Two Hours Well Spent

As I’m sure Mom would tell you, I was never really eager to mow the lawn back in high school.  I would certainly do it, and do a reasonable job at it, but I was never asking Dad, “hey, can I mow the lawn for you?”  In the past year, however, I’ve found that I kinda missed it.  Back in Kirksville or St. Louis, I never had the opportunity or the need to mow any lawns.  For all intents and purposes, I hadn’t actually mowed a lawn in about 10 years before moving to Iowa.  A lot changes in a decade, and apparently, over that decade, I learned to enjoy mowing.

We have a pretty large yard up here in Iowa, and only a self-propelled push mower to do it with (plus an electric trimmer).  It takes me almost 2 hours to mow the whole thing, usually.  Thankfully, the yard is pretty flat, except for a plethora of molehills.  When I tell people up here that I do this lawn with a push mower, they get wide-eyed, probably chuckling in their heads with disbelief.  Somehow, I don’t really see it the same way.

Mowing the lawn has become an excuse to go outside for me and get disconnected.  No need for my headphones, no need for my TV, no need for my computer.  I can’t really use those things while I’m mowing (I probably could use headphones, but I’d have to turn them up loud enough that I’d hasten my need for hearing aides, so I’m avoiding them in this case).  It’s one of the few times that I force myself to go without any form of technology, let alone one of the few times I ever get any exercise.

I will probably change my tune by August, but right now, there’s nothing like sitting down with a beer while surveying a freshly trimmed yard after 2 hours of work.

Oh, and here’s a random picture of Brooke and Meg. 🙂

We’re back….

floating
…from 3 days of floating on the Jack’s Fork near Eminence. We had a great time and didn’t get too sunburned. More pictures will be on facebook once we finish sorting through them!

…and I ran…I ran so far away…

So, Brooke and I are pretending to jog a few times a week, now. Jogging is one of those things that I’ve tried in the past, but it never really sticks. Back at Truman, when living one block away from the Rec Center, it was relatively easy to motivate myself to walk over and use the treadmill a few times a week. While most people I know don’t like running in place, finding it boring, I’ve never really had a problem with it. Unfortunately, we don’t have room for one in our apartment, so it isn’t really an option, and I refuse to spend money going to some sort of health club!

Anyway, Brooke had a membership to the Y for a few months, but hasn’t been going…so, she canceled that and now we’re going to try jogging on Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings. The truly crazy part about this is that I’m getting up at 7:00 am (!!!!) to participate in this insanity, which isn’t exactly typical Andy style. I’ve been waking up earlier and earlier in my old age, so I guess it’s to be expected.

Regardless, we’re lucky if we can jog for 5-6 minutes at this point…sad, I know…but you have to start somewhere! We’re hoping to keep this up until it gets truly cold, and maybe by that point, we’ll be good enough at it that we don’t mind jogging when it’s 30 F outside.

Personally, if we keep this up for even four weeks, I’ll be impressed!

1450 miles and 30.9 mpg…w00t!

So, Brooke and I went on vacation this past week…if you wanna check out some pictures, by all means do so… In summary, we went to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park for 3 nights of camping, and then checked out Memphis, TN to visit Beale Street and then the Dave Matthews Band concert for Saturday night.

A few highlights:

1). Pigeon Forge is an interesting place. Imagine Branson, MO…but 4x longer and with a pancake shop in every other building on that stretch. It’s rather ridiculous. The worst part is that nearly every one had a full parking lot at most times of the day (especially breakfast, of course). Gatlinburg wasn’t much better, but it at least had that “Alpine Village” vibe going for it…

2). The camping was pretty nice. The first night was a bit warm, but the next two were much cooler. It only rained up on Clingman’s Dome (very foggy up there…you can see in the pictures!), and then it stormed the last night we were there. So yeah, the weather was pretty reasonable for late-July!

3). Brooke didn’t get attacked by any bears. She was rather disappointed.

