Summertime and the livin's easy

 Greetings!

How's it going? It has been a little while so it seemed I should slop another one of these things together. Lots has been happening, so this should be interesting.

I have recently gained employment with a great company called Radome Services LLC. They had me out in VA for a little over a month working on this here radome. This is basically a giant, heavy duty Kevlar balloon that is used to protect radars and antennas from the elements.

The old domes were about 20 years old and needed to be replaced. We had a bunch of prep work to do but the really cool parts were lifting off the old domes and putting the new ones on. The lift days involved two cranes, one of which was a 50 ton crane (it needed another crane just to put it together), 50 day labors to work the tag lines, and then my crew. The crane would pick up the dome and pluck it right off.


(This picture above is what the dome was covering, but this is classified, so shhhhh)
*Note; Photo removed due to graphic nature....


Putting on the new dome was a bit more complicated. It was basically the same process in reverse but there were a lot more potential wind/snag hazards. I wished I could get a photo of the lift because the deflated dome looked like a giant jellyfish with all of the tag lines hanging off of it. 

 The work was cool and I got to do some pretty cool stuff on the weekends too. This is a picture of the Luray caverns. If you are confused about what you are looking at, there is a small pool of water reflecting what you are seeing on the ceiling. I also got to go to Washington DC and see my childhood friend Chris. The boy who got his head stuck in our deck railing and use to help me throw large clumps of dirt at passing cars is now a respectable young man, doing good things for this earth. I also snuck into a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. I stayed long enough to watch them play their popular songs but left pretty quickly... there is just something about watching guys "rock out" who look like they are dodging wheelchairs and depends.


Anywho, after such a long time of working and not climbing I needed a fix. Luckily my old Phoenix friend, Colin, was on his way out to visit me for a climbing trip. We climbed around Boulder for a few days and then headed to a place called South Platte. The climbing was pretty cool but this storm was one of the more memorable parts. We were at pretty high elevation and the lightning was right over us.

We then headed to my old stomping grounds... the Black Hills. The weather was a bit cold for most of it, but we were still able to make the most of it. If you have ever driven through the Needles, you might recall the Needles Eye. This is a picture of me on top of the Needles Eye after climbing a notoriously dangerous route, which I was unaware of (thanks for the warning, Colin).

When it was too cold for climbing we made the most out of the beautiful scenery. Here is a buffalo who seemed to care about our presence as much as a bear cares about a tick on its ass.

 The trip ended too quickly but I was able to get a nice climb in with Colin and my roommate, Franklin (the two hooligans in this photo) in the Rockies.

I was also surprised one day by a face from days gone by. My friend Angela, from my NV days, happened to be in the area and surprise, surprise... wanted to climb.

We decided to do a pretty big climb a bit deeper in RMNP, so a bit more was involved. We ended up getting back country "bivy" permits so we could camp near the route.

We hiked in one afternoon with our climbing gear, and a minimal amount of camping gear. It was a 6 mile hike in with a fair amount of elevation gain. There were reports of a half mile stretch of forest with severe wind damage and a horrific amount of downed trees. We were aware of the challenge and ready to face it, but lo and behold as we were hiking in, the chainsaw crew was hiking out. They had told us they had just finished clearing the entire trail (saving us a few hours of tree hell). "Our saviors!" I exclaimed. I didn't have much to give them but I shared my bag of skittles to show my gratitude. Lucky us.

We weren't allowed to bring a tent in to this back country area, but there were these big boulder caves that people had created. Stones had been assembled as walls underneath big roofs to block the wind. It was like a little hobbit hut.


This was the view out of our "patio". This is supposedly one of the most scenic areas in RMNP called Glacier Gorge. The next day we got up and did our climb and had awesome weather. The hike out was pretty grueling as we were so tired, but still thankful that the path of trees had been cleared.

So that should about catch you up. I am in the middle of paragliding lessons right now. I have flown twice, and it is pretty awesome. Perhaps another hobby to pursue.

I have a few more weeks off before my next job, and lord knows it will probably be filled with climbing. Once I go back to work in early July I will be heading to New Hampshire for three weeks (working on radomes). Here is the real kicker... right after NH I will be flying to Norway (for work) for a month. Hoping I will get to extend my stay and travel, and who knows... perhaps some paragliding on the fjords? Come on now... this sounds like a fictional adventure novel.

How did I get so lucky?

I hope all is well for anyone still reading these, and anyone who isn't.



Bugs and Fishes,

The Danimal

(Insert punny title here)

Hey there!

