Saturday 03 December 2011 at 11:05 am
Enterprise Resource Planning systems and Customer Relationship Management systems also known as CRM and ERP are valuable tools for companies wishing to use computing efficiencies to streamline operations. ERP systems focus on accounting, inventory and production systems and CRM is a tool to help customer service, sales and prospecting.
While proprietary software systems such as QuickBooks® exist that cover part of the ERP spectrum, and additional modules have been made available, more and more companies are looking at open-source software systems based on Linux servers. While companies quite regularly surrender to the Windows environment for the desktop needs of employees, the backroom server operations still allow IT departments to choose avoid single vendor dependence by using powerful Linux based servers and databases to form the backbone of their information processing operations.
While many larger companies have a need for active directory (AD) functionality, the core Windows flavor of the AD server environment forces savvy IT managers look for back room solutions that would not be susceptible to a windows kernel worm or virus attack. Additionally in the Unix community, the carrier-grade projects have produced up-time records that will never be met by propretary server operating systems. The memory leaks of certain proprietary systems lead to gradual degradation per unit of up-time and still persist in that environment.
Open Source software solutions for ERP and CRM are available that base the back room operations on the reliability, scalability and versatility of Linux servers while offering client computing on web browsers, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 as well as Apple products. Packages such as Xtuple, Compiere and OpenBravo use a variety of powerful technologies that are growing in the quality and dependability of applications as quickly as Linux variants such as Ubuntu have grown for the desktop and laptop.
Smart and careful participants should keep watch for Open Source ERP and CRM for Atlanta companies.
Thursday 01 December 2011 at 09:58 am
The Nation write to your congressmen and women. (remember, you are their boss. They are there because of you) email them. (it is a lot easier and faster than snail mail. And you will be saving paper) join Eco-Organizations. (most of them provide you with discounts at certain places and information with what's going on in the great outdoors and nature and how you can participate) most important, pass the word. (let others know about the need to care for our planet)
This is a great site for kids as well as adults. Learn how to make your own new paper by recycling old newspaper. All you wanted to learn about acid rain. What causes global warming? And what is that big hole in the ozone above your head? Let Beakman and Jax answer all of your questions. This is a fun site and I suggest that you take your time and look around because there is a lot to see and find out. You can also find e-mail address of your Congress-persons and tips on writing to them. Please utilize this list to let your Congress representative know that you would like to see our environment and the creatures that occupy it preserved.
2.) National Parks and Conservation Association has been a leader in fighting to preserve our parks and to keep them open to the general public so that all may enjoy the wondrous sights that our planet has to offer us. NPCA's mission is to protect and improve our National Park System and to promote the understanding, appreciation, and sense of personal commitment to park lands. Every year NPCA puts together March For Parks where everyone who would like to see our national heritages preserved comes out to show their support. A great site to find out about our parks and how you can best enjoy them.
3.) The National Arbor Day Foundation carries out a great many activities to encourage tree planting and environmental stewardship by the general public. Find out what arbor day is all about. Through Tree City USA, Arbor Day educational efforts, Arbor Day Farm, the Conservation Trees campaign, and the new Rain Forest Rescue drive, the Foundation's message is reaching millions of people. A must for people who love to garden, for there are a great many gardening tips to be found here.
4.) Do you find it easier to express your concern through writing? Then Global Response is the place for you. Each of their monthly Global Response Action (GRAction) newsletter highlights a specific environmental emergency. The GRAction provides background information on the environmental threat, recommends actions to take, and gives the names and addresses of the corporations or governments responsible. Their Eco-Club Action newsletter is written for use by high school eco-clubs, neighborhood environmental groups, and other "Earth-friendly" youth organizations. Global Response's Young Environmentalists' Actions (YEA) network was created because young students wanted a chance to make a difference in the Earth's future. Their YEA network proves that polite letters form thousands of concerned young people from around the world can help stop environmental destruction! Global Response's on-line Quick Response Network (QRN) alerts members to emerging situations involving environmental activists around the world. When Global Response learns of activists who are being harassed, threatened, attacked or killed, Emergency Actions are sent to members by e-mail asking them to write letters or send e-mail messages or send faxes to authorities who can intervene to protect the lives, safety and human rights of environmental activists.
