Wondering about gravity.

Gravity is, you know, the force that pulls you toward the center of earth especially hard when you are standing on the scales.  Some people think that gravity is one of the strongest forces in the universe.  Wrong!  I will have to agree that gravity is what keeps the planets in place around our sun and which control a large percentage of the universe, but I will give you an example of why it is not the strongest force.  Take refrigerator magnets for example.  They stick to the refrigerator door and can also hold paper or other stuff up with them.  I have seen magnets with small hooks to hang towels, etc. on and they all seem to overcome gravity and stay in position.  In fact of the four forces, gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force gravity is the weakling.  No one yet has discovered what really causes gravity.  Once it can be completely understood, then maybe they can come up with "anti-gravity".  That will help out when you step on the scales, and a minor advantage would be an anti-gravity device to power your flying saucer.

Another thing I wonder about is the origin of words and phrases.  Gravity's first meaning was something weighty or serious originating from the Latin word "gravis" meaning heavy.  All the things in the formula for gravity on the top line are divided by the distance squared.  That means that an object twice as far away has only a quarter of the gravitational force.  So any object light years away has very, very little force acting on us, but as infinitesimal as it is, it is still there although we may not be able to detect it.  Now, the next time you step on a scales you can think about how gravity affects not only you but everything, and I mean, everything.  Now, you all have a great day today and stay off the scales, you hear?

Vertigo

Dang, I woke up at 03:30 with the room spinning around so fast I didn't know which way was up.  It took awhile but I got it down to a slow jerky turning, so attemped to make a trek into the bathroom.  With a little assistance of the walls and the doorway, I made it in and back to bed.  Got up at my dogs' usual time (can't sleep past the time the dogs want up) and I still have some vertigo lingering on.  I have to go back to get my blood test this morning and now my wife is worried about me driving.  She is going to go along.  What good that will do, I have no idea but I enjoy her company and it will be "an outing" (grin).

I haven't had a night like this since I quit drinking over 20 some years ago.  This was actually worse (because I didn't have any fun getting that way) and it does worry me, because I do not know what caused it.  I had to have quit breathing, don't you think?  I do use oxygen during the night so maybe the opposite is true.  I could have hyper-ventalated and got too much oxygen.  Or, maybe the hose got wrapped around my neck, or maybe. . . .??  And no, I am not going to go back to the doctor today, that would just give him an excuse to do a lot more tests.  I seem to be completely over it now.  I hope so.

I am starting to get really hungery.  I have to wait until after the blood test to eat, so I think I will be in a hurry to get back home.  Since we will not be going past Hobby Lobby or Michels on the way home, it will not tempt my wife who likes to shop at both those stores.  Well, at least I had a cheap drunk (grin).  Now, you all have a nice a day and hope things don't spin too much for you, you hear?

Wondering about my Grandpa's old rifle.

Back when I got old enough to go hunting, my Grandpa loaned me his rifle.  He actually killed a lot of deer and two bear with it.  Next time you see me, we will sit down and I will tell you about some of his exciting hunts.  That rifle was a Marlin and it was chambered in the 25-35 Winchester cartridge.  The 25-35 and the 30-30 were the first two smokeless cartridges developed in the U.S. just for hunting.  This rifle had a long, long octagon barrel and held shells in a long tube.  I actually got to miss a deer with that rifle.  (It is more fun missing them, that way you get to continue hunting and don't have to dress the animal.)  Although I do love venison.

He only had a couple of shells in the box he gave me so I went to the gun store to purchase more.  The guy said that would be eight dollars.  That didn't sound too bad so I said to give me a box.  He said he didn't have a full box and that the price was eight dollars per cartridge!!  He did have 25-36 cartridges and according to the salesperson, the cartridges he had could be fired in either.  He said the casing would stretch slightly to fit the chamber when it was fired so save the casings and then get them reloaded.  I only fired it that one time, so didn't have enough empty cases to justify buying reloading dies.  Anyway, I gave it back to my Grandpa and I have no idea where it is now.  I bet it would be considered an antique now.  It actually was back when I was teenager.

Sorry I am a little late posting this but I had a doctor's appointment this morning and didn't get it quite done in time to post before I had to leave the house.  I have to fast starting tonight and go in for a blood test tomorrow morning.  Mainly, I want to check to see if I need any extra Armor thyroid medication.  I am only taking a 30 mg pill once a day.  I may be a little late tomorrow, also.  I will try to get in there early so I can come home and EAT!!  I do not like to skip meals.  Now, I hope most of you can stay away from doctors as long as possible and have a great day, you hear?

Grass cutting and well fixing.

I had a big day, yesterday.  After I posted my blog and got something to eat, I went out and started cutting grass.  Cut the front access area and the front yard.  The JD performed perfectly.  The front access half acre is easy to cut, just a few trees in one corner of it.  Our front yard has many, many trees and sometimes you find yourself going in circles and going over the same places several times just to get a little patch of grass that needed cut.  Got that done and then the wife says we are going to Wal*Mart for supplies.  Got the dust off me and changed clothes and off we went.

