Here in the Wild, Wild West

I realize that for some folks snow holds no romance.

I on the other hand love the stuff.

I commute 120 miles a day, 5 + days a week just to wake up as I did this morning.

I can't get enough. I am 51 years young and I still feel like a 4 year old toddler on Christmas morning.

About 5 am the sound of rain faded and all became quiet.

Miss Mari got up to feed the livestock and promptly announced,

" It's snowing."

I know.

My best buddy and confidant knows what this means to me . You see , snow is my friend.

The various properties, wet , soft, dry, hard, warm, cold , big , small etc are why I love the white stuff so.

I made the choice , the very weekend I had my first date with Miss Mari that I would live where I could see the blessed stuff fall from the sky like the miracle it is.

Enough said .

I need to finish making breakfast so I can go play.........

Veterans Day

In Mikes own words"Dime store cowboy."
In our lexicon , not an insult. About 30 days before he enlisted.


Gammy and Dad ay the Palace of Fine Arts, S.F. Cali.

Papa and Mike at the Presidio, S. F. Cali.

A huge thank you to all Armed Forces members both past , present and future.



Papa , my Grandfather, was an accountant , he left a young wife and 11 year old boy to join the NAVY and serve in the Pacific. I know that he was stationed in Hawaii for a while, then on board ship although I don't know the name.

Papa was a good man and he and Gammy used to pick my sisters and I up in the summer and drive all over these Great United States. It is thanks to him that I have my love of maps as I was the navigator. We saw about 25 states and I believe 27 National Parks by the time I was 16. When you voluntarily subject yourself to being confined in a VW bus with three kids I think there is a little bit of saint going on there.

My Dad Mike was a MARINE. I know that he served 2 tours in Korea ,the first as a machine gunner on a crew served weapon , most likely a Browning .50 cal. The second tour he was in charge of a forward mess and cooked 3 squares for 250 men a day. He would never talk about his first tour , although as a kid I asked more than once. The only insight I ever got about that first tour was a conversation I overheard between he and John Yeager . When they realized I was listening all conversation was redirected. That kind of talk will change forever how a young boy looks at his Dad.

Dad gave me many things, my intense love of nature and our Great Sierra Nevada. My love of music of all kinds, cooking, fishing, precision shooting, the Big Pond (Pacific), photography, reading, literature, Hemingway , Christmas , lobster, trains and much much more.

One of my proudest moments was on my winter double Trans Sierra when I called SO dispatch from the top of Mt Gabe and Dad replied with a "Well done boys." He knew we were on our way back and that a double by the route we had taken in winter was likely a first. It wasn't until later that one of the dispatchers told me that Dad had followed us by radio every day of the 10 we were out.

I miss you Dad and Papa .

Thank you for your service and may God bless you both.

Hobo Stove

I get a kick out of tweaking old designs.
This is my take on the traditional Hobo coffee can stove.
It draws well , uses little fuel and emits almost no smoke.
I'll bet that if you weigh all factors this tin can stove , of all lightweight stoves , has the smallest negative environmental footprint.

Ski Racer

Note that in the previous post, Old Ski Racer that I am , got the sponsors logo in the publicity photo w/ Miss Mari.
I have used Rossignol stuff for my whole life, I beat my gear and it always keeps going.
I'm just sayin.........

Road Skiing

We had a cold front come thru on Saturday and with that came about 6 inches of snow.
The first day of skiing is always a great event and this was no exception. I love any type of skiing be it at the resort, in the back country or Nordic/cross country on an old logging road. I have traveled thousands of miles on Nordic skiis and love the feeling of gliding along the trail.
It is what I live for.
Miss Mari and .357 Girl came with and we had an enjoyable aerobic workout . We did an easy 4+/- miles combined with some bushwhacking that just took the steam out of all.
I think that the best part about mucking about in the woods is the comradery and the unity that developes as the adventure progresses.
We did nothing out of the ordinary but I went home with a feeling of friendship and vitality that I feel is missing from everyday life.

Oh My Gosh!

