So with Mel recovering from a surgery and most of our friends either busy or out of town, it's been a pretty quiet weekend so far. Mostly I've been working on the Obiter Dicta website, getting some new functionality into it in preparation for the start of the school year. Mel's been busy with her new website too.
Maybe we'll light a bon-fire tonight, that would be a good long-weekend activity.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
On the Lake, Part II
Our second day out on the lake saw the sun come up and remain clear most of the day. The day was much less windy than even the previous day, so we decided to go out in the canoe for a short paddle, to get some practice. We paddled around the island we were camped on, which turned out to be a little bigger than I'd thought. The water was mostly calm, however, as the island itself provided a natural wind-brake for most of the trip. People paddling farther out in the lake were not so fortunate, and we later heard from friends of ours that they'd been turned back to the launch by the wind that day.
We spent the rest of our day loafing, napping, and eating leftover bannock pizza, of which we had a large surplus from the night before. We had so much that we ended up not preparing the bannock cinnamon buns that Mel had put on the menu. In fact we never did end up eating that meal. The bannock pizza also gave me my first real clue as to why we had so much food on the trip. Going out, I noticed that our food pack (actually a 30 l dry bag) was packed right full, with extra food tucked away in the day pack. Now I'm used to trips where four adults can pack food for a five-day trip in one internal-frame pack, with room to spare for the cooking gear. Carrying such a large amount of food on a canoe trip, even one where we didn't plan on portaging, seemed excessive to me. This would be understandable if we were taking a lot of canned or wet goods out with us, but we weren't; Melanie had dehydrated everything dehydratable, and as far as I could tell from the menu we had a reasonable meal plan for the four days we'd be out. The discrepancy, it turned out, wasn't in the number or kind of meals, but in the size of each meal -- there was enough bannock for the pizza to feed us for the whole trip! And there were two other dishes with large quantities of bannock to boot! So basically we carried enough bannock for a five day trip, plus enough food on top of that for a second trip as well. Needless to say, next year, we're bringing less bannock.
Maddie settled into outdoor living fairly well by this day, and seemed to have a lot of fun playing in the dirt, the water, and seeing all the wildlife (which consisted mainly of squirrels and frogs). She also instituted a ritual of sorts. Each day we were out, at about 4 pm, she would stop whatever it is that she was doing, and grab a couple of pots, spoons, or plastic shovels. We all had to line up, each of us with an improvised instrument, and have a marching parade around the campsite for fifteen minutes. It was pretty fun. Later that day, she regaled us with an impromptu ballet recital out on the rock overlooking the lake. Totally made my trip.
The trip ended Sunday morning, with Mel and I deciding to get into the landing before the wind went up. The paddle was uneventful, except for the large number of boats that blew past us, kicking up wakes as they went. We made it to shore without incident, packed the car, and headed home to civilization. And so ends the Anima-Nip Trip, 2010.
We spent the rest of our day loafing, napping, and eating leftover bannock pizza, of which we had a large surplus from the night before. We had so much that we ended up not preparing the bannock cinnamon buns that Mel had put on the menu. In fact we never did end up eating that meal. The bannock pizza also gave me my first real clue as to why we had so much food on the trip. Going out, I noticed that our food pack (actually a 30 l dry bag) was packed right full, with extra food tucked away in the day pack. Now I'm used to trips where four adults can pack food for a five-day trip in one internal-frame pack, with room to spare for the cooking gear. Carrying such a large amount of food on a canoe trip, even one where we didn't plan on portaging, seemed excessive to me. This would be understandable if we were taking a lot of canned or wet goods out with us, but we weren't; Melanie had dehydrated everything dehydratable, and as far as I could tell from the menu we had a reasonable meal plan for the four days we'd be out. The discrepancy, it turned out, wasn't in the number or kind of meals, but in the size of each meal -- there was enough bannock for the pizza to feed us for the whole trip! And there were two other dishes with large quantities of bannock to boot! So basically we carried enough bannock for a five day trip, plus enough food on top of that for a second trip as well. Needless to say, next year, we're bringing less bannock.
Maddie settled into outdoor living fairly well by this day, and seemed to have a lot of fun playing in the dirt, the water, and seeing all the wildlife (which consisted mainly of squirrels and frogs). She also instituted a ritual of sorts. Each day we were out, at about 4 pm, she would stop whatever it is that she was doing, and grab a couple of pots, spoons, or plastic shovels. We all had to line up, each of us with an improvised instrument, and have a marching parade around the campsite for fifteen minutes. It was pretty fun. Later that day, she regaled us with an impromptu ballet recital out on the rock overlooking the lake. Totally made my trip.
