Katy Dickinson

Resurrection Lilies

This is the wonderful time in summer when everything is blooming here in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. One of my favorite flowers is the Resurrection Lily. If you don't know what they are, you might see the papery yellow bulbs not doing anything all Spring and early Summer and think they are dead. The strap-like green leaves have long ago grown, dried up, and been cleared away. Then, this big brownish stalk quickly rises high and produces a beautiful cluster of pink lilies. What a delight!

Resurrection Lilies are formally called Lycoris squamigera and are in the Amaryllis Family. They are also sometimes called Naked Ladies (because they have no leaves).

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:45PM Aug 01, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

OSCON and ServoBells

I mostly write about my husband John Plocher working on WP668, our backyard caboose. Here are pictures from two of his more modern activities last week:

OSCON

John represented Sun and the OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) at the Open Source Convention or OSCON in Portland, Oregon. He came home with books, fun loot (I liked the dolphin toys with Sun on one side and MySQL on the other, and the EFF.ORG "Defend Blogger's Rights" tshirts), plus vague stories of late night inflatable sumo wrestling suits...

John's Badge

OSCON Loot

Van Lindberg's IP Law

ServoBells

John was inspired by the J. D. Barnhart's "Ruby on Bells" RAD demo to make and document his own Arduino ServoBells, with wine glasses borrowed from Sun Solaris Senior Director Kathy Jenks. Here is his technical music generator (note the use of chopsticks, tape dispenser, push pins and other ready materials):

John and his ServoBells

ServoBells

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:00PM Aug 01, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Cactus Bloom Cycle

I have some spectacular and large cactuses in my garden, many taller than I am. I don't know all of their names (some came with the house). Some (like the prickly pears) have many blooms that open all summer. Prickly pears will have buds and blooms and fruit all at once on one plant. Other cactuses just have a few huge flowers once a year. A cactus I planted when it was about a foot tall has grown over six feet. It bloomed for the first time last month. The blooms last for just a few hours and then crumple. Here are the bloom cycles of some of my favorite cactus plants:

Black fuzzy buds turn green

Green bud swells and turns pink

Almost open

Huge pink, yellow, white bloom

Two flowers open together

Night bloom profile

Seeds after flowers

Prickly pear flowers

Prickly pear fruit and flowers

More prickly pear flowers

Starting bud appears

Bud and stem grow

Two buds turn pink at once

Almost open

Yellow bloom fully opens

Two bloom together

Profile shows no needles

Looking inside

Flower soon crumples

Bloom turns black

Dead flower falls

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 07:10PM Aug 01, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Window Restoration Photos

John finished restoring the first window on WP668, our backyard caboose, last night. There are four more vertically sliding windows plus the bay windows that slide side-to-side. This first window told us much about how WP668's windows were put together and how we can fix them up while respecting their history.

Part of our work is research. For example, although most of the glass in WP668 was destroyed by vandals during storage, the few original pieces of window glass are etched with the brand Duolite. A search found the Types of Auto Glass Offered by PPG in 1957 web page which says:

"Published to the Trade by PPG in 1957
Pittsburgh Safety Glass is manufactured to meet the exacting requirements of the American Standard Safety Code for Safety Glazing Materials for Glazing Motor Vehicles Operating on Land Highways (A.S.A. Z26.1 - 1950) ...

DUOLITE SAFETY SHEET GLASS
Two pieces of Pennvernon Sheet Glass of similar thickness laminated together with an interlayer of Vinyl plastic to provide greatest elasticity and resistance to breakage at all temperatures. Safety Sheet Glass does not have the true vision of Safety Plate Glass, but does have an equal safety factor. Duolite is not recommend for use in windshields as here true vision is necessary for safe driving. Thickness 1/4"."

WP668 was originally built as a boxcar in 1916 and converted to caboose service during World War II. Since 1950 is date of the referenced safety standard, this probably means that all of the glass in WP668 was replaced with the new safety glazing within ten or twenty years after its 1943 conversion from boxcar to caboose. The sheets of Duolite glass are heavier and thicker than regular glass and the edges are lined with bubbles.

In addition to restoring the first window, John has made screen inserts which keep the air flowing through WP668 (with few bugs). Here are photos of the window work in progress:

Duolite glass brand (backwards)

Original sash, no trim

Restored window sash

John and new window screen insert

Inside window view

Window with screen

John installing sill

John in WP668 window

WP668 Caboose

Inside WP668

Eleanor Dickinson WP668 Portrait

Before trim install

Window trim install

New trim done

Just needs putty

John back to work

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 05:07PM Aug 01, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  |