How's life been treating ya? Can't complain myself. Life went from a solid three months of no work and hardcore relaxing to lots and lots of work. When it rains it pours it seems. It also seems as though my level 3 status in rope access has helped to haul in some work.


The first of these jobs brought me to a part of the states that I haven't really spent much time in... the dirty south as they say. I spent about a week and a half working in Georgia, and then a few days spent in Alabama. Both jobs were at paper mills and there is only one word that could describe the common state of a paper mill... disgusting.

The work we were doing was pretty cool though. It is called non-destructive testing, and intrigued me enough that I am currently taking a class for NDT. Basically the paper mill wanted us to take thickness readings on a number of holding tanks that they have.
This would allow them to see if any of the substances being held in said tanks were corroding the metal at an unusual rate. I was only supervising the rope access part of the work but the guys on rope were using a method of testing called Ultrasound Thickness Testing. They would carry a little machine with them that would shoot sound waves at different frequencies into the metal and based on how the sound waves bounced back, they would be able to determine if there were flaws or weaknesses in the metal. Pretty cool.

If you have ever driven by a mill though you must be familiar with the musk that it is all too happy to invade your olfactory sense with. You can see here a very unnatural liquid being spewed into the earth. This chemical is the very source of the most unholy scent I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing, literally causing your humble narrator to gag from the smell.


The work in Alabama was much the same, but only a few days long. I left the south (a place I would be content to only visit on occasion) and headed back to the land of normalcy and racial tolerance. With only a week off before the next job, ya gotta make the most of it. I have been spending almost all of my free time climbing in beautiful Boulder Canyon.

Here you can see me getting ready to decipher the first difficult section of a climb called Gorilla's Delight. Since the weather has just been amazing our here lately I have also been lucky enough to get on some of the rocks that were too unclimbable in the winter. The Flatirons are the icons of Boulder and are amazing playgrounds.




So after a few days of playing in the mountains life led me to Washington. It is hard to imagine more of a contrast that going from working in the southeast at a paper mill to the northwest at a wind farm. The wind farm was near a place called Clarkston, WA. This was just a stone's throw across the river from Lewiston, ID.

Though the temps down in Georgia were already in the 90's with high humidity, the weather in Washington was still cold and dry. We had a number of days were we could not work due to snow.




It was an awfully pretty place to be working. As a "supervisor", I am not allowed to get on ropes. Companies hire on level 3's to be there for complicated rescues, and rigging. This means most of my time was spent sitting up on top of the turbine (the nacelle). The days can be pretty long but as you can see, it was pretty picturesque.

So after about a week and a half in WA I flew back to CO, where I find myself now. The weather has been just great and easy to make the most out of it.



Oh yeah, this was a picture taken from the plane ride home from WA. Usually this amateur photographer doesn't support the cause of plane window photos, but the layer of clouds looked pretty cool.

So tomorrow morning I will be flying to Virginia and will be gone for about a month. I get to work (not supervise) for a new company where we will be disassembling and reassembling what are called radomes (check out an image of one). A radome is a dome structure that goes around antennas and radars to protect them from the elements. So that does it. After returning from VA, I will have a berfday (25), become an uncle, and be hosting my buddy Colin for a few weeks of some hardcore climbing. Stay tuned!

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more,

From these our interviews, in which I steal

From all I may be, or have been before,

To mingle with the Universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

Lord Byron

Mountains, mountains, everywhere

Howdy all,

Work has been at quite a minimum lately and leisure time has been quite high. Thankfully in a place like Boulder it is easy to fill the days. So let us begin...

These first two pictures are from a snowshoeing trip with my buddy Clay. This is an area only about 45 minutes away from my place in Boulder.


We were hiking in to a lake called Sky Pond. It is an amazing alpine lake at the foot of some pretty sheer cliffs, and a number of "must-do" climbing routes. This first picture here is towards the start of the hike. oOo... ominous.



The hike started off on some pretty well packed snow, but before too long we had to bust out the snowshoes. Here is Clay taking a moment to enjoy the view.


Snowshoeing is an activity that your humble narrator has has little exposure to. Aside from Ms. Ewens gym class back in ol' Diamond Path elementary, the only other time I have gone was around Lake Tahoe. We forgot to bring a bottle o' two buck chuck this time, but somehow we still managed to have a little fun... somehow.

So far Boulder has been an awful kind place to reside. Not only is there just so many things to do and explore, but the bipolar weather here allows for a huge variety of activities and adventure.




