A new waterproof camera for paddlers?

Paddlers always seem to be asking which waterproof camera to buy. That's a symptom of two problems: we aren't thrilled with the cameras we have, and they don't hold up as well as we wish.

Our main needs are high picture quality, video quality, water resistance and ruggedness. Shutter lag is a major drawback. So we were intrigued when Nikon announced last month the imminent release of a new point-and-shoot, waterproof digital camera, the Coolpix AW100. It's not out yet, but the specs look attractive for paddlers.

Nikon's new entry into the waterproof camera market.

We're assuming that this camera is as waterproof as the others. It claims to be rugged enough to survive a five-foot drop; the recessed lens would certainly help if it face-planted when it fell, but a lens cover would have been a nice addition.

If this camera uses some of the same internal processing as other Nikon cameras, the picture quality should be as good as the specs suggest. (For the full specs, click here.) The video offers full HD as well as slow motion (at reduced resolution), which should be great for technique analysis and revisiting that great ender in the surf. Normal video is 30 frames per second (FPS); the Coolpix can capture video at 60, 120 and 240 FPS.

Shutter lag will still be an issue, but the burst mode allows you to capture three frames per second, giving you a better chance of catching the expression on someone's face when he successfully rolls up.

Since the camera isn't out yet, we can't talk to anyone who has tried it and can attest to its performance, but check out Digital Photography Review for an in-depth assessment of the information available. The comments at the end extend the discussion and provide additional information.
Bottom line: This camera lists at $379, making it the most expensive point-and-shoot, waterproof digital camera. (DPR recently reviewed them here.) Our Pentax Optio W80s are still functioning after two years, in spite of our griping, but if we had to replace one of them, we'd be tempted to try out this new Coolpix.
If anyone gets one and has a chance to try it out, please let us know what you think.

Super Duper CX Prestige in SF

The good thing about racing so late in the day is that most people are done, eating their bbq'd weanies and drinking their beer and they're happy and there are lots of cheers.
I like that part.
The bad thing about racing so late in the day is the warming up on the trainer part while they all drink their beers and the smell of bbq'd meat is wafting towards you and they're running around with meat on sticks, sticking it in your face saying, do you want meat on a stick?
Uh, no thanks.
And sometimes your husband gets cranky because he's getting ready for his second race before your first race and he wants you to take his bike to the pit way up on the hill and then feed him, but you just want to get a pre-lap ride in, in between races because you can't be on the course while others are racing so there's a very small window to ride the course. And then maybe a little warm up in.

But you have to take the 8 year old to the portapotty. And she's complaining because none of her friends are there and she wants hot chocolate.

I don't think warm ups on trainers help me anyway and I don't like cyclocross courses that pretend to be cyclocross courses but are really mountain bike courses.
And while we're on the subject, in fact, I hate McClaren park. But at least this year I finished the race. Last year I hated it so much that I stopped half way through and slid out from the course tape while mumbling fuck you mcClaren all the while i was walking back to the tent.

This year I told myself I'd at least finish it. And besides, it wasn't as bad as last year.
On the first lap, I heard someone say she looks so serious. This was after someone had elbowed and sorta pushed me into a pole. And I couldn't get off it. Again, with the poles. And I realized that I WAS too serious. Warming up on a trainer? Not smiling? Wanting to elbow that person back because she knocked me down and I couldn't stay upright? I'd seen her skills in action before, so I knew what might happen if I was close to her.
Yes, too serious.

So I took a deep breath and just did it. And smiled. And turned that frown upside down. And I felt better. And finished.

One wonders where we find them

I know this is the Gold Coast, and that people here aren't exactly known for their intelligence, but even after making those allowances, there are still some incredibly nonsensical situations that totally defy explanation. Two morons decided to block a road in Broadbeach last evening by fighting over a parking space. I'm not sure what was so special about that parking space, it certainly wasn't the only vacant one there -- the rain kept quite a few people away. It wasn't undercover (not that any sane person tries to avoid the rain around here anyway), but they insisted on that one anyway.

Of course, as always happens in these situations, I pedalled straight through their little stand-off totally unconcerned, and this was when one of them decided to do the old Queensland horn-lean. Now tell me this wasn't a waste of time. I certainly wasn't going to stop after I'd gone straight through. I had no intention of going back and either apologising or exacting "revenge", why would I? Still, it's his stress levels, so I guess he's entitled to do what he likes. Of course, he might have been honking at his adversary for the parking spot, but why he'd wait until I passed to do that, or why he thought it would help I have no idea.

The rain was nice though, even if it did stop on my ride home, meaning I didn't get to ride in it. It did some nice things to this morning's ride to Austinville. Hopefully it's the onset to a decent wet season this year.







