Igor. One week and counting up.

Igor's been living with us for one week today. It's been a very exhausting time. I remember sitting and thinking about getting a brand-new puppy about a week before he actually arrived.

I recalled how cute and adorable Niki was when we got her (she still is, btw!), and how fun it was to play with her. That brought me to thinking about how late I stayed up some nights throwing toys for her to chase and running her around the main floor of the house in order to tire her out so she'd sleep. I thought about the potty-training that went into the first loooong while. Even though she was pretty awesome, it was still a bit of work. We had her "puppy room" set up so she could just go into the room and do her business pretty much anywhere in that room, although ideally she'd jump into the paper-lined litter box to perform. She didn't always make it, no. But it was cool.

*sigh*

I decided that I didn't want to empty out the foyer to change it back into a puppy room, so Igor's only option is to go outside on the deck (not great cuz it stinks after 2 years even though we wash it off), or go all the way down off the deck, down the stairs, onto the grass. Yup. Door number 2. The grass. All I can say is thank goodness for outdoor lighting! I nearly took a header off the bottom stair the other night in the dark. I'd forgotten to turn on the big light. Or had it flipped itself off? I can't remember and it doesn't matter. It was freakin' dark and it was raining (yes, raining) and I was tired and he was squirming to be let down NOW!!! The lights need to be turned on at night as my night-vision goggles have not yet arrived in the mail.

He's doing pretty good with potty-training. Well, maybe it's more accurate to say that we're doing pretty good since we're the ones that have to keep an eye on him for "I'm looking for a great place to pee" behaviour. He circles around, like all puppies do. Yay. However, sometimes his circles are ... subtle... and disguised as "I'm looking for that toy I put down a minute ago" behaviour. I can say without argument that he's quick to drop into the doggie crouch! One second he's standing upright and in less time than it takes to blink he's squatting and peeing. One fluid motion. (Pun intended) Tether training really doesn't make much difference with that kind of speed. No, we don't punish him for the booboo. It's our fault (okay, maybe mine), so why screech? I clap my hands to distract him and hoist him up and run for the door. Better luck next time.

This was Niki's rawhide birthday card for her 1st b'day in January. Igor loves it!

Igor likes to chew. Anything that Niki ignored in favour of stuffies with squeakers is what he homes in on. This was Niki's 1 y.o. birthday card. It was pristine until he got hold of it for a few minutes and now a corner is chewed right off. The funny thing about Igor chewing on Nylabones and VeggieDents is that Niki figures it must be good if the puppy's got it. She nipped into his kennel, stole his VeggieDent (a bagful of which we've had in the house for the past several months!) and ate it! Then she went back later and snitched the one he'd been sucking on and ate that too. Such a jealous little darling.

Igor the Wonder Dog! Stairs are no obstacle!!

He's precocious. Physically anyway. I don't remember exactly how long it took for Niki to climb the (carpeted) stairs, but it was definitely not in the 8 week range. Igor just turned 9 weeks old this Wednesday. He climbed the stairs 2 days before that. Not just one or two steps. The whole freakin' flight from the main floor to the bedroom level. That's how many stairs? Um... I could go count them, but I'm busy. Suffice it to say that I was impressed.

Size comparison. Igor vs the small drink bottle.

He's also jumping from the main level down the step into the living room. It's a sunken living room, which I always thought would be cool but has turned out to be a slippery-when-wearing socks and not such a good idea when you're distracted and forget to take those two steps down. He quite literally did a "Super-dog!!!" leap, stuck the landing (gymnastics style) and dashed off in hot pursuit of Niki. Why am I so impressed by that? Because going down stairs is a scary thing when you have to approach it with your head as the leader and it's a skill that takes dogs a while to learn and become comfortable with!

I figure he'll be coming down the main stairs sometime this week. Maybe.

Meanwhile, I think it's potty time again. He just woke up from another nap. Byeeeeeeeee!

Igor Hurricane Stravinsky has finally touched down!

It's been a long 8 weeks, but they're finally over! Little Igor has moved into his new home. He's a tri-coloured Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, born the night of Hurricane Igor, hence the name.

As far as tri-colour goes, he's really more of a black and white with mere dabs of tan. Kiss marks above his brows, tan under his ears and tail. We couldn't get farther from Niki's colouring if we tried!

He's gorgeous and sweet. Very cuddly. Very bold. He's bigger than Niki was. He's 2.0 kg at 8 weeks! A big'un! Only two in the litter probably has something to do with that.

Niki's not too enamored of him. You could say that her nose is seriously out of joint. However, it's only been 20 hours. Today is socialization day with Niki. Getting used to one another, playing with the same toys, figuring out how to eat without arguing. So far, so good. Mostly. They had a fairly successful time in the backyard this morning, with Niki unbending enough to chase after him. I think she forgot herself! We're trying to show her that she loses nothing by his presence. In fact, there's even MORE treats to be gained!

He spent part of his night in the crate beside the bed, but most of the night on the bed with us. Might as well get things settled right away. Note to self: Igor must NOT be on the edge of the bed. He squirmed and squiggled and stretched so much that at one point I reached out in my half-sleep in an attempt to catch him before he fell off the bed. I failed. He thudded to the floor and sat there in a dopey daze, whimpering. He was fine! lol... He spent the rest of the night tucked securely INSIDE the bed! Under my chin. On my chin. On my forehead. Under my pillow. *sigh* It was a looong night.

He actually did fairly well for his first night. He only got up twice in the night for a potty, both times successfully accomplishing what everybody takes for granted within a few minutes. The breeder told me that they'd been calling him "Puppers." I'm thinking "Poopers" would be as appropriate! He did it on the grass! I'm happy about that! Really!!

Igor was born Sept 23, 2010. He's now 8 weeks + a couple of days old.

Some serious teething going on

Thank goodness for Nylabone!

and naps.

He's snoozing on my lap right now. Twitching his feet and wriggling with puppy dreams. Typing is hard with the laptop propped up on the side of my leg. I think I'll post pix and sign off. Happy Day! Oh... Paul's birthday, too! :D ... shhhhh...

