Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The new ride.

After looking thru Craigslist. Scouring cars.com and autotrader.com.  Driving thru many dealer lots, driving many vehicles.  This last Saturday as I was coming home from my son's cross country meet.  I stopped by the somewhat local(75miles away) Mazda dealer.  We drove thru the lot and they had a used Rav4 and a Highlander so I decided to stop and see what they were asking for them.  I talked to a dealer about the Rav4 and the Highlander.  Both were out of my price range for a used car.  I started walking around the lot and there it was.  A dark blue Mazda5 Touring.  The sticker price in the window was 12,999.  Down from 20,000.  That was a huge drop so I looked further.  It was pretty hail dented.  Early in July a big storm rolled thru and caused extensive damage to all there cars.  Some of the cars were fixed others just marked down.  This one had a $7500 mark down and $500 off from Mazda for being a 2010.  It had lots of room in the back, great gas mileage, roomy seating for four people, seating for six people if two of them are "small" people.  I could already see the bike racks on the top, back and a nice mounting board inside.  So I asked the dealer for the keys and took it for a drive.  It had a 2.5 automatic and was pretty zoomy really.  Handled really well.  Took it back and parked it.  Popped the rear hatch and folded down the seats.  I saw that he had another Mazda5 on the lot, also hail dented but with a window sticker of $10,995.  This was a metalic red Sport model.  No sunroof and a five speed manual instead of the automatic.  Other then that, just the same.  So I took it out for a drive.  Wow, what a difference the five speed made.  From a somewhat zoomy to a really zoomy car.  It was such fun to drive.  Even thou it looks like a shrunken mini van it was just a blast to take around corners and pull away from stop signs.  Brought it back to the dealership and told the salesman I really liked it.  I filled out paper work for a loan thru Mazda.  It was closing time and the finance people were all back east and wouldn't be in till Monday.  I had to work Monday and wouldn't be able to pick it up till Tuesday.  So for two days I debated, looked up accessories, looked up mods, read reviews, and waited.  Even with my "just ok" credit I got the 2.9% financing and I opted for the extended warranty of 10years and 100,000 miles.  I could have bought a used car, but for the price I got new.  Bike rack parts are being ordered as we speak.  Many pics to follow.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

2010 Turner 5 Spot

Well this is my review on my first new bike in over 10 years.  So if it's a little jaded I'm sorry.  I spent most of the summer questioning what bike I would like.  I wanted a do-all full suspension bike.  Early in the summer I picked up a very used 1999 Specialized FSR enduro.  Ended up upgrading the fork twice, and adding a new rear derailer.  Great bike, just a little dated.  I rode three or four other bikes at the Specialized event.  I really really liked the Epic.  Felt like a lightly suspended version of my Dekerf HT.  I rode a ton of bikes in the parking lots.  Read specs for hours.  Reviews for even longer.  Eventually I ordered the 5 Spot.  I saved a good chunk of money by getting a 2010 model.  The differences were small between the 2011 and 2010.  None of the changes really offered me any benefit for my style of riding.   After waiting a few weeks my youngest son and I went and picked it up.  We took it out for some cross country riding only a few minutes after getting it.  The next day we took it to the slopes of Keystone for a day of gravity riding.
 The bike was amazing.  Climbs great and keeps the rear tire planted on the ground.  It goes down just as well.  I haven't ridden it enough to dial in the suspension.  The shock isn't working with all it's travel yet.  I need to play with it more to figure out whats going on.  Right now I'm just comparing this bike to my Dekerf, the FSR, and my old GT LTS.  It pedals a lot like the FSR but moves thru the travel much much better.  Pedals more efficiently also.  As with all things....More research is necessary.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Turner and Garrett OR The Last Run

I'd been waiting for this weekend for awhile now. I've been waiting to buy a new bike. I started by getting together what I thought I wanted. Test rode some bikes, read hundreds of reviews. Visited dozens of stores. Talked to twice as many mechanics and sales people. Changed my mind thousands of times. Finally I just Called Dave at Redstone Cyclery and ordered it up.
I had to wait about two weeks for it to come in and get built up. The second week was the toughest. Honestly there were nights I couldn't sleep. I made arrangements to pick up on Saturday so we could go ride up at Keystone for there last lift day of 2010. Saturday morning we got up and went to Jake's Football game. It was 43degrees and very foggy. Great football watching weather, bad bike riding weather. Dad said it was just in Nebraska and that Colorado would be fine. So we sat and watched Jake's team obliterate Gering, eat a bit of celebratory Oya and hit the road.

