Sunrise - Sunset

First 2 photos are sunrises over the Sandia Mountains.







Next 2 photos are sunsets over the Sandia Mountains. Sandia is Spanish for watermelon. The sunset photos show the pink color that is frequently seen at sunset on the mountains that gives them their name.

Honeyman State Park

A short walk from the campground and through the forest leads to this beautiful little lake surrounded by the forest and sand dunes. Double-click on the image to see a larger version... it is a portion of a panoramic view that doesn't quite capture the full beauty and serenity of the place, but does a pretty good job of it!





I sat up on top of this sand dune for several hours, listening to the quiet. The only other people around were those two youngsters at the edge of the water, far below. Optical illusion? After looking at this image for awhile, it is hard to tell whether you are looking down toward water, or up toward sky, either way, it was a long way up/down.





As the sun lowered toward the horizon I left my gorgeous viewpoint and ventured down to the small lake.





Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State ParkSouth of Florence, OregonSeptember 29, ..

Tin Tray

This was a tin tray that belonged to my mom before she met my dad. It has tulips in the design and the handle had other flowers on it. It says it is made by Rodney Kent. Apparently he made a lot of beaten tin items back in the 1920' and 30's. I also have a round plate by him with no design. I found lots of his work on the internet.

Charlie Borgh

If everyone will please pardon my digression from the immediate issues of Mount Rainier, so that I can talk about my friend Charlie Borgh.

I met Charlie on a trip to Mount Rainier’s summit. During the ascent, and subsequent overnight on the summit, it became clear to me that Charlie had a vision of his life. As a young man about to finish college, Charlie was amassing the skills and experiences to lead the life of an accomplished climber. I recognized the love and passion, and from that time on the summit, knew that mountains were going to be a big part of Charlie.

For the next four years, I witnessed Charlie develop as both a mountain climber and a park ranger. When it came to climbing, I can confidently say that few pursued the sport with as much diligence. He simply loved rock climbing and mountaineering, AND he was quite good at it. Physical and strong, Charlie moved through the mountains, over the rock, or up the ice with grace and confidence. He chose climbing routes that were beautiful, technical and challenging. He recently commented that in the last year he had done more climbing than most people in do in a lifetime… And if you spent much time with Charlie, you knew this was true.

Charlie served as a National Park Service Climbing Ranger. He started as a volunteer at Camp Schurman, but quickly climbed the ranks to become a lead climbing ranger on Mount Rainier. Charlie’s assignments as a climbing ranger required him to delicately mix intense physical ability with sound judgment and excellent decision making. The job was adventurous and dynamic and that seemed to suit Charlie well. So well in fact, that he took assignments at Yosemite on the prestigous search and rescue team in Camp 4.

On Mount Rainier, he led climbing patrols and rescues. On more than one occasion, Charlie risked his life to save another. He didn’t do this carelessly, but purposefully and with confidence. He was an important part of our team, and I trusted him implicitly. Which was something he seemed to enjoy, trust. In fact, I say that Charlie blossomed when trusted, and the responsibility that came with it.

Maybe most impressively, was the simplicity at which Charlie enabled himself. He pursued a challenging path for his life and it was inspiring to watch. Charlie succeeded at most anything he set his mind to, and in succeeding, he led and motivated others to do the same. He made choices that reflected his soul and passion; he was living his life with purpose and direction, things that we all can look up to.

Here are few links to stories about Charlie. Charlie Borgh loved climbing, despite danger. These two require free registration but tell the story of a dramatic rescue in 2004 that Charlie took part in. In the Seattle PI, Injured climber dies after rescue and in the Seattle Times, Injured mountain climber dies after daring rescue.

Information about the accident was posted here. In the next few days, I'll put more up about Gabe Coler, Mount Deltaform and a Pacific NW memorial for Charlie.

Autumn Afternoon, Lake Agnes

Along the Superior Hiking Trail near Lutsen, MN. This is from yesterday morning's hike, which was literally a PERFECT day! Sunny, calm and beautiful fall colors. A stark contrast to today's rainy, windy weather.

Foggy Sunrise in the Pigeon River Valley

Can you say.... W O W !!!!!!!!!! ? This was the scene I witnessedMonday morning after spending the entire night photographing the northern lights. I had noticed the fog along the river earlier in the night and decided to come back to this location for sunrise. It proved to be a worthwhile decision. As the sun rose over the hills and the light hit the fog in the valley, the colors and layers between fog and trees were breathtaking. This was photographed from the Pigeon River Helipad and Overlook along Otter Lake Road in Northeast Minnesota.

_____________________Nick Hall______________________

It's been one long year since we lost you.

We won't ever forget your friendship or your style.

Thanks for the inspiration to do more, do it better.

The mountains are still out there.

We're still climbing.

Miss you a ton.

