Duck, Duck, Goose!

The end of summer has gone by us.  We are now getting ready to rake leaves, scrape frosty windshields and bundle up in warmer clothing.  Autumn is in full swing and we not-so-eagerly await the cold of winter.

Here's a nice picture to remind you of warm breezes, sunny skies and shorts & t-shirts!

Last of the sunny, warm weather

And now the fun stuff of the autumn and winter begin.  Hockey, indoor soccer, hunting, kid's programs at church, ballet...

Ballet!?!?   Seriously?  A bunch of 'the girls' are learning ballet.  For some unknown reason I'm not permitted to view the spectacle.  Christine says the instructor 'floats across the floor with grace and beauty'.  Christine also tells me that she herself looks like she's carrying a large potted plant doing the same moves!  I would pay money to see it.  That's probably why I'm not allowed to go there.  They should charge admission.

Hockey tryouts for LP

Brother KP is playing indoor soccer this winter.  BMO Centre is a great facility.

New skates for me.  I'm not convinced they make me faster...  They look and feel really good, though!

 Random Goings-On

Aiden in a large nest

Goldfish races at Courtney & Kevin's stag and doe event.  Okay - that was fun!

Half-Pint crashed into a chair while running around at the church.  He managed to split his head and leak a fair bit of blood onto the floor.  His Mom bravely took him to the hospital to get some repairs made.  Five stitches later he was as good as new.  The stitch count has started for another one in the family.

Leaking

Not leaking

The first raking job of the year.  Only 1/3 of the leaves were out of the trees!

One of the last fishing trips of the 2014.

I'm not sure what this is.  There's a wedgie going on there,  that's for sure!

BunHead as Mahna-Mahna of Sesame Street fame.

Hunting Season

Autumn is hunting season.  Deer are in season.  Waterfowl (duck and geese) are in season.  Even turkeys have a short season squished in there, too.

Goose hunting with Brother Bill, The Teacher and AK.

It's hard to get out for very long with all of the other activities and responsibilities of life going on but to hunt with a bunch of friends is good fun.  We've managed to get some geese and a duck.  I've seen a couple of deer within range but it was just too dark and risky to take a shot.  We'll keep putting in as much time as we can to get some more meat in the freezer.

The Teacher gets his first bird!

The view from the tree stand - minus the 4-legged prey.

Children of the Corn

AK and I have been able to bring some of the boys along for goose hunting.  We don't have to be perfectly still or deathly quiet, so it's perfect for fidgety lads.  We were able to hide in the edge of the standing corn field with decoys spread out in the stubble.  Half-Pint proved to be very effective as a duck retriever, too.  He's small enough to sneak through the corn and scoop up the birds.

Sunset over the fields

An early evening spent hunting waterfowl.

Goose!

Crop destruction by deer

Thanksgiving In Collingwood

This year we had a big Thanksgiving weekend away at a chalet just outside Blue Mountain near Collingwood.  Eighteen of us packed into the place and we all had beds to sleep in!  It was a great set-up with lots of living space and room for the kids to play, as well as an adequate kitchen and large eating area.  It also had an outdoor hot tub.  

We hiked through part of the Kolapore Highlands, stopped by an apple orchard and took the kids to a skateboard and bike park where they could ride over jumps and ramps.  We spent an afternoon at Blue Mountain and had fun zipping down the slide ride there.  Gavin (or Huggy as he prefers to be called) met a lovely young lady in line for the slide ride.  We had a hard time getting him away from her when it was his turn to get in a cart.

An old car back in the Highlands

Kids

Leaves on a stick.  Not found naturally occurring in nature in this manner - by Jack-Boy

Our chalet - home for the weekend

Huggy and the 'nice Russian girl' he met

ET airborne over a jump at the bike park

Pine Car Racers for the SCBC Grand Prix

The three boys made pine car racers for the Grand Prix at Stoney Creek again this year.  They spent a good amount of time drawing the shapes.  I cut the shapes out of the wood blocks and turned the boys loose in Poppa's workshop with the belt sander, drill press and sandpaper.  They shaped and smoothed the wood until they were happy with it.  Or, in the case of Half-Pint, until he was distracted by other things.

Nice clock frame around your neck, son.

LP making the final preparations to the body of his pine car racer.

Forget working on the car - playing in sawdust is way more fun.

 They painted their cars and the kitchen table.  They cleaned most of the paint off the table and themselves.  I helped them install the wheels and they were then ready to race.

I present to you The Slug, LP's dark grey F1-based car.  However, true to it's name, it was not fast.
Next was LP's second car, a white Porsche 911-styled body.  It looked very realisitc.  It even won a couple of heats.  I'm convinced it would have done better if there were a couple of turns in the track!

Brother KP's car was not a car.  It was called 'The Coffin'.  The shape was a dead give-away (sorry, that was a bad pun).  One design feature he really wanted was 'Speed Holes'.  Basically, large holes drilled straight through front to back, and on an angle front to back on the sides.  Apparently, Speed Holes don't make coffins very competitive on a short track.

Lastly, Half-Pint's car.  It was colourful - even the entire wheel was painted.  That also included the mounting holes.  Blobs of dried paint do not allow wheels to turn and roll smoothly.  It never won a race. In fact, the only car it beat all day was - - - The Slug!  Maybe next year we will discuss friction and coefficients of drag before we start painting.

Pinewood car creations - The Slug, a Porsche 911, The Coffin (with 'Speed Holes') and I'm not quite sure what Half-Pint's car is called.  Extra weights had to be added to them all on race day, as you can see.

Men's Algonquin Adventure

The men's group from church went to Whitefish Lake in Algonquin Park for a late September weekend adventure.  There was some canoeing, hiking and lots of eating.  There was some good discussion and challenges put forth, too.

The weather was the best the area had experienced all summer:  warm, cloudless skies, leaves in full autumn colour, no bugs... simply, PERFECT!!  

Here are a few pictures from the area.

A quick and hearty shore lunch

A couple of pictures from the lookout on a hiking trail

Amazing view.

Oh look, caught a lake trout!

How cool is this - a cold water baptism.

 Oh, one more thing...

A powerful drawing by Bruce MacKinnon of the Chronicle Herald in Halifax; in memory of Cpl. Cirillo.

Whether or not you consider the cowardly acts of a lone gunman to be a terrorist act or not, anyone that puts on a uniform for our country and loses their life while performing their duties, they are a hero.  Corporal Cirillo pledged his life for our country.  He just happened to have it called upon that day in Ottawa.  The same with WO Patrice Vincent.


RIP Corporal Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.
Thanks to all our serving soldiers and veterans.