Bingham Canyon

Stop two on our tour around the valley was the Bingham Canyon copper mine. The first time I was here they were using trains to haul the rock. Now it's big dump trucks.

It was a cloudy rainy day and the clouds hid the tops of the surrounding mountains. Click on the panorama to see it full-size. Hard to believe that there was once a mountain where this hole is. Took over 100 years to remove it with dynamite.

The trucks on the road are each larger than our house and can haul 240 tons of rock. The boys enjoyed watching them drive around. Too bad we didn't catch any blasting.

Smelly Beach

Saturday we played tourist around the salt lake valley. First stop: the smelly Great Salt Lake. We aren't sure if the smell eminated from the dead brine shrimp on the shore or the coal-fired Kenecott smelter across the street.

It was too cold for the boys to go swimming. Instead they played with the foam and tried their best not to fall in.

Deaths in the Family

Last Tuesday we learned that both Gramma P and JP's Uncle G died. We loaded up the family truckster and hit the road Thursday in an attempt to go 900 miles west to SLC in a day.

As we went west, the altitude increased and the air pressure decreased and the bag of chips swelled up like a racoon sleeping on the side of the road.

Once we left NE, we were treated to something other than blue skies and flat ground.

What's on the golf course? Antelope!
We made it to our hotel in 13 hours. The ever changing scenery of WY & UT made it exciting, especially for the boys, who have only road tripped across Iowa.

Pumpkin Run

Both boys and JP ran the one-mile Pumpkin Run at Pioneers Park this year. It's the largest kid cross country run in the nation. Here in Lincoln.

Crown Molding

We didn't have anything to do last weekend and the Huskers weren't playing, so JP said "Hey, let's put up crown molding in the living room." OK. It took seven 12-ft pieces to go around the room. Fortunately, for the first time in my life, I didn't make any mistakes on the saw and did not have to make a return journey to the Home Depot.

Birthdays

GP celebrated his bday with lasagne and sugar cookies.

JP ambushed CP's bday candles with trick candles that kept relighting. The boys thought it was the funniest thing ever. This week has been absolutely beautiful. I remember when we took CP home from the hospital and it was snowing.

ITLAPD 2010

Since International Talk Like A Pirate day fell on Sunday, this year we observed it on Monday at work. The guys all got in the spirit and wore their iPatches for me. It made my day. However, JP is not as appreciative of pirate talk and forbade it in the house. Arrrrrgh.

The HR manager asked me about the pirate flag flying on our flagpole. Um.... uh... it's a team building exercise we're doing.

Football Season Again!!!

Football season is back. Go Big Red!!! Homecoming is this weekend and will be another easy win.
Last year in the Big 12. Looking forward to taking on the Big 10 next year.

Death in the Hood

I'm sad to report that our neighbor EL to the north passed away after fighting cancer for a year. We will miss him.

Animals run the house

Dry paws on one side, cool clear water on the other. So that's the purpose of a double sink.

All the girls like to sleep past dawn.

Last Game

Last nite we watched our third and final Saltdogs game with work. It was a beautiful nite, and our neighbors went with us. After the game we were treated to a spectacular fireworks show out over the RR tracks.

There's Memorial Stadium, home of the Huskers. Hard to believe that in less than a week, it will once again become the third largest city in Nebraska. Go Big Red! Our opening game is against Western North Kentucky - will we be able to pull it off?

Every day, JP finds her knitting bag in disarray with all its contents scattered about the house. Today she found the culprit. All that stuff is usually in the bag.

Back to School

The boys headed back to school this week. CP started jr. high and is loving the independence it gives him. GP loves his new teacher and is glad to back with all his friends. I am taking a class on campus this semester that meets twice a week, so that should be exciting.

Yesterday was busy day. It started with teeing off @ 8:30 and playing 9 holes, then mow/trim/edge, then wash the car, then a trip to home depot for 500' of wire, then all afternoon in the sun installing the underground dog fence wire. If I were in the south, I'd say "Om tarred!"

Summer Storm

We finally had a summer storm blow thru last nite. It has been so hot and muggy lately, it was a blessing. We had beautiful thunderheads glowing pink in the sunset, spooky dark clouds and lots of nice cool wind, but the rain missed us by a mile (literally). We watched a lightning show to the east and Venus, Mars, & Saturn to the west in a clear dark blue sky.

NI Week 2010

I spent last week in Austin at NI Week. It's a weeklong geekfest put on by National Instruments. They make all of our test hardware and software. The guy in the picture is hooked up so that he can play Super Marioworld by twitching his eye.

Austin is such a fun city. I can't wait to go back next year.

Pole Position!

I finally gave up on the old Pentium II and escalated up to a speedy Pentium III. 600 MHz and 96 MB RAM running XP!! Whoo hoo. We can now play Pole Position and most of the old arcade games that need a steering wheel.

Saltdogs Game No. 2

Last nite we went to the second company-sponsored Saltdogs game. The neighbors across the street also went. The boys were interested in everything but the game. Until a foul ball came our way - that woke them up and they paid attention for 10 minutes.

More Trees

Last weekend we were wandering thru Campell's and found that all their trees were 25% off. Finally! We've been waiting for them to go on sale all summer. Click on the back yard panorama to see it full-size.

We got a columnar white pine, a norway spruce, and two large river birch. Needless to say, we had to dig a hole in the Nebraska clay for each. I am done with digging holes for a while.

Vacation!

We did our summer vacation over a 4-day weekend in mid-July. It was a whirlwind trip to Illinois to see Nana & the gang there. This is Max, BD's new dog. He is 100% puppy.

BD brought his SKS over for the boys to check out. CP is in love.

We spent one day on Lake Geneva at JP's favorite beach - Fontana. Clear water, soft sand, pleasant people - nice! Our friends from the old hood met us there and we finished the day with a great lunch at the beach bar next door.