My Simulated Flights in 2025

I've been flying with the X-Plane 11 and Microsoft 2020 simulators quite often this year, starting with the Douglas DC-3, then moving on to the Boeing 737-800, and more recently, a lot of flights in the Boeing 787-10. I'm still mostly adhering to my favorite way of doing this -- saving the flight after I land, and then picking up where I left off, to head somewhere new. 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 capturing my flights into a 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. 

Technology

I've promised myself that I'd continue to try to embrace “new technology” (whatever that means), as I get older, partly to avoid getting left behind, and partly to enjoy the benefits of new and more efficient capabilities. I was tickled to use Apple Pay for the first time a few years ago, when my niece and I walked down to the South Platte River, ended up unexpectedly at Panera Bread without my wallet, and decided to get lunch. Then, a few years later, I got a pretty capable watch, then found myself without my wallet again, this time after pedaling to the bike shop, and was able to use Garmin Pay for some supplies with my watch! I was so proud of myself. It feels nice, to be working toward freeing myself from having to carry that filthy germ-ridden cash, or having to visit the bank regularly to get it, or having to deal with making and receiving change, or the risk of losing it all to a lost wallet or a mugging. I totally understand that everybody’s different, and it’s rare to find two approaches to life that are exactly the same… 

And then, just to show how far I have NOT come, we just had breakfast with someone who no longer carries her purse or even a wallet. She has everything on her phone, including her ID (Driver's license), proof of insurance, credit cards, and whatever else she needs, within reason. She said it feels so freeing, after years of lugging so much extra stuff around for her young ones. Wow.

 

As we arrived home, we noticed the nearby Quarry fire is still generating significant smoke this morning.

New camera

Happy Saturday morning! Temperatures in Littleton are wide-ranging today, from 62 to 90°F.

I picked up my new phone yesterday - woo hoo - I *finally* replaced my good-old everyday companion, which feels practically obsolete, but hopefully will still be used for years to come. 

My new phone case, with lots of vents for cooling, and a kickstand, should arrive today. This time, I’m not taking my new phone out on the trails, until it’s in a protective case, as the older one has had a deep scratch in the face, since the week I got it, several years ago. 

The busy birds at our deck feeders gave me the opportunity this morning, to try the slightly-sharper new camera. I like the results! Score for the shutterbug!

 

Saturday Bird Walk

We had a fun 40°F Saturday morning, participating in a guided bird watching walk through Tucker Gulch in Golden. 

The secluded creekside path allowed us to view several different birds that were attracted to the dense foliage. 

According to our guide, we saw or heard a Black Throated Blue Warbler, Say’s Phoebe, Lazuli Bunting, Yellow Rumped Warblers (Audubon’s and Myrtle), and Northern Parula, along with House Finches, Chickadees, Towhees, Flickers, American Robins, and Lesser Goldfinches. And yes, we heard a chicken in someone’s backyard. We were even flashed by a Cooper’s Hawk working their way through the trees barely above our heads. 

Our new spotting scope and tripod saw their second outing, and I viewed several of the new birds up close, but I caught only one useable picture, of an American Robin, as all the other birds were moving around too quickly for me to get setup. 

I practiced on stationary objects, which were very cooperative in waiting for me get setup to view them through the scope. I guess I’ve got a steep learning curve for this type of outing - lugging equipment around that conceivably could produce some fun pics, and learning how to get it set up quickly enough to be useful… 🤷‍♂️ I’m starting to think that a camera with a zoom telephoto might be a much better accessory for these outings. Back in the day, I had an Olympus OM-1 film camera with a zoom lens attachment, that I just loved, but I got disenchanted, when it quickly became contaminated with sand or something else gritty inside the mechanism, that prevented the zoom from working.  

Fun day overall!

Hollywood!

Apparently, the red anti-collision light at the top of the Capital Records building in Los Angeles has been spelling out “Hollywood” in Morse code for the past 70 years. Pretty fun!

https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1766712590766624778

Longest ride to date

Beautiful 95° Wednesday for my longest bike ride, since I started keeping track. I covered a little over 42 miles, and I think that’s about my personal limit, at my current level of fitness. Here’s my view looking back down the hill, after I started climbing the Bear Creek Dam. 

Looking forward up the steep hill toward the top of the dam. This climb had me using the lowest possible gearing on my new gravel bike, and I was glad it went that low. 

Looking over Bear Creek Lake, and toward the town of Morrison and the Red Rocks amphitheater, from the rest area at the top of Bear Creek Dam. It was nice to find some cool shade with a breeze. I wore the special water-retaining gel scarf that Jennefer got for me, and I’m certain that it helped keep my body temperature cooler than it would have been. It was still plenty hot, though. 

The trail along Highway C-470 has some long straight stretches, and a few non-trivial climbs and descents. There’s also the downside of being next to a highway, with the associated sights, sounds, and smells. But I’m willing to endure it, at least for the few times a year that I get out that way. 

I was surprised to run into this significant trail closure, and especially disappointed, since the detour would have prevented me from getting to my planned climb up and over the Chatfield Dam from where I was. So I found myself braving the shoulder of the busy highway 121, for the short hop necessary to get to a quieter service road that took me into the park. 

Made it to the top of Chatfield Dam, and seeking shade under one of the picnic tables in the overlook area. I do enjoy the view of all the various boaters on the lake from here. 

Heading South on the gravel road on top of the dam, on a quest to intersect the Highline Canal Trail. This kind of rough rock and gravel trail, makes me glad that I opted for a gravel bike. It’s still not all that comfortable to ride on, but the bike is far more controllable. Staying in the narrow ruts is a great goal, as that area has been beaten down smoother by many other riders. 

