Outside

[Adabiviak]

What is everyone up to now that the snow has mostly melted (here anyway)? Please post here any outdoor things you're up to (camping, cycling, swimming, hiking... the like). Pictures would be great. I've been up to quite a bit myself, but to keep this brief and to seed the tip jar, here's one:

Three day, two night hike into Yosemite with three friends: hiked from the valley floor to Snow Creek, then a day hike to Mt. Watkins. Saw some interesting critters (Sooty grouse, King snake, some variety of metallic wood-boring beetle, Snow plants, etc.) Spectacular views. Found bear tracks crossing our path on the return trip from Mt. Watkins :O. Met some guy from the Basque region of Europe (not sure if he was from a Spanish or French province), who was deeply concerned that he would freeze that night, so he shared our campfire and told us his story. Also met a couple of fish oil vendors from the east coast who were not given the full details of what a hike to Snow Creek would entail from the rangers, and arrived in the dark. They also shared our campfire to warm up, cook some wieners, and set up camp nearby. The last of the snow melt was avalanching down the cliffs, so from about 2p-4p, you'd hear repeated rumblings through the valley as tons of snow slid off the mountains and fell.

Huge pics are huge - spoilered and compressed terribly for your download convenience (you'll need to zoom out):

Spoiler

BIG 'OL SNIP so this post won't crash some people's browsers

 

[VirusType2]

Those are great photos. You should try to identify them all. :cheers:

Regarding the outdoors, I live on the edge of a smallish mountain, so I walk and run up and down it every day. I'm really noticing a difference in my stamina.

The mountainside is beautiful, but once I leave the pavement, there's too many feisty insects. I have to wear sunglasses to protect my eyes from the gnats, and there is one particular bug, perhaps related to a horse-fly, that constantly ****s with me. He is incredibly fast, persistent, and annoying. He never fails to show up once I step one foot on the side of the mountain. I can only guess that my flailing arms keep him from taking a blood-sucking bite of me - my head in particular. He only seems to pester me when I'm walking, so I let him encourage me to sprint up the hill (my goal).

 

[xombine]

This thread breaks my browser for a good 20 seconds when I open it.

Also, what is this outside you speak of?

 

[VirusType2]

I can't find a summer picture on hand. Here's one I took in February 2009:

You can't really tell, but it goes far down where there's a river.

 

[Dr.Demento]

I hate Summer. Too hot.

Staying indoors until it gets cool again during Autumn.

 

[Vegeta897]

God whyyyyyyyyy did you ruin those pictures? If you would just size them down a bit (say 1920px width) and use like 85% jpeg compression they'd be fine.

 

[dfc05]

I hate Summer. Too hot.

Staying indoors until it gets cool again during Autumn.

I tend to agree with this.

Sometimes I go out to work on a garden at school. And sometimes I go out to stare at the veggies growing on my patio (I have lettuce, beans, peas, and cherry tomatoes). I had a ginormous aphid infestation followed by a bunch of ladybug larvae. Also there are wasps building a nest on my patio railing. I don't know what to do about this as I'm scared of getting stung if I try to get rid of them, and they don't seem aggressive (yet) so I'm inclined to leave them alone. But I don't want to end up with a huge nest 3 feet away from my door either.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Winter = Too cold

Spring = Too much pollen and too many insects

Summer = Too hot

Autumn = Perfect!!!

...as in there aren't many insect around here during Autumn, no pollen, and the temperature is just right.

P.S. To any of you actually enjoying Summer right now in a nice cold swimming pool, beach, or spring, I hope you drown along with you bathing suits and sunscreen.

 

[Solaris]

I'm heading to work in Kos on Wednesday, anyone else there, give me a shout.

 

[Sheepo]

I run and kayak everyday. We just got a jetski, so that's cool.

 

[Acepilotf14]

This thread breaks my browser for a good 20 seconds when I open it.

Also, what is this outside you speak of?

Wow.. mine too.

 

[Danimal]

[Photos Have Been Removed Due To Illegal Content]

 

[VirusType2]

I tend to agree with this.

Sometimes I go out to work on a garden at school. And sometimes I go out to stare at the veggies growing on my patio (I have lettuce, beans, peas, and cherry tomatoes). I had a ginormous aphid infestation followed by a bunch of ladybug larvae. Also there are wasps building a nest on my patio railing. I don't know what to do about this as I'm scared of getting stung if I try to get rid of them, and they don't seem aggressive (yet) so I'm inclined to leave them alone. But I don't want to end up with a huge nest 3 feet away from my door either.

