half full

Contrast

2012-01-14T20:42:00.001-08:00

HAD to share this! A picture from Dad's trip up the Amazon. He called as he approached the equator and was counting down the minutes of a degree as he approached zero. He's heading south into summer, now. Finally snowing in ernest here.

Star and Stripes

2011-12-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

With the help of my lovely bride and a lot of rope, the old star has been hoisted over its third home and is lighting another night.

Two Seasons Missed

2011-12-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

Plumiform frost always catches my attention.

This at first light was so stunning I needed to share. Appears it has been two seasons since I've had the time to share. It isn't for lack of beautiful days; mostly just working hard, playing hard. Summer and fall were wonderful.

Our first outing to the mountains last weekend was blessed with sun, beautiful snow, and great skiing. The atmosphere was in a mighty inversion, valleys were cold and the mountain tops were warm. But the full moon I was expecting to light the drive, wasn't full. It had been full at sunset, then was half-full the next morning when we were loading into the car. The eclipse of the moon continued to totality as we drove across frosted N. Idaho. The small valleys with streams were dense with ground-fog illuminated from above by the warm orange light of the darkened moon, until the sun rose on a new season.

Sweden: III

2011-05-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

Last long walk in Kalmar

Sweden: II

2011-05-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Kalmar by foot

Hawking

2011-05-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Stephen Hawking recently said:

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

I'm grateful for him. He calls it like he see it, and I see it the same way. There is nothing wrong with a reality based existence and atheists shouldn't have to feel the need to keep that to themselves for fear of offending someone who believes in space ghosts.

Sweden

2011-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

Orchids and Sedums and Trebuchets, OH MY!

Kalmar (AKA home this week)

Site first occupied around 100 AD

Traction Trebuchet

Miniature Plants of the Alvar Plain

A dry place with fossiliferous limestone, a very short growing season

shallow soil

and tiny Orchids

and other tiny flowers, too. Found a geranium 2mm across in full bloom.

Stockholm

No Surer Sign of Spring

2011-04-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

More Brownwater Adventures

2011-04-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

Science Geek Video Share (SGVS)

2011-04-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

You have to be a geek to like these:

Ion Torrent apple/pc spoof

Ambry got an Ion Torrent

I like them, therefore I'm a geek.

If you watched those and liked them, then you have probably already seen this:

Bad Project Lady Gaga

Just for the fun of it

2011-03-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Brownwater Adventures

Nice mornin' fer a float, aye matey?

Consider the south fork of the Palouse River, bagged and tagged.

That's the best boat dog ever made.

Highlights: Finally running "the falls" at Reaney park and the Grange. Two portages on a five hour tour from the Pullman movie theaters to Parvin. One at an illegal fence (if you count hanging a 5ft metal fence all the way across a river hung by 10 or so 3/8" cables from the county road bridge guard rail with a bunch of wood snagged in it as an illegal fence). To make it interesting, it is at a pretty swift and deep place to try a pull out. Only side left has a place to stand big enough to pass the boats over the fence. Once step from shore has no bottom. The second is at a huge log jam on a railroad trestle above Albion from the previous flooding. Lots of trees and log jams you could just squeak by. Great wildlife day; including Beavers, Otters, Muskrat, Mink, Night Heron. Riley needing to be on the lead boat.

Melt

2011-03-12T21:10:00.000-08:00

5 for Friday

2011-02-03T21:40:00.001-08:00

Finally,,

2011-01-26T23:08:00.000-08:00

,, got the last of my crap out of my old office.

Found a note I left on my desk one sunny day.

What a bunch a lunatics. I can ID the whole list of "modifiers" by handwriting.

Thanks for the memories.

Reason #4532 why jail sucks

2010-12-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

You can spend three days shoveling the snow from an entire stadium,

but you still don't get to stay and watch the game.

Sign

2010-11-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Good hunters notice sign. Sometimes we pick it up to find it is still warm. But sign comes in many forms and not all of it is subtle

A damn good sign close to your elk camp

Sign of a damn big bear

Sign of a damn big bull

Sign of a damn big lion

Just a damn funny sign

Season of the Shroom

2010-11-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

One of the great advantages of moving slowly and quietly through the Fall woods for most of a week is that it gives a fellow time to enjoy the mycology

Elk Camp

2010-10-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

When Clyde drew a coveted tag this spring and asked if I would go in with him, there was no hesitation. Yes. We hauled in a back-country camp on our backs in the rain yesterday. Dad came along for the hike. It was a stormy day high on a wild, windswept ridge and he couldn't resist the adventure of it all. Tent, water, stove, fuel and some food are ready for next weekend. Saw some big bulls and a beautiful jet-black bear. We're camped on the top of the world, next to some of the best elk habitat in the neighborhood. It's beautifully rough county. I'm glad there are horses on stand-by if we get lucky, because there are some damn awful places in there to put that much meat on the ground.

Give a boy a glue gun,,

2010-10-01T06:30:00.001-07:00

and alien robots will come down to invade earth.

The creative force is strong with this one, Luke.

Fall is getting off to a very good start!

2010-09-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Already?!?

2010-08-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

Summer is over already!?!

The list of things I wanted to do this summer was way longer than the list of things that got done, but I guess that is par for life on earth.

Life seems to be about balance:

Did some camping
Didn't do any backpacking

Did float the GR and the Snake
Didn't float the Salmon

Did play at the cabins of three different friends
Didn't get to the ocean

Did get pulled in a tube by a boat
Didn't wet a water ski.

Did some fly fishing
Didn't bring my fly rod home in the same number of pieces

Did have some great evenings paddling w/ my lover
Didn't get to linger anywhere for very long

Did get each boat out at least twice
Didn't get the ropes out once.

Best quote of the summer: "There must be a metric shitload of fish in this river"

Steelhead are coming, I have my elk tag and a very special deer tag in hand, but the bird dog is fat.

