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March 09, 2010 Tuesday

Leading off with a picture, so that one might instantly tell if they've seen the page, or if the page has changed since the last visit? What do you think?

That train shot thanks to Jack. The rest of the story follows directly. We just want to point out that it started out a tad chilly in these here parts this day, too. Woke up to temps below freezing. Yikes! We never should have made light of March coming in like a lion...

It did manage to get sunny and hit the mid forties - but now we are enduring colder than normal, instead of warmer. At least it hasn't dropped the white stuff, and let's hope we didn't just jinx THAT.

Here's what we know about the train wreck, besides it doesn't pay to live too close to the tracks~~
VIA-15 (a passenger train) Halifax to Montreal, derailed Feb 25, 2010 in a big snow storm 20 miles before reaching "Joffre yard" (Québec.) The engine crew suffered only minor injuries. The lead unit, 6400, lost its wheels and is on its side in a reverse position from the direction it was going. The trailing unit, 6457, is upright but plowed into a house. Both locos had recently been rebuilt. The train consisted of all Budd-built coaches. A switch problem is suspected as the cause of the accident.


The homeowner was actually lucky - this could just as easily gone through the house.


Thanks to Doug - a new Google graphing application. Most interesting~~ lots of flexibility.


Awesome keyboard. Used before windows. Before DOS. Types in hexadecimal, or, machine language.

March 08, 2010 Monday

Yesterday, gray and chilly all day. Forties. Late afternoon sprinkles.
Today, sunny and nice all day. Fifties. This gave us the opportunity to try out the GPS on the motorcycle. Verdict? It works. Here's a ride through town as seen from Google Earth. The island at the top of the picture is Guemes.


We put the ride on that Everytrail thing - but decided not to 'embed' it here, on the blog. It sometimes slows down the page load, and we know that website visitors are not very patient about things like that. Statistics show that a webpage that doesn't load in about four seconds, might not get viewed.
However - you may click HERE and see it in a separate window, with pictures and all like that.
Here's the mounted GPS taking me through Old Town, Anacortes, down to the water, and back.

Back in the barn...


Nice shot of my daughter and her fella', Derek - together ten years, now.


We like this of a shuttle launch~~


And this, the reason one avoids cheap motels... yup - that's a bedbug.

If you're not sure about a place where you find yourself spending the night, just pull back a corner of the sheets, exposing the mattress. If there are bedbugs, they'll be visible to your eye, snoozing in the seams at the corner of the mattress. See them? Move on. Better to keep driving...

March 06, 2010 Saturday

Well, let's see, where are we? Evening. Just returned from a run to Bellingham to pick up some paper Ann needed - reams of the stuff~

We both took cameras, but neither snapped a picture as we ran errands and grabbed a burger at Wynn's. We only happen to have the cell phone picture above because my sister sent the one below, and we wanted to send one back to her, you see...

She sent this of some folks having a party on an ice flow. This is, apparently, a regular thing up there around Leland, MI - cut off a chunk of ice and ride it into town, while swilling beer and grilling lunch. Get off at the local Tavern, and continue as above. Mardi said they hoped for a high of almost thirty, today. A regular warming trend.


We were by the water, too, earlier. Yesterday, actually - but it could have been today. It was even a few degrees warmer.
We wanted to note that the cranes visible over my shoulder are at Dakota Creek, where they are building the newest Candies vessel. This was taken at the small park near the foot of our street - the one getting the makeover.

Dakota also operates the floating drydock seen below, which we understand in principle, if not in fact. Namely, after they submerge it - what keeps those wood blocks in place while the barge to be floated is maneuvered into position? And how do they know just where to place them? Inquiring minds want to know...


Ann and I, by Richard. Taken during the inspection/open house prior to the last (Ross) Candies boat launch, last summer/fall.


This is a long, sad story - but funny to anyone who likes to dabble at small electronics projects. We mentioned yesterday installing a receptacle for the GPS on the motorcycle. We did not mention that it did not work as advertised. That's because we didn't actually notice that fact, at first.

What we took for a successful installation was in fact the unit operating on its own batteries.

As we began to troubleshoot the connections we noticed that if power to the unit was reversed, it wouldn't operate. Since it wasn't operating, we assumed that the wires were soldered wrong - hot from the battery to neutral on the receptacle. When in fact, during continuity checking we'd shorted the battery feed and blown the fuse.

That fact didn't come to light until after we unsoldered and reversed/resoldered the receptacle, and the unit still didn't work.

Since there is a fuse in the power plug that goes in the receptacle we did think to check that. Also blown. Only when things still didn't light up after installing a new fuse, did we think to check for a battery fuse.

And only after replacing THAT, did it become apparent that the receptacle had been wired correctly in the first place, and the unit wasn't getting power because of blown fuses, not reversed wiring. Unsolder, resolder, one more time.

At which point, everything worked. We ended up with a slightly tidier installation after removing and re installing the receptacle.

