When:  Sunday–Early Morning – 2/18/2018
Weather: The walk was short with the high 40s.  The skies were blue!
Observations/Thoughts

When:  Saturday–Early Morning – 2/17/2018
Weather: The walk was short with 50ish temps.  The rain was teasing!
Observations/Thoughts

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a walk is less than you wanted.  My grand plan today was to get up and walk before we headed to the airport.  Just as I was getting the paper to review my coffee, the sprinkles came.  And, as the coffee was consumed the rain decided it was tired of sprinkles.  The hard rain continued for nearly an hour.  Knowing I was unlikely to escape its return, I began the safest possible walk with an umbrella in hand.  (By “safest possible walk”, this is the path that provided for many points where the walk could be shortened and home could be embraced more quickly IF the sprinkles graduated into full-blown droplets.)

The rain didn’t bring out much company on the sidewalk, but it did create things to observe:

• The roofers remembered:  Our roof was completed a couple of days ago.  After the rain, the roofers were remembered.  The area just beyond the mouth of the downspouts had a few casualties washed out from above.  Not every nail hits its target.  I encountered 30+ nails who would have minded their own business until a tire poked them the wrong way.  Some of the nails even surfed the wave to the street.  The candidates for providing evacuation would have been far greater there.  The next few showers of rain may continue to have a few laggers who are tired of living in the gutters.
• Detritus fans and related configurations: When the surf emerges from the downspouts, it bears many things.  Many of these things are just innocent participants in an early spring birthing.  The trees–both evergreen and deciduous pass along the unwanted to the rooftop.  The rain drags these rejects from the peaks of the rooftop to the freedom found below.  As the wave ends, the various debris can only go as far as the water propellant allows.  When the water is drawn so thin it can no longer carry its passengers, the passengers typically are left on the sidewalk to fend for themselves.  And, as the rain enters the yard to eventually seek lower elevation, it will bring sand and silt and what every lightweight recruit it can carry.  The amazing thing to me is the sand.  The sidewalks that always seem to have sand on their sidewalks NEVER seem to run out.  It is always there for the next rain to flush out.
• The creek:  The creek is usually just a trickle.  After a good rain, it all heads down to the trickling, gurgling little creek.  When it comes in abundance, the grass submits to the higher authority of the liquid god.  It lays down as if worshipping.  The long-legged cranes stand in the water out of fondness or hunger.  The cranes can only be viewed while moving. If you stop to get their picture, they will get spooked and find a less curiosity abundant part of the path.
• Rust stains:  The rain doesn’t hesitate to pull evacuees from where ever it can.  On many of the sidewalks, there are rust stains.  My theory is to blame the rain.  The rain washes over the iron fences.  It washes the iron away atom by atom.  Eventually, the iron accumulates along the sidewalk.  After borrowing some oxygen, it gives a nice rust color along the outer edge of the sidewalk. Not really appealing, but not a mystery.
• Pool pump:  The combination of the new roof and the moving of sprinkler heads chased up enough dirt and debris to likely overwhelm our pool pump.  It was a little sick before these projects.  It seems to be in dire need of attention now.  I hope this is the last project where professional help will be necessary.  There are some landscaping and places where sod could be invited.  I can handle the projects where a good back is needed.  When it comes to expert help, I am hopefully wise enough to know when to call “Uncle” early rather than too late.

When:  Friday–late, late afternoon – 2/16/2018
Weather: The walk was short with 50ish temps.  I had my hood up!
Observations/Thoughts

Today’s walk was barely an afterthought.  With a week of “nap” failures, I chose to end the drought.  The nap was pushed back as I waited for the sprinkler crew supervisor.  He told me he wanted to go over the system, but it was really just to collect the check.  The big disappointment was the fallout of the roofing crew.  As they removed the dumpster where all of the old roof shingles went, they pulled it out over one of the sprinkler heads.  I had to coordinate with the roofing company to get the repair.

