NB MS Bike Tour

The New Brunswick Rona MS Bike Tour was a resounding success. I got a late start on Saturday morning so was only able to ride 35 kilometres. Not bad in 3 hours, but the heat was too much for me. A little more than half way. The Wookie rode the whole thing both days. And then we had a four hour drive back home.

The banquet on Saturday night was great. The food was wonderful and the accommodations were excellent. We stayed on the campus of a private school just outside Saint John , New Brunswick. We may go back for it next year. And Cranky Baby was a big success. Most people made appropriate comments as they rode past me on the road and at the banquet she was officially introduced to everyone. Then they understood her purpose and didn't think I was so much of a nut.

I also realized that I haven't posted pics of the Wookie so here ya' go: This was on the drive to New Brunswick:

Here's one fifth of our team. Only a few of us rode the NB tour but it's good practice for the NS ride in 3 weeks.
At rest stop number 3 Cranky Baby had a bit of an attitude with an RCMP officer so she was put in the back of the police cruiser to cool off for a bit.
I bailed her out with promises of good behaviour. At the banquet, she met a number of folks including the Mayor of Saint John:
The next day, she and I were riding in a support vehicle and bringing up the rear. We stopped at the last rest stop before the finish and ran into the Wookie.

I took a whole bunch of pictures for Cranky Baby's next video and I also was able to find and catch some moths and butterflies. These two moths are called luna moths. The bottom one was a little paler in markings and colour but they're the same.



This pic gives you a better idea of the size of them, a little more than 4 inches in length with a similar sized wingspan.


And for the amphibian lovers, a tiny frog on a lilypad in the Wookie's pond.


I will spend my day off recovering from the weekend's events and cleaning up. Maybe a short bike ride, too.

S.

More Creatures

More exploring in the Wookie's backyard tonight. found this little pickerel frog:
And more dragonflies:
Tiny little beetles that didn't have a very good foothold on the leaves of this tree as they easily fell off with a slight breeze:
A nice bullfrog:

We are doing the New Brunswick MS Bike Tour this weekend so will probably not have access to a computer for a couple of days but I guarantee pictures and details upon my return. I will only be riding day one as I don't think I'm quite ready for two days of biking 60 kilometres (both days)but I'll be ready for the Nova Scotia ride at the end of the month.

S.

Giant Water Bug

This is for the other Shawna of Nervus Rex:
This is a Giant Water Bug. The pic is from Wikipedia. They live in ponds and lakes hanging around at the bottom waiting for some unsuspecting fish, insect, tadpole or other creature to come by. They grab 'em, inject saliva which liquifies the animal from the inside, and then suck out lunch. They travel from pond to pond looking for mates and are sometimes found out of the water as they are attracted to lights. They range in size from about 1 inch to 5 inches. The largest I've seen was about 3 inches.

They sound and look pretty gruesome but they're interesting bugs. They sometimes play dead if you try to pick one up. They need to come to the surface of the pond to breathe air and the female lays her eggs on the back of the male who then carries them around until they hatch. They're excellent and fast swimmers and their bite packs a powerful punch.

My neighbour, Kay, knows of my interest in six legged creatures. She found one of these things last year outside our building and had a friend take a picture of it for me. A copy was made for her which she promptly slid into an envelope and then under my door. She wouldn't even look at the picture, she was so bothered by it. God love her.

Because they usually lie in wait at the bottom of ponds or hanging onto a stick, they are sometimes difficult to find. At the Wookie's pond, I'll stand on the edge with a long stick or bulrush and gently poke the bottom to see if I can stir anything up. Once in a while I am rewarded when one of these creatures swims away.

For Pa: The Museum of Natural History in Halifax has an excellent guide to our frogs and other amphibians. Actually, they're an excellent source for almost anything that moves in this province. And all summer long they've got a butterfly pavillion which we'll be checking out soon.

Harkoo: The bee story from last week was pretty big. It could have been a lot worse than it actually was, but the weather contained the bees for the most part and although there were several stings, no one suffered from allergic reactions and the driver of the truck was OK, too.

Which leads me to this: one of my earlier posts "God is an Iron" can be heard on Charles' podcast. Aside from black flies and mosquitoes, I have not been bitten or stung by other insects. With God's sense of irony, I suspect I'll die, not from natural causes, but from anaphylactic shock after a bee sting.

S.

