Miscellaneous

Oxford Athletic Medal

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 by Henry
Oxford Athletic Club Medal

Oxford Athletic Club Medal

My grandfather and his brother were both Rhodes scholars. My grandfather, the older of the two, was at Exeter College from October, 1907 through July, 1910. His younger brother, Ralph, was at St Johns and received a B.A. degree in 1912 and a B.Sc. degree in 1913. They both competed in athletics, and we have this medal that Ralph won in a competition in 1911. It was for second place in the high jump and his height was 5 feet, 3½ inches. That wasn’t close to any sort of record. The world record in 1912 (the first world record in the men’s high jump was recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations) was 6′ 6¾”. The current record is 8′ ½” (2.45 meters).

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Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)

Photograph taken on Friday, October 11, 2019 by Henry
Staghorn Sumac (<em>Rhus typhina</em>)

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)

I had hoped to get outside yesterday but didn’t. Today I did, walking up the road and onto the empty lot next to my building. The vernal drainage pool is nearly dry. The small areas with water are interesting because there is something in the water that’s not happy to be quite so crowded. If it rains soon, they may be saved. The fall color has only just started to be in evidence but a few things tend to turn early and they stand out. This staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) is an example. They are also crowned with their bright red, annual, pyramidal fruiting clusters.

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Old Wrench

Photograph taken on Thursday, October 10, 2019 by Henry
Old Wrench

Old Wrench

I had hoped to get pictures outside today but it didn’t happen. I was moving a few things in the basement this evening and I noticed this old wrench and thought it might be an interesting thing for a photograph. Well, maybe not all that interesting but that’s all I have, so that’s all you get. This was one of the tools I got when we cleaned out my grandfather’s work shop back in the early 1980s. I don’t know how old it is, but it’s almost certainly older than I am, anyway. I see similar items listed on web sites specializing in antiques calling this an antique. That may be stretching things a bit, but it’s oldish, anyway.

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10,000 Afghani Note

Photograph taken on Monday, October 07, 2019 by Henry
10,000 Afghani Note

10,000 Afghani Note

I’ve recently been going through some scanned photographs and putting labels on them. These were taken by my father-in-law in the 1950s and early 1960s in Afghanistan, a place many people could not have found on a map until the last 20 years or so. I’ve gotten so I have a pretty good idea where the different photographs were taken and I recognize some of the important personages, such as King Mohammed Zahir Shah, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin of the USSR, and Vice President Richard M. Nixon. I also have gotten familiar with many of the landmarks. On this 10,000 Afghani note (sadly not worth much) is a detail of the Great Mosque of Herat. On the reverse is the Arch of Qala-e-Bost, outside Lashkar Gah.

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Resistance is Futile

Photograph taken on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 by Henry
Resistance is Futile

Resistance is Futile

“Resistance is Futile. You will be assimilated.” So spoke the Borg when meeting other species. Scott Adams used a variation—“It’s useless to be a resistor”, if memory serves— in one of his Dilbert strips. There are t-shirts with the phrase “Resistance is Futile (if < 1 ohm)” (with some variation in the actual number of ohms required for resistance to be futile). Those, I believe, are aimed at the intersection between Star Trek fans and electrical engineers (or whatever the category would be that will get the electronics reference). Anyway, this is a multi-meter showing a hair over 50 ohms of resistance.

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“New” Car

Photograph taken on Thursday, September 19, 2019 by Henry
Our 'New' Car

Our “New” Car

It’s been a busy season for us in terms of cars. We’ve been dealing with our aging fleet for some time. In July, Dorothy left with her cousin in what was meant to be the final journey for our 2000 Chrysler Town and Country. The plan was for them to drive via Chicago to Albuquerque and the car would then be sold for scrap. They made it to Chicago and that’s where it died (the brakes failed completely). They made the rest of the trip in a rental car. We replaced that with a 2007 Town and Country, bought from the parents of a coworker. We also need to unload the Mercury Villager that belongs to Cathy’s mom. It’s ready to go. Well, my brother George came to our rescue by offering us his 2006 Honda Accord. It’s in really good shape and it’s our first sedan of any description for quite some time. I got it registered today, so I figured I’d take a few pictures.

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Shady Grove Church Picnic

Photograph taken on Sunday, September 15, 2019 by Henry
Shady Grove Church Picnic

Shady Grove Church Picnic

Our church’s annual fall picnic was today and we couldn’t have asked for much nicer weather. I suppose a few degrees cooler wouldn’t have hurt, but it was very, very nice. We ate a great picnic lunch with burgers, hot dogs, and smoked pork shoulder (thanks, Ben!) as well as a wider variety of side dishes than I’ve seen in a long time. After the meal, we had our “regular” church service. Well, it was a bit different because we were outdoors. But otherwise, it was pretty much what we’re used to. It was great to see an old friend (she’s not all that old, but we’ve known her for a while) and I think a good time was had by all, or certainly most.