The glory of September can linger deep into October, and we are already talking about skiing around here.

2 in 1 for Tuesday

2010-07-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

Two afternoon trips to water in one weekend is what summer should hold.

On Saturday Ben and I got some elevation and did an afternoon of lake fishing.

Then on Sunday the whole family headed down to the dunes just to soak up some sun and splash around.

West Slope Cutthroat

2010-07-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Pursuing Salmo clarki lewisi in small headwaters with a fly rod is fantastic fun.

Add plenty of shooting stars and other wildflowers at waters edge for aesthetics, toss in some good company and you have yourself a recipe for a wonderful day. Thanks, Joe!

John Stuart Mill

2010-07-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

"A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. "

"The principle itself of dogmatic religion, dogmatic morality, dogmatic philosophy, is what requires to be rooted out; not any particular manifestation of that principle."

"In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time."

"The object of this Essay is to explain as clearly as I am able grounds of an opinion which I have held from the very earliest period when I had formed any opinions at all on social political matters, and which, instead of being weakened or modified, has been constantly growing stronger by the progress, reflection and the experience of life. That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes — the legal subordination of one sex to the other — is wrong itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other. "

"I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it."

Sunday came early

2010-06-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Father's day is whatever day looks like better weather.

Today marks the second time Claire and I have stayed up late hunting worms by flashlight and stored them in an old sour cream container in the fridge until morning, only to find that when we get to the river the next day, the container is actually filled with sour cream. No shit, I've done it twice! To make it two for two, we lost a stringer of fish that came untied for my second bonehead encore. Your Papa is an idiot, get used to it, senility is coming soon.

We saw frogs, ducklings, tanagers, buntings, grosbeaks, herons, etc. etc. and had a wonderful day paddling around and setting hooks.

2 for Tuesday

2010-06-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

Today's 2fer is: Jobs done well

Kick @ss read length

Kick @ss stairs

Too fer Tuesday

2010-06-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

Having Claire at 5th grade camp was TOO cool

I can never have TOO many days on the river

Summer flowers are starting to show up, TOO.

2 fer one

2010-04-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

1 Photo, 2 Ways; to get building materials up canyon.

Page #244

2010-03-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Give it a click/read and see if you agree it is a page that can stand-alone.

2 fer Tuesday; SMILES

2010-03-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

It is starting to look a lot like springtime

2010-03-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

2 fer Tuesday, Tree Houses

2010-03-01T23:59:00.000-08:00

We've come to call the new place The Tree House. Our lot is so steep and treed that when you are in the main room, as you can see, it feels like you are looking out a tree house window.

Of course the kids wanted one of their own, and of course I am obliging.

2 fer Tuesday

2010-02-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

The old CB125s has been playing the role of a darling little city commuter. It even found a 500/four that is about the same age to hang-out with in the parking garage.

2 fer Tuesday

2010-02-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Homelands:

Her in her's

Her in mine

These two of my gal are from what seems like a very long time ago,, or was it yesterday?

Today is Fat Tuesday after all, the climax of the party, and the first is KW in her homeland: Louisiana for Mardi Gras in all it's wonder. Her peeps believe you should go into Lent with a hangover.

The other is at the top of Blackcomb, looking down at Whistler, BC. A bit of a stretch to call it my homeland, but it is a damn pretty place to have the Olympics.

2 fer Tuesday

2010-02-08T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today's 2fer is NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES!

If you haven't had a few maybe you don't know how great they can be. I'm a big fan of them for helping you get all your little problems into better perspective. They can sure add some spice to a day and make it memorable.

I took this picture the day after my first wedding anniversary. We were heading to Texas for Christmas with the in-laws, but just south of Boise were intercepted by a flying Camero piloted by a drunk driver. We were still a bit sore from being hit the previous day, but we went to the junk yard to get the last of our things out of the truck. I've never been very tolerant of drunk drivers and this sealed the deal for me. Kristi didn't want to get in a car on our anniversary for many years to follow.

Donald Reed was awarded one of these and got a nice check for his actions on tax day '89 when our small boat breached in a sudden squall on the Snake River, 85 years to the day after the award fund was established. You can search the Carnegie Hero Fund site with his name for details of the day. Thanks to Google's news archives search, I was able to dig up two of the old newspaper articles as well. Here is the article in the local paper a couple days later, and another one on the first page when Don won the hero award. Deeper in the same paper I found the rest of the award article.

2 fer Tuesday, by Chris S.

2010-02-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

I'll jokingly insult his dog's haircut, his choice of comfy shoes, but never his boat handling or fish sense. If I ever say I'm too busy to fish with him, please feel free to call me an idiot.

2 fer Tuesday, by David Quammen

2010-01-26T00:15:00.000-08:00

This photo greeted me at the mailbox one day on the cover of my National Geographic Magazine. Of course I shuddered, said "WHAT?" aloud and quickly thumbed to the article to find almost a whole page devoted to the word "NO".

What followed is one of the best written common language descriptions of the fundamentals of evolution I've ever read. I think it should be a must read for everyone alive. The article can be found at:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/feature1/

Also by this same talented science writer, was an article in Harper's that was so thought provoking that it has never left me. The article was titled Planet of Weeds and it painted a picture of the future world dominated by species that are widely adaptable and weedy. Pandas are too specialized and unable to adapt to be weedy or ever more widely populated. Russian Thistle and Starlings thrive on disturbance and can live almost anywhere, so they are more likely to see the future than something that only lives in undisturbed forest.

The author then holds up the mirror and defines us as the consummate weed. It is hard to argue otherwise. We can live from the arctic to the tropics, the rain forest to the desert, and we do a pretty good job of sequestering resources. Yup,,, we are the best weeds of all.

