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MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 30TH, APRIL 2021

April 30, 2021 teleskees Leave a comment

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” Pema Chodron

This is an image of a blast wave heating dust as it moves through interstellar space. The blast wave was caused by a supernova in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia. The light from this supernova first reached earth around 1667. The image above was taken by the NASA space telescope named WISE or Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Some of the coloring in the image is false but represents different wavelengths of infrared light. Infrared light is invisible to the human eye and hence the coloring. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA. If you want to learn more about this image please visit this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/vision-of-a-stellar-ending **If you want to learn more about WISE please visit:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” Pema Chodron

This is an image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and it is part of the Veil Nebula. It is a section of a supernova remnant and is present in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). The source of the supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded 10 to 20 thousand years ago. There are some estimates that the light from the explosion would have been brighter than Venus in the sky and would be visible in the daytime. The Veil Nebula lies about 2,100 light years from Earth. Image credit: **ESA/Hubble & NASA, Z. Levay**. If you want to learn more about this image please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-revisits-the-veil-nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. ” Pema Chodron

**This is an image taken by the NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is of sand dunes inside a 3 mile wide (5-kilometer) crater on Mars.** **Image credit: *NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona*. If you want to learn more about this image or the Orbiter, please visit:** https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/frosty-sand-dunes-of-mars **and** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter

“The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there’s some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.” Pema Chodron

**This is an illustration of the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. It is located in the main asteroid belt between** Mars and Jupiter and is about 120 miles or 200 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis in 1852. It is thought that it is mostly composed of metals that could eventually be mined and brought back to earth or used to create future structures in space. NASA’s “Psyche” spacecraft is set to launch next year curtesy of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket. The orbiter is set to arrive at the asteroid in 2026. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU. If you want to learn more about Psyche please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/exploring-the-metal-rich-asteroid-psyche and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche and https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-nasa-mission-to-help-us-learn-how-to-mine-asteroids

“We think that if we just meditated enough or jogged enough or ate perfect food, everything would be perfect. But from the point of view of someone who is awake, that’s death. Seeking security or perfection, rejoicing in feeling confirmed and whole, self contained and comfortable, is some kind of death. It doesn’t have any fresh air. There’s no room for something to come in and interrupt all that. We are killing the moment by controlling our experience.” Pema Chodron

This image was taken on march 5th, 2021 and is NASA’s astronaut Kate Rubins. Here she is working on installing modification kits for a new and more powerful solar array. Kate is a microbiologist by training and has done research on viral diseases affecting Central and West Africa. In July 2009 she was selected as one of 14 members of NASA’s Astronaut Group 20. She is the 60th woman to fly in space. Kate just came home from the ISS **on April 17th, 2021 after spending 6 months in space**. She traveled more than 78 million miles on the ISS and circled the globe nearly 3,000 times. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about Kate please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/kate-rubins-works-to-upgrade-the-space-station and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Rubins

“There is a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same. A much more interesting, kind and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our curiosity is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is. If we are committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run; we’ll never know what’s beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing.” Pema Chodron

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19, so far, and so have I!! That my friends is an excellent thing for both of us. And I am crossing my fingers that I can continue to say this in the coming months.

When I started to write this blog on April 2nd, the death count stood at approximately 567,000. That is up 7,000 deaths since March 26th, this is when I published the last blog. Only 7 days between the two dates?? Wow!! And again, not in a good way.

At the start of April the number of new positive cases had started to rise with New York, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Texas all in the top 10 and nationally this increase continued for the entire month. Even with vaccination. The daily positivity rate was about 60 to 80 thousand new cases each day.

By the middle of the month the death count was about 581,000. An increase of 14,000. While this is a lot, the good news is that the number of deaths per week had plateaued. By the end of the month it had actually dropped to around 5,000 deaths per week. A decrease of 2,000 deaths per week. While that is still way too many deaths, at least we are heading in the right direction. The interesting part from a scientific point of view will be to see if the death rate increases again in the next 30 days after the current rise in positive cases during the month of April. The month of May could turn out to be a very different story.

By the time of publication the total death count for the nation was about 590,000 – an increase of about 23,000 deaths for the month of April. While this number is much, much better than what was occurring in January of this year (2000 to 4,000 extra deaths per day). That is still to large a number. 23,000 extra deaths due to Covid. Way too many.

If you are interested in the numbers yourself take a look at these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Well it has been approximately 16 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and… so far there have been no side effects for me. But the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, like the AstraZeneca vaccine, has had some reported serious bleeding / clotting issues and will need to be investigated further to work out who should get this vaccine and who should not. So far I believe that out of 6.8 million doses given of the J&J vaccine only 15 cases have been reported. So it is a very rare side effect. If you interested in Johnson& Johnsons statement on this, check out the link: https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-statement-on-covid-19-vaccine-updated

By April 2nd the United States had approximately 58 million people with full vaccination. At the end of the month that number was around 90 million plus and climbing. A very good thing. To see the numbers yourself check out this link from NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/map-covid-19-vaccination-tracker-across-u-s-n1252085

Interesting to note and a very good reason to keep wearing a mask and social distancing while in public was the number of “breakthrough” cases after full vaccination. Several states, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and New Orleans, started to report these cases by the first of March and that trend continued to grow in other states through the rest of the month and into April. But this was not unexpected. Take for example the Pfizer vaccine, which per the manufacture is 95% effect, this means that theoretically if 100 people get vaccinated, there may be five who do not have the same level of response to provide protection. Clinical trials of all vaccines in use included breakthrough cases. What does all this mean? Even though the numbers are small, the bottom line is you still need to take precautions. Thinking about this information would I still get the vaccine? Absolutely! It has been shown that most of the people that were part of the “breakthrough” groups have had a much milder form of the disease. Some did not even know that they were sick. A good general rule of thumb after being vaccinated is to remember that most transmissions occur “breathing the concentrated air of others.” With this knowledge, one of the things to avoid would still be indoor restaurants without good ventilation and physical distancing. Eating outside would be OK, but not inside. We are not there yet. Movie theaters are another example of a place to avoid. Bottom line, if you are going to be sitting or standing in one place for longer than 15 minutes, breathing the air of others, either avoid it or everyone needs a mask on. The only exception, following CDC guidelines, would be if you and the other people around you all have been fully vaccinated.

A great link to check out on Covid is at the CDC: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Well that is probably enough about Covid. I am really getting tired of talking and writing about it but I feel it is worth while to help put some facts out with no political intentions or spin. I am not an expert in infectious disease, but I do have an extensive medical background in Emergency Medicine. All the information that I put out is from reliable and trusted sources – most of it verbatim or close to as possible from the source.

Now on to something better, while February was a challenging month for running and exercising in the great outdoors here on the Front Range of Colorado, March was a whole lot better. The temperatures warmed up, the wind picked up and the bad air quality moved out! Yea!

This picture was taken on March 2nd, 2021 about 3:30pm in the afternoon. It was a warm spring like day which made for a very nice walk with Marvin and Janet. The water in the background is the Poudre River. I know, your probably thinking that is not a river, that is a puddle of water. Lol. But let me assure you it is the river. There is spring run off occurring in the mountains west of town but the water is being diverted to storage for the coming summer. By May there should be a significant increase in volume through town. The front range of Colorado is called a “High Plains Desert” and gets very little moisture over the entire year. In Fort Collins we get about 13 to 14 inches of moisture each year and this includes snow melt! So any water than can be stored during spring run off, will be. Otherwise… It would not be a good scenario. Especially with the explosive growth along the Front Range in the last 20 years.

This picture was taken March 7th, 2021 about 7:45pm in the evening. Here I was finishing up a trail run and thought the city lights made a beautiful back drop to the night sky. I am lucky to live in Fort Collins. The city and county governments of the past were very proactive in securing land in and around the city and county when it became available. I don’t think that most citizen’s at the time really thought much about it or how important it would become in making Fort Collins an incredible place to live.

This image was taken on March 9th, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. While it looks cloudy and cold it was still in the 50s and another wonderful day for running. Here I am looking South from an Open Space in Fort Collins called River Bend Ponds. It makes a nice turn around point in an 8 mile loop from my house in Fort Collins and can be accessed by bike path, only having to cross one major street that has a pedestrian stop light. I really cannot complain at all. The one thing the Pandemic has taught me is that all cities need this kind of access with open space. I am wondering how many infections and deaths during this pandemic would have been prevented if city design was more geared to open space instead of the usual profit motivated pursuits??

Of course March would not be complete without one hiccup in the weather. Some people think that Colorado gets it biggest snow storms during the winter months but that is not the case. While there have been some big storms in the fall and winter, the trend over the long term, is that most of our moisture and snow comes during the spring months of March and April. Of course that is changing a bit due to global warming. We will still get most of our “moisture” in March and April but it might not all be in the form of snow due to the increase in temperature.

This year March did not vary from it’s usual path of spring storms. On March the 13th into the 14th we got a huge snow storm that dumped anywhere from 12 inches to over 3 feet of snow in and around Fort Collins. The closer you got to the foothills, the higher the totals were for snow.

**This picture was taken March 14th, 2021 at about 8:45 in the morning. It is looking out our front door. The big pile of snow came from the roof.**

This picture was also taken March 14th, 2021 at about 8:45 am and it is a view of our backyard. I think it really gives you a good feeling for how much snow fell over night. It was a heavy wet snow that broke a lot of tree limbs in the city. Because the snow storm occurred in the middle of March the trees had not “leafed” out yet otherwise there would have been much more tree damage.

This picture was also taken on March 14th, 2021 about 5:30pm in the afternoon. This was the top of our picnic table in the back yard. The snow depth was about 16 inches. Earlier in the morning the snow depth was closer to 18 inches. By the afternoon there had been a lot of “settling” in the snow pack.

While we needed the moisture, the snow storm put a damper on trail running in the foothills for the rest of the month. That is unless you want to run in snowshoes or posthole quit a bit. It did melt down pretty quickly but it created some very muddy conditions and in order to prevent trail damage a lot of popular routes were closed until they dried out. Luckily the City of Fort Collins has a great bike path system and once the paths had been plowed you could get in a good run or ride without too much difficulty. Again I really cannot complain about living here too much. The access is what makes all the difference.

Post storm weather brought multi days of cooler temperatures and the occasional rain / snow shower but we had some wind and the “high pollution days” of February did not reoccur. The other benefit were some spectacular sunsets.

**This picture was taken March 15th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. It is looking West from the Poudre River Trail.**

This picture was taken March 18th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. It is looking West by North West along the Poudre River. In this picture you can actually see more water in the river from the melting snow in the city.

This picture was taken March 27th, 2021 at about 7:30pm in the evening. It is looking North West from the Poudre River Trail. Besides showing a beautiful sunset it gives you a glimpse of a portion of the FOCO White Water Park. There is not much water in it at this point but I am guessing by May or the middle of May, with most of the water storage accomplished, the river will again be allowed to run free and the park will be a playground for lots of kayakers, tubers, etc…

This picture was taken April 4th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. Here I am looking across a portion of the Poudre River next to an old irrigation bride. The sunset lighting and the bridge structure made for some interesting effects.

So in summary, the last part of March was a little bitter sweet in that the snow storm made running in the foothills nearly impossible, but it provided a much need shot of moisture and gave us some beautiful sunsets.

This picture was taken March 22nd, 2021 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. I really liked this shot of Janet and Marvin. Because we are around him all the time you forget how big he is until he is next to one of us. Lol. Here we are on the bank of the Poudre River, looking up toward the bike path.

Training for the up coming “ultra running season” here in Colorado is progressing along nicely. The first race I am attempting is one that I have done before but not the 50 mile version. It is called the Quad Rock and it is right here behind Fort Collins on trails that I have run before. It is an early race for me and I usually end up doing the 25 mile option but this year I would like to see if I can get in the 50. This will be the first race for me since the start of the pandemic. I feel much more comfortable now that I have been fully vaccinated. While there is still a risk of contagion, I feel it has been greatly diminished due to vaccination. The biggest concern I have now is will the trails be clear of significant snow by race day. The race is scheduled May 8th (three weeks out) and as I am writing this it has still been snowing off and on here on the Front Range. Oh well, welcome to spring time in Colorado!! Lol.

The race is put on by GNAR Runners and in the past they have done an excellent job of race management. They host several different events during the season. If you interested check out their website here: https://gnarrunners.com/

A couple of book reviews and some art work before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is called “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by Lori Gottlieb. I have to be truthful in that I would not have picked this book to listen to or read on my own. It was Amazon that suggested it for me and as I read through the reviews and what the book was about I became more intrigued. And I have to say I am really glad that I did. On Amazon this book has almost 12,000 reviews and more than 75% of them are 5 stars or better. Lori is a therapist and a writer in real life. She starts the book at a point when her own life looks like it is going to implode. And finds herself in the predicament of needing her own “therapist”. She invites us into her world as a practitioner and as a patient using humor and real life drama to examine the truths and untruths in her life and the lives of her patients. I have to admit that I have never been to a therapist but there was a time that I probably really needed to do just that thing. My saving grace was journaling and so far that has kept me off of the therapist couch. In listening to Lori’s book I found bits and pieces of the stories she tells resonating with my own life. It has caused me to go back and reexamine some of the issues I have previously written about and to see if there might be deeper meanings. This is an excellent book and a joy to read. I listened to it as an audio book but I believe it would work in any format.

If your interested in who Lori Gottlieb is check out these links on Wikipedia and Lori’s website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_Gottlieb and https://lorigottlieb.com/

**You can find the book on amazon at:** https://www.amazon.com/Maybe-You-Should-Talk-Someone/dp

The next book I would like to review is a fictional geopolitical drama that is called 2034 – A Novel of the Next World War, written by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis. I first heard about the book when the authors were interviewed by Mary Louise from NPR. You can listen yourself at this link: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978832042/years-of-military-service-helped-inform-2034-a-novel-of-the-next-world-war

The authors, who both have military backgrounds, have written an entraining story of speculative fiction of what could happen when those that are in charge make miscalculations–thinking that they know how another country’s government will respond to a threat or a potential act of war.

