Living on The Rock

January is chugging along nicely...

2012-01-19T08:29:00.000-03:30

Wow! I see it's bee a while since I chatted in my Blog! Christmas has come and gone and the New Year (2013!!!) is well on its way.

What's new? Well, I'd been working like crazy on portraits for Christmas commissions. They were done with TWO days to spare! Yay me!!! I'm trying to build an interest for Valentine's Day portraits, followed by Easter and all those other events in people's lives. Here's a link to my Portrait Blog. I added a slideshow of my work to the top of it, so if you're not interested in reading through everything, or looking at the "in progress" pictures, you don't have to.

My Charmed by Christine Portraits blog

I'm still working at Samuel & Co, a high-end ladies' clothing store in the Avalon Mall. I'm doing between 15 and 25ish hours/week, which is just fine with me. I need time to do my drawing, you know!!!

Speaking of drawing, I've started work on a new portrait and need to work on that tomorrow. Hmm... I'm also trying to get the house painted. When will I find time for that, I wonder?

I have a Wedding Show to attend mid-February, and another mid-March. They're lots of fun (for me) and I love meeting people, chatting them up. Typical of me, I know.

The dogs are doing great! They're as sweet and adorable as ever, and Igor continues to attend Agility training through the Newfoundland Athletic Dog Association.

It's lots of fun for the two of us. He runs around like a little Energizer Bunny/Goat Boy, hopping over obstacles, through tunnels, across teeters and off-the-ground bridges... I'm looking forward to competing with him this summer! I hope somebody's able to take videos and photos of us! (I'm the NADA's volunteer photographer... )

Sean and Kyle are both in the market for new jobs. Still. Sean signed up with the Union and is being sent to courses that he'll need to have under his belt when he's on a construction site. Falling lessons... as in, how to correctly wear a harness so that IF you fall off something, you won't hurt yourself. Crazy!

Miranda's in Grade 7 now. High school! She's TWELVE!!! OMG!!! Time just flies, doesn't it? Even her gifts are more grown-up these days. A lovely pink toolset (REAL tools!!! Made for Women's smaller hands!!!), from Grandma Sherrill, her very own kite (this is an important thing to have around our house!), and a Bow and Arrow set from us... (Paul's idea - now he has to figure out what she can shoot her arrows into. SAFELY!!! lol...)

Her birthday party was this past weekend. A sleep-over with 4 of her girlfriends. There was very little actual sleep involved. They watched movies and goofed around until the very weeeeee hours. The last "man" standing fell asleep at 7am!

She's attending her first-ever school dance tonight. "Semi-formal," she tells me last night. Just what exactly does that mean? No jeans. Oh... okay... We had to rustle something up from her wardrobe that would be appropriate. Leggings and a cute blouse with ruffles. And make-up. Omigosh...

Well, I must move along now. I'm working from noon until 5 and have a few things to do before I leave. I have my 5-pin bowling afterward, so I should probably put something out for supper tonight. Maybe. Maybe not? Eh... Sean's home. HE can cook supper! :D

Later. Do go check out my other blog. I do good work and I so love to show it off!
Hugs from ME!!!

Moose tracks means Moose nearby... right?

2011-12-01T09:42:00.000-03:30

I was woken to the urgent news that if I love my dogs (and you know I do!) I should get up RIGHT NOW and take them for a walk before the rain starts!!!

Um... okay... Give me that cup of coffee and I'll wake up and give that idea some thought. No no no... Get up NOW and take the dogs for a walk because we're expecting the equivalent of 1 1/2 feet of snow in rainfall form.

Well, that's a lotta rain, which means a whole lotta wet. I've got the day off my part-time job. All I have on my agenda is cooking supper and working on my drawing commissions (a shih tzu and a pair of pit bulls).

SURE! I'll go for a walk with my little guys!

Dress, feed dogs, finish coffee, bundle up for the (WOW!) wind.

Cell phone in my pocket. Check.

Dog leash for just in case. Check.

Kleenex in one pocket for blowing my nose. Check (hey, it's important!!)

Aaaaand away we go down the road towards the Father Troy Trail.

Whew, it must've been kinda wet lately, because that spot between the 2nd and 3rd set of stairs that the East Coast Trails Association had built in 2010 is Muuudy.

The disgusting bit of land below Mr. Tapper's dump pile is as disgusting as ever. Muddy and slimy. Somewhat stinky. C'mon dogs... let's keep going.

