Hoover Dam Tour

I've always wondered what the inside of the Hoover Dam was like, because Shay and I have watched those documentaries on the construction and the complexities of the hydro-electric plant. So I had a day off and we drove up to check it out. We were too late to get in on the 2 hour tour, it was sold out by 10:30am, but we at least got to go on the power plant tour.
They took us 550 feet down in a huge elevator, and showed us how the water from Lake Mead was being used to generate enough power for 1 million people.

Before construction began on the Dam, they had to reroute the water of the Colorado River. So these huge tunnels were dug into the mountains on either side of the river and the water was directed thru them. After the Dam was completed, the tunnels were put into service with the hydro-electric plant. Here I am inside one of the tunnels:

The generators for the power plant. This is half of them. The other half are in another tunnel.

Looking down from the street on top of the Dam:

Shay with the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge in the background. It was completed recently and it is literally waaay up in the sky compared to where we were down at the street on the Dam.

If you have time, you can get to the upper parking area in the morning and walk across the Bypass on a walking path that's on the side of the bridge. But around 10am it gets so crowded you have to wait in a mile-long line just to get into the parking lot. I think we'll wait to do that when the attraction isn't so popular!
But we did drive across the bridge. It was uneventful, because the sides are built up so high you don't even know you're that high up. Couldn't see the Dam or the lake below.

Palm Trees and Snow

By the time I got out at 7:30 this morning it was 40 degrees, so it must've been a cold night!!!

Decisions

With all these questions, I've been kind of overwhelmed.  What am I going to focus on?  What am I giving up? What am I going to improve on?  Am I going back to school?  Don't know.  But I do know that I've absolutely decided that I am not going to give up.  I'm just not that kind of person.

My Year

I was just talking to someone about how we all like to end each year with a recap--whether it be with a lengthy letter in our Christmas cards or just looking over old photos with friends or family.  The news channels do their own version of this by showing all the major disasters, catastrophies, and tragedies.

I will do neither.  I will just keep hoping that next year is a little nicer.  Okay, a lot nicer.  Not just for me, but for many people.  I'm so sad to hear friends open up and admit that they're sad/anxious/stressed/angry/scared.
I want all these heavy hearts to be carefree and fun loving again.  I want the evil people responsible for this misery to die a terribly strange death.  Really.  Those bumper stickers from a while ago, "Mean People Suck," I agree with that completely. 

I'm ready for 2011.

Foggy Friday

We really don't get variances in our weather here too often, so the arrival of sprinkling rain yesterday and fog today was cause for celebration.

I got out of bed at 6am, and as I was looking out of the kitchen window waiting for my espresso machine to warm up, I saw the fog creeping up from the lake.

How exciting!!

As I was waiting for the car to get warmed up, I used my flash on the camera so you could see the fog swirling around me. It was like a ghost or something.

This is the view from the side of the house.  There's a wash there with trees but you can't see much with the fog.  FOG!!

This is looking down toward the lake on Daytona Avenue.

I made it down to the lake after I dropped Shay at school, (and by the way he was truly excited about the fog, which is phenomenal--you can't get a 13 year old boy excited about weather occurrences too easily)
normally there's mountains out there--they're all covered up.

This is the sun attempting to show itself, I'm standing near Body Beach.

Other People's Dogs

The next door neighbor has a very funny looking little dog, and she reminds me of an alien.

When she is outside, she comes marching over to me, as if I'm going to back away from the BEAST.

Then there's Heather and Kenny's dog. He's a chihuaha but he has the build and color of a big red pit bull:

I probably could've fixed his eyes in the picture but I think he's funnier looking that way.

Then there's JD, who belongs to one of my patients. He came from the pound, and is likely a miniature pincher. This isn't a very flattering photo of him, because he was a little excited at the moment:

He calmed down pretty quick when he realized there was photos...

Parade of Lights

It wasn't the same, being at the parade without the family, but I went with a couple of friends. I usually make a lot of food and drinks, and we watch the boats go by together. This year I stood at a railing and tried not to think about it.
I guess that would be something along the lines of Bah Humbug.

Third Wheel

My friends, I must say, are very good babysitters. They want the old Shawna back, the one who smiles and jokes and plays around. The one who is always looking for a good laugh. The one who doesn't mind looking stupid in order to make someone else giggle.

So they dragged me out of the house on Sunday to go riding in the desert. We left at noon, hit the trails, stopped at a watering hole, explored an old mine shaft, then poked our way back home. Well actually the journey home was quite fast--we were testing the limits of the Rhinos we were riding in.

Right away I was beginning to feel pretty good- and I didn't hesitate to show that with my camera...

I did have a few pensive moments, where I stopped to enjoy the view and found my mind wandering back to my grief and misery.....

Usually someone would come along and jar me back into the "don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it" mode.

I found the sole to a shoe. It seemed funny to me.

