Change of Seasons

Last week it was in the upper 90's with hot, dry winds.  But the trees know that summer won't last much longer....

I've mostly stuck to my three times a week postings.  This is number 2220 spread out over 12 and a half years.  That's actually about 3.4 per week, as archaeology jaunts with daily posts boost the count a bit.

Summer turning to fall is a transition in lots of ways.  Posting might be trending more towards robotics as that enterprise is growing in interesting ways.  I'll have one of my UK friends over for a visit next month and I'll be trying to show her the Real America beyond the view of the BBC and popular media.  Hopefully I can still stay clear of political stuff but we'll soon be within a year of what looks to be an extremely weird Presidential election.

In any event, see you here and there on a regular basis.  I might skip a post now and then, having seen that 3.4 a week stat!

In Cahoots

Cahoots, usually framed as being "in cahoots" is an interesting word.  It is a fairly recent word, probably early 19th century.  It sounds like and apparently is of American origins.

But it probably goes way back.  To be in cahoots implies an alliance, a cooperation perhaps of an illicit variety.  It may well go all the way back to Latin, where a Cohort was a unit of auxiliary soldiers.

In period inscriptions it is usually framed as COHORS or shortened to COH.  Here's an example:

I find it interesting that a term that once indicated a military "Band of Brothers" sort of arrangement now suggests low level hanky panky.  Interesting times we live in.

Best of luck to my pal Dylan who starts excavating on Monday.  He always finds the coolest inscriptions.

Wrenches, Birds and Dogs

 New business cards for the robotics team.  Hank the dog approves.  

Frenchy the Bottle Fiend

Below is a photo from Deadwood Dakota Territory, date unclear.  It shows a hillside covered in empty bottles.  I first ran across it back in the early 1980's when I lived in South Dakota and knew various people interested in Territorial history, old bottles and old photographs.

The theories on this varied.  Often said to be "empties" cascading out the back of a raucous saloon, there was a counter theory that somebody had intentionally collected the bottles.  On a whim I did a bit of sleuthing, and the second theory is the correct one.

Lets talk about Frenchy the Bottle Fiend.

Start with the photo.  It was taken by a pioneer photographer of the West named Stanley J. Morrow.  He is known to have visited and photographed Deadwood on a number of occasions starting in 1876 when the mining boom town was established.  This photo is somewhere in the 1876-1878 time frame.  I found one frustratingly vague reference to its appearing in a "period publication" with the caption "Bottle Fiend's Ranch in Deadwood".  I suspect this was from later in the 19th century when somebody was putting together a retrospective of the town's colorful early days.  In any event, somebody remembered......

The first mention of The Fiend in contemporary newspapers comes from The Black Hills Weekly Times, March 23rd 1878.

His real name is variously given as Justin Cachlin or as Justa Cacheline.  He clearly came to Deadwood early on, but of his previous life there is little information.  Or rather, a bunch of dubious info.  The Deadwood paper speaks quite disparagingly of an account of The Bottle Fiend that appeared in a rival paper down the gulch in Lead.  It implausibly claimed that Cacheline had been a Lieutenant in the US Army that he was independently wealthy, and that he had amassed a half million bottles.  

Rather he seems to have been something of a harmless eccentric.  He wandered the streets of Deadwood in bizarre attire sometimes borrowed from household clotheslines.  He carried a sack which he filled with empty bottles, taking them back to his shanty.  Various accounts claim he intended to sell them back to the breweries and distilleries that sent them off to this thirsty boom town, but the logistics made this difficult.  There were at this time no trains into the gold mining region of the Black Hills.  Everything came in and went out on "bull trains" long lines of carts pulled by oxen.  A cargo of whiskey or even beer could pay off.  Hauling empty, smelly, clanking bottles back to civilization was less of a viable business.

Frenchy was a valued member of the community but seems to have been the butt of many jokes, practical, journalistic and otherwise.  Little boys would sometimes throw rocks at his collection of bottles.  He was hauled before the magistrate a few times on the plausible charge of public nuisance.  This April 1878 article suggests he was quite talkative but mostly in a nonsensical fashion.

