The 14-Hour Homecoming...

After 4 years of college and a couple years of living and working there, I can unabashedly claim that Iowa City falls high on my list of  favorite places.  I know what they say about "never going home", that things would be totally different if I ever tried to live there again, but it is a liberal bastion in the mostly conservative Iowa, and with the University of Iowa there are always movies, functions and speakers that anyone would find of interest.  It has been a couple years, my niece's wedding three years ago, since we've been there, so after bidding adieu to our RAGBRAI buddies, we headed down for an overnight there.

On the half-hour trip down, with no reservations for a place to stay, Melinda called down to the Iowa House, a small hotel at the Student Union for a room.  It is usually a nice, central place to stay on campus, and luckily we snagged a room even though incoming freshman orientation was ongoing.  But when we got there, it was like a war zone with construction going on around the periphery of the building.  We finally figured out where we could get in, but it sort of put a damper on our home-away-from-home for the night.  The first order of business was dinner, since it was already after 8pm.  We passed several new eating spots, but I had to return to one of my favorites from decades ago - the Sanctuary.  It was busy but not packed for a Summer Friday night, so ordered the standard microbrew beer and pizza.  I'm not sure the place has changed a whit in the nearly 40 years I've been frequenting the place.  I think they've extended into next door, but otherwise I suspect the same uncomfortable bench seats are still there, though the menu is a little too frou-frou for this farm boy!  But at least pizza was still allowed, though not as cheesy as I remember from decades past.  It was still good and tasty, and the 12" stuffed the two of us.

"Globe of Death" by Burford

The next morning we checked out after sleeping through the continental breakfast they offer - 10am comes and goes so fast! We wandered over to the downtown area and made the obligatory pilgrimage to Prairie Lights Bookstore - a wonderful place that has been in Iowa City almost as long as I've been going! I've mentioned it in a post before - it is a great place to spend a few minutes or hours, and rare is the stop where I can leave without spending $100.  Even the outside sign is interesting - resembling a pair of hands holding open a book that acts as an awning.  It seems standard that I always get proof how small a world it is in Iowa City, and it was proven again this trip...  One of the books I was interested in seeing was an anthology of letters by Kurt Vonnegut.  I had heard of it on NPR or the New York Times, and read an excerpt about his time at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.  It had seemed interesting, so asked the woman who prompted me if she could help me find anything.  After typing into the computer for a few seconds, she called an assistant asking about the book, "You know the one with your father in it!"  Well I walked upstairs to her and she had it waiting for me - I asked, "Your father is in it?"  Yes, she said, her dad, Byron Burford had befriended Vonnegut as a painter in the art department, and was on page 132...  Walking back down the stairs, I noticed a painting by Burford on the landing - it really is a smaller world at the University of Iowa...

We had a few minutes until our parking meter ran out, so we ambled down Iowa Avenue towards the Old Capitol building on the Pentacrest.  We had noticed driving around that like the Cows On Parade in Chicago 15 years ago, there seemed to be a number of painted Herky Hawk (the Iowa mascot). Turns out they are revising the "Herkys on Parade" from 10 years ago with 83 (!) new figures decorated by new artists.  In front of Old Cap was "Graduation Herky", which was a natural to have my photo taken near!  Walking down the other side of the street, I marveled at a number of literary brass inscriptions on the sidewalk.  I've noticed these in years past, they've been done since my graduation.  Standing out to me was one of semi-astronomical theme shown at right - the representation of the night sky with a decidedly not-currently-recognized constellation front and center (the  Bicycle is NOT a constellation!)...  Doing a little research on the quote, it is taken from a short story from Ethan Canin, interestingly currently a faculty member of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, mentioned above...

It is always great to swing by campus and Iowa City.  I don't know if doing it more frequently or for longer periods would diminish the impact, but a few hours every couple years certainly always wants me to come back for more!

