The weekend Thread

[Spudman***]

Had a real nice road bicycle ride on Monday. It's still my weekend.
No cars - at all the whole way. You can see our local ski area in the background.

[Robert****]

I ran 11 miles (leg 5) up a mountain in the K-100 relay, a 100 mile relay in the Canadian Rockies. Our team was 3rd in the Open category.

Check out the profile of leg 5:


30 minutes later, I ran 10 kilometers on leg 7, because we were short on runners. I got in a lot of running on the weekend!

See my blog - http://runningblog.info/2010/06/21/k...010-was-great/

[Spudman***]

This weekend was the Jackson Hole Wine Auction. It raises money for the Jackson Hole Music Festival. The first auction went for $25,000 for one bottle of wine!

We did a private dinner in this house on 75 acres. You can see about 1/3 of the house. It's huge!



A little arm candy at the auction

[mainestratman]

Sorry I've been neglecting this thread!

@Spud: beautiful scenery.. in all the pictures. I especially enjoy red. :-)

@Robert: now I know you're crazy.. lol

My weekend? First gig with the new project! Benefit BBQ for a little girl who got badly electrocuted a few weeks ago and is in danger of losing her left leg (if she hasn't already). Anyway, we played to a mostly-empty gymnasium. The sound wasn't horrible, we weren't horrible, and actually made a couple of fans outside of band-relatives. :-)



I'm horrible with remembering lyrics, so please excuse the fire engine red binder in front of me. I need to figure out a better way to have the words in front of me.. lol

[deeaa*]

Went boating with the youngest son & wife...

[Brian Krashpad]

Watched two freaking GREAT football matches Saturday at World Cup. Really really good stuff. I skipped praise band practice to watch, but at least I sent our band leader a pm on facebook explaining.

Watched Germany destroy Argentina this morning (normally I'd have no problem with Argentina but I hate Maradona, so it was nice to see his gigantic ego get crushed). Then took El Krashpadito to the skatepark for a quick couple hours of skating. Pretty fun and not quite so hot since it was overcast. Got too overcrowded for awhile, though, and sooner or later I'm gonna clothesline one of those idiot kids wearing headphones while skating. It didn't help that my front truck loosened up and we forgot our y-tool, so I was tightening it by hand between runs, which is less than optimal. Still I only took 2 very minor spills, one of which was the fault of traffic interference when it got crowded.

As usual I was the oldest person skating, probably by at least 20 years. Only one or two other adults skating besides me, which I find weird. Why wouldn't parents skate with their kids? Instead they just dump them and leave, or at most sit and watch.

Hurried home and watched Spain edge Paraguay 1-0. Despite the scoreline there was lots of drama, with 3 penalty kicks taken during the game, 2 of which were blocked by keepers (first time that's happened since 1930!), and a third which was called back due to players illegally entering the goal box before the kick was taken.

Went over to UF Sat. night to watch the "4th on the 3rd" fireworks. It rained so we watched from our car, at our usual vantage a mile or so away. Played in church this morning. Went shopping for party supplies this afternoon. Friends coming over tonight.

[Katastrophe]

Have a family member in the hospital, so Mrs. Kat, Baby Kat and I have been making trips (the hospital is about 10 minutes away from my apartment) to visit said family member. FM (family member) is probably gonna be there for a couple more days, at least, if not more. It looks like the condition should be curable, but FM was in bad shape when FM got to the emergency room. Unchecked, it could have been much worse than it was.

Don't want to get into FM's medical condition, to protect FM's privacy. I can say that if you travel outside your respective home countries, be aware of the conditions of your destination. Have fun, but be careful!

[Brian Krashpad]

Have a family member in the hospital, so Mrs. Kat, Baby Kat and I have been making trips (the hospital is about 10 minutes away from my apartment) to visit said family member. FM (family member) is probably gonna be there for a couple more days, at least, if not more. It looks like the condition should be curable, but FM was in bad shape when FM got to the emergency room. Unchecked, it could have been much worse than it was.

Don't want to get into FM's medical condition, to protect FM's privacy. I can say that if you travel outside your respective home countries, be aware of the conditions of your destination. Have fun, but be careful!

Good advice.

Of course, I haven't been out of the country for at least 3 or 4 years, so what do I know?

Prayers and mojo for FM.

[sunvalleylaw]

Hey, Deeaa, is that a Boston Whaler type boat? Did you try the innertube behind it? I am sure it would work.

[deeaa*]

I don't know really what a Boston Whaler means...gotta google it...it's this boat:

http://www.yamarin.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1576

Mine has a slightly oversized 26HP engine, gets 25mph (or 22 knots), and yeah, I'm definitely trying the tube thing as soon as the water warms up some. It's been in the 80F range now for a few days and the water is quickly warming up nice. (just 1,5 months ago it had over three feet of ice cover :-) It never gets warmer than about 60F at best, maybe, so you usually want a wetsuit for water sports up here, it's only a handful of days it's really so warm in the water that it's even remotely comfortable.

Today we're going out again for half a day, check out all the island beaches nearby & camp there for a while...and tomorrow is also planned for at least 4-6 hours of boating :-)

EDIT: checked out the Boston Whaler thing...it's close to that in many respects, yeah. Foam filled 100% unsinkable and self-emptying fiberglass shell and built to glide easily. Yamarins are considered one of the best fiberglass boats round here for handling and safety - they can cost twice what a cheaper one does, but I rather wanted a small good one than a big compromise. This smallest model is about $7500 new, but I got a great deal a few years back in the autumn time.

