It's A Blooming Mystery

Flowers bloom on their own time, a fact that seldom bothers me in my daily life as an Austin slacker. But now that I’ve become a Garden Blogger [note those capital letters!], I occasionally need blooms on my plants for a certain date – like last week's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on May 15th. Nothing makes me drag my feet more than a direct order to hustle, and my garden behaves no less stubbornly. That must be why the Rose of Sharon refused to open one single bud for the 15th, but opened a dozen flowers on the 17th, instead. Should I call it the "Roses of Sharon" since this is more than one shrub in a clump?


There were buds on the Hemerocallis ‘Prairie Blue Eyes’ by the 15th, but none opened until today. It’s not a fancy daylily by today’s standards, but I’ve loved it for a decade, bringing it to Texas from Illinois.

We Garden Bloggers have another scheduled event coming up - the Garden Bloggers book club is due by the end of May. Writing about the book, Passalong Plants, is easy – heck, I’ve even met one of the authors - Felder Rushing - but it’s not so easy to get flowers to open on time. I absolutely need photos of some passalong plants from my own garden to use as illustrations for this post, but will they get their act together and bloom within the next 11 days?

There’s no schedule involved for this next group of plants – just a hope that one of these days they’ll flower for me –

The Pineapple Guava above should bloom in spring – my friend Diane’s shrub was covered in its oddly beautiful flowers just a couple of weeks ago – but this young plant had a rough winter and was frozen back before it had a chance to make any blossoms. The botanical name is Feijoa sellowiana, so it is not actually a guava. Although it would be interesting to taste the fruit, described as Pineapple mixed with strawberry, I’m more interested in seeing the flowers.

Since this pomegranate has leafed out and I like the way the leaves and branches look, is it greedy to want delectable orange flowers, too? I’ll give this young tree one more year in this spot, but if it doesn’t bloom next spring – it will be transplant time the following fall.

Next we have a pair of non-blooming plants. The amarcrinum at right may take a few years to settle in and I’m not worried about it at all… but that perfect weed of a Brugmansia? Angel Trumpets are supposed to love water, sun and organic fertilizer, growing so quickly that even when cut to the ground over winter, they bulk up and hang long, fragrant bells. This one has been treated like a queen for a couple of seasons, given everything it wants, and if it was labeled correctly, someday the bells will be yellow.
I’ll ignore these poky plants, and pay attention to the ones in flower now – a couple of daylilies, annual moss roses, and the last of the larkspur; yellow Achillea, white and gold lantanas and the "Roses" of Sharon; short annual violet Verbenas and tall Verbena bonariensis, a sea of Salvias, budding Cannas and a Butterfly bush in bloom. The view from the back door is just fine today.


NURSERY NEWS
Many of us were dismayed to find that Kimas Tejas Nursery, southeast of Austin in the Bastrop area, had closed its doors last fall. But it wasn’t permanent – I had this news via email from the nursery:
Kimas Tejas has reopened on a seasonal basis. For the months of March, April, May and June, Kimas Tejas will be open Wednesday through Saturday, closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
The nursery will be closed for the months of July and August, then will reopen for the fall planting season in September, October and November. Then close for December, January and February.

THE NAMESAKE
One of these days I’m going to buy the DVD of Monsoon Wedding. Did anyone of you also see it? Have you had a special fondness for orange marigolds ever since? The director Mira Nair has a new movie in the theaters, which Philo and I enjoyed this week.
You might like it, too – The Namesake has some wonderful actors with memorable faces, is full of humor, intelligence and sadness, touching on the immigrant experience and Indian customs, separations and reunions, focusing on a coming-of-age story and several becoming-in-love stories. Mira Nair looks at things we’ve seen elsewhere, but from a different perspective. How many times have you seen the Taj Mahal in movies? A dozen times? Usually it looks like a postcard, but this time, it’s seen as the total of many designs and many parts, making us somehow recognize that individual people made those parts.

Farewell Festival

Last night Laura and I decided to take advantage of the last day of the and stack a few of our favorite activities. Laura came up with the name "The Farewell Festival." Not really a festival, but a seriously fun day of outdoor activities. Ideally we plan to continue this in upcoming years as well. Here's my recap of our great day!



Phase 1 - Skiing, Seven Springs resort (Somerset Co.)

First activity of our festival was to get in some skiing at Seven Springs. Ice climbing conditions have been dismal thus far, so we've been enjoying some local man made winter and decided this would be the first activity of the day. We left home in time to make a run down from the North parking lot and hit the lifts at 9:00AM when they first started running. We skied for about a couple of hours enjoying the best conditions of the season thus far. There were no mojo sapping crowds as in previous holiday mornings up there, just perfectly groomed, fast running slopes. Yesterday we had 7" of fresh snow which had skiers and boarders swarming the mountain like bees on a hive. We usually only stay until the lift lines take longer than the runs down the hill. Yesterday was a very short day. If we hadn't planned multiple sporting events for our farewell festival day we definitely would've stayed longer to take advantage of short lift lines, fast conditions and fun jibs. Laura and I cruised some hills, hit some rails all the while filming our hijinks! Alas we had to move on to the next phase of our festival which required considerably less clothes than our phase 1 jibwear!



