Aerie Report, November 11, 2009

A quiet and swiftly passing day here at the Aerie. The sky was overcast much of the day giving it a somber aspect. The temperatures have returned to normal for November and there are no signs of their rising much in the next two weeks. No precipitation is being forecast until the middle of next week. All the rain from Ida seems to be destined to pass to our southeast.

Sunset from the Aerie's deck.

I really like this shot in the context of fighting Global Warming. In this one view there are three things at work to lower the earth's temperatures. 1- The "green" technology of the windmills. 2- The photosynthesis of the trees removing "evil" CO2 from the atmosphere. 3- The sun is setting...which is probably the strongest of the three in the short term. There will be frost in the morning!

******

I attended a meeting of the Grand Canyon Photography Club last evening over in Wellsboro. Just something to get me out of the house a little more and get to learn how I should be taking and editing my pictures. My birding bud, Gary, is a member--although he wasn't there last night, as is another occasional birder and professor at Mansfield U. so it's not like I'm walking into a group of strangers.

Last night they had a presentation on HDR (High Density Resolution) photography and the use of a program called Photomatix. Essentially it's merging 3 to 5 differently exposed shots of the same image. Got me to try a few things today with my Sony Alpha 350. Like reading the entire manual!

(The photo above was not accomplished using HDR technology. I did use Picasa 3 to remove some power cables that ran across the foreground, however. And to crop the edges a bit.)

******

Another day of PT for me tomorrow. The sold me on some fixed arch supports to help prevent my ankle from rolling which, in turn, helps align my knee. The supports and the exercises to strengthen the leg muscles (something I though would be superfluous) seem to have helped a great deal. I've tried NOT to go up and down the steps too much since yesterday's workout, but when I do the pain in the knee is much, much less than it was on Monday.

******

I've got some refund/rebate cards burning a hole in my pocket so tomorrow, after PT, I'll be taking Terry down to Cabela's. she's always complaining about getting bug bites when she goes outside for any length of time. She's a natural mosquito magnet so I want to get her one of those ThermaCELL bug repellers. It doesn't do much if you're walking around, but it's supposed to clear an area around where you're sitting if the wind isn't too strong. If they work, she just might be able to enjoy the Aerie's deck even when there isn't a gale force wind blowing.

I might be able to find something for myself, too.

Veterans' Day

Just a word to wish the best to all our veterans out there today and a heartfelt thanks for the years of service many of you gave to keep our country free and to liberate those who were under the rule of dictators and despots around the world.



A special thanks to the men, women and families who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Thank you.

We need more backhoe control laws!

Minn. man allegedly assaults worker with backhoe

Prosecutors charged the co-owner of a Hermantown construction company with allegedly assaulting a construction worker with a backhoe. The criminal complaint said a 48-year-old man told investigators he wanted to "nudge" the victim, but didn't want to hurt him. He also said it was a stupid thing to do.
...
Hermantown police Sgt. Mark Gunderson said it appeared the suspect didn't think the construction worker in the trench was doing his job right, so he hit him with the backhoe.

An obvious misuse of the dreaded assault backhoe!

But it was right here when I left!

Irishman wins euro46,000 after island home disappears

[61-year-old Neville] Presho successfully sued developer and hotelier Patrick Doohan after he returned from New Zealand to find no trace of his six-bedroom property beside the island's harbor. In its place stood a septic tank and parking lot for Doohan's newly built 12-room hotel, which remains the only one today on Tory.
...
Presho spoke wistfully Tuesday of his lost island retreat, where he could sit on his front doorstep watching the fishermen come and go in the harbor and the panorama beyond of the wild Atlantic and Donegal mainland.

But Presho said he doesn't expect to live there again. Even if he does receive his court-ordered euro46,000, that's less than a fifth of the average house price in Ireland.

"You could build a really nice chicken coop with that sort of money," he quipped, "but you'd have no money left over to buy the chickens."

You can't blame him for not wanting to live there again. Everyone on the island--170 people in all--pulled a Sgt. Schultz during the investigation. "I know nothink!" they all proclaimed.

"The Turtle Moves"

I wonder if it knows a fella named Burtha?

Villagers confine rare turtle, offer prayers

Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God....
...adamant villagers have refused to give up the reptile, saying the turtle bears holy symbols on its back and is an incarnation of Lord Jagannath, a popular Hindu deity.

Aerie Report, November 9, 2009

We've enjoyed two lovely Indian Summer days here at the Aerie. It got up to 71 in yesterday's bright sunshine but only made it to 63 during today's overcast. No problem though. At least we did not have any precipitation. Tomorrow and the rest of the week it will be around the 50 degree mark with just a slight chance of some shower activity late Tuesday.