We made it up to Lyon's in record time.(but not too fast) Dave had the bike ready and waiting. A brand new, shiny red, 2010 Turner Five Spot. We added some pedals, adjusted the sag and he explained some of the "new tech" to me. There's a lot that was new to me. No rotor bolts, 15mm threaded axle, propedal settings, etc.. I knew some of the suspension set up, but it's a lot different doing it then reading about it. We bought a few new bits for bikes and a fine pair of Old Chub socks, then headed to Hall Ranch trail. Got to the trail head and suited up to ride. I couldn't wait to get the bike on the trail. We had to wait just a little while for Joab to adjust his new grips. Once that was done we were on our way. Other then the horses, Halls was a blast. I few thru rock sections I wouldn't have thought about doing on the Dekerf or FSR. Afterwords we hit Oscar Blues for the required post ride meal. If you have never eaten at Oscar Blues your doing yourself a huge disservice. Great service, food and BEER! We came down out of the hills and stayed the night at Motel 6 in Fort Collins. Great place to grab some zzzz's.

Next morning we were up early because we needed to pick up Joabs Christmas present. My trusty Droid took me straight to the spot. I handed over the cash and showed Joab his Christmas present. A banana yellow size small santa cruz superlite. It needs a few bits(whole build) but come next season it'll be ready. We made a quick stop at Starbucks for a little pre-ride coffee. Made a quick drive up to Keystone, enjoying the fall colors the whole way up.

 Got to the super secret parking spot(according to Mike)and Joab jumped out and ran do the stream that runs in front of the slopes. By the time we had gotten back to the car Mike was there. We set up the bikes, chit chatted and deliberated on if we should wear a long sleeve shirt for a run or two. It was warming up fast so I decided not too. We went and picked up our lift tickets and then had a look thru the bike shop as we waited for the lifts to open. Once the lifts started spinning they took mostly the hikers to the top, before the Mtn.Bikers. We got to the top in short order. The weather was much much better then the weekend Joab and I come up and did one run. Sunny and warm. Well with out wasting much time I almost automatically injured myself. I laid the bike out in some loose gravel and opened up my left knee pretty well.

 I picked myself up and dusted off before I could really start feeling the pain and headed down the trail. Me crashing that quickly shook Joab up a little bit. Kid has a heart of gold. Kept asking if I was ok, if I needed to stop, was I ok, do we need to bandage it, so on and so forth. I just let it bleed and periodically rinsed water over it. Turns out my Turner's color matches my blood! We rode the rest of the day with out a crash. We had one little incident with a idiot that thought Joab should be on a easier slope. Again that rattled him a bit but he was fine after a bit.


 Next to last run I pinch flatted and ended up walking to the gondola to go get back down. We replaced the tube and went up and took one last run. One wouldn't believe coming DOWN a mountain would be so much work. We packed up and headed home. We got off in Georgetown and picked up some snacks and caffeine. The minute we got back on the interstate traffic locked up. Took us a hour to go 5 miles. Joab was a chatter box till Sterling. Then like a switch being flipped he was silent. Everything from the day finally caught up with him. It was a great time. Something I can't wait to repeat next year.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Not just another weekend.

Well we had one heck of a weekend. Joab(my youngest) and I both headed out Friday to Fort Collins and spend the night there. Staying the night there let us get a early start on Sat morning. We rode some cross country in Lyons, CO.. Hall Ranch was a blast. Very rocky, but fun. Joab had a cold and was very very stuffed up so we only did a few miles up and then came back. I picked up a new disc front wheel for my Dekerf and a couple pairs of lock-on grips. I can't say enough about Dave at Redstone cycles. He is the kind of person who you want to spend money with. If you ever get a chance to stop in and just bs with the guy, do it. We then headed out for Avon, Co. I put a trade together with a guy off of Craigslist. Avon is in the middle of the mountains. It has been quite awhile since I've been thru the mountains. Wow...I gotta do that more often. What a blast. Guy I was trading parts with was great doing biz with. Another positive Craigslist experience. Wheels are brand new and the fork is in good nic too. Then out of the blue Joab says he wants to ride some more. So we look over our options and head over to Keystone to see if we can catch a lift up. Neither of us have ever done lifts before. So this was a first. We get there and three guys are riding to there cars on big DH rigs. I walk over and ask when the lift is closing and they say it closes at seven. A quick thanks and were on our way. We jump on the gondula and ride up. We stick to the green trails and wow, what a blast. We end up getting soaked on the mountain. The rain starts coming down and won't slow up. We stop a few times to try and stay dry. Finally the rain stops and we fly the rest of the way down. It took us two hours to come down and Joab wanted to go again at 6:15 in the afternoon. That would have put us in the dark for half the mountain. We leave with dreams of coming back. Thanks a ton Keystone, those trails were a blast! I settle into the drivers seat and point the van home. A quick stop in Idaho Springs for a pizza from Beau Jo's Pizza. Joab was wiped out and didn't let his head leave the seat until we got home. Thanks a ton to everyone who made this great day happen!