The other thing to come out of Friday was the need for a decision soon on "The Green Machine", the old bike that I sometimes use as a back-up and for shopping. It's clear that riding any sort of distance (even a short one) with a backpack in a Queensland summer is extremely unpleasant at best. I need to either get it a pannier rack or pension it off completely. I'm thinking of a new bike next year, which means the current #1 (which I still haven't named as yet) will become the back-up. I'm thinking of maybe a touring bike, because it might suit the type of riding I do than a MTB. On the other hand, I'm concerned about how it would deal with dirt roads, which might reduce my options a little in that area.

Plenty of time to think about it. Perhaps the tour of Victoria will give me something more to think about. 7 days to go!

Wondrous Wollumbin

For sometime I'd been lining up another ride on the Tweed Valley. It involved taking Swifts Road from Tyalgum, then Tyalgum Ridge Road - becoming Brummies road before linking up with the old Tweed Valley ride. It all seemed simple enough, and yesterday seemed to turn on the perfect day, so it was time to do it.
Even before I had crossed the Macpherson Range, Tomewin was turning on a spectacular day.


After descending into the Tweed Valley, I followed the familiar route toward Tyalgum. The two climbs here often show spectacular views on days like this, and yesterday was no exception. I've watched clouds settle on those mountains in moonlight before, but seeing it during the day is also special.

After Tyalgum it was time. Swifts road doesn't mess around in getting into the climb. This climb becomes a little more challenging as it's on loose dirt. A sign advises "4wd road, dry weather road only". I had neither. I chose to press on, just watching the views open up. At one stage it looked like the road would peter out into a dead-end at a farmhouse, but it continued -- albeit on a slightly rougher surface.

Now I was into the forest, and an extremely beautiful one at that. This is actually Australia's most recently declared National Park. You can still find some of the campaign websites calling for Wollumbin State Forest to be declared a National Park. I have to say I agree with them whole-heartedly.

It started raining at the top of the climb, as if the "road" wasn't boggy enough already. It didn't really worry me too much, although I did put off the visit to Brummies Lookout for another day. After winding around on Condowie Road for a while, reaching a height of 470 metres at one point, it was then left to a steep descent back to Brays Creek Road and the old Tweed Valley ride. I didn't have any traction problems descending in the rain, but I did keep the speed down and concentrate on picking the less slippery parts of the surface.

After this, of course, it was just a simple ride back to Tyalgum, then the "main road" to Murwillumbah before returning through Urliup, Bilambil and catching the tailwind back up the coast. I finished the day with 165km and around 1,840 metres of climbing -- not quite the ASH Dash, but a decent amount of today's climbing was on dirt, which made it a little more interesting.
This now effectively gives me two of these circuits in the Tweed Valley to play with. The other one is, of course, the old ride through Mebbin National Park to the south. Maybe I'll take that one next week.

Grandpa Ott Morning Glory

The heirloom 'Grandpa Ott' from behind.

An Easy Day and a Long Drive

High Temp: 86F (30C); low humidity

There was a definite chill in the air when we woke up at 6:30a; what a difference from our first few mornings here. It didn’t get much warmer when the sun came out. Undaunted, we put on our sweaters and enjoyed breakfast and computer time on the balcony so that we could better appreciate the morning and its promise of clear, blue skies and low humidity. As the sound of engines revving up and jets taking off from the nearby airfield filled the air, it quickly became apparent that today was a workday for some … not for us!

Some might interpret blogging as work; for me, it’s fun.

We waited for the temperature to rise a bit before heading to the beach at 8:30a for our daily dip and walk. We’d been dreading the inevitable onslaught of biting flies; but surprise … NO BLACK FLIES TO PESTER US TODAY :-)

Heading towards the lighthouse, we enjoyed a quiet walk. We encountered some people fishing from the beach, and saw some guys trolling the waters with their nets, collecting any tar balls that might have been swept ashore by the currents. The good news — the nets were empty, except for one or two small bits and pieces. It’s great to see that there’s been no lasting damage from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of .

Wearing my Dalton Highway / I Crossed the Arctic Circle t-shirt as a swimsuit
cover-up on a beach in Florida — that’s what I call a contradiction!

Someone has put a lot of effort into expanding the sandcastle I saw on my walk yesterday.

The castle comes with its very own alligator guard!

Visitors can climb 177 steps to the top of the lighthouse. We were going to do that today,
but you need to wear shoes or sandals with straps; I have neither on this trip. Next time!

A forgotten piece of the miles of boom that was laid after the oil spill.

We could keep going, but this is our turnaround point for today.

The temperature — both in and out of the water — was a little too cool for my liking. So while Mui went for a swim, I played in the shallows, watching schools of fish swimming by and ghost crabs popping in and out of their burrows. Unlike the ghost crabs we saw in the Galápagos in July, these crabs are smaller and, as befits their name, they are white in color. They blend in exceptionally well with the sugar-white sand on the beach. I didn’t see the sand balls I saw all over the beach at Cerro Brujo, so these crabs must not be deposit feeders. (Click here for pics of the Galápagos ghost crabs and a short video of how they feed.)

