magnet strong enough to attract the fly with ingested buck shot AND kitchen knives.

Note that the spider's cut-open-toe shoe and hand digits around the 4:00 mark. Also noteworthy is WWII-type references to meatless day—"Meatless Monday Then and Now", and nighttime blackouts ("Blackout (wartime)").

Another cartoon with nod to WWII, "LOONEY TUNES (Looney Toons): A Tale of Two Kitties (1942) (Remastered) (HD 1080p)" shows a Victory Garden and lights-out policing. The cartoon includes destructive devices that only temporarily disable Catstello while annoying Babbit in their mission to capture a proto-Tweety. Violations of laws of physics are rampant, especially during the last few minutes.

The two cartoons I've described show loads of violence and little music. Several of the following cartoons engage in both music AND violence, but not sax and violins.

Hungarian Musical Presences in Cartoons

"Cartoons using Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" shows compiled snippets. "The Concerto Controversy | Plagiarism Accusations Between Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes" provides background to two very similar cartoons that feature Hungarian Rhapsody #2. Star piano players are Bugs Bunny and Tom Cat, respectively. The video also includes additional content about cartoons' cultural impacts.

"Brahms – Pigs in a Polka – Hungarian Dances 5, 7, 6, 17" provides details about Hungarian Dances music and order. The embedded cartoon link points to a YouTube video, but "LOONEY TUNES (Looney Toons): Pigs in a Polka (1943) (Remastered) (HD 1080p)" is more complete.

Three Pigs Segue to Jazz

"Three Little Bops (starring Joe Bezek)", from 1950s has loads of jazz from the three pigs and wolf. The story bears some resemblance to the familiar pigs and wolf story. No house constructions, but wolf blowing anyway.

Another Three Pigs Twist, Mashed Up with Little Red Riding Hood

"Bugs Bunny E078 The Windblown Hare" stars Bugs Bunny in a mashup of the three pigs with wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. The lesson is that defrauding Bugs results in consequences.

Little Red Riding Hood Variations

"Little Red Riding Rabbit" shows twist of Little Red Riding Hood ending up as the least sympathetic character. Both Bugs Bunny and the wolf ultimately leave her in dire straits. Apparently, several cartoons vary in their approaches to Little Red Riding Hood. Warner Brothers and Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker) have additional variations Of LRRH and wolf, fineable on the web.

Violations of Laws of Physics In Popeye Adventures

Oddly enough, Popeye cartoons, despite loads of violence, don't seem to resort to dynamite. Surroundings (roads, trains, ...) seem to become elastic in many stories. BTW, Olive has elasticity in spades. In instances, she twists like a corkscrew, spans chasms with skinny legs that rival Mr. Fantastic, and frequently moves her limbs spaghetti-ishly. An example of laws-of-physics violations is "Popeye 147 I'll be skiing you 1947". It starts out with ice skating, but transitions to skiing, with amazing Olive Oyl improbable flexibilities not seen in other cartoons. A St. Bernard rescues Popeye with spinach so he can rescue Olive from the ever-growing and downhill rolling snowball. Bluto gets kissed by a she-wolf on the slopes and Florida.

A Valentine Story for Multiple Generations

"Don't Look Now (1936) (HD)" is a Valentine Day theme of Cupid and youngsterish devil with opposing goals upon arising. The story has something for youngsters and grownups. The cartoon sprinkles a few adult themes, such as planted "evidence" of infidelity among courting couples and false accusations of paternity.. Lots of music throughout.

A Couple of Single Working Women and Their Abodes

Betty Boop and Olive Oyl cartoons have shown them having their own careers, businesses, and residences. Some cartoons show them living in apartments or houses—no roommates, siblings, or parents. Betty does own Pudgy, her dog, which occasionally exhibits human mannerisms.

Couple of business examples:

• Olive and Popeye open a diner together as partners in "Popeye The Sailor Man - We aim to please".
• Betty Boop shows her auto repair business in "Betty Boop - So Does An Automobile 1939 // Colorized HD". Numerous autos are animated to display human movements and behaviors.

Rec'ed for Multiple Viewings

The following cartoons are great entertainment that invite multiple viewings, for absorbing details and also re-viewing fun stuff. They have great plot development, loads of music, and lots of innovations with devices and gadgets. Action-packed nearly throughout the adventures.

