The worst kind of crazy.

A man on a Greyhound bus travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg stabbed and then decapitated the passenger sitting next to him. According to witnesses the 22 year-old victim had done nothing to provoke the crazy guy and was asleep with his headphones on at the time of the attack.

The bus was about 10 km outside of Portage La Prairie at the time. As the assailant waved the man's severed head around, the bus was evacuated (no kidding) and the driver, along with a passing trucker, locked the man inside the bus threatening him with crowbars and a hammer if he tried to leave before RCMP arrived. Considering the scene he'd just witnessed, the bus driver was pretty calm and disabled the bus engine even as the guy was trying to drive it away.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (oh, that's where he's been!) commented on the killing, saying "The horrific nature of it is probably one of a kind in Canadian history."

Photo: RCMP try talking to the assailant (sitting in the driver's seat)

Eight days to 08/08/08!!
Larry’s CBC blog has been updated - nod to T-Hall.

Okay, I have a confession. As much as I love 'What Not to Wear', I'm a huge fan of the poor man's version, 'Style by Jury'.
A lot of times, I just tune into the beginning of the program, go watch something else and then flick back for the big unveiling. Tonight I watched the entire show and I have gained a whole new appreciation for this program and particularly it's host, Bruce...something or other. Okay, I just googled him and his name is Bruce Turner. Seriously, this guy has never attracted my attention until tonight when he seemed, for the first time, to have a real connection with the makeover subject. No, that's a lie. He turned up in an incredibly muscle-defining black t-shirt on a super hot motorcycle. I'm a sucker for the bad boy. And then he takes this week's subject out to visit his friend, Bill Lishman.
Anyway, who knew this guy was so cut? He's usually wearing a boring blazer or generic shirt. I wonder if they've increased the budget for the show. Maybe I'm not the only fan? Anyway, OMG this guy is totally hot and I didn't even notice! Tuesday nights are looking up!

In defence of the fans...

There's been a lot of press surrounding the All-Star game, most of it positive. The one negative aspect, the whole "booing the US national anthem" issue, will be address in this post and you will see we did NOT boo the US national anthem per se.

What a great night! Even though the city was covered in black clouds, we headed for the Go train with positive attitudes (and raincoats). Ryan and I picked up dinner at McDonalds and then met Carrie and Attila on the platform at Clarkson Station.

Some six-foot-plus fan in a bucket hat who was already well into celebrating, offered Attila a traveller from his Loblaws bag full of them. Carrie, Ryan and I declined. The smell of rum was so strong it was obvious there was barely any Coke in there. Toby would have been proud! So this guy, Kevin, chattered away to Attila, trying to figure out where he was from by his accent, wanting to know where our seats were, how much they cost etc...nothing really unusual except that he did it from a different part of the train by eavesdropping on our conversation and then adding comments or questions.

We were confident that it wouldn't rain in spite of the forecast. On the north side of the train it was sunny blue sky in contrast to the black, black clouds filling the south windows. When we got out at Exhibition Stadium though, the north prevailed and by the time we met up with Jackie, grabbed some refreshments and got to our seats, the sky was clear blue. Getting into the stadium took longer than usual because they were frisking every fan as we came through the gate. We also got a game bonus - the lanyard and ticket holder in my last post.

So, to the booing...

There were only two flags on the field with the players, Great Britain and America. Fans stood quietly for GSTQ but you could hear some grumbling as people craned to see where they were hiding the Canadian flag. As they rolled into the Star Spangled banner, some people were booing, others were shushing them . The guy in front of us was yelling, "No class, you people have no class!". Eventually most just busted out with O Canada. We were prepared to give organizers the benefit of the doubt but when they started announcing the subs, the stadium again broke into O Canada. The announcer made a couple of false starts and then finally gave up and waited for the end. So now, suddenly, they announce that Capt. something-something from the Queen's Own Rifles was going to sing O Canada. A Mountie escort came out with the Canadian flag and...well, here's the official press release on what happened from Canadian Press;

Canadian anthem delayed at MLS all-star game in Toronto
TORONTO — In a case of bad planning, organizers of the Major League Soccer all-star game led many fans to believe that the Canadian anthem was not going to be played on Tuesday at BMO Field.
Instead of bringing the Canadian flag onto the field along with the American flag and the English flag (for the visitors from West Ham United), organizers waited until several minutes after the other two anthems were played to showcase the Maple Leaf, leading to an ugly scene as fans belted out O Canada and booed while the Star Spangled Banner was being played.
When the Canadian anthem finally was performed, the crowd responded with loud cheers and joined in for a loud rendition of O Canada.