4). Memphis was pretty fun, for the most part. We spent the first night out on Beale Street, which is about as close to Bourbon Street as you’re gonna get north of New Orleans (i.e. no open container law, smelled terrible, open late, etc.). We saw some excellent music and had excellent food at Rum Boogie, had some good BBQ ribs at Blues City Cafe, and walked around downtown quite a bit.

5). Graceland charges $27 to visit the mansion. Per person. And they charge for parking. It goes up from there to $32 for the “platinum tour,” and something in the $60 range to see everything. We were content with just driving by… 😛

6). We saw Dave Matthews Band at Autozone Park, which is where the Memphis Redbirds (Cardinal’s farm team) play. We got to stand right in front of the stage on the field, so it was the absolute closest we’ve ever been to a concert for Dave (I’ve been to 5 now, I think?). The set list was arguably the best I’ve seen, including many old classics as well as a few new ones – they started at 8:15 and we didn’t make it out of there until 11:00 (long set!). Willie Nelson also opened, which was rather neat! The best part was when Dave and Willie sang “Gravedigger” together, which worked beautifully with Willie’s style of singing. The band also did covers of “Burning Down The House” and “Sledgehammer” (a ‘love song,’ Dave said beforehand). So, overall, the concert was pretty awesome!

7). …except for all the people that were there with us… Since we were on the field, that counted as “general admission,” which meant that we were down there with a lot of crazies. Crazies as in frat boys with their girlfriends (with 2 carat diamonds on their fingers…). Crazies as in “I’m going to spend $65 on a ticket, not pay attention to the band, and instead fling my $8 beer around in the air while I dance poorly, spilling it on my neighbor’s feet.” I mean, I’ve been in general admission sections at amphitheaters many a time where the worst thing around was the distinct smell of marijuana…but at least everyone was a). watching the show, and b). respecting the space of those around them. It was nearly unbearable…but at least the music made up for it (to an extent).

That’s about it! It was a great trip, overall!

Time to get back to work though, I guess…

Mmmmm…Missouri Backcountry…

Well, Brooke got to go backpacking for the first time this weekend. We hit the Ozark Trail’s Current River section Friday afternoon, which is located kinda between Bonne Terre, MO and Eminence, MO…but by “between,” I mean “there’s nothing but forest there, so it’s kinda far from both.”

Anyway, we got started Friday night but really only had time to pitch a tent and collect firewood. We even got to chop down a tree with our nifty new hatchet (picture coming…) in the dark, which was rather sweet… The night proved mostly uneventful, but it was still good… The real problem was the heat. I mean, it cooled off a bit, but being in the trees with little or no breeze meant that the humidity just kinda hung around. As a result, Brooke didn’t sleep all that well…

We got up the next morning and hit the trail. The hiking itself was pretty straight-forward, but we weren’t as close to water as I’d hoped. I mean, yes, the trail generally follows the Current River, but as many of you know, there are lots of bluffs along the water, which means that while we were usually “close” to it, we still couldn’t actually get to it except at a few points… We did get to eat lunch by the river, which was lovely, and get our feet wet once or twice.

But, the heat was still pretty annoying and we did 10 miles of hiking (give or take…) in a relatively short span of time… By the time we had done the hiking we had planned to do, and hiked back, we realized we were only an hour from the car… So yeah, dripping with sweat and with blisters on our feet (well, mine at least…), we headed back to the car and just decided to come home rather than stick it out another night… We got back last night and picked up the dog from Jo and Lisa’s (thanks!).

Anyway, it was a good, albeit brief and warm, trip. While the weather wasn’t what we would have preferred, we did get some good scenery and some good exercise…

Back to the “real world” now, I guess……

My Dream Just Might Come True…

Winter food drop spurs wildlife visits
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10/01/2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Homeowners in the Ozarks are being warned against leaving food outdoors because of the danger of luring hungry bears onto their property.

