Barefoot

  

Remember going barefoot as a kid?  Probably summer.  The sometimes smooth, sometimes slightly rough texture of sidewalk cement.  Cool green grass.  Dusty slightly slippery dirt.  The rough surface of a tree branch and the hot sand between your beach towel and the water line.  Blazing hot black asphalt when crossing the street.  You could go "ouch, ouch, ouch" and resort to dancing along the white pedestrian crossing paint, or endure the burn, suppress the urge to hurry, and feel immeasurably cooler than the person next to you going "ouch, ouch, ouch".  The pleasure of sensual extremes, all relayed to you by your feet. 

 

Long for the days?  Ever tried it as an adult?  It's not the same.  I go barefoot around the house and in the yard every day of the year.  Even with that though, straying out onto the asphalt is not a comfortable thing to do.  The soles of my feet are not as tough now as when I was a kid.  I don't go barefoot in all conditions as I did back then, but I think there is more to it than that.  I think physics has gotten involved.  Something about doubling the surface area and the resulting volume quadruples.  There is more pressure per square inch on the feet of an adult than there is on the feet of a child.

 

But I wonder if that physical difference is insurmountable.  Could an adult get as comfortable walking without shoes on all surfaces as a kid can?  I don't have a theory, but maybe I should test it anyway.  While I'm barefoot already, I could make it a point to venture out onto the rough asphalt every day and see if it gets any easier after a few weeks…

 

 

 

 

If I wanted to lust after an upscale sedan

…which I don’t, it might look like this.

 https://www.lucidmotors.com/air

 It’s a Lucid Air, it’s in production, and it’s a really good thing I don’t want an upscale sedan, because this thing costs a lot of money. 

Morning moonset

  

 

 

 

 

 

The answer to the pop quiz

  

This little guy is an American Kestrel, our smallest raptor; about the size of a blue jay.  He weighs the same as 34 pennies.  An ambush hunter to be feared, if you happen to be a tiny mammal, lizard, or large bug.

 

 

 

 

Football Pool

  

I got hosed.  I got 8 games right.  Matt got 9.  Judy got 11 right, but that wasn't fair.  She made a bunch of crazy picks.  I was a lot better at this before I invited others to play…

 

 

 

 

 

Pop quiz

  

 

Can you name what kind of bird this is?

 

 

 

 

 

Another big bug

  

 

A really big bug.  Haven't seen this one before so had to look it up.  It appears to be a Banded Hickory Borer.

 

It inhabits the southern and eastern U.S.  It likes hickory trees, but it will lay its eggs on oaks as well, and that's what we have a lot of here, oaks.

 

 

 

 

When we were kids

  

…way back in the 1950s, there were two kinds of household refuse.  At our house we had trash cans and garbage pails.  There were two types of collectors.  There were big trash trucks, the ones with the big compression mechanism on the back, that took the dry trash, then there was a messier open bed truck that took the wet garbage.  We had trash men and garbage men.

 

So what was up with that?  Why was there a separation between trash and garbage?  Did they take them different places?  Why was it like it was then, but not like that now?  What changed?

 

 

 

 

 

A 700 day streak

  

I'm not studying Spanish.  I'm playing a computer game.  Every week, in this game, we get split into groups of 30 and earn points by doing simple Spanish lessons of our choosing.  We get points for consecutive-day streaks.  That's where I am now; a 700 day streak.  We never have to study because it doesn't matter if we learn any Spanish or not; we're just playing a game for points, and at the end of each week the five players with the most points get promoted to the next level, and the five players with the least points get demoted.  (I've had a lot of promotions and not many demotions.)

 

But after almost two years of playing this game in Spanish, one would think I would have absorbed a little by now, pero no.  No aprendo nada.  Yo no conozco nada!  De verdad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we go places

  

…Google Maps knows, and sometimes will ask us if we want to submit a review or a photograph we've taken with our phone.  Sometimes we do, but not with any special effort.  I found it amusing today when I got a notice back from Google Maps that over the years our reviews have received 32,000 views, and our photos 18,000,000!  A segue into my next career!  Reviewer, photographer, influencer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The football pool

  

I did a lot better this week.  I got 9 out of 14 games right.  I only lost to Matt by 3!  Judy didn't do quite as well.  She lost by 6.

 

We're back home in the Valley today.

 

We don't really want to convert a semi-truck to an RV.  But if they can build an electric semi-truck, surely they can build a bus.  That's what we want.  A bus chassis is perfect to convert to an RV.  They've already done all the hard work.  All we would have to do is take out all the seats and build a house inside instead!

