Acoustic Atlas & ArcGIS

ArcGIS is a now-ancient program that was just getting started when I was a plebe on the nascent Geographic Information System (GIS) at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Albuquerque back in '86; it was during the final throes of obtaining my bachelors degree in Geography. 

You'll notice the URL below includes arcgis. It redirects to Sounds of The Wild West, a subdivision of Acoustic Atlas. 

Just FYI. No biggee. We're (that's the royale we) stuck in ABQ awaiting arrival of a new catalytic heater & other devices and are bored shitless.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/42b1a6fe6a524b578becd12c0bee4b4c

https://acousticatlas.org/ambient.php

The Tree

My main reason for returning to ABQ was to set up a tree. We missed out last year and at some point I realized I missed not having the event. (Motivation sometimes comes after the fact.)

You know you're olde when things seem too high-priced. Thus, reeling & clutching at my bosom, I staggered from Home Depot after encountering their Noble Firs for $59.99.

I called Dave's (where I eventually ended up) and was told the cheapest they had was $50.00....still too much. Finally, four days b4 the day, I went to Dave's to see if I could negotiate. It'd been a few years but he recognized me and we got to chatting about business.

He'd rented the empty lot where the owner had, supposedly, gotten the nod of approval from the two storefronts on either side. But the shop=owner to the north was upset when his fence blocked access to the alley. He was only going to be there 25 days, but her distress prompted him to dismantle it (50 feet of 8' chainlink) and move it back 12 feet. 

Juan Tabo Blvd is a busy street with tall, sharp curbs that can wreak havoc if you're not paying attention. The 12-foot setback meant the lot was barely visible to the hell-bent-for-leather folks going by. He still had quite a few trees when I ambled in. 

His son-in-law was coming to help load up the remaining trees to take to the dump. He told how they began cutting in October and he'd spent the last month on-site 24/7 in the 15-foot travel-trailer; he was ready to go home. 

He gestured broadly toward the front of the lot, where the five to seven foot trees stood, as he offered me my choice for $40.00. I let him pick it out and he helped stuff it ("careful now") into Phoebe; it barely fit.

Champion Cat Rescuer by Diego Piraro (link is to his fine art)

Framed by Duke City Art & Frame

The print is by Diego Piraro (link is to his blog). It was my gift to Michelle. He's the artist who does the Bizarro cartoons (link is to his website).

Link to prints.

 

Carols From Kings

Vee haf our truh-di-shunz. 

Browsing Stargoose und Hanglands'

https://bystargooseandhanglands.blogspot.com/2020/12/wishingand-hoping.html

I noticed The Weaver of Grass's post (in the list along the right on Stargoose and Hangland) from yesterday in which he mentions Carols from Kings.

Googling, I found...

https://www.classicalmpr.org/

Around about 6:00 a.m. I turned 68.

(Chocolate!)

The starfish was a gift

  from my aunt when I was three.

In The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley, he tells of walking on the beach after a storm and meeting a man throwing starfish back into the sea. The beach was covered and after watching for a bit he said to the man, "There're thousands. You'll never make any difference." The man didn't even pause as he bent to pick up another. "I did for that one," he replied. (And a kiss upon your hand for telling me.)

May you be as lucky.

Merry Solstice! (again!)

Yule is the Winter solstice

Litha is the Summer soltice.

Art Saves Lives

So, most days I wake up with something we've named the gobloots. It's a generalized feeling of dread mixed with terror and helplessness. The name comes from a fictional ailment Ricky Ricardo once told Lucy she had. Usually it goes away in less than an hour.

You'll recall my mention of how a couple of weeks after I left the credit union, Bank of America called and offered me the Marketing Directorship of Albuquerque. I declined saying I'd just leased an art gallery space. Over the next four years I averaged $50,000.00 in sales, a fifth of what I felt was necessary to make the gallery viable. But art always came through for me even though the money never did.

I turned 68 this morning around 6:00 a.m. 

I think my chances have come and gone. But its been a great ride!

By and Large

Somehow I KNEW you wanted to know this...

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/by%20and%20large

By and large is originally a sailing term meaning "alternately close-hauled and not close-hauled." A ship that is sailing "close-hauled" is sailing as directly into the wind as possible (typically within about 45 degrees of the wind). The "by" part of the phrase means "close-hauled." (This "by" also appears in the term full and by, meaning "sailing with all sails full and close to the wind as possible.") "Large," by contrast, refers to a point of sail in which the wind is hitting the boat "abaft the beam," or behind the boat's widest point. A 1669 example of a variant spelling of "by and large" gives us a sense of the range implied: "Thus you see the ship handled in fair weather and foul, by and learge" (S. Sturmy, Mariners Magazine). The suggestion of a wide range carries over into the term's "in general" sense.

In a previous life I worked as a marine mechanic...boats, not the guys in uniforms. I found the nautical terms useful when talking about the left and right side since it obviated the confusion of whether you're at the front looking toward the rear or vice versa. Plus, Phoebe likes to think of herself as a schooner since she has four doors, each set resembling a mast.

Close-hauled w Laundry a 'opside

Sagamore Wind Project - New Mexico

I need to check on how they're doing (perhaps you could?), but the Germans committed to generating 40% of their energy by 2020 -- THIS YEAR!!!-- from alternative sources, primarily wind and solar. And THAT from a country that's 10 degrees further north -- but with similar weather -- than Cleveland, Ohio.

So it's been something of a disappointment to me to see how long it's taken for America to clamber aboard the bandwagon. But it's finally happening. See if you can last through the first ten minutes of this; it's an historic occasion.

If Fur Elise Was By Skrillex

FUR ELISE

https://youtu.be/WheoGHREF60

MOONLIGHT SONATA

https://youtu.be/yNXw2EAswdo