First Fat Fish 27Feb18

Surprisingly, today was my first outing fishing of 2018! Sometimes I've caught trout on Jan 2nd... today it's seven weeks later. I hit the PT on a 62° sunny day, which was awesome though others thought the same, so the river was a smidge crowded. I arrived at 10:10am and fished till 1:30pm with one fat 19.5" rainbow on a blood midge to show. I didn't see true fish action till about noon, then I fished the targets I saw deep at the 3rd weir above upstream Nature Center parking till I caught one. I did see evidence of the 'bows creating redds by finning clean sections of the riverbed but no fish were spawning on them yet. One guy I encountered said he had five nice ones but others said "none" and I saw only one other old guy land a smallish fish. Despite the sun & temps the river was cold and gin clear @ 75cfs, but the wind was up a bit to 10mph making some casts tougher. I saw a few super tiny (#26) midges hatch and small fish surface feeding "late" in the day on their spinners. It was gr8 being out again.

These are images from videos I took using my new vest-mount HeroCam. It seems to work well though I wasn't too vigorous with my wading, landing or catching in winter flows and turning the VestCam on & off on was therefore easy. Here's a video composite from the outing... I guess I give PDQVestCam results a solid A-, grading on the the curve and noting my prior schemes and lack of success... the VestCam did not snag my line, did not require my squeezed knees and immobility for filming as NetCam did, allowed me to move unencumbered, and most importantly took decent video and images of the whole event. I will write the product marketing guys at Simms as I believe a VestCam feature is worth integration in the high end vest at least as a feature. Embedding the magnetic frame in the vest would ease and improve attachment... they could OEM the PDQ and charge 5X as they usually do.

River Basins' Snowpack Update 27Feb18

As to our season's snowpack buildup... while we've gotten a few storms through the northern part of the state recently, the southern counties are still struggling mightily. Now, while this isn't good for skiing or long term health of river systems, sometimes it's not bad for fishing in the given year. I recall fondly 2012's modest snowpack and associated runoff making fishing on the Ark outstanding and wadable almost all year. In the graphs below I show the Ark now and in 2012 as well. Still, all things being considered, one hopes for good snowpack, rational runoff, and enough water for skiing, fishing and children for generations. We are currently well below median snowpack buildup for February in all major river systems though the So Platte is in decent shape. Summit County feeds the Colorado. RMNP has received decent snow and feeds mainly the So Platte. Forecast for achieving the peak is anybody's guess as we still get a lot of snow in March and April - but the early March forecast is not epic.

Righteous GoPro Mount For Fishing 24Feb18

I may have found a solution for using my HeroCam while fishing. My net-cam worked ok but to film the fight and all I had to properly hold the net between my knees - disabling mobility for the most part - not a good thing in a fight with big fish. I've been searching for a solution to attach to my vest or hat somehow and have tried and rejected many mounts and ideas. Several more came in this week and while two were again sent to the mount gadget basket for other use, one in particular appears very promising. The PDQ Mount (Pretty Damm Quick) uses a frame with strong embedded magnets to clamp and hold to fabric. It needs field trial to assure it won't come come off or otherwise get in my way but it is the best I've found and appears very promising.

Field trial update... it works great during a day on the PT. It did not get in my way; it did not fall off; it took decent footage and images from a good perspective. Simms should integrate or allow integration of the PDQ into their vest so I'd just need to magnetically clamp on the outside frame. There's double ply of material where it should go and Simm's could allow access to the spot with a zipper or something. Anyway - woohoo.

Skiing' With Yoho 23Feb18

Yohanan and I were able to grab a mess of bump runs in descent snow at Keystone. It was cool but nice and sunny on Friday. We grabbed a quick selfie with the rez in the bg and I caught some footage of Jim on Blackhawk and Oh Bob. Fun day followed by a stop at AJB where we met The Woods Boss and his partner, who opened a downtown Denver micro-brewery of the same name - good guys and their place looks very nice.

Some Other NY Ladies 21Feb18

The search of the city continues. Here are a known and unknown NYC aritists.. not quite punk enough, but great. I love Beatles-alike jangly pop from NYC and Sunflower Bean is cool.

Sunflower Bean

Now, this NYC lady has been publishing her stuff for literally decades despite her youth. She's Kevin Kline's and Phoebe Cates' kid and her stage name is Frankie Cosmos - the stuff these days is arranged for and played by her band - making it much cooler IMO. She's coming to Colo Spgs in April!

Frankie Cosmos

Plus, St Vincent is a fierce musician, even when wielding an acoustic.

St Vincent

So too, ya'all know I like the off color musical comedy of Rachel. And I've watched all the stuff from Garfunkel & Oates but never let on. Dive on their work if you dare... there's so much which is funnier and lewder but here's a clean one - Sports Go Sports.

Garfunkel & Oates

Measuring Political Ideology 20Feb18

I came across a site specializing statistical measurement of human differences. I read the testimonials and the methodologies and it seems sound (how'd they get Obama and Bush though?). I measured my political ideologies using their schemes. My main influences are my parents & Kala of course but initially Asimov, Vonnegut, Bradbury, Ayn Rand, Adam Smith, Friedman (whoa, he's on there) and my friends & teachers. Here are the results from IDRLABS.COM. I knew I was a Libertarian and if this has any merit, that's confirmed. You take the 36 question measurement HERE... and there are other follow up things like the Libertarian Test I also took. Kindof fun.