 

But thinking about electric cars, I realize a serious shortcoming.  Sitting at an intersection

Waiting for the light to change.  Idling.  Cars roaring by as they turn left across our bow.  Noise.  Fumes.  Imagining the clarity that would ensue if all these cars were electric.  Suddenly I realize how unfair it would be to the teenagers of the world.  What about their rite of passage?  A hot car.  Even if it's not really a hot car, but you had done something to soup it up.  Loud exhaust.  You gun the engine.  Heads turn.  You floor it around the corner and with the roar of the engine, get a screech of tires.  The teenage rite of passage.  Who could take that away?

 

No.  There would have to be an exemption.  Even when internal combustion engines make no sense at all, there would have to be an exemption for teenagers.  They could have gasoline cars and make their statement.  Wouldn't want a generation of lost boys…

 

 

 

 

And the winner is:

  

Matt Taylor!

 

He got the most picks right in this week's football pool.  His reward?  The respect and admiration of all.

 

He got 8 right.  Judy and I, on the other hand, each got 7 right.  Out of a possible 14, getting 7 right is a lot like, close your eyes and guess!

 

Anyone else wants a chance at it for a few more games this season, let me know.  Send me your cell number and I'll pop you an invite.

 

 

 

 

Speaking of coffee

  

I have received helpful advice in the last couple days.  Like this.

 

Or this.

Thank you Deb and Jon.

 

And here is how coffee looks at our office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow morning

  

…when I make coffee  …I'm going to remember to put a cup under the brewer before I walk away.

 

 

 

 

 

Your Christmas Bonus

  

Little drummer boy.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l1CS0Jhk90

 

We sang this in High School Choir.

 

Maybe not quite like this.

 

 

 

 

 

The football pool

  

 

I've played work or neighborhood pools in the past; everybody chips in a dollar and makes their picks.  The person with the most correct picks each week gets the pool.  It's hard to do well consistently, but I usually finish the season with more dollars than I started with.  This is the first time I've done one with an app on my phone, and it turns out I'm awesome!  I set up a pool and it tracks how well each person is doing with their picks.  I'm in first place this week, and in first place for the year.  I could be really hard to beat.  I'm considering inviting someone else to join the pool too, to find out.

 

 

 

 

 

We got our Moderna booster shots yesterday

  

Neither of us is feeling very good today.  No matter though, we're doing our part to keep the old people safe.

 

 

 

 

 

Go figure

  

I make all the sheets and blankets perfectly even, but then during the night Judy pushes all the covers my way to make it look like I'm the blanket hog.

 

Sometimes life just isn't fair.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

  

It was a warm wonderful morning on the deck for coffee and watching the birds.  By lunchtime though the clouds were rolling in.

 

By four, any thoughts of dinner on the deck were gone and we were setting up indoors.

 

Our little house fed seven while it poured down rain outside, no problem.  Judy cooked up traditional turkey dinner with all the fixins.  Pumpkin pie and homemade ice cream at the end.  Football, friends, and a whole bunch of food.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

 

 

 

2020

  

That was the year of our Caribbean Winter.  That was the plan.  We made the Alaska trip in 2019.  That was wonderful, but we were ready to drive less the next year.  We have a bunch of Southwest Airlines miles.  We can fly anywhere we want for free.  Let's leave the bus at home and explore places in the Caribbean we haven't been to yet.

 

That was the plan, and that's the way it worked out.  We left the bus at home, and we drove less.  All went according to plan except that part about exploring the Caribbean.  We stayed home and stayed safe.  Okay then, maybe 2021…  Maybe 2022?  We'll get there.  Someday.  When it makes sense.

 

 

 

 

It’s interesting

  

…being married to Judy.  She talks to people.  She talks to people, and we end up in situations we’d otherwise never have been in.

 

One time, many years ago, even before Becky was born, we were at the Denver Zoo, and Judy struck up a conversation with the zookeeper at the big cat exhibit.  Next thing, it was feeding time and we were invited behind the scenes to see how it all worked from back there.  That was way cool.  It was primitive.  As sophisticated as the habitat looked from out front, this was meat being pushed through access holes and iron bars.  A big cat pouncing from just above us on a ledge, from out of our line of sight, to right next to us.  Very high startle factor.

