Firefighter & Dragon

The firefighter has his foot on the dragons head.

More wildflower walking

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve)
Another "just a weed" plant that I like a lot. Some of the flowers seem to have an odor, and others do not.
Sources differ on whether Nothoscordum bivalve has a fragrance. Possibly some of these are Nothoscordum gracile?


Trailing trillium (Trillium decumbens)
The flat-on-the-ground trillium. In the center, lots of little tongues sticking out at you. (The focus is not as sharp as I would have liked, sorry.)


Large-flowered chickweed (Stellaria pubera)
Better than your average chickweed! At first glance it looks like they have ten petals, but they actually have five that are deeply notched.


Violet wood sorrell (Oxalis violacea)
The leaves look like shamrock - they're in the same family.


Long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata)
I really wonder how these are pollinated, if the nectar is way back in the spur.


Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans)

James Joslin :: In a Matter of Debt

Yesterday afternoon I was going through my "Whitley County" folder and re-discovered a document that I forgot that I had. It was one of those where you got it but you'll do something with it later. So now, later has finally come! This is a page (there were no page numbers) copied from the "Troy Docket" book at the Whitley County Historical Museum. Well, at least it was there back in .. when I made this copy!

It may be or could be the reason that James and Abigail Joslin sold the remainder of their land to Edwin and Joseph Joslin less than a month after this case was filed. I'm still not convinced though. Where, or how, did two young boys, age 14 and 12 respectively, come up with $50 each to purchase the land? Or, perhaps, the $50 was written into the "contract" because that was fair market value? And James "sold" the land to the boys to keep it in the family?

Essentially, in this case, James owned up to the fact that he owed several debts and agreed to pay them. Price Goodrich then put up security and the debts were paid on February 7, 1845. But, I wonder, who actually paid the debts? Did Price? Regardless of how they were paid or who paid them, the debts were satisfied. When all was said and done, James and Abigail no longer owned their land in Troy Township…

=+==+==+==+=

Troy Docket. No page number. Filed July 16, 1844.

Francis L. Machugh Plantiff vs James Joslin Defendant } In an action of debt. Be it remembered that on the sixteenth day of July 1844 Francis L Machugh filed the following as a cause of action against James Joslin on which the following proceedings were had to wit: Four notes discribed as follows No 1 bearing date December 19th 1841 due one day after day amount $6.68 No 2 bearing date November 24th 1843 due one day after date amount $5.00 No 3 bearing date February 25th 1843 due one day after date amount $7.00 No 4 bearing date July the 16th 1844 due on demand (waving all relief on appraisment law) which the plantiff ordered erased and the relief law extended.

On the [blank space] day of of July 1844 a Summons issued directed to George H Stocking constable actionable on the 7th day of August 1844 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon

This day August the 5th 1844, came the defendant of this cause and ordered that Judgement Should be entered against him for the amount of Said notes interest and costs

It is therefore considered that the plantiff recover of Said defendant twenty five dollars and fifty cents debt and damages and all costs with interest thereon at the rat of six percentum per annum from the date of this Judgement

Justices fees summons $ 0 12 ½
Judgement 0 25
Bail 0 25
Const fee Service and interst $ 0 30

I Price Goodrich do hereby acknowledge myself security for the above defendant James Joslin for the payment of the above Judgement with the interest which may have accrued thereon at the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from the rendition of the same and all costs Witness my hand and seal this 5th day of August AD 1844. Price Goodrich {Seal}

Issued on execution January the 6th 1845
February the 7th 1845 execution returned, money made in full
Received of George H Stocking cons $27.78 in full of the foregoing Judgement. James Grant Justice of the Peace

Yard ArtLawn Darts ..

After sadly not going out on Sunday due to the forecast rain and not seeing any rain in Seattle, I convinced Adam to do a one day trip to Leavenworth. I was hoping to get a lot of climbing in, but the forecast was against us. (40% chance of rain after 2pm) So we drove into the Icicle and headed straight for Peek-a-Boo Tower to do the three star route Yard Art, but finish with the four star Lawn Darts.

