We're going digital!!

While being in the high desert has many benefits, though I'm still trying to figure that one out, cable or over-the-air television signals are not one of them. I've partially assembled a new dish to mount outside to feed the new TV. Fortunately there have been several installations on the trailer and many coax cables to choose from to make the task that much easier.

Alien Dandelion

While out inspecting my handiwork with getting the sprinkler system going---which pretty much was an inspection of how much grass has died and the types of weeds that have taken over. I saw what appeared to be a large dandelion but was something similar but much larger.

Coming in from the west

Here is some rainy weather coming in over the mountains to the west that are much closer than the east side. By rainy weather I mean that its usually gives some cool breezes, a few low rumbles, brisk winds, and maybe 3 or 4 rain drops---not much rain gets over the mountains usually.

Space Filler

For those who know me  the "Big empty spot" entry in my blog was an easy call.  I do miss my basement set-up back home so this will have to suffice for now.  I'll suffer through my pain using the above 50" THX certified plasma from Panasonic:)

Breaking Bread

Whipped up some yeast bread sticks recently in an earlier blog post, and shown above is the result. Going to have to looked up how yeast works at higher elevations as they got plump pretty quickly. Didn't seem to bother the taste though---yum, yum.

New Safety PPE for Warehouse Management

Congress passed a bill requiring all warehouse managment personnel to wear fall protection. OSHA hailed the bill as "...a great step toward ensuring the safety of a national resource and halt the senseless suffering of klutzes managers from thousands of workplace accidents annually." All tongue in cheek aside---get well soon brother!!

Big Empty Spot

In keeping with recent blog themes asking readers questions, the question for today is---"What is missing from this picture?"

Awesome kitchen aid

Pictured here is one of my most prized possessions after a recent workout whipping up some bread dough. A truly great tool that blends and mixes the ingredients to the point of making me look like I can cook and bake. I've made many a recipe with this over the years and look forward to the same for years to come. Still a bit pricey but I have encouraged anyone that likes to bake to check KitchenAid mixers out---they are a one time investment!

"...fava beans and a nice chianti.'

For those of you familiar with the quote, I couldn't help myself :) Fortunately the menu here is a less exotic dish of soup and breadsticks. Both made from scratch of course. The soup is tomato, with onions, basil, garlic, and a pinch of chicken stock. I do read the labels to see what ingredients are in food products but have just naively assumed that good 'ol tomato soup was immune--high fructose corn syrup? Campbell's did me wrong!!

I've been collecting recipes over the years and thought about posting some favorites of mine along with photos of the results as I make them.

The Sky is Falling

Chicken Little must have been talking about storms around here. I could see this recent storm coming from tens of miles away, getting pushed through and over the mountains from the east. The clouds were heavy with moisture (obviously) and dropped into the valley along with releasing some very cold rain and slush drops.

Photographic Proof that I Eat

I've had some conversations and gotten a few emails with people concerned about whether I am eating right, staying healthy, etc. I'm inclucing a few pictures of what I eat while I'm up here in the High Country. I will have to say that I do cook and prep meals more than any guy I've ever met---this has caused me grief from time to time. None of the pictures have been Photoshopped, enhanced, nor were any of the objects prepared ahead of time. WYSIWYG :)

Chinese Merger

I needed a small string trimmer and the price was right on this model at an online vendor. The poor economy seems to have hit pretty much everyone world wide. Looks like some Chinese designers of cordless hand tools were asked to design a cordless string trimmer to keep their factory open. I have been charging the battery pack which looks suspiciously similar to a line of power tools at your local DIY stores.

Bird's eye view

Here is a photo taken from the International Space Station......ok, a passing commercial jet :) You can see the mine (hole in the ground), Hadley (little splotch of green on the left side), Carvers (near the light colored patch to the top right) and several valleys over with the furthest getting pretty close to Fallon, NV.
To put this all in perspective, the mountains are in the 10,000-11,000 foot range though they only rise about a mile from the valley floor. The mine pit is an oval, approximately 1.5 miles by 1 mile. Also, it is about a 5 mile trip from Hadley to the Administration offices located near the pit.
On the far right middle, just at the foot (or "toe" in mine speak) of the mountains, is Gold Hill which is currently the most promising area for new gold mining.

