USMB Coffee Shop IV

[gallantwarrior]

Good night darlinks. I really do love you guys.

Wondering where Mr. and Mrs. Gracie are tonight.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or keep vigil for:

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Freedombecki and Becki’s hubby,
GW's daughter, her friend Sachendra, and Sachendra's husband Bob and son Gary.
Noomi!!!
Nosmo's mom,
Ernie's stop smoking project,
Sherry’s Mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
The Ringels in difficult transition,
Boedicca's Dad,
Foxfyre's friend Dana and Aunt Betty,
Imperius,
Gracie and Mr. Gracie in a difficult transition,
Mrs. O and SFC Ollie,
Kat's mom and her sister,
All of us and those we care about who are looking for work,


And the light is left on for Alan, Noomi, Freedombecki, Oddball, Spoonman, and all the others who we miss and hope to return.

Fourth of July Canyon hiking trail near Albuquerque NM. (People come for miles around to see the wild red maples when they are in their best color.)

That's what it looks like around here!

I bet. I have always wanted to take one of those New England cruises that included fall foliage. Did you get any of that snowfall that was on our news?

I had a friend who lived in upstate NY and I lived south of DC. The drive up to visit was a journey through Fall at certain times of the year..

 

[gallantwarrior]

Good night darlinks. I really do love you guys.

Wondering where Mr. and Mrs. Gracie are tonight.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or keep vigil for:

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Freedombecki and Becki’s hubby,
GW's daughter, her friend Sachendra, and Sachendra's husband Bob and son Gary.
Noomi!!!
Nosmo's mom,
Ernie's stop smoking project,
Sherry’s Mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
The Ringels in difficult transition,
Boedicca's Dad,
Foxfyre's friend Dana and Aunt Betty,
Imperius,
Gracie and Mr. Gracie in a difficult transition,
Mrs. O and SFC Ollie,
Kat's mom and her sister,
All of us and those we care about who are looking for work,


And the light is left on for Alan, Noomi, Freedombecki, Oddball, Spoonman, and all the others who we miss and hope to return.

Fourth of July Canyon hiking trail near Albuquerque NM. (People come for miles around to see the wild red maples when they are in their best color.)

That's what it looks like around here!

I bet. I have always wanted to take one of those New England cruises that included fall foliage. Did you get any of that snowfall that was on our news?

Your leaves don't turn? They do fall off, though, right? Wonder why they don't turn color. Maybe it's the type of trees where you are? Not all of ours turn bright colors, either. It depends on the tree.

Here in Albuquerque we have an amazing variety of trees and these do turn all the glorious colors of autumn, but they are landscape trees and therefore not growing wild in forest like settings. The wild trees, except for the occasional stands of wild oak and wild red maple, most of the deciduous trees grow along the bosque--mostly cottonwood--the most common deciduous trees in New Mexico are cottonwood, birch, and aspen--all of which turn golden in the fall. There isn't anything prettier than a large cottonwood tree in full brilliant shimmering gold though, and the aspens are often in large stands that turn a whole mountainside golden.

The largest varieties of wild trees in New Mexico are pine, pinon, fir, and juniper that of course are green year round all being of the evergreen category. And the scraggly mesquite along our eastern border are much to look at any time of year.

To the get full range of brilliant fall colors, you folks in the upper midwest/great lakes states and northeast enjoy the full range of fall colors.

Autumn in New Mexico is more like this:

That's really beautiful. Do you folks have hackmatacks? The first Fall I was in Maine, I thought the firs had gotten diseased when they all turned yellow. They must be the missing link between evergreens and deciduous trees.

We call those tamaracks.

 

[gallantwarrior]

OMG! This will be the second year I remember where we had no snow for Holloween! It's been over freezing the past few days with only a little rain initially. I'm not complaining, but the black ice is deadly. I actually watched someone roll over at least three times before coming to rest in the median this morning. Of course, I could not just drive by but there was another commuter, a fireman, who had already contacted emergency personnel...

