Quebec Trip - Notes from day two and one

Day Two

• Started off slowly as I was awake at 4:30 and warm-up didn't start until 10:30.
• Made Espresso and did some on-line Christmas shopping that is bound to disappoint on Christmas morning.
• Went to Oval and watched the little kids races.  They actually did a 10 minute race - long track mass start with kids as young as 7.  Oh it was ugly.
• Finally got to warm-up.  Did 2 laps and could stay up on my left skate in the corner.  Rushed inside and decided to go old school and change blades.  Cut my finger taking the blades off.  No band aid in sight.  Fiddling with the clap blades, dripping blood everywhere, finally got the old blades on - went out for the remaining 5 mins of warm-up.  Did not slip in corner.  Phew, it's not me, it is the blade.
• Decision to 'old school' it made as now no time to try and re-sharpen and try the claps again.
• Wait forever to race.  500m, doesn't feel too bad, but it's hard not to rush your strides and lack of practice was not helpful.  52.2secs, but I had a lap of 38.8 which was a pb.
• Wait forever.  Finally race 3000m.  I am determined to catch the Master in the quad ahead.  Start on the inner - that's good.  Finish on the outer, that's bad. Grind out a 5:15.  Given the wind and lack of claps, I'll take it.  A 13 second pb.
• Sharpen claps again and put back on boots.  Sneak out to try them.  It's a result.  Will wear them for practice tomorrow and get used to them again.
• Write blog and prepare to shower and ht the mall.  Must get antisceptic for my finger.

• Drive starts at 8:15am.  Pissing down with rain, happy to have the winter tires on.
• Slightly amused when car in front finally decides to overtake a transport, just as another driver attempts to pass in outside lane.  I could hear the cursing in my car.
• Bright sunshine just over the border in Quebec is replaced by slippery wet snow about 40kms before Riviere du Loup.  Car in front puts his flashers on.  I slow down.  Car behind me almost goes off the road, but manages a save.  Truck ahead was not so lucky.

• Didn't last more than about 20kms, then it was plain sailing.
• Saw a flag man wearing camoflage pants and jacket - surely that cannot be standard issue.
• Saw a police car stop a speeder - those guys!
• Made it to Quebec and found the Hotel without using the GPS or taking any wrong turns.
• Went to the Mall to do some Christmas shopping.  Traffic lights and traffic define a real city. 
• Shopping in Quebec has its drawbacks.  What is the traslation for 'tripod flashlight'?
• Saw a book titled "Live and Survive in the Woods".  Could be interesting - will pop back and get it if I sense the appocolypse coming.
• Got hungry and wanted to get a cranberry muffin, but had to settle for a blueberry as I didn't know the translation for cranberry and it was awkwardly positioned among the other pastries.
• Went to practice at the oval.  Tomorrow I will have edges again.
• Now watching the Leafs do what they do best - give up goals on the penalty kill....

Cycleops Fluid Trainer gets two thumbs up.

I finally bought a cycle trainer that works great.  Well, o.k. Fran bought it, but the point is, this new unit provides some major advantages.

1. No more unplanned days off (training)
2. I get to practice my Karaoke, something which is frowned upon at the gym.
3. Generate own heat in winter.
4. Discovered numerous books in spare room that look like they might be readable.  Must have been Ray's.
5. It's a short walk to the laundry room
6. Another reason to 'hydrate'
7. It never rains or snows in the spare room
8. Inspirational posters optional
9. Can hook up tv in there and watch Black Adder again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aECBz2--kUk&feature=related

And one or two disadvantages.

1. Reminder of need to clean out the spare room
2. No more unplanned days off (training)

The New Y is great, but...

Normally, I'm not one to grumble, but under no circumstances should anyone leave the new Fredericton YMCA at ten to 5 on a Thursday and attempt to drive down Westmorland Street and across our only remaining working bridge.   It took me 1 hour to cover the 1.7 kilometres.  It would have been a little less if that very friendly and generous crackerhead in front of me had cared as much about my time as he did for every lucky sap that arrived at an intersection at the same time as he did.  He's casually waving everybody in a head of him.  He's lucky that my car is not rigged up with one of those gadgets that James Bond finds handy.

That said, I actually really like the new Y. It's bigger and more spacious.  It has lots of new exercise equipment much of which I'm trying to firgure out.  Unfortunately, these positives have encouraged a whole group of new people to join at the gym.  Some of these witless souls have not figured out the etiquette and I'm not talking about the person with the awful headband and 70's shorts either.

Say, hypothetically, that a long time member was doing some squats and had loaded up the bar to 285 pounds.  He'd just finished one set of 6 or 7 and while far from perfect, had given him some satisfaction that things were heading in the right direction. The person decides to give his legs a very short rest, and fills in the time with very quick set of shoulder press and a drink of water before nailing his final set.  Alas, by his return less than 90 seconds later, he finds his bar has been relieved of all the weight and a couple of newbies are now squatting with just the bar.  To make matters worse, one of them is wearing gloves, as though the 45 lb bar was going to scuff his girly hands (hypothetically). 

Even if common decency doesn't suggest that an unguarded bar should be allowed at least a minute, a question and a look around before being unloaded, common sense should prevail.  "Never mess with a bar that has more weight on it that you plan on lifting unless you are absoultely certain its user has left".  Hypothetically, he may be a raving nutcase.

UNB Alumni Soccer Game 2011

In 2003, after suffering from years of increasing slowness and decreasing mobility, I decided that my days of playing soccer regularly needed to come to an end after 35 or 36 years of continuous play.  The biggest influence on my decisions was a dodgy left knee, which the doctor said would continue its decline the more I played.  So, I quit knowing that I could still play the odd exhibition game.  Those exhibition games have become few and far between and so I've come to look forward to each year's UNB alumni game.  Somehow, I missed last year's and thus it has been two years since I've kicked a ball in earnest.

In my mind, I haven't lost a step and just need an opportunity to prove it.  I circled September 17th on the calendar.  It was time to come out of retirement again.

I awoke early, with lots of nervous tension, as I needed to walk the dog, run some errands and most importantly, find my kit before the 11 am start.  As I walked in Odell park, I was already beginning to feel the knee twinge in anticipation of the game to come.  I arrived at the field a full 15 minutes before the scheduled start time and soon joined the other 4 players tapping the ball lazily to one another warming up.  Gradually more players joined us and soon nearly all of us were chatting whilst letting the ball do the work.  Some of the most recent graduates were participating in an act that the veteran graduates find loathesome - running.

After some time milling around, a leader was found and Jon Crossland got things organized.  Two teams were picked and thankfully each had subs.  I began the game at right back.  Nobody else seemed to want it and I was soon to find out why.  Somewhere between graduation and returning for this alumni game, the staples upon which many a successful UNB team has been built - Organization, Discipline and, Hard Work have sadly disappeared.  It was like the NHL All-star game played on an Olympic Oval.  It was about 3 minutes in when I faced my first 3 on 1.  It didn't go well.

On the other hand, in possession, I was given plenty of space to pick out forward players and 'ping the ball about' - how times have changed. 

It was fun to see how players have retained their playing characteristics after all the years.  There was Gray Zhuride standing around doing nothing, yet still ending up with 4 or 5 goals.  Tony White's jinking runs forward and then twisting his ankle.  Peter Carpenter's total control of the 5 metre circle of space around him.  Paul Noble penetrating runs forward coming up consistantly just short of the mark. Mike Guidice's box to box midfield play.  Lesley Hache's predatory instincts around the net and opponent's shins, Nina Brokopps ultra-competitiveness, Tammy Mallais' red face.  Thank goodness Mike Connelly wasn't there.

