Monday, June 25, 2007

Sand Drags

Got up fairly early this morning and headed off towards Cowichan Lake which should not be confused with Cowichan Bay which is on the ocean and in the opposite direction. Every two weeks they hold motorcycle sand drags. Patty Ben and I thought we'd check it out. Wasn't sure how it was going to be because of the threat of rain but it would sprinkle a bit then stop. Then the sun would come out. The sand drags have different divisions and started off with the little kids, then intermediates then the 400cc then they jumped to the 1100cc paddle tires some with NOS and then the 600cc paddle tires some with NOS. They had one more division after that but after the 1100cc bikes my ears were ringing so bad it hurt my head. The 600cc were almost as fast being lighter and were just as noisy ... I think LOL. It was a good day, lots of fun and didn't cost too much just 12 bucks for the 3 of us. Not sure when or if we will go back soon but I'd like to go again but with ear plugs and just for the last three divisions. The only spill was in the kids races when a 4 year old lost control of his quad at the end of his run. Only thing he complained about was sand in his eyes when he did the face plant. Wrong end of the track so I didn't get any pictures although I saw it happen. Ben even joined in with the crew raking the track by jumping on the rake being towed by a truck getting rid of the ruts. Here are a few pictures. If you look close you might even notice a couple women riders. A young woman won the 600cc paddle tires division and another was third.















Saturday, June 23, 2007

recent photos

On Friday I went into work for a couple hours on my own time because I'm trying to get a new position and so I'm trying to show some initiative. Its a job upstairs in the designing room. I don't want to jinx it but I'm not sure if its the job for me or not. The guys are real busy up there right now and neither one has the time to show me much and neither one is a good teacher because they talk in terms that only ppl that have done that or taken a course on reading plans will understand. But I'll go in again next Friday and see how it goes. At lunch time I go for a drive till I have to be back to start my regular job. Fridays are only 4 hours so I don't mind going in a bit early to check this thing out. Last Friday I took my camera with me and took a few photos.







Today Patty and I went for a drive and ended up in Cowichan Bay where they had a silly boat regatta going on. The place was packed and it was hard to find a parking spot. We managed to find one then went for a walk to check things out. The weather wasn't that great as it kept trying to rain. We stopped for lunch and had some fish then when we got outside I decided to take some pictures of the boats they were building as the rain had stopped. I heard each time was allowed to spend 75 dollars to buy materials to build the boat then they had to build it on site today for a race later. They had a lot of people wandering around in different costumes and sometimes putting on a little show for visitors.










After we left the Bay area we went for a drive along the ocean. As we got back to Duncan I remembered there was supposed to be an old stone church known as the butter church. I asked Patty if she wanted to go find it and she said it sounded like fun. So we asked some old guy directions and ended up taking the main hwy back to Cowichan Bay but as we reached the town again I thought we must have passed it from what we were told. I pulled off the road because I didn't want to go through the town again and asked another gentleman who gave us very different directions which lead us back through town along the road we had already circled around on. When we finally found the old church we were probably only 5 kms from where we asked the old guy directions. Oh well it was a nice day for a drive and the sun was now starting to poke through and there was no more rain. We climbed the hill to the church and found a few native kids playing around the ruins. The place is in rough shape with a lot of graffiti but was still a cool place to photograph. I took a few pictures of the wife and allowed her to take one of me. I read online the reason its called The Butter Church is that it was built from money earned at a farm on that spot that sold butter. It was built in 1870. To learn more about it
  • Click Here













  • Now last but not least ... here are a few photos of Jack who is getting bigger and definitely badder every day. I might have some more pictures tomorrow depending on the weather.






    Tuesday, June 19, 2007

    Fathers Day

    Well it was a little different for a fathers day for me. Days like that when I would call dad to talk to him even if it was for only a couple minutes are tough. I would call him every couple of weeks to say hello but never missed calling on a special day. I remember The first Christmas without mom, her birthday and mothers day. Days when we would celebrate with them but now we can just think of them since they are no longer with us. Fathers day was going to be just like that and nothing more...or so I thought. I woke up in the morning and got a big kiss from my wife as usual. Then when I was in getting my breakfast Ben came in with a gift and said happy fathers day. Patty said they were going to take me out for lunch that day. I really wasn't expecting anything so it was a real nice touch on a day where I was a little down thinking about dad. That afternoon when we were heading back home from Nanaimo Albert called so I let his mom take the call but she passed it right to me because he had called to wish me a Happy fathers day as well. Its nice when your not expecting something when it happens. Especially something positive LOL. It was a nice feeling even though the day had its moments when sadness would hit.

    I passed the phone back to his mom so I could concentrate on my driving. The end of Albert's call was a lot of trash talking since he figures that now he has taken up tennis that he would be able to whip my butt because I'm so old and hes so young. Can't wait to teach him a lesson on the court. Hes coming for a visit in August but we might have to go visit him in July so that I can give him a lesson so that when he comes here in August he'll give me at least a little competition. I'm older and slower but I know I still have game in me. Last time I played was with Michelle one day last summer. Before that I'm really not sure but I did play a couple times my first year on the island. I know I still got it and hes going to know it when we get to play.

