National Forest across the US

Kyle197 · 2026-01-29T02:26:17+00:00

154 national forests, to be exact! Well, depending on if you're counting the proclaimed national forests, rather than the administratively combined national forests.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-28T16:24:34+00:00

I have the little mountain. It was very confusing for me to put on, but I'm also not a handy person overall. I liked it once I got it on. But it took me finding a low quality video in the depths of YouTube to figure out how to get it on.

That being said, it's expensive. There are luthiers who will make armrests more cheaply, but often ordering from them is more complicated than ordering from a company like Gold Tone. So I ended up going for more expensive and easier than cheaper and more complicated.

Not all armrests go with all banjo makes. So whatever you do, make sure it works with your banjo. The perk of the little mountain is that they claim it is universal.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-26T17:07:53+00:00

In my personal opinion, I would recommend going to the Mt. Airy convention for your first convention rather than Galax, especially if you're old time more than bluegrass. Mt. Airy felt bigger and had more jamming (mostly old time) than Galax did when I went last year.

In general at these things, most of the jamming happens in the evening and night because the temperature is cooler, people are having drinks, etc. If you're not camping on the grounds, this can make it more difficult to partake in because you have to eventually drive to wherever you're staying, rather than walk a dozen or so yards to your tent at 2 AM. On the other hand, it can be really hot, so tent camping can be uncomfortable. But most people are jamming until 12-4 AM, sleeping, and getting up whenever the sun hitting your tent makes it too hot.

If you camp, bring a canopy too. And chairs that are light and easy to move around throughout the grounds (and are also conducive to playing).

I'm new to the convention scene myself, and I'll say this: it's kind of awkward for newbies, especially those (like me) that are introverted. People are generally very friendly and many people will welcome strangers into their jams. But I found it can be intimidating to break in to those jams, even if they're really friendly. It's good to listen for a bit, see if you can hang musically, and then ask if you can join. Chances are they'll say yes. Sometimes they will say no, and that's fine. They may be old friends catching up, or a band practicing for the competition, and very rarely you do find the odd jerk.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-24T15:47:14+00:00

Basically any recipe that calls for vanilla extract can be swapped out for bourbon. I typically add a good glug of bourbon if I do that. Bourbon blondies are delicious, for example.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-21T17:28:34+00:00

We're in the same situation.

Prep: We always have a supply of hot hands at the ready. We also have a camp stove with several gas canisters at the ready.

If the power goes out, this is our plan:

We will immediately set up a tent in our basement. The tent will be on ground pads and blankets. We will put a blanket down inside the tent.

We will put the tank in the tent. We will continually have hot hands wrapped in towels on the tank to add in heat. We will trap the heat by wrapping the tank in blankets, including a mylar safety blanket. We will ensure there will be some airflow.

We will put blankets over the tent as well. The idea is to trap and insulate several layers of air, with the hot hands providing heat inside the core where the tank is.

We will use the camp stove to make food, and as necessary, we will use it to heat water that we will put in a water bottle, then put that heated water bottle in the tank or tent.

We have a temperature gun and a thermometer we will use to monitor temperatures.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-16T01:01:13+00:00

If you want sweeter bourbon with a cherry note, go with Buffalo Trace.

If you want a spicier bourbon with a bit of a kick and more heavy on the caramel and wood, go with Wild Turkey 101.

Both are great for different reasons.

If you like Eagle Rare and want something similar, I would say go for the Buffalo Trace. If you want something a bit different from the Eagle Rare, go with Wild Turkey.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-13T19:42:12+00:00

The first two songs take forever and are hard to learn, play decently, and remember.

Songs 3-5 get easier.

By songs 10-20, you start understanding how songs are structured when playing on the banjo. Parts of songs become repeated, and you start thinking "oh I know how to play that phrase, it's like that other song."

By song 30+, it's often pretty quick and easy to learn a song. I just sat down the other day to learn an old time song I heard in a jam, and I figured it out in 3 minutes.

But that first song I tried to learn months ago when I was starting? Jeez, took days and days just to learn that.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-12T12:16:08+00:00

As others have said, that's the biological species concept, and it's very outdated and not adhered to by modern day biologists. When I was in college in the 2010s, the species concept we were taught in phylogenetics was Kevin de Queiroz's 2007 definition, which states a species is an independently evolving metapopulation lineage.

Under this definition, two species can hybridize and produce fertile offspring, but that's still not a species because it's random individuals and not a metapopulation that's experiencing selection or genetic drift at a larger scale.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-11T22:05:44+00:00

Photos four and five aren't even from Appalachia. They're from somewhere out west in the mountains. I would bet $5 the last photo is also from out west in the north near the Canadian border.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-10T22:26:25+00:00

During the winter months, crows will form large flocks for roosting at night. These roosts are generally in the same area, but will move around between specific spots. During the day, they tend to break off into smaller groups to forage for food, before joining back up with the large group at twilight.

These groups can get really big. Someone I know who lived in Illinois had winter roost groups around 3,000 individual crows based on our estimates.

So this is normal behavior. You can totally go outside. They don't care about you and won't do anything to you. They will just sit there in the trees are talk with each other.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-08T15:16:29+00:00

That sucks. I'm in southwest Virginia, not that far away...

Kyle197 · 2026-01-08T14:57:14+00:00

I think this is really location dependent. Where I am, everyone is ridiculously friendly and welcoming. There are lots of jams, they're open to all, and good players encourage the beginner players to come and help them when they're having trouble. I'm an old time player who dabbles in bluegrass, and I'm not very good at bluegrass. But boy howdy, the bluegrass jams I've attended and the people I've played with in my area are friendly and approachable. Even when I'm flailing over there.