You should find out where they are nesting. They may become hostile if you get close to the nest. I'm not sure about wasps, but I know that some bees will bump into your head (usually). I've had them fly into my forehead. Some called it bee bumping. That's a warning shot to back off.

Like for example:

Bumping bees don't initially sting, instead they are warning potential threats to stay away from their hives. Bumping guard bees are a clear warning of a potential bee attack, and here in Africanized Honeybee territory, it's best to leave the area if bumping bees or a visible wild beehive are ever encountered.

http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2005/11/22/africanized-honeybees/

Maybe this is just a characteristic of Africanized Honey Bees, I don't know.

We just got a jetski, so that's cool.

Oh man. I always wanted to ride one of those. They look ****ing insane, especially flying off huge waves.

 

[Adabiviak]

...there is one particular bug, perhaps related to a horse-fly, that constantly ****s with me.

Deer fly? Are its eyes camoflage patterned?

This thread breaks my browser for a good 20 seconds when I open it.

Is it downloading the images in the spoiler tags without opening them, or is it choking on the size of the images? I'll shrink images in any upcoming adventures according to Vegeta's instructions below, which should prevent this.

God whyyyyyyyyy did you ruin those pictures? If you would just size them down a bit (say 1920px width) and use like 85% jpeg compression they'd be fine.

You know, as I was killing them with compression, I was thinking to myself, "Vegeta will certainly disapprove" ...then I turned the compression down lower.

Today we scoped out some places to try some canoes out for next weekend (Utica/Union/Spicer reservoirs). Road trip, nothing special, got to drive through a little snow - might go bike camping by a neighboring lake tonight unless I have a particularly good time on TF2 tonight (although we just rented Eli).

 

[Raziaar]

You know, as I was killing them with compression, I was thinking to myself, "Vegeta will certainly disapprove" ...then I turned the compression down lower.

Vegeta is always out and about ranting about some resolution discrepancy or some compression... you just had to **** with him.

I love it.

 

[15357]

I love winter. Everything else sucks. Autumn is bearable.


Winter all the way. Snow and blizzards for everyone!

 

[dfc05]

You should find out where they are nesting. They may become hostile if you get close to the nest. I'm not sure about wasps, but I know that some bees will bump into your head (usually). I've had them fly into my forehead. Some called it bee bumping. That's a warning shot to back off.

Oh I know exactly where they're nesting.

Right...

over...

there.

Sometimes I go out to pick my lettuce about two feet from the nest and they don't bother me.

 

[Danimal]

Kill it with fire, literally.

 

[Adabiviak]

I run and kayak everyday. We just got a jetski, so that's cool.

Kayak as in tooling around a lake, or a little white water?

Sometimes I go out to pick my lettuce about two feet from the nest and they don't bother me.

If they're giving you static around your own house, waste 'em. We have carpenter bees, hornets (yellowjackets, wasps, whatever), and honeybees around the house, and unless they're harassed, they don't bother us. Is that lettuce good? I grew some that looked like that, and it was quite bitter. :bonce:

 

[Robbo]

I run and kayak everyday. We just got a jetski, so that's cool.

ooo what type of kayaking???

 

[Sheepo]

Kayak as in tooling around a lake, or a little white water?

There's a big creek behind my house which flows into the Potomac. I usually just explore down farther in our out, examining along the wooded shore, getting a workout, pausing for a floating nap.

ooo what type of kayaking???

Um, not really sure what different types there are, but the description above should tell you.

 

[Vegeta897]

Now when you say jetski, do you mean a real jetski, or one of them seadoos?

One is for hardcore people who like to get wet and needs skill to ride, the other is for pansies.

 

[Sheepo]

I'm a pansy, I guess. I figured there were levels of hardcoreness but I didn't realize seadoos were a clearly distinct thing on the bottom rung.

 

[Dr.Demento]

You should find out where they are nesting. They may become hostile if you get close to the nest. I'm not sure about wasps, but I know that some bees will bump into your head (usually). I've had them fly into my forehead. Some called it bee bumping. That's a warning shot to back off.

Hell no. Wasps are mean sonsabitches that attack anything on sight that moves or has a pulse. (especially red wasps)

Most bees and other flying insects with a stinger won't bother humans unless provoked.

