Backyard

When Jessica and I moved into this house, the backyard was destroyed. The previous owner had two dogs that dug holes, and it was covered with weeds. So this spring, I decided to replant it. Now that it's looking good, I thought I would share the progress. I planted it in mid-May, now it's about six weeks later.

Here are the initial shots. That rusty coffee can had been sitting out there for the first five months we lived here.


Getting rid of the weeds was an improvement.
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Then came the tilling.


I raked it all out, put down the grass seed and covered it with straw.


After a couple of weeks you could see it start to grow!


Now here it is after six weeks, and right after it was cut for the first time.


There are still a few holes, and some weeds to get out, but it feels great to walk on! A little fertilizer and more watering, I think it will be good.
One more look at those before and after pictures

4 Runner

I got a new car!


I was in Reno for a week for work and I came out to my car one day and my car wouldn't start. It was a bummer and I wasn't sure why. I got a ride home and came back the next day and it started. I took it in and they said that they couldn't figure out the problem because the computer system was toast. They said it would take half a day to fix the computer problems, if they could be fixed and that would be 400 bucks. And that probably wouldn't actually solve the problem, but help identify it. I could tell there was a long road ahead to go down that path.



So I went over to the Toyota dealer and left with an '07 4 Runner. It's been great. It was sad to say bye to the old blue Explorer. I took that thing across the western United States and got some good use out of it. In the end it only had 126,000 miles on it, which seems low for the number of trips I went on. When they were parked next to each other at the dealer the door of the Explorer gave the first nick to the 4 Runner. Seemed appropriate.



It was great to have AC again in a car. And I love 4 wheel drive. It makes driving much more fun and lots more access to the back country. I see much more exploring in the future. I took it for a turn along some dirt roads behind town.

Rendezvous

Memorial day always means the Black Rock Rendezvous. They even did a story about it in the Reno paper and used a picture with Jessica and me in it: http://rgj.com/article/20090516/LIV/905160314/1089/Celebrate+the+Black+Rock+Desert+Playa It is always what really kicks off summer for me.



This was my third time and I didn't take nearly enough pictures of people. But the sunsets were amazing, and I got plenty of those shots. Friday was pretty low key. We brought out the cornhole game that Adam left us last summer.




Saturday was the expo day. I had seen much of the stuff before so I wandered down to the little park. I met a couple from Bern, Switzerland who got a Harley and were driving across the country. Then I ended up making several trips to the bar for the delicious bloody mary's.

Saturday night had an amazing sunset that just kept getting better.







Then there were some rockets. They launched a few Saturday night that had strobes on them. Sunday they launched the bigger rockets, but it was hard to capture on film.



Sunday night was the big party. There was food, fire and music, as well as the famous Will Rogers margarita. I had a good time and collapesed in the tent when I went to bed.




Can't wait till next year!


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Great Basin National Park

So after Snowbird, I stopped by Great Basin National Park on the way home. It is the only National Park entirely in Nevada and is home to Nevada's tallest peak and single glacier. The peak is the tallest in the state, but the funny thing is Boundary peak on the border of California has a taller spot, but the technical peak is in California. A little technicality.



Great Basin is amazing. On the drive I saw an odd piece of western art at a three way intersection. A unique stop sign. The park is great with nice campsites near a little river. On saturday I got up and hiked to the upper campground that was closed due to snow. I brought my snowshoes and needed them because I lost the trail after the first 45 minutes of hiking. I wasn't sure where I was going and just figured I'd try to get above 10,000 feet. I went up the side of this hill and was looking for a good picture of the mountain when I looked over and saw a grill sticking out of the snow.




I had found the campsite and was impressed that I managed to stumble on to it. Good reckoning I suppose. The view was great and amazing. Clouds kept rolling over the peak and made it quite dramatic. One day I want to come back and hike to the top.






After the hike I went packed up camp and moved to the overlook to try seeing the mountain at sunrise. It was a bit cloudy in the morning, but the view point had a great perspective.




Then I went down to take the cave tour. Great Basin is also one of the few places that has the limestone to make great caves. They have an organized tour that is pretty spectacular. They are one of the few caves with so many shield formations. No one is really sure how they are formed.



Then there was the drive out with more western rancher art. After that is was a long drive home, but after ten days, it was good to be home.





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