Bruce Trail Caledon and Dufferin Hi-Lands

 In April I did a race put on by Crazy Cat Adventures called the Caledon Crusher.  The end to end distance was 71k (44miles) done in 12.5 hours (time limit was 14 hours) meaning I was done before sunset. The race was great-amazing weather and trails in decent condition considering the wet weather we've had the last 3 weeks. Checked off another section of the Bruce Trail-the 900km trail that goes through Ontario, Drove to where I was staying with a beautiful sunset on my right and an amazing full moon on my left. A little stiff today but feeling good considering the effort. Next weekend is the start of my summer vacation!

Last week with 2 friends I completed the Dufferin Hi-Lands section. It's the section between Caledon and the Blue Mountain section I did back in September when I was up for my ice training. We camped at Unicamp of Ontario. I'm not a big camper. It was hot, so we were able to tent camp without a rainfly and get a breeze, but it still was about 11 at night before we were able to fall asleep. Temps were in the 30sC /80s F most of the day. The first night a cow was in labour a few fields over and I hadn't grabbed my ear plugs. I slept better the second night with ear plugs in except for having to get up to the bathroom in the night. The other issue was my shoulders didn't fit on my sleep pad and were in a lot of pain at night so I changed position a lot. The camp itself had 100 people for a retreat the weekend before, but only a couple people camping the M-W we were there and they were doing maintenance to get ready for summer camps with kids in July. It was extremely quiet and the staff was very helpful and kind and relaxed. The camp had outdoor showers, goats, chickens, two large sinks for washing clothes and dishes, plumbed clean toilets along with portable toilets with water and soap available throughout the camp. They had plugs, toaster, microwave and coffee maker available as well and the Bruce trail went right through the camp, so it was perfect for our purposes. The first day we started at the south end of the section on our way up to the camp. We had our run packs ready to go. We dropped a car at km 15 just south of the Boyne Valley Provincial Park at Hurontario and Hwy 89, then doubled back to Mono Hills community Centre.

We then headed to camp and set up. The second day we decided to do two 15km sections. Looking at the map it looked like the 2nd section we were going to do was more road and the 1st was more trail, since it was hot, we decided to reverse the order, doing what looked like from the map more road first. We drove to Whitfield at Km 30 and hiked to km 45 which was at our camp. We got lucky and what looked like road and open field was actually dirt road and straight trails with lots of shade and it was beautiful.

After having lunch and restocking at camp, we drove to just below Boyne Provincial park where we'd left off the day before and headed to the car we'd left from in the morning at Whitfield, covering kms 15-30. We found a hydro station ruins

This was very nice and shaded but still hot. Wednesday all we had left was camp until the end point where the trail meets with the Blue Mountain section in Lavender. One friend was still not feeling great from the heat the day before and opted out, so she dropped us off at Lavender and we ran / speed hiked back to the camp. The main part of the trail was a former road (think washed out logging road for my WA readers). There were biting flies that we added extra spray for. The trail went off into some side trail areas that were lovely and through a very nice Black Bank creek area before the camp.
Our friend had packed up camp and we headed home. I went home and sent in for my badge for the section.

General first half of year update

 Has it really been January since an update?  Yikes!  Makes me realize how busy this year has been. I also may have been fighting some anxiety and depression since the U.S. Election.  I am so grateful to live in Canada right now but what's going on in the US is affecting me because my family and friends are there and we still have ties there as well as Canada's really close-it's less than 40 miles away.  

It's made me alternately obsess over the news there and also completely ignore it and refuse to make plans in advance that involve the U.S.  I had wanted to run another 100 mile race this year.  We usually go see family and friends in WA in the summer. The kids only have so many more summers to vacation.  

Instead, I've put off making plans (did finally book tickets for the kids and I in August but rather than the usual race everywhere to see everyone and do everything, we are focusing on day trips/camping with my parents.) I realized that although I have no desire to go to the U.S. right now my parents are not getting any younger and I want to especially see them in case everything goes to hell in a handbasket, so I finally booked tickets and made plans.

