 Boxing
Day Reprise a.k.a. Trash Day
I've done my three doctor visits. Teeth are squeaky clean,
PSA is down, BP and weight are down. My doctor was a little
disappointed that there was not something wrong that he
could work on and better justify his time, instead we
chatted about UPS deliveries and driving conditions and
flood control.
Hurricane Hazel-Rah brought in a sizable chipmunk yesterday
afternoon and
let it go under the galley table. I guess she doesn't know
the difference
between black and white stripes with a long fuzzy tail and
small grey
pointy nosed with a skinny naked tail.
?
((
(\_/)
))
=('.')=//
( ~~~ )/
`w---w´
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By the time the adventure was over I'd had to move all
manner of stuff out from along the wall to get at the
critter where it was hiding behind my tool box. The chipmunk
appears to be smarter than the cat. It knew where the door
was whilst Hazel was still scratching her head.
El Niño Soaks AridZoña
The Spring flowers are going to love this. 0.46 inches in 24
hours and light rain continues. My Inbox is starving;
perhaps I should subscribe to more lists.
Mulling... Prob'ly Time For A Change
One of the interesting facets of my tenure is the shortening
durations of each successive gig. Not counting my first few
after-school jobs, my first serious position was from
1969-87 at the Mount Washington Observatory (just about
coincided with the 330,000 mile lifetime of my '67 Chevy
van...). After that 18 year period I spent ten years in
Antarctica. Then another ten plus or minus more or less
commuting between New Hampster and AridZona as the balance
of power shifted toward some ill-defined tipping point. Now,
the recent phase, the past five or so years, I've been
mostly in the south west, between Tonopah and Pie Town, a
much more constrained migration. That doesn't quite add up
to 50 years of gainful employment but then again the period
in question was not all that gainful. Now I'm coasting--as
they say in Pie Town: It's all downhill from here.
January New Moon (According to Betty's Calendar)
Cloudying hard here. Brain is foggy too. Two days before
departure for Quartzsite and four days of projects to be
ready for same. Yesterday I changed the thermostat in
TinyTruck. The temperature gauge had been not getting high
enough into the normal range--tho the heat seemed mostly
adequate and fast enough; I thought the thermostat might be
stuck open. Such proved not to be the case. But I did find a
lot of stray oil, most likely spray from the disconnected
fuel line from a previously--year or two ago--bad fuel pump,
and a disconnected vacuum line. So I installed the new
thermostat anyhow, plugged the discontinued fuel line, and
reconnected the vacuum line. Then found the coolant level to
be a half gallon down. All back together and the temperature
gauge reads normal. My best guess now is that the level of
coolant was too low to affect the temperature sensor. Close
call. A nearby friend had his motor seize due to the same
set of symptoms.
Then this morning Hurricane Hazel-Rah brought in a very much
alive black headed sparrow. She, like me, needs all the
exercise she can get, but unlike me she prefers to exercise
indoors. Letting the sparrow go under the galley table where
her kibble cache is--I guess she figures she should put food
in her dish before eating it, eh--resulted in a game of tag
with the sparrow, leaving a trail of feathers whilst flying
from window to window, and cat, knocking over this and that
and leaving a trail of dust, in close purrsuit. With one
hand holding her back and the other moving things out of the
way I was able to use my third hand to snare the bird and
release it out the open window that it seemed unable to find
on its own. Hazel, taking careful note of the birds
trajectory, gave me a saucy flip of her tail and bolted for
the door.
Better than the OFA, this collection of Weather
Proverbs from the U.S.Army Signal Corp was long used
at The Mount Washington Weather Observatory as the
prognosticators favourite tool.
what clever leadin?
I'm at Mile99 now after a long and arduous and scary start.
The Cat in the back woke up Ok and the cat in the front went
to sleep. The 3208 built air Ok, and TinyTruck hitched up
Ok, but when I rolled out the driveway onto the street the
bus was well on her way to overheating. And the cooling fans
were not coming on; there was no heat from the heaters. Oh
Dear! Already too late to turn around... I limped two miles
to the T/A and parked there to inwestigate. Found low-point
coolant drain partly open. The cat did it I'm sure. Seven
gallons of CAT-EC1 later I was ready to roll. Fortunately
the truck store had some. Phew! 16$ a gallon... After that
the rest of the trip out here was easy. I guess I won't be
buying any new radios this week.