Adam starting the first pitch

It was partly sunny as we hiked up, but we quickly donned jackets for the climb, and I ended up in my shell before leaving the ground. Adam led the first pitch which was varied 5.7 climbing and mostly gear. (I found the crux of the pitch to be a chimney like feature about half way up.) I came up to the belay and got confused by the guide's description of the second pitch. "Scary moves off the belay" was not exactly true, as the first moves off the belay were not scary. Once you clip a bolt, there were some delicate moves (crux of the pitch) left before making a few moves upward where you are able to grab a large crack and the difficulties ease off for the rest of the pitch. I led up this pitch and brought Adam up.

Adam coming up the second pitch

Adam said he'd give the next pitch a go, but balked a bit a few moves from the third clip. He started to down climb a move and I didn't like what I saw and locked him off just before he slipped and fell. He shook himself off without any injury and got back on. He started to do the same moves again but admitted his head wasn't in it after the fall. He backed off and gave the lead to me. I cruised up the spot where he peeled, and made the few delicate maneuvers to reach the next bolt and continue to the top. When I got to the anchor, instead of proceeding to the base of Lawn Darts, I stopped and belayed Adam up. There was a wet patch on Lawn Darts, and I wasn't sure it was possible to do, so I wanted to look at it while I belayed Adam.

Adam cruised the pitch on top rope, and we briefly assessed Lawn Darts from the belay. We agreed the water did not appear to affect the route, and I belayed Adam over to the base of the climb, where he brought me up.

We put the trad rack in our pack, and I counted enough draws to make it to the top. Then I proceeded up. This long pitch starts easily and then reaches a small overlap where I slipped after clipping the bolt. (I did not fall.) That shook me up as I was just standing there, and I think it really messed with my head. I hung for a bit before getting back on. The rock near my feet had a high quartz content, and was quite slippery. I had to work for good foot placements before stepping up onto the overlap, where traction got better. A few moves higher up and there were larger features and eventually some cracks/holes that made the climbing much easier through that section. Around this point, it started to rain slightly. Not enough to make the rock wet yet but enough to make me notice.

Adam at the base of Lawn Darts

The crux of the route comes surmounting a roof. It is easy to get halfway up and clip a bolt above the roof, but I found the next move right to be difficult. In my head I just wanted off the climb, and with the slight rain, I just couldn't motivate to figure out the correct sequence and eventually grabbed the draw to move over. Once in my new position I used some "bigger holds" to gain upward movement and continue to the top. I didn't find the upper section that difficult, but my mind was pretty fried and that always makes climbing feel difficult. At the top I set up a belay and brought Adam up. He hung to rest his calves, and then fell twice at the move right above the roof. Fortunately the rain waited to come down harder until he was at my side. Then we started our rappels.

Rapping in the rain

While we rapped quickly, the rain started coming down harder. By the time we were on our final rap, the rock was wet, and we were getting a little more wet too. We packed up and the rain subsided, only to return again harder about the time we reached the car. Our hopes for other climbs faded, and we headed home to Seattle where it was raining heavily on the west side of the Cascades.

A few interesting items of note. One is that I have been noticing the weather forecasts to be spot on lately. The forecast for Seattle the other day said showers until 11am, and I think they may have lasted until 10:30 before tapering off. Today on route, the rain arrived around 2pm just as forecast. This is interesting, but I have made a new policy of going out to Leavenworth as long as the forecast calls for less than 50% chance of rain. Not sure if I'd apply that same rule to the west side or mountains yet. The other item of note is that Lawn Darts is completely within my capability and I did not climb it that well. I started off with a good head for the climb, but the impending weather and generally lackluster day wore me down. As well as my unexpected slip. I'm not sure there is anything I can do about climbing in weather, but I'll try to be more conscious of my deteriorating head space in the future.

The last of the "old" Nomics"

Hey if you are one of the last to jump on theolder stle Nomic's in late summer or fall of you may have scored more than you first thought.



I bought a spare tool recently for a trip and wanteda mate for my original pair of old style Nomics. Found a fewon saleand ordered from a small retailer the last one they had in stock. It showed up and to my surprize the head was the new version which is able to take the newest Petzl hammer and adze. Pretty cool bonus from Petzl.



Not that big of deal because I use the C-T hammer.Not everyone's choiceso I think it is very cool that some of these older tools made it out with the factoryhammer option available.I really like thenew, and bigger,carabiner clip in the head. Makes it much easier to rack the tools on a biner. Win, win on this one.



