Monthly Archives: July 2005

Algoma Retriever Trials

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The Algoma Retriever Trials were this weekend. I’m exhausted and sunburnt. As a club member, my job is to drive around between the test sites and deliver lunches and drinks and snacks to the gunners, judges, marshals, and club members. On Saturday night, I put on the tailgate, and cook 100 Italian sausages on buns for all the weekend’s participants (except the dogs). Herc helped me all weekend.

Here are four photos from today. It was very rainy and foggy today. Somehow I still re-burned my face. Very very few bugs out this weekend.

Retriever Field Trial

Retriever Field Trial

Retriever Field Trial

Retriever Field Trial

Long Weekend

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My long weekend has started! FOUR days off! Well not really off, I’m volunteering all weekend. Every August long weekend our Algoma Retriever Club runs a weekend long North American field trial. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some great photos to share the scene with you all!

AND also good news, it rained almost all day! POURED some too! Ahhh it’s fantastic. I haven’t had to cut the grass yet during the month of July. Even with this rain, I bet it doesn’t green up until August :-)

Report in with your weekend plans! And enjoy them!

Summer TV

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Okay enough about tennis. (Played 4 times in the last week and I’m stiff and sore and still not good!!)

So as a new topic, it’s time for a summer round-up of what I’m watching.

I watch a lot of TV. I do a lot of work programming websites on my laptop in the evenings, and almost all of it I do in front of the TV (Gotta LOVE a laptop).

This summer’s selection has been POOR! Here’s the run down of shows I’ve been watching:

Big Brother 6: There has been summers were I get completely into Big Brother, and others where I haven’t watched it at all. This summer, I think I’m giving up on it. I’ve watched about half of the shows so far. There isn’t a single person on that show that I can identify with.. or even like much. Maybe Kaysar or whatever his name is. But it’s the same ol’ same ol’. I realize they have a new house, but it doesn’t make a difference. I have always hated the veto idea and the stupid house keys. The first season was really the best, since then, not worth watching. If I hear someone say anything about “it’s only a game” or “in this game” or anything about the word GAME I have to flip the channel.

Beauty and the Geek: I’ve watched a few episodes of this, by accident. I get a bit of a kick out of it. Very stereo-typical, but not bad.

So You Think You Can Dance: I saw part of one episode. It made me laugh. That’s what counts.

NCIS: Here’s a goodie. I didn’t start watching this show until the last couple of episodes this season. The season finale BLEW me away! What an ending! Now I’m watching the old shows as they repeat. There is really good chemistry between the characters. The girl in the lab, Abby, is my favourite character!

INXS Rock Star: LOVE IT. Finally a show with some fantastic singers. And no pop crap, it is real ROCK. This is one I don’t like to miss.

Any one else a couch potato? What are you watching this summer?

OOooo sore…

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Gorgeous Saturday in the Sault today. We did our Saturday shopping, and both bought some new New Balance tennis shoes (yes, exactly the same kind, same model, my bad, but they were the least expensive and most supportive). I tried on some WACKY looking moon shoes today. Nike has really pushed the limits on some of their new cross trainers! Here are the ones we bought:

New Balance 620

Then we took the dogs to the beach. It’s a fairly sandy beach, but the kind where you have to walk out for half a kilometre and it is still only at your waist. I got to dry out my new swimsuit though, and no one ran screaming, so all is well. We managed to find a place that wasn’t too crowded with people. Probably because it was a little rockier than the other areas.

Then I tried to sneak a nap, but Herc, my personal trainer/torturer, came over, woke my ass up, and we went to play tennis. AGAIN, some annoying kid was there and kept interfering. It got so bad that she was standing IN FRONT of me, and I was just standing there. I didn’t want to be mean, but never again. If a kid so much as comes within 50 feet of our court, I’m going to turn into a nasty woman. She even knocked it out of the court, didn’t go get it, and I had to. It landed under a thick thorn tree. I got thorns shoved in all over. One really deep in my head and made me bleed. Grrrrrrrr….

So now I’m on my bed, I’m too sore to move. Winger is lying across the end of the bed, twitching in a dream, probably of his swimming adventures today. I turned on the A/C on because it is a hot humid night. It still hasn’t rained, but there is a chance tomorrow. Crossing my fingers!

Good night.

Tennis again

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tennis ballWell I was in no mood for tennis tonight. I had a headache (long story, didn’t realize the iced tea I had been drinking for the last week had caffeine in it, quit it cold turkey, no more iced tea for me! I hate caffeine withdrawl headaches!), and my muscles were still sore from Tuesday’s tennis. But I need exercise, and Hercules* was up for it (damn guy isn’t sore at all), so we played.

