Overheard

I'm not sure it's a good idea to eavesdrop on the guys doing work on your house:

"Oh my goodness"

"I don't know if this is going to work."

"Don't worry, s**t happens."

"That's in the wrong place!"
response: "Too late now."

"Hey, I'm fixing up your f**kups, so you don't have to worry about it."

(but as far as I can tell, it all ended up fine)

Back on Wheels

It's a "hybrid" Giant Seek 0 - Shimano Alfine 8 speed internal hub, hydraulic disk brakes, 700 x 32 tires, from the Bike Doctor.

My previous bike was a Cannondale F600 mountain bike - quite a different beast. But the fact is, I'm not riding off pavement these days so I decided I might as well get a bike that's more suited to the riding I'm actually doing - which is getting around town. I even put fenders on it - so much for my image!

Without the front shock and with skinnier tires, it's definitely a "harder" ride. You notice the bumps in the road a lot more (and avoid them more!) But it also feels fast and responsive. The internal gears shift smoothly and easily. (Although I'm still getting used to the shifting being "backwards") The range of gears seems ok. I think I would have preferred the range a little lower - I haven't found myself using the top few gears so far. But the lowest gear is still pretty low so it's ok.

I'm not sure how it'll be in the winter - that can be a lot more like "mountain" biking. I can still put studded tires on, albeit skinnier ones. And most of the time in the winter I ended up riding with my shock locked out because it had gone flat. And when it got really cold, shifting often didn't work reliably. From what I've heard the internal hub should still work ok when it's cold - we'll see.

I've been interested in the internal hubs for a while. The straight chain path and internal gears should (in theory) be nice low maintenance, especially in the slush and grit of spring and fall. Shimano has a new 11 speed version which sounds even better, but the Bike Doctor didn't have any yet. In fact, the Seek 0 was the only bike they had in stock with internal gears. Fall might be a good time for deals but not so good for selection. (and of course, this bike wasn't one of the ones on sale!) MEC has a bike with the 11 speed hub which looks pretty good, but I'd rather buy locally. Especially when you want to get good service. (And MEC was out of stock anyway, eliminating any temptation.)

It's a fairly nondescript gray which suits me. (Even the branding is subdued.) I figure it's less likely to get stolen if it doesn't look too flashy. Although the disk brakes are a bit of a give-away if you know to look for them.

I think Shelley is just going to get another mountain bike. Not because she's riding off pavement any more than I am, but more because that's what she's always ridden and is used to. (And I have to admit, the mountain biker "image" is more appealing than "commuter"!)  Although I've been riding mountain bikes for quite a while, before that I rode "ten speeds" for many years, so this style of bike isn't as alien to me.

I reinforced the door of the shed so it won't be quite as easy to break into. But it's still just a flimsy metal shed so it's never going to be that hard to get into. I'm locking my bike up inside the shed as well - I would really be pissed to have the new one stolen. And I wouldn't put it past the thieves to come back in hopes of finding new bikes.

I'm happy to have a bike again. I hate to drive, so without a bike I'm reduced to walking, which is ok, but nowhere near as quick to zip around or go longer distances.

Sprinklers & Freezing

Our first overnight freezing temperatures a few days ago, but the sprinklers had still come on in the park.

Taken with Canon G12

Paddling into Autumn

With the weather still holding I couldn't resist heading north with my kayak. Had a great paddle around most of the Bagwa Loop although I didn't do the portages. (I'd rather paddle than slog through the mud.) Instead I stayed both nights at the Pease Point campsite and on Saturday I paddled through Bagwa and Lily Lake, walked across the portage to have a look at Clare Lake, and then paddled back. Quite a long day with meandering about, and of course with the wind inevitably against me going back.

I didn't see any moose this year, but saw a few bald eagles reasonably close. And there were ducks and the odd Canada goose, a pelican, and a few Snow geese. The loons were making their iconic cries. Not many people around.

As forecast, the weather started to turn Sunday morning. It was clear and calm all night but the clouds gathered and the wind picked up as I paddled back. I seem to get rougher water for the paddle back. The waves were getting to be about three feet high in the worst parts, leading to a bit of a roller coaster, and the occasional splash in the face. Even with the spray skirt on, water still tends to get inside resulting in a wet ride. Thankfully a few of the bays were sheltered enough to take a breather. When I got to the end I was lucky to have a cart waiting at my end of the rail portage. And the rain held off until I was just about back to the car :-)

I haven't been out paddling much this summer so my arms and shoulders was pretty stiff and sore by the end. But it was a good kind of tired. And it was great to get out and enjoy our wonderful northern lakes.

(click to view photos)

The Grackles Come to Visit

Someone coming to the door said they thought they were in the Hitchcock movie "The Birds". A flock of Common Grackles that has been hanging around the neighborhood the last few days discovered our bird feeder. There were a lot of them - maybe a hundred. It was hard to get good photos, every time I came to the window they would all fly away. They're probably on their way migrating south. Often when you see them they just look black, but in the right light they are actually quite colorful. They seemed to be going after the bigger food that the sparrows don't eat like the corn and peanuts.

(Click on the photos for a larger version.)

Along the River

I've been kicking myself all weekend for not getting out on a kayak trip or something on this last bit of beautiful summer weather. So I took a hike to Waneskewin and back to at least spend some time outdoors.

It's not exactly wilderness, but it's always nice along the river. I came around a corner and four great blue herons took off from a sandbar, gangly but gracefu. An owl (long eared?) rose up out of the underbrush in front of me and perched on a branch eying me suspiciously. A hawk circled low around a coulee. Canada geese called from the river. Grasshoppers exploded up out of the grass all around me. Frogs jumped off the bank into the river. A muskrat dived in and swam away. Fish disappeared in a swirl of water. Clam shells and crayfish claws littered the shore. Ants feasted on a caterpillar. Bees and butterflies enjoyed the last flowers of the summer. I enjoyed the last of the summer!

click to view photos

Photos taken with the G12 this time.

