Judy Ranelli's DangerBlog

Video from Daddy's Creek

2012-01-07T08:48:00.004-06:00

Daddy's Creek, New Years Eve 2011, level 1.6. My friend Christine shot and edited this video. She has a real knack for matching scenes and music. Her flip in RockingChair rapid pushed her camera facing down on her helmet and I pushed it back up, so I have a little cameo. B^)

Fun Stuff 2012

2012-01-01T18:57:00.017-06:00

Jan 1 2012 Middle Tellico. Level 1.7, air temps upper 50's. In the Riot Magnum. With Ryland and folks from Knoxville.

Jan 7 Upper Locust ("Wagon Wheel" section). Level 3.5ish? air temps upper 60s. In the Riot Magnum. With Paul E and Rundell. Jan 8 went to Mulberry putin, level 6ft and rising and a storm coming, so I declined.

Jan 21 Duck River. Air temps 60s though it went down to upper fifties as the afternoon progressed - not in weather forecast either. In the Riot Magnum. Level low (no gauge). The Duck is slated to be dammed after which the whitewater section will be flooded, perhaps under a lake. With Silent Jim, Vander and Mark G. Pics HERE.Jan 15 Locust. Level 4 ft or so. air temps 50's. In the Riot Magnum. With Ben and Austin. Got a combat roll without nose plugs after flipping in the rapid above Ender Hole.

Jan 22 Calvert Prong. Air temps upper 60s. In the Riot Magnum. Level low, Locust at 6 ft. With Spelunkologists and K1chik. Pics HERE and HERE.

Jan 28 Upper Mulberry and Mill/Murphy Creek. With Team V, Joan S, Chuck N. In the WS Project X for Upper Mulberry and in Joy's WS Diesel for Mill/Murphy Creek. Mulberry level 3 feet on the bridge, air temps in the upper 50's.

Jan 29 South Sauty Creek. In the Riot Magnum. Level approx 20 inches, Town approx 750. With Dane W., Andy and Lynn, Silent Jim. Air temps in the lower to mid 50's. Ran The Slot, sneaked Bonecrusher, dry hair day.

Feb 2-5 Ski at Sugar Mtn. on Friday, Hike and hang out in Asheville on Saturday, Hike and Paddle at NOC Slow Joe Wave on Sunday.

Feb 11 5kBR Race. 30:57. Then Graves' Cave with Randall and Karen.

Couple songs I love

2011-12-13T21:02:00.001-06:00

Just enjoyed these this evening and felt compelled to share:

and

Ain't it the truth

2011-12-13T09:20:00.002-06:00

And vice-versa...

And then some folks, don't get to stay in either one.

On a more Christmas-y note, I got new pogies and new creeking shoes as personal Christmas presents to myself, which will come in handy for Alabama jewels like this:

Fun Stuff 2011

2011-10-15T07:52:00.024-05:00

Jan 2nd. - BCC Feast on the Beach. At the Mulberry takeout/BCC property. Level 3.5 ft. In the Riot Magnum.

Jan 3rd. Mulberry. Level 2 ft. With Joan, Tracy, and BJ. In the WS EZ.

Jan 4th. Crossfit 101. First class. oof!

Jan 8th. Mulberry. Level 1 ft. With team V. In the WS EZ. Perhaps 550 - 600 cfs? = low 1ft.

Playspot near Glen Clark was in but shallow, Training Wheels was in,

Lunchstop was in.

Jan 15. Ridgewalking at Guntersville State Park in the snow. With Dave and Valerie. Pics here.

Jan 16. Hike at Oak Mtn. Solo.

Jan 22. Locust Fork. With Vander, Mark, Gray and Chuck N. Level very low. In the WS EZ. Got surfed in hole at base of Powell Falls.

Jan 23. Iron Hoop Cave. With the B'ham Grotto. Awesome trip. Pics HERE.

Jan 29. Mulberry Fork. In the WS EZ. Level right at a foot on the bridge. With Team V. High in the 60's. Pics HERE.

Jan 30. Locust Fork. Level 350ish (low!) With Team V. Pics HERE.

Feb 4. Ridgewalking. Somewhere in the B'ham area, looking for a rumored local cave. No luck, we found something but I am pretty sure it is an old mine shaft.

Feb 5. Went to Locust Race. It

was cold! Didn't paddle. Slalom postponed till sunday; downriver started at 3. Hung out with Mark and Vander, then they left and I spent some time with Ryland and Jenni after they got off the downriver course for a warmup.

Feb 6. Mulberry Fork. In the WS EZ. Level 2 ft. With Team V, also Glen.

Then went by the Locust Race, saw Mary M., Jason and Moe. Pictures from Mulberry and from the race are here.

Feb 12. 5kBR. Benefiting Kid One Transport. 9:24 first mile; pace time 10:37, race time 32:55.

Feb 12. Locust Fork. In Panda's Dagger Crossfire. With Ryland in his Dancer, plus some newbie boaters from Mississippi. Level very low 413 cfs/2.7 ft. est. Went backwards over Powell Falls. High in the upper 50's.

Feb 18-20 Guntersville Getaway. Pics HERE.

Feb 26-27 NPFF. Pics HERE.

March 5 KofC 5k. 34:10.

March 6 Hucking Graves Creek Falls. With Mary Mills. Mulberry Fork Race was rained out.

Video of me:

Video of Mary:

March 12 Ain't Louie Fest. Elkmont section of the Little, 3.6 ft. In the Magnum. With Wendy and Roger. Went to Sinks to watch boaters go off of it. Video of Sinks HERE.

March 13 Ain't Louie Fest. Middle Tellico 2.5 ft. In the Magnum. With Wendy, Roger, and Sally.

Photos for ALF HERE.

March 19 Mulberry. In the triple X. Level a bit under 2 ft.

March 20 LRC Chairlift. In the Magnum. Level around 500-550. Temp in 70's. Pics HERE.

March 22 UAB Pool Session. In the Magnum.

March 26 Ocoee. In the Magnum. With Ryland and Ben F. Normal release, but chilly drizzly weather. I only brought drytop with thin skin short sleeve underneath and neoprene pants, so I bombed down to goforth and took out there. Ry picked up a fluid solo s for Jenni.

March 27 Ry, Paul E, Lee, and I went to Shoal creek. On the way the gauge spiked to flood. At the take-out it looked pretty good, but there was a dead bobcat with a whiskey bottle between its paws laying on the ground. Not a good omen. We decided not to run Shoal. We went down 79 towards the Locust instead, checked the level at Calvert Prong, too low. Ran the Locust at 3.6 in the Magnum. Great great day. 1 roll at the Falls.

April 2 Tigers For Tomorrow. No photos allowed. A neat place, but also sad because these big cats and other critters had dire need of homes, and their situation would not be as it is if legislation outlawing owning big cats as pets were adopted. You can be arrested for owning a pet whitetail deer or mockingbird in Alabama - but a tiger or lion? Legal!

April 3 South Sauty. In the Magnum. Level 12.5 inches, Town gauge 560ish. Air temp 70's. With BMac. Photos here.

April 9 Mulberry. In the WS EZ. Level 1.5 ft. Air temp 80's. With Joan, Helen, Heather, Red, Kerry, Mac, happykilmore Shannon; hamburger Bryan's first trip on the M. 30 rolls, 1 combat.

April 10 Locust. In the Magnum. Level 3 ft. Air temp 80's. With Ry and Kenny.

April 16-17 NOC demo days and ERA Nantahala Open. Sat. level 1690 cfs, in the LL Freeride. Sunday 1100 cfs, in the WS Project X 56. Pics here. Boat reviews here and here.

April 23 Locust. In the WS EZ. Level 4.2 ft. Air temp 80's. With Ry, Rundell, Paul and Lee. Lee broke his paddle in Double Trouble and we fixed it with a stick inside, and some duct tape that came off of my paddle outside. The stick broke soon after and Lee paddled Whoop-Te-Do with one half paddle in each hand. He stashed the shorter half and paddled Bullard Shoals to 160 with the long half kind of like a C1 paddle. His run of Bullard Shoals - upright - gave me some of the best belly laughs I've had in a while. He attempted 2 runs of Powell Falls and swam both times, but he almost made it both times too.

April 30-31 Divine Mercy Sunday shoot in Stockbridge, Ma

May 10. My mother Sara passed away. I am putting it here to remind me of what happened around this time.

May 15 Visit to Joan's House. The day after my mother's funeral. In the WS EZ. We played wiffle ball and frisbee with her two nephews and their friend - one 12 year old and two 10 year old boys - then went paddling in the creek behind her house, with periodical cicadas everywhere, white egret, two grey herons and an osprey. Then Joan gave me my first ever tennis lesson. It was very cathartic to hit the tennis balls that came out of the throwing machine.

May 21-22 Boaterchick Festival 2011 and CCC playboating clinic with Jade Wei. In the WS EZ. Nantahala, normal level.

From Left: Joan, Jade, Amanda, Melissa, Mary, Lorraine, Judy

May 28 - Hiwassee. In the EZ. With K1Chik.

May 29 - Ocoee. In a demo Project 56x. With Ryland.

May 30 - Stern Agee JCC triathlon. 200m swim, 8 mi bike ride, 2 mi run. Time: 1:11:05.

June 4 - Coosa. Spectated at the Coosa Whitewater Festival. In the EZ. Level 8000. Temp upper 90's but the water was cool and there was a breeze.

June 10-12 SERA 2011.

June 12 Hiwassee. In the WS EZ. With K1Chik. Paddled most of the day with Team V.

June 18 Nanty. In my new Wavesport Project X 56.I love my new boat!!!! With Ryland, Jenni, goodbones and tweetybird, and a new friend named Craig. Craig swam Patton's and busted his chin. He had to get 6 stitches in it later on after we got off river and had dinner at River's End.

June 19 Ocoee. In the Project X 56. With Ry and Jenni, Kenny, Julie, and Mikeyboats.

June 25 Tuckaseegee. In the Project X 56. With Amanda H, Mary Mills, TVCC newbie class.

June 26 Ocoee. In the Project X 56. With Amanda H, Mary Mills. Met up with Ryland and Rundell at Go Forth.

July 5-10 WEEK OF RIVERS. Carolina Canoe Club annual event at Smoky Mtn. Meadows.

July 6 - Nantahala playboating clinic with Jon Clark instructing, with Joan.

July 7 - Upper and Lower Pigeon, normal release, maybe a bit extra water.

July 8 - Nantahala with Brian on SUP and Susan to Ferebee, and Joan, Julie on SOT, Joy, to takeout.

July 9 - Tuckaseegee 500 release with Joan, Julie in Piedra, Joy, Boyd open boater, Beth, and Grey. Saw the Meadows on SOTs.

July 10 - Surfers to Slow Joe Wave, with Joan.

WOR photos HERE.

June 17 Ocoee. In the Project X 56. Day trip with Ry and Jenni.

June 23-31 Middle Fork of the Salmon. In Bonnie's EZ. With Gordo and Bonnie, Chris K and Chris B, Don K, OC1-Kanubi, many others. Best trip of my life. Pics HERE. Great trip report from Kanubi HERE. Some advice I gave a friend who is leaving for the Middle Fork this Thursday Aug. 4 - "I got blisters/sores on the tops of my feet from wearing wet, sandy Chacos; the straps and sand cut into the skin. So a better plan is to put on dry socks and camp shoes when you are in camp. I ended up putting bandaids and gorilla tape over the bandaids on my feet to try to stop the sores from getting worse.

I don't know what levels you will have but at 2.8ish I'd rate Powerhouse a sweet long class III boogie, Velvet Falls a III-, (easy line on the left by the rock). Pistol creek a IV, Tappan Falls and Tappan three a IV-, Weber a IV-, Rubber a IV, Haystack a III+, Cramer Creek a III+ (just go for the tongue down the middle, hootenanny, plenty of deep water to roll below). Lower Gauley feel to the wave trains. Lots of big holes to dodge. You might have some hardboaters with you that know the lines. That would really help! We boat scouted most of it except Pistol and Tappan Three. Wish I had scouted Rubber. Don't go down the right side at Weber. Do go down the right side at Tappan Falls. Hope this helps. BTW there is a book with all the rapids and camps etc. but really not helpful to hardboats for the lines. I didn't read it until after I got off the river and bought a copy in Salmon."

Aug. 7 Mtn. Biking and Rolling Practice at Joan's. Julie, Joan and I road mtn. bikes on her family farm and then had rolling practice at their pool. I conked my head while playing in the pool with some of the nephews.

Aug 13-14 BCC Summer Slam. Sat: Nantahala, in the WS Project X56, with Debbie, Chris, Haywood and Scott. Sun: Upper and Middle Ocoee with Andy, Lynn, and Jim.

Aug 21 - Hiwassee. In the WS Project X56, with Jenni, Ryland, and Rundell. My paddle and two helmets were in my car in the shop, so I used my old paddle and black Pro-tec helmet. It was fun putting the grass in my helmet holes like the old days.

Aug 27 - Middle Ocoee. In the WS ProjectX56, from the top. With Andy, Lynn, and Ben.

Aug 28 - Upper Ocoee. In the Riot Magnum. With Andy, Lynn, David, and Mark C. who borrowed my WS Project X56. One crazy line at the bottom of the Olympic section and one roll in Roach Motel made my adrenaline fix, so I went home rather than paddle the middle.

Sept 2 - MCBS Open Jam, Ranelli's Deli Soul Pit. I played bass. Quick visit since I had to get up at 6 and drive to the Ocoee... things I do for fun... ;^)

Sept 3 - Upper and Middle Ocoee. In the Riot Magnum. With Andy and Lynn. First time for me running Mikey's Ledge. Wheeeeeee

Sept 4 - Upper and Middle Ocoee. In the Riot Magnum. With Andy, Lynn, Bill, and Helen.

Helen's first run of the Upper! Also with Fred in his raft with his son and his son's girlfriend. Andy and Fred ran the raft over Alien Boof.

Sept 10 Mulberry. In the Project X 56. With Joan. Missed Team V, they put-on earlier. Ran into ol' high school buddy Suzanne, she had followed me off of the interstate to the put-in when she spotted my car. She was kind enough to be our shuttle bunny. Great time, level 1 foot, 702 cfs.

Sept 11 Bike Riding. With Joan at their farm. Another great time! The weather is beautiful right now.

Sept 17 Warrior Dash. In Manchester, Tn. With Katie and Gary. Pics here. Video here and here.

Sept 18 Ocoee. Middle Ocoee in the Project X 56. With Mikeyboats.

Sept 25 Choccolocco Creek. With Joan and Linda. My knee is hurting from sprints so I sat in front of a 2 seater Sit-On-Top with Linda driving. Then went by to visit Blue Eye Springs near Lincoln. Pics here.

Oct 1 Ocoee. Middle Ocoee in the Project X 56. With Christine Blumberg and friends. Dynamic Duo footage here.

Oct 2 Nanty. In the Project X 56. With Jenni and Ryland, Denise, her friend forget his name, Joan.

Oct 6-9 Tag Fall Cave-In. Pics HERE.

Oct 15 TVCC Ocoee Race. In the Riot Magnum 72. (a very few) Pics HERE.

Oct 16 Bham Grotto Vertical Practice. At Palisades Park. Pics HERE.

Oct 22 Coosa River. 4000 CFS. High around 7o degrees. In drytop and shorts, didn't get too warm or too cold. At this level the Ender spot at the ledges is in. We did not check on Baby Gap but figured it wasn't in. In the WS Project X 56. With Glen, Joan, Julie, Heyward, Debbie, Caren, and a couple more folks whose names I can't recall. Pics HERE.

Oct 23 Ridgewalking in The Big Coon. With Dave H, Reed and Forrest. Returning to a lead Dave and Reed had started to dig open, and a lead Forrest found and they had dug open. We found a name and number in the low 20's scratched on the wall of the second lead. We are not the only ridgewalkers... also found some interesting nerd holes, indication a good elevation to check next visit. Pics HERE.

Oct 29 Bikram Yoga.

Oct 30 Coosa. 8000 cfs. High around 68 degrees. In the Project X 56. With a big group.

Nov. 24th. JCC Turkey Day 10k. My time was 1:14:29

Dec. 3rd. LRC Chairlift Section In the Riot Magnum. Level around 650-700cfs, temps upper 60's. With the TVCC. Pics HERE Best level I've ever run it at, padded out some of the bony stuff downstream.

Dec 4th. Locust Fork. In the Riot Magnum. Level around 700cfs. Air temps upper 60's. With Rundell, Daniel and his girlfriend, Fred, folks from Huntsville.
Dec 9th. BCC Christmas party At Debbie S. house. Nice.
Dec 10th. Locust Fork. In the Riot Magnum. Level around 1500cfs. Padded out nicely. Left side slide of (right of island) Powell Falls was a smooth ride. Air temps upper 40's. With Paul E, Rundell, Team V. Sunny but I still felt effing cold. Head heater helped when I remembered I had brought it.
Dec 14-18th. Solitude Utah Skiing. With Ron, Jocelyn, Joan, and Holly. Awesome trip. Pics HERE
Dec 23. White's Creek in Tn. In the Riot Magnum. With Bob B III, Christine B and friends. Level around 1.5 ft on the take-out bridge. Pics HERE. Video HERE and HERE.

Dec 26th. Upper Town creek. Level I don't remember... High upper 40's, windy, cloudy. With Brian and Jen. Pics HERE.

Dec 27th. Upper Mulberry. Level 10 ft. High upper 40's, windy, cloudy. With Damien. In the Riot Magnum. Then I took pictures of a karst area on cty. rd. 9. Pics HERE.

Dec 28th. Gurley Creek. Locust Fork. Locust level 5.67 ft. Weather sunny and mid-50's. With Nathan C. and Brett K. In the Riot Magnum. Brett and I also went over to Graves Creek and I took some pics at the falls. Photos HERE

Dec 31 Daddy's Creek. Level 1.5/6 ish. With Dave L, Christine B., Dave Mc, and others.

Zombies

2011-10-14T13:38:00.006-05:00

Even though it's Halloween season, not *those* Zombies. The Zombies' Odessey and Oracle album is one of my new favorites. And it was released when I was 2 years old.

This is one of my favorite songs on it: Hung Up On A Dream. It strikes me that the music from bands I like that is released today, hasn't really changed genres from the 60's onward. It also strikes me that I simply love Mellotrons.
I have been told that the artist that made the cover misspelled "Odyssey" and the band was too nice to have him correct it.

Why is it so hard?

2011-09-25T20:17:00.002-05:00

I was talking to Donna about how I have been an artistic mute for several years. I think the main challenge for me now is to figure out why and how I can make this stop. I still practice and play music at home, a lot, but I just don't use music to express myself in public, which is the point of music in the first place.

Awesome and awful year so far

2011-08-25T09:29:00.002-05:00

This has been a really strange year so far. I hadn't blogged about it, but my oldest sister Merls was diagnosed with breast cancer a few weeks after our mom died. She had a lumpectomy and is going to have radiation and Femara, so her prognosis is very good.
This means both of my sisters are breast cancer survivors, which is scary. I can't do anything about it except go to get screened every year (and I do and am clear) and just keep doing the things that make me happy.

Crossfit keeps improving my boating. Now that sounds like a trivial thing in the midst of the subject of cancer, but it is completely relevant. It is one of the reasons this year has been awesome at the same time it has been extremely sad and painful.

I am boating better this year than I ever have. Thank you crossfit.

Middle Fork of the Salmon was the best trip I've ever taken, ever. ever ever. ;-)

Week of Rivers was awesome as usual. Wish I lived closer to some folks...

I'm going skiing in Utah this December.

And I'm tinkering with violin.

I suppose the message here if there is any, is to keep busy doing the things you love, and find new things to love as well.

Quick post on guitar stuff

2011-08-06T09:16:00.005-05:00

If you play by ear (like me) and need to work on memorizing the fretboard (like me) and you want to improve your soloing on guitar (like me), and improve your chord knowledge (like me), get a ukulele.

A ukulele forces you to make chords out of, at the most, four notes. This simplifies the chord shapes in your mind. You start to see the patterns of, for instance, the relation of the other notes near the note you are playing on the C string (on guitar this would be the G string) and then, when you are back on guitar, the pattern is there. I'm telling you, for me, starting to play ukulele provided a real boost in my soloing and my chords.

Another thing that will help your soloing is to be mindful of your hand positions. If you are making an extreme movement to get to a note, well, you're getting out of position and you are going to hit a wrong note. Everybody learns how to play a scale vertically - without moving your hand up the neck. Start practicing scales in the pattern of two strings, slide up a fret, all the way up the scale, maintaining your hand position. If you start your major scale from the first note, then the second, and so forth, you will be covering all of the modes.

Finally, if you can get your paws on a copy of The Alchemical Guitarist vol 1 DVD, which consists of lessons by Richard Lloyd, which originally came with Guitar World magazine as a column, you will find a wealth of information that will be helpful to you in ways that no other guitar instruction I've come across has possessed. I didn't see it for sale on Guitar World's site, though vol 2 is there (I just ordered it this morning), nor on Richard's site. Perhaps if enough people requested it it would be put on sale again.

