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Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on September 18, 2015, 05:12 PM:
My parents are starting to get up in age and when I took them fishing the other day, Dad in particular, had a tough time walking on the basketball-sized rocks on the river's edge. Mom took a fall a few weeks back that she is just now getting healed up from.
Both get around pretty darn good for their age, especially Mom.
I was thinking a trekking pole for each might give them some added stability when walking on rougher ground. Dad would probably be too embarrassed to use a full-blown cane since he doesn't need one 98% of the time. A trekking pole he might use?
Anybody use trekking poles? I've grabbed a straight stick for support on occasion when hiking, but never used the real deal.
Suggestions on brands to get or experiences using them?
[ September 18, 2015, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: Lonny ]
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on September 18, 2015, 08:14 PM:
There are times when a plain old walking staff is hard to beat.
If you have Joshua Trees that far North, the stalks are really lightweight and scary strong.
Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on September 18, 2015, 08:58 PM:
No Josh trees in these parts Koko, but I thought about cutting some yew staves, but anything green is going to take a awhile to cure. Something handmade would be kinda cool.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on September 19, 2015, 06:56 AM:
Joshua Trees? Damn, they are thick as a telephone pole and rough as a cob!
But, a nice length of palo verde makes a very decent walking stick. However, I prefer a sahuaro rib. Light and strong, hard to beat.
Trekking poles are cool, but a little too sanitary for my tastes; I'm not climbing Mount Fuji.
I have a couple sahuaro canes I use out in the yard all the time, they are usually leaning against something and I have to hunt them down, but I sure as hell use them virtually every day.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on September 19, 2015, 12:23 PM:
Uh....El Bee.................
Not the trunks........the stalks.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Posted by Krustyklimber (Member # 72) on September 19, 2015, 05:24 PM:
I've never taken to the use of trekking poles (*in pairs) despite a lot of trekking.
I have carried a single staff, off and on, but tend to set them down and walk off without them.
If one is going to really use a walking staff, much like a cane, they'll need it to be 100% reliable (read sturdy).
Komperdell sells a great walking staff that doubles as a mount for a camera.
Krusty
Posted by earthwalker (Member # 4177) on September 20, 2015, 09:52 AM:
Trekking poles are great light weight or go to the second hand store and see if there is any ski poles they work too.
Posted by knockemdown (Member # 3588) on September 21, 2015, 04:07 AM:
Lonny, I have a couple sets of Black Diamond trekking poles. One set is aluminum, the other carbon fiber. Both have quick-lock levers for height adjustments, not the twist lock kind.
I use the aluminum poles very often for training, they have several hundred miles on them and are they still going strong. I save the carbon fiber poles for hiking/hunting trips, where they perform double duty as tent poles. The carbon poles are a few ounces lighter, more packable & quiet, and feel more sturdy when loaded.
Just saw a pair of Easton poles on sale @ CamoFire for a good price, they are posta be decent.
Leki is another big name that is well reviewed.
A trip to your local REI will get ya lined out, but even Walmart has semi-decent poles that budget minded adventurers seem to find favor with.
I'd look into a decent pair with quick-lock legs for your parents to share. Stay away from twist locks, especially with the cheaper poles, as they tend to slip over time...
[ September 21, 2015, 04:08 AM: Message edited by: knockemdown ]
Posted by Paul Melching (Member # 885) on September 21, 2015, 06:36 AM:
KoKo me thinks you mean agave stave from the blossom long straight an lightweight.....
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on September 21, 2015, 07:11 AM:
That's a possibility? I was wondering, carrying an aluminum extension ladder to get a Joshua bloom would make an emergency umbrella and not much else?
Good hunting. El Bee
PS just had a thought. a young Yucca is easily mistook for a Joshua.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on September 21, 2015, 07:33 AM:
koko, I can let you have this one I have been hacking on for three days, cheap. Just cover postage. Let me know.
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on September 21, 2015, 08:14 AM:
Paul;
Ok.......Regional names. I've always heard them called Joshua Trees. Seems that our local ones are Palmilla. Yucca Elata. Engelm.
El Bee;
Nice garden. How do you get it to grow sideways ??