Got back home and unloaded the supplies and carried them in.  Went out and hosed the dust and grass clippings off the yard tractor.  Then, sort of took the rest of the day off.  That is, until we decided to go to bed.  My wife turned on the faucet and there was no water.  Just about the time she told me that, the phone rang and it was my son telling me they had no water.  I told him I would meet him at the well and see what was going on.

I checked everything out and all looked like it should until I tried to shake the pressure tank.  It was completely full, water logged.  OK, that is an easy fix.  I have been meaning to put a drain with a shut off valve on the the outlet of the pressure tank, but have never got a round to it.  So, took the line off that goes to my sons house, turned off the circuit breaker to the pump, and let the pressure tank drain out.  After which, I put everything back together, turned the pump on, and everything worked the way it should.  I will now have to keep an eye on it.  There must be a slow pressure leak somewhere in the top of the pressure tank that allowed it to fill completely with water.  So far, so good.  Now, you all have yourselves a great day, you hear?

Wondering about time and speed.

Speed and time are directly linked to each other.  How we determine how fast something is moving is to measure the distance traveled in an amount of time.  You know like miles per hour or feet per second.  So how fast can you possibly go?  For me, it is only a couple of notches above a slow crawl, but for some things it isn't even limited to the speed of light!  "Oh no", you may think, "all my science teachers were wrong.  Can something really go faster than the speed of light?"  Well, that depends.

The speed of light is a maximum limit on how fast things that we can measure go.  Now, this brings to mind a few questions, one of which is "wouldn't the cops have to go faster than the speed limit of light to catch you if you broke the speed of light limit?"  As most of you know, most highways in the U.S. have posted speed limits, but if you are from Texas, you know that some west Texas roads back in the day had no posted limit.  The universe or multi-verse (which ever you believe is correct) has a way of breaking the speed limit of light.

How can that be, you may ask?  "Expansion" is the answer.  There is no set limit that we know of that covers expansion.  So our universe or some other may be expanding faster than the speed of light.

OK, that may answer the speed question but what about time.  Isn't time constant?  No, it isn't.  A couple of things affect time, mass and speed.  Time slows down when near extreme forces of gravity like black holes and galaxy clusters.  It has also been proven that time slows down the faster the clock is moving.  Therefore, I must assume that time is closely related to speed and visa versa.  OK, I have spent enough time boring you so will speed on out of here.  I hope your universe today is full of joy and happiness.  Have a good one, you hear?

Tall trees and a painting.

When I was standing out in my back yard this morning, I marveled at just how tall the oak trees around my house have grown.  They reach halfway to the sky (grin).  OK, maybe not halfway, but at least a quarter of the way. . . Anyway, the heighth of these oaks is longer than the distance they are from my house.  Since this is the case on multiple sides of my house, it creates two things.  One, lots of shade to help keep the place cool; two, if they blow over in a storm it would not be good, especially if they fell toward the house.  But, I do so enjoy nature that I don't think I would ever cut them down.  I try to keep my place as natural as possible.  Well heck, that is the best excuse I can come up with to only mow a small part of it.  I was standing at the bottom of my back porch steps when I took this picture:

And just a little bit more to the right:

A little change in subject matter.  Why?  Cause it doesn't matter.  Or does it matter?  Way back when I was doing some acrylic painting, I showed you at the time a lot of the ones that I had done.  I don't think I showed you this one, so will do so now:

Not only did I paint the moon, I also howled at it. . No, I didn't, really.  Notice Casiopia to the left?  Yeh, I know you wouldn't see Casiopia that close to the moon, but an artist can take a few liberties, can't he?  So, during the day just walk in the sunshine and I hope the moon will light your way at night.  Now, have a good day, you hear?

Wondeiring about some funny quotes.

I figured it is about time for some laughs.  We had a storm blow though here just before 06:00 and it is still raining.  So, our trip to the flea market was put on hold, maybe even canceled.  We will decide if it ever stops raining.  Not going to complain.  Always can use some rain.  I think I will post some quotes that I hope will give you a smile or two.  So here goes:

All these quotes come from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_funny.html#iZDukp5AocFohyji.99

A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
Bill Cosby 

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
Albert Einstein 

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.
Steve Martin

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
Frank Sinatra 

BTW, my father-in-law used to always say the above quote, and up until now, I thought it was his original.  Maybe it was and Frank Sinatra stole it from him (grin).

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Mark Twain

As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.
Buddy Hackett 
 
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
George Bernard Shaw 
Now old George sure got that right.

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Isaac Asimov 

Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?
Phyllis Diller 

A woman's mind is cleaner than a man's: She changes it more often.
Oliver Herford

OK, that is enough for now.  If you want more, go to the link I posted above, and have yourself a very fine day, you hear?