December 2014 – Page 2 – Bus Driver Jim

GGD Update

My only known great-grand-daughter is growing up nicely and her cute little mug has flown across social media cyberspace, to gently land here.

Here’s me, my son Riley, and my grandson Chris (baby’s dad).

I’m really loving these gas prices, especially since I spent a small fortune on fuel while traveling the last three summers. Memories of prices approaching $5 a gallon on the West Coast are still banging around my head.

I’ve got next week off and if the weather behaves I’d like to do some traveling and try out these new low prices. I know that very special day is next week but I should be back in time.

Who knows, maybe the price will keep dropping as Spring Break approaches…

H.R.83

This is my app for the day. It takes the U.S. House of Representatives voting record on the latest Omnibus Bill and converts it into a sortable table for analysis.

Click the image below to load the app…

Recital

My niece Anika (on the right) performed in a recital at the high school tonight. I assigned my assistant Stephanie to attend, and she captured the event with my camera.

Here’s some video:

For My Kids

My new BusDriverJim stamper arrived last week and I was able to quickly stamp the forty gift envelopes I’m handing out to my kids next week.

Spirit

Christmas, carols, christ is king, jingle, bells, christ is king, golden, rings, christ is… wait a minute, I thought obama was king?

I need a break so I’m going to sit on one of the cupcake pillows that Steph just made for a co-workers kids, and watch Frozen several times today. Or maybe I’ll watch women’s pro surfing live from Maui, I can’t decide.

Or, I could take advantage of an email offer I just got offering $100 cabins for a five day cruise to the Bahamas on an under-booked cruise ship if I can just get to Miami in the next few hours. Problem is, I have no passport and I have to work next week.

I guess the best thing to do today is sit in front of the big monitor, in my pajamas, and create some more stuff that people will never understand.

btw: The record heat we’ve had around here has totally destroyed our valley snow.

Iraqi Snowman

Steph and I were nestled down for our long winter nap when we were suddenly awakened around 0330 by the sound of something falling. My first thought was that Piper had rolled over on our bed and fallen off. I instinctively moved my hand to the l.k.p.p. (last known piper position) which was: snuggled up against my left hip with the covers half way over her. Thankfully my hand came to rest on her head. We have a high bed and the poor baby could hurt herself if she landed wrong while half asleep!

Or maybe I worry to much… Anyway, I got out of bed and wandered around the cold house buck naked for a few minutes to make sure it was secure, and it was. Steph discovered the source of the noise later on in the morning when she pulled back the shower curtain and my bottle of shampoo that I keep upside down so it pours easier was laying on the bottom of the tub. Must have been a small tremor.

What does a photo of an Iraqi snowman that I took this morning have anything to do with this post? Probably nothing :-)

Wolf Pack

One of my morning Driggs to Victor kids has a dad who works for the Forest Service. Tristan frequently climbs on the bus along with his daughter and we’ve had some great chats over the last couple of years.

He mentioned a while back about an encounter with a wolf pack and how he grabbed some video with his cell phone. He was out on a field assignment with Lance Pekus, who apparently is some famous Ninga Warrior TV personality. Here’s the video:

Vincent

I wrote a post last February about a connection I had with Vincent Van Gogh. I recently learned that in July 1890, at the age of 37, his depression caused him to shoot himself in the chest with a revolver and he died 29 hours later from the infection. His last words to his younger brother Theo were The sadness will last forever.

How profound. It has been reported by physicians dealing with near death experiences that people returning from a suicide attempt recall an intense hell, while others recall a comforting white light and loved ones waiting for them.

I believe this is true and I feel really bad when I see people taking their own lives. It’s also where Vincent and I part ways. I love life and I take no drugs to convince me otherwise. Now Christmas on the other hand…

Pipe View

It sure looks and feels like Spring around here as opposed to the dead of Winter. The mountains are holding up due to a good Thanksgiving snow but the foothills are fading and the snow pack around the valley floor is almost gone. Weird, but still beautiful…

Decoy Owl

I was on Bates Road this afternoon and spotted what I thought was a cool owl perched up on the top of a tall power line. Upon closer inspection, and the fact that it didn’t fly away, I realized it was just a decoy. ( map )

It makes you wonder if it was put there by the power company to keep the eagles off, or by the farmers to protect their crops. Hmm…

SlideShow

Mouse Plans

It’s been a really warm December so far. Temperature records may be broken this week but it ain’t breaking my heart as the mountain snow is still fine.

Every year our field mice build intricate tunnels under the first snow and hunker down for the winter. Oops, it just melted off! I don’t know what they’re going to do now, and Piper’s out hunting in the back forty.

Oh well, as long as they stay out of our house…