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.

Summertime Riverfront Kids Fountain

Observations

Inspired by another blog I occasionally read, what follows is about nothing in particular.

"But how do I get the experience?"
Gary is currently looking to advance. Tried at current employer and fell just short. Trying at others and falling just short. Seems the weak spot is not having experience in the position he's applying for. Sound like a kid just starting out looking for his first job? Well, at least that's what the decision makers are telling him. So now he's lleft to ponder how can he gain that experience at work while spending week after week after week, 8.5 hours a day, training newhires for the Delta/Peerless account. Or spend a few thousand dollars enrolling in a college to study behavorial sciences, corporate dynamics, ... and all the stuff he's experienced in the past 15 years.
Another thing he's found challenging is how to make what is "just doing my job" special. Yes he's done some pretty cool stuff, been innovative, a leader, but it's just part of doing the job. It's what you're supposed to do. So when asked, nothing stands out in memory.

Well wellness?
Frankly I'm tired of hospitals moaning about folks coming to the emergency room for a cold. And tired of doctors saying they have such a raw deal. Ember had a fever for three days - running between 101 and 103. We went to a hospital's branch office. They have Saturday hours. Our doctor does not. Our previous doctor, retired and then returned, had to close his Saturday and evening hours because a hospital bought his group. MOnday, we noticed another issue develop so we called our doctor. Without seeing her, he referred a specialist. She still had the fever. We called several of these specialists. Only one could see in a reasonable time - the next day. All others were 2 to 4 weeks out. If we felt we could wait 2 weeks, do you think we'd be calling you? Really now. The fever lasted through the week The specialist treated the other problem but did not think them related. Nor could she explain the fever. Nor was our doctor concerned. Call us doting parents, sympathetic hypochondriacs, whatever. It may be time to interview a few new doctors.
And our insurance is changing again. Seems Gary's work will pick one and then change every couple years. Just as well as the current one has a pretty limited network.
While still on the insurance topic - copay for prescriptions. Gary laughed out loud when he picked up a prescription for two tiny pills and the copay was $40. He asked if the pills really cost $20@. The clerk sheepishly claimed to not know. Taking another tack, he asked what it would cost without the copay. She'd have to actually have a prescription to ring it up and see. Okaaay. Then what if the script said 40 pills. She said with a grin, $40. She finally undertood what I was getting at - $20 a pill is ridiculous.

Something Positive
Was thinking to post this last weekend. Pop-pop visited several weeks back. We had some fun, got some work done, and just hung out. One excursion we went on was brought about by the luck of the weather. LST325 was docked on the Illinois River in Peoria. We had some rain which caused the river to rise. The rain continued to the north of us which kept the river up and LST325 couldn't make the planned trip upriver or return home downriver, being to high to pass under some bridges. So we were able to tour the ship with Pop-pop. Aspen had visited thru school so she played tour guide. The girls got to imagine living in such tight quarters, see guns, lifeboats, etc. Pop-pop enjoyed talking to the men that served on her. Happy Veteran's Day.

Die Gedanken Sind Frei

Was going though some old songs recently and came across this one. Leave it to Pete to knock me off my feet with a short, simple song.

Something I never want to hear again.

Call 911!

There's a car in the picture. There's a full size truck in there too. A refrigerator and freezer. Various toys. Woodworking equipment. ...what you'd find in the typical garage and more.

A couple Saturday's ago, we were going about our normal Saturday putzing in the yard, working on the house when we heard the frantic shout from two house away.
"Call 911!"

It only took a glance on the way to the phone to know what was wrong. A column of black smoke rising from Pat's garage. Pat is also known as Rocket Man.
Rocket Man is headquarters for the Peoria Area Rocketry Society. These guys don't just assemble model rocket kits. They build full scale replicas and original designs from the gorund up. Even making their own engines. This could be real bad.
While on the phone to 911, all I wanted to do was get off the phone and run. The call probably took all of 30 seconds and the operator let me go. I could give you the play by play but I won't. Let's just say we had a tense moment or two (who's in the house, locked door, where's Pat, where's the hose outlet, not going to fight it directly, spot fire across the street, too damn hot outside, ...) and that everyone is okay. Despite what a stupid cop said, nothing left the confines of the garage but for the smoke and ash. No big booms beyond aerasol paint and gas/diesel cans. Even the truck and car just burned up. No big fiery gas tank explosions.
The cabinet with the rocket engine fuel components was in the only corner still standing above six feet. You don't see it in the picture because it was moved away. Despite what the deputy fire chief commented to the newspaper (a good friend of ours by the way) rocket fuel had nothing to do with the fire. Or it's intensity.
But Pat's garage is gone.
Ember said it seemed like two Saturdays. The one that happened before the fire, and the one that happened after. Two long days in 18 hours.
We saw more traffic that evening than we'd see in a year's time. Our one block street has four houses on it. The only reason people were driving down it was to gawk. We thought "we ought to charge admission".
The girls thought, "we ought to do something for Pat and Karen."
So they put out a gate of sorts. Anybody going down the block would have to pass two sweet, smiling girls with a sign and a basket. That evening went well enough, they were up and out before Diane and I got out of bed Sunday. A very respectable sum was collected.

The girls are looking forward to building rockets with Pat in his new garage when it eventually gets replaced.