outdoors – Page 2

Checked out Las Vegas, September 2012

September 27, 2012 by Jason Leave a Comment

Made a trip to Vegas to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I’m not a gambler. I live 5 miles from a casino and I’ve stepped foot in it maybe 2 times in 12 years. Took me 10 years to visit it since I moved here. But my friend is a good one. He asked me over a year in advance. What can you say? It was the mans dream to get all his best friends together and hit Vegas. Also, it’s hard to refuse a trip where the friend wants to take care of everything. He says… “man, all you gotta do is get here, I’ll take care of the rest.” It makes it an easier decision… and for me… hard to let him down. What the hell… I’ve never been, let’s check it out.

They picked me up at the airport. It wasn’t some dirty freak fling. My friend really likes Vegas… probably been to it 10 times in 10 years. The lights and the action really are something to see. Each casino tries to out-do the next. The strip features million, even billion dollar attractions. To be entertained, all you have to do is walk it. One day, we checked out Hoover Damn… the next, we hiked Red Rock Canyon. Of course, we got in a spurt of gambling… but mainly, I followed them around… and when they planted at a table or machine, I wandered around seeing what there was to see. There’s a lot to see in Vegas.

Just walking the strip is an experience. The “clickers” or “tappers” on the corners… all eager to hand you a referral card to a strip club.. and get you a free ride too. Need some drugs? No prob… There’s an offer at every turn. Sex? It’s all in the bag. If you’re not interested, no prob… there’s a lot of other takers in Vegas. That’s about it. Oh and there are a lot of lights. Electricity is apparently in surplus in Vegas.

Really fun in Vegas. Not a place to live, nor raise a family as far as I’m concerned, but certainly an experience to be had. For me, the best part of Vegas is everything beyond the city limits. If you visit… get out there!

Vegas classic. Who doesn’t have this on a t-shirt?

Atop Turtle Head peak. Vegas in background.

Vegas, wonder why they call it Red Rock?

Vegas, at Red Rock, at the Turtle Head trail head.

Atop the bridge overlooking Hoover Damn, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Overlooking Hoover Damn, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lake Mead flows to Hoover Damn, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jason and Jeremy, Hoover Damn, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Trip to Malibu California

May 6, 2012 by Jason Leave a Comment

Susan and I took a trip to Malibu California to attend my friend Bill’s wedding. We took it as an opportunity to get some sight-seeing in as well. I think it may have been the first time Susan was separated with the kids, ever. It didn’t take her long slip in to things once she caught some views of the coast, and the mountains.

Since we knew there was going to be some sight-seeing, and some trips up the coast to see some wineries, we rented a Camaro (that I have been wanting to test drive) to open it up on the PCH. Saw some really established vines at the Fess Parker winery, trunks as big as my legs. It was a time to remember for sure. Susan kept commenting that she didn’t expect to see such beauty when all she knows about was the bad rap California has on the news. The landscape is mind-blowing, and it’s true when they say everything is bigger out west.

I got to catch up with many friends who I haven’t seen in a long time. Friends that once worked with me back here in the midwest before taking off out west. It was a great reunion and we got a chance to catch up at Bill and Madison’s wedding, which by the way, was awesome in every way. It was obvious that a lot of effort, and time went in to the wedding as it was set outside at the Calamigos Ranch (the same place where Biggest Loser takes place). Here are some pics of our venture.

Spring done sprung! Are you watching?

April 8, 2012 by Jason Leave a Comment

Since early March, everyone who knows me has heard me lament over the fact that the winter didn’t have enough “chilling hours,” and that everything is early… and that I’m worried about my grapevines getting frost-bit, and that the bugs are going to be heavy this year. I go on and on. I’ve also spoke in detail with Garry Reeves on what his plans are for the spring splits. Those of you following Mel Disselkoen’s method of beekeeping, like Garry, myself and others, have really had a lot to watch for, and a lot to do.

We start looking for morels after the 2nd week in April or so. They've been popping up since the last week of March this year. If that's any indication of where we are at in the season, then you should be watching your hives and thinking about swarm prevention. — We start looking for morels after the 2nd week in April or so. They’ve been popping up since the last week of March this year. If that’s any indication of where we are at in the season, then you should be watching your hives and thinking about swarm prevention.

Well, other than all the things I have been sweating over, the spring has been kind to us, but we need to recognize that we are way ahead of schedule! Put out your annuals and tenders at your own risk. While we’ve been given no indication of cold weather to come, remember mother nature is as unpredictable as the bees.

The Morels are out! We typically look for these after the second week of April, but we’ve been finding them around the Ohio River valley since the last week of March.

When days get to the 70’s and the nights get to the 40/50’s, then buds start to break, the sounds of frogs fill the evenings and there’s no stopping Spring. It’s here. I myself have been in to my hives 3 times doing manipulations, adding deeps and supers, pulling bad or useless comb making room (btw, I’ll be bringing in a selection of 10 frames to the next meeting for us to evaluate why I removed them from the hives) and watching for swarm cells. We have already seen a pretty constant honey-flow. I took my candy boards off, and I’ve not added any feeders yet. But I see all kinds of white comb, nectar deposits, and drones walking the hives. I’ve marked any queens (laying of course) with last years white dot.

