Yes, we are Brothers

I was in the San Francisco Bay region with a weekend to kill.  I was testing some space hardware at Physics International in San Leandro.  We did not finish the testing on Friday and had to come back first thing Monday to complete the testing.  It made no sense to head back to Virginia for a very short weekend.

            I decided to head for Yosemite National Park.  It was the end of October, and I knew that the lodge was closed.  I also had heard that the park service provided tents in the bottom of the valley that could be rented.  Unlike the crowds of the summer, I was pretty sure I would have the place almost all to myself.

            Yosemite is about 150 miles due East of San Leandro.  I knew it would take a good 3 hours to get there.  I was able to call ahead and reserve a tent. I was also able to get away from Physics International about 4:00 PM.  Some of the drive was in the dark, but I was able to get there by 7:30.  The ranger very kindly showed me to my tent.  It was equipped with lanterns, a cot, a sleeping bag and a space heater.  Snow had fallen on the south rim that day.

I had packed appropriate cold weather gear since I had planned this trip for some time. I pulled into the parking lot, gathered my gear, opened the tent, and was soon snoring away.

Figure 1: Yosemite Valley Tent Camp

I was awake at 5:00 and ready to drive up onto the rim of the south side of the valley to look for my objective-the Great Gray Owl.  I had rented a four-wheel drive vehicle, and the snow was only 4 or 5 inches deep and fluffy, so I did not expect any problems.  The Great Gray Owl is a boreal species found mostly in Canada and Alaska  There are also high-altitude mountain locations in the lower US including Yosemite.

The snow at the top of the south rim was very fresh and the air was dead still so there was complete silence.  I started walking. It was just starting to have a bit of light. I also had my small tape recorder.  I started playing the song of the Owl. https://xeno-canto.org/715843.

I walked through the snow for about a  half hour.  Sunrise was near.  Suddenly, my tape song was being returned.  I kept walking toward the sound.  There, about 25 yards away was the Owl sitting out in the open on a low hanging branch.

Figure 2: Great Gray Owl

            He stared at me. I stared at him.  He hooted at me. I hooted at him. 

            There was only me and the Owl in the whole universe.  I knew right then that we are brothers.  That the creative powers of the universe had fashioned both of us from the same cloth.  I knew that all was well with the world and always would be.

            Yes, we are brothers.

Last Tango in Nevada

In the summer of 1992, I was stationed at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) located 65 miles North of Las Vegas with members of my team.

Figure 1: Nevada Test  Site

I was in charge of a major test that I had conceived and conceptually designed.   We were at NTS because that was the location where mission critical hardware could be tested with the radiation output of a nuclear device.   Ever since the atmospheric test ban of 1993 these nuclear devices were detonated underground in a series of tunnels cut into the side of a mountain.

Figure 2: Tunnel complex at NTS

Our job was  to test a critical piece of space hardware that had never been tested before.  My team and I had developed a test article that included design features that we had developed to allow it to pass such a test.  Passing the test meant that the test article survived the radiation and continued to perform its function after being exposed to the radiation.  This was the basic US requirement for all critical hardware so that we could survive a surprise attack from the former Soviet Union and be able to retaliate, what the press called Nuclear Armageddon.

I was living at basic quarters on the test site. My two sons were grown and were out of the house by this time in my career.  My wife and I had to content ourselves with daily phone calls since my home in Virginia was nearly 3000 miles away.

I was also supported at the site by a team  of more than 75 people executing all the design specifics and putting the hardware into place at a location a mile and a half underground along a tunnel carved into the face of a mesa at the site.  For reasons of national security, I cannot tell you about the details of the test, but I can discuss the generalities.

            Things were going well.  Kenny was the manager of our Las Vegas office that provided the personnel and equipment to monitor the test configuration and the output parameters of the  nuclear device. Sam from our San Diego office managed the deployment of the test article and supporting test equipment.  David from our Albuquerque office  had designed  the test article support equipment.  Ben from our Huntsville office was in charge of the design of the test article with support  from major military hardware manufacturers. Finally, John from my office in Mclean provided all the detailed computational support needed to interpret the data.

            They all reported status during our stand-up meeting that occurred daily after the daily dry-run of equipment in which the hardware was all triggered as if  the nuclear device had exploded.

            Me, “Kenny, how is instrumentation coming along?”

