Landour2010: May 2010

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Sunday May 30 Day 89

I am writing this at the internet cafe. I came in yesterday and the internet was down so I tried this morning and it popped right up.

This the last time I shall be at the internet cafe in the mountains of India for this round of my project. My next posting will be after I return to the US. I will make notes so that I can let you know how getting thorough security in India and in London. I am seeking special treatment to avoid the possibility of fogging my video tapes with x-rays. I am actually having trouble sleeping because of my concern.

I have packed my suitcases and prepared the stuff I shall be leaving in India. This includes all my extra video tapes, 2 pairs of jeans, transformers and electrical connections, shaving supplies etc. This will reduce the weight on my suitcases upon my return to India and provide room for sugar free chocolates. You all have no idea what it is like to without ANY chocolates for 92 days.

See you all in the States!!!

Saturday May 29 Day 89

Saturday May 29 Day 88

Do you all know that each drop of rain that falls is formed around a single grain of dirt. So after a rain storm everything hit by the rain has dirt on it. We had a good downpour a couple of nights ago and now everything in the yard is very dirty. The flower blossoms and leaves of the plants are dulled by the dirt. You can get a very dirty hand by wiping it on a stone.

I have just completed the organizing of my file for my memories. I created over 800 documents in the process. each individual memory is now in its own separate file. This was all done by copy/paste from the edited document.

My next project is to complete the book Moll Flanders, just 30 pages to go.

I have just run out of one of my insulin today. I picked up the insulin a couple of weeks ago and hoped I could leave it here to use when I returned. No such luck but I am lucky that I have the insulin available now rather than trying to get some when the chemist shop is closed on Sunday. I do suffer from planning ahead, must be the residue of a career in accounting.

Friday May 28 Day 87

I thing that the local electric company is celebrating my eminent departure. For the first time in almost 87 days the power has been on most of the time. There has been no shut off for the usual 2 to 3 hours in the middle of the day. I have been able to work at my computer for almost 8 hours and it looks like I may get my memories data organized completely.

Last night i attended the Senior Recital at Woodstock Parker Hall. It was uncomfortably warm and very humid. Early this morning there was a real rain storm including rain, hail and strong winds. North India is in the grip of a major heat wave and is praying for some relief. We gat a little today.

There is not much to report when you spend 8 hours at the computer.

Thursday May 27 Day 86

We have been having trouble with the electric supply. It turns out that the problem is in the fuse box on the front veranda. The cook was playing around with a screwdriver and got the electricity to come on and go off by moving the screwdriver. The power is 220 volts and it is nothing to play around with. but he left the screwdriver jammed in the fuse area and the electricity continued to flow until the city turned it off at 11:30. My major problem is getting enough power to charge up the batteries in my computers, Ipod, Sony Reader, and video tape player. This is usually taken care of during the night. But the juice was off for the entire night and I was not getting by batteries charged. My Ipod is on its last fumes (are there fumes in a battery) so I plugged it in when the power was on. Here in India the wall plugs are individually controlled with a switch. I failed to turn on the plug and so I ran out of Ipod power just before lunch. I use the Ipod to entertain me while I eat lunch. Today, lunch was silent and over cooked to boot.

I find myself much less patient with things here, such as electricity. Perhaps I am suffering from “short timers disease”. My taping is done and I even packed my equipment suitcase today. I cannot wait to get out of here and on to the next adventure, like living where the electricity actually works most of the time. My mind is actively working on the new equipment I need to obtain for my second stay in India, trying to figure out what I can leave here so I will have available weight for sugar free chocolate on my return, how am I going to find a phone to call Travis, my son, when I arrive in Seattle, (that way I won’t have to live at the airport but they will have electricity) etc

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Wednesday May 26 Day 85

Only 5 days before I leave the mountains.

I am on top of the world!! I increased my sleep quotient by 50%. I slept until 4 am and got 6 hours of sleep instead of yesterday’s 4. It is amazing how a little extra sleep will improve your mind.

