Category Archives: Family

Air Quality, AllTrails, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Family, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, PurpleAir, Religion, Science, Space, Trail Running, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 24TH, SEPTEMBER 2021

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“Science is the one human activity that is truly progressive. The body of positive knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation.” Edwin Powell Hubble

This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a picture of what is know as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) – a dwarf galaxy. Another name it goes by is Nubecula Minor. In Latin, Nubecula means little cloud. The SMC is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere, but can be seen low on the southern horizon from latitudes south of 15 degrees north. Meaning – To see it in North America, you would have to be in the Southern Caribbean or further south. The SMC is about 210 thousand light years away with a diameter of about 7,000 light years. It contains several hundred million stars. In comparison, our galaxy the Milky Way, contains an estimated 100 billion. The SMC is one of the nearest intergalactic neighbors to our galaxy and one of the most distant objects that can be seen with the naked eye. Image credit: NASA, ESA and A. Nota (STScI/ESA). If you would like to learn more about the SMC please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/brilliant-hot-young-stars-shine-in-the-small-magellanic-cloud and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Magellanic_Cloud

“You are what you know. Fifteenth-century Europeans ‘knew’ that the sky was made of closed concentric crystal spheres, rotating around a central earth and carrying the stars and planets. That ‘knowledge’ structured everything they did and thought, because it told them the truth. Then Galileo’s telescope changed the truth.” James Burke

This is an image of a part of the Gemini Constellation. It is located in the norther celestial hemisphere. It’s name means “the twins” in Latin. The constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century ce. The picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and features a stellar nursery named AFGL 5180. It is about 5000 light years away. Due to the stellar dust associated with star formation, it can be difficult to see the newly formed stars. But Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 was designed to do this very thing by capturing detailed images in both visible and infrared light. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. C. Tan (Chalmers University & University of Virginia), R. Fedriani (Chalmers University); Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt. If you want to learn more about this image please check out there links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/star-formation-in-the-constellation-of-gemini-the-twins and https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/gemini-constellation/ and https://www.sciencealert.com/hubble-s-latest-image-release-is-so-beautiful-it-should-be-illegal

“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Werner Heisenberg

This image is showing the Lagoon Nebula or Messier 8. The picture was created by using X-ray data (pink color) from the Chandra X-ray space telescope and optical images from the Mt. Lemmon Sky Center in Arizona (Blue and White Color). Messier 8 is about 4000 to 6000 light years from earth. It was first discovered in 1654 by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna. This star-forming cloud of interstellar gas is located in the constellation Sagittarius and can be slightly visible to the naked eye in a very dark sky. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona. If you want to learn more about this image or the Sky Center in Arizona please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-lagoon-nebula-gives-birth-to-stars and https://skycenter.arizona.edu/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_Nebula

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Max Planck

This is an image of the spiral galaxy NGC 2276 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It lies about 120 million light years away in the northern constellation Cepheus. One of its spiral arms contains an intermediate mass black hole with 50,000 times the mass of the sun. First discovery credit is given to Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke in 1876. Of course at that time it was not understood that it was a separate galaxy from our own. That would have to wait until Edwin Hubble came along. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Paul Sell (University of Florida). If you want to learn more about his image please visit: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2021/029/01F60K4CF8WRAD8GQ03HEBNBMQ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2276

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” Carl Sagan

This is an image showing Dr. Nancy Grace Roman (third from left), Nasa’s first Chief of Astronomy and “The Mother of Hubble” visiting the Space Telescope Operations Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center in 2017. This was about one year before her death (1925 to 2018). Pictured left to right are: Beverly Serrano, Morgan Van Arsdall, Nancy Grace Roman, Olivia Lupie, Padi Boyd, and Erin Kisliuk. Nasa posted this picture on August 26th, 2021 to celebrate Women’s Equality Day. The day is celebrated each year on August 26th and commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote in the United States in 1920. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jim Jeletic. If you would like to learn more please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/paving-the-way-for-future-generations-of-women-in-stem and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_Equality_Day and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Roman

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 so far and so have I!! And that my friends is a very, very, good thing for all of us. I am still crossing my fingers and now my toes, hoping that I can keep saying this for the next year. I really mean that. I am hoping that I can.

The virus is back and with a vengeance. The death toil has skyrocketed again and when I started to write this blog post on September 7th, we were at 669 thousands death. This was an increase in the last 30 days of 36,000 individuals. To put this in perspective, between June 6th to July 6th we only had 9,000 deaths. A significant drop, and it really looked like things were headed in the right direction. Of course “the experts” were warning about the Delta variant by this time and did we listen? No, not really. Events that were planned back earlier in the year for July, August and September were not canceled or modified for the most part and have been going off as planned. So the last 30 days has seen a huge increase in infections and death. 36,000 thousand individuals and counting… My question is how high is this going to go??

