The Bar 2014 Edition

[FIGJAM]

Savannah also has beutiful legs!!!

I wonder what time they open?

[Captain Goddammit]

Probably never with lines like that...

[ygmir]

I was lusting after you because you don't look a day over 13!


oh that didn't come out right...

I'm really hoping you're not talking to me.........

[Captain Goddammit]

I was lusting after you because you don't look a day over 13!


oh that didn't come out right...

I'm really hoping you're not talking to me.........

Oh hell no… that part should have made it clear enough!

[trilobyte]

I was over at HQ for a meeting today, and while there I took a moment to snap a couple pics I thought you guys would enjoy...







Drinks all round!

[ygmir]

thanks for the photos, Trilo! very cool!

ok, so "raccoon update":

I heard Clyde "spinning out" trying to gain traction on the wood floor, as he saw the little bastards at his food bowl again tonight! ha! he started barking but was hardly moving. they ran out the dog door, him hot on their tails!!!!!!!!!!! came back all proud for guarding the house.
I closed the dog door.........I'll have to start doing that now before dark, since they are getting more bold.

then 20 mins ago, I walk in, and happen to look out the french doors, and there's the little bastards, standing looking in the window!! not running away! They look to be healthy adolescents.............how the hell am I supposed to be mad, when they sit there looking in the window all cute and let me walk up quite close, then scurry away as I got to the door.
Damn it!! I just hope they don't start writing on the windows to make me feel bad.

[Patsh]

thanks for the photos, Trilo! very cool!

ok, so "raccoon update":

I heard Clyde "spinning out" trying to gain traction on the wood floor, as he saw the little bastards at his food bowl again tonight! ha! he started barking but was hardly moving. they ran out the dog door, him hot on their tails!!!!!!!!!!! came back all proud for guarding the house.
I closed the dog door.........I'll have to start doing that now before dark, since they are getting more bold.

then 20 mins ago, I walk in, and happen to look out the french doors, and there's the little bastards, standing looking in the window!! not running away! They look to be healthy adolescents.............how the hell am I supposed to be mad, when they sit there looking in the window all cute and let me walk up quite close, then scurry away as I got to the door.
Damn it!! I just hope they don't start writing on the windows to make me feel bad.

With them on the outside, and you and Clyde inside, their writing will just look like raccoon scribbles, so it shouldn't offend you.

(unless you can read backwards, that is. Then, be afraid. BE VERY AFRAID)

[AntiM]

All I have is a crow family and some magpies. They scold me.

[lucky420]

We've got raccoons here too. They live in the gutter drains right outside my front door. I left a bag of unopened dog chow in the garage this summer (left the back garage door open) and the cheeky lil bastards ripped in to that. And my daughter has seen them on the front lawn late at night...kinda scary

[ygmir]

*wanders in, makes CCC*
ha yeah Lucky.......at one point they dug into Clydes dog food, too. I'm just worried they'll start drinking my liquor and try to cook something and make a mess!! they do make themselves comfortable if given a chance.

they're calling for low snow starting tonight, down to 1000' or less!
the stores are going to be packed, and people getting extra fuel for generators and such.
I'll be putting the studded tires on my truck and stacking firewood. At these levels, we've lost power for days at a time, in the past.

well, at least it's Friday!!

*strokes Juke, heads for ROS*

[media]

[magicmarty]

Surprisingly in this relatively urban environment, we have an animal kingdom in our back yard. Had as many as 12 deer at one time munching away at a flower bed that is now only roots. Had 3 fauns born in our yard and the mom and the kiddies have made our backyard their home territory. See them out there every day. We also have both raccoon and skunks living under the house. Raccoon took a swipe at our cat and gave him quite a gash which thankfully healed on its own. Had the big alpha male buck out back a few weeks ago chasing away the lesser males and really establishing and maintaining his position. A really regal beast.

Lots of frost on the roofs and on the ground around here. Temp about 29F - 32F. Tried to play some tennis last night, but after a set and a half gave up with frozen hands. Then retreated to a friend's home for a wonderful dinner of grilled lamb chops and some great conversation.