I only have two races booked (see next post re: Caledon Crusher), one is a road marathon in the fall that I'll likely sell my bib for. I don't really have a desire to run 42k on pavement and my hamstring also has objections.  This means I don't have my usual running goals and is leaving me kind of afloat. 

January through April was basically making ice and curling. The season ended mid-April and we did the last curling maintenance we've not done on our own-shut down for the season. We've now completed an entire season on our own as ice makers. We learned a lot and are very proud of the good ice we made this season and are resting, then we will start making plans for the next season.

April and May I did all the small maintenance and other things that didn't get done over curling season before the kids get done with school.

V spent the winter doing winter rowing workouts with a local community rowing club.  The HS rowing club was just too intense, they wanted V to live and breathe rowing and V's still got many interests, so we switched over to a community club.  V loved the winter workouts at the local university facility (they have an indoor rowing pool and weight room) but deemed them "difficult" and "I'm working on my stamina which will be good for swimming, too."  V also took the Bronze Cross class in the next town over and although they did not pass the final exam, much was learned and another attempt will be made this summer. In Jan V participated in their first erg competition and did not come in last (when adjusted for weight class)

V spent May on the water with the rowing club 3 days a week and loved it and even got me to do a "try rowing."  I did like it but found the arm movements quite complicated for my brain (it's very hard to do the same rhythm as 7 others in a boat!) but I may end up taking a full learn to row course at some point, maybe this fall. V will be "focusing on being IN the water rather than ON the water" for July, participating in the local swim team and taking another crack at the Bronze Cross class (lifeguard training will be next-V must be 15 which won't happen until later in the summer anyway in order to lifeguard).

V also took part at school in the "Oddity Film Society" where they watched odd films and enjoyed it.  V also was in the school play, a fun take on Shakespeare where a fairy tries to fix the romantic plots in several plays.  V was Horatio.  

C turned TWENTY. Still in college, taking some summer elective classes now to get them out of the way. May be changing programs in the fall to one that will use current classes taken but move more towards interests... we are planning on working on freeway driving this summer to get a full license in time for fall.

I took the younger kids to a local conservation area for some hiking this spring.  At the beginning: Both: “It’s nice out here!”

At the end: H, “I don’t think I can make it. I need you to carry me.” (H is now taller than me only about 20 pounds lighter and it is a big hill to the car). V, “This is great! I love hiking! These shorts are good for hiking they have a lot of traction. I need to join a hiking club because I can’t hike alone I am too short.” (4’10” and needed a hand climbing some larger boulders to the waterfall).

V decided she wants to do more hiking. So in lieu of training for runs this summer I've dusted off my hike leader training for the BTC and in June lead 3 hikes for a series in the Benchlands. It went well and in July I've set up one long hike a week for advanced hikers and one a week with the target demographic being teenagers and their adults that will be shorter and a little slower. Depending on how they go I'll figure out August in a few weeks. The last week of June my cherry trees have been producing. The one in back has already been picked over by the birds and is slated to come down this summer. It's got insect damage and is misshapen and it's only a matter of time before it comes down on it's own, so now that I've finally got a chainsaw that's one summer project. I picked tons off the other two and made two cherry pies, cherry muffins and put a few bags in the freezer. I only have about a week before the birds make off with the top half and the rest start rotting. I had a bumper crop this year!