Harper's isn't as generous as National Geo., and you gotta subscribe to read ten year old magazine articles online {insert= eye roll}, but here is an excerpt:

Do you see Homo sapiens as a likely survivor, I ask him or as a casualty? "Oh, we've got to be one of the most bomb-proof species on the planet," he says. "We're geographically widespread, we have a pretty remarkable reproductive rate, we're incredibly good at co-opting and monopolizing resources..."

I did find the full text posted as some kind of eco-sermon at this "interesting" site: http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/e-sermons/weedplan.html

2 fer Tuesday

2010-01-19T11:55:00.001-08:00

It seems wrong to post pictures of frost patterns on a 50 degree January day, but this is what it is supposed to look like this time of year. NOT COMPLAINING! The weather was great for moving. The phone, internet and TV are on and I am loving broadband,,, it's good to be back in town! The city even hires people to keep the water pumps running. Man,, that is handy and it sure beats filing contacts in a blizzard.

2 fer Tuesday

2010-01-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

Sunrise on life's next chapter

It's good to be home, again!

We are both so grateful today for friends. Thanks for all the help everybody.

Eyes Wide Open

2010-01-07T23:18:00.000-08:00

I have been the recipient of a generous bequest and honor.
While packing up her room Claire decided these two rocks from her collection of favorite rocks should join my collection of favorite rocks.

Why I picked up this one and gave it to my small daughter is self-evident. It's the only really good naturally occurring smiley face I've ever found ;-)

Potato rock,,, ahh I remember this one well. "Hey, that rock looks just like a potato."
It appears to be a run-of-the-mill agate from a basalt vug. (sp? yeah,, blogger doesn't have that one in it's spell check dictionary) It could have some nice depositional layers or even be opalized but we think it is best kept as a vegetable look-alike instead of whacked open with a hammer.
We also think that when you discover a new rock type you should be able to name it. This has been labeled as the type specimen of spudite.

2 fer Tuesday

2010-01-05T06:57:00.000-08:00

A bit of hydraulic pressure built up against the basement wall during that last rain. I enjoy taking pictures of life's solvent and find myself drawn to it. Maybe that explains the three boats in the barn.

010110

2010-01-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

Wishing my two favorite computer geeks a very binary anniversary! Thanks for bringing DOS 1.1 into the house, Mom! Hope you both have a great day.

2 fer Tuesday

2009-12-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hello Winter

2009-12-22T22:50:00.000-08:00

and good-bye to Fall, the best season of all.

For me it was an autumn to remember

Two casts

Nice day, Babe!

Nice night, Babe!

My son watched my dad ride his dad's motorcycle, with big smiles all around

Nice shot, Clyde.

The noisiest place I've ever set up shop. It also has the best company.

Nets are for sissies, we don't need one.

Again. Nice shot, Clyde.

Nothing beats fighting a fish down a rapid. Brace yourself, we're going on a ride

A lucky criminal in a generous relocation program

C'mon, smile! Fall doesn't last all year.

Discoveries and Mysteries

2009-12-16T05:05:00.001-08:00

Gotta love a good discovery. It appears these have moved with me at least 10 times. 120 roll film,, wonder if anyone around here still develops these, wonder if anyone remembers what a contact sheet is, wonder how the chemistry is holding up, wonder how much stray light has made it to the edges, wonder if it really is from the Mt. St. Helens eruption, wonder what else I was taking pictures of in the early 80s with Grandpa's old twin lens reflex Rolleicord.

I suspect the anticipation and expectation will be better than the pictures, but that is the essence of a mystery, isn't it?

Water and Rock

2009-12-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

I am guilty of giving a sh*t about desktop background pictures. Would never have guessed that about myself, but the truth hurts sometimes. It is nice to see a pretty picture every now and then. The picture has to be interesting but without too much detail to swamp out the icons or make them hard to find, maybe even a little bland on the left where I like my stuff. An interesting yet subtle texture really works. Sometimes I take pictures knowing that they would make a great background. Here are a few of my pictures that I think are brilliant for the task. I left the files pretty big because I like good pictures. Njoy.

Winter Took Me to Spring

2009-11-13T18:11:00.001-08:00

Besides the snowman, the sled and the flying snowballs, the absence of color struck me today. The snow reminded me that the last time I made a snowball, I was in east Germany. Those two ideas combined in my mind and the orchids of Jena precipitated out. Can't think of a better day to share these reminders of more colorful spring days to come.

Goodbye Farm

2009-11-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry to have to break this news to all the folks who love coming to Uncle Mark's house. We are looking for a new place to live. Things have changed on the farm and it just isn't home anymore. Not having to spend so much of my life caring for this old place feels more like a relief than a loss. One door closes, another opens. I'm sure the next chapter will be just as fun and exciting as this one has been. We've spent 18 years way the heck out in the country, and we were hardy enough to enjoy it all. What a great experience. I'm glad to have had the chance to share it with so many people. Cheers to the memories!

This is making me laugh today

2009-11-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

Lost Species Found

2009-10-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Our house is in the middle of a massive rearrangement. Remember that refining a while back, well we are pretty much refining the whole damn place. But the work comes to a complete stop sometimes depending on my mood and what is found. I completely read the diary I tried to keep one year in Junior High School, I refolded an unruly stack of maps, and I found the lost Louisiana Beauty, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Well,, at least the only pictures I have of it.

Moving my books around I came upon my 1932 The Book of Birds. Buried deep in volume II is the story of the expedition to record the voice and capture the first pictures of that elusive and soon to be extinct, red crested, yellow eyed and sharply demarcated black and white woodpecker. It tells of mules hauling carts miles through the swamp, setting up the best listening equipment, optics and cameras of the day, and sleeping on a pile of palmetto leaves in the swamp. Sounds like it was a rousing good adventure: wish I was there. Anyone got a time machine and want to go back to that swamp with me? I can't think of a better reason to slap mosquitoes for a few weeks.

I didn't miss noticing that in 1932 the Pileated, now North America's largest living woodpecker, was notably taking second place. I saved the captions because the whole book is written this well, and it seemed a shame to crop them.

