Some Recent Pics & Etc.

It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would write a little and show some of my recent pictures. I'll start out with a couple of Jake. He and I were haning out around the new church bulding that we got. It was a little before sunset so the light was kind of cool.
These next pictures are of these new stoves I've been tinkering with. They're made out of pop cans and run on almost any kind of alcohol. About an ounce of fuel will burn for about 7-8 minutes and can easily boil two cups of water. Basically I cut the bottom off of two pop cans with one can section just a little taller then the other and shove them together. I'm keeping this description brief to spare the large majority of my readers who probably don't care how the stove is made, but if you'd like more info, then I would again direct you to google. I also made this little pot stand out of a coat hanger. It's getting harder to come by a metal coat hanger these days. This picture is the first of these stoves I made. (The above picture is the second). Pop cans a pretty easy to come by so I just keep making them. Apperantly the best stoves are made using 12oz. Heineken Beer cans. Since I'm not a beer drinker those are tougher to find, but the pop cans seem to be doing the job. This is what the stove looks like when it's running. I was too lazy to get out the tripod so the picture is a little dark. If you would like to see more, google "penny stove" and you should get some better ones in no time. This next picture is an oddity from the kitchen. This was one of those moments where I took leave of my senses. I turned on the front burner on the stove and put the kettle on the back burner. This unfortunate container (which happens to contain dog food) was just a little too close. Since the burner was on high, just being close to it was enough to melt the container. It created kind of an interesting effect with the dog food partially spilling out.

Last time I turned on the wrong burner I had left a plate on the one I did turn on. That was cool because it was a stoneware plate and it exploded. Chelsea can vouch for me on this one--it popped while we were both in the kitchen and scared us to death.

These adventures in turning on the wrong burner may sound fun, but caution should be exercised. Airborne chunks of stoneware is more dangerous than glamorous and the combined smell of burned dog food and plastic is enough trigger convulsions.

We'll finish out with one of those right-place-right-time-with-camera moments. Sometimes Jake finds a comfy spot and just sticks with it--no matter where it is. Coming soon: Hopefully by this time next week we will be homeowners. We'll tell you all about it.

Auto Tour: Bon Jon Pass

So what do you do when the rain is coming down like crazy and you want to get into the wilderness? Why take an auto tour, of course. When I moved up here I bought a book called Washington Byways that has lots of good backroad drives. This weekend I decided to go to Bon Jon pass because it's relatively close, and because I've wanted to get to know the area a little better. And since rainy days make for some different photographic opportunities than sunny days, of course, I took my camera.

Bon Jon Pass is located in the north east of the Olympic National Forest.

Jake accompanied me on this trip, but I think I enjoy these car rides more than he does. Come to think of it, if Jake can put his head out the window he will be content for hours. Today it was raining off and on, so he couldn't stay out the whole time. We also hit a section of the road that the Land Cruiser barely fit through and he was getting smacked in the face, so I made him come in.Here's an interesting plant from the roadside. I don't know what it is, but I'll find out.As the rain came and went, the clouds rolled around the mountians creating these great effects. Bon Jon Pass itself was a little inderwhelming. I don't even have any pictures from it. There was no sign or marker indicating your location, you just had to recognize the location on the map. I love the Washington landscape and even though the pass wasn't all that cool, I still liked the drive. As always, the Land Cruiser was awesome. Despite its age, it brings comfort to the backcountry. This is the first long backcountry drive that I've had since I did some work on it. bumpy roads used to make my ABS light and check engine light come on and neither of those came on this time. All systems ran flawlessly. Jake was a champ, too. After three hours of driving he curled up on the backseat and waited patiently to get home.