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Birding Tools of the Trade: Advanced

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  When heading out with just some binoculars and a birding app (as described in the first part of this series) frustrates you because you aren't able to identify some far-off birds, or they don't hold still long enough for you to get a good look, perhaps it is time to consider some more advanced equipment.  I'm talking spotting scopes and cameras! Spotting Scopes    Spotting scopes are essentially a portable telescope.  They have an upright image and are pretty simple to use.  A tripod is required to use one effectively.  Like binoculars, they have a magnification and a diameter as the two main specs.  Typically, a scope for birding will have a magnification in the range of 20X to 60X which is great for birds that are too far away to get a good look at with binoculars.  Diameters range from 50mm to about 100mm with 80mm being the most common size. Some scopes have a straight viewfinder and others have an angled viewfinder.  I recommend...
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Birding Tools of the Trade: The Basics

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  As I mentioned in my previous post , it doesn't take anything to get started with birding beyond your eyes, ears and a guidebook or app.  Once you have a taste for the thrill of ID'ing a bird, you will likely want to add a few tools to help you further enhance your abilities.  I'll break down the common equipment into basic and advanced categories.  The basics require relatively modest investments in money and effort to use.  The advanced are for more serious birding that require more money and time.  This week covers the basics. Note- Some Amazon links in here go through the Amazon associates program which may earn me a commission if purchased through the link but are otherwise not a paid promotion.  Recommendations are based on my own purchase and use of the products. The Basics Guidebooks A good, comprehensive guidebook is indispensable, and I strongly recommend collecting some of these.  In my beginner days, I would carry a book in my backpa...
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Give Birding a Try

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  I'm not really a fan of the term "birder".  It sounds too serious.  Too hardcore.  It gives the impression that is your identity and raison d'etre.  I'm more of a softcore birder.  (Is that the right term?!)  "Birdwatching" is a more apt label for what I do.  That relaxed manner is probably why my birding skills are barely beyond novice even though I started this hobby nearly 20 years ago!  However, "birding" is easier to say and type, so I will use it throughout the rest of this article to encompass both hardcore birding and softcore casual birdwatching. Birding topics will be a recurring theme on this blog.  Today's post provides an introduction to the field for those who have perhaps never given any thought to birds and an encouragement to start trying to identify the birds you see around you.  Unlike most of my posts that use stock photos, all bird pictures in this post are my own. Loggerhead Shrike; Grand Canyon National Par...
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Why do meteor shower peaks always occur inconveniently early in the morning?

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  This is a question I came up with after my last two meteor shower viewing attempts in October and November left me underwhelmed.  I'm not much of a night owl so I did my viewing from when it got dark (5:30ish this time of year) until 8PM or so and only saw maybe 4 meteors in that time.  Cool, but underwhelming.  The media reported the peak times for viewing were right before dawn.  I started noticing they all have their peaks early in the morning hours and wondered why none ever peak at more like 8PM. If I were smarter, I probably could've figured this out myself.  I finally got around to Googling it and it only took 2 seconds to find the answer.  It turns out, that at dawn, the sky overhead is aimed in the direction the earth is orbiting around the sun.  As a result, the debris fields the earth is passing through that that is the source of the meteors is directly overhead at your location at dawn.  The hours just before dawn when it is dar...
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What's wrong with software developers? [Spotify Edition]

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This title is partly a legitimate question and partly me throwing a jab at software in the age-old hardware vs. software rivalry 😁.  I'm just joking.  There are good people on both sides.  Some of my best friends are software engineers.  Mrs. Wisdumb is a software engineer.  See, I can't possibly be anti-software!   Coders, I threw you a bone with this Hollywood depiction of coding shown above so you can go on your own rant about public perception of your field.   The impetus for this post comes courtesy of Spotify.  Spotify bought one of my favorite podcasts, Armchair Expert , and made it exclusive to their platform.  Initially, I was horrified at this.  My memories of Spotify are listening to music and then getting blasted with an ad that was twice as loud as the music I was listening to.   I believe this was intentional.  That is, it wasn't the fault of a software bug, but rather a design choice by sales and ...
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Early Retirement Part 3: Expenses

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  Welcome to the third installment of my Early Retirement Trilogy.  It is now time to talk about expenses.  If you missed the earlier parts or a search engine brought you here, go back and read Part 1 on the Early Retirement Mindset and Part 2 on Generating Income. How Much Income Do I Need? I approach the decision on when to retire from the demand side rather than the supply side.  That is, I figure out how much money I need to live the lifestyle I want and then will retire when I have a portfolio that can generate that.  Everybody has a different situation and there is no one number that is going to work for everyone.  You need to figure out what kind of lifestyle you want to live and how much that is going to cost you.  It turns out predicting how much money I will need is hard, so I plan to err on the side of caution.  So how do I get started doing that? It's spreadsheet time, baby!  I have tracked my yearly expenses for nearly 20 years...
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Dolphin S200 Pool Cleaning Robot Drive Motor Repair

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 I've spent the past two weeks doing battle with my pool cleaning robot and want to share what I've learned so others can fix their own if they run into the same problem. My robot is a Maytronics Dolphin S200.  The internals are probably very similar or identical to other models, and I think there are even rebranded versions, so the details below likely apply to a fair amount of the population.  These robots are pretty expensive to buy, but they are, in my opinion, the best way to clean my pool.  My pool is surrounded by pine trees and they are always dropping stuff in the water, so I keep my robot in the pool and it runs daily on its timer with little intervention from me and uses much, much less electricity than my previous pressure-side pool cleaner. Rant on Robot Manufacturer Greed There is a lot of markup on these robots.  The S200 I got for $600 in 2017 (and its equivalents) now sell for more than $1000.  The exact same design.  No new technology...
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A Call to End Discrimination

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  You are probably wondering what I, a white dude living in America, know about discrimination.  Sadly, I know more than I wish I did.  You see, I was born with a particular trait that was destined to make my life in our society more difficult.  I have never tried to hide it and I'm not ashamed of it.  I'm proud of it in many respects, and many people around me already know this, but never, until now, have I publicly announced it.  So, here goes:  I am left-handed. Obviously, the previous paragraph was tongue-in-cheek, and I in no way intend to marginalize the struggles of anyone facing discrimination for factors beyond their control.  Rather, it is the opposite.  I like to use humor to ease the tension serious topics.  This blog post is an attempt at empathy and solidarity on my part.  I'll let the reader draw the parallels between my seemingly minor inconveniences with being left-handed and their own experience with discrimination...
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Car Shopping in 2023

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It's new car buying time in the Wisdumb household.  Well, not "new" new (you've read my financial advice on cars , right?).  And not exactly "buying time".  Rather, it is time for the prep work to figure out what steed to add to our stable when the first Wisdumb young'n reaches driving age next year.  Boy am glad I'm starting early; finding the right car seems more difficult now than it has ever been.  This post is going to explore why I'm having such a hard time finding the perfect car. Is it me? You have likely figured out by now that I am very particular about product features, and my desires often run counter to the mainstream.  I blame the mainstream for that, not me!  Things I want in no particular order: Good Highway Gas Mileage Reliability Good towing capacity (3500lb min, 5000lb preferred) Minimum 35 cu ft usable cargo capacity with 4 passengers.  >40 preferred. Wireless Android Auto Heated and Ventilated Seats Adaptive Cruise Control...
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