Forbidden Plateau

Trekking area in Strathcona Provincial Park. July 10th-11th, 2008. Covered 15.4km in 5 hours & 40 min. One night out, surprisingly cold. Today sore in places I didn't know I had places.

Forbidden Plateau photos

More photos from a recent hike...

Forbidden Plateau "stream"

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Home Improvements

It was a long time coming, trust me. When we bought our house, 5 & a half years ago, the balcony deck off the master bedroom was in obvious need of serious repairs, even back then. Honestly, it's no small miracle that the rotting mess didn't come down on its own accord by now. So, we bit the bullet and decided two things: Tear down the balcony deck to make way for a new one and rip out the hot tub encased in 1/2 of the lower deck.

The new deck was just completed today and the hot tub was "sold" to a friend and his small family just down the road.

I just want to say how pleased I am with the work done and the deck upgrade. And although I do wish I could take credit for it (sorry Jivi, you're going to be disappointed in me), I had neither the time, the tools nor, quite frankly, the skills to pull it off in the time the 3 contractors did; 2 & a half days was all it took them. The gap left by the excised hot tub was "patched over" with floor decking and the new master bedroom deck was built to almost double the size of the old one! It's awesome. Very simple, sturdy and toddler-friendly. Can't wait to sit out there (once we get some outdoor deck furniture!) in the early morning with a cup of tea and a book...

Family Photo

There's an agriculture professor here visiting and teaching for another 2 weeks and he took our photo a few days ago in my office.

Why I'm Voting Republican

Classic. Click this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQJ9Xp0xxU

Calendar Shoot Photos

As I mentioned in the last posting (see below), our firehall was involved in a recent calendar fund-raising photo shoot. The company responsible for the calendars, The Fire Within, maintains a website where anyone can view a sample of the potential calendar photos. And since I'm in next year's calendar, I've provided the link for you. How thoughtful, eh?

1. Click or go to this site: http://www.thefirewithin.ca/
2. Click GALLERY at bottom of page
3. Click VIEW PHOTOS
4. Click 2009 CALENDAR SHOOT
5. Click BRITISH COLUMBIA
6. Click NORTH CEDAR

There are basically only 2 sets of photos with firefighters in them. I'm in both sets. Can you find me? Not easy under all that gear and a helmet...

"Nee-Nor-Nee-Nor" Photo Shoot

That's how Miki imitates the truck siren, nee-nor-nee-nor. Anyway...Late last year (2007) the firehall I belong to joined in a province-wide fundraising event by selling calendars. Each month showcased a different fire department from all over B.C. and the hall that sold the most calendars won 2 new sets of bunker gear (jacket, pants, boots), a fantastic prize worth about 5 grand. And yes, we won, but that's beside the point. Unfortunately, I had just returned from Tokyo a day late and missed the scheduled photo shoot for our hall. Well not this year.

This afternoon 7 guys and I showed up at the hall for the 2009 calendar edition and after taking a couple dozen shots at our hall, we all jumped in the trucks and headed down to a very scenic stretch of the Nanaimo River. The photographer wanted some background in the photo that "spoke" of our district.

Miki & Mama followed the caravan in our car, Miki was beside herself with excitement. It was a beautiful afternoon along the river and the best part was that Mama & Miki got to ride back to the hall in the truck! As it was the first time either of them had ever ridden in a fire truck and an experience I was someday hoping Miki (not to mention Ericka) would have, this afternoon proved to be a very timely father's day gift.

And here comes the biz plug:

I know you all want one of these 2009 calendars, and they're going to go quick, so I'm taking orders! Only $20.00 and it goes to a good cause!!

Picnic

Yesterday's picnic spot with Mama & Miki.

Animal Kingdom

Trooper is the donkey's name. Not sure about the horse, Miki calls her Ginger. The canine is Rope and the biped human is Miki.

Mayo Obsession

For those of you who follow this blog regularly, you may recall a not-too-long-ago video posting when Miki & Mama were talking about their mayonaise lunch. Well, anyway, here she is again in the same field of grass & weeds going at it again like no gourmet could!

Super Big Daisy

We 2 and Rope took an evening walk lastnight down to the duck pond and this flower caught her attention.

Ze artiste

Nice weather a few days ago allowed Miki to set-up her little easel on the lawn and go crazy with the paints. The emu (yes, that's what it's supposed to be; don't laugh!)was painted by Papa.

Thank you Evann & Nana!

Miki received a small package yesterday from Nana & Pop. Inside was a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt from Maine and a pair of outgrown shoes from her cousin, Evann. Miki put the shoes on immediately and set about scampering around the house.

Mayonaise

Sitting in the tall grass next to the cow farm just down the road from our house, Mama & Miki had this little conversation about lunch.