I am though logging my shots for the project. I only have 1,378 different segments in the can (as they say in the old movie business) or on my master tapes. My next step is getting them through security at the airport without putting them through the X-ray machines. Just the slightest variance in the settings of the X-ray equipment can ruin the video tape. There was an Indian producer of television documentaries here at Kilmarnock and he said that security can do what they call a “hand check” of critical video tapes. The greatest problem is have the security operator accept my request for a hand check. Some of the will and some of them won't. Then I have to go up the line to a supervisor. For this reason I am planing on getting to the airport 3 hours early. This problem is a major contributor to my not sleeping well.

I think I have solved the problem of organizing my memories. The only problem is that the electrify has been off since 9 am and it is now 2 pm. I have used up all my battery power in my laptop and need to charge it up before I can test my thoughts.

Tuesday May 25 Day 84

I did my final taping today. I had to outsmart some rapidly moving clouds but was very successful. Walking to and from the trail took over an hour. I then spent 20 minutes taping and waiting for the clouds to clear. I ended up with 3 1/2 minutes of tape. Such is the life of a great video artist. I must get all the trails and this was the last one.

I am having trouble sleeping. I woke up at 2:00 am and only had 5 1/2 hours of thinking time. I did solve a lighting problem which has been on my mind for weeks. So the time is valuable. I find that I am really running out of petrol at the end of the day. The evenings are so long and I do not have the mental energy to be productive.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Monday May 23 Day 83

I lied to all of us all, including myself. I said I was done but I am not. There is one segment of trail that I have passed over several times that needs to be taped a second time. It is a highly improved connection between a couple of major trails. I have skipped it because it is not a very interesting trail due to all the improvements. Fortunately it is less than half way down the hill so it. Coming back up will not take much effort. The weather is beautiful today and the clouds should not start to gather until after I am done.

Well, the clouds are smarter than I am (not that is saying much). At noon there were no clouds and by 1 pm they were all over everywhere. I figured that they were just fooling with me so i took off to do my taping. That was the longest walk for absolutely nothing I have taken in my entire time here in India. I also found out that my energy reserves are very limited. I basically collapsed when I got back home.

I started working on editing my memories manuscript before lunch today. I am making progress but not too much. I need to get all the corrections I found when reading through the manuscript in to the computer. I should get it done in the morning since I am through with my logging.

The temperature today is supposed to be 95 degrees in the main bazaar or Mall. Up on top of the hill, my room has yet to hit 70 degrees though it is pushing that today. The temperature difference in 2,000 feet of elevation is interesting. When you go out in the sun it is very warm but we nedd to sleep under a light quilt.

Sunday May 23 Day 82

Today is national rest day, at least for me. I have spent a good portion of the day reading. I did some shot logging this afternoon but was too tired to concentrate on the precision needed to do the work. My feet and legs were tired and even hurt a bit.

I seem to have come out well in the cloud roulette game. It rained twice today including some hail and a great deal of thunder this afternoon. It will be interesting to see how I will respond to not worrying about the weather every day but let come what may.

I have some logging to do and then I will start work on editing my memories. I needed to develop some means of organizing the various stories in a logical fashion. I have been thinking on this during the hours between waking up and getting up. There are usually 2 to 3 hours of thinking time every day. It is 7:30 pm and the electricity is off again so I shall stop.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Saturday May 22 Day 81

It is very interesting to come into a closed society from the outside. Woodstock is for all intents and purposes a closed society with their own internal communication system. Take for instance the play “The Importance of Being Ernest”. The play had been cancelled and replaced with a couple of one act plays and only being presented on one night instead of 2. The only reason I knew this was because I met one of the players as I going down the hill to see her performance. Everyone in the school knew this but outsiders had no means of finding out. I was informed by the music department that the year end concert was this Friday and Saturday. I was too tired to go last night and was out taping today only to see the piano soloist walking back from the bazaar. It turns out that everyone knows that the 2 concerts are different. The groups performing are different each night. So, I have missed the orchestra and chorus performances and the band performances are this evening and I do not want to hear high school band perform. So I shall stay home this evening. Perhaps the best thing I saw was the officially printed schedule for Woodstock had the plays and music performances listed for the wrong weekends. But No problem for Woodstock only for people coming in from the outside.

