Doug's Diversions

The family and I have recently moved to Western New York, so we're still getting used to the sites and recreational possibilities. Some of the things that have occupied my small amounts of free time are listed below.

My wife's books

Why, yes. I am the husband of the famous author Lynn Flewelling. No I didn't do the maps in the books, but they were heavily influenced by Lynn's relationship with a certain cartographer. I taught her everything she knows. If you want a thrilling read buy these books and if you want an unbiased opinion see what others have to say.

Just Out!

The Bone Doll's Twin UK and American (October 2, 2001) editions

Luck in the Shadows Stalking Darkness Traitor's Moon

Boat Building

One of my sons learned to sail at camp a few summers ago and decided that he needed a sailboat.

I took leave of my senses and suggested that we could build a boat together. After all there was a book describing how to do it (10 Wooden Boats You Can Build) and it only took a few pages to complete the whole project. Well, the construction of the High Hopes was finally completed after about seven weeks. We took her sailing in the dusky hours of September 5th, 2000 (the night before school started for my son). High Hopes is a Phil Bolger "Cartopper" with instructions from H. H. Payson. The boat is small enough to put on top of the van and for my son to sail solo or for two of us to crowd in. We rigged it with a leg o'mutton sail.

Here is a Quicktime movie of the High Hopes' launching
produced by her Captain.
Sail.mov

Everything is neat and trim.
I'd say the Captain is happy.

Hard to believe there were 10 knot winds just
20 minutes ago.

High Hopes rows well, too.

It takes a lot of clamps to make a boat.

A beautiful day for sailing, if only ...

Here are some links I have found to be useful in the pursuit of this project:

The Wooden Boat page

Harold "Dynamite" Payson and his Instant Boats

Scouting

My two boys have given me the treat of having a reason to be a Boy Scout again. We have joined Troop 599 in East Aurora, NY after moving from Troop 301 in Bangor, ME.

Here are a few of my favorite links:

U.S. Scouting Service Project - An excellent collection of resources for everything scouting.

The National Office of the Boy Scouts of America.

Berkeley Scout Troop 24 is a good example of a Troop Web Page.

Orienteering

I've always had a thing for maps. In the Spring of 1998, My son's Scout Troop hosted the Spring Camporee for Penobscot Valley District of the Katahdin Area Council. I threw together a quick o-map using Illustrator and Map Studio. A small portion of the white course (beginners) is shown below. For the 1999 Spring Camporee I put together another quick and dirty map of the Penobscot Nature Reserve in Stetson, Maine. We ran a Score-O and managed to avoid losing any Patrols in the beaver ponds.

In the October of 1998, the Troop travelled to Nobscot Scout Reservation in Massachusetts to try real orienteering at the annual New England Scout-O and managed to not embarass ourselves. The event was run by Pete Lane and the excellent folks with the New England Orienteering Club.

For the 1999 Katahdin Area Council Scout Show Troop 301 used Orienteering merit badge as our theme. We created a orienteering course through the Bangor Mall and offered participants a chance to practice map reading in an indoor environment (We call it Mall-O).

I also am in the process of creating a map of Katahdin Scout Reservation. The Katahdin Area Council has purchased all the land that surrounds Little Fitts Pond, preserving all 2100 acres forever as a peaceful retreat for Scouts and Scouters.

Camp Roosevelt, Katahdin Scout Reservation, East Eddington, Maine

Homebrewing

This is the home of Dr. Doug's Homebrew, producers of Slogdobber Brown Ale, Macintyre Scotch Ale, and seasonal brews.