Amusing Stuff

In the region of America south of the 45th Parallel, in general, you get a long handled teaspoon with you iced tea. North of there you only get a straw. If you go farther east you could get sweetened iced tea or even raspberry flavored without asking for it. These are generalities but they seem to be fairly consistent. I don’t know why it always surprises me when I travel around and find the teaspoon rule adhered to so reverently. Probably means nothing.

Some other miscellaneous musings:

The Lake Boren Transit Center, to be completed within the next half century, has received a prototype vehicle. It’s a demonstration model successfully introduced in other venues and there’s a good chance it will be adopted. We certainly hope so. The current transit vehicles in other cities can’t come close to this prototype. I bet once they have a whole fleet of these babies ridership will go up dramatically.

DB Cooper has been found yet again. His parachute has been recovered. The FBI will analyze it and in about six months they’ll announce that there is no conclusive proof that it was the actual parachute used by DB Cooper. Taxpayers will once again pay for exhaustive analysis on stuff found in the woods that has no bearing on anything.

The Seattle Sonics may not move after all. Basketball Commissioner, Howard Stern or somebody, announced that the Key Arena is not a proper place to play professional basketball. No wonder the Sonics are in the cellar. The world will hold its breath awaiting the next chapter in this never ending saga. The real point is which group of taxpayers will be tricked into supporting these “over paid prima donnas.” No offense to actual persons named “Donna” but this is pretty lame. Now Oklahoma City has announced the commercial naming right for their arena will cost $4.5 million. Any suggestions? I might have one but it’ll cost you $4.5 million to hear it.

The Alankan Way Viaduct is still sinking. It’s down another 3/8 inch. That makes a total sinkage of 5 and a half inches. At 6 we sell. No kidding. Somehow they looked into the magic reflecting bird bath of the future and saw a message in macaroni saying that if the viaduct sinks 6 inches we have to close it for major repairs. Since Christine is going to demolish it in a couple years we might as well fire up the bull dozer and start today.

The state asked for bids to build the first of five proposed new ferry boats. We really need ten but Tim Eynman has squashed any hope of that. Anyway, the only bid is $9 million above the estimate. So instead of only half as many ferries as we absolutely need we’ll only get a quarter. I just hope the paint can hold the hulls together for another 50 years until we all have flying cars and don’t need ferries any more.

And last; I was reviewing my TODO list after breakfast this morning. Then I looked out the window and saw snow. Wow! That cut my list way down. So I went to Bellevue Square to visit the Rolexes. They said, “Hi.”

But there are places where it’s 77 degrees with a light breeze. Sheesh.

Al

Butterfield Rapid Transit Briding

Butterfield Overland Rapid Transit Bird Watching:

Pyrrhuloxia http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/706/overview/Pyrrhuloxia.aspx
In 1858 John Butterfield began to carry mail in his Concord Stage Coaches between San Francisco and St. Louis. The route was 2812 miles and they did it in relays in 22 days, more or less, depending on hostile conditions. They ran twice a week using 250 coaches and 1800 animals. In its day the Butterfield Overland was considered rapid transit.

Gila Woodpecker http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/178/overview/Gila_Woodpecker.aspx
The Butterfield route dipped into Texas, on to El Paso, and then through the southern parts of New Mexico and Arizona. Passengers were only allowed if they seemed to be durable enough to survive the adventure. Horses and drivers were allowed to rest but passengers had to stay with the coach. Or they could sleep on the ground and wait three days for the next coach, I suppose.

Curve billed thrasher http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/745/overview/Curve-billed_Thrasher.aspx
At the onset of the Civil War the Butterfield route was relocated to the Oregon and California pioneer trails via Nebraska and the Rocky Mountains. That route essentially prevented winter travel which was a blow to the already financially strapped Butterfield. It was a serious blow to the people along the southern route as well because during the war there was hardly any communication. Arizona is still recovering. Maybe. It looked that way to me.

Gilded Flicker http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/849/_/Gilded_Flicker.aspx
One of the stagecoach stops was a place called Mesilla in New Mexico north of El Paso. Billy the Kid seems to have made a stop there based on several signs. Today an enduring feature of Mesilla is the excellent food.

Verdin http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/764/overview/Verdin.aspx
Mesilla and its bustling neighbor to the north, Las Cruces, also provide good birding and great hospitality. The Rio Grand River heads south tuning up for its duty as the border between Texas and Old Mexico. Along the river one may see many birds that don’t travel much further north.