Check out the head differences on your tool if it is a recent purchase (Fall of '10) and a old style Nomic.

The Infinite WI5 FFA

The Infinite WI5 Photo by Ray Burnsworth

As I write this blog entry, I sit here tired and satisfied with today's adventure. 28" of new snow fell on the Laurel Highlands from Friday at noon until Saturday at 5:00pm. Roads were in bad shape. Snow was to most, a major nuisance. As the events of our Sunday unfolded, we began to agree with the "most". The cold weather has brought new vigor to the ice climbing in SWPA. Everything is back in good condition and almost could be considered FAT.Ray, Laura and Ihit up our usual Sunday spot only to find the usual 2 lane road slightly larger than one lane.Ray was already there "parked" in the middle of the road.A 4' wall of snow denied us ofour usuallyeasy place to park. After numerous attempted rammings with the whip, we resorted to 40 minutes of shovel duty to clear enough room to park and allow a car to pass.



We took Ray and his car elsewhere to park, otherwise we would have been shoveling X2. We returned to find that someone had shown up to climb and taken advantage of our hard labor. There was a red Jeep Cherokee parked right in our spot(Gotcha...I'm only kidding)Our spot was still clear and we parked without incident.The car was officially parked. All we had todo now was hike in and climb.Not that easy. Todaywas the worst approach I've ever encountered at our little local crag. Our approach is normallya leisurely15min. stroll. Today it was 45 min. ofpost holeing in 3+ feet of snow. I've never sweated so much going downhill. It was a balmy10° as we reached the base of our climb hot, soaked and miserable.I was first onethere, so I proceed to stamp out an area for the 3 of us toinhabit while we got ready to climb and forRay to shoot some video from. You can check out some of his stuff here Wildfilm Productions

Ray Burnsworth ready to video at camp2

I chose to trythe line left of The Sick-le again. It rejected Joel Torretti and I about a monthago. We tried to send it, butwereboth utlimately shut down.The line had been top ropedseveral timesover the years, but it still eluded a FFA.The climbing is often found to be much harderand steeper thanexpected. A common reaction is"That thing is overhung!"Ican't say if its truly overhung, but it is steep and funkified right now. The single digit temps, large amounts of snow, and a nice feed of water has formed thisline into a wild 3Dlandscape.The climb went very well despite the mass removal of crust,snow and daggers. The pitch wasdemanding. It was apprx. 100' long and took1hr and 10min to complete.

My gloves were soaked and inserious need of wax on the palms. The snow on myunwaxed palms had me climbing up on my 2nd grips where I seemed to not be slipping off as much. I lowered from a couple screws and Laura tied in to 2nd. She loved the climb. She found the climb to be a lot of fun and opted to take a second lap hooking up through the blobs and sicles.

When she came down I went up, Threaded it out and lowered off. We decided to name the route The Infinite WI5. Due to the infinite amount of snow wereceivedon attempted days. We packed up our gear and made the uphill trudge out. It was nice to have broken trail downhill on the way in. It made the uphill at least slightly better than it could've been.

Laura post climb, 10° and wearing puffy pants

Still it tookwaaaaaay longer than normal. The large snowfall madethe day a little harder on us, but the beautiful landscape, great climbing and friends made it worth the efforts. Hope your day was just as good! CheersThe happy climbing couple

Next week. A Sick-le attempt? Its almost in...

A few phtosRay took today

Travelin' thru Tennessee

As I left Indiana on Sunday morning, I wasn't too concerned with what the weather was doing in Kentucky and Tennessee. According to reports, the ice and snow would have finished falling before I got there. And the reports were right, but it sure did leave a "mess" all along the I-40 corridor from Oklahoma to the Carolinas and Virginia. Interstate 65 was clear all the way but through Nashville the exit and entrance ramps were in horrible shape and from what I saw on the news many of the secondary roads were still snow covered and icy this morning.

When I left Nashville yesterday morning, the sun was shining brightly and blue skies abounded. In the aftermath of the winter storm, Mother Nature left behind a wonderland of ice coated trees, grass, and bushes. These photos were taken as I was driving on I-65 between Nashville and Columbia on Monday morning. The bottom photo was taken through the (very dirty, salt coated) driver's side window. Once over the mountains and south of Columbia, there was no ice or snow and the temperature was a balmy 50 degrees. Nice.

