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Jul

Durango, Colorado, photo hike

FAVORITE TOWN. I can say truthfully that everyone I know who has visited Durango in summer, or Fall, say they love the town and the area.

In the Fall, the famous old steam train puffs up to Silverton, and in October riders are dazzled by the Fall colors of the golden aspens.

You can also see glorious views if you drive up to Silverton. Molas Pass is 11,000 feet and recently we sat on the edge of Molas Lake and drank in the view and the tranquility.

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Molas lake nestled below the snow-flecked mountains of the Weminuche Wilderness.

Little Molas Lake, not far away, is a fairyland.… More

Jun

A SCARY COVID-19 REOPENING SPIKECOVID-19 is winning once again in these states: Arizona (419), Texas (175), Arkansas (202), Mississippi (252), Florida (291), South Carolina (240).In contrast, New Mexico (75), Oklahoma (75) and Kansas (75) are doing much better in controlling the virus.These numbers are daily new cases of the virus, averaged over the past week (21-28 June), per million people in the state. See Figure 1.

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Figure 1.

The virus in Texas has flared up since restrictions were softened in early June: no mandate to wear masks, bars open to 50% and restaurants open to 75% capacity, allowing 100 people to meet together, and beaches open.… More

Jun

Red Rocking in New Mexico

Last week I came across a calendar I had designed for 2015. To tell the truth, I had completely forgotten about the calendar. The pictures and the words lifted my spirit at this time of injustice, loss, death, and despair sweeping across the country. The following photos and words are from different months of that calendar.

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Figure 1: Starting out on a cold fall morning in late 2014 about 60 – 70 miles from Albuquerque. Kim on the right with kids Kara and Jaden, and friend Brayden in the middle.

If you are a hiker, you will especially appreciate the challenge of the climb.… More

May

COVID-19: deaths and reopening

INTRODUCTIONThe COVID-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. This is defined as when an infectious disease passes easily from person to person in many parts of the world at the same time.The material in this blog comes from two BBC News articles dated May 28 and 29, 2020. To read these articles, click HERE and HERE.USA VERSUS REST OF WORLDThe death toll in the US became the highest in the world in early April and has risen dramatically since then.

President Donald Trump initially said “50 to 60,000” people could die during the outbreak but in May he said he was hopeful the toll would be lower than 100,000.… More

May

Pandemic Analysis – How the US got behind, and Australia got ahead.

A BBC News article from earlier this week stated that the severity (number of deaths) of COVID-19 in a country depended on two things:(1) How quickly countries went into lockdown, i.e. mandated the “stay-at-home” rule, or “shelter-in-place” as the Californians called it.(2) The extent of and how quickly testing for the virus was made available.This information is in the video attached to the article (see below).THE EXTENT OF TESTING.The article makes clear that countries like South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Vietnam got into testing quickly and broadly. The Vietnam story is fascinating. They got control of the virus quickly and their deaths per million residents are way downS Korea = 5, Australia = 4, Vietnam = 0.In… More

May

Pandemic Update – Surprises in New Mexico, Kansas, and Australia

The numbers and graphs in this blog are updated to 3 May 2020. Enormous changes have occurred since my first coronavirus blog was posted five weeks ago.

Bill Gates was interviewed by CNN again on Thursday evening. I wish they had put him in charge of the pandemic in the early days….a lot of lives would have been saved in the USA. For me, every comment he made was sensible, based on data and facts, and carefully thought out. Of course he knows his stuff. Been warning of a pandemic for 10 years. Spoken about it, written articles about it, funded universities who built models of the growth of the pandemic.… More

Apr

Hiking among petrified logs

BACKGROUNDPetrified wood is created by precipitation of the mineral quartz from groundwater that flows through the wood after it is buried in sediment. Quartz replaces the wood, often preserving its fine cellular texture. The variety of colors of petrified wood results from impurities within the quartz crystals.

Perhaps the most famous is petrified wood from northern Arizona, extracted from the Chinle Formation of Late Triassic age (220 million years ago). Wood from the Chinle Formation represents conifer trees and is noted for vibrant red and yellow colors.

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Large Petrified Pine cut and polished from Arizona, with Director Tiffany Santos. Stuhl Museum is at New Mexico State university in Las Cruces.https://zuhlmuseum.nmsu.edu/petrified-wood/… More

Apr

Pandemic – Is the curve flattening in New Mexico, Kansas, and Australia?

IT DOESN’T TAKE A PH.D….Last week I discovered the “Add 30 seconds” button on my microwave. It only took me 13 years to find it. Think of all the time I wasted punching in the “Time to cook” button, then “30 seconds”, then “Start”. Just 2 seconds possibly 5 times every day for 13 years!!!

NEW MEXICO NUMBERS.The coronavirus numbers in New Mexico are comparatively small – 794 total cases and 13 deaths as of 7 April 2020 (see figure). Its an exponential curve and it hasn’t flattened at all. The only good thing is the death numbers, no more than 2 per day, and on most recent days only 1 per day (this is encouraging).… More

Mar

Coronavirus – Risk and Prediction for New Mexico.

BILL GATES.Did you see Bill Gates on CNN last week? He was impressive. In clear language, he stuck to the facts and figures — and he made sense.

He has had lots of money to spend, and some of it he has spent on future pandemics. This was after the SARS pandemic of 2003. He wrote an article that defined what governments should do when the next pandemic strikes.

Did they act on this? Nope. In fact, President Trump closed down the Office of Infectious Diseases in the White House.

It seems that if the USA had acted like Gates recommended, our country might have been in a much better situation.… More

Mar

Coronavirus numbers – what has the US learned from Asia?

NUMBER OF CASES This Youtube link will tell you in real time how many cases and deaths by country. Its grim, and its scary. See below under TAKEAWAYS.

As I write on March 22, 2020, there are 339,000 total cases worldwide, almost 15,000 deaths, and 98,000 total recovered.

China has 81,000 current cases and 72,000 recovered. Italy has 59,000 current cases and 7,000 recovered. USA has 33,000 current cases and 178 recovered. Spain has 29,000 current cases and 3,000 recovered. Germany has 29,000 current cases and 384 recovered.

For statistics in the USA, scroll down to TAKEAWAYS.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA?… More

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