Bugs in the Backyard

Yesterday, the Wookie and I spent some time in his backyard checking out the health of the frog pond. He had been excited earlier in the spring to discover a snapping turtle which neither of us had seen last year. It (or one just like it) had been there the year before. The Wookie was going to remove the remnants of a little pier but having discovered the turtle likes to sun itself there, decided to leave it.
Of course, there are a ton of frogs:
some snails:
I almost caught this little guy(gal?) and when it hopped away from me, it still had an inch of tail left. Not quite a tadpole anymore, but not quite a frog.
The dragonflies and darners were out as well, but harder to photograph with a digital camera. Click on the pic and look to the right.
Sometimes you can find a little cocoon woven between leaves of the bulrushes. I took this one apart:


Inside a mama spider, a worm for a snack, and I don't know what else as I grossed myself out:

I left the spider and her snack in some bushes, so she'll repair the damage and get back to business.

More frogs:


There are at least three types of frogs living in and around the pond, several species of dragonfly, snails, spiders, and other assorted bugs. And several large goldfish. It was high noon and getting very hot so the fish were staying away from the surface of the pond. I also caught sight of a couple of toe-biters. I'll go back with my net soon so I can catch one and take some pics. They are very scary looking things and can inflict a rather painful bite.

S.

Bug Success!

Last Thursday morning I was returning from my haircut and came across an osprey's nest that I'd not noticed before (my eyes are usually on the road or if a passenger, looking for bugs on the windshield). So of course Cranky Baby and I stopped to take pics. In the first one you can see the Canadian and Nova Scotian flags next to the telephone pole where the birds had built their massive nest. The osprey is the provincial bird of Nova Scotia by the way. Another shot.
While waiting for something to happen, one of the adults flew from the nest and arrived back about 5 minutes later with an eel. If you click on the picture you may be able to get a better look.

Then driving to my folks place a little while later I heard on the radio about Ethel and Oscar, the two adult osprey in that very nest and that they have one baby and there's a cam to watch the excitement!! Here's the link.

Then this evening, I was clearing the table for supper. I had caught a little white, fuzzy moth the other day so took a look at it and then checked my other jar on the table, the one with the blue mud dauber wasp eggs in it. And there was a live one!! Must have hatched in the past day or so. I was as excited as a kid at Christmas. So I took pics and set it free.

Way too much excitement for me these days. And it doesn't stop there, either. Tomorrow I will be 45. Yay me.

Stationary Bike Ride

This morning I was up at 4, out the door at 4:40, and at work at 5 to set up a tent and my bicycle to join the morning show, Griff and Caroline, to promote the heck out of the Bike tour and raise some money. I rode my bike for 4 hours (yes, the butt is numb).

In a word, Success! I received over $450 from folks on their way to work and another online donation as well. I'll wait for the end of the day to determine who made the largest single donation and shave their name or place of business in the back of my head. Pictures to follow...I promise.

S.

Bike Tour Preparation

That's Ed from Cyclesmith with Cranky Baby checking my bike to make sure it's good to go for the Rona MS Bike Tour.
Cranky Baby trying to get a little closer to the action. Or Ed. I think she's got a crush on this guy. For years, the great people at Cyclesmith have been sponsors of the Bike tour. I frequent their shop in Halifax, though not yet this summer. I will be going there soon, though, as I really need some new bike shorts.

I am having a four day weekend - yay! Tomorrow, Friday, I will be setting up my bike in front of work, soliciting donations for the Bike Tour from all those on their way to work, and handing out Kool FM T-shirts. It's a busy street and the morning show will be having me on the air with them. I hope people are generous.

On Saturday, I'll be speaking at the Hoops for Hope Girls Basketball Tournament. The guy who put this tourney together has MS and is also a B-ball coach. This is the second year for the tourney. To see all these young women together is inspiring. They play their little hearts out and the entrance fees are donated to the MS Society.

Next weekend I will be in New Brunswick for the Bike Tour there. A few of us from the Cycledelics are making the journey to take part and I'll be MCing the dinner after the first day. It's a little longer than the Nova Scotia tour, though apparently not as many hills (mountains in my mind). I'm planning on riding the first day and driving a support vehicle for Day 2. Then the countdown begins to the NS ride at the end of July. I should be ready to do the two day ride by then. Remember, I missed 5 weeks of training this spring.

This is Randy. He was at the Bike tune up the other night. Randy came from the National MS office for some meetings and loved Cranky Baby. But who doesn't, right?

S.