2024 books

1-Flight by Lynn Steiger Strong
2-Unexpected Guest by Samantha Ford
3-What I Mean When I Say I’m Autistic Annie Kotowicz
4-Counting the Cost-Jill Duggar
5-Pull of the stars Emma Donoghue
6-Killers of the flower moon
7-Little Fish, Casey Plett
8-Day, Michael Cunningham
9-Dearly by Margaret Atwood
10-Poor-Katrina O’Sullivan
11-Knit two Kate Jacobs
12-The wave theory of angels
13-Saffron Skies (Crazy Rich Asians set in Africa)
14-The secret lives of booksellers and librarians, James Patterson, non-fiction and great short stories from librarians and booksellers, lots of them about book bannings
15-Lessons in Chemistry (re-read for book club, but so good)
16-We need to talk about Kevin, Lionel Shriver (re-read for book club-read when the kids were little, was interesting to read now that I have teens, a book that will stick with you for a long time).
17-Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (re-read for book club)
18-Hello, Beautiful (liked this one)
19-Tom Lake (audio book read by Merryl Streep and enjoyed it as I put in a lot of mileage for ultra marathon trainings this summer)
20-Duck (my first graphic novel for bookclub about a young woman in the oil fields of Alberta so Canada themed as well)
21- Agony and the ecstasy, for bookclub, very long, very detailed book about Michaelangelo's life-I listened to it while ultramarathon training-38 hours audiobook.
22-The fraud for bookclub
23-The Measure (for bookclub, my favorite of the year)
24-Yellowface, good
25-Unmasking Autism, interesting perspective
26-When your child has…Asperger’s Syndrome
27-Asperger’s Answer Book
28-The Night Tiger
29-Angel Falls-Kristen Hannah
30-A Birds Eye view of life with ADHD and EFD… Ten Years Later
31-Life of Pi
32-A perfectly good family-Lionel Shriver
33-Bel Canto-Ann Patchett, enjoyed this
34-The Friday Night Knitting club, easy read, enjoyable
35-The women- Kristen Hannah, great book
36-Funny, you don’t look autistic
37-The librarian of burned books-really good book
38-Becoming Free Indeed
39-Lost and found
40-I know I am but what are you
41-I was a Teenager Katima-Victim
42-asperkids-Jenifer Cook O’Toole
43-Tony Atwood Complete Guide to Aspbergers
44-Visions of sugar plums (Stephanie Plum holiday book)
45-Sink
46-Everyone in my family has killed someone, (liked this one, easy read, ended up reading the other two books by the author, see below)
47-Asperger Syndrome in the Family, redefining normal
48-The Year of Living Danishly (so good, highly recommend)
49-Eat Pray Love (audiobook while installing ice in Sept)
50-Go set a watchman (audiobook while installing ice in Sept)
51-ADHD is awesome, Penn Holderness
52-The Columbarium (audiobook while installing ice in Sept)
53- Everyone on this train is a suspect (see above)
54-AspergerSyndrome and Difficult Moments (one of the best Aspbergers books I've read-would have been amazing to read when kids were younger!)
55-Everyone This Christmas has a Secret (see above)
56-I like you by Amy Sedaris
57-The blue castle LM Montgomery
58-The lost apothecary (bookclub)
59-Firekeeper's Daughter (read for son's English class)

Fall Update

 I know the last three posts have been my races, but of course everyone else in the family is keeping busy as well. Really busy.

So when we last left off with the first fall post Hubby and I had installed the ice at the curling club, V had joined all the clubs in HS, C started college and H was settling into Gr 11. 

Ice got installed, then he and I got it into shape the first two-three weeks of curling season. Then early Nov he left it in the hands of myself and another ice tech while he went on a whirlwind curling tour of the Midwest US. 20 men from Canada spent  18 days of playing 1-2 games a day at different clubs. They started in Minnesota for a few days, then about a week in Wisconsin (Wisconsin has a lot of curling clubs) then Chicago, Indiana and Michigan before coming home.

Hubby said it wasn't the curling that made the trip unforgettable though, it was the hospitality at all the clubs, the Canadians were wined and dined at each one and welcomed.

So, how has it gone with us taking over the ice and Hubby being away? I know we were all nervous to see if we'd be able to do well in this job as a team, but also on my own with a helper while he was away.  The first week he was away, our helper's club was holding an event with outside ice team, so he was able to help a lot, the second week, I was on my own a lot.

I'm very happy to report we've gotten nothing but compliments on the ice. Some people didn't even realize the weeks Hubby was away!  When we had issues with some sheets (sometimes the outside sheets on a club do weird things-due to walls in the way and less insulation they will have issues with weird curling patterns before the inside sheets) hubby was able to talk me through fixing them until he could get home and get them back in shape. I think all of us were very happy it's gone so well and we get lots and lots of accolades about the ice being very consistent, fast and well maintained.  The only downside was that my shoulder and arms which I'd had previous issues with flared up with all the pebbling and lifting heavy equipment, so I'm back to working on fitting my PT exercises back into my day to get them back in working order. 