2016i28 Return to Tonopah
Many were the events and dark was the arrival. I have not
driven with lights on for so long I had to don my readers to
find the switches.
Mike has been looking for a coolant leak in his Class-C for
as long as I have been sniffing for my propane leak in The
Cat Drag'd Inn. He finally found it just after I departed
Mile 99 and that, needless to say, delayed his liftoff. But
by the time he arrived in Q'site it was evident he'd been
unsuccessful in effecting a complete repair. Too late for
lunch we decided to press on regardless and stop to inspect
at each rest area... Never made it to the first one.
Just to be sure we pulled off at the first exit east. A
"Road to Nowhere" at least had a sufficiently wide
turn-around for The Cat Drag'd Inn so whilst I made
tea Mike screwed around with hose clamps. I suspect now that
the fitting he was clamping on was already cracked but we
didn't know that then. Eventually the drips ceased and we
were again ready to roll. Then, just as he commenced to
roll: KABLOOWIE!
The plastic Tee fitting (see above) which connects front and
rear heaters to the motor had ruptured. From the looks of
the cracks and the condition of the material I suspect that
was the source of the leak all along and not that there was
a loose clamp. So there followed an hour or so of
rearranging hoses and adding four gallons of water. At the
next place we stopped to check everything looked ok. Onward
eastward. By the time we got to Tonopah, Cliff was already
cooling his heels at the truckstop and supper was begging to
be had. Too late for me to find my way into Paul's back yard
so I stayed parked next to Cliff, and Mike went on home.
Needless to say I will be harassing him to get the kludge
properly plumbed before our next peradventure. And to have
the proper parts and pieces spare just in case anyhow.
Kayak Sale Scam Ends Happily -or- Adventures in Fiscal
Mismanagement.
 Selling my kayak turned into a
white-water ride but ends calmly. So far anyhow. I placed
the boat on Craig's List in early december and promptly
received a letter from one Rebecca Alexander offering to buy
for my asking price. There were complications and she would
get back to me. She did. Several times. With each of her
letters the storey became more convoluted however her tale
was believable up to the point where she wrote that due to
extraordinary circumstances she would not be able to pick up
the boat and have to depend upon me to arrange shipping and
so would send a check for my asking price plus some amount
to cover my time and service and of course the shipping.
Right there the alarum bells commenced their clangor.
Classic scam approach. I decided to play along just to
learn, to see how it goes first hand, to have something
entirely new to write about. So I wrote back: Ok, Rebecca, I
can do that. My kayak was listed for 400$. She sent a
Cashiers Check for $1,900.00!
And now, after all these delays and difficulties suddenly
she's really hot to have me deposit her check and send the
shipping company their fee to come and get the kayak. Here
the whole affair gets really complicated. Her choice of
shipper was a person in Hope Arkansas. Not a business, only
a person, and when I looked up that person the name had an
arrest record for petty theft at the Hope Arkansas Police
Department. The Cashier's Check came in a plain brown
wrapper within a 3-Day Priority Mail envelope. No purchase
order with the check. The Return Address on the Priority
Mail is a Volvo Equipment Dealer in Shippensburg, PA. The
check is drawn on a bank in Great Bend, KanSas.
I am supposed to deposit this check and then Moneygram 1500$
to the “shipper”. Over a period of several days Rebecca
wrote daily to see if I had yet deposited her check and
wired the shipper the money. I wrote the Volvo dealer to ask
why they had sent me a check for 1900$. I wrote my
postmaster to ask several questions about postal fraud. I
wrote my bank to see how long might be the time a cashier's
check takes to clear before the payer can no longer stop
payment. I wrote the bank in KanSas to ask if this check was
any good at all.
The Farmer's Bank of Great Bend was the first to reply. The
check was bogus. Fake. Counterfeit. Don't deposit the check.
They were having a rash of these checks and were working on
the case. At about that same time Rebecca wrote again to
remind me that she was still waiting for my confirmation of
deposit and I replied that my bank would not release me the
money until her check cleared her bank. That could take a
week or so.
So now I'm waiting to see where this goes next.
In recognition of everyone's favourite pizza-loving Nintendo
character, take
part in celebrating Mario Day. First appearing in
Donkey Kong in 1981... Mar 10: Take your pizza to work
day.
