ALPS Mountaineering Catalyst 2

Picked this up from the REI Outlet with a 20% of coupon. Nice two (1+ gear) person tent with a rain fly for $112. Can't wait to take this up to the Olympics in a few weeks and test it out.

Yard work

Before:

After:

Over the course of this summer I pulled out all the grass to make a nice garden area. Put in a pond, patio, and dry riverbed. Purchased a new grill (w/ built in fridge), patio heater and table. Now I have nice retreat at the end of a hard day. Next up the backyard.

Melmont, Washington Ghost Town

Read the brief history on Wikipedia. Only a few structures remain, primarily the dynamite storage building and school house. Also near the river is a short wall of brick and stone mostly hidden from view.


To get to Melmont, travel on WA Highway 162 through the town of Carbonado and up the winding road to the the Fairfax bridge (Carbon River). Park on the far side of the bridge and walk back toward the Carbonado side.

Jump the guard rail and about 20 feet down is a trail that passes under the bridge. This is a decent size trail with horse, ATV and motorbike tracks. On the trail head away from Carbonado with the river to your right. It can get very muddy so be prepared.

Your about half way to the town when you see on the left the small building with no roof. It is said this is a dynamite storage building.

Lowering my new truck

Not really, just 1/2 yard of 5/8- gravel weighing it down.

New Truck

My new 2005 Dodge Dakota, got a good deal at the local auto auction.

Stop Disk Cleanup from compressing old files

Remove the following registry entry to keep the windows utility Disk Cleanup from trying to compress old files.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Volume Caches\Compress Old Files

Miata

The decision has been made, I took the miata to Barrett's Collision and got a quote of around 5K to do the repair. The facility is nice and the waiting room is more like spa than your typical auto shop.

http://www.carstar.com/barretts/