Royal Gorge Whitewater Festival

Marlys and I have spent the last two days at the annual Royal Gorge Whitewater Festival at the Canon City Whitewater Park. Most of the races begin at Parkdale just upstream of the Gorge and the rafters and kayakers need to go through the Gorge on the way to the finish line in Canon.

Events started on Friday evening and continued through Saturday night. Besides the races and other whitewater events, e.g. King of the Wave (see picture), there was also music, beer, BBQ and various booths.

One of the booths was the Fremont Search and Rescue team put up on Friday afternoon to raise money for a new(er) rescue vehicle. Marlys, Judy and I set it up and manned it until about 5PM where the next group took over.

The main items given away for donation were survival bracelets made by various team members. They are pretty popular this summer with high schoolers and Broncos Fans (due to the number made in orange and blue). Marlys and I also donated a skiadirondack chair.

This was a pretty busy week for Marlys and I as the RGWF approached, because Monday evening we need to go to rope bag throwing training and then a float through town on the Ark, which was flowing at about 3200 cubic feet per sec. Last time we went through the Gorge at the beginning of the month it was flowing at around 500 cubic feet per sec.

On Wednesday and Thursday night we had rope training, so by Friday we were getting SARed out.

Beyond the booth, at the RGWF, the SAR team was doing the rope bagging of people and (water?)crafts that miss the take outs down river. Crafts maybe over stating what some of the "things" people came down river in during the "Build Your Own Boat" contest.

On Saturday, Marlys and I came back in to help with the bagging on the BYOB contest and then to pickup the chair we had donated, thinking it probably wouldn't get the size donation needed for it to go home with someone else.

We were surprised when we saw that the chair was sitting behind the booth instead of in front where folks could see it, but there was a good reason as it had gotten the needed donation and we now had to deliver it to its new home...The Whitewater Grill up on 8 mile hill.

For those of you following the development of this chair you probably noticed that there are no screw holes in the boards. Now I have to figure a way to attach the skis sans screws.

So what was going to be a week to relax a little is now one to build chairs for the two upcoming events in Canon, the Arts on the Arkansas and Fiddlers on the Arkansas. It all goes to a good cause.

Tomorrow we go to the Springs to pickup the cushions for the Molesworth Club Chair.

Duckett Fire

Its wildfire season here in Colorado and with the dry conditions we have had in the south central part of the state it is in full swing. This is different from the north central part of the state where there is record snow melt runoff.

The Duckett fire is about 10 miles south of our place and over the last couple of days we can see the smoke plume. You can see it in the center of this picture, with the smoke blowing to the left (east).

The fire has crossed over from Custer to Fremont (our county) county and is over 2400 acres is size.

Tomorrow we are off to the FIBark whitewater festival in Salida and next week we are working th Royal Gorge Whitewater Festival in Canon City. I am even going to Shore Tech. training next week, this from a guy who is not all that excited about water.

Rejected on SIlverheels

Even though I felt Longs Peak, last August, was epic this trip was epic on a different level, e.g. the number of less then good (bad) decisions made during the course of the hike.

Silverheel's is just a 13er, as some would say, but after hiking/climbing about 12 14ers, a few more then once, this "13er" brought the reality of being in the backcountry front and center.

Marlys had wanted to go up Silverheel's since a drive into Breck via the Camp Como road last summer. Since we had not started on the "14er a week" goal yet due to the snow, I kept an eye out on the trip reports from Silverheel's to see if it might be the first of the year.

So you are probably asking yourself why would this one be anymore accessible then the 14ers after all it is only 180' below 14K. The trip reports I read seemed to indicate a little less snow, but TR are pretty subjective to the skills of the person reporting. It seemed like a possible and after the fact in going back and reviewing them it appears that I probably took the good items into account and overlooked the bad one.

Another item that became apparent during the planning for the hike was that there is a lot less information available on 13ers, then 14ers, probably due to the lower number of people going up them. This means that the route info and actual on hill trail markings is much less then that of a 14er.

Until I get my mountain mojo back I think I will be sticking to 14ers, but someday I will need to try Silverheel's again.

1. Bad Decision: Looked at planning info through some pretty rosy glasses.

While driving up CO 9 to Fairplay we all commented on the peak snow cover.

2. Bad Decision: Did snow stop accumulating on peaks less then 14K? Probably not.

Heading for the trail head (that may be a little grandiose) I had already pictured the parking area and where the trail would start, because I have driven this road so often. Even though the directions said that the trail head was 2 miles down from Hoosier Pass and the starting point I had envisioned was only about 1.5miles.

