Raging rivers

I got out for a bike ride again the other day, training is now pretty regular thank goodness. I have my motivation back, yippee. I find the longer days help give me sooo much freakin' energy at the end of the day it's crazy to get used to. And I'm a night person to begin with! Often 11:00pm rolls around and I'm wide awake, thinking "hmmm... what should I do now?? I know! Let's go four-wheeling to the river!!!" Too bad the porcupines and some other animals prefer the evenings as well.

Stoney Creek was raging yesterday with the melting of snow up high! The hot days sped the process along.

Ooooh! Ahhhh...


The little spot everyone gets water was flooded onto the road. It had a bit of a raging current for a wee freakin' creek!!


Random shot of my bike up near the highway, but I think it turned out pretty good!


Yep, rivers still raging. This is where I sat on the weekend while I unsuccessfully tried to fix my flat. So this bike ride went well, considering I had to repair the tire and figure out all my repair gear before I left. That may seem super simple to most of you, but I am SO bad at repairing stuff and totally lose patience quickly. However, when you're stuck __ kms from home and no cell phone to save the day, you pretty much have to learn. Unless one prefers hitchiking, but getting kidnapped by some psycho-hillbilly doesn't appeal to me all that much. So I went out super-ultra prepared for this ride!! I welcome a flat now!!! Oh crap I shouldn't say that or it'll probably happen...


Going through some older photos, I came across this one of a totally obsessed-with-baby, Gracie.


At the bbq, she just sat there right in front of Sarah's (I think?) car thingy. Seat. Car SEAT! Right, that's what they're calling them these days.

How freakin' cute is that?? Then inside, she followed babies as they were passed around and couldn't get enough sniffing in. I wonder if Sean and Heather ever change their diapers!!!?? (kidding...)

The sun! The sun!!!!

Ok, be really careful what you wish for, it was freakin' HOT this weekend. Temps were about 25C and the wind helped take the edge off on Saturday, but Sunday was fairly calm. I had a great idea to go for another bike ride, because there is seriously nothing I like more than riding a bike in the hot sun. Ok, sitting and drinking a "refreshing beverage" comes a close second, but the riding tops it all. However, I really KNEW I should have prepared my tire repair kit since I last ran out of the CO2 cartridges. I didn't even have a pump along with me. I know, I know, I was taking a chance. But when I saw the price of pumps, I was too cheap to buy one. Well, on my 10km walk home yesterday, I would have paid 4x that amount for a pump as I walked down the highway!

I don't know what punctured the tire, but I couldn't fix it after sitting on the side of the road for awhile I realized I had no choice but to hoof it home. I did think it would be good training for triathalon training. If I ever chose to do a triathalon in the future, that is. I briefly considered that as a new sport last week, but I think I've now come to my senses. Either way, my triathalon dreams were squashed as one of my neighbours passed by about 4km into the walk. I hopped in his truck before he finished asking "want a ride h..." YES! :)

Here's what else I did this weekend - stained the cabin. I totally LOVE the darker colour.

Now it just shows how badly that window hole needs a window and how much trim would improve the appearance.


This 5-gallon oil finish... wonder how much it is? $209!!! The most expensive 5 gallons of anything I've ever bought.


Luckily it did the whole cabin, with some to spare. I might do the inside too, we'll see.


Here's the difference.

And here's my new friend, Henrietta the Robin. She is such a good mom. So annoyed that I was staining right close to her nest, but I assured her I wasn't going to bug her or the babies too much.

She really didn't believe me.

But, she eventually got comfortable enough that she'd sit up there for a few minutes at a time while I stained.

Always keeping an eye on me and chirping at me whenever she flew off. She'd watch my every move letting me know she was out there...


The eggs! Yes, I snuck a pic while I stained near the nest.


Front of the cabin, you can see how the darker stain makes those unfinished gable ends really stand out!


Pooh Bear! And Esther on a free run to the scungy pond. Unfortunately I think PB learned her lesson last time and didn't take a header into it.

