Closing out the month
last update: 10/31 @ 22:17

We took advantage of with warming weather and headed back to Angler’s Inn today.

The river was about 2.8; low but still a fun spot to play in.

And the fall colors are looking pretty good.

It’s been so long since it rained that the river is really clear now. And it’s great to be able to see down to the bottom.

We scared off our heron before we could get a picture.

(That’s the center chute on the right; no boats in that picture — we had the river to ourselves.)

But we saw lot of minnows cruising over and around the rocks.

And the birds really seemed to enjoy the thermal over the river today.

It was a great way to step away from the news and goings on in the world and just enjoy the river in our backyard.

We did neglect our Jack o’lantern carving duties; but it seemed like a more than fair tradeoff.

(That the Maryland chute above and to the right.)

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Fall
last update: 10/30 @ 17:52

A very smart person said something like the best camera is the one you have when you need or want to take a picture.

Sitting on the porch on a beautiful afternoon (perhaps too warm for late October, but I’m not complaining), I thought I’d try to capture some of those fall colors.

And I was too lazy to get out my Pentax. I think my aging Pixel phone did an admirable job. (Even if I really don’t know how to tell it what to focus on.)

It may not be as spectacular as Robert’s views of Mt. Ranier, but it’s not shabby either.

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Hatch Act no more
last update: 10/29 @ 23:49

Probably this would not have been a Hatch Act violation while I was working at PTO; it certainly is not now.

Sarah and I connected with Donna and jumped on the metro to go see Kamala Harris’s “Closing Argument” at the ellipse.

The turnout seemed awesome to us.

We ran into others on the metro headed the same way.

And the weather was perfect.

We even managed to connect with Bridget (Donna and Bridget are POD Squad friends) inside the security perimeter.

The vibe was great.

And the growing crowd was accommodating.

Early reports say about 75,000 folks showed up; we were lucky to be able to go early and find a spot on the ellipse.

The overflow on the grounds of the Washington Monument seemed like an impressively large crowd too.

If you’ve not voted yet, Vote! And, clearly, vote for Kamala!

This really seems like the most important election in my life.

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Home Turf
last update: 10/21 @ 20:56

Blue skies and nary a cloud to be seen!

Another beautiful afternoon on the river.

This time Sarah and I stayed closer to home and enjoyed paddling Angler’s Inn to Lock 10.

We saw herons, buzzards, ducks and some really big catfish.

And Sarah took this great picture of me in the waves at Stubblefield Falls.

Another great weekday trip!

We did see more boaters putting on as we finished our shuttle. We decided those were the after work crowd.

Finally, check out the colors: it really is looking like fall. It may not be a spectacular year for leaf-peeping, but these are looking very nice in the afternoon sun.

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(Short) Road Trip
last update: 10/13 @ 19:54

The weather (beautiful 80 degrees) and water level (4.75) aligned today for trip on the upper James.

It’s been decades since we’ve been on the James.

And we don’t get to Richmond as often as we used to.

Today was truly a perfect day for the trip.

We had a lot of fun.

Easy rapids (except for that one dam — I know there is a better spot to run) and perfect weather made for a very fun day.

We saw ducks, geese, at least one cormorant and, oddly, a rowed raft.

Richmond has become quite the boater haven; there were lots of folks putting on at Reedy Creek as we set shuttle. The lower James through Richmond as more significant rapids.

The Pony Pasture to Reedy Creek run is just pretty and fun rock gardens (less the one dam).

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Classic Bridge
last update: 10/13 @ 19:46

Part of Richmond’s urban boating on the James.

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Starting to feel more like fall
last update: 10/07 @ 22:37

The weather is starting to feel more like October now and the water from Hurricane Helene has dropped a bit.

The river was still higher than I’ve see it in quite a while, about 4.3 today. I played around in the current, ferrying across and getting pushed around a bit.

I wasn’t able to get up to the Virginia chute, but did take a peek at Difficult Run. At water levels I’m used to, it’s hard to get back in there.

Also, I poked up the back channel to see what I could see.

A Heron, a duck, some turtles and lots of buzzards today (along with a couple hikers and a kayak or two).

It was a nice day to be out; I don’t know if we’ll get any really good colors this fall, but clearly we’ll know pretty soon.

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Unexpected surprise
last update: 10/04 @ 16:09

Completely unexpected mail today: A thank you from President Joe Biden.

Wow…

I think I’ll look for a frame and find a place to put this up.

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I voted …
last update: 10/02 @ 17:40

… and so should you!

I took Hurricane Helene as a reminder (as Sarah has been saying for years) to vote early and not worry about any unforeseen circumstances on election day.

Now, can I opt out of the campaign ads?

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