Marion's Blog

Road Trip / Fishing Trip - Billings Montana to International Falls, Minnesota

We have driven 1897 miles since we left home in Reno and are now in International Falls, Minnesota on the Canadian border.

On Monday we drove from Billings to Bismarck and made a couple of very interesting stops along the way. Pompeys Pillar is a sandstone formation overlooking the Yellowstone River east of Billings. When William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition stopped here he carved his name and the date (July 25, 1806) in the rock. We saw the signature and climbed the boardwalk to the top of the rock. This is the only physical evidence still in place of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Walking up to the rock we saw a marmot. You can see him hiding in this tree. The top 2 pieces of grass point to his face

The second place we stopped was the Prairie County Museum and the Cameron Gallery in Terry, Montana. The museum was an old bank building stuffed full of memorabilia, everything from old medical equipment to an old knitting machine to old clothes. It was fascinating to explore. The Cameron Gallery  is a collection of pictures taken by Evelyn Cameron who moved to the area from England in 1889. She took lots of pictures which really give you a feel for Montana prairie life in the late 1800s.

 

 

In Bismarck we had a great dinner at Peacock Alley in the Patterson Hotel. Tuesday when we left it was pouring rain. We drove by the house I lived in in Bismarck before heading out of town. We drove for about 3 hours in the rain. Finally the sun came out as we headed north in Minnesota.

 

Now we are in International Falls. Our hotel looks out over the Rainy River which is the border between the U.S. and Canada. This morning we took a really cool tour of the paper plant here. They run night and day and ship tons of paper every day. They have a machine that creates a 30 foot wide roll of paper. The machine rollers run at 41 miles per hour. Each roll of paper from this machine is made into 8 million sheets of computer paper!

 

Tomorrow we fly in a float plane to a remote lake 175 miles north of here for a week of fishing. There will be no electricity, internet, cell phone or outside contact of any kind. We will have a cabin, beds, propane, and hot and cold running water. It should be fun!

If you would like to see my pictures from this trip they are on Flickr here.

Road Trip / Fishing Trip - Reno, Nevada - Rigby, Idaho - Billings, Montana

Duke and I are on a road trip / fishing trip. We are driving to Fort Francis, Ontario and then flying to  a remote lake for a week of fishing with some of Duke's family.

We left on July 4 and drove 660 miles from Reno to Rigby Idaho. We stayed in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast that we stayed in on our road trip last year. The Blue Heron Bed and Breakfast is right on the Snake River. We sat outside on the balcony and had wine and cheese and crackers for dinner.

On our drive on the fourth we stopped in Elko and caught the last of the Independence day parade.

Nevada, Montana and Idaho have had a lot of rain this year and everything is green.

On the 5th, Sunday, we drove from Rigby, Idaho to Billings, Montana. North of Rigby we saw the Tetons in the east and drove through the far western edge of Yellowstone National Park.

Today, July 6 we are driving from Billings to Bismarck, North Dakota.

I am uploading my trip pictures to Flickr here.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Spooner Summit to Tunnel Creek Road

Last Sunday and Monday, June 28-29 Duke and I hiked the 17 mile section of the Tahoe Rim Trail from Spooner Summit on Highway 50 to Tunnel Creek Road. The last three miles were off the trail down to the lake. The same road we took at the end of the Mount Rose to Tunnel Creek Road section. We did the hike it in two days and camped out seven miles from the beginning of the trail. Given how much rain we have had and the fact that we still saw some snow it was surprising to me that we only saw water once on the trail. It was at about 10 miles in. Here is a picture of Duke filtering water and refilling our water bottles.

Here are a couple more scenery pictures. If you would like to see all the pictures from the hike you can see them on Flickr here. We only have one more section to do to comnplete the Tahoe Rim Trail. It is the 32.5 Echo Lake to Barker Pass section through the Desolation Wilderness. I think we will do it as a four day back packing trip in August.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Barker Pass to Ward Creek Road

Yesterday Duke and I hiked the section of the Tahoe Rim Trail from Barker Pass to Ward Creek Road. I think it is one of the prettiest sections of the trail. The views were fantastic.

It was a total of 11.8 miles and though my feet hurt at the end it didn't seem as hard as last week so I must be getting in a little bit better shape. The hardest thing about the hike was that there were sections of the trail still covered with a lot of snow so that we couldn't always find the trail. We just headed in the right direction and eventually the trail would show up again. Walking over snow does slow us down so the hike took 6.5 hours.

If you would like to see all of my pictures from the hike they are available here.