After a bit of riding I realized that there's more dirt than anything out there. And the chapstick on my lips was attracting the dirt.

We stopped at the Desert Bar, which is a mecca for off roaders during the winter months. They have live bands, food, nice views.
On this particular day they just happened to have someone playing JAZZ FLUTE!!!

Or something like that.

Then we hit the road and visited the old mine. And I fell in it.

Down there.
Heels went right over my head.

So of course I have bruises and scrapes. That's gonna look nice for that job interview on Wednesday.

As the sun began to set, we raced back to the pavement. Literally.

And I went home feeling a little more peaceful inside. Thanks, friends!

Among the Living

November is a month I'd like to forget. Forever. But maybe it's one of those darn character building experiments that the universe has thrown at me.
At this point, though, my character should be really frikkin awesome. I've had too much thrown at me over the years.

I did travel to Mexico, to work the start line for the Baja 1000 race...so here's a few photos of that:

Okay, that's not really fair. That was the rear end of one of the Coca Cola girls who stand around during the pre-race activities. She was definitely a member of the Coca Cola "B" Team. But who would look good in those pants, anyway??

Seriously, here are some race photos...

This is an ambulance that was entered as a race vehicle. It didn't finish.

We stopped in a restroom and I had to laugh at this sign. I've always known that they expect people to refrain from flushing their toilet paper--but I've never seen it put in writing before! Mexico has very poor sewer systems--if they have any at all--and flushing the toilet paper leads to big problems. So there's always a nice sized waste basket next to the toilet...

This is one of the Osh Kosh trucks entered in the race. Not as in Osh Kosh B'Gosh, but the huge truck manufacturer that generally does military stuff:

I did manage to get my annual photo with the girls. The Tecate girls.

Here's Jesse James pulling up to the start line. He didn't finish.

Roger Norman pulling up to start.

It was the nicest Baja race I've ever worked, because Jim changed things up. Normally, we have the same staff handling the start and the finish. We start the racers on Thursday morning--that takes a few hours. Then we verify all our numbers and go on break. The racers have 44 hours to complete the 1000 miles, so we estimate the time that we need to be back at the finish line to begin logging their returns.
But this race wasn't a "loop," it was a "point to point." The start was in Ensenada, the finish was 1000 miles south at LaPaz. Instead of scrambling us all to an airplane to get us to the finish line after the start of the race, Jim had three of us handle the start, then fax the numbers down to him and his crew at the finish. Then they logged the finishes. Once we sent our numbers down to him, we were done. Awesome!! We packed up and headed to the border.

Ever Have To Change Your Life?

I've started over in life several times. Really. I'm 36 years old and I've had to completely start over three times. I have literally lost EVERYTHING three times. I'm going thru that third time right now.

What prompted those huge changes? The loss of a companion, as usual. Most gals can agree with me, it's those flighty men who back out of their commitments and force us to flip our lives upside down to counter the changes.

I don't want to go into all the hurt and disappointment, and I'm not going to go on and on about how much I have been in love--only to have my heart stomped on. But I will say that I am not willing to give up on the game just because I haven't been a winner yet.

I still have my best buddy Shay, and we will move on together.

Aint Lookin For Nothin

But a good time....

Went to the Bret Michaels concert after the Republican Women's meeting in Tempe.

The Great Flood of 2010

I haven't been able to keep my appointments today because I'm walled in by running washes!!

Countdown to Brett

This weekend I have a series of meetings in Phoenix, ending on Saturday afternoon. Lucky me, I found Brett Michaels concert tickets for $18 at the State Fair.
Yes, I know, he's an 80's has been. And yes, I know, it's the State Fair.
I think it is a nice opportunity. I really am happy that the majority of the bands I loved in my youth are now very accessible, and I can spare a little time to head over and watch them.
Queensryche plays on Halloween, and I've assembled a posse of heavy metal fans to drive down to Mesa, Arizona to watch them. I think the cover charge is $10 or something. This concert is particularly exciting to me because it's the 20th anniversary of Queensryche's best CD, Operation Mindcrime. There's a full-on stage show that goes with the music, and it tells a story.

Of course, I will provide photos...

I Love Being Home

At home is exactly where I was on Saturday night, with the cat.  We stayed on the couch with the reading lamp on, and I finished off my latest book "Late, Late At Night," which is a memoir that Rick Springfield wrote.  The true stories of the rock stars are really the best.
Kitty Meow Meow spends some time in the back yard, and he goes in and out the back door as he searches for either some attention from me or a snack from his food dish.
We went to bed, after a goodnight phone call from Steve.  He went to Cottonwood for a truck show and didn't make it all the way home.  He spent his night in glamorous Seligman off the Interstate.

