......Just shoot me!

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I worked a couple long days this week in a little hospital 35 miles across the Blue Mountains from here in eastern Washington. Yesterday as I was finishing up I noticed a little wear on a connector for a handswitch. As I was trying to make it better ....I broke it. So.....I jury-rigged it and ordered a replacement for Saturday Fedex delivery. Most guys would have said....they don't want to pay for Saturday O/T and I'll just let it go 'til Monday....especially since I have to work on a supercon magnet here in Lewiston tomorrow. Well....I don't like temporary fixes ....especially as temporary as this one should be.....so I got the part; drove to the hospital and replaced the connector I'd broken. They will pay for the part as the other was intermittant but not my labor as I won't bill them for it.........

As I left town to drive there it began spitting snow...it was starting to accumulate as I crossed the little pass in the Blue Mountains. 2 hours later (it was one of those.....45 minutes to get to it....10 seconds to replace it....45 minutes to put it back together) I started home. Crossing the hospital parking lot the melting snow had frozen to ice as the temps were still dropping. The snow had accumulated to a few inches and it was still snowing and blowing. The sun was setting....big tall grasses and sage brush had snow on them.....the ground had snow on it......among the grasses and sage brush the snow highlighted the trails on the mountain sides along the road telling where the deer and cattle normally walk....the wind was gusting......A few idiot drivers passed me before we started climbing to the pass.......they pullled over and I passed them when it got a little steeper and slippier. A coyote ran across the road in front of me....I saw deer huddled against a large rock....out of the wind but still grazing.......the snow.....and I thought to myself....this is why I love this area where I live.......and if I ever quit appreciating it.....somebody just shoot me!
 
I really understand the therapeutic qualities of a drive through the mountains. One thing I like about where we live now is that I can drive less than 5 minutes and be sitting next to a stream, with steep mountains on both sides of me and no civilization in sight. I can (briefly) forget that I live in a huge city with 8 million of my closest friends. :rolleyes: The mountains are my personal battery charger.
 
Ken,
I had one of those moments not too long ago... I was off to canvas a nearby city, and decided to test out my new snow tires on the Prius. Here's what I saw when I deliberately took a back road...

snew2.jpg
 
I love the wild. I don’t see much of it living in Albuquerque but I get my fix when I go up to Alaska a couple times each year.
I have a childhood friend that lives in Rathdrum, ID, he loves it up there.
 
Going through a mountian pass in the middle of the night with 6' of snow, road plowed and a full moon. Will never forget it. Beautifull and peaceful beyond description.
Bob
 
Ah, the beautiful Pacific Northwest... Ya gotta love it, Ken.:thumb:

Our street when it snows...
I had to go back and forth between your pic and Ned's just to make sure you didn't just Photoshop out his telephone lines and clean up the muddy road. The two scenes sure do look similar. ;)

Don't have any snow shots from here, but here's a springtime shot taken about 200 yards from the house:

TJ%20Canyon%20Rainbow%20800.jpg
 
...Nice rainbow... How big a town do you live in?
Um...about 10 million people or so in LA county. We're in the town of Tujunga, but it doesn't show up on the census website. We're part of the 3.8 million shown for the city of Los Angeles. Fortunately, we're literally on the edge of civilization (and the Angeles National Forest), yet only minutes away from "town" and work.

These shots illustrate our general location:

Far

Closer

Even Closer

Closest

(And you're right about the evergreen trees... :doh: I should have caught that. It was still one of those "find what different" comparisons like you see in the Sunday comics.)
 
Not to go on and on about snowmobiling...or to turn this post into a snowmobiling thread, but that is what I enjoy so much about sledding. Its got the views and beauty, yet being out in the open air, seeing sights that few other people will see, and having a labyrinth of trails right outside my door is why I like riding sled.

Two nights ago I saw 2 moose, 5 deer, and coyote all on a 30 mile ride.

Baxter_Rapids2.jpg
 
I could care less if it snows, I just wish it would get cold and freeze!! Saturday and Sunday it hit 50˚ here. I'm tired of mud. On the bright side the boiler has been loafing much of our so called winter.

I don't mind driving in the snow, that is till your headed west on I-94 at Fargo. As you pass I-29 the guy walks out and closes the highway gates behind you. Thats a bad feeling :rolleyes: of course the good part is you don't have to worry about much traffic :rofl:
 
Travis.....That was the subject of this thread .......appreciation of natural beauty.....and I've done it on skis......from a snowmobile.....on snowshoes......and on foot! I have a "special place" in the mountains southeast of here. Back in the early 1930's this bachelor gold miner built a log cabin (it's walls still stand today) and he punched exporation holes all over an area about 6 miles by 6 miles. His trails (he used donkeys to carry his mining tools and supplies) are still there. We elk hunted there for 15 years using horses and mules to pack out the elk. You leave our camp on one of the miner's old trails....you come to a natural saddle between the main mountain and 2 finger ridges...you leave the trail...cross the saddle....go up over the first hill.....over the 2nd hill and on it's east side...there is a rock bluff with what appears to be 2 thrones carved into it it by nature. We carry day packs in case we have to spend a night in the woods. I carry a pint thermos of coffee. My neighbor and I reach this spot.....each of us pull out our thermos and pour ourselves a cup of coffee. We sit there and enjoy the view to the southeast......As far as you can see....one mountain ridge after another after another after another after another..........fantastic view into the rising sun.......just fantastic....you finish the cup of coffee.....one finger ridge going north east and one finger ridge going south east. We bid each other a good day, separate and hunt elk. I'm never closer to my maker than when I'm at that spot!
 
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