Seems to me that if Febter
can be a Month with no New Moon then I can write about a
Year with No Winter.
New solar operation just up the street. 19.3 megawatt (MW)
DC (15 MW AC)
Badger 1 Solar Farm located on approximately 172 acres
in Tonopah. The Badger 1 Solar project consists of 64,920
photovoltaic modules installed on a ground-mount ATI
Tracking System.
2014i20, Mile 99, QuartzFest, Quartzsite, AridZona
Out here for the annual Quartzfest Ham Radio
gathering-swop-fest-tailgate-yardsale in the desert. First
time the bus has moved since arriving at Tonopah early
december. Hundreds of Hams hold forth to chat and trade
storeys and equipment. Quartzsite. To get a day off from the
Food Bank and a quiet week of introspection. Ended up being
busier than ever meeting friends, spending money, learning
about a thing called MeshNet. As well as all the swopping
and festing there were seminars and games.
Rick of Blue Sky Energy was presenting a seminar
His subject was the charge controllers I use in my solar
installation. After a few introductory comments he said that
he had been selling a lot of his Blue Sky product in
Quartzsite and by way of thanks decided he would... (...and
with appropriate hand waving and body language...) Hey! Any
of you out there wearing a Blue Sky Energy tee shirt or ball
cap? We're giving away a brand new fifty dollar bill...
I was attending this particular seminar because I had one of
his charge controllers which had gone bad. When it became
apparent nobody had on a Blue Sky Energy tee shirt or ball
cap I pulled that bad SB2512i out of my pack and waved it in
the air. I'll take it, Rick said.
And so I picked up fuel money for the trip right there.
Later after his lecture we chatted about the problem with
the SB2512i and he traded it with me for a new one. Thanks
Rick!
So. I'm content. The problem is gone. We'll see how long
lasting are the two in service now.
Quartzsite is a great place for shopping. Every year I get
another widget. Took this opportunity to upgrade four of the
12-volt 2-amp incandescent lamps in The Cat Drag'd Inn
to 0.2 amp LED arrays. Most of the heat wasted by
incandescent bulbs is output as additional lumens so the
lamps are brighter and use less power. The better to see all
the dirt and dust collecting in the corners and under the
table.
Febter - Mile 99 Over—Moving On
Back the day before, at the Quartzsite Mile99 hamfest, when
I had reasonable connectivity, I'd bid on an item on eBay.
Then, later, I moved to Scadden Wash. At Scadden, with the
auction about to end, I couldn't get connected to watch.
Asked Mike, via 80m, to stand in and then moved the bus
looking for connectivity. Still no-go. Moved again. Moved
the bus to the McDonalds in town and then to the Pilot
Truckstop location to see if I could get better
connectivity. In the end, between poor service, lack of
connexion reliability, payment process cross-checking of
shipping address with post office database when the seller
was wanting to ship via UPS... on and on, round and round,
finally gave up trying and returned to Mile99. I'll commence
trying again, one time, before writing to someone who could
care less.
Native Copper
Native copper is an uncombined form of copper
which occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic
elements to occur in native
form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states
and mixed with other elements. Native copper was an
important ore of copper in historic times and was
used by pre-historic peoples. (From Wikipedia)
Hiking and Geocaching around Saddle Mountain. Poking around,
kicking at stones, looking for something pretty as my Uncle
Isaac showed me. Here was a lump of obsidian! Looked as tho
someone had carried it in from the carpark and smashed it
into ten thousand pieces. A few big chunks and shards all
over. Slivers of obsidian have been used as surgical
scalpels--I have the scars. (Well... you can't see them any
more but I had some nasty scabs for a while.)
It was the shape of this other thing that caught my eye.
Rounded, and larger, amidst the sharper pieces of gravel.
Just level with the surface, covered with dust. A copper
nugget! Neat treasure.
Naked Rambler video available
For years this gentleman has been rambling round Briton.
Walking the country from end to end, in typical nasty
British weather, nude. Like Colin Fletcher did when he
walked the length of the Grand
Canyon, hat, pack and boots, Stephen Gough has a
mission. The
gist I get from watching this is that Stephen is made
to be in the wrong for putting his feelings and beliefs
above those of others, of society; that he is in the wrong
for abandoning his children; that he is inconsiderate for
the way he has cost society thousands of pounds
because he is always being arrested and of course fed and
housed on the public weal.
