On The Road of Life

I got the results from the stress test.  It came back normal, which is good, but that doesn't explain the odd thumps, bangs and other oddities my heart occasionally comes up with.  Ah, well.  Another one of life's mysteries.  Apparently it is unlikely to stop anytime soon and I can do whatever I want (exercise wise) -- so it's all good, or at least good enough. 
   I walked again today.  One of my routes includes a path down to the river (which I'll go down and up 2 or 3 times) -- the only place around here with a hill.  For 25 years or so, at the bottom of the hill, a dead oak has arched over the trail.  At some point it had toppled, and was perched on two limbs and the trunk with the stump  looming over the trail.  It sort of looked like a T-rex with the head (stump end) 10 feet above the path.  It was also quietly rotting away and due to collapse and perhaps smash someone into a puree.  Well someone (probably the city -- a real trail is planned for the site) got busy with a chainsaw and now the T-rex is a stack of wood alas. 
   I also have to note a tragic passing:  my canadian crutches.  About two-thirds of the way into the walk, the right crutch developed some sort of twist which makes it uncomfortable to use.  Time for a new pair, which is too bad.  The old ones have been so stalwart:  up several mountains, hiking in the arctic etc.  I'll retire the old ones to a place of honor in the Curiosity Room (a.k.a. the computer room) .
   On another note, there are two curious ships being worked on at the Swan Island shipyard.  The "Pacific Discoverer" and the "Pacific Tracker" both from Norfolk Va.  The P.D. is festooned with radio / radar dishes -- four 20 in diameter and two 15 feet, as well as six radar domes -- three to ten feet in diameter.  The larger P.T. has a couple of dishes and six similar radar domes and -- here's the odd part -- a geodesic radar dome 40+ feet in diameter perched on the stern.  The ship must be a real peach to handle in a typhoon.  My captaining experience is limited to a 25' sail boat -- on the river -- with a fresh breeze (Beaufort scale) so what do I know, but still.
  (Francis Beaufort of the eponymous wind scale -- the sea north of Alaska is named after him -- he was knighted -- he slept with his sister.  The four things may not be related.)  DA