Ignore (EOM)

[Ron61]

Steve,

The digital cameras are great. I just have a cheap Olympus with 4 MPX, but I carry it all the time and it takes great pictures. Only thing I miss is the 60 MM zoom lens that my 35 MM Pentax had. This one only has a 10 power zoom. I have a huge amount of money in a high end 35 MM Nikon with various lens and I doubt if I have taken 10 rolls of film with it. I just got tired of carrying around that bag. I like a small camera that I can stickin my pocket and the Olympus fits that perfectly. It isn't nearly as good as the newer ones with the longer zooms and more MPXs, but it does the job for me. I have looked at some newer models and just really can't justify the price for what I do.
If you have trouble loading the pictures into your gallery, just give me a yell and we will get them in. I am still sorting through the 100 pictures that Lil Mike sent me from the Battifields around Gettysburg.
To bad you couldn't stop by Shasta Lake. I just live 10 miles from the dam. Getting lost in Calif. is easy. I still do it all the time. And they are always changing the highways it seems so every time I go back some place after a year or so, it is all different.

Ron

[4RE KLR]

Speaking of the Dam.

You won't believe this but while we were walking across the dam a Blue with white striped cobra drove accross the dam.

I waved at the guy(did not know who) but the general consenses now is to keep moving. I am real surprised they still let 18 wheelers accross the dam. I read signs everywhere no commercial traffic, but when we were there we saw @15 big trucks cross it. We could not figure out why.

Besides if "Ben ladden" wanted to blow it up, it would get blown up. They still let regular traffic accross it and travel trailers. I noticed they are building a new road beside the old one. Are they going to divert traffic accross a new bridge or is that just for existing heavy traffic?

I have been there four times before and the water level is the lowest I have ever seen. I could not tell for sure but it looks about fifty feet low. How far down is the water level?


Tru,

Never drain your household system for long periods of time. I have built over 450 new homes and know this first hand. In fact it is made clear in our home owmers manuals. The reason is when you drain your water pipes for long periods of time several things start to occur.

One, bacteria like you have never seen (or want to) will take over. It will require a bleach wash of the system to kill.

Two, some homes (not any of mine) will have a PVC water supply line. When these types of lines dry out they will start to leak. They are designed to contain water not air. It is very bad for the fittings for these types of lines to loose water pressure for extended periods of time.

Three, Even the drains should have water in them. They will dry up and leak as well. It you have a bathroom in your home that is not used regularly, go in there every once and a while and run the water in the sinks and shower, and flush the toilet. It will do your system good.

If you are leaving for extended periods, simply turn off the water outside at the front of your home. Most newer homes have seperate water shutoff valves at the front of the house. If not, turn it off at the meter. If the weather will be freezing, put in some antifreeze in the toilets and the water system. When you get back simply turn the water back on and run it for about five mins. Turn the gas or electric off to the water heaters, at the pilot lights and the valves. This will keep the heaters from evaporating the water inside and burning up the heater and down your home.

There are different ways to protect your home in different parts of the country. If it gets really hot, or really cold when your will be gone simply call a local plumber and ask them, they will be happy to help out.

[4RE KLR]

Some picturs in the gallery.

I am still loading.

[Ron61]

Steve,

Those are great pictures and boy do they bring back some memories. Many of the places still look just the same to me as they did when I was there working. Now you have me wanting to go on a trip and see all of them again.

Ron

[4RE KLR]

I posted some more in the gallary.

Ron,
Carrie and I were talking about flying out to Vegas later this summer. We will look you up when we go back. I did not realize you were so close.

BTW: I got a good laugh at all the yards in California that are gravel. No landscaping of any kind. It made me think of you. It is amazing how many freeways have gravel instead of grass outside Vegas.

