The playing field

Shoulda...

Should've gone out here on the one day the surf was OK lately. Instead I opted for a place where it was bigger but not better unfortunately -- bad call !!! Weather went to poop next day. So given the howling onshore muck we went and collected 6, 16ft x 161/2" x 41/2 inch recycled doug fir beams and the first load of about 200 pieces for a "lock and load" cement retaining wall that our intrepid building supervisor, E, found on Craigslist @ ~ 33c on the $,,, good deal except for the very substantial sweat equity.

Nose is better, back where it belongs -- in the center of my face.

Is there any surf in Ohio ?

Not right now.

PDX; 5:00 am Monday, waiting to fly to Chicago and Cleveland and then driving to downtown Wooster, OH to give a talk on measuring changes in starch properties during thermal processing / transitions. In other words, seeing how thick it gets when ya cook it. Thankfully getting in 2 days after a big snow storm.

Wooster...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retrored/2322400272/sizes/l/

Nursing my broken nose from getting whacked by my board on Saturday. That's kinda slowed down my surf adventures for the immediate future.

The culprit: a new board like this, a McTavish 8-0, and my very first surf on it !!! NOT a great start. Can only get better...

Got lots of red-oak trim Sunday on my way to the airport (about 250 lineal feet of 8-10 feet x 2" x 5/8" pieces and some wider). Another of Elizabeth's hot bargains. Got the lot at about 12 c a lineal foot, saved about $800 on the lot, and there'll be more to come. Guess I would've been surfing if I hadn't broken my nose.

elk in the distance

So this is why this place is called Litle Elk Creek. Don't see these very often from the road.



At the beach, red robins bopppin'in the early morning sun and spring frostLocal beach -- rare one that unfortunately the rising tide killed before any one got out to them.
High tide somewhere else -- great fun, when I was out it was 6 friends and 2 strangers all with their happy faces on; trading waves and laughs, a sparkling morning -- could hardly of been better.

Hangin' out with my friends on the headland

Just where do they mean? No overflow needed, almost no-one around today: surfers or land-lubbers.

Biggish surf today, bit lumpy and disorganized but went out and got a half dozen fairly big waves [bouys reading 11 ft @ 13 sec] on the wooden board. Beautiful sunny day toasty warm [15 deg C] pretty much no wind.

Here's a few of my friends keeping me company while I waited for the tide to drop.

Seagull foots, at least it's not crowsfeet...


This one looks great full-sized