The Way I See It

2008-09-23T06:56:00.001-07:00

Hey all, been a looong time since posting. Much life has happened since the last one. Good to be back

2007-06-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

Soo, here we are again. Life is still good. Been renovating my workshop exterior. Its 16x26 and looked nasty, life lower the community property value nasty. So I've torn out doors, built new ones. Torn out walls, put in a new one with a window!! Next we're finishing up the exterior with cedar shingles. Looks way better and my wife is Happy!! woot. We are also gettin ready to redo the roof of both buildings as well. And Next summer to put cedar shingles on the house as well. Building up our flower gardens, paving the drive way, getting basketball net. woot. and eventually building an undergrown tunnel to Jacks Pizza with a subterranian zip line. So when I really need a pizza or donair fix I can zip right over. mmm well one can dream..

2007-03-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

Hello trusty blog readers. For what has almost been a year and a half, I have enjoyed relatively good health inspite of the fact that I seem to be constantly surrounded with sick people. I charted it back to a morning prayer session with Peter, a good close friend of mine, who prayed for me after I had been sick for a very long time. Well, the island plague has returned to me with a vengeance. Woke up on Tuesday morning not sure which parts were connected to what. My wife siad I was hallucinating and crying because I couldnt find the leader or where they put the weapons. All the while talking to Jana directly and directly freaking her out. Was not fun. thanks for my benevolent mom-n-law who took molly the night before because Jana and I were in no condition to do much for her either. Im on the mend, not completely better but on the mend just the same. Jana is starting to improve as well, as she had contracted bronchitis. And Molly bear has a rotten cold as well. God is a wonderful God, His timing is impecable always reminding us to trust in him and search out his power for all situations instead of runnin on our own steam. thanks so much to Cory and Lisa and Jamin and Nora and Matt and Craig and Debbie, and Julie and donnie and alex and gloria and melmen and marty and the big comfy couch.

2007-02-01T06:55:00.000-08:00

Preaching a sermon last Sunday at our church. Right before I start on the main point of a message about loving like Jesus in our relationships. Molly our 3 year old bursts in through the doors and runs to the Front of the Auditorium and yells out with all her might... "DADDY DADDY I NEED TO POOP!!!" perfect.

I love the hearts and minds of our little ones. No fear, no man made bindings on what is socially acceptable or not. She loves with all her heart. plays with all her heart. I learn more from her every day. God is good... SO is daddyhood!

peace

2007-01-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

Well what can I say, here we are at the end of Jan 2007! And Ive already toasted nearly all of my new years resolutions. Especially all the ones about my inspired intentions to update my blog... sorry Ally...

However, have no fear, i have heard your cries and have found it in my deeply cynical yet benevolent heart to answer you! I am back to blog with a vengeance.

I was out walking the other night and noticed a strange thing. My path had led me to a dark and spooky section of woods near my house, where a strange shadow crossed my path. I could hear its breath, a high pitched wheezing whistle, and before I knew it, it was heading directly for me. My trusty dog, always ready to defend me from any adversary tucked her stub of a tail over her bum and ran for home (her tail is too short to be tucked between her legs).

Now alone I was prepared and instinctively reverted back to my ninja training. Its incredible how a crisis can awaken skills long forgotten. I dove for the bushes. Lowered my breathing and became one with the night. Poised, attuned, ready to react to this monstrosity coming towards me. The wheezing came close, the odd shuffle of its steps shoving stoned in front of it. Then there it was. The sight of it inspired dread to depths of my soul. I made no sound, save the gurgling of my stomach reacting to my brown rice and SPICY meat ball supper. The creature stopped and looked right at me! Here is what I saw!