I’ve heard a few swarm stories too! So, if you haven’t been in your hives, you’re very late. If you have, you will have covered the basics:

consolidating brood near the bottom of the hive
checking the queens laying pattern
inspect the capped brood… are they slightly bulging, or sunken and perforated? If the latter, you want to pop one of those and use a toothpick to rule out AFB.
how are the honey stores, and is there plenty of room for the queen to lay, and for the bees to put honey in? We want them to feel there is plenty of room to help prevent that swarming urge
white, mummified bee carcasses can be chalkbrood, something easier to deal with
scraping burr comb and cleaning up
checking for the obvious mites, SHB and wax moth
remove you sticky boards and clean them off to notice recent mite drop.

I’ve seen mites on my bees already, but nothing that indicates an infestation. Many beeks have been working on hive beetle traps expecting this year to be bad… and with the unseasonably warm winter, I buy that entirely.

I have linked to the latest Kelley newsletter that goes in to great details of the basics we want to be doing. Click here to read and download their newsletter.

That’s all for now folks, Garry Reeves will be performing an OTS demonstration at the next bee meeting. It will be extremely informative, and fun! He has been building up a hive and notching the cell walls to have the bees build cells, then, he’ll break the hives in to multiple nucs and drop the newly formed cells in to each nuc. BRING YOUR VEILS, and let the spring games begin!

Here’s hoping for the best spring harvests ever!

Red River Gorge Annual Hike and Camp

February 20, 2011 by Jason Leave a Comment

On Presidents Day weekend, about 12 of us headed to the Red River Gorge for some ‘cold camping.’ Planned, well in advance, everyone expected to be camping in the snow. But on the weekend of Feb. 19, our cold spell broke and we were given a sunny weekend for some awesome fun and awesome sights.

Some of us, including myself were a little disappointed we weren’t able to do it in the snow, but after the time we had, and a few photos later, we’re pretty sure we got our first glimpse of Spring. We had a great group of people ready for some trails, some camping and some good forest food.

On Friday, everyone met at the cabin to plan, talk some smack, eat and drink. After a good nights’ rest, we packed up Saturday morning and headed for Cloud Splitter.

We’re pretty sure if it had snowed, we may not have been able to hike on some of the trails we did, nor camp in the place we chose. Camp was made at about 100-200 feet from the peak of cloud splitter. There, we had the last rays of sun on Saturday and the first rays in the morning on Sunday.

Cloud splitter features a pretty laborious climbs and some serious shimmying to get through a narrow crack and out to the overlook. But once you’re looking out the face of Cloud Splitter over the whole valley, you know it was worth the effort. Always important to get away and do some cold camping if just for a chance to test out our survival skills.

Harvesting and processing black walnuts

November 9, 2010 by Jason Leave a Comment

Processing walnuts reminds me when I was a kid… when my dad made us all help him. I mean all of us, my friends too, whenever they were over. There was a time I felt I was in danger of loosing my friends because of all the “chores” my dad made them help with. It seemed like whenever I had a friend over, it was the perfect opportunity get another chore done, with all the free labor loafing around. Nostalgic moments like this often drives me to do the things I do. I told myself I wasn’t going to step over the walnuts and forget about them this year. So, I grabbed my son (who didn’t have any friends over) and grabbed them all up.

In my family, there was always a bowl of nuts on the table… especially through the winter. Maybe I did it just to have some nuts laying around. Black walnuts have a hard shell that takes a hammer (or a heavy-duty cracker) to bust the shell. I recall using a hammer and my dads anvil to crack black walnuts and tediously pick the nuts out of the shells for hours when I was a kid. But the reward was something else. It is something I crave more now as an adult then I did when I was a kid. Here, in my back yard… the best quality nuts for the taking, and all I need is the desire.

My dad would collect them when they were soft and mushy and would drive over them with the truck to loosen the hulls. I took a more precise approach. Here’s the method I employed. I clamped a drawknife in the vise and rolled the walnut over it to cut the husk in half. Then, using both hands (with latex gloves on,) twisted either side of the hull in opposite directions. The greener ones came right out… the darker, harder ones took rolling them on the ground under my shoe.

Cleaning the gunk off is a multi-day process. Put them in a bucket of water and use a paddle on a drill or something to agitate the goo off. The water will be black. Again, this will stain your clothes and hands. I got some holes in my gloves and had black fingers for weeks. Still on my hands as I type as a matter of fact. Nothing will take the stain out, except time. I took this same bucket of water and tossed all the walnut hulls in it and let it soak for about a week. When it was done… a perfect wood stain. Serious. Try it.

Afterwards, I put them under some screen or wire to let the sun hit them and dry out. You have to keep them under wire or the squirrels will haul them off! After the hulls are clean enough, bring them in side and store them in a cardboard box in the corner… even near the fireplace. The nut will contract in the shell and be easier to get out later when you crack it.

Do this with your kid, but allow them to become bored and don’t force them to appreciate this process like you do. It’s only important to expose them to it, so that one day, they may look back as I have… and maybe take it up on their own. After all, us Morgan’s become a little nuts over time. Take a look at the pictures to see the process.