Secrets on Earth

Weekend walks

2012-02-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

Some pictures from this weekend's walks. Friday afternoon was nice at Chippewa and Saturday was t-shirt weather on top Mink Mountain.

Chippewa

2012-02-05T17:11:00.000-05:00

We took Dade for a sled ride at Chippewa this afternoon. A ride to the far end of the beach and back through the picnic area then around the amusement park and cabins. Back at the car we stopped at the playground equipment for a slide.

Then back to the house for a donut, some apple and a nap

Do I or Don't I

2012-02-01T14:52:00.001-05:00

Once again The Outdoor Show is hosting a photo contest. For those that remember, last year's winners in the Parks category were pictures of the same old same old, Kakabeka, The Sea Lion and The Sleeping Giant. And in the Landscape category, if you weren't taking a picture of a stream waterfall then apparently you wasted your time. So what will this years entries be, the categories are the same, Landscape, Wildlife, and Ontario Parks. Some people tell me my "giant" pictures are backwards! It amazes me how many people don't even know the park is there, or that the "giant" is visible from the other side. Do I dare submit a picture from Pigeon River Provincial Park? Will anyone know where that is? Cause I certainly won't submit one of the "big" three. Do I have anything in mind? Maybe

No, not these. It's an outdoor show, if the people aren't outdoors then the pictures should be tossed. That would be my opinion. I stuck these in as fillers.
'Edit: just noticed that there is no People category'

Should I or shouldn't I, going to have to go see what I have. What do you think?

63059

2012-01-30T21:05:00.002-05:00

I bought it in Aug 1999, for $700. It has been plugged in and powered on ever since. Waiting patiently for the press of a button or a signal from the pc to wake it up and do it's magic. Well today the Xerox laser copier / printer died at 63059 copies / prints. Thats like 13 copies a day for 13 years, not bad.

I've been using two printers for the last week or so because I can no longer purchase the preprinted invoice forms that I've used for the last 13 years. It seems that Blueline discontinued them with no replacement.When I found out the forms were being discontinued I bought all of them I could find. My supply of 400 came to an end and the Xerox printer didn't print the replacement form well. The accounting software had pre-defined forms but the printer didn't reproduce them clearly. It was old. So I was printing invoices on my HP inkjet and everything else on the Xerox ( until it died ).

So the Xerox has been replaced with a Brother laser copier / printer / scanner. So far I don't like the way it handles cheque printing. The manual single sheet feed doesn't seem to load the form straight and the result is a crooked cheque. I'll have to try it some more to see if maybe I'm doing something wrong. Other than that it prints and copies fast. Toner is a little cheaper with about the same yeild as the Xerox. The scanner works nice, something I have done without for many years but wished I had.

I'm going to miss the Xerox, it was one of the best pieces of equipment I had. I can only hope the brother lasts half as long. It has a monthly duty cycle of 10000.

Hungry Boy

2012-01-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

Stars and goldfish for a snack, half a jar of baby food, bread, and two strawberries for supper. And just after he got out of his high chair he grabbed a container of apple sauce from the cupboard. He was still hungry and ate the apple sauce as well.

Not Enough

2012-01-25T20:54:00.000-05:00

Seems that someone has complained that I haven't posted enough pictures lately. So here you go,

28mm Day

2012-01-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

I went for a drive to several spots today (5) and took a number of pictures. It was supposed to be sunny today but that didn't last long. Although I took all my equipment I decided to limit my self to one lens. So all the pictures are with a 28mm lens.

Silver Harbour

Headless Giant

Boulder Field

boulders from here were used to build the break wall in Thunder Bay some 50 years ago

Bacon Island

Mackenzie Point

Coal Pile & Pie Island

Old pier posts along the Kam River

Hydro tower

Looking up the tower

Funny Faces

2012-01-11T22:22:00.000-05:00

Just some funny faces from the last couple days.

Sunday Ride

2012-01-08T20:57:00.001-05:00

We took Dade to the Tree Farm this afternoon for a walk and a ride in his sled. We walked about 2 km.

Getting ready to go

Sledding

Enough sledding

Couple other pictures from the past week

2012

2012-01-03T22:27:00.000-05:00

As the new year starts it has been a little slow at work. Couple small jobs on the go but nothing more than a days worth of work. It's also back to having Dade a couple of times a week which means more pictures,

Trees

2011-12-05T19:40:00.000-05:00

I went for a walk on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I went to the Tree Farm in search of a tree I had taken a picture of several years ago. It was impressive and it stood alone in a clearing. It was gone, cut down, what a shame but it was probably mature and ready for removal. I didn't take a single picture. I continued to Kakabeka and took some pictures of the falls, not much water running this time of year. The same old pictures of the same old things, boring.

Sunday I decided to take a run to Chippewa for another walk. A little cooler and a wind off the lake, but a nicer day cause the sun was shining. Trees seemed to be the subject of the day, and I was able to capture some interesting views.

After I removed the two garbage cans and sign, the image below became my favorite.

I couldn't get back far enough to get this entire tree in the frame without including a lot

of unwanted things. So I decided to shoot the picture from a shorter distance

one third at a time. Then I put it back together with a panoramic stitching program.

New

2011-11-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted much but here are a couple of new pictures,

Genealogy

2011-11-05T21:40:00.002-04:00

I've been spending my evenings researching and creating a family tree. My mother had a great deal of information from her side of the family and I was able to find lots on my father's side.Putting the two together has created a rather complex tree. A recent discovery has added two more generations and increased the total count to 534 people.

So far, on my father's side I have traced back to my great great grandparents Anton and Teresia (Bajdik) Kresack and great great great grandfathers Jan John Lukacik and Jas Gracak.

On my mother's side I have gone back to my great grandfather Henry James Sutherland and 4th great grandparents James and Margaret (Newman) Rickards and 4th great grandparents William and Ann (Hurd) Willstead.

Any family member that would like to view the complete tree can request in invitation from me. It will require that you create a guest account with Ancestry.ca.

Birthday present arrives

2011-10-26T22:40:00.000-04:00

After 14 days my "gallery wrapped canvas" photo has arrived. It is a panoramic photograph that I created from ten photos taken in August of this year. After finishing the final image I found that I could not put it away as usual. I kept bringing it back to view. Not sure why but I just couldn't see it often enough.
I found a company that could reproduce the photo, 12" x 36" on canvas and decided to order it as my birthday present compliments of my wife and parents. At the same time I ordered a 12" x 36"matte print of a mountain range at Squaw Bay. It is another photo that I can't seem to stop viewing. Michael's has a frame for the print and I have a coupon for 40% off so the photo will get framed and hung shortly.
Below is a picture of the canvas photo hanging in my living room. The line down the right side is the reflection of the flash off the corner of the frame.

If your looking to get large prints done for a reasonable price then checkout Posterjack in Toronto.They have too many options to list so you'll have to check it out yourself. I'm impressed with the results.

Hair Cut Time

2011-10-12T22:48:00.000-04:00

It was time for a hair cut tonight. He was not too happy about it.

Until the snacks came out!