From Bikes

From Bikes

From Bikes

From Bikes

Monday, June 7, 2010

Curt Gowdy weekend.

I've been planning for this trip for quite awhile. The destination was picked because I'd heard great things about the Mtn.Bike trails that were there. I'd been to Veedavoo before and really enjoyed the scenery there, so I figured Curt Gowdy couldn't be all bad. We had a hard time picking a date. We finally nailed one down and stuck too it. Unfortunately we didn't know we had just picked "Free park" weekend and "Free fishing" weekend, plus! Kids Xtream weekend. I did know that Specialized bikes were doing demo's that weekend but that was it. Plan is a plan and we were still going.

I had planned on leaving early on Friday to get a good spot. When I heard the news about kids day and free camping I debated on leaving on Thursday night. However I wasn't anywhere close to ready on Thursday night. I had a lot of last minute things to fill, fix and pack. However by Thursday night I was ready to pull out first thing in the morning. Alarms went off on Friday morning and we hopped out of bed, took showers, loaded bikes and called Donovan to see when he'd be ready. We waited for the bank to open so he could drop of the paper work for his new old truck purchase and then hit the road. Besides my phones GPS wanting to turn us around in Cheyenne the trip up was great. Clifford got better gas mileage then I thought and everything stayed where it was suppose to. Upon arrival we found that it was already pretty busy. We pulled thru a few loops and didn't find any really good spots. We finally settled on a flat, grassy area at the base of a short but steep loop. At the time we only had one neighbor. We got the camper set up, bikes and canoe off, and started a fire. Mike Dornbier showed up shortly after and set up his small camp also. We took a few bike rides, and got the bikes tuned up.(or so I thought) We hiked all over the side of a hill that was close where the archery course is. I say course, not range, because it was a HUGE course. One after another great targets set up on the course that stretched over the side of a mountain. Jake was the only one with a bow on the trip. That will be remedied next time. Jen showed up and we had a almost uneventful evening except for a couple slightly agitated puppies that wouldn't settle down. Jen ended up taking them to the car and sleeping with them there cause they wouldn't be quiet. We got up the next morning and made a big breakfast. Mike took a early ride and I slept in a little missing him on that one. We got ready after breakfast and headed out to the trails. We met the rest of the Cabela crowd that came down for lunch at out camp ground. Where we made a huge bunch of spagetti. It was really good and very energizing. We rode shoreline again and did some more fishing. Sunday we were finally able to test ride some of the bikes Specialized had brought up. I instantly fell in love with the Epic. Wow...what a bike. It just made you go fast. Everything my bike did it did faster. Joab and I rode a ton of bikes. Donovan and Jake rode a couple also and then we packed up and headed home. Great weekend and a lot of smiles all around.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Mountain biking in the Panhandle.

Yes it can be done.  After a day of getting things ready to go to Curt Gowdy, we decided to take a ride. I don't remember the pasture being this much fun on a four wheeler! We had a blast.













Sunday, May 16, 2010

Thank you cycling

Thank you cycling.  I just felt this was worth mention.  Awhile back I committed to a weekend mtn. Bike trip.  Little Did I know then how it would change things.  I started looking back at the fun I had on a bike.  All the friends I made and trips I took.  Then I started thinking that this trip would be a lot more fun if I were in some sort of shape.  I dropped by www.mtbr.com and browsed thru a few posts.  I was so inspired by some of the photography there.  I've mounted new brakes on my bike, I've put on new wheels also.  I'm excited again.  I've quit drinking pop, started looking hard at how much sugar is going in my body.  I've nixed caffeine altogether.  That's a hard one.  The wake up call was how hard it was on the second day thou.  Man did that hurt.