I Am The Mother Of Evangeline... 18Feb18

Brandi Carlile released her latest recently. It does not kick ass nor does it astound with collaboration with the twins. Why? I don't know. It's folk-Americana, but it is still good despite being kindof down.

Brandi Carlile - BTW, I Forgive You

The Regrettes have a new single - Lydia is still dealing below her station as to her subject matter.

The Regrettes - Come Thorugh

Plus there are some youngsters from Manchester (again) who are kickin' it.

Pale Waves - Television Romance

Skiin' & Drinkin' With These Guys 16Feb18

DD got the boys together for some stuff in Summit. I enjoyed some nice IPAs at Outer Range with BK & GL while DD rested recovering from crud. He was ready to ride on Fri AM for 4" of new at Keystone, where we ultimately posted a 22K day in a few decent stashes and gorgeous weather. DD was mended and dropped into some cool runs and even showed us the big rock he hit. We rolled from there to Pizza On The Run and Angry James Brewery. We stopped at my house for a bit and caught a healthy fox eating something he'd stolen from somewhere - he wasn't with his mate and I've seen them together before at the Nest - they mate for life. We returned to AJ's for BBQ from Mountain Lion - AJ was mad at me for sitting on his floor (I was just leaving the remaining 3 chairs in the place, right near me, open for my mates) and asked me to leave... hmmm - he wasn't buying my explanation as my friends distanced themselves from me when he began to address me.

Ok, then there's some humor vids... what a blast findin' it with you guys. [Video links now work - some were too big so I had to de-rez and reload.]

New Automation @ The Nest And Automation Fail 15Feb18

I got some Sylvania Ocam RGBW LED flood lights for above the bar for ~$25 each. They are laced into the SmartThings and I can make them any color and change color. Novelty but cool.

I installed and de-installed the Dome water shutoff valves. All the electronics and automation worked fine via Z-Wave Plus to my hub and triggering from flood sensors but the mechanical aspects were unreliable. When buying I worried about the torque of the motor being able to reliably change the valve handle position and that's exactly where it failed too often - they are going back and I'll get an alternative.

I also completed a challenging 4-way lighting install with 2 triggering motion sensors and 3 spots for manual on/off switching. It took me too long to figure how to wire it all and ultimately I had to get a DMM for Silverthorne to find the LINE and the LOAD amongst the several outlet boxes. In buying the DMM I had to avoid the entry level Fluke for $125 and go with Woods for $25 - same features and decent enough quality for 1/5th the price. Painful for obvious reasons. Woods worked fine - finished the install clean - works great.

Custom Calibrated Headphones & Valentine's Dinner 15Feb18

I was dubious on, and anxious about, mailing my new pair of MrSpeakers Ether C Flow headphones to Riga, Latvia - but I did. Kala thought I was nuts. I was very happy when tracking said they'd arrived because the "to" direction was on me, while "return" direction was on them. I sent them to be measured and receive a custom calibration curve to use with the Sonarworks equalization software - this is a custom calibration service. The headphones and cal curve are back and installed in the software. Woohoo. I can't really tell the difference yet in COS as my new big Schiit DAC & AMP have still yet to ship (part supply issue). I may take the headphones to the Nest just to hear them with the new equalization through my "old" Fireflies setup which I moved up there. From the curve I see pretty flat across the spectrum but with several odd 6dB holes at 150Hz, 1500Hz and 15KHz (is that coincidence?) - but they should be fixed now for my listening... I will do an A-B test of course comparing raw with calibrated.

The Peregrine team dined at Prime25 for Valentine's Day... good steakhouse and totties. Of course it was Lent so Brantley & Yohanan enjoyed scallops while I indulged. Crappy pic but whatever - we returned to Jim & Mary's for Spanish Sherry and desert, yumm.

I made it to the Nest with Ether C Flows. Awesome even without the balanced Schiit setup (meaning mainly that I have the WA7 really cranked up). All cans calibrated and operating sweetly.

New Audio Client & New Brew With Halibut 13Feb18

I've "struggled" to replace my SlimDevices clients and SlimServer to stream a TB of music to my main audio systems on the main level and theater level @ Blodgett. True especially now that whatever is chosen must support decoding FLAC. All my SlimDevices ultimately failed and the SlimServer was already ponderous and slow as a music server. Plex is already my go to DVR/Server for video and provides me access to recordings & live broadcasts from anywhere on "any" system or device (PCs via browsers, TVs via Roku Plex app, and iDevices via Plex app). It is awesome and runs blazes on my Win7 server. Recent releases have Plex spitting out FLAC (or decoding) no prob now. I've used it previously for LoFi audio on our iDevices and computers already (not a big use model) but because Roku boxes are HDMI into my AV systems, and because digital rights management, DRM, doesn't allow a digital or analog "copy" from HDMI to either digital or analog audio only, I can't use it on Roku to output to Zone 2 on my receiver, yet I need that as it is the whole house audio out - most important for outside above the spa. Enter Chromecast Audio decoding FLAC casted from the Plex app spitting FLAC no issue to my receiver for main or Zone 2. UI-wise I simply choose tunes from my iPhone and cast it to the Chromecast Audio - eazy peazy $35 solution; rock the spa. Hey, I can even order up the tunes I want for this via voice control to my phone or Google Home.

While I'm chasing these mods I made an awesome red curry halibut with red chili sesame seared baby bok choy and chased it with Great Divide's new Hop Disciples IPA - a rotating hop project and worthy.

Noteworthy in this whacky winter is that if you are bound to the Nest, watch the ice slick as you enter our private drive - it may be hidden by snow but it is there and super slippery. Drive slowly and carefully.