Post Yur Piture Thead v. Surfin' Bird

[TAC]

From the summit of Soda Mountain, Oregon with my seven week old. Mount Shasta is in the distance.

Awesome.

Are there bears or mountain lions up there and if so, how do you protect yourself?

[jingle.boy]

Bloody hell thats awesome!

[King Postwhore]

Love, love, love that picture!

[TAC]

I love the WTF look on the baby's face.

[Snow Dog]

Thanks, guys! It’s definitely not that bad a climb, only four miles round trip and the first half is pretty level overall, but the view at the top is fantastic. One of our favorite hikes around here.

Yeah, the kid is our little fussbucket, but we love him. His numerous facial expressions are constantly keeping us laughing.

To answer your question, TAC, there are both around here, but encounters are rare. The bears prefer to stay away from trails with humans, and even so, they’re usually docile. The cougars, however, are not to be fucked with. We heard one growl at us (which was later confirmed by a YouTube video) on the way down from a day hike a couple years ago, but we never saw it. Took us a second to realize it was an animal we heard, and my wife and I grouped together and picked up some rocks in case it showed itself and was threatening. I don’t own a firearm, so it was the best we had. The fact that neither of us are small people probably helped our cause as well in deterring it from some form of aggression as they prefer easy targets. In any case, not in any rush to have that happen again!

[Cool Chris]

Dang when my kids were that little it was a struggle to go down the street to get groceries.

[cramx3]

  I don't have kids but I couldn't imagine bringing them on a hike, that's really awesome

[Podaar]

Good show, Snow Dog!

I've always hiked with my kids and grandkids, especially when they were little, and guess what they all have a love of doing now. Do you have one of those child carrier back packs--the ones where the kid can look over your shoulder while you walk? Those are a must, in my opinion.

[Snow Dog]

Yeah, we figure break him in early and get him used to it, because that’s going to be the kid’s life. But he’s actually pretty chill with being outdoors, and it actually quiets him a bit if he’s been inside all day.

We do have one of those backpack child carriers, but he’s not old enough and doesn’t have the neck/trunk control to safely be in one of those yet. I just had a Baby Bjorn carrier with him strapped to my front and facing me. He fussed for a few minutes initially, but settles in and often passes out once we’re moving. We hope he eventually loves the outdoors like us as he gets older.

[ProfessorPeart]

Here's a closeup of Mount Shasta:

[Zydar]

Mount Shasta? I hardly know her.

[bosk1]

Thanks, guys! It’s definitely not that bad a climb, only four miles round trip and the first half is pretty level overall, but the view at the top is fantastic. One of our favorite hikes around here.

That looks like a great hike.  How far is the trail head from civilization?  I was thinking about maybe doing a weekend getaway with my wife to Ashland in the near future, and it sounds like that might be a great detour, especially given how much each of us likes to hike.

[TAC]

To answer your question, TAC, there are both around here, but encounters are rare. The bears prefer to stay away from trails with humans, and even so, they’re usually docile. The cougars, however, are not to be fucked with. 

Fuck that. That's like swimming in a lake in Florida.

No. Fucking. Way.

[Podaar]

To answer your question, TAC, there are both around here, but encounters are rare. The bears prefer to stay away from trails with humans, and even so, they’re usually docile. The cougars, however, are not to be fucked with. 

Fuck that. That's like swimming in a lake in Florida.

No. Fucking. Way.

 

You're in way more danger walking to your car after a ball game at Fenway than hiking in the hills of Medford Oregon. There have been two, ever, Cougar attacks since 1924!

[Ruba]

To answer your question, TAC, there are both around here, but encounters are rare. The bears prefer to stay away from trails with humans, and even so, they’re usually docile. The cougars, however, are not to be fucked with. 

Fuck that. That's like swimming in a lake in Florida.

No. Fucking. Way.

 

You're in way more danger walking to your car after a ball game at Fenway than hiking in the hills of Medford Oregon. There have been two, ever, Cougar attacks since 1924!

To be fair, it wasn't specified what type of cougars we're talking about.

[cramx3]

To answer your question, TAC, there are both around here, but encounters are rare. The bears prefer to stay away from trails with humans, and even so, they’re usually docile. The cougars, however, are not to be fucked with. 

Fuck that. That's like swimming in a lake in Florida.

No. Fucking. Way.

 

You're in way more danger walking to your car after a ball game at Fenway than hiking in the hills of Medford Oregon. There have been two, ever, Cougar attacks since 1924!

 

More dangerous than a costco parking lot too

[Stadler]

She definitely puts the cart in the corral. 

[Snow Dog]

Thanks, guys! It’s definitely not that bad a climb, only four miles round trip and the first half is pretty level overall, but the view at the top is fantastic. One of our favorite hikes around here.

That looks like a great hike.  How far is the trail head from civilization?  I was thinking about maybe doing a weekend getaway with my wife to Ashland in the near future, and it sounds like that might be a great detour, especially given how much each of us likes to hike.

It’s only technically a few miles away from downtown Ashland (21-ish according to Google Maps), but it takes about 45 minutes to get there. The main road to the trail (OR Hwy 66) winds pretty good up a mountain for a few miles, and the dirt road you need to turn on afterwards is about four miles long. That dirt road is slightly potholey in places, so going a bit slow at times is prudent, but a sedan can still easily get there. The hike is still well worth the drive. There’s some other good ones in the area as well if you want some more suggestions. My wife and I have done probably most of them around here.