So thank you cycling for making me look at myself.
From Misc

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Redneck Paintball

Well were too far out in the sticks to call it ghetto.  So it's gotta be redneck.  Here's my efforts in creating a field for my kids and friends. The closest "actual" field is 2 hours away. We have played at my parents farm for years. The corrals have been empty for about 20 years. In the past we just used natural cover, two dead cars, a few spools and some misc pallets for cover. Nothing much more then that. Well this year another of my boys started playing. We made the yearly trip to SPE and he's hooked. So once we got home he got the bug to play again. We started looking at where to put up a structured field, what we had for supplies and what money we had to work with. Well very little money, however all the free pallets we could get our hands on. So we hauled out three trailer loads of pallets, left over plywood and started building. We cleaned up first by pulling out all of the old barb wire, hog panels and wood gates out. Nothing like finding a old roll of barbwire on that long slide into the snake. Once that was done we hauled in old feed bunks to make up the snakes. Set some fence posts to keep them there, then started on making all the pallet V's. The pallet v's got a outside coating of galvanized tin. All from panels that had blown down from the original wind break. Add a few old spools, a trunk lid from a 68 olds and were in good to go.
There is still a lot of space between bunkers but it's a start. I have enough pallets for seven more V's, tires for more tall stacks and a few other things I can add in cheap.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

SPE - an Odyssey in Paintball

     This SPE started off like all SPE's in the past.  With a 12 hour drive to Illinois.  I really didn't want to do the trip there in one shot.  I have done that before and it leaves you pretty drained.  I had decided a hotel room mid way would do as a good stopping point and only give us a little over six hours left to drive the next day.  After a constant nagging towards my eldest son to pack his stuff.  It actually happened.  Thursday came around and He and Jake were ready to go at 4:PM Mountain time.  I picked up the kids from school, grabbed Jake and Josh's stuff, dropped off a reluctant Joab at soccer practice(next year bud) and topped off the fuel tank.  With all that done, the 2002 Gold Caravan loaded to the brim with paintball equipment, food and drinks was on it's way.
      On the road to Omaha we saw hundreds and hundreds of turkey and deer.  This didn't help Jake at all since we all went empty handed last turkey season.  A few places you could have filled your deer tag and turkey tag in a matter of seconds with a quite enough bow.  The normal gradient from the yellow grass of the plains to the dark green of leaves on trees and thick grass back east was very evident.  They had been getting a lot of water in the past few weeks.  We got thru Omaha and into Council Bluffs where we stayed the night at a 39.99 dollar motel.  My two boys were a little freaked out and after getting the room, told me they were pretty sure they just witnessed a drug deal.  I told them they were over reacting.  If this was the worst hotel room they ever stay in, then they will be lucky.  Yea the bed was hard but it was a clean room.  We woke up early and headed over to Panera Bread for breakfast.  Damn do they have some awesome breakfast sandwiches.  Six point five hours later and we're at Spaceman's house for a gathering of the usual suspects.  We ran around a bit waiting for other friends to arrive.  Gathered some misc beers and other bits.  A few beers, six pounds of bacon and a couple taco's later I was a happy man.  Sitting on the Spaceman's deck, trading stories, passing around markers and drinking home brewed beer with a bunch of friends I hadn't seen in a couple years( I missed SPE 09).  This is why a 12 hour drive is totally worth it.
     Up early and headed to the field.  Set up camp behind the raffle table with Spaceman, DoghouseDan and a hand full of Canadians.   Played with my new Ule pump mag most of the morning.  Then after getting my sniper back from Ken I started playing with that for a bit.  Huge thanks to Ken for standing behind his work and fixing the little leak my sniper had.  You da man Ken!  After three years I finally got a elimination with this rig!  My two son's had a blast all day.  I had wondered about Jake getting tired and not wanting to play in the afternoon.  He was back a couple times, just long enough to refill paint and headed back out.  While visiting a booth, one of the vendors gave Jake a old Brute paintball marker.  He said he hadn't used it in four or five years and wasn't even sure it shot.  Jake found a way to put a hopper on it, then sprinted over to the chrono.  It clocked in at 275 and shot like a champ.  He proceeded to play with it the rest of the afternoon.  Josh played with his phantom all morning and then ripped things up with my ule mag in the afternoon, after I started playing with my sniper.  He ripp things up really well.  Including re-injuring his ankle that he had sprained pretty good the week before at a soccer game.  Even with a little limp he still played awesome.  Which was pretty evident on Sunday during the tourney.  I couldn't be prouder of these two.  I just can't wait till next year and the youngest can come with too.  Team Olsen will be in full effect.  Pump play was std issue SPE.  Everyone played awesome, everyone played with respect and honesty.  Other then the tourney I don't think we had a ref at our games.  I can't say enough good things about the type of play one experiences at SPE.  You really have to be there and play to get the full meaning.