• "Betty Boop - Grampy's Indoor Outing (1936)"
• "Popeye the Sailor - Cartoons Ain't Human"
• "Rabbit Of Seville (1950)"

Generational Reaches

Whether you watch classic cartoons as first timer or old timer, favorites will form memories of happy entertainment. Oddly enough, some cartoons almost seem new if not viewed in many years.

Sycamore Tree Sight, Seed Pod Pickapart

For a few weeks this summer, my stemmed orb-like object lay on the floor. I wasn't sure what to expect if I were to poke and prod it. My video starts out showing showing a sycamore tree and leaves. The latter part shows my exploration and pickapart to fuzzy fibers and, eventually, snipped-apart center.

With poking around the web, I quickly concluded the item was not an acorn. Somehow, I was able to focus (grin) and conclude the object was a sycamore seed pod, aka sycamore seed ball, aka sycamore ball. I myself decided on "sycamore tree seed pod".

Sycamore Resources—Trees, Humongous Leaves, Orb-like Seed Pods

"Sycamore Tree" provides overall info and basic images for sycamore trees. The split-open seed pod shows a good view of the "fuzzy interior"."Sycamore, American" shows a picked-apart seed pod similar to mine. Compare the leaves that both sides use for emphasizing size. Note the white bark shots.

Leaves figure prominently in "Everybody hates sycamores?". The leaves look nice, but the video speaker describes their downsides.

"The Sycamore Squeeze", published February 2022 mentions that time period as good for squeezing a sycamore seed ball.

If a seed-ball isn’t ready, bring it inside a house for a day or so. Dry air hastens the squishable stage. When it gives, it’s ready to take.

Still pictures in the article and the accompanying 's video confirm the object to be a sycamore tree seed ball. FWIW, I had begun cutting into and prying stuff apart before I realized I could squeeze the fuzz off.

"Sycamore Tree seed pod explosion in slow motion" shows the crushing of a sycamore seed pod. The pre-crush object looks like my object, but not the separation of parts!

Portraits of Wildflowers, with Multiple Sycamore Items

Portraits of Wildflowers primarily provides flora content and macro pictures. To my delight, I did a sycamore search and found several articles and images that greatly helped me ID sycamore trees, leaves, and seed pods.

"Sycamore seed ball" described the seed pod process.

These start out hard and firm but eventually, in a way that’s reminiscent of cattails with seeds attached to fluff, they loosen to the point that a touch—be it of a hand or of the wind—causes them to unravel.

"Sycamore seed balls and drying leaf" and "Sycamore leaf and clouds" blog titles perfectly describe their accompanying images. (¡Mira! ¡Mira!)

"Whose woods these are I just don’t know*" is an intriguing blog title. The content itself provides a good description of sycamore tree characteristics to go with the image.

Reaching Way Back for Sycamore Tree Climber—Zacchaeus

My recollection of first hearing of "sycamore" was as a child singing about Zacchaeus climbing a sycamore tree to view Jesus. Google provides loads of info for "zacchaeus song", much of the info surrounding Zacchaeus himself.

Q/As are handy with summaries, such as who Zacchaeus was, why he climbed a sycamore tree, how short he was, why he changed his treatment of people WRT tax collection, moral lesson, etc. Google "zacchaeus in the bible" and "how did zacchaeus change after meeting jesus".

View YouTube results for "zacchaeus was a little man song" for several versions of the children's biblical song. ("Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man" is illustrated and includes a second verse.)

Sycamore Tree in Relatively Recent News

A recent news account of a sycamore tree chopping made news in September 2023. The article includes historical info about the locale and tree's age. From "Famous 'Sycamore Gap tree' in northern England found cut down overnight; 16-year-old arrested"

The tree, which is about 300 years old, was located next to Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans beginning in 122 A.D. to mark the northern limits of Roman Britannia.

In Closing, a Far-reaching Sycamore Resource

"Sycamore Trees: Leaves, Bark, Types – Identification Guide (Pictures)" has exhaustive content and images of sycamores, mostly about ones in some US states and Mexico. One item that particularly piqued me was the info and image comparison between a sycamore and maple leaf.

GIMP-adding Newest Saturn to 3-Saturn .xcf File

My previous topic, "2-Saturn Composite, Anticipating Future Edge-on Rings" inspiration came from my curiosity about Saturn's upcoming rings edge view, anticipated in March 2025. Because of Saturn's position behind the sun at that time, however, we won't be able to view or capture images of it then.

