Mike Rodriquez
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Mike Rodriquez
@allthepages.org
1.7K followers 820 following 5.1K posts
Listening for the secret, searching for the sound ...

interests: quilting, cooking, gardening, cycling, photography, cat-herding and too many more to list

https://allthepages.org/

https://centralkansastrails.org/
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My iPad displays a random photo when I turn it on.

My heart melted when this photo of Althea and Cassidy(?) at 7 weeks old came up.

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Calico kitty (Althea) with eyes closed, laying on top of Cassidy, a champagne colored cat.
January 16, 2026 at 11:37 PM
allthepages.org
King Knut Day marks the traditional end of Scandinavian Christmas. Accordingly, here is the last video of Christmas in Lindsborg of the season, taken the night before.

#ModelRailroad

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
January 14, 2026 at 12:07 AM
allthepages.org
I had some thoughts about the loss of Bob Weir, someone who I've been listening to for over 50 years.

Too many words, so here's an image, with alt text (slightly edited, as I even hit the alt text limit!)
I first got into the Grateful Dead when I was 15. My first concert was at Winterland in 1978. I (conservatively) saw them at least 200 times There was nothing like the shock of suddenly, with no notice or anticipation, losing Jerry. Those feelings of loss never really lessened and remain today. He had such an impact on so many lives. His music lives on, through the thousand of hours of tapes that are available. It is not hard to listen to a concert you haven't heard before and hear new wrinkles And I would say, there would never have been a Grateful Dead or deadheads without Jerry. He was the Pied Piper that led us all down the golden road. But here’s the thing. After he died, the music never stopped. And why is that? Largely because of Bob Weir. He played a (scheduled) show the very night Jerry died. He then played for 30 years after Jerry left us and kept the music alive during that time. In fact, with the addition of John Mayer, the music took off in unexpected and much appreciated ways. John was the best not Jerry ever. And that happened because Bob and John met backstage one night and made such a fine connection everyone could see that it was true. I’ve listened to the Grateful Dead most of my life They have literally been the soundtrack of my life. So losing Bob is more than just another old celebrity dies. Bob and I both began life long journeys when we were 17. He joined a band and I got married. Til death do us part. 53 and 78 and so much different. At 50, one should have decades left. At almost 80, one starts counting the days. So Bob’s loss isn’t the shock like Jerry’s was, but it’s still a big loss, marking as it does, the 50+ years since I first enjoyed the dead. As Phil wrote after his father passed away: Such a long, long time to be gone; such a short time to be there. I’ll close with some lyrics from a song Bob sang, Cassidy: Fare-thee-well now Let your life proceed by its own design Nothing to tell now Let the words be yours, I'm done with mine
January 11, 2026 at 10:00 PM
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3 cool cats

#MikesOccasionalDistraction

#3Dprinting
3 3D printed cats, sitting in an. upright positioni with their tails curled. They are printed in a color-changing filament, so each one is varying shades of pink, orange, etc.
January 7, 2026 at 2:23 AM
allthepages.org
Current state of affairs with respect to Google's less than useful "AI."

Ask a question, it lies.

Call the lie, it cops an attitude.

It so much reflects Google itself with their insular, we know better, attitude.
In the search bar: does tamiya make a red coral paint AI response: Yes, Tamiya offers several red paints that could be considered "red coral," with TS-41 Coral Blue Lacquer Spray being a specific "coral" shade (though it's a blue coral tone) My response: You continue your quest to be less than useless. I ask a question. One that has a yes or no answer. You LIE and say yes. Then list a product and note, by the way, it's NOT the color you wanted. Just fuck off already. You're killing the planet and you're useless. AI: No, Tamiya does not make a "Red Coral" paint.
January 2, 2026 at 8:05 PM
allthepages.org
Patches is beautiful in the sunlight!

It did take some persuasion before she would open her eyes, and even then, they barely opened and barely stayed open. But I got the shot!

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Calico cat with a pink collar and a tiny bit of a beatnik chin beard, sitting in the sun on a beige chair.
December 29, 2025 at 10:36 PM
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Sunset through a dirty window

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Bare branches and pine trees, black against a red sunset.
December 22, 2025 at 12:16 AM
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Sweet Princess

#Caturday

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Green eyed tabby looking out of a blue-gray carpeted "house."
December 21, 2025 at 4:24 AM
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"Hmm. One of the meanest things about growing old. You forget how important everything seems to young people." Barbara Stanwyck as Hannah Semple Hoyt, age 100.

