The local temperature hit a 100 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. Local weather people say more of the same today and no rain in the forecast. Indeed we don't even seem to have the puffy white clouds that are so common in Texas. Though the weathermen say the humidity is rising.
It is just hot. My outdoor temperature transmitter for my indoor temperature read out broke. I guess it got to hot or something. I opened it up and did not find any spiders or such, it was nice and clean inside. I changed the batteries and the little red LED came on, then off as to indicate "I am okay." But the indoor receiver does not change from a reading on minus 40 degrees (C or F, does not matter as that is the cross point for both temperature measurements).
I guess I just got fried.
Oh well, that is North Texas for you.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Yearlings . . .
Judie called me to light the bar-b-q grill for our supper. It was about 5 PM our time. As I went to open the back patio door I looked out and saw two yearling deer, both sitting on the ground. They still have their fawn spots but are pretty big now and Mama Doe is no where to be found, which means they are on their own now.
We had one doe deliver twins and I figure they were the twins. They seemed to be very close to each other.
I went on out and started the grill and walked back in. They did not move just looked at me.
They know me as I saw them often in the morning during my neighborhood walks. I sort of ignore them and they ignore me. That way they are not startled by me.
I cooked the flank steak, takes about 10 minutes, and sat outside during that time. They were not disturbed by me watching them. Took the steak off the grill, turned off the gas and went inside with the steak.
We ate dinner and after dinner I looked out and yes, they were still there. I checked and hour later and thought they were gone, and then spied them in a different part of the yard. They stayed until it got dark.
I saw them again the morning across the street, they watched me walk by and just stayed there. Later I saw one of them in the lot next to the house. I know they would not go into my backyard as the sprinklers were going at that time. And during my walk I spied others in the neighborhood, they simply watched me walk by as if I were another car going by.
I leave them be to themselves and that seems to satisfy them. I just wish they would not eat all our plants but then that is their food. They do not eat Rosemary and Garlic Chives, so we have a ton of that planted around. They will come right up to the house and eat plants. We have one Day Lilly protected in a wire cage and they eat anything sticking out.
There have been complaints to the City of Weatherford, but since the forage over county and city it takes a coordinated effort to do something about the deer population. Naturally, nothing gets done and the herd continues to grow. Only natural selection thins them out. Thus we see a occasional Lynx (Bob Cat) and others say the have seen Mountain Lions. That seems to be sort of controversial, as the wild life authorities say absolutely no mountain lions around here. Then I have read where sittings are getting more and more common. So my guess is they are moving back in to feed on the deer.
We had one doe deliver twins and I figure they were the twins. They seemed to be very close to each other.
I went on out and started the grill and walked back in. They did not move just looked at me.
They know me as I saw them often in the morning during my neighborhood walks. I sort of ignore them and they ignore me. That way they are not startled by me.
I cooked the flank steak, takes about 10 minutes, and sat outside during that time. They were not disturbed by me watching them. Took the steak off the grill, turned off the gas and went inside with the steak.
We ate dinner and after dinner I looked out and yes, they were still there. I checked and hour later and thought they were gone, and then spied them in a different part of the yard. They stayed until it got dark.
I saw them again the morning across the street, they watched me walk by and just stayed there. Later I saw one of them in the lot next to the house. I know they would not go into my backyard as the sprinklers were going at that time. And during my walk I spied others in the neighborhood, they simply watched me walk by as if I were another car going by.
I leave them be to themselves and that seems to satisfy them. I just wish they would not eat all our plants but then that is their food. They do not eat Rosemary and Garlic Chives, so we have a ton of that planted around. They will come right up to the house and eat plants. We have one Day Lilly protected in a wire cage and they eat anything sticking out.
There have been complaints to the City of Weatherford, but since the forage over county and city it takes a coordinated effort to do something about the deer population. Naturally, nothing gets done and the herd continues to grow. Only natural selection thins them out. Thus we see a occasional Lynx (Bob Cat) and others say the have seen Mountain Lions. That seems to be sort of controversial, as the wild life authorities say absolutely no mountain lions around here. Then I have read where sittings are getting more and more common. So my guess is they are moving back in to feed on the deer.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Constant Maintenance . . .
Grandson Jamie was over the other day for a couple days. That means his grandmother gets up early to feed him a sumptuous breakfast before going out.
So she and I were discoursing on the back patio, it was yet to early for the grandson to stir and I noted another sprinkler malfunction. Our water well produces a very fine sand that eventually wears out the turbo function of the rotating sprinkler heads. They pop up as usual, that is function of water pressure and they spray, same deal, water pressure. But it does not move or rotate. We had a nice green row that indicates some grass is getting a lot of water in one area and lot of grass is not any water, brown out.
