The Maritimes

We have been travelling through the Maritimes on our way home to Winnipeg. We are now in New Brunswick after spending time in PEI and Nova Scotia.

In Nova Scotia we spent a day driving up the coast from Lunenburg to Halifax. Lunenburg was very picturesque. We had a picnic lunch and saw Bluenose 2. We spent the night in Halifax and woke up to a foggy and misty morning. We strolled around downtown and saw the Public Gardens and Pier 21. Our tour guide at Pier 21, George Zwaagstra immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in either 1951 or 1971 (Theo and I can't remember and are in disagreement). He landed in Halifax at Pier 21 and had some interesting stories to share.

We headed to PEI on September 3 taking the ferry from Caribou, NS to Wood Islands PEI. We spent two nights travelling along the Points East Coastal Drive. The highlight was Basin Head Beach and the Singing Sands. We didn't know what to expect from PEI. we were surprised to find so many sandy beaches and farms! Also, a lot of mosquitos! We both received plenty of bites and are not used to the itch after leaving in St. John's for so long!

Today we arrived in New Brunswick via the Confederation Bridge from PEI. We left Charlottetown bright and early and Theo May not have been fully awake because he failed to realize we were parked on a slope. He lifted off the cooler to load into the car and the luggage cart rolled down the hill with me chasing after it! Lucky it hit a curb rather than any parked cars.

We arrived at the Hopewell Rocks along the Bay of Fundy at 10 am this morning in time to see the high tide. The high tide today was 40.1 feet (the maximum high tide at Cape Hopewell is ~49 feet). We wandered around the park trails checking out the different sea stacks or flower pots are they are locally referred to. By 1 pm the tide was low enough to walk out on the ocean floor. It was insane to see how much the landscape had changed from high tide to low tide! Unfortunately we won't be able to share Theo's pictures until we can access our computer in Winnipeg.

All in all it has been a great trip so far! We plan to spend time exploring Fredericton before heading to Ottawa for a couple of days!

"That's it, back to Winnipeg!"

Cassandra and I have had a busy summer. We have had visitors almost every month and we decided it was time to move back west to the Great Plains of Canada. The moving truck picked up our stuff Friday morning and we said good bye to work and friends, it was sad to leave. We had an uncomfortable sleep on the floor then packed the car. We got a little stressed because we had more stuff than we thought. I had to go to the dump and value village one last time. We made it onto the Argentia ferry for our 16 hour boat ride and had a much more comfortable sleep in our cabin. Now we are in Nova Scotia and enjoying some of the sights with friends.

Our roof box blew open a bit on the way here but luckily we had a strap holding it down. Although it was probably too tight which let one of the latches loose to begin with. Nothing lost but we did change the strap orientation to hold the box closed in the other direction. We also stopped at the Alexander Graham Bell site in Baddeck. He was a very cool dude and did a lot more than help develop phones and teach the deaf. You can attribute hydrofoils and the first British flight to his name.

We are excited to be heading home but are going to enjoy the drive. We will be seeing many of you soon.

Theo

Winter is over!!! Or so I thought, until I saw a dusting of white over everything this morning. Luckily its sunny and all melted or melting.

Cassandra made some great no bake mini egg nest cookies. They taste as good as they look. Hopefully with this weather looking up I'll get around to taking more pictures and we'll enjoy the outdoors a little more.

April Fools

This is a joke right. The weather's way of saying April fools. I should just go to bed and it will all be gone. Too bad hospitals never get snow days. Another 10-20cm to fall today.

Snow Fight

Here's Cassandra fighting with the snow bank. It keeps spitting the snow back at her because our yard is full and doesn't want any more snow.

I'm putting some pictures of the snow storm on my Flickr now.

We woke up this morning to a bit of a surprise. I knew the snow would be bad but wasn't happy to see how much was in the doorway. I was ready to fall asleep and not wake up till the spring. Snow drifts aren't fun when you have a sunken in entry way.

Dawning the appropriate gear we eventually clambered out of the house, closed the door and shovelled the snow. The wind was so bad it whipped snow into our faces like a bunch of tiny needles. Also all our windows of egress for our bedrooms were completely buried and Cassandra made me wade thigh deep in the snow to clear them out. It was much brighter when we got in but the power was still out. The power came back on for us around four but there are some people that will be with out power for a day or two still. Hydro workers from PEI have been asked to help apparently.