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Rose In The Rain

Photograph taken on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 by Henry
Rose 'Perle d’Or' In The Rain

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’ In The Rain

It’s been pretty dry lately. Not drought dry, but normal August in the DC area dry, which is dry enough for me. I’ve never been attracted to deserts and am happy when rain comes (within reason). We had a good rain today. Not the all-day soaking rain we’re more likely to get starting in September but a good rain, nonetheless. When it had mostly stopped, I took a few pictures of water droplets on leaves, starting with the leaves of this rose. It’s the China rose ‘Perle d’Or’ just outside our front door and it’s happily blooming and doing very well after being killed back a little last winter.

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Shady Grove Adventist Hospital

Photograph taken on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 by Henry
Shady Grove Adventist Hospital

Shady Grove Adventist Hospital

No, I’m not in the hospital, at least not as a patient. I met Cathy’s mom there early this evening and then Cathy joined us a little later. As I write this, four days after the fact, Margaret is home and the stay at the hospital is just a memory. At the time, of course, it’s a lot of waiting around punctuated by brief visits from the doctor and slightly more frequent visits from the nurse. We were in the emergency room and everyone was very nice. The sounds of an ER are not exactly conducive to rest. At about 11:30 they decided to admit her to the hospital and the nurse sent us home with a promise to call and let us know what room she has been moved to. I had taken a few pictures on my phone in the ER but took this photo as we left at about 11:45 PM.

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Our Own Mound of Butter

Photograph taken on Tuesday, August 06, 2019 by Henry
Our Own Mound of Butter

Our Own Mound of Butter

For a while now I’ve bought butter in two-pound rolls. It’s a bit cheaper and we go through it quickly enough. In fact, I try to have one roll in the freezer that I take out (and replace) when the one in the fridge runs out. When Cathy’s niece Abba was here last year she took a photo on her phone of my two-pound roll on the counter. Sometime later She posted a photo of this painting on Instagram, titled “Our Own Mound of Butter.” I asked if I could buy it and now it’s hanging in our dining room.

I wasn’t able to get out into the garden to take any photos today. After going to the Motor Vehicle Administration (my favorite place) to register a new old car we bought my back started bothering me. By 1:00 in the afternoon I was having a really hard time. I got on the floor and did my “Say Goodbye To Back Pain” exercises. I went home shortly after 2:00 and spent the rest of the day on an ice pack. Late in the evening I got up and took a few pictures, including this one. I hope you enjoy it.

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Gasteracantha cancriformis (Spinybacked Orbweaver)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 by Henry
Gasteracantha cancriformis (Spinybacked Orbweaver)

Gasteracantha cancriformis (Spinybacked Orbweaver)

Cathy and I drove to the east end of Ocean Isle this morning and walked on the beach, looking for shells and coral and I took a few pictures. The other day we had noticed a boardwalk going into the scrub off of one of the back streets and we decided to see where it led. from the corner of e 4 sup th /sup and winston-salem streets we followed a combination of boardwalks (over wet areas) and sandy trails that go as far as Charlotte Street (although we didn’t actually go all the way to the end). We saw three species of spider. There were lots of these spinybacked orbweavers (Gasteracantha cancriformis). We also saw a golden-silk orbweaver (Nephila clavipes) and a black-and-yellow argiope (Argiope aurantia). I also got a pretty nice photo of a slant-faced grasshopper (Subfamily Gomphocerinae). It was hot but there were occasional breezes and it was mostly shady, so we enjoyed it pretty well.

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Water Droplets

Photograph taken on Friday, July 26, 2019 by Henry
Water Droplets

Water Droplets

I went out into the empty lot next to my building today but didn’t get a lot of pictures to show for it. There was a small depression in the ground, it looked like it might have been a deer footprint, with a small spider web in it. The spider web had water droplets on it, and that’s what you see here. The web itself is practically invisible so it just looks like water droplets floating in air. Very cool, I think. I didn’t have a tripod and even if I did, getting this close to the ground is a problem. I have a new (used) tripod with legs that spread far enough to get me pretty low but the central post is too long for that to make a difference. In any case, just the tripod head is too tall in this case. A bean bag would have been better, but I didn’t have that, either.

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Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 25, 2019 by Henry
Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

As I’ve mentioned, the eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is the most plentiful, large butterfly in our yard all summer. They are followed by the monarch (Danaus plexippus) in a distant second place. They generally are harder to photograph than the swallowtails but this one let me get close and I’m pretty happy with the results. It’s perched on Verbena bonariensis growing in our front yard, near where the Colorado spruce used to be.

