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For Bonnie, Wayne, and the other animal lovers here, here's our fireplace squirrel we captured and released (to the backyard) today. We cut back the tree branch that was leading the critters to fall into the fireplace and take up involuntary residence. This one had been stuck in the fireplace for a few weeks. We noticed when our cats had taken unusual interest in the fireplace. We provided food and water until we could entice him into a hamster cage so we could release him (or her).

Hey, T-Ben, here's one now!

Here's an Irish Bayou sunrise that John Snell must have missed.

Here's the culprit who caused the Superdome blackout.

JD on the Rock 'n' Roll Flight to...Destin, Florida. March, 1984. With wife and her sister.

From 1978 or 1979, my better half, out drinking in the Quarter.

Hey, wait a minute! This tastes like a damn cat!

Looks like it just might be spring, on my street at least.

Our cats spotted a burglar on our patio last night. Some other cat wearing a mask.

Nobody's gonna get me up here!

The squirrels were hungry and wet after this morning's rain.

Squirrels were dry this morning, but still stuffing their faces. I wonder if Buddy Diliberto knew this one. Looks like it would have a hard time talking. :-)

What are you lookin' at? Got one of our cats to sit still for a photo the other day.

Wife and I spent the day at the beach on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after lunch at Steve's Marina Restaurant. Robin Roberts of ABC's "Good Morning America" walked in with sister Sally Ann Roberts of WWL-TV and sat a few tables away from us. Both grew up near by.

Sunday morning squirrel.

Got some new construction going on in our garage door opening.

Doesn't look so super to me. Oh well.

We buried our Anna this morning. [sniff] She is survived by her sister, Adrienne.

Beatles Night at Zephyr Field, June 8, 2013. L. to r., Pal Al, Beatles Historian Bruce Spizer, Hot Rod Glenn, Michael and Nicolas Costello. Zephyrs beat the Isotopes, 3-2.

We landed on the Moon 44 years ago today, and this place had more than a little to do with it. Took this shot of Michoud on a flight about a year ago.

Peaceful Coexistence. From not quite 30 years ago.

Throwback Thursday. Steve Stills and I in WRNO's Imperial House Motel studio, 1978. More at http://jdthedj.com/WRNO.aspx The interview is there, too. And that's Sambo reflected in the glass.

Sunset in the suburbs last night.

One of the good guys of the insect world, spotted in the backyard. Feast on those mosquitos!

Here's how Katrina said hello to our house. Coulda been worse.

Got my lightning cam working! Zap! Lou Christie has something to sing about.

A shot I'm glad I took in 1980.

Why does this 1980 shot make me hear Simon and Garfunkel's "Old Friends" from the "Bookends" album?

This guy (or gal) tried to sneak up on me in Bayou Sauvage yesterday.

Sunset near the Rigolets a couple of days ago.

CNBC doesn't want us to miss a thing!

Took a few nails out of one of the $250 tires on the back of the wife's Camaro today. Can't prove it, but we suspect the construction going on at the corner of Rue Rochelle and Gause Blvd. in Slidell. Second punctured tire in a week. Both tires only a couple of months old, of course. These five were part of a nail gun "ammo" belt.

Hwy 11 sunset in Slidell last night.

Ran down to Pat O'Brien's in the Quarter today to grab a Hurricane. Took a few tourist shots, and a few that a tourist probably wouldn't bother taking, such as this bird in Jackson Square. Landed right near me while I sipped my drink.

Birds belly up to the (sand)bar in the river near the Moonwalk yesterday.

Throwback Thursday. It's Scoot in the Morning (@[1198163202:2048:Scott Redmond]) at WRNO's Earth Day Concert in City Park in 1977.

Gator and egret in Bayou Sauvage this afternoon.

Slidell sunset Sunday night.

Too late for Throwback Thursday. How 'bout Fallback Friday? From the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair.

Air traffic over Bayou Sauvage this morning.

This morning's sunrise at Bayou Sauvage.

I guess you can tell I go nuts for squirrels.

I DVRed last night's WYES special, "A Warehouse on Tchoupitoulas." Just watched it, and found one of the photos I took from backstage at a J. Geils Band show in it about midway through. There are more at http://jdthedj.com/JGeilsBand.aspx. My local listings don't show a rerun time, but I guess you can contribute to WYES and get the DVD. Great trip down Memory Lane (and Tchoupitoulas Street)!

Nice sunset in the suburbs tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Remember, the dump is closed today. Hear about it on WTIX-FM in full at Noon and 6 PM today.

Nice story in this morning's Times-Pick-Your-Nose about Vidalia, the Roman Candy wagon mule. This ain't her, and I'm not even sure its a mule. But it's a mid-70's film shot I took in front of Jackson Square. Nice hat.

I've heard of tree frogs. This must be a garbage can frog. That's where he was when I took this shot. Jumped up on it out of the grass and leaves where I was splitting firewood. Must have thought I looked like Lizzie Borden.

I took this City-from-20-miles-across-the-lake shot a couple of hours ago. I can't get up as early as John Snell to get it at sunrise. From Big Branch NWR.

Potted Cat.

It's not like this shot has never been taken before, but what the heck? Danziger Bridge at far left, then the Crescent City Connection around the boat at left, then the rest of downtown NOLA 25 miles away. From Big Branch NWR in Lacombe.

Happy New Year, y'all! Fireworks recycled from a 35mm film shot at the 2006 Mandeville Seafood Festival. Nobody will know the difference. Like Charles Osgood, I'll see you on the radio tomorrow morning and Friday morning on behalf of Michael in the Morning.

