Pictures from outdoor exercise.
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...if I was:
- Not trying to keep a canoe upright
- Not in a bit of moving water that didn't let me keep the canoe as still as desired
- Not worried about dropping my phone over the gunwale
- Able to actually get a little closer. The image I posted was a cropped portion of a very zoomed picture. I bet there was schmutz on the lens too.
That''s a whole lotta things to go wrong...1 -
...if I was:
- Not trying to keep a canoe upright
- Not in a bit of moving water that didn't let me keep the canoe as still as desired
- Not worried about dropping my phone over the gunwale
- Able to actually get a little closer. The image I posted was a cropped portion of a very zoomed picture. I bet there was schmutz on the lens too.
That''s a whole lotta things to go wrong...
And notwithstanding, I'm so *there*, wanting to give it a try . . . ! (i.e. Vivid!).
Boats! Bugs! Yay!
Speaking of which, yet digressing: On Monday I was rowing with my favorite double partner. As we rowed upstream past the the local party riverboat, a young, still-fuzzy goose-baby swam out, completely alone, from the North shore at breakneck speed, and met us mid-river.
At first, I thought it just wanted to get past us, but no: It wanted to stay by the boat, right up next to the hull, even as we maneuvered to get out of its way. (Did it think we were its mommy?!?) It was swimming at maximum energy, right alongside the hull, yeeping frantically.
Finally, it literally hopped up onto the double's stern deck and sat there. OhMyGosh! We didn't want to carry it even further from its (we hope) nearby family, so we sped up and it slipped off into the water again.
As we rowed off, it was heading for the South shore, still at top speed. We can only hope it found its separated family!
Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Rivers: Good.1 -
@AnnPT77
When I row my raft, I tow a duck decoy behind me. We find them from time to time in the river if hunters lose them. This one is a duck, not a drake. The paint is still in decent shape. It's fun to row by people in camp or other groups on the river and they say, "Did you know there's a duck following you?" or something like that. Some people realize it's a decoy. Some never do.
There was one year not too long ago I did five Rogue River trips. It's pretty close, and I got lucky to score a bunch of permits. A combination of my good nature, color of my boat (called white but more of a gray), and of course my friend "Shadow" (she follows me everywhere) makes my raft identifiable. I was drifting along just gently rowing through Kelsey Canyon and I saw a commercial gear boat coming downstream. I pulled into an eddy to let him through so he could stay in the current. Recognizing the duck, he asked, "Hey; how often do you come down here anyway?" We were on a two kayak and one raft (four people) trip. That was fun. He ended up setting up camp right at the bottom of the canyon and waiting for the customers. We found a tiny secret camp just downstream from him that fit our very small group. We interacted a bit.
Another trip I remember we camped at Tyee. The next day as we drifted past Wildcat camp, a duck swam out from shore and followed Shadow for quite a while. Right before we got to Wildcat Rapid, the duck swam back to shore. It was hilarious. I put some video on a trip "movie" that you can find on Youtube. We stopped for lunch at Jenny Creek. There was a couple eating lunch there we had seen drift by our camp the night before. They camped at Wildcat and the duck was hanging out with them that night.
Good times.2 -
I don't mostly post non-anonymized photos of other people on social media without their permission, but I think even the woman facing the camera is far enough away to be unrecognizable.
This is our 2022 learn-to-row class, plus a few long-timers, rowing the barge in today's class session. I don't think I've posted a barge photo here before (that I can recall 😬), but think it's an . . . unusual? . . . watercraft that may not be familiar to others. It's very much like rowing your living room: Around the same size, equally stable, equally high performance (or not).
It's a good training tool, letting new rowers go through the basic stroke cycle without worrying about tippiness of the regular skinny boats. It has sliding seats like rowing shells (or Concept-2-type rowing machines), and is rigged for sweep (one oar per person) like an eight, four or pair. (Most of our club's rowing is sculling, two oars per person, in quads, doubles, singles. They'll learn sculling next, in quads to start, with a coxswain or an experienced rower in bow to steer. Same basic stroke cycle, just more oars to manage.)
Yes, I'm in this photo. The fluorescent yellow arms behind the coach are mine, womanning the surprisingly-responsive rudder.
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Holy ocelot!
That is a boat?
Wow. I wanna row it. And a skinny one.2 -
Holy ocelot!
That is a boat?
Wow. I wanna row it. And a skinny one.
