Category: Outdoors

Barb and I did some errands together this morning then as we were headed back to my place we decided to go for a walk at Kelsey Creek Farm since it was right on the way.

Barb left her gloves in the car. It was actually pretty warm, about 45F, so I gave my gloves to her. At the end of the walk her hands, even while wearing gloves, were colder than mine which were bare for the entire walk.

Just a little way on down the trail above on the left side, over the fence, was a bunch of old farm equipment. I believe all of it was drawn by animal power. It was too small to be for tractors. I knew the names of all except one piece of equipment and I explained what each piece of equipment was for and how it worked to Barb. I’m not sure she was really interested but she was polite enough to let me ramble on without interrupting.

We didn’t actually go over the bridge. I just thought it would make a neat picture.

This weekend Barb and I did some testing for a new Boomerite recipe. We ground up some Styrofoam peanuts in the blender. We blended the Ammonium Nitrate until it was a fine powder. Then we used the usual masses of the AN, Potassium Chlorate, and Ethylene Glycol. We added about a cup and a half of the ground Styrofoam and mixed it all together.

The result looked like this:

That is 300 grams of the mixture which nearly fills the 4”x4”x2” box. It takes 400 grams of conventional Boomerite for the same volume. The hope was that the finer particle size of the AN would result in a more rapid and complete chemical reaction. The AN is usually in prill form. When finely ground it does not detonate easily.

Our hypothesis is that the prills create air gaps and the supersonic shockwave from the bullet compresses the air which heats the chemicals to the required temperature for detonation.

The hypothesis being tested was that the Styrofoam would supply the “air gaps” and enable the detonation in the usual fashion.

As you might expect for the last day of November it was a bit on the cool side at Boomershoot Mecca. Barb’s clothing confirms that suspicion:

We took the test and control targets to the Boomershoot site and shot them with Stinger 22LR from 23 yards away. The two out of two conventional Boomerite targets detonated with a single hit. Zero out of six of the Styrofoam “enhanced” targets detonated. I then tried shooting them with 55 grain FMJ .223 American Eagle ammo from 23 yards away. Two out of ten detonated. Many of the others were “smokers”. They were close to detonating but weren’t quite over the threshold.

Barb finished off the four remaining conventional Boomerite targets with one shot each.

There are some other tests we could do along the same line. It could be we had too low a density. Packing the targets some might make a difference. We also have some hard polystyrene pellets (used for stuffing dolls, etc.) that might replace the prills. But I’m concerned they would not be consumed in the reaction and would be scattered all over the field. I expect the ground Styrofoam would just be fuel for the excess oxygen in our Boomerite mix and we wouldn’t have to worry about the potential for litter.

Barb and I were in Idaho this last weekend and went for a walk on some land that I own. Most of it is farm land but some of it is a rocky hillside that isn’t farmed but it has a fantastic view.

Barb and I went for a walk in Lewis Creek Park this morning after breakfast. The temperature was 40F but there was zero wind and the sun was shining. We were surprised at how warm it felt. I didn’t even wear a coat.

Barb and I went mushroom hunting today. We missed the turn off the first time but Barb recognized it as we went past and she looped around and connected on the second pass.

A similar thing occurred as we were walking along the trail looking for the path up the hill.

Regardless of the minor lack of turns we found a bunch of mushrooms. Some editable, some just pretty.

It doesn’t take much to cause me to break out into a sweat. A tiny bit of exercise and I start sweating. Even the spices in the mildest spaghetti sauce will cause my forehead to start sweating.

It turns out my fear of heights triggers an increased heart rate and sweat—just from looking at this picture I took when I was in Yosemite last month:

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Update: Here is a cropped version of the same picture:

Visualize where his center of gravity is versus his right foot. He’s taking a picture so he isn’t using much more than his proprioception and ears to maintain his balance.

Now give me a towel to wipe the sweat off.

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I had to look away after taking the picture. It made me way too uncomfortable.

Barb wanted to look over a similar edge about 50 yards away. When she got within about eight feet I asked her to stop. It was making me too uncomfortable. She got down on her hands and knees and continued. As she got to within about two feet I again asked her to stop. She stretched out and looked over to my extreme discomfort. She pulled back and said, “That’s a long way down.”

I don’t know why she is smiling unless for some bizarre reason she likes my sweat.

Meh.

Maybe I’m getting spoiled but one stunning view looks pretty much like another.

Barb L.
August 24, 2013
[This was while looking at the scenery seen in the images below.

We walked over 11 miles, at altitudes from 6000 to 8000 feet, looking at stunning view after stunning view.

It was a pretty awesome way to spend the weekend.—Joe]