What is This Thing?

My home office is a mess, so lately I've been making an effort to organize it and maybe get rid of things I don't really need. Yesterday I found a box of strange things with a label on it: "Diffuser, Deflector, & Lube packet enclosed" Inside were two of these white things with a black ring, and a tube of silicone lubricant. The "things" were very good quality so I decided they must be valuable, but for what purpose?

Under the box was a packet of warranty papers for my scuba diving BCP, so it is somehow related to my scuba gear but it doesn't look like it would attach to any of my scuba gear.

Then I thought, "is this thing supposed to attach to my under water camera housing?" By golly it does! And that white thing is exactly positioned in front of the flash unit! This is just like what I've seen professional photographers using! It's a camera flash diffuser that softens harsh shadows and eliminates a dark shadow cast from the housing's lens ring.

So now I'm wondering if I can figure out what this other thing is. It's a black ring with a metal insert. There are several seams and at least one hinge, but I can't get it to open or unlock. It's marked "Patent Pending...made in Italy" so it has a purpose.

Jerry's Rock

It was about six years ago last October when I went to visit my friend Jerry at his house in Arizona. We had lots of fun adventures in the mountains and high grasslands nearby. I was fascinated with the flora, the fauna, the climate, and the geology of the place. The Chiricauha Mountains to the east is the location of a volcanic cauldera but it is so ancient that there are no signs of pumice or lava. Instead, the volcanic ash accumulated to about 2000 feet thick, then hardened into a silica stone and eroded into vertical stone spires called "hoodoos."

Jerry's property is located on a nearly flat valley floor some miles away from the mountains, with a creek nearby that drains from those mountains. There is a layer of eroded river stones not very deep beneath the top soil, and Jerry has had many encounters with them while digging trenches and post holes and the like.

One day while walking up his driveway I spotted an odd looking stone. I picked it up and brought it home with me, with the idea that some day I would figure out how to cut it open and see what was inside. I thought it looked like a geode, you know, the stones with a hollow spot in the middle lined with clear crystals. It wasn't likely though, knowing the volcanic history.

My granddaughter who is now nine years old began pestering me a few weeks ago, to crack open Jerry's rock. I preferred to cut it, but now there was incentive to act. I considered buying a stone cutting tool, but those are expensive. Then somebody mentioned that I should merely ask someone who owns a stone cutter to cut it for me.

We ended up going to a store named "Jerry's Rock and Gem Shop" to cut Jerry's rock. The people there were so friendly and helpful. In less than the time it took for us to look at all the wonderful rocks, jewelry, fossils, and shells in the store, they had cut Jerry's rock in half for me. Inside we found a small opening filled with the most wonderful tiny clear crystals.

I want to polish the face of the stone halves and make them look really nice.

Gollum

Last night two mermaids told me parts of the story "The Hobbit" and then they drew pictures of what the characters in the story looked like. Here is one nice drawing.

100 Miles to Nowhere

Yesterday we did the annual 100 mile ride to nowhere, to raise money for cancer research. We used the airport perimeter road which nicely measures exactly one mile in length, and there isn't much traffic on it, although we did count almost 200 bikes in two hours. The photo shows famous rider #5595 at about 35 miles. I went along for moral support but only did 62 miles. Rider #5595 went the full 100 miles, then rode his bike back up the hill to get home.

More Human Power Challenge

Here are two more photos from the Human Power Challenge weekend. I like the one with the Quest velomobile crossing the finish line because the checkered flag is perfectly poised.

The second photo shows the flood from the torrential downpour we had Saturday night. That tandem tricycle has water nearly up to the hub and that's a 20" diameter wheel. It took 25 minutes for the rain to fall, then several hours for it all to drain away.