The Old Folks Home

[ChickenCanoe]

Funny of the day.

 

[ronott1]

Funny of the day.

That comic is so funny!

 

[ronott1]

I took a hatching video. This is a UofA cockerel X Crele Pene pullet:

 

[Dragonfly216]

It can be very frustrating trying to be a good dad so far from my family. My wife snapped a pic of Enzo chatting with me on Skype on Sunday morning. I just love my son so much. Now if I could just get that judge to do his job and sign the adoption decree.

What an adorable son! Good luck with getting him out there! I know that must be frustrating.

for well under $2000 all in you can come on a chicken mission to an amazing island - and potentially use it as a tax deduction snorkeling coral reefs included

That's not bad at all! We can just have the old folks home meet and greet some day on an island!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hangtown Farms

it feels like spring lol

It's 26 F here now but spring is about to rear it's beautiful head. It's supposed to hit 70 tomorrow. Long range forecast looks like 6 more nights below freezing in the next 2 weeks. Springtime in St. L., up and down. I may try to get the automatic water system up and running with fingers crossed I don't freeze and break something. I am SOOO tired of carrying water. It eats up a lot of my day. Last year the system was only down for January and February. This year it will be drained for 4 months.

I'm already planting chicken pasture but I ran out of seed. I'm ordering some bulk seed from Hummert seed. They have a store nearby. In the past I've used various combinations of radish, turnip, beet, Austrian peas, alfalfa, clover, buckwheat and oats. This year I'm mixing in some chickory, chufa, millet and maybe some sorghum to let go to seed.
Hummert carries a better turnip than the purple top my feed store carries. It's called seven top. Much smaller tuber and twice the greenery.

snip

Yup the carb loading has been debunked. I have read of a study that showed the same results that you had in the canoe race. We have better stamina on a whole foods/paleo type diet.

I grew up near OldTown, I have wondered if they still build those wonderful canoes. So dog gone heavy. But a work of art. Were you halucinating because of lack of sleep , or lack of water?? I find I need to eat much more salt to avoid leg cramps. THis natural eating is a diuretic and some times I can dump a lot of water quickly.

340 miles!! That is just nuts. Glad you finished safely, I"m sure many didnot finish such a grueling race. Good food pays off.

snip
Yeah, I finally understand that nutrition and exercise is everything--

When a cow picks you out as an enemy, they're your enemy for life.
If I'm able to get a side or whole steer of the organic grass fed from the place up the street, the price will be comparable to conventional beef in the store. $3.97/lb. hanging weight but the butchering fee adds to that. You can have it cut and packaged virtually any way you want. https://www.wagonrides.com/grass-fed-angus-beef