Of all the numbers,,,

2009-10-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

this is the one chosen to be "firm" about?!?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what is for sale.

Flight of the Blue Aphids

2009-10-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

We call them blue fairies and they really are about as pretty as an aphid can get. The flight occurs on calm sunny days after the first frost. They usually only fly for a day or two, but when they do it is impressive. Maybe not worth a special trip to see, but quite a spectacle. Even the local radio people can't stop talking about them. Then the last orgy of summer is over and we know winter will soon follow.

Too Many Good Titles to Pick Just One

2009-10-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Three Peas and a Pod

Alone in a Crowd

Odd Man Out

Which one is not like the others

Where's Waldo?

Three blind mice and a minister go into a bar

Peter, Paul n Mary and Some Guy

What the f*ck is that? You aren't going to eat that are you?

Doug and the Thugs

Three points define a plane. Four points just make a plane and a point

I can count it as a keeper, I kept it

What did the Whitefish say to the Steelhead? Let's get smoked

Something Smells Fishy Here

Consolation Deer

2009-10-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

Not the prettiest deer picture, day of hunting or kill. Blew a shot at the best mule deer I ever got to pull a trigger on to start the day. I had just climbed a ways and didn't wait for my heart rate to slow even though I had all the time in the world. Made a rushed shot and a clean miss at 75yrds. Later in the day I blew two more chances with clean misses probably for the same stupid reasons. I was walking back to the truck with my tail between my legs when this guy committed suicide by just about letting me step on him. Thank you kind hunting Gods for the consolation deer, not sure I deserved him. Here are a couple more pics from the day and the next day trying to find where the elk went. Had a truly great weekend, if you don't count all my awful shooting. Thanks Bob!

Are you eating?

2009-09-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

The natural world never ceases to amaze me. If you keep your eyes open you often see something new. Last year was the first time I noticed that once and a while when I shot a grasshopper with a BB a parasitic worm emerged.

This year I vowed to collect a few and take them to my favorite old entomologist. I was only able to get worms out of females with well developed eggs at the rate of about 20% for the hoppers on the ground and approaching 100% of the hoppers that act slow and have assumed a high position on my raspberries.

These five worms are out of one grasshopper!

Here is their super cool story. They are called nematomorphs or thread worms. This is the larval stage. The adults are aquatic worms that mate and lay huge numbers of eggs that hatch into tiny larva that are eaten by aquatic insects. They immediately encyst themselves and wait for the aquatic insect to metamorphose into something with wings. The encysted worm gets a free winged ride to land. Hoppers are omnivores and eat pretty much anything, including dead insects with larval worm cysts which once ingested start growing inside the hopper. This larval stage is the only stage that eats, yet they have no mouth, no anus, no digestive system at all, and no circulatory or respiratory system, either. They simply absorb everything they need. But here is the cool part. These worms know how to affect grasshopper behavior! They need to get back to water to become adults, mate and lay eggs. They get the hoppers to commit suicide by throwing themselves into water to drown. The worms emerge, turn into adults and the cycle starts over. If you see a dead hopper in your cat or dog's water dish, look for worms. I did see, I did look, and I did find. How's that for a little knowledge going a long way to open my eyes?

My old entomologist told me that it is damn near impossible to identify species from the larva, you have to put them in water and let them turn into adults so you can tell them apart. Guess I have to wait to find out. But I better get a few more. I'm headed into the garden tomorrow armed with a BB gun, some tweezers and a glass of water. Wish me luck.

Palouse Moose!

2009-09-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Getting to see a moose in a wheat field doesn't come around every year, but I'm guessing it is about number 6 for us. As we loaded into the truck this morning for school, straight ahead on the horizon in Robert's field, silhouetted by morning light was the unmistakable frame of a moose. I pointed, yelled moose and ran inside to grab the binoculars. Of course Ben thought we were about to be attacked by a herd of rampaging moose; poor guy got a pretty good adrenaline surge.

Young bulls are wanderers and go looking for new territory when mom kicks 'em out. Sometimes they go farther west than they should. West of here doesn't hold much moose habitat, so he will probably wander back into Idaho or north to the Turnbull eventually.

We saw one swimming down the Clearwater once, it emerged from the water and started running down the bike path towards Lewiston. Bet he had an interesting day.

Warning Signs of the Times

2009-09-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

These are from the Happy Mutant Handbook by Riverhead books. I've posted these warnings on our various labs over the years. I needed to refresh some and went through the trouble of scanning them to print at home so I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Refinement

2009-09-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Everything seems to benefit from a bit of refining. People, protocols, techniques, strategies, kitchens, all improve from a tweeking aimed at being a little better and more efficient. One of the joys of my marriage is always working to make it better. We've always worked well together, and worked together well. As life changes we even find the need to reshuffled the furniture into new optimal locations occasionally. Everything can always be rethought. But sometimes you have to stand back and say, yup that's it, that's good.

I'm done tuning the slingshot. It is freaking perfect. If you are in the neighborhood, come give it a pull. It will make you smile too, and it's a good whole body workout. Way better than going to a gym.

Hugh Jass

2009-09-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

Caught a bit of whimsy Saturday night after a long hard days work in the garden and built this Hugh Jass slingshot. It is made all out of Yew wood that was stripped of it's bark in an Idaho forest to make the anti-cancer drug, Taxol. When the 5K year old Ice Man mummy thawed out of the glacier on the border between Austria and Italy in the early 1990s he had with him a Copper ax with a Yew wood handle and an unfinished Yew wood bow. It was the right wood for this task too. She hucks a wormy apple a lot farther than I can!

