Back to Joshua Tree National Park: I turn (gulp) 66

Arrived late yesterday afternoon. It is cold here. Brrrr.

This morning we did one of our favorite hikes. It was as beautiful as always. We are saving our favorite hike in this area for a different day. Both times we have done this favorite hike it has been so windy we thought the wind was going to blow us off of the mountain. And since this morning it was still quite windy, we are holding off for a day, hoping for better weather.

Today is my 66th birthday. For some reason, 66 seems older than 65 by more than one year. I remember feeling that 17 was also really old. Little did I know. Maybe 66 seems really old because now I am closer to 70 than to 60. That's a thought that will ruin a birthday.

I got bacon for breakfast--a real treat. Vicky also got me a new vacuum cleaner.

Actually that is a joke. She didn't really get me a vacuum cleaner big enough for a large house for a camper that has a floor space that is only 6 by 4 feet.

Yes she did. Well, sorta. She found it abandoned in a ravine. It appears to be brand new. Still has all of the attachments, filters are clean. She said it followed her home, so could she keep it?

We would like to try it out, but there is no electricity at our site. And if it works, then what do we do? We can't take it home with us, no room in the camper, but it's a better vacuum cleaner than the one we have at home. It's not like the park service has a lost and found. Besides, who in their right minds would call a national park to inquire if someone happened to find their full sized vacuum cleaner? I think you'd be too embarrassed to admit you somehow drove off without your vacuum cleaner. I would be.

For now, it is sitting outside our camper, on the off chance someone comes back for it. If nobody does, I hope someone steals it. Then we don't have to deal with it. If someone does come back for it, I'll try to get a photo and post it so everyone will know who left their vacuum cleaner when they went camping. I think this is something potential employers or spouses would want to know, don't you?

For my birthday I got a video made by Soren and Sebastian in which Soren sings the Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha. I had never heard happy birthday sung as a cha cha, but you know, it actually works! He called tonight to inform me that the honey I was being sent was to be saved for when he visits us because he likes it when Vicky makes him peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

My mother, sister, brother-in-law, and niece sent me an Ecard. My mother called yesterday, but I told her it didn't count since it wasn't officially on my birthday. But it actually counts--she called early because she knew we are often impossible to reach. I thanked her for having me. She did a good job having me. And raising me. And giving me, along with my dad, their all.

 

Vicky knitted me a sweater which I wore hiking today. Doesn't it look great?

I also played the Slate news quiz, and beat everybody, including the Slate employee.

You don't think they let me win just because it is my birthday, do you?

Ian, Adam. Jessica, and Jules called to sing happy birthday. We had an early birthday party with them before we left Whidbey Island.

In addition to my gift cards for a date night with Vicky, my birthday present was being trounced by Ian at one of his games where I still think he was making up the rules as he went along. Come on, Ian, admit it. I'm 66, almost 70, and am very sensitive. You need to let me win like the nice Slate news people did.

Speaking of winning (or more specifically, losing)...Ian and Adam are Seahawks fans. So are Jessica and my son in law, Sean. I have a sneaking suspicion that my son Jules has also gone over to the dark side, so it is nice to know I can still count on my daughter Emily, who by the way will now inherit everything except my old STP jackets which will go to my son and Jessica. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

So that's everybody, or almost everybody--I'm still waiting for my call from Peyton Manning. He's probably in meetings or some such nonsense.

A nice birthday. We spent thanksgiving at the Everglades, Christmas at Big Bend National Park, and now my birthday at Joshua Tree. Pretty cool.

 

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Dan turns 66

I had two birthday parties.  One was a couple of weeks before my actual birthday when Jules, Jessica, Ian, and Adam came to  Whidbey Island.  We knew that we would be back to the desert before the end of the month, so wanted to celebrate, early, with them.

The cup I got from Soren, with his name written on it.

 

 Two weeks later out in our camper, having my celebration on my birthday.

 I got a terrific meal:

 

gifts:

  

Including this nifty sweater vest that Vicky knitted for me:

 

 And a video of Soren singing Happy Birthday:

 Plus, of course (OF COURSE), MY BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Road trip 3.1 begins

After a 3 1/2 week trip to visit family, we are back where we began--Usery Mountain Park in Mesa, AZ.

We traveled to Fort Collins Colorado, to Whidbey island, and to Carmel, CA, to visit family. In those trips we took 19 forms of transportation (jets, shuttles, rental cars, busses, ferries, pickup/camper, etc.). I felt like a little kid keeping track.

We returned to an empty camper. So for the past three days we have re-provisioned ourselves for our anticipated one-month trip into Death Valley. We won't be there for a few weeks, though, as we are making stops at Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave Preserve on the way. Cans of food, cans of drinks, propane, water, gasoline, etc. It takes more time than one would think, but in actuality we have to be prepared with an entire month's worth of supplies. It's fun.

We carried from Whidbey Island to Carmel, CA to here a large canvas bag full of poop bags. There is another term for them, but that's what we call them. They are actually pretty cool, if you are into that kind of thing. They contain an enzyme that breaks down waste to be environmentally acceptable. We plan to be hiking and camping in places without bathrooms, so we need something. Vicky is OK digging a hole in the ground, but not me--I'm a refined and civilized gentleman. I prefer a plastic bag.