As the game wore on towards the 15th or 20th minute, it became increasingly ragged.  I was determined to take advantage and made several late runs forward and even later runs back.  Finally, I seized the moment.  Having received a return pass from the winger, a space opened up before me.  I surged between two defenders creating a two on one situation.  I could smell the fear coming from the defender as I forced him to make a decision - try to stop this wily veteran, or stay with the striker.  'Ha, wrong decision sucker', now I will slip this ball to the open striker and he will surely score.  I don't know what happened next, but my best guess is that I scuffed the turf during the attempted pass.  Whatever, it left me face down in the rubber pellets with ball dribbling harmlessly forwards.  At least I could derive some solace from the fact that I incapacitated several of the opposition in a fit of laughter.  A clear case of the mind writing cheques, the body can't cash.

Mercifully, the final whistle soon came and we all trudged off for beer to lick our wounds.

In an attempt to evaluate my game and improve for next year, I encourage you to rate my effort using the following semantic differential scale.  Likely, you didn't see the game, but feel free to just imagine how I did.

     7-------------------6--------------------5-------------------4------------------3-----------------2-----------------1
Leading--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Disruptive
Intelligent---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Witless
Lively-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Plodding
Dominating--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Peripheral
Creative---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Stagnant
Perpetual---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Stationary
Effective-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------      ----Chocolate fireguard
Over keen----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Unresponsive

The warm-up reaches its peak.

Was it too much to ask that Fran get a photo of me with the ball?

Who's that pratt in the front row not looking at the camera?

Our Alaskan Vacation made simple: in point form with pictures

• Fredericton to Anchorage is a bloody long way to go and excellent use of your air miles, especially if you go south to Philadelphia and then north to Anchorage.

• There are loads of interesting animals in Alaska and you can get quite close.  Here are moose, ruffled grouse, a sea otter, a young eagle and its irate mother.  I might have had a whale if it had surfaced on my side of the boat and a black bear and 4 cubs if I'd had the camera turned on at the appropriate time.

• We enjoyed the outstanding scenery everywhere we went.

• Alaskans love to fish (so do I, but I'm clueless)

• You could never be too careful.

• There were also smaller animals to see, like this Hoary Marmot.

• That's got to be the work of one big beaver!

• Lots of these.  I spotted 15 in one day.  Can you tell that this is one of Fran's photos?

• We also saw some interesting flora.  The first one is cottonweed.

• When driving the highways some signs were puzzling.

• Others made more of a statement.  Shot-up signs were the norm.

• While we really enjoyed hiking the trails, I found some of them hard to follow.

• Potter's Marsh is an excellent place to spot birds (on some days).  Over a kilometre of boardwalk with hides, etc.

• Homer had some interesting pubs and the home brew was good.  It's no Picaroon's, but it was not bad.  Thumbs up for Fin's Pizza.  The Salty Dawg Saloon was another experience.

I was left wondering about a few things:

1. Why is the US still holding on to gallons, miles and ounces?  The rest of the world has moved forward. 
2. Why are they sticking with the same coloured bills?  Wouldn't it be easier to have the 1s, 5s, 10s and 20s in different colours?  Coins.  Get a coin bigger than a quarter. 
3. Helmets.  If you want to ride a Harley, but no helmet, you should have to pay any medical bills related to a head injury yourself.
4. Vehicle inspection rules in Alaska are either very slack or non-existant.  Rust is not a concern.
5. Why is there virtually no news from outside of Alaska?
6. Why is Rush Limbaugh allowed out in public?

All in all and excellent vacation. 

But the thing I like about Homer, is it's not Sellmore, USA

Yesterday it rained all day. I did attempt a hike, but the less said about Homer and it's trails the better. In the afternoon we wandered around. We didn't go to the Mall, because there isn't one. In fact, there's a noticeable lack of Big Business, USA.

Homer has a McDonald's and a Subway. There's no Wallmart, Starbucks, Pizza Hut or other big name stores. There also seems to be a notable lack of 'in your face' advertising. Most of the signs are hand painted and if you don't have your glasses on forget it. Obviously, there's good and bad to this low key way of doing things.

Fran and I have been hitting the various small coffee shops. I've had great coffee, warm coffee and one place where the coffee ran out half way through my mug. I was also pleased to get my coffee in a locally made compostable cup, although would have preferred my trusty travel mug. We also got coffee from Starbucks in Anchorage. The service and friendliness of the independent coffee shops was always better than Starbucks, even if the coffee was not.

Yesterday, as it was raining, we decided to check out Homer's microbrewery. It was hard to find and spot even once we were there. Inside, the brewery bit was right next to the merchandising and you could smell the hops and fermenting barley. The only thing we couldn't see was beer for sale. I enquired. They did indeed have beer, but they only sold it in a returnable bottle, returnable growler or non-returnable plastic pop bottle. Everything was on tap. They also showed us a list of the restaurants that had their brew on tap. I noted a pizza place that I had read a very positive review about. We made a selection, bought some coasters and moved on.

We also visited an outward bounds store that only sold gear made in Alaska and a good deal of it was made on the premises. Fleece socks, fleece sweaters, kit bags and a range of other gear. To be honest, the quality looked questionable. Fran bought an animal spotting check list and on we went.

We also stopped at a couple of other stores where we found a sign in the window that simply said, "closed until Monday".


In the evening, I wanted to try out the pizza place - Fin Pizza. We could not find any ads telling us where it was located. There's no phone book. We went on-line and found a review of the place and it mentioned that it was on the Spit. Off we went, up and down the Spit. With the hunger clouds gathering, I was ready to give up on our search for Fin Pizza. However, we parked the car and walked along the spit until I saw the postage stamp sized painted wooden sign. Over we went. It was a small place that could only accommodate about 20 people, but it was packed. There were only 3 staff including the main pizza dough kneader and cook, and two others who did everything else. It didn't help them that the kitchen was downstairs and the restaurant upstairs, but they had a system which they made work.

The pizza was excellent. I'm not ashamed to say that we polished off a 16 inch 3 cheese, mushroom and onion between us. We also enjoyed a Homer Porter beer and great service, the view of the Bay was great too. There's just something different about the service at a place where the people serving you own and operate the business.

It's nice not to be bombarded with inane ads telling you that you need products X Y and Z. Although, it would be nice to have a bit more information on services. It's as though the owners are content with the size of business they have, it provides enough income for what they want and so why bother expanding and trying to do more than that. We can enjoy it for another day.

Hiking trails need to be signposted.

The day started with me dropping Fran off at the eagles nest and heading off in the opposite direction for a quick hike up and down a steepish hill. I calculated that I would have to move fast if we were to make it to the boat to Seldovia, but felt up to the challenge.

I found the road to the trail no problem, parked the car and set off with a purpose in my stride. The first mile was down a dirt road and I made good progress. The wildlife was dominated by rabbits. After 13 minutes I reached the trail head. Oh, there are two trails. The trail guide does not mention 2. I pick the one on the left and start to descend. 7 minutes later - beach. Well at least we will not be late for the boat. It was supposed to be a mile and a half. Back to the car, pick Fran up and away we go.

Catch the boat to Seldovia, we stand outside in the hope of Seeing some wildlife. It's freezing, but sea otters, bald eagles, puffins, common mures and cormorants keep things interesting. We arrive at Seldovia and plan to do the Rocky Ridge Trail. Hike in direction of trail, guess right direction and voila, we are on the trail. Up and up we go - presumably to the ridge. Fran's knee does not like the climb. We come to a fork in the road, but no sign. Left or right? We pick left and the trail rises and rises. We end up at a water pool and have lunch. The trail has ended. As we go back down, we note the trail on the right denoted by a bear's head. Some form of code, perhaps. Not wanting to take another chance we go by. As we get towards the foot of the trail we encounter other hikers who let us know that the bear's head was in fact the Rocky Ridge trail.

If this was not the first time this had happened, it would hardly be worthy of a mention. Alaska is riddled with excellent trails, but every one we've been on has been poorly marked and included other trails to confuse a hiker.

