click image to enlarge
Monday, February 29, 2016
Leap Year
A complete orbit of the earth around the sun takes
exactly 365.2422 days to complete, but the Gregorian calendar uses 365 days. As a consequence of this a leap year - where
an extra day is added to the end of February every four years – reconciles the
solar system's disparity with the Gregorian calendar.
So leap seconds - and leap years - are added as means of
keeping our clocks (and calendars) in sync with the Earth and its seasons.
All the other months in the Julian calendar have 30 or 31
days, but February lost out to the ego of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.
Under his predecessor Julius Caesar, February had 30 days
and the month named after him - July - had 31. August had only 29 days.
When Caesar Augustus ascended to the throne asEmperor he
added two days to 'his' month to make August the same as July.
So February lost out to August in the battle of the extra
days.
Happy Leap Year.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Doe-Like Eyes
It is true that there are makeup tricks that make a woman's eyes look huge and doe-like.
My guess is that this is the way to a man's heart. Big, soft, trusting, brown, doe-like eyes that are the portal to the soul. And maybe the boudoir - on the way to the bedroom. But I digress.
Try as you might to imitate there's nothing that beats the real thing...
My guess is that this is the way to a man's heart. Big, soft, trusting, brown, doe-like eyes that are the portal to the soul. And maybe the boudoir - on the way to the bedroom. But I digress.
Try as you might to imitate there's nothing that beats the real thing...
click image to enlarge
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Running the Trapline
A metaphorical trapline. In this case five trail cameras.
Been moving them around a bit as I haven't seen a wild turkey on any of the images in months. Today I placed a three of the cams on locations the cagey birds have been known to travel. These selfies were taken only a couple of hours ago.
Will see if they're out there.
Spring turkey season is just around the corner...
Been moving them around a bit as I haven't seen a wild turkey on any of the images in months. Today I placed a three of the cams on locations the cagey birds have been known to travel. These selfies were taken only a couple of hours ago.
Will see if they're out there.
click on images to enlarge
Spring turkey season is just around the corner...
Friday, February 26, 2016
Monday, February 22, 2016
The Procedure
After a Friday and Saturday of a 'low-residual' diet - no fiber, no peas, whole grains, no beans or fresh fruit yesterday was an entirely clear liquid diet. No beer, wine or alcohol either.
Beginning at 5 PM yesterday I had to begin drinking this.
Polyethylene glycol 236 g, sodium sulfate (anhydrous) 22.74 g, sodium bicarbonate 6.74 g, sodium chloride 5.86 g and potassium chloride 2.87 g. Reconstituted it with cold water and Crystal Light lemonade-flavoring - all four liters of it. It is singularly the most awful concoction known to mankind. The instructions politely refer to this a a product called 'Golytely'. After choking down a third of it I discovered what it really is.
It is COLON BLOW! Designed to flush the bowel and make is squeaky-clean for a journey to the center of the earth. And you will be up all night running to the can And you dare not fart.
Today the procedure went well. Watched the entire thing on the big screen in the OR. Good for another 50,000 miles...
Beginning at 5 PM yesterday I had to begin drinking this.
Polyethylene glycol 236 g, sodium sulfate (anhydrous) 22.74 g, sodium bicarbonate 6.74 g, sodium chloride 5.86 g and potassium chloride 2.87 g. Reconstituted it with cold water and Crystal Light lemonade-flavoring - all four liters of it. It is singularly the most awful concoction known to mankind. The instructions politely refer to this a a product called 'Golytely'. After choking down a third of it I discovered what it really is.
It is COLON BLOW! Designed to flush the bowel and make is squeaky-clean for a journey to the center of the earth. And you will be up all night running to the can And you dare not fart.
click to enlarge
Today the procedure went well. Watched the entire thing on the big screen in the OR. Good for another 50,000 miles...
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Little Buck
This is a little buck.
How can you tell?
Inside his ears the top of his head is flat - although careful scrutiny reveals small buttons adjacent to the inside of each ear. Future antlers.