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on September 21, 2015, 10:58 AM:
That's an optical illusion, koko.
An interesting thing about Yucca Valley. It's full of Joshua Trees! Very few Yuccas. You would have a hard time mistaking a Joshua Tree for any Yucca. Unless it's three feet tall, no branches.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on September 21, 2015, 12:20 PM:
The ones that we have get 8 to 10 foot tall.
A lot like a Joshua Tree without the branches.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on September 21, 2015, 03:50 PM:
That's actually a Century Plant. When it blooms, it dies.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on September 21, 2015, 04:25 PM:
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The Black Diamonds that Knockem' mentioned had caught my eye.
Another twist to the story. Saturday my wife and I were out on the four-wheeler and we had just walked down into a draw to look at some dead trees to saw up. Just when we got back to the ATV she stepped wrong and went down. Ended up breaking her lower leg where it connects to the ankle. Freak accident. Surgery, six screws and a plate later she is now off her leg for 6 weeks.
All in all, it could have been worse, like several hundred yards or god forbid, a few miles from a vehicle. She could not put any weight on it and I loaded her on to the 4 wheeler.
So she is gonna get a trekking pole of some sort when this thing gets healed up
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on September 21, 2015, 08:37 PM:
Wow! That's not good! Hope she doesn't stay out of the woods because of it?
You know, any of us could step wrong, miles from help. Then what? Scary thought.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on September 22, 2015, 04:03 PM:
I don't think it will keep her from the outdoors, Leonard. Weather permitting, (She's not a fan of the cold) she likes being outside.
I'll say it is kind of a wake-up-call for me even though the older I get, the more cautious I'm getting to be when in the outdoors. I used to never take a cell phone with me or tell anyone where I was going. Not anymore. A simple slip like this could be a death sentence if ill prepared and in cold weather.
She already said to get her a set of trekking poles, so I'll just get a couple sets now. Heck, maybe I'll start using them.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on September 22, 2015, 09:25 PM:
Don't feel bad, I have been thinking the same thing.
Good hunting. El Bee
PS but I'm holding off on the trekking poles for a while.
Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on October 03, 2015, 09:15 AM:
Ordered a couple pairs of Black Diamond trekking poles with the flick-locks today. A set for my parents to share and another set for my wife when she gets off crutches.
Thanks for all the help gents.
Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on October 07, 2015, 12:06 PM:
Dang, just read this, sorry to hear about the accident Lonny!
Mark
Posted by earthwalker (Member # 4177) on October 07, 2015, 02:25 PM:
I just read this, too.
Sorry about your wife Lonny. Hope everything is going well for her.
I use a walking stick of any kind anymore. I'm not steady. Should buy a pair and be done with it.
Might have to now with the new hip.
Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on October 07, 2015, 04:19 PM:
Thanks for the well wishes.
I took her in the get a cast put on on Monday and when they took the temporary boot off, a sore on the top of her foot was noticed.
The boot had been real tight and was rubbing on the top her foot. That caused a deep sore to develop that will probably burst. She had been saying the top of her foot was hurting a lot, but we were told not to change the way the boot was cinched down and by no means take it off until the first appointment after surgery which was 2 weeks.
Live and learn and complain a little more in the future when it comes to medical stuff, I guess?
This is the first time for either of us to be laid up with any medical issues and we are learning as we go.
The Black Diamond trekking poles arrived today. They look nice and seem to lock down real solid and can be made quite compact.
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on October 08, 2015, 03:17 AM:
Sorry to hear about the accident Lonny. But, yes, take charge with the doctors. They're individuals. They remind me a lot of mechanics. Some mechanics are there for a paycheck and don't take much pride in their work, nor have any mechanical sympathy or aptitude. Others, enjoy their work, care about doing a good job and have ample natural mechanical sympathy. It's the same with docs. Some were last in their classes at medical school and barely passed, don't give two shits about you, not that good at what they do, can't/won't listen, etc. Others are the opposite of that.
But, definitely, make sure you are clear on what they think they are doing and take charge.
- DAA
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on October 08, 2015, 05:00 AM:
^ ^ ^
Damn good advice !!!!