Just in case the Internet runs low on cat pictures, here's my daughter's cat, George-Michael. A little high-ISO test for a new camera.

Humans would lick the bottoms of their feet, too, if they could.

Hmmmm. Beer, poker, and firearms. What could possibly go wrong here? I traded my camera to a friend for his shotgun, but only for a moment. He shot me, but I didn't shoot him.

Sleet drops keep falling on my head--and my daughter's car.

Another rodent on our baited patio this morning.

Give us this day our daily squirrel...

Today is for the birds! A Slidell cardinal. The ones from Arizona wear football helmets.

NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans

Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans

Fort Pike at the Rigolets, New Orleans, LA

One more shot from today's joyride. We don't get visibility like this often. That's Lakefront Airport 5 miles away out in Lake Pontchartrain.

Thanks to the forthcoming miniscule military budget, we won't be seeing any more of these A-10 "Warthogs." This one is at the 2003 N'Awlins Air Show in Belle Chasse. Air shows. Remember those?

Spring must be close.

A cat in the grass is always better than a snake.

Throwback Thursday. JD sets up to fly inverted between the World Trade Center towers with Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 on a Tandy 2000 computer.

Anybody feel like doin' the Bumble Boogie?

How 'bout some Kung Fu Fighting, Grasshopper?

Bzzzzz! Looks like the wisteria is busy getting pollinated.

Nice sunset over the marsh at Hwy 11 in Slidell tonight.

My daughter took this excellent shot of the back of my head (on the left) yesterday.

Give us this day our daily squirrel...

Northlake Nature Center in Mandeville, LA

Caught a peeping squirrel looking in the back window this morning. Daughter's cat ran him off by scratching on the window just afterward.

One of my Easter favorites.

Earth Day Throwback, 1977: Legs Diamond at City Park Stadium. WRNO.

Set up the trusty SX40 with a motion detection script yesterday and caught this bird posing for her close-up on the back of a lawn chair. Of course, there were 20 other shots of nothing but some background lighting changes.

Caught an angry bird with the motion detection script this morning. He didn't stick around for a second shot.

Got this guy through the living room window the other day.

The Boss at Jazz Fest today.

I awoke to this emailed graphic from a friend of mine. He knows I'm watching the "Cosmos" reboot with Neil deGrasse Tyson on Fox and Nat Geo. He also knows I have less faith in government than he does. I thought I'd share my reply to him: Yeah, I heard him say it. Brilliantly coordinated with the Whitehouse’s climate change report, and the liberal Times-Pick-Your-Nose’s dire warning this morning on Louisiana’s coastline being most vulnerable to “human-induced climate change.” They do acknowledge their prediction comes from that same Whitehouse report. Create a crisis, then propose an all-government solution such as a “war” on it, or a tax. The important thing is to put the government in control. I trust Neil on all things astrophysical; on climatological things, not so much. He worries about breaking an addiction to oil and fossil fuel and wonders where our ingenuity is. Well, he’s supposedly one of the smart ones. Where is the ingenuity? Where are the solar panels that make electricity as cheaply as that from natural gas-fired power plants, and cheap, lightweight batteries that make that electricity as easily portable as gasoline? Where are they? As soon as they are available, I’m all in. But the powers that be, who so easily declare wars on almost anything (drugs, poverty, poor education) and who never win them, are not really interested in a solution. They’re interested in money and control for themselves.

Happy Mother's Day to my two moms--the real one, and the one I married.

JD does his weekend show from the WRNO Wonderwall Studio at the 1984 World's Fair.

One more of the Fair, this one from well above it.

I ran across this chart while cleaning up my desktop. Maybe some of my liberal friends (Charlie, Gilda, etc.) can explain to me how the people of the US got by for so long with so little spent on them by the Federal government between 1794 and 1930 or so. Seems to me the nation as a whole did pretty well during that period. I think I see where the income tax kicked in.

Magnolias invading the Camellia City.

[Bill Drake tympani roll] 35 years ago today!

Krewe of 'TIX at the Zephyrs Game tonight.

Remembering basketball games on the court in his barn in the Sixties. High school buddy Rex Daniels, who didn't make it back from Viet Nam.

Too bad Facebook has no smell feature. The gardenias smell pretty good about now.

It's his day, and he's my dad. 1978.

Daughter's cat waiting for daughter to come home and occupy the sofa.

Let's hear it for the mosquito hawks like this colorful one in my backyard today. Everywhere but N'Awlins, they're just dragonflies. But they don't eat dragons.

I noticed that many of my liberal friends here seem really upset about yesterday's court ruling. So I built this meme to reassure them that the world's not coming to an end.

Today's mosquito hawk must be female. Not as colorful as the one the other day. It didn't help that she decided to pose in front of the blue FEMA tarp covering our firewood. Didn't use much of that this year--not because it wasn't cold, but because I wanted to do my part to offset the carbon from China's coal-fired power plants and all those wood-burning stoves we give away to the folks in India.

Throwback Thursday. Spinning vinyl.

"Hmmmm. I think there's a cat behind this lawn chair."

"Yup. It's out of focus, but it's a cat."

A little early for Throwback Thursday, but with all the stuff going on at our southern border, I thought it might be a good time for this oldie. I shot it (on film--remember that?) about 35 years ago on a vacation at the 1,000 Islands in the St. Lawrence River in northern New York. Pictured are two of the islands, both owned by the same couple. The border between the US and Canada runs right under the center of the bridge. Their main house is on the left in Canada. There's a smaller place on the right in the US. Story is that when the wife gets mad at the husband, she not only throws him out of the house, but also out of the country!

