A Visit to the Swamp

 

The path is nearly non-existent with high weeds growing alongside of it, some shoulder high. Footsteps need to be placed carefully to avoid slips or tripping. There is also the need to be on the lookout for poison ivy. Ticks pose another threat, though you won’t see them until later.

Why would anyone want to walk down this path leading to, of all things, a swamp?

Even though rain has fallen a few days ago, the small ravine leading to the swamp is dry. The mud in it is thick, deer tracks show how deep it is.

The Swamp

The swamp is about 8 or 9 acres of flooded land in-between a set of railroad tracks and a road. Bushes grow out of the water and carcasses of trees lay in it, their roots sticking up in the air, giving birds a place to perch. Flowers cover the bushes and bubbles pop up in the water, breaking the mirror images on its surface.

Button Bush

Milkweed Plant

There is a large variety of flowers, bushes and plants growing here. Some of the most prevalent are button bushes with satellite looking flowers, their roots sunk into the watery mud. (Interestingly, these plants are a member of the coffee family!)  Near the edge of the swamp is a batch of cat tail bushes, their brown hotdog shaped spikes growing higher every day. Milkweed plants add some purple colors to the scene. Milkweed flowers are important because they are a food source for Monarch butterflies.  In the early spring, one of the first plants to break through the muck in the swamp is skunk cabbage, their brownish-purple and green shells reminding us that spring is coming, along with more flowering plants. Thistle grows on the edges near the road and the railroad tracks, their pale flowers and prickly leaves decorating the borders.

Brown Tailed Hawk

Birds are all over the place and evidence of animals abound. Squirrels can be seen in the trees around the edges and the “handprints” of raccoons can be seen in the mud beside the deer tracks. Flocks of birds fly from bush to bush and every so often a woodpecker can be seen tapping on a dead tree. Ducks visit the pond and if you’re lucky you can see a hawk sitting in one of the higher trees watching for prey. Herons also stop by to search for food. Frogs can be heard croaking and then quieting down when the heron appears.

During my last visit to this area, a heron flew past me. I don’t think either of us realized the other was there until we were side by side!

The edges of the swamp are mud, the water level changes almost daily. The mud is thick and brown. Little pools of water with an oily sheen lay in the hollows. Further out the water is clear and reflects the plants and sky above. Pools of water hidden behind the button bushes provide a protected spot for the birds and passing ducks.

Why wouldn’t anyone want to stop by and spend a few minutes? It’s relaxing and peaceful, it’s nature! It's just a swamp, but it has all sorts of wonders hidden in it, hidden in plain sight! It’s there, just waiting for someone to stop by and visit! Try it; you never know what you’ll see!

Go on, stop by...visit a swamp near you!

Mom Nature Strikes Again!

 

The weather has been playing games with me this weekend. Yesterday, it darkened my hopes of going out to our clubs observatory to hold a star party. It had never looked promising but every so often a bit of sunshine would break through the cloud bank. Thunder and downpours pushed any hope out of my mind.

Today was very similar. I just experienced rain, accompanied with thick dark clouds. Now, as I write this, five minutes after the rain, sunshine is glowing on the near-by field. I know there are more clouds, if not rain coming behind this brief bit of brightness. The star party for tonight has been cancelled.

I am sitting beside a stream enjoying the sounds the water makes. The stream is high and the water is dark. The sounds are soothing, water tumbling over rocks accompanied with occasional chirping of birds. No cars pass by, increasing the feeling of isolation.

The wind blows through the trees, a little psithurism to accompany the birds and giving a bit of movement to the scene I’m looking at. The field lightens up and then like clockwork darkens again. Looking at the sky, there is no clearing, only thinning cloud cover. Dark angry clouds drift along the edge of the valley with pale haze overhead.

I have known for weeks that the weather this weekend would be bad. When planning a star party, it is always a gamble, especially here in Pittsburgh where the weather is prone to rain and clouds. I shouldn’t be disappointed or upset, the odds were against us!

It has been a long time since our club, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh, held a star party. Over 20 months according to one of the members. The Covid epidemic has put a hold on so many things in our lives, the star parties are really a minor thing! But still, we miss them!

There have been a lot of discussions about these star parties. Will it be safe, how can we keep our equipment clean and sterile? Do we need masks? Do we need to worry about possibly catching anything by allowing the public to use our gear?

Most of us are going along with the idea that if we are vaccinated, we should be safe. The desire to share the night sky with others drives us on!

My own personal schedule has opened up and I didn’t have any required demands for Friday nights. I have been looking forward to this weekend since the star party dates were announced. Even as I penciled in the dates, I knew my chances were slim. Still I kept my fingers crossed.

