Omaha Zoo

Here's some photo's from the Omaha Zoo:

R U S H concert

I was able to attend the second leg of the R U S H Snakes and Arrows tour at the Nokia Theater last night. Last year I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl. Both were great concerts but a little loud.

Earthquakes

Hey ! What's with all the earthquakes ? Actually, it’s been 151 years since our last 150 year magnitude 8 quake, so I thought it would probably be a good idea to buy water and flashlights.
I didn’t want to have to tell my friends and family “I knew I should have prepared”.
Updated earthquake maps can be found at the USGS site: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/special/California_Nevada.php

2008 California Poppy Season

Wednesday I took my mom to the California Poppy Reserve and the surrounding area. It was cold and windy. Poppies tend to not open up when is cold and windy so while there were many fields of poppies, and the sun was unobstructed by clouds; not too many poppies were open. I did take several pictures anyway (I drove all that way) and posted a few here.

While I was appreciating all the flowers, two C-130's flew over.

More Poppies

Answer to Bug question

Hey eh, I answered my own question. The bug pictured above is a Dysdera Crocota, also known as a Slater Spider or Sowbug Killer. They bite ! But they're not poisonous to humans. I found my answer at:

http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/English/CollectionsAndResearch/Collections/InsectsSpidersAndSimilar/Spiders/Spiders_Web/What/SlaterSpider.htm

Anyone know anything about bugs ? Not the rabbit.

I found this bug in my pool. It looks like a spider but i wasn't sure? Anyone know ? It was about 1/2 inch long; not very big.

Hey! what's that white stuff on the hill tops ?

Saturday afternoon I enjoyed about 5 minutes of hail while driving from the valley to Santa Clarita. When I reached the bottom of the Newhall Pass, I noticed the white hill tops and realized that what is was seeing may actual be hail rather than snow. I stopped by the hiking trails and asked a few hikers who confirmed that it had hailed. So that‘s my guess; its not snow but hail.

Washing Dishes

Among the myriad of opportunities to serve at the Shepherds Conference, I was given the one task I had requested not to do... washing dishes. I had a great time anyway. In fact, looking back, I don't know that I would have requested anything else. I met new friends and ate tons of food. What more could you want?




Did I forget to smile again?

(Pictired left to right: friend # 1, friend # 2, friend # 3, me, friend # 4, friend # 5)

Free books for 3500 pastors

Yesterday morning I helped bag books for the Shepherd’s Conference. I counted about 35 volunteers bagging 15 books for 3500 pastors. That’s 100 trips per volunteer down the book bagging isle. My feet were very tired.


The Volunteers



The Books

Church Tycoon

Its shepherd's Conference week and time for Church Tycoon.

I used Roller Coaster Tycoon III to build Grace Church.

Here’s a few clips:

The Rollercoaster

The Tram from the parking lot

Still Images

The cat and the Squirrel

A squirrel was out teasing the cats this morning. That’s all the excitement for today. No earthquakes, no floods, not even any dates.

p.s. The squirrel got away... as usual.

Cat on Shelf

I noticed we have a new decoration for our garage shelf....

Cats still on roof

Before I had a blog it seemed there were things worth writing about or taking pictures of. Currently, the most noteworthy event is what the neighborhood cats are doing. Very exciting! Once again, they were sitting on the neighbors roof warming themselves in the morning sun.

Flight Sim X Flight into Burbank

In my spare time (9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.) I sometimes play computer games. Here's a video clip from my flight into Burbank last night. Someday I'll buy capture software so I don't have to video tape the computer screen. You may need Windows Media version 9 to play this. I have a friend who is a pilot. He says a good landing is one you can walk away from. This was a good landing.

Clouds on the hill tops

Of the many things I enjoy in nature, the weather is something that can easily capture my attention. Everything from light rain to torrential downpours, from peaceful things like rainbows to more terrifying things like lightning or tornadoes; I am fascinated by it all. It’s a perplexity that I live in southern California where we rarely even see clouds, but I enjoy what I can and travel when I get board with our beautiful sunny days. The other day I stopped by the local mail drop off and noticed a unique and beautiful cloud formation capping the mountain tops to west. I took a few pictures and posted one here. I believe these fall into the category of Lenticular clouds, although I’ve never seen this type of formation.

Cats on Roof

On cold mornings, my cats (otherwise known as the neighborhood cats) use to sun themselves on the neighbor's brick wall , but they have migrated to my neighbors roof to take advantage of all the heat coming out of their attic vent.
Almost any cold morning after breakfast they can be found enjoying the heat.

Nebraska

I had the opportunity to travel to Nebraska in November and visit some wonderful friends. Here’s a few photo’s. And I left the rest at home so I'll have to blog again.

Castaic Fire Video

Here's a video of the aircraft filling up with water.

And another...

Castaic Fire

I had a chance to run up the hill and take a few

picures of the water dropping aircraft re-filling. Thankfully the fire is still a distance from my house but many of my friend's homes are right next to the fire.

Frisbee in Yosemite 1989

Here's a video clip of my friends playing frisbee while waiting until we decide what to do next (which is usually to play more frisbee).