Throwback Thursday. Some college radio buddies at WRPI circa 1969. At left is Gary "Bert Hermm" Skala, and in the center is Sheila "Maria" Fields. On the right is Lee-Whose-Last-Name-I-Can't-Remember. Gary was the long time president of the Jerry Lee Lewis fan club. Put him in front of a piano and mike, and he almost *was* Jerry Lee Lewis!

This morning's patio lizard.

I guess this bumble bee couldn't sleep, either.

Nice and cool this morning. Sunny, too, just like yesterday when I took this shot. Its scientific name is "Red Flower."

The DirectTV blimp flew over the house yesterday.

Bee's eye view of a flower.

Got up to take pictures of hot air balloons from the Ascension Parish Balloon Fest. But the launch was cancelled due to wind. Got horses instead.

Today's flower. Scientific name: Orange Flower.

Got the camera to take a flower shot and got more than I bargained for.

Did some flying today, but in a much slower Piper Cherokee Warrior, not this Mach 2 F4 Phantom. It's on display near Exit 19 on I-12. Finally took a picture of it.

Hairy Monarch in the backyard today.

♪♫♪♫ In 2014, we took a little trip...♪♫♪♫ The Chalmette National Battlefield Monument from the air today.

Another view from Friday's aerial joyride.

Twins.

Lookin' Out My Front Door this morning. Not Creedence, and not Buffalo, thank Gawd! Just a hint of white stuff.

Flower du jour.

This Red Stick bush must think it's in Slidell, the Camellia City.

Thank Gawd New York's Governor Cuomo outlawed fracking there the other day. The price of gasoline was getting dangerously low! My wife filled up the other day at the pictured pump.

Nothing much going on in Mandeville's Northlake Nature Center after a rain shower yesterday. A couple of turtles were apparently playing King of the Hill. One seems to be asking, "What are YOU lookin' at?"

Just when I'd given up hope, thinking Rouses' had quit carrying it, Mrs. JD scores two six-packs (all they had) of Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager tonight! Yippee!

Throwback Thursday. Kind of a now-eerie shot I took on film from a gate at the Newark airport sometime in the 80's.

Benson Clan Eyeing New Home in Texas

Colors, shapes, textures, light... Over the roof the other night.

Just missed yesterday's Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade, but that meant there were plenty of illegal parking places in which to pull over and take this shot of the State Capitol.

Throwback Tuesday. ABC's Robin Roberts at Mardi Gras, 2007

Found a little splash of color today in an otherwise brownish backyard.

Throwback Thursday: Favorite son and favorite dog.

Throwback Thursday: Favorite daughter.

Squirrel du jour. Actually, it's a squirrel from yesterday, but I don't know how to say that in French.

Backyard flower du jour.

Happy Pi Day, y'all!

427 Cobra at the 2015 New Roads Car Show in downtown New Roads, LA.

427 Cobra at the 2015 New Roads Car Show in downtown New Roads, LA.

There's a bug on my flower! At least there's no bee in my bonnet.

Jazz Fest will soon be upon us. If you go and get photos, we'd love to see and post them in the Concert Museum (http://jdthedj.com/Concert_Museum.aspx). This shot is of one of the Commanche Hunters from the 2011 Fest.

♪♫♪ I'm just mad about saffron... ♪♫♪

♫♪♫ The bright, elusive butterfly of love... ♫♪♫

Throwback Thursday: Yours truly in the WRNO studio in the old Imperial House Motel on North Causeway in Metairie (it ain't dere no more). Late 70's.

Yellow flower, green bug. I was thinking about doing some flying today, but the wind here is gusting to 24 mph. That made it tough just to take flower pictures. I manage to catch this one in a bit of a lull.

Do you suppose this guy knows to stay away from Commander's Palace? This afternoon, he was at Northlake Nature Center in Mandeville.

Anbody know what this is? I shot it from the air today, maybe 14 miles or so west of the Slidell airport near I-12, if I remember right. I don't recognize it.

North terminus of the 24-mile-long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, Mandeville, LA

North terminus of the 24-mile-long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, Mandeville, LA

Jerry Lee Lewis at New Orleans Jazz Fest 2015

Elton John at New Orleans Jazz Fest 2015

Mississippi Rail Company at New Orleans Jazz Fest 5/2/2015

Marcia Ball at New Orleans Jazz Fest 5/2/2015

Davell Crawford and his Tribute to Fats Domino at New Orleans Jazz Fest 5/2/2015

May the 4th be with you. And altho with you.

There was a woodpecker outside the kitchen window this morning. Do you suppose he contributes to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation? ;-)

Butterfly bush. No butterflies, though.

Dwarf azaleas. I call the one on the right "Iggy."

Sorting through some digital photos tonight. Found a folder of shots I took to test a PC flash adapter I bought so I could use an old Sunpak 511 flash unit I used to use with my old 35mm film camera with my DSLR. My daughter's cat was the lucky subject for this one. It was a loose, lousy composition, but after some heavy cropping, it seems to make a pretty good picture. And Lord knows the Internet needs more cat photos! Hope the boss doesn't find out I edit my photos while on the air!

The itsy bitsy spider is here. I wonder what he (or she) thinks of the flower.

♪♫♪ Magnolia, you sweet thing You're driving me mad Got to get back to you, babe You're the best I ever had You're the best I ever had ♪♫♪ --J. J. Cale

Remembering my dad (l.) and uncle on Memorial Day as they get set to ship overseas for WWII.

