Thursday, August 16, 2018

More Nosy Foxes


Yesterday I got the bright idea to finally figure out the clock and video functions on our automated garden cam. So now, when I get nighttime photos of the foxes and other wildlife, they will be correctly time-stamped -- and I can make videos of the critters walking around. Woo hoo!

I even got a few video clips last night -- but for some reason I can't make them load into iMovie so I can edit them. Here's one:

 

If I can ever figure out how to splice them together and get rid of the dead time, we'll have an interesting little movie. They are .avi clips but iMovie won't recognize them. I have no idea why. Technology -- argh!

Meanwhile, above you'll find another bug-and-flower photo for a splash of color -- a hoverfly on one of our zinnias.

I spent yesterday mostly reading, a book called "Why I No Longer Talk to White People About Race" by Reni Eddo-Lodge. It's our "community read" for work, meaning all the faculty and staff are reading it and we'll be discussing it in the next week or so. It's good and very interesting, making me think about the ways in which many of the world's roadways are paved for me, a white man, while others find them rocky and even impassable. I may write more about this after I've finished the book and given it some more thought.

I am off to work today. It seems a bit strange and surreal for summer to be over, but our Japanese anemones are blooming -- they're the garden alarm clocks for back-to-school time!

12 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Hi ho! Hi ho!
Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to work Steve goes
He keeps on singing all day long
Hi-ho, hi-ho!

P.S. Please put out some dog meat for the fox. He looks a bit too skinny.

Anonymous said...

that sounds like a very good book, I'll look for that,, your flower shot is brilliant and interesting night cam too, its amazing what visits in the night,

Ms. Moon said...

Oh, little fox. Aren't they interesting creatures? They are almost catdogs.
Back to school. Did you get a new notebook, some new pens? I would have.
Can you believe I did not plant one zinnia this year? I'm definitely off in the garden game.

Red said...

It's hard to get my head around the different school year times after teaching the old standard go back at the beginning of Sept.

Vivian said...

Very cool, the stuff that goes on in your garden FYI, Foxes like cat food, too.

If Reni Eddo-Lodge has stopped talking to white people about race, does that mean that I can stop hearing about it from people of color?

Anonymous said...

I don't know why it surprises me that there are foxes living in the city, but there they are! Ah, the new school year begins. My step-daughter is starting her first day teaching math at the high school she graduated from 20 years ago. It seems it all starts earlier these days.

Sharon said...

That top photo is spectacular! I love it! The fox was fun to see. He looked right at the camera for a while there.
The book sounds interesting. I'm always amazed at the number of white people who don't have an understanding of the impediments that face blacks in this country.

Catalyst said...

Great little movie of the fox. And school days: when I was a kid (a couple of centuries ago) the school year was 9 months long and vacation lasted 3 months. Guess we're headed for year-round educating.

e said...

Your book sounds interesting. I hope you have a good year!

jenny_o said...

I think the British schedule of school makes so much more sense than ours. Here the kids go back in early September, have just two breaks in the year (two weeks at Christmas and one week in March), a handful of statutory holidays at odd times during the year, and finish up at the end of June, with two full months of summer vacation. My mom was a teacher and always said the kids and teachers alike were exhausted by the time June came.

Do you suppose the fox can sense the camera? He seems to be giving it the eye. And what eerie eyes they are, all glowing and stuff :D It's so neat to see that footage.

jenny_o said...

P. S. The colours in that first shot are gorgeous!

Elizabeth said...

I've been hearing a lot about that book and look forward to hearing your thoughts about it! I understand from doing a lot of reading and listening that there's a huge gap between what we perceive as "racism" and what is white privilege -- that we can get stuck on things like language and overt racism without ever really delving into any understanding of the systemic or institutionalized structures of whiteness. Ugh. I didn't say that very well.