So, we weren't booing the US anthem so much as we were booing MLS organizers for appearing to ignore the host country. See? We actually ended up singing the Canadian national anthem 3 times.

Onto the main event...David Beckham.

No really, this isn't just a girl thing - for the first few minutes, there was no doubt everyone was looking for number 23. When he was introduced, the cheers outweighed the jeers but the boos were definitely heard.

As play started it was unclear who was the home favourite. In fact, there were more people cheering for West Ham in the first 10 minutes than for the All-Stars ( who I naiively considered the home team). West Ham scored and everyone cheered and a minute later the All-Stars scored and the cheering was even louder. After that the majority decided the All-Stars were the team to back.

There's not much else I can say. The game was amazing. The players didn't let us down once and everyone cheered like mad when Jim Brennan stepped onto the field with less than a quarter to go! Beckham played the full 90 minutes. The crowd was announced at 20,844 fans, a new BMO Field record! They introduced Bitchy, the Harris Hawk that is tethered at the top of the stadium to keep the seagulls away. There were celebrity fans such as Rachel McAdams and Drew Carey - okay they're b-list celebrities but for Toronto that's just good enough.

The All-Stars won 3-2, Cuauhtemoc Blanco was named MVP. It was the game we all hoped it would be! So, is it official yet? Can Toronto call itself a true soccer town now? Does booing our neighbour's national anthem make us bad to the bone or do we have to wait for hooligan violence to establish ourselves in the footie world?

All I know is, I sure feel like a true soccer fan.

Thursday I woke up around 8:30am and went for a paddle. There weren't many boats out - the fishermen were already back in and sailboats hadn't yet headed out - so it was just me and the wind. A huge flock of cormorants (probably 300+) was streaking across the lake, describing a line straight from the CN tower towards Jack Darling beach.

The first time I encountered a massive flock of these birds, they were coming straight at me. It kind of freaked me out since they're travelling above the water at about chest height and moving fast. I wondered how badly it would hurt to take a shot from one or two of them but didn't have to worry. As soon as the lead bird sensed I was there, it veered sharply up. Since they follow so closely, each bird copies automatically the one ahead of it. It was actually quite graceful as hundreds of birds lifted, one by one, to pass over my head and then settled back down just beyond me to a few feet above the water.

This particular flock chose to go around me so I just sat and watched as the cormorant express swept past me at eye-level. There was some comic relief because a perfectly white seagull had tucked himself into the brown line of birds (probably figuring they had a tip on a garbage buffet somewhere) and was flapping away like mad to keep up.

The wind was perfect for riding waves (small ones) and I had one of the best paddles in recent weeks. It can be pretty frustrating learning to ride waves but gradually the direction, pattern, speed etc are starting to make sense and I'm catching more rides. Maybe it's luckier to be learning on a lake where there are decent, but rarely giant-sized, waves. Naw. We had that one day with big waves and it was so much fun, I didn't want to go in! Wish we had more like that.

So this evening is the MLS All-Star game at Bmo Stadium! Once again I'm reminded how great it is to be a seasons ticket holder. I doubt I'll ever let these tickets go! Carrie, Jackie, Ryan and I are sitting in East 109 and Attila will be sitting across the stadium with the boys. Toby and Larry will be decked out in their West Ham gear, I'm sure.

This has been a week of ups and downs.

It started with food poisoning on Sunday night - minor, minor - just enough to make me miserable and keep me up at night. This meant I started sleeping late in the morning, staying up later at night and getting into that summer holiday routine I was hoping to avoid. I've been loving the early morning paddles these past few weeks but since it's been raining and, more importantly, windless for several days in a row this week, I wouldn't say I really missed them.

Anyway, enough of the misery. On Tuesday night, Louise invited Carrie and me over for a barbecue. She and Mia were returning to Hong Kong on Thursday morning so I was really pleased to have a chance to see them. Oh my god, I haven't laughed so much in a long time. You know the kind of night, great food, good friends, comfortable surroundings. A scene from Sex & the City minus the designer shoes and couture fashion (although Carrie was wearing a really pretty dress she picked up at the grocery store! Joe, of course. ).

