Deep Fried Turkey and Chicken Day

I had the opportunity to help cook a turkey and two chickens with a deep fryer today. What a deal. Lowering the bird into hot oil when it starts splashing around is a bit scary, but the end product is worth it. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. Yum.

Kayaking Antietam Creek

Saturday, I paddled my kayak from Wagman Road Bridge to Devil's Backbone State Park. The biggest drop was right at the start with the old mill tailings at Wagman's, but there are two other remarkable holes in that section of Antietam, both are 2-3 foot drops. The first is a good 3+ foot drop followed by a series of turns and drops as you fall through the crumbled old mill area. We had a number of canoes swamped and crack on of the old Grunman Canoes that go wedged between rocks. Well time to buy a new one anyway.  Despite, no one got hurt. Only lost one pair of glasses, a memorable day.

Canoe Trip Weekend

Leaving tonight for a two day canoe trip with the scouts. 

Choices for tomorrow are Potomac River between Bonds Landing and Perrie or Antietam Creek from Funkstown to Devil's Backbone Park.

Choices for Sunday are Antietam Creek for first three bridges (old mill rubble) or Lower Sidling Hill Creek to Perrie. 

Camping will be at a plain gravel camp off of MD 68, Little Orleans Road.

Great Chesapeake Bay Swim on June 14

The first wave leaves the Sandy Point State Park beach at 11:30 am, June 14 to swim the 4.4 miles between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge spans to Hemmingway's Restaurant on Kent Island. Come rain or shine, I'll be among them this year. Second wave leaves at, who cares, they'll pass me in the first mile. Second wave are all the 1:30 finishers, while I expect to take about 3:00. Can you imagine swimming 4.4 miles in 1.5 hours. That's about 20 minutes/mile. I'm good for 40 minute miles, maybe a little better. 

After leaving the beach, the first big waypoint is a 60 degree turn to the left at the 1 mile point. the next mile is through the shipping channel. The Coast Guard stops shipping traffic while the swimmers all cross this point. The next two miles are broken up by a smaller shipping span at the 3 mile point. The swimmers come out from between the bridges at the 4 mile point and swim next to the causeway for the last .4 mile. I've swam next to the causeway as the last leg of the 1 mile challenge swim the past three years. For most of that last .4 the water depth is shallow enough to drag your finger tips in the sand.

End of the Rain (for now)

The sun finally broke out after what seemed like a week of clouds, drizzle, and rain. The Potomac is flooding, no fishing, no canoeing, no fun. Unless of course you like to mow the grass. Boy is it growing.

Home Built Boat Saga

I restarted the boat building last night. The lap and glue system wasn't working for the shape of boat I had picked. I reshaped the frames to have 3 straight sides each. Next step is to assemble them on the building frame and then use some old cardboard to create patterns for each of the three planks. Following that, I can cut the plywood and assemble using stitch and glue method. Well it's a theory anyway.

Saving Money, Helping Clean the Environment

I used the new Cordless Electric Lawnmower today. Wow, I didn't know an electric mower could be so powerful and quiet (sh....).  I used it for over half an hour with no decrease in power. I'm hooked and at an estimated $0.10 per charge, I can mow the lawn 20 times for the cost of a gallon of gas. I used to mow the lawn on about a quart of gas, so 4 quarts to a gallon. You do the cost saving math. And of course, the real conservationist would use a solar panel to recharge the battery. Even if it took a few days to charge, I seldom would mow more than once a week. Good all around. less noise, less pollution, less cost, what's not to like about that.

Lawnmower Blues

I've got those lawnmower blues. Happens in the spring, when you try to start the mower and "nothing". 

This year I tried to revive a mower that broke over 6 years ago due to a broken shaft key. Well after replacing the shaft key, I put gas in and it poured out the primer ball due to a stuck float in the carborator. After taking it apart and cleaning, I again put gas in and at least it didn't leak, but the mower didn't start. I have changed the air filter, spark plug, again cleaned the carb, but still nothing. I'm giving up and getting a new cordless electric. Ever hear "plug in electrical." It's better for the environment anyway.