I cannot stress enough how much Richard's lessons have helped my playing. There is an example lesson on youtube, how long it will be up there I don't know. When I first watched this lesson I had to rewatch it about 20 times to understand what he was saying, and then it was like a light bulb went off in my head. Here it is: sample lesson from Richard

The way it feels to paddle whitewater - via video

2011-06-10T09:38:00.003-05:00

This is a nice find for me this morning: a point of view video of the Wenatchee, that somehow captures the way kayaking whitewater feels to me - a combination of gliding, flying, rollercoaster riding, and endless movement.

I hope that you get outside this weekend - the woods, the rivers, the lakes, the beaches, the mountains, the deserts, the caves, the canyons; anywhere outside of the air conditioned walls most of us spend our workdays in.

What now?

2011-05-26T17:12:00.002-05:00

What do you do after the loss of your parents? It's like floating in the air under a parachute, wondering where you will touch down.
I'm trying to keep busy - going paddling as much as possible, because that is my great stress release. Everyone at work has been very kind to me and my sister. I find myself thinking strange thoughts, like, "Well, mom outlived Bin Laden".
I've also been watching PATTON for the first time; it's on Netflix online. Wow what a great movie. It also strikes me as being a movie about my parents' generation, the best of us I think. My father and my uncles on both sides of my family were all in WWII. My mom was born in 1930, so during the events in the movie she would have been a young teenager. My father was in his 20's, as he was born in 1920.
I took a playboating class last weekend (my penchant for non-sequiturs has remained solid) and it was hard for me to get into at first. We stayed for a couple of hours at the Slow Joe wave at the NOC, then went up to the top and played down to the Ledges. I even thought, as we drove to the put-in, that I might just bow out for the rest of the class. Details of my mother's suffering in the hospital kept popping into my head. But I decided to keep with the class, I went anyway and I am glad I did. I rolled a lot and that cold Nanty water got my mind out of its funk, at least for awhile. This was during the Boaterchik festival, and that night we all had barbeque and beers at the festival and I and my group of friends slept in this crazy bunkhouse, in sleeping bags because it got pretty nippy at night. The next day we had the second part of the playboating class and again, at first I wasn't really into it. We put on at Ferebee and went down to the stern squirt spot behind the flat rock, and that cold water slapped me upside the head over and over and it was the best thing. We paddled to the takeout and I had a good line at the falls.
Crossfit has been helping too - it is such a ridiculously hard class, every time, that it drives any bad thoughts out of my head and replaces them with sweat and gasping for air. I have had great improvements in my paddling from it, both in terms of strength of strokes and in terms of stamina (metcon aerobic endurance). Most of my classmates are much younger than me and run rings around me, but I soldier on. It is a positive and encouraging environment.
This is a rambling mess but I'll post it anyway.

My momma

2011-05-11T10:24:00.002-05:00

My momma passed away last night around 7:30. She had terminal cancer in her lungs. It was a very fast sickness and she spent less than a week in the hospital.
The Palliative Care Unit at UAB was wonderful to my mom. So was the general medicine wing of Spain Wallace. So was the ER at UAB. I can't tell you enough about how sweet everybody that worked there was to my mom and to my family.

Here is a picture of my momma and my poppa that I love.

MULBERRY FORK PARKING ALERT

2011-02-17T20:39:00.001-06:00

The attorney for Blount County has notified the Birmingham Canoe Club that any cars parked on Whitewater Drive, the paved county road leading to the BCC property at the takeout for the Mulberry Fork River, will be towed at the owner’s expense. The county will be posting signs in the near future. Please park in the parking area only!

WildWater movie

2011-02-17T20:38:00.001-06:00

The new movie WildWater will be shown at the National Paddling Film Festival - see my last blog post for NPFF details.

The trailer for WildWater is excellent, enjoy:

National Paddling Film Festival

2011-02-16T09:52:00.003-06:00

The National Paddling Film Festival, aka NPFF, will be Feb. 25-26 in Frankfort, Kentucky. This is a great event and will feature the new movies Raven Fork and WildWater. This event benefits American Whitewater, Team River Runner, First Descents, and other regional conservation-based non-profit groups.

http://www.bluegrasswildwater.org/NPFF/

Locust and Mulberry levels chart

2011-02-16T09:49:00.001-06:00

Link to my chart of Locust and Mulberry levels and correlation to my experiences.

http://dangerjudy.blogspot.com/2008/12/locust-and-mulberry-conversion-chart.html

Locust and Mulberry levels

2011-02-16T09:48:00.003-06:00

I am reposting this to start the new (ish) year off with my data regarding the Locust and Mulberry Levels.

I've had this in a printout on my wall for years. I don't think it is online anymore so I am going to type it in so I have it handy online. I don't know who originally compiled it. I've altered it to suit my own experiences.

Online gauge for the Mulberry:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02450000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060

Online gauge for the Locust Fork:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02455000

This information is NOT intended as a gauge for safe water levels. Be sure to check the readings at the put-in bridges. Use your judgment and DO NOT attempt to paddle if your skills do not match the river conditions. Gauges change, and rivers change.

CFS Conversion

THE CFS Flow	LOCUST Stage or Height	FORK Comments
222-441	2’0” to 2’6”	Minimal flow for paddling
530.5-630	2’8” to 3’0”	Good Paddling begins at this level.
732	3’2”	Ideal technical paddling with a little push.
962.7	3’6”	House Rock rapid gets strong; ender hole is prime for tricks.
1230	4’0”	House Rock rapid needs scouting; Double Trouble rapid gets less technical; ender hole begins to wash out; surfing and wave wheel paradise.
1970	5’0”	Big Water river in trees;Powell Falls becomes grabby – scout river right.
2900	6’0”	A real flusher; Whirlpool above Ender Hole becomes very dangerous.

THE CFS Flow	MULBERRY Stage or Height painted on Bridge. Subtract 3.3 from the online USGS gauge to get the correct feet on the painted bridge gauge.	FORK Comments
250-300	0”	Bump and scrape. Too low!
420	0” – 6”	Class I.
600-750	1’	Class II. At 651, bridge gauge said 1 ft with lots of little surf waves. -at bridge 1ft./700 cfs the surf spot between the islands at Glen Clark was in. at 702 cfs 9-10-11 this spot was not in. But we found a great surf spot right below the bridge and a spin spot near the top of the turn to Glen Clark, new stuff.
800	1’6”	Hawaii 50 begins to form and bow surfing possible.
1100	2’0”	Enjoyable run; great down river run.
3000	3’0”	Hawaii 5-0 is a surfer’s paradise; Lunchtime becomes retentive.
4000	4’0”	Pushy; rapids and eddies begin to wash out; floating debris may be present; 5.0 questionable but the hole behind is great.

JAN 1 2011

2011-01-01T10:01:00.004-06:00

Welcome, 2011. Happy New Year!

I wanted to share a website that I have been working on with GCA-Steve and others:

http://nubiaq.wikispaces.com/

Nubiaq is a website for beginner paddlers, kayak or canoe. It includes a FAQ and a lexicon of terms and skills used in paddling.

It is a wiki, so please feel free to join and contribute if you have paddling info you would like to share.

Fun Stuff 2010

2010-12-31T08:03:00.000-06:00

Jan 1. BCC Feast On The Beach. We paddled the Mulberry then had a feast at the take-out which is a beach owned by the Birmingham Canoe Club. Level 1 ft., in the Riot Magnum. The surf spot between the islands at Glen Clark was in, I didn't go investigate it but some others did.
Feast included: 4 kinds of chili, grilled pork chops, greens, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes, and various desserts. Sunny day, high in the upper 40's.

Jan 9 Limrock Blowing Cave. Outside temp in the low 20's. Water got to waist deep. Pics HERE and HERE.

Jan 14 UAB Rolling Session. In the Sub-7.

Jan 23-24 Little River in the Smokies. With Dave Fox, Jenni H., John ?, Chris ?, on Saturday, on Elbow to the Y section, level 2.9., then Dave, one of the mystery guys, and I ran the Bridge rapid and the one below it. On Sunday Dave F., SpicyPablo, Jenni H. and I ran Elkmont Campground to the rapids below the Bridge, level 2.6? Photos HERE. Video of Saturday HERE.

Jan 26 UAB Rolling Session. In the Riot Magnum.

Jan 31 Locust Fork. With Team V. In the Riot Magnum. Level approx. 4 ft.

Feb 6 Mulberry Fork. I didn't paddle. I loaned my skirt to Joan S. because she forgot hers, so she could try out her new 07 Jackson Star for the first time on a river. Video at 5-0 rapid HERE.

Feb 13 BEK 5k. Time 34:11. I ran a 10:00 mile for the first mile, which was a goal of mine.

Feb 14 Cave spotting with Kim W., Milo, and Andy. Pics HERE and HERE. Trip Report:

Kim and I joined Milo and Andy to look for a Cherokee graveyard near Prescott. We went to the Cherokee graveyard first; Milo n Andy were en route. When we got near the supposed location, we came to a gate - the graveyard is on private property, so we didn't get to see it. We stopped instead at another graveyard nearby and waited for them. I took a picture of this tombstone:

http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/Other/Me-Milo-Andy-and-Kim-on/IMGP1726/788914074_is8AU-M.jpg As you can see in the photo, the stone was hand carved and hand inscribed.

After a few more directional snafus we joined Milo and Andy and went to look at Not Pole Cave. Here is the entrance.
http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/Other/Me-Milo-Andy-and-Kim-on/IMGP1729/788914424_Gh2uK-M.jpg
It's a nice cave with two rooms big enough to stand and walk around in. We only went in the entrance room to avoid getting muddy.
It has many nice decorations, and I photographed a lovely Cave Salamander: http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/Other/Me-Milo-Andy-and-Kim-on/IMGP1734/788913323_yLkoi-M.jpg
decorations: http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/Other/Me-Milo-Andy-and-Kim-on/IMGP1732/788914822_uSbxw-M.jpg
This cave had a recently worn trail to it, some graffiti and several beer cans inside. Would be a nice spot for a quick cleanup. Would also be a nice cave to map. RE: not getting muddy: don't give me too much grief, I had no caving clothes, just my helmet, and was hobbling around on sore achilles tendons. Didn't expect to get underground... Next we went to see a cave that Tom Chamblee reported years ago, as being 'full of spiders' hence the name might be Spider Cave (I'm not sure what the name is).
Nice beech tree near the entrance:http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/Other/Me-Milo-Andy-and-Kim-on/IMGP1735/788913446_g9wW2-M.jpg
And we found the -small- entrance which we did -not- enter:
http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/Other/Me-Milo-Andy-and-Kim-on/IMGP1728/788914310_Y4P7m-M.jpg
This cave is described as a couple of hundred yards of crawl, with some spots you can sorta sit up in. ;-) Did I mention that I am scared of spiders? Yeah we skipped that one. All of our destinations were within 30 minutes drive of B'ham btw.
Well that's it, great day plumbing some of the secrets of our part of the globe...

Feb 19-21 Guntersville Getaway. Pics HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Feb 23 UAB Rolling Session. 60 rolls, Riot Magnum.

Feb 27 Adam's Heart run 5k. I was super slow, and yet I won 3rd in womens' 40-49 and got a $5 cash prize. I am so fancy!

Feb 28 Class with Jeff West on the Tellico. Level 1.6. We did some paddle drills, then I did some laps on the autoboof spot. Then we did the ledges minus the last two drops on Jerod's Knee, in the Jackson Dynamic Duo. Literally one of the most fun things I've ever done. Rolled up at Baby Falls. Saw Louie. It was supposed to be 45 and sunny; instead it was 35 and snowing. 2 pics here and here.

March 5 Magic City Blues Society Acoustic Jam. At Moe's BBQ in Lakeview. I played my mandolin, Paul's guitar, and someone's cajon drum. No not simultaneously...

March 6 Knights of Columbus 5k race. I think my time was 35:00. Hungover. ;-)

March 6 Mulberry Fork Canoe and Kayak Race. I didn't race. I went to take some pictures/video and attend the awards banquet. Pics HERE. Video HERE.

March 7 Ridgewalk at Keel Mtn. With Dave H. We did not find any qualifiers, I got lost and ended up walking on the road at some point, and it was a long hike and a great day.

March 13 Ain't Louie Fest. Clear Creek Jett to Nemo. AWESOME day. In the Riot Magnum. Level approx. 350 cfs. Pics here. I stayed at the Sweetwater KOA, shared a "Kabin" with Dr. Wendy. We had dinner at Cinco de Mayo restaurant with Louie, his family, and many open boater friends.

March 14 Ain't Louie Fest. Middle Tellico. In Dr. Wendy's Shredder. Level around 2 feet and some change. Pics here.

March 20 AMG and Locust Fork Invitational Race. I was a spectator with Panda, DB, and Lilly. Pics here.

March 21 Locust Fork. In the Wavesport EZ. With Team V.

March 27 Brushy Creek. In the Sevylor K1. Level on Sipsey gauge approx. 500. Pics here and here. Trip Report here. Video here.

April 2 Chief Ladiga Trail. Rails-to-trails bike trail. With Amanda, Nick, and Joan. Pics here.

April 3 Coosa Outfitters Demo Day. In Gadsden. I demoed a 2010 Jackson Fun.

April 9-12 Stockbridge DMD Production. Pics here.

April 17-18 NOC Demo Day/Freestyle Comp. Nanty. With Joan and Heather, Charlie and Sara, at Lost Mine. Photos here.

April 24. Cartecay. Level 2.5 ft. In the WS EZ. With Jenni, GCA-Steve, Mary, and Ryland.

Stayed that night at Dneesh's. Monsoon outside. The next day, drove to the Ocoee but it was around 3000 cfs., chocolate milk. We declined. Pics HERE.

May 1. Locust Fork. In the WS EZ. Level very low - 2.7ish. With Helen, Jenni, Ryland, Sue and Steve.

May 8 Ocoee. In a demo WS Fuse 56. With Amanda.

May 9 Oak Mtn. Lake. In the WS EZ.

May 15-16 Coosa River Festival. In the WS EZ. With Amanda and Joan. Met and shuttled with Michael from Montgomery, and met and camped next to Steve from Huntsville. Level 8000 cfs.

May 21-23 Geezerfest 2010. Saturday - Tuck West Fork release (low) in the WS EZ. Sunday the Nanty from the top to Surfer's rapid in a demo WS Project 52 with Dave N. handpaddling his Magnum 72, normal level. Pics HERE.

May 29-31 Hiwassee. In Ryland's Project 52. Sat. with the BCC; Sunday and Monday with the Kayak Fast Class. Pics HERE. Video HERE.

June 5 Cahaba. In the WS EZ. Level approx. 900 cfs. Lovick to Grants Mill. With Marc, Paul, and Juliet. We went under a limbo tree and a water moccasin plopped off of it into the water next to us. Pics here.

June 6 Coosa. In the WS EZ. Level 8000 cfs. With Glen and Ellen, their friend Kathy, her son and two of his friends. Pics here. Video here.

June 12 ERA private instruction. With Craig Parks. At Fontana lake and Tuck in town (Bryson City). Finished earning purple paddle points. In the WS EZ.

June 13 Nantahala. Ledges to Surfer's. Normal release level. With Mary Mills, Joan Steed, and Peter Chau. Many stern squirts, ferries, combat roll in Rope Wave, surfed Surfer's. Rescued a 4 ft. rat snake from the Surfer's take-out. In the WS EZ.

June 17-20 SERA. June 20th Hiwassee. Visited Foster and Greeter Falls. Both have been run. Sunday I drove over to the Hiwassee and paddled with Ryland and Jenni. In the WS EZ. Pics here.

June 26 Mom's 80th Birthday party.

June 27 Oak Mtn. Lake. In the Triple X. Good grief it was hot, and the water was hot, even in the middle of the lake.

Week of Rivers- July 5-11. In the WS EZ and BS Super-Rad 180 (Pigeon demo).

Monday - Drove up. New NOC footbridge surf wave with Bill and Joan.

Tues - Tuckaseegee, level 500+ (low) with Joan and Brenda.

Wed - Pigeon. Low summer release. Demo in the BS Super-Rad 180. With Wendy, Katie, J, Teledave who joined us after I posted about the trip on FB, and John who joined us after I announced the trip at the morning meeting.

Thurs - free Playboating Clinic with Wayne from NOC at Pyramid Rock and Three Hump Rock on the Nanty. Then lunch with Mary M. and a swim at the Falls. I sprained my ankle while walking up the riverbed below the falls pulling my water-filled EZ.

Friday - Shredded the Nanty with Wendy. Late lunch at River's End Restaurant then watched the CCC slalom race on the footbridge with Juliet.

Saturday - Nanty. All day fun, great line at the falls.

Sunday - Hiwassee. With K1Chik. We put-in at the first parking area below the big hill. This put us right below the big ledge (Mary Nell Point?) and above the Lunch Stop. Saw an Osprey.

Pictures from Week of Rivers here.

July 17 Tyrolean Traverse. At Desoto Falls. Fundraiser for the Huntsville Cave Rescue Unit.

July 17 Visiting Fancher and Osama's Farm.

July 18 Hiwassee. In the EZ. With the BCC. Pics for the Tyrolean Traverse, the farm, and the Hiwassee are here.

July 24-25 Hiwassee. With the BCC Fast Class.

July 31 Coosa. With Joan and Amanda. 4000 cfs. In the EZ. 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Never again. ;-)

August 7-8. BCC Summer Slam. Hiwassee. In the EZ. With RRoberts, K1chik, Spicey Pablo.

August 21-22 Nantahala. With Joan, Greg, Amanda, and Heather. In the EZ. Water level about 2.9 on Saturday, 2.7 on Sunday. Spike in the water level after we got off to about 3.4. Photos here. Videos here.

August 28 Gross Skelton Cave. With the Birmingham Grotto and K1chik. Photos and video here, here and here.

August 29 Hiwassee. With the BCC kayak class (Hogan). In BMac's Dagger "The Green Boat". Photos here and video here.

Sept. 5 Ocoee. In the Magnum. With Spicey Pablo. Level 1800.

Sept. 6 Ocoee. In the Magnum. With Robbie, her husband, a friend of theirs, and Teledave. Level 1800.

Sept. 11 Chalk Cave. With the Howells and their nephews. Brief visit.

Sept. 12 Oak Mtn. Lake. In the EZ. With Glen and Ellen, Tracy, Ryland, and Kenny.

Sept. 16 - drove to Norris and stayed at Norris Dam state park.

Sept 17 Appalachian Caverns - with K1chik, in a rental car, on the way to Gauleyfest.

Sept 18 Lower Gauley. In the Magnum. With Cindy, Ray, Andy, Lynn, and Jim. Standard release. 1 flip/roll at Backender. Great day.

Sept 18 Gauleyfest. With Rick and K1chik.

Sept 19 Ran shuttle for those running the Upper Gauley and went back to Norris with K1chik.

Sept 20 Returned rental car and drove home.

Sept 25 GAF. Skipped Whitesides rappel because I thought it would be rough weather on the mountain. (this time I was wrong - reportedly beautiful there). So I went by GAF. Then camped at Nelson's Nantahala Hideaway with Norma, Amanda, and the Huntsville CC.

Sept 26- Ocoee. In the Magnum. Level normal. With Norma, Amanda, Phil, Sue, Steve. Great day.

Oct 2 - Hiwassee. In the XXX. With K1chik and Dneesh. Lovely day.

Oct. 3 - Ocoee. In the Magnum. With p1mp and spicey. wheeee

Oct. 7-10 Tag Fall Cave-In

Oct. 1o - Rappel at Weaver Point in LRC. Video here.

Oct. 16 - Bridge Day 2010. Photos here.

Oct. 24 - Rafting on the Ocoee. free ride with k1chik, her boss, and mikeyboats as guide, ned in a glass slalom kayak.

Oct. 30 - Bham Grotto Halloween Party.

Nov. 5-7 2010 Green River Race. Pics here.

Nov. 13 McClendons Cave. With the Bham Grotto. Pics here and here. Videos here and here.

Nov 14 Mtn. Biking at the farm and kayaking on Choccolocco creek. In a Dagger Piedra. Pics here.

Nov 20 Hiking at Buck's Pocket state park. With ryland and jenni. Also visited Double Bridges Pics here.

Nov 21 Rappelling at Palisades' Park. Birmingham Grotto training trip. Pics here and here.

*Wholly krap. The last time I went kayaking on whitewater was Oct. 3rd. This 'sabbatical' has gotta stop.*

Dec 4 Mtn. Biking at Oak Mtn. Seven bridges trail.

Dec 10-11 Howdy Puff Fest. I got a coughing fit on the hike to Cemetery Pit, and walked back to the car. I did not bounce the pit. Saturday night was the BCC Christmas Party.

Dec 19 - Clear Creek Lilly to Nemo. With Ry and Jenni, Teledave, Steve I. and two other 1st triber canoeists, and a guy in a red Diesel we met at the put-in. Air temp at put-in 32f. brrr! Level 500ish. Pics HERE.

Dec 28-29 Cataloochee Skiing with Joan, Linda and her grandkids, Sue and her son, and Amanda and Derek and their son. Pics here.

Halloween

2010-10-31T16:00:00.002-05:00

It's halloween it's halloween it's time for scares it's time for screams! it's halloween it's halloween!

Thus starts the wonderful Shaggs song about Halloween.

I was supposed to be on the Ocoee today for the very last scheduled release of the year. But I overslept, even though I got home pretty early from the grotto halloween party at Alabama Caverns. My cats are delighted, as my spending a whole day at home so seldom occurs, but I feel quite the slacker.