Chasing Down Friends Old And New

We're just back from a 4-day trip, looping through 4 states to visit friends and family.  After our friend Michael left on Tuesday, we hit the road towards Minneapolis, the shortest route taking us through stretches of Wisconsin we've never seen.  Melinda had never been to Minnesota, so that section was all new to her, and we returned through Iowa via Cedar Rapids to greet our RAGBRAI buddies as they hit the road for the cross-state bike ride.  And Saturday morning we met family for lunch on the way back to "Ketelsen East".   It was a busy but fun couple of days to catch up with everyone.

The first leg of the trip got us to Minneapolis where one of my oldest friends (let's say longest, not oldest) Beth and her husband Phillip live.  We met nearly 40 years ago, and have drifted in and out of each others lives, but we try to stay connected.  They had a horrific car accident 12 years ago while on a camping trip where she suffered a spinal injury.  She requires massive amounts of care and continued therapy, and works hard to maintain her abilities and stay on top of her health.  Phillip does an amazing job of support and fills in caregiver gaps and juggles the schedules of at least three of them...  New on the scene is her new service dog Mika, a beautiful golden retriever.  They've only had her a few months, but it was amazing to see the two of them working together.  One of her stunning skills was opening and closing the sliding glass door to the back yard for Beth's wheelchair using a looped rope.  Mika also understands a large vocabulary for fetching various items and following orders.  We spent a couple days with them in their beautiful home and yard and got out a couple times to see some of the local highlights.

Friday we headed south for east-central Iowa for Toddville, home of the Toads, a bike group I've ridden with for a couple decades.  As we approached the little town, we passed the house of John Hill - I was hoping we might catch him in the yard and we did!  We pulled into the driveway as he crossed between his barn and house in his wheelchair.  Another astounding medical story, John was an active biker on our cross-state rides, when he had a massive stroke about 6 years ago.  He was given up for dead until he "woke up" 2 days later.  He has trouble speaking and gets around in a motorized wheelchair, but his spirit is unabated and he was overjoyed to see me and meet Melinda.  He was extremely proud to show off his new restored '85 pickup he had just bought.  Last year he regained his driver's license, and is awaiting modifications on the new wheels.  He is shown here with wife Nancy and his new-to-him truck.

This is the first time in recent years I've not been driving support for our RAGBRAI group.  For those of you for which that is a new term, it stands for the Des Moines Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.  This is the 42nd edition of the week-long bike ride (NOT a race!) across the state.  I did the ride 8 or 9 times before my medical issues 10 years ago, and have driven support about the last 6 or so.  It is an amazing week, a real showcase for the hospitality and friendliness of the State.  Our little group, about 12 riders in total, arrange to camp in people's yards in the overnight towns, use their bathrooms and showers before the next day's ride.  This is repeated for 7 days as they take a new route every year, covering from 430 to 530 miles to traverse the state.  This year's is a shorter version near 430 miles.  I came by for the traditional bus loading to meet up with team mates.  Shown here is Maggie and Dean, who helped arrange the overnight hosts most every year.  At right is Carl at center with Donna at left and Chris at right.  You'll have to supply your own caption for the photo, there has to be a good one out there...

Also joining the Toads this year is Bryan and Carol from Tucson!  Bryan is an optical type like me, working in the shop in the basement at the Optical Sciences Center a couple blocks from the Mirror Lab.  He is a very active cyclist and bike builder, and first joined us on RAGBRAI 2 years ago, and couldn't stand missing it last year, so they are back, shown at left.  Their tandem, a Hase from Germany has a recumbent position for Carol up front, and a normal upright position for Bryan.  Also seen in the background is the 12 passenger bus that Carl got for free (a good story), that provides travel to the start and support for the week.  Finally at right is a "Melinda Sandwich" between Carl and his son "little Billy".  Billy rode with the support van about 20 years ago when he was to small to cycle, about 5 or 6 years old.  A year or two later he started biking with us, Carl providing a hand to help push him up hills.  Eventually he had to work thru the summer to make money for college, so stopped joining us.  He was a football player through college and is now a elementary school teacher in Missouri.  Little Billy is getting married this December down in Phoenix during his school break, so he is now officially all grown up.

