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Weblog -January 2011

January 7/11 (Bedrock)

Things at work have slacked off to an amazing degree. The job in Oakville is delayed while the consultants redesign the buildings. They didn’t even bother to check the existing conditions before tendering the job. Luckily for them, I am not in a position to ask for an explanation. It smacks of incompetence. I sure hope they pull up their socks when things get rolling.

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It is only 4 weeks until the rowing competition and I still weigh over 170. I am not sure that I will be able to get down to 165. I am not really willing to suffer a great deal just to make weight. I can always compete as a heavyweight. Perhaps blowing my diet would inspire me to not let my weight creep up to 173 next year.

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January 11/11

I got a new Ontario Health Card in the mail. For a while I couldn’t figure out why they would send me a new one. Then I noticed a small addition to the information on the back of the card – DONER. Only a couple of weeks ago I sent in a form saying they could use my organs for transplant or research. Good! There is not much point in any useful organs getting cremated with the rest of me.

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January 13/11

A long standing joke in our family is that Zellers is my favourite place to shop. I don’t know where the joke will go now that US retailer Target will take over most of the Zellers locations.

Our local Zellers was an Eaton’s location when we moved to the neighbourhood. I don’t know if that’s evolution or devolution.

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My bank has started giving out 50 dollar bills from their machines. I like the colour of my new bills.

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January 14/11

It is sad when a police officer gets killed in the line of duty –and it happened this week in Toronto. At times like these the cops (and the media) always make such a big deal about how dangerous police work is –when in fact it is not. Mining, fishing, forestry, commercial driving, general construction and electrical work are the sorts of jobs that are far more dangerous. And I expect that the military would be the worst thing to get into if you want to live to be old. Soldiering didn’t seem to be on the list of dangerous occupations I found on line.

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January 18/11

Many years ago, I worked for a while at a major bank. Each day, tellers would get a scrap of paper telling them what exchange rate they would use to “buy” or “sell” US cash, traveller’s checks and bank drafts. When I first saw the “spread” on the US dollar I was surprised that it was so much. (The spread is the difference between what the bank will sell or buy another currency for).

In the last 35 years the “spread” has increased! I find this almost beyond belief.

In my books the spread should be a lot less now than it was back then. With the internet and computers the banks are not really at risk in their currency positions. The only reason that the spreads are higher now is greed.

I just went to my online account and checked the spread. The difference in the rate between buying US dollars and selling them is a staggering 4.36 cents. I think I should write to my MP.

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Near the beginning of January I decided that I would see how many calories I could burn in a month during workouts on the rower. The reason to do this was twofold. First, I want to lose 5 pounds before Feb 6 –and second I am on a virtual team that is competing in a contest to row the farthest.

In order to burn a lot of calories I knew that I would have to cut back on my normal intensity level and increase both frequency and duration of my workouts. Injury was my main concern going into this but I had to consider burnout as well. So far I am OK.

I decided to try for 300,000 meters –an average of 10k per day. This is roughly double my normal mileage. 300,000 meters would convert to more than 15,000 calories for a person my size, age and speed. At around 3,500 calories per pound the 300,000 meters would add up to a loss of 4 lbs if I could only contain my consumed calories to what I would eat if I wasn’t exercising. Half way through the month I seem to just about on track (despite what I said only 10 days ago).

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January 19/11

I’ve been thinking a lot about quantum physics lately. That’s because I have been reading “The Grand Design” by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow. The book is an attempt to answer the “big questions” from an 'up to date' scientific viewpoint. There were lots of interesting things covered in the book but in the long run I am not sure I understand how our universe spontaneourly created itself out of essentially nothing -any better than I did before.

And, while I am on the topic of recently read books. . .

“Ford County” by John Grisham is a collection of several short stories. I enjoyed it.

“The Passage” by Justin Cronin is a thick book I picked up in hard cover after reading a favourable review in The Toronto Star. It’s a combination end of the world/vampire tale that I really liked. It is supposed to be the first book of a trilogy. I plan to read the other books when they are published.

And, a partial review of a TV Series:

Kathy and I are watching “Pillars of the Earth” –an adaptation of the terrific Ken Follett novel. I am pretty disappointed because they have changed too much of the original story. I know I will watch the whole series anyway but I seem to spend all my time trying to remember whether particular plot points actually occur in the book. Even with (10?) episodes there are going to be huge gaps in every subplot.

LATER:

I forgot to mention "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis as a recently read book. It was good. I really did not know that there were kids in the USA growing up in such adverse social conditions.

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January 28/11

When I stood on the scale this morning I weighed only 165.8. I guess I am going to make it.

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One more recently read book:

"Sh*t My Dad Says" by Justin Halpern is hilarious.

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January 31/11

End of the Month Activity Report

My rowing competition is drawing near. (February 6 th). It seems quite likely that I will weigh in at 165 or less on race day and compete as a lightweight. However, if I don’t make it I will be OK with it. I have not been as good at depriving myself of food this time around. However, last year I overshot the target weight by a pound and a half and swore I wouldn’t do it again.

I racked up a lot of mileage in January (300,000 metres) –partly to help with the weight loss and partly because I wanted to help my team in an online rowing distance competition. The increased mileage came at the cost of some of the shorter, faster rowing that I would have done in preparation for the race. Last year I managed to row the 2k in 7:18.7. I was disappointed with that time but if I did that time this year I would be happy. That is because every year I should be around 3 seconds slower due to the ravages of the aging process.

I am going into the competition knowing that I could have trained a fair bit harder. However I know that I am not over trained –something I might have been guilty of in the past couple of years. My tapering has started and one of the toughest things to do in the next week will be to balance the requirement for rest, while at the same time staying sharp and also burning off enough calories that I don’t start to put on weight. It’s a balancing act.

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Weblog -February 2011

February 4/11

Book Review

I finished “Full Dark, No Stars” by Stephen King. This book showed up at Christmas along with quite a few more. That’s what I get for saying I only wanted “consumables” this year.

It has got to be 20 years since I read a book by Stephen King. I would say that either he has improved considerably or my taste for horror stories has been elevated. This book is a collection of 4 “short” stories –every one a good read.

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They always go overboard to say that the formula for predicting your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) is only a rough guide. That’s fine. By that formula my max would be 162. A few days ago I managed to get the old ticker up to 174! Good for me.

I suppose that a heart rate of 174 would be unremarkable except that my resting rate is sometimes in the high 40s. So, for an old guy I still have a pretty wide range.

But the main thing is not really the rate that my heart is beating –it’s the fact that it is beating at all!

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February 5/11

Tomorrow will be the 3rd Super Bowl Sunday in a row that I have competed in the Indoor Rowing Championships. Each time the competition has been at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga and my “flight” has been at 8:45am (or will be in the case of tomorrow’s event). It’s getting to be a tradition. Another developing tradition is that we will order in Pizza and Wings and I (at least) will drink some beer. It’s a great way to quit my diet.

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February 6/11 (Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships)

I had an interesting day. At home, when I stepped on the scale before getting dressed, I weighed 165.2. I figured that if I weighed the same at the Hershey Centre they would let it go –or perhaps let me sweat it off. There was no such luck. I tipped the scales at 165.8 pounds and the official told me I was rowing heavyweight –no second chances!

Rowing as a heavyweight did not bother me much because the real point of the competing is to keep me motivated during all the training that I do. I simply find it easier to get onto the rower if I have a goal in mind. At the event, the bottom line goal is to not embarrass myself. Of course, making weight is an almost equally important goal. But it’s not really about weighing 165 on Super Bowl Sunday –it’s more about not weighing 182.

I drank some orange juice, a can of Red Bull (no time to go for coffee) and some water and ate some solid food as well. I had been fasting for 13 hours before that so I really enjoyed the meal.

Soon I was warming up. An old man sat down next to me and it didn’t take long to realize that he was really good. I honestly wondered if he might be able to beat me. We started talking and he asked me “where I rowed”. I told him I never had rowed –except for “make believe” on my machine. I found out that his name was Mark and he had decided to get in shape because his old 8 man crew (from college I assumed) was having a 50 th anniversary reunion. After our race it (we were in the same flight) it was announced that Mark had beaten the Age 70-74 Crash B qualifying time by an astonishing 7 seconds. Without a doubt, he had won a free trip to Boston to compete in the World Indoor Rowing Championships. His time was not as good as mine (thank goodness).

I decided not to kill myself in the race. Over the past 5 weeks I had put a lot of my training energy into longer slower workouts to burn off calories. I hadn’t really been doing any intervals at all. There was only one other guy in my lightweight category. He was on the machine beside me so I told him I had not made weight. I didn’t want him to kill himself to beat me not knowing he was already the winner. Once the race got going it became apparent that although I was disqualified as a lightweight I was really still a part of the lightweight race. My screen showed my position compared to the other lightweight rather than against the heavyweights I was now competing against. After 1000 metres (the easy part of the race) I found myself out in front of my lightweight buddy by 13 metres. I decided to try to hold it there for the next 1000 metres and that is exactly what I did. I ended up doing the first half in about 3:40 and the second half in roughly 3:45. My final time was 7:24.8. The other guy did 7:26 point something. For the first time in 3 years I finished with a bit left in the tank. As a result, today I have not been experiencing the awful taste of blood that I got after the races last year and the year before that. Another bonus is that I did not pull my back. Last year’s event led to an 8 month holiday from indoor rowing.

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February 7/11

I have made progress in the past 2 years. Two years ago when I brought my weight down to 165 I considered it to be a preposterously low weight level for me to maintain and I relished the thought of eating my way back up into the low 170s. This year I realize that I should really be keeping my weight below 170. I just seem to have difficulty with the idea of weighing less than I did at the end of high school and all through University. But the simple fact is that I am carrying a lot more body fat and a lot less muscle now.

It’s funny. When I get together with one or more of my 3 brothers I feel like a shrimp. I know that they are simply carrying around a lot of extra fat but it doesn’t help very much.

No matter what an expert would tell me is my best weight, using an even 170 pounds as a top limit would make it harder to ignore when I am pushing the limit. It would certainly make my life easier when the rowing championships are approaching.

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February 10/11

I was reading about a scam in the Star today. Dishonest “tax consultants” get people to file disability claims with the federal government and then charge a huge percentage of the savings as a fee. Of course, the claimants are not really sufficiently disabled and there is always an element of shadiness with respect to getting a doctor to sign the form –a requirement to get the refund.

I am familiar with the form and the process because I did it for my mother last year. Mom’s doctor stated that she had been diagnosed as disabled more that 2 years previously. As a consequence I got Mom’s accountant to re-file her returns for the previous 2 years. It took several months but Mom ended up getting thousands of dollars back. As well, she will save thousands more each year.

Regarding the scam, my first thought is that I feel sorry for people who are so lazy, gullible or stupid that they need “help” to fill out a form and mail it to the government. My second thought is that now the tax department is going to scrutinize all the claims of this sort (and make me jump through a bunch of hoops in order to legitimize my mother’s claim). However, I suppose that is better than the thought of other people getting a refund that they don’t deserve.

