Recently moved from 🐘 dot social under same username. I mostly post about #DinkeyCreek, the #Sierra, #Monterey, #beavers, #forests, and #meadows. Quite fond of #motorcycles, #scuba diving, #nudibranchs, #hiking, 4x4ing/rock crawling, seeing new places, #AmateurRadio, retro technology, #trains, and cats. Opinions my own, not my employer, etc. Toots auto un-toot after one week.
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2026-01-06T06:02:40Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Does anyone know anything about the US #Army 502nd Admin Company? The signatures are all dated between 1965 and 1967. We found it while helping a friend clear out her uncle's house. He would have been 86 this year. Is there somewhere this should go to? Maybe a museum? https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/572/833/471/608/332/original/4fc21f88194a4797.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas for what it's worth, Amazon Leo should be rolling out to consumers this fall or into the winter so at least there'll be a little competition in satellite Internet providers if cellular Internet doesn't pan out for you. Where we are we've not Comcast or ATT fiber. But ATT just raised our rate $5/mo while Comcast remains the same price. But ATT is so much more stable than Comcast was 😭 With your router issue, have you thought about getting a used computer, throwing two good Ethernet cards into it, and running one of the open source router software packages on it? You'd need to get a separate access point but then you'd have full control over the router. Years ago I used pfSense but I think there are several options now. I'm personally using Ubiquiti hardware and have been happy. I've got a Dream Router 7 (comes with integrated Wi-Fi) and a few additional access points (U7 pro) connected via long runs of Ethernet in other parts of the house at my place. For my parents I've got a Cloud Gateway Ultra for the router and then a motley collection of several generations of access points connected mostly via Ethernet but some wireless links across their property. I gave up on the open source route because I needed something that would work quickly when I had a hardware failure a half dozen years ago and I could get a Unifi router overnight that would just work. The hardware replacement cycle for me has been about every five years. A buddy uses MikroTik hardware and has been very happy with their equipment, too. Anyway lots of options depending on what you want to do and how far down the rabbit hole you want to go and of course how much money you want to spend. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas A meme https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/566/684/685/296/486/original/c96cbc85202536c2.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas It's a chilly morning in Monterey where it's currently 48 degrees behind Monterey High School. I had to get up and close the windows and turn on the heat. So I guess that means in a few days it'll be 90f. Maybe in November it'll be safe to store the portable AC for the winter. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/513/187/973/553/546/original/cdedf5ff2f8c04ee.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas look at all of those trucks that could instead be train cars 😱 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas You might check to see if there are any security vulnerabilities for that router. 15 years is a long time for consumer grade routers to remain secure. I had a Netgear router, for instance, that I bought nine years ago that stopped receiving security updates two years ago and now if I were to plug it into the internet, it would be taken over and turned into part of a bot network. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas It's been raining pretty good in Monterey this evening. #CaWx https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/482/104/436/314/210/original/94a4ebc2cf996fff.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Today's sunrise in Monterey California is epic! We do not get sunrises like this very often. We're at the North end of a big storm system that's going into southern California. No rain for us yet but some good clouds. The camera on my phone does not do this justice. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/479/351/319/786/149/original/1fd58e60f5fe343e.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/479/351/512/287/160/original/16307dd533f870e2.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/479/351/671/341/757/original/11f448ebb8f55d10.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/479/351/970/774/788/original/e0a85d8404bbbc3f.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I'm donating six bags of clothes that are too big for me after losing about 60 pounds in the last four months. There are still about 80 pounds to go. Maybe this time next year I'll be there. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/465/168/686/220/713/original/0dc44e43c1db52d9.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Ugh it's so hot in Monterey that it smells like Fresno npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas A few images from yesterday in Big Sur https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/384/101/437/895/529/original/8c3d99627e1a7657.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/384/101/538/370/961/original/99e2da734c87b4cd.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/384/101/642/882/474/original/b6cddc28e3bdc684.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/384/101/755/662/750/original/a33f8e35faae7521.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas At least it was a pretty sunset yesterday out in Carmel Valley. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/117/371/535/987/801/982/original/a92910b3bfc42da9.