The "G" "Spot"

I apologize for the scurrilous nature of the post title.

Many people know about the "S" that used to be on the side Cowles Mountain, but how many of those many know about the "G"?  On the approximately east side of the mountain students from Grossmont High School would trek up and paint the "G" with white wash.  This extremely rare screenshot from a film-transfer video of the construction of Pershing Jr. High School in the early 1960s shows the remarkable letter quite clearly.

Bibliography

Grossmont High History

San Diego State Aztecs--Aztec Sports and Conference Discussions--S mountain tradition

Peregrine fille and Thick Cartography--Compound miscommunication

Another Week Nearly Past

I feel a bit fragmented, bear with me.

At the post office yesterday I saw this conduit.  Needs fixin'.




I see there are three wires. The red and the black are for a "switch leg" to a photocell, I'm thinking. The green is ground, but I thought one used the conduit as ground.  Must be new rule. I hope!  And in this case, it is certainly justified!!

It was brought to my attention that this eagle was placed here several weeks ago.  Didn't even notice it!



I have been trying various techniques over the years to erase edge writing.  Correction fluid, sanding blocks, an electric eraser, and Sharpies have all been tried.  Today I brought in my motor tool with a little sanding drum bit.  Works pretty perfect!




Just finished reading When Bad Things Happen To Good People and Twice Upon A Marigold.  One book explains that God does not micromanage, the other is about an evil queen who regains her memory after getting washed away down a river in the first book (of the series, not Why Bad Things!), this being the sequel, and heads back to her old kingdom to torment everyone.  It's "part comedy, part tragedy, part two".

Lewd Acts

Spent most of the day dithering about, then I washed the clothes.  But first I finished a book, The Water Wars, by Cameron Stracher.  After the clothes were in the dryer I went geocaching in  Santee. And after that I went to the grocery store.

Here is the back of one of the Santee Drive-In Theatre (Their spelling--well, la-di-da!) screens, if you are interested.  From the north side of the mighty San Diego River.

                                                                                                                                                               

Yesterday we went to a geocache on Harbor Island, but I forgot to bring the, or rather, I printed the wrong, coordinates.  So we went to In-N-Out and then to Inspiration Point at Presidio Park.

When you see a sign like the one at the bottom, you just gotta wonder. Although we wonder at the reason for the top sign, too.



While we were eating a tragedy some proportions occurred.  I hope the local fauna enjoys the Animal-Style Fries!.


 
After that we went to Petco (The store, not the ballpark) and we each bought some bird seed.

Oh, then, the fumiest thing!  I was sitting at the computer with the front door open.   I heard some woman's yelling about some something.  I do not respond to people yelling in the street, so I payed no attention. But, I finally turned and looked out the door.  There was a car stopped in the street and the driver was yelling to me, "Is this your dog out here?"  I went out to see what the heck she was talking about.  There was a chihuahua out there, a tiny little thing IN A BALLET SUIT!  Yes, I said ballet suit.  I had forgotten the word tutu.  The dog was headed south.  I headed south and yelled out to the neighbors, "You missing a dog?"  "What's it look like?" sez them.  I reply, "IT'S WEARING A BALLET SUIT!!!"  So they come running out to get their little doggy that had somehow escaped from the house.

And of course I didn't get a picture of the doggy in the tutu.

radio radio

Yesterday evening I researched how to take out the radio.  I watched two videos related to the procedure.  No. 1 said to stick a tool(s) in the release holes on the side of the radio.  No. 2 said to remove two screws on the bezel under the radio, then remove the bezel.

I got me some hex wrenches to stick in No. 1's holes.  Nothing budged.  I fetched a selection of sockets (1/4" drive)  and a rachet (1/2" drive), and two adapters so I could go for No.2.  Where is my 3/8" ratchet?  Unscrewed the screws, GENTLY pulled the bezel loos and forward.  Lots of wires holding it, but I reached around behind the radio, felt for the big orange (coaxial) wire, and plugged it in.  Because, you know, IT WASN"T PLUGGED IN!!! 

Replace the bezel and screws.  Amazingly, nothing went wrong!

Tested the radio.  NOW it works properly.

Friday Recap

I biked to F.H. and picked up the truck.  The air conditioning now works.  The radio, uh, is kinda iffy in picking up stations.  Like the antenna isn't plugged in. Alas, he wept.

