Sunday, March 31, 2013
Went to Terry and Mandy's for Easter Brunch. I had an excellent meal put together by Terry and Mandy. Had a lot of laughs with the kids. Watched some pretty funny cat videos and was amazed by a video that Maddy had put together! She has had a recent interest in art as well and some of her work is excellent. Keep it up Mats!
Miranda has a big week coming up as they are holding the tryouts for track and field at high school this week. Run yer little butt off Panda!
The food was so good and I got so involved that I forgot to take any pictures!!! What is with that?? I am going to lose my Papa-Ratzi title if I'm not careful!!
Sorry about that guys.
Checkin' the Menu
Friday/Saturday, March 29 - 30, 2013
Thought it was time to head to Stirling to meet up with Merritt, June, Mike and Sondra and the rest of the Wood's gang.
No sooner got out of the van than Merritt hollered at me from across the road at son Brian's place.
It wasn't long before the "Red Plastic Cups" came out!
Cheers! That's Brian's friend Jack in the picture.
Got settled in Merritt's place and sat in the sun room (they have two) with June, Mike, Sondra and Merritt, and enjoyed some great conversation and great views.
Now, that thar is a great view!!
I enjoyed two fabulous dinners over the two days.
Saturday morning I went over to Mike and Sondra's for coffee.
Their view is not too shabby either!!!!
Merritt wanted to check out a boat in Tweed, so we all (minus Mike who had a guy coming to spread dirt) piled into Merritt's van and headed up there Saturday afternoon. The boat joint was closed (wasn't supposed to be), but Sondra had talked about a neat store on Hwy 7 in Actinolite.
On the way there we stopped at this place on #7. They were talking about bears in cages here in the 50's & 60's. I remember seeing those bears when I was a kid when we were up visiting Alf Edwards in Cloyne!!!!
We finally got to the Unconventional Moose store that Sondra had talked about and the Moose was unconventionally decked out in his Easter bunny outfit!
The store was very cool and I scored these coasters of Weslemkoon and a matching mug! Now how cool is that?......... You're not going to find those just anywhere!!
It was a great store and I'll check it out again in the summer when I'm up this way to Calabogie. Be sure to check it out if you get up this way.
I had a great two days with the Wood's family. They call their spare bedroom Roger's Room!
I now have Sondra forwarding the weekend menu's to me. I'm sure I'll be back soon!
Thanks for all the hospitality and laughs.
Thought it was time to head to Stirling to meet up with Merritt, June, Mike and Sondra and the rest of the Wood's gang.
No sooner got out of the van than Merritt hollered at me from across the road at son Brian's place.
It wasn't long before the "Red Plastic Cups" came out!
Cheers! That's Brian's friend Jack in the picture.
Got settled in Merritt's place and sat in the sun room (they have two) with June, Mike, Sondra and Merritt, and enjoyed some great conversation and great views.
Now, that thar is a great view!!
I enjoyed two fabulous dinners over the two days.
Saturday morning I went over to Mike and Sondra's for coffee.
Their view is not too shabby either!!!!
Merritt wanted to check out a boat in Tweed, so we all (minus Mike who had a guy coming to spread dirt) piled into Merritt's van and headed up there Saturday afternoon. The boat joint was closed (wasn't supposed to be), but Sondra had talked about a neat store on Hwy 7 in Actinolite.
On the way there we stopped at this place on #7. They were talking about bears in cages here in the 50's & 60's. I remember seeing those bears when I was a kid when we were up visiting Alf Edwards in Cloyne!!!!
We finally got to the Unconventional Moose store that Sondra had talked about and the Moose was unconventionally decked out in his Easter bunny outfit!
The store was very cool and I scored these coasters of Weslemkoon and a matching mug! Now how cool is that?......... You're not going to find those just anywhere!!
It was a great store and I'll check it out again in the summer when I'm up this way to Calabogie. Be sure to check it out if you get up this way.
I had a great two days with the Wood's family. They call their spare bedroom Roger's Room!
I now have Sondra forwarding the weekend menu's to me. I'm sure I'll be back soon!
Thanks for all the hospitality and laughs.
Lunch with the Squirt
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Met "The Squirt" (Judy) at William's Coffee Pub on the bayfront for lunch today.
It was great to catch up on the news and have some quality time together.
The food there is fabulous!
Caught them backing the Hamilton Queen (or whatever it's called) out for the first time this year.
Met "The Squirt" (Judy) at William's Coffee Pub on the bayfront for lunch today.
It was great to catch up on the news and have some quality time together.
The food there is fabulous!