I have completed my video taping of the trails of the Woodstock area. I had to dodge a couple of clouds this afternoon but it was successful. I had another trail I had shot earlier but I have discovered that it is no longer really in use.

Last night the electricity went off at 9:30 pm and did not come back on until 7:30 this morning. I was logging my shots from yesterday and the electricity went off at 10 am and came back on sometime after 3 pm. The other problem is the electricity in the evening is so weak that I cannot see the keys on my laptop to do any logging or writing. I think I shall try to find a rechargeable camp light to use in the evening to supplement the light provided by the weak incandescent bulbs.

Friday May 21 Day 80

Set a new record logging shots from the previous day. 3 1/2 hours crouched over my laptops and tape players. My back hurts.

The Snows are out today. This is very unusual for this time of year but they are majestic. As a review, the snows are a rang 18,000 top 20,000 foot peaks visible when the air is clean enough or they are not covered by clouds.

There were NO clouds in the sky today. I have now taped all but 3 trails a second time. The music department at Woodstock School puts on their big concert tonight and tomorrow night. I am not going to make it tonight. I do not know if I can do the afternoon taping and go down and back up a second time in a single day to attend the concert. It all depends on the clouds. I should just play cloud roulette and hope Sunday or some day next week is clear. If I do not get these 3 minor trails it will not be a problem.

Thursday May 20 Day 79

Today was a 2 for one day. I did a soot this morning on the eastern side of the hill and on in the afternoon on the western side of the hill. There were no clouds in the morning and the clouds held off till almost 3 pm on the west side of the hill. I was forced to wait about 30 minutes for the cloud to move east and I got the last 5 shots of the day. my feet are very tired for the day but not from neuropathy. In fact my whole body hurts from tromping around the mountains for 6 hours. I guess aspirin is in order. My blood sugars were perfect this morning

I headed for the bazaar to check on my cell phone. The man from the shop had gotten the SIM card at 9 pm but by then the dog was out and I did not hear them calling from inside the stone house. The young man said he could hear me laughing at 7:30 this morning at his house which is right across the ravine.

Wednesday May 19 Day 78

I do not know if any of you remember a song from the old TV series Hee Haw. It was a country music variety show and they had song where the best line was, “If it weren't for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all”. That is me today. I went out to shoot today even though there were clouds developing overhead. I decided I could dodge the clouds and shoot when the sun was out. It took me 25 minutes to walk down the hill to start my shooting at the Hostel. After 3 shots and 10 minutes this big black cloud moved in from the west. I loaded up my equipment and headed for the school. I was waiting to see Steve Alter to get a letter from him authorizing my taping of the buildings of Woodstock. I waited while he wrote the letter and I had my one good piece of good luck for the day. A major rain storm started and then shifted to major hail. I was under cover the whole time. I got my letter from Steve and headed to the bazaar to see why my phone is not working. I had to wait for 30 minutes for the kids to clear out of the internet cafe and after several phone calls it turns out that the main office of the SIM card people have rejected my paper work. The latest is that the man from the internet cafe will go another provider of SIM cards and bring it to my home this evening. I really think I am going to have to redo all my documentation including new photos before I will get my phone. I shall let you know in the next installment

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Tuesday May 18 Day 77

Another cloudy day including thunder in the afternoon. My trip to the ATM was successful.

I have been trying to not buy more Insulin before retuning to the states. By my calculation I will run out of it on the day I travel. It something unforeseen happens I shall be without Insulin. I have reduced my Insulin by 1 unit each time,3 units per day, and my blood sugars have way too high each day with the result of my feet hurting and I feel rather poorly. So this morning I went down the hill beyond the ATM machine and got more Insulin. It will put my mind at rest and I won’t feel so bad.

Remember the story of the SIM card in my phone. Well the phone did not work again this morning. I stopped by the shop on my way to the ATM and was told that the phone would work after 12 pm. I was assured that he would call me immediately when it is working. It is now 4 pm and no phone call. Jai Hind!! I have just tried to call out and NO luck.