Not the best movie ever, but it's got a young Barbara Stanwyck, so it's that good at least! :-)

The Great Man's Lady, 1941
KT Stevens standing next to Barbara Stanwyck.
December 18, 2025 at 3:06 AM
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KU selfie, just because.
Old man with gray beard and balding head wearing a gray shirt with part of a KU Jayhawk visible.
December 17, 2025 at 3:42 AM
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Golden Hour/Blue Hour

everything depends on your perspective

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Grand Canyon near sunset. The upper part of the image is deep in the canyon, and is dark gray/blue. The lower part of the image is a rock outcropping that is in the golden sun. There are folks standing there looking out and taking pictures. December 2021
December 9, 2025 at 12:02 AM
allthepages.org
Hey now! Hey now!

Aiko Aiko un day.

Great big boy, gonna miss him so much, Jock-a-mo fee-no ai na-né.

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Big white long-haired cat sitting on a work table by some vises. There aren't enough words to describe what Aiko meant to me.
December 5, 2025 at 7:37 PM
allthepages.org
Patches and Cassidy get along just fine. Of all the cats, they are the two that usually hang out with me in the evening.

But they're not usually together like this!

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Calico cat lying next to a champagne colored cat, on the top of a cat tree. A book shel is behind them and visible on one shelf are albums from a stamp collection.
December 2, 2025 at 9:52 PM
allthepages.org
When Althea was more of a kitten, she "caught" my N scale steam loco.

She executed the most perfectly timed smack you could imagine!

So marvelously well done I could hardly be upset.

But, it took until this year that I figured out how to fix it.

It was easy, as the picture shows.

#ModelTrains
image shows the coal car of a steam locomotive, with its top off, revealing that the plug connecting the engine to the coal car had become disconnected after Althea smacked it to the ground. I thought the gears were jammed until I came across an old Reddit post advising to check this connection.
December 1, 2025 at 1:39 AM
allthepages.org
I created another video today. Lessons learned: use a tripod and control the lighting better (highlights are blown). Still, not bad and kind of fun to watch.

#ModelRailroad

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
November 30, 2025 at 4:26 AM
allthepages.org
Instead of shopping today, I made a short little video.

#ModelRailroad

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
November 28, 2025 at 10:45 PM
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I spent my after turkey time creating a little video that demonstrates remote switching of a model railroad turnout. (exciting stuff, I know :-)

#ModelRailroad

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
November 28, 2025 at 3:41 AM
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It's a quiet night in the village.

#ModelRailroad

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Model railroad layout showing ceramic buildings of key houses and businesses in Lindsborg, KS. Brightly colored lights inside of each building make a very colorful image.
November 23, 2025 at 4:11 AM
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Light check passes.

#ModelRailroad
Model railroad layout with multiple buildings, all lit up in different colors via LED lights.
November 17, 2025 at 1:29 AM
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There are things you can replace
And others you cannot
...
Thinking a lot about less and less
And forgetting the love we bring

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
Althea is such a sweet, beautiful, photogenic cat. A beautiful calico, looking up with a puzzled look on her face.
November 16, 2025 at 9:29 PM
allthepages.org
I have a program that randomly changes my computer screen background.

The most recent photo was quite the treat!

Looks like I took this one not so long ago, back in June of this year.

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
A red(ish) rose, with a yellow center that has a green petal in front of it. The rose is slightly tilted to the right and set against a solid black background, a very chiarusco effect.
November 12, 2025 at 7:18 PM
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Straight from the camera (iPhone 17 pro max). Some exaggeration, but pretty close to what we saw. Some pillars appear to be visible.

#aurora
Bright red aurora over whitish looking tree tops (bare of leaves now) with shadows below and a barely visible house.
November 12, 2025 at 3:00 AM
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The sky outside my house, looking north, at 8:30pm CDT. The camera exaggerates the red a little, but this aurora is clearly visible to the naked eye.

#aurora
Bright red aurora above a street light with a streetlight and one house with its porch light on and another house mostly in shadow.
November 12, 2025 at 2:44 AM
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Something different on Veteran's Day.

Loco 1943, Union Pacific's 16th commemorative locomotive, was created to honor America's armed forces.

Above is a photo of the actual engine and below a picture of my model against a photo of the same location as the first shot.

#MikesOccasionalDistraction
The engines are big SD70 type and the photos were taken near Glen Haven, Colorado. The engine is shown in front of a bare rock face, and there a lot of pine trees around there.
November 12, 2025 at 1:11 AM
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Monday, again?

#MikesOccasionalDistraction

#ModelRailroad
SD70a Rio Grand loco in front of station house with a few people standing around and a 1961 Impala slightly out of focus in the background.
November 11, 2025 at 12:51 AM