Sunday, beautiful Sunday

Spadina Cres in the spring time

Pelicans at the Weir

This is apparently the oldest bridge in Saskatoon, it is where Spadina Cres spans the drainage ditch in Kinsman Park.

Some gas jokes I got in an email.

The Vimy Bandstand in the spring.

I rode to the top of the parkade downtown again and took this photo, it isn't too busy downtown on Sunday morning.

The River Landing park taking shape.

I went downtown this morning on my bike, on the way there I shot down the hill between Broadway and Victoria Bridge and recorded my record high speed for the year so far, 59km/h. Not super fast, but there is a twist in the hill halfway down so it makes it a little scary. I was intending on going to the Farmer's Market to get tomato plants, but there was no Farmer's Market. Apparently it starts outdoors next Saturday, I will have to wait until then. Tina and I went for a walk along the Meewasin Trail this afternoon. We seen some pelicans at the Weir and I took photos (above) then we went to the Mendel Art Gallery, there were some pretty cool paintings in there, but you aren't allowed to take photos. Tomorrow I start my new job, hopefully it will go good. I might go for a ride tomorrow, we'll see. :) Until then ride safe and have fun.

Burning other things up tonight :)

Here is the flame thrower, err, I mean BBQ. :)

8th Street at night.

Tina and her new car, this is a nicer photo then the last one I took.

Sunset at Diefenbaker Park

Another Sunset photo



BBQ = Free

Mini propane tanks = $12.99

BBQ lighter = $2.99

Two nice steaks = $8.00

BBQ Sauce = $1.99

Pain and agravation caused by not having a clue what you are doing = priceless

My parents gave us a table top BBQ around Christmas time, since then it has sat in the trunk of my car. Finally I decided it was time to take it out and maybe try to use it to grill some steaks for supper, it doesn't matter that I've never even operated a BBQ before and have no idea how to hook up the propane lines, light it, or half decently cook something on it. I didn't look inside the BBQ, otherwise I would have discovered that the were hoses for it in there, so I bought a hose for it, which also didn't fit the propane tank I bought at all, note to self: bring back hose to Superstore for a refund tomorrow. I finally got it all hook up and screwed the propane bottle on the end, next up was lighting it. The instructions on the lid said to put the lighter in the match hole and turn the propane on high. I couldn't find the match hole, so I stuck the light in what I thought should be the match hole, in retrospect the match hole wouldn't likely be situated next to the propane line and wooden carry handle of the BBQ. So I ignited the lighter and stuck it in the hole, then I turned the control knob to high and the entire side of the BBQ became engulfed in flames. Obviously I was a bit nervous because of the propane line and tank right there. I quickly took the tank off and it was still burning, so I ran inside and Tina was filling up the water jug for the fridge, so I grabbed it from her, then ran outside again and dumped the water all over the BBQ. At the exact same time the owner of the apartment building drove up and witnessed then entire thing, I felt like an idiot. Tina pointed out the match hole in the other side of the BBQ (the BBQ incurred little damage beyond a scorched handle on one side) and I tightned all the fittings on the propane lines just for safety. This time I did it right but it didn't light, you are supposed to wait five minutes to light it again, but of course I didn't, it still didn't light. Finally on the third try it lit and a big fire ball blew out of the BBQ and nearly singed my eyebrows off. At last it was lit and I put the steaks on to grill. I'm happy to report that the BBQ actually works good and our steaks turned out pretty good, plus I learned some good tips for next time I try to operate the BBQ. Anyway, ride safe and have fun, and read the instructions on the new BBQ before using it, don't learn the hard way. Tomorrow I'm going to ride to the Farmer's Market and see if I can find some tomato plants for our balcony, watch for photos!

Still burning up

Looking up river from the scenic lookout at Cranberry Flats.

A long CNRail train we had to wait for when we returned to the city.

The Saskatoon Police where having their driver training at the Exibition Grounds. Leo and I could hear the squealing tires a pretty good distance.

Down at the beach at Cranberry Flats.

A sandy trail leading to nowhere.

My skin was still burning this morning so before I headed out I slathered myself in SPF45 sunblock. Leo and I met Julian for breakfast at a coffee shop by his house. Around lunch time we headed out on a ride. It was very nice today too, around 20-23 degrees. Cranberry Flats is a shorter ride for me, about 17kms both ways, we got out there and then explored around a bit before heading back to the city. When we got back in the city we went to a local bike shop so that Leo could get his cracking rear rim looked at. At the shop they had a 2006 Catrike Pocket in yellow, I made the mistake of sitting on it and now I'm trying to figure out how I can russle up $2500. Short of robbing a bank I think I will have to wait for a long time to save that much up. I will be blogging again either on Saturday or Sunday, so check in for more then. Ride safe and have fun.

Ahhh! I turned into a lobster...

A small section of rapids just downstream of the ferry, look at that sky, it is so beautiful.