V has been very busy.  She finished off her Bronze Medallion class of swimming!  She's on her way to becoming a lifeguard.  She's taking winter off to participate in swim team and in the spring will join a program nearby meant to bridge the gap in qualifying lifeguards that occurred during the pandemic and will be taking her Bronze Cross as part of the program and hopefully her lifeguarding class in summer or fall so when she's 15 she can lifeguard.

She's working on her school play, participating in oddity film society (watching odd films of the past like Dracula and making podcasts about them), media art club, swim team 1-2 times a week including some competing (they've had 3 mini meets now with Zones next week-if she does well at Zones she will go to a competition in Toronto in early 2025). She's been working hard and cutting down times. It's been amazing to see her as a small swimmer way in the back of the pack to keeping up with everyone.  We are going to try to get her some extra swim time as for the two lifeguard classes she needs to be able to swim 400m in 10-11 minutes to pass the classes.

H turned 16!  He's finding his way at school.  Here in Canada they don't look at all your grades, just certain ones in Grades 11 and 12 so he's decided he'd rather take less classes and have time to do homework at school and take a little longer to graduate and do WELL in those classes than get overwhelmed.  He started the semester with 3 classes and one was dropped due to not being a good fit, so he'll try it next semester with a different teacher and teaching style and do 3 classes next semester.  He's doing really really well in his computer class and coming along in his English. This is the first year that Ontario (or just our district? Not sure) is requiring English for Gr 11 be indigenous based so he's reading lots of indigenous authors and stories.  He's currently reading The Firekeeper's Daughter (I also read it to keep up on what's going on in class-it's good).

C is in college and I think enjoying it. He likes that only one day a week does he have to get up for a 9:30am class.  He was riding his bike to class every day  but with the colder temps we have been trying to move around schedules we can help with rides as the school is between our house and the curling club.  He's happy to work at school on projects as well so that gives a little more flexibility in timing.

The Bad thing Race

 At the end of October, I went to Goderich, ON for The Bad Thing Trail Race . It's a point to point meaning, they take you in a bus from the finish line to the start line and let you out to run back.  The Bad Thing is a 50k race that takes place on the Maitland Trail along the Maitland River.  The beginning of the race wasn't marked well enough or we missed a turn or something, but 90% of us ended up crossing a river first thing in the race (thankfully I'd brought dry socks to change into at the first aid station) and then bushwacking our way uphill through the woods to the trail. The rest of the race was well marked and we all got lost together, so I chalked it up to a regular trail race.

The trail was lovely, though I was glad I'd brought poles as it was very narrow on a hill at times and most of the trail was covered in lots of fallen leaves, so there were plenty of roots, etc. hiding.

I was very pleased with my outcome. There were 1200 meters of elevation, a lot of up and down hills.  I'd originally thought it would take me 8 hours or so but I finished in 7 hours and 19 minutes.

Yay! We found the trail!

The start is a secret location every year. This year we started in the Historic Gaol.  The rock walls did little to protect us from the winds coming off Lake Huron. There was a little rain and hail during the race and tons of wind.

Leaves everywhere, but it gave us a good view of the river.

Those of us who went to the race from our local run club.

More views of the river.

The best aid station was the 4th.  It advertised itself as a Troll Bridge. It was under a highway bridge, but the volunteers were dressed as Troll Dolls.

This was the second river crossing.  The first time I've ever said the last km of an ultra marathon was the easiest-my feet were frozen from crossing a river in October!

The finish line!

When it wasn't raining, the sun was lovely.

We had the river to our right the entire way.

I did enjoy the race, lots to see, varied landscape.  The afterparty was great, food, a great cover band, etc. However. There was more road than I'd wanted (gravel at least, a little easier on the body) and when it was road it was super windy.  The leaves over the roots was a little scary, though we got lucky on the weather with little mud. On a rainier year it would have been a mud fest.  So while I liked the race, I don't know that I'd do it again. Keep in mind I'm generally a 1 and done type runner anyway (once I run a race, I'm not keen to do it again, there's just too many races out there).

