Life in the Fox Den

Somewhere Over The Rainbow – 80km Away

I know I know it's tacky...........but it's true. I spent most of the evening last night outrunning a storm, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let's see what has been going on. Oh yah well it was May long recently and we had a rather busy one. First off seems Uncle Fur (my brother Christopher to the normal population) paid us a short notice visit. It was great to see him and he spent the afternoon and night with the boys and I celebrating Alex's Birthday with Boys Night............what is Boys Night? Well I am glad you asked; it is an evening of gluttony really and staying up late watching movies and playing video games while downing pop, milkshake floats, salt & pepper chicken wings, Buffalo Creole Wings, and about 5 different kinds of chips. In fact we even started it off by heading off to the movie theatre to catch Iron Man II and had some popcorn and slushies there as well. All in all it was a great way to kick off the long weekend, the boys had a blast seeing their Uncle again and I have to admit I miss the big lug.

 

On to Saturday, another busy day as we were invited over to friends' house for a BBQ with the kids, we headed out around 4pm and didn't get back till after 10pm. The food and hospitality were great we had a wonderful smoked roast of beef with all the trimmings. Seems my nutrition plan has taken a bit of a beating the last few days, but I can adjust it just means more miles in the saddle.

Sunday, ahh the day of rest.........well no not really. Sunday was put up the dog fence (Marley has had his last days of burning up the lawn) oh and of course there was the small matter of another BBQ to attend to. Yup seems we were spoiled this weekend by great friends, packed up the kids and it was off to have Steak and Lobster as well as more superb company and hospitality. Hell we even convinced them to join us up in Shuswap next weekend.............can't wait seems I might have some fireside company besides Marley for this trip.

Monday was a little slower around here, well at least food wise. Wait wait no no it wasn't. Seems it was Alex's postponed Birthday Dinner. We have a tradition that on your birthday you can have any meal that you want, Alex decided on Burger & Fries (Papa's homemade Burgers & Fries) sure makes me feel good that they would rather have something that I cook rather than go out. So Monday was a day spent making food, Burgers, Fries, Ice Cream Cake and then on to the eating of it all. It is a wonder that I don't weigh 10 lbs more than I did at the beginning of the weekend. If you want the specifics on what and how I made em head over to the CookShack they are (or will be soon) posted up there.

Tuesday saw the return of normalcy, back to school for the kids, back to work for Tammy and back to trying to keeping the peace and being of good behaviour for me oh and some exercise.

_____________________________________

SATURDAY's RIDE – 76km

I managed to get out Saturday morning for a quick ride to Cochrane and back. It was actually a pretty good ride, that damn hill is just crazy though; I still managed the climb without stopping and from my perspective that is pretty amazing. It was a pretty uneventful ride and rather cool. I did see a moose though at about the 60km point he was eating in a marsh beside the road. If I had to guess I would say that it was last year's calf, looked in pretty good shape, buy the time I got my Iphone out he decided he had had enough of me watching him so you can barely make him out in the picture but for your viewing pleasure I put it up anyway.

Ride facts

• Total distance 76.4km
• Ride time 3:32
• Avg Speed 21 kph
• Top Speed 70 kph
• Total Energy 2,467 kcal
• Avg HR 135 bpm
• Max HR 155 bpm

 

--------------------------------------

TUESDAY'S RIDE - Airdrie to Big Hill Springs

 

Well I was tiring of the route through Big Hill Springs so I decided to head north instead of west for a change of pace. This route took me out past Balzac to Airdrie which is just north of Calgary. The total ride was 75.2 km and was pretty challenging, longer hills than a killer short one. I pushed it a little harder as well, mostly because there was a rain storm that was trying to catch me and I was barely staying ahead of it. In fact when I headed back west it was just to the south of me and with the sun shining it caused a what........yup a rainbow.......was pretty cool to see.

 

 

There was no pot of gold at the end that I could see but it was a nice interlude on my ride. Other than that it was a good ride if not a little tougher, I was pushing my pace a bit to see if I could get 100km before it got too dark to ride, no such luck..........between the dark and the cold I headed in at the 75 km mark.........thats ok was a good ride, and hell I did 2 hours on the elliptical on Monday so between Saturday and Tuesday I have burned just over 7,200kcal in exercise (2 lbs of mass)

 

 

Ride facts

• Total distance 75.4km
• Ride time 3:09
• Avg Speed 23.5kph
• Top Speed 69.5 kph
• Total Energy 2,751 kcal
• Avg HR 146 bpm
• Max HR 167 bpm

 

That about covers the last few days...............weather is supposed to be crappy here for the remainder of the week through the weekend (I even heard snow again) so probably no outside rides L

 

See you on the other side

 

 

A Decade Already? – Battery Powered – Miscellaneous Fit Stuff

 

It is incredible when I think about it. A decade ago

• Y2K is nothing more than another New Years
• Bill Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft
• Charles Shultz (Creator of Charlie Brown) dies
• The Dot Com bubble burst and Dot Boom was born
• Israel removed its troops from Lebanon after 22 years of occupation
• The first human crew arrives at the International Space Station
• The French Concorde crashed signalling the end of Super Sonic passenger flights

 

Funny I don't remember much of any of those; the event that strikes me is the birth of a little boy. My little boy (well technically ours – Tammy and I) but for now I will say my. 10 years........I can't believe it, I don't even know where to begin I remember so many many things.