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas We had the wildest experience at a winery tonight where we went with our friend and her baby. I had stepped out for a work call for a few minutes when my wife came to get me because an older woman had come over from her table to verbally assault our friend about being a bad mother because her baby wasn't wearing a warm hat. Mind you it was 68f and everyone was in tshirts. And the baby was happily chilling and not fussing. The verbal altercation went on for ten or fifteen minutes. I had to get a manager involved. Otherwise probably punches would have started to be thrown. I thought stuff like this only happens in the movies. Anyway everything was comped for us, the woman got black listed and lost her wine club membership, and the evening got better after that. I have to wonder if the woman is having the start of a cognitive condition. That wasn't normal behavior. Her friend who had been in the bathroom when it started was in shock over the whole situation and took her out of there once she realized what was happening. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas exactly what you said. Unless the American voter is going to get really cool with a deregulated nuclear power industry and all of the potential pitfalls of that, there's no way any of these startups without hundreds of staff just dedicated to licensing and regulatory compliance are going to actually do anything useful. Although, certain national defense organizations could wave a magical wand around and build reactors at bases and perhaps escape oversight/regulation. https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4593065/department-of-war-announces-navys-first-advanced-nuclear-microreactor-deploymen/ npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas There isn't a "big mood" style of expression big enough to express the size of the mood I'm currently experiencing from your toot. This was all a mistake. We should go back to disconnected BBSes. Or maybe ditch all the digital stuff and return to encyclopedias. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Wow a friend from a decade ago in Colorado just passed away from cancer. She was 46. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas the really cool thing is that Monterey county literally just ripped out a rail line to put in a bus lane for a diesel powered bus to cut a few minutes off the time it takes the bus to go between two towns during rush hour. https://mst.org/planning-development/surf/surf-project-overview/ They say it'll be electric buses but so far I've only seen diesel buses doing the existing route on the freeway. And meanwhile the state wide plan for commuter and light rail connecting to the high speed rail network intends for that bus line to be a train line by 2050 😒 (Why oh why did we collectively lose the plot when it comes to trains?!) npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I wonder... But being a Tesla, I automatically doubt his story. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas just thinking about driving in Boston... Unprotected left are pretty much the norm from what I remember. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas so what did he do to piss off those dudes enough to cause that. Or is this insurance fraud. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas what an elegant plane! npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas It's kinda incredible how many bad children's books (especially for the zero to three year old range) there are. I've been reading books to a friend's baby and a lot of the best sellers and classics are frankly pretty bad. Like for instance The Pout Pout Fish now has a disclaimer at the front talking about consent because the book finishes with a fish kissing another fish without asking and then that other fish decides to go around and kiss a bunch of other fish without asking. Or The Rainbow Fish which has one fish harassing another fish for their clothes (I'm paraphrasing) until that fish is forced to share their clothes with every other fish so as not to be ostracized. Or Hello Garden Bugs which includes a worm and a snail. I'm pretty sure those are not bugs... Or Good Night Delaware which feels like someone googled top things to do in Delaware and then wrote a few pages of poorly rhymed words to go with cheap illustrations. But The Little Engine That Could is a certified banger. It's such a good book that it's the first one that Dolly Parton's Imagination Library sends out to kids. And it was a deeply impactful book for Dolly growing up. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas they're traceable if you have access to the typewriter to get a sample from it. I suspect there's a database somewhere that still exists that helps match the type font with specific brands and models. It's not quite as easy as tracing which printer a printout came out of but it's not untraceable. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas it's opt out up here. You've gotta explicitly ask because they don't ask if you're okay with it. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I've seen them chart with paper and pen locally when the computer system goes down 😬😬 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas sometimes you want something typed but not on a digital format. Ya know ... Like writing a manifesto. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas It's wild to me that the Monterey County Sheriff has filed murder charges against a 14 year old girl over the death of her newborn that her father caused via rape/incest while they still can't find her or her father. And they already arrested her mom and let her out on bail. https://www.countyofmonterey.gov/Home/Components/News/News/12339/14253?widgetId=11601 https://www.countyofmonterey.gov/Home/Components/News/News/12341/14253?widgetId=11601 It's a bit hard to believe that the 14 year old girl involved in this case was the mastermind behind killing her baby when her father and maybe mother were evidently there when the baby was born on a dirt road next to a strawberry field and left there. And there's a car involved that the sheriff had to call out Flock cameras in somehow helping identify/find (the sheriff is trying to get a ten year contract for the county with Flock to have over 100 of them on county roads which the community is overwhelmingly opposed to). But I doubt the 14 year old was driving... This is at the least a really bad look for the county sheriff to be charging a child with murder of her baby that was evidently created by her dad raping her while her dad still is hiding him and her. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas it's wild they didn't have local backups. That's like $1500 of cheap consumer external HDD. Get a few sets of them and keep them in some different safe deposit boxes, and they wouldn't be in this mess. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Wow Coulson Aviation Canada just acquired ten more C-130 planes for their Canadian tanker fleet to double their number of that platform. https://coulsonaviation.com/news/coulson-aviation-canada-acquires-10-former-rcaf-hercules-doubling-c-130h-fleet/ Fire fighting aircraft is a growth industry. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas My grandmother is like this. We're going through her house now as she is in assisted living and won't be able to be on her own anymore. There is enough paper products (tissues, towels, paper plates, napkins, etc.) from the Carter administration to last until the end of the second Barron Trump administration. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas $5.39/gal at the Costco gas station in Sand City/Seaside/Monterey, California. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Pro tip: don't discharge a Taser next to a gas pump. There's a first person video in this article from the guy who got tased https://www.jalopnik.com/2226689/man-tased-and-caught-fire-by-cop/ And here's a third person video https://www.instagram.com/reel/DblAvrBgUdE/ npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas The Old Trails Fire in #spokane #washington looks to be burning up a good chunk of the suburbs northwest of downtown 😬 https://share.watchduty.org/i/112554?ts=1785640729000 #wildfire npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas next on hoarders... A man with too many subwoofers npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas but think of how much money you'll save watching movies at home rather than going to a theater for the big bass hit! npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas you must surely have room in the attic or the back of the 4runner to hold onto it until I show up with a 36 foot box truck to haul away all of the subwoofers you're about to accumulate 🤣 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas oh we were coworkers then! npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas which division of Enron was he with? npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas So what would happen if net carbon emissions went to zero today? Would we be stuck at 429ppm for a very long time or would the CO2 slowly get absorbed via geologic and biological processes? Is this a situation where we need to start planting a ton of trees and then burying them to permanently sequester carbon back in the ground as fast as possible (unlike all of the crazy schemes to somehow sequester carbon via mechanical means)? What do the realistic paths back to 275 ppm look like? Are there any? npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I lived through Enron. It was not pretty. My father had a significant portion of his retirement in company stock because that's literally what the company was telling employees to do. He ended up spending an extra decade working beyond what he had planned because of that. I quit a week or two before the collapse to go start college. All of the guys I worked with lost so much money. And these were just blue collar guys. Linemen. Truck drivers. Storehouse workers. We all worked at Portland General Electric which at the time was a wholly owned subsidiary. And it turned out to be the only part of Enron that had any value. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas if you haven't seen it, you need to track down a copy. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas ooooooo you're so lucky 😍😍😍 If I were to do it over again, I would go into architecture rather than engineering so I could design homes like Eichler and Kech and all the others. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas for some reason you hunting photos of interesting birds makes me think of this absolutely classic Looney Tunes cartoon. Maybe because Nimrod was a mighty hunter until the world didn't realize Bugs Bunny was being sarcastic when he called Elmer Fudd "Nimrod." And also perhaps because of the Nimrod aircraft. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/978/758/713/941/165/original/b79cc31b2527c416.mp4 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas yessssss mid century modern is A+ https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/978/750/351/537/577/original/0fa91bca8a4a0d78.mp4 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I wonder when cameras will come standard with some immutable ledger to know for certain an image is as it came directly from the sensor. This has been a hot topic for a few years in the underwater photography community, too. How much editing is too much editing and where does AI fall in this? The annual Monterey Shootout is happening next weekend and the packets for the different categories has some details on where the line is for this contest. But there are a lot of big opinions about it all. https://www.montereyshootout.com/competition/ npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas #MountainMonday from almost exactly a decade ago. This is deep in the Kings Canyon