Finally Arrived

2011-10-11T22:04:00.000-04:00

My new used computer finally arrived today. A couple of scuff marks here and there but intact and operational. Only one minor problem, I no longer need it. Just after I ordered the computer a friend suggested that the problem with my old computer was probably a bad capacitor on the mother board. I pulled the motherboard last Sunday and sure enough I located a bulging capacitor. I unsoldered it from the board and replaced it from my pile of used parts. I like to construct circuits and have a good supply of used stuff so the replacement part was on hand. It has been over a week now and the old computer is working great! It looks like I have a nice spare computer for the next crash.
My first computer ran from 1999 to 2007, I replaced it to enable my software to handle the new cheque format. It still worked and was used by Kimberly for a number of years after that. The second computer has run since 2007 and is still going strong. I was lucky to be able to repair it.

A couple of pictures from this evening,

Time Flies

2011-10-10T18:26:00.000-04:00

On the 28th it will be one year. And what a year it has been. It's almost like he was born yesterday. We had a little "pre" birthday cake on Saturday. I guess the pictures are going to be used as part of his birthday invitation. I guess I better not post too many of them,

New Plan

2011-09-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

It's official, I bought a new / used computer. A Dell Optiplex 745. It is a duo core 3.4 Ghz, 80g hard drive (sata ), 1gb ram, with serial & parallel ports. Looks like everything I need to get back to business. 7 day DOA and 1 year warranty, $250 delivered. Maybe I should get two and put one away for next time.

I should be able to connect my 500gig drive and transfer most of my files drive to drive. But I will have to load all the programs one at a time. So the plan is to load everything into this new computer and run it for a couple of weeks. Then clone the 80gig hard drive to my new 500gig hard drive and continue on. I might just miss my 3.5 floppy drive.

Crash & Burn

2011-09-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

No matter how often one backs up important files from a computer, when time time comes, will the efforts be rewarding. With any luck you will have enough backed up to continue with a new computer. I back up daily to a flash card and external drive. My accounting software is safe, but will I be able to use it? My monitor started with the jitters, useable but irritating. My first mistake was rebooting to see if the screen would return to normal. That was the last time windows xp booted. I pulled the hard drive and connected it to another computer. It seems to work fine with no errors. Something on the mother board I presume. My accounting software won't run with Vista or Windows 7. My laser printer has the same problem. The software upgrade is $200 and a new printer is about $300, no to mention a new computer. Then there are all the other custom forms, documents,etc that I have created over the years. The programs won't run with Windows 7. A huge loss and an even bigger expense. For the moment I'm using my laptop but that won't last too long. It's month end and things need to get paid now. The computer does the cheques. No computer, no cheques, and no pay cheque! I'm back in business for the moment but I have to use an inkjet printer, no parallel port on the laptop. With everything being printed in duplicate or triplicate, I'll be heading for more ink soon.

So the search is on. I'm trying to find out if I can buy a new computer, pull the drive, install mine and have it run xp. I know it's not going to just boot cause it will be a different motherboard. I have the windows key so it should just be a matter of finding someone to do the software "work". I'm waiting to hear back from a couple people that should be able to do the work. The other alternative is to take the computer in and have someone change the mother board.

In the mean time I'll keep plugging away with the laptop.

Ten Days Off

2011-08-08T17:09:00.000-04:00

Just back from 10 days camping. A few calls but NO trips into town for work. Nice. Lots of visitors ( kids), rest, fishing, food, and sun shine. Only 1 day of rain. Tomorrow it is back to work. Below are a few of the 600 or so pictures I took over the 10 days.

I like blueberries, apple sauce, potatoes, nectarines, pears, peaches maybe, pancakes, and bass.

( some of the things I got to try while camping )

Weekend Camping

2011-07-03T22:57:00.000-04:00

I didn't venture too far this weekend while camping. About the only pictures I took were of Dade.

First Camping of the Season

2011-06-19T19:42:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was our first trip camping this year. We were joined by all the kids Saturday to Celebrate Wendy's birthday and Father's Day. A little hectic and busy. Six nice sized bass to take back, two for Christopher, two for Kimberly and two for me. Even Dade had a good time on his first overnight camping trip. Checkout those big blue eyes in the last picture.

A Miracle?

2011-06-14T20:49:00.001-04:00

I've never been one to believe in miracles. Things happen for a reason. For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, I suggest you go back in my blog to Oct 2010 and read " Getting Past Why". If you start there and work forward to here you will understand. It seems the blocked carotid artery in Dade's neck, the one that got crushed during labour, the one that would never allow blood flow, the one that has caused so much concern, is working. I don't understand it , his parents don't understand it, and the doctors don't understand it.We were told the damage was permanent. But it is good news now and for the future. Whats done is done, and the latest mri shows no change. No more trips to London, they can't do anything more. If I didn't tell you , you would never know. They say "time heals", I guess it must be true.

So is it a miracle or not? I don't know. What I do know is that this little guy has beaten the odds. An unbelievable, million to one, chain of events has led him to today. I believe he is here for a reason, he is a survivor.

Hard Drive Click & added note

2011-06-07T21:04:00.001-04:00

For the last couple of days my computer hard drive has been clicking. The computer runs 24/7. If it's not doing work, it's capturing images of my vehicle. Lately I've noticed a clicking sound and slow speed while running certain programs. It seems my drive might have a problem. I purchased a replacement drive and decided to try a well reviewed program called EASEUS TODO BACKUP. I erased all the files I didn't need or had previously copied to dvd which reduced my "used"drive size from about 220 gb to 28 gb of 250gb total. With that done I installed the new drive and proceeded to clone the original drive. After about 30 minutes the job was done.

Disconnecting the original drive and connecting the new one I pressed the power button and waited. My cpu takes some time to boot but to my surprise it actually worked. A complete bootable clone on a new drive. Impressive.

If you ever need a program for backing up, creating a usable drive recovery image, or cloning a drive I would certainly recommend EASEUS TODO BACKUP. Best of all it is free for personal use! Get a copy and put it on your hard drive.

You can even create a drive image back up, save it to a dvd and create a bootable cd to start your dead cpu. Then re-install your information on a new drive. Your going to loose data but you will still have your original operating systems and many of your programs. It will even create the hidden partition that contains your recovery software.

I back up my data daily to two separate devices but I have never backed up a drive. I will now.

ADDED NOTE: When I decided to replace my drive all I could find was a 500gb. My original was about half that size. The first clone attempt worked great but it partitioned the new drive the same as the old. I tried numerous methods of recovering the hidden wasted space. Although I was able to recover it, it caused boot failures. After a night or so of cursing I decided to remove all the partitions from the new drive and re clone using the exact same method I used in the start. It worked. Everything indicates that the drive is 500gb but I can only access 228gb of it. I have shut down and rebooted numerous times without fail. All I can figure is that something in the hard drive or on the motherboard is causing the failure as it is not seeing the same size drive as the original.

Cost $90 & 2 evenings, we won't even go into the dealings with Staples and Ed the know it all.
But I did fill out their online survey and as I told Ed " I'll be pissed and you will here from me if your wrong".
He was wrong, and I did call him.

Savings too great to list. Back in business and I will probably never miss the 250gb. Storage is not a problem with 3 other drives connected to the cpu. 2 internal & 1 external.

Just when you think you have backed up enough, you better do it again!

Water Bombers

2011-06-04T22:18:00.000-04:00

Some pictures of the two MNR water bombers from May 31. They were called to help battle the bark pile fire at Bowater. They flew directly overhead back and forth from the mill to Lake Superior. About 4.7 miles each way.

Sitting Up

2011-05-25T22:06:00.000-04:00

and having fun playing. 7 months old on Saturday the 28th

10 Miler

2011-05-23T14:51:00.000-04:00

We didn't go camping this weekend so I went to the 10 mile race to take some pictures.