Mia is adorable. She's smart, articulate beyond her age and a total cutie. Louise hasn't changed at all - she looks fantastic (I've been told this could be attributed to pilates and tennis but I'm pretty sure that genetics come into play since Linz also looks great!) but I'm not going to lay it on too thick since Louise knows I know she reads this...you know?

It was a fun, fun night and we didn't leave until after midnight.

I guess it's just as well that I've been getting all this sleep.

It was announced this morning that Adam van Koeverden will be the flag-bearer to lead team Canada into Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremonies in Beijing on August 8th (phew, that was an info-packed sentence). Very cool, especially since he was also flag-bearer at closing ceremonies in 2004.

"I'm more than honoured and privileged and filled with so much pride to do that. I can't wait."
The Canadian Olympic Committee gave the nod to van Koeverden over several other candidates - including gymnast Kyle Shewfelt, who won gold in Athens, diver Alexandre Despatie, who won silver in Athens, and equestrian Ian Millar.
"It's a great feeling to be representing my sport of canoe-kayak, our entire Canadian contingent, and everyone back home in Canada," van Koeverden said. "More than anything else, we hope to make every Canadian proud as they see the Maple Leaf enter the Olympic Stadium in Beijing."

OH COME ON!
What is with the rain?? Everytime I think's it's stopped long enough to go outside and do something, it starts to pour again.
I had plans, BIG PLANS, to finally dig up the back garden. Ugh. I'm so bored, I painted my bathroom cupboards white (which unfortunately just makes the beige counter top and toilet look dirty. I should have thought this through). I did my laundry, I made a pot of tea, went through stacks of old photos, scanned some in and added them to FB, updated my blog. Twice. I tried watching the Mad Men Marathon but the tempo is so slow it just makes me more restless. Now what?
Oh hooray, my phone is ringing! I'm getting a visitor! The day is not a complete waste!!

It is HOT in Mississauga! I went out paddling on the lake and it was so calm the water was a mirror reflection of the sky. I had tucked my camera in the drybag. The Solmar is this weekend so I wanted to get pictures if I was still out on the lake when it went off. I wasn't so didn't but I did get some pics of myself paddling. The foggy conditions made for an interesting effect.

When I got off the water, there was Jess!! It was so great to see her! She and Chrissy were going out in K1s for fun.
Jeff was working on his C1 and Del his OC1. I stayed for a bit and took a few pics but eventually wandered down to Starbucks to feed the caffeine monster.

There was an art show going on in the harbour so I made a quick tour. There was a really cool print of the Ridgetown at night that I considered buying for $200 but seriously - I should be able to come up with something of my own.

In the afternoon Katy, Eve, Chrissy and I headed down to the TFC game. Katy and I caught the 1:44 GO but couldn't get a hold of Chrissy so Eve (who was out shopping with her brother and riding around on his Vespa) waited and caught the next train with her.

The game wasn't the best, the team seemed disconnected, and it ended in a nil draw. Afterward, we hooked up in the beer garden with some of Katy's soccer buddies and, randomly, the daughter of one of the US presidential candidates. I'm not going to put his name because of googlers but since one of them only has small children you can figure it out through the process of elimination (think fries). We drank there until they kicked us out and then headed over to our fav restaurant on King St. for dinner. Rob eventually showed up, charming as ever and very proud to tell us that he's been sober since his birthday (July 14 which makes it 5 days). He was sincere though and we all told him how great it was.

A refreshing and funny interview from, of all places, the Durham Region News. Instead of the usual questions about human rights issues, lack of funding for Canadian athletes, why Elvis Stojko's a dumbass, Herb Garbutt pits VanK against Mark. Using the very real issue of the IOC's need to cut sports from the Games, Garbutt insists he can "drive a wedge" between canoers and kayakers. The resulting dialogue highlights the guys' personalities and the strong friendships that exist within the paddling community.