A small bit of blue sky drifts overhead, surrounded by grey clouds. Dark, thick clouds are moving into view. The blue sky was just a tease. Mother Nature is playing with me, laughing at my hopes and my dreams.

Rain drops start splashing on my windshield and spotting the surface of the stream. There won’t be any telescope viewing tonight. I guess this will only make the next clear night all that much more enjoyable!

Last but not least, this cartoon reminded me of Pittsburgh…for some odd reason.

Comin' Round the Curve

 

As is so often the case with pre-planned days, this one started with rain.  Thankfully it wasn’t much more than a light sprinkle. We sure weren’t going to let it stop us from enjoying our trip!

We had been planning this “photo-expedition/geocache search” for a couple weeks. Our final destination would be the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona.  We were planning on going up the hill on the backside of the curve to take some pictures of trains. On our way over, we would make a few stops to try our luck at finding some geocaches.

Frank and I have taken countless photo trips, starting sometime in the 80’s and continuing on through the present day. Frank is a fine photographer and we always enjoy discussing photography and our various other hobbies. Whether our photos turn out good or bad, the day sunny or rainy, we always seem to have a good time.

We left Franks house around 6:30 in the morning. The windshield wipers were only used intermittently, the day was looking good.

Our first stop was at a BBQ joint. It wasn’t to get some food, it was to find a cache. We had been here previously but hadn’t realized that there was a cache hidden there. Since the place was closed, the food option was off the table. We settled on finding the cache instead. It was an easy find, inside a box that contained a rubber pig that oinked when the lid was opened.

On top of a mountain about 5 miles away we made our next stop. This cache was hidden in a small ambulance! Cool, you never know what you might find when you’re geocaching! The radio towers across the highway were partially hidden by the fog. Further down the road we would see fog hugging the hillsides on the distant mountains. Pennsylvania has so many nice views!!

A few “pedestrian” caches followed; nothing real exciting other than the thrill of another find. Rt. 22 has hundreds of caches hidden near it. We picked only a small quantity and left the others for another time. There were two that we couldn’t locate. We looked in all the usual spots but couldn’t find them. We left because we had more important things to do, like watching trains!

Driving to the curve using the back roads avoided going into Altoona. Getting off rt.22 at Gallitzin gave us clear roads with hardly any traffic and no traffic lights. We reached the back side of the curve in about 15 minutes.

Our camera gear was packed in our backpacks. I carried a tripod, planning on using it as a hiking staff if needed. We doused ourselves in bug spray and started up the hill. It was a steep climb but other than a few stops for me to catch my breath, there were no problems.

At the top, we were uphill from the observation platform in the center of the curve. We looked down at the building and the locomotive that is sitting there. The rocks we set up on were thankfully in the shade, not that we had to worry about sunlight. It was just brighter and hotter out on the tracks.

Not much was happening at first. Two trucks were up the tracks a bit, the workers were doing some sort of maintenance. We sat and waited and BS’d.

The picture above shows the curve from space. The yellow line is our path up to the curve and the approximate spot where we set up. Altoona is located off to the upper right of the picture. The track rises as it goes towards Gallitzin, off the picture at the lower right. The curve was built in 1854 by the Pennsylvania Railroad to allow trains to cross the Allegheny Mountains. The curve, approximately a quarter mile across uses the topography of the mountains to lessen the grade to the summit.

 As we sat and talked, we heard a couple toots and then the echoes from across the valley. The men cleared off the tracks and a train came downhill towards us. The engineer tooted to the men as he passed them and then again to us as he went by. A short while later we heard another toot as he passed the observation deck.

A few minutes passed and then an Amtrak train came down the hill, heading east into the curve. He tooted also as he passed the observation deck. It must be in the engineers handbook; “Always toot your horn at railfans on the Curve!”

Next to appear was a train heading west, coming uphill out of Altoona. This one was going slow; we heard the noise of the growling engines before we saw them. There were three locomotives pulling the train. We didn’t think to count the cars. The train seemed to go on forever. We guessed that there were at least 300 cars. Two engines were helping at the end. It is amazing to me to think how much power was in those 5 engines!

After that train there was a lull in the action. Then the sounds of another reached us and finally we saw the engines slowly coming into view across the valley. Eight engines pulled this train! Wow, this will be a long one we thought. We started counting the cars as they passed. 

Forty seven… That was it?  Maybe the engines were being taken somewhere? They sure didn’t need that many to pull that small amount of cars. While we were watching and counting, another eastbound train passed on the tracks behind it. This train was much longer and had some helpers positioned in mid train. It passed before the westbound train passed us.