The Bottle Fiend did not live an easy life.  In December of 1880 it was reported that he was very ill, "....all alone in his cabin, with only the ground for a bed and a lot of old rags for bedding."  Soon thereafter his obituary was published.  It appeared in papers across Dakota Territory.

His "strange and mysterious life" came to an end.  There was some attempt to carry on the task of clearing bottles from the saloons and gutters - one of the street commissioners took this on as a part time job and was proclaimed the new "bottle fiend".  But oddly, the legend of the Bottle Fiend carried on.

"Deadwood" was a fairly popular show for a while.  It was based on a book of the same name by South Dakota author Pete Dexter.  In the book, but not the show, The Bottle Fiend is a  supporting character.  Mr. Dexter seems to have done his research well, so his account of the Fiend working at the public baths and having attempted suicide repeatedly could have some basis in fact, even in a work of fiction.

The indispensable Find a Grave website lists yet another variation on his name "Justine Cochelin" date of birth unknown, place of birth "France".  He rests not on Boot Hill but at Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Deer Hunting 2023 - Getting Ready....

Monday was on line sign up for deer hunting permits.  We appear to be in good shape.

One of our regulars will be home taking care of a new baby, but we have another new hunter coming along this year.  Although we don't all hunt in the same place our extended clan now has five deer hunters.

And then there's Dog.  He's oblivious.  When we are walking up north and a deer trots across the road he's generally interested only in what he can see and smell right in front of him.  But the other day when we were on an "in town" walk he spotted some cement lawn ornament deer.....

But surely he's not dumb enough to mistake them for the real thing????

All Too Clear on the Concept?

The riverfront park where we were set up to do robot demos recently is a very nice place.  Except in the early Spring.  The reason the land is available as a public space is because it is in the flood plain.  The park structures were designed to tolerate this for a week or two every year.  That of course does not keep people from griping about it....

At the River Fest there were a bunch of giant inflatable Bouncy Things.  A couple of the robotics team kids actually went over and partook  of said Bounciness.  One of the Bounce Venues was set up about 50 feet from where the above photo was taken earlier this year.  They seem to be Prepared....

Summertime Robots

Along with another area team we set up over the weekend and did demos at the town's River Fest.  Its one of those "just for fun" things, and it was great to have half the team come by for various lengths of time.  Darn kids they keep growing, and even the passage of a few months is noticeable.  

A few pictures, also just for fun.

Pretty good crowd on a lovely day.

Always looking for the Drivers of the Future.  A kid brother in this case.  He's not bad.

Video of the two robots operating in tandem.  Not long afterwards they both broke down and repair skills had to be recalled...

One thing about summer demos where you are running the robot for long periods of time.  Things get hot.  One of our motors was really cookin' so a couple of ice packs from the cooler had to be applied during its rest time.

In a couple of weeks the robot is going to be expected to present awards to people.  So I had them practice grabbing atypical objects.  A pop can.  A small beach ball.  And my baseball cap...

Doll Baby's Night Out

My grand daughter is still interested in dolls, although she is now old enough and sophisticated enough to know they are not real.  Except for one.  Her earliest doll is one she started calling "Doll Baby" as soon as she started talking.  The grand daughter that is....Doll Baby, or DB as I call her....only talks when I'm around.  And a sassy, ill behaved little imp she is!

The other day it was decided that Doll Baby could stay up at the cabin with grandpa when the kids went home.  So what sort of mischief will DB get into when poorly supervised????

Swiping the last brownie.

Insisting that I walk her instead of the dog.  Note how the dog's eyes are bugging out over this.

Swiping the dog's treats.

Now this will not end well...

Driving Grandpa's car.  She and the dog have it all worked out.  She turns the wheel and he works the pedals.  Also not gonna end well....

Barbenheimer Anticipated

Many, many years ago when I was doing combat robots with one of my sons we dabbled in assorted comic relief ventures.  Mostly Barbie Jeeps with weaponry.