Well it has been 9 months since I got the initial two doses of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and when the third shot became available, I jumped on it. So did my wife. By the time of publishing it will have been 3.5 weeks since I got the third booster and no side effects so far. There has been some debate from the FDA, CDC and the President’s health advisory committee about whether the booster is needed for the general population. At the time of publishing it was not being recommended for the general public in the United States, unless you were a health care worker, over the age of 65 or immunocompromised. In Israel, it is being offered to everyone over the age of 30 and at least 5 months since their second shot.

By the middle of the month, September 15th, we had added another 16,000 deaths since September 7th. Wow, that is only 8 days and 16,000 more deaths. And that is with several states, like Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa and Wyoming not reporting on a timely basis. So the toil is probably much higher. Or to put this another way: one person in every 500 individuals dies because of Covid now in the United States.

By the time of publishing on the 24th, the death toil was over 700,000 thousand individuals in the USA. So what that means is that we added another 30,000 plus deaths in 17 days or 70,000 deaths since August 6th. A little more than 35,000 for each month of August and September. Unreal. And again, this is with some states not reporting in a timely manner. How high will the toil go by the end of the year?? My guess is that it will be 800,000 to 1 million deaths. Especially with Thanksgiving coming up and of course you have X-mass and New Years… Almost all of this has been preventable. From the Grand Cheeto’s debacle in how he handled the early part of the pandemic to now with the anti-vaccine people.

Of course much of the morbidity and mortality in this fourth wave of Covid is due to the unvaccinated. So if there ever was a time to get vaccinated, it is now. Actually it is past time. So do yourself and your loved ones a favor and get vaccinated.

If you want to see the numbers for yourself check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I am tired of talking about Covid but what are you going to do? You are not going to get anywhere by ignoring it. But life does go on, so lets move on to something a little different and somewhat better. During the month of August there were only a handful of days that the air quality was good enough to really get out and push the pedal to the medal so to speak. I did get in a few trail runs but nothing like I did in June and July. Believe it or not the air quality went from bad to worse by the end of August. It was really not until the second week of September that things started to improve a little bit.

This picture was taken on August 8th, 2021 at about 7:45pm in the afternoon. It is looking West and you can see the smoke in the area. I wanted to post this picture because this was pretty much everyday for the month of August. Most of the air quality alerts for the month ranged from Moderate to Unhealthy. Not really good for any kind of heavy training in the outdoors. The only good thing to come out of the smoke is that it made for some spectacular sunsets in the area. Every morning the first thing to do was to check the Purple Air Map (https://www2.purpleair.com/ ) and the Open Summit Map (https://opensummit.com/ ) for current air quality and smoke forecast. You could not even get away from it by going up into the mountains. The entire state was covered.

This picture was taken on August 13th, 2021 at about 12 noon and it is one of the last days that I ran in the Horsetooth Open Space behind Fort Collins. This was due to smoke issues. If you look between the trees you can see the haze out east. The wind had made a tiny window of opportunity to get a run in before the smoke came back and made things unhealthy.

The next three pictures were taken on a hike / run with my oldest daughter. It was in a wilderness area called the Rawah’s. It is in Northern Colorado, about 70 miles west of Fort Collins. The elevation ranges from 8500 feet to over 12,000 feet.

This picture was taken on August 21st, 2021 at about 10am in the morning. It is a picture of my oldest daughter Kayla and me. We are just a couple of hours into a hike / run on the West Branch Trail in the Rawah Wilderness Area.

This picture was taken on August 21st, 2021 about 10:30am in the morning and it is a view of Clark Peak. It is the highest point in the Rawah’s at 12,950 feet and part of the Medicine Bow Mountain range: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Bow_Mountains In this picture I am standing on the West Branch Trail looking West.

This picture was taken August 21st, 2021 at about 11:45am in the morning. Here we are sitting at the end of the West Branch Trail, elevation over 11,000 feet. It was a great hike/run and fun to do with Kayla, Marvin and Marvin’s dog buddy Cash. Again, I cannot over emphasize the issues with the smoke this year. Even though the sky in the pictures looks clear, the air quality was moderate to moderate high for 2.5 particulates and we both experienced some upper respiratory symptoms after the run. This is a great area to go hiking, running, back packing, etc… A good app to check out this area is on AllTrails: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/west-branch-trail

The next three pictures are from a third and last trail run in August. The air quality had dramatically improved for a day with the passage of a weak cold front and associated rain. It is in the same general area as the above three pictures but with much better air quality on this date.

This picture was taken on August 24th, 2021 at about 12:00noon. In the first couple of miles of the West Branch trail there is a huge grove of Aspen Trees. The stark white bark of the aspens contrasting with the dark green foliage of the spruce and pines makes for an interesting landscape. I am planning to come back here later in the fall to see the leaves changing color.

This picture was taken on August 24th, 2021 at about 2:30pm in the afternoon. Here Marvin and I are on our way to Twin Crater Lakes. We took a fork in the West Branch Trail at about 3 to 4 miles in and headed up a different drainage. There were lots and lots of deadfall on this trail from the previous winter. Most of the trail clearing effort was still being focused on repairing fire burned areas from last year. It made for some interesting trail acrobatics to say the least! Lol.

