117 Monday Sep 27

Monday Sep 27 Day 117

I have just finished logging shots I took 2 days ago in the afternoon. These are some of the best shots I have taken during my entire time in India. During the 2 plus hours I shot the weather went from sun with clear blue skies to mist enshrouded trees. I mentioned a couple of days ago taping shots of the hillside with flowers covering the cliffs. They look great on my little 7 inch monitor. I can only imagine what it will be like on a 42 inch plasma screen. The colors of the ferns and trees is unbelievably rich and vibrant. For the first time I feel I really have something to show.

Weather report: Clear blue sky with clouds beginning to develop.

The Snows were fully visible this morning. The sun had not swung around through the sky to fully light up the snow, so I waited to take my first shots. Too late. The clouds were developing within half an hour. I learned you have to take the Snows pictures first thing in the morning.

Last night was one of the worst nights I have had. I did not get enough to eat so I was up at 4 am eating potato chips. Just as it was time to get up at 7 am, my blood sugars dropped and I broke out in a heavy sweat immediately. After this event I suffer from extreme chills. It is now noon and my legs are still very cold.

116 Sunday Sep 26

Sunday Sep 26 Day 116

Weather report: Sunny early in the morning with low clouds during the afternoon.

I went out for 3 1/2 hours this afternoon taping several trails. The ferns are rapidly turning to yellow with a few green ones visible. I spent 3 hours this morning logging past days taping. The climb up the hill was 40 minutes and I arrived soaked to the skin. It is now 6:30 pm and I am very cold but slowly warming up. It has taken only 2 hours today.

This evening I went out to see where the sun set exactly (I know in the West, usually) but I need to position my cameras. I am trying to find a location that is nearer to Kilmarnock. The last 2 days the sun has been hidden my massive clouds and I cannot get the exact location. I shall try again tomorrow evening.

This evening I completely lost it. I cannot communicate to the lady who cooks for me that I am not getting enough to eat for dinner. I have a bowl of oatmeal. The amount of oatmeal is not consistent and it gets thinner and thinner. I have tried to point out to her the measure of oatmeal that should be used. I guess I need to talk to the landlady and the cook together.

Tomorrow is the second anniversary of Colleen’s death. I am having trouble keeping myself on an emotional even keel. I find my eyes getting misty and tears welling up because I miss her so much. My isolation and the frustration of not being able to do taping is getting to me. The last 3 days I have nearly worked myself to total exhaustion.

115 Saturday Sep 25

Saturday Sep 25 Day 115

Weather report: Sunny with a few scattered high clouds. The weatherman has forecast sunny skies for the next week. We shall see starting in the morning. I wonder if weathermen in training take classes in prevarication. They definitely practice the art a great deal.

I am reminded of the great line from the Country Western variety program titled HeeHaw. “If it weren't for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” This morning I can not go out shooting because of the SUN. The remaining trails face to the south east and half of the shots will be directly into the early sun. I will have to wait for afternoon when the sun is high enough and behind the camera. I got to the location only to discover that I had left my map and pad, used to identify a location, at my apartment. So it was back up the hill and wait till afternoon and hope that rain clouds do not move in.

The mist was back and it added great atmosphere to the shots of the Eyebrow. This is the longest trail on the hillside and clings to cliffs scattered upon were dahlias in many colors. I did not get very good shots of the flowers because they are up near the top of the cliffs and widely scattered. It looked beautiful but will not come out well in the video shots. The afternoon shoot lasted from 1 pm to 4:30 pm.

114 Friday Sep 24

Friday Sep 24 Day 114

Weather report: High patchy clouds to start the day. Low clouds moved in around 11 am.

I went out on a morning shoot lasting from 7:45 to 11:45. My process must be getting more efficient because I accomplished much more than I had planned on. The ferns on some of the trees are starting to show autumn colors. They are turning yellow and adding additional colors to the verdant greens.

Yesterday was the most exercise I have had in many months. My back is starting to complain and I did not spring out of bed this morning. My blood sugars were low because of the excess exercise of yesterday. After shooting this morning, I walked 1/2 a mile and took a taxi to the top of the hill. No need to overwork the old bones (actually it’s the muscles that are squawking).

I decided to do an afternoon shoot. I went to a place called Faire Glen. It is a natural glade in the forest and there have been fireplace and stone benches set up. I was taping the area when I felt a raindrop on my head. After several these I put my equipment into my backpack and headed up the hill. It took 15 minutes of hard climbing to reach the top of the hill. By the time I was at the top the sun was out. The afternoon ended with thunder and some rain.

113 Thursday Sep 23

Thursday Sep 23 Day 113

Weather report: High patchy clouds to start the day.

Last night I played the Monopoly game on my laptop for the first time. It was a blast. I won (which I am sure made the game more interesting). I had forgotten most of the rues and by the time the game was over I even figured out the board. For almost 2 hours I was having fun and it made the evening go by quickly. I shall have to try again soon.

