Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Yesterday, Lisa and I had cause to go over to Big R in Fallon (which is bigger and has a better selection of things than the one in Fernley). On our way out, I stopped at the post office to officially add Kayla's name to the list of names that receives mail at the PO Box. As I expected, there was no problem, although I had a brief moment of panic when they asked for my ID to prove I was the person who owned the box. I thought I might have left in the van, or worse, forgot to bring it with me at all; however, after a bit of fumbling in my tote bag, the wallet resurfaced. (I think I need to get a different color of wallet; a black walled disappears inside a black bag.)

Kayla can now order stuff shipped here without having to put "c/o Kevin Standlee" in the address, which doesn't always work anyway because some vendors, even if they have a 2-line address field, don't include both lines on the shipping label.

After refueling the Astro, we made the trip to Fallon. We did not find the primary thing for which we were looking, but did end up buying a whole bunch of other things, such as some new long work gloves (welding gauntlets, actually) to use for moving firewood. They've stopped carrying the long-wearing socks that I wear, though.

Because of the long day yesterday, I slept in until nearly 8 AM, which is very late for me. I decided to go ahead and have a weekend breakfast at the Wigwam, although the place is much busier then. To help reduce their capacity issues at that peak weekend time, I volunteered to sit at the small table they have near the window rather than use up one of the booths. (This also means I don't feel any pressure to eat quickly and leave. On weekends, I don't want to be rushed.)

Diagonally from me was a family of our: two girls and what I take to be their parents. One of the girls had very pretty earrings. At one point that girl sneezed, and the other one started to chew her out for not covering her mouth and was lecturing about it. This was about the time I was getting up to leave, and I put on my N95 mask and decided to go over and in what I hoped to be a friendly way said, "I didn't intend to evesdrop, but I heard what you were saying and [addressing the second girl] I'm glad to hear that you understand the importance of this." I then told them a short and edited version of how I ended up with the first airborne illness in five years at the lottery center back at the end of December. I finished by turning to the other girl and said, "An also, I want you to know that I think you have very pretty earrings." The parents did not appear to seem offended by either of my statements. The younger girl (with the earrings) seemed a little stunned and had to be prompted to say thank you. I pointed out my own little earring studs and said, "I just had these done three weeks ago." Both girls seemed fascinated and one said, "Is that emerald?" and I explained that it was peridot, my birthstone. I finished by saying something I've been saying a lot lately: "I may be old, but I'm not old-fashioned!" And the parents both laughed. I was a little worried about addressing anything to the kids, but I looked to the parents as I was doing so, and they didn't seemed bothered by the Old Guy with the Hat.

I walked to the post office after breakfast to collect the mail. (The renewed tags for the Rolling Stone, which is alas still hors de combat, had arrived.) As per the instructions from M-Spa, I was lathered up with SPF 70 sunscreen, was wearing my Jacaru hat, and kept my face mask on even outdoors to cover some of the most sensitive areas (i.e. where most of the laser work is being done). I may get a bandanna to cover more of my face when having to go outside during daylight. I am taking the warnings about sun exposure seriously, particularly given our 4000 ft / 1225 m altitude.

On the way back from the post office, I had a small crisis in form of an urgent call of nature. Had it come a little bit earlier, I would have popped into the donut shop and used their restroom and bought a single donut, but now I was is "no-man's land," and I started to think I wasn't going to make it home in time. Luckily for me, the Imerys Minerals plant has a portable toilet set up for the benefit of the truckers to serve the plant, and they don't lock it when they're closed because trucks come there at all hours, sometimes arriving and parking overnight. Whew!

I considered changing into my coveralls and old shoes in order to start clearing tumbleweeds and other noxious stuff from the fence between our two properties, but decided that while the temperature was good, I would be better served by doing this when the sun is not high overhead. Evening would probably be best, followed by pre-dawn twilight, although that's colder.

I have to get blood tests tomorrow for my annual medical exam coming up in a couple of weeks. That means needing to fast for at least twelve hours, and thus means I'm not going to be able to have my usual breakfast at the Wigwam Restaurant. So this evening Lisa and I went to the Wigwam for an unusual breakfast. They were doing an evening breakfast-for-dinner buffet. It actually cost slightly less than my usual breakfast. It was certainly not as good as the one we had a couple of times in Iceland, or what the Peppermill served back when they used to have a buffet, but it was worth what we paid, and I'm well fed and unlikely to fret too much tomorrow morning.

