My sister and I conquered out first 4000-footer today. Mount Moosilauke actually wasn’t very hard. It’s a good start, but I don’t intend to become a hardcore peak bagger. 7.4 miles round trip, with about 2500 feet in elevation change.
I know what’s wrong with America. It has nothing to do with immigration, or taxes, or education, or terrorism, or anything else the media blathers about. It’s this:
By way of explanation, a confession. I’m a reader. I don’t just read books. If my brain has a spare second and there are words within sight, I read them. I read cereal boxes, elevator permits, warnings, instruction manuals, whatever passes before me. The other day I was fueling the tractor and noticed this:
Can you see the problem? If not, I don’t blame you. It made my firefighter’s brain itch, and sent me Googling to double check what I thought I knew. You see, #2 Diesel is not flammable. It’s combustible. It’s a scientific distinction, but an important one involving flashpoints and the level of hazard. Diesel must be atomized and/or heated in order to burn. That’s why Diesel engines have glow plugs and can be hard to start in the winter. But we can’t expect the average Joe to know what combustible means or to respect it properly, so we replace it with DANGER EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE. Which is untrue.
My big, scary, yellow can is not going to explode.
But wait, read on:
So, don’t use this can for FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS. That’s OK, because Diesel is only COMBUSTIBLE. Oh, wait. . .
The problem with America today? We coddle our idiots. We’ve lost the common sense to know that liquid fuel can be dangerous. Then we employ the same idiots to write our warning signs. How did I ever survive this long?
Stay safe out there, and don’t smoke around the fuel cans.
August 10 – Blogging may be light for a while. The faithful MacBook Pro gave up the ghost this evening. From a little Googling, I think the NVIDIA chipset has failed. This is where being a Yankee and never disposing of anything pays off. I was able to boot the MBP into Target Disk Mode and connect it to the old MB12″. The 12″-er is sick in its own right, but hopefully it will live long enough to transfer my data to a USB drive.. The process is running now. (Yes, I have backups, but this will be simpler if I can make it work.)
So options going forward are to repair, replace, or do without. Repairing may be possible, but likely expensive. Replacing with another Apple is out of the question, as I refuse to pay $2k for another laptop. It was nice while it lasted, but it didn’t last 4 times as long as a $500 laptop.
I know Windoze machines are cheap these days, but I strongly dislike Microsoft.
I’m blogging tonight from an old desktop running Ubuntu. I’m thinking that’s the best option for now. If I can survive in Linux, I may look for an inexpensive laptop to run it. SFSG, it recognizes the camera. . .
August 6 – Shadow is one of our new foster kittens. He took less than 10 minutes to find the one inaccessible part of the bathroom. Strangely, it’s the second time in my life I’ve had to use a Thermal Imaging Camera to search for a cat. This is after we removed a panel to access him.
August 7 – My friend Jim has THE best place in the world for a model railroad, at least in August.
August 7 – long day for Beth.
August 8 – one thing I never expected to find at the Desert of Maine was a butterfly garden.
August 9 – a quiet night on the railroad. As I type, I can hear thunder in the distance.
Long, long ago in a garage not so far from here. . .
. . .my grandfather built a doghouse for my childhood dog. Like most of Gramp’s carpentry, it was built from available materials and it was built to last. Mitzi the miniature beagle spent many sunny afternoons in it. It was painted red to match our house and barn.
Later, when I was in high school, the doghouse had a new tenant. Tigger the wire-haired dachshund spent many sunny afternoons in its shade. We repainted it blue and white to match our then-current home.
After Tigger passed on it sat alone, forgotten and rotting in the back yard until Cricket joined our family. My parents offered it to us for her. Time had not been kind to our doggie heirloom. The sills were rotten, the door was falling off, and the roof was more concept than reality. We brought it home and went to work.
“We have the technology. We can rebuild it.”
Out came the Sawzall. The entire structure was shortened by about 2 inches. It had been ridiculously tall for a dachshund anyway. We installed new sills and a new floor. The roof was reshingled. The front door was replaced. In finest ‘Gramp’ fashion, it was all reconstructed from available, salvaged materials.
I slapped a coat of primer on it and gave it to the dog. She loves it.
Tuesday Beth helped with the final coat of color, and today I finished the trim. The Six Million Dollar Doghouse lives!
Only you. . . (P365 - August 3)
It’s a favorite phrase in the DOT Hazmat guidebook. Yesterday I invoked it with the yellowjackets. I must have looked very silly going after the nest in full PPE, but it worked. The nest is gone, and I didn’t get stung.
Of course I found another nest while painting the trim last night. Right now the series is tied, with one nest to me and one to the bugs. We have a night game scheduled for this evening,
On the silver lining front, unemployment has allowed plenty of time to work on my ‘honey do’ list. The upstairs deck hasn’t had railings since the rubber roof was replaced years ago. More years than I care to admit. I’ve gotten the job 3/4 done in the last two days.
Then I found the nest of yellowjackets. Initial score: Yellowjackets 1, Mack505 2. More on that later.
Today was the annual Yankee Homecoming parade in Newburyport. I succeeded in getting the Mack running and stopping, so we were off.
August 1 – the Bulldog’s Butt. One of the best sights in the fire service.
We brought the video camera along, but its drop detection software didn’t like the moving truck. Enjoy the gridlock at the beginning of the parade, though.
The week in review:
July 27 – Along Nelson’s Crag trail, Mount Washington
July 28 – If I were covered in fur this week, I’d sprawl in the coolest place I could find, too.
July 29 – Don’t tell her she’s too big for the kiddee rides.
July 30 – Acorn letterbox, Essex.
July 31 – Gillis Bridge, Newburyport.
