On Sunday, Nick and I left the house to go scout out a new campsite. We've taked about camping at Hebgen Lake, but have never done so. We left relatively early (okay, so it was really 9:00 a.m.) and drove on up. I was surprised at how close it really is. 2.5 hours later we were turning onto our first dirt road.
Denney creek road runs through field, over stream, past horses and cows and fabulous houses next to working houses and eventually arrives at the Longhurst campground. The lake is gorgeous from this side, but the boat ramp is too short for our boat. Good thing we we did this scouting trip. Nothing worse than travelling fully loaded with Jeep and Boat to the middle of nowhere only to turn around and go back...
Anyway, we drove through the cute little campground then turn around and headed back to U.S.20. (The main artery from Idaho Falls to West Yellowstone). This time we drove north into West then hooked a North and headed for the next campground site. We found one without a boat ramp at all, and one that's a private site where you too can pay a large amount to camp for the day.
Finally we crossed the Madison River, turned left and followed the dirt road to the Rainbow Point campground and boat ramp. YEAH! It has a great boat ramp and over 84 camping spaces. Yes I know which one is best, but I refuse to share that information unless I know for certain you're not camping on the same weekend I am. :) :)
There are certain criteria we use when scoping out camping sites. Things we've learned through shrewd observation and unfortuante learning experiences.
First, if you are looking for solitude and quiet always look at the outside part of the ring of campsites.
Second, you want shade in the afternoon if it's going to be hot, so look for trees on the west side of the tent/table site.
Third, shade is more important for where the picnic table is than it is for your tent (unless you want to nap then a different set of rules apply). You usually won't go to sleep till after the campfire has burned out and the dark has fallen. So trees to the west of the TABLE is important. Alternately, plan on bringing an awning or sunshade of some sort.
Fourth, sun in the morning is all well and good unless you like to sleep in. Check out the trees to the east before you make your decision.
5. It's great when the bathroom is in walking distance.
Six. It's not great when said bathroom next to your camp. This means all kinds of talking, laughing, giggling and noise at all hours.
Seven. It's okay if the water tap/spigot is nearby, but don't let it happen next to your tent.
8. If you like sleeping to the sound of running water then pitching your tent near the creek is great. If it is going to keep you up all night, it won't matter how picturesque it is, nor how much shade it has.
9. Silence is golden, watch who you're choosing to camp next to if you can. The trailers with the ATV's are guaranteed to be noisy. Although in bear country I don't mind camping near atv's, kids and especially dogs...
Ten. Shrubberies are great. They help screen out the visuals of other people in the area and can give immediate shade.
I have a notebook where I'm keeping a list of all the campgrounds we've scouted and our favorite and acceptable campsites at each. Not that they'll match up with everyone's needs.
So why do I stay in the campgrounds? First, I like to leave as small a footprint in the wilderness as possible. I'm also too old not to have some sort of bathroom facility nearby. I like having drinking water instead of having to pack it all in. AND I don't mind the company. It's kind of fun to watch the activities of the other campers. From kids on bikes zooming through to the groups with horses.
After Later
Jenny
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Friday, June 23, 2006
The Kraken pt 1
Once upon a time, two naïve people went fishing. As they skimmed across
the lake they saw a large and interesting creature against a rocky
outcrop.
the lake they saw a large and interesting creature against a rocky
outcrop.
The Kraken pt 2
Moving in closer the fisherman decided (with the nudging of his wife) to catch the large interesting creature. Little did they know what would happen next…
The Kraken pt 3
The man cast his line, over, and over trying to hook the creature without bringing the boat to ruin on the rocky shoal. Eventually his line caught, the creature could be captured.
The Kraken pt 4
Only this too was deceiving, for the creature fought and tugged and as
the man reeled the creature in, the boat was pulled to the creature and
the awaiting rocks.
the man reeled the creature in, the boat was pulled to the creature and
the awaiting rocks.
The Kraken pt 5
With endless patience the man worked both boat and fishing pole and edged the creature out into the lake and near the boat. Only then was the true size of the Kraken revealed.