Paddlers state their case in Battle for Beijing:
Kayakers and canoeists deny there is any kind of rivalry
Mon Jul 14, 2008
by Herb Garbutt
It's a myth they've tried so hard to perpetuate that even the name of the national association -- CanoeKayak Canada -- makes the two seem inseparable. When I warned the organization's director general that I was going to drive a wedge between the two, she dismissed me.
"It can't be done," Anne Merklinger said.
Oakville's Adam van Koeverden (kayak) and Burlington's Mark Oldershaw (canoe) have played along. They trade compliments and talk glowingly about one another. They train together at the Burloak Canoe Club and room together while competing overseas and pretend to be friends.
But when I used my vast network of Olympic connections to discover the Beijing Games were way over budget and sports were about to be cut, suddenly things were not as cordial. Finding out that canoe or kayak was on its way out and they would have to state their case for their sport's inclusion in the Olympics, well, things got ugly.
Using the International Olympic Committee's secret criteria for inclusion in the Games, van Koeverden and Oldershaw dropped the gloves to debate who was worthy of a trip to Beijing.



Who's faster?
AVK: I'm faster, because I'm in a kayak.
MO: Adam's faster but he uses two blades and he's not twice as fast, so perhaps it puts me in the driver's seat.
AVK: Mark gets to go up on his knees, higher from the water, better leverage, his paddle is way bigger. So there is something to be said for that. I do steer with a rudder, which causes a little bit of drag underneath the boat and he doesn't have a rudder.
MO: His boat's lighter than mine so there's another advantage.
AVK: Yeah, but you're heavier than me.
VERDICT: The first thing I was taught at camp was to never stand up in a boat. So for setting a bad example for children everywhere by standing up in a canoe...
Kayak 1, Canoe 0
Mark's father and grandfather competed at the Olympics so he has Olympic genes. What do you have, Adam?
MO: An Olympic gold medal.
AVK: That's one thing, thank you Mark.
Gold's down today, though, so that's not worth as much.
AVK: Yeah, but bronze is probably up there. The Canadian dollar is up too, so compared to an American gold medal, mine is worth just as much or more. What have I got? I don't know. According to all the lab tests I did at the University of McMaster kinesiology lab, I'm physiologically normal, so I can't profess that I'm a freak of nature by any means.
VERDICT: For making the other side's case and not helping me foster bitterness and resentment, canoe loses...
Kayak 2, Canoe 0
Burlington or Oakville?
AVK: Oakville. We both know that. He comes here to train every day.
MO: Only because I have to. I love Oakville, too, but no, Burlington's where it's at. More people. Bigger, better.
AVK: I used to live in Burlington and it sucked.
MO: Ohhh, put that in the (Burlington) Post.
VERDICT: Although Burlington does come first in Burloak's name, the club is in Oakville. So if you're leaving home...
Kayak 3, Canoe 0
To capitalize on the popularity of ultimate fighting, they are going to decide who goes to Beijing by putting the two of you in a cage. Who wins?
MO: I have the height and weight advantage.
AVK: If it was 10 years ago, I'd kick his ass because he was five feet tall. And if it was three years ago, I'd kick his ass because he would only have one hand (Oldershaw had surgery to remove a tumour).
MO: It would be a tough match.
AVK: We like each other, at least I like you, so I wouldn't want to mess up his pretty face too much.
MO: We used to fight over dumbbells. We'd both grab the end of a dumbbell, or anything, a piece of rope, or a metal bar and fight over it. And whoever let go, loses.
AVK: It wasn't like one of us was way better than the other, surprisingly. But Mark's quite a bit stronger now. He was 18 then, only bench pressing like 315 or something pathetic. I think Brady (Reardon) would probably win.
MO: He's a good wrestler.
AVK: He did tap out on the beach in Florida.
MO: And he is younger than us.
AVK: For sure. See, I'm an older brother and Mark's a younger brother.