 I think next week we will hike a section on the west side of Lake Tahoe that is about 17 miles. We are planning to do it as a one night back pack.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek Road

We hiked another part of the Tahoe Rim Trail yesterday. This time we hiked on the east side of the lake. Duke and I started at Tahoe Meadows on the Mount Rose Highway and hiked 9 miles south on the Tahoe Rim Trail to Tunnel Creek Road. Tunnel Creek Road is also called the Flume Trail and is very popular with mountain bikers.  We hiked down three miles from the TRT to highway 28 which is on the shore of the shore of the lake. So we did 9 miles on the TRT and 3 miles down to where we parked the truck.

It was a beautiful day. It started out with completely blue sky but by the time we were finished thunder clouds were rolling in. The views from this part of the trail are fantastic.

Here is a list of all the parts of the trail we have done so far.

• Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek Road - June 19, 2009  ( yesterday)
• Ward Canyon to Tahoe City - June 16, 2009
• Brockway to Tahoe City  - July 3, 2008
• Kingsbury to Big Meadow -  Aug 7, 2008
• Big Meadow to Echo Lake - Aug 14, 2008
• Mount Rose to Brockway -  June 26, 2008
• Spooner Summit to Kingsbury Grade - June 21, 2008

Here are a few of the pictures from the hike yesterday. You can see all my pictures on Flickr here.

The only snow we saw was at Tahoe Meadows where we started the hike.

There were lots of wonderful views. This is the east shore of Lake Tahoe

On the Trail Again - Tahoe Rim Trail - Ward Canyon to Tahoe City

Last year Duke and I hiked several sections of the 165 mile long Tahoe Rim Trail. This year we plan to complete it. Our 2008 hikes were all very long hikes. Several of them were 20+ miles. What I learned from our hikes last year is that 20 miles is more than I want to hike in one day. I can do it but after about 12 miles it just isn't much fun. If you would like to read about the sections we did last year they are here.

The Tahoe Rim Trail web site has a list of how you can break the trail into 14 day hikes. Today Duke and I hiked the shortest segment, Ward Canyon to Tahoe City. It was an easy, 5 mile, two hour hike. It was great to be out on the trail again. Our next hike will be the Barker Pass to Ward Canyon segment which is south from where we were today. Looking that way it looks like there is still quite a bit of snow on the trail where it meets the Pacific Crest Trail but I bet we can do it next week.

If you would like to see my pictures of the hike they are on Flickr here.

Pictures of Birds

When Duke and I were at the Malheur National Wildlife refuge in April we stayed at a couple of Bed and Breakfasts. Malheur is very popular with bird watchers. Every time we sat down to a meal with other tourists the first question we would be asked was "Are you a birder?"

I certainly don't think of myself as a birder but it has been fun on our recent travels to take some bird pictures and then use my copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds to try and identify the birds. I decided to start a Flickr set with one picture of each of the birds I have identified.

Here are a couple of the pictures. If you would like to see all the pictures you can see them on Flickr here.

I think these are Avocets. We saw these two in a puddle just east of Vya, Nevada last April

And I think this is a Chukar. He was on the edge of a meadow near Alkali Reservoir, Nevada. When we were out hiking the next day another Chukar startled me big time. He came right out of the bushes next to me and ran around pretending he had a broken wing. After he had done his job he flew away.

My latest Read - Introducing C.B. Greenfield by Lucille Kallen

I just finished reading Introducing C.B. Greenfield by Lucille Kallen. It a fun read, a mystery loaned to me by my very good friend Linda. It was published in 1979. One of the fun things about the book was the things referenced that are no longer a part of our life.

For example when Maggie is having Greenfield over for dinner she dressed in her "burgundy velvet pants and pale blue angora tunic" and puts records "on the record changer" later Greenfield "got up, turned over the records on the record changer, reset it, and sat down again."

This is my twentieth book read this year. You can see the whole list here.

Looking for Baby Pronghorn

When Duke and I took our road trip in April we saw lots of baby horses, burros, dear and cows.

Apparently pronghorn have a longer gestation period than most animals and the babies aren't born until May so we didn't see any baby pronghorn. So earlier this week we decided to take a one day camping trip up to Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge to see if we could see any baby pronghorn.

It was a bit cold and rainy but we still had a lot of fun. It always amazes me how few people we see. We didn't see another sole once we left the blacktop. It is a beautiful area.

Because of all the rain we have had the wild flowers were abundant. We saw literally hundreds of wild horses but only about 20 pronghorn. We did get to see one baby so we can say mission accomplished.

