My wife and I have this “merry war” about my toys. er, “business tools.” When you’re self-employed in a recreation-based business, the line of demarcation between toy and tax deduction is a fat, gray one with lots of fudge factor.
This little beauty is the Oregon Scientific ATC2K video camera. Waterproof to 3 meters, fixed focus (1.5 – infinity), 30 frames per second, 640 x 480 resolution. Certainly not the most amazing quality, but it cost about $150 including a 2 gig SD card, which holds 30 minutes of video.
Quietwater Films certainly will benefit from this, as I plan to take some ninja-stealth video my next run down the Badfish or the Sugar (currently in flood stage). Fun POV stuff, we’ll tack it on the end of some of the DVDs as easter eggs.
To learn more about this little gem (n.b. – I have no financial investment in this company, period), check out this link.
Other than that it has been a quiet week or two. I’ve been digging into numbers in order to book preseason orders for a few dozen of my vendors for next year. Loads of fun (actually, it is), but it has drained me of a lot of energy usually reserved for paddling this time of year.
Apparently some of the seeds on one of our Jacks in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) were pollinated, hence their vibrant color. It’s worthy to note that Jacks in the Pulpit are members of the Arum family, which includes Calla lilies, Skunk Cabbages, etc. A lot of really interesting and cool plants.
The coolest thing about the family is that a lot of the plants are thermogenic, producing heat to help them poke up through the snow in the case of the skunk cabbage, and helping to dissipate the malodorous scents that draw pollinators, mostly flesh flies, to its inflorescence.
The coolest Arum is this rare one: the Titan Arum (Amorphophalus titanum), or the Corpse Flower (i.e, the stinky plant). The Titan Arum inflorescence looks just like this one from the JITP, only it’s three feet tall. Native to Sumatra, the Titan Arum is really cool and really stinky…and a close cousin of our own little Jack in the Front Yard.
A discussion of thermogenic plants is certainly applicable in this part of the country.
How about sharing some of your favorite outdoor fall spots with the Fredin family? We have a goal to explore Wisconsin this fall. We’re at a good point in family life to do it– Noah likes the backpack and Luke likes to walk.
Love the blog.
Sure. Schedule a time with the boss when we get back from Seattle. I have lots of ideas. :=)