Hot Summer Nights

Heading back east for the little woman's 39th birthday tomorrow.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Early Morning Stretch

A young hawk (genus unknown) is caught at the top of their lifting stroke for flight off the fence post they were resting on just before dawn broke over the valley.

Personalized Shopping

Big Brother has already arrived in.the high plains! Dropped by the store to pick up my weekly gallon of 1% milk and the dairy department has me pegged. My HAL nightmares are coming true (for those sci-fi buffs among us)

New and Improved

The washer back home was making a funny sound and yours truly, being somewhat naive fearless with this sort of thing, of course opened it up. Not much going on in these new front loading washers---no transmissions, solenoids or mechanical timers at all. A electronic control box for the motor drive, the motor, flat grooved belt and the water pump (middle of second pic) . Noise came from the pump as some "debris" had made it by the filter cup. Cleaned it out and all is well. Did order a new pump as the old vibrates a bit now but nothing serious. The large pulley in the first photo was made in Harrison, AR by a customer of a previous employer of mine.

http://gatoringoldcountry.blogspot.com/

Breakfast of Champions

The term "open range" is very appropiate on the high plains. There are many thriving cattle ranches throughout the valleys. The range required for grazing each head of cattle is rather large due to the sparse vegetation though the sparseness did not seem to bother the small herd that was grazing on the roadsides on the way to work one morning this week.

The Veggie Patch

The little woman has been busy this summer growing a few varieties of tomato including Better Boy, Cherry & Roma, a yellow variety of sweet pepper, red & green bell peppers, yellow squash and her usual collection of spices in the assorted planters on the deck.

Mo knows gardening :)

http://gatoringoldcountry.blogspot.com/

Dog Days of Summer

If you're a sled dog it would be good I guess......a quick shot at Mini's temperature gauge the other morning showings temps getting into the low 50s and some 40s in the evening this past week. The day temperature is still a warm 80s and 90s but a big swing once the sun is down.

Chasing Luna

A trio of planets chase our moon down to the horizon this evening. Still quite light as star-gazing goes which does not allow Saturn and Mars to show up as well as their cousin Venus. Hopefully a few more nights and I may be able to get a somewhat darker shot.

Three Out Of Four Ain't Bad

A recent blogger had noted the juxtaposition of four planets in a recent summer night sky. Distant cloud cover had obscured the view in recent nights and anything on the horizon has to deal with the mountains to both the east and west. Without going and checking out the exact configuration, I believe that the enhanced photo includes Venus, Saturn and Mars. Mecury, being the fleet-footed messenger he is, has escaped below the horizon before the darkness descended enough to make out all of his companions.

Late Afternoon Silhouette

The sun dips behind a cloud just outside of Death Valley along the Nevada-California border.

Back in the Big Country

Cruising back to central Nevada this past Sunday on the very open roads. Sunset was a long, drawn out affair in technicolor.