Mine Exploration

So the Saturday prior to going into Spanish Moss cave I had the opportunity to join with a group called Mojave Underground and attend a Photography workshop - A underground Photography workshop to be exact. That meant going into a local Mine and taking some photos :).

I invited my friend Sam to come along even though he is not much of a Photog at least he would enjoy the underground experience:)

So Sam came over to my place at about 11 AM on Saturday and we loaded up our gear in my Jeep and headed south to the area around Ophir Utah (about 25 minutes south of my house). We got there early so we could pop off a few shots with our 9MM's, the 44Mag and my little 380Auto drop gun my friend gave me saying that it didn't work (well if he would have cleaned it and oiled it with something other than 90W maybe it would have worked for him HEHE)

We finally met up with the Mojave group at 1 and went up to the main Ophir mine (never did get another name for it - I later found out that my Gpa Harold's brothers used to work in that mine. After BS'n for a few Sam and I went and explored some of the nearby buildings and the old hardware that was in them (I hadn't grabbed my camera yet but next time I am out there I will for sure as there were some great old relics - even an old drill press).
Soon we all lined up and headed into the Mine. we were in there for around 5 hours seeing many really interesting things from Blue green water, underground lakes, old hardware, nifty crystals and some scary bridgework and undermining there-of. all told it was a great time that went by way too fast. The only downfall to the experience was that they did not get into how to do things very much but given the opportunity to try what they were doing I learned how to take pics underground anyhow :)
Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Caving

Years ago when I was in Boy Scouts I got my first taste of spelunking in a cave called Horsetheif in Wyoming. I knew then that underground was a great place to be and have wanted to go back since. Here are some pics of Horsetheif










Recently I had the opportunity to go caving again and I jumped on it. I had to pick up some ascension gear and in the end a new harness (I guess I have gained some size in the last 10 years). Anyhow on Monday the 19th I met up with 3 guys Jeff, Jon and Dan and headed up to Spanish Moss cave. The initial hike in was a nice uphill stroll in 6degree weather to get warmed up for the ascent to the cave. we had to trudge up a 45* slope in knee high snow for about a 1/3 of a mile to reach the entrance. even this did not lessen my spirits for the adventure to come!.







Once at the entrance we all geared up and began rappelling into the cave. The first section of rappel is through a corkscrew for about 20 feet then to a rope change and then down into the main cavern about 150? feet of free rappel.









next some exploring, getting down the main slope about 150 feet of steep slick muddy rock face VIA rappel.






Then for some features :)








The ascent up the slope was a hand over hand with the rope ascenders and then up the rope we went out the same rope we dropped in with going using a "frog" ascension system a real full body workout.

As we came out blinded by the sun to a beautiful view and no inversion:)



now just to get out there and do it again :)

October... hmmm

So in a few weeks we will be voting for our new pres... at the same time we are in a major financial crisis in the US and around the world...
We have Obama who wants to .. Spread the wealth (Robin hood style)- I always thought we were a Democracy based on Capitalism not a bunch of socialists?. wants to get us out of Iraq (hmm another loss for Americas military?).. Is mr Hussain a a Natural born US citizen?


McCain SSDD.. Has a ditz for a running mate.. wastes 150K on clothes for her
Does Vote with Bush 90% of the time - not a good thing at all almost worse than not being a US citizen?

and who else is there to vote for? our mainstream media would have you think that no-one else is running. I mean no-one else got free add time for Debates.. probobly were not even invited? have you ever thought about this?
Charles O. Baldwin
Robert L. Barr, Jr.
Ralph Nader
Cynthia Ann McKinney

Are we just a country of people who are unable to think anymore? I don't know but I would put my money that most of the people will vote the way their "social group" tells them to.. be that church, their job or their friends (all of them got it from someone else I am sure).


Maybe we should just listen to Mr Carlin





CHICKENS?

So I have been reading and searching like a madman on forums and other places on the net about Coops, chickens etc and finally decided to build my own coop for my back yard :)..

In building the coop I had to stay under $100 including feeders light source and all the goodies..
I also had to make sure that it would be somewhat pleasing to the eye as I live in a residential neighborhood
it also needed to have the ability to withstand the different weather conditions that the state of Utah has to offer... COLD winters with a bit of snow and long periods of sub freezing temps, 100 degree plus summers.. strong wind storms sometimes upwards of 70MPH gusts.

I decided on a double decker design with the coop up top and a small run under it. I plan to have up to 6 Layers at one time (I will be starting with 4 hens that my Grandfather in Law has that are already laying I will get them on Saturday if all goes well with building and painting :) ) The dementions are 5 Feet tall total split in half for Run and Coop. The floorspace is 3 feet by 4 feet with 2 nesting boxes at this time.. will add another when I get more hens. behind the nesting boxes will be easy access ports so I can get eggs without risk of letting chickens out (and so my 3 going on 4 year old daughter can get them out too). There will be a number of Plexi glass windows and a couple of vents put in to maintain good airflow. Durring the winter I plan on putting Plastic around the bottom of the run to block off the cold winds and snow.

without further flapping my yap here are some pics of Said Coop - its not done yet but will be by this evening :)

Last Day of summer

So yesterday Sam and I decided to spend the last day of Summer on our bikes.. So we took off around 1:30 and headed out west on I80 - The original intent was just to ride west for a bit then come back but soon we found we were almost to Wendover (I guess cruising at 95+ gets you places just a tad bit faster). So we stopped in Wendover for an hour or so to stretch our legs play some penny slots and eat some food at the Buffet.. Then we headed home Stopping at the halfway point rest stop and took a little hike up the hill then finished the ride home. my legs are a bit sore today but it was worth the 218 miles :)

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