Smoky Day

Smoky DayHoly cow! This morning started out normally for this time of year — a nice, cool summer morning with promise to be in the mid-80s in the afternoon.

I went to the dentist this morning for the installation of my crown-bridge appliance. Of course, my teeth are quite sensitive and I couldn’t do it without some anesthesia. That just makes adjusting the bite more difficult. But my teeth are unhappy and it had to be done.

Then we learned that the appliance was not correctly fabricated. Even with the adjustments, I was sent home with the temporary back in place so that the permanent appliance can be returned to the laboratory and adjusted.

I left the dentist’s office and drove over to the office to take care of a couple of tasks that needed my direction, then drove home. I retrieved a geocache along the way to continue my streak. It was an easy find and intended to be a park-and-grab, which it was.

Once home I took a couple of ibuprofen and an acetaminophen for my angry teeth and started some brunch. My sleep was weird last night — I woke about 0300, took my medications (the rabbitbrush is blooming and irritating my allergies), then returned to bed. I was able to go back to sleep but then didn’t wake in time to cook breakfast.

Brunch was good… I made a fried-egg sandwich. I love the peppery-taste of fried eggs with a bit of cheese and a smidge of Miracle Whip to give it some tang. I toast my bread lightly. I suppose a strip of bacon would make it better and might have to do that next time.

I was hungry and it was good.

I noticed that the sky was darkening during the afternoon. Young Son called me to determine whether Genoa had been ordered to evacuate. He told me he appeared to be surrounded by smoke. I could only identify the Bodie fire. It worsened as the afternoon wore on. When I took the Girl on a short walk to retrieve our mail, she didn’t want to go outside. I think she senses something isn’t right.

She’s right… There is a lot of smoke in the air. Now there is a fine ash falling as well.

While retrieving the mail, I stopped to make an image at one of my favorite places close to the house. Normally I can see the Carson Range in the background. That is not the case today. Even the sun is clouded by the smoke and ash.

It reminds me of the worst days on the south high plains of Texas. When the dust blew, this is what it looked like. It smelled differently, but looked the same.

Edit: I learned the fire is near Yosemite, not Bodie or Mammoth Lakes. It’s still out of control and is pretty big. But it’s not a danger to us here.

Recovering

I need to get my images off my camera and onto my computer where I can use them. Maybe I’ll do that tonight.

We got home from Seattle about 0000 hours Monday morning. It took me a bit to settle down. We were up early Monday morning to get breakfast and get the kids ready for their trip home.

We got away on time and were able to visit the travel bug hotel near the Reno airport. I dropped the TBs I picked up in Oregon and the kids enjoyed pawing through the TBs in the hide.

Satisfied, we humped it back to the car, retrieved their gear, and the Girl and I saw them to the terminal. It was too soon to say goodbye, but life goes on. I watched them enter the terminal.

The Girl and I turned back to the car, exited the parking area, paid our bill, and drove home.

I spent the remainder of the day recovering from the hard Sunday. We did 800 miles Sunday and I started out tired. It was not smart, but it was what had to be done. In the end, no harm was done and we had a great time visiting Seattle and the geocaching event there. It was something I’ve never done before and I enjoyed the experience. It was a unique opportunity for the kids as well.

Now I’m recovering from the week of leave. I’m getting my feet back under me and starting to be productive again. I need to be because I have a big proposal due soon.

Off to the Coast

Older Son, DiL, the Girl, and I are headed for the California coast this morning. I’m taking my camera and geocaching kit and hope to bring back lots of images and lots of finds.

I haven’t done a road trip in months and this will be good. The Pacific is a place I love to go and Wife loved the coast near San Francisco and north. I’ll be spending time with my kids, my dog, and my memories.

I don’t know whether I’ll be able to post anything or not. I’m tent-camping along the way. Perhaps some of the sites will have some WiFi I can use. Otherwise, I may be offline for a few days.

New Music

GoI love new music. Vertical Horizon is a band I discovered many years ago while restoring my house in Lubbock. I listened to the radio quite a lot while cleaning up the house for sale.

Everything You Want was quite popular during that time. I found the song interesting and picked up a couple of the group’s recordings. They are quite good. A few days ago I was working through my music collection and realized there are a couple more recordings by Vertical Horizon that are not in my collection. I found them via Amazon and picked up some of them used and a couple of them new.

This is good music and I’m enjoying it. The CDs are ripped to flac and MP3 and are now in my iPod. Music is good for me. This is good stuff.

Nexus 7

A few days ago, for whatever reason, I took the notion to look at a Nexus 7 (2013). I love my iPad, but it’s big and I find it not very comfortable to hold for long periods of time. It’s a great netbook replacement, especially with an add-on Bluetooth keyboard. But I find it a bit much to use as a handheld device.

I thought about the iPad mini as an alternative, but it doesn’t yet have the Retina display and I’m not going back. So, when I read the announcement for the new Nexus 7, I thought “Why not? I haven’t tried an Android device and I might as well learn something about the iOS alternative.”

I didn’t think Best Buy (my favorite big-box store) would ever get a 32GB unit in. I’m not that enthralled with an Asus unit either (Asus has a bit of a bad reputation). But, BB finally took delivery of a 32GB unit and I have a 45-day return period. So, I took a new Nexus 7 home to play with.

My initial impression is pretty good. The build quality (at least external build quality) seems fine. The device has a nice heft without feeling bulky. It’s a bit wide, but definitely holdable in one hand. It’s wide screen is eminently viewable and the resolution is wonderful.

I don’t see any color issues with the screen, but then I haven’t really compared it to anything else. It’s plenty good enough for a tablet.

The device is very quick. Applications load quickly. I’m not a gamer, so that’s irrelevant to me. But I suspect it will be be a fine gaming platform if that is your, um, game.

I did find one issue to date. The GPSr was not working in my device. A quick search of the interwebs revealed this is a common problem. On a whim, I elected to power down the device and retart it from cold.

After I did that, the GPSr worked right away and I got a satellite lock with any issue.

Android is an interesting operating system. It’s far more configurable than iOS (which is one reason my iOS devices are all jailbroken). The application store had all the tools I’m used to using (WordPress interface, Dropbox, Evernote, and a few others).

This is interesting and I’m enjoying working with the new device. I’ll know more after a week or so. I might have to do a more complete review then.

Fire Dancer

Fire Dancer

As Saturday evening wore on (and grew darker), the fire dancers came out. This was really fun, although the crowd made it more difficult to get good images. Also, I found the limit of my Sony 55-210 zoom. It doesn’t do so well as the light fades. Still, I managed a few good frames.

Hula Hoop Dancer

Hula Hoop Dancer

A couple of Saturdays ago, I was in Reno to spend time with a friend. That evening I found myself at the Controlled Burn. The shows were wonderful and this image captured this beautiful young dancer who favors the Hula Hoop. She is a professional by any standard.