 

• Trucks in the window
• That first ride without training wheels
• Monster Jam at 2 years old absolutely amazed (we have gone every year since – probably more for my nostalgia than the boys wanting to)
• Fishing with Papa
• Flying home with Mom
• Uncle Fur's big "Gruck"
• A certain "Zipper Incident"
• Sleeping on my chest for hours (wish this could still happen once in a while)
• Our first camping trip together

 

I could go on for pages............what scares me is what I have forgotten, because I don't want to forget one second because I am afraid that I will close my eyes and you will be a grown man that doesn't need his meddling Papa anymore. For now though you are my tussle headed boy, with an enquiring delightful mind, a charming sense of humour, a voracious appetite, a truly empathetic soul and that spark in your eye. I will lock every minute I can into my memory. Happy Birthday Alex.............10 years wow.

 

It's funny because when I look at him I see so much of myself, yet he is his own person to compare him to myself is a discredit to the wonderful human being he is and that he will continually become.

____________________________________________________________

Battery Powered??

What is the world coming to these days. I know this may not seem as a big deal to many of you but to me it was colossal (ok maybe I need to get out more). Last year my mower really started to go downhill; compression was so bad that it would stall if it hit a leaf, a sheer pin was gone on the blade shaft that I replaced with a McGivered Alan Wrench, it needed a spring clamp to keep the grass catcher on, I carried a standard screw driver to reset the throttle as it vibrated so bad it would back out and slowly decelerate, I carried a 15mm wrench to tighten the handles as they came apart under vibration, the side chute was duct taped as there was a large hole that grass would shoot out of..............other than that it was good.

So when HomeDepot had its trade in program this year I knew that the old girls days were numbered. What I didn't know was that the trade in program was for "EcoFriendly" mowers only................my immediate thought was....."I wonder what gas mowers they have that are EcoFriendly?" The answer is simple, None.

Now for those that know me you will know that I am somewhat partial to the power provided by fuel engines, my mower is gas, my leaf blower is gas, my trimmer is gas..............are we sensing a trend? I mean seriously and electric mower..........I had flashbacks of the old Avacodo green and white lawnmower that my Uncle had and me running over the cord (ok maybe a few times) maybe I am smarter than that now (doubtful) but electric. By city standards I have a very large lawn, how would this work.........then I found out they had cordless ones...........great battery powered I can just imagine, three passes then nothing..........time to go to the charger. But $150 off a new mower is nothing to walk away from so I did a little research and guess what................

 

Yup there it is a 24volt cordless lawnmower. I have to say I was pretty paranoid because after all if it doesn't handle my yard I am hooped. I suppose I could have returned it. After charging it overnight (15 hr charge) I pulled it out of the garage and went at it.

I'll be damned if it didn't work like a charm. It is a fair bit heavier than my gas mower (which is fine with me more exercise) but other than that it is quieter (ok well most anything would have been quieter than my old mower. But it is seriously quiet, as in you could have a conversation while it was running. It cuts great, it bags wayyyy better than my old mower did even when it was new. Power?, not an issue the whole lawn and front with 75% charge still showing on the gauge, now the lawn isn't as thick as it will be but still I think it will easily handle it. Technology sure has come far from the old flip handled extension dragging unit of days gone by. And hey it's a little better for the environment too, I won't pretend that I am green yet, but a little bit can't hurt.

It was only the first tour but I have to say I am impressed.

_______________________________________________________

 

I Am Still Riding

I know I know, you were hoping I would stop regaling you with the exciting tales of my fitness exploits. Nope, no such luck. I just had some other things to say, but I am still at it.

May 12 – Ride

As the weather has improved a bit in Calgary and the Ride is looming closer I decided to hit a bit of a longer ride. My largest ride (non stop) had been 63 km and I figure it was time to amp it up. So I picked out an 83 km loop and was off.

In general this was a pretty great ride for the first half my avg speed was way up and the weather was awesome. I did the first 30km without even really noticing. I was concentrating on hydration as well being sure to take in water about every 15 minutes (more to get in the habit for the Ride) and I also chowed down a power bar at the 42km point. Speaking of the 42km point that is where things turned. I was riding in the evening and when I left it was 18 degrees and sunny. So naturally I was in shorts and a bike shirt.......well in Calgary when the sun goes down so does the mercury and the temperature plunged down to about 7 or 8 and the wind picked up a bit. If that wasn't enough I probably have forgotten to mention the Cochrane Hill. I mean this is a killer, 6km of 6 degree grade. A juggernaut of a hill in my mind. Well I made it, I didn't stop and I made it to the top, a great accomplishment in my mind especially with 52km already on my legs. The rest of the ride was good but a little cold. Some details as per normal.

