December 2 and 3 -- Paperwork, A Visit to Nevada Dept of Wildlife, and More Looking Back Photos...

I'm surprised that I'm able to keep track of all this "stuff" I've been buying lately, but so far so good...The Faranuf (pronounced Far Enough) house in Portal, Arizona is due to be mine officially on December 12. The house inspections are done, septic and well tests, home warranty purchased, and all of this has been communicated to the title company in charge of all the documents, so now I have an estimated purchasing price and will go to the bank today (Thursday the 4th) to wire the funds to the title agency. Then on December 10 I'll head back to Portal, Arizona to sign the closing documents and -- voila!  -- it will be mine... :o) And in between now and that time, the 2004 Toyota Tundra will be delivered to the Henderson CarMax lot, and I'll turn in the rental I've been using, test drive the Tundra, and in all likelihood purchase it, and it will officially become Tundra II -- as the new Lance 1685 being built at the factory for me, due to be delivered in late January, will become Discovery II. And then there's always my new Canon 7D MK II... ;o) Yesterday the 3rd I went in to Lost Wages (aka Las Vegas) and met with Jennifer Waithman, the wildlife education coordinator for southern Nevada, working for the Nevada Dept of Wildlife, who runs the Overton Wildlife Management Area. I will be taking a class in January to become a "certified wildlife volunteer", meaning I will officially represent the NDoW at bird presentations, bird walks, etc. that I will conduct. Gee, I'll even get a brown shirt with a name badge, and hopefully another baseball cap! It's what I've been wanting to do since I embarked on Travels of Discovery in May 2013, and have been lugging around a projector and projection screen to be used with my MacBook Pro for the possibility of presenting such things to the public. So I'll probably be staying in Overton until the end of February, perhaps March, not only volunteering for the WMA but still doing bird counts and submitting them to eBird. Today, after visiting the bank, I'll head over to the Bird Viewing Preserve in Henderson for some up close and personal looks at the birds there in the ponds, and more practice with my new 7D MK II with the 500 f/4 on...Here are some more photos from times past during Travels of Discovery --

The Wallowa Valley in NE Oregon, seen from the gondola ride

NE Oregon's  spectacular Wallowa Mountains

Glacially-carved Kiger Gorge in SE Oregon's Steens Mountain

The wide-open skies and vistas at Yellowstone National Park

Desert Bighorn Sheep at Zion National Park

Double rainbow on the the road to Loa, north of Torrey, Utah

Utah's Capitol Reef National Park (it's not your imagination, the landscape really IS tilted; look at the clouds)

Sunset at SE California's Salton Sea

"Mosquito Arch" at SE Nevada's Valley of Fire