The critters have really started to come out in the high country. In the last week, we have seen at our place, a herd of deer that seem to not be bothered with the table saw noise in the barn, as they stood right out the open front door last Sunday and ate what little grass there was.
But Saturday we had some different visitors.
After a meeting of the road committee, I was standing in front of the barn and I thought I heard a rooster crowing up the road by the house.
We don't have chickens.
Although maybe we should because I learned earlier in the hierachy of animal crap fertilizers, chicken crap rates pretty high, as compared to the horse crap we have been shoveling, transporting and spreading.
As it turns out that we had a flurry, gaggle, etc. of wild turkeys in the driveway. Marlys said that they too didn't seem to be too put out by her presence in the window watching.
I wonder if we can train them to deficate (crap) on the 100 sq feet of lawn we are attempting to grow.
On the drive up Friday the number of deer and antelope along the road has increased markedly, maybe last hunting season was not a great success...depending on your point of view (hunter or deer).
The following is a video of a small herd of elk camped out on our neighbors parcel.
On another note now that we have been in the house for 2 1/2 years, it is time to start remodeling. The first project is to replace the railing cap around the stairwell opening.
When we built the house in 2006, we finished the railing off with a cap made of clear finished tiger maple. Although the tiger maple is beautiful, its light color didn't seem to work, so we want to go with a darker wood. I was think about a clear fir in keeping with the western softwood used in the house trim.
So off to the lumber yard. Our neighbor had mentioned a place in the Springs called C O Lumber and with the address entered into the trucks nav system (guess I forgot how to read a map), off Marlys and I went.
I had previously been to a place in the Springs, I called CO (Colorado) Lumber Specialties, so this would be a new place to view some wood porn.
As it turns out, once the nav system had us at our destination it was the same place. When I asked inside as to the name I was told "C O (not C&O or the abbreviation for Colorado) Lumber" was the name. So we had been talking about the same place all the time.
As we started our tour, I headed us toward the S4S Fir, but in doing so we passed the area where all of the "exotic woods" were stacked. You gotta love Marlys, because she stopped and began looking at that assortment.
I got us back over to the domestic woods, but alas, it was not to be, Marlys had decided that African Paduak was what she wanted, and I have to confess it is a beautiful red/orange color. A 12' foot long, 13" wide board has now become a personal record/legend of sorts for us, as the most expensive piece of wood we have ever purchased.
I have now decided that Marlys will go on all future wood hunting expeditions.
No this is not a conspiracy posting saying that the government is undertaking some type of social biological warfare campaign against its citizens, so if that is what you are looking for you will be disappointed.
As I have written ad nauseum, Marlys and have/take the opportunity to sit on the patio most afternoons and contemplate the area. Most times we will see contrails crossing the sky, depending on the conditions at the flight levels being used.
One of the questions we always seem to ask is I wonder where the jets have come from, or are going to. Being the king of all things trivial and having a semi-aeronautical leaning, I decided to check out what a high altitudeenroute chart would say for the area.
The enroute chart in question is the H-3 and not wanting to make a trip to a special trip to a FBO or buy on on-line with a little googling I found the following and took a screen shot.
Most of the traffic we see is in the east-west-east corridor, which seems to indicate that the Blue Mesa junction is probably in play. The black lines represent the airways that are used by aircraft flying at a flight level altitude. I bet you all thought it was a free for all up there, but it isn't, these are like highways in the sky. BTW Blue Mesa is located by Gunnison. This though doesn't mean that all traffic is transiting that point.
Here is the low level charts showing airways that transit the area. As you can see there are many opportunities for looking at contrails, but probably not by those aircraft flying on the lower airways as they are probably not jets/turbo props. The blue lines represent the low level airways, but pilots don't necessarily have to use them.
We do though have military aircraft in the area that make some interesting passes below the peaks (which make them pretty hard to pick out.
The warning for the 11,700 tall Waugh Mountain is pretty evident, coming west out of the Canon City airport on the lower right edge of the chart. Like on the water these are called charts. Charts are maps for a specific purpose, e.g. shipping, aircraft, etc.
Two weeks ago it was sunny and I was able to model these custom designed/made/mashup sun and reading glasses.
