Superpower Dogs

It all started with a dog that did not have super powers so much as a super bad looking eye that was swollen shut. Tuesday May 7th, when Snoopy gazed up at us, we were shocked to see he was unable to open his left eye beyond a slit and we had no idea why. Did he run into something? Did he get part of a weed or a rock in his eye? Only a trip to the vet could help solve the mystery.

Did you know dogs have a third eyelid? I did not. One eyelid goes up, one goes down, and a third goes sideways. The vet numbed Snoopy's eye and he cooperated while they lift up that third eyelid and looked underneath. The cause remained undiscovered but we came home with Benadryl pills, eye ointment, and a cone of shame to prevent Snoopy from pawing at his eye.

He got the cone off two weeks later, yesterday. All is well but we never learned the instigating event. But see? Snoopy now has two big round brown open eyes, again! I could not get him to smile for the camera, though.

There was one positive upshot out of this whole experience. While we were at the vet's we saw this poster advertisement for an IMAX movie about dogs with "superpowers". We thought Alex might like it so I checked out the website superpowerdogs.com and learned it was playing at an IMAX theatre in the Tech Museum at San Jose. I got tickets online and Frank and I arranged to take him the next Sunday, May 12th, which happened to be Mother's Day.

We did not need to pay the $25 admission to the Tech Museum to go to the IMAX theatre or eat in the museum's cafe. We only needed to pay the $10 movie admission. The theatre entrance, cafe, and store are all on the second floor in the next photo and the exhibits are on the lower levels. Frank and I decided we definitely wanted to come back, just the two of us, and take in the rest of the Tech Museum on another trip. A parking garage was only a block away and the trip to San Jose was just under an hour.

We entered the IMAX Dome Theatre.

As we passed along the curved walkway outside its perimeter, I had Frank and Alex pose in front of the long wall mural. I captured only part of it. Frank suggested taking a panoramic shot to get it all in but I was unsuccessful. My skill at panoramic shots is sorely lacking. I must aim too low or not compensate for position on the cell phone screen because I never capture the upper portion of what I am viewing. This time I had chopped off both Frank and Alex heads and most of the skulls of the dogs, not to mention over half of the movie title. I got a good photo, though, of the blue crowd control ribbons between the lane stanchions. 

I settled instead for this normal landscape version. Maybe it is not full width, but at least I can see Frank's and Alex's faces, as well as the profiles of the majority of the dogs.

Inside the theatre is a very steep array of seats arranged in rows that form arcs facing the huge dome shaped screen.

Alex and Frank settle in to watch the show. We sat as far back as we could since those are the best seats to take it all in.

And the show began. It is the training and story of six dogs with "superpowers". The photography and scenery are truly awesome. It was fun to watch Alex's head swivel around as he tracked dogs walking across the huge, super wide screen. From left to right in the next "screenshot" (literally, a shot of the screen) are a

• Bloodhound who, with his brother, track poachers in Africa
• Newfoundland who does water rescue of people in Italy
• Golden Retriever who senses and fills emotional needs of traumatized soldiers and disabled children
• Border Collie who rescues people in avalanches
• Dutch Shepherd who does urban search and rescue missions.

After the 50 minute show let out, we paused for a few photos near the poster. In this first one Frank captured Alex and me imitating the stance of the bloodhound.

Alex liked the dogs and even pointed to them on the poster. 

Notice he is wearing his Disney dog shirt sewn for him by his sister Robin.

There was a long winding staircase after exiting the theatre. Alex and Frank carefully and painstakingly made their way down it. I tried not to trip as I took their photo and I managed to succeed.

So after seeing Superpower Dogs and enjoying it immensely I strongly encourage you to find one showing in an IMAX theatre near you. Here are some especially good YouTube videos to entice you further

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmWhKcAcvNo official trailer
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sNuX-yqQjI blood hounds
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1BswPvslJQ producer's preview

We'd had lunch in the cafe before the show and when we saw the luscious looking sweets, we decided to save having dessert for a second trip afterward. Frank had the carrot cupcake on the left and I had the heavenly chocolate one on the right. There was a long curly chocolate stick coming out from the center but I ate that and cut a wedge out before it occurred to me to take these photos.