In urban areas like Kansas City where there isn’t a danger of bears, residents could see a sharp increase in the number of mice that invade their homes.

A freeze in April and drought in August have stifled the nut, fruit and seed production on many plants and trees, experts say. That means more wildlife than usual will be forced out of fields and into people’s yards looking for food.

“With mice, people better get ready for them this winter,” said Alan Branhagen, horticulture manager at Powell Gardens east of Kansas City. “They’re going to want inside the house because the food crop is so bad.”

In the Ozarks, black bears that typically gorge on acorns to prepare for hibernation will have to look elsewhere for nourishment because the nuts will be scarce. The white oaks that provide food for the bears and other wildlife such as turkeys, squirrels and songbirds, didn’t produce a crop.

On top of that, papaw trees that usually produce a soft fruit that ripens in early autumn and is eaten by many times of wildlife didn’t do so this year.

“We’re probably seeing more animals such as raccoons and possums out and about scavenging for food in the park,” said Conrad Schmitt, director of the Lakeside Nature Center in Kansas City’s Swope Park.

For bird watchers, however, the lack of food in nature could mean a big increase in the number of birds that flock to feeders.

That doesn’t necessarily mean a surge in the most-typical birds that are seen at feeders, said Larry Rizzo, a natural-history biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. But there should be more birds such as robins, cedar waxwings, bluebirds and mockingbirds that usually rely heavily on fruits in the winter, he said.

“When you have less food available, birds will push into the feeders quicker than usual,” said Mark McKellar, an ornithologist who operates a feeder supply store and tracks bird trends. “We’re already seeing it this fall.”

Sling Wing!!!

Ok, when we were kids, we played with these contraptions, thanks to my Uncle Bob’s brother.  They’re called Sling Wings and until a few weeks ago, I thought everybody had them, but apparently, they weren’t that well known outside of the Poor family.  Anyway, Mom found one in the garage and brought it to me when Rachel came to visit this weekend, so we headed to the park with the dog to show Andy how real kids have fun…here are the results of this outing:11.JPG

21.JPG

If you look closely, you can see it in flight (it’s yellow…with red, blue, and silver stickers, in case you were wondering).

31.JPG

Me, imitating the Sling Wing.

41.JPG

Rachel.  You use a rubber band to shoot the styrofoam piece like a sling shot.

71.JPG
5.JPG

Andy gives it a try.

91.JPG

Something was funny…

101.JPG

I shot myself and bled…I’m cool like that!

81.JPG

Last, but not least, Edie.

I’ll now take orders…I’m sure Bob will give me the patent…you know you all want some!!

Bear Grylls vs Les Stroud

So, does anyone watch the Discovery Channel? If you do, you’ve undoubtably seen advertisements for one of their latest darlings, Man vs. Wild, hosted by Bear Grylls. The premise is that Grylls is dropped via parachute in places like the Scottish highlands, a glacier in Greenland, or the deserts of Mexico (amongst others), and he has to survive until he can find his way out. He finds water to drink, eats spiders, and builds shelters, and shows his viewers what they need to do to stay alive.

Now, we’re now in the second season of this show (on Friday nights at 10:00 pm, I think), and we only started watching it because of Les Stroud.

Stroud hosts another show, “Survivorman,” which was originally on the Discovery-owned Science Channel, then appeared on the Discovery Channel last year in reruns… It’s very similar to “Man vs Wild,” but with a few differences I’ll get to shortly. Thankfully, while the show only lasted one season, it’s returning on August 10th to the Discovery Channel! Brooke and I are excited…

Anyway, here’s the thing: Stroud and Grylls are both very capable, but while Grylls goes off with a camera crew, Stroud goes alone. He carries 50 lbs of camera equipment with him (and a pocket knife!), sets them up along the way so he can tape himself walking by, then backtracks to pick it up again. Stroud doesn’t do anything stupid, because he doesn’t have a camera crew with him – Grylls will jump down a waterfall to show you the “safe” way to do it, but in reality, the “safe” way is to simply avoid the waterfall altogether. He can only do it because there’s a group of people with him in case he screws up.

