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.

Yesterday's Avalanche Training - Adults Playing in Snow

Yesterday's avalanche training at Monarch Pass turned epic with 40" of snow in the last 72 hours, 24" in the last 24 hours, 20-30 mph winds, with gusts to 45 and 18 degree temperatures. Now you may think that this would be cause to re-schedule, but the thought is that we may be working in these types of condition, so we should train in them.

Leaving home it was had to believe what it would be like, since it was bright and the sun was out.

We stopped at Mac and Don's on the way to Monarch, and I had the opportunity to try out their new oatmeal breakfast, not sure if this really turned out to be an opportunity.

As many of you know I did a review of oatmeal's (Jamba, Starbucks, Caribou) a couple of years ago, and I thought this would be a great time to try the largest food retailer in the worlds offering.

In a nutshell, this is the worst excuse for oatmeal I have ever had. It was soupy(Actually, I have had thicker soups.) to the extreme with some cut up apples and berry's (I think). It is an embarrassment for MacDonald's to even think about serving this poor example (not sure it could even be considered an example) of oatmeal. It was thrown away.

So, Pat how did you really feel about MacDonald's Oatmeal.

In the five miles between Salida and Poncha Spring the world changed. The sky went overcast and the road was now snow covered. We began the slog up Hwy 50 to Monarch Pass.

This I suppose should have been expected with it being Saturday, and the prodigious snow fall in the previous days...everyone was out for fresh pow.

We had taken off earlier then the rest of the team because we needed to pick up an ice axe purchased off of craigslist in Salida.

Being the first ones at the pass we were the first to

get stuck in the parking area, since I could not see

anything and drove into a snow bank and had to dig out.

We were also the second to get stuck, since after digging us out, I backed into another snow bank.

By the time I dug out this time the others had shown up, and the my first error of the day became apparent.

It was snowing hard and I had not put on my waterproof coat while shoveling during the excursions into the various snow banks. I was now real wet. As we geared up I put on a gore tex pants and coat over the wet fleece I had been wearing. The wet underneath would turn to ice as the day progressed.

We hit the trail about 10am...wait there was no trail only unbroken snow.

We spent the morning breaking trail up the eastern side of the pass in the area of the summer chairlift.

Even in snowshoes with deep snow extensions on their tails, when breaking trail you would sink in to your thighs. If you weren't breaking trail it wasn't as bad. We did though trade off lead often, but it still made for a burn.

We were carrying 24 hour packs (everything needed to survive 24 hours in the current environment), which helped to add to the calorie burn, during the hike up the slope to the area we would use for training.

The folks down in the parking lot, who were going back-country skiing, wisely waited for us to make a trail that they could skin-up afterwards.

Marlys is turning into quite the little snow bunny.

Yes, Marlys is carrying a 24 hour pack and is using the snowshoes she got for Christmas about 10 years ago.

Although the last two avalanche training sessions we have used our gore tex lined backpacking boots, you need to keep moving to keep your feet warm. Note to selves: Get plastic mountaineering boots for next year.

Those of you who know Marlys, know she can get cold in 90 degree weather, if the sun goes behind a cloud, so you can really appreciate her ability to work in these conditions.

By this point our Camelbaks had frozen up, and that was the only liquid we had brought up. Marlys would solve this dilemma later, which saved our bacon, especially mine since I can dehydrate easily and quickly, leading to the dreaded stomach cramps and need to find a tree. Which I would end up having to do later in the day. This would mean undressing the lower half, wearing snowshoes, on a slope, in these conditions, it would be...uncomfortable. I now appreciate Marlys' hunt for women's clothing with a trapped door. If you know of any drop a line.

We got to a place that was fairly sheltered and packed it down to serve as an area to operate out of for the day. The skiers and boarders would stop and check in at this packed down area all day. There was even a chocolate Lab that couldn't seen to get enough of the snow each time it went by.

This didn't mean the hard work was over.

We now could get started on the avalanche training.

Last time (a month ago) we spent the time practicing with avalanche beacons, snow probes and shovels. This time we were going to do that again, adding in searches for victims without beacons.

A little soapbox time. Don't even think about going into the back-country without being equipped and knowing how to use an avalanche beacon. You and your skiing, boarding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling(largest group of victims) partners are the people who have a chance at saving a life...time is short when buried. We have watched a number of real-life avalanche rescue videos over the last two months and the chances of your partners finding and getting you unburied without a beacon is very low. Generally by the time a trained SAR Team can get there, it will more then likely be a body recovery versus a rescue.