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February 12/11

After Toronto’s last “big” winter storm I noticed huge piles of ice pushed up against the shore at the Eastern Beaches. Clearly, when there is a combination of very cold temperatures and a very strong east wind conditions are right for this sort of ice build-up. I took a walk along the water’s edge to investigate. It appears that the big waves lift and deposit floating ice onto the piles while at the same time the spray freezes and cements everything together. I expect that the water has to be very shallow for the waves to get really huge and build up the highest ridges. The highest ice piles are around 20 feet and are already in the process of being eaten away by Lake Ontario. It is a process a bit similar to the “calving” of glaciers into the ocean (to form icebergs).

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February 16/10

I’ve been watching “Watson” the IBM computer competing on Jeopardy. The computer is really fast and "he" might well be a better player that his two competitors –but I have to wonder how the heck "he" manages to buzz in so fast. I think the producers have things set up a little unfairly for the poor humans. Clearly, they can’t have faster reflexes than a machine.

Watson is killing the competition but the show is entertaining nevertheless. I just love it when Watson guesses something totally ridiculous. Clearly “he” doesn’t “understand” the question.

The most interesting thing is the total lack of emotion (what else would you expect). When Watson makes a blunder there is no hint of embarrassment, frustration, remorse or anything else –just silence (while all the IBM geeks in the audience laugh).

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February 18/11

Book Report: "In the Skin of a Lion" by Michael Ondaatje

This book was fascinating because so many scenes were set in familiar places. Marmora is a town close to Stony Lake and a place which I pass through fairly often. I drive over the Bloor Street Viaduct with regularity and often drive along Queen Street. My Grandfather was the general superintendent during the construction of the Harris Filtration Plant at the foot of Victoria Park Ave and I am familiar with both Paris and Muskoka Ontario. As well, my father was a young child/teenager, and living in the Beach during the events depicted in the second half of the novel. Furthermore, my own family straddled the cultural divide that takes a central role in the book. On my father`s side my great grandfather was a shoemaker who was blacklisted in England for being a union organizer (and moved his family to Ontario around 1910. My grandfather trained as a blacksmith before becoming a minister -but worked most of his life in the Post Office. On my mother`s side there was a mixture of United Empire Loyalists and English speaking Montrealers (a much more privilaged bunch)

Knowing all that, I was able to ‘set the scenes’ very well. The book would have been only half as good otherwise. It was a good story but I would have preferred to have been provided with better insight into the motivations of the major characters. I am no student of literature but clearly Ondaatje subscribes to some sort of “minimalist” writing style. I won’t be running out to find copies of his other books (i.e. The English Patient).

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Feb 21/11

When we moved to the neighbourhood there were 4 banks on the 4 corners of Woodbine and Danforth. There were also at least 2 (I think 3) trust companies within a short block of the corner. Scotiabank was the first bank to go –although they moved into one of the trust company locations. All of the trust companies dissapeared over the next 15 years. Last week I noticed that the CIBC has shut down business on the corner. That leaves 3 of the original 6 or 7 deposit taking institutions (and only two banks on the 4 corners). Luckily, my bank has survived although I only go there every few months. I guess that is the whole wwwwwwwwwwwwdpoint.

The exact same thing has been happening with gas stations.

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I enjoyed the Family Day long weekend –but not because I spent any time with my kids. Lindsay is in Connecticutt, Kaylee went to Florida for Spring Break and Amy is hanging out with boyfriend Pete.

In fact, Kathy and I spent part of the weekend sorting through old junk up in the attic and had to make decisions about which possessions/creations of our 3 children were worth hanging onto. In a way it almost seemed like an antifamily weekend.

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Feb 22/11

I subscribe firmly to the “if it’s not broke – don’t fix it” school of thought. This frustrates my wife and daughters a great deal.

In a weak moment, I decided that it was time to replace our 29 year old dishwasher even though it still works pretty well. It will be interesting to see if the new machine is as reliable. (The old machine was a Maytag but the sales people tell us that Maytags are not what they used to be). I suppose the new dishwasher, a General Electric, will be more energy efficient –especially considering that we will be able to delay the dishwashing until hydro is cheap. Of course this was my main motivation for breaking down. I think Kathy is happiest about the fact that the colour scheme of all of our appliances will now match. Apparently, non-matching appliances would be enough to trigger a major purchase in some households.

In the 29 year life of the old dishwasher I replaced the door springs a few times and the drive belt twice. The motor and pump are original. A couple of times we had leaks through the basement ceiling (near the dishwasher) when chicken bones plugged up the drainage tube. I have no idea if the new machine would have the same problem if the same thing happened. Perhaps in the intervening 30 years the manufacturers have solved the problem.

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February 27/11

I spent all day Saturday and a significant chunk of Sunday installing the new dishwasher. There were some significant plumbing problems with both the water supply and the drain (but nothing that 2 trips to Home Depot and $60 bucks could not fix). I also made a couple of ‘amateur’ mistakes that added to the installation time.

But now the job is complete. I am assuming that the dishes will get cleaner (and we will no longer need to pre-wash everything). But the thing we are going to appreciate the most is how quiet the new washer is compared to the old unit. We will be able to talk on the phone while the dishwasher is running. As a result the dishwasher won’t get turned off in mid cycle nearly so often.

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Last year on Kathy’s birthday the Canadian Men’s Hockey team took the gold medal on the final day of the Vancouver Olympics. This year, on the day we celebrated Kathy’s birthday they held the Academy Awards. You couldn’t force me to watch it. I would kill myself first. That is why there is a post to this blog tonight. I can’t watch TV because other family members are eating up all the BS being delivered by so many self-important movie types.

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Kathy wanted a decent suitcase for her birthday. On Thursday I went to The Bay at Eglinton Town Center and didn’t see anything better that what we always get. Amy suggested going to the shops at Yonge/Bloor (and specifically Holt Renfrew). I have actually walked into Holt Renfrew before and everything seems pretty normal until you start looking at the price tags.

I was not sure if I was going to be able to handle a visit to Holt Renfrew but, on Friday, I walked by the store on the lower level (where the doorman does not hang out) and I spotted the luggage display from outside the store. I bravely walked in a checked out the merchandise. The suitcases seemed fine (if a little plain) but they all cost around $1000 (that’s a one with 3 zeros after it). Luckily for me, the Bay had some “higher end” stuff in the downtown store.

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February 28/11

End of the Month Activity Report

The highlight for February was the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships where I did not make weight. I also did not row very fast but I am OK with both of these things. Next year I will have a great chance of rowing faster and competing as a lightweight.

I did not let the letdown after the big competition get to me and I have maintained a decent program (4 or more workouts per week). I am sticking to my previously stated plan –which is to attempt a seasonal (or even a personal) PB every 2 weeks. Next month I will publish my season best times.

My weight is good at 168. I am hoping to stay under 170 all the way through to next winter but I am not sure I have the will power to do it.

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Weblog -March 2011

March 2 /11

I did it! I achieved a longstanding goal.

When I row my Concept 2 as hard as I can I can go slightly faster than 4 minutes per kilometre –up to around 10k. This means I can beat 8 minutes for 2k, 20 minutes for 5k, 24 minutes for 6k and so on. But I have never been able to get a minute down on the overall time. (I have never done 2k in 7 minutes, 5k in 19 minutes, 6k in 23 minutes or any other distance at 4 min/km minus 1 minute). Today, with enormous effort, I managed to do 6000 metres in 22:59.3.

5k or 6k are the distances I felt I had the best chance to reach this goal. I simply don’t have the strength to do a 7 minute 2k and I don't seem to have the aerobic capacity to do a 39 minute 10k.

I also discovered something new. On February 4th I blogged that I had managed to get my heart rate up to 174. I was really happy because I thought my maximum was 172. Today my heart rate averaged 176 for the last 2k. I think it is pretty good that I can stay at my max for that long. I’ll have to ask Lindsay if this is unusual or not.

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March 6/2011

I often listen to the CBC Radio show called Definitely Not the Opera. Yesterday the show was about mistakes. They always they encouraged listeners to email or call in with their stories and they do a follow-up show on Tuesdays with some of the stories. I couldn’t resist writing up a description of my worst mistake. I have told this story once before in this site so you may know it.

My biggest mistake? –forgetting the combination to the vault at the bank where I worked.

Years ago, I was hired by a major bank and put through a one year training program at one of the branches. The guy responsible for my training decided that I should share custody of the vault for a while. At the end of the day on a Friday I set my own 5 number combination, which I made up on the spot, before we closed the massive door for the weekend. I was told that technically we were not allowed to write down the number but that it would be understood if I had to keep it on a scrap of paper in my wallet. I wrote down the number and didn’t give my job at the bank another thought till Monday.

I was one of the last to get to work on Monday and when I showed up I was asked to open the vault right away. The other custodian had already opened their combination. I pulled out my wallet and looked through for the paper but it was not there. To this day I wonder what happened to it. After a few minutes of fumbling through my wallet the accountant said I would just have to remember the numbers that I had picked on Friday, try a few times and everything would be fine. The branch was due to open in less than an hour and none of the 20 people who worked in the branch had a single thing to do until that safe door was open.

So, with 20 people waiting and watching I started writing out all the numbers that I could think of using in a combination and trying all the different arrangements that I could think of. After dialling in the 5th number I would push down on the lever to see if it moved. I worked away for 20 minutes or so –becoming a little more frantic with each failure. There would be a lot of upset employees and bank customers –not to mention the big shots at head office if I couldn’t open the door.

After 20 minutes or so the accountant told me to go outside for a walk to clear my head. I am sure that while I was outside he must have told everybody to stay far away when I came back. I actually thought about running away but I decided to face my fate like a man. I also decided that I needed to be more systematic with the numbers and decided to write down all the wrong combinations so I wouldn’t keep trying the same ones.

It was about 20 minutes to opening time when I re-entered the bank. Customers started milling around outside and they must have wondered why nobody was doing anything. Finally, at five minutes to 10 the lever went down. A bunch of tellers ran into the vault to get the cash, ledgers and so on and the bank opened on time. I was not a popular fellow that day and I would have to say that it was probably the beginning of the end of my banking career.

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Report #3 on my Virtual Rowing Trip

I have not reported on my virtual rowing trip for a long time. Around a year ago I was just about ready to publish report #3 when I stopped rowing due to a back injury. It seemed wrong to report on my progress when I was not actively rowing.

Earlier reports can be read here and here. Briefly, I started in Toronto in September 2008 (on my first tentative 2000 metre row at Premier Fitness. Over the next weeks and month I headed out across Lake Ontario and picked up the Barge Canal through New York State, passed Albany and hit salt water at New York City. I made it past Atlantic City, through Delaware Bay and through a canal into Chesapeake Bay. Soon I was back on the open ocean. In September 2009 I went by Charleston, South Carolina and took a 7 month break just south of St. Augustine, Florida (starting in February 2010). My injury was healed enough to resume rowing in October and I soon arrived in Daytona Beach, Florida. Here I had to make a decision –whether to head out toward the Bahamas and tour some of the Caribbean Islands or to take the shortest route toward the Panama Canal. I decided in favour of taking the shortest route around North America. On December 5th I hit Miami and on March 2nd I arrived in Key West.

