Happy Easter

Just wanted to make a quick update to wish everyone a very Happy Easter weekend!

I admit I'm not an overly religious person and while I understand the purpose of this holiday, I'm much more interested in the chocolaty goodness the weekend brings.

Even though I'm working on losing weight, Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving are the holidays where I allow myself to eat a bit more "stuff" than I typically would during the year. I don't call it cheating. It's more like planned fatty ingestion. I just have to work a little harder and eat a little less in the days that follow.

Actually, I don't eat a lot of chocolate. I usually have one bunny spread out over a few days. Yes, even at my age, I still love me a bunny. I'd prefer she was blonde with a sexy young body and being covered in chocolate would be a bonus but instead I'm just stuck with the store bought typical version

Any way, I digress.

Have a wonderful Easter everyone!

Sorry NHL, All Not Forgotten

This shortened NHL season is quickly coming to an end with about 20 games left at this point. The season was shortened some of you may recall due to the lockout and subsequent butting of rich guy heads. On the one side you had the owners who are mega rich and the other side the players who aren't all equally rich but certainly well paid.

Left out in the cold were the fans. People like you and me who shell out our hard earned cash to attend games and buy merchandise of our favourite teams. My team being the Montreal Canadiens of course.

I won't sit here and pretend I'm still all bitter and refuse to watch the games because that just isn't the case and I'm sure for the majority the anger over the lockout has subsided. Sure I've let go of the resentment I had towards these wealthy individuals who made a mockery of the world greatest game. I'm no longer angry at those people. I'm angry at myself for just accepting it and moving on as if nothing happened.

We were denied one of our winter passions for far too long and in the end we the fans got nothing once the game returned. Oh sure, we got to see our boys back on the ice hitting, fighting and scoring but while the owners and players reaped the rewards of an extended summer break and a new deal, the fans saw nothing significant as a gesture to say sorry.

In all honesty, what could they have done? What grand gesture would have smoothed things over with the NHL fan base and appeased the masses enough to forgive and forget? Probably nothing and the NHL knew that. They also knew the fans would come back. Well, they came back in the arenas where they always show up. The non-hockey market teams continue to see more empty seats than filled.

Carey Price & PK Subban celebrate another win.

This fan is glad the NHL is back but I haven't forgotten their selfishness and disrespect for the people whom without their support, these players and some owners wouldn't have their wealth or comfortable living. I still tune in every game to watch my Habs in action and luckily this season so far Montreal is having a good showing sitting in first place in the East Conference. But one thing I haven't done this season is buy tickets to games, subscribe to the Center Ice package or purchase NHL team merchandise like I have in the past. I refuse to spend any of my small income on anything that will directly fund the owners, players or league.

I realize my one small gesture won't make a difference on the bottom line of these greedy owners but if I just continued on as I have in the past, then I'd just be giving them a free pass as if nothing had ever happened and I couldn't live with that. There has to be consequences with someone wrongs you and no matter how small the gesture, it helps me to justify continuing to enjoy the game I've loved my entire life.

Winter Drags On

Lighthouse Ice
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

It seems every time I start a new blog posting I start by saying how long its been since my last posting. It's true I don't give as much attention to my blog as I did in the past but it's not because I don't want to.

The truth of the matter is that I always seem to have something a bit more important that needs to be done or I'm just happier sitting on my butt watching TV. I know...that's pretty sad.

For me personally not a lot has changed in the last month. A few changes at work have me working nights again after three years of regular day shifts. That has taken some getting used to. I don't know if you ever truly get used to it. I hope I never get accustomed to eating my lunch at midnight.

When I get my free time the weather hasn't exactly been as nice as I'd like. Lets put it this way...I haven't done any golfing yet this year.

While the winter hasn't been too bad, we have seen more snow than the last few years. It has been windy and cold most of the winter as well. Not something this summer born guy enjoys at all.

I've been continuing to battle the bulge. My weight loss is going fairly well considering all of the garbage I ate over the Christmas season. But I'm starting to walk more at work with this new position and hopefully the weather will get back to a more pleasant situation to allow me to get out and get some exercise on my days off. Ya, I know I could just put on warmer clothes and go out but so far I haven't motivated myself to do that much.

