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Showing posts from November 2, 2008

Wyoming and Idaho

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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...

Septic Tank Exploration

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DJ and I dug up the septic tank last weekend. It is working ok, but I thought I could move the sewer pipe coming out of the house to beneath the foundation in order to put a bathroom in the basement. I was wrong. Although my initial observations into the pipe from inside the house looked promising, there turned out not to be enough slope left in the pipe if it was moved to the underside of the foundation. Drat! This did give me an opportunity to get the tank pumped and now I know a lot more about the system. At least this project is done. Did you ever notice your own septic system smells kinda ok?