            Kenny, “You are fielding more oscilloscopes in this test than I have ever fielded before.  They are all working and triggering in the dry run.”

            Me, “It seems that things with the test chamber are OK?”

            Sam, “Yes, the dummy test article is in the test chamber, and the vacuum and liquid helium are attached.”

            Me, “Is our support system still in trouble David?”

            David, “ We are up and running with the vacuum system. The liquid helium needs further attention.  We found another bug in the supporting electronics.  One of the modules needs to be replaced. We are on it.”

            Me, “We can’t test without a test article.  Where the hell is it Ben?”

            Ben, “The test article is one week away from completion.”

            Me, “We still need to set the scopes John.”

            John, “Most of the calculations are completed so that we will be able to set the scopes.”

            Me, “Great work guys.  The test is not until the early September.  We are in good shape.  We can all take off this long weekend and relax for a change.  I for one can’t wait to get off the test site.  See you next Monday.”  I was really feeling good.  This project had very high-level attention back at the Pentagon.

            Monday came. Kenny came running to me with a wild look in his eyes.

            Me, “ What’s going on Kenny?  You seem stressed.”

Kenny ,  “Over the weekend some rats chewed through the wires at the power plant on the top of the mesa.  The power went down, and nobody was here to fix it.”

Me, “Nobody here to fix it.  What happened then?”

Kenny,  “ There was no power to our vacuum or liquid helium systems.  The test chamber imploded.  It has to be fixed or we won’t make the test date.”

Me, “Ouch.  We are in deep shit. My career may be at an end.”

My DOD sponsors were very upset. They sent an august team of critics from Washington led by one of my perennial critics Gus to determine exactly what happened and why I had fucked up. I knew that they were discussing who my replacement would be.

We met at the field station on the test site a few days later.

Figure 3: NTS field station

  The CEO of our company sent Larry to support me.  Larry ran the office of quality control for the company.

Larry stood right up and took charge.  He addressed the review committee, “Gentlemen.  Take a look at the quality program that we execute on all the mission critical programs.  Then take a look at the log of the actual application of this formalism to the present program.  It is excruciatingly detailed and covers almost every conceivable bad luck thing that can happen. Like all such programs, it has provisions to handle the situation when one thing goes wrong.  It also has the requirement that the system performance degrade gracefully when 2 things go wrong.”

Gus, “What two things went wrong?”

Larry, “The primary power system went down for the whole weekend, and the back-up power system that NTS provides was not designed to last a whole weekend. It went down also.”

Gus,” Yes, but why did the test chamber implode?  Ian fucked up, right?”

Larry, “ Yes, a third thing went wrong.  There is no quality control methodology in the world that can handle three things going wrong.  The technician tightening the bolts on the chamber misread the specifications and did not tighten them enough.  Ian’s procedures would have caught this mistake, but not in the real time in which it happened. The final check of the bolts was scheduled after the prime test article was inserted.  This was scheduled  for a week or so from now when the prime test article showed up.”

Despite Gus’s attacks on me, the committee decided to let me continue to manage the project.  After all, our backup plans included the fact that we already had a second chamber ready to be shipped from Albuquerque.

In the next six weeks, we got the new chamber in place with the prime test object. We also finalized all supporting equipment and instrumentation and were ready for the scheduled event in September .

As we sat in the control center many miles away from the event, we learned that the Senate had passed a nuclear test ban moratorium the week before, and the House had decided that morning to go forward with finalizing that bill with the intention of sending it to President Busch for signature.

The test went off in spite of this. It was named HUNTERS TROPHY.  It was a smashing success.  My reputation was now cast in gold.

It turns out that this was the last nuclear test that DOD performed.  The fall of the Berlin wall in 1991 began the end of the era of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

Who is Sitting Next to You?

The final email instructions we received from Cranston were to assemble outside  the baggage area at the Viru-Viru airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  Apparently, we were all arriving in the same time window.

Figure 1: Viru-Viru Airport Bolivia

          I sure hoped nothing was going on in Bolivia.  Washington seemed to think something was brewing.  I just wanted to enjoy the birding and some old friends,

          I immediately saw Roland and Peggysue.

          “Hey Ian!”, Roland called.

          Peggysue came over and hugged me and said, “ So nice to see you again.  When was the last time.  I think it was in Brazil in 2002”

          Me. “Thanks for cluing me in on this trip.”

