The Aspen Trees In The Sierra Nevada

Some how, trains and planes have found away into my soul. The joy that I get out of watching them work is not from some mechanical ability that I have, but from the dynamics of how they operate. My mom had told me that when I was a baby, I had been on a train and had let the sounds of the thumps in the rail joints put me to sleep. While mom was able to confirm before she passed that my earliest memories that I had described to here were when I was 18 months old. So the train ride was not remembered having been made before my 18 months of life. But I can tell you, in my roomette aboard the Zephyr, that ride of shifting from side to side also put me to sleep as most of the tracks today are seamless and therefore, no clicking and bumpidy bump bump sounds.

Several decades ago, I had taken the San Francisco Zephyr, now known as just the California Zephyr. Boarding first, the Lake Shore Limited along the lower Great Lakes, it carried me to Chicago where I transferred to the Zephyr after a four hour lay over. One of the things that makes riding the train that romantic concept was that trains don't rush. While they work hard to maintain their schedules, the mechanics of railroading just some times allow for delays. But, ever since then, I have wanted to complete that trip from Denver, to Salt Lake, to Reno, to Truckee, California and on the last couple hundred miles to Emeryville, California. Had I completed the trip on my initial ride with Amtrak, I would have been routed up to Cheyenne, Wyoming out of Denver. I've been to Cheyenne by car so the change would be a welcome one for me in as much as the upper Colorado River provides some of the greatest scenery through Nevada's Carson range of the Sierra and of course, the western Sierra from California's Central Valley into the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

In search of web cams along the Zephyr's route, I found one in Truckee, California. The camera catches both the # 5 and the #6 as they stop at the downtown rail station which the camera pans. Looking at the station and both ends of the tracks from East bounds to West bounds as well as the main part of town at Donner Pass Road and Bridge Street. There is also a lot of freight trains, but the Zephyr has priority (Amtrak). The lines in Truckee are run by the Union Pacific Railroad. Any how, when the camera hits the mid section view, the Aspens are along the ridge on the far side. But, there are a couple right under the camera where the tops show. The colors are getting better day by day at 7,000 feet elevation.  Which is another item of the Zephyr and the freight trains. Railroading presents those problems and if you like to see long trains with many many engines it is because the mountain inclines are steep in the area. One of the two tunnels is inoperable at the moment so the east bound and west bound must share the one open tunnel. Still, it is the pulling and pushing of long freights trains up and down the mountains that require such make ups of 4 lead engines, 2 in the middle and 1 on the end. In the winter, you get to see some pretty spectacular snows. The Truckee station is also the regions Track Management and they have a couple of snow trains that go out and clear the tracks in the passes where the heavy snows have slid down onto the tracks. One heck of a snow blower and plow I might add. All of which can be viewed from the web cam.

The Truckee Airport is for general aviation and some pretty big jets land there.It is in the heart of ski country as well as Lake Tahoe. During the summer and ski season, the tarmac is full of private jets. I even saw a single engine jet land there a few weeks ago. It was the first one that I have seen with a single engine. Cute little thing. You can really tell the men from the boys by the price of their toys. 

So, as we are officially in Meteorological fall already (Sept 1 to Dec 1) not to be confused with Astrological fall which hits around the 20-22 of September that some still follow. While going to the DPS to get my drivers license renewed, I rode the bus. That was my first outing since my last discharge from the hospital. over 4 months ago. Being able to ride and just look out the window at all the changes that have been made since my days of working my shoot wagon wheel. I took buses that took me down some of my old wagon wheel route. There were a lot of trees with flipped leaves. Past post have talked about the meaning of flipped leaves. In short, a sure sign that fall is not getting ready to start, it already has. 

Where planes are concerned, American has started parking planes again on the SE quad of the 18's line up and wait area. No sign, this thing is anywhere near over with the layoffs and a second parking of planes. Old Doug has his hands full, as does his new counter part at United's, Scott Kirby, on the job as CEO just over 100 days! Ouch! That reminds me. I should go rest a bit.

Update---In just the wee hour or two since posting, American has removed the 11 planes that they had parked in the SE quad of 18's line-up-and-wait area.  All the construction vehicles that are working on the 18's upgrades are now parked there. They could have been moved to other areas of the airport but I don't think so. I'll have to check the flight logs at Victorville and see if they have put any into storage that matches the static number of yesterday.

I will try to keep you updated to those that want updates. It is news in the Airline Industry and that means jobs for a lot of people and a potential adjustment for share holders at-large.

All Races, Colors, Creeds, Families, Sons, Daughters and Individuals.

 Thanks to NOAA for putting this image in the public domain and for the many millions in their archives, Space has brought us close together and it is hoped that images such as these will draw us closer to our neighbors on this beautiful planet. 

Taking care of this planet is paramount and that takes all of us to do that. If each of us takes just one spot in our hearts and minds, to work together in all things, then look what we can really accomplish. And the space that we have used to divide us, will be overgrown in goodness and brotherhood, kindness and love. Let's get to work!

