I was out in the woods rescuing a few rhododendrons from blackberries and branches when I had the inspiration for a new section of trail, the Microloop. It's very short, I can do four laps per minute, but still a little challenging. This could show up in the Rickreall Open as a 10 lap time trial, we'll see.
Big game for the Blazers tonight, I hope G.O. can stay in it.
This was one of my favorite posters as a kid. The unofficial update is pretty sweet too.
Ghostface Pryzbilla, the ultimate warrior?
B. Roy : closet dunker?
Some of you seem to like Tom so here's a little more.
A two and a half hour live recording can be found here and a version of "Way Down in the Hole" with the Kronos Quartet is here.
"Working with the Kronos Quartet was like firing a .38 Special with a clam shell holster: beauty meets brains," Waits said in a statement.
And, voila, post-a-day!
Loretta Rock with her daughter, Mia Fay Rock.
I dropped the new Land Cruiser, Big Silver II, off at Paul's Automotive in Independence this morning. I picked Paul out of the phone book, mostly on his "since 19XX" claim ( I don't remember the year but it seemed like a long time) and I have a good feeling about my choice so far.
Choosing a mechanic sometimes seems like choosing a new physician or even psychologist and in this case Paul didn't let me down. He kept me waiting while he concluded a deal for a transmission which gave me the opportunity to peruse the office. 20 years of plaques for first place in the county truck pull, numerous pictures of 4x4s in impossible situations, a few of dudes holding fish or elk heads. One thing that caught my eye was an Oregon Gazetteer that was more worn than mine, which is held together by tape. We didn't talk about the land cruiser at all until the last 2 minutes. We talked about Fanno Ridge and Valsetz (he used to fish at the lake until it was drained), we talked about the Valley of the Giants, "You have to go." He asked me where I lived and I told him. He mentioned someone he knew who owned some land nearby but I didn't know the name. I mentioned I was with the Farmers, Bill and Bob and he said he may have fixed something for them once. His elderly father shuffled through and we talked for a while about the weather, the temperature this morning (25 degrees) and what else we could burn in the woodstove. He allowed as he might be able to take a look at my land cruiser but it might take a few days. I rode my bike home, fighting a cold headwind but still having a great ride. Just south of Ray Steele's place on S. Greenwood Rd. the trees were full of red winged blackbirds. Their songs sped me on my way, sounding like a swift sream rushing over rounded stones.
terra preta nova
An interesting article about dirt.
The next Annex weekend will include a stop at the state fairgrounds.
Hewing closely to my promise of daily posts here are some random links!
This cracked me up :
Tom Waits interviews himself.
Vaguely interesting history of Polk County including this nugget :
In 1860 there were twelve Post Offices in Polk County. There were offices at Bridgeport, Dallas, Etna, Independence, Luckiamute, Law Arbor, Monmouth, Plum Valley, Salt Creek, and Valfontis. Location of some of these sites is now obscure.
Etna was in existence about 12 years about four miles north of Rickreall.
That would put Etna somewhere close to Farmer Rd. I wonder where it was and if there is anything left.
I also learned that Rickreall Creek was originally called the LaCreole River and Dallas was once known as Cynthia Ann.
We should look into this for the next Open...
"Claudia is also available to rent and she migrates throughout the state to spawn interest and learning."
Which led me to the Willamette Water Trail and some cool maps. I didn't know that there are so many islands in the Willamette and that you can camp on most of them. Even if we don't pull the Deathbarge idea off in it's entirety the next time I get to plan a major TW outing it's going to be a multi day trip in kayaks or canoes. Maybe from Corvallis to Independence.
A sick dunk by B-Rex. I like how excited the bench gets and the slo-mo at the end.
"post-a-day! post-a-day! post-a-day!
what's the track look like?"
Oh yeah, post-a-day...
The track looks muddy. We had freezing fog at night early in the week leaving the recently scraped ground frosty in the morning. The afternoon sun turned it into unridable mud....Google is telling me "unridable" is not a word but I'm pretty sure it is. Ridable = capable of being ridden, please tell me if I'm wrong.
Either way here are some more pictures from the Work Party Weekend. Next WPW is March 14-15, possibly featuring a trip to Blackrock.
Our brush fire didn't work out so well, even with copious use of accelerants.
Timmy showing the love.
What is Milkshake doing here? Flexing? Cheering? Acting like a goalpost?
Drew and the first jump...which may actually get bulldozed as the master plan evolves....sorry.
Natty was not into the loud machinery, she spent much of the time in Mace's pickup.
Jaden hitting the ditchstyle.
This is when I wanted a fisheye lens. Perhaps you can stitch these three photos together in your mind to make a panoramic.
Mace dropping in.
Dabby catching some air off the funky hip he designed.
Sweet T hitting the dabby hip...
and casing it.
Wheelie Guy almost landed on Dabby.
Mace on the first jump.
This is my favorite picture from the weekend. A study in orange.
The Annex Work Party : Phase One was a resounding success. Many thanks to Jaden, Dabby, Wheelie Guy, Mace, Sweet T, Milkshake, Tiahdactyl, Ringer, Timmy and the Kid.
The first scoop.
Timmy looking for arrowheads.
Jaden and Dabby experienced some ill communication at first but eventually learned to work together.
Sweet T was ripping it up.
The Kid and the CR.
Big Silver II and Mace on a beautiful sunny day.
“I’m a country boy, and ya’ll got a lot of things that you can do outside,” said Outlaw. "Nature walks and all that stuff? That’s cool".
Trout has now replaced Channing Frye as the Blazer most likely to join us on a DeathMarch.
I'm happy to wrap my ongoing jihad against squirrels in the righteous cloak of native species protectionism but consuming their corpse is going too far.
So, on the off chance that any squirrels are reading this blog, I hope you enjoyed the reprieve since the scope mysteriously "came loose" during Jaden's use. Just pray to your nut gods that we settle on resighting rather than upgrading.
I'd also like to say to the squirrels : this war need not be endless. I'm willing to cede control of the orchard and the woods. Gather all the filberts and acorns you like. If you want to hit up a bird feeder now and then I'll look the other way, just stay out of my house. When you wake me up, nearly every morning at dawn, by climbing all over my roof and then skittering through the attic it makes me want to kill you.
Squirrel hit list :
The big one with no tail that sometimes looks like a rabbit but is not a rabbit.
The scrawny dark grey one that never, ever stops moving.
The huge silvery one with the bushy tail that twitches a lot.
hi-larious, but really, let's (you) keep this blog alive! a post-a-day! really!? what else you gotta do???!!! - The Kid
Good point. I'll try to step it up.
Here's the excavator I'm considering renting for the work party this weekend. $145 for 4 hrs, $240 for 24hrs.
The first ever Poker Night at Dabby's Compound is on for Saturday. This could be your only chance to experience the legendary "party barn", don't miss it.
I have one seat left in my vehicle and am leaving around noon. I hear Spence, Timmy, Disco and possibly Sharky are also driving so hook up a ride. You won't be sorry for long.
