The Full Harvest Moon...

 

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac: "The September 2026 Full Harvest Moon peaks on Saturday, September 26, at 12:49 P.M. Eastern Time. Rising low on the horizon, it will appear bigger, brighter, and more golden than any other Moon this year, casting long light across autumn fields and evening skies."

That's 9:49 Mountain Standard Time here in Phoenix, and I caught it at the absolute peak.  As predicted, as the moon came up over the eastern horizon, it had a golden color to it, and semi-shrouded by a cloud layer...

 

The Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox (September 22 or 23). Unlike other Full Moons, it rises about the same time for several nights, providing extended evening light. Historically, this extra illumination helped farmers complete their harvests before fall frosts.

Other Moon names for this month highlight how September is the transitional period between summer and fall:

• Autumn Moon (Cree)
• Falling Leaves Moon (Ojibwe)
• Leaves Turning Moon (Anishinaabe)
• Moon of Brown Leaves (Lakota)
• Yellow Leaf Moon (Assiniboine)

The behavior of animals is also a common theme, with Child Moon (Tlingit) referring to the time when young animals are weaned, and Mating Moon and Rutting Moon (both Cree) describing the time of year when certain animals, like moose, elk, and deer, are looking to mate.

The cloud cover opened up as it got close to 9:00 pm, and I was able to get a clear shot of this month's full moon...

 Very bright out there!  No, I didn't hear anything howling at it.

 

Reminiscing...

 

Yeah, Little River Band, 1978... didn't you use that title not so long ago, Jim?

Glad to see some of you are paying attention.  Which reminds me of a joke: back in my 20s, we were so poor, we couldn't afford to pay attention.  Old joke.  Old guy.

Last night, we saw Little River Band in concert at Talking Stick Casino in Scottsdale.  We've seen them before.  Yes, we know that none of the members are "the originals" from Australia.  Wayne Nelson, the bass player and singer was with them back in the 70s, so as close to one of the originals as they have.

Some critics (and the 3 original band members in Australia) have called this version of the band "a cover band."  I'm in the "they are keeping the music alive" camp.  That said, the last time we saw them (at this same venue) was probably 7 or 8 years ago, and Wayne Nelson did most of the lead singing.  They were good and sounded like the records, mostly.  Wayne was the original lead singer on Night Owls.

Unfortunately, Wayne's voice isn't what it used to be.  All 5 members of this current line-up sing.  One guitar player's voice was so gravely that it made my throat sore.  The other 3 singers did fine, each taking a turn at lead vocals.  But, none of them had the same timber and tone of the originals.  The musicianship, though, was excellent.

Overall, it was a good concert.  No regrets in spending the money and making the drive, and we thoroughly enjoyed "reminiscing" with the songs.  LRB had a good number of hits.

Some photos...

 One of the highlights of the evening was the 5 of them singing acapella around a pair of condenser mics...

 

As long as they were all singing, you didn't notice the raspiness or lack of power in two of the singers.

We had a good time.  One the way home, ADOT had closed the southbound lanes of the Loop 101, so we had to take a series of back roads, adding nearly a half hour to trip home.  8:00 concert; it was after 11:00 when we got home.  Yeah, we stayed out just like grownups.  On a Friday night.  With a full moon.  (Maybe I'll get a photo of that tonight.)

Some video clips...

 

Look to the sky...

 

Yesterday, we had rehearsal for the Hip Replacements (AZ) - or, as Podge calls it: THRAZ.  We have a gig coming up on Sunday, and we haven't been together for quite a while (I'm thinking it has been almost 2 months).  More gigs coming up in the following months.

Rehearsal went well.  I enjoy making music with Mark, Ron, and Podge.  We all have decades of playing experience, and we flow together nicely.  Everybody has input and it is a good, cooperative effort.

It was raining when I left our house, heading the 32 miles to Mark's place.  Dry by the time I got there, so I didn't have to schlep my music gear in the rain.  I was able to load up the Equinox in the garage to stay dry.

Coming home, I could see some rain shafts over the Estrella Mountains, but it was west of my routing.  Joan helped me unload gear from the car, then while she made supper, I took Murphy outside.  The weather to the east of us is clearing; clouds being lit by the setting sun to the west.  I grabbed a camera...

 To the east, the moon was rising with the diminishing clouds...

 Pretty close to a full moon, which will happen here Saturday morning.

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While I was making music, Joan had plenty of tasks to keep her busy at home.  One of those tasks was assembling a cabinet that will hold cat supplies in the garage.  Fortunately, she had plenty of feline help on that project...

 Pretty sure she was appreciative of all that hands-on (paws-on?) help.  ;-)

 

Stella's Turn...

 

My little furry girl is cute and sweet.  She is learning to be a subject for the camera.  I posted an outdoor image of Murphy the other day, here is one of Stella...