National Park back country. Can any mountain sleuths recognize where exactly this is? Here's another hint: this area used to be popular with hunters and anglers before the park. There was a dude ranch a couple of basins away (that still exists although now it's just for the family that owns it rather than open to the public) that would horse pack people into this area. Down below treeline in the basin and canyon below there's also an acre garden planted centuries ago by the folks who lived here first. It's still full of species that are found on the east side of the Sierra Nevada but not in this part of the west side. These days this whole basin might get 20 people a year visiting if that. The trails that once were busy now have mostly been erased from official maps. There are a couple of traverse routes into even more remote areas of the park and the adjoining Sierra National Forest that hosts the John Muir Wilderness which is the main draw for people into here. (I know where it is so I can confirm if someone gets it right!) https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/953/638/360/028/246/original/5e1197c1345332d9.jpeg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas It was quite the sunset in Monterey tonight https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/910/984/835/686/131/original/a78496e3076e5415.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I like the latter option... npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas big yikes 😬😬😬 I guess that's a good reason to carry an emergency extrication tool when using this sort of vehicle. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas gonna be a bit sad when these get retired in favor of the C130 solution. What's old is new again. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas There's still a bit of mist and fog in the meadow at Forked Meadow, California this morning. The overnight low was 43f and it is currently 47f. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/782/861/892/693/616/original/852abc9e4a2d4f43.png npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas it moves things around the hospital slowly. It's supposed to save nursing time but it is not living up to the hype. https://www.wsna.org/news/2026/saying-goodbye-to-moxi-the-ai-powered-robot npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Saw this clanker tonight https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/774/481/539/817/008/original/4ee7b540c73a753d.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas there was something similar when we went to Cairo almost 30 years ago. But I think it was maybe six or eight steps and involved someone putting a physical stamp in my passport (like one you lick to stick on). And then another person used a stamp (an ink stamp) to stamp the other stamp. And there was some card we filled out on the plane that someone else I think inspected and wrote something on that then someone else had to stamp with an ink stamp. And that card then went to another person. And there was a luggage inspection in there somewhere. Luckily we had a company expediter meet us at the plane and he shepherded us through the whole process, paid the various fees/tips/bribes/baksheesh, talked to the various officials, arranged for someone to carry/guard/not steal the luggage, and whatnot. Otherwise I've got no idea how a normal person was supposed to navigate that process because there was no obvious order to what was happening. I've got to imagine the various highly bureaucratic societies consult each other and have contests on how they can invent new layers of bureaucracy. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas #SilentSunday https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/669/712/703/480/390/original/dfc1eccdcfd49a37.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas is that tree still not showing signs of the emerald ash borer? Oof it's so awful what's happening to all of the ash trees. It's a bit like how all of the chestnuts died. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I've been wondering if the same rules apply to wood fences as they do to wood decks... My parents were allowed to have wood decks because the boards were thicker than 2" (all custom milled on site from standing dead timber). Although recently they replaced the decking on the rear porch with plastic planks. So if you had a thick wooden fence, would that be okay? npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas * may not apply in extreme fire weather with ultra low humidity, high winds, and a fire storm heading your way. But then again, would defensible space matter all that much of a super charged wall of flames blow torched your house? npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas as long as the garden is lush and moist, it can serve as a fire break in many conditions. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I liked Belize when I was there passing through about 20 years ago. The vibes were off in a few spots but at least at the time it was less violent than other places I went on that trip. A friend of my dad's retired in the 90s and loaded his whole life into a used school bus and drove all the way to Belize from the PNW. He was there for 20 years before returning to the PNW to be closer to his grandkids. But I think he still spends winters down there in a condo. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas you'll end up writing travel guides for retired helicopter pilots of the Baja peninsula. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I know some people who go down to Baja every winter and live out of their RVs on the beach where they fish and eat tacos until the spring. It sounds pretty ideal. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I feel exactly the same way. The solstice is perhaps the saddest day of the year because it means the darkness is returning. The rest of the summer is filled with dread for the dark days ahead. I really need to start switching hemispheres at the equinoxes so it can be forever spring and summer. Just gotta suddenly get rich first without hurting anyone to do it. The huge painting of Big Sur that we've got in our living room is a good measurement point for the progression of the sun. There are several times during the spring and summer where the rising sun hits the painting and lights it up as if we were standing in the real spot as the sun comes over the coastal mountains in the morning. But it's only a week or two on each side of the solstice and about halfway between the solstice and either equinox. I dated a woman whose birthday is on the summer solstice. She always had the best parties and I never once got sacrificed to the old gods. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas The sun is marching hella north. We've got a few more weeks before it starts retreating south. If only it could be those few weeks before solstice forever. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/601/380/742/616/122/original/10b3da60ee2ffd5b.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Happy Mount St Helens Eruption Day to those who celebrate. My all time favorite symphony to play remains Symphony No. 50, Op. 360, Mount St. Helens by Alan Hovhaness. It's not a terribly complex or challenging symphony to play but the third movement is very fun at least if you're in the symphony. I'm not sure if I ever have heard it performed live as an audience member though. Maybe as a kid? Also I think this might be the most epic photo of the eruption (by Dick Lasher) aside from the series of photos taken by Reid Blackburn and Robert Landsburg who both died. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/595/967/140/698/606/original/69609213c335381a.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas somewhere deep underground in a cavern next to where they store the government cheese, there are rows of thousands of sewing machines sitting in the strategic sewing machine reserve waiting for the day they are needed. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas it's never too early or too late to have a midlife crisis 😅 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas it has a table!? Is my wife going to question my sanity yet again? 🤣 I asked her earlier today how thick of fabric her sewing machine could work with and she was like "uhm... no." npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas everyone's got a guy with a heavy duty sewing machine and I suspect I know it's the same guy that everyone knows 🤣 This also leads to the "just one thin mint" problem where I could do "just a bit more" and have a full custom flatbed with a cargo box. I would only need some tube steel, a tube bender, a slightly more powerful welder, some square tube, some angle iron, some foam core aluminum clad panels, some sheet metal, and a bunch of spray paint... npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas haven't you worked with heavy fabrics on a sewing machine? npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Hmm how hard is it to sew waterpoof fabrics such as canvas or clear PVC? How challenging would it be to make the canvas part of this topper at home? https://www.wild-top.com/products/wildtop-soft-truck-cap-for-2016-2023-3rd-gen-toyota-tacoma-5ft-bed-60-5-in I am still thinking about what to do for radio antenna mounting and I need more storage in my truck. A light-weight topper with a canvas tarp would work pretty well. But the WildTop design has a few things I'd prefer be different which I could make happen if I DIYed. The "challenging" part on this design is some bent sheet metal that I could make with a decent hobbyist sheet metal brake which I think a buddy has. I think it would make sense to use extruded aluminum t-slot material (like the "beast" high end version of the WildTop uses) although steel (like the other two versions use) would be fine and my buddy's hobby welder would be up to that task. Or I could just buy it from the company and live with the few things I don't love about it. Or modify most of those things myself later. The one thing that couldn't be modified is the angle that the sides are at. I think it's a little too inset at the roofline so it looks a bit wonky on a truck. But with enough other crap attached to it (270 degree awning, antennas, solar panels), it would not be noticeable. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas This is the weirdest timeline where the USA is greatly accelerating global transitions away from fossil fuels. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas As seen in #Corvallis #Oregon. I wasn't thinking of buying a house here but now I am 🤔 https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/511/102/836/316/791/original/9cec5e255cac1104.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas This has been a productive storm for #ForkedMeadow #California #CAWx https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/471/313/067/913/663/original/22ecba675dee8dac.png npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Wow the snow is really coming down now! https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/468/496/649/902/543/original/2241e0451354982c.png npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas And it's snowing again at Forked Meadow! Already 1/3" of precipitation has fallen with this storm. It's 33f so the snow is melting pretty much as it hits the ground. Hence why this photo of mostly a forest. The white stuff is snow. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/468/235/469/798/756/original/50097066497b6260.png npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I hope so! It would be a real shame if Cascadia loses cohesion. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I wonder how the Cascadia Cup will be handled if the Whitecaps leave. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Sweden's approach (not needing an agent) sounds superior. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Winter is not over at Forked Meadow. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/392/206/880/557/991/original/6ebd609dbe83c788.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Nice sunrise this morning in Monterey https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/329/875/075/811/701/original/c7af77e3e956c10c.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/329/875/177/069/350/original/a2cbf141c56135c4.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/329/875/280/669/187/original/ba40f5790342673a.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/329/875/394/655/404/original/4e2a36e8621d7302.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas A few photos from the mountains https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/314/911/611/314/350/original/4c889eb7672bf257.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/314/911/805/391/465/original/bef9164e8d8d105f.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/314/911/980/821/924/original/abb4e27599edcf0e.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/314/912/153/886/227/original/46c06c12c1a986e0.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Still haven't heard from my buddy who got rerouted through Dubai 😬 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I hope my buddy is on a plane in the air right now because he's not responding to texts 😬 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas A friend is flying from Manila to Chicago. He was supposed to go via Seoul. Somehow the airline rerouted him via Dubai 🤯 So now he's stuck in Dubai and having to take shelter because quite predicably there are certain events happening. How does an airline screw up so badly that the solution is to route people the other direction around the world knowing the layover might become indefinite? npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas It looks like it'll be another hot one in Monterey https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/256/129/074/934/535/original/e741f9cf09802f1a.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/256/129/211/106/379/original/055786fa0f65aa51.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I know people micro dosing glp-1s of various manufacturers. They at least seem to think it's helping. I'm guessing it's a placebo effect but if so it's a powerful one for some people. My own glp-1 experience has been quite positive as I'm using it off label for inflammation reduction. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas Dat sunrise https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/171/362/663/649/544/original/c8026cb970383935.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/171/362/755/982/020/original/03a305d524132164.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas More sunrise. My phone camera doesn't do it justice. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/171/347/934/527/636/original/4b8b0bfad76c08d9.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas The sunrise continues https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/171/314/710/639/246/original/8342c5c9d5407831.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas It's fixing to be a great #sunrise in #Monterey #California https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/171/262/173/911/291/original/da09bcfef693f70b.jpg npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas the closest place with a cell tower is on the other side of a large mountain range to the vehicle. I doubt BMW's cell provider reaches out there 😬 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas does that go via cell network or satellite? If it's satellite, they would have been able to get a connection 😅 Not so much on the cell service out there 😮💨 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas oh that's interesting that there's no spare tire and they're run flats. Those tires are hella toast. And the rims. I've gotta wonder how many different warning lights and sounds were going off on that dashboard when that BMW got stuck. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas these days AAA says they'll tow if it's within 100 feet of pavement but I think they only will pay if they arrange for the tow. That Toyota 🤣🤣🤣 They thought they were going to have a great time mudding but they didn't! Have you seen the recovery videos from the various playas in Nevada? It's epic what they have to do to drag people out. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas it appeared that the airbags were damaged and the rear driver A arm may have been broken. The car actually powered up when I touched one of the door handles but the pump wasn't able to charge the suspension system. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas the BMW was pointed away from civilization. I don't think they tried to turn around. npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas huh I never heard of that camp before! https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/incarcerated-japanese-americans-at-death-valley.htm npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas I can confirm that its blinker was NOT on 🤣 npub1t4eyadyxpv7ucrz2jszf5l0qn0vmp49060sfsy6rfygnqcdgvs3q5arh98 Douglas maybe you can find wherever these incidents get logged and follow its progress tonight and into the next few days 😅 That BMW is only coming out on a flatbed wrecker. https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/101/323/986/641/251/original/c72d14e1b21291aa.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/101/324/217/503/890/original/0e396a06b62645ac.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/101/324/382/463/383/original/47a5d2012b2681e0.jpg https://media2.ai6yr.org/media_attachments/files/116/101/324/542/836/631/original/c3172598b30a4288.jpg