At work, it has been a week where the BIG project was put on hold.  This involved labeling and doing things unrelated to anything very productive. My teammate and I are pretty good powering thru these redundant tasks.  The “labeling supervisor” (I don’t think the title labeling supervisor will catch on.  There are about 20 or so labels that go on each unit we send out.  By participating in the labeling, I will be better equipped to verify the labeling is correct when the entire systems are QCed.  I am fine helping, but keeping track of all of the labels–including printing–is something I am happy to allow someone else to take responsibility for.) is a thankless job.  Because we are pretty quick and systematic in the labeling, the supervisor advised us to slow our pace.  We alternated between going slow and a variety of stalling techniques.  When doing tedious, detailed work, the supervisor wants to balance the days out.  As today was Friday, our goal was to finish the weekly goals.  Fortunately, the week’s productivity had been high.  We were just coming in to fill in some small gaps.

There was nothing spectacular about my walk.  I saw a couple dogs and a couple of new real estate signs.  Even a short walk feels good.  I am planning to take a more “normal” walk before we take our weekend trip.  If nothing is planned of a unique nature in North Carolina, I hope the walks will fill the void.

When:  Thursday, late afternoon – 2/15/2018
Weather: Nice day for a walk in the mid-70s
Observations/Thoughts

• Not a walking stick: Right before reaching the house, there was a guy walking with a large stick.  It was too short to be a walking stick.  It was shaped almost like an ax–the “blade” was less threatening.  It may have been a souvenir from the walk OR a means to defend himself from rabid armadillos, OR most excitingly, he may be having flashbacks to some buried experience in his past.  Exciting? The last option would be a more interesting story should I see him again and get inspired to add more to his tale.
• People I saw:  It was a lonely, lonely walk.  The largest part of it was me being all solitary.  I had my own thoughts to keep me company.  When I walk without a nap (most work days would have my social interaction improved by a nap), my thoughts are often very poor company.  I did see one walker dressed similarly to me walking parallel to me on the other side of the street.  I was passed by a low-profile bicyclist.  He was one of the polite guys–he let me know he was coming.

When:  Late afternoon Wednesday – 2/14/2018
Weather: Spectacular Day.  Temps in the high 70’s
Observations/Thoughts

When it is a beautiful day, you don’t have to use your imagination to believe you will have company on the path.  When it is Valentine’s Day and the walking is during early dinner time, you justify your loneliness.  I shared the sidewalk with no pedestrians.  There was one bicyclist that I crossed paths with twice.  My wife and I did our Valentine’s things earlier in the week.  It is a day that can be flexibly celebrated–it isn’t Christmas.

I did get the chance to go past the area where my previous sins were videoed or at a minimum photographed.  (This was the path I crossed while it was in a partial construction state.) . The man who was previously paparazzi to my wayward wanderings was looking under the hood of his car.  He had no interest in me.  I maintained my normal pace.  I didn’t risk looking at him.  I looked forward and whispered, “You don’t see me.”

Yesterday’s walk was through the neighborhood.  As it was trash day, I was able to do a bit of research on my neighbors.  if the recycling cans are still on the street, someone gets home early at that house.  Numerous cars pulled into garages as I walked by.  I didn’t pull out my notebook and scratch particular facts on each address.  I just observe.  When I am no walking a dog or walking with my spouse, the input to my eyes and ears give me the mental stimulation my brain insists on.  I hope to see some interesting things on my walks in North Carolina this weekend.

When:  Late afternoon Tuesday – 2/13/2018
Weather: The sun was out with a slight breeze.  Temps in the high 40’s
Observations/Thoughts

Today’s walk was delayed due to life.  We are getting a new roof on our house.  When I came home from work, I was pleased to see the roof moving along nicely.  A leak in the garage was found to have a bad board above it.  The threat of rain kept the crew from tearing off the full roof at the beginning of the day.  it worked out fine.  They made excellent progress.  We are hoping it will only be a half day of work to complete tomorrow.

The bad part of the day was the possible intervention of the Home Owner’s Association.  The roof salesman assumed we didn’t live in an HOA.  As the roof started going on today, I found out we needed to get a form to the HOA 5 days prior to the job starting.  The form said “modification”.  I think, “How is a new roof a modification?”  Regardless, the roof salesman was a standup guy, he made a couple of calls and cleaned it up…I think.  It would have been rough if they had to stop action until approval.  The most relevant walk today didn’t take me anywhere.

