Hey all,
I’ll try to get to some real posts shortly but I wanted to post a quick note about my plans for this Friday. I’m doing the 12-hour Relay for Life again this year, a walk to honor cancer survivors and to raise money for cancer research. I do it just about every second year or so and this is the year.
If you’d like to donate and help the cause just let me know by e-mail or in comments, I’ll send an invitation your way.
Thanks!
Rick.

Our friends House and Cliff enjoy some time on the NHL on TSN panel.

The 2008 Spring Fishing Trip has come to an end, again with far too many troubles and far too few fish due to some rather un-May-like weather conditions. It was great to get away and spend some time in the north, away from the comforts of home but close to nature, and not thinking about the stresses of life. With the fishing being poor and the lakes being cold, windy, and rainy I even took advantage of day three to stay back at the camp alone and read Schulz and Peanuts, a great biography of Charles Schulz.
The picture gallery is already up, found here for those interested. Here’s the gist..
Left mid-day Wednesday and spent too much time in Sudbury before rolling in far too late. Our camp wasn’t ready for inhabiting so we shacked up at a friend’s camp for the night, got up early, and moved it to the new place. New place is great, located on Skog Lake, but requires a fair bit of hauling between where you park and where the camp is. That meant back and forth with an incredible amount of building materials and personal items, then into building bunks, installing stoves, chopping down trees, burning the evidence, and so much more. It was two tough days of hard labour that I was surprised to actually enjoy quite a bit.
Saturday it was off to my nemesis, the famed Meteor Lake. The guys go every year due to past success, but the lake has been a waste of time since I’ve started going and this trip was no different. It was cold and rainy and the ‘rough-at-the-best-of-times’ access road was horrific, and two of our three vehicles stood no chance of using them. It was a couple hours for the other 4×4 to tow in the boats and people and get them on the cold and blustery lake where, between nine of us, I think we caught about nine or 10 trout. It was another process getting out and after leaving shortly after 6:00AM we weren’t back until after 10:00PM.
Sunday it was to Welcome Lake, a much better lake in my opinion and a joy to get into purely due to the view and the experience. It’s a 30 to 45-minute ride through a river system to the lake, over fallen logs and rocks, waterfalls, and thin little access streams. Thankfully the water was high this trip and it was by far the easiest trip in I’ve experienced. Unfortunately, again, the fish weren’t biting and our boat came up empty. I did, however, plant my first geocache there. I’m guessing it may never be found. Back to the camp we had a great night with the gang of nine enjoying an outdoor live-fire grilling of venison and moose, some great King beers, salads, desserts, and good times.
As noted, Monday I held back during the second day at Welcome, which wasn’t much of a success I was told. Surprised to find the gang had decided to bail a day early after a tough, long week and we were on the road at 7:00PM to arrive back in Bolton close to 3:00AM! Thanks to the gang for making it a good time even during the tough parts, and congratulations to Mark for finally snagging that elusive trout.

I trust, seeing as Trout is still posting, that Mark didn’t catch the trout. But congrats to our former surly resident poster on finally doing the deed!
Thanks for posting, KP, I’ll take it from here…

I’m starting to root for Jesse Litsch of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The so-called fifth starter of the Jays is doing it all in just his second year in the big leagues.
Not only is Litsch leading the team in victories (5), but he is also 3-0 in his last four starts with a 2.67 ERA and more impressively, allowing no walks during that span.
Overall this season, Litsch is 5-1 with a 4.22 ERA. That high earned run average was thanks to two rough outings in April; otherwise, the Jays’ hurler has allowed three runs or fewer in his other starts.
And Friday night in Philadelphia, Litsch rescued the Jays bullpen by pitching three innings in relief in a blowout loss.
Yes, the Phillies’ Jayson Werth hit three homers and collected 8 RBIs, and Jamie Moyer pitched well for the home team–but for me, the star of the Jays’ 10-3 defeat was Litsch.
Word is that the right-hander volunteered to pitch–despite having already thrown 5 2/3 innings on Tuesday. Yes, it was Litsch’s throwing day anyway, but still.
Litsch relieved emergency starter and Triple-A callup David Purcey (0-1) to start the fourth, with Toronto down 8-2.
Litsch has shown so far that he’s a team guy, pitches well when it’s his turn in the rotation, and is just the type of unselfish athlete that should be applauded.
Well done, Jesse Litsch.