Boo from Barrhaven

Here are some of the pics detailing a typical Halloween in Barrhaven.

First it starts with the traditional pumpkin carving (we seem to add another member to the ghoul cast every year).



Then the costumes...



Popping in on some friends...


And a very appropriate pint of ale provided to Papa while making the rounds with the little ones...

A weekend in the GAT

I spent both Saturday morning and Sunday morning hiking in Gatineau Park. The weather was incredible. Combine that with blue skies, awesome landscape, colourful leaves, good company, and a refreshing pint or two and you have a little something this side of heaven.

Here are some pics from Saturday morning's hike into Meech Lake area from P16...












The next one was taken on Sunday while following half the population of China. Somewhere around the halfway point, Emma found a coin (1 yuan) She called it her lucky "Chinese king-kaka coin". Luckily they didn't understand her accent (or her unintentional mockery) and we were spared a serious martial arts style beating. Hey, maybe the coin really is lucky.

Fall has fallen

Is it just me or has the peak of Ontario's fall leaf season already come and gone? I look out my window and half the trees are completely bare of leaves while the other half are still green. Weird.



Oh yeah, I hear it's supposed to snow tomorrow too.

Some things are better left unexplained...

Biggest White Bur Oak (1975)

While driving home from watching the salmon jump in Port Hope (I stress the word "the", as in one) my father started to spin a tale about a record setting tree that used to be in the area. Taking him up on the story, I side-tracked our return trip and headed south from Mather's Corners in search this mythical monster.

Well we found it, however, it was in rather poor condition. Turns out it had been hit by lightning twice and even though it had pretty much passed on to forest heaven it was still an incredible sight to see. There was a plaque on it declaring it to be the largest White Bur Oak in the Otonabee region back in the year 1975. High praise indeed.

We pulled up and all of us (except my wife, who was sleeping) hopped out of the van to get a closer look. Between us and the tree there was a steel farmers gate topped with the wire from an electric fence. You guessed it, ZAP! My oldest daughter got zapped good (btw, she claims that Opa told her it was off). And at the exact same time as Sara was running back towards the van, my wife was barrelling out of it shouting something about closing the doors and a bee.

Well as it turned out, in our haste to see if we could all hug this tree and completely encircle it we forgot to shut ALL the van doors. Normally not a biggie, but as luck would have it there was a rather large and out of control collection of bee hives nearby. Sorry mommy. Needless to say, after calming the crowd, I snapped some quick pics, shooed out a dozen bees, and headed back down the road. Fun.

As luck would have it, I coincidentally snapped this pic only moments after Sara was zapped by the electric fence. Talk about luck!!



Look how small everyone looks against this bad boy...



Here's a quick pic I took of the bee hives. Not sure what's up with the barrels other then to create mass bee hysteria.

Gobble gobble

After a dark and rainy drive last Friday night we arrived at my parent's farm for Thanksgiving weekend. Family time... and surprisingly it turned out pretty good. Time well spent as they say. (read, yes my mother now has access to the Internet and can now read my blogs).

Here are some pics...

Cows love apples (cut in half, as they may choke and die if you leave them whole). Man these things have freakishly long tongues. I think I now know why my brother spends so much time in the back frield.



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Hoe'ing it with BvT. Apparently some 73 year old man dropped by the farm to help my dad fix a low spot that kept flooding out. Unfortunately he didn't leave us the keys... however, this was likely a good thing as it took us 10 minutes just to figure out how to shut the door.





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Salmon jumping. Nothing like hanging out in Port Hope with 50 chinese families waiting for some lethargic fish to jump up a ladder. We saw lots of salmon but only one jumped. Luckily I snapped the pic. (who da man?)



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Did I mention it was fall? Still lots of green around Peterborough though.



BvT

Charleston Lake camping

We went camping last weekend at Charleston Lake (near Gananoque) with some friends. The weather was incredible. Sunday actually reached 27ºC with the humidex. The kids (5 all together) had a blast and everybody, including me, went swimming. What a great trip to end the year's camping adventures.

Here are some pics from the weekend...

Crayfish claw collection:



Whatever was eating these poor fellows apparently didn't like the claws too much. Either that, or maybe they shed them before winter and now there's a whack of clawless crayfish swimming around Charleston. You decide.



Hiking up Blue Mountain:



Osprey/heron rookery:



Relaxing at the beach:

King of the butterflies...

Stepped outside this evening to barbeque some chicken for supper and quickly spotted 3 monarch butterflies feasting on one of my wife's plants (sedum aka autumn joy) in the garden. A rare photo op. Here are a few of the pics that I managed to snap off before I realized that my beer was getting warm and the chicken needed flipping.




(flash was off for this one... can you see the "ghost trail" of its flapping wings?)

Peterborough Zoo

"Strongest Woman in the World appears at the Peterborough Zoo"...



Only moments later we met up with an up-and-comer for the "Strongest Woman" title...



We spent the better part of the day with my brother and his wife at the Peterborough Zoo followed by another awesome BBQ at their new house. I was so stuffed I had to have a 20 minute power nap before heading back to Ottawa. Thanks guys.

More zoo pics...

Humpless camel


Dolphins with sticks


Monster carp feeding on helpless, unsuspecting ducks.

Even as I shouted "Look down, ducky!!" I knew it was too late. Another duck was taken and another child screamed in horror. Devastating yes... but nothing a little ice cream couldn't fix.

Winds of Katrina?

I was at Brittania Beach today with the kids when a series of strange dark clouds rolled in. The wind was up and steady and we were enjoying a nice relaxing picnic followed by a stroll down the beach. I was snapping some pics of the interesting clouds when Sara suggested that we head back to the van. So we packed everything up and headed for the van. The moment I threw the last of our gear into the back of the van and got another look out over the Ottawa River I heard the screams. The remaining parents and kids were running towards us as a freak sandstorm had started up. There was garbage flying all around and everything went dark just before the sand starting whipping the van. I snapped a couple pics and then headed for home just as the rain started to fall. Glad we didn't have to experience the real deal like those poor bastards in New Orleans.



Note the wires in the sky that are used to keep the seagulls from crapping on everybody on the beach. Gulls can be dangerous (click for story).





And then the sandstorm hit...

Chochocoaune River, QC

Well I'm back from a 6 day trip down the Chochocoaune River in Quebec. We had a blast! Weather was great (other than the first day), fishing was excellent, and even though the water was low we were still able to run everything. Here are just a few of the pics from the trip...

















Can you tell it's all about the white-water?

Carp Airshow

Showed up a little late last Sunday for this event but still managed to see an awesome show. Some pics...









This next photo was thanks to the mirrored building whose parking lot we used to view the show. Just in case you can't tell, it is distorted like one of those circus freak mirrors you find at the Ex. Honestly.