Today’s title has a little
twist to it. The song title isn't necessarily relevant to today's journal
entry, but the band is. March 15 is known as the Ides of March
and I know that it has something to do with Julius Caesar’s death. Time to do a little googling. While lots of
sites offer roughly the same information, nationaltoday.com
put it rather succinctly.
Beware the Ides of March! Why, you ask? On
March 15 (“ides” roughly corresponds to 15) in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was
assassinated by his BFF and 60 other of his closest friends. Harsh, right? He
was the leader of Rome, and was killed by 60 senators at a senate meeting
because, as far as history knows, they thought he had the potential to turn
into a dictator. His death has become so legendary that “Brutus,” the name of
his best friend who betrayed him, has become synonymous for “traitor.”
Meanwhile Caesar got so famous that Shakespeare famously immortalized his life
and death in a play (that’s when you know you’ve made it). And that play is
where the common phrase “Et tu, Brute?” (You too, Brutus?) comes from. Caesar
says it when he sees Brutus about to stab him! The Romans were a crazy bunch.
The site earthsky.org adds
this; it’s probably just good information to have in case it comes up in a
trivia contest:
In the ancient Roman calendar, each month
had an Ides. In March, May, July, and October, the Ides fell on the 15th day.
In every other month, the Ides fell on the 13th day.
The word Ides derives from
a Latin word, meaning to divide. The Ides were originally meant to mark the
full moons, but because calendar months and lunar months were different
lengths, they quickly got out of step.
The Romans also had a name for the first day
of every month. It was known as the Kalends. It’s from this word that our word calendar is
derived.
In fact, our modern calendar is very much
like the one that Julius Caesar enacted the year before his death. It had 365
days and 12 months each year. It even took into account the fact that Earth’s
orbit around the sun isn’t a whole number of days, by adding a leap day every
few years.
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Because we were visiting friends, we took a
couple of days off from our morning 3 mile walk. But today we were back at it. It was a tiny bit cool sitting in camp…turns
out I overdressed for the exertion of a walk.
Not too uncomfortable but I won’t be tricked next time.
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We walked together but afterwards we went
our separate ways because we had different ideas on how to spend the day.
Kim: Last week Kim noticed that outside quarter of
one of the 4 trailer tires was bald.
Other three look fine. So that tire needed to be replaced and it seemed
more prudent to replace it at our leisure than wait for a roadside emergency to
happen. Also one of the front tires on
the truck was showing a strange wear pattern…actually had an indent in it.
We had planned on replacing truck tires when
we got home. But hey! No time like the
present, right? On Monday Kim went to
Aztec tires in Eloy to get an estimate on 4 truck tires and one trailer
tire. The estimate made me choke but Kim
said it was actually a good price for the truck tires. The tires were ordered and would be available
any time after Wednesday. Today was
designated as tire day.
We have shelves in our trailer but our
technology has taken over the two in the front and the cords were becoming an
issue. He decided another shelf was
needed…bought the hardware and shelving and just had to wait for the time to
become available to do it. Today was
also designated as shelf day.
Karen: On our 250 mile ride last week, I noticed a
very unusual looking saguaro cactus. I
wanted to stop and investigate but there wasn’t a good opportunity to turn
around…no problem, I knew roughly where it was located so we could just ride
out to see it another day. Today the
weather was finally good but Kim had other plans and I wanted to get a ride in
so today was cactus finding day for me.
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I don’t mind riding by myself…I take my time
and stop whenever a photo op presents itself.
Kim is always agreeable to stop for pictures but usually by the time I
get him on the radio the opportunity has passed. He doesn’t mind turning around and going back
but that requires doing two U-turns to get headed back in the original
directions…I’m the one who hesitates on that one. So it’s easier to make those quick photo op
stops when I’m by myself. And I did it
plenty today!
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My ride started out under cloudy skies with
the temperature in the low 70s. Riding
south on IR 15 I could see patches of blue sky in the distance. I looked up to see if there’d be a break in
the clouds soon. What I saw was a halo
around the sun. What?! Not only did I
stop to get a picture but I also called Kim about it. He couldn’t see it from where he was but he
also didn’t know what it could be.
Google time when I got back to camp.
