UH-OH.....Flood Alerts Downstream From Us

 The National Weather Service has issued Flood Warnings for the Cache La Poudre River through Greeley, to where it meets the South Platte River, and all the way out to where the South Platte crosses the state line, and goes into Nebraska. The South Platte joins the North Platte in North Platte, Nebraska, and continues along as the Platte River through Nebraska, and joins the Missouri River South of Omaha, and then on to meet the Mighty Mississippi in St. Louis.  The Cache La Poudre and the South Platte, along with the Arkansas River, form the entire Drainage Basin for all of Eastern Colorado. Snow melt (we're above normal on the leeward side snow pack), and Spring rains (Whoo boy!) from huge areas of land all collect and drain from here using these rivers, propelled by gravity, and continue on down to the Gulf of Mexico.

Quite a big area to drain. With the saturated, and nearly so, soil in this area, it ain't gonna soak in. I think I mentioned something last week about the "empty" drainage ditches and canals SLW noticed when we first moved here. Well...they're pretty full about now, maybe a foot or two from the top of their banks. Miles downstream of us it going to be much worse.  The alert mentioned various places downstream along the course of the South Platte, and in all the places mentioned, they were a few feet short of the official "Flood Stage", but the river was expected to go above that in the next few days.

Per the NWS, this event is in the upper 10% of the maximum of what's been observed before, so it looks like there's a Big One Comin' downstream of us.

INSANELY Green Here.....

 We had a massive cloudburst here for about 20 minutes earlier today. The indicated rain rate was 1.6"/hr, and it was the "Blowing Sideways" type rain. Really torrential, and probably about as hard as I've seen it rain since we moved here. And at 2120 LT it's raining again. So far today, at 2330, we're about 1/2", and I think it'll keep drizzling till midnight or so. Yesterday was spectacular, sunny with BLUE skies, white puffy clouds, and temps in the high 70's. Just gorgeous. Green things went insane with the sunshine following the rain, and I could almost "Hear The Grass Grow".

Today, between deluges:

This stuff, which I really like.:

Has DOUBLED in size this year so far. It just about doubled last year, but not quite. I gave them a shot of fertilizer in the Spring the last two tears using my Ross Root Feeder. and YOWZER did they take off. I've been doing the same with the cluster of lillys (lillies?) in picture #2 above, and they've TRIPLED over the last three years. Amazing what some fertilizer can do. The soil here is "Colorado Red Dirt", and while rich in minerals, is lacking in organic matter. Since the CSU Dairy Farm used to be located here, you'd expect the soil to a bit....uh...."richer" in organic material, but perhaps that got scooped off and trucked away for sale when this area was graded for residential use. 

Had grandson #2, TNLG (The NEW Little Guy for those who don't know), over last night for his first Sleep Over at Grandma's, and all went swimmingly well. He went down around 2100, and slept until 0300, at which time he made a Request For Bottle, and then settled right back to sleep. He'll be two in a couple of weeks, and it's amazing to watch another little boy go from infant to toddler. And GAWD Is He FAST! At least I'm getting some good mobility enhancing exercise via the stair-climbing he's taken a shine to. Every time we went up or down the stairs I counted them out loud. Soon, he was trying to repeat me! I figured it might be a way to introduce him to sequential numbers, and sequential operations, at the same time. I firmly believe in teaching kids multiple-things-at-once if you can find some way to strongly tie them together. I feel it gives them concrete examples of things that are "connected" in some (obscure) way, and that the ability to make that type of "connection" between seemingly disparate "stuff", is an important skill to learn. When you learn it, you tend to see "deeper" into common, everyday things. The latest reorganization of the "Audio Rack" has some strategically placed items of 1960's~1980's Radio Technology prominently displayed, and easily reachable, by toddler through Middle School.

He had a ball turning the knobs and watching the pointers and scales move!

So between the dozen flights of stairs (yes, I counted...) we went up and down on today, and the change of weather, my hip and knee are squawking tonight.

Time to hit the hay......

Midweek Interlude....

