Argentina Bound!

So, what do these two creatures have in common?

ANDY

TURKEY VULTURE

Give up?  THEY'RE BOTH GOING TO ARGENTINA!

Tonight we went to the church BBQ.  I looked up and saw a TON of turkey vultures swirling around in the sky.  Something like this:

But, I didn't take this photo.  Nonetheless, there were a LOT of turkey vultures up in the sky tonight.  Someone told me that a university professor had told them the vultures are migrating to Argentina now.

That picture at the top of the post (of the vulture, not of Andy) is what they look like up close.  In flight - if you can see them close enough, this is what they look like:

You can tell it's a turkey vulture if it has the white feathers at the bottom of the wings.  It's pretty difficult most of the time to see their faces.  Once when I was doing field work in Colorado, there were two turkey vultures sitting on a fence post.  That was the first time I'd ever seen how really ugly their faces are.  Personally, I'm kind of glad that we don't get to see their faces all that often.  

It's kind of cool, though, to think that these guys are going all the way to Argentina, though.

Andy had to buy a plane ticket to get there, and will be leaving in about a month.  We're all wondering if they're going to be arriving there at the same time. 

Here are some photos I took tonight - trying to at least capture a whole bird in the camera lens... really hoping maybe to get several in the photo at the same time, maybe one would swoop down a little closer, but they were so busy flying into and out of the sky above us.  Possibly hoping to get something good off the grill.

:

 And here's the dessert that I made - a Red Grape Pie.  I used a recipe for a Ground Cherry Pie; but, since we don't get ground cherries here in Laramie, I tried subbing grapes. 

 
Phil enjoyed it immensely and went back for more.  I think maybe two or three times.  A different kind of vulture.  I think he was taking advantage of the fact that probably most people didn't realize the desserts were all in the house and not outside on the table with the rest of the side dishes.

Right Place - Right Time

This is SO COOL!  I carry my camera around with me just for these moments.  But I can't believe that not only did I have my camera with me, but I was also able to be in a spot where I could see the dial on the camera to turn it to the video position to take the photo!

Do you know what wind turbines look like?  Here's a photo of some in Arlington, Wyoming...

Just about any day that you drive on the interstate or around the truck stop where I was at this time today, you see parts of these wind turbines being hauled to wherever they are going to be hooked up to turn wind energy into electricity.  

Once on the way to church, we saw a truck with a blade making a turn onto the road in front of us getting ready to head back onto the interstate.  It was amazing watching the truck make the turn because the blades on these things are humongous.  I'll have to look up the length.  It is looooooooooooonnnnnnnng.  Here's a link for a place to start in case you want to know more about wind turbines  WIND TURBINE INFO ON WIKIPEDIA

One website I found said the world's largest wind turbine has a "wing span," you might say, of over 400 feet (that is the diameter of all the blades installed on the tower part).  That is pretty huge.  I'm guessing that the ones we see here where we are probably are not quite that BIG; but they're big. 

Anyway,  today I got to be in the right place at the right time to take a photo (quickly because it just happened as I was pulling up to a red traffic light).  

Then while I was sitting there at the light - as if we could go anywhere, anyway, because the truck and blade took up all four lanes of traffic and the shoulders - I was able to video it!  (Maybe I should have turned the radio down - but enjoy the "music" portion of it or turn your volume down or off.  :-) Watch when the truck just completes the turn to get on the on-ramp.  The length of the blade is longer than the width of the road.  This is so cool! 

So, this made my day today and the day isn't even over yet!  The other exciting news is that Phil is finally finishing installation of the remainder of the storm door that he began a few weeks ago. :-)

Road Trip - Part VI: It's ME!!!! I'm WELDING!!!!!

Phil took a lot of pictures of me welding.  Maybe he didn't think I'd do it and I surprised him!

Everything that gets welded has to lie flat - and be clamped in place so it doesn't move.

Mitch and I inserted the rings between the bars of my first stand, made sure everything was square and everything got clamped in place.

