Interesting clouds in the sky west of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun, Mexico on November 1st.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Postcards from Sherman

Busy weekend here at the park, so I've been doing my middle of the night walks to make sure that nobody is out being stupid. That means I usually don't sleep well, and when we finally got up at 7:30am yesterday morning we were till pretty tired.

But I had to get up because at 8:00am, I had a job to do!

Our regular readers might remember that our son Alex and his friend Matt have taken part in the annual Ottawa CityChase race for the last couple of years, and yesterday was the 2016 event.

Over 300 teams of two compete in what is described as a cross between a 10k run and the Amazing Race. You're allowed to use cell phones and the internet to solve the 22 location clues in between running (or taking public transportation) to get to those locations. That means you're allowed to have friends help you solve the clues. I was one of the helpers, and the race started at 8:00am our time.

Alex and Matt came in 7th in 2014, and 2nd in 2015. They're both athletic and smart...and competitive. They had 1st place in their sights.

And they pulled it off! A whole two minutes ahead of the 2nd place team, which is not very much in a two and a half hour race. Most teams will finish in between three and four hours.

So, that gave them a $1,000 gift card to Marshall's department store, as well as a few other prizes. And entry to the Canadian national evet held in September in Niagara Falls. Last year, they came in 3rd at the nationals, out of 19 teams.

So, besides coming in first place, they also raised $820 towards the Goodlife Kids Foundation to help children with autism lead more active lives.

When it was all over, I just wasn't in the mood to write a blog post, so we actually took a rare blogging day off yesterday!

We received a couple of postcards from Sherman though! He really enjoyed the rockies and Banff and Jasper. Now, he's in Calgary for the Calgary Stampede.



Tana and Graham say they're having no problems with Sherman at all, and he's been a very good boy. Only a broken wine glass so far, so that's good! 

I heard back from Sask Power regarding our transformer poles here at the park. Yes, they can put insulators on the poles to protect the birds, and they're willing to do so. Only problem is when. He said they're short staffed and with all the small storms that are going through this area they have too much work and not enough men to do it. But he promised that it's on their list of things to do, and it will get done. No promises as to when. I guess that's all we can ask, and if it's not done by the end of the summer, I"ll call them and remind them.

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Kids love these Razor scooters. Very popular, so if you've got grandchildren over the age of five, this makes a great gift. And today only, you won't find a better price!


And in Canada, this rolling dufflebag may not be top quality, but for the price it's pretty hard to go wrong.




22 comments:

  1. Hello Kevin and Ruth. Faye here from Charleston, SC. Will you be posting pictures of Alex and Matt? Congrats to them.

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    1. Hi Misty. I was waiting for the CityChase facebook page to post a pic of them crossing the finish line, but it hasn't come through yet. Here's an article that was written about them last fall after the national event...

      Ottawa team finishes third at Nationals

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  2. Good going Alex and good luck in the next one

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    1. Thank you Wendy! We are very proud of Alex and Matt. Can't wait to see how and what they have to do in the National race in September.

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  3. Nice to see that Alex and Matt did so well. Sherman seems to be on his best behavior. This is good. A broken wine glass is certainly not a big deal.
    Nice to have "glass" wine glasses, but we always used some sort of acrylic in the RV. I'm a klutz. (proof reading fail again....)

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    1. Thanks Bob, I am sure they are extremely happy with their win!

      Sherman is doing great and we are so proud of him. We tried those acrylic glasses at the beginning of our adventure but didn't like them so we went back to glass. We have a great way of storing them in Sherman that they won't break when we are travelling, if they break it is normally because they were dropped at some point.

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  4. Congrats to Alex and Matt on a race well played. Off to Niagara on the take... Way to go Sherman...

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    1. The National race is a very long race but they now know what to expect after having done it last year. It took them 16 hours last year and that was with a 3rd place finish so it wasn't like they were slow. It is grueling but a ton of fun according to Alex and Matt.

      We are so proud of Sherman. :-)

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  5. Wow, great news about your son's win. They are professionals now, maybe they need some get some sponsorship? :)

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    1. We keep telling them that they should try out for Canada's Amazing Race!

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  6. Replies
    1. They said it was but the Nationals is even more fun and goes on for 16 or more hours.

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  7. Great news about Alex and Matt, they sure did well.
    Also nice that Sherman is behaving and probably having more fun that you right now.

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    1. Thanks George!

      We are pretty sure that Sherman IS having way more fun than us and we are just a bit jealous about that.

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  8. Congrats to the guys - that's super awesome!!

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  9. Congratulations to the winners. Great job men!
    Sherman looks like he is enjoying himself. Hehe

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    1. Thank you Paul and Marsha, they did do a great job!

      Yes, it does look like Sherman is having fun. Beats sitting up by the work shop for the summer just gathering dust.

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  10. Saw a unit that looked like Sherman in WA, but he's still having fun on the CA side of the border. Great to get the postcards of all the fun things Sherman gets to do, but the Stampede? Sounds like a crowd!
    Ruth - The quiche was a hit with the kids! toned down a bit for them tho :)

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    Replies
    1. Nope, wasn't Sherman! Don't think he is going States side after all. Apparently Sherman's guests weren't all that impressed with the Stampede so have cut their stay there short by a few days.

      So glad that you and the family have been enjoying that recipe. Now you having me thinking that this would be a great meal for tonight. :-)

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  11. Congratulations to your son and his friend. What a great accomplishment and for a great cause.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Lori, I am sure that they appreciate your kind words. Yes, a great accomplishment in both aspects.

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