******

What the heck happened to the NY Giants? They were cruising along at 5-0 when they met New Orleans and WHAM! Suddenly they've lost four in a row. Something's not right in their secondary, that's for sure.

******

Monday Nite Football features the Steelers and the the Broncos. I'll be rooting for the Black and Gold to tame the ponies.

******

Despite taking it easy on the left knee the last two days, I've noticed a bit of a relapse. There's a pretty sharp pain on the inside of that knee when I go up or down stairs or even walk on a slope. I'll have to discuss this development with the Physical Therapist tomorrow. I'm scheduled for two sessions (Tuesday and Thursday) this week. Wish me luck.

We Was Robbed!

No, I'm not talking about any stick-up or break in at the Aerie. I'm talking about a free loader having its way with our bird feeders--again.

Last evening as I was caught up with NFL debacle known as the NY Giants, I waited until half time and after dinner to go out on the deck to bring in the hanging bird feeder. By then, of course, it was well past dark. Upon stepping out on the deck, I discovered I was not alone so I grabbed my camera to catch the perp in the act. By the time I was armed, it had given up on the hanging feeder and already moved down the rail to lay claim to the tray which I never bring in the house.

The Masked Bandit is caught in the act.

It was reluctant to leave and hissed at the flash going off but eventually made its way to the corner of the deck and shimmied down the corner post to the ground. This was not the first time this season it had made its way to the feeders and it won't be the last.

BCS Standings Post Week 10

1 Florida 0.984
2 Alabama 0.952
3 Texas 0.923
4 TCU 0.862
5 Cincinnati 0.858
6 Boise State 0.813
7 Georgia Tech 0.755
8 LSU 0.614
9 Southern California 0.592
10 Iowa 0.575
11 Ohio State 0.573
12 Pittsburgh 0.563
13 Oregon 0.532
14 Miami (Fla.) 0.471
15 Houston 0.469
16 Utah 0.4
17 Arizona 0.336
18 Penn State 0.335
19 Oklahoma State 0.291
20 Wisconsin 0.233
21 Virginia Tech 0.233
22 Brigham Young 0.124
23 Oregon State 0.123
24 South Florida 0.108
25 West Virginia 0.065

Week 11:Top 25 (More or less) and their Opponents

Everyone is playing this week so there’s likely to be some shaking up of the standings. Especially since we have #4 TCU vs #14 Utah, #5 Cincinnati vs #23 WVU. and #8 Ohio State vs #13 Iowa on the slate. (The rankings are from the AP/Coaches Poll/CBSSports 120. Those in parentheses are those going into week 10.)

1/1/1 (1/1/1) Florida (9-0) The Gators will play at South Carolina (6-4).

2/2/2 (2/2/2) Texas (9-0) The Longhorns play at Baylor (4-5).

3/3/3 (3/3/3) Alabama (9-0) The Tide rolls into Mississippi State (4-5).

4/4/6 (6/4/8) TCU (9-0) The Horned Frogs will host #14 Utah (8-1).

5/5/4 (4/7/4) Cincinnati (9-0) The Bearcats will host the # 23 West Virginia Mountaineers (7-2) on Friday night.

6/6/5 (5/5/6) Boise State (9-0) The Broncos will host Idaho (7-3).

7/7/7 (10/11/11) Georgia Tech (9-1) The Yellow Jackets will play at Duke (5-4).

8/8/13 (15/12/13) Ohio State (8-2) The Buckeyes host #13 Iowa (9-1).

9/9/8 (14/14/15) Pittsburgh (8-1) The Panthers will host Notre Dame (6-3).

10/10/12 (12/13/12) Southern California (7-2) The Trojans host Stanford (6-3).

11/11/15 (9/9/9) LSU (7-2) The Tigers will host Louisiana Tech (3-6).

12/12/16 (13/15/16) Houston (8-1) The Cougars will play at Central Florida (5-4).

13/13/10 (8/6/5) Iowa (9-1) The Hawkeyes play at #8 Ohio State (8-2).

14/14/14 (17/16/17) Utah (8-1) The Utes will play at #4 TCU (9-0).

15/15/9 (16/17/14) Miami (Fla.) (7-2) The Hurricanes will play at North Carolina (6-3).

16/16/11 (7/8/7) Oregon (7-1) The Ducks will host the Arizona State (4-5).

17/17/17 (11/10/10) Penn State (8-2) The Nittany Lions host Indiana (4-6).

18/18/19 (18/18/21) Oklahoma State (7-2) The Cowboys will host Texas Tech (6-3).

