Motorbike

With so much fine weather, I thought I should keep up the excitement.  I went back out to the farm to drop of the canoe and decided to fire up the bike.  No problems....  Until...

I had my second career crash - The first time I wiped out it was a few years ago and I was puttering up a hill and then turned my wheel and the weight of the bike & gravity immediately took over.  There was no way I could have hung on.  It dropped to the ground, chipped a bit of paint, and that was that. A mild, 1 out of 10 on the serious scale crash.  My KTM is a jacked-up dirt bike really, so if it falls over, well, that is what happens with such bikes.  Today's was a bit worse.

I was going down Lanesville Road - the No Winter maintenance section, and I was taking it fairly easy, but the front wheel just slid out on snow/ice, I over-steared and got into the ditch was was equally soft and wet, and the next thing I was thrown a few feet in front of the bike - mud all over, ripped jeans.  It woke me up a bit to say the least.  Then comes the effort to lift it.  It weighs about 450 pounds anyway.  Nothing broken on me or it!  All in all, no big deal.  It happens.  The way I look at it is I got it over with now....

Before all of this I was over at Drew Anderson's.  We not only share a first name, but a few hobbies as well.  He has a couple dirt-bikes; one has a side-car that is kind of neat...  All of them are from the 80s and are really old school.  He was just out shoot'n and cleaning up around his property - And pull'n wheelies.

Canoeing

This is more like it!  A truck, a canoe on it...  No baby.  No bottle.  Nothing cute...  This is back to the drmexploits!  Beaser and I hit up The Maitland on Friday.  It was a bit cold.  A bit windy too.  But it was a blue-bird day.

So we put in at Ball's Bridge, and oared to Benmiller.  What is kind of weird is that the driving distance is only about 5km away, but the way the river winds and bends, it ends up to be about a 13 to 14 km row.  What is even weirded is there is another section to paddle from Holmesville to Benmiller.  It would be an 8km paddle, and about a 10 km drive.....  So my point is we can drive a short distance, and still canoe a decent amount.

We were in the water for about 2.5 hours.  We saw thousands of geese and ducks, a few turkey vultures, one racoon, and 3 bald eagles.  The eagles were the highlight.  The water was great!  Lots of it....  I stayed dry - Beaser was in the front of the boat and he got a bit wet because of the waves crashing in.

I don't know too much about canoeing...  But my canoe seems to be very solid and sound.  It is heavy.  That is one advantage.  It isn't so heavy that it drags in the water, but it is heavy enough that it doesn't rock back and forth in the water....  I like about it.  I mostly can muscle it on too of the truck...  The extra hand is helpful though.
 
So here is to hoping the weather stays like this for the next few days.  I left the canoe on my truck to hopefully see another section of the river.

And to finish off the afternoon - A few beers and a hot soak in the tub...  A pretty good day all n'all.

A Bottle Before Bed

Well, since the only thing really happening around here is watching Molly do the things she does, I might as well make a quick note of them.  So this is just a quick video of having a few drinks before bed tonight.

On the horizon = I hope to go canoeing this weekend if the weather is agreeable.  There is lots of water in the Maitland to get us paddlers from Auburn to Benmiller, but it needs to be a bit warmer and sunnier for a fair traveller such as myself.....  And the bike should be out of hibernation soon as well....  Looking forward to ripping around on it.  Hockey is done except for the odd pick-up game, and the play is finished over at The Livery.

Mid March

The play I'll Be Back Before Midnight finished off last night.  It was a pretty big success I would say.  We put on 7 sold out shows.  What more can you ask for?  There was an odd technical and plot glitch during each show - but for a bunch of amateurs it was extremely high quality work.  I was glad to be apart of the show.

It is off to the Livery now actually to tear down the set and put away all of the props.

Every few weeks we get some toys from the mobil toy library.  You sign them out, use them, and then hand them back in and get some more.  For whatever reason we got this really strange looking fish.  It is a hit with people who come over because everyone wants to see if they fit into it.  Obviously adults can't because this thing has been made for the shape and size of toddlers, yet it doesn't stop people from trying anyway.  It gets a few suckers everyday.

Molly mostly likes her electronic chair.  It is different from this fish.  When you sit on it it lights up and makes noises.  For now she loves it. 

Everything is going very well around here.  My time is freeing up a bit because the play is done.  The days are getting longer.  Molly is growing and changing so much.  Shelly is pretty busy with work, but otherwise ready for some nicer weather to tackle some outdoor chores around her or the farm.

I am going to try to get out canoeing next weekend - So looking forward to that.

Errant Emails

I know that my email address sent out a number of emails to everyone in my address book = It was obviously a glich/hacked situation.  I know most people don't open attachments such as those, and I did not send them.  Nevertheless it happens, and I am pretty sure I've got sole control of my email address once again...  Sorry about the confusion.

I'll Be Back Before Midnight

Most nights I usually am, and this reference is quite true this time of year.  I'll Be Back Before Midnight is a play that was written in the late 1970s by a fellow named Peter Colley.  It is playing at The Livery Theatre in Goderich and I am the Assistant Stage Manager.  It is not a very sexy job or anything, although I have been busy and the play has probably benefited from an extra joker around such as myself helping out.

Without giving too much of the plot away, it is set in a farmhouse, there are 4 characters, and it is a who-done-it, murder comedic mystery.  The four character's lives get interwoven by some incest, marriage, and neighbourly relationships.  Surprisingly it isn't nonfiction based on many of the folk around Huron & Bruce County.  What do I do as the A.S.M.?  I have quarterbacked the props and back stage management of the play so far.  I also trip some doors/hatches and some other suspenseful actions that will be seen by the audience to add excitement.  I pull the drapes too...  At any rate, we had a mini dress rehersal on Sunday, a more formal dress rehersal tonight, then show-time on Thursday.  It runs for 7 shows.  It is going to go over well I hope.

And on the homefront - Molly and I are just hanging out as Shelly hit up some March Break travel to the big city of Toronto.  We've been swimming, hanging out at the library, lots of walks, and just trying to keep the house organized and clean.  All in all a success. 

Molly was into the cupboards and dumped out a fourth of a box of Cheerios - So she's just been eating off the floor when hungry.