Jan 15 - and the winner is ...

... the other guy, or, in this case, the minivan.

I had talked to Aaron on Friday morning, just checking in to see how he was doing after his accident. He talked about having stitches above his lip and over his eye. That didn't sound too bad, any scars would blend in over time. Then Stef sent along a picture. Let's put it this way -- if it had been a fight, Aaron lost. If it had been a fight, the ref should have stepped in, but didn't. Naturally there are other areas that are bruised and swollen ... not just the spots with stitches. Saying that he looks pretty tough ... well ... I would be very surprised if he doesn't need some plastic surgery on the scars. There's only so much that the doctor can do with stitching at the outset. I found that out myself when I was in a car accident some 40 years ago.

When I think of biking injuries, including hitting or being hit by a car, I don't think of facial injuries. Clearly there is a class of riders that do and that's why they make BMX helmets. The helmets that I bought for riding the ATC's are like that -- they are skidoo helmets with the projection in front of the face to deflect branches and/or objects. There are motorcycle helmets like that too, probably more aerodynamic as well.

Our day was quieter than the day before. I went down to Jim & Bonnie's with the 4-wheeler, and Abby, to bring back the CD's that I'd copied and picked up her laptop at the same time. Bringing that home, it only took a few minutes for a virus database update, connecting to my wireless access point. Her connection is so slow with dial-up that she cannot complete an update. Taking that back, I helped her copy pictures from her camera SD card onto her laptop hard drive. While I was there, Bob Troup called. He needed a couple of wire clamps for an electrical box. Abby and I went over there so that I could checkout the size; went home and picked up a couple; went back and delivered same. He would have come to get them but I was having a good time driving the 4-wheeler around on the lake. Abby was having fun riding on my lap and visiting people.

It stayed warm all day and is still around freezing now. That will certainly make it easier later today when I change my tires & rims -- stack up the snow tires for another season. When I looked at them in Revelstoke, a couple of thousand kilometers ago, there was still lots of tread so I'll be good for another year or two at least, as long as I 1) keep them stored in the dark away from the UV and 2) don't drive another million kilometers on them.

Still nothing on those minnows. Perhaps I'd have done better going into town and picking up some sucker minnows, if they had any, or perhaps not. I've never had much luck with shiner minnows when I'm ice fishing, although Donnie swears by them. He was up at New Years with a few guys, drank a lot of beer and caught four pike. I also hear that Claudia is going in with two other women and buying a "girls only" condo in Florida. Donnie, apparently, isn't going to heat his water line in the winter. He and his fishing / drinking buddies will simply use the outdoor facilities -- off the deck and in the outhouse. That will keep Claudia away in the winter ...

What else ... not much. I did some tidying in my work room, rearranging some things hanging on the peg board, making room for some things that have occupied random spots on my work bench.

Sandy, meanwhile, stayed in all day. She kept the laundry going, washing all the ski stuff; re-packed food stuffs to go south; did other organizing; and caught up with some of her reading. The rest of our packing, other than last minute stuff like the cooler, will be organized today. Tomorrow morning, around 8:30, we'll pull out of here. I think at this point our plan is to head to Parry Sound where I'll go to Mass and she can go to Starbucks or whatever ... there's more for her to do in Parry Sound for an hour than in Britt. There's nothing to do in Britt.

We'll take another two cases of wine down with us. They're a pain at our stops because we have to take them inside, but the end result is that we have a better wine selection down south. I picked out my case of red yesterday. I'm actually ahead of myself at this point with no wines that are 9's or 10's (fully mature) from the Opimian ratings. That will change by the spring, though, and I have 8's that are quite drinkable. Most of the wine that is reasonably priced in FL at our wine shops would be 6's or 7's, based on my tasting. I'm certainly not the best judge but even I can tell if a wine would improve with time. Of course there are many that will not :).

The temps have improved in Florida, 63F overnight last night and predicted to be 73F today, 72F on Wednesday ... YESSSS ... I'll be on my bike, both bikes ! We are planning on stopping in Wytheville on the way down, rather than Beckley. It's 10 hours to Wytheville, which isn't too bad, but we'll be leaving Milton (dentist appointment) around 10am so I expect that we'll be in Wytheville around 9pm. That's assuming that we do not spend a lot of time at the border.

That's it for now ... I'll have to check on my comatose minnows (as Wayne calls them) once it's light.

Onward ...