Around about forever ago, I bought a Vholdr helmet mountable video camera (because it was an Amazon deal of the day, and was several times cheaper than the ones they have now). So long ago that the company has changed its name and seems to have no record of the camera I've got.
The idea was to record videos on my bike, like this one (which was handlebar mounted). It wasn't easy to mount horizontally on my bike helmet, and I didn't want to use up the sticker that it came with, so I never got around to it. But the boys and I went skiing for the first time two weeks ago (first time for all of us) and it seemed much easier to attach to my skiing helmet. So that's what I've done.
The first video is where I'm riding the moving carpet, and the twins ski down. They are both wearing beige jackets and black trousers. Dan comes first and has a black helmet, Alex comes second and has a blue helmet.
Alex challenged me to a race. When the boys looked at the video later they asked why I recorded it in slow motion. I explained that it made it look more exciting. They almost believed me.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Lake Casitas Camping
About 3 years ago, we bought a tent, sleeping bags, stuff like that. Last weekend we finally got around to using them. We went to Lake Casitas, which we chose because it had a water park. The water park was closed, but we went there anyway. It's a long time since we'd been camping, and never with kiddies, so we took John and Frauke and Muriel and Madeline to show us what to do.
It's a vast campsite, or really network of campsites, labelled from A (Angler) to O (Osprey). We stayed at Creekside (C). Although the creek seemed to be dried up. In the UK when you book a campsite, they show you a field (at least in my experience), in the US, you get a very specific place - when we booked we were told we'd got spaces 4 and 5. Space 5 was about three times bigger than space 4. It was kind of near a road, which kept some people awake too. Map below shows (about) where spaces 4 and 5 are.
View Lake Casitas, Campsite C in a larger map
Walking around the campsite, we realized the best space (if there was just one group of you) was number 18 - it was set further back from the road, and had its own private drive (well, sort of). The campsite had a playground, and the toilets weren't too unpleasant - they were sort of flushing, but were like aeroplane toilets where you press a lever to open a slot, so everything falls through, then some water trickles through. It was well worth walking to the real toilets, which were about 10 minutes walk away (and had showers).
Here's Susanne having breakfast:
And here are the kiddies walking back from the playground:
Susanne hadn't spent quite so much time outside in all her life, and asked when the fun was going to begin, on more than one occasion.
We hired a surrey - I had no idea that those bike things with 3 wheels and lots of seats were called surreys (and I was born in Surrey). Amazingly, it took one of them to hold all 8 of us:
.
There was a boat hire place too, there was a great deal of debate and confusion about what kind of boat to hire, and for how long. The price list had a large boat, which held 8 of us, on the price list at $170 for 5 hours. But we didn't want a boat for 5 hours, 'cos we'd all get bored. Smaller boats (kayaks, canoes, rowing boats) were hirable for an hour, but there was reluctance by some people to go on some of them (and in the case of the kayaks, almost everyone but me; I thought it would be character building). After lots of shouting, the people at the hire place said that the larger boat was also available for an hour, so we got that.
I forgot to take a photo of the boat, but they called it a patio boat - it was like a big flat platform with an outboard motor, and some plastic chairs scattered about on it. And a steering wheel. Here's Frauke:
An hour was enough time to go all the way around the lake and see all the exciting sights. There's an airport for remote control planes. You can tell it's not for real planes, because it's got an X at each end of the runway, so you should not try to land on it. Presumably you know that if you actually fly real planes. Or if you didn't, you do now and can thank me.
View Lake Casitas, Campsite C in a larger map
Look really closely, and you can see a plane on this picture:
What? You can't see it? Hold on. I'll zoom in.
The lake is used for drinking water, so you're not allowed to swim in it, and you're not allowed to let your dog swim in it, and you're really, really not allowed to pee in it. To discourage this, there are floating restrooms:
This (people who know more about such stuff than me tell me) is a turkey vulture, and it's eating a fish.
It's a vast campsite, or really network of campsites, labelled from A (Angler) to O (Osprey). We stayed at Creekside (C). Although the creek seemed to be dried up. In the UK when you book a campsite, they show you a field (at least in my experience), in the US, you get a very specific place - when we booked we were told we'd got spaces 4 and 5. Space 5 was about three times bigger than space 4. It was kind of near a road, which kept some people awake too. Map below shows (about) where spaces 4 and 5 are.
View Lake Casitas, Campsite C in a larger map
Walking around the campsite, we realized the best space (if there was just one group of you) was number 18 - it was set further back from the road, and had its own private drive (well, sort of). The campsite had a playground, and the toilets weren't too unpleasant - they were sort of flushing, but were like aeroplane toilets where you press a lever to open a slot, so everything falls through, then some water trickles through. It was well worth walking to the real toilets, which were about 10 minutes walk away (and had showers).
Here's Susanne having breakfast:
And here are the kiddies walking back from the playground:
Susanne hadn't spent quite so much time outside in all her life, and asked when the fun was going to begin, on more than one occasion.