Old Town canoes can be made of many different materials. Mine is royalex. It's relatively lightweight. For a 16' canoe, I can easily load it alone. It's a whitewater expedition boat and can hold 1000 pounds of cargo. Having no keel and a deep rocker it's not made for big flat water so for most of the trip it was much more work than boats made for that. As soon as you pull your paddle out of the water it just starts turning in circles. It can turn on a dime in whitewater but has great stability and dryness so when a line of barges came up the river, it plowed right through the waves of 3 foot rollers coming off the tug and the wing dams. The first line of waves were fairly easy but then they'd go bank to bank and eventually came from all sides. Flat water boats had to head to shore and hide for the 15 minutes it took the river to calm down. I have to say, I was freaking out the first time a barge came up at night with the boat loaded to the gills. When I came out of it without a drop of water in the boat, I got a lot braver.
By design, the race is scheduled each year for the full moon.
The year before I raced, a couple got run over by a barge at night in a mixed tandem kayak. They used hands and feet to crawl to the side of the barge on the bottom of the hull underwater. They came out the sides safely but their kayak disintegrated.
Just a little scary.
Most people, even some experienced distance paddlers didn't seem to get that it's a marathon, not a sprint. The most insane example was one kid who drank 6 red bulls just before the race. He had to be rescued when he collapsed in his boat after 3 or 4 miles. There were 3 team boats, one had 4 paddlers and 2 had 6 paddlers in these sleek speed boats. One team was from Belize, most were in their early 20s, they had matching uniforms of form fitting body suits, they were all buff with bulging muscles. They were an imposing sight. Team Texas was somewhat older but made up of single and tandem paddlers that had each won distance races. They were neck and neck almost 200 miles down river when team Belize started falling apart. One guy started throwing up uncontrollably and the team captain decided to drop him off on an island to be rescued later. Another guy cramped up and couldn't paddle, They left him at the next checkpoint. 2 others abandoned ship cause they were mad about leaving the guy on the island. So only 2 of the imposingly buff team Belize finished. Limping in well behind team Texas.
A buddy of mine from where I worked in KC had raced his kayak in the previous year's 340. He was a body builder and a fitness nut. (not a bad thing). He was so excited about racing the next year he bought a $3,000 racing kayak and worked out relentlessly. He was also excited I was paddling too. He made it about 20 hours and bailed. I almost talked him into continuing but he wanted to win solo kayak so badly and he knew he couldn't. I figured if I just finished the race I'd be thrilled. There were people dropping out at every checkpoint. Daytime was in the high 90s and without the current, the headwind would have blown you upstream in spite of paddling.
The river was in flood stage. Wing dikes were mostly underwater creating hazards and buoys were pulled under water and would suddenly pop up which could flip a boat. Some of the takeouts at checkpoints were hazardous. They even had to change 2 of them to other sites. The last night I got a bug in my eye about 15 miles upstream of an abandoned checkpoint site, the Washington Missouri boatramp. I decided to try to take out there and find a bathroom with lights so I could get the bug out. The river has a big bend there and is quite fast. With only one eye in the dark I misjudged the ramp and swept right past. It may have been best. The ramp was steep and I might have swamped before I could get out. I was so bummed I was going to have to go another 20 miles with one good eye and pain in the other. Eventually it worked it's way out.
I had plenty of water. I usually cramp a lot when I'm dehydrated so I took 28 gallons with me and drank all day and night. At the last checkpoint, I had enough water left that I gave a gallon to a guy that was out.
Other than hallucinating and just not being able to think clearly, blisters were an issue. I had 3 types of gloves 2 were paddling gloves, one of which were half finger gloves. The best glove as thin 'mechanics' brand gloves. I had blisters on top of blisters on top of blisters. Every few hours, I had to invent a new way to hold the paddle.
The guy that won the men's single kayak category in record time, lost every one of his fingernails during the race from the water and the finger pressure.
The hallucinations were from 2 things, fatigue and ammonia on the brain - which comes from not being able to defecate enough. I even tried at each checkpoint but with the stress, it wasn't happening. Hallucinating wasn't bad during the day but at dusk and all night the last 2 nights it was bad. Every tree looked like a different cartoon character. It was their outline against the skyline that did it. Very strange to see 80 foot tall Donald ducks, pooh bears and everything else you can imagine, in a row all the way down the river.
Just at dusk the last night, I was approaching what I know now was a power plant. It was all lit up and looked like it was hovering above the river and it seemed like I never got any closer. I became convinced it was a space ship, or some government conspiracy. I was counting bridges to keep track of where I was. There are mile markers on trees along the river but it is so wide that they're usually too far away to read, especially at night. The map no longer made any sense. Since the river was in flood, many new channels could direct you to the wrong part of the river. That's the reason I got lost the second night. I hit shallow water and had to paddle 2 miles back up stream to get back to the main channel. I remembered seeing the Missouri river floods near St. Louis a couple weeks before the race, Some channels were miles from the main channel. The last night, no longer trusting the map, I thought I got off on another stray channel since the river didn't seem deep or wide enough and, in my state of mind, I started thinking I somehow made it to another river in a different part of the state.
Then there was a new bridge I didn't expect. That convinced me I was lost since there were two bridges close together and I only expected one. As I approached the bridge I had just passed a mile marker that I thought would provide the evidence I needed that I was still where I should have been. The river seemed to be flowing very slowly so I thought I could paddle back to the mile marker. As soon as I headed back up stream, it seemed like I hit a surge of water which I couldn't paddle against. It felt like the water was constantly ebbing and surging. I went past the first bridge and to the left of the next, there was a huge blocky building that looked like it was something like a cement plant. The strange river flow made me envision the blocky building and bridge approaching was actually a dam. Now, government conspiracy came back to mind. I panicked at the thought of being sucked into the turbines. I turned and frantically paddled upstream till I couldn't gain any more ground and paddled into the woods (flood stage) to hold onto a tree. I waited there a while trying to figure out how long it would be before I was rescued. To be legal, every racer had to have running lights on their boats at night. While hiding in the woods, 2 kayaks went by with no running lights. When I called out to them they said something real strange I don't remember and they said to follow them but the fact it didn't make sense and they didn't have lights, that convinced me of the government conspiracy and they wanted me to die. I probably sat there what seemed like a couple hours. After days, the boats are really scattered out. Another kayak finally came by with a running light. I called out to him and he yelled back "Missouri River 340". That encouraged me to leave the woods and get back in the main channel. If you haven't been on the water near civilization, let me just say, things look completely different at river level than they do at road level. As it turned out, the second bridge I thought was a dam was the Interstate 70 bridge at St. Charles, the terminus of the race. The blocky building I thought was a cement plant or part of the dam complex, turned out to be the Ameristar Casino. Not one casino light is visible from river level.
The whole time I was freaking out, I was less than a quarter mile from the end of the race.
Ever since that night, when I drive over the I-70 Missouri river bridge, I look one way and see the bridge where I was freaking out, look the other way and see the takeout point.
If I ever do it again, I'll do things a lot differently that will help my time considerably. I had things in the boat I didn't need. I had a tent, a stove and way more food and other gear than I needed. I'd probably also attach a keel to the back of the boat or use a faster canoe.
During the race I ate a lot of fruit. I also had some roast beef and some bell peppers that I would rip the top off of, pull the seeds out and slam some beef into it and eat it. Quick and simple. I didn't eat any of the stuff I planned to cook. I've been on a lot of multi day canoe trips but never a race, never one this long and never a river so big.
For the first time, I thought it would be better to have more stuff than I needed than less.
I've done harder things, but it was easily the hardest thing I've ever done that I volunteered for.
I've never had a lot of upper body muscle but by the end of the race I really had some guns. It's amazing the muscle one can build in a little over 3 days.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pozees