Caught them backing the Hamilton Queen (or whatever it's called) out for the first time this year.
Happy Birthday Ma!!
Wednesday, April 27, 2013
Do you think he's relaxed??
Got home from the gym this morning to find an email from Judy pointing out Mom would have turned 100 today!
I met my fellow FishGuts (minus Bud who is still South) at Lowe's for coffee today and also to drop the three cartons of poison off for Orca (Paul). It was great to see them all again.
Went from there to get my hair cut and then to a place on Barton Street that cleaned my van thoroughly (including sand from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic).
Stopped in at the cemetery to pay my respects to dear old Mom.
My Dad has been gone for over 60 years, followed by my Step Father Bill in '81 (Wow, 32 years ago), my sister Lorraine in '97 and my Mom in 2005. I have been very blessed with my family.
Happy 100th Birthday Ma!
Do you think he's relaxed??
Got home from the gym this morning to find an email from Judy pointing out Mom would have turned 100 today!
I met my fellow FishGuts (minus Bud who is still South) at Lowe's for coffee today and also to drop the three cartons of poison off for Orca (Paul). It was great to see them all again.
Went from there to get my hair cut and then to a place on Barton Street that cleaned my van thoroughly (including sand from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic).
Stopped in at the cemetery to pay my respects to dear old Mom.
My Dad has been gone for over 60 years, followed by my Step Father Bill in '81 (Wow, 32 years ago), my sister Lorraine in '97 and my Mom in 2005. I have been very blessed with my family.
Happy 100th Birthday Ma!
Catching up with the Cranks
One Last Run
Saturday, March 23, 2013
With the cold weather still hanging on and the lakes still frozen solid, Paul and I decided to get one last run in before he put the sleds away. I drove up to Pogger's on Friday night and slept over so that we could get an early start on our drive to Bancroft Saturday morning. We rendezvoused with two of his workers at Tim Horton's in Bancroft.
We drove to the snowmobile club in L'Amabe. The trails were still in excellent shape!
Some of the scenery along the way was spectacular as we headed to Denbigh.
Evan counted 8 deer along the way.
We had lunch and gassed up in Denbigh, then we headed South towards Weslemkoon. Without our guides from the last trip, we took a few wrong turns, but Pogger straightened us out.
This is a neat view of the north end of Otter Lake (where a lot of my ashes will go) from the logging road. I always knew there was a logging road at the top end of the lake, but never realized how close it was.
We headed past there to the trail that comes out on Weslemkoon right near Tanglewood Marina.
We ran across the top end of Weslemkoon and headed out through West Bay passing the Three Sister's Islands along the way. Very surreal to be passing landmarks you recognize from the water normally.
About halfway between Weslemkoon and L'Amabe we came to a clearing where this gentleman was standing with no snowmobile in sight! It turns out to be Merritt Woods old buddy Ron Hadley (whom we met the last time we were up here). He had gone off the main trail and buried his machine about 4 feet deep in the snow!
Paul, Chris and Nick all went back with him and managed to strong arm it out of the snow.
Our good deed for the day.
On the way back to L'Amabe, we passed Ron's daughter and son-in-law who had headed out to look for him after he didn't return back when they expected.
We covered 193 km. and had a great day! A great way to end the first season of my new hobby!
With the cold weather still hanging on and the lakes still frozen solid, Paul and I decided to get one last run in before he put the sleds away. I drove up to Pogger's on Friday night and slept over so that we could get an early start on our drive to Bancroft Saturday morning. We rendezvoused with two of his workers at Tim Horton's in Bancroft.
We drove to the snowmobile club in L'Amabe. The trails were still in excellent shape!
Some of the scenery along the way was spectacular as we headed to Denbigh.
Evan counted 8 deer along the way.
We had lunch and gassed up in Denbigh, then we headed South towards Weslemkoon. Without our guides from the last trip, we took a few wrong turns, but Pogger straightened us out.
This is a neat view of the north end of Otter Lake (where a lot of my ashes will go) from the logging road. I always knew there was a logging road at the top end of the lake, but never realized how close it was.
We headed past there to the trail that comes out on Weslemkoon right near Tanglewood Marina.
We ran across the top end of Weslemkoon and headed out through West Bay passing the Three Sister's Islands along the way. Very surreal to be passing landmarks you recognize from the water normally.
About halfway between Weslemkoon and L'Amabe we came to a clearing where this gentleman was standing with no snowmobile in sight! It turns out to be Merritt Woods old buddy Ron Hadley (whom we met the last time we were up here). He had gone off the main trail and buried his machine about 4 feet deep in the snow!
