So Long, Click.

I began listening to CarTalk when the NPR station from Southern Nevada put a repeater in the rural county where I live. It was about the time I started high school. I was usually at the bike shop where I worked on Saturday mornings and I would listen to the show while I adjusted derailleurs and fixed flat tires. I enjoyed the technical talk, no doubt, but listening to two guys laughing hysterically and just thoroughly enjoying themselves was a great way to start a Saturday. It made me feel good even if I was at work. Seeing the outpouring over Tom's death, it's apparent I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Tom and Ray haven't been broadcasting any new shows for a couple of years now, but I still find myself tuning in for the reruns on Saturday morning. 

Godspeed, Tom.

A Flask Wedding

Last month I went into Utah for my cousin's wedding. It's always fun getting together with family. The wedding was such great party with live music, good food, and even goats, but just to be sure my other cousin and I brought our own party just in case.

Really good party.

Also, last month I got to go to Chicago and visit a good friend. However, the day I picked to travel just happened to be the same day that some wacko decided to torch a flight control center in Illinois. I had a quick layover in Denver that morning, but it soon became apparent that my flight from Denver to Chicago was not going to be happening. If you were watching the news that day you know what happened. Thousands of flights canceled, the national air travel network went to shambles, and most importantly I was stranded in Denver. After a few hours on the phone (PS: smart phones are the BEST thing ever!) with my travel concierge and the airline I decided that come hell or high water I was going to Chicago. So I hopped a bus to downtown Denver and caught the train!

Give me a break, I think this is my first "selfie".

Anyway, the Amtrak customer service was top notch. The station in Denver was awesome with so many good things to eat. The train was sparsely populated and spacious with fully reclining seats with foot rests. It was quite an adventure. The train trip ended up taking a little over 20 hours, but it still got me to Chicago half a day sooner than airline said they could even get me on a plan out of Denver. Nebraska was odd, but Iowa surprisingly scenic. There was a power outlet at my seat so I spent a good portion of the trip finishing the new Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts. People watching on the train was always a good way to spend some time. Plus, since the train was later than scheduled getting into Chicago I got a $100 travel voucher for future travel with them. And I will definitely be trying it again. 

Once I FINALLY got to Chicago, I met up with my friend and we ate...

...and ate...

...and ate....

...um,...and ate....

In addition to expanding our waistlines, we took in the sights, walked around Chicago, tried riding the "L", and we went to the Museum of Science and Industry where we toured the German U-Boat. They had this picture on the wall which I thought was funny.

It was a good, albeit an abbreviated, trip. Even coming back they still hadn't worked out all the air traffic problems so I got into SLC over seven hours late. It was nice to have a trip, but it was also nice to get back to my car and back to Nevada.

16 Miles..... in 3 hours

For the past month or so we've been constructing a flood control project in the Lincoln County city of Caliente. Over the past few days the remnants of hurricane Norbert have been dumping copious amounts of rain on us here out west. Very fortunately for us the storms didn't dump much rain on our project in Caliente. However, trying to get home from the project correlation meeting proved to be quite tedious as all North and Southbound traffic from the I15 had been detoured down US93, a winding two lane road.

I haven't ever seen so many semi trucks on a two lane road. As the title states it took me the better part of 3 hours to traverse the 16 miles from Caliente to Y Junction. I'll still take that over a flash flood washing through our construction site. The detour was due to extreme flooding washing out large chunks of I15 as well as boulders and debris being washed onto the roadway. Union Pacific's tracks must have also met with flooding as a good number of trains were backed up in the yard in Caliente. Never a dull moment!

Fall Sports

School has started and nights are getting cooler (and by extension some of the days are cooler too). Some of the first high school home games were this weekend. My youngest brother has left the football team for the futebol (soccer) team. The midday games down in a county park are much more enjoyable than the JV football games sitting on hard, aluminum bleachers. Out of my duty as a Bobcat alumnus I still attend the varsity football games. The one this weekend against Battle Mountain was pretty sad. We did win our first game (away) of the season which is more than we won last year. We'll see how the season goes. I still enjoy watching the soccer games more. On the BYU front, Max Hall is a cocain user and a shoplifter (are we really surprised), and we won against the Longhorns last night. Love the Fall.

These Injustices Will Not Be Soon Forgotten

As some of you know I entered the county fair this month. Last year, my entries took a number of first place ribbons as well as the reserve grand champion ribbon. While certainly guilty of being argumentative, I am not usually very competitive which is why I've been a little surprised at the tenacity my quests for a grand champion ribbon has taken.

This year I pulled out all the stops and submitted the earlier posted about Almond Chocolate Cake from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I also submitted a blue berry pie with a butter based crust. The pie received a first place ribbon having been beaten out for the grand champion ribbon by someone's cherry pie. The cake, however, was shamed with a white, third place ribbon behind a pistachio bunt cake which got second and an apricot upside down cake which got first. To add insult to injury this saltine cracker sucking judge wrote on the back of the tag "underdone". I may have over-reacted some and had some stern words with a group of the Beta Sigma-Phi ladies (the groups that runs our county fair), but really! under done! Admittedly this was probably the wrong kind of entry for a rural county fair. Your first bite is not what you're expecting for something labeled as chocolate cake. It takes until around the third bite before you realize that no matter what this is called it is amazing. I took the cake home and ate most of it to assuage my hurt pride. In my butter and chocolate infused coma I began plotting my assault for next year.

If You Have Some Time

This came up as an ad before a video on YouTube and I just couldn't hit the "Skip This Ad" button, and despite its 8+ minutes length I'm glad I didn't. I got a big kick out of it.

New Things

Granted, it's been awhile since I actually put a post up here. It's been a busy summer, but at any rate here we are.

First off, I finally talked my way into a job here. It's not a full time job yet, but my work schedule has been steadily picking up. The railroad also double my hours and pay at the beginning of the summer so I've been busy. I started with Reck Bros. in time to finish up the new county swimming facility. Below is the sign that was posted as you exit the job site. 

One should always be wary of children.

The house remodel is progressing. It's been hard to find time to work on it with all of the jobs going on at work, but I think I'm still making traction. 

New windows got put in all the way round.

Walls have gone up, floor repairs have been made and other adjustments made (hopefully I'm almost done with that). I also got all of the old insulation removed. A new power service and breaker box was also installed. The new plumbing has been started too.

I've been trying out some exterior paint colors. I think I'm going for the darker green. More work still to do. 

I also bought this:

It is that ugly in really life. It's a 1986 Tercel Wagon 4WD. It has has nearly 230,000 miles and nearly that many rattles and odd noises. It blows some blue smoke, but still gets better gas mileage than the Blazer for running around town. Not bad for a few hundred dollars (at least I think so).

We had a nice 4th of July in Ely with all of the usual events. Soon after that we had a fun Robertson family reunion camping in the Uintas over in Utah where I donated copious amounts of blood to the local mosquito population (aren't I generous).

The White Pine County Fair is coming up and I'll be submitting a chocolate almond cake and a blueberry pie with a butter based crust. Fingers crossed for the grand champion ribbon!

In other new:  This--

It's called a Cherpumple. It's a three layer cake with pie baked into each layer.

 

Pumpkin pie baked in a spice cake

Cherry pie baked into a white cake

and

Apple pie baked in a yellow cake

What will they come up with next? (I may have to try this)