In Pursuit of Enlightenment
A man of great enlightenment was walking
with a group of disciples through a small village, when
suddenly a large and vicious dog bounded out from between
two huts. Bared teeth and vicious barking clearly
communicated the dog's hostile intentions. As the dog
rapidly closed the distance between itself and the group of
seekers, the teacher raised his walking stick into the air,
and just as the dog came within range, he deftly dealt it a
sharp blow to its side. The dog yelped with pain and
surprise, and withdrew to a respectful distance.
When they had walked on for another
hundred yards or so, one of the disciples mustered up the
courage to speak. "Teacher," he said, "you have always
taught us the God dwells in all creatures and that whatever
we do to the lowliest we do to Him. Knowing this, how could
you strike that dog?"
"Indeed," said the teacher. "What you say
is true. We are all God. Knowing this, and being so well
attuned to the Absolute Mind, I was able to perceive
immediately that God would much prefer to be struck with a
stick than to be bitten on his leg."
----/A Galaxy of No-Stars/ (Jay Edson)
Ides of Febter
The Ides
of Aries? By all means. I have a new regulator for my
gaz grill and have several parties planned for performance
in the possible pfuture. First up is My
Mother's Birthday on 22nd Febter. Next is Mario
Day on Mar 10--pizza is the main course--followed
closely by Pi
Day on 3-14 at a
minute before two in the afternoon. Where will you be
on those occasions? After a barely suitable interlude there
is my birthday--about the Ides of Aries--and a last supper
before departure to the Wilds of West Central Nude Mexico.
March In Like A...
I've kept the furnace in the bus going for two decades
with scavenged parts, rebuilt parts, and clever
modifications. All the furnace comprised was a blower motor,
two relays and a pilot. The pilot was a steady flame in the
bus and at times was all that was necessary to keep the
place warm enough. No telling how much propane was consumed
by the pilot over the years. Now I have replaced that old
furnace with a newer one. Recovered from a wrecked RV, this
furnace checked out OK when I bench tested it outside.
Lighter--flimsy construction mainly--electronic ignition so
no pilot to keep me warm, and all manner of impossible to
fix safety "features". Took a day to rearrange the plumbing
and the wiring. After installation, after all the connexions
were made it worked once and then the controller board blew
up. Sparks and smoke! A 95$ part that is not field
repairable. So much for progress.
Rats!
Tuesday I had to put four new tyres on my TinyTruck. This
morning, after getting as far as the fuel stop down by
Fry's, the Left Front was near flat so I repaired to the
Discount Tyre store conveniently just up the street. There,
upon close inspection, we found the tread so worn it was not
worth fixing. The spare was worse with the steel cords
showing at the edge of the tread. Two of the others on the
ground were getting down to the wear-bars but I'd hoped I
could get through this Summer. Oh Well. Done now.
Coincident with that but I hope not related is that the
truck has started to pull sharply to the left when I apply
the brakes. Going to the garage today to see Whisky Tango
Foxtrot.
“These days, law enforcement at all levels -- from the local
cop shop to obscure federal agencies -- uses snitches to trap ordinary
people. Snitches tell lies that send their friends to
jail. Paid agents provocateurs talk or trick otherwise
harmless people into committing crimes. In many places,
Snitch culture has virtually replaced real investigation of
real crimes.
“Don't think you're exempt if you're a "law-abiding
citizen." The most trusting, naive, innocent people often
make the easiest targets for these weaselly, lying,
opportunistic vermin. Snitches specialize in targeting the
vulnerable.”
Pi Day was a blast! Pi eyed and pi in the face and leftover
pi for breky. We had Pi of Shepherds and Pi of
cherries and my famous Male Apple Pie with a Ginger Crumb
Crust. Now for the cleaning up after.
The Theys Have It
Finally! Singular
They is the use in English of the pronoun they,
or its inflected or derivative forms, such as them,
their, themself, or themselves, as a
gender-neutral pronoun to refer to a single person or an
antecedent that is grammatically singular.
Out Like A Lion
I have to tell you about my
flower hike on Saddle Mountain yesterday. Paul and I
ascended via the so-called Ted Trail. We were up that way
last week to a point just below the switchbacks collecting
plants before turning around, so this time we went straight
away to that turn-around and then continued up through the
nasty switchbacks, eventually to the little hanging valley
where the so-called Bill
Trail comes up from the cliff face and meets the
so-called Ted Trail and goes on the the summit(elevation
3037'MSL).
