Life in a small town

Julie went to vote this week. We both prefer to vote early and miss the lines. Julie took "early" a bit too far when she stopped to vote at about 9:15 a.m. It turns out the early-voting polls don't open until 10:00.

However, we we live in a wonderful small town. They went and found someone to open the polls early, turn on the voting machines, and let Julie go ahead and vote while she was there. I think people are nice in Raleigh, but I can't imagine this happening there.

Loving Park City!

Somedays it sucks to be me

15 or 20 years ago, I had a wisdom tooth pulled. Just one. Who do you know who does just one? I was happy to have all four out but the oral surgeon said "Why bother? The other three are fine." They weren't fine and they should have come out then.

I have declared this year to be "fix my mouth" year. Back in May I had some fillings done and had a minor surgery to fix the crappy work from the first wisdom tooth extraction. Today, the other three wisdom teeth had to go (teeth numbers 1, 16 and 17 for all you study-at-home dentists).



The process was pretty quick and easy, as long as you aren't squeamish and don't mind a bit of pain. It was all done with a local pain killer and only took 30 minutes. The good news and bad is that I still have strong jaw bones. Probably comes from eating as much as I do. It means my jaws are healthy, but it also meant the teeth put up more fight than expected.

Now all my wisdom is in some trash can at the surgeon's, but at least I should have fewer problems keeping my back teeth clean and shiny.

Assuming my extractions heal as planned, I hereby declare an end to "fix my mouth" year.

UPDATE 1: OK, this is unpleasant. The two teeth that came out with a standard "grip it and rip it" are dandy. They stopped bleeding quickly. No swelling. No pain. Life is good. The one he ended up having to break and then to drill and dig to get the roots out is very unhappy. Go figure! Swollen. Sore. Took 10 hours to stop bleeding. Just to magnify the annoyance, I am eating luke-warm mushy food and drinking my coffee warm as well. Hoping for big improvement today.

It finally cooled down for some powder

We had about 8 inches of fluffy dry snow here at the house last night. It really does look very wintery outside and it is interesting to see how people are dressing. Most everyone is in their winter woolies (hats, gloves, boots, ...) but I was driving down I-80 this afternoon and saw someone driving with no shirt on. The temperatures hadn't hit 30.

"Stupid is as stupid does."



Glad we squeezed in a last round of golf on Friday. This is the 16th fairway. You probably wouldn't get much of a roll with your drives.



And this is the 16th green.



But if the golfers were unhappy, the dogs of Park City are more than making up for it.



Now it is warming back up into the 50's, but the nights will still be in the teens or 20's, so maybe the snow on the ski slopes will hang around. Only 3 and a half weeks until opening day!

Pictures from my iPhone

You may have seen the video of Jasper with his friendly llama buddies from a few days ago. Two days later, we stopped near the FOAU Recue Ranch to visit with a few mules and horses. Quite a different story from the llamas. Notice that Jasper is not in the picture. He wouldn't come closer than 5 feet from the fence, and only then if he could be stuck to my leg. Mules: 1 Jasper: 0


I have read a ton about the star of the electric car market, the $100,000+ Tesla Roadster. I finally got to see one the other day at the Hotel Park City. Things to notice:

• The huge 220V power cable that runs out from the hotel to charge the car. You must be someone important (owner? big customer?) to get that kind of service. The Tesla is a pure electric car (versus a hybrid). No electricity, no driving.
  
• The fact that this car is in a handicap spot without a handicap placard
• The sign that says you can also park in that spot if you are 65 or over

I wish I had someone standing next to the car. I swear it barely comes up past my knees. I simply can't imagine anyone other than a professional contortionist being able to get in and out of this car after year 65 or with any kind of handicap. It has to feel like you are driving a go cart, albeit a very expensive one.

First snow of the year

After quite a few weeks of sunny, warm weather, we are finally turning the corner for winter. The world is white and at 9:00, it has surged to 24 degrees. I was surprised to hear the snow guns working over at Park City, but I guess it makes sense. They are scheduled to open on November 20th and they need to start building a base.



There is still just a bit of color left on the trees, but not enough to grab shots like we had last year. It all comes down to timing.



While the ski resorts are probably celebrating the snow and colder weather, no one is as happy as Jasper. He has been running everywhere, chasing snowballs and just enjoying the white powder. It is amazing how his energy level and excitement go up with even just a few inches of the magic powder. He's definitely a Park City dog.

The gadget to go buy

I mentioned Roku two years ago, and it is still one of my favorite gadgets. It keeps getting cheaper, better, and more flexible. It is a tiny little box that connects to your high-speed Internet connection and your TV and then streams video from numerous sources. My favorite is Netflix, but there are lots of choices including Amazon, YouTube, Hulu Plus.


Check out www.roku.com for more information. There are three versions and the most expensive is only $99. DVDs will soon be dead. This type of device will be what drives video on demand. Right now I think think this is a much better choice than either Google TV or AppleTV.

Jasper and his llamas

I go to Home Depot frequently. Rather than taking the highway, I always drive along the frontage road, because Jasper loves to see the llamas. If we see them close by, we stop and Jasper gets out of the truck and waits for them. I've taken pictures, but without video it is hard to imagine how curious the llamas are. They see Jasper and come from everywhere.

Golf tournament

We entered an elite group of golf hackers in a tournament today. We got spanked. We didn't finish last, or even next to last, but we did manage to finish 11 strokes behind the winners. We probably had more fun though.

Our team, from left to right, included Doug Drexler, Bill Benson, Derick Loyola, and me, behind the camera.



Notice the long pants and sweatshirts. This was the first chilly day in quite a while. Damp. Cloudy. Getting ready for Monday's snow.

The good news is that all my CrossFit workouts are paying off. I won the longest drive contest by 20-30 yards. It was about a mile short of what the pros hit, but it was a legitimate 300 yards on a flat hole. Definitely one of my longest ever. My prize? A golf bag. I have only won two golf prizes in my life, one for longest drive and one for closet to the hole. Both prizes were golf bags. Too weird.

A change in the weather?

After a very warm and comfortable fall, we are getting tired of seeing this little image in the weather forecast.



Monday's forecast is the first day this fall that has included this lovely picture.



Think snow!

Gorgeous morning at the Swaner Nature Preserve

I was driving to get a physical this morning around 8:15. There had been a pretty heavy frost but the sun was cooking it off, adding a low fog layer. As I passed the Swaner Nature Preserve, I had to stop and snap a few shots. Just gorgeous.



It's nice to have my little Canon in the camera all the time, but it sure would have been nice to have my real camera and a tripod. Oh well.... Maybe I'll drag it along to Crossfit in the morning.