Thursday... looking up

We enjoyed a pleasant Thursday, with nothing much to share, except a tentative report of me feeling like I'm finally on the upswing, after too many (7) weeks of dealing with this medical craziness. Maybe a few pics from today will bring my perspective back to something fun. 

 

Here's what our Thursday morning looked like. We continue to enjoy watching the Finches come and go from our feeders over the deck. 

 

Sitting at the breakfast nook table, drinking my 3rd big glass of water, and enjoying some French-press coffee, along with slices of a Trompeau Bakery baguette that we got at the Farmer's Market on Saturday, along with some chunks of Humboldt Fog and Rattlesnake Cheddar cheese, and oh yeah, some "everything but the bagel" Cheddar cheese. Yum!

 

We love seeing the Goldfinches out there, and especially much, when the bright day lights them up beautifully. 

 

We ran across these pretty roses at Gallup Gardens on our short walk. I'm feeling like I can start getting out again, a little at a time, without risking the dreaded side-effect of Cipro, "ruptured tendons." This has been a long drawn-out 7 weeks.

 

Looking out over the deck at the usual Spring rain showers that are making their appearance this afternoon. 

Coffee DOES count!

OK, I take it back: I apologize to anyone I've ever told, that "coffee and tea don't count toward our liquid intake, because they're diuretics."  

 

 

I learned something new this week, while researching things to do about a medical condition I've been fighting for the past month. Firstly, yes it's true that caffeine is a diuretic, so that part was never wrong. But in the course of all my searching, I've learned something new to me: Modern medical research has concluded that the fluid in your coffee or tea easily balances out the mild diuretic effect of the caffeine. It absolutely counts toward keeping you hydrated and flushing out your kidneys and gall bladder. Which is a great idea for me, these days...

 

So drink up, enjoy your morning latte (which DOES count toward all those glasses of water we're supposed to be drinking), and forgive me for my years of spreading old information!

Of course, as my cousin mentioned, fluid intake is one thing, and the effects of caffeine itself are another thing entirely. Don't forget that the FDA recommends limiting your daily caffeine to 400mg, unless you're a fan of irregular heartbeat, chest pain, and stroke. And, of course, for those that are sensitive to it, adverse effects on sleep, especially when drinking caffeine late in the day.

 

Here's a good reference from the Mayo Clinic for the curious.

Memorial Day 2026

My mom, dad, and uncle all served and survived, but many of their comrades did not. Today, I am honoring the fallen heroes who served right alongside my family and gave everything.

 

Pretty sunset

 We enjoyed a beautiful sunset this evening!

 

Frightening diagnostic details of TDS

I ran across this TDS "revised definition" online and couldn't resist sharing:

 

Revised Clinical Definition: Trump Dependency Syndrome (TDS)

 

Diagnostic Overview:

A cognitive condition characterized by the total suspension of personal ethics, logic, and long-held civic principles in favor of an unwavering allegiance to a single individual. Unlike traditional political support, TDS involves a "reality-decoupling" where the subject views a leader’s erratic behavior and factual errors as evidence of superior genius.

 

Primary Symptoms:

• Fact-Refractory Logic: An immediate, involuntary rejection of peer-reviewed science, documented history, or video evidence if it contradicts the leader’s current statement.

• The "4D Chess" Delusion: A persistent belief that tantrums, policy reversals, or obvious mistakes are actually part of a brilliant, invisible master plan.

• Ethical Elasticity: The ability to excuse personal conduct (infidelity, crude language, or financial opacity) that the subject previously spent decades condemning in others.

• Hyper-Defensive Deflection: When presented with a specific policy failure, the subject reflexively shouts "What about...?" to protect the ego from acknowledging reality.

 

Behavioral Indicators:

1. Science Aversion: A deep-seated suspicion of experts and data-driven institutions, replaced by a reliance on "vibes" or unverified social media posts.

2. Tantrum Normalization: Viewing childish outbursts and professional bridge-burning as "strength" or "authenticity" rather than a lack of emotional intelligence.

3. Institutional Erosion: A willingness to dismantle the guardrails of democracy (free press, independent judiciary) to satisfy the whims of one individual.

 

Conclusion:

True derangement isn't found in those who notice the emperor has no clothes; it’s found in those who describe the fine silk of the emperor’s invisible suit while shaming everyone else for being "blind."

Mother's Day 2026

Wishing a wonderful Mother’s day to all my mom friends! 