I would also add,
Any medical condition can be `googled`.
Spend some time getting knowed up enough to have a reasonable idea what the Doctor is talking about, options, etc.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on October 08, 2015, 05:15 AM:
Along those lines. I have always looked at Kaiser similar to the Military. Not as big, but the way they do things reminds me of being in the Army, which I was, but bailed at the end of a three year enlistment.
WHERE WAS I? Oh, Doctors. I'm sure everybody has noticed that there are (possibly) a majority of foreign doctors trained here in our excellent medical schools. And, Kaiser seems to like foreign doctors. For a while, I was assigned a female doctor that seemed like she was from the mideast, somewhere? She even got to look at my junk when I had some kind of jock itch. I couldn't tell if she was impressed, or not?
I have been seeing a gastro-something specialist doctor and she is Chinese. She talks fast and doesn't like to answer questions. She has a twin sister that also works in that department.
I have cruised around UCLA, (not real recently) and one cannot help but notice that Asians are certainly taking advantage of our institutions of higher learning. When I broke my ribs a couple years ago while cutting palm fronds, executing a layout in the pike position, difficulty 1.8....that doctor, a thoractic something? he had a hispanic name, Navarro, and probably liked soccer?
Are we training Caucasians as MD's anymore? Seems they all want to study computer science and learn to hack the IRS.
Stay on topic! (joke)
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by knockemdown (Member # 3588) on October 08, 2015, 05:27 AM:
A close friend of mine went to med school in Guadalajara, Mexico. Couldn't afford any schools here in country.
He is now Chief resident of Anesthesia at one of the best hospitals on Long Island...
Go figure?
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on October 08, 2015, 06:06 AM:
Between my Dad's cousins, my Uncles and my cousins, there are a handful of doctors of various sorts, from M.D. to chief of orthopedic surgery at a major area hospital.
Every single one of them, has told their children, very loud and clear - DO NOT GO INTO MEDICINE!!!! DON'T DO IT!!!!
For all the obvious reasons. Mostly, that they are not allowed to decide how much they charge, that they are slaves to the insurance companies, etc.
The ones chasing the money (and who can blame them), are going into law and finance.
I live in one of the whitest major metros in the country. Heard a stat on the radio just yesterday, that less than 1% of the population here is black? Not hard to believe. My Wife went to the high school nearest where we live now, said that out of 3500 students, only one was black. It's still a little bit surprising to see a black person at the Walmart nearest our house.
I grew up in the least white neighborhood in the entire state, but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway... Yes, Asians seem to have their eye on the prize. My Son attends the U of U, big public university here in Salt Lake - one of the whitest places you'll find. In his third year of engineering school, going to be an EE. Not all of his profs do rankings, but a few do. Logan (my son), has made top 5 or top 3 in every ranking so far (he was #1 on his midterms this week, with a 98 and the next closest was a 90!). And, in every ranking so far, I have not been able to pronounce any of the other names! All Asian.
Good for them. Says I. They're putting in the work, I hope they get the rewards.
- DAA
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on October 08, 2015, 07:13 AM:
Interesting, Dave. Congrats to your son.
You know what? I graduated from El Monte Union High School in the middle of the San Gabriel Valley in 1960. There was not a single black student at that school and maybe 10% Mexican-American. The rest, pretty much Okies, working class whites.
Of course, that was then. A friend who funded an endowment scholarship at El Monte told me that the student body is now 98% hispanic and 95% English as a second language. Now they have a high fence around the school, back then it was an open campus. There are only two high schools in the entire state of California with an endowed trust scholarship, El Monte and Torrance HS. (little trivia)
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Prune Picker (Member # 4107) on October 08, 2015, 10:02 AM:
LB, sounds like a plea for a couple of carloads of Okies to caravan out ya'lls way & run the Cholos back to east la, send the coons back to watts, block all the exits out of garden grove so the Viet cong don't try to expand their territory & I almost forgot!!! round up all the queers ( in red leather ) and send them back to melrose ave. 😂 Have a nice day
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on October 08, 2015, 04:13 PM:
Hmm? You know about Melrose?
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