My fearless cycling companion Leo, taking a breather on the ferry.

It's not to far to the other bank of the river, it takes about 5mins to cross.

A very appropriate road sign, right next to the Clarkboro cemetery.

A railroad bridge just south of the ferry.

The ferry operator getting ready to unload a car.

My Burley and Leo's touring bike, this time they are taking a ride.

The Clarkboro ferry crossing the South Saskatchewan river.

As my title might suggest, I got really sunburnt today, the same thing happens every spring. I go out on the first nice day and forget to put on sunblock, next thing you know I look like a giant tomato. It only happens once a season, I learn fast after that and carry my sunblock with me. Today was beautiful, around 20 degrees, with a crisp blue skies above and little to no wind, perfect for cycling. Leo and I decided to head out to Aberdeen. To get to Aberdeen you have to ride to the town of Warman which is just north of Saskatoon, then ride down to the river and cross on the Clarkboro ferry, after that you have to ride about 11kms on a gravel grid road and then you are in Aberdeen. After that it is 25-30kms back to Saskatoon. All together I put on 94kms of riding, after we got back to the city with both rode to Julian's house to visit him, I think that he is really not liking his cast now, and I don't blame him with all the nice weather we are getting, he can't go riding or do any yardwork. We visited at his house for a while and then we both went home for supper. I was a great ride and a nice way to start off the season. I think we will be riding tomorrow too, so check back tomorrow for more photos. Ride safe and have fun until then.

My Last Day of Work!!!

Diefenbaker Park, it's really starting to bud out and look nice.

No it isn't ancient Mayan ruins :) it is the sled hill in Diefenbaker Park, they terraced the back of it to keep the dirt from eroding.

Doing a little mountain biking here, down the trail to Gabriel Dumont Park.

The gravel pathway through Gabriel Dumont Park.

I know it's spring, the Canadian geese are back to the river again.

I'm posting this after work because Blogger was being annoying earlier, I tried to upload my photos for probably 30 mins this afternoon, finally I had to give up and go to work. It was beautiful out today, around 20 degrees Celsius and a little warm breeze. I went to the James Wood Library branch by our place to take some magazines back and then I got some more. After that I decided to make a ride out of it and head over to Diefenbaker Park and Gabriel Dumont Park. Overall I managed to do just a little over 20kms of riding today, I'm now at over 1700kms since I got the bike in September. I hoped to have more on it by now, but I'm doing not bad, I put 400kms on in the last few weeks. I like riding through Gabriel Dumont Park for a reason, when I first moved to the city after high school I was on night shift like I am now. I would watch movies everyday and not do much else, by spring time I had gained a fair amount of weight and I was getting sick of watching movies all the time. I had been think of buying a bike for a while so I bought Bicycling Magazine's Buyer's Guide. In there I spotted the Trek 4300 Disc, which was a entry level mountain bike that Trek had just came out with that year. I fell in love with it, but I was a little put off by the $600 price. I went to a few bike shops and noticed that most the mountain bikes were pretty expensive. I then went to a Trek dealer and they had a 4300 in stock in my size. I test rode it and loved it, so I bought it. Gabriel Dumont Park was very close to my apartment at the time, about 6 kms away, so everyday I would ride over there and ride down the pathway through the park. Generally I would come home totally pooped and be tired for the rest of the day. Eventually I got in better shape though and I lost some weight too, then I moved on to a road bike and several other mountain bikes. Now a ride through the park is just a slight detour on my daily ride which is a lot longer now then it used to be in those days. Today was my last day of work, my boss walked me out a hour early with pay which was his parting gift to me, it was pretty nice of him. I think I will miss all the great people I've worked with in my 4 1/2 years at CNH, I'm sure there will be some good people at my new place too. I was excited and kind of scared too, I've been with CNH since high school and it was my first real full time job, it's been a long time and it is a big change to leave now. But, as they say, life must go on.....Tomorrow I'm going riding with Leo, we will even be going on a ferry ride, bet you didn't think they had ferries on the prairies? Well they do, and I will take some photos to put on here tomorrow, so check back in tomorrow for details. Until then, ride safe, and have fun too!

Just cruising around

We went out in Tina's old car looking at houses so I took a photo of Tina in the car.

This is my friend Julian with the results of his broken wrist. Get better soon, we need you out riding again! :)

A small creek by Brightwater Reservoir.