My wife bought a new Camaro in 2011. For an additional $799, she purchased a 5-year Premier Tire & Wheel Service Contract from Safe-Guard Products International. Two weeks ago, she ran over a pair of heavy-duty scissors on the Interstate that not only destroyed the $265 rear tire, but as we discovered after paying for and installing a new tire, also put a hole in the 20" wheel. The new tire was flat in two hours. Then we realized we had this wheel service contract in our files. But Service-Guard Products has so far refused to pay for a replacement wheel as their contract requires, stating that a pair of scissors could not possibly damage the wheel as claimed. Alright, Service-Guard Products, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. With or without lawyers. And with good press or bad press right here. What's it gonna be? We'll certainly keep everybody posted. The scissors blade found inside the tire is in the photo below.

♪♫♪ A-a-O-o-o-o. Werewolves of London... There's a moon out tonight!

The backyard has some new flowers. Here's one of 'em.

Sure had a good time at yet another New Orleans area Radio & TV Reunion at Rocky & Carlo's in Da Parish, yesterday. Big thanks to Oldie King Bob Walker for once again being our "community organizer"! He's pictured here on the right, with 75th birthday celebrant Walter Morehead and station owner Ed Muniz. I'll post more photos after I finish processing 'em.

Happy Father's Day to mine and all the rest!

Somewhere between Hammond and Slidell on yesterday's aerial joyride with my nephew, @[12453765:2048:Eddie Gibbons]. @[1255525390:2048:Eugene P Templet], please note there are no struts on a Cherokee, so I got the whole wing in the picture!

Purdy blue flowers.

♪♫♪ Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom, ba ba bom ba ba dang a dang dang, ding a dong ding Blue moon...

Got high with a bowling buddy and his brother this morning.. Here we are passing by the St. Tammany Airport near Abita.

The guys with the droopy drawers aren't always in Wal*Mart. Sometimes they're fixing the skylight on your neighbor's roof!

One of my squirrel buddies heading up his escape tree yesterday after I surprised him.

Had a great time today at the WRNO Rock Jock Reunion hosted by Michael in the Morning. From left: Tom Courtnay, Warren Montet, Hot Rod Glenn, Pal Al Nasser, John Volpe, Michael Costello, Scoot, Bobby Reno, (Sam)Bo Roberts, Steve Suter, Don Banks, Jim White, and yours truly. Davey O'Donnell was there, too, but he missed the group shot. More pics and video soon.

The Krewe of TIX gets set to party on Elvis Night at Zephyr Field last night. From left: Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux (@[619821618:2048:Ben Walsh]), Hot Rod Glenn, Ya Pal @[100004654381466:2048:Al], Michael in the Morning, and @[100001510357889:2048:Jay Douglas].

Last night's "supermoon," not quite full.

Anybody recognize this place? I forget where I was when I snapped it on yesterday's flight. Somewhere in St. Tammany Parish.

As a lad of 25 or so, I designed and built this digital clock and hooked it up to the cart machines from which we played the music at WNOE. It would reset to zero every time you started a song and start counting up, helping the DJ to know when to shut up so as not to "step" on the vocal while talking over the beginning of a song. Inside, it looked a lot like 'Lil Ahmed Mohamed's clock. But I didn't get arrested for it. 1975 was a different time, I guess. Integrated circuits were almost brand new.

I visited Mikey at my daughter's place last night. She (Mikey) pretty much ignored me, as cats do.

Had a cardinal show me his best side this morning.

Stumbled across this film shot of Fort Proctor near Shell Beach in St. Bernard Parish. Probably late 70's or early 80's. In the early days of my logbook, I wasn't real good about writing down where I went other than the airports involved, so I can't get a more precise date. Global warming fans will note it's surrounded by water even then, not long after 1975 when Time Magazine was warning us about the coming Ice Age.

Daughter's cat Mikey (and it really *is* Mikey this time) has made herself comfortable on our sofa while she visits for a few weeks.

My first paid radio gig was on the AM dial doing weekends at 50,000-watt WPTR in Albany, NY while I was in college at RPI in Troy starting in 1970. Last night, there was a WPTR reunion of sorts at the Palace Café on Canal Street. My RPI classmate Gary Liebisch (a.k.a. "Rick Ryder" at WPTR) was in town. Not many jocks in attendance, but it was fun! Dinner was good, too! These days, Gary sells Nautel broadcast radio transmitters, so if you need one, let him know. Thanks to Gary's wife Kathy for figuring out quickly how to use my camera.

My lunch today. And for breakfast tomorrow, bacon! But posting food pictures on FB has a bad rep, so I'll spare you tomorrow. Eat up now before they get banned by Executive Order!

This morning, a neighborhood kitty was doing some squirrel hunting 'til he saw me in the window hunting kitties with my camera.

Today's flower du jour. It's some sort of red one.

From today's aerial joyride over the LSU campus. Tiger Stadium looks kind of empty.

Beautiful downtown Red Stick.

Today's flower du jour. It's pink. One of a zillion blooming in the backyard at the moment.

GNO Bridge in New Orleans, late 70's.

Downtown New Orleans in the late 70's.

JD the DJ with a GED, an STD, OCD, ADHD, PTSD, COPD, ED, and a Christmas tree with LEDs.

The Krewe of 'TIX at last night's Christmas party at The Quarter View Restaurant in Metairie [photo by @[887945598:2048:Quinn P. Ford]--thanks!]. Hot Rod Glenn, Bobby Reno, Jay Douglas, Michael in the Morning, Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux, Ya Pal Al Nassar (l-r).

Mr. and Mrs. T-Ben Boudreaux at the WTIX-FM Christmas Party last night.

Mr. and Mrs. JD the DJ at the WTIX-FM Christmas Party [photo by @[816412527:2048:Terry Walsh]--thanks!]

Mr. and Mrs. Hot Rod Glenn at the WTIX-FM Christmas party.

