Up In The Air So High

A number of the sixth grade students who did not get to go to camp for one reason or another got to go on a hike to, and up, Cowles Mountain.  Another adult was needed because of a cancellation, so I was asked.  I agreed, eventually, to go.  I had my hat and walking stick, but only regular sneaker with think ankle socks.  Plus, no UV50 shirt!  Instead I wore my olde purple bicycling jacket.

Here's a view at the top, a bit blurry for some reason.

A half-meg of Lake Murray goodness here.

Some of the teachers who led the adventure.

It was pretty warm on the way down and back to school.  One student got over heated and had to be driven back to school.  He recovered just fine, I hear.  The students got to have pizza for lunch when they got back.  I only got one piece, myself.

Some of the students had never been on a hike like that, so it was an especially good experience.  A few of them were testing the limits of their physical strength, too, let me tell you! 

One more day before vacation!

Several Days Of Stuff

This one is from the 19th, I think.  A cache I was looking for but didn't find.  I checked nearly EVERYWHERE, even up inside this metal box.  I'm sure glad I didn't stick my fingers up there! Selfie mode on the phone camera for the win!

One of the inspectors at work said the guys did a great job, except for one thing.  The transformer pad was two feet short.

Spray paint markings on ground, I'm guessing, showing where the extension will go.

I KNEW there was a rose bush in the back yard, but I didn't notice it had a bud, then all of a sudden a GIANT flower!  Wow!

So excited I took three pics!

Which side is its good side?

A picture of the front-yard poppies in daylight was requested, here are TWO!

A closer view.

Geocaching down towards Chula Vista Sunday, I spotted a baby rat.

Today I was looking for a geocache, I just couldn't spot it ANYWHERE, I was SO frustrated I could cry!!

OK, OK, I'll go away now.  Thanks for reading!

Is It Friday Yet?

This morning, upon arising, I contemplated the TP roll and wondered if someone is playing tricks on me or, more likely, am I just losing it, placing the roll backwards like that.

If you don't know, I think the law allowing motorcycles to split lanes is almost the stupidest driving law, at least that I can think.  It is now just an excuse for rude rides to get  in front of everyone else.  In the ten years I rode I do not recall ever splitting lanes with another car, nor ever seeing anyone else do it.  This mornings rant is brought on by that fellow up there, who swerved through slowing traffic to get to the front, or middle, actually, of the lines/lanes.  Between him and that TP roll, I'm in a mood!

You WILL see this rant again!

I left work early, right after second lunch, to get my brown-crown installed at the dentist.

I thought they wuz gonna REPLACE the pole, not put another one next to it!

I took this picture through the side window after leaving the dentist and heading to Kearny Mesa for a doctor appointment.  I did some geocaching while I was there, before the appointment, and found six or seven caches, I forget.  At the appointment the doctor said I seemed ok, but he will want another CT-Scan in July, probably.  Next week I get to visit the other oncologist.  What fun!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

GSAK is a utility program to help manage geocaching data.  It is very powerful.  I only use a tiny bit of what it can do.  Much time and effort is spent on the GSAK FB page explaining how to do stuff.  And that is where I ran across this graphic.

I guess that is all I have today.  Thanks for reading!

WAIT!!!  PAINT CHIPS!!! I forgot about the PAINT CHIPS!  IN MY OATMEAL!!!  I cooked my oatmeal in the office microwave, as usual, then went back to the library to eat it.  There was white flat stuff in it.  Looked like paint chips.  Mrs. P. said it was just oatmeal box  flakes.  I ate some oatmeal. There were more flakes.  I threw out the oatmeal, then went to the office to check out the microwave.  The inside roof of the microwave  was peeling its paint off, and the chips were falling in our food!  Yikes! 

Now, THAT is all for today!

If It's Tuesay, This Must Be Garbage Day!

I noticed yesterday that our manzanita bush at work is gone.  Someone said it died so the landscapers  removed it

Now

Then

This picture is from 2014, wasn't in the folder, why did I not upload it back then?

Well, so much for that bit of coolness.

I solved a major (for me!) puzzle cache at work today.  I've been staring at it for several years and was just about to email a "HELP!" to the cache owners when I noticed something and had an idea, and THAT eventually, a couple of hours later, led to something that worked, and a couple of hours later I had the coordinates in hand.  Found it after work, too!