In a few years I'll be upgrading to something like 50-70Hp and 6 persons though.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, that is the same idea, if a slightly different approach to the Boston Whaler thing. Whalers are often tri-hulls, but aim to provide the same sort of experience. Very common where I grew up.

[deeaa*]

Here's a few more photos, also from today (we spent another 4 or so hours driving round the town to southside as well). Tomorrow I'm driving back to cottage w/ a buddy.

http://picasaweb.google.fi/aepheikki...69ya2i-vSJ3QE#

[Katastrophe]

Good advice.

Of course, I haven't been out of the country for at least 3 or 4 years, so what do I know?

Prayers and mojo for FM.

The prayers and mojo must have worked. FM was given the all clear to go home today, although with a stern warning of no exertion for 2 more weeks. FM is going nuts having to sit or lay down and do nothing, but is recuperating nicely, according to the docs.

[Brian Krashpad]

Here's a few more photos, also from today (we spent another 4 or so hours driving round the town to southside as well). Tomorrow I'm driving back to cottage w/ a buddy.

http://picasaweb.google.fi/aepheikki...69ya2i-vSJ3QE#

That little log-built lean-to is interesting. Is that a particularly Finnish thing? I have never seen one before. Are they used year-round or only in warmer weather?

[Spudman***]

Once again I'm back in the land of severe opulence

My view for 2 days




The wedding



cake for 220




One gift to the couple was a freshly broken horse. It was done by a horse whisperer in about 1 1/2 hours during the rehearsal dinner in this building. This is the barn.

[Eric***]

Those are some mighty purdy views, Spud.

I feel like today is still Monday, which is nice, considering it's Thursday.

My update (sans pictures): went mini-golfing on Saturday, did the church-band thing on Sunday, and went kayaking on a lake with some friends on Monday. A very good, unproductive weekend.

This coming weekend I'm camping and running a 15k road race in Utica, NY. Too bad I haven't run much in about 3 weeks. Yesterday was my first day back running. This could get interesting...

[guitarhack]

Beautiful scenery, Spud. It must be breathtaking in person.

Still recovering from my weekend, Friday night with the Rotary Club selling beer at the county fair, then Saturday night dj'ing a wedding reception, Sunday at home alone, and Monday spent time with my younger daughter and grandson.

[sunvalleylaw]

"Severe Opulence" Sounds like a good name for a band!

Nice pics as always Spudley, things are looking beautiful up here in the mountains these days!

[deeaa*]

That little log-built lean-to is interesting. Is that a particularly Finnish thing? I have never seen one before. Are they used year-round or only in warmer weather?

Um, I dunno about Finnish, but they sure are plentiful. You can find one or more almost anywhere within 20 miles, on islands on lakes there are always some every here and there, on some scenery places, walking trails etc. They are also listed in terrain and lake maps, and are upkept by the government. Sometimes it's a lean-to, sometimes a sort of round indian-style wooden hut. I've slept in those a couple of times too. These past few days we've stayed in four of those right around the town as we've been boating around. Always there is also a place for garbage and toilet and plenty of firewood for free use, as long as you keep it neat and chop the wood. There's usually a visitor book but no charges...often there are notes from German etc. tourists as well. Sometimes there also happens to be some other people there, but it's always share-it and just good to have some company too.

There's also some maintained by local hunting parties, nature clubs etc. that aren't listed, but similarly useable with good behaviour. In Lapland there are similar places that are cottages, and you can sleep there too with the idea first come first reserved, and used by hikers quite a lot. They usually even have coffee pots and metal sausage-sticks and some pots and pans, some may even have basic seasonings there, or coffee someone else left etc.

The nearest one to my home is only a mile away at the foot of a skiing slope; that one I think is mostly used in the winter, but I'd venture most places are mostly used during the summer. But nothing stops you from using them on your XC skiing trip of course, and many do roast sausages also in winter.

One thing I do think is very Finnish is that the law literally guarantees everyone free passage most anywhere. Meaning there are no private properties in the sense that if someone owns a forest, they can't tell people not to trek there, to pick berries, mushrooms or fish, hunt to some extent...it's all stated in the law and called 'everyman's rights'. It's a free country and you cannot fence all your property from others, even if you like happen to own a beautiful sandy beach or there is a great berry picking spot on your land, well, it's free for all to use _except_ that you can't camp there without the landowner's permission or make an open fire or chop wood, and you cannot cause _any_ disturbance or unnecessarily spend time nearer than 150m to buildings owned by someone. And cultivated fields of course are not deemed appropriate to walk on.

But these lean-to's for the most part are on government grounds anyway.

Especially higher north on lake Oulujärvi there are absolutely gorgeous places by the waterside, especially in the summer when the sun doesn't really set even at midnight, and since it's a big lake quite far from towns there is hardly ever anybody else there. Lemme see if I can find a photo from one of those from a while back when I was boating there with a few friends....






One of these is of course from winter, and just in my home town harbour...but the other three were taken on an island around midnight near my sister's cottage where we have some family lands. We stayed the night in that hut.