This weekend it was cold, snowy and the wind was howling. I guess winter has arrived just in time for spring.
We have got the glulam bench out of the shop, but it is heavy enough that we had to wait for a weekend when Derek swung by to move it.
Speaking of Derek, he is finishing up his junior year at Western and is in the final stretch. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
Now for the invite.
Marlys and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this August and we have decided to have a party, here at Pinon Rock. The date is August 8, 2009. We will get started around 2pm and go 'til I tell folks to go home.
We are in the middle of nowhere so first come, first served on accommodations.
The nearest town is Canon City, and I may set up transport if there are enough folks staying there, this is of course assuming anyone shows up.
We are going to have it catered and there will be drinks, but if you need something special it will be up to you to supply it.
Drop me a line at ptcaulfield@gmail.com if you are going to come, so that we can get a count for the provisions.
This is a great time of year to be in our banana belt area of the Colorado high country. The temperatures this weekend were in the 50's and even the winds were warm. The clouds have now taken on the look of spring/summer cumi's. There were even a few sprinkles as they passed over once in a while.
We have finally decided that even though the views are incredible we need to put up some sun shading in the great and family rooms of the house. After looking at films and pull down shades, we decided on the shades. One of the deciding factors was that the film shading would always be there, where as the pull down shades can be lifted when desired.
We went with sun shades that have a 90% blocking factor. In this case that means they are woven to allow 10% of the light through. In looking at films it was recommended we go no higher then 80%, so as not to void the window warranty. This happens because the film will raise the temperature of the window.
The shades come in a number of different weaves and colors, this of course was a Marlys decision. They will take about two weeks to be built, then we will install them. We are planning to put up a wood valance, possibly with "Molesworth style" relief scenes, stay tuned.
A pilgrimage to White Castle and the men's mall's (Menards, Fleet Farm, maybe even Northern Hydraulics) is being planned for May. I really miss these places and although Big R is "OK", it is more of a minnie mall and there of course there is nosubstitute for the Castle.
We are taking the truck, so carting back any treasures should not be a problem.
Last week we spent some time in Phoenix, AZ. The current recession has had quite an impact on the number of snowbirds wintering in the area, but my very un-scientific license plate survey would seem to indicate that we really were just in southern Alberta, the economy must be doing better with our cousins to the north.
While we were there Bill (my on-line building consultant from the 2006 house construction) and myself took a day swing down to Tucson to visit the Pima Air and Space Museum.
The Museum is located just outside of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base which is noted for its aircraft storage and mothballing activities.
Since Marlys was not with us (e.g. she reads every display description thoroughly), I figured we mite spend a couple of hours looking at airplanes.
That didn't happen and this is one of the reasons why.
There were in excess of 100 aircraft on display outside and inside. There were numerous special interest areas in the 5 hangers and a gift shop which had the best t-shirt I have never purchased. It had a picture of a mushroom cloud with the following phrase under it "It seemed like a good idea at the time". I should'a bought it.
I under estimated just a little, as it turned out to be just shy of 6 hours before we left.
I had to take a picture of this aircraft. I think it was a Convair, but I don't remember. Anyway, look at the top of the engine cowling. That is one of the cylinder jugs sticking out of it. I hope this happened on a ground engine run up.
Pima also offers guided bus tours of the aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan, so off we went. On entering the base one of the first things you see is a long open air shed with all manner of aircraft either coming apart or going together. This a storage facility after all, and some of the aircraft are put back into service, as needed.
What makes this area near ideal for long term storage are the climate, namely very dry and the ground, which will support the weight of even the largest aircraft (as a dozen C5s will atest to) without sinking.
The aircraft going into relatively short term storage have all openings covered and the windows covered in a black protectant, which is then covered in a white latex material to reflect the sun light and heat.
On our right was a large field with parked F16s in it, but the birds I was trying to get a snap of are in the background.
Because of the conditions here other countries also contract to store their surplus aircraft at D-M. The C130s in the back are from the Royal Norwegian Air Force. According to the tour guide their contingent of aircraft has been growing over the winter.