The work of the morning began with the snow pits being dug to assess the different layers of snow for stability.

Two pits were dug in different locations. Both had to be dug to ground. Marlys' group chose correctly, as the Crusader said in the Indiana Jones movie.

Therefore, it could be surmised my group did not.

Our pit ended up being between 9-10 feet deep. This means moving a lot of snow...while wearing snowshoes...using little shovels...with short handles...with three full grown (maybe I am a little more then full grown-by girth) men doing this dance standing in a pit. I am amazed no one took a shovel hit.

Marlys and her group dug their pit on a open slop, They barely had to go Marlys deep (5') to hit ground.

After the pits are dug, a number of readings are taken; e.g. temperatures and gradients, snow crystals inspection (there is even this microscope type of gadget), credit card test for layer assessment etc.

Then we dug to create a block of snow for a slide test. Will the digging never stop.

This went pretty quickly.

We broke for a rest and some lunch...Marlys and I had frozen PB&J's.

Benny though showed us his premium three layer PB&J that he had learned needed to be made with PB on both sides of the center slice of bread to prevent soggy center slices.

It is amazing what we learn out here.

This is also where Marlys taught me how to drink out of a Camelbak with a frozen hose. She is amazing, and this did save my bacon (but not before the dreaded tree visit). Note to self, you either need to bring liquids in bottles or a long straw.

After this rest, standing around in the snow, with skiers going by asking what the pits were telling us, it was back to the snow pits.

The last test involved someone standing on top of the blocks we had dug out and stomping to see if and where the snow would slide.

Ours did at about the two foot level, but it took a bit of jumping to get it going. All-in-all pretty stable at this point on the mountain, at this time, etc (many qualifiers needed here).

Before Marlys and Samatha would collapse their pit they wanted to have a portrait of their work.

Theirs too collapsed, but it was pretty stable in their area.

And in keeping with "leave no trace". We got to put the snow that had been shoveled out of the pits...back into them. This went quicker.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing different rescue scenarios, running around in snowshoes up, down, across the slope looking for beaconed buried victims.

We ended the day with a two victim search, one with a beacon and one without. It took us 17 minutes to find and extract them both. I found the beacon-less victim (a buried backpack). I would like to say it was do to skill and experience, but.....

About 4pm we called it a day and headed to the Salida Cafe for some warm coffee, then home. It was a great day playing in the snow. I was a beat puppy, but Marlys was still her normal exuberant self.

I think our next alpine training is going to be on St. Mary's Glacier to work on self-arrests, roping up, belaying, etc. in the snow. We are on the look out for another ice axe and two pairs of crampons...hello craiglist/ebay.

Note: I mentioned all the qualifiers on the testing for avalanche conditions. Well yesterday there were two avalanches at Monarch Pass and one caught a skier, luckily a DOT crew saw his ski pole sticking out of the snow and got him out.

Strange Hawaiian Petroglyphs

What can I tell you, when you are walking lava covered beaches you tend to look down (so as not to face plant) and you can see things that can cause you to question your reality plane.

While walking a beach on the west side of Hawaii, in the Kona district we came upon a number of petroglyphs, actually rock engravings, but I don't know what those are called.

One of the first ones we came upon would/should be part of a "Chariots of the Gods" investigation for the History Channel, as it appeared to represent an alien being.

Not sure how old it may be, but as you can see it has Spook-like ears, an SNL cone-head cranium shape and if you look closely there are faint antenna like "My Favorite Martian".

I guess if I were visiting earth, why go to somewhere the weather is an issue , e.g. Minnesota in January. I too would land in Hawaii as I guess these extraterrestrials did sometime in the distany past.

The next rock engraving changed how I understood that spread of Christianity to the islands. I always understood it to be Catholic Missionaries in the 1800's.

This engraving would seem to indicate that the Lutherans made it here first, and far earlier then the 1800's, it is a rock engraving after all.

From the looks of it, it was probably the same Lutheran sect that now makes the little chrome plastic fish seen on many car bumpers.

We didn't find any with the minnows following so that must be a more recent addition.

The last engraving I found the most amazing. I always understood the initial discovers, from my small understanding of island history, to be the Polynesian tribes moving north from the South Pacific islands to lay claim to the Hawaiian Islands.

This engraving would indicate that another tribe made it here also, namely the Martini's. I felt proud of this since, I to partake in one of there current daily worship sessions called "Happy Hour".

