New dog blog!

Sadie, Duke, Sandy, and Speedy have created a new dog blog today! It is called "Platoon of Four". Go to platoonoffour.blogspot.com to find out the latest news about the four dogs! It is especially for all the dog bloggers out there!

Snowshoeing Season!

Snowshoeing season is coming and I am trying to get ready for it, first, I need the snow, I am waiting for it to get colder and snow sometime. I can start snowshoeing when there is 4 inches on the Skyline. I have to get a few things first too, gaiters, trekking poles, and a winterized Camelbak. The gaiters are Outdoor Research Crocodile gaiters and they are 70 bucks, I can get some cheaper ones but after reading all the product reviews, the Crocodiles are the best ones suitable for my activity and conditions. They are used for deep snow and mountaineering also. I want to make sure I get some really good gaiters because I don't want to buy a crappy pair and ending up buying another pair. The picture of the gaiters I am looking at is the first small picture. The second picture are the trekking poles especially for snowshoeing and they are telescoping poles, you can make them smaller for climbing uphill and longer for descending. Then a Camelbak Zoid, it is a four season Camelbak, good for the winter too so it doesn't freeze. The things I already have are the Redfeather snowshoes. They are really good and suitable for my weight, they are 30 inches and that is the size for people at 200 pounds. I used them a few times on some other winters and they are really good, I like them a lot, you can't run on them because they are just hiking snowshoes. That is what I want to do on them anyway because places where I want to go(Fairview Skyline, Pioneer Trail) are all hills and fun to hike on. Good views too. I have really good shoes though. They are Sypder winter hiking shoes, perfect for snowshoeing(with gaiters on), they feel like regular shoes but they can go in the snow, I bought them last year for the framing job I had for the winter and I used them in the deep snow in the -24 degree temperature and my toes were warm and toasty. They are not bulky like winter boots, but they are really warm. They will be very comfortable to hike in. They are designed for snowshoeing and winter hiking.

With the winter coming up, the bike season is coming to an end, and I have to find other things to do to stay in shape, I tried cross country skiing once and didn't like it then I tried snowshoeing and really liked it so this is the exercise I want to do. Snowshoeing uses the same muscles as biking and it should keep my biking muscles strong for the next bike season. I am planning to snowshoe every Saturday and maybe in the middle of the week too if I can. At least once a week will do as long as I ride the stationary trainer(roller) once a week too. Snowshoe as much as I can so I can stay in shape and take my mind off of cycling to be refreshed for spring. Snowshoe on!

Something I have been thinking about in the last 17 years....

This has been bothering me almost pretty much all the time ever since I was 11 and I thank God I am still alive. Mike and I were playing night games at the Olson house with all the Olson's and other neighborhood kids. As were all standing around a circle getting ready to start and talking about the rules of the game on the back large concrete porch, we were argueing about things and I don't remember what. Then I said something to Jeff Olson and he pushed me and I fell backwards and landed on my back and my head swung back and the back of my head hit on the concrete real hard. I think I blacked out for a sec, then I looked over to the left and there was an anchor bolt that was sticking out about 4 inches from the concrete, it was right next to the left side of my head. I really freaked out and I was very lucky that I didn't fall 3 more inches more to the left, or I would have been dead with a ancher bolt sticking in back of my head. I was really far more upset at Jeff Olson I have ever been and nobody else knew what happened about the anchor bolt because it was dark and you know how kids act on a Friday night playing night games, ya, they go beserk and all excited. As I was walking home from the Olson house, I was thinking how lucky I am and thought what would happen if it did really happen. I am thankful I am still alive today.

Alert!

I just looked at the KSL website and they even talked about it in the news lastnight and said that the health department discovered that energy drinks like Rockstar, Full Throttle, Monster drinks and other hardcore energy drinks CONTAINS ALCOHOL! They say that a study says that you may feel a little booze, even wired at the same time. So much caffeine, little bit of alcohol. Dangerous drink. There's a lot of kids out there drink this stuff and their parents don't know about the dangers of the drinks. Some teenagers drink this stuff even take caffeine pills and experience naseua, sickness, and vomiting. It definitely has got to be in the word of wisdom list.

The starting of the new vintage porch...

I started on the new vintage porch for my cabin and I don't even want to talk about how much the posts were. Don't even ask. I put the posts up and put the joists for the porch with joist hangers on and it will be really strong. For the joists I used my old planks that used to be on the old porch, they are still good for joists. I put big bolts through the floor and the posts so it the porch will be connected to the posts for good. I probably won't work on it for a week or two now because of financial reasons. This porch will have designs I will make with a jigsaw around the openings and will look real wholesome.

Billy The Kid

Henry McCarty(November 23, 1859-July 14,1881), better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases William Antrim and William Harrison Bonney, was a famous 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who was a participant in the Lincoln County War. According to legend he killed 21 men, one for each year of his life.
McCarty was 5'8-5'9 with blue eyes, smooth cheeks, and prominent teeth. He was said to be friendly and personable at times, but he could also be short-tempered and determined. This made him a very dangerous outlaw, when combined with his shooting skills and cunning. He was also famous for(apparently) always wearing a sugarloaf sombrero hat with a wide green decorative band. He was little known in his own lifetime but was catapulted into legend in the year after his death when his killer, Sheriff Patrick Garrett, published a wildly sensationalistic biography of him called "The Authentic Life of Billey, the Kid". Beginning with Garrett's account, Billy the Kid grew into a symbolic figure of the American Old West.

Billy the Kid shot his gun left handed.