New and experienced climbers over 50 #36

Brad Youngwrote:

This pretty little crack is 15 minutes from the road. I cleaned it out (didn't need all that much) and put in a top anchor today. It's gonna rain here now for a few days which will clean out the residual dust. And then I'll lead it next week.

My estimate is 5.8? But one never knows until it's done.

The formation it is on hasn't been climbed before, but was named some years ago: "The Cousin."

Unusually, I'm haven trouble coming up with a name for the (to be) route. I may have to resort to an expedient I used for a few months a few years ago: open up a junk mail catalog and put my finger on a page randomly. After all, that's how "Tourmaline Earrings" got named.

Any of you available to do the FA next week (Phil included if/when you are reading this)?

That’s nice! How tall is that.. 60-80 feet? Makes you want to stick a hand in there and go!   

Carl..  do you have good cracks where you climb?  

Good eye, Lori. It's about 55 feet.

It's only an eight hour drive from Joshua Tree to here (trust me, I've done it more than once).

Jay, is it time to try the pass?

I'll bet Phil is available next week though.

And I'm almost seeing a face of some animal looking rightward in it? Still no name....

Colden. That sounds amazing. 

Ward, personnally that actually sounds disgusting.  I can't stand the smell, let alone the taste, of things that are rotting (fermenting) and the sulpher in eggs is just too much to eat on a regular basis.  I'm more into Colden's salmon feast myself.  I'd love to go hunt deer or moose in the neighborhood but I think I would get arrested for accidently shooting the neighbors dog.  Instead I have to spend lots to get deer and elk meat delivered.

looks like that furry little creature on the Adams family

had kind of a bigfoot patois as l recall 

NW of the egg

Jan Mcwrote:

I'm more into Colden's salmon feast myself.  I'd love to go hunt deer or moose in the neighborhood but I think I would get arrested for accidently shooting the neighbors dog.  

Up here in Idasippi in my hood we just wrestle them!

oldfattradguuy kkwrote:

Up here in Idasippi in my hood we just wrestle them!

If it is any consolation, I wrestle the hornworms trying to eat my tomatoes.  That is about the extent of it.  Anything else and I am likely to get arrested here in LaLa land.

Jan Mcwrote:

If it is any consolation, I wrestle the hornworms trying to eat my tomatoes.  That is about the extent of it.  Anything else and I am likely to get arrested here in LaLa land.

Do you plant plenty of basil around your tomatoes? The horn worms moths don't like the scent, so are less likely to lay their eggs there. I hardly see any hornworms at all when I grow the two together

Speaking of dogs again   … I keep thinking I need another little buddy.  Maybe someone here will have a thought?

Whiskey was my grand dog who was left with me “for two days” while my son moved. He wound up staying almost two years and we became best friends.

We spent two long summers at the lake together. Played a lot of frisbee… sat and watched birds.  He was my constant companion at a time when I was too alone. 

It’s been six years and I still miss him like it was yesterday.  

But who to choose now?  What dog can tolerate the heat here?  Who can hop in the car with me and go?  With my long morning hikes would I be always leaving my buddy behind?  

I also had a little one who we rescued just six hours before her scheduled euthanasia. She was a hot mess and I was against adopting her. I was wrong.  She was a total delight every minute of the rest of her life. If I got a small dog like Gidget, she would have to be an indoor dog. Coyotes around here will snatch up anything that looks appetizing.

  One thing I didn’t realize about border collies is that they need a job. They’re so damn smart, but they need a purpose. I took whiskey to a border trainer who set him loose in a corral of sheep, and it was wonderful to see him line them up and herd them, just by instinct. I don’t know what kind of job he would have here except to love me. Maybe not enough…

Ward Smithwrote:

"Paula spent the night in the hospital when she broke her hip skating in January.  They gave her a store bought muffin in plastic wrap with every meal.  I haven’t eaten crap like that in at least 30 years. This is the place where they supposedly know how to keep you healthy - or maybe they just want to make return customers. "

I don't know what the deal is with most commercial bread, but if I eat much of it at all I feel crappy, even more than a slice or two of pizza. However, I make my own bread all the time using good quality flours (I love spelt) and eat tons of it and don't have any of the problems people associate with bread. It is really easy to make good bread with just a little practice. For my staple boule I use the recipe for no-knead bread on Bob's Red Mill artisan floor bags, substituting some of the wheat floor with spelt  and or a little bit of rye and buckwheat (too much of those two and you may have to add gluten) I do actually knead it a few times very quickly using the lift and fold technique to add some "strength" to the dough. I bake them in the oven inside my dutch ovens  with some spritzes of water before covering and they puff up beautifully.

