tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60355132010-02-04T22:52:04.198-08:00Corgis Yoshi and Trek have their very own training diary (See the links section). This is for everything else.Ellennoreply@blogger.comBlogger384125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-39972051680848211652010-02-04T13:32:00.000-08:002010-02-04T13:47:55.967-08:00

Less so these days, but something that I still see is people locking/arming their car by pointing the keypad at the car, and of course the car (usually) dutifully responds, just like pointing the remote at the TV. But the thing is your car is not a television. TVs have infrared sensors that detect the signals from the remote. Your car has no such sensors and imagine how crazy it would make you

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-13222121635865524232010-01-29T18:42:00.000-08:002010-01-29T22:05:48.409-08:00

Avalanche Tranceivers and their use.As I do some research I'm noticing that specific details on avalanche rescue are a little scarce. That may be deliberate as you really need to take a class, and practice practice, practice. I'm going to focus specifically on exactly what I learned and am going to leave a lot of the other detail out.Tome of basics are listed here:http://beaconreviews.com/

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-16187092813837294422010-01-29T16:40:00.000-08:002010-01-29T22:08:07.136-08:00

I'm in a position I've never been in before, and it's pretty strange for me.Because the blog entries are individually searchable some redundant information first:I attended an avalanche class where to get to certain places I needed to ski on terrain that was beyond my skiing ability.I was basically in the position of having to either snowplow or side-slip down to where I needed to be and I also

Ellennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-63193195274619870182010-01-28T13:15:00.000-08:002010-01-29T16:46:29.616-08:00

Still reeling from my avalanche class. I loved it but was put on terrain that was above my skill level and that seems to have messed me up some (though the class itself was great and I still need to write more about it in time.)Given how much trouble I had with skiing on difficult terrain and how I'm not willing to move to the mountains since my life is here and I like it and I pretty much

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-57476944443744722332010-01-27T09:43:00.000-08:002010-01-27T11:49:51.021-08:00

I really do need to stop bemoaning my lack of skiing skills and start writing down what I actually learned which had nothing to do with skiing.The class held by the most fabulous Babes in the Backcountry (http://babesinthebackcountry.com)The instructor was actually one of the Avalanche Forecasters at Squaw which was quite the coup.It was aboutWhy do we need to learn about avalanches?In what

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-88219796872015492002010-01-26T22:08:00.000-08:002010-01-26T22:22:49.374-08:00

I took a 4 day avalanche class in Tahoe and I'm still a bit reeling from it.the vague details are:I attended a 4 day avalanche course put on by Babes in the Backcountry (http://babesinthebackcountry.com) where the instructor is one of the Avalanche Forecasters at Squaw Ski resort. this is actually multiple blog entries but in short.Drove to Tahoe in a storm (with chains)Spent part lecture time

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-49608843580653437342010-01-17T23:16:00.000-08:002010-01-17T23:45:08.979-08:00

Ski resorts use a colored system to grade their runsEasiest is a green circleIntermediate is a blue squareAdvanced is a black diamondExpert is a double black diamondI am an intermediate skier and I'm finding that there are many varying difficulties of blue. In fact I've often seen described "easy blues" and "harder blues." and the real trouble is that the degree of difficulty can vary on the

Ellennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-91234210741053930382010-01-13T09:45:00.000-08:002010-01-13T09:47:49.685-08:00

I went by Trader Joes on a mission. We have some Trader Joes gift cards and Terri wanted to know if there was something special we could get. Do you know how much fun it is to walk in looking for something expensive?So right now$11 gets you 2 Dungeness crabs$13 gets you a large hunk of uncured ham (she's on her own there, but I dutifully reported it)$11-12+ gets you a significant quantity of

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-73056891630128557852010-01-03T22:24:00.000-08:002010-01-03T22:52:53.672-08:00

This is a follow up to my blog entry about the famous Callanish Stoneshttp://www.frap.org/Blog/2009/12/callanish-standing-stones.htmlI mentioned that while the main attraction was amazing, it's a total blast to locate some of the more obscure standing stones in the area that are associated with the main one ("Callanish I"). There are over 10 and the quest for Callanish V had us having a grand

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-40520119999840298882010-01-03T17:18:00.000-08:002010-01-03T17:19:38.665-08:00

2010 is Twenty Ten, not Two Thousand Ten. (Someone alert They Might be Giants as we need a song like "Istanbul, not Constantinople") I don't know who decreed that (Emily Post Inc.?), but it's caught on and, if you think about it, it makes sense as it's how we always refer to dates in the past.How do you say 1972? Nineteen Seventy Two.When was the Norman Conquest? In One thousand Sixty Six? I

Ellennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-87296088910626501272010-01-03T08:07:00.000-08:002010-01-03T10:16:04.882-08:00

In Sept, I was agonizing about what to do with my thriving orange tree that produces some seriously sour oranges:http://www.frap.org/Blog/2009/09/life-and-death-in-garden.htmlI haven't done anything with the tree as it's honestly not high enough of a priority, but when it calls attention to itself by having a huge crop of oranges that not even the squirrels will eat (I found one on the thrown on

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-13198512783440208682010-01-02T17:42:00.000-08:002010-01-02T19:13:26.425-08:00

Like a lot of people, I and my partner at the time wanted to buy a house, but the ones we could afford were not in areas that we liked, so we took the time honored route of buying a fixer, and trading sweat equity in order to get into a nicer areaThat paid off handsomely, which was actually not the reason for this house purchase. It's one of those emotional decisions that, for once, worked in my

Ellennoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-28385091563991916832010-01-01T17:23:00.000-08:002010-01-01T18:00:49.540-08:00

