May 29 - the standoff

I had a busy day.  Out early, bug jacket on of course, I went up and down the stairs many times with the hand truck, filling up the woodbox.  That annual chore is now complete.  I'm reminded again that had I made it about 6" deeper, I could have gotten one more row of wood in the box -- 50% more.  Oh well.

The early morning sun has just hit the beach even though it's cloudy out front.  The colour of the light makes it so interesting.  Ok, back to the blog ...

Next I got the 4-wheeler running but it didn't want to keep going and I didn't have time, patience or ... trust ... to take it to the end of the road.  So I drove, delivering the end-of-osprey-road-dumping letters starting at Dixon's (Jim had delivered up to there) through cottage number one.

There were only four people in, which makes it quicker.  Ross, Ernie and Wayne were in as well as the Dick and Ellie (think that's their names) in cottage one.  I had another long conversation with Ernie.  He wanted to send a letter to the Ministry himself but quickly backed down on that one when he realized that his name hadn't been mentioned yet.  The only place that's in writing is in this blog ...

Wayne introduced me to Marilyn, the new owner (?) of his cottage.  He has severed the lots and has started working on building next door, between his (former) cottage and Ernie's.

It took some time because many cottages have chains or other barriers across their driveways.  It was actually quite interesting walking down to all those cottages, having never done that.  Woo Hoo, some of those driveways are long !  I wouldn't want to drive down them if the ground was wet !

I got home, jammed some food down my throat and went for a bike ride.  I had been vacillating but the day was so nice that I figured I'd better take advantage of it.  My legs were still sore and of course the firewood hauling and all the walking didn't help.  After about 50 miles (I ride 70), they warmed up.

On the way west, I saw a bear, probably a one year old, who looked at me and headed into the bush.  I could see him/her as I rode by.  I got quite close to a moose that also walked into the bush, but more sedately.  On the way back, a moose (could have been the same one), was standing in the middle of the road with its butt towards me.  Before I got there he/she turned around and faced me.  I stopped about 100' away facing the moose.  I didn't want to get so close that I couldn't jump back on the bike !  I yelled, waived my arms to no effect.  It just looked at me.  Finally it sauntered off into the bush.  There was no question about who was in charge !

There were five aborted messages (hangups) on the answering machine.  I called Sandy and sure enough, it was her.  She was parked in downtown Toronto and hadn't booked anything for the night yet.  She did later, staying at the Sheraton by the Ballet.  This morning she heads to Barrie picking up Kim, Megan and Lauren and then goes to Stratford.

Today ... not sure ... I'll end up in Barrie, I think, with Abby.  I've got a ride starting in Erin Mills at 6am tomorrow.  I might check out motels in the area to get a little closer, not sure.

Onward ...