Synchronized Drill Team

Here in the bottom of the pit, two drills are patterning the next blast. As you can see to the right, they have drilled many of the needed holes already. Each hole is precisely drilled into a specific location determined manually by several survey teams in the past, but by GPS now. The holes are typically no deeper than 30-35 feet in order to keep a uniform bench height as seen in the background and are subsequently loaded with ANFO (explosive). Rock samples are taken for each hole and lab work is done to determine the gold content. This information is added to the GPS coordinates in order to profile the area. This "profile" of the underlying rock is the "dig plan" for the loaders as they fill the haul trucks and determines where exactly the shattered rocks end up in the mining process.

Where to dig?

Millions of dollars are spent every year by our exploration geologists looking for more gold ore. Here is a recent find that has developed into a business case. This is a slice of the mine in profile along a certain latitude. Hundreds of holes are drilled and samples taken during the drilling. Using the analysis of all the samples, software packages can determine what is underground to a high degree of confidence. The ore is noted in milli-ounces (.0XX) and the depth in feet.

Stuffing the Swamp Cooler

I took advantage of being near civilization (a Wal-Mart) while traveling to Reno this week. I picked up a few things for my evaporative cooler. New pump and pads got installed just after the sun popped over the mountains this morning. Also cleaned out several years worth of crud built up in the bottom pan and lubricated the 1/2hp motor and squirrel cage fan. I have thoughts on installing another header and set of pads behind the first to increase the efficiency but we'll see how this does first. One thing I did find out about the pads----they are made out of shredded aspen trees. This is the same stuff that they use to pack things like bottles, cheese, and dishes in since I was a kid and way before that. Now you see this in "upscale" packaging but these pads were dirt-cheap ~$3 a piece for a 30"x36"x1" pad.

Sleeping in Seattle

It was a long, busy week in the Pacific Northwest these past few days. I had anticipated being able to update the blog from the hotel where the meetings were held but they wanted $10 a day to surf the net. The weather was typical Seattle--gray overcast, raining and drizzily but Friday afternoon the sky opened up and the sun started shining. This morning, on the way back to Nevada, I made a few suprise observations. First was that Mt. Rainier is really big in comparison to his neighbors. Truly dominates the southern view from Seattle. I include a few googled photos as my camera was packed in the suitcase.

Another thing I noticed by accident on the flight back---I think I'm one of the few people that leave nose prints on the windows. Mt. St. Helens isn't really all that far from Seattle as ash flies. Prevailing winds definitely helped with the violent eruption in 1980. You can still easily see the results of the explosion nearly 30 years later.

Organ Transplant

No, this isn't for any living and breathing person but for a pool cleaner. Seems about every 2 years it needs a new part(s) and this biennial was no exception. The cleaner is water pressure powered so everything works off hydraulic pressures including valves and motors. This year looks to be the gearbox having blow by. My son will give it an attempt for a repair but failing that, Dad gets to complete the task in a few weeks.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Here I am with Mom enjoying the fresh autumn air in Carolina Moon trailer park. I'm all of 22 days old and, being the first grandchild, still figuring out why we keep going places and I keep getting handed around to all these happy people when just being around Mom would be great.

Thank you Mom!!!!

Hand Crafted from the Setzer Forge

I received this "bench made" knife from a close family relative this past week. He was a role model when I was growing up and introduced me to duck hunting----which I don't know was a good thing for me but was most defintely to ducks and shot shell manufacturers. One of the many hobbies he has taken up lately is handcrafting custom knives such as this one.

Sunny, Sunny and.....Sunny

Things are almost to the point where its all sun and stars here in the high country. Old timers say that we'll get at least one more freeze though. Time to fire up the evaporative (swamp) cooler and start keeping the windows open.

Protected Species

I had asked recently about putting a couple of Joshua trees in the yard here figuring that they are really low maintenance.  I was told they are protected by the state of Nevada. I'm not entirely sure, but there are easily more of these trees than people in America. In order to dig one up you have to get a permit and dig a 4'x4'x4' clump of dirt and rock out with the tree. Kind of limits what you dig and carry the transplant with. Needless to say, not a lot of people have these in their yards.