Tag: Male

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Hiking

Here is a picture of one of the places that I’ve been hiking lately.
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As you can see it gets a lot more rugged the higher up you go. This is at about 6750 FT above sea level. It’s also less than a mile from my house.

Whats interesting is that even though I live here in the mountains I’m supposed to pay for something called an Adventure Pass from the Forestry Service.

Sorry guys, not happening. I park my car at my own house, I leave no traces, no trash or whatever. I pack out whatever I carry in. So I’m not paying…

I’m planning to head further up this area.

Obviously I’ll wait until there is no snow and it hasn’t rained in a long time. This is a wash, and all those rocks and trees you see strewn about? Well that stuff is there because of lots of water rushing down this wash. It would be very bad to get caught in a flash flood here while I was hiking.

The Top of the peak is something like 8 thousand feet up. It’s a personal goal for me to get to the top

According to the topographical map, the  the Pacific Crest Trail is just over the ridge. As I understand it, this section of the trail is called Blue ridge Truck Trail. I’d like to walk the trail for at least a short distance.

The dogs seem to enjoy going with me. It’s good for all of us because we’re getting our cardio workouts in.
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They may not appreciate the cardio but they love getting to sniff all over the trail.

I’m appreciating the muscle tone and shrinking belly.

Before you decide to strike out and hike to the top of your nearest mountain…

Consider that you’re combating not only the slope but you’re also having to consider the altitude.

If you’re not used to it being above 6000 ft can cause shortness of breath. So work up to it, make sure that you’re not likely to have a heart attack and then begin training.

Have a blast…

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I can’t believe it… I actually agree with Rick Perry about something.

This is very scary, I agree with Rick Perry.

Did my apocalypse pager go off and I missed it? Nope! No page and the batteries are good.

Which is to say, that like a broken clock that’s right twice a day…  Even ultra conservative candidates that I mostly disagree with can make a reasonable point.

There’s another point too. Unlike a lot of the left, I still try to listen to what people say even if I think they’re full of shit or I disagree with them so deeply that listening to their point of view is a white knuckle experience for me.

White knuckle,  not because I’m afraid… but because I want to jump out of my chair and slap the shit right out of them…

I did find it interesting that the reporter while apparently a bit to the left, allowed Mr. Perry to complete his thought and even made a reasonable observation about the ubiquitous nature of video / information flow and how it can work to our detriment.

On the other hand if our media spent nearly as much time trying to spin this minor event as exactly what it was.

1. Time honored tradition since the first proto-human bashed a rivals skull in with a rock. 2. A minor mistake by a bunch of amped up young men.

Then the world would have said “meh… so what”.

 

Thanks to MRCTV and Breitbart.com for the link.

I find myself wondering how much of the lefts response is plain old penis envy?

I’d personally characterize a lot of the left (male or female) as being dickless.

I can still proudly write my name in the snow…

How about you?

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The Down side of NOT being a packrat (Updated)

Several years ago, there was a bit of a disaster at my home.

The practical upshot of which is that I no longer have the copious mound of electronic flotsam and jetsam that I once had.

Contrary to popular belief that mound of shit was useful… occasionally. It was always likely that I’d have a spare part, or small widget that wasn’t available anymore. Those odd bits and pieces I used to keep other cobbled together electronics in good repair.

After the disaster… I thought fine! Everything will be brand new and I’ll have no need for a ton of spare parts.

Flash forward to this morning….

I’m prepping to take a Hike.

On my hikes I take a cell phone, some water, and my two-way radio. and a couple of other items. I’ll grant you that I probably wont need the radio, or the cell phone. But they’re in the pack just in case…

I could fall down, I could get snake bit, I could have a heart attack, I could in theory get lost. So having these bare essentials with me just insures that If I have a problem I’ll be able to at least call for help and probably be able to have my carcass dragged out of the hills before the large predators start chowing down on me.

The two-way has a tracking/beaconing function and can be set to automatically send out a distress beacon.

I pick up the radio and notice I’m missing a mounting screw. The screw holds a steel mounting bracket that stabilizes the GPS module on the top of the radio. It’s stress relief to keep the module from snapping the unit off the radio and thereby damaging the microphone/accessory connector.

This is a minor issue but the bracket and GPS should be tied together just in case. It’s not like I slam the radio around, it’s either in the backpack or it’s in my pocket.

Anyhow… I think to myself, “probably a common metric size, the radio is Japanese, I’m sure I’ve got a screw that will fit.”

Except… That I DON’T. I probably did but not anymore…

I have another way to solve the problem but it’s not permanent. I call the local radio supply folks. They don’t carry spares politely suggested that I contact the manufacturer…

I know i’m not the only guy to have dropped a screw… (Don’t get funny…) I’m sure that all the guys have just gone to their handy dandy screw [bottle, jar, drawer,] and found something that fit. Just like I was going to do.

The problem is… I’ve been working very diligently at not having a bunch of spare parts laying around because I like everything being as uncluttered as possible.

Well as of this morning…. I’m starting a screw jar!

I’m off on my hike now…

————————–UPDATE————————-

Service with a smile.

I contacted the manufacturer of my two-way (Yaesu) Monday morning. I spoke with a very nice lady who told me the screws were .93 each. I bought 10… yeah what of it? I know I’m probably going to loose it again.

The screws showed up in the mail today Wednesday 1/18/2012.

Talk about service!

I’d been looking at their other products anyway, if this experience is the way they do business… I’m always going to check out their product line first for all my future purchases.

Well done Yaesu…

And Thank You.