Just some pics from the weekend

2011-05-22T22:50:00.000-04:00

Some more pictures from Saturday. Nothing special.

Bridge on the Kam river

Kakabeka Falls

Cedar Creek

Weird or What?

2011-05-21T20:27:00.001-04:00

I'm not claustrophobic, at least I don't think so, but it sure was a weird feeling. Hard to describe. Hesitant, anxious, scared, attracted and excited all combined. So what do I call it? How about "Weird or what".

There is a side road a couple miles past Sunshine that will take you to an abandoned rail line. The rails and ties have been removed so it is just a bed of gravel. Following the old line for about a half mile will bring you to this,

It is called Flett Tunnel

And this is where Christopher and I went today.

The closer we got the stranger it felt.

We both went in but Christopher couldn't do it and had to turn back. I went about half way to take some more pictures. It certainly was a weird feeling. If your into Google Earth you can actually see the tunnel. Its like the rail bed just ends and then starts again about 600 feet away. That's the tunnel. It can be found at 16U 295204.63 E 5388253.16 N. Alternately you could enter Flett Rd, ON in the "Fly to" box and it will take you to the general area. Activate the Panoramio layer and move NE to find the photos and tunnel.

Tick !

2011-05-15T09:39:00.000-04:00

No not tick tock, just tick. Two of them.

For the amount of time I spend in the bush I'm surprised that yesterday was the first time I've ever had a tick. I climbed over some dead fall and walked through a bit of bush but nothing compared to normal. Normal might require a gps, compass, or flag tape to get back. I certainly didn't need those yesterday. I wasn't more than 50' from the highway at any time. I removed one tick at home before it became attached and the other had to be removed from me. No ill effects so far.

I did manage to take a series of 25 pictures yesterday and combine them to create a 360 panorama. A first for me. I got to use my cheap tripod and home made pano adapter. The adapter seems to have worked well. Not exactly the greatest area for a panorama but it worked. The panorama is from the Pigeon River down along the water near the board walk. The final panorama is at https://sites.google.com/site/brianspanoramas/home/pigeon-river-2

Back to Pigeon River

2011-05-14T16:46:00.001-04:00

I went back to Pigeon River / High Falls today. Maybe even a little too far. I wanted to venture a little further up stream from Middle Falls.

So does this mean I was in the States today. The marker was definitely out in the water bed?

I could always bring a pair of bolt cutters and go for a short ride. The cable stretches across to a stand on the US side. Very well maintained. But what for?

Anyway I did manage to take some pictures of the falls and in the park.

Looking down river from above the falls

Sharp, very sharp

I even took a walk into High Falls, what a mess. I guess the cutting crew was in cleaning the trail. Lots of crap everywhere. Too much water running over the falls for taking pictures. I was at the viewing area for a couple minutes and got soaked. The mist was so heavy I didn't take my camera out. I walked down to a spot along the gorge and took the following pictures. Both pictures were taken using a neutral density ND 2 filter. The filter reduces the light to the camera allowing the shutter speed to be reduced without over exposing the picture. The result produces the flowing water.

f/10, ISO 200, 1/5th sec, focal length 18mm

f/10, ISO 200, 1/6th sec, focal length 35mm

Pigeon River Provincial Park

2011-05-07T18:01:00.002-04:00

I took a ride to Middle Falls today to walk the trail to the look out. The lookout is above High Falls and the trail starts from the old camp ground. It is about 1.2 miles each way. From the top you can see The Canadian Border building, the bridge across the Pigeon River and Lake Superior towards Finger Point.

The little hump in the middle of this picture is the top of Finger Point about 2.2 miles away as the crow flies.

The trail to the top of Finger Point is quite exposed. Here is what it looks like from a distance.

Not the greatest picture but not too bad for 2.2 miles away!

Below is the border crossing bridge from Canada to the US. About 1 mile from where I was and some 350 feet below.

A little closer look at the bridge. Don't forget this is hand held from a mile away.

The last picture from the top is of High Falls. Where the water runs over the top anyway. I ran out of time to actually go to the falls today. Next time.

A couple of fungus pictures on the way back.

I had a visitor at lunch. I watched him make trips from under the old visitor centre to where ever and back again. After the third trip I realized he was carrying something out with each trip. I never did see what it was but I got close enough to get these pictures. I figure he was taking dead or maybe baby mice back to his hut behind the visitors centre. They looked pink in colour.

I ended my walk with a trip through the old campground to Middle Falls.

An interesting place to visit.

Cedar Falls

2011-04-30T14:44:00.001-04:00

So much for rain all day. At least I got out for a couple hours.

Six Months Old

2011-04-29T22:57:00.000-04:00

6 months old yesterday, how time flies. He sure has taken to food, if thats what you want to call it. No problem gobbling it up! I got to take some pictures of him eating this evening before everyone went out.

Seems like I finally got my camera set back to where I had it before my card problems. I had done a complete reset to factory defaults. It has taken some experimenting to get the style back to where I like it. A slight change in colour tone, saturation and sharpness produces a much warmer image.

And there it was, Gone

2011-04-27T22:55:00.000-04:00

About 2 weeks ago I was watching a video about The Sleeping Giant on You Tube. It was a collection of 46 pictures fading in and out and pulsating to background music. It had been uploaded about 2 years ago with credit given to it's author. I was about 30 seconds into the video when I recognized what I thought was one of my photographs. The beach at Sleeping Giant. Then another and a third, a picture of Talus Lake, which hangs in my living room. In total I counted 7 of the 46 as being my original works. I created an account and contacted the video's author requesting that credit for the photos be added along with their credit for creating the video or that the photos / video be removed. If this was not done then I would follow up with copy right infringement proceedings. Two weeks, no answer, several e-mails later and the video has been removed from You Tube. Too bad actually cause it had a link from the City of Thunder Bay to it.

Mmmmm Food

2011-04-23T22:11:00.000-04:00

Dade has been on real food for a couple days now.He seems to really enjoy it. He sure can pack it away. He emptied the bowl in the picture below.

Fishin

2011-04-23T14:49:00.000-04:00

Christopher and I went to Sibley to see about doing some Steelhead fishing in the creeks. As we found the creeks are not running very fast and the level of Lake Superior is low. At Sibley Bay ( old Squaw Bay) Lake Superior is very low. We were able to walk about 50 out into the bay, a first for me. Every time I've been there I could just get to the mouth of the creek.

We stopped at several places along Sibley Creek, including the mouth at Lake Superior. Hardly any water moving out of the creek. Three guys in the lake in hip waders didn't seem to be having much luck. On our way out of the park we stopped to checkout something that caught my eye on the way in.

Not much left but bones.The jaw was broken which makes me think it was probably hit by a truck and then plowed over the snow bank

After leaving the park we went to Mackenzie River to try our luck. Four or five others trying their luck but I didn't see anyone leaving with fish. The only thing I saw was Christopher walking across the old railway bridge. Timbers only! I was quite surprised for someone afraid of heights.

Cool pics

2011-04-17T15:14:00.000-04:00

Just a couple of pics I found interesting, from yesterday.

A little cropping helped with the creation of the final images.

I can spend hours reviewing photos from an outing.

Looking for ( in my opinion ) just the right image or portion of that image that shows just what I was looking at. I can hardly wait for summer and some colour.

