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I promised more on the Pirate Ship sighting, so here is the straight goods. There are pirates roaming the bay in front of our cottage on Lake of the Woods!

Last Sunday we spotted their ship and took our own ship out for an exploratory mission. As we approached the pirate ship, which was flying a very official looking Skull & Crossbones flag, we were greeted by several young pirates on board looking quite friendly any waving at us to come closer.

As we slowly approached the excitement on their ship seemed to increase. Were they really that glad to see us? Then we could hear whispers, “wait until they get a little closer”, what could this mean? Then, with a flurry of action a towel was whipped off what looked like a turret mounted machine gun on the fordeck and the sounds of a gas powered water pump roared to life. The machine gun was actually a water canon and we were under attack! After getting quite soaked we beat a hasty retreat, obviously over powered by superior fire power. As we returned to the dock we started formulating plans for our response to the pirate ship. Perhaps as British Man of War. Hmmmmm. 

Lake – Good Times – Tempus Fugit

Then there was the pirate ship sighting. Yes, that’s right a pirate ship, complete with a water canon, pirates and flying a very official looking Skull and Cross bones flag above a make shift sail with a emblazed with a Canterbury Cross. But there are no pictures.

Boat seats
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

It was a quiet day around the cottage today. After 23+ years of wood bench seats I installed these comfy deluxe seats and we took them out for a spin. It was a little choppy, so we didn’t go far. Out around the south end of Sotty’s Island, up the Second Channel and back down Kewatin Channel to home. We investigated some nice properties and some unusual constructions under a warm and sunny sky.

The day wound up with a little reading on the dock, painting one more side of the tree fort, dinner and a movie.

Len & Eric work on the dock

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

This past weekend we had Len & Darlene and Eric & Dez at the lake and had a blast.

On the Saturday after a leisurely morning of puttering around and fixing up a couple of things Len & Darlene arrived and we had some lunch. Then there was no more sitting around. Len was looking for a little exercise so we cut up & split about 15 six foot tree sections that I’d recovered from some downed tress a couple of weeks ago. This was something I would have put off until the fall, but the help was ready, willing and able. So, in 28C+ we spent a couple of hours stocking the wood pile.

Later in the day I mentioned that there were a couple of sections of floating dock that had washed up on the point after a storm and had not been claimed in over 2 years. I thought that they might be of some use in our dock system. That was all it took, and the adventure was set in motion, Operation Retrieval was on! So, on Sunday Len, Eric & I retrieved the two 6′ x 16′ dock sections and I “retrieved” a sprained ankle.

Well, I thought that just getting them back to our dock was a good days work, but then Eric wanted to renovate the flotation system which had been damaged. So, after a quick trip to Kenora for materials, and an afternoon of construction, one of the sections is float worthy and will most likely get used as a floating swim platform anchored just off shore. This will allow some sleepy head sun tanners to get that late afternoon sun. 😉

The Ride
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

Unfortunately the ride at the lake doesn’t look like this. The picture is from last years Maah Daah Hey trip (pictures), but the bike is still the one that gets me around. I figure that this year I’ll have logged over 10,000km on this bike since I purchased it in 2000.

This morning it’s overcast and a little cool at about 20C, a nice temperature for a ride. I went over to Rushing River Provincial Park which is just under 20km, but this is not the flat road riding of Manitoba. First there is getting out to the highway from our cottage with  lots of hills. On the way out the longest and steepest climb is the one out of the gravel pit. I still remember the first time I tried this when the bike was new and I was still getting used to clipless pedals. About 2/3 of the way up I ran “out of gas” and stalled and didn’t clip out fast enough and just fell over right in the middle of the road. Well, things have improved and while the hill was still a grind, there was no stalling or falling off.

The highway ride is not too bad, if you ignore the traffic. The shoulders are wide in 17 and most folks move over to give you some extra space, which is always appreciated. After the turn th 71, the shoulder narrows a bit but the traffic is lighter and going a little slower too. After 45min. I’m looping around the park. With the cooler weather there is nobody on the beach or in the lake and several campers are packing up. After a look at the river and an almond snack, it’s back in the saddle. Now there is a head wind and some of the long grades uphill are seeming a little tougher.

