LEGEND SKIING AND PALMS

Our California trip continued after a long drive from Mammoth Lakes, through Death Valley, and then after 9 hours of driving we arrived at Big Bear Lake. Big Bear is home to a couple of really neat ski areas, Snow Summit and Bear Mtn. Not giants in vertical but very popular to the LA and San Diego crowd. Both have terrain parks, but Bear is really a mecca for them. They have "features" everywhere, top to bottom and Meg loved them! The temperatures were warming, the snow started mushing up around lunch, but we got in a lot fun skiing while there.
We also had a chance to stay and ski with Rob's uncle Doug who has made a living in the ski business. In fact, one of the first places he started off was at Snow Summit in the early 50's. He went on to a career that included writing a number of ski books, he was editor in chief of Skiing magazine and his biggest claim to fame is being recognized as the father of freestyle skiing. At just over 80 years of age he sports a long flowing pony tail and can still tear up the slopes faster than most.
We also had a chance to visit Palm Springs and the Indian Canyon. Incredible how beautiful the canyon was, and all of it located in the middle of a scorching hot desert. We ran out of time and would have wished to explore the canyons more.

MAMMOTH TRIP

Every once in a while we are able to get away and last week we took off to California...to ski! Son, Adam and daughter, Meg flew down from Vancouver to meet up with us in LA. We rented a car and drove about 6 hours north to Mammoth Mountain, one of the coolest ski mountains in the west.
It was just below freezing the first day and we had a few inches of fresh snow. The vertical drop at Mammoth is an impressive 3500' with the lower elevation just under 8000' above sea level, the summit is at 11,500'. We found lots of steep stuff and we gave our lungs a real work out. Julia got a great sun tan (we called it a burn!) and Rob stretched about every hamstring in the book skiing runs like Climax and Huevos Grande
After two days of screamin' skiing we headed south to meet up with relatives in Big Bear Lake. We took the longer route and detoured into Death Valley, the lowest spot in North America (almost 400' below sea level). We stopped at Badwater to look around and walked out onto the salt flats. What a amazing place but such a contrast from our 2 days at Mammoth!

WINTER TURKEYS

The wild turkeys are everywhere. Once abundant in Ontario they were hunted out to a point where their numbers were so small. Not long ago they were reintroduced in southern Ontario and now seem to be thriving even in our snowier climates.
They spend most of their time on the ground searching for food. It's not uncommon to see 12 - 20 birds together at one time. As awkward as they look, the wild turkey can really fly. At night they roost in trees and we've seen sitting in trees 75 feet and higher.
The deer don't mind the turkeys either. Not far down the road from us, we've been amazed to see half a dozen deer foraging for food with about a dozen turkeys percolating around their feet, getting any food that they can.

WINTER IS A SHOE-IN

Although we are not breaking any records for total amounts of snowfall, it sure is wintery here. Our snowshoe trails are in excellent condition, as are the cross country, downhill and snowmobile trails. Temperatures have been ideal as well, dipping down to the mid teens at night and then warming during the day. The sun has been shining a lot too as you can see in the photos of Julia and Annie out on the snowshoe trails.
We are around the half way point in our winter and it is about 1.5 months to go before spring. We'll be getting ready for another maple syrup season soon enough.
If you are thinking about a winter visit to Muskoka this is a great time to do it. Family Day is this weekend and then the school spring break in mid March. Looking farther down the road summer is looking quite busy for us. There is still a fairly good selection throughout the summer however this is the time when many of the available cottages get reserved. Our new straw bale cottage, Chinook, is taking shape beautifully and will be ready for bookings starting in June. You can check out our BLOG to see the progress.

ANNIE IS HERE

On Friday, December 18 we welcomed home our newest arrival to the Foxwood clan. Underhill Dreamboat Annie a 9 week old Border Terrier made her entrance.
Border Terriers when full grown are not big dogs, but they are tough as nails, full of energy and determined as ever. We really miss our other two pets, Shayla and Howie, however we love little Annie. She is so small but already is showing her fiestiness with our cats Martha and Zazu. Annie stands about 8 inches tall right now and will likely double in size by the time she is full grown.
So, welcome to Foxwood Dreamboat Annie!

WINTER HAS BEGUN

Saturday, December 6th marked our first official snowfall of the 09/10 season. There wasn't a whole lot, maybe 10cm, but it was enough to cover everything and it didn't melt! Now, 2 days later, it's still piling up and looking like it's here to stay.
We have managed to get most of our winterizing done...stowing chairs and toys, closing summer cottages, putting away boats, insulating the bee hive and chicken coop etc.... As is often the case something gets overlooked and we find it poking out of the spring snowmelt in March or April.
It will be nice with a few more snowfalls so that we can get onto our xc and snowshoe trails. Last summer we cut a new one which we hope will be as great in the winter as it was last summer.
We are now looking forward to the arrival of our newest Foxwood staff member. Look us up again next week and maybe there will be more news. Stay tuned!

THE ICING ON THE STRAW

Once we had the straw bales placed it was time to start the plastering. Over a period of two weeks we had 6 men spreading two coats of this mortar mix over the straw. It was quite a process particularly when we had to deal with temperatures dipping well below freezing half of the time. The last thing you want to have happen is for the water in the mortar to freeze. This leads to cracking and poor adhesion to the straw. It was also a problem having to deal with waterhoses that kept freezing on us.
The mortar was a careful mix of cement sand and fibreglass. Unlike ordinary sand which is rounder in shape, cement sand is angular and has more surface area which improves the bonding. The fibreglass strands were added to reduce cracking which can occur as the mortar dries and shrinks. In all, the mortar added another inch to each the inside and outside walls. Once cured, the walls in combination with the straw, become a strong, stable unit.
Unlike traditional walls today, there is no vapour barrier in a straw wall. This allows them to "breathe" and the cement tends to wick any moisture out and away from the straw. The air inside a straw home is very clean and without the vapour barrier there isn't the same worry about harmful gases being trapped inside. Even so, the materials used inside Chinook are all natural including all of the floor and wall finishes.
The next step with Chinook is to bring power and water into the building and then begin the interior finshing. We still have the soffits and some siding to do on the outside but all of the main work is now done.