Gotta' Love That Mountain Air!

Well, week one of my Colorado adventures is in the book and I thought that I should check in here and show some of the views of this amazing state.

Internet and phone connection has been sketchy, at best, where we have been at. You hit a decent sized town and you can get online, but where we've been camping... Forget about it.

Our first campsite was at 9200 ft elevation near Granite, CO on Low Pass Gulch, which feeds into the Arkansas River. What these people call county roads wouldn't pass for a cattle trail in Oklahoma... I understand there is only so much space to build a road on the side of a mountain but jeez! A single lane dirt road with several blind spots and no pull-offs to let opposite direction traffic pass for miles is just crazy... I'm not backing up!


This is a view of the Collegiate Mountains (not sure which ones) from near our campsite. The dirt road you see is a County Road in Chaffee/Lake County.

My younger son, Aaron, and I hiked up to the tree-line on the surrounding mountains. Starting at 9200 feet makes it a lot easier, but still a bit breath-taking (pun intended) for someone who lives most of his life at 700 feet above sea level.


This view is from our hike up. Below you can see my truck and my other son, Gary II, near our campsite.


This is a view from just below the treeline at about 10,500 feet.

We camped here for two nights and woke to frost both mornings. No major wildlife sightings even though the mountains are covered with Deer and Big Horn Sheep droppings. Did see a few rabbits and chipmunks. The morning we left my jugs of water had ice in them and it was snowing on the mountains to the West of us.


Snowing on the mountains to our West.

From there we headed South to Point Bar. Point Bar is just South of Salida, CO on the Arkansas. It is a joint venture between the BLM, Colorado State Parks and The GPAA (Gold Prospectors Association of America). You can camp for free and actually mine for gold there.

It is a cool site and we actually found some gold. It is much warmer down here at 7000 feet. I have been sleeping on top of my sleeping bag for most of the night. The weather has been good for the most part. No heavy rain, but it has clouded up and sent us a few drops every day not allowing it to get too hot.

We ran into a couple of guys that we met at Low Pass Gulch yesterday at Point Bar and they informed us that it had been snowing in Leadville (elevation approximately 10,500 ft.) the night before (May 31st)... and I thought March snows were bad...

We're taking a break from camping for today and tonight to let my weary old bones rest and get caught up on some e-mail and other online stuff... Plus the Rattlesnake we encountered at Point Bar yesterday kinda freaked Aaron out... It was cool and he wasn't moving very fast, but it didn't stop him from showing his fangs and shaking that rattle at the top of his tail. Probably should have killed it, but I figured he was there before me... (Sorry, didn't have my camera with me to get a pic).

Here are a few more shots of the mountains for you to enjoy...


A view of some of the Fourteener's (Mountains with 14K+ feet of elevation)


One more majestic view of the Colorado Rockie Mountains

Spring Snow in Oklahoma

Quite and unusual site coming from the sky today. Its snow! This is highly unusual for Henryetta, Oklahoma in the early Spring. I can only recall snow this late one other time and it was in April of 1968...when I was four! I believe it was the 2nd of April, my parents 13th anniversary.

Here are some random shots from around the neighborhood (you can click each pic for a larger view)...





Many trees already have leaves. In this shot you can see the seed pods on my maple tree and the flowers on the redbud in the background.








The kid running on the right side of the pic is my 13 year old son, Aaron.







It is above freezing out there, thankfully, or we would have much more than the current three inches on the ground. Its still coming down hard! The main roads are staying clear thanks to the warm ground temps and plenty of traffic, but it is accumulating a bit on the side streets...like right here in front of my house...

In Honor of St. Paddy (and many of my ancestors) I present...

Humorous Irish quotes, toasts and sayings.


St. Patrick's Day Toast
Here’s to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one
A pretty girl and an honest one
A cold beer – and another one!


Slap!
An Irishman, an Englishman and a beautiful girl are riding together in a train, with the beautiful girl in the middle.The train goes through a tunnel and it gets completely dark. Suddenly there is a kissing sound and then a slap!

The train comes out of the tunnel. The woman and the Irishman are sitting there looking perplexed. The Englishman is bent over holding his face which is red from an apparent slap.

The Englishman is thinking "Damn it, that Mick must have tried to kiss the girl, she thought it was me and slapped me."