Paul, Chris and Nick all went back with him and managed to strong arm it out of the snow.
Our good deed for the day.
On the way back to L'Amabe, we passed Ron's daughter and son-in-law who had headed out to look for him after he didn't return back when they expected.
We covered 193 km. and had a great day! A great way to end the first season of my new hobby!
Dodged a Bullet!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
I was out driving on Monday and noticed that the van was making some peculiar sounds. I thought it was my transmission acting up, but I checked the fluid and it seemed okay. On the way home I realized that it was the power steering that was the issue. I checked the power steering fluid level Tuesday morning and the container was empty!
I called my buddy John Hughes at Canada Motor Car in Cambridge and he said he could look at it right away. I filled it up with fluid and headed out.
It turns out that the metal high pressure hose had rotted out! John checked all over and no one had one, so he ordered one for Wednesday morning. He was good enough to lend me this 2003 Sebring that was in beautiful condition ( a gift for someone special when they turn 16 soon!).
Ron his mechanic noticed that the water pump was also starting to leak so they changed that too. By Wednesday afternoon I had my baby back in tip top shape.
Thank God that did not happen on the way home a day earlier!
I really dodged a bullet!
Thanks John.
I was out driving on Monday and noticed that the van was making some peculiar sounds. I thought it was my transmission acting up, but I checked the fluid and it seemed okay. On the way home I realized that it was the power steering that was the issue. I checked the power steering fluid level Tuesday morning and the container was empty!
I called my buddy John Hughes at Canada Motor Car in Cambridge and he said he could look at it right away. I filled it up with fluid and headed out.
It turns out that the metal high pressure hose had rotted out! John checked all over and no one had one, so he ordered one for Wednesday morning. He was good enough to lend me this 2003 Sebring that was in beautiful condition ( a gift for someone special when they turn 16 soon!).
Ron his mechanic noticed that the water pump was also starting to leak so they changed that too. By Wednesday afternoon I had my baby back in tip top shape.
Thank God that did not happen on the way home a day earlier!
I really dodged a bullet!
Thanks John.
HOME
Sunday, March 17, 2013
We left Summersville, WV around 8:30 and had an easy drive all the way. We arrived at Buffalo Airport around 4:30 to rendezvous with Pogger's truck.
Based on all the ONT plates we saw on the highway coming back, we anticipated a long wait at the border so decided to cross at the Rainbow bridge and alas there were no cars there. I drove right up to the border guard!
We stopped at Duty Free to pick up 3 cartons of smokes for Orca. You can see by Evan's face what he thinks of Kennedy's Bad Habit!
We rendezvoused at the Hortons just before St. Catharines before parting our ways.
Once settled back home I drove to Judy's to pick up my room mate.
All is well as I write this.
Another wonderful and memorable trip in the books.
We left Summersville, WV around 8:30 and had an easy drive all the way. We arrived at Buffalo Airport around 4:30 to rendezvous with Pogger's truck.
Based on all the ONT plates we saw on the highway coming back, we anticipated a long wait at the border so decided to cross at the Rainbow bridge and alas there were no cars there. I drove right up to the border guard!
We stopped at Duty Free to pick up 3 cartons of smokes for Orca. You can see by Evan's face what he thinks of Kennedy's Bad Habit!
We rendezvoused at the Hortons just before St. Catharines before parting our ways.
Once settled back home I drove to Judy's to pick up my room mate.
All is well as I write this.
Another wonderful and memorable trip in the books.
On Our Way Home!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
We left Orange Lake at 4:45 this morning. Here's Astronaut Evan in his Caravan SpaceCraft. Much like the Mercury astronauts with not much room to move! :)
We stopped at a McDonald's Playland near Statesville, NC to let the kids let go of some energy.
Rachel was ready for more driving after her workout!
Here we are entering one of the 2 tunnels through the mountains.
There's the light at the end of the tunnel and "The Great Outdoors" playing on the DVD player.
We made it to Summersville, WV and ate at Bob Evans for dinner. Evan has been wanting to go there.
He was impressed by the cup they gave him.
Only about 7-8 hours to home (at least for me).
We left Orange Lake at 4:45 this morning. Here's Astronaut Evan in his Caravan SpaceCraft. Much like the Mercury astronauts with not much room to move! :)
We stopped at a McDonald's Playland near Statesville, NC to let the kids let go of some energy.
Rachel was ready for more driving after her workout!
Here we are entering one of the 2 tunnels through the mountains.
There's the light at the end of the tunnel and "The Great Outdoors" playing on the DVD player.
We made it to Summersville, WV and ate at Bob Evans for dinner. Evan has been wanting to go there.