Went Camping with the Boy Scouts this Weekend

Friday night we hiked in to the Marsden Tract Group Camping sites between Carderock and Great Falls on the C&O Canal near DC. On Saturday, we drove to the start of the C&O Canal Trail Mile Marker 0 where Rock Creek meets the Potomac River. From there we rode 35 miles to White's Ferry where the vehicles were waiting. In all 9 scouts rode the 35 miles including 3 of our newest recruits who are 11 years old. Just don't tell them that 11 year olds can't ride that far. 

From White's Ferry it was a drive to Washington Monument (the one in Maryland along the AT). We camped Saturday night at the Dahlgren Camp on the AT. Sunday morning after Scouts Own Services, we drove to Antietam Creek, just above Burnside Bridge, did a quick vehicle move then canoed 6 miles on Antietam Creek to where it meets the Potomac River. 

Great weather, good friends, eager scouts, what a great weekend.

Repairs Night

Tonight I fixed the trailer light and cleaned my bicycle. Getting ready to take the scouts out riding this weekend. We're planning a ride on the C&O Canal from DC (mile 0) to Whites Ferry (mile 36) on Saturday. Then camp at Dahlgren Camp on the AT Saturday night and Canoeing on Antietam Creek Sunday morning.

Pancake night

I demoed pancake cooking for the scouts tonight. The idea was backpacking so I used "complete" add water only mix and sugar with maple flavoring, add hot water syrup. The boys did the flippin'. All pancakes turned out light fluffy and delicious. It was awesome.

Busy day but not much accomplished

Today included: 84 lap practice swim with wetsuit (first two miles in 68:45), shopping trip to REI to get Shimano pedals and cleats for upcoming bike ride with the scouts next weekend, worked on lawnmower including cleaning stick float in carborator but the lawnmower still won't start, cleaning the grill only to discover additional repairs needed (new burner, new rock grate, new cooking grill, and new rocks), and finally a trip to buy pancake mixes and fixins for cooking demo at scouts on Monday night. I say not much accomplished because I started a lot of jobs but didn't finish much. Oh, well, tomorrow is Easter. Looking forward to friends and family celebrating with us.

Secondary Ferment

I racked the German Pilsner into the secondary fermenter tonight. I think this batch is going to turn out really good. At least the color and initial aroma is good. No taste test yet.

Finally, a "BIG" swim

This morning, I dropped the car off to get new tires, walked to the gym, and then swam for 2:10. I wasn't counting laps but keeping track of lap times it was probably about 3 1/4 miles. The last 15 laps were 5 lap, 4 lap, 3 lap, 2 lap, and 1 lap sprints. I was feeling pretty strong at the end, but just before I stopped to do sprints, the lap times were slowing considerably. And the sprints weren't really sprints based on lap time. I have 2 months to get ready for the Bay Swim which I'm estimating will take between 2:45 and 3:00. Accounting for the last 35 to 50 minutes, I need to do more "BIG" swims to get the additional conditioning. 

Menu for our trip to the Flattops

Fish, fresh from the high mountain stream. 

Backpacking Dinner Demo

New Orleans is a food lover's paradise. One of my favorites is Jambalaya. For backpacking, I use a Jambalaya package from Zataran's. Cook according to instructions on box (recycle the box at home to save weight and trash) Add a foil packet of pre-cooked shrimp during the last five minutes. Serves two. Total weight, less than 1/2 pounds and trash fits in less than a sandwich zip bag.

Backpacking rules 1 and 2, light and simple.

Back home from PA

We spent the weekend in PA at Lloyd and Cathy's. With Collen, Heather, and Jodi in from Alaska, Jay and Eric were also there. Almost a family reunion this weekend.

