C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 7
February 20, 2018
low earth orbit, geosynchronous orbit, and shuttle to station timetable…
There’s a knotty question I never got into with Foreigner, and there’s a reason I’ve always had a time-gap inside the shuttle flights…because while Mother Earth and her satellites behave in a totally sensible way, the ways in which we get to orbit are varied and in technological evolution. So I don’t have a clear answer for how long that flight is in Bren’s time, and while he was the translator for the archive for that technology, he’s a linguist, after all, not an engineer or a physicist.
The station, in fact, has moved. The only way to effectively ‘mothball’ the station was to boost it from LEO (low earth orbit) into geosynchronous orbit, on autopilot, so to speak, which would put it out of reach for the ‘petal sail’ tech the rebels were using to reach the atevi Earth. There may be a short story in this, actually. One is trying to gel, but I have to finish the current book.
Boosting it up—way up—would mean that it could stay in orbit indefinitely—centuries would be no problem. A space station in LEO has to boost itself periodically, and while this could be done robotically, the chance of things going catastrophic would be greater.
Geosynchronous orbit means you need more shielding…but mothballed, far less problem. It also means that while you can observe the planet, you stare at the same spot as the world goes around. When you’re in LEO, you go round the world multiple times a day.
When Phoenix returned initially, not finding the station where they expected, they would have figured out part of what had happened in their absence. Getting aboard the station and getting at records answered other questions. And if they wanted to find out about the planet, their next job was to move the station back into LEO, a delicate job, from which other decisions were possible. But they had no landing craft. Sending a robot down was possible, but they wanted more than that. They wanted to stay safe while figuring out what had happened. And Jase and Yolande were already ‘purposed,’ in a sense.
So that is one of those little background bits that may find its way into the story, or not, but it is one of those things I try to deal with without getting too technical.
February 18, 2018
February 17, 2018
My electric personality…or…fool!
So one of the casualties (sort of) of the remodel is the fact I haven’t been able to reach my tank to do maintenance, or when I can, we’re decorated for Christmas, or I’m too tired. But a reactor (tube) of gfo (granulated ferric oxide) has been filtering water since October and has cleaned up the algae (gfo binds phosphate which is released by the rocks and fuels algae) in the tank. So on that level, it’s improved. But getting a little algae now and pretty sure the rocks are still leaching phosphate. Our makeup water is 0 tds, (total dissolved solids) so it’s got none.
A tub of water below provides freshwater to make up for evaporation; and the skimmer (a bubble chamber that produces froth that binds amino acids) cleans the water. And the gfo reactor is the third part of what goes on down in the basement sump that improves the tank water. Well—say I—we change out the gfo for fresh and that’s my deed for the day, while I run some more reverse-osmosis filtered water for the tank. So all is well. I rinse off the new gfo to be sure we’ve got the rusty dust off, I put everything back together, and—the water pressure blows the hose connector loose. A fountain of salt water is erupting. Right into the power strip. I make a move to stop it, I’m standing there with, yes, rubber soles, but wet—and zap! I got bit by electricity. Just as the GFI circuit blows (ground-fault-interrupt). GFI’s are a great idea around water. It could have been much nastier.
And I could have blown a pretty spendy skimmer, and the topoff monitor—but apparently (and to my great relief) the only damage was to the pump for the reactor. I popped the gfi button back in (now that it’s dried out down there) and everything works except that pump, which either had an impeller (fan blade that pushes water) break off or is just pretty limp.
Can’t believe that I didn’t double-check that hose before I turned the power on. You really wrestle with that reactor getting it reloaded and all the tubing and interior plates where they need to be, (you have to stick a pencil through one restriction plate to get it seated on a contrary tube, and if you don’t know that trick you can spend an hour swearing at it)—but at least it’s running at a trickle. In a few days, I’ll have a pump that pushes it as it should be. And a spare impeller in case I can repair this one.
Adventures in tank culture.
February 15, 2018
A delightful evening—without commentators.
