Ground Cherries and Past Glories

        One of the more interesting things I've grown in the garden this year are those colorful things up there: Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries. These little things fall to the ground when ripe, but they come in a little paper sack that keeps them ripe for up to two weeks. The taste is somewhere between a cherry, a grape, and a sweet cherry tomato. They are delicious and never really make it into any recipes. They look pretty awesome too.

    I have let the garden evolve into a semi-organized, semi-wild state, which I like the looks of. The fact that some things just meander through the garden also makes for some nice surprises, like discovering this volleyball-sized Oh So Sweet! watermelon I didn't realize was growing until two days ago. It's like finding out you have a 1 year old child at home of whom you were previously unaware.

     Kind of like that mini-Simmons hovering back there behind SF 010. Where did it come from? Will it see the light of day? Surprises lurk around every corner! BEWARE!


     Now for the "Past Glories" section referenced in the title of this blog. I hadn't forgotten about this video, but just haven't thought about it in a while until I came across it while transferring files to my new computer. I made it for a film theory class using a flip video camera, and then someone in another class was putting on a film festival-type thing and asked if I had anything I wanted to submit. I added some sound and made up the title and then it showed at the film thing, but, sadly, I wasn't there to take my bow. Starring my lovely wife in the final years of her acting career. Dig it!

The Invincible Eagle! (Fourth of July Made in USA Bonanza and Victory Garden Update)

     As Henry sullenly reflects on all the sacrifices that have been made to make this great nation of ours what it is today, I've decided to take a more lighthearted approach to commemorating this Fourth of July. I realize, on the morning of the Mighty Fourth, that I have not made quite as many "Made in the USA" posts as I intended to, so like any good American, I'm going to clump a bunch of them together to get it over with, so I don't have to do more work.
     Don and I went backpacking a couple weeks ago, and as a result I got to try out some of the made in the USA things I bought before I cut my finger, with the intention of doing a good amount of bike camping and regular camping this spring, but didn't get to until now (at least not in the Great Outdoors). So here:

Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Sleeping Pad (Made in Seattle, WA) - This amazing little sleeping pad weighs just 13 oz., rolls up to the size of a 32 oz. (which are also made in the USA), and is a very comfortable (and warm) 2.5 inches thick when inflated. Sure, the self-inflating pads are a little more convenient when it comes to inflating, but the 1-2 minutes it takes to inflate this one is fine with me. Also, you can roll this up inside your sleeping bag stuff sack, inflate it, and it will make a great camp stool.

Wickers Wool Blend T-Shirt and boxer briefs- Wool shirts are generally expensive, and wool shirts made in the USA doubly so, but these Wickers wool blend shirts, which are 50/50 wool/Viscose rayon, and available through Sierra Trading Post, are extremely affordable. STP has different sales all the time, and I think I got mine for about $16. When we were backpacking, we went from flat ground to fairly steep, long climbs in the 85 degree sunshine, and once those climbs began, we were soaked in sweat after about 2 minutes, and when I say soaked I mean soaked. But the wool/rayon blend wicked the sweat away from me, kept me cool, and after the climbs were over, dried very quickly. The shirt also stayed very comfortable for the duration. They also make boxers out of the same material. Wickers wool things are a great deal for doing outdoors things.

Wiggy's Sleeping Bags - Like most made in the USA things, Wiggy's sleeping bags are more expensive than their Chinese counterparts. But Wiggy's has been around forever, they are rugged and durable no-frills bags. They are filled with Lamilite, which supposedly retains its loft forever and will keep you warm even when soaking wet (there are videos of people outside, in the soaking rain, with temps in the mid-30s, who still claim they are warm). I have the Ultra-Light, which is good down to 20 degrees (probably lower), and weighs 3 1/4 pounds. I could never really justify the price of this, which is generally around $140, for the amount or type of camping I do, but I found it very lightly used on ebay for less than half that. The backpacking trip was the first time I used this outside, and I realized, after lugging it for miles, that it was completely unnecessary for the temperature, but it was comfortable to lie upon.

I think that's it for the backpacking and camping stuff, at least that's all I can think of for now.