I Will Not Buy Store Bought Cold Slaw or Potato Salad Ever Again.

 While 2020 has been somewhat cruel to all of us this year, it has been a learning curve in the kitchen. Trying to be less dependent on red meat a couple of years ago, my meat dishes shifted completely to fish, chicken or pork. Once in a while when the craving for cow was pushing the demand needle toward that mark of "Lost the Battle", a  rib eye or New York Strip found its way into the fry pan. That way, I was more willing to go back to the chicken, fish, pork rotation after having that "red meat" guilt feeling. 

Vegetables have never been a problem. But sometimes, I like to make chicken salad or some such thing that is light and easy to fix. I like open face vegetable sandwiches fresh out of the broiler. They are easy to make and are a yummie food during the summer and early fall. Usually, with those, I will add cold slaw or red potato salad. I buy those at the good 'ole K-Rogers which has kind of fallen out of favor for me since they took away their senior discount program. Personally, I have found that their prices have actually increased, contrary to what they advertise about their savings. 

So, there have been some items that I have not tried my hand at in the kitchen---like cold slaw and red potato salad. I guess it was just easier to wheel by the deli cold rack and pick up either cold slaw or potato salad than try to make it myself. With so much time being inside these days, I ventured into the unknown and started to experiment to find some where close to the taste that I would expect from either or both of those two dishes. 

The first experiment was with the cold slaw.  It only took a couple of tries before I found that taste that I have liked with cold slaw, especially when I have fried chicken breast. The two just go together with iced tea, sliced tomatoes and sometimes, backed beans. 

For some reason, I just didn't think that potato salad would be just as easy as the cold slaw. Turned out (I'm on my fourth batch this week) to be more easy than I had thought.  But, the old taste buds  were jumpin for joy. That tangy taste was just right. It even comes in under the calories of the store bought variety by some 40 calories. For me, that is important. After my hospital stays, I dropped some 40 pounds and have been able to keep that weight off. 

There will be several things come out of 2020 that were good and positive. But the end game is that my cooking skills have taken another jump forward. Keeping a balanced meal and still keep the daily calories at just under 2000 calories has not been a problem. But, with the two new acquired skills under my belt.  I'll not be buying those items store bought  anymore.

What I Discovered About Ice Cream Scoops.

It goes without saying, for anyone who knows me, that I like...strike that...I love ice cream. Always have.Always will. In fact, I like it so much that I even eat it in winter. Funny thing about that. I also like wearing shorts. Always have. Always will. The thing about shorts is that my former neighbors used to take bets how early in the season someone would see me wearing shorts.Then, they would bet on how late in the season I would be seen wearing shorts. To me, shorts were not just for summer. That applies to this topic about ice cream for those that wonder why I jumped from ice cream to wearing shorts. They both are brothers to me from my standpoint. Before I go back to talking about ice cream, I'll end the short story with a small ending. I've been known to walk the beach in the dead of winter at Pawley's Island wearing shorts and a windbreaker? I will mention that it had snowed that morning in South Carolina,too. 

 

 Years ago, I had my first taste of Friendly's Ice Cream in Boston. Yummie! years later, in the lower Great Lakes, Friendly's build a store in a shopping center near my home. Used to walk up to Friendly's at night to get a double dip of double chocolate.Because my taste buds are so active---I can taste several different things from one bite of something prepared--- Baskin-Robings or other places just didn't compare to Friendly's taste. At the western edge of Lake Erie there was a Franklin's ice cream store. That had pretty tasty ice cream products, until Friendly's came to town. I dropped Franklin's like a hot potato and went back to Friendly's. Back here,in Dallas, Braum's is the equivalent of Friendly's and Franklin's. Although, they are based in Oklahoma, as long as it's not football season, I start out at Braum's drive through window in March thru August, then I go to Kroger and get their churned Butter Pecan from September until March.

 Any way, since I am without a car now and have turned my world upside down according to habits, I have been getting weekly deliveries of Butter Pecan from Kroger. And, with loosing so much weight in the hospital from November last to the end of May, I have watched my calories, eat much more healthy than before (I was eating healthy beforehand). Never-the-less, I was making a good effort to be lean and mean again by fall when I could get out and walk more without the Texas heat, humidity and dew points being much of a concerned. My old trusty ice cream scoop is a one piece molded scoop that I like. No springs or gears to worry about...just one nice scoop in which to scoop my ice cream. But, being more wise today than I was years ago, I tossed the card that it came on giving the size. I've tried to measure it wet and dry and pretty much have it down to a scoop some were between small and medium. Wouldn't you know it. So I started a bit of research on ice cream scoops. Boy, did I open a can of worms with that. I soon found out that even the old USDA of USA that usually sets the standards for such things was a bit more uncommitted to saying in print what was standard. Surprising? Not really. 

