Recent content by MrPoling

I know someone who's young son has a gluten problem. He mentioned this once.. So I can confirm this is a real thing that people worry about. The point wasnt he was worried about his young son making out with a cake-eater. The kiss is used as a example of how little gluten is needed to cause...

I was paddling this week in a big tandem loaded with two kids and camping gear. I was getting tired of sitting with my knees bent, but when I stretched out I felt more unstable. I even had a solid foot brace and it didn't help. I concluded sitting with my feet flat against the bottom near the...

It might be. I was thinking maybe just find a small box, fold the flaps in, then cut a hole in the bottom for the thermometer to look through. Basically like a shroud for a camera. That should at least prevent sunlight from interfering. i got in the habit of taking a few measurements of the...

That is an interesting conversation. I've always been paranoid about having my boats out in the hot southern sun. I'm not savvy about epoxy so I'll limit my comments to mentioning aging and degradation. It matters to the materials thermal characteristics, but predicting how would be tricky...

The C&O Canal Companion by Mike High. It includes lots of history. However, most of the canal is now dry, so it is better for cycling.

Paddling on a lake I saw a group of 4 or 5 hawks climbing to several hundred feet then diving to treetop level. They were in a line, and at least two re-climbed to take a second turn. Like kids on a water slide. Once saw a great blue heron calmly step on a 3 inch turtle. The heron continued...

I've drilled two vehicles now. In both cases I was far happier with the results than the factory racks, or aftermarket with those clips the tops of doors. The best part about drilling is you can get longer spread. The bad part is modern vehicles, with airbags and sunroofs require a little...

Last month I did a practice swim. I did it with just a baling scoop and swim trunks. The fiberglass Explorer is too heavy to toss. Bailing it out enough to climb in then bailing it empty was a cold chore. I normally carry flotation open water or white water. Ive wondered about side...

I looked at this when I watched the videos, but didn't comment before. I agree with Glenn. From the images I saw, this was not only a designed fish ramp, but was too shallow and narrow for most paddeboards. I think even if you lined it up straight, and the ramp is wide enough, the fin on the...

Im guess every dam is different, but we had an incident here a few years ago where a group of tubers washed over a dam around dusk. The survivors were stuck in the hydraulic until mid-morning the next day, clinging to their tubes overnight. It is hard to tell, maybe with PFD nobody would have...

This winter i refinished my pole. It is a 10ft, 1 1/2 inch diameter softwood pole. A "HomeDePole" For the last several years I'd used it without a shoe. After trimming the rough end and refinishing I attached a copper cap. It worked great, gripping the rock well. But I was surprised how...

A harsh penalty, but her incompetence and negligence was staggering. Also, weir = low head dam. This one is pretty nasty looking, and should not have been run by paddle boarders.

Yes, i have a new phone and the voice recognition and keyboard interaction is not as smooth as I'd like. The new phone has a great camera. That is a night time photo of a backlight cabin. Also has an optical zoom so I can take pictures of wildlife. I included it because it had canoes and I...

Cabin and canoes at Betsy Penn 4H camp in NC

In West Virginia and the Carolinas, it was normally "carry". Now that I'm listening to myself, I'm confused. Port-taj? Port-aj? Por-taj?