Nice smooth race. Nice new cars; a new design. A few wrecks, but nothing tragic. Mostly it was about racing. With identical cars now, nobody ran away with it. Nobody could stay out front for long either. With evenly matched cars it was all about lead changes. Sometimes the lead changed every lap. I do miss the intrigue of the old days. Different cars. Different chassis. Different kinds of engines. There was room for secrecy and sneak-attacks like Andy Granatelli’s STP gas turbine car surprise back in 1967. Remember that? He developed it in secret. He stuck an aircraft engine in a redesigned Indy car and competed against all the conventional cars. Took the field by surprise. Took the entire establishment by surprise. He led 172 of the 200 laps. He would have won easily, but a $6 bearing broke in the rear-end before he could finish. By the next season they had updated the rules to eliminate his advantage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRr-DGO2sOw Now they’re going 220mph plus and they have to keep changing the rules to keep the cars from going faster. In the early days they allowed engine displacement of 7,400cc’s. Now it’s all the way down to 2,200. Judy made us a nice picnic lunch so I didn’t have to get up, and I got to watch the race with my son in Colorado. We texted back and forth through it. Altogether a good time.
It’s fun to go to nurseries here
They tend to look like this:
A vast selection of tropical and sub-tropical plants. We got one of these, a Mediterranean Fan Palm.
A vast selection of tropical and sub-tropical plants. We got one of these, a Mediterranean Fan Palm. Migration
Eastern Kingbirds
It takes weeks for them to all pass through. We see 20 or 30 a day during the height of the migration.
It takes weeks for them to all pass through. We see 20 or 30 a day during the height of the migration. Indy 500
This year I’m totally ready. I watch the race every year. It’s the only Indy-car racing we watch, but I never want to miss it. It’s a tradition. In fact it always seems to be over too quickly. I want to know more about who is running and what they’ve done to the equipment each year, but it always sneaks up and surprises me and I only tune in just in time to watch the race, sometimes not even until the middle. Well, this year I paid attention and found the television coverage. Last Saturday we watched the fastest 24 qualify, then the fastest 9 of those compete for the pole position. Sunday the other 9 cars qualified for the back of the pack, completing the 33 car field. On the television coverage they talked to drivers, mechanics, crew chiefs, team owners, used-to-be drivers. It was awesome. We got Indy 500 saturation. We’re totally ready for Sunday. (Well, Judy isn’t quite as ready as I am. She spent a fair amount of time out of the room.) So bring it on. Indy 500. Gentlepeople start your engines! Now, only 472 days until the America’s Cup finals in 2013.http://www.americascup.com/
Windmill wings
Windmill blades look really big. Going down the highway behind trucks they look really really big. We found one parked behind the truck stop in Riviera on the way down here last Sunday.