Blog

  • Volunteer : 42/100

    Volunteer : 42/100

    My local trail group, Mancos Trails, has made an adjustment to how volunteer trail work is going to happen this year. Usually they would meet as a group on a section of trail and go to work. All of the tools would be provided and delivered to the site. Volunteers would show up and work then go home.

    This year we have the COVID pandemic going on and group activities are being limited, severely. The trail group works along with the United States Forest Service to maintain a section of trail known as the Mancos Spur. Currently the USFS is restricting volunteer efforts in part of the attempt to combat the pandemic.

    Part of this is that large groups cannot work on the trail together, unless they are isolating together. To accommodate this the trail group is organizing an adopt a trail program. In this program we will be assigned sections of the trail which we can then work on our own, or with anyone in our isolation group.

    As an added perk the trail group is distributing tools to everyone for the season. More tools are always welcome and tools for building trails will be helpful for building my trails. They even mentioned that one of them would be a Rogue Hoe.

    We will have 3 goals for trail work this season:

    1. Cut back brush from the trails.
    2. Repair or improve trail tread.
    3. Report any larger trail issues or issues that we were not able to complete.

    For part 3 we are using an app called Survey 123 that adds data to the USFS’s ArcGIS data for the area. This allows us to quickly and easily add a GPS point with notes and photos. If say a large tree needs to be chainsawed we will be able to let the USFS crews know exactly where they need to go.

    Overall I am excited about adopting a stretch of trail and working it this summer.

    Workout detail

    I got up and rode my bike before work today. It was a great feeling to get up and get things done before work. I had a nice breakfast and then rode up and down the highway doing a few intervals for about an hour.

  • Wordflow : 41/100

    Scripting.com is a blog run by Dave Winer. Dave helped invent RSS which does a lot of behind the scenes things to make blogs work. Anyway Dave blogs, a lot, and has lots of things to say about blogging. He had a recent tweet talking about how he uses Twitter for first drafts. Its part of his ‘wordflow’.

    I dig the term and idea of wordflow. Everything written starts in our heads caused by something else. Finding methods and ways of capturing those thoughts and bouncing them off of other people is a lot of what the web is about.

    I am using WordPress to write my thoughts down and then publish them for anyone on the web to read. There is a lot of complicated stuff happening when I use WP to do this but I don’t think about much of it. I just write, add photos (which I spend time on optimizing), and click Publish.

    Just over a year and a half ago WP pushed out an updated editor called Gutenberg. Before I started this site I had used Gutenberg, but not too much. Now I am using it daily and I have to say that I am sold on it, from a writing perspective.

    For writing it is very fluid and easy to use. There are occasional issues where a selection acts strange, but I just have to click somewhere on the screen with my mouse and everything is fine. The layout looks much nicer than the old editor. I think this is something that a lot of people overlook/dismiss about writing software. If I don’t enjoy working in the editor I probably won’t use it as much.

    Using Microsoft Word to write anything is annoying to me because the app itself is very cluttered. When I am writing I don’t need bold, italics, alignment, tab limiting, and all of the other options available in the tool bar. This is how the WP editor used to be. Now it is almost empty by default, and with the click of an ‘X’ in the upper right corner the screen is almost all writing space.

    Adding a link is as easy as copying the URL, highlighting the text, and hitting the enter button. Gutenberg creates the link and I can keep on writing. If you want an internal link highlight the text and either click on the link icon fly-out or press ⌘K. Then start typing and it searches through existing posts or pages. Hit enter and keep on writing.

    Before Gutenberg I would write in another app like Drafts or Ulysses, but now I write everything in Gutenberg. Its not as smooth as a native app but it is close enough.

    Now everything is stored in WordPress. This means it is easier to find everything and drafts are that much closer to being Published.

    Workout details

    I have almost fallen off the wagon with my workouts. I have not been getting up early enough to exercise before work. I can fix this by going to sleep sooner. Today I did get some strength training in and then walked enough to close my activity rings on the watch.

  • Forty : 40/100

    Forty : 40/100

    This featured photo is of Hesperus Mountain located east of us in the La Plata Mountains of the San Juan Mountains, in southwest Colorado. The summit is at 13,237 ft which is pretty damn high. I have not hiked Hesperus but I have been on the trails to the north and south.

