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Vleeptron has slowed, and Vleeptron apologizes.
The Vleepton Dude is leaving the comfortable little cottage he's parked his butt in for 26 years, and moving to a new house 15 miles west in the wood of a tiny town in the Appalachian hills (the world's oldest and shortest mountains).
That's it, as seen from low Earth orbit, or some high-flying reconaissance airplane, in a Google Earth image from 2005. (Not much has changed since then, What you see is what it still is and what it promises to remain for at least the next decade.)
I'm dying to move to the new house.
But it's killing me to rip up my safe, happy old nest, throw out tons of stuff, every bit of which -- documents, postcards, travel brochures, letters, some never opened -- has deep emotional meaning to me. Half of it makes me weep with happiness, half makes me weep with sadness. I'm weeping a lot.
This old house was not only safe and comfy to me and S.W.M.B.O., but provided safety, warmth, and a couch for dozens of people a bit down on their luck. (Since I was a kid, I've always taken in strays, like Elmer Elevator, the boy hero of my favorite kid's book, "My Father's Dragon.") And many cats, from kittens to oldsters, have enjoyed good, well-fed, pampered times and pretty damn good hunting in and around this old house.
If I survive the horrible torment of this move, I should be in front of my very first wood-burning stove in the woods around the first week in October. You're invited to be among the first to enjoy the warmth, the wood stove, the cocoa, the extra bathroom (!!!!!), the guest room, and beautiful views of forest and hills from the deck and through every window. Take a stroll down to the beaver pond (upper right) and meet our industrious wild neighbors splashing their tails, along with long-legged wetland birds.
The Peace and Quiet ...
But until then, the Vleeptron Dude and his high-strung nervous system is a mess. Please shoot some sympathy my way and wish that I get through this Mega-Stress Moment to the Serenity promised on the other end.
Did someone ask if we'll have high-speed Internet and hi-def TV? Yeah, DSL and a satellite dish (they all aim west, where all the satellites are).
And when the electricity fails, from winter ice storms or summer deluges, we'll have the automatic kick-in electric generator! We won't starve or freeze! I've wanted one forever!
Vleeptron will keep trying to bring you interesting posts, but bear with this temporary slowdown.
6 comments:
I wish you the best of luck with your new life in the wilderness!
Hiya Hiya Maxi Maxi
In my Littany of Gripes and Wallow in Self-Pity, I was remiss. I forgot to mention that Clear Night Skies have come back to my life.
The stars in the heavens, the Evening and the Morning Star, the occasional comet drive-by, the nebulae -- the fuzzy things that turned out to be galaxies like our Milky Way -- have returned to my eyeballs, from thence to my brain, from thence to my heart.
C. bought me my first telescope for Christmas, an entry-level Celestron refractor, great optics. Now features of several of the Planets will be mine -- the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and its Great Red Spot (some kind of really nasty cyclone that lasts forever).
Whining and moaning and self-pity will resume shortly, but tonight -- maybe lots stars, and the Moon's just past full. I could try to find a particular crater.
If you do something spectacular in astronomy, they name stuff after you in the Heavens. Clavius cooked up the Gregorian reformed calendar -- that's his crater where they find the Monolith in "2001." If I get clever and lucky, I can see it from here.
I hope to crap Clavius is not on the far, the Dark Side. This thing can't see through solid rock or see around corners.
I'm a little new to this level of details in the night sky.
She also got me 2 excellent Peterson's Guides to Stuff in the Sky. Peterson publishes the best bird guides.
The Zapotecs pointed the arrow-shaped J Building temple on Monte Alban at a bright star called Capella. They threw a Real Big Party every time the temple pointed right at Capella. Now I can see Capella, too. I will throw a small party if I do.
One goofy thing about this telescope -- and I knew this was coming -- is that Everything is Upside-Down: Up is Down, South is North, etc.
With reflectors, Everything is left-right Backwards.
I hope that's accurate. I will check the Peterson guides.
Ask me about chromatic aberration. I've seen it!
Sounds like your new home is bringing life back - exciting explorations and adventures. Can't wait to hear more!
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