After an hour or more of catching up with buddies, we took off for Iowa City to spend the evening, departing for parts east the next morning, stopping in Davenport at The Machine Shed for some "down home" cooking with a pair of sisters.  Well, it turns out that 8 showed up, including a brother, nephew, 2 nieces, and 2 great-nieces!  Shown here are the great nieces Mya and Alivia (left-to-right)with their Great-Uncle Dean and Great-Aunt Melinda.  We'll see everyone a few more times this trip - it is Alivia's 8th birthday this week, which we'll help celebrate Thursday.  We finally got home midafternoon Saturday, almost exactly 4 days after we left, tired, but glad we connected with everyone we reached out to...

Not In Kansas Anymore!

As you can tell from any of these pictures, we're not in AZ anymore!  We are recently vacationing in the Midwest, and the rivers here actually have water in them!  In Arizona, the rivers are known as washes, normally bone dry though they might run for a few hours after a heavy rain during the monsoon season in July and August.  We had one of my college buddies come visit us for a day and with Michael being new to the area, took an afternoon paddleboat excursion on the Fox River.  The Midwest is being hit by what the local meteorologists are calling the summertime version of the Polar Vortex - temps have been 20+ degrees cooler than normal, which is lovely!  We've been enjoying nice weather in the mid-70s(F) for a couple days now.  The boats take one-hour excursions from Pottawatomie Park in St Charles once a day during the week, 3 times daily weekends.  The multiple levels are a great way to relax on the river and watch for birds as you cruise along.  Michael, last seen nearly 4 decades ago, looks about the same, shown at right.  He wore an Iowa shirt so I'd recognize him picking him up at the train station...

Of course, with it being summertime with LOTS of green here, I had to bring my IR camera along too, if only to demonstrate the striking differences from visible-light photography.  I've mentioned this camera a few times - instead of an IR-blocking filter that most cameras have, it was modified to block visible light and pass IR light to the detector.  So it is like shooting the IR film of a decade ago, which are generally no longer available.  The Wood effect generally shows healthy vegetation as white, sky and water as very dark.  You can compare the image shown at left with the visible color image above, taken a few minutes apart.  There are other subtle differences too - note the U.S. flag flying at the stern - while there is a bit of blue visible, the red and white stripes are indistinguishable!  Not to reveal any secrets, I believe the lady at left in the image may dye her hair - I've seen strange fluorescent-looking colors from dyed hair sometimes in the IR.

Back in the old days of photography using film, I often perused the old venerable Kodak information books.  I read about the Wood effect 4 or more decades ago, and I can still remember another effect of IR - the longer wavelengths penetrate further into the skin, and I remember seeing photos showing veins normally invisible.  While I was recalling this, a nearby teenager with short-shorts supplied an appropriate amount of skin, and I discretely shot a photo of her leg, not knowing what I would get.  Well, after stretching a considerable amount, look what shows up!  The color palette just happened to come out about right, but the subcutaneous veins are readily shown.  I also shot the lovely ladies that joined us on the trip - Melinda and Carolyn came along - note that Melinda's sunglasses don't absorb much in the IR...

The hour literally flew by!  Shown here is a photo of Carolyn and Melinda to compare to the IR shot above...  We saw a couple egrets and herons fishing near the shore, along with some goldfinches, cedar waxwings, and a few other of our normal population of birds.  The captain of the vessel, shown in an HDR image at right (3 exposures of different lengths to preserve details in shadows and highlights) says he has been plying these waters for 28 years!  That is a lot of trips along a couple miles of the river - the only length deep enough to navigate...  While we were told it was the only trip that afternoon, we noticed a couple hours later while at dinner that the boat was going out again for a sunset cruise - likely a private event.  Now THAT would have been fun too!

My "Brand New" 6-year-old Camera!