Years ago, a friend of mine, who’s father worked in developing the first atomic bomb, told me that his dad thought the world was entering another dangerous period of “nuclear armament” in that the people that have actually seen the destruction caused by an atomic blast first hand were all dying off of old age. His fear was that unless you have actually seen the destruction caused by a nuke, in real life, you don’t really “know” the severity of one and therefore you might be more likely to order it’s use. The last above ground nuclear test was about 60 years ago and most of those “old military and science guys” have died off.

Another major part of the book is based on “who” has the best cyber tech and if your not evenly matched, your at a significant disadvantage. To the point that you might as well take you planes and ships and go home so to speak. The authors argue that the next war will be won or lost based on who has the best offensive cyber tech and the best defensive cyber security.

In summary, I liked this book, but if your someone that wants more of the “Tom Clancy” type of ending or a book full of the “techno thriller details”, you are going to be disappointed. In the above interview with NPR, the authors state they want this book to be a cautionary tale, a wake up call to America and anybody else in the world that reads it. And in that regard I believe they have succeeded. This book would work in any format. I listened to it as an audio book. As a bonus, at the end of the audio book, there is a question and answer section with Admiral Stavridis and his reasons for cowriting the book.

**You can find the book at Amazon here:** https://www.amazon.com/2034-Novel-Next-World-War/dp

The last one I would like to give a recommendation to is called Exercised and is written by Daniel E. Lieberman. Like the above book I first learned about this one from an NPR interview with the author and Terry Gross. You can find the link here: Scientist Author Busts Myths About Exercise, Sitting And Sleep : Shots – Health News : NPR

I found this book thoroughly entertaining, especially since I am an ultra runner. I probably fall into the category of being addicted to exercise. Lol. All kidding aside this is a great book to help you ponder the questions of our “current culture” of exercise and physical fitness. Some of the questions Daniel looks at are as follows:

If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
Does running ruin your knees?
Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
Is sitting really the new smoking?
Can you lose weight by walking?
And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?

Note: the above questions are right out of the Amazon description, but there are many more he takes a look at that are not listed.

Daniel Lieberman is a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and is well qualified to answer these questions and to give more food for thought on the subject matter. I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.

You can find the book at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Exercised-Something-Evolved-Healthy-Rewarding/dp

Well last but not least a few pieces of art work before I go. All are pen and ink, mounted on painted wood, coated and sealed with Mod Podge. These two are 9 1/4 inches by 12 1/4 inches. When hanging they are about 16 1/2 inches tall.

I have always liked the Simpsons and when I saw the episode called Goo Gai Pan, where Homer poses as a Buddha to gain entry into an orphanage in China, I knew that I had to incorporate it into art. Lol. I am an atheist but if I had to pick a religion it would be Buddhism. I do practice meditation everyday because I have found it helps me to deal with the conflicts of everyday life and work.

Meditating Homer with Skittles

**I would like to believe that if “Homer” was doing any kind of meditation he would not be concentrating on his breath but on candy like Skittles. Lol**

In my practice with meditation, I have found that I can create a space that allows me some breathing room before facing the stresses in the world and work. I started this piece not really knowing how it was going to turn out. I just started drawing after a stressful shift at the day job. Initially I was not even going to include “Meditating Homer” since I just finished the above one but as the drawing evolved I knew I had too. Lol. The yellow jackets if you have not guessed represent all the craziness out in the world. Here Homer has created a bubble before he has to deal with it. I used the same colors both inside and outside the bubble to show that all of life, all of its issues, all the troubles, all the conflicts and all the joys are connected.

Homer’s Meditation Bubble

If you interested in the clip where Homer plays the part of the Buddha then check out his link on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03IteC82Vo The episode in question is from Season 16 and is episode 12.

These are all for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. Even though I have said this before, I am going to say it again. I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. It is something that we can all do on an individual level, based on our own comfort zones, to help make this world a better place to live. Our consumeristic culture is unsustainable at it’s current level. You could even say that the death and destruction caused by the current pandemic is just a foreshadow of things to come because of our rampant “consumerism” in the world view of things. What is the old saying “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of Cancer.” If your not happy with the current social and economic order then this is a way to protest.

Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to buy, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world. If this appeals to you and even if it doesn’t at the moment but you are curious, a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. And when a vaccine becomes available, please consider getting it. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Air Quality, Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, PurpleAir, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 26TH, MARCH 2021

March 26, 2021 teleskees Leave a comment

“Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life’s quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result – – eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly – – in you.” Bill Bryson

This image was taken on February 28th, 2011. It is of astronaut Alvin Drew. Here he is doing maintenance work on the ISS (International Space Station). In this 6 hour and 34 minute space walk, Alvin and fellow astronaut Steve Bowen installed a power cable and removed a failed ammonia pump module among other things. They flew to the station on the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was the 39th and final flight for Discovery. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about this image and the mission please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/alvin-drew-down-to-earth and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-133

“There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.” Richard Dawkins

This is an image on Mars of part of the Jezero Crater. The image is thought to be an ancient river delta that was produced by water flowing into a lake that once filled the crater. It is a possible path for the Perseverance rover in its search for fossilized life on Mars. To get a reference for size, the large crater in the center of the image is about 1/2 mile across. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS. To learn more about this image please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/traversing-mars-jezero-crater and https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/science/landing-site/

“When religion talks about our aspirations and sense of morality, I do not believe that science can contradict it. However, when religion contradicts science on matters of fact, religion must yield.” Frank Wilczek

This is an image that is a composite of X-ray (blue and green) and optical (red) light of the galaxy NGC1068 or Messier 77. It was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1780. The X-ray light is coming from an active supermassive black hole, also known as a quasar, in the center of the galaxy. The galaxy is 47 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. Image credit: *X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/UCSB/P.Ogle et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/A.Capetti et al.* To learn more about this image please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/reflections-from-a-black-hole and https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/nustars-view-of-galaxy-ngc-1068

“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” Richard P. Feynman

This image taken in 1974 shows Mary W. Jackson (second from right, bottom row) with her colleagues in the High Speed Aircraft Division at the Langley Research Center in Virginia. In 1958 she became NASA’s first African American female engineer. Her character was played by Janelle Monae in the movie Hidden Figures. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about this image and about Mary please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/mary-w-jackson-nasas-first-female-african-american-engineer and https://www.nasa.gov/content/mary-w-jackson-biography

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

This is an image of Kelly J. Latimer. She was a research pilot in the Flight Crew Branch of NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center in 2007. She was the center’s first female research test pilot. She accumulated more than 5,000 hours of military and civilian flight experience in 30 different aircraft. Image Credit: NASA/Tony Landis To learn more about his image and Kelly please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/kelly-latimer-drydens-first-female-research-test-pilot and https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/about/biographies/pilots/kelly-latimer.html

“The universe is a pretty big place. It’s bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it’s just us… seems like an awful waste of space. Right?” Ellie Arroway (Contact 1997)

**This is a 2003 image of Joan Higginbotham. She was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996 and began her career at NASA in 1987 as an electrical engineer at the Kennedy Space Center. Joan logged** over 308 hours in space having completed her first mission with the crew of STS-116. A Space Shuttle mission to the ISS (International Space Station). This was on the Space Shuttle Discovery. She was also assigned to the STS-126 mission but took a job in the private sector prior to departure. To learn more about his image and Joan please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/electrical-engineer-and-nasa-astronaut-joan-higginbotham and https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/higginbotham_joan.pdf

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” Charles Bukowski

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survived Covid 19, so far, and so have I!! That my friends is an excellent thing for both of us. And I am hoping that I can continue to say this in the coming months.

Now with that said, what is it with Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota dropping their mask mandates? Of course they are joining 11 other states that did not have mask mandates to begin with – Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee. I am wondering how much disability and death this will create in the coming months? Even the CDC director Rochelle Walensky was advising against this reckless behavior.

**This map was accurate as of March 4th, 2021.**

Looking at the numbers on Monday 8th, March 2021, the death count for the country had already climbed 18,000 deaths since the publication of the last blog post on February 26th – a total of only 9 days. Wow! And not in a good way. Therefore the count at the start of this blog was approximately 538,000. Who would you guess were the leading states?? Of course, it was California (54,000), New York (48,000) and good old Texas (45,000). It is interesting to note that Texas has now pulled to within 3000 of New York.

By the middle of the month, we were still adding 50 to 60 thousand new cases each day in the country. This was significantly down from November, December 2020 and January 2021, but still higher than where we were in April, May, and September of last year. And this does not take into account what will be going on in Texas or Florida by the middle of April 2021 due to the “Spring Break” shenanigans. And for that matter the rest of the country. I have a bad feeling about this and it would not surprise me that we have another spike in cases before the start of summer. Especially with the new Covid variants. Oh well time will tell.

By the time of publishing this blog post, the numbers were 560,000 + deaths for the country. That is an increase of 22,000 deaths in the last 18 days. As large as that number sounds, it is significantly down from previous months, a very good thing. But we will have to see what April and May brings. Interesting to note that we are adding 60,000 + new cases each day at the end of March.

If you are interested in the numbers yourself take a look at these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Well it has been 11 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and…. so far there are no side effects for me. I have seen some post on social media putting out false information on possible adverse reactions, but when you investigate them deeper you realize there is no validity to them. That is for the Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna vaccines.

The only possible significant “side effect news” in the middle of March was the adverse reaction of “blood clotting” with the AstraZeneca vaccine. It is more of a traditional vaccine, in that it uses a modified adenovirus in conjunction with genetic material from the actual Covid virus.

Several European countries have halted the use of the vaccine until the possibility is investigated further. Of the 17million that got the shot only 40 have developed blood clots. So, if it is related to the vaccine, then it is very rare. This vaccine was not approved in the United States as of March 16th, 2021. It is interesting to note that more than 70 countries worldwide have been using it until recently. Hopefully it will turn out that the “blood clotting issue” was just a coincidence, or worse case scenario a “bad batch” of vaccines. If your interested to learn more about this vaccine check out the link: https://www.verywellhealth.com/astrazeneca-oxford-covid-19-vaccine-5093148

(Note: At the time of publishing, the above decision to halt the use of AstraZeneca vaccine had already been reversed.)

There is a web site called VAERS – Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. It is co managed by the CDC and FDA. It covers all vaccines, not just Covid. It is a system for collecting reports of adverse events (possible reactions) associated with getting a vaccine. You can check it out at this link: https://vaers.hhs.gov/ If it is not listed in this data base as a possible side effect, then it is probably false.

Well that is probably enough about Covid, so on to something different. February was… well lets just say it was challenging for doing outdoor activities like running. Much, much more so than January. The two main reasons for this were the temperatures and the air quality. By the middle of February, there was a two week period that the high temps were in the single digits to low teens everyday and at night they dropped below zero. But this was not the main issue with being outdoors. You can always add more layers?! Right?? Lol. The main reason was due to degraded air quality. Let me explain.

This picture was taken on Tuesday 2nd, February 2021 at about 6pm in the evening. Here I am looking across “Lake Sherwood” in my neighborhood. And yes it really is named “Lake Sherwood.” Lol. The first week of February did see a warm up in temperatures at first but then the bottom dropped out in the second week. The warm temperatures at the start of February made for some excellent running.

One of the reasons that we get this cold weather that lingers day after day is how it sets up on the Front Range of Colorado. Once a deep pocket of cold air moves into the area with dominating high pressure, the pocket of cold has a tendency, due to topography of the mountains, to sit with very little wind movement at the base. This can allow for some very cold stagnate air to develop. Now some might look at the lack of wind as a good thing. Nothing like wind chill to make things a lot colder. Right? But it can be a real issue when it come to air quality.

This picture was taken Thursday 4th, February 2021 at about 4pm in the afternoon. This is looking south from one of my favorite “close by” trail running areas. It is a 2000+ acre open space behind Fort Collins called Horsetooth Mountain Park. It was a very nice day with temps in the 50s.

Most of Colorado’s population lives on the Front Range and we create a lot of pollution – mainly from automobile exhaust and burning wood in the winter. Now imagine all this pollution going into the air, day after day after day, with very little air movement.

This picture was taken Saturday 13th, February 2021 at about 5pm in the afternoon. The temps were defiantly on the low side. I believe it was about 10F degrees in this picture to single digits. Marvin and I were running in an open space called River Bend Ponds. From this point on, at least for the next week or so, things got much colder and the air quality took a noise dive.

Also as the ground temperatures drop the warmer air up top forms a cap so to speak and this keeps the pollution close to the ground, hence the development of the “Front Range Brown Cloud.” So besides having very cold temperatures to deal with, you also have pollutions issues that can be even worse. It does not take long for the air quality to really drop along the Front Range.

**This picture was taken on Monday 15th, February 2021 at about 6pm in the evening. Janet and I were** **just finishing up a walk in the neighborhood before the air quality really started to drop.** **The temperature was close to zero when this picture was taken.**

And that is what we experienced on multiple days here in February, poor air quality and cold temperatures. I used the purple air map to gauge the best time for outdoor activity. It was defiantly not early in the morning or late at night but usually between 2pm and 6pm. A four hour window where quality was not good but a little better than it would be at other times. Usually in the 50 to 60 ppm (parts per million) range. If you are interested in using the PurpleAir map you can find it at this link: PurpleAir | Real Time Air Quality Monitoring .

**This was a perfect example of “morning air quality” during the coldest days in February. At night the** **numbers would go up into the 200+ range – unhealthy for most individuals. Unfortunately this is a trade** **off for living along the Front Range of Colorado. I am hoping in the future, using the above information, we will be able to legislate better air quality standards.**

If you do not have any monitors in your area consider purchasing one. Having this information is powerful. It will protect your health and when someone wants to put in a “dirty industry” that will degrade quality, you will have the information to take to City Hall so to speak.

**Yea!! I got in and Oh No! I got in!! Lol. Now the real work begins….**

Well on a different and much better note, I got picked in the Lottery for the Leadville Trail 100 Run! Yea I got in and OH NO I got in… Lol. I have attempted the 100 mile distance twice before. Once at Leadville and once at the Run Rabbit Run in Steamboat Springs. And both times I DNFed (Did Not Finish) at the 50 mile mark. I learned a lot at those first two attempts. Number one, I need better conditioning. Especially for the 100 mile distance and two, I need better conditioning. Lol. So here is to hoping that “the third time is the charm.” I am also hoping that the pandemic settles down even more as people get vaccinated. At least by next August. Oh well, again time will tell….

