July 2012

Overdue Target Practice

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We had sort of a busy day today. We took the dogs to the groomer for baths and a haircut for the big girl. That gave us a little time on our hands to get some things done. We went Christmas shopping (yes, in July), took Verna’s S&W 442 pistol to the Gun Trader for some cleanup, did some other shopping for provisions and then went to the range for some badly needed practice.

Image – Yours truly firing my Glock 30 .45 and Verna firing her S&W 908S 9mm pistol – click to enlarge.

The shooting went well after some problems getting the target set up. The club renovated the pistol bays and the old target stand rails were gone, so we had to improvise on a target stand. The weather gave us a little break since it only got up to around 102° today.

The Rock Project – in 3D

rock-project.pngAfter the monsoons caused some modest erosion in our RV drive hill last week, I started placing rocks in some of the little rivulets on the slope over the RV drive. Today’s project was to stack rocks in the two major erosion areas under the low spot on the hill.

Image – The Rock Project in 3D. Click to enlarge.

I must have hauled a half-ton of small boulders and rocks from our “quarry” on the west side of the property. Many trips were required to get enough rocks to stack up the depressions in the hillside. I nearly finished the stack on the left center of the image and got about halfway through stacking the right depression. I didn’t run out of time (I’m retired 😉 ) but I did run out of motivation (energy?) at this point. More rocks to come later this week. Or next. Or whenever.

If you don’t have a pair of red-blue or red-cyan 3D glasses laying around then you can see the 2D image here.

Sun Rays

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I looked up while we were walking the dogs after dinner and saw these beautiful sun rays coming out of a silver-lined cloud. Pretty! Click on the image to enlarge.

Spinach Enchiladas

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Verna prepared this magnificent batch of spinach enchiladas for dinner today with a side of refried beans. They sure were good. We originally got the idea from a Mexican restaurant in Gillette, Wyoming back in 2003 or so. We later found a recipe from Emeril Lagasse for spinach enchiladas, which Verna modified a bit to produce these. Click on the image to enlarge.

The Little Washes

little-wash.jpgWe have two separate river rock-lined channels on the west side of the house. There is higher terrain on the northwest side of the property, and when it rains hard, water flows down from the high ground and into the two rock-lined channels.

I took this photo just after a downpour last Sunday. The little wash closest to the house properly carried the runoff down to the road.

Click on the image to enlarge.

More Purple Sage Flowers

More Purple Sage Flowers

We stopped on our way into our roadway and I got out of the truck to take a photo of our neighbor’s sage bush. The sage is blooming with hundreds of little purple flowers. I’m not sure of the sage variety, but the flowers are very pretty. Click on the image to enlarge.