Over done it again!

The day started off sort of slow but gained momentum when the rain stopped – 0.625″ of rain.  It all started at the top ground.  Went down to the building and prepared the tractor & chopper.  Went to top ground and ate three loads of leaves with the wind whistling  from the West.  Great!  Left over leaves were blowing over the hill into the woods.  After all this it was time for lunch – home made bread with Herring ( vitamin D3 you know) and topped off with grape jelly from last year.  I also ate a piece of Lindt 85% chocolate.
About 1330 hrs the wind was tapering off so I went down and carried the ladder up to the lower pole light and removed the photo sensor for an exchange with the upper pole light.  Did the exchange on both poles and then it was a wait until dark to see if it was the sensor – Not the sensor so will have to replace the light.  After that it was time to vacuum up the leaves that blew over the hill and down the driveway – that was three loads and now it was 1700 hrs & I was really tired so I called it quits for the day.  My estimation is that we are at 13 loads and this leaves 6 – 10 more for the year if it is a typical year.  We shall see.

• Keeping storm drains clear of leaves is a draining job in the fall (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Uncategorized

Dissecting the nanoworld: The atomic force microscope nanoscalpel

All the Cut & Paste actions were completed using the free Ditto – an easily installed and removed program..

(Nanowerk Spotlight – by J.D. Beard) Traditional techniques in cell biology involve chemical or pharmaceutical treatments of entire cells; however, in many cases it would be advantageous to target a single organelle or other structure within a cell without damaging overall cell structure. If scientists could inject a drug into a chosen organelle within the cell, or even destroy, extract or isolate the whole organelle without significantly harming the cell itself, new insight could be gained into the inner workings of the cell. In recent years, techniques have been developed which allow the manipulation of the individual nanoscale structures within biological cells.

The complete article can be viewed at the Nanowerk site.  They have some really good nano technology articles.  Most of them boggle my mind & challenge it too.  If I could do it over, I think this is an area I would enjoy working within.

Leaves, Leaves Everywhere

This is the third time I have written this article. I am using a new IE8 add-on called Zemanta. Somehow it is not cooperatng with the style of adding and editing data that I am used to. I cut & paste a lot and with WordPress the data just totally disappears..Grouse, Grouse.

It has been raining since 0500 hrs this morning. Sometimes heavy and somtimes just a mist. It is also pleasantly warm outside at about 65 °. This condition shows no signs of changing untill after the cold front passes sometime tonight and then the temperatures will drop.  The forcast says 50 ° for the high tomorrow with some higher type winds from the West.  This is good for the leave raking scenerio.

We have done 5 cart loads of mulched leaves so far – a cart load is about 36-40 cubic feet of densely packed chopped leaves – and this is about 20-25% of a seasons normal drop.  This means 15 more cart loads to go.

In a way it is somewhat enjoyable but in others it is a real pain.  As the years go by it is more of a pain.  As I watch out the window towards the lake the wind is whipping the smaller tree branches around whilly nilly.  Some tenacious leaves refuse to fall and yield to the inevitable: Sort of like me.  I should go out and take a picture but I am too lazy to do it, so I’ll just continue to write and pretend it is not 1715 hours and the twlight hours are just around the corner.

National Health Care

Here are some details

• “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Unveils The Affordable Health Care for America Act” and related posts (my.barackobama.com)

Green batteries?

Scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new environmentally friendly silicon-air battery capable of supplying non recharged power for thousands of hours. The findings are published in the October 2009 issue of Electrochemistry Communications.

Created from oxygen and silicon (the second most plentiful element in the earth’s crust), such batteries would be lightweight, have an unlimited shelf life, and have a high tolerance for both humid and extremely dry conditions.  Potential uses include medical applications (for example, powering diabetic pumps or hearing aids), sensors and microelectronics structured from silicon.

Today=Rain=1.5″

The radar indicates the rain is past us for today but a deep low persistes to make life miserable for the next few days.  I spent today researching marine grounding systems and galvanic corrosion.  In addition to the discovery process and revamp of the alternator system, I have been wanting to install a galvanic isolator in the green wire AC ground system.  In order to do all this I have to insure that the boat’s current 120VAC neutral and green wire ground system is set up correctly.  I just have a sneaking hunch that the neutral and earth ground are tied together somewhere in those three or four busses that lurk behind the circuit breaker panel.  Since the boat is coming out for winter storage in the next few days this task becomes a winter project.

As I look out the window on to our rain soaked yard I see big circles on the ground filled with varing shades of orange, red and yellow leaves that have come down early because of the rain.  There is an area that contains a puddle of water surrounded by a green expanse of grassy yard.  I would guess that about 1/4 of the leaves are now down and that is a good amount to attack when it dries out.  The front yard and driveway are nearly covered with the hickory and oak leaves from the trees up here on the top of the hill.

Two days ago the farmer to the south combined his beans off and it was dusty.  The tenacious stuff stuck to my clean truck so I took it out for a drive to try to get rid of at least a little dust before putting it away in the storage building down by the lake.  The corn still remain as desicated sentinals standing guard of the fields but they will be gone before too long.  After that we can expect snow and hopefully it will be cold enough to stick for a while so cross country skiing is possible.

Return from Lake Michigan

I went up to the boat on Saturday afternoon for some late season contemplation. Actually, I was there to accomplish the end of the season objective of getting the boat ready for a winter’s nap. I would have to consult the log to determine what I actually did on what day here is the synopsis of Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Babies on Roller Skates

This is absolutely great. I like the version with Billie Jean best but here is this one.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv39GlbpQ5o

What you can do for your country.

High today 39&#176

Today is cold, wet and overcast.  The green colors are accented and it is really beautiful outside.  The lawn was mowed yesterday and the opposing stripes, caused by mowing one way and turning around and mowing right beside the precious row, make the yard look like one of those expensive English Lord’s gardens.

Went to Kohl’s last night and picked up a SonicCare Essence 5300 cordless toothbrushes for a good price (around $44 with rebate).  I tried it this morning – what a jolt to the mouth – but it feels good and if it works as advertized then it is worth every penny.  Today went to Walmart’s to pick up a new Remington Titanium electric razor & I got one for $44 but have not used it yet.  I am uncertain of this razor.  It does not look substanial and the plast cap to protect the heads is worthless as it will fall off immediately.  There is no case or method to carry it in a travel bag.

This afternoon was spent looking for hydrophobic oil absorbing pads.  I need these when I change oil in the sailboat to prevent any hydrocarbons from getting into the bilge area.  The same applies when I change the fuel filters – usually this is a mess – as invariably diesel fuel gets on the bilge floor.  I went over to Clark’s Marina on Hamilton Lake and he sold me 5 pads for $5.  This is sufficient to get me through this season.  I ordered a bundle of 100 medium pads from Texas RagTime for $30 and $13 shipping.  I’ll take a bunch on board next spring.

Tonight is church security deal that is starting again this fall.  Time to be on our toes again.  I better get my winter jacket out as it is cold and the wind is up.  BFN.