Spring is in the air

Finally seeing some sunshine and accompanying warmer temperatures. With the prospect of additional licensed drivers in the household, plus my own wishes, I decided to enhance the fleet a little...

Let's see where this goes...

Dreaming of summer...

As a rule, I try to live in the moment instead of longing for something yet to come. Now that it's almost the middle of March, it seems everyone is bemoaning the cold, heading south, wishing for summer, etc. Overall, that's a poor way to live in eastern Canada. Granted, this has been a long cold winter, with plenty of snow and associated irritants, but as the wise old saying goes: "This too shall pass". I've noticed that most of us could use a better attitude. "Working for the weekend" might sound harmless, but given our mortal timetable, is it really wise to slog through 5 days of agony just for 2 days of "fun"? I don't think so. Nevertheless, I must confess that I too am longing for spring & summer, and yes I'm even sick of the frigid freezing temperatures. Bring on the BBQ, the camping, the coffee on the deck...bring on summer !! May God help you and me both to balance the here and now with the sweet by and by...

BBQ, Malawi, Oct 2013

Actually, it's not a bad idea to start thinking now about how to make next winter more bearable. For me, it's about stacking the deck in favor of making the winter more enjoyable. For some, that means going somewhere warmer, but that's not much of an option for many of us. Often, we overlook the simple things. For example, how you dress will often impact the possibility of enjoying the cold. I find that too many times, I go outside in winter, poorly prepared, and quickly return to the house, belly-aching about how cold it is. However, if I dress warmly, it's much easier to embrace the cold. Many winter activities sound daunting, but snowshoeing, skiing, even a simple walk can be enjoyable with the right attire. Give it a try !

Centennial Dad

Just a placemark, but my Dad would have turned 100 today...

See HERE...

How time flies...I was only 18 when he died...

Good things come to those who wait

For about 25 years or so, I've been eyeing the Optimus line of vintage white gas stoves. Two models in particular have been in my sights; the Svea 123 and the 8R Hunter. I've pretty much given up on them, as they are a hotly coveted items on Ebay, often fetching $100 or even $200 in some cases. Surprise surprise, one showed up on Kijiji last week for $10, and I managed to snag it. It's very well-used but they clean up very nicely, and are awesome units.

Above photo shows a couple of examples, one a little dirtier than the other.
I just had to test mine out as-is to see if it was ok. The guy told me he bought it at Sears in 1970.
As suspected, it fired right up...see the video below...

It's a noisy beast, but I'm so glad to finally get my paws on one...now that I know it works, I'm going to try and replace a couple of parts, paint the case, and shine up all of the brass. Hopefully it'll look like this when I'm done...

Pulk Sled Testing

Finally got out on snowshoes today for a trial run, towing my Pelican sled. -3c and sunny. What a great day...

Retreat...

I'm an expert at procrastinating. It seems I talk, plan, speculate, anticipate, all with good intentions but then don't seem to pull the trigger and follow through. This is especially the case in winter when it often ends up much easier just to stay home, particularly on weekends. I always say I'm going to be less sedentary "this winter" but before I know it another winter has slipped by. This is where its good to have friends, especially ones who have it more together than me. For example, a friend of mine invited me to a men's retreat last February, but I hesitated and ended up declining. This year, he invited me again and thank God I conjured up the gumption to actually show up this time. The irony in all of this of course is that the Camp where it was held is only about 20 minutes from my house, so you'd think it would be easy. Anyway, I threw a bunch of gear in my van and showed up Friday night...so glad I made it. There were about 50 guys there and I scarcely knew any of them. Ages ranged from teens to almost 82 years young. The weekend was custom designed for me. The guest speaker's main topic was JOY...be still my heart. I think we're all prone to grumpiness, discontentment, and complaining, so I soaked it all up like a dry crusty sponge. Additionally, there was a great bunch of musicians, lots of tasty food and snacks, a frozen lake, snowy woods, and plenty of Saturday sunshine. Debbie was working a 12 hour shift on Saturday, so I even sneaked home to check on the boys, not to mention the wood-stove. The first night, I slept one of the nicely outfitted cabins, but some of those Baptists snore like the proverbial dirt-bike, "consumed with inner peace" as it were. I'm exaggerating; nevertheless I jumped on that as an excuse to sleep in my van on the second night. It only got down to -3c so it wasn't much of a cold weather test. I enjoyed it anyway. I found it really refreshing to meet some new people, and make and reacquaint friends, new and old. It's always good to take time to take time. What ?  :)

The photo above shows the main dining/meeting complex with one of the cabins in the background.

Another shot of the complex from the cabin area.

I even got to dust off my skis and go for a jaunt.

Snowshoeing of course, is mandatory...

Ice was not too smooth. BroomBall anyone ?

Sitting around the fire is also mandatory...

So, all in all a great weekend.If God spares me, I'll be back next year too...

First deal of the New Year...

Sometimes, I'm "forced" to abandon any budgeting guidelines and succumb to an exception, case in point:

Canadian Tire has been selling a pretty mediocre or substandard propane hot water heater for a few years now. It' the infamous now seemingly defunct "Trailwood" brand, as is my previously mentioned stove/oven.

First of all, here's the trigger for the impulse purchase...

Secondly, I already have a similar unit so I'm pretty familiar with its shortcomings. It requires 2 D Batteries to fire the piezo-electric ignitor, and the burner is temperamental. Nevertheless, I felt it was worth $40, so add another item to my arsenal.

An illustration of the unit from Canadian Tire's Web Site.

I stole this photo from their review site, where a customer has attached a water jug to the unit. This is probably a better idea than the stupid plastic bag that it comes with.

While these things are not perfect, the price resulted in me getting one, and I'm sure I'll put it to some sort of use. My other similar unit is on loan to a friend, so redundancy is in order  :)

Remember the old prepper adage: two is one, and one is none...