This has been my best paddling year yet, at least so far (not wanting to jinx myself)... and coming soon, all the river rats hope, will be local rainfall creating "local water" - whitewater less than 3 hours away.

Alabama has a lot of whitewater that we can only experience in the winter and spring. As a result local paddlers tend to invest heavily in dry gear - waterproof tops, neoprene bottoms, and the fanciest of all paddling gear - a drysuit. In my drysuit I can stay completely dry even after a swim - the only exposed skin is my head and hands. I've even paddled to the take-out, and once off the river, gotten out of the drysuit, and driven home in my fleece layers. Drysuits have advantages in terms of safety as well as convenience - in the event that a paddler might need to stand in the water for a long time helping someone who has had an accident, or in a situation that necessitates an overnight stay in the woods, drysuits can prevent hypothermia. One downside is that they can feel like you're wearing a sort of space-suit.

In other news, I am now the Conservation Chair for the BCC, and a board member. Being Conservation Chair means a lot to me, because I am a member of many of the national whitewater and local water advocacy groups, and this way can keep our club appraised of the good work being done by these groups. Since I cannot afford to be members of all of the water groups I rotate my membership between them; with a couple that I intend to remain in as long as I can: Alabama Rivers Alliance and Black Warrior Riverkeeper. Nationally I urge all paddlers to become members of American Whitewater. AW fights for access to whitewater rivers and also protects the access we have during proceedings like power company dam relicensing. One thing AW has been working on for several years is the relicensing process and agreement with Duke Power for releases on the Upper Nantahala and the West Fork of the Tuckaseegee. Here is a video of the West Fork of the Tuck study release.

Lots of other stuff, sad and happy, has happened in my life besides paddling. We lost Matt Kimbrell to a heart attack at 51. He was one of Birmingham's music icons in the Southside, a sweet and super-talented guy. I still can't really believe it happened. His wake was hugely attended, and I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in years. I still have mixed emotions about the music scene; the other day I was at Highland and it struck me that I'm about to be 45 and really, what am I going to do with a Marshall half-stack now?

I am still playing ukulele a bunch even though I think it's aggravating my tennis elbow. At home it's the blue jap strat and chinese Vox ac30. Sometimes my cheap mandolin. It doesn't matter. I only play at home, at the Blues Society Jams on occasion, and once in awhile when we are out camping somewhere. I get a kick out of people singing along with me. My favorite musical memory of late is playing 'Do You Want To Know A Secret' by the Beatles during Geezerfest, around the fire ring, with turtle, garmachi, kayakpirate and psychicmidget.

I had to laugh because someone told me recently that they had to end a friendship because they couldn't take the drama the other person was dropping on them, and I sheepishly admitted that I've been both - the person who ended an overly taxing friendship in one instance, and the person who spewed friend-ship ending drama in another. I've been thinking about this for a few days now: maybe it's because all of the people involved are women, but jeez men seem to have simpler friendships than women do. Anyway, many of those folks at the wake were people I saw on a daily basis, and now some of them - I couldn't even remember their names. I never expected any of it but most of my friends now are paddlers or cavers or both. A few of us at the wake commented that we should get together more for happier occasions, not just at sad ones - but we all know that we will not. And that leads me to my meandering point. The river again teaches us something - just this: it all flows, changes, never going back upstream; and I believe that we shall find that that is a good thing.

I will never be able to quantify all of the things the river has taught me, it has so enriched my life.

Now, it's ice cream time.

Good Summer

2010-06-25T08:18:00.004-05:00

Good stuff going on. Tomorrow is my mom's 80th birthday! We are celebrating with a fancy party at The Club for her and her friends.

Such a wonderful thing to have my family. I miss my father, and I miss my nephew John. I am however grateful to have my sister Kathy with us victorious after her battle with cancer, and all of my other siblings, especially my sister Marilyn. My three brothers, Frank, Sam, and Rick, will be playing music at my mom's party and I expect to be up for a song or two myself. I dunno how goofy I'll look playing bass or guitar in a nice dress but it'll have to work. ;-)

And - July 4th - after BBQ at my brother's house - it is the start of Week of Rivers, a Carolina Canoe Club event that takes place at Smoky Mtn. Meadows campground near the Nantahala river every year. Last year I paddled 5 different rivers during WOR, including 2 that were my personal first descents- the Pigeon and the French Broad. We have creekside sites and set up a little 'tarp city' because it always rains some during WOR. Being paddlers, we don't mind getting wet on the river, but it's a little tough trying to cook and eat our dinner in the rain...

Still working on my roll, yes I have been hitting my combat rolls when I follow Craig's advice, but the old bad form creeps up once in awhile. I did a stern squirt on the Hiwassee at Thread the Needle and carped coming up. I also slid around in the boat so after I crashed back down I put my hands on the cockpit rim to readjust my position and felt a 'bump!' from Ryland who saw my hands and thought I was eskimo rescuing. So I thought, what the heck, why not? and eskimo rescued. I can't believe, after all the foam and padding and discomfort I've added to the EZ, that I can still slide around in the outfitting. We had a good time at that eddyline, at the 360 hole on Three Bears, and at the ender spot at Three Chutes.

This weekend, since I have to stay local, I am going to take the triple X to the lake and see if I can get a bit further on initiating my bow. Craig gave me an aha! moment when he showed me that my posture made a big difference when driving down the bow. I've been trying to get a bow stall, or even close to a bow stall, in flatwater for years. Maybe it's futile. But at the least working on flatwater bow initiations has got to make a big difference in my eddyline wheel attempts.

So far, a great summer - my plum tree went off btw and I am now sick of plums ;-) and if I'm lucky, I'll get to paddle again with Spicy Pablo.

MORE incredible footage

2010-06-24T18:41:00.001-05:00

This is outstanding. I want an octocopter now!

The River from FPV-Leif on Vimeo.

Incredible footage

2010-06-15T09:26:00.001-05:00

WildWater North Fork Payette Teaser from Anson Fogel on Vimeo.

Purple Paddle

2010-06-14T07:54:00.006-05:00

I made a pledge last year to work on my rolling issues. My reward for 20 combat rolls would be a new Werner bent shaft, small shaft fiberglass Player with purple blades (only sold at NOC btw).

Yesterday after a good rolling class with Endless River Adventures the day before, I went into NOC and bought my new paddle. Here is a picture:

I followed up the Saturday lesson by buying the purple paddle on Sunday, then meeting friends on the Nanty, rewarded with a good combat roll mid-rapid on Sunday, and many stern squirts and surfs.

What did we work on in the private instruction? Craig diagnosed my roll issues very quickly. He had me adjust my setup so it was a good bit further back towards the stern. He had me initiate my head dink a millisecond *before* snapping my hip. And he had me concentrate on arching my back during the hipsnap and continuing in the finish position. As I ponder these things this morning, I think arching the back is far more important than I had realized.

Craig also started me back on a regimen of doing left hand rolls, which I was doubtful about at first, but, when I did as he instructed - arched my back and initiated my head dink just before my hip snap, I popped right up.

Next Craig had me work on an ERA specialty: directional rolling. This means that, when catching an edge and tipping over, go ahead and set up and roll on the side of the caught edge, using the current momentum to help roll back up. To practice this, he had me do the stern squirt motions on flatwater, and when tipping to set up on the side that I had caught my edge on. When trying for a lefty roll this was very counter-intuitive for me. I have a very ingrained reaction when flipping to set up for a righty roll. This is a great exercise because it forced me to be aware of which edge was catching and start changing my reaction to one that is relative to the edges not to my habit of one sided rolling. When mastered this will result in a faster roll matching the speed of the current. I can practice this on the lake at home and really get my responses tuned up for rolling on the side that gives me the most advantage, rather than favoring a side.

Another thing we talked about was bracing while river running. As in, don't do it. Jeff West also instructs this. Jeff says that rather than brace, take a good stroke. Craig says that, if you're tipping over go ahead and do a directional roll and go on your way. I think both Jeff and Craig are right about this and I have spent far too much time laying on my paddle brace goofing off, when it's really reinforcing a bad habit.

Next we worked on stern draws to ferry across current. Boy this is *really* counter-intuitive to me, and something I really want to work on more. Use the stern draw to set your ferry angle, after letting the current catch your bow coming out of the eddy, then maintain the draw to propel you across the current, rather than paddling. One challenge with this is keeping the blade parallel to the stern - any feathering forward or backward alters your ferry angle.

I had had some instruction in stern draws while surfing from Juliet but had not tried this for ferries, and it was really challenging. When Craig would do this it was such a graceful move, energy conserving, and precise.

Finally we did work on stern squirts and I realized that I never do righty stern squirts, when I didn't realize before that I had a preference. I suspect that this goes back to only doing righty rolls. That is not a preference I intend to have much longer. I got a decent lefty stern squirt or two, but never pulled off a righty. (my definition of righty and lefty stern squirt: righty = initiating right stern edge from an eddy on river right to current on my right; vice versa for lefty. If I have this all backwards I would not be surprised.) * I had to edit this because I did have it backwards. I still may! ;-)

We also did a bit on bow initiation and I had an aha moment when Craig showed me that for the forward sweep and reverse sweep strokes you have to maintain forward posture, rather than lean back. My bow instantly went deeper than I'd ever managed before and I am excited about exploring this further at the lake. Another bonus was that it didn't tweak my shoulder at all.

And this blog today is a good testament to something I have found to be true: Continuing kayak instruction, with great instructors like Jeff West, and Juliet and Craig from ERA, is always a good decision. Especially if you are like me - living hours away from summer water, only able to paddle on weekends, and middle-aged. ;-) It's a treat I give myself; it accelerates my learning and helps me correct mistakes; and it makes the sport much more fun.

If you would like to boat with me and work on stern draw ferries, back ferries, directional rolls, and simple playboating (stern squirts, 360's, eddyline and hole cartwheels, and so forth), let me know. It's hot and muggy outside and perfect weather for getting on the river or in the lake for flatwater practice. See You On The River!

A Small Update

2010-05-26T20:09:00.009-05:00

I planted pink/red and white vincas everywhere around my house, and still had some left, so I brought them to work and gave them to Jerry.

I know that eventually I will break down and hire a gardener. I also know it will be expensive. I don't mind doing the lawn mowing but the weeding and flower maintenance takes time I don't want to give (though I love all of the flowers in my yard; I have several kinds of roses, azaleas of many hues, lantana, daylilies,

geraniums, gardenias, and a peony) because I am paddling pretty much every weekend.

I've made a decision, not quite consciously I think but nevertheless factual: I am paddling instead of caving this year. I expected, when I started paddling, to find myself less inclined to be on the river as the years go by, but it seems that I crave it more than ever. The tiniest events on class II can fill me with it - like a combat roll I had in the demo Project 52 this Sunday. There is a spot on the Nanty that has a river left rock in a bend/wave train. You can go left of the rock in a small chute between another rock/river bank, or right and skip down the little wave

train. I hesitated in my decision long enough to go into the rock instead and then I folded into a river right crease against the rock. I tried to roll up, carped, knocked back over and thought in my head, "Come on, you can do this" and rolled up just in time to be facing another rock, which I hugged and worked my way around with my left hand. I loved it.

Yes this is a feat that any first-year boater could experience, yet any time I get a handle on my old fears of injury it's exhilarating.

Like so much in boating, this scenario can teach me about something in real life.

-----------

I also spent the weekend with the Geezers, which are a group of boaters I met through Boatertalk. We had folks from Ohio, N.C., S.C., Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama.

We kind of agreed that to be a Geezer you had to have one of the three following attributes:

1. be old.

2. have at least some gray hair.

3. have a boating related serious injury in your past or present.

Some of us had all three of those attributes; some were much younger (30's) than the oldest (62) and yet they had one or two of the other attributes. Many of us, me included, are in the kayaking shoulder dislocation/surgery club. I think only Jocelyn has none of the above qualities, and yet she is a Geezer too. A finer group of friends I have never met. We all share the same thing- a love of whitewater kayaking that has been so irrational sometimes, considering the punishment it can mete out - but so unquestionably right at the same time. I cannot describe it to you if you the reader have not had the experience.

More pics from Spring Geezerfest 2010

Other things- I bought a ukulele, a Kala Ka-C concert sized, from a great vendor in Atlanta, ukerepublic.com. It was $122 with a setup, better strings added, an extra set of strings, a padded gig bag and shipping. I've had it at work during renders and I want to make sure I do not drive my co-workers crazy with it. Yet I am already driving myself crazy with it. I didn't expect to get obsessed with the little thing, but it is awesome. I've played it so much my hands are sore. So far these are the songs I've learned, either by looking them up online or just figuring them out:

1 If I Fell by the Beatles - one of my favorite John songs

2 Michelle by the Beatles - one of my favorite Paul songs

3 Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles - one of my favorite George songs

I guess I should learn a Ringo song . Can Yellow Submarine count? I guess I could learn Photograph.

4 Someone to Watch Over Me - Gershwin

5 Let's Call The Whole Thing Off - Gershwin

6 They Can't Take That Away From Me - Gershwin

7 Our Love Is Here to Stay - Gershwin

Are you seeing a pattern here? Beatles and Gershwin. It really doesn't get better than that.

See You On The River

p.s. when I'm 80 like my mom, I want to be like Aunt Margie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uWpw1i0UFw&playnext_from=TL&videos=ngarXWGuXFI

More Family History stuff

2010-05-10T08:00:00.004-05:00

I spent the afternoon with my mom for Mother's Day, and she told me about her grandparents from England.

Tom Williamson came to Alabama from Newcastle, England to work in the mines. He went back to England and brought over his wife Mary Elizabeth. Once they were here they had 9 children:

Jim, TJ which stood for Thomas (?) , Dixon, Jessie Ann (Shane), Katie (my grandmother), Margaret (Mag), Lenore (Nore), Evelyn, and Winifred (Pee Wee).

Jim Williamson married a woman named Margarite and had 3 kids: Jim, Dolores, and Mary Lou. He worked at the steel mill. Jim Jr. died young from a brain tumor, Dolores moved out of town, and Mary Lou worked for Don Drennen in Ensley.

TJ married Ellen and was drafted in the Army. They had one son, Dixon. TJ was an electrician in the Army and while working on a telephone pole overseas he fell and was in a coma for several months. After he came out of the coma he continued to have seizures and couldn't work. Ellen divorced him, saying that he was not the same man she married after his brain injury, and TJ had a seizure that ended his life. Ellen never remarried and she stayed close to the Williamsons; Aunt Mag and Aunt Shane helped raise their son.

Dixon made the Navy his career. He lived in California whilst in the service and, after retiring from the Navy he moved to Tn. and continued to work for the Navy (I am guessing as a contractor). A ship he served on in the war was blown up in the Pacific and Dixon spent some time in the water waiting for rescue, an experience I'm sure was memorable. He was married 2 or 3 times, had one daughter named Margaret, and had two heart attacks, open heart surgery on the first and died from the second.

Jess Ann (Shane) married Jimmy McCutcheon, (spelling a guess by me) who was a miner, and they had 4 boys and 1 girl: J.D., J.O., Tommy, Morgan, and Betty (Mary Elizabeth). As far as mom knows Tommy is still alive.

Margaret (Mag) married (?) and had 1 son, John Ray Penny.

Lenore (Nore) married (?) and had 1 son, Billy LeCroy, who died of diabetes.

Evelyn married (?) and had one son, Jerry Roberts.

Winifred (Pee Wee) married (?) and had 2 girls and 1 boy: Nancy June, Diane, and Philip Doss. As far as mom knows Pee Wee is still alive (if so she must be 100 years old) and lives in Jacksonville Ms. with Diane.

There are a lot of cousins here that I have never met. I failed to get the names of the husbands of Mag, Nore, Evelyn and Pee Wee. And if Pee Wee is still alive that is remarkable.

If you are family and have some more info on the Williamsons please let me know.

Roll Instruction Video

2010-05-04T09:32:00.001-05:00

This is a link to the best online roll instruction video I've ever seen.

http://www.h2odreams.com/H2o_Dreams/Tips_and_Tricks/Entries/2010/2/14_Roll_Troubleshooting_-_The_Hip_Snap.html

Brushy Creek March 27 2010

2010-03-28T10:16:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I went kayaking with cavers. Kinda ironic. But the cavers seem to be more inclined than my whitewater brethren to paddling flatwater and class I creeks, so I was was glad to be invited to join the cavers on a trip down Brushy Creek in the Bankhead National Forest, in Northwest-central Alabama. The Bankhead is home to the much more famous Sipsey River, which is a wonderful canoe-camping river that Brushy Creek flows parallel to; both empty into Smith Lake.

The original plan of most of the cavers was to do an overnighter on Brushy for a total of 18 miles. I signed up for a 7.5 mile day float of the first section, and the entire group opted to make it a daytrip instead, due to a big storm predicted for the next day. We met at the put-in which is Brushy Lake, a very nice forest service maintained fishing spot with fee parking and clean bathrooms.

I paddled my Sevylor inflatable K1, a $99 purchase on closeout from Academy Sports. For this trip, its maiden voyage, the Sevlor K1 was perfect. It is light; I could carry it by myself over portages. It also has plenty of space for storage in case I did want to do an overnighter in it. It doesn't take a lot of muscle to inflate with a decent size hand air pump. It stores in a zipped plastic fabric case that I can pack in the back seat of my car. It comes with a sea yak style spray skirt. No thigh hooks or straps so rolling it would be... challenging... but for the light class I-II shoals we encountered it was great.

After crossing Brushy Lake, a few hundred yards paddle, there is a portage over the dam.

I guesstimate the dam to be around 11-15 feet high. There is a rugged little trail around the river right of the dam.

Brushy has many downed trees in it, and one of the first ones has a well-worn portage trail on river right. All of the others had a decent way around or under the trees at the level we were at, which was 500ish on the Sipsey gauge.

Brushy Creek has several nice shoals/rapids and the water is a beautiful blue color.

One of the rapids consists of a boulder garden that is a pretty fun zig-zag.

There are no roads nearby, especially once you're below Beech Creek, an optional put-in at high water that joins Brushy a couple of miles downstream of the 'normal' Brushy put-in.

The scenery is gorgeous; sandstone and limestone bluffs, some of them huge undercut shelters with dripping water...

High walls at times, ,

and countless secret coves with waterfalls.

We had lunch just downstream of a long set of class I shoals:

While we had lunch one other group of three boaters in rec boats came through. I was very surprised to see anyone else besides us on the creek. It's that 'under the radar'. I imagine the Sipsey had quite a crowd on it.

The finale of the trip was at a tributary to Brushy called Sougahoagdee Creek. It comes in about a mile above the take-out on river right. Stop and walk a couple hundred yards upstream to Sougahoagdee Falls. It's worth the trip!

There is supposed to be a primitive trail to Sougahoagdee Falls from a Forest Service road, and we talked about backpacking to it once the water is too low to paddle, which it almost always is - catching Brushy Creek on a good weather and water day is reportedly a rare treat.

I took some video with my new Panasonic camera in my pfd pocket going down one rapid, and then took some video at Sougahoagdee Falls. I put the clips together and posted them here:

http://vimeo.com/10499757

The take-out is a low water bridge, but I didn't have any more space on my SD card to take any photos of it. When we shuttled cars the water was close to the bottom of the bridge. The water had dropped so much that by the time we got to the bridge we could safely paddle under it. We were on the water from 11 am to 4:30 pm.

It was a wonderful, and exhausting day.

Forgot this extra detail - at the take-out Jeff handed us each our own fake moustache:

More Brushy Creek pics at:
http://www.spelunkologists.com/brushy/index.htm

Dillsboro Dam Removal Video

2010-03-25T09:03:00.002-05:00

Thanks to American Whitewater, Duke Energy, and LVM Video.

Dillsboro Dam Removal from Lunch Video Magazine on Vimeo.

Nature By Numbers

2010-03-24T22:10:00.001-05:00

I've watched this 10 times today. I love it.

WATER

2010-03-20T09:45:00.001-05:00

All Hail Teckno Viking

2010-02-27T07:58:00.002-06:00

Be patient. Teckno Viking appears around :30 seconds in.

John Daker

2010-02-17T10:07:00.001-06:00

I just love this.

no time

2010-02-09T18:38:00.002-06:00

This is no time to post something. I have to leave pretty soon for the rolling session.

I have been reading several blogs, sometimes finding them through google/blog searches for random words, and I have to say, I think that blogs (in the blogosphere?) represent the best Internet content out there. Except mine, but that's not the purpose of this blog anyway.

If you are reading this and are unhappy, I have two suggestions. Take either one. But not both!

1. examine this site: http://www.ustream.tv/SFShiba

2. do a random google/blog search for the first word that pops into your head.

;-)

OK you can do both.

Seasons' Greetings

2009-12-18T19:57:00.003-06:00

No Grinch here.

This year has been good. I got on several new (to me) whitewater runs:

French Broad
Pigeon
Lower Yough
Ohiopyle Falls

and back on an old friend, with a new teacher- the Middle Ocoee with Jeff West.

AND the new (to me) flat water runs:
Cahaba Grants mill to Overton
Cahaba Helena to Alabama Small Boats
Buffalo River in Arkansas

I worked hard on my roll and will continue to do so.

On the vertical side of things, I participted in another Bridge Day,
Did Valhalla and Moses' Tomb for the first time,
and ascended Whitesides Mtn. for the first time too.

I finally bought a mandolin and I can play it pretty damn well.

