Almost all the water is gone. It looks like a hundred feet down from
where it started. I can see why they want our water. It's sad how
wasteful they are with it. Maybe dessication will teach them a lesson
about conservation.

Both (e:matthew) and I decided we would defend the great lakes with our
lives.

The weather has given us a severe 6+ hour delay to start the trip, ya! Nameless Bitch - take good care of the house.

I am leaving on a trip way up to the great north tomorrow to go to WEMF . (e:jon) convinced me to buy the tickets. Thank you (e:jon). I will be dancing in the sunny outdoors to all the favorite DJs from my childhood, while :jim sits through a typography conference ;)

I haven't been so far up in Canada. I am taking (e:terry) with me which will leave (e:matthew) to defend the fort. I think this is the first time we have ever been apart since we met. By the time we come back I expect the furniture and garden willl have been arranged so many times it will look the same, lol. I am going to miss him so much. I will also miss squiddy.

But even crazier is that I will be off the interweb for three days. This has not happend since 2003. My iphone will not work in canada, or should I say it will work in canada but cost me approximately $10,000 to run it with roger's damn roaming fees. I considered bringing the windows mobile and trying to buy a pre-paid canadian SIM but where do you get one?

We made our annual trek to Jabe Pond in the Adirondacks followed by The Ledges in Vermont. We had to forgo, the usual trip to Rock River in Vermont because this year we didn't have as much time as usual due to Dave's work schedule.

The weather was fabulous. It was between 80-90 the whole time with no rain. In fact the only wetness we encountered that was not in the form of a swimming hole, was the dew this morning on the field we camped in Vermont on our way home.



The first part of the week we stayed at our usual get away at Jabe Pond. According to some nudist book that Dave has from the 80s, it is a nudist place. We hardly ever see anyone there besides the odd fisherman and I have never seen a nudist there but since there is no one else there...

Here we are launching our canoes in order to canoe out the the campsite which is on an island.



The campsite is great. It is really isolated and yet big enough of an island to make a great campout.



We canoed and swam a lot. It was the perfect weather for both and thanks to SPF 45 sun screen no one got burned this year.

We ate heathy things like watermelong


and tasty things like organic peppered bacon. I freakin' love bacon.


We swam and canoed a lot. I think this is the only time I really full on swam this whole summer which is sad. Every other time we tried to go, the beach here on Lake Erie was closed for pollution.



We swam so much that (e:terry) got goggle burn at one point.


We all had this ridiculous euro trunks , which were believe it or not, the only swimming-like gear we found left at Walmart. I guess it is the end of the season and Walmart was all that was around at the time of purchase. I mean they look like we ordered them out of a gay fashion swimsuit catalog. Apparently, they are popular I searched on Men's Underwear and Swimwear Guide and found this thread with some other pics of people wearing at USG



We sat around a lot and relaxed.


At night time we sat around some more. Our friend Dave is obsessed with having fires. Even though it was like 80-90 degrees the whole time I think if we had gone along with it, he would have had a campfire 24/7. I am one of those people that like to only have a campfire when I am cooking or freezing. Sometime at night for a bit. But honestly, I hate all the smoke that comes with drunk people making fires. Eventually, he or someone else throws in leaves or bark or something stupid liek pine needles and we all almost die of smoke inhalation for five minutes. Same with wet wood.

Someone else before us started a mini forest fire. That scares the hell out of me. I can only imagine drunk people not payig attention to their fire as it spreads across the dry pine needle floor. The picture really doesn't do the burn hole justice. It was about 8 feet across and about 2 feet deep.



We collected far too much firewood. We honestly only used a tiny portion of this but we collected it all first. I guess after the bad weather last year we were just cautious.



At night I discovered that my camera took pictures in High ISO mode which allow sit to virtually see daylight at nightitime.
Here is a picture before using high ISO mode.


I am not sure what high iso mode is as it normally can be dialed up to ISO 1600 but then there is high ISO after that. Why not have a number associated with it. Is it 3200 ISO? It is a bit grainy but wow, this is the same picture, same lighting in high ISO mode.


Here is the campfire in high ISO.


Here is a cool pic (e:matthew) took using my camera. He used the light from a torch to make the glow behind (e:terry).


Apparently, it made him very happy.


The next day we swam and canoed so much more. I actually got tired from swimming but it was hard to stop knowing it probably would be one of the last times I got to swim this summer.


We were on our way to go to the swam where we saw a snapping turtle last year, when (e:matthew)'s camera broke.


It just stopped taking pictures like normal. It kind of reminded me when my Nokia 7710 camera's died (e:paul,32341) Here he looks sad.


See, (e:terry) doesn't just hide behind curtains in the living room.


Beer booty.

The last day of our trip we headed over to The Ledges in Vermont. Here is a whole site about the place.

The Ledges, named for its large stone outcroppings, is a small section of the undeveloped 28-mile public recreational shoreline of Harriman Reservoir near Wilmington, Vermont. Many forms of "The Creator's" most beautiful work can be found here in distant mountain views, clean water, wildlife, sunsets, and the unclothed human body. On any hot summer day as many as 300-400 people can be found quietly relaxing and socializing in various states of dress. This quote is taken from Friends of the Ledges

Here are some pics other people took

It is one of the largest free public nudist swimming holes in the USA. The water was really low and you could see why the place was called the ledges. The other times we were there the water was too high (e:paul,32076) The water was so low I couldn't jump off the swinging rope because you could see the rocks in the water below. I wasn't going to break my legs to swing off the rope.

(e:matthew) fed this duck popcorn for about an hour.

Thanks to the miracle of SPF 45 we still did not get burned even in the glaring sun.



Dave got our picture at there (see below) to compliment this one (e:paul,32022) from back in 2005


This year we got one from the other side too, lol.



