v e r y c o l d m o r n i n g

That certainly was a nice low temp this morning....officially 18.86 degrees at 6:41AM. Good thing is the sun came out and turned things around. Spend 2 cool morning hours at the GrubShack sitting by the fire. Came back to the Field Lab at 11 and cleared a path and a spot for my steel delivery. Put off coming back inside for as long as I could because the sun felt so good. Finally faced up the the reality of going back to the computer to figure out the camera/telescope/computer fiasco. Something was going on that was not very plug and play (not that I'm surprised). Reloaded the software after thoroughly reading the manual but still couldn't get the computer to recognize the camera. Thought I had done my best to formally introduce them too. Was one step away from calling in the IT guy from the UK to save the day. Just about ready to cry uncle when a bird decided to come in the house. Got him to back out the door by going outside and scaring him away from window he kept banging his head on.

The bird incident was quickly followed by yet another opportunity to take a break from the snafu - when my once'a'year neighbor came by on his way out to visit his 460 acres of mountain. Nice to see him again and I set up an appointment to come out to his camp so he can show me the easy way to the top of Panther Mountain. He was pleased to see all the progress here since his last trip but it made me very aware of how little has happened in the past month.

Right after they went on their way, I shot back inside determined to accomplish something today. Did some searching online and soon found that the problem was with windows Vista. Seems the computer was not finding the correct driver for the camera. Tried a very simple suggestion for a backwards fix. One try and VOILA! ....camera on - problem solved. Now on to the next step..... to actually photograph something. Wonder what will not work next? 39,66,18,0

desert dustin

Woke up this morning at 5:30AM. Dragged myself out of bed, fired up the heater, and made the first round of coffee for the day. Just as I headed out to feed the birds (two hours later) - I noticed something falling from the sky that was rather unfamiliar since I moved to the desert......snow! Low and behold it snowed for about an hour and a half, just long enough to powder the ground with about 3/16". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRPcazLb7Uc About an hour after it stopped snowing - the sun came out and all evidence was quickly gone ... except for the 2 cups that I saved, melted down, and bottled. You would be surprised how long it takes to fill and cork 134 two milliliter bottles with melted/filtered snow.

Studied the manual for the telescope camera and software but have yet to get it up and running. Spent two hours getting that much closer to mastering the software. Lost a bit of time today when Diego came over to check his email on my computer. 28,53,27, .02"

Who loves the moon...

Bitter cold and cloudy all day. 34,39,33,0 I thought this was the desert. Just the kind of day to stay inside and think about life and all the new friends I've met out here. Some of them have turned out to be extraordinary friends.

Made yet another trip down south to fill up a propane cylinder. Had lunch with my buddy Dan who I haven't hung out with in ages. We got caught up to date - looking forward to my second annual visit to his place as Santa. Funny how quickly you can build a history with people out here.

Came back home to hunker in for what will probably be the coldest night of the year. Always looking for something to do....I installed the software for the webcam that mounts on my telescope. Now I gotta read the manual through and through to figure it all out. Been out here almost 2 years and haven't even peeked through it yet. Hope to get some good moon shots for a new BFF - when the blue moon comes around at the end of the month.

Full Moon

Shim-shammed the picketywick again today....which means yet another day of planning but no doing. Managed a trip down south to buy 4 bundles of reed fencing from Mamma Burr down at H2O to Go to use for some interior design treatment of the guest quarters. She had a big load in all year and I figured I'd better go down before she ran out. I got the last of it. Funny thing is, someone came in to buy some right after I wrote the check.....timing is everything. Spent the afternoon going over the construction plans and got a final supply list - I think. You sure gotta plan ahead when the store is 65 miles away. Beautiful moon set this morning and a right nice sunset tonight. Plenty of sun today to charge my battery banks up full for a change.

Alas my Benita may be gone for the winter now though - she took off the day before Thanksgiving and hasn't been seen since. Reckon she is wintering with the grandchildren. You gotta figure that a 21 year old longhorn must have lots of grandchildren. 44,71,29,0

TwistTogether Lamp

One last bad weather day here at the Field Lab.....but not a flake of snow overnight. Gotta feeling we are in for a very nice stretch of sunny weather starting tomorrow.

Main event of the day is that I got a call from Mueller Steel and my materials for the greenhouse roof should be here by next Tuesday. I'm really itchin' to get this phase underway. In the meantime - planning on a supply run to Alpine to pick up materials for the interior of the quest quarters. There has been such a lul here that I need to get multiple things happening to feel like I'm back in the swing of things.

Project of the day was to assemble and mount the TwistTogether Lamp sets I had ordered from my old buddy Dave in Brooklyn. We collaborated brilliantly on a robotics project back in my Brooklyn days.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4RV3Rkxyss By the time I moved to upstate NY, he and his partner Witch were just beginning development of this lighting system. Now they are in full swing production with lots of great press behind their product. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXI4oj-8Ulc Best thing is they look really, really nice and draw very little power due to the LED's (I wired mine directly into my 12VDC system)....and the final look is only limited by your imagination. I love this light - how can you resist? Order a set of 4 just in time for Christmas. http://www.glide-inc.com/ 41,55,36, .04"

metafiltered

hmmmm......seems that being metafiltered has brought in quite a number of new blog readers. WELCOME ... and nice to see so many new folks. Work here is about to pick up soon so stay tuned and don't forget to check out the live webcams.

Cold/cloudy/dreary day all day here at the Field Lab. No outdoor work other than battening down the hatches for our funny little forecast. 2 to 4" of snow overnight? I can't imagine it really happening but I will be ready with the camera bright and early tomorrow, just in case. Kind of makes me homesick for my old place back in upstate NY.

For the new viewers....the string of numbers at the end of each post is: temperature at 8PM, high temp, low temp, rainfall amount. 39,42,36, .24"

wutta wedn