Pictures from outdoor exercise.
Options
Replies
-
I drove over to the coast yesterday. There were big waves forecast for Wednesday about 14-18 foot swell. That's kind of big, but not huge. Yesterday they said it might get to 30' swell, so I went over. I had a destination in mind, but took the highway that got me to the coast the fastest and then went down the coast and stopped a few places to look at the ocean.
I got to the place I planned, went out, and stood in awe. I then did about a five-mile walk along a trail that goes mostly on a bluff above the ocean, but it does go up into a neighborhood street for a few blocks and ends at a river mouth. It was amazing, and I'm glad I went. I almost even got home before dark. I thought about camping in my car - the sun was trying to peek out, and there might have been a nice sunset. I just left because I don't like driving in the dark, especially on curving roads, and especially when those curving mountain roads are in the fog and/or rain....
4 -
Local hike yesterday. I just went down to the park near my house. It's about a third of a mile to get to the trail access. It's about 400 acres - actually two parks adjacent to each other. There's sports fields, a riparian forest, access to the river, and a restoration forest that used to be a farm. That forest is finally old enough that it feels like a forest finally. It's been nice to watch it grow. There's a fairly extensive trail network. I know I've written about it before. I almost didn't go. I noticed it was getting late, so off I went.
Today I went hiking again, but it was out in the coast range foothills a few miles from home. I drove there. I essentially did a hike that consisted of three loops that ended up on the top of Bald Hill. It was about five miles vwith total ascent about 630 feet.
I had planned a much shorter hike. It was a gorgeous sunny late morning. I went to the post office to get my mail, then passed a parking area for a lower access to go get closer to the top for a short hike with awesome views. Before I even got to the trailhead, I was in a cloud. I didn't want to waste a rare sunny day, so I drove back to the lower trailhead and did a longer hike. It wasn't THAT crowded except down low on the paved path and one of the other paths on the flats. There were still some good views, and I saw some fun fungus and had time among the trees. I think I walked down a trail I haven't done before, or not in a long time. I didn't remember it, and I was in awe of a Madrone tree I saw that was about a 29" dbh. Amazing. I also saw some invasive species; I want to write a grant to pay me to go remove those plants. Mostly I want to work with a local agency I know to help me get permission to go do it; the pay will be a bonus, and I could sure use it.
I'm pretty sure I saw a Chicken of the Woods mushroom, but I left it there. I did bring home some acorns that were sprouting. They are from native white oaks. I potted them up when I got home. I will try to bonsai them. I've tried many times without much success. I had one that lived a year or two. They don't do well in captivity because of the type of root system they have. I have eight or ten small pots with a mix of outdoor potting mix and soil. I will move any survivors to actual bonsai pots in the spring.
4 -
Great pics!! Looks like a fun hike!!0
-
I've been way too busy since my 2023 "busy" season ended, so I thought I'd do a little catch up. This is a photo from my wife's school's Thanksgiving parade on the last school day before the Thanksgiving break. Guess who they roped into putting on a Santa suit.
It was a parade and we walked down one hall, then outside to walk up the other hall, and then outside again, so I'm counting it as outdoor exercise.
ETA: I think they're gunning for me to come back next Thanksgiving.3 -
Wow. You've let your beard grow out. Winter insulation. I can't anymore; my mask doesn't seal unless I shave down an area below my nose, and I hate doing that.
I always remember maybe April or something shaving it off for spring, getting on my bike to ride to work, and thinking, "Why the hell did I do that?"3 -
In the last few years of my career, I kept a closely trimmed goatee. I was able to wear a standard gas mask and have it seal properly at annual certifications. Not that police end up using gas masks often but we were still required to certify. Since I retired, my wife persuaded me to let my beard grow out.1
-
Well, the forecast was updated. I won't be doing much outdoor exercise tomorrow. If I even want to do any fruit tree pruning, I'll have to get the ice pick out first....
2 -
Weather forecast here says Monday and Tuesday are well below freezing... snow and freezing rain... Given the hills around here, that likely means the roads will be all but unpassable to most of the locals who have no experience driving on icy roads. While I could drive without much trouble, that wouldn't help me if the other drivers are slip-sliding into me...1
-
I woke up to frozen things. The freezing rain started overnight after it sleeted for a while. There may or may not have been snow. I mucked out the bird bath and put warm water in. I repeated that a few times during the day. I put the hummingbird feeder out at first light, and I kept swapping it out with another one as it started to freeze up. Poor little critters need the energy right now, especially with the long nights. I need to bring in the one that's out there now. I also had to get the ice out of the seed feeding station and add a little seed at a time and try to keep it ice free. The birds seemed quite happy to have access to food and water. I wonder how hard the suet gets when it's 20 or below.