Since I had the bike I drove out to Lakeside and went geocaching in a big loop, passing through the Lakeside River Park and back along Riverside Drive, Lakeside Avenue, and Channel Road. All three of which are, oddly enough, the same road to the ignorant visitor.

Going down the park path I had to negotiate joggers, dog walkers, studious student bird watchers, and a very friendly lady on a golf cart.  I noticed a pile of dog poop with an umbrella stuck in it, the kind of umbrella one might find in ones' Mai Tai, if one had ever had the pleasure.  I pointed out said umbrella to a passing dog walker.  "Dogs" walker might be more apt, since she had two, both of which I had petted on her journey eastward. Now on the return trip, to my comment she said, "That is what they do here."

Sadly, I once again forgot to put the memory card in the camera to record this and other poignant moments.

Later, over on Riverside/Lakeside//Channel Drive/Avenue/Road I was parking the bike in preparation for a stealthy search for a cache when a man (We geocachers call them 'muggles'.) approached yelling something about "Look out for the goatheads!!"   Took me a sec to figure out what he was so excited about. 

After the last cache I rode back to the truck, and loaded the bike in.  My goathead friend caught up with me there and we had an interesting discussion on the distribution of goathead thorns in Lakeside and the resulting bicycle flat tires therein.

Got home, opened a can of fruit cocktail. You know those "Best by" dates on the cans? Two years past is WAY past best.  Into the trash with THAT!  And now a goodly number of the canned goods in the cupboard are sporting are large date, courtesy of my Sharpie Industrial Permanent Ink pen.

Thursday

Walked to the tax preparer, but got there an hour early so walked on to find a puzzle geocache I had solved early in the day.  Saw this car parked in the dealership's lot:



From the rear.  Oh, and it had a California plate.  Oh, and California is one of them states that requires a front license plate. Hope that works out for you, pal.



I guess he's just a rebel.  And he'll never be any good.

Found out that I misinterpreted the IRS rules and have to file an amended tax return for a couple years ago. I am so happy.

Cleaned out the bathroom cabinet.



Compare with:



Made a moue face.



Here is the Last Applesauce.  Those in the know will know what I'm talking about.



Fell asleep during Archer last night, and so slept on the couch.  It's now tomorrow morning, I gotta go get the truck.

Walkabout

Drove the truck back to the repair shop.  Explained it in detail, this time, with hands-on demonstration. The man said, "This is weird. I have the same air conditioner in my truck, I've never seen this before."

Walked back home again, seeing many interesting sights (which I neglected to take pictures of), and this shiny electrical stuff:

A -- Tie wraps?  Really? Is that to Code??
B -- Is that even a tie wraps?  Looks like a bread bag twist tie. Or a wad of gum!
C -- A one-inch piece of conduit? How about a nipple?
D -- Why did you leave the lock rings on both of the connectors on the LR?
E -- That's gotta be com flex, I'm sure it's not to Code for electrical outside work.

Stopped by a tax service and made an appointment, some will be glad to hear.

I was asked, twice, I think, why did I walk from Fletcher Hills? 

Why, indeed...

Walking is much less irking than biking, or even driving.  Only three people P.O.ed me today (so far). One guy on a bicycle, and two pedestrians (one a runner).  And I must say, quite a number drivers of cars were exceedingly considerate to me.  I give them a tip of the Tilley!

Stopped by the grocery and carried a couple of bags of supplies home. We have chips!

Yet Another Day

I spent the whole day waiting for the truck to get fixed, they charged me two hundred bucks, told me it wasn't what I thought it was.  Turns out, I discover as I'm driving home, it's also not fixed, and doing EXACTLY what it was doing before. Great!

I biked up there to pick it up, my right knee start hurting about half-way there, like it was being stabbed a little.  Fabulous!

I've seen all the episodes of Archer and The Americans that are available on Freezone. Outstanding!
Better check Hulu...one episode of The Americans I haven't see, better watch THAT! Things might be looking up.

Walked back from Fletcher Hills this morning.  Took two hours.  Found one elusive geocache along the way, so that good.

Also cried a little while walking, so that was sad.