 One pint in my stomach, 23 pints in the bags, and 26 miles back home to go. It's blueberry season again, and Sunday morning I decided to ride out to Hammonton to pick up two flats of blueberries, which, of course, are made in the USA, and once you get hooked on Jersey blueberries, it's hard, if not impossible, to go back to imported blueberries in the off-season. The price is $15 dollars a flat, which is a little more than last year, but still pretty good. I devoured a pint immediately. More made in USA tie-ins:

Lone Peak H-100 Handlebar bag - (not my bike above, but it's a better picture than I have. Also, the H-100 is the bag in the middle of the bottom) This bag is a great bag. It's got really heavy duty construction, a convenient quick release bracket, tons of room, and has a really classic design. This bag is really all you'd need for most commutes, but when I combine this with the basket on the back of my bike (Wald, also made in USA), I can carry tons of stuff. The one downside is the price has gone up about $10 since I bought mine, but you can find them pretty reasonably priced on ebay lightly used. I also have a H-75 that I may be selling, if any of the two people reading this want to buy it. It's slightly smaller, but not that much and a great bag in its own right. Lone Peak also makes some other great bike bags, all of similarly tough construction.

Jandd Mountaineering Mini Mountain Panniers - Like the penny-pinching, but still economically-domestic minded self that I am, I got these on ebay for the price you'd pay for Chinese panniers of a similar size. They were (and still are) in great shape. I like these because they are smaller than full-size, but still have plenty of room for a lot of applications, plus are expandable to hold even more but retain a smaller size when you don't need it. Plus, they perfectly hold about 10 pints of blueberries each, and more room for other things in the external pouches.

That's all I want to do for this Made in USA section, because I want to get to the beach, go in the made on Earth ocean, lounge in my Chinese beach chair, and catch some made in Outer Space rays.

Now, for the Victory Garden update (it's really just my normal garden, but isn't every garden a Victory Garden today?)

 The square foot gardening method I have adopted keeps things well organized, and allows you to grow a lot in a little space. The tomatoes are growing non-stop this year, some have outgrown the 7-foot-tall trellis already!

 I love growing squash and zucchinis because not only are they delicious, and usually produce a plentiful bounty, but the leaves often grow to near-mutant sizes!

Some cherry tomatoes, which are just about to start ripening, and once ripe, will probably never make it in the house.

Mr. Waltham Butternut in his infancy.

Although this is a Chinese variety of eggplant, I can rest easily knowing that by growing it in the USA in my Victory Garden I have helped to defeat the Red devils on the other side of the world. JUST KIDDING!

 Fifth delicious zucchini almost ready for picking.

I planted two varieties of carrots, one called Danver's, which are traditionally shaped, and one called Paris Market, which are round. Unfortunately, I think these were the former. They still tasted good though.

Chioggia beets. None of my beets got too big, but the nice thing about beets is that even if they completely fail, the greens are still usually plentiful and very delicious when sauteed or steamed, so you still get something out of it.

That's it! Happy Fourth of July! Hooray for American! Down with the Hun! Long live Freedom and Victory forever! May England forever wallow in the filth of defeat and a faded empire! Hoorah!

If these don't make you love our country, then get out (I don't know why someone chose in the first three to have an awesome space photo, other than to imply that the USA is the King of the Universe, and Sousa is its soundtrack!)

Signs of the Times

     Spring is just around the corner, and even though it has felt like Spring for much of the Winter, there are a few things that come the changing of the seasons other than warm weather and sunshine. One of them is ice cream, and the fact that Jeffreeze is opening this Friday makes me so happy I get brainfreeze just thinking about it.

     And I'll be riding my bike there more, to partially (barely) offset the caloric consumption of a gargantuan Jeffreeze small soft serve. Since this winter has been so warm, and we haven't had many waves (up until the last two weeks anyway), I started road-biking a lot. I didn't really decide to, I just kind of suddenly felt like getting into it, and bikes have always been a part of my life, be it BMX or British 3-speeds, or what-have-you, and road riding was the next logical step. I bought the above Nishiki Sebring as a single speed, rode it like that for a bit, discovered the magic of gears (I still really like single-speed riding, and am in the process of setting up another bike for that), and added more stuff along the way. I have been commuting when I can, and nothing makes a work day better, in absence of a good morning swell, than getting an hour's bike ride in beforehand. Also, figured pretty conservatively, I save about 2.30 on gas each way, probably more now that gas has gone up a bit, and that makes it that much better. Of course, we won't talk about the cost of bike parts to a restless tinkerer...

    And despite the lack of surfboard construction recently, I have been surfing some, and here's proof! Every time someone captures me surfing, I'm just going straight on a crumby wave. Someday I'll see what I look like turning or something. Maybe an air...