Going Pedaly-biking! Happy 40th, Paul!

October and still warm!

I was just realizing that we've had an absolutely glorious week of sunshine! How surprising is that for October? Very! Sure, the mornings are a bit brisk, and the wind continues to blow, but it's been sunny and almost balmy otherwise. I wonder (and I hope I'm not jinxing anything by mentioning this) if there's going to be snow for Halloween. :P

Updates for our little household...

We're still waiting for the replacement windows for the master bedroom. Jeldwen has been by with one replacement set, but they were scratched as well. Waiting seems to take forever. I think it's been about 3 weeks. Perhaps it's time to phone and nag them.

The new hot tub cover has been delivered and installed. It's much lighter than the original. I'm almost glad that the window installers dropped the pane of glass through it. Nice to not have to wrestle the weight of the lid up and over with one hand while holding a White Russian in the other hand.

A new septic tank has been installed. The old one was kinda soft after being used for 20-ish years. The new one is also steel, but has thicker walls and should last longer. Now all I need to do is find somebody who will deliver a load of sod that can be placed over the dirty soil that's exposed in the yard. I'm not putting the dog out there until it's done, nor am I planning to sit in the hot tub with the aroma upwind of us. No, it's not horrible! But the thought of it... Ewwww!

The old septic tank looks like some kind of abstract sculpture!

Hurricane Igor has been and gone. No damage other than that little maple tree I mentioned. The only long-term memory for us is going to be the addition of a little brother for Niki. Since the little thing was born during the hurricane, we've decided to call him Igor. He's a tri-coloured Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. (Niki is a black and tan version) We're expecting to fetch him from Freshwater, near Placentia around the last part of November. That's about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Torbay. The breeder is sending us updated photos. He's so cute!

Igor

The drawing course is proceeding well. I'm bouncing back and forth between graphite and coloured pencil. I did one painting of a cat, but it's nowhere near done yet. I'm doing a lot of research into art techniques for realism. I'd like to get the hair to look as realistic as possible. Not sure if I'll get there anytime soon, but I'm going to keep plugging away at it! Okay, okay... it's fun and I'm enjoying it, even though it's not easy!

Moe

Sean is nearly done the first part of his Construction Electrician course at Academy Canada. Soon he will be looking for a work-term position, and then an apprenticeship! His marks have been terrific and he seems to be liking the work. :D

Kyle is going to be moving out this year. It's not an easy step for him, but he seems to be looking forward to parts of it. He'll be looking for a room mate, as it's easier on the pocketbook. He'll be 23 this December. Dana says that we shouldn't give him pots and pans as his birthday or Christmas presents. ;)

Still working on the painting of Lucky. Colour changing to beige from grayscale.

Did I mention that I got over my Ikea envy? Dana got this lovely set of stuff for her little apartment in Winnipeg and I drooled for months over the way the whole thing worked out. I finally resolved my little envy problem by getting some Ikea for our house. A 3-some of book cases. It arrived while Dana was here for her Newfoundland visit, so she helped assemble it. I LOVE it! The shelves aren't full yet. I'm trying to be discriminating in what I add to the shelves... J.R. Ward, James Rollins, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Laurell K. Hamilton, to name a few. Yoga and Judo books, Med texts, How-to books for Mac and Plumbing, a few biographies...

Just adding a note of weirdness. I tried to post a photo of the bookshelf, had it labeled "Ikea" and it was rejected. Tried again, after re-naming it "new bookshelf" and it was still rejected. "Server Rejected" Don't know why. Any ideas?

Well, time to mosey along and get back to my drawing. Enough with the computer for now.
Cheers!

Hurricane Igor

September 21, 2010

Torbay is pretty dark. Hurricane Igor has arrived. 

It’s 7:40 pm and power has been off since around 4pm. I hope the fridge stays cool long enough that the milk doesn’t spoil. I’ve done some knitting on a year-old scarf project and some drawing on a donkey’s eyeball, eaten dinner by candlelight and am currently sitting on a couple of floor cushions in the dining room before a not-so-roaring-anymore wood fire. 

It’s cozy. And dark. I just realized that there’s no internet, which means I can’t post anything to Facebook or my Blog until it’s up and running again. 

How dependent ARE we on electricity? Wow! 

Paul says that some stop signs in St. John’s have been dragged out of their moorings completely. Concrete ripped up and all. Trees snapped in half. We lost a part of our maple tree. Trampolines flipped over onto their heads. Our trampoline lost a stave (it can be fixed). The river from Pippy Park was spilling across the Prince Phillip Drive, and cars were pulled over by the sides of the roads. Abandoned. Trees blown into cars, smack-ups. 

Lower Street stream (not ours, but the next one to us)

Our Waterfall!!! 

Paul took the Echo in to work today and said it shifted about a foot over with each buffet of the wind! This is the little car that stood up on two “legs” on Marine Drive! Glad I wasn’t driving today. 

On the plus side, the new windows aren’t leaking! The ceiling of the master bedroom is dry! 

Also on the plus side, school had been cancelled today, so Sean and Miranda were home all day. Kyle had no work, but would’ve been sent home anyway because the Circle K that he works at was closed early due to some ... technical difficulties. Some part of the gas pump blew away (?) and one of the doors to the store got flung off. 

McDonald’s is closed. Serious stuff.

Torbay in Darkness

FYI, we live in Newfoundland, NOT New Brunswick

What's that about?

Well, we've been CouchSurfing hosts for the past couple of years and have enjoyed it immensely! (check it out online) We've had some fabulous people come and stay with us, some funny, (Hey S!) some serious, (you know who you are) some in need of a break (bonjour Sylvain), some looking for adventure (hi Russell!)

Anyway, this year has been both busy and not busy. I've been kind of busy with stuff around the house, which I will write about in another blog one day... maybe a couple of blogs cuz it's a bit much for just one. So, not many CouchSurfers have been to stay with us. I've had to turn them down, left, right, front, and centre. I've been either booked or busy. So, when the New Zealanders asked to stay, I checked carefully to make sure that we had time for them to come. They're a 50-ish couple who were touring Canada and wanted to go (I thought) all the way East.