The Kraken pt 6
It was enormous. It could easily sink the boat if only it had the will. Being shy, it seemed to only want to escape.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Palisades Weekend
Palisades, Night the First
Last weekend, Nick and I planned on going to Topaz Mountain, we even sent a notice out to Semenza_Adventures. Things have a way of changing and since I couldn't leave work till 4:00 pm, no one else would be going with us, I would really rather not drive 6 hours to the camp site, AND there were no facilities once we got there, we changed our minds.
Instead of heading South to really warm weather, we headed North to the moderately cold region of Palisades Reservoir. The drive was gorgeous and as we pulled through the campground it seemed fairly empty and quiet. Our first choice of campsite was already occupied so we pulled into our second choice and Nick turned off the Jeep. I tried to open the hatch to the jeep, only it wouldn’t open because we were parked at an angle and the boat was in the way. Nick got back in to straighten out the parking situation only to discover that the jeep wasn’t interested in starting again. EEEK.
Nick got intensely quiet. I thought about it and started unloading. After all, if the jeep wouldn’t start now, we could still camp and deal with it in the morning. It was almost 8:30. As I moved through camp it became apparent that we forgot our bug spray and the mosquitoes were definitely out for blood. Lucky for me they don’t really like my blood that much and as long as I kept moving I was okay. Nick continued to try to start the jeep, but it just wasn’t cooperating. I told him that it would be fine. After all, I had a cell phone, we were in a camp with quite a few other folks, we have AAA coverage, AND I have a credit card. All good things. It didn’t help much. So then I started telling him all my fun breakdown stories including the one late at night on the freeway in Portland… Things always work out so why worry, is my philosophy.
I got the tent laid out, but didn’t think I could get it set up by myself so I tried to pry him away from the jeep. When that was unsuccessful I decided to take a walk over to the nearby creek. On my way, the campground host (a garrulous old dude with a mystifying accent and an inability to hear) stopped me in his golf cart. He asked how things were. I said they were going okay. He didn’t hear me so he asked again. I said we were probably only going to stay one night cause our jeep wouldn’t start. He still didn’t hear me so I tried again. Our jeep won’t start, so we’re not going to be staying long.
This time he understood, he asked me if the lights worked, I had to admit that I hadn’t a clue. So I got into the golf cart and off we went, back to the jeep. He got the hood opened and took a look at our battery cables and went to work cleaning them up. The jeep was working not long after that, pheww. Nick even agreed that we didn’t have to leave first thing tomorrow, but really could stay another day.
We got the tent set up and moved all our stuff inside. It was too mosquito –y outside to be pleasant. In the end we both succumbed to an early bedtime. Our adventure was off to a rollicking good start, jeep breakdown, lack of bug spray, what more could we ask for?
Palisades, Day the Second
(There was no day the first.) It was very cold that night and I was incredibly grateful for my new cape. We used it as an additional layer on top of the sleeping bags. We also slept fully clothed, sweatshirts, socks and all. In the wee hours of the morning we got up and got going. We were at the lake by 7:30 am. It was a gorgeous morning. (Check out my flickr account for pictures). We unloaded the boat from the trailer, loaded it up with us and our stuff and Nick turned it on. Or rather, he didn’t. There was definitely something in the air this weekend. Once again, we had a vehicle not starting. Not only did he have a non-functional boat battery, he had TWO non-functional boat batteries. Once again, it was time to load up the boat and just call it quits and go home.
I am not so easily dissuaded from having fun. I suggested that before we quit we should go down to the Dam Store (yes that’s really what it is called) and see if they had a battery. After all, we can always use another one. Sure enough, they had one, only one. We had gotten lucky yet again. Nick made certain he could start the boat before leaving the store’s parking lot. I also picked up some bug spray. I did not want to be mosquito food this night. On our way back to the lake we came across a tree loaded with huge birds. Brown feathers, one with a white head, oh my goodness, 7 bald eagles in a tree??? Some were obviously juveniles. I didn’t really get to take a solid look, but one for certain was and they were all so much alike. I don’t understand what they were doing there but we took it as a sign that things were going to be fine. After all, how many times does one see 7 bald eagles in a tree?