MO: That means I've had it tougher my whole life, so I should probably...
AVK: It also means I've won more fights than he has. I'm not a fighter, though.
MO: I'm used to fighting my brother, who's bigger and stronger than both of us.
AVK: I fought Adam (Oldershaw) too, though. And I won't any more. He's chased me into that pillar and I have three stitches above my eye, there's seriously blood on it.
VERDICT: Given the fact he's too busy kayaking and has failed to build a time machine, not to mention, if an immobile pillar can take you out, your chances in the Octagon are not that good...
Kayak 3, Canoe 1
DISCLAIMER: The author is not responsible for any injuries from fights, real or pretend, between athletes that deprive Olympians of medals and result in serious harm to the morale of a nation.
In order to make your sport relate more to the average fan on the couch, once you finish the race, you have to polish off a pitcher of beer and 30 wings. Who wins?
MO: I think I'd take the wings but Adam might take the pitcher.
AVK: I definitely drink more than Mark. Mark has a girlfriend and often stays home when we go to the bars. But Mark can eat more than me, probably.
MO: I think with 30, I could win.
AVK: If they're hot wings for sure, but if they're mild with barbecue sauce, I can eat 30 wings, that's not a problem. Mark can, too.
MO: Speed comes into it, though.
AVK: I'd eat the carrot sticks, Mark wouldn't eat the carrot sticks.
MO: I love carrots.
VERDICT: The Olympic motto is "Swifter, Higher, Stronger" so there's no place for barbecue sauce in the Olympics. They're going to be hotter...
Kayak 3, Canoe 2
What could you add from your next favourite sport to make your sport more interesting?
AVK: Hockey has the viewership, a little more than cross-country skiing. I just like skiing because it's a lot like kayaking, and I'm good at it.
MO: You can add contact in (from hockey), possibly the fighting.
AVK: We could just stop mid-race, like the wrestlers, take a step back. That's my least favourite part of hockey, the fact that you can just 'wait, wait, wait, guys we're going to have a boxing match. No big deal, right?' I hate that part of hockey. I'd probably watch more hockey if that didn't happen, and a lot of other people would not watch hockey.
VERDICT: OK, maybe not all-out brawling but how about a joust using paddles at the mid-point of the race?
Hey, it works for American Gladiators...
Kayak 3, Canoe 3
Who has overcome the most to get to the Olympics?
AVK: Definitely Mark has overcome some obstacles. Yeah, I haven't had an injury. I'm going to cut off my pinky right now and overcome it. Adam wanted to join the ranks of Mark Oldershaw and Silken Laumann so he inflicted a terrible injury on himself and managed to overcome it in time for the big race at the Olympics.
MO: Yeah, that's why I do all those things, just to get a better story. It's easier than winning every World Cup race every year.
VERDICT: Talk's cheap. At last count, Adam still had 10 fingers and had not severed any appendages...
Canoe 4, Kayak 3
The Olympics want to capitalize on the Beckham factor. Who's better looking?
MO: Oh, Adam's a professional model.
AVK: I thought it was about soccer and Mark's a way better soccer player. Thank you Mark, but I do have the experience in front of the camera, I don't mind saying. Mark has had a long-lasting relationship with a woman and I can't say that so that may say something about our appeal to the females.
VERDICT: Adam, in being named one of Toronto's 30 most eligible bachelors by the National Post in 2006, was described as "a pretty-boy paddler...who would make a most excellent cast edition to the O.C." I prefer Dawson's Creek, but who am I argue?...
Kayak 4, Canoe 4
The last word goes to the coach's (Scott Oldershaw's) decision.
AVK: Hmmm, does he go with the most likely medal hope or does he go with his son? Yeah, for sure he's going to choose Mark.
MO: Adam already won the Olympics.
AVK: Yeah, that's true.
VERDICT: For the record, Scott Oldershaw, having competed in both canoe and kayak, said he could not choose one sport over the other.
A deadlock. Foiled in my attempt to launch The Great Canoe Kayak War.
Anyone for rock, paper, scissors?

