Volunteering at Lørdagskjappen

Vansjø

Lørdagskjappen is an orienteering event that is arranged by the club we run for: OK Moss. And so we spent the day volunteering for our club. This year it was held at the banks of the Vansjø lake, near Rygge airport. I frequently observed airplanes landing or taking passing close overhead, large in the sky. The weather was cool but the sun was intense. It was a big event, the first part race in the Norway Cup for Elite and youth classes. Ordinariy and Norway cup classes combined there were about 2400 orienteers that started. 

Start Area

 My task was in the start area, where I checked in the runners in Class H/D 13-14. It was a fun job, made easier by the fact that they were all wearing bibs with their start nr. I had to make sure that number on the emit tag was the same as was registered and if any were late to the start get new start times for them. 

Start lock Class H/D 13-14 and other age groups.

 Lucy meanwhile hung out under a tree. I had brought her a nice soup bone but she soon had eaten the meat off it and then buried the bone. She spent most of the time lying and watching me intently or barking at people who came too close. 

Lucy gnawing on a bone under the trees.

Weavepoles and more Compost.

Lucy

Another beautiful day for gardening. The sun is shining, the skies are blue, a light breeze is blowing. I spent another 2 hours fetching loads of poorly rotted and still partially frozen cow manure mixed with straw from the piles behind the the horse pasture to my planting boxes. Here they will rot down properly and the most amazing veggies will grow in the boxes! Monday I think I'll buy seeds and start planting. 

Lucy spent the time tied to the tree, but had to ride the wheelbarrow to get there. She doesn't like it but it's a good exercise. She jumped in voluntarily (on command) and stayed inside though she didn't accept cookies. She has become such a good girl!

We did a little weavepole training this morning too. At the club's training sessions we've only trained with 6 poles lately so I wanted to see how she'd do with 12 poles before the trial on wednesday. She did just great - running enthusiastically through all 12 poles several times in a row. Now we have to work on entries...

Compost for the Planting Boxes

Gardenboxes on the back lawn

This past week the spring has finally come. There are both snowdrops and coltsfoot. The swallows have returned from wherever they spend the winter as has the wren. I have seen swans as well, and the ducks are swimming around in the duck pond! The nights have been above freezing, the days were first rainy, but now we have had several sunny days as well. Today I got out the wheelbarrow and garden tools and went down to look at my garden boxes. The ones from last year need to be topped up with more compost, and the new ones that Husband built for me in the fall need filling up. I spent a couple of hours doing just that. Getting more or less composted cow manure from behind the horse pasture. It's a bit of a treck, but the field is dry and though the piles are still frozen, I could scrape off the top 10 - 20 cm. I'm nowhere near done. Hopefully on friday I can put in another couple of hours and get at least some of the boxes ready for planting. Then I have to buy seeds and plants... I can hardly wait to get wholesome organic greens from the garden!

Tur-O, April 22

It is a week since our last score-O. I don't have pictures this time as I left my camera at work last night. However spring has progressed in the forest since last week. There is hardly any snow, and much less ice on the paths. There is still a covering of ice on the lakes, ponds and bogs though. Green shoots are starting to poke up on the forrest floor and coltsfoot is blooming. 

Coltsfoot (borrowed from the internet)

It was another great run, under blue and sunny skies with a balmy wind. The controls were more difficult, or else my concentration is shot to pieces. I got lost 3 times, the last time was between the 9th and 10th control and Husband was very worried, when he didn't meet up with me as he ran up and down the paths I should have been taking to last 2 or 3 controls. Alas, I had taken a wrong path, and then gotten lost cutting across to the right one. By the time I heard him whistling and called out he was about ready to call the police to start searching for me, certain that I was lying in the woods somewhere with a broken legg. I had been out for over 2 hours. 

Tur-O April 17

Today was our first score-O. Our club puts out 5 maps with 10 controlls each for the spring and 3 more for the fall. We took the first 10 controls today. It was a beautifull day; the sun was shining, a breeze could be heard in the branches above, and felt good on a face hot and sweaty from running whenever I was high enough to have it blow across my face. 

At each control is a card with 2 numbers and a letter. This has to be documented online when we get home. This year I decided to take pictures of the cards instead of writing the codes down. Thus I had my camera handy to take pictures of the landscape as well. 

A piece of machinery near the first control.

The third control was in the middle of a bog.  

Cliffs near the third control.

Met up with husband near nr 4. He was doing them in reverse order, so had 6 controls already behind him. I am loving the trail shoes he gave me for Christmas. There was still a lot of ice on the paths and husband was quite jealous when he saw me running on the ice rather than the mud, not slipping at all. If studless tires can drive so well on snow and ice, then surely someone can make trail shoes that grip well without studs, I'd been thinking when it became clear that my O-shoes were due to be replaced. The Inov-8 X-talon 212 are the answer! They are comfortable, light and have a phenomenal grip!

