After visiting a friend in Cañon City, I’m heading back…and this is just a taste of the beauty living in Strasburg allows me to experience…
P.S. Yes, my car needs a wash. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
The stockings are emptied; the gifts are open. What remains is more important: time with loved ones.
Perhaps the greatest gift the Lord gave us in 2015 is a new home in a new town. From the first day we visited Strasburg, Colorado, we have seen the beauty of its land and its people. That beauty is what inspired, and continues to inspire, Strasburg Rocks!
We are slowly unearthing all that Strasburg and the surrounding area has to offer; it is like unwrapping magnificent gifts year-round. One of the more recent discoveries was the annual Christmas celebration downtown. We were remiss then in not photographing the beautiful decorations along Strasburg’s main thoroughfare, but hopefully have made it up with a video of driving through the town late Christmas Eve (or early this Christmas morning, depending on your perspective):
Now, we stated that the greatest gift God blessed us with in 2015 was a home (not just a house) in Strasburg…but, of course, it pales in comparison to the greatest gift ever bestowed; one that was for all who will accept it. The 50th anniversary of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” makes it apropos to remember that sacrifice from above with the same words that Linus used when Charles Shultz bucked precedent and included these verses in a Christmas special:Continue Reading
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas – In Strasburg!
I’m a bit tuckered today (up early to help decorate the church we attend in Centennial), so just a quick post to say how terrific the festivities in downtown Strasburg were today. If you made it, you know exactly what I am talking about: free food (including being able to decorate your own Christmas cookies), free drinks (at least hot cocoa and hot apple cider), hayrides (thanks to a huge tractor), a beautifully Christmas-tized center of town, and more…like reindeer and pictures with Santa!
Although it was helping out with the Cub Scouts that brought me down there (we were distributing the free hot apple cider provided by…and in front of…Hank’s Hardware), I am glad my tired, aching bones didn’t keep me home. After the next shift relieved us, Michelle, Augie, and I checked out what was going on, wrapping up by visiting the great people at The Pizza Shop and…well, you can guess what we had for dinner. 🙂
Oh, and in front of The Pizza Shop was a brass band playing Christmas carols. Does it get any better than that?!:
Merry Christmas everyone!
Proof the Transcontinental Railroad Completed in Strasburg
Flying from Denver to Oakland on Southwest this afternoon, I checked out a series called America Fact vs. Fiction on the American Heroes Channel. Not only was it a very interesting program, but it was pretty cool that 30,000 feet above the earth I saw proof that our great town of Strasburg is the true place where the transcontinental railroad was completed!:
Now, it wasn’t the first time I heard that…but it was the first time I learned exactly why we can claim this important milestone for our great country…thank you Kansas Pacific Railroad!
Tent Life
Yesterday, a four day weekend started for Augie, so he and I slept in the tent two days in a row. Let’s just say last night was just enough colder where dad definitely was uncomfortable and woke up quite a bit. Nothin’ layers can’t handle during future excursions.
I hope. 🙂
As for Augie…plent toasty it appears. (Of course, he is using my colder weather sleeping bag with a second one his cousin Evan gave him.)
Pictured at the top of this post are the two radios I used to check out shortwave and AM last night. The one on the left is a Tecsun PL-380BT and the right is a Tecsun PL310ET. I spent most of the time with the former…but, just as was true the previous night with the beefier Tecsun PL-880…shortwave reception wasn’t near as good as last week. I also didn’t live tweet every find this time…just the highlights.
So, without further ado…Continue Reading
All the Way from New Zealand!
I don’t know how many more Fridays there will be before it is too cold, but Augie and I spent the night in the tent again (and I am not sure who looks forward to or enjoys it more :-)). Although it doesn’t fix it 100%, being away from all the electromagnetic interference in the house means both AM & shortwave listening are better, so I live tweeted what I found again (as I did last week). Reception last night was amazing. I think the best since I started the hobby back up a couple months ago.
Before I put the stream of tweets below, I wanted to share the most exciting part of the evening, tuning in Radio New Zealand International (transmitting from New Zealand). The clip plays a few selections…and at the end has proof it is Radio New Zealand (they do a station id). This morning they had replied back on Twitter (also below) and I actually picked them up again! (Albeit, on another frequency.)
I didn’t get enough sleep last night, but I am still jazzed from all the neat, and often very distant, stations I picked up! Here is what I heard:Continue Reading
Late Night DXing/SWLing
Last night’s backyard camping excursion with Augie gave me an opportunity to do some shortwave and long distance listening on my Kaito KA1103 hooked to a Sangean ANT-60 antenna. I live tweeted what I found:
https://twitter.com/AlanCult/status/650159245741158400
https://twitter.com/AlanCult/status/650160398457536512
Continue Reading
On a Bicycle Ride to Byers (FIRE!)
