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Outdoors (General/Chat)

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  • Landcruiser Water Crossing

    03/21/2014 9:10:13 AM PDT · by navysealdad · 15 replies
    It would appear to be a bit deeper than expected. Land Cruiser's reliability and longevity has led to huge popularity, especially in South Sudan and Australia where it is the best-selling body-on-frame, four-wheel drive vehicle.
  • Need help with solar power

    03/21/2014 6:38:18 AM PDT · by Shaun_MD · 102 replies
    3/21/2014 | Me
    hey fellow freepers, I need some advice. I'm trying to set up a small solar panel system in case the grid goes down. I know I won't be able to power the whole house, but I want to be able to run a 750 watt deep well pump, a couple of 40 watt lights, a ceiling fan or box fan, cb base station and maybe a small freezer/refrigerator. I've got a 12v 100 watt solar panel, a 2000w 12v pure sine wave inverter and a 200 amp hour agm battery. Plus a 30 amp charge controller. Will this be enough?...
  • Pueblo Woman Attacked By Dogs After Getting Off Bus ( Pit Bulls : Colorado )

    03/20/2014 7:49:46 AM PDT · by george76 · 19 replies
    KKTV ^ | Mar 20, 2014
    A 20-year-old woman was taken to the hospital Tuesday night after she was attacked by two dogs. Juliann Hernandez says she was getting off the bus from a day of classes at a community college in Pueblo. She says she was attacked near 8th and Utica Avenue in Pueblo, completely unprovoked. ... Her dad says once they saw what was happening, the family came out of their home to help. "One of them got a hold of her, clamped her knee...by then my wife and another daughter came out here, tried to scare them off, wouldn't go ... The Humane...
  • Tumbleweeds Overtake Colorado Neighborhood and Trap Families in Their Homes

    03/19/2014 7:10:26 PM PDT · by DogByte6RER · 60 replies
    Yahoo! News ^ | March 19, 2014 | Charlene Sakoda
    Tumbleweeds overtake neighborhood and trap families in their homes Recent tornado-like winds have covered a Colorado Springs, Colorado neighborhood in tumbleweeds. The large dried plants have invaded the Cuchares Ranches subdivision to such a degree that some residents said they were trapped in their homes and had to call 911 for help. “I look outside and tumbleweeds are literally blowing up and over our house,” Melissa Walker told KRDO NewsChannel 13. “I didn’t expect to be able to jump from my second story window into a pile of tumbleweeds.” In some places, the tumbleweeds are stacked 10-feet high. As reported...
  • Webcam: Phoebe the adorable hummingbird raising her babies.

    03/19/2014 10:49:16 AM PDT · by patriot08 · 58 replies
    Hummingbird Nest Cam ^ | 3/19/14 | Patriot08
    Take a break from all the depressing news of the day.Watch Phoebe Allen, the adorable little hummingbird, lay her eggs and raise her babies HERE Absolutely cute overload. Phoebe is a Channel Island Allen hummingbird who lives in Orange County, California. She has been hatching 4 to 5 eggs per year and her nest has been on net webcam since 2007. She is currently sitting on two eggs.
  • Wolf kills, eats dog after battle with owner during daylight attack near Haines

    03/17/2014 8:47:25 PM PDT · by skeptoid · 55 replies
    Chilkat Valley News ^ | TOM MORPHET
    A Haines woman beat back a wolf with a ski pole but was unable to keep it from killing and devouring one of four dogs she was walking with during a midday ordeal near 40 Mile Haines Highway.
  • Australian Surfer Injured as Dolphin Slams Into Him

    03/17/2014 3:56:36 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 31 replies
    A surfer in Australia was airlifted to hospital Monday after a dolphin slammed into him as he was riding a wave at a remote beach. The 27-year-old man was on his body board, or boogie board, at Bawley Point, 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Sydney, when the collision occurred. "He has come over a wave and as he did so, a dolphin has come through and hit him in the pelvic area," New South Wales Ambulance duty operations manager Wayne Dunlop said.
  • Philly Marks Second Snowiest Winter On Record

