A few shots from the X-mas week...

For the week right before Xmas, my sister, brother-in-law and niece and nephew came out for a visit.

Thanksgiving is over...

Here are a few photos from the holiday and weekend. Photos by me and kyotopunk and one or two by my mom who came in from Florida for the festivities.

This year, we went big with a 25 pounder. Here is the before picture:

Belated San Fran post...

So for my 33rd we went over the hill once again to spend some time in the Bay, just to get away. First stop:


BLOWFISH SUSHI!

Turtle Tanker

So the three new turtles are all set and getting adjusted to their new homes.  They are all eating well on worms, feeder fish, Reptomin and Zoomed Turtle Pellets. They have a nice basking platform and 100W UV bulb as well as a hiding spot under the water.

Her name Bubbles...

Against my better judgment but with a heavy heart, I have rescued a sad case.

Several months ago, I was informed by a co-worker that she had a turtle that she wanted to get rid of. At the time, I told her I could not take any more animals (I already have a cat, a dog, and Milo the Mata Mata). Over the past few months, I have been told by the previous owner that the turtle has been dropped on a tile floor, lost in her apartment for 5 days before it was found again, and then recently, I heard that the turtle was again lost (how turtles "escape" from their tanks is beyond me). This was last Friday. At this point, I told her that if the turtle turns up alive, that I will take it. Yesterday, she found it, alive, and in her 3 year old daughter's room, dressed in Barbi clothes and stuck in some sort of toy house. (not funny) So I told her, to bring the turtle to me post haste. This afternoon I took the turtle. I am happy to say that it is in MUCH better shape than I expected it to be in, although HIGHLY stressed out, hungry and with some peeling skin areas. The turtle's eyes look good, she (I think its a girl) is very active and already eating, which is a good sign.

Now, for a little history. The story she gave me, was that the turtle came from a friend of hers, who "smuggled" the turtle back from Mexico in her pocket several years ago. She believes the turtle was wild caught, and not bought in Mexico, but she is not entirely sure. She also does not know where in Mexico the turtle came from. Initially, she told me it was a snapping turtle. WRONG!So, without further ado, meet Bubbles:

Apple Hill

A day of apples and apple stuff.

Frogs and Rants

Even though the weather has cooled off, there are still a lot of frogs hopping around.

KOMATSU NIGHT

Just a quick idea fulfilled with help from


A bigger version is here: www.nofuture.com/lj/2008/10-20-08/02.jpg

~ COLD ~

An idea...

...still needs a little work I think.

A very Halloweeny start to Fall in Nevada City.

I know it's still over a month away, but for us, we are already in the spirit and ready for
the best holiday of the year.  This weekend we made an executive decision to get outta
town again and stay outside to enjoy the new crisp fall weather.  Only an hour and half
away is Nevada City, CA, a quaint mountain town on the western side of the Sierras. 
We slept in on Saturday and then threw the camping gear, the cooler and the dog into
the VX and headed out.

Sick Day

I took a sick day today.  Not really sick, just sick and tired.  My brother and I went for a hike. It was
long and vertical.  Very strenuous, but I feel good now.

WrApPeD iN pLaStIc PaRt 3

The plastic is almost worn out.  I have one more idea for contents, but I am not sure if it is going to work out.  Part 3 may be the last in this series.

WrApPeD iN pLaStIc PaRt 2

WrApPeD iN pLaStIc PaRt 1

At work I found these boxes that have this weird method of holding the contents in place.  Basically, you place the item to be shipped under a piece of stretchy clear plastic that is stretched over a piece of cardboard.  Then you fold the endges of the cardboard and it tightens the plastic over the object, securing it in place.  Anyway, I had these things, and I was ready to throw them out, and then I had an idea:

Surreal Death Valley

After Bodie we drove down to Lone Pine, CA and stayed the night in a hotel.  The next morning we
took off for Death Valley.  The drive into Death Valley National Park from the west side was amazing.