Down the stairs to Tapper's Cove. Across the crumbling dock. Up the stairs past Tapper's Cove. *huff puff* ... it's been a while and I'm a bit out of condition for climbing such steep stairs!!!

Moving along to what we call "Perspiration Point" because by this time we're sweating. It's the turn at the end of Torbay Bight, just before the cows. Keep going...

The dogs are racing up and down the hillside beside me. Lagging behind, catching up. Racing ahead, racing back. Up and down. Down and up. They're happy. Their tails are wagging and their tongues are lolling.

Ooooh... lookie here! Hoof prints. Cow? No... can't be. There's only one set. Hmmm... I'm no country girl, but I'm a-thinking it's moose prints. Cool! A moose wuz here sometime this morning. Look at how he slipped and slid along the trail! Wow! I can see where his toes dug into the ground as he must've jumped a bit. Oh! He slipped again... look at that skid mark!

I get to the part of the trail where somebody has kindly placed six wooden pallets to get across a particularly gross and disgusting part of the trail. I look ahead while framing my iPhoto camera and notice something moving waaay ahead of me.

It's a moose's arse. Um... where there's moose's arse, there's the rest of the moose. Right? Right!!!

Turn around, call the dogs, move it on OUTTA there ASAP!!!!

I had a relatively uneventful trek back home, but I kept turning around to see if the moose I'd been inadvertently following was purposefully following Me!

Luckily, not.

November et arrive!

2011-11-07T09:39:00.000-03:30

Egad! It's November already. I have to ask again, "Where the heck does the time go?!" ...

I was at the Holiday Inn yesterday for their Multicultural Fair. My table received a lot of appreciative comments. Yay! I didn't bring my custom-made table dressings, but made do with what was there. I'm very glad that I had my banner to hang in front of the table! Something about seeing the boxes and suitcases used to transport "stuff" hiding under the tables just doesn't do it for me. I like the spaces to look clean and attractive. Picky? Who? Me? lol...

Many people that came by my Charmed by Christine - Portraits table seemed interested in the idea of purchasing a portrait. I just have to wait and see if some of the seeds planted in their minds will germinate into actual commissions. Christmas is just around the corner and portraits are a great gift idea. Gift certificates are my latest addition. That way the gift can be presented on time, but the recipient can make the decision about the final portrait. It also removes the pressure of time off of me! Waiting for somebody to nibble.

I met a really sweet lady at the show yesterday. Not that I haven't met nice people on previous occasions! This one was particularly sweet! Sharon Christmas. Yes. That's really her name. :D She does the most gorgeous handmade jewellery I've seen in a long long time! I'm going to attach her Facebook page as a link so you can check out some of her work. She's only been in St. John's for about a year and a half, and will probably be leaving sometime in the next couple of years, but I hope to keep in touch with her.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Soul-to-Keep-Hand-Made-Jewellery-Accessories-by-Sharon-Christmas/154816227905676

The variety of ethnic food at the fair was great! I managed to have lunch from the Shalimar Restaurant again. I really do like their food. :D

Alia finished working my table for me at the end of the day. I had a meeting scheduled at Samuel & Co at 5:30 and couldn't stick to the end of the fair. She and Paul packed things up (looks better than when I do it!!!) and took it all home. I didn't get out of the meeting until 8:30 and I tell you, I was POOPED! I have never been so happy to get home and sit down to a meal that I hadn't cooked in my entire life. Thai chicken soup. Again, thanks to Paul and Alia for that!

It's 9:30 am now. Monday. I'm going to spend some time working on Cohen on the boat, my latest commission. It's a beauty! A Portuguese Water Dog on a sailboat out in Trinity. Instead of a portrait of the dog, this is intended as a memory of how they spend their summers on their sailboat. I love it! It may be my best work to date. I'm not going to be posting any progress pictures until after Christmas, as it's a gift for the hubby, but I know you're going to love it when you see the final drawing!

Work tomorrow. Off Wednesday. Work Thursday. *gulp* 20% off day at the Avalon Mall! It's going to be madness. Sheer madness! I've NEVER attended the event, but I've been assured that it's going to be a crazy crazy day. Everybody is on the schedule. Our lunch and snacks will be provided by head office of Samuel & Co. Breaks will happen whenever (?) and I'm going to be working from 9:30 to 5:30! Stores are open from 8 to midnight. Hoo boy...

