Yee Haaw!

Yesterday, I had a fun time with Louise. We went tubing down the provo river with some of her old friends who live in Orem. Once you got past the mindnumbingly cold water it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went to the Days of 47 rodeo at the Delta Center. It was my first rodeo and a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.

I learned a lot about rodeo competitions, saddles, and trucks from my cute little cowgirl. A few of the competitors were neigbors she knew growing up in Grantsville. She also had tried her hand at barrel racing when she was younger. She said it was a lot of fun but she wasn't very good at it.

We've done several other things recently which I have failed to blog about because I'm an inconsistent blogger. We went paintballing and went to Lagoon together a week ago. Next Saturday, we'll be going to the Salt Lake Real game together. I feel like a finally have a social life!

The deal of the century!

Today after my haircut I decided to meander over to the fabric store. I was going to go to Joanne's, my usual supplier, and on a whim decided to visit Nuttall's next door. To my surprise not only did they have cordura, but they also had treated canvas CADPAT fabric for... get this... drum roll please... only ONE DOLLAR!!!!!! ...per yard.

For those of you who aren't sewing savvy, 5 color print fabrics like the treated and rubber backed canvas often cost as much as $13 per yard. The original selling price for this CADPAT was $13 and I got it for $1. I bought 20 yards for $20. If I had paid full price it would have been $260 for that same 20 yards. The woman said she just couldn't get anybody to buy it. I have no idea why. It is good fabric, not quite as good as 1000 denire cordura, but certainly a bargain at the price I paid.

For those of you who aren't military clothing savvy, CADPAT is Canada's pixilated camoflage pattern. It was joint developed by Canadian and American military researchers. With CADPAT, Canada became the first nation in the world with a "digital" style camoflage in service. The US Marine Corp. followed about a year and half later with their own version, MARPAT. The US army followed about another year and half later with ACUPAT.

These new pixilated patterns are aproximately 40% more effective at concealment than traditional patterns like the Woodland BDU pattern worn since the 1970s or the Tigerstrip pattern, also from the 1970s (used by US special forces in Vietnam). The old patterns utilized sharp edges with distinct shapes between color 'splotches'. The new patterns use a method simillar to how printers and televisions work in using smaller pixels of color to make larger shapes. Up close the smaller shapes are recognized and the coloring and discordant edges distract the eye and prevent object or shape recognition. From longer distances the pixels blend together to create "blurred" edges that also make object recognition more difficult. The pigments used in the military versions of these patterns also obscure recognition as seen through nightvision systems.

Nifty stuff! Although the CADPAT I got has brighter greens than is usually common in Utah, it will still be very useful to me. MARPAT would be better for our area but hey, I got it for $1 per yard.

CADPAT





























MARPAT





























Woodland BDU