2010 Fall Foliage Smackdown - Update

Response to the First Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown (FARATS) has been very good so far. There are rumblings from all over that make me fear for The King. Correspondence from many of you, including this disturbingly beautiful non-entry (because there are so many trees and it is from last Fall) from Corey all make me wonder if my best tree is going to hold up.

Oct 2009, Moab

Despite all of this, the King seemed quite unconcerned this morning:

I'm still percolating on what to select for the prize. I don't want to use Canadian Tire money again, but I'm finding it hard to come up with something nearly valueless yet worth receiving.

Keep your eyes peeled and cameras ready. I would suggest holding off on making an entry until you feel confident you have taken what will be your best shot of the season. When you are ready to submit, please make it clear that this is your official entry and not just a warning shot to strike fear into my heart.

When taking pictures of The King on my way into work this morning, I couldn't resist a gratuitous pic of my bike hangin' with The King:

BFFs

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

The Rantwick Family's Komoka Hiking Adventure

A couple of weekends ago the Rantwick family went for a little hike in Komoka Provincial Park. My brother asked me to take some pictures, so I did. He enjoyed them quite a lot, so I thought I would frame them with a little writing and show them to you as well.

Komoka Provincial Park isn't like lots of other Provincial Parks... it is really just a nice wild area with meadows and trails and trees and no facilities other than a couple of parking lots at the entrances located just outside of London Ontario. It would seem that this unstaffed area was being misused with no consequences by some people, so the man put up a sign to indicate that the party was NOW over:




That should snuff out any monkey business; damn kids. Anyway, because my brother had requested some, we stopped and took family photos. First, kids with Mrs. Rantwick:

Then, with Dad:

Having gotten those pics done, we headed down the path. Almost right away I saw a bush with red berries:

pic source

I'm not very knowledgeable about plants or bushes or trees, so I immediately gathered a big handful of the bright red berries and ate them. They tasted awful and made my stomach hurt. I figured the best thing to do was follow them with some mushrooms that looked like they might help:

pic source

Well, let me tell you, I forgot about my stomach ache almost right away. Remember how I saw Mother Nature in the city a little while ago? She appeared before me right there in Komoka Provincial Park!

She didn't say anything. She just kind of hovered there for a few seconds and then faded away. It was wild. I immediately felt very much at one with nature; the birds, the grass, the flowers...

The hike had been going great until that point, as you can see. But then things started feeling weird. I started to become afraid of meeting wild animals. I was particularly terrified of meeting a "grumbear". A grumbear is a fictional bear who is angry and crazy and who was invented by my son in construction paper and wool form three or four years ago:


I keep the grumbear in my office at work and use him to scare away co-workers who are annoying me. Anyway, I had become afraid of meeting a real grumbear. Sure enough, one showed up on the trail right next to my kids!






As you can see, since my son was the grumbear's "father", he was not afraid and just gave him a friendly wave. The grumbear, like Mother Nature, vanished with no harm done. I was beginning to think that maybe this hike wasn't so fun as we walked down to the river's edge:



It was at that point that I lost consciousness. When I woke up several hours later, Mrs. Rantwick said I had been acting crazy on our walk, like I was possessed or something. I did a little research, and sure enough, those red berries are bad news!

pic source
I bet those cursed berries could have poisoned me or doomed me to some sort of supernatural torture! Thank goodness I found those mushrooms! Anyway, my family had a very nice time out in Komoka, I think. I can't really remember. There's a lesson to be learned from all this, but I just can't put my finger on it. In any case, I'm bringing bear and shark repellant on our next little walk in the bush just to be on the safe side.

May all your Hiking Trips be good ones,

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K