Happy New YearSpent a couple of hours at the gym and surprisingly I recognized at lot of of the people there. Guess it's going to take a little while for the New Year's Resolution Crowd to get here.I've been ill for the past few days so it was really nice to get out and moving. First did my favorite: RPM which is a stationary bike class and is an invitation to try to kill yourself while cool

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-50608303878436896392009-12-29T13:09:00.000-08:002009-12-29T21:01:35.783-08:00

I have a thing for rocks, and I've been happy to discover that there are a lot of people throughout history who have also had a thing for rocks. And having a thing for rocks and art done with stone leads one on all sorts of fun adventures.But it's not just rocks really. It's the people behind them. I love stone circles and other monuments and I love the things I learn along the way simply by

Ellennoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-25567965447739301432009-12-29T11:07:00.000-08:002009-12-29T20:33:04.138-08:00

I don't know about other people, but when I start working out possible plans I totally jump in with too many feet way too early before I've had a chance to really think about it. Then reality hits and those feet get cold. This is annoying as it makes me look like a flake though I usually make myself follow through unless I have a really good reason. This time I signed up for an avalanche

Ellennoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-9454850257677874672009-12-23T11:02:00.000-08:002009-12-23T11:25:13.353-08:00

If you watched the most recent season of Survivor (I love the scenery and I love fantasizing about being one of their puzzle/game designers which means I get hooked into the drama and I've stopped worrying about any psychological damage that that might create. :)ANYWAY, if you were watching this time you likely remember that a chicken escaped and there was much comedy of them trying to catch it

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-14574482483166438502009-12-17T23:07:00.000-08:002009-12-17T23:24:18.658-08:00

There's a book out talking about the "Blue Zones" which are areas where the population stays active and often lives to be 100 years old.Places like Okinawa, Japan and Sardinia, Italy are not surprising and they have been previously noted, but also mentioned is Loma Linda, California.Really? I never could have predicted that.Loma Linda is located here:I've been there, it's not terribly notable

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-81199748219364375242009-12-17T14:23:00.000-08:002009-12-17T16:23:49.229-08:00

The thing that drives me nuts about accidents where everyone involved dies is that there's a huge story that is doomed not to be told except by conjecture.There are enough clues in what we know so far about the most recent Mt. Hood tragedy to imply something dramatic happened. On Friday Katie Nolan, Luke Gullberg, and Anthony Vietti set off on a winter climb of Mt Hood in perfect conditions at

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-4582520028085382442009-12-16T08:51:00.000-08:002009-12-17T10:10:53.067-08:00

[This is the second entry on this subject]So a friend and I were discussing devices to locate someone. I was pointing out the limitations of Avalanche Transceivers, and she was suggesting the SPOT personal locator beacon (PLB) that uses GPS technology (http://findmespot.com others listed at:http://www.rei.com/category/40002203). to be fair it's a lot more than just a PLB and you pay for that

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-71264274028280388742009-12-15T15:40:00.000-08:002009-12-16T14:27:02.185-08:00

Currently there are 2 climbers missing on Mt. Hood. Now Mt. Hood is like Mt. Whitney in that it's near civilization and attracts all sort of people and thus is a major amateur hour. But there's a difference here - these are experienced climbers who chose to climb in winter and the conditions when they left at 1am were nearly perfect and they could have easily returned in the 13 hours they'd

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-34361048799605008692009-12-07T21:38:00.000-08:002009-12-07T22:19:00.176-08:00

More than a decade ago I had carpal tunnel release surgery on my left wrist. My wrists were sore enough that I was concerned that I might have to change jobs (till I realized that *everyone* types to some degree or another these days, and that I need to figure out how to heal them).With lots of rest and time they healed, but to make sure I recovered as best I could, I made some choices as to how

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-16616104784149697602009-12-02T15:26:00.000-08:002009-12-02T15:44:02.509-08:00

... and the resulting hazards.We often hear that if you want to remember something that one technique is to visualize a picture of what you want to remember. The more absurd the better. Sounds innocent enough right?In April of this year (8 months ago) I was just about to go in the store and needed/wanted three unusual items that I was going to have a hard time remembering (usually remembering

Ellennoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-22377567666021551922009-12-01T00:12:00.000-08:002009-12-01T18:39:30.120-08:00

The Search for Klamath "Falls" - continuedSo coming into town I figured I'd see giant signs telling me about how to go see the falls. I'm not seeing them and things are looking suspiciously flat - the geography is just not right. There are hills, but not near the river. The following bad photos that I actually dug out of the trash shows about how confused I was Now i will ask for

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-60271223923815450042009-11-30T22:22:00.000-08:002009-11-30T23:59:23.426-08:00

My accidental Klamath Falls adventure. This occurred by driving to the back side of Mt. Shasta and neglecting to turn the car around. I'm from Southern Calif and grew up taking part in impromtu driving tours so this behavior is quite natural for me.I WAS going to do my usual Black Friday Snowshoeing on Mt. Shasta, but the weather was so-so. and I've done that trip a lot so I decided to

Ellennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6035513.post-69954309801794829732009-11-24T20:58:00.000-08:002009-11-24T22:09:54.105-08:00

I love listening to audio books and podcasts, but they are not without their hazards especially when driving.I've gotten somewhat used to avoiding the Drive off the Road While Laughing hazard that Wait Wait Don't Tell Me needs to disclose. Or the OMG Can You Believe That?!! one that often accompanies This American Life (and once in a while Fresh Air).But the one I haven't quite gotten used to is

Ellennoreply@blogger.com3