A couple of 5k's, a new cat Tessa that I have nicknamed Lord Voldermort, and a lot more gray hair.

AND if I manage two more weeks I can also mark off a year Without A Major Accident, and a year without A Trip To The Hospital.

yippie!

Jealous Guy

2009-11-08T20:27:00.002-06:00

great song by Lennon

I was dreaming of the past.
And my heart was beating fast,
I began to lose control,
I began to lose control,

I didn't mean to hurt you,
I'm sorry that I mad you cry,
I didn't want to hurt you,
I'm just a jealous guy,

I was feeling insecure,
You night not love me any more,

I was shivering inside,
I was shivering inside,

I was trying to catch your eyes,
Thought that you were trying to hide,
I was swallowing my pain,
I was swallowing my pain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P8IdHwLFzk&feature=player_embedded

Fun Stuff 2009

2009-08-06T08:57:00.012-05:00

Dec. 31-Jan 2 New Years at Dneesh's.
Jan. 3 - Locust Fork. To 160. Level 2.8. In the Mag.
Jan 4 - Mulberry. Level 651 cfs.
Jan 10 - Mulberry. Level 2.5 feet. (1170 cfs. IIRC?) With Juliet.
Jan 13- Roll Practice, UAB pool. Rolled 50 times with paddle, 4 times with handpaddles. In the Mag.
Jan 18 - Ridge 'riding' in Milo's car with Andy Z. and Dave C.
Jan 31 - Keel Mountain Ridgewalk. Qualified my find from last March as Wake Up Well. Reed found a 100 ft. pit! With Dave H., Jason W., Reed H.
Jan 27 - Roll Practice, UAB pool. Tried a zillion times to hand-roll the EZ.
Feb 4 - Turned 43
Feb 8 - Cahaba, Grants Mill Rd. to Overton Rd. Paddled with Dave H in his Blue Hole Canoe, Jeff H, Joel and Sissy in their flatwater kayaks. Pics HERE.
Feb 14 - BE&K 5K Run. in 34:44 minutes. That is 11:12 mile.
Feb 15 - Golly Hole, Cahaba ferry site. With Milo W. and Andy Z. Pics HERE.
Feb 16 - Ridgewalk, Lower Big Coon. With Dave H. Pics HERE.
Feb 20-22 - Guntersville Getaway/Cathedral Caverns. Pics HERE. More pics HERE.
Feb 28- Adam's Heart Run 5k. Got there late, had to catch up to the pack, still ran in 38 and some change.
Feb 28- Fossil Hunt. Pics HERE.
March 1 - Snow! Pics HERE.
March 7 - KofC 5k run.
March 7 - Mulberry Fork Canoe and Kayak race.
March 15 - ALF run of the Middle Tellico, 2.3 ft. Hit my elbow and swam at the same spot I pitoned and swam two years ago!
March 22 - Locust Fork, level 2.8. With Dr. Wendy, Bubba, Tracy, Vander, Mark, Kenny, BJ, Mary Francis, Paul.
March 28 - Rickwood Caverns, lollygagging in Blount Co. With the Howell family and Dave and Edna C. We walked the nice trail on site at Rickwood Caverns, then toured the cave. Then we ridgewalked in the region of Smoke Rise Sink Cave.
March 29 - Oak Mtn. I visited the petting farm, they have baby lambs and goats! Then walked up the Treetop Nature Trail to the Wildlife Rescue Center and back.
April 5 -Mulberry Fork, level 2.5 ft. With the BCC. Pics HERE. Video HERE.
April 12 - Mulberry Fork, level 2 ft. In the XXX. With Joan S. and several of her friends.
April 19 - Mulberry Fork, level 750ish. In the XXX. With Joan, Vander, Tracy, Mary Francis, Mark. Pics HERE. Video HERE.
April 25 - Moved furniture into my new house.
May 2 - Went to the Mulberry, it was at 6 ft, I declined to paddle it. Went to the takeout and waited for my friends, watched the 5-0 wave and talked to some locals. When my friends arrived Ann went to Murphy creek and ran it while we watched.
May 9-10 - Walls of Jericho hike, with the Bham Grotto. TR HERE. Pics HERE and HERE.
May 15-17 - Boaterchick Festival 09. TR: HERE. Pics HERE. Video HERE.
May 23 - Hiwassee, GCA trip. Video of Thread the Needle HERE. Pics HERE.
May 24 - Cartecay, GCA trip. To the DNR parking lot. Level 1.8 I think that's the old gauge. Video of Clear Creek Falls HERE. Pics HERE.
May 25 - Cahaba Helena to AlSmallBoats. With Dave and Valerie Howell, and Reed Hilton. Level 350ish at Mtn. Brook Gauge. Pics HERE.
May 30- Rolling practice Oak Mtn. Lake. With Panda. Tried and failed to roll a CR125.
June 3-7 - Buffalo River and Indian Creek hike, Arkansas. Pics HERE. Trip report HERE.
June 27 - Banning Mills Zip Line Canopy Tour. Pics HERE.
June 28-July 3 - Carolina Canoe Club Week of Rivers. At Smoky Mountain Meadows Campground. 5 rivers in 5 days. Sunday - Hiwassee (with the BCC fast kayak class). Monday - Chattooga 3.5, level 1.37 on the bridge. Tuesday - Pigeon River with Watchis in her CR 125, Dneesh and Foamie George in the Blue Pig raft. Wednesday - Nantahala Ferebee through the falls. Thursday, French Broad River, level 1010. Pics of Week of Rivers HERE. Friday, drove home. Saturday, BBQ at my brother Frank's house.
July 11- BCC pool party at the Hogan's.
July 12 - Coosa. In the EZ. Level was supposed to be 6000, but felt low, and by the time we got to the Gap the locals told us it had been steadily dropping. At the takeout it was pitiful - 2000 or less.
July 18- Middle Ocoee. In the EZ. Upper was releasing. Put-in below Grumpy, sneaked left of the rock at Broken Nose, left at Double Suck, bony left at Double Trouble. Dry hair day.
July 19 - Hiwassee. With the BCC Fast Class. 2 generators. Pics HERE. Video HERE.
July 26 - Coosa. In the EZ. Level 4000. Got on the Gap twice. With Jenni H, Renee C and Allen J.
Aug. 1 - Mulberry Fork. Level 800? And falling fast... With Vander H., Jenni H., Mark G., Joseph and Arlene, many many others. Surfed Training Wheels, Lunch Stop and tried to get some 360's in 5-0. Great summer treat to have local water! Pics HERE.
Video HERE.
Aug. 8-9 Summer Slam with the BCC. Sat. Tuckaseegee, Sun. Nanty.
Aug. 15 - Lesson Ocoee with Jeff West.
Aug. 15-16 Hiwassee. With the BCC Fast Class.
Aug. 22-23 Ohiopyle Falls Race Sat. In the Topo-Duo. Level 1.75. Lower Yough Sun. In a Wavesport EZG 50. Level 1.65ish. Pics HERE. Videos HERE.
Aug. 29-30 Hiwassee. With the BCC Slow Class.
Sept. 12 - Lesson Ocoee with Jeff West.
Sept. 19-20 BCC Old Timers Trip. Hiwassee, EZ.
Sept. 27 Mulberry. In the EZ. With Glen, Heather and Joan. 5 combat rolls!
Oct. 8-11 TAG Fall Cave-In. Pics HERE.
Oct. 16-18 Bridge Day at the New River Gorge. Pics HERE. Video HERE.
Oct. 24 Alabama Vs. Tennessee. Pics HERE.
Nov. 7 - Rappel at Weaver Pt., in Little River Canyon. Pics HERE.
Nov. 14- Rappel at Whitesides Mtn, N.C. Pics HERE.
Nov. 22 - Ladies' Trip to Tumbling Rock Cave. With Kim, Karen, Deirdra, and Michelle.
Pics HERE.
Dec. 5 - Alabama beats Florida for the SEC Championship. With my mom, at her house, just the two of us.
Dec. 5-6 Howdy Puff Fest at Moses' Tomb. With Jeff H, Deirdra H, Hazard, and various other cavers. I bounced Moses' Tomb pit for the first time on Sunday. 230'.
Dec 19 - Ranelli Christmas Party
Dec 21 - Locust Fork, with Team V. Level 5.2 ft. In the Riot Magnum. High 47.
Dec 27 - Locust Fork. With Tracy G., Jenni H., Fred and Michael H. Level 4 ft. In the Riot Magnum. High 52.
Dec 31 - NYears Eve party at Leigh's. With the Pell City boys.

Buffalo River and Indian Creek Trail, Arkansas

2009-06-11T09:03:00.001-05:00

Wed. morning I left Bham with several caver friends to Arkansas to paddle on the Buffalo River. It's about a 10 hr. drive. We arrived at the Mt Hersey take-out and set up camp.
Some of our group had to work and didn't start driving until 5:30 pm, so they got into camp in the middle of the night.
In the morning we packed up everything and drove to the put-in at Pruitt. An outfitter offloading boats and boaters at Hersey told us it was too low to run the section we chose. This proved well for us because we only encountered a couple of other boaters on our journey, yet never had to portage our boats.
I was paddling in the driver's seat of an Old Town canoe. The Buffalo is very beautiful with tall bluffs and lots of swimming holes.
A handy rope swing or two...
We camped on an island.

The water was cool and very very clear.

The next day we paddled the rest of the run back to Hersey where our shuttle vehicle remained.

We camped at Hersey the next two nights. It's a free camping spot with a pit toilet so it's not completely primitive. In the morning one person stayed behind at the camping spot and read, some went on their way to a crystal mine that sounded really cool - I have to get back to Ark. and check that out! and the rest of us went to Kyle's Landing to hike up Indian Creek and cave.
This is the camping area at Kyle's Landing. The scenery is quite gorgeous.

Heading up Indian Creek:

I will say that I believe that if Indian Creek were in Alabama it would have been paddled by some of our crazy-ass steep creekers - has it been paddled, does anyone know? A couple of guys on our trip had been there the year before when it had water, I would love to see it with water.
It is beautiful, just gorgeous...
There is a natural 'bathtub' in the creek bed.
scalloped rock channels in the creekbed...
A horizon line...
The trail got steeper here...

Somewhere around where the trail started to get steeper I smelled something really really bad, and wondered if it was a bear -aren't bears supposed to stink? Then a few steps further I wondered if it was 20 bears, then 20 dead bears... what I smelled was guano from a very large bat cave. It's a habitat for grey bats and is closed to access. Though I wouldn't access it even if it was mandatory to go further - that was some serious stink!
Past that the smell dissipated and we arrived at a beautiful cliff face, and had lunch there. Pictures:

After lunch we headed up further, through a little tunnel... to a feature called the Eye of the Needle.
This has a small cave in it, that a couple of folks did a short ' through trip' through. It had a handline in it, but we rigged it anyway.
A local caver, Chaz, showed up then. He had hiked from the top where he parked his car for our shuttle. He showed us the way to a nearby 146 ft. pit, called, "Ozark Adventure". Adventure it was, because this pit is located on a very steep slope with a drop-off that would culminate your earthly adventures for good. There wasn't a 'trail', it was just clutch the trees and roots on the side of the hill, move sideways, and pick the ticks off of you when you arrived at the pit. I pondered the wisdom of going to this pit as I recalled falling off of a cliff a year ago. But there we were... ;-)
At least the pit entrance had a little flat plateau.
They rigged the pit and some of the group rappelled it. I did not do this pit.
There is a rule right now because of white nose syndrome, that cavers from out of state not use gear in Arkansas that has been in a white nose state or a state bordering the white nose states. So these guys brought new helmets, new climbing gear and boots, and sewed harnesses so that they could do this pit and the other small cave.

After the pit bouncing we headed up and out of the Indian Creek gorge.
... to find that Chaz had ice cold watermelon for us!
One more night camping at Hersey, then the long drive home yesterday.
If you get the opportunity to do the Buffalo and/or hike Indian Creek, do it! It was a great trip.

How I put my shoulder back in socket after a Kayaking Shoulder Dislocation

2009-02-13T20:14:00.003-06:00

This is how I quickly and effectively put my shoulder back in socket 5 years ago, and how I would do it if it happened to me again.

First, I either sit down in the river or float in an eddy. I stay in the water, preferably in good cold water, to lessen the pain. My knees are bent.
I clasp my hands and lock my fingers together.
Then, I grab whichever knee is on the same side as my dislocated shoulder with my clasped hands, and lean back. This extends my arm out enough for my shoulder to slide back into socket.
Takes about 5 seconds.

The longer my arm is out of socket, the worse the pain gets, until it is unbearable. So the quicker I get things right the better.

By setting my own shoulder back in socket, I risk nerve damage and/or blood vessel damage.
However, in a wilderness setting like a remote river run, I choose to alieviate the dislocation and pain, so I can get to safety quicker.

Fun Stuff 2008

2008-12-31T09:17:00.000-06:00

Jan.6 - Juke Joint- Visit to Mr. Gip's Juke Joint in honor of his 86th Birthday. Pics HERE. Trip report HERE.
Jan. 15 - Pool Session at UAB. Rolled 52 times and remembered to bring towels this time.
Feb. 2 - Graffiti removal at Graves' cave. Pics here.
Feb. 2 - Jam at Kat's - First ever jam at my sister's house, in honor of my 42nd b'day.
Feb. 9 - Locust Fork, 2.8 - In my Riot Magnum. New gauge correlation. But it was low.
Feb. 22-24 - Keel Mtn. Ridgewalk, Guntersville Getaway. Pics here.
March 2 - KofC 5k run.
March 2 - Mulberry Fork Races. I did not kayak race this year.
March 3 - Hawking with Neo. Pics here.
March 9 - Spectator at Bike Race - Watched Cyclists go up the hill to Horse Pens 40.
March 14- Bobby Rush - Saw Bobby Rush, Big Daddy's New Band opened.
March 15- Ridgewalk on Keel Mtn. To see a lead of Dave Howell's. Rainfall had made the entrance too wet to enter. I found a new cave, my second find ever - and I named it Wake Up Well, because we went by Jason's house and woke him up, and convinced him to come with us. Indeed, I got so giddy about finding it that I almost fell in it - twice. I joked about naming it Piss My Pants Well because of that. Pics Here.
March 21- Hike, Oak Mtn. State Park. With The Hat. Went up the white trail, to the red-yellow connector just past Maggie's Glen, once on the red trail chose to take the second red-blue connector to the blue trail, then followed the blue trail back to the trail-head. Gorgeous day.
March 22 - Mulberry Fork, 2 ft. With Ken L. Beautiful weather, friendly level. Met a man in a canoe with his 13 year old son in a kayak. Kid was surfing the big spots with his dad spotting safety downstream. Wish I had started that young!
March 31 - Dan Morton and Fruit Cellar Caves. With Dave Caudle, Dave Howell, and Tom Hagood. Pics here.
April 2008. Swim Lessons at the YMCA. I learned how to swim laps. Addicting zen.
April 5-6 - Broad River Canoe Float, Athens Ga. With the Tag Paddlers. TR here. Pics here.
April 12. Alabama Football A-Day. Pics here.
April 19-20 Pre-Geezerfest. Nantahala, level 2.6 IIRC. Pics here.
April 22 - First ride with the Birmingham Bicycle Club. From the Botanical Gardens to near what used to be Eastwood Mall. I demoed a bike which I bought the next day, a Specialized Allez Elite with compact frame. 10 miles.
May 3- B'ham Grotto Anniversary at Horse Pens 40. Pics here.
May 6- Bike ride with BBC. To Wachovia on Crestwood. 17 miles.
May 10- Fossil hunt at Union Chapel Mine Site. Didn't find what I was looking for, but it was fun nonetheless. Pics here.
May 11- Bike ride, Oak Mtn. With Jim R. 20 miles.
May 13- Bike ride with BBC. To Exxon on Montclair. 13 miles.
May 16-18 - K1chik's B'day. Party and paddle at Bear's Den cabin in Nantahala gorge. I paddled Dave N.s Shredder on Saturday and Skully's Jackson Allstar on Sunday. Pics HERE.
May 20-Bike ride with BBC. 13 miles.
May 21-Bike ride -Ride of Silence. 10 miles.
May 22- my hiking accident. See blog.
June 1 - Cahaba Lilies. My friend Susan drove me to where you can walk a trail and see the lilies. Saw some caver friends in sit-on-top kayaks. Pictures HERE.
June 8 - Oak Mtn. Susan kindly drove me to Oak Mtn. and we visited the Demonstration Farm and walked up the .03 mile Treetop Nature Trail to the Wildlife Rescue Center and back.
June 9 - July 18 --- A long wasteland of boredom---
July 19 - Hiwassee!!! With various cavers, Dr. Wendy and K1chik. I rented a double ducky from Webb. Pictures here.
July 27 - Firelighter and Bangor caves, Blount Springs Sulfur Springs site. Jeff Harrod and I are led by Dave Caudle to the three caves on his property, including Wine Cellar Cave, and then directed to Firelighter cave. We stayed awhile in Dave's preferred entrance (there are 9), but did not 'cave', it is a wet cave for a through-trip. Then after driving Dave home Jeff and I went to Bangor Cave and the Blount Springs sulfur springs site. Pics HERE.
August 2 - Rappeling, Weaver Point at LRC. 230 ft. drop in Little River Canyon. A few pics HERE.
August 3 - Rolling Practice, Oak Mtn. Lake. First time back in my kayak since the accident. Did a couple of laps. Rolled 3-4 times. Wore a SixSixOne wrist brace. With Mark and Juliet.
August 9 - Coosa River, 6000 cfs. The locals think the release was closer to 5300 cfs. First time back in my kayak on whitewater since my accident! With Dr. Wendy, Alan, and Ray. Pics HERE.
August 13 - Rappel Practice at Tiny N' Nikky's House.
August 16 - Julie Ranelli's 50th B'day party.
August 17 - Rappeling at Palisades Park. With The Hat and Jason Wall.
August 20 - Rappel Practice at Tiny N' Nikky's House.
August 22 - Return to Gym workout. First time since my accident.
August 23 - Gross Skeleton Cave. With The Birmingham Grotto. Through-Trip. Pictures HERE. Trip report HERE.
August 30 - Hiwassee. With Mark, Juliet, and The Hat. Camped at Chilhowee with Amanda and Derek.
Sept. 6-7 - Hiwassee. With the B'ham Canoe Club. A sweet cat was at the campground, with a cute puppy as its sidekick in the morning. Sunday, 1 generator at 1pm, 2 at 2 pm, the level was low. At 3 chutes the water rose to 2 generators, and then 10 minutes later started to sink again. Saw 2 snakes, helped one (water snake) across the river and the other (black racer) was on the lunchstop trail.
Sept. 18-21 - Dauphin Island. With pretty much my entire family. ;-)
Sept. 28-29 - Whitesides Mtn., N.C. Rappel. Pics Here. Trip Report 1st part here, 2nd part here. Pics from Kevin HERE.
Oct. 4 -Coosa. With Richard T. Level 8000. In my XXX.
Oct. 9-12 - TAG Fall Cave-In. Cedar Ridge Crystal Cave. Pics HERE.
Oct. 18 - Bridge Day 08. Forbidden Caverns. I visited psychicmidget, Ronzo and J., Roberts, and K1chik. 8 state tour! I did two rappels on Bridge Day and took a helmet cam video of my first. Pics HERE. Video HERE.
Oct. 26 - Coosa. With Joan S.'s group. Level 8000, XXX. Stern Squirts and surfing Little Gap.
Oct.31- Black Sabbath Tribute Night at Bottletree. I played on three songs - Symptom of the Universe, Junior's Eyes, and Children of the Grave. Pics HERE.
Nov. 1 - B'ham Grotto Halloween Party. Pics HERE.
Nov. 2- St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox festival, Bare Hands Gallery Dia de los Muertos festival. Pics HERE.
Nov. 8 - B'ham Grotto Trip to Anvil Cave. Trip Report HERE. Pics HERE.
Nov. 15- B'ham Grotto Trip to Secret Society Cave and Unnamed Pit. A biking trip to these two caving destinations, along with some cold, wind, rain, and a couple of stream crossings. Pics HERE and HERE.
Nov. 16- Hike at Red Mountain Park. A short hike with Susan and Donna to the newly minted Red Mountain Park, site of many (35) iron ore mines in our city's past, now wooded and set aside as an urban park. Read about it at:http://www.redmountainpark.org/. Pics HERE.
Nov. 22- McClendons Cave trip. 6 months to the day from my hiking accident. Pics HERE.
Dec. 6 - BCC Christmas Party at Steve n' Sue's.
Dec. 13-14 Howdy Puff Fest at Moses' Tomb.
Dec. 26 Mulberry. In the Riot Magnum 72. Level 2 ft. With Joan S.
Dec. 31-Jan 2 New Years at Dneesh's.

More Bridge Day pics including 3 of yours truly...

2008-12-25T14:02:00.001-06:00

My friend Ron Miller has a gallery of Bridge Day pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=194812&id=692685402&ref=mf

And he got 3 pics of me on rope... I am stoked because I don't have any others:

I hope all of y'all are having a Merry Christmas...

Richard Lloyd Scale Lesson

2008-12-24T13:02:00.002-06:00

Check out this lesson by Richard Lloyd. I find this exercise very helpful in my playing. He is a frickafrackin' genius.

Groovy Amp!