Monday May 16 Day 76

I logged the shots from yesterday and it took over 2 hours to complete. Today they clouds have moved in so NO taping. I will instead go to the bazaar and get my last infusion of funds. I shall go to the ATM gods and pray for money. I have purchased a cell phone and the 3 times I have tried to use it I couldn’t get anything. I shall go to the store where I purchased the phone and ask them.

I have observed the use of pressure cookers by everyone trying to prepare a meal. I finally figured it out. We are at 7,000 feet and the boiling point of water is not as hot as it is in Seattle (sea level). Therefore, it would take a whole lot longer to get your potatoes cooked, so the Indians use pressure cookers. I heard that in La Paz, Bolivia (the worlds highest capitol for you trivia fans), elevation 14,000 or 16,000 feet, that you can stick your hand into a pan of boiling water and not get burned. I bet pressure cookers are big hit in La Paz.

Jai Hind! (Hooray for India, usually not in a positive way when spoken by expatriates). A couple of weeks ago I purchased a phone to use in India. I have tried to call out 3 times and it would not work. Today I saw the young man who sold me the phone on the road. I shaved off my beard last night and he did not recognize me at all except for the back pack, white T-shirt and jeans. He tried the phone to call his cell phone. No luck. On my way to the ATM machine, I stopped off at his shop and it turns out the SIM card provider had failed to turn in the mountain of paper work to the government and so my SIM card was blocked. Only in India. They claim that the phone will be working in 8 hours, Yeah, right!!

My trip to the ATM was a failure. I was within 100 feet of the ATM machine when I remembered I did not have my ATM card. I will wait for the next cloudy day to get some money.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sunday May 16 Day 75

Later afternoon yesterday the 2 american college students were trying to ask me about the bus connection between here and Delhi. I did not know so I was given the opportunity to be a nice guy and we went down to the store in Sisters Bazaar, a 3 minute walk. We were asking the proprietor when one of the customers chimed in telling the girls about a 7 am bus from the Picture Palace, 15 minutes by taxi at that time of day, that went directly to Delhi. This morning the taxi was here at 6 am and the girls went off thanking me excessively for the “help” I had provided.

This is the first hot day and I went out to video tape the longest trail on the hillside, the “Eyebrow”. It is a very narrow trail and I got it done in 2 hours of constant taping. Because the trail is so narrow, I must keep the tripod low so the feet are not too wide. I then have to bend over the view screen and my back is killing me tonight.

Last evening I went down to Woodstock for the drama production. For 3 weeks of rehearsals the production was very good. The young lady with the lead did a very good job. The whole show lasted 25 minutes because the Indian school players were not able to come.

Well I did it. I shaved off my beard and willl not shave again until the 3rd week of November. With my 3 month growth of beard I do not look anything like my passport picture. I need to make sure that I do not look anything like a Muslim fundamentalist. With 2 weeks of growth I still have a beard but it will be short. In order to get a phone in India you must have a passport style photograph. The young man I bought the phone from looked at my passport, I had to show it to them, and said I looked like a terrorist.

Saturday May 15 Day 74

Last evening I headed down the hill, the rain had moved out, and met the young lady who was appearing in “The Importance of Being Ernest”. The show has been replaced with a one act comedy in which the young lady has the leading role. Evidently there were problems with the ordinal production. The male lead had not learned any of his lines, the director had fallen and broken her hip and the replacement director could not handle the job. The principal of Woodstock took on the task of directing the one act. To fill out the program one of the Indian schools was to present a one act play in English. The only English they know is “school” English as they do not speak the language on a regular basis except in English class. I shall go down the hill tonight in support of the young lady.

