BEWARE THE FRIDGE MONSTER!!!

Breakfast. Some caraway rye, toasted, with butter and Vegemite. Yummm. (Now don’t you British types go on about Marmite. Vegemite is wonderful, Marmite is disgusting.) Vegemite may be the near-perfect breakfast spread. Salty. Creamy. Chocked full of B vitamins. (And made from the residue of beer brewing.) Yummmm.
But that isn’t the point. The point is the mysterious nearly empty jar. I know I bought a full jar, but for as long as I can remember, not only this one, but every Vegemite jar is always nearly empty. Either the jars empty themselves, or the stuff grows in the bottom of the jars. Very suspicious.
Prompted by this observation, I had a fossick in the ‘fridge. BLIMY!!! All the jam jars were nearly empty. The pickle relish was nearly empty. The mayo and mustard were nearly empty. Two curry paste jars were nearly empty. The orange juice jug has only a mil or two. How can this be?
The only possible answer is the mysterious and seldom seen ‘fridge monster. The same monster that makes leftovers invisible until they grow a green coating or white fuzz. The same monster that makes ice cream evaporate leaving only traces of the Moose Tracks, and ice fuzz. I tell you this: be damn careful when you open the door to the fridge next time. Give a “Marie Laveau” knock to warn that you are going to intrude. You could end up nearly empty yourself. Or worse.
www.myconfinedspace.com

Oregon!!! Oh Boy!!!

The flight to Oregon went well, with a prop plane finishing it off. Then a drive to Klamath Falls. We had a great time with Matt and John, and we went to some really cool places. One really cold place: Crater Lake. Still 20 or so feet of snow in some places, but oh! the view. Mirror effect that day, where the sky and rim reflect almost a perfect image of the reality. Spectacular.
Next day to the lava beds in Lava Beds National Monument, a national treasure. In addition to the geology we actually saw up close and personal 2 costal rubber boas, a western diamondback rattle snake, a couple of deer, scrub jays and many interesting and strange plants. The tubes were really interesting. Natural faults where lava once flowed and melted out tubular tunnels. Not hard caving if you stay on the path, but very interesting. The landscape outside the tunnels is like karst; collapsed tubes forming hills and dips with lots of holes. But unlike limestone, this is all volcanic material. We could see hundreds of cauldera from any point we looked. Mesas left behind by the continuous erosion of wind and water.
And on the bottom of one mesa, petroglyphs. What more could you ask? Good IPA? Yes, we had that too, in plenty. Oh boy, what a holiday.
www.3dparks.wr.usgs.gov
www.rock-art.com