This afternoon it got up to maybe 22 degrees. The freezing rain had paused, so I bundled up and went for a walk. Being bundled up and moving - I was pretty warm, except my face since I have been shaving this winter.
I got to see silly people doing silly things with their cars. I think some people are dumber than a box-o-rocks. A guy in a Jeep who isn't from my neighborhood (small neighborhood - I recognize all the cars) came by faster than appropriate, but whatever. The driver stopped and got out... in flip flops... and cleared ice off his windshield that a wise person might have removed before driving. Of he went again, couldn't decide to turn right or left, changed the signal a few times, then turned on the collector street, went a block, and pulled over again to clean off more ice. Other folks seemed to be doing the same thing. Down in the mostly empty parking lot in the park by the river, college kids in fairly fancy cars that I can only presume were bought for them were doing doughnuts. One clearly had gone through some deeper slush and partially tore off a fairing. Whatever.
It was a nice walk. I went down the river path because I figured it wouldn't be muddy. It wasn't. There was a layer of frozen on top except for some of the deepest mud puddles that had not frozen completely. On the walk down to the park and on the walk back, because there was both sleet AND freezing rain, there was a little bit of grip on the ice. It was still slick. I walked down past the disc golf course and actually saw one threesome playing. Maybe I should go play a round tomorrow. That might be fun. It's forecast to be a little warmer tomorrow - 26 degrees. I walked back past the 12th hole and along the bark path. Only one tree was down across the path. When I left the park, I walked through the cemetery, then out to the highway to see what local businesses were open and which were closed. I took a little back pathway home that normally isn't passable this time of year because of high water. There was some high water, but I was in Muck boots, and it wasn't THAT high. There was one other tree down that I had to climb around. There's a lot of poison oak down there, but this time of year it doesn't pump out much urushiol, and all the stems were covered with a layer of ice, so I wasn't too worried. Back across the field near my house, and back home for about 4.5 miles total.
About halfway, the freezing rain started again Since it was cold, I didn't wear a waterproof shell outside of my thermal layers. Because the outside of my coat was still below freezing, I was coated in a layer of rime when I got home. I wonder where I'll walk tomorrow. There's another route I might take, or I might go back. It would be beautiful to be paddling, but I don't think I'll do that.
2 -
Currently 23F/-5C in our region. Cold enough to wear a jacket for a change. The forecast is no longer calling for snow and/or freezing rain. I'm okay with that. We're still set to warm up to 68F on Thursday.1
-
It's 7 F (about -14 C) here at almost 3PM today, sunny. Tomorrow's high is forecast for 11 F (-12 C), otherwise we're in single digits F through Tuesday, after which night temps stay single digits (some with a minus sign), and days range up into the high teens and low 20s (-8 C and up a bit) through next weekend. This is finally more like our usual early January, after a very unusually warm late December (50s F, over 10 C, often.)
We didn't get the predicted max 5 inches of snow Friday night, rather more like 3. So my "outdoor exercise" on Saturday was an hour and three-quarters of . . . guess what? (Hint: Shovels were involved.) I didn't do the whole drive (photo) because after I had a good chunk done, my sweet 80 y/o neighbor Bob came home, saw me shoveling away, and brought his mini-tractor-mounted snow blower over and did a good bit.
I decided to shovel yesterday when it was "warm" (about 24F, -4 C), especially the big plow-created berm at the end of my driveway, even though the forecast suggested we could get up to 5" more snow late Saturday. (We didn't; it looks more like another 2-3"). I can easily drive over 5" of snow, but the much bigger heap of wet, icy mess the road plow throws up can be an obstacle, especially wrt staying out of the ditch when driving back into my driveway. I do shovel the road-shoulder for maybe 15 feet "upstream" of my driveway, which helps avoid the plow-berm regenerating for a while.
I'm planning to stay in for a few days, though, unless I find a good reason to leave.
2 -
I don't mind snow... but I know my wife just hates it... so I'm in Texas. It is what it is...2
-
Been single digits F here, mostly negative (-20 to -15 C), in SW MO USA for the last 48 hours or so. Today the high just breaks double digits (10 F, -12C). We won’t rise above freezing until Wednesday.
We’ve collected only a couple of inches of snow as the wind is up in the double digits (mph), sometimes hitting up in the 20s (32 kph) making for dangerous windchills.