 That image is from my iPhone.  Joan took a bunch with her iPhone 17 (much newer than mine)...

 Enlarged, the image quality from Joan's phone is much better.  And, because my little girl is so darn cute, here's a couple more from Joan's phone, mostly for me...

 A bit more info on why I am so taken with these photos: that thing Stella is sitting in is the toy she and Murphy like best, currently.  Stella pulled the cardboard scratcher out of the base and is using it as a recliner.  Yep, all on her own.

I particularly like those little black tufts on her ears (you have to look close). 

Didja feel it?

 

The 2026 Autumnal Equinox happened Tuesday at 5:05 pm (Mountain Standard Time) here in Phoenix.  Didja feel the rush of cool fall air at 5:06?  Yeah, me neither.  That marks the official astronomical start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere.  We are just a bit more than equal hours of daylight and dark, being a bit south of the mid-latitudes.  The hours and minutes of daylight have been getting shorter since the Summer Solstice, and will continue to do so until the Winter Solstice.

Contrary to popular belief, we do have seasons here in the Arizona desert.  It's about 2 months of autumn, 2 months of winter, 2 months of spring, and 6 months of the Gates of Hell.  I was excited to see that the weather weasels updated the 7 day forecast this morning, with only one day of triple digit high temperatures this next week.  We'll see how that plays out.  Hurricane Polo is off the west coast of Mexico, but the upper air in the southwest will be affected by this... that may account for our cooler (99º??) temperatures and a chance of precip by Thursday.  

In the meantime, early morning temps in the (upper) 70s to 80s.  That's a nice change.

 

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A thin overcast this morning, so no blazing sun when I took Murphy outside.  I cleaned filters and added some water to the hot tub.  Some breeze this morning, so we didn't put any umbrellas us.  More wind and a chance of rain this evening, so Joan and I put away cushions and took the fabric off the cover over the hot tub.

Stella was at the patio door the whole time we were out there, watching what was going on.  I'm thinking she may be getting curious about going outside.  Joan put a leash out on the floor in the living room, so she can see it isn't anything bad.  "Oh, look - a new toy!"

 Baby steps.

 

Quokka...

 

If you said," The quokka (Setonix brachyurus) is a small cat-size marsupial, native to Western Australia, famous for its smiling face," you get 20 bonus points.

 

I had never heard of a quokka before seeing it on the Today Show this morning.  It prompted me to do some research.  Did you know that quokka excrement is highly toxic to humans?

OK, I just made that up.  That is a quokka shit.

Yes, I am ashamed of myself for making up that really bad pun.  And that is a big fat lie.  I laughed out loud when I told that pun to Joan.  Sometimes I crack myself up.  She laughed... not at the pun, but at the fact that I couldn't keep a straight face when I said it.  Sometimes it is about the delivery.

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And just because he is so handsome...

 Murphy looking good in the early morning light.

 

Whippersnapper...

 

A new primary doctor, so she has to do "some tests"... one of those tests was scheduled for this morning; an ultrasound.  I always thought an ultrasound was something done on a pregnant woman.  Pretty sure I am not pregnant.

Of course, they don't do that in their office, so you go to a place where "imaging" is what they do.  Like most everything around here, a half hour from our home.  As requested, I was 20 minutes early for the appointment and only had to wait 18 minutes before they took me in.

A very nice young lady took me back to a semi-dark room, and asked me to lay on my back on the table.  I've read about things like this: somebody gets an organ harvested.  Fortunately, no harvesting happening today... she had me raise my shirt and squirted some stuff on in and started moving the device around.  Probably checking my organs to see if there are any worth harvesting.  Pretty sure I have mostly worn them out.

As mentioned, the young lady was pleasant and conversational - no doubt that makes the time pass quicker while she is "scanning" mostly older bodies.  She had me spell my last name and give my date of birth.  When I got to the year, after telling her that, I said, "I remember when you just gave the last two digits of the year."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

I said, "Well, you were probably born after 2000, right?"

"Yes, 2001."

You will be fine give just the last two digits of your birth year... but, we older folks have to say '19' in front of the two digits... just adding to the fact that we are older."

"I never thought about that," she said.

"Because you are young."

I remember being young.  I thought about that when I rolled over on my side while she was scanning... and rolled onto my titanium hip.

She said, "I see you don't have a gall bladder - when did you have that removed?"

"About 50 years ago"... that must have really made me seem old.  And then to add to that, I asked, "Do I get a discount since you don't have to scan a gall bladder?"  Of course, I was just kidding.  You know - old guy humor.  Who cares?  An old guy benefit: Medicare.

When I was done there, Joan and I went out for breakfast - First Watch.  I was ready; I had to fast before this ultrasound.  My old guy belly is on a regular meal schedule.

Then, we ran some other errands; making efficient use of time and gas.  'Cause I remember when gas was 19¢ a gallon.  "Why, back in my day..."  ;-)