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WordPress Geo Mashup Release 1.2.4
Fixes some problems saving locations (Issue 194) and a rare “duplicate entry” WordPress database error. Upgrade as usual.
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Post Moderate at Diablo Canyon
We take Mom out to Diablo Canyon. I lead Post Moderate 5.9, which is long enough at 165 ft to challenge my stamina. As I did before, I blow the two-rope logistics and have (or get) to climb to the top again after failing to lower. I need to use more visualization techniques – not…
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Atalaya / Dorothy Stewart Loop
I set out to hike ten miles to see how my leg holds up. The day could hardly be clearer, and the warm air smells like apples. I go slowly, and while my left leg feels a little more fatigued than the right, it doesn’t hurt! The Wyoming trip this summer seems possible again.
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Dead Cholla Wall Climbing
We planned our Petaca Point hike with hopes that conditions would be good for climbing at nearby Dead Cholla Wall, and they are perfect. We join one other couple, also easing back into climbing after a hiatus, to try some top roping here. As is often the case, reaching over the cliff edge to clip…
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Petaca Point Overnight
I can’t remember the last time I had such a terrible time leaving for an outing. The weather looks dreary, we’re slogging through our preparations, and neither Ann or I really want to go. “Just force it,” I say, “we need this.” The sky looks darker and darker as we drive north until our final…
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Book: Blood Brothers / Elias Chacour
An autobiography by a Palestinian Christian who has been a tireless advocate for peace with Israel. It’s written in a simple but vivid style, and Chacour has some remarkable success stories that are a welcome relief from the usual Middle East news. He makes his own unshakable faith quite clear as the inspiration and grounding…
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Easter Wanderings
Our initial desire is to check out the Mentmore climbing area near Gallup, New Mexico. We start out on Friday night, finding a pretty spot on the Continental Divide Trail to overnight. It begins to rain, then hail and snow. Reading the guidebook for entertainment, I notice a comment that the porous sandstone at Mentmore…
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Book: The Known World / Edward P. Jones
This swirling work of historical fiction centers around a slave plantation in Virginia that is owned by a former slave. The tale jumps around in both time and perspective, taking some effort to follow, but the effort is rewarded by an intimacy with Manchester county that feels eerily like having lived there a long long…