Vicky is no prissy city girl. That's for sure.

Her loo.

So starts Road Trip 3.1. The California desert leg. We are excited.

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Grandma reading to Marina and Stella

January 20, 2014

 Marina and Stella love to have me read books to them and I love to have them cuddle with me.  Grandpa took our picture as I was reading, “Little John," a book that I had read to my children:

The Battery Operated Life

When I was a child, we basically had only two uses for batteries--the main one was for flashlights (probably 75% of use of batteries).  Flashlights used D-cells.  The other was for various toys I had that ran small electric motors--I think these were called lantern batteries because they were tall and square.  Occasionally there was a use for a C-cell for toys.

But now, like so many areas of our lives, I have to deal with a huge array of batteries--not only more sizes than I can possibly ever keep track of, but a variety of materials that are in them--alkaline, lithium, valium, and dozens and dozens more.

Vicky and I have a pretty clear division of labor on our road trip (and even at home).  Clear divisions of labor have the benefit of getting everything done without hassle.

One of my jobs is to deal with batteries.  Seriously.  The job is so big that it actually goes into our informal division-of-labor list.

One of our first additions to the camper was to have a second battery installed in it.  It is a "deep cell" battery, which is different from a "dry cell" battery that usually goes into a car.  I monitor these batteries on a daily basis, to make sure the solar panel charges them adequately.

There are different kinds and types of batteries and chargers for our three cameras, different batteries and types of batteries for our hiking GPS units, batteries and chargers for our GoPro unit, batteries in the computer and in the ipad, batteries for our bicycle lights and GPS, batteries in our headlamps and in the various other types of electronic gear we carry (like cell phones, the smoke alarm, electric toothbrushes, the camper jacks control unit, the sound machine we use to drown out the sound of yapping dogs, the flushing mechanism on the portable toilet, etc.).  At least 15 different types of batteries, most with different methods of charging (and, of course, some electronic devices don't work well with rechargeable batteries so the batteries have to be replaced frequently).

We have three containers, each about a gallon in volume, for batteries, chargers, and cords.  I have to recharge everything using completely different set-ups when we are in a full-service campground that has electricity versus when we are in areas where our only source of electricity is the sun.   Every night when we camp I go through my mental list of batteries and decide which to charge when.  It is as constant a need as is food. 

When we returned home for our short January visit there were even more batteries to deal with--this time, with the Prius and with the wine bottle opener.

The Prius wouldn't start.  In the good old days when your car's battery had run down, you'd just plug in the battery charger, and by next morning the car would be ready to go.  Not so with the Prius.  The Prius has two batteries--one is a monster that is hidden deep within the back seat that provides the storage and energy to drive the car.  The other, much smaller (actually about the size of those toy batteries I mentioned at the beginning), is next to the spare tire in the back end and runs the computer that tells the big battery to make the car go.

The little one had run down.  Not surprising since the car had sat for a long time with no use.  I went ahead and got out the battery charger anyway, pretending it was a normal car, attached the cables to the battery, and flipped the switch to turn it on.  The car immediately lit up like a Christmas tree, with every interior and exterior light flashing like crazy, and the burglar alarm started screeching.  Oh great.

After fussing with it for awhile, what I did was as soon as the lights started blinking on and off and the burglar alarm started screeching, I tried starting the car.  Pure dumb luck, but it started!  The little battery that ran down doesn't need to crank a starter motor like in a normal car.  It just needs to send a signal to big battery to start the car.  And the little battery isn't recharged with an alternator, like in a normal car.  Instead, it is recharged by the big battery.  So I drove around for awhile to charge up the big battery, then let the car just sit for a couple of hours so the big battery could charge the little battery, and everything was a go.  I felt so clever.

So I thought I'd celebrate by opening a bottle of wine and having a glass to toast my cleverness.  Well, not so fast, Mr. Clever:  This meant I had to deal with another battery--the one in the electric wine bottle opener.  We had left it unplugged while we were gone, so it had no charge in it when we returned home.  It charges slowly, and I wanted wine RIGHT THEN.  Because I had been so clever and deserved it RIGHT THEN.

Our other bottle opener is in the pickup, in Mesa, and that was too far to drive to retrieve it, even for wine.  And I couldn't just hop in the car and run to the store for a box of wine, which you'd know if you had actually read the blog above instead of just skimming it LIKE I KNOW YOU DID!

Being handy, and desperate (and remember, clever), I just twisted the opener so the screw went into the cork, held the bottle between my feet, bent over, and pulled on the opener.  Just like they do in 5-star restaurants.  It popped right out!

Problem solved!

Oh........now how do I get the cork out of the opener?   You need to use the electric motor to do that.  And the electric motor won't charge with the cork in it.  Will this end up being the most expensive bottle of wine I have ever drunk? Now, what are you going to do Mr. Clever?

So I had to completely dismantle the opener.

I got the cork out, finally got it back together, and it is recharging.  I didn't ruin it.  And, I only spent about two hours on the whole process.  What else is life for?

