🐝 “Bee” 🐝

@bee990

Proud Papa / Dad. I do stuff. Navy / Army Disabled Vet (GW1)…Screw Anthrax. Adv Deg’s, but I’ve learned more from Life. Indigenous and LGBTQ+ ally. 🐝 Keeper. Unus sum e multis.

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🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· 20d

I was finally able to take my family to enjoy my favorite beach spot on O’ahu, near Waimanalo, a bit above the southeastern tip of the island. Unlike the tourist areas of Waikiki, it’s not crawling with people. Here, you have to be very careful of the currents, jellies, and sharks. +Tasty treats!

This is a picture of my favorite beach spot on O’ahu, a spot near Waimanalo. The pictures shows a white sand beach in the foreground, with turquoise Pacific Ocean water in the middle area.

The mountains appearing in the distance is the southern edge of the Ko’olau Range. And the sky has many puffy white cumulous clouds.

This is a picture of a box pink box of malasadas, which are Portuguese style donuts that we picked up on our way to the beach, so we could enjoy them that afternoon.

They came from a place called Leonard’s Bakery, which were sold from a food truck we stopped at along the way in Waimanalo.

We had two filled with haupia (coconut), two filled with chocolate, and the remaining two were sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. They were absolutely delicious!

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· 28d

Enjoying a bit of much needed R&R for awhile. I felt a calling from my adopted home, since I haven’t set foot there for far too long. As a sailor, the Ocean will always be my home, and where a significant part of my heart will always be. ~Aloha~

This is a picture of the Pacific Ocean and the Hawaiian Shoreline on a beautiful, and typical Hawaiian Summer day. My first day of a much needed vacation.

In the foreground at the bottom of the picture, sprawling more so on the left, and then becoming more sparse as they continue across the picture to the right hand corner, are Hawaiian palm trees on white sand beaches.

The water is a greenish, kind of aqua color, as the water depth draws more shallow in toward the shore, while the water color turns a much darker shade of blue the further out you look.

There are white clouds sparsely populating the sky nearby, and a few more further away.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Jul 4

If you’re going to set off fireworks, please let the people who are with you know what you’re about to do before…BEFORE… you do it. Please.

This is a GIF in support of those who may suffer from PTSD triggered by fireworks people like to use this time of year.

At the top of the GIF are the words, “Fireworks and PTSD” centered, and flanked on the left and right by images of fireworks.

Below those things, there are five itemized suggestions for dealing with PTSD, and they are:

1. Cover Your Ears: Use earplugs or headphones to help to block out noise or listen to music.

2. Accept Your Reactions: Don’t be self-critical. It is normal to struggle with the disruptive noise.

3. Practice Grounding: Use mindfulness tools like breathing and sitting with your back against the wall.

4. Get Away if Possible: Leaving the area where fireworks are going off is a great option, especially if you’re having trouble coping.

5. Call for Help: People in your support system will be happy to talk to you through it.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Jul 3

Everyone forgets the old man and his widowed daughter-in-law partner, LOL. “Barnaby Jones.” I know they weren’t official law enforcement / detectives with badges, but they were private detectives / investigators. Hope that counts. 😁

This is a picture of Buddy Ebsen as his title character in the series, Barnaby Jones. Pictured with him is Lee Meriwether, who played Barnaby’s widowed daughter-in-law and fellow private investigator and partner in the investigative firm.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Jul 3

Friends of mine. Eastern Carpenter Bees. I know they’re the bane of many people’s existence, but hear me out. They are extremely important pollinators of your eggplants, tomatoes, many other vegetables, and wildflowers that serve as food for wildlife. Please keep that in mind before killing them.

In the middle of a patch of my property I’m re-wilding, denoted by the white arrow in the middle of picture, is an Eastern Carpenter Bee, sipping nectar and pollinating a bachelor button flower.

These, along with the queen Bumble Bee, are the largest bees in North America. Yes, they do bore holes in raw, untreated lumber if the ends are not painted or covered over; but they are also among the most important pollinators in the ecosystem for both people, and wildlife.

The “glassy” looking bald patch on this bee’s back (e.g., the thorax, also called the scutum, or scutellum) is a natural feature of the carpenter bee, and will become more bald with wear and tear over its lifespan.

Another picture of an Eastern Carpenter Bee, as seen in the photo and identified by the white arrow.

The females are the only ones that can sting, but are mostly docile and will not do so unless handled directly, or abused in some way.

The males, while very aggressive, do not have stingers, and thus can’t sting at all. They will, however, get all up in your grill in an effort to intimidate you, or anything else that wanders into their territory. That’s how you know it’s a male. All bluster and bravado, but no bite! LOL

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Jun 22

Space X (SPCX) is proving to be the big Pump-and-Dump scam I knew it would. On day 1, it opened at $150 per share, hit a high of $225/share a couple of days later, and closed today at $154. It’s now down more 31.56%, and has a lot further to fall. I hope none of you were scammed by Wall Street.