I didn't really want to mess up my stand by welding it myself, but I also didn't want to go away from the weekend and not try welding.  So, I took a few practice moves before actually pulling the trigger on the welding torch.

You can't tell, probably, but I was holding my breath while I was welding.  Notice that Mitch wasn't even there while I was welding at one point!

And you probably can't tell from this photo, either, but Mitch was yelling, "Yeah!  You got it!"

I WELDED!!!!!  I DID IT!!!!!  And my welds came out "OK" - at least most of them.

I did have a few bumps and places that were kind of lumpy, so I had to sand them down.  I'm not a huge fan of sparks, but I braved the sanding power tool thing and did it.  Then I asked Phil to help me clean up what I couldn't get.  He's really GOOD at cleaning up blobby welds!  :-))

And then we measured and clamped the two channel pieces that would hold the glass in place on the stand.  I just don't remember if I welded the two pieces in place, or if Mitch did it. 

And... after finding a suitable piece of metal for my stand, and measuring to make sure it fit in all the right places...

Mitch and I got everything lined up and clamped down so it could be welded. 

Mitch did the welding of the stand for me so that it wouldn't get messed up too badly.  If the support gets messed up, I don't think that is a good thing.


The next piece we worked on was my "Asian theme piece" - the black and red glass piece.  This was an interesting experience...

This was the original layout.  Mitch was going to show us how to make a tripod stand for it.

The first piece we needed to weld was the piece that I call "the frame" - the piece that would hold the glass.  The first time we welded it, we got it put together incorrectly and Mitch had to saw it apart. 

Mitch added the clips to the "frame" because tacking thin metal to thick metal is tricky.  Better for him to do it - he has a lot of welding experience!  But I did a lot of the welding on this stand myself.  Yes, I'm pretty proud of it.  :-)

We accidentally put the frame backwards on the stand; but after thinking about it for a minute, I decided it should just be left that way.  After all, whether it's Chinese or Japanese - or whatever language - don't they write from right to left?  Maybe it should be backwards?

So, here it is - it just needs to be painted.

And Phil took this really fun video of me working on it.  :-)

In case you can't understand what I said, or if by chance you don't have sound on your computer (or if it's turned down so no one can hear you watching it at work), at the end I said, "That's a lot of clamping for just two little things."  Yes.  There is a LOT of clamping that has to be done!

Time was running out, though, for our class.  With only 20 minutes left, I begged Mitch to help with welding on the thin little leaves for my Kachina piece.

This is what it's supposed to look like when welded together.  Mitch did weld just the headdress part for me, and I am so eager to get our own welding equipment or ask someone we know who welds to let me finish the rest of my projects!  But we really do want our own welding equipment.  :-)

This is the piece - "The Natives Are Restless" - that, at my pace, would probably take two more days to finish!  I've wanted to have some kind of stand for it for a long time... I made the pieces in 2008!

Here is the group of people working in the class this weekend... It's sort of like the Phil and Cat show with the pieces shown in the photo.  Everyone except Shannon - who is holding the "B" and "S" pieces - is holding something that Phil and I made.  Debbie had already packed hers away in her car.

I'm holding the Kachina headdress.  Phil (in front) is holding his piece with my glass piece in it.  Mitch is holding my red and black piece.  Shannon is holding the "B" and "S" which will one day be installed on her mailbox, I believe.  And Debbie is holding my little V-channel stand with a thick yellow piece I made in it.

Gosh we had a good time!  I can hardly wait to get our own welding equipment!  :-)

Road Trip Part V: Metalworking - DAY TWO!!! Phil's project!!!

This was the second - and last - day of our metalworking class.  I'd come up with a couple of other designs the night before, so got to work putting those together while Phil and Debbie were welding.

Debbie finished her design from Day One:  A piece to use for her garden in Reno.

Phil kept working on his only design.  I got better photos on Day Two to show you the process.

Mitch helped Phil set things up, then Phil did the welding (I think he did most of it, but Mitch probably did some). 

We think this may have been the photo of when Phil welded his piece to the steel work table.

