Posts

Showing posts from August 17, 2008

Wyoming and Idaho

Image
We are back from a quick vacation. I managed to score three (actually several more) bucket list items in 4 days. 1.) Long Snowmobile Trip. 2.) Yellowstone Park and 3.) Wyoming. I reached my 50th State --Wyoming! And we took a 90 mile snowmobile trip in Yellowstone National Park. We went to the "Craters of the Moon--National Monument and Preserve" in Idaho and also stopped at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where I got to see (with my own eyes) the very cool nuclear powered twin turbojet engine. It was a successful experiment in the 1950s and 1960s. https://whatisnuclear.com/safety-minutes/htre-3-meltdown.html Of course, I had my Radiacode scintillation detector with me and yes, the apparatus is "Hot". The screenshot of the readings from my three walk-arounds the artifact. I swear you could smell the radiation. There was a very un-natural burnt smell something reminiscent of burned bakelite. Although, I am quite certain the emitted radition was not the source...
Image
Wow. What a summer. It has been surprisingly wet as far as summers go. The lawn keeps growing green. The hay has been tough to get in because of the lack of consecutive drying days. This is the time of year when some of my friends are getting ready to head back to Antarctica. I will be with some of them as some sort of spiritual stowaway. There are always stories from the ice. I feel connected still. I was reflecting how peaceful it is on the ice with a friend. He agreed. It is a great escape from reality. That is why he goes back every year. I went to a party last weekend up in Canadaigua, It was good. I made some solar energy contacts. I have almost all the components for my domestic hot water system. I know that one ad in the paper and I would be instantly booked and committed for installs. It is all about planning. Just like flying. My mentor and I finally made it on the circuit from Greene, Cortland, Norwich, Sidney, Greene (4N7-N03-OIC-N23-4N7). My flight planning went prett...