Friday, April 29, 2011

Welcome back to Idaho


Guess there won't be much golfing today, eh?  The weather has been rather wild all over America this year so why not Idaho as well?  It's what they call a "late, cold spring" here.  As you can see, it didn't stick to the sidewalks or streets and it will probably be gone not long after lunch.  However, there might be another similar dose tomorrow morning.  We hear it's snowing pretty hard over in Wyoming and will continue to do so for a day or two.  That means it's just heaping more on top of an already bulging snowpack. As Hank The Cowdog would say, "Oh, Boy!"

We actually enjoy the dawn of days such as these.  It's calm outside and the sky is a brilliant blue color that only seems to appear after a snowstorm.  The low angle morning sun is putting a million diamonds in the trees and a carpet of sparkles across what looked like grass yesterday.  We also enjoy days such as these because it gives us an excuse to work in the basement organizing our stuff.  Ah, the joys of retired life.

Yesterday was pretty busy for both of us.  Susun ventured forth from the coziness of our house to visit with several of her friends.  We both enjoyed a great lunch with Houn Dawg at that taco joint on First Street.  It's kinda weird that we can get better tacos here in Idaho than we can in the Verde Valley, doncha think?

I messed around on all sorts of arcane, inscrutable sorts of things.  Chief on this list of arcane-ities was Echo Link.  I won't bore you with the details on this blog.  Click here to read about it on our HAM blog.
We went to Barnes & Noble to study the Nook Color.  We're still not convinced that the available e-readers are worth the asking price so we will continue to take a wait and see attitude toward them.
Our morning meeting with Carrie S. was as fun as we hoped it would be.  Late in the afternoon, we went down and met with Dave C. at Parks & Rec HQ.  He's up to his eyeballs managing that Division of the city and I fear I only heaped more onto his already overloaded plate.  Oh, well, that's why he gets the Big Bucks.

We ventured into the city's downtown coin shop--it's the only place to buy and sell silver bullion here.  Most such places are rather sedate.  So, it was rather interesting to see a heavily armed coin shop owner bristling with pistols and ammo.  Not that I mind such a display, not at all--it's just something you don't see often, even in wild and wooly Idaho.  The current buy price for 90% silver is 32.6 times face.

Get this: So far, we've visited four thrift stores and have spent a danged dime.  That may be a lifetime first.  We've had some things in our hand but wisely put them down and backed our of each store with our hands up.  Hopefully, this refreshing trend can continue but it's unlikely.  Today's the day of the Idaho Falls High School annual rummage sale.  Imagine an entire gym filled with junk.  It's almost certain we will find something there we can't live without.

Another strange development is that I am avoiding grocery stores.  I am trying to shop only every third day instead of every day.  What's come over me? 

Well, this morning is gonna be interesting.  In about 30 minutes, we're going to join in the Verde Valley Amateur Radio Association's daily 7 am "net."  Yep, that's the magic of Echo Link--it turns this very PC into the equivalent of a HAM radio and I can connect to the Mingus Mountain repeater sitting right here in snowy Idaho Falls.  No kidding.  I will be able to "ragchew" with the Good Ol' Boys just like I was sitting down in Wimwok using our 5.5 watts ICOM IC V-8 hand held transceiver.  Ah, the marvels of modern technology. (Luckily, it's 8 am up here when it's 7 am down there.)

Well, that's about all for this morning.  Have a great day and Many Cheers!  jp

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you made it safely to Idaho. No moisture here, just wind. I think it is triditional part of the county fair. Take care. = Wes

The Goatherder said...

It's Fair Week, the wind is REQUIRED to blow. The Fair wouldn't be The Fair without grit in your eyeballs and a dusting of brown on top of your beer suds.

The Goatherder said...

Going tonight, Onion Blossoms, Burnt End sam-wiches and roasted corn on a stick....mmmmmmmmm.