I wonder if I'm going to be up for bowling that evening. ... I sure hope so! I'm in a 5-pin bowling league that plays every Thursday from 8 - 10 pm. My game's been improving steadily. I started off just breaking 100, and am now managing to get @ 150 on a regular basis. My highest score so far was this past week. 181! That number works as itself backwards and forwards as well as upside-down! lol...

The sun is shining. The drawing is beckoning. The dogs will want a stroll later. I'm looking forward to a great day today!

Ta for now!

Nearly October already!!!

2011-09-30T11:58:00.002-02:30

Where the dickens does the time go? I mean, really...

I hear we may be getting another hurricane this weekend. Rumours.. founded or un... I guess we'll see.

I haven't written much about it beyond Facebook, but I recently got a part-time job at a women's clothing store called "Samuel & Co" in the Avalon Mall. It's part-time, @ 15 hours a week is all I was really looking for. I walked in with Dana while she was visiting from Winnipeg, looking for a casual office jacket that would be ideal for job-hunting. Something classic and classy. I had a great time "visiting" with one of the sales associates. Sherri is a bubbly lady with a great personality, and I've chatted with her on other visits. I casually asked her if they were hiring. To my surprise, the answer was "Yes." ... She had the Assistant Manager come out to eyeball me, and I walked out of the store with an interview set up for the following day.

I rushed home, euphoric with the idea, revamped my resume and tried to figure out what to wear! (these things are important, you know!)

I've now completed my 4th shift, and I'm still in training mode. I had a week off to work on the Wedding Show for my Pet Portrait biz, and am participating in the Farmer's Market in Torbay over the next 2 Sundays, with other events coming up whenever I hear of them. (I'm really trying to make a go of my portrait business!)

The training days are sort of odd things. The first day I sat in the back room, in a comfy chair, reading their policies and procedural manual. The second day I spent 5 hours trying on everything I could in the store! Princess time. I LOVE trying on clothes, but 5 hours was tiring.

The official 3rd day of training was cancelled on account of the no-show Hurricane Maria, but I've since done that one this week. It was a hoot! Spanx Training. I have to tell you a bit about it.

For those of you who don't know what Spanx are (lucky things!), they are control undergarments that are intended to smooth your profile into curvy and luscious lines. They really work. Really... They're just very entertaining to get into! I know this because as part of my training, I had to try them on!!!

There are several different styles, and the store only carries a few of them. Most are pretty simple... step into them, pull them up a bit at a time until they're sitting where you want them to be.

However, the "Slim Cognito Shape-suit" is a bit more problematic, and it's this one I'm going to describe...

Here's a picture of it:

The innocent-looking garment

This is their description of it: Spanx is shaping up and innovating yet again! The Shape-Suit introduces a zoned-compression option into the slip category. This seamless shaper, which features removable underwire and a narrow strap platform, looks like a bodysuit but provides the all-in-one coverage of a slip!

Here's how it goes on:

1. Step one foot into the garment.

2. Manage to stick that first leg through the minuscule hole at the bottom and proceed to squeeze the garment up to thigh height.

3. Stick 2nd foot through other leg, and attempt to squeeze the garment to the same thigh height.

4. Spend several minutes attempting to "S P R E A D" the garment open enough to enable you to have both thighs in. Continue to tug garment up to thigh height.

5. Manage to establish your dominance over the thigh shaping area of the garment, only to discover that your hips are now attempting to take over.

6. SQUEEZE (and twist and wiggle) your hips into the appropriate portion of the garment.

7. Pull garment up to bust-height... this will take more twisting and wiggling.

Your co-worker will be coming to the door sometime during this process to ask how you're doing. Your response will vary from muffled to garbled to outright laughter, depending on whether your squeezing or pulling, or checking out your pretzel-shaped body in the mirror while in the midst of dressing.

To continue:

8. Put your arms through the arm straps of the garment. This is best done with firm pressure applied to the strap to keep it from snapping back down to your waist.

9. Gently but firmly tug the under-wired bodice section of the garment over your bust... settle the "girls" in place.

At this point, you should be able to shimmy yourself into proper position, wiggling all those little bits into the spots where they're going to be "controlled" by the garment.

Voila! The garment, while difficult to get into, is worth the effort! (aside from the fact that the girls aren't being supported by your own lift-and-shape bra - a serious drawback from my vantage point. I'd get the open-front version where I can wear my own bra. Does the same job without all the shenanigans.)