          Before I could respond, two  other people showed up.  We knew they were part of our party because they had binoculars hanging from their neck.

          Roland waved them over.  “Welcome to birding Bolivia.  My name is Roland, this is my wife Peggysue. May we have the pleasure?”

          The man stuck out his hand to Roland, “Hi.  I’m Larry, and this is my wife Lorraine.  We have heard about you from Cranston.  You two are the big listers on the trip.”

          Roland, “Yes, we keep a list of all the birds we have seen.  Peggysue is pretty competitive about it.  I keep a list too, but I could care less about where I stand in the world rankings.”

          Larry. “ How did you get started?  We retired just a few years ago and retired to Panama.  We had a mild interest in birds before that,  but once in Panama, wow.   There are so many birds. This is our first trip to South America.”

          Peggysue jumped in, “Wow. Panama.  That’s the country I have yet to see, and it is exactly the place I really could add a lot of birds to my North American list.  Let’s talk about this during the trip.”

          Lorraine, “I would love to do that. But tell us how you got started.”

          Roland, “ Well, Peggysue was an airline flight attendant with Delta and flew all over the world.  Her dad had been a birdwatcher and got her interested at a young age.  When she started traveling , he encouraged her to check out the birds at each new location.  What we all know now-different location, different birds.”

          Peggysue, “ Yes there are more than 10,000 species worldwide. What a challenge.  And then I met Roland in Singapore.”

          Roland, “ Yes, my job took me all over the world, too.  I am a welder by trade with a specialty in nuclear power plants.  I did a lot of casual birding worldwide as well.  I was working on a job there, and Peggysue had a layover, and we both booked a day trip with one of the Singapore birding luminaries, Subaraj. We hit it off immediately. That was 20 years ago.  Here we are still having a great time together.”

          Just then  another guy with binoculars showed up.

          I said, “You must be Doug, my roommate for this trip”

          Doug, “And you must be Ian.”

          Me, “I saw from the correspondence that you live in the UK.  Cranston is also from the UK.  Do you know him? “

          Doug, “Oh, yes.  We were childhood pals.  Been birding together ever since.”

          Me, “Can you tell me a bit about him.  Roland and Peggysue told me he is a good guy, but that’s all I know.”

          Doug, “Cranston is a bird artist  He draws the pictures of birds that go into birding field guide books.  He supplements that income by being a  guide for birding trips.  The art income is good but spotty.”

          Me, “Cool.”

          Doug, “Cranston used to guide for the big  British birding tour company Birdquest.  He also did a bit of work for the American equivalent Fieldguides.  He got tired of the corporate over-the-top management and struck out his own a few years ago.”

          Peggysue hollered, “Betty.  So nice to see you again.  And who  is your buddy?”

          Betty, “This is Frank. He is my long-time partner.  He comes along when he can get away from work.”

          Frank extends his hand to Roland and says, “So glad to finally meet you.  Have heard so much about you from Betty.”       

          Betty, “And this is Ian.  Remember we traveled together to Madagascar just after 9/11. and I went with Sarah.”

          Frank extends  his hand, “ Hi, Ian.”

          Me, “Hi.”

          Cranston arrives and says, “ Get your gear and come.  There is a bus waiting to take us to our next flight.”

          We comply and are soon on our way.

          Cranston, “We have a short flight to Trinidad  where we will grab another bus for our accommodation for the next two nights.  It is called Hacienda El Cielo, a working cattle range here in the Bolivian pampas.”

          Frank, “What are pampas?”

          Cranston. “ I guess you would call them prairies.”

Figure 2: Bolivian Pampas

          The conversation dropped to almost nothing as we boarded the small plane. I think we were all tired from this all-day travel. I know I was.

          Soon we were at the hacienda, offered a light snack and showed to our rooms.

          In our room Doug asked, “Didn’t I see that you were on that Ornifolks trip to Ethiopia with all the trouble near the Eritrean border?”

          Me, “ Yes.  It was pretty hairy.  But I have to get some sleep now.  Good night.”  I really needed to dodge that one.

          Doug, “Good night.”