And TAC, looking back, I did make it sound like the mountain lions are more to be feared than they actually should be. Encounters are rare, attacks even rarer, as Podaar alluded to. Generally they want to stay away from you as much as you from them. The semi-encounter we had was a fluke chance. Basically make a fair amount of noise on a hike and they’ll know you’re coming and move elsewhere. And there’s so many hikers and trail runners out here that they pretty well know where to avoid anyway. I’m truthfully more afraid of being accosted/mugged by a hopped up homeless meth head in town than a wildlife encounter.

[Orbert]

The full title of the song is "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60's Rock)". It is from John Cougar Mellencamp's 1985 album Scarecrow and has the only recorder solo in all of modern Rock and Roll, as far as I know. When I first heard it, I said "Someday I will play in a Rock and Roll cover band, and we will play that song, and I will take the recorder solo, and people will say 'What the...?'"

But this is Rock and Roll. There are no rules, only music, and musicians of questionable sanity, of which I am one.

We pulled this one out of the mothballs for the Fourth of July gig.  Rockin' in the U.S.A.!

[Orbert]

A couple slightly more normal gig pics

[cramx3]

You checking out the singer in that first pic with the pipe? 

Nice pics 

[Orbert]

It's possible.  Both of our singers are babes, and to put it bluntly, I'm in the back row, but they make it much more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, one of them has recently decided to leave, but we're checking out a few possible replacements, both of whom are also pretty hot.  Hey, good singers are pretty common.  Good singers who are also hot are the rarity.

[cramx3]

I made my MTV debut last night since I attended the Situations wedding last fall and they aired part 1 of it last night (I saw myself on scenes for next week too)  I took a couple pics from my TV while watching so quality isn't the best but at least I was in the shot with some of the cast.

[Zydar]

Wow, that's awesome!

[cramx3]

If anyone watches, the ceremony scene specifically, my entire family is constantly in the background doing the "oooohs" and "ahhhs" as the cast walks down the aisle (they all sat right next to Jenni and Snooki, I sat in the back).  Funny watching it now compared to seeing it live, it looks like the show is adding in lots of Ronnie drama (which may or may not be real, I don't know) but everything else is surprisingly legit (except the timing, they made it look like champagne was pouring before the ceremony when that was actually right after but before the cocktail hour).  I'm really excited to watch next week as that's going to show the party with Rob Base doing a performance and the dance the guys do.  As cheesy and ridiculous as it is, that was really fucking cool to see in person.   

[The Walrus]

Holy crap. How did you get to be at the Situation's wedding? 

[cramx3]

Holy crap. How did you get to be at the Situation's wedding? 

His wife "Laurens" family is very close with mine.  We grew up on the same street and Lauren and I graduated high school together in the same class.  We did vacations in Florida together as kids and to this day our parents are still super close.  I hardly ever see Lauren anymore and practically have no relationship with her since high school, but since our families are super close still, my entire family was invited. Actually saw Lauren a couple weeks ago for the first time since the wedding.  Mike should be out of jail soon so they are probably buying a house close to where we grew up I think (my mom is a real estate agent so kind of involved, but my parents live in Florida so not too involved).  I first met Mike before he was even on the Jersey Shore as those two dated first before the show.

[cramx3]

The radio station finally uploaded pictures from the Iron Maiden show last weekend in Hartford.  I was looking at myself from the Jersey Shore and damn I was quite round    Still got lots of work to do but this is a recent picture, even though I'm pretty toasted here I look a lot better than I did at that wedding last year



I purchased a tour tshirt after this pic, wish I did it before oh well.

[gmillerdrake]

You can really see your progress     Great job!! keep it up.

[Stadler]

Yeah, I saw Cram in person last week, and he looked good.  In a very non-gay sort of way.  

Do you call him "Mike" or "Sitch" or what?      I kinda like that he's with the girl he was with before he got famous; did the show cause any problems for him (I didn't watch it much; I'm assuming he was involved in the typical reality show drama). 

[cramx3]

The current show is not causing problems for him (actually making him a lot of money), he comes off the best now since none of the stupid reality drama is about him.  He's sober and generally a pretty good dude.  He has his jail drama, but thats ending soon and was more of a mark from his past.  He was a huge part of the drama when the show first aired that made him come off as the huge ass he was back then. 

I call him Mike, I think that's more respectful because he's really not the same guy as "The Situation" was but yea, obviously he still is often referred to as that. 

Also, watching that cocktail hour last night had me salivating.  Like that was the best and most diverse cocktail hour I've ever seen.  The food was sooooo good. 

The hard part about that episode was seeing my x in it too.  But its funny, I just got off the phone with my mom who said "wasn't it funny how Deanna was not in the episode at all yet all of us were?"  She was in one or two shots, but not nearly as much as the rest of us.

[El Barto]

The radio station finally uploaded pictures from the Iron Maiden show last weekend in Hartford.  I was looking at myself from the Jersey Shore and damn I was quite round    Still got lots of work to do but this is a recent picture, even though I'm pretty toasted here I look a lot better than I did at that wedding last year



I purchased a tour tshirt after this pic, wish I did it before oh well.

Funny, I don't remember you being so tall.

When I saw Maiden in 84 I was wearing the slacks and a dress shirt I had to wear to school that day. Got to go backstage afterward and felt like a complete tool.

And yeah, you look a lot better there. It's always face that shows the most. I never notice when I go from modest beer belly to fat fuck until I see a picture and the face gives it away.

[cramx3]

  yea the face is most noticeable

[Stadler]

When I saw Maiden in 84 I was wearing the slacks and a dress shirt I had to wear to school that day. Got to go backstage afterward and felt like a complete tool.

Did you meet the band?  Dave Murray, in particular?

[bosk1]

Barto doesn't meet the band.  The band meets him.