This picture was taken Tuesday 23rd of February, 2021 at about 6pm in the evening. Here I was looking across the frozen surface of a lake in the River Bend Ponds area. Single digits again but there was a little **wind this day and the air quality had improved dramatically so I was out running with** **Marvin.**

I did get a lot of cross training in for the month of February. Mainly doing a bike trainer and a rowing machine. And I threw in a little bit of Yoga each week and some weights. Even though I did not do as much running as I wanted to in February, I felt pretty good coming out of the month. And I think a lot of this was due to the crossing training, yoga and weights.

This picture was taken Sunday 28th, February 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. Janet took a selfie with Marvin and I just wanted to include it. By the last day of February the temps had warmed up significantly and the air quality improved dramatically.

If you want to learn more about Colorado’s climate and our temperature inversions check out these links from Colorado State University: http://climate.colostate.edu/climate_long.html and http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/pdfs/Nolan_TempInversions–Colorado(Jan9_2007)%20v2.pdf

A book review and some art work before wrapping things up. The book I would like to talk about is called Buddhism Without Beliefs written by Stephen Batchelor. When I was doing research a few years back on what Buddhism was all about, I came across information on what was included in early Buddhism. And more importantly, what was not. It seems over the centuries there has been a lot of stuff added. Especially to the religious and mystical side. I have always found this a little strange and disheartening. So when I came across Batchelor’s book I had to read it. And the book does not disappoint. Now I have to warn you that this is not a book for the new to Buddhism student, but one to read after you have digested a few of the more “Buddhism for Beginner” type books. The author takes a look at Buddhism as a way of life but not in a religious tone. It is a refreshing look at Buddhism with a secular point of view. I listened to the book as an audio book but I think I will also get it in paperback to reread. It is one of those books that you need to read a few times to truly understand the concepts better.

Stephen Batchelor is a British author and teacher. He has written several books on Buddhism from a secular point of view. For more information check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Batchelor_(author)

**You can find this book on Amazon at**: https://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Without-Beliefs-audiobook/dp

Well last but not least a few pieces of art work before I go. These are all pen and ink mounted on 1/2 in Archival mounting panels by “Art Boards”. All are sealed with varnish. Each panel measures 5.75 inches by 5.75 inches and are ready to hang. The back of each panel has a predrilled mounting hole/slot.

These started off as whimsical doodles one night while at the “day job” but quickly morphed into a fun exercise in catching emotion with simple stylized faces. I selected the three that I liked best and mounted them.

I think they work better together mainly because of their small size but could be fun to hang and look at individually.

**Study in emotions using simple facial expressions panel A.** **Panel measures 5.75 inches by 5.75 inches and comes ready to han**g.

**Study in emotions using simple facial expressions panel B.** **Panel measures 5.75 inches by 5.75 inches and comes ready to han**g.

**Study in emotions using simple facial expressions panel C.** **Panel measures 5.75 inches by 5.75 inches and comes ready to han**g.

**Study in emotions using simple facial expressions.** **Each panel measures 5.75 inches by 5.75 inches and comes ready to han**g.

These are all for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav All postage in the continental United States is included in the price.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Even though I have said this before, I am going to say it again. I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. If you think you might want to be part of that change, to make the world a much better place. I firmly believe that minimalism is one path to that ultimate goal. There is nothing to buy, just a change in mindset. To learn more please visit the web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. And when a vaccine become available, please consider getting it. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, Religion, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 26th, FEBRUARY 2021

February 26, 2021 teleskees Leave a comment

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” Stephen Hawking

This picture (s) was taken by Ed Mitchell on the Apollo 14 mission, while on the moon. The mission lasted from January 31st to February 9th, 1971. That’s 50 years ago now! He snapped a series of photos looking out a window of the lunar lander. They were assembled into a detailed mosaic by Eric Jones who was the founder of the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. It is a record of the lunar surface operations from 1969 to 1972. It is a resource for anyone wanting to know what happened during the missions and why. If you want to know more, check out these links: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html and https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/

“There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.” Stephen Hawking

This is an image of a part of the Carina Nebula. It is a massive, complex area of bright and dark nebulosity in the constellation of Carina. This is just a view of one part. The Nebula is approximately 8,500 light years from our solar system. A popular name for this section is the Gabriela Mistral Nebula for the Chilean poet – Lucila Godoy Alcayaga. Supposedly the upper blue section in the right upper corner looks like her in profile. Lol. Check out this link to see if you agree: https://astrodrudis.com/ngc-3324-the-gabriela-mistral-nebula/ **If you want to learn more about this image check out th**e link: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html **Image Credit and Copyright Ariel Cappelletti,** https://www.flickr.com/photos/110969348@N03/

“The role played by time at the beginning of the universe is, I believe, the final key to removing the need for a Grand Designer, and revealing how the universe created itself. … Time itself must come to a stop. You can’t get to a time before the big bang, because there was no time before the big bang. We have finally found something that does not have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means there is no possibility of a creator because there is no time for a creator to have existed. Since time itself began at the moment of the Big Bang, it was an event that could not have been caused or created by anyone or anything. … So when people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, so there is no time for God to make the universe in. It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the Earth. The Earth is a sphere. It does not have an edge, so looking for it is a futile exercise.” Stephen Hawking

This image is called the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy. It is a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years away that orbits our own Milky Way spiral galaxy. Even at that great distance it is the closest intergalactic neighbor to our own Milky Way. This image is showing what is known as the tip of the wing. The galaxy is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy and has a diameter of about 7,000 light years. It contains several hundred million stars. And add to this, each of those stars probably has at least one planet in orbit, probably much more. If that is not awing inspiring my friends, I don’t know what is…. To **learn more about this image check out this link:** https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/taken-under-the-wing-of-the-small-magellanic-cloud **Image Credit: NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/STScI.**

“I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.” Stephen Hawking

This is an image of the Coalsack nebula (Caldwell 99). It is the most prominent dark nebula in the Southern skies – meaning South of the Equator. The nebula’s darkness is the result of dust particles blocking the visible light of stars in the background. The starlight that can be seen through the dust clouds appears reddish because dust absorbs and scatters blue light more easily than red. The nebula is easily visible to southern observers, appearing as a dark patch near the Southern Cross asterism and silhouetted against the star fields of our Milky Way. It lies just between the bright star Acrux and what is known as the Jewel Box Cluster. In fiction (writing and film) this nebula has been referenced multiple times – Star Trek series, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Chronicles of Riddick, the novel “The Blue Lagoon” by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, etc.. **If you want to learn more about the Coalsack nebula use these links:** https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-coalsack-nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalsack_Nebula

“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.” Lawrence M. Krauss

This is an image of the NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. She took a selfie while on a space walk at the International Space Station, January 26th, 2020. How cool is that!? She is a Swedish-American NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. If you want to know more about Jessica please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Meir#:~:text=Jessica%20Ulrika%20Meir%20%28IPA%3A%20%2F%20m%20%C9%AA%C9%99r%20%2F%3B,physiology%20at%20the%20University%20of%20British%20Columbia%20.

“A universe without purpose should neither depress us nor suggest that our lives are purposeless. Through an awe-inspiring cosmic history we find ourselves on this remote planet in a remote corner of the universe, endowed with intelligence and self-awareness. We should not despair, but should humbly rejoice in making the most of these gifts, and celebrate our brief moment in the sun.” Lawrence M. Krauss

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid-19, so far, and so have I!! That is a very, very, very good thing for both of us. Seriously if you are reading this and have not gotten Covid or have gotten it and survived then count yourself lucky.

When I started writing this blog entry on February 3rd, the death count was approximately 462,000 deaths. Let me say that number again, 462 thousands deaths in a years time. One hundred thousand extra deaths in the month of January. Unreal. That is more Americans than in WWII. That war claimed approximately 418,000 lives. The Covid pandemic is now the third deadliest event in the history of the republic. The 1918 flu pandemic killed 675,000 in this country and it is estimated the Civil War in 1861 to 1865 killed between 618,000 to 750,000.

In the first week of February, the states with the most deaths were again, New York (44,000), California (42,000) and Texas (38,000). But… By the end of February, California had taken the lead in deaths over New York at 50,000 plus and Texas broke the 43,000 mark. Add to this, the fact we had topped 520,000 deaths in this country. That is 58,000 extra deaths in less than 25 days. That is better than the death count in January, but still… Wow and not in a good way.

If you are interested in the numbers yourself take a look at these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Well it’s been 7 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and…. so far there are no side effects for me. And that is a good thing. There has been some troubling news reported by the New York Times that 30 to 40 people who got either the Moderna or Pfizer Vaccine developed a condition called ITP or Immune Thrombocytopenia. In a nut shell it is when the bodies own immune system attacks platelets in the blood. And for those of you that are not medically related, platelets are essential to clotting, so having too little can be a big deal to say the least.

The question now becomes were those cases of ITP just coincidence or will they show a direct link to the vaccine. Many different things can cause ITP, such as viruses, medications, alcohol, toxic chemicals, cancer, etc.. but and it is a significant but, there is precedence for other “vaccines” causing it. Think MMR vaccine, Haemophilus influenza, DTap, Polio, Hepatitis B, etc… So this is a real concern.

Now with all that said, so far there are only 30 or so cases of ITP in the population of the 50 million that have already been vaccinated with at least one shot and add to this – ITP was not mentioned in any of the trial data from either company, before the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization). Meaning if this is a side effect – it is very, very rare. If your interested, there are a couple of short articles explaining this in more detail from the International Journal of Infectious Diseases and one from Health.com. They can be found at these links: https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30629-9/fulltext and https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/rare-blood-disorder-covid-vaccine-thrombocytopenia

Now you might ask, if I knew this ahead of time, would I still get the vaccine? And the answer would be YES, for the same reasons that I have mentioned in the previous blog post: https://www.strugglingprotoplasm.com/?m=202101

It will be interesting to see, from a medical stand point, what other possible “side effects” surface over time. I am sure there will be a few, but hopefully not too many or that serious. There is a web site called VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). It is co-managed by the CDC and FDA. It covers all vaccines, not just Covid. It is a system for collecting reports of adverse events (possible reactions) associated with getting a vaccine. You can check it out at this link: https://vaers.hhs.gov/

Well, enough about Covid, on to something better. It has been another good month for running and exercising in the outdoors here in Fort Collins. Cold but not overly cold. And for the most part, the air quality has remained acceptable. There have been a few “brown cloud days” but not too many for the month. Of course I am talking about January, last month, not February. That is already a different story and I will save it for the next blog post. Lol.

**This picture was taken January 3rd, 2021 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. It is looking South West from the Powerline trail in Fort Collins, Colorado.**

When selecting pictures I took over the month of January, I realized it was also a great month for sunsets. Just the right amount of clouds and particulates at the close of each day. Even though I understand the “physics” behind the sunset lighting, I always find it amazing that the really vivid colors only last for a few moments and then are gone. I do not find knowing the science detracts in anyway. If anything, I feel it enhances the experience.

**This picture was taken on January 5th, 2021 at about 4:50pm in the afternoon. This is looking West by Southwest from Edora park in Fort Collins, Colorado.**

Towards the end of the month, I was finally able to get back out on the dirt paths. The last time I did a trail run was back in late August 2020. Almost 5 months ago. Of course, most of this was due to fire conditions / air quality, crowed trail conditions and Covid. So it felt really good to get back out on the dirt so to speak…

This picture was taken January 14th, 2021, at about 6:45pm in the evening. This is not our tree but one in the neighborhood and I thought the lighting from it was pretty cool. I loved the difference in expressions between Janet and Marvin. If you haven’t guessed, I take a lot of pictures of Marvin and I think he gets a little tired of it. Lol.

Living here in Fort Collins has its advantages for running. For one thing, you have a variety of paths to choose from. Everything from concrete bike paths, to dirt trails and many different combinations of the two. One of the great trail runs close by that you can use to gauge what your fitness level is can be found in Horsetooth Mountain Park. The name of this trail is Towers Road. It is actually a dirt road maintained by the county to check on communication, radio, and TV towers located at the top of the park. To avoid confusion, I use the term road and trail interchangeable when referring to this particular “path.”

**This picture was taken January 20th, 2021, at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. It is looking West by Northwest along the Poudre River Trail. Another beautiful Colorado sunset.**

So after not being on a trail run for months, I decided I “needed” to see where my fitness level might be. And Towers Road seemed like the perfect one to do for just that reason. The only extra challenge I found this time, was when you have not done any real “change in elevation” running in a while, there is a sharp reacclimating curve that is painful. And that is what I relearned on the first day I got back out on the trails. Ouch! What started out as a lactic threshold run quickly became a HIT workout. Lol.

This picture was taken January 22nd, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. Here I am in Horsetooth Mountain Park on the trail called Towers Road, looking south toward Denver and points beyond. At this point on the trail I have climbed about 1000 feet in elevation.

Tower’s is a relative short run with the length being about 6 to 7 miles round trip depending on the turn around point. What it lacks in length, it makes up with elevation change. It starts at the Soderberg Trailhead in Horsetooth Mountain Open Space and once you get on the road proper the climbing never really relents until you reach the summit at approximately 7,000 feet. The road gains about 1,700 feet in elevation with an average gradient of 9%. Some sections are much steeper at 20%. There are a few flat sections but not much. After doing it, “You will know what shape you are in.” Lol.

**This picture was taken January 22nd, 2021 at about 3:15pm in the afternoon. Marvin and I are at our turnaround point on Towers Road, our first trail run in a while.**

Well if you were wondering what shape I was in? Lets just say, better than I thought, but not as good as I would like to be. Finished it in 1hr and 38 minutes. With most of the time spent on the uphill sections. I am a back of the pack ultra runner so this was good for me. A tortoise, not a hare.

In hind sight, I probably should not have chosen Towers as my first trail run to start the new year but because I have done it multiple times in the past I did not think much about it. It was a good workout but it took me at least 5 days before I felt like I had fully recovered. You live and learn, only to repeat the same mistakes. Lol. At least for me.