Git' yer freak on!

A few days ago the sun was brilliant and hot. This led Miki to shed some clothes, run around the yard and go berserk. And no, contrary to what it may seem, this is not a "sugar-high".

Tanpopo

That's "dandelion" in Japanese. Miki, however, calls them puffers.

Doggie go for walkies?

If you're a fan of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 you might know where the title reference comes from (Manos: The Hands of Fate). Anyway... I biked home yesterday afternoon and was just turning onto our gravel road when I bumped into Miki, Mama & Rope heading out for a walk down to see the cows.

Woodpile

I unloaded about a cord of wood this morning from the truck and now have this daunting pile of fir and maple to chop thru, hoping to get it done by next weekend. Unfortunately my mini lumberjack here is not too much help with the stacking.

In the yard

Who's got a hat on?

I'll translate, just in case.

"Papa no hat on. Mama got hat on. Mama yes hat on. Miki yes hat on!" How about Papa? "No."

Miki's Tree House

This afternoon I attacked the "centerpiece" of our driveway with the weedwacker and the hedge trimmer, a long overdue project. A huge Douglas Fir tree sits surrouned by St. John's Wort and ringed by some large rocks to form the circular point of our drive. We can now see those rocks and I even hacked back a strip of the vegetation to create a small "path" to the base of the tree. An ideal little spot for Miki to sit and eat her frozen rice milk pops or chill in the shade.

A Short Spaz

I think she was demonstrating either how to swim or splash. Or she snuck one too many sips from papa's strong morning tea brew...

Pop up!

Again, just playing around with this new video feature and the size of the video files.

Tozan Kiln

About 2 years ago I was contacted by the (now retired) President of Vancouver Island University about a wood-fired pottery kiln that needed a new "home". After a lengthy negotiation process, the Tamagawa Canada Campus (my employer)is the new site of an incredible Tozan pottery kiln.

The kiln was dismantled brick by brick from its original location, trucked over here on 60 pallets and is now in the process of being rebuilt by a devoted group of potters and artists.

Tozan pottery is unique in that there is no "glaze" added prior to the all-wood firing. Because of the extremely high burning temperatures, ash from the burning logs adheres itself to the finished piece in a glaze-like finish. Of course this is part of the attraction because a potter is never entirely sure how his or her finished piece will actually look after it is taken out.

The completed kiln will hold roughly 800-1200 pieces of pottery. A burn lasts from 3-4 days, 24 hours per/day and will consume between 7 or 8 cords of wood. It takes another 4 days to cool.

Anyway, here are some photos of the early reconstruction process I took this afternoon.

Lumberjack

For the second Saturday in a row I returned to the Island Timberlands woodlot, about 20 minutes from home, for round #2 of chainsawing & chopping. I'm beginning to think that the folks who do this for a living are a bit sadistic. It's brutal work.

Woke up at 5am and was out the door by 6:45am. The weather was beautiful and luckily there was a slight breeze. My truck was filled by noon so I packed it in. By my estimation I was able to grab about a cord of wood. Not bad for $30.00 and 5 hours of work. Now comes the splitting and the stacking...ugghh.

Farmer's Market

A very short clip of Miki in her Farmer's Market duds.

Test Video

Miki's retelling of a story involving cows...

Tent for Tot

Everyone loves a tent to play in on the back lawn so this afternoon I set up a old 2-man "nutshell" tent for Miki. She absolutely loved it, of course.

Deck Lounger

It was another hot day this afternoon and when the sun moved into position above our back deck I realized it was time to create some shade. I hunted thru my camping gear and found 2 tarps to string up. When Miki & Mama woke up from their naps they decided to throw down a pile of blankets and pillows under the shade and have a snack.

Gum boot family

This weekend is turning out to be the hottest couple of days we've had all year. It's a holiday here, the "May-long" as they call it, it's actually Victoria Day on Monday. A busy travel time when it seems everyone loads up and heads off camping somewhere, although how people can justify the extra fuel expense dragging around those damn rv's is beyond me.

We decided instead to save on the fossil fuels and lounge around at home and at the local beach-park. I voluntarily signed up for "duty crew" at the firehall, which basically means for 72 hours this weekend I'm on call: can't drink and I can't leave the district. If the pager sounds off I'm expected to respond.

Also taking advantage of the dry, hot conditions to chop some wood, mow the lawn and fix the air compressor pipe that feeds our home treatment system.

Here's a few photos from this morning's visit to Blue Heron Park at low-tide.

Blue Heron continued...

May 17th, 2008 sometime before 10:30am...

Pear of girls

Warm afternoon and a cool, juicy pear for the pair of girls.

Blondie