Rodeo Break

The kids are off for Rodeo so I took took a couple of days too. Here is Philip at the gym.

Here is Amy on an overhang.

Here I am warming up so I can get spit off a 5.10- multiple times later.

Here is Balanced Rock in the Chirachua's.

Everyone should see The Thing once, but I don't recommend it any more than that. Amy and I always wanted to see it when we were kids, but our parents would never take us. Our kids can never say that now.

Easter is Cancelled

Do you know what the picture is? It is coyote scat. You may ask why it looks furry. That's because of what it is made of........bunny fur. Not just any bunny fur, but word on the trail is that it is Easter bunny fur. Apparently Peter Cotton Tail was just a little too slow.

The illegal coyotes that have come over the border have been smuggling in counterfeit Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, and Peeps. It is hard to sell them when the Easter Bunny gives the real thing away. So he had to be rubbed out.

Rumor has it that the field mice have an agreement with the Coyotes also. Little Bunny Fu Fu is a marked man. Tell the children to be of good cheer. We can always celebrate the Resurrection.

First Sighting of the Year

Yesterday Amy and I went for our weekly trail run. About a half mile into it we came across a Western Diamond Back Rattlesnake. That is the first one of the year. I don't know if I have ever seen one this early in the year, and I know I have never seen one this active this early. It was 91 degrees here yesterday. It was strange to see my wife's foot about 6" from a rattle snake. He made plenty of noise and headed the other direction. I stopped and got him headed away from the trail. He wasn't very happy, but I was grateful to get to see him. About two feet from where the snake was I found a baby Desert Tortoise that I could have covered with a fifty cent piece. It was tiny. I generally don't like to handle them, but I wanted to get him away from the trail. I was afraid he would get smashed because he was almost impossible to see. Sorry no pictures. I was traveling light, and am a little concerned about ruining my new camera after my last fall.

Stayc and Porter

These are my friends Stayc and Porter. I met Stayc about twelve years ago at UPS. We have been friends ever since. Stayc is my exact opposite. She often says "I don't understand how you and I can even be friends". But we are. I call her Baby A because she is a twin and her middle name is A and her twins middle name is B.

She works for (oh how I hate to use the "F" word on my blog) FedEx. She is the operations manager for home delivery in Palm Springs. Stayc has two business degrees, one from the UofA in marketing, and one in business management from the University of Phoenix. She is currently working on a masters degree in occupational health.

Porter married Stayc a couple of years ago and by doing so became an honorary friend. Anybody good enough for Stayc is good enough for me. Porter works as a certified instrument technician. As far as I understand it he is in charge of having all of the tools the doctors will need ready in the operating room. Porter has also worked as a chef and is rumored to be a pretty good cook. Porter and I both want to be kept men, but we just can't talk our wives into it.

Stayc and Porter have two boys named Buster and Joaquin. Buster is 6 years old and has never bit me. He sometimes does that, but I guess he is just a good judge of character. I have not met Joaquin yet. He is 7 months old. Say it out loud, Joaquin the dog. Get it? Perfect example of Stayc's sense of humor.

Gear I "like"

Well, since Valentine's Day I am no longer allowed to "casually" throw the word love around. I now have to reserve it for family, friends, and of course my wife. I'm not even sure if I can include pets in that or not, but gear is definitely out. I thought I would give you a run down of four of my favorite pieces of gear.

1. Platypus Big Zip SL 3.0 litre. I have tried several other bladders, and this one is just the best. I hate to admit it, but I have gone for well over a month without washing it out and it never got to tasting bad. The others I had would go south in a matter of a few days. They all also leaked almost immediately. This includes the Camel Backs.

2. Body Glide. This stuff has saved more than one hike or run for me. I use it on my feet in the summer when it is really hot. It keeps me from getting blisters between my toes. It is great for any body part that gets chafed. On long backpacking trips it will keep you from having to walk like a cowboy for the rest of the trip. Just ask my friend Mike about the Grand Canyon and Body Glide.