A couple weeks ago my venerable Canon XSi camera "blew up"!  I was taking a series of images of our back-yard cereus cactus blooming, and right around Midnight, after I went to bed, it stopped working, giving the mysterious message "error 99".  Looking at the last few frames, it worked fine till the last 3 exposures, then the image shown at left.  Even though it caught a Sphynx moth, it appears one of the shutter blades detached and blocked part of the sensor when the flash went off.  The error 99 is a general error that says something is wrong...  The Interweb has a few suggestions, trying a different lens, battery or memory card, but with the above image and performing the advice having no effect on getting the errors, it was obviously a shutter issue.

Now I've loved this XSi!  I got it just before our wedding in June of 2008.  After a couple years of using the Canon 20Da, I loved the HUGE 3" display screen and "live view" that the 20Ds lacked.  I literally brought tears to my eyes when first using it!  It has likely taken over 95% of the images on this blog...  Fortunately, I live all of about 2 miles from Tucson Camera Repair.  While they specialize in Nikon gear, I've used them to work on a couple lenses before and they always seemed reasonable - plus you gotta support the local businesses, especially specialized ones like this.  To make sure it wasn't something simple, I paid the $45 for them to take it apart and provide an estimate - the good part is that the fee is applied towards any repairs eventually made.  The news was not unexpected - it needed a new shutter assembly...  The part was $90 and it as $125 for the labor. 

Now a friend of mine bought a nearly new version of this camera for $200 at a local pawn shop over a year, and Ebay prices for a used XSi is even less, so I was a little torn about paying for the repair.  Plus, I had just received the new T3 from my sister-in-law's estate, but the more I used it (the T3), the more I appreciated the ole' XSi.  Even though it lacks the high ISOs, low noise and video capabilities of new cameras (the XSi was about the last DSLR without video), I decided to pay the $170 (plus the estimate fee) to get it fixed, which also included a thorough cleaning and going-over.  Since the shutter is the only mechanical part of the camera, it will effectively be a "new" camera.  I picked it up today, and got the old shutter assembly to play with.  It certainly doesn't look broken, but I was amazed that most of the assembly looks to be injection molded plastic except for the shutter blades.  I asked the shop how many shutter cycles it had, and I've taken 67,382 exposures with the camera in those 6 years!  How does that compare to other cameras?  Canon says to expect 100,000 shutter cycles from the XSi, but "real-life users report an average of 42,800 XSi shutter cycles to failure.  So I'm in the midrange somewhere - check the lists for the predictions for your own camera of choice... 

So I'm back with the XSi.  One of my nieces was asking about entry-level DSLRs and we're presenting the T3 to her.  Melinda still has her T1i for backup use, and of course, the nearly 10 year old 20Da still works fine too, so we're plenty covered for cameras!  Someday in the not-too-distant future, it would be nice to upgrade to a full-frame sensor (matching the 24X36mm format of 35mm film).  In the meantime, enjoy the enclosed video of ultra-slow-motion views of a modern camera shutter operating - it is not a gentle operation!  It seems amazing that with the obvious stress of bouncing mirrors and vibrating shutter blades that they will last for many years and hundreds of thousands of cycles!  Skip the advertisement, but do watch the video...

I'm (In-) Famous!

It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally an image stands out and attracts a bit of attention!  On a trip to the Midwest last November, I happened to have the window seat near the rear of the plane and tracked our progress across the nation.  Somewhere near the Oklahoma/Kansas border, I photographed something bright - it almost appeared like a reflection from a lake or pond, but there was no water surface around.  Shown at left, after consulting with Les Cowley of the Optics Picture of the Day, he correctly identified it as a subsun, and the nearby bright spot with a bit of color was effectively a sundog of the subsun!  He asked permission to run it on his website, indicating it might come out in a month or two.  Today, I got the e-mail - after 8 months it was my time to bask in glory!  Go to this link to see my image - unless you look today, the above link to OPOD will take you to the current post...  Actually, Les would be the first to tell you that a glory is another atmospheric phenomenon altogether!