Ya Pal @[100004654381466:2048:Al Nassar] at the WTIX-FM Christmas Party.

The Krewe of Michael in the Morning at the WTIX-FM Christmas party.

@[100000689265662:2048:Bobby Reno] at the WTIX-FM Christmas party.

Low-altitude aerial selfie from yesterday.

Took my drone up to the legal (although it's technically just advisory at the moment) limit of 400 feet to see what the view was like. This is a frame grab from the 4K video. I'm not thrilled with the 4K output rendered by Pinnacle Studio 18.5, my current video editor, though. Scaled down to 1080p, it looks fine, but I haven't decided whether to post that version yet. I hear Studio 19 renders better at 4K, but I'm still doing due diligence before I upgrade or get something else.

Just crashed my drone! At least I could walk away from it! Had it in "Smart Mode" to test the geo-fence (it worked, keeping me from taking it more than 300 feet away). While approaching the landing touchdown on the corner sidewalk, I forgot I had it in Smart Mode, and started to walk toward it. The drone did just as it is programmed to do: it backed away from me--right into the street sign pole! Sheared off about a half inch of blade from one prop, and took the other rear prop down to the hub. Fortunately, I was at an altitude of just a few inches. Changed out the damaged props (Yuneec is nice enough to include a full set of spares), and flew a short test flight. All is well! Photo shows a good prop, a bad prop, and a *really bad* prop (top to bottom).

Drove my drone over to Port Allen yesterday to let it ogle Red Stick from across (and over) the river. Film at 10.

Ran out to the end of Lake Road in Lacombe today. North wind pushed a bunch of water out of the lake. As a result, the NOLA skyline on the south shore seemed a little taller.

Common Core has ruined the crows. They obviously can't read.

♪♫♪♫ White bird, dreams of the cypress trees...♫♪♫♪ Had to change the lyrics a bit. Ain't no aspen trees around Lacombe, Louisiana!

Colors of the day.

Just like the legislators and governor, I did some droning at the State Capitol today. It's 450 feet tall, so I couldn't "legally" fly over it, nor could I fly around it because I'd momentarily lose line of sight to my drone. So the flight was pretty mundane. Here's a snapshot from the video. I'll post that later.

Wow! This hole in my sink must go all the way to China!

Violets of color. These are in the bathroom, believe it or not. I felt kinda foolish hauling the tripod in there so I could shoot ISO 100 at 1/4s. Too old to hand hold at that speed. Couldn't even do it 40 years ago.

Flashback Friday: Chubby Checker and WTIX-FM's Bobby Reno in Da Parish before Chubby's 2010 gig at the Civic Center.

I was thumbing through a box of negatives and found an aerial shot I took over Jazz Fest 1998 (April 25). The negative had slipped out of its sleeve and was in kinda rough shape. But I had forgotten I had ever flown near Jazz Fest. I wonder who the Acura Stage act was at the time. Time to start thinking about this year's Fest!

Did some droning over the river in Red Stick this morning. Still a tad high, but understandable after all the rain.

Plenty of poseys out today.

Since it's kind of a mathematical day, here's the reciprocal of the earlier flower (or is it the inverse?).

Took this with a cheap Polaroid camera on a rainy night in 1973 through the windshield of my car parked on Canal Street in New Orleans. It's amazing how well Polaroid prints hold up after 43 years.

Looks like my beloved back in the late 70's preparing to sucker me with some pre-marital food.

Capped off today's tennis with a drone selfie in the backyard.

Finally got a shot from my Nikon f/1.4 50mm prime lens that seems as sharp as it ought to be with that lens. f/3.2, 1/60s at ISO 100 if anybody cares.

House on City Park Lake in Baton Rouge

Sample image from Digital Research's GEM Desktop on a Tandy 2000 computer in the mid-Eighties.

Saw some nice scenery while cutting the grass today.

How about a Nutrocker from B. Bumble & The Stingers?

Sunday night board game night.

Bottle Brush

Pansies

Who knew squirrels are bipeds?

Had to play hide and seek to get this guy.

Must have been in a fight with Mike Tyson!

Quite a legacy. What you get for "Prince" at http://jdthedj.com/Top40.aspx

My Mike Tyson fight squirrel decided to lounge on a branch in the front yard today.

Mosquito hawks were out on the patio after the nasty weather blew through. I guess they figured the mosquitoes would be out, too.

Caught a bird in the front yard tree with his cloaking device turned off (in my experience, birds have an anti-focus coating on their feathers to keep cameras from focusing well on them).

Looks like this lily has some backups getting ready.

My Mike Tyson fight squirrel doesn't venture far from the front yard. Here he is moments ago.

My about-to-graduate nephew, Luke Webb, gets some serious side-eye from one of the Slidell High School honchos as he approaches to pick up his diploma. :-) Congrats anyway, Luke!

We adopted one of my daughter's cats (the mean one) recently. She's now one of my camera test subjects.

Daddy cardinal

Mama cardinal

Crank up The Capris. There's a Moon out tonight!

Flower du jour

Bird in the bush

Here's a drone shot from this morning that might make some of my traffic reporter friends (@[1159285396:2048:Mike Weldon], @[712579912:2048:Cindy Werner Pollet], @[1651054473:2048:Gail Delaughter], and others) reach for their microphones. Actually, this looks pretty good for Baton Rouge traffic). It's I-10 over City Park Lake.

Memorial Day Weekend flags at the Louisiana State Capitol, Baton Rouge

Statue of Governor Huey P. Long on Memorial Day Weekend, 2016

Memorial Day flags

Brilliant!