I considered my options, do I stand and fight like a man, run like the true coward I am or trust in my amazing ninja stealth ability and remain still. Perhaps this otherworldly being has the eye sight of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which common knowledge tells us cannot see anything unless it moves. I stand still, and try not to blink. It stares back. sort of twists its head a little and sniffs the air. Then an interesting thing happened. It closed its beady little eyes as tightly as it could and scrunched up its face even more than it was, and seemed to strain, it began to tremble and shake. I was completely unprepared for what was to come next. A terrible earth shaking flapping sound filled the air. I fell to the ground and covered my ears, it was terrible. Then I realized that it was not my eyes I should have covered. A strange green cloud filled the air. A beagle howled in the distance. The cloud reached out with its insidious tendrils of doom toward me. Then I realized what was happening! It was obviously trying to communicate with me.

Its mouth being so malformed obviously could not speak and I imagined it knew I could not read sign language so it tried to reach out to me through scent. I smelled cabbage, broccoli, turnip with a hint of roast turkey. Then I knew no more. I awoke later in a fright, I thought the beast was trying to consume me, but alas it was only my trusty hound rousing me with kisses.

The creature was nowhere to be seen. I had escaped with my life. to blog again...

I wonder if I will ever see the beast again.

2007-01-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

All I can say is.... well.... um... ahhh... what was I talking about anyway. ITS 2007!!
One of my new years resolutions is to try and update this place a little more often. We shall see.

2006-09-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

Atrophy settin in. Legs binding up. Cant move. stuck.. REALLY NEED TO GET OUT FOR A RIDE!!! Im too stiff to write.

2006-09-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

What an awesome day! First to be awakened by our Mollinator (Molly) at 6:00 with a resounding "Guys its a BEAUTIFUL DAY!, then off to Brookale Nordic Park to meet Jon, Jason, Andrew and two other guys who were invited along for the day. I forget their names but when I get them Ill post them here(they were both wicked riders). Bright and sunny, with Matilda in tow, we headed out on the Race Course for some wild climbs and dives. Good fun! Then Jon decides to take us to a new trail that we hadn't been on yet. The new trail was a serious conglomeration of roots, wheel traps, bogs, wooden bridges and small spruce stumps. Excellent fun, suicide if you decided to barrel through but not too bad if you took your time. Then it got interesting...

Jon and Jason and I were takin a break on an open side of the hill on a fire road. Amazing view! The trail behind us, a steep climb to the right and a decent downhill to the left. I was leaning left. Just some thick brush in front of us... Then Jon says " Lets GO! and turns towards the brush and disappears. Jason looks like someone just invited him to have a free root canal, saying "I don't like new trails... I hate it when he does this, I'm going to kill myself following him...." then he turns and heads in and disappears too. In the far off distance I can hear Jonathan screaming like a baby with a new toy, hootin and hollarin. So I think "yah he will kill me some day... but it will be a fun out!" then headed into the brush too. Whoo Hooooo! flyin down this hill at break neck speed, cant open your eyes cause of all the alders. You find your way by screaming and using a bat like sonar sense. The louder you scream the sound waves clear out the way some for you. for Jason this worked very well, seeing as his endowment of the bellowing baritone voice. I still am not convinced that there was a trail at all. So about 25 kph the alders break open and glorious sunshine all around, except that now we were driving through a massive patch of Raspberries. The screams of glee were quickly replaced by "eee ooo OUCH OH" , man, then Jason calls out, "JON IM GONNA KILL YOU!!" to which I replied "I want my MOM!" then we were out. Jon is buried in a quaint little del at the bottom of Raspberry Roadrash Hill.

2006-08-31T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last night a bunch of the boys hit the Appin road trail and from what I have heard they have all made it back in one piece. John, seen here, is pretening that he is a direct relative of spiderman by launchin himself into oblivion and then at the last second his web shooter malfunctioned. He can be found with many bandages on his legs and a huge ice pack on his head. Saying "I didnt think that stump would be so hard, and those rocks looked alot softer from 20 feet up..." He is resting peacefully at home under the care of his loving brother James. And should be ready to ride again early 2009...

