April in review

Wow. Two posts in one month! I gotta cut back.

So what's happened? Not a whole lot. Weather's a fair bit warmer, snow's gone. The warm-up happened pretty fast; it wasn't wet and melty as long as I expected it to be. For fun, here are some pre-melt and during-melt pictures of the back yard.

Cold and frozen was great; the dog's curly turds were visible and avoidable, which hardly mattered since they were, of course, frozen.


Melting was less awesome. The back yard became a pool of sewage that often as not got tracked back indoors... ugh!


Aaaanyway... I finally got the dog fixed the other day. I'd heard all sorts of crazy prices so didn't know what to expect. I first checked the city clinic, hoping it was cheaper. It wasn't and the soonest they could get us in was October. So I called the local vet, who scheduled us for the very next day. For the operation, there was a whole slew of options, mostly involving hooking up the beast to machines to decrease her chances of croaking during surgery. I opted out of most of it (and was quite surprised these were optional -- I'd expected the worst), so the grand total was a measly $240. I like to think I got a fair deal.

There was also a cone available for sale, since the dog shouldn't even lick the sutures for a few days. Fortunately, we've done very well without one. The first couple of days I wrapped her belly in a length of gauze, and after that she paid very little attention to her new belly button. All that left now is to regrow her new bald spot.


We went to visit family in southern Ontario for the Easter weekend and somehow I managed to take no pictures whatsoever. The visit involved the usual farm stuff: collected some quail eggs, bought some ducks for the farm, extended a chicken coop run, reinstalled Windows (hey why not), did some trapshooting with a 12 gauge shotgun, visited more family, visited friends. Good times...

Last Sunday we had some friends over and feasted like kings. The weather was okay at first, and we could sit on the deck. But then in the space of a few minutes, we saw ominous clouds swirling our way; in even less time the wind suddenly picked up and pelted all sorts of airborne junk at us. And then the skies opened up. We hurried inside... and then realized that we needed the deck table inside for dinner. Needless to say, things got a little wet. Apparently a tornado actually touched down west of the city; I wasn't surprised as I'd seen a green glow to the west right when things were getting ugly.

The gang.


Cannelloni and quail were on the menu.


Dessert: someone brought tiramisu... delicious!


We went to look at some used furniture the other day in Smiths Falls, an hour out of town. We picked out a couple of items, which were delivered this morning.

Our new table and chairs. It only came with five chairs, but the other available sets of six just didn't appeal to us.


A dresser of sorts.


That's about it, I think. Let that tide you over indefinitely :).

Mont Tremblant

So last week a pile of us went to Tremblant resort. Said pile:


The drive took just under 2 hours and it rained most of the way... not great for getting us fired up. We arrived around 9am. Official check-in to the suite wasn't until 4:30pm so a few of us decided to hit the sloppy slopes.

The snow wasn't fresh and in places there wasn't much; the consistency was somewhere between slush and snow, but at least the slopes weren't just icy. Falling didn't hurt much but did make one rather wet.

Here are the views from the balcony... just a few steps from the slopes.


...and the cloudy view from the top of the hill.


...the resort:


...and the little lift that runs the length of the village. Because really, who likes walking?


That view wasn't very wintry; others were:


Spring in the foreground, winter beyond:


The main ride up the main hill was in a gondola. Those are usually nice, being heated shelters and all. No need for that this time. It was a very warm couple of days, so we would rather have sat in an open chairlift to cool off. Except when it rained on day 1... ugh!

Oh, and another thumbs-down for the gondola and for the entire village. It seems to be pretty much a ski resort. Ski, not snowboard. The equipment racks set up all over the village were 90% for skis, 10% for boards. And the gondolas have slots on the outside so you don't have to lug your crap into the cabin on the way up... except the snowboard slots were covered (they come that way from the manufacturer and it's up to the new owner to remove the cover plates) so we had to lug our boards in with us almost every time (we encountered two gondola cabins with open snowboard slots). Not cool at all. Hrmmmph... skiers!


The first day we went out for dinner at a local pub.


We started early on day 2. Because we were resort guests we could take advantage of First Tracks, a perk that meant we could hit the slopes at 8am instead of 9am for the masses. So a few us got up early to get some skiing/boarding in before breakfast.

Day 2 started off very foggy. That made it tricky going down hills, since we couldn't see 20 feet ahead of us, much less the signs needed to direct us to the right chairlifts (some weren't open yet).

"What fog?"


At 9:30 we went back to the suite where the we'd-rather-sleep-in-than-ski girls had prepared a delicious breakfast of waffles, syrup, bacon, fruit, whipped cream, and more.


Then it was back up the hill for us.

There was one spot where our lone skier Josh decided to fall over and go down a side slope face-first. I laughed and laughed. Here he is finding back his gear. Now, notice the earthy patch right behind him (for later).


Later is now. Coming upon the same run some time later, I decided to be adventurous and take the route partially travelled by Josh's face. Unfortunately I promptly ran out of trail and had to do something with my speed. Three options: bare earth, a tree, or up the hill.

I aimed uphill but ended up transferring all energy to said tree. Through my leg. I cried and cried. Maybe not, but it certainly smarted. These pictures I took while writhing in pain and needing a distraction. My knee still hurts a week later. I know, I know, I should have worn a knee helmet.


Day 2 cleared up nicely and it turned out to be nice (uncomfortably sweaty nice) and sunny. Definitely T-shirt weather.


Finally, an action shot. These were difficult to get due to timing. Most photo attempts ended up being of just after take-off or just before landing rather than mid-flight awesomeness or post-landing face plants. Here's one that worked out. Go Bryan!


Local thugs Reuben & Irene:


Local unruly youths Bryan & Heidi:


The goggles seen above are a novelty item I picked up at Whistler for a great (read: high) price years ago. Bullet-hole hologram... the perfect elicitor of stares.


I kind of forgot to take good pictures of the suite, but here are just a couple. A very nice suite with two bedrooms, a loft... and three bathrooms! A little overkill?


It turns out these suites are privately owned and are managed by the hotel. An owner is entitled to a couple weeks' stay per year. And for only ~$400K for a suite like ours. In my estimation, having the place occupied just over 100 nights per year would cover the mortgage payments. Since Tremblant is a year-round resort, that should be achievable. Hmmm...