ㅁ The tree, unmoving, forebore my drill's loud assault and grew just a bit.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Month: August 2020
Caveat: Tree #578
This alder is growing in the middle of Arthur’s “yard” (moss garden) – near the corner of where my storage tent had been positioned for my first year here.
I made some progress on the treehouse today – drilling my last hole and putting in the last giant lag bolt, to hook up the suspension cables down to the corners.
Tomorrow, I will go to work.
[daily log: walking, xkm]
Caveat: Poem #1478 “Fishing without catching”
ㅁ Our flavorful hooks received negative reviews at Port Estrella.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #577
These are some trees seen on the beach near Tranquil Point. Note the young deer strolling along in the lower right, which admittedly was the main reason I took the picture. But it didn’t come out so well – the zoom on this new phone camera is even worse than on my old phone camera.
[daily log: walking, 1km; boating, 30km]
Caveat: Fishing Report #(n+12)
We left by 7:20. The weather forecast wasn’t great, but it was the best of upcoming days, so I thought we should try. In fact, the weather was better than forecast, with flat water and very little wind. But it was overcast and kept trying to rain, and by the time we got home it was raining steadily.
We went out to Black Beach at the north end of San Juan first. We trolled down the east side of San Juan. Then we crossed from San Juanito (the southeast corner of San Juan) over to Tranquil Point, where we’d had so much luck two outings ago. We trolled westward to Port Estrella. We never caught anything but some tiny black bass, which Arthur threw back. Arthur said he had one bigger fish hooked right against Joe Island, but it apparently got away.
We tried for halibut in Port Estrella for about 30 minutes. Some other boats were there, but it wasn’t obvious they were catching anything either. No fish were being hauled on board the other boats, that we could see.
We returned to trolling, and circled Port Estrella a few times and then headed back along the shore back to Tranquil Point. Still nothing.
At 1 PM, we gave up and went to the fuel dock just north of Craig, to fill up the tank. Then we went home, watching the boat’s weirdly asynchronous windshield wipers in the steady rain and contemplating the moods of fish. We were fishless.
Year-to-date totals.
- Coho: 21
- Halibut: 1
- Lingcod: 1
Here is a small island just off Point Providence on the western tip of a peninsula of Prince of Wales Island, at Port Estrella.
When we got home, after cleaning the boat I walked up along the road in the rain and found some huckleberries and blueberries up in the shrubberies south of the road.
Caveat: Poem #1477 “The gathering out by the pothole”
ㅁ I gathered some rocks. They congregated around, Enjoying the mud.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #576
This tree is mostly green.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Poem #1476 “Excellent summary of what bothers me”
ㅁ Nothing bothers me; except things that bother me: those things bother me.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #575
I suppose I have some small obsession with finding ever younger trees. This is the smallest alder I have found so far – it is less than 1/2 inch tall.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: Truce with the GDC
I went to do my monthly exercises with the GDC (the RV that my friends Mark and Amy brought to me about a year ago, now). I was a week or so late, so I went out and ran the engine for while, ran the heater for a while, changed its parking spot.
When I went to run the generator, the generator wouldn’t start. So I set out to try to diagnose the problem. It seemed the battery was dead.
I took out the battery, brought it over to the house and charged it up and took it back. But still, the generator wouldn’t start. I worried the starter was bad on it. So I ran an extension cord over and tried jumping the generator directly from the charger (I had thought to jump it from the engine, but the generator and its battery are electrically separate from the engine and its battery, and it’s actually a long ways around the vehicle from engine battery to generator battery, so jumper cables were ruled out).
Jumping directly from the charger worked! So that means, it’s just that the generator battery is dead and can’t hold a charge. Annoying, but easy enough to fix, using money. I’ll get a new battery at some point.
Meanwhile, the GDC and I have signed a truce until next month, when we will wage a battle of wills once again.
What I’m listening to right now.
Bronson, “Keep Moving.” I mostly like the video. It’s kinda interesting. Still, the music has a kind of a “nightclub minimalism” vibe going.
Lyrics.
[Chorus]
I can see how it moves
Don’t be afraid
I can see how it moves
Blackout again
I can see how it moves
Don’t be afraid
I can see how it moves
Blackout again
Yeah okay, blackout
[Chorus]
Go ahead
Keep moving
Go ahead
Don’t be afraid
Yeah okay, blackout
Go ahead
Go ahead
Go ahead
Go ahead
Yeah okay, blackout
[Outro]
Blackout again
Caveat: Poem #1475 “Indifferent”
ㅁ When the net was closed and the fish circled and leapt the sun glanced downward.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #574
This is only 15% of a tree. It extends below and above the frame.