Santa Barbara Scenic

Tall Mexican fan palms line the beach in Santa Barbara. The Santa Ynez mountains rise in the background.

Gunks Routes: Unnamed (Pitch 1 5.0), Dis-Mantel (5.10b) & Dat-Mantel (5.10b)

(Photo: Gail giving Dis-Mantel (5.10b)a try.)



Did I mention that I am on vacation?



I am at the beach. I cannot go rock climbing.



But I am going to try to catch up on my posting.



I have been on the hunt for the easy 5.10 climbs at the Gunks. The climbs on the Mantel block seemed like maybe they would be good candidates. They are short climbs up the sixty-foot block, with roof cruxes.



But those one-move cruxes can be stiff for the grade. I was also worried that these climbs might not be very good, a waste of time.



I had bugged Gail to do these climbs with me for the last few months. We finally got around to them on Friday.



I decided to start with Dis-Mantel, the climb on the right. From the ground it seemed to me that I could get pro in the flake at the first, 5.10b roof. And I thought I might have better luck on Dis-Mantel than on the climb to the left; the roof on Dat-Mantel looked incredibly large.



the early moves up to the first roof on Dis-Mantel were simple enough. But the pro in the flake at the lip was kind of iffy. I got a green Camalot to sit in there but I wasn't absolutely sure about it. I had a rock solid piece back where the roof met the wall but I wanted something higher. There was absolutely no pro up over the roof.



I can't remember if I ever really tested that green Camalot. What I do remember is that I couldn't figure out the move at all. I kept going up and climbing down, trying this and trying that. There was a good hold that was very very far away. I'd read that the climb was height-dependent but this was ridiculous. I couldn't figure out how anyone could reach it. I tried under-clinging the roof, I tried using the flake as a side pull. I tried holding on to various parts of the shallow left-facing corner above the roof. I tried using a little fingerlock seam below the jug. Eventually I decided to give up, climb down a few moves and try Dat-Mantel to the left.






(Photo: Getting the holds above the lip of the roof on Dat-Mantel (5.10b).)



I found a few interesting moves on my way over to the Dat-Mantel roof. I was still below the roof, confronting a thin move up an orange face, when I realized that I didn't have any of my big cams. I'd left my blue # 3 in my bag and I'd somehow used both my red # 1 and my yellow # 2 below. I could see that I needed at least one bigger cam for the horizontal beneath the roof. And who knew what I might need above?



I was trying to decide what to do about this problem when it started raining.



This was the excuse I needed. Things weren't exactly going in my direction anyway. I decided to bail. I backed up my top piece and had Gail lower me, thinking when the rain stopped one of us could go up Unnamed, the climb that ascends the left side of the Mantel block at 5.0, to set up a top rope and retrieve the gear.



When I got to the ground the rain stopped before it even really began. So I led up Unnamed, a climb that has a 5.3 second pitch above the Mantel block. The first pitch, which goes up the left side of the block, is just 5.0. It isn't bad climbing for 5.0. It's better than Dirty Chimney, for sure. The pro is a little funky. There are big vertical cracks but they are flaring. At one point there are three old pitons hammered into one crack, right on top of one another. Maybe they were put in as practice placements, forty or fifty years ago?



Up atop the block is a stone with several ratty old slings and a couple of newish ones threaded. This anchor is well placed for Dat-Mantel. You don't even need a directional.



Gail took the first stab at Dat-Mantel on toprope. She looked a little shaky at the thin move up the orange face below the roof, where I had given up the lead. Then I got the benefit of watching her figure out the huge overhang, which surely helped me when it was my turn. Still, I was happy with how it went when it was my turn. I figured out an easier way to get through the orange face. And I went at the roof a little differently than she did. She crimped up to the horizontal above the roof using some holds that looked truly awful. I had a notion that it would be easier to get up there if I moved a little to the right and this turned out to be a good call. Then I threw a heel, pivoted up, and presto-- I had done it on the first try.