FYI I just happen to know Hugh Jass' Safeway Club Card info if you ever shop at Safeway and want to chuckle. His phone number is 509.397.1234 (he lives at 666 Church street in Colfaxberg). Use the phone number and you'll get a receipt that says Hugh Jass and you might get the pleasure of having someone say, "Have a nice day Mr./Mrs. Jass"

Once a checker commented on the phone number saying, "That is an easy one to remember." To which I replied, "You don't think I'm going to give you my real phone number just for the sale price do ya?" When the number worked the checker said, "well it must be somebodies phone number Mr. Jass." Guess I should have said, "I'm not giving you my real name just for the sale price, either."

Kristi used it at a Safeway in Lewiston once and got a shocked look from the night manager, who whipped out his own Safeway Club Card receipt and you know whose name was on it? Hugh Jass! Nice to know there are other happy mutants out here. Ain't life grand?

Justin Case

2009-09-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

Just in case you thought we were overplaying the "plague card" when discussing the number of hoppers on the Box 4 Ranch this year,,, I offer more photographic evidence.

graffiti

2009-08-27T01:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, I encourage children to help me take pictures of weird things,, and while we were in Europe I took quite a few pictures of the graffiti which was pretty much everywhere in the old east. "Kill Maim Burn" is at a monument where we would do some urban rock climbing. It was on the hilltop in the neighborhood park right across the street, and what is written in the stone translates roughly to "the war dead implore peace"; so it has a different tone than, "kill maim burn". There were also some pretty talented stencil artists around town.

This was one of Kristi's favorites in Jena. better run nazi scum. It took me a while to see the anime eyes

No, Ben did not carve his name in a spanish cactus, but he did get a charge out of seeing his name. I think this counts as graffiti.

Czech for "We passed in a dream"

I still haven't done the research on this place, but there are a couple recent times in east German history when Ha Ha game over is appropriate and unser freude eure toter means:

Our joy your dead

Loved these guys

These two go good together

This was real vandalism, broken glass and all, that showed up one day on our bank.

Things I've lost at home

2009-08-22T12:55:00.001-07:00

Remember that 19 hour 100Km German walk I took a while back? Truth be told I spent most of the following week in bed, it took three weeks for the painful inflammation on the backside of my patellas to wane, and I'm still having some fallout from that long hike, or better said,, fall-off. On the bright side I still have 4 toe nails, which is close to a half-full set, but I'm not 100% sure I get to keep the one on that left pinky toe. 3/10 isn't at all close to half-full, and is instead a lot closer to just weird looking feet.

Things I've found at home

2009-08-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Like the old world, the new world has it's own charm.
Europe didn't have any equivalents of these for me:

My own private Snake River (where you can catch more bass than you can count)

The Oregon coast (where you can drive on the beach for miles with truckloads of cousins)

Humming birds (and I should add a recent super close encounter with a Peregrine Falcon)

A garden full of grasshoppers (Also known as targets. I need to go buy a few thousand more BBs and continue to do my part to protect the local new world plant life!)

Thigmotaxis

2009-07-24T07:17:00.001-07:00

Thigmotaxis is when an organism moves towards physical contact. Many simple organisms have evolved this behavior for protection and it is commonly called crevice-seeking. Sometimes if you are small and tasty, your little brain tells you that feeling pressure from all sides is good and safe. Cockroaches are the most famously thigmotactic thing around, but my nemesis, Forficula auricularia or the common earwig, causes me the most grief.

This fellow was enjoying the physical contact of,, you guessed it,, contacts! Electrical contacts that are needed for us to enjoy having water. This is not the safest crevice to seek and not one I would advise for anyone conductive. This kind of trouble usually doesn't get really going until fall when the little bastards are trying to find a crevice to overwinter, but this year, they are getting an early start. Two fried wigs so far. This one was just so photogenic I couldn't resist taking his picture. His little charcoaled head was enough to keep the contact from closing.

NOW it feels like home

2009-07-21T07:14:00.001-07:00

Getting up at first light to dig a hole at a wet spot is the epitomy of home. I can't remember a summer out here without a leak and a hole.

This one isn't much to complain about, should be an easy fix, but it made me realize that I didn't have to do any maintenance as an apartment dweller in Europe. Pretty cush life, really.

I did dig a hole in Jonathan's garden while we were there,, and that sucked. Really hard clay and lots of rocks. I'll take a rock free moist palouse silty loam any day over that tough Jena soil. This is the best soil in the world for digging a big hole, and at this ol' place that opportunity seems to arise frequently!

HSH

2009-07-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

We got up at 4am, got home at 1am and the day was 9 hours longer than a regular earth day. It was preceded by an 8 day road-trip taking the extra, extra, long way from Jena to the Frankfurt airport. We hopped from town to town taking in medieval villages, Playmobil FunPark (only 8 bucks!!) Bavaria, luge courses, playgrounds, gondolas, castles, the Black Forest, and some fantastic rock skipping on the Rhine. Along the way we had another 4-country day without really trying; once we woke up in Austria, got coffee in Lichtenstein, then drove through countless Swiss tunnels on our way back into Germany. Whew. These kids are TROOPERS!

Ben and Claire are now rediscovering their toys.

Kristi is rediscovering her own bed.

I'm just soaking it all in.

My first impression of the whole six month adventure?? WOW, that was a change of pace for some quiet mostly monolingual country folk.

We lived in a two bedroom apartment, where we could walk to work, or school, or the park, or shopping. If you wanted to go to Paris, it was a ten minute walk to a train station. There were neighbors, new friends and old friends. It was never quiet, but always calm. I haven't seen stars like we have here tonight in six months, but I have never got to walk in a deep dark beech forest watching fire flies here either. It was all so wonderfully new and fun and exciting.

I am incredibly grateful to the folks on both sides who made it possible. Rod, Jonothan, Laura-n-Bob, Kim, Wendy,, above and beyond the call! And a special thanks and love to the Mothers Nancy for keeping us supplied with Mac and Cheese, peanut butter and Gluten-free treats and Papa Ray and Grammy of the Seattle pick-up. You all are amazing and I'm glad you are in our lives,,, ok getting sappy,,, time to go get some sleep!