[daily log: walking, 1km; boating, 25km]
Caveat: Fishing Report #(n+11)
Thursday isn’t a normal fishing day. Thursday is supposed to be shopping day. But now that I’m working Tuesday and Wednesday, I think Arthur felt some weird impatience about going out fishing. It’s odd – I suspect strongly that if I hadn’t worked Tuesday and yesterday, he’d not have had any interest in fishing today. But he may have felt some weird pressure to “make use of me” when I wasn’t working, now that I’m working, however limited my schedule. I don’t know.
We left the house at around 7:20 – pretty early. We motored out to Port Caldera, because Arthur was suddenly gung-ho to try for halibut. But as happens every time we try for halibut, after about 20 minutes he got impatient – halibut fishing requires more patience because unlike trolling for salmon, for halibut you just hold the boat still, put your baited hook on the bottom of the sea and wait. And wait.
No bites.
So after that, we pulled up the halibut hooks and began trolling for salmon. We trolled all along the shore from Port Caldera past Tranquil Point, which is where we’d hit the jackpot last time we went fishing. But this time, no luck. And worse, there was a net seiner at Tranquil, scooping up fish with a net. I guess that requires a special license and all that, but it sure takes the fun out of sport fishing. You just watch all the salmon jumping trying to get out of the net as it closes in around them, but they will be caught – probably hundreds in a single scoop.
I took a picture. It’s hard to see, but the idea is there’s the main boat, on the left, and a little skiff, like a motorized bathtub, on the right (right up tight against the shore, there), and a giant underwater net stretched out between them. Then the main boat and the skiff parallel each other and close their ends off, and all the fish between are scooped up. You can embiggen the picture some by clicking on it.
We caught no fish in our prior hotspot – the net took them all, maybe.
We motored over to the southwest corner of San Juan, and tried trolling up the west side (not sure I’ve ever done that before with Arthur). No luck there, either. And there was a very irate fisherman anchored there halfway up the west side, who seemed to take great umbrage that we got within 200 yards of his boat – he was leaping up and down on his deck, yelling at us to get away. Neither Arthur nor I could identify what possible offense we might be causing – he was clearly anchored and not in motion, he had no lines in the water we could even make out, which would be the main concern, that someone would foul some lines if you had them in the water. Well, who knows?
Arthur lost heart after that. We motored home, and got home around 1 pm. We were skunked.
Year-to-date totals:
- Coho: 21
- Halibut: 1
- Lingcod: 1
Since it was Thursday, we went ahead and did the shopping in town later in the afternoon. Arthur was quite exhausted.
When we got home from shopping, I noticed the real-estate guy sitting in the lot next door, which has been for sale these past few months. And he told me the lot had sold. I was surprised – it had seemed overpriced, to me. Anyway, if you’d been planning to surprise me by buying the lot and becoming my neighbor, I hate to say, but you lost your chance.
Caveat: Poem #1474 “They race along”
ㅁ There's the path across from this lot to that other sometimes there are slugs.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #573
I took this picture of a tree next to the garish pink Federal Building in downtown Ketchikan in November, 2009.
[daily log: walking, 2km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Sasquatches!
In my new job, I am working in retail. So I get to talk to customers.
A man came in the store today and told a breathless, insistent story about a family of sasquatches that live near a sandy beach northeast of Thorne Bay, on the island. I tried to listen empathetically. He talked about how they never bother any one. How they have their own language, “not quite human.” Then that segued (somehow) to how the government took his land, long ago.
He bought a trinket for his granddaughter.
Caveat: Poem #1473 “Language overtakes”
ㅁ Behold the novel impermanence that post-modernity grants us: culture's spinning, mindless wheels; entrained electrons' songs; epistemic games rendered raptures by thrumming, humming words.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #572
Actually this is a picture of a pile of rocks. But there is a tree in it too, so I figured that would work out if I used it as my daily tree.