Your body looks fabulous. Put your clothes over it and confirm the assessment by turning and posturing in front of the mirror for a few pleasure-filled minutes. Your ass looks firm and perky, your waist is flat and solid, all those little bumps and lumps are miraculously smoothed away. *smile*

Then comes the realization that what goes on, must come off... Have fun peeling the banana-skin down.

******

Shift 4, yesterday, I spent time out on the floor, greeting customers with welcoming smile. While I'm a very friendly sort, my smile was feeling a bit tired by the end of 5 hours. The rest of me was in hot pursuit, in a tired sort of way.

******

Bowling at 8, but I got a ride, so had to leave the house much earlier. Walked the dogs quickly, fed them their supper, and headed off for a few fun-filled hours of cussing at the 5-pins.

*********

Just recollecting the plane that flew over Torbay Bight last Saturday morning... Check out this picture! It's the Department of Fisheries doing a check of the cod-fishers. I wondered how they'd know how many fish there were in each boat. Now I know! They swoop down low enough, over and over, and count the fish one by one!

Close enough to count the codfish, one at a time!

*********

Saw a moose meandering through our yard yesterday (Thursday) morning around 7am! I ran downstairs in my altogethers to fetch my Nikon with the zoom lens. By the time I got back to the bedroom, Mr. Moose was scooting up the hillside so I zipped out the door onto the balcony to catch a couple of quick shots. He was motoring faster than I thought, so I didn't get as good a batch of pix as I'd hoped. Add to that the fact that I was standing on the balcony in all my glory, shivering in the early morning chill...

I hear it's moose-hunting season this weekend. I could hide a moose in the house if I had to!

Ta for now!

Happy Birthday, IGOR!

2011-09-23T10:30:00.000-02:30

It's been a year since Hurricane Igor hit Newfoundland, causing so much havoc and destruction. (Are those the same thing?) Things are looking pretty good, although nothing but time will replace the gorgeous trees that were blown down. Hurricane Maria, which was supposed to hit us last week, Sept 16th, turned out to be a no-show. She was a bit of wind and very little rain, and I don't remember hearing about any damage. Let's hear it for Hurricane Maria! Hooray!

Our families' remembrance of Hurricane Igor, while minor in landscaping matters, is pretty awesome in personal matters. September 23rd is the birthday of our little Cavalier boy. Igor "Hurricane" Stravinsky was born during the hurricane last year and subsequently blew into our lives.

Itty bitty baby!

Not at our house yet!

Igor loves to chew!

He and his "sister," Niki (Nikola Tesla), took a solid 3 weeks to establish any kind of relationship. Niki would wake up in the morning, take one look at this squirmy little puppy and her face would wrinkle up in what could only be called "disgust." At times, his enthusiasm was too much for her and she'd leap to the couch to escape from the little demon-dog. For the first week she was able to escape his attention by climbing the stairs. That didn't last long. Intrepid and bold, Igor was climbing the stairs at 9 weeks of age! His toy of choice was Niki. Her ears were long and silky, perfect for targeting and clinging to. Her tail was the next target.

It took Niki a while, but she finally groomed the little guy into the perfect playmate. His enthusiasm still knows no bounds, and he gets carried away with the face-licking routine. She usually gives a half-hearted growl and he subsides. She taught him to swim this summer. To her chagrin, he's a better, faster swimmer, and usually manages to grab the stick from the stream before she gets there. Stick wars ensue...

The two of them snooze together more often than not, play exhausting games of chase and dodge in the backyard, chase after tossed balls (but never ever bring them back!!), explore the hillsides and trails together, roll on choice spots of ground (Fish or snail goo, or maybe turkey droppings?) charm everybody and anybody that encounters both of them on their many rides out with their mom. (Hi, that's me!) ...

In short, they're all I've ever wanted in a pair of dogs. Thank you, Niki and Igor, for all the love you give me and allow me to lavish on you.

Happy 1st Birthday, Igor. xoxoxo

You know you're on a roll when...

2011-07-15T17:19:00.000-02:30

It's been a funny sort of week!

First, there was the "Chicken Bone" incident on Wednesday night. We were eating supper and Paul dropped the chicken leg on the floor. Before he could reach down and grab it, the dogs were both there, snatching it up! The leg was gone!!! We figured Niki had gotten there first, so we palpated her throat and felt "the bone." She was in no distress, but we couldn't decide whether to freak and panic or not.