I went out on 3 video shooting expeditions today. I was out from 7:45 to 11:15 am, 1 pm to 4:30 pm and tried for a sunset from 5:15 to 6:30 pm. There was no sunset because a large, thick cloud had settled over the mountain. In the afternoon there were some shots that had mist moving past. The clouds are not as thick and do not have as much moisture in the mist as in past days. I hope to get in 2 expeditions tomorrow. My body is tired as I climbed down to Woodstock twice today and back up the hill twice. I spent over 8 hours on my feet today and the body is complaining

112 Wednesday Sep 22

Wednesday Sep 22 Day 112

Weather report- Rained overnight and the clouds have settled on the hillside. I hope for a miracle and have the clouds clear the mountain but I fear it is not feasible.

My change in menu is working well. I am no longer waking up with high blood sugars nor low blood sugars during the early morning. This morning my blood sugars were perfect. Time will tell of it continues. It has rained most of the afternoon.

I am not yet in good shape. I went down the hill to shot some digital pictures of the landslide and its repair. By the time I climbed back up the hill I was drenched in perspiration. This is only 5 minutes from the top of the hill. Yesterday gravel was brought in and stored on the main road above the slide, as well as large stones. They have started the foundation including the insertion of rebar for reinforcement of the cement.

It takes an average of 2 minutes to complete a single shot while video taping. In 2 hours of taping I get about 22 minutes of usable tape. It also takes about 1 hour to get to my location and return back to home base. So it takes 3 hours to get 22 minutes of tape.

Here is the process I follow for a single shot. I chose the location to shoot from. Level out the tripod by moving the legs up and down to get the bubble in middle of the level. Write the specific location on a small pad of paper with a black marker. Hold the pad in front of the lens and take a 2 second recording. I then zoom out to the farthest point of the shot, this takes 20 seconds. As I zoom out, I frame up the shot and see if I will need to move the camera while recording. I then record the shot, all 20 seconds of it. I then move to the next location or turn the camera around and point the other direction. When I point the other direction I do not need to level the tripod again. I do about 65 shots in 2 hours.

111 Tuesday Sep 21

Tuesday Sep 21 Day 111

I met with the Director of Facilities for Woodstock School this morning. I am now the proud possessor of floor plans for the 3 main residence halls. This will allow me to plan my shoots of the inside of the facilities. In early October I shall do a walk through of the halls one morning after the students have left for school and the staff is still around. In the last week of October the school shuts down for activity week and there is no instruction. During this week I shall tape the interiors and exteriors of the school with no students around. Pete Wildman, the facilities director, is very excited about me doing this and the preparation of a DVD of the school and the hill side. I have offered to provide any of the images free of charge and he is really pleased.

Yesterday morning I taped a landslide. It had occurred on Sunday. This morning a crew was starting to work on saving a tree. They will have cleared the fallen dirt by the end of today and start reconstruction tomorrow. They have already brought in sand to make the mortar for the stone wall. I have never seen an Indian get things done so quickly, it is truly amazing. I will go done a couple of times each day to document the process with my digital camera, no video.

During the 24 hours of Sunday 8 inches of rain fell on the hillside. The students have a rain gage and record daily rain fall. There has been 144 inches of rain during thismonsoon. This is almost two and a half times as much rain as normal.

Judy, there are no orchids in bloom at all on the hillside anywhere. It appears that they no long bloom here. There are still plenty of ferns on the tree trunks and branches. I have been here 21 days and have taped 3 mornings for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours each.

110 Monday Sep 20

Monday Sep 20 Day 110

Yesterday was the longest continuous rainfall of my entire time in India. I heard rain at 5 in the morning and it was still spitting rain at 10 pm. It was also one of the longest days I have existed through. I did not step out of my apartment for the entire day.

Weather report: High clouds across the entire sky at 7:30 am.

Left for shooting at 7:45 and returned home by 10:15. The low clouds that hug the side of the hillside were starting to move in. I was able to get tapes of several short trail segments. I was concerned about drips from the overhead trees. My camera did not get hit in the lens, this is what I am most concerned about is water on the lens. I was also a delectable target for the mosquitos. I ended up with several bites but that is the price of art.

I have just made arrangements for Beena to wash my clothes. The cost is 22 cents per garment. When the sun comes out she dries the clothes by spreading them on the roof. It gets them dry in rather short time.

I tried for another sunset last night. I was all set up and a major thunder storm was posted right in the west. There would be no sun to see and the only thing I would get would be the light on the clouds off to the sides. I put my stuff away and came home.

109 Sunday Sep 19

Sunday Sep 19 Day 109

Weather report: Rain going on for hours and hours. It is now 5:30 in the evening and it has been raining for the last 12 hours with no pauses. It has been a very cold and gloomy day.

I have just discovered an interesting fact. I play better scrabble in the mornings than I do in the evenings. My top 3 scores were played this morning. I am on a roll.

I am typing this with a pair of gloves on (there are some interesting spellings). They are thermal gloves that fit tightly (women's medium size). It is 60 degrees inn the apartment but the high humidity makes it seem much colder.

