Radish Farmer

When Tresa plants her vegetable garden.  Kieran always gets something to plant as well.  One year it was a colourful plant that we put in the front.  It was orange and needed a shady spot.

I forget what it was.  But it was pretty.
Video: What I planted!
This year he planted seeds.  3 types of vegetables.  All in the same spot.  Which is why it is in a tight cluster like a shrub.

There were radishes, beans and I think asparagus.
They are well over 30 days old now.   And you can now see the radishes popping up out of the ground.
So he picked one.

Video: Radish farmer.  Will he eat it?  No.  He's never eaten a radish. I don't think he's ever eaten asparagus.  Beans maybe.

But this was a project for him.  At school they planted seeds and took care of them and sold them at bake sales when they flowered.  Someone bought his.  But I think he wanted to buy it, but he had no money.  But we managed to get the straw back that he used to keep the plant straight.

Centre of the Island

We were on our way to Centreville.
Hadn't been here in ages.  Even when we were on the island for dragon boat races, we didn't go here.  I don't even remember going here as a kid.

I don't think we came to Centre Island that often.  But I do remember riding the ferry.  I don't recall visiting Centreville.  But I think I rode the log ride.  It's all very vague, and I'm not sure if it's because of those Centre Island commercials or reality.

We had plans to go to Canada's Wonderland, but that went down with a fever.  So alternate plans were to go to Centre Island.

Kieran had gone with his school camp, but his group never got to ride the train.  So that's the first thing we did.  Then we did the Haunted Barrel ride.

We then rode the Scrambler.  Not sure if you know what this ride is, but it's a spinning one.  Spinning rides don't always agree with me these days.  But I gave it a go.
Go it did.  Real fast.  But it wasn't as bad as I had expected.  It was actually ok.
Kieran had the wrist band ($37).  That way he could go on as many rides as many times as he wanted.  It's mostly for kids his age.  Tickets are $10 for 10 or $1.05 ea.  We spent just over $33 to ride some of the rides with him.  If one person is always going on a ride with the kid. Probably worth it to get a wrist band for the adult too.  Otherwise tickets will end up cheaper.

The Log Ride. This is in the commercial for sure.  It's not very long. But that's ok. It's the slide down that fun.  Plus it was raining so getting wet didn't matter.

For 3 tickets you can drive a car:
Taking Kieran for his G-Learners on the Island.



I'm glad we didn't buy any food here.  It was basically poutine and funnel cakes.  The only thing we got was an ice cream cone for Kieran.
I resisted the urge to buy a funnel cake.  For $9, it was a big plate of carbs. And all I really wanted was a bit.  I should have gotten a fork and taken a bit from these asians.  Not sure if they would have noticed an extra asian sharing their plate.




And we caught the Ferry back, just in time. It only takes 10mins from dock to dock. And I think it waits for 10mins and then heads out.

Even though it poured for part of it.  It turned out to be a fun day. The kids were going on rides over and over since there wasn't a line up due to the weather.

Photos of Centre Island

A bath canvas - clean slate

Whatever you want to call it.  Our original 1956 bathroom has been gutted to the studs.
Our bathroom is old and cold.  But it was very simple and very retro.  A designer, who is on TV, said she liked it and said it was quite nice.  But we never used this bathroom to take a shower.  The shower head is too low.  I think Filipinos installed this shower/tub area.  The shower head is a foot too low.

Anyways this Filipino plus his 6'2" brother are going to take it out.  And in June we got started on it.  And we kept at it.  Wow, was it ever difficult to demolish this bathroom.  It had about 1-1/2" to 2" of cement and mesh behind the tiles.  It was made to last.  Bit by bit I was getting stuff out.
We weren't sure about whether to save the floor and the tub.  The tub is a steel retro tub.  It's ok, but it got chipped in the demo.  The floor is very nice, but cold.  We checked into refinishing a tub, but it's simply an epoxy bonded paint.  If you are gutting a bathroom.  Get a new tub.  We thought refinishing it would restore it to it's original state.  It's not what we thought.

The problem with the floor is that now it becomes a design/colour matching issue.  So to resolve that issue.  I removed the floor.  There it's gone. No more design/colour matching issue.  Clean slate.  Easy. I do it!

The floor came up relatively easy.  We thought we'd need a jackhammer considering how difficult the walls were.  The walls required many blows with the sledgehammer.  It was a lot of work.

 With the floor gone, Tresa now has a blank canvas to work with.  I just need help getting the tub out.  It's already disconnected and I've capped the water lines.


And we can now install an infloor heating system.  Already sourced it out.  When we get closer to that point, I will pick it up.