(see the yellow thing?  that's the battery)

Does the brain's capacity just expand to deal with all of the types of batteries, chargers, and charging methods that we now have to deal with?  Was there always a dormant "deal-with-batteries" area of my brain that in recent years I have simply just activated?  Or does my brain need to steal from a part that was always working reasonably well to now deal with batteries?  Is that why I can't remember my children's names? 

Stella is 6 Years Old

Stella is an early January baby and as each new year begins she is a year older.  Today she and Marina came over and we all celebrated her 6-years-old birthday.

Our first surprise was that Marina and Stella came bearing a gift for us!  A beautiful bowl that they had painted and glazed and made with love:

 

In the afternoon Marina tried out her new roller blades:



I took my first jewelry class in college and have been making jewelry ever since.  I have an endless supply of beads and jewelry making supplies.  Whenever we see Marina and Stella they always admire the jewelry I’m wearing.  They are such girls!  Today they said they wanted to make something pretty to wear.  So they made their first piece of jewelry, a beautiful necklace:

 


Then we had cake with candles and Stella opened her presents:







Here she is modeling the hat that I knitted for her:



Stella did some housework for us and then they ran and played out in our little piece of paradise:





It was a wonderful day!

The privilege of being an old guy

What's the privilege?  I get to blather on about things, and not have to worry about what anybody thinks.  

I once saw a birthday card that I wish I would have purchased.  It showed an older guy standing with his arm around a younger one pointing to something on the horizon and saying something so ridiculously stupid that it was funny.

Inside, the caption was:  "One year older, one year closer to making up shit."

I knew, when I saw that card, that my time was fast approaching.  Yes!!!!!

Well, today I saw something in the South Whidbey Record that warmed my heart:  A marriage announcement for a gay couple.

The state of Washington recently approved gay marriage and legalized marijuana.  Vicky and I were one for two in that voting-- having voted against the legalization of pot.

Our reasons for voting against legalization were varied, but our feelings weren't strong.  One reason is nicely summarized by David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times.  Brooks is often considered a conservative, but I don't see him as one.  I think he has conservative views in terms of the benefits of a structured life, but he is a liberal in his thinking style and willingness to allow data to inform his opinions.  He also has a liberal thinking style in that he is not dogmatic--he can accept the gray areas of life.

The New York Times also recently ran a long article about genetically modified foods, and how a liberal city councilperson tried to deal with the fact that his liberal constituency refused to acknowledge the scientific evidence that there were no health risks from genetically engineered food.  And, further, that genetically engineered food could provide more and better food to people who otherwise had little access to good food. 

There is strong scientific evidence that Genetically Engineered Foods are no less healthy than are "natural" foods (whatever those are, since all foods have been modified over the years in one form or another), that organic foods are not healthier than conventionally-grown ones (although there may be other reasons to choose organic foods), and that childhood vaccines do not result in autism.  Yet, many who identify as liberals hold beliefs about these issues that are contrary to the results of the well-designed scientific studies.  It appears that many so-called liberals may not really be liberal at all, but are susceptible to the same biases that conservatives are regarding issues such as, for example, global warming:  "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts."

Folks:  Liberals are people who reason in certain ways--they aren't necessarily people who have certain types of beliefs.  And that way of reasoning is one that allows alternative views to be persuasive when the facts support them or logic demands them--in other words, they are aware of and take into consideration the notion of the confirmation bias and the power of this psychological mechanism in distorting judgment.   Liberals are also people who have a fundamental value that all people are equally inherently worthy of respect and decency.  Those two things (a liberal reasoning style and that fundamental value) are really the only litmus tests for being a liberal. 

OK.  Anyway, back to legalizing marijuana.  I also think our culture was better off before drugs were readily available starting in the early 1970s.  And I have seen too many people who get hooked on pot and never can get going in the morning.  We all pay for them in important ways. 

But, overall I was happy.  I'd much rather have "won" on the gay marriage issue than on the marijuana issue. I'm proud to be from Washington as a result of this change, and the article in the paper today really brought that pride home.  It's fair, it's right, it's good, and gives everyone the same rights to happiness (and sometimes misery, of course, but that's also good because it is just part of life).

My feelings about marijuana aren't nearly as strong as my feelings are about this issue--an important reason being that I don't believe there are sufficient data regarding the long-term effects of legalized marijuana in a culture like ours in order to be able to make an informed decision.  In some ways, I wish we had just stayed put for five years or so, and used Colorado as our experimental subject. Sorry, Colorado, but I would have been more than happy to have you be the first one out of the trench. 

Told you:  I'm an old guy with too much time on his hands.  Need to get back to hiking so I'm too tired for diatribes. 

Road Trip 3.0 (September 15, 2013 - Jan 1, 2014)

We are taking a three-week time-out from our road trip, to visit family.  We parked the camper in Mesa, AZ, and flew to Colorado. After a few days in Colorado, we have flown home, where we will stay for two weeks before flying to Carmel, CA (San Jose) for three days.  Roadtrip 3.1 will resume January 26.

Our little home parked at the storage facility.  It looks so lonely.  We hope it knows we are coming back.  

Bringing in the New Year

 

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