General Chat Thread - Please Participate
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Hiw is eveeryone?1
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Lol I'm pretty short and direct to the point kinda person. Little relaxing here tonight. Nice bourbon poured1
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Lol ok.
Golf fav hobby
Fitness goal to get1 -
I won last night!
Well, kind of. I lost the battle of the calories, but I had planned that so it's not really a loss. I had bought some squares in order that I might give a rip about that game that was on last night. We had a hiccup because the TV in my local apparently lost the ability to power the speakers. We just had closed captions. It was a decent game eventually of course, and one of my squares was 0 and 3, so I ended up "winning" the second and third quarters.
On a MFP kind of note - I went for a run earlier in the day. I wanted to finally try out some road running shoes I had purchased longer ago than I want to admit. At the time I was running more regularly, mostly on trails. Our trails get so muddy in winter, I thought I'd try out road running even though I'd really rather stick to trails. I had done a trail run the day before. What surprised me was I felt good enough to do a second day in a row. What I learned is that running on pavement is just plain faster than on trails. Some friends who are regular distance runners confirmed that.
I finished up some really good miso vegetable mushroom soup yesterday, and I'm still working on some split pea and barley soup before I decide if the next soup will be black bean or if I should try to make carrot ginger soup. I've never done that before, but I bet I could figure it out.
I'm giving my legs a rest today - off to the gym to pick up things and put them down. Upper body only, which is not my normal routine. I may or may not swim. We'll see if the pool is empty or crowded. On Wednesday I'll get a bagel. Thursday is a hike day with a friend. Shaping up to be a good week. Final changes to my lottery entry for Grand Canyon 2025 is due in a few days, so I'll be wrapping that up. I only get one point in the lottery since I rafted it in 2023, but one ticket is better than none. People who haven't been or haven't been in a long time get five tickets. If you went two years ago you get two. If you went three years ago you get three. Wish me luck. I'd love to spend another April below the rim.
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I won last night!
Well, kind of. I lost the battle of the calories, but I had planned that so it's not really a loss. I had bought some squares in order that I might give a rip about that game that was on last night. We had a hiccup because the TV in my local apparently lost the ability to power the speakers. We just had closed captions. It was a decent game eventually of course, and one of my squares was 0 and 3, so I ended up "winning" the second and third quarters.
On a MFP kind of note - I went for a run earlier in the day. I wanted to finally try out some road running shoes I had purchased longer ago than I want to admit. At the time I was running more regularly, mostly on trails. Our trails get so muddy in winter, I thought I'd try out road running even though I'd really rather stick to trails. I had done a trail run the day before. What surprised me was I felt good enough to do a second day in a row. What I learned is that running on pavement is just plain faster than on trails. Some friends who are regular distance runners confirmed that.
I finished up some really good miso vegetable mushroom soup yesterday, and I'm still working on some split pea and barley soup before I decide if the next soup will be black bean or if I should try to make carrot ginger soup. I've never done that before, but I bet I could figure it out.
I'm giving my legs a rest today - off to the gym to pick up things and put them down. Upper body only, which is not my normal routine. I may or may not swim. We'll see if the pool is empty or crowded. On Wednesday I'll get a bagel. Thursday is a hike day with a friend. Shaping up to be a good week. Final changes to my lottery entry for Grand Canyon 2025 is due in a few days, so I'll be wrapping that up. I only get one point in the lottery since I rafted it in 2023, but one ticket is better than none. People who haven't been or haven't been in a long time get five tickets. If you went two years ago you get two. If you went three years ago you get three. Wish me luck. I'd love to spend another April below the rim.
Love rafting! Would love to do the grand canyon someday0 -
I won last night!
Well, kind of. I lost the battle of the calories, but I had planned that so it's not really a loss. I had bought some squares in order that I might give a rip about that game that was on last night. We had a hiccup because the TV in my local apparently lost the ability to power the speakers. We just had closed captions. It was a decent game eventually of course, and one of my squares was 0 and 3, so I ended up "winning" the second and third quarters.
On a MFP kind of note - I went for a run earlier in the day. I wanted to finally try out some road running shoes I had purchased longer ago than I want to admit. At the time I was running more regularly, mostly on trails. Our trails get so muddy in winter, I thought I'd try out road running even though I'd really rather stick to trails. I had done a trail run the day before. What surprised me was I felt good enough to do a second day in a row. What I learned is that running on pavement is just plain faster than on trails. Some friends who are regular distance runners confirmed that.