So I had to go out and dig up the sprinkler head. Now knowing about the "constant maintenance" for an irrigation system, I had a spare sprinkler in the garage all ready to go. Just had to open it up and install it. I even had a riser that goes from 3/4" to one inch too. Since I was in the ground so to speak, it was also time to raise the sprinkler a bit. So I raised it an inch. The sod grows around the sprinkler heads and builds up in time. So if you do not raise the heads, soon you will be spraying the grass close by as the tall grass will inhibit the range of the sprinkler water.
So all went well, I set the sprinkler to full rotation (yeah, I know how to do that now), screwed the new riser into place and installed the sprinkler. It works just as advertised.
One must observe one's different circuits to make sure things are going like they are supposed to go. Tiny snails get into spray heads for normal pops. And normal pop ups also need to be raised too. In one case I had a large tree root pressing on the sprinkler and the pop feature was not working. I had to go in a saw off the 2 inch root. It was a Willow tree root and so was nice and soft and easy to cut. Put all the sprinkler back in place and it now works just fine. The tree did not even notice its root being truncated.
So I keep on hand valves, pipes, glue and of course I already have the tools. I have hack saws to cut pipe, even a hobby knife to trim risers to size, so I am equipped. I have elbows, unions, and even slip joints in stock. The irrigation system moves ever so slightly with the soil, so slip joints are good to have around. It allows for some ever so slight movement. They keep the soil from pulling the joints apart.
We live on the edge of the desert, semi-arid country. Most of our city water supply is from man made lakes and some from wells. So our drinking water is very expensive. To drill your own irrigation well is pricey at first, but it is amortized in two years. Thereafter you have to spend a bit to have the pump system tuned up but you are mucho dollars ahead by then. And your plants and grass loves it (so do the deer).
So she and I were discoursing on the back patio, it was yet to early for the grandson to stir and I noted another sprinkler malfunction. Our water well produces a very fine sand that eventually wears out the turbo function of the rotating sprinkler heads. They pop up as usual, that is function of water pressure and they spray, same deal, water pressure. But it does not move or rotate. We had a nice green row that indicates some grass is getting a lot of water in one area and lot of grass is not any water, brown out.
So I had to go out and dig up the sprinkler head. Now knowing about the "constant maintenance" for an irrigation system, I had a spare sprinkler in the garage all ready to go. Just had to open it up and install it. I even had a riser that goes from 3/4" to one inch too. Since I was in the ground so to speak, it was also time to raise the sprinkler a bit. So I raised it an inch. The sod grows around the sprinkler heads and builds up in time. So if you do not raise the heads, soon you will be spraying the grass close by as the tall grass will inhibit the range of the sprinkler water.
So all went well, I set the sprinkler to full rotation (yeah, I know how to do that now), screwed the new riser into place and installed the sprinkler. It works just as advertised.
One must observe one's different circuits to make sure things are going like they are supposed to go. Tiny snails get into spray heads for normal pops. And normal pop ups also need to be raised too. In one case I had a large tree root pressing on the sprinkler and the pop feature was not working. I had to go in a saw off the 2 inch root. It was a Willow tree root and so was nice and soft and easy to cut. Put all the sprinkler back in place and it now works just fine. The tree did not even notice its root being truncated.
So I keep on hand valves, pipes, glue and of course I already have the tools. I have hack saws to cut pipe, even a hobby knife to trim risers to size, so I am equipped. I have elbows, unions, and even slip joints in stock. The irrigation system moves ever so slightly with the soil, so slip joints are good to have around. It allows for some ever so slight movement. They keep the soil from pulling the joints apart.
We live on the edge of the desert, semi-arid country. Most of our city water supply is from man made lakes and some from wells. So our drinking water is very expensive. To drill your own irrigation well is pricey at first, but it is amortized in two years. Thereafter you have to spend a bit to have the pump system tuned up but you are mucho dollars ahead by then. And your plants and grass loves it (so do the deer).
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
More on the President. . .
Read today in one newspaper article that one of President Obama's problem is that he does not make decisions. That he stands aside and lets things slide rather than make a decision. And that is why his popularity is down. Well it certainly is one cause, but there are many causes. The real one is incompetence.
The US position in the world is declining because the President has let it decline not because we, as a nation, are declining. It is his choice. And now we learn that he summoned members of both parties to the White House to discuss foreign policy and got slammed by both parties. Yes, the Democrats have opined that he does not have a grasp of the problems and further does not act either. The result are things like IS or Islamic State, a ruthless barbaric group that is running around and chopping peoples heads off when he, the President, is espousing that one should set down and talk it all out.
What have we become? We have to tolerate this incompetence another two years. Already many are calling for impeachment. What makes anyone thing that will be successful? And it successful, do we want Joe Biden to be President? I think not. Many say the Republican House's law suit against the President to make him comply with the enacted legislation will not work either. The remedy, they say, is in the Constitution - impeachment!