Over the years, I have watched Washington waffle all over the place to not have something riccochet back at them. As I got farther into the research, I discovered that one small scoop was 88 calories of ice cream. One medium scoop was 133 calories. Now, let the modern era waffling begin. There are Large and Medium scoops that the USDA gave info for. Large ones are 3 table spoons; mediums are 1 and one-half tablespoons. Where on earth is the small? They reported earlier that the small was 88 calories but fail to say how many tablespoons before they start giving scoop sizes. Like, #8 which is 4 ounces or 1/2 cup. A #6 is 5 1/3 ounce and a # 40 is 4/5 of an ounce. Then, they report 1.57 inches for a small;1.96 inches for a medium and 2.36 inches for a large. But get this... for a liter, (that's the big tubs like in the ice cream store) it is 4.2 cups. And finally, they say, 1/4 to 1/3 cup is roughly 2.5 ounces. Now I know what the great Chef's of the world know. Just pour a pile of salt in the center of your palm, dump it into the pan, look at the camera and say with confidence after a slight pause: 1 tablespoon.

 From this day forward, I'm taking the calories in a half-gallon of ice cream, divide it by three and log the calories as 1 scoop or 2 scoops of what ever the remainder shows up on the calculator. Also, I have found a new meaning to what waffling is, big time! 

I'm going into the kitchen now, chunk up two biscuits that I make after lunch, dice three nice strawberries on top of the biscuits and with my trusty friend in the silverware drawer, dip myself 2 dips of butter pecan. That's one dip on each side as it sets before me. See, USDA...I didn't waffle on that, buddy! Especially when it comes to my ice cream!

 

The Thing About Recycling Is That It Is Also Artful

Several years ago while out on a shoot, I came across an interesting thing that reminded me of how fun recycling can be as a photographer, but could/can generate a nice chunk of change. Unfortunately, here in Dallas, while they do have a recycling notion and make some attempt at making it pay for the city, it isn't a big deal. What I'm trying to find out is just why that is and why doesn't the school system not make it pay or even develop a summer program.

 

 The problem is---this is the south, my birthplace, but also, there is no effort to have a recycling area where people from all over the Metroplex bring their glass, aluminum, steel, paper, newspapers, etc.,etc. that kicks out change, even dollars, depending on what you feed the machines. I have seen the Owens-Illinois recycling program at work. One machine had a colorful facing of an animal and it only accepted a specific item. The next one was much the same, but used names like Deno the Dino for one item right on down the line. And speaking of lines, on Saturdays and Sundays,and Holidays, the place was packed with cars with their trunks open and bags of sorted materials were heading to the main arena to fed the animals. It was not only unique, it was fantastic!! Even the adults were excited to go to the zoo. That was the O-I zoo as some had aptly named it.

 

 Just a decade or so I ran into a guy who with his twin brother ran a recycling operation that used pay outs like the O-I center did in the 70's. He even made a trip to Hong Kong to talk to a government official about developing a project that used recycled items. Unfortunately, the interest stopped. I also knew a guy who for his family were big into recycling in Hong Kong and Singapore. In fact, his father was know as the "plastic king of Hong Kong". It just boggles my mind that Americans just don't want to take the time or anything else concerning recycled materials. Even though it is being done. It's not a uniformed industry. It is after all, TRASH!! 

 

Walmart has recycled big time from all its stores and pocketed millions from it. I think about that every time I see a Seven-11 big gulp floating down White Rock Creek, or blown up next to a fence somewhere. Now, I know that 7-Eleven

can only sell the product and does not expect its patrons to stand around drinking it from that cup and then putting it into a trash can so it can be recycle. But, from another standpoint, recycling could become a tax base. Since all the fast foods print their names on like cups, you could encourage an organization that volunteers to pick up those cups and bag them by the name that is on the cup. That could apply to bottles and beer cans as well. Then, by counting the most for say 7-Eleven and then McDonald's or Chick-fil-A, even Whataburger and Sonic, the ones with the most got paid $0.05 each, the next highest got $0.04 and so on.The city could then charge a tax on trash found on the street using the ordinance already on the books.  The ideas are endless.

 

Now the little squirrel that I photographed in a park fabricating a Chick-fil-A cup into a piece with no bottom or top and then slickly cut it down one side before he carried it up to his nest, would not like that. He had even made an effort to go into a trash can to pull it out and then carry it across the street to his tree. But if recycling can be done by a squirrel, why not humans! Don't get me started on issue of what it means to Art! 

 

 

Photographers Really Do See The World Differently

 

Photographers See The World Differently T-Shirt
by sam6372

Fire Danger Increases For Texas

 

The National Interagency Fire Center has issued its prediction for increased fire danger across the U S. The link above is for a view of the map. Not only is it helpful, it's also very interesting because it uses the NOAA's satellites. Stay Informed!! In these times, it is paramount. 

Fire Danger Maps

When the page opens, look to the right column that says: In the spotlight. Scroll down to Outlook and click. That will open up a series of U S maps.