  Saturday wrapped up and we headed out to get some Mexican food.  After a little trouble finding the spot, I ordered a margarita.  I wanted a big one and that's what I got.  We stayed the night in a much nicer hotel then on Thursday. Soft beds, a pool and most of all a hot tube.  Nothing like soaking off the paint in a bubbly hot tub.  So we checked in, swam for a bit then relaxed in the hot tube.  The boys decided to stay up and watch a movie.  Me the minute my head hit the pillow I was out.  Sunday we were up early, ate our fill downstairs and then out to the field.  The Tourney is on Sunday so we once again got everything sat up and waited on Gumby to show to start taking names for the Tourney.  Jake, Josh and I all got on separate teams.  Each team played seven games.  Points were given for eliminations, flag pull and winning.  It should be said no matter what your team you always have fun.  Thru the first three games the mag was shooting like crap.  Spiraling balls all over the place.  I went thru three barrels and cleaned it good and finally got it up and running in a decent manner.  In one of our last games I got "dead man" walked.  By the time I caught on to what he was doing it was too late.  I hadn't tucked a foot in like I should have and that was my down fall.  While I don't totally agree with it, it's SPE and that's just how things are.  I'm sure I would have been fine with it if I would have been the one doing it.  Jake ended up second to last, I got third and Josh's team won first place.  Jake and Josh proceeded to play until all our paint was gone.  We were debating on if we should drive back in one shot or stay the night somewhere.  While debating we got invited to Famous Dave's for BBQ with a small but elite group of guyz.  You know who you are.  We ate a bunch of BBQ and decided to hit the road and just keep driving.  My eldest took the first shift at the wheel.  I tried to sleep but was still wide awake with the weekend in my head.  I took over at a little after midnight and we pulled it home.  We all slept for a bit, except Jake he had been sleeping for 12 hours, so he was ok.  Unpacked, cleaned and tucked neatly away for the next paintball outing.  Which hopefully is soon.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Extream Hobbiest

I'm sure this has been thought up before.  I'm sure it's been stated many times in reviews and gear lists.  I just want to write this in my Blog as a reminder.  It's hard for me to stay the course even thou I know the end result will be better.  The idea as I see it, is for what ever hobby it is, what ever recreational activity, to make a durable, dependable, quality, set of tools for what ever the purpose.

An example for this is my paintball collection.  When I say collection I mean collection.  At one time I had three times as many markers as I did family members.  I have markers that I would drag to the field and not even use.  Worse I would try to use multiple markers.  Spending time setting them up, trouble shooting, getting them ready, to what...play one game and then put them back in there box.  So this year instead of concentrating on the marker I want to concentrate on the playing.  I'll bring two markers.  One main, one back up.  One hpa tank and one co2 tank.  No more "One main marker, a back up and a marker or two I'd like to try.  I'll bring two hpa tanks and three co2's so I can set up all the markers and change between them easily.".  Cause that's bull.  I never get to use them all, but I spend all this time trying to get to use them.  So this year I'm trying to force myself to thin down the paintball gluttony.  I've sold and traded several markers that were very dear to me.  Markers I'd imagined, drawn, faxed and had custom made.  However I've never or rarely used them.  The good memories don't reside in that marker.  They reside in me.  And that is the concept that is so hard to grasp sometimes.  I've thinned out the herd, given things away and made deals that I never would have if I hadn't been thinking this way.  Yes I have bought some things.  However MOST of what I've bought has been to make something better, more durable, or easier to use.  Yes there are times I get wrapped up in something I shouldn't.  Those time are getting less and less now.