19/19/18 (21/19/18) Arizona (6-2) The Wildcats play at California (6-3).

20/20/21 (24/22/23) Wisconsin (7-2) The Badgers will host Michigan (5-5).

21/21/22 (22/24/24) Virginia Tech (6-3) The Hokies play at Maryland (2-7).

22/22/20 (25/25/22) Brigham Young (7-2) The Cougars play at New Mexico (0-9).

23/23/NA (NA/NA/NA) West Virginia (7-2) The Mountaineers will play at #5 Cincinnati (9-0) on Friday night.

24/24/23 (NA/NA/25) South Florida (6-2) The Bulls will be playing at Rutgers (6-2) on Thursday night.

25/25/24 (NA/NA/NA) Auburn (7-3) The Tigers will play at Georgia (5-4).

NA/NA/25 (NA/NA/NA) Clemson (6-3) These Tigers play at North Carolina State (4-5).

Results from Week 10

Week 10 saw Iowa’s luck run out as they lost their first to drop out of the ranks of the FBS’ undefeated. (On the other end,: New Mexico (0-9), Rice (0-9), Eastern Michigan (0-9) and Western Kentucky (0-9) are four teams still looking for their first win.) Lots of other upsets in the top 25 as well. Expect lots of shakeup from #5 on down in this week’s new rankings. (The rankings are from the AP/Coaches Poll/CBSSports 120. Those in parentheses are those going into week 9)


1/1/1 (1/1/2) Florida (9-0) The Gators beat the Commodores of Vanderbilt (2-8) 27-3.

2/2/2 (3/3/3) Texas (9-0) The Longhorns beat the UCF Knights (4-4) 35-3.

3/3/3 (2/2/1) Alabama (9-0) The Tide triumphed over the #9 LSU Tigers (7-2) 24-15.

4/7/4 (5/7/5) Cincinnati (9-0) The Bearcats edged the Connecticut Huskies (4-5) 47-45 behind their backup QB, Sophomore Zach Collaros who threw for 480 yards and ran for another 75. It was enough—barely—to stave off the Huskies who scored 35 points in the second half.

5/5/6 (6/5/8) Boise State (9-0) The Broncos held off the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (3-6) on Friday night 45-35.

6/4/8 (8/6/6) TCU (9-0) The Horned Frogs romped over the San Diego State Aztecs (4-5) 55-12.

7/8/7 (10/12/11) Oregon (7-2) The Ducks floundered on the road against the Stanford Cardinal (6-3) 51-42. Cardinal Toby Gerhart ran for a school record 223 yards.

8/6/5 (7/8/4) Iowa (9-1) The Hawkeyes lost their starting QB to injury and then dropped their first to the Northwestern Wildcats (6-4) 17-10.

9/9/9 (9/9/9) LSU (7-2) The Tigers lead the #3 Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0) 7-3 at half time. Unfortunately they lost the second half 21-8—and the game24-15.

10/11/11 (11/11/13) Georgia Tech (9-1) The Yellow Jackets edged the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest (4-6) in overtime 30-27 as they eschewed the FG to tie and went on fourth and goal to win.

11/10/10 (12/10/10) Penn State (8-2) The Nittany Lions were beat by the #15 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-2) 24-7.

12/13/12 (4/4/7) Southern California (7-2) The Trojans edged the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-5) 14-9 on the strength of a 55-yard interception return for a TD by Will Harris.

13/15/16 (15/16/18) Houston (8-1) The Cougars survived against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (4-5) 46-45. But it took a Case Keenum TD pass with 21 seconds left (Keenum then got sacked on the 2-point conversion), a recovered onsides kick, and a 51-yard field goal as time ran out. Keenum threw for 520 (40 for 60 and 3 TDs) yards in the victory.

14/14/15 (16/17/17) Pittsburgh (8-1) The Panthers beat the Syracuse Orange (3-6) 37-10.

15/12/13 (17/15/15) Ohio State (8-2) The Buckeyes beat the #11 Penn State Nittany Lions (8-2) 24-7.

16/17/14 (18/18/16) Miami (Fla.) (7-2) The Hurricanes drubbed the Virginia Cavaliers (3-6) 55-17.

17/16/17 (19/19/19) Utah (8-1) The Utes romped over the New Mexico Lobos (0-9) 45-14.

18/18/21 (13/13/12) Oklahoma State (7-2) The Cowboys defeated the Iowa State Cyclones (5-5) 34-8.

19/21/20 (25/25/NA) Notre Dame (6-3) The Irish dropped a close one to the Midshipmen of Navy (7-3) 23-21.

