garbage patch kids

first, i'd like ask you to check out some of this action.




pretty incredible, yes? makes it quite easy to toss things when you don't ever have to see them again. i read a stat a few minutes ago about how the bay area discards 100 plastic bags per second. not to single y'all's out, i'm sure it's worse in other spots. that's pretty gross, but then i think about all the crap that comes in said bags, and how most of that is more than likely packaged all to hell and soon to be wasted up. it doesn't have to be that way. anne just made it a whole month without producing garbage. it just takes a little foresight and determination to make some simple methodological changes.

my recent ventures into a lower income bracket have thankfully forced me out of the old "buying stuff makes me feel good" mindset. i was never over the top with consumption, but i always had my eye on some fancy new electronic gadget or ruggedized equipment. don't get me wrong, i still enjoy a trip to agro garden now and then, but save for a few lavish gifts here and there, i'll not soon go back to the days of rampant spending.

now i'd like to give a quick shout to my main slice the internet real quick. the availability of information combined with an increasing desire for knowledge and environmental awareness gives people now more life changing ideas than ever. each time i read an article about garbage islands or temperate ape habitat destruction my disgust quickly turns to excitement, as i realize that people understand the problems we face. a real american hero once said, "now you know, and knowing is half the battle." now we just put that thang in action.

aquatic adventures

fall in mawntanner means hunting. during the winter months it's generally skiing and ice fishing. come spring and summer, it's basically all out water sports.

me and the papa catchin the breeze.

chillin in canyon ferry lake. we made it almost 25 minutes before numbing the extremities.

netting a keeper. the trout on this lake are some sort of rainbow-salmon hybrid. they live pretty short lives and grow incredibly fast. erik's been steadily taking these fish to school (get it?) all year. the wedding appies included smoked fish that he caught and sliders of an elk he shot. coupled with the sizable garden they have going, there isn't a whole lot that they don't produce.

start of the whitewater trip. since there were 14 of us, we hired guides to float down the middle fork of the flathead river. much fun indeed.

after the smoke cleared and the planes took off, the three of us headed for the hills. fished a bit saturday, camped out, then absolutely killed it yesterday. the fishing was incredible the first half of the day. sara boated the first fish.

about the average size of the trout i pulled, most on the caddis.

me "slapping a fatty" (broseph is a great source of unique lingo). we anchored up at this hole and threw everything we had at this guy until he took a small stimulator.

cutthroat, post-landing. this is easily the biggest trout i've ever caught, at least on a fly rod.

this rainbow was the biggest fish of the trip. erik was slayin' all day with the wooly bugger.

alas, the time for fucking around is now long gone, and the trip to p-town is in full preparatory swing. i have this huge list of things to accomplish before setting off. i need to knock up some quick maps of the trip, get a phone, get some food, and hit the bike shop for starters. then i need to organize my shit and figure out what stays and what goes. hoping to set out tomorrow morning. if that slips a day, no big deal. mostly i'll be camping, but i have a few couches to surf and a hotel to stay in one night. i think everybody's flexible with my schedule given the nature of the travel.

here is a link to the decided route. if anyone has friends or family within, say, 200 meters of any of these roads, let me know. i'll now stop blogging and get to work.


update:
this article has some really good resources for buying environmentally friendly products. i needed to stock up on bug spray and sunscreen for the trip, but i'm tired of rubbing down with chemicals. i used the green guide to read about some more natural options. it has a pretty cool section where you can click to a room in your house, then click objects in a picture to learn about them.

action packtion

been glaciating all week up in northern 'tanner. although i've been to the park several times now, it's beauty never ceases inspiring awe. aside from general QT with the folkses, we engaged in activities ranging from yard games to bear attacks, then mixed in a bit o' high adventure. hangin with the freshly extended clan was a friggin blast. never many dull moments, thoroughly represented by a solid lack of restful hours.

ladder golfin at the sweet rental spot. don't be deceived by the glare coming off my belly, i caught plenty of rays every day. the goal is basically not to apply sunscreen whilst bikin around the countryside. we'll see.

badass falls coming straight outta the rock face. this was two medicine creek, connecting upper and lower two medicine lakes. fishing wasn't so good, but when you're in a place like this, it doesn't much mattter.

me and my good buddy bolivar rockin it on the early morning WP*. niether of our best angles, but it's the only shot i got. she can pronounce duo-syllabic phrases and is fascinated when i eat grapes.

the marmot in it's natural setting. interesting how this little bastard inspired an entire line of expensive outdoor apparel.

widely known as "the ghost of glacier", the mountain goat is rarely viewed with such grace, seen here defensively rooting through the muddy grass. psyche, nah. they're all over the place up there.


