Spring Fling

So a couple of Geese hook up one day. She gets pregnant, he has to drop out of school and pick up some extra hours to support the kids. Triplets! Oh great. Wrong time for a one night stand. He was soo close to graduating med school. Maybe after the chicks learn to fly he can take some night classes to finish things up. She always wanted children but never told him. Communication is key! Two more single geese off the grid, with kids and a nice cattail and reed doublewide by the creek. At least the babies are cute. Gotta love spring.

(the new residents of Kittredge Pond)

Zen Slackline

Slackline is such an incredibly liberating activity and that is one of the reasons I was so drawn to it when I started slacking almost 5 years ago. Stress, anxiety, disappointment, wavering uncertainty of the future; all these things are absorbed by the oscillations of that 1inch nylon line. Today we had a little slackline gathering in a beautiful cherry blossom garden outside of the physics building. 4 lines underneath the beautiful rosy-pink flowers and bonsai-shaped trees in the beautiful spring sun. It was bliss. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but it was by far the most scenic and beautiful slacklining I have ever done. I can't wait to go back to this truly sacred spot where life's troubles melt away and the peripheral thoughts of existence blur into a focused understanding of an ultimate reality. Life, Energy, and pure unadulterated Happiness.

Friday Mary and I are to give a slacklining demo for Trango Climbing Equipment and The Spot bouldering gym. Free gear shall ensue.

Long Lines Take Time, and Skin

Last weekend we attempted to rig a 200' slackline, but things didn't go so well. I forgot to back up the tree anchors, and one of them ended up breaking while we were tightening, sending 40 pounds of rope and pulleys rocketing towards our heads. We were lucky enough to have the pulleys fly over our heads, but the rope ended up whipping us around a bit, and Mary got some bad rope burn:



With 3rd degree burns on her hand, and terribly painful full-torso burns on her abdomen, this ended up being a pretty bad accident. Fortunately, there was no internal damage, and Mary was slacklining just 5 minutes after the incident. I definitely learned some valuable rigging lessons, and will be changing the way I set up longer lines in the future. You tend to underestimate the forces involved in a longer line when you're only 5 feet above the ground. In my opinion, a long line is scarier and more dangerous than a highline. We'll be refining our methods and trying again in the future, but this incident won't be taken lightly. Accidents are always scary, but also put things into perspective.

In addition to the slacklining adventures, it has been becoming exceedingly warmer outside, and I have been going back to the dropzone. Skydiving is more fun when you don't have to wear 6 layers of clothing. Its back to jumping in shorts and a t-shirt, and now that I've finally learned to pack my chute, it's going to be a fun-filled summer of jumping out of planes, climbing mountains, and slacklining across beautiful cliffs. We have plans for a potential line up on the north side of Longs Peak, 13,200ft in elevation, 2000ft above the ground, and 95' long. I can't wait to go up and rig this epic walk!

Kitenetic Energy

Infinity
and nothingness, a
juxtaposition of senses, thoughts
and emotion; up high where darkness
inundates all that is known, and the light penetrates
the wind tattered fabric faded in the sun; years of altitude
test the weakest of wires, yet still freedom flies;
fetters so full of life and death that they
become one and in a brief moment
of lofty endeavor, that which
is still becomes alive
Forever.

Lifting

Into

The

Wind

-sr 2008

We've got hops, and we're white?

There has been an exorbitant amount of wind in Boulder recently, and with a slower work load after spring break, I took full advantage of it. Yesterday, Steve, Seth, Chris and I headed for north boulder park and did some kite flying. We all got some good jumps and got banged around a bit. It was fun. Today, El Padre came up and flew the new 3 meter kite that he picked up, and definitely had a good time messing around with the varying wind speeds. Good times.