5.) The Rain Forest Action Network houses a great amount of information on almost all environmental issues. Take a look at all the campaigns that they are putting together for a better future for everyone. There is also something for the kids. Oh yes, children, you have a lot of power, too. Do you think you know enough about the environment to know that it is not in trouble? Well, take this quiz to find out. Guess what? They have their own What You Can Do (on a global level). Environmentalism is not a doomed pursuit. Find out about all the Eco-victories of one of the many Eco-organizations that are committed to protecting the present to preserve the future. 6.) The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 by a group of people led by John Muir to save the wild treasures for the benefit and enjoyment of their generation and generations yet to come. Since then they have grown to encompass all of United States as well as dealing with certain global issues to protect what our ancestors were wise enough not to destroy. They are a great resource of recent Eco-news. Learn how to become an Activist. It's for the good of all people. And hey! it's not all about work. Discover the beauty that we Ecofriends are protecting by participating in Sierra Club outings. Find out where Sierra is located near you. Educate yourself about the environment so that you may better protect it. Sierra Club is a true Eco-hero that is committed to protecting our environment. Home Page Charter Members Eco-Essays Past Events What You Can Do
ecological awereness has come and the power clubs like yours has. When I attended Chabot College, we used slide rules(no calculators) - Incredible environmental ignorance! WE have a ways to go-but like my uncle (pushing a 100yrs) says "just keep moving" do what you need to do. Carol Comments: I was delighted to find your web site as I am a (way)past graduate of Chabot! I teach special education at the high school and am co-advisor for our Environmental Club. Our club goals are to promote environmental awareness, educate, involve students in activities that save the earth, and have fun. We had a tri-school aluminum can recycling contest in March to see which school could collect the most cans in a two week period. Our school won by a narrow margin but we had a pizza party for all who participated. On March 21st we are promoting "Car's Suck Day" with the goal of
Thursday 01 December 2011 at 09:29 am
23. Say your piece and then be still Like nature in a storm That rains and blows and ceases And sees the sun reborn Open to the inward view You are at one with all existence There's nothing blocking up the way Or putting up resistance If you're at home with nothingness And simply trust what comes about You'll find that all is in its place Without a question or a doubt Have your say. Do what you must. But don't insist. You are not in competition with anyone. You are made to receive and contain the world, not to confront or face it down. You have no face to block or resist anything from your awareness, from your presence. Your nature is pure and open presence. You are made to welcome and accept all creation.
Can you trust and welcome? Lao Tzu promises that if you do, you find all is as it should be. All is in its place. The ten thousand things that come and go out there are contained in your open awareness here. 24. Who stands on tiptoe topples Who runs ahead soon looses speed Who goes on show is hidden Who pushes far gives up the lead Don't depart from what is given The ever present here and now Don't overreach and don't oppose Invite, admire and allow All ten thousand things have limits. Lao Tzu honors those limits. He gives us the principle of sudden reversal. If you try to push beyond your limits, you invite disaster. Be content to go as far as you can. Don't try to stand out. Do so and become a target. Just stay aware of what is given. What is given is totality. There are no limits to wholeness. There are no targets in totality. 25. Before creation did occur This blessed emptiness was here Alone forever and at peace The source of all that does appear Eternally unchanging Forever lacking limit This void is all potential The everlasting ultimate It flows through all existence And then returns to source It's ever at your center Your only true recourse For here begins the universe The earth and humankind Following this greatest way You can never be defined Here Lao Tzu gives us an outline of his view of existence. What appears to us as a void or an absence or emptiness is truly a mystery. It's the ultimate, the absolute. It's the source of existence in its infinite potential. It's also a presence, pure and unchanging awareness, the always-so. This presence contains all that comes and goes in the here and now moment. It is your true, unchanging and eternal identity. It is beyond time because it contains time. Can you see this Tao first in all things? You are the Tao, the one awareness, the only awareness. This awareness is very close at hand. It's at your very center, and it's always available.