He was impressed by the cup they gave him.
Only about 7-8 hours to home (at least for me).
Helicopter Flying 101
Friday, March 15, 2013
We started the day out being frightened by this mysterious Power Ranger that showed up in our unit this morning!
Once we gathered our wits, we noticed that there was no wind this morning, so Evan and I ventured out for our second attempt at a helicopter launch. After a few aborted attempts, I took the controls and got the sucker climbing real good ........oh!oh! ......moving towards the building! It was way up there and the wind was making it drift towards the building (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). I killed the power, but it continued to drift and ended up landing on the roof (6 stories up!).....................damn!!!!!!!!!!!
You can barely make out the blades on the roof........
It was way up there!!
It wouldn't respond. I was pretty despondent, but managed to keep as upbeat as I could for Evan, trying to keep him from realizing what a chump his Papa was! We went back to the unit and called maintenance services, but they wouldn't go up on the roof.
Paul came back out with us and stood right beside the building and managed to get it in range and to respond. Next thing we know it comes over the edge and survives the 6 story fall!
Pogger is temporarily my hero!
We decide to give Evan a try and he does great!
Now its Pogger's turn! First attempt he gets it up and going, but drops it in the middle of the road with a truck coming! He immediately gets it to climb, but it goes so high it gets out of range and comes plummeting down and drops between two trees! Luckily it didn't get trapped at the top of the tree!
Unfortunately though, it bent the rotor shaft, so Evan's Excellent Helicopter Adventure has come to a temporary halt. Fortunately, the manual includes a parts list, so we should have it operational before helicopter weather in Canada.
The kids drove over to the pool for their last swim. I walked over to join them. After 7 weeks of being in Florida, I finally spotted my first Gator and it was a pretty good one!
Here's another shot of him with two wild turkeys behind him on the fairway.
Finally got over to Splash Lagoon where the kids were and Evan (in the picture below) and Rachel spent the entire afternoon going down the slide hundreds of times.............. should be a quiet night :)
We decided to hit Bahama Breeze for our last Florida meal. I had the excellent Mahi Mahi again. Awesome!!
We went to Menchie's nearby for dessert. The kids have one in Whitby. It was excellent!
We are now in the middle of packing for a 4:00 am departure in the morning.
We have had a wonderful 10 days, but all good things must come to an end.........
Another memorable vacation is in the books.
We started the day out being frightened by this mysterious Power Ranger that showed up in our unit this morning!
Once we gathered our wits, we noticed that there was no wind this morning, so Evan and I ventured out for our second attempt at a helicopter launch. After a few aborted attempts, I took the controls and got the sucker climbing real good ........oh!oh! ......moving towards the building! It was way up there and the wind was making it drift towards the building (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). I killed the power, but it continued to drift and ended up landing on the roof (6 stories up!).....................damn!!!!!!!!!!!
You can barely make out the blades on the roof........
It was way up there!!
It wouldn't respond. I was pretty despondent, but managed to keep as upbeat as I could for Evan, trying to keep him from realizing what a chump his Papa was! We went back to the unit and called maintenance services, but they wouldn't go up on the roof.
Paul came back out with us and stood right beside the building and managed to get it in range and to respond. Next thing we know it comes over the edge and survives the 6 story fall!
Pogger is temporarily my hero!
We decide to give Evan a try and he does great!
Now its Pogger's turn! First attempt he gets it up and going, but drops it in the middle of the road with a truck coming! He immediately gets it to climb, but it goes so high it gets out of range and comes plummeting down and drops between two trees! Luckily it didn't get trapped at the top of the tree!
Unfortunately though, it bent the rotor shaft, so Evan's Excellent Helicopter Adventure has come to a temporary halt. Fortunately, the manual includes a parts list, so we should have it operational before helicopter weather in Canada.
The kids drove over to the pool for their last swim. I walked over to join them. After 7 weeks of being in Florida, I finally spotted my first Gator and it was a pretty good one!
Here's another shot of him with two wild turkeys behind him on the fairway.
Finally got over to Splash Lagoon where the kids were and Evan (in the picture below) and Rachel spent the entire afternoon going down the slide hundreds of times.............. should be a quiet night :)
We decided to hit Bahama Breeze for our last Florida meal. I had the excellent Mahi Mahi again. Awesome!!
We went to Menchie's nearby for dessert. The kids have one in Whitby. It was excellent!
We are now in the middle of packing for a 4:00 am departure in the morning.
We have had a wonderful 10 days, but all good things must come to an end.........
Another memorable vacation is in the books.
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