• Avg Speed 24.2 kph
• Top Speed 65.4 kph
• Total distance 84.3 km
• Elevation change 581 metres (1,906 ft)
• Total Energy 2,736 kcal
• Total Ride Time 3:18 (looks like I can do 100k in sub 4 hours)

May 14 – Run

Went on a road trip to Vancouver and we overnighted in Revelstoke to break up the trip. Seeing as I didn't bring my bike I figured a little run couldn't hurt to keep things in motion.

So I got up early geared up and did a little 5km through Revelstoke (not much of a town)

No real stats other than about 600kcal burned

 

May 15 – Run

Day two of the weekend. This run is probably a little more interesting only from a sheer stupidity aspect. We went out to meet some friends and I had a few drinks........well ok a few too many to be fair..........well ok to be fair more than a few too many. Suffice it to say that when I got back to the hotel at 12:30 that I was impaired. As we had a big day planned the next day I was remiss to go to sleep and wake up very hung over, so in my infinite wisdom I decided to go for a little run. Get on all the gear and off I go running into the Richmond, BC night......not a clue where I am going....good thing the iphone new where the hotel was. The first 4 to 5 km were pretty tough to keep going in a straight line but then I hit a groove and was ambling happily through the suburbs. In all it was just over 16km and in hindsight it was a great idea (because I got home safe and sound and sober). It accomplished what I hoped, I felt great the next day (ok well my legs were tired).

16.3km and 1,363 kcal burned up. I wouldn't recommend it as hangover prevention but it worked for me. Funny thing was is that based on the information from my heart rate monitor the alcohol didn't affect my cardio vascular performance at all.

May 18 – 54km

As it is Tuesday it is Piper's school day and given that the weather was amazing I brought her to school in the Chariot (bike trailer) and went for a ride for the 2 hrs she spends in school. Nowhere really exciting as I like to stay within a reasonable walking distance of her school or home in case of mechanical failure on the bike that I can get back to her in time. So It is a loop, about 12km with some good hill work. The weather was almost perfect at 18 to 23 with little to no wind. Other than the idiot in the white pickup that ran the stop sign it was a great ride.

Then back to pick up Piper and bike her home. She prefers to go in the trailer these days compared to the truck, I have no idea why but I am glad she enjoys it.

The facts

• 54.1 km
• 26.4 kph avg speed
• 63.6 kph max speed
• 314 m in elevation change (per loop)
• 4 laps of 13 km (plus to and from home with Piper)
• 2:33 total ride time (including stops at the school)
• Total energy 1,746 kcal

Well that should catch you up for the past few days............aren't you glad you read till the end............things are non stop excitement. Ok well to me it's exciting and if you read this far you either can't sleep or you have the same twisted sense of excitement that I do.

Thanks for reading.

 

Road Trip 2010 – West Coast Tour

So how does one go about making a trip out to see some amazing friends better..............simple you bring along some more amazing friends.

Left to right Ralph, Alex, Me, Louis.

Packed up the Expedition on Thursday night pointed her west and set off. It was a boys weekend just to get out and have a couple of gatherings with some great friends. 850km (give or take) each way. The leg out we did in two stints stopping overnight in Revelstoke to break up the ride. After dinner and a snooze in Revelstoke we were on our way (ok well maybe I got up a little early and got in a quick 5km run) Spring gave way to summer for the weekend and we had blazing sunshine and beautiful warm weather damn near the whole weekend only rain we saw was around Golden to Lake Louise on the way back. The drive itself was a blast, just good friends shooting the shit and watching some of Canada's most beautiful scenery roll by.

The picture above is a little stop we made up on the side of the mountain overlooking the valleys just west of Merrit. The view was unbelievable and the weather again perfect. So we stopped for a cold beer and a quick cigar (don't worry I only had one after all I was pointing the machine) after that it was a straight shot into Vancouver. A quick stop at the hotel to freshen up and pick up another of the Calgary boys that had spent the week in Victoria (Shaun) then jump in some cabs to head off to the Cedar Cottage jointly owned by one of the members of our little group that we were heading out to see. It was amazing 20 or so guys from Van (some of whom we have never met in person) came out to welcome us to their fair city. Met up with another of the Calgary Crew (Dale) and that filled out the dirty half dozen. We enjoyed a few pints, a few cigars and a ton of camaraderie and laughter. It was simple an awesome time.

 

 

Guys from all walks of life. Retired folks, stay at home dads (me) IT contractors, Designers, Doctors, Sales you name it. What is amazing is that a simple thing like a common enjoyment of a good cigar brought us together yet we all thoroughly enjoy each other's company and respect each other for who we are. A more generous compassionate group you will not find and I am proud to call each one of them my friend.

