How Much?!?

01/31/2010

Costco is always an adventure.  We used to call it the hundred dollar club because we could never get out for less than that.  I think we need to come up with a new name.  This trip was over $350.00!!  Of course we did get some tax software and really good looking salmon, but gee whiz we didn't even fill the cart!

Charoits Await

01/30/2010

We dropped off Krystal for her 8th grade class trip this morning.  They are traveling to Washington, New York and Pennsylvania for a week tour of the historical sights.  It sounds like a lot of fun and she may even learn something along the way.  This is their transportaion to the Phoenix airport. 

Uno

01/29/2010

Family fun night.  We had several lively games of Uno this evening.  My daughter won the most games, but I don't think it was all that fair.  She had help from Steve (also known as Chubbers) her guinea pig.  He's pretty good, but needs to work on his shuffling and dealing skills.

Two Parts Hydrogen, One part Oxygen

01/28/2010

On the way in to the office this morning, this stuff got all over the windshield.  There was quite a bit of it and it just seemed to accumulate and run off only to be replaced by more.  I figured out that there is a contraption that comes out when you press a certain button and it wisks it off of the windshield.  It was kind of disappoining though, because more just came back.  I'm just glad it was gone for the trip home, because it really seemed to freak out the other drivers as well and make them drive really stupid.  Has anyone else experienced this stuff?

Where's the Fire?

01/27/2010

Well, I certainly hope the fire isn't around here.  All these hydrants are laying down on the job.  I wonder if a hydrant awaiting installation feels useless?  Business has been kinda slow, so if anyone wants a hydrant for their backyard pooch just let me know.  I'll make you a good deal. 

Writer's Cramp

01/26/2010

As if I don't have enough paperwork to do during the day, I got to come home and spend the evening filling out Re-enrollment paperwork for my daughters school.  I couldn't believe it when I hit print and page after page kept coming.  Seventeen pages later, I had the whole thing.  Luckily, not all of them were filled with empty spaces requiring filling. 

They actually had the nerve to increase tuition another 5% this year.  In this economy, when most people are taking pay cuts, or worse yet, losing their jobs, I think it is rediculous.  Time to tighten the belts more and explore alternate forms of income!!  She's well worth it though!!  I love her so MUCH!!

Chores

01/25/2010

You can't get away from them, and at this age you can't even collect an allowance for them.  I do have to sey that most of the time I neglect them, then it's just that much harder to catch up.  One of these days I will learn to keep up on them every day.  Then again, my wife would start wondering where her real husband was then.

Trike

01/23/2010

Cancan

01/23/2010

I got to go shopping with my girls today. We purchased the remaining clothing my daughter will need for her school trip to Washington DC / New York / Pennsylvania in a week. When I saw these, Cancan music started playing in my head and I could visualize every other leg kicking up in unison. I got quite a lot of amusement from that. And no, I don't need to go see a psychiatrist. The consensus of all the voices in my head is that I am perfectly sane.

Splash Pot

01/22/2010

I got off work earlier than expected (read on time) so I thought I would go out to the casino and play a little poker.  Unfortunately, I am trying to work my way up to broke so I just went home and played with my chips.  There is a much better chance that I will stay married this way. 

Bud Light??

01/21/2010

I saw this little guy at the grand opening of a gas station near the office and immediately knew what the subject of today's 365 photo was going to be.  Since it was such a small store, I guess it only warranted bringing out one of the Budweiser Clydesdales.  Now that is a horse I could ride.  I wouldn't worry a bit about him carrying my weight.

Reaching for the Stars

01/20/2010

Just thought it was real interesting that they store these this way.

The Mighty Lions

01/19/2010

We had a meeting at my daughters school tonight.  This is a statue of their school mascot out front.  Does anyone else find it odd that a Christian school would choose a lion for their symbol?  I guess as long as there isn't a coliseum nearby, it's live and let live right?

Saguaro Down

01/18/2010

I had to run out to Avra Valley today, which took me through the Saguaro National Monument.  On my return trip, I thought this would be a great place to stop for todays picture.  Unfortunately, the only camera in the truck was my old one. 

This is all that is left over when a saguaro's life is over.  Even though it is dead, the saguaro carcass still provides valuable habitat for rodents and insects of all types.  For those of you who don't live around here, the saguaro cactus is truely an amazing cactus.  We've all seen them in the old westerns but how much do you really know about them.  Saguaro grow only up to about an inch per year.  Slower in the drier desert.  Once full grown, they average about 30 feet tall and have about five arms.  It takes a saguaro about SEVENTY FIVE years to grow it's first arm.  I find it amazing that I could plant a saguaro at the birth of a child and chances are, that child would be dead and buried before the saguaro sprouted it's first arm.  The saguaro also blooms.  It is actually the state flower of Arizona.  Although each cactus can have up to 200 flowers, they don't all bloom at the same time.  For a period of about a month, a few open each night at dusk secreting their nectar for bats and other birds to help polinate.  By the middle of the next day, those flowers have closed, never to open again.  If polination has occurred, they will produce a purple fruit that contains their seeds.

Vitamin C

01/17/2010

It's nice to have friends with citrus trees.  We scored a bag full of oranges from another family in our 4-H club, and they sure are good.  I've always found it interesting how many people plant citrus in their yards here in the desert.  I can at least handle these, but I wish every non-native palm tree in the state would die off. 

Agave Juice

01/16/2010

Krystal had fun helping with today's photo.  She had to down the last half in order to give us the empty bottle.  Just kidding of course.  She suggested the spill which I think adds a lot to the picture.  I've had them for years, but I still love those shotgun shell shot glasses that the girls got for me one Christmas.  Believe it or not, they don't get used very often and reside in the box they came in back in the computer/storage room.

