Oasis, finally, and a job interview

They call it the bird viewing preserve but it's really an oasis on the Mojave Desert. Six man-made ponds as big as some lakes, lots of greenery, not enough shade or places to sit. This is the first week in months with temperatures below 100, so I expected different birds and wildlife. And there was a little - two kinds of egrets, Painted Lady butterflies, bunny rabbits (which ran too fast for me to photograph) and the desert tortoise was out of his man-made cave. But very few ducks, no blackbirds, and an algae bloom in the waters.


Painted Lady. I also got a great shot of it being attacked by a honeybee.


I think this is a black-chinned hummingbird. That feeder saw a lot of action.

The rest of the photos are here.

After about 90 minutes I was deciding it was getting warm and was starting to head back when the phone rang, it was a recruiter in FL who had emailed yesterday about a contract job, and I answered I was interested. After talking a bit, she set up a zoom meeting for us to talk further. So instead of driving out to the Strip I drove home. It was a good interview, she will forward my resume to her manager and we'll see what happens. The job is working from home, QA of VOD and live streams for the Pacific Time Zone. They also had an automation job that I was not interested in. She said she is seeing these jobs popping up a lot lately. Of course, because sports & live events are back, and VOD is still pandemic-friendly.

Snacks for lunch.

The cat door was delivered while I was out, Fedex FAIL again - they left it at the back door so I had to maneuver it through the laundry room and kitchen instead of bringing it straight in the front door.


It was harder to unbox than install (lots of tie wrapped padding) and since the gate is taller than the height of the door handle it had to be installed with the door open. I planned to keep the door open anyway, and Jade retreated to her tree house while Spook ignored the whole process from her porch perch, so that's okay. One disadvantage to the open door is Jade has become very vocal and her cries reverberate through the house now. Hopefully, Spook will continue her nocturnal habit of hanging out by this door, and eventually Jade will get used to her.

Tivo today had the 3-hour finale of Bachelor in Paradise, which started with the "most likely to marry" couple's man blindsiding his woman at The Prom (last party of the season) and breaking up with her on a gut feeling. She was devastated. They left the island in separate SUVs. The next day four more couples broke up, only one was a surprise. But the three remaining couples ended up engaged, and it was all very romantic. So now the season is over, and I will miss the excellent tropical wildlife photography. Next up is the second The Bachelorette  on the 19th, this is the woman who should have been chosen in the first place but she was passed over because she is not white. They fired the executive producer/host for that. The new host looks like another FAIL, white, male, macho, his only qualification is he was a Bachelor once upon a time.

Salad, turkey frozen meal, Mango-coconut fruit with Cook's brut mimosa, pineapple sherbet for dinner.

Tomorrow:
Lots of stuff on Tivo.
1-5 pm window for delivery by Best Buy of the 65" TV.  Since it's a TCL not a Samsung I'll have to reprogram Google and Alexa a little.
The plan is to unbox it in the livingroom, install the stand, set it aside while I disconnect the current TV and move it to the front room temporarily, replace it with the new one. All it needs is the power cord and then the HDMI cable plugged into port 3. I'll connect it to wi-fi, it probably will need a firmware upgrade. allegedly it has Google Home built in.
Oh yeah, reprogram the Harmony remote.
The plan is to sell the 55" on the mobile home park "garage sale" Facebook page.
Maybe Friday I'll get to the Strip