Friday September 5, 2008 7:00 am Lethbridge

It is +7 C with a high forecast of +17 C. Sunrise 6:53 Sunset 20:06 Hours of daylight: 13:13.
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This page last updated on: Saturday, September 6, 2008 4:06 PM

A. Morning Musings

Most mornings, my musings consist of trying to identify a few tasks and Learning Activities (LA's) for the day. Some mornings also have the occasional muse.

Let's begin. I have my coffee (an essential crutch) and am beginning to warm up my neuron. I have a coffee set up at Mojo's Pub & Grill for 3 PM. If the rain holds off I plan to barbeque a salmon for dinner.

Now for the LA's. I like to walk to Mojo's, but weather may be a factor today. Nonetheless, I will see if I can locate a couple of geocaches to find while on the way. Ideally I should be able to combine this with a little birding. My back pack will then need binoculars, camera, telephoto lens, monopod stand for camera, towel for displaying stuff in geocache, Garmin nuvi 850 GPS unit, extra battery for Garmin. I feel like I am preparing for an expedition instead of a quick trip to the pub.

Model Trains. I am making good progress on my understanding of DCC. I am going to see if I can program the decoder on CN 6700 diesel locomotive to respond to the number 6700 instead of the default of 3. Then I am going to have a look at the instructions for wiring a Digitrax decoder for handling 4 of my mainline turnouts in the Jasper town.

Literature: I will sit down for at least an hour and continue reading "The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek"

Learning Category	Planned Activities for Today	Time
Literature	Continue reading "The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek" by Sid Marty	1 hr
Geocaching	Try to find 2 geocaches on route to Mojo's	1 hr
Model Trains	Program CN 6700 to respond to 6700 instead of the default of 3	1 hr
Model Trains	Read manual for installing Digitrax turnout decoder	2 hr

B. Actual Learning Activities

7:30 am

I have identified 3 geocaches (GC1607D, GC15Z20, GC1AJBC) that are on the way to Mojo's and have the locations downloaded to my nuvi. I think the third one is on a trail that I often walk while doing a coulee trip. Unfortunately the first two geocaches are both in the vicinity of schools so this may have to wait until tomorrow.

8:10 am

I have read the MRC Prodigy Wireless User's Manual and think the following steps will allow me to use the number 6700 (instead of the default value of 3) when controlling CN 6700.

Place the loco on the Program Track (a small section of track in the Coaldale yard).
Press PROG to select Prog Prog Track. Press ENTER.
"Adr" will flash, prompting me to program the loco address.
Enter 6700 and press ENTER.
Put loco on the main track.
Select the loco by pressing LOCO and then enter 6700 and press ENTER. That should do it.

This appears to have worked perfectly. The locomotive now responds to commands after I indicate that I am "talking" to 6700. Great.

5:00 PM

Mojo's was great.

I tried to find geocache GC1607D "Green space with a Lakie view" on the way to Mojo's. I had no difficulty finding the appropriate tree but was unable to find the cache. These "little green things in trees" are definitely giving me trouble. On the way back I decided to look for GC1AJBC "Hillside". This time I was looking for a large rock. This was also my first experience at trying to find a cache on the edge of the coulee which has a number of deep and impenetrable gullies cutting into the edge. My first guess was a poor one and I had to retrace my steps and go for the next outcrop over. A second nuance has to do with the altitude. This information in not provided and it is not clear whether one should take a path that goes down one of the gullies or try to stay on the plateau above. Tricky. I did find a few large rocks on the side of the hill that were very close to the coordinates but I did not find the cache. My success rate so far is not that impressive.

Here is a table of my efforts:

ID	Name	Location	First Try	Attempts	Result	Found #
GC16ZFP	NS West #2	West Lethbridge	2008.08.24	2	DNF
GCX1J0	Mosquito	West Lethbridge	2008.08.24	1	Found	1
GC1A9T4	NS West #4	West Lethbridge	2008.08.24	1	DNF
GC16Y8C	NS West	West Lethbridge	2008.08.24	2	DNF
GC1C5F2	Soccor Anyone?	West Lethbridge	2008.08.25	1	Found	2
GC1AAPB	Pining for You	West Lethbridge	2008.08.26	1	DNF
GC19DPN	Lethbridge TB Hotel	Lethbridge	2008.08.27	1	Found	3
GC13B90	Lessard Road Sinkhole	Edmonton	2008.08.29	2	Found	4
GC13BVQ	Boogity, Boogity, Boogity	Edmonton	2008.08.29	2	Found	5

GC1AAW3	NS WEST #5	West Lethbridge	2008.09.04	1	Found	6
GC1ACZ3	NS WEST #7	West Lethbridge	2008.09.04	1	Found	7
GC1AX8H	Seeking Knowledge	West Lethbridge	2008.09.04	1	DNF
GC1607D	Green space with a Lakie view	West Lethbridge	2008.09.05	1	DNF
GC1AJBC	Hillside	West Lethbridge	2008.09.05	1	DNF

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