We were back to the lake and on the water by 9:30ish. It was a marvelous day. We spent about 8 hours on the lake. I may not fish, but I nap, read, study the wildlife, learned to identify plants from a boat with binoculars, watch the water and otherwise have a great time.
Over the course of the weekend we saw birds:
Rock doves
House finches
Starlings
Kestrels
Red tailed hawks
Crows
Robins
Magpies
Yellow headed blackbird
Red winged blackbirds
Western kingbirds
American white pelicans
Bald eagles
California gulls
Bank swallows (lots, and lots of these)
Rough wined swallows
Brewer’s blackbirds
Double crested cormorants
Ravens
Great blue herons
Osprey fishing (although it was more of a hunting type activity than what I would consider fishing. He’d literally dive into the water for fish.)
An unidentified tern
Calliope hummingbirds
Broad tailed hummingbirds (my new species for the weekend)
Song sparrows
Barn swallows
Western meadowlarks
From the boat we saw:
Sticky geranium
Wooly mullein
Mountain little sunflower
Yarrow
Quaking aspen
Juniper
Spruce
Silvery lupine
Mules ears
Woods rose
Tweedy’s thistle
Western serviceberry
Chokecherry
Rocky mountain bee plant
Lodgepole pine
And many more species that I didn’t get identified, it’s a little difficult when you can’t actually touch the plant.
While on the boat I realized that we had forgotten one more thing, my serious 40 spf sunscreen. Eek. I used Nick’s milder 7 spf suntan lotion and just kept re-applying. We’re going to buy a bottle of my heavy duty stuff and just leave it on the boat so I don’t forget it.
It was a beautiful way to spend a day.
Palisades, Night the Second
That night, we may have had bug spray but we really didn’t need it. Nick made us dutch oven stew which was deliciously flavored and we had a fire. A big fire, we ended up just burning everything we could find that was dry. Very fun, we’re usually such responsible children, making certain we have fuel for the next day etc… It was another early to bed night, so much sunshine definitely makes me tired.
Palisades, Day the Third
Okay, so I woke up woozy, and stiff. REALLY stiff. It wasn’t until this past Tuesday when I went to the doctor that I found out that I had damaged the tissue that connects the rest of the body to one’s sternum. OW, Ow, ow!!! Nick took down the camp and we left right away. A few Advil later and I was feeling well enough to help unload the jeep, and that was the end of my physical activity. I’m hoping I’ll feel well enough this weekend to bend over. I wonder if this is penance for teasing the man who was frustrated by batteries….
After later
Jenny
Last weekend, Nick and I planned on going to Topaz Mountain, we even sent a notice out to Semenza_Adventures. Things have a way of changing and since I couldn't leave work till 4:00 pm, no one else would be going with us, I would really rather not drive 6 hours to the camp site, AND there were no facilities once we got there, we changed our minds.
Instead of heading South to really warm weather, we headed North to the moderately cold region of Palisades Reservoir. The drive was gorgeous and as we pulled through the campground it seemed fairly empty and quiet. Our first choice of campsite was already occupied so we pulled into our second choice and Nick turned off the Jeep. I tried to open the hatch to the jeep, only it wouldn’t open because we were parked at an angle and the boat was in the way. Nick got back in to straighten out the parking situation only to discover that the jeep wasn’t interested in starting again. EEEK.
Nick got intensely quiet. I thought about it and started unloading. After all, if the jeep wouldn’t start now, we could still camp and deal with it in the morning. It was almost 8:30. As I moved through camp it became apparent that we forgot our bug spray and the mosquitoes were definitely out for blood. Lucky for me they don’t really like my blood that much and as long as I kept moving I was okay. Nick continued to try to start the jeep, but it just wasn’t cooperating. I told him that it would be fine. After all, I had a cell phone, we were in a camp with quite a few other folks, we have AAA coverage, AND I have a credit card. All good things. It didn’t help much. So then I started telling him all my fun breakdown stories including the one late at night on the freeway in Portland… Things always work out so why worry, is my philosophy.