Dat-Mantel is a nice little climb. There are a few nice moves below the roof, and then the roof itself is a good challenge. It is well-protected, too. There is a good slot right where the underside of the roof meets the wall, and then once you get the horizontal above the roof, but before you attempt pulling over, you can get another solid placement. I wish I had been more insistent on going ahead with the lead of this climb. If I'd tried it first instead of Dis-Mantel maybe I would have done it.



I hope to go back this year and send Dat-Mantel on lead.



Dis-Mantel, on the other hand, remains a mystery, and I don't think I will be heading back to lead it. Neither Gail nor I could figure it out, even on top rope. (We set it up from the same threaded station, using a directional placement.) And I'm still not sure how I feel about that cam in the flake at the crux roof. There aren't any cracks for pro above the roof, so even if the cam in the flake holds I don't really like the thought of the fall at that roof if you blow it on lead. The second (5.8) roof also looks to have funky pro. Each of us tried it on top rope by cheating around the first roof to the right, doing the Kernmantle crux before heading left to the second Dis-Mantel roof. Gail had no problem with the second roof but I was so hot and tired by the time I got up there that I blew it once before pulling through it on the second try.



If someone would take me up Dis-Mantel and show me what I'm doing wrong, I'd appreciate it! I still feel reasonably good about the effort. I was safe about it, explored around the roof without losing control, and climbed down when I correctly decided I was out of my depth.

Fork vs Frame

At the D2R2 last weekend I met a cyclist who was riding a hastily assembled spare bike, after breaking the fork on his custom randonneur just before the event. Riding off road, he'd hit a log at full speed and the forkcracked from the impact, right at the Grand Bois crown. However, the frame and front wheel appear undamaged.








His experience reminded me of a conversation about fork vs frame strength the guys at Circle A Cycles were having when I visited them a week earlier. They brought out an older racing frameset that had suffered a similar impact as the D2R2 rider's bike. However, in this case the fork was fine while the front triangle of the frame had buckled from the impact.






Apparently, when a particular stye of Cinelli sloping fork crown came out in the 1980s with its corresponding straight, short fork blades, some framebuilders complained that the resulting forks were too strong - causing frames to suffer damage on impact. A less rigid fork would be able to absorb the impact and save the frame. And it is easier to make a new fork than a new frame.






I just thought all of this was interesting, because the relative strength of the frame vs fork is something that even framebuilders don't always think about. But these dynamics are worth considering. A super-lightweigth steel frame paired with a super-rigid, strong fork may not necessarily be a great idea. The Circle A customer will be getting their frame rebuilt around the intact rear triangle. The D2R2 rider will most likely be getting a new fork made. I am curious and will follow up on both framesets.

Ishihara cat test

What number do you see in the following picture?



When we went for a walk over the weekend, we were followed by a large dog and a little Dusty camo cat.

This picture reminded me of those round pebbly tests for colorblindness, so I looked up the name just now (Ishihara). I was surprised to also learn that up to eight percent of men may be colorblind. That goes a long way towards proving the theory that men don't talk. Sure they talk, some more than others, but... well, numbers don't lie.

If you'd asked me yesterday, I'd have said that in all my life, I'd only known two colorblind men. One was my grandfather, and when my step-uncle told me about it (during some fairly recent geneological questioning) I was astounded. I was 18 when he died and had never suspected. Never had a clue. Neither he nor my father had ever told me. (And this wasn't some distant grandfather in another state who I only saw once or twice a year. This was Pop, who ate supper with us almost every night of the week.)

The other colorblind man I'd known was the boyfriend of a roommate, and actually it was my (female) roommate who'd told me. Probably when I'd known her for a few months.

Can you imagine knowing a woman for any length of time at all and not knowing that she was colorblind? Only one half of one percent of women are born colorblind, so it's not surprising to never have met one. But to think that up to one in twelve men are colorblind...! Now I can't stop wondering how many colorblind men I may have known. And how they could possibly keep such a thing to themselves.

The article referenced above does go on to say:

From a practical stand point though, many protanomalous and deuteranomalous people breeze through life with very little difficulty doing tasks that require normal color vision. Some may not even be aware that their color perception is in any way different from normal. The only problem they have is passing color vision tests.