Once these trains had passed we packed our gear and returned to the car. We had been here for about an hour and a half; we were ready to get moving again. The path going down the hill was much easier going down! We did another cache located inside the bowl of the bend. Frank signed the log as another train passed on the curve above us. We then stopped at two other caches but decided to pass on them since they involved some risky climbing.

The caches I do these days pale in comparison to some of the ones I’ve done in the past. My body just doesn’t bend and stretch as well as it used to. Then there is the healing time, which tends to drag out a bit longer than in the old days!

We were back home around 2PM. My odometer showed that I had traveled a little over 200 miles. We had no slips or falls and we found most of the caches we searched for. I only got us lost once, which is about average, but Frank quickly found our road and we were back on track again. I felt pretty good when we got back, after a stretch or two my back muscles felt normal once again. The pictures came out well and the rain had held off for most of the trip. There were no problems; it was a good trip…as always!

Note; I have to say, I did have one small problem. I found a tick on me before I went to bed. Hopefully it was the only one.  Human nature being as it is, for the next hour or two, I could feel “them” crawling all over me!

 

Prepping for a Star Party

 

               I’m excited! The AAAP will be holding star parties once again. With the majority of the population in Pennsylvania being vaccinated, the mask requirements have been dropped.

               This will be the first star party in 20 months. Since my retirement is nearing, I am no longer working Friday nights. This will free me up for both nights (July 16 & 17^th) at the Wagman Observatory in Deer Lakes Park.

               The general idea behind a star party is to show the public the wonders of the night sky. Club members bring their telescopes and set them up so that visitors can use them. Guests are welcome to bring their own scopes or just look through the member’s scopes. All the telescopes are there for you to look through, including the two large scopes mounted in the observatory. 

                  I can’t remember the last time I took a telescope to a star party. I do know it has been a long time! I used to go to lots of them. I had possession of one of the clubs better refractors and would set it up near the observatory. I remember fondly people saying that the refractor showed better images than the two mounted telescopes inside the building. Ahh, those were the days. It is always enjoyable showing people the stars!

               Since it has been such a long time since I went to one and dealt with the public, I figured I needed to make up a checklist to make sure I didn’t forget anything I would need.  I also made a list of possible objects to view during the night.

               Forgetting things is something I tend to do very well. There is nothing worse than driving 10-15 miles only to discover that I’ve forgotten the box of eyepieces or the weights used to balance the scope.

               There are approximately 20 days until the first star party. (Depending on when I post this or when you read it) I’ve made up my “to take” list and my “to view” list. Both are subject to change as the dates near. Here is what I’ve included so far:

To Take:

The Refractor

Tripod

Weights

Eyepieces

Binoculars

Flashlight (red)

Log book/ pens

Star Atlas, Observers Handbook & the current Astronomy magazine

Drinks / Snacks

Jacket

Hat

Bug spray

 

To Observe:

    Venus (west) sets around 10

    Mars (west)

    Moon- sets after midnight

    Jupiter (east) rises around 10:30-11

    Saturn (east) rises around 9:30- 10

    Any satellite passes worth noting

    Mizar and Alcor (Ursa Major)

    M81 & 82 (Ursa Major)

    M-31 Andromeda Galaxy

    M-57 Ring Nebula (Lyra)

    Double Double (Lyra) Epsilon Lyrae     

    Double cluster (Persius) after midnight ?

    Coat Hanger Cluster  (in line with Alberio)

    Alberio Double star in Cygnus 

With my list of objects to observe, I try to go for things which will be exciting for novices to see. It is also important to list things which will be visible during the night of the party! No sense listing the Orion Nebula if Orion won’t be in the sky that night.

               Venus and Mars will be in the western sky, setting shortly after dark falls. The moon will be in the sky until around midnight, being about 40% illuminated, it will be a good object to observe. The mountains along the terminator are always fun to look at.

               The planets Jupiter and Saturn are always crowd pleasers, they will be showing up in the east as the night progresses. The moons of Jupiter can be seen to move over an hour or so and the rings of Saturn are always memorable.

I have included a couple double stars and a few other things such as clusters and asterisms. I also included M-57, the Ring Nebula. This can be a difficult object for some to discern since it is rather faint, I’ll save it for later in the night, after the moon sets.

Before the event, I’ll go out in the yard and try to locate these objects. I haven’t done a lot of observing lately and I need to be able to quickly locate these things. It is always tough when someone is standing there, waiting to see what you have in your scope!

I’m anxiously looking forward to these dates. It will be great to spend a night under the stars. This though, brings up another subject, the possibility of bad weather. We live in Pittsburgh and it has a terrible history of bad weather conditions. I always say, “If there is something astronomical planned, the chances are it will rain!” (The picture above was taken during a VERY close conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter. The weather gods laughed at us…) I might have a cramp or two on July 16^th and 17^th, because I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed until then!