The trip ended Sunday morning, with Mel and I deciding to get into the landing before the wind went up. The paddle was uneventful, except for the large number of boats that blew past us, kicking up wakes as they went. We made it to shore without incident, packed the car, and headed home to civilization. And so ends the Anima-Nip Trip, 2010.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Out on the Lake -- Part 1
So our 4 day trip on Anima-Nip
Didn't go quite as expected.
The day we arrived,
The waves were too high,
We feared that we'd be ejected.
So we went to Finlayson Point Provincial Park the first night, and car-camped there until the next morning. It was a pretty good back-up plan, and we had a great site in the park, quiet and removed from the worst of the park traffic. Alas, it was also a fair way removed from the comfort station, which is a somewhat painful experience when you have to run a 3 year old child to the pot every few hours (an experience which gets worse when you arrive at the pot 5 minutes later, only to find she had a false alarm). Fortunately for me, Melanie bore the worst of that particular task. I got the glamourous job of keeping the fire going. A job that was surprisingly difficult. We didn't bring wood this year (since Finlayson wasn't in the plan) and the stuff they sell at the park is fresh-cut and very green.
The next day, we packed up early and drove out to Anima-Nip again. This time, it looked like we'd be able to load the canoe at the launch without capsizing it, so we loaded up and paddled out. The island wasn't too far from the launch, probably about a 20-30 minute paddle if you go straight out over quiet water. We didn't have quiet water, as the lake was still up, so we had to hug the shore and hang a right at the first point past the fire-tower bay instead of heading straight out.
We got to the site without incident however, and got to work picking out a site (near to the shore, in the wind), setting up a tarp, and getting our shiny new Marmot tent up and covered. This done, we settled in for a relaxing time on the island. Supper consisted of bannock pizza in our new firepit oven, and it was very tasty. The rest of the evening was fairly bug-free, despite the humidity, thanks to a breeze that went across the island (and the near-gale force winds scouring the far shore of the lake). The biggest surprise of the night came when Maddie announced that she was going to go to bed, climbed into the tent herself, changed into a Pull-up herself, and went to sleep. On her own. Without coaxing, prodding, or even assistance from either me or Mel. Weird.
(part 2 shall appear after a brief but thoughtful delay)
Didn't go quite as expected.
The day we arrived,
The waves were too high,
We feared that we'd be ejected.
So we went to Finlayson Point Provincial Park the first night, and car-camped there until the next morning. It was a pretty good back-up plan, and we had a great site in the park, quiet and removed from the worst of the park traffic. Alas, it was also a fair way removed from the comfort station, which is a somewhat painful experience when you have to run a 3 year old child to the pot every few hours (an experience which gets worse when you arrive at the pot 5 minutes later, only to find she had a false alarm). Fortunately for me, Melanie bore the worst of that particular task. I got the glamourous job of keeping the fire going. A job that was surprisingly difficult. We didn't bring wood this year (since Finlayson wasn't in the plan) and the stuff they sell at the park is fresh-cut and very green.
The next day, we packed up early and drove out to Anima-Nip again. This time, it looked like we'd be able to load the canoe at the launch without capsizing it, so we loaded up and paddled out. The island wasn't too far from the launch, probably about a 20-30 minute paddle if you go straight out over quiet water. We didn't have quiet water, as the lake was still up, so we had to hug the shore and hang a right at the first point past the fire-tower bay instead of heading straight out.
We got to the site without incident however, and got to work picking out a site (near to the shore, in the wind), setting up a tarp, and getting our shiny new Marmot tent up and covered. This done, we settled in for a relaxing time on the island. Supper consisted of bannock pizza in our new firepit oven, and it was very tasty. The rest of the evening was fairly bug-free, despite the humidity, thanks to a breeze that went across the island (and the near-gale force winds scouring the far shore of the lake). The biggest surprise of the night came when Maddie announced that she was going to go to bed, climbed into the tent herself, changed into a Pull-up herself, and went to sleep. On her own. Without coaxing, prodding, or even assistance from either me or Mel. Weird.
(part 2 shall appear after a brief but thoughtful delay)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Heat Procrastination
I'm going to blog about the family camping trip -- really, I promise -- but right now it's just too hot, and I'm in the process of doing some home tech support work as well. Pictures will also be forthcoming.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Margaret E. Atwood (MargaretAtwood) on Twitter
Saw this on Twitter, a great interview with Margaret Atwood about the future of reading and ebooks. I liked best that she pointed out that the important question isn't going to be "how will we read?" but "who will be literate?"
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