This reminded me of a well-worn truism - cannot remember the correct attribution - no man ever said on his deathbed, I wish I had spent more time at work.

That is one of the concepts I've always lived by. It is the antithesis of the saying, "he who dies with the most toys wins". Under that philosophy, guess what, YOU'RE DEAD!!!! Work was the most important thing to most of the people I've known. They would work every hour available to buy more toys. (I've been guilty of that at times)
Once, a friend of mine worked well past his possible retirement date by close to 10 years. He died 3 days after retiring. A light bulb went off in my head.
Everyone's situation and timeline is different. But after that, I always told people who were unsure when to retire - "No one knows when they're going to die. You could live 40 more years or 40 more days. In either case, would you rather spend one more day after you can retire at work,or doing whatever you want?"

I also knew a lot of people that didn't have much of a personal life. (perhaps from spending too much time at work) But they preferred to be at work rather than at home. God help them.
I knew guys that would buy huge fancy motor homes to use on "vacation" and work 7/12s to pay for it.
My brother-in-law, who worked in the same industry, reminded me that those same people are only going on vacation once or twice a year. They could take the money they spent on the motor home and have been able to stay in the fanciest hotel at their destination every time they traveled, have been money ahead and didn't have to store and maintain the RV.
Some people don't want to stay in a fancy hotel (myself included) but I'd rather be in a tent in the wilderness, than in an RV in a parking lot with 100 other RVs. IMO, that's not camping.
Again, it's personal choice.

Funny of the day.

This makes me laugh every time!!!!!!!

 

[Dragonfly216]

My wife takes eggs to work (a Welsh pub) once in a while and the cooks make egg sandwiches for everyone there. The pub was buying eggs from me for a while when they ran low they would call my wife to see if she could bring some in.
When I go for sushi, I bring my own bottle of tamari rather than use the soy sauce they have. Regular soy sauce is very high in sodium and is made from fermenting whole soy beans and wheat - usually 50:50. Tamari is gluten free made from only whole soy beans.  The brand I use, san-,j is verified GMO free and certified organic. It's brewed in Virginia under license and recipe from an old Japanese company.