I think this also proves that the sacred drink should always be drank "up" and with an "olive", although I am not sure where they got olives on the islands, but may indicate the Martini Tribe developed in the Mediterranean area.

Winter Encampment 2011 & Dash - Kona

The end of January the retirement roadshow moved from Colorado to Kona, HI, for a week.

The warm, humid weather we faced getting off the plane was in sharp contrast to the day before, where we were doing on-mountain avalanche training at Monarch Pass.

The objective for the trip was to do a shorter version of the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. In our case it was going to be from the south side of the island, to the north end. We had the whole week to accomplish the feat.

We started the event by first provisioning at Costco, which was made easier by our traveling companions, Bill and Cathy from Buurmidji, MN. Cathy brought this amazing clown car of a suitcase that she kept pulling things out of from food to coolers.

Also they had the Costco membership.

On the way to provision we also rolled into Aloha Woods, where I picked up some Chocolate Heart, Koa and Macadamian wood to feed my current OCD phase around bottle openers. This of course required the purchase of another suitcase to get the lumber back to Colorado.

After the torture of provisioning, we could not start the Dash. We spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool and since we didn't want to start in the dark, the start time of the Dash was put off until the next day.

Our starting point for the Dash would be South Point, the most southerly spot in the U.S.A. After a bright and early start (we were still on Central and Mountain Time), we got there a little before 11AM for the official start. There were no starting flags or cannon shots, since we were going low key to avoid attracting the attention of anyone wishing to derail our attempt at the establishing the Big Island Dash record.

We simple took a picture.

Then the team, with the clock now ticking, decided a hike to a noted Green Sand Beach was in order. We anticipated doing this pretty quickly, so it shouldn't hurt our overall time too much...and what the heck we were here, it was here, so why not.

About four hours later we made it back to the car. The beach turned out to be a 6.39 mile round trip hike on volcanic rocks and sand. It always seemed to be over the next ridge.

We jumped back into the magical Mazda and off we went. Actually, we kinda slumped into the car and decided to have a picnic lunch in the AC it provided. But by mid-afternoon we were on our way north.

Late afternoon brought us back to the Kona area and we had gone about 60 miles in a couple of hours. Long, traffic free stretches of road on which to open up the Magic Mazda did not seem to be happening. We decided to call it a day, and retire to the condo instead of continuing in the dark and possibly hitting a wild goat or donkey, on what we anticipated to be a fast transit across the lava field north of Kailua.

After waking the next day, and realizing we may have over done it yesterday, we decided to take a Bye Day (just like the NFL) and went to a beach that Bill-Our-Leader had picked out. It would also allow us to scout the area just north of Kona for the next leg of the Dash.

Our overall elapse time was suffering a little bit as we were now 48 hours into the Dash and only covered about 60 miles, but it was felt we could make it up at the end.

The pressure of the Dash was starting to weight on the team. In order to put us in the right frame of mind we went on a tour and beer tasting at Kona Brewing. This went well! We were especially fascinated by their rodent control management system, which seemed to be everywhere at once. Here in Colorado we would have used a cat, but they had a real machine, an Indian Mongoose running around. I have since looked into getting a breeding pair for Pinon Rock, but alas they cannot be brought into the US (Other then zoos) as they can be detrimental to cat union, and tend to decimate the local critter populations.

We awoke the next day with only thoughts of getting back into the running on the Dash...you betcha. No, the team decided after a day soaking in the sun and tasting the local barley pops, another rest day was in order.

Even the NFL teams take a whole week, so what would another day mean in the scope of things.

We went looking for volcano's and beaches with different color sands and since we knew the way south we ended up backtracking the only progress made so far on the Dash...back to South Point and points east.

We did though scout an alternative route on the way back, through Hilo and the Saddleback for our return once we make to the North Headlands of the island, but it too proved for naught.

At the end of this bushwhacking through Hilo rush hour, road construction and the abdication of our leader (Bill), we decided to re-group back at the condo. The lack of a clear leader and chain of command would prove to be challenging in the days ahead.

We were now 72 hours into the dash and have gone only 60 net miles, an average of only .833 miles per hour. The team knew we were way off the bubble, but hey tomorrow is another day.

After the trials and tribulations of the day before the now leader-less team decided another day at the beach was order. We took another rest day to contemplate...well things.

For those keeping score at home we were now 96 hours into the Dash, and made only 60 miles toward our goal...boy, do we suck at this Dash thing.