Little Tahoma

While one Foursquare group was down climbing St. Helens, another group finally got a chance to climb Little T.



The guys climbing up the final 300' of soft snow.



Doug, Ron, Kevin and Mark on top of Little T.



The Fryingpan Glacier was covered with millions of Ice Worms. They burrow through the ice and come out at night to eat Watermelon Algae.



Fryingpan Creek on the hike out.

Mark skied down ahead of us, fired up the BBQ and made hamburgers for the rest of us hungry climbers!

Death Record of Eliza Wise Hoffman

When I visited Wabash last Thursday I stopped at the Health Department to get a copy of the Death Record of Eliza Wise Hoffman. When the clerk was looking at Eliza's record she made the comment that the handwriting was atrocious. I asked to look at the record myself but my request was refused. As was my request for an actual copy of the record itself. Instead what she said she'd do is get another clerk to look at it the next day and then mail the certificate to me. So, figuring that was the best offer I'd get, I paid the $5.00 and gave them my address. The certificate arrived in the mail on Saturday.

Unless there is a specific reason that you need a certified copy, you should request a "genealogy copy" of death records in Indiana, whether requesting them from the county or the state. Also inquire as to the cost if ordering from a county, each one seems to charge a different fee. The charge for ordering from the state is $8.00 and it must be paid in advance. They call it a "record search" so you pay whether or not they find the requested record. Information on ordering death records (and birth records) can be found at the Indiana State Department of Health website.

=+==+==+==+==+=
Genealogy Copy of Death Certificate of Eliza Jane Huffman.
=+==+==+==+==+=
Certificate of Death Registration
Wabash County Health Department
Decedent's Name: ELIZA JANE HUFFMAN
Date of Death: November 2, 1920
Place of Death: PAW PAW TOWNSHIP City: WABASH
Age: 78 YEARS Marital Status: WIDOWED Gender: FEMALE
Cause of Death: CANCER STOMACH
Certified By: G. P. KIDD MD
Cemetery: IOOF PAW PAW TOWSNHIP ROANN IN Disposition Date: 11/04/1920
Funeral Home: SCHULER-ROANN
File Date: 11/30/1920 Book: 1918-25 Page/Line: 41 #512 Issued On: 02/15/..
Signed by (Health Officer)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Not all information is available for all years.
Birth Date: 05/11/1842 May 11, 1842 Birth City: [blank] Birth State: OHIO
Occupation: HOUSEWIFE Industry: DOMESTIC SSN: [blank] Race: WHITE
Address: City: ROANN State: INDIANA
Spouse: ARTHUR HUFFMAN
Father's Name: PATR ? WISE Father's BirthPlace: PENNSYLVANIA
Mother's Name: CHRISTINA Maiden: GARNE Mother's BirthPlace: UNKNOWN
Informant's Name: EFFIE WASTHREY ? Inform. Address: ROANN, IN Relationship: UNKNOWN
=+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+=
Eliza's Spouse was Anthony Huffman, not Arthur. Her Father's first name was Peter. The informant was probably her daughter, Effie Wertenberger.

The new piece of information from this record is the maiden name of Eliza's mother, GARNE. Although I don't know how helpful that will be! An initial search for that surname at www.ancestry.com turned up absolutely no useful information. Without having actually looked at the death record I don't know if GARNE is what was in the record or if it was perhaps, a best guess by the clerk.

Going International

Looks like summertime is finally going to be with us for awhile. With nothing but sunny days in the forecast, now is the time to come out and crush the mountain! Conditions on the upper mountain are as good as they get for early July. Routes such as Liberty Ridge and the Fuhrer Finger that normally get a little thin this time of year are still holding lots of snow and should really be climbed a lot in the coming weeks.

Climbing rangers have been fairly busy over the past weeks with a number of tasks including climbing the mountain, training with the military, doing a couple of searches and rescues, and in our spare time trying to keep the toilets clean. One of the most special things that has happened in our world lately is that we have been able to host Ang Tshering Lama, a Nepalese climber, who was here as a guest ranger for three weeks in June. Ang spent time at both Camp Muir and Camp Schurman, patrolling climbing routes with rangers, taking part in our various trainings, and assisting in multiple rescues. If you were at Camp Muir or Schurman in the past few weeks you might have even caught a smell of the delicious food he cooked up for us during his stay. This is the third year in a row we have hosted Nepalese climbers in our program and we are very proud of our close relationship with their climbing community. Later this summer we will be hosting the Korean Alpine Rescue Team, so stay tuned...

Be sure to come by the Guide House up at Paradise, or one of the other ranger stations around the park, and say "hello."

Fire in the woods

British Soldiers (Cladonia cristatella), my favorite lichen.



Two very small salamanders. Either Southern Red-backed (Plethodon serratus), Southern Zigzag (Plethodon ventralis), or Webster’s (Plethodon websteri).

