sunset on the lake.

@zBrown The rockin’ chair is a reality for me, it is the only furniture that doesn’t cause back pain from my worn out vertebrae. I have never heard that version of Richard singing Rockin’ Chair. You can tell the vast quantities of Grand Marnier he consumed had taken its toll. That version was recorded 2 years prior to his death in 1986. He was consuming 8-9 bottles day before the Last Waltz (1976). I know we posted a lot of music on ST and a lot waseasily forgotten if it wasn’t something that stuck in yer crawl, but both the Band’s & Tom Waits’ Rockin’ Chair were two I repeatedly posted. I never tire of either artists, so here is another repeat: The Band ≈ Get Up Jake https://youtu.be/IDgu6iE4od0

Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing I have an interest in "boats". This bit about the Neptune Declaration caught my eye: Covid-19 has impacted the daily lives and wellbeing of seafarers in unprecedented ways, causing a humanitarian crisis at sea. Hundreds of thousands of seafarers have been stranded working aboard ships beyond the expiry of their contracts. As the frontline workers of the maritime industry carrying 90% of global trade, seafarers play a vital role in ensuring the global flow of goods that the world depends on. Recognizing that they have a shared responsibility to resolve the crew change crisis, more than 300 companies and organizations have signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change. The Neptune Declaration urges the implementation of four main actions to address the crisis: Recognize seafarers as key workers and give them priority access to Covid-19 vaccines Establish and implement gold standard health protocols based on existing best practice Increase collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes Ensure air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers Full Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change text. Having spent some months at sea this resonated. Covid has horked up our land lubber' lives but imagine if that 10-12 week contract morhped into a year w/o shore leave? Yikes!! Crazy, I'd be!

@NickG T-Hocking ...Welcome to Redpoint Climbing!

The light came on but there was nobody home!

Harley somewhat enjoyed his Holiday scarf & although we were able to get kitten mittens on his front paws, they got shaken off in a second. They were good cat chew toys. I enjoyed the fine bottle of Harley wine Heidi gave me.

@NickG ... wow! nick!!!!! thanks for sharing... wow!

Single digits f yesterday with gale force winds. Nasty. had to put the battery in my mouth to get this shot comming out of the cave... Too cold for Isa to climb so I had to revert to winter hiking...

@Happiegrrrl Great Update. Hope all is well.

Picked this up some years ago just because I liked how different it was. Someone told me it might be a Russian snow or ice tool. Any ideas?

This one's always been one of my favorites, so I decided to give it a go yesterday...(way better with earbuds...) Think of What You've Done

Going back to wolves (that is wolves, not coyotes or foxes), here's a story to shrivel your scrotum... It isn't mine. It came from my late friend Wayne Merry (who some of you may remember as Fossil Climber on ST), and it wasn't really his either, but it's a story he passed on to me several years ago. A friend of his was out for an easy day of skiing on Atlin Lake -- just a flat tour out across the lake, around an island, and back home... Until, as he was skiing around the far end of the island, a pack of twelve wolves came out of the island's trees and straight for him. Can you imagine that? Just you and twelve starving wolves in the middle of the sub-arctic winter? But they just trucked on by, paying him no attention. So, no problem, other than to change his underwear once he reached home.

@NickG Your van is repurposing as an igloo!

@Tobia Love that foto of the Pioneer I think I have seen you twice now You got some hands there son

Crappy winter so far. a few spattering's of snow and some ice up on Mt washington but nowheres else... and we are not allowed to go to NH from VT. lots of rain the last few days. getting colder now so possibby some real ice locally in 10 days????

@toby Haven't read any of Lewis's writing, that I recall. I have a pile of holiday books to work through, before I find serious homework.

Time for more good food. It was Mari's turn to cook today, and she came up with a great dinner. Cauliflower soup with Asian pear relish and seared tuna with a garlic/shallot/caper/cilantro sauce. All made from scratch. Simple and delicious.

@stellarsea If you've lived off grid them I am sure you have encountered oil burning stoves. Turning back the way back machine.... The Mush Shack in Kasilof was twenty by fourteen. Stick and plywood, insulated and dry walled, plywood floor, iirc. Sported a loft. Kitchen area was just large enough that you could reach sink, cutting board, and three burner propane stove/oven with only a pivot foot. Step to the bathtub/shower that drained straight below before running down slope. Take your dump business out to the outhouse. Yep. Never had any plumbing problems. Other than knocking down the frozen poopsicle once or twice, depending on how full of shit you were... So, we heated this with an old fish camp oil burner from some decade of yore. Worked dandy. Had half dozen or so 55 gallon drums that I'd hand pump transfer/refill the one mounted horizontally on a stand as the feeder. About two-fifty to three hundred gallons got me thru the winter. More inland and a bit further north, a couple log cabins in native villages on the Yukon, swap in "Monitor" and/or "Toyo" stoves. Super efficient. And they've got thermostats and pilots, even. Shitting in tall cotton, we were.... Maybe now burning four to five hundred gallons per winter but these winters were also longer and colder. Anywho... cutting to the chase... those puppies are super efficient. I wonder if anyone has thought about use such as this? I know they did it back in the old days, pre LPG on sheep camp base trailers. Hmm..... P.S.; Uh, yeah, one of best part of mush shack living was I had trail access from the dog yard. Hike it up!!!

I came accross this very cool blog about clean climbing at the gunks. great read! The ‘Gunks of Yore: The Clean Climbing Revolution (1966-1974)