License plate MISREADERS

Here's yet another disturbing example of bad data entry causing huge problems downstream. The title of this article is a misnomer, but the actual subject is even more concerning. Becoming the subject of police scrutiny and automatically and wrongly being assumed to be guilty of something, should be a huge concern to all of us. The fact that they don't have a straightforward way to feed back corrections into the database is perhaps the worst part of this disaster. As always, what sounds like a useful approach to law enforcement can be surprisingly bad, when human error isn't factored into the design. 

 

I was looking into this issue a little more, and I found something even more frustrating: This isn't always just a computer being "dumb." It’s a human policy. Some police departments intentionally list a suspect's plate both ways, for example as "BOB123" and "B0B123" in their warrants, to ensure they don't miss the suspect. In doing so, they effectively "criminalize" the innocent owner of the second plate, turning their commute into a gauntlet of potential police confrontations. 

 

As always, y'all be careful out there! Here are some suggestions, for those who are more likely to have this issue:

• Check your plate: If you have an "O" or a "0," be aware that you might be a victim of "Plate Alias" errors.

• Demand transparency: Ask local councils about the "misread rates" of the ALPR cameras they are buying with taxpayer money.

• Be Prepared: If pulled over, understand that the officer might be acting on "hot list" data that they believe is 100% accurate, even if it's a data entry error.

 

Littleton Fire Muster 6/13/2026

They'll be hosting a Fire Muster in Littleton on June 13. I stopped into one of these years ago, when walking Mandy with Ken, and it was a lot of fun to see the old and new fire engines and other apparatus. Fun fact: The first recorded fire muster occurred in 1849 in Bath, Maine, involving five hand-powered pumps, or "hand tubs". 

 

Mixing Sim and Real World

My niece flew back today, after visiting relatives and friends on the east coast. I made a fun new adventure out of it for me, by flying the simulated Boeing 787-10 over the same route at roughly the same time. I had even more fun, by figuring out how to track her flight on the same map as my simulated flight! In this snapshot, my aircraft is the blue airplane symbol, and her Airbus A320neo is the little blue "traffic" symbol surrounded by a red hexagon, about 21 minutes behind me. After I landed, I looked up the gate where she was supposed to arrive, which was B31, and taxied up to the same exact spot on the north side of Concourse B. Yeah, pretty nerdy, I know...

First Walk of 2026

Friday's not usually our day to get takeout breakfast, much less "dine out", but we decided to do something special on our 2nd day of the new year -- breakfast out and a fun walk somewhere we haven't been in awhile. 

So... off we went to the highly popular Urban Egg restaurant for a somewhat different breakfast. They had some cute wreaths outside the kitchen. I love their cinnamon swirl pancake!

After breakfast, we went for a walk, starting at the nearby George M Wallace park in the Denver Technological Center (DTC), and venturing along that trail much farther than I've ever gone. 

Shiny leaf on the frozen creek. It's amazing to me, how much effort it took, to capture this simple little photo. When I brought the camera down lower to capture more of the frozen creek in the background, the bright sun completely washed out the colors, and everything came out in various shades of charcoal. 

Christmas decorations near and far -- at first, we thought the sun was reflecting off the bulbs, but then as we got closer, we realized they were still powered on.

Interesting-looking dried plants in a marshy area -- my phone says this is Pentanema Squarrosum…?

This Sumac seed pod was standing out by itself, just asking me to take a picture. 

Cute goat nibbling on old Christmas tree

Partially frozen over pond by the creek in Orchard Hills Park

Gadwall ducks in a small pond by the creek in Orchard Hills Park

The creek in Goldsmith Gulch, with some interesting clouds in the distance

Happy horses in this field

Delightful blend of subtle colors… my phone says this might be Oregon Grape

Conifer tree with the sun peeking through the clouds just above… puts a cheerful spin on the gloomy sky

Watched Relay

Peaceful sunset to end a quiet Monday, as we wrap up the year. We watched the movie “Relay,” which was a bit of an adrenaline rush. My interest was piqued by the use of pseudo-teletype technology — using a third-party operator as a voice mask to stay anonymous. It’s a clever bit of realism; because the operator just reads the text provided, the caller's true voice and identity stay completely off the grid. I doubt the required level of anonymity would be achieved in real life, as I’ll bet those services are required to keep a log of all their calls.