According to Salamanders in Alabama, they're "easily confused".



These tiny... things... were growing on a limb rotting on the ground. I can't even tell if they are a type of mushroom, slime mold, lichen, or what. Possibly an immature version of Peniophora rufa...?

The whole line there was about the width of a blade of grass. I could definitely use a macro lens. And of course that portable DNA analyzer that they are being so slow to invent.



An easy one, finally: Truckus plasticus.

And there's always this:

The muscovy duck who thinks he's my boyfriend.



He follows me into the woods, if I'm moving slowly enough.

I'll be hunkered down, minding my own business, trying to take a photo of something low to the ground, when I hear a coarse hissing from behind.

That's my cue to stand up fast, unless I'm in the mood to be nibbled, stabbed, and pinched by a duck.

I'm not sure how he carries bread crumbs, but he's always there waiting when we get back home.

Drop Bar Hand Positions: an Introduction

Riding a roadbike does not come naturally to everyone, and one particular source of frustration is the drop handlebars. I was frustrated by them too when I first started, and so I hope this illustrated introduction might be of some help. To preface, a couple of things to keep in mind: First, drop bars vary in shape. This post assumes that your bike is fitted with theflat ramp style of bars prevalent today - either the compact type found on most stock road/racing bikes, or the more classic style popular with the twine and shellack crowd (i.e. the Nitto Noodle, Grand Bois Maes, Velo Orange Course). I am also assuming that you are using contemporary"aero" style brake levers, with the brake cables hidden.Note that if you are dealing with a 1970s-80s roadbike (i.e. something like this), the shape of the original handlebars and brake levers will make some of the positions described here impossible. Not everyone agrees on which hand positions are best to use at which times, or even on what the positions are called. This write-up reflects my non-expert personal experiences, informed by local mentours.



Whether you are racing, touring or going on a leisurely ride, what makes drop handlebars special is the variety of hand positions they offer. I consider there to be 5 distinct positions available: The hoods, the hooks, the drops, the tops, and the ramps. Read on for a description of each.






1. The Hoods

The "hoods" position refers to keeping your hands on top of the rubbery brake hoods, wrapped around them firmly. I think it is fair to say that today this is widely considered to be the standard, neutral position for riding with drop bars.When done correctly, it is extremely ergonomic, distributes the cyclist's weight nicely, and affords optimal leverage for cycling at different speeds. It is also a position from which the brake levers are easily accessible. Some cyclists report that the hoods make them lean forward too much. If this is the case, consider changing your handlebar setup - perhaps raising the bars, getting a shorter stem, or getting compact handlebars (with less distance between stem and hoods). On a properly fitted bike the hoods should feel easy and natural to reach.





There is a number of ways to hold your hands on the hoods, and this is how I usually do it. The main thing is to actually grip them and not just rest you hands upon them.






There are also different ways to brake from the hoods, and this is how I prefer to do it. Squeezing the brake lever with only two fingers while leaving the rest wrapped around the bars/hoods themselves ensures that my hands won't fly off the handlebars if I go over a bump.




For those accustomed to upright handlebars, the hoods position on a drop bar bike can feel awkward and disconcerting at first and can require some practice to use comfortably. It took me a couple of weeks before I really "got" the hoods, but once I did it's been true love. It's the position I use the most no matter what kind of riding I do. And if you are planning to take part in formal paceline training rides, chances are they will expect you to use the hoods as the standard position - and may even insist that you do so.






2. The Hooks

While often the position shown here is referred to as the "drops," there are actually two distinct drops positions. To differentiate between them, this one is more specifically known as "the hooks." It involves holding on to the parts of the bars that curve outward, with the cyclist's hands directly behind the brake levers. It is a more aggressive and aerodynamic position that the hoods, which makes it especially useful when cycling downhill and attempting to fight wind/air resistance.






The brake levers should be easily reachable from the hooks position. Braking in this manner is more powerful than from the hoods, because it affords greater leverage. It is important to be aware of this, so as not to accidentally slam the brakes when riding at high speeds.





3. The Drops


To differentiate from the hooks, this is what I will call the "true drops" position. To what extent the two positions are distinct really depends on the style of handlebars used. On some types of contemporary drop bars, the curvature here is so dramatic that the positions are very different - the true drops being parallel to the ground and the hooks perpendicular. On other drop bars the curve is less defined and it's hard to tell where the hooks end and the drops begin. Either way, the crucial distinction for me is that you can reach the brakes from the hooks, but not from this lower section of the drops.




