Pictorial where did you go in your Stinger today

[Nasscar]

Went for a short hike today (less than two hours). The first place we tried for was slammed, both parking lots were completely full. So, I drove over to Bear Canyon, Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Both parking lots also looked slammed, but I went in anyway, intending to drive through and come back out and park on the side of the road. But that wasn't necessary: way over to the far end was a stall just waiting for my Stinger.

The number of hikers was unprecedented (in our limited experience with this hiking spot). I blame Rona lockdown. And most hikers must have gotten some "memo": about seeing "at risk" hikers (aka oldsters), the protocol to protect us must be to step off the trail as far as prudent and let us pass at a safe distance from aerosol. Only a handful of hikers that we met coming the other way did not do this: they must have not gotten the memo. My wife and I were by far the oldest people we saw. The next oldest person was with his teenaged son, the dad being c. fifty. Tons of school kids of all ages. Mountain bicycles, quite a few. It was very warm, upper 70s. Perfect weather. (no masks in evidence, go figure)
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Looks like everyone's getting out and about. I suppose not much else to do other than stay home. Wouldn't you be the oldest hiker that you would normally see Merlin.

Looks like everyone's getting out and about. I suppose not much else to do other than stay home. Wouldn't you be the oldest hiker that you would normally see Merlin.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Looks like everyone's getting out and about. I suppose not much else to do other than stay home. Wouldn't you be the oldest hiker that you would normally see Merlin.

Absolutely. And yesterday, my wife and I were the ONLY people over sixty, hands down. That is not typical, at all. The "at risk" population is not out hiking, to judge by (who we saw) yesterday anyway.

 

[Ulikefishsticks]

I have been stuck at home for what feels like months now. This weekend is going to be pretty great weather. Is it selfish of me to want to go somewhere to get out of the house? I would get all I need from here and avoid going in to stores and near public. Obviously keeping my distance. Most of the roads on the Blue Ridge Parkway are open, the facilities are closed however. It's about 2 hours from me. So, am I being selfish? I need to do something, I am going slightly insane here.

 

[westcoastGT]

I have been stuck at home for what feels like months now. This weekend is going to be pretty great weather. Is it selfish of me to want to go somewhere to get out of the house? I would get all I need from here and avoid going in to stores and near public. Obviously keeping my distance. Most of the roads on the Blue Ridge Parkway are open, the facilities are closed however. It's about 2 hours from me. So, am I being selfish? I need to do something, I am going slightly insane here.

GO !!

 

[MerlintheMad]

I have been stuck at home for what feels like months now. This weekend is going to be pretty great weather. Is it selfish of me to want to go somewhere to get out of the house? I would get all I need from here and avoid going in to stores and near public. Obviously keeping my distance. Most of the roads on the Blue Ridge Parkway are open, the facilities are closed however. It's about 2 hours from me. So, am I being selfish? I need to do something, I am going slightly insane here.

That you would post and ask indicates that you are more than slightly insane. The Nation is reeling under this sudden power grab. There is a "virus agenda" that way too many power mongers are taking advantage of (that I would post this away from the Rona board indicates that I am suffering as well).

Get out and DRIVE!! Who is going to pull you over for just that? I don't believe that many citizens are even listening to this crap anymore. We are increasingly turning away from the blah, blah, blah and more BLAH and resuming our normal lives. The innocence of driving is part of our civil right to have freedom to travel. This is a MEDIEVAL individual right even vouchsafed to PEASANTS, for the love of Heaven! And here we are being told that since we can "virtually" associate, we don't really need to physically be social. I know of at least one suicide already by a very social person who lost his "non essential" jobs (a real kick in the gut, that one: to have "your Government" label you as "non essential"), his group sports activities, and he had no Internet where he lived (out in the country). This kind of cause and effect should be laid squarely in the lap of every Guv who locked down his/her entire State. I hope that the more egregious cases get prosecuted, in civil court at the very least. The ramifications of this lockdown nonsense are going to play out for years.

