Cop Car's Beat

June is hot....

(Doesn't the header make this sound like a soft porn site?) This week has been the hottest of the summer, so far. I do expect worse ones before we find the relief of October cooling. However, let me tell you how the week went for me.

Tuesday:

As I am driving him to the airport, Hunky Husband mentions that the air conditioner (well, it's a heat pump, but it works as an air conditioner in the summer) sounded funny to him that morning. (The compressor/radiator sits just outside his walk-in closet, several feet from the window of his bathroom.) I forget about it until I note, a few hours later, how hot it feels and find that the thermometer says 84˚ Fahrenheit (it is in the mid-90s and climbing, outside). I turn off the HVAC system, at that point, not wishing to allow more Freon to escape from the system by continued pumping, should there be a leak in the system. I call the HVAC maintenance people (part of the company who had designed and installed our system 10 years ago) and we eventually settle upon their having a technician here sometime after Noon on Thursday.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - in the basement - high temperatures are forecast to be 99-101 each day:

Little time is spent in the main floor of the house. It is hot and humid. The carpeting buckles in several places in each room as the heat and humidity cause the carpeting to expand. I live in the basement, sleeping on a couch, reading (fortunately, I had stopped by the library on my way home from dropping HH off at the airport), sewing, sorting through Mom's old photographs, and generally keeping myself busy. (The basement includes a refrigerator and microwave, so it is entirely habitable!)

Actually, I am rather proud of myself for making the third of the three curtain panels that cover my window-on-the-world, my little bay window in the kitchen. The first panel had been completed several years ago and had been put into immediate use with the second panel having followed in another couple of years. Now, all three panels are in place. Their function in life is to keep direct sunlight off of the refrigerator. Depending upon the time of the year, there are a few hours of the day (morning or evening, rarely - in the dead of winter - both) during which the direct sunlight is a problem through one or another (or two) of the three glass panes.

In addition, I get started on sorting through my mother's plethora of photographs that she left behind when she died 15 years ago. Starting with the parking lot on our way into the funeral home for Mom's funeral, one of my cousins (I'll dub her "Clueless") had bugged me to let her come go through the photos. I had told Clueless that, first, my brothers and I and our children would go through them. After a few years, she stopped mentioning it. (Clueless lives in another state and I've only seen her at family funerals since she came to Mom's house a few days after the funeral and, with my permission, loaded up a china cabinet, dishes, and household goods into her pickup truck and drove off. She was admonished that she should share her bounty with her brother and sister, which I've no doubt she did.)

There is now one large envelope of photographs with Clueless's name on it, one large envelope with another cousin's name on it (she is not a sister to Clueless), and a medium-sized box of photographs and whole (small) photo albums for my younger brother and his family. (Elder Brother has no kids and has gone through many of Mom's photos. I see EB more than any other of my non-progeny relatives.)

Thursday:

The service technician shows up at 5:00 PM, and is out of here by 6:00 PM. The unit just needs its normal spring servicing - cleaning and Freon recharging. I renew our annual contract with the company which had, inexplicably, expired in 2006. It is understandable that the unit needs servicing! Hunky Husband is normally "on top" of that sort of thing, in this house (I took care of maintenance in our last house); but, he had mentioned the lapse of our contract a few weeks ago, without acting on it. (He did get our July taxes paid before he left town.)

Friday:

By 4:00 AM, this morning, the air conditioner has pumped the inside temperature down to 79˚ Fahrenheit, to which I had set the thermostat last night (it had been 88 or 89 when it started). Normally, we keep it at 78˚ Fahrenheit in the summer. I set the thermostat to "hold" at 79˚ Fahrenheit. With the humidity (inside) now being at a reasonable level, my being at the Red Cross all day (and HH's being gone), and with the over-100˚ Fahrenheit outside temperature that is forecast, this seems a reasonable temperature at which to hold. As I leave for the airport at 9:15 PM, I return the thermostat to our normal summertime temperature scheduling.

Saturday:

Most of the buckles in the carpeting have worked themselves out at the cooler temps/lower humidity. We really must have them all re-stretched, though. They are not taut.

I am back to normal scheduling. We go to see a performance of Camelot, this evening. I'll be coming around to check you out soon!

P.S. Thanks to the friends who noted my comment on Facebook and became concerned about my physical well-being in the excessive heat and humidity. It was not pleasant; but, as I emailed one friend, "As long as I have a basement, my health is unendangered. Instead of getting some of the things done, upstairs, I found things that needed doing downstairs ....The biggest issue was my not getting much sleep due to sleeping on a couch downstairs.. Fortunately, the couch is the most comfortable of any on which I've ever slept, but it is not my bed!"

I got a good six hours of sleep (in my own bed) Thursday night and seven hours, last night. I'm good to go.

My Meadow 6-13-2009

Last year, I posted My Meadow with a photo to to show off the wildflowers that grow therein. This is an update.

