Non Zero Odds of a Stinkbug

I'm occasionally advised that turning a Dixie Cup upside down is Wrong, yet another example of the Error of my Ways.

To which I'd respond that the odds of a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug  (YUCK! ) crawling in there, while not high, cannot be regarded as zero.....

Catfish Geocache

Sometimes there is a logical progression from one "season" to another.  As the robotics storage closet got cleared out I, as usual, got a bunch of stuff that had to come home with me.  I refer to my basement as Area 51.  And some things actually proved useful for geocache construction.

I take my geocaches seriously.  Oh, lots of folks just cram a piece of paper into a film container, maybe add a little camo tape and call it good.  I regard that as unambitious.  I want my containers to look cool and to remain water and damage proof for years.  Trying to keep up roughly 30 caches when I'm busy with other things is a pain.

One series I've had fun with is Strange Fish.  I try to catch some weird denizen of the muddy depths, then commemorate them with a geocache on the spot.  When possible, in the shape of a fish.

One of these was Channel Cat, Strange Fish number 6.  

It was getting a bit weathered and beat up after a couple of winters "in the wild".  Time for a new one.

Lets start with a section of PVC pipe.

When you want something to be waterproof....start with a pipe designed to keep water in.  Should work to keep it out too.  There are end caps that we'll get to shortly, but I wanted this to look a bit "fishier".  A series of plastic discs cut with a hole saw and glued into place.  The bolt is tightened in and serves as an anchor point for the tail.

Like everything else so far, the tail is made of old robot supplies, in this case thin polycarbonate plastic, later covered with black duct tape.

Tail assembled, attached and covered, similar set of fins made the same way.

The head is just an end cap, not glued on of course, with a couple of bolts for eyes.  Memo to self, purchase more stick on googly eyes.  The cache now being near complete it only required a bit of covering tape( the grippy stuff used on baseball bats) and whiskers, and to be released into the wild....

I know it does not look too much like a channel catfish, but I enjoy a bit of whimsey in such matters.  There are various ways to mount these with hangers and such, but the head is press fit well enough that a ground hide should be fine, especially since the paper log and a small pencil are contained inside a heavy duty ziplock.

I look forward to refining the technique further to approximate other Strange Fish.  Good thing I don't live near an ocean, a flounder would be a tough mod!

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Full Kit in Rural Indiana

My brother was off chasing the eclipse recently and ran across some impressive Tree Shaped Tombstones in very rural Indiana.  Civil War vets, obviously.

Here's a long row in Cornettsville, IN.  The one in front has either a generic shroud or perhaps a soldier's cloak hanging off the upper limb.  And a very nice ruck sack and bed roll down at the base.  Ready one supposes to be taken up again in The Next Life.  There's also a musket but you can't see it well in this view.

On the other hand, here's the marker of a certain Jacob McCann in Plainville, IN.  Nearly identical, note the pack and bed roll down and to the right.

Jacob still has someone putting flowers on his grave.  Right down front below the canteen.

Chippewa City - A Gently Fading Ghost Town

When you think of Ghost Towns you usually imagine somewhere out west.  Maybe a prospector struck gold and the town sprang up overnight....only to wither and die when the lode ran out.  A life cycle that starts with nothing, booms into full life, then rapidly fades leaving only some tumbledown buildings to remember that it was ever there.

But there are other life cycles for Ghosts, and Chippewa City has had three or four stages of existence.

Technically it got going in 1825.  That's when a treaty was signed in which the Ojibwa natives gave up rights to some of Wisconsin.  And as a provision of this treaty a combination farm, trading post and blacksmith shop was to be established at a convenient point on the Chippewa River.  After some delays it seems this was actually done in 1838.

There was frankly very little European presence in this area for many years.  One event of note that did occur here was a summit meeting of sorts between the Ojibwa and Dakota tribes.  These groups had been contesting the area for several generations.  They met, gestured a bit, went their own ways and remained antagonistic towards each other.

There is little information on what was at the site later to become Chippewa City in these early days.  A Lyman Warren had a log dwelling and presumably was in charge of things.  He had an Ojibwa wife and remarkably, a library.  This was also the site of the American Fur Company post.

In 1856 there was a rumor that the railroad would come to this spot and build a bridge.  The economic impact of this would be gigantic, probably putting Chippewa City on a path to eclipse its rival, the later established town of Chippewa Falls five miles down stream.  A bank was established, at least on paper.  There land was surveyed and platted.  Homes and of course saloons appeared.

It was an illusion.  Or yet another real estate scam.  After this brief second phase as a true boom town Chippewa City began its long decline.  Here's a plat of the area in the early 1870's.

By 1888 things had changed.  The originally platted village was mostly abandoned and there were newer buildings along a road that had since appeared.  Note the school and post office.  There was also said to be a church.  The peak population of Chippewa City somewhere in this time span was around 200.

Looking at these two maps something very odd strikes me.  The mill is in the wrong place.  Pretty clearly O'Neill Creek has been dammed to form a mill pond, so why is the mill that far away, and up a hillside to boot?  Not all these maps tell the gospel truth, and in my reading I have come across references both to a mill near the pond and an unspecified "Eagle Steam Mill".

