Bowling and Dust

So it's been awhile since I've gotten to post. Buying the house fell through in the last minute. A long story short, they wanted 20% down because the duplex in the back made it a rental. I was annoyed because I thought I made this clear to the lady at the bank. Oh well, I didn't really need to buy a house anyway.



Bowling season in Winnemucca just wrapped up. I took my camera out the other week for some photos, but none came out that well. People mean business at the games, so I know someone would get mad if I took to many pictures with a flash. I think everyone can agree that at 33 weeks the bowling season got kind of long, but it was fun to have something to do on Fridays. I improved some and managed to pull my average score up higher then my handicap.



We’ve been having some large dust storms as well. I think three of my friends have broken tents in the wind, and at times it’s like a white out in town where you can’t see more then 100 yards. This is a good example, but I need to get a clear day picture to show the Winnemucca mountain that’s right across the valley.

Earth Day

Its been busy in the muc. We’ve been having some serious weather and Earth Day weekend was no exception. We were out there to Lear about Leave No Trace and to plant saplings in the burn area.



The day started off cold, but by lunch time it was windy. There were sustained winds at 15 – 20 MPH and gusts to at least 40. You can see in the picture how clear it was in the morning and how windy it got. Working in a burn with loose soil didn’t help and we had dirt in our eyes most the time.



But at the end of the day we’d planted about 300 seedlings and put mulch mats down for about half of them. The boyscouts were there and helped a lot. At the end of the day everyone looked about fifteen years older from the dirt. That shower afterwards felt amazing.

House

So as some people might have heard, I'm in the process of buying the house that I'm living in. Since Google Street View hasn't made it to Winnemucca yet, I figured I'd provide my own street shots.


View Larger Map Click here to see the pictures in google earth.

Click around the dots and see the house from all angles and if you click the slide show you can see some interior's as well. As usual, under the map you can click to download a file to view the pictures in Google Earth.




This is our cat Ho Chi Meow and you can see her posing in a number of the pictures. This is her new favorite way to sit in the most traveled areas of the house. It's like she's trying to be stepped on. Crazy cats.

Soldier Meadows

Another weekend, another camping trip. This time it was to Soldier Meadows Hot Springs.




There was a Volunteer even being held there and was a great excuse to get out. We had a great time. Our project was creating rock dams to keep back an invasive fish to swim from the resivior up to the spring, eating the desert dace, an endangered fish.



Nothings better after moving rocks then a soak in the hot springs. Another fun thing was the different arrowheads that people found around camp. They figure they were about 8,000 to 9,000 years old. One guy found one when he looked down to pick up a dutch oven and just noticed the worked rock. Hot Springs were pretty popular will all groups of people.


We had another soak at night and saw a few stars. Jessica got a new tent for her birthday that we had great success with and Sunday we went for another soak. We found a hot springs that is usually kept quiet because it's on private land. It isn't as hot as the others, but it is large enough to do a cannonball in. It made some great pictures.


View Larger Map
Click here to see the pictures in google earth.

Sunday we came back, and started another week. The playa is passable now, but there will be more pictures of that later.

Bog Hot Springs

It's Here!!! That time we call field season is upon us! That means more days out of the office and weekend trips all over the place. The snow has stopped and the nights aren't painfully cold.



This weekend was a Humboldt Boaters trip to Bog Hot Springs. Boaters trips usually involve boats of some kind, but it's always nice to start off the cooler months with a hot springs trip or two.



Calling Bog a spring is a bit of an under statement. In a quarter mile it comes out of the ground and forms a stream of hot water. Probably six feet wide and a foot and a half deep. It comes out of the ground about 120 and only cools off to about 90. Someone has taken the time to form a few pools with gravel bottoms and the big one you can stand in, with the water up to your waist.



It still got pretty cold at night, one thermometer said 19 on Sunday morning. We soaked before dinner, then waited for the moon to come up to get back in for a soak under the stars. It was only 8.30 or so, but my swimming suit was already frozen stiff. So a couple of us decided to go au' natural.




View Larger Map
Click here to see the pictures in google earth.

This next weekend I'm going out to Soldier Meadows hot springs for a volunteer event. Should be a lot of fun and will post pictures!