3. Bad Decision: Assumed the trail head instead of following directions.

Off we went into the trees duly heading to the south for 500yards then turning east toward Beaver Ridge. Gee there seemed to be a lot of snow around.

4. Bad Decision: When you start at the wrong place, guess what happens to every turn after that...right probably no correct.

As we broke out of the trees, think we had just topped Beaver Ridge, we notice what seemed to be an even higher ridge to the SE and a even taller peak behind it.

And there still seemed to be a lot of snow, which due to the early hour it was still frozen and we could walk on top of it, but I WAS thinking that as the day warmed this would be post-holing territory on the way back down. My thinking had not totally shut down. I also was wondering about the snow amount previous folks had mentioned.

5. Bad Decision - Cascade Effect: We were actually on the south side of the Hoosier Ridge, instead of the NW side of Beaver Ridge. But we decided to push on to the saddle between the two ridges anyway.

There was quite a bit of detouring as we went around snowfields and a cornice debris field (avalanche), but we made it to the saddle 3 hours after leaving the car. We now had views that matched the pictures on the route information. We could also see that Beaver Creek was full of snow.

I could also finally see some tracks below the power lines heading for the shoulder ridge on Silverheel's. It went right through the snowfield by the power tower in the left lower center of this picture.

We all sat and looked at this and made the first good decision of the day...lets bag it, too much snow and not equipped for it (no snowshoes). Also be were now on the north side of Beaver Ridge so we could go back by the direction in the route info.

Every good decision is followed by a bad one, why doesn't it work the other way too.

6. Bad Decision; The route seemed to go along the north side of the ridge and had a major scree/talus field to cross. It also looked like we would need to enter the trees on the north side...read less sun, more snow, unsettled bad footing.

Off we went.

These smiles did not last long, as after entering the scree/talus we realized we were in a bad position.

The footing was sliding, it was steep and the run out, if you did slide did not look good.

After crossing this field we re-grouped and though maybe we could head down into the drainage via what looked like bare ground around the some of the trees.

At this point I had serious concerns about where we were, where we would go, and if we had the energy to get out of here. A scary situation.

I was also second thinking the gear that I had off-loaded from my 24 hour pack to lighten the load, e.g. rope.

After starting down this path, I asked the rest of the party to wait and I went down to the trees to see if it was actually viable.

It took me about 2 minutes to know it wasn't, and that we/I needed to stop these bad decisions that just seemed to be getting us into more and more of a situation with no retreat .

I went back and said that this was not going to work and that we should retrace the way we came in.

This meant going back through the scree/talus, and around the north side of the drainage.

The snowfield would be soft, but we knew where it went. I also had tracked it on my GPS so we could stick close to the route we took up and where we came out of the trees.

The snowfields looked bigger then they did coming up.

Tempers were beginning to wear, the wind had come up, and the smoke from the AZ fires had moved in heavily.

Once we got back around the drainage and looked at where we had be headed it indeed scary as it was only going to get worse.

After 6.5 hours we came out of the snowfields and the drainage at the road we should have been on in the first place.

It was a few hundred feet down from where we went in and it would have put us on Beaver Ridge outside of the drainage and away from the major scree field, but there still was a lot of snow.

Being the lead bad decision maker I apologized to the group, dropped my pack and made the walk up the road to retrieve the car.

I felt very lucky.

The job is not done until "Da Girls" say it is.

When last together in the annual return from Arizona last month, I took the opportunity to put beetle-kill pine on the ceiling of the family room.

The ceiling "I thought" to be done was that to the right of the glulam in this picture.

The idea being that by differentiating between the ceiling to the left and right of the glulan it would set the family room area off from the entry area.

Having done that I blogged that the ceiling was done.

I was however told that according to "Da Girls" of which Marlys is one, that in fact it was not. So I spent the first day of the Memorial Day Weekend rectifying this oversight on my part.

Today though is for racing (Monaco Gran Prix, Indy and The 600), at least what can be fit in between other engagements on the calendar.

Woofer Dave

The WFR training revolves around a process called the Patient Assessment System (PAS), this guy named WFRDAVE put the whole thing to music; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP2T0O_yD74 . Dave may seem to have a little too much time on his hands, but he did a nice job.

