Make Traffic Lights do your Bidding

Have you ever noticed? when you pull up to a light at an intersection, in the left hand turn lane that there is what looks like a rectangle with a line down the middle, that looks like someone cut into the pavement and then filled it in with a sealant. They look something like this:
There are usually 2 sets of these separated by a car length. They are designed so that if there are 3 or more cars at the intersection they will get the green arrow. At some intersections there are only one and are used to let the traffic light control computer know that a car is present at a low traffic intersection. However at the intersections with 2 you can control the leading left arrow. Here is a real world intersection at 24th st. and Thomas.
The sensors are marked in white in their approximate locations for southbound traffic. Note that at this intersection the sensors are close enough that a sufficiently long vehicle can demand the left arrow all alone (I can do this in my truck). So.... How does this work, well it goes something like this. 1 vehicle must stop on each sensor at or before a preset time before the east/west traffic gets a red light. My experience is, that this is about 1 minute. Now you say "how can I control the green arrow?" Simple, If you are the first to arrive at the intersection stop far enough back so that any other vehicle that comes up behind you is forced to stop on the second sensor, like this:
You are the red car. You stop far enough back so the the silver car has to stop on the second sensor. If you both trip the sensors before the east/west traffic gets a red light you will get the green arrow. Now suppose you pull up to the intersection and there is already a car at the intersection. Since it is very likely that the person doesn't even know about the sensors he will stop all the way forward. If you were the average clueless driver you would pull up directly behind him and not get the green arrow. This is what you should do:
Once again you are the red car. The silver car is all the way on the front sensor, if you were to pull up right behind him there would not be enough metal over the second sensor to trigger it. Once again if you get there soon enough you get the arrow. These sensors can be triggered by motorcycles, and I have read that bicycles will also if they are large enough and are made from steel. Motorcycles and Bicycles must stop on the center of the sensor to have any chance of a trigger. These intersections are all over town. I have used this technique successfully for years. Now go forth and control the traffic lights, don't let them control you.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Betty and Russ

Some in my family may not be aware that they have an aunt and uncle still living in Mesa, AZ, Betty and Russell Roberts. Betty is the older sister of my father. They currently live in a retirement community near Falcon field. They have a son named Mark. They also have a small cabin in Heber, AZ. The picture above was taken in 1972 in Heber. Betty is extremely nice and Mark has a great sense of humor. I don't know why my mother never liked them. Here is a picture of Betty and Bob taken in 1951.

Ah... the good old days, when men wore hats and women wore gloves. Here is a picture from 1961 of Betty, Russ, and Mark.

The most recent digital pic I have is from 2002, quality is not so good.

The Desert in Bloom

This year with all the extra rain the desert has started blooming like mad. Everything is green. Mike and Chris wanted to go out in the desert and make "bang bang" while we were out there we took quite a few pictures of the flowers, in the area north of Florence and near Canyon lake. Enjoy.

Birdmen of Chaparral park

Our latest favorite fishing hole is Chaparral park in Scottsdale. Chaparral has a 10 acre "lake", The Arizona Game and Fish Department stocks it with trout in the winter and catfish in the summer. On most occasions we catch some good sized trout or catfish.

But on occasion..... We catch nothing and get bored, and by we I mean mostly Chris. So last year Chris started catching birds... He started with pigeons:
And then went after bigger game:
Other than acting indignant the goose did not put up much of a fight.
He used to use a net and corn as bait, but we have since learned that if they are hungry enough the pigeons will land on your hands and eat.

The pigeons appear to do something interesting, at least one of them will land on your hand and rip off big chunks of bread and throw it to the ones gathering below. mostly it is a free for all with them landing on top of each other and jostling for position.

At one point, one pigeon chased another one up my arm to make him go away. Once in your hands or on the ground in front of you they can be caught rather easily. Oh and spare me your comments on how pigeons are sky rats, or are filthy, and disease ridden. They are no cleaner or dirtier than any other wild bird on the planet.

I find it quite humorous when people bring their kids to this park to feed the birds, as soon as bread is thrown on the ground every pigeon in the park shows up and swarms the poor kid, scaring the crap out of them (the kid not the birds).

Garfield minus Garfield

Who would have thought that the Garfield comic strip would still be funny if you removed Garfield.

This is what I do all day long!

ALL
DAY
LONG!

The Florence Military Reservation

During the winter my brothers and I go hunting in and around the FMR. The FMR is located approximately 6 miles north of Florence Arizona. Contrary to most maps of the area it extends north another 8 miles. it encompasses about 40 square miles.

Since we started hunting in and exploring around this area we have walked through a large portion of it as you can see in the image below.
The blue lines indicate our tracks taken from our GPS devices. There would be more of them but for the first several month's we were out here we did not have GPS. I then got a GPS and in December of 2005 all 3 of us got GPS FRS radios. On an average trip we each walk from 3 to on one occasion about 8 miles. Generally we walk about 4 miles each time we are out there.

This area in late spring and early winter gets to be very green.
Here is a 360 degree panorama taken from the top of an extinct volcanic fissure near the entrance
We have seen or found a lot of strange things on our hikes. Here's a guy that was flying around in a paraglider.
We find the crumbled remains of old structures:

Mine shafts (some with water):

Here is a Video of the Mine shaft from above that had water in it.

While hiking through what we now know is private property, we found a javelina that was possibly shot out of season.
Quite possibly the strangest thing I found was the remains of a white owl that had been jammed between the limbs of a palo verde tree with it's wings ripped off (weird).

Things that we have found in and around the FMR that we do not have pictures of:
The hood to a truck from the 20's or 30's.
A Bed frame(intact and setup with no mattress).
The head of a pick.
The head of a shovel.
A wine bottle.
Modern hunting arrows.
Pieces from military flare signaling devices.
Parts of 155mm illumination flares.
A fired 37mm practice anti aircraft round.
5 foot lengths of PVC pipe embedded vertically in the ground in random locations.
Bones of various animals (no humans yet).
A rusted trailer (with flat tires) loaded with the gas tank from a car or truck and roofing shingles.
intact, unbent, un-rusted Duct work.
Miles of steel military communications wire.
Spent glow sticks.
An old barely readable wooden sign stating something about "you are now entering a free bird buffet".

In almost every case these items were located at least a mile from the nearest dirt road. The duct work specifically would have required 2 people to carry it.
The PVC pipe is an enigma as we find them in the weirdest places. In one case I was trying to get through some dense brush and trees and in the middle of this area was a length of PVC pipe embedded vertically in the ground.

Animals we have seen:
Rabbits
Jack Rabbits
Javelina
Coyote
Ground squirrels
Owls
Ravens
Mule deer
Cattle
Quail
Dove
tarantula

Animals we have not seen:
Snakes of any kind
Desert tortoise (bones don't count).

Animals we don't want to see:
Mexican wolfs
Mountain lions
Rattle snakes