This is a price chart showing the share price performance of Space X’s stock price over the past 5-days of trading on the NASDAQ. At the top of the chart, you can see today’s Market closing price of $154.60, which is $30.60 below the stock’s opening share price. The price to the right shows how the stock is trading in After-Hours trading, which generally reflects a much smaller market in volume of shares traded, and shows a slight increase of $0.80 higher per share over the last price recorded during normal trading hours.

Directly below those numbers, is a chart that reflects how the stock traded throughout the trading day over the past 5-days of trading. Clearly, the stock is under selling pressure, as the chart shows a downward trend in its overall pricing trend during that time interval, as represented by the red line that appears starting at the left, and finishing in the lower right hand corner of the chart.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Jun 4

Probably while talking it over with Mrs. Beasley.

A picture of the doll known as Mrs. Beasley, from the TV show called, Family Affair, that ran in the 1960’s.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 23

Weekend of memories… Talking about fishing the Bay in those little boats…this was pre-Pinatubo eruption by about a year or so, before it buried Clark, and so many other places.

Shipmates on a boat in Subic Bay, P.I., Pinatubo Eruption (approx. -1 year).

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 22

As the Holiday weekend arrives, I’d like to make a special request of our BlueSky Community. I know a lot of people like to say, “Happy Memorial Day” to others. But please keep in mind…for many…there’s nothing happy in it. It’s instead, a Solemn day. A day to Remember those whom once were.

A woman lies at the base of the tombstone of her Fallen beloved soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

I chose this image, not for whom the named soldier is, but for what it represents this Memorial Day. It’s a gentle reminder to those who see it, that Memorial Day isn’t a day of happiness for many.

It is instead, a Solemn day. A day of Rememberance for those whom once were.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 20

Here are the Lupines. (I hope!)

This is a picture of one of my favorite flowers I love to grow…Lupines!

The lupine plant appears in the middle of the picture, and its biggest flowering spike also appears near the middle left, and is purple in color. The flower spike is nearly in full bloom. Lupines bloom from the bottom of their flower spike upward. This particular plant has many smaller flower spikes that it produced around the center of the plant, too.

In the foreground, bottom left, is a concrete paver I was given by a local landscaping company that shows the Department of the Army’s Coat of Arms, and it’s roughly 24-inches wide (there for scale).

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 19

A picture of one of my favorite flowers I love to grow in my gardens... Lupines! 😁

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 15

Film Review: “Marty, A Life is Short” (Netflix) Quick Synopsis: A docu-dramedy about Martin Short’s life. Film Length: 1-hour 41-minutes Mr. Short’s life, while peppered with sadness, is replete with Joy. Don’t be put off by its run time! I was never once bored. **Highly Recommended**

First, the photo Credit goes to: Chad Salvador / Variety via Getty.

In the photo are (from left to right): Henry Short, Martin Short, and Oliver Short. Henry and Oliver are Martin’s sons. They’re making an appearance together at the film debut of the feature length Netflix documentary about the life of Martin Short. The men are all wearing suits, and all but Henry are wearing ties. Henry and Oliver are also seen wearing sunglasses, as well.

They are all standing in front of a large billboard, only a small portion of which is visible, and upon which can be seen some of the very large white text letters of the film’s title, which is called, “Marty, A Life is Short.”

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 6

Bugatti Veyron

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 4

“Interstellar” It’s a great movie, especially for those searching for a basic understanding of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. For an explanation of the pic below, check out the Alt Text. medium.com/@somebadidea...

This is an artists rendering of a planet existing in close proximity to a Singularity, or Black Hole.

Because the gravitational strength of a black hole is so massive, what appears to be a sphere of light centered around the singularity’s event horizon, is actually gravitational lensing of light from the underside and far side of the accretion and photon disks. In other words, Gravity is so strong, its actually bending light itself.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· May 2

#SunsetSky One of our favorite favorite lakes at home in PA for just chillin’, and fishing. The kids and I made a lot of great memories on this lake. Happy to share this with you.

Sunset over one of our favorite lakes at home in PA in the Fall. There is a crystal clear cloudless blue twilight sky in the upper portion of the pic.

In the near right side, there is the silhouette of an eastern white pine tree, and through its branches toward the middle of the pic, you can see the sun’s final glow of the day illuminating the sky with varying hues of yellow and orange where the sky meets the rising distant mountain ridgeline.

The lake is in the middle area of the pic, and is reflecting both the rising hills and sunset colors, while the dark color of the immediate ground before us lays in the image, where the sun has already set for the day.

