Magazine Posts

Your story about the Porsche reminded me of this -- One of the team get togethers from the old KCMBS days

I am uncertain
as to what's going on,
for part of my Dahlias,
lie broken on the ground.
A dog or raccoon
or something quite big,
has walked through my garden,
like a clumsy, old pig,
with Salvia branches,
broken pieces and twigs.

Words are coming to me,
without a plan.
Words with a meaning
I don't understand.

So many years have passed, from the time I
was a Manager. I had several Supervisors and
they were taking me out to lunch for my birthday.
I like sports cars and had a beautiful framed
photograph of a Porsche 911 hanging on a wall
in my office.
We had a very enjoyable lunch at a place I do not
recall. Then they surprised me with a multi day
rental of a Porsche 911, Cabriolet. I was speechless.
It was December and I asked if I could delay using
the rental until the weather warmed, in June or July.
They said I could. The Agency was in Pioneer Square.

At last it was time and the Rental Agency said that the
Porsche Cabriolet had been involved in an accident
in Yakima but they could offer me the use of a
Porsche 911 Targa. I signed the paperwork and
the Agent took me to the car.
He asked me if I had ever driven a Porsche? I said no.
Do you know how to use a stick? I said that I did and
said I had owned a Fiat 124 Spyder, that had stick
shift. He also told me that it was same shift pattern
as a 1956 Chevrolet.
I opened the door and got in to this "dream car", hooked
the seat belt and started the engine. The sound of the exhaust
accompanied by the cam drive chain sent a chill up my
spine. Porsche engine noise is like adrenaline to me.
I drove up 1st Ave only killing the engine a few times at
stop lights. The clutch mechanism is stiffer than the clutch
on the Fiat. So I was trying to get use to that function.
I reached work and parked in the Garage.
When the day was over I drove to my Son's work place
and parked on a hill. Oh, oh.

With a stick shift, parked on a hill you must put it in gear, with
foot on the gas and a hand on the parking brake. The trick
is to rev the engine and "pop" the clutch at the same time that
you release the parking brake. I did that, but not perfectly and
laid a strip of rubber, for a few feet, up the hill. I live on the
Eastside and only killed the engine a couple of times as the
traffic was stop and go. I drove the car over the weekend
and took a trip with my wife to Ellensburg, with the Targa Top
stored in the trunk.
The memories of this event lives on and will always have a
special place in my heart for the generosity of my friends.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What if you could see X-rays? The night sky would seem a strange and unfamiliar place. X-rays are about 1,000 times more energetic than visible light photons and are produced by violent explosions and high temperature astronomical environments. Instead of the familiar steady stars, the sky would seem to be filled with exotic stars, active galaxies, and hot supernova remnants. The featured X-ray image captures in unprecedented detail the entire sky in X-rays as seen by the eROSITA telescope onboard Spektr-RG satellite, orbiting around the L2 point of the Sun-Earth system, launched last year. The image shows the plane of our Milky Way galaxy across the center, a diffuse and pervasive X-ray background, the hot interstellar bubble known as the North Polar Spur, sizzling supernova remnants such as Vela, the Cygnus Loop and Cas A, energetic binary stars including Cyg X-1 and Cyg X-2, the LMC galaxy, and the Coma, Virgo, and Fornax clusters of galaxies. This first sky scan by eROSITA located over one million X-ray sources, some of which are not understood and will surely be topics for future research.

Photo by TeamMPEIKI

Oh such a sight.
A feast for our eyes,
When the flowers are abloom,
In the Spring surprise.
The Daffodils and Tulips,
Have all gone away.
Other foliage has turned
To a brown looking mess.
Perennials, jump into play
And continue to brighten,
This dreary Spring day.

I worry for them.
I worry for those.
I am worrying now,
As I suppose,
If the marching
Continues and grows
All of this Summer,
Until the gilds off the Rose,
Then it will be cooler
and they'll need warmer clothes.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What are those dark streaks in this composite image of yesterday's solar eclipse? They are reversed shadows of mountains at the edge of the Moon. The center image, captured from Xiamen, China, has the Moon's center directly in front of the Sun's center. The Moon, though, was too far from the Earth to completely block the entire Sun. Light that streamed around all of the edges of the Moon is called a ring of fire. Images at each end of the sequence show sunlight that streamed through lunar valleys. As the Moon moved further in front of the Sun, left to right, only the higher peaks on the Moon's perimeter could block sunlight. Therefore, the dark streaks are projected, distorted, reversed, and magnified shadows of mountains at the Moon's edge. Bright areas are called Bailey's Beads. Only a narrow swath across Earth's Eastern Hemisphere was able to see yesterday's full annular solar eclipse. Next June, though, a narrow swath across Earth's Northern Hemisphere will be able to see the next annular solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse will be visible at the bottom of the world near the end of this year. Gallery: Notable images of the Annular Solar Eclipse of 2020 June submitted to APOD

Photo by Wang LetianEyes at Night

© TashiTobgyal/ @IndianExpress 

I've tried so hard, never to say,
"I've told you before, please go away."
But there I was to my dismay,
Uttering words, I didn't have to say.
A sadness for me, for talking this way
To her, when her memory's astray.
Perhaps I'm the one needing to stay
At a home and go away.

My hair grows long.
Longer by the day.
It's over my ears
and to my dismay,
it is almost down to my nose.
But I am thankful to know
it isn't touching my toes.

There it goes, back into the tree.
I am sure something is watching me.
There is motion; once more I see,
A little Humming Bird coming to me.
I'm standing by Salvia, "Hot Lips" the name,
And the Humming Bird is coming; eating is his game.