My Weird Life

what goes on around home

The Don Ho Solution

Now here’s a bit of interesting news.  Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Makers of great big ships among other things.) has come up with this cool, efficient, and dare I say, “fun” way to cut up to 25 percent of CO2 emissions from large cargo carriers.  Heck, they’ll even go a bit faster as well!  The big idea?  Blowing bubbles!

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Vultures Circling

Oh yeah, I’m still circling the little lake like a dizzy vulture. I’ve got about 70 miles to go.   At least the last few days have been pretty much perfect autumn days.  Where else would you rather be than on the water?  Oh, and speaking of vultures circling I just returned from my annual check up.  I always post about it because way too many men are simply too scared to go each year, especially when you pass that 40th birthday.  I’ll tell you one thing.. I’d rather go each year and act preventatively, than only go when nothing can be done.  Now, I’m not going to say every minute of it is fun, but once it’s over I can get out the door and feel pretty good for the next 365 days or so… until the next check up…

impossible walls

 oh then it’s alright
when with every day another bit falls away
oh but it’s still alright, alright, alright
and like words together we can make some sense - Gabriel 

What if you were the last person alive on earth? You could be standing out in a prairie somewhere watching low clouds scrape across the distant hills, feeling the chilled air of an autumn morning tingle at the tip of your nose. You could stare all you wanted to. You could try to lock every line, color, sense and sound into your mind with deep concentration. You could will your eyes to pull out every last detail of the panoramic image before you.  It wouldn’t matter though.  With the passing of just a few minutes, a few minor distractions, and the moment would fade.  The problem with moments like these, is that they have to be experienced in their fullest as they happen and that can’t truly happen when you’ve got no one to share the moment with.  Continue reading

Backyard Adventure

What amounts to a dream anymore?
A crude device; A veil on our eyes
A simple plan we’d be different from the rest
And never resign to a typical life – broken bells

It’s raining this morning and not quite 60 f.  The weather seers say that the day will turn warm and sunny… eventually.  Oh well, if I’m going to get my paddle time in today, I need to do it right away this morning.  This will count as day two of my “100 miles to winter” paddle to celebrate the 100th anniversary of my local state park. I think it’s cool that in a month of days I’ll be able to see the world pass from the greens of summer, through the jubilant colors of fall and then in the end, to the charcoal sketched environment of late fall, all from the seat of my kayak.  It should be a fun little backyard adventure, only requiring an hours paddle time over about 35 days.  For the most part I’ll be posting the log over at devilslakewisconsin.com.  I fear many über kayakers will find it a bit silly, a bit “quixotic” if you will, but I look forward to having an opportunity to spend the next month talking about paddling and our amazing state park with folks may not yet suffer the addictions. :)  OK,  time to head out for day 2.

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Better Than Leaving The Bike At Home

I don’t care where we go
I don’t care what we do
I don’t care pretty baby
Just take me with you – prince

O.K. I know what you’re thinking. Dogs are meant to pull humans, not the other way around.  What’s worse is the perception that you treat your dog like some sort of 4 legged diva.  Well, there is a reason for this.. and I certainly don’t advocated dogs as pint-sized debutantes. On the other hand, sometimes you find yourself in situations you’d never thought of before.  Take this summer for instance, where we found ourselves giving up on family biking when on vacation because we had no place to leave the dog.   Continue reading

Let The Games Continue!

I’ve read all over the place that if I just keep running, I’ll soon weigh160 lbs or some such nonsense.  It seem like anyone who posts on the web that they were over 200 lbs when they started, is now like 160 and running in marathons.. Well, I’m running.  That’s got to count for something anyway! 2 days back I did my 4.3 mile run in just over 52 minutes.  That comes out a bit over 12 minutes per mile.  Slow.. yeah, maybe but I’m not going to get too bummed out.  It’s a challenging trail.  It’s bad enough trying to climb the hills, let alone avoid re-spraining my ankle.  Thing is, I love the challenges of a rough trail.  If I weren’t pushing through a climb or navigating my way through loose rock, I think I’d get bored.  Oh, but 160?  I think I hear Bing Crosby singing Pennies from Heaven somewhere in the treetops!  Continue reading

Out To Dry

Sea kayakers would love to pretend we’re all about wild abandon and reckless adventure, yet sometimes yard work and a bit of DIY just can’t be avoided. Yesterday instead of spending my day in high adventure, I finally buckled down and replaced our old clothes line.  Of course that doesn’t mean I can’t find a way to make it about kayaking as well!   Continue reading





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  • David Johnston: What I think makes this product unique is also it’s biggest downfall....
  • David Johnston: It’s a very interesting product and glad to see that it looks like...
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