"Chicken bones are bad for dogs."

That's the mantra I'd grown up hearing. We were somewhat relieved to find that many people had written to say that their dogs had gone through the same experience without any trouble. There were things to watch out for, of course. But aside from the chewed-up and splintered bones that caused intestinal problems, it didn't sound too bad.

But still... I worried.

Thursday afternoon I called my vet's office for advice. She suggested I bring Niki down for a quick x-ray.

Half an hour later, the vet called me into the back room to show me the results. No bone. Not a sliver of a bone. Not a shadow of a bone. Nothing. Nada.

I handed him Igor's leash.

"DO HIM."

20 minutes later, we're looking at the inch-long piece of bone. It had passed through his stomach, where it obviously lost much mass and was proceeding along nicely. The vet reminded me to keep an eye on Igor's output for the next day or so, just to make sure that it didn't cause any problems on the way out.

Today is Friday. He seems fine.

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

Friday morning:

I was sitting in bed with a cup of coffee, Niki and Igor plastered against my sides, and reading one of the Mook's books (the "Fablehaven" series by Brandon Mull). Suddenly Niki started barking. She'd spotted something down the road. I looked and spotted my neighbour down the way on his driveway throwing rocks at what appeared to be my neighbour's turkeys. I picked up my handy-dandy always-on-the-headboard binoculars (cuz you never know when a whale or seal or dolphin or what-not are going to show up in the bay) and took a better look.

Not turkeys! He was throwing rocks at a trio of small dogs! His own dog was cringing further up the driveway while he took threatening steps towards these poor little critters. They took off at a run in the direction of my house. I grabbed Niki off the bed, called to Igor, threw my housecoat on, and ran for the front door.

Chaaaaarge!!!! Christine to the rescue!!!

The three little dogs were sniffing around our shed by the time I got outside, and my lovely neighbour, Regina (Hi Regina!!!) was also outside in her housecoat. (We're such a pair!)

Mama, papa, and baby dog. Such friendly little things! The little one, not very old, maybe 4 months, came dashing over for a cuddle while her parents danced around me in a frenzy of delight. Such sweeties!

I brought them onto my front porch and checked their collars for identification. Lo and behold, they ALL had DOG TAGS with their HOME PHONE NUMBER!!!! (Regina had already recognized the dogs and had gone for the phone to call their owner.)

HOORAY!!!!

I called their home, and their anxious dad was down within minutes to fetch the little darlings. He had fed them their breakfast and let them out for a quick potty, whereupon they decided to go for a wander! (They crossed Torbay Road!!!) I'm relieved that they made it across safe and sound, particularly since they had a puppy with them.

Now, here's what really gets me:

The good feelings associated with re-uniting the dogs and their owner are so strong that it made me feel all good inside all day! I'm still running on the fuel from that. The wriggly little puppy was so adorable, and the two adults were such sweet-natured things! Their dad was thrilled to find them safe and sound!

It took so little time and effort on my part. But it produced such happiness!

So... how could the big bad man down the way be so mean-spirited that he was compelled to throw rocks at these little dogs instead of helping them find their way home? It doesn't take much to be a Good Samaritan.

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

I heard there was a sale on at the Avalon Mall, so I grabbed the girl-child and went shopping. We weren't very motivated to spend money, but enjoyed the time together. Pumpkin-Spice Lattes (decaf for the child) and Red Velvet Cake were delicious memories in short order.

We'd stopped off at the jewelry store upstairs... "Icing," where the girl-child and I hunted for just the right earrings for her. A woman nearby dropped a package of earrings on the floor next to her foot. She continued poking through the earrings and then walked away! I asked her if she wasn't going to pick up the package of earrings. She looked at me, looked at the earrings on the floor and said "It's not my problem."

Um... huh??

"But you dropped them!" I protested.

She walked away.

I commented loudly to my girl-child that she should never become such a rude person. I mentioned the word "cow" in the context of rude people. She assured me that such a thing would never happen.

Five minutes later the woman, shopping completed, paused on her way out the door and said, "Next time, mind your own business."

Without pausing to think, I shot back with, "You know, lady, if everyone was like you, there'd be a whole lotta shit lying around."

It felt good to have a rebuttal.