Girls in Austria

2009-07-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

Claire and Julia were cut from the same cloth. They had to say good-bye today and the tears would well up and flow again every so often in our car for most of the afternoon. Our fathers and daughters trip to Austria last week surely didn't help them part ways. I have the usual pics of flora and fauna from the trip to share, but for this post it is pictures of inseparable friends on a carefree vacation together.

There was even a bit of glissading in the alps

and the best unattended coin-operated rides EVER!

Little Differences

2009-06-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Some things are just a little bit different in Europe and sometimes those odd little differences make me chuckle.

You can have a museum about pretty much anything

All the folks running for office put their pictures on their posters, even when they shouldn't

Lots more nakey people, and lets not even talk about the saunas

Just about everything is "street legal"

Not everything translates well

Get your hair cut and colored, damn it!

Taking a dump is gonna cost you, but the crapper has a catchy name

This guy gives your chips that extra special flavor

Everyone has their own ideas about art

When you want to say "hybrid", it's OK to say "bastard" even at a botany seminar

The gall of some creatures

2009-06-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

I do so love a good gall. Not sure why, maybe it is the way that they catch your attention as just being wrong and not how things are supposed to look. The deciduous forests in this part of Germany seem to have more than their fair share and that is just OK with me. The first one is likely fungal or viral and quite a beut'. It's the only one I've seen on Beech. The second one on rose, well I don't know what the hell that is, but I suspect it is the result of alien visitors. The rest are insect galls. Mama sticks her ovapositor into the leaf, deposits a single egg and the rest is all chemistry. Usually the larvae makes or modifies plant hormones and gets the unsuspecting plant to make it a pretty little home for the growing baby. I just love it when one organism tweaks another's biochemistry to its own advantage. As long as it isn't a parasite in me that is!

WTF was I thinking?

2009-06-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

So I really did walk 100km, aka 62 miles, starting at 6pm on a Friday night somewhere in eastern Germany, of my own free will.

A print-out of the distances with my times between checkpoints, a certificate, and this pin were the tangible things that I got for my trouble. Well I guess you can include blisters and the fact that I will walk funny for a few days.

The hike is limited to 850 people. I'm pretty sure 849 were German and I knew none of them. Talk about alone in a crowd. As you might imagine if you thought about these orderly Germans a bit, we were all issued microchips that were scanned on departure, several places along the way, and at the finish. I know, to the second, how much time I spent on the trail. Exactly 19hrs 3min and 58seconds.

As we all fell into our pace and headed up to the hills, the crowd thinned a bit.

We had enough traveling before getting to the single track that we were very well sorted. It was a beautiful cool evening for hiking. The sun set, the full moon rose, the headlamps came on and we kept on walking.

Food and drink rests were a great place for me to get ahead of the crowd. I filled up my water, pounded a few cokes to stay awake and didn't linger. There was almost nothing I could eat anyway so I brought my own and ate on the run. The first 21km clicked by at 15min/mile, the next at 17 min/mile. That was literally a blistering pace, and at the 42km food stop I did a little surgery and changed socks but felt pretty damn invincible. The night was cold and clear and moonlit. The city lights at night were great. By morning I was getting a bit stiff. This picture was at 62km and was the only place I stayed and ate some cheese and gluten free bread at a table. That was still less than a 5 minute stop.

By 70 km any heady invincibility was crushed, but I kept walking. Between 77 and 85 km I dragged my ass along at 24 min/mile, my slowest pace, but that short stretch had included a few minutes spent doing more surgery.

By not stopping much I got ahead of the pack and spent much of the last half of the hike walking alone with my thoughts and aches.

I picked up the pace again for each of the last two sections, mostly because the finish kept getting closer and I wanted this walk to end.

Kristi and the kids were waiting to walk the last 200 meters with me and they were a great sight
to see. Kristi grabbed the camera out of my pocket, ran ahead and snapped this picture. I usually figure 20 minutes/mile as a pretty good walking pace. Overall I averaged 18.75 minutes/mile including stops and though I haven't seen the placing, I doubt that there were more than 40 people ahead of me. The cost was enduring the last 8 hours which ranks right up there as one of the most physically and emotionally challenging experiences of my life, but the intangibles somehow make it all seem worth it in this clear light of the next day. But if you ask me if I'd do it again, you will hear me say, "no f*cking way!"

Praha carriage vids

2009-06-03T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of vids from an evening horse drawn carriage ride around Prague. Wow what a town. There isn't anything at home like this. There is a huge palace, old medieval towers, Gothic and Baroque cathedrals, narrow twisted streets full of life, and plenty of places where the Czechs got the living daylights beaten out of them resisting communism. Masons charged with filling the bullet holes after protests refused to hide the history and intentionally mismatched the mortar so all would know what happened. A great freedom loving people and a beautiful place to inspire the selfless acts of courage that took place.

(T-mobile Germany sucks so the second video will have to wait until late, late to upload. I'm disappointed with blogger's video as well. The original isn't this dark,,, oh well you get the idea.)

And below are a few of my faves from the museum of communism whose location is described in their own advertisements as; "Above McDonald's, across from Bennetton, and next to the casino. Viva la Imperialism!" Didn't take these folks much time to revel in their freedom again.

Ahhh, finally. Here's some more of the carriage ride if you didn't get enough. Turn up the sound 'cause Ben is precious.

PIGS, Finally

2009-05-28T02:13:00.000-07:00

Catching a glimpse of one of these, the Eurasian Boar, has been elusive but it finally happened and in dramatic fashion. I've seen way more than my fair share of bobcats and cougars in the wild, but never a wild pig until today. I have spent enough time in the American southwest that you think I should have seen a Javelina at least once, but nope, not me.