Yes, you are being self-interested. Notice how I changed the spelling to be more accurate. That is the core trait of being alive and human. To have someone else assume the level of self-interest that you have a RIGHT to exercise/pursue is evil.

 

[westcoastGT]

That you would post and ask indicates that you are more than slightly insane. The Nation is reeling under this sudden power grab. There is a "virus agenda" that way too many power mongers are taking advantage of (that I would post this away from the Rona board indicates that I am suffering as well).

Get out and DRIVE!! Who is going to pull you over for just that? I don't believe that many citizens are even listening to this crap anymore. We are increasingly turning away from the blah, blah, blah and more BLAH and resuming our normal lives. The innocence of driving is part of our civil right to have freedom to travel. This is a MEDIEVAL individual right even vouchsafed to PEASANTS, for the love of Heaven! And here we are being told that since we can "virtually" associate, we don't really need to physically be social. I know of at least one suicide already by a very social person who lost his "non essential" jobs (a real kick in the gut, that one: to have "your Government" label you as "non essential"), his group sports activities, and he had no Internet where he lived (out in the country). This kind of cause and effect should be laid squarely in the lap of every Guv who locked down his/her entire State. I hope that the more egregious cases get prosecuted, in civil court at the very least. The ramifications of this lockdown nonsense are going to play out for years.

Yes, you are being self-interested. Notice how I changed the spelling to be more accurate. That is the core trait of being alive and human. To have someone else assume the level of self-interest that you have a RIGHT to exercise/pursue is evil.

Plandemic !!

 

[Flameangel]

I have been stuck at home for what feels like months now. This weekend is going to be pretty great weather. Is it selfish of me to want to go somewhere to get out of the house? I would get all I need from here and avoid going in to stores and near public. Obviously keeping my distance. Most of the roads on the Blue Ridge Parkway are open, the facilities are closed however. It's about 2 hours from me. So, am I being selfish? I need to do something, I am going slightly insane here.

How strict are your Hwy Patrol ? here, they basically want us to stay in our own neighbourhoods, the cops can fine you if you are so many kms away from home. However, took my 18 yo son to see a Psychologist yesterday ( has cabin fever among other issues ) she advised to do something " positive " he wanted to go to up the road to Queenscliff. Although considered , " non essential ", I believe as she did it was " essential " for his mental health. So I drove him to Queenscliff, and even though it was starting to rain, we went to the beach, he walked on the sand, took pics of the now closed Pier and rocks nearby and watched the waves roll in. Just being in the fresh cool air was nice. Not one soul around on the beach and no cops on the road.
Your mental wellbeing is as " essential " as food and water, I can't see how a " drive " in one's car should be " forbidden "

 

[MerlintheMad]

Your mental wellbeing is as " essential " as food and water, I can't see how a " drive " in one's car should be " forbidden "

Mental and emotional well being are MORE essential than simply not being dead yet. Being whole is all about being healthy. And no normal person can endure this nonsense any longer without a price being paid. We will see the ramifications of this lockdown travesty for years to come. I hope that the Guvs who lockdown entire States get haled into civil court for each suicide that they caused. I know of one already.

Welcome to "the new normal", if certain control freaks of the world have their way. There is a fundamental "medieval" right being violated when "they" fine or threaten to fine anyone for leaving their house and going anywhere "non essential": it's in Magna Carta: it's called freedom of travel, to come and go without censure or fear of authority. So, I guess the past three months have hurled some places back into the dark ages. Clearly, this civil right had been violated, or else the barons would not have pinned King John down to agreeing not to violate that one (anymore?).

I scorn SJW who think that their vision of the world should be everyone else's. But I am a genuine social justice warrior: when I speak out every day on the chat (comment) forums still hosted by some news organizations: advocating for everyone to ignore the blah, blah, blah and BLAH that continues to tell us that this lockdown S**T needs to go on, possibly all summer, all year, whatever!? They go on and on about being safe and careful and preventing a resurgence. Well guess what? There was never a danger to begin with. Honestly, the danger is, will you catch a new strain of the flu or not. SARS-CoV-2 is nothing more than a mild case of the flu for nearly everybody. The few who are at risk are the ones who should be quarantined (voluntarily, of course); you do not quarantine the healthy out of a fear of contagion, when the virus is a wimp.

