Enjoyed a fire too!

We enjoyed last week at the cottage we have been holidaying at for a few years in Apsley. With the exception of a day, we had beautiful weather and enjoyed the majority of the time on the dock and in the warm Jack Lake water. We spent the week with BBB’s family. Packing was the usual nightmare but it didn’t compare to the drive up and back. OMG. We tried a new system to strap down the SUP to the roof. Yes, it didn’t wobble as much but sweet zombie jesus, the strap noise was a shrill, non-stop torture. We tried many things to stop the painful sound but nothing dulled its menace. We thought it was the long strap that ran along the board so we surrounded it in a pool noodle on the drive home. That did nothing. So… either it was the large, sideways strap or there isn’t a way to make the screaming stop. The sound occurred over 50km…. on a 3hr drive. We had no choice but to endure… We will try another strap system because that sound could bring on a mental breakdown.

Bdot took full advantage of her SUP – she used it at least once, pretty much every day. She even beat us across the bay for ice cream, so she has become quite proficient on her board. I tried the ‘cottage SUP’ and it was fun for rec use but any type of serious paddling and it was like controlling a cement truck down a slalom course.

So nice – we visited it twice. :/

We also brought our Mountain Bikes which we took to Silent Lake for a ride. And oh what a ride. We are used to well groomed, well-travelled trails… the trail at Silent Lake is NOT either, and we did the better yellow section. It was really bumpy and challenging. I even got tossed once after a bump/rut combo. I was a little stiff, but no serious harm. The bike trail follows the ski trail up and down hills through woods and fields. It was a monstrous work out. We took brief refuge in one of the ski warm up huts. Eventually, we thought we were close to done. We came to a split in the trail between staying on the Yellow/Blue trail or parking lot, we assumed the yellow trial would eventually lead us to the parking lot. It did not. It looped back to the hut we just came from… so, in our tired state, we did the loop again. While the trail was pretty fun, I think I would look for other options in the area to ride again. The blue trail that left from the Ski hut was really difficult and clearly saw much less activity. Go figure. I think my legs have finally forgiven me.

Hello storm. Goodbye Lake. Goodbye blue skies.

Midway through the week, we had a dreadful storm. It was pretty intense, I’d say even a low grade hurricane or micro-burst. It knocked down a few trees on the property and tossed off some heavy deck chairs into the bay. There was debris mess everywhere… I can’t recall a worse storm I’ve seen in person. (Other than Winter)

We had a few visitors during the week. Jess came for a night on her BMW motorcycle. Also, Vicky and her kids came for a night. This ratcheted up the noise level considerably. It was quite a contrast to the relative quiet of the final day with just the two couples.

Who you calling small?

In the past we have been able to catch a considerable number of ‘eating size’ fish. But this visit all we caught were small ‘throw back’ fish. Hmmpt.

Over two nights, Buck and I watched the final games of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. The Canada/U.S. game was pretty incredible. Back and forth the entire game. It literally went down to the final second where Canada scored a controversial, unreviewable, goal… The broadcast showed the puck entered the net AFTER the 0.00 so it shouldn’t have counted. But the refs had no means to review and it would be impossible to make the perfect call in real time. Canada went on to win in OT. They played Sweden for gold. It was a much easier game for Canada – who, by the middle of the third were up a few goals, and it appeared that the Sweds threw in the towel. So it was gold for Canada with an asterisk.

It was a fun week for sure. We all got a lot of Sun and ate really well, relaxed and enjoyed the time together.

It looks like Humber has accepted me. It is a curious process as the application bounces between the Ontario College website and Humber. The confirmation has yet to show on Humber’s site. Hmpt.

Thanks to my Mom for the cookies and watching Zappycat.

UPDATE!

Huh, there is a new Medieval animated series on Netflix called Disenchantment.

The Curious trio