I got on the trails a bit earlier than normal since I was showing my Dad the long way to work. The wind was blowing and there had been some rain, perfect for covering noise and scent. We were on a small trail through dense cover on the rim of the biggest wildest canyon in the neighborhood. They were bedded down under some thick cover right next to the trail and I got right next to them before being noticed. Two loud grunts and my western north american brain thought bear. I know there are no bears here, but that is where my thoughts went. They all stood up together and all that long dark fur rising in the brush was so wide I thought moose. Again kind of a stupid place for my brain to go since we aren't in Scandinavia . Regardless all the commotion made me take a few steps back and as they went crashing through the brush I finally realized what they were. I counted six as they crossed the trail right behind my Dad and headed into the canyon. The last one across was the one that grunted and he was bigger than the rest. Nice way to start the day.

Palouse Falls Kayak Video!

2009-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks for this link, Ron.

http://kayakwaterfalls.com/

The guy comes up in his boat! Wow. It is one thing to think it is possible and another to do it. Pretty obvious to me he was qualified to call it as runnable.

Supreme Manipulators

2009-05-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

Flowers are here on earth because they are very useful for modifying animal behavior. Plants lead sedentary lives without ever getting a chance to have a few too many drinks at the disco and subsequently mixing up their gene pool by breeding with strangers. Wind pollination served the conifers well, but getting an animal to do the work of moving your pollen around was the greatest single advance in plant breeding. Flowering plants are the most recently evolved major form of life we see around us and they haven't stopped at getting insects to do their dirty work.

In the Leutratal valley just south of Jena, beautiful flowers have harnessed the help of an industrial strength mammal, Man.

One of Hitler's Autobahns, the A4, crosses the Saale river at the southern tip of town and winds up the Leutratal valley, sandwiched between the little village of Leutra and the orchids of Thuringia's first botanical reserve. Most of the highway is 6 lanes, but in this valley of sacred cows it narrows to only 4 lanes. There is no room to widen the road without destroying much of the old village or tearing into the orchid meadows, and the villagers and orchid seekers don't like the noise and fumes that come with a major highway. So, even though the end of the age of automobiles is almost in sight, in classic German style, a solution was found in engineering. At the cost of 240 million euros a 3Km tunnel is being bored through the mountain, to bring calm to the valley and two extra lanes for the sake of speeding across Europe without having to slow down to 90 miles/hr through a pretty little valley. The flowers don't get torn up and will have a nice quite pastoral setting for their breeding. So, did the humans save the flowers or did the pretty little flowers manipulate us? It is impossible to discern, but one thing is certain, being pretty has served them well.

I'm not making this up. Here is the wiki. Men made huge machines from mined iron ore, transported them here and have been working for years to punch through the rock. Completion isn't expected until 2012. The resulting tunnel will need massive ventilation fans and lighting that will run constantly. I like the orchids as much as anyone, but this all seems more than a bit silly to me.

Greener Trails

2009-05-08T02:28:00.000-07:00

There is no more snow in the photo of the institute on its website so it must be spring. Jena is a bit like the Palouse. Temperate, even higher latitude and there I would say, “if you don’t like the weather give it a minute,” here I might say, “give it an hour.” The folks here also get to experience that wonderfully long transition from cold to warm with its many summer previews and winter reviews.

The beech forest is quite charming and has greened up quite nicely. The German translation is Buchenwald, and that does not conjure up charming images. Considering how close we are to the concentration camp, it is a bit odd that I haven’t been there yet. I suspect it is like history to many Germans; always there, but best not to dwell or it makes getting through the day tougher. Maybe when my Dad is here we will make the trek.

The trails are getting even more of my attention since I signed up for this: http://www.horizontale-jena.de/. A 100 Km walk around Jena that starts at 6pm on a Friday night. I hope to be done by 6pm Saturday night. It sounded like too much fun so I’m giving it try. Since I’ll miss my annual masochistic spring backpacking trip to the American southwest, I needed something to remind me where to find all of my aches and pains. Suspect it will do just that. 20 minutes/mile makes it 22hrs w/o stops. 2 hrs to eat and pee should be about right.

Again here are more views from the trails, albeit greener. Also there is one pic of a trail from afar, well actually from the house. On the high distant point you can see the same old tumble down castle as the picture of Ben and the view downriver. Flowers are everywhere now. I admit the wildlife I’ve been photographing is a bit slow and/or small. I have yet to see a real wild pig although I can usually find where some acorn rooting had occurred the previous night. Maybe I need to get my ass out of bed before the sun, sneak up there and try to catch a glimpse. Seems worth doing.

Palouse Falls?!? NO SHIT?!?!

2009-05-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Montana kayaker sets record with plunge over Palouse Falls

Thanks for this link, Mom! Not just a lucky guess that I would be interested, eh?!?

All I have to say is, "F*CKIN' A! I would have flown home to see that.

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/558950.html

Despair.com, eh?

2009-04-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Despair.com has always been one of my favorite places to kill a few minutes every few months checking out the latest ways to top off my half full optimists glass with despair for balance. These are perfectly appropriate for here, eh?

eh?? I couldn't agree more. Mostly this is just a bad holiday letter gone global and unseasonal. So why am I drawn to the format? Is my cynicism waning? Kinda doubt that. Maybe I enjoy documenting and creating and have delusions that I can be wittier than just cutting and pasting someone else's photography and pop humor,, but that will have to wait, definitely not happening for this post, eh?

Boy of Steel! Video at five!

2009-04-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

Boy thwarts attack by man eating Mallorcan Pterosaurus!

Mindbending video captured of this amazing boy teaching his sister how to run right through steel!

It's all Garrigue to me

2009-04-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

The Garrigue biome of the Mediterranean is a result of thousands of years of human activity. Between overgrazing, erosion and wood harvest all that remains is a community of the very hardy. Here you'll find poor rocky soil, long hot summer drought, salt spray, harsh winter winds and lots of goats. If you are a plant and want to live here you better have spines, be unpalatable or have great chemistry.

