Archive for the ‘machinery’ Category

Patricidal reader

Monday, July 27th, 2015

electrocution

Here’s Your Humble and Obedient Blogger just before being brutally fried by his son. Note how Andy remained in the shadows to try to escape being recognized. Fortunately, I got better. Great Art courtesy of Joanne’s exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the Mob Museum last Christmas Eve (I think), and part of my famous Electronics, Las Vegas, and Machinery series.

It’s been a pretty good few weeks since I last wrote. Joanne and I just got home from Temecula, California. We spent the weekend there to do a bit of wine tasting and attend a wonderful concert. Gerald Albright and Jeffrey Osborne performed. Gerald was very good and Jeffrey was amazing! Go see him if you get a chance, Loyal Readers. He was full of energy, his music catalog is excellent, his performance was spectacular, and it was a beautiful evening. Really, go see him.

Let’s see, what else has been going on? Ryan spent a couple weeks at Joanne’s place. He came out to celebrate his birthday. It was great having him here! He’s really a great guy. Get to know him, Loyal Readers!

I’ve had a few more flights in the glider. I’m starting to get slightly competent as a pilot! I think I’ll get it figured out before too much longer. My next flight is Wednesday of this week.

This coming weekend is one I’ve been preparing for the past eighteen months. On August 2nd, it will be eighteen months since Shannon’s death and the date the children and I go to Clarks Fork and scatter her ashes. It’s a bit difficult for me to finally let go of her remains. But it needs to be done. I need to let her go. We all need to let her go. We need to keep her in our hearts and our thoughts and our memories. We need to talk about her and think about her. We need to keep loving the alive Shannon and let the dead Shannon go in peace.

I’m looking forward to being with all the kids. Joanne has gotten us a beautiful place to stay in Angels Camp. That’s so kind of her. She opted not to go with us, which I’m sorry about and which I understand completely.

Anyway. I expect it to be an emotional weekend.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: video game-playing chimp!

See you tomorrow.

Glider guy

Sunday, May 31st, 2015

Here’s the glider I’ve been flying the past couple of weeks. It doesn’t exactly look like the fancy racing gliders you might expect, but it’s solid as a rock and a very popular training glider. I like it! Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken a few days ago at the Jean, Nevada glider port, and part of my famous Machinery series.

Once again, I have failed to post regularly. Some people simply never learn. I may be one of them. Let’s see, what’s been going on? Last time I wrote, we had just gotten back from the Bay Area. We went back for Mother’s Day. For another quick weekend. We visited Katy/Cliff/Mia again and also had a nice meal with Ryan. Joanne wanted to visit her parents’ gravesites, which we did. They’re in a beautiful cemetery. She’s planning to buy a spot for herself there too.

We went to Portland and Seaside, Oregon last weekend. It was cool and drizzly most of the time, but that just enhanced the beauty of the place. Our hotel was right on the beach at the famous Seaside Turnaround – the perfect location. We could see the beach from our room and it was even better to go downstairs and walk on the beach and the excellent boardwalk. There was good food galore and tons of relaxation. We went out to Haystack Rock one day and spent some time gazing into the tide pools. We also drove the Seaside bumper cars. Twice. Joanne organized a pack of little girls to take my bumper car out. It was quite effective.

On Monday, we checked out of our hotel and went to Portland for the flight home. We got there several hours early, so we took a fun Segway tour of Portland’s riverfront area. We both know how to ride a Segway now! That’s a skill that may be important someday. Probably not, though. Anyway, it was my first trip to Oregon. It’s beautiful up there.

We’ve had a cool spring this year, but it has finally warmed up. It’s been over 100 degrees the last three days. It feels great. Finally!

Right after we got home from Oregon, Joanne started her new job! She has left Downtown Grand and is now working for Aristocrat Technologies. They make gaming machines. She’s very happy there so far. I’m delighted for her congratulations on landing the job, Joanne!

Paul and Melissa live in Las Vegas now! Well, they actually live in Henderson. I’m delighted to have them here! My Loyal Readers may hear a little more about them in the future.

Joanne and I are just finishing a very relaxing pedicure. I love pedicures! They’re the woman’s best-kept secret no longer.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this very rare non-animal Morrowlife Entrepenurial Agency business opportunity: toilet landlord!

See you on Monday

Drive wheel

Thursday, April 23rd, 2015

 

Here’s one of the drive wheels from an old steam locomotive.  A beautifully restored old steam locomotive. In fact, it’s probably way better than it ever was when it was actually pulling railcars, including the day it rolled out of the factory. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in June 2014 at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, and part of my famous Machinery, Train, and Vacation series.

That was the trip to Michigan that I felt I must make. It started as a month-long drive all over the country to help me heal a little bit and morphed into a flight to Utah, a ride in Andy’s car to Colorado, a flight to Michigan, and one more flight home. I never did take that road trip I was contemplating.

The trip turned out to be the last time I was with my mother before we found out she had cancer. What a difficult year it was! But I’m alive and moving forward.

Long time no post. Let’s try to recap just a little of what’s been going on. Hmm . . . not too much, it turns out. I’ll just get started with what I can remember and we’ll see where that takes us.

Joanne and I went to Seattle last weekend. We stayed at a beautiful historic hotel downtown a few blocks from Pike Place Market. We saw the old subterranean portion of town (fascinating!), took a tour around several of the old neighborhoods, and rode the auto ferry to Bainbridge Island for lunch and a drive. It was all beautiful. The weather was quite favorable and we enjoyed the weekend greatly. We’re going to San Francisco this weekend so Joanne can attend Katie’s bridal shower and I can hang out with Clifford. Should be a ton of fun.

Mark’s current semester is winding down quickly. He’s doing very well in all his classes and looking forward to some time off during the summer (although he will be attending the summer term).

