Tim Hoffland

Bridge physics game

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:22:41 +0000

Online Physics Games

Old School Pictures

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:29:37 +0000

Just some old school pictures of me from the late 1980′s to mid 90′s.

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A few flies

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:54:40 +0000

Blue Winged Olive, SJ Worm and a Caddis

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Oak Creek Sedona, 8-14-10

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:10:23 +0000

Went up to Sedona today to meet Kevin for an afternoon of flyfishing. We got on the water around 12pm and fished until 6:30 with only one brown trout, and a number of misses for our efforts. The weather was warm but the water was a refreshing 68 degrees. We covered a lot of water, 0.7 miles, (which felt like a lot further) and really had a hard time finding them until late in the evening when they started rising. By then we were done and hungry and still had to make it back to the cars before dark. On the way out we stopped at a pool which gets loaded with stocker rainbow trout so we each whacked about 3 of them, then headed in for dinner. We stopped at the Junipine Resort Cafe for a buffalo burger and enjoyed the rest of the evening. Overall, it was a great day… too bad the fish didn’t cooperate a little more.

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Here’s a cool video of a damselfly laying eggs:

The “Crack” at Beaver Creek & Ashurst Lake

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:17:55 +0000

Last weekend I went up to the local mountains with my friend Mike for some hiking and fishing. The first day we went to Beaver Creek and hiked the Bell Trail about 3.5 miles to what is known as the “Crack”. This was something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, but I also thought I was in better shape than I actually am. Hiking down the main trail, we veered off the trail a few times which made what should’ve been a 1.5 hour trek into about 2.5 hours. The scenery was great through, and we did discover a few good fishing holes… though we passed them up to get to our destination. Along the trail is a large boulder with some petroglyphs from the Sinagua Indians, very cool to see without a fence around it, and I’m amazed that something so old is still in such great condition.

After trying for a few fish in the main pool, we decided they wanted nothing to do with us and we had a bit of a hike to get back to the car so we headed out. There was still about an hour of sunlight left so we went to the campgrounds where the rainbow trout are stocked and whacked about 5 fish each before calling it a day.

The next day we drove down to Ashurst Lake to see about catching some Pike. Upon arrival the wind was blowing at about 30mph which would make flyfishing impossible for a novice like me, so I broke out the bass gear and a flashminnow and started casting. About 15 minutes into it Mike gets a hookup on a 8″ pike, but that would be the only fish for the day.

It was a great weekend, we stayed in Flagstaff for the night with a low of 25 degrees, but managed to find some good Chinese food in town. I don’t think I need to make that hike again anytime soon, but I’m glad I did it.

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Montezuma Castle National Monument

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:57:19 +0000

Parker decided he needed a vacation, so we found a hotel in Sedona and made the drive up north. About an hour into the drive to Sedona is Montezuma Castle National Monument. I was looking forward to seeing it, but never expected something of this size, or this good of condition. We’ve been to the Tonto Cliff Dwellings, but that was nowhere as big, and the condition of this site was much better. The difference being that one is not allowed to go inside, you are limited to the pathway below. The Tonto dwellings you are allowed to go inside of them.

Continuing our journey we then stopped at the Montezuma Well, which is another 4 miles up the freeway. It’s basically a large hole in the ground which is filled by springs. There are some dwellings left over from the Sinagua on the side of the cliffs bordering the well along with remnants of homesites along the trail.

We saw a dirt road that headed North, and decided to try it, it took us the back way to Beaver Creek, and then on to another paved road heading to Sedona. It was a nice trip, very relaxing and we found a great hotel in the middle of town, walking distance to everything.

Before leaving Sedona we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at L’Auberge which has a nice patio right on Oak Creek. The water is gurgling the whole time and the cicadas were in full force. There’s also a nice trail which runs along the creek on the property. We saw fish, ducks, and even a small snake which I grabbed and tossed back into the rocks… gently.

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The Rim

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:29:20 +0000

Went fishing with my buddy Shawn on the rim this weekend. We had a great time, and the 2nd day we both got into some fish. The weather was a cool 72 degrees but we both managed to get sunburned the first day. Put sunblock on the 2nd day and fished in the shade. Highlights were seeing a bald eagle, a black bear and catching some decent sized rainbow trout.

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Fly Tying Station – Build your own

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:20:54 +0000

My plans:

Before finishing and applying stain/Polyurethane:

Finished product:

Rope lighting under the arms and center table:

Trout image I found on the net:

Most is pretty self explanatory, cutting and screwing the pieces together.

The trout image idea I got from doing decals when I build rods. I used a piece of clear waterslide decal paper (from Ebay) and printed it at the highest DPI on my color printer. Then sprayed that with Enamel to prevent the color from running or washing off when you soak it in water.

I put down a square of masking tape to keep the edges clean then I laid down a very thin coat of 2 part epoxy (4CC’s total) onto the center of the station, After about 3-4 hours I pulled the masking tape and let it dry overnight. Then I applied the decal, dried it and masked the area again, applied another thin layer of epoxy (6CC’s this time). I used a putty knife to spread it thin.

I tried Gorilla Glue on the first set of magnets, bad call. G-Glue foams up and expands in order to get a good bond on tight spots. The rest of the magnets are held in with Superglue.

The rope lighting is held on by 20lb test and staples. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it so I wanted to make it removable. Also if I take it anywhere it will come out easily. The rope lighting between the back of the arms and the table annoyed me, so I covered it with some pipe insulation that I had left over from the rod rack I built in my garage.

Here’s my materials list:

1 piece 1/2 In. x 2 Ft. x 4 Ft. Birch Pre-Cut Panel or similar
2 pieces 1 X 4” Oak or whatever you like
1 piece 1/4” diameter wooden dowel
2′ length of nice (premium grade) 2X4
Rope lighting 2′ each – 2 pieces.
PK of 1” circular magnets (6 per pack)
PK of 1×2 Rectangular Magnets (2 per pack)
Magnetic tape
Varnish and/or Stain… I used Minwax Polyshades stain and Polyurethane
Single use paint brushes 2 or 3 depending on how many coats
Clear decal paper (for trout image)
Spray on clear enamel
2 part epoxy (I used rod building epoxy – Threadmaster Lite since I had it)
Drill bits according to your needs
1 1/4” gold screws
Small gold J Hooks (forgot the size)
Small springs (the pack I got had 2 ea of 2 sizes)
Wood glue
Superglue

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Grand Canyon Caverns

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:31:23 +0000

Took the family up to the Grand Canyon Caverns yesterday. Really cool place! 210 feet underground, the air comes through tunnels from the Grand Canyon (hence the name) and there’s a little bit of history about it’s founder. Coolest things for the kids was the mummified bobcat who fell in around 1850, broke it’s hip and died. No bacteria can live in the limestone more than 72 hours, so the body mummified instead of decayed. There was also a ground sloth (extint 11,000 to 20,000 years ago) who fell in and broke it’s back. There are still claw marks on the wall from the sloth trying to find it’s way back out. The tour guide was fun and interesting and overall being in the caves was an fascinating experience for us and the kids.

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Tonto Cliff Dwellings

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:58:38 +0000

This was a pretty awesome trip. These dwellings have been here for 400 – 700 years, and you can still see the fingerprints in the plaster they used to build the walls. It was about a 3 hour drive from our house, and has a perfect view of Roosevelt lake from inside the dwellings.

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