After maybe one too many pints for me it was back to the hotel for some much needed sleep (that is after I went out for a 16km run to burn off the alcohol in my system). The next morning some of us headed out to Granville Island to do the tourist thing for a while before regrouping and heading out to one of the Vancouver guys house for a BBQ. Again the weather was gorgeous and a couple hours walking around Granville was wound up in the local brew pub sampling the local Micro Brew. Once more back to the hotel and then off to the BBQ. Even more folks than the night before, more than 20 of the guys and some of their spouses out to greet us once again. Some more drinks, great conversations and stories and food. Man talk about food, we had Tandoori Chicken, Cedar Plank Salmon, Lamb, Butter Chicken and everything in between. I have to admit I was a little happier I had done the 21km the day before but it was worth it.

Our host

Can't say enough thank yous to our host he opened his house to all the crew and fed and watered us until we couldn't take anymore. We even wound up the evening with a friendly little game of Texas Hold'em.

The weekend was winding down but we had one more stop to make, one of the guys lives just off the highway about an hour and a half back so we got up early from the hotel packed up and headed off to breakfast. Again we were fed and treated like royalty and after a great breakfast and a couple cups of gourmet coffee it was time to get heading back. More thanks to our hosts for a huge gourmet breakfast (Bacon, Eggs, Pancakes, French Toast, Fruit Compote, Fresh Whipped Cream, Hashbrown, and on and on)

After breakfast it was wheels up for a straight shot back to Calgary. Enjoyed the ride thoroughly and there was not a misstep to be seen. Arrived back in Calgary at 11:15pm on Sunday night and unpacked and sent the lads on their way home.

Yup that is right we drove 1700 km in 4 days to go and share a meal a drink and a cigar with some great friends.............some may think its crazy but me..........I would get back in the truck and go back tomorrow. Life is an amazing journey and being able to share it with the calibre of people that I went to see (and those who joined me on the journey) is one of those little stops in the journey that makes it all worth it. Did I mention this was the second year (I guess that makes it an annual thing) oh and I also forgot to mention some of those great folk are going to pack up their lives for a weekend and come out this way and enjoy our hospitality? I only hope that I can even live up to a margin of the standard that they set, probably not all that important though I am assuming that they are coming for the same reason that we went.............to share some good times with some great people.

I am already counting the days till we return.

Thanks to all my co-pilots for making it a great journey, and thanks to our hosts for making it a great destination.

 

Interesting Day in the Den - Live and Let Live

It started the same as most do. 

• Get up
• Get the kids up
• Make a good hearty breakfast
• Make lunches
• Do Pipers hair
• Make myself a cup of coffee

Pretty much in that exact order too.  I got Piper dressed and the boys off to their respective bus stops.  Jump in the shower quickly and then down to take Piper off to school.

Piper goes to play school for a couple of hours so I figured I had time for a haircut and a look around Home Depot.  The look around Home Depot is to scope out some materials for an outside kitchen that I am planning on building in my spare time (I dunno when that is but I will be building  then) anyway as I am writing down the prices on metal studs and backer board (exciting stuff) I get a call from the School, Drew's school.

Nothing sets your heart in motion like a call from your childs school, especially when the caller asks if Drew is absent today.........I damn near freaked.  Fortunately the secretary informed me that Drew's buddy was also not there............somewhat relieved as it is less likely that something happened to both of them.  Out of Home Depot I dash and off down the path most likely followed, and sure enough there were a couple of rather sheepish looking boys trudging along the sidewalk to school.  Seems they missed their bus somehow being distracted.

Now there is obviously more to it......but in the interest of protecting the innocent I will refrain from the full story.  Simply put it called our (Tammy and I) but mostly I, me, my parenting into question. See Drew goes to the bus stop with his friend and has for pretty much the whole year by himself (well by by himself I mean with his friend) and they walk home together.  This is the trust that we have instilled in Drew (and I firmly believe he is deserving of it) but given that he didn't make it this day it is of concern.  Now tomorrow Drew will be taking the bus again and he will walk up with his friend, I will not follow him..........I will trust him. I believe what we are doing is right but there are many that would say otherwise............not too many to my face I would hazard to guess but they are out there none the less.

What really bothers me is this......Drew would rather have walked to school and be very late than to do what is our protocol and come back to the house and let me know they missed the bus.  I wonder why, is he that afraid of my reaction?  Have I given him reason to be?  Uggh, I need a manual.

Over the weekend in Kananaskis I had a chat with Alex about life..............no no no not that chat......man give me a year or two will ya.  No I mean about living it and making mistakes, you see Alex is very very much like me, so I know what he is thinking, I often know exactly what he will do and how he will respond............it is very uncanny.  So that leads me to believe that I know exactly what will happen in his life, the mistakes he will make, how he will get hurt, and what it will take to survive and succeed.  So what should I  do............I know exactly what I will do.............Nothing. Ok not nothing per se but not interfere and meddle and try to prevent there is only one way to learn about life and that is to live it.  I will be there for guidance, support and gentle nudging here and there (ok and the odd full blown freak out) but I need to trust that my kids will get where they are going on there own to a certain extent and more so as they grow...............guess what.............it scares the shit out of me.  But as with Drew I trust Alex too and I trust Piper...........they all need different degrees of guidance and direction but they also need to live it.