I'm pretty sure the doorway is filled in again by now. There isn't a lot of snow falling now but lots of wind. It's easy to get tired of the winters here. I hope everyone is keeping warm. I'll take some pictures of the street when things calm down a bit.

New Lens

 Yeah that is a 70-200mm L series f4 USM Canon lens. Cassandra and I did some end of year financial assessment. I didn't think I needed to go out and spend the cash for IS or f2.8 so I just got the base model which makes for a reasonable buy. I've already taken it out and am really happy with the results. The USM makes focusing so quick and quiet and the pictures are sharp. The lens is also much skinnier and lighter than I thought making it easier to carry around. I also got around to dropping off my 15-85mm lens to the only certified repair guy in the city. Henry's even sends their stuff there not under warranty. There is some grit under the manual focus ring that should be cleaned out. Turns out its a real simple clean for only 45 bucks, that makes me happy. Cassandra also makes me happy, even though she complains that she is in every one of my photos and that I stare at her more with a camera in front of my face than with my own eyes. Hopefully I make up for it with charm.


My Flickr page

Dusting of Snow

In case people were concerned it was only minus one today and last night we only got around 5-10 cm of snow. The roads are clear, we have more snow now than we have ever had in December before but it's accumulated over the last week. Nothing we can't handle. The bad weather never got to us, I feel for the people in Toronto and else where with no power. I hope they manage till everything gets sorted out.

Building Metal Earth Fokker Bi-Plane Model

I also put together a time lapse video of me building another Metal Earth model. This time I managed to make a couple mistakes by not tightening the right ties and closing the fuselage before I attached the tail but that's what makes the model unique. I put this together in iMovie.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Christmas Tree
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

Cassandra spent some time decorating the tree I bought. She was ridiculously happy and surprised when she came home the other day to find a real tree. I picked it up from Home Depot and walked around the store with it under my arm while I got a shovel and tree stand. It's easy to get a tree when you aren't looking for a big one. The tree skirt Cassandra and I picked up from Target. It is a lot nicer in there than I thought it would be. If I ever need something quick I'm going to the target instead of Walmart.

Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye
Originally uploaded by The Tedster
Via Flickr:
I dropped the Mazda off at the automotive auction place in Paradise this afternoon. I think I was much more attached to it than I had initially thought. I was really sad to see the guy drive it off into the lot.

After my Dad gifted me the Mazda in Winnipeg for a Graduation gift I drove it to a new job out in Abbotsford BC. I had 1,300 dollars worth of repairs to make before I could safety the car to get ICBC insurance and registration, oh the trials and tribulations of a beater. Little did I know I would only be hanging around BC for 9 months. I never did cancel my Manitoba Registration though. So when I got back I renewed it for a small fee and got the car re-identified as a Winnipeger with the block heater cord hanging out. This lasted another 11 months and then I was off to Newfoundland with Cassandra. Taking the car from coast to coast. The only parts of the trans Canada I haven't driven are from Victoria to Tofino in BC and Port Aux Basque to St. John's in Newfoundland.
It was good fun, lots of repairs the last couple years and boy did the rust start to show. I wanted it to breakdown and say I drove the Mazda to it's last breath but the street parking ban comes into effect soon. We got a much newer (well 2006) Matrix in its place and I'm sure Cassandra and I will make many memories and adventures with it as well.

I am using Donate A Car Canada to give the proceeds of the auction to CancerCare Manitoba. I thought it was fitting.

Goodbye car

Model Making

I made a scale model of the Space shuttle Atlantis and decided to create a gif. I used a Metal Earth Model kit I got for christmas. They are pretty cool to make. More fun then just buying the model to look at.

Fort Amherst

Fort Amherst
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

Cassandra and I journeyed to Fort Amherst for the first time since being here. After turning the wrong way and going onto a highway in the opposite direction we eventually ended up in the right place. You would think we would know our way around especially after getting directions from google maps. Nope, downtown is still as confusing as always.
When we got to the lighthouse the ruins are all caged off because they are falling apart. It's still pretty cool though. Several paths for the east coast trail start there too. We could hike the 150 km to Ferryland if we wanted to. I don't think that will ever happen though.
We did see a small rodent creature running around though, it was pretty friendly. Seemed like it was fed by tourists. Cassandra thinks it might be a Stoat. My flickr page has more pictures.