I got the tent laid out, but didn’t think I could get it set up by myself so I tried to pry him away from the jeep. When that was unsuccessful I decided to take a walk over to the nearby creek. On my way, the campground host (a garrulous old dude with a mystifying accent and an inability to hear) stopped me in his golf cart. He asked how things were. I said they were going okay. He didn’t hear me so he asked again. I said we were probably only going to stay one night cause our jeep wouldn’t start. He still didn’t hear me so I tried again. Our jeep won’t start, so we’re not going to be staying long.
This time he understood, he asked me if the lights worked, I had to admit that I hadn’t a clue. So I got into the golf cart and off we went, back to the jeep. He got the hood opened and took a look at our battery cables and went to work cleaning them up. The jeep was working not long after that, pheww. Nick even agreed that we didn’t have to leave first thing tomorrow, but really could stay another day.
We got the tent set up and moved all our stuff inside. It was too mosquito –y outside to be pleasant. In the end we both succumbed to an early bedtime. Our adventure was off to a rollicking good start, jeep breakdown, lack of bug spray, what more could we ask for?
Palisades, Day the Second
(There was no day the first.) It was very cold that night and I was incredibly grateful for my new cape. We used it as an additional layer on top of the sleeping bags. We also slept fully clothed, sweatshirts, socks and all. In the wee hours of the morning we got up and got going. We were at the lake by 7:30 am. It was a gorgeous morning. (Check out my flickr account for pictures). We unloaded the boat from the trailer, loaded it up with us and our stuff and Nick turned it on. Or rather, he didn’t. There was definitely something in the air this weekend. Once again, we had a vehicle not starting. Not only did he have a non-functional boat battery, he had TWO non-functional boat batteries. Once again, it was time to load up the boat and just call it quits and go home.
I am not so easily dissuaded from having fun. I suggested that before we quit we should go down to the Dam Store (yes that’s really what it is called) and see if they had a battery. After all, we can always use another one. Sure enough, they had one, only one. We had gotten lucky yet again. Nick made certain he could start the boat before leaving the store’s parking lot. I also picked up some bug spray. I did not want to be mosquito food this night. On our way back to the lake we came across a tree loaded with huge birds. Brown feathers, one with a white head, oh my goodness, 7 bald eagles in a tree??? Some were obviously juveniles. I didn’t really get to take a solid look, but one for certain was and they were all so much alike. I don’t understand what they were doing there but we took it as a sign that things were going to be fine. After all, how many times does one see 7 bald eagles in a tree?
We were back to the lake and on the water by 9:30ish. It was a marvelous day. We spent about 8 hours on the lake. I may not fish, but I nap, read, study the wildlife, learned to identify plants from a boat with binoculars, watch the water and otherwise have a great time.
Over the course of the weekend we saw birds:
Rock doves
House finches
Starlings
Kestrels
Red tailed hawks
Crows
Robins
Magpies
Yellow headed blackbird
Red winged blackbirds
Western kingbirds
American white pelicans
Bald eagles
California gulls
Bank swallows (lots, and lots of these)
Rough wined swallows
Brewer’s blackbirds
Double crested cormorants
Ravens
Great blue herons
Osprey fishing (although it was more of a hunting type activity than what I would consider fishing. He’d literally dive into the water for fish.)
An unidentified tern
Calliope hummingbirds
Broad tailed hummingbirds (my new species for the weekend)
Song sparrows
Barn swallows
Western meadowlarks
From the boat we saw:
Sticky geranium
Wooly mullein
Mountain little sunflower
Yarrow
Quaking aspen
Juniper
Spruce
Silvery lupine
Mules ears
Woods rose
Tweedy’s thistle
Western serviceberry
Chokecherry
Rocky mountain bee plant
Lodgepole pine
And many more species that I didn’t get identified, it’s a little difficult when you can’t actually touch the plant.
While on the boat I realized that we had forgotten one more thing, my serious 40 spf sunscreen. Eek. I used Nick’s milder 7 spf suntan lotion and just kept re-applying. We’re going to buy a bottle of my heavy duty stuff and just leave it on the boat so I don’t forget it.
It was a beautiful way to spend a day.
Palisades, Night the Second
That night, we may have had bug spray but we really didn’t need it. Nick made us dutch oven stew which was deliciously flavored and we had a fire. A big fire, we ended up just burning everything we could find that was dry. Very fun, we’re usually such responsible children, making certain we have fuel for the next day etc… It was another early to bed night, so much sunshine definitely makes me tired.