After clearing this up, the neighborhood was all I had time for.  The only thing eventful was the dog walker.  When she was a 100 yards or so away, she switched sides of the street.  The sidewalk in a residential area is about 1/3 narrower than my regular path.  I will sometimes drop to the street and pass other pedestrians.  Today, I was glad to let her shift sides of the street.

Warmer weather coming, then colder again.  A small trip this weekend.  Maybe some interesting observations to come.

When:  Late afternoon Monday – 2/12/2018
Weather: The sun was out with a breeze.  Temps in the 40’s
Observations/Thoughts

• Animal Sighting:  There really was not much to see today.  When that happens, I have to gather what contributions I can.  Today, I saw cows trying to warm themselves.  They were on the west side of the barn.  I was paying close attention, but that would lead me to believe they were avoiding wind from the east.  Three of them were able to shelter; three were not.  I am guessing there is some sort of bovine hierarchy.  They didn’t look like they were sharing.
• Jogger and the glut:  Along the whole walk I saw only one jogger…until I got to the very end.  While on the home stretch, I saw everyone else.  I saw a dog walker.  A couple was doing their walk together.  And, my gold buddies weren’t golfing today.  They didn’t have their clubs.  it was good I didn’t “loan” them the golf balls.  They were theirs to lose.
• Tree tags: I have noticed the one yard right off the sidewalk.  Their trees along the path have lots of tags.  The leaves are still on many of the trees; they are oaks.  I found where I can buy the tags on Amazon.  No comfort I found a reason for the other tags.  I thought it maybe meant they were “special”.  It is likely the residents are just trying to keep track of them.  Two trees in very close proximity were over 100 numbers apart.  Maybe they just like playing games with people walking by their property.

When:  Sunday, late morning – 2/11/2018
Weather: Not a beautiful day.  Too cold for most Texans
Observations/Thoughts

The mornings freezing rain had melted.  It pooled on the sidewalk as it melted.  As I walked, I saw no footprints or bike tire tracks emerging out of the pools.  This either meant I was alone out there OR the indicators had evaporated.  My lack of sidewalk company made it another solo walk.  Solo walks are not very exciting to write about. The dogs who always greet me were not outdoors.   None of the standby ideas chose to be worth springboarding to.  As the weather warms this week, I hope somebody or anybody decides to share the path with me.

When:  Saturday from dawn to dusk – 2/10/2018
Weather: It started out bad and got worse–freezing rain was threatened
Observations/Thoughts

My Friday evening was cut short.  I needed to get to bed so I could be ready to go Saturday morning.  What did I do ALL day Saturday?  I volunteered/worked at a robotic meet.  A team of judges and I, plus  “fans” (Yes, robotic teams have fans–some quite loud.), spent the better part of a day helping support and cheer 48 teams through the strenuous but necessary process to allow the “winners” to emerge.  (There is not just one winner.  Seven teams move on to the super-regional by way of their robots performance and/or team judging results.)

• Robot Inspection:  This was the role I “signed up” for on this day.  Not being a coach, I am somewhat of a pretender when it comes to inspecting the robots.  In previous meets, the inspection takes place.  However, in this meet, it was for ALL of the marbles.  Also, with some robots never seeing more than one meet before they are completely dissembled, the ancestors of the original robot need to be inspected during each meet.  To protect myself from unfairly giving a “Pass” when a “Fail” was the correct response (All robots at this meet passed.  The minor offenses likely just required multiple trips to the judging station.), I was able to coerce my cohorts to take a team judging approach.  I read from the checklist as my partner verified the particular robot met that requirement.  (Because of the various components available, some requirements did not apply to many of the robots.)  I checked off the box before reading the next one.  Due to the specific components used, I did not complete one of these myself.  I kept the “real” inspector on task.  I tried to stay in the background enough to allow him to be the authority.  When the checklist was done, I gathered the signature from the team before passing on the completed inspection.
• Field Inspection:  Field inspection became a “Battlefield Promotion”.  This is usually where the backup occurs.  And, because it is a little more complex, fewer volunteers seem to favor this area.  The event organizer showed my partner and I the tricks to effectively doing the field inspections.  While my partner was there, I read off the line items and marked them off when he said they were completed.  When he went to the bathroom and didn’t come back, I handled them on my own.  I hit the highlights pretty well.  Once you know the key points of the field inspection, I enjoyed it more than the regular robot inspection.  It was fast!!  When you are the inspector, the teams assume you have knowledge.  It is much easier to do this with the field rather than robot inspection.
• Referee…who touches the right mouse button once at the beginning of the match:  The biggest responsibility I had the rest of the day was pressing the button and starting 18 matches.  (I really should have only started 17.  One clock starter left early.  I was drafted to help.  Thus my 18th.) . After the match was done and the teams agreed with their scores, I was responsible for putting the “glyphs” (brown and grey blocks) back into the starting area.  The glyphs must be within the taped area and not breaking the 4th plane.  (They can’t be stacked 4 high.)

