Occasional thoughts and deeds of an Engineer
RSS icon Email icon Home icon
  • Dynamics

    Posted on November 30th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    As of this day, it seems as if the whole dynamics of the world has changed.  Nothing dramatic but change, permanent change, none-the-less, and it is forever.  How do we cope?  Personally, I think it is impossible!  We have reached the age that humans have become less than humans and have become slaves of the future.

  • Thanksgiving & Beyond

    Posted on November 27th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    [slideshow id=27]Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We had a good attendance with some of the nieces from as far away as New York.  Of course there were brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren.  It was a nice event with way too much food – it seems like we eat less each year.  There were some pretty slim & trim people, including SAM, so is inevitable that we consume less.  Our daughter from Chicago arrived early and will spend the whole weekend with us and this is great.

    Friday I went Geocaching while mother & daughter did other things like cleaning house and getting rid of some old junk and shopping.  I found 7 caches yesterday and most of them were in rural areas.  The wind was cold and raw but the sun was shining so it gave a spirit to the day.  When I arrived back at the pad, I found bags full of stuff for Goodwill and even more for the dumpster.  This is good and follows our plan for simplifing life a bit.

    I am getting ready to go to Burger King for a coffee and to see if some of the church people are there and also my friend Jim V.  PS: JIm was not there but the group solved a lot of the worlds problems….Moore later

  • Thanksgiving preparations

    Posted on November 24th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    Jess arrive about 1800 hrs tonight.  SAM saw a mouse in the garage so we put out the Sticky Traps and by 2100 we had one of the cute little buggers.  Both of them were at the grocery shopping for last minute stuff for tomorrow.  I was watching Hulu+ in HD and updating my GPS as well as drying some clothes and trapping mice.  SAM just came down and said it was time for bed.  Better go as it will be a hard day of eating tomorrow.

  • Ten Jobs, High Pay, No Future

    Posted on November 23rd, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    Here are 10 high pay jobs that have no career term future.

    • Judge                                               •  Fashion Designer
    • Insurance Underwriter                •  Travel Agent
    • Newspaper Reporter                    •  Broadcast Announcer
    • Plant Manager                               •  Chemist
    • Economist                                       •  CEO

    Here is the link to the article – http://moneywatch.bnet.com/career-advice/article/10-disappearing-jobs-judge/485189/

  • Cool, dreary, Indiana

    Posted on November 21st, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    I just spent most of the day after morinig church tweeking the Angola Assembly of God website and adding a new page.  I was going for a uniform look and feel.  There are still some areas that do not feel the same as the opening page but I doubt that people will delve into the nuances of the site a few pages deep.

    SAM is gearing up for Thanksgiving and that spells trouble for me!  I will be forced to clean the garage and other areas.  SAM is a much better hostess than I am a host.  Jess and my brother and sister will be here and maybe a few nephew’s and niece’s.  Still, it is the big bash we will host for the year and it is nice to see everyone.

    Too Marc & Beth live so far away that they are not available for these P.L. get togethers.  Ah well, we are a mobile society driven by needs to provide for our families and that is the prime directive.  They are doing as well as I did and that is all a parent can ask.

    We went out for lunch with Fred & Karen Beck today at KFC.  It was the first time I had been in there since I was diagonosed with a bunch of different allergies like peanuts, soy and eggs.  I thought I was hopeless, destined for the boneyard, but actually there are much more healthy alternatives to the items on the shelves that contain those products.  Anyway, I did not have an adverse reaction to the Grilled Chicken meal with Mashed Potatoes & Coleslaw so I guess I have another place to eat out besides Burger King Whoppers.  Moore later……..

  • Jimmerson Lake Island

    Posted on November 16th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    [singlepic id=256 w=320 h=240 float=left]After lunch yesterday I decided to make the kayak trip to Jimmerson Lake Island geocache.  The water distance to the cache is a little over a mile.  I put-in at the bait shop – it was closed – by the ramp and started against the moderate wind.  Leaving the Lake James / Jimmerson channel I took a short detour to see the 6 swans but they did not seem happy to see me so I got out of there before I was attacked.

    I decided to take the little channel that goes between the land to the south and the reeds.  There were a few houses for sale and some are relatively new.  As I cleared the little channel on to open water the breeze came up again and I was paddling against the wind.  Upon approach to the island I ran into shallow water and the kayak began to bottom so I [singlepic id=257 w=320 h=240 float=right]backed out and took the long way around trying to find a good landing spot.  After I paddled all the way around the island I found my approach – a tree was laying out into the water about 25′ – so I paddled until I hit bottom and schooched forward a bit and climbed out onto the log and tightroped to land.  I found the cache quickly as it was not covered at all.