 

I doubt such casual access would happen today.  Way too many procedures and protocols to keep everyone safe.  But what a neat thing to have happened then; getting to see how they moved all the animals around, and getting startled up close by a 500 pound Bengal Tiger.  One of those moments in life that has stuck with us.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been thinking about electric RVs again

  

Making an electric RV might be easier (more practical) than we’ve been thinking.  It doesn’t have to be solar powered, it could be an electric van conversion.  It would be heavier than a normal passenger van, so it wouldn’t have as much range, but that might not be as big a problem as it would first seem.  The places we like to camp most are state parks.  Many state parks have campgrounds suitable for RVs.  They don’t all have full hookups, but they all have an electric post and most of those have 50 amp service.  So a person, or family, could go from state park to state park and plug in at night to run their utilities and recharge their batteries.  Maybe the original electric passenger van has a 200 to 250 mile range.  The heavier RV conversion van might only have a 150 to 200 mile range.  But we know from experience that there are a lot of state parks no further apart than 150 to 200 miles.  If there were a gap between parks larger than that, there are plenty of commercial parks in-between, and they all have 50 amp service.  If a person were not in a hurry to cover a lot of miles every day, they could do a lot of camping without ever having to stop to recharge (on the ever expanding grid of charging stations).

 

Smaller all-electric RVs could be developed right now.  And all we need is one more generation of battery technology and that 200 mile range becomes 400 miles, and larger RVs become more practical too.

 

 

 

 

I have an office chair on rollers

  

It has a solid chair pad under it so it will move around easily.  It's a good setup.

 

None of that actually matters though.  I still have to use it as a fixed position chair.  I can swivel it to get up and down, but I don't get to roll it.  Every time I sit down to work, whether I notice or not, the little one glides in behind me and wraps herself around the wheels of the office chair to sleep. 

 

 

 

I'd rather use a chair that won't move than startle her, or worse.

 

 

 

 

Just because

  

I like this photo of a local park.

 

It's close to our dentist's office.  I get my teeth cleaned, then I get in a two mile walk while Judy is getting her teeth cleaned.  A productive day.

 

 

 

 

 

I was just thinking

  

So many countries have been struggling with covid infections.  They shut down, they open up, a lot of people get covid, they shut back down.  They're still having trouble, but at least by now a lot of people have either gotten vaccinated or have already had the infection.  There are less people likely to get infected each time.

 

That makes me wonder about a country like New Zealand.  They shut down and had zero tolerance for covid this entire time.  That has been a great success for the last two years, but does it make sense as a long-term strategy?  At some point in time, do they get to open back up and somehow stay covid-free?  Or did they just delay the inevitable rush of infections when they finally do open up and covid finds a new fresh fertile breeding ground?

 

 

 

 

Did I mention the Trek?

  

Ran across one on our last trip.  It's like brother David had. 

 

They've got a cool feature.  They don't need a separate bedroom.  When you're ready to settle down for the evening, the bed drops down from the ceiling of the living room!

 

Clever engineering.  I didn't look inside this one, but this is how it works.

 

 

 

 

 

A creepy new bug

  

 

I think it's called a leaf footed bug.

 

 

 

 

We found it!

  

The microfiber cloth on a stick to dry the windshield and leave no spots or streaks after I scrub the bugs off.

 

We found it at the flea market in Mesa before we left Arizona.

 

It works great.  In the vertical position like this, it wraps right around the curved glass on the edges.  It has just the right amount of absorbance to finish off the windshield job, as long as I squeegee the flatter parts of the windshield and get most of the water off first.

 

Now I don't have to invent it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My retirement plan

  

See this Dasani bottle?

 

If a person buys this in California, they have to pay a deposit on it.

 

We bought it in Arizona free and clear.  If we save up all the Dasani bottles we didn't buy in California, we can take them there where they will refund the five cents each that we didn't pay to begin with.  Free money for life!

 

Brilliant!?

 

 

 

 

 

I heard about this bird last year

  

But by the time I went to see it, it was gone for the summer.  Now though, there on the top of the irrigation standpipe.

 

It's a lump.  It's a bump.  It's a burrowing owl!

 

 

Year bird!

 

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered where all those giant wind turbine blades come from?

  

(Yes.  Thank you, Henry.  They're not windmills; they're not milling anything; they're wind turbines.)  Well, we've found the answer and I'll share it with you.

 

They come from ships!

 

 

 

 

You were probably wondering how that billboard on Mustang Island is doing

  

Still doing its thing.

Succumbing to the elements.

 

Final map for this trip.

 

2021 Fall Trip Map

 

Three months.  7,500 miles.  Now we're home at Sandpipers. 

 

2021 total fall trip

 

Texas Counties.  From 38 to go…

 

… to fifteen to go

We did a lot of wandering around Texas.

 

Good trip.  Good to be home.

 

 

 

 

 

Henry

  

 

This cabinet is not a place Henry is supposed to be.  But sometimes, you just get caught up in the moment!

 

 

 

 

One more circuitous route

  

 

2011 fall trip map

 

And we have our final Texas county map for the trip.

 

That's it.  We're done with new counties this trip.