Here's a photo of some of Phil's welds.  I think he needed to sand down some of the blobby welds in the bottom of the photo.

Here is where Phil welded one of his clips to hold the glass in the stand.

And here is where he was lining up the welding torch to weld more parts of the stand.

Here Phil and Mitch hold up Phil's project with the glass in it to see if it will hold OK.  The base of the stand isn't on it in this photo, but I'll show you a photo of that later.

So that this post isn't too long, I'm going to show you my welding experience next!

Road Trip - Part IV: METALWORKING CLASS! DAY ONE!!!!!

This is it!  This is what we drove all those miles to California to do!  We're taking the Metalworking Class at Sundance Glass Studio in Paradise, California today!  Wooooo-hoooo!  We are EXCITED!

There was so much to learn the first day.   Fabrication.  Cutting wires and metal pieces.  Doing some test welds just to learn about MIG welding, how to hold the welding torch, seeing through the welding mask.

For me, it was kind of scary using power tools because Phil hardly ever lets me use power tools.  Heck.  He hardly even ever lets me use a hammer, let alone power tools!

But, I got a few photos of Phil through the red plastic curtains around the welding area.  It's pretty hard to see through the curtain! 

Phil is setting up something in there to weld.

Our instructor, Mitch, is in this one - helping Phil set things up...

And here they are actually welding something.

Welp, if I ever wanted to weld anything, I need to fabricate what I was going to make.  So, I spent the rest of the time getting busy learning how to measure, and then how to use the huge radial saw thing to cut my steel rods.  And there was a special wire bending tool that I was trying to learn to use to make my signature "squiggles" out of metal.  I used a huge wheel thing to make some large curved wires for one of my pieces.

So by the end of the day, this is what I ended up with...

This was the beginning layout for my "red and black" piece (which hasn't got a title yet).  The plan was to attach another piece in the back to make a tripod type stand for it.

And a tentative layout for my "The Natives Are Restless" double pattern bar piece.

By the end of the day I wasn't sure if I felt a little better about being able to actually handle the cutting and designing of my pieces; but the sanding and welding part of making display stands for my art glass pieces, I wasn't sure.  I was feeling a little discouraged because Phil was already starting to weld his first piece and I was still just creating pieces.  Maybe he would end up being the welder and I'd be the creator.  I just didn't know.

I spent some time that night coming up with some other designs to work on if I got the time, and I tried to get Phil to come up with designs; but he was having a hard time with it.  

We went out for Mexican food at a recommended restaurant. While waiting for our meals at the restaurant, I looked over at the wall and saw a welded plant pot holder that reminded me of a project that Shannon was working on in the glass - something with a sun in it.  So, I took a photo of it for her.  

I thought it was interesting, too, that someone took the time to paint a Christmas cactus on a pole in the room. I've never seen a pole with such a painting on it before.

Phil and I spent some time talking about the class and what we were learning.  I realized that, at the rate I was already going and how much fun I was having putting stands together, I was definitely going to have to learn to do my own welding if I was ever going to be able to keep up with my designing and production of things.  I already had too many projects going for Phil to finish - and he doesn't have time to do everything.

I made up my mind.  Welding couldn't be any harder than learning to decorate cakes.  So I was just going to have to do it even though I wasn't sure I wanted to have all those sparks flying around at me.  It was scary, but I had to do it.

Road Trip Part III: Getting our Bearings - and FOOD!

Is it still called a "road trip" if you're staying in one place for a few days?

Today we could have driven another 4 hours out and 4 back to go to the International Garlic Festival in Gilroy, CA.  But we decided to stay put in Paradise to see what we could see here.

It seems like such a long day, we did so much.  Or, at least it seems like we did so much.  We actually just got an early start - with breakfast at the diner across the street that was out of baked potatoes last night.

No cross walks.  No corners.  Speed limit is supposed to be 35 mph, but everyone around here drives much faster.  We stood in the middle of the road while we waited for some cars to go by, as they weren't stopping at all for us.  The more I thought about it today, though, the more I believe that the policeman who finally stopped to let us cross the street and then sped off - actually, he gunned it after we got across - was not chasing other cars down because they didn't stop for us.  I think he was irritated that because he was a public safety person he had to stop to let us cross, but he wasn't happy about it.