This morning I went down the hill and taped a trail that must be taped in the morning because the sun hits the trail only in the morning. Today is also the Woodstock Mela (fair). There are 2 american college girls staying here for 2 nights and I escorted them down the hill to the start of the “Eyebrow Trail” with additional instructions as to how to get to Woodstock from the end of the trail. They wanted to attend the Mela. As always, it takes longer to get anywhere when walking in the mountains and the girls and I got started 45 minutes late. I ended taping and had less than an hour to get back to the top of the hill for lunch. I made it in 55 minutes totally beat. I sure could have used the 45 “lost” minutes to walk to Mullingar and get a taxi up the hill. It is a 30 minutes walk to Mullingar but there is always the risk that the taxi will not be available. I couldn’t risk hoping there would be a taxi without the time cushion provided by the “lost” 45 minutes. I will never be a nice guy again, until provided with the opportunity.

Friday May 14 Day 73

This morning looked great. By 11 am there were clouds growing overhead. I decided to give up on the day. Two college girls arrived looking for a room. They are here for the next 2 nights. I took them down to Char Dukan (4 stores) to get lunch . At 1 pm there were clouds all around us but not overhead. They remained that way till around 4 pm. It is the first time that I have been faked out by the clouds. I could have gotten in 2 full hours of taping.

I am having supper early this evening so that I can go down to Woodstock for their production of “The Importance of Being Ernest”. I have met the girl who is playing one of the 2 young ladies. Our family arrived in September of 1955 for our second term in India (my parents spent a total of 20 years here between 1947 and 1978). The day we arrived, “The Importance of Being Ernest” was being produced by Woodstock. My father was evidently more funny than the production. He was almost lying in the isle laughing. This was mentioned within missionary circles for the next 5 years. It is just after 5 pm and the clouds are no longer surrounding us but a rumbling with thunder. I shall let you know if I go down the hill with rain threatening or not.

Thursday May 13 Day 72

This morning I got to do something most of us will never get a chance to do. I was eye level with a hawk as it was flying by at 7,000 feet. The most interesting thing were the feathers on the wing tips. They are spread out like splayed fingers on our hands. The bird glided by in a very stately manner. Ah, the wonders of nature on display.

I fear that it is a communist plot. The clouds were non existent at 9 am but by 11 they were gathered in force. By 1 pm they were all gone and I headed out to go taping. I was part of the way down the hill when they snuck back in. I went back home and headed for the internet cafe. When I got there the internet cable was down. The wi-fi was available but I have no idea how to connect to it. Well, my MacBook Pro has built in wi-fi and all I had to do was select default on a drop down menu and I was connected instantly to the internet. I am blown away. It is interesting how old dogs can avoid new technology for so long until they need it.

My sister’s latest email mentioned my lack of complaints about the food recently. I do not enjoy anything I eat. I only eat to fuel my body. I have the same thing at breakfast (omelette and hard toast) and lunch (large bowl of oatmeal with raisins) every day. Dinner is rice, lentils and some kind of vegetable with some spices in it. I have refused to eat any more orca and actually enjoy the potatoes when they are served. At least my stomach is not upset at all. There was a description of a meal being prepared in one of my Recorded Books stories. My mouth actually watered for the first time in 2 1/2 months.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Wednesday May 12 Day 71

Today the sky was very clear and I went at 1 pm and got back to my house at 5:30 pm. There was no taxi available at 5 pm so I had to walk home from Mullingar. The taping went well but I ran into problems of not having enough time to get the shots I wanted. I will have to hope for a clear day tomorrow. I have been over expecting and under completing my shooting schedule. All I can hope for is sufficient clear days to get everything done.

This evening I am going to have my laptop looked at to see if it can be resuscitated. The cost of having it looked at is $6.87. Rather small compared to US prices. I will actually be going to his home which just down the hill from my place at 7 pm. I am back and the young man will be able to resurrect my PC Laptop for a grand expenditure of $50.00. I will pick it up tomorrow evening and will lose no time in logging my shots on the video log without lots of work arounds.

Tuesday May 11 Day 70

Do you guys have any idea how long 70 days are when you are counting them off one by one.

