Ahoy!

95/365 "humor", originally uploaded by asterismos.

“Wait a minute, garrrr…..this t’aint me sloop!”

On a visit to Price Park this past Tuesday, daughter found this flip flop downstream from Price Lake. After a short hike, we enjoyed a midday cool off in a small creek named Boone Fork near the picnic area and trail of the same name. This week is also Price Pals week on the Blue Ridge Parkway where Junior Rangers can learn all sorts of information about animals and vegetation within the forest. We plan to attend friday’s session for sure as it is “Wilderness Survival Day” which includes instruction on ways to build a shelter and fire, and also how to canoe your way around Price Lake.

DIY Light Stand + Homemade Reflectors

I was asked by some of my fellow 365 group members to share a little bit about the homemade light stand I have been using for some of my “ghetto lighting” assignment shots. I have also recently made some reflectors so I could participate in the recent  “ghetto lighting + reflectors” assignment. I hope you find the following documentation of DIY photo gear projects useful. The above mosaic is a compilation of images showing my light stand, reflectors and images produced using my homemade gear.

I was most inspired to make a light stand after reading this tutorial. I had been using my husbands desk lamp but it unfortunately broke during the recent ghetto lighting assignment.  As a homeschooler and crafter, I recycle lots of objects. Our community has a wonderful site at our county’s waste center where you can drop off things that you don’t want or may be broken but are still usable. Anybody can take the items left for free. I have found many things that either just needed to be cleaned or have slight repairs done but are still perfectly usable to me. This saves a lot of things from going to the landfill since our trash is shipped to a nearby state.

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Biggest Snow of the Year

The High Country near Boone and Blowing Rock received its biggest snowfall of the year on Sunday, March 1, 2009. Snow started around noon on Sunday and fell at a very fast rate with the first inch stacking up within the first thirty minutes of the storm. By 3pm roads, with three to four inches of fallen snow, were impassable because of slick conditions and stranded motorists who blocked the roadway. Watauga County residents awoke Monday morning to between 8-12 inches of snow and many stranded vehicles still on roads and highways.

Celestial Happenings

I wasn’t able to capture this celestial close encounter at its peak because our area of the globe was cloudy. However, I went out the next night and captured this scene.

Healthier Cooking

Ever since listening to this podcast more than three years ago, I have wanted to throw our old non-stick pans to the curb¹ in exchange for a quality alternative which would not continually flake toxic shavings into our food. Since using at least two or three different kinds of non-stick cookware since college, I wanted my next investment to be the last cookware purchase I would make for a long time.

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1. or rather in the recycle bin [↩]

Update: Dishwasher Soap

My last post detailing a dishwasher soap recipe, I found, has changed slightly during my experimentation with environmentally-friendly choices so I thought it warranted an update post. The recipe I was using worked for a time but if I wasn’t willing to use essential oils and lemon juice every time I didn’t get the results I wanted. I also had a difficult time keeping the vinegar and the castile soap mixed together as it would separate in between uses¹. During this time I even tried a Grapefruit Seed Extract Powder which I really liked but it was still lacking somewhat².

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1. especially at cooler room temperatures [↩]
2. especially price-wise [↩]

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Truth

If you haven’t yet seen the hilarious industry/manufacturer sponsored HFCS videos, following are two for you to watch and laugh at the all the ridiculous propaganda purported by the Corn Refiners Association. I also posted a hysterical spoof of these commercials so continue reading for some entertainment.

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Fickle Fay

Exactly one month ago, remnants of Tropical Storm Fay moved through the Watauga county area, raising creek, river, lake and reservoir levels briefly, providing some relief from the year long drought suffered by a majority of North Carolina. After flooding much of Florida by stalling and meandering its way across the sunshine state several times, Fickle Fay temporarily delayed morning commute routes around the High Country on August 27, 2008, by flooding roads and washing out low-water bridges. By early afternoon, as floodwaters began to recede, I was most amazed by the amount of trash left behind on bridges and riverbanks.

To get some idea of the height at which the river crested, here is a flooded photo of one bridge and a photo of the same bridge from the very next morning when the owner was clearing debris.

Aperture Nature Photography Workshops Contest

This Week in Photography is sponsoring a new contest (in addition to their bi-weekly assignments) where several amateur photographers will get the chance to go to four different US national parks (Olympic, Tetons, Yosemite and Yellowstone) and receive training and tips from professional photographers. They are holding four different contests and the first has only one week left for submissions. My dad went to Yosemite one summer on vacation and I would love to go not only for the beautiful scenery but also for the chance to receive instruction from some very talented artists. I have just put up a voting widget in my sidebar so vote for my photo if you think it is worth your vote and also check out the other submissions. There are a lot of really well made photographs submitted already so it looks as though a lot of people are as excited about this opportunity in the same way that I am.

UPDATE: Voting is now closed. Thank you to all who voted for my photo.

Bamboo Anyone?

Green Daily published a story this past saturday about some really cool and sustainable spectacles. The story claims they are really flexible so it is hard to break them but I wonder how the material will hold up to the rigors of everyday wear? They are also affordable as I have routinely paid at least $150-$200 if not more for frames in the past. I have bamboo growing in my yard. I wonder if they would cut me a deal if I donated some bamboo? 

 I also posted this over at the More Hip Than Hippie Forum.