Wondering about ice.

Ice is an amazing substance!!  It defies the laws of physics.  Not only is the solid phase of water amazing, water itself is also amazing.  They both have traits that break the rules.

Let me start with water.  You have been taught for years that heat rises.  Just look at a hot air balloon.  The warmer something gets the less dense it is and therefore lighter.  Water acts in a similar way by becoming more dense as it cools until it reaches 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit where it starts to expand instead of shrink.  Water is most dense at this temperature, so as it cools down toward the freezing mark, it become less dense and heads upward to the surface.

At first look, this doesn't make much sense, but if ice froze from the bottom up, it would be a bad situation for aquatic life.  Even worse, since the surface is exposed to the cold air, it would freeze first and then sink to the bottom taking everything with it.  God and mother nature have changed the physical properties of freezing water to preserve life in ponds and rivers.  The solid phase of water (ice) is less dense than the liquid phase.  It also makes it easier to ice skate if the ice is on the top (grin).  Now I hope there is no ice on your ponds this late in the season but only in your drinks. You all have a great day today, you hear?

Wondering what a really big telescope looks like?

You know I like astronomy and that I have several telescopes, the biggest one has a 16" diameter mirror.  Remember these pictures from one of my older posts:

  That is a fairly large scope for backyard use but of course it doesn't compare with the larger professional ones used by astronomers.  They have some really large scopes, but none of these optical scopes can compare with large radio scopes.  Well, mine is sure tiny compared to some of the radio scopes that are active today.  Like this one, the Arecibo Radio Telescope, at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. It is 1000 feet (305 m) across, that is over three football fields!!

Now the Chinese have decided to build one and of course it must be the biggest in the world.  Here is what they are planning:
 

It is a 500 meter dish; that is over 1500 feet across.  Notice it will have six towers to support the focal point receiver whereas the one in Porto Rico only has three.  At least this is peaceful scientific achievement.

Wow, what a coincidence!!  There was a TV show on this morning that explained the origin of many of the words and sayings that we use today which meant something quite different at the start but evolved into what they are today.  I would have had a lot more examples had I seen this show before I wrote yesterday's blog.  It was a very interesting show.  My wife recorded it so I will go back and watch it again, take some notes, and maybe blog about it.

Not much new around here.  Did go to the flea market this weekend, even though the early morning hours felt more like Winter than late Spring.  It got down to the low 40's but warmed up rather fast to the 70's.  As we were getting ready to leave, we discovered that this old Studebaker had parked behind out Jeep.  Nice looking old truck:

 Here is a close-up of the name:

 And that lady with the leopard hat on admiring it is my lovely wife:

The flea market was really busy even though there were other things going on around the area.  Vendors spilled out into the parking lot.  The place was really buzzing, but that is not uncommon on nice days.  Speaking of nice days, you all have a great one today, you hear?

Wondering about the "heebie jeebies" and our moon.

Heebie jeebies and the moon are really not related unless you get the shakes when the moon is full and your hair and snout start to grow and . . . oops, now how did I get on the subject of werewolves?  Let me start with the heebie jeebies which, by the way, means getting the shakes over something.  But where in the heck did it originate?  Why in a cartoon, of course.  Cartooist Billy de Beck, who created Barney Google, coined that phrase and two others; "hotsy totsy" and "horse feathers".  At my old age, I can remember these sayings but never knew where they came from.  Well horse feathers!!  Now I know and so do you.

Now about the moon.  Some people wonder why what looks to us as a half of moon is called a quarter moon?  Well, because the moon is half lit when it is a quarter around its phase.  The moon "waxes and wanes" and remember, it has a full phase and a dark phase.

Speaking of the moon, how many of you know its real or scientific name.  The moons of all the other planets have names, so what is the name of our moon.  Now think hard, I am sure you know its real name, in fact I am willing to bet on it.  Give up?  Its real scientific name is. . . . ready for this? . . . "The Moon".  Yep, it has no other name than moon.  Sometimes it is referred to as Earth's moon just to differentiate it from the moons of other planets, but its name is just "moon".  Now go howl at the moon and get the heebie jeebies and have a good day, you hear?

Wondering about the word "I".

