Late last week, I took the Worried Little Dog for a walk in the hopes he would do his business promptly, but instead he wanted to follow his long nose as it led us on a ramble along some deer trails. The Casual Orange Cat also tagged along. Both eventually marked their territory on the way. Then, I noticed this little mushroom sprouting out of a tree stump while W.L.D. was sniffing around at a fork in the trail and trying to decide which way smelled more enticing.

Photography

I tried to snap a few shots from different angles, and the one with C.O.C. in frame was too fuzzy. I mean, of course he is fuzzy, but between his sauntering movement and the W.L.D. tugging on the leash to jostle my phone, nothing was in focus or held steady. There's no point in sharing a blur. I did get one nice shot despite these difficulties, though.

The textures in this shot also led me to consider a black-and-white version, so after cropping the original down to the image above, I launched GIMP and turned down the hue and chroma sliders to zero while slightly increased the lightness to pull a little more detail out of the shadows. I am quite pleased with the resulting monochrome image.

I was able to persuade the W.L.D. and the C.O.C. to eventually saunter back home. This was just before the forest fire smoke got really bad, so there hasn't been much walking since. I spent Sunday and Monday doing as little as possible, because my lungs ached from the particulates. Filtration only helps so much, and I have had a constant headache and poor sleep thanks to this forest fire mess. At least the forecast suggests improvement is around the corner. Perhaps rain showers around the region will help cut the smoke and quell the fires.

Tangential Rant

I don't remember fire seasons like this until very recently. Of course, some will say it's "cLiMaTe ChAnGe" to blame, and others will have more nuanced opinions about forest management, logging policy, over-aggressive prevention of small fires creating lots of understory fuel, and so on. Nuance doesn't make a good campaign plank though, and election years mean even more insanity than usual on that front. Isn't it great how people who have spent their entire lives in the artificial environments of urban settings, academia, and politics think they know how life really works?