I guess it's a boat? It's human powered, travels over water, so . . . .
You can't see the bow here, but it's as squared-off as the stern: The craft is a big rectangle. A decent group of rowers can get it moving surprisingly fast (maybe not objectively fast, and definitely not this group, despite the fact that they were doing *excellently* for beginners).
It also turns more rapidly than you'd expect, though it needs to be at speed (you know the "no steering without momentum" thing, I know). It'll come around 360 in half to 3/4 the width of the river you see here, which is (IMO) pretty impressive considering that (like I said) it's essentially a living room on water.
If you ever happen to roll through Michigan in season (improbable, I know), reach out and I'll take you out for a guest row in the double. Can't guarantee the barge - we share that among 3 rowing organizations. The double is mine, all mine (from closer to your neck of the woods, too - NW coast anyway - a Pocock).1 -
Took my racing single out today for the first time this season, without my usual trial run in a (wider, more stable) recreational single. No rowing companions today, and I can't readily solo carry the rec singles. (They don't weigh much more than my canoe/kayak, but they're 20'+ so much more awkward, besides the club owns them, so risk worries me more.) About the best conditions I could hope for, for doing this: Flat water, general overcast (so little distracting glare/shadows while traveling backwards).
Here's a view downriver from the racing single, from near the club's dock area:
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Well, my exercise was actually indoors. Underwater. At the aquarium. We had a big group of seven divers. Two good friends "crashed" our shift. They usually are Thursday divers, but they have missed a shift or two and are about to miss another one. They came to visit us.
We did a rescue scenario. Kudos for our team. I'm not sure how many groups have run through the scenario, but our contact said that our group was the first one that remembered to glove up before handling the "victim." The "victim" was a lifelike mannequin that weighs 110 pounds BEFORE soaking wet. We have to egress the "victim" and then provide support. We did well. I still was very stressed about the whole thing. That's normal.
But then I went out to the beach to enjoy the scenery. Even though school's out and the aquarium seemed crowded, the beach I went to was pretty empty. Wind was calm. A few people were boogie boarding. The surf was so small, the only people actually surfing were in their 60s and 70s. Yeah. I enjoyed a cold beverage and watched fishing vessels and recreational vessels go in and out across the bar.
I stopped at the market to pick up fresh fish I'll cook today and tomorrow.
Nice day.
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And now for something(s) slightly different, from one of my bike rides this week:
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@AnnPT77
I love creative strange stuff. I should take some pictures of the "art" hanging from the trees in my yard.
Just taking a break from the heat before going back out and getting back to it. Found stinging nettles in the neighbor's garden I'm taking care of. I did pick several gallons of edible pod peas and almost four pints of strawberries. I hope the strawberries will make more berries now that I pulled off the ones that were ripe. The peas will probably shut down after the heat yesterday and today, but there are still some flowers.... They won't be as sweet and tender. My next outdoor exercise is mowing the lawn in the 95 degree heat and picking some of my blueberries and raspberries. The blueberries responded well to this heat; there's a LOT out there. I should freeze some.
Oh yeah! I should do the same with some of these strawberries because otherwise I'll eat them ALL.
I think there might be ripe cherries too.1 -
Knowing how some folks freak out over spiders, I kinda want to steal that idea... lol
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I like spiders. I let ~some~ stay in my house. Others get shuffled outside. I don't like flies. I ask the spiders kindly to help me with that.
I like snakes, too. But it's amazing how they make even me jump when I see one unexpectedly.
Ants? I don't like 'em. But I do respect them. E. O. Wilson sure liked 'em. And he was brilliant.
Jim Stafford didn't like spiders ~or~ snakes (them folks not over fifty might have no memory of that though).1 -
I like spiders. I let ~some~ stay in my house. Others get shuffled outside. I don't like flies. I ask the spiders kindly to help me with that.
I like snakes, too. But it's amazing how they make even me jump when I see one unexpectedly.
Ants? I don't like 'em. But I do respect them. E. O. Wilson sure liked 'em. And he was brilliant.
Jim Stafford didn't like spiders ~or~ snakes (them folks not over fifty might have no memory of that though).
Well, I think of that girl from time to time... Love that song!!0 -
Spiders in the house can get out of hand, but mostly I'm live and let live with them. I have an unexplained attraction to certain spider-totem jewelry, though, despite being a little alarmed by closeness with live ones.
I actually saw Jim Stafford sing that song (and others) live, when I was in college. He performed at an on campus folk/blues coffeehouse where I was volunteer staff.
