I guess there is ONE THING I like about this weather

The Fall colors have been quite remarkable around here this year. It varies from year to year. The intensity of the leaf colors has to do with the amount of rain and sun and temperatures between day and night. Apparently this was a good blend because the reds and yellows are amazing.

This picture was taken on SR 18 in north central Illinois as I climbed the bluff from the Illinois River. It had been raining most of the day and the road was shiny wet. As I neared the top of the bluff, there was an overhang of trees with bright yellow leaves. The whole forest around me was blazing in color. It really was impressive.

It also reminded me, that you don't have to go very far from where ever YOU live and see for yourself, what a wonderful world we live in. Ya, I know, it's nice to go somewhere exotic like the Caribbean or Mexico or Greece or something. But that's probably not something you can do spur of the moment or economically. And shouldn't you know your 'back yard?'

Right after high school, I went to New York City to attend photography school. I was staying with family and they took me sightseeing. I remember being told how THEY had not seen some of the things we were seeing. And they live there!

Makes me wonder how many people living in the St. Louis area have never been to the Arch. Not necessarily UP in the Arch -- although you can and it is a most impressive view from 605' in the air -- but even in the base of the arch, underground actually, where the museum is. Who's been to Forest Park Zoo? It use to be one of only two FREE zoos in the country.

Most people consider Illinois to be relatively flat and all corn - or at least whatever part of the state isn't Chicago. The Illinois River cuts from east to west across the middle of the state and then bends south where it merges with the Mississippi just north of St. Louis. The river follows along a bluff much of the way and is quite spectacular.

So the moral of the story is, "GET OUT THERE!"

1.5 BILLION gallons of water in 25 minutes

The morning of December 14, 2005 there was a breach in the Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir (about 100 miles south of St. Louis) that sent 1.5 billion gallons of water cascading down Proffit Mountain. Johnson Shut-in State Park was severely damaged. The Park Superintendent - along with his wife and three children - had their home, with them in it, washed away. Amazingly, they all survived.

Taum Sauk Reservoir is a pumped-storage hydroelectric facility that was built in 1962. The concept is that water is held in a 'lake' on top of a mountain until electric demand is high. Then water is released thru two tunnels, housing pump-turbine generators, to another lake about 800 feet below. At night, when electric demand is lower, the water is pumped back up to the top.

As with most bad things, the breach was the result of several things going wrong at the same time. Basically the reservoir was 'over-filled' because of bad (or missing) gauges. The overflow caused an already weakened wall to fail. You can read an independent panel's report here.

Ameren UE - the electric company - was fined $15 million. The sad part (to me) -- there were multiple indications that a catastrophe was imminent for several months prior to the event. Wikipedia has details and photos.

The $480 million rebuilding project began in December 2007 and is scheduled to be complete in May 2010. I was there this week to pick-up some of the construction equipment they were done with.

All I can say is -- WOW!

The new upper reservoir is a kidney-shaped dam constructed of roller compacted concrete. The inside is smooth but the outside is stair-step shaped. They have about 700 people working there. Needless to say, they have made a lot of improvements in 50+ years. In fact, the managing supervisor of engineers offered a " ... 100 percent guarantee there will not be another breach." Guess he doesn't believe in the 'never say never' thing.

So, that was the most interesting place I have been this week. Things are going well at the 'new place.' I am not driving anywhere near the miles that I was before. That's a good thing (mostly). Now if I could just do something about the weather here!

THIS is why I moved in the first place!

I hate this weather -- cold (45 degrees) and rainy!! And if THAT'S not bad enough, it's 85 and sunny in Paradise (St. Pete, FL). "I wanna go home!" This weather just depresses the #O%*X out of me. Too bad Prozac has so many undesirable side-effects!

I like wearing shorts, tank top and flip-flops. But not here, today. I was in Wally World yesterday and I found myself stopped in front of the 'Thermal Underwear'. Sad!

Let's see if I can find some 'good news' to share. Oh ... yea! My truck insurance! Proof positive you have to shop that stuff out every once in a while. My policy was up for renewal 10/1. Of the three places I shopped it, nobody could beat what I had -- until yesterday.

Now mind you, I have already renewed but I am month-to-month. Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call and supposedly this company will cut my premium by more than HALF. I'm waiting to see the written proposal.