One of the pleasures I have found is putting dry, warm socks on in the morning. Nothing is dry at any time except when I am cuddled down in bed in the morning. I remember being told that the dhobi (laundry man) would have his children sleep on the wet clothes to dry them out. I use this method for my socks. I sleep on them (I do have to chase them down as the socks tend to wander around under the covers). I solved the wandering problem by tucking them over the waistband of my long johns (which I sleep in). In the morning the socks are dry ad warm but my shirt and pants are just plain wet. They will dry out in a couple of hours unless I go out in the rain and get them wet again.

108 Saturday Sep 18

Saturday Sep 18 Day 108

Weather report: Rain off and on.

This morning’s ”think” session which started (with breaks of sleep) at 4 am was very productive. I came up with possible solutions for 3 problems.

Condensation inside my video cameras is number one. Condensation occurs when the camera is used in a space that is warmer than the previous space. The taxi was a few degrees warmer than the outside air from the heat of the engine. The change was not noticeable to me. With humidity at around 200% (actually only 100% but it feels like more) this small increase in temperature was enough to cause condensation. I got my cameras out this morning and they are fine. The next step in this process is, what will I do trying to video tape the interiors of the buildings when it is colder outside. My users manual says to place my camera in an airtight plastic bag and allow the camera to warm up to room temperature. With the lack of moist air in the bag no condensation will occur while the camera warms up.

Blood sugar levels in the morning is number two. My blood sugars have been high the last several days. I realized that I am eating my largest meal of the day in the evening. During the course of the afternoon I frequently have low blood sugars. If I were to switch my lunch and suppers menus my largest meal will be lunch and it will provide me with energy for the entire afternoon. By having my bowl of oatmeal in the evening I should reduce the high blood levels at occur in the morning.

Taping the chukker number three. With my aborted experience of yesterday afternoon I can tape both of the roads around the top of the hill (chukker) in less than an hour and not have to kill myself carrying my Glidecam equipment. It will cost me about 5 dollars to use a taxi. In this case, I have more money than I have energy. Brilliant!!

It is 7 pm and I have just returned from taping my FIRST sunset. It rained most of the day until I looked the window at 5 pm and there were fluffy clouds and large patches of blue. I packed up and was on my way by 5:15. It took 25 minutes to walk to the location, 10 minutes to set up the 2 cameras, and then wait around. It did not take long. I started the tape at 6:11 pm and was done at 6:22 pm. I was back home by 6:55 pm. This was OK for my first sunset but I hope for many more with better color. There was a cloud bank covering the setting sun but the spray of light on the high clouds was good.

107 Friday Sep 17

Friday Sep 17 Day 107

The weather report said that today would be Sunny. I did see one small patch of blue sky which has been replaced with an unbroken cloud cover. It evidently rained very hard last night and again about 5 this morning.

There has been a major setback to the success of my venture. Both of my video cameras are refusing to work because of “condensation in the camera”. If any drops of water form inside the inner workings of the camera the camera shuts down. All I can do is seal the cameras up in plastic bags and include the moisture removing packs of silica-gel. I will have to wait a full day to see if the condensation has evaporated.

During my early morning “think” session I came up with a way to tape the road leading from the plains to Woodstock. There is a stretch of this highway that has multiple hairpin curves and is the most memorable part of the trip. Using a light weight tripod in the front seat of an Omni taxi I get the effect of riding up the mountain. It works but I cannot actually shoot any test footage because of my friendly condensation problem.

106 Thursday Sep 16

Thursday Sep 16 Day 106

The cook knocked on my door almost an hour early. The sun was out with mostly blue skies and had thrown off his concept of time because it was so bright.

I left on my morning safari at 7:45 and got back here at 10:45. The clouds began to roll in shortly after 10:30 and I was able to beat them to the top of the hill. I was taking my last shot while the mist filtered between the trees. I looks like I will have about 3 hours in the morning to tape the trails on the west side of the hill and that is where all the trails are. Such is life.

I was able to get several different shots of trees covered with ferns and some with moss. It is really beautiful when the sun hits the ferns and they just stand out from everything around them. Several shots included trees with many branches in interesting twists and turns.

I have just discovered something about the water heater. I was informed upon my arrival in March that the “gizzer” only needed 30 to 40 minutes to heat up the full tank of water. Today I ended up with a quickie shower because 40 minutes is not enough time to get the whole tank of water hot. So, I shall have to heat the water for several hours in order to get a nice long hot shower.

105 Wednesday Sep 15

Wednesday Sep 15 Day 105

I have been here 2 weeks and this morning I did my first taping. There was high clouds and by 8 am I was packed up and heading down the hill. I discovered that my Nikon camera used to document the trail and it segments was rusted shut. The lens cover will not move. So this is the first casualty of the moisture other than my shooting up kit which is green and fuzzy. I had to throw the leather case used to hold my inulin vials and needles away this morning.

It took me 5 minutes to figure out an alternative to the Nikon camera. I just write on a pad of paper the identifying numbers and letters and hold it in front of the camera to identify the next shot. Fortunately I have a black marker so I can easily read the data.

The weather cooperated for a full hour and a half. The mist began to move in just as I was ready to start taping a new trail. I put everything away in their cases and the tripod into my backpack and headed up the hill. 15 minutes later as I neared the top of the hill it began to rain lightly. If the weather permits I shall try to complete this morning’s trails this afternoon. I shall also keep a lookout for possible sunset weather.