We hired a surrey - I had no idea that those bike things with 3 wheels and lots of seats were called surreys (and I was born in Surrey). Amazingly, it took one of them to hold all 8 of us:
.I forgot to take a photo of the boat, but they called it a patio boat - it was like a big flat platform with an outboard motor, and some plastic chairs scattered about on it. And a steering wheel. Here's Frauke:
An hour was enough time to go all the way around the lake and see all the exciting sights. There's an airport for remote control planes. You can tell it's not for real planes, because it's got an X at each end of the runway, so you should not try to land on it. Presumably you know that if you actually fly real planes. Or if you didn't, you do now and can thank me.
View Lake Casitas, Campsite C in a larger map
Look really closely, and you can see a plane on this picture:
What? You can't see it? Hold on. I'll zoom in.
The lake is used for drinking water, so you're not allowed to swim in it, and you're not allowed to let your dog swim in it, and you're really, really not allowed to pee in it. To discourage this, there are floating restrooms:
This (people who know more about such stuff than me tell me) is a turkey vulture, and it's eating a fish.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Strolling
We dragged the boys away from their Wiis and DSs and PCs and TVs for the day, to go to a place called Solstice Canyon Park, in Malibu. It's a National Park, so you can take dogs (not a State Park, where you can't). Oma and Michael came too.
It's not obvious, but this hollow tree had a bee nest (or whatever it's called that bees live in that isn't a hive).
There are two abandoned houses. The first was one of the first houses built in Malibu, and it burned down. Sadly, it was fenced off, so we couldn't get to it (although Dan still tried)
The second house was built in 1952, by Frederick Roberts, who (amongst other claims to fame) was the first Black member of the California State Assembly. He was killed in a car accident before he moved in, and the house burned down in 1982. Given that it's relatively recent, there is surprisingly little of it left.
One imagines this was the kitchen.
And this might have been the living room.
There's a waterfall there (the house was constructed so that the water would stop it burning, but after the house was abandoned the water systems weren't repaired), and it looks like there was some sort of tiled patio here.
The waterfall wasn't super-impressive, but given that it last rained about 3 months ago, I was a little surprised it was doing anything.
There had been a fire in the canyon about 3 years ago, and there were still burnt, dead trees around the place.
But purty flowers too.
The area used to be used for cattle (despite the fact that it looks completely unsuitable) and I imagine that this dead windmill was something to do with that.
You can also see a bizarre cantilevered house, that's sometimes called the Darth Vader House.
It's not obvious, but this hollow tree had a bee nest (or whatever it's called that bees live in that isn't a hive).
There are two abandoned houses. The first was one of the first houses built in Malibu, and it burned down. Sadly, it was fenced off, so we couldn't get to it (although Dan still tried)
The second house was built in 1952, by Frederick Roberts, who (amongst other claims to fame) was the first Black member of the California State Assembly. He was killed in a car accident before he moved in, and the house burned down in 1982. Given that it's relatively recent, there is surprisingly little of it left.
One imagines this was the kitchen.
And this might have been the living room.
There's a waterfall there (the house was constructed so that the water would stop it burning, but after the house was abandoned the water systems weren't repaired), and it looks like there was some sort of tiled patio here.
The waterfall wasn't super-impressive, but given that it last rained about 3 months ago, I was a little surprised it was doing anything.
There had been a fire in the canyon about 3 years ago, and there were still burnt, dead trees around the place.
But purty flowers too.
The area used to be used for cattle (despite the fact that it looks completely unsuitable) and I imagine that this dead windmill was something to do with that.
You can also see a bizarre cantilevered house, that's sometimes called the Darth Vader House.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
We've got a swimming pool
I'll post more sometime, but I seem to find that I'm spending a lot of my spare time on an inflatable chair.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Concrete
After a lot of waiting for rain to stop, the concrete has finally been poured. The concrete people took one day to prepare the ground for concreting, then we had to wait for an inspector to come and inspect the earth (ground) on the rails, and then they could return to concrete.
Joe (from JDC Concrete) was very efficient. We decided to have some steps made at the same time as they were here, and we changed our minds about where the concrete should end about 5 times. After they'd prepared everything for concreting, we changed our minds again, and they rearranged things in the morning without complaining about it.
What's that? You want some photos? OK.
This is the pool area prepared to be concreted:
They are finishing off the concrete here, and it's still wet, hence it's dark:
The concrete still isn't quite dry. They put bubble wrap to protect the coping around the pool while they concreted - they will come back and pull the last bits out, and fill the gap with mastic.
Joe (from JDC Concrete) was very efficient. We decided to have some steps made at the same time as they were here, and we changed our minds about where the concrete should end about 5 times. After they'd prepared everything for concreting, we changed our minds again, and they rearranged things in the morning without complaining about it.
What's that? You want some photos? OK.
This is the pool area prepared to be concreted:
They are finishing off the concrete here, and it's still wet, hence it's dark:
The concrete still isn't quite dry. They put bubble wrap to protect the coping around the pool while they concreted - they will come back and pull the last bits out, and fill the gap with mastic.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Pool Door Alarms
Today the inspector was due to give the final inspection before the pool can be completed (I think there's another inspection after the pool is completed) when they checked the gates, fence and doors. The gates and fence around the yard have to be 5 feet high (I knew about that, we were fine) and the gap under the gate has to be less than 4 inches (I didn't know that one, but we scraped through at 3 15/16ths). All doors from the house to the yard have to have door alarms - these are possibly the most irritating things I've ever known.