That's the end of the season for me.  I'm looking forward to curling season and planning next year.  I just signed up for a race yesterday though-72km a little further up the Bruce Trail that's the Caledon section which I haven't done.  Maybe I'll train in one of the other sections and get closer to my goal of seeing the entire Bruce Trail?  Stay tuned!

Fall

 Fall has been very busy.  Hubs and I started the ice install as soon as I got back from my class in Collingwood.  The good news is we have a new chiller and dehumidifiers which was very helpful and new LED lighting which makes everything on the ice just LOOK bright and amazing.  Also good news is Hubs knew mostly what he was doing and where the tools we needed were kept AND we had a great volunteer crew come out on white paint day.

So, the install didn't go perfectly. We learned many things. I kept lots of notes about what we did and what we'll do differently next year.  It took us about 4 weeks. Hubs lost 17 pounds between putting in the ice and playing Pokemon Go with C. We lost a lot of sleep from trying to put on more and more water and also from the stress of trying to make sure we were doing everything right, while they were still installing some things in the plant, I decluttered our main work areas (the last ice maker liked to keep everything "just in case") and learned way more than I did in the class. 

However, right before open house, Hubs threw the first rock of the season-on his first ice as head icemaker.

I'm very proud of him and all his work and proud of both of us for how well we worked together. 

This week was the open house and we fine tuned the ice and it's curling beautifully. I can't wait to play my first games on it this week.  Hubs is trying to get me up to speed on making the ice including using the scraper and pebbling ice.  This is because he's going on a friendship curling tour to the US in November.  We have another ice maker who will help me out but sometimes I'll be on my own.  I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure it will be fine.

Add to one adult/driver leaving and it's getting interesting juggling around here. C is in class and classes are different times every day. He's been riding his bike most days until we are headed to work around the same time as his school is about halfway between our house and the curling club.

V has thrown herself into HS.  She is in the school play, drama improv club, media club, film society and just got on the swim team which has no transportation in the opposite direction of work.  C can driver her sometimes as he's got class on those mornings and we'll have the car available but it's going to be interesting.  Oh, and that's just during the week, she's also been rowing and taking swim lessons on the weekends. Which we also often work.

I'm still trying to fit in training runs for Bad Thing which is almost here and I did take an evening to go to the local pumpkin patch/farm with a friend-you go at sunset to pick flowers and then get a little campfire under the stars.

And training runs are a great way to get outside, hang with friends. We're riding our bikes too and I'm finishing up the tennis season. I'll put my racket away at the end of October.

Had teacher conferences for H and V.  H is taking 3 classes and using his 4th period in the resource room do to homework so he doesn't have to do it at home. Any parents who doesn't have to have homework done at home knows what a relief this is!  Math's got some issues, but his Gr 12 computer science class is going really well and his teacher is impressed with his knowledge from the Gr 11 computer class he took last year as well as all his problem solving and great ideas.  His English teacher says they are really starting to get along and is happy with his progress.

V is getting high marks in all her classes.  Her struggles are that the classes are loud (she'll wear earplugs) and needing to move around during class (The hyperactive part of the ADHD). The teachers are wonderful about letting her run in the hall when she needs to for a few minutes so she can come back and concentrate.  The math teacher asked her if she was signed up for math competition (of course she is-she's signed up for everything I think).  Drama she's loving, English she's writing well and doing well on the reading tests. Tech class she's doing well in. Tomorrow she's setting off her rocket which is decorated like a dragon. The teacher is hoping it will not end up on the roof of the building and she'll get to bring it home to show it off to us.

Collingwood

 I went up to Collingwood in September to take my Level 2 ice making course.  The ice maker that was the head of our curling club last season retired, so Hubs is taking over as head ice maker.  When he investigated transitioning over to become the icemaker the thing that worried him was the installation of the ice. "It's such a big, manual job," he told me. I replied, "what if I worked with you?"  and that is how this happened.  I took Level 1 last year. Level 1 is maintenance and prepping for games.  I helped Hubs out once a week last year.  This Level 2 class is all about installation. The good thing is you can see from these posts last year: (Part 1  Part 2   Part 3) we did a lot of the install last year due to the other ice maker taking berevement leave for 10 days during the install.  I did miss the finishing touches due to my Grand Canyon trip, though.