[daily log: walking, 1km; retailing, 4hr]
Caveat: nada pudo jamás contra la vida
Comunicado Nada podrá contra esta avalancha del amor. Contra este rearme del hombre en sus más nobles estructuras. Nada podrá contra la fe del pueblo en la sola potencia de sus manos. Nada podrá contra la vida. Y nada podrá contra la vida, porque nada pudo jamás contra la vida. - Otto René Castillo (poeta guatemalteco, 1934-1967)
Caveat: Poem #1472 “Words urging patience”
ㅁ They said the trees would make me peaceful. They said the rain would wash my soul. They said the stones would hold me. They said that time goes on. They said other things. They said stories. They said wait. They said so.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #571
I took this picture of a tree near Marquette, Michigan, in November, 2009.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: After I count down, three rounds
What I’m listening to right now.
The Dead South, “In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company.” I really like the bits of Saskatchewan countryside alternating with Canadian urban landscapes in the video, too.
Lyrics.
Dead Love couldn’t go no further
Proud of and disgusted by her
Push shove, a little bruised and battered
Oh Lord I ain’t coming home with you
My life’s a bit more colder
Dead wife is what I told her
Brass knife sinks into my shoulder
Oh babe don’t know what I’m gonna do
I see my red head, messed bed, tear shed, queen bee
My squeeze
The stage it smells, tells, hell’s bells, miss-spells
Knocks me on my knees
It didn’t hurt, flirt, blood squirt, stuffed shirt
Hang me on a tree
After I count down, three rounds, in hell I’ll be in good company
Dead Love couldn’t go no further
Proud of and disgusted by her
Push shove, a little bruised and battered
Oh Lord I ain’t coming home with you
My life’s a bit more colder
Dead wife is what I told her
Brass knife sinks into my shoulder
Oh babe don’t know what I’m gonna do
I see my red head, messed bed, tear shed, queen bee
My squeeze
The stage it smells, tells, hell’s bells, misspells
Knocks me on my knees
It didn’t hurt, flirt, blood squirt, stuffed shirt
Hang me on a tree
After I count down, three rounds, in hell I’ll be in good company
In hell I’ll be in Good Company
Caveat: Poem #1471 “Alternate approaches”
ㅁ No I don't really know why I feel lost but if I didn't then I would know why not and I could get on with things walk down the road confidently confront the hesitations and doubts
– a reverse nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #570
This is a tree which I happened to see.
In other news – I “bit the bullet” today. A part-time job was offered at the Alaska Gift shop – one of the places I’d applied at some months ago, before the advent of COVID. Apparently one of the other part-timers there just quit, so Jan called me and made the offer, and I drove to town and filled in the paperwork and met the store’s owners. It’s just an entry-level retail job, such as I worked to put myself through college, at the bookstore in Minneapolis. I will be working Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We’ll see how things work out.
I could argue that it makes me feel young: “starting over” at age 55. But what to do? The teaching concept seems unlikelier by the day, up here, and … I’d rather work “dead end” retail than try to sell myself as some kind of “Telecommuting” IT person, which is the main alternative, if a job must be had.
In yet other news, my garden is growing a few beets. I decided to try an experiment, and made some pickled beets, yesterday. Arthur and I had some with dinner, this evening. They taste pretty okay.
[daily log: walking, 1km; retailing, 4hr]
Caveat: Poem #1470 “Disconsolate greens”
ㅁ Things grow up and outward in my greenhouse filling the corners with effortful branches but then a mildew has come and attacked many of the leaves leaving my plants unmotivated
– a reverse nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #569
This tree is seen in silhouette.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Stuck in the tree
A few days ago, I got a drill bit stuck in the tree, while working on the treehouse project.
It took me a lot of time and tedious effort to get it out. I tried chisels, vice grips, and finally, I used a smaller drill bit at an angle, around the edges of the stuck drill bit, to dig it out of the tree.
Then I completed the hole and installed the giant lag bolt, so I could hang two cables from it instead of wrapping the suspension cables around the tree, as had been my original plan. I decided to change that plan for two reasons: 1) several people felt I might “strangle” the tree over time with wrapped cables, and insisted it was less damaging to the tree to just put a big hole in it; 2) it was quite difficult to adjust the tension with the tree-wrapped method, because the cable might slip in small increments along the trunk of the tree.
Here is the stuck drill bit. It was really buried in there and wouldn’t even wiggle.
Here is the liberated hole.
Here is the giant lag bolt going in.
Here is the final configuration, with the two cables down to the corners.
Indeed, I am pleased with the new result. The cables have good, even tension and are easy to adjust.
Now I have to do the other tree.