Yesterday I set an new record for logging my shots of the prior day. It took me 3 1/2 hours for a task the usually takes a couple of hours. I guess if I hadn't taped for 4 hours the previous day it wouldn’t have taken so long. By the time I was done I was as stiff as a board. I have to crouch over this little bed side table and it really tears up the back. I had not realized until today how much one has to think when doing the logging. I made multiple errors from lack of concentration and most probably exhaustion. Well, I won’t have to worry about it tomorrow. The clouds are growing in the sky at 11 am and will continue thereby putting me out of business for the day. I have been so focused on the video project that I do not have any still pictures to show anyone when I get home. I shall dust off (literally) my digital camera and start taking so tourist pictures of the area. I do not have to worry about the clouds messing up the color on my individual pictures. In video I need that same quality of light every day, so no clouds allowed.

It is now 9 pm and I have just lost the use of my PC Laptop. I have been having troubles with it locking up etc so I saved my 3 Landour 2010 record files at 7:20 pm and it crashed at 8 pm. I have been able to open the files in the Mac and figure how to use them. Part of the video log is still only in Excel but I have that file on my flash drive. I will be able to log all my shots yet to come in my Mac but will have to retype them into excel when I get back. At least I have a way to log them using a spreadsheet rather than a piece of paper.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Monday May 10 Day 69

I have discovered something interesting. The last several days my feet have been hurting more than usual. I thought it was because of several days with high blood sugars causing my neuropathy to kick in. I found out walking to and from the internet cafe, a distance of 1 1/2 miles, that my feet hurt rather badly when I returned. But later in the day I was out for multiple hours taping the trails. When taping trails I walk and stop and never go very fast because the trails are not improved and you have to watch the trail ahead for unforeseen obstacles. It is the paved roads and the speed of my walking that cause my feet to hurt. I can walk with the uneven surfaces, large and small rocks, tree roots sticking up, etc without hurting my feet. I don’t go very fast. One of my favorite obstacles are the pipes which cross the trails and frequently run down the side or middle of the trail. With the heavy rains of the monsoon, these “buried” pipes frequently become exposed and arch 2 to 6 inches off the ground across the trail. Keep your eye ON the road.

Today I was smart, not very but some shat. I needed to get some more Insulin which involves a 2 1/2 mile walk down to the lower reaches of the bazaar. I did some taping and then headed into the bazaar. Upon purchasing my Insulin and took a Taxi all the way to the top of the hill. For my sisters, the chemist is right across from the Picture Palace and I live at Sisters Bazaar. They will know how far this is, sorry about the rest of you. I arrived home without having to wring out my underwear.

Sunday May 9 Day 68

In addition to a heated bathroom I also really miss a laundromat. It is so easy to go down, dump your clothes in a washer, read a good book, move your wet clothes to the dryer, read some more of your book and get the dry clothes out of the dryer. The only thing that takes time is folding them correctly. NOT so in India. I have just hung my wet jeans and shirt on the clothes line. I only started the process of letting nature dry them 4 or 5 days ago. First you have to turn on the water heater and allow it to warm the water for about 1/2 an hour. That is all the longer it takes unless you forget you were heating water and it goes on for hours. Then you fill the bucket (the one used for a “bucket bath” and a very standard size in India because of its common usage) put in some Tide and add the clothes. You then let them soak for 24 hours. This time the soaking lasted for 3 days because of a storm which lasted to 2 days and the 3rd day was clear and I was out taping feverishly (I had also forgotten about the soaking jeans and I had this bucket full of darkish water with soaking jeans lurking beneath the surface). Today I pulled the very heavy jeans out of the dirty water and got some of the water out of them. While writing this after dark I have just remembered that these clothes under discussion are still on the line. I have retrieved them with help from my trusty flashlight. The jeans are still wet and will be hung out to dry tomorrow morning. I then filled the bucket 2 times with clean water and rinsed them. Then out to the clothes line.

I went out at 1 pm to tape several trails. There were NO clouds today and I stayed out taping until after 5 pm. I ended up where the taxi stand is and there were none to be had. They said that the taxi would be there in 5 minutes. That is 5 minutes in Indian time. Almost 30 minutes later there was still no taxi and I climbed the hill. I got home 5 1/2 hours after I had left. I usually tape for only 2 to 3 hours so today sets a new record. I now hurt all over. It will be interesting to see what happens with my blood sugars in the morning.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Saturday May 8 Day 67

The sky was clear this morning and bright blue. By 3:15 pm the clouds came in and shut me down. I did get a bunches of great shots on one long and very critical trail. I also got the make up shots I needed from prior days.