That, and Grylls will do things like drink his pee to retain water. Stroud never does that – he would instead extract water from nearby trees or harvest it from a contraption he built to catch dew in the morning… It seems like Grylls has a bit more “shock factor” than Stroud cares to (i.e. not quite as based in what I call “realistic situations”…).

And that’s where the controversy begins. Last week, I happened to have Letterman on and he brought up some “questions” that are being asked by a news organization in Britain. Apparently, having that camera crew with you has its advantages, like allowing you to stay in a hotel, or having an accompanying survival specialist do most of the work at crafting the raft that gets you off a deserted island.

These are questions Brooke and I had from the beginning of the show… We don’t have these questions with “Survivorman,” however, as it’s quite obvious that no one is with the man for 7 days. We also like the fact that Stroud mentions that he doesn’t like killing animals, “but if you’re in a survival situation, it’s all fair game” – Grylls, instead, makes no such mention and seems to revel in catching a rabbit (or turtle) and killing it on camera. Stroud isn’t preachy about it at all…we’re just glad he mentions it briefly and moves right on…

Anyway, you ought to check it out…both shows…see what you think. This week is Shark Week on Discovery though, so neither one is on (but Les Stroud is hosting!), but next week, you can catch reruns and new episodes of each. “Survivorman” is the superior show, but “Man vs Wild” is still entertaining…

Anyone ever watch these shows? Besides Brooke? I’m sure no one cares…just had to get it out there… 😛

Les Stroud is my Idol

“Oops…my squirrel is burning…”

— Les Stroud

So, there was a show on Discovery Science Channel in 2004 that’s now being re-run on the regular Discovery Channel called “Survivorman.” We first discovered it as a stripped down, half-hour version of the full-lenth, hour long TV show about Les Stroud (Wikipedia? & Official), a guy who is dropped off in the wilderness with his camera equipment and a pocket knife and then left alone for a week. Recently, the Discovery Channel started showing the full-length versions on Friday nights, so we’re getting to watch a few that we missed, as well as watch the rest of the episodes that we have seen.

It’s just crazy what this guy does… For example, “this week’s” episode, Les is left in Canyonlands, Utah with a mountain bike and his pocket knife. He cannibalizes the bike for parts (uses tubes to drink wanter and stoke fires, uses the inner tube to act as a canteen when he rarely found water, used the frame as part of his shelter, etc.), used ancient techniques to set up traps to catch animals, and built shelters to help withstand the 15 F nights (i.e. cold, if you don’t have a sleeping bag…which he didn’t…).

So yeah, if you can, you should record this show and watch it. Or if you’re at home on a Friday, check out the Discovery Channel. w00t!

P.S. Nathan, next summer, we’re going to get dropped off in Alaska. We’ll have to eat Grizzly Bears to survive. It’ll be stupendous.

Good week(end)…

So, we went on a float trip last Thursday with my lab…went pretty well and we generally avoided the tremendous downpour that descended upon St. Louis later in the afternoon.? The temperature was nearly perfect for floating (on the Huzzah River) and the sun stayed mostly behind the clouds.

Anyway, Brooke and I spent our First Anniversary going to Hermann for the weekend, again.? We drove in on Friday and went to dinner at the Stone Hill restaurant…good eats there, yo…? The next day, we went to Stone Hill and Hermannhoff for tasting, and then to the Robller Winery for more tasting and some blues music, which was pretty nice.? Then, we went to see the town production of “Damn Yankees,” which we’d never seen before…and honestly, it could have been a bit better…but hey, it was good entertainment.

Regardless, we had a good weekend, even without TV (not that we would have had it here…) and came back with four bottles of wine…and, the best part being, that we only spent some of our tax refund on the weekend…w00t!

Now, we’ll see if this past weekend lives up to next weekend… 😉