I’ve been getting my fancy backpack all set up for some day hikes and such, and I’ve realized I’m going to be that stupid nerd on the trail with no friends and a whole bunch of new stuff… And no idea what I’m doing.

I guess I’m OK with that. I know exactly what I’m doing and it’s best that they don’t. I’ll take the entire “look at this trail noob” package if it supersedes the less-desirable-in-public “look at this guy wanting to play in the mud” package.

In other news, I’ve figured out that all the crown land around here is up in the hills where the mushy sediments are not. So much for playing by the rules, eh. I hope I don’t get caught (or worse) by some lunatic land-owner, or a bunch of kids playing in the creek…

The weather is less than great outside. I see that all the snow is gone, except for a few little dirt-covered mounds where the snowbanks used to be. This bodes well for getting some warmer ground to play with. Oh, and I bought some Bacillus sphaericus also. Whatsit? It’s used as a larvicide to kill off mosquito larvae living in bodies of stagnant water. It so happens a lot of my happy places are just that – mosquito-larvae-infested stagnant water holes. Kinda eww. Apparently, “When the mosquito larvae ingest the bacteria, crystallized toxins are produced which destroy the digestion tract, resulting in death.” What a way to die!

Yeah, so I came across some moolahz so I decided it was time for some upgrades! I bought 3 very important items that will be absolutely beneficial in the coming mud season.

1. New camera! Sony Cybershot W830! It’s remarkably tiny. It came with a nice little carrying case that’s like 5x bigger than the camera itself is. I assume this is so you can put the ‘optional accessories’ in it as well as the camera, but I am not doing that as the camera’s screen seems quite fragile and I don’t want it broken.

2. 45L backpack… Well this is a somewhat cheap backpack, but it’s got tons of space for all my goodies and clothes. I hope it doesn’t fall apart. The reviews aren’t exactly stellar, but the price was right.

3. Socks. Yeah. A gigantic bag of socks, for $10. Like 20 pairs or something like that. Hopefully I’ll get through the season with it, although if I need more, $10 is easy enough to sock out (get it?)!

OK So I spent a little over $200 for everything, so I hope I’ll be able to get through the season without spending any more precious dollars.  I am truly hoping I can avoid using the car a lot this year, although I’m certain I’ll be wanting to make at least one trip to each of the more remote places I’ve come to enjoy so much! 🙂

As a quick follow-up to the last post…

I’ve been dinking around with satellite imagery looking out for some nice spots… I found one little pit that looks like it might have a nice mushy pond… But ya know…

I decided on a new priority for this year: A day spot! I need a day spot! I remember spending inordinate amounts of time last year looking for a good one.  My own paranoia aside, good day spots are not easy to come by. But I will double and redouble my efforts and diligently look out for a good day spot. Wish me luck!!

*sigh*

Well the days are definitely getting warmer. Snow is about 80% melted away. I’m starting to see gigantic pools of water covering all the yummy looking fields that I can’t access because of their proximity to an audience…

C’mon spring! I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited to enter into a new season as I am right at this particular moment. There’s so many problems to overcome!

Like. How is my neighbour going to respond to my 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 am showers? Am I going to be able to get in and out at all without being noticed? People where I’m living now are a bit different. They’re nosy. They want to know everything!

My car is falling apart. I need it for work. I’m most likely not going to be able to go on day-long drives looking for new spots. I need destinations! Forget this scrolling around maps looking for places that look real nice from the air but not so much from the ground…

I have 2 places I’m anxious to visit. One is the original hole from way back while #2 is the nice truck hole from last year… Continue reading →

I hear this weekend is going to be nice and relatively warm. This means there should be some snow starting to melt. This means that spring is eventually going to be upon us.

This means it is about time to start mapping out some trails around my new home. So far I know that there is a river flowing through the town, and that there are lots of creeks of varying sizes in the area. I’m really looking forward to wandering around checking the area out… I am considering fixing up my bicycle and actually starting to ride again instead of walking around aimlessly… The more area I can cover by bike, the less area I have to cover by foot.

