No Pressure. I Apologize in Advance for the Lameness of This Post. Nice Photos,Though.

Seagulls fighting over a "dead something". There's actually a bird out here called a "Jaeger" (German for hunter) that chases and harasses seagulls until they give up their food or vomit. True story.

 Normally, when I've done something this stupid, I  rush back into running too soon and hurt myself again and so on and so on. Oh, did I mention I gave myself "Turf Toe"?
  Long story short, my nephew plays soccer on an indoor artificial turf field. I was kicking the ball back and forth with him, and to demonstrate how superior my skills were (he's pretty good for an 8 year old) I unleashed a mighty kick at him, except instead of hitting the ball, I drove my toe into the turf and went limping off like a little baby.

A seal teases some seagulls in Qualicum Beach. He had a salmon he was flipping in the air, then he would go after the seagulls when they tried to steal some.

Anyhow,I forgot all about this until recently. I had thought my swollen foot and painful big toe was gout, but normally it goes away in a few days after changing my diet (cutting my beer consumption) and popping the NSAID's like Pez. If I could get my shoes on, I'd put up with the pain and go for a run.

Tide's coming in.

Things didn't click until we went to another soccer game, and I remembered the incident from before. A light bulb came on. "It's not gout, it's turf toe"! I'd had it before and remembered the pain.

Cameron Lake. I already have a run planned for here on an abandoned railway.

 So the cure for turf toe is R.I.C.E.  As all of us older runners know, that stands for Rest,Ice,Compression and Elevation. I can do that.

A Hooded Merganser visits the pond next door. I love the "Elvis" haircut.

The Merganser diving. That's bad news for the goldfish.

So it's been two days of rest and relaxation, we finally downloaded all our Christmas photos and tomorrow, we organize the office. Maybe. If we get time.

This is where we will Kayak when it warms up. People do kayak(and golf) all year here though.

We want to do some mountain climbing, and this is the first one on the list, Mt. Arrowsmith. You might be thinking like "Dream On", but we feel like we're on a "Permanent Vacation"....oh never mind. It's the tall peak behind the foothills.

It's wet here.

So for Christmas, we deep fried a turkey.

Before...Prepped and ready to go.

During

Now comes Miller time....

Done!

Coolest side dish ever, mashed potato snowmen. "The Girl" is trying to serve them up in one piece.

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, smile! I almost forgot, this is our Christmas portrait.

Anybody see a Hobbit?

Brad made an "appy" in the shape of a salmon. Cool.

I'm scared.....

Leftovers

The Boy got one with 3 eyes.

The excitement was too much for the 3 visiting mutts.

There is a unicorn farm here. They even have a "Unicorn Crossing" road sign.

Hey Moe!

  So we are getting settled, slowly but Shirley. I have my eye on a trail marathon in Moab, and it's not until November,so hopefully I'll be skinny Digger by then. Moab is one of the most amazing places I've ever been, and I think Portage would love it. Also, it will give us motivation to get in tip top shape.
 So,in the meantime, I am implementing a strict "No Beer until 5 P.M." rule.
I mean, it's not gout, after all.
Best thing about being retired? I just realized, I don't know what day it is today. Although I'm pretty sure it's either Wednesday or Thursday.
And don't call me Shirley.