THE GRIZ!!! double-psyche. 'tis but a black bear. still a great sight. we saw another one a couple days prior, but it was sprinting across the road about 200 yards ahead of us.

headwaters. this meltage forms the start of reynold's creek as it strives for the mexican gulf. quite nice, no? i wonder if maybe 10% will make it, with the rest watering lawns in desert cities.

yesterday a group of us decided to summit mt. henkel, roughly towering 8500' above the salty blue. it was easily the most challenging hike/scramble/climb i've ever attempted. in a word, i'd say incredible. this is the view from roughly the bottom. the peak we're headed for it out of sight, hidden behind the ridge in the foreground.

began as but a mildly strenuous hike through a flowery meadow.

soon we entered scramble mode, trying not to 'lanche the talus.

reaching the first ledge, figured we must have been damn close. clearly not so much. this is what they call the great red basin. we hiked up to the strata and began our traverse.

still an honorary member of team askew, big sis takin the lead. we were headed for the ridge line here.

sara again, scopin the coast.

lookin back across the traverse. peak is at high left.

glamour shot. one of the best views i've ever seen up there!

steady fifth wheelin' it at the pseudo-summit. we stopped here en route to the top, pretty much unsure of how to proceed. the 5 of us that made it this far collectively decided to not spend another three hours wandering lost at the top of a mountain. instead rocked a quick photo shoot, then descended to shotgun a beer in the parking lot.

*wildlife patrol

memories = captured

quickly going down in history as one of the greatest parties ever, big sis branched out into the next exciting realm of her life last night. it's the only wedding i've ever been in, and i think it went mightily smoothly. set on an absolutely beautiful property (fitting for such a beautiful pair) outside of helena, the weather couldn't have been better. the company was fantastic, consisting of friends and family from across the country. good beer, better playlists, and a ton of friggin cheesecake. pretty much it was a total blast. i've almost fully recovered.

phote-ooooohhhhhhh time.

grubbin' at the rehearsal dinner at a park in helena. really a lot more yard games, a lot less rehearsing.

enjoying the weather (burning up crispy) with pops and the bride. good thing i moisturized.

PA represent!

me and momma cuttin loose.

the party formerly known as the askews (and cuz jacki).

now relaxing right on the step of glacier park with the freshly extended fam. should be a relatively high adventure week!

regular helena satur-day-o

after a pretty exhausting night partying down in east helena (when the rodeo comes to town, the street party follows), we decided to stick around regular helena for most of the day. hit the farmer's market in the morning to sample some local wares and such.

i'm almost positive "i don't need a bag" was what came out of my mouth. thought pretty hard for a while to make sure i hadn't inadvertently said it in japanese. maybe dude didn't notice the thing on my back. either way, i cleaned up in the baked goods section.

to my dismay, no adults allowed.

wedding prep continued for most of the day, mostly including weeding and radiator fin straightening. afterward, we briefly shopped it up at this sweet little hand-made goods store in "reeder's alley". it's sort of a preserved old town, complete with one-room flats originally used to house miners.

shady back alley

after the day's hard work, it was about damn time to fish it up. hooked into one small walleye, solidified the skin tone, and stabbed big sis with a fishing hook. altogether a pretty nice day in the 'tanner.

the marina. there is a hell of a lot more going on around this place these days than in january.

sporting the sweet new hat

roughly the location of the ice fishing extravaganza (ch-ch-check it)

sun down across the helena valley

ecolinkers:

http://www.hautetrash.org/

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/08/plastic_bag_crafts.html

east helena ro-day-o (in pictures)

one man's trash

been reading a lot about "upcycling" lately. i guess it's a buzz word in the green fashion/production industry, basically meaning taking old stuff and turning it into new stuff. while maybe an old idea (recycled art, handy home repairs, patchwork quilts, etc.), it is pretty cool to see it gaining mainstream popularity.

this joint terracycle makes things like fertilizer, bags, and even fire logs from completely recycled material. the ceo is my age, and i'm perhaps a bit jealous.

there are a few clothing companies doing similar things, like junky styling and preloved. it occurs to me, however, that with a sewing machine and some fashion sense, you could pretty much accomplish the same. pretty good places to look for ideas though.

here is a blog entry with some pretty good ideas as well, such as a wallet made from an old bike tube.

i think that it's our patterns of consumption that represent almost all causes of the world's problems today. it's seemingly become human nature to want more than you need, and this leads to violence, poverty, and suburbs across the globe. ultimately these patterns will have to change. for now it's good that there are some alternatives springing up, and whether you need or simply want something, there an increasing likelihood that said thing can at least be somewhat sustainable.

gaining confidence

helena to mcdonald's pass and back, 27 miles, a little over two hours. easily the most intimidating ascent/descent i've ever attempted. the experience was so amazing, i actually started crying on the way down. haven't seen anything that beautiful since i was in japan.