Whilst The Naked Rambler pursues his calling, this same
society, touting freedom and democracy, wages war, kills and
maims, imbues children with shame and guilt and exposes them
daily to murder and mayhem. There is something wrong with
this picture but I canna quite put my finger on it.
Refreshing at least was that BBC aired the programme without
obscuring the man's genitalia.
Actually I have four phone numbers for three
phones:
207..., rings--with
a real bell, an almost orgasmic experience--a 1960's era
wall phone. (AT&T Geezer Plan, 200 minutes/month
NO text/data)
602..., is on the bridge, mostly only for when I am driving
as the use thereof can be handsfree and I can tell it what
number to dial. Primarily for data, tethered to computer.
(T-Mobile Geezer Plan, 100 min/mo voice, "unlimited" data
and text)
480..., is usually in my pocket, if I remember to wear
any... ;-> (Verizon, 250 min/mo, NO text/data.)
575..., has no phone nor plan but is a Google service which
when called will ring all the other numbers simultaneously.
Then I can answer which ever one is closed to hand. When
none are answered then Google will take voice mail and send
me email. Clever system tho their voice to text application
leaves a bit to be desired.
Telephone service out here in the wild west is spotty at
best. All the hoo-haa adverts about tablets and iphones and
G4 is just so much BS as to be pathetic. Some of them work
if you are within the downtown area of not all cities. Some
of them work if you are within the Interstate corridor,
especially near a truckstop. But between hither and yon?
Forget it. In some places picture-phones won't even take
pictures let alone send text.
Look at the coverage maps of the various carriers ("We cover
97% of the American Population"--unfortunately they all
cover the same 97% ) and see the vast area devoid of any
colour at all. This is the great 3% that none of them serve.
In the old days telephone and snailmail were provided by
service oriented companies whose task was to unite this
country. Today, profit is the determining factor; divide and
conquer. Mr Bell and Mr Franklin can roll over in their
graves all they want: Cows and cacti don't use mobile
phones.
One particular stretch of U.S.60 in west central New Mexico
has no AT&T or T-Mobile service for over a hundred
miles, which just happens to include Pie Town in Catron
County. Verizon works if you stand on the X in front of the
Post Office or at the picnic table in the side yard of the
Toaster House Hostel. But Cartoon County also has no
stoplights, you can count all the stopsigns on two hands,
and there are more cows than People and Humans combined.
Also no OTA or cable television service.
24 Hours in the Old Pueblo Presented by Tucson Medical
Center is one of the largest 24 Hour events in the world.
(from the linked site). I went to help with communications
and worked the "Hotel" check point and cactus thorn removal
service. Some really crazy people riding some really fancy
bikes. From noon saturday to noon sunday. Team riders do a
few laps and then have a break whilst another team member
has a go. Solo riders do the whole course round and round
time after time, all night. Some bikes have three headlights
and comprise more lumens than a small car.
The Incredible Shrinking Bumf Revisited
Perhaps you remember a subject from a few days ago. Weeks
ago maybe? No, wait, a year or so ago when I wrote about how
the width of the TP roll had shrunk a quarter of an inch.
We were discussing the insidious creeping hidden inflation
of shrinking product sizes--OJ half gallons which contain
only 59 ounces... Especially paper towels and toilet tissue.
And you said something to the effect that you were surprised
'they' had not increased the diameter of the TP roller.
Well, it has happened.
The roller of the most recent batch of TP I bought--that day
when we were at Fry's haggling over which bundle of paper
towels was most cost effective and/or practical--the roller
of the new product is clearly more than one-eighth of an
inch larger in diameter than the roller of the previous
product!
Too bad I don't have any wrappers of old and new so I could
compare the fine print.
How could they do that and still maintain "1000 sheets"?
Only by making each sheet shorter is my guess.
Spring Equinox and Happy Big Wind Day
... have been and gone. Did you remember Pi Day? The Feast
Day of Saint George is up next. And at the rate I'm going
Towel Day will be here before this letter is posted.
In other news I too have been negligent and belated.
Multitudes of computer problems at The Cat Drag'd Inn
have put me off from writing newsy letters and web pages...
My brother Teddy died almost unexpectedly a few weeks ago.
He has been somewhat reclusive for a while and so nobody
knew what was happening until it was practically all over.