 Things continue along at a nice pace, and my recovery is going quite well. I'm 90% pain-free, and if it wasn't for this &&^*%$!! catheter and collection device, I'd say I'm back to 95% of pre-incident fitness. Well, at least for certain levels of "fitness". SLW is giving me a pass on some things, and she's quite surprised when I do them. So I'm back to doing what she'd called "Invisible Things" when I was in sick bay. Had my preop visit with the Urologist yesterday for next week's procedure, and he answered all my questions, and we discussed the what and how of various things. Had the cat swapped out again, and I'm amazed (and thankful for!) the care they use when inserting the new one. I barely feel it when this group does it, versus dreading it when the people in the rehab facility did it. Oh, well.....

As for the Musical part of the interlude, I was going to post the Alan Parsons Project song "Time", but with all what's going on these days, I decided this was more appropriate.....

I always liked the bass line in it......

The Rack Is Back

 Finished with the new cables, and got the gear back in the rack.

 The new Reel-to-Reel on the right is going to need an overhaul, which I expected when I bought it. I knew it was going to need new belts and a relube, but it has some mechanical issues relating to the tape transport. Looks like the "Reel Table" heights are wrong, and the tape scrapes on the reel flanges. NOT good! But I think it was a fair deal, as it's pretty nice cosmetically, the heads show no wear, and I got it for half the price he was asking. It was a typical eBay transaction, where the seller wanted "Grade A" money for a "Grade C" item. It had languished on eBay for about a year, always in my watch list. After watching it for-evah, he made me a "20% Off" deal. He answered a few questions, and I countered with a "50% Off" price, and he took it. I have all the parts, but this guy is "Number 4 on the runway", as I have one item getting finished (it's already sold), the just acquired SX-1080 to go through, and my other TEAC 4300 that I really should go through now that I have better equipment.

And I still have a pair of Hallicrafters radios and power supply for the transmitter to go through, a pair of Drake "4-Line" twins to go through, and a Heathkit SB-401 transmitter to finish, along with my homeowner/housework/yardwork duties.

And working people always say "Retired People Have So Much Time To Do Things".........yeah, right.

Hope you all have a Blessed Sunday, I have to get back to chasing Grandson #1 around. He discovered we have a Nintendo Wii a couple of weeks ago, and he and I are having duels playing Mario Kart.

 

Where The Rubber Meets The Road....

 Getting my audio rack put back together after The Great Hip Incident. Since I now have two Reel-To-Reel tape decks, I had to add some extra cables for Deck #2. I also added a cable to the AUX input so I can easily connect to that input when the time comes.

And the SX-1080 arrived the other day. I was upstairs in the bathroom, and SLW was out in the back yard, so I missed the delivery and had to go claim it in person.

It's very clean, in better condition than described, and was a relative bargain as these go.

2" of Rain and More to Come

 Everything is soggy, green, and growing like crazy. This 2" gives us a total of 5" for this month and last month, and it's only 4 June. I'm hoping we'll have a cool, moist Summer to help the reservoirs fill and the crops grow.

It also makes the ground nice and soft for driving in ground rods, an item on my punch list that should have been completed by now, but The Great Hip Incident kinda threw my schedule for a loop or three.

Work continues on other projects around the house and shop, but I just haven't felt like photographing the progress. Sometimes it can double or triple the time it takes to do the actual project, and I'd rather just get things done!

SCOOOORE! Mint Pioneer SX-1080 For A Fair Price

 Got reeeal lucky on this one.

It's super clean inside, with a very nice cabinet. The bezel around the tuning dial is free from the nicks and gouges these usually pick up.

I'll be the second owner. This was at a repair shop, and the Owner / Tech of the shop passed away suddenly. It's "Some Assembly Required", and in unknown functionality, but the seller has all the parts, and a list of what was done, and what was about to be done, to it. From the pix, it looks to be all there, and if anything is missing it would be some hardware, which I have from other junked Japanese equipment.