Have a great day, kiddies IT'S FRIDAY!!!

[^Rhino!]

Magic marty, you have a really great day, too!

Here, temperatures have been in the 20s since just yesterday. At night, lows in the teens. I fell asleep last night on my wonderful 3-piece sectional sofa after a wonderful hillbilly Chinese dinner.....kung po turkey. They don't have that in China, it seems, because turkeyis thought of as a 'trash' bird. Looking forward to tonight, because of my weekly dinner with an 80-year old Navy veteran I befriended a few years ago. The owner of the restaurant is also a good friend, and he drops in to eat with us, too. One of his former managers is a bacon lover, and he cooked deep-fried chicken-fried bacon for us a couple of years back. My buddy is a heart patient, and he even had some, it's so good.

Work is good. I'm finally catching up to a neutral status after Burningman. The big projects are winding down for the winter, but work doesn't stop on design and survey things to ramp up for next year. We've done a lot of preliminary drilling lately on $2 million dollars woth of landslide projects. And that's for the prioritized stuff in the northern half of a single district (we have seven total). Utility clearances with one-call services take up a lot of time and can create huge documentation headaches. Somehow, I've managed to get it all done on time or ahead of schedule.

I also got an unofficial 'promotion. Not only am I the Central Office Geologist reviewing the preliminary geotechnical work for the six districts I'm not in, but I also am the acting district geologist for the district I'm in. More work, but no additional money. It keeps me happily busy with inquiries as well as the normal workflow. I love my job, and they pay me well.

The only downside is I'm still alone. No girlfriend. No dating at the moment. I've even been through match.com and OKCupid.com. I can't seem to find a suitable match. Oh well, I still have a 4-legged companion cat that snuggles my feet at night. I attend the local Civil War Roundtable once a month, and that's it. Nice. Made a few friends there, but all men. We tend to be armchair generals, refighting all the old battles. I just remember that there are those who don't remember history and are condemned to relive it. Those of us who remember Civil War history are condemned to reenact.

Later, my friends.

[fernley1]

Wow, on the front page of the Reno Gazette Journal today reads,
'Intense' blizzard steered for Reno.
2 to 6 inches in Truckee Meadows (Reno) with winds up 30 mph.
Should be a fun weekend.

[unjonharley]

Have a roaring fire.. All the brick work (center of house) is super warm. Snow is falling ab Wren from out two hours now.. Better than a 1/2 inch on the patio next to the house..
The coy pond is 1/4 covered with ice.. Our place is a bird stop over for seeds and water.. No birds today.. Fucking people leave there cats out 24-7.. I have put some boxes with towels in, out in the woods.. They are eating me out of house and home at the kitty cafe.. Hope a couple will find shelter in the garage/cafe.

[pinemom]

Hi bar...ya Burrrrr doesnt even seem to touch whats going on in Reno. hahaha or even remotely close in Lemmon valley. We got 11 inches on that last storm settled into 9 by the end of the storm. then I went to bed last night early'ish 9pm... it was 4f. then woke at 6am too -2f. hey high today is 32! but wont get there till 2pm.. our water and gas are temporarily off for the Gen. Contractor to move the kitchen lines. Will be without a real kitchen for a couple weeks. but it will be worth it I will be worth it...it will be worth it...it will be worth it! I just keep reciting that to my aching winter arthritic bones.

I need a shot.


grandmarnier for breakfast!~ Yum

[Patsh]

Ya, Piney... more antifreeze in the bloodstream!
That ought to do it!

Cold here, too, relatively speaking. It's a beautiful, clear and sunny day, but 'only' 40f out there now. A big storm is expected sometime tomorrow, dumping 6 to 12 inches even in the valleys of central AZ. I just hope it doesn't dump on us before the Christmas parade tomorrow morning, in which I'm hoping to ride the trike.

Keep warm, all you folks out there!
meanwhile, another spiked is in the works for me.