 

Now we're heading for Corpus.  We'll take a couple days to get there.

 

 

 

 

Nailed it!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Indy Autonomous Challenge

  

A head-to-head high speed autonomous race.  Twenty laps of driverless cars at speeds up to 200 mph around the famous Indy oval, all racing for a million dollar prize.

 

It didn't turn out exactly as expected.  Based on two years of practice performance, they had to keep changing expectations.  In the end, they had nine cars make a total of eleven laps, one at a time.  Three of those laps resulted in crashes.

 

The idea of autonomous driving is awesome, but maybe not really ready to be a thing yet.

 

2021 fall trip map

 

 

 

 

 

New Mexico

  

One carefully executed exit from the state

 

and the New Mexico map is done!

 

Now, about Texas.

 

We're in Amarillo, way high in the Panhandle.

 

2021 fall trip map

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wild Bunch

  

We have photo evidence.

 

I'm told they forgot to get drunk.  There are tattoos, however.

 

The Palm Girls:  Coconut palm, sable palm, and date palm.  Like the Spice Girls, but different.

 

No motorcycles today though.  Thankfully, none of the husbands will have to suffer the indignity of riding on the back of a Harley anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

Dropped Judy off at the Albuquerque airport today

  

Headed for Denver.  Christie too from Edmonds.  Becky and Brian picked them up at DIA.

 

As best I understand it, tomorrow the three women are all going to get drunk, get tattoos, then buy motorcycles.  Grandchild Taylor is going to accompany them and get a different tattoo of her own as well.  Matt was going to join them for a touch-up of one of his, but it turns out he's not there until next week.

 

Skeptical?  I swear, at least several of the above statements are true.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been thinking

  

About teenage decision making.  I’ve heard more than one person say “I’m surprised that I’m still alive” when reflecting on their teenage years and that got me to thinking; thinking about making mostly good decisions but interspersing poorly considered ones as well.

 

At seventeen, I drove Roger Lawson and me to Yosemite National Park.  It was Spring.  We camped for the weekend and drove home.  Simple, right?  It was, however, a little more eventful than that.  On a warm Saturday morning, wearing cutoffs, looking at an island in the river, it seemed like a good idea to go in the water and swim to that spot.  I was a good swimmer.  It wasn’t a difficult decision.  So in we went, and were immediately swept away by the frigid swift water.  I made the island, but only just.  I landed on the final downstream point.  As I got out of the water though, Roger went by, unable to make it.  We didn’t have a plan for what to do if we didn’t make the island, but whatever was going to happen to Roger, it wasn’t going to happen to him alone.  I went back in behind him.

 

In the center of the high country current, we went cold pretty fast.  There seemed to be opportunities to swim to shore but nothing worked.  The current was too strong.  Our best efforts left us still in the center of the current.  One more bend, I expended the last bit of strength I had in the cold water as my arms went numb.  I gave it my all, but to no avail.  No strength.  Nothing left.  I was done.  I knew I was done.

 

But soon after I had accepted my fate, the river bent the other way, cast me out of the current, and gently deposited me right up on a sandy beach.  Roger arrived on the same shore about fifty yards downstream.  We took the time we needed to recover then headed off for our next adventure.

 

I’m surprised I’m still alive.  Why did we survive?  Dumb luck.  Teenager survival:  sporadic bouts of dumb decision-making and dumb luck.

 

 

 

 

Old friends

  

We don't see Jim and Elle a lot, but we've seen them for a lot of years.

 

 

We first met about fifteen years ago at an RV Park in Golden, Colorado; motorhomes parked side-by-side.  We only talked for a few minutes, but six months later we met up again at Gulf Waters RV Resort on Mustang Island outside Corpus Christi.  It's been like that; we end up at the same State Park, or the same commercial RV park in whatever state, or we stayed at their house above Carbondale in Colorado.  Now they're in Scottsdale.  We all just keep making these meetups happen.  Last night they brought pizza and chocolate cupcakes with whipped cream to our house for dinner around the campfire until, if you can believe it, we got chased inside by a rainstorm!

 

But now we're farther south, in a commercial RV park in Mesa, much closer to our son's house.  Still north of Matt, but a lot closer.

 

Arizona trip map

 

 

 

 

New Mexico

  

We've done some damage to the New Mexico map.  When we got there, it looked like this:

 

Now, we've passed through more counties, and it looks like this:

 

That bright red county in the middle is where Bosque del Apache is.  We've recorded 159 species there.

 

Tonight, we're at Cave Creek Regional Park in Arizona.

 

2021 Fall Trip Map Link

 

Love this place.

 

 

Waiting for the evening quail to come in.