QWest finally got DSL (High(er) speed internet) in our area so I signed up. It should be in and running Aug 4th. Which means I’ll have high(er) speed internet again! Cool! It’s going to cost only $10/mo more than the Verizon Wireless (slow) internet we have now. So, y’all stand by for more pictures, more video and more BS!!
Well, we did it. Went to the 2010 Sisters, Oregon Quilt Show. FUN!
Took off at about 0930 last Thursday morning and headed south. Went around Portland (so we wouldn’t get locked in "rush hour" traffic) and picked up HWY 84 Eastbound. Cool ride! Cool scenery! Hot weather! Filled up the gas tank somewhere along that length of highway (I am NOT used to others pumping my gas!) and headed back out to HWY 197 Southbound for Redmond. Man, I love that High Desert country! (Pics)
Got to Redmond about 1530 or so and checked into the Motel. Got a bite to eat then headed south to Bend, Oregon to see some Old West Museum thingie. After another hour or so we got there to find it was closing for the day. Bummer. Sorta. They wanted $15 per person to look at stuffed animals! Can you believe it?! We had more fun watching the Chipmunks in the parking lot…
Anyway, back to the motel for a night of the History Channel. 
Got up early Friday morning and had the $5 breakfast at the restaurant next to the motel. Made a quick stop at Albertson’s for drinks, ice and something to picnic on where ever we wound up around lunch time.
Headed East NorthEast for the John Day Fossil Beds Painted Hills Unit. (Pics) Wow! Impressive. Lots of great scenery along the way too. Got some great video both of the ride and the Painted Hills. Oh, did I mention? It was Hot! Plenty hot! SWMBO liked to have melted!
Left there after about an hour or so and headed further East to the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. That was another 1.5 hours drive (or so). Nice place to visit though. Great scenery outside and a pretty good Museum with lots of fossils. Ranger girl gave a pretty good talk about the general area even if she held it outside where it was HOT. Did I mention that it was HOT?
Took off from there and headed back West almost to Redmond then South almost to Bend then back East to the Pine Mountain Observatory. Nice ride! Last 11 or so miles is all dirt road up to the Observatory. Cool! We walked to the top of the mountain (even above the Observatory) and took some pictures and video then back down to the car. We were going to leave but one of the Astronomers invited us to hang around and watch the presentation. So we just relaxed a couple of hours until that started.
Was a pretty good introduction to Astronomy and info about the Observatory and other related stuff. Afterwards, after dark, we walked up to the 24" telescope and got to look through it at Saturn. Got to see the International Space Station go overhead also. Cool! Double Cool!
But it was getting really late, we were freezing our butts off and getting hungry so we left and headed back to the motel in Redmond. It was only about a 1.5 hour (or so) drive. After showering the days grime off we crashed.
Got up early Saturday morning and had the $5 breakfast again. Headed out for Sisters, Oregon where I dropped SWMBO off so she could see the quilts. Headed back to Redmond, then North through Madras to some podunk little town where I turned back East to go to the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. One Hundred Thirty Miles Later I get to the place. Really not much to see. We should have seen it as part of what we did Friday. Maybe started (or ended) there. Some really impressive rock formations! (Pics) I started up one of the trails but got only about 3/4 of the way before I wasn’t too sure of my footing and turned around. Hot? Triple digit temperatures!
Took the Long way back to Madras then south to Redmond then West to Sisters and met SWMBO for dinner. She was pretty much done with walking around in that heat and looking at quilts. (Pics) So we grabbed a bite to eat and headed out.
West to Salem through some really beautiful country along lakes and through forests on Hwy 22. Turned North on I-5, went around Portland (again) and, except for a stop at the Rest Stop, got all the way home (on one tank of gas!) about 2230. CRASHED for the night and here we are.
What a great trip! What great company! What great scenery! What great weather! This trip was more than worth whatever it cost for me.
More later!
I know. I know. Life, especially mine, gets into a rut where you do the same thing over and over and over to the exclusion of everything else. That’s My Life. Get up. Browse the Internet for a couple of hours each morning looking for a job while listening to the tv news. SSS and get dressed. Clean the kitchen. Do some laundry. Take the dog for a walk a couple times a day. Feed the cat. Listen to the news. Go to bed. Repeat.
Had some thunder today. Cool! Not a lot of rain though. Double Cool! Supposed to be getting warmer over the next couple of days. Really Cool! Looking forward to it.
Had a deer in the backyard today. Nice.
Been reading a lot lately about Oil-vs-Natural Gas, Americans-vs-Illegal Mexicans and Obama-vs-The Constitution. You don’t want to get me started.
Reinstalled X-Plane the other night and have been "flying" all over the place.
Installed Linux Mint 9 into a virtual machine the other day also cause my friend in Pa wanted me to look at it. Nice. I still like Aurox 11.1 though. Linux is a lot of fun to play with and I would switch over if I could do everything in Linux that I do in Windows.
Moved my desk into the "formal" dining room. Just couldn’t take the mess in the living room! It’s still messy but not where guests will sit around. I hate wires! But we’re stuck with them so I like to get them as out of sight as possible. Still doing internet through Verizon and it sucks. Verizon works great; but it ain’t high speed cable internet access. I need High Speed Internet Access!
Well, video’d the thunder we had today and am going to make a time-lapse and some music. Later!
See Who is really crossing our Southern Border!
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438021/index.html
A video you should all watch concerning the New Immigration Bill being rammed through Congress. You aren’t going to like it! (The Bill.) Why is Congress trying to screw us Americans? To get the votes for the next elections.
http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/17260182/1610997888/name/ftc-vi26.wmv
Question: How in the Hell does an Illegal Alien get to vote in our elections? (Is anyone else out there thinking of things like this?)
Can you believe that with all the really important issues we could be thinking about and acting on the NEWS folks covered what Mrs. Obama wore to a party and what they had to eat? But you’d expect that in a country where who wins at singing on "American Idol" is followed more closely than our energy crises or who is going to grow food for the next generation (and how they’re going to do it!).
During a press conference today, Calderon strongly criticized Arizona’s new immigration law as discriminatory, and President Obama called for comprehensive immigration reform.
Who cares? If Calderon could take care of his people they wouldn’t be coming across the border Illegally. Sure it’s discriminatory, they freaking ILLEGALS. So, I guess Calderon & Obama both agree to support Illegal activities. Isn’t it nice when Heads of State get along?…
So, pay for more INS Agents or pay for the National Guard to patrol the border. Actually, having the National Guard do it would be a GREAT training ground for actual War. They’d get shot at and get to shoot back and all the humping in the desert. My, it might approximate actual conditions for all the wars we will continue to fight over in the mid-east…
While I truly feel sorry for Oklahomians; what’s NEW about this News?
And we care, why? Cuba doesn’t exactly have a long history of human rights advocacy, does it? We haven’t had great relations with them for a long time so why should we care what the heck they think about Arizona. What are they gonna do; stop their folks from swimming to Florida for a taste of freedom? Get real, folks!
No, what Haiti needs is a REAL government! And who the hell is Sean Penn and why do we care what he thinks? And, Hey Sean, what about sending aid to Tennessee instead? You know: take care of Americans first. Dweeb.
Aw, they hurt our feelings by not believing the way we do so let’s hide our heads in the sand and just not listen to them.
My, what an important use of technology. Let’s make something to kill. Yeah, that sounds good. Well, at least they aren’t making humans to hunt down and kill. Yet.
Yeah! Leaves more room online for the Porn ads!
Need another test subject?
But don’t get me started!