Shell Beach Kayak- Dive

The Trruck!

THE 'AL GORE'

After a few years of letting the abalone alone, the intrepid deep sea hunters searched their garages for abalone irons, depth gauges, lost wet suit gloves and net bags. The sacred kayak anchor was unearthed in the garden (sans sacred anchor rope). Goggles with rotted silicone and moldy weight belts were found exactly where they were left after the last trip.

We set out Saturday morning early, in M's humongous new F-350 heading north of Bodega Bay, exact put-in destination uncertain. We'd know it when
we saw it. Some say free diving the north coast is dangerous. Actually, driving a loaded new Ford diesel is the extreme sport --for adrenaline junkies only.
Try to watch & listen to the GPS nav screen, cruise all 186,000 Sirius radio channels, compute miles to refueling, adjust climate control and media choices for each of the four bucket seats all while hurtling up Highway 1 at 80 mph and checking out ocean conditions. And of course there are sudden swerving detours to test the nav system's reaction to deviations from route instructions. Will the calming female computer voice turn vicious? Will the engine shut down as alarms blare? Disappointingly, no. Turns out the computer merely recalculates the route from your new location. And at 8,500 lbs empty, nothing is getting into your way whatever route you choose.
Parking is a breeze too - once you find a three-car space to back into. There is no need to look behind or in the mirrors. Just line it up, shift into reverse, watch the GPS, and listen until the back up collision warning system goes from beeps to rapid beeps to hysterical beeps that merge into the same unbroken tone emitted in 'Fail Safe' on the hot line as the phone in Moscow is vaporized in a atomic fireball. ( You may stop truck now.)
In case you are wondering, this baby is an eco warrior, factory set to take bio-diesel and covered by an IRS tax credit for small business owners buying SUVs or trucks. Those darn Republicans really did do some good after all, using tax dollars to make these trucks affordable! But being a good Dem, M is christening it "The Al Gore" to remind us all of our reponsibility to think globally and has the family saving left over Italian salad dressing to lessen oil dependence on terrorist states.

Somehow we made it to Bodega bay alive, minus my ipod nano. I'll leave it to others to narrate the drama of that particular accomplishment, I'll only say that the truck did not need to stop in order to git 'er done.

THE ROUTE

So what about the diving? Experimental put in at Shell Beach,just north of Bodega Bay and about 2 mi south of Goat's Rock Beach. Experimental because it wasn't known ab. habitat. (Still isn't) The coast there is populated by gnarly sea stacks -some are huge cubic blocks of greywacke, like Goat Rock and Arched Rock, others ahaped like giant s drooping soft ice cream cones or jagged dragons teeth. They give the waters of the area a lonely magical feel. If the diving didn't work out, at least we would have a cool place to paddle. And that is what happened. Although the sea was relatively calm, visibility was nil. We dove around a number of the rocks, following the the underwater cliff down deep, but everywhere we tried, it was way too surgey and or impossible to see. What we did see were a few anemones, lots and lots of starfish,but zero abs. So we paddled and explored a tried to re learn how to get into a cold-water free dive mind set. After awhile breath-hold-zen-mind began to kick in and down time improved with each dive.

ARCHED ROCK

This picture of Arched Rock -in the approximate middle of the Kayak-Dive route depicted above is an impressive feature. Here M. paddled against breaking swell through the arch while S. threaded the rock garden on the left to meet on the other side. Fun stuff. All these Sea Stacks were whitewashed by the birds and encrusted around the tide line with arrays of starfish, barnacles, and all varieties of mollusk colonies; complex worlds submerged and revealed with each swell.

There were a few other offerings to the sea gods besides my nano, including the sacred anchor and my abalone iron which once dropped were impossible to locate and recover in the murk. They will rest forever in the deep, sacrifices offered freely, against rewards to be reaped another day . So we were skunked. M bought whole crabs off of the back of the boat at a Bodega Bay fishmarket to make up for the lack of abalone. Who needs abalone? All in all what a great day!

Make it so, number one.

An actual e-mail recieved from "friend"

with my workout protocol for today.

Thanks.

________________________
Steve,

10 x 10 FLAT BENCH
10 X 10 SQUATS
10 X 10 CURLS
300 CRUNCH’S

All above sets to be performed at the proper weight allowing the strict full range of motion complete reps.

Best of luck,
Marty

Perfect Pergola Dreams Come True

Click &Enlarge


He is 'Headlocks' Jordan; one of the coast's premier watermen, known for teaching punk agro wannabees basic surf etiquette, charging big waves and of course, for fine old world craftsmanship. 'Headlocks', the Master Carpenter and CEO of Jordan Construction is shown here bringing another Pergola dream into reality -this unique example is on the Phelps Estate in Upper Woodside, CA.

On seeing the new structure, the elated home owner exclaimed:

"It draws you right outside!! Why did we wait 18 years?"

and

"That elm tree has got to go - and I mean right now! It obstructs our view of the Pergola."

and

"A chamfer is a 45 dgree cut, right? Right??"

______________________________

cham·fer (chmfr)
transitive verb: cham·fered, cham·fer·ing, cham·fers
1. To cut off the edge or corner of; bevel.
2. To cut a groove in; flute.
noun:
1. A flat surface made by cutting off the edge or corner of a block of wood or other material.
2. A furrow or groove, as in a column.

________________________________

Your input needed: to paint or not to paint??

Each One Reach One. Juvenile Detention Drama Program

Miguel Gonzalez and his mentor Susan Alvaro.

EORO Executive Director Robin Sohnen (left),

Miguel (center) and his mentor Susan Alvaro(right)

at his GED ceremony! !

