It's Fall Y'all

Fall is in full bloom her in northwest Tennessee.  A composite image of many from over the upper deck.  I am guessing the camera was getting heavy as I swung from left to right--either that or my right leg is shorter than the left!

Teen Spirit

The Littlest Princess is turning another year older in a couple of days and she had several of her friends over to celebrate last night! Party theme was "Bad Sweater" :)

Manual Refuse

Today is garbage day in the little neighborhood of Lakewood near Dyersburg, TN. Truck drivers will skillfully drive their trucks next to waiting trash bins and a hydraulic arm will reach out, clamp onto the "can" and automatically cycle to dump the trash---no manual labor to speak of most stops. 17 hours ahead and many latitudes north, the solo driver's counterparts are manually tossing the refuse from a local general store into the back of a strategically placed truck. Both ways work of course (I can remember watching similar things from my childhood) and things are definitely looking up for this former socialist republic as little bits of freedom begin to take hold with the next generation.

All Dressed up in D-burg

Coming home from school......ok, so not so much school but heading out to a Halloween themed birthday party, the littlest princess rocks orange and black.

A Touch of Fall in Moscow

Chasing the sun today and tomorrow but resting tonight outside the Russian capital.

Siberian Snow Gauge

The snows have stop (for now), looks like I'll be traveling down to the sea side this afternoon.

Low Visibility

Have had a low pressure front coming through over the past few days. Unless the weather clears a bit it looks like I'll be waiting to fly out.

Ivan's Pizza Parlor

Friday nights are pizza nights in the wilds of Siberia!!

Northern Nightlight

While it has been very cloudy most every evening, last night was an exception with an aurora putting on a show for a while after sunset.

Luxury Accomodations

On the way up to the mine, my friend Igor enjoys the new reclining seats in the Rear First Class luxury seating. He also can double as a potential assistant operator for the rear door hydraulics mounted on the cabin wall.

Yours truly needs a good window view.

A couple of Grizzlies

Who would have thought that the products of an American company selling Chinese woodworking tools would end up being used by Russian woodworkers in Siberia (note table saw and joiner). These guys do some very nice work with the limited shop and materials on hand.

Just a nip in the air.....

Thermometer mounted on the skin of the maintenance building reflects the cooling weather here above the Arctic Circle.

International Flavor

A Venezuelan from Paris, a Russian from Vancouver and a Florida Cracker from Memphis walk into a bar........or something to like that. Paul and Igor stand next to the road sign at the intersection of two roads at the mine. Much to my suprise I was able to read all but one of the destinations.

Autumn Harvest

The little woman's garden keeps going and going.......

Cute Little Snow Bunny

Walking back to the camp at dusk I came across an Arctic rabbit....if you can call a rabbit that is bigger than my cats and mostly walks. Not a lot of hop unless it was less than a foot or so from where it wanted to go.

Other Side of the Sun

One of my cousins (the Texan one) took a photo of the sun setting in Texas. Here is what the sun was doing a few hours later over the next continent over---and a few changes of latitude.

Chilled and Mottled Feathered Friends

Suprised a pair of Snow Grouse while returning from lunch. They didn't seemed too bothered but I guess they have been acclimated with all the mine activity.

BTW-I can't actually see the blog due to "technical" difficulties

Just hanging at the airport

While waiting on the flight up to the mine one of locals decided to come in and wait with us

Hopping Across the Pond Again

Going to visit my good friends at Kupol before it gets REALLY cold.

New Operating System

In case any of you were wondering what a pre-release version of Windows 8 looks like running on a MacBook Pro shouldered between the base Lion iOS and Windows 7.  Must have been a slow day hitting the books :)

Circus Day at the High School

Here is what an almost 17 year old box of popcorn looks like :)

Morning Lakeview

Its morning a few blocks from the lake front with the construction of the new condos moving right along. I wonder if we will get a discount for losing the view next year?

Geek Stick

Yep, 256 gigs----I can almost fit all the great sci-fi movies on this baby....Geeks rule the known (and unknown) Universe :)

Cukes-R-Us

Had a few older cucumbers and some fresh new ones...



Sliced, split and placed in jars...

Tried a few different configurations....

Heated up the jars for sealing....

And now just awaiting the results from the judges....

The summer looks to give us many more opportunities for canning in the weeks and months to come....

Revenge of the Dorm Sink

While no one fessed up to how the sink in one of the UTM dorm bathrooms "fell" off the wall, a new and hopefully much sturdier, college student resistant sink is now installed and in sporadic use.