At any rate, we finally got breakfast.  Phil got the sampler special for under $4!

I got some kind of omelette thing and, by the time I made substitutions, it wasn't what was on the menu.  But I do that a lot.  I see things that I like on the menu that aren't already put together as a "unit," and I ask what comes close to what I want that is on the menu.  Then they adjust it for me.  So, this is what I got - but you can tell I didn't think about taking a photo before I started eating.  I think I was kind of hungry.

As we were leaving the restaurant - where we'd been sitting outdoors in the lovely mild weather (at the time), we happened upon this crazy sight in the parking (barking?) lot:

You know, this just isn't something you see every day.  And if you DO see it, what are the odds that you're going to have your camera with you????  It was just too cute for words.  If these are the guys speeding around town, I need to find out how they're even reaching the pedals!  Probably explains why no one stopped for us to get across the street except for the policeman!

The rest of the day was pretty much a blur after breakfast.  We did a lot of walking - in the heat.  We found out where we need to be tomorrow, and we found a few thrift shops that I got to look in, but they were small and it didn't take too long to look.  There are a lot of antique shops around here, too.  I suspect that the antique shops sell things that I'd be looking for in thrift shops.  But, we have a full schedule here for the next two days, so I'm sure I won't be getting to look in any more stores because everything closes down at 5 p.m. and we won't be done until it's too late.

This was kind of unique:  

A vacuum cleaner carved out of a tree trunk... at Ron's Vac and Sew.

And here's something else for Roadside America:

A muffler car!  No wheels?  Interesting...

A nap after our walk.  Lunch at The Black Bear Diner.  A nap after lunch.  It was so hot outside.  Upper 90's.  Too hot to go to the pool.  Played with Junior over in the hotel lobby.  Forgot to take my camera to get his photo.  Went to dinner so that Phil could get all-you-can-eat prime rib... and now he has food coma.

What a difference a day makes.

c@

Road Trip Part II: The Non-Adventure, Non-Food Day

Not a lot of photos today until we got close to our destination.  But, I know you're wondering about the $2.99 Ham and Eggs.

We walked from our hotel a short distance to get to the casino cafe next door.  The smell of cigarette smoke saturated the carpet and air from years of being trapped in a huge room without windows.  It wasn't fresh cigarette smoke, not that it'd smell any better.  If Buffalo Bill Cody had been there, I'm sure his cigarette smoke was in the casino.  Maybe even George Washington's.  Actually, it smelled like a buffalo had been in there smoking.  It was bad.

It was about 8:30 a.m., and while the casino wasn't bustling with people playing the machines, there were several people sitting at machines, pulling handles in hopes of winning the jackpot... drinking beer for breakfast and just getting "a pot."  It looked like they needed more exercise than just sitting in front of a slot machine.  I guess they still call them "slots" because credit cards to go in slots now instead of coins. 

We found the cafe tucked into a back corner of the casino and waited in line to be seated.  We were first in line and the line wasn't even very long; but as we were waiting there, we realized that even though about half the tables were filled with people, no one was eating.  Most were looking at menus; others were looking at each other with sleepy, blank faces just waiting.  It appeared that only two "wait" people were moving around in the cafe, and they weren't moving very quickly at that.  We didn't see any food coming from the kitchen.  We decided we should probably consider finding something else for breakfast or we wouldn't get to our destination until midnight.  So we left and gave others our first-place-in-line position.  So we have no idea whether the $2.99 ham and eggs even really exists.

We walked over to McDonald's in hopes of finding something reasonably healthy.  What was I thinking???  Phil had a sausage burrito and a mango pineapple smoothie. Actually, I couldn't even see the menu board with my distance glasses until I got up to the counter, so didn't want to hold up the rest of the line, either, while trying to figure out what I would eat there.  So I ended up filling my water bottle with ice water and just sat with Phil while he seemed to enjoy the smoothie more than the burrito.

