Mesclun Mix

The mesclun I planted a long time ago finally seems to be growing.

Remember Bernice Calvert

In our family, we learned to remember Pearl Harbor early in life. My mother's mother, Bernice Bailey Calvert, was there starting a new life. Her first husband, Roger Calvert was killed in a car accident in 1930, and her son, Roger Jr was killed in a freak accident at the age of 13. A widow at 32, she managed The Broadmoor Apartments where she met her second husband, Frank Bernard Schultz who was playing a in a band at afternoon teas there to help put himself through medical school. In May 1941, he was a doctor in the Army Reserves, when he was called up and stationed in Hawaii-which seemed like a great gig at the time. It took over two months to get there. They were enjoying their new life- even though it was far from family here in Washington. Then the attack came. Bernie was called in to the hospital, and my grandmother was alone when a shell hit her home. She hurt her ankle, but managed to get to the hospital as well, and ended up helping all day. Soon all Army wives and children would be evacuated, but my grandmother wanted to stay. She joined the Red Cross and became the only woman correspondant to cover the war in the South Pacific. There she was at the age of 43, one life behind her and a completely different one ahead. They remained in Hawaii all through the war right up to the end- literally. She was actually on board the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrendered. That's why we remember Pearl Harbor.

Mt. Rainier, Kautz Glacier

After climbing the easiest routes on Rainier, we wanted to climb something a little more challenging. So we decided to try the Kautz Glacier.

We crossed the Nisqually Glacier, then we went up a gully called "The Fan." It is full of rocks that break loose each day as it warms up.




We headed up the Wilson Glacier and found a great camp site just below the Turtle Snowfield. The rock wall would serve as a windbreak and there was running water close at hand. Unlike Camp Muir, we did not have 99 people camping right beside us. Mt. Adams in the background.





Jonathan in the kitchen area.





The main challenge of the Kautz Glacier route is a short section of 45 degree ice.










The shadow of Rainier just after sunrise. If you want to get the most out a sunrise, you need to be above 11,000' in elevation!





Jonathan finishing the fun part of the route.





Dave just above the icy section.







One of several large crevasses on the upper mountain.








Dave and Jonathan on the summit. The upper mountain was really windy and covered by a cloud cap.










Doug (holding onto his hood) and Jonathan. We took pictures and headed right back down.










Jonathan found a hidden crevasse on the way down!









Here are 3 tired and hungry climbers just a couple of hours from the car and some real food. Jonathan was able to summit an intermediate route for his first attempt on Rainier! It was fun to climb something new and challenging in this awesome part of creation.

Brookgreen Gardens~The Lowcountry Zoo

We decided to hit the zoo as one of the first stops at Brookgreen Gardens. The first thing we noticed is how natural the environment was. It is probably the most untouched animal areas we have ever witnessed at a zoo.



Because there were so many trees, this made the animal area very cool temperature wise. We enjoyed the shade and cooler weather and I'm hoping that means the animals did too.



All of the animals here were rescued or were born in captivity. All of the animals are not able to be released back into the wild. They have animals that are native to the swamps, woods and waters of the Lowcountry. They also have domestic animals to the Plantation. We saw a great number of animals from alligators to river otters, my favorite being the bald eagle who was a bit feisty.





I can't forget a picture of an owl for Miss Aubs.



We really enjoyed this part of Brookgreen.



Living the life in SC!

A Special Concert at Peace River!

I have had an exceptionally busy week this past week. Actually the past two weeks have been unusually hectic for us. So I have tons of things to blog about, but I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to blog about them. Hopefully I will get caught up over the next several days or during my next few days off.



This was one of my favorite did but didn't blog about it things: a concert given to the park performed by pickleball friends. Not just any pickleball friends though. Super talented and musically gifted friends. I met Todd Hallawell and Garth Matthews both this year.



I heard about Todd long before I knew him though because Austin is a huge fan of Todd's musical talent and has shared numerous YouTube videos of him with me. He is an incredible musician. What I did not know was that his wife is also.



