If I did that, the clothes would end up muddy. Too much dust out here.
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If I did that, the clothes would end up muddy. Too much dust out here.
It helps that we've had a respite here recently from both dirt and smoke in the air.
What got me was that they thought throwing clothes in the trash regularly was just a normal thing. What's a basic polo shirt go for now? $20 at least I'd think for even a lightweight cotton/poly blend.
It's funny how many words and phrases, admittedly mostly idiom, younger people don't seem to understand or even be aware of. Of course "younger" can be a pretty relative thing too.
I was talking with my son, his wife, and a couple they know. All of them are 36 to 39 years old. The topic was emergency preparedness, and I had to keep guiding it back toward practical things like weather emergencies and power outages rather than more fanciful SHTF which I suppose are more fun (?) to talk about.
At some point I said something like "Well when the balloon goes up you'll want to know where your keys are" and 3 of the 4 started side-eyeing and giggling. They had never heard this before.
I thought that idiom was pretty common currency, but perhaps that isn't the case any longer.
Considering, the "root" of "when the ballon goes up" is from World War 1........ :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
Could use a weather balloon, myself. I'm taking a day off on my bike ride to sit out a rainy day. There's a record cold low coming through, with hours of rain, at least where I am. The snow level is supposed to be down to 5000 feet, and my plan had been to camp at 5600 this evening. I think waiting one day wouldn't be too bad.
Oh yeah, I'm on a five week long bike ride that is all on back roads, rail-trails, and the like. I spent most of yesterday on railroad ballast, scraped down to dirt...somewhat. It was pretty scenic, but by the end of it, my arms and shoulders were tired from the constant shaking. Only got to see one snake, too, which was a bit disappointing.
I've always lived in the Great Lakes region, where "mountains" exist but are nothing like "real mountains" in height. Once when I was young I went to San Diego on business, and on a day off there paid a visit to Mt. Palomar Observatory. I'd been into a lot of the usual stuff as a kid: chemistry, mathematical recreation, dinosaurs, electronics and radio, and astronomy. By the 4th grade I'd pretty much been through a good fraction of the school library books in the 500s (Dewy Decimal). Computers were barely known to Average Joes aside from stuff in movies.
No grizzlies, but I did see a mountain lion while ascending. At my destination though the trail was littered with rattlesnake warning signs ("Stay on the path!").
I'm not sure why I hadn't expected that. I suppose I figured there was an elevation where snakes and such ran out. I guess that's a lot higher up than the 6000 feet or so where I was.
You saw a mountain lion? I've been out in the woods my entire life. I've seen one Florida panther (endangered, but still a mountain lion) and three others, which was a mother and two second year cubs (almost as big as the mother) in my entire life. You were doggone lucky to see that.
As for the snakes, when you get that far south, snakes can be found at remarkably high elevations.
What the heck is mathematical recreation?
When i was in grade school we's start math class by standing in a circle. The teacher would call out a number and toss us a ball. We'd have to say the square of that number and toss the ball back. Is that mathematical recreation?
I'm old but have never heard that.Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
Surely you've heard of Martin Gardner, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
I was creeping up the mountain, driving slowly to avoid overheating the rented car and I'd entered the cloud layer on my way up. It ambled across the road in front of me, maybe 30 feet ahead.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Having no real clue I just rolled up my window and slowed a bit more until I get past that section of road.
It was about the size of a large dog, with a long tail that was clearly catlike with a slightly upturned blunt end.
Shaggy,
What rail trail were you on? I hope you are on a full suspension bike. Washboards can be tiring and make you sore, whether on roads or rail trails.
Oh yeah. I hadn't seen it that way, but I do see how that would be mathematical recreation.Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
Yeah, that tail is distinctive. That was a very fortunate sighting. I have always heard that a whole lot more mountain lions see you than you see. They generally just watch people walk by. We aren't prey to them, so we're a threat. That isn't the case everywhere, and they will attack people running or biking, but generally not walking.Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
I have heard that, at one point in the past, mountain lions were about the most widespread predator in the US. They were found in pretty nearly every state, though they were called different things in different places. Mountain lions out west, panthers in Florida and Texas, Catamounts in Vermont, and HOLY @#%@#%!!! when encountered suddenly.
It was a good sighting.
I'm on the Weiser River Trail, and have a few miles left before moving to a Forest Service road over to Donelly and McCall. The bike is a hard tail, not full suspension. Full suspension bikes don't seem like they can take a back rack very easily, if at all, and you lose a bit of energy with every stroke, which adds up on long flat stretches.Quote:
Originally Posted by jdc2000
You can get full suspension bikes with lockouts. That can help with energy loss. For a back rack, I have one that mounts to the seat post. However, that might not be capable of carrying the load that you are likely hauling. I bought my full suspension bike to use as a race bike, so I could run over things that I would have had to go around on my first mountain bike.
I have not yet ridden the Weiser River trail, but it is on my list of trails to ride. I think that there is at least on other trail on the west side of the state that I should be thinking about riding as well. It was on an Outdoor Idaho segment at one time.
I don't know of another one on the west side of the state. The Weiser is a great trail, especially if you are going downhill. I could totally tell the difference between flat stetches and uphill through the canyon. I biked the upper end of the trail (Tamarack down to Fruitvale) twice. That part is nice any time of year, but the open area probably gets pretty brutal in the summer. I guess I'll find out, though, as I'll be going back down it in a few weeks..
All the other rail trails I know about in Idaho are up north. The Trail of the Couer d'Alenes is terrific, but I wouldn't call it west.
Locally I've always heard "cougar" except for some older folks who said "catamount" but then we had a lot of in-migration from New England when the Northwest Territory was opened.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
While extremely rare here, DNR-confirmed Michigan sitings aren't unheard of. That's far more often in the U.P. than down here "under" The Bridge.
We have three high-traffic international bridges, but everyone here knows what you mean when you say The Bridge even if they've never seen it themselves.
https://www.mackinacbridge.org/history/the-mighty-mac/
I'm almost certain that my Mother never saw it. Looking back, there are many little things like that I wish I'd shared with her before she passed. She kept a souvenir knick knack for decades that my Grandmother bought for her at the original opening celebration. What was a 6 hour drive in 1957 takes a mere 3 1/2 hours now with highway improvements.
I've been with so many people who've said, "look, there's a bobcat!" When I looked, it was gone, so they'd add, "it just left." To date, I've never seen a bobcat in the wild. In fact, I think I've mentioned that in Post Race, before.
Animals are funny that way. Seeing a mountain lion is pretty cool. Seeing one too close...tends to make a story.
Made a grocery run. Prices keep inching and jumping up and as usual random shelves are bare or selection is limited.
But I'm not in any panic. I do think part of it is binge-buying driven by rumors as much as true supply problems.