February Photo Challenge

Being spurred on by a facebook friend, I'm going to do this challenge because my current photography habits need a kick in the butt. I'm starting a couple of days late, but I'll catch up and force myself to think about it.

Pulk -- winter gear sled

Here's some pictures of a winter gear sled I made several years ago. When snowshoeing into a cabin or winter camping we put the gear on the sled and pull it.

Here it is all loaded up, ready to go.

On the trail.

Here are some close up pictures, for those interested in making a similar sled. This isn't the only way to go and if you search the internet you'll find all kinds of variations.

The arms fold back onto the sled for storage.

Arms extended. The arms and side rails are SCH 40 3/4" PVC.

I use these clips to connect the arm ends to a pack belt.

The rope extends from the arm ends down into the side rail...

...and then around the back and back up the side rail to the other arm. Using a single piece of rope distributes the pressure. The striped rope provides attachment points and the extra can be used as handles be the person behind to pull the sled back onto the track if needed.

The red arrows point to holes drilled in the sled edge and then I used plastic zip ties to connect the PVC for the side rail. Don't skimp on the zip ties -- get the heavy duty ones. And, take some extras for in the field repairs.

House sitting

This week I'm house-sitting (and cat-sitting) for a co-worker at Xerox who is on a cruise with his wife. They have a nice house -- way better than my apartment. Here are a couple of things that I wanted to share with you.

The Irrational Clock

(see http://www.signals.com/signals/Customer-Favorites_3AA/Item_Irrational-Numbers-Wall-Clock_HH6134_ps_cti-3AA.html )

All the numbers are irrational numbers.

In the upstairs bathroom I found this gem.

Jesus Band-Aids made me laugh. Perfect for cuts, scrapes, locust bites or other minor boo-boos.

I've been in Oregon for four months and haven't been to the beach yet. This is MLK weekend, so Kathy came to visit. (The free airline ticket and the fact that I'm house-sitting in a nice house, instead of my "stinky" apartment helped.)

It was a grey day. A steady drizzle of rain almost all day. Not really great photos, but here's what it looked like.

Haystack Rock

Kathy walking toward Haystack Rock

You can tell how hard the wind blows by the way it has bent the trees

Is Sandy really that Boring?

This is one of my favorite street signs in Oregon!


Problem is that it is a very busy intersection, so I drove by it time after time before I actually took the time to pull into a parking lot and walk back to take a picture of it.

Yes, Boring and Sandy are two towns in Oregon. Here's the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=boring,or&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.371289,85.166016&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Boring,+Clackamas,+Oregon&ll=45.408092,-122.356453&spn=0.108464,0.33268&z=12

Canby Ferry

Today I took a long (and hilly) bike ride and took the Canby Ferry across the Williamette River.




It was only 20 miles (well, roughly, my new wireless bike computer isn't working), but the hills about killed me.

Kathy flew to Portland for a visit this weekend and we had a good time. The weather was alternating rainy and sunny -- lots of back and forth. This happened to be a sunny moment at the Williamette River at the site of the old Boone Ferry.