The homemade tamari sounds great!



I'm all about exploring or inexpensive islands close by there's Isla Mujeres off the coast of the Yucatan near Cancun in Mexico.
http://dxing.at-communication.com/en/xf3-iz2lsc_isla-mujeres_mexico/
The bay islands of Honduras. Utila is smaller and less traveled than Roatan
http://bellabayroatan.com/news/2007/12/31/7-up-and-coming-destinations/
Dominican Republic is one of the less pricey destinations in the Caribbean.
In Cozumel, you can get a B&B in town and rent a motorbike and visit all the beaches around the island. We've stayed with this French/Mexican couple.
http://tamarindobedandbreakfast.com/en/
Not islands but the southern end of the Yucatan is not overly expensive. I like Tankah bay. You can rent a small house less than a hotel.
VRBO and Homeaway are places to start.
On the Pacific coast there's Sayulita, a short drive north of Puerta Vallarta and much cheaper.
This site will let you search homes you can rent from owners by # of bedrooms.
http://www.sayulitalife.com/0-1-bedroom-sayulita-rentals
It's a fairly sleepy town with surfing.

Oh thank you so much! I really appreciate all the links!

 

[Pozees]

That is one of the concepts I've always lived by. It is the antithesis of the saying, "he who dies with the most toys wins". Under that philosophy, guess what, YOU'RE DEAD!!!! Work was the most important thing to most of the people I've known. They would work every hour available to buy more toys. (I've been guilty of that at times)
Once, a friend of mine worked well past his possible retirement date by close to 10 years. He died 3 days after retiring. A light bulb went off in my head.
Everyone's situation and timeline is different. But after that, I always told people who were unsure when to retire - "No one knows when they're going to die. You could live 40 more years or 40 more days. In either case, would you rather spend one more day after you can retire at work,or doing whatever you want?"

I also knew a lot of people that didn't have much of a personal life. (perhaps from spending too much time at work) But they preferred to be at work rather than at home. God help them.
I knew guys that would buy huge fancy motor homes to use on "vacation" and work 7/12s to pay for it.
My brother-in-law, who worked in the same industry, reminded me that those same people are only going on vacation once or twice a year. They could take the money they spent on the motor home and have been able to stay in the fanciest hotel at their destination every time they traveled, have been money ahead and didn't have to store and maintain the RV.
Some people don't want to stay in a fancy hotel (myself included) but I'd rather be in a tent in the wilderness, than in an RV in a parking lot with 100 other RVs. IMO, that's not camping.
Again, it's personal choice.


I so agree with the important tool thing. Everything else is worthless if one doesn't know for a fact what the temperature is.

I like the Spot Check and now that I have verified its accuracy I recommend it as well but if your temp is out of range you don't know if it's too high or too low.

I worked in a Coronary Care Unit for 4 years right after my first attempt at a Bachelor's, during which time I learned up close and personal just how short life is, and that we never know which moment might be the last we have to be kind. We didn't only see people who had lived long and full lives. We saw a patient who lost consciousness on the way out of the Ice Cream store with her family after church one day. She was 32 years old. She came into the emergency room speaking, went out again, months later she was awake and that was all - she went to the best rehab facility available at the time, and was never able to move or communicate the last I heard, which was years after the event. Every available test was run multiple times, and no one was ever able to determine what happened to her. She is one of many who will occupy a space in my memory for the rest of my life.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: How sad. There are events that change our view of life, living and death.

 

[ozexpat]

Oz, darling son..hope that judge gets on the ball! And yes, who suggested airplanes..lol..perfect, bring that boy home a couple of airplane toys. Unless he's like my last son was, he wasn't into trucks or airplanes, he liked the small cars. Maybe your son is just into the truck driving.

he has a couple of jets.

the boy was on his first plane ride at 36hrs of age - business class. lol

he has a frequent flier acc

 

[ozexpat]

I just read you NoCal peeps got a free foot massage just after 10

6.9 is getting up there

I am glad it was off shore so no damage