2008-11-30T17:03:00.000-06:00

Check this out - I went into Highland yesterday and saw a big amp in Sam's repair room. I said WTF is that and Jeff W walked around the counter and looked in and said WTF is that ... lol. Manny brought it out and said a buddy of his bought it at a yard sale or flea mkt. for $20. I said it was so huge I wouldn't have paid $20 for it and Manny said oh yes you would once you plugged it in. He plugged it in and revealed thus:

http://www.vimeo.com/2387013

And we all geeked...

Bat Video

2008-11-26T08:35:00.001-06:00

Here's a great link to a video about bats from Scientific American. It's in 3 parts for a total of approx. 12 minutes.

http://www.sciam.com/video.cfm?id=3156681001

McClendon's Cave TR

2008-11-25T09:28:00.001-06:00

Saturday I went to McClendon's Cave for my first ever visit there. It is a big cave and it's only an hour or so away from B'ham. My group first went to the landowner's house to get permission to visit the cave and to get the gate key. Then we went to the cave entrance. The cave gate is made out of big pieces of angle iron.
This gate is on top of a 40' pit, which we rigged and descended on rope.
This cave has a large entrance room, then a long canyon passage back to where a couple of waterfalls are.
The canyon passage was dry and dusty, with a stream bed at the bottom. As we got closer to the waterfalls, the cave got wetter and muddier. In the biggest waterfall room it was about 35' tall IIRC, a scallopped dome area, and very humid. Hard to take pictures in the humidity. The wall of the waterfall dome had this strip of eroded stone in it, that looked like marble, though I suppose it was calcite. The brown rock is probably chert. This strip of stone went all the way to the top of the dome. Note the muddy boots and funny shorts of my friend Julie in this pic. That was the first cave trip for the shorts and also the last...
There was a spot in the cave marked by a small cairn. Behind the cairn was a clay bank covered in claw marks. We have no idea what kind of creature made these marks, but they were way in the back of the cave. Sometimes prehistoric bear bones are found in SE caves. Or it could be a cave monster sharpening its claws...

Anyway, a fine way to spend a Saturday during a drought...

Incredible Blog

2008-11-11T08:18:00.001-06:00

I just finished reading the new post on http://therangelife.blogspot.com/. Incredible. Take a look!

Holidays without John

2008-11-10T09:40:00.003-06:00

The holidays without John are going to be hard. We never knew if he would come to Thanksgiving or Christmas, but in the past few years he had. Now we know he will never come to visit with the family again.

I've been watching Intervention (the A&E show) on the internet, and I can't help thinking about him.

If you know someone with an addiction do not hesitate to try to get them help before it is too late.

Anvil Cave Trip, Nov. 8th 2008

2008-11-09T09:02:00.004-06:00

The Birmingham Grotto went to Anvil Cave on November 8th. The cave requires a 3 mile flatwater paddle on Flint Creek to get to the cave entrance.

Since my camera crapped out, I don't really have any pics to share. I have a friend's gallery of pics instead. All pics are credited to Scott Fee. Here we are just before entering the cave.

The 3 mile float to the cave entrance is flat, flat, flat. A dam backs up the water I am told, so we actually paddled 'upstream' to the cave entrance. There is NO current. It was very pretty, sometimes covered in green plants, and full of strainers. We never had to portage any. Saw one beaver or otter, it made a big splash when we came up but didn't 'slap its tail' so I am not sure, and heard one woman screaming in the woods as we floated by - bobcat was my guess but someone said a fox can also make a sound like that. It was loud!
Consequently, with no current, my XL12 canoe was the slowest boat. My friend Julie spun circles in her Perception Torrent as well. She wondered aloud why this was happening because she hadn't had a problem keeping her boat straight on other trips, then guessed that it was the lack of current. I am considering getting an inflatable flatwater kayak or canoe and selling the ww canoe.

The entrance was small, the only real 'crawl' we encountered in the cave.

This is the only 'legal' entrance we can enter. The other 8 or 9 entrances require crossing private property, i.e. trespassing. Before the landowners closed their property to cavers' excursions, this cave was the site of the Anvil Cave Rally. Teams of cavers would go through and try to find certain survey markers in the cave, for the quickest time. Anvil was a great site for this rally because it is 13 miles mapped of a maze, on a very small plot of land, making it one of the longest caves in Alabama. You can see my helmet cam on the top of my helmet. It kept cutting off in the dark of the cave. I haven't checked the SD card to see if any video was shot. Anyway, we found a lot of spray paint graffiti near the entrance in the cave. Locals still know where the cave is and apparently they have had some parties in there. Beer cans were also aplenty. Note the 'glow stick' on the ground near me, probably left by a local. String was throughout the passages near the entrance as well. Scott didn't take any pictures of the graffiti - I'm not surprised, much of it was expletives.
Here is a picture of the cave map:

and much of the cave looks like this:

Of course we ended up split into groups and my group found a part of the cave full of pretty formations. Hopefully some pics of that will be posted. We used the map and a compass to find our way out. This wasn't easy even with map, compass and a trip leader who had been in the cave during this summer. It really is easy to get turned around and lost!
At some point I mentioned that we should have set a call-out time. And my group realized that none of us wore watches. And I said that it gets dark early and padding through those strainers in the dark would suck. We all started (tried) to head back. Which was comical because 'heading back' was no easy task. The map owner said we were in a part of the cave far from where I thought we could have traveled in the time we were in there. So the trip leader and I looked at the map and decided that we were actually in a totally different area than the map owner thought we were. (sorry J but that really happened. Now that's not saying Dave and I were right... but it did look that way to me). That's how Anvil Cave is! I told everyone I had fire starter, warm clothes, a 6 pack of tall boys, some Doritos, and a Big Snickers bar to share, all stashed in my boat, if we spent the night outside. You might not believe me but the whole time the trip was fun. Being in the maze like that was like a big puzzle. We kept trying to head South-West.
I am editing this post because it sounded like we didn't need the map reader and compass guy the first 'edition'. On the contrary, I was worried, seriously worried, that we would lose those two and then really be lost. I had a chance to bring a copy of the map and didn't, and a chance to bring a compass and didn't. Which was f'tarded, reminded me of my not bringing water, food, a GPS, phone or warm clothes that time when we almost overnighted on Clear Creek at flood.
At a long hall called 'Main Street', like a miracle, the rest of the group showed up at the same time. We did a head count and everyone was together! We headed out of the cave and had several compasses and cave maps to add to the confusion. The map readers did a good job, and when we were out, it was only 2:30 pm. We really weren't in there as long as we thought!
Back to the boats, and a slow (for me) paddle to the cars. Then radio as I drove to a restaurant near home, I heard most of the second half of Bama/LSU on the radio, and went into the mexican restaurant with the group just as 2 minutes were left in regulation. The game was on big TV's in the restaurant. The others found my enthusiasm amusing. Bama won in OT, I had a great dinner, and went home exhausted and happy.

Black and White animals

2008-09-22T19:53:00.003-05:00

This is fascinating!
I watched an episode of Nature on Netflix online. It was about domesticated dogs. In it the subject of coat color was mentioned as being related to temperament. This is in regards to evidence found from the fox taming experiments in Russia by Belyaev. That's a subject worth a Google search in itself. The show remarked on the prevalence of black and white as a coat color in domesticated animals.
Think about it - black and white Tuxedo Cats like my bosses..err, I mean like my two girl kitties, black and white dogs like the damned Boston Terriers my friend Donna loves so much, black and white cattle like Holsteins, black and white horses...

Anyway I've been doing some web surfing and found this article:

http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColor.htm

... which is about rats, another domesticated animal (if perhaps not as pleasant to some as cats and dogs are... I have never owned one but did feed a few to a corn snake over the years).
Here is a quote from the article:
"...certain physiological processes underlie facets of both coat color and behavior. In particular, the hormones and neurotransmitters involved in the stress response and other behaviors are closely integrated with pigment production."

I KNEW there was scientific evidence that B&W Kitties are the BEST!!!

Just saw my orthopedist!

2008-09-04T09:58:00.000-05:00

His words: "I don't think you need to see me again."

He said my range of motion is a month ahead of schedule. He said he didn't know how that was possible, but keep up the good work. ;-) I said, "I've been working hard on it," and he said, "I believe you!" Then I asked him about my numb fingers. He said that if my numb fingers don't regain their feeling in 6 months or so, come back to discuss a carpal tunnel release. But they are getting better, it is just slow.

I asked if I was cleared to do anything I wanted and he said, "Yes! Have at it, rock climbing or whatever you want!"

I'll still wear my little brace when doing stuff for awhile though. That's my call - I forgot to ask him about it but I think it makes me feel safer. If I crank down on one motion in particular it still hurts. And I have another month of PT ahead of me.

I am VERY happy right now!

sad news

2008-08-11T07:49:00.001-05:00

My nephew John had an accidental OD Saturday night, August 9th. and died. He was 26. He was my sister Marilyn's son. We are all in shock.

Upper Chattooga letter - a must read!

2008-08-10T08:43:00.002-05:00

From RangerRob on Boatertalk:

"I've spent the past few nights reading the Upper Chattooga management plan comments sent to the Forest Service. Most of them say the same things. However, Claude E. Terry has a very unique point of view. Its one of the finest comments sent to the Forest Service. Please take a few minutes to read every word. Then e-mail it to all your boating buddies, post it to any message board, list serve, and blog you can. This is a letter that should be read by everyone."

From: Claude E. Terry

Reply To: Claude E. Terry

To: comments-southern-francismarion-sumter@fs.fed.us

Subject: Chattooga Planning Team - Comments

Date: 07/22/2008 11:44 AM

July 22, 2008

Jerome Thomas

Forest Supervisor

Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests

US Forest Service

4931 Broad River Rd.

Columbia, South Carolina 29212

Attn: Chattooga Planning Team

Jerome, Thanks for the opportunity to comment on the draft EA for the Upper

Chattooga River. It appears that reasonable comments and input are sorely

needed. As a history, I boated the upper river in the early 70's, before the

arbitrary, capricious, and probably unlawful closure by the Forest Service in

1976. I obeyed the rule of law, and now, regardless of the eventual access

decision, at 70+ years I will never be able to boat those magnificent gorges

again.

Similarly, thousands of boaters have seen their prime years pass without ever

being able to legally use the river.

The closure issue, this decision and its casual flaunting of equity and rights has

been divisive and has produced major questions as to the Forest Service’s

objectives and ability to handle complex and adversarial issues. As an aside,

having a Trout Unlimited executive as the Forest Supervisor for an extended

period did not aid in the issue either.

At the start of this process, several years ago, I had conversations with several

whitewater clubs people. I assured them that today’s Forest Service would be

even-handed and give the boaters a fair hearing. It appears I was wrong. To put

my response in perspective, please note that I have consulted to Federal

agencies since 1969, served as a expert witness on water related issues, and

was the Mission Contractor for Region IV, USEPA for Environmental Studies of

the impact of Federal actions. The projects often involved public presentations. I

have done hands-on and design work for geohydrological restorations on the

Chattooga and other Federal projects. In all of these activities, fair and objective

consideration of alternatives before acting was essential, and even the

appearance of bias was to be avoided.

It is counterproductive to address one "use" of the corridor in flowery terms, while

starkly pairing the other use alternative with "conflict" or "loss" wherever it occurs.

Yet, the existing rainbow trout fishery is described in your letter and the three

pages of alternatives as:

● -"high-quality trout fishing experience"-

● -"one of the unique premiere trout fisheries for backcountry anglers

seeking remoteness and solitude in the southeast"-

● Boating? Boating is mentioned with the need to:

● "Minimize conflict between boaters and anglers by establishing flow and

season(al) restrictions for boating"

● Maintain a "boatfree recreational experience"

● Boating is considered a threat to "uniqueness" and to "unique

opportunities for enhanced solitude"

There’s more, but the simple fact is the fishery is a trout-farm based, put and

take fishery based on a species alien to the area, providing recreation to a very

few people. There are many questions raised in my mind by the verbal "color"

attached to each use. For instance;

● Where on the entire Chattooga River are fishermen excluded to provide

"solitude" and "uniqueness" of experience for boaters?

● Where do you note the differing impact of shoes of fishermen, hikers,

campers, bird watching groups, compared to the passage of a boat?

● There are trail problems noted in the alternatives. Are those trails the

result of boaters’ visits or of fishermen and hikers?

● There is frequent use of "uniqueness" to describe a put and take fishery,

and almost no notice for the incredible white water, and the truly unique

boating experience.

The level of skill and perception required to enter and use this wilderness area

for white water boating are high. There is a reason that boaters have fought to be

allowed to use this segment of the Chattooga, and it is the truly unique white

water, not the artificial fishery.

The blatant attempt to make boating more dangerous or impossible by

prohibiting removal of " large woody debris" apparently came from a Forest

Service sycophant’s input. The removal ban would be laughably absurd if it were

not so dangerous and unscrupulous. It would be appropriate to list the name of

the individual suggesting the protection of woody debris against the loss of life of

a hapless fisherman, hiker or boater. I think this suggestion is the height of

absurdity.

There is a curious inconsistency about a purportedly fair review that touts fishing

as though it were unique and had no impact, vilifies boating as destroying

uniqueness and solitude, ignores hiking, birding and other uses with their

impacts, and wishes to leave trees across the stream to the risk of injury and

death for boaters, hikers, swimmers, and other users. So much for an objective

study.

The two different descriptions of the regulatory trigger flow for alternative 4 are

curiously unknowable and perhaps not even capable of attempts to calculate,

except retroactively. I can visualize boaters detained by Forest Service

personnel, standing at some gauge until midnight in the dead of winter, at which

point the Ranger say "Aha. Got you. See, the average flow was 451 cfs, but the

mean daily average flow level was only 448.5 cfs." It is interesting that a

basically incalculable number would have to be calculated before going to the

river in mid winter, where you park miles away, walk in with your gear, calculate

the river’s cfs accurately, enter the river, avoid touching the trees blocking the

channel at some point, cannot legally use the most attractive areas of the river,

and get out, only to find your calculations were for the "average mean daily flow

level", not the "mean daily average flow level" and that you are boating

unlawfully. If this sounds ridiculous, it is.

To this point, the Forest Service has been a friendly agency to users of the upper

Chattooga, except boaters. The proposed alternative 4 regulations for boating

display the same blind bias that has prevailed for 36 years. Surely, after years of

delay, we could expect a document without the inherent bias shown in the

current proposal.

Please accept these comments as a suggestion that I don’t think Alternative 4 is

objective, reasonable, fair, logical, or capable of actually achieving balanced

management of the Magnificent Upper Gorges of the Chattooga.

Very truly yours,

Claude E. Terry
Atlanta, GA

Few Thoughts

2008-07-13T08:49:00.001-05:00

I posted this on BT LL, and liked it so I'm posting it on my blogs.

"One thing keeps coming back to me. As I lay at the bottom of the cliff, in the creek, the first thing I did was check my jaw/teeth/face, and wiggle my toes. But my mind was thinking, "You silly goose, all that music you play by yourself, and if you were dead now nobody would know. They would never have heard it." Only it wasn't silly goose it was more like shy, stupid woman.

And then the other night I realized I have spent the entire 21st century without playing out except for little pick up gigs with my brothers. I got sidetracked into the whole kayaking thing, which I'm not very good at but it is fun.

I have had a lot to think about. Like, what is important. Or, if I'd died, how I would be remembered, and what for, and what good things have I bothered to do while alive? I really was afraid I wouldn't play again because of my loss of feeling in my fingers. I can type with this hand again though, and I believe it will all come back. I have faith it will come back.

No I'm not God's Gift To Music, but it really does make me happy like nothing else."

My Favorite Guitar Solos

2008-07-11T21:14:00.003-05:00

Been thinking about my favorite guitar solos. Some of the best ever, ever ever are on:

"Nowhere Man" by the Beatles
"Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys

That's the sort of thing I seek in my solos, not saying I've found it ever but it's a worthy goal. To have the right notes, not a bunch o' notes played as fast as one can manage.
In "Don't Worry Baby", it's just chords. I love it.

"Nowhere Man" is even closer to what I try to do when I make up a solo.
To play a phrase in a different melody, complementary to the song it is contained within. To give a glimpse of the spirit? person? of the guitarist. To make a mini-song.

My Cast is off, my Pin is out!

2008-07-11T19:37:00.004-05:00

Got the cast removed and the pin pulled out of my wrist, Wed. July 9th.

They put me under heavy sedation in the surgery. Versed, thank you for making me not remember the removal of the second pin! Being fully awake, alert, and w/out pain meds for the removal of the first pin was memorable enough.

Here I am in my pre-op room, getting ready to get going with the bidness:

My sister Kathy kindly took these photos for me, and stayed with me while I was in the hospital.

I hate my f'n neck btw.

And after the operation:

It was all quick and painless, the worst part was the IV. I hate getting IVs, but usually when they tape 'em down I can't feel them anymore. Not this one. It was a bitch all day. Before they gave me the Versed etc. I did a crossword puzzle to take my mind off of the IV.

And here is the pin ------------->>>>

A friend commented that it looked like a 16 penny nail. So I had to look up what a 16 penny nail is and I'd say he is about right. Except there is no nail head.

I've got both pins btw, hoping to get K1chik to make me some jewelry with them, someway somehow.

Now I'm back at work in a splint. I wear the splint when I am walking around or doing anything where I may slip and fall and re-injure myself. Except the shower...

But when I'm seated I take off the splint and do three exercises:

Turn the doorknob

Hammer the nail

Flip the pancake (my description of it)

I am already a lot better than I expected to be. Oh but I am jonesing for the water, and for my guitars!!!! And my new Vox amp...

Here is a vid to tide me and you over. It's the best band that ever was or will be, The Beatles. And I could have been singing this song for the past 7 weeks! Fortunately I have family and friends who did Help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ibX3TejlZE

BTW John Lennon is the most beautiful thing in that video... I will always love him!

Update -hiking accident, bear chow, etc. etc.

2008-07-08T20:54:00.003-05:00

Update July 8 Tomorrow I am getting this cast off and the second pin out. Went in today for surgery pre-testing. They asked a lot of questions, and had a lot of instructions, that seemed to indicate full anesthesia. That isn't what I was told to expect so I figure they ask the same things of everybody who comes in, regardless of the type of pain management. At least, I hope so. I'm hoping for a valium/demerol IV instead. That's what I got for my wisdom tooth and it worked a treat, as the Brits say.
No advil, no aspirin, no contact lenses, no makeup, no mouthwash, no food or drink after Midnight. No Kafka, no Verdi, no Dead Milkmen. Instead of ten commandments she read me a litany of dozens.
But - good news is I've had no lortab for days now, so I am driving my car. Being without a car in B'ham has sucked big time. Having a car again is sweet freedom.

Someone I love very much is going to Alaska this coming week to be mauled and eaten by bears, after which I will never see him again, and he is worried about: being bored during the trip.
I thought, later, after sharing a lunch break and giving him a final big goodbye hug, of books to suggest he read, but somehow I didn't suggest them. He is taking Into The Wild which is certainly thematically appropriate, but I have some different suggestions that, should he read my blog, he may take into consideration. I don't have the cheek, as the Brits say, to tell him the list in person.

OK on to the list:

Iron John

How 'bouts some Kafka

Flannery O'Kick Ass

Death In Venice

A Walk In The Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

IMHO, out of all of these the last will be best... it is very funny and apropro. propropropro.

I am in an absurd mood tonight, surely in part because I am afraid of tomorrow. But I will muddle on through.

Let me tell you about a bad habit I've nurtured - looking up old high school mates (as the Brits say, rather than 'friends') on the Internet. And they are damn hard to find. Certainly the ones who loathe me (and vice versa) that I look up, to see how they are, are invisible on the 'net, but even ones I'd like to say hey to, like the one who became a goddamn lawyer, are not to be found easily, and then scantily when found. Whereas I am as easy to find online as a recipe for buttermilk spongecake.

Men, I am told, do not do this. The thought of finding old hags online, without the intent of talking to them but simply to be nosy, does not enter their minds. Ever.

On to future plans:

buy self new kayak, a playboat silly, whatthefuckelse would I get with a perfectly good Riot Magnum decorating my kitchen?

catch all the eddies in Broken Nose.

buy townhouse, so I don't have to deal with a yard, or downstairs OR upstairs neighbors.

That's plenty.

DJ

*edit - I was joking about Iron John!!!!*

The Saga of Jekey

2008-07-01T18:31:00.006-05:00

I had forgotton about Jecky. In Jan 2004 I decided to attract and mess with a nigerian scam artist. They had been hitting my favorite paddling forum's gear swap pretty badly. I made a pseudonym 'Anita Sponsons'* and posted an ad on the forum.

*sponson - a sort of outrigger to attach to a boat. Useless on whitewater kayaks, its inventor trolled rec.boats.paddle on Usenet relentlessly until most people left the newsgroup. Though before my time as a paddler, I have heard tales of how the sponson guy ruined rbp, by being a persistent, trolling ass.*

It didn't take long for me to get a response.
>From: jekey tayo
>To: sponsons@hotmail.com
>Subject: This amazing
>Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 14:52:46 -0800 (PST)
> >Hello,
> I saw your advert on the net and i have interest in buying the boat
>which cost $300. My mode of payment is by cashier's cheque.give me the best
>price for quick purchase and the condition of the boat as at now . >Thank you > jekey

Anita Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> wrote: Hello! I am selling the boat for $300 plus the Genuine Natural Hair Fiber Paddle as a free bonus. However there will be a charge for shipping and that depends on where you are located. The boat is in fine condition. I took it a few times down the Green Narrows, Whitewater flume park in Atlanta, and then got a mystery groove in the Upchucky before my left sponson creased. After I got my neck cast off the main paddling I did was the swamps of the Cahaba, and the boat has served me well. It's like it's on auto-squirt, and I can spew like a rodeo boater. Let me know where you are. I like cashier's cheques.

