Warming Up

We went to the park cause it was feeling a little warm. James loves to float in the air... I'm teaching him about hang time.

Preping for the Big week

Next week is National Engineers Week. (its always the 3rd full week of February) its in conjunction with George Washington's birthday because President Washington is considered the nation's first engineer, notably for his survey work.

My suggestions on ways to celebrate:

• Kissing your engineer, or an engineer.
  
• Asking them interesting engineering questions, that they might know the answer to. (act amazed and interested)
  
• Looking carefully at something that was engineered and marvel.
• Buy your husband a New Car.

ta da... A quick and easy list for anyone to celebrate the next very important week.

Valentine's Day Card

I'm thinking about this card for Lauren for Valentines Day. It has a manly feel yet just enough love to please.

My Brother started this Card Company called Cardsink They have some awesome cards. You can submit your own design and if it gets enough votes it will get printed and you get cash for your design, and you can buy cards like the one pictured above.

The question is will Lauren check my blog before valentines? Or should I get a different Card...

The Middle Ground

2009 Rossignol S6
186 (140-110-133)
My new Ski, not as big as the Moments. But alas, The Moment will have to wait because I got this ski with the Rossignol SAS 150 Binding (din to 15) for an excellent price... and it's a big mean awesome ski.

Happy Birthday!

My Boy Is One Year Old!
Check Lauren's Blog For all His Stats

Moment Skis

Moment skis are hand made in RENO! This will be my new ski... the Bibby Pro model. 190 cm 143-118-134 essentially 5.6 inches wide at the tip 4.6 inches wide at the waist... two skinny snow boards. 26.7 side cut. they are rockered (tips come up early for powder) and have normal camber in the middle (like normal skis). Medium stiff flex for my big self. Did I mention That I love that these are made it Reno! plus they have a canoe on the front with a bird lizard. and I'm gonna say a Reno sunset on the bottom. Yes please.

My little sister

My little sister made this video: a documentation of the drive from my parents house to the lake. and one of my favorite places at the lake. I really love Lake Tahoe. Good work Kerianne.

Keep Tahoe... just keep it. from Keri Dyer on Vimeo.

For Mother / Grandma

Plastic Peach - James was stumped

He was the camel for the nativity

First 4 wheeler ride - he was a little nervious... but no crying.

Trees and Apples

My Sister Posted these pictures:
I thought they were so great that I would put them up too.
Apples don't fall too far from the tree.

My dad going Scuba diving some where in Baja Mexico.

My Moms college ID. Looks like my sister..

Hunker Down

I was talking with my little sister today and she inspired some interesting thoughts. One of her comments was:

“It’s strange that there is so much to see and do and people get bored, everywhere people are bored”

The conversation actually started about two minimalist blogs: zenhabits.net and mnmlist.com. I think there are good things you can take from their ideas.

So to my point—sometimes in my desire to travel and see the world and essentially do everything there is to do. I think that I miss things here and now. It makes me want to hunker down and use my hands, love my people. Buy some land, plant crops and raise chickens.

Speaking of Chickens, that one seems to have hit the tipping point. Seems like everyone has chickens, everyone wants a ranch-ette or an urban mini farm. It’s all coming back to grass roots. People seem to be turning back to their cultures. There is so much to explore and do just in the USA, just in the west, just in Utah, in my neighborhood, in my yard, in my house. It urges me to go spend time at home with my wife and child, with my family and friends.

For some reason it gives me the desire to build watches. And to put my homemade Dyer Family Symbol on everything, and go have long slow conversations with old people.

New Project - Bobber

Thanks to Mr. Grant McCaleb I have a new project. He is such a good influence! This Bike really needs some work... On friday I put the carbs back on (they were unattached, and banged up) and cut off some stuff to simplify the look, changed the mag wheels to spokes.. give me a few weeks and hopefully it will be up and running.

1936 BMW R12

I mean... whats so wrong with wanting a motorcycle collection?

Kelly D.

We did the Thanksgiving point Scare Crow Festival with Lee, Jo, and Soren.
James and I spent some time on these peddle carts. He was a natural.

Siblings

In all our glory - Together we are the equivalent of a 154 year old athletic she-man! with 11 kids, 4 houses, 9 cars, plus 1 dog. I love my siblings.

• Shara - Was laughing too hard to do anything but jump.
• keri - Wonderwomen and will probably save an entire 3rd world country.
  
• Dan - How does he keep his shirt tucked in? amazing.
• Jeromy - Gap Model
  
• Shane - Just spilt an invisable tight rope and is impacting... painfully

Nielson Ponds

Here is one of my projects. Its a 200 acre foot p0nd.. when I say pond I mean small lake. Easily big enough for multiple boats and water skiers. Its been a fun one for me. (It is empty in these pictures.) It has 2 embankments that combined are a little under 1200 feet long.

I always wonder what people really do for work. I design dams and pipelines, and any water structures, review canal systems to make sure they work, design culverts and such. I do studies on stream and river capacities. I design Fish ladders, spillways, diversions, weirs, flumes.. and things like that. This happens to be the same thing my dad does.. but add more soils and mining...


Stats for Dad:

• 27 feet of head
• 3:1 upstream
• 2:1 downstream
• Filtered toe drain w/ 8 inch slotted ADS separated in to left and right
• its a homogeneous clay compacted at 95% Standard proctor
• the clays optimum moisture is around 18% It was hard to keep it that wet
• riprap D50 = 6 inch (I submitted a memo to Dam safety with wave analysis to get it that small and saved $40,000)
• 10' bottom width spillway 3 to 1 side slopes 3 feet deep with a 3 foot concrete cutoff ripraped for 50'. Max Q = about 264 cfs
• 15 inch outlet conduit - which fills and empties the reservoir from another control reservoir that I'm redoing. with a sand collar and a 4 inch drain pipe seperate from the 2 toe drains
• its off stream and has essentailly no water shed.
• around 23,000 CY to build. (it was an enlargement of a smaller dam not meeting any dam saftey requirments.

Training

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Lauren is now the same age I was when we got married... What a Women!

Yamaha xt 500 - I think.

BIG NEWS - I got another motorcycle for FREE! It pays to do Engineering Design work for ranchers! I'm building this fellow 2 dams. I was at his ranch the other day and he gave me this Motorcycle. I'm not sure if its a 1978 or 79 or 80.. I think its a 79 and I think its a 500cc.

So I have a new project! This bike is going to shine! first major overhauls;

• clean the collaborator (there's only 1!) my cb 550 had 4 stinking carbs
• the handle bars need to go
  
• the seat will be recovered
  
• new plastic up front
• paint
• new break light
• fork boots
  

Oh right and I have to make sure It will even run.... I love motorcycle projects

Rockets

We had an Amazing Family Reunion where the whole family minus a few hardy folks got horribly sick. We managed however to play way to much 'Ticket to Ride' and Shoot a 2 liter bottle 150 feet in the air. Maybe higher, we were afraid of going over 85 psi on the bottle, I didn't want to pick plastic shrapnel out of my face. Anyway there was all sorts of other things we did, guns, 4 wheelers, swimming, shopping for watches.

Observations:

• I am getting to a place where a highlight of vacations and reunions are definitely the kids.
• It seems that playing with cousin is about as fun as life gets. I always look forward to time with cousins. I wonder why this is.
• As I watch the young kids play I realize how old I am, and how old I must seem to them.
• Hunger Games is a good book.
  

New Development

Alright.. so I know that I thought that I had something good going before.. but now I really think that this is better. Who's with me?

I find it cleaner, I like the icon/logo better with the tilted bolts and the box. plus it matches the colors on the program interface..