As I am writing this I have wrapped myself in my thermal blanket to try and dry out. I have succeeded after several hours.

I have just logged my shots. They are great. The trails are so green and I find myself expending the end of the shots to include some of the greenery. During the dry season (Mar - May) the only green was the trees. Now there are ferns, flowers, and moss. There is a lot of moss on facing part of the stairs (not the place you step but the riser). There is also moss and small plants on the “safety” walls and the retaining walls. It is so lush and green.

104 Tuesday Sep 14

Tuesday Sep 14 Day 104

I went down to Woodstock this morning to see Pete Wildman. He is in charge of the facilities for Woodstock and I need to work through him to arrange the taping of the interiors and exteriors of all the Woodstock buildings. I have a formal appointment with him a week from today.

Today’s weather report: No rain this morning but high clouds on this side of the mountain and mist on the other side of the mountain. It is the other side that has all of the trails and buildings. It started to rain after my return from Woodstock and has deen doing so continually.

The sky semi clear and there was evidently a sunset that I would have appreciated. Unfortunately I am on the east side of the hill and am not aware of the actual weather on the west side of the hill.

It took me nearly 5 hours to get dry last night after walking in a light rain even with my umbrella.

103 Monday Sep 13

Monday Sep 13 Day 103

Have discovered and interesting fact. The temperature inside a cloud at 7,200 feet in the mountains of India is 60 degrees.

Today’s weather report: 7 am Mist but it did rain during the night. 2 pm It has stopped raining but there semi rain hitting my face while walking. 4 pm The sun is shining, there are only scattered clouds. I hope to get a sunset this evening. NO sunset, the other side of the hillside was covered in mist.

I went down to the internet cafe and the only thing that got wet were my clothes under my sweater and rain pants. When you start off walking, you need a sweater but then your perspire and your clothes get wet.

My mental state is suffering. I am having some depression due to my inability to get to work. For the last 3 days I have not been able to leave my house because of the rain. The biggest problem of walking in the rain is that your pants get wet because the umbrella doesn’t cover you legs. When my pants get wet like this it takes a couple of extra house under my thermal blanket to dry out.

I noticed on my walk to the internet cafe that the ferns on the trees are starting to turn yellow. They are dying of old age NOT from lack of moisture. I hope I can get enough dry hours to go and tape them before they all turn yellow. I shall see. It is this kind of frustration that is so depressing.

102 Sunday Sep 12

Sunday Sep 12 Day 102

Last nights storm was a doozie. Thunder right overhead, lightning all over the place and, of course, buckets of rain. The lights were out several times and one time for about 45 minutes. It is very interesting to try and keep ones self entertained when there is no light and your computer’s batteries are getting low. Along comes the Ipod to the rescue. I just cuddled down in my thermal blanket and listened to my book. I wasn’t tired so there was no threat of falling asleep, which is the major problem with listening to a book while lying down. I had gotten wet walking back up the hill after getting myself a dozen bananas and a good shot of exercise. Here I was wet from rain on the outside of my clothes and wet on the inside of my clothes from perspiration. I needed to dry off so I wrapped myself in the thermal blanket and after about 3 hours I was only damp and rather comfortable.

Now today’s weather report. Light rain and mist (shorthand is LR&M). Temperature is 61 degrees.

I went back to bed at 9 am and woke up at 11:30. I think I overdid it yesterday on the exercise bit because my blood sugars are 60 this morning where they had been in the low 200’s for the last several days. I have had several episodes of low blood sugars before my lunch and dinner based on too much exercise and not enough food to last me between meals. Getting this delicate balance is still a work in process.

I have felt too bad today to even play computer games. I have spent most of the day in bed reading or listening to a recorded book.

101 Saturday Sep 11

Saturday Sep 11 Day 101

Talk about going “native”. A very interesting thing is happening when I play solitaire (which I do to excess). I find myself thinking of the numbers in hindi not english. The only time I use small numbers, 1 to 12, is for setting times for meals with the cook. Now I am using them while playing. Interesting!!

Today’s weather. There is sun this morning coming through broken clouds with low mist. If the mist rises I shall start taping today. Now I am hearing the rumble of thunder some distance off. How far off a “distance” is, is anyones guess. The bad weather systems tend to move through quickly except when they decide to stay overnight.

8:30 am and I have just come back from looking down the hillside where all the trails are. The clouds are nestled close against the side of the hill causing mist. I shall check again after noon. It has been raining off and on all day. It is now 5:30 and we are having continuous moderate to heavy rain with major thunder and the lights going out. The sun will have to go down without a recorded sunset. It will just go dark again tonight with out any color.

One of the problems are drips coming from the soaked trees while I carry my camera from shot to shot. I bought a box of food storage bags at Safeway. During my 4:30 on morning thinking session, I realized that I could use one of these bags to protect my camera from such drips. The only problem was if the bag would fit over the camera. I was still in my jammies while I had a bag out trying the put it over the camera. It fits!!

