Science! Psuedo-science! Nature! Art! Nonsense!
April 27, 2019
art, dogs, who knows art, art in the corner, blue ridge, dogs, farm implement, gem, stone slab, video 2 Comments
Art in the Corner
Ever since we moved to this property in 2002, I have wanted to use one of the old rusted farm implements as an art piece. 17 years later, here is the piece pretty much exactly how I imagined it. The rock slab is a 2500 pound bluestone slab from Pennsylvania. Getting that properly staged was a thing, but it all went surprisingly smoothly.
Mogli is suspicious of this art idea
January 11, 2018
animals, cute, dogs, humor, nature, photography, river, who knows animals, dogs, environment, golden retreiver, humor, ice, paddling, photography, shenandoah river, video Leave a comment
With age does not always wisdom come. But, fun it was! We had a crazy-cold week that froze the river, and now a crazy-warm day to test out the water. Nice.
Mogli leads the way.
The mic on my phone was broken, but just imaging the sound of crunching ice.
Time for a break.
Here, imagine geese honking their displeasure! and ice popping as it melts. Hit ‘play’ and it is not upside down.
Sweet Mogli has captured a hunk of ice to take home! (Video is correct when plays)
Dirty hand is happy hand.
Exactly how i feel! :)
January 8, 2018
animals, cute, farm, humor, nature, photography, river, who knows animals, basset hound, dogs, environment, frozen, golden retreiver, humor, ice, lab, mogli, photography, puck, shenandoah river, sophie Leave a comment
Yes, no holy man, but pretty damn cute. And risky! Shenandoah is frozen fun. No human i know would head out that far, naked!
Cautious, she is.
Dude! Come on back.
He’s a Beauty.
Not everyone has that…Je ne sais quoi!
December 24, 2017
dogs, fire, party cerbe, dogs, jacob, mogli, photography, solstice, solstice fire, solstice party, video, winter solstice, winter solstice 2017 8 Comments
Cerbe meets mogli before dark
Music. Great food. Huge fire. Friends. Boilo. What more could you want?
Early birds get to see the lighting
Mmmmmm. Beer.
The lighting
Put it in perspective: 100 feet of flame.
This year the fairy ring of osage oranges turned into a warning line for fire spread. We had to get water buckets and a hose out for the first time ever.
The fire spreads
View from the field
The two (or three) pods making up the solstice party are always a good mix. Food and cheesy Christmas music in the barn. Fire and live music in the field. This year some of the real music moved into the barn during a brief rain.
Lights
Boilo causes time warps
Marco
Turn sun turn
Thanks to all who came. An excellent iteration.
November 15, 2017
animals, cute, dogs, farm, humor, nature, photography, who knows cats, dogs, golden retreiver, humor, mogli, Soupy jr, Sunshine Leave a comment
Mogli
Sunshine
Mogli tends to Soupy Jr.
Soupy Junes plays coy
Sun shine
Success
November 10, 2017
animals, cute, dogs, farm, nature, photography, who knows bassett hound, dogs, environment, golden retreiver, home, mogli, puck, sophie 1 Comment
Mogli, single shot
Puck, single shot, close behind.
on return.
speedy sophie
pre-sprint chill
September 20, 2016
sailing 2016, dogs, gem, leukemia cup, mascot, photography, potomac river, river, sailing, stretch, team tartan, video 2 Comments
We’ve been sailing the Leukemia Cup for 8 years in a row now as Team Tartan and raising lots of money to fight blood cancer. We’re super pleased and proud to report that because of you, our 106 donors, the 2016 Leukemia Cup is yours!
Together we raised $59,729 this year. Just wow.
Team Tartan Takes the Cup
Extra special thanks is due to Phil Venables who donated an incredible $40,000 this year. Phil has been our major supporter for four years running and has a collection of red hats to prove it. Thanks Phil! You can sail with us anytime!
The Leukemia Cup Trophy
Many of our steady supporters were kind enough not only to donate again, but to raise their 2016 ante. Andy and Heather Steingrubl are a prime example. They doubled their donation this year to a whopping $2000. Everyone should emulate that behavior next year.
Kilts! We Sail in Kilts!
Together as Team Tartan we’ve all raised $186,053.60 since 2012. Here’s how that stacks up as a bar chart.
We certainly love to break fundraising records, but we also like to win in the water as well. This year we took 3rd place in our class (non-spin)! So we’re back in the big league standings which is not bad for a bunch of sailors in kilts.
Here’s what Commodore Chris had to say about the 2016 race itself.