A few weekends ago B & I attended an amazing actually juvenile detention performance of one act plays, written by kids and performed as dramatic readings by professional actors. The performances are the culmination of an intensive writing workshop orchestrated by the group that sponsors the GED tutoring I've been doing. Here is a Video link of a dramatic reading from a performance at Juvenile Hall last year ( Requires Quicktime)

B., who went with me, did a very nice write up of the experience on her blog. Here is an exerpt:

"The weekend before last I attended Each One Reach One's performance of one act plays in San Francisco's Juvenile Detention Center. It was amazing. I was impressed by the young men, their writing and the wonderful performances the professional actors gave in reading them. The plays are written in metaphor and each one had honest, creative writing straight from the heart. It was particularly moving to watch the parents that were able to attend embrace their child afterwards. No matter how tough or mature each one looks it was a vivid reminder that they are all still very young. Much younger than my own son. "

Read the rest of B's description Here.

See Dad introducing panel on Plant Research at the Danforth Plant Science Center

(Photo links to video)

This picture is of the Danforth Plant Science Center
in St. Louis. As you probably know Papa Jim has committed
a lot of time and energy to this great humanitarian enterprise.
The video shows him making the introduction to an
expert reseacher panel discussion on medicinal plants
and human health - starting with green tea.
Check it out and see our man Dad at work by clicking
the link to the video.

Support the Danforth Center with a donation.

Infrasound and Avian Navigation

Jon's paper on infrasound as a major factor
in bird navigation is finally out!
Way to go Jon! Check out the abstract below.
Click for the complete paper। PDF download
With charts and graphs!

"The Case for Infrasound as the Long -Range

Map Cue in Avian Navigation"

by Jonathan T. Hagstrum, U.S. Geological Survey

ABSTRACT;
Of the various ‘map’ and ‘compass’
components of Kramer’s avian
navigational model, the long-range map
component is the least well understood.
In this paper atmospheric infrasounds are
proposed as the elusive long-range cues
constituting the avian navigational map.
Although infrasounds were considered a
viable candidate for the avian map in the 1970s, and pigeons in
the laboratory were found to detect sounds at surprisingly low
frequencies (0.05 Hz), other tests appeared to support
either of the currently favored olfactory or magnetic
maps. Neither of these hypotheses, however, is able to
explain the full set of observations, and the field has been
at an impasse for several decades. To begin, brief descriptions
of infrasonic waves and their passage through the atmosphere
are given, followed by accounts of previously unexplained
release results. These exam-ples include ‘release-site biases’
which are deviations of departing pigeons from the homeward
bearing, an annual variation in homing performance observed
only inEurope, difficulties orienting over lakes and above tem-
perature inversions, and the mysterious disruption of sev-
eral pigeon races. All of these irregularities can be con-
sistently explained by the deflection or masking of infra-
sonic cues by atmospheric conditions or by other infra-
sonic sources (microbaroms, sonic booms), respectively.
A source of continuous geographic infrasound generated
by atmosphere-coupled microseisms is also proposed. In
conclusion, several suggestions are made toward resolv-
ing some of the conflicting experimental data with the
pigeons’ possible use of infrasonic cues."

COMPLETE PAPER in PDF Download.

Marty & Cindy stay warm; Tim holds onto his hat and points out fireworks nuances. Kaboom on the Bay 2007

CLICK PICS ENLARGE THEM

MORE PICTURES:

ALBUM Impressionistic fireworks photos from the rocking boat
ALBUMBeautiful Boat People

Kaboom 2007.

Rocky invited the K Mtn crew

(Jerry, Patty, Marty, Cindy, Katy, Tim and Bryan )

to experience the fireworks from the O'Connell/Rockmore race boat.

Four huge fireworks barges were pushed into

place as we and many other craft, large and small,

set anchors in the Bay near Pac Bell Park

and broke out the hors d'Oeuvres & wine to

watch the sun set over the city, listening to the bands

echo over the water from Pier 32. Rocky commanded

with authority, collisions were mostly avoided and

grog rations were liberal. Chris Norling, Larry & Patt Mann

and friends motored in a small craft from South City to share

the evening lashed along side. And we thought we were chilly!

The fireworks display was heart stopping.

On the health front:

Tim's insides may have been partially liquefied from the hypersonic

concussive blast over-pressures taken in the chest as he

leaned over the bow to get as close as possible to the explosions.

Could be infrasound damage. Are you OK ,Tim?

Thanks for a great evening, Rocky.

Doug's Dry Well

Dry Well #2

Dry Well #1

Drywell; also dry·well (drī'wĕl') n.

A subterranean chamber near a building,

having stones or gravel inside and used

to collect rainwater runoff from the

roof of the building as a means of avoiding
soil erosion.

Nicholas ascends from the pit and

Doug and Nicholas proudly pose in front of Dry Well #1,
preparing to remove shoring. This is part of a home
improvement contruction project that has clearly
gotten out of hand, but it doesn't matter because
everyone is happy. Doug has lots of new tools and
new purpose in life, Nicholas has steady work
and the whole Mohr clan will one day - a day very soon-
have a vastly improved home. Never heard of a dry well?
Me either, but they exist on the web and in Doug and Beth's
back yard from which all water accumulation problems are
now banished. And as we all know,

(and is now proven by research), digging in dirt

makes you very happy.

____________________
View the Doug's Dry Well ALBUM
____________________________-

Trees,Water,Land,Light

Henry Domke Art

"Black Willows"

See

www.henrydomke.com

HD Bio