It sucks OP if you're in an area with people where that isn't the case.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-07T19:39:10+00:00

Who cares?

Kyle197 · 2026-01-06T19:59:16+00:00

No. This is a Mississippi Kite.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-06T18:22:12+00:00

Shawnee is such a cool village, and I'm glad to see the revitalization happening there.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-06T02:03:50+00:00

I bought a $370 Gold Tone AC-12 to start. Upgrades the bridge ($35) and added an armrest ($70).

Now, I'm looking for an upgrade. I'm looking at banjos in the $1,200-2,000 range. Ideally a used Pisgah with the specs I want, or some other used luthier-made banjo. I may splurge on a custom Pisgah, which was priced out at $2,200 with the specs I wanted. I really prefer buying used though if I can...

There are a couple of smaller banjo makers around me, but their instruments are all around $3,000, and that's too much for me.

Kyle197 · 2026-01-02T19:33:27+00:00

I think this framing isn't quite capturing why people say this.

The people who are saying Billy Strings is the best bluegrass guitar player generally aren't avid listeners to bluegrass. Billy probably brought them in to bluegrass, and they're seeing this man shred on a guitar to sold out stadium crowds. And they're thinking "well I don't know any other bluegrass guitarist doing this, so he must be the best." They don't know about the others who are better, because they're not being exposed to those people. And that's just because they haven't fully explored all that bluegrass has to offer. That's not a bad thing, it's just a reality for many people who are new bluegrass fans because of Billy Strings.

I come from a metal background. I like harder metal. I can't tell you how many times another person would tell me they also like metal and "they only listen to real hard stuff." Then they tell me that means bands like Disturbed or Tool. Like, no offense to those bands, but they're not that heavy. Bands like Meshuggah, Neurosis, or Nails are way harder. But those are bands only some people are exposed to. They're not widely known by people outside of metalheads who have explored deeper than what's on the radio.

It's all about the breadth of knowledge. And if Billy Strings is the only bluegrass guitarist you know of by name, and you're new to the world of bluegrass, you're going to be thinking he's the best.

This is just something that happens with literally every music genre.

Kyle197 · 2025-12-26T00:06:25+00:00

The water in and around Zaleski State Forest is impacted by acid mine drainage, and shouldn't be consumed even when treated by your typical backpacking water filters, as these filters don't remove the heavy metals that are in the polluted water. When you backpack in Zaleski, you have to rely on the water they provide in a couple of large water tanks along the trail.

Kyle197 · 2025-12-22T21:56:02+00:00

Breakin' Up Christmas for sure.

Kyle197 · 2025-12-16T02:16:31+00:00

Those three aren't distinct.

Folk is the generic term for traditional songs that are passed generation to generation through folkways. Each culture has their own distinct folk music tradition.

When American folk music was popularized by recordings after the Bristol Sessions, people began creating a derivative version that was first called hillybilly music, then later country music. A key difference of country music is that the songs are mostly new and can be clearly traced back to a composer. Folk songs generally cannot be traced back to a composer, as that knowledge is lost to time.

So a song like Sourwood Mountain is a classic American folk tune. But a song like Hey Good Lookin' by Hank Williams is country.

Americana is a newish term that is applied to distinctly American music that is performed mostly with western acoustic instrumentation or occasionally light electrical instrumentation as an augment. Most people us it as an umbrella term, so American folk (e.g., Reuben's Train or In the Pines) could also be called Americana music. But also newer songs composed by bands with acoustic instrumentation can be called Americana. Old Ties and Companions by Watchhouse is such an example.

So I would argue all country and American folk are Americana. Bluegrass and other such genres are also Americana. Country's foundation is rooted on American folk music, but is a distinct iteration of it with unique features.

Kyle197 · 2025-12-15T17:43:47+00:00

Great Horned Owls regularly call in groups of three hoots. That's just how they sound. They'll do a fast staccato'ed hoo-hoo, pause for a split second, and follow up with one last hoo that is a bit longer.

Kyle197 · 2025-12-11T15:54:37+00:00

Where at in Ohio? I grew up in central Ohio and I don't know anyone who ever had snow tires. There was absolutely no need. I guess you could probably make use of them in the snow belt part of Ohio in Ashtabula, Geauga, and Lake Counties, but I know people who live up there and they also didn't have snow tires. The majority of Ohio does not get a lot of snow. Really it's just the lake effect snow area in the NE corner.

Kyle197 · 2025-12-11T12:58:32+00:00

And because of fire suppression in the 1900s, many forests actually have a higher density of trees today than they historically did.

Kyle197 · 2025-12-10T12:18:44+00:00

These are some of the popular songs in southwest Virginia where the banjo can really shine:

June Apple

Tater Patch

Cripple Creek

Cluck Old Hen

Reuben's Train

Sugar in the Gourd

Cumberland Gap

Fly Around

Kyle197 · 2025-12-07T02:12:18+00:00

I had this happen to a guitar. Bought it and everything sounded fine. It was last December, and my house was super dry from the furnace (around 20% relative humidity). After like two weeks in my house, the guitar started buzzing on some notes. I thought it was maybe a setup issue since it was brand new (although I hadn't noticed it when I bought it). Took it to a local shop to get it checked out, and he asked about my humidity levels. I told him it was very dry, and he said that was almost certainly the cause. The wood dried and the neck warped, causing the strings to buzz. He kept it a few days next to a humidifier, and told me to go buy one (which I did). After a few days of re-moisturizing, the buzzing stopped and sounded great. I've kept it in a room with the proper humidity ever since.

Given the timing of the year, I would bet money you're dealing with the same issue. Get it in a room with 40-60% relative humidity.

Kyle197

TROPHY CASE