     I have also been doing lots of prep for gardening this year, whether it be reading about it, working on the garden, or starting seeds. I found a book at the thrift store in the fall, Square Foot Gardening,which has a different method of gardening much better suited to small spaces, as opposed to traditional row-type gardening. I definitely recommend it, and I can't wait to see the results this growing season.

AHHHH! OK HENRY I'LL STOP WRITING NOW!!!!

Don't Count Your Fishes Before They're Caught (Or Something LIike That)

    You may remember way back in April I did a post that said how this board was finished being shaped, and how happy I was with how quickly I was able to shape it. Well, here we are, more than halfway through August, and it's finished (actually I finished it last Friday). Shaping is definitely the easy part.

   I did what I call a "rolled lightly in rich compost" resin tint, which actually means as I was glassing it I started to get chemical poisoning due to my mask not sealing over my beard, so I didn't get to evenly spread the charcoal-colored resin I was laminating with. Next purchase: supplied-air hood system, so I don't melt my brain.

     The resin pinlines came out OK, there are definitely some flaws and I learned some lessons that I had already known but forgot (that's what happens when there's so much time between boards, especially since the last time I did pinlines was almost exactly two years ago with 001). I also made the keels for this out of Baltic Birch marine ply.

    I have only surfed it once, in a crumby little windswell. After some teasers in late July or early August, I am really jonesing for some solid lefts to try this board out on. Basically, I took the template I used for 001, kept the overall width the same, but pulled in the nose and tail a bit, and gave it a single-wing to pull the tail in even more. I made the fish-tail a little shallower, and gave it a bit more rocker throughout. A bit more foam too, especially under the chest. Also toed the fins in a bit more, and gave them a little more cant. My goal was to make a fish that had all the things I love about my first one (some of those things being speed, ability to hold high lines, and general overall fun-ness), while giving it more performance-oriented characteristics, namely making it looser to do sharper turns and go more vertical on the lip, as well as maybe make it a little easier to ride backside. It definitely seemed to be looser, but I haven't given it the full test yet. Hopefully soon.

     Henry is very happy with the board.

Other things I have been up to:

Picked up this ~18' rowing shell for cheap in my neighborhood. Just needs a little glass work, but the oars alone are worth about double what I paid for the whole thing. Looks fun for calm mornings on Barnegat Bay.

    Very excited about this: Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera - the world's first folding SLR, encased in leather and chrome plating. I bought this at an estate auction in a box of camera stuff. I paid less than half what this camera is worth for the whole box, and the other stuff I'll be able to sell. So in the long run, the film is going to cost me more than this camera did.

     The garden is doing well. I've harvested hundreds of tomatoes, which has been awesome, but unfortunately the dreaded squash vine borer got my squash plants before I could get that many, but I got a few. Now it's time to plant lettuce, brussel sprouts, spinach, and broccoli.

    I walked out to my truck to go to work and this butterfly was moving sluggishly, so I thought it was dying. In fact, it had just emerged from its cocoon and was wondering what its new wings were, and how to use them. Not a sight one sees every day.

Versus

The Jaynettes, with their 1963 song "Sally Go Round The Roses." A strangely beautiful song which sounds way better when you hear it on AM than any of the videos I found on YouTube.

This wasn't even going to be a Versus installment, but I found this video of ? and the Mysterians doing this song. It is kind of embarrassing to watch, and the version is just alright. The Jaynettes win, but maybe you should watch a minute of the ? video, just to laugh a little. 

Like a fresh loaf of bread....

...this block of foam came straight from Brooklyn one morning. That's right. Last week the block of 2# EPS finally got delivered to the distribution center in Brooklyn, so I drove up and got it before work. Of course there ended up being waves that morning, but I had to do it, I had been waiting for almost a month for it.

     There's the first blank cut from the block, with cedar stringer salvaged from some job. It was tricky cutting it the blank out; Jeannine had to take one side of the hotwiring device while I held the other, but it went relatively quickly with no set-backs to speak of. Gluing the stringer in also presented difficulties, but I've since devised a better way. I'm excited about shaping this board, as I've never shaped EPS, or worked with epoxy. The block of foam should yield a minimum of 10 - 12 blanks, if my figurin' is correct. Maybe more.