So here we are with only two days left to complete the journey and what does the leader-less team decide to do...you got it, lets take another rest day to recharge for what would be our final push to gain the finish before getting back to the airport on Sunday night for the red-eyes home.

As the team seems want to do on rest days...we went to the beach. Here we discovered some unusual petroglyph's that will be covered in a subsequent post, due to their importance.

Score: 120 hours - 60 miles.

So it is now our last day on the island, the team hit the road bright and early, at the crack of noon.

Our travel up the previous scouted route (it has now been scouted 3 times, while on the way to our favorite beach) went uneventfully, right up to the point a detour to Waimea was decided upon by the leader-less team. And a stop for lunch. And to watch the first quarter of the Superbowl. This detour cost us the most direct route to the finish line, we now had to transit an up-mountain area to get back on course.

I won't keep you in suspense, we did make it to the finish line, as this picture of the headlands can attest. It was a journey with many different turns to it, especially since we were leader-less.

The final finishing time was just under 144 hours to cover approximated 120 net miles for an average speed of .833 MPH. We never made up our time deficit from the first day, but the team endeavored to finish no matter the obstacle.

We were able to limp back to the airport with our heads held high...we had finished!

On to the next adventure.

How to make climbing a 14er pay...kinda.

Read all of the way to the end - Duluth Trading.

Another Bottle Opener & Updates

OK, its been a while, but we've been busy...bla-bla, bla bla bla.

Since the dresser, I have only been making bottle openers. This one is made of Padauk and is going to a neighbor that made be a couple of knobs for some planes in need of new ones.

I have a couple of ideas for future ones and will keep you informed. I would like to dye a tiger maple one next time.

Marlys and I had a number of folks stop by at the turn of year on their way either to or from the southwest. They couldn't have picked a nicer winter (so far) for coming by since it has been comparatively warm and we have had little snow (La Nina) in the area.

Derek also spent most of the month of December with us, which is probably the most he has been home since going off to college in 2006. He had a happy surprise when he got back to NMSU in January, in that they informed him that he would now be a full Teaching Assistant(read more money, real good news for Mom and Dad), and would now be teaching three classes.

Beyond that Marlys and I have been going to training given by the local Search and Rescue Team (since October actually), which maybe we will get voted on to someday. The training alone though has been invaluable; so far we have worked on high and low angle evacuations, medical triage and limb splinting, participated in a mock mission, had a introduction to avalanche beacon usage and search techniques, completed our initial FEMA Incident Command System classes (online via the Emergency Management Institute) and map reading.

Next week, we are going up to Monarch Pass for on-snow avalanche training (day before we head for Hawaii) and next month additional classroom and field map training.

As I mentioned the training the folks on the SAR Team have given us has been great, and we will use it, because we are going to try and go up one 14er a week this summer, when we are around and conditions permit. We have added Antero, Shavano/Tabeguache, Belford and Oxford to the list.

Wooden Church Key, i.e. bottle opener

No its not a sap, its a bottle opener.

The original idea came from a blog post: http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/New+Contest+Build+A+Woodworkers+Bottle+Opener.aspx , but I kinda went in a different direction.

This is made from some scrap tiger maple laying around the shop. I took me a couple of hours to make.

There is a magnet in the top to grab the cap off the bottle when it comes off.

Notice that there is a finger recess in the top to direct the index finger when operating.

I used a couple of stainless steel screws, which have been inserted into a critical depth to assure ease of use.

It was a fun afternoon project. I gave this one to Derek, in his sock for Christmas, so at least one or two more will be needed for use around here.

Moving the behemoth

It sat in the shop for a month. Today it went up to the house.

First it needed to lighten it up, so two people could lift it.

Out came the drawers...all 14 of them.

Off came the back.

And finally the top was removed.

We unceremoniously strapped it onto the ATV, so it could be taken around to the back porch, reducing the steps needed to be climbed and straightened the path through the house.

The entire move turned out to be less epic then I expected and after 30 minutes, or so we had it in place.

After Marlys was done reloading her stuff, I too had space for my stuff...the lower right hand drawer.

Finally its done.

Marlys' dresser is now done, but the challenge is going to be getting it up into the bedroom. I bet that even with the top and drawers removed this is a 150-200# lift.

For those wondering the drawer knobs are paduek.

Finished with a coat of Sealcoat (shellac) sanding sealer, and multiple coats of satin BLO/Tung/Poly.