Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

more of the same...

...mostly, pretty much the same ride as last Saturday.  The wind stayed SE all day & I questioned the route many times as we pushed into a stiff cross/head across the bottom of the circuit.  Only one person to blame...myself.  We did make it down to the Oregon Trail marker & on to Crete for a Mexican Coke.

Difference this week...traveled with wood-nuts.  Thumbs up buddy, thanks for joining me...




Last evening, this evening as well, if you look off to the SW, just after sunset, you can see the crescent moon with 2 very bright points of light nearby.  That would be Venus to the right & Jupiter to the left, all in the same field of view, all easily visible to the naked eye.  Later I broke out the scope & got a great view of Jupiter & four of it moons: Io, Ganymede, Callisto, & Europa.  Good stuff...

Later,

TK

Thursday, February 23, 2012

good start...

after a failed attempt to catch Jupiter's moon Europa in transit (warning astronomy term) last evening, damn cloud cover thwarted my efforts, I was rewarded with an amazing view of Saturn & at least 2 of its moons at 4:30 this morning.  One of the moons had to be Titan & the other either Rhea or Enceledas.  When Saturn came into view in my eyepiece I let out a "no way", multiple times, it was that sweet...

Saturn
just for the record, I didn't take this pic:)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

flanergan...

saturday...I rolled out just past 8, only to realize after a couple miles that I was way under dressed.  I thought it was in the 20's, upper 20's even, but it was more like in the middle teens.  A slight wind & it was bone chilling, I also noticed that I was feeling a bit like a cold was coming on.  I bailed, went home, crawled into bed & slept for an hour and a half...

...at 11:00ish I headed out for my second attempt.  Now it was in the 30's & what I was wearing a few hours earlier was spot on.  This was a destination ride, I didn't know exactly where I was going but I had a general idea & a vague notion of what it was I was looking for...

iphone

anyway, I found it.  KB has been down here a few times but I've never been with him when he's made this journey.  Best I can tell there was a "town" or outpost of some kind called Camden on this site, or nearby.  I passed the Camden Cemetery on the way down & this monument is on the corner of SW 205th & Camden Rd.  Camden was a cutoff point for the Oregon Trail between Nebraska City & Fort Kearney, thus the marker.  Placed here in 1941 by some folks from Seward Co., hmmm? I would of thought I was in Saline, have to look at a map sometime...

gopro

uhhh, that's a wheel grabber...(gopro)

                       




would have kept going west on the twisty mmr behind me,
but we've got some drying out to do around here... (iphone)
and just for the record, I am sick...again.  Just got over the last round a week or so ago.  maybe I was never really over it in the first place. whatever...

Later,

TK


Friday, February 17, 2012

easin' in...

...to the weekend or stumbling, crawling.  Damn, every day this week at work seemed really long, like double.  So basically it's been 8 work days since last weekend & I still got today to go...shit.



Later,

TK

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

slowly...

...recovering that is.  This last weekend's 2 day ski session killed my hips & groin.  Picture a person who has lost the use of their legs getting in & out of a wheel chair. You know how they will grab & lift their leg(s) into position on the foot rests of their chair, that's how it's been so far this week for me.  My left hip flexor is so sore that I have to lift my left leg with my hands to get into a vehicle at work.  Or I'll grab the cuff of my pant leg & swing the leg in.  Putting on shoes, well that's a whole other challenge. 
For those that were with me on Sunday...I'm pretty sure I made a statement like "I must not have skied hard enough yesterday (Saturday) cuz my hips & groin feel fine." Eat those words dumbass.  Walking is fine & the commute on the bike is fine, it's just some of the simpler things you take for granted that can humble you...

Later,

TK

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

night moves...

got a late afternoon call from c-bread, "you wanna ski tonight?" sure, why not.  word on the street was a pretty good track had been laid down on the southern jamaica & besides, my non-ski groin muscles could use another round of punishment.  we put in at the Saltillo parking lot & headed North, at the ep turn-off we jumped into the park. someone had attempted a pass before us but the deer had pummeled those tracks & a lot of the trail as well.  we did finish the loop, crossed back over the jamaica, over to 14th, turned around, back to the jamaica & then started south back to the car.  in the distance we could see some headlamps & it ended up being PC & Vavra, sweet. hi guys!  they were out enjoying the same tracks as ourselves, like I said...word on the street.  

pre-ski I had trouble locating my headlamp, finally found it in the garage.  now i remember why it was out there, battery was pretty much dead. thus...shitty picture alert.  this is all you get.  thanks for the call c-bread, good times.

Later,

TK

Monday, February 6, 2012

bluebird...

around 8:30 Sunday morning I found myself at the O.C. put in.  took some care not to get stuck, big trucks had been doing some kitties & churned up the already super-deep pow pow. i was unsure if the skiing was going to be any good, slogging through a foot of fresh stuff breaking trail could be a tough one...

once under the O.C. bridge, I could see the park had seen its usual unwelcome winter visitors. in this case though the tracks proved usable for some pretty good skiing.  i made it out to Power Line & south from there was untouched by the 4-wheelers. someone had skied through there last night maybe but it was much slower going not using the frozen ruts of the 4 wheelers. i soon ran out of time & had to head back...


hey it's m-dub!  we agreed the 4-wheelers suck, but using their tracks had worked out to a certain degree. we had a quick TI discussion & bid each other farewell,  he was going for 14th, hope you made it...

 bluebird for sure...


Later,

TK

Saturday, February 4, 2012

sketchy...

maybe a bit, but I need my HD!
 this might have something to do with it....
 hi...

even if I did go over the edge, it's just one story into a snow pile...
Later,

TK

Thursday, February 2, 2012

waxing gibbous...

dawn of a new hobby at our house.  first guess might be bad photography & that would be a good assessment with what you're looking at here.  maybe the iPhone isn't the best apparatus to capture this image.

the moon was so bright that it hurt your eyeball. our next victim was jupiter & its moons, we could easily see the planets gaseous stripes.

good stuff...

Later,

TK