It is good to have spines here even if most of you is dead.

Many of the world's great aromatic plants come from here. This is wild Rosemary in bloom.

Plenty of spurges with caustic latex here too, and that is a nice fragrant fine toothed lavender around the spurge.

Looking down. Can you tell which way it is to the sea from here?

Here is a bloomin` onion. It found the best way to live here is under a rock.

Move up and away from the sea a bit and you find yourself in a pine-oak woodland, very similar to Chaparral, except with more goats.

Here is Jonathan in what I think is a sumac, so it is also probably toxic.

There is one more strategy that seems to work here: being very small and very sexy. With eyes honed from years of orchid seeking around Jena, Jonathan spotted both of these beauties.

They are both small almost leafless bee mimics. Male bees see these hotties and can't resist trying to copulate, but only get hit in the head with pollen for their effort. The flowers have to be so sexy that the bees fall for the charade at least twice to make a pollen transfer. They look pretty sexy to me, too.

Being on the Mediterranean in spring was a perfect break for this plant geek!

Nice Bellin'

2009-04-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Just my Luck

2009-04-05T02:12:00.001-07:00

I'm the luckiest guy around. For me, a Land Rover with a kayak in front of my house to pick me up is a great sight to start a day.

Meet Holger (Kristi thinks he's a cutie), one of the field ecologists in the group who have a project site on the polish border. It is an old military site that is now a gated wildlife preserve. They are studying an endangered poplar species that lives on floodplain islands. Of course this sounded interesting to me, and he didn't mind a bit of cheap help and an extra driver.

The water is still high so the kayak is needed to ferry equipment to the island which is home to lots of deer, pigs and hares that wait until you just about step on them before they dart away.

There were 500 poplars on the island, many mapped, numbered and their sex already determined, but the beavers are taking more every year and without flooding there aren't any young trees.

This is ol' number 48, ain't she a beaut?

I find getting in the tree easier than wrestling a pole pruner.

We took a few hundred cuttings to start in the greenhouse, which will be used for caterpillar food. Feeding caterpillars cause the tree to release volatile signals that other trees and branches on the same tree are suspected to use to ready their caterpillar defenses.

Getting insect traps and volatile collection equipment, etc. into the trees is essential to the experiments this spring. I'm good with ropes, that is why I get to go along. Here we are practicing using the crossbow to shoot lines over branches. It would also be effective on unsavories. Since Poland joined the EU a year or so ago, anyone who has skills has left for the west, especially the women, so there is a disproportionate number of frustrated skinheads. We got dirty looks, but they didn't return with twenty friends a beat the crap out of us which is good, because the crossbow is a bit slow to fend off more than one.

Not a bad way to spend a day, eh?

Views from the trails

2009-03-29T23:35:00.000-07:00

Jena is my kind of town. I could live here forever. OK, the people are a bit too German for forever, but the town fits me well. It does have a lot of green space with creeks, a river, great playgrounds for the kids and the hiking is very good.

One thing that I was really looking forward to was being without a car. At home we are completely dependent on cars. Walking distance to everything we need and good public transit were going to be a nice change of pace.

For me, walking to work has been a vacation of its own. If I took the fastest way to work, and pushed it a bit it's 25 minutes from apartment door to office door. But that is on a pretty busy street and not that nice of a walk so I avoid it unless I need to pick up milk or it is early Saturday morning. The road contours around on the side of the valley, with some city above it until it gets too steep and the forest starts. I've explored every nook and cranny of the cross streets looking for alternate routes, and have a couple of great ones. My standard when I need to make time is only about 10 minutes longer, and it is all on residential roads, less traveled paths and old abandoned parking lots. It has a bit more elevation change and a much better view.

But I haven't stopped there. Every time I think I have a route in mind, I find another possibility to explore and have almost never taken exactly the route I've taken before. The upper end so far is a 75 minute ridge walk. It starts at the house, goes across the neighborhood park, past a couple residential blocks, climbs straight up into the forest to the valley rim, contours the rim until you get to a great overlook, then drops down through meadows to the institute's back door.

Here's some of the views along my various ways to work.

German Food For Your Reading Pleasure

2009-03-28T03:05:00.001-07:00

So this whole being a new Celiac trying to live in a foreign country is an interesting challenge and also kind of a pain in the arse.

My guts are totally f*cked and yet I still have to eat. Prepared foods and eating out is pretty much over. Whole foods and Home Cooking is not a bad draw. Really,, I am so thankful it isn't dairy I must avoid.

This is actually a fairly sparse cheese day in our little German fridge.

Those inventive Germans have found some way around their own law stating beer can only contain barley, hops and water. In addition they have come up with some pretty damn good brews from rice and sorghum. This is a nice medium dark rice beer I would have been proud of in my beer brewing days. Thanks to them I'm enjoying drinking a beer once and a while again, something I haven't done in years cause it always made me sick, DUH! This one sets me back almost 3 euros each so that part sucks.

Last weekend along come these little gems. I've always been a big fan of chocolate with a bit of puffed rice. The ability to translate German food labels isn't a skill I expected to need when I left home, but if I do say so myself, I excel. Necessity is the best classroom (after the bedroom of course). A quick scan of the ingredients and crispy M&Ms were on my "oh yeah" list. About 12 hours later I got that feeling of being punched in the stomach when you are not ready. It lasted almost three days and was accompanied by other pleasantries. Racking my brain trying to discover how I got glutened (new verb!) I finally reread the packaging a bit more thoroughly this time.

So I can read, but I'm not thorough enough. Starke is starch and can be from any grain and unless it says corn, rice or potato starch, I should avoid it even though it is often gluten-free. The next one on the list is Gerstenmalzextrakt aka barley malt extract. No ambiguity here. That is like a concentrated gluten party to my immune system. I'm on day 6 since being glutened and though I'm weak, I'm coming back and I'm smarter and more thorough!