This picture is from mountain biking around South Boulder. This was literally the day after snowshoeing (amazing contrast, aye?). It was probably about 50 degrees and pretty sunny. This was a fine place to enjoy an avocado and canned tuna, though just about anywhere would be a good place to enjoy that snack.





With so much life to be had, why wait around for it to come to you?

This is where life took me the next day. This is another place in the Rockies. The big clean face you see is called "The Diamond". It is one of the best alpine rock faces to be climbed in Colorado.

I only hiked to the lake at the base, called "Chasm Lake". But looking up at this impressive rock, I couldn't help but to drool. The summit is at 14,000 ft, and what I hope will be my first fourteener, as they say.




Then one Sunday morning after waking way too early and realizing there was nothing going on all week, I checked the weather... snow, snow, cold, snow, ice... damn, my arch enemy was in town. How had he found me??? The average man might be content to hide from sick old man winter but not me. How dare he try and keep me from my cathedrals and sanctuaries! No one tells me what to do! But... what to do?

Go somewhere else.

So I saddled up the horse and rode north to a land I once knew well... the Black Hills. There I met up with my longtime friend, Lindsey.



We went to Custer (note the unusual rock "face" pictured here), a hockey game, and to the old college stomping grounds in Spearfish. It was a great way to spend a week. It is always so interesting to visit a place that was once called home and take a stroll down memory lane.





Sick of mountains yet? Didn't think so... how could ya be? But the story takes a plot turn, so fear not. If you had seen the last one of these I threw up, you may recall that I was soon to attend my S.P.R.A.T. Level 3 course...


Well that time has come and gone now and I am happy to tell you that I am now a rope access "Supervisor". This is a picture of Tough Terry being rescued in one of the skills required to pass. This is called a high-line rescue.


Just a short while after the course, my evaluator invited me on an annual ice climbing trip. I have never gotten to ice climb before and I couldn't pass it up.

It was a large group that showed up; perhaps around 50. Many knew each other from either rope access or alpine rescue teams, or from ice climbing trips gone by.

This picture are the mountains that surround the ice park. This is Ouray, CO. What makes this place especially unique is that they form the ice. There is a pipeline that runs on top the canyon and at night they have "ice sculptors" turn on sprinkler systems and shape the ice. There are hundreds of ice climbs, which is not something you will find anywhere else in the U.S.

Here you can see the result of every ones efforts. So the days were spent ice climbing all day, drinking all night, and topping it off with the hot springs. These hot springs have natural occurring lithium which apparently is what is given to people with depression. When one emerged from these hot springs, steaming in the cold starry night... life seemed pretty good.

So there ya have it folks. That is what I have been up to in a nutshell. I am heading to Alabama for a few weeks of work coming up soon. Winter is starting to loosen its grip and us sun worshipers are ready. Hope all is well for everyone!

Bugs and fishes,

Dan

Heaven sent, hell bent, over the mountains we go

Hey there,

What's up? What's good? What's new? What's going on? How ya been? How ya doin? Hanging in there? Staying outta trouble? Whatcha been up to? Where you been hiding? Which way ya going? You come here often? Have we meet before? Hows life?

Life is going pretty well here. Its' been interesting, as usual. So here we go... After the last one of these I returned to Milwaukee for a few days of work and then pretty much headed right to Fort Stockton, TX. I spent a work weeking out there replacing ladder sections inside of the turbines. This is the view when you pop your head out of the top.

Once I finished in TX I returned to CO and was lucky enough to find a great place to live in Boulder. I have two roommates in this house (we all went climbing today). If you know how many mountains are a stones throw away from Boulder, you could imagine I'm as snug as a bug in a rug.

I was intending to go back to MN for a few weeks over x=mas but an opportunity came into my life that I couldn't pass up. I spent my x=mas in Mexico with people I met over the internet (it's not as bad as it sounds... though I still dont know why I woke up in a seedy motel room in a tub full of ice). *This first black and white is a photo of an old church in the middle of the desert.

We left Colorado one night (we drove to Mexico) and ended up heading straight into one of the worst blizzards that I have ever seen. All the major highways heading to TX were closed. We ended up getting a hotel room and trying again in the morning. After many other mishaps and pure luck we got to where we were going... El Potrero Chico. It is this awesome national park that boasts some of the tallest bolted climbing routes in the world.



There are a number of camps right at the entrance of the park that really cater to the climbers that go there. The campgrounds have a big community kitchen, showers, and a nice restaurant. Here is a pic of the mountains scraping the sky behind the kitchen. Some of the taller cliffs in the park were over 2000'.

