Swamp Pole Vaulting

So the last day in the swamps we were all pretty excited about going home and i was particularly happy that morning. Normally when we came to a creek that was too deep to cross we would try to either go around or just wade through it. This time i had a different idea. I figured i could pole vault across.

Just to note ... that was a mistake.

Here's what i had going against me:

• big rubber boots
• 1" of mud inside the boots
• 2" of water in the boots
• insufficient approach distance
• forgetting that a swamp has 3 feet of mud at the bottom
• lack of athletic ability

Now this first time the pole sank into the mud right as i pushed down.
In spite of that i still almost made it all the way across. Really i did.
I landed mostly on the other shore...

Here's the video:

Being the smart guy that i am, on the way back i just knew that i could make it across. This time i left the pole stuck in the mud from the first jump so that it wouldn't sink any more. Too bad it was way out in the middle of the river and when i jumped instead of pushing me forward, the angle at the top pushed me backwards. I believe the word you're thinking of is FAIL!

I guess i was thinking that "low running" would somehow help???

Right here i'm thinking "oh ya....i got this"

This is about the point where i realized that the pole was in no way helping. Notice the angle of the pole is still pointed backwards.

Video #2:

To my defense, if i hadn't of jumped i would have waded through the water anyway. But there's nothing better then being up to your waist in mud at 8am, then have to work 12 more hours.

Driving Range

The other day i went to the driving range with jeremy and his friend and we video taped our swings.
Any tips?

Oh and NO ... "putting shoes on" is NOT a tip.

Animal in the Backyard at Night

A while back Karrie bought me a trail camera, also known as a deer cam.  In simple terms it's a camera that you mount on something, like a tree, pointing toward an area you want to watch.  When the motion sensors detect movement it will take a picture.  There are also infrared lights that will flash at night to take pictures in the dark. It uses infrared because a normal flash will scare away animals and they might not pass by again.

The cam that Karrie got me is a really nice one, it takes pictures and videos.  You can change several of the settings depending on what you want it to do.  

• Active just during the day, just at night or 24 hours. 
• Photos or videos
• High, med or low quality
• variable delay between shots

I first decided to test it out up north in the Huron National Forest.  So i walked way back into the woods and put it on a tree near an active deer trail. Here it is set up on the tree.  The top circle is the camera lens, surrounded by the infrared LED flash.  The white center circle is the motion sensor.  It has lights on either side that will flash red or green to let you know that it took a picture.  The green screen at the bottom is where you change the settings.  Underneath is the battery and control compartment, it's waterproof and also holds the SD card.

The bad thing was that i was only at the cottage for the weekend so the camera was only set up for 24 hours.  During that time nothing went in front of the camera and it didn't take any pictures.  I didn't want to leave it there for a month, i was afraid someone would take it, so i took it down. 

Anyway here were some other pictures i took of the small pond back in the woods.

I think i used the homemade ND filter on this one.

When i got home i decided to set it up in the backyard.  I put some cheeseballs in front of the camera to use as bait.  Here's a squirrel that passed by.  You can see at the bottom that it took the picture at 3:47PM.

The next morning i noticed all the cheeseballs were gone.  When i looked at the pictures i saw this.  Whatever it was came by at 9:35PM.  I thought it might have been a cat or raccoon or something.

So the next night i set it up in the back corner of the yard.  But this time i set the camera to video mode.

http://youtu.be/ihOWV3UePkY

Sorry for the weird video quality.  It looks fine on my computer but when i upload the trail cam video's to youtube it gets that strange pink and blue lines on the bottom.

Anyways at 11PM at night an opossum walked in front of the camera.  In fact that same animal came by at 11PM, midnight, 2AM and 4AM.  It must like cheeseballs as much as me.

It's really fun setting up the camera and then discovering what walks by at night.  I can't wait to set it up at the cottage again to try and find out what time animals pass by a certain area.  For example, there may be a heavily traveled deer trail in a particular area and you might think it would be a great spot to hunt.  But then when you set up a deer cam you might see that the deer only walk through there at 2AM.  And it might turn out to only be small doe's.  

The trail camera is kind of like a spy cam for the woods.  It will let you know who, what, where and when somethings passing by. 

Phoenix Airport Time Lapse

While waiting for our plane to arrive in the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, i made this time lapse video of Terminal 4. I used my Canon S95 camera with the CHDK program running the intervalometer script. Here's my previous CHDK post.

I took a photo every 3 seconds over about 50 minutes. I then compressed the images, converted them to a video at 8 fps.

Then i used Adobe After Effects to add the intro, sound, motion and other minor effects.

http://youtu.be/NPjqRwPS5_0

I used After Effects once before to edit a compilation of time lapse videos i created. The video below took several days and lots of reading of how to do each step.

http://youtu.be/kIdaNc0MPOc

This time though, it only took me a few hours. It goes to show that the first time is always the most difficult, then every time after that goes faster.

Here's my Youtube Channel with all of the video's i have uploaded.
http://www.youtube.com/user/notitlerequired

Salsa and the Pressure Cooker

I borrowed a pressure cooker from someone at work because Karrie made lots of really good salsa. We did the first batch, 4 jars, but then figured that since we had the pressure cooker we should do more. So we made another pot.

We had to look up online how to use the pressure cooker, how much water to add, how long to cook and at what pressure.
We ended up doing 10 pounds of pressure, 15 minutes after it started boiling. Here's a video of what it looks like when you are at the correct pressure.

The first batch was fine, all the jars sealed. The second batch had 3 jars that didn't seal properly so we re-pressure cooked them.

Here's all the jars and lids, ready for the second batch.
Boiling the lids, just before sealing.

Cedar Point

On Memorial Day weekend i went to Cedar Point with Karrie, her sister Kristina and Paul. We left at 6 am.

Because we were staying at the Sandcastle Hotel, at the northeast corner of the park, we were allowed in at 9am. Everyone else gets in at 10am.
The first thing we did was wait in line for an hour and go on the Millennium Force. It's a really great coaster. Super fast, smooth and that first drop is an insane 89 degrees down.

We rode several rides till 3pm then rode the shuttle back to the hotel and took a break. We went back out around 5:30. It ended up thunder storming around 8pm but we were ready to be done anyways.

Because of super long lines we never rode the Rapter or the Maverick. They both had lines close to a 2 hour wait. We did go on the Top Thrill Dragster. It said the wait was 1 hour but it ended up being closer to 1.5. It wasn't worth it. The ride lasted all of 8 seconds. It shoots you up a hill and back down.

The Gemini - aka The Rib Cracker

Park view from the buckets

My favorite ride is the Magnum. It's super fun and there isn't a long wait, at most 15 minutes. I rode it twice. It has the perfect combination of speed, hills and turns. Here's the view from the top.

View from down below.

This was the beach by the hotel. I don't know why there wasn't anyone swimming in the lake.

Other than the beach, staying at the hotel was a great idea. Great views of the lake and we got to drive home the next morning.