Paintball Action

Click on the camera image to view the album.

Had to make a trip out to the "Plantation" which is a property in Bowmanville where a friend of mine lets us use his field for Airsoft. He plays paintball there as well. I was there today to have a look at some props we're erecting for a game, and a paintball game was on, so I grabbed my camera. In this shot you can actually see the paintball impact and the contents exploding outwards. I was on single shot, it was a total fluke, but a really neat shot never the less. I promised him I would post the pictures for him, so here they are.

The Great Escape: 4 Days in Muskoka in July

Hunter and Ellyna enjoy a quiet moment at the end of the dock at Cedarwood where we stayed for our July Muskoka vacation. Click on the camera to see the vacation album.

Rolling blackouts. 43 degrees with the humidity. Stir crazy children. Must... leave... NOW!

Yeah, its time to do something drastic. Doing our part to conserve Ontario's electricity during this record setting summer (26,000 Megawatts) we shut down the house and rented a little cottage/room at a place just outside of Bracebridge, Ontario named 'Cedarwood'. $183 a night, taxes in gives you a room with 2 queen beds, a bathroom, tv, fridge and microwave and an enclosed patio. The more expensive detached cottages can be had for $250-$400 a night (too rich for our blood and the luxury is lost on children who spend their entire day in the water). Cedarwood's property is nothing short of beautiful with manicured lawns, sporting its own sandy beach and docks on the coveted Lake Muskoka. I can't say good enough things about this place. Inexpensive does not always mean cheap. And best of all, its 6km from Bracebridge, so if you're not a rough-it type (with a newborn you most definitely are not) this is a good place to get away without breaking the bank.

We kept the kids busy either swimming, or visiting friends nearby with kids (read: self-entertainment mode) and on the last day took them to Santa's Village. Santa's Village is an odd place to begin with, but being up in cottage country makes the place utterly surreal and a little bit demented. I mean, where can you go ride down a river on a boat designed to look like Santa's sleigh, in the middle of July and captained by a guy who is the spitting image of Santa himself? I'm not talking costume, this guy has the gut, the beard and the entire shape, as well as the personality for the job - in fact, I think I found what the real Santa actually does in the summer - he has us all fooled, he's really moonlighting as a tourist riverboat captain (have a look at the guy if you think I am lying) in the Muskokas. And what better way to go incognito than to pretend to be an actor playing yourself? As Wile E. Coyote said, "Pure genius!" All this is in the middle of a themepark entirely based on... Christmas! The National Lampoon movie franchise guys should be looking to this place for inspiration for their next 'Vacation' flick.

If you want to make yourself sick, please take the Lady Muskoka tourboat and visit "Millionaire's Row". I thought I knew what ostentatious was until I saw some of those places. You get a 3 hour tour (yes, no kidding, its actually 3 hours) of Lake Muskoka to look upon properties and lavish homes that you could never hope to afford. I could very easily enjoy being stranded on one of these less than deserted Islands. Exhilaratingly depressing.

All in all a good break had by all.

Canada Post thinks Tottenham is California

Photographic proof that Canada Post smokes crack.

Okay, any one who knows me knows that a rant had to come sooner or later. This one is a good one though, so buckle up.

I get an order off eBay for one of the various Airsoft items I sell and dutifully ship it off. Two weeks go by and the customer tells me it has not arrived. Having learned from an earlier fiasco, I now ship all items via methods with tracking. I check the tracking number and it says 'Item Delivered' Okay, so I tell the customer it just HAS to be there, check again. I then go to my mailbox only to discover that the asshats at CP have shipped an Express, US bound package, with their own OUTBOUND customs declarations all over it and clearly marked by their own forms, to me, the sender... wtf.

Sheepishly I inform the sender and emailed him the photographic evidence as I wouldn't believe it myself - it sounds like one of those eBay shipping scammers who claim fast delivery and then contract Juan Valdez and his donkey to deliver it.

I then go to the post office and the clerk there, who knows me as a regular looks at it and can't believe it herself. I still don't know what possessed someone to deliver a clearly marked and paid for US package to a Canadian destination. So much for express shipping. Hopefully I don't get burned with a bad rating from my customer.

Beautiful Morning

Rolling hills of New Tecumseth County, Ontario

I snapped this shot just off Sideroad 15, on the way back from dropping Ellyna off at day camp. Summer mornings in this part of the country are beautiful -if you're into that sort of thing (I am). This morning in particular everywhere I looked was postcard-perfect. When people ask me why I decided to move out of Toronto and into the country, this picture answers the question perfectly. This is why.


Powerlines and Farmers Fields

There is even a sort of beauty with the power lines that travel through our county. They have a sort of grace and majesty that doesn't usually come about when technology meets nature. Well, it made for a good photo anyways.

Just a nice shot. Thought I'd share.

Jack Darling Park during the summer heatwave of '05

Treasure Hunt a BUST

Hunter leads the way with the GPS.

Hunter, Ellyna and Dad go Geocaching on Sunday July 24 and got skunked! (GC7AE5) We've been to this cache before, but, we approached it from a different path and ended up wandering all over the 1km property. After 30 bugs bites a piece Hunter announced that he was 'becoming bug dinner' and we gave up. Driving back we took Duffy's Lane and found yet another entry way onto the property - one that did not involve climbing a fence. We've made note of it and when we go back we will be sure to try that route instead.

The kids like this cache because it contains restaurant toys, so they take one each from their collection and trade for a toy in the cache. I also take a few extras (we have an overflowing bin of them).

We still had lots of fun and it got the kids away from the TV.

Ruminatory is now open

Who the hell wants to hear what goes on inside my head? Blogging has to be one of the most egocentric uses of the internet to date. But, being a technophile, I am bound to try anything once. And photohosting and inclusion via Picasa makes this just too easy to pass up..

Ruminate: Verb

• S: (v) ruminate (chew the cuds) "cows ruminate"
• S: (v) chew over, think over, meditate, ponder, excogitate, contemplate, muse, reflect, mull, mull over, ruminate, speculate (reflect deeply on a subject) "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate"

Therefore a Ruminatory is where I ruminate.