Just Out

Went geocaching this noon and after, out to Santee/Lakeside. To escape the blues, don't yah know.

Found seven of eight caches.  A bit of walking took me over the San Diego River, and back again, then up a nameless hill, three times, but only part way each time.

Crossing the mighty San Diego River! A crossing made tricky by bifocals and slippery rocks!


EDIT:  After publishing I realized there was some objectionable I-won't-dignify-it-with-the-word-graffiti markings on a couple of the rocks, which I have edited out.


The cache in the rocks. A very nicely done hide!



A view of the nameless hill from the wrong side of the river. Gotta cross back over!



This one, up on the hill side, was missing its lid, so I brought a cammoed container, put the cache stuff in it, and inverted the old topless container on, uh, top.



View of the ball fields from on high.  I saw on a topo map that this used to be a sewage disposal plant.



Had to go DOWN then back UP to get to this one, which was completely covered by large green plants and VERY hard to find.  Can YOU see it?



This one was not hard to spot, once I got TO the spot.  I forgot to enter the coordinates into the GPSr, or even to print them out, but I managed to figure it out from the aerial view map.  I rock!




Going back UP that darn nameless hill again, I spy a bunny.



This cache had three layers of camo.  Its container color, the dead grass over it...



...and a rock!  A bit tricky to recognize, but there really wasn't any place else near!



That was about it for Today's Adventures In Geocaching!

Out AND About Today

Went geocaching this morning, over in the Eastlake area on Olympic Parkway.  Found twenty four caches, didn't find three. Walked 7.2 miles in around nearly seven hours.  Boy, are my feet sore!

Here are some pictures:

I identify this butterfly as an Lorquin Admiral (Limenitis lorquini)



I thought "X" marked the spot only in pirate tales!  Actually, it's a couple feet away in the bush.



Didn't find the cache, but I DID find a fake plastic leaf...



Crossing the Rubicon?



Seems to be a classic pose of a Red Winged Blackbird. I saw maybe five in a row, calling to each other.



This cyclist cares not that we taxpayers have spent a fortune building bike lanes for the likes of him.  Also, is not familiar with the concept of letting pedestrians know he is passing before he zooms by. What if I had flung out my arms in an act of irrational exuberance, kabonging him with my mighty walking stick? What then, eh?



That is about it for today!

Up & Down & Out & About

Seven more geocache finds in the Sweetwater County Park area have put me at 1,702 finds.Only 298 till my next goal is met!

Took a laundry basket full with three drawers worth of clothes to the thrift store this afternoon.  It's a sad thing, but maybe someone can use them.  I got an absolutely charming hand-made card from the orchestra kids thanking me for the donation of C.'s violin.  I know she would be happy to know some student is able to use it!

A lot of the poppies are blooming, I'm sorry C. didn't get to see them


On another note, is it bad that I Google my relatives' names to see what they have been up too?  Isn't it great how the internet makes available the local police blotter?  I'm just glad my own transgression didn't make the 'net, although I WOULD like to see my booking photo!

Out And About

I slept on the couch Saturday night after watching several episode of Fawlty Towers.  Woke up at 4:40 AM, decided to drive over to UCSD for to check out a special "night" geocache.  The idea is you use a flashlight to follow little TINY reflectors in the trees along the the trail.  There are WAY to few reflectors, IMHO.  After a 1/4 mile or so I ran out of reflectors, and ran out of dark, as the sun was rising.  Another time.  Snagged my back-up caches, though.

On the way home I decided to try for a newly published cache on Kwaay Paay trail.  A leisurely stroll put me on the spot.  First To Find! As I was tucking the logbook back into its plastic bag I heard a voice. "Oh, darn!"  He missed it by a minute!

Afternoon Matt and I decided to head out to Borrego Springs to check out the serpent.  Also, geocaches.

The sloth.  Or rather, sloths!



A mess of tortoises.



My personal favorite.



How disrespectful am I?



And there are many more.  We found four of the five caches we looked for.  I fell asleep twice on the trip, coming and going.

The End

The Rising Gorge

Went out for a geocache this morning, took some photos for a panorama, which I created on the accursed Photosynth. Accursed because of all the login/password/special downloads hassle.  Hope it works for you!

Link to panorama.

