Saturday, October 17, 2015

Episode 1.27: Sailing the Columbia

There are a few things that I just don't like.  Cold water is one of them and I would certainly consider the Columbia River as cold.  I was visiting a friend that I knew from my hometown who has relocated to Portland and when he invited me to go sailing with him and some friends I was hesitant but I don't get the opportunity to sail often so I said sure and I hopped on the boat.  I got wet, it was cold, and we got second to last in the race but I had a lot of fun and that's what matters!


Episode 1.26: Sustainable Trout Fishery

I love seeing and interacting with animals that I've never seen before.  Trout are definitely very foreign to a Floridian and learning about how Oregon is ensuring their future trout fishery was awesome.  I wish every state was that diligent about their fisheries.  In Florida we don't have chipmunks and being able to hang out with them was awesome.  They were so cool and very different than any rodent I'm used to seeing.


Episode 1.25: Into the Mind of the Caveman

Sometimes I just go into the woods and let me mind wander and I take natural materials and explore the possibilities of their individual properties.  Now, I come from a land that has almost no old growth trees and when I found this huge fallen pine tree what to do with it was obvious but I had neither the time nor the means of making a dugout canoe from it.  

Out west they struggle with wildfires so it's illegal to build a fire in most of these forests but I had found so much pine resin and I thought it would be fun to make some pine pitch but without fire that's impossible so I had to give it a try with mixing the resin and its ingredients but really I just ended up with a black play-doh like substance.  Regardless, it was fun!


Episode 1.24: Glass Buttes

Glass Buttes, Oregon is the obsidian Mecca for all flintknappers, so of course I had to pay a visit.  This place has miles and miles of obsidian everywhere.  I actually didn't even do any digging because people had just left so much behind to be gleaned.  Then a fella' came by and we started chatting and he gave me a few chunks of obsidian just cause he liked me I guess.  In this video I take you guys from a rock, spall out a large flake and work it down into an arrowhead.