Hello all,

Well once again a new paddling season is around the bend and even though this winter feels like it will never end, I am starting to get the itch again...see above post.

It has been a busy 12 months partnering Boatwerks up with Algonquin Outfitters, moving locations in Hali, buying a house and with the biggest piece of news being, I am now a dad.

My daughter Sienna Rose was born on January 27th weighing 6lbs 8oz. Sienna is probably the most beautiful little girl I have ever laid eyes on(yes I am biased).  Has becoming a father changed my life, yes and no. My evenings are now filled with diapers, late night feeds and some really cool interactions with my daughter. One of my favorite things now is hanging out on the couch in front of the fire and playing(I use the term loosely) with Sienna. In all other aspects of life, I feel the same...actually I was telling Suzanne the other evening that I feel a bit like a fake. Maybe it will take some more time before I feel like a 'real' dad, I don't know.

Part of my excitement in the upcoming season is going to be hanging out at the river with Suz and Sienna and just swimming or crossin the current at the bottom to get her comfortable on the water. I secretly want to run the falls with her just for the experience...but this wasn't recieved well by Suz...maybe next season :) When people ask me if I want my little girl to paddle, I answer ' Yes, if she wants to, if not that is cool too'. I can't help but think that paddling must run in her blood. In the womb Sienna ran the Gull, the Ottawa, the Missinnabi just to name a few. If she takes after her mom, she might be an open boater...more than anything I like to think of her becoming a triple-threat and being skilled in all disciplines of the sport, Open-Boating, C1-ing and Kayaking. But overall I just want her to be happy, even if it means she would rather play chess or an instrument than paddle. It's all good.

Hopefully you will get a chance to meet the newest addition to the Boatwerks Family this Summer :)

Jeff

Alright, I know that so far it has been a long long time since I posted a blog up on the site. I blame a few different factors... a major one being spammers! We all hate spammers don't we?

One of the reasons I hate spammers: They latched onto my blog and somehow started signing up as friends and posting comments. Most of these comments pertained to some random product sales pitch, or porn. As a result I have been inundated over the last 6 months with notifications of new friends signing up to my blog. I was begining to think that I was a popular guy, especially when I saw over 5000 comments posted on one of my original blog postings. Anyway, long-story-short, I had to delete my blog or face the alternative of going through and deleting every single comment one by one. So this round goes to the spammers.

At any rate, much like a bear, over the winter I go into hibernation mode. That's not to say that I crawl into bed and assume the fetal position until spring.(although there were days this winter where I ws sorely tempted to do so) Actually I am quite active over the winter months, I spend my work time doing carpentry in Ottawa and other areas to pay my personal bills. When I am not at work or driving in between Ottawa and Minden, I spend quite a few days on my snowboard or hiking around the bush or on X-country skis. I almost completely withdraw from my summer world of paddling and retail.

This time of year when we start to get those days in the pluses, where the icicles start to melt and there is a warmth to the sun that has been absent for what feels like a long time. I start to get that itch. You know the one...it's the itch that forces you to look at a creek or a river when driving over a bridge. It's the itch that tell you to start watching the waterlevels page on your favorite paddling site. This itch starts to comsume you, and finally when you can't contain it any longer, this itch consumes you and you find yourself planning a long drive on some near-future weekend to a river or playspot that will hopefully be up and running. It's amazing that you will find yourself driving double or triple the time that you will spend freezing your hands and face on the water all because of some little itch. This I call the paddling itch, and any true paddler is affected by it this time of year with good spring paddling just in sight.

My problem is that my paddling itch is out of control this season, I find myself more excited about getting on the water than I have over the last few seasons. My other problem is that I live slightly farther north and my local waters take a little longer to free up and become runnable...So I have a favor to ask of all you southern Canadian paddlers; Please invite us down when your local spot is going off! Please post daily on the boater board about weather, snowmelt and trip plans so us Northern paddlers can get a jump on the season and satisfy our itch.

I need to get out on the water!

Jeff :)