Morning with Straube, evening with Timusk and the northern lights

I had another amazing day on Saturday in which I got to visit John Straube at his farm and Chris Timusk in the evening. John is one of the most well respected names in building science, a professor at the University of Waterloo and a principal at Building Science Corp and I had heard many stories of his farm on the outskirts of Waterloo. Chris and I were greeted warmly and given a tour of the farm including the new barn full of new lambs and the fields and forests full of exploding life. His wife, Victoria, has a friend Vickie that tends the sheep and keeps the eight herding dogs that are so well trained it simply boggles the mind. The farm is 140 acres and most of it is rented out for hay fields. There are also many test setups where building materials are tested in the real world. I had a great time. Later John made us all a great German breakfast which could also be called a Texas breakfast, of eggs, sausage, cheese and bread with a bit of fruit so we could lpretend it was healthy. Yummy I'm getting spoiled to great cheese and I'm afraid I will now have a new food addiction. Greeeaaat......sigh

After a great morning with John, I had lunch with the Schumakers before heading north about 2 1/2 hours to Six Mile Lake up near Georgian Bay. The area is in the Canadian Shield which is an outcropping of some of the oldest exposed rock on the planet. The rock is billions of years old. The area is forested with hardwoods and conifers and the lakes are pristine and surrounded by small cottages that have been in the families often for many generations. Chris Timusk is a professor of building science at George Brown University and has been a friend for many years and his wife Dierdre and their kids Mattie and Lucas met me at their small cottage on the lake. We explored the lake by boat and Chris reported that the white water river entering the lake had never been close to the level of flow we saw in the 42 years he has been coming there. Unusual good fortune has become the common theme for this journey and I continue to count my blessings.

After a nice supper and visiting with neighbors that drop by Dierdre and the boys went to bed and Chris introduced me to the joy of a proper wood fired Sauna. Chris's family is Estonian and the Estonians are as crazy for their saunas as the Finns. The temperature was showing north of 240 degrees f. and when he would toss a ladle of water on the rocks the humidity would hit me like a blast. After 15 minutes or so we would go dive into the lake to cool off and then repeat the process. After the third or forth time of doing this we just sat on the dock and noticed the northern lights. It was my first experience with seeing them and Chris said only the second or third time he had seen them there at the lake. Why am I not surprised. Charmed I tell ya. All in all it was a great day and after the sauna I slept like a baby.