Clay’s Hobby #3,328 – Kiting

Prism Snapshot 1.4

I know what you’re saying…Clay, what hobby don’t you have. I don’t knit…I don’t…ummm…ok, well, I have a lot of hobbies. One of the hobbies I keep from my friends is kiting. No, not the plastic Baby Bat kites you used to pick up from Walgreens.  I’m talking the expensive stunt kite made from ripstop nylon, graphite spars and spectra line.  I’ve had a couple of stunt kits for about 15 years, but recently started reading about speed foil kites.  These are rectangular, contain no spars and look a lot like rectangular parachutes.

On a recent trip to San Francisco I visited a kite store and got the bug again, but this time, I wanted a speedfoil kite.  I tried buying one right there, but Jen convinced me it would be better to order it from Amazon.  She was right.  I saved $50.  I bought a Prism Snapshot 1.4.  Like the same suggests, it is 1.4 meters wide and it is a dual line kite.  Holy crap this thing is a blast.  It doesn’t break and it recovers from the ground.  It simply wants to be in the air.  It is also really quick.  The problem is, I want it to pull harder (please don’t say…That’s what she said).  I taught

Jake and the Prism Snapshot 1.4

Jake how to use it and he LOVES this kite.  Not only that, he is a pro at it!  He caught on right away.  You can guess what happened next….I gave him the kite so I could upgrade to something bigger and badder.

Prism Snapshot 2.5

I checked out the other sizes than Prism had to offer in their Snapshot line and settled on their biggest, the Prism Snapshot 2.5.  I picked it up this morning at a local kite shop called Air Traffic.  We have had a fairly windy weekend so I took it to the park this afternoon and was amazed by this behemoth.  First of all…it is bigger…much bigger, so it pulls harder, but it a little slower to turn.  I must have looked ridiculous to all of the people at the park because this kite was pulling me around like a kid pulling his mom around a Toys R Us.  I finally got the hang of it and was leaning back so much at times, I was practically laying on my back.

My next step is to convert the Snapshot 2.5 to a quad line kit  so that I will have breaks and I can put a kite killer on it (basically an emergency release in case you accidentally let go of the kite).

Now I am kind of anxious for the lakes to freeze over because I’m taking this sucker to Lake Calhoun and flying it while sliding across.  FUN!

I Take More Photos In The Summer

Yummy Yummy For My Tummy

I’m not sure why I take more photos in the summer…oh, I know…because taking photos when it is -15 with a -40 degree windchill sucks. [Read more...]

My Wife is Blogging. Hell Can Now Freeze Over.

My wife has wanted to start a blog since we got home over 7 months ago from Korea with Halle.  She is addicted to reading all of the other adoptive mom’s blogs.  Those blogs have helped us a great deal and she wanted a way of helping others, informing family and friends on what is up with Halle (and the rest of us shlubs in the family), and having something for Halle to read about herself when she is older.

So let’s get Jen some traffic and head over to her blog…

HalleTown

Summer Ribs, Make Me Feel Fine

I dream of these every night.

My iPad is making me fat.  Ok, not really, but these ribs will if I eat them as much as I want to.  I was strolling through CostCo and they had a couple slabs of baby back ribs for $14.  What a bargain!  Wait…I don’t know how to properly cook ribs!  In comes the iPad and the Epicurious app.  I love Memphis style ribs and there was the perfect recipe.   That along with some tips from the Weber app on the iPad had me prepared to take on this project.

The results were absolutely amazing.  Rich smokey flavor with ultra-tender meat.  I can’t wait to make them again.

Here is a link to the recipe.