Strange Days Have Found Us
Even by our admittedly chaotic Black Rock Desert standards the weather has been utterly freaking unpredictable this week. On Monday it was hot: up into the mid eighties. Today it’s 55-degrees outside at noon! We had a small snow flurry today and it looks like the Granites have had a fresh dusting of powder… but it should be in the 70’s this weekend. Late yesterday afternoon I rode a motorcycle into Gerlach and encountered high winds, freezing rain, a sandstorm, and fog – all within an 18 mile stretch of road!
So, yeah, we haven’t planted our vegetable garden yet. I’m sure you understand.
I traded by old Ford 8N tractor to an interesting fellow named John for a couple of generators on Sunday. It was a good trade. He got an antique vehicle that I could never seem to do much with, and I got two generators that I desperately needed to keep things functioning smoothly around the ranch. One is a small but powerful Coleman that I have already strapped to the back of my big truck. It will be especially useful for running things Downtown. The other is a 500-pound electric start Onan that I’ll probably use as the backbone of my non solar and wind power for Uptown. I can even buy a remote control for it… an unthinkable luxury if you’ve ever lived off-grid on a budget of not-to-damn-much.
John proved to be an enjoyable kind of guy to spend a few dangerous hours loading and unloading equipment with. A former Marine pilot, he spent 30 years in the service before retiring to become a refrigeration specialist, sunbather, and all-around northern Nevada desert rat. Interestingly, he’s also the nephew of Olympic great Jim Thorpe, and quite strong and spry at the tender age of 68 (I had him pegged for 55).
John and his wife Millie maintain an informative website about hot springs bathing that you can link to here.
So, yeah, we haven’t planted our vegetable garden yet. I’m sure you understand.
I traded by old Ford 8N tractor to an interesting fellow named John for a couple of generators on Sunday. It was a good trade. He got an antique vehicle that I could never seem to do much with, and I got two generators that I desperately needed to keep things functioning smoothly around the ranch. One is a small but powerful Coleman that I have already strapped to the back of my big truck. It will be especially useful for running things Downtown. The other is a 500-pound electric start Onan that I’ll probably use as the backbone of my non solar and wind power for Uptown. I can even buy a remote control for it… an unthinkable luxury if you’ve ever lived off-grid on a budget of not-to-damn-much.
John proved to be an enjoyable kind of guy to spend a few dangerous hours loading and unloading equipment with. A former Marine pilot, he spent 30 years in the service before retiring to become a refrigeration specialist, sunbather, and all-around northern Nevada desert rat. Interestingly, he’s also the nephew of Olympic great Jim Thorpe, and quite strong and spry at the tender age of 68 (I had him pegged for 55).
John and his wife Millie maintain an informative website about hot springs bathing that you can link to here.
posted by Jason Walters | 4:26 PM
1 Comments:
I had always thought a tractor was the way to go...well...I can't be right 100% of the time, I drove that thing once, pretty scary!
This weather sucks!
So much for global warming!
chriskarma
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