I finished up some really good miso vegetable mushroom soup yesterday, and I'm still working on some split pea and barley soup before I decide if the next soup will be black bean or if I should try to make carrot ginger soup. I've never done that before, but I bet I could figure it out.
I'm giving my legs a rest today - off to the gym to pick up things and put them down. Upper body only, which is not my normal routine. I may or may not swim. We'll see if the pool is empty or crowded. On Wednesday I'll get a bagel. Thursday is a hike day with a friend. Shaping up to be a good week. Final changes to my lottery entry for Grand Canyon 2025 is due in a few days, so I'll be wrapping that up. I only get one point in the lottery since I rafted it in 2023, but one ticket is better than none. People who haven't been or haven't been in a long time get five tickets. If you went two years ago you get two. If you went three years ago you get three. Wish me luck. I'd love to spend another April below the rim.
Love rafting! Would love to do the grand canyon someday
The permit lottery closes on 26 February. Get over there and apply for one if you are willing to organize a private trip in 2025. If you aren't capable of organizing a big trip like that, please don't apply though! My first trip was only 16 days. My others have all been 23 days. I kayaked it the first time. It was a private trip; we had two kayaks. My second trip I was supposed to be one of two kayaks, but I also was back-up oarsman. I had to learn to row because of an injury. I loved it! I bought a raft. My third trip I got to bring my own raft. That was fabulous. My last trip was my permit, and we decided to pay to have it outfitted. The Canyon is tough on gear, and it was really fun to row 18' rafts. My raft is 15'. There's so much more room for gear on an 18' boat, and it's a real freight train.
The lottery is open longer this year than it traditionally has been. Normally it was two weeks. This year it's 3.5 weeks.
Yesterday I got the good news that I won one of the other raft permit lotteries I entered, so I do have at least one wilderness river trip in 2024. I might get invited on others or pick up cancellations; I lost all the other lotteries.
This picture is from my third trip as I'm about to drop into Lava Falls in my 15' boat.
And then I dropped in....
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Oh wow that's awesome. We would go with a guide for sure.
Have you ever done the Gulley in WV?0 -
Oh wow that's awesome. We would go with a guide for sure.
Have you ever done the Gulley in WV?
I am a western boater. I think they mostly run paddle rafts on the Gauley. Not many oar-rafts anywhere on the east coast. If I were trying to boat on the east coast, I'd be in a kayak or canoe. There's not many mulit-day trips over there. I do want to get up to the Bowron Lakes.
Mutli-day guided trips are expensive. It's kind of a shame, too. If you have money, you can go any time you want. If you are a private boater and have equipment or at least skills and a place to rent gear, you have to apply for a permit through a lottery that has very poor chance of success. For prime season on the Middle Fork Salmon, your odds are so low that if you and a friend put in every year for your entire adult life, you're still unlikely to get a permit. Got scads of money? You can go this year. Of course then you're on a guided trip, which can be deluxe because you don't have to cook or clean the shitter, but I really enjoy being self-reliant among a group of friends and fellow travelers.
One time we were camped on the Rogue River our last night. There are three camps fairly close to each other at Half Moon Bend. We were at Lower. There was a commercial group at Upper. There were screaming children and all that, but what I remember was overhearing a couple who were saying, "I can't believe we paid all this money to come this far from New York, and we still can't get away from people." I really wanted to walk over there and point up to the trail at the edge of camp and suggest that if they walked 100 yards in either direction, they could find solitude. I wonder though if they might have even known about the trail but wouldn't go for a hike because there's bears around. We almost never have a trip where we don't see a bear. Last year one climbed onto my boat and tried to get into a dry box early in the morning. Actually - it was that same camp! A small group of guides on a private trip (last trip of the season) were camped on the beach at Middle and heard the bear and chased him off. Juvenile male. I hope he stopped getting on boats. If not, they'll probably kill it. A fed bear is a dead bear.
I think even with renting all the gear from an outfitter, driving days each way, staying in hotels on the way down and back, and eating at restaurants on the road, our Grand Canyon trip in 2023 cost about $100 per day door-to-door. It's hard to find a vacation that cheap, especially one that's a month long. The commercial version would have been shorter (16 days instead of 23 on the water) and cost four times as much and that wouldn't include travel down and back (plus hotels and restaurants) or a 20% crew tip. The more days I use my raft, the cheaper it is "per day." That first trip was very expensive. It gets cheaper every trip.
Looking forward to being back on the Rogue in May. This is a rapid called "Upper Black Bar."