So this mentality extends to other hobbies such as archery.  Why do I need three bows, when one will do?  Cycling : Why have four bikes when you really only need one?  Backpacking : Why have four backpacking stoves when you really only need two?(butane and liquid fuel..gotta have choices)  It's not easy.  Especially for me.  I'm a gear guy.  I love new gear.  The feel of a new mtn.bike saddle, the soft touch of a titanium cooking set, the beauty of nickle plated pgp.  However it doesn't make them better then the ones I all ready have.

To sum up.  Look at what you have.  Then truly see what you REALLY need.  Get rid of the rest.  Improve on what you kept if you need to.  In the end things will be more fun and the experience better by far.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I've been tying a lot of knots as of late and when I started thinking about SPE coming up I thought I'd prep a few of my 10rnd tubes with make shift speed caps. I've done it in the past, ziptie, electrical tape and 550cord or thicker plastic string. However this year I thought...maybe I should dress it up a little bit. Use a turk's head knot and then finishing it out in a variety of ways. I found some smaller diameter black nylon cord. I went thru a few tries with the turk's head but then got it looking pretty decent. Here was my first effort :


I didn't like the knot inside the cap, so on my second one I made a pair of holes and routed the cable in and then out with some room to slide a little so it can adjust a little. Here's the second one :


I then tried a lighter weight nylon cord/string that I had, so I could use some other bits I had. It turned out ok, but I like the heavier black cord or 550. The light weight cord :



Then for giggles, because I didn't think it would work out at all I did one using gutted 550 cord. This one ended up being my favorite of them all. The weave on the tube shows up awesome and I just like std issue 550 cord best. Yea the holes in the cap are a little bigger, but I don't think that's a issue.



So my big question is. Do you guyz and galz think there's a market out there for these?

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Blogaway?



Trying out Blogaway on my Droid.  See if its better then the rest of the Droid blogging apps.  

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Trips and Fun for 2010

A short list of trips for 2010:

SPE - Paintball in Illinois
Backpacking trip in the Pasture
2nd Annual Guyz and Kids Weekend out.
Mtn.Biking trip to Wyoming

I have a carbiner that has 12 550cord zipper pulls on it.  A goal for camping trips for 2010.  I mean to empty it, and if I can.  Twist a few more trips in.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Coffee Cabin, in Mitchell NE

I've been lucky enough to stop here twice. It's on our route for a few sporting activities. Each time we've stopped the coffee has been excellent. We went in once when we had more time. Theres a huge rock shop thats great for kids and adults. We sat down and had breakfast, which also was excellent

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Railroad Spike knives, do they make good throwers? Ohhh Yeah!




A good friend of mine has been trying his hand at making knifes out of railroad spikes.  We had wondered how they would function as throwing knives.  After putting a very basic edge on the top spike, I was very very suprised.  With the huge bolster on the back I wasn't sure.  After a few throws I was in love.  With the heavy weight of the knife, it makes throwing them almost effortless.  I know that doesn't sound quite right, but with a heavier knife, you don't have to THROW it as hard, you just let it fly.  After having so much success throwing the top knife, my son brought out the knife that had been made for him, with the twisted handle.  I again was skeptical because of the twisted handle.  Again I was amazed at how easily they fly out of your hand.  With a slight adjustment in throwing I was able to repeat everything I did with the other knife.  If you couldn't tell from reading all this, I was impressed.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

More knife wrapping

Finally got some time tonight to tie up a couple more knifes.  One is a Cabela's knife and the other is a Gerber.  The Cabela's knife has been modified by taking out a finger hold that resided towards the front of the grip.  I didn't underwrap the Gerber because the extra finger hold was still there.  I think it turned out really nice.  The Gerber blade is titanium coated and I couldn't even mar it with another knife blade.  I think I'll be making one of these for myself!

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box
Light nylon string for backing and 550 cord for grip wrap. I added the skulls to the end as a nice finishing touch.

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Simple Gerber knife with 550 cord wrap. Added beads to the end for a little something.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

440 cord creations.

I know, I know..it's paracord or 550 cord but I get a chuckle out of my boys when I call it 440 cord.  Here's a bunch of stuff I've been messing around with.  Forgive the pics I took them with my droid and the ones with the reflective threads in them came out a little weird.

From Zeroack

This was a Cabela's bamboo handled knife.  I took off the bamboo and filed away the extra finger hold.  Then wrapped with small yellow cord, then with 550 cord.  It turned out so good I've got to make two more for people in the office.

