Author: gfox (old content)

Cabin Wound

Last weekend we were on Saltspring to close up the cabin for the winter. We went over on a stormy Saturday and withing 15 minutes of arriving at the cabin and starting to get it warmed up, the power went out. We had planned to go out for dinner that night anyway, so this wasn’t a big setback.

We ate dinner, got some groceries, and a few other supplies to get through the darkness (candles and a flashlight). When we got back to the cabin, I got the woodstove going, and we settled in for the night. We had promised the kids a movie night, and thankfully Sue’s laptop had enough power for that.

The next morning the power was back, so we had a nice breakfast, then took Heart for a walk at Duck Creek. While back at the cabin I started another fire, and we had some lunch.

Things were going well, but I felt like I was constantly reminding the kids to stay away from the stove. Sure enough, there was an accident. Amy and Elliot collided in the hallway, Amy bounced off Elliot, and her hand touched the stove. As soon as I learned what happened I grabbed her and got her hand under cold water. She pointed out exactly where it was hurting, so I kept it under water a long time. We were going to be late for the ferry, so Sue took over for me while I packed the car. As I was handing her over, Amy turned her arm in a way that showed she had another burn down her arm. Seeing this made me feel sick. I felt like I had been running water over the wrong part of her.

She was upset, but not screeching in pain. We bundled her up as best we could, then got in the car and headed for the ferry. Using my phone I found a clinic we had been to before that was open late. We made a beeline for it when we got off the ferry. They diagnosed her with a 2nd degree burn, patched her up, gave us instructions on how to care for her wound, then we were on our way. Again, we had planned to go out for dinner, so we went to Montana’s.

Here is our brave girl, looking none the worse for wear.


Regularly Eligible

53 that is how many blood donations I have done now. When I started going regularly I hadn’t really thought about why. I remember as a child seeing my dad go and give blood. That’s one reason I went. Now I go for another reason. There are so many charities out there these days asking for money. I don’t want to be giving lots of my money away to a select group of society that one charity helps out.

Instead I give blood.

This is something that helps anyone regardless of their race, wealth, belief system, or lot in life. I’m proud that I can help people on this way, and I do what I can to encourage others to go. I hope I don’t come off as pushy to others, but the stats on the number of eligible Canadians that do donate is embarrassingly low. Only 3% of eligible Canadians actually donate. I know we can do better.

My latest donation was a simple affair. I’ve been through the process enough times that it doesn’t faze me anymore. Strangely though, my hands were chilly, and for the first time in a long time, it actually took longer than five minutes to fill the bag. Other than that, no problems. I only had a two sets of cookies too, since I was meeting Sox and the kids for dinner afterward.

Election Bit

I just got back from the all candidates meeting for the upcoming Esquimalt Council election.

First thing that struck me as I took my seat was, wow do I feel young in the crowd. The average age was at least 25 years over my age. The second thing that struck me was how many people had come out for the event

I sat and listened to everything, but I must admit that I had thrown the bozo bit on two of the candidates before I had arrived. I flipped the same switch on two more very quickly.

There was definitely a lot of politicking going on, and some of the candidates comments sounded like they were designed to get them elected, rather than being truthful. One of the candidates was deeply rooted in the past and wasn’t going to change. The fourth of the bozos seemingly had no clue how the council works, or what their purpose was. This candidate wanted to put everything to referendum so that the people could have their say. My thoughts in response to this was 1) too costly and 2) we elect a council to represent us so we don’t all have to give our say for every decision.

At the end of the night I know of four people I will cast ballots for, and four people whom I hope don’t
get voted in, yet some of them will because the seats need to be filled. Yikes, I feel for the returning mayor, and for any of the current councillors up for re-election should they return.

Impossible Bulbs

When we moved in our dining room had no chandelier. We bought one, had it installed, and were much happier. Then a bulb burnt out. Then another. Now it is impossible to find any dimmable incandescent bulbs. We tossed in a non-dimmable CFL and told the kids not to touch the dimmer, hoping that this would be fine.