What they will always have from me is unconditional love and support..............and I will always be there to help them get back up when they fall down..............sometimes I will try to prevent the fall from being to serious but if I always try to stop them from falling...............well then I will prevent them from ever flying...........that I cannot do.

The Fox Den Goes Mobile - Forever Young (at least in my mind) - Running Sucks

Well it was finally time. 

We hooked up our trailer and headed out for the first trip of the year.  It was out to Mt. Kidd in Kananaskis.  No water in the trailer which is kind of a pain but we had power and for 4 days you could pretty much run the furnace non stop and not have any issues. (Which is a good thing as that is pretty much what we did.

Seems folks were still plenty cozy though.

 

The weather didn't really cooperate it continued to be unseasonably cool and it snowed every day.  We didn't let that dampen our spirits though we still did the camping thing. Went for some nice walks played outside, had a hot tub (ok well that may not be camping but hey its there it would be a shame not to use it)

It is a time honoured tradition for us to have Smores by the campfire (well not just our tradition but still) The kids love to roast up their marshmallow and squish em between two graham crackers with chocolate.  We took advantage of a break in the snow and got the smores rolling.

Seems Drew thinks they are ok :)

 

Even Piper enjoyed her weekend despite the fact that she had a bit of a cold and was forever looking for Kleenex to clean up her boogers. 

It was good to get the trailer out and see what was needed for the next trip.  I can't clean the water lines out as yet given that we still have sub zero temps in the evenings so that will have to wait, but other than that it was good to go.

Even though the trip was somewhat weather depressed it was still just us hanging together away from all the other worries of the world, it made me look forward to more camping trips coming our way this summer.  We are pretty busy this year but we will still be able to get around 20 to 30 more days of camping in before this season passes us by.

                                                                                                                                                         

Guess Who is 40

Yup thats right.

And they don't look a bit different.

Someone else is 40 as well.

I think she skinned Elmo alive and used his pelt for that hat...................don't tell the kids :)

What to say..........40 hmmmmmmm well how about this.  My birthday wish for you.

Since I have turned 40 (not too long ago) my life has only gotten better.  The years since then have been some of if not the best of my life.  Plus as you have mentioned to me it seems that the great things in your life have happened on the 10's so seems to me this should be a great year.  I know that the number doesn't change how I feel so I hope it doesn't change how you feel.  Have a great Birthday Tammy.  May your 40 and after be as good or better than mine has.

                                                                                                                                                    

Oh and why does running suck...................hell could it be that it was snowing big wet snow flakes? 

Could it be that I am still over 200lbs and nowhere near built for running? 

Could it be that it is slow and tedious? 

Could it be that my quads have been screaming blue murder since I did it?

Could it be that I over did it and ran 15km when I normally only run...........well 0?

Could it be the 750ml of Rum that I consumed throughout the day?  (I doubt this one)

Anyway, with no bike and the weather nowhere near conducive to riding I did the next best thing, I blasted off for a good run to get the ole heart rate up and running.  14km and change through the Mt. Kidd RV Park then out about 8km up hwy 40 towards Highwood pass.  Very very picturesque but that doesn't help the running at all.........I have to say that it was like punishment, every step I was ready to turn around.  But I didn't, I thumped one foot in front of the other for about 2 hours and managed to lumber my way through it.  I think that is my biggest gripe about this weather...........it hinders some great riding.

Some of the finer points of the run.

Total Distance GPS said - 14.6km (felt like 146)

Avg HR 135 bpm

Max HR 165 bpm

Total Energy 1765 kcal burned

Avg Speed 7.2 kph

Total time 2:07

With any luck the weather will at least stay seasonal and I won't have to run again.

I did hit the elliptical when we returned and churned of 1.5 hrs there too so not too bad at keeping the exercise going even if the nutrition plan got derailed a bit in K Country.

See you on the other side.

Rainy Day Comfort Food

I don't know about you but in our house typically grey cold windy rainy snowy weather means its time for some comfort food.  You know, beef stew, turkey soup, chili, spaghetti and chicken that sort of thing.  Something warm and wholesome.

This morning I got up and figured it would be one of those days.  It has been thoroughly lousy here in Calgary for the last week or so..........below seasonal temperature and damp and snowy.  So time for some comfort food.  But dammit I am not losing my grip on grilling............so I combined it.  Figured meatloaf would be perfect.

This is meatloaf with a twist.  I like to make meatloaf out of ground sirloin, I grind it up myself in the food processor so that it is quite a bit coarser than regular ground beef, plus I can and do trim all the fat off. 

What better to have with meatloaf than some garlic mashed Parmesan taters.

Now how do you grill meatloaf?

Well as far as I know you can't really, I could have tossed it in a pan and cooked it on the BBQ but might as well do it in the oven.

