Bike Ridin' Weather

Thins mirning, I had a eye doctor appointment -- having a little problem with a blockage in the left eye. Been treating it since early November. Second shop in the eye this morning. The eye drops had not quite worn off at noon, but I had to get out to ride today.
Sunny with a little wind from the West. Temperature was in the low 50s when I headed to the Wabash Trace Trailhead. Brought the road bike. Headed to Lake Manawa with plans to ride to the Trails Center.
I was stopped just before I got to the Indian Creek Bridge. A bird-watcher stopped me to chat. Seems I was in the mood to visit. We spend 20-30 minutes talking. Turned out his name is also Tom. A couple other bike riders stopped by (Mike & Art).
The "filtered" sunshine changed to bright sun. We all went our own way. completed riding to the Trails Center. Stopped there and visited a little with Tereesa and Dewey. It was after 3:30 before I got back on the bike to ride to the car.
A quick stop at the bike shop and then on home. A great afternoon on the bike. Today's photo is the bike ride on Indian Creek Bridge.

Jumping Off Bridges, revisited

In June .. I posted about two movies with Austin connections. One of the two was Jumping Off Bridges, a fine, independent, small-budget movie by Kat Candler and Stacy Schoolfield of Storie Productions. The cast included some professional actors, some young actors in their first screen roles - and one recognizable star, Michael Emerson , the multi-nominated "Ben Linus" from Lost.

A movie dealing with the effects of suicide on those left behind wasn't easy to package and getting it distributed became a long and difficult process. Along the way, Kat and Stacy's movie has found advocates and an audience, and has been presented by former First Lady Roslyn Carter. The filmmakers recently announced that J.O.B is being released on DVD. Congratulations to everyone connected to Jumping Off Bridges!

Aerial Mount Rainier, Climbing Route Images

Moving the bear aside... This picture tells a long story. Here is Mount Rainier on May 30, 2006. I was able to capture a few climbing route images during a flight.

A series of recent storms dumped a lot of snow on the mountain. In some places, there were reports of 3 feet. There are rumors that more is expected later this week too. Winter is not over...

Today, however, climbers contended with blue bird skies and light breezes (and quite a bit of postholing.) The tracks indicated that a few made the summit too! Here, two climbers took on the arduous task of breaking trail up the Emmons Glacier... It didn't appear as if anyone else was on the route either. These climbers are at roughly 11,400 feet, exiting the top of the corridor to the left.

Parties were having a hard time making it to Camp Schurman until Sunday, so it's good to see a team getting up the route. This may mark the first successful ascent of the route in 2006.

And here is a nice image of the Ingraham Direct and Disappointment Cleaver routes. The green line traced the visible climbing route up the Disappointment Cleaver. Notice how directly it climbs the spin of the cleaver... Nice...
More images later, this week. All images by Mike Gauthier

A Hail of A Spring Storm

The garden looked pretty good when the Kitchen Garden post went up on Wednesday morning, but by that evening it was a pitiful sight! Around 6 PM Wednesday a major hailstorm hit parts of Austin and our neighborhood was on the hit list. If you read the comments on the last post you know that some hailstones were 2 and 1/2 inches in diameter. Hail dented my car, destroyed the patio umbrella, did some damage to the house and covered our streets and yards in shredded small branches and leaves. So no catastrophe, just a lot of stuff that needs addressing. An interesting thing happens when you are a blogger - sometimes you can avoid panic in an unpleasant situation by going into reporter mode and picking up the camera. That's why we have video taken during the storm and photos afterward. We made this YouTube so you can share the excitement. (If you can't see a video image to click below, try going right to our YouTube station Kaefka

Pam/Digging gave me some African aloe last year and one pot had put up a bloom stalk. The flower was chopped off and just look at the impact craters on the plant!

The magnolia has lost about 1/4 of its leaves...and some of them now have windows in them.
The tree itself is probably okay but will look raggedy for awhile.
The ground under the loquat is covered in leaves and knocked-down fruit, but the tree itself just bent and blew.

Both Philo and I have friends who were driving home from work when the storm grew strong - several of them had windshields shattered as they drove, which must have been terrifying.
I'm sure we'll all be cleaning and repairing for awhile. Hmmm....the Zilker Garden Festival takes place this weekend in Central Austin - maybe we'd better go there and pick up a few replacement tomato plants.

Counting trees

Recently it's dawned on me that every mature tree in Edinburgh city parks now sports a little blue tag with a number on it. The younger trees are free from this branding, presumably because as they grow and expand the tag might well ping off. One wonders quite why so much effort has gone into tagging each tree. Perhaps if one escapes it can be brought back to the right place. I should ask the City Council. Maybe there's a job opportunity there - I would exchange my day job for one counting trees.