Hungarian Olympic champion canoeist dies at the age of 36

György Kolonics collapsed this morning during a workout. They were able to get him to shore where he was pronounced dead by paramedics. The cause of death is heart failure

The canoeist won four Olympic medals; two gold in C-2 500 m in Atlanta in 1996 and in C-1 500 m in Sydney in 2000 and two bronze in C-2 1,000 m in Atlanta and in C-2, 1,000 m in Athens in 2004. He was training for his fifth Olympic games in Beijing.

Greg Pártay is training at the same club and posted this on FB, "Today, while doing his preolympic practice on the Danube Kolonics, the 15 time world champion canoer, began to feel ill. When the coaches took him to the dock his heart stopped. They tried to revive him and even the 37 minutes late ambulance (according to the ambulance service it was only 17 minutes), unfortunately they were not successful so the 36 year old 2 time olympic champion died in his coaches arms. Drugs and sterroids are ruled out, doctors say that his heart just couldnt keep up with his muscles and ambition. He was also to be wed after his last appearence at an international race, the beijing olympics."

The weekend started out to be a bit of a bust - I thought my brother's gf was coming to Toronto this weekend so cancelled out on a couple of things only to find out it's next weekend - but it ended up being a fun weekend anyway.

Friday night I ended up doing nothing but watching Hellboy (1994) so now I'm set to go see Hellboy II next week! I thought the first movie was decent (I'm a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro & Ron Perlman) and can't wait to see what the director does with The Golden Army. His creatures these days are much more sophisticated and imaginative than in the original Hellboy (proof: Pan's Labrynth).

I got up early to go for a paddle on Saturday morning only to find Port Credit covered in heavy fog. I went down to the club anyway trying to motivate myself to do something...anything. K.C. was there and we decided to do weights (well, she did - I just sat on a bench and talked) when all of a sudden Duke walked in! I didn't even know he was back in the country. His dad had to have surgery so he returned early from Europe. The surgery was successful and his dad will be okay but they're just waiting for some tests for the definitive word.

Eve and then Attila turned up next - everyone else was at Beach Regatta on Toronto Island - and since the fog had cleared up on the river, everyone headed out on the water.

Visibility on the lake was basically zero - I paddled out to the Ridgetown to check things out. When I turned around I couldn't see shore so decided it was pointless (and dumb) to keep going on the lake. Fog is so weird because you lose all your sensory landmarks. As close as I was to shore, I ended up about 50m west of where I thought I would be when I paddled back in. I did a workout on the river, grabbed a Starbucks and sat on the club deck for awhile watching the learn to row program before going to meet my son for the Supperworks party at 1:00.

Supperworks is a great business idea - they provide the recipes, ingedients, utensils and containers and all you have to do is combine the ingredients to create a dozen meals in less than an hour. Actually 14 meals because we each received a free entree which split into 2 more! And cookie dough. It was really great to get together with Ryan, Jackie, Rebecca and Carrie but honestly, you're so busy going from station to station it's not a huge opportunity for chit chat.

Kyle Smith's band, False Idols, was playing at the Reverb that night so Jackie, Carrie, K.C. and I decided to make a night of it. The band is really talented (and I'm not a hardcore \M/ fan) but they didn't get to play nearly long enough. It was one of those showcase events with a half dozen bands on the bill. Still, it was awesome to finally see them perform and afterward we just hung out and had a beer and tasty snacks on the patio at the Rivoli.


Sunday morning I woke up to the alarm at 7:00am with a sour stomach and the feeling that I was late for something. A bunch of us were meeting in Pickering at 8:00 to go biking.

Even though I grew up in West Hill, I haven't spent much time there in the past few decades. I was impressed with how much that area around the nuclear power plant has evolved from the wasteland it used to be. We rode through this cute (but contrived) little village along the east side of Frenchman's Bay and did a 32km round trip. It was a lot of fun just cruising along the lakeshore checking things out. It had rained most of the morning so there
weren't a lot of people on the trail until we turned around. The sun had come out by then and it was pretty busy. Cat and Doyna provided a great brunch at their place (they are the best hostess and host I know - it's a dying art - and they have everything you could possibly want) and Darren's and Keith's wives and babies joined us there.

Cat insisted we get a photo at the local "beauty-full spa".

The Toronto OC race was last weekend. I was busy so didn't go but it sounds like it was a great time.

photos courtesy of Maria K.

Foreground: Stan & Karen (not visible) and Boog

background: Sarah climbs back in the boat after they hulied.

Pete called a hut-ho but forgot to switch.

I can't find the official results posted anywhere but here's what I've been told;

1st in m OC-1 - Larry Cain (and natural order returns to the world)

1st in w OC-1 - Jenn the beast from the east and Mayfair

1st in mixed OC-2 - Stan & Karen with Pete & sarah a close 2nd

1st in w OC-2 - Katie and Jane from Hawaii with Eve & Liz 2nd

Whoo boy. What a month (for family and friends)!
A friend called to tell me there's a dog on the front page of today's Sun that looks exactly like Hawkeye. It and another shepherd (paper says Belgium - should be Belgian) had been rescued from an abusive environment in Durham and were up for adoption. I've been fighting the urge to get another dog so I called my friend Susi, who breeds Belgian Tervurens, to find out if she knows anything about these dogs. As it turns out they're german shepherds. She talked me out of rescuing the pair (didn't take much considering the care and attention required in cases of abuse) but she also had a horrifying dog tale to share about one of her Tervs.