I used to have a periwinkle dress that I loved and wore often. You could also call it lavender-blue. I realized that different people called it different colors. I mistakenly called it cornflower blue myself at first, because in truth it was between a cornflower blue and a periwinkle. A dark periwinkle, you might say. But nobody else said that. They only ever said it was purple, or sometimes, blue. People thought I was nuts because I'd always go around asking, "What color would you say this dress was?" But I never did figure out if people called it just "purple" or "blue" due to different color perceptions, or lack of a colorful vocabulary, or what. Maybe they just wanted to get rid of me in a hurry.

Wow, I'm really rambling now. If you've stuck around to read all of this, I really like you a lot, even if you're colorblind and haven't told me.

Roadrunner & Horned Toad

This is the full view of the roadrunner with the horned toad climbing up the tree truck.

Cool Blue Borage

A drop of water on a borage flower.

Anti-Theft Cozy

Spotted around Harvard Square, this road bike is sporting a green knitted U-lock cover!

Knitting a "cozy" for your U-Lock is a fabulous and pretty hilarious idea. But if I think about it, there might be more to it. The hand-knitted cover humanizes the owner of the bicycle. It calls attention to the deeply personal anxieties over the safety of our cherished belongings. If cruel acts are possible because the perpetrator depersonalises the victim, then perhaps this piece of knitted handywork will disrupt that process by evoking empathy.

Edited to add: After searching for "knitted U-Lock cover" on google, I've discovered this post from Bikes and the City. Bi-coastal trend?

Aerial Mount Rainier, Climbing Route Images

Moving the bear aside... This picture tells a long story. Here is Mount Rainier on May 30, 2006. I was able to capture a few climbing route images during a flight.

A series of recent storms dumped a lot of snow on the mountain. In some places, there were reports of 3 feet. There are rumors that more is expected later this week too. Winter is not over...

Today, however, climbers contended with blue bird skies and light breezes (and quite a bit of postholing.) The tracks indicated that a few made the summit too! Here, two climbers took on the arduous task of breaking trail up the Emmons Glacier... It didn't appear as if anyone else was on the route either. These climbers are at roughly 11,400 feet, exiting the top of the corridor to the left.

Parties were having a hard time making it to Camp Schurman until Sunday, so it's good to see a team getting up the route. This may mark the first successful ascent of the route in 2006.

And here is a nice image of the Ingraham Direct and Disappointment Cleaver routes. The green line traced the visible climbing route up the Disappointment Cleaver. Notice how directly it climbs the spin of the cleaver... Nice...

More images later, this week. All images by Mike Gauthier

Custer State Park :: Bighorn Sheep

Wednesday, August 24th - - After spending not quite five hours in Badlands National Park, and with temperatures into the 90s, I was hot and tired. Route 44 took me toward Rapid City but my destination for the night was a little to the south, Custer State Park.



As it turned out, all campsites in that park are by reservation only. However, you can call in when you get there to make a reservation. As a non-resident of South Dakota, I also had the privilege of paying an extra fee to make that reservation! In addition to that fee, the park charges $15 for an entrance pass, which is good for seven days. Most other South Dakota parks also have an entrance fee but much smaller and good for just one day. Custer Park “did away” with the daily pass last year.



Anyway, I was assigned a site at the Center Lake (I think it was) campground. It's a large park and I don't remember how many campgrounds there are, perhaps half a dozen or so. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon and I was driving on a hilly, curvy road to the campground, which was about ten miles from the entrance, when I came upon two cars stopped in the road. I could see several bighorn sheep right alongside the road and rather impatiently wished that the drivers ahead would move on so I could get close enough for a picture.



After a few minutes they did move on and I slowly drove up next to the sheep and stopped, having already put the passenger window down. I was able to get off one shot when several motorcycles came from the opposite direction and another shot as the bighorn sheep scrambled down the side of the hill and into the woods.







When I took this photo, I was a little disappointed that the sheep had turned away. However, I think it really shows the size of those horns rather nicely!





A cropped version of the above photo.

All in all, it was a rather incredible day! I'd like to return to the Badlands some time when it isn't quite so hot and take a few of the trails that I missed this time.

Ah yes, the smell of Spring in the mountains!

Fresh avi debristoday. And terrible ski conditions. Ya'll be careful out there! Double click for the full effect.