Some super rich cinnamon raisin bread

'

Ward Smithwrote:

Paula spent the night in the hospital when she broke her hip skating in January.  They gave her a store bought muffin in plastic wrap with every meal.  I haven’t eaten crap like that in at least 30 years. This is the place where they supposedly know how to keep you healthy - or maybe they just want to make return customers.  

Embarrassed to say that when I went through the US Med School system in the late '90's we literally did not have ONE lecture on nutrition over the entire four years.

The subject was never mentioned.  I hope it is better now but I doubt it!

Great "Climbing" article there, M M.  Love that they stress the positivity of this thread.  Truly is a campfire here on the internet (Lori: Was that your quote in the article?")

Nick!  Your trip is looking amazing and getting me so psyched!  You'll have to share all of your favorites with me as I am heading there in June for 3 weekdays and praying for good weather!

The local climbing guide here at West Point who teaches the Cadets showed me a great bouldering wall last Friday on post that is just a crimpfest traverse.  Such a great workout! Going to head there again this afternoon as it is a ten minute walk from my house.  No excuses for me now!

M Spraguewrote:

That's a mouth-watering work of art!

philip bonewrote:

looks like that furry little creature on the Adams family

I ran this by Vicki (and then an internet search engine).

You're talking about Cousin Itt. Yes, from the Addams family TV show.

Perfect name for this new route on The Cousin: "Itt."

There's no chance that anyone under the age of 50 will understand.

Brad Youngwrote:

Good eye, Lori. It's about 55 feet.

It's only an eight hour drive from Joshua Tree to here (trust me, I've done it more than once).

Jay, is it time to try the pass?

I'll bet Phil is available next week though.

And I'm almost seeing a face of some animal looking rightward in it? Still no name....

Where is this? Sounds like it’s near my area?

^^^

On Highway 108, the next pass over the Sierra Nevada to the north of Yosemite. We commonly call it The Sonora Pass Highway ("SPH").

Large amounts of granite with over 2,500 documented climbing routes and what almost seems like endless amounts still to be climbed.

A great supplement to climbing in Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows, which are on the next highway south of here but which can get crowded and are more rules-restricted.

This particular to-be-new-route is a 15 minute walk from the highway, near Mill Creek.

Brad, John, thanks for invites to climb. Unfortunately I have some four-legged dependents that mean I am limited to day trips or paying for house sitter while away. Probably not going anywhere in the foreseeable future.

This is Bandit. Far and away the highest quality relationship I have in my life. Every…single…day, all day long, he brings joy and laughter to my life, like nothing else does.

apogeewrote:

This is Bandit. Far and away the highest quality relationship I have in my life. Every…single…day, all day long, he brings joy and laughter to my life, like nothing else does.

I love this. Hey, Bandit!     Yea, I was thinking of laughter, the play, all the joy, one of my favorite memories of whiskey was how he would love to run to the waters edge and try to catch the tiny waves in big gulps, and then barf it back out.  “You dumb dog!” Which only made him do it more. There were times he’d come home and hurl a gallon of water on my living room floor. If nothing else he’d be peeing all night. I think we both thought it was hilarious.

on the other hand, my little rescue Pomeranian was so grateful just to be alive and she was completely disloyal. If she smelled a barbecue going on down the street she’d find a way out of the yard and go invite herself in for some steak or hamburger. She just lived life to the max.

She had apparently been raised by family in Mexico, who lived on McDonald’s – – she was quite ill and obese when I adopted her. She would lose her mind whenever we drove by golden arches. No way could we drive through to pick up breakfast for ourselves. On her last day she was so sick and hadn’t eaten for a couple of weeks so I went and bought her a big Mac. She lit up for just a moment and sniffed it, and then lay her head back down on her little bed and I knew that was it. Time to let her go.