That article includes basic Saturn info and resources. The video "2-Saturn Composite Image, GIMP Revisit" shows numbered steps for creating the composite comparing Saturn images taken 9/2/2021 and 11/22/2023.

This time around, the topic is about having found a GIMP-editable (.xcf) 3-Saturn composite with images from 2015 and 2018 as well as 2021, then adding the image from November. The video shows the steps in using GIMP for the process. Main GIMP tools for setups and usage are layers, measurement, grid, move, and draw. Saving and exporting are must-do's for successful outcome.

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2-Saturn Composite, Anticipating Future Edge-on Rings

We recently pic'd Saturn, then recalled another imaging session (from about 26 months before. I wanted to compare images, then create a composite. The 2-Saturn composite image shows Saturn on 9/2/2021 and 11/22/2023. The orientations differ, and the newer Saturn's set of rings angle narrower than the rings of the earlier Saturn. During the image creation process, I had became curious about when Saturn's rings might "flatten", maybe disappear from view.

I thought about the steps I used in my process. Having used GIMP recently, and PaintShopPro earlier, I decided to make a slide show of the steps.

 

Some Saturn Resources

To acquaint myself with my orb target, I ran across a few basic resources. NASA's "Saturn: Facts" provides good overview. EarthHOW's "7 Planet Saturn Facts: Beyond its Signature Rings [Infographic]" includes more details and tantalizing images, especially the infograph. "How long does it take Saturn to orbit the Sun?" states "approximately 29.46 Earth years, or 10,755.7 Earth days, to complete one orbit around the Sun". This site provides a nice list of q/a's. Saturn has an unusual feature besides its rings: NASA's "Saturn’s Strange Hexagon" explains "a bizarre six-sided hexagon feature encircling the entire north pole".

"Saturn’s Rings Will Temporarily Disappear From View in 2025" (published November 13, 2023) explained the rings' next "disappearing act".

In 2025, Saturn’s rings will be invisible from Earth for several months. ... Saturn’s rings are so thin that they seemingly vanish when viewed edge-on. And as Earth and Saturn travel around the sun on their respective orbital paths, our planet reaches this particular vantage point like clockwork, roughly every 13 to 16 years. ... the rings will disappear from sight in March 2025.

The following image represents three Saturn images, the existing duo, and a phantom representation for March 2025. The last image indicates planet tilt and edge-on rings. FWIW, Saturn is not in the night sky around that time frame, and the sun's angular alignment to Saturn WRT Earth's position endangers eyesight.

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Partial Annular Solar Eclipse Oct 14 2023, Austin

Our area (Austin) was fortunate enough to behold a partial solar eclipse, clear skies and all. Texans in San Antonio, about 100 miles to the south, got a fabulous annular eclipse because of that area being in the zone of annularity.

My video combines two views of the same image frames used. One portion shows the sun aligned, and the other portion shows the sun drifting south a little as the mount was not perfectly polar aligned. I used tweaked versions (stationary sun, sun/moon movement) to build the side-by-side version.

The actual eclipse lasted over three hours. The resulting videos were each about 36 seconds. Over 900 frames made up each video segment. It was a learning process to prep and compile. Methodology for aligning the sun images using GIMP, my graphics editor, evolved over a few days. I used grids, circumscribed squares, circles, squares and circles, disk shapes.

I aligned using edges, then picking different edges as the moon advanced along its route.

Eclipse Resources

"What Is a Solar Eclipse?" and What Is an Annular Eclipse?" illustrate and simply explain solar and annular eclipses:

For an overview of the two main types of solar eclipses, Schreiner University's Eclipse Path site provides overall info about solar eclipse paths for October 14 2023 and April 8 2024. The NASA composite and Schreiner's video simulations for the two featured eclipses are view worthy. Nice to also see a short section about eclipse viewing safety.

"Types of Solar Eclipses" succinctly contrasts the three kinds of solar eclipses:

A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. People located in the center of the Moon’s shadow ...

An annular solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, but when it is at or near its farthest point from Earth. Because the Moon is farther away from Earth, ...

A partial solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth but the Sun, Moon, and Earth are not perfectly lined up. Only a part of the Sun will appear to be covered, giving it a crescent shape.

Reaching Back to the August 21 2017 Solar Eclipse

"Eclipse Map — August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse" shows the path of totality as far away from our area, thus, why our eclipse image showed a crescent-moonish sun.

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