Back in the day...

Nevada has many signs designating points of interest along the long, lonely highways throughout the state. This particular sign that I pass going to and from the hardware store, in an attempt to keep a keen edge on my honey-do skill set, gives a brief history of Round Mountain.

Doodling

I always did like to color and now I get paid for it :) Testing updating the blog with my "mobile" device.

Litte Dirty Birdy Feet....

Picked this vintage up at a somewhat local grocer (45 miles from here) this past week. Of course the cute penguin caught my eye and then I noted that the merlot was Australian, and "South Eastern Australia" at that. The other thing that stood out was that it cost as much (or as little) as local vineyards just over the Sierras in California. Most of the wine is very inexpensive here compared to the other places I have lived and I first thought it was just the shipping but lately I've come to believe it to be part competition and part cultural.

Just Chillin'

I noticed it was a bit cooler than normal for us semi-tropicals and took a quick camera phone shot of the temperature gauge on my way out this morning. Looks like Summer is over here :(

Titanium Driver

The little woman and I managed to go out recently and hit a few balls. I can consistently hit farther and straighter now than I could 20 years ago with the help of my special friend, Mr. Snake Eyes :)

The Strip

My recent travels to Tennessee took me and Mini to the top floor of the public parking garage at the airport in Las Vegas. Here is a picture of the (in)famous Strip from an elevated view. Someone a few years back forgot to tell the city planners to move the airport out farther from the city before it was surrounded by surburbia.

Lonely Devil

This week, on my way back from Las Vegas, I spotted many dust devils that seem to populate the vast stretches of open country during the warm (hot) summer months. The picture shows one such devil against a backdrop on low mountains outside of Goldfield, NV.

A Fungus Among Us

I built/repaired/fixed/adjusted a few things over this past weekend at home and among them was the 1st floor A/C blower unit in the basement. The condensate drip pan had growth in it (see the condensate pump for a pictorial sample of the fungus) and the growth had clogged the drain line to the pump. Easy fix but I still need to get some tablets to put in the pan to prevent the growth in the first place.

Young Jedi is Growing Up

The padawan pictured here----it seems not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far way....is turning 16 today and his father is coming home to celebrate!!! Happy Birthday Young Jedi !!!!!

Women's Work :)

Not much difference in the 30 years in between the photos---apple didn't roll far from the tree....

Snook Country

Sunset at Blind Pass, Sanibel Island, Florida. The snook fishing is of secondary importance and is as good excuse as any to kick back and enjoy the sun melting into the warm waters of the gulf.

Residential Service

Back in the day, (like 20 years ago) I actually got paid for playing in the dirt and putting things together. In this case it is a residential electrical service in Geneva, Florida for a newlywed couple beginning a journey together. The little woman wanted to help so I gave her a shovel....and she didn't bat a pretty eyelash.

Different Value System

Coming home for lunch one day this past week, the part of the backyard that I had let grow up with plants indigenous to the area (and to be truthful they had done really well with a daily watering as seen by by numerous posted flower pictures) was devastated by a recented graduated high schooler with an industrial string trimmer. The maintenance department is putting new skirting around my trailer and they truly thought they were helping me out by having one of the "grunts" trim the backyard for me. Good guys all, just a different set of values on what is important.

Biggest Visitor at the Picnic

At this year's 4th of July company picnic, one of the big haul trucks were selected and spiffed up as usual for the event. Unfortunately, it was not this one. About a week before the picnic, the truck that had been getting the special TLC for the picnic lost a universal joint in a bad way and caught fire. There is a fire suppression system on all vehicles and while this worked very well, the truck was unable to make the trip. The runner-up was quickly cleaned up and "lipstick on a pig" applied. I'm sure most of the paint had dried by the time the truck received visitors :)

Technicolor Lightning Storm

In this badly merged photo, it shows the storm on the east side of the valley at the same time as that of the aforementioned and photographed sunset. Big difference in viewpoints :) Note the faint wisp of rainbow that followed the storm into the mountains.

Red sky at night....

This sunset, while among the best so far this year in my opinion, was the result of the most intense lightning storm of the season on the east side of the valley just grazing the mine as the storm topped the mountains. The morning sky was very red that day and I had actually thought about the old sailor's adage concerning red skys and their effect when combined with sunrises or sunsets. (tomorrow...the Storm)

40th Anniversary of Apollo 11

Talk about a captive audience! Growing up an hour from the Nasa moonshots has an effect on young boys. I show my colors here in a backyard photo holding an Estes Camroc (note the awesome two-stage capability!) a few years after the first moon landing. Here's hoping Nasa can keep it together for the next few decades to inspire generations to come with a bootprint on Mars.

Life is a bowl of cherries?

I would have to rate cherries pretty high on my favorites list (PBJ lovers rejoice!) but I never saw cherries like these back in the deep south. The variety is called Ranier and they actually taste pretty good but it does take a bit to get use to, at least on the first few.

Christmas Comes Early This Year

A suprise package from the "little woman" arrived via the USPS (who else) and contained many months supply of my favorite non-alcoholic beverage. Cheers!!

Crack Control

Not very often a crack forms in an area of the pit where they weren't suppose to. This one opened up on a main haul road and all traffic was stopped from using the road. Telemetry was set up to monitor the crack in fractions of inches while a new mine plan was formed to take advantage of the opportunity.