Even while walking through the static aircraft displays at Pima there was also either an Australian or New Zealand air crew touring. Maybe from dropping off an aircraft.
Although there were virtually every aircraft past and present in the US AF/Navy and even a few Army Mohawks. There were a couple that I took special interest in; the B1 Lancer and a C130 that had seen service flying to Antarctica.
The B1 was in especially short term storage and only had a canvas covering the cockpit area. This aircraft along with the B58 Hustler, and the XB70 Valkyrie are on my short list of the most beautiful aircraft ever built.
The C130 is probably one of the most successful aircraft ever built and has seen service in a number of different configurations. The addition of skis is but one of those, but one that is still used today in getting supplies and people on to and off of the AntarcticContinent.
As I understand it most of these flights are now operated by the New York Air National Guard, but don't put money on that, as it has been a few years since I read anything on it.
During the day we also saw a number of other aircraft doing touch and goes and test flights. Two noteable ones were a few F4 Phantoms which are now used for target drones and some F22 Raptors , which are amoung the newest US aircraft. I can't say that the Raptor will make my 'Beautiful Aircraft" short list, as stealtherizing tends to ugly up things.
On the way down I noticed an In & Out Burger along I-10, which if you haven't had one is comparable to White Castles on MY burger index.
Now we were scheduled for a seafood dinner in a couple of hours, but what the heck, it was now right on the way home and Bill had never experienced there menu (short and too the point).
Hey, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against seafood, it makes a fine holder for fried batter.
Technology has given us many things, but one of the most dreaded is the conference call. This is the evil offspring of the traditional meeting, which use to happen once or twice a week, but now can fill the entire day.
But when do you get actual work done, if Outlook has allowed your day to be scheduled out. Well, during these meetings. Sharing ones attention is easily done when sitting in an office or cube with a headset on listening to someone drone on and on for hours. The techno term for this is “multi-tasking” and was probably developed during a conference call to politely describe this lack of attention.
When someone says during a call, when asked a question, “Sorry I didn’t catch that, I was multi-tasking”, it as a rule means:
-I was talking to some else, about something more interesting.
-I am checking email, hoping to see if there is something more interesting.
-I am instant messaging with someone creating a rumor that will definitely be more interesting.
-etc.
The point is they/we are screwing off. People can be amazing, they will refuse to be bored when given a choice.
Now sometimes people are doing real work that benefits their employer, while multi-tasking, but mostly I think not.
I mentioned instant messaging above as one of the organizational efficiency sappers. I have heard that its use during a meeting or conference call can create something called a “multi-dimensional” meeting.
What this means is that the meeting is happening on multiple levels, beyond just the one where a person is speaking and maybe listened to. In it purest form the instant messaging meeting level would be discussing some nuance of the speaker’s remarks, but mostly it’s about; what a nimrod the speaker is, or how their head should be removed from a nether region orifice. Thought sometimes the very astute players of this game (and yes it is a game) will be cutting their own plan to solve the problem, frequently contrary to that of the speakers. Of course, when agreement is reached, no one knows what plan was agreed to. This means another meeting will need to be scheduled to decide on what was decided at the last one. It can be amazing to hear people recite the outcomes because, it sounds like they were at two different meetings.
Go figure?
I have actually heard of this multi-dimensional meeting concept being institutionalized by projecting the instant messages on a wall or group instant message box during the meeting.
This by and large goes over great when asking questions about the subject. Inevitably though someone will type something into the wrong instant messaging box and then the speaker’s nimrod status gets projected for all to see.
You may ask be asking, “The wrong instant messaging box?”, and yes, to play this game right, you need to have multiple instant message conversations going on at any one time.
I have to admit I do a lot of multi-tasking during conference calls. I have also been known to catch up on things, like sleep. Usually the snoring on my un-muted line is a giveaway.
But conference calls can provide some of the best entertainment around, e.g. the barking dog being told to shut the f__k-up, the child asking for something embarrassing, but by far the best is the un-muted headset health break. What makes this one even better is when the offending party on being notified of the sound effects, automatically and politely, says “sorry, my bad” (where did this term come from?), then flushes the toilet. The voice is frequently recognized, but if not (or even if) an instant message storm is generated, especially by multi-taskers to find out what just happened, who it was, and the appropriate changes to their nimrod status.