It was 11:30a by the time we were done with our beach time and ready for the next part of our day. First on our agenda was a return trip to American Home Base to pick up some mail. We haven’t switched our mailing address to Florida yet, but anything that has to do with our domiciling has been coming here — such as the county clerk domicile registrations and the Florida titles for the Phaeton and CR-V. We could have asked them to send the mail to us in Virginia, but figured we might as well stop by since we’re here. Besides, we wanted to meet Tena, our contact at AHB, and thank her in person for helping us get this far in the process.

By the time we got on the road to our planned destination — Destin — it was already past noon. With an hour’s drive ahead of us to get there, we probably should have re-thought our plans. But hey, we’re on vacation with plenty of time on our hands. The GPS took us there via I-10, but we made the return trip via the more scenic Route 98, which took us through Navarre and Fort Walton Beach.

This Google Maps image shows the location of American Home Base (blue flag) and our
lunch spot in Destin (fork & knife) in relation to the Navy Lodge on NAS Pensacola.

Although the beautiful days of sunshine and warm temperatures we’ve been enjoying bely it, this is the slow season for this part of Florida. That’s evident from the lack of crowds on the beaches, and the easy traffic on the roads — especially on a weekday. Another indication that the peak season is over is that many of the restaurants are closed for lunch. That was the case with the first two places we tried. The third time, though, we hit the jackpot with Dewey Destin’s Seafood, overlooking Choctawatchee Bay, just before the bridge that crosses from Destin to Fort Walton Beach.

The place is literally a shack on stilts. The road leading to it goes by some rundown buildings; enough to scare one off from proceeding any further. But the place was ranked #24 amongst 175 eateries in Destin, so we decided to take our chances. And a good thing it was that we did.

Placing our order at the kitchen, we took a seat at a bench table on one of the piers jutting out over the water and entertained ourselves by watching the gulls flying about. There were signs everywhere asking patrons not to feed the gulls. People must be abiding by the request, as the gulls left us in peace to enjoy our meal without having to shoo them away.

There are a few other other patrons, but we have this part of the pier to ourselves.

our view from the table on the pier.

Screeching to keep away other gulls, this bird patiently poses for the shutter-clickers.

Mui ordered the steamed shrimp basket, and I ordered the grilled shrimp. Both were good — but seeing as how he had to remove the tails from his shrimp before he could eat them, Mui said he’d get the grilled shrimp next time so he wouldn’t have to work so hard to earn his lunch :-)

We passed on the homemade key lime pie for dessert, opting for a walk at the Marina Village and some Blue Bell ice cream we’ve heard so much about. That turned out to be a mistake … one that we won’t repeat now that we know this brand of ice cream is not to our liking.

The return drive to Pensacola via Route 98 was about an hour, but at least we had some scenery to entertain us, and we spotted a couple of campgrounds along the way that might do nicely when we return to the area in the Phaeton. Had we more time, we would have checked to see what Eglin AFB and Hurlburt Field have to offer in the way of campgrounds, too. We’ll do that next time.

Though the hour was getting late by the time we returned to the Lodge, Mui wanted to take another dip in the ocean. I accompanied him, but opted to just play in the shallows. Again, there were no biting black flies; perhaps yesterday was just an anomaly.

The beach scene at near dusk.

We skipped dinner since lunch was such a late affair. Instead, we hopped in the car and drove over to the lighthouse beach access. After catching glimpses of last night’s beautiful sunset from the balcony, I wanted to make sure I got some good shots of the sun going down tonight. Alas, I was out of luck; this time there wasn’t as much color. Still, it was a a good excuse for one more walk on the beach.

Not a lot of color; nonetheless, a nice end to our day .

We have a treat in store for tomorrow. Actually two treats, but the one I want to mention here has to do with meeting up with Chuck and Anneke, fellow–bloggers of Goldenshoe RV Trip fame. They recently got off the road after full-timing for several years and have settled in the area. Reading in our blog that we’re in Pensacola, they reached out to us via email; we’re looking forward to having lunch with them.

Black Racer

Hi, my name is Coluber constrictor.

I'm the first snake of the spring.

It's really warming up, so you'd better watch where you step.
-----
Not sure if this is Coluber constrictor constrictor (northern black racer) or Coluber constrictor priapus (southern black racer).
I don't have a "snake name meanings" dictionary like the one for birds, but fear not, there's a beauty of an online guide that covers reptiles and amphibians. I especially like the page on mythological references. My husband always jokes that I want to find a new plant species so I can name it after myself. Previously I've always claimed that I'd name my hypothetical find something descriptive. But now I'm not sure that I could resist slipping the name of an ancient Greek fertility god in there somehow.

