to our Mothers – and ALL Mothers past, present, and future….
As with my Mother, this rose expresses an appreciation of all things beautiful. Nature provides us with a sense of wonder on every scale. A tiny rosebud that has this potential to unfurl layer after layer of exquisite shape, color, smell – is nothing short of a miracle.
Each of us is a miracle, a product of our Mothers – and what we learn from them.
Every layer of our existence gives us opportunity to further appreciate everything.
The gift of a rose carries more meaning than just a pretty flower.
The rose itself is a gift to all of us from Mother Nature.
A rose calls upon us all to appreciate where we came from.
When we bought this home last year, there was only one rose bush by the front porch.
It was tall and spindly, sadly neglected, bug-eaten, and down-right ugly.
We have cleaned up the flowerbed, pruned back the rose bush, and given it love.
In appreciation, it has given us this first rose. I wanted to share it’s love.
Seasonal greetings from our “Happy Place“. Rapidly approaching our 70s, we had gotten tired of living in the city, cooped up in a 1000 SqFt condo. SO, back in the spring we sold that place and bought a real home in rural Caldwell County NC. We now have twice as much space to enjoy our ‘stuff’ – Alan has a room full of radios, computers, and electronic music toys & Sharon has a room with her sewing, jewelry, and potion oils. We also have ALL the joys of yard work again. /;^)
We are 1/2 mile from a landing on Lake Hickory, of the Catawba River in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is so beautiful here. We chose to not splash this all over Facebook, as we spend less time on there now. We did most of our own packing and moving, and it has taken several months to (mostly) recover. This should keep us busy for a while.
We are happy and healthy, and wish the same for you and yours. Check Alan’s blog for future updates : https://wb5rmg.wordpress.com
Our new address is : 5016 Hurricane Hill Road, Granite Falls, NC 28630 Please visit if/when you can – write or call if you can’t.
Autumnal Equinox again, every year about this time.
Fall is my favorite season for so many reasons. Summertime heat just wears me out as I am older now, and I only have so much sweat left to release. Wintertime cold bites into my bones, and I nearly hibernate at times to conserve. I don’t always enjoy switching the HVAC from late afternoon cooling to early morning heat, but I am always thankful that I can.
The equinox is such a perfect balance point. Tree leaves fall so that new ones can develop. Hummingbirds fly south to stay warm, and, so that they can return here in the spring. The night-time is the same duration as the day-time. I often reflect on balance in my own life during the equinox. Sometimes I even understand and appreciate how I got here. Nothing short of a miracle, I continue to be amazed.
Recently reviewing and collecting some of my favorite photos, I rediscovered this one from my last solo camping trip in Colorado, 1990. My favorite area to explore was where the north and south forks of the South Platte River join near Foxton, in the Pike National Forest.
After 6 years of living on the southern edge of Metro Denver, it was time to return to the kinder/gentler mountains I grew up with. I find it interesting on so many levels, to look at this photo today. But I’ll not go into all that detail just now (you can thank me later). Somehow I knew that one day in the future, I would want to see this and re-live that moment.
What I find interesting today, is that I am now twice as old, but I still see myself as that guy in the photo… Sittin up on top of Raleigh Peak, all by myself, proud as a peacock. Nobody around for miles, I was on top of the world, MY world. 1990 was a major turning point in my life, and I had no idea how the rest of my life was going to play out. I never could have imagined what the next 33 years brought. And I am extremely grateful for every breath I drew to get here.
But then I get up in the mornings, and see that old guy in the mirror. (and think, “damn – I guess someday I’ll be that old too” …) (“can that really be me .?.” ) Until then, I’ll just keep on thinking I’m that 35 year old kid, sitting up on top of Raleigh Peak, solo camping in Colorado. Such an opportunity I had, to live near and enjoy the Rocky Mountains. I’m very thankful and blessed to now live in my Blue Ridge home. This was not always an easy trip, but always a meaningful trip.