Here was the meatloaf (gotta have pictures right)

 

Ok now for the BBQ part

Yup that is what you think.............I cedar planked it.  And you thought cedar planked cooking was only for fish............nay nay I say  (well ok I may have seen the idea somewhere else to use cedar for more than just fish)

What about the garlic mashed taters?  Well I am glad you asked (ok I know you didn't ask but it is tough to have a dramatic lead in for meatloaf)

Here they are

Yup thats them, on the cedar plank too.  Only wrapped around the meatloaf and back onto the grill it goes for another 45 min or so. Time to make a salad and some dressing for the salad, get some peas for the kids and set the table and poof there we go 45 minutes have come and gone.

And let it rest for 5 minutes then cut and serve

It was very very tasty.  The cedar was subtle, the garlic parm mashed were subtle as well, the meatloaf was moist and tasty.  Tammy liked it enough she suggested it go into the regular rotation.  Drew paid it the best compliment by asking for seconds.  Piper......well she loved the meat part but as for potatoes if they are not french fried she doesn't eat them.  Me I had one more piece than I should have and since the rain and snow is keeping me from my bike I guess its time to head down stairs and work up a sweat on the eliptical.

Tomorrow we are heading out for a weekend of early spring camping, the campground got 5cm of fresh snow today.............thats ok, I packed up the coffee and some "special coffee milk" and some games and some books and the kids snow gear, we will have a great family weekend regardless of the weather.  And I packed up my warm weather gear to go for a run..........much as I hate running.

I Can Change the Weather

No seriously I actually have the power.  Think about it.  It was gorgeous here, 24 degrees and sunshine for days on end.  I figure what the heck I thatch the grass and buy myself a brand now Weber Grill and Smoker..................Poof 15 cm of snow in 25 hours and crazy wind.

Coincidence maybe?  Well I gave it another try.  Two days ago I picked up a few things, a new lawnmower, some charcoal for the grill, a Weber 22.5 Kettle Grill and I stopped off at the butcher.

 

3 Big Racks of Fingerling Beef Ribs

8 Racks of Pork Spare Ribs

2 12lb Chickens

1 Doz Ribeye Steaks

1 6lb Pork Shoulder

2 4lb Cross Rib Roasts

A side note to all you Vegatarians out there.............My Food Poops on Your Food :)

                                                                                                                                                        

And what happens 100km winds, snow and blowing snow.

Coincidence?

I got up this morning and looked outside.........barely a dusting of snow seems most of it melted on contact although I was pretty sure the house was going to blow away in the middle of the night.  A couple of patio chairs blew off the deck onto the lawn (not the swing though that hasn't moved an inch since Brian and I fixed it) we registered winds at around 95km/h last night.  But seeing as there was no snow Piper (who I kept home from school with the sniffles) and I jumped in the truck to go up and check on the Trailer.

We picked it up and brought it home, was pretty windy but all things considered the roads were just wet.  Well in about 2 km it was horizontal blowing snow again, and it has been snowing here since, that no snow on the grass is now a thing of the past..........its covered.........again.

So I am convinced.........I have the power to change the weather.  If I think or do something remotely summery we will get an Enviroment Canada Warning to the effect of Winter Storm Warning in Effect for Calgary and Area..........no matter we are going camping anyway.

It is our first trip of the year and I for one am glad to be going (ok not just me, everyone is stoked to go) after all we pulled the trailer through a blizzard for the last trip of the year up to Radium last year might as well start the year off the same way.

This is a little of what Kidd looks like

 

And if it snows............well it won't be the first time, a little monopoly or rummoli some hot chocolate (maybe a warm Rum for Papa) and it will be great.  We put a lot of miles on the trailer every year and this will be the start of another great season.  A couple of stops in Shuswap this year, Radium, Kananaskis, and a new one for us we are going to spend 5 days in Jasper.  Throw in a trip to Sudbury, a trip to Red Deer a couple weekends at home and summer will be all over again........................so why am I rushing to get it here faster...who knows.

No rides today obviously, I guess I will drag my lazy butt down to the eliptical and crank out a few hundred Kcal.

See you on the other side

The Day of the Doggy Spa - 58.1km Ride

We have this furry little critter at our house who has been sorely neglected from a overall hygiene perspective of late. Don't worry though Marley is far from neglected, he is rarely more than 5 feet away from me and comes on most errands and taxi trips.  (He doesn't come in the bike as he doesn't like the trailer much). 

For those of you that don't know we got Marley just over a year ago.  A girl I used to work with mentioned to me about these dogs called Labradoodles, they are a poodle and labrador retriever cross.  We looked into it and well next thing you know we had a ball of brown fur running around our house.  Marley is a true fit around here and I would probably be lost without him.

The half poodle part is his wiry little non shedding, continually growing, dust collecting, forever matting, chocolate brown, and silver fur.  I have a tendency to like him a little ragged but I think this time it went too far.

 

This picture was actually after a 1 hour scrub and combing and blow dry.  Seriously the dog gets more work than I do for a bath.  There is a method to my madness though and a purpose.

A while back Dave and I decided that it was somewhat ridiculous to pay upwards of $75 bucks to have someone trim our dogs (he has two Shitzu's) and cut their nails.  After all how hard could it be?  So after some research we split on a pair of Veteranarian quality clippers and accessories.  This is the 4th time I have trimmed Marley (the first was a disaster - uneven, snagging, mess).  What I have learned over time is that if the fur is not cleaned and well combed the clippers just cannot get through............simply impossible, making for a frustrating (for me) and painful (for Marley) half assed hair cut.

