Nana Countdown

Spent the night in Sicamous visiting Nana, Chris, Kirsten and Coen, and counting down the days til Nana leaves. That will be a sad day as it's been great having them around. Oh well I guess we're just going to have to suck it up and go to New Zealand in December!

You get an idea of their respective eating habits from this picture:
Tobin: toast, oranges, apples, bananas and of course Maggie.
Coen: four grapes and a piece of pear. He's a big fan of Gandhi.

Work off those grapes, boys!

Maple Bay redux

"Ever since I had m'back fused I kin't stand up real good."

The usual fuzzy family blog photo. Oh well, it's a good one.

Bear is going as a dog for halloween

"Why must I live my life in such utter and constant humiliation?"

52

52 what you ask?
Weeks in the year? Well yes, but not quite
Cards in a deck? Guess again!
Ryan's IQ? Sometimes it feels like it.
Give up? Well that's the number of porcupine quills Dr. Dogtard, aka Chancellor of the Compost Heap, aka Canis retardus had plucked from his jowls yesterday after trying to eat said animal. Ann-Marie, Bud, Bear and I went for a hike up to Bostock pass while Nana Tobin-minded. Ann-Marie and I had a great day, we hiked up to a high point just down the ridge from Corbin peak and had great views and nice weather all day.

As for Bear, well he didn't have such a great day. We managed to pull about 20 quills out on the trail, but we were still 5km from the car. He had quills stuck in the bottom of his feet, in his legs, up his nose, under his tongue, on the roof of his mouth... It makes me shiver just thinking about it.
I helped the vet pull the rest out, and it gave me the willies watching a) the forceps go up the nose as far as they could reach, b) catching the long end of the quill to pull the broken end through, c) then pulling forcefully to get the barbed end out.
Nothing like 60 barbed daggers to the face to make you feel alive!

"Sniff sniff, I smell something delicious around here..."

"I think we're somewhere between Vancouver and Calgary."

Western Anenome, trapped in the rubble of fall, with the flood of winter rising around it.

30cm at treeline!

At the top, before Bear grew his moustache

Looking west towards Fang, the Tangier River and Bachelor Creek

Corbin Peak

Who's the bigger sucker in this picture?

If you asked Bear, he would tell you that porcupines are proof that there is no God.

Tobin and Nana, chillin' at the crib

"Man" night

Quite a change since Man Day, John.




Just for the record, I was out in the shop doing one arm pushups.

Harvest Season

We're just finishing up looking for mushrooms and soon I'll be walking around in the forest with a gun. I might even bring bullets, but if last year is any indication I'd do just as well going light and not bother taking any.

Tobin with a handsome Matsutake

It is no dream!
Matsutake are growing
On the belly of the mountain.*

* Like Stephen Harper's speech: plagiarized.