HELLO , THANKS FOR THE RESPONDS. AM LOCATED IN ASIA.WHAT I NEED FROM YOU NOW IS THAT NAME THE WILL BE ON THE CHEQUE WILL BE PAYABLE TO AND THE ADDRESS,WITH YOUR PHONE NUMBER SO THE PAYMENT CAN COMMENCE ASA I GET THIS INFOMATION I WIULL CONTACT MY CLIENT TO ISSUE YOU THE CHEQUE THE EXCESS OF THE CHEQUE WILL BE FOR THE SHIPMENT. I HAVE MY PRIVATE SHIPPING COMPANY THAT THEY WILL COME FOR THE PICK UP YOU CAN CONTACT THEM THROUGH VIA EMAIL(JEKEYSHIPPINGAGENT@YAHOO.COM)I WILL LOOKING FORWARD TO YUR REPLY.

>From: jekey tayo >To: Anita Sponsons >

Subject: RE: This amazing >Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 12:55:32 -0800 (PST) > >HELLO , > THANKS FOR THE RESPONDS. AM LOCATED IN ASIA.WHAT I NEED FROM YOU NOW
>IS THAT NAME THE
>WILL >BE ON THE CHEQUE >WILL BE PAYABLE TO AND THE ADDRESS,WITH YOUR PHONE NUMBER SO THE >PAYMENT >CAN COMMENCE ASA I GET THIS INFOMATION I WIULL CONTACT MY CLIENT TO >ISSUE >YOU THE CHEQUE THE EXCESS OF THE CHEQUE WILL BE FOR THE SHIPMENT. I >HAVE MY >PRIVATE SHIPPING COMPANY THAT THEY WILL COME FOR THE PICK UP YOU CAN >CONTACT THEM THROUGH VIA EMAIL(JEKEYSHIPPINGAGENT@YAHOO.COM)I >WILL >LOOKING FORWARD TO YUR REPLY.

Anita Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> wrote: ASIA? Really? What a coincidence! I ate Mu Shu Shrimp last night! I love Chinese food, because you can order in Chinese with words like Mu Shu and also learn about Chinese history, like General Tso and those Mongolians, and do your horoscope with the place mat. But I digress. I am having a hard time imagining my baby boat 2000 miles away from Alabama. It's just that it was designed for Southeastern whitewater, by a famous Southeastern paddler. He played banjo in the movie Deliverance, maybe you've seen him. What kind of river would you be paddling with it? Or do you live near the ocean? I am concerned for your safety. Kayaking can be a dangerous sport. Anita

HELLO THANKS FOR YOUR MAIL.I WANT YOU TO GIVE ME THE FULL INFOMATION THAT I GIVE YOU SO THE PAYMENY WILL BE ISSUE.I WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR REPLY.

OK he wanted me to write the shipping company he uses, which happens to be called jekey shipping company.

Anita Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> wrote: Hello, I was given this address from a man? woman? named Jekey who is interested in buying my kayak. I suppose he wants you to calculate shipping to his address from mine. Well I live in Hog Teat which is right outside of Wetumpka, Alabama, but we usually ship things from Montgomery at the UPS store. So why don't you figure out shipping from Montgomery. Thanks, Anita Sponsons

HELLO, MY NAME IS OLANREWAJU VALENTINE. I AM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF JEKEY SHIPPING COMPANY.MY CUSTOMER MR JEKEY JEFF CONTACTED ME THAT I WILL BE HELPING HIM TO SHIP A KAYAK HE PLANS TO PURCHASE FROM YOU.HE MADE ME UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WILL BE SENDING SOME AMOUNT OF MONEY TO ME WHICH WILL COVER SHIPPING AND SOME OTHER BILLS. I WILL WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT IT IS THE POLICY OF MY COMPANY TO HAVE SHIPPING CHARGES PAID UPFRONT BEFORE WE COME DOWN TO YOUR LOCATION TO ARRANGE FOR THE SHIPPING AND PAYMENT IS USUALLY PAID IN CASH. I WILL SEND ALL MY DETAIL INFORMATION TO YOU AS SOON AS YOU NOTIFY ME THAT YOU WILL BE SENDING THE PAYMENT TO ME AND I WILL WANT THE FUNDS SENT TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THAT I MAY LEAVE FOR AN EARLY PICK-UP . AS SOON AS I HAVE THE FUNDS WHICH I WILL MOST PREFER TO BE SENT TO ME VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER IN YOUR LOCATION, I WILL LEAVE FOR THE PICK-UP AND I WILL WANT YOU TO PUT IN PLACE ALL THE MAJOR THINGS THAT WILL ENHANCE A SMOOTH AND SUCCESSFUL SHIPPING ARRANGEMENT FOR THE KAYAK,HOPE IS IN GOOD CONDITION. I LOOK FOWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SINCERELY, OLANREWAJU VALENTINE.

>From: jekey tayo <jekey882000@yahoo.com> >To: Anita Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> >Subject: RE: This amazing >HELLO > THANKS FOR YOUR MAIL.TRY TO GIVE ME THE INFOMATION SO I WILL FORWARD TO IT TO MY CLIENT TO SEND YOU THE PAYMENT.I WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR REPLY. > >> > >

Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> wrote: >Why would I send you money? I am selling a boat, you're paying for a boat. >What do you mean, jekey or olwananrana or whoever? I haven't even gotten a >check from you for the boat by the way.
> >On a happier note, one of my hogs won Best Teat in the annual Hog Teat
>contest, held here in honor of the town of Hog Teat Alabama.
>>>> ANITA

From: jekey tayo <jekey882000@yahoo.com> >To: Anita Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> >Subject: no problem >Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 07:11:20 -0800 (PST)

> > > >Hello Anita, > Am not saying you should send me money i have sent youexess i have have already said eaierler on so themoney is excess that is why i said you will send the remaining to my shipper in norway so no problem try to get the check as soon as soppible can you can thet you dog for me to take a look.

Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> wrote: Well now wait a minute. Why would you send more money? I could just keep the extra money after all, instead of sending it anywheres. I know that when I buy hog milk I don't send more than the prescribed amount due. I wasn't born a pig ear's sandwich, you know. I gots smarts. What I don't have is a check from you for anything. And what's a dog got to do with this anyway? ANITA

>Hello Anita, > Why should you be talking like this?i don;t want any means of play o.k when you nget the check deduct your money there and send the remaining to my shipper via western union and let stop our deal there o.k

Anita Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> wrote:Jekey. How's it hangin'? Listen, I'm worried about you. >Kayaking is a serious and dangerous sport. At least tell me what country in >Asia you are writing from. >I don't want to sell you a boat that you could use inappropriately and die >in. > >

HELLO > THANKS FOR YOUR MAIL.TRY TO GIVE ME THE INFOMATION SO I WILL FORWARD TO IT TO MY CLIENT TO SEND YOU THE PAYMENT.I WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR REPLY. > > > >Anita Sponsons >Well, OK. I have to give you my work number because we don't have a phone here in Hog Teat.

Anita Sponsons
2121 8th Avenue North,
Suite 1400
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
334-242-7300
*This is the address and phone number, IIRC, for the B'ham FBI office. This was Gordo's idea.*

Thanks for your purchase,
Anita Sponsons
Oh yeah you should write : Attention: Check for online boat purchase on the envelope so someone at the office doesn't open it by mistake.

HELLO THANKS FOR YOUR MAIL.I WILL CONTACT MY CLIENT TO SEND YOU THE CHEQUE.YOU WILL RECEIVE THE CHEQUE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.I WILL BE LOOKING FORARD TO YOUR REPLY.

>From: jekey tayo <jekey882000@yahoo.com> >To: Anita Sponsons <sponsons@hotmail.com> >Subject: PAYMENT >Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 13:08:12 -0800 (PST) > > > >
Hello Anita,
> I called the number you gav me but it was your wife office phone number,could you expalin why you have done that to me of which your wife was embarassinmg me.the payment it;s on the way so i will like you to get everything set as soon as possible. > Regards - Jekey

FROM ANITA: jekey that's not my wife!!!! She doesn't work. She stays at home raising our kids, slopping the hogs, and cleaning out the chicken coop. The woman you spoke to is my secretary. Don't take any guff off her! I told her to expect your call! Sometimes she is hard to deal with, she has a hearing problem. TELL HER WHO YOU ARE AND WHY YOU ARE CALLING. I am so sorry for the inconvenience! ANITA

HELLO THANKS FOR YOUR MAIL.TRY TO MAKE THE SHIPPING ARRANGEMENT SO THE SHIPMNET CAN COMMENCE SOON.TRY TO SEND THE SHIPPING CHARGES SO THEY CAN COME FOR THE PICK UP IMMEDIATELY,BECAUSE I WANT IT SHIPPED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.HERE ARE MY SHIPPIER'S INFORMATION YOU WILL USE IN SENDING THE MONEY. NAME.....OLANREWAJU VALENTINE. ADDRESS.....108 CURTIS STREET,OSLO NORWAY. HERE ARE THE INFORMATION YOU WILL PROVIDE TO ME AS SOON AS YOU SEND THE MONEY SO I COULD FORWARD IT TO MY SHIPPER. SENDER NAME.................. RECEIVER NAME............. AMOUNT SEND........ TEST QUESTION AND ANSWER......... MTCN#10 DIGIT NUMBER.......... I WILL BE FOR THE INFORMATION... HERE ARE THE WESTERN UNION OUTLET WERE YOU CAN CASH AND SEND THE MONEY ....

after which olarnasnjoruwer jekey whatthafuck helpfully sent FIVE little maps showing the western union locations in birmingham, using mapquest.

Anita's response: Jekey... I don't know how to tell you this. I am SO SORRY. But my best Nigerian hog, Scammer, got into my boat shed and took a liking to the boat you are buying. I wasn't aware of this until this morning. He has been 'nesting' in your boat, apparently for quite a while, and he has relieved himself several times in the boat, judging from the smell. The result is that your boat is full of... shit. I just don't know what to do, Jekey - I really don't want to touch the thing after this, and I doubt any manner of cleaning will get the shit off of the flex capacitors. The wicker seat reeks of hog urine, and he broke the mast off, too. Do you still want me to ship you this kayak? Anxiously, Anita

HELLO ANITA, COULD YOU LET ME KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON ,I NEED IT URGENTLY. so...

Anita responds: I'm trying to tell you. Oh I forgot your from asia so maybe you need it said like on a chinese menu. Boat have pig shit generously filled within. Smell make eyes water and nose run - off face. Boat need ancient chinese secret to remove shit and smell. If you use boat, fish run away and flies have party. You want boat not sure anyone willing to ship. Boat has become a Distatefull Object. No egg roll include. Anita

Welcome

2008-07-01T09:08:00.000-05:00

Howdy. My name is Judy Ranelli and this is my blog. I also have a blog at http://www.myspace.com/dangerjudy.
This blog is for my personal thoughts and whatever I want to post. It has no purpose other than my expression. I am so stoked that I know now how to make a top-level post that remains top-level! What you do is outlined here.

Anyway, my favorite things include guitars, whitewater kayaks, caving boots, photography, critters, particularly snakes and cats, history, and interesting non-fiction. Whiskey from kittens, mmmm. So expect posts about that stuff. One of the reasons I have this blog is to make a list of what fun things I do on which day, so that later on I can go back and read when something cool happened. So it's kinda for my own nefarious purposes.
Some people have amazing blogs. They post really intelligent comments about pertinent topics. This ain't one of them blogs. But I will post some links to some blogs that I keep up with, later.

Oh yeah - how I got the nickname Dangerjudy. When I started paddling my friend Michael made up superhero names for us. Thus Kombat Keith (got his combat roll first of us all), Zenmaster Sam (my nephew the buddhist), Shreddin' Ellen (I named her that. 'shredding' means playing very well on a wave), Panda whose real name is Panda, and so forth. I still call Ellen Shreddin' Ellen on the rare occasion I can get her to paddle. I needed a Boatertalk user name and used the nickname Dangerjudy and also the cavers started using it too. The cavers already had a guy we call Hazard when I joined the grotto. So no, it's not meant to be a bragging kind of name. If anything it's ironic because I am not one to just jump into something without fear. But after flipping my truck and rolling it several times on the interstate, and walking away from the wreck, I felt that I had earned the nickname.

my hiking accident - update

2008-06-12T20:13:00.011-05:00

Well here I am, 3 weeks since my hiking accident. I am in a short cast and I have a lot of pain in my thumb and first two fingers. They feel asleep, tingly/prickly, and sore under the nails and fingertips, down the length of the finger, very unpleasant.
I'm on Lortab 10mgs. The prescription said "1-2 every four hours". I tried to stay on just 1 every four hours, and did so earlier in the week, but today I've ended up taking 1 every two hours.
I called my surgeon today and left a message asking for a refill of the script and also asked if this pain was normal. His nurse called me back and said yes, it's normal. She said, "Your hand looked awful when you came in, with it being dislocated and broken. I bet the nerves are screaming. That is going to take time." I wonder what the people who get plates and screws in their wrists suffer if this is what I am going through with just two pins.
This whole thing is frustrating because I can't drive until I am off narcotic medication.

Other things: I think I am gonna try to go back to work Monday. I'm going nuts being stuck here. Maybe by Sunday my pain will be better. I do have some better mobility in my fingers so there is progress. Friends have been great. So has Kat in her patience to let me stay at her house. Today I thought about how fortunate I am for being able to walk etc., vs. being stuck in a wheelchair. Easy to take things for granted.

That's it. I have three weeks over - come on lets get the rest of it over so I can have fun!!!

Update June 16th. This morning I went by work to visit a bit and get my mail and work email messages. Confirmed that I cannot use my fingers well enough yet to work. I have to be able to use a Wacom tablet and pen to do my job. But I don't have enough feeling in my right hand fingers and thumb to use the pen. My boss, who is the sweetest person on Earth, is very understanding, and none of my projects are time-sensitive, so everything is OK. I do miss my work friends, though.
Kris drove me and Kat by the bank, then to lunch, then he dropped me off at home, where I promptly iced down my hand and went to sleep. Luna had meowed much of last night and so I hadn't slept very well even though it was my first sleep in my own bed in 3+ weeks. I do not let Luna and Clare in my bedroom to keep the cat fur out of my clothes etc., and paid for it with Luna's yowling, which is NOT usual (I couldn't live with that!). I guess she expected me to stay in the living room with them since I had been gone so long. But there was no way I was going to sleep on a couch again. BUT I've digressed...
This laptop computer is one of the best things I've ever purchased. I can type easier with my left hand only on this small keyboard, and I can lay on the couch while I do it instead of sitting in a chair, which is not easy to do with my sore tailbone. This laptop has saved my sanity.
Trying to take 1 Lortab every three hours (up from two) and so far so good.
Someone at work asked me what I was doing for food, if I could cook, and I told them I was great at fixing bowls of cereal. Seriously I have eaten a lot of cereal... Oat Cluster Cheerios.
If I think of anything else to write I will. I know I won't be able to sleep for awhile.
I'm trying not to be a titty baby, so many people suffer worse injuries than mine, and survive, and thrive.
Thus, I skirt the edges of the 'why me' trap but I am determined not to get snared. I have had two accidents now that I should not have survived, much less walked away from relatively unscathed, and these events have a way of messing with one's mind. But I ain't a-messing where I shouldna be a-messing.

I got my hair cut Friday, it 's pretty short. I love it. My nephew Simon is getting married this coming Saturday. I am going to look lovely all dressed up with a purple cast accessory.

Update June 26 Got the purple cast removed, took some rather gross photos here: My Hand After 2nd Cast.
Then they X-rayed it. After that the doctor came in and casually took my hand, picked up a pair of pliers, and yanked the pin out! A line of blood splattered on the pillow, the table, my shorts, my leg, and the floor. It didn't hurt but it didn't feel good, either. I'd prefer not to experience it again.
Then they put on another cast, this one red, and in 13 days it will come off and they will do surgery under mild sedation to remove the second pin, which is not poking out. Then a velcro brace and PT.

my hiking accident

2008-05-30T15:44:00.008-05:00

I went for an early morning bushwacking-style hike with my friend Brian on Thurs. May 22. We were in a tight narrow gorge near Bham, with no trail. A stream trickled down steep drops. We trekked through lush walls of poison ivy. (I am not affected.) Wildflowers and vines entwined our journey. We were in a beautiful hidden gem. I have pics on the camera in my car.
At the last steep portion I was near the edge of a drop and had the ground give under me. With nothing to grab to stop my descent, I slipped over the edge of a cliff wall. I free-fell 15 ft., hitting the ground on my side, bounced, slid down a steep angled rock floor about 25 ft. and ended my forward momentum by slamming my right arm into a boulder (I was tucked into a curl). My wrist broke. I lay in the stream, incredulous that I was alive. I had not lost consciousness. I did a quiet personal inventory. I could move my legs. As far as I could tell, only my arm was broken. I hollered my condition up to Brian, who then spent about 10 minutes and one ass-bustin' of his own to get to me.
We determined that I could walk. I consulted my GPS and determined the best route would be down the streambed. Eventually we found an ATV trail and hiked out to the road from that. It took us about half an hour. Brian had called a friend who lives nearby, who drove and met us with bags of ice and a towel for my arm.
He took us to my car which is a stick-shift. Brian drove me to St. Vincents East ER. They gave me dilautid injections and x-rayed my arm and pelvis. They put 3 stitches in my right knee. The ER doc told me I would need surgery on my arm. My tailbone, ass, and left hip were black with bruises. Jeans ripped open in the seat. I never heard anything about the pelvis xray, but my tailbone remains absurdly sore (and its been 8 days since the event).
I asked to transfer to St. Vincents in Southside, where my orthopedist Dr. Adkison is. He did my bankhart shoulder surgery in 04. I was admitted to the southside St. Vincents. The ER nurses put my arm in a splint. My sister Kat drove me to the southside StV's. Since my jeans were ripped and soaked with creekwater I wore two gowns tied together in weird fashion. I had a DVD with my xrays. The tech geek in me loved this.
My room at StV's was the nicest hospital room I have ever been in. It was a 'suite' in the south tower with a big window view of the city. It did not look or feel like a hospital room. It had a refrigerator and a self-adjusting bed.
My ortho doesn't do wrists so a partner in his group did my surgery. Dr. Kissel looked at my xrays and brought out a model skeleton arm with an apparatus screwed into it. "Best case scenario, we use one of these- an external fixer. If the bone is shattered too much I'll have to open your arm up instead and put plates and screws." I hoped for the best - what else could I do? I told him I am a guitarist. "We'll have you playing again in 3-6 months," he said. "F," I thought.
He shot my wrist full of lidocaine - that sucked but when he was finished it was gloriously numb for a couple of hours - and set my bones, then put my arm back in the splint. I would have surgery on Friday. They hooked me up with a morphine pump back n my room. Every 10 minutes I could press a button and get 1 mg morphine.

Friday I remember the pre-op room, I was in a queue I guess. I had to stay there a long time. Finally they wheeled me into the OR and I got on the table from my bed myself. Then I was knocked out and woke up back in my room. I love anesthesia!

My mom and sister told me great news. Instead of all that hardware, when the doc got to my wrist he found that setting my bone had lined it up great, so all he had to do was put in two pins. I am in a big cast for two weeks, then a short cast for 4, then some PT. Kat stayed in my room with me Fri. and Sat.

I spent that night with the pain pump. Saturday they took it off and put me on slow release morphine pills, and on Sunday I was discharged from the hospital. I'm staying at Kat's. Can't use my right hand for anything. I typed this whole trip report with my left hand on my laptop. I anticipate at least one more week off work. I'm on short-term disability, so I'm not eating my PTO.

What I am missing:
Mini triathlon last Sat. that I trained for over 2 months and bought a road bike for, AND took lap swimming lessons for.
Sunday Coosa kayaking
Monday Mem. Day Chief Ladiga bike trail

Tonight (Fri 30) -gig with my brother Rick's band, using my new Vox AC30CC1 for the first time.
This Sat-Sun -Hiwassee paddle trip
All the Tues. night road biking (I have fallen in love with road biking) with the Bham Bicycling Club.

Who knows what else.
But I am grateful to be here! And grateful for my great family and friends.

Update June 11th.
I'm wearing my second cast. I still have a lot of pain in my thumb and first two fingers. When they cut the first cast off, I took (warning, kinda gross) pictures of my hand with my camera phone here:
http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/gallery/5147918_cRVao#311429818_c6GqS

This cast is much shorter; it starts below my elbow. They will take it off on June 26th and x-ray my wrist again and determine if the two pins are ready to come out. If they are, then the pins will be removed and I hope I get a brace not another cast.