We were so impressed with Garth's playing also. They played beautifully together! Such a treat to hear all three of them play together and judging by the crowd's response, we were not the only ones that felt honored to hear them play.





Just a few short clips of them to give you some idea of their talent.

When Does a Customer Turn Designer?

[image via OAC]

I want to tread carefully here, because it is not my intent to offend independent artisans, whose work I support wholeheartedly. But this issue is on my mind from time to time, and a couple of days ago I had an email exchange with a reader that brought it back into focus. Here is the gist of the story - and I don't think it's important who the players are, because the situation is generalizable:

Clyde the Cyclist approaches Alistair the Artisan, inquiring about getting a custom Bicycle Accessory made. Clyde has a very particular idea of what this accessory should be like.Alistair the Artisan says "Gee, I've never made one of those before, but sure, I'll give it a try." And he does. The Accessorycomes out great, and when Clyde the Cyclist goes on a group ride, 200 of his riding buddies see it. "Hey, where did you get that neat Accessory?" Clyde the Cyclist tells them, and the cycling buddies contactAlistair the Artisan asking for the same thing. Several months later, Alistair the Artisan has a website where the Accessory is featured prominently and given a catchy name. He shoots a friendly email toClyde. "Thanks man! That Accessory is my best seller!" Clyde the Cyclist feels taken advantage of and emails me to ask what I think.

Well,I think it's a tough one. On the one hand, if a product really is based on a customer's distinct design, an argument can be made that the "moral" thing to do, would be for the artisan to ask the customer's permission to use it, and to offer some compensation for the idea. On the other hand, if the customer made no stipulations to protect their design, it can be said that the fault is with them.



While this has not happened to me in the bicycle industry, I experienced a similar incident in a different setting a few years back and have since been more careful. If I think of an idea or design as "mine," then I'll approach the artisan presenting it in that manner from the start: "I have an idea for a product. Would you like to collaborate?" This establishes the relationship as a partnership, and fosters an acknowledgement of the fact that design input has real value. But unless that approach is taken from the beginning, it is bound to be difficult to backtrack and reframe a relationship that started out as customer-artisan, into one of designer-manufacturer.



To be clear, I by no means wish to imply that anyone ordering a bespoke item is a de facto "designer." It is only natural that the customer will give a set of requirements to the artisan as part of a custom order, after which there will be an exchange of feedback. For example, should "make it kind of like this one, only in red velvet and with larger buttons" be considered design input or just standard customer feedback? I think the latter. But if the customer has a concrete and clearly expressed idea of the item beforehand, and if the idea differs substantially from the other products made by the artisan, then both parties may want to consider the intellectual property implications of that - before proceeding with the order.

San Antonio Texas

Loved San Antonio the 1st time thru in 2000 decided to do it again!

Remember the Alamo



Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas). A mere 189 men bravely defended the mission walls against Santa Anna's army of up to 4,000 soldiers. All but two of the Texian defenders were killed







Mission San Jose y San Miguel De Aguaya

Considered the "Queen of Missions" it is both a State and National Historic Site. Founded in 1720 the Church was built between 1768 and 1782. We were lucky to see it before it will be closed for restoration over a 1-2 year period.











Of course San Antonio's draw is it's famous "River Walk"

One level below the downtown streets the river walk is edged by restaurants, hotels, cafes, and boutiques.















The riverwalk was expanded recently by 3 miles after adding locks.











The Weight On Your Feet

TLT 5 Performance 1050g









carbon Dy.N.A. Evo 685g






Above are the Dynafit Dy.N.A. Evoand TLT 5 Performance bootstested in Eric'srepost below.



The guest author of this blog is Eric Carter. Eric was part of the team to set a new C2C record on Rainier this week. Check out the comments here and the entire teams blogging efforts in previous posts.



Eric and I had several short conversations this winter then I lost track of him. Life got in the way this Spring. But I had intended to republish this article after Vertfest.



Eric is as he describes it, "as a science nerd I don't have a whole lot of faith in single data points". He is also the Head Coach – University of British Columbia Varsity Nordic Ski Team.



