2012 Log

I continued my routine of walks and hikes in the park around Elk and Beaver lakes in 2012. I did not consistently enter distances in a log, and missed recording some walks

I paddled (or steered) dragon boat at VCKC, April to August.

I rode from April to June, and one short ride in December. My logged rides were 352.2 Km.

My logged walks were 238.4 Km

2011 Log

I noted I paddled in a Voyageur canoe at VCKC on the Gorge on New Years Day. I noted a couple of hikes in January.

I had a stroke in January. I was discharged from hospital in February.

I noted my first ride March 20. On the first ride, I had a moment of instability at the Saanich Road crossing on the Lochside related to disengaging the clips to stop for traffic. It was momentary and did not deter me from riding. In early May I perceived some dizziness while walking – carrying something heavy.I became concerned that I was not managing my balance and that low blood pressure due to medications was affecting my balance. I did not ride after June. My logged cycling distance in 2011 was 328.3 Km.

I started to go for 10 km. walks on trails along Beaver and Elk lakes in June. Saturday morning walks became regular. I used the GPS. My recorded walk/hikes included the early January hikes and couple more hikes on Galloping Goose in Metchosin with people from VCKC. My logged walks in 2011 were 324.2 Km.

Hypertension

I had a stroke in January. I was unconscious for a few days, hospitalized for a couple of weeks and off work for a few months.

I was hypertensive.

I thought I had been cooking healthy i.e. not using more salt than a recipe required etc.

My blood pressure dropped with medication during my recovery. My blood pressure got into a good range when I eliminated salt by switching to no sodium added broths and vegetables in cooking,baking bread in a bread machine on a lower salt formula for the recipes I was using and avoiding fast food, processed meats, cheese and processed (factory cooked) products.

2010 Log

My logged riding distance in 2010 was 704.3. I rode the Gian Yukon, with one ride logged on the road bike.

I was paddling dragon boat and OC6 at VCKC. I started to log some hikes with some people from VCKC. I was getting distance and route on a Garmin handheld GPS. I had a few rides with people from VCKC.

MT 5.01

I haven’t been writing much since 2006, with nothing to say for several months. When I tried to enter some posts and clean up some presentation issues, MT presented some odd behaviour. In fact I was unable to write or edit entries in Opera (which has become my browser of choice) which was probably related to the way Opera handled Java scripts. That seems to have gone away with an Opera upgrade and a reinstall of Java.
MT had been upgraded in the last year, including the release of version 5 in January 2010. I began the upgrades a couple of weeks ago. This was a more demanding upgrade. I installed MT 5.01 by a clean install. At that point I got lost on the upgrade path until I remembered – basically learned again – some of the server side file structure. Once I figured out which folder was my Web Root, I got the uploaded files in the right directories and CHMOD-ed and got the mt-configure.cgi file reading right.
MT tried to supersede many plug-ins and to revise the handling of templates – basically allowing for the incorporation of some pieces of the old templates in new widgets or template modules. I refreshed MT templates, lost some of the features in the sidebars on my old templates I have to go back and edit some templates to get some content back on line but it’s on track again. On the positive side, this brings a lot of old files up to date and gives me a lot of new options. Assuming that I start to write again.

Rosa

My mother died last Friday. She was 82 years old. She has had Alzeimer for several years and has been in a care home since June 2008. She had asthma for many years. She had been having increasing difficulty breathing and with that came a diagnosis of late stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I visited Winnipeg in October last year and at the end of January this year. Her death was sudden, apparently due to a cardiac episode. The last few years were confusion, distress and illness, the end of her life was inevitable, painless and not too soon.
My sisters and brothers in Winnipeg have coped with the issues of my mother’s terminal illness and my father’s decline and psychological collapse with much hard work and many tears. Dad is in the care home. In the last couple of months before mother died, he was failing in self care and unable to change the course of mother’s illness. He was getting disconnected with reality, although his love and affection never wavered. He seems to have become more lucid, but much sadder after the funeral today.
He has mentioned some old stories that I had never heard before, and would not have understood when I had less lines on my face. His mother had visited from Holland in the early or mid 1960’s. My father had not gone back to Holland when his father had died, and he had tried never to look back on his decision to move to Canada. His mother had told him, he remembered, that his mother had reservations about Rosa. She was older than him and “bossy” which was probably a way of saying what we might call needy, as she was always emotionally expressive, and defensive of her self-regard. He said that his mother had tried to say that she was surprised at how well Rosa was doing as a wife and mother, but he had found the remark hurtful.
My brother in law Joe accepted the task of delivering a eulogy at the funeral. He spoke well, emphasizing on the positive elements of her last few years. She became a happier person, more “in the moment” more content to take and give a smile and thumbs up and to wish anyone well with “keep up the good fight”. He found the right picture and captured her strength as a mother.

2009 Rides

My logged distance in 2009 was 1085.9 Km. I had the crank arms on Giant Yukon changed. I had rides in Winnipeg at the end of June and in October (at Thanksgiving) on borrowed bikes.

I was paddling dragon boats and outrigger canoes – OC6 – at VCKC.

I went to folk festivals in Courtenay in July and in Edmonton in August – not by bike!

Appliances

Since my move to Victoria, I have tried out and adopted some appliances and discarded others.
I started with a new set of Paderno stainless steel pots – purchased cheaply in 2006 when Canadian Tire dropped the Royale sets. I have added another sauce pan and the steamer and double boiler (not Royale but who cares). Capital Iron carries Paderno in Victoria. I expect the saucepans and the dutch oven to last for a while. The coated frying pans are standing up well although I think the coating in those pans will break down long before the pans wear out.
I bought a larger enameled cast iron dutch oven at Capital Iron which has become one of my favorite pots.
I started with some decent knives – some with the Superstore house brand and some of the midrange Wusthof Tridents.. I bought a couple new knives last year – I went to Mac for a 6 and a half inch Santoku and a 10 inch chef’s knife. The steel is superb – it stays sharp enough for ripe tomatoes with a few strokes of a diamond dressing hone.

Continue reading “Appliances”

Paddling and Cycling

This year I broke off with dragon-boating. It was initially a conflict with the manager of the Club program over a protocol and has become a longer break. Some paddlers paddle dragon boats every summer from May to August. I have enjoyed the evening practices and the frantic transformation of couch potatoes into weekend warriors, but I have let it go.
I paddled Outrigger canoes (OC) through the winter, one or twice a week. In the spring, I paddled in some spring races and some longer races. It has helped me to stay active but I have not trained enough to consider myself a fit or strong paddler. I had hoped to paddle more this summer but many paddlers give up OC for dragon boat or to take canoe or kayak trips. There are a few diehards so we have been getting out about once a week. Dragon boat is winding up and there are going to be some races this fall, so I might get on a team and get into some tougher training.
I have been cycling more this year than last year. I haven’t done many evening rides, but I have been getting some long rides in on weekends. I have had some work done on one of my bikes. I had upgraded some components on the Giant in 2004 but made the serious mistake of putting on 175 mm cranks. This may have been contributing to strain on joints, pain and fatigue. It may play a part in the stiffness in my right hip. We will see.