On the personal side:

• I got a t-shirt.  They always give you t-shirts when you volunteer.  This year, the color was a military green with the necessary sponsor/event information.
• There is always a lounge for the volunteers.  Knowing less healthy food would come for lunch and dinner, I picked up a couple of clementines.  Once the clementines were peeled, I didn’t bother eating the sections individually.  I chucked half of the peeled clementine into my mouth.  My body wanted to breathe but neglected to tell my mouth.  The clementine went down the wrong pipe.  Really, it went nowhere.  The juices were a poor imitation for air.  I choked and coughed while attempting to assure those also in the break area I was not dying.  Words did not come out easily.  The cough was arguing to have its life extended.  It gradually died.  As the cough died, I immediately “hopped back on the horse” and consumed the rest of my clementines.
• I got a meal.  Dickies catered.  The brisket was excellent.
• We ate at “Meteor Hamburgers” for dinner.  They offered powdered sugar or salt on my sweet potato fries.  I was advised to go with the salt.

When:  Mid-Afternoon Friday – 2/9/2018
Weather: High 60’s–excellent day to walk
Observations/Thoughts

I am rather embarrassed to admit I am writing this Sunday morning.  The past two days did get away from me.  As this and the following posting are published, I hope to give an adequate explanation. And, if no one is reading these and I am only writing them to fulfill a New Year’s commitment, then the quality of the explanation will be of lesser importance.  Somedays are so very overwhelming! “Today’s Walk” may ultimately be written about the time I am on my feet on any given day. I hope to push off that possibility until, at the earliest, the second half of the year.  Should I have another weekend like the past couple days, I will have to allow “walk” to be a metaphoric expression of the day that was mine.

• While the day was great for walking, my observational skills seemed to be resting.  With one exception, nothing of the bicyclists or dog walkers caused me to take special note.  As the walk neared its close, I wandered down the “path to nowhere” I have continued to walk despite it being closed for the park renovation.  As I neared the turn around point, there is a rock bench along the left side of the path.  There was an older gentleman sitting with a couple days of grey beard growth on the bench leaning on his elbows.  He had taken off his outer shirt.  It was laying on the bench next to him.  The upper half of his body was just wearing a white t-shirt.  As I passed, we acknowledged each other.  As the path forced my turn around, my new friend had arisen.  He had put his shirt back on.  It was a shirt he wanted to tuck in.  He turned his posterior my direction and dropped his pants to his knees.  My mind said he was just tucking in his shirt, but the skeptical part of me wondered if a “flasher” was in my midst.  My paranoid mind was proven wrong.  The only “event” of my walk proved to be a non-event.
• While slightly inaccurate in claiming the title of “walk”, a later walk led to my inability to maintain my “write it the day it happened” goal.  My daughter’s school is small.  While she has athletic talent, she has not previously put much effort into cultivating her basketball skills.  Today was Senior Night.  Without any practice or guidance, my wife and I gathered at my daughter’s side following the boy’s varsity game.  When they started reading a bio on my daughter, we struggled to know where to walk.  Somehow, we found an agreeable path to center court.  Following her being presented with a gift and some flowers, we again looked for clues.  Where were we supposed to “park” while the other seniors were given a similar treatment? Through body language and my wife’s common sense, we ended up on the right side of the court.  Eventually, an “arch” emerged of athletes and parents.  With the exception of some anticlimactic pictures, the “Senior Night” became just another basketball game with pre-game warmups.