We ended up staying there for about 10 days in total. The weather was actually pretty cold but it warmed up to the 80s the last few days we were there. I got to climb some really cool routes. It is nice to climb a big route and not worry about all the gear. I also got to meet some great people and climb with new found friends.


On our 20 hour push to get back to CO, we awoke to this on the last morning of driving, well hopefully not the driver. It seemed a great conclusion to our trip and a good omen of things to come.

So if you read my last blog you might wonder if I am writing this in Florida right now. The answer is no. Some b.s. got kicked around and we ended up getting ousted from the job last minute. But not to worry. I have been pretty much just been relaxing and enjoying the cool new place I live.



Here is a pic of the Flatirons. These are a great place to hike and also to climb, though I have yet to climb there. I will be heading back to TX for some more turbine work. Soon after that I will be attending my level 3 certification course for rope access. I am very excited about that, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Anyways, I suppose that should about catch you up for now. Hope you all are doing well. Have fun!

Dan

Wild times

Greetings earthlings!

Hope life is faring as well for you as it is for me. Lots to tell and little time to do it in. So I guess I will start where it always seems to start... the beginning. Shortly after my last blog was written and posted I hit the road. Packed up all my worldly possessions and headed to Zion. Hard to beat a good road trip when adventure's in the sights. I got myself one of them iphone contraptions, so my pictures might be of higher quality than those of the past.

This black and white here is just a photo of some rocks I thought were cool around lake Powell. Never been there before and when I saw a sign for it I couldn't pass up a chance to do a bit o' skinny dippin'.

The drive to Zion took a bit longer than I had expected, so I rolled in after it was already pitch black (probably for the best for other drivers considering how easily distracted I can be driving through a place like Zion).

For those of you not familiar with Zion, there is a pretty famous slot-canyon hike called The Narrows. It is 16 miles from start to finish, but you can also hike up from the bottom and just turn around wherever. The hike is in and out of the Virgin River the entire way. The water is freezing, and the first pool you encounter at the bottom is also the deepest, bringing the water to about stomach level.

I scoffed at all the "tourons" with their rented dry suits and rented walking sticks, almost too proud to admit that by an hour in my numb feet whispered sentiments of envy between river crossings. I saw a few other people wearing sandals and shorts and was comforted to know that there were other fools out enjoying the day too. If you look close at this photo you can see someone hiking in the water.

The nature of my stay in Zion was to play all day, find a place to poach some free camping when it was pitch black out, and then wake up to a beautiful surprise. You can see my van is packed pretty full. There was a delicate move you had to make to get into bed at night that might impress a yoga instructor. On this particular day though I decided to go for a mountain bike ride. I got up and made some coffee and blueberry pancakes on the stove and went for a sweet 3 hour ride. Two hours of unsure navigation on an old jeep road led me to a sweet hour long downhill single track ride, right along the sheer cliffs of the Virgin River.

I was lucky enough to get to meet up with my old buddy, Johnny Ray. Perhaps the name sounds familiar from very early posts (I was living in his driveway in Vegas for a while). I got to spend a day eating spoonfuls of sand with J-Ray and his niece on some relatively obscure, and clearly not very well traveled climb in the park called Chimney Sweep (very fitting).

I dont need much of an excuse to spend time in Zion, but the real reason I was there is this awesome rock formation. My buddy Colin, from many adventures in AZ, met me out there and we set out to climb this beast called Moonlight Buttress. In the climbing world, this is probably almost as well known as El Capitan in Yosemite. It is definitely one of my most crowning achievements in climbing.

The route is about 1200' tall but it isn't the height that makes it a big climb, it is the technical aspect. Some people (super humans) can climb the very thin cracks that this climb offers, but for most of us normal humans we have to do something called aid climbing. I wont try and explain aid climbing as it would probably just be confusing, but if you are curious there is plenty of information online about aid climbing.

We climbed the first 300' Sunday afternoon and fixed the lines. We rappelled out on these lines and returned to them at the butt crack of dawn the next morning. This allowed us to climb the ropes and make quick progress so that we were already 300' off the ground after only an hour. We still had a lot of work ahead of us though. To get each of us up the roughly 200' sections it took about 2 hours. Needless to say it was an all day endeavour. We ended up finishing the climb right as it got dark enough for headlamps. This awesome picture here is of Colin starting up some of the last pitches, probably about 1000' off the deck.