**This picture was taken January 27th, 2021 at about 5pm in the afternoon. The last sunset picture I took for the month.**

I did get in a couple of other trail runs by the end of the month, even did Towers again, but this time I felt much better, during and afterwards. If you are interested in doing Towers for yourself to see “what shape you are in” check out these links: https://www.larimer.org/naturalresources/parks/horsetooth-mountain and https://fortcollinsrunningclub.org/favorite-training-routes/

A few book reviews and some artwork before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is called Comfortable with Uncertainty written by Pema Chodron. This is another excellent book by Pema. In the book she offers short, stand alone sections or if you read the print version, you get one to two page passages. They are just long enough to give you thought provoking inspiration when you have a small amount of free time during a hectic day. The book is designed to be digested, so to speak, in small bites. And if you keep that in mind then it will become an excellent introduction to Buddhist thought and the teachings on mindfulness, meditation and lovingkindness. You do not need prior knowledge of Buddhism, and this is not a book about Eastern Religion. It is a look at Buddhist practices and how they can be used in everyday life to work with the “challenges” we all face.

I got the book as an audio book but if you are someone that wants to read or listen for hours at a time you may find it a little difficult. The book worked best for me by listening to a section or two and then stopping and letting what I just heard digest until the next day or so. This is not a book you can just zip through if you want to get the most out of it. It needs to be savored. I defiantly plan to listen again and go even slower than I did before.

Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun residing at the Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. She is the author of many other books using Buddhist practices in dealing with the “challenges” present in everyday life. To learn more about her check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pema_Ch%C3%B6dr%C3%B6n

The book can be found on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Comfortable-with-Uncertainty-audiobook/dp

The next two books I would like to talk about are part of a Science Fiction series called The Murderbot Diaries written by Martha Wells. I have only read the fist two and they are great. (6 primary books so far) There are many books that have been written in SiFi on A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) and the search for “meaning” by said A.I. The fist two books are done in a similar vein but the story is very well written and engaging. In an nutshell: “A robot searching for the meaning of life and in the process casting light on what makes us human.” I got this book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. Now be warned, the fist couple of these books are short novellas, not full novels. Looking at the prices on Amazon, downloading them on to your Kindle would be the cheapest way to go. The books can be found on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK8SNWY?ref_=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_tpbk&binding=paperback

Martha Wells is an American writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy. If you want to learn more about this accomplished author please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Wells

The next book I would like to talk about is called Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality by Frank Wilczek. A thought and mind-bending look on the realities of our existence based on modern science. The author does a great job of trying to explain the “complexities of the universe” in a way that we can all understand. This is not a book written for someone with an advanced degree in physics, but for the layperson. Will reading or listening to this book give you a firm grasp on the complexities of quantum field theory? No way and it is not meant too. It is an explanation for the average joe or joey without getting dragged into the extremely complex minutiae of these “keys to reality.” The book is well worth the read, especially for those of us that do not have advance degrees in math and physics.

I got this book as an audio book but it might be better in traditional format so that you can read a section and then go back and read it again.

Frank Wilczek is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. To learn more about him please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wilczek

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Ten-Keys-to-Reality/dp

Well last but not least a few pieces of Art work before I go. All are pen and ink, mounted on painted wood, coated and sealed with Mod Podge. These are 7 inches by 9 1/2 inches. When hanging they are about 17 inches tall. My inspiration for these comes from research done with high-precision measurements of quantum jumps. This occurs when a quantum particle changes its state as when an atom loses or gains an electron. The use of ultrashort laser pulses have allowed scientist to measure this change in attoseconds. One attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second. That my friends is a very, very short period of time. What would a quantum state of an atom of helium look like? Or just part of the atom and the electron? How about just the electron at the smallest of scales? What if you could visualize this with your own eyes directly?!

This research can open the door to better understand the basic laws of nature but also brings new possibilities of manipulating matter on a quantum scale.

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 1

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 2

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 3

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 4

QUANTUM STATE STUDY 5

These are all for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav The prices on these are cheaper than my other art work. I had some trouble with the mounting of the drawings to the painted wood backing. All postage for the continental United States is included in the price.

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Air Quality, Book Review, Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Pandemics, PurpleAir, Trail Running, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 25TH, SEPTEMBER 2020

September 25, 2020 teleskees Leave a comment

“One of the most freeing insights of meditation practice is realizing that the only power thoughts have is the power that we give them.” Joseph Goldstein

The science fiction show Star Trek debuted 54 years ago on September 8, 1966. This image is of the 1976 roll out of the Space Shuttle enterprise, the Star Trek TV crew, Gene Roddenberry and NASA Administrator at the time James Fletcher. How cool is that!? When you think about the technology that was available in 1976 and fast forward to now – the idea of going to Mars does not seem so far fetched. Image Credit: NASA. To learn more about the above picture go to this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/star-trek-and-nasa-54-years-and-counting

“Every time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.” Joseph Goldstein

This is a picture of Eugene Kranz. He was the flight director that saved the Apollo 13 mission from disaster. The flight directors are responsible for the teams of flight controllers, research and engineering experts, and other support and logistics people around the globe that can make or break a successful space launch. To learn more about Eugene or this picture please follow this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/be-a-nasa-flight-director

“Thoughts should not be treated as obstacles or hindrances. They are just another object of mindfulness, another object of meditation. Don’t let the mind become lazy and drift along. Make the effort for a great deal of clarity with respect to what’s happening in this moment.” Joseph Goldstein

This picture shows what is called the Twin Peaks on Mars. They are modest size hills to the southwest of where the Mars Pathfinder landed in July of 1997. Of interesting note, when the Pathfinder spacecraft approached Mars, no NASA mission had successfully reached Mars in more than 20 years. Pathfinder is considered the first ever robotic rover to the surface of the red planet. It landed on July 4th, 1997. Image credit: NASA/JPL. To learn more about his picture please visit the site: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/marss-twin-peaks

“The light of a single candle can dispel the darkness of a thousand years.” Joseph Goldstein

This is a picture of Kate Rubins on the International Space Station in 2016. She was the first person to sequence DNA in space and the 60th woman to fly in space. She is schedule to go back to the ISS on October 14th aboard the Soyuz MS-17 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This time around she is going to work on a cardiovascular experiment that builds on previous work from her first space mission. Also she will celebrate with her crew-mates the 20th anniversary of continuous human habitation of the space station. Where has the time gone? It has already been two decades of science and technology research on the ISS. Image Credit: NASA. For more information and reading about Kate Rubins and the above picture please check out the link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/shes-back-kate-rubins-set-to-return-to-space-station

“If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If your reading this then you have continued to survive Covid – 19. And so have I!! Damn, that is a very, very good thing for both of us!! Therefore life continues to be good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of September, the good old USA had decreased in the number of positive cases added each day. Back during the first week of August we were adding 40 to 50 thousand new patients each day and now we are down to about 30 thousand new cases per day. That is an improvement. Florida, California and Texas were leading the way again with said new case totals. The total death count at the first of September for all of the USA was 188,000. By the time this was published the count was at 207,000. Hard to believe that the first known death was at the first of February this year and at the end of September we are at 207,000 fatalities! Just unreal when you think about it. In just 8 months. Wow in a bad way. I am wonder where we will be in a years’ time?? If you want to see the numbers for yourself check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

**This was Trump speaking to Bob Woodward – Feb 7th, 2020?!**

**March 19th, 2020 vs September 15th, 2020?!!**

Well I hate to say that I told you so but, I told you so. Or at least that is what I told some supporters of the ODT. Back about 7 months ago I told several friends, that myself and several others in the medical community were very concerned about the response and down playing of Covid from the ODT and his administration. And low and behold, not only did the ODT confirm that he knew all about the seriousness of it, that he actually down played it to the American People. Lied to people. And people have died. The crazy part of all of this is the ODT actually told on tape, to Bob Woodward, how dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and more deadly than even your strenuous flus, in his own words!? This was on February 7th. Which probably means the ODT knew about it weeks before back in January. I bring this up because most of the stuff between the Reps and Dems is just politics. Both wanting to fix a problem, but going about it in different ways. And that is “just politics” and human nature. BUT this, this is something on the scale of mass murder. It is not even involuntary manslaughter because he knew. It is not about politics. The ODT knew how deadly the virus was and he let people die. I have to ask myself if I was running for president would I even want the job after the “mess” it has become? No matter who gets elected, the house is going to come crashing down sooner or later without a lot of repair. Oh well, enough said for now.

Well due to the continued lack of rain, the Cameron Peak fire has continued to burn in my area of Colorado. We did get a little relief the first week of September with Snow in the high country and on the front range. By the time of publishing the fire was at 105,000 acres. On the last blog post (August 28th) the fire was at 23,000 acres so you can do the math yourself and see how large it has grown. I believe that the only part of the landscape left that I photographed over the preceding weeks and months is the very highest peaks and passes. Not much tree cover there and what did burn should come back quickly as opposed to the lush meadows, pine and spruce forest. It will be interesting to see what is left next summer. Hopefully there will be some terrain that has not burned and can be skied later this winter. That is assuming the fire goes out and highway 14 opens back up. If you want to learn more about the fire visit: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6964/

I believe this picture was taken on Tuesday morning, September 8th, before the snow had moved in to the high country. I am assuming the photographer is looking West by North West. The fire was around 100,000 acres at this point. Then the snow moved in. I am hoping that we get more rain and snow in the coming weeks. Image credit: Unknown. If you want to see more images like this visit Cameron Peak Fire on Facebook. Link as follows: https://www.facebook.com/CameronPeakFire/

While the fire was burning with the heat and lack of rain in August, I did find another fairly close place to do a little trail running. This is an often over looked area by Colorado residents and it is located in Wyoming. Specifically I did a little exploration in the Snowy Range area West of Laramie in the Medicine Bow National Forest. Marvin and I were able to get in a few runs in this area. Unfortunately by September the smoke in the Northern half of Colorado and Southern Wyoming had gotten bad enough that it was not worth the risk. And this brings up another topic, “Air Quality.”

This is a screen shot of the PurpleAir map of Fort Collins air quality on Monday 21st, September 2020 at 12:44am. These are real time air quality monitors owned by the public. They measure particulates. The **lower the number the better the quality of air. For more information check out their web site:** https://www2.purpleair.com/

I did see a lot of friends on Strava that were exercising in really low quality air. This is something that I am not willing to do and I have to wonder what this will mean for them further down the road? PM 2.5 or particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller can really play havoc on all the bodies systems over time. It is a misconception that it just stays in the lungs. Recent research in the last few years has shown that it can cause or make worse, lung cancer, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and other cardiovascular / respiratory diseases. One study showed that it can affect pregnant mothers and the unborn.

This picture was taken on August 20th, 2020 at 5pm. Marvin and I had just finished running the North Fork Trail #304 in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in Wyoming. This was our turn around point at Brooklyn Lake.

There is a great web site that can help you decided if you need to mask up (think N95) for air quality or just stay in doors and use the treadmill or exercise bike. It is called “Purple Air.” They do “real time” monitoring of air quality by selling monitors to the general public and linking them all over the world. This is a fantastic idea because you are no longer dependent on the federal or state government to tell you when the quality of the air is bad. And it helps to bring attention to an often over looked aspect of our environment that affects us all. AND that knowledge is powerful. Check out their map at this link: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#11/40.5506/-105.0492

This picture was taken August 28th, 2020 at about 5pm. Marvin and I were at a turn around point on Sheep Lake Trail #389 in the Medicine-Bow Routt National Forest in Wyoming. This picture is of Mutt Lake and not Sheep Lake. And I believe that is Browns Peak in the back ground. A very beautiful day. I think a lot of other people from Colorado had the same idea because the parking lot was full of Colorado **plates! Lol.**

My personnel opinion is that if you don’t have an N95 mask or are unwilling to mask up on the bad air quality days then say inside. What is the point of staying healthy with exercise, diet, sleep, etc… if you are going to wreck your body by running /biking in poor quality air? Here is a short article about this topic from Trail Runner Mag: https://trailrunnermag.com/training/should-you-run-in-smoky-air-probably-not.html

This picture was taken September 8th, 2020 at about 7pm. It is on the Powerline Trail in Fort Collins. What a difference a few days can make or can you say “Global Warming”? Lol. The recent early snow in Colorado is thought to have occurred because of a Typhoon that tracked further North in China (much further north than they have been previously recorded), which in turn caused a bump in the Jet Stream, leading to a burst of cold air down from Canada. Since this picture, we have again had temperatures in the high 80s with **some 90 degree days AND no rain or snow to speak of.**

Due to the smoke issues and fires, my trail days were very limited in September. I have gotten in the habit of looking at the air quality and deciding how much running and/or lower intensity walking I do. Somedays it is just better to use the trainer in doors. Also I take into account the dog. Unfortunately it is very difficult to make a N95 mask for a dog that works with running, even walking. Oh well this is just a blip in the general order of things? Or that is what I hope! Lol.

A couple of book reviews before wrapping up. There are several that I have finished in the last month or two and I would like to give recommendations on them.

The first book I would like to take about is called “Driving While Black” by Gretchen Sorin. This is an informative and interesting read if you want to learn about how the automobile changed African American reality. And in a good way. The author weaves together the history of how transportation and the Jim Crow laws interacted with each other. Remember that the Jim Crow Laws were a way to enforce racial segregation in the United States, mainly in the Southern States. I had to look it up again to refamiliarize myself with what they were and I did not realized that they were enforced officially until 1965. I am guessing that unofficially these practices went on for much, much longer. As a white person there are so many freedoms that I take for granted and Gretchen opened my eyes to this. Especially with travel in the good old USA. In the book, she gives an easy to follow narrative of why cars came to hold an importance for black families that white people would not even think twice about due to fact that their white. For African Americans, the automobile opened up a whole new way of circumventing the entrenched racial hatred in society. The book reminded me of a scene from the movie “Forest Gump” in which he is in Washington and meets up with his Jenny and her boyfriend in a building with a couple of very loud and very angry Black Panther members. And I always thought “why are these guys being portrayed as so angry.” Gretchen’s book has helped me to see why. And if the roles were reversed I would be very angry too. I listened to this book as an audio book but it would work in any format.

