Out with the new

Link to new blog.

After years of intermittently poor performance (ever waited a long time for a post to publish?), Google will be discontinuing their 'publish via FTP' feature on blogger. That's what we use to transfer content to k.org.

As a replacement, I've installed Wordpress with a root location at k.org/blog3. (Blog 2 was a short-lived attempt at Serendipity.)

As the Fed Ex business account salesman said to the budding specialty dairy farmer, post away!

In with the Old

Started the New Year by tearing down the platform that was surrounding the water oak out back. It had quite a list to it since Ike came through, but was still boldly holding up the bluebird house. So, out with the old! The 'new view' of the lake is quite startling - at least for a day.

But, not to leave the bluebirds homeless, we decided to use one of the old posts from the platform to support a repaired house. Of course, in order to install the post, we had to acquire a new post-hole digger. Wow; cuts through the sopping gumbo with incredible ease! It was so fast, a second hole was dug to locate a post for the weather station. The new implement is so fine, need to find uses for the remaining posts so the digger can be put to use again.


Also in need of repair were the two bird feeders, so some of the wood from the deck of the platform was strung together to make new tops for the birds to enjoy.

Still lots of wood left from decommissioning - tomorrow we can scout around for more projects ...

(Don't wonder too long about the guides on the birdhouse post ... they are just there to keep things vertical until the ground settles.)

fired up

My turn to test blog-from-picasa.

While Stacey takes care of more mundane tasks (counting number of beds, identifying windows that need insulating), I'm catching the most important preparations. Wood-burner activated!

(This photo isn't complete without a bubbling couldron suspended over the flame. I'm on it.)

satsumas

Excellent satsuma crop this year.
I took 5 oranges to the post office and used their self-service scale to learn that they average 12 ounces apiece.

In Contrast

Here are my current work spaces, in contrast to Steve's photos. It's confusing at times to teach undergrads on Fridays and two year old children on Saturdays, but surprisingly the two classes take about the same amount of prep work, minus grading.

(Unfortunately, I don't get to crane the xylophones from the supply closet to the dance studio.)

Sat a.m. report

J and I spent the morning hoofing some errands whilst S taught other(s') toddlers to play xylophones. (Rather, J hoofed a subset of the trip, and rode the rest in the backpack carrier.) To the hardware store for a steam valve. To the coffee shop for 60-and-drizzling-appropriate refreshment. To the library to check for any more books about sloths.

In the style of previous post, our bird list for the morning, as dictated en route:
Bird! (sparrow)
Bird! (pigeon)
Blue bird! (jay)
Red jay! (cardinal)
Eagle! (sparrow)
Sparrow (sparrow!)

Next time we'll check the kids' section for a bird book.

Bored some games last night. Agricola is still a favorite, and introduced Race for the Galaxy, which was reasonably quick (say, 1h at 3 players) and seems to have strong replay potential. The boardgamegeek review characterizes it as featuring "parasitic conflict", a phrase I will endeavor to re-use this weekend.

quick update from batiment 193

I'm catching up on some backlogged lab tasks and neglected personal e-mail tonight and am on a roll. So what the heck, why not a visit to the yurt too.

Nice bird list. I remember seeing many magpies a few years ago during a summer hike near Boulder. I like the names ferrunginous hawk and some other flycatcher.

Two photos from yesterday of craning our experiment from our workshop area to the experiment zone:

8 more weeks of beam scheduled for the year.

sierra birds

Herewith the birds identified last weekend.

brewer's blackbird
redwinged blackbird
mountain chickadee
brown-headed cowbird
common crow
mourning dove
bald eagle
golden eagle
red-shafted flicker
dusky flycatcher
some other flycatcher
blue-gray gnatcatcher
ferruginous hawk
anna's hummingbird
scrub jay
steller's jay
oregon junco
slate-colored junco
ruby-crowned kinglet
magpie
western meadowlark
clark's nutcracker
red-breasted nuthatch
osprey
california quail
mountain quail
house sparrow
lincoln's sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
rufous-sided towhee
turkey vulture
black-throated gray warbler
myrtle warbler
orange-crowned warbler
wilson's warbler
yellow warbler
black-backed three-toed woodpecker
downy woodpecker
pileated woodpecker
white-headed woodpecker

When confirming magpie in the bird book, we learned that one is supposed to notice if it is the yellow-billed or black-billed. Glad we're amateur enough that it's not critical. I have several photos of blurry quails. My favourites were the white-headed woodpecker, the black-backed three-toed (just for the name), Clark's nutcracker, and both quails (but there were several runners-up).

Off the Beaten Path

If you have a few minutes and want to find out where we are hiding, you can type in the following coordinates into your favorite mapping or satellite image program. The place we are renting is close to 38.06N , 120.24W. The house is slightly west and north of these coordinates, but only by something less than one-hundredth of a degree.

The location is approximately 20 acres with a southeasterly exposure which mans the sun shines into the loft at about 7 a.m. Well, that tells you something about the place as well. It is about 1200 sq ft with a loft above the main floor which acts as the master bedroom. The kitchen is well equipped with a roomy fridge and a gas (propane) stove. A dishwasher and an oven also sit in the kitchen which is quite nicely sized for two. The latter is only run when the 12kW generator (also propane) is on charging the battery system. Normally, at least during the day, the batteries are charged by a solar panel which kicks out about 90V at 9.5 amps during peak sunshine. There is ample hot water provided by a solar hot water system which heats the glycol in the system to about 170 degF during the mid-day and heats a rather large (~100 gal) hot water tank. We are not sure about all this 'off-the-grid' living yet. Not really roughing it - but also not the convenience of thought-free existence ...

PS (Mom here) we have met oodles of fine folks and seen interesting countryside which we'll detail later.

Fall in Cleveland

Hi 69.1 +- 2.7 (sd)
Lo 52.3 +- 2.5
says the ten day forecast, with lots of sunshines. It's late summer, early fall held back by a ballast of warm water to the Northwest.

Next door neighbor has completed his nightly round-the-block trip with his giant van, to avoid using the noisy reverse siren. (Whenever Julian walks backward now, he makes the requisite beeping sound.) This, from the home office observation perch.

An interesting presentation of data

http://www.nytimes.com//interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html?ref=business

I think part of the design's success is the speed at which you can switch back and forth between subsets of the survey, effectively adding an extra dimension.