As I was waiting for a taxi at Mullingar, a religious festival including floats and a group of devote followers carrying a religious image, got themselves organized and headed down the hill. There was this guy trying to force his way into the parade so he could be 4 vehicles closer to the beginning of the parade. This is so typical of Indian drivers. They will do anything to get ahead of others including totally blocking traffic. An India driver would be pulled over in 5 minutes on the US roads for reckless driving. They have no concept of giving up ANY advantage to their progress. Back to the impatient driver. He was stopped by the police who then allowed all the other vehicles waiting to get past his car. I was so pleased to see him get his comeuppance. I’ll bet the driver was more than a little distressed.

I went out just before sunset and watch a large group of Lungurs (a largish monkey with a grey body and a black face) play and feed right near the road.

Friday May 7 Day 66

Remember the opening lines of every story Snoopy, of Peanuts fame, started. “It was a dark and stormy night ....” Well this morning is a “Rather dark and loudly stormy morning...” The loudness is the constant rumble of thunder right overhead. The electricity has just gone out. I am using the lighted keyboard of my MacBook Pro sitting in a rather dark room. Though it is 8:30 am I need a flashlight to cross the room. It is so dark I can barely read my watch while standing next to the window. At the present time the clouds have lowered and are covering the mountain top where I live and it is raining steadily.

I most probably will not be out taping today but you never know. The clouds could move out and full sunshine return in the afternoon. I will let you know later.

My shooting is going very well when the clouds permit. I am going back over the trails I taped earlier because I have improved my camera operational skills. I have also changed the way I want to put the DVD together and I need more shots during the “dry” season. (Do not go outside and look UP right now, you might drown. This really is the dry season.)

What a day. It rained most of the morning. Since I could not tape I decided to put on my rain gear, top and pants, and head for the bazaar. I have not really worn this gear when it was actually raining and guess what. It quit raining shortly after i started out. I stopped at the bank to get some change. Most of the money I get from the ATM is in 500 rupee notes. I got 8 100 rupee notes and 20 10 rupee notes. Upon arriving in the bazaar I purchased a treat for myself and discovered that I could not find the 800 rupees ($18.33) in any of the strange, new to me pockets, in the rain gear. I stopped at the bank to see if it had fallen out in the bank, but no. I was almost home when I found that I was stepping on the bottom of the pant leg of my rain pants. I pulled it up and out fell 800 rupees. I had evidently missed the pocket in the bank and the bills had fallen down between the rain pants and my jeans. A dear friend of mine used this old expression “God takes care of fools and children” and then added that he was no longer a child. I now count myself among the non-child group.

Thursday May 6 Day 65

I am so pleased to see that my native genius is still in full working order. I started my laundry yesterday afternoon with soaking my jeans in Tide (jasmine and rose scent) after removing all the stuff in my pockets. What I had failed to do was to take my flash drive out of my watch pocket. This flash drive is used to backup my daily records and it was now in hot water plus soap. I retrieved it after about an hour. I am proud to say that my flash drive is a very sturdy chap and works well after drying out.

This morning Kilmarnock (the place I am living) is at peace in the clouds. There were clouds earlier above the tops of the hills but they have settled and are drifting around us. This is one of the views I remember so much from my Woodstock days. As usual the storm knocked out the electricity. This house has small windows and when the lights are out and the sun is covered up you need a flashlight to find your flashlight. Fortunately I always put in the same place, the problem is the place seems to lose itself.

I really did one thing right when planing my trip here. I got a whole bunch of books on tape to listen too. Today was a good example. It was too dark (and cold) outside to read but I could listen. The major problem with that is that I tend to fall asleep when lying down in the dark, which causes the story to jump ahead.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Wednesday May 5 Day 64

The sun was out most of the afternoon until the last 3 shots so I had to wait for the clouds to pass and got my shots with some breaks in between. I reshot several trails and added on interesting shortcut not on the map.

