The Abyss

The day was warm and calm on our hike from The Abyss to Pima Point.


And we found our own vista with requisite overhang (3,000 feet straight off!) a bit off the user trail system.

Kaibab & Pipe Creek Vista

A nice spot to hang out and enjoy the views.

And that's where the mules go up and down the South Kaibab Trail!


Nice socks! Are we ready to hike?

Airing It Out

No wonder it is called Hermit's Rest

Arrived At The Rim

What a view! Isn't she a beauty!?

A lot of perspectives from the edge.

When You Really Need It

Cheap, at any price, here at Furnace Creek, Death Valley.

Portend of the future?

On The Road

Always a great spot for lunch, in Gardnerville, NV, on our way south to Bishop.

Movie: Black Snake Moan

Went to the movies tonight with Margaret, as she had wanted to go and asked about it the day before. I was still packing for our trip, but I had to break away, for the title sounded interesting, and that's before I even saw the poster.

It's worth watching, if just for Samuel L. Jackson's singing and bluesy guitar playing.



Christina Ricci

Spring Blooms

At the door step, a variegated camellia.


Flowering dogwood next door.


Camellias in front of bay window.


Wisteria climbing up in the oak. Latest blooms before the predicted rains tonight and tomorrow.

Tree House

From off the deck is the tree house, framed by flowering honeysuckle and white dogwood.

Burn, Baby, Burn

Today's been my annual contribution to global warming. Mulch and compost what I can, use the big stuff for camping, burn late in the day all the rest. Later in the day keeps smoke out of the neighborhood, as it drifts downhill with lower temperatures.

Time to get ready for fire season; clean up what you can, fallen pine and oak limbs, leaves and needles. Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow. the benny is the burn, getting it all disposed of before the onset of fire season. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is 53% of average at the start of April, so we'll be seeing wild flames hereabouts before September is finished.

Hey, after reading the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that was just released, we are in line for drier and hotter conditions with more frequent forest fires. Bummer. We will have to burn under controlled conditions, or be subject to the wild. Our choice.

Today was predicted showers; a good day to burn with an oncoming front to keep conditions moist. I think, at best, there was only a trace of measurable precipitation. It sure didn't affect pile burning. And the rainy season is now about over.

Belgium Gets Swift-Boated

Sam Fox, a businessman and big GOP donor, was made United States ambassador to Belgium today by Pres G. W. Bush, who used a recess appointment to circumvent Congress to secure Fox's position. His nomination had previously been withdrawn following Sen. John Kerry's objections to his contributions to Swift Boat Vets For Truth(iness).

We now have, fittingly, a low-life back-door political appointee to the Low Counties; I'm sure the Republican Party's interests will be well served, but what about mine?.

See Bush Bypasses Senate

A Slice Of Light

Morning time, time for pt, physical therapy, per Nurse Ratched (from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest).

What a pretty place to work out: the back deck. An hour here stretching and lifting outside, then off to the gym for weights and aerobics. Here, the sun slices of light stream downward, the animals finding their comfort. Follow the sun (or, if we all wait long enough, warm will come to us sooner as the average temperatures rise throughout the US -- rising continuously over the last nine years, moving from South to North; your warm time is coming, even to Idaho and North Dakota).

Or easier, follow the animal menagerie to one's sunny work-out spot; they've already found the first rays, even before you finish your coffee and paper to emerge from the house warmth to check the outside temperature, only 48F. Nice. And sunny. Warming to 70 later in the day.

All Lined Up

Tell me, how do they know where to be?

What's Ahead?

The purple wisteria are ready to burst, bringing the bees. And such a sweet smell. It's a race between the wisteria and the California black oak, who will be first, blossoms or leaves? Intertwined, growing high, supported, reaching skyward, what a sight in bloom!

After MRI, cortisone, and heavy duty pt, my frozen right shoulder is responding, with still lots of work ahead to reduce the tendinitis. Looking ahead to full range of motion, and ability to again get that kayak up on the truck roof rack! Soon enough.

Land Of White Death

I've been doing some reading lately, pursuing my long-favorite adventure/ survivor motif. It's easy to get wrapped up in Russian navigator Valerian Albanov's extremely well-written page-turning account of his escape from an icebound ship, in 1914, into the wastes of the Arctic.

This exceptionally interesting tale, originally published in 1917, tells the tragedy of a doomed Russian Arctic expedition. After 2 winters locked in the ice, he and a group of ill-prepared and poorly equipped men left their stranded ship to journey without a map into the frozen arctic. Only 2 emerged 3 months later. Why do some survive, others not, under similar circumstances? At a time where we complain of parking too far from the mall entrance on a cold day, this quick-reading book is enjoyable not only because of the amazing description of a harrowing journey, but also because Albanov's conviction and determination are a lesson for our time. He shows that your will determines your future. My favorite passage is about the effort:

...to kindle some energy and bring back the will to survive at any price. The mind must command the limbs and convert itself into a force that controls the body, even if part of that body refuses to obey. Those who let themselves go in these circumstances quickly fall prey. There is no way out, other than remaining master of one's body, down to the last muscle. Every temptation must be repressed. When exhaustion temps one to rest, the legs give up. It is vital not to give in. One must continually urge the mind to victory in its overwhelming struggle against the body. The seductions of lethargy gradually creep in, ready to take over, and that is where the danger lies.

A remarkable book for its story of endurance and suffering, the will to survive, and its glimpse into human nature. Good training for long-distance bicycling.