 

[ChrisL]

OMG! This will be the second year I remember where we had no snow for Holloween! It's been over freezing the past few days with only a little rain initially. I'm not complaining, but the black ice is deadly. I actually watched someone roll over at least three times before coming to rest in the median this morning. Of course, I could not just drive by but there was another commuter, a fireman, who had already contacted emergency personnel...

It's been in the 40s here at night, and I'm cold already! I am so dreading the cold and the snow.

 

[ChrisL]

Happy Halloween everybody!

Witches, ghosts and goblins,
all dressed up for Halloween.
If you're on the squeamish side,
it's enough to make you scream.
I'm not one for scary things, I've
always been that way. If any of
them, came to my door, I'd keep
them, at bay. I have an aversion,
for those, who dress like this.
They'd scare me half to death.
Now, when I see, anyone dressed
like a witch, a ghost or a goblin, I
have to hold, my breath!

Audrey Heller

 

[Nosmo King]

We do get pretty zany about feeding the birds, don't we? My mom had it in her head that she only wanted to feed the little birds. She'd be rapping on the window and shooing off blue jays and doves. Only wanted the chickadees and wrens.
We don't seem to have a lot of grey squirrels around my house. Something must be eating them.

I still remember the year I set up a bird feeding station for ravens and eagles. I put the bones and offal from a moose I shot out in the front yard. We had hours of entertainment watching the birds feed...oh, wait...Alaska is different. Sowwy!

Not different at all. Moose and eagles and hawks share our space here, too. Did the eagles share? I was recently surprised to see two eagles eating a dead critter that had been hit on the side of the road. It occurred to me I'd never seen two feeding together. Maybe one was a juvenile.

Eagles do indeed feed in groups, they are actually scavengers. I have also seen ravens drive the eagles off of a "feeder". I thought it would be a more efficient use of things that would otherwise be wasted. And, it was cheap entertainment for the cats. All of them were perched in the upstairs windows, chittering like they do when they see a sparrow. It was challenging not to let them out to find out just what they were challenging.

When I lived and worked in sunny Sarasota, Florida, one of my projects was at a municipal landfill. That's environmental engineering for 'town dump'.

My part of the project was to accurately map the landfill. Later, my maps and drawings were used to design and install a cap that would lock in place, then gather and extract methane gas. That gas then provided the power for an industrial park.

Every day the landfill was covered with seagulls. It was a dump and it was just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

The gulls spent the majority of their time gleaning the trash for food. Until one of the pair of eagles nesting nearby wanted to stretch their wings. These eagles would swoop down out of the sun as if they were Spitfires closing in on Messerschmidts. The gulls would fly off the dump as if you opened the zipper on a very tight fitting gray and white sweater. They just peeled away from the flight path of the eagles.

Those gulls knew who could be there to feast and those who might be feasted upon.

Years ago, a friend of mine got a (much coveted) permit to visit an eagle viewing site in Alaska. She was an amateur photographer and was excited about the potential. Her most potent photos featured an eagle attacking and eating a gull, while the gull was still alive!
How, or what, does one map at a landfill? I've seen the methane caps and there's a building that has plumbing for the methane emissions.

Sarasota is billiard table flat. A bump down there could be described as "Mount Nosmo".

I used good old survey technique first laying out and measuring a control system that ringed the dump. Then I measured the height of the mound. We established a benchmark. That's a point with a known elevation. We ran vertical control over the mound, checking back in to the benchmark. That keeps out height measurements precise.

When you put the horizontal data (the control lines ringing the dump) together with the vertical data (the change in elevation of the dump) we could accurately assemble a contour map of the site and then design the right size cap.

After that, the engineering of all the piping was given to me so I could determine where it all went and if it would actually fit.

I know that environmental engineering sound like all bright lights and glamor. But I've worked in dumps, in sewers, in pits that contained leaking underground storage tanks, seeking out asbestos containing building materials, lead-based paint, leaking electrical transformers and hazardous waste sites.

