Today I had my morning ritual interrupted, ruined almost. I got up as always, started the coffee, ate breakfast, fed Yoshi, then went upstairs for a shower. Aprés shower I discovered that I had forgotten to buy more deodorant after emptying it yesterday :grr: I had to stop somewhere on the way to work and buy some.

I much prefer mornings where I can get through my ritual unimpeded.

To top it off, it would appear that my favorite brand is no longer being produced as a deodorant, but only as an antiperspirant. I don’t want that. I now have to try a new brand. In fact, in the aisle marked deodorant, I would estimate that there was a ratio of about 4:1 for antiperspirant to deodorant. Maybe the sign should be changed?

Yesterday myself, Sue, and Yoshi met up with Coreman, Justine, and Oscar for a walk at Devonian Regional Park. This park is out in Metchosin, and was quite a nice walk.

After walking along a nice trail for about 20 – 30 minutes, you pop out on a beach. We walked along the beach quite a ways while the dogs played in the sand, chewed and retreived sticks, and swam in the ocean.

After the walk Sue and I went to a friends’ house to help them pack their moving van. They are moving to Vancouver, and will be missed.

After the walk on the beach, and the loading of heavy furniture, I was zonked. We went to Costco to grab a few things, then it was home so I could rest and sleep. All in all, it was an enjoyable day!

This week I have been sick with a cold. Nothing too severe though. :barf: I took half of Monday off, then Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday and today I have been at work, but I haven’t been all that effective. I hate being sick. I probably should have stayed home until I was completely better, but I was getting bored. Besides, I am not contagious any more.

Anyway, the point of this post was to talk about Yoshi. I got up at 7 this morning and took him for a 20 minute walk around the neighbourhood. He was full of energy the whole way and kept pulling the leash. I was stumbling along behind him feeling quite ill. When we got back home I let him in the door, then went upstairs for a shower. When I got out, there Yoshi was all curled up on his bed sleeping soundly. He is such a great dog!

Last nigt a light rain settled in. Our wonderful snow is now rapidly turning into icky slush. The slush is harder to drive in, looks awful, and just gets everything soaking wet. I much prefer the snow. If you are prepared for snow, then going out in it isn’t too bad.

A funny story about the snow. My driveway is fairly steep, and slopes down to the street. I have been backing into the driveway so that it is easy to take off in the morning. Last night was the first time I have had to back into it while the whole thing was covered in snow. I had parked there once already and it wasn’t a big deal. After picking Sue up from the SPCA I attempted the maneuver again. I backed in with a little speed, and halfway up the rear tires broke loose.

I came to a stop with my front end just off the road. No big deal, I was off the road, so that was all I really wanted. I turned off the truck, set the parking brake, released the clutch, then the brake. As soon as my foot left the brake, my truck slid out into the street!

Shocker. I started it back up again, backed into the driveway again, and like the last time, as soon as I lifted my foot from the brake, my truck slid out into the road. I ended up parking on the street in front of my house.

Hey, the meteorologists got it right! We have snow this morning. When I got up, there was a couple inches on the ground already, and it was still coming down. In fact it is snowing quite hard.

This begs the question: do I go to work, or do I stay home and play? Take the camera gear and the dogs out to Elk Lake perhaps? Dunno. Most likely I will be responsible and go to work. But damn it would be nice to go out shooting pics again.

The below pictures are the same shot. I screwed up the original (under exposed), so I Photoshopped it to brighten, then attempted to remove some of the resulting noise. I am not sure which result I like better (neither are great).

Apparently Victoria might be getting another dump of snow tonight. I think that would be fine. I haven’t had too much trouble adjusting to the road conditions, but some other people have, and they are the scary ones.

I love the sound after a fresh snowfall. The hush is something magical, mystical even.

I have heard Victoria might get between 5 and 15 cms. I will have another report in the morning on how we fared.

Victoria got a nice blanket of fluffy white stuff last night. There are only about 3 inches or so around our place, but the wind has reorganized it in a few areas. I stepped in one snow bank that was half way up to my knee. I woke up early this morning (6:15), and since I couldn’t get back to sleep, I decided to get up and take the dogs for a walk at Macaulay Point Park. I bundled up nice and warm, grabbed my camera gear and a cup of coffee, then stepped out into the winter wonderland with two over eager dogs.

They had a great time once I let them off leash. They ran and ran and ran. Once in a while Digger would scoop snow as he was running at full speed! Meanwhile I walked much more slowly and took lots of pics. As I was deciding to leave, I noticed the beginnings of a nice sunrise, so I quickly scrambled to the highest point in the park and took a few shots. Beautiful!
Read more for the pics.

The wind kicked up and forced me off the lookout, but I went for one more lap to use up the warm light. The doggies had a great time. In all we were gone for over an hour and a half.

Yay, it is now snowing in Victoria. I hope it doesn’t stay too long, but it is nice that it made an appearance this year.

I was awoken too early by the dog and I could feel the effects of a hangover from last nights party. Yeuck! Thankfully it is only mild. I got up, made some coffee, and while on the couch scanned the TV Channels. Speed Channel is having a World Rally-Thon! Woohoo! The whole WRC season in one day! I am sitting on the couch writing this up with the TV on in the background. I love WRC racing, and having the whole season in one day is wicked.

I remember them doing this last year and it is a welcome surprise. I missed that last few races of the season this year, so I will get to see them after all. I am going biking at 1, so I will have to tape them, but that is just fine with me! Yay! This makes me happy.

In other racing news, Speed Channel is advertising the next Dakar Rally which starts Saturday. Again, this makes me happy! 🙂 I love rally races. WRC is so fast and crazy. The Dakar is in many spots too, but it is more raw and pure. Plus some of the scenery is so stunning. I love watching the Dakar!