The pronghorn baby pictures didn't come out to good but I really like some of the other pictures. Here are a few of them. You can see the rest on Flickr here.

Reading - Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison and The Increment by David Ignatius

The Increment by David Ignatius
If you want to read a good spy novel The Increment by David Ignatius is it. I read it on my Kindle in a couple of days and couldn't put it down. The book is about the Iranian nuclear program and the American and British intelligence services. It seems very timely and authentic. It was very entertaining summer reading.

Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison
The Reno Newcomers Club book club selection this month was Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison. I finished reading it last week and the meeting was yesterday. The book is about death and mourning and a family in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Given the subject matter the book is surprisingly,  a hopeful book. I didn't find it at all depressing but instead really enjoyed it.

Jim Harrison is a poet and there is a lot of poetry in his writing. This is a character driven book without a plot and I found that I really cared about the characters. Harrison is also a cookbook writer and his food descriptions, especially the wild berry pies were mouth watering.

My Blogoversary

I started this blog 4 years ago. My Blogoversary was yesterday. I started it as I was getting ready to leave Sun Microsystems. Sun is where I started blogging in September of 2004. Sun was a fantastic place to learn about blogging. It was very nurturing and supportive and encouraged people to be authentic. My Sun blog is still on the Sun blog site.

Now that Sun is being bought by Oracle and presumably will be swallowed up I wonder what will happen to the Sun blogging program. By googling Oracle blogs I see that they do have an Oracle blog site but it doesn't seem as free wheeling as Sun's. At Sun anyone could blog about anything as long as we followed some common sense rules about not sharing secrets etc. I think Sun's blogs have a really authenticity which is a reflection of Sun's culture.

In thinking about the fact that Sun blogs could go away I recently decided to print out my old blogs so I would at least have a paper back up. It has been fun to look at the blogs I wrote five  years ago.

American Lion - Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

I'm working on reading a biography of each American president. I just finished American Lion by Jon Meacham about Andrew Jackson our 7th president.

Meacham says:

"Running at the head of a national party, fighting for a mandate from the people to govern in particular ways on particular issues, depending on a circle of insiders and advisers, mastering the media of the age to transmit a consistent message at a constant pace, and using the veto as a political, not just a constitutional, weapon, in a Washington that is at once politically and personally charged are all features of the modern presidency that flowered in Jackson’s White House. Jackson was a transformative president."

I found it interesting to see how so much that was new in Jackson's time is still with us today. For example I didn't  realized that before Jackson presidents only used the veto when they believed legislation was unconstitutional.

Jackson was also the first president not from the east coast. He was from Tennessee. Duke and I visited his home, The Hermitage, when we were in Nashville on our honeymoon.

Improving my Podcast Quality - Podcasters Emporium - Buying a mixer.

As you may know I have recently started a Podcast. I published my first show a month ago and am working on show number two. I am a total neophyte when it comes to podcasting. I am good with technology. It was my career for 30 years. But I have zero experience with sound or recording.

I have been doing a lot of research on podcasting. I believe in learning by doing so I just dove in and published my first show. I'm glad I did it. It was a lot of fun and I think the content turned out to be pretty good. But the sound quality was horrible. So I have been focusing on learning more about what is needed to produce a more professional show.

One of the resources I found which has become invaluable and has quickly become my favorite Podcast is The Podcasters Emporium, a show by two Australian guys James Williams and Dave Gray about how to improve your podcast. I like it because it isn't too basic but it also isn't aimed at experts. Plus I really enjoy the authenticity and personality of Dave and James. They have a great voice and a very engaging show. I think I need to start a side bar list of my favorite podcasts. The Podcasters Emporium will be on the list.

The first things I learned were all about gain, what gain is, and how I need to adjust it. This was covered in episode 11 of Podcasters Emporium. I suspect turning my gain down will make a very big improvement to my sound quality.

In studying ways to improve my podcast I also became convinced that if I am going to be doing interviews I need 2 mics. Handing the mic back and forth or holding it between the two of us just doesn't cut it. But if I use 2 mics I need a mixer. So I started shopping for  a mixer. My only complaint about Podcasters Emporium (and it is a minor one) is that it left me with the impression that I would need to spend at least $500 if I wanted a good enough mixer and mics. And I really don't want to invest a lot of money getting started.