Death Valley National Park is a massively spread out, diverse place of over 3 million acres.  On the way
in we stopped at a ranger station to find out where to camp.  We learned that a campsite known as
Mohogany Flat would be a good spot due to it being at 8351 feet above sea level.  So we made our way
to Mohogany Flat first thing, as we wanted to make sure we got a good spot.  Getting to the campsite took
over an hour.  There were very few others on the road out there, and the campsite turned out to be virtually
empty as well.   On the way in, we stoped and checked out some old charcoal ovens left over from the
mining days.

The end of August in Bodie...

Friday afternoon we arrived around dusk.  The light was perfect as the sun set opposite some
stormy but non-threatening cloud formations.  We had no time to loose and snapped up as many
moments as we could.

Photos from the Virginia City Pet Parade

VS. Mode

I am still thinking in terms of “this vs. that” today.  Why, I don’t know.  Maybe it is because I have been feeling conflicted lately.  Or maybe it is because of Bionic Commando: ReArmed and all the Deathmatch play I have been uber-enjoying.  But anyway, today I have been wondering about drawing, and drawing from a subject vs. drawing from your imagination.  I am in no way a great sketch artist, but if you give me something to draw from, I can generally produce a decent likeness of said object on paper. Basically, I do possess the ability to “trace” things that I can see with my mind. That leaves me thinking. 

Markleeville

My pops was in town for the weekend and wanted to do some hiking.   So we went down
to Markleeville for the day (about an hour south west of Reno).  Its really pretty down
there, but it was a little hot and we all got pretty exhausted in the sun.  Either way, it was
a nice day and good to get outside.

Here is CeCe trying to NOT make friends...

Graffiti from long ago or yesterday?

I've been wanting to find the glyphs near Reno for a while now.  So yesterday we spent the
day out in the Nevada outback in search of what is thought to be one of the largest rock
art sites in the western United States.  Here me and my brother stand next to a large plate
of seemingly authentic petroglyphs.

B I G A S S C A R P

So we went fishin in the canal where I got stuck in the mud to see if anything
lurks in the water.  Most people consider carp "trash fish" but I think they are
extremely challenging fish to hook because they are not really aggresive and
don't care for most conventional baits. This was one of three we hooked but
I was only one who had skillz mad enough to land one.

Collards

As soon as we got out of the car, I spotted the first of several Great Basin Collard
Lizards we saw this afternoon.

The guts of a typical PC at work...

Its hard to tell from the photos (I wish I had the macro on me for this), but there
is a dense layer of dust on everything.  Everytime I open a computer like this, it
amazes me they still run in this condition.

So I go to drop some mail...

... in the drive through mail box lane at the post office.  I pull up behind a mini-van. A woman stands along side it with a large manila envelope in her hand.  She proceeds to open the sliding door of the mini-van.  I see her lean in.  Minutes pass.  Later she emerges with a small child in her arms.  She gives the envelope to the little boy.  At that moment she sees me patiently waiting behind her, with a "wtf is this nonsense?" look on my face.  At that point she seems to try to get things moving a little faster.  She gets the kid over to the mail box opening so he can put the envelope in. But he is having trouble.  So she tries to help him drop it in the slot.  The kid's grasp tightens, and I imagine the "I wanna do it myself!" skit from Mad TV.  Finally, she forcefully helps the kid make the drop, and then loads him back in, slides the door shut, and drives off.  So I am left asking myself, am I from another planet?

There is mud in Reno...

...and I found it today.

FAIL.

The fate of a million TVs...

 ... and a reminder of why I can never live in a big city ever again.

San Fran is a beautiful city, but yet, walking the streets reminds me of the ugly side.
The acrid sweet smell of stale urine everywhere and feces (likely human) in the doorway.

Herpers. Nerds. Same.

Tater rake, lizard noose, Midwest tongs, camera....and water. All must-haves.

People who say the desert is ugly are wrong.

Habitat.

VX MADNESS

Sunday we packed up camp and set out for a nice trail ride VX style.

Hiking & Flowes

4th of July Mammoth Lakes style.

Campsite at Twin Lakes...