    I re-walked the tightrope and made it into the kayak without falling in of making a mess and the schooched back out and paddles back to the truck.  It was a nice 2.5 mile run and had some more good views of different swans and their fledglings.  Another great day on the water!

  • Cool Monday

    Posted on November 15th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    The weather dawned cool and is now high overcast.  We have had a wonderful fall season.  Almost all of the leaves are off the trees and most of our yard tasks are finished.  I have started the Christmas Letter 2010. I would like to go kayaking this afternoon on Jimmerson Lake and will put in at the Bait & Tackle if they will let me do it.  Otherwise it is a long paddle from the public ramp at Nevada Mills channel.  The slideshow below is from our recent Geocaching trip to Clear Lake Island – very pretty. [slideshow id=26]

  • Beautiful Weather Ends

    Posted on November 14th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    Today was the end of the perfect Fall weather.  I awoke very early today – 0430 – to the increasing wind levels.  I shut down the sound machine and was soon fast asleep as I listened to the wind in the trees.  Awaking at the 0830 hour, I looked out to overcast skies and mid-30’s temperatures. Time to get ready for church.

    [singlepic id=245 w=320 h=240 float=right]A couple of days ago I placed a new cache.  My latest cache is near the house and placed in a drainage ditch via a magnetic key holder.  Within a couple of hours of publishing the FTF (first to find) person had logged it in.  Here is a picture of the area looking south.

    Then Saturday I (VM1) found 6 others as I moved around the Corunna  towards Kendalville area.  On return to home, we went to Karen Armey’s funeral services and later went to the VFW for a celibration of life dinner put on by her Sisters of VFW.  We sat with Lee Armey and Pastor John of PL EUB.

    Today, Sunday, we went to church.  Afterwards was the church social put on by the youth of the church.  Turkey, Potatoes & Gravy – mummm.  My blood pressure tonight was 10 points too high.  Too much salt yesterday and today I guess or was it the pounds of Ham consumed yesterday and the great tasting gravy today?

    As the sun goes down I am publishing another geocache  placed today on Fish Creek Trail near the East end.  It is a pretty easy one and if you cannot find it in 2 minutes then you are a pretty lame cacher indeed.

  • Nostalgia from the old man

    Posted on November 12th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    The lost land of innocence

    Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
    Before the days of Dylan , or the dawn of Camelot.
    There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,

    For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
    Where navels were for oranges, and  Peyton Place was porn.

    We learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,
    We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn..

    We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
    And Eddie Fisher married Liz , and no one’s seen him since.

    We danced to ‘Little Darlin,’ and sang to ‘Stagger Lee’
    And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me,   Me.

    Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
    And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney .

    And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
    A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me ,   Me.

    We fell for Frankie Avalon , Annette was oh, so nice,
    And when they made a movie, they never made it twice..

    We didn’t have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
    Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
    And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.

    We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
    And Oprah couldn’t talk yet, in the Land That Made Me,   Me.
    We had our share of heroes, we never thought they’d go,
    At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.

    For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
    And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me,   Me.

    We’d never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
    And Airplanes weren’t named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.

    And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
    Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me,   Me.

    We’d never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
    And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.

    And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and ‘gay’ meant fancy-free,
    And dorms were never co-ed in the Land That Made Me,   Me.

    We hadn’t seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
    And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.

    And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
    And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me,   Me.

    Buicks came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
    And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.

    And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
    And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me,   Me.

    We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
    We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
    Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me ,   Me.

    There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
    And fish were not called Wanda , and cats were not called Bill.

    And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
    And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me,   Me.

    But all things have a season, or so we’ve heard them say,
    And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
    They send us invitations to join AARP,
    We’ve come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.

    So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
    And wonder why they’re using smaller print in magazines.
    And we tell our children’s children of the way it used to be,
    Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.

  • Veterans Day 2010

    Posted on November 11th, 2010 cwmoore No comments

    This is Veterans Day and I started off by going to the hospital for the blood drawing needed for the annual tests and the ONE time test allowed by medicare.  SAM had oatmeal ready on my return and I presented the cup of coffee gratis from the hospital.

    We lazed around and surfed the net until lunch and then rested a bit before going down to do another 5 loads of leaves.  I think there are 5 more loads and then comes the remaining 20% on the trees and whatever the neighbors have for us this year.  So far I estimate 13 loads of leaves – we may make 20 loads this year. 

    This is about as exciting as it gets in the fall around here!  Counting leaves plus fixing all the broken machinery, yep quite stimulating.  Moore later………