Posted by pete on May 10th, 2012 in DayToDay and Photos ·
Google is great. Google is good. Google is god? –and that is with a little ”g”.
Have you ever tried to search for a very specific problem but gotten trash? Ever tried to +limit your +search? And still been flooded with common google-bomb links? Links like those for “miserable failure” that used to point to George W. Bush’s website? — but now just point to a google-bomb wikipedia page, but I digress…..
My point is that if you legitimately search for something you are biasedly presented with the engine’s favorite (i.e., popular links). Which is great, unless, like me, you often don’t look for the popular solution. I am usually interested in the things that are not popular or figured out yet as in a “bug”. New bugs are often not “popular” and don’t float to the top of most queries.
So in the digital age, last picked may very well be the best solution. Confused? Think about it for 10 minutes….
Posted by pete on May 7th, 2012 in DayToDay and Photos ·
In the middle of a typically shitty Monday, I got a gem of a card at mail call. Our Regional Response Manager is awesome! It is amazing what a simple handwritten note can mean.
Posted by pete on May 6th, 2012 in DayToDay, Landscapes and Photos ·
Go out and did some trail work. First time out even though the weather has been pretty good. Water on Copperas Pond was crystal clear and emerald green.
Time for a little break. There are a number of flowers blooming but still leaf free.
Been waiting for two years for this to fall. Been bent over at a 90 degree angle just waiting to fall. The part leaning on the tree still is just the top half of the log that is on the ground. Brutal as it was a birch, very hard wood, and I forgot to bring my pulleys and anchor rope so no mechanical advantage today to help move bigger pieces.
But never underestimate what I can do with an axe in 60 minutes.
Posted by pete on May 5th, 2012 in DayToDay and Photos ·
Have decided to make a special effort to not “work” on the weekends from here on out. So I spent a good part of the day remodeling the stairs. While there is only one new tread technically replaced, got a good bit more paneling up and the rest of the steps are actually permanently attached including the tricky bottom step which I happily nailed (cut) in one attempt.
The Cat of course was “helping.”
The yard is covered with purple (bunch of different violets) and yellow (dandelions). Hate to think about mowing.
But the deer have been mowing down the day lilies. They are getting to be a serious problem.
Think this is maybe how I would like to see the deer the next time, as dinner. But this dinner was just Bison burgers and bratwurst. Can’t believe how many meals I have cook/smoked on this little grill. Best $17 I think I have every spent.
Posted by pete on April 15th, 2012 in DayToDay and Photos ·
Not quite. Spring is not here, but getting there….
You can’t quite see the snow top in this small of a pic, but trust me it is there and the water temp and total lack of leaves reiterate that we still have another month before we can call it spring.
The asparagus I planted last year is starting to push up. Almost edible size already compared to the toothpick thin ones that I planted two years ago, which are also pushing up a little, but still stupid thin.
A few of the perennials are starting to show in the garden, so it is time for some transplanting because I don’t like how I have some of the height combinations. I am also starting to put pavers around the edges to help control the grass. Amazing how fast the grass can spread into the beds.
Lots of weeding still to do…..and yes it is stupid stupid dry so I watered the new transplants. There are two to three decent brush fires a week right now and there have been some major fires in Massachusetts, Long Island and Colorado. Going to be a busy busy fire season this year across the whole U.S.
And on the topic of fire, dinner. Mahogany brown and the BBQ sauce has not even been put on yet. Love my slow cook/smoke method, TASTY!
Posted by pete on April 14th, 2012 in DayToDay ·
Malvina Reynolds may be rolling in her grave, but old Pete may be still smiling. 40 years later, the message lives on…
It is an interesting rendition, but the cardboard motif is a nice addition and the message is “just the same.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM8JhvfoqdA
BTW: And yes…many of their other videos are obvious edits…just in case you missed it…(e.g., Somebody I use to known)
Posted by pete on March 31st, 2012 in DayToDay and Photos ·
Spent the day in the Albany warehouse with an AmeriCorps/Red Cross volunteer building (rebuilding) shelter kits for the region. Turns out I have a unique ability to fit a stupid number of baby diapers into a one gallon ziplock; trust me it is not a skill many people have and you can fit way more into a gallon bag that you can imagine. Additionally, the smell of diapers is quite gagging even when they are new.
We got 11 kits done today. That leaves only about 20+ some more to go. I mentioned the our region is large. To get a better visualization of it (map), our regions includes Ulster, Dutchess, Green, Columbia, Schenectady, Albany, Rensselaer, Montgomery, Fulton, Saratoga, Washington, Hamilton, Warren, Essex, Franklin and Clinton counties.
Top two most important items in a shelter kit: coffee and hand sanitizer, the rest is just icing
Way in the back you can almost make out a mobile kitchen. It is not used by the Red Cross much anymore because they just call the Southern Baptists, who pretty much can get anywhere in the US in about 12 hours and be cooking for thousands. Wonder if anyone would notice if it went missing, it is actually a kitchen to drool over.
Posted by pete on March 30th, 2012 in DayToDay and Photos ·
Anytime there is packing going on, the Cat seems to be close, sometimes supper close. Better to be safe than left I guess. At least she is not sleeping “in” the packs this time, because these are not actually for this weekend.
I have instead traded hauling logs, shingles or other heavy stuff for diving many hours, far too early, south to assemble and inventory shelter kits for future deployments. This ARC region is huge. To drive “straight” from north to south takes over 4 hours and don’t ask about east&west for the number of volunteers we have.
The fire response the other night was only ”33 miles” away, yet it takes over 60 minutes to get there. Luckily, it is not about how far it is but how far you are willing go.
Crampons, water bottles, multiple packs…means “something” is a foot….better stay close to assess….
Posted by pete on March 23rd, 2012 in DayToDay ·
My first response as a Disaster Action Team (DAT) Trainee : Red Cross aids four families after Saranac Lake fire, though I mostly watched my mentor fly through pages and pages of paper work with the clients. But I did call in the summary response to the media phone!
Posted by pete on March 20th, 2012 in DayToDay and Photos ·
The last week has been in the upper 60s and 70s. It is going to be 80F Wednesday. There is little to any snow to be found and many of the lakes in the eastern region are about ice free. Looking back at posts from the last couple of years, it has varied a lot but this year takes the cake.
Beaver pond at the base of Whiteface is ice free. Crazy….