If you’re in the area, I hope to see you there!  Mark these dates...July 16 & 17, 2021! Find out more at The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh web site:

3AP.ORG

I went outside for awhile last night and located a couple of the items on my list. It was a beautiful night, the temperature was perfect for observing. A pair of shorts and an open shirt was all I needed. (That and some bug spray) The stars competed with the fireflies. I saw a couple shooting stars and then got stuck on the items I was observing.  I wanted to just find them and then go to the next but I found I couldn’t help but stick with them for awhile, enjoying the beauty of the night. I saw LOTS of satellites; it seems as if no matter where I’m looking, one will drift through the field of view. Just before I tore things down, I saw a great shooting star, it was slow and bright and right where I was looking. How can you beat that?

Speaking of satellites, I woke up a little before 5 the next morning and watched the Chinese space station, Tianhe-1, go over and then a short while later, the International Space Station following a slightly different path. I watched both until they were lost in the brightness of the eastern sky.

The birds were chirping away, singing their morning songs and I, went back to bed where my dreams were waiting for me.

Not Bad For a Monday!

 

               It was right around 1:30 on a humid Monday afternoon. I was standing above the railroad tracks along the Ohio River. The 6 mile marker was only a hundred yards away.

               Below me, an eastbound Norfolk and Southern train was sitting, waiting for permission to continue on. Since it wasn’t moving, it gave me time to set up my camera, mount it on the tripod and frame my shot. I had an hour and a half until I needed to be at work, things were looking rather good!

               A short time earlier I had arrived at the Emsworth Dam where I had planned on watching trains for a while. If I was lucky I might see one or two and maybe even get a couple shots of them in the process.

               Coming down to the tracks I saw railcars moving through the trees. Getting closer, I saw flat cars with John Deere tractors loaded on them. Their distinct green color gave them away. I saw a line of large black tractor tires rounding the bend, moving away from me.

               I had always thought this would be a great shot. I’ve seen these tractor moves before but was never in a good spot to shot them. I’ve been on highways with no place to pull over or else, the train had passed by the time I got the camera out.

               They were already past my viewing area and the way the tracks curved here, I wouldn’t have been able to get them anyway. I figured it was another opportunity missed. “Oh well, no big deal.”

               I turned the car around and then stopped. Where could I get another shot of these cars? Maybe as they crossed the Ohio Connecting Bridge. I knew a spot that looks right into the bridges as they cross the Ohio River and Brunot’s Island. BUT, what if the train continued on to go up the Alleghany River? I’d miss it if I was waiting at the bridge.

               It was worth a try! I headed towards the bridge and Pittsburgh. The train was going slow when I left, hopefully I’d beat it there. As I drove along rt.65 towards Pittsburgh, different spots were running through my mind. I was thinking of the advantages and disadvantages of each as I went.

               The road going down to milepost 6 might give me a good view. It would be above the train and I might get a bit of the river in the shot also. The question was, would I be able to get there before the train passed? It was real close, chances are the train engines had already passed it. The road was coming up, I made a quick decision and turned.

               The road is paved with orange bricks and knotweed was desperately trying to hide the road. The bricks were outlined with moss; the weeds covered all but a car sized path down the hill. I crept down the road, the weeds scraping the underneath and sides of the car as I passed. I pulled over and parked where the road turns and drops down beside a cliff to the tracks below.

               I pulled onto what used to be a sidewalk. Now, potions of it are missing and the handrail, which comprised of wire rope going through cemented pipes, only existed in spots. The other spots were open to the tracks below. The road is steep and it is a long way down!

               There it was, below me, the train, sitting motionless. Things looked promising.

               After setting up the camera, while waiting for the train to start moving again, I ate my lunch and wrote a couple notes. The wind was blowing hard, showing the underneath’s of the leaves. It felt like rain was coming, thunderstorms were predicted.

               I heard a couple toots and another train passed on a track behind the stopped train. Going in the opposite direction, three engines pulled a combination of cars with a helper situated in the middle.

               A couple minutes after it passed, I heard two more toots and then the clanking as the couplers pulled against each other. I put down my drink and re-checked the settings on the camera. Slowly the train gained speed. I kept a watch where the railcars came into view, about a quarter mile away. “Nope, not a tractor…nope, not a tractor…”

               Finally, as I was starting to wonder if this was the same train, I saw that tell tale green appear. One by one they appeared making a long chain that slinked around the curve. All the details blended together forming a snake that followed the lay of the tracks.