Given the recent cross over interest between Barbie and Oppenheimer I think we were prophetic. Although our version of Barbie Land does seem a bit more "Mad Maxine"

 

 

Farewell Mushroom March

I've been putting out geocaches for about four years now.  Some are basic.  But in most cases I'm trying for more.  An interesting container or highlighting an obscure bit of local history.  A couple of series caches have been on nature themes, such as the Strange Fish series.

One such series I did a couple of years ago was called The Mushroom March.  There was a woodland trail known to be popular with people out looking for edible mushrooms, so I decided to make things a bit more interesting and have five geocaches along the way.  Each had a specific theme.  Each one got harder.

Geocaches are rated on a star system.  One star is easy, five is really hard.  So MushroomMarch-1 I figured would be walk up and there it is.  MM-5 would be devilishly difficult.

As it happens I succeeded all too well.

Most of the containers I placed "weathered in" to the point that my star ratings were not nearly hard enough.  

As this series was pretty isolated it did not get many visits.  It's a very pretty walk, but lots of mosquitos.  So recently I decided to discontinue it and add more caches closer to home.  Here's a retrospective view.   That is, if you can see 'em!

Mushroom March 5 - Illusions.

The slight angulation could be a tip off, the container was starting to sag.  It had not been found in 18 months.  For those who did it was very popular.  Over 60% Favorites rating.

Mushroom March 4 - Alice.  Sometimes geocachers decide to change things on you.  This one was left upside down which makes it far easier.

In its proper configuration it was at least the four stars I gave it.  A hunk of wood in the middle of a forest full of downed lumber..

Mushroom March 3 - Attack of the Mushroom People.  This one honored a cheesy Sci Fi flick of my youth.  By now your eye is trained in so of course you see this paltry three star...

Mushroom March 2 - Homer Price  This one you can see.  Note that it actually has mushrooms growing not only next to it but ON IT!

Which brings us to Mushroom March 1.  This is right next to the parking lot and as such does get a bit of traffic.  I was tempted to leave it in place.  It's only a simple one star difficulty, right?

Well maybe not.  Here, lets sweep away some leaves.

Anyway I did decide this one could stay "in play" albeit with a higher difficulty rating.  In case any intrepid geocachers have read this far, congratulations and here's an even better hint.

Our Companions and Jesters.....

I recall a quote by C.S. Lewis that describes animals as "our companions and jesters".  Of course I can't track it down, even with the help of the internet.  I think it is in Perelandra somewhere. * Well what the heck, if he didn't say it he should have.  And maybe made it specific to dogs.

Dogs have been there for us ever since their shaggy ancestors snuck up close to the fire beside our equally shaggy predecessors.  

I periodically get a chance to take care of our kid's dogs.  Two of them, Reba and Hank, were over the other day.

 

I know there are some people who identify more strongly with cats.  To each their own I guess.  But I prefer dogs.  They have all of mankind's major virtues.  Bravery, Loyalty, Patience.  They have none of our vices except Immoderation.  They will eat, sleep and procreate as much as is Caninely possible.

One of these days I'll have to get another dog of my own.  I figure I'll wait until I lose a step or two and am snoozing in the sun whenever possible.  Then I'll adopt an old dog with similar inclinations.

*As it happens the quote, when I finally tracked it down, is from the subsequent book in the series "That Hideous Strength":  

"We are now as we ought to be - between the angels who are our elder brothers and the beasts who are our jesters, servants and playfellows".

Fungus or Fungo?

My usual walking route goes by a school facility that has baseball fields.  The other day there was a family there, the dad pitching to his young son.  When I walked by today I saw this:

So was this a ball hit a surprising distance for a fledging ball player?  Nope.

Fungus.  Some kind of puff ball.  Well what about this?  Did the kid leave his glove behind?

Again, no.  Again, some kind of fungus, although almost the right size for a kid's glove.

Got me thinking.  The term in baseball for fly balls hit for fielding practice is "fungo" or "fungoe".  The origins of the phrase?  Unknown.  Maybe this is where it came from, going back the next day looking for the balls in tall grass and finding fungus instead!