More updates: http://dangerjudy.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-hiking-accident-update.html

Water

2008-03-31T08:00:00.004-05:00

I was telling my friend Dave Howell about the decipherment of Hittite Cuneiform. We have interesting conversations as you will see.
My knowledge came from a book from the library that I checked out sometime in the recent past, but I have no idea which book it was. I suppose it was about the decipherment of cuneifom and hieroglyphics in the Middle East and North Africa. ;-) Sometimes I 'graze' the new book shelves in the history and social sciences sections of the library looking for an interesting read.
What makes this subject particularly interesting, and made me remember the tidbit of information that I related to Dave, is that the word 'water' was the key to translating Hittite Cuneiform, because it's the same word phonetically in ancient Hittite and in Modern English. No, really! When I went home I looked this up on the web to verify my memory's claim.

From:

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/hittite.htm

"A Czech linguist, Bedrich Hrozny who specialized in Semitic languages decided to attempt the decipherment of the Hittite cuneiform script. He was able to visit Istanbul and obtain copies of some of the cuneiform text from Boghaz Keui. In one text he found a example of two rhyming lines that looked promising. He knew the phonetic values of the cuneiform symbols so he rendered the two lines into the Latin alphabet as:

nu ninda en e-iz-za-te-ni
wa-a-tar-ma e-ku-ut-te-ni

Hrozny recognized the cuneiform ideogram ninda as representing bread. This led him to speculate that some of the other words in the lines might be for something like eating. He at that point was still considering Hittite as a Semitic language so he was looking for words that might be cognate with words for eating and so forth in other Semitic languages. Hrozny was a Semitic scholar but as a Czech he was also familiar with German. In scanning the lines looking for something that would be associated with bread what does he find at the beginning of the second line but wa-a-tar. It fairly leaps out as virtually the English word water although Hrozny probably saw it as a cognate of the German word for water, wasser. This was the clue to Hrozny that Hittite belonged to the Indo-European language family. He found similarities of the words in the lines to other Indo-European languages and was able to translate the pair of lines as:

Now you will eat bread and drink water. "

______________________________________

In fact, the sound 'ah' as in water, or close to it, is in the word for 'water' in all of the languages that branch out of the Indo-European family, as far as I can find. If you have an example that contradicts this, feel free to post it here.

Latin - aqua
Italian - aqua
Spanish - agua
French - eau
German - wasser
Hindi - pani
Marathi - pan-ni
Arabic - nahla

My mom's recipes - I made a blog just for them

2008-01-30T11:03:00.001-06:00

I've made a blog and moved my mom's recipes to it. Hopefully I will add lots more. For now, here it is:

http://sarasrecipes.blogspot.com/

Locust and Mulberry Conversion Chart

2008-01-21T09:00:00.003-06:00

THE CFS Flow	LOCUST Stage or Height	FORK Comments
222-441	2’0” to 2’6”	Minimal flow for paddling
530.5-630	2’8” to 3’0”	Good Paddling begins at this level.
732	3’2”	Ideal technical paddling with a little push.
962.7	3’6”	House Rock rapid gets strong; ender hole is prime for tricks.
1230	4’0”	House Rock rapid needs scouting; Double Trouble rapid gets less technical; ender hole begins to wash out; surfing and wave wheel paradise.
1970	5’0”	Big Water river in trees; Powell Falls becomes grabby – scout river right.
2900	6’0”	A real flusher; Whirlpool above Ender Hole becomes very dangerous.

THE CFS Flow	MULBERRY Stage or Height painted on Bridge. Subtract 3.3 from the online USGS gauge to get the correct feet on the painted bridge gauge.	FORK Comments
250-300	0”	Bump and scrape. Too low!
420	0” – 6”	Class I.
600-750	1’	Class II. At 651, bridge gauge said 1 ft with lots of little surf waves. -at bridge 1ft./700 cfs the surf spot between the islands at Glen Clark was in.
800	1’6”	Hawaii 50 begins to form and bow surfing possible.
1100	2’0”	Enjoyable run; great down river run.
3000	3’0”	Hawaii 5-0 is a surfer’s paradise; Lunchtime becomes retentive.
4000	4’0”	Pushy; rapids and eddies begin to wash out; floating debris may be present; 5.0 questionable but the hole behind is great.

Femme Avec Guitar Electric - Right Hand Assertiveness

2008-01-18T09:18:00.000-06:00

I want to talk about right hand strumming technique with a pick this morning. One of the things that I am aware of with my right hand is that the fulcrum of strumming is not my wrist; it is my elbow.

If you take your hand and wiggle it from the wrist, you get the classic 'limp wrist' motion. Imagine slapping someone with your hand moving it this way. Or - go ahead and slap your own face with the back of your hand this way. Now wiggle your hand with the elbow as the fulcrum. Slap your own face with the back of your hand - ow!
There is a lot more power generated from your hand motion if you use the elbow as a fulcrum and keep your wrist straight.
This is not to say that your hand or wrist should be tense.
My term for this is assertiveness, because I believe that's what it sounds like. Whereas playing with a limp wrist sounds like a child's hand smearing around finger paint.
You might say, "But what if I want to sound like a child's hand smearing around finger paint?" There is nothing wrong with that, if you want to sound that way. But if you are a woman who wants to play rock and roll, you need to play with assertiveness. And that is the one thing I see and hear most lacking when I see women rock guitarists.

Exceptions to this? Well they abound, but I think it's good to get this assertiveness thing nailed first. One exception is playing a lead. I use my wrist to play leads and the palm and side of my hand to mute the strings I do not want to be heard.
Another exception - well, sometimes I do strum with my wrist, but in this instance the up strokes have as much force as the down strokes.

I'll probably amend this later. Remember, this is just my own opinions and worth every cent you paid.

Friends

2008-01-16T08:54:00.001-06:00

Well, I am having a bloggin' kind of morning, what can I say? BT is down and there's not too much else interesting online. It's kind of pitiful that the entire World Wide Web can be boring. It's not like cable channels - it's the freakin' world! But for whatever reason, it is.

Maybe, just maybe the woman I was worried about actually did find my blog and read it. If she did, she has declined to contact me. I'll never know. I DO know that I had a weird dream the other night about seeing her in a public library. I walked up and said, "Hey how are you? I was worried about you though I have no idea why. Are you OK?" She said yes, and that she is now a wiccan researching spells. (btw I didn't know they had that kind of stuff in the public library.) So I replied with something like, " O... K... cool, um, whatever" and walked off in a bit of shock that someone who was so staunchly agnostic would practice religion ever again, much less with such an esoteric choice.

I did discuss all of this with another friend who is also a former friend of the woman in question (yes that is how tangled up life becomes) and she thinks, as I do, that it very well could be that my worries were valid, in a Jungian kind of way. Well, for no reason I can ascertain I stopped worrying about her, so she must be doing better. Maybe she cast a spell of happiness, I don't know. ;-)

BTW young lady, you can still contact me. Or not. Just... be well.

Practice

2008-01-16T08:33:00.000-06:00

In the kayak pool session last night, I thought about something a great guitarist told me about practicing guitar. He said, "You know those guys who sit in front of a TV and mindlessly play whatever without thinking while they are watching TV... well they are ruining their playing. You should be focused every time you practice and if you can't focus, put the damn thing up, it's not the right time!"
This came to my mind as I practiced rolling and trying to initiate the bow last night. I think it's pertinent. The hard thing is, rolling should become something that happens without thought. But perhaps not in the pool. The pool is a place to consider the steps and the technique of whatever it is you are trying to perfect for whitewater. At least I think so.
In the same light, practicing guitar should not be confused with jamming or having fun, not that it can't be fun, but to me these days practicing guitar should be about goals. Which necessitates having goals. ;-)
Without a goal, what are you doing? Are you practicing? Learning? Learning what?
I have a new book - Guitar Fretboard Workbook - and it is great. I can do the written exercises at work while rendering a composite, and when I get home and practice on guitar the lessons remain relevant. I even posted a little review of it on Amazon, something I never do, because I like the book so much.
I decided to count my rolls last night in the pool, and I counted 52. I did this because I want to make sure I exercise the muscles I use rolling when an opportunity like an indoor pool presents itself. I took breaks between every 15 or so - literally getting out of the boat. And my technique? Not so hot. I did come up every time though.
I guess I can get pretty meticulous.

Guitar Tuning

2008-01-16T08:25:00.001-06:00

This is a repost from a blog I put on myspace on Jan 4th 08.

I've been reading Richard Lloyd's website a lot and in it he talks about even temperament and guitar tuning. There is a way to tune a guitar by ear that makes a nice agreeable sound. I am geeking out on it this fine morning. I thought you might like trying it so here 'tis.

"First tune the bottom E. string to a tuning fork or tuning machine. Next, fret the E. string at the tenth fret. This will give you a D. Tune the D. string to this note by ear. Next, fret the D. string at the fifth fret. Tune the G. string to the D. string at the fifth fret. Now fret the G. string at the second fret. This gives you an A. Tune the A. string from this note. Now fret the A. string at the second fret. Tune the B. string from this note. It will be an octave up. Next, fret the D. string at the second fret. This gives you E. Tune your high E from this. Again this will be an octave."

He explains why this sounds nice, and why tuning to a machine sounds off, in the rest of the lesson here:
http://www.richardlloyd.com/lessons/index.htm Click on 'Musical Q&A'. It is the second question and answer. Interesting stuff. But if you don't want to read it all and just want to hear what I mean, tune your guitar the way posted here and strum a few tunes. It's very cool!

For more on temperament go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament

and here:
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~oneskull/3.6.04.htm

Guitar Stuff

2008-01-16T08:23:00.000-06:00

This is a repost of a blog I put on myspace on Christmas Day.

Guitar stuff. Warning I am going to ramble.
Current mood: smart

First off, Merry Christmas everyone! If you are a guitarist, and a person who, like me, 'plays by ear', I am going to give you a present that is going to annoy the everlivin' daylights out of you. But I think - jury is out - I think that it will help your playing, too. This is my latest find in the attempt to learn the fretboard, something 26 years of piddling around by myself hasn't accomplished.
My first moment of clarity came from a lesson on youtube from Richard Lloyd, whereby he plays a major scale up the fretboard to illustrate the circle of fourths. Since a guitar is tuned in fourths (except, yeah I know) this is a good way to think about moving around on the instrument.

Next moment of clarity - I read in an online guitar forum about an exercise that (legend has it) Mr. Satriani describes, which I will relate to you now. And here is the irritating part, because I am not going to lie to you - it's annoying as hell to do this exercise. But I think it will help me. Simply put, start with a note (let's do E first) and find it everywhere on the fretboard, to the beat of a metronome(lots free online). And once you get to where you find the E on every spot on the fretboard, speed up the metronome a bit and find the E's faster. And faster. And if you mess up, go back to the first E. And when you have the E down pretty damn well try another note. I'm still on E so I have not decided whether or not my next note will be F or A. I am going to stay on E for quite awhile, folks.
Days? A week? Who knows?
p.s. feel free to give me crap for being a Satch fan, because I am not, but hell if this helps me I'll buy his music in gratitude... lol

Third idea - future - t'was recommended to me to learn the fretboard via arpeggios, but seriously, can I until I know where the heck I am?

This wasn't an issue, any of it, on piano, because piano keys all look different (in context) and once you learn 'em, you got 'em. I had my last lesson at 11 and I can play 'guess the note' with you on a keyboard all day and get them right. But this fretboard... oh man, as I wrote a friend, I wander thru the fretboard forest looking for crumbs. Well, here are some crumbs!

For those of you who might murmer, "Circle of what? Fourths fifths huh? I didn't learn that in piano class", well yes you did, you just didn't realize it. The way to read key signatures on the staff illustrates the circle of fifths. I remember being a kid and learning this, because I had to in order to read music. Remember, no sharps - key of C? One sharp meant the key of G? Two sharps - key of D? Three Sharps - key of A? Four sharps - key of E? Five sharps - whew what a thing to play - key of B? I still remember seeing those 'key of B' sharps on the staff and going, Oh yeah all those black keys. Then you got into weird territory where the whole key was sharp like F sharp. BTW this blog won't let me use the symbol for sharp in it so I'm writing "sharp".

0- C
1 - G
2 - D
3 - A
4- E
5 - B

Well that is the circle of fifths.
..
And if you run that pattern backwards, it's the circle of fourths, which happens to be what guitars are tuned in (except for, yeah I know) - fourths.

I hope this information didn't make your face melt. I am all about it. Would love some feedback.
Merry Christmas!!!

Mr. Gip's Juke Joint

2008-01-06T11:44:00.002-06:00

Last night I went to a juke joint in the west part of town. It is behind the house of a man named Mr. Gip, who turned 86, so the party was in honor of his birthday. That's Mr. Gip with the hat and cup.
My brother and sister-in-law have been going to this juke joint for a year or so, but I had never managed to go with them until last night. My sister and my cousin went with us too. My brother first found out about the juke joint because of the B'ham Blues Society becoming aware of it. I think some of the main players at the joint must have gone to a blues society jam or something.
To get there, you have to drive quite a ways west of town, under a train trestle, through some projects, and follow directions like, 'turn at the tire store sign', and follow some twisty little roads to the house.
We parked and went in and immediately I said to my brother, "I want a juke joint!" He laughed and said, "You just need a place to put it."
Mr. Gip worked for a funeral home, so many of the chairs have covers on them like you would see at a funeral. It was pretty packed and lots of people were dancing. After awhile I got up and played bass and my brother played harmonica. I wanna bring a guitar next time. ;-) I used the bass that the previous bass player brought. That's the second time I've borrowed his bass at a jam - I owe that guy a beer or three, it's a nice Fender Precision. Then a guy got up and played a cigar box slide guitar thing.
I also got to meet Mrs. Gip, and several of their kids.
I don't think I can really tell a trip report about it, it was just a cool scene. The pictures will do a better job of telling the story I think. Here is a link to the rest of the pictures.
It was a fine time, and I hope to go back soon.

Family History Stuff

2007-12-31T08:25:00.000-06:00

My sister Kathy emailed me this. I decided to post it. Some of it is obviously quoted from a document she must have on her computer.

The Marino's and Ranelli's

My Father's Mother, Maria Marino Ranelli, came from a small town in Sicily called Sutera. Sutera is on a hillside near the farming village of Campofranco in Southern-Mid Sicily. My Father's Father, Francesco Ranelli was from Campofranco. The Raneli's used to spell their name with one "L" - another was added in America, I am not sure why. The Father of Maria Marino - Giovanni Marino had agreed to a marriage between his daughter and the son of Francesco Raneli. Then an argument occured between the two fathers and Giovanni called off the marriage. Young Francesco was already smitten and ready to marry so he and his friends went to Sutera and got Maria. She and Francesco were married without her father's permission - something quite rare in those days in rural, European culture. They had not been married long before they decided to leave Sicily for America. Francesco would leave first and go to New York to stay with a cousin and see

Buteras and Giardinas.

I spoke with Mom recently and she said that they got grandmother Sara Giardina Butera's name wrong on the Ellis Island records.

Great-great grandmother Teresa had a daughter Rosalia who was 18 but the manifest also says there was another Rosalia who was 22, but this was actually Rosaria - like the Rosary and she was called Saria or Sara.

07. Teresa Varca (Giardina) 49yrs - Husband died (Maybe Charles or
Carlo)and she gathered up all her children,
including married daughter Rosalia (Rosaria called Sara) Giardina Butera and her Husband
Andrea Butera, his daughter from a previous marriage Rosalia (Lily)
Butera -6yrs and Sara and Andrea's baby boy Guiseppi -1 yr old.

08. Teresa's daughter or daughter in law, niece? Rosalia Giardina - 18
yrs - perhaps Ramiano's wife?

09. Ramiano - 16 yrs perhaps a cousin? Maybe married to the 18 yr old
Rosalia?

10. Teresa's daughter Croce - 13 yrs

11. Teresa's son Paul - 11 yrs- married step-niece Lily - one son Big
Charlie Giardina - had Rosalind Giardina Ranelli married Big Frank

12. Teresa's son Mike - 9 yrs

13. Andrew Butera 34yrs married her daughter Rosalia (Rosaria) called Sara

14. Rosalia Butera - 6 yrs - Andrew Butera's daughter from a previous
marriage - Called Lily and married step-brother Paul - one child - Big
Charlie Giardina

15. Andrew and Sara's first Son Joe 1yr

16. Teresa;s married daughter Rosalia (Rosaria)Giardina Butera - called Sara 22yrs

My Giardina Family came over on this ship which you can find at
ellisisland.org
Date: October 22, 1898
Ship of Travel: Victoria
Port of Departure: Naples
Manifest Line Number: 0008

On that ship manifest - the Victoria, arriving on October 22, 1898 were My
Great-great Grandmother Teresa Varca (Giardina) but they mispelled her
name when transfering it to text - the text document spells her maiden
name "Karea" but it is really Varca (Giardina.)

My mother says that
Teresa's husband - I am not sure of his first name, but probably Charles,
Paul or Michael - He had a grain Mill in Sicily on a river. One night
there was a storm and he knew that he should go out and grind some wheat
while the river was moving so fast. When he got there, he sliped and hit
his head on a rock and died. So the widow, Teresa Varca Giardina, gathered
up all of her children, including her oldest daughter Sara (Rosalia) and
her Husband Andrea Butera and came over on the Victoria in 1898.

On the ship manifest, ,they put down that their destination was New
Orleans so may they have gone to New Orleans after that for a while, but
evetually ended up here, in Birmingham, Alabama. They were a lot of
immigrants here from her town of Bisaquino and she probably had friends
here. She stared a pasta factory and opened a general store where she sold
all kinds of food and also the pasta she made as well as Italian products
which were probably from New Orleans. She and her Daughter Sara and Son-in-
law Andrea also bought property in Ensley and rented the small houses
that they bought - and were quite wealthy.

Check out the ship's manifest and you will see several Giardina's
(Teresa's children) and a few Butera's (Sara and Andrea's children.

The Williamsons. My English Great Grandparents. My mother's mother's parents.
From the Ellis Island records:

First Name:	Mary Elizabeth
Last Name:	Williamson
Ethnicity:	English
Last Place of Residence:	Ashington
Date of Arrival:	Mar 28, 1901
Age at Arrival: 21y Gender: F Marital Status: M
Ship of Travel:	Teutonic
Port of Departure:	Liverpool
Manifest Line Number:	0011

First Name:	Thomas
Last Name:	Williamson
Ethnicity:	English
Last Place of Residence:	Ashington
Date of Arrival:	Mar 28, 1901
Age at Arrival: 24y Gender: M Marital Status: M
Ship of Travel:	Teutonic
Port of Departure:	Liverpool
Manifest Line Number:	0010

Thomas Williamson came to Alabama to work in the coal mines. He worked in Coal Mine number 8, behind their house.

Fun Stuff 2007

2007-12-31T08:11:00.001-06:00

Jan 1st - Chili Run, Cartecay river. Level 2.6 ft. Pics HERE. Trip Report HERE.

Jan 4th - Mulberry Fork. Level 2 ft. With Glen Davis, Joan Steed, Heather Sutton, and various other paddlers.

Jan 13th - Town Creek. Level 280 cfs. With folks from the Huntsville Canoe Club. Trip Report HERE. Pics HERE.

Jan 14th - Mulberry Fork. Level under 1 ft. on the bridge, approx. 570 cfs (low!). With Joan Steed, Tara and Jim, Gray and Troy, and others.

Jan 27th - Locust Fork, to Swann Bridge. Level 2.9 ft. corrected. Guy almost swims under House Rock. Incident described HERE.

Feb. 10th - I think - Chattooga Sec. 3.5. Level 1.5.

Feb. 23rd - Diamond Caverns. Commercial tour.

Feb. 24th - Mammoth Cave. National Park tours: New Entrance and Historic Broadway.

Feb. 25th - NPFF.

March 17th - Ain't Louie Fest.

March 18th - Middle Tellico, level 1.9

March 24th - Locust Fork Whitewater Classic race.

March 25th - Rappelling, Palisades Park, then boating on Oak Mtn. Lake. Jimmy's first day on the water after his surgery.

April 1st - A little solo roll practice at Oak Mtn. in my Wavesport XXX.

April 7th - Work on Graves' Cave gate.

April 14th - Caving with boy scouts in Tumbling Rock Cave.

April 20-22nd - Geezerfest 2007. Tellico at 1.1? With Dave and Rick. Pics HERE.

April 28th - Coosa River, 3300 cfs., with MarthaMaria, Elmo, and BCC paddlers.
Pics HERE.

May 4-6th - Buffalo River with the B'ham Grotto. Pics HERE. TR HERE.

May 12th - Cahaba Lilies in West Bloction, Al. Pics HERE.

May 20th - Coosa River, 3300 cfs, with the Birmingham Canoe Club.

May 27th - Rafted entire Ocoee River, upper and middle. TR HERE.

May 31st - June 3rd - SERA 2007. Swimming at the lake with kids. Diving boards, went off the slide headfirst. Went to Lost Creek Cave. Pics HERE.

June 9th - 10th. Hiwassee, BCC class. Handpaddling. First trip on the H with the Wavesport triple X. Pics HERE.

June 16th - Coosa, minimum release. Triple X and stick. Fun fun fun. Trip report HERE.

June 23rd-24th - Hiwassee. In the Triple X. With the BCC for the Old-Timers trip. Here my camera died. But I posted the last pictures it took, magenta error and all, HERE.
I have subsequently bought a new camera that is one step up in model from my old one, but still not made anymore, on closeout from Wolf Camera for $145.