Check my schedule, looks good. I write to tell them to come along over. They contact me back full of profuse happiness. Give me the date of their arrival, and off we go...

Date of their arrival ... arrives... and Bill calls me on his cell phone. Where are we? Well, we're in Torbay, and I'll give you the directions to our house.

"No, no. I've got GPS. Just give me your address," he says in his quaint "Kiwi" accent.

"I don't think we show up on GPS!" I protest.

"No, no. I've got this covered," he insists.

I stop arguing and give him the address. Now, you must know that the address is already attached to the e-mail on CouchSurfing, as are explicit directions to our house. Explicit enough that EVERYBODY has been able to find us thus far.

They're going to arrive between 4 and 5 pm. 5:30 arrives and they're not here. The phone rings. They can't find the address in GPS.

Big surprise. Where are they, I want to know... Moores-something and Middridge-something... huh? Where the heck is that? I check on mapquest. Nothing to be found. I check the paper map. I find Moores-something in Mount Pearl. No Middridge, but it could be a new street since the map was published. It happens all the time.  I call him back to say that I THINK I know where he is and tell him where to go from there.

Options are to get on the Trans-Canada Highway to our turnoff onto Route 20, or proceed to downtown and crawl up the long way. Either would work beautifully.

It's at least a 20 minute journey. Five minutes later, he calls us to say he's in downtown at the tourist centre. Huh? 5 minutes? Amazing! No traffic and he must've floored his car!

Where in downtown? Well... he's near the wharf... Okay. Water or Duckworth? His response was some sort of grunting noise which I took to mean he was negotiating traffic. Paul gets on the phone as I have to run off to do something else. I hear Paul asking for the name of the next side street. "Market" is the answer. My eyebrows did this upward-pointing thing. Market? New one on me.

Paul's still talking though. I hear the airport mentioned. Are we near the airport? Yes, we are! Go there and call us! We'll give directions from there. It's easy-peasy, smooth-sailing. Their phone cuts off.

A couple of minutes after Paul hangs up (I didn't know the line got disconnected), in the middle of blow-drying my hair, my mind wanders.  Acting on impulse (backed by intellect), I go back to the computer.

Sure enough. They're in New Brunswick.

    ****************************************************************************

We try calling their cell. No answer. After several attempts, Paul tells me the phone line cut out. Okay... maybe it ran out of battery. They'll get to the airport and call us. Where's the airport from their last-known location? About 45 minutes drive from downtown St. John.

We wait. We wait more. We continue to wait. We go to a house-warming. We get up in the morning. I check CouchSurfing for a message.

There's a message. Their phone ran out of money. (?)

I guess there's no pay phones in New Brunswick.

Fireworks Torbay Days 2010

How to make friends in Newfoundland... NOT!!!

Anybody who knows me well enough is completely aware of what kind of person I am. Somewhat assertive (which can also be called "bitchy"), passionate, caring, understanding, demanding... yeah yeah... Y'all know this already.

So the other day I noticed a pair of motorbikes zooming around on the hill over the ridge. For the record, the ridge, while a public-right-of-way, is on our property. There's tons of blueberries growing up there! There's also tons of blueberries growing flat on the ground all over the property next door! Seriously, good pickin'!! These bozos are not only trespassing, but they're squashing all the lovely blueberries!!! Aaagh!!!

The bozos drove off after a couple more swoops. They just ... vanished...

A day later as I was walking the trail to the Big Beach, I found where the bozos entered and exited the hill. From Lower Street, onto our property, up the hill. They're trespassing!!! Aaaaagh! I'm going to have to get more of those big rocks put down there to stop the damn trespassing bikers!!

Well, yesterday the damn bozos were zooming across the hill on their motorbikes again. C'mon, Paul... come with me. I don't normally think I need a man, but I wanted an "INTIMIDATOR" with me. Paul makes a good one cuz he's big and brawny.

I dashed over our hill, across and up where the damn bikers had laid tracks through our place, caught sight of the devastated hillside they've been ravaging with their damn bikes and just gasped in dismay! Flattened brown grass everywhere! They must've been there for weeks trampling everything in sight! The blueberry plants don't stand a chance! Damn those bikers!!!

I wave my arms as the bikes turn in my direction.

"STOP!!!" I shout.

They stop. "Where are you from?" I holler. "Do you even belong here? Do you even know that you're destroying somebody's property?"

I may have thrown in some F-sharps and other assorted sharps. Hey. I was pissed!

The bozos remove their helmets. They're kids. A boy and a girl. Maybe 10 to 13 years old. They point shakily to the south. Right at the faded green house on the property in question.

Oops... New neighbours.

Daddy comes roaring up the hill in full bellow (no, not on a bike). "What're you doing to my kids?!?!"

Oy...

I have to admit that I let my temper carry me along for a little while. I was so totally pissed at the destruction on the property, the loss of the blueberries (those lovely blueberries!!!) that I'd very proprietarily taken an interest in for the last 4 years. (The house has been vacant and up for sale since before we moved here.)

Also, myself and the guy on the other side of the green house have been the de facto neighbourhood watch committee, making sure that nobody vandalized the place or set fires on the property!

For all I knew, these were trespassers. I hadn't seen any signs of life other than the bikes!

I justified my actions. Apologized a couple of times. Not with any real degree of skill or grace, mind you. Have I mentioned that I was pissed?

Father of children expresses his desire that we get off his property. Points out the property line, saying that he owns the hillside up to the top. It seems that he's implying that he owns the bushes... No no... The  top of the hillside is ours! Not his! Yes, it's a public right-of-way, but it belongs to us. Pedestrians are okay, not bikes. (blueberries proliferate on the rocky soil up there!!!)

We turn to leave. Paul tries to lighten the situation by speaking gently to the man. I glower. I'm good at it.

Uh-oh... here comes grandma! Grandma is the woman I'd met last fall on the hillside. (She was on our side, picking blueberries. We'd been friendly, I thought.)