I made a significant purchase as well which hasn't helped me to get more active either. I picked up an iPad and it has quickly become my new favourite thing to play with. You can usually find me on my days off in front of the TV with the iPad in my hand playing games, talking on Facebook or bitching on Twitter. I actually spend more time complaining on Twitter now rather than here which is another reason my postings to the blog have suffered.

But I'm still hoping that when I have my next weigh-in the scale will be kind to me and show that I've lost at least a bit more weight. No matter what the result I still feel better. My nagging aches and pains have all but vanished. I have a lot more spring in my step but don't expect me to be running any marathons soon.

I think what I'm most proud of is that I'm dropping the pounds slowly by making small changes to my eating habits. Cutting out regular pop like Coke and Pepsi has been a major change and probably the most positive. It amazes me when I think back to how much sugar filled pop I drank in a day. Forget about cutting down on the snacking, the removal of non-diet soda from my daily intake of calories has been the biggest reason for my weight loss. But it's far from over.

Beyond that I have tried to get out a few times with my camera this winter. The above photo of the Presqu'ile Park Lighthouse was taken on a cold day from out on the ice on Lake Ontario.

I'm always a little worried about venturing out on the ice. I can hear my mother in the back of my mind calling me a fool for doing it. But it's a vantage point I wouldn't get otherwise.

February is almost over and that means we should be through the worst part of winter but there's always that possibility of a freak March snowstorm that could pop up. Its happened before. But I have my golf clubs polished and ready to go so the sooner the snow melts and the grass turns green, the sooner I can put away the snow-blower and start my favourite time of year once again.

Is This January?

Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

Before I say anything I want to be completely up front on this. I'm not complaining!!!

What is going on with the weather? Here it is mid-January when we should be seeing temperatures well below freezing, snow falling from the sky and me bitching and moaning about how miserable I am and how much I hate winter.

Instead, all of the snow we received over the Christmas holidays has all but vanished, rain has replaced the snow and the temperature is about 10 degrees above freezing. I actually saw people riding on motorcycles today.

As I said, I'm not complaining and I'm quite certain this little trip north by the jet stream will no doubt end soon. After all, February is typically the coldest month if memory servers me.

I'll enjoy this brief reprieve from having to scrape the ice off my car at six in the morning before I go to work. Not having to hold my hands up to the heater to thaw them out is something I know will happen again before Spring arrives, much to my dismay.

Of course I had to take full advantage of this amazing weather today. I grabbed my camera equipment and headed out to Presqu'ile Provincial Park and went for a nice long walk. There was snow back in the bush but most of the roads were clear for walking.

I came home with a few photos worth keeping including the one I've posted here. While I'm no birding expert, I'm pretty sure it's a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I was just getting ready to head home when he flew past me and landed on a feeding station nearby. I was able to snap four frames quickly before he spotted me and got out of Dodge. I was pretty happy with this one.

Happy 50th Anniversary

50th Anniversary Cake Cutting
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

After months of planning and preparation the party for me parents 50th Anniversary was a pleasant success.

Despite all of the planning the one thing I couldn't control was the weather. And after two winters with very little snow, Mother Nature decided that this was the ideal time to dump a lot of white stuff on us.

With a light dusting of snow on Christmas Day I thought that wouldn't be too big a deal. Then two days before the party on the 27th we were hit with the biggest snow storm we've had in several years. Luckily my brother and sister-in-law were still able to fly into Toronto to attend.

Not a big deal since we still had two days to get the roads in shape for people to attend. Wrong! The day of the party another storm blew in making travel nearly impossible.

Needless to say many people from out of town that had planned to attend the party to surprise mom and dad were forced to cancel or turn back after trying to make it. It was the right thing to do. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to get into an accident.

Luckily a lot of local people that had been invited decided to venture out into the storm to see my parents and wish them congratulations.

After fearing that only a few people would make it, I was thrilled to see over 70 friends and family walk through the door to enjoy some good food and drinks and the opportunity to not only see my parents but other people they hadn't seen in quite some time. It turned out to be a very pleasant and successful afternoon.

My thanks to everyone who helped to make the day such a big success and a memorable and special day for my mom and dad.