The second picture was taken just above the little falls in the first picture. The rock was sitting on a bed of shale surrounded by fast moving shallow water. The high F stop & slow shutter speed produce the flowing water and reveal the snow falling.

Strange Track ?

2011-04-17T10:42:00.001-04:00

No guess as to what creature created the track in the snow? Well I think I've figured it out. Checkout this link and go down the page about half way.

http://bobarnebeck.com/mink.htm

So now we know.

Kakabeka

2011-04-16T17:20:00.001-04:00

Christopher and I went to Kakabeka today to check out the falls. With all the rain lately the falls were quite impressive.

After checking out the falls we decided to walk to Little Falls.Along the way we came across these unusual tracks. No one else had been on the trail and we found tracks entering and leaving the trail. So what created this?

The path created by the animal went from the top all the way to the bottom of the hill. Every time the animal stopped there were some small foot prints. Any ideas?

Arriving at Little Falls I took the pictures below.

Can't forget a picture of Dade from Friday,

Squaw Bay

2011-04-09T12:51:00.000-04:00

Christopher & I did a short hike down Brule Bay Road as it is called on Google. Other maps have other names but it is the road that goes south along the shore from Squaw Bay. We walked about 1.4 miles, not even close to the end. Our next trip here will probably be by bike and all the way to the dam at Loch Lomond. I hope.

Brule Bay

2011-04-02T12:24:00.001-04:00

I heard about a trail at Brule Bay and decided today would be a good day to find it. On arrival I decided to walk the shore line as it was still frozen. There is usually a lot more to see on the shore than in the bush. I eventually found the trail once I was forced into the bush due to a rocky shore. It won't be long and there will be no shore to walk on, all the ice will have melted.

Squaw Bay ( 2 new panos added )

Sleepy

2011-04-01T19:02:00.000-04:00

Going for a nap last night and sleeping after a ride in the stroller today.

DID YOU SEE HIM

2011-03-29T16:15:00.000-04:00

Keep a look out for him, he is out there. I saw his picture on the side of the bus. Who? Dade of course. Drivers side about half way down. I was working at transit today. Just finishing up and going to get a PO number when I saw his picture on the side of the bus. It looks just like the one I took yesterday.

What do you think?

I couldn't resist. I saw it and his picture was the first thing that came to mind.

By the way the bus wash is fixed so this one will probably be washed before it hits the road again.

5 MONTHS OLD TODAY

2011-03-28T18:25:00.000-04:00

Dade or Goober is 5 months old today. My camera works and I've tested it out on him. 46 pictures in 15 minutes, all keepers this time.

Want to know how to stop him from crying, put a camera in front of him. He was crying, I pulled out my camera, he stopped in a instant.

Just Died

2011-03-27T21:33:00.002-04:00

NOT ME. My camera.

So after15 months and some 15659 operations of the shutter my "new" camera has packed it in. That's correct fifteen thousand six hundred and fifty nine. That works out to about 34 pictures a day! It won't acknowledge a media card. I've tried all four and even a small 256mb one that I have. Remember when 256mb was huge, not that long ago! I've erased them, formatted them and yelled at them. But the camera still won't read them. And yes they work perfectly in both my computers. So the real question is .. What now?

Apparently an entry level dslr, like mine, was never designed to take that many pictures in that short a time. So what did "they" think we would do with it? I would say it costs nothing to take a picture but I think my $600 camera body would disagree. So it seems they rate the life span on shutter operations, approximately 50, 000 for this unit. So if this is true then I've burned through 1/3 of it's life in 15 months. I think it has more to do with luck, like buying a car that turns out to be a lemon. I still have my first Fuji digital camera, it must be 10 years old. Works great. At this point I can only assume one of two things has happened to my camera. One, I zapped it with static and destroyed the card reader/writer portion. Or two, the pins that connect the card have become damaged from excessive insertion / removal of the cards. Do I crack it open or send it away?

Do I buy another Canon? Not much choice. I have way too much stuff to convert. A 50mm, 18-55mm, 35-105mm, 55-250mm, borrowed 500mm, 250 & 500D close up lens, angle finder, spare battery, circ polarizer, 6 cokin P filters & holder, remote release, FD to EOS adapter with af confirm, and a custom made pano head for the tripod. And there are probably a couple things I've missed.

I think I'm going to call the Canon support number tomorrow and see if I can get some idea of cost for repairing the camera. Of course there will also be shipping in both directions. I'm going to hazard a guess of $350 by the time it's all done.

30 min later...................

Oh.... I was just playing with my broken camera, examining the card slot & card. You guessed it, the camera read the card. The camera took a picture and stored it. So it probably isn't zapped, I just plain wore out the card slot. So far it only worked once but I'm going to keep trying. If I can get it to work more that a couple of times, it could prove repairable. I'll keep you posted!

60 min later...................

OK so now it works? I've opened & closed the card door near 30 times, pulled & installed the card about the same number of times. At first it was intermittent - working maybe every second or third time. Now it works every time. Door switch? Card contact? Had to be one of them cause now it is back to normal. But I just took another 200 pictures off the camera's expected life. And none of them were keepers! 15859 and counting, time for bed.

Long walk

2011-03-26T21:00:00.001-04:00

Christopher & I walked to T-Harbour and back today. During the drive to the park we saw two large Lynx run across the road and into the bush. No hope of a picture but it was neat to see the pair dash across the road. We walked about half the distance there (T-Harbour) and back on the shore line which is almost impossible to do in the summer. There were lots of interesting things to see along the shore. The ice formations and crystals are my favorite. I even got to make two more panoramas but you will have to goto the other site to see them. Below are a couple images from today.

Dade Pictures

2011-03-22T19:22:00.000-04:00

Apparently I've been more interested in panorama photos than that of Dade. Ron suggested I lay him down and shoot a panorama. I think he might be a little short for that.

So they found all of his blood test results in London, yea they lost them. Everything is good and the hematologist doesn't want to see him again. And his mom doesn't "do" his hair, it stands up like that all by itself !

( Someone asked )

5 months old in less than a week!

View from Picnic Point

2011-03-19T18:30:00.000-04:00

A wide view of Mink Mountain created from 28 photos. Amazing what one little program can do. The original image is 15.7mb and about 70 x 27 inches in size ( at 150 pixel/inch)

Moving Panoramas

2011-03-17T19:49:00.000-04:00

For the moment I have deleted the Panorama posts. It takes too long to load the page with so many of them. They can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/brianspanoramas/home?pli=1

This way they can be loaded and viewed individually. And I've added two more!

Goober shots

2011-03-06T20:05:00.000-05:00

A couple Goober shots from late Feb.

He is just learning to roll onto his stomach. Won't be long and he will be everywhere.

More from Mink

2011-03-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

I was back to the top of Mink Mountain again yesterday. I wanted to shoot a couple more panoramas and it is a fairly easy climb. I decided to take the direct route to the Sturgeon Bay lookout and that turned out to be a mistake. After about 2km into the walk the trail branches to head to the top. Unfortunately there were about 15 uprooted trees that had fallen in the way. I mean directly in line with the trail, which by the way, had no human foot prints. The only tracks I saw were deer and what I guess to be lynx or some other type of cat. Way too round a track for wolf. Oh yea and the odd mouse or two ( see the picture below). I was too far into the trip to turn back so I decided to go around the trees in the knee deep snow. I finally made it to the top and took a pile of pictures. Then it was the decision of which way to return to the truck. Back through the deep snow or all the way around the top? No one else had been on the trail since at least the last snow fall but previous boot prints were easy to see. I took the long way across the top and it turned out to be better. I got a couple nice panoramas out of the trip. They actually view much better from Quick Time cause you get to view side to side like you are turning your head. It is more realistic. Unfortunately I can't seem to upload the QTVR to the blog. But for a bigger view follow the link to my panaramio site and look at them full size.