The girl is thinking, "That Englishman must have moved to kiss me, and kissed the Irishman instead and got slapped."

The Irishman is thinking, "If this train goes through another tunnel, I could make another kissing sound and slap that Englishman again!!


Irish Saying
An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass to keep from falling off the earth.


Charles M. Madigan
St. Patrick -- one of the few saints whose feast day presents the opportunity to get determinedly whacked and make a fool of oneself all under the guise of acting Irish.


Irish Saying
There are many good reasons for drinking,
One has just entered my head.
If a man doesn't drink when he's living,
How in the hell can he drink when he's dead?


Sign in an Irish pub:
"This establishment closes at 11 o'clock sharp. We are open from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. and if you haven't had enough to drink at that hour the management feels that you haven't really been trying."


Irish Blessing
May the Good Lord take a liking to you... but not too soon!


St. Patrick's Day Toast
Saint Patrick was a gentleman
Who through strategy and stealth
Drove all the snakes from Ireland
Here's a drinkee to his health!
But not too many drinkees
Lest we lose ourselves and then...
Forget the good Saint Patrick
And see them snakes again!


Irish Saying
There are only two kinds of people in the world;
The Irish and those who wish they were.


Irish Toast
It is better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money!


Irish Blessing
May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.


Edna O'Brien
When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.


Irish Quote
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to Heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven.


Irish Proverb
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you fight with your neighbor. It makes you shoot at your landlord and it makes you miss him.


Alex Levine
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.


Oscar Wilde
Work is the curse of the drinking class.


Irish Drinking Toast
Here's to me, and here's to you,
And here's to love and laughter –
I'll be true as long as you,
And not one moment after.


Her Body's a Temple
Patrick O'Malley hoisted his beer and said: "Here's to spending the rest of me life between the legs of me wife!" - and he took home the top prize for the best toast of the night.

In bed later that night, he told his wife: "Mary, I won the prize for the best toast of the night." She said, "Aye, Paddy, what was your toast?"

So he told her: "Here's to spending the rest of me life sitting in church beside me wife."

"Oh," she said, "that is very nice, dear."

The next day, Mary ran into one of Paddy's drinking partners in the street. Mischievously, the man said: "Did you hear about your husband winning a prize in the pub the other night for a toast about you, Mary?"

She replied: "Aye - and I was a bit surprised. Till now, he's only been down there twice. Once he fell asleep, and the other time I had to pull him by the ears to make him come".


Noel Gallagher
I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my Mum. I know I've got Irish blood because I wake up everyday with a hangover.


Irish Drinking Toast
May your glass be ever full,
May the roof over your head be always strong,
And may you be in heaven
Half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.


Barry McCaffrey
When I get a very generous introduction like that I explain that I'm emotionally moved, but on the other hand I'm Irish and the Irish are very emotionally moved. My mother is Irish and she cries during beer commercials.


The Mouse on the Barroom Floor
Some Guinness was spilled on the barroom floor
when the pub was shut for the night.
Out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse
and stood in the pale moonlight.
He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor,
then back on his haunches he sat.
And all night long you could hear him roar,
‘Bring on the goddam cat!’


Irish Toast
Here’s to fine wine, women, and song.
And here’s to workdays that aren’t too long.
Here’s to shoes that always fit.
And here’s to you, you silly shit!


Irish Quote
God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world.





Have a happy and safe St. Paddy's Day!...And drink a Guinness for me and I'll be sure and have a few for you.

Bad Domain Names

This post comes from a wacko down under via Twitter...

All of these are companies that didn't spend quite enough time considering how their online names might appear - and be misread...

1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is
www.whorepresents.com/

2. Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange Advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com/

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net/

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com/

5. There's the Italian Power Generator company,
www.powergenitalia.com/

6. And don't forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales,
www.molestationnursery.com/

7. If you're looking for IP computer software, there?s always
www.ipanywhere.com/

8. The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is
www.cummingfirst.com/

9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
www.speedofart.com/

End of his post...Here is my own horror story of a name I nearly bought, then reconsidered.

I was looking for a name for a traffic site I was devoloping and wanted to tie my nickname, "Hammer", into it. Hammer's Hit Factory had a nice ring to it until I searched the name, hammershitfactory.com, for availabilty. It is available for all of you dung factory operators out there...