I have decided to give up on taping only under sunny skies. I would end up spending most of my time waiting for just the correct light. I can adjust the brightness of the shots in post production by electronic manipulation of the images. The only thing that will stop me from shooting is rain and mist. So I shall tape “come clouds or come shine”.

100 Friday Sep 10

Friday Sep 10 Day 100

So far I have discovered 2 things today (hopefully there will be more). The first is a physical something. There is mildew on my leather insulin case. I thought I saw some on the nylon case I use for my blood sugar testing kit but was not sure. I am now sure. The second is a more ephemeral observation. There is a noticeable difference between 59 degrees and 61 degrees. I am cold at 59 but by the time it reaches 61 it is warm enough to take a shower.

Morning Weather report: there are high clouds with a couple of very small, transient patches of blue. If the clouds do not settle down on top of the our mountain, there is the possibility for taping my first sunset. However, it is still very early in the day.

I have just opened the door and the first smell that hits you in the face is DAMP CLOTH. I keep looking for mildew in my clothes but none so far.

I have finally gotten the shower to work correctly. The shower head is rather badly plugged and sprays very irregularly over the body. With is being so plugged the shower last much longer. I will not have to suffer through 3 minute showers but a more leisurely 5 to 6 minute shower. The ambient temperature in the bathroom before the shower was 61 degrees. After 7 minutes of hot water the temperature was raised to 65 degrees, a much more civilized level. I am now warm and cozy in my 61 degree living room.

My hopes are again shattered. The clouds have again enveloped the hillside and there is no sunset to observe, it just gets dark. Tomorrow is another day. I guess I spoke too soon. It is now 7 pm and the heavens have opened up and unleashed a deluge. Thunder, lightning and a heavy rain to celebrate the close of the day

99 Thursday Sep 9

Thursday Sep 9 Day 99

I have not posted a blog entry for almost a week. The early part of the week had really bad weather with moderate to heavy rains. Yesterday the rain was light and I headed out for the internet cafe only discover that the server was down. I shall try again this morning. A trip to the internet cafe involves a 40 minute, 1.5 mile hike, so I was very disappointed yesterday even though I did get an additional shot of training in.

I woke up at 4 and spent the next hour and a half figuring out how to video tape sunsets. Last evening I found the best spot and needed to practice the steps needed to get the equipment there and set up. One of the objectives is to get each day’s sunset from exactly the same location in case I want to merge several of them together during editing. I am also going to take still pictures of the sunsets. So I went out today and marked the safety walls lining the outside of the road with a mark for the placement of the legs of my tripods. This way I will return to the same specific location. These “safety walls” are about 18 inches high made out of stone and about 18 inches thick. Each is about 6 feet long with a space between them of 18 inches. These walls marking the outside of the road have been in use here for close to 200 years.

While setting up my cameras (three of them with three tripods) I stepped into something soft on the pavement. I uttered that wonderful expression of disgust “shit” only to look down and realize that is exactly what I had stepped into. This was not horse or cow dung but human excrement. Someone had a call of nature and squatted down by the wall and taken a “dump”. I see these very commonly along the paved roads and usually next to the “safety” walls. India has a long way to go when it comes to sanitation. The interesting thing is that the men pee on the inside of the road near the gutters but not to take a “dump”. Perhaps they are concerned about fecal matter being washed into the drains and pouring down the hillside. Interesting!!

The rain has cleared the atmosphere and the valley below is clear. For the family, I can see beyond the Swallicks when frequently these mountains are not even visible let alone the rivers beyond.

This blog is liable to become a weather report but there is no forecast. It has rained lightly today and there are clouds obscuring the mountains to the west, so NO sunset this evening.

98 Wednesday Sep 8

Wednesday Sep 8 Day 98

For the past 2 days my morning blood sugars and been perfect. I seems that I am getting a handle on my food intake, exercise and insulin amounts.

Last night after super it began to rain and it is still raining this morning. There has even been thunder with this rain. It is really the first thunder I have heard this trip. I hope this is the last gasp of the monsoons but who knows. Nazan came in to cook my breakfast and his first comment was “Too much rain” in Hindi. Fortunately I had just looked up the word for “rain” so I understood him completely.

Let us now contemplate rain and its various forms.

Firm mist or semi rain - This is when we are up in the clouds and droplets form but you cannot hear the rain drops hit your umbrella. (This is called Seattle sunshine at home)

Light rain - You can hear the rain drops hit your umbrella and if you do not have your umbrella you will get wet over due time.

Moderate rain - There is a lot of water falling from above but the drops are small. You get wet immediately of you’ve failed to bring your umbrella. In this rain your umbrella leaks a little bit and you get drops of water on your shoulders and head.

Heavy rain - do not go out in this. Your umbrella will be of almost no use to try and keep you dry. Your pants will be soaked and your shoes very wet even under the umbrella. This rain is best experienced from the confines of your home. The drops are very large and come straight down.

Gully washer - I have had NO experience with this except from under a roof. The rain gives a constant roaring sound as it hits the ground, trees, leaves and roofs of the buildings. The drops are hugh and there are a lot of them. When they hit, the water rebounds off the ground 6 to 8 inches. You do NOT want to be out in this rain because an umbrella is a joke when trying to keep you from getting wet almost all over.