October Pics

We’re enjoying the Fall color views from our breakfast table, and on our outings in the Littleton area. Here are some photos from this week. 

Rapids along the South Platte River near the Mineral Avenue overpass, with some nice yellow Cottonwoods

Nice view of Eagle Watch Lake, through a yellow Cottonwood

Nice yellow Cottonwood by the rapids where the rafters and kayakers usually put in, on the South Platte River

Reds and yellows along the South Platte River

Cottonwood trees and clouds, with some pretty yellow in the foreground

South Platte River with pretty yellow in the foreground

Pretty red leaves — my iPhone says this is a Virginia Creeper

Pretty reds — the three-leaf pattern reminds me of the Poison Oak I used to see in California — my iPhone says this is Fragrant Sumac

Raindrops on Blackrock Lake

Cottonwood tree chock full of Blackbirds all enthusiastically singing

House Finche inbound to the bird feeder, with Fall colors in the neighborhood below

My favorite tree for Fall, the Purple Autumn Ash

Kitty Rufus and round squirrel

House Finches, Fall colors, foothills and overcast in background

Blue Jay and Fall colors

Kitty Rufus sprawled out

Blue Jay enjoying the peanuts that we put out for the squirrels

House Finches on our Bird Buddy feeder

Cyclist pausing on the bridge over a creek feeding into the South Platte River

Pretty red Fragrant Sumac along the South Platte River

Fall colors in front of Red Tail lake. My phone says this is a Maple. 

Prickly Pear fruit by the trail

My Simulated Flights in 2025

I've been getting virtually out and about with my PC flight simulators frequently this year, starting with some adventures around Alaska in the Douglas DC-3, and then recreating the “Island Hopper” route in the Boeing 737-800. 

Then I began some serious crisscrossing of the world in the Boeing 787-10. I consolidated some 787 checklists from the web, into a more concise one that enables me to start up the Dreamliner from cold and dark, then get through an entire flight safely, including landing, even in zero-zero conditions if necessary, then taxiing to the gate and shutting down. It’s always fun to hear that characteristic tone, when I turn off the seatbelt sign after cutting fuel to the engines. I imagine half the passengers jumping up, when the seatbelt lights turn off. 

I'm still adhering to my favorite way of doing this -- saving the flight after I land, and then picking up at the same spot on the airport where I left off, to head somewhere new, using the current real-world weather conditions. 

I got overwhelmed with doing my usual verbose descriptions of each flight over on my VirtuallyAloft blog, so I took a break from that, and for the time being, I'm logging my flights in my free account on the my.flightradar24.com website. If you click on that link, you will first see a world map, with all my recent flights overlaid on it. You can use the "Camera Controls" widget in the lower right corner to pan around, and zoom in and out on the map. You can also click here to see a tabular list of my flights. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! We’re having a quiet Friday here. It’s relatively temperate, starting at a chilly 23°F, but with a forecast high of 55°. 

First bike ride of 2025

I took a chance on this warmer Monday, with a high of 69°, to try my first bike ride in 2025. I felt pretty dumb, after I realized I’d left my bottles of water and Gatorade behind on the kitchen counter. I found myself riding through several ice cold puddles, and some slush and ice on the trails. When the wind came up, the chill factor felt pretty low, and hypothermia seemed like a possibility, so I put on the one extra layer I always carry, and that got me home safe. There were some unusual sights — a hardy soul standing out on Chatfield Lake, drilling holes for ice-fishing, a trail closure due to a helicopter clearing some trees in the middle of the lake, and a small herd of deer by the trail.

Update: Apparently the temperature here dropped 25° while I was out on my ride. No wonder I felt like an ice cube. 

Chatfield Lake mostly iced over. 

Ice fisherman drilling holes all by himself out there. Brave soul, as the ice doesn’t look very thick to me. He’d moved to the other side of the lake, by the time I’d pedaled around. 

Helicopter carrying a tree to a collection area across the lake. I was curious about why they’d closed an extensive section of the bike trail around the lake, when I saw this. I was glad to have an alternative route around the lake, on the park’s perimeter road. 

Helicopter cutting down trees in the lake. I’m not sure I’ve seen a chopper carrying a saw and clamp like this. 

Small herd of deer by the trail. They barely looked up, when I stopped to snap a photo. 

The trails were mostly clear, although I encountered several icy puddles, some slush and ice, some sections still snowy, and lots of barely-passable sections of mud.