From Key West I am heading almost straight south toward Havana Cuba. Google Earth is telling me that the distance is 161 kilometres –exactly 100 miles. Between Key West and Havana I will cross the Tropic of Cancer. This will be only my 2nd time south of this line.

On the map the red line represents the route I have travelled. The black line is my intended route for the next few months.

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March 8/11

Some readers might think that taking a virtual rowing trip around North America is a bit ‘weird’. For me it adds a bit of perspective and an element of fun to the admittedly boring task of keeping the flywheel moving at a rate that will get my heart beating at a rate that possibly might help me to live a happier, longer, and healthier life.

I got the idea of a virtual trip very early on. Premier Fitness had only a single rowing machine and I often had to ‘negotiate’ some workout time with other members. There was one guy (older than I) and in terrible shape who told me that he was “most of the way to Winnipeg”. I asked him about his route between Lake Superior and the Red River Basin and he told me he was just going along the Trans Canada Highway. That’s weird.

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March 10/11

Highway #115 toward Peterborough has a speed limit of 100kph for most of the way. My policy is “115 on 115” (that’s 115 kilometers per hour on highway #115). I’ve always figured that I would be safe from prosecution at this speed. Recently, I was all alone on the highway with the cruise control set at 115 when I blasted through a speed trap. The cop didn’t even flinch.

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March 16/11

Our visit to Palm Springs is about half over.

The trip here was uneventful but very long because it started with a drive to Detroit (4 and a half hours) and ended with a drive from LAX to Palm Springs (2 plus). We managed to get through Los Angeles without trouble. Our accommodations are fine –a suite with a full kitchen, living area and two bedrooms. It is perfect for the 4 of us (Janet, Jennifer, Kathy and me).

We wanted to do something easy on our first day so we went to Indian Canyons, a network of nearby hiking trails and did one of the easiest ones. The route took us to the valley floor and led upstream among the palms. It was great to see palm trees growing in their natural environment rather than being used for landscaping. Toward the far end of the hike we got up high, out of the lush growth on the valley floor and had a good taste of the desert.

On day 2 we drove to Joshua Tree National Park. We drove entirely through this massive park because Palm Springs sits midway between the entrances and driving a loop is always more interesting. There are two distinct desert classifications within the park. In the south-east is the Colorado Desert characterised by the Cholla Cactus and in the north-west part is the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert is highlighted by Joshua Trees. Joshua Trees are a type of cactus and they dominate the landscape in much the same way that the Saguaro does in the desert around Tucson. But, even more impressive than the Joshua Trees are the giant granite boulders and bedrock that dominate the north-west section. This part of the park is a mecca for rock climbers. We saw some climbers and it looks like a lot of fun. If I’d come to the park in other circumstances, I could have really gotten into some bouldering or even real rock climbing.

In Joshua Tree National Park there are several short trails that lead to points of interest. We explored two of them. The Barker Dam is a small man-made dam that creates a desert oasis and Hidden Valley is a trail through a low area almost completely surrounded by the giant rocks and boulders. It makes a natural cattle coral and was supposedly used by cattle rustlers in the 1800’s and real ranchers in the 1900’s.

On our third full day I went for a solo hike while the ladies took care of some shopping and tanning. If Kathy ever came back from a vacation in the south without a fantastic tan she would be devastated. It would not bother me at all. I would rather read a book in the shade and pick up some colour when I am actually doing something.

My hike took me back to Indian Canyons where I walked up Fern Canyon, traversed some high country and came back down the East Fork (Palm Canyon) trail. It always surprises me how fast you walk back down. I did the route in 4 hours but I was certainly not at the half way point after two.

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March 18/11

Our trip to Palm Springs is getting close to the end.

We have been ‘sticking to the plan’ as far as meals go –preparing breakfast and lunches in our suite and going to restaurants for dinner. We’ve had some good meals although the Mexican restaurant was a bit of a disappointment.

On Wednesday we went to Tahquitz Canyon –another Indian owned canyon virtually in the city of Palm Springs. We did a short hike up the canyon to a waterfall. Good walk, nice waterfall.

On Thursday I got the ladies to drop me off at the trail head of a path that “travels along the San Jacinto Mountains. . . [with] views of Palm Springs and the [Coachella] valley which stretch toward the eastern horizon”. The walk is a 5 hour 9 mile hike with a lot of climbing and descending. I was glad that I had not dragged the girls out to this hike because they would have had to bail out at the half way point. This hike was about all I would be comfortable with –without building up to more over a longer period. On the hike I had close encounters with a baby rabbit (hare?), an iguana and a big snake. I can add those critters to a larger list including ravens, Red Tailed Hawks, two types of lizards, some sort of ground hog and some Roadrunners (that I have spotted on this trip).

While I was doing my hike the girls went to the Living Desert Museum a few miles down the Coachella Valley and did a decent hike on their own.

***

I want to note that yesterday's long hike has damaged the MCL of both knees. Although it is possible that this was caused by the terrain and the long length of the hike I think the damage was probably caused by the hiking shoes I bought before the trip. 20 years ago, I had a similar problem with a pair of running shoes that I had purchased. Those shoes were designed for pronators (I am a strong supinator) and they threw off my gate enough to hurt my knees in much the same way.

I am going to be OK but I will not be doing any walking with the new shoes for a while. If I want to hike I will use my old hiking boots. I will still be able to use my new shoes for rowing. That's half the reason I got them anyway.

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March 21/11

General Impressions of Palm Springs:

Although we had no particular problem with the 2+ hour drive between LAX (Los Angeles Airport) and Palm Springs it added a bit to our stress level at both ends of the trip. It would be a calmer experience to fly right into Palm Springs but it would probably be expensive.

Palm Springs is a smallish town so getting around to restaurants and other tourist traps is pretty easy. That was really nice.

The air quality in Palm Springs is surprisingly bad because a lot of the bad air from LA comes through a nearby pass and fills up the Coachella Valley where Palm Springs sits.

There is lots of fine hiking in the mountains and desert around Palm Springs. We bought a book titled “140 Hiking Trails around Palm Springs and only knocked off around half a dozen. A lot of the hikes are very close to the town.

The City of Palm Springs has seen better times. There are a great number of abandoned buildings (of all sorts) and lots of empty space. We read that Palm Springs is actively pursuing the gay crowd. However we didn’t see very much evidence of this lifestyle. We did end up in one restaurant that seemed to be a hangout for gays but we didn’t feel overwhelmed or threatened. In fact it was entertaining.

We liked Palm Springs enough to go again but we can probably get a better price on our accommodations. We have to start dealing directly with the accommodation provider rather than let some booking company have a cut.

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Today is our 30th anniversary. They have been 30 good years. It is possible that we will get 30 more. If we do, I sure hope we are healthy.

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March 24/11

It’s been years since I have seen a rat in Toronto. Two days ago I saw one at work. I am not working in the greatest neighbourhood –north Parkdale (or more specifically Dundas and Lansdowne).

Years ago, we had a job trailer beside a rendering plant. Not only did it smell horrible but there were lots of rats around. It was creepy.

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March 25/11

My friend Grant told me he read 4 books on his vacation in late February. That is not a claim I would want to be making after a vacation of my own. (Reading 4 books would imply that I was sitting around rather than doing things). I did however read most of one book while I was away.

“The Edge” by Jeffry Deaver was great. It is a novel about a guy who works for a secret US government agency protecting people from being abducted, tortured or murdered by agents of individuals who are under government scrutiny.

Now I have finished 6 of the 7 books I received as gifts for Christmas.

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March 31/11

End of the Month Fitness Report:

I rowed 14 times in the month of March –darn good considering I was away for 8 days. Below is a list of my best times and distances so far this season. I only have one more month to post my best times for this season. I want to try for 10,000 meters in less than 40 minutes, improve my distance for a 1 hour row and perhaps take another crack at the 5000 metre distance.

On our trip to Palm Springs I did some walks with the ladies as well as two serious hikes on my own. On the last full day I managed to walk 9 miles on a fairly up and down route along the side of the mountain beside Palm Springs

This morning I weighed in at 167.2 but I was probably dehydrated by a long row yesterday so I will say that I am at about 168 pounds.

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My Poor Mother

We moved my mother into a new room at her residence. She gets better care but her room is a lot smaller. She has less independance but she will be safer. Yeterday was her 86th birthday.

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Weblog -April 2011

April 1 /11

Kaylee and Eddie are finally admitting that they are more or less comfortable with the label of “boyfriend and girlfriend”. Kaylee seems to agree with my old joke: “two Ed’s are better than one”.

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April 2/2011

For the past couple of weeks Kathy has been itchy. She often wakes up at night scratching herself.

This is the price she pays for [extreme] sun tanning on a one week vacation to a warm place. There could be other consequences but we won’t know about that for a few years.

Assuming the advantages outweigh the disadvantages Kathy must get a lot of mileage out of the remarks she gets when she appears at work after the trip.

***

My tanning regime was a little more modest this year. I seared myself for 7 minutes a side on the first day and 15 minutes per side in the middle and near the end of the trip. The rest of the time around the pool was spent in the water or under a tree.

I actually applied sunscreen on some of my longer desert hikes. And, I wore a hat. Bald men know all about hats.

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April 3/11

Report #4 on my Virtual Rowing Trip

I crossed the Tropic of Cancer on March 30, 2011. I was still a few miles north of Havana Cuba. This is only the second time in my life that I have been south of this line –the other time being on our honeymoon to Aruba in 1981.

The Tropic of Cancer, of course is the furthest point at which the sun can shine directly overhead –and it happens at the solstice around June21 every year. Since was have just gotten past the equinox I have not yet experienced the sun directly overhead or shining down from north of me but I am looking forward to seeing it happen. I will report this event. I suppose it will happen in mid June. Once I reach Havana I will be heading mostly west along the north shore of Cuba.

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April 10/11

I was really sad to see that they have dug up my “home” skating path in half a dozen places between Leslie and Coxwell. The path will never be the same again. The contractor will be allowed to make second rate repairs when he does his restoration. What else would you expect from a utility company? They won’t know anything about grading or spreading asphalt.

But why should I care? I am not planning to skate this year anyway. It’s the principle. What was (for my money) the best place to skate in Toronto will likely end up being the 2nd or 3rd best spot.

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I always preface political statements by saying that this blog is not meant to be about politics but. . .

Canadians are in the middle of an election campaign and I am really happy about it. Although I expect to see the status quo maintained I can always hope to see the end of Stephen Harper. I have never disliked any politician as much as I do Harper. He pisses me off at regular intervals.

