When I'm in the woods doing hiking or orienteering, I'm always conscious of wild animals. In BC, the two most talked about are bears and cougars. By cougars I mean the cat and not the desperate older women (I suppose they could be a threat too).
This weekend I was orienteering. I was traveling parallel to a cliff-face attempting to attain a path. I wasn't far behind another person when I heard, "Aaahhh, goat!". At that moment, I stopped scrambling and started to stand. Goat horns crashed by, inches from my face. I saw the horns and its behind, but that's the most I saw of the goat. So, this weekend I was almost mauled by a goat in a park. It would at least make for an interesting obituary.
For all those that plan to visit and hike, be careful there are bears, cougars and goats out there.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Carmanah Provincial Park
Here are some pics from Carmanah Provincial Park.
Not easy to get to.
A nice view along the way.
The three sisters (each about 80 meters tall).
A giant 6 inch slug.
Not easy to get to.
A nice view along the way.
The three sisters (each about 80 meters tall).
A giant 6 inch slug.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Newcastle Island
This weekend, we participated in the yearly Newcastle Island orienteering meet. Veronica told me that she came second in her category (not bad for a lady with such short legs). As for myself, who knows.
I ran about 15km over two days and I had run 8km three days earlier. At the end of the second race, I arrived at the finish line and simply sat down. I then began to remove my wet dirty shoes, some clothes and eat chocolate. I decided at some point to move off the finish line so as not to get run over. I was quickly replaced by an old brown dog that found the finish line's shade irresistible.
Newcastle Island: http://www.newcastleisland.ca/
I ran about 15km over two days and I had run 8km three days earlier. At the end of the second race, I arrived at the finish line and simply sat down. I then began to remove my wet dirty shoes, some clothes and eat chocolate. I decided at some point to move off the finish line so as not to get run over. I was quickly replaced by an old brown dog that found the finish line's shade irresistible.
Newcastle Island: http://www.newcastleisland.ca/
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Traveling Tricks
Trick #2
Some B&Bs are actually hippie communes. Be prepared, bring underwear to share.
Trick #12
On red-eye flights, airlines strategically place babies and small children throughout the aircraft. They are paid by the airline to cry and whine. Trick: if you own the baby, you get paid.
Trick #27
Helping airport cleaning staff is inappropriate.
Trick #32
If you are longer than your bed then sleep diagonally with your head next to your alarm clock. (If you do not have an alarm clock you can sleep in four different ways.)
Trick #61
If you don't know where to eat then ask the fat airport staff. They likely have an opinion.
Trick #74
If you're hungry while in Toronto's Pearson airport, commit suicide. There's more choice in hell.
Trick #98
If your taxi driver has involuntary muscle spams do not panic. Good luck though.
Trick #102
Credit card sales-booth people are just as bored as you are. Pretending you need a credit card is fun, but not nice.
Trick #103
Creativity is enhanced by boredom. Airports are an artists muse.
Some B&Bs are actually hippie communes. Be prepared, bring underwear to share.
Trick #12
On red-eye flights, airlines strategically place babies and small children throughout the aircraft. They are paid by the airline to cry and whine. Trick: if you own the baby, you get paid.
Trick #27
Helping airport cleaning staff is inappropriate.
Trick #32
If you are longer than your bed then sleep diagonally with your head next to your alarm clock. (If you do not have an alarm clock you can sleep in four different ways.)
Trick #61
If you don't know where to eat then ask the fat airport staff. They likely have an opinion.
Trick #74
If you're hungry while in Toronto's Pearson airport, commit suicide. There's more choice in hell.
Trick #98
If your taxi driver has involuntary muscle spams do not panic. Good luck though.
Trick #102
Credit card sales-booth people are just as bored as you are. Pretending you need a credit card is fun, but not nice.
Trick #103
Creativity is enhanced by boredom. Airports are an artists muse.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
TC10K
Against our better judgement we ran the TC10K. The TC10K is a relatively popular 10 KM race held in Victoria. This year about 13000 people decided to participate. Some Kenyan dude training out of Lethbridge won the thing in under 30 minutes. The man could run! I saw him very briefly while I was at kilometer 2 and he was at kilometer 5. His cool-down was running the 10 km again, in the opposite direction.
Veronica ran a total of 9 kilometers over three separate days to train for her big race. This would normally spell TROUBLE but... She ran the entire race in 1:03:07 and beat two of my friends that had been training for 3 months. This obviously doesn't teach her a lesson about regular training and fitness, unless her legs really hurt tomorrow. I can only hope... (I'm thinking nice thoughts, but I bet you thought otherwise, tsk.)
I ran the thing in 50:09 which sounds good until you find out that this time put me in 1568th place. I've redefined a Canada-bronze (where 3rd is like gold). In my case, 1568th place is like ... gold plated. To quote my cousin: "Good enough, [it]'ll do".
For the bored, the complete results can be found here:
http://www.raceheadquarters.com/tc.php
Veronica ran a total of 9 kilometers over three separate days to train for her big race. This would normally spell TROUBLE but... She ran the entire race in 1:03:07 and beat two of my friends that had been training for 3 months. This obviously doesn't teach her a lesson about regular training and fitness, unless her legs really hurt tomorrow. I can only hope... (I'm thinking nice thoughts, but I bet you thought otherwise, tsk.)
I ran the thing in 50:09 which sounds good until you find out that this time put me in 1568th place. I've redefined a Canada-bronze (where 3rd is like gold). In my case, 1568th place is like ... gold plated. To quote my cousin: "Good enough, [it]'ll do".
For the bored, the complete results can be found here:
http://www.raceheadquarters.com/tc.php
Friday, April 17, 2009
Energy consumption
I had this link sent to me:
http://blog.wattzon.com/2008/11/14/scarcity-and-abundance/
It's worth a look. It places our energy consumption in a new perspective.
http://blog.wattzon.com/2008/11/14/scarcity-and-abundance/
It's worth a look. It places our energy consumption in a new perspective.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Mini-Vacation in Tofino
Veronica and I went to Ucluelet/Tofino over the weekend. We visited some large trees...
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