     Part of the reason I haven't posted in a while is because I've been devoting a lot of time and energy to exterior pursuits. We built a vegetable garden the other weekend, and we've been doing lots of work around here trying to make what looks like the post-war rubble of Warsaw into something a little more pleasing to the eyes. Been planting lots of seeds (the spinach will be the first crop the garden will yield, as the spinaches have already sprouted!) and doing lots of reading on gardening and growing vegetables. So, often times, at night, when the options before bed are A)do a blog post or B)read about companion planting or composting, B) has been getting the priority lately.
     Also, speaking of gardening, were you wondering how Henry has helped with it all?

    That's how. Henry, who has always loved to dig and roll around in dirt (but somehow never gets dirty), suddenly has a large quantity of gloriously rich mushroom soil delivered right to his backyard. So he rests right in the ways, covered in dirt. It's a dog's life, I guess. Of course, getting him to keep out of the garden has been a trying task.

Recently found this album at a thrift store, and it's pretty good so far (actually listening while I write this post). Buck Owens, "Tall Dark Stranger," off the album of the same name, 1969.  

Take a Ride to the Land Inside of Your Mind

     The fin boxes are in! After a delay caused by missing tools, missing sandpaper, missing time, and a homemade Futures router jig that I deemed inadequate so I had to make another, I finally got the boxes in 005. I have to say, it's a little daunting plunging a router into a board that's not mine for the first time, but everything went well and now I just have to finalize the logo and then I'll be on my way to glassing.
     More thoughts on the missing tools: it occurred to me that when you misplace something, it is in fact your past self, be it your self five minutes ago or a week or a month, misjudging the person you would become by the time you are looking for the misplaced item in question. When you placed the keys in the flower pot, for example, you thought that that would be a logical place for your future self to look for them. But, alas, your self changed just that much in the interim so that now you would never dream of looking in the flower pot for your keys, and end up wandering around the house for fifteen minutes thinking they must be gone for good. So yeah, it's an interesting testament to how much your self changes from one moment to the next, and how unpredictable those changes can be. From now on, try to be a better judge of your future self, and you'll lose less things.

     This picture was taken in darkness, the light that you see is lightning from the thunder storm that came across the Island at 5:15 the other morning and turned the winds from offshore to sideshore and ruined the chances of surfing that morning. Still, being on the beach and watching a thunder storm come up the Island, and then suddenly being in the middle of it on the edge of the Atlantic, made it almost worth it.

Eggplant.

     While driving home from checking the surf this morning (small waves + extremely low tide + hard offshore winds = no surfing for me) this song came on AM 1340. "Journey to the Center of Your Mind," the sixth track off of The Amboy Dukes' 1968 album of the same name. It's rare you get to hear a song like this on a radio station that isn't college radio. The Amboy Dukes launched the career of one Ted Nugent, which is kind of funny, considering the character he's become today. But, even then, he still clung to his conservative views, as he supposedly banned the band from partaking in any drugs whatsoever, which is kind of funny for a band from the sixties dressed like that playing music like that and talking about taking journeys to the center of your mind and all that. Nugent himself said he "never smoke a joint...never done a drug in my life. I thought 'Journey to the Center of the Mind' meant look inside yourself, use your head, and move forward in life". Fair enough Ted, but c'mon, the cover of the album has a bunch of pipes and other drug-related paraphernalia. But yeah, their first three albums (The Amboy Dukes, Journey to the Center of Your Mind, and Migration) are all pretty good psych albums. The Dukes' career went on for at three more studio albums, one greatest hits, and one live album, albeit under the name Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes. I don't think they're very good, and mark the beginning of Ted's love of hunting and the wild in general, with plenty of songs about guns and woods and stuff like that, and album names like Survival of the Fittest, Call of the Wild, and Tooth Fang and Claw. Ridiculous guy? Yes. Great guitar player? Also yes.

Take a ride to the land inside of your mind
Beyond the seas of thought
Beyond the realm of what
Across the streams of hopes and dreams
Where things are really not

But please realize
You'll probably be surprised
For it's the land unknown to man
Where fantasy is fact
So if you can, please understand
You might not come back

Long-Awaited Update: Creatures, Photos, Flora, and a Planer

 

      First of all, public apologies to those who are waiting for boards from me. It's been pretty busy lately what with moving and getting the new house set up and liveable, but now that we're completely out of the other house (as of last Saturday) I have more time to focus on getting things together at the new. The main reason I have not been able to start on any boards is the shed, as shown above. That space in the back, the area with stacks of shingles and 2x4s, is going the be the shaping/glassing shop. I need those materials to make the shop, and while I don't plan on getting the interior done before I start shaping, I do want to get it watertight. The roof is fine, better than the house, but the siding was just old cedar planks, with gaps between up to half an inch. Not the best condition to build a board in.