She's roaring. The kids are traumatized. Some crazy lady was swearing at them. *sigh* I apologize again. I explain myself. Again.

She doesn't care about the blueberries. "Blueberries are the last thing I'm worried about!" she says.

Looking at the destruction of their property, I guess she's decided to turn her place into a trail biker's training ground. *sad*

Not finished, Father mentions the public right-of-way. Pointing at the rocks. Paul gently points out that the rocks and right-of-way intersect at the fence of the house down on Lower Street. No more public access through since somebody built the house.

Grandma says that's stupid. I say "welcome to Newfoundland."

Kids aren't to be on our property with their bikes. Father and Grandma look at each other and agree to talk to the kids about it.

Paul and I trudge down the hill, then around and back to our house. I wish he'd been quicker on his feet so he could've prevented me from putting mine in my mouth so firmly.

I think I'll bake some pie and deliver it to the house along with a crazy-lady apology card.

Not blueberry though.

The new storage container...

We decided that we'd like to have a "new" set of patio-type furniture for our back deck. The old plastic adirondack chairs we brought with us from Manitoba are faded and a greenish residue rubs off on clothing. No need for brand spanking new. We were going to look for used stuff. We found some at a yard sale. Yahoo! Metal chairs and a glass-topped table. The chairs come with comfy cushions! Very nice.

Problem arises. They're cloth and not water-resistant. Hmm... we could put them in the house. No... that's not a good idea. We could put them in the extra-large-humongous dog crate that's still sitting on the deck. Hmm... it's got holes for ventilation and the cushions are still getting wet... I know!! We should get a box for the deck! Yeah!!!

So... off to Kent Home Hardware. I know they've got just what I need! Tra-la-la... skipping happily into Kent and checking out their storage bins. I played a version of Three Bears with the display models. This one is too small. This one is too short. This one is just right, but it's real flimsy. Hey! Looka there! This one is beeyootiful! It's big. It's solid. It will easily take on the job of blocking the wind from the barbecue (the only reason the dog crate is still on the deck).

I'll take it!

I get it home. The Mook and I wrestle the light but unwieldy box from the SUV to the deck. Unload groceries, eat lunch, go back outside to ... Da-da-da-daaaaa!!! Build the storage box!

Open the box. Remove pieces and lay them out on the deck for assembly.

One base - check
One lid - check
2 doors - check
2 doors - ... wait a sec...
Where's the sides???

Read the assembly instructions again. Yup. I'm supposed to have 2 doors and 2 sides.

Look at pile of pieces on the deck.

4 doors.

Houston, we have a problem.

Phonecall to Kent.

This was the last box, aside from the floor model. None available at the other Kent location.

For me, the solution was easy:

"Fire that floor model over to me this afternoon and your boys can pick up the defective model."

Success.

It's raining cats and dogs today. I'll check the cushions tomorrow. See if they're still dry.

Go Hero HD Helmet Cam Durability Field Test

Paul got a sweet little camera that comes with a waterproof case and some very interesting mounting hardware. He's used it a couple of times while dirt-biking. This excerpt is from his first trip out (I think?). The editing was done using iMovie on the Macbook. Too funny! I've gotten a giggle out of it every single time I've played it... like half a dozen times by now!

Enjoy!

Weird and randomness... nothing special.

You know you're weird when you're excited to find a link to something that most people couldn't or wouldn't be bothered with...

http://blogsearch.google.com/

THIS is how to find people in blogger!!! I'm EXCITED!!! Surely people I know are on here. Surely!

lol...

So, the sun has actually been shining off-and-on during the past few days. We actually have the pool heater on (it's @ 84 degrees F) and have used it a few times during the past week. The other day I grabbed the GoPro and took some video of Sean, Miranda, and Kyle goofing around... dumped the dog in too, for good measure. (she's not that keen on swimming - weird for a spaniel, no?)

I edited the video today, on the Macbook (YAAAYYYY!!!), but need to shrink it down a bit and perhaps add some nice muzack for the background. It wasn't a very sunny day, so I might decide to scratch it down to a mere smidgen of its size and re-video on a sunny day. Add a few still photographs for good measure and it should look sweet. I've got an account in YouTube, so I'll post the link and you can watch it if you want. I'll pass the word when I've done that. Could be a while... this is Newfoundland, remember. Sunshine isn't an everyday occurrence!

Did I mention that the painting is done. Hmm... Yes, I do believe I did mention that. Robbie picked it the other day (last Thursday) and couldn't wait to give it to the recipient. She was thrilled and amazed... she cried. (I do hope it was emotional tearing up and not "Oh my god somebody did a crap-ass job of my dogs in this god-awful painting that I must somehow pretend to really love") Robbie loved it. Paid good coin for it, too.

I enjoyed it so damn (I can say that!!) much that I signed up for a diploma course in pet portraiture through the London Art College. It's a distance ed. program and it's taught by a marvellous artist whose work I really admire! It's in the mail and should be here soon. It's coming from the UK. Give it time... I want to start NOW!!! It starts with the basics of drawing animals and moves along to the more tricky bits of composition and actually painting them. It also goes into marketing and advertising yourself and your work. You work at your own pace, sending the work in either electronically or via snail-mail for a critique. They send you an audio-video of the crit with in-depth advice. Altogether, they figure a year to completion, but allow up to 2 years. After that, they want you to shape up or pay more. Makes sense.

Ah well... I have to allow my deltoid muscle time to heal. The week "off" should help. I'm going to have to look up some yoga stretches on YouTube. The description of the injury is amusing, but helpful in a visual way. My chiropractor said that the muscles are bundled up like a handful of spaghetti. Typically they run smooth from stem to stern. When they're injured, they act like over-cooked spaghetti and clump up in a bunch. The idea is to smooth them out so that they lay properly (aka smoothly) again. The horrible part is over, but I have to keep smoothing and strengthening them. Annoying that Paul can put me on the floor just by dint of taking my arm and hoisting it shoulder-height... Okay, it's annoying that Miranda can do the same. Argh...

Oooh! Hot tub time! Sunset over the ocean. Love you guys! Talk again another time. Soon.
~ Chris

Finished the painting today!