This picture was taken August 24th, 2021 at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I had made it to one of the lakes. Here we are enjoying the sunshine at about 11,000 feet. It was a beautiful windless day. There were a few people up here with us either fishing or just enjoying the view like we were. You can check out this route via the AllTrails app: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/west-branch-to-north-forks-trail-and-twin-crater-lakes

Due to the poor air quality and high temperatures for Colorado’s front range, we decided to divide our walks with Marvin into smaller segments for August. Heavy exercise outdoors such as running was not something I wanted to do. It made no sense to put in all that effort, only to make things worse due to breathing in bad air. The days for August went something like this: easy walk in the AM with Marvin, heavy workout indoors using Rower, Nordic Track, or Spin Bike, easy walk with Marvin in the afternoon. This was one time I wished that I had a quality treadmill but that will have to wait until next year.

This picture was taken on August 26, 2021 at about 11:45am in the morning. Janet and I are just finishing up a morning walk with Marvin. The temperature was already in the high 80s but would continue to climb into the mid nineties by the afternoon. Air quality was in the moderate range as it was most mornings, but would climb to a much unhealthy level by afternoon with the addition of ozone created by the higher than normal temperatures.

With the rise of the Delta variant of Covid and the continued unhealthy air quality in Colorado the prospects of competing in my planned ultrarunning events (Leadville 100 and Run Rabbit Run) did not go off as planned. Oh well what are you going to do? I know that there were those that pushed the safety zone and did these events regardless of the risk factors. But that is not for me. I get it, it is hard to not do something that requires so much training and self sacrifice and then have the world throw you curve balls. It is like getting ready for a huge “party of the year” and at the last minute, while your heading out the door, canceling it. You experience a sense of loss. And for some, that is hard to work around. I am 59 years old and I still want to be doing the ultra running thing when I am in my 80s. So the risk was not acceptable.

I did get a lot of reading done with the “Marvin Walks” in the sense that I listened to several audio books. So I would like to review a couple of them.

The first one I would like to start with is The Premonition written by Michael Lewis. Let me say that this is not a book just about the current pandemic and who did or did not do what they were suppose to do. It is about several different public health experts and their stories over the last 10 to 20 years and what roles they played at the start of the current pandemic. If you were looking for an anti-trump book then you might be disappointed. It does point out the fallacies of the Trump admiration but not in an over bearing manner. I would say that over all this book paints a very negative light on the CDC that started way before the Trump era. If anything needs to change, it is the CDC and how they advise the public, handle data and help other public health officials dealing with public health issues. None of the characters, outside of the CDC, paint the organization in a glowing light. And to me that says a lot.

The author does a good job of bringing what can be a dry topic ( public health) to life. I would say that it almost reads like a novel. I listened to this book as an audio book but I feel it would work well in any format.

From the Amazon site: Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of The Undoing Project, Liar’s Poker, Flash Boys, Moneyball, The Blind Side, Home Game and The Big Short, among other works, lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, Tabitha Soren, and their three children.

You can find this book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Premonition-Pandemic-Story-Michael-Lewis/dp/0393881555/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+premonition&qid=1632257294&sr=8-1

The next book I would like to talk about is “Why Trust Science?” by Naomi Oreskes. I first heard about Naomi Oreskes from a YouTube video from “The Royal Institution.” This is a channel were scientist talk about their research and sometimes promote their book about said research. If you interested in her talk, check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7PwqiiQmVM

I would have to say that the book did not disappoint. It was published in 2019 and is very relevant to the issues of today and the future. She gives a good historical perspective on science from the past all the way up to today. What I liked best is that she uses case studies to show where science got it wrong so to speak. And how we have learned from those mistakes.

In the book she does not shy away from some of the issues associated with the scientific process of today. The proliferation of what is know as “preprints” and how they are good to get information out but at the same time have a down side in that they have not had a formal peer review in a scholarly or scientific journal. And the whole idea of “Publish or Perish”, that creates issues for scientist to get something out “there” as quickly as possible before all the data collected can be fully analyzed. And she addresses some of the issues with corporate backed research. You do have to ask yourself is there going to be a “conflict of interest” in this research if XYZ corporation is backing it?

This is a great book if you want to understand, even with all of the issues in scientific research, why we should trust science. I listened to this book as an audio book but I think it would work great in any format.