     So that's part of what I've been doing, cedar-shaking the shed. I've got the one side done, and part of another, so really there's not too much more to do. I also put that new door on. So, I appreciate the patience on the parts of those waiting for boards (namely mark, ryan, and that low-down Rooster), and I hope to start the first board within the next two weeks. Once I start, it'll be quick, because I have all the materials and everything, it's just a matter of doing it.

     Here's a quick gardening tip: Dip the roots of the plants you transplant in water before you plant them. The above four squash plants came from the same four-pack. They were planted at the exact same time, with the exact same potting soil, and in the same size containers. They get the same exact amount of sun, and they are watered equally. The above photo shows two who were fortunate enough to have their roots dipped in water. They are basically Audreys three and four, with gigantic leaves, thick stems, and a healthy, vibrant green color. So big they almost look mutational. The second photo shows the two lowly squashes who were robbed of the silver spoon of water on their roots, and have suffered throughout their youth. They are small, weak, and have a pale green/yellowish hue to their leaves. I feel bad for them, as they are suffering as the result of an experiment. I had to move because the first two got so big they were blocking their sun. It's a hard world for little things. 

     We only were able to plant things in containers this year, as we had no time to clear any garden space in the ground. But we've got a lot growing and most of it (aside from the two sad squash) is doing well. We have Strawberries (see above), four varieties of tomato, six pepper plants (one cubanelle, one jalapeno, and the rest are Italian Fryers), eggplant, watermelon, cucumber, cilantro, rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, and lavender. There are also four cantaloupe awaiting planting, and four mint cuttings I am trying to get to root. It's really amazing watching these plants every day, seeing them change from morning to evening, or even hour to hour. Most times people thing of plants as being void of activity, but they are really very kinetic, they just seem to operate in a different temporal plane. But I look forward to watching the flower below become a delicious tomato. 

    In surfing news (this was a surf-centric blog at one point, right?), I've been able to get out a few times in the morning on the new board, and it's pretty fun. We had a good steady run of solid swell a couple weeks ago, and I was able to get out for some of it, as well as the weaker days we've had in the past week. The board definitely works for smaller stuff, what with the boxier rails and more volume, but I'm still getting used to it, especially on weak mushy rights (which are backside for me). It definitely comes to life when there is some power behind the wave. I can't wait until late Summer/early Fall when there are some nice north swells and the WJ starts working (hopefully) like it did this Winter. This board will fly on long, speedy lefts. 

    Also, in other surfing news, I went out last Wednesday morning with boardshorts and a short-sleeve wetsuit top. It was cold. I will stick to the 3/2 for the time being.

     Yes, there is still more! A recent acquisition: a 5.5 amp Skil 100 power planer. This has been the "industry standard" for surfboard shapers for years. From the Clark Foam Hitachi Planer Manual: "Since it was introduced in the 1930s, the Skil 100 Planer had been used for almost all surfboard shaping." It was discontinued in 1988 when Skil decided to withdraw from the power planer market. Thus, while other planers are available, the Skil 100 is highly sought after by shapers, and they regularly demand prices exceeding $500 on eBay. This is the reason I have never actively sought one, aside from checking craigslist from time to time or keeping an eye out at yard sales. But, as luck would have it, my Dad was talking to a friend of his who used to make boards in the 60s and early 70s, and mentioned that I was making surfboards, and he said he had an old Skil planer that had been in storage for 30 years that he would dig up and give me. So, here it is. A beautiful piece of American machinery. Here's a fact, cliched but true: They don't build things like they used to. 

     Look at the abdomen of this large black spider and notice the crude skeleton. I poked it with a stick and it did not budge. I hate it when things like that stand up to me. It's creepy, because it's like they know something you don't. 

Almost through with this marathon post. Minor Threat is one of the relatively few bands from my youth that I still listen to and really enjoy and find relevant. While I still like all Minor Threat, the late period stuff (as late-period as you can get with a career spanning from 1980-1983) is some of my favorite. This song, "Salad Days," is from the Salad Days 7", recorded in 1983 but released in '85. Like a number of hardcore/punk bands' end-of-the-line songs (think Youth of Today "Disengage" and Gorilla Biscuits unreleased "Distance"), this song hints at new musical directions, and also has a tinge of regret and sadness to the lyrics (even if, in the case of "Salad Days", the sadness is a bit sardonic).