Refilling the Lake

As I've written before, Fernley is built on an ancient lake bed that is part of the interconnected playas that include the Black Rock Desert. (According to the Wikipedia article, the lake mostly dried up about 9,000 years ago, leaving Pyramid Lake, Walker Lake, and some other outliers.) A consequence of this is that water pools up here without draining or soaking into the soil very much. Thus, the heavy rain over the weekend fills up all the low spots, and the water tends to stay there until it evaporates.

Just down the street from Fernley House is the plant (now owned by Imerys) that produces Celite and DiaFil brand diatomaceous earth products. We call their building (one of the tallest in the city; it's not visible in the picture below, being a tower to the right of where I was standing when I took the shot) the "kitty litter factory," although that badly over-simplifies it. While out for a walk yesterday morning, I took a picture of the lot next to the Celite plant, which is lower than the area around it, to show the effect of the rain.

( Behold Lake Imerys! )

Reno Routine

Lisa had a medical appointment with the tinnitus specialist (not much progress, but they're trying new therapies and there's more hope than there's been with anyone else who has tried to treat Lisa) on Monday afternoon. After that we were there when the Atlantis buffet opened. We took a walk around the hotel function space to sort of walk off the meal and also because the indoor waterfall is good for Lisa's tinnitus (she doesn't need the earplug pouring static into her ear when she is near that waterfall). Then it was on to Winco for larger-scale grocery shopping. It seemed busier than we would have expected for a Monday night, and the queues were long.

( Kuma Bear Helps With Groceries )

We have to go back on Wednesday to drop the Rolling Stone to get the steering stabilizer reinstalled. I wish I'd remembered to call early last week in order to get a spot on their calendar for Monday so I could avoid multiple trips to Reno. I like my home and like staying in it.