Thank blooming heavens!! It's been a long project. Who would've thunk that a couple of dogs could be so darned difficult to paint? I mean, really!?! Ah well. The colours in the coats are what gave me conniptions. The first dog was my practice piece. Shiloh got worked over and over and over again... I'm embarrassed at how those turned out. Finally... FINALLY I got some good advice from a dog artist, Kathryn Beals, and watched a couple (okay okay... several... ) speed painting videos on YouTube. YouTube is my new bff... yup... They're still only my first animal paintings, so I'm going to have to keep practicing in order to get better. I think I'll clear off the kitchen table for now though. Move stuff back into the studio. Start doing laundry and other assorted housework... cooking, errands. We need a new weed whacker and I hear the lawn mower needs a new blade since the old one ate a rock. Stuff.

This is Shiloh


 





And this is Ginger.

 And last but definitely not least, Maggie.

Ginger and Maggie are full sisters, while Shiloh is the mother of Shamus, one of the dogs living next door to us.

Enough about painting for now. I'll be working on the painting of Niki soon, but not until I've let my deltoid heal for at least a week without exerting it.

Moving on...

Miranda and her friend had a marvelous time in the swimming pool today. Fi rst swim of the year! The sun was shining, and there was this rumor of heat. 10 o'clock this morning I was standing outside in a sundress and a windbreaker, cleaning the bugs out of the pool. By 11:30, the girls were swimming! Hooray!!! There's still sun on the pool now, and it's almost 6:30. Maybe I should toss a suit on and get out there for a few minutes. Who knows when the sun and heat will appear at the same time again!




Oooh... This is also the first day that I've worn a sundress. I was so impressed with that fact that I decided to record it for posterity. So... I'm attaching a pic of me wearing my sundress.

                                                        Woohoo!!! Summer sunshine!!!

Father's Day was GREAT!!! (and I'm not even a father... )

Paul and I rode out to Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve on Sunday. It was a really great day for a ride. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, there were lots of bikes out on the roads... really nice to see. Paul and I have these wonderful gadgets called "heated vests" that you plug into the bike and, with three settings, give you all the heat you could possibly want. Because I was sitting behind Paul, I kept mine on Low. Paul had his on Medium. Honestly though, I think we only used them because they were there. It was a gorgeously warm day!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Newfoundland, I should include a bit of geographic location information. :)  We live in Torbay, which is on what is called the Avalon Peninsula. It's that little axe-head shaped thing dangling from the south-east corner of Newfoundland, and connected by a narrow spit of land (is that called an isthmus???) to the larger portion of Newfoundland. We drove along the TCH to Whitbourne and then south to Dunville (a really pretty one-road town) and Placentia (not so pretty but it's a fishing village from way back so what do you expect? wtf?) and then down a series of (Holy shit the scenery is amazing!) coves (some of which had cows grazing at the beach's edge), until we got to St. Bride's followed shortly by Cape St. Mary's. Just FYI, we also drove through Patrick's Cove which is where Paul had one of his most spectacular wipe-outs (which probably took one of his 9 lives) on the bike two years ago. A "decreasing radius, descending blind hairpin" turn that he used to demonstrate the durability of his armoured biking gear. Gear worked. It took him the better part of the season to get a new jacket to replace the torn-up one. He took the turn in a much more moderate manner with me riding pillion.

From there we drove out to Point Lance. A sandy beach! What a sight for sore eyeballs. White sandy beach stretching as far as my admittedly weak eyes could see. Unfortunately, the sun wasn't shining so strongly by then, but the picture... *sigh* Yup. I'll be posting it asap. If the connection isn't too slow, I'll attach it here.

Okay... we drove some more. I took more pictures, some of which turned out, some of which didn't. We passed through Branch, Colinett, St. Catherine's, and then arrived back at the TCH where we fully intended to fill up with gas in Holyrood. We were supposed to go straight. Paul turned left. Oops. 10K short of our destination we ran out of gas on the side of the road. You know something? It's nice to know that people will stop to check on you. Okay, so not many of them actually carry a jerry-can of gasoline in their trunk, but still... They stopped. I finally got a ride to Avondale, 15 minutes from the off-ramp we were stranded at, and back. The guy paid for my gas and refused to accept anything (I hid ten bucks in a pair of sneakers in his back seat), and even broke a glass Coke bottle to use as a funnel. Ahhh... the kindness of strangers. Paul had several people stop off while he waited, and one, a biker, actually offered to siphon gas from his tank!! Wow. Paul apologized to me several times... I'm not sure why. It was all part of the adventure. No harm. All part of the game. We phoned home to explain our delay, dinner delayed on our behalf. All's well. Happy Father's Day.

350 K round trip. (My arse was numb just before we ran out of gas so I was glad of a bit of a hike) 6 hours riding. I found out that the bike can easily do 220kph with a passenger on board. Don't ask me how I know. Just trust me on this.

This is a really great trip. It took us a couple of hours to drive from Torbay to Cape St. Mary's.

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/PlacesToGo/ScenicTouringRoutes/TheAvalon.aspx?route=2

This is how to get there... sort of.

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/PlanATrip/Maps/Default.aspx?route=2&region=1

Here's a couple of pictures from our ride. It was a bit awkward holding the camera in the breeze, but that's what the strap is for, right? 

I passed my motorcycle training course!!!

Now all I have to do is go down to the DMV out in pack-a-lunchville, aka Mount Pearl, and do my written test. That'll get me my Class 6, Level I license. Woohoo! I meant to get out there this week... might do that tomorrow. I spent a few minutes studying the section on "signs" in the driver's handbook.

Funny thing there... my instructor told us that people go to write the test, fail the section on signs, and hop back in their cars to drive home! Um... failure to recognize what the signs mean?? Huh? They're allowed to DRIVE?! Ack! No wonder there's so many g.d. weirdos on the road!!

