STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22051: The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men…………..

The best laid plans of mice and men often go asunder through circumstances beyond their control. Such is the case with my return trip to Las Vegas yesterday. The plan was to leave Palo Alto about 1000 to beat most of the holiday traffic.

Left, the whole fam damily. Right, Bye, bye guys.
First, I didn’t get out until 1115. Traffic wasn’t to bad until I got onto CA-152. Just outside Gilroy, traffic began backing up, and was stop & go after about 7 miles. The problem was road construction at the CA-152/CA-156 junction. Once I cleared that obstacle and got onto I-5, traffic was heavy, but running at or near the speed limit. About 1 1/2 miles before the Harris Ranch exit, the left front tire on my car lost its tread. I stopped on the shoulder to assess the damage, then drove on to the exit.

I found a place that sold tires, and replaced the bad tire ($182.29 worth). I lost about 2 hours, which put me right in the middle of the above mentioned holiday traffic.
I finally arrived in Bakersfield about 1815.
I had called an old friend (Debbie) along the way and arranged to meet her for dinner at Bill Lee’s (where else). We had a nice visit/dinner. I left B’field about 2000 and finally arrived back in Vegas about 0030. A long, greulling, frustrating day, but I made it.

Playing With My New Camera

Last week, I bought another camera. A Kodak Z712IS. It is a high mid-range “point & shoot”. I bought it because it has a 12X optical Zoom along with a 4.5X digital Zoom. That’s a lot of Zoomin’ from such a small camera. It lacks the sophistication of my Nikon, but I can still do quite a lot with it. Here are some pictures I took with it at Donald’s house and in his yard.


The camera also has video capabilities. I shot the video below with it. (click on the picture below, and be patient. It’s an 8 meg file so it takes a while to load.)
 
I took these pictures of the moon earlier this evening.

Not bad for a “point & shoot” if I do say so myself.

Life Day 22049: Palo Alto Placidity with A Pinch of Productivity

I left Las Vegas on Tuesday, the 20th at about 1030. I had the MMM groomed early in the morning, and by the time they were ready, I was all packed and ready to go. I had a nice leisurely drive to Palo Alto, arriving about 2130. I did encounter a traffic backup around Zzyzx Rd due to road construction, and I arrived in Bakersfield during what passes for “rush hour” there. Don, Lou & Dawn all had early morning appointments on Wednesday morning, so it was an early night. I did my laundry (which just happened to wind up in my Jeep somehow when I left Vegas).
On Wednesday, I relaxed and geeked on the computer all day. For dinner, I made some Tomato Soup (w/ celery, carrots, onions and bow tie pasta), and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
I began the daunting task of editing my music files in preparation for moving them from the hard drive to an auxiliary drive in an effort to speed up my sluggish computer.

Thanksgiving Day was again a day of relaxing and geeking (given that I don’t consider time spent cooking in the kitchen as “work”). I made deviled eggs for breakfast. For lunch we ate a “relish tray” of celery, carrots, green and black olives, dill and sweet pickles, and 3 different dipping sauces (Ranch dressing, peanut butter & honey, and a nice cheese & wine dip. It was yummy. For dinner we had rotisserie chicken with an orange glaze, mashed potatoes w/ giblet gravy, creamed peas w/ pearl onions, and cranberry sauce. It was more than enough. Of course, I made a couple of pies. We had a nice sour apple pie and an apple/mince pie. Pumpkin pies were provided by a friend of Lou’s, since I neither make nor eat Pumpkin pie.
In the evening, I finished with the music files and moved them to the above mentioned auxiliary drive. It seemed to work as now my computer actually responds to commands in a reasonably timely manner.

Yesterday, Donald repaired the front arm rests in my Jeep which were both just hanging by one mount screw. In return, I made fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast. We had Italian sausage and sourdough toast in accompaniment. Later in the afternoon, Donald helped me with some improvements to my BLOG. I now have music so accompany your tour through my life. Also, I have “drop down” menus for my “categories” and “archives”. In return, I made garlic roasted potatoes and some creamed corn a la Ernie (it ain’t the canned stuff) to go with the left-over chicken for dinner. In the evening, more relaxing and geeking.

Today will be my last full day here. I made sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast, a family favorite. Dinner will be simple. Lou smoked a corned beef brisket last night. I’ll make some some sour cream green beans and orange stuffing to go with it.
I pre-packed the Jeep with all my freshly laundered and folded clothes and a few things I no longer need access to during my visit. All this in preparation to leave here ASAP in the morning. I want to be on the road by 1000 to avoid some of the traffic. I’ll do one more load of laundry in the morning to wash the clothes I wore while here. That way everything I own will be clean. While I’m waiting for the laundry, I’ll make hash (literally) out of the leftover corned beef for breakfast.

Life Day 22041: Colorful Cody, WY

One of the benefits of my job is that frequently I get to see sights like this.

This is the sunrise over Cody, WY this morning. It was awesome.

Since I last left Las Vegas,  I’ve done a trip to Colorado Springs, CO and this trip to Cody, WY. When I get back to Corinne, I am going to try to do local work and/or short trips over the weekend until Monday, then get a trip to Las Vegas. When I get there, I’ll begin my Thanksgiving holiday. I’m going to Palo Alto to spend it with brother Donald. I’ll be taking about week off, then “hit it hard” (not literally) until Christmas.

Life Day 22040: Connected In Corinne (Conditionally)

My Driver Manager installed a WiFi Router in the Driver’s Room of our Terminal in Corinne, UT. As a result, I now have limited WiFi access there. Since Swift is the site manager, access to certain community websites is blocked. For instance, I can access my BLOG, but I can’t post to it (I’m posting this from the Walmart parking lot in Cody, WY). YouTube is blocked, as is the Birthday Calculator I use. I can, however, access my bank account, the Swift Owner/Operator Portal, my Homepage my e-mail, and many of the websites that I regularlly visit. At least it’s something to help offset the boredom between loads.