For the past two weekends, the local arts council has been running a haunted house on Friday and Saturday nights. The first night it was running, I was startled by this big booming sound at irregular intervals. Once I realized it was coming from the haunted house, I didn't worry about it, although it was disconcerting to have the windows rattling. Last night was the final night, and I managed to get out and see what was causing the big boom.

( Boom Tonight )

It was not quite as impressive as the flame cannons in front of the casino in Melbourne, but still a sight to see. I'm glad they didn't set the building on fire!

While walking after breakfast yesterday, I learned something about Fernley at what is currently the All Points Grill, a roadside diner that previously was a taqueria and has been under different names during its history, which apparently goes back for a while.

( Fernley History )

One never knows where places you know will pop up in a movie. Apparently quite a few movies have had scenese shot in the Marysville-Yuba City area where I grew up, although the only one I thought I knew about was Citizens Band, which I think had a scene shot at what was then the Motel 6 on CA-99 at Bridge Street. (A motel that is now a Days Inn, which shows what that brand has become.)

If you have followed me at all, you have likely seen photos taken of Fernley's small rail yard. Today was the big day for the Big Boy to leave Sparks and pass through Fernley on its way to Lovelock and Winnemucca as the train makes its way back to Cheyenne. Lisa was our there fairly early once other people started showing up, and she came loaded for bear. (But not Kuma Bear!)

( Here Comes the Train )

The Big Boy was past us in a flash. Some people dashed for their cars, hoping to get past the train to take more photos farther east, possibly at Hazen, but I doubt they made it, not with a 35 mph speed limit and a roundabout to negotiate and with the Big Boy able to travel at 60 mph. The next place they would be likely to catch it would be at the grade crossing on US-95 south of the rest area on I-80, about 50 miles or so east of Fernley, and even then it might be a close-run thing, as the Big Boy would be allowed maximum track speed along the desolate area crossing the Forty Mile Desert.

So that is the end of Lisa and my Big Boy Adventure. The train will continue east, including two days of display in Ogden, but we now must shift to preparing for Worldcon, as our trip to Glasgow starts a week from Friday.

When the bills came in for the Astro, I knew I needed to do a little bit of cutting back, and one thing I started forgoing was breakfast at the Wigwam on Saturdays. Today, however, after Lisa and I went to Reno at 2 AM for groceries at WinCo, I decided that I could go ahead and get breakfast there. I'm a regular there, and they wondered if I had been away on another trip. I explained that $10K in auto repair bills obliged a bit of a rethink in my finances, especially when we have a short trip to Westercon in a couple of weeks and then a long trip to Europe in August. Still, it was nice to get one of my favorite breakfasts.

Today was the second Music, Murals, and Margaritas festival, which took over Center Street (the street on the far side of the East Lot). After our experience last year with people parking in and crossing the East Lot (in part because the organizers did not realize we owned it), we took precautions this year, and it seemed to work.

( Warning Posts, Parking, and Poutine )

We did not begrudge some people coming over to stand in the shade of the large tree in the east lot, but I do admit to being nervous when some of them were smoking there, because I didn't want them setting the lot on fire. Fortunately, with the North Lyon County Fire Department paramedics there, had anything broken out, I reckon we would have had a fire truck on site in about three minutes.

As the sun set, the vendors broke down their booths and the musicians started getting louder and louder. As I compose this at 10 PM, they're still going strong. Based on what happened last year, I suspect they past the scheduled 10:30 PM end time. It's not our type of fun, but a bunch of people seem to be enjoying themselves. OTOH, given all of the alcohol on sale over their today, I think it's just as well that we're staying home. I somehow think the streets of Fernley aren't going to be that safe tonight.

We had a run of nice spring-like weather this week, but as expected, it turned colder and started raining last night. Lisa and I got out for a walk just before the rain started falling in earnest. There was no snow here overnight, but it got close.

( A Light Dusting )

It was cold enough here to need to get the fireplace going again.

The weather forecast I saw online predicted that we would get about 4 cm of snow last night.

( How About more like 40? )

I'm not sure, but I think that this is the second-largest snowfall we've had in a single storm since we moved here in 2011. There was one storm that dropped more, and it was followed by several more storms without a warm spell, so the snow accumulated quite a bit. Yes, this is still nothing compared to people in the Midwest or Northeast who get really big storms, but 40 cm of snow in one night is quite a bit by our standards.