My dad's been gone since 1990, so I can't ask him when this picture was shot. It's at the 52nd Petersen Classic. It started in 1921by Louis P. Petersen at his second-floor bowling center, 35th and Archer Recreation in Chicago. Early on, it was held more than once a year. It was a legendary event known for its nearly impossible lane conditions and absence of marker arrows and dots. I think I remember this photo sitting in a folding cardboard matte on an end table in our house in the mid 60's. Dating an undated photo is one of the many things you can't do when your dad is gone, so ask him everything before that! Happy Father's Day!

Here's tonight's "Strawberry Moon." Shot this with my point-and-shoot Canon because it has about twice the reach (740mm equivalent) of the longest lens I have for my full-frame DSLR. Manual exposure guessed via the age-old rule of thumb for a medium gray object (the Moon) in bright sun: f/8 at 1/125s and ISO 100. But to paraphrase Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux, almost nobody cares.

And preferably before you take off!

Blending in.

Looking down on fireworks.

So we drive all the way to San Antonio only to find a bar dat's in Da Quarter!

Throwback Thursday. From my college radio days at WRPI. I'm the one with the glasses. :-) How 'bout that big RCA 44BX ribbon mike?! Probably a show called "Request Line Oldies." How prophetic, eh? But back then, an oldie was like 3 years back. Thanks to fellow alumnus @[1055109016:2048:Dennis Jackson]

A little something for Tiger fans. Obviously not game day.

Here's my memory of the legendary Pete Fountain, gone today at age 86. A photo I took of him on Canal Street at Mardi Gras, 2007.

The comics spoke to me this morning.

There's a Wandering Jew on the patio. Hasn't been there 40 years yet, though.

Not much to laugh about as far as the upcoming election. But here's an idea for an alternative ticket. :-)

Flower du jour. Some subtle and not-so-subtle colors in this one.

This hummingbird on our patio this morning seems to prefer fake flowers.

1/1000s didn't quite stop those wings, but it sure slowed them down! Out on the patio at the hummingbird feeder a few minutes ago with the motion detection script.

B-97 listeners likely remember Kim Diamond, who's pictured below at the memorial service for WIXO's and B-97's Nick Bazoo in early 2015. I'm sorry to report Kim's passing on Tuesday. The obit is here: http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Kimberly-Diamond&lc=7186&pid=181507555&mid=7098186&locale=en_US

Did some droning in the Far East (of New Orleans) this morning. Got out over Fort Pike at the Rigolets. It's closed, and it looks like it needs work. Still have to edit the video, but here's a frame from it.

Here's tonight's "Super" Moon, or "Hunter's" Moon.

She's peeking!

We need to let the developer know his flower has a bug. Maybe there's an update.

I thought it was supposed to be "a bird in the bush."

Getting his greens.

The yellow flowers over by the carport were lookin' good yesterday. And I'm just mad about saffron.

Had my drone do some bird-watching at City Park Lake in Red Stick. I'll post the 4K video when I get a chance.

It's a rough life, having to do all this holiday sleeping. Just helping to fill the Internet's daily quota of cat photos.

Today's flower du jour. Pink, I think.

Always sleep with your eyes open and head upside down whenever possible.

Tree's up and decorated. It's officially Christmas.

Hey this is a perfect night to start a new Christmas tradition: The 12 Beers of Christmas! We'll finish on Christmas Eve. Anybody with me? We'll start with some Abita Christmas Ale (thanks, @[619821618:2048:Ben Walsh]!)

Almost forgot about the 12 Beers of Christmas. Here's #2, Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager, one of my favorites. Anybody wanna recommend #3? Ya gotta post a Christmasy photo of it.

Happy Birthday to my WRNO cohort and XM Radio jock Terry Young. Here are the J. Geils Band's Magic Dick, with WRNO's Jim White, Michael in the Morning, @[100000909262007:2048:Terry Young], and @[1193265913:2048:Bob Walker] at a Warehouse show in 1979.

I'm finding ornaments on our Christmas tree I never knew we had. Here's one example:

Here's the promised #5 of our 12 Beers of Christmas: Yuengling Black and Tan.

Almost forgot again! Here's #6 of the 12 Beers of Christmas. A "Louisiana Exclusive." The Boot from Abita Brewery. And now I'm out of variety in my beer fridge. Anybody wanna volunteer #7 for tomorrow?

Made a run to the Cajun grocery today to refill the fridge with some local favorites. Here's #9 of our 12 Beers of Christmas, so we're back on schedule. A nice light snowman and a nice dark ale from Bayou Teche Brewing.

Forgot to post #11 yesterday, so It's a 2-for-1 Christmas Eve. #11 and #12 of the 12 Beers of Christmas. Abita Wrought Iron IPA and Canebrake Wheat Ale from Parish Brewing Company. Merry Christmas, y'all!

Merry Christmas! No, really!

Superdome was looking nice and shiny when we whizzed by it today. The advertising on the cooling towers is a nice touch I didn't notice 'til I looked at the photo. Zatarain's!

Solid, bro'! 23° F. in the Deep South this morning!

I'm feeling a little like New Orleans' Radio/TV archivist @[670907893:2048:Aaron Handy III]. I found this 2004 TV Focus lying around. Some history with @[619821618:2048:Ben Walsh] and @[100004793430945:2048:Eileen Dorn].

Stock tip: Wait for somebody in the Trump administration to say something bad about the Lockheed F-35. Today it was new Defense Secretary Mattis ordering a cost-cutting review. The stock will tank (that big dip in the middle of today's chart). Immediately go all in on LMT and buy whatever number of shares you can afford. Wait 'til day's end and sell to book your profit. Repeat every time somebody badmouth's the F-35. Should work very well. This, of course, is not financial advice. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. And blah, blah, blah. :-)

Venus and Moon Rock Show tonight. Mars is supposed to make a triangle with them, too. Maybe it's there, but it's awful dim at the moment.