I hate brown marmorated stink bugs. I also hate woodchucks, but so far I don't have any of the latter indoors. Too many of the former in the house seasonally, though. Any is too many, of either.2 -
I'm with you on the brown marmorated stinkbugs.2
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I tend to leave the spiders alone since their business keeps the flies from bothering me. Unless they get too ambitious with the webs in which case they're escorted outside.
At our place in Texas, I was introduced to an entirely new class of bug... assassin bugs... The first one I met is called a wheel bug. Apparently, like spiders, assassin bugs make it their business to take out other bugs. Funny looking critter... photo from online, not my pic...
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The only house spider I kill on sight is the brown recluse with its necrotic venom.
Don't open if you have a thing about spiders.
Fortunately, they are a reclusive species as they like dark quite corners and back closets, preferring to run away when the lights are turned on.
Still, most bites occur when moving storage boxes around or at night while you are sleeping. Doesn't happen often (I've never been bit by one that I know of) but did happen to a guy I worked with. He got bit in the temple when he rolled over in his sleep. If you're going to get bit, that's the best place. Very little flesh for the necrotic venom to work on.1 -
Finally got a canoe out and did more than just paddle out-and-back. Friends called yesterday mid-morning and said, "Let's go paddle." I said hell yes. We did about 10.5 river miles, but my device measured over 12 miles. Part was because we don't go straight down the middle of the river, and part was because we stopped to walk on a couple gravel bars looking for agates. We found a few nice ones. A friend showed us a picture of a GIANT one he had found the day before on a gravel bar we didn't stop at.
I was really surprised we only saw two other groups until we got to the spot about two miles from our take-out where people hop in the river in tubes and other inappropriate float craft. One group left one of their non-swimmers in the put-in eddy. He couldn't cross the eddyline. I can't believe they left him! We had popped into the eddy and did a tour. It's the outlet of a back channel, and it's kind of neat. I plowed back out into the current, and my friends followed. The kid said, "Can you help me?" I said I didn't think so but what did he need. He said he needed to get out in the current. I pulled back into the eddy and, from a distance great enough that he couldn't grab my boat, directed him on how to maneuver his pool toy across the eddy line. I should have offered to tow him back to the launch and suggest he just walk.... One of my friends had some words with the rest of his group when we passed them. They seemed unconcerned that they just left him alone. That's a no-no on the river.
Oh well.
It was a nice four-hours on the water.
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I spent about 2.5 hours in a canoe today.
Rather than just paddle gently and fish like I did yesterday, a friend and I paddled about 2.5 miles upstream including a circumnavigation of a small island across from the boat ramp and a two-mile climb up to the water treatment plant and back.
We did some "surfing" on the way home. Tiny little wave. Point boat upstream and put butt on wave. Use paddle to get in the right place and maintain angle and maybe put in a stroke or two and just sit. A person sitting on shore with some kids asked how I was able to just sit there and not get swept downstream. I explained the wave that formed going over an obstacle and the fact that the wave face on the upstream side let me "fall downhill" while the water went by underneath me. Made total sense once I explained it, but he hadn't thought of that. Neat stuff.
That was right near a rope swing. There were two kids playing. My buddy is a decade younger than I am; he doesn't qualify for this group.... He did the rope swing twice. I got a short video of his second time. He enjoyed the heck out of it.2 -
I took out my sea kayak today. Sad to say it's been years since it's been on the water. I pulled it out of storage yesterday and cleaned it up. It was filthy. It's celebrating its 22nd birthday this month. It's a 16.5' glass boat made by a company that, at the time, was called Mid-Canada Fiberglass LTD. The company was bought by Impex, and that's the most common name you'll see on this hull. Impex sold to Formula, and now this boat isn't available anymore.
It's a VERY different type of paddling than my canoes. I like both. Now I'll have more decisions to make when I go paddle.
My friend went with me. We put in at the ramp less than a half mile from our house and paddled about 3.5 miles upstream. There were a couple climbs. He's in a sit-on-top boat, and the last climb he had to get out and walk his boat up. Any less water and I would have too.
I let my friend paddle my boat a bit when we got back. He liked it. Maybe he'll get one. I still think he should go with a fast canoe versus a sea kayak. The canoe I've been paddling is a flatwater boat. This sea kayak is a "lumpy water" boat.
What boat to paddle tomorrow is now the question.4
