Altitudinous

A few weekends ago some friends invited me back to a cabin in the mountains. I'm not sure why I was invited back. Maybe they just haven't grown tired of me yet. Anyway it was a great time.

This is one of the sights I was greeted with in the morning. It was quite cool for the time of yea when compared to where I live. Ah altitude. We cooked some, drank some, went skeet shooting, and I made some decent peach ice cream for the first time.


Saturday and Sunday we went down to the river so some of us could fish, walk around, read, sit end enjoy the day, etc. I trudged out to the middle of the river to perch upon a rock and read and take some pictures. These are up and down river shots.


Then alas I had to come home.

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Home Safe Home?

So out on the loading dock at work we have a concrete slab with a concrete ceiling with hooded fluorescent tube lighting fixtures. Several weeks ago a bird took it upon itself to build a nest on the hood. I don't know how it made this decision, but here is the aftermath.

You can't tell from the picture, but the hood isn't that wide and it fairly steeply curved. I was amazed it got the nest to stick. I was also amazed the babies didn't fall out. Then I realized if these two things could be overcome Then there was no way a cat, snake, or other animal could get to the nest. It's probably the most secure location a nest could be built, from an intruder standpoint.

Oh and that bird's head is like right against the concrete roof.

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And the First Shall Be Last

I finished reading First Born by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter months ago, but I’m just now getting to the review. It’s the third in the “A Time Odyssey” series. The reviews of the first and second books are available. I’ll ramble on about the third one below.

First Born starts decades after the end of Sunstorm. Humanity is reaching out to the planets and stars at a furious pace. The sunstorm demonstrated how fragile and easily extinguished we are when we exist on only one sphere around one star. Also the threat of an outside force bent on our termination, the Firstborn, drives cooperation among the tribes of man as never before seen.

Our colonizers on Mars have found something under the polar ice cap and detection nets places around the solar system have found another incoming object unlike anything they have ever seen. The incoming “bomb” from space reveals that humans weren’t the first to draw the attention of the Firstborn, and under Mars’ pole is the key to our survival. Heroes and heroines from the last books, joined by new names, must race to Mars, to Mir, and who knows where else, in order to save humanity. This book reaches across time, space, and universes to expand the understanding of the Firstborn.

This one is a worthy successor to the first two books. It expands the universe and provides much more explanation, though Baxter does leave the door standing wide open for another book. It does provide a good basic understanding of that the Firstborn are trying to do and what they have done in order to achieve it. I liked it.

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It’s been a while.

I have been admonished for not keeping up my blog. I really just didn’t feel motivated. I’d say I had something else I was more interested in doing, but that’s not really that true. Anyway, what’s happened recently?

Lots of stuff at work has been delayed until probably 2 weeks before classes start. Yay. Looks like behind busting time is about to start. I did do an auditorium installation. It’s probably the showpiece we have now. I’ll have to post pictures.

I’ve gone on a few trips and hung out with friends some. Just got back from a trip to the mountains the other weekend. Went skeet shooting and down to the river. Rather cold water that. Had a great time. And I managed to make some peach ice cream that wasn’t awful.

I’ve read a few books, but not many. I finally finished John Adams. I’ll try to post a review soon. Saw several movies too. I should review those as well.

And this past weekend I had to replace the faucet in my kitchen sink. I had replaced the ceramic hot water valve twice and it broke again. So I yanked it and put in something I like more. It also allowed me to move the sprayer to a location that is far more functional.

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