I can only hear Moderate to Gully washer rain from inside my house with the doors closed..

This past week I have experienced all of these rain forms. I get upset with the Moderate to Gully washer types because they batter the petals off the flowers. I have seen several patches of dahlias I would like to tape but they are looking a bit bedraggled from the rain. When the monsoons finally leave, there are enough buds to replenish the flowers for me to get good images.

Now lets us contemplate the results of the various forms of rain and how one can dry out after wandering around in the rain with either rain gear and/or the umbrella. Pure mist causes the most moisture inside the house. It makes everything damp to the touch. When hiking to get into shape I perspire which adds to the dampness of my clothing making them just plain wet. Last night I discovered a way to actually get almost dry. I purchased a thermal blanket from L.L. Bean (the thing cost a fortune) which is made of synthetic fibers. Moisture does not cling to the synthetic fibers as it does to cotton making everything damp. This blanket is never damp. I bundled up in the thermal blanket and I was dry within 3 hours. My body heat had almost dried my cotton clothes (they were still damp but not wet and I can live with that). It only took me 6 days to figure this out (perhaps I am not a genius after all).

The rain finally stopped and the snows came out late this afternoon. I then hustled to get to the spot I found a couple of days ago for sunset taping. I get there just as the sun was setting and it is exactly what I am looking for. I got to see my first post monsoon sunset in fifty years. Each day when it is not raining I shall go to this spot and set up my cameras.

97 Tuesday Sep 7

Tuesday Sep 7 Day 97

One of the reasons for returning to India is to video tape the interiors and exteriors of the building at Woodstock School. I have already obtained permission to do this during October. In order to get a smooth video I need to use what is called a Steadicam. This equipment is used to get the smooth and steady pictures we see in movies of people walking and dancing. Some of the best shots are those where the couple is followed around the floor or circled. I have what is called a poor man’s steadicam named the Glidecam. This piece of equipment calls for balancing the camera on a floating gimbal attached to a vest. The process of balancing camera is to adjust weights on the gimbal. The balanced camera will float through the air not affected by the bouncing step of the operator. The process of balancing is time consuming and must be done each time the equipment is used. I am currently practicing setting up the equipment and balancing it. Each time I do this I discover ways to balance the equipment more expeditiously. I am doing this twice a day and they carrying the equipment to build up my body using the equipment. Carrying the Glidecam causes the back, hips and legs to hurt. I am presently carrying the equipment around the lawn (using the stepping stones) for 15 minutes twice a day. I will eventually get up to an hour. Today is my second day so I have a long way to go.

I have lived here before but I do not remember the pervasive dampness of the monsoon. The pages of my GPS manual are getting limp with the moisture. The paper is coated but can be torn with almost no effort. Everything is wet all the time. My room is a tropical 62 degrees and it is now raining again. The combination of low temperature and everything being wet makes me cold (for some unknown reason). I try climbing into bed but under the covers it is warmer and wet and as soon as I get up, it is cold.

96 Monday Sep 6

Monday Sep 6 Day 96

I took my night mask off at 6:30 this morning and there was a bright light in my eyes. I dressed and headed outside. There was not a single cloud overhead. The sky is a brilliant blue with only a couple of high clouds of the the southeast. It was raining when I went to bed and we were in the clouds. I looks like I will get started on the taping this afternoon but one never knows. This may just be a temporary break in the clouds. By 9 am the sky was clouded up but not with storm clouds but with evaporation clouds, in other words, “local” clouds. It looks like I will have to do my taping under cloudy skies. It is now 1 pm and the “local” have betrayed me and joined ranks with storm clouds and a dropping their vile liquid on the trails. The presence of this ghastly fluid puts a stop to my wild imaginings of starting to video tape the trails. But I wax eloquent.

I walked this morning and got he GPS to record the actual altitude and distance of the trails. The map it created even shows the switch backs I climbed.

On the lawn here at Kilmarnock are lines of stepping stones made from pieces of slate rock. I had thought there were put in to protect the lawn from being walked on. I now know the real reason. These stepping stones are the only way to get across the lawn without sinking up to your knees in the water logged ground. Walking across the lawn would leave one with muddy, soaking shoes plus the distinct possibility slipping and falling.

95 Sunday Sep 5

Sunday Sep 5 Day 95

Well all my theories about moisture and power connection to my laptops has been blown to hell. My major concern had been the complete failure of my PC to charge up and be usable. This morning I discovered that the power supply had been disconnected for the last several days. My Mac is working just fine and is connected when ever the electricity is on. I need NO major fix to continue using my laptops. This is a great relief!!

I am continuing to acclimatize myself by taking walks each morning and afternoon. I am also trying to figure out how to use my GPS unit to record the trails. It turns out that I failed to load interface program onto my machine so I am out of luck for that project. I am now testing to see how to record the elevation and distance of individual trails by hand into a excel spreadsheet. The first day I used the track log program I discovered that the track was cumulative from the time you start the machine until you clear the track log. My GPS device listed that I had traveled 5.8 miles but my map showed it as only 2 miles. It was adding all the tracks together. I hope today’s test will solve my problem.