Tornado damage to Building 350 at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility

Tornado damage to Building 350 at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility

Happy Birthday to my Beloved @[698779448:2048:Rose Fogg]!

Tried to take a picture of a squirrel through a dirty window. Rather than clean the window, I just shot through a different, cleaner window.

The Krewe of 'TIX gets set to roll with Argus on Mardi Gras. JD is behind the camera, where he looks his best.

Caught The Donald catching beads on the Argus parade route today.

Nothin' like stickin' your nose in a flower! Just check for bees first.

Some sort of orchid on the island in the kitchen under some weird halogen light.

Don't know if this is a blind squirrel, but he found an acorn.

Backyard lily lookin' good today.

Throwback Tuesday. Went looking for some snow pictures and ran across this one taken in our driveway in Slidell, LA circa 1987 or early 1988.

Same lily, different light.

NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East

Mourning doves (they heard about the London terrorist attack) out on the front walkway.

NNC for short.

Water looks a little thick. Has BP been here?

This guy could use a bath, too.

I've shot this tree before. Just seems to be in a good spot.

Waiting for the mail

Flaps set for takeoff

Dwarf azalea (I think) and some typical Louisiana dew

Today's Special: Potted Squirrel, with greens

At the N'Awlins Air Show today, one of the local boys (River Rattlers) drivin' an F/A-18 Hornet got pretty damn close to Mach 1!

This isn't my Mike Tyson Fight Squirrel. His (or her) ears look intact. Caught it in the front yard tree this morning munching on something.

I've uncovered the first draft of Trump's termination letter to James Comey. I wish he'd gone with this version. :-)

Does this look like a bowling team that finished its season in last place? Well, looks can be deceiving. Probably the fault of that guy on the right!

My mom always fed me before feeding the dog, and didn't make me sit up for it (or finish my milk before I took photos). Happy Mothers' Day!

Ran across an old N'Awlins Air Show photo I took of the tiny BD5-J jet used by James Bond in "Octopussy." In the background is the Super Chipmunk belonging to Frank Ryder, an aerobatic pilot from Metairie.

No static, but the photo is a little grainy. Remember film? Happy Anniversary, @[698779448:2048:Rose Fogg]!

Gettin' ready for hurricane season.

Wet day. No, wait, it's only Tuesday.

Peeking.

Not the greatest photo. Shot with the "wrong" eye through the screen on the kitchen window. But hey! It's a squirrel!

Ball of Confusion? Nope. Purple flowers.

Always good to see these guys (or gals) in the backyard. We don't call them mosquito hawks for nothing. They're pretty useless against dragons. Although I have to admit I never see any dragons around the backyard.

Awaiting a fresh magnolia.

Wow! We've hardly used any gas! Oh, wait. That's the new, bigger gas meter for the new backup generator. That gets its big test tomorrow morning when we pull the plug on the electric company and see what happens. Wish it luck!

Final test and checkout shows we're good to go, full A/C and all. Still could do without any hurricanes nevertheless.

It's Father's Day. Here's mine in 1947. Beverly. Still glad I wasn't "Junior"!

Our Tropical Storm Cindy damage. We'll try not to get complacent. :-)

Keeping up with The Douglases. The neighbors next door get a backup generator of their own.

A rare photo of JD with his brother-in-law and the Mrs., taken in Alabama near Atlanta, Georgia, where JD's attire was chosen for maximum irritation of the locals. Thanks to sister-in-law @[1131110685:2048:Shaleen Hughes] for the photography.

A hidden lily was getting down and dirty in today's rain.

I was gonna go get my flying fix at the Hammond Airport early this afternoon. That didn't exactly work out!

Remembering our son Jason on what would be his 27th birthday.

Flying high over Lowe's in Covington this morning.

Wayback Wednesday. Since today is the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, and since I had my logbook out, I checked it to see where I was when it happened. Turns out I had flown this Cessna 150 from Lakefront Airport up to St. Charles, MO (near St. Louis) with a stop in West Memphis, Arkansas just a week before. I flew it back the week after, again stopping in West Memphis (gas was cheaper on that side of the river). I didn't get to Graceland.

[sniff]

Score! Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager in new packaging at Winn-Dixie. Nowhere near as cool as the old label and six-pack, but it's what's in the bottles that counts!

Hundreds of eclipses on the sidewalk in Baton Rouge, thanks to the tree leaves.

When you're too lazy to buy a solar filter for your camera, just rely on lens artifacts to see it, very small, right below the big bright spot.

New brew pub for seniors. And a reminder that you can't buy beer; you can only rent it.

Hmmmm. Probably not a good day for flying. IFR, TFRs, hurricane...

Well, it's official: I've lost data. Since today is Hurricane Katrina's anniversary, I went looking for the full-res version of this photo, but I can't find it. It's what Katrina did to our house in Slidell. Killed my TV/FM antenna, and put a crack in the roof. Not too bad.

Let me cap off your Labor Day Weekend with New Orleans' Greatest Hits, 7-midnight. It's a holiday, so I didn't shave. :-) Listen live at http://wtixfm.com/

Throwback Thursday (3/11/79). The women herein shall remain nameless, because they probably think this photo of them sucks. They know who they are. But I was delighted to run across it. A Cessna 182RG I flew out to Dauphin Island, Alabama, back in the days when you could rent virtually brand new airplanes. This was a '78 model, I think. These days, all the rentals are 40 years old!

