AVOID THE BUMMER LIFE

Outliving the bastards one hard-earned beer at time.

Month: October 2024

  • Pencil Nerd

    Pencil Nerd

    Not shocking to anyone, I’m a real nerd. As a graphic designer with an artistic vein, I do a fair amount of sketching, scribbling, drawing and writing. Back in my first career doing field biology work, I documented all of my field data/recordings by hand with a pencil and a Rite-In-The-Rain book. Back in those days (the early 2000’s) computers were too heavy and unreliable to be hauling around in the wilderness and we were texting via T9, if texting at all.

    That dependency on hand-written notes has stuck with me through the years as I’ve had numerous hard drives and memory cards fail. I also happen to have pretty decent handwriting. My go-to pencil has been some variation of Pentel, but I do enjoy hefty drafting pencils, wooden pencils, and the high school familiarity of a Bic.

    Pentel P209

    This is the pencil that I’ve gone back to for decades. Well, sort of; I was a 0.7mm guy for the longest time (and still am, at work) but in my personal life, aka. The Field, I have found that it’s better to have something a little more robust.

    The GoodThe Meh
    Reliable.The eraser.
    Solid clicks.Pointy-end is too pointy.
    Lightweight (9g)Physically thin.

    Sumo Grip

    I have been using Sumo Grip erasers for years. Not sure where I originally heard of them, but they’ve been fine and the name always gives me a little grin. When I saw they had a shorty pencil, I jumped on it.

    The GoodThe Meh
    Near-perfect length.Heavier than the Pentel. (14g)
    Precise lead feed.
    Good grip.

    Pilot Dr. Grip

    This line of pen has been my go-to for quite some time. Outside of a Sharpie, these pens are my favorite so I naturally was excited for the pencil variation. The pencil is… fine. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it.

    The GoodThe Meh
    It’s fat.Lead feed is much.
    About the same length as the Sumo.Eraser.
    Looks fancy-ish, feels cheap-ish.

  • Two First Activations

    Two First Activations

    Found a couple of not-yet-activated summits just north of me and across the state line into Idaho: Moses Mountain W7I/NI-207 and Tensed Benchmark W7I/NI-223. The two activation zones are only about 5.5km from eachother and the weather for this day was looking prime so I figured this would be a good opp for my first two-summit day.

    The drive out wasn’t too bad. AWD definitely needed and the clearance on my Honda Element was plenty. It was logging country and whether or not people were supposed to be out there was a little questionable, but nothing explicitly posted no trespassing, so I parked down the hill from Moses Mountain and bit off the main road.

    Tensed BM was first and very nice hike along two-track trail pretty much the entire way. At the summit a big rock cairn and that felt like a good spot to set up the radio and get cracking. After 8 QSOs I packed up, at my slice of leftover pizza from earlier in the week, and headed back towards Moses Mtn.

    The trail up towards Moses’ peak fizzled out quickly it became a bushwhack up the side of the hill. Nothing impassable, but I got some good leg scratching today. After getting 7 QSOs in the bag, I decided it was probably time to start my way back down. The air was chilling and the sun was going down on this early fall day.

    Big thanks to WW7D, my #1 all time chaser, who sought me out on both summits today.

    The ridge hike up to Tensed Benchmark.
    AZ of Moses Mountain.
    Tensed Benchmark cairn.
    Post-activation cheers.
  • Escure Ranch Wind Plow

    Escure Ranch Wind Plow

    Hit my buddy Keith with the idea for one last quick gravel overnighter. He fired back pretty quickly with a route he’d had in his back pocket; it was 100 miles through some really cool high desert country, camping at Escure Ranch where I had spent a weekend working the Washington State Salmon Run just a month prior.

    The weather was looking prime with temps in the mid-60’s and no rain, but oh my, the wind forecast. And the wind did not disappoint. The day one ride was 100% into the wind and that shit was pushing back at 15-20+ mph. That’s significant when you’re already weighed down with 30 pounds of bikepacking gear & food. Not gonna lie: that was a real grind. The last 15 miles or so was a mental struggle. And then we got to camp.

    I guess we’re not camping alone…

    As we soon learned it was opening weekend for deer season and the typically ghost town empty BLM campground was teaming with trucks, trailers, and blaze orange. At that point, there was no plan B so we rolled in, got some looks, found a spot and set up our tents.

    A light dinner, mild weather, and some shared Scotch before an early bed time. The return ride would be shorter in distance with the wind at our backs. It was a solid weekend resulting in some tired legs and refilled souls.

  • Dog Walkin’

    Dog Walkin’

    For the first time in my adult life, I have found myself without a dog companion. I rescued my first dog when I was in college, about 22 yrs old (Kloe, the best dog in the world and I still miss her dearly). Since then I’ve had as many as four dogs at once, two separate times.

    Now, we’re taking a little break from being a dog-centric household. It’s freed up our weekends, weeknights, and ability to travel. And, we honestly were just so sad after losing our old dogs these past few years we couldn’t stand the thought of going through that again.

    I have started volunteering with the local Humane Society as a dog walker; twice a week, I take a little time out of my workday and walk a doggo. It’s truly been fulfilling, and I’m going to go ahead and share my new dog friends here.

    Delilah
    Crunch
    Sting

  • Krell Hill

    Krell Hill

    Popping up to Spokane to drop my mom off at the airport after her visit; might as well get in a SOTA. Krell Hill W7W/WE-021 was in a familiar area, I’ve hiked the Rocks of Sharon before and this AZ was just the next hill over from that. A quick 1.7-ish miles up (it was steep) led me to an area below a bunch of quite large teevee antenna towers.

    The day was WINDY and warm, probably upper 60s. I found a good spot to park it next to some very large rock structures that I hoped might act as a bit of a windbreak. Mast deployed, wire up, and away we go.

    The 20m band was rocking. I bopped around a bit to try find some POTA activators looking for contacts and nabbed three of ‘em, getting relatively decent signal reports in return: 42, 59, 59. I wasn’t sure how much the giant antenna array directly above me was going to affect my waves, man.

    The 40m band, however, was dead quiet. Odd. I went ahead and spotted myself and quickly was hit up by my #1 chaser, WW7D who gave me a not-so-great 3-1 report; I guess there was a reason this band wasn’t seeing any action. I then heard N7KOM call loud and clear, whom I acknowledged but never heard a reply. Again, I’m blaming the band. A couple of more hunters connected with me and that was about it.

    I got all I needed, wasn’t hearing anyone else, and needed to hit the Trader Joe’s before making the 90-minute drive back home. Packed it all up and called it a day.

    This was a super easy summit to access, both trailhead and hike-wise. I’ll remember it early next year as I think it would make for a good winter SOTA.