                

And, now, some close-up views of blanket flower, brown-eyed Susan, and cone flower (Mexican hat, I believe):

 My meadow is the type of "flower bed" that I prefer - filled with native plants that require little care. Once in a while I spend some time pulling up the bindweed that is rife in our area so that the pods do not set on and send seeds out on fleecy parachutes. Bindweed, Johnson's grass, and hen bit are on our county's noxious weeds listing. Unfortunately, many of our neighbors do not know/understand/care, so I fight a battle with those weeds while our next-door neighbor allows them free reign in his yard - from which our yard is constantly invaded. Even without his contribution, however, the fight is demanding. This area was cow pasture for many years before being invaded by us home owners. I imagine that the Johnson's grass was actually planted by a farmer as fodder for his cattle. A weed is just a beautiful little plant that has the audacity to grow where it isn't wanted.

"A captain's authority is a precious thing."

If you were to ask me to take you flying this afternoon, you would be told "no way". For me to take you flying, I would need about one month's notice - time that would be used in studying and practicing with an instructor to renew my skills. There are not only legal requirements that I must fulfill before you get your flight with me, but there are practical considerations of my own. I would want you to live through the experience...not to mention that I would want me to live through it.

You are not, of course, required to fly with me; but, once you are in the airplane, I will brook no nonsense from you or any other passenger. What I instruct you to do or not do during our flight, will be done. According to Federal regulations, I have a captain's (pilot-in-command's) authority.

The name Chesley Sullenberger is probably familiar to you. In an article by Barbara Barrett in this morning's Wichita Eagle, Hudson crash details released, a recap of events leading to Captain Sullenberger's near-miraculously perfect landing in the Hudson River stressed the importance of experience. In addition, it stressed the part that a captain's authority played in choosing where the landing would take place. The good Captain was quoted as saying, "A captain's authority is a precious thing." Amen!

This quote brought to mind my own experience in the field of designing flight control systems. Invariably, I argued against some managers and some engineers who felt that the flight control system should have final authority over the aircraft. In my own mind, the aircraft captain must have final authority. The human mind is still better at assessing a situation and making decisions that save lives and/or assure mission success than any system of computers.

Ironically, I was also reminded by the quote of the recent crash of the Airbus 330. Early-on, there was some speculation about the possible inability of the crew to override the flight control system in an upset caused by a severe thunderstorm (since, discounted). Some commentary noted that some aircraft makers give the crew final authority while Airbus had, reportedly, in some operating conditions made it difficult for a crew to exert authority over the flight control system.

I'm sitting here, smugly, thinking that it was a good thing that Captain Sullenberger wasn't flying an Airbus. Oh, wait! He was! He and his crew were flying an Airbus 320. So much for smugness!

Let me hasten to add that I have never worked on an Airbus aircraft and do not pretend to be an expert on its systems. Much like many of you, I have garnered information about the Airbus series of aircraft from the internet.

Visit from family ornithological expert (Elder Brother) and his wife (Expert Seamstress)

We rarely have a great deal of forewarning prior to a welcomed visit by Elder Brother and Expert Seamstress. This time, we had enough time to call a meeting of the clan to dine with them and us last Friday evening. We knew not when EB and ES would arrive - only that it would be sometime Friday. I told our clan that we would be having pizza no earlier than 6:00 PM. Not being a clock-watcher, I'm not sure what time people began to arrive; but, I'm fairly certain it was after 6:00 PM.

The first inkling that Hunky Husband and I had of anyone's arrival was that our back (slider) door opened and EB stuck his head in. He was quickly followed into the breakfast room by ES and Chew (Wonderful GrandDaughter's husband) who had arrived from his work at the same time. Perhaps 10 or 15 minutes later, the rest of the crew arrived: Dudette, Wichi Dude, and Wonderful GrandDaughter. We had a marvelous evening!

Saturday, HH and I spent the late morning and all day sitting about chatting with EB and ES, taking breaks to go out for lunch and dinner. EB and ES took their leave before Midnight, intending to drive most of their way home to Loveland CO, Sunday. While they were here, however, I consulted EB on a couple of the birds that I had posted on this blog, by having him look at the multiple photos that I had taken of each.

Both Elder Brother and Expert Seamstress are fussy types who are precise in what they say and do. They have always been blessed with excellent eyesight (which I have never had!) and can spot a gnat at 50 miles. (I exaggerate a little.) In addition, they have photographic memories. They are thoroughly disgusting people to the rest of us mere mortals *laughing* who completely fail to live up to EB's and ES's standards. Having been a bird watcher since 1948 or 1950, EB knows the birds, knows where to find them, and he and ES can spot a bird and have it identified before I even know it is in the county.