Some of you may have noticed that I'm not blogging everyday, I would have liked to, but more important things (like Tina and riding around) have somewhat shortened the amount of time I have for blogging. Tina and I went to Loreburn on Sunday to take the rest of the things out of my parents house, then when we got home we went around in the car to look at some houses. I may look at buying a house if the new job goes good, we'll see how it is. I've been riding around today too, I went to Zellers to get some new work boots, then I went to look at another house today and I stopped off at Julian's house on the way back to see how he was doing. I have to go to work now, so ride safe and have fun.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well today is officially Earth Day, I went on google.com today to look for something and they had the GOOGLE part covered with solar panels and a wind turbine was standing beside it, that was pretty cool. I feel I've been doing my part, we have been doing less driving. Now I just mainly drive to work, otherwise I take my bike everywhere now, or walk to the grocery store and other places that are close by. I was actually rode to the store to get Tina some eggs with the Burley, I actually met a fellow recumbent rider, we stopped and talked for a while about our bikes and stuff. It turns out he is a president of a local bike club, I'll have to go on some rides with them. Anyway I must go, so ride safe and have fun.

Yesterday's Ride

A small creek winding through the hills at Wanuskewin.

Julian and Leo waiting (again) for me, at the base of Victoria Bridge.

Wanusekewin Heritage Park

I went for a short bike ride today (about 1/2 hour) mainly because it was so nice out. Yesterday I didn't get time to blog so here is everything that happened yesterday. We headed out at 10:00am (by "we" I mean Julian, Leo and I) on our way to Wanusekewin Park for lunch. We were going into a very slight headwind all the way to Wanusekewin, and then we got there around 12:00pm for lunch, Julian and I had Jumbo hotdogs (yummm!) and around 1:00 we headed back with a nice tailwind. Apparently after Julian and I seperated on the way home he had a nasty spill on his bike and ended up breaking his wrist, he did manage to get home with a broken wrist (he's pretty tough:) and he got a cast on it at the hospital. He hopes to be going on short rides again soon, hope you get better soon! I also got a call back from Hitachi Canada offering me a job, so yesterday I gave my 1 weeks notice at work and I'm done next Wednesday, I start at Hitachi on May 1 and I very excited about it. Anyway I got to go to work now, so ride safe, please, and have fun!

Just Photos today!

Circle Drive Bridge, it was kind of cloudy out when I started out riding. I was going to go for a longer ride today but didn't have time so I rode to Lawson Heights Library instead to bring some books back.

The new park, River Landing, it's taking shape pretty well.

The Meewasin Trail along Spadina Cres, check back tomorrow for more, ride safe and have fun.

Rising Waters

Our official engagement photo.

Water flowing over the highway just east of Porcupine Plain.

Someones house trailer which is probably floating, notice the truck in the foreground, the water is up to the doors.

The main road leading into the small town of Somme.

The main road leading into the town of Weekes.

I actually tried to post from Tina's parents house but Blogger was acting up as usually and none of the photos would load. They got a lot of flooding around Porcupine Plain as you can see from the photos above, pretty crazy. We actually went to Tina's parents place Thursday after she was done work, we took Tina's new car and it worked well, it averaged 31MPG for the whole trip, which is good when gas is $1.09/liter. Gas is supposed to climb even higher this summer, I've heard $1.30/liter and $1.50, the first number is probably closer to what it will actually get too. Then in the fall they will lower it down to $1.09 and everyone will go on about how cheap the gas is again, it's kind of funny, every year they slowly raise the price and nobody seems to notice. I really don't know how so many people can drive around trucks these days, I think a lot of them will be trying to sell them this summer if gas gets really high, just like last summer. The way I think of it is, if you need to haul something get a minivan, they have almost the same volume of cargo space as a 1/2ton truck and you still get around 30mpg with it. People are going to have to wise up and realize how much gas they are wasting with their big truck or SUV. If you want a 4X4 there are a lot of little SUVs now that are good on gas and probably better 4x4's then the big ones. Anyway I'm done ranting now, we came back to Saskatoon late last night after a nice visit for Easter with Tina's family, I'm still on night shift for some reason and probably will be till the end of the month, so I got to sleep in this morning. Tina and I may go for a little bike ride this afternoon before I go to work. I'll probably post something tomorrow, so check back then, ride safe and have fun.......

150th Post !!!!!

Some flooding in the fields along Valley Rd.

Yes it was blowing hard, here are "waves" in a water covered field.

Julian riding ahead of me down valley road

The only significant hill for miles around.

Two "cool dudes" aka Julian and Leo resting at the top of the hill (above)

I got out for a good ride today, 55kms, out on Valley Rd. towards Pike Lake and then back into Saskatoon on Highway 7. Julian, Leo and I left Saskatoon at 10:30am and headed out on Valley Rd., the wind was aweful and it looked like it was going to rain. When we got to the Pike Lake highway that goes out to Highway 7 it was blowing like crazy and it started raining, it rained for a little while until we stopped at Cory Park for lunch and then after lunch it was nice again and the sun came out (still windy though). We went back to the city and stopped at the bike shop so Leo could pick up some tires, they had a lime green Catrike Road in there and I checked that out, $3000...that's a lot of money, nice bike though. Anyway I may post though the weekend, if not, check back on Monday for more, until then ride safe and may the wind be at your back. Have fun too. :)