Phase 2 - Ice climbing, Ohiopyle State Park (Fayette Co.)

After Seven Springs, we made a pit stop at home to exchange gear and clothes. After a quick change out of our baggy ski attire into more trim fitting climbing duds. We packed up the Subaru and set off to Ohiopyle. Meadow Run was our destination. We filmed more pre-climbing stupidity in the car then set off for the crag. Not much ice was to be found, but we managed a few laps each on Season Finale M6. I was anxious to see how my injured shoulder would handle dry tooling. I've been resting it for several weeks now under the care of my good friend Dr. Andy. It seemed to work fine for the limited climbing we did. Also to make my climbing day sweeter was that I finally tried my new Lowa Ice Comp "fruits".

Lowa Ice Comp GTX

They were quite fun and much lighter than my standard mixed boot and crampon combo of Lowa Mountain Expert GTX and Petzl Darts. They should prove to make for some fun climbing this season! With still more festival fun ahead we had to pack up and move on to even funnier looking outfits and phase 3. NOTE: Visiting climbers looking for ice. Next weekend should have some drips forming up. Check for ice condition updates both here and on NEice.com



Phase 3 - Winter Running, Mammoth Park (Westmoreland Co.)

Running is a great interest of mine. I've been running for a number of years now and have logged many, many miles and lots of elevation on both trail and roads. It's a great way to keep your cardio in tip top shape (be sure to focus on hills for climbers). Laura started running this fall and has been working hard while following a safe, proper training schedule. Today was proof how much effort and dedication she's put into becoming a runner. Conditions were less than ideal, but she crushed her 30 minute workout today in proper style. We made the short drive to Mammoth Park, a local county park that has a nice 1.04 mile brick exercise path that is usually kept clear of snow for users. The thermometer in the car read 35 Degrees with gloomy skies. The path was plowed, which resulted in removing the snow, but in its place remained ice. Running it required careful and attentive footwork. Several times I found myself having flashbacks to my morning rail slides at Seven Springs. It was a great run to end the year. Laura followed her program and ran 3 laps like a champ completing a 5k for the first time in winter conditions. I ran 4 laps in a slippery 29:42 then running an easy mile to cool down. We walked together and filmed some running segments for future laughs. We had an amazingly fun day of activities. We're going to be heading out early in the morning to follow our New Years Day climbing tradition. We're heading to the Higher elevations to see if we can't find a New Years first ascent!



Farewell ... Hello !



Happy climbing,

Tim and Laura

Arc'Teryx Atom SV parka?

After writing down my "best" list for / I realised a few days later that I hadn't writtenabout the majority of items on that list. So among other things I am playing catch up on that list. I figure if it is good enough to be on that list and I actually use it, it is worth the effort of a blog. This jacket is well worth some additional exposure. It was my main go to belay parka in Chamonix this winter. And I had several well thought out choices I could and did use in addition to the Atom SV. But the most often used jacket for the cold weather we climbed in during Feb and early Marchthe Atom SV wasmy outer insulation. Twice on cold bivy'sI did use the SVas a mid layer under a Brooks Range Cirro. The Cirro I'll write more about later.



Below: Happy to be tucked away in the in the Midi loo under a few layers. SAG Merion wool hoody, Patagonia R1 Hoody, Atom LT, Patagonia Nano Puff pull ove, Atom SV, Merino wool hatand a Brooks Range Cirro over it all. Just enough in this case to keep me happy. But it was "just enough".













Here is the official spiel:



"Significantly warmer and more protective than a fleece jacket, this insulated hoody is breathable enough to be used as a super warm mid-layer on frigid days and protective enough to be an outer layer while belaying or hanging out at camp. An extra thick dose of synthetic Coreloft™ insulates but packs small, and a light tricot underarm panel enhances breathability. Warm insulated Coreloft™ jacket with an insulated hood; Ideal for use as a super-warm mid-layer in cold conditions, or as a stand-alone piece in warmer conditions"



Technical Features





•Moisture-resistant outer face fabric

•Breathable

•Insulated

•Lightweight

•Compressible and packable

•Wind resistant



Construction

•DWR finish (Durable Water Repellent) helps bead water from fabric surface

•Tricot-lined underarms to enhance breathability



Patterning

•Articulated elbows

•Gusseted underarms



Hood Configuration

•Insulated hood



Pocket Configuration

•Internal chest pocket

•Two hand pockets



Zippers & Fly Configuration

•Full front zip with wind flap



Cuff & Sleeves Configuration

•Stretch-woven cuffs



Hem Configuration

•Drop back hem

•Adjustable hem drawcord



For me it helps to place the Atom SV in the Arc'Teryx range of insulated pieces. The SVis a real jacket compared to the sweater weight and more breathable Atom LT Hoody. But the SV is a lighter weight and more likely used lwt belay jacket version of the Arc'Teryx Duelly. The Duelly is a full blow belay/bivy jacket more suitable for Spring in Alaska imo but now with the SV it is also a little dated. Dated because the SV has many of the Duelly's best design features and a better designed hood for helmet use. But the SVis clearly not as warm as a Duelly.