    03/17/2014 12:08:40 PM PDT · by george76 · 17 replies
    CBS ^ | March 17, 2014 | Kate Bilo
    PHILADELPHIA — It’s St. Patrick’s Day and three days away from spring, but after enjoying mild and pleasant weekend weather, winter reminded us of its wrath this morning with yet another “upside-down” storm that delivered heavy snow, especially to the shore points and portions of Delaware. 4.5″ of snow fell today at the airport, making it the snowiest St. Patrick’s Day ever. The previous snowiest St. Pat’s was all the way back in 1892 when 3.5″ of snow fell. In addition to that, we have now achieved another dubious milestone this winter. With 67.4″ of snow this season, it’s now...
  • Dog eaten in its kennel by a python: Owner finds snake with leash still dangling from its mouth

    03/17/2014 9:14:12 AM PDT · by george76 · 135 replies
    the Daily Mail ^ | 14 March 2014
    An Australian woman discovered her pet dog had been eaten by a snake in the most gruesome possible way after finding a bloated python lying curled in its kennel with the end of the dog's chain still dangling from its mouth. Amazingly, the wildlife-lover had only chained her Chihuahua-Maltese cross overnight to stop it disturbing native animals near her Caniaba home in northern NSW, but it meant there was no escaping the 2.5-metre python that slithered into the kennel. When the woman went outside to let the dog off its chain the following morning, she discovered the bloated snake curled...
  • Gun Talk Radio, Sunday, March 16th, 2014

    03/16/2014 5:02:11 PM PDT · by Carriage Hill · 135 replies
    Gun Talk Radio ^ | 3/16/2014 | Tom Gresham
    ~~ Come on in and shoot the breeze! ~~ Gun Talk Radio 3/16/2014, 08:00-11:00pm EST
  • Ice on Lake Michigan proving fatal to waterfowl

    03/16/2014 12:05:08 AM PDT · by Libloather · 41 replies
    Chicago Tribune ^ | 3/12/14 | Meredith Rodriguez
    **SNIP** Tens of thousands of diving ducks and other waterfowl spend their winters in the southwest part of Lake Michigan each year, said Douglas Stotz, conservation ecologist and ornithologist at the Field Museum. Most years, they fly from places like Canada and Alaska and spend their time here diving for mollusks and fish without major problems. But then came Chicago’s frigid winter, which as recently as last weekend had blanketed about 93 percent of Lake Michigan in ice. Hundreds of waterfowl likely have died as a result, experts say, many more are near starvation and a winter storm — the...
  • Clair deLune, Moonlight Serenade, Tonight Tonight, others?

    03/15/2014 8:10:20 PM PDT · by lee martell · 92 replies
    March 15 2014 | lee martell
    I'm a night person, and I like music inspired by the night. The biggest void that we know of is the darkness of the night. The darkness surrounds our part of the earth, like a soft heavy comforter filled with down. The night is without shape, and cannot be measured. This unknowable nature of the dark night allows us to easily imagine what is or what should be there. We imagine what is desired or what is dreaded. The night has long served as a catalyst or a muse for creativity. Look to the french composer Claude Debussy, who wrote...
  • Hunter bags enormous 500-lb wild hog in North Carolina

    03/14/2014 6:30:10 AM PDT · by JoeProBono · 68 replies
    upi ^ | March. 13, 2014 | Kate Stanton
    It's not everyday that you shoot a 500-pound beast. Hunters in Bertie County, N.C., knew about the massive wild hog roaming around their woods when it was captured on trail cameras several years ago. But Jett Webb finally managed to capture the animal near land leased by the White Oak Ranch Hunting Club. "It was very surreal,” Webb recently told WNCN. “It was a shock. It was very humbling to say the least, when you walk up on a beast that big and you say, 'Oh my gosh. I had no idea that there could be something that big running...
  • Rare Redwood Faces Chopping Block in Cotati (Albino Redwood)