  

We gave Alex, too, his choice of whatever he wanted. He is not very fond of cake, so these were the favorites he picked.

We shopped in the museum store where I bought socks, a tote bag, and some books as gifts. These were two of the books I bought at the Tech Museum store; they are also available on Amazon. The first is mainly photographs and large print for the younger readers.

The second one, about Halo, a disaster response dog, is an easy book designed for the young adult reader but it covers more of the facts about the training of these dogs and in more detail than would be possible in the 50 minute movie about seven dogs.

Before leaving we stopped in the restrooms. I have a penchant for noting unique lavatories when we go on outings. The crystalline shiny blue and red walls on these entrances were not particularly unusual, but they were strikingly pretty, I thought.

It was the item above the sinks within that really caught my eye. These devices that looked like airplanes flying out of the wall served both as faucets and hand dryers. Water came out of the center and jets of drying air came out of the two side "wings". This arrangement prevents any dripping on the floor on the way from the water source to the dryers and also eliminates the need for paper towels. It is a Tech Museum. I would be disappointed if there were not some sort of innovation!

As we exiting the museum we encountered a marble rolling contraption titled Science on a Roll by designer George Rhoads. For many more of his ball machine sculptures and better images of this one outside the Tech Museum check out http://georgerhoads.com/. Per his website

George Rhoads, born 1926, is a painter, origami artist, and sculptor best know for his “audiokinetic” ball machine sculptures that are on display in public spaces around the world, as well as in private collections.

 Here is are two side views from different angles and an end view.

On our way back to the car in the parking garage we walked by movie posters behind glass on the outer walls of the museum, along the sidewalk, showcasing each dog individually.

• REEF  – Newfoundland (water rescue)
• RICOCHET – Golden Retriever (surf and emotional support)
• HALO – Dutch Shepherd (avalanche) 
• HENRY Border Collie (urban rescue)
• TIPPER & TONY – Bloodhounds (poachers)

We just had to stop a take a photo of this license plate since it bears Frank's initials FWC.

Strange as it seems, I wanted a photo of this lamp post since all along the street each was adorned with this fancy gold paint detailing work.

On the short stroll back to the car we also saw this public scooter phenomenon we were unaware of called BIRD.

Using an app on your phone (much like Uber) you can rent this scooter to get about the city and leave it once you get to your destination. Per the https://www.bird.co/ website

Bird's mission is to make cities more livable by reducing car usage, traffic, and carbon emissions.

It is available in 100+ cities. Among some are Minneapolis, where we vacationed last fall, in Oklahoma City where we will be later this spring, and Nashville where we will vacation this coming fall. Can you find a city near you in the list?

If you have no desire to ride one of these, perhaps it can be a job opportunity instead. Maybe you can start your own franchise with a fleet of scooters or make some extra money as a scooter charger each evening. Maybe you can get super rich even if you do not possess super powers! Food for thought... No matter. Frank, Alex, and I enjoyed our super outing.

Easter 2019

Frank and I had a quiet, low-key Easter, Sunday April 21, 2019 at home with Alex. Frank and I had returned the previous Wednesday evening April 17th, from a visit to North Carolina (blog post dated 5/10/19). We were too preoccupied recuperating from travel to hazard anything too ambitious for the holiday. (Note it also took me a month to get around to blogging about Easter.) The following photos are two views of the dining room table set up for Easter morning. Carrots, bunnies, canned sausages, and chips... all Alex's favorites. He also likes Hershey Kisses and M&Ms.

The set of plates with instructions on How to Dye Easter Eggs is my touch of whimsy.

The bunny mugs and rabbit plates also make me smile. The jelly beans are for Frank.