It's who you really are, and it's always at peace and beyond all upset. 26. The naked center doesn't change Its quietude is absolute Yet from it spring all things that move This bare awareness is the root Can you go about all day And never leave your true abode No matter how enticing are The splendors of the road? Don't think that you can run around And act a perfect fool Just see that you are at the eye Of nature's whirlpool Can you stay centered in the Tao, the absolute? The Tao is your central emptiness. It is naked awareness. It appears to you as a void, and it appears in the place where your head is visible to others but not to you. What is visible to you? Everything! You contain all things. You, as the Tao, are the root, the origin, the source of this awareness. This is your true abode. Who would abandon this totality for the limited excitements offered by the world? You are the center of this world, its origin and destiny. 27. Can you walk and leave no tracks? Make no errors when you talk? Count without a tally? Secure a door without a lock? You can abandon no one There's nothing you can leave behind In you there are no limits You are forever unconfined What happens is spontaneous Good and bad are just the same In origin identical Beyond both praise and blame Here Lao Tzu talks about a special kind of action that does not show off or attract attention, action that leaves no tracks or traces. He calls it wu wei or doing nothing. See that at center, there is no doer - only emptiness. All action is free and easy and spontaneous. How foolish it is to assign credit or blame! Wu wei is the natural way to act for those who see that their true essence is open acceptance of all that occurs. Good and bad are relative terms. What is good for one is bad for another. Awareness accepts whatever the present moment brings. Awareness accepts all and opposes nothing.
28. Know the strong but keep the weak The whole wide world is born in you You'll see just what a child sees A vast and comprehensive view Know the light but keep the dark And watch ten thousand things emerge In you they have their residence Where space and time converge Know the high but keep the low Humility will honor you Attend to your vacuity There's nothing else to do Be like an uncarved block of wood Don't squander your potential Or overlook your vacant core Nothing else is so essential What is Keeping the Weak? Water is weak, but given time and persistence it will wear down the hardest rock. Your true and open essence is weaker than water, weaker even than air. You are pure awareness, as transparent as a calm mountain lake, yet you have the capacity to reflect and take in all that presents itself to you. You remain constant and immutable while all else has its being in you. Be as persistent as water in seeing this transparency. Keep the weak, the vacuous and transparent. Keep your true nature. What is Keeping the Low? Stay with Tao, and all things come to you as rivers flow into the sea. Receive and contain all creation. You are the one who holds totality. You are not one of the Ten Thousand Things. Lie low and see that this is true. Invite the world! What is the Uncarved Block of Wood? This is Lao Tzu's symbol for simplicity and possibility. Before a piece of wood is carved into an object, it is potentially anything. The Tao, the pure awareness right here where we all are, is the ultimate simplicity that spontaneously manifests as the always changing world, as the ten thousand things. These ten thousand things are never the same. They change like the clouds. They are temporal and temporary. But the Tao, bare awareness, is eternal, out of time. The Tao contains time as it contains space. They are only measurements and dimensions of change.
29. Do you want to change the world? You cannot possibly succeed The given cannot be improved On this the seers are agreed At times you find you're out in front At other times you fall behind Sometimes you're all commotion But afterwards you must unwind When all around is turmoil Just stay with the serene You are the quiet center Of the ever changing scene Can you see things as they are And let them be all on their own? Remain in pure awareness You never need to stray from home Things are just as they are. They arise out of nowhere. What good does it do to reject some events and accept others? It harms no one but yourself. You are not made to reject anything. You are made open and aware. You take in the world. Existence changes constantly. You can't pin it down. Why not trust it? Let the ten thousand things come and go. You need do nothing. Stay with your true identity, pure presence. The scene changes. You remain empty. All that is given is inevitable. Why wish for change? Change will come on its own. You are the Tao, the unchanging. Do nothing. Remain content. The turmoil and confusion cannot reach you. You are the immutable Tao, the everlasting simplicity. 30. There is an ancient way to lead That just allows and does not force For what goes out will come around And violence will lead to wars The one who sees completes a task And stops when it is done Seeing all is on its own And not controlled by anyone The seer sees that all is well And does not need to please Just gives acceptance everywhere Puts everyone at ease The Tao can change the world. The attitude of the Tao is acceptance. The attitude of so many people and institutions is force. This attitude says that we know what is right and what is wrong. We know how others should think. They should think as we do. We know how they should behave. They should behave as we do. We should take whatever actions are necessary to force compliance. The Taoist attitude is different. Allow others to go their own way. Let go of the need to control. The Tao is in charge and is worthy of its charge. What freedom you give to all you meet with this kind of acceptance!