**You can find the book on Amazon at this link:** https://www.amazon.com/Driving-While-Black-African-American/dp/

The next book I would like to talk about is called “Scale” and is written by Geoffrey West. It is defiantly one for the math and science nerds out there. You know who you are. The book was written a few years ago but the laws of physics have not changed in that time. Lol. All kidding aside. This is an great book in which Geoffrey, a theoretical physicist, shows how scale plays a role in all of nature. Some of it is very intuitive but a lot of it is not. And that is where it becomes interesting. It does make you stop and think. I listened to this book as an audio book but I am thinking it might have been better to read it in traditional format so that you can easily come back to sections and reread again. This is not an easy book to get through. It is one to take your time with and it might mean that you have to go back and look up some topics before moving forward. The book covers a very large section of topics and how scale and complexity play a role in it all.

**You can find this book on Amazon:** https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Geoffrey-West-audiobook/dp/B071YNQM2T/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=scale+the+book&qid=1600975612&sr=8-1

The last book I would like to talk about is what I call a “Brain Bubble Gum” book. One to just enjoy for the story it tells and maybe ponder the “What if’s” that are always present in science. Of course it is a Science Fiction Book and goes by the title called “We Are Legion (We Are Bob).” Written by Dennis E. Taylor. It is the first part of a series of books. The book is about 4 or 5 years old but tells a good story. I got this book as an audio book and I have not been disappointed. The amazon description does a good job of introducing the story: “Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself. Bob and his clones are on a mission to find new homes for humanity and boldly go where no Bob has gone before.”

Think “Futurama” with this book, except Bob wakes up in which religion has not died out, but has proliferated across the globe. Even though it is what I call “Brain Bubble Gum” I had to ask myself is this what is in store for humanity? Interesting to say the least! I believe the book would work great in any format.

**You can find this book on Amazon:** https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-We-Are-Bob-audiobook/dp/B01L082SCI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FRNUMZ4VBJXY&dchild=1&keywords=we+are+legion+we+are+bob&qid=1600975667&s=audible&sprefix=we+are+l%2Caudible%2C212&sr=1-1

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Even though I have said this before, I am going to say it again, I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. If you want to be part of that change, to make the world a much better place – I firmly believe that minimalism is one path to that ultimate goal. If you want to learn more please visit the web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fear, Psychology, Science, Space, Trail Running, Truth and Perception, Wildfire

MUSING FOR FRIDAY 28TH, AUGUST 2020

August 29, 2020 teleskees 6 Comments

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” Frank Herbert, Dune

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spectacular galaxy NGC 2442. This galaxy was host to a supernova explosion, known as SN2015F, that was created by a white dwarf star. The white dwarf was part of a binary star system and pulled mass from its companion, eventually becoming too greedy and taking on more than it could handle. This unbalanced the star and triggered a runaway nuclear fusion that eventually led to an intensely violent supernova explosion. SN2015F was spotted in March 2015 in the galaxy named NGC 2442, nicknamed the Meat hook Galaxy owing to its extremely asymmetrical and irregular shape. The supernova shone brightly for quite some time and was easily visible from Earth through even a small telescope until later that summer. Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency). Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Smartt et al. If you want to learn more and see a full resolution from ESA Hubble site visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-hooks-a-supernova-host-galaxy

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato

It does not seem to matter if your earth side or in orbit, there is always housekeeping chores… Lol. This is a picture from August 14th, 2020 of Astronaut Chris Cassidy collecting the trash on the ISS (Internal Space Station). Image credit: NASA. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/astronaut-chris-cassidy-does-housekeeping-in-space

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Marie Curie

How cool is that!? A high resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this avalanche falling down a 1640 foot tall (500 meters) cliff on May 29th, 2019. This image was taken at Mar’s north pole area. Image Credit: NASA/JPL – Caltech/University of Arizona. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/capturing-an-avalanche-on-mars

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” Joseph Campbell

The barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 4907 shows its best side from 270 million light-years away to anyone who can see it from the northern hemisphere. This is a new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy, displaying its beautiful spiral arms, wound loosely around its central bright bar of stars. Shining brightly below the galaxy is a star that is actually within our own Milky Way galaxy. This star appears much brighter than the many millions of stars in NGC 4907 as it is 100,000 times closer, residing only 2500 light-years away. NGC 4907 is also part of the Coma Cluster, a group of over 1000 galaxies, some of which can be seen around NGC 4907 in this image. This massive cluster of galaxies lies within the constellation of Coma Berenices, which is named for the locks of Queen Berenice II of Egypt: the only constellation named after a historical person. Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency). Image credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA, M. Gregg. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-sees-near-and-far

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

This is a picture of NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover. It has been on the red planet for 8 years now. Since landing, the rover has traveled more than 14 miles (23 kilometres), drilling 26 rock samples and scooping six soil samples. The mission was to study whether Mars had the water, chemical building blocks, and energy sources that may have supported microbial life billions of years ago. It will soon be joined by another rover – Perseverance. It was launched on July 30th, 2020. The rover’s selfie was taken June 15th, 2018 Earth time. Image Credit : NASA/JPL – Caltech. To see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/curiosity-celebrates-8-years-on-the-red-planet

“Once we overcome our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe that utterly dwarfs – in time, in space, and in potential – the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid -19. And so have I!! That is a very good thing for both of us!! Therefore life is good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of August, the good old USA was adding 40 to almost 50 thousand new cases each day. With Texas, Florida, and California leading the way . Texas was just under 8 thousand deaths as was Florida. Total US deaths were just breaking 160,000.

By the time of publishing, the numbers for total deaths – was just under 185,000. Texas was right at 12,500 deaths and Florida was at 11,000. Unreal when you think about it. Let me pause and say this again, 25,000 added deaths in the last month and 55,000 in the last two months?! To put in comparison, in the Vietnam War, US casualties were estimated at 47,434. Wow! I guess we are over achievers. Are we winning yet??

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I decided to include an assortment of pictures from my trail running this summer with Marvin on the Blue Lake Trail in the Rawah Wilderness. What is the old saying, “You Really Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone.” This applies to anything in your life. For me, in the month of August, it is the destruction of this beautiful area due to wildfire. The Cameron Peak fire ignited on August 13th, 2020. As I write this, August 28th, the fire is at approximately 23,000 acres in size and has zero containment as of yet. It is hard to think that a lot of the landscape I photographed and ran through with Marvin this summer, is now gone or potentially will be. Forever changed. I know that at some point it will come back but it will be 100 years at best. Long after I am gone. It really does feel unbelievable.

**This picture was taken June 29th, 2020 looking West at Clark Peak. Here I am standing on Blue Lake Pass.**

**This picture was taken July 14th, 2020 on the Blue Lake trail. Here Marvin is enjoying a little sun and space in a meadow.**

**This picture was taken July 21st, 2020 on the Blue Lake trail. I am looking up at Blue Lake Pass. If you look closely you can see a whole pocket of blue Columbines. The Colorado State Flower.**

**This picture was also taken on July 21st, 2020. Here I am standing on Blue Lake Pass at 11,000 feet. I am looking North West into the Rawah Wilderness**.

**This picture was taken July 29th, 2020 just before you get to Blue Lake. Still an abundance of wild flowers.**

**This picture was taken on August 4th, 2020. It is a picture of Marvin standing on the shore of Blue Lake.**

**This picture was taken August 10th, 2020 looking South toward the Blue Lake trail head. It is 5.5 miles back down the trail.** **This was the last trail run in the area before the start of the wildfire. How was I to know that this would be my last run here for the foreseeable future?!**

**This picture was taken August 21st, 2020 looking West. The area the smoke and flames are coming from is the same area where I took the above photos this summer. Image credit: Wellington Crew.**

MARVIN’S GATE

Have you ever had an experience in which something you know or think you know becomes fully crystal clear, an Aha Moment? Or to put it another way, a deeper understanding of an existing condition or mental thought? Well if you have then you will know what I mean, but if you haven’t let me explain. Over the years I have read and listened to my fair share of self-help books. And I felt that I had a pretty good handle on what they were trying to get across. Especially on the ones that dealt with fear. My first book to read on this was one by the late Susan Jeffers, “Feel the Fear and DO IT ANYWAY. I had read her book or listened to it several times and felt that I had gotten a lot out of it. But knowing something and “full realization” are two different things. And sometimes the “full realization” pops into place when you least expect it.

Earlier this month, I was in the process of putting up firewood for the coming winter. This usually entails getting a couple of cords of wood dumped in the driveway and then me filling up wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and rolling it to the backyard to be stacked. A somewhat long and boring process in my opinion.

Marvin the dog, I am sure thinks the same thing. Due to his size and exuberance, he is not allowed off lead in the front yard, so he waits patiently by the “gate” that separates front from back. He is not an aggressive dog, but he can get very excited when other dogs and people walk by. So I load a wheelbarrow, move the gate, come through, put the gate back, roll said wheelbarrow into the backyard, Marvin follows, I throw a dog toy or ball, wrestle with him for a few moments, etc.. and then stack wood. Repeat process, over and over, again and again.

Now the interesting part that became an “Aha Moment” for me occurred when my wife Janet was watching the process as she unloaded groceries from the car and was amazed that Marvin just stood there by this unsecured and flimsy gate, just waiting…. “He is such a big dog and that gate is so small, why doesn’t he just knock it down or jump over it or run through it, she asked?” I stopped and looked, really looked. Here was this massive dog, stymied by a small gate. Her statement and Marvin’s appearance at the gate stopped me in my tracks.

Of course we both knew the superficial answer, he is afraid, but a dawning deeper realization started to jell in my mind. Let me explain. Marvin had a traumatic experience at 6 months of age when a gate of this same size and design fell on him while he was sleeping. The gate in question is a typical child gate, very light weight, made of wood and somewhat flimsy. But it scared him and he has had a fear of these child gates ever since. At the time of the incident he was a small dog in comparison to the gate, now fast forward and this is not the case anymore. He is a large, powerful LSG (Livestock Guardian) dog, but still hindered by a tiny gate. With this understanding, the light bulb in my mind popped on! Lol.

The Aha Moment is not the fact that he is afraid, it is the fact that Marvin’s fear IS ALL IN HIS HEAD. The fear is not real, except in his mind. The only place that it can exist is in his thoughts. The gate is not dangerous to him. It’s danger is a product of his imagination, causing him to fear the gate falling on him again. Whether Marvin has the cognitive ability to understand this or not is irrelevant. He is telling himself a story, just like humans do when we are afraid of something. Marvin may not have a choice to change his story of the gate but humans with our higher brain functioning have this ability. As hard as this may be, as ugly and messy as it may get, we can do it. Whether something is dangerous or not is a real concern, but fear is a choice and we can change our story.

Reflecting on this over the last couple of weeks, I have had to ask myself what are my Marvin gates? What have I not allowed myself to do because of misconceived fear? Can I change my story and continue to change my story as needed? All good questions and for me a life long endeavor. Good food for thought.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Again, I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. If you want to learn more please visit the web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

I promise to have a few more book reviews on the next post. So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds and physical distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Pandemics, Politics, Religion, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 31ST, JULY 2020

July 31, 2020 teleskees Leave a comment

Religion easily has to be the greatest bullshit story every told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of ever day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever til the end of time! BUT he loves you… He loves you, and HE needs money!! George Carlin

NASA astronaut Robert Behnken is pictured here on the ISS – International Space Station, replacing an old nickel-hydrogen battery with a new lithium-ion one. This was a six hour space walk and was done on July 1st, 2020. Image Credit: NASA. To learn more about this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/upgrading-the-space-station-is-all-in-a-days-work

“There are 200 countries in the world now. Do these people honestly think that God is sitting around picking out his favorites? Why would he do that? Why would God have a favorite country? And why would it be America out of all the countries? Because you have the most money? Because he likes our National Anthem? Maybe it’s because he heard we have 18 delicious flavors of Classic Rice-A-Roni! It’s delusional thinking! And America is not alone with this sort of delusions. Military cemeteries around the world are packed with brainwashed dead soldiers who were convinced God was on their side. America prays for God to destroy our enemies. Our enemies pray for God to destroy us. Somebody’s gonna be disappointed. Somebody’s wasting their fucking time. Could it be everyone?” George Carlin

This is the space shuttle Atlantis. It was the last launch of a Space Shuttle to the ISS – International Space Station and occurred on July 8th, 2011. There were 135 missions accomplished by the American Space Shuttle program. It was the orbiter’s final flight and what some call the end of an era. There were four crew members on the flight: Chris Ferguson-commander, Doug Hurley-pilot, and two specialist-Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus. Image Credit: NASA. To learn more about his picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/sts-135-shuttles-final-launch-and-the-beginning-of-a-new-era

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” Richard Dawkins

On July 16th, 1969 , the Apollo 11 mission launched on a Saturn V rocket with Neil Armstrong as the commander from Launch Complex Pad 39A. This was the mission that completed the goal set by President John F. Kennedy, eight years prior, to put a man on the moon. The command module pilot was Michael Collins and the lunar module pilot was Buzz Aldrin. Image Credit: NASA To learn more about his picture and Apollo 11 visit this site: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/apollo-11-launches-into-history/

“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.” Richard Dawkins

This is a picture of the NASA’s first chief Astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman (1925 to 2018). She was at NASA during a time in which women were generally discouraged from studying math and science. Nancy was instrumental in taking the Hubble Space Telescope from an idea to reality. Hence she is known as the ‘Mother of Hubble. Image Credit: NASA. If you want to learn more about his picture and Nancy visit this site: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nancy-grace-roman-the-mother-of-hubble-2/

“When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the big bang, so there is no time for god to make the universe in. It’s like asking directions to the edge of the earth; The Earth is a sphere; it doesn’t have an edge; so looking for it is a futile exercise. We are each free to believe what we want, and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is; there is no god. No one created our universe, and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization; There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that I am extremely grateful.” Stephen Hawking

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid -19. And so have I!! That is a very good thing for both of us!! Therefore life is good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of July, the good old USA was adding 50 to almost 60 thousand new cases each day. With Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and Arizona leading the way. Total deaths were just breaking 130,000. I remember when the initial projections for morbidity and mortality were forecast back in April and this number was not supposed to happen until September?! Wow! I guess we are over achievers. Are we winning yet??