My nightmare would be a Harper majority. Please God –don’t let it happen!

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I called my poor mother during the Masters today –to see if she was watching. But after explaining what the Masters was and telling her that Tiger was doing well I found that she simply could not turn on her TV and get it to the right station. Shucks.

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April 12/11

I did a 40 minute 10k –on my rowing machine. That’s pretty good for a 58 year old.

This is the 3rd rowing season in a row that I have managed to post a sub 40 minute 10,000 meter “piece”. I am not sure how many more years I will be able to muster the desire to do it. (It sort of hurts in the last half). Judging from (Crash B)* qualifying times I should be losing around 12 seconds per year in a 10,000 metre time trial. Today my time was 39:55 –so I might be in trouble. However, last year I did 39:34 –so perhaps (with enormous effort) I will hold out for another year or two. It would be really cool to do it at 60. I would definitely have to train for it.

*The Crash B competition is the world championships of indoor racing. It is held each year in Boston.

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April 19/11

It’s April 19. I have not even been tempted to lace up my skates. That’s mostly because the weather has been uncommonly cold. I am not really sure how I will handle the warm weather.

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April 21/11

In my 30’s I had to stop running because my feet hurt too much. In my 40’s I had to stop swimming because my elbows got really sore. In my 50’s I have decided that my knees cannot withstand the demands of inline skating. Now I am into rowing. I wonder how long I can make it last. I did OK with skating –more than 13 years.

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Apr 22/11 (Bedrock)

I am disappointed. Why? Because the last time I was at the cottage I seemed to be able to get online at will –using my (work supplied) Rogers “rocket stick.” I had assumed that Rogers had strengthened the signal from the nearest tower. I think I was wrong. Conditions must have been ideal four weeks ago because things are back to normal and I can’t get a reliable signal. Darn.

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We got the plumbing system up and running with no problem this year (unlike last year). This year, before charging the system with water, I tested the supply lines by using my 'new' air compressor to do a pressure test. There were no bust pipes this year! The other good news is that I discovered a little trick that I can use when I am priming the pump. My problem now is to remember the trick next time I have to prime the pump. To that end, I wrote myself a note and tucked it in between a floor joist and an electrical cable close to the pump. I hope I notice the note at the appropriate time.

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We brought my Mother to the cottage today. I can’t document her cognitive decline on a weekly or monthly basis but I would say that after every 3 months there would be a measurable decline. She is still aware of who she is and how she relates to most of the people around her. Unfortunately, she has enormous difficulty expressing herself. Very often Mom will try to tell me something and use so many wrong words that I simply can’t get the meaning –even after several guesses. More and more I have to tell Mom that I can’t figure out what she is trying to tell me and that we should move on to another topic. (Or sometimes I just make a noncommittal type of statement and move the conversation along).

Now that Mom is in the highest level of care at Royal Gardens there are all sorts of Alzheimer’s patients around. (At least I am assuming that that is why they are there). There are several old ladies that seem to hang around the nurse’s station/elevator who don’t seem to command any language skills at all. I guess this is where Mom is headed. Although it is disheartening to witness the loss of cognitive skills it is also 'morbidly' interesting to see what happens.

Being the child of an Alzheimer’s patient surely must make me a candidate for the disease myself. I have no doubt that all my brothers are wondering if they have the gene that will cause the disease. That will be another interesting thing to see –hopefully in the far distant future.

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April 28/11

The best way to reduce the amount of money you spend on lottery tickets is to check the numbers manually rather than rely on the scanner. When you check manually it can’t help but dawn on you how incredibly unlikely it is that you will match all of the numbers. Then, the next time you buy a ticket, you will be more likely to spend less –enough to enjoy the dream but not enough to destroy the family finances.

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The royal wedding is upon us. Personally I have almost zero interest. Incredibly, Kathy says that she might get up early and watch. I know that my Aunt Anke (the staunchest monarchist that I know) will be up in the middle of the night and glued to the TV. I hope my mom will be able to watch some of it. Mom has always felt an affinity with the Queen since they are almost the same age.

Kate is apparently not going to promise to obey William and there will be only one ring in the ceremony. When I pointed out the similarity to our own wedding Kathy said that “we were real trendsetters”!

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April 30/11

End of the Month Fitness Report:

 I rowed 16 times during the month. I guess I was busy with other things. After each few workouts I post all my times and distances to my online logbook at the Concept 2 website. When I do my best time for the year in a ‘standard’ distance I can ‘rank’ myself against everyone else who cares to submit their information. It’s a worldwide ranking and I am in the 50-59 year old Heavyweight Men’s category. The 2011 ‘season’ ends on April 30 so I am posting my results for the year. I never have claimed to be an exceptional endurance athlete but I think I did pretty well considering I am almost at the top of the age range and almost everybody in the heavyweight category is bigger than I am.

In the past couple of months I have developed a ‘maintenance’ routine. I do a ‘long’ workout, a ‘medium’ workout (medium speed and medium distance), a ‘fast’ workout and then an ‘easy’ workout. The cycle repeats after about a week but I don’t worry if it is a bit more or less. For every second ‘fast’ workout I go ‘absolutely all out’ in one of the standard Concept 2 distances. I think it is a good thing to test your limits fairly regularly.

My current plan is to keep going with my maintenance schedule for the whole summer and then start the long slow build-up to the next Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in early February 2012.

I guess I have been eating like a pig because I am up to 170. It’s disappointing because I feel, most of the time, that I am systematically starving myself to keep from getting fat. I suppose that it is when I am not starving myself that I eat too much.

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Weblog -May 2011

May 1/11

Everybody knows that granite is hard. I am sure that if you have granite countertops you are reminded of this every time you tip over a wine glass.

At work yesterday we had to break up a granite boulder roughly the size of a minivan. Even with a gigantic excavator equiped with a huge hydraulic demolition hammer it took half an hour to break it into pieces small enough to load onto trucks. If the boulder had been made of 35 MPa concrete it would have taken 5 minutes.

***

Today, (Sunday) at 7:30 AM we started demolition work on a concrete wall with the equipment mentioned above. This was unfortunate for everybody living in the condominium towers all around us. (The site is on the railway tracks near the Skydome). We are told that work on the railway is exempt from the City of Toronto noise bylaw because the land is under Federal jurisdiction. That’s good for us –bad for people who like to sleep past 7:30 on Sunday mornings.

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May 3/11

Women have always been a mystery to me –despite the fact that I am married and have 3 adult daughters. A couple of days ago Kathy decided that she had had enough of the Toronto District School Board and should retire. Fair enough, she has worked about 3 years longer than she needs to for a full pension. But she is continually getting choked up over the idea of leaving. I would be happy.

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Stephen Harper has managed to win a majority. I am disappointed and really can’t understand how he got so many votes. Nevertheless, 60% of voters did not vote for him. Clearly the Liberals and NDP need to get together in the same way that the Conservatives and Reformers did. I don’t expect to see it before the next election though.

Having a Conservative government will be no problem for me personally. In fact, I suppose I will be better off financially. Unfortunately, people who are much less able to take care of themselves and their families will be worse off.

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May 8/11

Yesterday I ran out of gas on Highway 401. I was already late for Kathy’s Mom’s 90th birthday party. I walked 200 meters up the road before I remembered I had some gas in the back of the pickup. (I don’t normally carry gas but, by good fortune, I had some. Naturally, I spilled some on my good clothes so I showed up at the tea party smelling of gasoline. I am such a ditz.

I was telling someone at the party that I hadn’t run out of gas for 20 years but Kaylee was quick to remind me about the time I ran out on the way to an early morning swim practice. (A teammate’s Mom saw our predicament and drove Kaylee to practice). Then I remembered running out of gas on the way home from the cottage and coasting downhill for at least a mile before stopping across the road from a gas station.

So, the last 3 times I’ve run out of gas there have be negligible consequences. I’ll probably do it again since my subconscious is learning that nothing bad will happen.

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May 9/11

On Sunday I passed the 4 million meter mark in indoor rowing. Normal people would look at this as 4000 kilometres but rowers prefer metres. Because I enter all my workouts into my Concept 2 online logbook I can report that it took me 11 days, 22 hours, 32 minutes and 54 seconds to get to the 4 million metre milestone. My average pace was 4 minutes and 18 seconds per kilometre (or 2:09/500metres as rowers like to say).

On my virtual rowing trip, I am now closer to the extreme west end of Cuba than I am to Havana. In roughly 120 kilometres I’ll be heading out into the Yucatan Channel on my way to Mexico.

***

On the subject of crazy trips a friend of Lindsay's from New Haven has just finished his first Ironman Triathlon. He drove all the way to Utah and is on the way back now. I think the long drive is almost as much of an accomplishment.

I still remember watching what I believe was one of the very first Ironmans on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" back in the late 70s. Back then I figured the participants were somewhere between insane and half crazy. My opinion is still the same.

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May 16/11

Lindsay was back for the weekend to run the Toronto Marathon. She did her regular time (a little under 4 hours) in rainy and cool conditions. Kaylee and Eddie did the half marathon in around 2:13. It will be interesting to see when they do another one. Pete did 1:52.

As I stood on the sidelines watching everybody go by I found myself wanting to participate. I’ve often felt that I should give running another try but the urge is stronger now that I am not skating. Today, I went to the Running Room and bought a decent pair of running shoes. Some day soon I will set out on my first run/walk. I will definitely take baby steps as I explore the possibilities. There is one problem though. The sales girl reminded me of the old rule: "don't increase your weekly mileage by more that 10%". That's great but 10% of nothing is still zero.

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May 19/11

I went out for my first run in about 20 years. I ended up running for about 4 minutes, walking for a minute and a half and then running another 4 minutes. I probably only did around a mile. My legs were feeling slightly wobbly after I was done and my right foot and knee are not really feeling ‘normal’. As well, my calves are feeling tight. It is sad to say that I worked up a decent sweat in the short time that I was out.

This venture back into the running world is likely to be short. There are so many things that could go wrong. High on the list are back trouble (from my chronically sore lower back or my mid back –where I fractured a vertebra a couple of years ago, foot problems (which forced my ‘retirement’ 20 years ago) or knee problems (which is why I can’t skate). I am not anticipating trouble with my wrists elbows or shoulders but you never know about my hips.

I plan to increase my mileage very, very slowly and fully expect that rowing will be my main source of fitness for the foreseeable future.

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May 22/11

The May 24th Long Weekend

The smell of gear oil, mixed gas and 2 cycle engine exhaust fumes.

The sound of motorboats, blackflies and firecrackers.

The sight of dark skies and far off lights shimmering on the water.

The taste of hamburgers off the barbeque and cold beer..

And the feel of a hammer smashing down on my left thumb.

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May 28/11

It has been the most miserable April and May that I can recall. The rain just does not stop. I am glad I was not trying to keep up an inline skating routine during this time. It would have been especially frustrating if there had been a race (such as the one next week in Ottawa) on the horizon.