    Saturday, June 16, 2007

    Jodi and Maisan in B.C. part three

    Sunday morning was pretty much the same as Saturday waiting on Maisan to get out of bed and get his butt in gear so we could get a move on. Then we stopped at a little market and waited for Maisan to finish his shopping.

    We left the market and went to Beacon Hill Park where there is a little petting zoo. The weather wasn't the best but we made the best of it. It didn't rain hard but it kept trying to rain. We had a lot of fun walking around looking and taking pictures of the animals and some of us even went as far as Kissing them as you will see in the photos. The best area is where the goats are because you can go right inside the pen and walk amongst them. They run around and climb stumps and each other as well climb on unexpecting people who bend down. I even had one push behind me while I was sitting down resting only it stopped half way to pee on my jkt. It was a lot of fun but it was just a spot to kill some time before our next stop.











    We left Beacon Hill Park and headed to the Wharf but made a pit stop for a cash machine and some munchies. Maisan and I waited till we got to the Wharf and we got a Halibut Burger at Barb's. I'm pretty sure I have had one before every whale watching trip I've gone on. I went down to talk to Cpt Ron to try and get us a little better deal. Being the first trip with him this season he was only going to give us 10 dollars off the price but after chatting him up and I had sent him an email the night before he gave us a much better deal. Probably not as good as Maisan's cousin could have gotten him but it was a pretty good deal. Not sure if Tove could have gotten all 5 of us a deal but the boat we went on was a lot smaller and more personal. Tove's is a double decker that probably holds at least 50 or 60 people. So after eating we suited up and got on board the boat to set out on our whale watching expedition. The weather was looking better but the water was a bit choppy especially out in the open. We stopped once along the way to check out a huge cormorants nest which just happen to have a young bald eagle sitting on it probably resting after its feast on the eggs or young baby birds. The water was still pretty rough so we headed off again. The trip to where the whales were was about an hour away from the Wharf near some Islands called San Juan Islands. I found out yesterday that the San Juan Islands are about 50 minutes away by boat from Cowichan Bay not far from Duncan. We got to the area where the whales were and I was surprised at how few boats were out. The rough water might have kept a few away. We sat and watched and were amazed by the whales for at least an hour. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do because I wanted to share the moment with my family. The Sun was now blazing but the boat was still rocking quite a bit. The whales always seem to surprise me and do something different. This time I got to see some spy hopping where they poke their head straight up out of the water to look around. One whale called granny because she is the oldest in J Pod even breached but it happened too quick and too far away for pictures. She did it right beside a whale watching boat. We all enjoyed watching the whales and our time ended too soon but we had to head back. The ride was pretty good for the most part because we had taken a different route back but once we hit the open water it was pretty scary for a bit. I've never been out in such rough water with at least 5 foot waves rolling by. Jodi, Maisan and Ben were all up front and were getting a pretty bumpy ride. Our ride in the back was less bumpy but we were getting soaked by the spray of the bow hitting the waves. I was surprised at how much Patty enjoyed it seeing that she can't swim and isn't crazy about water. I'm not sure she will rush out again too soon but she might if we hook up with Maisan's cousin Tove probably when she gets back from Ontario. When we were back on solid ground and heading home we made a quick stop at Tove's to drop off her Save On card and for another goodbye and one last stop at a place on the hwy for a drink or ice cream treat on Patty. Other than the fact Maisan's camera was hurting after the trip (hope its OK now Maisan!!) we had lots to talk about and pictures to look at on the cameras. I told Patty that I'd drop them off and go get pizza for supper which Jodi decided to come along for the ride. On the way back we stopped and checked out an umbrella that was in a driveway with other stuff that said free. I made Jodi hang on to it out the window while I drove home. Since then I have picked up 2 more from a guy at work. I priced out wood for building a table which I hope to do/start Sunday. Maybe I'll take pictures like I did when I made that game for dad and Jean a while back.












    Well this is the last part since after this day it was mostly rest and a lot of tears. It meant so much to me that Jodi and Maisan could have taken a trip anywhere like Florida, Mexico, Rio or even New York but they chose to come here. This is Jodi's second time out here too the first being my first year out here for her birthday and now on my birthday. It really meant a lot since she had wanted to come out for my wedding and for reasons we spoke about was unable to make it. It would have been nice for anyone to attend but I know it all happened so fast and that time of year its more expensive to fly. I had met this wonderful person after returning from a stay in Ontario that was hard on all of us and I knew this person was the one for me and just wanted to end the year off on a good thing and start a new year as happy as I could ever be. The end of June will be 6 months and nothing has changed. I'm still as happy as I could ever be and in Love with this wonderful person that I married on December 31, 2006. Every day is a new day and I just hope I make her half as happy as she makes me. At the end of the month I hope to take her down to Victoria and take her beach combing for the day then for a nice supper and then a horse and buggy ride along the ocean. Hopefully most of you will get to meet Patty next summer when we go to Ontario for Shawn and Marianne's wedding. Wow this was about 3 posts for the price of one.