So I posted a comment on Twitter saying  that I was looking for a good mixer but I thought I ws going to have to spend hundreds of dollars. One of my twitter and blogging friends Ryan of Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger responded almost immediately recommending the Behringer 802 8-Input mixer. The key things I learned from Podcasters Emporium were that I should buy a mixer with at least 2 XLR inputs and with phantom power. I didn't know what those things were but I learned that too. I went to my local Radio Shack store but the $30 mixer they had didn't have XLR input and the cheaper  Behringer mixer for sale on Amazon didn't have phantom power. So I ordered the 802 from Amazon for $59 and should be receiving it next week. Hopefully it will do the trick.

For now I am going to keep using my very cheap microphones but once I learn how to use the mixer I may be upgrading them too. If you have ideas or suggestions on other things I should know or do please let me know. Post a comment or email me.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett and Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts

I finished two books this week. One was literature and the other was pure escapism.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett was the book club book for the month. It engendered a very interesting discussion. Ann Patchett is the author of Bel Canto and several other books. Truth and Beauty is her story of her friendship with Lucy Grealy, the author of Autobiography of a Face.

The book is subtitled, "A Friendship" so I assumed it would paint a positive picture of friendship and would give me insight into what makes a good friendship. It did neither. None of the book club ladies liked the picture of Lucy painted in this book and in fact the lady next to me said that she found Ann Patchett to be passive aggressive. She thought this book was Patchett's way of getting back at Lucy. I agree.

I did enjoy reading Truth and Beauty for it picture of a codependent friendship. Patchett is a wonderful story teller. I found Truth and Beauty to be engaging.

While I was reading Truth and Beauty I decided I needed some escapism too. So I read Nora Robert's Chesapeake Blue. I think I like her books so much because I like the people in her books. They are pure fantasy but they are just real enough to draw you in and make you enjoy them.

Aidan has Minimal Change Disease Nephrotic Syndrome

While I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago I got a phone call saying that my grandson Aidan was at the doctor because he was having kidney problems. He was a healthy happy two and half year old and he had swelled up and put on 10 pounds of water weight. My heart sank. I don't want anything bad to happen to Aidan!

He saw a pediatric nephrologist (kidney specialist ) the next day and was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome. His kidneys are leaking protein into his urine. Because the protein is being lost there is not enough protein in the blood which causes fluid to leak out of the blood vessels into the tissue and cause the swelling that Aidan experienced.

I've been doing a lot of reading on the web sites my daughter, Shannon pointed me towards. I've learned that Nephrotic syndrome can be caused by a number of diseases. They hope his is caused by Minimal Change Disease. The treatment is daily doses of the drug prednisone, a steroid. The best web site I have found so far in my reading is the Nephcure site. Minimal Change Disease Nephrotic Syndrome is fairly rare. The doctor told Shannon that most doctors will only see one or two cases in their careers. It mainly occurs in children between 1 and 5 and happens more often to boys than to girls. Apparently the steroids work for many kids but the chance of relapse is high. The good news is that most kids grow out of it by about 12. Because steroids suppress the immune system one of the many worries is that Aidan will be very prone to infections while he is on the prednisone.

I remember how horrible it was when my 9 year old daughter (Aidan's Aunt) was diagnosed with diabetes. You just don't want anything bad to happen to your kids. You want to protect them and a chronic disease that requires constant monitoring and vigilance is overwhelming and very scary. Aidan's Mom and Dad are trying to deal with this one day at a time. They have to test his urine for protein every morning. Of course that is not an easy thing in and of itself when you are dealing with a 2 year old who is still working on toilet training. Apparently prednisone tastes bad so getting it down him can be a struggle too. He will be on steroids for a while. If he goes into remission they will wean if off the steroids but will continue to test his urine daily. If he has a relapse he will go back on the steroids.

I get a knot in my stomach every time I start to read about all the bad things that could happen but I am really trying to think positive and not worry about things that haven't happened yet. I know that worrying doesn't help. But that doesn't help much.

I also know that my worry is nothing compared to what my daughter is going through. I know she is an amazingly smart, strong and determined person and she has a great network of supportive friends and family. Aidan will get through this. 

The Guernsey Literay and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

While I was on vacation I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. What a wonderful book! It is a series of letters written after World War II. Through the experiences that are shared in the letters lives unfold and the experiences of the people of Guernsey during the German occupation are shared. This is a real feel good book without being sickly sweet. I would recommend it to anyone. I've added it to my list of books read this year here.

American Safari AKA April 2009 Road Trip

Duke and I decided to go on a ten day road trip as soon as tax season was over. We left April 17 and spent 10 days exploring northwestern Nevada and southeastern Oregon.  The area is a combination of mountains and deserts. There are lots of wide open spaces, big sky and very few people.