In Seldovia we sat watching an eaglet eating a seagull while mum and dad stood guard. They did not like the fact that Fran and I were in the vicinity and were calling out to warn the youngster. In total, today I saw 15 bald eagles.

On the return journey, we lucked out and saw a hump backed whale and her calf. Fran has some great photos. I would have got some video if someone hadn't blocked my view at the critical time.

We checked out the Salty Dawg Saloon, but kept going and enjoyed more clams, halibut and fries.

The next two days are supposed to be rainy. It could be interesting. Homer could close down. There is, however, a Homer brewery. I wonder if they do sampling tours. I did have to pick up some more beer and they were selling Moosehead Green at the liquor store. Guess what, despite its New Brunswick origin, it's selling for $11.99 in Alaska. That's considerably cheaper than in NB, go figure.

A hike, a bike, bears, Thai food and Hop Dog ale

It was Fran's big day as she was flying to an Island to observe and photograph bears with a group of about 10. The meet time was 8am and so I dropped her off and had decided to go for a bike ride. I scouted out a bike shop that I thought might have a road bike, but it didn't open until 10am, so in the meantime, I decided to see if I check out another bird watching venue. The first time down East End road, I missed the trail, but I decided to drive to the end of the road. It is a road that literally runs along the Bay and then comes to a halt when it hits the beach.

The road was about 20 miles long, so there and back would be 40 and multiply that by 1.6 is 64 kms - a decent ride considering there wasn't a flat spot on it.

I found the trail to the bird viewing deck on the way back and decided to take a gander. It was not well maintained or used in that I had to walk through long wet grass to get there and by the time I did, my feet and shorts were soaked. I loitered long enough to determine that there were few birds to be seen and that by the time I returned, the bike shop would be opening up. "do you have a road bike I could rent." "no." "Do you have any bikes with clip-in pedals?" "no, we don't have anything like that". "right then". So I returned to the bike rental place close to where we are staying and rented a Trek hybrid. Don't let the Trek bit fool you, this was a garden variety commute to work hybrid. Then I set off back for East End road to do some hills.

I had not realized that there was one super long hill on the way out. It took me 17 minutes to summit. On my road bike, it probably would have been at least 3-4 minutes less. The scenery on the ride was spectacular as I was basically riding along a ledge looking across the Bay at the mountains and glaciers (when I wasn't avoiding cracks in the road). I have to admit that by the return leg I had started to seriously dislike this hybrid, even though it was functioning as intended, it was a heavy hog that was uncomfortable to ride. After almost 3 hours in my possession, the bike was happily returned.

It was almost time to pick up Fran. Hopefully she had resisted the temptation to poke the bear. I grabbed a coffee and a blueberry cheesecake roll and went to the designated pick up spot. All was quiet and so I waited. An hour later, the plane showed up, but it had been a successful trip. I have stolen one photo for Facebook.

After a bit of a rest, we decided to go to the Thai restaurant for dinner. We enjoyed fantastic yellow curries in traditional Thai style.

Upon returning to our room, we put on our hiking boots and headed out for a stroll along the beach. It is always interesting to see stuff on the beach. It was not a sandy area that people would normally inhabit, yet Fran found a quarter. I also found a rock that was a unique shiny amber colour, after it dried out, its colour changed to something less interesting and I threw it in the sea. There was quite a lot of erosion on the cliffs and we could see trees hanging on for dear life. There was no wildlife of any interest and we returned up the steep hill back to our Motel.

For three nights I have been looking forward to a Hop Dog IPA (made in Alaska). It's super hoppy. If you know anything about hops and bitterness, this one is 100ibus. That's a lot. Not sure how it compares to a Yippee Ale, but it is a mighty fine beer. Another full day. Tomorrow - Seldovia

Anchorage to Homer via Potter's Marsh

So it was a travel day. We had to drive 211 miles down the Seaward highway. That's about 338 kilometers for the rest of the world. Anyhow, we decided to get up early and hit Potter's Marsh along the way. We were there by 7:30, but someone forgot to give the birds the memo. It was also overcast so the light was poor. Nevertheless, we I stuck it out for 90 minutes. We did spot some sand cranes and kingfishers, which caused a stir, but that was about it, other than the drama of a seagull pecking at a floundering fish. The fish eventually freed himself from the shallows and died in the pool next to it.

On the road to Homer, there's lots to see. We pulled over numerous times to check out a view of the volcanoes, mountains or potential birds. At lunch time we went for a short hike, it would have been longer if one of us had not been bricking it a bit leery of the fact that we had seen very fresh bear scat - see photo on Facebook - a bear scratch and a bear print. We had lunch high above a fast flowing bluish river and spectacular scenery, but the incessant ringing of a bear bell spoiled the romance somewhat. Nice photo of a rabbit on the way back.

Safely back to the car and off again. We reached Homer, no problem and checked in to a rather more pleasing room than the last one. It has a great view and the other amenities generally associated with a hotel room, which our last one was lacking.

Homer has a long spit of land jutting into the sea where most of the touristy businesses hang out. Fran checked in for her bear expedition which is tomorrow. We also checked out the cost of a boat taxi to take us across the sea to the national park. $75 per person sounds reasonable for the 30 minute trip. The other main attraction is Halibut fishing. I fancy that. It's $150 for a half day. If you are lucky enough to catch something, it will cost extra to have someone filet it and someone cook it. I don't think I can do that alone, even with a better equipped hotel room. I also saw a place to rent bikes, that might be on the cards for tomorrow.

One of the main current attractions in Homer is an eagles nest with two large chicks in it. Everyone is waiting for them to try and fly. Fran waited too, but to no avail. She will post photos of the chick summoning up the courage.

We had a fish dinner at the well renowned Captain Patties. We both had halibut, it was good, but over priced.

The plan now is to enjoy our view and finish off the rest of the bottle of yellow label Shiraz that I bought for $8.99 - that was for 1.5 liters. How could I resist.

Alaskan animals can play ball.

Fran had a great train ride and cruise, despite having to to stand for the whole train ride to avoid the nausea of sitting back to the direction of travel and not being allowed out on deck except in special circumstances. She did get some good shots of sea otters, glaciers and baby eagles. That said, I could sense that she was a little jealous of my close encounter of the moose kind. We decided to go back to Kincaid Park to see if more moose would show themselves. We wandered the trails for an hour, but with only sightings of moose poop and moose prints. Fortunately, we still had to find our way out of the maze of trails - another 30 minutes. Alas, no moose. Within a minute of driving out of the car park, there are two moose - mother and calf - munching in the field. We stop and take many photos.

After the moose, we went to Potters Marsh, renowned for it's variety of birds. Upon arriving, we were skeptical. However, it did not disappoint. Eagles catching fish, kingfishers and best of all, watching a northern harrier hunting. Fran has the photos, I have the visual memories.

After the birding, we decide to take it easy, do laundry, recharge the batteries, etc. Tomorrow, we head to Homer with plans to hit the Marsh early.

Fresh Alaskan Air

On Saturday, Fran had decided to go by train to Whittier to take a cruise in the hope of photographing some wildlife. The trip ended at 9:15pm, so I had the whole day to kill by myself.

First stop, the bike rental place. I decided to rent a mountain bike and cruise around 'checking stuff out'. I started on the Coastal Trail which is paved and quite pleasant. It was quite funny when I came up behind a guy on a road bike chatting to a guy on a hybrid. Not wanting to startle them, I slowed down and waited for them to notice me. After a few seconds, I had to apply the brakes which screeched a little, and the guy on the road bike looks back, sees me and rides off the trail. He rides onto a pile of loose rock and loses control. He stayed up, but slid to a stop. I was like "easy buddy".