On the weekend I was at Home Depot, so I decided to see about fixing the light properly. Turned out that to get some dimmable CFL’s, I would need to replace the dimmer switch, since I couldn’t remember what kind I bought last time. The lady I was talking to told me about the LED bulbs that were on sale. $15 off a $29.95 bulb until the end of November. Dimmable CFL bulbs were selling for $12.95. $2 extra for the LED. I figured why not, let’s give these a shot.

When I had some time I shut off the power to the chandelier, disassembled the existing switch, and installed the new switch. Being a non-handy guy, this was a big step. Then I took out the CFL, and installed one of the LED bulbs to see what they look like. Not bad. I put in the other 2 bulbs, cleaned up, and that was that.

Last night I was working on the dining room table, and I had the though, that I really liked the light quality from the LED bulbs. They are bright enough, but the light is a pretty warm yellow, not a harsh white like many CFL bulbs.

I am not sure what I will do when some of the other CFL bulbs start going and the sale isn’t anymore.

Crisp Wander

Heart and I got out for a fall ride at the dump yesterday. The conditions were spectacular. Very crisp, sunny, tacky dirt, not too much mud. Couldn’t have asked for more. Well, actually I would. I wished my legs had been up to the task. I just never felt warmed up, which was really odd.

We did a nice loop that incorporated some of the lower trails. Then we went up for a bit, ending up at C-Section. I had heard another rider mention night shift, and I thought that was a great idea. I started up the correct road for Night Shift, but as I got to the trail head, I decided to climb some more to get to Who’s Yer Daddy. Trail wise I was feeling on. I was hitting jumps here and there with ease, but my legs never felt like they had any power, and they ran out of what power they had quickly.

Heart is a great trail companion though. She sticks pretty close to me, and doesn’t wander much. Very different than Yoshi. I love riding with Heart, I just need to keep an eye on her still because when she does get separated, she gets a little frantic and goes the wrong way. When she gets tired, she starts to lag behind me. At the end of my ride, I am generally going pretty fast down the last couple sections.

In any event, she was tuckered out from the ride and wanted in to the truck as soon as possible.


View Nov 6, 2011 Dump Ride With Heart in a larger map

Total Distance: 6.70 km (4.2 mi)
Total Time: 59:23
Moving Time: 47:14
Average Speed: 6.77 km/h (4.2 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 8.52 km/h (5.3 mi/h)
Max Speed: 27.00 km/h (16.8 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 102 m (335 ft)
Max Elevation: 246 m (807 ft)
Elevation Gain: 235 m (772 ft)
Max Grade: 12 %
Min Grade: -9 %

Sight Eyes

I’ve been fortunate in life to have been blessed with good eyesight. As I have grown older, my sight has remained good, but I have noticed changes. When I am reading on the couch, then try to see the time across the room, I certainly notice it takes longer to focus on the clock. Every once in a while, my right eye feels a little fuzzier than my left. I’d never gone to see anyone about this, since I wasn’t worried about it at all.

A few weeks ago Sox mentioned Amy was going to get her vision checked and asked if I wanted to get mine done as well. The last time I had my eyes checked, I think I was around 12 or 13. It certainly was time.

The technology for this has changed quite a lot too. There were new machines to peer into, dots to follow, cameras taking pictures. Interesting. Then the optometrist saw me and we got to look at the letters on the wall and switch out varying lens things to see which is better or worse. She determined that my right eye had an insignificant prescription to it.

Then we had to do the pressure test. Uggh. I hate things touching my eyes. I can’t even watch other people doing it. The though of putting in and taking out contacts in my eyes makes my eyes water. She put some anesthetic drops in, had me sit for a sec, then used some instrument on my eyes. That was it. Completely unlike the last time I went.

The final thing she wanted to do was to put some drops in to dilate my pupil so she could see a different part of the inside of my eyes. I agreed, so in the drops went, then off to the waiting area. After the final check I was free to go. She mentioned my eyesight would be off for a while. Driving home was fine.