Through it all, I've miraculously maintained my health.

My family business is a print shop. My Great Grandfather started it in 1921, just a few years after he got off the boat from Dundee, Scotland. My baby brother (who celebrated his 56th birthday in July) owns and operates the shop today. Pop ran the Linotype machine. It's been obsolete since the Eisenhower administration, but the week Pop retired in 1997, they dismantled it and shipped it off for scrap.

The Linotype took an ingot of lead, melted it down and then injected that molten lead into type face molds a line at a time. If everything didn't 'line up' right, a stream of molten lead could squirt out of the machine. Pop caught that lead on his trousers. From the knee to the cuff, Pop's gabardines would sport little flecks of lead.

Pop would come home to a tumultuous greeting from my brother and me! We would hug him around his legs (because we weren't yet tall enough to reach any higher) he would roll around the living room floor and rough house with us. On laundry day, Mom would wash all our clothes together. She would iron his trousers and keep that hot iron over the flecks of lead to soften them and pick them away with her finger nails.

Then I grew up, went to The Ohio State University and earned a degree in environmental engineering. During my matriculation there, I learned how hazardous lead exposure is, particuarly to growing children. The most deleterious effect is one on the central nervous system and its ability to perform complex cognitive tasks. It basically wipes IQ points from your brain.

"Pop" I bravely proclaimed "All that lead you brought home dumbed me down! I could have been born daVinci or Einstein! But now I have to use what brain cells I have left that weren't destroyed by Linotype lead!"

Pop looked over the top of his spectacles and dryly said "You give yourself too much credit."

 

[Foxfyre]

Good night darlinks. I really do love you guys.

Wondering where Mr. and Mrs. Gracie are tonight.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or keep vigil for:

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Freedombecki and Becki’s hubby,
GW's daughter, her friend Sachendra, and Sachendra's husband Bob and son Gary.
Noomi!!!
Nosmo's mom,
Ernie's stop smoking project,
Sherry’s Mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
The Ringels in difficult transition,
Boedicca's Dad,
Foxfyre's friend Dana and Aunt Betty,
Imperius,
Gracie and Mr. Gracie in a difficult transition,
Mrs. O and SFC Ollie,
Kat's mom and her sister,
All of us and those we care about who are looking for work,


And the light is left on for Alan, Noomi, Freedombecki, Oddball, Spoonman, and all the others who we miss and hope to return.

Fourth of July Canyon hiking trail near Albuquerque NM. (People come for miles around to see the wild red maples when they are in their best color.)

An update on my partner's status. The surgery on his leg went OK, but not well. He'll need additional surgery with no guarantee that things will improve. He's going to physical therapy weekly. At 65, he's eligible for SS, and they have offered him re-training for a more suitable occupation. I doubt he'll be able to climb ladders, crawl around under airplanes, etc, again. I think he's looking at SS disability at this stage. Guy's limping around with a crutch and the pain is pretty intense after moderate movement. He soldiers on as best he can, hiding his pain and limitation as best he can. He can't fool me, though.
Damned, I hope shit like this never happens to me!

We'll keep him on the list and hope the prognosis is better than it appears.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I've come out from under the bed. It took me nearly all day to realize that I'm not scared of no stinking ghosts or goblins. Besides that, I had to use the potty.

 

[gallantwarrior]

OMG! This will be the second year I remember where we had no snow for Holloween! It's been over freezing the past few days with only a little rain initially. I'm not complaining, but the black ice is deadly. I actually watched someone roll over at least three times before coming to rest in the median this morning. Of course, I could not just drive by but there was another commuter, a fireman, who had already contacted emergency personnel...

It's been in the 40s here at night, and I'm cold already! I am so dreading the cold and the snow.

It's been high 30s and 40s here, too. Pretty unusual, actually. No complaints here, though!

