I spend most of the weekend putting on the gazebo roof you see in the background. It took a little longer that anticipated, but now for the reward. It’s a nice clear sunny warm afternoon, and I’ve packed a lunch and I’m off to enjoy the kayak for a couple of hours before heading home.
Category: Uncategorized
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Mission Accomplished
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Winnipeg Dragon Boat Festival 2007
On Friday night we were down at the Forks to see the start of the 2007 Dragon Boat Festival, and especially to watch Dez race with her team mates from Price Waterhouse Coopers.
She was in two heat and their team performed well. They will be back again on Sunday to compete again. The weather was a little cool and it from watching the participants you get wetter that you think so by the end of the evenings racing there were lots of chilled folks looking for dry cloths and trying to warm up.
In the very first race there was an odd maneuver by one of the boats where it suddenly cut across the path of two of the other boats almost causing a collision! The boats race four at a time and have clearly defined lanes which they should stay in. The boats should always be travelling in parallel, but as you can see from this photo something has clearly gone wrong. Fortunately, there was no collision, but the race was really messed up.
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Total Eclipse of the Moon
Hey, isn’t that a Pink Floyd song on Dark Side of the Moon? No, the song I was thinking of was Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Anyway, we rolled out of bed this morning at 3:45am to catch the event. Initially, it was a little cloudy but the skies cleared for a perfect view of the total lunar eclipse, the first in the 21st century. About half way through I went back to the cottage to pick up the camera and get a few shots. As the eclipse proceeded and the moon dimmed more and more, the stars really started to pop out in the night sky. Some more photos and a NASA explanation of the event
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Muddy Waters 100 – My First Century
No, I’m not that old!
However, on August 12th I cycled my first century – 100 miles! It was a great ride with around 200 participants riding 50km, 100km, or 100 miles (162km). The cycling computer photo below has the stats for the record.
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Mass Murder or Jones Town Style Suicide?
Today a grisly discovery was made by an outdoor enthusiast while hiking the popular Tunnel Island trails just outside Kenora, Ontario.
“I was just walking along side the tracks taking some photographs when something unusual caught my eye.” said the local summer resident. “At fist I thought it was just some sort of unusual fungi or something but when I looked closer I was horrified!”. “As I uncovered one then another and then another it was just too gruesome to believe.” The bodies of over fifteen monkey were exhumed from beside the CPR main line and there may be more discoveries in the days ahead as the investigation unfolds. More photographs of the crime scene have been posted here and here. The public is encouraged to call in with any information pertaining to this discovery.
Local officials are investigating and it’s not clear yet whether foul play was involved or this was some sort of a monkey cult mass suicide. Officials are warning everyone in the area to be on the look out for any signs of monkey business.
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Seen on the side of the road
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.
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typin misteaks
Wow, that previous post was brutal. That’s what happens when your working in low light, no glasses, on a Blackberry.
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Kayaking at the cottage
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!
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.
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Kayaking at the cottage
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!
It’s very rhythmic and smooth paddling in the kayak and you’re low to the water so the wide 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.
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Weekend Lake Pictures
Eric & Dez came down to the lake last night. We chatted, had some pizza and a movie and called it a night. Today it was hot and sunny all day long and we spent most of the day at the dock. The big activity was catching a turtle. The afternoon was in the 30s and very still and humid. Right now there is some light rain, sunshine and thunder in the distance. Perhaps we’ll get a classic lake thunderstorm later tonight.
In the lat afternoon I releases another chair into the wild out on the point. While I was out there I made some improvements to the eastern side of the trail. It’s looking pretty good now, quite passable.
We may be doing a little DQ later and perhaps another movie.
Very relaxing after dinner, just sitting around, being quiet. Anyway, check out this weekends photography.