Anyway... Paul let me (okay, he encouraged me) drive his KLX 250 up and down the road beside our house yesterday. There I was, all geared up and ready to go for the 1-minute up-and-down jaunt. Stalled the bike. Stalled the bike again. And again. and again and again and again... I totally couldn't seem to get the hang of the clutch! After about 10 minutes solid of standing there poking the starter with my thumb, holding the clutch, releasing the brake, giving it gas, letting out the clutch... bike would lurch then stall... I FINALLY managed to get up the road! Woohoo!!! Up the road to the church parking lot, turn around and go down our road to Dominion Hill where I turned around in the muck (eww), managed to get about 20 yards up the road, tried to gear back down to first, *cough* die. Damn. I spent another 10 minutes trying to move up the hill under the bike's steam. 

I should mention that the part I enjoyed most about the riding was the actual riding. I mean, wow... it's so much fun to be tooling up the road, legs tight against the tank, swaying with the curve in the road in perfect  harmony with the bike. Definitely an enjoyable experience that I'm looking forward to repeating!

Now to move on the less enjoyable part.

Paul made me do exercises in going and stopping and going again. You know, pretend like I'm at a stop sign or red light... brake the bike, idle, go again. Hah... not happening. If I were really in traffic with a truck barreling up behind me... let's just say that I should probably be practicing a dump-and-jump manoeuvre. Well, I did manage to get it up as far as our driveway via the lurch-and-go method, then finally managed to get it cruising once more, so up to the church again. By this time I'd been out for an hour or so, it was starting to get dark (just starting, mind you) and my hands were cramping. It was fun while it lasted. Time to go inside.

Kyle told me that it took him a week of trying to get up to the church. I guess I'm doing well then. 

Watching the U of Wpg's convocation on a Webcast

Well, it's another weather-odd day in Newfoundland and I'm sitting in front of the computer watching the live webcast of the U of Wpg's convocation!!! My daughter was just on a little while ago. I cried. I really wish I could be there, but it's nice that they offer the web option for those, like us, who are away. Paul and I sat together and waited for her 5 seconds of fame, then sent her a text message. Paul, being Paul, said to tell her to stop picking her nose... I did... Good thing she's got a sense of humor and rebutted with a "U saw that? I hoped you hadn't!" ... *sigh*

What's new in our family these days? Well, Sean, the eldest at 26 is taking a Construction Electrician course at Academy Canada. It will include an apprenticeship program and he's doing very well in it so far. He's been able to brag several times that he's gotten 100% in his exams! Way to go, Sean!

Kyle is now the Assistant Manager at the Irving Circle K store that he's been working at for the past year. No more school for him. He dropped out of the Physics program last year and has no immediate intentions of returning to university. Every now and then he mentions hair styling as a career option...

Both boys plan to return to Manitoba eventually... in fact, I suspect they'll both be heading there as soon as they can. *sigh* I'll miss them.

Dana's graduation doesn't mean the end of studies for her. She plans to attend the U of Manitoba to become a Dietician. A 2-year post-degree program. I wish they had a program here at MUN, but they don't... in fact, they had a 4-year program that they were talking about dropping altogether.

Moving on...

The weather here is up-and-down. It can't seem to make up its mind whether to let summer arrive or not. Spring-like weather means we're still getting holy-poop rainstorms, heavy fog, and the occasional sunny day. Not necessarily warm on the sunny day. Two days ago we had a lovely warm shower! It was like standing in a sauna. I managed to get a bit of colour on my face by virtue of helping with the stream clean-up behind my friend's place. I also managed to get bitten by almost every darned black fly in the swampy area! Itchy doesn't begin to describe the feeling. By the 2nd day I gave in and took an anti-histamine to alleviate the horrible itch! Unfortunately it was a "drowsy" formula... didn't know that when I went to fetch Sean. Hmmm... what a zoned-out feeling that was. I made darned sure that Sean drove home while I let my mind wander in la-la land by itself. I didn't take the next tablet until bedtime!!

Oooh! New thing! Paul FINALLY persuaded me to take a motorcycle training course. *sigh* Yes. I'm going to try to become a "motorcycle mama." It's a 2-day course. Friday is in a classroom, Sunday is in the parking lot on a motorcycle. *gulp* Keep your fingers crossed for me! I'm very nervous. But resolved. If all else fails, it will get Paul off my back. At best, I'll be able to ride Kyle's cute little Buell Blast every now and then.

Painting continues apace. Three golden retrievers in one painting. As a break from that painting, I've been working on a cute portrait of our little Niki-girl. She's much easier to do. Gee... I wonder why. Oh yeah... I have her right here as a model. I've also got an excellent photo that I'm working from. I have to literally yank myself away from that canvas to get to work on the commissioned one. Ah well... Fortunately Alia keeps me on the straight-and-narrow.

Next painting will be of the turkey chicks from next door. I've got new chicks to photograph and an old photo from a couple of years ago to use as the background. They're adorable-looking things. Much like chicken-chicks, but taller and with bigger feet. As they get older, they look very much like the "just add water" monsters from Marvin the Martian (remember Bugs Bunny?). Still cute, but kind of bizarre.

~ Christine

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Look 'em in the eye: FREE Messenger video chat Chat Now!

The weather outside is frightful...

but I think I'll put a fire on tonight. Seriously, it can't seem to make up its mind whether to rain, snow, or shine. Our swimming pool is "open," but unheated for now, and not likely to see any swimmers until it stays sunny for more than a few hours at a time. The hot tub is still getting plenty of use.

Paul and Kyle have their motorcycles out already. Paul's a die-hard biker, so that's hardly a surprise. Kyle only bikes on the nice days.

Nothing much has been happening in our corner of the world lately. Well, we did go to the Dominican Republic in January. That was pretty great. This is the decade-birthday year for Paul, Alia, Miranda and myself, so we hooked up with Pat and Joe (also turning over a new decade this year) and spent a week basking in the sunshine, going on excursions, and generally recharging our batteries and boosting our tans. Wait... did I already mention that in an earlier blog? Eh. Whatever. It was great fun and bears repeating.