Team Tartan on the Water
We sailed this year with one new crew member. Amy Barley took Eli’s place as Eli is off at college now. There were four of us on board, Chris captaining, Esther, Amy, and Gary grinding and acting as rail meat. And there was Stretch, our one-year-old rescue puppy mascot, who either scampered along the deck, tail wagging and jogging from sailor to sailor in search of dog treats or curled up in the jib sheet taking a nap between races.
Stretch the Team Tartan Mascot
With only moderate 5 knot winds and temperatures in the 90s, Team Tartan lumbered out to the start line for the 2016 Regatta in the weathered 25 foot Catalina Rebecca. It was hot, and a far cry from last year’s soggy race.
Race 1: Not Fast
The first race was as tight as the winds were moderate. On the two mile “course D” we took around 40 minutes to pull in third across the finish line. We were only seconds behind our on-the-water nemesis Captain Bill. The general rule of thumb is if you beat Bill you can actually win the regatta. So we were feeling pretty good about race 1, but we knew we had to do better.
Race 2: Real Winds
As the winds picked up well past 7 knots for race 2, the members of Team Tartan found their groove. Winds hit a day long maximum of 12 knots during the race, and creaky old Rebecca found enough uumpf to pull ahead of the fleet. Team members were straining hard on each tack keeping as much weight on the windward side to keep the boat’s keel under her. The tactic worked, and we won the bullet in race 2! Yep, we even bested Bill. Now things were going our way.
Team Tartan 2016
Sadly as the gun for race three sounded, the winds died down and so did our boat’s speed. Unbeknownst to us, as we traveled through the shallows, our keel and rudder snagged long green masses of hydrilla grass from bottom (something we only discovered after we limped across the line in 5th place). Race 3 was devastating to our overall ranking.
Pro Tip: Attack Grass Slows You Down
Attack grass and lame winds aside, as race scores were tallied in full, we won third place in the fleet! Go kilt sailors.
Commodore Chris Sails Team Tartan to 3rd Pace
Team Tartan 2016
We celebrated with dark and stormies as we were reunited with Faith, Anna, Chris G, Gary Sr and Laura (the land bound part of Team Tartan) after sailing. During the race, Faith checked in visitors to the spectator boat, and Team Tartan members and supporters Gary Sr., Laura, Anna, Carly, Maggie, and kiddos all loaded up on a packed spectator boat to see the races.
There Be Pirates!
Your Faithful Crew and a Bunch of Burgees
BTW, donations are still being accepted for the 2016 Leukemia Cup. Want to put Team Tartan over $60K? We’re all for it! Donate here.
August 29, 2016
animals, cute, dogs, farm, humor, nature, photography, river, who knows dogs, field of dreams, gem, mogli, nature, photography, river, shenandoah, shenandoah river Leave a comment
August 29, 2016
dogs, photography, river chronograph, clock, dogs, nature, photography, puck, river, shenandoah, shenandoah river Leave a comment
Years ago, my son Eli and I decided to build an art project underwater in the river. We started with the biggest rock around for hundreds of yards and built a pool around that. Then we began moving the wall of the pool out into the river in search of the late afternoon sun.
Shenandoah Blue
Here is what the river looks like.
Ultimately, we ended up with a chronograph. There’s a rock for every hour. Here’s how that ends up looking.
Anytime pool
4 o’clock rock
5 o’clock rock
6 o’clock rock
7 o’clock rock
Remember, all of these pictures were taken at 3 o’clock. So sun everywhere. Our trees are damn tall.
The peeps
The cooler
Some kind of clock
This dog has nothing to do with anything.
Puck who does not tell time
August 28, 2016
dogs, sailing dogs, leukemia cup, nature, photography, practice, river, sailing, stretch, team tartan 1 Comment
Or something like that.
Team Tartan Commodore Chris and mascot Stretch
For the last eight years, my brother Chris and I have been sailing the National Capitol Leukemia Cup regatta. We mostly do this to raise money to fight leukemia (a disease that killed our mother), but we also like to win the race on the water.
Over the years we have done just a smidge better raising money than we have sailing the race. We were number one in both a few years back. But since then, our sailing has become a bit rusty even while we have taken home the fundraising Leukemia Cup for many years in a row.
This year we’re kicking ass on the fundraising front (thanks to our many donors, but especially to phil venables). So far we have raised a collective $56,207. That is a major record for Team Tartan.
If you would like to donate, you can do it now on the net.
In order to up our game on the water, we did some practice this weekend.
Sailing Practice with Team Tartan
The jib pole is always a challenge.
Sailing practice can be tiring. Here is our mascot Stretch ready to jibe.
JIBE! Er, sleep.
See you on the water.
Fin.