Andy is getting ready to move out of his extremely expensive downtown Denver apartment and into a friend’s house while he saves to buy his own place. I loved that apartment and the area, but he is paying an amazing amount of money to be there.

Joanne has moved into her very nice condo. She’s enjoying it and I like it too. Corey is still with her and he seems happy there also. She couldn’t resist having a pet, so she got a cat a couple days ago. It’s a beautiful animal and only has a few bad habits. I’m sure crazy about her.

Paul and Melissa are moving too! They expect to be here in Las Vegas in May. I’m looking forward to having them close by.

Katie and Cliff are still getting married. It is less than two months away! I’m tremendously excited for them.

I’m not moving. Instead, I decided a few days ago to finally take glider pilot lessons. I’ve been contemplating it for quite some time now. As my Loyal Readers no doubt know, I have long loved sailboats and not particularly loved powerboats. I dislike the noise, the discomfort, and the pointlessness of the whole thing. Sailing takes skill, things move slowly and yet seem quite exciting, and the trip is enough for it to be enjoyable.

I took some flying lessons back when I was in college and discontinued them after three or four lessons for pretty much the same reasons I dislike powerboats. They’re noisy, uncomfortable, and pointless. I have long wondered whether I’d feel about sailplanes the same way I do about sailboats. So I’ve decided to find out. I haven’t had my first flight yet, but I’m hoping it will be soon and frequently thereafter.

As a bonus, the sailplane license is much less expensive to get and sailplanes are much less expensive to rent after you have your license. The only downside is that you’re even more of a slave to the weather than you are with a powered plane. That ought to be okay, though; our weather is pretty good most of the time.

Since I haven’t started flying yet, I’ve started studying. I found several FAA publications that offer a lot of information for glider pilots and I’m reading them like crazy.

Speaking of reading, I got a Kindle the other day and I absolutely love the thing. It’s just like Andy told me – reading is just more pleasant on a Kindle. Recommended!

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: joyriding dog! Two positions are available.

See you tomorrow.

Winery tractor

Tuesday, January 27th, 2015

winerytractor

Here’s an old John Deere tractor that was once used at a winery in Sonoma county. I don’t remember which winery, but I’m guessing they’re not using it anymore. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in Sonoma County, California this past Saturday afternoon, and part of my famous Machinery and Vacation series.

Been a few days since I wrote again. Joanne and I just got back from a lovely weekend in Sonoma valley with Katy and Cliff. We spent Saturday and Sunday exploring the vicinity and visiting some absolutely lovely wineries. Sunday, we got a VIP tour of the Korbel champagne factory that was very thorough and even included a tiny look at their actual machinery and processes, as opposed to the quaint old stuff they normally show you. It was fascinating!

Today was a quiet day. I did a bit of work on PhotoDoc, got a haircut, got preregistered for my upcoming medical procedure (more about that in a moment), did some grocery shopping, and found some time to relax and read too. Much more PhotoDoc stuff to do tomorrow.

My medical procedure. I have reached that special age when an occasional colonoscopy is called for. So I’m scheduled to do it Wednesday morning. Tomorrow will be the tough day with a purely liquid diet and then drinking a couple of doses of the “special” liquid, followed by staying real close to home all evening. They say the procedure itself isn’t bad at all. We expect to be at the outpatient surgical center for about two hours on the fateful day. Mark has agreed to provide my transportation that day.

I still haven’t fixed my quadrotor. My friend Bob loaned me the parts I needed, but I don’t need them now, as the parts I ordered to replace the loaned ones have arrived. The last ones got here today. I might be able to get the work done tomorrow, or I might put it off until Wednesday while I’m at home recuperating. I think we’ll probably go flying again on Thursday, so the pressure’s on.

And that’s about it for tonight. I’ve leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: robot jellyfish!

See you tomorrow.

Quadrotor selfie

Tuesday, January 20th, 2015

IMG_0138.JPG

Here’s our mutually favorite blogger taking a very artistic selfie from his hovering quadrotor. Great art courtesy of the exclusive quadrotor-cam, taken this afternoon at the great big soccer park across the road from my neighborhood, and part of my famous Electronics and Machinery series.

The park across from my neighborhood may be huge, but I managed to find one of its few trees with my quad. While I was trying my hand at a few expert maneuvers (while not yet quite an expert, by the way), I managed to get disoriented with it and fly it into a tree. It was pretty well stuck and I couldn’t get to it by climbing, so I decided to try throwing it a line. After extremely numerous attempts, I managed to snag it and bring it back to earth!

Sadly, it fell hard on one of its arms and snapped it right off. Luckily, Bob, my flying-buddy, had spares to replace the broken frame and LED lens, which he gave me in exchange for new ones I ordered tonight. I’ll tear it apart Real Soon Now and get it back in the air.

Anyway. No post yesterday evening. I was up in Summerlin for the evening. Joanne had an important appointment there this morning and didn’t want to risk being late, so we stayed there. Had a nice dinner together and a lovely evening.

Her appointment went very well, apparently.

Mark and I went for sushi with the sushi group this evening. We went to a restaurant I hadn’t visited previously. The people were fun and the food was passable. Not great, but passable. Mark and I agreed we probably won’t go back there again, but we didn’t hate it.

Today was the first day of Mark’s semester! He reported some good and some bad, so I’m taking that as average. Good luck, Mark!

Nice weekend. We had a couple nice meals out and spent most of the day on Saturday working on Joanne’s house and yard. We got a few things fixed up and a few others straightened up and a few more ignored completely. Maybe some other time.

Tomorrow night, we’re going to see the UNLV basketball team play. Joanne got a couple of free tickets at work. I’m looking forward to the game. I wonder where our seats are.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: exploding baked bean tins!

See you tomorrow.