A few more kilometers up the trail and "oh oh" feels like a flat. Sure enough, flat as a pancake. The bike supplier did provide tools and a patch kit. After quite a bit of searching for the puncture, trying to get the pump to work and inflating the tire with a 8cm pump, I was back on the road. By this time, Mr. Off road road biker had passed me and I dreaded catching this guy up again. I rounded a corner across from Kincaid Park, which is a cross country ski facility (in the winter). I noticed a couple of cars loitering and two moose meandering into the park. I quickly dismounted and dug out my camera and video camera. By the time I had them, the moose had nicked off around the corner - so I followed and I did get a couple of snaps.

Since I was on the park and the trails were there, I decided to check them out. By now, the on again off again squeal of my back disc break was better than any bear bell. I randomly rode around a few trails. Oh that's interesting an archery range. "Woah, big bull moose". Well worth a stop. How much of a buffer zone does a moose need? I parked the bike about 20m away and grabbed the cameras. The moose was just the other side of some fencing - but not enclosed. I took a couple of photos and then the moose walked around the fence and took a stride towards me. I hastily jumped on the bike prepared to leave the backpack and helmet and cycled a few meters away. The moose stopped and proceeded left. I was relieved and got a few more wary shots and some video. The video will go on Facebook when I return.

After leaving the park, I saw 4 more moose in fields close to Kincaid.

By this point, the mountain bike was squeaking badly, the back brake was rubbing, the tire was holding about 40 Psis and the gears were skipping badly. Nevertheless, across town to Anchorage's second set of cross country ski trails. There, I had lunch and cycled around a bit more before returning the bike. I'd paid for 3 hours and returned the bike after 5.5, but they let me off the extra hours. I told them I would have been back on time if not for the technical issues.

I returned to the motel and cleaned up. It had suddenly turned into a really nice day and so I decided to check out the ski hill. Maybe there's a good view from up there. It was a 5 metre climb up a dirt road towards where I thought the ski hill was. There had to be something up there as I kept seeing all these cars coming down the hill. When I finally got to the top, there was indeed a ski hill, and a wedding and about 50 people all over the mountain taking advantage of blueberry season. I did have a chance to sample some blueberries myself and they were small and bitter compared to the ones found on the East Coast. In fact, to

confirm the superiority of the Canadian blueberry, Fran looked at the blueberries in the store and sure enough, they were Canadian.

At the ski hill, you had to pay to park, but once again, it was the honours system. The Brit in me was telling me to just fake it, but the Canadian in me persuaded me to do the right thing. I noticed a hike up the mountain in the offing- so up I went. The view from the top was amazing in both directions. It was 2 hours well spent. All over the hill were these hoary marmots. On the way up, all I heard was squeaking, but by the time I returned it was about 8pm, the cheeky little beggars were running all over the place. One posed for photos.

After the mountain, I went to pick up Fran from her adventure. I had 40 minutes to kill and decided to snooze (without paying for the parking this time). We went to the Ale House close
to the hotel for the second time and were again, disappointed. While waiting for our table, they closed the kitchen (10pm). What is this "Hell's Kitchen"? So, we went to a Mexican Place around the corner. The food was good, but more importantly, plentiful. A good way to finish off the day.

Flat Top Mountain Day

We bolted down to Anchorage early this morning to see if Fran could catch the wildlife watching full day cruise. It was fully booked. We went to the bike rental place and decided that fran would take the bus to Flat Top and I'd bike there and then we'd make mincemeat of the mountain together. After some negotiation, the owner told us that we could just drive ourselves there. o.K. That's $22 saved, so we drove there and then climbed it. It wasn't too long, but it was quite steep. I love it when my foot slips out in front of me, which it did about 10 times due to the grade and loose stones. Nice view from the top though - no complaints.

Interestingly, you could pay $5 to park at the top and get a parking sticker, or you could just write on an envelope that you had paid $5 to park, place the empty envelope in slot and a self written receipt on your windshield and go with that. The honors system, nice.

I also noticed on the drive up that the road to the parking lot that this was a stinking hill. I had to try to bike up it. So, in the afternoon, Fran went to look around downtown and I took a sleek hybrid for a ride.

I would not describe Anchorage as bike friendly. True, there are lots of cycling paths and they are not clogged with foot soldiers, but if you have to stop every couple of hundred meters and deal with right turning traffic, what's the point? The roads were very dodgy with constant "right lane must turn" situations. That plus no restrictions on cell phone use and plenty of road works and you get the picture. Nevertheless, I made my way to the mountain and started to ascend. And ascend. And ascend. This bugger was steep and long. My heart rate was about maxed out and I had to try and slow down my cadence to survive and still it went up. I stayed with it, but started to doubt my ability to make it to the top. Where did this end? Would I have time to clip out if I could go no further?

With the end getting close and the heart rate stuck at max, I turned a corner to find the road increasing in grade. Only a few hundred meters left, the legs were dead, the lungs were dead. My speed had deteriorated to 5 miles an hour. I started to weave and finally with the end in sight, I clipped out and stopped - a beaten man. As I gasped for breath leaning over my bike, I realized that I was in the big ring. How did that happen? After a couple of minutes I finished the climb and then it was brakes on all the way on the decent. I mapped my ride the climb, but it did not give me the climb data. I will find out the details of that hill, and perhaps try again tomorrow.

Alaska - it's a long way off

The journey to Alaska was longer than I anticipated, I guess I didn't think about it too much before leaving. I mean, i know that it's on the far west corner of the continent, but I did not realize that it would take 465 pages of a book, two cracks at the Globe and Mail sudoku, a good stab at the cryptic crossword, lunch, a couple of short naps and more to get there.

For the most part, the journey was uneventful. In Philadelphia, i did notice that, unlike Atlanta last year, the airport was not filled with obese people. Further, there was also lots of healthy food on offer. There is hope for the US. We were fortunate that the Liberty Bell was on display in the airport. It may not have been the original as it was made of Lego.

Upon arrival in Anchorage, I was happy to get upgraded to a Toyota Camry and we found our hotel easily enough after stopping for supplies. We wisely booked a room with a kitchenette. We were a bit disappointed to find that the kitchenette consisted of a fridge and a hot plate. Not even a spoon, bowl or pot to be found. Today we bought plates and cutlery, but I'm still using a pen knife to cut cheese.

After breakfast at Starbucks, we picked up more supplies and prepared to hike in Chugach national park. Bear bells at the ready and off we went. We walked along the Crow Pass Trail
and for the first 8 kilometers there were loads of tracks that looked bigger than deer, but smaller than moose. I had my eyes peeled hoping to see some wildlife and after a few hours of hiking we did.

We also saw evidence of bears, waterfalls, etc. By the time we ended the hike, about 21kms later, we were both ready for a good rest. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Packing for Alaska

Well the time is nearly here. It's been summer for some time now and our trip to Alaska is finally, finally getting close. Don't get me wrong, I cannot complain on the vacation front, far from it. I went to England back in March and of course, a small trip to South Africa and Zambia last summer. Truthfully, I should be good until about 2015. That said, after 7 years of collecting air miles, Fran and I finally had enough to go anywhere in North America. The first choice of the Grand Canyon was nixed when we found out just how hot it was at this time of the year, but we wanted to 'parlay' these points as much as possible, so Alaska was chosen.

Soon after booking the tickets we set about reserving accommodatons and renting a car. It turns out that while the flights would be free, everything else would be expensive. Thankfully, the Canadian dollar is strong. I've rented cars in France, England and South Africa and it's usually around $220/week. For 12 days in Alaska, the quotes were around $1000. I persevered and got one for $900. Rooms were also expensive. Nevertheless, we were kind of committed.

I made myself a list of things to take and so far I have 60 items, not including doubles. I've packed a bear bell, but I think the pepper spray will have to wait until we get there. Not sure how pepper spray goes over at customs and security.

This is my first post using Fran's I-Pad. It's a test as I plan to blog frequently about the
trip. Hopefully, the trip will supply more action than preparing for it.