3. Petzl Spirit Quickdraw. I really like the keylock nose on the Spirit, it's high kn rating, and the wide webbing that keeps it from twisting and being back clipped. I saw one of my very experienced climbing partners back clip a dyneema draw when it twisted and he didn't notice it. Back clipping = BAD.

4. Brooks Cascadias. Well you know.......maybe I shouldn't risk it, but I do really, really like them.

Good News

It looks like I may be allowed back inside and possibly sleeping in my own bed by the weekend.

Valentines Day and True Love

The Things I Do.........................

for blog content. The picture is not that good, and the story is even more tame. Amy and I went for a trail run on Friday. I picked a fairly smooth section to try to dig out the camera to shoot some action shots. Since I thought it was smooth I continued to run. I took my eyes off the trail for one second to look for the zipper on the camera bag and the next thing I know I'm on the ground. I caught my toe on a sharp protruding rock that was just the beginning to an entire section of sharp protruding rocks.

Nothing seriously injured except for my pride. A little surgery with the scissors after my shower, a new bruise on my thigh, and a couple of scraped knees. Not bad for a days work.

Amy also got to test out her new trail shoes. She too is running in Brooks Cascadia (my favorite shoe), but she has the 4's and I'm running in the 3's. I know you were all dying to know that.

Ryan and Meagan

Meet Ryan and Meagan. They are my climbing partners. Like it or not they have kept me from killing myself climbing. Ryan has a degree from the UofA in business, and Meagan has one in biology. Where did I get all of these smart friends? Ryan is now a driver at UPS. Meagan is an assistant buyer at Summit Hut (our local outdoor outfitter). I am jealous of Meagan's job. Get paid to play with gear all day. That's the life. Ryan is a solid 5.10 lead climber, and I keep telling him if he would quit babysitting people like me and hanging around with some of the hardmen around here he would soon be leading 11's and 12's. Meagan has taught me some of the things I needed to know about climbing, but would not have learned without her instruction. I can always count on her to call me on it when my foot work sucks. She usually says something encouraging like "what are you doing? your footwork sucks." They have one son named Bailey, but to be honest he is a little hairy, drools and runs around on all fours. He is a good boy though. Ryan was diagnosed recently with Melanoma. He is going through a pretty rough treatment right now. Meagan as usual is taking excellent care of him, and together they are going to beat this. I tease Ryan and call him Wonder Boy. Now he knows what us mortals feel like. Ryan get well soon. The rocks miss you, and so do all of your climbing partners and frineds.

Head Injury

I was just clicking through all of the blogs that I look at everyday. I am always a little disappointed when they are not updated. I really enjoying seeing what has been posted, and keeping up with my friends. When I clicked on the last one, again I was disappointed to see no new post. It took me a second, but then I realized that it was my blog Broken, Beat & Scarred. I wondered why everyone kept telling me to go to the doctor after I cracked my bike helmet.

Ski Trip

Here are few pics of Amy and I on our weekend getaway. We had a good time cross country skiing and snow shoeing. The skiing was harder than I imagined. I didn't have a problem with the endurance part, but the technique was tough to pick up and be efficient at.

We probably should have taken a lesson, but I always think I can just wing it and learn as I go. I did more or less figure it out, but I would like to be better at it. We skied a little over five and a half miles.

The learning curve on the snow shoes was much less steep. Amy summed it up when she said "walking is a skill I already have". I didn't think it was nearly as hard as people had told me it was, but that may just be compared to the skiing.

We also spent some time in downtown Flagstaff, ate at some good restaurants, and went to Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered in 1930.

Abomination

Amy and I just got back from a cross country skiing/snow shoeing (is shoeing a word?) trip. We had a great time, but I found out something very disturbing about my wife. She has no respect for the proper usage of gear. It's one thing to find more than one way to use a piece of gear, or even use it for something completely unrelated. When I say unrelated I mean like using a carabiner to clip your camera case to your day pack, or maybe use your running shoes to go backpacking in.

What my wife did may be unforgivable. She used the mesh bag that her climbing harness is supposed to go in as a makeup bag. She says it is the perfect size and that actual makeup bags are always too small. Pantyhose over the shower curtain rod is one thing, but this is too much.