2006-08-30T04:19:00.000-07:00

You know the best job in the world is being a dad. Thats my doodle bug Molly----> is she awesome or what!?! She is another avid biker. We have this seat that sits right up front on my old beater Nakimura and we ride all over the place. We live in a bit of a hilly area so lots of long nasty climbs with 40 pounds sittin on our cross bar. Great excercise and the motivaiton is fantastic. " GO DADDY GO DADDY GO DADDY GOOOOOOOOO!" She is so much fun. Her little Schwinn helmet, hands folded on her rest, tucked in for aerodynamic zoom quality rides. One day this summer we rode together from Cornwall to the Cove. I wanted to die. But she was lovin every minute of it! She would sing me songs, tell me about her dolls, identify all the animals we passed by and on the long downhills she would give a hearty WHOOP WHOOP! ZOOM! or GO DADDY GOOOOO! Id ask her if she was havin fun, she'd say YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Daddy hood is Good.

2006-08-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

Canoe Cove Christian Camp! WOOT!

You know the Cove is possibly one of the best places to be on this furry earth. As one camper put it, "Camp is the best place in the world, and Ive been to Disney World!" Lives were changed last week from the campers to the staff. Bad habits were given up, lives given over to God and relationships given a fresh start. We had nearly 60 more kids at camp this year overall thanks to some excellent youth minstries from across the maritimes. There is something about christian community that allows the walls to come down and God to be lifted up. Camp is a good place to be.

2006-08-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

You know its always nice to have a little bit of warning in life. A word of caution or awareness. Well there I was, cruisin through the deep brush on my new mountain bike(thats it up there, pretty huh), trying desperately to keep up with the scrawny screamers up ahead when my loving brother n law calls out, "watch out for that Stump!" to which I respond "what St... " Thump, crash, moan, groan, bleeding.. nuff said. "Thanks for the heads up..."

Really I love it, its great fun, good exercise and a super opportunity to shed some weight. The tally stands at 232 from 255 earlier this summer. Without a doubt, Single track riding is way better exercise than hockey, kick boxing, running or even reading a good book. And you get trophies every time you ride. In the form of cuts, bruises, contusions and so on. These we carry as badges of honor. The best decorated of our little bunch of God lovin riders is Jon.

At first glance you would think Jon has a death wish; barreling through the woods at break neck speeds, dodging trees and catchin air when ever possible even when there are no safe landing areas. Screaming at the top of his lungs, you will see this guy doing incredible climbs, and then turning around at the top to see if he can race back down without bustin his head. Good fun.

Neil on the other hand is just a plain animal. A machine who will push himself beyond any amount of pain and who at the peak of exhaustion, screamin for air will still never stop if the crew wants to keep on runnin. He had a bit of a trip the other day according to Jon who recalled Neil being 6 feet in the air, upsidedown with his feet still on the pedals and hands on the bars. But being the monster rider he is, he got up cleaned up the blood and mud from himself, checked out his bike and rode on out. look out Lance..

Floyd is another rookie who is burnin up the trails. A force to be reckoned with. No climb to steep, no downhill too deep for this animal. But where the rest of us enjoy the spectacle of a good crash, he is the compassionate one. "Hey man you ok?" where the rest of us are hooting at the top of our lungs.

Jason is also fondly known as flash pants. This work horse just keeps goin and goin until he realized his feet are still locked in where he then panics, and tries to step off his bike, but instead crashes unceremoniously into the nearest bush, tree or pond. He is a wicked rider just the same. Tones of endurance and drive. He also loves to take a break until the stragglers catch up and say, OK ladies lets go. When I have a heart attack it will be his fault.. =)

John.. He is all thighs and might. This kid is a great rider that loves it all. He will attempt any obstacle, jump, ramp, bridge with no fear. He has many badges and wears them with pride. The other day he was rippin it up and picked up a branch in his back tire that ended up tearin the derailer right off this bike.

What keeps it all awesome is the real thing that binds us all together and that's a love for Jesus. He is the reason we do anything. He's a good God.