In Women's Day, the bird shown in the first and third photos is, according to EB, a female rose-breasted grosbeak. (Yea, Bogie!) In Bird Quiz #1, Mystery Bird #1 is, according to EB, a female Baltimore Oriole - or - perhaps, a female hybrid Baltimore x Bullock's Oriole. (Yea, Cop Car!) I appreciated the inputs from my readers, and I'm completely satisfied that the birds are now identified beyond reasonable doubt. As a side-comment: EB hardly had to look at the photos, at all, to identify the birds. There was no anguish or hesitation on his part. As I said, he's thoroughly disgusting. Just think how hard it has been for me to have a brother like that for over 71 years! *poor me, sob*

Sympathies to the Tiller family

The women of Kansas have had no better friend than George Tiller, MD. I extend sympathies to his family, friends, co-workers, and patients.

Failure to communicate?

This handsome Tom Turkey strutted his stuff around our patio for about 30 minutes, yesterday - obviously, intent upon wooing a female.

 

 So, what is the response of the object of Tom Turkey's ardor?

Cat yodeling redux

In Email from a Friend, I gave a plug to a friend's posting on YouTube. Several of you took the time to take a look, and some enjoyed Paul Klusman's wry sense of humor. Saturday, our local newspaper, The Wichita Eagle, carried a 3-column wide, 2-inch article concerning a posting of a shorter version of the YouTube video. From the paper:

    'Cat yodeling' topic of engineers' new video - by Deb Gruver, The Wichita Eagle

    Wichita's favorite cat-loving engineers are getting more play with a shortened version of one of their "cat yodeling" videos on the popular site www.icanhascheezburger.com. [For your convenience, I have converted the cited URL to a hyperlink. CC]

    Aerospace engineer Paul Klusman's video "An Engineer's Guide to Cats" went viral on YouTube last year.

    His video for Icanhascheezburger, "Advanced Cat Yodeling," is an edited version of "An Engineer's Guide to Cats (with Cat Polka)." It stars the same cats and fellow engineer T.J.Wingard.

The article goes on to say that the video had had 175,000 views since last Monday and that Paul says he is not finished with cat videos. It quotes Paul as saying, "I have all kinds of dorky, silly things in my brain right now...." going on to list a few.

Woo-hoo! And I knew Paul when he was just a "lowly" engineer! Keep on keeping on, Paul!

Two Piňons

The following two paragraphs are lifted from an email string between Janeywan and me; thus, please credit her (of Life in Westwood) with inspiring the posting.

"We have two piňon trees - yes, here in Kansas. Of course I had piňons when I lived in Albuquerque...and I missed them when I moved back to Kansas. My brother, who had homes in Santa Fe and Boulder at the time, brought me two small seedlings (about 12" tall - with lots of root and dirt...well, sand) from their Santa Fe property (they lived in the Pygmy Forest) in about 1991 or 1992. Not knowing where to put the pinons in the yard of the house where we lived, I encased the root ball of each tree in an old pillowcase and planted it, temporarily, in our tomato patch. They stayed there until the spring of 2000.

"The trees had grown to 3' or 4' high, and we had the people who were landscaping the yard of our new home bring them over and plant them for us - at the corner of the house. The trees are now (thanks to having had more water than a piňon has any right to expect) over my head and bushy - almost Christmas tree looking. They don't have the characteristic twists and gnarls of the piňons in the wilds of New Mexico, but the scent never fails to remind me of Albuquerque."

Here is a photo of the piňons.

   

Not a happy day around here

At my request, Dr Lassman sedated Cop Car, our companion of nearly 18 1/2 years; and, when CC fell asleep, gave her a lethal injection. We buried CC in the woods behind our house where, in her younger years, she enjoyed spending time. Cop Car is, and will be, missed.

                

 

Bird Quiz #1

Some people enjoy looking at birds and never-you-mind what some ornithologist has dubbed them. After all, it is the beauty of the birds that counts! For those of you who have followed my struggles to correctly identify the female little brown bird (LBB), you may wish to try your hand at coming up with the human-applied moniker for additional birds that have appeared at our feeder.

The feeder is located about 20 inches away from my kitchen bay window-on-the-world. It was moved there because we were getting interesting birds in its former location, about 40 inches away from our living room window and it was time to put out the hummingbird feeder. Hummingbirds can be intimidated by the presence of larger birds, so something had to give. The two feeders are now separated by about 25 feet, with a back porch (a mini-deck in form) between them that provides visual screening between them.

Immediately below, Mystery Bird #1: Adult female -      

Below and to the right, Mystery Bird #2: Adult Male/Female -

Below and to the left, Mystery Bird #3: Adult Female -

And, finally, below, Mystery Birds #4: Adult Males

   

Yes, I know the last photo defies the rules. These birds are definitely not on the feeder outside the kitchen window. They are, however, near the feeder where I put corn out for them (see the black blob at the right hand edge of the photo.) The 4x4s support other bird feeders - when the feeders are out.

5/17/2009 8:30 PM

And now a drum roll, please...here are my answers (I have to say that they are my answers rather than the answers in case someone can talk me out of the identifications that I'm making!)