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Kathy was disgusted with me last week because I broke out my old Delcan hockey jersey for a couple of days. “You had that before we were married” she said (as if that is somehow a bad thing).

Actually, Kathy knows that my jersey has a special attraction because of the blood stains. I was cut the only time I used it for hockey. After 31 years the stains are starting to fade.

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May 30/11

Virtual Rowing Report

The dynamics of the earth-sun system are complex, at least in my feeble mind. As well, despite Google Earth, it is hard to keep track of exactly where I am on the ocean. Nevertheless, after a few minutes of messing around with my astronomy program it is clear that the sun is now directly overhead at midday. For the record, I have made it to the extreme west end of Cuba and am about to head out into the Yucatan Channel on my way to Mexico.

End of the Month Fitness Report

It is getting tougher to exercise indoors –despite the fact that the weather has been crappy. Somehow, I managed to work in 15 rowing workouts. I will admit that I am just trying to maintain a moderate fitness level.

I ran twice. My mileage was the same for both weeks –a grand total of one mile each week. My lower back was killing me after the first run and it took several days to recover. My left calf totally cramped up at the end of my second “workout”. It has not been a great start but I am determined to recover and continue.

I am still hanging in at 170 lbs.

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Weblog -June 2011

June 4/11

My Poor Mother

I drove up to Peterborough to take my mom to a denture appointment. We had to get her a new lower plate because she somehow lost the one she had. (It is hard to understand where it could have gone –but it was nowhere to be found).

When I arrived at Mom’s place she didn’t have her top teeth in. She said that someone must have stolen them. After 15 minutes of searching I finally found them at the very back of her bottom drawer and we went late to the denture appointment.

I hope Mom can hold onto the complete set for a while.

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I accompanied Kathy to a Retirement Banquet put on by the Toronto District School Board. Everything was exactly as one would expect of such an evening until the very end when they gave out bells to all of the retirees –and got everyone to ring them at the same time. The bells were the sort that teachers ring to bring in the kids at recess. Of course the ‘Bell Ringing Ceremony’ was the highlight of the evening and despite the noise, everyone had a big smile on their face.

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June 5/11

It took us a while to figure it out but someone broke into all of the outbuildings at Bedrock. They also entered the cottage but since there is no evidence of forced entry we have to assume that it was when Kaylee was around but not actually at the cottage. The culprits were looking for good stuff to steal but they must have been kids because all they seem to have taken is liquor, a wheelbarrow and a cheap air compressor. Left behind were lots of tools, motors, boats etc that were worth far more. I guess we can be thankful for that.

This is the second time that Kathy and I have been 'broken into'. We did not lose much at the house either. I guess we just don't collect valuable, portable items.

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I bought a second rowing machine. In the long term the plan is to use it at the cottage on the weekends. In the short term I will take it to my job in Oakville (where I have a large office and (hopefully) lots of time to row during the middle of the day.

The Concept 2 Rowing machine has evolved substantially over the years. The original model ‘A’ featured a bicycle wheel with flaps of plastic (like oversized playing cards) attached at the outer limit to increase the wind resistance. I suspect that there were a lot of injuries (especially to small children) caused by the exposed ‘flywheel’.

I bought a Model ‘B’ –featuring an aluminum flywheel protected by a wire cage. The model ‘B’ has a rudimentary computer rather than a ‘speedometer’.

Models ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E’ offer ever increasing sophistication and feedback. My original rower is a Model ‘D’.

Concept 2, the company, offers great technical support for all of their products and all of the older models can be upgraded in a number of ways. For sure, I am going to upgrade the foot rests and handle of my new rower and I may decide to replace the monitor as well. I am sure that upgrades will be reflected in the resale value. I have been following the “market” for used rowing machines on Craig’s List for a few months and I know I can sell either of my rowers at a fair price at any time.

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June 9/11

Back in the 'Olden Days' –when I used to run 5 or more miles 3 or 4 times a week I used to get a calf cramp (tear) a couple of times a year. It got to be fairly routine. I got to know the the tear would have to work it’s way down my calf to the tendon before I would be able to run again. It always took a week to 10 days for the healing to take place.

Now, finally, after 3 weeks I sense that my new cramp/tear has almost worked its course. Soon I will be able to do my 3rd 1 mile run. Perhaps this time I will actually be able to complete it.

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I was delighted when Kathy bought a couple of sun dresses at one of my favourite stores –Zellers. (Although I will admit that I thought perhaps one would be enough). But it was not an ideal experience for Kathy when she wore one of the dresses to work and people kept asking her where she bought it.

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June 18/11

Lindsay was back to graduate (for the 3rd time) from the University of Western Ontario.

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June 19/11

I have taken a few pictures of the project that is just getting under way in Oakville. We are constructing some fancy, covered ramps and stairways that will get GO Transit patrons into the station from the south side of the tracks.

The first picture shows an excavator removing a large slab of concrete from the existing structure. The opening will be an entrance into the existing building.

Below: Concrete being placed in the excavation close to the doorway. The structur itself will be built on top of the 'mud slab'.

Forms in place and reinforcing steel installation underway for the 'base slab'.

A stairway building near the main structure

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June 25/11 (Bedrock)

We went to a retirement party for Kathy. It was at a teacher’s home close to the high school where Kathy worked for the past 26 years. For years Kathy has been telling me that nobody would come to her retirement party because all of her really good buddies retired before she did. But the turnout of about 70 people demonstrates that Kathy was well liked and highly respected by the teachers, administration and other staff at the school. And of course, lots of her old colleagues came back to help Kathy celebrate her retirement. Three people from the school Kathy left in 1985 even showed up. (Two teachers are retired and a student is now a teacher).

I was asked to give a little speech -a somewhat intimidating experience for a construction dude (not used to public speaking) to address a large group of teachers.

Amy, Pete, Kaylee and Eddie all came; as did Pat Quigley and a good showing of the old ‘jocks’.

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I got a huge and deep sliver in my thumb. Luckily I was able to find a needle and some disinfectant. I will skip the gory details except to say that it felt like I was excavating my own flesh. A scalpel would have been useful but the needle had to do.

By the way, it was same thumb as pictured in my May 22 post!

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June 30/2011

End of the Month Fitness Report

I only managed to row 13 times. Part of the problem was that my lower back got sore and I felt that it was unwise to do anything for a few days. Trips to the cottage also took me away from my two machines. I hope I manage to do a bit more next month.

I did not do any running but I am trying to strech my hamstrings and calves in the hope that I might be able to run a mile without my calves cramping up.

I forgot to weigh myself this morning but hopefully I am steady at 170.

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Weblog -July 2011

July 4/11

Many years ago (around about 40) I bought a parachute. Sadly I never used it and was not able to resell it (it’s a long story). Before I threw it away I decided to salvage all of the nylon cords that connected the canopy to the harness. I can’t remember how many there were –but I salvaged quite a few 24 foot long 3/16 inch nylon cords. Because the cords were a component of a parachute they were of the highest quality. I’ve given a few away over the years and some have been lost or destroyed and now there are very few left. Today I went looking for one in order to fix a lawn chair. I found a cord and fixed the chair but when the twin chair needs a replacement cord I am not sure I will be able to locate one.

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I was really impressed by the men at work today. There is a bird’s nest 16 feet above the floor slab that we are working on and twice (that I know of –but probably lots more) hatchlings left the nest and ended up fluttering around amongst the rebar and partially constructed forms down on our level. The big tough construction workers kept catching the helpless little things and returning them to the nest.

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July 8/11

There is a 240 square foot sleeping cabin at Mom’s cottage that has to be moved. It is too close to the lake to allow her property to be subdivided. This will be my major summer project and will be about as macho as can be. The cabin will have to be jacked up 5 feet and then pulled 100 feet back and 25 feet up to the top of a granite rock. Without my years of construction experience and access to some equipment and materials I would not even be able to think about an endeavour like this.

As it is, the cabin came near to tipping over last weekend. I had it about 2 feet off the foundations and was jacking at one end when a support piece at the other end broke in half and the whole end dropped around 4 inches. It turned out that the timbers that were the final support for the cabin were rotten. Of course I felt like a fool for using suspect components in the shoring system and have resolved to slow down a little and consider more carefully all aspects of the job. I am dealing with some large forces and thus the work is ‘dangerous’.

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July 13/11

Here is an original picture of the sleeping cabin mentioned above. The cabin was about 5`off the bedrock at the corner closest to the camera but only about a foot above the bedrock at the corner farthest away.

Here is another shot of the cabin from the opposite direction. The camera is at the spot where the cabin needs to be moved.

This picture shows the labour crew at the end of work day #5. The entire cabin is now being supported by the 'green' beams and 4 'cribs'. The cabin has been jacked up 4 feet. The next step is to rotate the cabin clockwise about 45 degrees.

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July 21/11

The second major part of relocating the cabin was to turn it 45 degrees. To do this I constructed platforms under the cabin and placed steel pipe rollers between the support beams and the platform. I lowered the cabin down onto the pipes and winched the cabin around a bit at a time –alternating the end I was pulling on. I was surprised how much force I had to exert in order to get things to move but by the time I was finished the job I had the task pretty well figured out. This is the curse of the weekend warrior –too little experience to get really efficient at one thing.

I did have one problem develop when I forgot to remove a 2x4 stopper designed to prevent the cabin from rolling right off the platform. I managed to pull a portion of the platform off kilter and I had to stop to re-shore the whole thing. It was another reminder of how much the cabin weighs and what large forces I am dealing with.

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Today there is a chance that the temperature will set an all time record for Toronto. It occurred to me that if it reached 37.8 degrees it would be 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Later: We didn't quite make it to 100.

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July 22/11

The Flying Fossils have recruited another new member and now have a full 10 man team. I think there are 3 Fossils that skated in 2010 who will not be back. I am one of them. There will be 2 brand new Flying Fossils for 2011.

I realize that I have not given up the idea of skating in 2012 even though I have not skated a single stride since the Northshore in 2010. I am not altogether sure that my knees have been any better this year.

I am not getting much satisfaction out of rowing right now but I am hoping that I will be able to regain some enthusiasm back after my summer vacation.

It seems to me that this has been a good year not to skate. The spring was cold and wet and now the summer has been hot.

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July 25/11 (Bedrock)

This is the Monday of my single week off work. For the 3rd day in a row I spent most of the day preparing to pull the cabin up the hill. My brother Tom is here now -and working like a dog on the cabin. Kathy has been swinging a hammer too -amongst other things. Today she picked up some rental chain hoists in Peterborough. In another day or two we will have everything braced and ready to go for the "big pull."

Here is a picture of the cabin after I turned it 45 degrees. Looking west:

Another shot -looking east toward the lake from the area I want to put the cabin. Note the "railway" under construction.

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July 31/11 (Bedrock)

Regatta Weekend at Stony Lake

At the Crowes Landing Regatta on Saturday Kaylee was the overall Women’s Champ. This is the first time she has managed to pull this off. Kaylee got firsts in the Women’s Tandem and Mixed Tandem Gunwhale, seconds in Single Gunwale, Swimming, the Relay Swim and third in Singles Canoe.

