I want one of these: Vike Trike

I cleaned the gutters on the house for the first time in...well, lets say in a very long time. So much time had elapsed since the last cleaning that I spent almost 30 minutes cleaning old growth forest off my roof. Another month and I would have had to get a logging license from the state of Oregon to harvest timber in the State Park of David and Devon. I really wouldn't want to wade through the protesters trying to stop the timber sale.

I think I'll check the gutters a little more frequently now.

I got hailed on twice last night on the way home. The cloud bands that threw down rain on us all day changed up just in time for the evening commute. The clouds sttill hid the sun and tiny drops rained down in a light sprinkle, so I suited up in my rain gear and started pedaling down the Eastbank Esplanade. The sun came out as I made it half way down the riverfront path, and then the rain started pounding down in fat drops. The sunshine stayed bright through the rain.

Just after I topped out at the north end of the Esplanade (the intersection of Oregon and Lloyd streets), the clouds cut lose with even bigger raindrops and pea sized hail. The deluge lasted less than 10 minutes. As the sun faded out, so did the precipitation. I toodled along for another 20 minutes until I hit Willamette Blvd on the home stretch of my commute. Again, the sun came out. From the river-front crest of the roadway I could see the entire shipyard and industrial district below shrouded in a thick white blanket. Not fog, but more rain. Less than a minute later I got increasing rain and hail for 5 minutes, then the darkness of cloud cover and decreasing rain.

A fun ride with some great sky to watch. I need to start carrying a camera to share these sorts of nights and sights.

Off again on again thundershowers keep rollin' through.

Awesome Bill Maher rant here.

Dev stayed "home" from work yesterday. Weird headache and nausea problem. She feels way better today.

Saturday's lesson: 3800 feet of elevation gain on an 8.3 mile hike equals sore legs.
Elk Mountain and Kings Mountain in the Coastal range are glorious though.

Sunday's lesson: Rock climbing doesn't have to be uber-technical to be lotsa fun! Horsethief Butte graced us with gorgeous weather the entire day. We got to climb on fun, blocky rock in hiking boots.

Another day, another flat. :-(

Slip sliding to fun

My Basic Climbing Education Program group went to Timberline Lodge to practice our snow techniques. The rain pelted us all day long for the whole practice. And I still had a blast. The best part involved glissading.

Definition
glis·sade (glĭ-säd', -sād') n.
A controlled slide, in either a standing or sitting position, used in descending a steep icy or snowy incline.

Glissading is the most fun thing ever. You sit down on the top of the snow slope. A slope that you can see the whole runout. A slope that is not on a glacier (crevasses!). So you sit down in your waterproof pants. And you grab your ice ax and hold it off to your side with the spike down near the snow and the pick facing away from you. This is your brake and rudder. Then you pick up your heels slightly and start sliding.

Unbelievable amounts of fun follow. I could spend all day glissading.

Eschewing titles

Unless a post just really cries out for a unique title, I'm going to leave posts untitled. The effort of formulating a witty, funny and accurate title often outweighs the import and substance of a post. So mini essays might get one while travel status messages and on-the-go posts from my phone will remain unlabeled.

As usual, if my meta-ramblings bug you then drop me a line. Or leave a comment.

Facebook is not yet lighting my world on fire. It's got some cool features, like linking to friends of friends. And the cell phone alerts make it pretty handy for on-the-go updates. Seems like Blogger (this site) plus Twitter could accomplish a very similar goal. I probably just haven't hit the critical mass of people linked up to me for the site to really click (or is that clique?) for me. We'll see - I'll give it a few more days.

Dev made it safe to Charlotte.

Hello world!

Oh dear, another new tech toy. Posting to the blog via text message. Hmmmm.

Yet another new internet toy

My friend Garrett Downen introduced me to Facebook. I'm about a year behind on this social networking site. Register and check out my Facebook page.

Crazy busy

Holy crap have I been busy.

Last weekend entailed a whirlwind tour of Georgetown Texas for my brother's wedding to April Neves ne Chase (congratulations again guys!)

Monday brought another Mazamas BCEP lecture.

I spent all week catching up on workload and finding gear for Mazamas activities - like hiking boots for the conditioning hikes.

Saturday brought a 10 mile hike out to Indian Point in the rain. Indian point had clouds wrapped all around it so I couldn't see all the cool stuff I had hoped. Indian Point has made my destination list for a subsequent hike.

I spent Sunday on a really fun day at Rocky Butte natural area working on rope handling, belaying, rappelling and prusiking skills. Then I got home and hosted a dinner with friends (hey Nate and Sue!).

And finally I had to get up and take Dev to the airport at waaaaaay too early in the morning today - she had to fly to Charlotte, N.C. for work.

Whew!