This is so much better then the “toilet paper hanging out of the pants” gaffe, because you don’t have to see it to enjoy it. Sometimes though the mental picture one gets can be pretty disturbing.
I have actually been on a call where we heard one side of a urinal conversation before the perpetrator realizes they were sharing. This type of snafu can also happen at conferences when a speaker forgets to turn off their wireless microphone after leaving the stage.
Even though this is mostly a guy thing, I am thankful to not have played witness to any more earthy movements. I have to admit thought that when someone is talking on their cell phone in the reading room, I go out of my way to be “noticeable”, for whomever they are talking.
Conference calling though has allowed entire companies to have massive real-time meetings. These are regularly highlighted during the inevitable Q&A session, by someone asking about a personal issue concerning their paycheck withholding or a health issue, accompanied by a company-wide “gopher dance”, as people popup in their cubes, peering at their peers, over the wall, and mouthing “can you believe this shit”. This can also happen when the CEO is asked about any impending right-sizing (layoffs) activities and they dance their dance.
Another pet peeve during these calls is the use of acronyms without an explanation. It becomes especially troubling when someone steps on someone else’s acronym by reusing it before a suitable period has elapsed. I think there should be a worldwide registry of acronyms, just like web addresses. I think the charging of an appropriate fee for the registration of an acronym may in fact reduce the acronym overhead we are forced to deal with daily.
More often then not the purpose of a conference call is to go over why project or plan won’t get done when it was promised. This results in the dreaded splitting of the project into phases. Phasing or phases are euphuisms for “I didn’t get it done, so give me another chance, but let me save face by calling it Phase 2”.A follow-on phase generally follows something called a “Phase 1 Non-Operational Release”. Non-operational is another euphuism for, “We did some work, and ahh…, we want credit for it, but, ahh…, it doesn’t do squat”. This as a rule goes hand in hand with what is called the “limited introduction” and its accompanying swivel seat (manual) processes. This if you looked back on it, was what the project was about solving in the first place. But hey, everyone can show something has been kind of done, or not, and get a good annual review with its merit increase and bonus.
I finally got around to finsihing off a couple of projects last weekend. One I am pretty proud of and the other I could have been.
First, my disappointment...the laundry room broom cabinet. The cabinetry part turned out great, especially as it was my first cabinet. The finishing though really stinks. It looks as if a sand through wash type of finish was applied. I really wish I had left is natural with a poly top coat. I think it would have gone well with the natural pine wookwork in the room.
I did get it and the counter surrounding the wine cooler installed (cooler needs to be leveled) and now the second phase of the built-in project begin with the construction of the overhead cabinet.
Another shop project was the building of a step stool for Marlys, who sometimes (most times) cannot reach into the upper cabinets. For this one I used poplar cutoff I had lying around from the cowboy sideboard project. The plans I got out of the Google Sketch-up Warehouse, but I noticed that they are also in this month's Fine Woodworking magazine.
This was a combination of machine and handmade dovetails. And without through my arm out as I pat myself on the back, it is about the best wookworking piece I have made so far.
I tried to get close enough so that you could see some of the joinery, but alas the phone camera is only so good.
Marlys would like this stained the same color as the kitchen cabinets, but I think I talked her into letting me Tung/LBO/Poly it instead.
Some of you may know about the uranium mining/milling issues facing our area of Colorado. A local group has put together a trailer for a longer documentary being shot on the subject.
I am interviewed toward the end of the trailer (I may have even donated the title from my comments).
It is still in draft form, but is available on YouTube at Trailer 012209 .
On another TOTALLY unrelated subject the laundry room makeover has gone through a makeover. After installing the broom cabinet, instead of putting shelves above the wine cooler, another cabinet will go in. Stay tuned.
Also the dovetails on the kitchen step stool turned out pretty nice, but Marlys wants it finished to match the cabinets and we all know how well I have done in staining maple.
Picture this: Late Saturday afternoon sitting at the kitchen table watching "Transformers" and sipping gimlets from cut crystal lowball glass. Who says the rustic life always has to be rustic. Yes there are many things wrong/unusual about this picture.
