Sliding Man 2007

It's the end of the summer season. It's Gary's 50th Birthday.
It's time for a party. And so the Adult-Slip-N-Slide was born.



For nearly a week the creators toiled, grading and building a course, using pony poop for the berm, laying out a ramp of more than 65 feet of plastic sheeting surrounded by indoor-outdoor carpet. At the bottom, a 14-foot whitewater raft filled with water for a landing pool.
 
Add soap for extra slip, and it's SLIDING MAN 2007.

Sliding Man 2007

Click the small pic and then hit the slideshow button for the full, slipperyfun experience!

Iconic

The Green Frog greets us as we stop at the eponymous market.
 
At night, he doffs his neon hat.


 
Young ground squirrel worships.

Cloudscapes

The piles of cumulous over the mountains in the afternoons provide nice contrast.

The lake has all but disappeared from Robinson Cove
 


Our observatory on the Wildlife Highway
 

Yellowjacket: always interesting
 

We would fight them on the beaches but...

it's too damned hot.

Labor Day

The scene across the river
 

If you are wondering about the prolific posting, it is because it is FREEKING hot outside. The only sane place to be is under the AC.

Meteors

Early morning on the 1st, we went outside to see what the Aurigid meteor shower would come up with. Some years it's minor, but there were predictions that this one might be quite dramatic -- perhaps hundreds of meteors per hour. Unfortunately, the moon was quite bright, so we only saw on the order of dozens. Still, it was a great show. Roberta saw a lot more than I did this time. Some of them left streaks which lasted a second or two. We sat out in our "corral" on reclining chairs and just enjoyed the sights (hoping that no bears would show up -- it's on what we call the Wildlife Highway.)

Night things.

 
Moonrise the night of the eclipse. We got up through the night to watch the moon go through its phases, turning
a rusty red at totality

 
A local bat decided to hang out on one of our windows so that we could see him (or her) extra close up.

 
Look at those marvelous little claws!

Across the Deaths Valley

 
Then through the Panamint Valley

 
Coming down Townes Pass
 
Live is good at 55mph. You see a lot more...

And then we were off...

 

Three shots from the Wynn.

Seen leaving the garage after our usual Sunday poker session:

 
Fast construction

 
Fun car

 
Fantastic machines

Our new toy

Can you guess what it is?





Why, it's an AIRSTREAM Bambi!



Click the slideshow below for more pics!

Air Bambi

Interior shots to follow.

Josh gets to be on Antiques Roadshow!

Last Saturday, we lined up with hundreds of folks to have our treasures identified by the experts from PBS's "Antiques Roadshow"

I brought a "lava" cameo broach, and Josh brought the Woody Guthrie drawings, a gift from Guthrie to Josh's dad.

The appraisers pitch interesting items to the producers and that's how the segments end up on the show, and Josh ended up in makeup.


The appraiser asked Josh if he knew what a Guthrie
autograph was worth.


and then explained that with the drawings,
the value tripled.


The shows will air (in HD for the first time)
beginning in January. Stay tuned!

Cat Photos

Just because...

Storm Chasing!

Thursday, just after we left the gym, we saw a huge pile of dark clouds building up to the west, so we headed up Charlston to Red Rock National Conservation Area just in time to see the washes roaring with rusty muddy water and the road closed by flooding.

Something like an inch of rain fell in 30 minutes, with even more in the mountains. The result was pouring down the canyons.

Search and Rescue looked for stranded hikers or cars stuck in the mud.

The water eventually runs into a large cache basin at the border of the park, and then down through the Las Vegas Wash.

Our Fabulous Dinner

 

Wednesday was our fifth anniversary and to celebrate, we dined at Restaurant Guy Savoy, perhaps one of the
most acclaimed restaurants anywhere. It was food as art.

Here's a slideshow:

Guy Savoy

And check out the website for Guy Savoy

Vegas changes...

 

It seems the skyline of Las Vegas changes every week. New towers rise above the old iconic places, and other buildings disappear. This view is down Sahara Avenue. That seemingly squat brown building is the old Sahara Hotel. The new towers are condos.

This past week, we went to the preview for the auction at The Frontier. There wasn't much to see. The place was tired and dirty, but here are a few snaps:

Last of the Frontier

(as usual, click the photo, then click slideshow)

4th of July Tubing!

We were two of a gang of 30. Josh's first time tubing! Yee-hah!




(we should add that Josh's technique needs a little work)

Josh didn't catch any fish...

but while we were splashing around in the creek, we saw what an excellent fisher a garter snake can be.

We heard a splash and saw the flash of rainbow trout on the shore, and the when we looked closer, saw the snake with his jaws wraped around the fish.

The process shown in the slide show took about an hour, and is not for those who have snake squeem...

Snake eats fish

(as usual, click on thr photo for the slide show)