My wife and I, with our two indoor cats and two outdoor dogs, have been staying warm in the living room, breaking outside only to put out bird seed and let the dogs run. 10-15 minutes at a time, tops.3 -
21F/-6C in the Hill Country of Texas... a small skiff of snow overnight... My wife decided to risk going to work. The roads appear clear but our house is sheltered so there might be more snow elsewhere.1
-
I had another walk on the ice today. Back down to the park by the river. I couldn't take the river path even if I wanted to. The river has come up, and it's into the parking lot and covering the entrance to the river path.
There was a big limb down from a large cottonwood that is mostly blocking the road into the park. Maybe 20" diameter?
It was below freezing, but the sun was out. It was beating on my black coat, so I stayed warm. Well, that and the warm layers underneath. I walked out along the sports fields instead of through the forest because I wanted to be in the SUN. We just don't see it that often in the winter around here. Unfortunately, even though the temperature was below freezing, that awesome solar power's energy melted a micro layer of liquid water on top of the otherwise concrete-hard ice. It was so slick. I ducked into the restoration forest to get into the shade where it "wasn't so hot" and mostly where the path wasn't so slick.
As I got close to the southernmost part of my walk (I could have walked farther, but there's a steep hill on the path just past there, and I didn't want to risk that), I came upon yet another tree coated with ice. This Ponderosa Pine had the sun behind it, and it was gorgeous.
Looking out to the older soccer fields, another large tree was shimmering in a coating of rime.
When I got home, I went out back to see what things looked like. My perennials will be safe from the very cold weather because they have an insulating layer of ice on them. This is what my blueberry bushes look like:
Another round of freezing rain is expected tomorrow. We'll probably lose more limbs and trees. Some friends have been without electricity for about 30 hours. I think the crew was working to get it back as it grew dark. Good thing because it's going to be 13 degrees F tonight. Maybe warmer. At least they have a wood stove, but I fear for their well. The county sent out an emergency message asking people to be safe and stay inside if they can. The EMS and the hospital are overwhelmed with crashes and slip/fall injuries. I tuned in to a website that broadcasts the radio traffic for public safety and have been listening to slip/fall calls, to people stuck, and other stuff. A truck slid off the road into a water body. The passenger wheels were underwater up to the top of the wheel wells. A car slid into a bridge on a state highway and is blocking both lanes. It's a long drive for the deputies and tow trucks, but they at least got it shoved off the highway. Another vehicle, a van towing a box trailer, got stuck because they couldn't make it up to the top of the hill at one of the passes. Probably good because they might have slid off in the curves on the east side of the pass. The van had nine passengers. Oh it just keeps coming.
I reheated some split pea and barley soup. Warm soup was fantastic along with a delicious salad. Maybe a cup of tea is in order, then either work on my at-home work for a big first aid class I'm taking in a couple weeks or escape into a novel a friend wrote that I've been enjoying.
How has YOUR day been?
1 -
I forgot to mention: That car in the first picture? It's been there a couple days. The driver had been doing doughnuts down in the flat part of the parking area on Saturday. They were there when I got there to start my walk that day, and 90 minutes later were still there rippin' it up. Nice BMW. They tore off some of the front fairing smashing through the slush. It was pretty goofy but whatever.
Apparently the driver couldn't make it back up the hill. Guess what ya dummy - it's slick out. The driver could have backed up and parked... in the parking area. Or at least pulled all the way over to the curb.... Nope. Just walk away and leave the vehicle partially blocking the road.
I was a little surprised that some other vehicle hadn't hit it yet. It will still be there tomorrow, and it will get buried deeper in ice. I wish someone would give it a ticket or tow it out of the way, maybe back down to the parking area. Or both. Or put a boot on it. It won't happen, and that's OK. The people doing emergency response have their hands full with other people doing dumb things and actually getting injured or putting their vehicles into the ditch, a river, or stuck in a way that totally blocks traffic.
You'd think common sense might be more common. Nope.1 -
Common sense is like underarm deodorant; those who need it most rarely indulge and there's no polite way to point it out to them.
Freezing rain is pretty to look at but can do so much damage. Years ago, Ontario (where I used to live) had a number of high power towers collapse under the weight of ice (on the lines and the towers themselves) from multiple coats of freezing rain. What a mess to clean up and power outages until they got it sorted.1 -
I usually don't keep my house all that warm. It's warm enough for wintertime - 66 degrees F (about 19C). I am contemplating cranking it up when the freezing rain starts just to see if I can get all the contents and surfaces warmer in case we start to get major power outages, and I kind of think we will.1