But she did frolic and here's the video!

Ok, less crappy times ahead... :)

Here's a fun game - guess what's sticking out of Jack's back?!?!

Tamara - no answering, you already know...


Porcupine quills!! How the heck does that happen you ask? I have no idea I tell you. No one else was afflicted so it seems Jack had a little rendezvous with a porky in the bush!


Pooh Bear! discovers the scummy pond


Look how wet she is... freak.


The happiest dog. Ever.


Kuna's view of the river


The monkeys zoom across scummy pond 1.


Deep scummy pond - the one the dogs disappear in - Lucy is in there somewhere.


Ha! There's George disappearing. I can't get enough of them going through that deep stuff. They seem to never learn. Well, some of them anyways.


Kuna finds a scapula! And wouldn't give it to me.... grrrr...


My latest way of acquiring water - the 4-wheeler and the sedimenty Mendenhall River.


Mmmmm.... don't it look gooooood?!?!


Kuna REALLY wanted to swim this day, but didn't in the end. Oh well, I'm sure with the warmth finally here this weekend he'll dive in no problem. I hope the little furry ducklings follow him again.



Sage doing what Sage does best.

Look who has finally discovered the couch after something like 4 years of never venturing near it - Loki!!! He is now addicted to furniture.

Ivy looks at me as if to say "ok, I'll only tolerate this sharing nonsense because you're here... grrrr..."

Thanks for reading this nonsense. I'm off for the BEAUTIFUL weekend!!!! :)

Word of the Week: CRAP!

Because that is how my last week has been, nothing but CRAP! I do find it funny that people around me are starting to say "holy CRAP" and attributing that saying soely to me. Like I made it up!! Ok, no, but I suspect I do use it quite a bit. You know you've made a lasting legacy when the ladies in Finance latch onto anything you say. Apparently, they were going around the other day saying "our new phrase in the office is Holy Crap!" and calling it their new favourite saying, the "Stacie-ism" - ooookay then. Then they all laughed yelled out "Holy Crap!" as they dove back into their spreadsheets and calculators.

I guess one of my emails had that phrase in it (as does anything I do that is financial-related), and they thought it was pretty funny. Hell, I'd be yelling that out hourly if I worked in Finance (no offense to you financial people, you have my utmost respect).

That or they really need to get out of the office more.

So, in case anyone cares, and even if you don't - here are a few reasons why my week was crap:

• My modem started smoking when I plugged it in after about 8 months of non-use. Huh. I hate it when that happens.
• I awoke at 1:00am the other night to the sound of a crazy, robot-like woman's voice yelling at me "Carbon Monoxide!! Carbon Monoxide!!" (also in French) and a LOUD beeping that made my ears ring for two days. Possible asphyxiation = not a great day.
• Kuna peed on the rug in front of the door today. Like he didn't have a care in the world that I was standing there watching him.
• I ran out of cream for coffee this morning.
• I'm now single, agh, not even gonna go near that one with a 10-foot pole right now(although this could actually be one of the good things that happened this week... in the long run...)
• I haven't been on my bike for almost 2 weeks because I'm a unmotivated loser right now.
• The rain and cloud is really starting to annoy me. I need to stain the cabin, so I could really use that thing called a freakin' sun.

Why I'm sharing all this, I have no idea. Do I sound bitter? Good, I am. Bleah...

On the good side. Everyone always says you have to look at the bright side of life... or at least Monty Python says (sings) that. Let me try and be positive for a few moments. Hmmm, let me think.... good things happening in the last week...

There must be something. Really.

Ok! Got something. Pooh Bear TOTALLY divebombed a pond this week. She had no clue how deep it was until her front feet were in it. Pretty soon her ass end was over her head and she did a pretty impressive sommersault. Not only that, when she popped her head up (with the same goofy grin as always) she was covered in wet grass. It made her look like she was this hippie rocker with long straggly hair. God I almost peed my pants when I saw that.

So, yes, that was good. Anything involving the dogs is pretty much guaranteed to be good (except for that whole Kuna peeing inside thing).