Not terribly lost in translation

For those of you who read yesterday's post and thought, "That's cool, but I wish I could read about it in French," we have good news!
It was picked up today by "Le Kayak et la mer."
Here's what they wrote:

Fabriquer son bout de remorquage court

Publié le 27 octobre

En principe tous les kayakistes ont déjà un bout de remorquage long, c’est obligatoire en 6eme catégorie.
Mais plus rares sont ceux qui possèdent un bout court pourtant bien utile pour sortir rapidement un kayak d’un endroit difficile, assurer une pagaie ou même servir de leach. Vous trouverez sur le site Have kayaks, will travel une méthode très détaillée pour en fabriquer un de très bonne qualité ainsi qu’une méthode d’utilisation. C’est en anglais mais les nombreuses photos sont très explicites. Je crois bien que je vais m’en construire un sur ce modèle.

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Art and Life

"Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece." Letter of Pope John Paul II to Artists
I don't believe that God has called me to be an artist in the specific sense of the term. I do believe that he's called me to surround myself with beauty and share it with others.
This is the photo which won The Heritage Award in Photography at our local county fair last week. I've tried for years to win first place. Finally, it happened. This has been a good month for me, photographically speaking. One more thing to mark off the ole' bucket list.

40 days of beard-growing goodness

Race day is almost here for the Mankato Marathon.
Almost everyone participating in this year's race is probably in the midst of tapering and mentally preparing themselves for the big day.I definitely fit into that category as well, though my tapering had to begin early due a nagging Achilles injury. I've had difficulty going on sizable runs without feeling pain in that area, and most of my longer workouts have been confined to eliptical running machines. I'm not particularly thrilled about relying on elipticals, but I know they're good for maintaining the necessary cardiovascular endurance.
In terms of being ready for the race in a cardiovascular sense, I think I'm good to go. As for the nagging Achilles, we'll just have to wait and see.
Of course, tapering isn't the only thing I'm doing this week in regards to race day. As followers of my blog probably know, I also have a poll people can vote on for what type of facial hair I'll be sporting for the half marathon.
The photo at right was taken today to commemorate 40 days of growing a "runners beard." As it stands, the mutton chops option of the poll is winning by a nose, but voters still have until Friday morning to cast a vote.
Personally, I'm kind of hoping for the mustache to win the poll. I've never sported a mustache before and imagine it would an invigorating experience. However, I will adhere to whatever choice my readers.
Hopefully it will make for some interesting race day photos.

Kenosha Lakefront

Sunday I was planning to ride in the morning. But, the forecast was for rain in the morning. The rain hit during breakfast.
Spent the day visiting with family. After some dinner, I was getting antsy to ride. Though it was a bit warm and humid, there was a breeze and I was heading to the lakefront.
Rode from my mom's apartment to Carthage College. From there down the Pike River Trail along Lake Michigan. At Southport I stopped for G2 and granola bar. Today's photo was taken along the channel from the Lake along the marina.
Temperature was much cooler along the lake. Had a good ride. Ended up just over 11 miles, taking my annual miles up to 901.
Monday was driving time to home. Today after ham radio breakfast, brought the Fuel EX7 to the shop for a thorough check-out. Hope the temperatures moderate for more comfortable riding soon.

Kadunce River Gorge

Did you know that there are canyons in Minnesota that could qualify as slot canyons, similar to those found in the southwestern United States? Well, here is one! Sure, it's not a super-skinny slot that you have to squeeze sideways to get through it, but I think it's narrow enough and deep enough to qualify. This is on the Kadunce River just north of Grand Marais, MN not far upstream from Highway 61. There are many wonders to explore on this beautiful little river. I think I could spend the whole day photographing just the first mile of river upstream from Lake Superior. It is a magical canyon wonderland, in an area where you would least expect it! When you start out on the trailhead from Highway 61 you would never guess that this deep gorge is just a short walk away.

How rude!

How rude, to just disappear for so many moons with no explanation.
In the beginning, I didn't realize it would be so long. I intended to start back several times, but somehow my good intentions kept getting foiled. (Evil forces, no doubt.)
Listlessness, lassitude, lethargy. Laziness! And also a bit of a detour towards a genealogical addiction.
I know, those dead relatives aren't really going anywhere. But with the living ones, well you never know. Got to prise all those deep dark family secrets out of them while they're still around. Got to motivate them to dig in the closet for those old portraits, before they're sold for a song at the estate sale (since nobody has a clue who those old moldy dudes are anymore).
Anyway. Sorry for the long absence. Hope you'll forgive me.

Multi-purpose gifts

Dear in-laws, we thank you for the fruit!

And so do the cats.
George especially. She sits in the box and seems particularly content, at least until someone starts flashing a camera around.
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Submitted to the Friday Ark.