This was done from my new little Robot.  Pretty cool.  Not that I can blog, but that I can blog from a Phone.  Someday I will have to finish that Pig vs. Chicken or Pilot vs. ATC post.  For now this is good. 

If Jamette would ever read these and reply or respond she would learn I did give her the account she asked for.

      

Well...
Today was a dirt day.  With all the horses that have been visiting us they have left future fertilizer.  The best way to get rid of it is to grind it up. 

So here are some pictures of Kathy playing on the ATV with the drag.    She sure looks like she is having fun doesn't she?  I never get tired of looking at that smile.


Kathy Kicking up a little dust.  Cough, cough...



You have to admire the concentration.



More fun on an ATV.



Not to be out done.  I had to go borrow Buck's tractor as well as his ATV and move something heavy.

      

Today’s adventure was a trip to the Zoo.  Not the greater Phoenix Zoo, but a small private zoo.   We saw hundreds of animals. 

The oddities in a zoo are many.  From the spider that’s 10 inches  (NOT Centimeters – but inches) in leg spread, to this cat just a mere two feet above my head.



I don’t know this Lion’s name but it should be Rufus… Rufus the Lion Hearted.  Why I don’t know he looks like a Rufus.


This is one of a series of about 20 images shot while these monkey’s chased this bird off their island.  Look at the intensity of this chase.  It went on a good 5 minutes on this small island until the NON-water bird jumped into the water to swim away.  Why it didn’t fly I don’t know.



I like stripped things.  While the Porkupine isn't striped, it fits in with the Zebra and Tiger.







Certainly the highlight of the day was the expressive faces of the Giraffes. 
We need ideas for captions of these but here is a start. 

I think this should have a title something like.
“Beer, it’s not just for breakfast any more.”


This is certainly
“The day the Giraffes went wild and became carnivorous, starting with Scott’s hand.”



I like this one but the title has got to be simply:
“Stoned Again.”


I think this is my favorite, look at the smile on Kathy’s face.



Well.  That's all the news that's fit to print.  Tonight anyway.  It's 10:30 and it's been a long day but....

"Here's looking at you kid!"

      

It is very hard to take a picture of something as magnificent and large as the Grand Canyon and post it to a BLOG.  Technologically it's eazy peazy, but how to convey the view, the awe-inspirering feelings.   That's the rub.  I am standing in most of these shots just a few feet from the edge.   The distance from rim to rim varies quite a bit.  In general I think you are looking at about 25 miles from where these images are taken to the other rim.

This was taken from a location called Cape Royal.  Probably one of my best shots showing the variations.  That small dead tree you see in the bottom of the image is growing on the ledge about 10 feet below me and about the same out.  Then it drops for hundreds of feet.




This too was taken from that same point.  However it's looking to a formation called "Angel's Window"    Yes we went out on that point as well.



This picture is looking between the first and Angels Window.  You can still see that little dead tree.




Last one from this point of view.


This was the view from the lodge.  It's called the Forever Lodge ( http://foreverlodging.com/lodging.cfm?PropertyKey=181 )
 
The image you will see in that link is the view in the picture below.

      

These two images are showing the view from the bridge, but also how wide it is.  This bridge was one of only 7 crossings of the colorado River within hundreds of miles.  So it was used by truckers and tourasts alike.  This is now a foot bridge but you can see how narrow it was. 

Also you can see the magnificent view of the beginings of the Canyon.   Looking north from the middle of the Lee's Ferry crossing Bridge.  (  Just Google Lee's Ferry Crossing or Bridge for more info.   ) 



Yes this was a two lane road for crossing the river.

      

This is Kathy and I standing with the canyon as the backdrop to our picture.

      

Yes by the time you read this we will be off on our big adventure.

Check the blog twitter connection on the right of the blog for updates. 

      

Sometimes we don't let our hopes get too high.    If an event seems almost too good we are always afraid it will be snatched away. 

