This cute little person showed up on our door step one weekend while we were away, and he even shoveled the driveway! Thanks!
Month: January 2010
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Indoor training on the bike
Back around Christmas time I purchased my first ever Spin workout DVD. I picked the Spinnervals 19.0 Bending Crank Arms. I really didn’t know what I was getting into and the first workout was a killer and I really couldn’t keep up with my on-screen riding companions. The thing I really didn’t know in advance, was the off bike work. In between spin interval sets on the bike there are squat sets off the bike. You’re commanded to do as many squats as possible in 30 seconds and then hold an iso-squat for another 30 seconds, a 30 second rest and then do it again, and again. Then the sets get longer, 45 seconds and then a minute!
Well after 4 weeks of doing this workout, I’m noticing an improvement. I can almost keep up with the crew all the way to the end, no throwing up involved, but it gets close some times. I began to wonder exactly how many squats are involved in a session. Well the pace is about 1 per second and today I managed just over 455 squats. Now some of the keeners on the DVD are holding 5-10lb. dumbbells and I’m not at that level – yet.
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Hoar Frost City
Hoarfrost (glossary definition)Hoarfrost A deposit of interlocking ice crystals (hoar crystals) formed by direct sublimation on objects, usually those of small diameter freely exposed to the air, such as tree branches, plant stems and leaf edges, wires, poles, etc., which surface is sufficiently cooled, mostly by nocturnal radiation, to cause the direct sublimation of the water vapor contained in the ambient air.
I just think it’s pretty.
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Winter Lake Adventure
Every year we try to make at least one trip out to the cottage to experience beautiful Lake of the Woods in the winter. This year has been the warmest ever with temperatures above 0°C. Arriving last night we hauled the gear in and fired up the furnace and the fireplace. Things were warming nicely when we noticed the furnace had stopped. Oh yeah, the circuit breaker was acting up last year and we didn’t get around to replacing it. In the past, it would run for quite some time and then trip off. After resetting a couple of times it generally started to stay on and work fine. Tonight it’s flipping off ever 5 minutes, and its not really getting any warmer. After some serious electrical panel investigation is seems more cooperative. We head off to sleep and the furnace runs most of the night and by morning it’s nice and toasty.
On Saturday morning, it’s actually raining! The trees are getting coated with ice and I imagine the roads are getting pretty exciting for driving. First order of business is a coffee, followed by fetching some water from the lake.
Getting water from the lake has traditionally involved about a 1/2 hour of very aggressive pick axe chopping of a hole in the ice. As the ice can be around 2+ feet thick, you start choping a hold that’s about 3′ across which narrows in as you go deeper and you hope you break through before its to narrow to swing the pick in. If this happens, its more work, widening out the hole to about 4′ across. Many a year I’ve worked up a great sweat and taken off my jacket even at -20C while chopping he hole.
This year, brains over brawn has kicked it. I purchased an ice auger. That bad boy put an 8″ hole through 11″ of ice in under 30 seconds with very little effort. It was so easy and fun that I drilled a second hole just for the heck of it.
Water acquired and breakfast consumed, it was time to explore the neighborhood. Not to much to report, as very few people are around. It looks like all the local residents have gone south for the winter. Given the wet conditions of the snow we decided to do a little building.
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Railroad Clock
I’ve had this clock since I was about 14 and at that time is was already an official antique, being appraised a just over 100 years old. It was originally in the train station in Rennie, Manitoba near Brerton Lake in the Whiteshell. So, how did I get this little treasure? Well one weekend my Dad and one of his friends were doing some maintenance work at the CGIT Camp on the lake and that meant I was helping. My assignment that day was to paint and immense dinning hall floor a very nice shade of battleship gray. Wow, just how I wanted to spend my Saturday at the lake. The clock was hanging in the hall and as I painted, it caught my interest. The varnish finish was all cracked and pealing and it didn’t run. Well, with a little negotiating I managed to obtain ownership of the clock in lieu of payment for my days labours.
Once I had it home, I began the re-finishing process and stripped off the varnish and replaced it with a nice soft oil finish. The clock mechanism was another story. Upon investigation, one of the brass gears had a tooth broken off, something that a 14 year old wasn’t going to be able to fix. Dad to the rescue! He took the clock to an old school clock repair guy, probably one of the last in the city ,and a new tooth was fashioned and soldered into place.
Did I mention that it ticks rather loudly? The clock was installed in a place of honors on the wall at the foot of my bed. It took me a night or two to get used to the ticking, apparently it took my parents much longer to get used to sleeping with the rhythmic tick, tock, tick, tock, but everybody survived.
Ever since then the clock has been in our home. A while back the rod attachment that holds the pendulum in place broke off, so there was no more ticking. And then, during a recent redecorating spree I was informed that it’s place of honour in the living room was no longer “appropriate”. Since that day the clock has been in storage. So, this weekend the restoration began again. A fresh coat of oil finish, some brass polish and re-attaching the rod for the pendulum has it in tip top shape once more, and restored to a place of honour in my office.
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Cycle Log – 01/03
Not exactly a New Years resolution, but this year I’m planning on being in good riding shape when spring rolls around which means some sort of winter training program. So, I’ve got the bike on the trainer, complete with a special rear training tire, and purchased my first ever cycle training DVD. A friend at work recommended Spinervals and I picked up Bending Crank Arms as my 1st pick. What I didn’t notice at the time of purchase was the difficulty rating, a 9.5 out of 10, a great pick for my very 1st training DVD.
I attempted the program three days ago and I’m still feeling it today. Turns out it was more that just cycling and they mix it up with off the bike squat sets. I think it will be several months before I can complete the routine in it’s entirety.
Today was a 42 minute medium intensity spin while listening to John C. Maxwell teaching session, and a 2:50 cool down to Johhny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. I’m looking for my cycling computer wired sensor for the rear wheel so I can start logging some mileage. I know it’s around here somewhere. Gli ultimi due chilometri sono micidiali