Here’s the map of my ride. My route was affected by several trail closures and related detours, all but one of which I already knew about. 

My Garmin Connect app tells me that I ran out of stamina about 20 minutes before I got home. I’m not in a position to disagree, as I was pretty wiped out. I made use of all the liquids I brought along, finishing off the 16 ounces of Gatorade and 22 ounces of water, over the course of the ride. Maybe some food carbs would help that, on a future long ride. 

New gravel bike!

There’s something new in our lives! A new “Scott” 22-speed gravel bike for me, 52 years younger than the road bike I’ve been riding. 

 

Maybe it will help me be less anxious about heading out on rides. Thanks to Jennefer, Sid, Brighton, my financial advisor, and the helpful store salesman, for the moral support in deciding to do it, and actually finding something that works for me!

Fighting back

There’s a new Sheriff in town... armed with the deadly dihydrogen monoxide projector! And the Christmas-light-chewing squirrels are learning new places to hide… Even racing across the deck, over and under the furniture, they're not safe... from The Enforcer! 

 

Checking all the hiding spots… they like to quickly run around behind things, and knowing we can't see them, pretend they're not really there.

 

 

 

 

  

Making sure they stay down, after they scurry down off the deck… they often will rush down to the backyard, and then hurry right back up another support post. 

 

 

 

Chasing them across to the other end of the deck, and making sure they leap off into the trees in the yard… 

Saturday ride

We woke up to a chilly 51° Saturday morning, with rain forecast for the afternoon. I waited until midday to try a bike ride in a little warmer air, and was rewarded with a few more Fall colors in the bright sunshine.

 

I caught a quirky photo angle on this Blue Jay, who was enjoying the seeds that Jennefer put out.

 

House Finch lounging in the tire swing feeder.

 

 

First Fall color I saw, after joining up with the Lee Gulch trail.

 

Some red and green by the Lee Gulch trail, just before the tunnel under Santa Fe Drive.

 

I love the yellows against the blue sky, and this little splotch of color was even prettier, with the rocks and small rapids in the Lee Gulch creek.

 

Big yellow tree where the Lee Gulch meets the Mary Carter Greenway trail along the South Platte River. 

 

The sumac usually goes through a red and green phase for a short while.

 

 

 

I stopped for a few minutes behind some other bikers, to enjoy watching this fellow flying a very maneuverable kite from the trail on top of the Chatfield dam.

 

 

  

Bright yellow and blue, just after crossing under the highway, on the C-470 trail.

 

 

 

The reds in this sumac were eye-catching bright to me, but the picture didn't do them justice. 

 

 

I loved this tall lacy yellow tree, growing out of the bottom of the Highline Canal. 

 

 

The reds in this sumac also jumped out at me, and turned out better in this photo. 

 

 

 

 

I particularly loved this view of the yellow cottonwoods and expansive sky, along the C-470 trail. 

 

 

This big splotch of orange and red always catches me by surprise, as I round this corner on the C-470 trail. I was ready for it today, though.  

 

 

Small but intense display of red in the Highline Canal. 

  

 

 

One of my favorite trees along the trail turns red with green for awhile, and has a pleasing shape.

 

 

 

Our Saturday ended with a striking sunset view from the deck.

Tech stuff on a rainy day

Cool rainy day in Littleton. Nice opportunity to update my Linux boot disk. Turns out, I had to jump the OS up four versions, starting at Fedora version 32, which required two separate installs, and only one hiccup with an unrecognized Wi-Fi card, when v34 booted. Luckily, that was resolved by simply rebooting again. Feels good to have it up to the latest rev for now…

Tuesday bike ride

 Perfect Tuesday morning bike riding weather - sunny and 67° with dry trails and a cool breeze. There's just a hint of Fall in the air, although not a lot of colors to see yet. This is the third of perhaps five bike path tunnels along my route, with a short but steep climb on the other side. Descending into the shadows...

 

We finally received the Palisade peaches that I ordered from my neighbor’s son, back in early July. Yum! These huge peaches are as sweet and delicious as always. I suppose I must have been ordering peaches from coworkers' and neighbors' kids for a few decades now, and they never disappoint.

 

I’ve been using the new MarineTraffic tracking app that I found this week, to follow my brother-in-law Bob and his sister Janet on their cruise to Alaska. They invited me along, but I had to decline, in consideration of Jennefer's compromised immune system, wanting to spend time with her, and especially not wanting to leave her alone for a couple of weeks. Fun technology in this app, as it will let me search for a vessel by name, or just browse an area, and pick it out from the collection of little icons in the water. Bob had posted a photo of the Space Needle from their ship, as they were leaving Seattle, so I found this app, then went and looked in Elliott Bay and found what I think is the ship they must be on, and started tracking it. Looks like they're heading for Juneau.

New bike computer

I received a spiffy new gadget from Garmin last night - an “Edge 1040 Solar” bike computer. It’s a surprisingly big upgrade from the device they asked me to beta-test for them in the Spring. This one’s got a bigger screen, and is a little more solid and heavier - and it’s got built-in solar cells that let it charge the 

battery a little, while I’m riding. 

 

I was excited to try it out this afternoon, so I hurried to get all my data transferred over, after our late breakfast. The solar feature worked pretty well, even on this overcast day - it started out with a 99% charge, and after riding for two hours, it finished with a 96% charge. I was impressed. I don’t remember the last time I was asked to participate in a beta test program, but it feels pretty fun to get this little prize for my effort.

James Webb Space Telescope

It took a lot, to replace the aging Hubble Space Telescope with the James Webb Space Telescope. The increased resolution is significant. Here’s a link to a tool by John Christensen, that allows us to compare the resolutions in images of a few different areas of space. Wow!