Post random thoughts, observations, suggestions, etc.

And I thought that it really fit this site well!

The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the achievement of the goal itself.

-Bo Bennett

Today it was sunny and warm enough at noon that I left my coat in the car when I got back to work from my dentist appointment.

According to the National Weather Service, over the next two days we’re supposed to get 11-21 inches of snow!

That’s not unheard of here in October, but it’s certainly early for that kind of weather.

It just started raining a few minutes ago. Keep your fingers crossed- I’m not ready for winter yet!

the 43ers gone?

I’ve noticed that there are a bunch of my subs that I haven’t seen any postings from in quite a while, so today I went through and checked out recent entries from everyone.

Out of 68 people I’m subscribed to, I got 33 messages of “There are no recent entries from…”

Now, some of these people have been inactive or barely active for a long time. But what about the rest? Is everyone migrating to Facebook? :(

waiting for me when I got back from vacation- a postcard to Tiger & I from Todd and the Robots.

Thanks a lot!

I ate the most expensive lunch in my life up there in the Space Needle several years ago. Great view, but next time I’ll just take the ride to the observation deck ;)

I’ve picked up a bunch of guidebooks from my local library system in preparation for my vacation next week to northern New Mexico and western Colorado. I’m mainly planning on camping and hiking for the week, so I’ve mostly been getting hiking guides.

This one looked promising, and I’ve never seen it before. “Colorado Trails Southwest Region.” “48 trails.” “Includes topo maps.”

Well, it turns out that this is a guide to 4WD routes!

I’m sure that driving 4WD routes in this state can be a lot of fun. But you don’t drive on a trail!

Try this out.

I didn’t know that I was approaching this guy until he rattled- when I stepped about 15” away from him!

This snake was 2.5 – 3 feet long. You do the math.

As soon as I heard him I quickly stepped back- and down off the trail. That got my feet and bare legs away from him, but had the unfortunate consequence (when I fell) of bringing my face much too close to him!

Thankfully he kept his cool and remained in the trail, coiled up and rattling, until I scooted him off the trail with my hiking pole.

I don’t mind, and actually even like snakes. Even rattlesnakes. But that’s a lot easier to do when coming up on one isn’t a surprise!

And it ended up being a false alarm- oops!

I was taking a bike ride on a path west of here, in an area that goes through a grassy prairie, just east of a reservoir. I saw what looked like smoke rising from near the bottom of the dam. I couldn’t see any flames because a ridge hid the ground level from where I was. But it’s fall here already and the grass is dry. So I called on my cell phone to report a small grassfire.

As I was talking to the 911 operator I was trying to get closer so I could get a better look. Although the “smoke” was billowing up, it didn’t look quite right- it was too white and wasn’t rising very high. I couldn’t smell any smoke but I was upwind so that didn’t mean much. I told the operator that it was a possible grassfire & she said that they would have it checked out anyway. As I continued on the ride I became more and more convinced that it probably wasn’t a fire, and was either water vapor from more water than usual being released from the dam, and/or was from the summer-warmed lake water being released into the cool morning air.

On my return ride I took a different trail that took me close to where I had seen the “fire.” There was definitely no fire, and only a trickle of water was coming out of the dam outlet. However, the rocks on the side were wet probably 10’ up from the creek. They must have been releasing a lot of water from the reservoir.

Oh, well- better safe than sorry.

from the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee:

“His sermon was a forthright denunciation of sin, an austere declaration of the motto on the wall behind him: he warned his flock against the evils of heady brews, gambling, and strange women. Bootleggers caused enough trouble in the Quarters, but women were worse. Again, as I had often met it in my own church, I was confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy all clergymen.

Personally, impure women are among the few things that could make me consider that maybe there is a god! ;)

I was talking to my mom and she mentioned that she was watching my niece and nephew and that they were all coloring. My son loved coloring books but my daughter preferred more freehand, so it’s been a long time since I did any coloring.

I looked around and found a coloring book that I would like. I don’t think I’ll share this one with the kids ;)

For some reason, the last 2 mornings I’ve seen a lot of wildlife. Yesterday morning there was a pretty good-sized herd of mule deer just off the road, including a buck that was at least a 4 by 4. And this morning when I was taking out the garbage I saw two Great Horned Owls who were calling on the roof of the building just above me. They watched me for a couple of minutes, then flew off almost directly above me. That’s the closest I’ve seen Great Horned Owls in years. Then just a few minutes later a coyote ran across the street a hundred yards or so ahead of me.

It’s been pretty cool :)