The last couple of weeks have been quite unlucky. I am now on round two of how things go wrong in sets of three.
To sum it up:
1. scratched my camera sensor while trying to clean it so my camera is pretty much screwed for some style of shots. . TIP: don't ever do this.
2. photoshop computer did not want to boot at all .... took a day to get it going.
3. water leak under kitchen counter due to connector on water filter ... took a couple hours to fix it and cleanup the mess.
4. the pool pump stoped working while vaccuming the pool in order to get it closed for the season. Luckily my neighbour had a spare I could borrow to finish the job. Managed to fix it a dew days later by taking it appart.
5. the car starts acting up to the point of being barely driveable but at least makes it to the Ford dealer .... 920 dollars ... mass airflow gizmo, heater core hoses and pipe, vacuum line, radiator and heater core flush ... car is good to go.
I de-stressed the night I found out how much the car was going to cost me ... I took it out on the two blue spruce trees that formerly occupied a really crappy spot in the back yard.
On the flip side ... my summer stuff is now put away for the winter and yard work is getting pretty much done ... which means I am free in October to go paddling.
I am going to head over to the Ottawa Valley to visit friends and go paddling for a few days ... can't wait to get back in my boat again as it has been too long.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Roadtrip to Gull and Ottawa River and to USA
Well alot has happened since my last update.
I spent alot of time out in the front yard weeding the gardens and cutting back the overgrown crap. Man thats alot of work.
I also managed to get a outdoor photoshoot with my friend Amanda. We had spent some time in the studio back at the beginning of the year and were trying to get together for another shoot. But as life has it our schedules never agreed to much until I received an early morning msn message asking what I was up to for the day. It was definitely fun and challenging shoot out side having to compensate for extra light and stuff but she was very happy with the results.
I spent the rest of my time after that getting stuff ready for my next nine day roadtrip which would take me over to the Gull River, Ottawa Valley and another trip into the USA.
Saturday 31-July
The day had come to begin my trip. It would also be my 45th birthday. I headed over to the Gull River in Minden Ontario for the 2010 National Slalom Races for C1, C2, K1. I spent the day shooting photos of my friends that were competing.
Photos are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624636451258/
After that I headed over to the Sierra Designs factory outlet sale in Foymount, Ontario for some shopping before they closed their doors forever. I am going to miss that place as it was classic stop on my way to or from the Ottawa river.I then headed over to Esprit to have dinner with my friends before finally getting to the Rents place just before midnight. I was suprised to see a card and coconut tarts on the counter complete with a candle to boot!
Sunday 01-August
I spent the day paddling the Middle Channel of the Ottawa River with seven other open boaters and some kayakers. The weather was great.
Photos are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624703532334/
I even had a chance to have my boat used in a River Rescue course being taught by Jim at Esprit. It was cool to see people going into a hole to get my boat time and time again.
Photos are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624507196227/
After that it was time for a quick shower before heading off to Brad and Kim's place for an excellent pulled pork bbq dinner. There were close to 60 people there.
Monday 02-Aug
I spent the day with the Rents as they hd just came back from a weekend away. My step-mommy made the ribs i brought with me for dinner with all the fixins. I even managed to vacuum out the shit-mobile before re-packing my stuff to continue my roadtrip.
Tuesday 03-Aug
I left the Rents place at the crack of dawn as i had a long drive ahead of me. I did not realize there were two different border crossings to the USA just south of Ottawa. I ended up crossing at this little craphole of a crossing at Ogdensburg. Even though I used my Nexus card ... I had the US Customs guy from hell. I don't know how many times he asked me if i had booze and tobacco with me. He then wanted to search my trunk of my car. He had fun trying to squeeze himself into trunk to take a look as it would not fully open with my canoe on the roof.
My goal for the day was to stop at Ricketts Glen state park in PA for some photography. There is about 22 waterfalls there that are supposedly gorgeous to shoot. As luck would have it was raining when I was getting close and the forecast was thunderstorms for the day and next morning. I then decided to continue my journey to the ASCI park in MD instead. After a 13.50 hour drive I finally made it to the place. I phoned one of my friends to find out where most people were camping. I managed to get my tent set up in the campground before midnight.
Wednesday to Sunday
I headed over to ASCI to see what the scoop was for the ACA Slalom races as i was there to shoot photos of the race and paddle in between. This would be my third trip to ASCI this year alone. It is a great facility to work on technical paddling skills. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones. I spent some quality time on the river paddling hard trying to catch all the eddys i could plus surfing where ever possible. I had dinner that evening with the Beyers before heading back to the campground.
