The following is an obituary I wrote for my recently deceased father. The original was posted the on the Franzen Davis Funeral Home website. This version incorporates some minor adjustments and corrections that were noted by my brother. Franklin Burdick Baker, age 87, of Las Vegas formerly of Bozeman, died on Tuesday morning February 9th, … Continue reading My Father’s Obituary
Category: Diary
Cataract Conjunction Caps Coronavirus Year
Our crappy Coronavirus year wound down with a bright spot: actually, two of them. On the 21st of December 2020, Jupiter and Saturn appeared right beside each other in the early evening southwestern sky. The last time they could be seen this close it was 1226: Notre Dame was still being built and the world … Continue reading Cataract Conjunction Caps Coronavirus Year
Woke Wildfires
For the last two weeks we’ve been inhaling woke, California, Oregon, and Washington, wildfire smoke. Fire season, yeah it’s a season, is an annual “thing” in the Pacific Northwest. Every summer and fall fires break out and ruin air quality for weeks on end. As “nearly 85 percent of wildland fires in the United States … Continue reading Woke Wildfires
Sinking in Blog Sand
I’ve been refreshing my blog’s look. I created new favicons, blog-banners, and changed my WordPress theme to a simpler and more modern style. I’d really like to harmonize my picture and blog sites, but CSS issues are frustrating me. I have no desire to plunge into the CSS blog sand, but if you care about … Continue reading Sinking in Blog Sand
JOD goes into the Arctic Code Vault
This was a pleasant surprise. A few weeks ago, I noticed this little message on my main GitHub page. Arctic Code Vault Contributor Curious, I hovered on the text and learned that a few of my open-source repositories — JOD in particular — had been archived in GitHub’s Arctic Code Vault. That sounded literally cool! … Continue reading JOD goes into the Arctic Code Vault
Neowise Nostalgia
Comet Neowise is fading fast. For the last two weeks, I've been watching Neowise climb higher and higher in the early evening northwestern sky. Neowise was a welcome sight in this shit-storm (2020) year. Gazing at its diffuse tail takes your mind off the Wuhan Coronavirus1 and the global, mostly self-inflicted, economic clusterfuck it caused. … Continue reading Neowise Nostalgia
Who Thought Blinking Windfarms was a Good Idea?
One night, a few weeks ago, I was driving west on I86 near American Falls when I spotted a long string of blinking red lights. The lights stretched over a large arc of the horizon. My first thought was “Jesus H. Christ now what?” As an amateur astronomer, I have climbed mountains to get away … Continue reading Who Thought Blinking Windfarms was a Good Idea?
The Return of the Prodigal Blogger
It's been ages since my last blog post. Yes, I've been a very, very bad blogger. Lesser men would throw themselves on the metaphorical feet of their readers and beg for forgiveness but if you're expecting apologies you don't know me! I write for myself; if you choose to read my ramblings, well that's on you. … Continue reading The Return of the Prodigal Blogger
Still Totally Awesome
The total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, was my fourth complete solar eclipse. I've seen two annular eclipses, 1994 and 2012, and two total eclipses, 2001 and 2017. Annular eclipses, or rings of fire, are worthy spectacles but nothing compares to a total solar eclipse. Some things have to be experienced to be fully … Continue reading Still Totally Awesome
My Final Facebook Fuckoff
It’s the start of a new year and much has changed. This week we moved into a new house. Our move has been an eight month and four state ordeal but I am hoping we will be here for some time. I am tired of moving and our frequent moves are confusing our self-appointed digital … Continue reading My Final Facebook Fuckoff