Both the hooks and the lower drops positions are quite aggressive, and for beginners the crouching posture they put you in can feel scary. While at this stage I am more or less fine riding in these positions, even now I am still not as confident as I could be. Riding downhill in close proximity to others, I sometimes chicken out and stay on the hoods, simply bending my elbows a whole lot to get myself low enough over the bars. In a pinch, that tactic will do - but mastering the hooks and drops is ultimately worth it and I continue to work on it.







4. The Tops

And now, the dreaded tops of the bars... My personal opinion is that the "tops" are bad news for beginners and are to be avoided until after you pick up some road cycling skills. Let me explain: Beginners who cannot use drop bars properly tend to hold their hands on the tops, because this reminds them of mountain bike handlebars and allows them to stay more upright than any of the other positions do. It feels safer. However, this is deeply problematic. First, you cannot reach the brakes from the tops. And if you are too scared to use the other positions, will you really be able to brake quickly and effectively when the situation calls for it? Probably not. Furthermore, drop bars are narrower than mountain bike handlebars, and holding the tops places the rider's hands too close to the stem - not the best position for controlling the bike. Nearly every time I see a beginner on a roadbike lose control of their bicycle, they are holding the tops.






That said, the tops do have their function. Some find this position helpful for climbing, as it opens up the chest and facilitates deep breathing. Also, when doing a long ride it's great to simply have it as yet another position for your restless hands. Personally, I almost never use the tops even in these circumstances, because my hands are uncomfortable. But not everyone has this issue.






5. The Ramps

Finally, there is the rather difficult-to-photograph position called the "ramps," and I have also heard it referred to as the "shoulders." Located between the hoods and the tops, it involves holding the corners of the top portion of the handlebars. In this position the rider is more upright than on the hoods, while maintaining more control of the bike and a more ergonomic wrist position than they would on the tops. I hold my hands in this manner mostly on long rides, for short stretches at a time, when I want to do something different or be more upright for a bit.






All these new positions can certainly be overwhelming. As far as a starting point, I suggest learning to use the hoods well first, then transitioning to learning the hooks/drops. If the pictures here are not enough to help you understand the positions and the braking, ask an experienced cyclist to show you in person and imitate them. I did this some time ago, and it was more helpful than any online tutorial I could have read.And for those riding vintage bikes with handlebars like these and having trouble using them, consider updating the bar setup. You cannot use the hoods with that style of handlebars and levers, and I wish someone told me that when I first struggled with vintage roadbikes 3 years ago.




While drop handlebars are easy and intuitive for some, for others it takes practice to get comfortable with the different positions. My suggestion is to not be intimidated and just keep practicing. If you ask me, it's worth it.

Hot heron?

OK, we've established that chickens pant in the heat. But do wild birds do this too?


I guess so.

Or maybe he was just hoping that a fish would hop right on in.


We've gone for the "natural look" around the ponds this year, can you tell?

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias).

---

Edited to add:

Leave it to Swamp Things to know that this behavior has a name: Gular fluttering! I looked it up, and it's not exactly the same as panting: the bird is rapidly vibrating the floor of its mouth and upper area of its throat. According to what I read, this does not require as much energy as panting, and is exclusive to birds.

Ashby Folville - Barsby-Twyford figure of eight

Led by Barry. Good weather, dry and firm underfoot, rolling countryside, fine views. Around 8.5 miles. less than 500 feet of ascent.





A poignant gravestone in Ashby Folville churchyard - a long life and a hard one?











Here liesSarah Smalleywho was a faithfulservant toWilliam Smtihof Barsbywho departedthis lifeDecember 6th 1859aged 83 yearsthe weary wheels of lifestood still at last













We walk along the path past the church, crossing bridges and a private drive . . .

before heading south west over fields along a footpath to the attractive village of Barsby.

A church or chapel converted into a house

another picturesque thatched cottage

timber frame

cruck frame

From Barsby we turned right and headed south east over several fields, crossing another footpath and continuing as far as Twyford.

cherry blossom

Spring is here, the blossom's out and the benches have emerged from the church porch.

The old "national school" with two dates in Roman numerals

A short way along Twyford's Main Street took us to our path - off to the right, and now heading south west again, over the B6047 and along Park Road, just to the north of Lowesby.

A right-angled turn to the right and we're going north west, following the field edges, and the waymarkers for a while, then turning slightly right and uphill just before Carr Bridge Spinney. We join the Mid-Shires Way for half a mile or so, walking along a ridge until we reach the road to South Croxton. This is still Mid-Shires Way. We turn left and walk along the road for a few hundred yards, then turn right down a track past farm buildings and houses. Spring has arrived - primulas in abundance along here.





Soon after this our path crosses the route we took earlier in the walk and it's downhill into Ashby Folville all the way.

Wooton Cottages. This plaster work called "pargetting" is more common in East Anglia.

A walk of fields, extensive views, and a variety of interesting buildings.



For more info on this area see this linkas well.



We saw swallows and, later, buzzards.