Wishkah paddle. Volvo: Sold?

Paddle on the Wishkah river. About 43 deg F. Wore: black LL Bean long sleeve fleece shirt and Patagonia jacket on top, LL Bean sport pants and Marmot rain pants below. REI cwazy wabbit fleece hat with brim, Headsweats underneath. NRS zip boots, wool socks. NRS Mystery gloves. Hands warmed in twenty min. 52" X 9.5" paddle.

emails rec'd re: 1998 Volvo.

Rec'd $320 from Jessica R. as 10% deposit. Two weeks balance due $2880. Sales price of $3200.

Buyer is aware of need for oil, due to leak or burning.

Bread came out a little bit flat. Not sure if I want to take to Harriers.

Walked & talked with Tim T.

Made curried rice, split pea chicken dish for harriers, took bread--all good.

Called Bill Anderson. John F and I have first right of refusal once his Huki V2A goes on the market for sale, pending repair/modification of the Hurricane OC2 borrowed from JD Davies.

Another cold day

Yes, the clouds parted to let some sun in, but by the time I got on the water, haziness in the sky filtered out the brightest of the earthbound rays. No heat came down with the light.

Maybe it got to 48 deg F.--probably not. After 40 minutes paddling up the Chehalis, I still didn't have warm hands. Turning back, I faced the mild but cold wind. Fleece windblock hat and long neoprene top and bottom just didn't keep enough heat in. I changed my clothes at the car. Back up to the house. hot food and drinks. Big down parka even though inside temp was 64 deg F. I am ready to go to Kona and sweat!

I opened a jar of the tuna John Forrester gave me. Mixed with Mayo and a few squirts of Tabasco and spread on my no-knead bread. It doesn't get any better than this.

Looked at the calendar in anticipation of my week in Kona. What the Mao happened to February 29th and 30th? They disappeared and so did two days of my vacation! Discovered that it would cost at least $180 to change flights--ixnay on that. I need to keep a "free" trip free.

9 p.m. Mixed more no-knead bread dough for baking in a.m.

Outrigger club meeting

Yesterday, baked a 600 gm (flour weight) loaf of no knead raisin bread & went to Hui Va'a O Wakinikona meeting in Renton, where we inked forms & checks for USAC/K and for the Hui Va'a. Carl Cook, Bill Anderson's paddling partner, joined the club. Heard some discussion about practice recovering after a Huli and practice putting on a life vest after a capsize. I didn't say it: We live in a very cool climate and sail over cold waters--aside from sweating a little more, what do we lose by just wearing our flotation?

Made a comment on inability of skirts on the Mirage canoe to keep water out during the Gorge races. Ixnay on suspenders.

Found out why members dislike the old Calimar canoe in waves: no rocker, goes under water in waves. I'm now aware of request to membership of mother organization for $$ for new canoe. I wonder how we justify this request when the number of active paddlers has declined?

Abby C. said she'd just acquired a Dutch oven for baking no knead bread. wooo-o-o-o weee-e-e-e.

More on the car

Volvo's build quality declined before just before I bought my 1998 V70, though I wouldn't know that until a few years into my ownership. Reliability improved enough lately for Consumer Reports to recommend 4 of their 9 models, but I didn't think a V50 was worth the extra $10G, esp since CR didn't give that one the nod. At the same time Hyundai reliability had arisen from the dust heap to the sky, which put me into one recently. This Elantra is a BEAUTIFUL car, much more so than the Sonata. I feel strange going from a stodgy boxy Volvo to the sculpted wind splitting Elantra. I hope the car doesn't become so popular that thieves like them for chop shops.

The Elantra is much lighter than the Volvo & lets in more road noise, especially on rough roads. The ride is compliant, without jarring from bumps. EPA fuel economy ratings (29/40mpg) are close if I don't drive aggressively. With gas >$3/gallon this car feels right. The car wants to surge from idle so I have to baby the gas pedal a bit, but the auto tranny is so smooth, I love it. Acceleration is good. Nice to have the interior lights on when you press "unlock" on the key fob and after you lock up. Premium cars sported these features a decade ago.

The stock sound system is superb, but the iPod link sadly is very basic, I can't browse playlists, etc. The system read a USB drive with MP3's without trouble.

The safety features are very reassuring. They are a must have for a car this light @2700 lb.

I didn't find the seat anywhere near as comfortable as in my Volvo--the side supports were too close together, requiring that I sit on a pad to keep them from pressing against my legs and butt. Were they made for a 10 year old child? I liked that I could raise and lower the seat and the spaciousness in the back seat was almost on par with the next larger model.

Why they left out the spare tire, I don't know, but I prefer not to have a compact spare. My Volvo's 15" snow wheels/tires fit just right, so one of the Elantra's 16" wheels went into the spare tire cubby. About $200 gets you a spare from a discount tire dealer. I just have to buy a jack & lug wrench now. I think I could change a tire faster than using the sealant and inflator that Hyundai supplied.

On the bread

O k. I haven't blogged about bread baking for a long stretch. In the fall of 2010, I performed a web search on no knead bread, and came up with www.breadtopia.com and Jim Lahey & Mark Bittman, of the New York Times Food section, laying out the recipe & technique for the best Artisan bread, baked in a covered Dutch oven instead of on a flat tray. Nice crust and nice, moist, chewy crumb with some biggish holes, but not too big.

Variants include adding dried cranberries or raisins. I coat most loaves now with sesame seeds. I have probably baked ~3 loaves per week since Sept 2010.