Husband dissapearing between boulders at control 4

I came across this pretty pond while looking for control 5 (in the wrong place)

A farm visible through the trees from control #9

Tree house, also near control #9

Met up with Husband again after 6 controlls. He had finished and was going through the course again to meet me whip som speed into me. I had Lucy with me throughout the course, on a leash and harness, but now Husband took her. Nevertheless, I found it hard to concentrate with Husband carrying on a constant stream of good advice. 

Dancer and Lucy at control 9

Blåveis Sprinten - first orienteering event of the season.

The end of the race: the finish is inside the sports hall.

Last night, as I drove home in the snow,  I was wondering whether it had been a mistake to register for an orienteering event today. However in Fredrikstad, an hour south of us, the roads, fields and woods were mostly bare of snow. But it was cold, only a few degrees above freezing. 

A runner from our club wizzes through the arch into the finish which is inside the sports hall

The venue was indoors in a sports arena. Start was 800 meters  away. Running those 800 meters was not enough to warm my hands. I had time for another lap around the lake before my starting time, then, as I got underway towards the first control I could feel the warmth returning to my hands. As I ran through the course I got so warm that the wind that had seemed so chilly on my way to the start line now was a balmy breeze, cooling my hot brow!

Dancer, posing with map and compass

Husband at the finish.

The woods we were running in were obviously a much loved recreational area, with a myriad of paths. And easy to run off the paths as well. In fact it was easiest to follow the compass course - every time I tried following a path to a control, it turned out I was on the wrong path and I lost precious minutes getting reoriented. Not that it made any difference in the end. The winner ran in 24 minutes. The second to last in 34. I came in at 1 hour and 3 minutes. But I had fun!   

The woods beyond the sports hall, where the courses were.

I love Orienteering!

I bought a Juicer!

Here's the juicer all set up with fruit and veg for my first juice!

Lately I've been reading how orange juice, etc isn't all that good for you. We're talking about packaged juice from concentrate, even when it is 100% juice, nothing added. It is advertised that a glass of juice counts as one of your 5-per-day. But when you think about it, the juice has been concentrated, frozen, thawed again, pasturised, and god knows what else. That is A LOT of processing, and it is reasonable to assume that there is little remaining of the original content of enzymes, or water soluble vitamins like C and B-complex. These can be destroyed by heat, evaporation when food is finely processed. Freezing reduces the amounts as well. 

When Irene visited at Easter we watched a film called "Fat, sick and nearly Dead", about the amazing health benefits of freshly made fruit and vegetable juice. I've also been reading a blog (also at the suggestion of Irene) called http://www.thewellnesswarrior.com.au/ This is about a girl's journey to cure herself of a terminal and incurable form of cancer with the Gerson Therapy, a large component of which is juicing.

However it was the movie we saw that decided me. I hadn't spent my valentines present from Husband yet, so I went out and bought a juicer.

Making my first juice.

 I did some research first and decided on a juicer that squeezes rather than sentrifuges the juice:

1. It's quieter

2. more juice, less pulp

3. it can do greens.

I was most worried about haveing to throw so much away, and am experimenting with using the pulp for soups (veg), or in yogurt (fruit). 

Weekend in Folldal

You've noticed that I've been complaining about the slow retreat of winter here in Østfold. Well, this weekend we went to Folldal, the comunity where husband grew up to visit in-laws living there. Folldal was once a mining comunity. The mine is now closed and provides the main tourist attraction. The nearby peaks of Rondane are the other reason why people seek out this place. Folldal is about 800 m (2600') above sea level and a 5 hour drive north of our home in Østfold. The days are already noticibly longer than here. The sun didn't set until about 8 pm. However snow was still lying thickly everywhere. The temperature does not rise above freezing even when the sun is blazing out of blue skies, and on saturday we had several snow flurries. 

Father-in-law's house.

Walking Lucy in a snow flurry.

Statue of a miner.

Folldal Mine

Rondane

Hytteåsen (The cabin hill)

Husband has been talking about this great hike that he discovered on his runs in and around the area here. The snow has finally melted enough that we decided to take it today. 

Korsfurua (the cross pine)

Picnic area

Fire tower, with husband half way up.

Dancer at the top of the tower.

Husband climbing up the extra ladder at the top of the tower.

Not for those with fear of heights!

Looking down at Husband decending.

Lucy stayed at the bottom looking for "cookies" that I threw from the top.