Right at the time of this publishing, 25 days from when I started writing the blog post we were greater than 150,000 dead. That is 20,000 more individuals. Think about that, 20,000 more have died because of the virus in the month of July. And the number of positive cases per day is still in the 50 to 60 thousand plus range. Another one of those numbers that just seems unreal to me – 60 thousand plus per day?! Wow!!

This picture was taken June 3rd, 2020 at about 7:30pm. Marvin is stretched out after doing a long walk. By June the temperatures in Fort Collins were getting much warmer and in order to escape the heat, we were walking later in the evening.

To think that most of these deaths could have been avoided in the United States. When you needed someone with strong leadership, where were they?? When you needed someone to take the “bull by the horns” so to speak and protect their fellow Americans above their own interest, where were they?? When you needed someone to listen to the experts and make wise decisions, where were they?? When you needed someone to decisively act and not give placating platitudes… When you needed… Oh well you get the picture. We are in the “churn” now, so to speak. And your only hope is to try and survive. As the Buddhist like to say, life is what it is at the moment. And the moment is all that we have. I take this to heart and try my best to learn from it. It reminds me of a Joan Tollifson quote: “Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor or employee, every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath. Every moment is the Guru.” Not really sure what I can F**king learn from this debacle but I thought I would put it out there anyway…

Oh well, if you are interested to see the numbers for yourself, check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

This picture was taken June 8th, 2020 at about 3pm. The picture is of Joe Wright Creek in full Spring runoff. Marvin and I were doing a little trail running on Blue Lake Trail in the Roosevelt National Forest. We could not get to the lake due to snow above 10,500 feet.

I am amazed and sadden that there are so many individuals that still refuse to wear a mask in public venues where social distancing is not possible. The number of “anti – mask” post and comments on social media in the month of June and July were staggering. You would have thought that someone was trying to take away their guns, their freedom, their first born child, their right to (put your own word in), etc… Just because they were asked to wear a mask. I am not sure where this comes from. It was and is, just unreal. As someone who works with the public at the worst of times, and has to wear a mask while at work, I find this behavior discouraging. But what are you going to do? There is so much misinformation put out by entertainment news organizations like Fox, it is very difficult for the truth to be heard. I have tried to argue this point and put forth real science to friends on social media that have this misguided view point. Of course most of this has fallen on deaf ears. Some have been openly hostile even. My thought from now on is that I should just let the numbers fall where they may. Kind of like the scene from Jaws where Hooper tells the individuals in the obviously over-loaded boat that it is over-loaded. They all mumble back at him to mind his own business. Of course we all know where it leads. If you don’t remember the scene check it out below.

I have found that there is just not much you can do with this type of behavior and you have to let the “ignorance” play out so to speak. My only wish is that the individuals that do not take it seriously, will not spread the disease to others. I do believe in the next few years that we will all have friends or family members that will have had the disease or have died from it. It is inevitable. Our only hope for the future is the development of a vaccine. If you wanted to understand how serious the threat of Covid is in terms of physical health and economic stability, then you only need to look at the speed of the vaccine development race. Vaccines usually take years to bring to the market. A lot of regulatory hurdles have to be jumped through to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective. With Covid we are talking a year or less if all works out. And that my friends says a lot. This is a “Hail Mary” pass.

One advantage in the development race is that researchers are not working from scratch. They are using previous research done on SARS and MERS. So this may have shortened the time line a bit. Realistically I am guessing that it is probably closer to 18 months before we have a safe and effective vaccine. There is some thought that the push to have one before this November, even if it is not that effective or safe, could potentially sway election results in favor of the Orange DT. I hope that is not the case. Again time will tell.

Wow where has the time gone?! This picture was taken on Wednesday 17th, June 2020 at about 8:30pm. Janet and I were celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary!! Here we are doing our part at social distancing and “eating out” so to speak on our garage deck with take out. Lol

On a different note, Marvin and I have been doing a trail run in the high country each week. Usually running the same trail each time to see the changes that have occurred as the spring/summer season has progressed. At the first of June we had trouble getting up to a place called Blue Lake due to snow. It sits just below 11,000 feet and it takes a little time to melt out or so I thought.

This picture was taken June 23rd, 2020 at about 5pm. What a beautiful day. Marvin and I hung out in the meadow for a little while to absorb some sunshine. This picture is looking North West toward Clark Peak.

By the end of June things were a much different story. I had no idea that the snow would melt out so quickly. I am guessing that this is variable from year to year, but this year I found it pretty amazing. Of course this has left me wondering, is this an average year? I don’t know. By the end of June not only could Marvin and I get to Blue lake we were able to access the pass above the lake.

This picture was taken on June 29th, 2020 at about 4:30pm. This is Clark Peak and Marvin and I are on top of Blue Lake Pass. At the first of June this would not have been possible without crossing several snow fields, but by the end of June we only had to cross a very small one to get to this point. No snow on top of the pass.

I plan to continue running this same trail each week through out the season to see how the changes progress over time. I know this might sound a little boring to some but I am actually looking forward to it. It will be interesting to see what changes fall brings and when winter makes an appearance again. I have even thought that I might continue to do this one all year, switching to snow shoes and eventually skis as the snow permits. Oh well that is the plan for now, but we will see how it goes. Lol.

A couple of book reviews before wrapping up. There are several I have finished in the last month or two and I would like to give recommendations on them.

The first one I would like to talk about is an Audio Book written by Charlotte Joko Beck. It is called “Living Everyday Zen.” I really liked this book because it has helped me take my practice to a more everyday, tangible level. Or this is what I have experienced after listening to the book twice. I will probably listen to it a third time in the next month or two. If you practice zazen everyday then you know what I mean when I say it can be kind of abstract even though you are keeping your mind in the present while sitting. How do you relate this to everyday life? For me that was always the question after sitting. A lot of benefits of zazen go unnoticed because it creates a change that gradually takes place over time. A long, long time. Her book helps you to see the process in a more concrete way. I would not expect for individuals that are new to zen to get as much out of the audio book as someone that has been doing it for a much longer period of time. This is not to say that someone that is just curious about zen would get nothing out of it, they would, just not as much. Either way it is defiantly a book for the “experienced” practitioner and one for the library of a newcomer.

**You can find the audio book on Amazon:** https://www.amazon.com/Living-Everyday-Zen-audiobook/

The next one I would like to talk about is an audio book (s) by Joseph Goldstein called “Abiding in Mindfulness.” There are actually three volumes to this series but I have only pictured the first one. This is a series of lectures given by Joseph in what Buddhism is for the Western audience. If you are interested in Buddhism, even from a different religious background, these books are well worth it. I have listened to this series a number of times over the years and each time I learn something new or are reminded of a lesson forgotten. The newcomer to Buddhism will not get as much out of this series initially as someone who has already been practicing. But that is not to say it would be by any means a waste of time. This series is not about how to meditate, it does not provide techniques on posture, mindfulness or breathing, etc… The purpose is how to connect your own meditation experiences with some of the deeper meanings of Buddhism as explained by Joseph. An excellent resource.

**You can find the audio book on Amazon:** https://www.amazon.com/Abiding-in-Mindfulness-Volume-1-audiobook/

The next one is for the beginner foremost but even the experienced practitioner will get something out of it! Lol. It is called “Mindfulness in Plain English” by Bhante Gunaratana. Probably should have listed this one at the top. Oh well. I have read this book multi times over the last 10 years. If you are interested in being more “mindful” but don’t want to study Buddhism or you are of a different religious faith then this is the book for you. I am firmly convinced that if more of the worlds population did meditation everyday, we would be a much more kinder and gentler society. This book was written in 1984 and is considered one of the most influential books in the field of mindfulness. The author takes you step by step through the realities and benefits of meditation and more importantly he tells you what meditation is not. Dispelling a lot of myths about meditation. I have read this book several times and it seems I get something out of it each time or relearn something that I have forgotten. Defiantly one for the library. This book is only available in traditional format or Kindle. My opinion is that this needs to be taught in public school at a very young age and continued through college.

**You can find this book on Amazon**: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-English-Bhante-Henepola-Gunaratana/

The last one I want to give a review on is another one for the newcomer or just plain curious, to Zen. It is called “Wherever You Go There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn. This is not a book that is going to give you the down and dirty on meditation and Zen. It is a collection of stories, thoughts and recommendations by the author as seen from a Zen perspective. It will give you a taste of various meditation and mindfulness concepts. It is a good one for your exploration into what meditation, mindfulness and zen are about. This book is offered in all formats but works best in my opinion in traditional format or kindle. I do not recommend the audio version because it has been abridged and leaves too much out.

**You can find this book at Amazon:** https://www.amazon.com/Wherever-You-There-Are-Mindfulness/

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. If you read the last one I hope you gave a little more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and the world. The “buying and consuming” will come back to pre-Covid levels eventually. The Corporations and Advertisers are depending on it. Of course the problem is that it is not sustainable for our planet. Minimalism is a great way to make a difference at the individual level. Just think, if you became a minimalist you would be buying future generations a little more time to figure things out. Maybe to even become a space-faring species. How cool would that be?!

Take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds and physical distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 26TH, JUNE 2020

June 26, 2020 teleskees Leave a comment

“This is very important – to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you’re gonna lose everything…. just to do nothing at all, very, very, important. And how many do this in modern society? Very few. That’s why they’re all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful.” -Charles Bukowski

This is a picture of the globular cluster NGC 6441. A globular cluster is spherical collection of stars. It is about 13,000 light-years from the Milky Way’s galactic center. There are so many stars in this image, the ESA or European Space Agency has likened it to snowflakes. There are 150 known globular clusters just in the Milky Way. And to think that each of these stars may have planets, some like earth in what humans call the habitual zone. Mind boggling when you think about it. To learn more about this image go to: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-catches-cosmic-snowflakes **Image credit:** NASA/Hubble, G. Piotto

This cluster of stars is called Westerlund 2. It is located about 20,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Carina. This Hubble photo was done in near-infrared light, which allowed the camera to see through the dusty veil of the stellar nursery. This cluster of stars measures from 6 to 13 light years across. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of stars. To learn more about this image go to: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/hubble-sees-brilliant-tapestry-of-stars Image Credit: *NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI) and the Westerlund 2 Science Team*

How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so? -Charles Bukowski

On Saturday, May 30th, 2020, a Space X Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft launched on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the ISS (International Space Station). This was SpaceX’s first launch with astronauts to the ISS. How cool is that? It has marked in what some are calling a new era of spaceflight. The first private American rocket with American Astronauts. The last time an American rocket, not to mention a “private one”, did this was in 2011 at the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program.

“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.” -Charles Bukowski

This is the photograph of planet Earth taken on February 14th, 1990 by the Voyager 1 space probe from a distance of about 6 billion kilometres or 3.7 billion miles. In this photo the earth appears as a tiny dot against the vastness of space. Carl Sagan coined the term “Pale Blue Dot” in his reflections on the photograph’s significance.

That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. -Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you are continuing to survive Covid 19!! Yea!! And so have I!! That is a very good thing!! As I started writing this blog post in the first week of June, the United States was just under 2 million known cases and 110,000 deaths. By the time I was getting ready to publish this post we were at 2.5 million+ cases and 127,000 deaths. Wow! Each day as I checked the stats, the numbers continued to go up as expected, especially in the states of Texas and Florida. I think that Texas and Florida lifted most of their stay at home orders April 30th. On June 10th, Texas was at 80,000 cases with 1,900 deaths and Florida was at 67,000 cases and 2,800 deaths. By June 24th, two weeks later, Texas was at 137,000 cases / 2,300 deaths and Florida was 114,000 cases / 3,300 deaths. Of course there were other states that had a similar increase in cases and deaths, but I just picked Texas (my home state) and Florida to use as examples. During the fist week or two of June the United States was adding 15,000 to more than 40,000+ new cases each day by June 26th. Some of this can be attributed to the increase in testing but the rest were a result of easing lock down restrictions or not having them at all. A rise in hospitalizations are not a result of increased testing, but an increase in virus activity within the community affected.

This picture was taken May 2nd, 2020 at about 5:30 in the afternoon. It was Janet’s birthday and we were doing our usual dog walk with Marvin. Cathryn the youngest daughter was also along. We choose to walk the bike path that day due to the rain. It had kept most people indoors and there was a minimal number of individual on the path. It was very nice to not have to wear a mask and physical distancing was a lot easier. The double rainbow was icing on the cake so to speak.

Of course there were concerns over increased infection risk when the nationwide protests over the George Floyd killing broke out. From what I have read, I have come to believe that the risk was low if you were outdoors protesting, and practiced physical distancing. But this would not be the case for individuals that were in very large crowds all packed together or if you were arrested and placed in lockup with multiple other individuals for an extended period. It now seems that the highest risk of getting the virus is anything that requires you to “breath the air of others.” Which means any type of indoor physical gathering like concerts, rallies, weddings, parties, sporting events, meetings, movie theaters, restaurants, air travel, etc…. But if you can participate outdoors with physical distancing and a mask, the risk drops significantly from what I understand. It even seems that the risk of getting the virus from physical surfaces is lower than expected. So that is some clarity and good news in how the virus proliferates within a population. Janet and I have tried to do most things online since the end of February. We have found that the ordering of groceries still leaves something to be desired. Especially when it comes to ordering greens and fresh vegetables. What you think looks good is not the same sometimes in what your buyer thinks looks good. And don’t get Janet started on expiration dates. Lol. Oh well, I am just glad that we have the ability to order online.