While we were sitting there, Phil noticed a grocery store at the far end of town (it was a small town), which is where we headed after walking back to the hotel.  We stocked up on small quantities of fresh fruit to fill our cooler, and one little container of Greek yogurt and a banana for my breakfast.  Then hit the road so that we wouldn't get to our destination at midnight.

Not much adventure for the day driving through the Nevada desert.  Not many stops, as I kept hearing we didn't want to get to our destination at midnight.  I was searching for thrift stores on the GPS and my phone browser in hopes of finding a treasure somewhere.  We looked for one of the thrift shops.  The goal was supposed to be for me to not spend more than 15 minutes inside, not spend more than $5, and the store had to be near a gas station so Phil could put gas in the car while I was in the store.  But the address turned out to be a clothing store for teens/young adults... dark inside (or maybe I still had my sunglasses on) with loud music and flashing lights.  So, we hit the road again.  So we wouldn't get to our destination at midnight.

We stopped for lunch at a great place - I think it was called The Pig BBQ.  Very tasty pulled pork - on a salad. I think it was in Winnemucca.  There was a billboard on the way into that town advertising a "huge" thrift shop, but it was only open 3 days a week - none of which were that day we were on the road.  However, once we found it, we stopped quickly at another one adjacent to it so Phil could take a quick nap, but no treasures to be found there, quick or not.  So, back on the road so we wouldn't get to our destination at midnight.

Traffic was moving along nicely... we actually had a lot of "turns" required by our GPS route to get to our destination, and plenty of road construction that slowed us down to 55 mph, so it was a long ride.

The worst part of the trip was a rest stop in the middle of nowhere on the way to Reno.  Besides the awful smell from non-flush toilets, signs were posted everywhere about an 86-year-old man and his dog, Lucky, who have been missing since April. They found his car on the road near the UT-NV border, but not the man and his dog.  That is just very upsetting.

The ride into the Tahoe area was a nice climb through a lot of pine trees.  We zipped through pretty fast.  I begged for a rest room stop, but it seemed that because we didn't want to get to our destination at midnight, I had to wait for a more convenient stop.  I also was hoping we'd eat dinner, as it was about 6:30 California time - and 7:30 Mountain time; but we didn't want to get to our destination at midnight, so we didn't stop for dinner.

The descent into the California central valley was odd.  I hadn't realized how long it has been since I've seen oak trees. 

 

By the time we got to the change in trees - from pines to oaks - I remembered I hadn't taken any photos.

We passed some grazing cows when we got to where there was more grass than oaks.  And then eventually we were in agricultural areas with all kinds of fruit and nut trees, and grape vines.

There were a lot of little fruit stands, but being after 7pm they were closing up.  The current plan is to stop at one of them on our way home to buy some fruit.  If we really do, I will be surprised.  :-)

A lot of the fruit farm houses had cypress trees standing around them.  It looked like images of Italy I've seen.  But, then we started climbing again into the pine trees, almost to our destination, at just about 8 p.m.  Not midnight.

After checking in at the hotel - and meeting Junior, the English Bull Dog who lives there, we tried to find dinner without much success.  We had no idea the whole town closed down at 5 p.m. - except for the restaurants.  By 8 p.m. they started running out of menu items.  So, we actually ended up not getting dinner except for a little bit of fruit that we weren't even asked about at the agricultural inspection station when we entered California.  Oh, and some wasabi peas that I found at a gas station en route for a mere $1.99 for a pretty large bag (deal of the day!).  And a couple of snack bars that we had floating around in the cooler so they wouldn't melt.

The outside weather was hot.  Fortunately the AC in the car kept it cool inside.

So, here we are... in Paradise, California.  It just doesn't seem right to have tropical plants right outside our door.

This is the view of the ponderosa pines from our front door:

And this is a view from our back door:

The pool is inside the fenced area.  I hope we didn't lug our bathing suits all the way here to end up not being able to go into the pool.