 

[gallantwarrior]

I still remember the year I set up a bird feeding station for ravens and eagles. I put the bones and offal from a moose I shot out in the front yard. We had hours of entertainment watching the birds feed...oh, wait...Alaska is different. Sowwy!

Not different at all. Moose and eagles and hawks share our space here, too. Did the eagles share? I was recently surprised to see two eagles eating a dead critter that had been hit on the side of the road. It occurred to me I'd never seen two feeding together. Maybe one was a juvenile.

Eagles do indeed feed in groups, they are actually scavengers. I have also seen ravens drive the eagles off of a "feeder". I thought it would be a more efficient use of things that would otherwise be wasted. And, it was cheap entertainment for the cats. All of them were perched in the upstairs windows, chittering like they do when they see a sparrow. It was challenging not to let them out to find out just what they were challenging.

When I lived and worked in sunny Sarasota, Florida, one of my projects was at a municipal landfill. That's environmental engineering for 'town dump'.

My part of the project was to accurately map the landfill. Later, my maps and drawings were used to design and install a cap that would lock in place, then gather and extract methane gas. That gas then provided the power for an industrial park.

Every day the landfill was covered with seagulls. It was a dump and it was just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

The gulls spent the majority of their time gleaning the trash for food. Until one of the pair of eagles nesting nearby wanted to stretch their wings. These eagles would swoop down out of the sun as if they were Spitfires closing in on Messerschmidts. The gulls would fly off the dump as if you opened the zipper on a very tight fitting gray and white sweater. They just peeled away from the flight path of the eagles.

Those gulls knew who could be there to feast and those who might be feasted upon.

Years ago, a friend of mine got a (much coveted) permit to visit an eagle viewing site in Alaska. She was an amateur photographer and was excited about the potential. Her most potent photos featured an eagle attacking and eating a gull, while the gull was still alive!
How, or what, does one map at a landfill? I've seen the methane caps and there's a building that has plumbing for the methane emissions.

Sarasota is billiard table flat. A bump down there could be described as "Mount Nosmo".

I used good old survey technique first laying out and measuring a control system that ringed the dump. Then I measured the height of the mound. We established a benchmark. That's a point with a known elevation. We ran vertical control over the mound, checking back in to the benchmark. That keeps out height measurements precise.

When you put the horizontal data (the control lines ringing the dump) together with the vertical data (the change in elevation of the dump) we could accurately assemble a contour map of the site and then design the right size cap.

After that, the engineering of all the piping was given to me so I could determine where it all went and if it would actually fit.

I know that environmental engineering sound like all bright lights and glamor. But I've worked in dumps, in sewers, in pits that contained leaking underground storage tanks, seeking out asbestos containing building materials, lead-based paint, leaking electrical transformers and hazardous waste sites.

Through it all, I've miraculously maintained my health.

My family business is a print shop. My Great Grandfather started it in 1921, just a few years after he got off the boat from Dundee, Scotland. My baby brother (who celebrated his 56th birthday in July) owns and operates the shop today. Pop ran the Linotype machine. It's been obsolete since the Eisenhower administration, but the week Pop retired in 1997, they dismantled it and shipped it off for scrap.

The Linotype took an ingot of lead, melted it down and then injected that molten lead into type face molds a line at a time. If everything didn't 'line up' right, a stream of molten lead could squirt out of the machine. Pop caught that lead on his trousers. From the knee to the cuff, Pop's gabardines would sport little flecks of lead.

Pop would come home to a tumultuous greeting from my brother and me! We would hug him around his legs (because we weren't yet tall enough to reach any higher) he would roll around the living room floor and rough house with us. On laundry day, Mom would wash all our clothes together. She would iron his trousers and keep that hot iron over the flecks of lead to soften them and pick them away with her finger nails.

Then I grew up, went to The Ohio State University and earned a degree in environmental engineering. During my matriculation there, I learned how hazardous lead exposure is, particuarly to growing children. The most deleterious effect is one on the central nervous system and its ability to perform complex cognitive tasks. It basically wipes IQ points from your brain.