It is raining again. Yesterday I discovered my new umbrella does not keep all the rain out. It leaks a little where the stick goes through the cloth. At least it keeps my back pack completely dry. It is really interesting to see the water gushing through the down spouts and over the hill side. The only problem is I need dry weather to do my taping so the rain is not what I need no matter the beauty. The scenery has changed completely. The hillside is unimaginable green and the ferns and flowers crowd the trails. The narrow trails and are just narrow paths between the foliage. Everywhere there are fern and moss covered trees and patches of wild dahlias. I can hardly wait to start taping.

Shirt and pants get wet where the rain gear is in contact with them. I am having trouble warming up with wet clothes on. My room is a balmy 62 degrees which doesn't help in getting dry. The only way to get the clothes dry is to wear them.

I discovered an interesting by product to extreme moisture. II need to break one of my pills in half. Usually this entails having a pair of stout thumbnails to accomplish this task. Tonight I was able to break the pill using only one thumbnail. The pill broke apart at the slightest pressure. While digging the pills out of my daily container I evidently pressed down on another pill and part of it broke crumbled into powder. The moisture has softened the pills and I shall have to make sure I do not shake the bottle or all I will have is a container of powder. We have all tasted the powder of pills and how will I be able to get the correct dose?

94 Saturday Sep 4

Saturday Sep 4 Day 94

Had my first omelet with cheese in it. It was delicious.

The covers of my various paperbacked books are starting to curl. The moisture is getting to them and this will get worse. The best way to fight this problem is to stack them up so only the top one curls or put the in a shelf with a hard backed book at the end of the shelf of books. If you keep them pressed together the covers and interior pages will not curl. I am wondering is the effort is worth the problem.

Today I am off to the bazaar to buy an umbrella. If I get one the rain will most probably stop. If I don’t get one it will rain for the next few weeks. The main problem is protecting my back pack from the rain. It if gets really wet it will never get dry.

The umbrella did not stop the rain but it did protect my back pack from a gully washer.

Well I got to try out the shower today. It worked wonderfully and was much better than a bucket bath. The spray is rather diffused and goes in many directions but it lasted long enough to clean my hair and my entire body before it began to get cool. I shall not avoid taking a bath for the remainder of my time in India.

I chatted again with my landlady. What a pleasure she is to talk to. Her command of the english language is exquisite and can only be called truly gracious. I look forward to learning more of her past and sharing it with the readers of my blog.

93 Friday Sep 3

Friday Sep 3 Day 93

After 2 days of meals I am actually enjoying the food. It tastes great and I am having NO gastronomical difficulties (knock on wood). It is still very early in the process of living here again so I should not boast too soon.

My double mattress is very comfortable. The bed is very firm but it is not hard. The foam filled mattresses do make a substantial difference.

On my way from Delhi to Dehradun I sat beside an officer in the Indian Army. His current assignment is making maps using Google Earth images. I have purchased a GPS unit and showed me how to actually make a map using this unit which will show the trails and their lengths and altitude changes. I will record the exact movement with the GPS unit while I walk the trails. When superimposed on Google Earth Images it will show the recorded trail to scale on the satellite map. So this is the next thing I have to learn about. Yesterday my brain was not working but it looks like there is progress in the cognitive areas (but the day is still young).

I went for my first walk in the rain this morning. My rain gear works very well. I was dry when I returned home. My planning seems to be working. I purchased some cheese which is made by the local shop on the top of the hillside. I will have it in my omelet to give me more energy for the morning.

Just before lunch, the lady that owns the place I live came to visit me. She wanted to make sure I was doing well. Evidently I had been a topic of conversation between her and her niece. The niece was concerned about my health and in particular about my diabetes. I told the lady that I was fine and had none of the problems I had last time upon my arrival. We chatted for a while, she borrowed one of the 3 books I brought with me and I subsequently had to almost ask her to leave so I could eat my lunch. As a insulin dependent diabetic I must keep a rigid schedule of meals. Her husband is also diabetic and she understood.

The most interesting she told me was that since her arrival at Kilmarnock in mid June there have been only 2 days when the sun shown at all. She has been coming here for 40 or 50 years and this was the worst monsoon she can remember. There has been about a 25% increase in rain but usually the sun will come out periodically but not this year.

I must stop because the electricity is off so I am running off the battery. My earlier statements about moisture and the connection to power is debatable. Now my power unit will not connect and then it will suddenly decide to hookup. The electricity is an the whole time. I checked at 3 am and the unit was connected. Go figure!!

91 Thursday Sep 2

Thursday Sep 2 Day 92

I actually slept until 5:30. The mattress on this bed is not cotton but filled with foam. The mattress does not have enough foam to be soft because it immediately flattens against the wooden plank underneath. The bed is a double bed with 2 single mattresses side by side. I have moved the 2nd mattress on top of the first and it feels softer. I shall find out tonight if it is softer than a rock.