It was such an amazing experience and we were lucky enough to have the route entirely to ourselves. People usually line up to do this climb, and on an average day it not uncommon to see three or four groups climbing the route. Bliss. Pure bliss.

After recovering from the climb I said my goodbyes to my friends and headed further east into central Utah. I met up with my aunt Annie Bonami in some middle of nowhere place in Utah. We got to check out some cool national parks and I savored my first shower in a week. I spent the night on a real bed and was on my way again the next morning, Moab bound.

Here is another place I was pleasantly surprised to wake up in one morning. This is near Castle Valley, and the Fisher Towers outside of Moab. That is frost on a fence post with some cool desert cliffs in the background.

I was suppose to be meeting up with Johnny Ray and his niece Athena again but due to some miscommunication I spent most of my time in Moab flying solo. No worries though, I can find a good time on my own. This is my victory smile after solo-aid climbing that tower behind me (dont worry mom, its safe). The tower is not a very popular climb compared to some of the other towers in the area, so I had the whole place to myself. It was great. It was a beautiful day and a very unique climb. All in all it is about 200' tall. The rappel was free hanging the whole way and gave some very cool exposure.

Man... seems like all I do is play. That's not true though. I do work too, but it ends up being more like just getting paid to play.

Lately I have been in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I have been working with a company painting the Brewers stadium. It has also been an awesome time. More often than not I wonder how I am getting paid to do what I do. Here is a picture of me hanging from my toes, painting the underside of a beam. We actually had a few of the local newspapers come out and cover the story. We made the front page of one of the Milwaukee papers. Here is the link if you wanna check it out http://www.jsonline.com/business/thrillseekers-take-on-miller-park-girder-painting-1s33hhs-134161878.html

Check out the photo gallery to see a few more shots of us working.

So anywho... that about catches you up for now. I am currently back in MN for a long thanksgiving break. I will be returning to Milwaukee to finish painting. Then I will go back to Denver where I will spend most of December climbing mountains. Sounds like in January I will be going to Florida for a month to paint a light house, so that is pretty exciting. Its a strange life I live, but I'm in love with it. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Bugs and fishes,

Dan

From the North West to the North East and All Over Again

Greetings earthlings!

It has been an exciting past few months and seems there is more goodness to come. Hate to be cliche, but I guess I will start this story from the beginning. So at the start of Sept I finished my job washing windows out in AZ. My good friend Colin and I had a send off climbing trip. We went to Sedona (for the first time). It was so beautiful out there as you can see from this picture.







We did two climbs, which we have been dreaming about for a long time. One in particular was noteworthy due to the fact that it was first climbed back in 1957. It is a tough route both physically and mentally, and to picture it climbed so long ago without all the climbing gadgets of today, makes you really appreciate the feat.


This was the last climbing I might be getting to do in AZ for a while. After Sedona I blasted off to Bremerton, WA.







The job in WA was pretty interesting. As you can see, there is a cliff right along the side of this very busy highway. We went in and cleared out all of the shrubbery along the cliff top and bottom. The next step was to rappel down the cliff with rock bars and knock down all of the loose and dangerous rocks. This was pretty dicey at times as you might imagine. After the rock face was cleared we had to drill these huge holes (sometimes up to 16 ft deep) on the face and the top. Then we used a crane to place these giant mesh panels which you can see in this photo.



The project was pretty cool and it was fun and unusual to be climbing around on this mesh covered rock face. The weather was pretty good too. We only had one day of real Seattle rain. The big downside of this project was the forest of poison oak we had to deal with. There were literally 15 foot tall trees of it and we had to not only cut it down, but then continue to work in it. Our ropes were in it, our harnesses, clothes, everything. I literally had poison oak rash from ankle to face, and I mean EVERYWHERE in between. Here is a picture of my leg, which endured the worst of it.



The project in WA ended in the beginning of Oct. I was lucky enough to pull some more work with another company. This was the most amazing thing I have gotten to do in rope access yet. I went out to Vermont and got to work on my first wind turbine. It was such a beautiful time of year to be there too. There were so many times where I was rappelling down the side of this turbine with a picturesque view all around and wondered how I was getting paid to do something so cool.

After a few days in Vermont, I was flown out to Sweetwater, TX for some more turbine work. It was very cool because there were thousands of wind turbines around. I worked there for a few days and then went to visit a friend in Austin for a few days.

It was exactly a year ago that I first even heard about rope access. In that time I have done high rise window washing, rock scaling, and wind turbine work. The work has brought me to 4 different states, and I am near getting my level 3 certification. I am very proud of these things. Anywho... that about catches you up to right now, but let me tell you whats to come.