Naomi Oreskes is an American historian of science and author. To learn more about her please visit this link: Naomi Oreskes – Wikipedia

Of course you can find this book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Trust-Science-Naomi-Oreskes-audiobook/dp/B07W99GTG3/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1632430393&sr=8-1

Well last but not least I would like to showcase one piece of newly finished art work before I go. It is a pen and ink with water color drawing of Jesus of Nazareth, except I have given it a little more of my own personal interpretation. Lol. I call this piece “Jesus of Borg.” Now if you are not a Star Trek fan you might not know who the Borg are in the series. But in a nutshell they are cybernetic organisms linked in a hive mind called “The Collective.” They are known to assimilate others into their collective whether they want it or not. If you are interested check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg

I started this piece with anger over the Texas GOPs enactment of the anti-abortion law. I have three adult daughters and while they might not agree on whether it is right or wrong to get an abortion, they all agree that it is “their right” to choose. And I agree with them. So that is how the piece started out but it morphed into something a little different. Did you know that there are at least 10,000 different denominations of Christianity in the world. Of course some say this number is much higher but I figure 10,000 is a safe estimate. Knowing this I thought why not make up my own Jesus?! A lot of other people have. So I did! And what I came up with was a bad ass LGBT SiFi Jesus. A Jesus that would assimilate all other Jesuses, even Republican Jesus, into a hive mind and create an accepting and loving collective for all people and all religions. In Star Trek, the Borg are considered the enemy but in my version I have turned it around and made “Jesus of Borg” the good guy, the savior. What is Jesus of Borg’s religion? Why Science Fiction of course. All religion is mythology and so is Science Fiction, therefore the largest religion in the world and the only one that has a chance of ever coming true is SiFi.

This drawing is done in pen and ink with water color and is protected with a traditional picture frame and glass. It measures approximately 12 inches wide by 15 inches tall.

“Jesus of Borg”

This piece and others are for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Wow! I have come to the end of another blog post and before I close, I want to say this again, if you have not thought about the mindset of “Minimalism” you should. The consumeristic culture we have created is not sustainable. That is if we don’t want to destroy the very environment that makes all human life possible. I have no doubt that the earth will survive, but will humanity? That remains to be seen.

Ever since the early 1900s when the people that make light bulbs decided to limit their lifespan so that consumers would have to buy more, we have been locked into this engineering and marketing principle of “planned obsolescence.” According to “Free Market Capitalism” we have to grow, grow and grow – therefore corporations have to sell us more stuff every year, after year, after year, with no end in sight. They have to make more in profit each year than the year before. They cannot just be profitable but have to make more each and every year or they are looked at as a failure. When I seriously think about this I am always reminded of the maxim: “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of a Cancer Cell.” And that is what we have. Our economic system in the United States could be considered a cancer. And it needs to change.

So you might be wondering what YOU can do to help kill this cancer?! Well the first thing you can do is to become Minimalist! Stuff is stuff and you can have too much of it. Just like food. Too much of a good thing is going to cause problems. Cut out the empty calories so to speak by buying less and making good decisions on what you buy. Buy used when possible, pass it on when you are done with it, care for the stuff you already have, and if you absolutely have to buy new – look for durability, fixability, sustainable, and ethically made products that will last for years. Become the change you want to see.

Ok, ok enough of the soap box but if your interested in “minimalism” a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and if you have not gotten vaccinated then get it done. Like the Nike slogan says: “Just do it!” We all want this “Groundhog Day-Covid-Marry-Go-Round” to stop. Until next time! Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Family, Fort Collins, Grand Children, House and Home

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY 30TH, SEPTEMBER 2019

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“Don’t base your decisions on the advice of those who don’t have to deal with the results.” -Unknown

“The earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever.” – Konstantin Tsiolkovosky

“Nobody knows what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.” -Robert Goddard

“Doing as task is usually easy. Thinking about a task makes it hard.” Ajahn Brahm

Well September has come. And now it is almost gone. Cannot believe that it is already Fall. Where did the summer go? I mean really where did the summer go? Lol. Oh well I am looking forward to ski season, especially cross country and back county. I do not think I will get to the “Downhill ski areas” as much this year – having a young dog changes things. Our last dog, Neige, was a part of our family while the kids were still relatively young and she participated in most of the outdoor stuff the kids did, like hiking, cross country skiing, etc… She was included all the time. My plan is to do the same with Marvin, minus the kids. Lol.

Janet and Neige – this picture was taken January 27th, 2018 along the banks of the Poudre River. Neige and one of her many sticks! Lol

As Neige got older and the kids moved out, things changed for both of us. I found myself with a lot more free time for “longer” outdoor activities, like ultra running and cross country mountain biking. For Neige, as long as she still got several walks down to the river each week she seemed to be content to sit the rest of the week out. So I could easily leave her at home for a longer foray into the outdoors a few times each week. Now fast forward to Marvin and that is not the case. He is a young and growing dog that demands lots of exercise but in moderation. At 8 months old his joints still need time to develop along with his social and obedience skills. So for the time being, if I want to include him in outdoor activities, it comes down to shorter walks and runs with several focusing on human and canine socialization. It’s a trade off, but one that I am willing to make.

This picture of Marvin was taken on Thursday the 19th, 2019. We are standing on the ridge between Spring Canyon Park and Pine Ridge open space in Fort Collins. He is just getting ready to turn 8 months! In this picture he is checking out several rabbits in the grass.
This picture was taken on Saturday 28th, September 2019. Beautiful afternoon looking south in the Pine Ridge open space.