Beer Brewing Night

Tonight I'm cooking a batch of Pilsner. Since I've never brewed Pilsner before, I'll try to keep you informed on this blog. Did a mile swim tonight in 3 sprints of 12 laps each. The last 12 laps in 12 minutes and 15 seconds is running close to a 36 minute mile if I can keep that pace for the whole mile. It's certainly a good 3 minutes faster mile than I was swimming 3 months ago. Leaving for PA tomorrow, so there might not be any updates until Sunday or Monday.

Wednesday, middle of the week

Long day at work, 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Highlight was end of day meeting to figure out a way to end a project that has gone south. 

Baking a cake tonight. I'll take a picture and post it on FaceBook.

meeting day

Lots of meetings and presentations today at work. APL is rolling out social and skill networking applications bundled as connexus. Today, between meetings, I worked on my MySite space.

Tree Moving Day on Sunday

I quarter split and hauled the large Cherry tree we had cut last week. We could see the hollow trunk at the base, up a few feet was even worse. We got it just in time. I'll split the very big Tulip Tree and stack it in place. Moving it we'll save until next year when it's dried out and a little lighter. Close to the base there was purple wood. Younger Tulips have a blueish green core, but this old tree had a deep shade of purple. I need to figure out a use to save some of it from the fire.

We had Court of Honor at Scouts tonight. Always good.

Rainy Day

Two mile swim in 75 minutes this morning. A new best time for me. Faye and I went shopping after that since it was drizzling rain all day. Getting ready for fishing season. Piney Run Resevoir opened today.

Work week over

I did a 2 mile swim and went to the doctor for a physical exam this morning, before work. So work began just before noon today. The swim went well, mostly used a pull buoy (54 laps) and kick board (8 laps). The remainder (10 laps) an easy cool down pace.

Blood pressure 108/60 with a 72 pulse (1/2 hour after finish of swim). Not bad for 56 years old.

At work we're making progress on the modeling front. In particular, the method for developing the scenarios is shaping up.

Day Off

It rained. I did a wet suit swim this morning, hoping to step it up to 3 miles, but I got an upset stomach at 81 laps. Disappointing, but I'll make up for it tomorrow morning. I began a change to the boat building process today. I'm changing to a stitch and glue process. Had to change the shape of the transom and reduce the curves to three strait lines at each frame. Next step, cut the frames, set up the form, and make cardboard models of the five planks. 

Hump Day

Primarily worked on networking a large modeling effort today. Set up review of model this morning and worked with simulation engineers for scenario development this PM. 

Very good Hake Fish for dinner tonight. Hope its making me healthy.

Tuesday, 24 March

They stocked the local lakes this week. With Thursday off, maybe we'll have trout. Did a short (1.2 mile) swim this morning. It took 19 min and 10 sec. (slow).  That's what a week off to go to a conference does. The president's news conference is on. Insanity is asking the same question over and over again and expecting to get a new answer the next time you ask. 

Monday, Scout Night

Worked on the scenario simulation and discussed DSS training at work today. 

Scouts was election night. Helped Jack and Brandon with Personal Fitness Merit Badge.

Weekend Update

Went camping this weekend with Troop 735. Mostly I helped move cars, set up camp and tend the fire. Well someone had to do it. While that was going on, the scouts did a 10 mile force march on a poorly maintained/poorly blazed trail in Green Ridge State Forest. Well at least when they arrived in camp, the fire was blazing.

Thursday Evening

Tom Sholes, my scoutmaster from the 60's, joined my face book friends tonight. Awesome.

Eric came over tonight. Left two Orioles Game tickets for June 29. He bought himself a Birthday Present. Yea.

I'll be going camping with Troop 735 this weekend. I'm going for logistics support, I move cars while the boys hike. Well someone has to do it. I should get some hiking in, usually after the cars are moved, there is time to backtrack down the trail, meet the sweep and encourage the slow one to finish the hike.

First Enty

For the past three days, I've been attending a conference on networking. I've learned enough to want to try some of the new networking skills and formats. Like Blogging. 

I also created a twitter account - C4Decide - so you can "follow me" on the web. I'll at least try to put the big movements in.