Moving - location TBD

Thanks to Google's unfriendly snoopy and tracking policy, I will be moving the blog to another location.  There will be no more postings here.

Namba Part 1

Namba is the Southern hub of Osaka.  Ryan was in charge of the agenda and arrangements for this evening.  He had researched a bit, and was excited about a place (that also had the benefit of having a coupon in a book we had) that featured a Japanese version of a kind of Korean barbeque- an all you can eat sort of grill.   I had my doubts when it was first described to me.  It turned out very well, however.  We managed to find our way there on the subway and then walked a couple of short blocks without any misdirection.   The restaurant manager led us to the second floor table that would hold all of us.

  


 

 Once we ordered our food, it was brought to us raw, and we cooked it on the barbeque grates in the center of the table, setting the temperature, the contents, and sauces to be used.   It was meat-intensive, which suited the three young men quite well.   They were very efficient at the consumption of surprisingly large quantities of each meat and the waiter kept bringing more as we described what we wanted.

 It was a little like Shake-N-Bake.    "I like making it...."    "And I like eating it"   [or is that Easy Bake?]

Some of the story on Freddie and Fannie

This is not the whole story, obviously, but it is a big part that you don't hear much about.  We were willfully thrown into this big recession by government intervention abetted by greedy and shady dealers.

sheesh

Matt at the Takeout

 

Matt makes a final play in the competition holes at the takeout of the Nantahala.    Pay no attention to the poor camera work at the end.   I thought I had punched the off button.   My feet and the ground have been the subject of many hours of videotape.

Comments welcome.

Spring Fever for Floating

With all the recent rain, and a warm day or two mixed in randomly, my thoughts naturally turn to getting into the kayak and doing a little floating.

Our favorite local spot is the Locust Fork of the Warrior which crosses US231 about 20 miles south of Arab.  It has some interesting  and challenging whitewater, a covered bridge and beautiful limestone canyons.  But, the water only runs high enough part of the year, when the rains are frequent enough to generate the required runoff.  Runable times usually are concentrated in April and May, and often not even then.  In the old days, before the internet, it was difficult to know when it was worth the trip there to float.  You might show up and it was dry or flooded.   However, now you can see the river level live from your web connection.   The best time to float is when the river is between 3 feet and 6 feet of gauge height.   So, as you can see, it has been right on the mark lately.   Unfortunately, when the nights get cold and the days don't really warm up that much, it is miserable and dangerous to float it even with a wetsuit.    So, the river height is just a tease until it warms up a little.

So, I am forced to pull a set of photos from the archives, and these are from the Nantahala, not the Locust Fork.

One interesting thing about the Nantahala, is that it is in a deep gorge in North Carolina, and the sun doesn't hit the river in all places until just at noon.  The water comes out of the bottom of a deep dam upstream and it is very cold, so on a warm day, the warm air meets the cold water and forms a spotty, foggy mist, even in the sunlight.

One of the memorable things about this trip was our pick-up companion, George.  You can see him in the silver helmet in the background on the yellow-orange kayak.  He met us at the put-in and noticed that my kayak was similar to his, and asked to tag along.   Floating solo isn't a good idea, so we were more than willing to have him join us.  There is safety in having more people with rescue ropes, etc.   George was very interesting companion, talkative and extroverted.  One of his favorite topics was his  water bottle that filtered the water as you squirted it out into your mouth.  He demonstrated this by emptying it into the river, filling it up with river water, and squirting it out of the bottle  through the filter-cap and into his mouth..  He offered us all a swig, which we declined.  Precious asked him if the filter was good enough to treat urine for drinking.  He smiled and said she could try it.   With her own bottle. 

Here the girls show how to accomplish teamwork in the Ducky.

Sometimes you just have to take a break.   Especially when the boys are playing in a hole.

Wade demonstrates how to do an "ender"   Pretty good!

Matt Surfs a wave.

That is the rear half of Matt's boat up against his shoulder -  an "ender" shown from the side.

Matt demonstrates the other kind of "ender"  It is harder than it looks.   He came out of this without even having to roll.

Precious navigates some serious whitewater.

 

At the end of the day, we all look forward to some serious eating.

It can't go on like this for much longer

Men Retreat: Run away Run away!!

At our Presbyterian Church, there is an annual Men's Retreat.  Surprisingly, it does not have a whole lot of scratching, spitting,  and other socially unacceptable behavior associated with it.   But, it does have Guns!    A subset of the group meets at the local shooting range and propels small units of lead and brass through defenseless paper and plastic and then eventually into a large pile of dirt.
 

Somebody in the group looks like a gangsta.   Thankfully, he didn't rap for us.

I think he is about to show us how a blow-dart is used to take down a target.   Sometimes, as Freud says, "a cigar is just a cigar"

He has that "This is sweet!" look on his face.

 So, would John Calvin have preferred a laser-sighted pistol or a tricked-out AK-47?

After the gunplay, banging around other small projectiles is a favorite pasttime.

 When they saw I was going to take their picture, all the chips came off the table.   Was it because they didnt want word getting out about their high-stakes game?

 

One group of guys stood around the fire outside.  In the cold wind.   Enjoying their favorite available beverage.

 I did not take any pictures the next morning of all the activities, as I was busy exploring the hillside trails with the sons-in-law.