 

[dfc05]

If they're giving you static around your own house, waste 'em. We have carpenter bees, hornets (yellowjackets, wasps, whatever), and honeybees around the house, and unless they're harassed, they don't bother us. Is that lettuce good? I grew some that looked like that, and it was quite bitter. :bonce:

The one I have is the "grand rapids" variety. It's kinda bitter even though the back of the package claims it should be "tender and sweet". I just throw some tomatoes and carrots in with it. Or if I want to be really fancy sometimes I'll add some apple. I used to grow some that looked similar but wasn't bitter; not sure what variety.

 

[KiplingsCat]

In the hot weather I sit in the sun with white wine and olives.

 

[VirusType2]

Hell no. Wasps are mean sonsabitches that attack anything on sight that moves or has a pulse. (especially red wasps)

Most bees and other flying insects with a stinger won't bother humans unless provoked.

I agree that Wasps and Hornets are brave and curious, but they don't attack people for no reason. The only time I clear their nest if it's on my deck/patio area where people congregate, or near a door or window that I may open.

Maybe you don't know about Africanized Honey Bees. They kill people.

 

[dfc05]

I agree that Wasps and Hornets are brave and curious, but they don't attack people for no reason. The only time I clear their nest if it's on my deck/patio area where people congregate, or near a door or window that I may open.

Maybe you don't know about Africanized Honey Bees. They kill people.

Yep, I once spent a summer in a room with a faulty bug screen (hole at the top) and a window that we kept open due to lack of air conditioning. The wasps built a nest such that closing the window (inwards) would've knocked it off, but due to the hole in the screen, any wasps in the nest could've come into the room. So we left it there. Every few nights a wasp would wander into the room, but I was never stung, even when one landed on my hair and I had to shake it off.

 

[VirusType2]

Details on the Africanized Honey Bees (AHB):

* Tends to swarm more frequently and go farther than other types of honeybees.
* Is more likely to migrate as part of a seasonal response to lowered food supply.
* Is more likely to "abscond"—the entire colony leaves the hive and relocates—in response to stress.
* Has greater defensiveness when in a resting swarm, compared to other honey bee types.
* Lives more often in ground cavities than the European types.
* Guards the hive aggressively, with a larger alarm zone around the hive.
* Has a higher proportion of "guard" bees within the hive.
* Deploys in greater numbers for defense and pursues perceived threats over much longer distances from the hive.
* Cannot survive extended periods of forage deprivation, preventing introduction into areas with harsh winters or extremely dry late summers.

Luckily they can't survive in much of North America.

Map showing the spread of African honey bees in the United States from 1990 to 2003

 

[Vegeta897]

Ohio is def. safe **** yeah.

 

[Dr.Demento]

I agree that Wasps and Hornets are brave and curious, but they don't attack people for no reason. The only time I clear their nest if it's on my deck/patio area where people congregate, or near a door or window that I may open.

^I agree to an extent. If there's a nest nearby where there's alot of traffic, all it takes is for one person to unwittingly set one's hand on a railing or table with a wasp. That's the real danger with wasps because if you don't pay attention you might sit on one by accident.

However, they'll still get pissed of by things that make loud noises and vibrations too though in areas with less human traffic with things like radios or lawnmowers, so it's best to genocide ever last wasp on your property.

Maybe you don't know about Africanized Honey Bees. They kill people.

Don't know if you get it or not, but on Animal Planet there's a show called, "I'm alive!" or, "I survived" can't remember the name exactly, but anyways there's an episode about a family that nearly got killed by those bastards.

 

[VirusType2]

Well, yeah if you sit on one or put your hand on one, can you blame them for stinging you, as they are being injured by you, intentionally or not.

Incidentally, I've been stung by one once in the manner you describe. About 20 years ago, apparently there was one on my shoulder and my mom had pat her hand on my shoulder and it stung me.

I don't see this as a pants shitting threat. That was the only time I was stung by one where I didn't feel I deserved it... I used to go out and kill bees for amusement when I was very young, and was stung a couple of times.

 

[Letters]

Gooooooood looooord! I would be running... literally, running... to the nearest can of RAID. LOOK HOW BIG THEY ARE! LOOK AT THAT GOD DAMN NEST!



Speaking of running, that's what I do. Lots of running.