Little Things

LITTLE THINGS
Little drops of water,Little grains of sand,Make the mighty oceanAnd the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes,Humble though they be,Make the mighty agesOf eternity.
So our little errorsLead the soul awayFrom the path of virtue,Oft in sin to stray.
Little deeds of kindness,Little words of love,Make our earth an Eden,Like the heaven above.
Author Unknown

Troy-Bilt Cordless String Trimmer Draws the Lines

As Graham Stuart Thomas once noted, "It is my opinion that it is even more important to attend to the edges than the mowing: slightly shaggy grass can be forgiven so long as the edges are trim."

Even when it's not 100 degrees every day, even when there is rain, even when we're not under Stage 2 Drought restrictions, our idea of an acceptable lawn is pretty laid-back and reasonably drought-tolerant. This isn't a well-fed and watered lawn - it lives on whatever rain falls, and whatever seeps via osmosis from the adjoining beds, shrubs and small trees which I hand-water. And even in this dreadful year when much of the grass in sun died, it survived in the shade under trees.Shorn meadow might be a better description than lawn for the green stuff connecting the beds, borders and walks. It's kept reasonably short, can be walked on year-round, and keeps the dust down. When native anemones bloom in the grass in spring or rainlilies pop up in it in late summer it becomes our flowery mead. Even with beds and borders providing height, color and texture, it makes a difference to sharpen up the line of the edge.
We've used an assortment of string trimmers during our 30+ years in 5 different yards - my husband Philo was ready to throw the most recent off a cliff. Fellow garden blogger MSS of Zanthan Gardens began a test of a Cordless String Trimmer for the Troy-Bilt company but was unable to complete it. It sounded good when she suggested that we take the assembled machine, try it out and write a review. Once this was proposed to the Troy-Bilt people they agreed we could have the string trimmer to keep at no charge, asking only that we post an honest review on our blog, with no restrictions on what to say.
Troy-Bilt 20-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Electric String Trimmer (model TB57)

Different lawn grasses present different problems. St Augustine doesn't grow by seed or in neat clumps.... it has wide blades, and it throws long runners out in every direction, looking for a spot to root and grow. In just a couple of weeks the stolons will sneak in and make a crisscrossing mesh over the soft, watered soil of a flower bed that will need hours of hand-weeding to remove. Sometimes in a dry summer we may skip mowing the center of the lawn for a month but the grass next to the beds looks ragged in a week. The whole garden would look better if the edges of the beds could be sharpened up whenever the grass looked ready to jump.
This kind of impulse-edging never happened with our corded electric trimmer.... just thinking about unwinding the cord and winding it back up again was enough to skip the task. And when we do get enough rain to make the grass grow we don't want to use a tool that is plugged in. I hoped the cordless model would encourage light maintenance rather than drastic all-day jobs.So far this trimmer has done a good job. Philo has used it more than I have - to hold the trimmer the right way seems to be easier for a guy (or perhaps it would be easier for a more flat-chested woman). Unfortunately I have found it almost impossible to press the trigger button for more than a couple of minutes. I can mow for a long time because the safety switch has me grip and hold a spring bar against the handle, but on the trimmer my fingers are unable to stretch across, bend a certain way and depress the button without pain.

Here's what Philo has to say about the Troy-Bilt Cordless Trimmer:
The trimmer feels well balanced and is comfortably natural for me to use. Being ambidextrous, I found it equally easy cutting left or right handed and I find myself switching often to speed the trim. The bi-directional trigger release allows hand switching and accommodates using the forefinger or thumb to be used for release.
After trimming about 500 feet of walkway, the lithium battery still had 75% charge - the charge remaining lights are a nice feature. I can cut our entire yard twice over a 2 week period without needing to recharge. This is about 1-1/2 hours total run time.
The variable speed motor is easy to control and is smooth at all speeds. I’ve never before used a trimmer at low speeds, but this machine does an excellent job at low speed and can do some slower more delicate cutting (if you can call line trimming delicate at any speed).
The two line spools that come with the trimmer are a thoughtful addition. They’re small enough to fit in a pocket and can be swapped in few seconds when one runs out. However, the automatic line advance could use some improvement. During every cutting session the line gets reduced to an unusable short length at least once. The manual states that line tangling is the likely cause and recommends removing the spool to correct the problem. I have never found a tangled line but I soon learned that there is a push button release below the spool that quickly advances the line without having to remove the spool. The release button is not mentioned in the manual.

The Troy-Bilt handled the long, tough stolons of the St Augustine grass very well! Above is another of the tasks that this line trimmer did well - buzzing down the horrible bermuda grass that has invaded the expansion strip in the driveway.
Thanks, Troy-Bilt, for giving us a chance to try and use this machine.