While I was up there I figured I'd use my evenings to complete the Blue Mountain section of the Bruce Trail in our area.  This section is 53km long. I needed a long run, so I went up Monday and did a 27k section before my class started Tuesday. I also picked up our own paint order that day saving about $200 in shipping charges.  In order to only have to run in one direction, I used a program offered by many of the sections called Trail Angel. This is where volunteers offer to pick you up at your car and drive you to your start point and you finish at your vehicle. No payment is required but a small donation is requested to the trail section for maintenance.  I ended up using an Angel from the Dufferin Hi-Lands section south of the Blue Mountains as that area's less populated so it was a little hard finding someone.  

Day 1 I have to say was rough.  2.5 km in I fell badly on my pole which broke it and left a huge 6-8inch bruise on my thigh.  The grass was very tall, very wet and I got my pole stuck in it and tripped. Rookie mistake that will be expensive to fix.  Because I still have the Bad Thing race coming up I'll need to replace the pole.  Also, a lot of the trail was not only untrimmed but wet.  It rained for a lot of the day and my feet were prunes at the end.  It took me the rest of the week to air out my stinking shoes.

Lots of pine forests that were super dark and creepy.

                                    Lots of rocks.

The conservation areas were better maintained.

Lots of unmown fields.

Lots of crevices

more unmown fields

Devil's Glen-looks.... promising?

lots of pretty rivers

I did take a bit of the Keyhole side trail. The blue markers mark the trail.

In the crevice it was amazing. There was no sound and it was so peaceful-the moss just absorbed every sound. Also dark, wet and terrifying...

I saw a skink!

Some wood paths.  Very slippery in the wet.

The roads in this section weren't paved.  I had originally thought about biking up here, but between the rolling hills and realizing the roads weren't paved, but were gravel I'm glad I got drivers to help me.

Finished up at the Southern terminus-Lavendar Cemetary. Not pictured were the ski hills I had to climb.

Tuesday I went for my ice tech install class-some class is upstairs in the lounge with powerpoint, some was on ice instruction.  We started by painting the ice.  The club that the class was at was a cement floor and we have a sand floor.  Concrete is way easier as you don't need to build up as much of an ice base but if you have a pipe leak it's easier to deal with in a sand floor.  They'd already flooded, so we all took turns how to paint. There were 19 of us.  Only myself and one other person were coming from clubs with sand floors and mine is the biggest at 8 sheets of ice.  We then sealed the paint so it wouldn't go anywhere when we did the final floods of water to build up the surface.  All 19 of us got a go, so it was well sealed (same procedure as painting only water instead of paint goes through the boom.)

That evening I got a ride to do a smaller section and ended up at some old limestone kilns:

I checked into my hotel, showered and grabbed some dinner nearby.

Wednesday morning I walked into class-all the floor was wet. Someone from the town had come into the compressor room and turned off the compressors overnight.  All our work from Tuesday was potentially ruined.  So instead of installing houses, lines and advertising, we took a class day and the ice tech showed us how to save a paint job.  He SLOWLY brought the temperature back down (too fast and your ice will crack) and that night I went for my run and the first shift of us added more paint. Then I went back to the club and did sealing.  My ride got caught up in a meeting and didn't show up so I ended up using some side trails to make shortcuts back to my car. This area is conservation areas near Pretty River Valley and included more dark and spooky forest.

I went to the grocery store and grabbed microwave meals, showered and microwaved something and passed out in bed.

Thursday morning I got up early and made up some of the mileage missing from the day before in the dark.  I passed the highest point on the trail.

I then showered and got into class-we laid lines, added houses and put in advertising.  Unfortunately they didn't teach scribing or painting houses which we do at our far end.  Oh, well. Luckily Hubs showed me how to do it the following week when we put in our own ice.

Night 3 was pretty much the same as night 2 except I forgot my phone.  The day ended at the top of the escarpment with a lovely view of the Georgian Bay.

I drove home Friday, happy to have completed the trail.  Monday morning we started putting in our own ice.