evan's ant village log

Day 295 (part 2)

Artists Week.

Jim did some observation drawing too.

Day 295 (part 3)

Artists Week.

I did some observation drawing as well.

Day 295 (part 4)

Artists Week.

Kai did even more observation drawing!

Day 295 (part 5)

Artists Week.

We made snow sculptures!

I made a couple little ants. Kai made a big ferocious ant. And Jim made a giant snow monster!

Day 295 (part 6)

Artists Week.

After basking in the glow of our spectacular snow sculptures, we destroyed them by shooting arrows at them.

A little late on the original post. But, some tips on the recurve. The bow looks a bit small for your stature, so don't get too comfortable or frustrated. Try rotating your arm that is holding the bow, so the inside of your elbow is pointing up to the sky, and then twist your wrist accordingly, to hold the bow. Do not let your arm slump and have your elbow fold like a door hinge, it destroys your lateral accuracy. Another important factor for aiming is an anchor point. Instead of only looking down the bowline, which only mm's of head movement can change the perceptive angle by many feet in all directions, it is also very hard to keep consistency. Draw the bow string to a contact place every time. Most pro's use a place on their chin, with the head a bit straighter, But that can be scary. Most use the corner of their lips on the dominate side, wtih the head slightly cocked, to adjust the perspective angle. And then two debatable pieces. Consistent stance, and finger placement. I think after basic skill recognition, you should learn to shoot in many stances. And for the most part, index on top, next TWO under.

I personally belive that the ambidextrous longbow is the perfect lowtec hunting tool, that all who are serious should shoot both left and right handed. And the arrow should be on the oppiset side comercial bows are designed for. History, new and old shows that the best archers shot with the arrow on the same side of the bow, as their draw hand.

That's the end of my rant, and I realise that you may have just been goofing off and not trying to hunt for dinner, or play in the Olympics, but I would rather share the "proper" ways to shoot a bow than watch somebody waste their time. This isn't a matter of opinion, its what accurate archers have learned after a few thousand years of practice

Thanks for the advice, Chad. I haven't done much bow-hunting yet, just a few chipmunks and squirrels last fall.

Day 295 (part 7)

Artists Week.

We also did some sharpening, and started a batch of sour kraut. The much warmer temperature inside seems to have helped a lot in getting the cabbage to release its liquids, so I didn't have to add any brine. The eventual success of the last batch along with having Kai there to help and encourage made me much more confident that I did it right this time. We even added some garlic, whole peppercorns, and a little bit of basil. Should be some pretty delicious kraut.

Kai rocks the art of line drawing! Go Kai!

Great description of proper bow technique, Chad. Very clear and succinct. You sound like a natural teacher.

Days 296-299 (part 1)

Artists Week.

Kai led us in a plant identification walkabout. He talked about how our local high-mountain desert ecosystem is fire-adapted, with the tall coniferous trees dropping their lower limbs and developing thick fire-resistant bark. He noted that dense stands of saplings and small trees that bridge the gap between the ground and the upper branches of the mature trees are a fire hazard, so it behooves us to thin out these smaller trees.

He also talked a bit about botany, noting the distinction between gymnosperms, (like our familiar coniferous trees,) which have unenclosed or naked seeds, and angiosperms, which are flowering plants. Angiosperms are further divided into monocotyledons and dicotyledons. Among other distinctions, monocots typically have leaf veins that run parallel, flower petals in multiples of 3, and fibrous roots, whereas dicots typically have branching leaf veins, petals in multiples of 4 or 5, and root systems with a taproot.

We walked around and Kai pointed out a variety of plants still identifiable even in the winter, noting some of their edible, medicinal, or other values. Plants we saw and talked about on this short walk included: mustard, pepperweed, knapweed, pseudo-lamb's quarters, white sweet clover, western larch, rye, douglas fir, saskatoon, nine bark, yarrow, mullein, ponderosa pine, oregon grape, black tree lichen, crustos lichen, sedges, bedstraw, timothy grass, evening primrose, sunchokes, rudbeckia sunflowers, tansy, rocky mountain bee plant, and hairy vetch. We talked about a few other plants too; dandelion, kinickinick, snowberry, grand fir, lodgepole pine, and western cedar, but during our walk we didn't specifically see these or the many other plants that can be found around the labs. We also saw at least one plant that, while familiar and abundant, none of us could positively identify.

Thanks for leading our plant id walkabout, Kai!