Today, Kaylee entered the Mile Swim and won the Open Women's category with a time of 19:48. The conditions were perfect. Faster times were recorded in the 14 and under and over 40 women's categories -but knowbody faster showed up to do the open women's.

Later: kaylee got a call to inform her that she was not the overall Women’s Champ at Crowes. It was arch-rival Kelly Contini. Kaylee did well at Juniper -actually winning a couple of canoe races (Mixed Tandem Gunwhales was one) but not placing in the swim.

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End of the Month Fitness Report:

Well, I only rowed 6 times. I guess this was a sort of a ‘month off’. Now it is only 6 months till the next competition so perhaps I will be more motivated when the heat and humidity start to dissipate.

One important reason for the ‘slack off’ is that I am almost done a week of holidays (at Bedrock). I have been working very hard on my cabin moving project so this is this has compensated somewhat for my lack of cardio workouts. In the ‘hard labour’ sense of ‘being in shape’ I have worked myself into good condition. All of my joints are working the way they should (considering I am almost 59 and have not been easy on my body in this lifetime).

They have paved the access road at the cottage and it will be a fantastic place to skate for the next few years. (This is not the same cottage road that I used for 13 years). I think I will stay off my skates for this entire year but perhaps next year I will dust them off and skate on the road on which I put in so many running miles.

We don’t have a scale at Bedrock but I hope I am steady at 170.

Later: After several "weigh-ins" I determined that my real weight was 168. I lost a couple of pounds do to the hard labour of moving the cabin.

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Weblog -August 2011

August 2/11

I am back to work for a rest after working my butt off for my entire holiday. The good news is that the cabin went to the top of the hill with no major problems. My intuitive guesses (dead reckoning?) as to the necessary strength of all the components in the support system were OK. The chain hoists that I rented to draw the cabin up the hill were a bit of a pain to set up and operate so it took a full day to actually move the structure.

Once the cabin was at the top of the hill we had to set up another rail system and move it back another 30 feet. Except for a 14 degree rotation we have it right in the spot that we want it.

I have changed the pronoun I am using (from ‘I’ to ‘we’) because my brother Tom proved to be a huge help. I planned my week of holidays to coincide with Tom’s middle week at Stony. Every year he returns to the family cottage for a 2 or 3 week stay. He spends the rest of his time in Calgary.

We had a visit from the building inspector during the middle of the big move up the hill. Luckily, I had checked with the building department before I started doing anything and was told to move the cabin first and apply for a building permit later.

The initial move of the cabin (up the hill) took an entire 'shift'. We used chain hoists (sometimes refereed to as chain blocks or chain falls) to pull the cabin up the 1 in 4 slope. The picture below is of Kathy and my brother Tom pulling on the hoists to bring the cabin up the hill. (I gave myself the important job of "photo-journalist" for this part of the work.

I calculated the weight of the cabin to be about 6 tons. I tried to rent two 2-ton chain hoists for the move but I had to take a 2-ton and a 5 ton instead. This proved to be a pain. I employed 4 inch steel wheels attached to the cabin's under-carriage and 6 inch deep, 4 inch wide light I-beams set on top of the double 2X10 rail to reduce friction and guide the pull.

Below is an image of the cabin at the top of the hill. The cabin is being held in place by the chain hoists because the new jacking cribs are not yet built. The "railway" is shown in its completed form. Note the "old" jacking crib at the bottom of the hill (on the left side of the picture).

Below is an image of the cabin from the opposite side (looking east) at the top of the hill. The next steps were to secure the cabin on jacking cribs, remove the hoists and demolish the "railway".

Looking west: The cabin has been moved back away from the crest of the hill over essentially flat ground. Again, the jacking cribs (from the previous position of the cabin) remain behind (to be dismantled and rebuilt in the new location).

As of Aug 1/11 the cabin is sitting on cribs at its final location. However, we will rotate the cabin about 14 degrees counter clockwise next weekend before applying for a building permit to construct a new foundation.

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August 10/11

Another weekend of ‘cabin moving’: For the (almost) final move I changed my rotation technique considerably. For the original rotation I lowered the cabin onto a plywood platform and a bunch of short, 4 inch steel pipes. I was only equipped to pull on one side at a time and I had considerable difficulty overcoming friction and directing the pull in the proper direction.

This time I set up 4 steel wheels on short steel beams situated around a circle (tangent to the radius). Again, it all sat on a platform under the cabin. We pulled opposite sides of the cabin in opposing directions. This time the rotation worked like a charm. Next will come foundation construction and lowering the cabin around 2 feet.

Image below shows brothers Tom and Roger standing beside newly rotated cabin. Note the partly demolished 'rail' in the foreground and the apparent angle of the cabin.

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Kathy and I (along with Kathy’s 3 sisters and families) are hosting a Theakston Family Reunion this weekend at Bedrock. Around 50 people are coming from as far away as Nova Scotia. It is going to spread out to 3 days of partying and I will be taking Friday off. I will not be doing cabin work but I am allowed to do conducted tours for interested parties. My body can use the rest from working.

It is easy for me to host parties at Bedrock because people are always interested in the property and construction of the buildings.

Kathy has been working hard to spruce up Bedrock for the festivities -and she has done a great job.

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August 18/11

The Theakston Family Reunion was an unqualified success. The weather cooperated despite a bad forecast. Arrangements for a water trampoline fell through but we got a couple of lake kids to take people tubing and waterskiing. Very little food or beverages were left over at the end. The festivities stretched out from an 'unoffical' gathering on Friday night to brunch on Sunday morning.

When it was all over I was more tired than if I had worked on the cabin all weekend.

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I finally figured it out. During the mile swim Kathy and I usually paddle for one of our daughters. It’s the job of the paddlers to guide the swimmer across the lake so that the swimmer does not have to keep looking ahead to see if they are on the correct line –but simply trust the paddlers to stay on line, pointing toward the finish and at a constant distance away.

I have never found it that easy to do all of the above and this year I discovered an important reason why. When Kathy was particularly eager for Kaylee to swim a bit faster she would paddle faster. Every time she did this the canoe would get way ahead of Kaylee and I would have to try to slow down the canoe while keeping it pointing in the right direction and not losing our line. Things got a lot easier when I realised what was going on.

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Last week, I had to make a couple of visits to the Emergency Department at the local hospital because Kaylee got an infection. What a nightmare!

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August 22/11

I arrived back in the city after dark on Sunday night. There were branches down all over the place –including the house next door where yet another major limb from a Norway Maple hit a house on our street. City crews were clearing the debris when I got home.

In the morning I paused long enough to assess the damage to my neighbour’s place. I was surprised to see that the limb had toppled the chimney and it was resting precariously on the 45 degree slope of the roof with only the stub of the chimney and some friction preventing all the bricks from sliding off the roof into the space between my neighbour’s place and the next one over.

The most amazing thing however was that the entire day passed without my neighbour realizing that his chimney had fallen over. He only found out when I mentioned it to the lady who lives 2 doors over. She had not figured it out either but was quick to spread the news.

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August 31/11

End of the Month Fitness Report

The 24 Hour Race is happening this weekend in Montreal. I am a little sad not to be participating but it is not killing me –despite getting all of the group emails and seeing how all of the Flying Fossils are getting psyched for the event. I hope they all do well and the rain holds off. The race begins on my 59th birthday.

I have not missed skating as much as I would have expected but I am finding it really difficult to keep up the rowing. As a result I am not in the sort of shape I would like to be in. The good news is than my weight is pretty good –about 169lbs. So far I have not put back all the weight that I lost moving the cabin.

I have not given up the idea of skating next year. It has been a while since I have suffered a skating injury or experienced the early season sore back, ankles and neck. On the other hand, my knees are not bothering me the way they have for the past couple of years. It is so hard to decide.

I have signed up for an online team rowing event that challenges members to row as far as they can between mid September and mid October. I will use this challenge to drastically increase my rowing mileage and jump start my training for the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in the winter. I rowed 11 times in August.

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Weblog -September 2011

September 6 /11

It sounds as if it rained, and rained and rained at this year’s 24 Hour Event in Montreal. I am really glad I was not there. I would have been miserable.

I never did learn to skate properly in the rain. I guess this means that my skating technique was poor.

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This is the first day back to school –and the first one that Kathy has missed since she was home with young children.

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The weekend at Bedrock was cloudy and dull but it only rained at night. I managed to get lots done on the cabin but I don't have a building permit yet so I was unable to pour any concrete (for the piers). Perhaps I can do it next weekend.

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Sept 12/11

10 years since 9/11. I spent most of the day in total ignorance –working on a bridge at Lawrence and Kennedy. Sometime in the mid afternoon I got a call from my boss and he asked “So –what do you think?” I had no idea what he was talking about and he had to tell me what had happened. I must have been among the last people (who were not sleeping) to hear about the attack.

I had a flight to Thunder Bay (for the Northshore Marathon) booked for Friday so my interest in having the flight restrictions lifted was rather extreme. In the end, most of the US competitors that had booked flights did not make it to the race. I got there.

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My Poor Mother

I spent a couple of hours with Mom –taking her to the doctor, shopping and so on. Near the end of the visit she said: “Who are you? I knew the question would come someday. It was dissapointing in so many ways. Mom has slipped rather badly in the past couple of months.

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Sept 15/11

Last weekend Kathy pulled Mom's dock around the point over to Bedrock. (I stood on the dock "supervising" during the pull). At Bedrock we pulled the dock up onto the rocks . We are going to let it dry out and then burn the wood after salvaging the hardware. (The dock is rotten and beyond repair).

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It has been a year since I last had on a pair of inline skates. I was really sorry to miss the 24 Hour Race –except that it rained and I am pretty pathetic in the rain.

One of the worst things about not skating is that after 13 years of skating I ended up on job a in Oakville (the farthest west I have worked in 25 years). The Hamilton Trail is ridiculously close and even TISC practices would be easy to get to at the end of the day from the west side of the city.

Probably the best thing about taking the year off is that my knees felt great this year. I figure they might last another 30 years if I don’t abuse them (by skating some more). An added bonus is that I didn’t have any falls and my shoulders are feeling great.

This weekend is the Northshore Marathon. I won’t miss it too much but I still have not completely given up the thought of trying it again.

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Sept 17/11 (Bedrock)

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This chain was one of 4 that Dad used to position his floating dock -25 years ago. They were good quality chains back then but now they are all in this similar (sad) condition. If we were not demolishing the dock it surely would have floated away in the next couple of years.

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September 19/11 ( Bedrock)

Once it gets dark on quiet spring or fall weekends Kathy loves to go down to the dock and see which cottages across the water have lights on. This pretty well tells her “who is up”. I am only moderately interested in the results of Kathy’s survey.

But there are other “lights” that I like to go down to the dock and “see”. Those lights are the stars and planets in the sky. But when I come in with the results of my survey Kathy is only moderately interested.