The cosmetic condition alone makes it worth the $1200 I paid, and one in this condition, properly serviced, is worth about $2500. But I didn't buy it to make money on it. I bought it for the same reason I bought my Supra....I always wanted one, and the affordable ones always need a little work, just like the Supra. The SX-780 I did this to is for sale, and the SX-980 that replaced it will also be for sale as soon as this one is back in service. The Supra is NOT for sale.

All in all, it looks like a nice receiver. I just have to make it sing again.

Only In Northern Colorado....

 ....Do you hear a radio call to the Larimer County Humane Society to respond to a motor vehicle accident involving a wild turkey.

The dispatcher said "The driver said it was a BIG one, and all he could see were feathers flying everywhere".

No word on the condition of the turkey.....

Remember Our Fallen.....

 

Discharged From Home Care!

 The home care Nurse was here this morning for my "Final Exam" and discharge. I'm ahead of what The Numbers say in terms of repetitions for my exercises, and in the "Timed Events", like standing/sitting so many times in 30 seconds, various balance tests, and some cognitive tests. So it's another hurdle passed, even though I still have some weakness in my right leg.

All the bits and pieces to install the drip irrigation system in the front garden arrived today, so I can get started once I figure out how to neatly plumb it in to the faucet. I bought a solar-powered timer for it, but seeing as that requires you to leave the faucet open, and considering my record of making leak-free garden hose connections, I think I'll pass on it.

And there's some more rain coming in, but as usual, I think the heavy rains will miss us.

Beautiful Day!

 78*, sunny, light breezes, what a wonderful day. The apple tree picture is from before all the rain started, which knocked all the petals off. It was already starting to drop them when I finally grabbed a picture of it.

They don't seem to be particularly fragrant, and nowhere near what the lilac and lavender are, which you can smell all over the front and side yards when they're blooming.

 And being such a beautious day, my son and I went to the NOCO Record Show at one of the local breweries to see what's out there in new and used vinyl.

Also found out we have some really good record stores here that charge fair prices, and carry re-releases along with used records.

So, I bought a few. It's a good thing I had limited ca$h with me, or I would have come home with a truckload. Ca$h was King, resulted in discounted prices and some fun haggling, and no receipts.

The Foreigner 4 and Bob Seeger albums are used, but very close to "pristine". No visible scratches or scuffs, and play great. The King Crimson album is scratched and scuffed on both sides, and one of the tracks I like has a big, nasty scratch through it. I should have pulled it out to inspect it, but it was sealed, so I didn't open it. Caveat Emptor! The two albums peeking out from behind Foreigner and KC are two new re-releases from the Eagles, pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl. One says "Made in the Netherlands", and the other just says "Made in the EU".

So vinyl has quite a strong following here, both as used items (Caveat Emptor!) and as new releases. I was talking to the young guy who was the DJ, and noticed he was using Technics SL-1200 turntables. I commented I had an SL-1210 MK5, and he about wet his pants. Yes, it's that good a turntable, and damn near unbreakable. Several people noticed the tee-shirt I was wearing and asked about Reel-To-Reel machines. Pretty soon I was talking to several of them, and while many have considered a Reel-To-Reel deck, the lack of anybody around here willing to work on them makes them a bit gun-shy. So I might hear back from one of them, I might not.

And I've gathered up all the bits and pieces to install SLW's drip irrigation system for her front garden area. Made a crude (for me) sketch of where the 1/2" Main Line will run, and how much I'll need, and counted plants. After that it gelled, I realized I'd need a whole bunch more stuff than came in the "Starter Kit" I bought last year. Took about another $175 @ Home Depot to square that away. Parts should be here (FREE Delivery!) by Wednesday. Now that I know all the bits and pieces that make up a system, it should be easy install. I ordered enough "extra" stuff so that SLW can expand it with parts-on-hand, while leaving plenty of spares. The stuff is plastic. It ages, gets brittle, and breaks. Better to have the stuff in stock to fix it immediately. I'll also have to fab a blow-out adapter so I can winterize the system, but that's easy-peasy. I even splurged and bought the solar-powered, programmable timer to control the water coming out of that spigot.

SLW has a history of turning on the water and forgetting about it.......