Some of my gear selections are starting to slip and skip. I know there is a little bit of excessive cross chaning in the selection, but this never used to be a problem. Must be time for a bit of a tune-up.

Pretty uneventful trip, no wildlife sightings, no road kill, no interesting objects on the side of the road, just the steady whir of the knobby tires on the road and some time to think.

Antenna

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

I’ve always like that line from Top Gun.

This weekend we put an new addition on the cottage, a little antenna. The little antenna connects us to a big tower just down the road. Thankfully, we can’t see this big tower as it’s a bit on an eye sore, so out of place at the lake, just like so many other cell phone towers plunked around the world. But, here we are supporting this kind of thing. Anyway, this big tower connects us to somewhere in Kenora which in turn connects us onto the Internet.

Lets face it, once you become accustomed to high speed Internet access there is no going back to dial-up, well only under extreme duress.

The verdict is still out as to if this was such a good idea. It has it’s pluses. I uploaded some large photo files to Flickr, checked on the Shuttle launch and plan to watch the Sunday attempt. I can work from the lake. Hmm, is that good or bad? There is the temptation to while away hours online instead of disconnecting and enjoying being un-plugged. Oh well, time will tell.

Canada Day Spirit

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

We’re enjoying Canada Day on beautiful Lake of the Woods and yesterday, while we were in Kenora, I decided to get more in the spirit of things and do a little flag waving.

Last night there was quite a strong storm with lots of rain but things settled down over night and we boated into Kenora this morning to catch some of the harbor side festivities that were taking place. Lots of folks out enjoying the day and the weather cooperating. a nice mix of sun & cloud, warm an a light breeze.

We took an untraveled route back from Kenora, investigating a couple of narrow passages and are going to hang out at the dock for a while with a good book.

Enjoy the day Canada, eh!

Dr. Doom & Friend

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

The last night of the Rational Conference in Orlando, Florida and we’re at the Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure. On the way in a couple of characters are posing for pictures. This one made me laugh.

Back in Winnipeg a couple of days ago while walking by a store in a mall, I had another good laugh. This just struck me for some odd reason as being very hilarious. The store was selling t-shirts with funny sayings on them and behind that rack, there was a display of door mats, each with a saying written on it. One simply said,

The entire Rational Conference just became very very worthwhile. While the conference it self has been good and the sessions covering a wide range of topics have been excellent, this mornings presentation by Benjamin Zander was outstanding.

While most conferences will have a motivational or featured speaker, I think in the long term, this one will be different. In his presentation he positioned his talk as transformational rather that motivational, likening motivational talks to Chinese food, a few hours later and you’re hungry for more. With me, thinking back over the last several conferences there are few I can recall and fewer that made a lasting impact. Actually, I remember one keynote speaker at Lotusphere a few year back when they had Gene Kranz the flight director on the Apollo 13 mission who established the phrase “Failure is not an option”. This may be because I was at the Kennedy Space Center this week and they use that phrase heavily on their merchandising in the store.

Zander’s highly energetic and yes motivational presentation got me to but the book and I’ve read half of it on the plane back to Winnipeg, and it’s great stuff.

It made me laugh, which was good. But, I often wonder who spends there time creating this kind of stuff?

from just stumbling along

This is my second time attending the Maximum Impact simulcast at our church’s conference
facility here in Winnipeg. We’re on the afternoon break and the speakers so far have been just excellent. There certainly has been some solid practical information and great insight into
various aspects of being a leader. Just one of the many points from John Maxwell that really hits home is that you must lead yourself exceptionally well. I need to lead myself with integrity and possess excellent self-management if I expect to impact others. Who would follow someone who obviously can’t or won’t manage themselves? My actions must be in line with my intentions and my intentions must be focused on helping others. I think it’s called being congruent.

The financial talk by Dave Ramsey was very insightful. He asserts that we all know what to do when it comes to sound financial practices, it’s our behavior that’s the issue. We frequently don’t behave in a way that aligns with our knowledge. There’s that congruence thing again! He had five simple steps and you know them already.

1. Live on less than you make
2. Get out of debt.
3. Get on a budget.
4. Save some money
5. Give / Tithe – we’re designed to do it.

See, you knew all that didn’t you? It’s just our behavior that we need to get in line.