It's been a while.
Nearly two years, to be semi-precise.
It's been good for the most part. Marriage remains blissful, work remains both fun and interesting, the hunting and shooting and fishing and kayaking are good, and the only thing I can really complain about (aside from our having elected a spoiled, privileged, bubbleheaded empty suit in the last federal election) is that I had a mild stroke back around Thanksgiving, for which I had prompt and completely effective treatment. I have no deficits whatsoever as a result; I can still walk and talk and brain as before; the only lingering impact is a bit of post-stroke fatigue. I can't even do a half-decent Jean Chretien impression. My energy levels are starting to bounce back, and hopefully I'll be back at work soon.
Notable developments since I last posted have all been recreational. Shooting-wise, I seem to have wound up on the executive at the local army base's gun club; I basically take minutes, RSO, and pick up spent brass. Since it's the club's favourite competitive discipline, I've taken up up 3-gun; it's an action shooting discipline involving movement over courses, shooting at a variety of targets, with carbine (I'm running an AR-15 with 20" HBAR upper and iron sights, just to cement my rep as an iron sight dinosaur), shotgun (Alice, my tactipimped 870 Marine Magnum) and pistol (I picked up a GLOCK 34). Score is based on time, with time penalties for missing targets. It's a heck of a lot of fun, and I'm actually managing to not totally embarrass myself in a field of mostly military competitors.
Outdoorsstuffwise, back before I went silent on LJ we picked up a couple of touring kayaks; Necky Manitou 14s. We've been doing a lot of kayak camping since; there is no human presence on the other side of the river for tens of klicks up and down from town, and lots of long gorgeous sandy beaches, it's just a question of stuffing some gear into the kayaks and finding a nice spot to spend the weekend. After a couple of long haul trips (Petawawa to Deep River, or heading way upriver), where Carolyn basically threatened me with death if I ever said "don't worry, dear, it's just around the next point" ever again, we picked up a (lightly used) 21" Kevlar layup tandem touring kayak. The thing is an expedition-grade monstrosity that is so ridiculously in excess of any sane kayaking needs we might have that we're seriously considering heading farther afield; Georgian Bay and the North Shore of Lake Superior are both destinations we're considering. We can get so much gear into it it verges on glamping.
Domestically, Carolyn's allergies worsened to the point where we had to find good homes for the cats this past spring. However, we've replaced them with budgies. Meet Thuggo, Brutus, Attila and Ghenghis (although Carolyn doesn't use those names.
So 2016 is finding me bouncing back from a Disease of Civilization (again, it's not the pain, it's the deja vu), but looking forwards to beiing shortlisted for a Nobel Prize for lifestyle architecture. I don't know whether I'll be back here regularly, if at all, but if anybody from back in the heyday of LJ is still around, I hope you're doing well.
It's been good for the most part. Marriage remains blissful, work remains both fun and interesting, the hunting and shooting and fishing and kayaking are good, and the only thing I can really complain about (aside from our having elected a spoiled, privileged, bubbleheaded empty suit in the last federal election) is that I had a mild stroke back around Thanksgiving, for which I had prompt and completely effective treatment. I have no deficits whatsoever as a result; I can still walk and talk and brain as before; the only lingering impact is a bit of post-stroke fatigue. I can't even do a half-decent Jean Chretien impression. My energy levels are starting to bounce back, and hopefully I'll be back at work soon.
Notable developments since I last posted have all been recreational. Shooting-wise, I seem to have wound up on the executive at the local army base's gun club; I basically take minutes, RSO, and pick up spent brass. Since it's the club's favourite competitive discipline, I've taken up up 3-gun; it's an action shooting discipline involving movement over courses, shooting at a variety of targets, with carbine (I'm running an AR-15 with 20" HBAR upper and iron sights, just to cement my rep as an iron sight dinosaur), shotgun (Alice, my tactipimped 870 Marine Magnum) and pistol (I picked up a GLOCK 34). Score is based on time, with time penalties for missing targets. It's a heck of a lot of fun, and I'm actually managing to not totally embarrass myself in a field of mostly military competitors.
Outdoorsstuffwise, back before I went silent on LJ we picked up a couple of touring kayaks; Necky Manitou 14s. We've been doing a lot of kayak camping since; there is no human presence on the other side of the river for tens of klicks up and down from town, and lots of long gorgeous sandy beaches, it's just a question of stuffing some gear into the kayaks and finding a nice spot to spend the weekend. After a couple of long haul trips (Petawawa to Deep River, or heading way upriver), where Carolyn basically threatened me with death if I ever said "don't worry, dear, it's just around the next point" ever again, we picked up a (lightly used) 21" Kevlar layup tandem touring kayak. The thing is an expedition-grade monstrosity that is so ridiculously in excess of any sane kayaking needs we might have that we're seriously considering heading farther afield; Georgian Bay and the North Shore of Lake Superior are both destinations we're considering. We can get so much gear into it it verges on glamping.
Domestically, Carolyn's allergies worsened to the point where we had to find good homes for the cats this past spring. However, we've replaced them with budgies. Meet Thuggo, Brutus, Attila and Ghenghis (although Carolyn doesn't use those names.
So 2016 is finding me bouncing back from a Disease of Civilization (again, it's not the pain, it's the deja vu), but looking forwards to beiing shortlisted for a Nobel Prize for lifestyle architecture. I don't know whether I'll be back here regularly, if at all, but if anybody from back in the heyday of LJ is still around, I hope you're doing well.