Photo contest comment : My previous comments don't come from not winning. They come from seeing the same old things. I didn't care about the People category. In Landscape, I saw three streams with three little waterfalls. The first is by far the best cause the other two both have blown whites at what I see as the focal point, the water falls. I also found it very interesting that from some 300 entries all three winners were little streams with waterfalls. In Parks it was the big three, The Giant, Kakabeka Falls and the Sea Lion. Same old things viewed from the same old spots. I should have entered this one, It would have been different,

But I couldn't, as much as I like it, it's not a very good picture. And in Wildlife, the fox is very nice and unique, the mouse ( or whatever it is ) appears over exposed and a duck is a duck, nothing special there. If you feel a need or desire to pick apart my entries, please do so. I'm sure I would learn something from it!

Four Months Old & No Winners

2011-03-03T21:01:00.000-05:00

Well the little guy is now 4 months old. How time flies, it still doesn't seem real. Busy at work, busy at home and little time for anything else. I look forward to getting out Saturdays. Somewhere anywhere it doesn't matter. I did find time this week to finish my tripod adapter. It moves the center of the camera lens to the pivot point of the tripod. It helps to reduce parallax, creating a better panorama. I'll get to test it on Saturday. By the way the software I use to create the panorama is available in a freeware version. It is fully functional other than being able to create a Quick Time movie. It will compile & stitch the panorama, even from hand held pictures. The last 180 panorama I did was from 44 individual 10mp pictures. It can be found at

http://www.serif.com/free-panoramic-photo-stiching-software/

So what happened at the Out Door Show Photo Contest? This is what I've learned from it.

" Stick with the same old same old and you'll have a chance"

"Brian get your eyes fixed you can't shoot worth a shit."

Here is a link to the winners and you already saw what I had to offer.

http://www.tb-chamber.on.ca/default.asp?pgid=430

Cliff Panorama

2011-02-21T21:51:00.001-05:00

I know, I know, you want more Goober pictures. Well I don't have any so it will just have to be this,

Oh yea, remember that little photo contest? Well after talking to the guy handling the contest I decided to enter it. According to this guy, crops are allowed cause we are amateurs. That is what he told everyone that called. So what did I enter you ask? Well here they are,

The Wasp

Perry Bay

Sturgeon & Pie

The wasp is amazing but not my favorite. It is still a toss up between the last two but I'm leaning toward Sturgeon & Pie. A unique angle that exposes the beauty of both islands, even though Pie Island is 10km in the distance. I would love to sail around Pie Island and just take pictures. I think I would fill my memory cards before the trip ended. Am I going to regret entering this contest, maybe.

Sleeping Giant Beach

2011-02-16T22:51:00.002-05:00

I was looking at entering a local photo contest being held next weekend at the Outdoor Show. After reading the fine print and checking out the prizes, I decided not to waste the time. 3rd place - a 5x7 print & a copy of Moods of the Sleeping Giant calendar. 2nd place - a 8 x10 print and a calendar. 1st prize - a 10 x 14 framed print, and you guessed it, a Moods of the Sleeping Giant calendar. Well I can print 5x7 and 8x10 and I have more pictures of the Giant than I know what to do with. Enough to make 20 calendars I'm sure. The overall best of show prize is 2 nights camping at Sleeping Giant. The real kicker is that there are no compositional changes allowed. I learned some time ago that if I want to print pictures then I have to think about composition before pressing the shutter. It's not enough to compose the shot in the view finder. I like printing 8 x 10 but my camera produces 8 x 12. I know I'm going to loose 2 inches before I even start. So most times I try to think ahead to the final image. So cropping 2 inches off an original image is a compositional change and all but a few of my photographs would be disqualified.

Anyway, while looking through some images from last year, I came across a series of pictures of the beach at Sleeping Giant. I had taken them in hopes of producing a panorama. I remember trying but the software bundled with the camera is typical crap. It didn't turn out. This new software did an excellent job of it. A touch dark in the middle but I may have had a circular polarizing filter attached. A definite mistake in this case. I could probably fix it up with Photoshop. The program is PanoramaPlus X4. It was $15 to download although a free version is available which is fully functional but is limited to producing the stitched jpg. The paid version will produce a Quicktime VR as well as exporting the image in pdf format.

Below is the final image, stitched from 7 images, touched up and re-sized. The image is approx a 180 degree view. I'm looking forward to trying a 360. Just need a place to go.

Never Made It

2011-02-13T20:02:00.000-05:00

This was to be Saturday's destination, the top of Finger Point. Well I didn't get that far. It wasn't that I couldn't do the walk, it was only 5km. I even walked 5 km that day.

I've been to the top before, a steady climb from the base, not difficult. I know somebody was up there in January, I read it in her blog. The lower section of trail had lots of foot prints and snowshoe marks. But that was only until the turn off to head down the shoreline. Then it was just 2 pair of metal snowshoes. I figured if the snowshoes made it so could I. After about 200m the snowshoes stopped. Now it was just the deer prints, some wolf tracks and me. I wandered about another 200m and decided to stop. From the picture below you can see that there isn't much cover on the side of the mountain. In fact a good portion of the trail is sort of carved into the side of the mountain. Not enough trees to stop a fall. Not really somewhere I wanted to be. Had someone else left a packed path to follow, it might have been a different story.

So I decided to turn back and head for High Falls. Along the return trail I noticed some very peculiar tracks and had to get some pictures. Sort of a "big Foot" appearance to the prints which were quite large.

My forefinger to thumb is about 6" making that hind leg print about 4.5 - 5" long. That would make for a rather large Snowshoe Hare. Amazing how they can land and hop from one spot and only depress the snow about 1/2", even if they are only 2 - 4 pounds.

I'll be back to conquer Finger Point, I want to produce a 360 panoramic picture from the top. But it will have to wait for another day. The panorama pictures from the shore don't quite cut it. Not really enough to see to make it appealing. Maybe it's the effect of winter. Dark, white and more white.

Mink Mountain Panorama

2011-02-08T16:26:00.001-05:00

This one seems to have turned out a little better. It is a combination of 13 photographs from left side looking NE across to East, South and ending on the right side looking SW. The pictures were combined using a demo program. This one looks much better than the first attempt.

Sam. Sam who?

2011-02-06T19:47:00.000-05:00

When I get mad my parents and Papa seem to think I look like Sam the Eagle. They could be right cause there is some resemblance when I'm not mad. What do you think?

Lets hope I don't end up with those eyebrows!

I'm Back

2011-02-06T12:31:00.002-05:00

Hi, how you doing,

That's right I'm back. I was on a trip to see some doctors in London, ON.

They did some test and took a pile of blood. My veins couldn't handle it, they kept blowing out. I got mad & cried a lot. My dad got really upset

They say I'm doing really good, They don't even want to use the term CP. I was surprised but I guess they know best.

I didn't get to see Nana and Papa for a long time

Nana was so happy to see me, she got me some new toys to play with.

