Hummingbird Update
It seems the cold front that blew through this past weekend was the signal most of the hummingbirds in the backyard were waiting for to head on south. Since Sunday I have only seen the few birds that were here all summer. I won’t complain, but it was sure fun watching so many of the little jewels swarming around the feeders.
Maybe there will be another wave coming through before winter sets in.
Google Earth
After my first cup of coffee this morning I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and make my first trip around my walking trail for the fall. When I got back I wanted to record the distance so I went to pull up Google Earth to measure my path…Oops, I haven’t installed Google Earth on the new computer. No problem. Go online and download the installer and click to run………..Installed and it opens…But it looks blurry. It’s almost a double image…Wait a minute, where did I put those glasses…
Oh…My… God…Google Earth is in 3D…Did I mention that when I upgraded to the new laptop I ended up with a 3D graphics card? No. Well it wasn’t intentional. I picked the first NVIDIA card that showed up in the specification list. I didn’t realize what I had until I opened the box and it had a pair of 3D glasses in the box.
So far I hadn’t had a chance to play with it because I had no apps that used the capabilities… But Google Earth in 3D captivated me…I wasted an hour or so just playing around.
Here is an image I captured of downtown Houston…Sam Houston Park…
Now, as nice as this image is…Looking at it through the 3D graphics was just amazing.
Next, I ran over to my buddy Fred First’s place. Fred publishes Fragments From Floyd from Floyd County Virginia, His place in the Blue Ridge Mountains sits down in a valley along Goose Creek. Google Earth is showing an image of his place from last fall when the hills were covered with some nice color. Here is a capture of that view…
I can see I am going to be playing around a lot with this version of Google Earth. Not that I didn’t play around with the older versions…
My Walk
Oh and just for the record, my walk was just shy of a mile at .95 miles. That’s one lap along the bayou trail behind the house. It’s that time of the year to get back in the habit of making the round trip a couple of time a day.
And a trick everyone can use… Google Earth has a ruler that you can use to measure distances. Go try it out.
Some day I’ll play with Google earth, too. But not right now, while we have such beautiful varnishing weather! Every Aug/September I think it’s time to retire. Then, October comes along and I think, “Naw. Not yet.”
Yesterday morning about 10 a.m. I saw what had to be 150-200 white pelicans swirling above the marshes there by the Kemah Seabrook bridge. I’m just sure they’re ahead of the front that’s supposed to get here this weekend. I’ve never seen such a large flock. Beautiful!
I manage to get through our summers each year by keeping our fall, winters, and spring firmly grasped in my memory.
I have been a fan of Google Earth since before it became Google Earth. I have always had an affinity for maps. Online maps, and their scalability, just make it that much more fun.
It looks like the beginning of another wave of hummers are showing up. I just glanced out the office window and saw a half a dozen flying around the front feeder. That’s unusual for out front.