Nearing, the details became obvious. Large wheeled tractors, most of them the same, an occasional box of equipment or tires strapped to the flatbed, every so often one that was a bit smaller than the rest. There were at least forty of them, maybe more. One after another, they were a study in similarities.

               Bringing up the end was a couple of red and blue International Harvester tractors. They just didn’t match the nice consistency of the John Deere tractors, at least in my eyes.

               I watched the rest of the train pass by as I tore down my set-up. I took a quick glance at the shots on the screen of the camera and was pleased with what I saw. With the train gone and my gear back in the car, I slowly backed up the weed choked road. The rain finally came as I was driving in to work.

               I was happy! I had gotten my John Deere train picture, the rain had held off until I was back on the road and I had stayed “fairly” dry. I did mention it was very humid! All in all, it had turned into a great experience. My rail adventure had proven fruitful. Not bad considering it was a Monday!

The Boring Head

 

               I thought you might find this tool I was using rather interesting. It is a Universal Boring Head. With it I can face surfaces, turn diameters, bore holes and put scrolls (actually concentric circles) to bite into gaskets amongst other things.

 Here are a couple shots showing how it works. Excuse the quality of the shots, the lighting wasn’t the best! The shots are not in the order I did the work. (Clicking on the photos will enlarge them!)

This is the head. There are holes in its face where you can place boring bars or other tools. The screws hold the tools in place. There is a hole that runs through the sliding part so you can put tools sticking out the ends also if needed. I have a tool clamped in its center so I could put small grooves in the face of the casting. The head is held in the spindle of the mill, behind the knurled ring.

I just put grooves in the raised face here. They are put there so that gaskets will sit tight against it when the casting is assembled. Each groove is .032” (1/32) away from the previous one. They are all .004” deep. I control how deep they go by moving the machine spindle.

In this shot I have just finished cutting the diameter to size. The boring bar is held in one of the holes and the entire head is moved across the diameter as it is rotating, by moving the spindle out of the machine.

This tool was specially made to face the back side of the flanges. It is a carbide tool holder welded onto a boring bar. There is a piece of carbide (that is hidden by the tool) which does the cutting. There is a rod inserted in the knurled ring, holding the ring stopped while the rest of the head rotates. This engages the feed, moving the tool to cut across the face, just like it did in the front. How deep the cut is, is controlled by where the spindle is located.

Another view of the same set-up

Cutting the face. Each cut removes about .02".

Cutting the face

The thickness and diameters are important and need checked in-between cuts. You can see the piece of carbide in the tool holder in this shot.

A different tool is put into the head to cut a small chamfer on the edges and to remove any burrs.

I’ve removed the boring head and replaced it with a drill chuck. All the diameters and thicknesses are with-in tolerance, if not closer! Tomorrow I will drill a ring of holes around the flange. I will do this by moving the head of the mill up and down and moving the table back and forth. Another fun day at work…

 

 

The Dictionary

 

I pulled a dictionary off of the shelf in the living room this morning. There were at least ten other dictionaries sitting near-by. I pulled out the oldest one of the batch. The Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language.

               The red hardback cover is worn and the edges of the pages have a definitely dirty look to them. It has the appearance of being well used.

               The other dictionaries are newer and have more illustrations in them along with some words which weren’t being used when the older book was published. Still, this old worn book is the one that is most often consulted.

               It was a present to my father from my mother on Christmas of 1966. I know this because of the inscription on the title page written by my father. I would have been ten years old that Christmas. I can remember the times my parents sent me to it, to find out how to spell a word or to find out what a word meant. Rather than just telling me, they taught me how to search for an answer.

               There were always books in our house. Reading was one of the things we did! Newspapers, magazines, comic books, Readers Digest compilations and of course, dictionaries, they were all there. My parents had a small collection of books and this prompted me to start my own collection.

               My father taught me when I was small how to treat books. I can remember us sitting at the dining room table and him showing me how to properly turn a page. He explained that I should never lick my finger to help accomplish the task. He told me how I should never write in a book or use thick objects as book marks. I should never have my crayons near a book unless it was a coloring book.

               These instructions didn’t mean a lot to me at the time but I find that to this day, I still follow them. I try my best to keep my books in as good a shape as possible.

               While holding that dictionary, a book that is now in its fifty-fifth year of occupying that shelf, I thought about my parents books. I thought about the quality of them and how they held up through the years. I also thought about how many of them bear inscriptions and signatures and how slips of paper and newspaper articles have stained the pages while they marked favorite recipes or paragraphs. I thought about how so many of them have notes penciled in the borders. These are all things I was instructed not to do, but they are the very things which make these books so valuable to me! 

               The marginalia, the little things my parents left in there for me to find in the future are what make them so special.