One of the greatest appeals of Strasburg is its small town nature…but contrary to what some people think, small town does not equal boring. 🙂 Today I decided to be more ambitious with my bicycle ride and visit downtown Byers (about a 12 mile round trip I figured). However, a bit west of Byers I had to stop to call 911 for two brush fires…a small one where I was and a larger one back even further west that I could see. Here’s a video I grabbed riding back to the second one:
Although I had been near both of the brush fires, I didn’t know what caused them…and chatting quickly with one of the firefighters…found out that they are pretty common, caused by someone driving a vehicle dragging something that creates sparks. Makes me very appreciative of our local fire departments.
Continuing back to Strasburg I passed a third one…so assuming it was a car or truck throwing sparks, it caused a bit of local havoc. Stay safe folks, and make sure nothing metal is ever dragging from you vehicle driving around our area. 🙂
P.S. Not bad video wise riding uphill and holding an iPhone 6 Plus with one hand, eh? 🙂
P.P.S. In case you are interested, a few more picture. Not sure what happened…I thought I had snapped pictures of the first fire I saw…but didn’t have any on my iPhone or cameras.
Seal Training Begins!
Augie learned to fire a rifle today thanks to the training and mentorship of our good friend Leo. Sadly, I messed up recording his first shot, but did get his second one…and his first use of a pistol. Another advantage to living in Strasburg…you don’t have to go to a firing range for target practice!
R.I.P. Mosquito and Happy Retirement Galaxy Gold
As promised, below is a video from yesterday’s Strasburg Rocks! Rocket Club rocket launches. Sadly, we had two casualties…
The Estes Galaxy Gold (first rocket fired off) popped its bottom off when the charge for the parachute exploded. With a little glue to make it whole, the Galaxy Gold will start retirement after a short career (this one flight). Also…and I didn’t get a video of it (operator error on my part)…but the Estes Mosquito was never found (it is what is pictured on the launchpad in this post). My friend Leo and I watched its flight very closely, but never saw it return to earth. I suppose it is more M.I.A. then R.I.P. 🙂
The Estes Mosquito is a classic rocket…basically a way to stick fins to an engine. 🙂 I’m sure we’ll buy another one.
It wasn’t all bad news (and the Galaxy Gold’s flight was kind of cool even with its permanent injury); the Estes Summit and the Galaxy Planet Probe both returned to earth unharmed. The Planet Probe is the last one in the video…it’s become one of my favorites. (It is meant to use an engine without a parachute charge, but I didn’t have any…so as it approaches the ground you’ll see the Estes C6-5 engine suddenly slow it down a tiny bit.) Without further ado, the video:Continue Reading
Who Would Have Thunk…?
Late this afternoon, I headed over to a friends to fire off some model rockets with Augie (I’ll upload a video tomorrow) and we were hanging out afterward. I’ll admit I did not expect to see this in the backyard at his house in Strasburg…
Another reason Strasburg Rocks!
P.S. Be sure to watch through the end…you’ll get to see the plane right overhead as it takes off…
“The Birds” – Strasburg Edition
Have you ever watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds”?
Did it freak you out?
Then you may want to avoid visiting the Strasburg Convenience Store at dusk in the summer… 🙂
Tecsun Q3 Review
Since I wrote before about the tremendous Tecsun PL-880 shortwave radio, I figured I’d also do a quick review of my latest electronic toy purchase, the Tecsun Q3. This is an extremely small combo of a FM radio, computer speaker (with music controls), MP3 player, and audio recorder (from built-in mic, FM, or line in).
Instead of repeating it here, please take a look at my Amazon.com review of the Q3. Short version is that it is an amazing piece of technology and well worth the $36 I spent on it. Strasburg Rocks! gives it 4 1/2 stars out of 5 and highly recommends it!
UPDATE August 8, 2016: A reader who had a Q3 with Chinese characters asked if I could scan the English manual so he could know what the buttons did. I searched on-line and couldn’t find one (kind of odd)…so I did…and figured I’d link to a copy of that scan here.
Quest Aerospace Planet Probe
A reader of this blog (thank you!) told my wife she likes the rocket videos. Well, better late then never…here is the first Quest Aerospace model rocket I’ve purchased and built. The actual flight was two weeks ago (August 15, 2015). Successfully launched three times…and only one landed in the neighbor’s back yard. 🙂
Luckily, (a) they were home, (b) their dog didn’t eat it, and (c) they are friendly. 🙂
For your viewing pleasure, the Quest Aerospace Planet Probe:
Quest Aerospace Planet Probe image from Amazon.com.
Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Yes, I know it’s a bit late in the day to say so…but we’ve been busy with friends…starting with breakfast in the morning, rocket launching late afternoon, and celebrating in the evening.
Interested in what the launches were like? Here you go:
And speaking of launching…Continue Reading