You may have to download and install a program to access the panorama on Photosynth.  If you prefer not to, and I don't blame you, I made another panorama as a jpeg image.  It is around 1.2 megs in size.  Click here!  Opens in a new window!

Gone Gone Gone

Picked up a box with one new copy of Cinder and two copies of Scarlet, took 'em back to the library, barcoded 'em, they are GONE in five minutes.

Going out to Singing Hills this afternoon.

I could totally do this!!

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Thursday PM

I discover we are a three music stand kind of family.  Who knew?

Made a trip to the waste disposal place today with a truck-load of bags, mattresses, and a defunct screen door.  Some tears shed deciding what to put the truck.

It's an hour short of a week since she passed away, and here I am fooling around on the computer, just like then.  Totally unreal.

Made a replacement cache for SLPB #3.  Maybe this one will last longer!

Tuesday

I was thinking yesterday...boy, it sure is quiet around here.

Dinner Tonight!

Here is what we had for dinner tonight.  Oh noes!  It's gone!


Click the image to see what it looked like before I got to it.

Yes, I know it's a different plate.  Grant me some artistic license.  I already ATE it!  The "before" is the cook's, who just got to sit down!

• Home-made tortillas
• Queso fresco
• Sauce made with tomato paste
• A hint of chopped onion.

Not UPS...

Behold the power of Senna!

Not A Shooting Star

We went out last night to the store, but before we got into the car we stood around awaitin' for the International Space Station to pass over, which it did, right on schedule.  Reminded me of when we used to sit out in the yard waiting for DOVE to pass over.

Mostly What We Had For Dinner Last Night

Well, I finished off the fricassee of peanut. Here goes the last of it!



Last night we had home-made tortillas made into enchiladas.






We got a tortilla press at Pancho Villa's Farmers Market, if you can believe it.



And so we have the press in action in these two photos!



And the results of her labors!  (I washed the dishes)

What I Had To Eat Tonight

I thought all my food posts would go into Burnt Pizza, but apparently they are not.

TONIGHT'S MENU

• Homemade tortillas
• Black beans (cooked in crockpot all night)
• Queso Fresco
• Avocados sliced
• Tomatoes sliced 

Looks somewhat odd in the photo (the flash?), tastes of heaven!

My daughter brought me this from her "vacation" in TJ!



"Fricassee", I find, has been described as "halfway between a saute and a stew"(Mastering The Art Of French Cooking Wikipedia article.), so this is a sort of peanut stew?  Or maybe peanut brittle! With more peanuts, less brittle?  Eleven grams of saturated fat, twenty five grams of carbohydrates.  Yum, I'm sure!

Words

I was looking at the Building The Funicular page on the Cliffhanger (model railroad) website and ran across the this phrase (italics mine) "The next step was to convert the track to baulkway which is typical of funiculars."  What the heck is a baulkway?  

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says a balk (baulk being a British variant of balk) is "a ridge of land left unplowed as a dividing line or through carelessness."  The Wikepedia article Red Moss, Greater Manchester, says "Baulkways, strips of higher land..."  So it might seem that baulkway is another, possibly British, word for roadbed.  Although there were only sixty-seven hits on Google!

Geocaching Terms

POR may stand for Pretty Obvious Rock.

Sunday And Other Days

I took the morning off and went down to the bay to feed the jetty kitties some canned cat food we had left over from when there was a cat here.

And also a little geocaching along the bike path.

But first, I saw a splash in the water. I saw a fin!!  Was it a porpoise, or a shark? Of course, I did not have the camera with me, so I ran (walked quickly) back to the vehicle to get it.  Took this pic, which clearly shows another disturbance in the water where there was a fin a second ago.  I swear!



Here are the kitties eating breakfast.



 That grounding wire ain't gonna work too good.

 

No, I don't know what that picture is, it was just laying there.  There was another one on the pole.

I found four of the five caches I looked for, including three that I had DNFed on previously.  Walked about 3.93 miles, according to Google Map Pedometer.

Over there under that bridge is where my mother dropped me off (on her way to work) so I could hitchhike downtown to the recruiting center to catch a bus to LA for my Army physical.  I THINK it was the physical.  Maybe it was just testing.  Anyway, it was ARMY stuff!



And that winds up Sunday.

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Introducing our new fish, Turko.