The minor reflection at the bottom of the pic is from the hood of my SUV where we were sitting for the pic.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 25

Happy Birthday to: Al Pacino Talia Shire Hank Azaria Renée Zellweger And, Me! 😁 As well as anyone else here at BlueSky born on this day whom I’m not currently aware of that was. I hope you all have a Fantastic day!

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 24

Still think the stock market isn’t in an AI Bubble? The problem w/ Bubbles…they all pop. And all but the people at the top of the financial markets, pay the price. Remember what the Bubble was called around the 2000, where Intel’s stock price first spiked this high?

This is a chart showing Intel Corporation’s closing stock price valuation since, basically, its inception.

Note the two highest points. The most recent point is today, where Intel is trading at $82.81 currently, or $16.03 higher than yesterday’s closing price, which is higher than it ever was.

Even during the early 2000 time period. The period known as, the Dot-Com Bubble.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 18

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, or reviews, just covers. (3/20) Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy - John Le Carré #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the cover for the book entitled, Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy, by John Le Carré.

The background color is bronze over which a stylized version of the author’s name and the title of the book appear vertically, and then centered horizontally in bold black text on the cover’s front. The only word that does not appear in black text is the word Spy, which is outlined in red, but is otherwise is bold white text near the bottom of the books cover.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 17

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (2/20) Bag Man - Michael Yarvitz and Rachel Maddow #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the cover for the book entitled, Bag Man, by Michael Yarvitz and Rachel Maddow.

The background color of the cover is kind of a cream color.

The title of the book appears at the top of the cover in large and bold red letters. The middle third of the book is split into two halves, left and right.

The left half contains the following vertically orientated text: “The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up & Spectacular Downfall of A Brazen Crook in The White House.”

The right half contains a depiction of the White House, above which is perched a very large beg that is cinched closed and has a dollar symbol on it. Leaning against both of those things is a caricature of a coin flipping Spiro T. Agnew.

In the lower third of the cover, there is a small circle that appears on the left within which are the words, “Based On The Hit Podcast.” Then, in very large and bold red letters text Rachel Maddow’s name appears, followed directly below by her coauthor’s name in smaller black text.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 16

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (1/20) Murder on The Orient Express - Agatha Christie #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the cover for the book entitled, Murder on The Orient Express, by Agatha Christie.

The predominant color of the cover is red. A train is depicted as rising from the lower right corner of the cover toward the center in black silhouette, and from its funnel a very stylized depiction of steam can be seen as rising and diffusing through the upper portion of the cover.

The title of the book appears in large black print, occupying the middle fifty percent of the cover, and the author’s name appears in somewhat smaller white print at the bottom of the cover, directly below where the train is depicted as rising.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 15

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (20/20) The Borrowers - Mary Norton #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the spines of the books in the series of books called, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton.

The books appear in the order written from top to bottom, and the author’s name appears in the multi-colored sections on the left hand portion of each spine.

Following each left hand section, there are pictures of characters from each of the books that appear in small squares, before the larger white background portion of the spine containing the title of each appears.

The title of the first book, again is, The Borrowers. The second book is titled, The Borrowers Aloft; the third is called, The Borrowers Afloat; the fourth is titled, The Borrowers Afield; and the final book in the series is called, the Borrowers Avenged.

In much smaller font after each title along the spine, the publisher’s name, Clarion Books, appears, too.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 14

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (19/20) John Adams - David McCullough #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the cover for the book entitled, John Adams, by David McCullough.

The background colors are primarily very dark, save for the slightly lighter brown to tan patch that appears to the right of Mr. Adams’ head and left shoulder area of his portrait, that occupies the middle right area of the cover.

At the top center of the cover in large font text is the author’s name, and directly below his name in much smaller font text are the words, “Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of Truman.”

A portrait of Mr. Adams then occupies the lower centered sixty-five percent of the cover. Mr. Adams was rather bald, save for the very bushy gray and white hair he retained on the rear flanks of his head (e.g., left and right sides only).

In his portrait, he is depicted as likely wearing an unseen white cotton shirt over which he can be seen wearing a jabot, or a white frilly accessory that hangs from around the neck.

He is also wearing a dark colored overcoat, perhaps a surtout, common among many in the colonies. He shunned the dressier styles of clothing worn by many European men, favoring practicality and function.

The book’s title then appears in large font red letters directly over Mr. Adams’ portrait in the area of his coat.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 13

Which movie defines the 80s for you? 🎥 🖤

This is a picture of the poster for the film, Risky Business, starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca DeMornay.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 13

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (18/20) The Hot Zone - Richard Preston #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the cover from the book entitled, The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston.

The cover itself is is white. Overlain in the upper nearly one half of the cover is the book’s title in large red letters, and centered.

Directly below the title, there is a stylized, and highly enlarged microscopic picture of the Ebola Virus.