               I still attempt to keep my books note free but I don’t have as much aversion as I used to about making a small note in them every so often. Putting a star beside the title of a poem I enjoyed or putting some parentheses around a paragraph I want to remember, I have learned to live with these minor infractions. Yes, I have even underlined a sentence or two occasionally.

               Perhaps someone in the future will find them helpful, humorous or insightful, much like I have. I can only hope!

A Symphony of Noise

               Noises assault the ear from every direction. Grinders, spitting sparks into the air create a whine. It is a high pitched sound which can grate on your nerves.

               Machines rumble. Some merely filling in background noise while others scream as gears mesh in high speed engagement. Blowers add to the cacophony of sounds, a whine of rotors pulling dust and powders away from the workers.

               A vertical lathe provides a syncopated beat as vanes are intermittently cut to size. The beat changes as the tool cuts into the part.

               Air hoses whistle as chips are blown from newly drilled holes, the chips bouncing off the drum tight safety shields. The alarm on the crane clangs as the hoist moves down the aisle. The sound of the bell decreasing as it moves away.

               A chorus of voices can be heard, filling in as noises dim. Laughter, yelling, discussions of dimensions create a song of work and workers.

               The machine shop is an orchestra of noises. None planned, none scripted, yet they can all fit together to make a symphony out of the clamor. It is a concert of industry preformed by the machinists and their instruments.

               On a good day it can sound wonderful. On a Monday, it can sound like hell!

Diabetic Times are Changing!

 

The late seventies were a different time for me. I was on the company softball team and a member of their bowling team. A motorcycle was my primary means of transportation. My career as a machinist was in its infancy. The price of gas was going up but then again, it rarely goes down. Remember when President Carter was attacked by a rabbit during a fishing trip in Plains Georgia? Ahhh, the 70’s, life was great.

               I had visited my doctor because of increased thirst and frequent trips to the men’s room. On a sunny afternoon in April I was told that I was now a diabetic and I needed to go to the hospital as soon as possible. I thought that my life was over.

               Yes, things were different then as compared to now. I spent a week in the hospital while the doctors tried to normalize my blood sugars. The instruction manuals they used to teach me about the disease were paper; there were no You-Tube videos or phone apps to help me out.

               Somewhere in my attic is a pile of notebooks listing what I had to eat and what my sugar levels were and how much insulin I had injected. Page after page of scribbled notes. Like all diseases, diabetes is something you have to work on. By participating with the doctor, planning your meals and exercising you can make it manageable.

               To find out where my sugar levels were I simply ran a test strip through a stream of my urine. Then I would compare the color it had changed to with a chart on the bottle. It wasn’t a very exacting science back then. But it did get me in the habit of washing my hands frequently.

               Testing progressed into putting a drop of blood onto a test strip. To get a drop of blood to test you have to poke your finger with a lancet. Using a meter gives a much more accurate number than comparing colors. In the modern world there are CGMs, Continuous Glucose Monitors which attach to you and give almost up to the minute readings. They can be paired with a pump to help determine your present needs for insulin along with slowing down the dosages to help avoid lows.

               When I first started giving myself injections I would mix different types of insulin together. There would be some slow acting insulin acting as a background dose during the day and some fast acting insulin to cover what I had just eaten. Care had to be taken to avoid mixing the different types; your health depended on it. Ask any diabetic something that they all carry and chances are the answer will be glucose tablets. If you get too much insulin you risk possibly passing out or worse. These tablets help prevent these lows.

               Presently about 20 or 30% of Type 1 diabetics use a pump. The others that need to inject insulin use needles. Thankfully the diameter and sharpness of the needles has improved. I can’t say it is painless but most of the time I really didn’t mind it. Not that I had a choice.

               In the year 2003 I finally got my first pump. It was 18 years ago this week! To say that it has made my life easier would be an understatement.

               The human body needs something to convert our food into fuel for our muscles to use. Insulin is that magic elixir. Without insulin the sugar in our blood would remain there and eventually cause problems. Thirst and frequent urination could be the least of these. Type 1 diabetics produce no insulin at all and need to inject it to keep their bodies working properly. Type 2 diabetics produce less insulin than they need, often they can compensate for this shortage by closely watching their diets and exercising.

               Getting back to the pump, this can supply a diabetic with a set maintenance dose of insulin during the day along with additional doses to cover meals. Along with the help of your doctor pretty good sugar levels can be attained.

Two days ago I received a new pump. It is a Tandem T:Slim X2. It is coupled with a Dexcom G6 Sensor. (CGM) The sensor checks my blood every 5 minutes and sends the numbers to the pump which uses that info to better control my blood sugar levels. It puts it on a graph (the line crossing the screen in the picture above) which shows me the patterns my levels are taking helping me understand where I stand at the present moment. It has the feel of technology at its best. I’ll find out soon!