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So awesome and jealous. I don't have the skills as of now to be able to do it myself safely. I have rafted the arkansas river and something near Lake Tahoe when I was a kid.0
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Lol I'm pretty short and direct to the point kinda person. Little relaxing here tonight. Nice bourbon poured
I'm more of a single malt scotch kinda guy if I'm so inclined. My wife is a sommelier so there's usually some kind of wine around. I like wine but rarely have more than one glass.2 -
My current project is trying to get the interior of my car dried out in a Pacific Northwest winter. Yep.
I had some water on the floor. I thought I knew where it was from. I had collected some sprouting acorns on a hike, and I put them on the lid of a small bucket that I had in the car. I put a little water from my water bottle on them and covered them with a cloth so they wouldn't die while I was at the gym. I thought some had dripped onto the floor mat. So I wasn't concerned.
Then there was more. And more. I know that sunroof drain clogs are kind of notorious with my car. I don't have an air compressor, so I took some string trimmer line and snaked out the drains. I could have tested them first to see if they were actually draining. I tested them after, and they did drain. There was no way for me to know if they had ever been clogged, or maybe if they were partially disconnected.
A couple days later - more water.
I went by my mechanic. He suggested my evaporator drain might be clogged. I had dismissed this since I haven't run the A/C compressor. On my truck, if I set the air to DEFROST, the light comes on for the A/C. It doesn't do that automatically on my car. I can set my car for floor vents plus dash vents OR floor vents plus windshield. Apparently that does run the A/C compressor. It also explains why my fuel economy is lower than I think it should be! Anyway, he put my car on the lift. His technician said, "Well, it's dripping water, so that probably isn't it." He blasted the drain with compressed air, and about a gallon of water came out. No additional water has come in! I have unclogged the drain on my truck every now and then. I can access it under the hood. On the car, it's under the car.
I got home and went through a bunch of bath towels getting as much up as possible. Then I put in a couple of fans pointed at the floorboards. I didn't want to run a heater because I don't want the temperature to get high enough for mold spores to germinate. I crumbled up newspaper and tossed it all around to help wick moisture up from the carpet so the fans could get them to evaporate. I left a window cracked where the extension cord goes in and so moist air could get out. I also put a couple "Damp Rid" units in there.
The other day we had a LOT of rain in the forecast, so I closed everything up. Good thing.
Then opened again when things when the rain slowed down. Then I put a tarp over the window that was cracked open so it would let me leave it open in the rain. That was a good thing, too - we got snow the next night. I got the snow off the tarp, and we had a couple hours of sun. I opened all the windows. Then I put the tarp back but made a little awning by propping it up with a broken oar shaft. I could then open both windows on that side a bit to let the moist air out.
It's a slow process when it's 90% humidity outside anyway. I do think it's working. The moisture accumulating on the inside of the windows is getting less and less each day. I may drive the vehicle today. If I do, I'll blast the heat with the A/C running and the air on recirculate to dry the air out even more. I will drive tomorrow to the coast for my volunteer shift, so that will help too. Maybe I'll get it fully dried out soon. That would sure be nice.
How's YOUR weekend?
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@mtaratoot - my son-in-law's car had the same thing going on (your car make wouldn't be a Mazda, would it?). They live in as apartment with no covered parking so, yeah, not fun to figure out how to get all that water out of the floor boards.1
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It's a 2011 RAV4. I wasn't planning to buy one, but a friend was moving to Australia and was selling it. I know he takes very good care of his stuff, and it had very low miles. It's a fun car to drive and lets me carry more passengers than my truck. I was planning to just replace my truck at some point, but they just mostly became unavailable. I thought if I got any kind of passenger car it would be a full electric. It's not.
I can access the evaporator drain under the hood of my truck. It's a 1997 Tacoma that I bought brand new, and I plan to keep it running as long as possible. They don't make 'em like that anymore, although the new ones probably are also nice. I tow a raft trailer, so the truck is the best vehicle for that. I think it's crazy that I have two vehicles now since I don't really even drive that much.1 -
Ugh that is horrible0
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I’m a semi-retired geezer on the edge of 68, not 17. I stay in shape and try to hit my target weight of 165 for many reasons. (Gone from 240 to 176 at this point. I recently retired from the front line after 34 years of fire fighting. I’m still around the firehall if needed. My grandson has recently joined up. His mom also served.
I work out about six times a week, cardio and weights. My part time jobs, detention guard for the RCMP, and playing opposition force member on the local military base require a level of fitness I enjoy meeting at this age. I’m a survivor of a heart attack and skin cancer (bitchin’ chest scar). Lot of reasons to look after my health.
My hobbies are carpentry, building and using the kayaks and canoes I build.
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