Teaching an old dog new tricks.....
Survival of the fittest does not equal survival of the lucky.
I have dodged a bullet so many times in my life that now I look over my shoulder just to make sure no one is keeping up.
I know I am lucky , as for sure I know I am not that smart.
http://iamthesleepingiant.blogspot.com

Winter Trans Sierra

In what I thought was a very casual conversation about back country skiing with Mari, the subject of a Trans Sierra trip this winter came up. I have successfully done this kind of thing before and have also had my ass blown back into the Pacific more than once.
The trips were equally enjoyable for me but I have my doubts about Mari enjoying being pinned down by a snowstorm for 3 days at 12,000 feet.
From there the conversation morphed into the logistics of a John Muir Trail thru hike next summer. Now keep in mind that until I am in the truck on the way to the trail head I always take these kind of conversations with a grain of salt.
So much for that.
This morning I discovered a mountain of books,trail reports and maps on Mari's side of the bed.
I guess we are going on a hike next summer........

Snow

I woke this morn after a quiet night. We have had crazy thunder storms each evening since Friday night. It makes it hard to sleep when it has all the effects of a naval bombardment outside your window. The teewee goes off as my alarm and the first thing I hear is "Snow at 8000' continuing throughout the day."
As a life long skier if that doesn't start your day off right I don't know what will.

Happy Birthday

To Me!

Had a great dinner last night with Dylan and Mariah, Tri-tip marinated in homemade Blueberry wine with yard beans and baked potato. Yummy.

Very nice gifts from everyone, Sam Cooke cd's and more from Mariah and Dylan , Miss Mari goes overboard as usual.

New Line Anthem skis and a micro Marshal guitar amp for cord free jamming.

We heartily endorse http://www.evo.com/default.aspx?gclid=CKzrksyKt6QCFSIxiQodHT_f0g

Unbelievable deals on mountain gear. Of course Mari couldn't pass up the deal on a new pair of K2's, She's Piste Tele boards so Happy Birthday to her also. We have bought about $2500 worth of skis and gear for about $950 total.

I woke about midnight to an awesome lighting storm and a steady rain that is still going.

Normally most people would view this as crappy weather for a birthday but not me.

All this weather means that snow is not far away!

Happy Birthday to me!

REI Advertisement

This is the kit Miss Mari and I carry 99% of the time

Kitchen Sink

Nice after 4 days on the trail knowing we had this well provisioned team waiting for us.

.357 girl's son and hubby and if they didn't have it we didn't need it.

Start

Partners in crime.

John Muir Trail

Here are some pics from the Labor Day trip.

The river shot is our camp the first night and the other is our partner in crime, .357 Girl at Piute creek.

Great trip!

Errant Children

Monday, last,Labor Day we get home from our four days on the John Muir Trail and all is well with the Mountain Shack and our assortment of animals.

When we leave we have a great local teen, (There is not much better than a mountain kid.) who takes care of the livestock while we are gone.

My dog , Madaline, is a getting a little long in the tooth and I worry about her when we leave.

Having lost various cats over the years I worry about our kitties also, but the current crop have hung around a long time so I was surprised when on Tuesday morning said tomcat 'Jack' did not appear for breakfast. He was there when we got home but did not show for the morning meal and that's just not Jack. After a couple of days all hope is lost and Miss Mari is heartbroken.

This cat was the successor to the 'Great Spot', our Manx kitty, the king of all cats who we lost to tainted Chinese cat food. Not that we fed him, but what a good intentioned neighbor put out for him.

We got both Jack and Spot at the same apx. age , when they would both fit inside a coffee cup and Mari became Mom to both of them.

Yesterday as we get ready to go to the sailboat for the last day of boating when who comes strolling up the driveway but tomcat Jack. He endures the tears and enthusiastic homecoming and promptly demands food. Now I have no idea where this cat was for six days but he seems no worse for wear and suffice it to say that all is well again at the Mountain Shack.

Hollywood in a Haze

I can not believe the absolute garbage that LA LA Land continues to fob off on the world, allegedly as ART!
The American, a new George Clooney movie has so many errors in basic firearms handling by this "operator/assassin" that I stopped counting at 15.
Just the fact that Clooney and his girl would have huge 'scope eye' from the rifle bouncing off their forehead as they sent a round down range was enough to reduce me to hysterics.
You only have to see someone with stitches around their eye one time to realize that it is a goodness to have some space between the scope of a high powered rifle and your head.

http://filminfocus.com/the_american/videos

Not to mention that the Ruger Mini 14 is probably the last weapon that a 'pro' would select for long distance work. Even in the right hands it is a rifle that suffers from reliability and accuracy issues and that is being polite. I like my guns to go bang AND eject the empty AND load the next round every time I pull the trigger.
I'm just sayin.......