               I am looking forward to seeing how it will work. There will definitely be a bit of a learning curve but that seems to be coming along fine. It is very user friendly. I am looking forward to seeing how my sugar averages will drop! Since I got the pump, I figure I have missed about 14 or 15 finger pricks already…things are looking up and my sugar levels are going down!

Her Home Was Her Castle

 

Not far from the border of Vermont, just a few miles into the southwestern corner of New Hampshire lies the remains of what some people call a castle. While it isn’t quite as large as a castle would be, to the woman who lived in it, that is just what it was, her castle.

Born in 1878, Antoinette Bramare grew up in Paris France. Trained as a seamstress, she was also a dancer. She met an American and after they were married moved to New York City where they opened a millinery store. They designed and sold costumes for Broadway.

Her husband died in 1924 and the New York lifestyle no longer appealed to Madame Sherri as she was now known. Visiting a friend’s house in West Chesterfield New Hampshire, she fell in love with the area and decided to move there. She eventually bought 600 acres and designed her house.

When complete in 1929 the house had a curved stone staircase leading up to her personal accommodations on the second floor.

On the main floor she had a large bar which was accessed by walking through two trees which grew up through the roof. In the basement was a small bistro, complete with six tables covered with red tablecloths. She lived in a small farmhouse across the road; the castle was where she held her parties.

I am a bit leery of mentioning any of her supposed eccentricities. I have read numerous accounts on-line but as to how true they may be, I can’t say. I’ll just put these under “supposed things she has done.”

Some say she enjoyed shocking the shop keepers in the near-by town of Brattleboro. She would keep her money tucked in her bosom or in a garter she wore, flashing the merchants when she paid them. She was also “supposedly” fond of driving in her 1927 Packard wearing a fur coat…and nothing else. She was often accompanied by a monkey on a leash.

I also read that she ran a house of prostitution and a speakeasy but as to the reality of these tales, they came from the internet. I can remember my father telling me; just because it is printed in the newspaper doesn’t make it true! A wise man once said “Consider the source!”

When friends visited from NYC she would host parties for them. She would overlook the festivities sitting in an elaborate cobra backed chair. (Another rumor has it that the chair was stolen from the house and used as a throne at the prom of a local school)

Sadly her finances couldn’t support her party lifestyle and her fortune dropped into the poverty levels. She left the area for a few months and when she returned the house had been vandalized, china had been used for target practice and other items were stolen. She never returned to “The Castle” again.

The castle caught fire in 1962 leaving only the stone foundation and the large curved stairway reaching up…to nothing. She had moved into a rest home and after not being able to pay those bills, was moved to the county poor farm where she died in 1965.

            The property was eventually turned over to The Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests. Trails have been made through her woods where the remains of her party house, her castle, still stand.

A sign beside a small parking lot and a scenic lake tells a bit of her life. A short walk brings you  into the woods and to the ruins that Madame Sherri called home.

Coincidence or What?

 

                Every so often, the world throws you one of those weird events, pure happenstance but still enough to make you wonder about them.  Chances are they were nothing more than a bit of serendipity but then again, perhaps it could be our minds slipping out from beneath the blanket that covers them.

                More than once, in fact many times, I have been reading books with similar plot lines or subject matter. For example just a week or two ago I had picked up a couple books. One was from a sales cart and the other from a local library. The first dealt with a young man in the 1800’s who went into the Wild West searching for bones of dinosaurs. (Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton) The second one was the modern day tale of a young FBI agent who requests help from an archeologist to solve a crime. ( The Scorpions Tail by Preston and Child) Needless to say, I got confused a couple times, especially since I was reading them both at the same time! I am constantly getting books with intermingling subject matter.

                This has happened to me countless times.

                How about getting the premonition that a policeman will be sitting alongside the road soon and just as you round the bend, there he is. Maybe it is just a common thought and I just don’t notice it since usually there isn’t any policemen sitting near-by. Whenever I see one, the thought digs itself deeper in my mind…

                Today I had called my friend Frank and had left a message on his phone. Then I started cutting the lawn. My hearing isn’t what it used to be and the mower is noisy but I thought I heard the phone ring. I shut off the mower and pulled out my phone. It was dead, no calls had come. I flipped it closed, (yeah, I know…flip phone. HA) and as I did that, the phone rang. It was Frank returning my call.

                Coincidence or premonition? I’d like to opt towards the premonition, mainly because it sounds cooler! Ann Marie and I have done this a couple times in the past. Two minds thinking the same way!

