Friday, December 2, 2011 Lethbridge
6:30 am
The temperature is -2° C, with a high predicted of -5° C. From the Environment Canada website: Today A mix of sun and cloud. 30 percent chance of flurries or rain showers this morning and early this afternoon. Wind west 50 km/h gusting to 70 becoming northwest 30 gusting to 50 this morning. Temperature falling to minus 5 this afternoon. Tonight Clear. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 becoming light this evening. Wind becoming west 30 before morning. Low minus 10. Normals Max: 1°C Min: -11°C.
6:40 am Morning Musings
I have my cuppa in front of me.
Now to have a thought.
First thought. Geocaching in the winter is not as pleasant as in the summer. I could go out today, and I may, but it is cold and windy. Then again, why not?
Second thought. Have a second cup.
Third thought. It is hard having thoughts first thing in the morning.
Fourth thought. The gondola car I bought yesterday for my model train layout is actually called a dump car. Now to do a little research to see if I can find the proper AAR code for this type of car. Done: GD - An open top car, having fixed or drop ends, solid bottom and sides equipped with doors for dumping.
Fifth thought: I need to spend more time (today) updating my Ship It files to reflect the addition of this car. I also need to fasten the various hand grabs to the sides of the car. And I should take a photo of the car for my database.
Sixth thought: Continue making the concept map for "The Tree of Knowledge".
Seventh thought: I am only into the fourth chapter of "1Q84" and already have a sense that something is not quite right. The parallel universe theme is in the back of my mind.
Eighth thought: How many of the 5 remaining caches in Lethbridge are tagged as "winter friendly"? Answer: 2, one of which is a night cache that requires a flashlight. But there is not much snow on the ground so the other 3 should still be possible.
Ninth thought: Photography! I really should spend more time on this. There are still many features on the camera that I am not familiar with plus I should continue reading about composition and exposure. A trip into Calgary to visit a camera store and discuss lenses and teleconverter would be a good idea. Now for some good driving weather.
Tenth thought: Spend a little more time with my iPad2.
8:10 am Science
Here is the mind map for the next 3 chapters of "The Tree of Knowledge":
11:30 am Geocaching
Today was a good day to try for another cache in Lethbridge. The weather was fine, no wind, and this was another day which needed a find.
- GC2XBGM - Sugar bowl CARL3
I have now found a cache on 3 different days in December. Unfortunately I am running out of caches in Lethbridge (only 4 left) so I will soon go into hibernation. I have found 288 for 2011, but another 12 before the end of the year looks unlikely at the moment.
4:00 PM Model Trains
I have updated my database and my Ship It! files to include the new gondola dump car. I have also deleted 3 gondola cars that were among the first cars I bought almost 20 years ago. They simply didn't fit into my layout. They were too light and continually gave me trouble with derailing. I still need to add the grab irons to the dump car. Maybe tomorrow.