Now that Marlys has added this concoction to her repertoire (along with Margaritas) she may have a second career as a barkeep.
Last weekend due to a wheel bearing failure on the Audi we stayed in Parker. We have only been here on weekends three time, that we could remember, since building the house in 2006.
We weren't thrilled and I could tell that the Duster wasn't either.
We did though have a chance to go to the Bradford Washburn Mountaineering Museum at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. It is a small museum, but pretty interesting and the large format pictures taken by Washburn, that appear in several places, are pretty amazing.
The museum tracks mountaineering from its earliest recorded events, to the near present. Looking at some of the gear used at the beginning of the last century, it surprised us that any of the peaks were climbed. This is especially true of the women climbers with some of the Colorado Mountain Clubs pictures from 1913 showing them climbing in mid-calf dress' and hobnailed high heel boots.
We did walk around Parker quite a bit and took some pictures of houses, whose paint schemes we like as possibilities for Pinon Rock the next time, although the paint we used in 06' is supposedly guaranteed for life, I have my doubts based on the altitude and the UV's it is taking on a daily basis.
There is actually a place on the main drag in Woodland that has the best three color scheme, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet.
Even though we have only been away from the place for a week, I can't wait to get back up there.
I noticed when walking the dog this morning that it was a full moon.
The December full moon is called the Oak Moon,
or the Cold Moon, Snow Moon, Moon Before Yule, Peach Moon, Twelfth Moon, Christmas Moon, Margashirsha Poornima or finally the Bitter Moon.
It really depends on background or how you look at the moon.
Initially, I though that only a few moons had names, e.g. Blue, Harvest and Hunters. But in doing a little search on the web I found that my view was pretty narrow. It appears that there were some cultures in old Europe that named moons, namely the Celts and English, but the named moons really took off once the Native Americans came into the picture. This may have been from use of numeric systems for calendars in Europe or the closeness on Native Americans to the environment that they lived, but I really don't know and I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
It also appears that moons had names in other areas also, many more, then you will see, I have captured.
Here is a partial list of moon names and the cultures that used them. I plagiarized this list from multiple sources, so in today's world I think it can be classified as actual research at this point.
The Dakotah Sioux names are some of the most interesting when thinking about what had to happen (scale/scope) in order for the moon to be named after the described events.
Lets start with the old Europe moon names:
Month
English
English Medieval
Celtic
January
Old Moon
Wolf Moon
Quite Moon
February
Wolf Moon
Storm Moon
Moon of Ice
March
Lenten Moon
Chaste Moon
Moon of Winds
April
Egg Moon
Seed Moon
Growing Moon
May
Milk Moon
Hare Moon
Bright Moon
June
Flower Moon
Dyan Moon
Moon of Horses
July
Hay Moon
Mead Moon
Moon of Claiming
August
Grain Moon
Corn Moon
Dispute Moon
September
Fruit Moon
Barley Moon
Singing Moon
October
Harvest Moon
Blood Moon
Harvest Moon
November
Hunter's Moon
Snow Moon
Dark Moon
December
Oak Moon
Oak Moon
Cold Moon
But they really get interesting and descriptive when the Native American moon names are added but what follows is only a partial list:
Month
Native American**
Cherokee
Ottewell (Cherokee)
January
Wolf Moon
Cold Moon
Moon After Yule
February
Snow Moon
Bony Moon
March
Worm Moon
Windy Moon