Caveat: Poem #1469 “A dynasty of questions”
ㅁ When the words flow through dreams like water, then the ghosts hang at the margins. They listen to what we say, and jump to conclusions. The air leans in, close. Answers are rare: so questions converse; reign.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #568
This tree is a guest post from the past. I took this picture of a tree in Duluth, in November, 2009.
[UPDATE NOTE: This tree is the same as Tree #206. The past is omnipresent.]
[daily log: walking, 2.5km]
Caveat: Mosquito Epic
Not what you think. Though I have been dealing with mosquitoes, lately.
I was waxing nostalgic this morning, because while doing some routine maintenance on this here blog thingy™, I ran across this unexpectedly well-made video I put together while sitting in a hotel room in Japan in September, 2009 (below). The music aspect is from a kids musical about a mosquito that I had seen earlier that year, starring one of my students.
It occurs to me that most of these students are finished with college, now. I know this for a fact, as I’m still in touch with a few of them.
What I’m listening to right now.
Music: 극단 날으는 자동차, “워워워 (지구를 지켜라 : 100살 모기 소송사건).” Video by me. This is a re-post, but 11 years later.
Caveat: Poem #1468 “Damp stoicism”
ㅁ When the sea's besieged And stormed by wrathful raindrops The birds wait, stoic
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #567
I’m sure this tree has been featured before – it’s very close to the house.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Round and round
[NOTE: the following is cross-posted from my other blog – just putting it here to show what my “other online persona” looks like.]
I ran across a small, free website that someone made that transforms a flat map of an imaginary planet into a globe that you can rotate with the mouse or that can be used to generate a “spinning world” gif. It’s called maptoglobe.com.
I decided I wanted to make one for my planet, Arhet – just out of curiosity. This did have a few minor technical challenges. First, I had to “knit” together the tile images for Arhet. I found a nice utility that does this, an application called tile-stitch by Eric Fischer. It can be found on github. Except for one small problem, I just followed the documentation provided on the github README. That one problem: to get it to work in my machine, I needed to modify the code in the stitch.c file to include the full path to the geotiff utilities. So…
Original code:...
#include <geotiffio.h>
#include <xtiffio.h>
...
My version:...
#include </usr/include/geotiff/geotiffio.h>
#include </usr/include/geotiff/xtiffio.h>
...
Once that was set up, I simply extracted the tiles at zoom level 5 from the Arhet2-carto render using the tile-stitch utility, with this command
./stitch -o arhet5.png -- -85.05 -179.99 85.05 179.99 5 https://tiles01.rent-a-planet.com/arhet2-carto/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
That got the whole planet into a square .png file, which I called arhet5.png.
The next problem is that the maptoglobe website requires the map image to be in a equirectangular projection. But the tiles for Arhet are in the modified mercator projection used by almost all online “slippy maps,” classified as EPSG:3857.
So the arhet5.png file was in the wrong projection. I found out I could use another utility that I already had, the gdal library, to do this job. I ran the following commands.
/usr/bin/gdal_translate -of Gtiff -co "tfw=yes" -a_ullr -20037508.3427892 20036051.9193368 20037508.3427892 -20036051.9193368 -a_srs "EPSG:3857" "arhet5.png" "arhet5_tfw.tiff"
/usr/bin/gdalwarp -s_srs EPSG:3857 -t_srs EPSG:4326 -ts 6400 3200 "arhet5_tfw.tiff" "arhet5.tif"
These produced a .tif file in the right projection, 6400 x 3200 pixels. I then opened this file and resaved as .png again (because this is a more compact format that is therefore uploadable to maptoglobe.com – which has a maximum file size limit).
I then uploaded that .png file to the maptoglobe site, and it allowed me to save the resulting “globe” – it’s accessible here. Further, I was able to make this nice little spinning planet gif:
That’s the planet Arhet, as it currently stands – note that most of the mapping there is not my own, but the work of the various other Arhet members who have joined me in my experiment.
That worked out so well that I did the same thing for my own private planet, Rahet (note that the names Arhet and Rahet are obviously related; Rahet came first, and when I decided to change the project and invite other participants, I renamed the old Rahet as Arhet, and then resurrected the old Rahet later and as a separate project again).
Here is a the link for Rahet on the maptoglobe site, and here is the spinning planet gif:
So those are pretty cool. Remember that the original “slippy maps” (HRATEs) of these two projects are on the map portion of this website, here and here.