Imminent Cheese

Short Version:
We do chores, relax in the sun, wreck things and selves, and gear up for cheese action.

Long Version:
Lots of things needed to be washed, including all of our clothes and camping stuff, and the Reaper, which looked more like a tan van than a white one. My wheel and fork went in for repair, and I'd almost finished washing the van by the time the wheel was done (fork was sent to the manufacturer's local rep for evaluation/repair/replacement).

Now, a week later, we've done most of our chores, with just the oil-change on the Reaper and a few other bits and pieces outstanding. We've walked the dogs for hours on the North Shore mountain trails, gone for several runs, and soaked up sun by day and soaked in the hot tub watching fireworks displays by night. Sunsets have become more and more spectacular as the smoke and ash from the 400+ forest fires further up the Fraser Valley has reached the Vancouver airshed, and between Skype calls to mothers, leisurely dinner and/or drinks conversations with family and friends, and consistent reliable internet connectivity, we're feeling pretty settled. We've even loaned a bunch of our camping stuff out for the weekend!

We've watched a bunch of movies since we've been back; going from no TV to one the size of a wall kind of made it mandatory. Two were from the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which features a chap with an octopus for a head who can walk through doors/walls/prison-cell bars. Janine had a crack at emulating this ability the other night. Giving credit where it's due, she did end up on the other side of the screen door. I'm not 100% certain she was supposed to be surrounded by quite so much used-to-be-a-door wreckage though, and the chap in the films didn't bleed out his nose anywhere near as much as Nene did. Of course, the bloke in the film didn't actually HAVE a nose to bleed out of, but his face tentacles didn't look anywhere near as red and sore as Nene's nose did for the next couple of days. Still, it was I, not Nene, who the neighbor thought was a special needs employee of the lawncare company, capable - just! - of minding the sprinkler, and moving it around every so often.

We're looking forward to heading north early next week, with riding planned initially for Squamish and Whistler. The latter is playing host next week to the Crankworx Mountain-Bike festival. Our media accreditation came through this morning, so we're looking forward to seeing behind the scenes of what is, apparently, a massive production, with top-flight racing, new product demos, and all sorts of other goings-on, culminating in the Canadian Cheese-Rolling Championships on Saturday August 14. That's Sunday August 15 NZ time for those Southern Hemispherans who are planning to cheer us on from afar. Apparently if we win we get some cheese.

Mmmmmmmmm... delicious cheese.