I am all for a Republican majority. Get rid of some of those Democratic Senators like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Put some sane people in place. Put a kibosh to this out of control administrative law generation by entities like EPA. Secure our borders again. Do a little "shoot to kill" along the border and the rabid inflow of illegals will stop. Ship out the illegals to their home countries and make for more jobs for our people. Harry Truman did it, Franklin Roosevelt did it and Ike did it. Kick the buns out.
In the cases of IS, kill them. They want to kill us. Just kill them. The British learned that in Malaya and on the East Coast of Persian Gulf, They did not tolerate any of that kind of crap. Liberalism does not work in those case, first you must be civilized then you can apply liberalism.
The US position in the world is declining because the President has let it decline not because we, as a nation, are declining. It is his choice. And now we learn that he summoned members of both parties to the White House to discuss foreign policy and got slammed by both parties. Yes, the Democrats have opined that he does not have a grasp of the problems and further does not act either. The result are things like IS or Islamic State, a ruthless barbaric group that is running around and chopping peoples heads off when he, the President, is espousing that one should set down and talk it all out.
What have we become? We have to tolerate this incompetence another two years. Already many are calling for impeachment. What makes anyone thing that will be successful? And it successful, do we want Joe Biden to be President? I think not. Many say the Republican House's law suit against the President to make him comply with the enacted legislation will not work either. The remedy, they say, is in the Constitution - impeachment!
I am all for a Republican majority. Get rid of some of those Democratic Senators like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Put some sane people in place. Put a kibosh to this out of control administrative law generation by entities like EPA. Secure our borders again. Do a little "shoot to kill" along the border and the rabid inflow of illegals will stop. Ship out the illegals to their home countries and make for more jobs for our people. Harry Truman did it, Franklin Roosevelt did it and Ike did it. Kick the buns out.
In the cases of IS, kill them. They want to kill us. Just kill them. The British learned that in Malaya and on the East Coast of Persian Gulf, They did not tolerate any of that kind of crap. Liberalism does not work in those case, first you must be civilized then you can apply liberalism.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Mid Air . . .
After 14 years of flying model airplanes in close proximity to other flying model airplanes, I experienced my first mid air. My buddy flying a "Dirty Stik", a model I once owned, flew into the bottom of my "Big Stik 60." His propeller chewed up my right wing, it looked like I might recover, then the plane went out of control and spiraled in. His prop also destroyed the receiver. So I had not control, just watched things transpire.
There were bits and pieces fluttering to the ground. My airplane was confined to one location except for the wing debris. My buddy's airplane was off in a distance but equally destroyed. The working pieces are okay, like engines, fuel tanks, batteries and most of the servos.
Servo gears for the most part are made of nylon and shear teeth easily. The one that usually takes the brunt is the throttle servo which gets jarred severely in such a melee. And my throttle servo does indeed need new gears. I will get around to fixing that later.
I cleaned up the engine. The engine mount was intact even though the airplane remains went in nose first. The engine was okay, I found one breather nipple broken off, but that does not mean it occurred in that crash. I suspect it is an "old injury" and manifested itself with the nose first jarring. Simple to fix, just replace it with another nipple and the job is done. Had to send off the part, but I could have cannibalized another engine, just chose to get a new part and spare at the same time.
Now I am trying to resurrect another plane. I am having problems setting up the configuration. Not sure what is the cause. but have contacted Hitec, the manufacturer. And they gave me a phone number and said call, it was too difficult to describe the fix by phone. Interesting.
And the beat goes on. And yes, this time the bird was not fixable, or at least I did not wish to spend the effort to fix it. I have another in box, just have to assemble it.
There were bits and pieces fluttering to the ground. My airplane was confined to one location except for the wing debris. My buddy's airplane was off in a distance but equally destroyed. The working pieces are okay, like engines, fuel tanks, batteries and most of the servos.
Servo gears for the most part are made of nylon and shear teeth easily. The one that usually takes the brunt is the throttle servo which gets jarred severely in such a melee. And my throttle servo does indeed need new gears. I will get around to fixing that later.
I cleaned up the engine. The engine mount was intact even though the airplane remains went in nose first. The engine was okay, I found one breather nipple broken off, but that does not mean it occurred in that crash. I suspect it is an "old injury" and manifested itself with the nose first jarring. Simple to fix, just replace it with another nipple and the job is done. Had to send off the part, but I could have cannibalized another engine, just chose to get a new part and spare at the same time.
Now I am trying to resurrect another plane. I am having problems setting up the configuration. Not sure what is the cause. but have contacted Hitec, the manufacturer. And they gave me a phone number and said call, it was too difficult to describe the fix by phone. Interesting.
And the beat goes on. And yes, this time the bird was not fixable, or at least I did not wish to spend the effort to fix it. I have another in box, just have to assemble it.
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