Nova Scotia Individual Time Trial - 10th in 1:03.48

Fran and I left for Windsor Nova Scotia on Saturday morning, I to compete in the NS provincial time trial championships and Fran to see if she could find some interesting wild life photography.  Unfortunately for both of us, it was lagging it down.  "Just showers" said the man on the radio, but he was well off.

I decided that the most direct route was the best route and this meant negotiating Backwoods NS via highway 289 and 236.  That's a savings of 36kms or about 3 litres of gas.  To say the province has let highway 289 go a little is an understatement.  What's worse, there's little to no signage and no signal for the i-phone.  I did have a google map which was of the same value as the i-phone (sans signal).  That said, we managed to stumble upon Windsor without any major hiccups and I am sure my decision to go back roads was vindicated.

We arrived at our B&B just in time to watch the second half and overtime of the England v France World Cup quarter final.  England literally limped through overtime and made it to a penalty shoot-out.  Could they be the first English team to ever win a penalty shoot out in any competition under any circumstances?  No.  No they couldn't.  Despite being a shot up, the last two kickers fluffed it and justice was served.  France was the better team.

Seriously, get a roundabout.

As an aside, our B&B was right next to a 5 way Stop Sign.  I've never seen one of those before. 
The game ended, the rain continued.  I was going to bike the course, but first we had to find it and when we did, it was still raining so we drove the course.  I noted a couple of significant hills and very little in the way of flat sections.  This was going to be harder than I thought.  All that training on the flats wasted.  Ah well, same for everybody.

By 6pm it had stopped raining and we made our way to the Windsor Spitfire British pub.  What a joy, Curry on chips/french fries (I asked for rice) and a pint of local brew.  For my British readers, the curry was touted as a Birmingham curry, yet included broccoli and green peppers.  Does that sound right?

We then strolled around the coast to get a lay of the land and to rue the fact that the tides were against us.  It was high tide and all the birds had buggered off and were waiting for low-tide.  We did see a blue heron fly overhead, but it was too quick and on a mission.   Eventually we made our way back to the B&B where we watched Survivorman and Mantracker.

By the crack of dawn, Fran had left to seek out the wildlife, I had a good breakfast and headed off to the race.  I went to check in, only to find out I should have brought my NB race numbers with me.  It was a $5 error.  Armed with number 166 I went off to prepare for the race.  I was quietly confident as I watched my competitors unload their Time Trial bikes, squeeze into their Time Trial skinsuits and get on their trainers to warm-up.  They had technology on their side, I had old school grit.

The Trial went well, I may have gone out a tad fast, but I didn't die until I crossed the line.  The steepish 1km hill at 28kms was a real arse, as was the cross winds on the first and final 4kms, but other than that I was able to hammer home in 1:03.48 for an average of about 38kms/hr over 40.5ks (why is it so difficult to measure exactly 40kms?)  I passed only 1 person and was only passed by one cyclist at the 37 km mark.  It was a bit discouraging, but impressive, to see the speed with which he disappeared.  I couldn't have gone any faster without two things.  1 - an improvement in technology.  I need a suit, a TT bike, better TT wheels and shoe covers.  That alone could take 2-3 minutes off my time.  2- I have to get younger.  Incidently, I was 10th overall.  The winning time 58.05.  Two guys were under an hour which is, I think, fantastic on that course.

The good thing was that their were no draw prizes or food to hang around for and so I was out of there as soon as the results were up.  I picked up Fran and we took the coastal route home which was quite nice, but a lethal mix of roads that intertwine without reason or rationale.  Nova Scotia gets a 'D' grade for its road system and signage once off the main drag.

Bright Sparks

I haven't had anything to blog about recently, I suppose that's a good thing.  Before I go on, I think the term 'bright spark' might not be as common on this side of the Atlantic as back in Blighty so let me explain.  The term is normally directed towards someone, but not in a positive sense.  You wouldn't normally say "hey that kid's a real bright spark, he's got a full ride at Harvard", it would more commonly be used in a less complimentary way, such as "he's a real bright spark that one, couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery!"

In this ramble, I would be the first bright spark.  Tonight, despite the warnings of my wife and every meterologist in town, I decided to take an easy cycle around Mactaquac Loop (45kms).  All the weather forecasts were giving severe thunderstorm warnings.  Despite having seen the devestating effects of a lightning strike first hand and the fact that the sky looked ominous, I ventured out.  All was good as I toiled up Mactaquac hill towards the dam at which I would cross and return into town on the other side of the river.  As I descended the steep hill I felt the first rain drops and the wind kicked in big time.  I crossed the dam doing 45kms/hr with little effort, other than the occassional gust of wind sideways knocking me in towards the middle of the road.  As I turned towards the city the wind hit me head on reducing my speed into the 20s and then I witnessed the first bolt of lightning across the river.  I looked down river and the ominous black cloud stretched as far as I could see.  Better get a move on!

It didn't take long before lightnig #2 was witnessed and the rain started.  Unfortunately, I wasn't making much progress back towards town into the strong head wind.  More lightning and now light rain - not looking good.  At least I wasn't hearing thunder yet.  I started to look for a place to wait out the impending storm as the rain started to come down harder and then more lightning.  Shit, that's a bit too close, a place to hide quick.  You certainly feel pretty exposed out in the country cycling.  Now it was really starting to come down, over the hill, round the corner, yes Aggies Restaurant with a large overhang.  Poor Aggies seems to have met its demise, but it was a great place to watch a massive storm from.  Within 2 minutes of being out of the rain there was a lightning strike within 100m or so of me.  Very loud crack of thunder. 

After watching the storm for about 15 minutes, it was still lobbing it down and lightning and thunder was still in the area I noticed that across the road there were 5 teenagers dressed only in shorts dicking around in the field enjoying the rain and possibly oblivious to the lightning in the area.  One guy even ran up to the road and was waving at passing vehicles.  Now, I admit I was foolish to go against the advice of every weatherman in town, but if this is natures way of culling the human herd, I certainly just moved off the top of the list.   In fact, I then noticed that there was a trampoline in the field and one of them was jumping up and down on it.  If that's not saying "pick me, pick me" I don't know what is. 

Another 15 minutes later the storm subsided and I made it back safe, sound and wiser (maybe).

Black Bear Sighting at Killarney Lake

Jackpot!  I spotted a black bear on the outermost trail at Killarney Lake.  It did the usual bear thing - ambled across the trail and meandered up the bank and into the woods like it didn't have a care in the world.  Kooper and I were about 300m away - a safe distance - but we continued up the trail on the premise that the bear would have moved on by the time we got there.  Black bears aren't that dangerous anyway, right?

I will admit that I did start to talk to the dog in a loud voice when we got close to the spot where the bear had been.  It had legged it.  The conditions were not ideal to look for bear prints as mosquito season has started and stopping or even pausing is out of the question.  I wasn't exactly dressed for mosquitos either in my shorts, and T-shirt.  I took quite a few of the bastards out without losing any blood, to the best of my knowledge, but I don't think they have learned from the experience.

Also notable at Killarney is the appearance of coyote scat on the trail.  It's all over the place.  You can tell it's coyote as it's thick with hairs.  I guess they wait on the trail for prey to cross and then pounce.  Come to think of it, I haven't seen any rabbits lately.  Earlier this week, I saw Moose prints in the mud, so it's been interesting. 

It was ironic that I saw the bear on the furthest trail from the lake, but very close to a sign telling me to keep my dog on a leash.  Whay are the bear, the coyotes and the moose allowed to roam free without penalty, while I face a $50 fine every time I go there?  If anything, leaving hairy turds on the trail should be a fine.  Scaring the walkers should be a fine.  Killing bunnies - that should be a fine.

This morning, an eagle flew right in front of the car as I crossed the Westmoreland Bridge and yesterday a pileated woodpecker flew in front of me while cycling. Last week I saw two mink.  Tomorrow, I'm off to the Miramichi, I wonder if there will be more wildlife on view.