I’ve been considering lowering my standards somewhat. There are some nice clay-rich silty soils in the area, but many of the spots I checked out have a lot of rocks and stones. I’ve also tended to avoid swampy areas with high organic content out of fear of things like e-coli and increased mosquito density…  This year I will keep hoping to find the ideal conditions, but I may decide to settle for something more conveniently located, even if it means slightly less than ideal mud.

Another concern this year will be making sure I don’t disturb my neighbours when I arrive home covered in crusty mud and want to take a long hot shower… In 2014 I had an empty house all to myself for the entire summer. It was really convenient.  I don’t have a ‘back door’ that bypasses the other tenants in the building, although I could climb up and go in through the window in a pinch… I’ll definitely have to try to avoid having to have to do that kinda thing…

So anyway, hopefully my next post will be all about how I’m gonna have the best year ever. See you then!

So yeah I figured I should probably work on getting out of this cardboard box apartment and get cozy in a new place… So I went and found a new place.

It’s tiny. I thought my last apartment was small. This one is tiny! But there are some advantages, like being on the top floor (I’d rather roast in the summer than be stomped on!)… Friends are nearby… The building is soundproofed… Really. Well. Soundproofed… There are lots of trails, and a river with lots of little creeks right in my back yard. I’ve already mapped out some spots! And there’s another dude in the building who has spent a lot of time on the trails and I’m sure I can squeeze some good muddy info out of him without sounding like I’m me…

So there are still several months till the warm weather starts. January was the most ridiculously steady cold month I think I’ve ever experienced. And February is no scorcher either. Moving all my stuff in -30°C weather wasn’t exactly part of the plan… But oh man I can’t wait to freeze my testicles off. So I figure most of February will be wasted cleaning the new apartment, cleaning my old apartment while the new apartment is painted… Then selling off some stuff I won’t have room for in the new place… Then moving…

Hopefully March turns out to be a warmer and more relaxed month. I have to find some sort of spandex base layer… As much as I love the shorts I have, I would really like to have something that covers at least most of my legs and arms, because while some nights are warm, the trend over the last few years has shown increasingly chilly summer nights… And I remember the wet shivery experiences of last year and would really appreciate if Mother Nature would cooperate with me this year!

Well it is with great sadness I announce the end of this glorious season of mud hole adventures. 🙁

For most of the last decade I’ve been living in a small-ish shoebox of an apartment when some older lad living upstairs… He was nice and quiet, worked nights, left me alone. Then he passed on and I’ve had the entire building to myself for most of the last year, and things were good.

My wonderful landlord kindly informed me that they were going to renovate the upstairs apartment (which apparently hasn’t been looked after so great since the 1980s)… So I thought it would be annoying but not such a big deal. I was wrong, oh so very wrong. They started by taking the nice padded rugs out and putting a shiny new wood floor right on top of the sub floor. So much for any semblance of peace and quiet… And it took them weeks! So I asked around: 3-4 days… 3-4 days it should’ve taken them to remove the old floor, clean it up, put the new floor on, clean up again and be finished. 2 months later they were still spending the evenings hammering on my head.

Oh then I get informed that there’s a family moving in. An entire family. On hard laminate floors. You could fit like 8 of me in hubby’s pants cuz he’s so fuckin huge. Well they’ve moved in and settled, and they’re noisy as fuck. I get woke up every morning on their schedule because they can’t figure out how to not slam doors or walk without causing tremors. Oh and the screaming kid is an added bonus.

The worst part of it is that I can’t partake in any activities because the hour long showers and cleanup stage that ends up happening at 4 in the morning isn’t so feasible now… So I guess I’m out apartment hunting again.

This is that time of year where I’m looking back on the last few months thinking about all the fun mud holes I’ve visited, and the hours spend worrying about getting caught… With only a few close calls and several nights of absolutely no interruptions, I’d have to mark this season down as a pretty successful one.

And again, my thoughts return to potentially building an indoor heated mud pit, as much for a challenging winter project as for the convenience of not having to drive around looking for places… Who wants to come to the pit-warming party?