new car

Who would buy a new car without at least sitting in it?
We needed to improve our gas mph on one vehicle so spent a bout a month shopping. Looking to purchase a Yaris, Fit or Rio5 proved quite difficult as the dealers in the area didn't have them on their lots. One even went so far as to ask for a deposit and he'd order one that would arrive in 4 weeks. We laughed at that. Who would buy a car without ever having seen it in person, let alone sit in it or drive it?
We drove 40 miles to Bloomington/Normal and were able to see (and sit in) all three models - two of them at a single dealer. I don't see how the Peoria dealers are growing their business. Must be plenty of lazy brainless people with too much money in Peoria. As it turns out, none of them passed armpit test.
A potential car for us had some very clear required features. We made it as simple as possible for the half dozen salesmen we worked with. Primary on the list was the arm pit test. Could Diane reach out of the window? This meant either a low door panel or a seat that can adjust in height. That helped in looking at cars. A quick sit would exclude it without further discussion. Many of cars (especially side impact airbag equipped) have tall door panels these days.
Buying the Saturn was a mistake. We got ourselves backwards on the types of vehicles in our driveway - neither of them breaking 20 mph. And despite the salesman's claim, that Saturn was not capable of pulling the camper. It was a lot of dead weight.
The Explorer we bought a couple years ago we got lucky - bought it quickly after it was driven on the lot. Priced too low really. Had three offers to buy from us at a couple hundred over what we paid, knowing they could still make a profit after a little body work. It's the right car for us tho - kid hauler, dog hauler, adventure support, 4 wheel snow monster, ...
This time, patience won the day. If it didn't match all of the criteria (price, mph, armpit, AT, etc.) then we walked away. No settling. Nearly four weeks later we found another underpriced car. And it fit all the measures and then some. We jumped 50% in mph. And with gas over $4/gal today, that feels smart.

The Field

The don't make buildings like this any more. It's a shame.


I'm not even a student of architecture yet The Field Museum of Natural History building itself held my interest as much as what it contains.

What inspired us to go was some friends from New England were vacationing in the upper Midwest, so we rendezvoused there. The museum also had an exhibit on mythic creatures we've been wanting to see.
It's another silly example of something close we don't take advantage of.

Ketchup

A brief summary of the summer so far.
Aspen competed with the YMCA swim team this summer. Big improvement over last year and does pretty well in her age group for a summer only swimmer. Glad to see the early morning practices end.
Aspen and Mom went to Savannah, GA for Aspen's Girl Scout Troop fly up to cadette. Way too much to write about there.
Dad and Ember went backpacking for a couple days while they were away. Did practically nothing the entire time. "It should be an annual event" - Ember
Major work on the house remodel has been suspended for effort to be focussed on installing a hot tub. Diane has waited long enough.
The Saturn wagon has convinced us to get rid of it. The only car we have not taken over 100k.
Gas prices and the unreliable Saturn had Gary tweak a bicycle a little to pedal to work. He did it a couple times one way last year - fear-sourced adrenaline had him pedalling to fast. This year he kept his head, ignored the idiot drivers, and quite enjoyed the ride. The plan is to pedal to work twice a week.
Aspen may have a similar allergy to dad regarding bees. She had a strong localized reaction, just before the Savannah trip. Her foot swelled up nicely.
Ember leaves for Girl Scout camp Sunday, at Camp Peairs on Lake Bloomington. Diane and Gary volunteered there a couple seasons before the girls were born. She'll be an L.I.T. Hopefully learn to sail. Ad we're sure she'll teach a few things also.
The barn swallows came back, and decided the nest shelf was good enough this year. Second brood is near hatching.

Unity is strength.

Knowledge is power.

Attitude is everything.

Now that's what I call a compass rose!

I stumbled across a reference to the world's largest compass rose while doing research for work today. Now, those are two words that never fail to catch my eye - compass rose. If there is one thing I don't collect that I wish I could it would be compass roses. They are amazing works of art sometimes yet serve as a simple tool.
So when I got home, I Google Earthed it to get an aerial image I could put in perspective.