I got into it right away, and the headache disappeared. But I was so so awful. Herc was getting angry because I was so bad, and I wanted to cry because he thought I wasn’t listening or trying.

Luckily after an hour of that misery, things starting to come together!! I could finally serve the tennis ball towards him. And the ball didn’t leave the court at all! We had a few good rallies at the end (or whatever the tennis lingo is).

About an hour into the game, suddenly Herc yells out, “PUT OUT THAT FIRE!!” Some punk teenagers were playing with fire, lighting some things up, RIGHT on the completely dead and dry grass in the park. Sheesh that could have been bad, the entire park would have been gone in minute it’s so dry. And my house is just 2 doors down from the park. Stupid kids.

So now I’m really really sore. Mostly from picking up the ball I think. I am stupid and don’t bend my knees. Idiot. I’m not a youngster anymore. So I switched to squatting.

There was a poster up in the courts advertising free tennis lessons. Maybe I should drop in to one or two!

*Names changed to protect those who wish to remain anonymous to the blogosphere.

I’m a tennis star… well not quite.

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Hercules* and I bought tennis rackets today and hit the courts! Both of us decided we need to start being more active. I’ve been working on my treadmill more, but wow, tennis works entirely new muscles!
My Tennis Racket
So geared up with a fancy new ladies racket (shown above), and some florescent pink and orange balls, I was ready. I remember playing tennis once, when I was about 13 and my cousin Paul took me and cousin Christine to the courts in Wiarton. I was HORRIBLE because I kept hitting it over the fence. I quickly found out today that not playing for 15 years hasn’t improved my game.

It’s amazing how you can just hit the ball so slightly but BAFF! it’s gone :-) Okay it only went over the fence once. And we had our own ball girl too. You know the type of really chatty girl, a little odd looking, you can’t tell if she’s 14 or 20, talks to you like she’s known you forever, introduces herself right away, you know the type? Well she ran after our balls the entire time. Not really giving us a hand in the exercise department, but I appreciated her fetching the ball when I smashed it over the fence. It fell just a few feet shy of entering the outfield during a men’s baseball game! WHEW embarrassing!

We played for close to an hour an a half. Then limped our sorry asses back home. I hope we play regularly, it’s good exercise!

*Names changed to protect those who wish to remain anonymous to the blogosphere.

It was so close I could smell it!!

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There was a big thunderstorm heading our way today. I was tracking it on the weather radars. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued. The temperature dropped to 24C (still with a 30C humidex of course). I could smell the rain. The sky darkened. And then…

Nothing.

The storm went away.

Still no rain ;-(

Just north of town they got poured on. But not the Sault.

I did turn off my air conditioner and emerge from my cave though. I couldn’t stand another second in there!

Ontario Heading Towards Rolling Blackouts!

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Quick! Turn off your computers!!! And your Air Conditioning!

Ontario is using way too much power! We’re heading towards rolling black-outs!

Current power usage: http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/media/md_index.asp

IESO Appeals for Reduced Electricity Consumption as Hot Weather Strains System: http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/siteShared/appeal.asp?sid=md&mID=2414

Ontario warned of rolling blackouts: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050718.whydro0718/BNStory/National/

(Okay, I admit my A/C is on at home for my dogs. I promise I’ll adjust it when I get home from work.)

Weekend

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You know, I’m remembering why winter is my favourite season. I love aspects of the summer, like gardening, and lawnchairs, and beer, but….

The heat… the unbelievable humidity. It’s been weeks! The only reason I can manage to do as much as type here on my blog is my fabulific air conditioner. It’s too hot outside to sit in my lawn chairs. I can’t cut the grass because it’s dead straw. There is no sense weeding my garden when nothing is growing. I can’t take my dogs to the lake to swim because it’s too hot to get there for them. Whine whine whine,,, I know.

I have spent most of the last week here in my bed. My window air conditioner is in here, my tv and digital cable, telephone, and wireless laptop. The curtains have been shut all week so I have no idea when it’s dark or light. It’s like a survival cave. The humidex was over 30 when I woke up at 8 this morning! It’s currently 9:30pm and the humidex is still 34C.

Okay, so quite whining already. What can I tell you that is fascinating. I watched a couple good movies this weekend: Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. It got 3 stars! It was amusing. This morning I watched Terminator 3. It wasn’t bad either.

If only it would rain.