[Ron61]

Steve,

There are a lot of gravel yards around here and I am about ready to add another one. Some places grass just will not grow and in others it grows like mad. But the state encourages low maintenance lawns, read that as non watered ones, due to the demand for water.
If I had know that you were going to be passing down the coast, I would have driven over and met you. The drive from here to the coast isn't to bad, just a long winding stage coach route over the mountains. You drive 50 miles to actually go about 30. But if there isn't any traffic and no road work, it is a nice drive.
As for the freeway bushes they used to have here they had to cut them all down. They finally stumbled onto the fact that Cal Trans had been watering and taking care of almost 5 miles of Marijuna that some of these people had put in with the Olendars. Ignore the bad spelling. So they solved the problem by ripping out miles of the bushes between the North and South bound lanes.

Ron

[Ron61]

This is for Kristen/CG/RB,

Those Blondes Again

Homer, a handsome dude, walked into a sports bar around 9:58 PM. He sat down next to this blonde at the bar and stared up at the TV. The 10:00 news was on. The news crew was covering a story of a man on a ledge of a large building preparing to jump.

The blonde looked at Homer and said, "Do you think he'll jump?"

Homer says,"You know, I bet he'll jump."

The blonde replied, "Well, I bet he won't."

Homer placed $20 on the bar and said, "You're on!"

Just as the blonde placed her money on the bar, the guy did a swan dive off of the building, falling to his death.

The blonde was very upset and handed her $20 to Homer, saying, "Fair's fair. Here's your money."

Homer replied, "I can't take your money, I saw this earlier on the 5 o'clock news and knew he would jump."

The blonde replies, "I did too; but I didn't think he'd do it
again."

Homer took the money.......

Ron

[4RE KLR]

Ron,

Thats funny.........

I did notice the oleanders along the road. I told my wife Texas should do the same, Maryjane aside of corse. They are all in bloom now and look nice.

It is really too bad I did not take better notice of how close you are to where we were. I would liked to have met you.

[Ron61]

Steve,

We will get to meet one of these days. I just got up about 45 minutes ago and is is still raining lightly here. Rained quite a bit yesterday, so this wek hasn't been very nice to be outside. Been doing some house cleaning. If I keep this up I will have to buy a dress for crying out loud.
By the way, I am down loading some of your pictures as we sent all we had back to an aunt and their house burned so I have none of my stuff left from my youth. Hope that is ok with you. I remember one of me by the General Sherman when I was about 14 and I think I almost came up to the bottom of the bark.

Ron

[4RE KLR]

It is amazing. The bark is two feet thick.

There was a bad storm chasing us across the desert but did not make town.

That road across death valley is a nightmare. I wonder just how many people get killed there in a given month. The speed limit is 65 we were traveling at 85 and we were passed 1,783 on that one road. These people were flying. One car cane by so fast it was "lifting" I had heard about that but never seen it. A few minuites later we saw flashing lights. The road is so long and uphill that we watched the chase for twenty mins before they stopped moving. When we got to the "wreck" the same little "lifting" car had crossed the median, flipped several times and hit two on coming cars. The police were the only ones there. They were looking to the air for H-vac (helocopter). It was bad.

We were on the other side but i'll bet traffic stopped for two to three hours, at least!

[4RE KLR]

Mike,

Now that school is out what are you going to do with yourself?

[trularin]

He will be running around with girls, dreaming of cobras and slinging nails.

What a life.

That or Ron will have him over for the summer to cut the lawn every two days. I sure am glad I mow over three acres, I only do it "every-so-often"

[Ron61]

Steve,

They have driven that way across the Death Valley highway for as long as I can remember. At least you saw a CHP. I never saw one the times I drove across there and I drove as fast as I dared in my old car. And they passed me like I was on the Autobon in the slow lane. I have had the front end get light, but my worst scare came in a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500XL that I had bought new and only had about 6 months. Never drive over 110 with the windows down. The air actually sucked the headliner and the steel bows that held it right down and all I heard was a big WHOOM and everything went black. I knew there were no more cars around me so I started braking just as much as I could without locking them up. After I got stopped, and pulled that mass of headliner our of my face, I got out, waited a few minutes until I was sure I could drive and took the car to Ford. I told them I was driving along and everything came down. Those steel rods that went across the top to hold the liner were actually bent and had to be replaced.

