11-23-08 Sunday (Nuclear Peanut Butter)

32 degrees this morning, not a great start. Jim had put away the hose last night to avoid freezing. I'm not sure if I'm getting a cold but I can't stop sniffling and blowing my nose. We've been in colder weather (Grand Canyon) so I'm not sure what my malfunction is.


 

I hate winter clothing. I hate washing it, I hate wearing it. Hats and hoods stick to my stubble head like Velcro. Great for keeping it in place but a bitch to get it sitting correctly from the get go. Today, I've decided to wear long johns. With underwear (are you supposed to wear regular underwear with long underwear?), long johns, jeans, socks, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, hat, hiking boots, and a coat, I feel like a Sumo Wrestler. It's so unnatural, so annoying to move around. I'm not even going to wear gloves unless it's much colder. Anymore clothing on and I'd know what it feels like to be The Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. Not a pretty sight. I don't look forward to using the bathroom. Have you seen the size of our bathroom? It's the size of a linen closet. I can somewhat appreciate what a woman must go through with dresses and pantyhose.

The crock pot is set up for a chicken dish Jim threw together. Sometimes I'm a little leery of the crap he'll blend together. During the first week we met, he invited me over for dinner. He served meatloaf made with ground turkey. After a few bites, I said, "I'm sorry, I just can't eat this." I really wanted to be polite and eat it, but I couldn't. "What a bad impression" ran through my mind. I figured it might be a worse thing for me to have gagged and thrown up. Picking the lesser of two evils, I confessed. Now, after 9 years, we still laugh about it. Honestly, he does make some tasty creations.

OK, now for some action. We set out for our Craters of the Moon adventure. This area was created by volcanoes beginning 15,000 years ago and as recent as 2,000 years ago. That's what the brochure says. If you want more history about it, click here, OR buy a book OR go back to school.

 

On our drive we passed through INL (Idaho National Laboratory). I say "through" because it's on 890 square miles and it includes some of the road! They specialize in nuclear energy, weapons, armor, and peanut butter. OK, maybe not peanut butter. It all sounds like a dangerous place.

We drove through Butte, Idaho with a population of 76. Their cemetery seemed home to more people than that. Maybe INL had something to do with that? A conspiracy, I'm sure.

While in Craters of the Moon, we saw an animal scurry across the road. It looked like a chipmonk or squirrel but was pure white with just a black tipped tail. We pulled over so I could find it and snap a picture but alas, it was gone. I suggested to Jim (driving) that the next time we see one, try to run it over so I could get a better look at it. He just looked at me like I was a freak or something. So odd.

We stopped off at a picnic area to eat our brown-bagged lunch. Well, it was in a blue cooler actually. I'll never do that again. It was so damn cold, I never ate so fast.

Next up were various caves. We didn't know about them in advance and only one cave is accessible without a flashlight, Indian Tunnel. It was a lot of walking up rocks. It wasn't rock climbing persay, since we didn't need our hands. It was more like stepping from rock to rock. It wasn't difficult nor easy. All in all, I'm glad we did it.

On the way back we stopped at the world's first nuclear power plant. The world's first peacetime use of nuclear power occurred when the US Government switched on Experimental Breeder Reactor #1 (EBR1) near Arco, Idaho on December 20, 1951. The town of Arco first got its electricity from the reactor on July 17. 1955. It was only temporary, but the way was paved for commercial use of nuclear power later in the decade. The Arco reactor suffered a partial meltdown -- another World's First, in 1955. It was closed for the season.

Remember the crockpot chicken dish Jim prepared this morning? Well, when we got home, the crockpot was cool and had been switched off. We think he set it to cook for 3 hours only on the program mode. Apparently, this here crockpot is mighty too fancy for him, I reckon. So out to the trash can the undercooked meal went. We went to Olive Garden with one of our gift cards. Thanks to Ann and Morgan for a wonderful meal.

Last night I bought 2 different handles which were too small. We haven't found 4" handles anywhere so I think as usual, the RV manufacturer had to go and use something nonstandard. I'm also going to have a hard time covering that area where the original handle sat. The varnish or whatever you call it is gone. I think we'll have to stay with spray paint. I just hate the style of the handle too. It's not modern enough.

Winter clothing update: I got static shocked 6 times today! Argh!