Painting Rims

Painting Rims
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

This is an after picture. 3 Coats of primer+paint then 3 coats of clear coat. I also had to run to the hardware store to grab more paint in between. I'm thinking if we have another nice day I might do a quick spray of the inside.
Now all I need are winter tires.

Painting Rims

Painting Rims
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

I spent my Sunday afternoon spray painting some rims I got for the Matrix. This pictures shows the condition the rims were in when I got them, rusted and not looking very pretty.
I sanded, I washed I dried and then I painted. My back stiff and my trigger finger sore they came out nicely.

DIY Camera Jib

DIY Camera Jib
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

I'm pretty excited about having a new 7D Cannon camera. Not only will it perform better but it has some nice additional functions. Such as the ability to take video. I wasn't happy with just taking video holding the camera so I made a camera jib. I went to Home Depot got some aluminum and after a couple hours in the store figuring out the best way to mount everything I put it together at home. My drill was a very poor performer I must say though, the battery died about three times trying to drill 3 holes and my ability to drill straight in aluminum with a sad drill was lacking. Still It works well. At the moment my counter weight system isn't very good but I hope to make it better and sturdier in the future.
This is my first shot, I am so surprised at the results. I had no idea it was so easy to put something like this together.

Camping at Northern Bay Sands

Camping at Northern Bay Sands
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

Cassandra and I went camping at Northern Bay Sands last weekend. We went straight from Cassandra's work in the evening. I was alone to pack the car. Even though Cassandra had left me a list I had to run back into the house about three times. Even then after I had driven away I realized I had forgotten the camping mats. I finally had everything though and arrived on time to get Cassandra.

It was a mistake to not pick up take out on the way. It was 5:30 and took over an hour and a half to get there. I dunno what we were thinking. The tent had to be set-up, a fire to be made, food still had to be cooked. We ended up eating grumpy and in the dark. I think we were out of camping practice (it's been 2 years). The evening was really nice though. Ton's of RVs were there very few tents and someone set off a few fire works.

The next couple of days were great. We never ended up swimming in the Ocean, the one shallow warm area was full of people. We went for a hike though and there were tons of berries. A little tart so maybe a little early for picking but we ate plenty anyways.

Photo Challenge NL

From the website
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

Reading the University paper 'The Scope' I found this challenge. Take a picture a day for the month of August. I decided it would be nice to follow along. Clicking the picture will take you to my Flickr to see what I have done so far. I'm skeptical whether I'll get around to uploading a picture a day but I'll try to keep things up to date.

Eagle Nest Sighting

Eagle Nest Sighting
Originally uploaded by The Tedster
Cassandra and I went for a walk on the weekend on Cuckolds path on Signal Hill. We heard an Eagle had made a nest near by and the chicks had hatched recently. Unfortunately I don't have the telephoto kit for wildlife photography but I did manage some shots I like. There were a few guys at a viewing point one with a massive lens and the other with a viewing scope he let us look through. You could see the chick so clearly, it was pretty cool. If you want to see a closer pic try here. It makes me want to rent some lenses to try out. Otherwise to see the rest of my pictures click on the photo above and it will take you to my page.

The Thursday and Friday before the weekend I was able to meet up with some old friends that came into town for a National conference called CAMRT. It was good to see them and I got some good information about the use of ARIA around the country that will help me out in my job. Cassandra also bought a houseplant recently, a succulent called a snake plant. They are pretty hard to kill and I think it adds a nice touch to the living room. I hope to build a shelving unit sometime soon once Home Depot gets its saw fixed to cut the wood to size. Nothing more annoying then spending half an hour picking out wood and finding out it can't be cut.

Hike to Cobblers Brook

Hike to Cobblers Brook
Originally uploaded by The Tedster

Cassandra and I went out to Torbay point again last week to hike to Cobblers Brook. I'm always surprised with the views just a short drive away. It was a bright sunny day and Cassandra and I couldn't decide what to wear. We didn't know how to dress for warm weather and couldn't tell if it would be windy or not. The parking lot was crazy full too, It's supposed to be a turnaround but people just filled it in so I had to back out and do a quintuple point turn on the road. It turned into a nice hike though with lots of hills to tire us out.