Typewriter Demolished, Keys Saved, Jewelry Made

Found an old Royal Typewriter, harvested the keys, made a masterpiece for my bride of 7 years. It was to be a Christmas present (last year), didn't happen for her B-day either. Finally got it done for our anniversary in August. She liked it. Finally took a picture for the world to see. Now how am I going to top that for this Christmas?

Found it!

My long lost Leatherman has been found! You know, the one that was given to me as a gift from a small design team that I led the summer of 1999. So it has sentimental value and high utility value. And so now I have two Leatherman tools since my wife bought me the Wave this past Christmas. So does this mean I'll become doubly handy around the house? Maybe so...

Earth Wind Sun

This is a snapshot of painting for a poster contest at work promoting green environmental practices. Don't know if I won yet. Doesn't matter though, I had lots of fun doing the painting. My lettering is awful - it was late.

The Yurt Trip

This past weekend I had the privilege of camping out in a Yurt with some awesome dudes. I've never camped in a Yurt before, let alone hiking uphill on snow/ice for 2 miles just to get to the thing. Thanks for having dinner ready (Tim, Adam, Shane) when I arrived. Thanks for coming down and treking in with me Sam. I'd be lost somewhere in those woods and snow if you hadn't.

We did some more hiking & snowshoeing on Saturday which was very refreshing. The scenery was beautiful. Saw some wildlife too. Hiked back out at 6AM on Sunday. Soreness set in on Mon. and Tues. Would do it again in a heartbeat.










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Does it fly?

A sweet little 1929 Ford Roadster stopped by the neighbors the other day. So my 3 year old son and I went to take a look. He promptly asked me, "Does the car fly." (like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) a recent favorite of his. Funny.

CSI Suburb Wildlife

This morning on my way out I noticed something peculiar just outside the house. A mess of juniper branches and needles, a small perfect bird nest and the remains of a little blue egg splattered on the driveway. Hmmm... Who done it? or What did it? Help us solve this mystery. Send in your theories now! Here are a few photos to help.

Mango Salsa

Some friends were asking for my new recipe for Mango Salsa. Well friends, here you go:

.75 - 1 finely chopped yellow onion

5-6 salad size tomatoes finely chopped (Not the huge beefsteak tomatoes or the small roma tomatoes)

1 - 1.5 limes - juice

1 - 2 tablespoons vinegar

.25 - .5 cups (lightly packed) finely chopped cilantro

1 mango finely chopped (peaches work too)

.5 - 1 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper

.25 - .5 teaspoon red chili powder

1 clove garlic finely chopped (roasted or lightly sautéed in a pan with oil)

1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

salt and pepper (optional)


I use a hand chopper for the onions, tomato, cilantro (each separately) a food processor/chopper works well, but can chop things too fine if not careful. There's a fine balance between the vinegar, sugar and salt percentages, you almost have to do these to taste.

Chill salsa in the fridge for at least an hour. It will taste hotter the longer it sits thanks to the crushed chili peppers permeating throughout.

Enjoy with your favorite corn chips. Happy Eating!

Doggy presents in the living room

You know your dog was born in a warm climate when she won't go outside at night or in the morning, but she'll gladly leave presents for you to find before breakfast in the front living room. Aaargh! Good thing for wood floors. And it's not even that cold out yet.

Attention to your dog

You know it's time to pay a little attention to your dog when you think to yourself, "self, if I stop feeding the dog, maybe she'll stop pooping on my grass, living room floor or just stop pooping altogether". Sigh...she's a good dog really.

Truly One

You know you're truly one with your spouse when she has a beverage containing caffeine with her dinner, but you're the one who can't sleep. It's true and it happened to me.

Precious People

The most precious three people in my life.
And your thinking to your self that you only see two people. There's another little one hiding - due any day now. This is going to be crazy, but fun and amazing.

Old Floor New Floor

A few weeks ago we managed to rip out the old carpet in the family room, repair the old vinyl floor underneath and then proceed to paint a new rustic wooden floor. Much easier said than done. But now it's done. Here is a little Slide Show and some photos:

Bobcat (the tractor) Action Video

To kick the landscaping into high gear, i rented a little Bobcat. See the Action videos. Everything went real quick after this.
bobcat.mov In Quicktime format.

Spiders & Thistles

Found these interesting things at my parents house a couple weeks ago. One huge spider and its web. And this thistle seed pod from some sort of native plant. Ouch.

Weekend Warrior: Build Castle Wall - Grunt!

This was my Saturday. Woot! We're making progress.
See the building progression in a photo merge animation.

More Mud

This is a classic. Finally I got to use my little Subaru Forester in some mud. A few weeks ago when my sweetheart and I were on a short anniversary outing - we took drive up to Cerrillos and Madrid, NM. Through some mud. It was great! I came up slowly to the huge pond of water which was covering the whole dirt road, stopped, discussed briefly with my bride - which way through to take and then gunned it. As I was just about to cut a bit to the left to higher and more solid ground, suddenly saw a huge piece of metal in the way, thus forcing me a smiggen off course. Plunge goes the right side of the vehicle into deep water and mud. It's spraying everywhere - Daniela is screaming, I'm laughing having too much fun and within a few seconds we were out on solid dry ground. We did it! We passed some folks in a Mini Cooper coming the other direction - told them not to try it. That would've been a sight.

From the Archives

By popular demand. I've posted a photo of the infamous mullet in 1994. Yikes! I'm incriminating myself on this one. The big question is: Why did I or anyone in their right mind sport a mullet in 1994 or 95 or even - i hate to say it all the way into 96. But it didn't get past March or April of 96. I know you're laughing and gasping for air. Me too.

Slowly I Become One With the Mud

"Rain, rain on my face
It hasn't stopped raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become one with the mud

But if I can't swim after forty days
And my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up - when Im falling
Lift me up - Im weak and Im dying
Lift me up - I need you to hold me
Lift me up - keep me from drowning again"

–Jars of Clay, Flood

This song comes to mind often these days because Albuquerque has been breaking records for the amount of rain. It's unbelievable! I've never seen this place so green. I mean - you look out across the river to the west volcanoes and it's green. Not the usual dirt brown. But you know what that means in 6-12 months. It will dry up and all those new weeds, grass and native plants are just kindling for the fires. I hope not. Well, here's to all who normally live in sogginess - I don't know how you do it. Cheers.



Here's my backyard getting drenched (I've always wanted my own swimming pool of mud.) and even better a rainbow afterwards.

1966 Plymouth Sport Fury

No, no, it's not mine. It's my Uncle Denny's - who lives in western PA. Pretty sweet though. I think he's planning on restoring this puppy. An interesting note, is that he and my dad were rummaging around in my late Grandmother's garage and found some actual parts (in their boxes) dated to the late 60's or early 70's, but never used that would fit the Fury. Left overs from the Byers Y Esso service station that my late Grandfather (Frantz Byers) used to own. Wow!

Family Folk

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit my relations in Pennsylvania. We're a strange bunch when all together, but if that were not the case then we wouldn't be family. Here's my sweet Grandmother Byers (Liela) and I, she had just come outside to find a few of us fishing in the lake. And the group shot is the other side better known as the Wolfe's. That's My Sister, Me, Grandpa, Uncle and Grandma. We were trying not to get wet from the rain while having a hard time all fitting on the deck.