 

[dfc05]

Oh god I hope you're being sarcastic Letters. Otherwise I will have to laugh at you mercilessly.

Just wait til August and then I can get you some pics of the nest swarming with hundreds of shiny black wasp larvae.

[edit] Screw waiting.

I believe this is when the larvae are just born, each a juicy fat little blob chilling inside its cell. After this they pupate and start crawling all over the nest.

Speaking of which, once I was out working at an arboretum and we were pulling weeds and trying to find a paper wasp nest. I bend over to pull a weed and I look up and my face is right in front of one of those nests, swarming with larvae. Having never seen one before, I say, "Uhh hey dudes I think there's a nest or something here." Then they're all like, "omg everybody go inside!!" and the one head-gardener/outdoorsy woodsman dude eradicates the thing. lol.

I have no idea what's up with me and paper wasps. It's like I attract the bastards.

 

[VirusType2]

Remember those bee hives you see in cartoons, where the bear tries to get the honey? Well, we had one of those in our basement when I lived with my Dad. It was 2 feet tall - absolutely massive. We didn't even know it was there.

They were some kind of little wasp - perhaps a yellow jacket, which, in my opinion, is the most aggressive - the kind that will land on your soda can and kindly suggest you **** off and surrender it to them.

Well, we rarely went into the basement, but me and my brother would go down there to train our martial arts and to lift weights, and I kept wondering why in the **** is there a wasp down here. They were attracted to the lights down there, and not us, thankfully.

Well, we never really noticed that we had a problem as we only saw one or two occasionally. It wasn't until the cableman came to install cable into my brother's room that he informed us that there is a HUGE GODAMN WASP NEST next to the cable splitter, hanging from the rafters in the basement.

My brother and I suited up in shit like a thick ski outfit with gloves, hats, and glasses, along with a couple cans of raid and we ****ing nuked that bitch. Then we ran like bitches. The next day, there were hundreds upon hundreds of dead wasps all over the place and we knocked down the nest.

They were all vanquished and I noticed some light coming through from outside. There was a massive bolt hole drilled in the side of the house to support the deck but there was no bolt in there. So their nest was next to this hole and they could build this nest that was safe and temperature controlled all year round, where they could come and go as they pleased.

 

[Adabiviak]

Went on a 30 mile bike ride today on logging roads and abandoned railroad beds. The service gates are open to OHVs now and the ground is mostly dry, so the dust/noise levels are off the charts. I'll be switching to higher elevation rides and maybe some swimming (also because it's warming up).

Pictures sized according to Vegeta's guide - these shouldn't kill anyone's browser. Also, I removed the images from the original post for the same reason.

Spoiler

The trail winding around a leg of the Dardanelle lava flow.


Mariposa lilies and what's left of a deer (I think)


Gopher snake was sunning himself in the middle of the trail. I also saw a number of rubber boa carcasses, casualties of motorized traffic.


View from the highest peak of the ride.

 

[VirusType2]

The second photo is so pro; it looks staged. Very nice photos.

 

[Warped]

I should have snapped a few pics today but I was in my brothers deer stand today and everyone was over his house for Fathers day but he has like 15 acres or something like that. theres also a creek and everything is either fields or woods. i can snag the nice fields behind my house sometime

edit: heres my backyard

the red part i circled for another thread about a fire that caused a lot of damage

 

[Kaptain H]

I don't go outside because of

Plus, Dallas is a big, stupid, flat wasteland devoid of all interesting landscape and I'm sick of it. I used to love going out places in PA, but I can't think of a reason to down here. Maybe some Texas experts know otherwise.

 

[dfc05]

Plus, Dallas is a big, stupid, flat wasteland devoid of all interesting landscape and I'm sick of it. I used to love going out places in PA, but I can't think of a reason to down here. Maybe some Texas experts know otherwise.

Austin is the only good place in Texas. San Antonio is kinda cool, I guess (still somewhat boring). You can go camping in spring/fall (I recommend places around Austin with cool limestone formations; supposedly Enchanted Rock is cool but I've never been there). I can't remember what people used to do during summer... go to waterparks? I volunteered on outdoor arboretum work for three summers. I probably wouldn't be able to do that anymore (nowadays I feel miserable even walking down the street when it's hot). This older dude that volunteered there always thought my parents were punishing me for something by sending me out there.

I'd say Houston sucks but according to most people, Dallas sucks more than Houston. Sorry.