Phainopepla http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/209/overview/Phainopepla.aspx
The Butterfield Stage was a grueling ride for everyone but the mail usually got through. The boss refused shipments of gold and silver in order to reduce robbery attempts. The stage often carried soldiers on top along with a driver and shotgun guard on some segments. They were often needed. They were to guard the mail, not the passengers. Today’s rapid transit is pretty tame in comparison. Except maybe in New York.

Chihuahuan Raven http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/92/overview/Chihuahuan_Raven.aspx
In cities like, oh, say Greater Newcastle or Phoenix the all powerful high potentates are building brand spanking new rapid transit systems. These are rail based lines which provide dedicated route structures. Bus systems are everywhere but we can’t call them rapid because they share the road with Fords and Buicks. That means schedule planners have to do exhaustive studies to determine how fast each bus can actually travel over a route. It always turns out to be an approximation. A dedicated rail system can set its own speed. Slow.

Sulphur Bellied Flycatcher http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/396/overview/Sulphur-bellied_Flycatcher.aspx
Visiting the New Mexico and Arizona segment of the Butterfield Overland Stage route is recommended. One can see wide areas of desert. If you like cactus there’s plenty to see, including the majestic saguaro. Side trips will take you to the White Sands Monument and some cliff dwelling sites. And you can drive 75 on the interstate. 80 in Texas. But don’t drive 80 in a 65 zone because Broderick Crawford is hiding behind that next cactus.

I wanted to see an Aplomado Falcon ( http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/447/overview/Aplomado_Falcon.aspx ), but I think I only caught a glimpse of one and that doesn’t count. It could have been a mourning dove or a baseball. A couple hundred baseball teams are in spring training around Phoenix (a conglomerate of 25 municipalities) so baseballs are a real possibility.

Did you know Arizona is the Copper State? It’s because of the mines, not the Highway Patrol.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-53285850.html

Al

Birding With Cows

Reality is Not What You Think:
Everyone has unusual interests. For example a certain bald guy I know takes pairs of photos and makes 3D prints out of them. He’s a genius and pretty good looking as well. He’s also modest. But honest. I am good looking.

But what does this tell us about him. Bald people are a little off? Since 3D photos evaporated in the 1950s he’s a throwback? Is that his whole life? Do we care?

Well, guess what? He has other interests. One is bird watching. A few years ago he got into birding (as the in crowd calls it) because there was a class and it seemed like a fun way to spend a couple hours on Thursday nights. But it turned out to be a lot more than a way to waste time. Learning the names of all the birds is not as hard as he thought. OK, the 3D guy is me. And I watch birds.

Birds are divided into groups and those groups are categorized into sub groups which are tracked according to some National Group of “People Who Make Bird Watching Rules” or something, I don’t really know. But almost all of the field guides are organized along those same groupings. There are groups like shore birds and woodpeckers. Once you figure out what group the bird is you can figure out its sub group and finally the name of the species.

Wrong! Not the method, just your result. That redheaded white and black bird pecking on that willow tree is not a seagull. Try again. That’s why we have field guides.

You can get three pertinent things from field guides: there’s usually a small map that shows you where each bird lives and in which season. Then there’s usually a blurb on behavior so you know the bird grabbing a salmon out of the fjord is probably not a chickadee. And then the picture and description of the bird itself. When you’re at the beach it’s a good idea to check the shore bird section when you see birds running around in the surf, for example.

The point is learning the names of birds is not as hard as I thought it would be. The hard part is finding the birds that you haven’t seen yet. This is referred to as a “life list.” That means the first time you see a certain bird in your life you put a check mark by that bird, note the date and location, and quit looking for that one. I presume if one fills up ones life list they can take up a new hobby.

Another issue with birds is they fly. I don’t normally get off the ground during the course of my day so I’m kind of stuck watching birds flat footed. A few years ago I began to wonder if I should switch to watching something whose habits were more in line with mine. I took up cow watching. It seemed easy. They hardly ever fly and they don’t even try to hide. You don’t have to stop the car. But I ran into an issue. Among the 50 to 60 registered breeds of cow

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/ in America there are 100 times that number of hybrids. In fact Modern domestic cattle evolved from a single early ancestor, the aurochs.

Once you get that concept cow watching gets a little tedious. Sure that cow is black and white and seems to belong to a dairy farm but is it really a Holstein? Soon I didn’t care. I saw Angus with Brahman humps. I saw belted Galway with brown spots. Then I saw the mighty Santa Gertrudis

http://www.king-ranch.com/santa_gertrudis.html in Texas. There’s one big cow. Once I added that to my cow life list I realized that hobby was about over.