It took a bit of getting used to, not having a toilet on the second floor. Being middle aged now, nightly pees were becoming normal.

But I think my body is somehow realizing the bathroom is now 2 floors down, so it's shutting itself down till morning.

I can't really do much until I get this tub out, so I can insulate the walls.  No more racing for me. I am free to work on the bathroom for the remainder of the summer and fall.

My goal is always to finish before the snow falls.  Summer is already half over.  Better get on it.

Bathroom demolition Pics.

TTF = Too Totally Freezing Sprint Race

Why I do these races, I do not know.  It all started long ago when I first started to do running races.  And Triathlons were always a mental as well as physical challenge.  Only because I was never a very good swimmer.

I am much better thanks to Tresa and getting me to the cottage and making me take lessons and more lessons. And she has inspired me to sign up for these races. But today, I was totally unprepared for how cold the water was going to be.  It's been a heatwave for a while now.  I was not expecting the water to be like ice water.  I wasn't the only one that suffered the brain freeze for the first 20+ mins. The sooner I got out the better.  Next time I'll need to grow some white fur and big paws.

The water looked okay for a nice swim.  Weather was excellent.  No rain, no thunderstorms clouds, it was looking pretty good.  There wasn't an opportunity to swim prior to the wave start.  Basically you dive in and I had to laugh because people were howling from the cold.  One guy in the wave before mine right when the horn sounded, bailed out of the swim.  Something was wrong.  Panic attack.  We don't know.

Dexter was with me on the dock when we started and I was with all the weak swimmers, huddling for moral support.  There were two other guys, but I do not remember their names.  We finished around the same time.

We suffered for 20+mins together.  I spent most of it on my back because I couldn't get warmed up to get into my front crawl.  It was so difficult.  Only because of the cold and it was making me dizzy.  I was a bit disappointed, but it's okay.  Others suffered with me. HA!


It seemed like a long time before I got to these steps.  I was grateful. I was also very disoriented, but made my way to my bike.  The walk to my spot was wobbly.  Thought I was going to hurl at a few spots.  But thankfully, I think because I was in very good shape, it helped me get past it.  From what I read on the forums, the fierce storm on Friday likely caused churning of the water to drop the temps far below the posted temps of 18 deg C.  It was much colder than that. I've swam in my second race at that temp and there was no way it was 18 deg C.  This was much colder.

Some others like this girl and this guy that I think came out of the water before or after me headed straight for medical attention.
There was also 1 guy in the wave just before mine, right at the horn, swam straight back to the dock and could barely make it back on.

Put another notch in the experience belt.  I survived another swim.  I swear I have to have a good swim leg at least once!  I work so hard.  Ask Tresa.
Next time wear ear plugs.  The only other time I've been in water this cold was at my cousin's cottage in Kenora.  My god.  It's like I fell through the ice.  Can't imagine what real hypothermia is really like.  And I had a wetsuit! Need one that covers my head.




It's like Where's Waldo? Somewhere in the middle there. I am in T1 and changing. Believe it or not.
This was a big venue.  Lots of athletes.  It made the swim hard for another reason. Swimming into other swimmers.  But they were all really nice.  They apologized.  It was nice.

Finally heading out on the bike.  Still woozy I made my way up the hill to the dismount area.  Shoes in hand.

Once on the bike I got to ride on the Gardiner Exp.  That was a treat.  Then the wind kicked in.  Not nice.  But I made up ground.  And I had a humongous tailwind heading back.  Which made it fun!
I ended up clocking 33kph on the bike.  So happy about that.

T2 meant making my way back down the hill from the bridge from the CNE.  It was a non-adventure, good thing. One girl who was rushing down past me nearly smashed her bike into the barrier.  Just to save a few seconds.

Then I got to try out my 1400 NB shoes that are so light. They are minimus type shoes but are so awesome for a 5k race.  Just enough padding for my liking and so light.  It helped me run a 4:44 min/km pace for the 5K run leg.

Finishing strong because I was expecting a burger!

Plus I was tired.

I had a frozen head, I still had water in my left ear.  I finally got it out when I got home.

And plus Tresa was waiting for me.  So grateful she was there.  I heard her calling me when I was coming into the swim.  I had an inkling to bail.  But my stubbornness would not let me.  And when I heard her at every transition where she could get to, it gave me the energy I needed to continue.  Felt like I had more bounce in my step.

When I crossed the finish, there were no burgers. :(
Just bananas, half a bagel, peanut butter and jam.