Mink Mountain

2011-02-05T21:30:00.001-05:00

I took another trip up to the top of Mink Mountain today. It takes about 30 min to reach the top. It's all up hill right from the road. Although the trail has been traveled, it has probably been several weeks since anyone has been on it. I was making post holes at the top, 16" deep. I went as far as the bench and spent about 45 min on top. The descent was much easier.

Pie Island from shore level

Pie Island from Mink Mountain, looks a lot more impressive

Looking out over Lake Superior

And my reason for the trip,

a panorama view from the top spanning about 180 degrees

not bad for a first attempt at stitching photos.

I'm working on another, hopefully better one.

I'll post it tomorrow if it turns out.

Three Months

2011-01-27T20:22:00.001-05:00

How time flies, The little guy is 3 months old already. Tuesday the kids are off to London. Time for Goober's checkup. Two days of tests and consultations. They will be back Friday night. Not sure if Nana can survive 4 days without seeing him.
No stories today just some pictures from the last while. Sorry if some have been posted already, it's hard to keep track.

Last Night's Adventure

2011-01-26T09:43:00.001-05:00

Hi it's me again!

Oh oh, somethings not right,

Please change my bum,

Ahh, much better,

Do you think I could watch TV,

Come on now I don't watch that much TV,
Please, please please,

Thanks Nana,

I like TV

2011-01-19T19:16:00.000-05:00

I like watching TV,

You can make me smile,

But I still like TV,

I'm glued to the tube at 3 months!

Busy Boy

2011-01-16T20:12:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy week. I've been all over the place.

So many places I can hardly remember them all.

This is my mom and I skating

Here I am with my Uncle Christopher.

And Nana

Of course I didn't skate, they pulled me in my sled, it was fun.

Monday I get to visit the doctor.

I don't think I'm going to enjoy that.

I'll probably look something like this when I'm done.

Hopefully that won't last too long.

Swimming in the pool

2011-01-10T18:45:00.000-05:00

They tell me I'm going swimming in a couple days.

Both Mom & Aunt Jennifer are coming.

I'll get to splash around and dunk my head under.

They didn't tell me I would be so tired after.

I think I will sleep just a little longer.

Sturgeon & Pie

2011-01-08T20:13:00.000-05:00

Went for a walk today out at Mink Mountain.I decided to walk the Picnic Point trail. A short but moderate trail for winter walking. Some interesting views.

Mink Mountain looking down the shore toward the

entrance to Sturgeon Bay

Pie Island from Sturgeon Point

about 10km away.

Sturgeon Island, Pie Island in the back ground.

Sturgeon Island.

Dead fall locked in ice.

Just some pictures,

2011-01-07T15:22:00.000-05:00

Winding down 2010

2011-01-03T19:27:00.003-05:00

I started writing but couldn't seem to find the words to express what I thought I wanted to say.

So I'll just post the pictures and you can fill in the blanks.

Beyond words.

Chippewa

2010-12-27T19:51:00.000-05:00

I took a drive to Chippewa Park this afternoon. Just for a walk & to try out some new filters. Nothing impressive just a shot along the shore line and one looking back to Mt. McKay.

I did it, I did.

2010-12-27T19:44:00.000-05:00

So there I was minding my own business, when all

of a sudden this guy calls my name.

Yea this guy,

Little did I know HE was Santa,

But he did have some presents so I let him hold me,

Just long enough to have my picture taken.

Guess what?

Then he came to my house and left presents.

And he came to Nana & Papa's house and left presents.

I was so happy I smiled

Now if only Dad would let ME have some fun with my toys,

1 More Sleep, 6 to 10 in my case

2010-12-23T20:10:00.000-05:00

I'm back.

They keep telling me about this Santa guy,

I never met him,

I'm only 8 weeks old you know,

He sounds a little scary to me.

Maybe if I stare into space,

Presents for me,

I think I might like this guy,

Better get some sleep,

Nine more naps to go!

SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT

7 Weeks old tomorrow and...

2010-12-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

everything is good.......

My pointer finger works fine,

My cute look works fine,

My smile makes you smile,

My pointer finger still works,

My confused face works,

cause you picked me up,

And sleeping here is good!

Gettin Bigger

2010-12-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

Couple of days since I taken any pictures.

6 weeks old today!

Friday night with Papa

2010-12-03T23:34:00.000-05:00

The kids went to a wedding so Dade spent the evening,

having his picture taken.

A short story with Dade

2010-12-01T21:52:00.003-05:00

Oh goodness time to wake up,

Hey when did you get here,

Let me think for a minute,

Have I got a funny story for you,

ha ha ha h, I'm so funny,

I think its time for a rest,

Better say my prayers,

Good night

U smiling at me

2010-11-26T21:30:00.000-05:00

I see you smiling at me,

I might be sleeping but I can smile back,

Or maybe it's just a good dream,

Just have to keep you guessing,

Tired Day

2010-11-23T20:03:00.000-05:00

I can sleep right through my bath!

And I'm still cute.

Funny Faces

2010-11-20T23:08:00.000-05:00

It's been a couple of days since we have seen him.

There was a bit of concern over weight loss but he is gaining now.

Back Again

2010-11-14T20:22:00.000-05:00

The little guy was back again today. Enjoy,

Two Weeks

2010-11-12T18:27:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe he is 2 weeks old already. The kids were over for supper so we got to take some more pictures,

A Different Look

2010-11-10T20:12:00.000-05:00

So I don't have anything new but that doesn't mean I don't have anything to show.

I like the simple look of these. Like canvas paintings.

Cute

2010-11-09T20:32:00.000-05:00

OK so there are a few more, but that's it for now, really.

Couple more

2010-11-08T22:11:00.003-05:00

Just a couple more, from Sunday's gathering.

OK I was wrong there's one more,

Peanut

2010-11-06T22:37:00.002-04:00

I don't usually take "people" pictures. But it's tough to resist!

It is amazing what a 50mm f1.8 lens will do indoors, no flash.

Home at last

2010-11-05T22:29:00.002-04:00

It's been a long week but he is home at last. Arrived safe & sound around 3 pm today. I got to hold him for a short while and hopefully a little more tomorrow. We didn't stay long as everyone had a very long day. The only one to sleep it away was at the centre of every one's attention. He didn't seem to mind.

Text Messages

2010-10-31T13:07:00.002-04:00

I got it, I use it. It's a pain. Why not just call me instead of texting 4,5,6 times? I have trouble talking & driving even with a bluetooth. A lot of my texts get delayed answers cause I just can't do it all at once. But it does have it's uses,

With everything thats happening in the last couple days I would be in the dark without it. I always have my phone close by, thats part of work. Lately it hasn't left my hand. Getting updates & messages from London to TBay and answering back are amazingly fast. Assuming your phone is on you get the message NOW and can reply NOW. No waiting for calls and wondering what's happening or when you will here from them. No phoning and hoping someone will answer.

I might be old school, and I still don't really care for texting, but I sure love it now! Where would I be with out it? Eventually I'll go back to my old ways. It's still a pain. But for now it gets me what I need, information fast and easy.

Getting past "Why"

2010-10-29T23:02:00.006-04:00

A lot has happened in the last two days, a lot I don't understand. It is amazing just how fast your families' lives can be turned upside down. In a split second. I've spent the last two days trying to be strong for those I care about that have been affected. It hasn't been easy. Do they really know how much I care, I don't often show it. It's not in my character to show emotion. I hide it well.

I've battled with the question of "why". What did they do, what did we do, "why" us. I spent less time asking myself this when I was diagnosed with cancer. I accepted it and moved ahead. Yea it was hard and I still think about it every day, but this just seems so much more difficult. I'm sure the odds are at least a million to one. So why?