This picture was taken May 5th at about 8pm in the evening. Our usual route has been neighborhood streets and very little use of the bike path just due to the volume of people on it. There is a lot less of a risk in getting the virus when outdoors, but due to the continued lock down restrictions, the path was a very crowded place at times in May. **And not everyone was practicing physical distancing and wearing a mask.**

Looking at global picture I believe the numbers are much higher than what is being reported, especially in third world countries that do not have access to adequate testing and/or reporting mechanisms in place. And some countries are just not reporting or minimally reporting, like Russia and Brazil. At the first of June, Brazil’s president, Mr Bolsonaro, decided that it was best to not report cumulative data, in an attempt to hide the rising numbers. He had been previously criticized for rejecting lock-down measures recommended by the WHO (world health organization) that would have helped to stop the spread of the disease. By the end of June, Brazil had the second highest case/death count in the world (1.2 million cases/55,000 + deaths), only the United States was higher. All I can say to this madness Mr Bolsonaro, a majority of those deaths as with Orange DT, are on your hands… If you interested in seeing the numbers yourself, check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

**This picture was taken May 10th, 2020 at about 7pm. It was a cool spring day for Mother’s Day.**

As the pandemic has smoldered on, it has become readily clear that the Orange DT is much more concerned about getting reelected than the health of the countries citizens. In February it was all about how it was going to disappear and that it was under control. By first of March the verbiage was all about downplaying the risk and that it would still just go away. By the middle of March the tone had changed due to rising numbers and multiple experts calling for the government to do more. Of course this oratory did not last long. Too much “I told you so.” In April when things had gotten pretty bad in parts of the country, the rhetoric was about how hospitals were inflating the need for equipment and masks. They weren’t, I was there working. Much of April saw the Orange DT blaming the debacle he helped to create on others. Everyone from China to the WHO to Nancy Pelosi. In May, the Orange DT was crying about how it was all unfair to him and the need to open the economy back up quickly. Of course the experts in Epidemiology were warning it might be too soon. It was. Now that we are in June, the talk from his pie hole is how the pandemic is ending – its not. We are back to blaming China again, and in an audacious act of stupidity and selfishness the Orange DT has created potential “Super Spreader” events in Tulsa, Arizona and soon to be Wisconsin. All in the hope of getting reelected. I think that individuals who attend these events should all get potential “Darwin Awards.” If you are not sure what they are check out this link: https://darwinawards.com/

This photo was taken May 17th, 2020 at about 8pm. Here I am looking Northwest from the Pine Ridge Open space on the West side of Fort Collins. It was the first trail run in a long time. This area has some wide trails that allow for easy physical distancing and by going in the evening there were minimal encounters with other individuals. I believe Marvin enjoyed the change of scenery. I know that I did! Lol

On a different note Janet and I have been trying to put more of the principles of being “minimalist” into play during the Covid debacle. We first got interested in the idea when we saw the documentary by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus called “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things.” You can find the trailer and how to watch here: https://minimalismfilm.com/

We had always talked about “cleaning out the junk” we accumulated over the last few years but did not get too serious about it until now. The pandemic has given us some time to revisit this idea. Plus as I have gotten older, I realized I did not need most of the stuff that I have acquired in the past. It is just amazing how much you can amass over the years. It is still taking me a little time to get my head wrapped around it. The idea is not just about getting rid of the “old stuff,” but changing your patterns in how you consume. Just throwing out the old and then turning around and buying new is not going to fix the issue. Minimalism is much, much more than just getting rid of stuff. Some would call it a better philosophy for modern living. And in order to help myself get started I recently downloaded one of their publications: Minimalist Rulebook: 16 Rules for Living with Less. By Joshua Fields Millburn. You can find it here: https://www.theminimalists.com/rulebook/

This picture was taken May 19th, 2020, at about 3pm in the afternoon. It was my first trail run above 9,000 feet for the season. Here I am looking North, by North West at Clark Peak and the Rawah Wilderness. I am on Long Draw Reservoir road. It had been plowed a few times and melted out quickly this spring. It was a nice run because the road was only open to public foot traffic at the time. No trucks or cars to deal with. Very nice indeed.

One of the things I like in the publication is the 90/90 rule. In a nut shell this is what it is: “Have you used an item in the last 90 days? If you haven’t, will you use it in the next 90? If not, it’s okay to let it go.” Another one I like, but find it very hard to do, is the “one-in, ten-out rule.” If you buy one thing for the kitchen as an example then 10 other things have to leave the kitchen. The area that I am starting to use this rule is on books. I have been a hoarder of books for a long time. And unless my reading speed accelerates significantly, I will need two life times to read or reread them all. So this summer my plan is that any new or used books I purchase or acquire as a gift then 10 have to go out. Rule 6 in the publication is one of my favorites and I am so guilty of not doing it. I hold onto things “just in case.” It goes something like this: “You better pack it, you better keep it, you never know… “just in case.” I don’t know how many times I have said this very thing to myself or others. The reality is that you rarely need that “just in case” item. These are just a few examples from the book. Even if you are not sure about the minimalist idea it is still a good read and best of all it is free. And if you want to go even deeper check out “the Minimalists” web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/

This picture was taken May 26th, 2020 at about 6pm. It is looking West toward Cameron Pass. The trail that I was running was called Roaring Creek. It starts at about 8,000 feet and ends at 10,000. It was a weekday and I only saw one other individual on the entire trail. This was great for Marvin, he got to practice a lot of off lead running and training.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Sorry, no book reviews on this one but I promise to have a few on the next one. Keep thinking about how things are in the process of changing due to Covid. If you want something different than what was offered before the pandemic, minimalism is one way to start the process on a personnel level. Our current practices of buying and consuming are not sustainable for our planet. And until we become a true space-faring species this is a great alternative in purchasing humanity some time, so to speak. In my opinion what better a way to start a grass roots process of change by becoming minimalist. You will be happier and from an environmental perspective the earth will thank you for it.

Take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds and physical distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Economics, Exercise, Fort Collins, Pandemics, Psychology, Religion, Science, Science Fiction, Sociology, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 29TH, MAY 2020

May 29, 2020 teleskees Leave a comment

“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

On April 25th, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery. This year it turned 30 years old. It is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble and remains in operation. At some point it will be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope which is scheduled to be launched next year in March 2021. Image Credit: NASA
**Check out this montage of images taken from Hubble over the years:** https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/videos/1273-Video

“All you want is to be happy. All your desires, whatever they may be, are longing for happiness. Basically, you wish yourself well…desire by itself is not wrong. It is life itself, the urge to grow in knowledge and experience. It is the choices you make that are wrong. To imagine that some little thing – food, sex, power, fame – will make you happy is to deceive oneself. Only something as vast and deep as your real self can make you truly and lastingly happy.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

This photo of earth from space was taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7th, 1972. I am using it here to call attention to Earth Day that is now 50 years old. The first one was celebrated April 22nd, 1970. With so much of the world focused on Covid issues, I felt it was appropriate to remind us all of the incredible beauty of our home world and the need to always be vigilant in taking care of it. Image Credit: NASA

“Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor, every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath. Every moment is the Guru.” Joan Tollifson

This picture taken by Hubble is call the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. Here the pillars are seen in infrared light, which helps to see through obscuring dust and gas. The pillars are pretty cool, but to me it is the incredible amount of stars seen in the rest of the image. Imagine, this is just one part of space and the sheer number of other stars is mind blowing. Just unreal…. Image Credit: NASA
**To see the original better-known image of the pillars of creation in visible light, check out this link:** https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1501a/

“The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought. That’s what we’re going to discover again and again and again. Nothing is what we thought. I can say that with great confidence. Emptiness is not what we thought. Neither is mindfulness or fear. Compassion—not what we thought. Love. Buddha nature. Courage. These are code words for things we don’t know in our minds, but any of us could experience them. These are words that point to what life really is when we let things fall apart and let ourselves be nailed to the present moment.” Pema Chodron

A team of transatlantic scientist reanalyzing data from NASA’s Kepler Space telescope discovered an earth-sized exoplanet that is in the habitable zone of it’s solar system. Named Kepler – 1649c. It is orbiting an M-Type red dwarf star named Kepler – 1649. The above image is an artist’s illustration so it might look a lot different than pictured. The important part is that it could support liquid water. How cool is that?! Of course it is a bit of a distance away – about 300 light-years. So for now, until we get the warp engines up and running, we will have to use our imagination.

“In Science it often happens that scientists say, “You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,” and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19!! Yea!! And so have I!! That is a very good thing indeed. Life is changing and this kind of forced, rapid change is hard. You can see it, feel it and hear it, especially on social media. There are those that it is not going to make much difference but for a majority of us there will be changes. I don’t think the virus is going to go away anytime soon. It is creating a new normal and we are living through that creation right now. Where are things going to end up? That is the billion dollar question. Will we get back to the old way of doing things or will it be a version of the past with a few modifications? And how long will all this last? Another 6 months, a year or until a vaccine becomes available? I don’t really know but I think I am going to hedge my bets on the vaccine scenario. Herd immunity will not occur without significant loss of life, unless you have a vaccine. And that my friends is a hard pill to swallow.

**This picture was taken April 3rd, about 7:30pm in the evening. I was looking West just as the sun was going down in our neighborhood.**

For me, the lock down has not made too many changes… yet. Being somewhat an introvert has helped a lot. Lol. My wife and I were not big concert participants and we did not frequently eat out much except for special events. Most of our recent vacations have been “stay-at-home” types except for visiting the mountains in the RV. While most of my purchases have been online even before the outbreak, my wife’s were not. So that has been modified, especially with the grocery store. As far as work, there have been changes, but the key point is that we are both still working. I am lucky that my job has been spared budget cuts so far. Therefore the only thing that has significantly changed beside social distancing and wearing a mask outside of work, is the way I enjoy the outdoors in Colorado.

This picture was taken April 5th, 2020 at about 6:40pm. We have been doing a lot of neighborhood walking. We are lucky to live in an area that does not have a lot of neighborhood traffic. So walking in the streets is somewhat safe and easy to do. It was a nice spring day in Colorado with temps in the 60s.

By this time last year, I would have already run a couple of races, but they have all been canceled or rescheduled until later in the year. Also by this time, I would have been out in the foothills and the lower mountains for trail running with Marvin, but due to the shear volume of people out and about now, that had to change. I did not want to be a part of the problem. Even the bike trails in the middle of the day are like grand central station, compared to what it was back in April and May 2019. So you adapt and make changes. I have used the indoor bike trainer a lot the past few months. More than I have in the previous two years. If I go for an actual ride, then it has been late at night, with the fewest people on the bike trail as possible. Besides the obvious downside of this, there was an unexpected upside as well. I have walked a lot in the neighborhood the last couple of months, especially with Janet and my youngest daughter Cathryn. They are not runners, especially not trail runners, and the forced isolation has given me a chance to spend more time with them. We walk the neighborhood streets which allows plenty of social distancing.

**This picture was taken April 16th, 2020 at about 5pm. What a difference a week or so makes here in Colorado. Wow!! Marvin was enjoying it a lot.**

I think that 2020 is “over” for trail race events, fun runs, marathons, etc… I cannot imagine there would be anyway to arrange aid stations so that people would not cross contaminate each other. Even with people being very conscious of social distancing, it would be very hard to do. It is hard enough to get individuals to wear a mask at the grocery store. What would it take to get them to put one on during a steep trail climb with multiple bunched up runners. All it takes is one individual to start the process of infecting others. I have to ask myself, do I want to be exposed to that possibility. And since I work in what is considered a high risk environment, would I want to potentially expose others if I was infected? That is an unfortunate aspect of this virus. You can be shedding viral particles before you get sick. Some reports are up to three days before you get sick. In comparison, we got lucky with Ebola. For one, you did not become an infection risk until you were sick. Actually sick with a fever or other symptoms. So if you got it you were easy to screen. The other part is that the mortality was high, 60 to 90% high. While this is bad if you get the disease, you usually were not out and about, running around infecting others, so it became self limiting. Not so with Covid. You can be running your merry way around, not feeling or showing any symptoms, but still infecting others. A “perfect storm” of a virus…

**This picture was also taken on April 16th, 2020 at about 7:30pm. It is looking West along the Poudre River.**

And thinking about this brings me back to change. What is the old saying, “Change, the only constant in life is change.” I know, we have all heard this expression in one form or another. And if you are like me, you are tired of hearing it. But hear it we must, because an event like this is going to be made more difficult if we are not willing to change the way we do things. I would have to say that all the “old rules” are being challenged. It will force all of us across the spectrum of modern life, to look at things in a different way. Especially if you want to keep things running. One of the first ones I think about is schools. Closing of schools exposed the lack of access many homes have to the internet. How can kids learn remotely if they can’t get access to their teachers and learning material online? And what if you need a laptop or a desk top computer? Of course, just having internet access is a luxury for some families. Maybe the internet should be made available to all, free of charge, country wide? Schools may open in the fall and they may not. It might be next year? How can you keep things running if you can’t send kids back to school – safely??

**This picture was taken April 23rd, 2020 at about 7:30pm. What a difference in just 7 days from the above pictures. All the snow is gone. A week ago the snow in this spot was about 12 inches deep.**

The school situation is part of a much broader picture of what happens when groups of people are not allowed to meet in person, whether it be for business or pleasure. All the things that we take for granted are now being challenged by a massive scaling back of productivity in all sectors of life. And this is not a bad thing in the short term. More and more people are being asked to work from home. With some companies thinking about making the four day work week a permanent part of life. How cool would that be to have a three day weekend – every weekend? Of course it is definitely not good for a majority of people that are still out of work like those in the restaurant industry. I have no doubt that it will come back, but the question will be in what capacity. How do you keep people safe? Especially with a virus that can spread from an individual that has no symptoms? If you greatly decrease the number of people that can eat at any give time, will the profit margins be high enough for you to stay in business? I don’t have the answers to these questions and I really don’t think that any one does. Colorado is opening back up as I write this, including restaurants and it will be interesting to see what the case count will be by the middle of June.

**This picture was taken April 27th, 2020 at about 4:30pm in the afternoon. It is a close up shot of the inside of a Tulip flower.**

One thing that has really caught my attention in May, especially on social media is all the fake news out there. I mean there is usually a lot of it anyways but the Pandemic has really stepped on the accelerator. Especially the reopen America type stories. Even thought all of these stories are fake, I think that it strikes a cord with people that have been out of work for a while. And it makes it easier for them to not question the source of the message and they retweet it or share it on FB. It is not too unexpected to see how hunger and fear help to drive these pseudo stories.