Alex watched videos and did puzzles. The meal was simply a ham slice and Mrs T's pierogis. This blog is short and sweet, too, just capturing a few images for posterity.

I include a couple pictures of the jigsaw puzzle Frank and I completed and cleared off the butcher block table the day before Easter to make space for Alex's puzzle work. I took these pictures to prove we completed this puzzle because I am NEVER EVER assembling it again. It was too dang hard to fit together to be any fun. The colors blurred into each other and appeared in multiple places.

Over my strong protestations, Frank offered this puzzle to our friends John and Marita with whom we enjoy a game afternoon/evening once a month. They too love puzzles and the picture is indeed pretty. We shall see when they start to put it together. I hope they remain our friends.

Ponder: Unforgettable You

Unforgettable You ©2019 is the fifth book in the Silver Springs series by author Brenda Novak. I enjoy reading book series because the locale and many of the characters are familiar. I can immerse myself in the story itself with minimal acclimation to an entirely new cast of characters clamoring for competing space in my brain. I have read the first four books in this series and enjoyed the light reading style.

I completed this book during my plane flight back from North Carolina the Wednesday before Easter. That was soooo long ago (almost a month) so writing this post will really be jogging my memory. Frank is reading the book now, so as he pauses and asks me questions or makes comments, my brain cells are reactivated a bit. He takes more time to finish a book than I do, but a large part of that is due to the fact that he repeatedly misplaces the book, not remembering where he was when he was last reading it.

He'll ask, "Diane, have you seen the book I am reading?"

I'll say, "Which one is that ? What is the title?"

He invariably answers, "I forget." 

His response has become a running joke for this book since the title is Unforgettable You.

The plot is about a single and recently divorced mom Jada and her daughter Maya – who Jada has been raising basically on her own – returning to the town of Jada's high school years. A terrible accident had befallen Jada's younger brother Atticus during a high school party which Jada, her then boyfriend Maddox, and his brother Tobias had attended, leaving Atticus wheel chair bound. Subliminally, Jada's mother Susan blames Jada; openly, she deeply hates and shuns Maddox and Tobias. Susan has developed some failing health problems. Despite the undercurrent of resentment, Cassie dutifully returns to Silver Springs to assist her mother in her local bakery business. Jada's love flame for Maddox still burns, although she must conceal it out of respect for her mother's concept of family loyalty. 

Finding Our Forever ©2017 (post for 12/4/17 3 stars) is the first of three novels in the Silver Springs Series by Brenda Novak. The second was No One But You ©2017 (post for 11/10/17 4 stars). The third was Until You Loved Me ©2017 (post for 11/2/17 5 stars) and the fourth was Right Where We Belong (post for 2/15/18 3 stars). Their commonality was only in the location and that the male hero in each had been a student at New Horizons Boy's Ranch for troubled youth. Maddox, too, had been a resident of New Horizons Boys Ranch before being exiled out of the town of Silver Springs, fired by the influence and power of the unforgiving Susan. Aiyana, the wise and compassionate director of New Horizon's, is opening a parallel school for troubled girls and has offered a job as its director to the now adult and accomplished Maddox. Dare he return to the town of Silver Springs? Dare he and Jada associate with each other and risk being detected by the scornful eye of Susan?

The theme of the book is forgiveness. That is a rather heavy topic but it is skillfully addressed in the light reading style of this author that I like. I rate this book 4 stars. The situation may be a bit contrived but many of the characters' altruistic motives are explored and provoke thought. The plot is no more contrived than Shakespeare's play All's Well That Ends Well and that is accepted as a worthy read even though its plot is quite convoluted. Wow! If you have forgotten or are unfamiliar, read the synopsis in Wikipedia's entry for Shakespeare's play. There are a few risqué exchanges and actions in Unforgettable You, as anticipated in any romance novel, that add to the delight of this book. But if Shakespeare is allowed to do it, why not Brenda Novak? At least the reader does not need to struggle with iambic pentameter.