For those of you who have had CPR training you know how they want to you to sing/hum to a song to keep your frequency correct this is my favorite, the song is a little paradoxical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0HNYmWLqdc&NR=1

Woofer's

Well we are back, after 10 days of 8-5 (a couple of days 8am-10pm) training to become Wilderness First Responders, which are called "woofers".

Although we planned on eating in (we had the camper with us) each evening, the homework and reading made that impossible, as we would get home at about 6pm and study until we couldn't stay awake, usually about 10pm, which is real late for me.

Even the evening sessions didn't end when the instruction stopped, as our homework included things like; getting vital signs on all participants, so one night we all just stayed around and had a VS session until the University folks kicked us out.

Even though the days were long and FILLED, I always looked forward to the next day. I would recommend this course to anyone that spends time in the back-country. In fact, the amount of info attained was amazing, beyond that directly attributable to rendering help, e.g. water filtering vs. purifying, loose vs. tight boots, sleeping mats, etc.

In my 57 years and numerous course and classes, this is probably the best one I have ever taken, both from a content/usability and material presentation standpoint. This WFR class was by the Wilderness Medical Institute of NOLS the National Outdoor Leadership School. I highly recommend our instructors Josh McNary and Maureen Fox.

Another big plus during any course are the participants, and here again everyone was great. The class was made up mostly of young folks involved in outdoor education and work that required a WFR certification, but there were a few of us with a "life experience" edge, e.g. older.

Sometimes the practice session in the classroom (BTW: Mesa State is a wonderful campus) could get messy in the lead up to a outdoor scenario.

We would have about 3 outdoor scenarios a day. These outdoor scenarios went on rain or shine and last week was a rainy one in Grand Junction. On one of the occasions when it wasn't raining they brought out the hoses to "keep it real". In fact on a multiple patient (not victims) scenario last Thursday afternoon the GJ Police and EMS groups showed up.

Saturday night we had a scenario set in the ravines and rocks of Bang Canyon west of town.

The views before we were out on the trail (and the sun set) were spectacular. We got out of the

canyon about 10pm. We both decided our $5 headlamps from Harbor Freight needed to be upgraded.

UPDATE: Marlys and I went in to the REI in the Springs today and picked up Black Diamond Storms recommended by our lighting consultant, thanks Alan.

Monday was for testing, a 100 question multiple choice and a practical scenario that included both a medical and skeletal/muscular injury. We both passed and were back on the road home by 2pm.

It is good though to be home.

Such a thoughtful Mothers Day Gift

Marlys has always talked about how easy it is for guys in the woods when nature calls, so be the thoughtful husband I am...

It even came with an after use re-sealable baggy and some mountain money (TP).

The Blossum Festival Parade

It was a busy weekend for us. It started Saturday with the Annual Blossom Festival in Canon. This is the biggest town event of the year and we were going to walk the parade with some of the Search and Rescue Team. The parade didn't start until 12:30, but we were told to be there by 11am, naturally I had us there by 10:30am, so there was a lot of standing around...with our packs.

We were told to keep our gear ready as Mother's Day weekend can be busy.

After the parade we made our way through all of the craft booths in a couple of the city parks. I did a fantastic job of limiting myself to only one corn on the cob. For me CoC can be like Sloppy Joe's, in the quantity I will consume.

On Sunday we went down the Royal Gorge on rafts with some more of the Search and Rescue group, mainly the Swift Water Rescue Team. Believe it or not went we got to the meeting location (Raftmaster's) a standby call went out to the team to search for a missing 5 year old. I guess Mother's day being busy can is true. While we were all getting organized to move from rafting fun to search a cancel call came in that the child was found at a neighbors, but it was a hectic 10 minutes.

The Arkansas was flowing at about 650 cfs, and Jessie, our guide and another one of the SAR members, said that the commercial operations will guide down the Gorge up to 3200 cfs (compare to the Mississippi that is currently flowing at 2000000 cfs). At this point Jessie said most of the rapids were in the Class 3 range, but would climb to the 4 and 5 range once the snow melt really begins to hit. We have been down the Arkansas a couple of times, but this was the first time through the Gorge. I want to try in again in June when the flows are up.

We stopped a couple of times in the Gorge to explore a clef through the Hobbit Hole underneath the railroad tracks. and then again to jump off of a rock about 10' above the river into the cold water. We were in wetsuits, splash jackets, booties and helmets.

I would recommend Jessie at Raftmasters in Canon City, they were great. He and his soon to be wife are guides.