So, FIGHT! In court if necessary. Make these idiots slink away in shame. And do NOT vote for them again. Amen.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I responded to a call for help: my friend is shutting down his slot car shop and moving everything across State Street into a warehouse that he owns outright; in order to get out of the constantly increasing rent where he has been for over twenty years. Trouble is, the warehouse is an unfinished mess inside. Three of us, who have been racing for years in his place, showed up and moved the pieces of track into trucks and onto a trailer and went up to the next "U" turn spot and then pulled up in front of the warehouse and unloaded them. It was a lot of work! But, it's done. Now, we wait. Trouble is, the owner is older now, and ten years might have swung the pendulum a bit too far: none of us are very hopeful that he'll actually have the energy/ability to finish the inside of his warehouse and put the tracks back up. I am pretty sure that this is the end of an era. It was the longest run of racing slot cars, out of the half dozen or so times I have resumed the hobby, since I was twelve years old and first got into it. This run lasted just over ten years.


Here is a video of the assembly and first time I drove on the track, and some footage of the first race in February, 2014: Dropbox - The Slot Car Shop, hill climb assembly and first race day.wmv - Simplify your life

And here is the melancholy appearance today:

And where the tracks are stored now. The inside of a cave is more inviting, heh:

 

[AUStingerGT]

Went for an early morning drive around home. South Coast of N.S.W

 

[RedCal]

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Went for an early morning drive around home. South Coast of N.S.W

Nice! - Merlin is gone to want some bigger versions for the calendar

 

[Luminary]

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Went for an early morning drive around home. South Coast of N.S.W

Love the red accent on the lower front lip, looks really sharp on the black.

 

[AUStingerGT]

Love the red accent on the lower front lip, looks really sharp on the black.

Thanks mate its a nice little point of difference.

 

[MerlintheMad]

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Went for an early morning drive around home. South Coast of N.S.W

Nice. (could you make your pics larger next time?)

 

[AUStingerGT]

Nice. (could you make your pics larger next time?)

 

[AUStingerGT]

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Is that the size your after?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Welp, it was time for a Costco run. Couldn't put off the day of reckoning any longer. (Last time I used colorful metaphors and stomped out of there, because I was told I had to have a mask to get in the store.)

On my way there I did two stops. First was to Smith and Edwards to buy a bandanna (aka a very large "handkerchief"). No masks for me! I got a very bold one. I picked the one with "bling" accents, rather than the option with large flowers on it. Hah. It's a "Silk and Sage" from "Wild Rags"; 45" "Buckaroo" pattern. Sweet! Now I can really look like a highwayman should the necessity arise.


Second stop was at Daybreak, Oquirrh lake, to do a full circuit with the walking sticks (power walking, to involve the upper body instead of just swinging yer arms; I do this alternating days with bicycling). I left the bandanna in the car.

When I got back I liked the venue, background and atmosphere, so I took a pic.


Now that my daily exercise was checked off the list, I had to face Costco. Yes, I pulled the bandanna up at the entrance as I showed my membership card. I got a grin out of the girl doing sentry-go at the door: something about how I tugged it up over my nose at the very last second, I suppose. The moment I went around the corner I let it down. And I kept it down until I went to the checkout. I was literally the only person, employee or customer, with my nose and mouth uncovered. I saw several unhappy, uncomfortable shoppers with the silly masks below their noses. What the hell GOOD can that possibly do? I felt superior. Hah. At least I wasn't being a hypocrite. I kept my distance from anybody; and there were only a few shoppers compared to how it has been recently. The moment I was checked out the bandanna dropped again. Almost to the exit, two Costco ladies greeted each other, one without a mask and the other with it under her chin. I sense a disturbance in The Force.