UGGGGG-LY....but cool.

On my lunch break I went out east of work to look for Crotolus.  I didn't see more than a lizard.

However, this camel spider was under an old piece of couch. These spiders are in a
league of nasty of their own.  This one was just under an inch, but I guess they get bigger.

I touched the little bastard with a stick to see if he would move.  The answer was yes.

FREAK FLAG. FLYING.

Monday morning we packed up and went home.  Showers all around.  Then Tom helped
me hang some lights in my new garage (thanks dude).  The rest of the day was spent relaxing.
That night, we went to the Atlantis Buffet.  This was the start of  a VERY interesting night.  Here
is Jim watching my brother gorge himself on one too many plates.

Sleep? What's that?

It was a long night.  A long night of bottle rockets, thunder bombs, the redneck comedy show on XM radio,
distant gun fire, and a whole lot of unnecessary hooting and hollering....well into the we morning hours. I
will probably not ever go back to this spot.  It was THAT bad.

But waking up to a view like this, makes me feel differently, now, back in my cubicle.

Day 3..

The next morning we woke up early again and packed up our camp.  He is a final shot of our time out
in the desert.  I am already ready for another desert trip.

The next morning...

We woke up early and packed up our campsite...

And the fun begins...

Jim playing the air violin the middle of nowhere....why, I don't know...

 

The Russians were already working on a beard...

...WE HAD A FACIAL HAIR GAP!


So here is the look I am going for....just like RB from the personals...I'm not sure
if it will grow to the effect on the right, but so far so good...

 

Successful desert outing

So me and my brosef went out to get a few pickup shots for Decay.  All that went well, and
to add to the fun we came upon several different herps...

Now its REALLY over...

We woke up around 7:00am on Sunday, and packed up and left for Reno.  Here CeCe drinks from the
Water Rover in the tent.

Time to leave :(

Saturday morning we got up, packed up, and headed back west to GBNP for another night
of camping.  We got to the park in the afternoon, setup camp, and I went off to find more things
to focus on.

Dino prints!

Thursday night we all got pretty hammered and that made Friday morning a little....slow.
So, Linda and I just went back into Arches for a while and checked out some of the ancient
dinosaur tracks left in the mud.  Pretty amazing.

The REAL Nilbog!

On Thursday morning, Scott, Linda and I, and Beau and Megan went to check out Goblin Valley
State Park.  Another wicked spot!  I'll just let the photos do the talking.

Hell's Revenge

Wednesday, the girls went shopping.  Four of us (Zues, ScottHarness, CrnCnn and me) did Hell's Revenge.
One word: Knarley. But hella, hella fun.

The big VX Run

Tuesday morning we gathered at the Pack Creek campsite and prepared for a day long
wheeling adventure along the Goldbar Rim/Gemini Bridges 4x4 trail.

The left side of the line-up:

Red earth at last!

Sunday night we arrived in Moab in the early evening.  We set up camp at the Portal and just hung
out with everyone that was there.  We went to sleep and got up at a good time on Monday and
took off for Arches National Park.  The weather was cool and the sky was gray and cloudy, which
made for some awesome photographs.

Park Avenue:

...onward to Moab.

In the morning, I woke up and hiked around the campsite again, taking more photos of
the flora.

Moab 2008 - The trip begins

So Saturday we left for Moab to celebrate our anniversary, while at the same time attending
the Moab ZuZu '08 event.  The Reno VX Convoy left around 6am, and headed east for six hours
across HWY 50.  Here we are in Austin, NV (about half way to The Great Basin National Park)

Herping Rancho Again

So I decided to take another walk through Rancho on my lunch break to see how
the herp activity is progressing now that the weather has FINALLY warmed up
a bit.  I am happy to say there was no skunkage!  With the recent warm weather,
there has been some melting and the "creek" that runs through Rancho had
some water.  The toads were out, waiting for the cover of darkness to get busy.

Lift and new Meat

So I took the VX out on a little trail ride today to test out the lift and the new meat.
Handling is much better and the ground clearance is very nice.