Your Backup Hobby

I've picked up poetry again after 30 years.

2020, particularly after the CZU lightning complex fires in my area, felt like an appropriate time to resume. I finally posted this one for my FB friends after a few months of gestation, etc. (I'd actually started writing it on the trail during my daily quarantine walks about a month before the fires had begun in August).

docs.google.com/document/d/1lIdGP40yCd18...Rmk/edit?usp=sharing

(heavy Li-Young Lee and Wallace Stevens influences, because that's most of what I've been reading for the past year)

Now that I feel like I'm "getting" the practice of poetry and how it fits in my life, I plan to write a few more poems & to begin submitting for publication. This impulse has been with me for a very long time, but I think I'm finally finding my footing.

I put out birdseed and cracked corn for the birds and squirrels every day, all year round. I also put out suet each winter in a suet feeder that the previous owners hung from a tree in my front yard. This is going to sound weird, but I put laundry lint in the suet feeder in the spring time. The local robins like to use it when making their nests.

My spouse bought me a kayak as an early birthday present. I'd like to head down the Verde River at some point. But for now, it'll be the reservoir down the road to practice.

Gary Sax wrote: My spouse bought me a kayak as an early birthday present. I'd like to head down the Verde River at some point. But for now, it'll be the reservoir down the road to practice.

For me practice involved wearing a vest. I flipped that thing a lot.

RobertB wrote:

Gary Sax wrote: My spouse bought me a kayak as an early birthday present. I'd like to head down the Verde River at some point. But for now, it'll be the reservoir down the road to practice.

For me practice involved wearing a vest. I flipped that thing a lot.

Besides keeping you afloat, life vests serve several other useful purposes:

Keep you warmer in cool weather.

Can be used as a seat cushion on land.

Bottom line, no reason not to use one. Its worth trying a few on - some are more expensive but they last a LONG time with minimal care and if its more comfortable, you're more likely to use it. FFS don't get a cheap horse collar style one. Brands to look for would be Stohlquist, Kokatat, MTI, NRS, Lotus.

Msample wrote: Besides keeping you afloat, life vests serve several other useful purposes:

Keep you warmer in cool weather.

Can be used as a seat cushion on land.

Bottom line, no reason not to use one. Its worth trying a few on - some are more expensive but they last a LONG time with minimal care and if its more comfortable, you're more likely to use it. FFS don't get a cheap horse collar style one. Brands to look for would be Stohlquist, Kokatat, MTI, NRS, Lotus.

If the kayak segues into fishing, a good vest is essential.

My wife bought me a CO2 vest, but I'm not all that confident in my ability to keep it dry.

RobertB wrote:

Gary Sax wrote: My spouse bought me a kayak as an early birthday present. I'd like to head down the Verde River at some point. But for now, it'll be the reservoir down the road to practice.

For me practice involved wearing a vest. I flipped that thing a lot.

oh god for sure.

Awesome news on the kayak, you're going to have a blast. It's such a great way to unplug. Not sure what you got, but depending on the hull design it might actually prove difficult to tip--mine is purpose-built for fishing so you can stand in it (if conditions allow), and even seated in the higher of the 2 possibilities it's effectively impossible to tip it over.

I find that I will fall out of the sit on top before it actually flips. My wife has a sit in and that is easier to tip. There is something about the primary and secondary stability characteristics between the sit in and sit on top. We love our Jacksons and the seating system in those are fantastic for long paddles. And the seat is removable to sit on the shore.

JoelCFC25 wrote: Awesome news on the kayak, you're going to have a blast. It's such a great way to unplug. Not sure what you got, but depending on the hull design it might actually prove difficult to tip--mine is purpose-built for fishing so you can stand in it (if conditions allow), and even seated in the higher of the 2 possibilities it's effectively impossible to tip it over.

Spouse read up and it was a pretty good intro kayak with an insane deal on REI Outlet: paddling.com/gear/riot-kayaks-quest-10-kayak

Hoping to eventually go down the upper verde (not a guide for it on this site but you get the idea): verderiver.org/maps-and-guides/paddle-guides/

JoelCFC25 wrote: Awesome news on the kayak, you're going to have a blast. It's such a great way to unplug. Not sure what you got, but depending on the hull design it might actually prove difficult to tip--mine is purpose-built for fishing so you can stand in it (if conditions allow), and even seated in the higher of the 2 possibilities it's effectively impossible to tip it over.

They didn't tell that to my fishing kayak. It doesn't usually flip over, but it will dump you out in a hurry.

ETA: What kind do you have? Mine is this:



Don't bother watching it after the first couple of minutes, unless you're bored. I just picked that video because all the other ones in videos have a lot of modifications, whereas that one starts out with a relatively stock one. Mine is a West Marine Cayman, the very last one the company sold. It's a Striker 11.5, just rebranded. They say you can stand up in it, emphasis on you.

Rather then buying a Kayak we bought 2 Covid year Stand up paddle boards or SUPs. We're limited to only doing deeper water 3+ feet or areas with sandy or muddy bottoms. Kayaks can work around shallower and rougher waters. Luckily on the east coast we have the Chesapeake bay, James river and some nice lakes that work well for SUPing.

RobertB wrote: What kind do you have?

This'll be my 3rd season of having an Old Town Topwater, 10.5 footer. They've rebranded the line to be called the Sportsman since then. It's about 68 lbs unloaded, and it's easy to get up and down from the top of the Jeep now that I have a system down. It would probably be a bit trickier at the next size up (12 feet). Part of me wishes I had one of the pedal-drive kayaks, but not at like 2.5 times the price point of what I got.

JoelCFC25 wrote:

RobertB wrote: What kind do you have?

This'll be my 3rd season of having an Old Town Topwater, 10.5 footer. They've rebranded the line to be called the Sportsman since then. It's about 68 lbs unloaded, and it's easy to get up and down from the top of the Jeep now that I have a system down. It would probably be a bit trickier at the next size up (12 feet). Part of me wishes I had one of the pedal-drive kayaks, but not at like 2.5 times the price point of what I got.

Besides cost, pedal drives are heavy AF, and due to the props, need deeper water.

Unless you get a dedicated whitewater boat, recreational kayaks today are very very stable. Most mishaps occur getting in and out of the boat.

Get a good dry storage bag. Doesn’t need to be big, but large enough for keys (esp since most these days are electric fobs ) and phone.

Yeah, we already have some nice dry bags for backpacking.