Ootheca

Yesterday when I blogged, I looked at the Wikipedia page for praying mantises.  I saw that the ootheca, or egg case, looked familiar.  I had seen a similar looking thing on the stucco while taking pictures of the praying mantis.

Here is what's on my wall:

This also blends in well with its surroundings.  Here it is from farther away (in the center of the picture):

Wikipedia says that praying mantis oothecae are laid in the fall, and hatch in the late spring.  They are valuable for organic farmers, because all the newly hatched babies have ravenous appetites for aphids and other pests.  [I originally typed 'oothecas', but the spellchecker complained.  I looked up the proper plural on dictionary.com.  Once I had the correct plural, the spellchecker still complained; it turns out, it thought I was typing 'toothache'.]

While I'm on the subject of bugs, I saw this spider in my basement tonight.

It looks like it could be the offspring of the one that was living in my garage two years ago!

Praying Mantis

I saw this brown praying mantis in front of my townhouse today:

I'm not sure how I spotted it, because when I first noticed it, it blended in well with its surroundings!

Zurich

I was watching the beginning of The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood, which came out in 1975.  The opening scene took place in Zurich.  I thought the scene looked familiar (and not because I'd seen the movie before).

Here's the scene from the movie:

and here's a picture I took two years ago:

The Swiss flag looks like it's still in the same place, and that weird tree that looks like it's missing its top-left portion looks exactly the same -- 35 years later!


In other news, I thought this Big K soda was expensive!

First snow in the mountains

It was rainy and cool from Tuesday through Thursday.  When the clouds cleared, they revealed snow up in the mountains.

The last two months

It's been awhile since my last blog!

Back in July (when it was still hot), this bunny seemed content lying in the shade:

In August, Terri came to visit.  We spent some time up at Horsetooth Reservoir.

The water level was so low, the boat ramp didn't even reach all the way to the water!

On August 25th, the USA Pro Challenge came to Boulder.  That's the bike race I volunteered for last year.  This year, Harald and I first went up to Peak to Peak highway to watch the race go by.

Then we drove down Left Hand Canyon and watched the race up Lee Hill.  We barely made it on TV.  Watch closely as they go from the leader graphic back to live action -- that's me in the white shirt, and Harald in the orange hat!

Here is a freeze frame from my TV:

I was busy taking what turned out to be a lousy picture:

But I was ready for the peloton as they came by!

On Labor Day, Harald, Tara, and I went for a hike to Arapahoe Pass.  This is Caribou Lake as you look down from the pass:

Unlike the last time I was there, this time there was no snow, so we were able to hike over to the pass in the middle left of the above picture.  From there, we could see some mountains to the west.

Zooming in and examining Google Earth, I discovered that the two tallest peaks on the horizon were Mt. Powell and Eagles Nest, two mountains north of Vail.

Heading back to Arapahoe Pass, we had a nice view of Apache (left) and Navajo (right) peaks:

Toronto

I went to Toronto this past weekend for Cora's and Trevor's wedding.

On Friday, I went to the Hockey Hall of Fame (the first HOF I've been to).

It was a little different than I expected.  I thought there would be a little memorial to each person in the Hall, but instead there were a few large displays for the "legends".  Otherwise, there were a lot of team displays.  I saw a replica of the Stanley Cup:

They also had a special exhibition of goalie masks. 

Ahh, Pelle Lindbergh.  What might have been ...

Saturday, I took a trip to the CN Tower.

As expected, the view was excellent.  Unfortunately, it was humid and hazy, so visibility was limited across Lake Ontario.  But the view of Toronto was nice!

The University of Toronto is in the center of the above picture, where the green dome and green space are.

There was also an Indy Car race taking place this weekend. 

Here I am standing on the glass floor, more than 1100 feet above the ground.  Yikes!

I stood there long enough to take the picture, but not much longer!

The wedding took place later that evening at the Hart House on the University of Toronto campus.

The ceremony seemed to go without a hitch.  The clouds provided shade, which was a welcome relief after the record-breaking heat the day before!  This was the impressive dining hall where we ate dinner:

Overall, it was a fun weekend!

More Fires

Yesterday, the fire that was behind Bear Peak moved around the front side.

It was still smoking this morning.  Today, we had some thunderstorms move through the area.  Unfortunately, the lightning strikes caused another small fire, this time on Green Mountain, between the second and third flatirons.  This one is called the Ironing Board fire. 

Fire behind Bear Peak

After an early spring and an unusually hot June, Colorado has been susceptible to fires (as most people watching the national news now know).  This afternoon, a lightning strike started a fire behind Bear Peak, a few miles west of where I work.  Here are a series of pictures as the fire grew:

We were told to leave work by 6 pm,

so I walked to trivia earlier than usual.

Once night fell, you could see the flames along the edge of Bear Peak.  So far, the fire hasn't started down the other side of the mountain.

Back in Boulder

It feels good being home again!  Here are some highlights of my first week back.

Cora's last trivia appearance before she moved back to Canada (with Tara and me):

Louisville's first summer concert in the park Thursday evening:

Louisville's farmers' market Saturday morning,

where I had peach-huckleberry pie and lemonade while watching Andy perform on stage:

Friday and Saturday nights were goodbye parties for Tara and Cora, respectively.  They will be missed!

Remaining days in Kansas

During my last day off in Kansas, I went with Nick and Armin to Hutchinson to visit a salt mine.

An elevator took us 600 ft. below ground.  The salt layer is about 400 ft. thick, and stretches from Kansas City to southeastern New Mexico. 

The restroom:

Millions of years ago, this area was a shallow sea.  During dry years, the water would evaporate, leaving the salt behind.  During the wet years, there would be mud and silt.  Over time, these layers of salt and mud built up, leaving the horizontal pattern seen below.

Here I am back in Salina eating a Cozy Burger.  Wichita was where the first White Castle was located, and this restaurant started up during the slider craze of the 1930s.

During my last flight, we flew into a double rainbow.

This was the storm we were targeting:

By the end of my 4+ weeks in Kansas, I was ready to go home!

Salina

I've been busy ever since I got to Salina.  Tomorrow will be only my third day off since I got here!  Here are some pictures from the past three weeks.

Intercomparison with NCAR's Gulfstream V:

Sampling inflow into a thunderstorm over Texas:

Storm chasing (by car, this time!) west of Salina:

Pontooning on Lake Milford on Memorial Day:

On Tuesday, I tried to make one of those sun-viewing devices with John, a co-worker of mine from NOAA.  We were trying to view the transit of Venus across the sun:

It didn't work, but luckily someone at the hangar took some good pictures!

A storm over Colorado:

This weekend Salina hosts the Smoky Hill River Festival.  I went with John (pictured above) and Armin, and we saw a couple of bands and ate some festival food.  The closing act were the Steep Canyon Rangers, a bluegrass band with a great fiddle player!