I think that I must have too much time on my hands. I am striving to learn html and css to better understand how to do my blog and possibly my own website. The older you get the more difficult it is to learn something new but I am going to give it a go.
If anyone has any tips please let me know.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The Field Lab and such other nonsense
I mentioned in an earlier post that John Wells, a New York photographer, had exited his busy world of high-fashion photography to move to Terlinqua, Texas and live off the grid. The New York Times recently sent a writer and photographer down to do a piece on John and his lifestyle. The article can be found at the following link.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/garden/10texas.html
John lives one of those lives that I would love to live but would never have the nerve nor the recklessness to live, but I really like to think about it. I am perfectly happy living my life as it is, but there is a certain romance and nostalgia to live out in the old, wild west living on nothing but your wits. Any way it is always a good start to my day.
John has a very small cast of characters and places that are interspersed into his daily blog. Belinda, an adopted long horn cow meanders in and out of his daily life. Belinda has become a small time favorite face book page and coffee mugs can be ordered from John with her likeness on the cup. Floppy is a burro that hangs out at the field lab and usually is in to some sort of mischief. John operates a live web cam of the field lab at his website and Floppy is always knocking it over.
Some friends of John are two western cowboy singers Brent Lovelady and William Rich, better known in west Texas as the Bent Lovehandles. They recently released their first album called "Sacred Order of the Lonely Hearts" which can be purchased from iTunes for $9.98. Brent and William play at local establishments in and around Big Bend National Park and can be seen at the Starlight Theater, a favorite haunt of John and many Big Benders who frequent the area. Brent actually created a YouTube video of a song he wrote and performed at the Field Lab.
John seems to enjoy his notoriety and seems to enjoy entertaining visitors a the field lab. So if you are in the area and would like to enjoy the company of a true individual, give John a call.
John lives one of those lives that I would love to live but would never have the nerve nor the recklessness to live, but I really like to think about it. I am perfectly happy living my life as it is, but there is a certain romance and nostalgia to live out in the old, wild west living on nothing but your wits. Any way it is always a good start to my day.
John has a very small cast of characters and places that are interspersed into his daily blog. Belinda, an adopted long horn cow meanders in and out of his daily life. Belinda has become a small time favorite face book page and coffee mugs can be ordered from John with her likeness on the cup. Floppy is a burro that hangs out at the field lab and usually is in to some sort of mischief. John operates a live web cam of the field lab at his website and Floppy is always knocking it over.
Some friends of John are two western cowboy singers Brent Lovelady and William Rich, better known in west Texas as the Bent Lovehandles. They recently released their first album called "Sacred Order of the Lonely Hearts" which can be purchased from iTunes for $9.98. Brent and William play at local establishments in and around Big Bend National Park and can be seen at the Starlight Theater, a favorite haunt of John and many Big Benders who frequent the area. Brent actually created a YouTube video of a song he wrote and performed at the Field Lab.
John seems to enjoy his notoriety and seems to enjoy entertaining visitors a the field lab. So if you are in the area and would like to enjoy the company of a true individual, give John a call.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Everyday life
No hiking this weekend and that is a shame (maybe I go out Sunday and get in a short day hike). I am working on a new piece of business (I actually do work for a living. Yes. it is true) and they want to have a conference call at 10 am on a Saturday morning.
So now it looks like I will get out next weekend and do some hiking in the Bankhead National Forest with the Sierra Club group. Yes, I joined the Sierra Club. I used to be a member when I was in Louisiana but it lapsed over time. So I am back to being a tree hugger. Not really but I am concerned about the environment and I want to preserve the wilderness areas, national forests and public lands for future use.
I enjoyed the Sierra Club meeting night before last. Jay Hudson's presentation was very informative and insightful. He basically talked about the diversity of plant and animal life in Alabama and how quickly that diversity is beginning to diminish. Alabama has the lowest amount of public lands as a percentage of total land in the US. That means the availability of parks, wildernesses and national forests in Alabama is very limited. If we only had a median share what a boost to tourism that would be. Unfortunately our politicians are too short sighted to see that.
The explorer has a leak in the radiator and I need to get that fixed in the next week or so. I need the ability to be mobile without leaving Karen without a car so the time is now.
Just thought I would throw in a picture of the basin in Big Bend National Park. I am ready to go back.
If you have not checked out The Field Lab blog I encourage you to. I think it is self assuming on my part that I am writing like I am talking to someone. I just assume at a point in time someone will actually come and read about my little corner of the world.
So now it looks like I will get out next weekend and do some hiking in the Bankhead National Forest with the Sierra Club group. Yes, I joined the Sierra Club. I used to be a member when I was in Louisiana but it lapsed over time. So I am back to being a tree hugger. Not really but I am concerned about the environment and I want to preserve the wilderness areas, national forests and public lands for future use.
I enjoyed the Sierra Club meeting night before last. Jay Hudson's presentation was very informative and insightful. He basically talked about the diversity of plant and animal life in Alabama and how quickly that diversity is beginning to diminish. Alabama has the lowest amount of public lands as a percentage of total land in the US. That means the availability of parks, wildernesses and national forests in Alabama is very limited. If we only had a median share what a boost to tourism that would be. Unfortunately our politicians are too short sighted to see that.
The explorer has a leak in the radiator and I need to get that fixed in the next week or so. I need the ability to be mobile without leaving Karen without a car so the time is now.
Just thought I would throw in a picture of the basin in Big Bend National Park. I am ready to go back.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
I have been busy with life
I have been negligent in my duties to my blog for the last couple of weeks. I have not been hiking or camping since my ill-fated trip on the Pinhoti, but I have not given up my passion, just life getting in the way. Nothing earth shattering or newsworthy, just moving furniture, bad weather and some light yard work.
