Another one

When I came over here in May, there was still a lot to be done on the house. There were some big items to be sorted, but also lots of niggly things – the mantra for a good 6 months was “only a couple more jobs to go”!  Because there was so much to do, it was agreed that I’d start exercising properly when the house was ready to receive guests. Finishing the house and thinking about ourselves for a change coincided with our check-ups in December when we joined our new doctor’s surgery. I had a bit of a surprise with my cholesterol levels, as was the doctor, so as there was no time like the present I decided to do something about it. Well, I decided to do something about it after Christmas.

So, it appears that there is someone else in the house on a training plan. I’m definitely not training for triathlons; I’m not that daft. No, I’m currently training for a 10K run in Fernie in the summer. This has meant that I’ve been on the treadmill 5-6 days a week for the last few weeks, slowly building up the distances, and I ran my first “treadmill 10k” on 70 minutes last night! Yaay! There’s no way I was going to run any further than that, but I didn’t feel too bad when I got off.

Since I started I’ve lost about 10lb, so I’ve even had to buy a new pair of jeans!

Julie: no, I’m not going to do a triathlon (see above!) I’m with Lesley on this one, they’re nice to look at, but far too much clatting about!

Same situation, two different perspectives….

So, I was at the pool last night (that’s the swimming pool, not Liverpool – haha!)  Anyhow, back to the story!  After my warm up I had 24 x 100m (4 lengths) to do HARD and I had to time myself.  For this, it’s best if the lane is relatively free so I don’t get in people’s way and annoy them intensely!  Anyhow, at the start it was great, there were 2 of us, so we had one side of the lane each.  After 10, the bikini team got in.  Now I have nothing against people wearing bikinis, but it’s just that it’s a pretty good indication of how fast (or not) people will swim.  The rest of the pool was taken up with the Masters and the normal (read youngsters!) swimming club, so there was nowhere else to go!  Bum, set cut short with 8 of us in the lane!  So I decided to get out – as I’m walking down the poolside, I spoke at the same time as the lifeguard – he said “Good job!” (for the swimming I’d already done) I said “I’m giving it up as a bad job” – funny, same situation, 2 different perspectives!

How the story ends – well, the bikini team got out, I had the lane back and finished my set bang on target times throughout-  6500m in total, very happy but VERY tired as well.   Julie, do you remember the time when we both swam in the pool here and I couldn’t put my top on as my arms were sooooo heavy – just the same as that – hahahaha!

Back at the pool this morning, the arms felt it a little (!) – BUT, I did have the lane to myself – the joys of living in a small town

Running later and the back’s on the mend – yehaaaaaa!

Hardcore

You know when you are hardcore when you are put into a “body cast” after crashing into a tree on a black run, and then, then, having to have a second one fitted with a girder for strength after breaking the first one water skiing!

True story, no names

Famous Lincolnshire

Well what can I say, I’ve educated some people over the last couple of weeks about the benefits of a good sausage! Now then, I wasn’t keen on the bacon here, but, you know, it’s ok if you get some with some meat on it. My problem was with the sausages you get here. They were either 50% fat and full of salt and garlic, or they were stuffed with maple syrup. Either which way, not great for breakfasts. So I got my dad to grab a recipe for authentic Lincolnshire sausages from his landlady back in famous Lincolnshire. Backcountry Meats in town made up a batch, and they were fantastic! We had a taste test bangers and mash this evening and they went down a storm, so back to back country meats tomorrow to buy another two dozen – yaay!

Annie and Tony

Thinking of our friends Annie and Tony this evening as we sit down to watch the FIS Super G downhill skiing in Cortina, Italy. They are to watching skiing as Simon and Hilary are to watching F1.

Newton are sponsoring me!

Yikes a daisy – how exciting is this?!  I wear Newton running shoes, and have been for over a year – they work a treat for me, and I haven’t been injured once since wearing them.  Anyhow, they’ve just offered me a spot on their Pro Discount Programme which basically means I get up to 6 pairs of trainers this year at half price – so put it another way 3 free when I buy 3 (buy one get one free!)  For me this is a big deal – first off, cos someone who doesn’t know me believes in me enough to support and sponsor me (and they’re a really good company too) and secondly, when we’re watching our pennies as we are setting up the B&B, it’s a big deal – will save me nigh on $600CDn (about £400) over the year.

Now that’s exciting

Deer

We had a few visitors today. There’s a herd of almost a dozen small deer in town since the summer. They have been around here in twos and threes in the past, but this morning they all turned up. Well helps keep the grass down, doesn’t it?

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Makeover

It’s been almost a year, and as Lesley quite rightly pointed out, it was time for Santa to go home! Not sure if this will stick, but I did remember the flags

How to Poach an Egg

In the last few months I’ve poached a flock’s worth of eggs for ourselves, our friends and our customers so I’ve now got to the point where I’m 99% successful with them. So, Hilary, this is how you do it:

1. Only use the freshest eggs you can. Whenever you buy eggs check the boxes to make sure you get the ones with the latest due date. The whites go watery and look awful as eggs get old.
2. Put an inch of hot water in a frying pan.
3. Bring the water to a mild boil (not a rolling boil because that will break up the eggs).
4. Crack 4 eggs in a large frying pan,  2 in a small one.
5. If the top looks like it isn’t cooking, spoon some hot water over the egg, avoid getting hot water on the yolk.
6. Use a fish slice to carefully part the egg from the pan, they should float freely
7. Take ‘em out when they’re done. Mine take about 5 minutes.

No stirring, no vinegar, and no fuss, and if you don’t believe me, ask Delia.

Good Saturday Morning

Well here we are prostituting our house again. We had a couple of couples in last night and the second pair are jut getting ready to leave. We’re definitely getting into the swing of things now. We’re organised, but could still be more efficient. That’ll come in time. My range of breakfasts have increased: full english (usually met by stares both before and after I tell them what you get – sausage, bacon, beans, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, egg), eggs benedict (if I’m in a good mood, I’m good with hollandaise sauce, but it’s still a clat), porridge (with raspberries and pumpkin seeds – sounds odd, but definitely works) and then smaller things like poached eggs on toast with or without beans and fried mushrooms.

Cath is also the hostess with the mostess as she has them jumping out of their skins with a loud and jaunty “Gooooood Morning!” first thing in the morning. I’ve seen some startled faces over the last couple of weeks. Thing is we’ve already been up for half an hour before so we’re raring to go as they are still trying to wake up as they stumble down the stairs.

Well this morning is a good one here. We’ve had the pineapple express come though over the last few days bringing a thaw in town and constant rain. The pineapple express, if you remember that far back, is a tropical wind that brings warm moist air from Hawaii or somewhere similar. We’ve had two so far this year, so hopefully we won’t get an more – that El Niño doesn’t half play havoc with your weather. So this week the ski hill had about 40cm of snow and today is blue skies and wispy clouds, white mountains and icy rivers. We’re going to wander into town later and get some air, I might even get out with the camera this evening if the clouds stay off.