This time it might be a good idea to preview some of your pictures after you have taken them. ________________________________ From: Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 1:14 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Concrete arrows (OT) Did you just hear a shriek? That was me after plugging my DSLR into my computer and finding I'd messed up the settings on the camera yesterday meaning I have no useable pictures from yesterday's outing. Well except for the one of the bulb I took with my iPhone when I got home (thank you Steve Jobs for making the phone more idiot resistant than Nikon's product). So it looks like I'll be retracing yesterday's steps today, starting early afternoon. Should anyone care to come along please let me know and we'll work out the details. Grumble... patrick On 27 Aug 2013, at 23:35, Patrick Wiggins wrote:
Hi all,
When I started the "Government funded observing platforms" thread I intended it to be just a quick bit of humor that history nuts like me might enjoy. Little did I know it would grow instead of quickly fade.
So since folks seem to be enjoying it but realizing it really is off topic I've changed the name of the thread so those not interested can hit delete.
At any rate, using the map Brent supplied I was able to find and photograph three of the arrows today (the ones by Stockton, Lakepoint and by I-80's exit 77). I walked all around where the one just north of Grantsville was supposed to be but there was no sign of it. With luck I'll get to the two a bit further west tomorrow and then the one north of the Bountiful airport after that.
BTW, while searching for the one above Lakepoint I ended up climbing much higher than I needed to. I just could not find it. So I turned around to sit down for a rest only to see the arrow well below me. Augh.
Funny, but while standing on that one I rang Joe to tell him where I was (he's the one that unintentionally got me started on this). And hour or so later he rang me back wanting to make sure I'd made it back down safely (thanks Joe).
Also, while coming down I found this bulb sticking out of the dirt: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/bulb.jpg
I figured it must be burned out and some worker had tossed it. But when I got home I found it still works. Weird. Anyone want it?
It was really neat standing on those things with all my fancy electronics thinking how when the arrows were poured almost 100 years ago the workers doing the pouring could never have imagined things like iPhones and iPads.
I look at these things as a fascinating part of aviation history. So much so that I pitched doing a story about them to a reporter friend. He likes the idea and is thinking sometime next month. We'll see.
And, at the risk of going a bit crazy here, I'd really like to see at least some of these things preserved. I'd start with the one off exit 77 as it's in pretty good shape, already has something of a fence around it and you can drive right up to it.
I'm envisioning getting some CAP cadets out there to clear brush and maybe even apply a coat of the same color paint that was on the arrows originally. I see on the web it's been done elsewhere, so why not here?
Lots of pictures in the camera. Hopefully I'll get a few posted later tonight.
All in all a really fun day.
patrick
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