My little convertible Pony turned 130k this time out: still getting around 30mpg at highway speeds over the Continental Divide, canyons, and stopping fast for deer.
I passed an old pickup on a long uphill who had blown by me at over 90mph back on the flats- as I crested the hill my cruise control always takes a sec to realize we are going downhill and my speed floats up a bit- so I was now coasting at close to <.!.> when suddenly there were deer in the road just a few seconds ahead. I looked behind to see what I expected, the truck had crested the hill and thought we were racing (when actually my speed had been a constant speed set just below what MT State Patrol consider too fast- the hill had slowed the truck down to a labored 65 or so, but now he was wide open pointed downhill). I-15 is a wide two lane tarmac with a tall concrete barrier on the left that the deer couldn't cross. I was still in the left lane from passing the truck (and lining myself up to straighten out the upcoming corner) I sucked in as close to the inside rumble strip as I could, straightened her out and hit the breaks- the ABS kicked in and with no steering pull or even a shimmy from the car I was at a full stop quicker than I thought possible with a big eyed deer peeling out and falling down a few feet from my bumper. I had been sure I would eat at least one of the deer, and my bigger concern was the pickup coming up fast behind me- if he turned his wheel he would flip and sweep me and the deer from the road. The other few deer stopped short as I had suddenly materialized in the middle of them, and the truck blasted between them without having to blink. I sat idling on the highway, knowing there was no one else coming up from behind, while the deer finally got its skating hooves under itself and they all turned and bounced into the forest.
I passed an old pickup on a long uphill who had blown by me at over 90mph back on the flats- as I crested the hill my cruise control always takes a sec to realize we are going downhill and my speed floats up a bit- so I was now coasting at close to <.!.> when suddenly there were deer in the road just a few seconds ahead. I looked behind to see what I expected, the truck had crested the hill and thought we were racing (when actually my speed had been a constant speed set just below what MT State Patrol consider too fast- the hill had slowed the truck down to a labored 65 or so, but now he was wide open pointed downhill). I-15 is a wide two lane tarmac with a tall concrete barrier on the left that the deer couldn't cross. I was still in the left lane from passing the truck (and lining myself up to straighten out the upcoming corner) I sucked in as close to the inside rumble strip as I could, straightened her out and hit the breaks- the ABS kicked in and with no steering pull or even a shimmy from the car I was at a full stop quicker than I thought possible with a big eyed deer peeling out and falling down a few feet from my bumper. I had been sure I would eat at least one of the deer, and my bigger concern was the pickup coming up fast behind me- if he turned his wheel he would flip and sweep me and the deer from the road. The other few deer stopped short as I had suddenly materialized in the middle of them, and the truck blasted between them without having to blink. I sat idling on the highway, knowing there was no one else coming up from behind, while the deer finally got its skating hooves under itself and they all turned and bounced into the forest.
Drove up to the Ranch this weekend to move the herd from Dave Anderson's "lowland" ranch up to Alpine Meadows- about 15 miles on horseback: a long way for the new little calves. There was three feet of snow up here just a week earlier, and snow squalls and rain since- the grass has barely started.
Foundry day. All the fish cast out clean and were reassembled nicely. Today's job was to position them to school through the hoops. Each fish needs at least two points of contact, either with the hoop or with another fish. After a few hours of tack-welding, snapping the weld and adjusting, re welding, and fussing about- they came together into two nice groupings. A group of three swimming tightly together through a descending rapid, and a group of two swimming level and further apart. The lead fish is slightly buoyant- as if rising toward the surface, to contrast with the prior commission further down the road where the lead fish is diving toward a "splash" on the ground alluding to river diverted underground.
