The doctor gave me a clean bill of health today, it's nice to be germ free! Yesterday I went out for a run. I put on my weighted vest and wrist weights and did some hill repeats to see how that would feel. It was surprisingly good. I would have expected that after a month off my fitness would be abysmal but I was happy to find it's not bad all things considered.
Sunday was a beautiful warm day, I went for a run while Mary Ann rode her bike along side me. Afterwards, I ended up on her patio drinking wine with her while her husband George played with their dog Maverick in their yard. It was rare as George is usually working in his shop restoring a Ford hotrod. They have an amazing view of the lake from their lake front house. There are still vestiges of the life they had with their kids; a tire hanging in the trees. Now both of their boys are living their lives in Edmonton. It must seem like a blink of an eye for parents going crazy with helpless babies, then young kids morphing into argumentative teens and suddenly they're gone and so is all that frenetic business. For people such as myself who never had children there was the gap between my friends with children and those of us who didn't - their time was taken up with child rearing and it's probably far easier to hang with other parents. I think it's because they all agree to not hear the kids running, screaming and probably drawing on the wall with crayons in the other room. No one has to feel bad or apologize. That makes perfect sense to me.
It can be similar in the climbing culture. Sometimes its easier to hang with other climbers who don't question you about your "adrenaline addiction" or not-so-secretly wonder when you'll grow out of this crazy "climbing phase". Those of us firmly steeped in the climbing life never have to explain to each other about taking managed risks or ignoring money concerns in favour of a new rope or road trip. Not that I had that problem I have to admit. Lucky for me as an oil and gas employee I had plenty of disposable income. I'm glad I funnelled a decent amount into forced monthly RRSP contributions because its damn easy to spend your cash when you climb and/or like to travel and have figured out ways to do both at the same time. I don't regret the money I spent, no way Jose. It can be all encompassing though - like a crazy passionate love affair. That's what it was like. Good and bad times. Now.... it has a lesser hold on me for certain. I miss some parts of it and I'm looking forward to getting out sport climbing with friends when I get to Calgary. It won't ever be like it was for the first 5 years though, so much to discover and learn. Since Colin's passing it's never been quite the same and yet every day I am so thankful for the skills I've developed over the years out there. I'm a mountain person now. It's in my bones and while I don't have the same passion for getting in the vertical world I feel a deeper respect and kinship with Mother Earth. She is the grounding I seek and out here in Fraser Lake I've found the perfect mix of being with my parents and her at the same time.
Its cool because my mom has a love for wildlife that I enjoy and find intriguing. Mom is quite content watching nature from the safety of her kitchen window or yard. She's never had the exploring spirit in the way that I do and nor does she need to. While she deeply appreciates animals she's also quite fearful of the big ones, especially bears and a close second would be the cougar. Mom is a lover of little birds, eagles, crows, squirrels, otters, ducks and deer. She also appreciates the wolves and coyotes from a safe distance. She is extremely observant of their comings, goings and behaviour, sometimes weaving narratives of what is going on in their lives and motivating their behaviour.
Mom: "The wolves go visiting their friends across the lake." (in winter)
Lise: "Really? How do you know?"
Mom: "I can tell! One runs across the lake looking like he knows exactly where he's going and the others wait for him."
Lise: "Ah..."
Mom: "That poor crow is all alone, she must be ostracized by the other birds, I wonder what she did? Birds are never alone this time of year"
Lise: "Well... maybe that's the male bird and the momma bird is laying eggs in the nest?"
Mom: "Hmmm..."
Mom knows when the geese will be arriving on their migrations North, approximately when the hummingbirds will come looking for their feeders and keeps track of the arguing among the tree sparrows fighting over the right to use one of the bird houses.
When the weather is nice Mom likes to sit outside either in the front or back depending on the heat of the day. I like to join her and mostly we look around at what's going on with the animals. Both her and Ray find my cat Bomber an endless source of entertainment and today was no exception. Today was a big day for Bomber.
He caught a mouse.
I have to admit that I didn't think Bomber had it in him, not really. He caught a bird once at my house in Calgary but I chalked it up to being a fluke. He's never seemed overly motivated. I've certainly watched him stalking things but he could never close the deal. While he's been here he has begun to increase the range of his wanderings. We've watched him spend plenty of time staring at other critters, moving slowly and methodically towards them but he usually gets distracted with something else. This morning he certainly closed the deal for Mr Mouse. I was busy repainting the picnic bench and I could hear this crow really close-by insistently cawing up a storm. I decided to go over and investigate, when I saw the aftermath. Bomber was snacking on the mouse's innards and the crow was staring down from a low brand and appeared to be yelling at Bomber, most likely to share his booty. I have no idea if Bomber was a callous murderer playing with the mouse prior to death or not as when I saw him he was calmly eating the mouse completely ignoring the crow's admonishments. Maybe he is a cold blooded killer after all.
I knew this was news mom and Ray would be interested in so I gave a yell to mom to let her know. She was proud of Bomber and praised him like a pleased grandma. Ray was pleased with him as well. It appears that Bomber has finally made the transition from city-slicker cat to an official rural menace to varmints.
After 2 days of drizzling, windy weather we were graced with sunshine this morning. Feeling some cabin fever I needed a project. I had been eyeing up the picnic table as it was starting to look old and weathered.
Ray went and got me some paint and after an hour or so of sanding I was able to start painting. It looks like new. Ray must have had cabin fever too because he was on a tear today, getting the sander ready for me, going into town to haul garbage to the dump, drop off bottles at the recycling place, buy the paint, get the mail, come back and fix some posts on the front deck, overturn one of the boats so he could use it to go check on his sump pump in addition to walking around the yard and up and down the incline from the lake to the house.
By the time he came in he was exhausted and started to complain about how out of shape he is, yada yada yada. I reminded him about what he did today and that it's not crazy for him to be tired by now. I don't think he realizes how much walking he does in a day when he's puttering around.
Tonight its quiet out here, who am I kidding... every night is quiet around here. The sun is shining but the wind picked up so it's a wee bit cold to sit on the deck. A perfect opportunity to blog!
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