From Zeroack
This is a .40cal bullet that I tied some small yellow cord around.  The cord has reflective threads in it and that messes up the pics.  Works good as a keychain.  I have a version of this but I used 550 cord for mine.


From Zeroack
Here's a bunch of misc stuff I just have sitting at the office that I tie when I get bored.  Zipper pulls and what knot...hehe...knot.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Wolfgang Puck's Provence French Roast - Review

From Drop Box


This was on the shelf the same time I bought the Peet's and for the price I had to give it a try.  After opening it up it smelled very earthy and like dark chocolate cake.  After brewing it had a very rich aroma that again echoed the earlier earthiness.   A slight smell of cinnamon.  A very dark rich coffee.  Slightly spicy with a taste that seems to stick to the top of your mouth.  With my normal amount of sugar it still retains the kick in the back of your mouth.  Sweeter, more chocolate then carmel, but very drinkable.  A very good buy for $4.00 a pound.  It does lack the overall finish of a high end coffee.  It's more like a using 5lb sledge to get a nail pounded in that just needed a much lighter hammer.

I think 939 is dead for me now...

I think I fried my last 939 motherboard last night.  It was a board that was given to me from a friend and was all ready glitchy to start with.  Had problems shutting of and then later had problems of just shutting off on it's own.  Well last night it would boot, be active for about 30-60 seconds then lock up.  So after powering off and on for awhile, trying to find out what's wrong...it just died.  Then came the tell-tale sign it was really gone....the smell of something burning.  No small tendrils of smoke, just the smell.  I then looked around on the net for a bit but just can't bring myself to order up a new mother board for $60-$80 bucks for old tech.  So I think my dual core processers(yes plural, I have another good processer sitting in another dead board) are going to head to ebay.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Bud K throwing knives.

I looked all over the site for the exact ones I had and couldn't find them. My review could explain that a bit. They were large sized throwing knives. About eight inchs in over all lenght. They were well weighted and had a good feel in your hand. They performed well for about three outings. Then out of the blue in I broke them all. All of them snapped in half within

Peet's Sumatra Coffee.

From Drop Box

I had a coupon for Peet's coffee and just happen to be in need of some sort of coffee for work.  So I picked up a pound of Peet's Sumatra.  Brought it to work and opened it up.  I could only get per ground.  No whole bean option at the Safeway I had the coupon too.  The grounds smelt like dark toast, not burnt, but dark.  I brewed 8 cups with 10 measured scoops of grounds.  The brewed coffee has a very light smell to me.  It almost smells like a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie and honey baked ham.  A few sips of straight coffee and I'm not totally impressed.  There is a good coffee flavor, but not the punch you would get from Starbucks Sumatra.  This coffee falls in line with most other store branded Sumatra's.  Stronger then normal coffee but not up to a Whole foods, or Starbucks Sumatra.  After adding my usual amount of sugar, this coffee is rather pleasing.  It looses a lot of it's coffee taste and turns more to a caramel flavor.  Very nice.  In the end, if you have a two dollar off coupon for Peet's Sumatra, give it a try.  It's not the best in my opinion but no where close to the worst either.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

I wonder why?

we stopped at our favorite carping site because we had heard they were dredging it to make it deeper. They cut a huge alley thru part of where we did really well this summer. To make matters worse we found a huge streak of carp frozen in the ice. There had to be at least 300 carp and catfish frozen in the ice.


UPDATE: Park and Rec. killed all the fish in the lake, to repopulate it with trout.  They say the do it every 10 years or so.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Morrison bar open for biz!


mmmmmmm booze

We just couldn't decide what to drink.  So Torrey gave us a few choices.  Happy B-Day Steph!!

Monday, January 25, 2010

rug fail, only two wolves and no moon








Saw this at the local drug store and couldn't resist taking a pic.  No moons....geez what a waste of thread.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

ipod very classic


Get'n Old


Just about time for a new ipod. She doesn't hold a charge any more and I could use a bit more space. Not sure if it'll be a ipod touch or maybe just another classic. Heck a nano would work too if it had enough space. I've use this unit day in and day out for the last four years. It's had it's hang ups but I blame most of that on switching between a mac and a pc. I've never had any data loss that wasn't my own fault. It's hung a few times, and once again that was probably me not ejecting it properly from my machine. However a quick reset and it's as good as new.