Who needs people when you have dogs?!?! (my mom will LOVE me saying that - as I'm officially entering hermit-hood)

Gearing up for the Road Relay...

It's that time of year again! I got off to a great start training on the road bike, but over the last week and a half, I've been sidelined by a nasty cold that has had me wheezing for breath after walking ten feet. I think it's now heading on it's way out though, thank goodness. I've had enough phlegm in the last 2 days to last a lifetime. Although I'm not sure how much phlegm that would be exactly, I just like writing out the word phlegm. There's just something about that word that makes me laugh... phlegm.... hee hee...

I did a 53km ride a few weeks ago, the earliest I've ever gone that far. And the whole way was into a killer headwind!! If I wasn't so stubborn I would have come to my senses about 22k into it and turned around and gone home with a nice tailwind, and still done over 40k. But noooo, I had to struggle into the wind for 3.5 hours. I was so tired at the end I wasn't sure I was even going to make it to Dave & Heather's (my destination). I was wondering if I'd make it up one of the last hills, but I was sure I would after I ran into a bunch of hillbillies stranded with no gas on the side of the road. They were either a) drunk, b) stoned, or c) plain insane as they cheered and whooped me on with their toothless grins and dilapidated campers as I struggled up the hill. I think I went faster then just to get by the crazies!

Anyways, I took pics along the way until I got even too tired to do that. Here we go:

This is just after the start. You will soon get sick of highway photos, 'cause that's pretty much all I see. I hear the elk are being released from their anti-tick pen in June so maybe (with any luck) I'll have the herd back to bike through again this year!


More road. But the shoulders are soooo lovely aren't they?


OOH! A sign, a sign!!!! I was at about 20km here and this is where the wind really started to make it's presence known. So I ate my banana.


So I stopped a LOT and took pictures of everything, like pretty little icy ponds. I saw a herd of these 6 loose horses run across that not long ago, and wondered... "hmmm... that ice must be getting REAL thin..." and from then on expected to see a horse crashing through the ice every time I drive by. Oh! And they just had a baby "wild" horse, he is soooo cute and white spotted. Will have to chase him down on the bike next time I see him! (kidding)


More highway, heading over the river...


The Takhini River. It's now totally open.


And a beaver dam, just under the bridge. I realized I was leaning wayyyy over the narrow bridge, in shorts, on a freezing day to check out the dam and realized I'd better not lean too far...


Horses and cows and stuff - y'know, farm thingys.


At the rest stop. God, I hated that hill. It took everything to get going and go up it because of the wind. And it wasn't too bad, because the hill blocked the stupid wind. Until I got near the top and it almost blasted me back down the hill. I keep looking around, thinking I must be in Lethbridge or something!!! (shoutout to my prairie-dwelling relatives)

Then somewhere along the way around this time I saw the hillbilly convoy, but didn't stop to take pictures. Though part of me wishes I had!


And finally! My destination!!!

Dave and Heather's cute little new homestead.


That's right, 53.6 km!!! 53 POINT 6. Can't forget the .6km.


And the ultimate award for the ride from hell:

The PUPPIES!!!!!


Holy freakin' cute.


Chewing on Heather's shoe. I laughed and laughed.... until I realized, crap! They're eating Heather's shoe! FYI, I saved the shoe.


The little ducklings follow their mum n' dad.


Dave is kicking one of them... kidding!!!! They are probably eating his shoes.


Crap, this is a test... this is... Lucky? H&D can correct me if I'm wrong. But nevertheless it's a pup-in-the-grass.


We're tired. We played too hard today.


Is that not the cutest little black nose ever??


Zonked right out. Damn, being a puppy is tiring work.


Told ya.


Ah, the rough life of a pup!

In other news, we may have a phone this weekend!! That means internet as well, yippee. After 10 months of neither at home, I must say, I can't wait to be in touch with the world on weekends. Ok, that is until being in touch with the world on weekends drives me nuts and I unplug my phone... :)