Now it has been at least 2 maybe 3 months since Marley's last cut and at least a month since his last bath and brush so I started at 9am in the morning and did the bath and brush.  That took me till 11am and that was to get him to the picture you saw above.

Fast forward to 1pm after getting the kids to their various venues for the day, Piper was out playing with her friend Maya and Drew was out with Goran.  Even Alex (the sedentary wonder) decided he was going to spend the afternoon with Ben.  So it was just me and Marley.

I grabbed all the gear (vacuum, garbage bag, brush, burr comb, clippers, toe nail clippers, oh and coffee) and got set up.  Next with the dog........he was less than impressed.  4 hours it took me.............yup 4 hours of clipping deburring and brushing.  We had a half of a large garbage bag full of fur and one very worn out dog.  He only yelped once and he was pretty accommodating - even though he clearly hates it.  The end result?

Well you tell me, doesn't even look like the same animal.

 

Here are two more for comparison.

 

Well, I know not very exciting is it.............but its how I spent my day and in the end the result was awesome.  Traded in a mop for a cute insane little puppy who earned a few extra dehydrated liver (yum) treats.

Other than that it was a quiet day.  Tammy worked most of the day trying to keep things in check so that she isn't working till midnight every night.  She has had a couple of pretty good compliments of late which is great.  Reinforcing what I already know.  Hell I married the smartest person I know, she is also dedicated (to her family and her career) and actually really gives a damn which is rare these days.  Its tough sometimes but I have to say I am super proud of her conviction and dedication to this whole process.

Me well the day wouldn't be complete without a little ride now would it.  I jumped on the bike and headed out to Big Hill Springs for a quick 60k to keep the process going.  I was pretty happy when I hit head winds right away..........why you say?  Simple headwinds on the way out when your legs are fresh means tailwinds on the way back when they are worn out.  It was tough slogging at about the 25km point on.  My back was screaming blue murder..............seems sitting hunched for 4 hours trimming the dog was not conducive to comfortable riding.

 

I didn't do too bad..........interesting thing about getting out there is that you have to come back somehow and even though I may have thought about it there was no way I was calling Tammy for a pick up..........I am too damn stubborn.  At about the 40km point I was gassed and wished I had brought an energy bar.  Got me to thinking I am going to make a checklist of things to bring on the bike rides, seems I always forget something.

The typicals for a 50+ km ride would be

• Water
• Extra tube
• tire tools (to remove and replace tube)
• emergency pump
• Snot Rag (nose runs like a tap in this cooler weather)
• Chapped lip stuff
• Ipod (charged this time :) )
• Cell phone
• ID (just in case something happens)
• Leave route with Tammy
• Camera
• Energy Bar

Of course the list here does me relatively no good unless I read my blog before heading out on a ride :)

The normal details of the ride are

• 58.1km total distance (I cut 5km off the back as I was tired)
• Avg speed 22.5 km/h
• Top speed (Tammy don't read this part) 80.2km/h
• Total Ride Time 2:24
• Avg HR 134BPM
• Max HR 167 BPM
• Energy Burned 1852Kcal

Saw a herd of deer, must have been twenty of them.  When I got closer they all raised their flags and started bounding away......was a very cool sight.

Oh you might have noticed the Max speed in the list.  I think that is the fastest I have ever gone on a bike, it was a hill right at the beginning of the ride that is probably about a 5% grade and the wind was at my back.  I will say 80km may not seem that fast in a car but on a bike it is wicked fast.  I am starting to get way more comfortable on the bike again the miles are piling up. I have logged around 550km from the beginning of April till now.  With maybe 100km of that coming on the trainer.  As the weather warms and the evenings lengthen I expect to put down over 1,000 km this month and then another 1,000km before the ride for cancer, that might be ambitious but can't hurt to try.

Well errand day for Piper and I....................see you on the other side.

The Boys and Our Toys

About 6 years ago I picked up a remote control truck to see if Alex would be interested in them.  I had some general worries about getting them into Radio Control anything but that is another story.  Any way Alex took to it at 4 years old pretty good and it wasn't long after that Drew joined in.  Over the years we had a few different ones but seems we have settled into Electronic Off Road vehicles.

For whatever reason they have been shelfed for over a year.  Ok not really whatever reason I didn't have time to keep them up so we could never take them out, realistically it was more I never made time.

Fast forward to now and it was off to Home Depot we went to pick up a few supplies to make a little area in the basement where we could work on the trucks, cycle the batteries (this is a major pain in the rear to try and do in the garage), clean the truck and store parts and tools.  Tammy was awesome at agreeing would should set something up.  The boys and I did the shopping and then commenced to get the stuff to the basement, it was awesome to see how excited they were.