So far this year I have done more walking with Marvin than running, again due to his young age. We are up to about 5+ miles at a time. I don’t walk/run him everyday, but alternate it with the dog park. Which seems to be good for him. Lots and lots of canine socialization at the dog park. And on the days he doesn’t walk I get in a bike ride at night. This has been fun and interesting to say the least. One aspect is just the amount of wildlife that you never see during the day. Owls, foxes, skunks, a multitude of raccoons, deer, frogs and toads, and one that is not really wild, but the most numerous, the proverbial house cat. I usually see several different cats on each ride. Lol.

This picture was taken September 16th, 2019 about 11 pm at night. Even in the city limits you never know what kind of wildlife you might see. I had stopped on the Spring Creek bike trail taking pictures of 6 to 7 mule deer in front of me and did not see these two guys behind me. About 30 feet from where I am standing! Lol

The “Marvin Schedule” has also allowed me to work on house projects this year. And that has been a good thing. I finished repairing the deck over the garage and added a roof to it. This space has turned out to be one of my favorite places of the house when the weather is cooperative. I have also been enclosing a back patio and tiling the floor of said patio. The goal of this is to eventually remove the dividing wall and open up the entire space. But that part will have to wait until next year.

This picture was taken October 5th, 2018. Prior to building the roof supports, I had to tear out all the rotted decking, rubberized roofing and plywood flooring due to water damage. Of course it all had to be replaced. This took up most of July, August, September and October of last year.

This picture was taken September 16th, 2019. It is almost a year later from the above picture. It took a lot of work to get to the point! Lol
This picture was taken on September 29th, 2019. Marvin checking out a cat in the open space from the garage deck. Lol. One of my favorite places around the house.
This picture was taken Friday 13th, September 2019. Always a process. Putting down large format tile takes times. These squares are 18 inches by 18 inches. What you don’t see is the 37 bags of leveling concrete it took to get the floor level. All of this is under the orange Schluter-ditra underlayment. My hat is off to the guys and gals that do tile work for a living. It is not easy.

The month of September has been one of little rain. In fact by the end of the month a lot of the state was consider to be in “drought conditions” to varying degrees. There were the usual afternoon thunderstorms but they were “spotty” at best for the Cities along the Front Range. It did seem like communities further east from the foothills did a little better. One bonus of this was not much cloud cover and this made for some beautiful sunset pictures.

This picture was taken September 13th, 2019. It is from the River Bend Ponds open space in Fort Collins looking West by North West.
This picture was taken on September 14th, 2019. This is from the large dog park at the West end of Horsetooth Rd. in Fort Collins. It is late evening and I am looking West by North West.
This picture was taken on September 15th, 2019. This is from the Poudre River and River Bend Ponds Open Space looking looking West.
This picture was taken September 19th, 2019. It is from the Pine Ridge Open Space looking North.
This picture was taken September 26th, 2019. It is from the neighborhood looking West. The whole month has had these incredible afternoon colors!

Sooooo, life is good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. And that is the truth. Good and bad things happen to us all, but living in the good old USA does have its advantages compared to some parts of the world. I guess for me the biggest is the ability to change as a country, for good or bad. A freedom that none of us should take lightly – as the last election proved depending on your point of view. It will be interesting to see how things in the next 5 to 10 years pan out. Some of us will still be alive to either say “I told you so” or to say “Well damn, I guess I was wrong.” For me, I am hoping that I am wrong about a lot of things….

Wow I am a Grand Father again! Welcome to the world RG! This picture was taken September 26th, 2019. As long as I am alive I will strive to make this a better world for you!
  1. I hope that I am wrong about Global Warming. That it is not going to get a lot worse, much faster, than any of us ever realized. That the death toll will be in the 100s of millions around the globe in the next 10 years. I hope that I am wrong and it was all a “Liberal Hoax.”
  2. I hope that I am wrong about the gun debate. That 1000s of innocent individuals will not lose their lives in the coming years due to continued civilian use of assault weapons.
  3. I hope that I am wrong that the rates of certain Cancers will dramatically increase due loosening of rules on exposure to toxic chemicals in our environment. That untold thousands will suffer a horrible, terrible, fatal disease all in the name of “profit.”
  4. I hope that I am wrong about America’s coming involvement in “another” conflict in the middle east. That 1000s and 1000s of kids right out of high school and college get suckered into a rich-man’s amoral war over fossil fuels.
  5. I hope that I am wrong about the Religious Right and their mythology. That they will not take us down an “Antiscience Path” that can only end in endless suffering and death for millions and millions of individuals around the world.
  6. I hope that I a wrong…. about a lot of things….
This picture was taken September 29th, 2019. I am at my daughters house holding RG for the first time. Only three days old! And of course one of the dogs, Lou, has to get in on the action! Lol

Well I could go on and on about this but I think you get the picture. We all have a vested interest in protecting the planet and all of its inhabitants. There is no sitting this one out. Take care my friends. Hopefully I will see you out there on the trail or more likely the dog park!! Lol

Exercise, Family, Life and Meaning, Meditations, Prius Hybrid, Psychology, Thankfulness

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 29TH, JULY 2018

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“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius

Well…. has this been another good week??  I guess they can’t all be good weeks…. Or can they??  That is a good question.  Everyday that I am able to get up and do the things that are important to me and others is a great day.  So, if that has occurred on a majority of the weekdays then I believe it has been a very good week.  Life is good and I cannot complain too much is something that I write in a journal each day and it never gets old.  I think that it is a good reminder in a way that things could be so much worse.  I believe that most of the limits, problems, boundaries that we find in our lives are self-created.  And it is in how we use our minds that helps us to navigate these self-created issues.  One of the first things that I do each day is to try and remind myself how great it is to just be alive.