Happy to be out climbing, up high, mid winter, long after dark?...."Not!"



I used the Atom Lt on a regular basis as a mid layer under the Atom SV. Between the LT and the SV I pretty much had the insulation value of a Duelly with a much more versatile clothing system. But no question there are times I would rather have a Duelly....just hate carrying one. The SV on the other hand is easy for weight and volume in a small pack. No question the best mid weight synthetic insulated climbing jacket I have used to date. Sizing and pattern is perfect for me. It is also the perfect layering pattern to use over a Atom LT or various other layers you might chose. I did get too warm on occasion climbing technical ground while wearing the SV...but I never felt like the jacket was limiting my movement.High praise from me evenif I do look like the Great Pumpkin in mine ;-).

Crystal Backcountry ..

Steve invited me to join him, Sebe and Toph for some skiing. The decision was made to head to the Crystal backcountry and so I tagged along. There were flurries, and a temp of 33° when Steve cam to pick me up in Seattle. We met Toph somewhere south on Renton, and continued in his car. I don't have a great idea of where we skied, but best I can tell we skinned up under the Gold Hills chair and made a few runs in the Pickhandle Basin.

The chair we skinned under was not yet open, due to lack of coverage. No rocks, but plenty of shrubs visible. It didn't impair our skinning and soon we were at the top of the chair ducking into the woods. This is where it got slow. The trees were narrow and we spent plenty of time avoiding downed trees and forcing through narrow gaps between other trees. If there were a few more feet of coverage, we would have had it easier, but these were the cards we were dealt. At one point we even booted a bit due to a steep section with many trees. After that, the forest opened up a bit and we started skinning again until booting the last thirty feet or so to the ridge. We then skinned on the ridge, which was not that great and we should have booted. We got to a nice area out of the wind to drop in and transitioned over.

The snow was deep! Deepest snow we had experienced yet on the day was our first run down. Deep powder, and no rocks. A really fun run. Wasn't too steep, probably a blue run. I had a little difficulty starting out as I was third in line and wanted to go farther right to get into cleaner snow. The snow was slow, and the traverse almost stopped me before I rounded a small tree and turned downslope.

My first run (Photo by Steve Machuga)

We gathered at the bottom and headed up again to a different location on the ridge and a sub bowl on the original run. We found a fun wide chute to run and transitioned back to downhill. Steve went first on a bold run of an arete which slid a bit after he made a few turns. I was third in line and enjoyed the run, but it was definitely a little more avalanche prone and a bit rocky in spots. At the bottom we skied through the tree for a bit until we came to a meadow.

My second run (Photo by Steve Machuga)

We all figured that the terrain would drop again in the woods on the other side of the meadow, so Toph was going to post hole across and then put his board back on while us skiers would shuffle with no skins. Unfortunately, on the other side of the meadow the relatively flat or rolling terrain continued and we all skinned up to make it out of the woods. More unfun tree skinning and we were finally back at the top of the lift ready to make one last run to the car. No issues on the final run and soon we were driving back to Seattle.

This was a fun outing even considering the poor skinning in the trees both up and down. I skied well, but not great. Not bad for almost five months of not skiing. I look forward to getting out again soon.

My pics are here.

Plant Life at White Sands

I was amazed at the variety of plants and vegetation that survive in the dunes of White Sands National Monument. The dunes are constantly on the move, engulfing everything in their path and then slowly uncovering them again. Certain plants have adapted to the environment and manage to survive a little longer – as the sand covers them they grow taller, but when the dune moves on and leaves them exposed they can no longer support their tall growth and then they crumble and die. These are but a few of the plants I saw...



















There was seldom an expanse of the dunes (close to the road) where there were no human footprints. I walked as far as my legs would take me before the knee began hurting and then turned back. There were other footprints in the sand besides those of us humans - - these prints descended the high dune to the ground about 30 feet below and at a very steep angle! Was it a kit fox? They have adapted to the environment by being very small, no more than 5 pounds. They seldom show themselves during the daylight hours.





All photos were taken on Friday, January 6th, ...

Wordless Wednesday - The Line Up

Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve.
Summer of 1979. Digitized ...
Copyright © 1979/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman.

Dark Clouds Overhead

Storm clouds have moved in towards late afternoon each of the past few days. Sometimes rain falls, sometimes it doesn't. Southwest Montana July 12, ...