We lost a furry member of the family in March. Nibbles, our sweet little old and frail kitty/ferret (depending on who you talked to) went to what some people euphemistically call "The Rainbow Bridge." Kyle misses her. :(  I think Sean's cat, Baby, also misses her. He's taken to grappling hard-core with Niki! He also chases after her when I'm trying to get her back upstairs, drags her down the stairs, then taunts and wrestles her to "his" room where he proceeds to give her a good tongue-lashing. Seriously. He spent about 10 minutes licking the dog while keeping her pinned down. He's the same size as the dog, so it's pretty funny.

I finally got around to painting the downstairs room which has been both studio and spare room. Yes. Sadly, I said farewell to the HIDEOUS teletubbies and farmyard scene that the previous owner had painted on the wall.  Ucky ucky ucky... It was also a hideous colour. Little Boy Blue blue with bright primary yellow trim. Gag me. It's a lovely orangey toffee colour now. Not quite pumpkin-coloured. Warm and cozy with bronze-toned drapes. Sean helped hang the drapes. :)

Hmmm.. I took up sewing for a while. Miranda and her classmates got into American Girl dolls, nearly half of them getting a doll for Christmas, and the clothes was pretty pricey. So... I made some nice outfits for Miranda and a few for her friends' birthdays. There's still more fabric, so I guess I'm not done yet.

I also started redecorating the living room last month. It's looking pretty good. We removed the decorator rugs, and I use that term loosely, as no decorator worth their salt should've installed those hideous (yes, there's that word again) green and pink and cream rugs in a living room! Canadian Tire came through with a matching pair of  multi-coloured area rugs with circles in squares ... which sounds weirder than it looks. Kent had a put-it-together-yourself shelf unit which is great for holding/displaying all my knitting supplies/yarns. Costco had these sweet wire mesh units that allow you to put together a combination of cube configurations. Games and puzzles and books, oh my... All easy to see! I'm still on the look-out for a large shelf-type unit for books and display. Nothing's crossed my path yet. The year's still young.

If you go over to my other blog post, (Click on "View Complete Profile" and it gives you a new page where you can see the link to my other blog site - Charmed by Christine) you'll see that I started drawing again. Yayyy... It's so much fun to get back into that, but it sure takes up a lot of time. The sketching and drawing stage of a commission is done, and I'm going to get into the painting stage tomorrow. I'm excited!! I hope he/she likes the finished product.

Sean and Miranda are cooking chili, so I'm off the hook for dinner! Since I can't think of anything else to add to a fairly boring blurb, I'll say good-bye for now. Good-bye!

Further to the broken dryer and water under the house episode:

(When it rains, it pours)

the dryer broke down AGAIN at Christmas while Dana was visiting. It took even longer for the actual service this time. Sure, the appliance guy came out, but we didn't get the actual part in place until January while we were away in the Dominican Republic. The appliance guy speculates that it might be the hose that's the problem. Paul crawled under the house (NEVER CRAWL UNDER THE HOUSE!!!) and found that we have a flexible hose running from one side of the building all the way to the other before venting outside. Yes, that's a problem. It should be a lot closer to the actual appliance. The big problem with that is the bloody air exchangers. They're in the same room as the dryer and the vent for the dryer has to be "a certain distance" (as yet undefined by a professional) away from the intake for the air exchangers. No big surprise. This has not yet been resolved. Give me a little more time! I promise I'll call today. *sigh*

Further to the visit from the Mutt and Jeff plumbers, Inc... The moisture problem in the basement is NOT due to ground water seeping from our backyard. The town had to repair a water line across the road from us. It seems there was a broken pipe running alongside the roadway, gushing water under the tarmac and (big surprise) into our basement. I've been afraid to send Paul to the basement (are you surprised?) to see how the moisture situation is doing. Do we still need a sump pump? A de-humidifier? I don't know!!!! *sigh*

Keeping in touch...

via The Blog.

I'm sending you the link to my blog. It'll show up in your e-mail each time I publish a new blog. Sorry sweetie.

I figure this is one way that I can ensure that the important people in my life (You now know who you are) can hear from me on a semi-regular basis.

Laugh out loud.
Groan at the bad humor.
Think of me.

Love, Chris

"Can I help who's next?" ... WTF??!!!

Am I the only one who hears that phrase at the local Timmy's and cringes? I hope not! It's not just a Newfoundland thing, as I recall hearing it years ago in Manitoba while standing in line at yet another Timmy's.

Is there some sort of correlation there? It seems to me that I only heard it at Timmy's, ... unless that was the only place my student-self stood in line long enough to hear it.

It's grammatically unattractive. "Can I help who is next?" Yes, yes! You know and I know that they really mean "Can I help the next person?" But how hard is it to say that correctly?

What about "Hi, can I help you?" or "Next, please!"

Nowadays I hear it nearly everywhere I go. Standing in line at Chapter's, the teller beckons me with a "Can I help who's next." Starbucks. Mary Brown's. McDonald's. It goes on!!!

I want to go over and 1) Educate them, and 2) Smack them. Not necessarily in that order.

It's a PUREBRED!!! ... *sarcastic snort*

I've read about them, I've heard about them, but I've never actually run into one of them in person. Until yesterday.

What's that, you say? I'm talking about those gullible people who acquire "designer dogs" and in all innocence claim that their dogs are "purebred!" *gaack!!*

I bumped into a woman and her children the other night while I was out with my Niki-girl. The kids clustered around and patted the puppy and began talking about their pup. "It's a designer dog" one little girl lisped. The mother explained that it's part pug and part beagle. I opened my mouth to wonder what kind of dog that would look like when it was fully-grown (???!!) and the woman continued to astound me by announcing that "It's a PUREBRED!"

I actually gaped at her. A few seconds went by while my  mouth hung open in disbelief. Then I started to explain that a dog with different breeds as its parents couldn't possibly be a purebred when I realized that this woman had joined the hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS, of gullible people who have been brainwashed into believing that their valuable dollars have been spent on a "designer dog."

When did that happen? Seriously? When? It used to be that when your dog jumped the fence and got caught by another dog not of the same breed, the resulting puppies would be called "mutts, Heinz 57's, or cross-breds." The puppies would be sold for pennies, given away, or even stuffed into a sack and thrown in the river for disposal. (harsh!)

