Happy Hallowe'en!

Fall Colour Ride

With winter fast approaching, there are only a few good riding days left and this weekend's weather was especially great that a chance to ride could not be passed up. After a short ride on Saturday and spending early Sunday afternoon at the Snyders Family Farm with Mike, Kim and their kids, we chose to participate in the Waterloo Wings' Fall Colour Ride on this Thanksgiving Monday.

Heather and Jolene searching for pumpkins.

We left home minutes after 9am on a slightly cool morning and, after a quick stop for gas, we reached the meeting point in New Hamburg at 10 minutes before 10am. To my suprises, there was literally a handful of club members waiting for us the local Tim Hortons. Those waiting included Kevin and Maysey from Cambridge, Mike and Diane from Stratford and Doug from Kitchener. Those not in attendance were probably too full from eating turkey all weekend.

The ride officially started just past 10am with no particular destination in mind. Mike, with Diane navigating, led a parade of all of five motorcycles through mostly empty roads to Blyth. There we stopped at a restaurant that, like most others on a holiday Monday, was closed. Our leaders quickly came up with an alternative lunch plan and no more than five minutes later we were eating at a small family restaurant, Stickers, in an even smaller town of Auburn. We were at the restaurant from about noon until 1pm.

Welcome to Auburn, Ontario!

From there, we rode further north through Lucknow before finally making a turn for home in Kinloss. Our final stop was in Teviotdale where Heather and I arrived on nearly fumes. I made a note to Heather that we just finished a riding stretch of almost two hours.

During a break in Auburn.

Kevin & Maysey and Doug separated from the rest of group as we got to Wellesley and we lost Mike & Diane a couple of minutes later as we made a final push towards home where we arrived at around 4:30pm. Although the group was not big, it was a great friends with great friends on a very beautiful day. The temperature reached 25C but on this October day there was not a spec of humidity which made the day even more enjoyable.

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Short Ride to St. Marys

With not many riding days left in 2011 we took advantage of somewhat warm weather and rode to St. Marys today.  While in St. Marys we bought some goodies at a local chocolate store and then proceeded to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum for a short tour.  The hall itself is only a couple of rooms in a small house but there's still a lot of artifacts to see.  Once home, I was told that Heather's great-grandmother used to a baseball writer for a newspaper in St. Marys.  Small world.

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

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WATER TOWERS

The Garage Project

Even before we purchased our new house, I've envisioned having a fully insulated and finished garage, if only to make it a little warmer for storing motorcycles. After getting a quote from our builder, it became apparent that I'd have to do it myself as the builder's quote was $6,500.

I started on it early as on the first Saturday after taking possession of the house, with help from my friend Remi, the garage was fully insulated and about 80% drywalled. All of that was done in a matter of about 10 hours and the cost of materials of less than a tenth of the builder's price.

11/30/2010 - Moving day: unfinished garage

Our motorcycles were still spending the winter of 2010/11 in my parents' garage since it might have been difficult to ride them 35 miles in December. That is why I was in no rush to finish the job. In fact, I waited nearly eight months.

3/20/2011 - Fully insulated and mostly drywalled

I finally started on finishing the job after getting back from the Freedom Rally in Sudbury which happens every August long weekend. Over the next 7-8 weeks, with little help from Heather, the garage was completed which included drywalling, mudding, sanding, and painting (two coats of primer and two coats of paint). Although there was a little tedious work, which made the project move at a snail's pace, I very much looked forward to getting it done.

9/23/2011 - Anybody want to guess what is being painted here?

9/24/2011 - Walls and ceiling painted, stairs stained

9/24/2011 - The other half of our double garage