In additions to moving the mattress I have unpacked all of the luggage. I did not do this last time and I was constantly digging in a suitcase for something. Nazan and I have rearranged the living room. There are only 2 power outlets that can be used to power my computers and charge up my multiple batteries. One of them is in the living room and the other in bedroom. We moved the table over near to the process outlet and there is plenty of light from the windows to work with all day. The living room power is for my computers and the bedroom will be used for charging.

I have just returned from the internet cafe. I looked at the trees on my walk and found many of them with ferns on the trunks and branches. I also saw new moss hanging from many of them. I will tape these when I get decent weather. The latest weather report is for rain through the next week. It is supposed to be raining here but what is coming down is Seattle Sunshine (a heavy mist that leaves everything wet). I am definitely living in the clouds. I find that my energy levels are low. It will take the next week for me to get better acclimatized.

Upon returning from the internet cafe I plugged in the power to my computer. The little light telling me that it was working did not light up. I had the same thing happen at the beginning of my first stay in India and Apple replaced the power unit because it became defective. The last time I was able to borrow a power unit from one the the staff members at Woodstock School. It looked like I was going to have to go down to the school and try to borrow another power unit. On my second day here I would not able to climb back up from Woodstock so I had visions of a major physical problem. After about a half an hour the hooked up the power unit began to work. I think I know what the problem is. Moisture!!! With the unit unplugged moisture would collect on the part of the power unit that plugs into the computer. The moisture would not allow a good connection. When the computer is in use it creates heat and the heat evidently dried out the plug and allowed the connection to be completed. I need some way to dry the plug. I have a rubber blower bulb that I use to get the dust off of my camera lens. Now when I get home from the internet cafe I shall have to dry the plug with a blast of air. I shall have to give the plug a “blow job”.

My observations on the lack of rain came too soon. After supper it began to pour. It only lasted for about 20 minutes but it was a real monsoon rain, only in a short spurt.

91 Wednesday Sep 1

91 Wednesday Sep 1

My son Travis took me to the airport. The flight leaves at 1 pm and I like to be early in case there are any problems. Travis had an appointment lasting from 9 to 10 so we left home about 8:30 and got to the airport by 10:30. The first problem of the day occurred before I even got to baggage checkin. I wasn't able to use the new scanning devise to get your boarding pass so Travis and I got to stand in for and extra hour. This device allows you to scan your passport but the instructions are very incomplete (they were produced by someone who is much more computer literate than I). There was no one there to help and many of the inexperienced people were asking the next person for help. A great case of the blind leading the blind.

After that it was smooth sailing for the entire rest of the trip including customs in India. Last time I was honest about having expensive camera equipment on my luggage. This time I devalued the worth of the equipment and went right through. The Commonwealth Games (Olympics for former British colonies and Britain) are coming to Delhi in October, so all the prices of taxis and hotel rooms have been raised. I paid 40% more for my hotel room. I was in it for 5 hours but it was air conditioned and boy did I need it. The humidity was high and it was between 85 and 90 degrees.

The trip from Delhi to the mountains took about 9 hours. I had to get to the train station early so I would be among the first one to get on the train. There are only 2 spots that are large enough to hold my suitcases and if you are not early they will be gone. (The suitcases are too large to fit into the overhead racks.) We stood on the platform (I was not the least bit interested in sitting down after 18 hours in a plane) and waited for the train to arrive. By the time it was available I was no longer the first one wanting to get on. In India there is no such concept as waiting in a line. It is everyman for themselves and the devil take the hind most. I had to show the coolies where to put the cases. I tried to get them to got to the end of the carriage where the 2 magic spots are but they just got on the train as fast as possible. We got on at the front of the car and they ended up putting the suitcases back on their heads and carry them though the other passengers down the ail of the car. It worked out and we got the magic spots.

In Delhi the skies were hazy with no clouds in sight. I have been following the weather reports on the internet and rain was forecast in the mountains. As we got nearer the hills the sky was cloudy. In the taxi ride up the hills the tops of the mountains were obscured by clouds. I have been here for 15 hours and there is no rain yet.

I had forgotten how damp everything is during the monsoons. My towels feel like I had just dried off after a shower. The sheets and blanket are damp and the smell of the rooms is one of mildew. I had left 2 pairs of jeans and packed them with some moisture absorbing packets and they are drier than the towels and sheet. I put them on and I can feel the moisture in them while typing this. With everything you wear damp, it is a little hard to keep warm. I have the front door open and I am comfortable in shirt sleeves but my legs are cold.

I have a full apartment. It has a living room, a dining area, a kitchen (the cook comes in and prepares my meals in the kitchen - boy life is rough) bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom is interesting. It actually has a shower but I have not been able to get Nazan (the cook) to explain it to me. The Indians do not use toilet paper but clean their bottoms with water. So, attached to the toilet seat is a means of cleaning ones self. A jet sticks out from under the back of the toilet seat about an inch. If I sit back on the toilet seat the metal end hits me right in the tail bone. So I have to scoot up a couple of inches to avoid being impaled. I never realized how uncomfortable it is to semi perch on a toilet seat. So I shall not be having any relaxed throne time.