After you open a door, you have 7 seconds to press the button on the alarm (which has to be high enough off the ground that kids can't reach it). You then have about 15 seconds to get out of the door and close it. If you don't close it, the alarm will go off - even if you continually press the button. You can never leave the door open - you would need to employ someone to press the button, wait 20 seconds, close the door, open it again, press the button, wait 20 seconds, etc. (Several people I've described this to are convinced I've got it wrong, because it sounds so insane.)
The alarm is designed very cleverly to be hard to disable. As soon as you detach it from the door, it's going to go off every 15 seconds or so, until you can get the battery out. And you can't get the battery out without removing it from the door and then undoing four screws. And you can't get it back on the door without a battery (that's kind of clever, in an irritating way).
The dogs are always a bit hesitant to leave the comforts of the house for the yard. (Well, they're a bit hesitant to do anything). So to get the dogs into the yard, I need to get them to the door - this is a challenge, because by the time the second dog has arrived at the door, the first dog has got bored and wandered off. Then I open the door and try to get them out, but they've only got 20 seconds before the alarm goes off, which frightens them and makes them run back into the house. And I usually can't get then both through the door in that time, so getting the dogs out of the house is close to impossible.
But a door alarm might be useful. I can see that there are times when I might want a door alarm - like if we've got visitors with kiddies. However, the rules about door alarms make them so irritating that as soon as the inspector has done the final inspection, they are removed. But because the rules insist that a door alarm is absolutely 100% effective (well, maybe 99%) , it makes it so that no one uses it at all. It's like those paracetamol (acetaminophen) that had Acetylcysteine (a treatment for paracetamol overdose) in them, but they cost more, so no one bought them. Because, either you're not planning to OD on paracetamol, in which case why pay more? Or you are planning to, in which case, why pay more?
But I have a cunning ploy. I've ordered two switches from Amazon for 99 cents each (plus $4.50 p&p), which I'll attach to the alarms, so I can detach the battery without dismantling them, and will, in theory, have the best of both worlds. But we'll see. Check back later.
After you open a door, you have 7 seconds to press the button on the alarm (which has to be high enough off the ground that kids can't reach it). You then have about 15 seconds to get out of the door and close it. If you don't close it, the alarm will go off - even if you continually press the button. You can never leave the door open - you would need to employ someone to press the button, wait 20 seconds, close the door, open it again, press the button, wait 20 seconds, etc. (Several people I've described this to are convinced I've got it wrong, because it sounds so insane.)
The alarm is designed very cleverly to be hard to disable. As soon as you detach it from the door, it's going to go off every 15 seconds or so, until you can get the battery out. And you can't get the battery out without removing it from the door and then undoing four screws. And you can't get it back on the door without a battery (that's kind of clever, in an irritating way).
The dogs are always a bit hesitant to leave the comforts of the house for the yard. (Well, they're a bit hesitant to do anything). So to get the dogs into the yard, I need to get them to the door - this is a challenge, because by the time the second dog has arrived at the door, the first dog has got bored and wandered off. Then I open the door and try to get them out, but they've only got 20 seconds before the alarm goes off, which frightens them and makes them run back into the house. And I usually can't get then both through the door in that time, so getting the dogs out of the house is close to impossible.
But a door alarm might be useful. I can see that there are times when I might want a door alarm - like if we've got visitors with kiddies. However, the rules about door alarms make them so irritating that as soon as the inspector has done the final inspection, they are removed. But because the rules insist that a door alarm is absolutely 100% effective (well, maybe 99%) , it makes it so that no one uses it at all. It's like those paracetamol (acetaminophen) that had Acetylcysteine (a treatment for paracetamol overdose) in them, but they cost more, so no one bought them. Because, either you're not planning to OD on paracetamol, in which case why pay more? Or you are planning to, in which case, why pay more?
But I have a cunning ploy. I've ordered two switches from Amazon for 99 cents each (plus $4.50 p&p), which I'll attach to the alarms, so I can detach the battery without dismantling them, and will, in theory, have the best of both worlds. But we'll see. Check back later.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Our first avocado harvest
The avocado tree in the yard has had avocados on it for quite some time, which looked ready to pick. I thought I'd wait for one to fall off, and that would be the sign that they were ripe - but I waited and waited and they didn't fall. And the tree started to make flowers for the next batch of avocados, so I thought I'd waited long enough, and decided to pick them.
The second problem is that it's quite a big tree and I couldn't reach them. So a bought a fruit picker from Amazon and plucked them down. They are still fairly hard, and some of them are small. But avocado feast here we come!
(The tree gets watered by the grey water system, so I expect buckets full next year.)
The second problem is that it's quite a big tree and I couldn't reach them. So a bought a fruit picker from Amazon and plucked them down. They are still fairly hard, and some of them are small. But avocado feast here we come!
(The tree gets watered by the grey water system, so I expect buckets full next year.)
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