Palisades, Day the Third
Okay, so I woke up woozy, and stiff. REALLY stiff. It wasn’t until this past Tuesday when I went to the doctor that I found out that I had damaged the tissue that connects the rest of the body to one’s sternum. OW, Ow, ow!!! Nick took down the camp and we left right away. A few Advil later and I was feeling well enough to help unload the jeep, and that was the end of my physical activity. I’m hoping I’ll feel well enough this weekend to bend over. I wonder if this is penance for teasing the man who was frustrated by batteries….
After later
Jenny
Monday, June 12, 2006
Great Moments in the History of Technical Services
I feel I can post funny things about technical services since I started out in my career as a cataloger. :) I loved this history. I received it as an email from friends a long long time ago. ...
4362 B.C.
First evidence (from Scythia, modern day Crimea) of a four‑wheeled book cart. Within two generations this design was adopted throughout Europe and Asia, replacing the more maneuverable, but much less stable two‑wheeled book cart.
Spring, 3193 B.C.
First serial title attested: "Publications of the Royal Sumerian Academy".
Late Summer, 3193 B.C.
First serial title change attested: to "Royal Sumerian Academy Publications".
537 B.C.
The National Library of Babylon, finally switching to papyrus, ceases maintaining its clay tablet shelflist, but is unable to discard it for nostalgic reasons. Two years later, under siege by the Persians, the city finds a new use for the old tablets and manages to inflict severe losses on the besieging army by pelting them from the ramparts with large quantities of shelflist tablets.
43 B.C.
First attested use of an ISBN (for the special collector's edition of Caesar's Gallic Wars with an Introduction by Marc Antony): IXIVVIIXVIIIVIIIVIVII.
427 A.D.
The Library of Alexandria decides to contract out its annual weeding project. Vandal hordes are the lowest bidder.
June 21, 762 A.D.
Birthdate of St. Minutia, patron saint of cataloging. (Illustration caption: St. Minutia using a sword to split a hair:)
1066 A.D.
William the Conqueror defeats his cousin Harold at the Battle of Hastings and imposes the Anglo‑Norman Cataloging Rules, 2nd ed. (ANCR2) on his new subjects. Ten years later he commissions the first systematic catalog of selected realia (The Domesday Boke).
August 5, 1782.
Birthdate of the Werke brothers, Gesammelte ("Gus"), Samtliche ("Sam"), and Ausgewahlte ("Ossie")
1883‑4
Cattlemen at the Bar and Drum Ranch, outside Lone Stack, South Dakota, develop the "barcode" brand as a way to keep track of individual animals in the herd.
After later
Jenny
Friday, June 09, 2006
Kiwano...
When Melinda was last visiting, Nick and I picked up a strange looking fruit at Fred Meyers. We like trying new and weird fruits and vegetables, and I had never seen anything weirder (except maybe durians). Anyway, it sat in the fruit bowl for a couple of weeks when Nick finally decided the time had come to taste it.
I was in my office minding my own business when he comes in and shows me the cut up fruit . I thought it looked a little slimy, pretty though in all of its bright colors, green interior and orange exterior. I passed on trying it right then. Nick left, taking his fruit with him, only to come back minutes later with the look of a very disappointed man.
Apparently Kiwano is not very tasty. Nick found someone else's blog entry and apparently Nick and obsess.com have the very same opinion. See: http://www.obsess.com/fruit/kiwano for the funniest read ever. I started reading it out loud and Nick confirmed every bit of the blog. :) :) :)
After Later
Jenny
I was in my office minding my own business when he comes in and shows me the cut up fruit . I thought it looked a little slimy, pretty though in all of its bright colors, green interior and orange exterior. I passed on trying it right then. Nick left, taking his fruit with him, only to come back minutes later with the look of a very disappointed man.
Apparently Kiwano is not very tasty. Nick found someone else's blog entry and apparently Nick and obsess.com have the very same opinion. See: http://www.obsess.com/fruit/kiwano for the funniest read ever. I started reading it out loud and Nick confirmed every bit of the blog. :) :) :)
After Later
Jenny
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