Not today! Today these same dogs are eagerly sought after, bred by what we used to call "backyard breeders" and given the fancy-schmancy name of "Designer Dogs."

Pug + Beagle = Puggle
Labrador + Poodle = Labradoodle

It just goes on and on! It's crazy!! We used to GIVE these dogs away, and now the "breeders" are selling them for hundreds of dollars apiece! If only I'd known, I would've started breeding these mutts *ahem* "designer dogs" myself when I had the chance!

Nahhhh... then again, I really like knowing with a greater degree of reliability what my dog's going to be like. While Oslo, the malamute was a brute, at least I knew what to expect of him. I like knowing that my little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is the result of many years of careful breeding to get the very best of her breed. Sure, there's good and bad in that. I recognize that. However, careful and conscientious breeders take pride and care to get the very best puppies by watching not only the conformation and temperament, but the health of their breeders.

Hybrid vigour is all well and fine. Some of the best dogs I've had have been crossbreds. There was never any pretentious posturing on anybody's part to call it a "designer dog" and give it some made-up half-assed name. My dogs were proudly called "MUTTS!"

Dominican Republic holiday

We had an EXCELLENT time!!! Besides being a real eye-opener on how the other half of the world lives, it was a great holiday. The resort was a 4-star, so not fancy-schmancy. However, that's not what we were looking for (nor wanting to pay for). The place was clean, air-conditioned, and had good food which varied slightly through the week. We had ocean-view rooms and so we were able to listen to the sound of the waves all night. Just like home. :) (Yes, we were right on the ocean, not just a distant glimpse with a long walk to get there)

We did a few excursions! White-water rafting, Quad/dune-buggy, snorkeling. We spaced them out with one day in between, so we were able to recuperate, just in case we needed it. Paul and Alia were on the quads, while Miranda and I shared the dune buggy. I liked the idea of being able to push one pedal to make it go, another to make it stop, and steering was simply turning the wheel. The quads had their own little issues. I.E. Paul's brakes didn't work so well, and the throttle stuck. Steering them was difficult... not very well-maintained. I guess it's hard when you don't have easy access to parts and service.

Anyway, dune buggying was fun! Even Miranda got a turn to drive. Since the buggy sits lower to the ground, the two of us were covered to the eyebrows within two puddles. When she had the wheel, she steered us into two of the biggest, dirtiest, muckiest, mud puddliest puddles. The video that the tour guide shot shows our buggy engulfed in a dome of flying muck! What fun! The tour involves a stop off at a river where everybody pretty much lays down in the water to rinse off. Little kids showed up to help get the worst of the muck off. I'm really glad that I brought chocolate bars (from halloween) to give away!!

We had a 2-hour drive to get to the mountains where we started our rafting. It was a great opportunity to see some of the countryside. It's a beautiful place. I managed to get a few pictures, but since the vehicle was moving, some of the photos (actually most of them) are a bit blurry and I'm not sure whether I should bother saving or posting them. We drove through Santiago, one of their bigger cities, and I tell you, what a craaaaazy place to drive! I wondered whether there were actually any rules to driving on the roads! Tons of motorcycles... they sort of flock like birds on the street. Motorcycles are the major form of taxi. They allow a maximum of 5 on a bike!!! Vendors stand next to the roads and sell everything from pineapples to cell phones, newspapers to chickens. Crazy!

The rafting was lots of fun once we got there. Again, some video, but with our little camera. It was taken by one of the guides who had our camera in his wet-bag. We had bought a waterproof camera at Christmas with the idea of using it on this trip, but the electricity cut out that night (Haiti thing) and so the battery wasn't charged.  I had to take my little Coolpix instead, and it spent most of its time in the wet-bag. Paul, Alia, and Joe jumped off a cliff and I've got that on video!

Alia has some pictures posted on her Facebook, as well as a video we shot of the snorkeling on Paradise Island.

Ooooh... snorkeling! Wow!!! It was super! It involved another long bus ride, about 2 1/2 hours drive, but again, worth the trip. The drive there and back was another adventure. Gorgeous countryside, but the people don't have it easy. There's such extreme poverty. Many of them literally live in shacks with dirt floors. Not much money going around. It makes you appreciate what you've got at home.

Snorkeling at Paradise Island... We had to take a boat to get to the little island where we snorkeled. What an absolutely beautiful place! It's just a small island that you can almost spit across on a windy day, and they've got 6 huts set up on it. Three tour groups, 2 huts apiece. One of "our" huts was the bar/beverage place, the other was where they kept the equipment. If you EVER get the chance to snorkel in a reef... take it! It was definitely worth it!

We had a bit of rain when we first got to the Dominican. Three days of it, actually. Nothing torrential, just showers and overcast skies. We went for walks along the beach. It was a good way to get used to the temperature without roasting ourselves. We had sun from Sunday until the day we left. We all got a bit of colour, although some of us were more on the reddish tinge than others. :) I should mention that we spoke to many people who had been there for a week or more before us and it had been rainy and overcast the entire time! We were very lucky to get sunshine. I hear December is usually a good time to holiday in the D.R.

The resort had planned activities on the beach, such as volleyball, football, and baseball games. At one point, our group started a volleyball game and a bunch of people drop in and out of it for the next hour or more. Lots of fun. The non-motorized water activities were free, while anything that required a motor cost a small amount. Alia and Miranda went out on the Banana Boat once! That's where this banana-shaped balloon thing is dragged behind a motorboat and you do your best to hang on for 15 or 20 minutes. They come back to pick you up if you fall off. Alia fell off. Miranda clung for dear life. I wish I had pictures, but I was suntanning at the time and didn't know they were out on the water! Kayaks and canoes were available, boogie-boards... 

Paul says that next time (?!!!) he would want to go for longer than 7 days. 10 days would be good, leaving a day on either side for travel-time. Alia would sooner leave directly from St. John's without stopping off in Toronto. I guess that's what we're going to look for next time. Next year? The year after? Who knows! I'm looking forward to it, whenever it is!!