Originally Jim called for letting the yeast work the dough for 18 hr and lets the dough proof in loaf form for 2 hr. I let the yeast work the dough for 13-14 hr. The loaf proofs for 70-100 min. and goes into a 450 deg covered dutch oven and bakes for 35 min and then 10 more min with the cover off.

Have bread, have happy.

No time on water

So-o-o-o cold out there. 37 deg F. Snow falling in cold wet blotches.

Almost a week has elapsed since the Kalama outrigger race. I had a good race with the smaller paddle that I bought soon after getting my canoe. I did something in the race that I almost never do: pass other boats. For the first time I could tell how differences in my technique were affecting my progress relative to other paddlers. Every other race that I've been in, once half the race was over, not much ever changed in my standing relative to the field. Raising my stroke rate and finishing the stroke by mid thigh seemed to make my boat move faster. As soon as I got lazy, lengthening the stroke and/or dropping the stroke rate, my boat began to lose inches to other boats.

Pre-race, I'd cautioned Mark McDermott re: his paddling the club Makia in the mild chop that day. dunno if that was bad etiquette. If I had my neurons up to operating temperature, I would have offered to switch canoes.

Slept in the car at Target for an hour after the race.

I saw some excellent instruction on outrigger paddling on YouTube. One by Mountain Home Canoe Club. Others by Hano Hano CC. I'll probably forget by the time I get back on the water. I cannot get enthusiastic about paddling, knowing that I'll start cold, take a while to warm up, finish warm and chill again after taking out.

Weather experts predicted sun the day after the canoe race, and indeed 'twas. As well as a great day to ski Nordic at Cabin Creek.

Jeff Freed came over yesterday on my note of having fresh bread for him. Was good. Also prepared a simple 10 minute pasta.

Two more loaves of bread out of the oven today. One loaf plain w/sesame seeds another with raisins--1/2 of each to John Forrester. One could put on a few pounds.

Notes from another blog v1.2

Friday, 24 March 2006

Now Playing: Ohhhh, little one?

Oh, Little one!

You poor, poor little Rumpelstiltskin!

Do you get out of bed everyday looking for a reason to get angry? You came to work today and didn't examine your patient! A SaO2 of 93%. hmmmm. chronic bronchitis. morbid obesity. Maybe you should redirect your anger a little closer to the source. I suggest you prepare your patient for surgery. Don't expect me to tune them up for you. I don't like you, because I worry that you'll misinterpret any comment as disrespectful. Your insecurity has made Me feel insecure. Now how did I let that happen?

I do tune up patients for other surgeons, but I don't touch yours because I don't owe you any favors. You tried so hard to get me canned--you failed--now YOU are leaving. If they're not ready for surgery, I'd just rather bow out and let someone else expose your patient to risk. It doesn't adversely affect patient care. You can't drag any patient into surgery without proper preparation. And you don't like anybody to get informed consent from your patients. Tough world.

I'm skipping your farewell party, because you needn't have any of your victims present.

Akbar Ali, I wish you luck in Roswell, NM. I don't predict you will make many anesthesia friends, but please do try a little harder, by letting them do their jobs. Even if they all come from thisa-stan or thata-stan, they'll still want to take good care of your patients--let them. Try not to mumble. Enunciate. Slow down.

You brag much about how much $ you'll make in New Mex. I like not to talk about money in the presence of people who earn far less. On all subjects: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

Notes from another blog

Jeff paddling

Wednesday, 5 July 2006

Returned today from Hawai'i. Surprisingly, Lydia paddled with me 3x. Does she like it? Will she paddle more if we have a really light kayak (less than 30 lb) for her to use and cartop on a new and lower profile Toyota Matrix? I have a Pygmy Arctic Tern 14 in a box but with 6 oz fiberglass cloth. Should I buy more marine okoume and some 4 oz(or lighter) glass cloth?

Thursday, 23 March 2006

Sammamish Race

Now Playing: Hot day!

mar 2006. I used Michael Lampi's Cadence pedal boat. Finished the Race at last after starting with the long course boaters and turning back after about 3 miles to start with the short course boaters, taking pictures of any racers. I couldn't keep up with the rowers, so few pics of them appear on soundrowers.org . As I unclipped from Mike's pedals, a severe hamstring cramp afflicted my right leg. Paul Rollinger had to help me out. Right after the race, chomped 4 slices of pizza, thanks Mike. Then drove to REI Seattle which was only 16 miles away. Amazingly short cp to Aberdeen-Olympia ride.

Browsed REI and stopped to try out a cot--I closed my eyes. I awoke before the store closed & shopped a bit. Store employees misidentified me as a Sea Kayaker Magazine employee due to my embroidered vest. They liked to talk quite a bit. I felt really good.

Wednesday, 22 March 2006

Now Playing: Sea Lion or bear?

Paddled from S Aberdeen ramp to Cozzy ramp and saw Keith Lile paddling up just south of Junction City.

What did we see betw WalMart and Swanson's? bear? Sea lion? What a big head! didn't have my camera! aieeeee! I think it had ears like a bear, but perhaps my memory fails me.

Sunday, 19 February 2006

La Conner kayak race

Seda impulse. Rudder disabled--Credit Steve Bennett, a teacher, not a mechanic. Blame self for not inspecting kayak after loaning out. 25 deg F at the ramp. wore a drysuit, hat and gloves. got Too hot as the race started in full sun which shone throughout. Fear of cold has cause overdressing. Caught up to a surf ski at end, trailing it by only 1 sec.