Tonight I will attend my first meeting of the Cahaba River Sierra Club meeting at the Hoover Library. Jay Hudson, a volunteer leader of my hiking club and a true naturalist, is giving a presentation on the fauna of the Alabama woods and forests. I am not a big joiner and certainly do not consider myself much of an activist but I like Jay and want to hear what he has to present. I certainly want to see our wilderness and forest areas preserved and given the state of the economy it may be left up to us to make sure that happens.
I will file a report tomorrow and let everyone know how the meeting went.
PS. I have discovered a blog that I find truly interesting. I know you will not be surprised that it is about the Big Bend area. A gentleman by the name of John Wells, a former fashion photographer from New York, sold everything he had, purchased 60 acres outside of the gates of Big Bend, and built a one room house off the grid.
John blogs everyday about his adventures of living alone, living off the grid and truly living by his own wits. You can find him at http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/
He was recently visited and written about by the New York Times.
Tonight I will attend my first meeting of the Cahaba River Sierra Club meeting at the Hoover Library. Jay Hudson, a volunteer leader of my hiking club and a true naturalist, is giving a presentation on the fauna of the Alabama woods and forests. I am not a big joiner and certainly do not consider myself much of an activist but I like Jay and want to hear what he has to present. I certainly want to see our wilderness and forest areas preserved and given the state of the economy it may be left up to us to make sure that happens.
I will file a report tomorrow and let everyone know how the meeting went.
PS. I have discovered a blog that I find truly interesting. I know you will not be surprised that it is about the Big Bend area. A gentleman by the name of John Wells, a former fashion photographer from New York, sold everything he had, purchased 60 acres outside of the gates of Big Bend, and built a one room house off the grid.
John blogs everyday about his adventures of living alone, living off the grid and truly living by his own wits. You can find him at http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/
He was recently visited and written about by the New York Times.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Odyssey of paying AARP dues for 13 years
We all have heard the terms "the new 40's" or "the new 50's" and the like. In a lot of ways these terms are accurate and reflect the changes in lifestyles, technology and medical advances. But from time to time you come to face with reality that you are getting older and you have to try harder to stay ahead of Father Time.
I came face to face with this reality a couple of weekends ago when hiking on the Pinhoti Trail just north of Mt. Cheaha. As I related in an earlier post I was stricken with a case of heat exhaustion on a warm but not necessarily hot day in Alabama. Surely something must have been wrong with me to have such a hard time. Certainly it could not have been anything that I did or did not do on that day to cause me such stress.
Well, off to see Dr. Rene to find out what malady has stricken my body. Surely all my arteries must have been blocked or I had malaria or some esoteric jungle disease. Dr. Rene took the mandatory blood samples and then sent me off to see the cardiologist and a nuclear stress test disguised in the name of cardiolite stress test. Thursday morning I showed up at this fancy health club on Highway 119 operated by St. Vincent's Hospital. There were three other people taking the test that morning and they were all older and fatter than I. I am of course rationalizing that some mistake had been made putting me with such an unhealthy group.
When my turn came after being prepped with some sort of radioactive isotope, I hopped up on the treadmill and performed for the technician. She gave me the same comment that most nurses and doctors give me-"Did you know that your heart rate is low?" Every medical person since my early teens have made the same comment. "Yes, I do know that and should I be concerned?"
Well, the test went very well and I was told that I am in very good physical shape and my heart and plumbing is doing well. It was obvious that they are not "Dr. House" who surely would have diagnosed me with some sort of dengue fever or a bite of the African Tse-Tse fly.
But since this did not happen I guess I will face the real issue and that is I am getting older and must put in more work that my younger counterparts just to be able to have a comparable result as they. So the effort must be continual or I will digress into not being able to do what I want to do. Even though the 60's are now the new 50's, I have concluded that to be general statement and not a complete truth. We baby boomers are going to have to continue to work harder to accomplish what we used to be able to do in our sleep.
I came face to face with this reality a couple of weekends ago when hiking on the Pinhoti Trail just north of Mt. Cheaha. As I related in an earlier post I was stricken with a case of heat exhaustion on a warm but not necessarily hot day in Alabama. Surely something must have been wrong with me to have such a hard time. Certainly it could not have been anything that I did or did not do on that day to cause me such stress.
Well, off to see Dr. Rene to find out what malady has stricken my body. Surely all my arteries must have been blocked or I had malaria or some esoteric jungle disease. Dr. Rene took the mandatory blood samples and then sent me off to see the cardiologist and a nuclear stress test disguised in the name of cardiolite stress test. Thursday morning I showed up at this fancy health club on Highway 119 operated by St. Vincent's Hospital. There were three other people taking the test that morning and they were all older and fatter than I. I am of course rationalizing that some mistake had been made putting me with such an unhealthy group.
When my turn came after being prepped with some sort of radioactive isotope, I hopped up on the treadmill and performed for the technician. She gave me the same comment that most nurses and doctors give me-"Did you know that your heart rate is low?" Every medical person since my early teens have made the same comment. "Yes, I do know that and should I be concerned?"
Well, the test went very well and I was told that I am in very good physical shape and my heart and plumbing is doing well. It was obvious that they are not "Dr. House" who surely would have diagnosed me with some sort of dengue fever or a bite of the African Tse-Tse fly.
But since this did not happen I guess I will face the real issue and that is I am getting older and must put in more work that my younger counterparts just to be able to have a comparable result as they. So the effort must be continual or I will digress into not being able to do what I want to do. Even though the 60's are now the new 50's, I have concluded that to be general statement and not a complete truth. We baby boomers are going to have to continue to work harder to accomplish what we used to be able to do in our sleep.
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