My first reaction was, "No Way!" But then I remembered when I first bought this. The range of the qoutes was mind boggling -- a low of $1500 to a high of more than $4000 a year. At this point you are probably thinking, "What are you talking about? I (we) pay a fraction of that!" Please remember I drive alot; more than 90,000 miles last year. I also have a very high liability limit ($750K) to protect my business. It makes a big difference.

So, hopefully this new quote will be for real and I can make a big savings. That's good news.

And along the insurance line, I decided to renew my Life and Health Insurance producers license. Some of you may not have known that I made a living for almost 7 years selling insurance. The best thing about selling insurance - besides helping people protect themselves from disaster - is the 'trail'. As long as the policy remains in force, I get continuous income. Small but it adds up. The key is to write good business.

I am seeing a huge opportunity coming in the health insurance biz. Depending on the final outcome of Prez Obama's reform, there could be 27 MILLION people needing coverage soon. I'd like a piece of that.

Guess I'll rename my blog "Insuring the USA" or something. (just kidding).

Not much work this week. Fortunately I had a very excellent week last week. And, my expenses this week have been very low. So, I guess it all works out.

Except for this damn weather!

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain .......

I'm sitting here at a job site in the rain - with some occasional thunder and lightening, which is why I'm SITTING here. The folks in charge of 'Safety' have issued an order to "...cease all non-essential outdoor activity." So I sit in my truck and listen to the rain - and best of all, get paid for it. I remember the last time I sat in the thunder and rain.

In case you haven't been following along, I live in Paradise - the Gulf Coast of Florida outside St. Petersburg. One of the most spectacular things about where I live is the sunset. I look west out over the Gulf and - weather permitting - watch the sun 'kiss' the water every evening. There are many pictures in my photo album. The link is on the left side of this page.

The Thursday evening before leaving FL for IL, I was headed down to the beach about 20 minutes before 'the kiss' when I saw huge purple clouds back to the east with flashes of lightening. And it was headed my way! But I was not going to be denied. I knew I would not be back here for a couple of months. So, dressed in flip-flops, swimsuit and tank-top; I put my digital camera inside a sandwich bag, grabbed an umbrella and walked the 150' to the beach.

I witnessed one of the most memorable sunsets I have ever seen. I was standing on the beach in the rain trying to keep the umbrella from blowing away as the wind and lightening swirl all around me. There was a momentary pause to consider the sanity of holding a metal umbrella over my head in a thunderstorm. Considering my family history - my grandfather (whom I am named after) was struck by lightening - this probably goes in the "Not So Smart" column.

But the view - phenomenal! As I looked west over the white-capped waves rolling onto the sandy shore, I saw another storm cloud just a few degrees to the right of where the sun was settling. These clouds were shades of grey and purple with orange and pink edges against the silvery sky. The round sun changed to a V-shaped cone of orange as it reflected off the dark sea. Then, there was a burst of lightening from the cloud to the water. Words cannot describe - and my cheap digital camera cannot record - what Mother Nature was doing at that moment.

The storm I'm sitting in now is also memorable because of the locale. I'm parked in the middle of an oil refinery waiting to pick-up a load of concrete forms going back to the vendor. There is a labyrinth of pipes running in all directions suspended about 20 feet off the ground on metal legs carrying some kind of liquid - or gas - from one tower to the next. Several towers have a steady stream of white smoke (steam?) flowing out. A couple of towers have huge fires burning at the top - hopefully intentionally - which the wind blows one way and then another, but never out amazingly. Cameras are STRICTLY forbidden.

I have been here more than 2 1/2 hours already. First waiting for their safety meeting to end, then for my escort to show up and - for the last hour - watching the rain - which seems to have let-up for the moment. Patience is not one of my virtues but it helps ALOT when the meter is running. But I prefer to be doing something.

I just KNEW this was going to happen!

I left Florida more than a week ago (now) headed for Belleville (suburb of St. Louis on the IL side for those who don't know) and have been going 150 mile an hour since. I suspected this blog would take a change with my new situation here for a few reasons.

First of all, I won't be traveling as many miles as before so the title of the blog probably needs to be updated. Most of my runs will be regional. And then I wasn't sure how my time was going to be -- at least not at first. Things have been quite crazy this last week. Let me start by catching up.

I got to Belleville Saturday (Sep 27) and spent the night at a good friends house having a fish fry and 'welcome back ' party. They shall remain anonymous to protect the innocent. Hmmm, there wasn't anyone there innocent now that I think about it. Still, I may want to go back sometime.