Today I reached a new mile stone in my existence in India. Today I had to use the last hole or notch on my belt. Yesterday I noticed that my pants were about to fall off. I wear jeans all the time and they are thicker material than the other pants I wear. I am now the thinnest I have been in many years. I am a bit concerned that I may get beaten by my daughter-in-law when I get home for my failure to get enough to eat. The last time I came home from India Terry said I looked like Grizzly Adams. Wait till he sees me this time. Last time my beard was only 4 weeks old. It will be over three months old by the time I get home. I have not had my haircut because I know that there are problems with head lice here and I would rather look scraggly than have the little white creatures in my hair.

Tuesday May 4 Day 63

This morning I went out and shot Fairy Glen. It is on the eastern slope and needs to be shot in the morning. Today was the day. It took about 2 hours.

The sun was actually shining this afternoon. I was able to tape for about 2 hours. That includes the walking to the start of taping and walking from Woodstock to Mullingar and taking a taxi to the top of the hill. I have changed my concept of the final DVD which includes taping more segments leaving nothing out. The logging has become so much quicker.

Off to the store to buy some water.

This is the first day that I have done 2 separate taping expeditions in the same day. I am tired and my feet are a little tender. High blood sugars cause my feet to become more tender and are just painful. I have medications that blocks the pain so I took one. When I got ready for bed I discovered that the capsule was still in my pocket. So much for the miracle of medical science. I guess one must actually consume these wonderful elixirs to get the benefits.

Monday May 3 Day 62

Today I went out and shot the very first trail I taped. It has been 5 weeks since I shot that trail and I see a great difference. My camera operator skills have been smoothed up and the equipment is getting broken in and is no longer sticky. I am not sure if my skills have actually improved or if the equipment getting smoother. Perhaps it is a combination though I vote for the skills.

All of my shooting on the western side of the hill (95% of the trails) is done in the afternoon because of the angles of the sunlight. The problem now is that the clouds build up in the afternoon and change the light. So I went out and shot the trail on the western slope in the late morning. It worked very well and the actual shooting was so much better (skill or equipment aging or both?).

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sunday May 2 Day 61

The most amazing thing happened overnight. My sprain is just fine. Evidently I just strained my right foot. It hurt so badly last night that I began making plans to leave India early. Looks like I will still be be to walk comfortably but I will take care and not overwork the feet. I spent last evening with the foot elevated while I played solitaire.

Today has been an exploring day. There is a small campground called Fairy Glenn. I had heard of it while in school but had never been there because I was not a “camping” kind of guy. My idea of camping is a nice motel room with ice at the end of the hall. After receiving direction I started out. I had to go back and ask another person for direction which were evidently incomplete. After climbing up a long, rather steep trail looking for a path off to the left, I went back down the hill and remembered that the left hand path continued and I should be looking for a path off to the right. I spotted the path from above and followed it to where it joined the main path. The Fairy Glenn was a very charming campground with fire circles and fireplaces. It is rather small but will make a good section on the video.

This evening at sunset we had a great big thunderstorm. This included bolts of lightning, the sky sounding like it was being torn apart, water gushing through the down spouts from the roof, hail covering the the ground, and the sky golden. A generally amazing display of the power of nature. Finished off by eating dinner by flashlight. The electricity came back on a couple of hours later.

Saturday May 1 Day 60

There are parents of a Woodstock student up on the hillside at attend an Indian Music concert last evening. The father is a documentary maker in Delhi, India. I showed him my equipment this morning and he will be buying several of the pieces of equipment I showed him. I was abel to give a complete demonstration of the equipment and we shared the experiences of taping various types of events. It is really interesting to meet someone doing the same kind of projects while staying in the mountains of India for a short time.

The sun has been playing hide and seek with me behind the clouds. So I am home for the rest of the day. Evidently I sprained my right foot yesterday and I am having trouble walking today. If it does not get well soon I shall be out of the climbing around mode.