Right now I am finishing a coffee at Colins house in AZ. I am heading up to to Zion National Park for a week of climbing and fun. Wallin' with Colin. Got some big plans and big routes in mind (I'll fill ya in later). After climbing in Zion I am going to be heading to South Eastern Utah to a place called Indian Creek for a week of crack climbing with my old buddy Johnny Ray(perhaps you remember the name from my very early posts when I was living in Vegas). After a week in Indian Creek I am heading further east out to Denver, Colorado. I will get some climbing in but ultimately will be moving there. I am suppose to be working a job in November, painting the Brewers stadium in Milwaukee, WI.

So lots going on, and lots more coming. But I gotta wrap this up... the road is a calling and I've got promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Hope the multiverse is smiling upon you all.

Much love,

The Danimal

Alright, I realize that I put one of these things up not all too long ago, but there is much to tell. So bear with me. Looking back on some older posts I realized I had mentioned that I would put a picture of my van. Seeing as I don't have a lot of other photos for this blog, thought I might share this (and please, feel free to laugh). I am not sure if you can read any of them, but needless to say I get quite a diverse amount of reactions. Does having long hair, a stickered out van (which I sometimes live in), and an open mind make me a hippy? I don't think so, but most people do.

I have been spending most of my days washing windows at this "government insurance agency". This is the cover they keep, but the multitude of armed guards, layers of security clearance needed to access the site and such all lead me to evaluate the situation a little deeper... I am pretty convinced they are experimenting on aliens in a bunker located 200 ft below the surface (I cant say too much... I think they are watching me). Anywho, this property has a fair amount of "wild" land surrounding it. There is lots of wildlife and such; gophers, snakes, rabbits, roadrunners, owls, etc. The other day we found two little dog legs up on the roof... I believe that this was the culprit. There is a gang of about 4 or 5 owls that hang around and they have it made there. Anyways this has brought me to the conclusion that if an owl can swoop down and scarf your dog for a midnight snack, it wasn't much of a dog and you should probably just stick to house cats.

Climbing has been at a minimal lately due to the relentless heat. This has made life here very hard for me. I thought cold winters were bad, but at least you can take certain measures and still enjoy being outside. In this kind of heat there is nothing you can do to escape it besides stay inside. This is a picture of me out on a day climbing a place called the Prescott Dells (it is pronounced press kit, not press cot, as many will be quick to correct you on).




If you were paying any attention to my last blog you might remember me talking about going to a music festival in San Fransisco. This is not a picture that I took, but you can see where I was. It was an amazing time. Good friends, good music, good food, and good beer. I don't know how I got so lucky to live the life I do. Some of the bands I saw were Phish, The Shins, Deadmou5, John Fogerty, Beirut, GirlTalk, the Roots, and so many more that I can hardly remember. It was three days long which is quite an endeavor. After having such a great time it was hard to come back to an empty apartment and triple digit heat.

Which brings me to my biggest news to share...



So my days in Phoenix are dwindling. On Labor day I will be making a move to this place... Bremerton, WA. That's right, time for a new chapter in the ol' book. I am heading up there to do some work. The work is rope access rock scaling. If you have ever seen chain link fence on steep rock faces right over a highway, this is what I will be doing. The project is only suppose to last until mid-October but that is just fine with me. I will be getting a substantial pay raise with this company and with a little padding in the pocket and the great unknown waiting beyond the project, how could I resist?

So that is what is on the docket for me these days. Trying to thin out my belongings so they will all fit in my van again (it is amazing how much unnecessary junk people acquire) and selling lots of it on Craigslist. Anyone need 3 pairs of used socks, a half eaten hot pocket, and what appears to be... a.... um... well I'm not sure what that is, but I will cut ya a real good deal. I will have to leave my van in Phoenix in the meantime, so it is inevitable that I will return. I don't have anything against AZ, but Phoenix, and Scottsdale in particular were just not places where I belong. But ya know, there is just too much fun to be had for me to belong anywhere right now anyways. This was how I started my workday today. I will say one thing about AZ... it is the land of beautiful sunsets and sunrises. No where else have I been that harbors so many a picturesque dawn/dusk.

So that ought to about do it for now. It is hard to say when I will be able to get another one of these up. I wont have a computer in Bremerton, but rest assured, I will have my camera. So until the stars align... don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Truly, madly, deeply,

Danjerous