Just thinking

  

We're told cosmologists can see to the edge of the cosmic horizon 46 billion lightyears away, in every direction.  That is the farthest we can see, because looking out across the universe is looking back in time.  One might think that means that the universe is 46 billion years old, but no.  In round numbers, the universe is determined to be 14 billion years old.  My first thought would be that we couldn't look back more than 14 billion years, past the big bang, but given the expansion of space since then, that stuff is now 46 billion lightyears away.

 

The universe is constantly expanding in every direction from where we are.  No matter where we were in the universe, if we could move ourselves about for observational purposes, the universe would still be expanding in every direction, and the cosmic horizon would still be 46 billion lightyears away in every direction.  There is no center point.  The big bang didn't start at one point and expand from there, the entire universe expanded equally.  The universe is the same no matter where we observe it from.

 

I can say the words, and kind of understand them, but the grasp is tenuous.  I'm still working on it.

 

 

 

Along the way

  

(Previous trip)

 

 

 

 

Yard trimmings

  

We don't have a very big yard, but an hour of trimming trees, shrubs, and palms can fill up half a dozen of these big paper yard bags.

 

These bags seem like a good idea, because they're not plastic; they and the contents could be recycled or composted.  There isn't a facility for that in the Valley though, so these yard bags go into the dumpster with everything else and then into the landfill.  Until now.

 

Now, we have an electric shredder/mulcher that can handle all our branches and palm fronds.

 

They blow right through and become shreds that can be composted.  When we're through for the day, the bin we haul around the yard to collect trimmings doubles as a portable shed.

 

Did someone say composter?

 

We have this two bin tumbling composter.  Slide open the green door and throw all the chopped up compostables, including kitchen uncooked vegetable scraps, egg shells, potato peels, apple cores, banana peels, and coffee grounds into one bin until it's full, then let it finish for a few weeks while you start filling up the next one.

 

Even office paper and used paper towels can be composted, as long as they're not greasy, so the home office shredder gets emptied into the compost bin as well.  Give each tumbler a few turns every few days to keep them aerated and mixed.  In the end, fresh compost for the garden!

 

These two bins together are only 37 gallons, so it's not really enough capacity to compost everything we clip out of the yard, but it's a good start, and the stuff that goes through the chipper can also just go right on the ground like it is for mulch.

 

Much more fun than throwing all that stuff in the dumpster.

 

 

 

Henry is like an armadillo

  

When you're driving down the road, armadillos don't see you coming and they're not very fast.  When they realize you're right over them, you've straddled them with your wheels, they don't freeze, they leap.  That doesn't usually end well for the armadillo.

 

Henry, sleeping in the hallway, doesn't hear us coming.  At the exact moment we're stepping over him, it's absolutely certain that he's going to suddenly realize we're there and leap, knocking himself out on the oil pan.

 

 

 

Indy Autonomous Challenge

  

https://www.indyautonomouschallenge.com/

 

"Program a legitimate Indy Car to out-race and out-maneuver fellow innovators in the world's first head-to-head, high-speed autonomous race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway."

 

A one million dollar prize to the first team to cross the finish line in 25 minutes or less in a head-to-head, 20-lap race of automated racecars around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.  Totally automated driverless cars all together at once, at speeds up to 200 mph, racing each other for a million dollars.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

Watch for it October 23^rd.

 

 

 

 

 

Morning light

  

 

Test outing.  Shakedown cruise after a quiet summer.  Drove to San Antonio.  Spent the night in a campground in the bus.  Drove home.  All systems go, for a three-month trip that begins in two weeks!

 

We'll do a big loop.  The plan is to get to the Pacific Northwest in August while it's still summer, Colorado in September before it's winter, and Phoenix in October after the triple digits.  The perfect plan, right?

 

 

 

Now I’m on a roll

  

 

Shield backed katydid on the back of our grill cover.

 

 

First time ever I identified a katydid by myself!