Vultures Circling
Published October 5, 2011 | 
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
Published September 28, 2011 | 
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
Published September 19, 2011 | 
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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Posted in Enviroment, My Paddling, My Weird Life, Outdoor Recreation, Paddling, Quixotica | 
devils lake, wisconsin | 
1 CommentBetter Than Leaving The Bike At Home
Published September 12, 2011 | 
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
Sustainability of deep-sea fisheries?
Published September 10, 2011 | 
All dead all dead / All the dreams we had
And I wonder why I still live on
All dead all dead /And alone I’m spared
My sweeter half instead
All dead and gone / all dead
- queen
I’ve not eaten fish since the early 90s. I like some fish actually. Here in Wisconsin every Friday is fish gluttony day with the traditional “Friday Fish-Fry” on offer at every restaurant worth it’s salt. This is though, the oceans are in big trouble and we’ve known it for a long time. Like so many other big environmental problems, we can’t seem to get our minds around it, so we just keep contributing to it. The early 90s collapse of the Northern Cod fishery in eastern Canada was a wake up call. In the end it didn’t matter if you were for or against a moratorium, there just we rent any fish left. Of course globally we’ve not learned much from that nightmare either.
These days fish can’t even catch a break at the bottom of the sea. Today I was doing a bit of heavy reading with the Marine Policy’s Sustainability of deep-sea fisheries paper. I’m still not going to be eating fish any time soon. BTW, if you’re not into heavy reading, just grab the first and very last paragraph. Oh, and look at the fun charts and graphs… That will just about cover it.
Let The Games Continue!
Published September 8, 2011 | 
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
Posted in Fitness, My Weird Life, Outdoor Recreation, Quixotica, running | running, trail running | 2 Comments
Someone once said something to the effect that, “art is best appreciated on a full stomach”. It’s an issue of priorities. It’s hard for me to get jazzed up about the “cause du jour” when there are homeless right here in my little town (let alone everywhere else), kids without food, shelter or school supplies, mentally ill having their support funding cut, trash blowing around the parking-lots. . . on and on it goes. These days we’re so scatter shot in our focus, will and determination that it seems like we can’t solve even the most basic problems. I swear the whole herd has gone off the rails. Sorry, I know it’s not a fun subject.. just frustrating…. Needed to vent… vented.
BTW.. the video is from Serj Tankian, formerly of System of a Down.