Hobie 16 on Flathead Lake

I guess about half way through the winter I start thinking about summer things again. I was going through the card on this little camera and found this one of my Hobie 16 on Flathead Lake and thought I'd post I little bit of summer here in the dead of winter. Don't get me wrong,.. I'm enjoying the season and whatever else.., but I'm looking forward to sailing and camping in the Aristocrat too.

New Years resolution

Man,.. I hate having my desktop cluttered,.. so today I spent a little time sorting things out. I know,.. I should have been skiing but it looked nasty on the mountain today. At the end of the day yesterday the snow came in and it was pretty much a blizzard up there and so today I decided to be domestic. The snow was hitting me in the face and it wasn't pleasant. Anyway today I cleaned up the house and this sort of thing. So when I turned on my computer and saw all of these icons on my desktop screen I decided to extend my cleaning to my computer.

So there's that.. I realize I haven't been blogging that much lately. Haven't been doing that much photography either. I think part of that is because it's winter and sometimes that doesn't always make for the best pictures. I did go to Walmart today and bought some NiMH batteries for an old Nikon 5600 point and shoot that I've been wanting to use. So I'll carry that camera around with me and perhaps it will motivate me to take more pictures. Great little camera... They just don't make em like that anymore... (who would have ever thought I'd say that about a digital camera..?) Things change so quickly these days,. or so it seems.

Some things don't really change that much. Guitars and mandolins haven't changed that much over the years. I spent a little time playing today. Not at all enough but it was something. I really need to set aside x amount of time to practice without distraction each day but who can find the time?.. So maybe that's my new year's resolution,. set aside some time to practice each day. No way could it be to keep my house uncluttered.. That's just not going to happen.

Equal time for the Snark Tuner

So my mom and my girlfriend both bought me the same Christmas present.. A guitar headstock tuner.. Mom bought me a Crafter, and Queenie bought me a Snark. I've blogged about the Crafter so this is equal time for the Snark.

I love them both. They each have features I like. The Snark seems to have better display resolution when you are on a note, and it also seems to have a quicker response time to each note. It also has a metronome, which keeps you on time. The Crafters displays the frequencey and also has some pre-sets for guitar and bass as well as cromatic. They both have capo features and allow you to alter the pitch. (I think they both do anyway)

All in all I'm very happy to have them both. I have more than one guitar so why not have more than one tuner hey? This way I can have one tuner on my mandolin and one on my guitar and that sort of thing.

I've found that my Seagull mini jumbo guitar has the best intonation of all of my guitars up and down the neck. Even better than my Martin (not counting the telecaster as it has an adjustable bridge) I sort of knew this Seagull was good that way when I first picked it up as I knew I had to have it. It doesn't have the full tone of the Martin though as it doesn't have solid back and sides, but still for the money the low end Seagulls are nice guitars if you are picky about intonation and don't have a lot of money. I haven't played any solid wood Seagulls, but I'm pretty sure they must be good. Plus they are made in Canada!

Skiing in Kootenay National Park

I went for a quick ski along the Simpson River in Kootenay National Park on my way back home from Canada today. It's a bit of a long drive so it was nice to get out and stretch my legs. It was a little colder than I thought it would be however. The temps were above freezing in Calgary and also in Cranbrook but back there in the parks it can be pretty darn wintery.

I've been really enjoying my trips to Canada. The people have been really friendly especially when they find out I'm from the states. It's a different culture than here in the states though for sure. Different holidays, different ways of doing things, saying things and looking at things. It's the same but different. I'm enjoying that difference.

But the Northern Rockies are pretty much the same. The animals and the trees don't know that they are Canadian,.. and as I skied along in Kootenay National Park I saw some rather big looking dog tracks back in there.. They weren't fresh but they didn't look domestic. Let me put it this way, I didn't see them in the parking area, only way back in there... Made me watch my back a little.

Still it was nice to be on my skis out there all alone in the wilderness.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. I brought it in with Queenie in Canada and went ice skating for the first time since I was a kid. We used to have a pond like this to skate on in Montana where I grew up, so this was a real flash back. I fell once but then started to get the hang of it after a few laps. We rented skates, and I had to give my driver's license number as a deposit. The rental guy was a little short with me until he saw that I was from Washington state, then he's like, wow you're a long way from home and wanted to talk. I've never used hockey skates so that was also a new experience. They turn really quickly and I really enjoyed how they felt, almost like little slalom skis. Guess I'll have to get my own skates now.. Queenie is a good skater too even though she said she wasn't. Then we roasted some "smokies" (hot dogs) at a fire pit next to the pond. It was a very nice family experience on a beautiful winter day and something I'll long remember. I have to admit though that I probably should wear a helmet when I skate..

Oh,. that's not us by the way,.. we were just skating behind these guys.