Jekyll Island

The Alban

My daughter and I went to the Alban Theater tonight for free movie night. We saw some of the guys from the fire station there. They said that they knew I'd be there because, "if it's for free, it's for me." Funny. They were showing the movie ''Knowing". I'm glad it was free, because I would have really felt cheated if we would 've had to pay to see it.

Last Saturday Evening

I had forgotten about this photo until I was looking at some that I had taken today. We were at city hall waiting on my wife when I noticed the light on the United Bank building.

Olde Main Plaza

Some new graffiti on Olde Main Plaza.

Maybe, just maybe...

...I have way too much free time. Or global warming is a bunch of crap (I had a sweatshirt on today). Or my math is just way off.

I saw an ad online today for a synthetic motor oil and how much money I could save if I used it. They had a little savings calculator and you had to input some of your vehicles information for it to calculate your savings. One of the entries was for my vehicles (2005 Grand Caravan) miles per gallon rating. The calculator took me to this government fuel economy web site to find out what the mpg's were. Here's where my question lies. This government web site says my van produces a carbon footprint of 10.2 tons per year of CO2. I repeat! 10.2 tons.

Now lets do some cipherin'. Gas weighs between 5.93 and 6.42 pounds per gallon depending on temperature and blend of gas. Let's assume a round figure of 6.25 pounds per gallon, just for ease of cipherin'. I have a 20 gallon tank on my van. That comes out to 125 pounds per tank. Now lets figure that I fill up 35 times a year. I giving them 35, but I would guess it's probably less.

Are you still with me now Jethro? I can't do this all day.

With me filling up 35 times a year at 125 pounds per fill up, that comes out to 4,375 pounds of gas I use a year. Now divide 4,375 pounds by 2,000 (a ton) and you get 2.19 tons of gas that I put in my vehicle. I repeat. I use 2.19 tons of gas per year.

Now how does the government come up with their figure, 10.2 tons of CO2 produced by my van per year? It's impossible, it's illogical, it just does not compute!

It's like me saying that if I burn 25 pounds of wood in our fireplace I'll end up with 75 pounds of ash, soot and smoke. That don't make no sense!!!!!

I asked my daughter, she's almost 13 so I thought she'd know, how they came up with 10.2 tons per year. All she could think of was, "it's magical". She's probably right.

Worldwide Photo Walk

I went to Charleston and participated in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk. It was a nice morning for it and I had a pretty good time. I couldn't get my gal out of bed this morning to go with me. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the photo walk.

Calla Lily

I've had this thing in the ground for 3 years, but this is the first time it's bloomed. It's leaves always came but no bloom. The other day a couple of our cats were out front and one jumped on the other one and he did a flip and landed right on the leaves. Smashed 'em flatter than a pancake. I started to pull them up but didn't. Just a couple of days after that I noticed a bloom coming on. Glad I didn't pull 'em up or kill the cats.

Ripples

Canoe Trip

Me and my gal took the canoe out this morning to Upper Mud Lake in Lincoln County. It was 58 degrees when we got there but it warmed up nice. We paddled around for about 3 hrs. and had a great time.

Rafting the Lower New

Here's another photo from our whitewater trip. It was cool to find our photo online even though we had a private guide. This is Lower Keeney. If the shot would have been taken at Upper Keeney you might have gotten to see Kim and I falling out of the boat. They all said I knocked her out when I fell in. I didn't even realize she was in the water 'til I popped up after about 2 minutes under water. Maybe it was more like 10 seconds or less, but it felt like 2 minutes. Anywho, one of my precious Keen sandals came off while I was under water and all I thought about was, "man, I'm gonna have to buy a new pair of sandals." Luckily it popped up right beside the boat and Molly grabbed it. Like I said in the other post about rafting, we had a blast and have already planned to do it again.

I was flickin' through...

...some blogs today and found this. Very funny! Crank up your speakers and check it out.

Water Lilies

Taken from my canoe today at Upper Mud Lake in the Upper Mud River Wildlife Management Area.

Pleasant View

I got this on our way back from Cunard after we went whitewater rafting last week. There was a church close by that was named Pleasant View something-or-other.

Lieutenants and New Guys

Last night at Saint Albans City Council meeting my friend and fellow government employee, Lance Carney, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on the Saint Albans Fire Dept. He took the the place of Lieutenant Brent Clevinger who retired last month after having served the citizens, the city and the fire dept. for over 21 years. The mayor also swore in a recruit firefighter to fill the position left vacant by Lieutenant Clevinger. His name is Jeremy Thompson and he was a Boone County Deputy for 8 years before he realized he messed up and should have taken the fire dept. test a long time ago. Lt. Carney's and Firefighter Thompson's families were there to pin there badges on. It was a festivus for the rest of us. Congratulations Lance and Jeremy.

McDonald's

Flat

It's no fun having a flat on the 4th of July weekend in Monroe County, Ohio. Not that Monroe County isn't a nice place, it's very nice. There just isn't a whole lot there except beautiful farm country and tiny towns that close in the evening and on the weekend. Luckily, Kim's uncle Kayo happened to know a guy that lives right down the road that could put a plug in it for us. The offender that caused the flat was a bone. I didn't hit any live animals, so I must have hit a carcass somewhere.

Not Flat

New River Gorge Canopy Tour

Thursday we made another trip to Fayette county to do the Treetops Canopy Tour offered by Class VI/Rivermen. It was a very cool day for the 2nd of July, but it was OK. We had a great time. There were supposed to be 3 others in our group but they canceled, so it was just us and the guides. The longest line is 730 feet. You get a nice view of the forest below. The guides were real nice and knowledgeable about the forest and wildlife.

WV Zip Line 2

WV Zip Line

Rafting the Lower New River

Gettin' ready.
Two whitewater gals.
Big fun.

Allie and Austin our personal guide.

Molly jumpin'. That was really fun!!!
Allie and Kim.
Don't the helmets make us look good?
Bonnie and Molly.

Today we rafted the lower New River. This was our first time ever whitewater rafting. It was awesome! Kim's cousin Bonnie had wanted to go for a couple of years but we just never did, so this year we did it. We talked about going with a raft company but one of my guys on my shift is best friends with a guy that used to guide with a company but now just does it on the side. He told me that he would trust his family with him, so that was good enough for us. I'm so glad we went with him instead of a company. We could do whatever we wanted for however long we wanted and he is such a good guy and a very knowledgeable guide. What Kim was most impressed with was how much he was concerned for the safety of the girls. We just had a great experience all around and we'll definitely be calling him to take us again.