If you believe in God then maybe it's his work, but he must have a reason. I just don't understand what it could be or why.

If you believe in fate then I guess it was an inevitable course of events. But it still doesn't help me.

I'm a cause and effect type of person. It's what I deal with at work all day. I'm good at what I do. If you show me the result, I will find what caused it and tell you why. Some situations are tough and some are so easy it can be resolved in seconds. But I always know why. It hasn't worked this time. I know the result and I've been told exactly what happened to get there. I understand, but it doesn't satisfy the question. Why?

I had a bit of a melt down this morning. I went there to be strong and to help her cope and deal with what lies ahead, something I thought I had a handle on. I didn't. Maybe I needed it, maybe we needed it. I hope she benefited from it as much as I did.

It's been a roller coaster ride for everyone, and it's only just begun. No one knows exactly what's going to happen. For now it's looking really good but it's going to be "minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day".

I spent a few minutes with a guy at the exit on my way out earlier tonight. We were talking about what has happened and the days events. He is also involved. We were both quite happy with today's news from afar. A big change from last night. Everything today has been positive although that can change in an instant. It was during our talk I realized that I no longer need to dwell on the question "Why". I'm moving past it, it no longer matters so much. Will I still think about it...yea. Will I ever get the answer I'm seeking....I don't think so. I'm not sure where it came from, if someone said it to me, or why I said it to him.

I told him " No matter what happens we will adapt to him and he will adapt to us". He agreed. It made me realize that no matter what the outcome we will adapt.

The question of "Why" isn't quite so important anymore.

It's not the end of the road but it sure feels good to put "why" behind me.

IT WAS GREEN ):

2010-10-16T18:46:00.002-04:00

First it was aluminum, then it was green, then RV white. Now it's 1/2 back to aluminum and more money. When I picked up the self etching primer I wanted green, not grey. I had used the green on my boat motor and it worked great. The sales lady said its down there as I grabbed 4 cans. Neither one of us noticed that it wasn't self etching. Self etching paint does not require the removal of oxide before priming. Regular primer does. So after a coat of primer and two coats of rv white paint the whole mess just scrapes off with a finger nail. Off to Can Tire for paint remover and now it's half back to aluminum. I was so #$#$%^. Substitute any word you desire as I probably already used it.
This might just push me another week behind.

IT'S GREEN !

2010-10-14T20:56:00.002-04:00

Four 12oz cans later and the trailer is primed, green. I spent more time masking to prevent over spray than it took to paint. But it's done. I guess tomorrow night is the first coat of paint, off white I think. Better pass that one by the boss.

I had my blood pressure taken today, only because Jennifer had a new toy. 120/80 so I guess I'll live another day. She was able to take my blood pressure but really didn't know what it all meant. That's OK it was her first day learning about it. Lets hope I'm not a guinea pig for all the new toys / tools.

Aluminum

2010-10-12T20:36:00.002-04:00

Two quarts of contact cement later and the last of the aluminum sheets are on the trailer. I'm glad that's done. I wasn't too sure how I was going to trim the edges, grinder, cutting disc or a poly fan sander until Christopher said they used a router at work. A half inch carbide flush trim bit and a little wax on the sheet and it worked great. Perfect edges. The wax melts and lubes the bit to prevent the aluminum from sticking. So there I am, glasses, safety glasses, ear plugs, plastic bag and hard hat. Yes the bag goes over my head and the hard hat keeps the bag from falling over my glasses. Quite the sight I'm sure but very effective. Aluminum shavings fly everywhere and it didn't take long to figure out that duct tape covering the upper half of the router openings prevented the shaving from spraying me in the face.

Well the next is painting, another chore I'm not looking forward to. The self etching primer has to be sprayed so its time to find the painting mask. Once that is done I'm going to roll on the top coats so that's not so bad. Two maybe three coats so hopefully by Sunday I can start putting trim back on.

Re : Stolen photos

2010-10-11T13:34:00.004-04:00

Well that was quick. I got a response to my e-mails this morning. An apology and removal of the three pictures. She did not consider the source as many pictures are forwarded to her from friends & others that accompany her on hikes. Can't ask for anything more and yes the pictures have been removed.

Christoper & I took the dogs to the Tree Farm yesterday for a long walk. Boy it was hot. We walked for about an hour & a half.

Pictures

2010-10-10T17:25:00.004-04:00

I was looking for a new place to take the dog for a walk today when I ended up at a familiar site. I have been there many times and read descriptions of various hikes in the area. But today I found something different. There was a description of a hike to Sifting Lake. I've been there once a couple years ago but something didn't look quite right with this page. (http://superiorhiking.com/sifting-lake/). Turns out I was right, it's my picture! I uploaded it to Panoramio & Google Earth back in Feb 2008. A little more investigating and I found two more, both of which were uploaded to Panoramio & Google Earth. Sawyer Bay and High Falls.

I've compared the images and there is no doubt they are mine. I sent an e-mail to the site owner expressing my disapproval & I'm awaiting an answer. After finding three, and one that belongs to another guy ( I sent him a note as well), I'm not sure I even want the owner to continue using them. What really gets me is this at the bottom of her page "Copyright © 2010 Superior Hiking All rights reserved." Yea OK

Here are the three pictures,

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7563546

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5778376

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1984576

I'm looking forward to hearing what she might have to say.

Trailer progress

2010-10-03T18:22:00.002-04:00

So the weekend is coming to a close & what did I accomplish on the trailer,

fridge is in
furnace is in & wired
lifting posts are sealed
panel, and heater are in & wired
120 v outlets are done, 2 are outside so they can't be finished
12v wiring is 90% complete,
tail light and marker light wiring is done
end walls are sheeted
outer plywood trimmed 90%, need to finish the rest with a knife
cabinet doors, bench covers, back rests and counter / sink are installed
two 1/4" long slivers, from several days ago, removed from the left hand, one more to go

Tomorrow I will order the aluminum & have it delivered to the fab shop. They are expecting it and will "baby" it for me till I get them the measurements for cutting & bending.

One service call Friday night.
Out to a birthday party Saturday night.
I even took time out on Sunday so that Roxy & I could go to the Tree Farm for an hour walk.

I certainly got more done than I expected.

Slow progress

2010-09-30T22:25:00.002-04:00

It has been just over three weeks since I decided to investigate the spongy floor in the tent trailer. The floor has been getting worse for a couple seasons and it was time to see about repairing it.

Weekend 1

So what have I done? Well the canvas is off, the roof is on saw horses, and the trailer is in the garage. The furnace, fridge, and all our stuff has made it's way to storage. The bunks, the benches, and the door are piled in my van ready to go to the warehouse. Whats left of the side walls are under the trailer and the rotten end walls are standing in the corner. The vinyl flooring and the water filled orient strand board floor are piled outback in the driveway. Two days and I'm down to the frame and at a turning point. Time to make a decision.

Option 1 :
Put a deck on and some tail lights on the frame and sell it as a used utility trailer. ( But I just put a new suspension on the trailer about a year ago. Cost of about $300. And I re did the roof two years ago at a cost of about $ 300. ) Wait until spring and start looking for another trailer.

Option 2 :
Scrap it all and give up camping, not an option.