My first week on the job was quite excellent, I thought. I have worked with these people before so I knew many of the folks. Kind of like 'old home' week. I think I worked about every day and still was able to sleep in a REAL bed everynight -- SWWWWEET!

On Friday I loaded for a trip to Little Rock, AR that delivered Monday morning - which is where I'm sitting right now. I added my bike - complete with 2 new tires - to the trailer and headed down here on Saturday. My youngest son lives 50 miles south of here so I stayed with him and his mother Sat and Sun. That was very nice.

I was up at 4:30 this morning, rode 15 miles back to the truck and trailer (in the misty rain - YUCK), loaded my bike and made the 1 hour trip to my delivery site. I was here 15 minutes early for a 7 AM delivery! Except they aren't ready for me yet.

The Sky Trak (a type of fork lift) won't be here until 9 AM to unload me! No problem. I get paid for detention too. So I'm sitting here making $60/hr updating my blog. Is life good or what? (Except for the rain)

So now you are up to date. I should be able to get into a routine here and update this blog a little more often.

Oh-Oh, looks like I'm in somebody's way. Got to move.

Swimming with the Fish ...

And I lived to tell about it! I live about 150' from the Gulf of Mexico. The water here is usually very calm - waves (if you can call them that) are less than 2' unless there are storms out over the water. The water is relatively clear so you can see down to about 6' or so. And if you stand still, schools of tiny fish - 2 or 3 inches long - will swim all around you.

Of course, you should remember: big fish feed on little fish. So I am nothing more than shark bait standing in this school of bait fish! I will say, there have been NO reports of shark bite anywhere near here - at least that I am aware of.

A lot of people fish from the shoreline here also. They will go out with their nets and catch these small fish I was just describing and then use them for bait to try and hook something larger. With success! I personally witnessed an 18" hammerhead shark (baby) pulled in right here on this beach. But that was the exception, not the rule.

The biggest danger here is stepping on something while walking in the surf. Allegedly stingrays are common. Signs up and down the beach warn you to 'shuffle' your feet. I wear water shoes. My feet are sensitive. I don't even like to walk in the yard barefoot.

So that's where I'm headed right now (again) - the beach. Every morning - lately - starts with clear skies. As the temperature rises during the day clouds will form and usually rain somewhere by mid-afternoon. If it's a sea-breeze -- wind blows from west to east -- the storms generally form more inland. But if it's a land-breeze -- winds blow east to west -- the storms seem closer to the shoreline, where I live.

Today it's a land-breeze so I better get out there now.

L'shana tovah

Tonight at sunset is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year - 5770. L'shanah tovah or "for a good year" is a popular greeting you would hear at Synagogue tonight. The event I remember most vividly is the blowing of the shofar or rams horn, which sounds much like a trumpet.

Rosh Hashanah is one of the 'happy' holidays on the Jewish calendar - a celebration of things that make you smile and feel good. Dipping apples or even bread in honey to symbolize a wish for a sweet year is a common practice. Many holidays involve fasting or 'suffering' in remembrance of the tough times our ancestors had.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated for two days because, back in the days before Al Gore invented the Internet (wink), the Jewish Council sent messengers out into the country to identify when a new moon was observed. The Jewish calendar is lunar based containing either 29 or 30 days in each month. Apparently there was some time involved in this information dispersal so - being a happy time - they celebrated for two days. Besides, doesn't the moon appear to be New (or Full) for 2 or 3 days?

Like the American New Year, Rosh Hashanah is a time to make resolutions for a better life. One begins by looking back at past mistakes and planning changes for the new year. On the first afternoon, sins are symbolically cast off (tashlikh) by emptying our pockets into a flowing stream of water. No, no, no! You leave the money on the dresser but put small pieces of bread in your pockets instead. These ARE Jews, remember!

The next ten days are called the Days of Repentance. GOD has written our names in 'books' declaring what type of life we are each to have - and how long we live. We can influence GOD's decision with good deeds and repentance at this time - before the books are 'sealed' on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement and your 'last chance') - the most important holiday of the Jewish year.

With the changes forthcoming in my driving, I may need to change the title of this blog to "Nik's Soapbox" or something. I'm not sure how much of the USA I'll be seeing over the next few months. But I do intend to keep writing. I have received SO MUCH positive feedback from people and this is SO MUCH fun for me that I must continue. I have renewed contact with so many friends and family thru here that I can't stop.

May YOU be inscribed and sealed in GOD's book for a good year!