The world has passed Chippewa City by.  No railroad.  The lumbering industry sent all the logs right on past to the larger and more powerful sawmill at Chippewa Falls.  But there were still people living here.  The farmland around it was filling up and there was a need for a few basics.  School for the kids.  Salvation for everybody.  I'd be surprised if there was not a store.  

But with the advent of automobiles it became less important to have these things in walking distance.  And the third phase of Chippewa City's life was related to the new mobility.

People wanted recreation.  They wanted to stay in a cabin for a week or two.  Go fishing.  Maybe have a beer or two.  So a resort appeared.  This post card is in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society.  It is thought to be from the 1920's.

From the same source, a detail of one of the images....

If that indeed is the proprietor, Prosper LeDuc, then I suspect the photo might be later.  With a name that distinctive you'll pick up a few biographical details.  Prosper was evidently from the area but was living in Montana in 1909, and in Canada in both 1928 and 1934.  He and Mrs. Leduc were married sometime around 1910.  To me these look like people in their 50's, even given the hard work associated with these times.  The first I can definitely place him in Chippewa City is 1938.   

Here's the spot today.

And down by the river, what looks to be remains of a stone dam that once held back the mill pond.

The cabins from (?) the 1940's are slowly falling apart.  The tavern is gone other than a wind mangled sign advertising a brand of beer that is also extinct.  But people still live here.  It is after all a very pretty spot on the river and a string of nice new homes along the river represent a fourth wave of life in the oldest community along this stretch of the Chippewa River.

If such things are of interest I do have a geocache here.....   Ghost Town on the Chippewa

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Final Competition Report

The 2024 competition season is over.  It had its odd moments.  Our first tournament was in very early March.  We went up to Duluth Minnesota, about half way to the Arctic Circle, and had shirt sleeve weather.  Our second event was in early April and was a couple hundred miles to the south.  We set out in a blizzard.  

There was a lot of hard work in the intervening weeks.  The robot was simplified and where possible strengthened.  And unsurprisingly we did much better.  A 6-4 record and a ranking of 16th out of 54 teams.  Perhaps the highlight was a match where we were tasked to play defense against the number one ranked robot at the event.  We handed them their only loss of the weekend.

Ah, but constant pounding took its toll.  By our final matches it was obvious we had stressed the robot past its design limitations.  In retrospect an open eyed look at this year's game should have noted that in an era of powerful new brushless motors, and in a game with no "speed bumps" that survivability needed to take precedence over sophistication.

Finishing 16th one might reasonably expect to be selected as an alliance partner - after all, who does not need a defensive goon? - but it was not to be.  And despite some of our team being disappointed this was a proper call.  When we return to the upper tiers of robots next year it is a principle worth remembering.

But, it was still a good event.  Interestingly we got three bits of recognition from other teams.  Maybe this is a new thing, but I don't recall this happening in prior events...

One is for just being good sports.  One is for the "Hardest Working Robot".  I don't know what RISE design means.  Perhaps Robot Is Still (in) Existence.  The sports cliché "Leaving it all out on the floor" was actually true by our final match, although the bits of debris involved were not vital parts.

I'll have some further robot event pictures and thoughts in a bit.  Perhaps best to close with an official award the team was also given.  Gracious Professionalism.  And yes, that's a mangled part on the table behind the award.

Very nice, and I think a suitable recognition for a team that never gave up, never got discouraged and never stopped having fun.

And so the process of building the 2025 team begins, and with a solid base to start from.

Anyway, here's probably our best match of the event.  Ignore the part where we launched a game piece "up into the stands for a lucky fan".

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Lacrosse Tournament Report 2

 

After our sub par performance at our first event we had a plan going into the rebuild phase and on into our second event.  Make the robot be more durable.  Focus on the things we can do well -in some instances very well - and showcase these.  Drive smart.  Don't break it.  Be ready to fix it if you do.  Towards that latter goal we have a back up intake/shooter device built and ready for a swap....hopefully not needed.

The driving and pit crew maintenance has been excellent and we finished the long Friday session with a 4-3 mark and ranked 15 out of 54.  A stunning reversal from....well, best not mention our ranking in the last event.

Sometimes you get an unexpected chance to show off.  In this game you are only allowed to control one "game piece" at a time.  If one of those bright orange donuts get stuck in your robot you are not allowed to pick up another one.  Hey, it happens.  And when it happened to us our very skilled driver switched over to playing pure defense.  I guess it is not up on Youtube quite yet, but she was able to push the opponent robots around like they were baby buggies.  She enjoys this sort of thing a great deal.

Anyway, good times.  Our Friday matches should be viewable at this link:    Seven Rivers

I specify Seven Rivers because I don't want to watch our Duluth matches again and suggest you don't either.  We were having a bad weekend back then.  Better now, no matter what the outcome of tomorrow's three matches may be.  Redemption does not come often in life, and when it does it only comes with hard work and deep thought.  It is a pleasant thing to experience.

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Lacrosse Tournament Report One

 Our customary Pit Cartoons.

Practice matches.  The robot ran quite well but did take a little damage...and with less rough housing than we'll see tomorrow.

The goats are here.

As is Kilroy.  We'll drop in on him in a bit.