Maxine's 80th Birthday – Part 2

Tuesday, April 16th was our final full day of visiting in North Carolina. Dean's wife Nishaan took some time off from work and drove Maxine, Frank, Camilla, Carmen and me to explore the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC about a one-hour drive north from their home in Matthews.

Per the museum's website: 

This family-friendly place is a 60 acre site filled with immersive exhibits & special events. Four exhibit buildings represent the remaining structures of historic Spencer Shops, once Southern Railroad's largest steam locomotive repair facility on the east coast. The massive, 90,000 square foot Back Shop features aviation and automotive exhibits. The Bob Julian Roundhouse, with 37 stalls, is the largest remaining roundhouse in North America and features steam and diesel locomotives, rail cars, & more!

When we arrived we picked up maps to familiarize ourselves with the facility and grounds. We planned to take the train ride that passed by the various areas of interest area, starting at A on the following map, near where we had parked.

A. Barber Junction (1898) (train ride start)
B. Back Shop (1905) (lots of transportation vehicles)
C. Master Mechanics Office (1911) (current gift shop)
D. Storehouse No. 3 (1896) (did not visit)
E. Flue Shop (1924) (did not visit)
F. Round House (1924) (turntable and large railcar displays)

But first things first. We visited a restroom and encountered our first educational poster in there.

Then we had a picnic lunch near one of the side tracks. Here are Carmen, Camilla, and Frank with the backdrop of an engine.

As interested in quilting and sewing as I am, it was coincidental that the first box car we encountered was for transporting fabrics!

We walked back toward the boarding platform for the train and passed a refurbished historic trolley car.

We had train tickets for a 1:30 pm departure...

... and waited patiently to board.

We admired the bunny wreath decorations on the depot doors. The Sunday after our visit would be Easter and the museum had lots of signage, trimmings, and games scattered throughout in preparation for the special event.

It was Carmen and Camilla's first ride ever on a real train. Note the spring/Easter decorations above the windows, also.

We sat across from Nishaan and Maxine.

The train did not do a loop but rather went up and back along the same track. Unless you switched seats, you rode backwards at least one direction.

On the return, the train traveled a bit further down the tracks beyond the boarding platform, passing an impressively high pile of discarded automobiles. I guess that mound still fits the museum theme. Automobiles are indeed one form of transportation.

After we disembarked, we began to explore the grounds, making our way eastward from the station area in the west toward the shops and roundhouse in the middle and on the right in the site map. We stopped to learn about signaling devices at railroad crossings. A staggering statistic quoted was that someone in the United States is hit by a train every 3 hours. Did you know the audible horn signal warning at a crossing is "L  O  N  G...  L  O  N  G... short ... L  O  N  G" ?

Before radio communication was widespread on the railway networks in the 1960s operators relayed information by telephones sheltered in concrete booths. Here is Frank in front of one such booth.

After the train ride we made our way toward the Back Shop (B), the large building with   BE CAREFUL  emblazoned on it. Per the captions on the museum map

The immense Back Shop structure was built in 1905 and served as the major overhaul facility for steam locomotives. The largest structure on the site and once the largest industrial building in North Carolina, two to three locomotives per week emerged as new from the Back Shop during its peak.

Before entering, we were greeted by its resident kitty who ambled over to be loved up.

It was an extremely large building, as advertised, stretching pretty much as far as the eye could see and lined with vehicles of all varieties.

This railway express truck was either in incredibly good shape or had been remarkably restored.

Nishaan was very impressed and fascinated with this early motorized vehicle. I offered to take her photo with it but she was reluctant to pose.

Aha! I got a candid shot anyway...

Intermittently scattered throughout the vehicle displays were some games. Ring toss was fun.

There was also a bean bag toss into two boards that displayed train engines as the target.