    03/12/2014 3:08:35 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 21 replies
    Standing inconspicuously beside a block wall across the street from a glass shop in Cotati is one of the rarest living life forms in the world, an albino chimera coast redwood tree. Researchers say fewer than 10 of the genetically mutated trees are known to exist. But if SMART's rail plans proceed, the tree — the largest of its kind — soon will be cut down so commuter trains can safely zoom past. “This tree is irreplaceable,” said Tom Stapleton, a former Sonoma County arborist who is now based in Amador County and studies the rare mutations. “They need to...
  • Mountain lion or bobcat? Durham woman’s pic has many wondering[CT]

    03/12/2014 12:18:43 PM PDT · by Theoria · 72 replies
    The Middletown Press ^ | 10 Mar 2014 | Cassandra Day
    A woman’s photograph of a big cat roaming the snowy woods near her mother’s home in a sleepy central Connecticut town has some convinced it’s a mountain lion — despite environmental officials’ assertion that cougars are extinct in the state. Caitlin Handley posted the photograph on Durham-Middlefield Patch on March 6 under her mother Linda’s name, warning residents to keep their pets inside, and soon received a dozen comments from folks who surmised it was a bobcat. “It was approximately 10 in the morning when I saw it,” Handley says. “I believe the animal was actually bigger than the picture...
  • Ice Breaking on Great Lakes Could Take Months

    03/12/2014 9:27:57 AM PDT · by crz · 46 replies
    WBAY ^ | Updated: Mar 10, 2014 4:45 PM CDT | By Jeff Alexander
    <p>Ice breakers fear breakdown as a result of heavy ice.</p>
  • Mysterious new man-made gases pose threat to ozone layer

    03/10/2014 9:43:09 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 38 replies
    BBC News ^ | 3/9/14 | Matt McGrath
    Scientists have identified four new man-made gases that are contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer. Two of the gases are accumulating at a rate that is causing concern among researchers. Worries over the growing ozone hole have seen the production of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases restricted since the mid 1980s. But the precise origin of these new, similar substances remains a mystery, say scientists. Lying in the atmosphere, between 15 and 30km above the surface of the Earth, the ozone layer plays a critical role in blocking harmful UV rays, which cause cancers in humans and reproductive problems in...
  • Report: EPA coal plant rule tainted by secretiveness, collusion with green groups

    03/10/2014 6:57:00 AM PDT · by rktman · 4 replies
    Daily Caller ^ | 3/10/2014 | Editors
    The Environmental Protection Agency’s rule to limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants is tainted by secretiveness and collusion with environmental groups, according to a conservative environmental lawyer. Energy and Environmental Law Institute attorney Chris Horner has presented an 81-page regulatory comment showing the EPA’s “New Source Performance Standard” (NSPS) — which limits carbon emissions from new coal plants — was developed by officials masking their true agendas, using secret and private email accounts and in collusion with environmental groups.
  • Gun Talk Radio, Sunday, March 9th, 2014

    03/09/2014 5:06:15 PM PDT · by Carriage Hill · 36 replies
    Gun Talk Radio ^ | 3/9/2014 | Tom Gresham
    ~~ Come on in and shoot the breeze! ~~ Gun Talk Radio 3/9/2014, 08:00-11:00pm EST
  • Live Webcast Helps Track Large Newfound Asteroid Tonight: How to Watch (Slooh.com)

    03/09/2014 4:23:26 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 20 replies
    Yahoo! News ^ | 3/8/14 | Tariq Malik - Space.com
    An asteroid at least the size of a 60-story building will make a distant flyby of Earth this week, and you watch astronomers track the space rock tonight (March 9) in a live webcast, weather permitting. The asteroid poses no threat to Earth. The online Slooh community observatory will host the free webcast at 10 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT) to track asteroid 2014 CU13, a space rock about 623 feet (190 meters) wide discovered on Feb. 11 that will pass Earth at a range of about eight times the distance between Earth and the moon on Tuesday (March 11). The...