Which ALMOST makes up for a Did Not Find before work that should have been easy, but all I got was ants. Said ants got a trip to work, too!

I now have a key to the renovated restroom nearer to The Library In Exile!  So I don't have to walk clear across the campus!

Two views of dinner last night:

I think I like this picture more better.

After many years of wondering I finally found out the name of that painting/print that hung over the fireplace at Christine's house on The New Adventures Of Old Christine!  It's Atlas, by David Palmer! He sure has some nifty stuff!


I solved a puzzle geocache at work today and after work I drove over to the Mt. Helix area to find it.  I REALLY should have established EXACTLY where I was going first.

My log:

I solved the puzzle at work today, then headed out towards, but not to, the GZ. Got REALLY stuck in construction traffic, blocking an intersection at one point after an unfortunate driving decision. After wandering around (not all that wander are lost? I was!) I finally stopped at a park'n'ride and figured out I was about two, maybe three miles from the GZ. So, after getting stuck in going-home traffic, I finally was on my way and got there with no more problems. Except the two guys parked at the nearest decent parking to the GZ. They looked like they were gonna leave, so I made lap around (Is that a private road??) and they had left. Parked and made the find, which would have been an anti-climax except the sun-weakened plastic container disintegrated in my manly hands. Oh crud! Well, at first I was gonna tape it back together and let the CO know, but then I thought, "Hey, I'll just substitute it with one of my patented SLPBs!! In fact, the remains of the broken container (and it's slightly moldy log) fit just inside the SLPB. I just made a hole in the top for the hanger and put it back exactly where it had been, or pretty darn close to it. Thanks for the cache!

And here is the top of the old cache.

Let us see, both doctors changed their appointments for slightly different days, I got a the dentist to put in that crown now that they have a particular shade of brown later this week.  L. got a jury duty notice that I sent back explaining how that wasn't going to work out for her.  I put out the garbage and recycling cans for tomorrow, but the greens can is too heavy, the gardeners that fill it up will have to do that themselves.

Did I mention I'm reading Thunderstruck, by  Erik Larson?  I'm enjoying it very much, and it is NOWHERE as grisly as his The Devil In The White City.  Both are non-fiction.

I found out today, having not noticed it in an email last week, that one of the library classroom's will be the Teachers' (and I assume staff) Break Room & Quiet Place.  With a  microwave!  That will be sweet, as I can  microwave my oatmeal for lunch and NEVER leave the library!  Oh, this will be AFTER break, I'm still in the bungalow, where it is VERY warm!

Gotta get the oil changed in the vehicle, that is my goal for the next two weeks.  And not forget any appointments!



sfdsf

Sunday South Bay

It promised to be another warm one, but low 90s don't seem quite as bad as I imagined.  But then I'm not out in the sun any more today!

I went down to Chula Vista, National City, and even smidgen of San Diego for to get some geocaches this morning.  I started out before dawn, gassing up the vehicle and heading south on the 125 (then 54).

I wanted to get some caches from a series I had almost completed.  I found five, including one I  Did Not Find (DNF) previously, and another DNF that still REMAINS a DNF, even after FOUR visits.  And it is the last of the series I need to find.  Another time, sez I.

Heading north again I knocked off a few more of another series, one that has a Ride The Trolley theme.   Managed to located all of those I looked for, but there are MANY more to be found!

I did a little side trip over to West Frontage Road (not far from the salt works), which may or may not be in Chula Vista.  Didn't find the cache, but found these bicycles.

Continuing north I found some more of the "trolley" caches, plus some others along the way.  While walking a Big Circle from 32nd & Boston Ave. to NASSCO and back, I noticed this sidewalk cement stamping on Boston Avenue.  Cannot find anything about it in the historical records I looked at.  It's Boston Avenue in a San Diego City Enumeration District Map 1910-1920.

Saw this old, I mean vintage, Honda cafe racer.  Needs a bit of work, but could be a cutie.  I especially like the zombie hunting permit on the shock fluid container.

The last cache I looked for was in downtown San Diego.  I looked around a bit while waiting for a call from my friend.  Of course I missed his return call while I was out of the vehicle without the phone, thinking I KNEW where that cache was.  Turned out I was wrong.