Lung cancer mostly. Now my sister Susan is just about in the
same boat but with a better handle on the problem. She's
going in to have half a lung removed in another day or so.
I'm doing mostly Ok. My PSA count is up so I have a
get-acquainted appointment with a urologist for all of
twenty minutes next week. Not hardly time enough to give a
urine sample at that rate. And the co-pay is two cents a
minute. Talk about pay toilets...
The Cat Drag'd Inn has been on a diet these past two
months, so far all we've lost is two months.
I've been busy learning to cope with this new old computer.
The main attribute of this machine is greater speed and more
memory. So it can make bigger mistakes faster than the one
it replaces. This week I am teaching my email client to
encrypt and sign my letters.
Well, that about wraps it up. Don't know how long this will
be available: A really cool
B'day card sent by Tamara and Denali.
The Feast Day of Saint George
News from the Front... So far so good. A one hour drive to
an appointment in the big city. Poking and prodding. Bend
over... DRE led to ultra sound. Looked pretty fuzzy to me
but supposedly a sharp eye can tell male from female...
BPH is the doctor's comment. Benign
Prostatic Hypertrophy. Not in my dictionary but the
phrase is well explained at Wiki.
But then again, as the doctor explained, the BPH symptoms
could be explained by things a lot worse. Only a biopsy
would know for sure. And even "for sure" is not for sure.
At this point in time my PSA is 4.8, only 0.7 points above
normal on a scale of zero to several hundred. So for the
most part this current flurry of activity is to establish a
baseline for "watchful waiting" and then we'll look again in
six months.
In the meantime I have to think about taking the first step
over the edge of the long and slippery slope of prescribed
maintenance medications. It is one thing to take over the
counter vitamins and other dietary supplements, or the
occasional prescribed drug for pain or infection. Quite
another situation when one gets into "meds" that control
a condition as opposed to repair it. The urologist wants
me to start taking "tamsulosin".
Another step to think about is down the road a ways but on
the horizon nonetheless. Sooner or later I have to consider
relocating to one of those geezer communities where one can
be but a golf-cart ride from the medical center and
pharmacy. When diesel gets to cost more than lot rental I
will have to look for an assisted living caravanserai...
For all of my extended family and so-called free camping out
here in the wild west, there is no place like home.
Unfortunately there is no place at home where I can park The
Cat Drag'd Inn and live within my means. There has got
to be a better way.
My youngest sister Ann-Marie is still twenty years younger
than me. Just imagine... I could well live another twenty.
Keep your insurance paid up...
We should consider opening a geriatric care center where we
can establish a multi generational on-going family reunion.
I am opting for positive and happy thoughts. Or at least to
maintain my wit and sense of humour. Presently reading The
Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner and learning
that I am happier than I give my Self credit for. In this
book I find: Clearly, some words can elicit instant joy.
Words like "I love you" and "you may already be a winner".
Yet other words--"audit" and "prostate exam" come to
mind--have the opposite effect.
--Eric Weiner, /The Geography of Bliss/
Two Down - Six To Go
Another brother died yesterday, 28 April. Now we are six.
This time was Glen, the youngest brother, at 01h00 yesterday
morning in Lowell. Woke from coma long enough to tell his
doctors to pull the plug. He had been neglecting for at
least a year some infections in his legs. Last year the
doctors wanted to amputate but Glen insisted he keep his
legs and went on ignoring the conditions. Then he went
septic, his kidneys shut down...
Don't be "sorry to hear"; better to be sorry for one's loss
than sorry to hear the news about it. I need to study the
derivation of that phrase. Why are we "sorry to hear" when
those words convey the meaning that we would rather not
know? Now that I am getting into that time of my life when I
am outliving siblings and friends, especially those younger
than me, I am sorry for my loss but not sorry to learn of
their demise. The longer I hang on the more dead people I
know. Getting to be time I find someone who will inherit The
Cat Drag'd Inn.
Been years and years since I saw him. He, like his brother
before him, was rather reclusive, perhaps estranged from the
family may be a better term. In some ways I suppose I am
estranged from my family--being out here in the wide open
spaces of this nice warm and prickly desert rather than back
east in the snow and cold and salty roads where there is no
"free camping".
So
little time. So much to learn.
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Greetings
Virtual Travellers and Pen Friends: 