Have you ever wondered about the word "I" and also why is it capitalized and the "m" in me is not nor either is the "y" in you ?  Of course I have, I wonder about a lot of things.  Well, I have an answer for you.  It isn't because we think of ourselves at a much higher level than we do of other people.  No, it all began back many years ago with your friendly neighborhood printer.  It all had to do with setting print.

First, let me tell you that the first person back in Middle English was expressed with the word "ich".  It was eventually shortened to "i" in lowercase.  Printers had a hard time setting the lower case "i".  The letter was dropped unintentionally or it would run together with an other word.  To solve this problem, the printers started using the upper case "I" instead.  The practice stuck and to this day a capital "I" is used to mean me or you in the first person.  Now, I wonder why you very rarely hear about that "second" person?

Now I am going to head off to the flea market with my lovely wife.  I haven't been there  for many weeks.  My wife went with my son last Sunday when I was at the Top Fuel Drag races.  Don't forget, have a great day today, you hear?  BTW I think we may have broken a record low temperature here today.  It got down to 38 degrees at 06:30 this morning but it is warming up fast, it is now 43 at 08:15.

Wandering back home.

  The trip back home went a lot smoother than the trip out.  We had no breakdowns coming home and there was a lot to see.  The road north out of Ft. Davis was a beautiful drive and I highly recommend it if you are anywhere close.  These first few pictures were taken on that drive.  I also posted some on an older blog, remember the cowboy pictures? 
 

 Enlarge the one above and the one below by clicking on them.  Take notice of the rock formations, especially the one above.

 We then got on I-10 and headed east.  After awhile the pups needed walking and so did I, so we pulled off at a rest stop.  Here we are parked with a pyramid shaped mountain in the background.

The rest stop had one Ocotillo plant and it only had two blossoms on it.  But, I just had to get a picture of it.  I just love seeing this plant in bloom.  The first time we were in Terlingua, they were all in full bloom.

The above picture needed enlarging.  Notice this is an example of the beauty and the beast.  The flowers are beautiful but the sharp spines can give you a nasty puncture.
 

 This is the other blossom on this lone plant.

 And off down the road again heading east.  See that cup sitting on the dash?  That empty cup road a few hundred miles just sitting there.  Gives you an idea of how nice a ride the air-ride system on this coach works.  But when it lets you down like it did on the way out, it costs time and money.

 Thanks for riding along on the way home.  Remember when we left for the trip I showed a picture of our front lot and how nice the grass was cut.  Well guess what, it looks like a wild field now and needs some attention soon.  The cold front came though last night dropping the temps way down into the mid 40's .  I think that broke some kind of record around here.  Now, have a great day, stay warm, and most of all, stay happy, you hear?
 

Wandering on foot up a mountain.

I do want to share with you my walk up a mountain when I was in Davis Mountains State Park.  You can drive up this mountain (which I did and showed you on a previous blog), but half way up gives a more in depth understanding, feeling, and views than you get from inside a vehicle.  I was actually surprised that I made it up as far as I did.  The only reason I didn't go further was because it was almost lunch time and I DO NOT like to miss any meals.  Coming back down was much harder on me than going up.  My knees did not like coming back down.

Here are a few of the pictures that I took while going up the trail.  The trail was well marked and had very nice bridges across the deep ravines.

 On some of the steepest parts they put logs across the trail and filled in behind them, making the trail a wide set of stairs:

 As you can see in this next picture, the canyon drops off close to the edge of the trail:

 This next picture was looking back down the trail from where I took the picture above.

 On this next picture I want you to notice a couple of things.  First, at the upper right you can see the camping area.  And if you look closely on the side of the hill sloping up to where I was standing when I took this picture, you can make out the trail as it made switch-backs back and forth on its way up this steep side of the mountain.

 And another typical picture of the trail.  I thought it was beautiful and exhilarating!

 OK, I suppose you need proof that it was actually me who hiked up that trail.  So, I took a self portrait.  If my arm had been a little longer you would have seen a broader view (grin).

I know you are probably getting bored with pictures from my last trip, but guess what?  I got lots more. . . grin!!

We are suppose to go from summer to winter sometime today.  It is now almost 80 degrees but a cold front is suppose to lower the temperatures down into the lower 40's or upper 30's.  Just can't believe that can happen this time of year in East Texas.  Now, you all just have yourselves a very great day today, you hear?