I DID get to watch the homeless guys playing around with the new public toilets, though.

I met up with my friend and hung out for a while until his meds kicked in and he was feeling sleepy, then I went home.  He had been watching one of the Predator movies, which I've not seen, so now I shan't know how it ends.

And now for something completely different...

A mysterious slight whistling started when I had the air conditioner/heater on in the vehicle.  It was driving me crazy.  I could NOT figure out what could have caused.  I was almost ready to dismantle the dash when I accidentally touched the window handle (Yes, manual windows! None of that getting trapped in a vehicle when the electric windows short out for ME!) and realized the passenger window was just a tiny teensy bit open.  Hence the whistle when the blower was on...

I ran across the phrase "That's what I said bunny bread" on a geocaching-related forum today, never heard that one before.  I'd like to use it in a sentence, but I can't then of one.  Feel free!

Did I mention it got up to 90 today?

I must be running out of stuff to say, I'll go away now.  Thanks for reading!

It Is Pi Day!

Yes, once again it is Pi Day.  I woke up at three this morning and checked the phone, there was a new cache published, a Pi cache!  But it had been found yesterday!  I guess it came out last night.  When I eventually left the house (at six or so) I went there first, and I was second to find it.  In the dark.  A little scary!

Next I drove up to Tierrasanta and found the Pi puzzle cache I've been saving for today.  It was easy to spot, but it had a LOT of spider webs on it! And the sun wasn't quite up yet.

I headed over to a cache about a mile away.  I had met the cache owners quite some time ago at an event in Mission Bay, in August 2013 to be precise, where they told me about the cache and invited me to find it.  And I finally did!

After that I went over to that other puzzle, the one I've looked and looked for, and yet again I can't spot it.  But I did see some eggs in the hummingbird nest!

After giving up I drove over to El Cajon Blvd. to reconnoiter the area of the Pi Day event, which was to be held at the Chicken Pie Shop.   I had over an hour to go, so I parked down the street near some caches I hadn't found it.  A short way from where I parked I saw this di·lap·i·dat·ed bicycle in front of a bar.  Needs some tires!

Continueing up the Blvd. I came across the Lafayette hotel.  It looks pretty good, they have obviously spent some money fixing it up.  My dad had an office there many many years ago.

I found the two caches, and they were almost the last caches I need to finish off El Cajon Blvd.  There might be one in El Cajon, I dinna canna remember.

I still had some time so I drove over Balboa Park after almost hitting some idiot while I was backing out, said idiot apparently thinks people can see through giant trucks so he speeds right along.  The fellow patiently waiting for my spot gave me a comisterating look.

I haven't found that rotten (joke!!  I keed, I keed!) Balboa Park cache before, and I didn't find it again.  Oh well!

It was finally time for the event so I headed on in.  There were about fifty or sixty people there for the event.  At the appropriate time (3/14/15 9:26:53) we did a countdown and let out a cheer.  The other customers were not amused, and we were asked to quiet down. 

Others have posted pictures on the cache page.

 I met a nice lady visiting for Sweden who told me about the new puzzle cache she had just placed in OB.  An EASY puzzle, she said.  Well, I looked at it and I have abosolutely NO idea. 

And what do I get for all this work?  A couple of badges on my souvenir page.

I just noticed the weather is 93 here, which I verified on my home thermometer which says 88.
The humidity is very low, 16 percent.  Which may be why I didn't notice the warmth.  So much for winter!

I can't think of anything else to stick in here, so I will sign off for now!

First Poppies!

My first poppies of the new year.

Choose your favorite pic.

I replanted the cuttings I was starting into perlite mixed with potting soil, in stead of just perlite.
I also dipped them in the root stuff again.  The ice plant looks like it is growing, some of the rosemarys look like they are doing something, but the ferny-thing just plain died.  I added more rosemary cuttings.

That is all for today, except remember Pi Day is coming on Saturday1

Sunday In The Canyon

I don't know if posted this picture before, but... one should maybe take off the phone protector once in a while and clean the poor thing, eh?

I found eight geocaches to-day in a canyon of Tierrasanta, most of them were pretty unique in one way or another.

This one had been "muggled".  I thought at first it was by animals, but there were some rude things written on the log sheet. 

A stirring view of the Kearney Mesa area in the distance.