What fascinated me most in this building was the Gratitude Train for North Carolina. I had never heard of gratitude trains before. They were boxcars loaded with gifts from France as the French people's way of saying thank you to the United States for helping them during the World War II.

I captured the background story behind the Gratitude Train from the following signs.

This YouTube video about the NC Merci Car - WWII Era 40 & 8 Boxcar is about two minutes long and well worth watching, especially if you are unable to read the text in the preceding photos. The Merci Train for California is in Fresno and the one for Oklahoma is in Norman. Frank and I will plan to visit each of those when we are near the area. For the gratitude train location for your state, check out the the Merci Train Site tab at the link www.mercitrain.org.

After emerging from the far end of the Back Shop, we walked on to the Round House and Turntable (item F on the museum map). Per the museum map

The 37-bay Bob Julian Roundhouse (1924) was the second roundhouse built at the Spencer Shops. It replaces a smaller one built in 1896.

In 2011 the roundhouse and turntable were declared an Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

We entered the Roundhouse at the Orientation Room at the far left of the following orientation map at the star marked Main Entrance and walked straight out to the Turntable at the center.

On the way, in the Orientation Room, we passed these white statues depicting men at work as they would have been when the locomotive maintenance was at its peak.

We would be taking a ride on the turntable that rotated locomotive engines, aligning each with one of the 37 bays of the roundhouse.

We approached one of the two wooden walkways that flank the track on which a locomotive to be rotated into position would sit.

Note in the next photo that the rails are not aligned in preference to aligning the wooden walkway for the boarding passengers. Great precautionary care needed to be taken to assure that for locomotive loading and unloading the rails were aligned to prevent derailing. There were no fancy auto-align features. That major, major "detail" was handled manually, purely with observation by the rail yard operators.

Our operator stood on the other side and narrated while we rotated.

I captured our turntable ride on video in two roughly 30 seconds segments.

After we got off I took a peek at the large motor that had propelled us around. It is at the bottom left of the next photo, riding on a curved rail.

The following 1928 photo displays the variety of locomotives that once used the very turntable we rode as part of their process of being serviced in the Spencer Shops.

Here is Frank with Tyler, the turntable operator who not only controlled our ride but explained a lot of what we were seeing. He formerly was a fireman on a locomotive and seemed quite eager to share his knowledge and experiences as Frank peppered him with questions. Sharing a common love of trains, he and Frank became "Best Buds".

The following 2015 aerial picture is from the book North Carolina Transportation Museum Hardcover  (February 19, 2018) by Alan Coleman (Author), Kelly Alexander Brown (Introduction), Mark Brown (Introduction). It provides a good overview of where we had been during the day's visit, starting at the top of the photo and working our way down. While Frank and Tyler were engaged in an animated conversation, Maxine, Nishaan, Camilla, and Carmen turned back to explore a hands-on sand play pit and the gift shop area. Frank and I entered the far end of the roundhouse (lower portion of photo) and were surprised to realize the extent of the displays that populated the second floor. Per the Roundhouse Orientation Map, in counterclockwise order, Frank and I visited the following exhibits: "Riding the Rails", "Restoration Shop" through large glass viewing windows, "North Carolina Railroads and Spencer Shops", and a "Rolling Stock Display". 

In the "Riding the Rails" portion we entered an acid tanker car and a hospital car. I was actually in this car but I am positive it had been purged before allowing museum visitors to tour it. Per Wikipedia

HCN is an extremely poisonous chemical, and is lethal in very small doses. A hydrogen cyanide concentration of a few hundred parts per million (ppm) in air can kill a human in less than one hour, and if ingested, it can cause almost immediate death. When high concentrations (of about 5.6%) of the HCN gas is exposed to air, it is also explosive.

A hospital car had been outfitted to carry wounded military personnel as efficiently as possible. I can't imagine being very ill or in pain while getting into or being on an upper bunk.

We looked down into the "Restoration Shop" area through a large viewing pane of glass. Though we were isolated from the shops we still noted the cautionary signage.

