Category: fishing

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Dog Toy Nirvana

Ruffwear is a premium dog gear company and they are located in Bend. Their headquarters recently completed a remodel and ‘re-opened’ the retail store.

This is one of the few stores where any dog is welcome, so we made a special trip to let Tip look around. He has a bunch of Ruffwear gear, but it is nice to see what is new.

What is really nice about Ruffwear’s store is there is no guess work in finding a harness or collar that fits. Lots of places sell this gear, but rarely do they carry a full line.

We found a tote to hold Tip’s stuff when we are on the road.

Also, we picked up a replacement for his well chewed fetch toy, the Lunker Floating Throw.

It works great in the water, and recently we discovered it floats quite nicely on top of snow … a perfect solution to the inevitable “ball sinking in the snow – never to be found again” problem.

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A Winter Hat

This is not a complaint. Winter has arrived, shortening our fall . This morning the temperature was 3º.

Seems like a good time to look for a new winter cap.

A trip to REI is the easy part. The hard part is going through the huge selection and finding the right one.

There are lots of different factors that go into hat selection but one aspect of hat buying is getting JQ to model silly looking hats.

We both had a good laugh … albeit at JQ’s expense. However, in the end we found a good fit, nice color and great price. Everyone was happy.

And the winner is … Powder Beanie by Pistil Designs. Boiled wool for seriously cold weather, inner fleece ear band for soft warmth and comfort.
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Plotting an escape

I wonder if anyone remembers when getting lost didn’t involve losing cell coverage? The smart phone has become more than a communication link, it is also a navigation tool.  How easy is it to just email the directions for Google and have turn by turn navigation to nearly anywhere?

The trouble with this method of way-finding is a matter of screen size, well, and the need for a cell connection. We are rarely on the road without at least one paper map. Free highway maps from AAA are standard, as is a USFS Forest map. And when there’s a hike or off road we also have the USGS Quad handy.  

We love maps and have quite the collection.  Paper maps offer big picture views that don’t exist on a phone screen, don’t require cell reception, and can hold pencil marks and sticky notes from past adventures. 

Recently we added a handheld GPS to this navigation tool set and have been enjoying the planning process even more. With any GPS system you can track or set waypoints, making getting to a spot really easy. All of these resources together have made it easy to plot an escape.

If you want more info, this is a list of the apps and web sites we use regularly:

Gaia GPS – online and app to plan routes

REI’s National Parks – An iPhone app with guide info to national parks

Hiking Project – find and keep track of trails and hikes

Outlay – Nice resource for dispersal camping and you can get a free one year sub right now, this is also an iPhone app, but there is a web component

USFS  Forest info – online maps and info about any national forest, we still get specific forest maps but this is a great resource for planning out of state trips

Rec Gov – Bookmark this link, it’s the place to make camp reservations

Garmin Basecamp – Specifically aimed at Garmin GPS devices, this is a cool piece of software to map out routes for uploading to or saving from your GPS.

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Tiny Macro World

You take a picture to capture the moment and share it. The images hold a story, or at least you hope they do. We’ve recently begun attaching lenses to our smart phones and have discovered a passion for the macro lens and the tiny world it reveals.

You start with broad strokes or in film parlance, establishing shots. These set the stage to which you add detail with close up shots.

Macro photos give the viewer a very different prospective on the subject matter and require a different approach to taking pictures.

This tiny macro world shifts attention to parts of a scene that were always there,  just tucked in small nooks and crannies. 

It starts with a shift in approach to a subject. When you twist on that macro lens you are now going to spend some time crawling around on your hands and knees.  We always shoot a variety of different images and then edit for the blog page.  The addition of these extreme close shots offer punctuation to the story our establishing shots are trying to tell.

A whole new world lies below our feet. There have been some surprises along the way, i.e. the ferocious, gruesome world of insects AND a desperate need to beef up our flexibility exercises.  But that said. we love the dynamic perspective this lens gives our photos.

Coming up in July a collection of macro photos will be featured in the photo essay.