31. Weapons lead to violence Which everyone despises Avoid them altogether Allow no compromises If use of weapons has to be When enemies just leave no choice Use them but reluctantly In victory do not rejoice Ascendancy brings sorrow And triumph doesn't carry pleasure It severs you from wholeness And robs you of your real treasure Victory is like a funeral Where loss of life must make you sad For putting other people down Never ought to make you glad Once again we meet the principle of reversal. This time it's the cycle of aggression. People naturally resist force. Ascendancy brings sorrow because it make you an object, a person, a limited thing. It may make you the greatest thing, even the top thing. But being any kind of a thing covers up your true and unlimited nature as absolute awareness. This is the greatest loss of all. In addition to this loss of wholeness, you have set yourself up as a thing up against other things, as a person in the world. You have put yourself in competition for the world's limited resources. Others are bound to oppose you. They want what you have for themselves. Have you been victorious? Can you hold on to this victory? 32. Awareness is not limited It's like an uncarved block of wood With infinite potential Beyond all usefulness for good If leaders could stay centered In awareness pure and plain This world would be as nourishing As nature's gentle rain Everyone would be at peace And always living in the whole Opposition and division Could never take their toll How easily we give up our original nature. We become fascinated by the outward display. We seek our security there, where it is not to be found. Lao Tzu points to another place. He points inward, to our awareness. He points to the awareness of infinite potential and possibility. Seeing our original and open nature, we are centered on truth. As aware simplicity, we are truth. We absorb all opposites into the one openness we share with all beings. No peace and no support exceeds this. We are whole. We are totality, pure and plain. 33. It may be said that you are wise To see yourself as others do But you are wiser still to see From your own central point of view Then you see you have it all These riches that are always here Belong to you completely Because your vision is so clear What does it mean to see yourself as others see you? Others see you from a distance. They see you as an object, as a human being, a thing in the world. But at no distance at all, you see yourself as pure openness, total clarity. From this vacant center, you see that you contain the ever changing world. You are rich and clear and wise. Would you trade this for being a limited, perishable human being?
Thursday 01 December 2011 at 09:05 am
May Day marks the beginning of the peak of growth month and the sunniest quarter of the year! It's a great day to fertilize almost everything. Be sure to water your fertilizer in. There will be no significant rain until October. Ranunculus fields in Santa Maria this month! Prune Shrubs Prune azaleas when bloom is finished. This is one plant that should be shaped with hedge shears to maximize the flowers for next year. Prune other spring bloomers to thin and to shape. Prune lilacs just below the spent flowers. Remove entire canes at the base of forsythia, spirea, quince and other multi-stemmed shrubs. You can continue to prune all spring bloomers until August. Branches you prune during August will not have time to form flower buds for next year. Cut off dead flowers on annuals and perennials to keep new blossoms coming.
Thin Fruit to Prevent June Drop Fruit trees produce many more fruit than they can mature. Some of the immature fruit fall off naturally in late spring, a phenomenon known as June drop. Thin the small fruit on apples, pears, apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines. Thin to about 3 inches apart for apricots and plums, 6 inches apart for larger fruit like peaches and nectarines. Thin apples to the best apple in each cluster. Each apple or peach will be larger and tastier, and the branches will not be weighted down to the breaking point. Water
Beginning now and continuing through the summer, lawns will require an inch of water every week -- two inches during hot spells and in hot inland locations. Water in the morning before the winds come up. The lawn will be dry in the afternoon. This will discourage fungus diseases. If you have brown spots in your lawn, it is 99% certain that your lawn is not getting enough water. Proper watering will keep the soil moist down to 6 to 8 inches. Shallow watering is the number one cause of brown spots and thin, weedy lawns.