Dream!

My favorite. I belive this is an '03 550 GTO

Enzo Grid

More Ferrari and Friends

AC cars just 4 Marky.

Ferrari and Friends

More to come.

Laguna Seca Event

I will post some more Photos as time allows but this is one of my favorites.
Uncle Paul in his element.
Had a fantastic time and I want MORE!

Meanwhile back at the Labratory

After 7 days we moved the Plum Wine from the primary fermentor to the secondary/Carboy.

This is called 'Racking the wine.' Already the fermentation has slowed but I have a very busy week including a track day with Capt Beachit of http://www.hookedondriving.com/ and the California debut of the Ferrari Italia at Laguna Seca tomorrow so I won't have much spare time during the week. Leaving the wine to long in the primary can result in off flavors and bitterness in the finished wine.

The close up foto is of the cap with clear signs of fermentation bubbles. The top foto is of the racked wine in a carboy all ready for secondary fermentation which should last about one month. At this point the wine has a pleasant flavor with hints of the citrus trees that are the plum tree's neighbors.

Ok, here's what we have.

Our good friends down the road gave us about 100 lbs. of organic plums.

As we didn't want any to go to waste we commenced to converting the plums into products with a shelf life longer than 5 minutes.

Mari canned various recipes including a wonderful jam and my part was to proceed with a fancy Japanese Plum Wine recipe that I have wanted to try.

The picture depicts the 'cap' of the 'must' , mostly an unchopped fruit and skin layer that floats on the top of the liquid.

This batch seems to be very happy, just fermenting along like a percolator on low. We will have the bulk of the fermentation done within 7-10 days and then I will transfer into a 'carboy' for further fermentation/aging.
I don't think that most folks have any idea how easy it is to produce finished products that rival anything available at your local market. The quality of the jams and preserves that we can/put by each year is far superior to anything you can buy at the store and allot of it ,except for the elbow grease, is FREE.
I really enjoy the ritual of canning food, gardening, wine making etc.
It is just like reloading your own shells, you know exactly where it all came from and how it got into your hot little hand.
I will post up some more pics as this batch progresses.

School Yard Games

One of the first lessons I remember my Dad teaching me was that when you don't succeed at a task or chore the LAST thing you do is blame some one else.


Come now Mr President you knew the state of things when you ran for office........Be a man Barry (remember that name, the one you used for 9/10th's of your life?).


I read nonstop and Tam seems to always have the correct sight picture.


http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-have-you-done-for-me-lately.html



Anther lesson Dad taught me is that when a grown man changes his name there can't be a good reason, all the justifications are meant to hide something.


No

Drive the Car !

I will make this short.

Please people when you are in your car be aware of what can happen in just an instant.
No more putting on makeup ,reading the newspaper, texting , working on your laptop etc while driving.

This Tuesday we had the misfortune to attend a funeral for the son of a dear friend, a 27 year old scholar, 3 masters degrees, on his way to a doctorate, probably genius level intellect with a servant in the passenger seat who could have driven , decided to take his laptop and place it in his lap while driving. Although the airbags deployed , the laptop cut him in half.
This event has crushed the spirit of a very close family.

Drive the car mate.
Nothing else is more important.
Pullover to do what you must but please,
DRIVE THE DAMN CAR!

No

Wild Horses

Somehow in all this , Sundays can be perfect.

Early Sunday Mari and I headed off in The Silver Truck to check our Blackberry,Elderberry and Huckleberry crop. (whispered aside), 'Have I told you how much I love my truck?'

We don't have anything to pick yet except the Elderberries and they were slim pickins'.

The interesting discovery was as we got close to the old mill site Mari yells "Horses!".

Now, when I am at the wheel and Mari yells any animals name my only alternative is to slam on the brakes.



"What do we have here?"