Directly below this picture are the words, A Terrifying True Story, followed by the author’s name below in larger letters.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 12

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (17/20) Eats Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the cover for the book entitled, Eats Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss.

The background color for the cover is all white. At the top of the cover in small black font text are the words, “You don’t need to be a grammar nerd to enjoy this one…Who knew grammar could be so much fun?” —Newsweek

Followed directly below in slightly larger black colored font, “The #1 New York Times Bestseller.

Below that is the title of the book in large font, and orange text. In the middle of the title, there is a panda standing on a bamboo ladder. The panda is painting over the comma that was appearing just after the word “Eat” in the title of the book.

Another panda appears in the bottom right half of the cover, presumably after all of the commas were removed from the title, with a pistol in their hand, walking upright, to the right, and pointing their pistol off cover.

Directly below the bamboo ladder, and centered on the cover, the following text appears in larger black font, “The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.”

There is a large orange exclamation mark that appears centered directly below those words.

Then the author’s name appears in larger orange text, centered below the exclamation mark.

Below the author’s name, the following words appear smaller black text, “With a Foreword by Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes.”

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 12

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (16/20) The Jedburghs - Will Irwin #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a book cover for the book entitled, The Jedburghs, by Will Irwin (Lt. Col. Ret.).

The cover is, I believe, a black and white photo from the 1940’s showing a cloud filled sky in the background. There are also three people who are dropping through the sky in parachutes. The first appears in the upper left corner of the image; the second appears near the middle of the cover, while the third appears near the middle bottom of the picture.

In the upper centered portion of the cover, the following words appear: “A gripping and authoritative account of the soldiers whose exploits formed the basis for modern special warfare.” This was a quote by General Wesley K. Clark, author of Waging Modern War.

The title of the book appears in bold red letters centered in the middle of the cover. Slightly offset to the right of center directly below the title, the following appears, “The secret history of the allied special forces, France 1944.

And the author’s name and rank appear in the lower centered portion of the cover, about one fourth of the way up from the bottom of the cover.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 11

The Felon’s Secret Police (ICE) are packing people into prison cells literally “like sardines” (in a can), most of whom have NO criminal records whatsoever. But Forbes, please……keep focusing on what’s really important. Gasoline pricing.

This is a picture of a post by Rachel Maddow on BlueSky. She’s quoting a congresswoman who made a surprise visit to an ICE detention center.

The congresswoman said, “‘I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,’ fighting back tears.

“She described the way people were laying down inside as ‘like sardines.’”

“‘It is frightening in there,’ she said. ‘It is disgusting’…”

At the bottom of Rachel’s post within a white background a statement reads, “Surprise inspection finds ICE stuffing migrants ‘like sardines’ into a facility with no bed, showers”

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 10

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (15/20) Little House on The Prairie Series (1-9) - Laura Ingalls Wilder #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the book spines for each of the books in the series of books that have come to be known as the “Little House on The Prairie” series, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Ms. Wilder’s books appear here in the order she wrote them, from top to bottom. The font color for all of the books here was a somewhat cream color, while the spine colors varied. The first book has a green spine, and was called Little House in the Big Woods. The second book has a brown spine, and was entitled Farmer Boy; the third has an orange spine, and was called Little House on the Prairie; the fourth has a plum colored spine, and was entitled, On the Banks of Plum Creek; the fifth has a red spine, and was called, By the Shores of Silver Lake; the sixth’s spine was blue, and was entitled, The Long Winter, while the seventh book’s spine color is light blue, and was called, Little Town on the Prairie; the eighth book’s spine color is magenta(?) and was called, These Happy Golden Years; and her final book in the series, The First Four Years, has a green colored spine.

This series holds special place in my heart, because it was one of the last book series my children asked me to read to them before they started fully and boldly reading on their own. I miss giving voice and personality to all of the characters in the books, and making them real for my kids.

We visited the Ingall’s landmarks (e.g., homes, graves, etc.) in the Midwest not long after finishing the series, which helped to make this even more special for all of us.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 9

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (13/20) Bee Keeping for Beekeepers - Don Brown #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge

This is a picture of the cover for the book entitled, Bee Keeping for Beekeepers, by Don Brown.

The cover itself is an amber brown type of color, at least to my somewhat color blind eyes. At the top of the cover is the title of the book in bold black letters in the upper left hand corner. In smaller print directly below the title the words, “A Practical Guide,” appear in smaller less bold print.

There is a graphic representation of a large bee in black ink that appears offset to the right in the middle to lower 25 to 50% area of the vertical portion of the cover, and covers approximately 50% of the width of the cover of that area as well.

The name of the author appears in smaller font print, centered at the bottom of the cover.

🐝 “Bee” 🐝@bee990· Apr 8

Choose 20 Epic Books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (12/20) The Demon of Unrest - Erik Larson #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge