Cop Car's Beat

Data mining find of 5/10/1967

"[Hunky Husband] flew first flight of WFT on 004."

HH spent a lot of time in that aircraft - on the ground and in the air. That was a long time ago! Before you ask, I'll volunteer that I believe that "WFT" was Wichita Flight Test. We had moved back to the Wichita area from Seattle just a few weeks before the quoted entry was made. I'm not sure when the photo of 004 was taken (presumably by a Boeing or USAF employee), but I had written "69" on the back of it.

ADDITION of a few hours later

B-52 669 - photo dated February 1962

Below are two "color chips" as found in a Wikipedia article.

The photo, below, of HH (back, right) and the rest of the crew with which he flew flight tests in 1963 has previously been posted on this blog; but, it seems appropriate to repeat it with the photos of tail numbers 669 and 004.  The aircraft is 669. [There is a five-digit number stenciled onto the vertical stabilizer. The first two digits indicate the last two digits of the (Gregorian) year in which the aircraft was ordered while the last three digits indicate the last three digits of the aircraft's assigned serial number.] I posit that the photo was taken before a flight. Had it been taken after a flight, the guys would be looking bedraggled and sporting stubbles.  Those flights were not short!

Root-beer irises

In Getting back to normal, back in April of 2012, I posted the following photo of dwarf, root-beer colored irises. That variety of irises has always been the first to bloom each year since I planted it - probably a few years prior to 2012.

In April, 2018, the whole planting area in which the miniature iris had proliferated was removed and sodded. Some of the iris plants were transplanted to a planting area along the driveway, many were given away to neighbors, and some were dumped back in the woods - some more ceremoniously than others. As it happened, the miniature iris bloomed, just enough in 2019, to let me know it was at the roots of a tree in the then-edge of our woods. I took it up and transplanted it to the planting area that surrounds my basement escape window well. Again, this year, it was the first iris to bloom - a week or so ago - as shown, below.

Yay! I really like that little bugger and am thrilled that it shows every sign of proliferating in its new home.

More from News for Nerds - New Normal (climate-wise)

I added the yellow high-lighting. CC

NOAA Unveils a Warmer Climate 'Normal' For the US32

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @11:30PM from the warmer-than-ever dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios:The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed new standards on Tuesday for what an average or "normal" U.S. climate looks like, showing average temperatures in the U.S. rising significantly. Updating these standards is important for helping shape government policies and what your local weather forecaster says the "average" high temperature is on a given date.

NOAA releases climate averages for the preceding 30-year period every 10 years. The "climate normals" released Tuesday cover 1991-2020 and indicate that the U.S. climate has warmed, and also become wetter over time. NOAA noted that parts of the U.S. may also get drier, due to climate change. "The influence of long-term global warming is obvious," per a press release. The new normals may shift how the climate is described for particular parts of the U.S. With the changes, Fairbanks, Alaska is no longer considered a sub-Arctic climate, but is now termed a "warm summer continental" climate.

Disappointments

1. It has been some weeks, now, since Blogger has let me comment on nearly any blog for which they provide service. Don't know what I did to tick 'em off. At first, I assumed my settings had changed and were to blame; but, I've been unable to find anything to account for the lack. Oh, well, I've never much liked Blogger's use of Captcha and its follow-ons.
2. Murr's most recent posting ended with, "Note to Uncle Walt: So long, and thanks for all the assfish." Among the 32 comments to that post that are currently showing, not one person noted the hat tip to Douglas Adams. Wow!

Life is tough enough without such huge disappointments. I shall try to slog through.

More from News for Nerds - Influenza still waning

Structure of the influenza virus - The flu virus is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus. The core nucleoproteins are used to distinguish the 3 types of influenza viruses: A, B, and C. Influenza A causes most human and all avian influenza infections. The RNA core consists of 8 gene segments surrounded by a coat of 10 (influenza A) or 11 (influenza B) proteins. Immunologically, the most significant surface proteins include hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Subclassification of influenza A occurs on the basis of H and N proteins.

Flu Has Disappeared Worldwide During the COVID Pandemic (scientificamerican.com)266

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday April 29, 2021 @11:30PM from the effective-public-health-measures dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American:Since the novel coronavirus began its global spread, influenza cases reported to the World Health Organization have dropped to minuscule levels. The reason, epidemiologists think, is that the public health measures taken to keep the coronavirus from spreading also stop the flu. Influenza viruses are transmitted in much the same way as SARS-CoV-2, but they are less effective at jumping from host to host. As Scientific American reported last fall, the drop-off in flu numbers was both swift and universal. Since then, cases have stayed remarkably low. "There's just no flu circulating," says Greg Poland, who has studied the disease at the Mayo Clinic for decades. The U.S. saw about 600 deaths from influenza during the 2020-2021 flu season. In comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated there were roughly 22,000 deaths in the prior season and 34,000 two seasons ago.

Because each year's flu vaccine is based on strains that have been circulating during the past year, it is unclear how next year's vaccine will fare, should the typical patterns of the disease return. [...] Public health experts are grateful for the reprieve. Some are also worried about a lost immune response, however. If influenza subsides for several years, today's toddlers could miss a chance to have an early-age response imprinted on their immune system. That could be good or bad, depending on what strains circulate during the rest of their life. For now, future flu transmission remains a roll of the dice.

Back to the gym - yay!

Cessna Textron West Side Activity Center

Cessna Textron East Side Activity Center

On 3/14/2020, I made my usual trek to one of the gyms in which I have a lifetime membership. Because of my fear of COVID-19, that was the last trek I made there - until this morning. I didn't know when/if the place, itself, closed down. I only knew that I didn't want to be there. Surprisingly, the woman at the front desk told me they had been open since May 2020. Wow! I would not have felt safe working out there (or anywhere away from home).

It felt great working out, again. Masks are required in the public areas of the building; but, in the gym itself, I was the only one who was masked up. The employees and a couple of the fire fighters who work out there recognized me - despite the mask and the hair grown long.

My lifetime membership is courtesy of the company for which I put in a total of 19 years of service (Nov 1975-Apr 1981 and Apr 1990-Apr 2004). The deal was, that to use the gyms one must pay dues (deducted from one's paycheck) to the Employee's Club. I belonged to the Employee's Club for all of those years - only because one had to belong in order to belong to the Flying Club. That was a real carrot for many of us. The bonus was/is that, for belonging to the Employee's Club for the years before retirement, a retiree was awarded a lifetime membership upon retirement. Good deal!

Although I've shown photos of only two gyms, above, I think a third gym was added to the stable when Textron acquired Beech some years ago, but after my retirement. I'm unfamiliar with the facilities other than the West Side Activity Center (top photo) and the East Side Activity Center (second photo). For two reasons, I choose to use the East Side Activity Center: 1) It's a shorter drive from home (about 10 miles versus about 15), and 2) It's a smaller, less used facility. Granted, the West Side has a larger pool, more machines, and fancier locker rooms; but, I like not being among 100 other sweating bodies.

Horticultural pursuits

Spring has sprung (Summer has sprung doesn't have the same lilt) in our neck of the woods - say I. It was in the 70s (Fahrenheit), yesterday, and is to reach the low- to mid- 80s, today; thus, about one week ahead of time, I placed the house plants on the front porch/steps for the summer.

The first three months of 2021 brought us weather that dithered between the extremes so much that it was damaging to some of our shrubbery. Slowly, I'm working toward taking out dead ones and renewing shrubs that are still alive but which have scraggly live branches left among the dead. It is slow work because I overheat when working out in temperatures above 60 degrees. Yesterday, I worked outside for an hour before coming in to (nearly) collapse. Once I cooled down, I was fine to go set up the hose with a sprinkler to continue watering trees - the dogwood trees and the trees along the driveway.

Two weeks ago, I took a hedge trimmer to the three (well...there are now four because one of the branches established itself with roots) spirea bushes - originally two Double Play Big Bang and one Magic Carpet. They are renewing, nicely (below).

Yesterday, I took the dead branches out of the Ivory Halo Dogwood bush, leaving a sparsely branched bush (below).

Today, I tackled the yew bush that has shielded one of the windows to my bedroom for the past eight years. Prior to that time, the window was to my sewing room. Unfortunately, I failed to think of photographing the dead bush before tackling it; but, this is what it looks like (below), now. When I have the energy, I will dig up the roots and rake up the rest of the leaves. Note that the majority of the dead leaves are pin oak leaves - off of trees in a neighbor's front yard across (and up the street one house) from us. BTW: The little green sprig is a pin oak seedling, of which I pull many. I may save this one in a pot to see if WichiDude & Dudette or Wonderful GrandDaughter & Rachie want it for their yard.

Below is a photo of the two trash carts full of dead yew branches from that bush. Only the blue cart will be picked up. I'll empty the small, green cart into the blue cart for pickup next week. The tan cart is the single-stream recyclables cart.

The next photo not only shows off another patch of Bogie's phlox progeny but shows the dead-looking butterfly bushes. Last year, I failed to cut down the branches in March and they sprouted leaves (and blossoms). I doubt that happens this year, but why not give it a shot?

ADDITIONS OF 5/1&2/2021 - One photo after cutting out the dead branches, and One photo of butterfly bushes as they appeared in July, 2012

BACK TO 2021: Finally, the photo below shows the sorry mess that comprises the holly bushes in front of one side of our house. I haven't quite figured out how to tackle it. The green bushes at either end are yews. The one nearer to the camera is probably destined to be yanked out with the hollies.

Hunky Husband comes out

It should come as no surprise to any of my blog friends that Hunky Husband has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. My life is pretty much an open book, so I've mentioned the effects of that disease on our family, on occasion. Yesterday, HH took the bold (and brave) step of announcing to our (local) family gathering (and to Bogie, by phone) that he had been diagnosed with "Onset Alzheimer's". I don't know where HH found that particular label since I did not hear his physician apply it; but, I shan't quibble - it is descriptive. I think that HH found a little relief in making the announcement.

AFAIK, HH first suspected that he was headed down the Alzheimer's path in September, 2015. As his mother had gone down that path from ages 60-75, we may have been lulled by the later age (79) at which we noticed HH's own cognitive decline.

HH worries about becoming a burden to me. As any loving spouse would say, "Never a burden!" Two things concern me about the Alzheimer's path: 1) that I probably won't live long enough to provide support throughout HH's path, and 2) that our later-generation family members are at a risk for also entering that path. As fortunate as HH's and my lives have been, we can hardly complain about our own lots in life. We do hope for even better lots for younger generations - hopefully preventives or cures.

More photos - flora

The first photo shows the birthday bouquet that I cut for Wonderful GrandDaughter (WGD) this morning. Her birthday was a few days ago, but her mother is gathering the family to celebrate, today - Saturday's being a more convenient day. The bouquet comprises a small branch from each of three trees that are abloom in our yard. The bouquet is small because WGD and her father have allergies. 

The next photo shows the three common milkweed plants that were delivered to our doorstep late yesterday. The plants, favored by monarch butterflies, were ordered last fall. The company from which they were purchased ships them in time to arrive at the customer's location near (in time) to the frost-free date. (Our frost-free date is April 20.) I will hold the plants in the window well for a few days to acclimate them to the temperatures and sunshine before setting them out in my little meadow.

Finally, because I was taking photos of the milkweed plants in the window well, I snapped a photo of the hostas that I planted in the window well a couple of years ago. They are ahead of the hostas that grow just outside the window well and those that grow in the near woods. Those later developing hostas are growing, but didn't break ground until about a week ago. (The little round white specs on the leaves nearest the camera are petals from ornamental pear tree blossoms - from across the street.)

Pretty Trees

REDBUD

About an hour ago, Josh and his crew showed up to plant the Oklahoma Redbud tree that I bought last November. It is to replace the redbud that was taken out, last fall, for being too close to the neighbor's fence. Below, the photo shows Josh bringing the tree from the trailer to the hole that his crew had dug.

 

The photo, below, shows the new tree in all its glory! Note the small patch of bare dirt next to the neighbor's fence, toward the left side of the photo. That is where the old redbud had been removed last fall.

DOGWOOD

While checking out my new/old camera, I snapped a couple of photos - closeups of blossoms on the two Prairie Pink Dogwood trees that are abloom. I've decided that the third tree is, alas, dead. Note the difference in color and shape between the blossoms on the two trees.