The Optics Picture of the Day is a really fun place to browse around!  It is a rare day that you don't learn something new by perusing the images or Les' expert analysis, simulations and descriptions.  Make sure you add it to your daily Interweb excursions.  It was fun to have a contributed image!

Kitt Peak Photo Opportunity Trip

Last night was the evening my friends and I were permitted on the grounds of Kitt Peak National Observatory for some tripod imaging.  The intent was to catch the Milky Way over domes, like I captured on my scouting trip a week ago, but with the quarter moon providing illumination for lighting the foreground.  Since we were running into the start of our rainy season, the fallback was to photograph any storms in the area from the vantage point of a 7,000 foot mountain.  Well, the monsoons had hit hard, so it was something closer to the later this trip!

Storms were blowing into Tucson behind me as I headed west towards the Observatory.  It was pretty dark with storm clouds the entire way out, but didn't run into any rain.  I met my friends at the base of the mountain and drove up, noticing they've had some storms lately as the road was littered with sizeable rocks loosened by rains.  We forged ahead, enjoying temps in the upper 60s upon our arrival at the peak.  With clouds all around threatening rain (but no drops or signs of lightning or thunder), we walked up to the normal sunset-viewing location we use for the Nightly Observing Program that provides a great view to the west.  While the boys were taking pics of domes and interesting clouds, I did some of the same, a view of the 1.3 meter and more distant  2.1 meter domes under some rain clouds.

I tried taking a sequence of images of the above view, trying to capture some motions in the storm, but this particular cell was dying fast and it sort of dead-ended without much interest.  So I got out the little Meade 80mm F/6 triplet APO (480mm effective focal length) and took some closeups of the horizon.  With the sunset upon us, though behind a thick bank of clouds, I instead shot a panorama of some mountains to the far west.  There is some thought that the furthest point visible from Kitt Peak are the distant mountains just left of the flat-topped Mesquite mountains on the right of the frame.  While not yet confirmed, we're thinking the distant peak is San Pedro Martir, a 10,000+ foot elevation mountain - the highest peak in Baja, California, which would put it something over 200 air miles distant.  The distant mountains in the center may be the Pinacate Mountains, a volcanic range north of the Sea of Cortez about 100 miles distant from Kitt Peak.

After we lost the light of sunset, and with it still thickly overcast, we debated what to do.  There looked to be a very active lightning storm off the mountain to the north, so we descended a half mile to an overlook.  There was indeed a violent storm about 20 miles away, with almost constant lightning, though mostly up in the clouds.  We all took some exposures trying to catch some strikes, most not directly visible though - just illuminating the interior of the clouds.  Shown at left is a frame that catches a strike traversing the entire frame.

While the storm raged on, and a camera with intervalometer monitoring that, I turned the Meade scope towards Tucson and took some shots of the city lights 40 miles distant.  With the long focal length, it took some 20 frames to bridge the entire length of the city, here shown from Gates Pass at the left to Tucson International Airport at the right, seen just past Black Mountain on the right-hand edge of the frame.  As I've complained before, my images here are limited to 1600 pixels maximum dimension, so the representation here doesn't do it justice.  It certainly isn't as fun as exploring the 40,000 pixel wide original.  Interestingly, Microsoft ICE freeware assembled the 20-frame mosaic (as well as the distant mountain panorama above) just fine...  The individual frames (15 second exposures) were taken with the camera frame vertical, and then assembled into the horizontal strip.

The most interesting part of the assemblage is of Ajo Way, the road that we travel out to get to the Observatory, seen as the nearly vertical streak left center of the above.  Here at left is shown a pair of horizontal frames from the Meade, assembled into a vertical image, that can be shown at a larger scale.  These are a little longer exposure, 30 seconds, which shows Cat Mountain at upper left, that we drive past as we leave Tucson.  About halfway down the frame is Ryan Field, a small airport serving private aviation.  At the bottom of the frame is the town of Three-Points, sort of a bedroom community, the major source of lights at the bottom is the Border Patrol Offices there.

