Going Green

I went kayaking yesterday but didn't have time to post it. So, here it is today.

Last year i did a drawing of a light bulb. This year i decided to be a little more "green" and do a compact fluorescent bulb. there really isn't much to write about for this one. it went pretty smoothly. i had the most trouble with all the overlapping straight lines especially where the glass tubing connects to the base of the bulb.

i also tried to do the entire thing smaller than last year's bulb. last year's took me almost an hour and it had a lot fewer lines than this year's. i was worried that if i did this one the same size it was going to exceed my morning kayak time limit. so, i tried to make it smaller. and it worked. this year's bulb ended up being considerably smaller and only taking about 45 minutes to complete.

it isn't my best work but, all-in-all, i think it turned out alright.

Yesterday's Stats and Map

Always Plan Ahead...

it has been well over a week since i have been out in my kayak so i decided that, no matter how tired i was this morning, i needed to go. and i'm glad i did. it is a great way to start the morning. it really sets the mood for the entire day.

when i left the house i had no intention of doing a drawing. but as i got closer to the lake (which took a lot longer because i forgot about the stupid road closing and forgot to take the detour and had to come up with my own detour... anyway...) i decided that i should probably start doing some before the summer slips away. so, as i paddled out into the water a thought came to me... and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

On July 9 my company, WQLN, is presenting Music Fest, an all day folk/bluegrass festival. using the woodstock dove as inspiration, i created a guitar playing chicken which has become a main symbol for Music Fest. so, my brilliant idea was to do a drawing of the woodstock dove. it seemed like an easy enough idea. well, as i have discovered and re-discovered countless times, it does not matter how easy a design may seem, if you do not plan it ahead, chances are, it will not end well.

i guess if you turn your head and squint the finished product does resemble an older, fatter woodstock dove. it actually turned out so poorly that i'm not going to post the picture. luckily i had my camera today and snapped a few pictures so that this entry is not completely void of pictures. if you feel you need to see it out of some morbid curiosity just follow the link at the bottom of the page.

one good thing that came out of this horrible drawing was that i was driven to come up with something better for the next time. and i think that i have. well, it may not be a better idea, but at least next time i'll have a plan.

Today's Stats and Map

Le Ver

today i decided to try something different instead of going to Edinboro lake i decided to go to French Creek. i went to a nice little spot just east of Cambridge Springs where i have seen a lot of people fishing and where i once stopped and found a geocache.

my goal was to try and make it all the way back to the route 6/19 bridge in town. that actually turned out to be the easy part. the river was very wide and lazy with almost no noticeable current. so, paddling upstream was almost as easy as paddling downstream. i was able to make it to the bridge with plenty of time to go about a third of a mile past and still have plenty time to get back to my car.

the hard part seemed to be getting in and out of the water without getting completely covered with mud. every opening from the shore to the river was pure, thick, clayie, deep mud. getting into the water wasn't too bad. i slid the kayak into the water and then sat across the hull to clean the mud off my feet before getting in and shoving off. but, in order to get out i had to trudge through the shin deep mud. walking through the deep, wet grass helped clean some of the mud off my feet. but, after loading the kayak i had to break out the baby wipes to clean off the rest. thank goodness that we had four children and bought baby wipes in bulk. all four of out kids are well past the diaper wipes stage but, we still have enough of a supply to keep some in both cars just in case. good thing, too. i don't think any of my co-workers would have appreciated me washing my feet off in the sink at work.

Today's Stats and Map

First Trip of the Year... and it's about time.

So, after 8 loooooooooooong months on dry land, i was finally able to hit the water this morning. it was awe... wait for it... some! That is until i got about halfway across the lake and my arms realized what was happening, came to the realization that they hadn't actually done any type of physical activity in the past 8 months, realized that i was only about 10 minutes into my trip and still had about 30 minutes to go, and began screaming at me to please, for the sake of baby kittens, stop paddling. actually it wasn't quite that bad. actually, for not kayaking in 8 months i think that i did pretty well. i may change my mind if i wake up tomorrow morning and can not move my arms.

Today's was pretty relaxing. i decided to start out slow and just enjoy being back on the water. My GPS (having not been used since last October was a little slow to wake up from it's long winters nap and could not get a fix on any satellites which is why my map makes it look like i started in the middle of the lake. i'm good, but not that good.

i was also a little slow to wake up this morning and forgot to take along my camera which is a shame because i saw two snapping turtles this morning. the first one i mistook for a log at first. i was passing by a partially submerged and part of it began to more. i thought that something under the water was agitating it then realized the the moving part of the log was actually the head and front portion of shell of a mostly submerged, huge ass snapping turtle. it's head was at least as big as my fist. when it saw me it sunk and swam off. it was really cool. The second turtle that i saw was on the other side of the lake. it popped up out of the water just in front of me. i almost accidentally hit it with my paddle before it disappeared back into the water. it wasn't as big as the first on that i saw, but it was still pretty good sized. i don't think that i really would have had time to get a picture of either turtle, but it would have been nice to have had a chance.

All-in-all, it was a pretty good start to the season.

Today's Stats and Map