Girl fawns (and all does) have a dome-shaped top of their head and boys are flat-tops.
How can you tell?
Inside his ears the top of his head is flat - although careful scrutiny reveals small buttons adjacent to the inside of each ear. Future antlers.
Girl fawns (and all does) have a dome-shaped top of their head and boys are flat-tops.
click to enlarge
New Location - North
From last weekend a final series of photos taken from that new location at the north end of the tree farm. All are family groups. From top to bottom pics are dated February 10, 11 and 12.
How many deer in the last photo? Look carefully.
How many deer in the last photo? Look carefully.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
New Location - Creek
Another sequence of photos taken from the camera on the north bank of the creek.
Some minor action captured here. Note the deer bolting beneath the fallen tree and the alarm signaled by the flash of the tail in one of the photos. Finally, there is nothing like the backside of the blonde Lab to make for a photo finish...
Some minor action captured here. Note the deer bolting beneath the fallen tree and the alarm signaled by the flash of the tail in one of the photos. Finally, there is nothing like the backside of the blonde Lab to make for a photo finish...
Friday, February 19, 2016
Sunset
Captured another nice sunset with a trail camera of all things.
This sequence of photos was taken at 3:42, 4:17 and 4:40 PM.
Not bad for something happen-chance...
This sequence of photos was taken at 3:42, 4:17 and 4:40 PM.
Not bad for something happen-chance...
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Me and the Girls
Great winter for snowshoeing so far. Good exercise for the girls and good exercise for the people.
Never leave home without the pistolero and a pocket full of peanuts.
Never leave home without the pistolero and a pocket full of peanuts.
click to enlarge
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Munch
The deer are clobbering me the landscaping.
Not only have they devoured whatever remnants were in the garden, they've eaten The Frau's flowers, chomped the raspberry patch down to stalks and browsed all of the beautiful cedar trees in the yard. The cedars have been devastated!
The whitetails have even pawed the snow from the septic mound to access the nice green grass. I suppose the grass is always greener on the septic mound.
Not only have they devoured whatever remnants were in the garden, they've eaten The Frau's flowers, chomped the raspberry patch down to stalks and browsed all of the beautiful cedar trees in the yard. The cedars have been devastated!
The whitetails have even pawed the snow from the septic mound to access the nice green grass. I suppose the grass is always greener on the septic mound.
click image to enlarge
Too damn many deer. Grrrr...
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
The Drool Factor
In the very late 1800s Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov stumbled on to something.
Pavlovian conditioning - also known as classical conditioning - was an accidental discovery.
Pavlov showed the existence of the unconditioned response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and measuring its salivary secretion. Dogs don't need to be taught to drool when presented with food. That's what dogs do. They're hard-wired to drool when presented with food.
However, in his experiment, Pavlov used a bell as his neutral stimulus. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell. After a number of repeats of this procedure, he tried the bell on its own. As you might expect, the bell on its own now caused an increase in salivation
I got the same thing going on. Getting-up from the chair at dinner time is all it takes to turn-on the drool spigot.
Took the coffee table in the picture to the furniture refinishing man earlier this week. He says it's the first time he had to refinish quality oak as a consequence of dog drool. He'll try a finish more resistant to the drool factor.
Pavlovian conditioning - also known as classical conditioning - was an accidental discovery.
Pavlov showed the existence of the unconditioned response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and measuring its salivary secretion. Dogs don't need to be taught to drool when presented with food. That's what dogs do. They're hard-wired to drool when presented with food.
However, in his experiment, Pavlov used a bell as his neutral stimulus. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell. After a number of repeats of this procedure, he tried the bell on its own. As you might expect, the bell on its own now caused an increase in salivation
I got the same thing going on. Getting-up from the chair at dinner time is all it takes to turn-on the drool spigot.