July 1st - Coosa, minimum release. With my sister Kathy, my friend Donna Farmer, my friend Dave Howell, my niece Sara and my nephew Elmo (Sam). Unfortunately, no picturi

July 8-15th - Ottawa River, Canada. Pics HERE.
Trip Report, HERE.

July 21-22nd - Hiwassee, B'ham Canoe Club Beginner "Fast Class". This was the first iteration of a new beginner class format, 3 days of paddling in a row, first day on Ocoee lake and a brief class I section below the commercial takeout to the private boaters' takeout.
Second and third days on the Hiwassee. I was present for the latter two days. This class was a great success! Pics HERE. Videos HERE And HERE.

July 28th - 29th. CreekFreak Fest. We borrowed a raft and Creekfreak, visiting from Oregon, guided us down the Upper, Olympic, and Lower sections of the Ocoee. Pics HERE, videos HERE.

August 4-5th. Hiwassee with Juliet, Mark, Amanda, and friends. And kids! Finally got Juliet back on the water after a 6 year hiatus, in a 2Fun! Pics HERE.

August 8th. Rolling practice at Oak Mtn. lake. Fer got a roll! It was crazy how he did it, but he came up. Lots of hip snaps off the bow for everyone. I found my sweep roll, I guess it had been hiding with my missing socks. Good times.

August 18th. Grotto Splash at Spring Valley Beach in Blountsville. Pics HERE and HERE.

August 25th. Nantahala. Low release (IMHO). With Snacker55, Dneesh, psychicmidget, and others. Got a combat roll playing at surfer's rapid, and discovered that nobody saw it. ;-) Did a weird far river right line on the falls, easy-schmeazy. Watched a forest fire devouring a mountain top, camped with Atlanta Whitewater at Nantahala-Wesser campground.
This was a new campground for me and I really like it

Sept. 1st. Second Annual BCC Youth Paddle. Hiwassee River. Dislocated my right kneecap trying to roll a Riot Astro 54. Youch.
Sept. 2nd. Hiwassee River. I've now dubbed my Wavesport EZ "Old Faithful". Guess I need real thighbraces not pockets like on the Riot boat.
Sept. 3rd. ELF Run of Chattooga Sec. IV. Level 0.9. My first ever foray past Woodall Shoals into the magical realm of Sec. IV. With Kevin Pickens and Chuck Neese. Swam in potholes with goggles. Awesome.
PICS of the youth paddle and the Sec IV trip are here.
Here is a video of Kevin swimming through a long underwater pothole at 7 foot falls. I wouldn't do it, but I took video... lol.

Sept. 8th - DLF's 40th b'day.
Sept. 9th - Oak Mtn. Lake. Glen there.

Sept. 15th. Mulberry Fork. Low water - lowest I have ever paddled it, I think. But it was LOCAL WATER! W/ Dr. Wendy

Sept. 23rd. Oak Mtn. Lake.

Sept. 29th. Oak Mtn. Lake. This was at the upper fishing lake. W/Nathan and Bronson.

Sept. 30th. Cathedral Caverns. With the Ellenbergers. WORLD CLASS show cave.
Pics Here.

Oct. 5-8. TAG Fall Cave-In. Pics HERE.

Oct. 13th. BCC Fall Colors Trip. Hiwassee. Pics HERE. Movies HERE.
Oct. 14th. Hike on John Muir Trail, upstream of the Apalachia Powerhouse on the Hiwassee. Pics - see pics link above for fall colors trip.

Oct. 20th. Anniversary of Shane's death. I can't believe it's been a year.

Oct. 20th.Surprise kayak gift for Juliet's birthday. Pics HERE.

Oct. 21st. Mrs. Miller's Cave. Pics HERE. Trip report HERE . and HERE (I wrote it in two installments).

Oct. 25th-28th. GAF 2007. Pics HERE.
Activities: Mtn. Biking at Tsali, found an eastern hognose in the parking lot at Tsali, kayaked Nanty on Saturday, hiked to Wayah Bald and drove to Wesser Bald on Sunday.

Nov. 3rd-4th. Green Narrows Race and hiking Tallulah Gorge. Pics HERE.
Unfortunately, my pics from Oceana - the end of the hike were not on my camera when I got home. ;-(

Nov. 10th. BCC Cave Trip to Tumbling Rock. I had 3 takers on the trip, along with Grotto members Jason Wall and Andy Zerbe.

Nov. 17th. Carnival Season reunion at The Nick. Well hell yeah! Earlier in the day I went to the Tannehill Trade Day - last one of the year.

Nov. 24th Graves Cave. I had an accident. Fell. Mild concussion, busted nose and chin, sore jaw. Helmets work. With Dave and Valerie Howell, and their daughter Shea and her boyfriend ???. Wish I could remember names better. Jonathan perhaps? I made it out of the cave without mishap. 300 ft. crawl, oh boy. Pics HERE.

For those of you familiar with Graves Cave, I fell on the 9 ft. climbdown after the long crawl. My estimate is that I fell 3 ft. I was climbing down and lost grip of the handhold I had chosen. My next 'project' is buying a bolt to put there for a handline. Some of my caving buddies have generously agreed to help me by installing the bolt. Installing bolts is not a skill I possess.
I'll NEVER do that climbdown without a handline again.
I had on an Elderid helmet, 661 2x4 elbow pads, and Dirty Dave knee pads. Saved me from broken bones, and possibly from a broken neck!

Dec. 2nd Moundville. Marjorie and I visited Moundville, an amazing archeologcial site. Pics HERE.

Dec. 9th Vertical Practice at Palisades. I didn't get injured, yippy! Pics HERE.
Later Andy Z. and I went to check out a lead in Centerpoint that didn't pan out.

NOC instruction blog has a paddling lexicon

2007-09-08T10:06:00.000-05:00

NOC's Instruction Blog has a very cool paddling lexicon. (in addition to lots of other useful info).

Here's a link:
http://nocpaddlingschool.blogspot.com/2007/08/glossary-of-whitewater-terminology.html

For those who might not know, NOC stands for "Nantahala Outdoor Center", a mecca of SE boating and one of the best kayaking schools in the world.

wildest dreams

2007-08-28T06:42:00.000-05:00

I have a song by Moody Bluegrass, their rendition of "Wildest Dreams". It's really a lovely song, and Moody Bluegrass does a great version of it. It makes me think of you.

Once upon a time
Once when you were mine
I remember skies
Reflected in your eyes
I wonder where you are
I wonder if you
Think about me
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

Once the world was new
Our bodies felt the morning dew
That greets the brand new day
We couldn't tear ourselves away
I wonder if you care
I wonder if you still remember
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

And when the music plays
And when the words are
Touched with sorrow
When the music plays
I hear the sound
I had to follow
Once upon a time
Once beneath the stars
The universe was ours
Love was all we knew
And all I knew was you
I wonder if you know
I wonder if you think about it
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

And when the music plays
And when the words are
Touched with sorrow
When the music plays
And when the music plays
I hear the sound
I had to follow
Once upon a time

Once upon a time
Once when you were mine
I remember skies
Mirrored in your eyes
I wonder where you are
I wonder if you
Think about me
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

The Beatles

2007-08-14T22:10:00.001-05:00

The Beatles

Yes, I will go on and on about The Beatles. I am re-watching The Beatles Anthology DVD box set. Episode 2.

It is remarkable to me that they performed 'Twist and Shout' for the Queen Mother, all of the Beatles of course in their suits and ties... hell yes. Rattle yer jewelry, that did.

It's the songs that get me, though. It always was and is.

I have this faint memory circa 1973 of this girl asking me and a cousin what our favorite bands were for a high school class project -for a survey she was taking. I say 'high school' because she was asking 7 year old kids what our favorite bands were. It could have been college, though I question her methodology if so. It could have been a secret gov't project. But I suspect it was high school. In my memory she had long blond hair, and we were standing on the sidewalk. Anyway, she asked us what our favorite bands were.
My cousin said, "Three Dog Night". I said, "The Beatles". He mocked me. She said, approvingly, "Alright, The Beatles...". I don't know why I remember that so vividly. I was mocked, after all. I just think she approved. But what a tender thing to admit! What a piece of my heart to expose. An ancient, defunct band like The Beatles. 2 years broke up, 3, what was it? And amidst mockery. Story of my life, Amidst Mockery. Anyway, yes I said The Beatles. Of course I did.
Now, this is not to say I was Some Enlightened Child, because I have enjoyed my share of Treacle and Drivel, including several disco hits as they arose... after all I was a Child Of The 70's And Early 80's, and I loved the same things my compadres in age loved. And an early appreciation for Quincy Jones' production is not to be discarded...
But somewhere around 1982 something happened. My sister Kat had a cassette tape that someone, I think Morris, gave her, of the Beatles (she will read this and correct me if it was not Morris). It was Revolver, Rubber Soul, some of Yesterday and Today... I still have it BTW. I really do still have it! They could Make Cassette Tapes back in those days. Sturdy things. Anyway I 'borrowed it' and never returned it. It does not have the stuff Ringo sang on those albums, so it's not a complete collection. Anyway, I played this cassette relentlessly, and I memorized it. Memorized it to a point that I got obsessed with it. Memorized it to a point that I can still sing the first line of the next song on the tape, in key, after the last song I hear, though without Ringo's songs it's not accurate to the song order on the vinyl, so I'll get some wrong if you go by the original song order. I remember, even back then, how I could annoy people with talking about The Beatles. Oh yes.
And realize this - I had no Internet. Easy 'footage' of The Beatles wasn't at my fingertips. It wasn't the cute lads that got me. It was the songs. Do you see what I mean? The SONGS, man. The MELODIES! The CHORD CHANGES!!!
And it's still the songs, you know, even at me ripe old age of 41. Though they were very cute lads, lol. And I still love them. Esp. John Lennon, dammit.

Paddling School Blog: What's the best beginner boat?

2007-08-06T06:55:00.000-05:00

Paddling School Blog: What's the best beginner boat?

Remarkable Thing

2007-07-27T08:29:00.001-05:00

A remarkable thing happened to me last night. I was in Spin Class and I had had a tiresome day at work; comptuer kept crashing, After Effects was being bitchy. I don't know what was up with that. It's usually quite stable. Anyway I went to Spin Class and it was an Inteval ride. That means that you do short intervals of high energy then you remove all of the resistance from the bike and try to lower your heart rate and recover. The last interval was a high resistance sprint and I just went for it.
For the first time, ever, I sweated drops off of my forehead and face onto the bike. I just don' t sweat like that, y'all. The instructors do. I really pushed myself and I think I found my 92% threshold, which was 174 beats a minute. I maintained that for about 20-30 seconds and had to back off the resistance. I could stick at 170 beats a minute OK, it was kickin my ass but I could keep doing it, so I think that is my 85% number.
It was an awesome thing to work like that, and an hour later I was still glowing from it.
I just wanted to share.

Everything That Rises Must Reverb

2007-07-25T21:04:00.000-05:00

Itty Bitty
Current mood: amused

I have started a new music project (I don't know how else to describe it) that I am calling Itty Bitty. So far it's just me and that may very well be all it is. And I haven't recorded anything, and that may end up that way too. But that's just how it is, as I am an eccentric person.
I am calling it Itty Bitty for two reasons. The first reason is that the words itty bitty make me laugh. The second is that I keep writing little pop songs. In major keys. Without any kind of 'seriousness' or 'heaviness'. It's just where I am in life right now I reckon. I also got a new (to me) 1980's Japanese strat to play with.
The things that I like to explore about songs are clever transitions (chord changes?) and writing appropriate and melodic solos.
One thing I am trying to not get hung up about is worrying that I'm making up something that is already a song, because it seems that part of every song is part of another song, kind of like "I Saw Her Standing There" is uh, inspired by "The Saints Come Marching In", and how many songs are based on Rhythm Changes (Summer Place, The Flintstones theme, and a plethora of others). The problem with this is I am hung up about it, I'm just trying not to be.

Other stuff - I am home from Ottawa, where I went to five days of kayak school on the Ottawa river. It was my vacation and it was awesome. I had never paddled five days in a row before. So I feel quite strong, lol.
I've been lifting weights three nights a week and doing a Spin class twice a week, and paddling on weekends. My hope is to get strong enough to do some flatwater tricks in my kayak. It's not common for women to do these sorts of tricks, because skill alone won't make it happen, you have to have some serious core ab strength. I'm also hoping to further along the process of de-belly-fication. Ontario is a very sparsly populated place. In Beachburg, which is where the whitewater sections of the Ottawa are, people ride their lawnmowers down the street to do errands, and the one restaurant in town sells 'Chinese and Canadian ' food. I didn't go there, and wish I had. There are nearby towns with other places, particularly the delicious and cool Middle of Nowhere restaurant.

OK enough pictures of restaurants - the Ottawa is world-reknown for its big water, and here is me punching Sattlers Hole on McCoy's rapid. It was so big my brain would go into shock and I'd have the mantra, "Just don't think about it, just don't think about it" until I got to the bottom of the rapid, and the adrenaline would have me shaking. Oh man that ruled... anyway there was nothing hard about that line, I'm just not used to water that big.

Here's a beauty shot of the Ottawa. In between each rapid it's like a lake.
Here's another with some kayakers in it.
Whoo-hoo! Iron Ring Rapid!
One more - Lower No Name Rapid, this was a canoeists' line that the kayakers decided to take.

Tonight - roll practice at the lake, with the new kayak students. I wish I could roll as consistently as some of the people I've taught to roll! Kayaking is such a mental sport. Your attitude is a huge huge part of it, and your belief in your own abilites.
I've got to swap out boats as my Wavesport xxx is in my sister's garage, and I need it for the lake. Hey, that boat was all the rage in 99.
Well, I'm just meandering, so that's it for now.

letter

2007-06-26T12:14:00.001-05:00

Yeah I know, people don't write letters anymore, they write emails or blogs. Still, it's something special to get a letter, on real paper.

What was that? Oh, I was going to tell you about what happened after I sent a letter that I regret sending, but in a way I don't, because I was telling the truth. Consider this - that much of civilization consists of not speaking how you really feel, unless you really feel positive about something. Feeling negative about something, or someone, and needing to vent, isn't polite. So I wasn't polite. Unfortunately I was cruel.

After I sent you the letter, lots of things have happened. First off, my father died of cancer. I have had my heart profoundly broken two more times. Then I had a serious episode where I should have snagged this hottie but he went off and got married to someone else. It is for the best because he did not appreciate my sense of humor. That's a way for me to say I could have sold him the brooklyn bridge, he was so gullible to my wiles. I need someone more cynical than that. So no I never did get married.
Nor will I! Unless he's a boater. Gotta be a boater. Well, a boater would be best. See, I started kayaking, and like Frost,
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference"

I took a whitewater kayaking class, and fell in love. And it has taken the measure of me, and pitilessly... I have had two right shoulder dislocations and surgery thereon. I have been stuffed in an undercut and worked in a hole. I have felt fear I never thought possible to feel. It's amazingly alive, being in the moment as kayaking puts me. Like nothing else. It's THE BEST.
I know I know I get poetic about it. You rolling your eyes yet? That's fine. I'll always be intense.
Lessee, I also go caving. Caving is like being in a secret passageway in a fine old Victorian mansion. The passageway leads to a room filled with glittering jewels. There is much mystery in caves, and much comfort, too. I feel very comforted deep in a cave. There are bats and mud and water, tinkling waterfalls, quiet safe dark encompassing all, no light, no sound, the best peace there is. I think you might like it. But you have to get dirty to get to the best places.
I also go mountaineering. I'll describe that later.
What's needed here is a Quick summary - I rolled my truck on the interstate and walked away from it physically unscathed. This was less of an epiphanic moment than it deserves to be. You get really philosophical for awhile, then life gradually takes over and one day you're grousing over being out of peanut butter and other mundane things, just like you were before the wreck.
I work at the same place, I'm doing motion graphics and compositing on Avid DS. I wouldn't trade my job for any other except Lottery Winner or Rock Star.
My sister Kat survived breast cancer last year, she has had a double mastectomy and reconstruction.
I have vitiligo.

Oh by the way, of course I'm sorry.
I'm sorry for many reasons, but one of the major ones was when Kat got diagnosed. I don't want to read in the paper that you've died. I don't want to find that out from a website. It rips me apart to think of that. But on the other hand, there are plenty of people I never want to hear from or talk to again, and a couple that I will be quite happy to read their obits. People have their destinies, and only so much time. Why waste time on someone whose company you detest?
I was laughing with a friend about that, about how there is this certain woman that I'd like to call and say, "Listen you annoy the piss out of me and I really don't enjoy your company, nor do I want to talk to you after this, but are you doing ok?"
As this is a prerogative I enjoy, it is also your prerogative. So I don't expect a reply but it would be nice to get one. I didn't expect, or want, a reply to that last letter of course. I had kicked you to the proverbial curb.

Back to being sorry though - I am.
Another thing that happened was Shane dying in Little River Canyon. I have a PFD he sold me - my first - and I have a brilliant image of him in my mind in the Garage cafe when I told him I was taking the beginner kayak class, back in 99 - he said, "If you flip, try to roll up". He was a magnificent boater and a good friend. Several aquantiances of mine have also died in the past two years. It makes me wonder what I would say, if I could, to them if I had known the time left with them was so short.

So see, I wonder, because you come to mind rather often these days, and I have no idea why. Should I be concerned for you? Is this an omen? A sign? Are you in fact fine? Or is there something I could do to help? You, being a sensible woman, might laugh and say that we are worlds apart. But I remain concerned, for you, for unfathomable reasons, at least I haven't been able to probe them.
John Muir said, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe", and Leonardo Da Vinci said, "When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come." And John Lennon said, "I believe, yes I believe. More I cannot say. What more can I say?" And R Shackelford said, "I refuse to date a man with bigger breasts than mine." See, if I stack enough quotes in a row maybe you'll smile.

Pucker Unconcerned

2007-06-22T21:47:00.000-05:00

I got this line in a spam email in the poem made of spam email lines listed in another portion of this blog.

Let's sing it to the tune of the chorus from the aptly titled, "Judy's turn to cry":

Let's
pucker unconcerned
pucker unconcerned...

and
"fashioned him an anus" fits the song as well. OK not as well as pucker unconcerned but wtf. Apparently doctors fashioned Fidel Castro an anus at some point in his recent medical care. I'd rather be fed sleeping pills until I died, but who knows, having an anus fashioned out of some sort of organic material might be pleasant.

I made this song up a while ago that is a rip of a slow version of Dancing Days by Zep. I made it up so I could do a solo that started at the low portion of the fretboard and went all the way up the fretboard to near the tippy top. This is 'cause a certain relative always complained that I would do solos on the lower frets. So of course I like to do them. Contrariwise. I'm talking to my intimate friends here. So lissen up.

So anyway, I found, or was led to by someone wise on here, those Bonham solo cuts in MP3 and think I might play along to one, even though they aren't, any of them, Dancing Days.

Another amazing fact about me - I can't really bend strings near the tippy top of the fretboard, they hurt too much. Maybe if I switched to 9's from 10's I could, but 9's are for pussies.

Judy Ranelli's DangerBlog

Video from Daddy's Creek

Fun Stuff 2012

Couple songs I love

Ain't it the truth

Fun Stuff 2011

Zombies

Why is it so hard?

Awesome and awful year so far

Quick post on guitar stuff

The way it feels to paddle whitewater - via video

What now?

My momma

MULBERRY FORK PARKING ALERT

WildWater movie

National Paddling Film Festival

Locust and Mulberry levels chart

Locust and Mulberry levels

JAN 1 2011

Fun Stuff 2010

Halloween

Good Summer

MORE incredible footage

Incredible footage

Purple Paddle

A Small Update

More Family History stuff

Roll Instruction Video

Brushy Creek March 27 2010

Dillsboro Dam Removal Video

Nature By Numbers

WATER

All Hail Teckno Viking

John Daker

no time

Seasons' Greetings

Jealous Guy

Fun Stuff 2009

Buffalo River and Indian Creek Trail, Arkansas

How I put my shoulder back in socket after a Kayaking Shoulder Dislocation

Fun Stuff 2008

More Bridge Day pics including 3 of yours truly...

Richard Lloyd Scale Lesson

Groovy Amp!

Bat Video

McClendon's Cave TR

Incredible Blog

Holidays without John

Anvil Cave Trip, Nov. 8th 2008

Black and White animals

Just saw my orthopedist!

sad news

Upper Chattooga letter - a must read!

Few Thoughts

My Favorite Guitar Solos

My Cast is off, my Pin is out!

Update -hiking accident, bear chow, etc. etc.

The Saga of Jekey

Welcome

my hiking accident - update

my hiking accident

Water

nu ninda en e-iz-za-te-niwa-a-tar-ma e-ku-ut-te-ni

Now you will eat bread and drink water. "

My mom's recipes - I made a blog just for them

Locust and Mulberry Conversion Chart

Femme Avec Guitar Electric - Right Hand Assertiveness

Friends

Practice

Guitar Tuning

Guitar Stuff

Mr. Gip's Juke Joint

Family History Stuff

Fun Stuff 2007

NOC instruction blog has a paddling lexicon

wildest dreams

The Beatles

Paddling School Blog: What's the best beginner boat?

Remarkable Thing

Everything That Rises Must Reverb

nu ninda en e-iz-za-te-ni
wa-a-tar-ma e-ku-ut-te-ni