Test for water penetration with a large screwdriver. It should easily penetrate 6 to 8 inches. If the turf is to dry, you won't be able to push it that far. Often, only parts of the lawn are dry. This may be due to uneven watering. Sprinkler systems should have head to head coverage, that is, there should be 100% overlap between sprinkler heads. One sprinkler head should spray clear to the next one! Fertilize Fertilize azaleas, camellias, gardenias and citrus with acid food. Follow up one week later with liquid iron. Fertilize lawns with a high nitrogen fertilizer. Ammonium sulfate is inexpensive and works well. Following package directions will apply one pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn. Use weed and feed products only for severe infestations of weeds. Use spot sprays if the infestation is minor. Do not use a broadleaf weed killer that contains dicamba if there are trees in the lawn. Tree roots will absorb dicamba, and leaves will be damaged. You may need to increase your watering schedule this month. You can discourage fungus diseases in your flower garden if you water the ground and not the foliage of your plants.
It is helpful to water the foliage occasionally to wash off accumulated dust and even mites and insects. You can even add a weak solution of liquid soap to a hose end sprayer. May Flowers Rhododendrons bloom this month all over California, though they do best in the northern coastal climates. They can be grown farther south with some attention to their liking for well drained, moisture retentive acid soils. Be sure to amend your soil with lots of peat moss, and give the plant regular water in the summer. If you live inland, provide protection from the afternoon sun. Snap off the flower clusters when they fade. Snowball is another shrub that is sometimes not grown in the southern part of the state. Like most deciduous shrubs, it likes some winter chill. In fact, it's a good choice for gardeners in Zones 7 and 8, but it will grow even on the south coast. Can you find some in your neighborhood? Yesterday-Today-and-Tomorrow is the common name of Brunfelsia, another plant that is at its peak of bloom in May, though this one will have some bloom through the summer too. Brunfelsia prefers a location in bright shade.
Other shrubs in bloom this month include Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina), Privet (Ligustrum), Natal Plum (Carissa), and Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum). Colorful perennials include Bellflower (Campanula), Mexican Evening Primrose (Oenothera) and Red Valerian (Centranthus). The Jacaranda is one of our most popular trees, and it is in full bloom now on California's Central Coast. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec to Garden California \
Thursday 01 December 2011 at 08:59 am
Dormant Season Ending! Now is the last chance for bareroot planting, dormant pruning and spraying! Finish these tasks by mid-month.
Don't miss the most important spray to prevent peach leaf curl on nectarines and peaches. Spray with lime sulfur or fixed copper when buds begin to swell but before they show color -- about mid-month. Copper sprays must contain 50% fixed copper. Do not use lime sulfur on apricots. If fireblight has been a problem on your pear trees, including evergreen pears, spray while the tree is in blossom with copper or agricultural grade streptomycin.
Spray weekly when the weather is warm and humid. Warm means an average daily temperature of over 60 degrees. Add the high and the low for the day and divide by two to get the average temperature for the day. Weed Prevention If you have had problems with crabgrass or spotted spurge in the past, apply a fertilizer that contains a pre-emergence herbicide (weed preventer) in mid-February. Crabgrass begins to germinate by the end of the month. These weeds are not problems until summer, but you need to act now if you want to prevent them from growing at all. Pendamethalin prevents oxalis and spotted spurge as well as crabgrass. Dacthal is also effective against a wide range of summer weeds.