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September 23/11

I am part of the missing generation when I go to the Tim Horton’s at the mall near where I work. At lunch the place is filled with two distinct groups –old retired people (who hang out in the mall for something to do) and teenagers from the local high school) who come to Tim’s to get away from school.

The thing that stands out with regard to the old people is all the white hair. Among the kids it is the preponderance of “smart phones” and the undue attention that the phones get.

***

And speaking of smart phones; I have had a Blackberry for a few months now. To some extent, it is changing the way I do my job. One thing is that I don’t have to set up my laptop to see if I have received any emails –I will have read them already (and perhaps even replied) when I finally see them on the computer. As well, I use my daily diary much less because I tend to use the calendar in the Blackberry.

And now I am guilty of doing the same thing that I used to hate about other people who use smart phones -pulling it out in the middle of a conversation to see what has just arrived.

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September 30/11

My computer got a virus this week –it’s a long story but in the end I paid Staples to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the software and files. They seem to have done a good job –and did it pretty quickly too!

I suppose everyone has had the experience of starting new with a computer with a newly wiped hard drive. It is never fun. In my first sitting I have so far had to:

• Find my regular “Explorer” home page and set it up as the 'start-up' page
• Find “Sticky Notes” and stick it back on the Desktop (I can’t do without it now).
• Find the Dreamweaver disc and serial number and get it set up again. Dreamweaver is the Adobe program that I use to edit my web site and blog.

All of these things took me longer than they probably should have and I know they are just the first few items in a long list.

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End of the Month Fitness Report:

I did fairly well –rowing 17 times this month. I have not managed to put in the mileage that I was hoping for in the online team rowing “challenge” but my excuses have been pretty good ones.

My weight is 170 –reasonable under the circumstances.

I have slacked off on my stretching. It is time to buckle down because I know I am better off for it.

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Weblog -October 2011

October 1 /11 (Bedrock)

Bats and Coons

The damn racoon that gave birth in the attic has been back yet again to try to get back into her old den. It is easy for her to rip off the vinyl soffit but she can’t get through the wire mesh that I installed. If that stupid coon understood how things are built she could easily locate other vulnerable areas where she could break in with ease.

For years Kathy has been cleaning bat poop off a certain place on our front porch. Sometimes at night you can see a single bat clinging upside down to the roof boards straight above the mess. This is the first year in about 15 that there have been no bat deposits. In fact, there are no bats around this year. Scientists have been warning that there was a widespread bat disease that is killing off all the ‘brown bats’. I guess it has reached Bedrock and vicinity.

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Oct 7/11 (Bedrock)

Happy birthday to Kaylee -who in recent days has been celebrating her 21st.

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It is time for an update on the project that I am doing this year. We are constructing 2 buildings. They will serve as entrances to the south side of the Bronte GO Station in Oakville. Compare the photo below with the one that I posted on June 14. Our work is almost done but when 'others' install the bricks, glass, doors and landscaping this stairway structure will look a lot different.

And the main structure is progressing nicely as well:

In the foreground is a footing for the perimeter wall. Beyond that are the two interior walls (which will guide GO patrons to steps or ramps). At the back is the formwork and falsework for the columns and beams which comprise the top part of the north perimeter wall.

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October 8/11

On my last couple of vistits to Bedrock I have discovered a couple of really big and strange fungi:

I can't get over the quality of pictures that my Blackberry takes.

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October 10/11 (Bedrock)

Yesterday during our Thanksgiving dinner party I dragged several others down to the dock and pointed to the exact right spot in the sky at the exact right time. Everyone witnessed the brilliant flash of an Iridium Flare. This was the brightest one I have ever seen because the sky was getting dark. Often the brightest flares are in a sunlit sky and the true brilliance is lost.

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I have never felt more “at one” with nature. I was getting ready for a concrete pour at the cabin that I moved this summer. My final task was installing small pieces of ‘cant strip’ to define the top level of the columns –so I was making a tap-tapping sound as I hammered in the small nails. After a while, I noticed that I was not the only one who was tapping. There was a Pileated Woodpecker tapping away on nearby trees. We traded taps back and forth for quite a while.

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Chico Mineque, a favourite swim coach of Kaylee’s, died suddenly at the age of 60. Chico was a super guy and well liked by scores of former CREST swimmers. His funeral was huge. Chico even got a write-up in the Toronto Star.

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October 17/11

Amy and Pete entered the Toronto Marathon (actually the half). I tried to get pictures of them both with my Blackberry but it was not easy. I managed to get a decent one of Amy on my last opportunity. (I stood in a place where I could seem them go both ways). Both of them were pleased with their efforts. Just as I was walking back to my truck the 100 year old man came buy with an entourage. He managed to do the whole distance although at over 8 hours I am not sure that you could call it running.

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October 20/11

Back in April 2008 I reviewed a book called "The Weather Makers" by Tim Flannery (here). At the conclusion of the review I listed several things I was prepared to do about reducing my own carbon footprint. Last week we put in a new (high efficiency) furnace –so I can add this to the list of things I have done about global warming. Since I wrote the review I have also switched to a smaller pickup and have been reasonably successful in my campaign to severely reduce the use of gas powered generators on our jobs.

I have been a little less successful on other fronts but I feel that I have made important progress.

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October 28/11

We are still making progress at the Bronte GO Station.

Most of the men are constructing forms for the south perimeter wall. The guy on the left is putting up scaffording for the west perimeter wall. The back (north) wall is now stripped and the spaces for the future windows are evident.

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October 29/11 (Bedrock)

I am pretty sure that I have been at Bedrock 19 out of the last 20 weekends. It helps that Kathy is retired because the shopping and laundry tend to get done during the week and she is more eager to get out of the city on weekends.

I have finally “finished” my work on the cabin for this year. It is down on the new foundation (technically 9 piers) and Kathy has helped me construct a new landing and stairway.

Late in the day, we decided it was time to demolish the old dock that we had dragged up onto the shore. I cut it up with the chain saw and we had a raging fire for several hours. Sparks were flying high into a dark sky while a thin crescent moon struggled to shine through clouds approaching from the west.

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Kathy has started working again. She has secured a half time guidance position at North Toronto for the rest of the year. By the end of June she will have worked close to the maximum number of days that is allowed. Kathy goes in every second day so she has an almost perfect situation (enough work to keep her busy and help with the bills and enough “spare time” that she can enjoy her “retirement”. Teachers call what Kathy is doing “double dipping” because she is collecting a full pension and getting paid half her old salary. It took less than a week (of working half time) for Kathy to tell me that she wants to go away for March Break. Expensive March Break holidays are one of the disadvantages of marrying a teacher. I was thinking that this year we would travel earlier (and for half the price).

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October 31/11

I fished the pictures below out of my phone. Kathy and I decided on the spur of the moment to burn the old dock that we hauled up onto the shore in front of Bedrock 6 weeks ago. While Kathy lit a bonfire I fired up my chainsaw. An hour later the the dock was hardly recognizable. Next morning, after the big fire, I cut up the rest and piled it up for the next fire.

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End of the Month Fitness Report:

I rowed 14 times in October. I have now started a program to prepare myself for the big competition at the beginning of February. What this means is more frequent workouts at a faster pace.

My weight was 170 (and a half) at my monthly weigh-in. Two family birthdays and Halloween make October a poor month for reducing overall body mass.

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November 5/11 (Bedrock)

I decided to “grow a mo” this November –in support of prostate cancer research. The rules stipulate that you have to shave your upper lip on October 31. That day was not a shaving day for me so I decided it was OK to have a 1 day head start. (I don’t know anybody else who is participating so there is no unofficial side-competition going on).

I was sure that Kathy would ask about the “dirt on my upper lip” by the second of November but she either did not notice or decided not comment.

To get to the point, when I shaved on November 4th I blew my plan and shaved off the “stache”. I hate to think it was so pathetic that I would not even notice I was shaving off my 5 day old moustache. Now I have to decide whether to abandon the effort or participate with a 4 day handicap.

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I witness an interesting thing on the way up Highway 115 this morning. I had cruise control on at 115 (that’s my policy - 115 on 115). A white van passed on the left -going around 125. Right away a cop car passed me going the same speed. He was tucked right in behind the white van but did not have his lights on (to tell the guy to stop). The white van clearly realized he was being followed by a cop because he gradually reduced his speed and tucked in behind a pickup truck. I had to reduce my speed down to 110 to avoid passing the cop. After a few miles the cop pulled off at an overpass-interchange. Right away the van passed the pickup and started to pull away. But then the cop car reappeared down the next ramp. I could hardly believe he could do it that fast (but I suppose he didn’t have to respect the “rules of the road”). The cop started to follow the pickup hoping to hide from the guy in the van. But the van driver must have seen the cop in his rear view mirror because he slowed down again and the cop car exited for good at the next exchange.

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Kathy bought me a “Freeze Alarm” last Christmas but I am just now doing the final installation. Once I have it working properly I will be able to turn up (or down) the heat at Bedrock by making a phone call to the cottage. This will be great when we want to come up in the late fall, winter or spring. We will be a lot more likely to come up on a Friday night and even Saturday morning arrivals will be more pleasant.

A few weeks ago I partially installed the alarm and I have been able to phone the cottage to find out the inside temperature. The only problem was that I couldn’t do anything about it. After this weekend I will have much better control of the situation.

The installation of the Freeze Alarm is a bit complicated because we use baseboard heaters rather that a furnace. The Alarm is designed control the low voltage thermostats characteristic of furnaces rather than the 30 amp 240 volt power characteristics of base board heaters. I had to ask the Stuart, the electrician at the Bronte job to help me figure out how to step up the power with a couple of relays and a DC transformer. It has all been very educational.

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As I have been writing the above I have also been watching the Leaf’s game. Despite the fact that they are leading the NHL they are losing 7-0 to Boston. This is more like the Leafs that we have gotten used to in the past 4 decades. This is the first game this season that I have watched so perhaps I am the jinx.

Of course I remember when the Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 67. I also remember their wins in 62,63 and 64. I doubt I will live to see the day when they win again.

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November 6/11 (Bedrock)

It has been around a year that I have been trying to spot Iridium Flares. I have not been getting out of bed or altering my schedule in any significant way but I have spotted 14 in 11 months. I’ve decided to only look for the bright ones (-2 or brighter).

I seem to have a pretty good system worked out now. Once a week I go to the Heavens Above website and get the information for the flares in the locations where I expect to be (work, home or cottage). I delete any flare that will happen when I am sleeping, is too dim or will occure when I will not be at that location. Then I print out the potential flares and highlight the ones that I have the best chance to see. In a good week there will usually be around 5 events that I have highlighted but in the middle of the summer the number can be zero because everything happens while I am in bed. I use the list to set alarms on my BlackBerry. I set the alarms to 5 or 10 minutes before the flare. When I get an alarm I have a few minutes to pull the flare details (altitude, azimuth, exact time, brightness and location) out of my back pocket and go outside to see if the sky is clear. Sometimes in the winter, when there are no leaves on the trees, I can just go to a window.