                Speaking of Ann Marie, looking forward to visiting with her nephews for the first time in ages, she was heading to Beaver Falls today. I was going in to work. I had stopped at City Books and visited for awhile and then was heading to Emsworth to watch trains and read my book before I did the final drive to work. Nearing the McKees Rocks Bridge I wondered how AMB would have gone to Beaver Falls, take the road I was on or the turnpike. The turnpike would probably be quicker I guessed.

                I zipped through the traffic light at the bridge and saw a blue Honda ahead of me. I thought, “That can’t be her, I just thought about her!” Getting closer I could finally see the license plate and damned if it wasn’t her.

                I pulled alongside and tooted the horn. We pulled into a parking lot, got out and laughed about seeing each other. What a coincidence, (?) she was running a little late, I was going towards work and we ran into each other. To make it more interesting, I had just thought of her a mile or two before I saw her.

                It brightened up both of our days. The question is, was it just mere happenstance or was it something deeper?

                Being human and having the desire to discover and further enlighten our lives, I’d like to think it is something more than just pure chance. I want it to be cerebral; I want it to be our minds connecting on a higher plane.

I have always thought that we are all born with certain abilities which as we grow up are lost because of the way we are taught.  During our childhoods we are taught that these “things” aren’t normal, they just don’t happen. The fables which accompany any ethnicity, “They are only stories. They didn’t really happen. You didn’t actually see that, you only imagined it. It is only a chance encounter…” We are told that our dreams mean nothing.

We need to think outside of what we are taught. Maybe we do have abilities that we aren’t aware of. You know, we only use a small portion of our brains capabilities.

Dream on, enjoy the things life gives us and believe in the impossible!

Now, don’t these things always happen in threes…

The Walloomsac Inn in Bennington Vermont

 

Bennington is Vermont’s front door. Coming into the state from New York is entering a picture perfect world. All the postcards you’ve seen are right there in front of you. Old stylish houses trimmed with elaborate moldings, white picket fences, mountains sitting in the background with deep blue skies complete with a puffy cloud or two drifting though.

Well, it might not be quite as spectacular as that but when you enter this state you enter a different way of living. I have only visited it as a tourist but I have to say it is one of my favorite places. How can you complain about a state that outlawed billboards?

Traveling rt.7 across the state, there are two large cities on either end.  Bennington sits in the east, next to New York and Brattleboro in the west, next to New Hampshire. History abounds in both cities. There are stores filled with souvenirs and restaurants to satiate your appetite. Both have bookstores, and that is always important for a city to have! The Bennington Bookstore is the oldest in the state.

There is one place in Bennington where I have stopped numerous times. Coming into town on the side of the road is a large hotel. Three or four stories tall, covered in old grey wood, cracked and bent. Balconies with thick ivy curling around the banisters and shutters with their slats falling from the frames cover the sides. Tattered curtains hang in the windows. Could it be haunted? Just imagine what it looks like in late October!

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 (Pictures will enlarge when clicked)

I can’t help but pull over and take a couple pictures every time I pass through town. A little bit of internet search brought up some facts about the place, including its name.

Pre- 1974

It is the Walloomsac Inn and was originally built back in 1771! Named after the near-by river, it is the oldest hotel in Vermont. The original section of the building is still standing. The hotel is located across the street from a beautiful white church where Robert Frost is buried.

The front entrance – date unknown

 In the days before the railroads came to Bennington, this was a stagecoach stop and the owner had rooms to rent to the travelers. It took 4 days to travel between New York City and Bennington. The fare was $9. The inn has been called various names including The Dewey’s Tavern , The Hicks Tavern and The Walloomsac House. It was a very busy spot in town. After the railroads came business dropped a bit but it continued on until 1996 when it closed down completely.  The hotel was sold in 1891 to the Berry family who still live in it.

There is a ballroom on the second floor and many parties and social gatherings have been held there. Some of the inns more famous guests were Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, both before they became presidents. President Rutherford B. Hayes and President Benjamin Harrison both stayed there also! Slightly different types of guests were the British soldiers who are rumored to have been kept as prisoners of war in one of the sheds behind the inn during the Revolutionary War.

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The back section, the most photographed, was built in the late 1890’s. Even though the building appears to be falling down, there is a brick structure underneath the wooden surface. It is in better condition than it looks, apparently.  To put it back into good shape would cost a fortune so chances are it will continue to sit alongside the road, catching the attention of passing drivers.

Front entrance of the original building – 4.25.21

The urge to explore hits me every time I pass it by. Imagine dancers in stylish clothes swaying across the floor to the sounds of a band in the ballroom, now dusty and unused… rooms sitting empty for decades filled with the spirits of travelers who visited in the past. I’d love to explore it, one of these days…one of these days!