"Pop" I bravely proclaimed "All that lead you brought home dumbed me down! I could have been born daVinci or Einstein! But now I have to use what brain cells I have left that weren't destroyed by Linotype lead!"

Pop looked over the top of his spectacles and dryly said "You give yourself too much credit."

Two separate tales there, Nosmo. The first is pretty informative, the second...clarifying in a different way. Thanks for both!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Good night darlinks. I really do love you guys.

Wondering where Mr. and Mrs. Gracie are tonight.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or keep vigil for:

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Freedombecki and Becki’s hubby,
GW's daughter, her friend Sachendra, and Sachendra's husband Bob and son Gary.
Noomi!!!
Nosmo's mom,
Ernie's stop smoking project,
Sherry’s Mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
The Ringels in difficult transition,
Boedicca's Dad,
Foxfyre's friend Dana and Aunt Betty,
Imperius,
Gracie and Mr. Gracie in a difficult transition,
Mrs. O and SFC Ollie,
Kat's mom and her sister,
All of us and those we care about who are looking for work,


And the light is left on for Alan, Noomi, Freedombecki, Oddball, Spoonman, and all the others who we miss and hope to return.

Fourth of July Canyon hiking trail near Albuquerque NM. (People come for miles around to see the wild red maples when they are in their best color.)

An update on my partner's status. The surgery on his leg went OK, but not well. He'll need additional surgery with no guarantee that things will improve. He's going to physical therapy weekly. At 65, he's eligible for SS, and they have offered him re-training for a more suitable occupation. I doubt he'll be able to climb ladders, crawl around under airplanes, etc, again. I think he's looking at SS disability at this stage. Guy's limping around with a crutch and the pain is pretty intense after moderate movement. He soldiers on as best he can, hiding his pain and limitation as best he can. He can't fool me, though.
Damned, I hope shit like this never happens to me!

We'll keep him on the list and hope the prognosis is better than it appears.

Both the partner and I have a propensity for making lemonade of lemons. Thank you and I still hope for the best outcome for his difficulty. Handicapped is not a word in his vocabulary.

 

[Ernie S.]

Then there was the aging US Marshall. I was actually toting twin Colt 1873 revolvers in the gun belt you can see. I'll try to find a shot that included one or both.View attachment 96023

1873 colts, were they percussion revolvers?

Cartridge... Among the first center fire cartridge revolvers, They fire the .45 Long Colt round that carries considerably more punch than the .45 ACP cartridge designed for the Colt 1911 semi automatic. The .45 LC when loaded for an 1873 has a bit more punch than the.44 bulldog, but less that a ,44 magnum. (used to carry one of those beasts) The cartridge can be loaded as potently as a .44 magnum, but it's not a good idea to fire that round through a revolver designed in 1873.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Fall is my favorite time of the yr, its the only season that never disappoints. I pity the fool who has never seen a full on fall color rush. Past peak now but still some some late bloomers around....
Of some concern is the eight inches of extra precip so far this yr.....Heading into winter with the lakes, rivers, and duckie ponds they put in all over full to the brim with water seeping up from lowlands in farmers fields. Mother in Laws neighbors house had their basement flood month ago from overflowing pond....we get the snow predicted prolly going to be lots of water with no place to go....

 

[Ernie S.]

Let's see if I can post a short video from the Halloween party last night. We had some great costumes. I even found myself captivated by a witch, but no one was as awesome as the 9 foot man. He actually came in in the afternoon to check our ceilings before putting on the costume. /

It looks like you all had as much fun as our crowd had.

I had a blast, other than a slight case of dish pan hands.

I bet! Looks like a good size crowed.
Was everyone dressed up?
Only about a third of our crowd did.