Plus my medal.  But I did score a Zoot tri short at 40% off.  Checked on Amazon, I figured it would be about the same, but it turned out to be more expensive!  So WOOT for ZOOT.  I was allowed to try it on.  After swimming in Lake ON, I figured I should buy it if it fits.  Just because I thought it was gross. Plus I got a bit of peanut butter on it.  Oh well...hey I'm considerate, eh.

And before my race.  Thank God.  Because who wants to hug a guy who just swam in Lake ON, then sweated for the other legs of the race? Not me!
I got to say hi and a quick snap with Simon Whitfield.
2000 Sydney Olympics Gold Medalist (Triathlon)
2008 Beijing Olympics Gold Medalist (Triathlon)
What a nice guy!  I follow him on Strava.

Pics from the race. 

The more news I read about this race, the more content I am with my swim time.  I've clocked myself in both the 50m pool and cottage and i'm right about 2:30min/100m for the swim.  But nothing I can do about Mother Nature. That's how the rice was cooked. There was a guy that suffered a heart attack.  Apparently a combination of historic health issues and the cold water temperatures.  In the Slowtwitch forum the son had provided details and said good thing the kayaker was quick.  His dad is stable. Thank God.  

It's ironic.  Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

Kuya vs the cottage fish

What a tough life.
A loft bed big enough for two.
Or maybe one squirmer.
They got up okay.
But getting them outside was more difficult that we thought.  They were busy with their Beyblades and not looking at what was around them just outside the sliding doors.

Once we got them outside it was a different story.  They got to venture out into the uncharted waters, for a 3 hour tour.

I think they were out the whole day.  They didn't fish the first day, because there weren't any worms.  And since all the little cousins were there.

They got to go tubing. Thanks to the Sinclair's generosity.  They are 2 cottages over and have a boat.  And they took all the kids with them on the boat.

Kieran is still pretty small so he sinks into the hole so all you can see are his feet.

When Kuya's turn came with Emerson, I thought I heard some high pitched sound, almost like a dog whistle.

Hey we even saw a pontoon plane land in the lake.
We saw him take off later.








After the tubing, the Garces kids were heading home.  But not before a campfire and roasting of marshmallows to make S'mores.  These are pretty big s'mores, and the feet must be pretty toasty so close to the fire.j






The next day the went fishing with Kieran's Dedek.  Wasn't sure how it was going to be, but apparently it was good.  No one dropped a fishing rod into the lake.

These kids look more white than the old man.






Afterwards they released them back into the lake.  To be caught again another day.

This one however, didn't make it.  No matter what these two did.  It kept swimming belly up.

But the day always ends on a cloud.

There were a lot of bubbles in this bath.  Glad there wasn't another flood.

Flood and blackout birthday

The family that goes thru floods together, stays together.
These are the guys responsible for bringing the rains to TO.
They were in Canmore AB for the flooding there in June, and when they were done with that they brought the severe thunderstorms here so we could experience it for ourselves.  Pictures weren't going to do it justice.  Experience was better.

I didn't think it was all that bad.  But a lot of rain came down in a very short period of time.  I had never seen the 427 flooded.  DVP yes because it's in a low region next to the Don River, but 427 was like a lake.  I could not believe it.  Lakeshore Blvd was also flooded, Lake Ontario was reclaiming it back.  GO-trains, subways and stations, libraries, grocery stores were also flooded.  It was like Thailand.  And since TO Asian population has become the majority, that comment is not too far off.

Jinn had ridden home on his bike along lakeshore to avoid the traffic.  He encountered sewage instead. YUK!

Our power was restored early Tue morning.  But our friends 2km south of us, still had no power.  The Toronto Hydro Outage map, was having an outage. ie. it saying there was no outage in that postal code when in fact there was.  And TH's response?  Check twitter.  Sure...cellphone networks were also down.  What a backup plan.  Who's idea was that? I'm sure the city paid a few $M for consultants to come up with that.

So to provide relief we asked them to come by, we'll crank up the AC, hoping we don't cause a brown out, and enjoy a birthday supper and wish for hydro to be restored.  And when people come over, you know what that means.  High stress time for Tresa.  Clean up, clean up song starts playing at a fever pitch.

Ki Jinn and I share the same birthday. It's a funny coincidence and I think we found out when I had a bit of a mishap and he was patching me up and asked me my birthdate for a script or something and he looked at me as asked if I was kidding.

I said no...July 10th.
I am exactly 3 years older.  Now we are in the same age group for races.  Which means I'll be farther down in placing.  He is a much faster runner than me.

We had 6 Neopolitan pizzas + Salad + cake (DQ had no power, it was from cold stone).  It was awesome. 3 Birthdays (2 today and 1 recently past), 1 yellow belt, 1 freed loose tooth and only a threat of thundershowers, and restored power.