Birds, however, come in hundreds of species and they tend to stay fairly loyal to the breed. There aren’t a bunch of farmers experimenting with mixed breeds to get more yields. OK, we have domestic chickens, turkeys, and ducks but you don’t really see those at bird watching sites. Also, birds that do mix are mentioned in the field guides so you can guess what you’re looking at.
The other point about birds is that their feathers are important to everything they do so getting a good look at the plumage is a good way to decide what kind of bird it is. A brown cow can be almost any breed. Thus the birding life list is a lot bigger challenge which means it’s not very often one gets completed.

And don’t forget the variations in plumage within species that represent geographic separations. Lots of subtle intrigue involved.

Which brings us the reason for this meandering discussion. I went bird watching Saturday and I saw another bird to add to my life list. It was a red crossbill.

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i5210id.html This bird eats conifer cones. It uses its unique bill to pry them open. Kind of like reverse pliers. It forces the pointy parts between the cone seems and then uses leverage to open its mouth which exposes the nut. Then it plucks out the nut. It was hundreds of feet away from me in a tree top so I was not able to take a 3D photo but I did get a good look with my binoculars.

Reality is enjoying the quest. It’s looking for that one special cow that’s a unique registered American breed with interesting history. Seeing the actual cow is only a part of the fun. Learning the history of the ranch and how they manage their cattle is a big part of the fun. Learning how the birds behave, eat, migrate, breed, and chase bugs is just as much fun as seeing the actual birds. Seeing them is the frosting on the cake.

Chasing special birds is not exactly my thing. Sure I like to see the special ones and get a look at how they behave. It’s just not the main goal. The main goal is keeping the engine form over-revving.

Al

Project Progress

Projects and Progress:
Transportation in the Greater Newcastle area is growing a little more complicated each day. Gas is over $3.50 and they say it’ll keep going up. This annoys people because they know all that stop and go traffic is burning gas. So they try harder to get there fast and bump into each other more.

What’s being done to improve the situation? Are we improving the roads and public conveyances to help get the hordes of workers to their jobs? Let’s see:

Coal Creek Parkway is entering a phase which includes reader boards that warn you to “expect long delays.” I took a look at the project and they’re still cutting away at the hill on one side and filling in the creek bed on the other side. Crews have set up scoreboards to keep track of whose big orange digger moves the most dirt each day. There’s a big new retaining wall but it’s hard to tell if that’s the final version because it leans in toward the road a little. That can’t be right. The May Creek Bridge just needs pavement and approaches so people can drive on the north bound side. Then they begin work on the south bound side.

Duvall Ave is due to be closed in April for a year. That’ll take some pressure off the May Creek Bridge part of the project because the detour goes around both. I think the detour is via I-5 thru Everett, but I’m not sure.

Link Light Rail is adding the overhead electric wires for the trains. The guys down at the procurement office are scrambling because the trains they ordered are the “third rail” type. Oops, big design change.

BNSF has completed the four bridge replacement project in Renton so the 737 fuselage sections can get to the Boeing plant the short way. That will allow the closing of the remainder of the eastside rail line. We still don’t know the outcome of the crazy proposal to use it for rapid transit. But we know Ron Sims is going to build a bike path as soon as the Coal Creek Parkway project is done with the paver.

I-405 widening has been in progress since 1957 but they’re up to three lanes each way already. Now that the rail line can be closed they can begin the South Bellevue part. That’s where they remove the Wilburton Tunnel and disrupt everyone who commutes that way.

Alaska Way is bracing for the collapse of the viaduct because we’re no closer to a replacement plan. Christine already said if it’s not down by 2010 she’ll knock it down herself. It’s not safe. It’s urgent. Everyone has said so for 8 years but nobody can agree on what to do about it.

Evergreen Point Floating bridge is supposed to become a combo of float and tunnel. You drive half way over the lake and then drop below the waves for the rest of the trip. When you arrive under the UW football stadium you have to get out and climb a ladder to the surface because there are no plans beyond that. It’s OK, though; there’ll be a massive parking garage under there.

Seattle’s Sonics are probably not going to Oklahoma City after all. The Okies voted to increase their sales tax by one percent to pay for the upgrade to their arena. They want a team and it seems most voters are willing to pay extra to get it. Given the way things work in real life it won’t happen. Also, our local team keeps adding more rich sponsors who want to keep them here, which means they may move anyway. It’s a soap opera.

Any comments?

Al