There are hundreds of naked people at the ledges, so it wasn't weird at all. That is till some really tan weirdo asked Dave if he was our Dad. When he said no, he asked if he was our uncle, then our grandfather. What a freako. I wish you guys could have seen his creepiness.

Once again we were the only people under 35 accept for one other guy who was 24 and really quite a nervous fellow. There were evn many people in what appeared to be their 70s-90s. I find it amazing that people have the courage to walk on treacherous rock trails naked with a cane.

Lesbian Straight guy thing.
While sick today I was reading pop culture articles instead of programing for once and came across this article written by a lesbian about the bond between straight guys and lesbians Call me closed minded but I always kind of thought lesbians hated men. I guess I was wrong. She also mentions the lesbian shift from owning cats to owning dogs in the 90s. I never thought about that either. My favorite part of the article was her way of describing the hetero-female homo-male relationship as, "The love that never shuts up."

San Francisco recap
I still cannot believe (e:jacob) was there and we did not see each other.

(e:matthew) really likes escargot


I really like everything else


This fish was so fucked up. I guess they all flip like this as the grow up. Probably still tastes good with garlic butter.


Scared (e:matthew)


Here is some ice on Lake Erie as seen from the plane.


Here is sheridan park


And strawberry island


Some more pics from the trip.

(e:matthew) and I spent most of yesterday in the park. We walked from Buena Vista park down Haight street to the golden gate park to the ocean and all the way back.

How did graffitti get in the electric or phone box or whatever this is.


Here is the city view from twin peaks.


This is where (e:twisted) often visits estrip.


This flower in the park smelled so sweet. I want to know what it is.


A pretty twisted branch.


Another pic of flowers at golden gate park. The viewfinder in my camera makes purple look blue so I thought it was not taking pictures of purple/pink things properly but it is. Just that they show up blue in the viewfinder.




(e:matthew) taking pictures




This pine cone was so large and heavy. It is hard to tell in the pic.


This tree trunk over water was almost the death of me. I ran across it and then got scared and sat down as it was high up over water. Then I had to shimmy the rest of the way.


When we got to the beach we ate yummy food.




A cubby hole in the woods. I thought (e:terry) would like it.


Next to Buena Vista Park is this house that resembles ours accept for theirs is smaller but has a grander entrance.

Here are some of the pics from San Francisco in no particular order.

Okay, this one was before the trip. I finally cut off my hair. I feel free. There was a video of the process but unlike the old days of the smaller audience I think it is no longer appropriate.




there was this magazine on the plane with furniture in Nice, France that make syour whole house into a rock garden. I want it so bad.




(e:matthew) really did not like flying. The two hours of severe turbulence didn't help. I was liek the plane was going to rip apart. My neck hurt from the stress of thinking I was gonna die plus the jarring motion of it whipping around. We didn't even have service or sound for like 2 hours.




People bring their dogs and cats on planes in their backpacks nowadays. As an alergy sufferere this makes me mad.


I thought Dave Doyle would like this. I know he likes messed up signs.


This one too.




On Saturday (e:hodown) arrived


Here is the goldengate bridge


These boat houses cost more than double the cost of the mansion.







Alcatraz from telegraph hill.


Yummy Seafood














Lots of no dumping signs with junk in the grates.




At the conference today I was scared that an earthquake would crash down the part I was in.







A delorian maybe?


I love Aroma Tea Shop at 302 6th avenue






(e:hodown) already opened up a restaurant here.


Lombard street is twisty


Do you think the workers really get the $1 surcharge per plate? No where else had one.


From North of the bridge





This is the Palace of Fine Arts. I felt at home being a master of fine arts.


(e:twisted) had lots of yummy snacks for us.




this pic of (e:matthew) is for (e:terry)

We spent two days at Vermont's Townshend State Park between places.

The moss was crazy at Townshend Park in Vermont


They also had lots of posion Ivy that I avoided carefully and sucessfully.




We got to camp right at the edge of the stream




The tree above our tent was so tall, it is hard to imagine with the picture.


Here are some video impressions of what is what like.

See the brook babble.

::Download Flash Video::

Hear the fire crackle

::Download Flash Video::

relax to the creek

::Download Flash Video::

We started out in the adirondacks at Jabe Pond like last year (e:paul,3494) . It wasn't too warm most of the time but we had lots of fun canooeing, chopping firewood, feed chipmunks, etc.

This bird is called a loon. They are so crazy and make noises like coyotes all night long. Jabe Pond is very full of them.


They sound like this.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

Here we are enjoying the campfire at night.


This is the view from campsite onto the pond


We built this makeshift shelter to protect us from the rain


Here I am collecting lots of firewood. It was an island so we were kind of limited but I figured out a way to lasso the dead sticks off pine trees using a medium size rock tied to a rope.


It got real foggy on the rainy days but it wasn't too cold.


Stabbing tree stumps


Lots of naps


Getting crazy about something


(e:terry) got crazy too


Sitting in the shelter for more rain protection


Sleeping when the sun came out again


(e:terry) cooking something yummy


Somebody likes to take lots of pictures of (e:terry) and it wasn't me. Notice the datestampless pictures.
















The campsite


Rowing Home



The naked pics - just stop looking if you are not wanting to see them.

Our friend Dave is an avid nudist and every year we go on vacation with him. At first I didn't believe there were so any nudists in the world but it seems he finds clusters of them everywhere.




Here I a looking really serious for a naked person. I don't know how that happend.



What is (e:terry) doing in this picture


Nice reflection








Vermont has lots of swimming holes and apparently, there is not a law against nudity in Vermont. The one place called the Ledges is in Vermont on public land

It is a giant swimming area in the resevoir of a dam. There are lots of people here of all ages and both sexes.





The other place is Rock River. It is more gay.