A day in the life...

Fran is in Ottawa and so I'm on pre-work dog walking duty.  Arose at 5:50am and decided to make the 7 minute drive to Killarney Lake rather than walking the dog around the usual trail.  Being early morning, maybe I would see some wildlife kicking about.  No.  Good exercise for Kooper though, he got to chase rocks and swim.

Took my bike to work.  The weather forecast was for good weather today and th usual rain to follow through the weekend.  Yesterday was nice too, but couldn't escape work or volunteer duties.  Need to make the most of the opportunity.  Worked through lunch and set out at 2:25 planning on 60kms.  It was very windy and not in a helpful way.  Finally get the wind behind me and am flying back into town when 'poof', I get a flat.  I only have the shoulder to change the tube, but so be it.  The tube is changed while I am under attack from horse flies and black flies.  Only a couple of drivers decided to sound the horn as they raced by.

The repair is a success, but now I am into school traffic and am constantly having to squeeze over into pot holes, stop for traffic and then I get stuck behind a school bus.  Is it a symptom of our times that the bus driver of high school kids decides to stop every 250m?  Wouldn't want them to tire themselves out now, would we?  I also had the pleasure of eating two bugs on the ride.

A good and productive day at work.  It's nice when there are no meetings or calls getting in the way.

Leave work at 5:15pm, get home, feed the pets and then take Kooper for another walk, this time on the trail behind the rugby club.  He goes for a swim and generally behaves himself.  Then off to do groceries.  I noticed that the large majority of people doing the groceries are 'salad dodgers'.  Is there something in this observation?  Maybe if you do the groceries, you buy more of the stuff you like and thus eat more.  It's a theory.

Arrive home, put the groceries away and set about cutting the grass.  This is the 3rd time in 8 days.  If only my jalapeno peppers were growing this well.   At least I got to add some compostables to the composter.  Whatever is burrowing into my composter - EAT THAT!

Well, it is now time for some food.  I've just taken a pizza out of the oven.  I note that each of the four slices is 190 calories, so that will be a 760 calorie meal to add to the Picaroon beer I've already downed and the chips I plan to eat later.  It's all good.

Capital FM 106.9 and why I keep listening..

Sometimes I can't understand why I continue to tune in to Capital FM 106.9.  In the mornings, it's actually quite good with Mark Roberts and that other guy - so I have no regrets about that and I can always go to CBC for news and substance.  But, for the rest of the time I am driving around, I continue to frustrate myself by tuning in and being faced by a barrage of intellectual lightweights like Keisha, Brittany, the Stereos and Usher. 

I realise this is pop music and not meant to be heavy or have a lot of meaning, but come on, at least be about something other than going out dancing on a Friday night 'groovin and a moovin' and throwing those hands up in the air.  Now I know I'm getting older and maybe a bit crabbier, but there's no way you can compare these clowns with the pop bands of my hey day.  REO Speedwagon, the Electric Light Orchestra and Dire Straits.  No comparison.  Today's haircuts and clothing are better, I'll give you that.

The worst of the worst is Ke$ha - pronounced Kaisha just to be special.  That's music and lyrics designed to appeal to slow witted teenage girls who sit in front of the tv all day and then go out to the local disco type thing or wahtever they have these days, looking for Good Time Ricky every Friday and Saturday night.  That said, the worst lyric on the airwaves, bar none, is "Tonight I'm going to love you".  Doesn't that just beg the question "and tomorrow night?"

The other thing that bothers me is knowing that some of these 'artists' are complete fabrications of marketing people who feed the songs, look, videos, lyrics and everything else.  In other words, there's very little, if any, talent on show.

The real reason I listen, however, is that for all the crap on those airwaves, it's probably the best place to get the good new stuff as well.  Rheanna, Black Eyed Peas, Avril Lavigne and Eminem, yeah, that's what I'm talking about..

Conspiracy theorists need to get out more.

What's with all these conspiracy theorists?  They are the lunatic fringe of society who all need to get ot more.  I mean , come on: "man didn't really land on the moon? "

"Oooh it's all a hoax, look carefully at the photos, isn't that the reflection of the statue of liberty in the visor? " "No, no it's not, the sun possibly, but no, not the Statue of Liberty. "

"But, if you squint your eyes and make a wish you can see that Armstrong's foot is not on the ground. "
"Maybe he was mid-stride."

But you cannot win an argument against a conspiracy theorist because no evidence is to be trusted.  Case in point.  Donny 'hairpiece' Trump contends that Barack Obama wasn't even born in the USA (as if it should matter).
Well, here you go, here's his record of birth.
"Aaah, but if you look carfeully, you can see it's a forgery." 
What's the point?  "Yes you are right.  Obama is actually from another planet.  Shush, don't tell anyone."

Can you think of a worse conspiracy theory than believing that he US government was actually behind the September 11th attacks?  Who do these people think are making these decisions and carrying them out?  O.k. Corporal Jones, today's assignment is to hijack a plane and fly it into a tower in New York City.  "Yes Sir, right away".

There's even a tv show on now dedicated to conspiracy theories and between you and me, the US government is secretely preparing for a massive fireball to hit the earth in 2012.  Scientists know it's coming, but they aren't saying anything because, presumably, they've been promised a pod in one of the survival silos.

Please note, the CIA nor CSIS was involved in the creation of this blog entry.

Commercial Tripe

I've never been a big fan of commercials, they are a necessary evil I guess.  I am that guy who throws that absurdly large bundle of flyers that show up every Thursday straight into the recylicng bin and changes the radio or tv channel as soon as an ad comes on.  Still, you can't escape all of the commercials all of the time (I am still working on a monopoly of the remote).

There are some commercials that are brilliant and largely better than whatever I was watching or listening to. Far too often, and seemingly more and more they are disasterous and make me less likely to purchase a product.  Then again, advertisers are largely wasting their time on me anyway. 

Perhaps it is because there are an increasingly large number fo advertisers that local radio stations get stuck with the real amateurs.  If you actually listen to the ads and don't tune out, it can be humour in itself to see how low we have sunk. For example, there was a recent real estate add that included something like this "Would you prefer a house in the country, away from it all, or a house in the city close to the action?  If your answer to this is Yes, call...."

What I really laugh at is the ads where they make links that make absolutely no sense.  These are the "now that spring is here, you are probably thinking of changing your toilet paper" or "Looking for a change of employment, try test driving a new Buick". 

The other growing segment of advertising reminds me of Harper's campaign, they have nothing to do with the product.  It's all image.  Obviously, all light beers would fall into this category.  And let me say this, if you are a light beer drinker, you've been had.  I do not believe that anyone would drink light beer following a taste test, unless of course, you don't actually like beer.  I didn't want to be the guy to say it, but to all those manly men drinking light beer in the commercials, you are one small step away from drinking kiwi coolers boys, one small step.  But back to light beer adds, when you describe a drink as crisp and cold with no after taste.  What are you saying?  Isn't that water being described?  So take away the girls, the 24/7 party and the bucket of crabs legs and what do we have?  It's not an exageration to state that some adds you have no idea what they are for until the end.

CBC, you are the best, but please put some decent music on - are you just playing the free stuff?

Canada has spoken, but I don't want to hear it...

Well the election is over and I am sad to say that the Progressive Conservatives under Steven Harper now have their majority.  This proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that mud slinging, name calling, innuendo, misrepresentation, shirt and sports jacket combination, Vancouver 2010 clothing, limiting reporters to 4 questions a day, muzzling all opposition, outspending your rivals by a healthy margin, getting photographed playing ball hockey and cricket, shrugging off all scandals, barring non-supporters from meetings, feeding Conservative held or Conservative targeted ridings millions and millions of dollars for 'projects', doing zero for the environment, doing lots and lots for the oil industry and corporate Canada, promising to establish an office for religious freedoms, handing out treats such as $500 tax credits worth $75 to people who often don't need it, lowering revenues while increasing spending and promising to balance the budget, totally disregarding and manipulating the democratic process, always saying "Canadians want this" "Canadians don't want that" and "made in Canadian solution", and achieving the largest annual deficit ever under the banner of prudent fiscal management can indeed win you an election.