Maybe half... This was our 3rd Halloween and people in Foley have learned that we are THE place for All Hallows Evening. 3 of our 5 highest grossing nights have been our halloween parties with Saturday night being #2 on that list. The other 2 have been my birthday party in July and my partner's party in September of this year. It;s a bit exhausting for an aging gun fighter like me, but I so thoroughly enjoy what I do!
Halloween is a month long event for us. We start decorating October first. We call it the 30 Days of Halloween. (think about the 12 Days of Christmas) We need a song, don'tchathink? Cobwebs, spooky stuff hanging from the ceiling on fishing line that can be dropped on folks from 3 different stations and a 3 foot diameter spider that looks scary just sitting there, but if you touch it, it will jump up about 3 feet and scream at you with its creepy red eyes flashing.
Our lighting consists of reproduction Edison bulbs in mason jars that hang from the ceiling over the 3 sided bar and along the walls. There are 30 40 watt lights on 2 big dimmers. Those lights are changed out one per day to UV bulbs. We have 2 quart mason jars painted in day-glow green and orange with ghosts or jack o lanterns for tip jars that glow eerily, and dry ice and water in cauldrons steaming and bubbling away.

 

[peach174]

Let's see if I can post a short video from the Halloween party last night. We had some great costumes. I even found myself captivated by a witch, but no one was as awesome as the 9 foot man. He actually came in in the afternoon to check our ceilings before putting on the costume. /

It looks like you all had as much fun as our crowd had.

I had a blast, other than a slight case of dish pan hands.

I bet! Looks like a good size crowed.
Was everyone dressed up?
Only about a third of our crowd did.

Maybe half... This was our 3rd Halloween and people in Foley have learned that we are THE place for All Hallows Evening. 3 of our 5 highest grossing nights have been our halloween parties with Saturday night being #2 on that list. The other 2 have been my birthday party in July and my partner's party in September of this year. It;s a bit exhausting for an aging gun fighter like me, but I so thoroughly enjoy what I do!
Halloween is a month long event for us. We start decorating October first. We call it the 30 Days of Halloween. (think about the 12 Days of Christmas) We need a song, don'tchathink? Cobwebs, spooky stuff hanging from the ceiling on fishing line that can be dropped on folks from 3 different stations and a 3 foot diameter spider that looks scary just sitting there, but if you touch it, it will jump up about 3 feet and scream at you with its creepy red eyes flashing.
Our lighting consists of reproduction Edison bulbs in mason jars that hang from the ceiling over the 3 sided bar and along the walls. There are 30 40 watt lights on 2 big dimmers. Those lights are changed out one per day to UV bulbs. We have 2 quart mason jars painted in day-glow green and orange with ghosts or jack o lanterns for tip jars that glow eerily, and dry ice and water in cauldrons steaming and bubbling away.View attachment 96183 View attachment 96185

That's awesome !

 

[Big Black Dog]

Yes, going to the potty is awesome!

 

[Gracie]

Alive. Learning how to use Obama phone. Will go to library tmorrro and fill u all in. Has not been pleasant. In old neighbors TV right now, Meg asleep. He is falling apart. Karma boot well. I am treating to do this all myself so far. Don't no if I can. Will keep trying. Have stories for you guys though. Some funny... Some scary. Can't sleep... So tried phone and surprised I got onlinBaBaBaBattry low and this thing confusing. Just enters to let yummy know we are hanging in there best we can, and I miss and lover you.

 

[Gracie]

Well, I hope u can make sense of that mess up ythere.

 

[Kat]

Alive. Learning how to use Obama phone. Will go to library tmorrro and fill u all in. Has not been pleasant. In old neighbors TV right now, Meg asleep. He is falling apart. Karma boot well. I am treating to do this all myself so far. Don't no if I can. Will keep trying. Have stories for you guys though. Some funny... Some scary. Can't sleep... So tried phone and surprised I got onlinBaBaBaBattry low and this thing confusing. Just enters to let yummy know we are hanging in there best we can, and I miss and lover you.

I have worried and worried about you and the mister! So good to hear! Miss you!!! ♥♥♥

 

[saveliberty]

Gracie is back to the ocean and out of what felt like prison. The rest will steadily improve.