Afternoon bike ride this week along the Poudre Trail.

I think that we all have the tendency to look beyond ourselves to try and find “something or someone” to help us to be happier or to blame, but reality is that you and only you have the power to make yourself free.  It is not “out there” it is within you and only you.  For me I am still learning this lesson, but the first step was the “realization” that it is only you.  And that starts with the mind….

“Only a Buddha can realize a Buddha” – From Mountain Record of Zen Talks by John Daido Loori.

 

 

On a different note, by the end of this week we are close to the 4-month mark of using the new car.  A Toyota Prius Prime, a gas / electric hybrid.  I think that we are at 5000 miles already.  And all I can say is WOW!!  The efficiency of the vehicle cannot be over stated.  In the last month Janet has been driving it to work, around town errands, AND we have put ZERO gas in it.  The last time we filled it up with gas was coming back from vacation June 26th.  I believe that was just West of Laramie, Wyoming on I-80.

Work for Janet is here in town as are the errands.  So, she charges the battery every second day or so and voilà – no gas needed!!  Cleaner air, decreased dependence on foreign oil, fewer issues with resource extraction, and a much cleaner environment.  In my humble opinion there is no reason to ROLL BACK any gas mileage requirements.  Every car coming out in the next few years should all be Hybrids or a the very least “Gas – Hybrids.”  Yes, the power grid would need to be upgraded, but that is all achievable with current technology and would provide thousands and thousands job.  Every new home should be required to have solar power installed to help in this endeavor.  And rebates on Solar for homeowners with existing homes.  If you can give millions to the oil and gas industry in subsidies then you can gradually shift that money to the homeowner to help install solar power.

The “CAT DOOR” charger!!  LOL

Running this week has been a little bit limited due to work on replacing a roof/deck over the garage.  But it still has been good.  I am lucky to live in an area in Fort Collins that has great trail access.  One of my most convenient and favorite running trails is the Powerline trail.  The trail is composted of a hard path surface but also a side by side soft path dirt surface.  Very nice for those of us that prefer to run on dirt trails.  The other great thing that I have come to enjoy about it are what I call trail apples.  Someone years ago, planted about 20 apple trees along a section of this trail.  They are small but very flavorful.  Everything from tart to sweet and this time of year they are really starting to ripen.  So, it is a kind of treat to run this trail,  pause and pick a handful to eat and continue running.

Deck and Roof replacement!  It will be nice when finally done.

Trail Apples!!  Lol

I did not get to run the Never Summer 100k this weekend due to unavoidable work issues.  (Could not get the time off) So I will concentrate all my effort on doing the Run Rabbit Run 100 in September.  I have never run 100 miles before and I am anxious and curious to see how that feels.

I hope that everyone had a great week and in saying this I want to send you all a little loving kindness for the week to come:   May you be free from danger.  May you be happy.  May you be healthy.  May you live with ease.

Until next weekend – Adios amigos!!

Family, Vacation

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 17TH, JUNE 2018

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Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.  May you have a wonderful day doing whatever it is that brings you happiness.

Just hanging out in Bellingham Washington.  Always a change from the scenery of the Rocky Mountains and Plains of Colorado.  There are days that I wonder what it would be like to live closer to the Ocean.  To have that option and luxury of owning a boat?  But then I think of the old quote “The best day of my life was when I got my boat and the second best day of my life is when I sold it!”  I own an RV already and I have also heard this quote for an RV.  So I get it.  Lol.  I think that I will just stick with the RV and let others own the boat.

Mount Baker in the background.  Still seems like a lot of snow on it!

We are on day 7 of a 14 day road trip.  I think that you need to do more than 7 days because the first week you are just getting the hang of it.  If I had the time and money I would probably even add another 7 days but that does get a little expensive.  And just getting the time off can be a problem for most of us.  But if you have the opertunity I highly recommend it.  Get out of your  routine, stop at the small places along the road, walk the city, the neighborhoods, talk with the people you meet along the way.   Sometimes you might get lucky and learn something.

Today is also our 35th wedding anniversary.  Damn just wondering where did the time go!!  And how did we get so lucky??  When so many others don’t make it this far?  Just want to say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife who has put up with me for this long?!  How have you done it??  Lol

Well that is probably going to be it for me this week.  Looking forward to heading into British Columbia in the next few days and visiting Vancouver and the resort of Whistler.