For the next time, and you know there WILL be a next time, I must memorize the following phrase:

"If everyone was like you, honey, we'd be waist-deep in shit."

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

Well, that's my day so far. My son is making from-scratch pizza. I think there's still some blueberry wine in the fridge. Life is good.

A rant. A lengthy one. Some disturbing images...

2011-06-20T13:29:00.001-02:30

Last week I took the dogs for a walk down to Torbay’s Big Beach. The sewage outfall pipe has apparently been replaced and I’d heard rumours (unfounded, perhaps) that the large, yet invisible, signs warning people away from the beach were going to be removed. I even heard word of a big opening ceremony. Again, the rumours may be nothing more than that. Rumours.

So, there I was, walking the beach and very dismayed at my findings. I’m going to post the photos, as disgusting as they are. I’m sorry... but I think the impact of seeing it for yourself speaks more strongly than any of my words.

A mini-pad. No wings...

A diaper wipe

NOT a scallop...

Another "disposable" cloth

This, for the guys who don't know, is a tampon applicator. Plastic

Another tampon

Add caption

Pink! Isn't it pretty!!! :P

Toilet paper, I think.

This one looks like a kid's plastic toy trumpet

All these photos were taken during a 10-minute span of time. I didn’t have to go looking for any of the items, as they all stand out quite clearly. I don't know about you, but I read the package of tampons when I was fairly young and I'm sure I remember the instructions saying "DO NOT FLUSH" ... What is wrong with these women? Do they seriously not know any better?! You don't flush this stuff! While the fluffy cotton with is cute little string will eventually disintegrate, the plastic is NOT biodegradable!

There was a machine, affectionately called the “Muffin Monster” which was supposed to grind whatever came through the sewer pipe before it entered the bay, there to be spewed out and carried off into the Atlantic via the ocean current. I’d seen several examples of this machine’s failure to adequately chew up material ever since our arrival in Torbay. I thought I was looking at a scallop when I first saw one lying on the beach! We now call them “Tampy the Mouse.” It turns out that the machine isn’t even in the ground anymore. It was removed for repair (?) and it was advised (?) that it wasn’t truly necessary (?) as the new pipe was sufficiently far enough away from the shore to ensure that it wouldn’t wash back. (?!?!)

Apparently, that is NOT the case. I've been told that the "guys" go down and clean the beach "regularly" ... I'm sure it wasn't in their job description. I don't envy them. Apparently they pull a couple of bags of "stuff" out whenever they go down.

Capelin are coming soon. Think anybody will be fishing in Torbay?

Change of topic:

I thought you might be interested in seeing the result of the work done by the owner of the property just west of Tapper's Cove. (78-82 Dunphy's Lane, Torbay) This is the area where the large appliances, etc. were being thrown (looked like the town dump) and I understood he'd been ordered to clean up the mess. (Update: An Environmental Protection Officer sent a letter to Torbay's Town Council indicating that this mess was to be cleaned up by June 22, 2011. Inappropriate items, such as metal products like duct work, metal piping, heating radiators, and an old trailer undercarriage, children's toys, domestic garbage, old appliances and an old wooden shed, etc. were to be removed and properly disposed of.) (I happen to know that there's a wooden boat hiding in that pile, too!) If this is what he considers "cleaning up," I'd hate to have him in charge of any major works in town!

There's also a smelly sludge making its way down the hill, across the trail, and down to the ocean where you can see the murky guck swirling around against the shore. A section of the newly-minted East Coast Trail, just between the two sets of stairs (Tapper's Cove to Father Troy) is muddy, which isn't the worst problem. It stinks! STINKS! It smells like some sort of raw sewage is draining down. Several HUNDRED people walk that trail in a fortnight's period (Hello there all you Tely Hikers!), and each one of them must go through that section. I’d like to think that somebody else has noted the problem and informed the TECT and the Town of Torbay. However, most people seem to think that it’s surely somebody else's responsibility, or somebody else has already informed "somebody."

It's hard to see, but there's a sludge of black oozing into the water.

Is that a fridge?! There's a boat under the pile to the left... A dory, or something.

Clean fill? What's clean fill supposed to be made up of? Is this clean fill?

Aww... the dogs are trying to drink the water. There's usually a bit of a stream with clean water for them. What a disgusting disappointment. This is the trail that people walk through! It absolutely REEKS!

