A Great Time at the Dam

Well, we went to Hoover Dam just as we had hoped to yesterday. As it turns out the overflow tubes that are flowing in my previously posted picture have only had water flow through them twice since the building of the dam. They were tested first in 1941 when the water level was raised specifically for testing. In 1983 the flood waters of the Colorado river caused the dam to reach maximum capacity at which point the overflow tubes were used once again.

Here is an illustration of all of the plumbing Hoover Dam incorporates. It's kind of hard to see, but very informative.

This picture show the main parts of the dam and you can clearly see where the overflow tubes start and end.

Here you can see exactly where the heavy flowing water shown in the next picture is coming out.

This is just an awesome sight!!

My New Picture

      Last winter my sister and brother in law came home from England to visit and we went skiing at Mt. Shasta ski park in California. Before the skiing we decided to do a little snow wheeling. The top picture was taken after we had been stuck for about 45 minutes in 2 feet of wet snow. I was driving and decided it would be fun to drive over this 3 foot drift so I just hit it and popped over. I was able to drive for probably 40 to 50 feet before all four (actually 3, I only have a front locker) tires started spinning. Then it took Justin and I about 45 minutes to dig ourselves out. We had a great time though, Brenda and I just love hanging out with Justin and Katie.



Here I am stuck, in the sticky stuff, those are 34" Swampers, but my skidplate is resting on the snow.

Here is the hole that we left when we finally got out.

Definitely is a hard word for some to spell

     We arrived in Pahrump, NV today; it is breathtaking!!! (That, unfortunately, is mainly because of the sweltering heat.) We had a fun afternoon checking out the sights and my parents new house and church. It is pretty nice. We went swimming in their new pool where we played a game of Marco Polo. I accidentally hit Brenda in the face, but she forgave me and she seems alright. I am very happy to be here! We will be going to church in the morning and then we may get to tour the hoover dam on Monday.

     I don't expect them to be releasing water like this, but it should be very impressive anyway. We will definitely enjoy ourselves no matter what!!

Outdoor excitement

     Today I am going mountain biking with my cousin Patrick. I am hoping to have a great time, hoping for some views like this.
I am afraid I will shortly be reminded that I am in Dallas, TX and such views don't exist here. Anyway, I think it will be fun either way.

     We are currently planning to leave here on Friday morning, but not necessarily that early. We will hope to drive from here to Pahrump, NV in one day, but we may end up stopping to sleep. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Blogging is the Bomb

So, I am having a great vacation as I already stated, but it just seems to keep getting better. Yesterday Brenda and I went to church at Valwood Park Baptist Church in Carrollton, Texas. We really enjoyed the music and the message, and much to my surprise, Sunday school was very interesting. The teacher that we sat under was obviously prepared and the lesson was very insightful. I believe the main benefit was that he dug deep into the material unlike one can do when the class is not equally mixed in their learning.

After all the blessings of morning worship I came home to an email from my Aunt telling me that their church was having a singing service for evening worship. Their choir had picked out twelve of their favorite songs and they performed them beautifully. I enjoyed it immensely. Anyway, that was our day yesterday and I am so thankful that we were able to participate in all that.

Check out this AWESOME VIDEO

I know this has nothing to do with my post, but it sure is funny!!

Vacation is Great

Well, hello again. I have found that I can connect to a wireless network if I sit in just the right spot on the bed in my grandmother (Nanny's) back room. Anyway, I just thought I would throw down a quick post before we run off to Sunday School and Church for the morning. We are having fun so far. Yesterday Brenda did some shopping while I helped my cousin purchase and install a subwoofer and amp. Tuesday we are going to my Uncle Rick and Aunt Denise's for dinner and to hang out with everybody. Anyway, we are having a great time. Oh, by the way, the tripod people wrote me back and said they closed my other site down in error, so it should work now. Hope you enjoy it.

Here on Vacation

Here I am in Phoenix on my grandfather's computer. I am waiting until the mid-day sun is off of the pool so that I can go jump in. The weather here is pretty similar to Redding, but I don't have to do anything here so it is nice. Anyway, I will be here until Thursday and then I will be driving to Dallas. What fun!

Link to my other site

Hey, I don't know what happened, but my other site says it was deleted. Apparently I broke one of their rules. I have written them an email in an attempt to determine what I did wrong. Hopefully I can get it back up and running soon. Sorry for the inconvenience.

My Successful Week

Thanks for all the great comments. In one of my recent entries I stated that I was having a great week because of all the things that had been completed, well, I think I will elaborate. On Tuesday I went in for some much needed overtime at work to help pay for our upcoming vacation. When I got home from there I spent a few hours working on a video that I was helping my sister in law make. On Wednesday I put new cv joints in my car, changed out my car's thermostat and changed the oil. Then on Wednesday night I came home, finished the video for my sister in law and thought I had finished the video for one of the ladies in my church. On Thursday I took Justin and Kayla (two kids in our youth group) up to the youth camp at Mc Cloud falls for the day. However that morning I learned that Mrs. Richardson's (the lady I was making the video for) DVD player wouldn't play DVD+r so I had to reburn her video onto a DVD-r. Finally it was Friday, all I had to do yesterday was take back the cv joint cores to the auto parts store and return a pair of Ethernet crimpers that I bought and then found for cheaper on eBay. Anyway, I don't really like having to do so much with my week, but it certainly gives me a sense of accomplishment. Thank goodness it's almost time to go to work again!! Only 3 days until I leave for our long vacation!!! By the way, for anyone who doesn't know, those look almost exactly like the axle shafts that I replaced.

I Can do it!!!

Isn't technology exciting!!! I just love learning to do new things on my computer. I can't wait until we can afford to get a laptop for my wife, then I can learn even more. Anyway, the main reason I posted this was to try the picture thing.

My Picture

That picture is of my beautiful wife Brenda and me. We fell in love about 8 or 9 years ago, dated for a while (5 years minus a breakup or two) and then we were married on May 24th 2002. What a wonderful day that was! We don't have any kids yet, but we plan to at some point. We just hope my pesky sister doesn't beat us to it.

Sittin' on the dock of a bay

Wastin' time. I do that more often than I ought. Anyway, I went to the river today and jumped off some cliffs with the youth group. It was fun. I am having a great week because all the stuff that I wanted to get done is getting done. I love it. Anyway, my pizza is ready so I better get to eating it.

Here I come again on my own

Well, I was just trying an update to see if this would put a picture by my blog. The end.

Wow, this is really easy.

Well, I am just sitting here waiting for a video that I just made to render. Once it is finished I have to render another video and then I will have to put a picture on one dvd and then make a cover for the dvd. Ah, the life of a married man with a wife and a sister in law. Well, y'all come back now, ya hear?

Zachary