Exercise, Family, Injury, RVs

MUSINGS FOR SATURDAY JUNE 2ND, 2018

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“Take wrong turns.  Talk to strangers.  Open unmarked doors.  And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing.  Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out.  You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off.  There are so many adventures that you miss because you’re waiting to think of a plan.  To find them, look for tiny interesting choices.  And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.” – Randell Munroe

Well it has been a good AND bad week.  I will start with the good….  Getting the RV ready for a little travel this summer.  And it is always somewhat of a process.  Our RV is a thirty-foot class C Diesel Bigfoot.  We have owed it for about 12 years now.  As a family, when the kids all still lived at home, we took two really long trips out to the West Coast. They were both 25 to 30 days in length.  The two older daughters got really good setting up camp each time we stopped.  Of course, I always got the part of hooking up the sewer. LOL There were some good times in the RV with the family!

It seems like that was just yesterday but in reality, the last big family trip occurred about 10 years ago.  Dang where did the time go?  Oh well what are you going to do?  Since that time, Janet and I have done much smaller trips, and a few longer ones in which we stayed in just one place.  One of my favorite spots is at Tiger Run Resort just outside of Breckenridge proper.  I think I could spend the whole summer in this high mountain environment.  Check out there website even if you don’t own an RV.  They rent small chalets.  You can find them here at:  http://www.tigerrunresort.com/

In hindsight, I sometimes think it might have been better to own a trailer or fifth wheel.   Not only do you get a camper so to speak but a pickup that can be used every day.  And there is not as much maintenance required.  Because it is a motor home you have the transmission and motor to maintain if you are not using it year round.  So far, my plan each year has been to start the engine every 30 to 45 days and drive it.  I store it about 12 miles away and this helps in that process.  I usually try to drive it each time about 30 to 50 miles just to lubricate the engine and transmission.  So far it has worked well.  As of 2018 it only has about 20,000 miles on it.

Funny, ever since we got it back in 2006 I have been thinking about getting a bigger one.  I know this does not fit with the 5-wheel idea, but….  A part of me really wants to own a big class A at some point.

A big diesel pusher.  I think that would be so cool.   I have become one of those that likes to go to a new place to camp so to speak and then I want to be there for a while to just explore the area.  To really get to know the new location.  And this idea really fits in with a much bigger RV.   Well…. maybe someday??  Who knows!!  LOL

I have pulled a car behind it since I have owned it.  The first time with a tow dolly and a Chevy Aveo.  And that was always a process, driving up on the ramps, hooking up the Aveo, making sure the straps were tight, etc.….

Now I am pulling a Subaru Outback with a manual transmission, that can be pulled with all four wheels on the ground.  And so far, it has worked really well.  I am happy with it.  A lot less effort needed than using the tow dolly.    I just need to practice with it more often to get used to it.  This may be one of my goals this summer.  To get really comfortable pulling the Subaru behind the motor home.

 

Well, now for the bad news.   The next Ultra is this Saturday or was supposed to be.  I had some right hip pain while finishing a run last week.  Did not think too much about it and it did not bother me over the weekend at work.   Did a 6-mile walk with Janet on Tuesday and still felt pretty good, just a little soreness in that area.  On Wednesday – went for a short run at about 50% effort, just to see if I was going to have some pain to that hip still.  Well I got about three miles into the run, stopped for a bathroom break and that was it.  Damn, the right hip area actually became painful.  Never really had this happen.  Painful enough that I did not feel I could run at all and even walking was hard.  Luckily, I was not too far from home.

Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS), liac crest, Gluteus medius, Tensor fascia latae, Gluteus maximus,Vastus lateralis, Iliotibial band, Tibia tubercle, Patella, Inflammation of the iliotibial band (ITB) causes outer knee pain and possible pain in the hip, MendMeShop TM ©2011

My best guess is that it is an Upper IT band injury or Iliotibial Band.  Most of the individuals I have seen with this injury complain about it in the knee area, but it does run all the way up to the hip.  That is where my pain is, right at that upper Red Dot in the picture.  And it does feel like the Tensor Fascia Latae muscle that connects to the IT band is also sore.  Not sure how I did it.  But my best guess is not enough cross training this year and I may have injured it initially doing Yoga.   Oh well – no matter how I did it, this will be a slight set back, I hope….  Nothing to do but to give myself time to recover and regroup.

Bummed about the Ultra.  It is called the “Dirty Thirty” and I have run it before.  50k distance or about 32 miles.  Great race and volunteers and I was looking forward to running it again.  Check out their web site at:  http://dirty30.org/.  Well time to heal instead and look forward to next year for this one.  My main races this year are the Never Summer 100k and the Run Rabbit Run 100.  And I want to be as healthy for them as possible.  Well that is it for me this time.  I will post again next Friday or Saturday!!  Adios amigos!!