After we left paved roads on Friday at the town of Nixon east of Reno we didn't see another person until Saturday morning. We saw less than 10 people Saturday and Sunday until we surfaced in southern Oregon Sunday afternoon. We had a wonderful time camping. On BLM land you can camp almost anywhere  you want.

This is our Friday night camp site.

 

And here is our Saturday night camp site at the north end of the Jackson Mountains Wilderness at the top of the pass. We could see forever.

 

On Sunday night we had a beautiful spot right by a road surrounded by huge boulders. There were wonderful echoes. Since there were no other people we built our camp fire right in the middle of the road. Duke dug a hole, put the fire in it, and then buried the ashes the next morning. We left no trace!  The steam in the picture is from our camping pressure cooker that Duke used to cook the jambalaya for dinner.

 

Once we reached Oregon we stayed in hotels and at a field station. We explored the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the areas around it.

In the picture below you can see Duke clearing a tree off a forest service road we were exploring. Eventually on this road there was too much snow so we had to turn around.

For our last two day we headed back into Nevada. We spent two nights in a wonderful cabin at the Old Yella Dog Ranch. It was snowing when we arrived but by Sunday when we left the weather was beautiful.

It struck me that this trip was like a safari within a few miles of home. We saw lots of animals. Hundreds of pronghorn antelope, wild horses, wild burros, coyotes, cattle, and sheep. We also saw an amazing variety of birds. Sandhill crane, Great blue herons, egrets, coots, cinnamon teals, avocet, ducks, chickens, geese, Northern Harrier and Ibis.

The weather really worked with us. It had snowed less than a week before we left so there wasn't much dust and we only had problems with muddy or snowy roads a couple of times. When we were camping the weather was warm and when we had the cozy cabin at the Ranch it was cold. The pictures will give you a better sense of some of our adventures. They are available on Flickr here.

It was a wonderful adventure. We are ready to go again!

The New Marion Vermazen Podcast

I have always believed in learning by doing so when I decided I wanted to do  a podcast interview show I decided to jump right in.  The podcast is on a new blog http://marionvermazen.blogs.com/mv-podcast/

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes by selecting Subscribe to Podcast from the Advanced menu and putting in the podcast feed. http://marionvermazen.blogs.com/mv-podcast/rss.xml Or course you can also just listen to it on your computer from the blog

The podcast will allow me to feed my curiosity and share conversations with interesting people.

Wow!!

If you want a feel good experience this morning watch this YouTube video. All I can say is wow!

Steamboat Ditch and the Tom Cooke Trail to Hole in the Wall

Back In February Duke and I hiked the Tom Cooke Trail to Hole in the Wall. This hike is on page 233 of the book Afoot & Afield Reno-Tahoe A comprehensive hiking Guide by Mike White. The trail starts right next to the Patagonia Outlet on the Truckee River and heads south and then west along the Steamboat Ditch to where the ditch goes through a tunnel.

If you are familiar with Reno you are familiar with the ditches but otherwise you are probably wondering what I am talking about. Reno has a series of canals that carry water from the Truckee river for irrigation. I wanted to know more about the Steamboat Ditch but had a hard time finding any information. The Reno library wasn't able to help me.

Finally today I went to the library at the Nevada Historical Society. The people there were incredibly helpful and I learned a lot.

As the Reno area was first being settled in the second half of the nineteenth century most ranches got there water by buying shares in a ditch company. About 130 miles of ditches were created in the Reno area primarily for irrigation. 

The last ditch company was formed in 1877. It was the Truckee & Steamboat Irrigating Canal Company. Trustees  hired Chinese labor to construct the 33 miles of canal. White laborers were angry and announced that they would drive the Chinese out by force. In spite of their threats the Steamboat Ditch was opened July 1, 1880. It took two years and $40,000 to build

The Steamboat Ditch starts at the Nevada-California Line near interstate 80 west of Reno. Water is taken out of the Truckee river and is carried in flumes and through canals to an area south of Reno near Steamboat Creek. On our hike we walked along the ditch to one end of a tunnel that was built through a hill above the river. It is a long dark tunnel and you can just see the light at the end of the tunnel.

During the winter if you ever take Interstate 80 into Reno you can see the flume for the Steamboat Ditch on the other side of the river. The icicles hanging down underneath the flume are beautiful.

There are other paths to hike along the canal and I am looking forward to exploring more of the Steamboat Ditch and learning more about it.