    Workout Detail

    It was super cold this morning so I didn’t get nuthin done before work. Then we had dinner with friends, outdoors, and suddenly it was nighttime. Kate walked a few laps with me and then I walked a bunch more to get my rings closed.

    I haven’t been riding my bike as much lately. This is due to the high winds and also I have been enjoying working on the trails. Kate and I walk them every evening and talk about the day and plans for the land. I try to get a lap or two in on the smaller loops at least once before work starts. The walking meditation aspect is very comforting.

  • Winter in June : 39/100

    Winter in June : 39/100

    Getting some winter in June here in southwestern Colorado tonight. It was 46 at sunset. Now it is 41 and it will hit a low of 32 tonight. The mountains got a dusting of snow.

    Workout detail

    Back on strength training today. I did the recommended routine and felt ok on pull ups. I changed my hand positions between sets to see if that helped. It kinda did but overall pull ups are hard.

  • Easy Sunday ride : 38/100

    Easy Sunday ride : 38/100

    Last weekend we hung drywall all weekend, which means we didn’t get a long weekend ride in. The long weekend ride is particular because there are almost no time constraints on the ride. You can take your time, go further, or spend some time having a coffee.

    Today was also a pretty windy day and was still coming from the southeast. Our initial plan had been to ride northwest to Dolores but that would mean there would be a headwind on the return. So we changed plans and rode southeast towards Mancos and then south of town through some of the farming roads.

    We fought the wind all the way out and then got a nice push back to Mancos. We stopped at the local bakery for some coffee and baked goods. I also had taken 2 apples with me from home to snack on during the ride. I find that 1 apple per hour is good for 2 hours or riding. More than that and I add peanuts and dates to the additional apples.

    There isn’t much better for clearing your head than going for a nice bike ride. When the wind is howling makes it better cause you have no time for day dreaming. Its about pushing your legs and getting over the hill.

    Workout detail

    Went for a bike ride with Kate and Bill.

  • Windy day : 37/100

    Windy day : 37/100

    Woke up at 2am to the trailer shaking and the wind howling. The forecast for the day was that it would be windy but I didn’t expect it to show up at 2am. Not only did it keep me awake but Dazey does not do well with storms either. She was in the bed with us all night.

    The forecast was pretty accurate for the rest of the day. We has some rain with hail and lots of wind gusts. Its just relentless wind and the direction shifts regularly. On my drive to Home Depot about 40 minutes away I got blown around a bit. At one point there was about a mile of road with an inch or two of hail. I must have missed that part of the storm by minutes.

    One nice thing about windy days is that the temperatures tend to stay low. This was the case today and I appreciated it while working on the eastern end of the fence-line trail. The trail now connects from the western end to the eastern with the road as the return route. In total its about a 0.8 mile loop.

    The next step will be getting the northern end done so the full loop is on trail.

    Workout detail

    I spent 2 hours working on the trail. My elbow is feeling a little sore. Iced it a few times this evening. Now for bed.

  • Best laid plans : 36/100

    Yesterday I posted about taking a photo of the full moon rising. It was gonna be epic as it was happening within ten minutes of sunset.

    Unfortunately we had an overcast night tonight:

    oh well

    Sometimes you shoot for the moon and you get ‘nuthin!

    Workout details

    Got in a strength workout after work. It was raining lightly so I stayed cool. Pull ups felt good but my right elbow is getting some jolts of pain. They fade quickly but I need to keep an eye on not pushing too hard.

  • Shooting the Moon : 35/100

    Shooting the Moon : 35/100

    Tomorrow night is a full moon and I want to get some photos of it rising. To do this I first figure out where and when the moon is going to rise. I like using an app called The Photographer’s Ephemeris or TPE:

    The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) helps you plan outdoor photography shoots in natural light, particularly landscape and urban scenes. It’s a map-centric sun and moon calculator: see how the light will fall on the land, day or night, for any location on earth.

    TPE marketing talk

    For tomorrow night this is what it tells me about the moon rise:

    The blue background represents light pollution. Darker is better.

    Now they have an AR feature that lets you visualize where the moon will rise on the horizon:

    I will either open the blinds or go outside tomorrow.