As I approached my car from the passenger side, I saw guano on the B pillar, front passenger window and the frame above. Damn. While I was walking a bird or birds had shat on my car; I had, once again, not noticed that I was parking under a tree. (remember, Dougy, park in the open; repeat as necessary)

My final stop was another grocery store which only asks customers to "consider wearing a mask when shopping". I left the bandanna down.

Most people covering their lower faces are wearing masks. Few wear these cool bandannas. I see some wearing cruddy looking cotton bandannas. Mine is superior; silk is definitely, without the slightest doubt, the real deal when protecting others. And when you double, triple, quadruple the cloth by rolling it before you tie it behind your head, the air getting out of you into any of "them" has to be reduced to the efficiency of an N95, surely (I have no idea, I'm just blah, blah, blah, BLAH!, here). The really stupid looking thing about most masks is that they hang on your ears. At least a quarter of the human population out of doors lately has sticky out ears. They look totally ridiculous.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Is that the size your after?

Yes, thanks! (but I only need them once) (and 300 KB is the preferred minimum file size, to avoid pixilation)

 

[Nasscar]

Welp, it was time for a Costco run. Couldn't put off the day of reckoning any longer. (Last time I used colorful metaphors and stomped out of there, because I was told I had to have a mask to get in the store.)

On my way there I did two stops. First was to Smith and Edwards to buy a bandanna (aka a very large "handkerchief"). No masks for me! I got a very bold one. I picked the one with "bling" accents, rather than the option with large flowers on it. Hah. It's a "Silk and Sage" from "Wild Rags"; 45" "Buckaroo" pattern. Sweet! Now I can really look like a highwayman should the necessity arise.
View attachment 41758

Second stop was at Daybreak, Oquirrh lake, to do a full circuit with the walking sticks (power walking, to involve the upper body instead of just swinging yer arms; I do this alternating days with bicycling). I left the bandanna in the car.

When I got back I liked the venue, background and atmosphere, so I took a pic.
View attachment 41757

Now that my daily exercise was checked off the list, I had to face Costco. Yes, I pulled the bandanna up at the entrance as I showed my membership card. I got a grin out of the girl doing sentry-go at the door: something about how I tugged it up over my nose at the very last second, I suppose. The moment I went around the corner I let it down. And I kept it down until I went to the checkout. I was literally the only person, employee or customer, with my nose and mouth uncovered. I saw several unhappy, uncomfortable shoppers with the silly masks below their noses. What the hell GOOD can that possibly do? I felt superior. Hah. At least I wasn't being a hypocrite. I kept my distance from anybody; and there were only a few shoppers compared to how it has been recently. The moment I was checked out the bandanna dropped again. Almost to the exit, two Costco ladies greeted each other, one without a mask and the other with it under her chin. I sense a disturbance in The Force.

As I approached my car from the passenger side, I saw guano on the B pillar, front passenger window and the frame above. Damn. While I was walking a bird or birds had shat on my car; I had, once again, not noticed that I was parking under a tree. (remember, Dougy, park in the open; repeat as necessary)

My final stop was another grocery store which only asks customers to "consider wearing a mask when shopping". I left the bandanna down.

Most people covering their lower faces are wearing masks. Few wear these cool bandannas. I see some wearing cruddy looking cotton bandannas. Mine is superior; silk is definitely, without the slightest doubt, the real deal when protecting others. And when you double, triple, quadruple the cloth by rolling it before you tie it behind your head, the air getting out of you into any of "them" has to be reduced to the efficiency of an N95, surely (I have no idea, I'm just blah, blah, blah, BLAH!, here). The really stupid looking thing about most masks is that they hang on your ears. At least a quarter of the human population out of doors lately has sticky out ears. They look totally ridiculous.

Merlin....you didn't rob the place did you.

 

[Nasscar]

Merlin....you didn't rob the place did you.

Or was the gun for the birds shitting on your car.