We did a lot of collecting right there and after a while
decided not to go for the summit and descended via that Bill
Trail which is the way I and others climbed up some years
ago. That part was wicked scary this time. Part of my
concern this time was too heavy a pack and too expensive a
camera. But at the same time I was grateful for Paul's
leadership and route-finding and walking stick.
I have a feeling I have met my match. But I will likely try
again without the heavy pack.
April Fool's Daze
Trash collecting again along the two-mile section of byway
occasionally cleaned by Friends of Saddle Mountain. After
the recent spate of flower collecting hikes I have been
especially on the lookout for unusual plants. Today, whilst
poking at the ground with my Quicker Picker Upper, I found a
pair of Pestiferias agravada. Unfortunately not all that
rare...
Sign seen on a passing wave... “Breaker Filled With 3-5 PSI
of N2 Gas”
quindenary quinquennium?
Party-party-party... For dinner I did a pork loin roast on
the barbie, Paul brought a Wowie-Zowie cake, and Michael a
confluence of tomato and green beans. We had a nice meal and
storey telling session.
Getting harder to keep it up... IxxxSaddle Mountain last
thursday, hiking with Paul to do some more of the AridZona
Plant Survey. We got within about half a mile of the summit
and turned back. The weather was great; I was tired and
occasionally stumbling. The
worst part of the hike was in the descent. And then the day
after...
My dermatologist de jure said today, of my concern about a
certain spot on my wrist, "Not to worry; you're going to
live long enough to accumulate a lot more of them." On the
other hand she froze off three of a different sort and then
one from my right cheek (rear). Then, the one that /did/
concern her, on my right shoulder, she amputated for further
study.
Yesterday was
Square Root Day (4.4=16) and Susan's B'day.
Little truck has been having a brake and steering problem
for a few weeks. My mechanic thought it might be a rear
brake dragging causing the truck to drift left. But when you
tromped on the brake the truck would nosedive to the left.
He couldn't find anything wrong. Went to an alignment/brake
shop and they putzed around for most of two hours. Test
driving twice around the car park and back on the lift.
Finally with three mechanics and a manager looking and
looking they found a broken strut that holds the left front
wheel ball joint mount properly aligned to the frame.
Because of the break then when you applied the brake the
wheel would drop back a bit thus causing the truck to veer
left.
But they couldn't/wouldn't fix it. Liability issues. No part
available. I spent a day searching, found nothing. But my
mechanic is an artist with the welder. Once the problem was
identified it was easy for him to make a satisfactory
repair.
With that out of the way it was back to the doctor for
prostate issues; that's Ok at least until next visit.
Phew!...
So now, two days late and several dollars short, I am on the
road to Deming. First day was a 16h00 start so I got only as
far as Gila Bend. Then this morning to Tucson for lunch at
The Golden Corral with Virgina & Cliff and other SKPs.
Then onward til dark caught up with me at The Thing.
Columbus: Between Saint Teresa and Animas
The Morning after The
Thing I stopped in Lordsburg for breky and fuel.
Sort of an eat here and get gas affair. And a shower. Then
on to Deming for groceries and south to Columbus to meet
Jewel and Warren and their super-drone.
I have beheld “The Wall”. From this distance, at night, a
thick grey line bisects the horizon between earth and sky.
Regularly spaced bright lights give the impression of a yard
stick lying on the ground. Every few hours—all day, all
night—a Border Patrol vehicle passes by our campsite slowly.
The Cat Drag'd Inn sits beside the dirt track they
patrol parallel to Hwy 9. A few bus-lengths east a camera on
a tower watches. And to the north a tethered blimp watches.
This must be a small taste of life lived along the wall that
separated East from West Germany in the last century.
Taxing The Day Off
I'd like that, a day off. But there is writing to do, a new
job to learn, laundry, mail, bills to pay, phones to call.
The Cat is now Drag'd Inn to El Rancho Lobo, some miles east
of Deming, where I expect to sit until mid-June playing the
role of part-time camp host and all things which that task
entails. Over the past few days of settling in I've added a
quart of oil to the motor, a pint of glycol to the radiator,
two movies to the library, and a sack of trash to the
dumpster. Yesterday at dawn the outside temperature was 37f.
During the day the Gust-O-Meter peaked at 42mph. Message
from my dermatologist: they want me back to discuss that
spot removed from my shoulder.
|
2016 April --
Greetings Virtual Travellers:
I do not know what I may appear to
the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy
playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then
finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary,
whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before
me. 