In the hour before sunrise, we began to assemble slowly . One by one  my compatriots  appeared with trail boots, birding vests having pockets, straps and snaps, birding pants having large side pockets, and loops for hanging bird books, covers, bands around the ankles to defeat crawly insects, broad floppy hats, backpacks containing rain gear, gloves, sunglasses, insect repellant, sunblock,  compasses, and more.  Some came with recoding gear including microphones, straps, and small recorders.  Others came with hiking poles or tripods with telescopes

We all came with binoculars; most of us had the Swarovski brand, Betty and Frank carried  Zeiss and Doug had  Nikon. Our  binoculars had  straps of various designs.  We all had a  copy of “The Birds of Bolivia”. 

Ever the boy scout, I also had my first-aid kit with Band-aids, gauze, adhesive tape, tums, aspirin, doxycycline, diarrhea meds, EpiPen for allergic reactions, Ventolin for asthma attacks, Flexeril for back cramps, and more.

          Cranston soon showed up and the conversation turned to the avian target birds to be seen in these out-of-the-way Bolivian pampas.

Cranston, “ I can assure you  that this is the only place in the world to see  the Blue-throated Macaw , a very endangered species.”

Figure 3: Blue-throated Macaw

Peggysue asked, “ Can you explain to us why we are not going to  Noel Kaempf National Park in Eastern Bolivia. It has some of my most sought-after birds.”

Cranston calmly responded, “ Most of this trip focuses on the various altitudes on the Eastern side of the Andes, from the lowlands here all the way up to LaPaz on the altiplano.  Adding  locations in the East just would make the trip too long and too expensive.”

Peggysue, “ Well, I hope you organize another trip going there and including Paraguay.  Very few birders have been there.  That would give me a bit of an edge.”

Lorraine said, “ One of reasons I came with Larry  was to see all the Macaws.  We have several in Panama, but here is unbelievable with  Red-Bellied, Yellow-Collared, Blue-and-Yellow, Chestnut-Fronted, and Red-and-Green Macaws. I can’t wait.”

The conversation died down when the host announced that breakfast was served.

When we were seated and served, our host came and spoke to us.  He said, “ I am sorry to inform you, but there is rioting going on in LaPaz. No news yet of how serious it is. I will keep you informed.”

Shit, I got up, went back to my room and picked up the satellite phone I always carry.  I made a few calls and came back to the table.

Roland said, “I saw you go back to your room.  Did you go use your satellite phone again?”

Me, “Yes, I like to keep up with my family.”

Roland,” Yeah.  In Colombia, every time we had problems because of  the FARC guerillas, it seemed like you needed to talk to your family.”  God is he annoying.

Cranston interrupted and spoke to us all, “Time to go see some birds. Let’s go. We  have two days of great birding here,”

We went and had a great day birding that day and the next.

On the third morning, Cranston stood up and said, “We are taking a bus back to the airport to fly back to Santa Cruz where we will spend 2 more days birding the surrounding cerrado.  We have a nice hotel Los Tajibos.”

          Doug asked, “ What is cerrado?  And Tajibos?”

          Cranston, “ Cerrado is another form of pampas, but a bit wetter and closer to the mountains. Frankly I don’t know what Los Tajibos means.”

Figure 4: Bolivian Cerrado

On the ride from the Santa Cruz airport to the  hotel, I happened to sit across from Larry and Lorraine.

Me, “How do like Panama?   Where did you move from?”

Lorraine, “ We love Panama.  Great to get out of the rat-race of metro Washington, DC.”

Me,” Hey, I live in Sterling. How about you?”

Lorraine, “Herndon.  10 miles apart and we meet  in Bolivia. How cool.”

Cranston stood at the front of the bus and said, “Here we are. Get your rooms, get a snack and get back here in an hour.”

We got back in an hour and spent the next 2 and a half days in great birding.

At dinner on the last night, Cranston laid out the plans for the next few days,  “ I am afraid there is bad news.  It looks like a full-blown insurrection is happening in Bogota.  We will have to see if the government falls.  If so, we will have to curtail our plans and not go to Bogota and Cochabamba.  The troubles are in the highlands.  But we can still go the foothills like we planned.”  God damn it.

Peggysue asked,” Well, since our trip is cut short here in the West, perhaps there is now enough time to go East to Noel Kaempf.  Really,  we paid for a full trip.”

Cranston, “ I’ll see what I can do.  Everybody be ready to leave by 6 after breakfast.  We are off to Los Volcanes Refuge next to Amboro National Park.  The lodge is actually in the bottom of the crater.”