Without a seat and after his party took and old fashioned beating, Michael Ignatieff resigned today depriving Canada of an intelligent and able politician in the house.  However, according to Jack Layton, he was only their 30% of the time anyway, so perhaps he will not be missed.  I did like a couple of his quotes at his announcement.

"People ask whether the Liberal Party has a future. I think the surest guarantee of the future for the Liberal Party of Canada is four years of Conservative government and four years of NDP opposition," Ignatieff said.

He said he found it difficult to recover from the negative advertising the Conservatives rolled out against him prior to the election campaign. 

"Of course they attacked me, of course they vilified me," Ignatieff said. "Of course they engaged in an absolutely unscrupulous campaign of personal attack. But look, the only thing Canadians like less than a loser is a sore loser, and I go out of politics with my head held high."  At a boy.

Congratulations to Jack Layton and the NDP.  Carpe diem Jack seize the day.

Decisions Decisions

Well we have a a few hours to go before the election.  I received flyers from Keith Ashfield and Randy McKeen.  I got nothing from the Greens (probably saving paper) or the NDP or the independent.  The good news is, that with no more Royal wedding consuming the airwaves, all four candidates (sorry Adam Scott Ness - Mr. Independent, but you don't really count), have taken to the airwaves to promote their message.

Mr. Ashfield has continued with his tack of we are the best people for the job, keep a steady hand on the rudder in these stormy times message.  Randy says please vote for me and the Liberal platform, but more importantly, vote for someone.  Jesse says vote for Jack because he knows what he's doing and Louise Ann-Marie says vote for change.  I wonder if there is a way that I could please everybody.

Britain is preparing to vote on a new alternative voting system where you rank the candidates and if nobody gets 50% of the votes, they eliminate the bottom placed person (that will be Adam) and add his second placed votes to the mix and so on until we get a winner.  If that was the case, I wouldn't have to be so strategic and the Conservatives might actually have to run a campaign.  It is not the case.  It's all or nothing.  Hmm decisions decisions.

How to Win the Election - it's easy...

I can't believe that nobody has thought of this.  If any of the leaders announced this tonight, they'd win in a landslide (well maybe not Harper as he can't be trusted).  All they'd have to say is "A government led by me, will sort out Air Canada once and for all".  Let's face it, we've all been screwed over by these chumps.  Nobody can figure out their ticket price structure.  The snacks are poor.  There's no hope that you can call through to their customer service department within 30 minutes.  Charges for a second bag.  A general lack of information at the airport.  I once checked the box and bought a food voucher on-line for a flight only to be informed on the plane that they didn't serve food as the journey was too short.  Unnanounced gate changes and the Big Daddy of them all - "I'm sorry, but we don't have a seat for you on the plane".  This is the message Fran received a little over an hour ago as she returns from 2 weeks in Ontario.

What do you mean no seat?  Unless somebody vomited all over one and it's been taken out and cannot be replaced, there's got to be a seat.  You sold me one.  Can you count?  "But, its been overbooked".  You are all tapping keys on a computer, surely it can keep track of the number of seats and the number of people wanting seats.  It should be a relatively simple process to say "whoa, that's it, we are full".  But no, in Air Canada's logic model, it says some peope will probably miss their flight due to delays elsewhere, so why not take a chance and let a few more slide in.  Didn't it used to be the other way around and people could buy stand-by tickets with the hope of some poor bugger getting stuck in Thunder Bay.

Air Canada - what a joke.

A Wedding and a Funeral

Well, try as I might, there was no escaping today's Royal wedding.  Let me say that I am not a monarchist.  I wouldn't say that I'm completely anti-monarchy as I feel there may be some tourist value in keeping them around.  My feelings are probably in line with those expressed by a punter on the CBC web-site - "Just get married and go away".

I did not get up early to watch the event, nor did I go on-line later to try and re-live the moment.  In fact, when the CBC radio news turned its attention to the bride's dress and the stitching which apparently was of Irish origin, I quickly turned it off.  Nevertheless, it was impossible to go on-line today without being bombarded with photos of the happy couple or turn on the radio to hear the nuptuals all over again.  Listening to the bishop who performed the ceremony it was easy to imagine oneself being in that same place 400 years ago.  The ongoing power struggle between church and the monarchy visilble for all to see.  Enough said about the Royal wedding.

As for the funeral bit, there wasn't one.  I did, however, find that some sparrow had croaked on the deck.  How inconsiderate.  As I was just about to go to work and was leaving the dog outside for the day, I simply kicked him off.  It was a temporary measure.  When I came home later, I beat the flies away, dug a shallow hole, popped him in and covered it up. 

Kooper and I returned to Killarney Lake today although I was cautious with my chosen route.  I did put Kooper on his leash when we passed the spot where I had seen the deer flesh two days earlier and I was pleased to note that only some deer hair remained.  Strangely, the upper section of the deer's teeth had now appeared.  I swiftly kicked those into the woods and out of harm's way.  The speed with which the deer is dispersing is surprisingly quick, but nothing compared to in Africa where an impala can literally be here today, dead tonight, gone tomorrow.

Randy McKeen, My Liberal Party Candidate

I finally got something in my mail box from my Liberal candidate.  Better late than never.  I still haven't seen anything from the NDP of the Green Party.  Let's see what Randy has to say.

A very nice introduction to Randy and his family.  A bit about his background and that he will stand up for me (and the other little people I presume).  He believes government can do good and that we deserve more from our politicians.  Yes we do Randy, I'm with you there.

Now Randy goes a little outside the scope of this election campaign and starts to talk about Policy.  He describes what the Liberals will do for Family and Health Care, Stronger Pensions, the Passport for Learning, Energy and Rural Canada.  There's nothing in here that you can't feel good about. 

What a concept.  A would be politician talking about what they would do if elected.  If only leader Michael Ignatieff had done more of this he might not be running in 3rd. 

On the back page, there is voting information.  Along with that an invitation to join Randy's team of volunteers or show your support by putting up a lawn sign.  He'll even arrange a drive to the polls if I need one.  Finally,  I'm invited drop by the office and share my thoughts.  Keith Ashfield (Conservative) didn't invite me to stop by or share my thoughts, but then again, the Tory's claim Real Leadership.  I guess they don't need any input.  Advantage Liberals. 

Now, come on NDP and Greens, there's only 4 more days to make your case.

Maybe I will keep my dog on a leash....

Tonight, as last night, I took Kooper to Killarney Lake for his walk.  As I did yesterday and every other time I go there, I ignored the two large yellow signs at the entrance warning me that the fine for not having my dog on the leash is $50.  I continued on my way, past the smaller blue signs nailed to trees every 50m or so to remind me of my duty to tether my dog.  I find that after you ignore the first few, it just gets easier.

We took a trail away from the lake and then another left onto a more remote trail where we had seen what I think was a coyote a few days earlier (it didn't stick around to introduce itself).   Kooper seemed keen to go and sniff around the area where it had been spotted and trotted off into the woods.  I noticed that he was just standing in the same spot looking down at the ground.   'Odd', I thought.  He didn't seem to want to move on and so I decided to investigate.  There on the ground was the foreleg of a deer.  The lower part was complete with hoof, hide and flesh, the upper leg - not so much.

I suggested to Kooper in the nicest possible way that he proceed out of the woods and back onto the trail without delay.  He wasn't all that keen and actually growled and snapped in my general direction.  Well, if I was going to have to take the jacket off and fight the dog for the deer leg, then so be it....  there comes a time in every man's life when he must stand up and fight for what is right.  It didn't come to that.  Kooper realised I meant business and reluctantly moved cagily away from the leg.