Rocky

01/15/2010

The poor dog was feeling so neglected this evening.  Krystal has a friend spending the night so Rocky spent a lot of time staring down the hallway wishing he were part of the fun.  At every giggle, his hears would perk up.  Pretty funny to watch.

Whatsit?

01/14/2010

Extra Credit goes to anyone who can tell me what this machine is used for.  Sorry, family members are excluded.

Fun with Slinky

01/13/2010

Yep, just like the Header implies, I took these pictures through Krystal's Slinky.  I narrowed it down to this one from about 15 shots.  I tried a bunch of different ones focused on different points and decided this was the one I liked best.  The two runners up are below.

Window to the Soul

01/12/10

I was trying to figure out what to use as my shot of the day when my daughter came out to the living room.  The idea of taking a picture of her beautiful eyes seemed a good one.  I still can't seem to get the focus quite right with this digital camera on macro.  Too bad I don't have any film for the 35mm.  Then again, I would have to develop the roll for one shot.

Fusion

01/11/2010

Stopped by the "Fusion Dog" geocache to change out the log sheet.  For the full story behind this one, see the link.

Frosty is dead

The outside decorations came down today, so I guess Christmas is officially over for another year.  I'm glad we didn't go overboard since all the help I had putting them up, disappeared when it was time to take them down.

New and Old

I was cleaning off the desk today and came across my old compass. I got to playing with it, and started thinking just how far civilian navigation has come in a short period of time. The military had been using GPS navigation since the 80's, but it was really opened up for civilian use in 2000 when the selective availability was ended. Civilians were able to use the system before 2000, but accuracy wasn't as good as it is today. It would get you in the stadium, but now it can find your seat. I'll keep that ol' compass around until the batteries die because the ones in the GPSr don't seem to last as long. I've never had to change them yet!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work I go...

Didn't do much today except work. I have a feeling that by the time I finish the 365, I will have a picture of everything from the office. I spend more time in this room than any other. My bedroom doesn't even get to see me as much. That thought now has me bummed out. I think I'll take tomorrow off.

Project 365

Texas Canyon - Interesting geology

I didn't even notice the spider silk until I downloaded this pic.

Just outside of Willcox, AZ

I've decided to try my hand at the Project 365 where you post a picture for every day in the year. Of course, starting on the 1st would have been ideal, but I just now decided to take part in the project. As long as no one complains, I will probably post more than one. As I found out today it can be hard to choose just one.
I start the project with a few photos from my drive to Willcox today (or since it is after midnight, yesterday 01/07/2010)

A little bit of Asia

A friend at work suggested a Korean restaurant he thought I would
enjoy. He was stationed in South Korea in the 80's and married a
Korean woman while there. I was in South Korea within a year of him
while my Dad was stationed there. Even though we were at different
bases, we had similar experiences and talk of them often. Anyway, I
figured if both he and his wife liked it, this restaurant must be
pretty good. We were already up on Grant so we decided this afternoon was the right time to try it. Seoul Kitchen is in the strip mall on Grant and Swan, East of the Outback.
The small restaurant had a very family feel to it and the service was
great. I had the bulgogi which was served with four different types
of kimchi and rice. I have to say this was the best I've had since I
was there. I would definately recommend this place. One of the
surprises on the menu was Soju. I would compare soju to everclear.
Since we had two vehicles and I had to drive one of them home, I
didn't have any this trip.
I hope everyone at work forgives my garlic odor tomorrow. Who am I
kidding, I don't really care LOL.

Introduction

Okay, here I am trying my hand at a blog. I really don’t know why I decided to start one other than I was setting things up so I could follow my daughters blog on my iPod and I ran into the screen where one creates their own. I’m not really sure how often I will use this, but it does seem to be a good place for the occasional rant when the wife or other family members are tired of listening. LOL

First, let me tell you a little about myself. I am married with one daughter entering her teens. My life revolves around work and whatever activity she is participating in on any particular weekend. She is a member of 4-H Horse, so we end up doing a lot of horse related activities. I really enjoy watching her practice and compete, and the people in the horse world are some of the best you will ever meet. She enjoys ranch sorting every other Sunday, but the horse we are leasing (Missy) isn’t really a cow horse so they just do the best they can. Don’t get me wrong, she still does pretty darn well at the beginner level. It is too bad that our horse Annie isn’t a bit younger as I think she would be great at sorting. She was used as a cutter in her younger days, so she isn’t a stranger to cows. But, with age (27) also comes arthritis and other joint problems, so we think it is best that she stay semi retired and is only used to start young kids in horseback riding. A good friend is currently taking care of her at his stables and she pays for her feed by giving riding lessons on the weekends.
Now when I say we are leasing Missy, that is a little deceiving. Remember I said that horse people are some of the best. When, at the beginning of this 4-H season, we determined Annie couldn’t keep up with the level of competition Krystal needed to be at, another one of the families volunteered to let us lease Missy at no cost. They retain ownership, but we do pay for her care and feeding at an agreed upon stable.

When we aren’t doing the horse thing, I like to Geocache. If you have never heard of it, go to http://www.geocaching.com/ and look around. It is essentially a game where someone hides a container with a minimum of a log sheet inside. They then post the Latitude and Longitude coordinates on the web site so others can go find it using a GPSr. Once found, the log sheet is signed and then you claim a find on the web site. Some containers are as small as a pencil eraser, and some are quite large and contain items to be traded. Most of the time the items are toys or other kid related “swag”. It sounds kind of weird, but I assure you it is quite fun. I compare it to hunting since you don’t always find the cache, but when you do, there is a feeling of accomplishment.
Many of the geocaches out there are placed to draw attention to interesting places that I never would have known existed without them.

Well, that is enough for now. I’m sure you will get to know more about me in the coming blogs.