So goes it with our upcomming vacation.  Kathy and I have not been away alone for a long time.  No dogs, no heat, just fun.  I have never seen the wonders of the Grand Canyon. 

But it's almost here.  Kathy and I have the reservations. 

We have the route. 

We have the wheels. 

We have the crew (the GoldWing Road Riders Association) 

All we need to do is leave.   

Pictures to follow

      

I think the need to memorize passwords is probably what lead to the fall of the Roman empire. 

I am certain this is what will lead to the fall of American Civilization as we know it.

We have bank passwords, we have multiple bank accounts and as such need multiple log ins for each of these accounts.  yes you have one bank but you have credit cards, and other things that cause the need to have multiple on line accounts for banks and financial institutions.

then you have accounts that are used for paying your other bills,  electricity, cable bills, phone bills, Gas bills.  (Sorry to be abusing your name Bill)  Then you have insurance bill and all these have different accounts and different password requirements.

Then you have Email accounts, and if you even try to NOT live on the bleeding edge of computing like I do you probably have at least 2 maybe 3 or even 4 different email accounts. 

Then you have your social networking accounts,  Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, the well known ones. 

Then you have your hobby accounts for things like 'Tractors Weekly' or 'GL1800Riders.com' or the Model Club. 

Then you have the silly accounts for all these stupid posts your brother / son / hubby puts up.  Who the hell wants to read all this stuff anyway.  Let alone know how to post a reply.

Yes passwords have us tongue tied.  Lets face it.  Gone are the days when the simple name of your family dog was secure.  We used to have a cat named 'Tiger' that was a secure password in 1966 maybe.  But now there are downloadable tools that can decrypt and decode passwords like, Eye1Sdad0gSb#$1245"  yeah that's a password.  Go remember 45 or 50 of those! 

Or what's worse, we have systems that force you to change your password every so many days, and then they won't even let you freaking use the one you had last. 

Next we are going to start using something like a bio-metric device (fingerprint reader) instead of a password.  Then when you really need the password you will forget it because you have been entering your fingerprint for so long.  OH
Wait!!!! 

That was me last week.

      

"Twitter"  is a quick social networking solution that is easily accessed from a phone.  It is limited to 140 characters because that's the size if an Ethernet packet.  A single Ethernet packet is analgous to the largest thing that can be transmitted in one chunk on the internet.  Everthing is broken into Ethernet packets, and really big things are just broken into lots of packets.  Twitter was created to only handle one packet at any one time.  

It is a series of short messages that you post, or you can read those people's posts who you are following.

No technical skill is required beyond the ability to dial a phone and browse to websites.


My Space ~~ Facebook both are more complete social networking sites.  These include the ability to post whole pages of your personal thoughts.  Link to friends and allow friends to see the things you have written or pictures you have posted.  No technical skill is required beyond that of ability to browse to websites.  It does however enable you to upload images and display them.   There is also the ability to block people from seeing what you post, a little. 


This has become my life!  The ability of us to inter connect these things. 

We have reached a point in technology where people who use it believe they are "Smarter" than those who don't use it.  While they (users) have no idea how the technology actually works.

I have spent the better part of the last few days actually reading twitter search results.  I have come to some inescapable conclusions. 

First ~~  I ain't da only one who can't spell! 

Two ~~ There is an entire sub-culture of people who think that it's OK to use entirely contrived verbiage as a way to communicate.

Three ~~ The actual amount of data / information / intelligent communication that is transfered from any one single tweet is as confusing as the actual TCP/IP packet it's self.  This is what passes as communication on Twitter..

"Yooo, this dude was clipping fingernails on LIRR a couple months back and the conductor spazzed on him and almost kicked him off "

And my personal favorite:  (While I have no clue what this means I am reasonably sure I could decode the binary representation faster than this text / Twitter message
"Dude wtf im in flowershop aka dro shop we roll up stankyyy. And then have a quiz on whats the difference betweeen dubs,8ths,dimes"