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2007 Town and Country

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 by Henry
2007 Town and Country

2007 Town and Country

We bought a new car today. It’s new to us, anyway, although it’s a 2007, so not really new. The timing is pretty great, coming as it does shortly after the old 2000 Town and Country gave up the ghost in Chicago, as Dorothy and Abba were driving to Albuquerque. I happened to mention Dorothy’s woes to a few coworkers and one of them said her parents were going to sell their car—also a Town and Country—because they are moving to Florida and already have cars there. We made the transaction today but still need to get it registered, but it’s here. The new pride of the fleet.

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Moon Landing 50th Anniversary

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 20, 2019 by Henry
Moon Landing 50th Anniversary

Moon Landing 50th Anniversary

We hadn’t planned on going downtown today. It was about 100°F late this afternoon and we had no real interest in being out any more than necessary. However, we drove Cathy’s mom to a wedding in Rosslyn so we were pretty close. We went across the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge and parked just off of Constitution Avenue and then walked east to 14th street.

After getting dinner from a food truck and eating it in a pretty, little patio garden next to the African American Museum, we found our viewing spot for the show. I won’t say I remember it like it was yesterday but I definitely remember watching and being excited by the Apollo 11 moon launch and landing. For the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, a Saturn V rocket image was projected onto the side of the Washington Monument, starting at about 9:00 PM.

Then at 9:30, a show began, where they “constructed” the rocket on the launch pad and then it took off. We watched the stages separate and then the command and service modules, with the LEM attached, headed off to the moon, carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. It was very hot and of course there were lots of people. Nevertheless, we were absolutely glad we went and really enjoyed the show.

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Salt and Pepper Shakers

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 by Henry
Salt and Pepper Shakers

Salt and Pepper Shakers

In going through things at Cathy’s mom’s house, there was a box of salt and pepper shakers. Unless you collect them, salt and pepper shakers are the sort of things you only need a few of but which you often end up with lots of. They aren’t expensive and they don’t take up a lot of space. And occasionally they are decorative and interesting on their own. These are kind of nice and we assume they are from Thailand, but don’t really know anything about them beyond that. They are quite small and not really very practical, but again, they don’t take up a lot of space.

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Quartz Arrowhead

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 02, 2019 by Henry
Quartz Arrowhead

Quartz Arrowhead

One of my great uncles had a small collection of sharks teeth that somehow managed to find its way into our household. I’ve posted a photo of a sharks tooth from that collection in the past. This quartz arrowhead was in the same box. I don’t know where it was found although my guess would be North Carolina. I don’t even know for sure that it was found by him, but I assume it was. It’s a beautiful little thing. I’ve never really tried my hand at knapping stone but I would guess that quartz is not the easiest material to shape. If it’s all you have, however, I guess you’d learn and obviously someone did.

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Little Things

Photograph taken on Thursday, June 13, 2019 by Henry
Little Things

Little Things

Dorothy spent much of the day organizing her things. It’s been a few years since all her things were in one place and she’s taking the opportunity to go through everything and decide what she can get rid of. When I got home today and needed something to photograph she suggested I could take some pictures in her room. Out of the two dozen or so that I took, this one is my favorite. It’s a little shell with an even smaller figurine in it, a mouse (I think), and a metal box with enamel, all sitting on a small Afghan carpet square that she’s using as a table cover.

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White-tailed Deer

Photograph taken on Thursday, May 23, 2019 by Henry
White-tailed Deer

White-tailed Deer

We were in the dining room finishing up dinner this evening. Dorothy has gotten home and I fixed Thai curry for her (and all of us). Dorothy noticed this deer walking across the back yard and I grabbed my camera. I figured that when I opened the back door she would run off but she only seemed mildly interested in my presence. At first she was behind a big bush but she wondered out and I was able to get a few pictures. Then she sauntered back across the lawn and into the neighbor’s yard.

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270,000 Miles

Photograph taken on Monday, May 13, 2019 by Henry
270,000 Miles

270,000 Miles

Years ago we bought a Dodge Grand Caravan from our mechanic. He had bought it from a couple that we happen to know when they decided not to pay for a new transmission. Eddie put in a new transmission and then sold the van to us. At the time it had about 115,000 miles. As you can see, it now has 270,000 isn’t bad on that second transmission. That’s not to say we haven’t put more into it, of course. In fact, it’s getting pretty near the time when it’s casting too much to keep going. Pretty son we’ll need to replace it. But I’m happy t have reached this “milestone.”

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