Around 1am, I was jolted awake by noise outside the bedroom door--the one that leads to the back porch.  Now that the weather is behaving we use the evaporative cooler so the back door is open with just the screen door shut.  Kitty Meow Meow normally will bristle up and run outside like a guard dog when something's going on out there- but this time he stayed put.  That made me nervous.
The noise out there continued, and a thought came to mind, "Maybe there's someone out there who knows I'm home alone...."  The amount of noise is convincing me that someone is trying to purposefully get my attention.

I'm normally not a paranoid person but I suppose you should know that there's been a little bit of trouble with my "Opponent," and the police warned me to keep an eye out.

With that in the back of my brain, I finally found the courage to step outside.  In the dim moonlight I see something hop up on the back wall, the one that encloses the whole yard.  The wall is over six feet tall, and I've always felt safe inside the fortress of Huff-i-tude. (like Solitude, but different)  Until last night.  I watched a very large coyote--the size of a German Shepard--hop up on the wall and walk along it with the skill of a cat. He paced back and forth, looking around in both our yard and the neighbor's.  My heart was in my throat.   Coyotes hunt together and it occurred to me that there were likely more than one in the back yard.  And I'm standing out there, in the dark, with my focus on this one that's pacing on the back wall.
I duck back in the house and grab my camera.  "Nobody will believe this!!"  I quickly snap a photo before the coyote gets spooked and jumps down into the neighbor's yard:

What a brilliant piece of evidence.

Of course I can't calm down after that, because I'm worried about Kitty Meow Meow's safety. I've learned that coyotes will stalk a home if they learn that there's a small animal living there. They'll stalk it until they get their kill.

Kitty Meow Meow, your days are numbered.

Shay's a Good Campaign Worker

Whenever I need help getting a mailing done, with all those stamps and address labels--I can count on Shay. He usually helps with very little incentive.

Whenever I need someone to pound rebar into the rock hard ground for my campaign signs--I can count on Shay.

It was still 100 degrees when we set out to put up a few signs this evening, and Shay happily put that rebar in place.  Very cool.  Of course I think he's going to charge me for his services...

Mrs. Quayle

As busy as I was in September, I forgot to share my dinner experience with Mrs. Dan Quayle. Her name is Marilyn, she is the former 2nd Lady of the White House. I named the mother quail in our neighborhood after her.

I knew very little about her when she was 2nd Lady, I only knew about her husband's flubs. But Marilyn is actually quite an accomplished lady. She's done probably more than her husband, really. She's worked around the country for many years teaching disaster preparedness, and has worked in the Phoenix area to help get women involved in politics.

She spoke at the Dodie Londen opening dinner that I attended, and I took so many photos of her I don't think I heard everything she said.

Her son, Ben Quayle, just recently won the Republican nomination for a Congressional seat. He has opponents in the General Election so he was out campaigning on this particular night. But his wife was there--she was a sweet lady.

Sunrise Aint So Early These Days

We know when the sun is rising by the event we're working. Really! In January, we can't start the off road races in Laughlin until after 7am, because it's too dark. In September, we can't start the races in Primm Nevada until 6:15am. In October we don't start the jet ski races until 7am. Can't race in dark water without headlights.

But it doesn't matter when the sun is rising, I still adore it.

Kind of a Big Deal....

The World Jet Ski Finals have been held in Lake Havasu for many many years now, and I can remember the days of Jeff "Jammer" Jacobs doing his thing out on the water in front of the Nautical Inn WAAAAAY back in the day. I mean, back when it was acceptable to wear day-glo colored shorts and bathing suits....

My boss at DSM Events (that's Desert Steel Motorsports Events...) has had the contract for the World Finals for 15 years now, and he's had a lot of experience in providing infrastructure for this particular venue. He normally gives me some part time job at the World Finals, but this year he put me in charge of port-a-potties. Okay, I was in charge of more than that, but port-a-potties were part of the package.

DSM Events handles the vendors, the grandstands, the telephone lines, the DSL hook-up, the security staff, the food for the ancillary staff, the patrol boats, and the 82 separate media representatives from around the globe. The Polish Yachting magazine staff was there. It was definitely a big deal.
Once the racing began, we found ouselves hosting over 600 racers from 44 countries all over the world. We were busy. It's nothing new.

The DSL connection allowed for the video of the race to be live-streaming over the internet, and on Saturday alone we had over 10,000 unique computers logged on to watch the competition.

Part of the racing show is a free-style event, where jet skiers get out on the water and do tricks just like the BMX guys and motocross guys. It was the only part of the 7 day event that I was able to enjoy---and it was only because I was giving some BLM representatives a tour of our facilities!!!

So here are my photos ( Okay, SOME of my photos ) of the 2010 IJSBA Jet Ski World Finals....

We began setting up on the beach at the beginning of October, starting with an empty beach with nothing but sand and wind. The grandstands take about 2 days to construct--thankfully there's a crew of guys from Phoenix to do that...

Once the crowds start coming in, those granstands come in REAL handy!!