Crawfish . . .

We ate at Pappadeaux's last night in Fort Worth.  We dined on a Pappadeaux's Greek salad for two and then had our individual orders.  I got the Crawfish special and Judie got her deluxe Shrimp and Crab cocktail entrée which included Avocado but no onions.

As you can see it is just a modicum of Crawfish with a piece of boiled corn and a couple of Irish Potatoes.  I fished out the vegies and put them on a side plate and Judie chopped up the potatoes into bite sizes.  We both ate on the potatoes and I ate the corn, umm, and the Crawfish.  She fished out one Crawfish and ate it complaining it was to spicy for  her.

We had not been to Pappadeaux's for a while, we avoid the place when the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is going on.  The Texans go wild for the place as if they can not get that kind of food out in the hinterlands of Texas.  The show had finished a couple of weeks ago and true enough on a Tuesday night things were not to crowded.  Yet, as always, the place was loud and filled up gradually while we dined.  We go early and leave early.

This time we stopped at Central Market on the way home to get Emely's bread.  Emely is the house cleaning lady and she likes a certain kind of bread that Central Market bakes.  Judie can not seem to get her to take a pay increase, she has been our cleaning lady for about four years now, so Judie prepares a meal for her with extra Jalapeno's, Avocado's, Strawberry's, a rotisserie Chicken warmed up.  Emely eats what she wants and bags the rest to take home.  Her family now kind of expects the largess from Morrison's every two weeks.  She comes on a Monday, we set it up for her and quickly leave the house and let her do her thing.

While at Central Market we also go pot plants, cheese, the bread, sampled some Central Market Ice Cream and got desert.  We choggied on home to feast on desert and it was almost time for bed.  Well almost time for me to go to bed, Judie does not come to bed until the wee hours of the morning.

But it is Crawfish season so might as well eat up.  Only a few places have them but they are not hard to find in this city which is heavily infested with Cajuns.  We have Razoo's, Pappadeaux's and the Flying Fish which all serve Crawfish.  And yes, no one around here but our brethren for the Frozen Nawth says Crayfish.

Bon Appetite!

A Capacitor . . .

A capacitor is an electronic device that can hold a charge.  In the old days before the current super duper capacitor discharge electronic ignitions we used have a "condenser."   A condenser is a capacitor and is used to collapse the electrical field in the coil to generate a spark for ignition.  The principle is still the same but things are self contained and decidedly more reliable and long lasting because there are no moving parts like points to deal with.

Capacitors are basically a storage device.  This is why they can hold a charge.  And they come in many sizes and types.  Electrolytic capacitors are usually large in the ability to hold a charge.  Film capacitors are not large in size or volume and are usually quite small in the charge they can hold.

Capacitors can also be used as filters and tend to remove noise on the lines inside electronic circuits.  That is why a typical circuit board has a lot of little capacitors place here and there to soak the interference.

But because they can hold a charge, they can be used to smooth out drops in voltage.  These are generally known as filter capacitors and have large values in Farads.  A Farad is a rather large amount of capacitance, ergo the little ones are measure in microfarads, millionths of a farad.  So when one sees a 80 Farad capacitor, that is a big sucker and if charged up to a high enough voltage can actually kill you.  

In my radio control we have been having what we call brown outs.  That is when the battery temporarily drops below a specific voltage and shuts down the solid state receiver.  That voltage can be around 3.2 volts, all it takes is a quick dip measure in microseconds and the transistor goes dead and the receiver quits.  This is where the capacitor comes in, one can put one in the power circuit parallel with battery and when the battery starts to sink for any reason, the capacitor starts to discharge to hold the voltage.  Magic but functional.  And the capacitor can last as long as a second to keep that voltage up.  When the battery recovers, the system demand goes down, the voltage goes back up and the capacitor recharges.  It takes care of that sinking spell.

Of course if the battery demand is prolonged then there is not recovery, the battery goes down, then the capacitor and of course the airplane goes down too, it usually crashes.  But that is a different circumstance we can not protect for very well.  Fortunately, it is a rare occurrence.

I just ordered up some 3300 microfarad capacitors.  They are rated at 6.3 volts, pretty near the battery voltage.  I am sure it will last for a whopping half a second at the most.  But that is plenty for me.  All I have to do is put a plug on the end of the capacitor in the right polarity and plug it into the receiver and I am protected.

What We Have Is A Failure To Communicate . . . .

That is a line from a Paul Newman/George Kennedy movie spoken by Strother Martin, the actor portraying the prison warden.  It was a truism them and it is a truism now.  "What we have is a failure to communicate."

Today I tried to get into Microsoft X Box to set up Solitaire.  It finally locked me out, too many attempts were made to get in.