It was a good day.

Yellow Day

About a month ago, Kieran got a note that he was to go for his first belt grading.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I was excited for him, and he was had been saying that Sensei was telling him that he was making progress and he was close to achieving his yellow belt. He was excited too.

I had been through Karate grading myself, but I wasn't sure what to expect at this club. It was a muggy day.  I'd never actually been in the dojo. It is a lot larger than I thought.


And Kieran was anxious and excited. I like this club. They don't tolerate silliness. Neither can we, but everyone including myself knows I am a catalyst when it comes to silliness. But at the club there is a code of conduct that comes with being a member of the High Park Martial Arts club.  And that code extends outside the club - to the home, working hard at school and in the neighbourhood, respecting everyone and everything and yourself.

For his grading the parents had to also evaluate their child on behaviour at home.  I thought that was so good.  Karate is a not just exercise, it's a discipline. It's about representing the club in a good way, bringing honour to the club, dishonour it and you will get the boot.  I have witnessed that first hand. No it wasn't me.  It was some other kid that used his skills in a fight at some club.

He didn't get his belt the day of the grading.  Not sure why.  I recall I got mine grading day.  But when I picked him up after class today, he received his Yellow Belt.   He said it was hard to put on because it was so stiff.  And the other students clapped when he got it.  I could see the pride on his face.
And he hung up his Gi displaying his two belts.

Regardless of the overcast skies, threatening to thunder. It was a sunny yellow day.

HHI: Looking for a bypass around the traffic

Heading to SC was always a daunting drive.  We try to make the trusty Civic more comfortable for the 1700km trek down.  We leave Thursday evening so that the Friday drive is not so long and we can make a day of it in Charlotte, NC which is less than 500 km from our final destination in HHI.

I discovered how to tether the ipad to my iphone5.  I didn't realize you could tether it,  I recall asking this question about doing this a few years ago and the Apple rep said I couldn't.  But it is a capability in the iPhone 4 and 5.  And by default it's off.

So it was kinda neat that Tresa could surf on the way down, while were still in ON.  Over the border I disabled data roaming, and only turned it on when I really needed it.

One app that was a big help was iExit.  I forget how I heard about it, but I think it was from a Consumer's report magazine.  And it was a huge help.

Last year we had encountered problems getting a room to stay on our way down.  But it was an even BIGGER issue heading home.  Tired, exhausted from the heat and sun and driving since 6am and it was now midnight, we encountered no vacancies hotel after hotel.  And it was because of storm from the previous week had taken out power in WV.  So this year we were able to use this app to pre-book rooms if we knew we where we were going to end up stopping.

Another useful thing I got was this Lifeproof case for my iPhone.  This girl had it in the Bahamas.  And I wasn't sure about spending so much for a case, but it's worth it.  It's a waterproof case and you can now take video under water with your iPhone.  It's amazing.  Beats the ziplock bag I was using.

It rained every day, but usually in the afternoon.  There was only 1 day where we were rained out for golf, but that's okay.  The rain actually made it cooler than the same time last year.  I remember feeling sick from slight heat exhaustion.  This year I didn't have that problem.  It made the drive home easier.  Also we managed to find a route around the traffic before the tunnels through the WV mountains.  It was so good not to be in stop-in-go traffic for hours.  We were thinking we'd have to find another route home.  And this was a timesaver.

However the ocean was much rougher.  Bob would go out in the turbulent waters with rocks in his pockets to do his penance for a poor golf game due to a sore rib. But it made for boogie board riding better.  And I don't know if the rains had anything to do with it, but there were horseshoe crabs underneath our feet.  I stepped on on and it freaked me out.  But Madi picked it up.  Wish I had a photo of that.

We booked our return home hotel using iExit and glad we did.  The app is useful and free.  It also helped us find restaurants other than fast food to eat dinner at.

Our last stop before the border was Erie, where we found this authentic Mexican cuisine.  We know because it says 'Authentic'.  Plus everyone working inside was mexican.  They started speaking to us in spanish.  I said 'si' to whatever they said.

Oddly enough it was next door to another mexican restaurant Qboda, that looked more like a chain.  It was next to a BBQ place and a donut place.

Note to self.  On I90 East, take the Hamburg route.  The tolls are less crowded.  I don't know if it's because Mel's garmin GPS is newer than mine, but his took him that route.  And Ray and I took the usual I90 route.  We had gotten on the interstate before Mel, and when we got to customs, he was already there.  And we weren't going slow, that's for sure.

Customs was always stressful.  But thankfully it was uneventful. WOO HOO!
Note to self, don't be behind Ray at customs, he doesn't listen to the question being asked.