Gallery prevents crabgrass and many broadleaf weeds. Cool and wet weather encourages red thread, a fungus disease, in lawns. This disease will show up as small (3 to 5 inch) brown spots in your lawn. Look closely at the tips of the blades to see the red color. Prevent or treat red thread by applying a high nitrogen fertilizer. Bluegrass lawns are especially susceptible. Spot spray dandelions in lawns with a broadleaf weed killer. Only the most severe infestation of weeds require a weed and feed product, which applies chemicals over the entire lawn rather than on just the weeds themselves. Plant Bulbs and Seeds Plant bulbs for late spring and summer -- glads, lilies, iris, cannas, callas, anemones, ranunculus, tuberous begonias. Plant crowns of strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus and artichokes. Begin planting gladiolus corms now; they will bloom in 10 weeks. Plant them 6 inches deep and 6 inches apart. Plant every two weeks in March and April also to space out the blooming. Thrips attack leaves and flowers, especially during the hot summer months. Be sure to get started planting now. In the greenhouse or under lights, plant seeds of spring flowers and vegetables -- stock, calendulas, sweet Williams, lettuce, cole crops, root crops, parsley, onions. If rains are light, be sure to water as deciduous trees put out new leaves and blossoms.
Cut back fuchsias and hydrangeas. To make hydrangeas blue, give them a monthly application of aluminum sulfate. Flowers for February Vines: Hardenbergia violacea is sold as Coral Pea. It belongs to the Pea Family, Legumimosae, and is native to Australia. Adapted to USDA Zones 9 and 10. Give it sunlight, a well drained soil, and regular watering. It blooms profusely in February. Prune after flowering. Train as a vine or prune as a mounded shrub. Also does well in containers.
Saturday 26 November 2011 at 2:46 pm
Covington Georgia Fieldstone Center, Newton County Georgia features stone masonry and computer controlled limestone fabrication capabilities for natural stone fabrication needs also serving Rockdale County Georgia just east of Conyers a quarter of the way out of Atlanta toward Lake Oconee Ga..
Fieldstone Center is Georgia's largest stone showroom also showing outdoor kitchen equipment, stone fireplacs, natural stone facades and manufactured stone veneers.
Friday 25 November 2011 at 10:05 am
Maple Canyon
During fall giant untouched cobblestone castles greet you like royalty, while golden leaves lie scattered on the road like a red carpet to a magical climbing kingdom. Noble pine trees stand guard at the entrances to these conglomerate corridors and towers, green against the orange and yellow hues of the maple leaves. Maple canyon is undoubtedly the best and most scenic area I have climbed. Climbing on the quartzite river cobbles,
shaped in the ancient past by a massive river, as we do not have on the planet today, is unique.
"It is like a natural climbing gym", remarked a Canadian fascinated by the cobbles peeking out of tough sandstone in Christian's newly developed 25m high and 30m overhanging cave. Kristian Merwin and his wife Julie began developing the cave in April 1998, along with a futuristic bouldering cave in which he established a 38 move (near horizontal) V10 and a 5.13c, (in ONE day!) while we were there. In the amphitheatre he has four 5.13s and has a 5.14 project, he reckons this will be the Mecca of hard endurance climbing in the future. However there are a dozen classic 5.11s and 5.12s, on the left wall.
"Get up oke, Christ its 11am already!", yells my partner in climb Jason "The Nose" Templeton-Forbes, but after a cold sleepless night in a sleeping bag with a broken zipper, it is quite an undertaking hauling yourself into the chilly morning air. (Even with a full bladder) Motivation is renewed with a few mugs of expresso, and we head up the steep path in the forest winding through melted snow, my thoughts numbed into a climbers wet dream contemplating potential routes on the numerous unclimbed pillars standing majestically above the trees. Your mind is sometimes overcome by the choices of hand and foot placements while climbing this unique rock, the nature of it providing consistently hard pulls contributing to a mind blowing pump, so be sure to pack your arms with mondo endurance before you road trip to Maple.
As I hold the slack in my chapped lips about to clip the chains on the last 5.12a of the day, my forearms ache from 4 solid days of cranking, and my mind wanders to the Big Texas Chicken Fajita Skillet which awaits me, after which I will pass out in the R.V. as we head back to Salt Lake home of thousands of McDonalds and Mormons. Life can't get better.
A little later we lie back in a whirlpool in S.L.C., tired, clean, and satisfied, while planning the next trip to Maple. Kristian and Julie discuss the possibility of a trip to S.A., and I hope we can show them an equivalent amount of excellent hospitality and climbing as we experienced in the states.
