Monday, August 28, 2006

Adventures in Biking

So a couple of weekends ago my friend Ian came up from Toronto to visit. The itinerary was soccer, mountain biking and remote control airplane flying. Sadly the RC plane didn't work but the rest of it was awesome.
Then this past week I went down to his place for a couple of days, mostly to mountain bike at Albion Hills and just hang out which was awesome. Ian actually races at Albion Hills every tuesday, and it shows as he could pretty much destroy me on any trail. Unfortually my did a lot of damage to my back tire there and will probably have to get it replaced this fall or spring, but I guess I am pretty rough on it so its to be expected I guess.
We also saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which was fun to see with a friend and laugh, but not worth a full theare price (we were glad we went on a Tuesday).

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Fair Photos


Category: All Dressed Up
Place: First



Category: Waterscape
Place: Thanks for Exhibiting



Category: Sleeping
Place: Thanks for Exhibiting



Category: Father and Daughter
Place: Third Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Good books in unexpected places

So lately I have been reading books from the teen and junior sections at the library. It started when I read the book Eragon and its sequel, which I enjoyed a great deal. I asked on the net and it seems I was not the only one picking books from that part of the library (the same area that houses the Harry Potter books I might add), and some people suggested Garth Nix was a good author to check out. So I just finish devouring The Seventh Tower series which was a lot of fun to read and a great story, although I do wish it had been longer.
I realized though that we had also been going though Lemony Snickets, A Series of Unfortunate Events, which are fun and silly reads as well, but also "junior level" books.
I am not sure why I am reading so many of these right now, but I think its the focus on a good pure story. So many of the books I read are so full of the authors preaching (Sword of Truth is a good example of this) and convoluted story lines (Malazan Book of the Fallen series) that its a nice break to ready a simple enjoyable story with fun characters and not a lot of unnecessary crap going on. I will not stide by the teen reading shelf with my nose in the air any longer. I will peruse its contents like the rest of the shelves from now on.
I have also decided not to read any more books that are part of a series that is not completed. So unless I can read all of the books of a series in one go, I do not want part of it. I seriously have probably 12 differnet sci-fi/fantasy series on the go right now and I don't like it. It takes so long to get into the newest book of a series when it comes out which I think detracts from the over all enjoyment. Especially when there are so many great completed series out there for one to read already. We will see if I am able to keep this promise, but so far so good.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Rattlesnake

Went to my parents property in Tobermory on Monday with the family. WE have always known there rattlesnakes up there but have never seen one.
Well on monday I was heading over to the "beach" from the lot, hopped up on a rocky part you have to go over to access teh shore and instantly heard a buzz, sort of a rattlely buzz. As As I am looking down I see sort of a rattle and a snakey shape inches from my foot. I yelled and leap back. The snake I just about stepped on was curling up into a defencive shape and rattling it tail at me.
So everyone came over too see and the snake slithered into the spot you see in the picture and stayed that way for the rest of the day, rattling away at anyone who came near. We just took a different way to the shore.
It wasn't very long, shorter than a big milk snake, but it was really thick, like 8 times thicker than a garter snake. Very interesting to finally see one in the wild.
We will be a little more wary in the future I guess, and apparently this is a pretty crazy year for rattlesnakes in the area and there have been a lot of bites. Posted by Picasa