I walked 4.3 miles and found 8 geocaches today.  I didn't find one because of too much poison ivy (although I could SEE it, so shiny in the morning (late) sun, and I didn't find one I wasn't clever enough to solve the puzzle.

Saturday Redirect

I actually rode the bike a bit today, so all of today's content is there, such as there is, on my bicycle blog.  So go read it!

And don't forget to set your clocks ahead, or behind, or whatever should be, tonight or tomorrow.

Friday Morning

Solved a puzzle yesterevening, so went geocaching before work.

No, it's not right there, you goose!

Found it

The morning turned VERY chilly and windy right after I made the find, and I had to put on the Turtle Fur hat and the Charity Gloves. It's always darkest before the dawn?  Well, it was certainly COLDEST just before dawn!

Moving Day

Again, we are not moving, the construction guys are moving something.  I thought it was transformers they brought in that other time.  No, THESE are transformers, two of them.

This time they did not tell us to leave the building.  I guess they didn't lift the transformers over our heads/room like the last time.

  At there it goes!

And now, on the other side of the building, it's coming down, being guided into place.

That was all the excitement there was at work.

At home, another day of the power pole not being replaced.  I'm getting tired of unplugging nearly everything before I leave each morning.

I was all enthused about entering my radio log book into a spreadsheet, until I started to do it.  Too much work!

I went out to the garage to get that log book, found that mice had been in the drawer with all my folders of papers and stuff.  I don't think anything super important was lost.  The log book was not in there, anyway, and the QSL cards are in a metal box.  The drawer of un-built model kits looks unmolested, too.

Well, yet another year has passed, it's been two years now.  I'm still breathing, so I guess I CAN feed myself, more or less.  The basics are getting done around here (again, more or less), but not a whole lot of ADVANCING is going on.  And it's very quiet.

That's all for now!

Monday

On the way to work I saw this majestic antenna.

It looks like a Mr. Coily Punisher.  It's a CB antenna... Apparently rated for 25 THOUSAND watts.  Goodness!  And here I've worked the Soviet Union on a Viking Ranger II running 75 watts (more or less) on CW.  And Japan with 25 watts on SSB.  With an indoor dipole.  Made with zip cord. Ha ha, I just messing with yah, good buddy!


At work it was announced by my one and only patron that there was a rainbow, so we (the two of us) trooped outside to see it, and me to take a picture of it.  Both ends.  Ain't that nice?

I came home to find the same old telephone pole in the front yard.  Maybe they DID mean March 3rd?

Later!

A Damp Day

I felt somewhat better today, as opposed to yesterday, so I went geocaching.  I headed off¹ to give that one by the laundry a shot.  Down there by Park and El Cajon.  It being rainy, there were very few people there, and I was able to make the find.  Finally!

Then I drove down Florida to Balboa Park to utilize the new intelligence I had acquired about a Puzzle Cache there.  I guess I still did not have enough intelligence, I didn't find it.

I had solved several puzzle caches I wanted to go find.  I found that I had left the printouts at home.  Not good.  Fortunately I had saved the coordinates in a personal note on each page.  Unfortunately I couldn't remember what/where/which all the caches were.  I was able to figure out two, and I went for them.

But first,  I stopped by Birdland to find a cache that had been repaired, and found that it had, so that was very nice.  A clever hide, right in the open, but who would ever look there?

One cache was located in a spot that was VERY difficult to get to. Legally.  I had to skirt the pedestrian law and sneak to it.  On the way back I was startled by this woman pushing her stuff in a pram right up the street, while I was trying to stay OFF the street.  So, I followed her lead, which allowed my clothes to dry off.  It was raining, them bushes are WET!

Over in Tierrasanta I am stalking the wily geocache...shhhh, it's very near!

So much for crossing the stream, the "bridge" is under water, it's cold, and I didn't bring my water socks.  Another day.  Summer, maybe?

I didn't walk more than a mile today, but I found around fourteen caches, didn't find two, and three of the finds were of caches I had looked for several times, one of which I first didn't find way back in 2011.  So that was GREAT!

Have a good week!

 ¹ Down the 8 freeway, can you believe? Smooth sailing in the rain, except for that one guy stopped in the number three lane with his blinkrs on just after the Waring Road interchange.  What fun!