The Hunters
During fall hunters will invade Rifle and Maple Canyon in their masses, and throw beer bottles around, make a large amount of noise and generally cause chaos. They are easily discernable from the climbers as they usually have red necks, drive oversize pick-ups, call each other Tom or Bob, and wear ridiculous fluorescent orange caps and jackets. (The deer do not see orange) I have compiled the following safety recommendations to avoid being mistaken for a deer, while walking up to the crag:
1. Sing country and Western songs at great volume and wave your arms around. (Do not sing anything else because they will probably shoot you anyway)
2. Write "I am NOT a deer" on your forehead and wear bulletproof fluorescent orange clothing. (Do not wear any other colour, because you will scare the deer and they will probably shoot you anyway)
3. Don't attempt to reason with them, they will have difficulty understanding your South African accent, become frustrated and probably shoot you anyway.
4. If you hear gunshots, lie flat on the ground and start praying. (Silently)
If none of the above works, throw quick draws at them and swear at them in Afrikaans.
The Wasatch Front
Hanging out at the gym we got to meet the characters of the Salt Lake climbing scene. Scott, one of the gym managers, (and the man who has the coolest job in the world) gave nightly sermons on anti-Mormonism with a bottle of vodka in hand. Jeremy, another gym local, is a physcho kid with a chess addiction, (you will fear your life if you beat him) and behind the gym there is a small community of climbers and people living in R.V.s, just enjoying the vibe. We spotted Mike and Tamara Cartwright here, (roadrats@hotmail.com, webpage: http://www.oocities.com/Yosmite/Gorge/8192/) 6 weeks into their indefinite road trip around the world. Kristian and Julie invite any other S.A. climbers as cool as us to chill in the gym, while savouring the climbing in the area.
Heading Home
Time passed quickly in Utah and Colorado, and all too soon we had to leave the snow-covered peaks of Salt Lake for sunny South Africa. While enduring the 48hr marathon bus journey to New York City I began to realise how large the States is, and how little legroom they give you on the damn bus. The bustle of Broadway in NYC was a jolt into urban existence, after our last isolated week in Maple Canyon. However, I had been told of some excellent bouldering in Central Park, and this is where we headed. My last hold on American rock, was in this quiet haven, the ominous skyscrapers of Manhattan looming overhead, reminders of the fast paced New York culture surrounding us. My final vision of New York was of an Amish man crossing the road at Times Square, the height of commercialism, a foreign cab driver swearing at a stingy customer, and a speedy treacherous bus ride to JFK, where I left the cosmopolitan craziness of NY for another mind blowing day in Amsterdam.
Friday 25 November 2011 at 10:05 am
Roche Resort is a resort marina in the mode of Mackinac Island. Founded by a limestone barron in the 1880s it was the largest limeworks West of the Mississippi in it's day. The villiage of Roche Harbor's Hotel de Haro (built in 1886) is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. The villiage/harbor is a major crossroads in the San Juans: within walking distance you have the ability to travel via Ferry, private boat, float plane, or make arrangements to use their airstrip.
People gather at sunset for the lowering of the colors (both Canadian and United States.) Which is what was ocurring in this photo.
While exploring the general vacinity of Roche, we ran across this amazing sculpture park. This may have been the coolest thing we saw while on land during the entire trip
Another interesting feature was the mausoleum erected in honor of John S. McMillin, the limestone barron who founded the Roche Harbor Lime and Cement Company that became the resort of Roche Harbor. A devout Methodist, Republican, and Mason, there is much symbolism built into the Afterglow Mausoleum, as it is known to locals.
Sitting back about a half-mile into second-growth forest, the mausoleum consists of a massive limestone dias with a limestone table and limestone chairs representing family members.
Over 100 sculptures from prominent Northwest artists are on display in the 19 acre Wescott Bay Reserve Sculpture Park that is across from the resort's cottages. Bordered by the cottages, the airstrip and Wescott Bay, the park meanders through 2nd and old-growth forest, ponds, and prairie grassland. The sculptures are interspersed amongst this terrain. It is a photographer's dream, and by the look of some of the people we ran across it's a great place to go in an altered state of your choosing.