First it asks you for your Email address or a phone number.  I tried the phone number and it never heard of that number before.  Seems it wants a numeral 1 in front of the area code to indicate "country."  Of course it did not say anything about a "1" or a country code when asking for the phone number.  It just assumes you know that.  And of course, that is not a normal practice in the USA.  Even with the corrected phone number it did not work as it did not recognize the phone number.

So finally got by that hurtle by going to my Email address.  First I tried the MS Email password and it never heard of that either. Clearly under the Email address is box for a password.    So I put in my Email password.  Noooo - that is not the password they wanted.  They wanted an X Box password.  The box just says "Password."  Finally figured that out.  Second hurtle gotten over.  All their instructions are as clear as mud or really, no instructions, just assumptions you know what is going on.

Next hurtle is secure digital code they want installed.  It is a series of characters, letters and numbers printed out in a jumble.  They are at different angles, some filled in, etc. as a test to make sure you can read them.  After about seven times, I figured out I was using the wrong password and none of the security letters would work as the password was wrong.  Again they did not bother to explain that all had to be just what they wanted, when they wanted them and of course how they wanted them and you had to figure that out by osmosis.

Finally, got all of that straight and then I get a message, that I have tried too many times and was locked out.  No solution provided regarding the lockout.  Is the lockout good for a hour, day, week or month?  Obviously that is just too much work for Microsoft,

This is a product of people that write the code to operate our computers.  Yet, they live in a never never land of idiocy.  Thanks Microsoft. 

Well, I guess I do not need to get into X Box and Microsoft loses a shot at getting a few dollars for an App.  If they are going to be that dumb shit about things, they deserve to not get any sales.  Probably never heard of the old adage "that the customer is always right."

Gold Finches Again . . .

I gotta go feed the Finches again.  The little Gold Finches have already gone through about 8 pounds of Niger Seed (aka Thistle Seed).  As I look out the front window the wind is out of the North with gusts and it moves the bag back and forth but that does not deter the Finches.  The hang on the bag and pull seeds through the loose mesh as if they were hanging on a thistle plant in a field and feeding on the thistle flower.  The are very adept at hanging on.  The wind is not challenge.

As usual some of the seed spills on the ground but those that are not able to muscle their way on to the feeders get that seed.  They are always in a flock, so there are usually a bunch of them feeding at the same time.  They are very competitive around the feeders for a space to eat.

The other feeder is metal mesh tube about three and half inches in diameter and about 10 inches long.  I have counted up to seven Finches on that feeder at one time.  It is, however, not as will liked as the cloth bag feeder.  While it holds considerable more seed and because of its relative size is more stable in the wind still does not make it the selected feeder. 

When I service the feeders, the bag is literally empty while the metal feeder is down about a 1/3.  Perhaps because there is a lot more seed in the metal feeder, they maybe consuming it at the same rate.  But from a novice point of view, does not seem to be the case.

Either way, I am into a second bag of seed.  It is 10 pounds in size.  I have already been through some of last years seed and five pound bag of seed.  I am estimating they have eaten about 8 pounds of seed already this year.  I think it is because they learned about my source of food from last year and are simply returning to the spot where they know they can eat a lot. 

They provide an interesting out look on nature.  As they molt in the spring they grow more and more golden in color.  When they are near total Gold in color they migrate off to somewhere else.  I am sure it is further North into the Great Plains perhaps all the way to Canada.  Though I have seen them in Tucson, AZ feeding on a giant bag in front of bird food dealers location.  And that was pretty late in the season, so some of them have to be locals and do not migrate.

Bird experts say they are around us all year long but I only see them early in the year.  Starting mid January and running to early summer, then they quit feeding on the feeders.  I am guessing that they have other sources of food that are much easier to get at than the feeders and that is why we do not see them through the summer and fall to winter.

Interesting is that other birds see them feeding and come in see what is going on.  Most common is the Cardinal.  But they have not mastered the skill of hanging on the bags or feeders.  So they stay a while and then fly off.  Chickadees do the same.  Mocking birds do not, they come by but it is there local turf and they eat bugs.  I have not seen any Blue birds around the feeders yet they are all over the back yard, they are bug eaters too but will eat seeds off the ground.  Blue Jays also do not come, they seem to be only attracted only by peanuts.

So right now it is the time of Gold Finches.  House Finches are here all year but they do not feed of the bags either.  And we have a couple Wrens, look like Cactus Wrens to me.  Long beaks and love to build nests that they do not use.

Spring certainly seems to be here early this year.  Peach trees are blooming early.  Blue birds are already nesting in their boxes in the back yard.