Tempus Fugit

Weather Vane
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

The things you can see on the side of the road can be truly amazing. This for instance is a functioning weather vane, it’s actually balanced and spins in the breeze.

I spotted this on Hwy 3 on the way back from St-Leon where I was checking out the wind turbine farm. Announced in 2004 there are 63 of these producing 99MW. These wind turbines are quite big and scattered all over the place. I’d really anticipated that they would be much more tightly grouped. For more technical details you can check on the specs or some overview material on the whole project.

On the trip there and back I did some geocaching and as always got to see some of the country side that I’d normally drive right on by. It was a hot day so the air conditioned drive between stops was much appreciated. I took in some sights in Carmen, St-Leon, Sumerset, Roseisle, Notre Dame de Lourdes and a historic church in Cardinal. I’m not sure if it was the heat or just the laid back country life but almost everything was closed and I saw very few people outside. Some of the towns almost seemed like ghost towns.

Lawn mower guy
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Today Shirley & I spent the afternoon in the boat cruising on LOTW. On the way over to the Vernon Nature Trails to do a little geocaching we spotted this guy, on his riding lawn mower. Nothing too unusual perhaps, but this was the first time I’ve seen anyone cutting the grass on their island cottage property! That’s right, this guy is on an island doing chores, well perhaps it’s not too much of a chore, or perhaps this is the maintenance guy not the owner. Either way the owner of this property is not hurting too much. There was a golf course hole with a very nice looking green and a couple of other buildings on the island, like the main house and a few other buildings.

The geocaching at the Vernon Trails was unsuccessful and we found out back at the cottage that the coordinates were posted incorrectly. Had we followed them it would have been several hundred feet off the edge of a cliff.

The ride back was marked with a stop at the DQ, again perhaps the only boat up DQ in the world, what a place we have to enjoy. A cruse through the Kenora harbour and back out Devil’s Gap and we’re on our way home. Lots of fun in the sun topped off with a swim and a little more tanning.

Boat up Starbucks
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Just steps away from the dock is a Starbucks, the only boat up location in the world.

But, this morning I didn’t boat up for my morning Grande Dark Roast, I cycled in from the cottage, a 35km round trip. It was a great ride on a sunny but not too hot morning. There were a couple of Cat 4 & 5 climbs and then there was the Cat 1 climb from the swamp to the peak of Branch Road #3, a narrow and twisting climb. There were also several fast descents hitting 60+ km/h.

While in Kenora enjoying the coffee a couple on a tandem pulling a BOB trailer stopped to ask me directions to the cycle shop in town. After I gave them the directions I asked about their trip and where they were going. This couple were older that Shirley and I and they had left Montreal and where heading to Vancouver! Will they have some stories to tell.

I watched several boat-loads of kids getting loaded into large boats for the run out to Camp Stephens. One of the boat drivers encourages the kids to wave good bye to their parents, but not too much happened. These kids were either too terrified about going to camp or waving bye-bye just was not cool.

After a little cruising around town, it was petal to the max for the return trip back to the cottage in time for a late breakfast. an awesome start to the day!

It’s really “official” now as I picked up my FOG cycling jersey before this mornings ride. It really makes you feel like one of the guys.

The ride was great as usual, a much more controlled pace all the way to Selkirk where we “crashed” the local parade for a block as we cut through town. We got some cheers and waves and there were close to forty riders today, so it was an impressive line.

I was at the back of the pack on a couple of stretches after Selkirk when they kicked it up to 47+ km/h for some long stretches. But there was a cool little sprint right at the end of the ride as we neared the parking lot that I got in on. Not sure how fast it was but 6-8 of us were flying out front, quite the rush.

Wow, that previous post was brutal. That’s what happens when your working in low light, no glasses, on a Blackberry.

;start Park teatre that is.
Bloging in the dark.
no glasses so I’m not too sure what’s happening
CD release party and now were doing a saing along. Janis Joplin. It’s a the warm up act. The Park is a converted mocie theatre! Very nice atmosphere! Complete with bar & tables mixed in with the theatre seeting,
Linsddey!s on soon.
Its takinmg my mind off work! Which is good

As noted in Dock Post here is the route around Sultana Island which turned out to be a 13km trip.

Yep, I’m sitting on the dock at the lake doing this.
It’s a perfect summer afternoon, nice and warm without being too hot and plenty of sunshine. Today’s big adventure was kayak trip #3 which took me around Sultana Island, a former gold mine site in the late 1800s.
Wildlife sightings included an bald eagles nest with a couple of young birds under the watchfull eye of the parents from a near by tree.
The wind was at my back for the last half of the paddle and I was happy to return to home base after being out about 3 hours.
I think I’ll do a little research on Sultana and go over again next weekend in the boat to take some photos of the remains.

I think I’ll sign-up for this ride. After a few more Saturdays with FOG I should be good to go the distance, in miles of course. There we go, the commitment is made and it’s out there. Anybody want to keep me company?

Muddy Waters 100

The ride date for 2007 is Sunday August 12. Thank you to the volunteers who helped out at the Rest Stops at Selkirk, Bird’s Hill Park, Highland Park and to the First Aid staff.

This ride is a non-competitive event that is open to all interested cyclists. It is not a race. Muddy Waters is a not for profit group of volunteers who have an interest in cycling and come together once per year to organize this event. All monies received are to cover costs only.

Muddy Waters is run by volunteers. We always need more to help out for the day of the ride. If you or know someone who could help out please contact us via mbmuddywaters@hotmail.com

I’m just back from the first paddle in the Orca kayak that I rented from MEC for the weekend. There was a moderate breeze so I had a little of everything on the 7.8km paddle. And this was just around our bay!

Kayak Route

It’s very rhythmic and smooth paddling in the kayak and you’re low to the water so the wind and waves are a minor concern compared to solo canoe paddling.

The kayak setup was pretty good for a rental, but the foot pegs for the rudder control needed to be placed a little further forward. I found my legs were wedged a little too tight with the controls set for the maximum distance and my feet on the pegs. My legs were on the verge of cramping at points. This was probably due in part to the extra “tension” of getting used to being in a kayak again, it’s been a long time.

For most of the trip I had bare feet, but at one point I thought I’d put my Crocs (actually cheaper MEC knockoffs) back on. This proved to be a little exciting and I almost dumped the boat in the process just off the tip of our point with a bot full of fishermen watching. Not very cool, but I kept it upright.

I think later this afternoon it will be another outing over to Longbow lake. Right now, I think I’ll be replacing the front dérailleur on my mountain bike. I tried to take it into Gords to get fixed (I was being lazy, because I can do this work myself) but they were booked up until next Wednesday. So, once again MEC to the rescue with a XT FD-M761 and my drive train should be smooth and quiet once again.

Hmmm, I wonder how the FOG (new web site!) ride was this morning? Oh well, next Saturday I’ll be back riding with the group.

Technorati Tags: Kayak, paddling