And interestingly, captured in the frame is a bit of a hold over from the 4th of July the night before - a lone piece of fireworks set off from the west side of town, perhaps from the Border Patrol grounds themselves, or perhaps the school across the street.  A full-resolution image is shown at right...

We had a fun time, enjoyed the cool temperatures, but never had a chance to capture any stars over domes...  We did take a walk around the grounds, looking for viewpoints that we might try again as the monsoons wind down in a couple months.  I can't wait - always a fun time to be at altitude!

A Scouting Trip

courtesy NOAO/AURA/NSF 

courtesy NOAO/AURA/NSF

Some friends are contemplating a trip with me to Kitt Peak National Observatory for an evening of sky shooting, perhaps some "Milky Way over domes" and the like.  Hey, it doesn't take much of an excuse to get me under some dark skies, so the other night I did a little advance work to look for some shooting locations.  With the rising Milky Way this time of the year, there are limited viewpoints since the skyglow of Tucson is to the east as well.  Also, the largest scopes at the observatory has effectively no spaces to their west.  So my efforts concentrated on the classic 2.1 meter telescope, which ironically, has been in the news lately!  With the continuing budget concerns, NOAO is divesting itself of this beautiful scope, and is actively in search of potential partners in taking over its operation.  Proposals are due in September, so start digging for that spare change under the couch cushions!

The scope is beautiful - a classic fork equatorial mount with a Ritchey-Chrétien optical design (one of the earliest large scopes of that prescription).  I loved working on the telescope back when I was a tech on the mountain, and it will be sad to see it pass to another institution...  Interestingly, when searching for images of the telescope on the NOAO website, besides finding the recent photo at left showing the IR instrument Phoenix, I located the photo at right - which I took!  More accurately, while still a tech on the mountain, I set up the shot, opened the dome of the 2.1 meter scope plus rolled back the enclosure of the Coude' Feed Telescope and directed Agnes Paulson, my assistant atop the Solar Telescope to push the button.  In fact, I'm in the picture with the 2 astronomers on the 2.1 that night - I'm the one pointing to Sirius, likely almost exactly 30 years ago!

Anyway, getting back to the original story, I was looking for viewpoints with domes and Milky Way.  Since I've acquired the newer Canon T3 with its higher ISO range, I've been practicing Milky Way Panoramas.  Our galaxy is just too large to fit in a single shot, so combining several shots seems the standard lately.  Here at left is a 4-frame shot of our galaxy arcing over the view of the 2.1 meter telescope from the west.  The individual frames were taken with a Nikon 16mm fisheye at F/2.8 (30 seconds exposure!), and assembled with photomerge in Photoshop.  Some warping was required to re-square the image, but it gives a nice resemblance to what the eye sees from a very dark site!  At left is the residual glow from Tucson, and a little glow from Nogales, Sonora can be seen center, next to a bit of greenish airglow.  But the beautiful arc of the Milky Way is always the center of attention!

cross-eyed view

straight view

Not many seem to enjoy my stereo pairs more than I do, so I've got to include my latest attempt starring the tree seen at the center of the above image.  With an exposure of only 30 seconds, I lined up and took one exposure, then shifted the tripod/camera a few inches, and repeated it.  Combining it here, you get a 3D effect in the trees and bush, but the Milky Way and sky is flat out at infinity.  Also, as I've been doing lately, I'm including the cross-eyed version here at left, and the straight view at right.  Go review some of my old 3D posts for hints for viewing...

After tending to a camera working automatically in the parking lot, shooting some Milky Way fields, I finally took another shot from the same location showing the 2.1 meter in the distance past the closer 1.3 meter.  Nothing magical about it, but whenever you can get a nice scenic shot with such a spectacular background, you are doing well!  Hope you enjoy, and get out under a dark sky if you can!