Tru,

I need Mike for cutting rose bushes now. It has rained here the last two days and I will need to mow when it dries up again. I am thinking of going to the California low maintenance lawns like Steve saw on his trip. No mowing with them.

Ron

[hey,littlecobra]

bye, bye!

ya'll be good.

Steve, you ought to be heading to Tulsa, too!

Trailer is all set up and looking good.
Kristen

[4RE KLR]

Kristen,

We just got back from a 5,885 mile trip. I need some rest from driving.

Be safe and have a good trip. Tulsa is fun with Gary Morris there. He is a hoot to be around.


Ron,
Those rock yards looked real nice. I told my wife we need one here as well. I tell you what we spent the most time up along the Oregon coastline. Now THATS is where I want to live. The ocean on one side and three hundred foot tall trees on the other. If anyone does not believe in God, Go and have a look at those trees.

[Ron61]

Steve,

The Oregon coast line has some beautiful country. My best friend's wife is from up in Oregon and they go over to the coast every year for a week or so. They put their trailer at a camp in Cresent City just South of the Oregon border and North of Redwoods National Park. I have driven highway 101 from Santa Barbara to Washington and it is a really scenic route.
Darn, talk about weird weather. It was raining and cold 2 hours ago and now it is sunny and 80 degrees and humid as it was when I had to go to Georgia. I am to old for these radical weather changes every 12 hours.

We seem to have lost Lil Mike. I wonder if he blew his computer up yesterday trying to fix the CD drive. I haven't seen him logged on at all today. Oh, well, he needed a new computer anyway.

Ron

[blykins]

Nah....he's probably playing kissy face somewhere....it's summer time and he's a teenager....ah...memories...

[flipper35]

Anyone now if those pheremone baited mosquito traps work indoors? Somehow we are being invaded by them. We have been running the A/C for weeks so they aren't coming in through the windows or screen doors. The tub in the second bathroom doesn't get used much, but we had poured bleach down the drain and plugged it so I don't think they were breeding there.

[4RE KLR]

Brent,
Yes they do work, very well. You will need to do some research before you buy though. It is my understanding that one brand, and I am sorry I can't think of the name now, puts off a toxic to humans scent.

You should call a good exterminator to spray around your home. Run water through your plumbing for @ 10 mins in each line. Do not leave bleach in the lines for extended periods of time as it will eat you pipes up! yes even the plastic ones. If you have a septic sytem call your service man for a safe treatment. It is realitively cheap at about $45.00 including the service charge.

Some exterminators now have entire yard systems that work very very well. They are about $2,500.00 installed for yards up to an acre. I know that sounds expensive but you WILL NOT have ANY mosquitoes at all. They garruntee (sp) that

Look up ABC pest and lawn if they have it in your area. If not call them and get them to design a yard system for you and install it yourself or have a local plumber or sprinkler system guy do it for you. They are very easy to install and if you do it yourself you will save about 60% of the tatal cost.

Good luck. Remember a mosquite can't live without water. Check your dog food bowls and other places in your yard for small pools of water. A dog bowl of water can breed hundreds of thousands and could also give your pets heartworms.


www.abcpest.com

[flipper35]

The county is coming to spray the outside, since everyone in the neighborhood gets water from canals to feed cisterns they take care of that stuff. The bleach was in for a while but ran a bunch of hot water through to rinse everything out of the trap. Side note: My office managers parents own the local Roto-Rooter and said bleach is the best thing to use on a clog as it isn't nearly as bad for the pipes.

The one I was looking at is for indoor use for months at a time, you just have to refill the trap with water and bait as it evaporates. Has the pheremone bait and a detergent to release the surface tension so the little buggers drown when they get in it. I figured they would be better than constantly spraying pesticide in a can everyday. We had a very wet winter compared to normal. I just want to know where the things are breeding in the house.

I think we are due to have the septic system looked at anyway, but do they breed in the septic tank and come up through the drains?