We managed, with a combo of Hulu and NBC, to get a feed of the Olympic opening ceremonies—without commentators. Delightful. For once, we could watch something spectacular and TALK to each other in our own living room, without two blathering voices overlaying a point we might want to hear, or having the camera jolt away from something pretty to focus on some specific athlete, following by happytalk inanity for a full minute, discussing the cutaway, and the weather.
Joy, oh, joy! We also got to see an NBC skating feed that showed the technical scores at the bottom, element by element, so we could see where the deducts were—wonderful!
TV as it ought to be. Now, if we could only get our Mariners baseball! [blackout rules.] But major victory for civilized living room conversation!
I also got the results of the first doc visit—tests are clean and levels are good and we are happy.
Winter is back—headed for 14 degree night-time temps and more snow. I think I am going to do some major grocery shopping today, while we have the major streets clear!
February 14, 2018
Happy Valentine’s Day
—and half a food of snow and still coming.
I’d gotten into a nice rhythm with the cats going outside for a couple of hours, returning to a snack, settling down —and now—Shu is sitting beside me staring out the window in total disgust. The kitties have NOT applied to go out today.
February 10, 2018
Getting ahead of spring…
The weather’s 40 by day and 20 by night, which means that the trees are confused but budding and the sap is rising fast. This means get out there and trim and clip and rake…I got half the apple tree pruned and the wands diced for the bin, we have a bin-full left from last fall and no pickup until March, but I’m filling garbage cans to dump into the green can when it’s empty. One smaller limb of the hawthorn broke in this last week’s wind, and that has to be dealt with—it’s an aged tree, so this sort of thing is to be expected. And we can’t put a thick bit of wood into the green bin…has to go in the trash. Plus there’s going to be a pond cleanout and refill, part of the spring routine, plus renewing the netting.
I’m also raking pinecones, or fir cones or whatever they are. Lots of them. If only these were a food crop, eh? But I have to vary jobs because my back just won’t take one steady job for hours.
Next comes the annual checkups, and more dental work. Sigh. I so do not look forward to these. But spring is out there, the sky is brilliant blue, the weather is crisp and sweatshirt weather while you’re actively working, and we’re off on our latest weight-loss effort.
February 6, 2018
February 4, 2018
Four-footed lawyer…
Because I can let the kitties out to exercise, they’ve been, well, more active. And to assure I get them back quickly and efficiently, I always give out a small handful of kibble to each (in separate places) —this means when I call, they come running.
Well, and then there’s Shu, our lazybones who chills very easily (Bengal, tropical in origin) —and who didn’t want to go out today because, well, damp. So Sei went out—raced out. Shu u-turned back to the kitchen and has sat warm and dry.
I just noticed it’s raining out there. So I go out, call, and back bounds Sei, slightly damp but happy.
I come in and Shu is sitting expectantly by the food bowl, the scoundrel. The legal question is obviously, “Does it count if HE went out? We still get kibble, right?”
There is no way to argue Constitutional law with a cat. Both got kibble because I want to maintain the association.
February 2, 2018
Our hinges are on….Scott has recovered from the plague…
And we now have our last doors up. What we have to go is the backsplash and kitchen venting—Scott was so sick we’re a little worried about him trying the vent work on the roof. Wait for warmer weather on that. And he likely has other clients he has to catch up on, too, but we’re fine. Our kitchen is totally functional and we’re getting to work on the other massive project, the garage sale—ie, cleaning out the basement.
January 30, 2018
cat diet…actually working.
It’s not easy: we’ve got one never-gains-weight and one easy-keeper, and feeding one enough while not having the other blimp up is not easy, but we’re managing. Now that we’ve fixed the yard as escape-proof, we can let them both out, then feed a LITTLE after they’ve had their constitutional. And feed reduced portions. And keep Shu out of Sei’s dish. I am glad to say that in only a week, Shu is reacquiring a waist, and is starting to play again. Hurrah for us. Feeding them separately so that Shu does not get half of Sei’s is a big help. It also helps Sei not gulp his food nervously with looks over his shoulder. I’ll hand out a 3-kibble snack if Shu is being desperate, but over all, I think we’re winning. The mild winter is helping. We have had clear ground a lot of the winter. They really are not fond of snow.
