Friday, May 28, 2010

761

You may have noticed updates to this blog has been absent for a while.  This blog seems to be hinging at a tipping point.  It could go either way.  Onward or offward.

My morning "walk and gawk" that initiated this blog started to change when I began swimming last December.  I was still getting up at 5:55 AM each morning to walk but to walk to the pool.  Along the way to the pool I discovered my walk coincided with another Fort Bragg morning walker and soon I joining him each morning for his walk up and down Harold Street.  He would then continue home and I would continue to the pool. Mostly walking and talking, not gawking.  (My total walk, 2.6 miles)

After a few months of swimming laps I had increased my swimming to a mile each morning.  Gawking and photographing had pretty much gone by the wayside.  Besides, I had already photographed almost everything, even those hinges!

And besides, I am building a radio controlled sea plane.


And I am going to Seattle for the month of July to help my son paint his RV-7/A home-built airplane.

And the VA wants to fit me with a Loop Monitor to try and figure out the heart "flip flop" I get about every five weeks. "It's not the plumbing, its something in the wiring", they say.

And my wife is still in Seattle taking care of her 94 year old mother.

And I want to go backpacking in the Sierras again in September.

And our model airplane club is hosting an Air Show.

And, and, and.... well, Spring happened, life happened, stuff happened and summer is coming.
My blogging has slipped.
Why title this post 761?
This is my seven hundredth and sixty first post!!
 I'm taking a break.


Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Reflecting on a web.

Questions come to mind.
How did the spider get to the stick in the first place?
How did he/she get the "guy wires" over to an anchor point?
How could it change its routine and make a half web?
 Amazing!

Monday, May 17, 2010

It worked!!

Well, my tummy isn't quite like this yet but the new "Speedo" cut five minutes off my mile!!

I went from 48:34 down to 43:33!

Whoot Whoot!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Grandpa bought a Speedo!!

I don't know if you have noticed but swimming has affected WalkingFortBragg.com!  I'm walking and gawking less and swimming more and more.  There's not much to gawk at with my head in the water but... I'm loving it.

This all started last December when, after a couple of laps, I would go home and have some ibprofen and lay down!  But gradually I increased my laps to ten and then fifteen.  JB, the lifeguard, suggested I stop thrashing and start doing a "glide-rest" between strokes and that made a huge difference.  Swimming became fun.  Soon I was up to twenty and then twenty five laps.
A little over a month ago I finally reached my objective, an objective I didn't really believe possible, one mile.  Thirty-six laps!  Seventy-two lengths!!

It was my brother that really helped solve the mile problem.  I kept losing count of how many laps I had swam.  For my birthday he sent me a SportCount.  A little counter I now wear on my index finger and click with my thumb at the end of each lap!!  Cool!

Of course, the next step was time.  How long was it taking me to swim a mile.  My watch has a stopwatch feature and I discovered it was taking me fifty-five minutes to swim a mile.

  Now, each weekday morning, I swim my mile and each session I have been timing it and working on stroke and efficiency.  My best time, so far, is 48 minutes 42 seconds.  This morning one of swimmers mentioned that the swim trunks I wear cause quite a bit of drag.  Hmmmm.

That was it!  It was time to finally step up!!  Time for function over fashion!  I went to the Surf Shop and bought my first pair of "Speedo's" in twenty-eight years!!  Actually they are not Speedo, they are Lycra
"TYR Performance Racers"!!

Woo Hoo!!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Sewer repair work

There has been a very interesting process going on in our alleys lately.  The Michels Corporation has been refurbishing our sewer lines with out digging them up.

They can inspect, clean, repair, re-line and improve our old sewer lines, many still existing from the days of clay tile!

I was fascinated by the process of inspecting the pipes.  Here one of the operators is watching the monitor as he controls a machine pulling a camera through a section of pipe.

Here is a close up of the monitor showing the camera's view.

This is the camera.  Actually a spare camera.  Once the pipe has been inspected and cleaned a liner is "blown through", inflated and sealed in place with resin.  Then the camera is pulled through to guide a cutting machine that opens the laterals from businesses and residences back into the newly completed pipe.
Very interesting.  Here's their description of the process.
I believe they have finished this phase of sewer rework and have headed back to Salem, Oregon.
Nice folks.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Anybody been noticing the contrails recently?

This morning at 10:00 AM.  Just happened to step out the door and look up.

I don't know if the military is playing games or if the flight path between Seattle and San Francisco has changed.

But recently there have been a lot of contrails along the coast.

Maybe the cool, clear, weather we are having causes contrails to persist longer than usual.

Anyone know?

Friday, May 7, 2010

First Friday

Oops!  There's that guy who marks up the sidewalks for First Friday every month.  Shame!

While I was busy "marking up the sidewalks" I happened to find what I think is another cork tree!  This one is located on the sidewalk between the Chocolate Company and Main Street.  Interesting tree.

Here's a great sign to peruse.  It shows buildings that existed in Fort Bragg back in the "good ol' days", 1991~1992!

And while you check out the old days take a peek at what Marc has going on in the "Company Store".  What a great bike store!!

Town Hall and it's recent paint job.  It looks like we're going to have a great First Friday.  Even the wind has died down!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

What's to do around here?

How about checking out Heritage Days here and here.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is First Friday and I need to paint the pink stripe for the Art Walk, again!

By the way....

 The new restroom facilities at the Bainbridge/Wiggly/Giggly Park are almost complete.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

My other hobby.

I don't think I have mentioned that I am a member of the Fort Bragg Fog Busters Model Aviation Club.  I started flying model airplanes when I was a Junior in High School back in what: 1957?.  We're talking tissue and dope control line 1/2 A Snapper.  Gobs of fun.  Then I was away from the hobby for years and finally reconnected when my kids gave me a RC plane for my retirement gift seven years ago.   I discovered there was a RC club in Fort Bragg and joined in order to have someone help me learn how to fly it.  A lot had changed in forty-six years!!

We usually fly Saturday and Sunday mornings at our flying site out Little Valley Road five miles north of town.  We are making plans to host an Air Show this coming June.  Here is a slideshow I put together of photos taken over the years at our flying site to give you an idea of what we are up to.

The photo is of my friend Dick's "Too Much" that he designed and built.