Blow Out...

Wow, what a hectic day.

Amy was driving my Jeep today and had a blowout on the Interstate.
She was pretty shook up when she called me so I left work to rescue her.

She was really scared from the blowout and near crash trying to maneuver to the shoulder, but was terrified of the crazed, oncoming cars.
I got there about thirty minutes later, and wow, it was really freaky. She had pulled just in front of an on ramp, and people were speeding so fast up that thing. The merging lane was so short, and I45 was so busy that the on-ramp traffic couldn't merge, so they were coming into the shoulder where we were. Many near-wrecks happened in the 20 minutes I spent changing the tire. There was a cop there, but he wouldn't even get out of his car... well, he did for a sec to yell over the noise, "She's going to owe you big time for this, buddy".
Thanks... for nothing.

Anyway, I finally got the tire changed and we got off the death trap.
That's when I finally saw the damage that the blown out tire had done to the side of the Jeep.
The passenger side rear bumper is bent up, the door step is bent down, there's a pretty nice sized dent in the door, and an assortment of dings and scratches on the fender.
Bummer...
I can get most of it fixed pretty easily. That's the great things about Jeeps, the parts come off pretty easily and can be replaced.

I'm just glad Amy and the dogs are ok.
We all lived.
Although, while I was changing that tire with the traffic speeding by, I realized, if I get hit by a car now, I won't even know it. I will be here one second turning on this jack crank, and the next I will wake out of a three year coma... or I'll be dead. At any rate, I probably won't be aware of what happens in between. It will just be like a big blank... that thought kind of freaked me out.
I turned the crank faster.


KoP

H O T

Today was

so.

hot.

It got up to 102˚... at least. The humidity was 71% which just made it feel like 110˚ or so. We broke records, and it isn't even Summer yet.

We are in the dog days of Spring...


KoP

A Jam Session

I'm going over to a fellow bass player's house tonight to have a much needed jam session.
This guy is a MONSTER. He wants to learn a thing or two from me, but I promise, most of the learning will be on this side of the table.


KoP

Wolves In Wolves Clothing

This moose was pregnant when she was attacked by a pack of wolves two nights before she gave birth. She was torn up pretty bad and stayed in the same place for at least three days. The photographers and onlookers inadvertently kept the wolves away and the Rangers were pretty sure they would both survive. Cool stuff there.




This was a very long shot for my lens, about a 1/4 mile, but I managed to get this wolf stalking buffalo on the plains. I think there are only about 154 wolves in all of Yellowstone. Ultimately, they are not expected to survive because all of the pups keep dying from disease. In a way it makes me not so sad for the moose and buffalo that the wolves take down.
Life in Yellowstone is hard.



KoP

More Buffalo

Why did the buffalo cross the road?

I still don't know...




What does a herd of 2000lb buffalo do during the day?

Whatever they want to do... everyone else can wait.




KoP