Friday, January 21, 2005

Mid January: Cold, Deaths, Travel, and Skiis

Winter is really upon us!!

The temperature has dropped dramatically to minus 30C with a wind chill of -45C. We are seriously digging into the woodpile. Tyler meanwhile insists on going for walks regardless of the temperature - if you don't take him he runs off! Unfortunately, he is getting cranky and has taken to attacking bigger dogs!

The Town is in mourning for three girls from the Hiigh School who were killed in a car accident on H60. Two of them were sisters - the children of Henrietta's Bakery - just awful. The kids at the High School who knew them are of course devastated. They apparently skidded on black ice and went head-on into an on-coming SUV.

Julia's ski season has started and she is having success as the following from the Huntsville Forrester shows

Ski team starts year with win
The Hidden Valley Hershey Alpine team began its racing season at Devil’s Elbow on Sunday, January 16, facing off against Devil’s Elbow’s blue team and coming home victorious with a 191-187 win.
Veterans Zach Schnurr and Steven Groh were second and third, followed closely by Leigh Cameron in fifth and Patrick Hohman in sixth. Julia Kay had an exceptional day, capturing first place for the girls and recording the fastest time of the day for the girls. Erin Harper placed fourth and Tara Witt was fifth. Anne Rawn, Rachel Sinclair, Geneva Sucanek, Kyle Litchfield, Alan Rawn and Dillon Schnurr all contributed to the team’s first win of the year.


In the High School races so far she has come 2nd and 3rd. This was behind last year's (now Grade 12) OFSAA winner and an international level skier. Pretty good! But she has family competition - Kim came 1st in our local area and 3rd at OFSAA - but Julia has time

Basketball has changed somewhat. The old coach has retired and we have a new young woman coach. She has lots to learn but the kids are having a ball - they laugh and smile and seem to be enjoying the games. Something we haven't seen before!

Isabel needless to say spends her life on the road at ski meets and basketball - though she has her first bookings beginning to appear for the B&B - as far out as September

I, meanwhile, have my first public workshop for our new business on February 2-3. Simply putting it together has focused our minds wonderfully

We have been in the travel business. We have just booked Kim and Tom on trips to Florida for a week of sun, golf and fishing. Julia however has been booked on a trip to Europe. She is going to spend the summer with Dave & Bobbie in Switzerland and the UK. Wow!

Kim has taken on a new job, working on the cash at the local No Frills Supermarket.


Thursday, January 13, 2005

A New Venture

Today our new web site went up!
Action-by-Design.com a venture between myself and Larry Morden an old client and acquaintance
All very exciting. We created it in very short order over about 20 days including writing all the articles and creating the design.
We are at the start of a very interesting journey
Action-by-design focuses on the application of action learning principles. Something that has been around for a long time, but has never really succeeded in North America
The bulk of action learning practitioners have been learning specialists or organizational behavioralists. And, as a result, it has become cluttered with their jargon and in their attempts to apply it has become a universal panacea solving the problems of the world

We believe our starting advantage is to move it from learning to performance from HR to line management and to strip it down to its core

This is something we are well qualified to do!

To check out the new venture go to www.action-by-design.com

Thursday, January 06, 2005


Kim's Lily: Requested by Seneca College for their Gallery Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

First Week of 2005

So the New Year has started with a bang

Kim got her exam results - 3.9 average!!! This puts her on the Honor Roll so far for the whole program! This is close to beyond belief - well done Kim

Tom signed his contract with Bond Head - and Kim's looking good for the Board of Trade - so their careers are advancing. They will be looking for somewhere to live nearer Toronto. Its going to seem strange without them in the small cabin.

Dad's new business project - Action-by-Design - is looking good. His new partner is Larry Morden - a former client he kept in touch with. The web site will be up around the 10th January and the first pilot seminar will be on the 2-3rd February. So far response has been excellent.

Julia's ski season starts Thursday with a High School race at Horseshoe

Isabel has started to get her first enquiries at the Inn with requests for July and a wedding!!


Saturday, January 01, 2005

New Year's Day 2005

Yesterday, as evidence of global warning!, the temperature rose to +6C and it rained and rained! The snow, at least 3 feet deep on the roof slid off at 3 in the morning giving everyone a fright. Julia who lives under the roof claims she fell out of bed with the sudden noise! Today the sun is out and it's beautiful.

With the thaw - temporary we are told, our little deer herd (buck, doe and fawn) have stopped crossing the lake and raiding our cedar trees. I had never seen a winter deer so close before. They have remarkably thick, even shaggy coats - but at minus 30C they need them I suppose.

The local ski hill (Hidden Valley) is in full operation. They add a chemical to the man-made snow so that it melts at a much higher temperature (+5C I think). This means that the snow base is still strong even after the rain. The annual race camp has just finished and Julia came second in the 15 to 19 category (she is 15) a few hundredths of a second after her biggest rival - all very exciting!! Still she had a great season last year finishing first in the province in her age group after breaking her hand.


As an aside: the local high school boy's ski team (really the ski club team) should have a successful season this year in the high school championships - they have eight or nine very fast skiers. The girls unfortunately are short of skiers this year.

On the subject of the High School, they really do very well in sports and extra-curricular activities. Our band is a regular winner of top trophies.One of the side effects of a beautiful area (I suppose), we get good teachers and they stay!

Huntsville High School sports clubs have quietly and continually strung together a series of championships.

In an April newsletter, John Cowan, an HHS teacher and head of the Huntsville Sports Council, wrote that the school established a remarkable record with the number of teams qualifying for Ontario Federation Secondary Athletics Association (OFSAA) championships. “OFSAA is the largest participant-based organized school sports championships held in North America. As of April 1, 2004, HHS has qualified the following teams to OFSAA: senior girls’ basketball team (15 members), four cross-country running teams (20) , two alpine ski teams (10), four nordic ski teams (24), senior boys’ basketball team (15) and the swim team (20). Six teams went to OFSAA and came home with medals and they are the nordic and alpine ski teams.

Huntsville has excelled in the school sports community and has approximately 10 per cent of the school population attending OFSAA championships. Huntsville High School has a large percentage of students who participate in varsity sports programs and of special interest is the strong correlation to the school’s high academic achievers,” he wrote” Source Huntsville Forester

Have a great New Year