The most likely thing to screw up the system is when I turn off my phone or leave it in the truck by mistake. This happens a lot. Sometimes I am too busy at work to look for a flare or I don't hear the alarm because of noise on site (generators, compressors and vehicles).

I have not managed to see an Iridium Flare in the middle of the day. I find this sort of frustrating because I have looked for them quite a few times. Because of all the failures I am starting to realize that spotting a true daytime flare (when the sun is well above the horizon) is quite difficult. I must have been really lucky 10 years ago when I confidently took Kathy outside in the mid afternoon, pointed to where a flare was going to happen –and then it did!

The last time I failed to see a true daytime flare I set up a theodolite* and pointed it to the right spot in the sky. I didn’t actually look through the eyepiece because the field of view is too small but I was sure that if I followed the barrel of the telescope with my eye it would narrow down the area of the sky to the point where I would not miss the flare –no such luck. So –I am still trying to refine that system.

* a theodolite is a survey instrument that construction dudes use to lay out stuff they are building. It is basically a telescope on legs that will lay out any horizontal or vertical angle.

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November 13/11

Kathy has noticed that I am growing my moustache and she is playing her role perfectly by pretending that she doesn’t want to kiss me.

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November 27/11

A friend was remarking that I had not made a weblog entry for quite a while and was hoping that everything was OK with me. I am happy to say that everything is fine. It’s just that nothing very remarkable is happening. Routine events are not great fodder for blog entries.

This weekend is my second away from Bedrock since June. I spent a lot of time on Saturday getting our wireless network back up and running. (It crashed when the hard drive of my laptop had to be wiped). The job in Oakville is winding down but there is still a lot to do. Although they still need me around I can do what needs to be done in a few hours per day. I go for a 2 mile walk during the day quite often, come in late and leave a little early on most days. I have also been designing Bedrock’s ‘phase 2’ addition that (I hope) will be starting in a year or so. I will post some Sketch-up pictures when I get further along.

The thing that got me started on the design work was Kathy’s [surprising] agreement that my future workshop should be attached to the cottage. All summer I had been trying to select a good spot. However the lie of the land and the difficulty of burying an electrical supply line to a ‘far away’ point on the property means that the workshop is best situated close by.

So, right now it appears that the next major project at Bedrock will not be a simple workshop but rather an addition that will more than double the size. I am sure that there will be lots more on this subject over the next few years.

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November 30/11

End of the Month Fitness Report

My rowing program (which will get me ready to do my very fastest 2000 meter row) is going well. This is my forth time going through the program so things have a certain familiarity. This year I have decided that my heart rate (while doing the workouts) will overrule all other considerations. As a result, I no longer set my rowing machine for a certain distance but rather I set the minutes and try to ensure that my heart rate is in the correct range for the entire interval. This means that I often have to slow down (or sometimes speed up) during the later stages of some long intervals. I have also decided that I am only very rarely going to do workouts on 3 successive days and that 4 days per week is fine. 5 workouts in a 7 day period is rare. And, I have also decided not to test myself over set distances (as I have done before) because it results in overtraining.

As a result of all these things I am tolerating the workouts pretty well and not feeling overly tired.

This week I started doing some workouts at the second highest level (slightly above my anaerobic threshold). Sometimes I wonder why a 59 year old man feels that he has to push himself so hard that he is gasping for breath at the end of an interval. Perhaps I am insane.

I hope I can row as a lightweight in the competition but I am not willing to starve –just so that I can win. I am trying to eat responsibly but in the end I will have to dehydrate myself if I am going to ‘make weight’. I plan to do some research on this after Christmas and perhaps do a trial run.

Surprisingly, I weighed 172 on Monday morning and 169 on Tuesday. I wish I had a better idea why.

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I signed up for The Ontario Health Study. It’s one of those huge studies that look for links between lifestyle and health [the way you die]. Needless to say, there is a huge questionnaire to fill out. The thing that I found the most interesting was the section on ‘activity level’. Basically they divided physical activity into 4 different levels. The highest level was fairly intense physical activity like running (or rowing). The second level was somewhere between walking and running. [I don’t do anything at this level]. The third level is walking. The forth level is standing. That was a surprise to me but it makes sense.

I did not do that well in the standing (they ask how much of the day you spend sitting) category because my job is really an office job but lots of others would do way worse. I’ve actually been doing quite a bit of walking lately (for no other reason than to get some exercise during the day).

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Weblog -December 2011

December 7/11

Today we opened up (and set up) an early Christmas present from Amy –a flat screen TV. We must be about the last people to get rid of their old tube TV. (We wouldn't have but it broke down!)

I still remember when our family did not have a TV. However I was pretty young in May 1956 when my parents got one. The next huge step was getting cable TV. It must have been around 1962 when my parents relented and we got to have a choice of 12 different stations. A few years later we got a colour TV. Wow!

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December 8/11

Above: at Bronte GO Station. The south wall is poured and shoring for the lower beam is being installed.

Above: First beam and lower columns are poured. Second row of shoring is being erected, top portion of columns have been formed. Top of columns and upper beam to be poured together.

Above: Everything is poured, upper platform is dismantled and crew is removing lower platform.

Above: Everything is stripped and precast roof slabs have been installed.

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December 13/11

I am pretty disappointed. Yesterday was my first rowing workout at my maximum effort level and I pulled my back out. This happened last year when I got to the max level and the year before it happened in the competition. So. . . that’s it. I am not going to row at that intensity any more. No more competitions and no more diets.

My problem now is to figure out how I can keep up the rowing. What will motivate me to exercise if I don’t have a competition looming?

My back? I will be OK in a few days. Meanwhile I will have to put up with some pain and not do a lot of walking, standing or exercising.

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December 14/11

My Annual Christmas Letter:

Christmas is such a wonderful time to catch up with old friends and find out what has been happening over the past year!

The big news for this year in our family is that Kathy decided to retire. She was surprised by the large turnout at her retirement party but she did spend 26 years at Oakwood Collegiate and 35 in the profession. Kathy’s ‘retirement’ did not last long, however, because in October she was offered a half time Guidance job (every second day) at Northern Secondary School–another Toronto high school. It is a great situation for Kathy because she has some spare time and the same income. All three of Kathy’s sisters have a child who is engaged. Kathy is the “odd girl out.”

I had an easy year at work although I had to drive to Oakville every day. We are just now finishing off a big concrete building at the Bronte GO station and I will soon be ready for a new challenge. I have no plans to retire from work but I did retire from inline skating. I miss my Flying Fossil team mates and all the Toronto parks that I used to skate in. I don’t miss the aches and pains that skating at a high level necessitates.

At Bedrock, our big project for the year was moving Granddad’s cabin (a 12’ X 20’ bunkie at my mom’s cottage) up to the top of the hill. Kathy and my brother Tom were a big help in the execution of my plan. We set it down on new concrete columns far enough from Stony Lake that we will be able to subdivide Mom’s cottage property. I am starting to plan a big addition to Bedrock. It will double the size of our cottage and turn it into a place where two people could live full time.

Our kids are all fine. Lindsay, the oldest, is still doing research at Yale but has started to apply for faculty positions when good opportunities arise. Lindsay finished her 3 rd marathon this year in Toronto and has taken on a small coaching role at a synchro club near New Haven. She just can’t stay away from the sport.

Amy is living at home and working at the Indigo head office as the team leader for planning in the Life Style Department. She and Pete went on several destination vacations this year. Amy joined the running tradition in our family and competed in her first half marathon in October.

Kaylee is now in 4th year at the University of Guelph and is on track to graduate. Here’s hoping she finds a job that she likes. Kaylee has a boyfriend named Eddie [two Ed’s are better than one?] whose family has a cottage on Stony Lake. Kaylee also ran her first half marathon last May.

That’s about it for our family news. As another year draws to an end we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year!

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December 18/11 (Bedrock)

I cannot believe my own strength. I was cracking a nut with a metal nutcracker and the handle broke in half. I guess I am ‘one tough nut’.

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My Poor Mother:

I was hard not to laugh out loud (and Kaylee did!) when Mom asked me how old I was when I was born.

I replied that I was zero when I was born and explained that everyone is zero years old when they are born. I never figured out what she really wanted to ask.

Mom does not seem to have any concept of different generations any more. She always seems surprised when we tell her that Kaylee or Amy are my daughters or even that I am her son. Although she seems to remember Kathy, Mom usually does not remember that she is married to me and that Kathy is the mother of my children. There is one thing that Mom still remembers though. She does not have any great grand children.

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December 22/11

A meteor landed within a few miles of Bedrock. A guy I work with actually saw the fireball in the sky and figured that it might have come down up near Peterborough or Bancroft. Some science types have been out searching for it. I know the potential landing area very well because it is on my cottage skating route. I would say that there is roughly a 50% chance that the meteorite actually hit water in the form of Stony Lake or one of the big swamps that ring the lake. Although Bedrock was not really in the potential landing zone I will keep a keen eye out on our property. It would be just so cool to find a meteorite!

Later: I was wrong -Bedrock is on the edge of the most likely place that the meteorite came down. Bedrock is located at the black star on the map shown below (reprinted without permission from the Toronto Star). I really hope I can get up to Bedrock before the snow flies. I really want to find a piece!!!

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I received a preposterous drawing at work. A dimension on the drawing reads 5.51181 inches. The last digit in this number represents one -one hundred thousandth of an inch.

That’s one -one hundredth the thickness of a human hair. Needless to say, we did not achieve that sort of accuracy when placing our concrete.

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I finished my Christmas shopping already. I am such a hero!

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December 24/11

There is a Duncan Christmas Eve (Day) tradition that I cannot bring myself to participate in. It’s a trip to the nail store. The first time I was invited it sounded OK but then I realised that it was all about fingernails and toenails and not ‘real’ nails and I lost interest.

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December 31/11

Christmas morning was an orgy of indulgence as usual. The girls mostly gave and received items of clothing, foot ware, cosmetics and cookware with a smattering of appliances and electronics.

I only got 6 books but they are mostly beefy ones and will keep me going for a while. I also got a new set of binoculars (the last ones were stolen but they were badly out of adjustment so I was happy to see them go). My best gift was a fancy carpenter’s apron (tool belt) that Kathy got at Lee Valley.

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End of the Month Fitness Report

As reported on December 13 I hurt my back and had to stop rowing. Walking (for fitness) was not an option either because that hurt too. With my lack of exercise and all the indulgences of Christmas my weight has ballooned to: 173

The good news is that I am ready to start rowing again (as soon as I get back to the city). It will not take long to get back into a routine because there is a January online participation event that is sponsored by the Concept 2 website. I am a little worried about the long term prospect of keeping up some sort of fitness routine.

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Kathy and I spent almost a week at bedrock after Christmas. For a day by day recap see the first post of 2012.