Lenten
April
Pink Moon
Flower Moon
Egg
May
Flower Moon
Planting Moon
June
Strawberry Moon
Green Corn Moon
Flower
July
Buck Moon
Ripe Corn Moon
Hay
August
Sturgeon Moon
Fruit Moon
Grain
September
Harvest Moon
Nut Moon
October
Hunter's Moon
Harvest Moon
Hunter's
November
Beaver Moon
Trading Moon
Hunter's
December
Cold Moon
Snow Moon
Moon Before Yule
And more:
Month
Choctaw
Dakotah Sioux
Algonquin / Colonial
January
Cooking Moon
Moon of the Terrible
Old
February
Little Famine Moon
Moon of the Raccoon, Moon When Trees Pop
Hunger
March
Big Famine Moon
Moon When Eyes Are Sore from Bright Snow
Crust
April
Wildcat Moon
Moon When Geese Return in Scattered Formation
Pink
May
Panther Moon
Moon When Leaves Are Green, Moon To Plant
Flower
June
Windy Moon
Moon When June Berries Are Ripe
Rose
July
Crane Moon
Moon of the Middle Summer
Buck
August
Women's Moon
Moon When All Things Ripen
Sturgeon
September
Mulberry Moon
Moon When The Calves Grow Hair
Harvest
October
Blackberry Moon
Moon When Quilling and Beading is Done
Hunter's
November
Sassafras Moon
Moon When Horns Are Broken Off
Beaver
December
Peach Moon
Twelfth Moon
Cold
And here is what started to happen when the old Europe and Native American names started to merge:
Month
Colonial American
January
Winter Moon
February
Trapper's Moon
March
Fish Moon
April
Planter's Moon
May
Milk Moon
June
Rose Moon
July
Summer Moon
August
Dog Day's Moon
September
Harvest Moon
October
Hunter's Moon
November
Beaver Moon
December
Christmas Moon
And not to leave out the rest of the world:
Month
Hindu Names
Chinese
New Guinea
January
Paush Poornima
Holiday Moon
Rainbow Fish Moon
February
Magh Poornima
Budding Moon
Parriotfish Moon
March
Holi
Sleepy Moon
Palolo Worm Moon
April
Hanuman Jayanti
Peony Moon
Flying Fish Moon
May
Buddha Poornima
Dragon Moon
Black Trevally Moon
June
Wat Poornima
Lotus Moon
Open Sea Moon
July
Guru Poornima
Hungry Ghost Moon
Tiger Shark Moon
August
Narali Poornima, Raksha bandhan
Harvest Moon
Rain & Wind Moon
September
Bhadrapad Poornima
Chrysanthemum Moon
October
Kojagiri or Sharad Poornima
Kindly Moon
November
Kartik Poornima
White Moon
December
Margashirsha Poornima
Bitter Moon
And here are the non-regional names:
Month
Wiccan
Neo Pagan
Seasonal*
Un-Named #1
Other
January
Wolf
Ice Moon
winter 1st - Moon after Yule
Old
February
Storm
Snow Moon
winter 2nd -Wolf Moon
Snow
Candles Moon; Magpie
March
Chaste
Death Moon
winter last - Lenten Moon
Sap
Sap; Crow; Sugar; Crow
April
Seed
Awakening Moon
spring 1st - Egg, Easter, or Paschal Moon
Grass
Grass(Sprouting); Moon of the Red Grass Appearing; Fish; Waking
May
Hare
Grass Moon
spring 2nd - Milk Moon
Milk
Corn Planting; Corn
June
Dyad
Planting Moon
spring last - Flower Moon
Rose
Honey, Hot
July
Mead
Rose Moon
summer 1st - Hay Moon
Thunder
Thunder
August
Wyrt
Lightening Moon
summer 2nd - Grain Moon
Green Corn
Red; Corn; Green Corn; Dog
September
Barley
Harvest Moon
summer last - Fruit Moon
Fruit
Corn
October
Blood
Blood Moon
autumn 1st - Harvest Moon
Harvest
Travel; Dying Grass
November
Snow
Tree Moon
autumn 2nd - Hunter's Moon
Frost
Frosty
December
Oak
Long Night Moon
autumn last - Moon before Yule
Long Night
Moon Before Yule; Frost
And what about a "Blue Moon"? Here is some interesting trivia from Space and Telescope:
When is the Moon 'blue,' in a calendar sense?
According to the Maine almanac, a Blue Moon occurs when a season has four full Moons, rather than the usual three. This type of Blue Moon is found only in February, May, August, and November, one month before the next equinox or solstice.
According to modern folklore, a Blue Moon is the second full Moon in a calendar month. This type of Blue Moon can occur in any month but February, which is always shorter than the time between successive full Moons.
So pick whether you want to follow folklore or the almanac.