Someone has released into the forest two nice mares,one Cinnamon and one a kind of Appy/Paint blend. Now these horses appear healthy if not a little fat, neither is wearing shoes nor have they been groomed in a long time. They wouldn't let us very close but after we parked the truck guess who appeared out of the tree line and followed us down the trail!


In our county, rural property has held its value fairly well over the last 24 months. However, lots of folks got sucked into the "Lets take our equity out and buy a new boat/cabin/rv/any piece of crap I cannot afford" syndrome. I'm not talking about new home owners in our area I'm talking about 3rd and 4th generation ranch owners who got sucked into the scheme and are now loosing the house and ranch.


I imagine this is what happened to our two nice mares. They will be ok for awhile but winter will not be kind here in the Sierra Nevada .We will keep the location secret but not many people go where we were and I didn't see another soul in 35 miles of 4 wheeling. Keeping horses is expensive and both Mari and I have been down this road before so now we have another dilemma to solve.


On our way back to the house we did a little more exploring linking our normal route with a route that comes out on a paved road. We found a great skinny dipping hole filled with 3 to 4 inch native brown trout. Just a perfect place to cool off from berry picking, and where there is little fish there must be big fish..........


We ended the day with dinner at our friend's Reyna and Kevin's ranch. They have a nice place about two thousand feet lower than us. BBQ chicken, couple of salads and a nice bottle of Barefoot Merlot. I will never understand how a winery can produce and distribute a decent wine for under $8 a bottle. Kevin then sent us home with more vegetables and plums than we can eat in a month.
I guess I will break out the dehydrator early. Maybe find all the stuff to make some plum wine.


Another great day!



No

Federal Budget

Husband of The Boss nails it at;
http://patricelewis.blogspot.com/p/husband-of-boss.html

Excerpt,

"As an example: A couple of days ago (just in time for the annual early-July Federal holiday, I forget the name) the United States Congress did something incredibly innovative. In what was no doubt an exemplary attempt at fiscal restraint, Congress decided to boldly forgo the time intensive and expensive process of budget creation and highly visible debate and instead opted to "deem as passed" the 1.12 trillion 2011 federal budget.
Courageously casting their pre-vacation votes while running for the door (or in some cases calling it in while waiting for their Air Force supplied commuter jets), the Democrat majority bravely withstood the usual divisive Republican "Nabobs of Negativity" (Thanks Spiro) who peppered the non-debate with false flag arguments like "It's unconstitutional!" (Oh please! Like what's the Constitution got to do with the law?) and "Where's MY pork!??!"

You just can't write stranger fiction......

No

Obamas Vacation

You just can't make this shit up!

www.americansfortheconstitution.com/.../obama-trip-to-spain-spits-on-all-tax-payers/

I have dumped every dime I have earned this year back into The Company and will not get a vacation for the third year in a row. I also have acquired NO additional debt.

I feel like throwing up.
Better yet where is that bottle of Bushmills?

No

Fragile People

I guess a year late is a good a start as any.

People break rather easily. It never ceases to amaze me how the biological vessels we inhabit as humans can take an incredible amount of abuse from those of us who choose to play and work hard. But yet those of us who take good care of our vessels always seem to be the ones who end up with some exotic disease that no M.D. can figure out.

I have spent the last year watching Miss Mari go from a fit ,vital being to a fragile , exhausted shell of her previous self.

I can tell she still has some steam left in her but the frayed edges are starting to show.

The doctors are still testing with no clear diagnosis in sight. I do what I can to lessen her load and she in no way is ready to quit,but my fear is waking to a cold still body some morning.

I have always been a caregiver, going back to my E.M.T. days, and I suppose I have just enough medical knowledge to be dangerous. Sometimes the interaction with the doctors can get contentious as egos collide but I have to remember what is best and that my drive must be for the betterment of the Patient.

Combine all this with the HUGE Bucket list we both have and I can feel time slipping away.

Sometimes with the demands of The Company and the desire to be free from the responsibility and just go work for someone else, I feel as though my freakin head is going to explode.

I have always known what is good for me , however I don't always chose the correct path. Hence this blog.

I need the outlet just to vent and will try to be upbeat and positive in future posts.



Tonite when you get home , hug your kids/wife/grandma/grandpa/ect, tell them that you love them very much. Enjoy and take joy in your evening together.



No