Hard to believe that only a week ago we were coming out of a 11" snowfall, but things change up here quickly sometimes. Our small herd of mule deer decided that since the hummingbirds were back they too could come up to the front of the house. There are about 12-15 deer that seem to stay on our parcel, mainly in the Ponderosa, but sometimes they are by the shop or going after the especially green grass over the septic drain field. It doesn't show up in this picture, but a few of them were to the right laying down in the shade under the trees.

First Hummingbird of the Season

First one showed up this afternoon, just as the last of the snow from Sunday melted away.

The ceiling is done

Just finished up putting in the beetle kill pine ceiling. It turned out pretty good. As I mentioned in the last ceiling post I has able to salvage the pieces I drove over and actually ended up with one full board to spare.

I am still 6 weeks out (waiting on cushions) on finishing the Molesworth club chair, so it looks like we will make a couple of ski Adirondack chairs. I picked up some old used army skis on Friday should be able to match them as they are all white.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

My Arse (kinda British after Friday's shindig)!

Marlys had a little excitement yesterday

As I mentioned in the last post, we were off to Monarch Ski Area for Alpine Team training on Saturday. It was shut down for the season so no one would have to dodge us on the slopes.

We got there about 8:30 and the skies were overcast and threatening snow.

After gearing up we headed in search of a slope to do self-arrest practice, but the ~5 inches of snow over night made this problematic as we could not get a good slide going.

Our Lead decided that instead of us learning a bad technique we would leave the self-arrest practice until next month, when we are going to St. Mary's Glacier.

The group headed over to Gunbarrel, which is to the far left when you come into the Monarch parking lot to work on roped travel, belay techniques and setting of snow pickets and fixed lines.

For those of you who have skied Gunbarrel know it is steep and with the new snow from the night before and snow that accumulated during the day, we had plenty of fresh stuff to work with.

We worked on boot belays first, which is where a ice ax with a runner and biner on the head is sunk shaft first into the snow. The belayer then runs the rope from the climber through the biner to a hip belay to catch a fall. The belayer puts their foot on the ice ax head to keep it in the snow.

We did a number of these with the climber taking falls, on purpose, to practice stopping the fall.

Then is was Marlys' turn. Marlys weights about 95# and she was concerned with stopping a falling climber, which I don't think we had one that came in at less then 160#.

Marlys stopped three falls in a row, which showed that with the right moves she really had no problems.

The fourth one though went wrong as the ax had been worked loose a little due to the previous falls and this time it pulled out from under her boot and then went flying. It smacked her in the knee and the pick hit her arm putting a hole through her shell and shirt.

She of course went flying about 10 feet down the slope before stopping.

Everyone, heard the twang when it happened and we all rushed over to her. Taking a ice ax to the knee is painful (I imagine) and she was in in pain.

There was some discussion, during the debrief on what had happened as to whether the belayers foot should be on the ax head or on the runner in front of the ax.

The concern about crampons with their sharp edges was talked about.

Some research is needed.

After a few minutes though she was back up on her feet and ready for the afternoons task of climbing as a roped team.

Lucky.

The rope work in the afternoon happened in darkening, snowy and windy conditions.

We got to try out all of our new toys, but there is a need for Marlys and I to get more carabiners.

I asked one of the other folks how many is enough, and he said he would tell me when he got there.

There are so many types and uses it can be pretty confusing, but lite and strong can be driving factors.

As the day progressed the snow got heavier the wind blew harder and by the end we were a tired group.

The Family Room Ceiling Story Begins

Many of you know I have talked about lining the family room ceiling in beetle kill pine (blue-stained) for a number of years.

Well, its time has come. Yesterday after shopping a number of places (on-line), we bought 45 - 16' T&G beetle kill boards to start the project.

Let's see a 16' board will stick 6' beyond the tailgate of our pickup, so no problem, and we were off to Fountain.

For those of you who keep track of where I buy things you will be happy to know these came off of a Craigslist ad I spotted about a week ago.

Everything was loaded and the mandated red flag attached so we began the journey home.

I nervously watched the load for a few miles, but everything seemed OK. We even made a couple more stops in Florence and Canon before heading up the hill.

No problemo, made it to Autumn Creek.

Made it up the hill to the house to drop off groceries, but as I walked around the back of the truck I noticed THERE WAS NOTHING THERE! Where the hell had I dropped the load?

Shouting at Marlys to hurry up (am downplaying this just a little) we jumped back in the truck and started backtracking. There was $350 of wood laying out there somewhere. We are hoping that it wouldn't be back on CO Hwy 9 or US Hwy 50.

