Steve and Judy's Travels!

  I’ve been thinking about rain gauge accuracy.   In calm weather, the rain gauge will sample a column of air and water directly above it; a column of air and water exactly the diameter of the rain gauge.  That’s our baseline accuracy.   But what happens when the rain is not coming straight down?  What happens to the accuracy when there is wind with the rain?  If you imagine a column the same diameter as the top of the rain gauge, and slice it off perpendicularly, you’ll have a surface area on the end of the column exactly equal to the surface area of the top of the rain gauge.  If you cut that column of air off diagonally though, indicating the rain striking the top of the rain gauge at an angle, you’ll increase the surface area of the face; the part that intersects the top of the rain gauge.  For the same amount of rain, you’ll collect more rain than if the rain were coming straight down!   But then, if it rains too hard sideways you won’t get any rain in the rain gauge at all, it will just blow straight across the top.  Probably, after a certain point, you get decreasing amounts of water in the gauge as more blows across, so my column of water analogy doesn’t hold up.  The surface area on the face of a column of water would continue to increase, the more acutely you cut across it, to almost infinity, before it suddenly went to zero when the angle went to zero.   Guess I’d better think about something else ….., like maybe how to make perfectly clear ice-cubes in a home refrigerator.    

  Damn, this thing is creepy.  The doctor did more cutting and cleaning out today, but there is also some healing going on.  It is simultaneously getting better and not getting better.  Today’s work should clear the path for improved improvement.  We want all of it to improve, not just parts of it.   Turns out I didn’t even get the baddest bacteria.  This didn’t culture out as MRSA staph; I grew a Vibrio species.  It’s not an easy thing to have, but there is a good chance of curing this one.   I’ve got the easy assignment for this whole thing.  I can barely even see where the problem is on the side of my lower leg.  All I have to do is what people tell me to do.  I don’t envy Judy her job.  She has turned into Home Nurse, changing packing and redressing the wound every day.  Of course she is doing a super job.   Physically, this is not that tough to tolerate.  I don’t have to take prescription pain medicine.  Today the doctor even cleared me for more vigorous exercise than easy walking.  I’m back on the Trikke.    

  Doing everything we’re supposed to do with the leg.  Oral antibiotics.  A topical antibiotic nasally.  Packing and dressing twice a day.  The wound is still inflamed, but the swelling in the foot has gone down.  Can’t really tell if the flesh eating monster has been tamed.  We’re looking forward to a return visit to the doctor tomorrow for an authoritative opinion on its condition.   This experience gives me great sympathy for all who have gone before.  This thing ballooned on me in two days.  It would be a terrible progression if there were no effective treatment.    

  I feel a football nightmare coming.   Here is what has happened so far:  First, this offseason, the Broncos fired Coach-for-Life Mike Shanahan.  Then the new coach they hired to replace Shanahan, and Jay Cutler our Pro Bowl quarterback got into a tiff, even before football season; before they had a practice or even a meeting.  Now the quarterback is demanding to be traded.   My nightmare?  Kansas City hires Mike Shanahan.  Jay Cutler goes to play quarterback for Shanahan, the coach he loves.  Kansas City kicks Denver’s ass every year for the next ten years.     Clear and warmer today.  Seventies.  Got our beach weather back.    

  A drive to the Valley for a visit with Tom and Kathy today.  Yesterday when Judy told Annie we were going to go see Uncle Tom, Annie ran up on the dash of the motorhome and looked out the left side of the windshield to where Tom and Kathy’s motorhome was parked last time they were here.  I think Annie remembers them well.  Annie about turned inside out wiggling hello to them when we arrived there, too.   Nice cloudy weather for the drive.  Showers off and on.  Warmer rain today.  The temperature was back up to the sixties.  Hawks, caracaras, and vultures all along the way to keep us occupied.   We got a tour of their RV park in Mercedes.  The park is huge, but it’s divided up into neighborhoods.  Nicely laid out.  Lots of facilities.  A casita on the lot they bought.  Room to expand with more concrete or pavers.  Room to mess with the layout or landscaping if they want.  Lots of possibilities.  Looks like a great choice for them.   While we had light rain off and on today, we missed the giant thunderstorm at Gulf Waters.  We weren’t here to pull in the bedroom slide that leaks during severe storms.  Wet carpet in the bedroom for us to dry out.  No problem.  We’ve done that before.   Bigger problem for others.  We learned tonight that one of the owners here was killed by a lightning strike.