imagine i'll have some serious jellolegs tomorrow.

helena, sweet helena

busted loose from portland this morning, almost exactly a week after i arrived. little sketchy comin down through the rough stuff, but we landed smoothly. still pretty beat from all the time changing, but now i'm an hour closer to japan time, which could only help things. i remember when anne came back from china and was dead tired for like a week and a half. i was all like "dude, snap out of it, get some sleep". little did i know the difficulties faced. what an asshole!

serious training begins tomorrow, as i only have three weeks to get into decent enough shape to cross the continental divide, a large desert, and the cascade mountain range. helena is ripe with training ground. there's a pass just up the road i'll attempt to summit in the morning. also nice to be back around a weight set. feel like the lack of sleep, meat, and exercise in pdx really waned me down.

wedding prep is in full swing here. i'm planning on sitting in on some dance lessons in the living room this week. feel like i could use a tip or two.

as usual, please don't comment on this. otherwise i might feel inclined to keep posting!

♫saturday, in the park♫/occasiono-lacto-ovo-game-o

straight up kicked it american style today. well, mostly american-esque. it was my first time ever cooking, let alone requesting, fake meat, and it seemed almost regular. unfortunately, my mega-map didn't motivate a whole ton of folks, but we still had some fun-ski. rocked the park for a while and met many a stranger with the draw ye old "ladder golf". post-parkin' involved some bikes, helmets (necessarily), and crazy 'burbies all over town. here go the visual deets:

the tone, grilled meats/veg patties representing the foreground.

i was honestly surprised when we approached the waterfront, and so many folks were already rockin' their spots. suppose i just never thought of heading down there so early. suppose some folk don't have much else goins on.

additional view of additional people. pretty incredible when you look at it. in peeps' defence, it was the blues fest, but it was honestly like this all over the waterfront.

rockin' out at v-tines. pretty fuckin fun, not too crowded.

for all a'y'all outside of the country.

more of the different

5. cheap sunglasses.
in japan i understood that sunglasses were pretty rare, and a bit of an edgy fashion statement. my cheapies broke a few weeks into my stay there and my peepers were screwed from then on, destined to squint against the ever strengthening sunshine. even if i found them, they undoubtedly would have been very fancy and therefore very expensive. went shopping yesterday and got a sweet pair for a ten spot.

subtleties

ignored the lagger today and set out all over creation firing out biz cards. after the first few stops i realized that my zipper was not zipped, and laughingly hoped that no one had noticed. as i cruised the hot blocks i started to compile a list of the little differences between portland and kobe.

1. first, most troublesome: faucet mechanics.
in japan you push the handle down to get water, and here you pull the handle up to get water. might not seem so difficult, but this one combines with muscle memory to F me up at least 5 times a day, putting valuable seconds between the tasty wetness and my dry belly.

2. solicitation.
a bit more prominent here (suppose i could use myself and the activities of my day as an example, but we'll not address that now). on corners in the KōB, there may or may not be someone politely, silently offering you a pack of tissues, but they are always easy to avoid. sometimes at night you'd even get a well dressed person inviting you to a brothel, but they aren't very persistent either. here it's a bit trickier, as you're met with the clipboard/sales pitch combo on most corners downtown.

3. public displays.
i'm perfectly comfortable laying topless in a very large park right now, just soakin it up. both the expanse and the nudity would be difficult things to find in ol' kobie.

4. voice volume.
with the exception of a few young children and political radicals on top of vans, japanese people stay pretty quiet. kind of in line with respect and all. 'mericans seem much more fond of noise, yelling, honking, and so forth.

to be continued? i should probably get some sleep, as my remaining days in oregon-shu promise to be action packed.

takin' it to the streets

part 1:
probably best to use this time in the states to shamelessly promote myself. gotta get some new biz cards printed up somewheres, then get fancied up, then put out the vibe. put together a whole list of places around town to visit, hopefully they all welcome solicitors with open arms. imagine i'll do the same in helena, and anywhere else i end up.

part 2:
it's come to my attention that none of my homeys have any idea what they're doing for ye old fiz-ourth. i think i'll organize a sort of tour around town, beginning mid-late afternoon, probably culminating with explosive patronization. maybe i'll call it "mikey's independence [day] extravaganza". all interested parties should leave me a goddamn comment.

part 3:
i've been trying to figure out how i'll get from ol' tanner back to pdx in august. after numerous price checkings of planes, trains, and automobiles, i've (maybe stupidly and prematurely) decided to take a slighty more adventurous route. it will involve two wheels, a tent, a couple weeks, and lots of sweat. i'd better start training, as i'm not quite in what i would consider peak bicycle shape. anyone wishing to join, again, hit me with a comment. i'll probably whip up a map for that too.