Earthsky.org explains it this way:
We get many messages throughout each year
from people who’ve just spotted a large ring or circle of light around the sun
or moon. Scientists call them 22-degree halos. Why? Because the ring has a radius of
approximately 22 degrees around the sun or moon.
People always ask, what causes these
gigantic rings?
These clouds contain millions of tiny ice
crystals. The halos you see are caused by both refraction, or
splitting of light, and also by reflection, or glints of light from these ice
crystals. The crystals have to be oriented and positioned just so with respect
to your eye, in order for the halo to appear.
That’s why, like rainbows, halos around the
sun – or moon – are personal. Everyone sees their own
particular halo, made by their own particular ice crystals, which are different
from the ice crystals making the halo of the person standing next to you.
Because moonlight isn’t very bright, lunar
halos are mostly colorless, but you might notice more red on the inside and
more blue on the outside of the halo. These colors are more noticeable in halos
around the sun. If you do see a halo around the moon or sun, notice that the
inner edge is sharp, while the outer edge is more diffuse. Also, notice that
the sky surrounding the halo is darker than the rest of the sky.
I kept an eye on the sky as
much as I could while riding. Maybe 15
or so miles down the road, the halo started dissipating. I'm glad I looked up when I did. 🌞
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Now I
know finding a particular saguaro cactus among hundreds might seem challenging
but I was confident I could find it because it was distinctive. I was certain
that if I went to the Why casino and came back toward the trading post that I
should be able to find it along the left side of the road. Seemed easy peasy to me.
Well, it was even easier than that because I
saw it on my way to the casino. Stopped
to get my pictures then continued on down the road looking for a good spot to
do a U-turn, preferably a driveway because the one thing I’m conscious of when
riding alone is avoiding situations where I might tip over, i.e. gravel, a high
road drop off, holes, narrow roads, etc. If Zeus goes over on his side I cannot pick
him back up…simply too much weight for me.
I had to ride seven miles down the road to find a good place to turn
around then I headed back to the trading post where I stopped for a snack. Then it was back on IR 15 to head back to camp. Good day for a ride and
bonus! I found the cactus. Mission
accomplished!!
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The saguaro that had caught my eye is known
as a crested or cristate saguaro. Here is an excerpt of an article posted on amusingplanet.com :
The giant saguaro cactus is a universal symbol of the American west. These plants are native to only a small region of southern Arizona, the adjoining Mexican State of Sonora and extreme southeastern California, yet their tall, columnar shape is familiar to any desert traveler.
The giant saguaro cactus is a universal symbol of the American west. These plants are native to only a small region of southern Arizona, the adjoining Mexican State of Sonora and extreme southeastern California, yet their tall, columnar shape is familiar to any desert traveler.
The saguaro cactus is
composed of a tall, thick, fluted, columnar stem about two feet in diameter
with several large arms that curve upward in the most distinctive conformation
of all Southwestern cacti. But sometimes they produce a fan-shaped form of
uncontrolled growth at the tip. These odd growths are referred to as cresting
(or cristate), and are very rare occurrences. It is estimated that this
condition affects approximately one out of every 200,000 saguaros. Originally,
less than 200 of these abnormalities were thought to be in existence. However,
more than 2,000 have been discovered so far, and biologists believe that there
may be many more.
The cause of cresting, also
known as fasciation, in saguaros is not fully understood. Some speculate that
it is a genetic mutation, or caused by micro-organisms, or physical damage such
as lightning strike or freezing.
There are many places within Saguaro
National Park where you can see these unique specimens. There are at least 27
documented crested saguaros on the East side of the National Park, and 30 on
the West.
I haven’t seen any crested saguaros in our many trips
into Saguaro National Park but maybe now I will have to seek out one or two of
them. The one I found is on the Tohono
O’odham Reservation.
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The truck is so
much quieter with its new tires. I
didn’t realize that so much of its noise was caused by the
tires. Yippee!! Also the new shelf is up…so far the music
system and the big charger are on it, freeing up some space and cutting down on
the cord confusion on the smaller shelf up front. 👍
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The last trip up to the bathroom completed my 10,000 steps...got my fireworks!
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The last trip up to the bathroom completed my 10,000 steps...got my fireworks!
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Today’s miles: 165
Total miles: 939
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