Here it is with the battery on the 'tender' and that GPS terminal in standby mode.


battery connected to receptacle

GPS power supply plugged into receptacle - note red 'power' lamp - noticing the red lamp not lit was what enlightened us to the fact that no power was going to the GPS from the battery, and something was amiss...

March 05, 2010 Friday

Lovely March day - if this is the, 'In like a lion' part, we'll take it. Sixty and sunny. A bit of a breeze. Reminded us we were going to do something about the flag problem. When the wind blows, the flag gets all tied up around the pole.

We happened to notice that other flag poles have a way for the flag to go all the way around the pole without getting tangled. Worked on that premise for a bit - a slip ring top and bottom.


Seems ok, so far...


While clearing off a space on the workbench to install the ring/loops on the flag, we noticed these:

An external 12 volt receptacle (as for a cigarette lighter in your car) and the wires/plug that would allow it to connect to the battery on the motorcycle, via the trickle charger connection. These had been purchased awhile back, and just waiting for a nice day to install them. That would seem like today.

Why, you may wonder, do we need a cigarette lighter on the motorcycle? Ah. The GPS plugs in that way. It might be nice the next time we travel on two wheels to have the advantage of Global Positioning to know where we are? Maps are so old news, anymore...
The first thing was to connect these two pieces together, and fasten the unit to a part of the bike. The cover of the tool compartment seemed a good choice. A rubber sleeve over the connections and some silicone sealant should keep the water out.


It seemed like a good idea to paint the assembled plug and wires black.

Cover back in place and the GPS plugged in... In between rides, the battery tender uses the same plug.

Ready to ride. The GPS displays miles per hour, so the speedo isn't missed. Still need to rig up some sort of safety wire in case the suction cup fails to hold.


This map shows the location of the last 100 visitors to this blog. It certainly came as a surprise to note locations so far away...


Here's that power shovel that looked stranded the other day. That would be the smaller one. Looks like he's found a big brother. We think this is part of the new breakwater for the beach/park at the end of our street.

The big guy unloads rocks from the barge, the little guy helps place them.


Yes - but is it art?

March 04, 2010 Thursday

Readership for this blog is down from the same time a year ago. Typically, there is a mid winter drop - but we worry about this...

For lack of a better reason (like, the range of interest here is pretty narrow) we blame that dang facebook!

Anyway. Maybe you could help? Send a link to this blog to everyone you know - the whole address book. YAY!

Actually, readership peaked at around an average of thirty visits a day, some time ago. Like maybe 18 months. Lately, it's been around 24. S'ok. We remember when it was five.
We don't think we've become less interesting since then - maybe more boring? Since most folks only visit a few times a week, if that (with the exception of you hard core readers, God love ya's) - to average thirty visits a day means a total readership of roughly 400 different folks. Don't ask me who, we have no way to know. But we love each and every one of you!

At any rate, here is a post with no pictures of family, pets, or motorcycles.

We are totally fascinated with this place! The most complicated machine ever built. We still can't believe the US bailed on building the SuperCollider in TX a few years ago. But, as we have come to know - the US is no longer the biggest, nor the best - except as a military power.
The potential to gain crucial knowledge of how the universe works lies primarily with the working of this machine.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 3, 2010) — CERN has been able to take the first measurements of collisions between particles with the highest energy ever generated. These collisions were performed at CERN's new LHC accelerator and recorded with the CMS Experiment, which involved a key component (the barrel pixel detector) contributed by the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in collaboration with Swiss Universities. READ MORE


Interesting shapes created using Pinch
A free tool~~


One-upsmanship at its best -- it's the American way~ Or, bidding your way to success...


Perhaps your free will is predetermined?


Perhaps this explains it...


It takes a minute to see what this graphic is saying. But it's saying a lot...
Namely, we seem to be spending the most but not getting the most, or even getting the average.
To say nothing of being in a definite minority when it comes to national health care coverage.

March 02, 2010 Tuesday

Ok! It's officially March, on all fronts. Page loads really fast!

Our local weather continues to be mild. The sun actually poked through today and it was in the 60's. We were inspired to hose out the lawn waste recycle bin. Now that's nice. Note: Dogs do not seem to care for the hose...

Here's a recent picture of Jake and Sylvia, Jacob clean shaven. Thanks to Ambie, his sister and coincidently my daughter, for the picture.


It would seem that a large portion of the world's oldest trees (and I do mean old) are right in this area of the country. If some fool hasn't hacked it down for plywood...


Thanks to Kurt -
Mother Nature's giant vacuum cleaner about to go to work. This was Katrina.


Don't waste your money on that new iPad gadget - we have it on good advice that a bigger better device is coming along soon -


As the 2010 Olympics wound down it became abundantly apparent that once again, as during the 2008 Olympics, Mars was not even making an effort...


Didn't see the end of last month? Click here: February '10 BLOG

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