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California is the home to the "world's largest" compass rose. And 50 years ago, I don't think anybody made it with making the world's largest in mind. It's visible from over 20 miles up. The numbers are visible from 30, 000 feet. The magnitude is astounding for more than just the sheer physical size. Think about ...
-how to make such a straight line
-smooth curve
-line it up correctly
-maintain the image in a sandy / dune environment

There is equally amazingly little on the internet about it. Just the same reference repeated over and over, various photos, and a link to an EAFB page that doesn't exist anymore. Consider the proximity to Area 51 and the top secret North Base, I guess I shouldn't be surprised?

So the girls and I did some looking around. Trying to find things we could relate to for comparison. We found some jets but how big are they in comparison to this object? Treid to find what were could be sure was a car but the resolution isn't good enough to tell whether it's a car, truck, semi, or humvee. We found the residential area of the base. That got us close to a relatable object - baseball field and houses.


Here is 270 degrees with the space shuttle's 747 jet that it piggy backs on.

Then we measured it using Google Earth tools. And took a quick hop to our own back yard. One of the numbers (the 8 in 180 I think) will fit in our yard. We have a very big yard for Peoria. To walk across the circle would be similar to walking to Huck's from home. Not a walk they do even when there's a free slushee waiting at the end.
Big things in perspective.
Sure would be neat to see some day.

Spring has sprung!

The woodland spring flowers planted in the shade of a hackberry tree in the yard have come up. Spring is really here. This first picture really shouts "Hooray for Spring!" as the bloodroot blossoms stretch for the sky.


Here's another bloodroot shot. The droplet of water was a challenge that I couldn't meet. Was trying to capture the natural reflection that occurs but just couldn't get the right angle or close enough without causing a shadow or crushing flowers.


This trillium amazed me with the pattern in it's leaves. I've seen hundreds, thousands of them. And never noticed this camouflage pattern before.



Notice beside the trillium is wild ginger. I always enjoyed showing them to kids while doing outdoor education walks. It gets them looking for the forest's secrets and hidden treasures.

Picked up his hammer and saw

I was off this week, taking the usual Spring Break time off. We usually take a camping trip to Southern Illinois and Shawnee National Forest, but it's a bit early in the year for camping this year. And most of our usual spots to explore are inundated. Here's a picture of a favorite picnic spot and spillway to play in, by Gretchen Steele. Notice the mist from the torrent that is the spillway, and the picnic tables.

So off to the new Mega-Menards to get some fresh mud, dust off the knives, and get to work in the girls bathroom. Diane and Aspen pitched in with stripping off the remaining wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom. I had alot of fixing to do upstairs. Some rough patches here and there, dings and pock marks, loose tape, and all of it painted over. A well meaning helper's work. Should be painted, again, this week. Then we can finally get some flooring down and get the hulking vanity and countertop out of the hallway. And start over again in finishing that space. There's too much stuff there now to do anything but walk through.
Some lessons learned:

1. Even good tools fail. (more on the tools I've been using later)
2. Supervise the un-supervisable. They may mean well, but it isn't their house. Nobody cares about the quality of work more than you do when it comes to your house.
3. If I keep looking, I can find more faults by the builder - Blackhawk Construction. (more on them some other day, or by request) Once again, nobody cares more about the quality of work more than you do.
4. There is always something somebody can do to help. Just be willing to give up a little.
5. Diane likes to pound nails into underlayment. "Sure beats housework."
6. Every once in a while, technique slips to art. I managed to lay on a strip of drywall mud so smooth, sanding it would have ruined it. 3 feet out of 400? in that room. For another example, the last minute or so of this video -
7. Measure twice, cut once. Measure three, four, five times, cut it correctly the first time.
   
8. There is no such thing as low shrinkage anything.
   
9. If you want to scribe a piece to match a wall, corner, whatever, don't attach the piece next door yet.
10. Bare drywall isn't a color scheme.
    

Another man dies

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
Plato

School Lockdown

Everything is fine. Nobody is hurt. False alarm.

The school was on lockdown for a couple hours today after a parent called the school to report a rumor that a student had a gun at school. After searches and interviews, no gun. Kids released to go home. Life back to normal.

Winter's come

Looks like we're having the first real winter in any clear memory. Started icey, never really recovering with a warm spell like it has in recent years.

Now we're snow covered. Slow accumulation over a few days. The predicted, and predicatably dependable, winds to blow it all into the river did not come. Yet.