20/20/19 (22/23/24) Oklahoma (5-4) The Sooners lost a defensive struggle to the Cornhuskers of Nebraska (6-3) 10-3.

21/19/18 (23/24/23) Arizona (6-2) The Wildcats routed the Washington State Cougars (1-8) 48-7.

22/24/24 (14/14/14) Virginia Tech (6-3) The Hokies beat the East Carolina Pirates (5-4) 16-3 Thursday night.

23/23/NA (NA/NA/NA) California (6-3) The Golden Bears got rolled by the Oregon State Beavers (6-3) 31-14.

24/22/23 (NA/NA/NA) Wisconsin (7-2) The Badgers held off the Indiana Hoosiers (4-6) 31-28.

25/25/22 (NA/NA/NA) Brigham Young (7-2) The Cougars shut out the Cowboys of Wyoming (4-5) 52-0.

NA/NA/25 (NA/NA/NA) South Florida (6-2) The Bulls will be idle this week.

Forget RED October, This last one was sorta blue.

As in cold. I thought it was a bit chilly.

NCDC has compiled the October temperatures and it ended up the 3rd coldest in 115 years. As we have shown it was cold over almost all the lower 48. Indeed only Florida came in above normal.

Only 1925 and 1976 had colder Octobers. And it wasn't just the US.

Also the University of Alabama global temperature is out and it is down this month. Hadley came in late for September but it was down. The trends since 2002 continue down for both even as CO2 rise.

(More at October 2009 3rd Coldest for US in 115 Years at What's Up With That.)

And, WUWT also points out that it's just not the Fall that's been chill, Spring in the Southern Hemisphere has also been cold: Chilled Kiwi’s: Coldest October since 1945

Aerie Report, November 6, 2009

Went through my PT this morning without a hitch and very, very little pain. Which is good, BTW. Everything seems to be getting back to normal--or at least what passes for normal--on my left knee. With two more sessions on the calender for next week, I might even surpass the range of motion I had before I slipped on that $(#*%^(*^ rock or root. I may have been compensating for a bum right ankle from years and years ago and tightening up my left ankle's tendons as well as those in the knee. Oh, I'm not ready to climb Mt. Washington--or even Katahdin, but things are definitely looking up.

******

With the bird feeding season underway, I got my digiscoping equipment out for the first time in months only to discover that the battery in the Nikon Coolpix P1 that I have mounted to the scope had died. No fear! I had a spare. I popped the spare in and the camera fired right up but needed to have all the settings for date, time, etc. redone. Bummer. Took me a bit to get that all done and remount the camera on the scorpe but it's ready to use now.

Except for one little problem.... The dead battery. I went looking for the recharger for that battery, a recharger that was put in a very safe place several months ago, but Can. Not. Find. IT! I spent several hours opening every single door and cabinet in the living area, looking in every basket and bag, searching the basement desk and boxes that have been moved from the living room to the basement. No luck. So I did it all again. Still no luck.

Finally, I went on line and found someone still selling that particular recharger at a reasonable price and who was willing to ship for free. It will take a week to 10 days to get here, but as soon as it does, I know for sure I will find the one that was put away oh so safely.

Happens all the freakin' time.

******

Speaking of rechargers.... Why is it that every single electrical device, be it mobile phone, camera (and each brand/model of camera at that), walkie talkie, flashlight, etc., that has a rechargeable battery either takes a different style of battery or has a different recharger it needs to be plugged into? Why can't there be some standardization in batteries and rechargers? In my search I must have come across five or six different rechargers that we need to use on devices we currently own PLUS two or three for devices we no longer possess. AND NONE OF THEM ARE INTERCHANGEABLE, every single one is unique to a particular device/battery. Madness!

******

We had a dusting of snow on the ground this morning with a temperature of just 28 degrees for the second straight day. It did warm to just over 45 degrees in the warm, beautiful sunshine of this afternoon but with the sky absolutely clear, the temp will drop like a stone tonight. They are promising a gorgeous weekend with the daytime highs reaching the 60s on Sunday and again on Monday before they fall back to the 40s for a spell. Only a tiny chance of precip in the forecast for Tuesday but the rest of the 10-day is sunny, sunny, sunny.

Jungle Trader Packs Up His Tent

Going through my Favorites links the last few days and I note that the Jungle Trader has pulled up stakes and moved on. Always a source of links to the weird and unusual, his reports on our wacky, wild world will be missed.

Where will I go now fro news on lions, tigers, bears, elephants, and pirates?

He's actually going to be starting up TWO new business ventures! Either he knows something or he's a brave, brave soul...and based upon his little sidebar statement of his past, it might seem the latter is more probable.