Another one that I find fascinating is the conspiracy theory people. I think the individuals that create this content do it for money and some kind of morbid creative enjoyment. My opinion is that they don’t really care who it hurts. The people that buy into it are probably scared. They want answers and meaning for this terrible event that has interrupted their lives and killed family and friends. Unfortunately there is no “deep meaning” other than just what it is. A respiratory virus, ten times deadlier than the flu, that crossed over, likely from bats to humans, in which we have no immunity to. Given our ability to travel the globe, it has infected millions around the world and will continue to do so. Until an effective vaccine is developed, all the precautions we are doing now will become our new normal.

A few book reviews before I go. There are several that I have finished over the last few months and I would like to give a recommendation on them.

The first one I would like to talk about is one that might upset a few people depending on your religious or non-religious views but I feel is worth reading. Maybe more than once, no matter if you are an atheist or religious. “Religion” so to speak has been around for a very long time and over this period it has learned a lot about what makes humanity tic. This information has taken thousands of years of unofficial research and observation to obtain. And it has been incorporated into all religious texts to some degree. If you ask an atheist about whether religion should even exist, most likely the answer will be no. But in the authors opinion and mine that would be a huge waste of hard earned information about what makes us human. The book is about how we can make the world a better place by using this information. The author explains how the “tools of religion” can build a better sense of community, better relationships, better appreciation of art and other cultures, better techniques for learning, etc… This is not about trying to convert anyone to a particular religion. But a look at what it means to not have the “god figure” involved at all. This book works great in traditional format and as an audio book. You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Religion-for-Atheists

The next one I want to talk about also has a religious theme but not how you would expect. The author looks at how religion has been incorporated by different Science Fiction writers over the last 50 years or so. He uses examples from literature as expected but also from television and films. The part that I really liked is how some stories have religious overtones that when I read or viewed them initially, I did not really comprehend it. But after reading the book, it makes much more sense now. I have always felt that our future has already been written in a SiFi book or more likely several books, just by accident. And that our reality is defined by the tools that we have at the moment. As your tools change so does your reality. Reading the book, one of the conclusions I came to was that this also applies to religion. From the book: “A church that dwells in the past is certain to lose touch with the world in which its believers live, and if religion is to meet the spiritual needs of coming generations, it must be willing to face the future with an open mind.” How powerful a statement. This book is only available as Paperback and Kindle. I wish that it was on audio book because it would be worth a second listen on a long car trip. You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-according-Science-Fiction-Twilight

The last one I would like to recommend is another science fiction selection that has 6 books so far. It is called the Red Rising Series. Written by Pierce Brown. It borrows from the Roman past to tell a dystopian future. If you liked the “Hunger Games” you will probably like this series as well. It is the classic story about the “haves” and the “have nots.” A human conflict that is as old as humanity is itself. This series is available in all formats. I thoroughly enjoyed it as an audio book. You can find it on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Pierce-Brown

Well that is about it for me on this Blog post. As the Pandemic continues to drag on, I want to ask you this question again. What do you want “your new normal” to be. This is a great opportunity to create something different. Remember the old guard may not like what you have in mind and will try to divert your attention by selling and telling you things that help you to feel normal. And if that is what you need at this moment, then by all means take it. But if you want something different…resistance is not futile. If you are wondering and want to take a deeper plunge into something different than the current economic system, there is a YouTube channel called Democracy at Work and is hosted by Richard D Wolff – a Harvard Educated Professor of Economics. Check out some of the videos and I will let you be the judge. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK-6FjMu9OI8i0Fo6bkW0VA

Take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds and social distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Life and Meaning, Trail Running

MUSING FOR SUNDAY 16TH, JUNE 2019

June 17, 2019 teleskees Leave a comment

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all this to happen: Room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” Pema Chodron

“…anyone who stands on the edge of the unknown, fully in the present without a reference point, experiences groundlessness. That’s when our understanding goes deeper, when we find the present moment is a pretty vulnerable place… completely unnerving and completely tender at the same time.” Pema Chodron

“To be fully alive, fully human and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.” Pema Chodron

Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there!! Damn it has been a good couple of weeks. Great running in FoCo and the weather here on the Front Range has finally decided to stay warm for a bit . A plus to all this is I have had the luxury of staying part of this last week in Summit County. While some of the really high trails are not clear yet for hiking or running due to snow, the rest of the terrain around Breckenridge has been fantastic. I really, really should not complain!! Life is good!! Lol

**Marvin’s first RV trip. This picture was taken the first night of our “camping out” and I am not sure if he is down with it yet?! This dog always seems to have a serious look on his face! Lol**

In this blog I thought I would include a few quotes from Pema Chodron. They are from her book called “When Things Fall Apart.” I believe that these are timeless truths that echo a lot of what the Author Brene Brown talks about when she speaks of the power of vulnerability. I read the book from Pema a few years ago when it first came out, once as an audio book and once as an e-book. I felt that strongly about it. The thing that I have found interesting about the book is how the messages she lays out keep coming up over and over again and again. Or at least they do for me. Especially the first quote about how things come together and then fall apart. Nothing is truly “fixed” in life and for those of us that have a little trouble with change this can be very hard. It has helped me to see that there are no absolutes in life. That there are many, many shades of black and white. And that it is OK.

This picture was taken on Thursday 13th, June 2019. It is of Janet and Marvin on a section of the Colorado Trail that goes into Breckinridge. Beautiful evening of hiking with Marvin. Again what is it with the serious face?! Lol

Things come together and they fall apart and come together again and fall apart again. Whether it be families or vacations, jobs, buying a house or not buying a house, births, deaths, events, parties, the list could just go on and on and on. In my opinion that is just the way life works. One of the tricks to working with this fact, I think, is to just show up. Put the fear aside of what might or might not happen and just show up. Sometimes things will work out and sometimes they don’t but you will never know if you don’t show up. Just that simple. You have to show up. And I remind myself of this as I write. Part of the plan for being up in Summit county this weekend was to run the Leadville Trail Marathon. That was the plan. And I did NOT show up. Talked myself right out of it… Now I have to ask myself. What was that about?? Was it the weather forecast? It was suppose to rain and be cold all day. Was it the fear of not finishing? I had trained quit a bit this year and put in more running miles than I did by this time last year. Was it just fear in general? I always have a little underlying anxiety anytime I plan to run a race. This is nothing new.

This picture was taken at the Starbucks in Breckenridge on Saturday 15th, 2019. They usually do not allow dogs in the building but because Marvin was being so nice they made an exception for us. Lol. He seemed to enjoy it.

Or was it just a combination of all the above? I don’t know for sure but I have been in this situation before and I do know the solution no matter what the reason is. You just have to SHOW UP. Just that simple but OH so hard at times. All I needed to do was just show up and it would have all worked out.

It turned out the weather was fantastic, at least on the Breckinridge side. A few afternoon showers but very nice otherwise. Sure it is never easy running 26 miles at elevation but I had trained for it. You just have to see past the anxiety and fear and just show up. For whatever reason, this year I did not do that. And it is hard to admit this, but the “what ifs” got the better of me. Oh well you live and learn. On the plus side I did get to spend a fantastic day with Janet and Marvin. Things come together and they fall apart but not always as you might expect……

**Hiking with Janet and “Serious” Marvin on Sunday 16th, June 2019. What a great day!!**

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. I hope everyone had a great two weeks and I hope to see you out there on the trails, whether it be biking, hiking, running, or just plain walking!! Adios amigos!!

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Politics, RVs, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 2ND, JUNE 2019

June 2, 2019 teleskees Leave a comment

“How the hell could a person enjoy being awakened at 6:30 AM, by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?” – Charles Bukowski

“Maybe freedom really is nothing left to lose. You had it once in childhood, when it was okay to climb a tree, to paint a crazy picture and wipe out on your bike, to get hurt. The spirit of risk gradually takes its leave. It follows the wild cries of joy and pain down the wind, through the hedgerow, growing ever fainter. What was that sound? A dog barking far off? That was our life calling to us, the one that was vigorous and undefended and curious.”
― Peter Heller, Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet’s Tsangpo River

“None of your knowledge, your reading, your connections will be of any use here: two legs suffice, and big eyes to see with. Walk alone, across mountains or through forests. You are nobody to the hills or the thick boughs heavy with greenery. You are no longer a role, or a status, not even an individual, but a body, a body that feels sharp stones on the paths, the caress of long grass and the freshness of the wind. When you walk, the world has neither present nor future: nothing but the cycle of mornings and evenings. Always the same thing to do all day: walk. But the walker who marvels while walking (the blue of the rocks in a July evening light, the silvery green of olive leaves at noon, the violet morning hills) has no past, no plans, no experience. He has within him the eternal child. While walking I am but a simple gaze.”
― Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking

Well it has been another great two weeks and I really cannot complain too much at the moment. Life is pretty good. The weather here in Colorado on the Front Range has seen some good days of near perfect weather and others that are much wetter and closer to what I would consider the Pacific Northwest. Lol. Running has been coming along as expected and the ski season has been extend at several of the major resorts. I have not seen this in a long time. Pretty amazing. In hindsight, I would have taken advantage of this extended season but having a new puppy has required a lot more of a time commitment than I first realized. Oh well I know that it will be worth it in the long run. Marvin has been great “therapy” for Janet and I both.

**This picture was taken on Wednesday 29th, May 2019. Marvin was 15 weeks on this day and weighed in at 47.2 lbs. Again, what is it with the serious looks?! Not sure where that comes from. Lol**

My next race or run for me is the Leadville Trail Marathon on June 15th. But after seeing the amount of snow that fell this past week makes me wonder if they are going to have to reroute some of the course. A few years back I did the Half Marathon and found that there was a significant section of the course that had been dug out by volunteers so that we could still run the original route. I am guessing that this year has even more snow present. So it will be interesting to see what the route looks like come race time. It might make for some unique pictures.

This picture was taken Saturday 25th, May 2019. It is looking West off of a spur of the Poudre River Trail. Just a gorgeous afternoon in Fort Collins that day. Could not have asked for better weather.

I have started the process of getting the RV ready for summer. It is a class C Bigfoot Motor home. We have now owned it for about 13 years this coming June. So far I don’t have much to complain about with it. It is a 30 foot diesel. The Bigfoot Manufacturing Plant is still in business but they only make slide in truck campers and trailers now. They temporarily went out of business like a lot of the RV manufactures did a few years back. When they reorganized and started up business again the Motor Home line had been dropped. It is too bad in a lot of ways because the MHs they were turning out at the time were very well built for the price. You can find features on ours that still only come with much more expensive units. My only regret with mine is that it has no slides. And in hind sight it would have been really nice to have that extra space. Oh well you live and learn. My plan for this season is to use it more this summer for short trips that involve trail running. I let you know how that goes.

This picture was taken Friday 31st, May 2019. We have now owned this RV for 13 years. A lot of good memories. My only regret with this purchase was no slides. Sure could have used the extra space at times, **especially when the kids traveled with us.**

Now I would like to write a little something that will verge on the political. Lol. I do not call Trump the president. My favorite name for him is the “Grand Cheeto.” I feel that he was significantly helped to get elected by the Russians. This fact was verified by the Mueller investigation. Sure, some will probably ask how much did the fake Face Book posts really help or not? And some will believe that it did not make much difference. I am of the opinion that it helped significantly. The fake negative adds on Hilary and the fake positive ones for Trump. And to back my opinion up, all you have to do is look towards the world of advertising. Think about it. Why would big companies spend billions and billions for advertising their products if it did not work. There are some estimates that this is about 100 billion per year. Let me say that again. 100 billion in TV ads alone per year. That is an awful waste of money if it does not work. What the Russians did was advertise for Trump. And they were very successful at it. I have friends and family on FB that still quote fake ads from four years ago. If that is not a definition of temporary insanity, then I don’t know what is.

This picture was taken Sunday 26th, May 2019. It is looking West from the open space called River Bend Ponds. Again perfect running weather, not too hot or cold, slight breeze so the air quality was good.

There is a quote by the author Neil Gaiman: “Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and adventures are shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten.” The Russian election interference is a perfect example of this. I am guessing that years and years from now there will still be people in the world that believe and refer to the “fake ads” as if they were the gospel truth. Crazy but shows a deeper insight into our human nature and how it can easily be manipulated. This has been known by conmen since time immortal.

**This picture was taken on Thursday 30th, May 2019. It is looking South West at the Pine Ridge open space in Fort Collins. Things are really starting to green up a bit from just a month ago.**

The other part of the Mueller investigation that I want to touch on briefly is what he said this past week. “If we had confidence the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” That pretty much says it all. The “Grand Cheeto” is guilty. Period. Now the question becomes what law or laws did he break? I am wondering if this will ever come to light. Maybe. The interesting thing is how many in the Republican controlled Senate still support him. To me it begs the question are some of them guilty too? Or are they just willing to over look his “law breaking” behavior because he can give them something they want? I am guessing that they believe there is enough “checks and balances” in our system to stop someone like him from going to far?! I hope they are right….

**Damn! This says it all in one sentence!**

I stopped getting worked up with all the “bat shit crazy” stuff being put out from him and his administration a while back. The trick is to see it for what it really is, a song and dance routine done for the masses. It encourages his supporters and riles up the left, but at the same time draws attention away from the important stuff. For me this has been the trick, to not get caught up in all the drama. It is an old ruse from the mythical play book called the “Conman’s Craft.”

**This picture was taken Friday 31st, May 2019. It is looking West across the Pine Ridge Open Space. Marvin checking out the dogs in the dog park, from a distance. Lol.**

Well that is going to be about it for me on this post. I hope the Mueller report causes you to pause and think, the Russian interference and that line by Mueller: “If we had confidence the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”

Whether you are Democrat, Republican or Independent, ask yourself, what are you willing to look the other way on when the next election comes around?!

Take care my friends, may your trails be they dirt or paved, be twisty and interesting!! Adios amigos!!

Struggling Protoplasm

Category Archives: Trail Running

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Life is good, bad, beautiful and ugly – but it is all experience, so drink it up and guzzle it down my friend, for it is all that we are given!!