Anybody have exciting weekend plans? How 'bout not so exciting plans?
I usually try to get a nice, long bike ride in on Saturdays. We have a chance of storms several times throughout the day tomorrow which could kill those plans, but it’s been so hot and dry that I’ll actually take the rain.
Have a great weekend everyone! Nothing exciting planned here. Getting some groceries tomorrow. That’s about it 
It will be nice to actually have a peaceful weekend of lounging and watching TV 
I’m gonna spend the whole weekend out in the yard or on the pontoon boat, rain or shine, though maybe not during any thunderstorms, though those are the best for getting soaked under the roof downspout 
Summers are fun!
I’ve already started my weekend with a motorcycle ride to my other place. Unfortunately, I have some house painting work to do, but I’m going to squeeze in a side-by-side ride into the mountains to see how much snow is left above the tree line.
I am doing the sound engineering for a Canadian Indie-Folk band, who’ve just started their UK tour. Should be fun. Not quite as much fun as playing a gig ( that was last weekend), but still, not a bad way to spend some time.
I’m putting the finishing touches to an emulation of the classic ARP Odyssey synth that I’m building with virtual modules.
We had one singular day of light sprinkles and lower (70ish-75ish) temps and a light breeze that held all day sunday, so I took the opportunity to do some more backyard metal detecting.
Best finds:
1953 silver Roosevelt dime, San Francisco mint, no tarnish or discoloration.
1903 indian head penny
Here are a couple of quick iPhone shots from my weekend ride into the mountains where we used to put our sheep in the summer. There’s still some leftover snow at the 10,500-ft elevations, with temperatures in the 50s F.
That’s a worrisome large number of dead-looking conifers in that top photo.
Fire? Or some kind of disease?
That’s the result of a regional bark beetle infestation. The beetles lay eggs on the trees, then the larvae burrow into the cambium layer beneath the bark. If there are enough of them, they girdle the tree, and it dies.
The foresters say it’s cyclical. When the trees get thick enough and stressed by drought, it sets the stage for a beetle infestation (and fires).
The beetle problem peaked about 20 years ago. Fir, spruce, and quaking aspen saplings have begun to fill in the dead areas. Supposedly, the whole thing repeats itself over decades and centuries. There’s a lot of discussion about how climate change will affect the cycle.
It’s a fascinating process. If I were 17 years old again, I’d strongly consider going into forestry instead of design.
Your view wins!