This guy must be looking for some mud to daub.

Caught a thirsty hummingbird on the patio just now with my hacked camera and a motion detection script.

Gas was a little pricey at Racetrac last night.

Anybody else wake up with a woodpecker this morning? ;-)

Here's that Old State Capitol that Mark Twain hated so much, through the eye of my drone.

I gots mine! Dis better be good, @[1193265913:2048:Bob Walker]!

These must mean something

Somewhere over the Northshore

North end of the Causeway

Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East--da rocket factory

Downtown New Orleans

Downtown New Orleans

Overlooking the Mississippi River, Algiers Point, and downtown New Orleans

The Smoothie King Center, Superdome, and downtown New Orleans

Looking north over downtown New Orleans

Cadillac Eldorado in John Slidell Park, April, 2005

Studebaker Commander in John Slidell Park, 2005

Studebaker in John Slidell Park, April 2005

Had to take a team photo of the Southern University Jaguars Women's Bowling Team today at Tulane's Allstate Sugar Bowl Tourney in Kenner (brah!). I know Da Coach. :-) Go Jags! Tournament is all this weekend if ya wanna watch.

This might be a repeat, but I was thumbing through some shots I took with my el cheapo camera and was surprised to find this one.

Halloween flashback, as my daughter develops her love for make-up.

I need Jeff Foxworthy to give me my sign. I drove through traffic to City Park Lake in Red Stick to catch the nice low-angle sunlight with my drone. Even with the traffic, I had to wait 5 minutes for the Temporary Flight Restriction over nearby Tiger Stadium to expire before launching. While waiting, I went through the pre-flight checklist. Everything was fine until I got to "Check battery firmly connected and battery door latched." What a dummy! I forgot to install the newly charged battery before leaving the house! What's in there is pretty well used up from the last flight. So I launched for a low, quick, and safe flight over the beach rather than the water. Got a shot of the ducks on shore getting fed by some folks.

Hey George! Which one of you do I wish a Happy Birthday to? :-)

When your personalized license plate needs a little help.

My drone confirms this morning that the Old State Capitol is still standing in Red Stick.

These folks seem to be cruisin' for a bruisin' from some sudden floodin'!

World's longest over-water bridge (24 miles across Lake Pontchartrain).

St. Tammany Airport

Eden Isles near Slidell, LA

Lake Pontchartrain near Slidell, LA (sorry about including airplane parts at the lower right, there, @[1255525390:2048:Eugene P Templet] :-) )

Near the confluence of the I-10 Twin Span (top), US 11 (middle), and the Norfolk & Southern railway (bottom)).

Truck stops and casinos are everywhere--even Irish Bayou.

The Rocket Factory in New Orleans East. The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, origination point for the Saturn V Moon rocket, the Space Shuttle's External Tank, the Orion crew capsule, and the SLS heavy-lift booster.

One more shot of the Rocket Factory.

Lighthouse in Madisonville (I think) at the upper right.

Does it look "super" to you? That's what they call tonight's Moon. It's the only one we get this year.

Just so photographer @[1412073920:2048:Phillip Colwart] knows I occasionally get scale model photography right (it's a model SUV but a real outdoor background). :-)

Looks like our Meters missed out again :-(.

It's officially Christmas here. That's a Jay Douglas Fir, of course! And Santa Claus is hiding a couple of bikes for some nearby neighborhood kids here so he'll have more room in his sleigh on Christmas Eve.

There were objections to my posting a photo of our Christmas tree without her skirt on. So here it is, fully dressed.

Fallback Friday. Some skytyping for WRNO at Mardi Gras on St. Charles Avenue. 1980, I believe.

Camellia? I dunno. We're not in Slidell anymore. That's the Camellia City. Just a white flower in the backyard as far as I'm concerned. Not many flowers out there at the moment.

Squirrels were conveniently munching acorns just on the other side of the window this morning. Someday, I need to wash that window!

Hey, look! My odometer has gone binary! That's only 62 miles! I've got a brand new car!

From the front door, it kinda looks like spring.

Some rainy Sundays, you just want to curl up with the remote.

I'd swear this wasn't here yesterday. Right outside the front door.

Squirrel du jour.

On a wing and a Causeway.

(l. to r.) Jay Douglas, Boudreaux, WGNO-TV's LBJ, Sgt. T-Ben Boudreaux, Hot Rod Glenn, Michael in the Morning and his kids, Katie & Nicholas

'Cakes win, 2-0!

Some sort of white flower alongside the carport. Same color as all the cars in it.

Everybody knows the really important wedding happened on this day, 39 years ago!

Butterfly bush, but no butterflies.

Got to attend a fantastic wedding tis weekend in D.C. My niece Christine and her husband Jason tied the knot. Now I have lots of photo and video editing to do!

Not a good flying day in these parts.

Is this the right photo? Everybody looks happy here.

Happy Father's Day--to mine and all the rest. Mine seems to be getting some rest here.

Dragonfly Blues. Should be a song title, eh?

LOL! Just got the photo tag request shown below. Some person I don't know, Deidre Hines, wants to tag another person I don't know, Linda A. Williams, in my cover photo, an aerial shot I took of downtown NOLA from an altitude of about 1,800 feet. Does anyone here know and recognize Ms. Williams in that photo? If so, where is she, exactly? :-)

Exactly 49 years ago today, I recorded the Apollo 11 Moon landing on this 2" VTR at what was then WOKR-TV (now WHAM-TV) in Rochester, NY. I don't know if they still have the reel of tape. I know NASA reportedly recorded over a bunch of stuff from the mission due to the lack of a tape budget. (That's News Director Craig D. Heslor in the photo)