The next four days were pretty much a repeat of shoot photos, paddling, dinner, occasional drinks with friends.
Photos are in the process of being upload here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/collections/72157624581437893/ ... There will be four albulms there by the time I am done.
Soon it was time for the 800km or 500 mile drive back home. Things were going well until I hit the border. The customs officer told me i could not bring a canoe through the nexus lane and to go through the regular lane on my next trip. She spent about four minutes explaining it to me instead of the normal ten second have a nice day. (I looked at the US / Canadian Nexus site when I got home and there is no exclusion of any vehicle type or what you can and cannot drive through the Nexus lane).
The next couple days was spent getting caught up at work and another trip to the Ford dealer to get new rotors on the car.
I spent alot of time out in the front yard weeding the gardens and cutting back the overgrown crap. Man thats alot of work.
I also managed to get a outdoor photoshoot with my friend Amanda. We had spent some time in the studio back at the beginning of the year and were trying to get together for another shoot. But as life has it our schedules never agreed to much until I received an early morning msn message asking what I was up to for the day. It was definitely fun and challenging shoot out side having to compensate for extra light and stuff but she was very happy with the results.
I spent the rest of my time after that getting stuff ready for my next nine day roadtrip which would take me over to the Gull River, Ottawa Valley and another trip into the USA.
Saturday 31-July
The day had come to begin my trip. It would also be my 45th birthday. I headed over to the Gull River in Minden Ontario for the 2010 National Slalom Races for C1, C2, K1. I spent the day shooting photos of my friends that were competing.
Photos are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624636451258/
After that I headed over to the Sierra Designs factory outlet sale in Foymount, Ontario for some shopping before they closed their doors forever. I am going to miss that place as it was classic stop on my way to or from the Ottawa river.I then headed over to Esprit to have dinner with my friends before finally getting to the Rents place just before midnight. I was suprised to see a card and coconut tarts on the counter complete with a candle to boot!
Sunday 01-August
I spent the day paddling the Middle Channel of the Ottawa River with seven other open boaters and some kayakers. The weather was great.
Photos are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624703532334/
I even had a chance to have my boat used in a River Rescue course being taught by Jim at Esprit. It was cool to see people going into a hole to get my boat time and time again.
Photos are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624507196227/
After that it was time for a quick shower before heading off to Brad and Kim's place for an excellent pulled pork bbq dinner. There were close to 60 people there.
Monday 02-Aug
I spent the day with the Rents as they hd just came back from a weekend away. My step-mommy made the ribs i brought with me for dinner with all the fixins. I even managed to vacuum out the shit-mobile before re-packing my stuff to continue my roadtrip.
Tuesday 03-Aug
I left the Rents place at the crack of dawn as i had a long drive ahead of me. I did not realize there were two different border crossings to the USA just south of Ottawa. I ended up crossing at this little craphole of a crossing at Ogdensburg. Even though I used my Nexus card ... I had the US Customs guy from hell. I don't know how many times he asked me if i had booze and tobacco with me. He then wanted to search my trunk of my car. He had fun trying to squeeze himself into trunk to take a look as it would not fully open with my canoe on the roof.
My goal for the day was to stop at Ricketts Glen state park in PA for some photography. There is about 22 waterfalls there that are supposedly gorgeous to shoot. As luck would have it was raining when I was getting close and the forecast was thunderstorms for the day and next morning. I then decided to continue my journey to the ASCI park in MD instead. After a 13.50 hour drive I finally made it to the place. I phoned one of my friends to find out where most people were camping. I managed to get my tent set up in the campground before midnight.
Wednesday to Sunday
I headed over to ASCI to see what the scoop was for the ACA Slalom races as i was there to shoot photos of the race and paddle in between. This would be my third trip to ASCI this year alone. It is a great facility to work on technical paddling skills. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones. I spent some quality time on the river paddling hard trying to catch all the eddys i could plus surfing where ever possible. I had dinner that evening with the Beyers before heading back to the campground.
The next four days were pretty much a repeat of shoot photos, paddling, dinner, occasional drinks with friends.
Photos are in the process of being upload here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/collections/72157624581437893/ ... There will be four albulms there by the time I am done.
Soon it was time for the 800km or 500 mile drive back home. Things were going well until I hit the border. The customs officer told me i could not bring a canoe through the nexus lane and to go through the regular lane on my next trip. She spent about four minutes explaining it to me instead of the normal ten second have a nice day. (I looked at the US / Canadian Nexus site when I got home and there is no exclusion of any vehicle type or what you can and cannot drive through the Nexus lane).
The next couple days was spent getting caught up at work and another trip to the Ford dealer to get new rotors on the car.
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