Fall Feast

Beautiful black and yellow wasps feeding on a half eaten crab apple.

taken with iPhone 3GS

Amazing Riding

Climbing Weekend

Shelley and I just got back from a quick climbing trip to Kananaskis. We left Thursday after work, climbed Friday at Barrier Bluffs, and Saturday we did Joy on Mt. Indefatigable. Sunday, somewhat sore and worn out from the long day on Joy, we had a leisurely breakfast and drove home.

Joy is an easy climb but a long one - about 10 pitches on the face and then three pitches or so of loose exposed ridge scrambling, followed by a long steep hike down. We had some trouble finding the right way down and ended up getting the rope back out to rappel a final cliff band. We'd done Joy before, quite a few years ago, but selective memory had edited out the ridge and descent.

It was great to get out, and the weather was beautiful as you can tell from the blue skies in the photos.

click to view photos

Dragonfly in the Grass

One morning a few days ago, I found this guy in the shade on some dew soaked grass, not moving. I wasn't sure he was alive but when I carefully picked him up he grabbed onto my finger. I carried him home and set him in the sun while I ran inside for my camera. I took a few shots quickly, but the grass wasn't the best background so I picked him up to move him. He must have just been cold and was warming up now. He started to vibrate his wings, which I've read insects do to help warm up, in the same way we might do some jumping jacks. Before I had a chance to set him down for more photos he must have warmed up sufficiently and off he went. So this is the best shot I got:



There have been a lot of dragonflies around this summer. No doubt the result of several wet years. I'm happy to have them around eating the mosquitos. They are amazing fliers and hunters.

Climbing Gym Reaches for Sustainability

Britain's Biggest Indoor Climbing Gym Reaches for Sustainability : TreeHugger

This Culture Is #/?*#-+

An article by Derrick Jensen in Orion magazine. I wasn't familiar with Orion but Candace Savage recommended it and it looks excellent. Even if you don't want to pay to subscribe, they publish a lot of content on line for free. If you're not familiar with Jensen, this is a mild introduction.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6350/

iPhone Photos

It does surprisingly well, considering this is an older 3GS, not the 4 with the better camera.

Peppers

I love the profusion of produce at the farmers market this time of year.

iPhone + Lightroom (click for larger view)

Patagonia Time Lapse

Beautiful time lapse video of Patagonia by Adam Colton.



As usual, it's worth viewing it larger size.

Happy Birthday Mendel

Cute Google graphic for Gregory Mendel's 189th birthday:

Growing is Forever

Watch it on Vimeo to get a larger version.

Urban Friends

I went for a run this morning and even within the city it's great to see other creatures besides humans.

The pelicans were out cruising the river. They are such beautiful flyers, although a little awkward looking taking off and landing.

A Northern flicker was out in the grass. They are the only woodpeckers that feed on the ground, often on ants. They are even known to crush ants and rub the resulting formic acid on themselves to kill parasites. I've seen quite a few of these this year.

A couple of Yellow warblers were hopping around in the bushes and trees. Such colorful little birds.

After my run, when I was sitting on a bench watching the river go by, a short-tailed weasel (aka stoat) ran across the path in front of me. It didn't seem to notice me and stopped under my bench for a moment before running a bit farther down the path and disappearing into the underbrush.

Life is good.

Fern Meadow

A beautiful meadow carpeted with ferns. This was from our recent Appalachian Trail hike. The video is not the greatest quality but I hope you get a feel for how beautiful it was. The music is, suitably, Copland's Appalachian Spring. (I thought I was using a short enough clip of the music to be legit, but it got detected and can't be played in Germany because of copyright.)



For a bigger version, click on the Vimeo button at the bottom right.

Shot with a Canon G12 and stabilized with iMovie.

2011-07-07 Update: The video quit working on YouTube, probably because of the copyright issue, so I switched to Vimeo.

Spreading the Word - EcoFriendly Sask

For some time I've wanted to do something to help the environment, but it's hard to know where to start. I have this blog where I sometimes talk about environmental issues, but I doubt whether my rants really do much to help the environment.

And so EcoFriendly Sask was born.

My sister Penny has a blog as well (Wanderlust and Words). I really liked the way she told the stories of people and their passions. She also has a weekly Flavourful Saskatoon post about local food happenings.

What if we were to start a blog (and Facebook and Twitter, of course) to talk about local environmental stories and happenings?

At first we were both a little sceptical as there are already so many environmental organizations and websites. But there aren't any websites focusing on the local environmental news and issues in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. No one was gathering the news from all the different organizations, each with their own focus. And no one was telling the stories of the local people and their passions.

Did you know that Saskatchewan's newest national park, Grasslands, was recently expanded? Did you know that the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives has a Saskatchewan office that recently released a report on Sustainable Power Options to Complement Wind and Solar? Do you know which businesses are out there if you want to install solar panels or geothermal? Do you know what events are going on this month related to the environment? That's the kind of information we wanted to share.

The more we thought about it, the more it made sense. I was already following the environmental news, and Penny had already developed a reporting style that we thought would work well.

We brainstormed for names and ended up with EcoFriendly Sask. We're not sure where we'll end up, but we're going to start by gathering the news and stories on the environmental front in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan and passing it on via blog, Facebook, and Twitter. We hope to raise awareness, educate, and encourage.

I hope you'll join us at EcoFriendly Sask, and please Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.