[theCryptofishist]

The local raccoons live in the storm drains. Or maybe just travel. I've seen deer and turkey (non-indigenous wild) around here. They are finding coyotes in San Francisco now. And I saw a skunk for the first time in summer or early fall. Possums have made it into my mother's house, through the cat window, eating the cat food.

And back in my childhood we had the following word: are, ay, double see, double oh, double en, double oh, double en, double oh, double kay, double ee, pee, ee, are.
Not really pertinent, but this is a sorta random place.

[^Rhino!]

Crypto, here in Missouri we have a new addition to the wildlife roster: the armadillo. To be specific, it's the nine-banded armadillo expanding its range into Missouri. Some of the Ozark hillbilly-types refer to it as 'possum on the half shell'.

The things are herbivorous for the most part. They do have a predisposition toward getting killed on the highway, though. Their startle response (like the response to an oncoming car) is to jump straight up. Which, when a car is driving at sufficient (normal) speed is enough to plaster them on a car grill. It happens all too often as can be inferred from the following joke:

Q. Why does a chicken cross the road?
A. To prove to the armadillo the act is possible.

This leads to:

Q. Why are armadillos moving north into Missouri?
A. To get away from daredevil chickens.

One other fact about the armadillo makes it useful for medical research. It's the only animal other than man which can contract Hansen's Disease (leprosy). The only two cases in the last thre years of leprosy in the US were contracted by amadillo wranglers.

[theCryptofishist]

You forgot that all the litter mates are clones...

[Elliot]

*swigs down a mug of hot chocolate, washes mug, heads for door*

About this storm coming in.... Me, I'm fleeing the county! Planning to visit in Bay Area on Saturday, so going to Sacramento now, lest I get snowed in here Saturday morning.

[^Rhino!]

You forgot that all the litter mates are clones...

And I'm betting you didn't laugh at the jokes.

[unjonharley]

Took the leaf blower out and blew the snow off the steep drive way..Just finished and Sissy called.. She was on a steep half block.. Cars before her had spun it to ice.. Took a shovel instead of my canes to walk with.. Grabbed the kitty litter and two neighbors.. They spread litter so the car could spin it''s way up the hill about ten car lengths. She kept it going up the next hill and the drive way.. To much action for this old man..

[ygmir]

28 degrees, fine snow, 200' visibility.

because: Cognac.

[media]

[Savannah]

19F here! Damn. But at least it's dry.

Hope everyone is warm & happy tonight.

[AntiM]

Four in the morning and I'm awake for no good reason. I think I'll rename my Siamese cat No Good.

14 degrees according to my porch thermometer, but it runs a little warm.

[Captain Goddammit]

Good morning AntiM

It's 6 and I've been awake probably an hour for no good reason too.
4:40 is my usual alarm clock setting, I'm at work by now during the week so I'm programmed to be up by now .
Weather Channel says 19 degrees here.

[AntiM]

Too damn cold.

Too damn early.

[Captain Goddammit]

Yeah but the good thing is I don't have to go out there or do anything.
I think I'll make some coffee. I say "some coffee" cuz that's all there will be in it! (Oh... Man it's too early for exclamation points too)
The rest will be Irish cream, creme de cocoa, whiskey, Kahlua, and maybe even some chocolate ice cream.

Edit: The Kahlua was gonna be poured in last and there wasn't room for it… I'm not missing it, this is still a great too-early too-cold winter Saturday morning cup of coffee.

[AntiM]

That's it, I'll make more coffee. I have pumpkin pie spice Kahlua which won't drink itself.

[Captain Goddammit]

When the First Mate gets up (could be a while lol) I'm gonna make her a Captain Goddammit Signature Bloody Mary.

Generic bloody mary mix
Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce
Pickled asparagus, olives stuffed with garlic and jalapeño, and cocktail onions
Lime slice
Fresh ground pepper
Bakon vodka
salted glass

And the signature part: Tim's Cascade Jalapeño Potato Chips on top