As we came to the first turn (last turn when coming to our place) there it was sitting in the middle of Autumn Creek Drive, still wrapped and flagged.

We it made all the way (~100 miles) except the last freaking turn.

I turned around and came back to reload it.

Of course I turned in a little too soon to get in front of it and drove over the edge of a bunch of boards. Did I mention this is tongue and grove, so the edges damage real easy.

We reloaded and I got it back to the shop. I couldn't, wouldn't look at it to survey the damage until today.

I need 39 board for the ceiling. I bought 45 to be safe. I screwed up 11. I am now either going to have to figure out a fix, or go back to Fountain and get some more.

Stay tuned, because I have an idea.

Tomorrow we are off to do alpine training with the SAR team at Monarch Ski area (closed for season, but getting 3-5 inches of snow tonight). We are going to work on our self-arrest technique, or lack there of, roped up hiking and climbing, and use of crampons. I am bringing a camera because it could be humorous.

Just another day

After the normal morning hike, and then some work in the shop on the Molesworth Chair, we began this years harvest of the rocks that have now appeared everywhere. A couple of rock walls were built.

Once we were gased (2:30pm) we sat on the patio, drank a couple of beers, ate some peanuts, listened to tunes and read until about 5pm.

As they say, we are living the dream.

Another FSAR Mission, another sad ending.

After our physical capabilities evaluation Saturday morning (3 miles in 45 minutes with 30 lbs packs), Marlys and I got called out Sunday morning at 7:30 am. Again, not a happy ending.

http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/pueblo-police-investigating-apparent-murder-suicide/

First Search and Rescue Mission Today

Marlys and I got a callout this afternoon. This was our first official mission. It did not have a happy ending.

http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/15-year-old-found-dead-near-skyline-drive/

Pat

The Great Horsy Roundup of 2011

Skiing was yesterday, today was back to reality if you can call 70 degrees with matching wind gusts reality on April 2.

After Marlys and I took our packs for a hike this morning, Herb (Puff the Magic Flashlight) asked me to help him repair some snow fence. I had not been up top in a couple of weeks and the damage from the late winter winds was amazing.

On an aside I have a theory that since we have had very little snow this year (under 2 feet) that the snow fence suffered greater damage since they did not have the support of the snow. Now I am sure that our less then stellar job of installation played a part, but the lack of snow reduced its stabilizing effect on the fence letting it flex more and ultimately breaking.

Back to our show--While fixing the fence Herb mentioned that the marauding (not my term, but probably what Bill the Horse Whisper would say) herd of "next to wild" horses were in his back 40 (actually 35) and maybe we could move them through a gate to the area where they should be. They had broken through a fence about a month ago and had been wandering the upper areas since then.

So as we were fixing the fence Puff's plan started to play out. He would get on the ATV and I in Derek's Jeep and pretend to be Cowboy's (I don't know, but Horseboy's lacks something) herding the devil horses (PWBWS - Probably what Bill would say) back through the gate.

As luck would have it Mike and Martha came by in their Ranger, as we were finishing up the fence and the roundup was on.

Out into the field, in a "spread finger formation (Air Force Fighter speak)" went Mike and Martha to the East, Herb (Puff) in the center and moi to the West. In the best modern cowboy form all of the four legged herding creatures (Dusty/Hallie) had been captured and put in to the back of the Jeep. And off we went.

Progress was slow put stead as these wylie critters gave the approaching wave the evil eye (a Bill-ism, as I would imagine it). As we crept forward (as much as you can in a Jeep, ATV and UTV) the herd suddenly broke and headed north...put to the wrong corner of the field, as the gate was in the west corner. Mike and Martha came in close and prepared to unleash the hounds, when the marauding beasts (again a Bill-ism) headed toward the west corner and the gate.

I being so caught up in watching suddenly realized I need to cut them off before they ran past the gate and we would need to start all over again. Cross country in Derek's Jeep was not like traveling down the interstate at 70mph, but the Jeep came through and we headed them off at the pass (actually the fence line) and through the gate the thundering herd ran.

The round up was over and had gone according to Puff's Plan. No longer would the marauding herd of devil beast (another Bill-ism) roam the area...at least until the next fence failure.

Last Day of Skiing for the Season

...maybe, forecast of a snow storm on Sunday and free skiing Monday at Monarch could change that statement. Marlys and I went to Monarch on Friday with a couple of folks from the Search and Rescue Team, I also has able to meet with the Mountain Operations Director about doing our April Training for the Alpine Team at the area once the season is over, which is April 10.