We continued on our walk and rounded the next corner where I noticed a 30 cm square piece of deer skin with bits of flesh attached.  It wasn't pretty.  I did not want to have to wrestle the dog for it and so I decided to comply with the City's beleaguured by-law and leash Kooper up before he noticed it.  Somewhere in those woods is a deer carcus.  I think I'll let nature clean things up a little before I take him back.  I do not want a repeat of last night, the effects of which are still clearly evident to anyone within about 10 feet.

Fredericton Drivers

This will not be my last post on the general inadequacies of many Fredericton drivers.  For the third time in as many days someone has simply stopped in the middle of the road in front of me.  It's like they just lost track of where they were and had been planning to go.  What do you do?  You don't want to overtake as most local drivers don't indicate anyway and the car in front may simply be making a traditional Fredericton gradual right or left turn.  You don't want to startle them (wake them) by sounding the horn.  It's a mystery.  Any advice would be welcome.

Old Dog, New Tricks

O.K. so our dog Kooper is only 4, but he's experienced.  Tonight I took him for a walk at Killarney Lake and he did something he has never done before.  Our last Golden Retriever (Simba - best dog ever) was a regular participant in this activity, but I didn't think Kooper had the gene for it. He's had loads of opportunities before tonight, but has been disinterested, as he generally is with anything other than snowballs, sticks and water.  But tonight, for whatever reason, he sniffed, dipped the shoulder and went for it.  A few seconds and a few "Oi, get out of that!" later and there he was sporting a new scent of 'more than a hint of something stinky'. 

I don't know why he suddenly decided to do that.  I'm not sure if it was the two rabbits we had just spotted and the thought of chasing them through the woods disguised as a moose turd or what.  I tried the usual of getting him into some water and see if it goes away, but that never works.  I gave him a bath as soon as we got home, but I didn't do a very good job as he is now lying at my feet emitting equal amounts of dog shampoo smell and something raunchy while he cleans his privates.  What a dog.

I don't mean to be critical, but: Canada's Top 5 Selling Wines

I don't mean to be critical, but: Canada's Top 5 Selling Wines: "Ignatieff Merlot A new variety of a traditional Canadian favourite. The grapes are grown in Canada’s Ontario heartland and can be found in..."

Canada's Top 5 Selling Wines

Ignatieff Merlot

A new variety of a traditional Canadian favourite.  The grapes are grown in Canada’s Ontario heartland and can be found in most regions, although not so popular in the west.  This appeals to diverse tastes with hints of blueberry, blackberry, redberry and a sniff of cinnamon.  This Merlot is influenced by European and US wine makers which many find enlightening, yet some mistrust.  It goes well with most meats, poultry and dairy.

Tory Harper’s Pinot Noir

A solid and traditional wine from the Fraser Valley.  With its earthy tones and robust flavours it finds a home on many local tables.  A suggestion of cherries and plums with a peppery aftertaste, this wine has experienced growing popularity in Western Canada, rural Canada and pockets of Eastern Canada.  It seems to be a wine you either love or hate.  It goes best with a large Alberta steak and a side of French fries.  Unfortunately, this variety is only available in a ‘majority pack’ which is 7 or more bottles.

Jack’s Chardonnay

While this Chardonnay has been around for many years, it is only now becoming popular nationwide.  Made in Nova Scotia, its light citrus and melon undertones make it very drinkable.  It has great appeal to young drinkers.  This label has seen massive growth in some regions of Quebec, but finds it hard to break into traditional markets that are dominated by the Tory Harper and Ignatieff Merlot.  Critics state that while the wine has a good bouquet and fruity flavour, it may not be so good the morning after.  Best served in social settings as a house white accompanied by Lays Traditional or Cheetos.  

Gilles’ Vignoble du Marathonien

Only available in Quebec, this ice wine is a long standing favourite of Les Quebecois.  If anything says “Je suis un Quebecois” it is the veritable Vignoble du Marathonien.  Sweet to the palate, this is best accompanied by fromage, jambon et poutine.  Critics ask why this brand is advertised nationally, yet only available in Quebec.

Green Party Cabinet Sauvignon

A relatively new wine produced in Vancouver Island.  It appeals to a broad cross-section of the population.  Strong earthy flavour strengthened by a smattering of wildberries, wild oats and oak flavours.  For many drinkers it is their preferred choice, although sales generally disappoint as consumers select more established brands – just to be safe.  This drink goes well with Portobello mushrooms, flax bread and granola.

Saturday April 23, 2011

Another fine day - so far.  Up early, take the dog for a good walk, back just in time for soccer on tv, onto the bike for 50kms and back to see the rest of the footy results coming in then off to do groceries.

The bike ride was typical for this time of year - cool and windy.  It is so much more interesting to bike outdoors than on a stationary bike at the YMCA.  For example, there are stretches of road where there are so many potholes that if I was leading a group and pointing them out, I would have to ride no handed.

Next, I came across a double road kill.  Either a red fox was chasing a beaver across the highway and both were taken out simultaneously, or the beaver got nailed and later the fox was enjoying a free snack when along came another vehicle.  It shall always be a mystery.

Most drivers in the area were great today.  They were patient and gave me plenty of room.  Special thanks to the guy carrying the windows that protruded about half a meter out the passenger side of his truck - that would have 'come keen'.  Why though, do some drivers decide to give cyclists a blast of the horn when passing?  It's not helpful.  If you want to sound your horn as a warning, do it when you are still 50-75m  behind.  If you wait until you are beside me and then have to stop for traffic lights or roadworks in the next half a kilometre, you might get some sticky gatorade squirted on your winshield.

It was easy to know that it is early spring.  There were so many trucks on the road carrying lumber, soil and other 'project' material.

As I was cursing another long stretch into the wind, I passed a woman cycling with a bike-baby carriage in tow.  That thing must have felt like pulling an anchor.  My hat goes off to her.

Keith Ashfield - Conservative Candidate for Fredericton

I just picked up our mail and was very pleased to receive a brochure from our incumbent member of parliament Keith Ashfield who is standing for re-election on May 2nd.  Right the Keith, why should I vote for you?

"Real leadership is needed"  Please define and tell me why you are it.

"This is not an ordinary election.  Our economy is recovering from the worst recession in decades, but the recovery is till fragile and vunerable to things beyond our control"   O.K.  granted.  I'll give you that one.  But, why should I vote for you and not one of the other guys?  What are you going to do Keith?

"Under Conservative leadership, Canada is stronger now, both at home and abroad.  Our stature and respect in the world have been restored, and our pride as a nation renewed."   What?  I din't realise everyone had hated us.  I know that we failed to win that seat on the Security Council , but that only happened recently.  Was that a sign of our growing stature in the world?  Oh, you must be referring to our stand on environmental issues, wait, no that's not it.  Ahh, the G8 and G20 summits!  That's it, where we spent all that money and beat up those protestors.  Yes, that's it, now I'm with you.

Then we have a list of 24 projects funded by the Feds in this riding and other local Conservative ridings to the tune of almost $35million.  Some of these projects are a bit dubious.  Why did we give the Maugerville United Baptist Church $50,000 or UNB $100,000 for CIS hockey nationals?  To be fair though, most of the funding seems to be normal government handouts - $7.9 million to UNB's new Human Performance Lab and $4million to build a ne Community College.  But guess what Keith, first of all that's our money, not the Conservatives, and second, anybody can give money away.  You don't need "Real Leadership" to do that.  Hey, give me a few million and see if I can pick some good projects out of a hat.

"Re-elect Keith Ashfield"  Come on Keith, you are going to have to come up with something better than that. 

Now when are my Liberal and NDP candiates going to leave me something?