I wrote this back in . That postreferencessome of the back groundEric based his assumption on. The original military sponsored study ofa7 :1 ration of weight on your feet toweight on your back.



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//05/why-weight-of-your-footwear-is.html



Much of this blog's content has been driven by my large size 46/12 feet that I had as a 12 year old kid. The size and the fact that I have always had a problem with cold feet has driven me to look and look again at my own foot wear. Intentionally adding 3 full pounds to my footwear earlier in the week brought this conversation back to the top of my slightly addled brain. Thanks Eric for allowing me to repost this. It is gooddata to add to our base of info.





Gear- Foot Weight



by Eric Carter






The ISMF had an interesting statistic in their Skimo World Championships Preview document released earlier this season. They claim 1 gram lost from feet is like losing 7 from the pack in terms of energy cost. I can’t find any data to support this but do have some thoughts as I try to cut my foot weight.

A recent study by researchers in Colorado examined the energy cost of barefoot vs. shod running. They calculated a 1% increase in VO2 per 100g weight per foot. With an approx. 540g decrease in weight per foot I should expect my VO2 to be 5.4% lower at a given speed. That's not huge but definitely a significant improvement. Cadence will also have an effect on this; as cadence increase, the cost to move the weight will go up as shown by the scientists at the Army’s environmental and exercise research lab – USARIEM.

Dynafit’s top of the line skimo race boot is the Dy.N.A. Evo. With a carbon fiber cuff and a Grilamid shell the Evo is exceptionally light. In weight, think of it more in terms with a nordic ski boot rather than an alpine boot. A rather unscientific analysis of some race and interval data does a good job of illustrating just how light it is.

The figure below has HR on the x-axis and vertical speed on the y-axis. Blue circles are climbs with the TLT5 boots and red squares are climbs with the Evo boots (both using Dynafit PDG skis). Each has a trendline to show the average. (TLT data are from the races in Jackson Wy earlier this season and a more recent interval workout. Evo data are from Vertfest climbs and an interval workout)



While other factors definitely affect this relationship (skins, snow conditions, fitness, other racers, track angle, etc…), there is clearly a trend. For any given HR, I am climbing significantly faster wearing the Evos. At a vertical speed of 16m/min for example, with the TLTs my HR would be around 180. With the Evos at the same speed, HR is around 145.

Now that I am running more efficiently, not working as hard on climbs, the logical next step is to climb faster maintaining the same high heart rate with an even higher speed. I have found this difficult however. Technical skinning does require skill and leg strength and while I am working less hard, I find it hard to increase my speed without slipping. I also find it hard to maintain the necessary cadence at increased speeds. I am hoping that slightly easier angled skin tracks will make the next few races more to my suiting than the steep mogul climbs from the last few races.

An interesting research project would be to examine the effects of foot weight at different cadence and track angles found in skimo racing.



Eric's blog and his contact info can be found here:

http://coastmountainskiing.com/

Good Skiing and Narada Falls Face Snow Pit

Howdy Everyone!



Afterseveral daysof cooler weather and some precipitation, the mountain has come back out in full sunshine with a good 6" of powder on her flanks. There is some great skiing on the south and west aspects right now; while the eastern aspects are getting crusty.



This weeks snow pit was dug at the top of Narada Falls Face, just below the Steven's Canyon Road. As you can see from the profile, the main layer of concern is between 10 to 20 cm below the surface. Some moderate failuresfor the stability tests indicated that point releases are possible especially on lee slopes. However, no propagation was observed during the stability testing.





CTM(14) @ 12 cm Q3

ECTN(18) @ 12 cm Q3

RB3 @ 12 cm Q2



Keep an eye out for possible point releases on south facing aspects...there's plenty of sluffs coming off all around the Paradise area; especially the face onPanorama Point and the 4th Crossing area.

Exploring Downtown Gaylord

Today we went to explore the downtown area of Gaylord. The whole town is done in a Swiss/Alpine theme and it is so cute! Our first stop was an ice cream shop that was giving out cones for a $1 donation to the Boys/Girls Clubs.

Then we wandered around just looking at the buildings and bears and monuments.