Her daughter had to go up to Thunder Bay for school last weekend so it was a good excuse for a road trip. She packed up daughter, three dogs, van and headed out. They stopped frequently to let the dogs out and camped at night.


After dropping Sabrina off she pretty much turned around and came home again. Somewhere around Sturgeon Falls she stopped to let the dogs have a stretch on a sideroad. It seemed an ideal spot - no traffic and a stream. Now, these are highly trained, certified obedience dogs that were born and raised in the country. They stick close to Susi and react instantly to commands. I have to say that so you know that neither she nor the dogs are lightweight city-dwellers with no "bush sense". Everything was great when she suddenly heard a loud SNAP followed by the most horrific screaming she could imagine. The only dog she couldn't see was her male, Dite. As she scrambled to get to the source of the screaming her brain tried to process what could have happened. She wondered if he'd run into a deer and the snapping sound was him breaking one of it's legs. What she found was her dog with his neck in a beaver trap, just behind the ears.

She slogged through hip-deep swamp to get to him and struggled unsuccessfully to open the trap. She picked him up and was carrying him back across the swamp and up to the van when she realized the two females were still loose. She got them into the van and was then able to flag down a car. The man followed Susi back to the dog while his wife called the police. Even with the man's help, they weren't able to release the trap.
Fortunately two OPP offices arrived and between them were able to release the dog from the trap. Dite's collar fell to the ground as it opened and they realized that the plastic clips on the collar were what saved him from any real damage.
I'm pretty impressed that the cops felt it was important enough to give her a high speed escort to the local vet who checked Dite out and, except for an exceptionally low heart rate, found him to be in perfect condition. The low heart rate was a concern as it could indicate damage to a something-something nerve in the neck but she thought it more likely to be his natural reaction to stress. Dite fully recovered from the whole ordeal (not so sure about Susi!)

Meanwhile on the home front, my beautiful niece Tara (centre) fainted a couple of weeks ago, bouncing her chin off a cement floor and fracturing her jaw in three places, breaking two teeth, knocking out another and breaking a bone in her mandible which punctured her ear canal. After some stitches and a few days in the hospital she was released and the family headed to the cottage. Instead of the usual sailing, tubing and wakeboarding, Tara is confined to summer school getting a jump on her math courses for next year.


But that's not the end of it. Yesterday, they were driving in Muskoka when a woman ran a red light and piled into the passenger door. Poor Tara was in the passenger seat and all she saw was this giant SUV coming straight at her! (turns out the lady in the other vehicle lives around the corner from them in the city). I texted Tara that we should wrap her in bubble wrap until the summer's over. Her response was pretty cheerful so, all things considered she's in pretty good spirits. Phew.

Here she is! Steph (King) Haldane's little girl!

Lauren May Haldane

July 7, 2008 at 10:36 pm

6 lbs 9 oz and 20"

Congratulations Steph & Phil - she's beautiful!

I'm going to haul out some pics of Steph back in the day although I don't know why!

She hasn't changed one iota! Enjoy, you two!

Rachel's blogging from NJ - check out the link at right.

So Kyle S. made his first appearance at the club since his accident and he actually doesn't look that bad, stitches are out and the scrapes are healing. We are at war however because he threw bread at my boat and it stuck to my ama. I had to fight off a flock of angry ducks who acted like my boat was Homer's Buffet. I still haven't figured out why he and Rob Partay had a bag of bread in the motorboat while they were coahcing but nothing they do surprises me.
I had a couple of great paddles today - wind is from the south-west so there's a little bit of wave action on the lake. Just enough to make it interesting. Ugh. I'm too tired to be creative right now. I went to return some videos to Blockbuster and got caught in a DOWNPOUR. Soaked, tired, going to bed.

Kyle S. aka Serious Lucky

He was riding his bike to his gf's house when he hit a tree root, his front tire flew off and he faceplanted HARD into the rest of the tree. He's been probed and scanned, his orbital bone is out of place and there are no lashes left on his right eye but he'll be okay. I should qualify that - he'll be back to his old self soon. Feel better buddy!

And you can go see his band, False Idols, play at the Reverb on July 12th

(time to be determined).

Great music and $10 bucks cheap! Click here to have a listen and learn more about the band.