In checking the MAPMYHIKE stats for 1Q2011, Marlys and I have gone 150 miles (with packs). We hiked 29 times, so about once every 3 days (every 2.4 days if you remove the 3 weeks we were gone). Seems good, but next Saturday will tell, as the Search and Rescue Team is having a fitness evaluation session. The goal is 3 miles in 45 minutes carrying our 24 hour packs.

Whats going on.

Sorry that I haven't posted this month, Marlys and I were on the road for most of it, and I have been waiting to transfer pictures to the PC before updating, but that is still a few days away.

We went on the road with the camper for almost two weeks making a loop trough the SW. We seemed to be the only ones heading south, as many snowbirds were starting the trek back north.

One of the first stop was in Las Vegas where we stayed at a pretty swanky (for us) RV park. One of our stops while in Vegas was the Red Square bar/restaurant in Mandalay Bay.

We have been there three or four times over the last ten years or so, but this was the first time since Puff the Magic Flashlight introduced me to the wonders of vodka, so I was really looking forward to it. RS as you would imagine with its Russian name and decor is big into vodka, especially with the ice bar where coats are needed.

Although I only had two drinks it pretty much put me in the bag for the evening.

We also had an appetizer called Siberian Nachos, which were wontons covered in smoked salmon, wasbi and topped with caviar. Those that know me, know that I am not big on fin food, but this was good stuff. I highly recommend.

From LV we headed to Lake Havasu AZ to see the London Bridge. LH was just getting into spring break mode, but we saw the bridge, had morning coffee with the locals at Starbucks, then loaded up and headed to a place we visited last year Picacho State Park.

This year we stayed there for a couple of nights and again attempted to summit the peak (put from a different direction), but turned around after a few hours as this is a true "via ferrata (iron way or road with irons)" route and we were not prepared.

From there we headed to Tombstone and spent an afternoon walking around and taking in the history (one of Marlys' favorite pastimes). Interesting place.

Las Cruces and visiting Derek was the next stop. We picked him up and went over to Carlsbad Caverns and spent a couple of days fighting some incredible winds. Which always seemed to be blowing 90 degrees to the direction we were traveling.

If you haven't been to Carlsbad Caverns, put it on your list. We walked the natural entrance to the bottom (of the space visitors are allowed), took in the Big Room and spent about three hours on our self guided tour (sound wands).

This place is really awe inspiring especially when you think about Jim White first exploring (not discovering) it at age 16. We were there too early for the evening bat flight, but it was still pretty neat.

From CC we headed back to Las Cruces to drop Derek off and head for home.

We did though make a stop at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory - Very Large Array out in the middle of no-where New Mexico. You probably saw a number of pictures of this if you saw the movie "Contact". The scale of this place is both gigantic and not so much. When you see the layout and understand that it covers close to 20 miles, but the scale of each individual dish is only ( only?) about the size of a baseball diamond it is kind of a paradox. They seemed so much bigger in the movies. My big ah-ha was that they move them around to change their resolution. How they do it is what I would call big engineering.

We made it home just in time for another Search and Rescue Training session, which was actually a training for next months training session where we will be traveling roped up in conditions where we can practice self-arresting, setting snow pickets and ice screws for protection. This is starting to get pretty serious. Marlys in fact just bought a pair of plastic mountaineering boots and a climbing helmet that fits her without slipping down over her eyes.

We also found a stash of skis...for chairs. We heard that there was someone in Canon with hundreds of used skis. The directions to find him were pretty sketchy, but on Wednesday we drove around and actually found him. He had 400 pairs of late 80s - early 90s skis (think florescent colors). He would have liked to sell us all of them, but we only picked up 9 pairs. Chair production will need to get started again.

It will be in the 60s here for the next few days, so outside work is in the offing. I am going to try and improve our 100 square foot lawn with manure and seed before the forecast snow coming in on Sunday.

Till next time.

504 & 505

Marlys and I had our interviews before the Fremont County Search and Rescue Team Board of Directors on Tuesday night and were voted in as probationary members. They took our ID pictures and assigned us numbers 504(Pat) and 505(Marlys).

We will be in a probationary status for 12 months, but are available for call out in the event of a mission.

We now get to wear the blaze orange shirts, for which we were given official patches, which will be sewn on along with our names at Dress Code in Florence. Before that can happen Marlys needed some "adjustment" to hers, since the we could only find her a men's small size. Basically they can save the material, but have to remake the shirt.