Once I was home I was planning on working. That didn’t happen. My eyesight was so bad that I couldn’t focus on anything withing a few feet of me. I had to wait a couple hours until I could see properly again.

I’m glad that I got my eyes checked, and I plan to go on a regular basis now.

Movember Progress

November, err Movember is now in full effect. What is Movember? Movember is a movement that started in Australia to raise awareness for prostate cancer. Men around the world shave clean on Movember 1st, then grow a mo for the rest of the month.

What many people don’t know is that 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to afflict Canadian men with 25,500 diagnosed and 4,400 dying from the disease each year.

Facts like these have convinced me I should get involved. I am hoping that you will support my efforts by making a donation. The funds raised go directly to Prostate Cancer Canada.

To make a donation you can either

  • Go to my movember page and donate online
  • call Movember at 1-855-4GROW MO (1-855-447-6966)

I will send out weekly updates on my progress too (both donation count, and moustache growth). Since Sue is going to be away for half the month, this year I’ve decided to grow the coveted Trucker. In case you are wondering what that looks like, the styles are here (or look at my halloween costume).

Now for some pictures.

Me on October 31 (morning)

Me ready for Halloween (repeated costume I know)

Me on Movember 1st

Movember completion last year:

Movember completion two years ago:

Dessert Favorite

Last night Sox and I went out to see Wil play at the Upstairs Cabaret.

We arrived way, way, way too early, so we went and had a drink and dessert at Ferrisses. Yum!

We got to the club in time to see CR Avery perform. We could have arrived a lot later. His performance wasn’t our sort of thing. He is a beat boxing, spoken word artist. He even went off on the audience telling them to shut up and be quiet so he could get into it. In the end he said that that was part of the act, and it was his buddies that were making the noise as part of his show.

Still, we were really glad when Wil hit the stage. He put on an excellent show as always. He played some tracks from his new album, and many from older albums. He played my absolute favorite (Honey Pie), to round out his set. His encore was an absolute mind blowing song that I had never heard before, and was him going off on the guitar.

My only complaint about his music was that it seemed short.

Slipping Pumpkins

What a weekend. Sox and I had sent the kids up to my mom’s house for the weekend, since we were planning on going to Oktoberfest.

With no kids, Sox and I went out for a very nice sushi dinner and Sen Zushi. Yum.

Saturday, I did some errands, then Sox and I went for a bike ride together on the goose. The fall colors were amazing, but I was always a little concerned about slipping out on the leaves. We rode out to Langford, then back again. Simple ride. On the way back we stopped at the new Cecelia Ravine Bike Park. Great facility for kids and adults alike. After cleaning up from our ride, I worked a little while Sox napped.

Saturday night we went down to the Edelweiss Club for the final weekend of Oktoberfest. We had a great time with a bunch of our friends, drank lots of (expensive) beer, danced a bunch, and generally just enjoyed the night thanks to the S-Bahn. The downside was that we had a hard time getting home due to Halloween weekend. We called a cab around midnight, waited an hour and nothing showed up. Thanks to one of the employees at the Edelweiss, we got a ride to downtown. T&L managed to jump on a bus to get home, but Sox and I waited a bit for a taxi. Nothing. We then decided to walk. Along the way we passed the Mexican Food truck, so we stopped in for some tacos. Yum! Walking across the bridge we saw a taxi returning to downtown. We flagged for it, then ran toward it. We also saw another couple running towards us, after they had flagged it down. Turned out they were heading to the base, so we shared the cab, and got out at the boat park. It took us 2 hours to get home.

Sunday, after getting the kids home, we got ready for Halloween. I finished decorating, we carved the pumpkins, and E and I made his costume. He wanted to be a present for Halloween, so I got a box, and we cut some arm holes, and a hole for his head. He then made the wrapping paper for it. The finishing touch was a ribbon painted on his forehead. Amy dressed up as a lion.