Kootenay River Paddle

 A group of us decided to canoe part of the Kootenay River from Canal Flats to Wardner, which is at the top end of Koocanusa Lake, not far from the USA border.

The plan was to be on the water earlier than the mosquitoes and before the rush of snow melt hit the river, making it much faster and more dangerous.

It took most of a day to drive over to the East Kootenays and do the vehicle shuffle, but we were on the river by 5 pm.  The first bit was fairly fast and exciting, but the water was clear and cold and the weather prospects were good.  We only paddled about an hour the first afternoon.  The next 3 days were spent paddling south under absolutely clear, hot skies.  Stretches of calm water followed by sections of fast.  It was excellent.

Pictures are at: https://plus.google.com/photos/106717482826961530532/albums/5875368938986209073?banner=pwa

Vaccines and autism - Another perspective

Vaccines and autism – an update | Angels in the Architecture

Ours Is Not To Reason Why...

In the wake of the Boston bombings and the arrest in Canada of two individuals suspected of plotting to blow up a Via Rail trail (really?  a Via Rail train??), Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was musing about the reasons for these attacks and alleged conspiracies.

In his haste to denigrate anything remotely thoughtful, Stephen Harper commented that now was not the time to "commit sociology".

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/String+terror+incidents+reason+commit+sociology/8294646/story.html

Well of course not.  Why ever would ordinary folk want to know the reasons why for anything?  Consider the causes of global warming, the root causes of violence and poverty, why stuff works, why the earth goes around the sun....  What business would we have for wondering about the underlying causes of things like these?  You tell 'em Mr Harper.  Quit wondering about the reasons for anything.  Knowledge just gets in the way of our ability to accept whatever we're told to believe.

Coasting in Oregon

Probably the quintessential view down the Oregon coast.  We spent a week or so wandering through some of western Washington state and along the coast as far south as Newport.  Reasonable weather and miles of beach to ride our bikes on.  We did find the area somewhat more busy that we remembered it.  Possibly school break time down there could have been the reason.  Our route back home through the Columbia River Gorge enjoyed some almost-summer weather.

The Wire - An Alternative to Broadcast TV

As usual, there's not much to watch on regular TV....as they say: same old, same old.

On the recommendation of our son, who is probably more attuned to such things, I bought the whole 5 seasons of The Wire, an HBO video series based in Baltimore, Maryland.

The core of the program is probably the drug trade, but includes the city police department, the longshoremen on the docks, the education system, politicians and the print media.  In short, it's a series about a broken city with broken systems that should be making life better for it's citizens, but is failing miserably.  It's a realistic commentary on the state of this city....perhaps many American cities.

I have to say that this is probably the best thing I've seen.  Ever, and I was a big "West Wing" fan....

If you have sensitive ears, you will have problems with the language and the casual violence, but the show is real and examines real issues.  I've embedded some of the greatest quotes from the series just to give you a taste of what's in store.  And no, it's NOT a documentary....

Watch it.  You won't be disappointed.

Skiing in the Backcountry

After finally escaping my foot bandages, it's been off into the backcountry for some skiing.  The past week or so has involved several days of uphill and downhill in some pretty decent snow.

Stu and I spent 2 days up at the ski cabin and put in a few good lines down through the trees into some nice snowy bowls.  We did dig one snow pit and discovered a weak layer, so we weren't all that surprised when Stu cut one line across the top of a slope that caused a fracture and a slide of snow right to the bottom of the hill.

A few days ago, a friend from Calgary arrived to learn something about Kootenay skiing, so we headed up the the ski cabin again.  For at least part of the time, there was light snow, so by the end of 3 days, the upper layers were sliding all over the place.  Because of this, our ski lines were pretty conservative and in the trees.  It was interesting to watch slopes sliding on the track back out as the skidoo passed.  Probably explains why the avalanche hazard was raised to high....

Down at valley bottom, snow is slowly disappearing, but at 2000 m it's still deep and fluffy.  I'm a bit conflicted, wanting spring and warmer, sunnier weather, but still enjoying the turns on the slopes.  Maybe after a couple days of rest I'll try out some XC skiing this weekend.

Above the Clouds

 A pretty clear example of the benefits of skiing in the sub-alpine in this part of the country.  What you see is the fog and cloud layer that has hovered over the Kootenay Lake valley for weeks.  A few of us were at the ski club's cabin at 2000 m for 2 days and this is the view we had for at least one of those days...before the real clouds and snow moved in.  The snow was in pretty good condition so we had a few nice runs and got our exercise climbing back out of the valleys that we had skied into.