Figure 5: Los Volcanes Refuge

Larry just had to say, “ Well, we live in Volcan, Panama at the base of the volcano.”

I made some more calls that night.

At 6:00 AM we boarded the bus. This time I was sitting beside Betty and Frank.

I asked Betty, “So how is Sarah doing?  Thought I might see her on his trip.”

Betty, “She says Hi.  She really enjoyed meeting you in Madagascar.  She is my best birding buddy and now has plenty of time as she retired recently.”

Me,” That was a great trip getting to know you two.”

Truth is Betty and I became I bit too friendly on that trip, much to Sarah’s dismay. I was a bit uncomfortable being with Frank.

Betty, “I remember you using that satellite phone in Madagascar.  We were having all that hassle with the Muslim population after 9/11.  And I remember that you lent it to your tour leader in Ethiopia the year before and that the police put him in jail because he had it and he was from Eritrea.  You sure get around Ian.” Shut up Betty.

Me, “What you do for a living Frank?”

Frank,” I am a Physicist .  I work for Freemont Aerospace in Palo Alto on their communications satellites.”

Me, “That’s right.  You folks live in Frisco. I come to Freemont sometimes.   Next time I will look you up.”

We arrived at our destination.

Cranston said,” Go find your rooms and grab the box lunch that is waiting.  Be back in an hour.”

We  had a great day birding, followed by two more.

At dinner on the third night, Cranston said, “Listen up. The trouble in LaPaz has turned into a coup.  There is a new provisional government with heavy military involvement.  There continues to be lots of street violence both there and in Cochabamba.   We will not be going into the highlands.  In the morning, we will head back to Santa Cruz and there board some buses to take us to the East.  We will spend the rest of the trip at Noel Kaempf.”

Peggysue, “Hooray.”

Me, “ Count me out.  Drop me at the Viru-Viru Airport.   I have a family emergency.”  I definitely can’t afford to be kidnapped like some birders did in Columbia. International incident in the making.

Cranston, “Really.  I won’t be able to reimburse you.”

Me, “No worries.  I just need to get home.”

In the morning, my room bordered on the dining area.  I was late getting to breakfast as I was making last minute flight arrangements.  I could hear them through my door.

Frank said, “I work in the commercial satellite part of Freemont.  If there is anything involving Physics, I know about it.  He says he comes to Freemont, but I have never heard of him.  He must come to the part of the company that does classified work.”

Larry, “Yes, I work at NIH in Bethesda, but I know a lot of folks that work for government contactors around the DC area.  Ian told me he works for LABC.  I have friends that told me they do a lot of work for the CIA.”

Roland, “Peggysue and I know quite a bit about all the places he has been, supposedly birding.  Lots of trouble spots on that list.  But I must admit, he is a very good birder with quite an impressive list.”

Frank, “With that satellite phone, I bet he is sending information about where to look to the spy satellites.”

Betty, “ I guess we’ll never know.  Let’s just wish his family well.”

Damn, I obviously  have not been careful enough. I had  heard enough, opened my door and said, “Good morning folks.  Ready for the next phase of this avian adventure?”

Soon we were on the way back to Santa Cruz.  The chatter was about all the great birds that could be seen at Noel Kaempf”

Peggysue,” I am thrilled that we have had to rearrange the trip.  Almost nobody has birded there except the original explorers and the biologists working out the ecosystem there.  Lots of people have done LaPaz and Cochabamba.”

Cranston, “Yes, I suggest we come back next year to finish what me missed on this trip but include some time in Paraguay.”

Roland, “ Sign us up.  Peggysue will love that.  Almost nobody has birded Paraguay. I am sure there must be some special birds there.”

Just before we got to the airport, I said to Larry and Lorraine, “ If you get back to the Washington area, please give me a call.  At a minimum we will have you over for dinner.”

Larry, “And if you get back to Panama, give us a call.  You can stay at our place, and we can bird Western Panama together.”

With that the bus was pulling into the airport.

Betty asked,.” Can we stop here for a short time while Ian gets off?  I need a potty break.”

We all got off.  I grabbed my luggage and headed toward check-in.    Betty followed me while the others headed toward the restrooms.

When the rest were out of sight, Betty kissed me, grabbed my crotch, and said, “  Maybe on the next trip I won’t be with Frank or Sarah.  Arrivederci my spooky friend.”