 

Exercise, Family, Longivity, Psychology, Religion, Sociology, Trail Running, Transhumanism

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 25TH, MAY 2018

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“The pessimist is not guaranteed a tomorrow. And, if tomorrow does come, the pessimist does not expect to feel better at the same point in the race…. indeed, it might feel even worse. So, the pessimist plugs on and accomplishes their goals today. And today is the only day that counts.”  Gary Cantrell

 

Well it has been a good week so far. Got to see some of the family this week and that was a really good thing. I have not seen my sister Cathy in a while and anytime they are up visiting their son in Denver (my nephew) I want to take the opportunity to see them. Even though the visit was brief it was good to see them all.

My wife Janet and Richard (my nephew).

 

My daughter Cathryn and my two great Nephews, Ford and Henry.

 

My sister Cathy and myself.

 

And of course, the proverbial group picture.

Not pictured is my nephew’s wife Laura and my brother in law Rick…somehow, they escaped all the pictures?  Thinking about the two great Nephews gives me pause and I wonder where has the time gone.  And that does make me feel a little old.  Older than I want to be.  And what is that about?  I want to live as long as I can and as healthy as I can.  To be able to truly enjoy life when I am 100 and older.  I don’t want to be confined to a Nursing Home.  I am a believer that there is some really smart guy or gal out there right now working on the longevity questions and how to extend life indefinitely.  But not just indefinitely but to be healthy and fully functioning at the same time.  My oh my how that would change things??!

If you are a true believer in one of the worlds mythologies (religions) then how would you wrap your head around this?  I mean really, how would you and still believe?  If it became possible in the future to not die of old age?  To stay alive as long as you want barring any kind of incurable disease or trauma of some kind.  I don’t think we as a species have thought much about this.   But with that said, some have, especially some of the wealthiest individuals in the world today.  They have put a significant amount of money into this research.  As an example of a few:  Larry Ellison (Cofounder of Oracle), Paul Glenn (Venture Capitalist), Dmitry Itskoy (Russian Multimillionaire), Peter Thiel (PayPal and Facebook fame), and Sergey Brin (Google Cofounder) to just name a few.  This give me the belief that in 20 to 30 years, or maybe sooner, we may have some real progress in longevity.  I have heard that the first kid to live over 150 years of age has already been born.  Can you imagine spending 30 to 40 years in one area of work and passion but then being able to switch to a different field entirely.  Spend the same amount of time and then switching again and again and again.  Wow!  Of course, with all that there would be some big adjustments in current life.  Retirement?  Religion?  Environmental? Family? Sociology? Psychology? etc.… To just name a few.  But maybe this would be the best motivation for humanity to move off world and maybe even to the distance stars?  Some might see a reason why this research needs to be curtailed but for me I don’t see these issues as problems, but challenges for humanity.  From the Trees, to the Plains, and then to the Stars….

The futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil believes that we are approaching this point.  His belief is that the emergence of A.I. will usher in this Golden Age of Humanity.  That what seems impossible now will become common place.  That A.I. will create what he calls the Singularity.  A rapidly developing and accelerating technology growth, an explosion in technological progress that happens overnight.  Now before you start doubting this, you should check out a web site called:  https://phys.org  It is a “churn site.”  It does not publish its own data but short synopsis of research that is occurring around the world.  In almost every field.  And it shows when it was published.  And every day it changes, sometimes hour to hour.  It’s the sheer volume of information in different areas of research that is published each and every day that gives me chills just thinking about it.  I believe that Ray Kurzweil has it right when says we are fast approaching a time when a break through in technology will seem just like magic.

It is like we are on a mathematical curve that approaches an asymptote, the y value changes become larger and larger in relation to x.  Almost to the point that the line described is becoming vertical.  Kurzweil thinks this will be when we truly create AI or Artificial Intelligence and then, well then, all things become possible in short time frames we never thought imaginable.  Have a problem…. get an AI to work on it and bingo solutions appear where there seemed to be none.  Wow!  It would be truly amazing if things work out this way.  Just unreal and if you are still in your 50s or younger and reading this…well you might live to see it happen and more?!

Now some see the immortality question from a little different angle.  They see humanity becoming immortal by embracing Transhumanism.  And to some degree this has already happened in several areas of medicine.  This can be thought of the blending of human and machine so to speak.  If you have any of the following then you could be considered Transhumanist: cataract replacement with artificial lens, joint replacement with mechanical parts, an artificial heart valve, implantable penile prosthesis, pacemakers, even amputees from the last middle east conflict that use advanced prostheses.  All of these can be considered Transhumanism.  And as technology move forward, my guess is that we will see much more of this, no part of the body will be off limits.  My personal opinion is that it will be a blending of human and machine that will truly allow us to be immortal.

Well that is probably enough for this week.  In the word of Gary Cantrell, there is no guarantee for tomorrow.  Not yet anyways.  So, I need to get out and do some training for the next Ultra attempt.  It is June 2nd in Golden Gate State Park.  Called the Dirty Thirty.  Check out the website:  http://dirty30.org/  It is a 50k or about 32 miles.  Here’s hoping to no mud, but of course it is an Ultra and in the mountains.  So, you never know what you are going to get.  Take care my friends…  Have a great Holiday weekend.