    Now I know where and when I need to be. The trick is to have all batteries charged and an empty memory card. Gonna want a tripod and a telephoto lens as well.

    Workout details

    Today was a bit of a mess. I had to run errands in the morning and then we had guests after dinner. I got some walks in but could have used more. Tomorrow I will get a ride in.

  • Cold Shower : 34/100

    Cold Shower : 34/100

    I have always been a long shower person. As a kid I would run the water heater empty and annoy the shit out of my family. My dad tried getting me to be more reasonable and I got a little better. However, to this day I love taking a long hot shower.

    Except when its warm outside. If the weather is warm then I have to finish my showers on cold. This has the double effect of cooling me off and waking me up better than any cup of coffee.

    I grew up in the mountains of Colorado where the spa and sauna life is everywhere. Beating the winter cold is all about getting ridiculously hot and then jumping into a cold pool or snowbank. The shock to the body was always talked about as therapeutic for sore muscles.

    In recent years the cold shower/bath therapy has been championed by Wim Hof. With his self titled Method, Mr. Hof (not to be confused with the Hoff) has pushed cold therapy into the zeitgiest. It uses a combination of breathing technique with cold showers to help practitioners with: “increased energy, better sleep, reduced stress levels, heightened focus & determination, increased willpower, and a stronger immune system”.

    From a scientific standpoint there is no good evidence that this method will cure any disease. However there is plenty of anecdotal experience to show that it has some benefits. For a couple hundred dollars you can get video lessons from Mr. Hof himself.

    For me getting the cold shower in the morning does a lot to help cool me down and get me focused. Going from hot to cold water takes a little practice. Personally I find that having it hit my head only to start with helps. It gets the initial jolt out of the way and hits your face. Once you recover from that shock getting the rest of your body cold is a little easier. Generally I try for at least 30 seconds. Sometimes I forget to turn on the trailer’s water heater and take the entire shower cold.

    Workout Details

    Today I had a hankerin for strength training. I took a 2 week break and was ready to get back to it. I setup my pull up bar in a new spot out in the center of our land. My pull ups are feeling very consistent. I feel I am now pulling the entire movement through my shoulders, arms, and lats. When I lower down it is controlled and smooth. I did 4 sets of 3 and may have enjoyed pull ups for the first time in a long time.

    This morning I spent 30 minutes working the fence-line trail. Its progressing well.

  • WTF? : 33/100

    WTF? : 33/100

    Its hard to think of what to write about right now that doesn’t address the elephant in the room. The US, the country that I live in, is continuing to fracture across ideologies at a lightning pace.

    I remember the Rodney King video in 1991 and watching it on TV. I was 15 years old and had grown up in the mountains of Colorado. I played ice hockey and we would travel to Denver most weekends during the season. This exposed me to the city, but mostly to the suburbs. Basically nothing really happened while I grew up.

    Then the Rodney King video came out showing several Los Angeles police officers ruthlessly beat Mr King. News organizations around the world picked it up and broadcast it constantly. It seemed really hard to believe that Mr King was fighting back somehow, which was the defense of the officers. At 15 I knew it was wrong and that the officers needed to be held accountable for their actions.

    Fast forward one year and the trial of the 4 officers charged had them all acquitted. Los Angeles blew up. For 6 days people reacted to the verdict with anger and violence. Many people died, the camera footage was graphic and constantly on TV.

    Today I am watching hundreds of Rodney Kings and LA riots unfold at the same time. The police response across the country has varied from horrific to humanizing. I mentioned at work earlier that I am still in shock about it all.

    I started searching for how to be a white person and fight racism. My thinking was that I can use logic and reason to become a better white person. The good news is that you don’t have to study too much. You just treat everyone with the respect that you expect from them. Regardless of their skin color, sexual orientation, education, employment, or choice of music.

    Then we need to talk about this to everyone we know. I have friends and family that don’t treat everyone with respect. There are a myraid of reasons they think this way and I try to talk with them about it. Helping people see their prejudices is difficult but rewarding.

    Also we need to vote, but politics is a whole other can of worms.

    Workout detail

    Finally got on the bike for the first time in many days. It felt good to ride up the road a bit. Once I was warmed up I came back and road the fence-line loop a few times. It still needs a lot of grooming but its a fun loop around the property. Kate and I also did the post dinner trail walk.