Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

June 2009

Ready for Gun Blogger Rendezvous ’09

gbr09.pngFor the last week or so, we have been making arrangements to attend the Gun Blogger Rendezvous which will be at the Silver Legacy Hotel in Reno, Nevada. The event is scheduled for September 10-13, 2009. We’ve sent off our registration and made the hotel reservations, so all we need to do is fill in some details for the trip (we’re driving from the Los Angeles area), like staying near Yosemite NP on the way up and the Owens Valley on the way back. We’re looking forward to going to Reno.

Over the years, we have visited Reno many, many times, enjoying every visit. We’ve been going to Reno ever since it really was “The Biggest Little City in the World.” Don’t get us wrong, we like the bright lights and big hotels in the New Reno, but we’re also quite nostalgic about the way it was.

In August of 2007, we posted about Reno’s famous welcome sign. Here is the original article repeated here:

Pigeon Dung and Reno’s Famous Sign

reno-old.jpgAfter reading news accounts about the contribution of pigeon dung to the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, I was reminded about how pigeons similarly factored into the destruction of the famous “RENO – The Biggest little city in the world” sign that spans the entrance to the downtown gambling district. I recall reading a the story in the 1980’s about how the old sign became inhabited by pigeons that roosted or nested in the sign. They got in through gaps in the sign and, of course, pooped while they were in there.

Image right: Reno sign, 1980’s – click to enlarge

reno-new.jpgEventually, despite having been evicted several times by the city’s maintenance crews, the pigeon problem persisted until one day there was an electrical short-circuit in the sign. The methane from the dung ignited; there was a minor explosion and a fire afterwards that damaged the sign beyond repair. The sign was removed and subsequently replaced by a newer Vegas-style beauty which electronically beckons visitors to the downtown district. While it’s a beautiful sight, the new sign doesn’t have the old sign’s charm and breaks the promise for a “little city” beyond. Recent visitors to the new Reno, if they knew the old Reno, will know what I mean.

Image left: New Reno sign – click to enlarge

As for pigeons? They’re just rats with wings.

16 Jun 2009 by Blogosphere Culture Second Amendment

Saturday Burger Feast

cheeseburger-taters.jpgDamsel and I decided to have hamburgers and roasted potato spears today. We didn’t just buy ground beef patties and throw them on the grill, but rather ground up some brisket and put in the seasonings ourselves. Damsel prepared four half-pound patties from a two pound brisket we bought on sale and had in the freezer until yesterday.

I started the patio grill and preheated to 400°F with the lid closed. A low flame setting does the job. Meanwhile, Damsel sliced up the potatoes into spears and anointed them with seasonings and some EVOO.

She then puts the potato slices on a baking sheet and I slip them onto the shelf in the preheated grill. There they sit for 20-25 minutes when I take the tongs out and turn them over on the baking sheet. After another 25 minutes, they’re done. Moved them to a warm place on the grill and turned up the heat on the other side for the burger patties.

Grilled the patties until medium. For the last minute or so, I topped the patties with Havarti cheese slices. We like Havarti better than cheddar or American slices.

When the burgers were done, we brought them in and fixed up paper plates with the cheeseburgers on buns with onion, tomato and lettuce. Today, we added some green goddess dressing. Served with the ‘taters, this was sure a good meal!

13 Jun 2009 by Food & Dining

Another Two-tone Gerbera Daisy

This one is shades of pink. These two-tone hybrid Gerberas have just started showing up in the garden shop this spring. We think they are very pretty and love them in the patio. Click for full size.

red-pink-gerbera.jpg

12 Jun 2009 by Home & Garden

Hollyhocks

Taken during a recent visit to the Botanic Garden – a red Hollyhock, a.k.a. Alcea.

hollyhocks.jpg

From Wikipedia – Alcea:

Hollyhocks are popular garden ornamental plants. The flowers have been selected for variations in color, with dark purple, red and white-flowered plants available in addition to the colors found in wild plants.

Hollyhocks are very drought resistant, and do well in full sun locations that might be too hot or dry for other plants. They produce large, flat coin-shaped seeds (1/2″ diameter) that seem to grow easily wherever they drop. While an individual plant might only live a handful of years, by that time chances are good it will leave plenty of descendants. They have very long taproots which make transplanting difficult.

11 Jun 2009 by Home & Garden

Have a Nice Nuke

have a nice nukeThe Democrats and the Obamadministration think it’s OK for Iran to enrich nuclear fuel for that country’s energy needs, yet the moratorium on new nuclear facilities for the US continues. Why is it OK for them and not OK for us?

At least some members of the U.S. House and Senate are trying to get some traction for nuclear energy by leveraging the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) myth.

Via Planet Gore

We Need 100 Nukes by 2030 [Carl Shockley]

After fumbling over the Waxman-Markey initiative for several months, Republicans have finally hit their stride. Both House and Senate members are quickly falling behind the rallying cry, “100 New Reactors by 2030.”

“I think global warming is a real problem but I don’t think the solutions the Democrats are coming up with are going to accomplish anything,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), head of the Senate GOP caucus. “The only thing that’s going to allow us to cut carbon emissions is clean nuclear energy. We built 100 reactors between 1970 and 1990. We can do the same thing now. If global warming is the inconvenient problem, then nuclear power is the inconvenient answer.”

Alexander and three other Tennessee legislators were on hand Wednesday morning as Babcock & Wilcox introduced its new “mPower” 125-megawatt modular reactor that it will submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2011. The $750 million reactor will be built in a factor and shipped to the site by rail, where it would be completely buried underground and refuel only once every five years. “Everything in this reactor would be made in America,” said Republican Bob Corker, Tennessee’s other senator.

Congressman Zach Wamp (R., Tenn.) warned that the United States is falling behind other countries in nuclear technology. “What we’re talking about here isn’t just a revival of the nuclear industry,” he said. “We’re talking about an American industrial renaissance.

Power generation using conventional coal technology has been mathematically proven to have little effect on AGW. We should continue to use coal powerplants. In addition, we should resume nuclear generation, as it is clearly a better and more efficient method of producing the energy our nation needs, regardless of whether it actually does anything to improve the environment.

10 Jun 2009 by Environment Global Warming Whacko Politics

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