 

Alex and Drew cleared the a spot and commenced getting the flooring down.  We picked up some foam interlocking mats so that little parts don't get lost in the carpet and also to keep dirty trucks from getting the carpet dirty.  The boys were awesome at cooperating with each other and no disagreements or fighting broke out..........clearly they are pumped to get back at the trucks.

 

After the boys finished setting up the floor we got all the gear moved over and got the trucks set.  Seems that one table wont be enough.  (Yes Tammy you were right............again :) ) so I will blast out to Home Depot tomorrow or this week sometime and get another.  So that we have a little more room to work with.

There are a bunch of trucks.  We have 3 Traxxas Stampedes (2nd Gen) 1 Traxxas Stampede (1st Gen) 1 RC10 Buggy, 1 Losi XXX-4 Buggy, 1 HP Racecar, and one non working race car.  The Stampedes are great for the boys as they are tough, fast, fun to drive and they can handle most of the standard maintenance themselves.  Oh and a bunch of spare parts.

Once we were all set up it was time to start cleaning up the rigs and investigating for any obvious damage and to start cycling batteries (Cycling batteries will help to refresh the rechargeable batteries that the trucks run on so that we get some good run time out of them - we have lots of batteries in various condition - hopefully I won't have to get any new ones)  The boys jumped right in carefully cleaning the trucks and yammering away about which ones they were going to drive first and reminiscing about driving them years ago.  It was cool to sit with them as they worked, we need a little more space to be comfortable and we didn't have a ton of time, but it was a great start.  I like doing things with them that we all enjoy............usually I spend more time charging, changing batteries, roadside fixes, and general monitoring than driving but that is ok the boys have a blast and yell and laugh and drive like maniacs.

 

There is still snow around and it is a bit too chilly to be running the trucks yet..........although the boys don't think so.  They will have to trust me, I fully remember a couple of times we tried when it was windy and cool.  Also we need to find a good open place to run them......I will start looking more carefully when I am biking for a good spot or two. And well its going to take me a week or more to fully cycle all those batteries, but its early May and we have lots of time to get things up to operational speed. 

I am looking forward to getting out with them and running the trucks, maybe Piper will join us and like it too, we certainly have enough rigs for all to enjoy.

We Will Ride Under Western Skies - April 30 - 51km

We will ride under western skies
Down the trail of the lonesome pine
Across the creek and up the draw

Along the river to the falls

Ridin high ridin tall ridin easySome time ago............Ernie Weaver's 60th Birthday party?? I was introduced to the music of Gary Fjellgaard (Cowboy Poet).  Now I will say this is not for everybody for sure, it is true Cowboy Country stuff but I like it.  I love all kinds of music so this is no surprise.Now while riding yesterday that was the song that popped into my head.

02 Under Western Skies

Have a listen if you will, this is how I feel riding up in the Bearspaw area todays ride especially.  It was cool and crisp the road sides were still snow covered and it seemed like at ever turn there was wildlife.  I must have say 15 or 20 deer, a couple of coyotes, some hawks, and of course plenty of cattle.  It was pretty cool.  The ride itself was no hell, the roads were still wet from melting snow and it was a wee too cool for comfort.  It was worth it though, getting out clears my head good and I feel better for doing it.  I know I am obsessive so might as well embrace it, after all being obsessed with a healthy thing must be a little better than an unhealthy obsession.  So I powered through it, and trust me that was what it was shear mind over legs.

I was wiped when I was done, as tired as I have ever been.  51.6km and I was a train wreck, in my defence though I had done 45min of heavy cardio on the elliptical and some weight work earlier in the day. (Maybe I should have done a few less km)

I told you about the snow storm we had........things are slowly progressing to normal.  Figured I would try a little something different, this is more or less my view on the road.

 

Still plenty of snow on the roadsides but the roads were good.  Believe it or not a ton has melted since the storm and things are slowly returning to normal.  Hell my grass is green now under all that snow.  Time to charge up the new mower (review coming soon as I have to mow it)

Here are a couple of pictures of the deer, I apologize for the quality but they were moving and so was I.

This one and I had a bit of a Mexican Standoff going.  I actually had to shoo her off the road.  Blurry as hell but I wanted to show this one, it was kind of funny.

I put 51.6km on the road.  Wind wasn't too bad except in one spot.  I met up with an older woman walking her dog and she cussed me out.  Telling me that her dog didn't like those damn bikers or something of the like.  I was actually pretty astonished of all the modes of transportation to complain about a bicycle on a back country road being very respectful is what gets her all fired up.  Oh well I guess some folks just need something to complain about. (By the way her dog didn't even notice me)

It was a mildly hilly route so I threw a bit of a climb in the back end almost cut off and headed home but the last 5km I actually got a second wind so it wasn't too bad after all.

Ride Facts

Total Distance - 51.6km

Wind - 15km NW

Max Speed - 66km/h

Avg Speed - 22.5km/h  (a good indicator my energy was down about 3km lower than normal)

Total Energy Burn - 1567kcal

Total Ride Time - 2:14

Max HR - 155BPM (another indicator of low energy - my max is usually 165)

Avg HR - 131BPM

See you on the next ride.