Took the coffee table in the picture to the furniture refinishing man earlier this week. He says it's the first time he had to refinish quality oak as a consequence of dog drool. He'll try a finish more resistant to the drool factor.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Valentine Dogs
From yesterday some photos of the dogs. Nice with the falling snow...
click to enlarge
Sunday, February 14, 2016
New Location - North
As I mentioned yesterday, in January a couple of trail cameras were relocated to promising-looking locations characterized by well-traveled deer trails.
Yup. The over abundance of deer has been well-documented. This particular location is at the north end of the property just off the mowed trail that a hunter would follow to walk to Clayton's Stand. The cam is aimed to the south and when I fetched the SD card from it on Friday it had 309 photos taken over a two week time frame.
There is a crap ton of deer on the landscape.
Here's a sampling...
Yup. The over abundance of deer has been well-documented. This particular location is at the north end of the property just off the mowed trail that a hunter would follow to walk to Clayton's Stand. The cam is aimed to the south and when I fetched the SD card from it on Friday it had 309 photos taken over a two week time frame.
There is a crap ton of deer on the landscape.
Here's a sampling...
click on images to enlarge
Saturday, February 13, 2016
New Location - Creek
In January I relocated a couple of trail cameras to new locations. One of them was on the north bank of the creek and a bit east of the main north/south mowed path.
Chosen for the well-worn path in the snow the initial pics indicated that it was a good spot for deer photos.
Yesterday I fetched the SD card and uploaded two weeks of photos - all 239 of them. Mostly family groups of two to four deer - does and fawns and some single deer photos.
This is certainly a busy place.
There is a crap ton of whitetails on the landscape!
Here's a sampling of photos. Note the fallen tree that the deer have to sneak under. Interesting that they'll sneak under it instead of going around it.
Chosen for the well-worn path in the snow the initial pics indicated that it was a good spot for deer photos.
Yesterday I fetched the SD card and uploaded two weeks of photos - all 239 of them. Mostly family groups of two to four deer - does and fawns and some single deer photos.
This is certainly a busy place.
There is a crap ton of whitetails on the landscape!
Here's a sampling of photos. Note the fallen tree that the deer have to sneak under. Interesting that they'll sneak under it instead of going around it.
click on images to enlarge
Friday, February 12, 2016
Spot the Station
From my NASA feed...
Date: Friday Feb 12, 2016
Time: 7:07 PM Duration: 2 minutes Maximum Elevation: 26° Approach: 10° above NW Departure: 26° above NNW
Brutally, icy-cold clear night...
 |
Maximizing Your Curling Experience
After a decade and a half of curling I finally figured it out. Why this took me so long is immaterial. What is useful to know is the outcome.
Rather than fret and concern oneself with which event or league to participate in it is a better idea that you restrict league play to perhaps one night a week and make yourself available as a sub for all the remaining leagues. Excepting-for (obviously) the women's leagues.
Hardly a week will go by without multiple requests made for me to fill-in for someone who has to travel on business, care for a sick child or is sick themselves.
What I have learned is I can curl as much as I can stand and it is completely discretionary. If I have a conflict I have a conflict. If it is a 9:15 draw time (meaning home by midnight) I can politely decline. Moreover, I get to curl with different teams and in multiple positions. All the better to mean new faces, names and skill levels. I'm curling more than I ever have before.
It is the perfect way to maximize your curling experience.
Rather than fret and concern oneself with which event or league to participate in it is a better idea that you restrict league play to perhaps one night a week and make yourself available as a sub for all the remaining leagues. Excepting-for (obviously) the women's leagues.
Hardly a week will go by without multiple requests made for me to fill-in for someone who has to travel on business, care for a sick child or is sick themselves.
What I have learned is I can curl as much as I can stand and it is completely discretionary. If I have a conflict I have a conflict. If it is a 9:15 draw time (meaning home by midnight) I can politely decline. Moreover, I get to curl with different teams and in multiple positions. All the better to mean new faces, names and skill levels. I'm curling more than I ever have before.
It is the perfect way to maximize your curling experience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
