Looking east from Gazelle, CA

 

 

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no bumpers?

It's pure happenstance that this is here

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Heh!

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The glitch was man made.
It was my doing.
It has kept me from posting since last week.
We drove north to the land of the Yoopers and left the bag containing the tablet, Kindle, and my iPad, along with the charger and cables, sitting on a chair at my brother in law's house.

It is difficult enough to post using the primitive keyboard of the tablet, even more so when it is a couple of hundred miles away.

Firtunately, the Postal Service has flat rate Priority Mail boxes which will hold that particular bag and guarantee two-day delivery.
So it could be shipped to MB's son's house while we were still here [we leave in the morning for Fargo].

No, I haven't yet forgotten that I'm gonna tell about meeting up with Craig and Jen.
It's been long enough now that it's almost an anti-climax.
The four of us met at a restaurant for lunch.
Something like three hours later we parted only because we had to get back to buy groceries for dinner.
The conversation was that interesting.
The fake friends reference relates to the idea that until people meet face to face the friendship they have is somehow artificial.
It's only those who don't blog and comment on other blogs who consider those friends "fake."

Tbese folks are definitely real.

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There are days when o e wants to do anything but blog, particularly on balky equipment.
It appears we will carry a laptop with us in the future, for several reasons.
We're visiting family in a Detroit suburb.
PHG is here, too.
It may seem like things have slowed.
Not so.
Just no posts.

Mrs. Cuz and himself arrive tomorrow for a whirlwind visit, and the belated celebration of our birthday¹.
The first order of business will be lunch [because eating is what our family does best and they aren't arriving early enough for breakfast].
That's only a rough plan.
The only other scheduled event is the baseball game Saturday.
We know we're taking the ferry from, and to, Vallejo, but there's a certain latitude in that.

¹same day, same year, same time zone, adjacent post offices.

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Barring some cataclysm we will be home for the next eight days.
Then I'm off to a weekend men's retreat in the mountains near Lassen National Park.
Afterward nobody has any trips planned until September.

September is a whole 'nuther story.
So I'd better upload the pictures I took when we were at Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon.

I didn't take any photos in Las Vegas.
That city really disturbs me.

So we'll tease a little.
The first shot is of Hoover Dam.

from the Arizona side, looking at the highway bridge, too

We had to drive back through Las Vegas to get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which we visited the next day after camping.

Then we drove to Zion National Park, where we camped two nights.

first look at Zion

Then we visited Bryce Canyon on our way to Wendover, UT via Salt Lake City.

Bryce Canyon in the foreground, Aquarius Plateau on the horizon.
The plateau is the highest in the U.S.

more as time permits

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Maybe it isn't the Muse.
It may just be that I have more things to occupy my time?
Maybe it's because I just don't spend that much time at home?

I mean I'm still at home a lot, just not sitting in front the pc.
TV viewing has been reduced to almost nil.
We might watch something on Netflix occasionally, or a ballgame.
But, whereas two years ago the tube was on most evenings, now it can go weeks without being switched on.

The past two weeks we've been home four days.
We are aiming for a trifecta by leaving again on Wednesday for almost a full week.
I supposed I could write about that stuff, but, other than the pirates*, there really isn't much of interest.
 
You could go back and reread some earlier posts.
They'll tell you pretty much what we've been up to.

The next trip covers more distance [to Milwaukee] and allows for a little more freelancing [meaning we will have to amuse ourselves], it will probably be a little more relaxing, as well.

. . . and a parrot, too

 aaaargh!

*faux seafaring types - read: amateurs in costumes

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I'm guessing the travels are pretty well done . . .   at least until January.
I don't count overnights to relatively nearby family members.

We were tested a little on our most recent trip to Minneapolis.
The trip back was alright, even though there was a delay on our connecting flight from LAX.
We really don't like flying through LA . . .   on any airline.

We found things a little chilly in Minnesota.
It even spit a little snow for us, but not enough to really enjoy.

The return trip was when it got kind of exciting.
Our original flight home had been changed from traveling through LA again to Salt Lake City.
Where it got a little dicey was with that connection.
We had only about 35 minutes between arriving and departing.
The arrival gate was nowhere near the departure gate and we were seated in the very last row of the aircraft.
The app on my phone tells me it was 1/3 mile, mostly through an obstacle course made up of other travelers focusing on getting to their own destinations.
So, we got our exercise for the day . . . and arrived home on time.

The bonus is it has finally cooled down to about what it is routinely like and there are prospects of more than a trace of rain.

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I am not a prolific blog poster.
What I mean is I have a difficult time coming up with something for each day.
I DO try to post at least once each day.

Oh, by the way, MB and I were in Milwaukee for grandparents day last week.
But I digress.

Away from Wednesday to Sunday and I have nothing?
Seriously?

Okay, so I overpaid for a decent size pumpkin.
That's okay because ALL of the proceeds from the fundraiser were being sent to victims of the hurricane in Puerto Rico.

(I hope Tony Santos sees this in will cut me some slack)

After I carried the pumpkin, I did not personally select, around the building to the parking lot at the school, we found out they had wagons on which to haul the pumpkins.

We were quizzed on grandparents day.
We found out we're at least as smart as an eighth grader.

maybe more tomorrow

And another

source: XKCD (10/4/17)

The caption reads, "And yet I have no trouble believing that the start of the 2016 election was several decades ago."

on a roll

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yeah, move along

nothin' here

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source: dailytimewaster

We got back from Portland late Sunday.
It felt good to take yesterday off.
You can see I'm not working [sic] today, either.

they say keep it weird up there