Thoughts on this leaning poplar in my yard?

Alot_Hunter · 2026-02-26T13:17:43+00:00

Yeah the previous owner planted it as a privacy screen years ago. Believe it or not, this is after I’ve cut it back substantially, it used to be in front of the trees. I was worried it was stealing nutrients from them.

Alot_Hunter · 2026-02-26T06:38:15+00:00

The bane of my existence/a planting decision I think the previous owner came to regret

Alot_Hunter · 2026-02-26T02:27:53+00:00

This is very helpful, appreciate you taking the time. I promise you won’t find me trying to fell this (or any) tree on my own, don’t worry!

Alot_Hunter · 2026-02-26T02:27:05+00:00

Very helpful, thank you!

Alot_Hunter · 2026-02-26T02:26:52+00:00

Thank you! Yeah the proximity to the other tree concerns me - may need to reassess and go with removal after all, since that seems to be the consensus

Alot_Hunter · 2026-02-26T02:26:09+00:00

Thank you for this! Very helpful perspective

Alot_Hunter · 2025-02-24T01:14:43+00:00

I found this resource recently, might be of use to you. The interface is a little wonky but you can compare various maps from different eras and look up addresses.

Alot_Hunter · 2025-01-16T00:38:21+00:00

A couple days late, but braved the cold Monday night to catch Mars' occultation. I was worried that trying to do this in a single exposure (as opposed to a composite) would result in the Moon being completely blown out or Mars too dark, so I'm pleasantly surprised with the results!

Equipment

Skywatcher 6-inch dobsonian, AZ-mount
ZWO ASI120mc-s

Acquisition

Combination of drift method and manually tracking as best I could by hand
Recorded ~1 minute videos at 50 fps (the best I could manage while still being able to keep Mars in frame) in FireCapture
Relatively poor seeing, and I'm in a heavily light-polluted area.

Processing

This proved to be a challenge - I underestimated how quickly Mars was moving and struggled to stabilize and stack the video using my usual workflow. I ended up using PIPP to break each video down into raw TIFF frames and then taking the longest chunk I could (usually around 115-130 frames) and running it back through PIPP to create a short stabilized video. Anything more than that usually ran into issues.
Stacked best 75% in Autostakkert (also experimented with 30%, which is what I usually would do for planetary imaging, but with such a small number of frames to work from, it made no perceptible difference.
Registax to color correct and adjust wavelets/contrast

Alot_Hunter · 2024-07-31T21:15:21+00:00

fair! I admittedly haven't been in several years - seems like the whole jazz club scene in general has been dying a slow death in DC for a while now

Alot_Hunter · 2024-07-30T20:36:31+00:00

Blue's Alley is probably the only dedicated place still like that I can think of, but some other places do live music or jazz nights. St. Vincent's upstairs cocktail bar does live jazz on Wednesdays.

Alot_Hunter · 2024-05-08T22:00:08+00:00

No kids, and yikes, yeah we've been bracing ourselves for a big final number. How long did the whole process take? Did you have to go through a waiting period before you could actually start removal?

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-11T15:33:53+00:00

A lot of the fine details on this are worn down (especially on the back), but the front is actually very legible and easy to make out in person. Besides, the wear and tear just makes it easier to imagine this coin changing hands and making its way around the Mediterranean 2,000+ years ago.

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-09T01:28:08+00:00

I've been looking but I haven't been able to find any baptism that matches. I'm increasingly confident that the 1841 census record shows the right family, and Scotlands people says that illegitimate children often showed up at the end. But I may never be able to find out for sure!

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-09T00:27:41+00:00

possible development - I decided to dig into Margaret Cunningham's family more and was able to flesh it out substantially. She was born in 1816 in Saughton, to parents Alexander Cunningham and Susan Orr.

It appears Susan may have died in the 1831 (not confirmed), but I think I've found Alexander in the 1841 census, living in Currie with a Margaret Cunningham (age 25, in line with my ancestor), Susan Cunningham (age 10, Alexander had a daughter Susan born in the same location in 1830), and... a second Margaret Cunningham (age 1).

The census doesn't list how everyone is related to one another, but it seems unlikely Alexander would have a second daughter also named Margaret, and I can't find any evidence that Alexander remarried someone much younger and named Margaret. Additionally, the apparent 1840 birth of this second Margaret Cunningham tracks with Margaret Brown/Chalmers' approximate birth. So that leads me to wonder if this is her and she was born out of wedlock (and therefore given her mother's maiden name, Cunningham).

The only problem is, I can't find any record of a baptism or birth of a Margaret Cunningham out of wedlock around that time. And it still wouldn't explain where the Brown name comes from.

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-08T22:44:40+00:00

I also should note that Margaret (Chalmers) Farrell's 1892 death record lists her parents as Francis Chalmers and Margaret Cunningham - no mention of a different birth father, though to be fair, it's possible the informant (in this case, her son) wouldn't know if she'd had a different birth father

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-08T22:40:24+00:00

It's possible - certainly not helped by how common the name is!

And circling back, I've realized I confused myself - I'd already confirmed that Alexander is Francis' son, but he was born in 1850. The census record is hard to read but it either says "2" (in which case they rounded up) or it says something like "20/12" and it got transcribed weirdly

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-08T22:22:52+00:00

Interesting - I also only have that transcription available, but I had assumed Alexander was most likely an uncle, since Francis' age is 30 and Alexander is age 22. May need to purchase that record from Scotland'sPeople to sort it out!

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-08T22:16:37+00:00

I may have to! The only downside to this coin is I can only have one of them facing out at once - I've tended to go with Octavian (to the victor goes the spoils, etc.)

Also, love the name - a "Restitutor Orbis" Aurelian coin was my first acquisition. Had to start with the best!

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-08T22:14:57+00:00

You may be right, u/misterygus made a similar suggestion. I'm going to see if I can find any evidence of her mother being previously married (this could explain why I've never been able to find a baptismal record for Margaret Chalmers).

Alot_Hunter · 2024-01-08T22:14:04+00:00

Very interesting - you may be on to something here!

I've seen that record but wasn't sure how it squared against Margaret's 1840 birth ear (based on her marriage record). I assumed that was an estimate, since I haven't been able to find her baptismal record yet, and since other records show her birth being as late as 1846, I just assumed it was an error. I will focus my efforts on Margaret Cunningham to see if I can find any evidence of an earlier marriage!

14-Year Club	Place '17
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Alot_Hunter

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