Odds and Ends

Just a few pictures that are funny or interesting or something...

The street benches in Afton, WY have a very different western flavor.

Then, there’s this sign in Winnemucca, NV. We were looking for fuel, but ended up on the wrong street. Lucky for us there was a big parking lot where we could make a U-Turn.

 Lastly, a lovely sunset in Reno.

Fall is in the air

It’s almost fall...about 2 days away. The signs are clear, especially if you know what to look for. In the hills, the Mountain Mahogany started to turn red this morning! Sadly, I don’t have a picture of that phenomena as it just does not show up on my camera.  The other leaves are turning golden.

 The aspens and conifers are displaying a lot of contrast right now. Earlier in the 

summer they blended together a lot better.

 The asters are forming fuzzy heads, getting ready to spread their seeds for 

yet another year of purple flowers.

 Even the goldenrod is going to seed! It was an allergy hazard before this happened

...and it’s still an allergy hazard.

 I love the contrast of the green and the gold. The leaves look tired. They are crisp and ready to drop.

And, one more sign that fall is on the way: The nights are getting cooler as are the days. 

Rainbows

The other day we saw a perfect rainbow in Jackson. I really tried to get a decent picture of it and discovered it was a moving target. On another note the "ends" of the rainbow were both golden!

Project Linus Addendum

I finished the 5th blanket of the summer. It’s my favorite design: a teddy bear. I brought it to our local True Value Hardware store (as this store sells everything from hunting gear to yarn) and they loved it. They asked me if I had the pattern and I said I had it memorized. Yesterday I spent about an hour trying to recreate the pattern from memory, which I gave to the store. Now, here’s the fun part...they are going to make a blanket and then teach others to crochet it during one of their crochet lessons. The Teddy Bear will live on and on!

Butterfly Season

The end of the summer seems to be butterfly season around here. We have had a few of these visitors fluttering by but I’ve only been able to capture one with a camera. The camera is an iPhone...which takes surprisingly good pictures given it’s size. Do you have any idea what type of butterfly this is. I did a quick search and did not find anything that looked similar to it. This is when “photo search” is needed...just paste in a copy of your photo and let Google or some such search engine find the item!

Project Linus Again

It seems I need to have a crochet hook nearby to keep my idle hands busy. 

This summer, I’ve only made 4 3/4 blankets for Project Linus. My normal count is 10 to 12. I believe Words With Friends has taken up some of my crocheting time...shame on me!

I do not know the exact number of blankets I have made as 

I stopped counting when I reached 150. 

This is what I’ve finished this summer!

While my count may be down, I enjoy the process. I also like the fact that they are doing some good somewhere!

Testing

This blog is part of the huge Google complex and just today it released an app so I can blog from my iPad and iPhone and post pictures. Just a few days ago I was lamenting that it was not possible to post photos from an iPad -- but now it is!

Here's my test photo. Too cool!

3 more apps!

Here are three more free apps that you might be interested in downloading. I’m having a lot of fun with them.

I just discovered an app for Yellowstone! It’s only for the iPhone now, but the website says the android version is coming. The app gives you information on places to visit, things to do, lodging, where to find food and other services as well as general park information. There’s an excellent map of the Park as well as links to podcasts, Facebook, and Twitter. There’s a lot here to look at and the price is right...it’s free! On the downside, you cannot make reservations from the app, but it does give you phone numbers and maps to each location.

As I was looking for the link to this Yellowstone app, I discovered there are many Yellowstone apps available. I downloaded “Yellowstone National Park, The Official Guide App” but search for Yellowstone Apps and see how many there are available.

There’s also a Grand Teton National Park, The Official Guide App that has the same format as the Yellowstone app. I’m completely delighted with both of these National Park Apps. Next I’m going to explore apps for the NPS in general.

The third fun app is Photosynth. It turns your iPhone camera into a panorama camera! Is that too cool! Here’s a shot of the Tetons I took the other day! There’s no way I could get this much “mountain” in a regular photo.

ZAGGmate Review

As you know I am an iPad user. Today I received a companion for my iPad...a ZAGGmate case with keyboard. I've been playing with it for less than an hour and so far so good. It is very easy to set up. The keyboard is tiny, but it solves the problem of not having a "real" keyboard on the iPad. The keys are in the right place; the general feel of the keyboard is good; the keys however are small and closer together than a regular keyboard (much like the keys on a small netbook computer). The case is sleek aluminum and it fits the iPad to a tee affording very good protection. Just click the iPad into the case and there's no way the screen will get scratched or the iPad will fall out. I looked at a lot of iPad keyboards before deciding on this one. The deciding factor was a good review from Mossberg, the tech guru for the Wall Street Journal. He liked it...and what he said agreed with other reviews I had read. There are many places to buy this keyboard and I chose Amazon.com because it had the best price and it also has a very good return policy. I'm writing this from the keyboard...I would like to post a picture, but alas, this blog does not accept pictures from an iPad. That is something that Apple and Google need to work on.

Last Gasp of Summer

Off to the Tetons for a few days! I can hear the mountains calling me! Be back soon.

Boomerang Cloud

Nothing special...just a strange shaped cloud. The green is slowly fading, and autumn is on the way!

Cool Bike

In the summertime there are a lot of motorcycles in Jackson. Folks and their bikes come to Jackson for at least 2 major motorcycle attractions. The first is the Harley-Davidson Rally in Sturgis, SD (held this year from August 8-14). The second is the Beartooth Highway, which is considered the best motorcycle drive, and the most scenic road in America. One of the best ways to get to Sturgis is to drive the Beartooth and to get to the Beartooth, you need to go through Jackson!

Given that, we see a lot of bikes in town. I was attracted to this bike because it was a big touring bike, obviously for 2 people,

 It is well equipped with dual cup holders!

 Lots of shiny chrome!

 And, a badge telling the world that this bike is ridden and enjoyed! 

It cannot get any better!

Water water everywhere

In 2011 we have been blessed with just the right amount of water unlike most of the USA. Unlike Minot that had floods at the beginning of the summer, or the east coast which has had a very rainy summer, or the Texas which has not had enough water, we are still enjoying greenery and no water shortages. But all is not rosy.

On the first day of September, I can say that our rivers and lakes are full. In “normal” years, the Snake River is running very low and the two main reservoirs around here are being emptied out to make room for the winter. Right now, I don’t know where that winter water is going to go as there is no room in the reservoirs and the rivers the reservoirs feed are full to the top too.

What I’m showing today however is a picture of the record run-off we had from a local creek earlier in the summer. Normally, this tiny creek is about 8 to 12 inches wide and about 3 to 5 inches deep. Then on the 2nd of July, we had a record snow melt and the river ran over it’s banks and cut channels 12 feet deep. The repair crews are just getting around to fixing the damage. As you can see, the street is still closed; the trees are still down and at the very bottom of the chasm there’s the trickle of water.