FIRST DAY OF THE SEASON!

well, it's been pretty darn cold in seattle recently and we even got some snow in the city (rare) but 2 sunday's ago (12/07/08), before there was much more that a hint of snow in the mountains a group of friends tested out luck and a promising forecast up at chinook pass. chinook is on the east side of rainier and the pass is somewhere around 5000 ft. which is probably about as high as you can get on a paved road in the central cascades. this pass is typically closed between nov. and june/july depending on the snowpack. since winter has been slow to come out here it was still open. anyways, we lucked out and found some pretty good snow (i.e. pow, pooh, etc.). even though cover was kinda thin we built a couple of real small jumps & jibs and had a blast.

it feels real good to know that something that brought me so much joy when i was 10 years old and riding in the front yard in wisconsin on a plastic mogul monster snowboard that my parents (aka Santa) got at Farm & Fleet still brings me the same amount of happiness now that i'm 30.

the first 5 pics (green jacket) are me, the rest are friends. the last one with the giant pooh slash is my favorite.

ok, 1 more

hoen's been helping me get the snowmobile to look pretty bitchin'. PROOF.

hood's not done yet but the chicken's lookin' good.

grrr

ok, so it's been a long time. here are some pretty pics from when i went hunting. didn't kill nothing (damn crafty deers) but tried to kill two things (chukars aka big partridges(sp?)). hmm, that didn't come out right. here's some pics, i don't feel like typing. bye bye.

Whoo?

blast from the not so distant blog past

Berry Picking

On Saturday (Aug. 30) I borrowed Nollie and went up near Snoqualmie Pass to go huckleberry picking and to start scouting snowboard lines for the upcoming season. It was pretty cold up there and we had on/off rain. The huckleberry bushes hold a lot of moisture so my hands got pretty wet and cold and Nollie managed to get pretty wet. We'd pick for a little while, head back to the truck to warm up, and drive to a new spot and start over. There are a few hunting seasons open right now (archery for elk & modern firearm for bear) so we were pretty decked out in blaze orange and Nollie got to wear a bear bell. I tried to fit her with a vest but it didn't last to long when she walked through the dense brush.

Last year I went to this spot for my first day of hunting ever. I was looking for grouse but all I saw was a black bear and a flock of ducks (widgeons, i think). I think the bears love this zone due to the abundance of food (berries). Anyway, we picked until we were cold/bored and headed home. Some of the berries were still rather small and super tart, so I think the picking will still be good for a few weeks as these berries ripen. This area gets awesome in the fall when the huckleberry bush leaves turn red. I'll probably go back next weekend to try and get some more. Hopefully it'll be warmer.

This was the highlight of my holiday weekend as yesterday I cleaned and today I worked. Lame.

Soon....

it's not even september and i'm already watching at least one snowboard video a day. plus, i got 2 new shred magazines in the mail this week. i hear parts of colorado even got up to 1 foot of snow this week. stoked!

ZOOM

ok, here's some stuff that i've done in the last month or so. i caught a fish in greenlake! to date, it is the only fish that i've caught after buying my rod/reel/license. a good ol' worm & bobber helped me land this lunker.

i rode the YARR bike in the dead baby bike race. YARR bike is a bicycle that topher put together a few years back using parts from a pink little girls bike and some womans 10 speed. that's right it's a hybrid pink & silver girls bike with pink grips and pedals, 16" wheels, and best of all a COASTER BRAKE. according to sarah, the dead baby bike race was featured in an episode of gray's anatomy. i went to the start of the race at el chupacabra on phinney ridge to see what all the fuss was about and to see all the mutant bikes. when they fired off the starting gun i got stoked and decided to ride along. the race went down 65th st which is steep as hell.

SIDENOTE: a few years ago topher let me borrow his van to shuttle some WI friends that were in town for the annual baker snowboard trip and we all got stuffed at gorditos (probably my favorite burrito joint). anyways, after eating a ton we crammed about 7 people into a minivan that was missing a backseat and jetted down 65th. a few people almost lost their burritos when caught a little air when flying through one of the intersections. they weren't supposed to tell topher about the 'jumping of the van', but i guess they ratted me out 2 days later, jerks.

well, riding YARR bike down the hill was fun! skidding out sideways all the way down the hill while trying not to hit some lady on a unicycle. did i mention that this race isn't truly organized (i.e. this isn't some roped off parade course). the race starts and it's pretty much BIKE vs. CAR. this years race took place a week or so after some critical mass unpleasantness. most cars just sat idle and waited for all the weirdo bikers to ride by this time. however, i did see one dude run into a car and then fall down. i helped slow down an ice cream truck (see pic). went to the after-race party, drank some beer, saw some stuff, and went home.

other stuff: i'm now totally legit to volunteer at the seattle animal shelter! i had to go through a general orientation (sat morning), animal shelter 101 (sun morn), and dog handling 101 (another sun morn). technically i haven't volunteered yet, although the orientation hours count towards the 8hr a month volunteer quota. i hope to do the get fit with fido program where you take the shelter dogs on 4 mile jogs. the shelter can be kind of a sad place but so far all of the dogs seem awesome and just want to play. oh, get this, the preferred treat for the dogs is string cheese! i love string cheese.

ok, more crap later.