Yall, check your balance on this equinox. Find meaning in everything you do. Try to enjoy every aspect of where you are right now, and appreciate how you got here. /;^)
Several weeks back, I received a message from one of my favorite teachers. He said that Christmas was coming in April, and that we should get together soon. <PUSHD>
Something he had seen on-line practically called my name he said. He ordered one and it had just arrived from Switzerland. It was in kit form and that we would have to put it together and make it work. We made a plan for him to come visit for a long weekend, and we would assemble this electronic computing machine.
I call it a machine because it has mechanical switches, 30 actually – SPST (single-pole, single-throw in electronics jargon). It also has two knobs for rotary encoders, and a power switch. In the old days of computers, we used SPST switches to record ones and zeros – both for specifying an address in memory and loading that address with data. Older computers had tiny incandescent bulbs for indicators, but inexpensive and long-lasting LEDs soon took on that role. And they look way much cooler.
PiDP-11/70 front panel
However, that describes the front panel only – as the rest of the original computer hardware took up multiple cabinets, multiple racks, sometimes a whole room full of equipment. This particular computer’s ‘engine‘ is actually only a few square inches, and is considerably more powerful than the one it is simulating.
The Raspberry Pi engine
I say simulating, as one of the programs that this new Raspberry Pi hardware can run is a program that can simulate the entire software environment of the world-renown PDP-11/70. This particular setup is known as the PiDP-11.The PDP-11 line of computers was manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) starting in the 1960s, and swept the world as a ‘super-minicomputer’.
So, let me <POP> the stack back to the mystery teacher at the top of the page. Some of you may know him as Dave Sieg, my (only slightly older) brother. (The older we get, the smaller the difference in age…) However much as our Father taught me about how things work, my brother started me into electronics at the tender age of 2 by introducing me to his robot, and he continues to enlighten me, and I try to reciprocate. I always enjoy sharing with him things I have learned.
“Meet my robot, don’t be scared.”
We spent a lot of time together in college at Ole Miss in the 70s, and collaborated on many projects. He was more focused on video (television) and I was more focused on computers (mostly hardware, but some software). After we left Mississippi we were both involved in ham radio, and sometimes we could chat between California and North Carolina or Denver (for free). So for 10 years he did research & development into computer graphics for movies and advertising (in Hollywood CA), while I traveled the country maintaining big computer systems for DEC – based first in NC, but then transferring to Denver CO.
In 1990 we gave up the big city life and returned to our hometown Kingsport TN. David had established ZFx, Inc and invited me to work with him (and help maintain the computers). We started Tricon.Net in 1994, one of the first regional internet providers. As a crucial step forward in my education, he started me on a path to learn about using and maintaining UNIX computers. That single concept kept me employed until my retirement in 2016, after working for a few defense contractors, and finally 10 years supporting the ISS with NASA.
My brother has known me longer than anyone still living, and I am thankful that we can still collaborate and enjoy each others company. David & I still teach each other tips & tricks about this versatile computer environment. Kindof like last month when we got together to build this kit, and actually made it work. I love you more than I can express; Thank You David.<RET>
Soldering diodes and LEDs
All switches soldered, ready to test
Returning to the story at hand, we put this thing together one weekend, and had a great time. It works.!. I love it. I can’t count the hundreds of PDP-11/70s I’ve ever worked on during the decade of my life I devoted to DEC. Currently my PiDP-11 is running the default idled program, and makes a neat desktop appliance with many blinky-lights. However, I can set a number in the switch register, and press the address rotary encoder and the simulation can change to any of the PDP-11 operating systems (DOS-11, RT-11, RSTS-7, RSX11mplus, or any of several early UNIX systems). It can even support serial ports for your VT-100s.!.
Choose your favorite PDP-11/70 operating environment
One can even enter Octal program code from the switch register, if you remember any of your assembly language programming.
A short video from Dave to show the ‘idled‘ program in operation. (this link is to my SomeNet.NET webserver, I can’t upload video here with a free account) http://wb5rmg.somenet.net/PiDP-11_1.mov
If this appeals to you at all, make an inquiry. The web site claims over 3000 kits sold, so get in line – might need wait a bit. If the PDP-11/70 meant anything to you, this kit might be what you’ve been missing. /;^)
WB5RMG : RadioActive Blog 