There were items of note along the hallways outside the "Spencer Shops". Remember the turntable? Just beyond its outermost diameter where the trains were rolled on to it, the rails from each bay were so close they intersected. This section of rail is called a frog. It was the design solution for dealing with the intersection of tracks at an angle. 

The name frog does not have anything to do with the amphibian creature that croaks and hops. The word frog is thought to be influenced by synonymous Italian forchetta or French fourchette ‘small fork’, because of the shape. Rather the frog reference has to do with an alternate definition for similar shaped items such as closures for a coat or metal structures to hold flower stems.

Here is an ornamental clothing fastener (definition1)

In a garden design blog, https://fredgonsowskigardenhome.com, I found a picture of flower frogs (definition 2).

We were also told it could be so named because of its similarity to the anatomy of a horses hoof.

I guess(?) I can see the similarities... sort of. By this stretch of logic why couldn't a reference to the living breathing frog animal be relevant also, since it keeps trains from "hopping" the tracks? Bad joke... sorry.

We spent some time at displays for hand signaling devices and tools, also outside the "Spencer Shops".

We continued on to the "Rolling Stock " display. Frank was quite excited to see and stand by an actual crane car. Apparently they are a rarity, plus he had a model one he played with a lot as a kid.

This box car with its The Tobacco Route logo was a reminder that tobacco is a predominant crop and, in particular, the number one cash crop for North Carolina. North Carolina leads the top three states in acreage for tobacco agriculture with 170,083 acres. Kentucky comes in second with 87,641 acres and Virginia third with 20,881 acres.

I Googled the phrase from the side of the caboose, Hold Tight Til Footing's Right to see if there was a railroad-specific meaning.

What I was bemused to learn instead was that the Seaboard Air Line had nine other safety slogans for its cabooses. The associated website was http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/cabooseslogans.htm.  The caboose we saw had the eighth of ten slogans.

As an appropriate end to our information and fun packed day at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, I had Frank pose near this large poster with its emerging No. 3 engine.

Wednesday, April 17th was the day Frank and I would be flying back home to California. Maxine and I posed for a sister duo photo on the back deck of Dean and Nishaan's home.

Then Nishaan drove us to the Charlotte Douglas International airport, about a half-hour drive north west of Matthews.

We arrived in plenty of time for our 2:25 pm flight. We made our way toward the "A gates" looking for our particular departure gate. We were a bit befuddled when there was no A50.

Frank and I are not newbie travelers but I guess we were a tad worn out. We dutifully trotted down the long hallway designated Gates A but at the end could not find A50. We asked a passing airport personnel if we had gone down the wrong "A" corridor or in the wrong direction. He patiently explained that there was no gate numbered 50 and took the time to look at our boarding passes. He pointed out that our gate number was the small print A26 after the word GATE and that the large 50 was printed under our boarding POSITION of Southwest Boarding Group A. We must have looked like idiots, but he was gracious enough not to reveal if that was what he thought. By our twisted logic, Frank would have been leaving via "Gate A51" for the same destination.

We gazed out the windows on the corridor leading to the A gates, noting that CLT, like many other airports was under construction for expansion. The dig was interesting to watch as was the rising spiral ramp for the parking structure.

The waiting area at some of the gates was being revamped so the improved seats could contain USB ports or other support for electronics. In the interim, there were white rocking chairs scattered about for seating. The wooden rockers may have been neither efficient nor space saving, but they certainly felt less austere and more welcoming than standard airport seating. They give out a wistful vibe of wanting to be "home". 

Frank and I would not touch down at our Oakland airport until after midnight Pacific Standard Time (3:00 am by our East Standard Time adjusted body clocks) early Thursday, April 17th. Though exhausted during the 45-minute drive from the airport, it sure felt good to be home. We may have been tired but we were still satisfied and happy we had made the trip. See? Maxine and I are smiling!