Option 3 :
Repair the damage. Including the following,

A: new wood floor & vinyl
B: remove all plywood and aluminum from side walls, replace rotten ends,
C: build new end walls ( 2 pieces each )
D: recover all inside benches with plywood to match new walls
E: rewire entire trailer, 12 volt and 120 volt
F: new aluminum skin on exterior, painted
G: and what ever else might need repair

Estimated cost $ 700 - $ 1000

Weeks 2 and 3

So we have decided to repair the trailer and that is what I have been doing for the last couple weeks. So far the wood floor and vinyl are installed. The side walls have been peeled to the frame work, skinned with mahogany plywood and installed. The four new sections for the end walls are built and sheeted on the inside with mahogany plywood. Both end walls are installed. The kitchen section has been sheeted and installed. All three benches ( storage areas ) have been sheeted and installed. The trailer should be ready for aluminum by this Monday if all goes well. I still have to purchase the 4 x 8 sheets and have them sheared and bends put in them.

Tomorrow is Oct 1st already and time is running out. The trailer needs to be finished soon cause I can't keep it in the yard this year. This weekend I hope to get the following accomplished,

install fridge and furnace
reconnect all propane lines
wire 120 v outlets, heater, and panel
wire interior 12v to lighting, furnace, thermostat, etc.
install wiring for tail lights and side markers
cut and fit plywood on outside end walls ( can't be done until all wiring is complete)
trim all outer plywood to get ready for aluminum
seal all lifting posts
seal wheel wells to side walls
final coat stain and urethane on inside walls, benches and cabinets

I'll be lucky to get half that done.
It's been difficult to get stuff done in the evening. By the time supper is over and the paperwork is done, I have about an hour and a half to work. Having the trailer inside doesn't leave much room to work, its a tight fit. Frustrating but its getting there.

More from the weekend

2010-09-07T19:36:00.005-04:00

Not sure how I missed these but they are from the weekend out camping. The first, a view from the dock looking NW down to the point.

I was biking back from the dock Monday morning when I came across this little guy. He was laying in the grass along the road by the beach sunning himself. Eyes closed and not a care in the world. I managed to walk to within 10 feet before he stood up. Way too tame. I remember a couple years back one evening at the dock when a little guy like this showed up. I was taking pictures of the giant from the dock with my camera on a tripod. I was using a wide angle adapter which I stored in a leather pouch. My camera bag and the pouch were behind me at the edge of the dock. The little guy snuck up behind me and stole the pouch. I had to quickly pack up my stuff and chase him through 4 or 5 camp sites before I got it back. About 15 minutes later I found him sitting on the roof of my car. I heard a lot of people lost stuff that summer. One runner, sock, sandal, or what ever he could get his teeth on. I was lucky to get mine back.

Last Camping Trip

2010-09-06T20:58:00.003-04:00

Labour day weekend was our last trip camping for the season although I may go out a couple more times before winter sets in. I've got some major work to do to the trailer before winter and we have a wedding to attend on Thanksgiving weekend. Looks like the turkey dinner will be at home this year. We had Jackson with us for the weekend camping. He kept us busy all weekend. We went to the Sea Lion & Ravine lake on Saturday then Tee-Harbour on Sunday. He sure can walk! Roxy did quite well, 14 km round trip with a short swim at Tee-Harbour. I wasn't sure how well she would do. We all went to bed at 10 Sunday.

I got out fishing three times, twice by the island and once across the other side of the lake. No bites at all, Christopher got a bass ( keeper) , James got a couple pike and Jackson got a couple pike. With all the heavy winds prior to Sunday everything in the lake was so stirred up the fish were full from eating. The wind was so bad Friday that it pulled the entire buoy line the marks the swimming area and put in on shore. There were trees and branches down all over.

Lots of mushrooms on the trails again this year. I managed to get some pictures along the way to Tee-Harbour on Sunday. Below are some of the more interesting ones.

The last picture is our usual fishing spot on the other side of the lake. It is one of two rocky bays with weed beds along the shore lines. I took this picture from the beach about 2.8 km away.

Long Ride

2010-08-28T20:38:00.007-04:00

I decided Friday that I was going to Sleeping Giant Saturday to do a little fishing and maybe a short hike. No one wanted or could go so I headed out myself around 7 am. There is no sense in arriving before 9 am cause you can't get a day pass until they open. After a stop for coffee, a reading of the newspaper and a short talk with the coffee shop owner it was time to GO. Arriving at 9:15 I got a day pass and headed to the dock. I knew it was windy but there were white caps everywhere! So that was the fishing part done. Seems like every time I want to go fishing its bad weather. Lots of people go out when there are white caps, like the guy stuck at the causeway, with his motor cover off. No way your gonna paddle back. Guess I could have loaned him my motor to get back to the dock. Anyway I did a bike ride toward T-Harbour and Lehtinen's Bay. After a short walk into Shuniah Lake through the bush it was decided that I should stay on the known path. Once again I told myself "Do not bushwhack and leave your glasses in the truck at the same time. You will NOT be able to properly read the gps". Been there, done that, did it again? At least I got a picture. I can hardly wait to upload my gps track and see how many circles I did before getting out. Anyway it was on to T-Harbour then Lehtinen's Bay. 17 km on the bike and probably another 5 km walking. After getting back to the truck I went and sat at the beach for a while. Then headed home arriving about 5 pm. Below are some of the pictures I captured. Not bad for a days trip.

In the bottom right corner of the rock face is a crop from the same picture showing
a tree growing. Can you see it in the original?

Gotta love this next one, probably my favorite of the trip.

Reworked Giant

2010-08-27T08:59:00.004-04:00

Thursday's picture of the Sleeping Giant wasn't so great ( see below ). So I decided to rework it in Photoshop to produce something a little different. It took about an hour to come up with the final result. I probably should have done it to the original image then reduced the size as I'm interested in printing it. Could I do it again? Probably.

Wendy is running & working Saturday so I'm going to take off and go for a boat ride & do a little fishing. Not sure if Christopher is comming, I asked but didn't really get an answer. I'm going either way. Most likely to Sibley, that way I can do a little walking & shooting ( picture) as well.

I like this, might need a little more work on the lower section.
More blues & less darkness to even it out would help make
the giant stand out more.

Afternoon Off

2010-08-25T19:16:00.006-04:00

The boss gave me the afternoon off as there wasn't much going on. Actually I decided that if I could get my camera & tripod out the door before my phone rang, I was taking the afternoon off. Oh yea, with pay! And so I did, leaving at 12:30 and returning around 5:00. I decided to go to the Cascades and then the Marina. Something is still not right with my pictures, darkening of the edges appears to be a problem. I'm wondering if the polarizing filter is causing the problem? I was using it with all the shots taken today. Next time out I'll have to do some comparison shots.

OK so after a little searching on the internet it turns out the vignetting is my fault. A uv and Circ polarizing lens on a 18-55mm lens wide open will cause this problem. So much to learn and remember. Too bad its not noticeable on the lcd. There are Photoshop filters to correct it but it is best done by avoiding the situation from the start. Guess I might just have to go back.

Time Flies

2010-08-23T19:47:00.003-04:00

Seems like we just go back from camping but its already been 2 weeks. Last Saturday I took a 1 day course on Landscape Photography at Sleeping Giant Park. It was quite informative and I learned a fair bit. It was a crappy day for shooting, low clouds and windy, but still worth the money to attend. I missed the earlier workshops but I'll probably attend them next year. The Sea Lion picture was taken at the workshop. The others are from earlier this year.