The first image is of the garbage which has apparently been left under the "soil." Is that really appropriate "fill" material?! I've taken other photos over the past year and sent them on to the town. Has there been any monitoring of what he uses and how he cleans it up? Doubtful, based on the speed, and the fact that I took a small video not long ago where a dump truck was pouring soil over the bank with the appliance-pile still sitting nearby. It's disgraceful that property owners are allowed to do as they like with their land, no matter what the repercussions to anything else affected by their actions.

Keep Torbay Clean? I'm more and more disgusted. There's no garbage bins at Torbay Beach for people to put their trash into. Shortly after we moved here, I spoke to one of the Town’s “people” about setting out concrete garbage bins and was told that vandalism was more likely to happen. People would throw the garbage bins into the ocean, as had happened at the Gully.

Should've taken a picture before the wind blew it around... Micky D's trash in a huge pile!

Well, gee whiz! Now they open their car doors and shovel their McDonald's and Tim Horton's garbage, cigarette butts, dirty diapers, etc. etc. etc. directly out onto the beach. Our family learned to take a plastic grocery bag on our walks so that we could pick up some of the debris found along the trail and on the beach. Pretty soon, the bags were too small for the job and we were lugging green garbage bags! With the damage to the sewage pipe, I've been reluctant to touch anything on the beach, with good reason. I don't claim that garbage bins will be 100% effective, but who knows! It might help a bit! We can be taught!!

Further to the Beach debris... I'm also attaching a couple of photographs of campfire debris. A number of teenagers from the high school were down by the beach last week and apparently decided that the beach was a good place to leave their trash. Garbage bags, half-empty bag of marshmallows, a bucket... Teens aren’t the only culprits. I’ve seen remains of campfires on the beach where adults have been just as negligent in picking up after themselves. Apparently, somebody else will clean up after them. Or the ocean will wash it all away and that’ll be the end of the problem. *snort* Ignoramuses...

Cuz the beach needs another bucket...

Should've photographed this yesterday when the 1/2 bag of marshmallows was still there.

And what campfire would be complete without the requisite plastic garbage bag?

Here’s a few pictures of metal debris. Apparently, they’re segments of the old sewage outfall pipe. They're rusting and sharp-edged. I hope you're all up on your tetanus shots! And just think, there was some sort of "Mermaid" photo shoot done at Torbay Beach yesterday afternoon. I wonder how those are going to turn out with all the garbage on the beach? PhotoShop, I suppose.

This is in the stream by the bridge...

and this tire rim is just on the other side of the bridge. This is the river that we helped the ECTA clean out last year!

Despite the large, yet seemingly difficult to see signs, people still use the beach. Heck, why shouldn’t they?! IT’S OUR BEACH!!! We deserve for our beaches to be clean! Our oceans aren’t a dumping ground! If we don’t look after things, who the heck will? Some mythical authority figure? Psht... I haven’t seen much evidence of that lately.

Rant over. For now. Thanks for listening. Hope it helps in some way to raise awareness of the problem and to truly, keep our town clean.

Summer is AWOL, and we discover "Stinky" the Mink

2011-06-20T09:54:00.001-02:30

“Another blustery Monday morning. Rain for everybody... a bit of fog, a bit of wind. Quite strong winds. About 3 mm of rain. And there’s moose. So, be careful behind the wheel today!” ... That’s the word from VOCM this morning.

A quick glance out the window corroborates the weather conditions. Yup. It’s raining and foggy. Again. *sigh* I thought it was heading towards summer. It was dry and non-rainy this past weekend. The sun, while a bit washed-out, was shining. We actually sat out on our back deck for several beautiful afternoon hours, playing cards with friends. Somebody seems to have hit the Rewind button again.

Ah well. That’s the way it goes. I’m sure that once we have summer in our grasp, all pains, agonies, and suffering will be forgotten and forgiven. I can hardly wait!

Moving on...

Paul found a baby mink on Friday night! It was chirping miserably on the parking lot of the Torbay Circle K, attracting a lot of unwanted attention from a pair of circling cats. He watched and waited for nearly half an hour to see if Mama Mink showed up for a rescue. No such luck. He says that he squatted down and reached out his hand and the little thing scrambled over and crawled in for a rescue.

You know your rough, tough, he-man is a softie when he shows up at the door with a ragged little bundle of fur snuggled in the crook of his arm. A STINKY little bundle of fur! There’s a very good reason that ferrets are de-scented. This guy has his musk glands firmly in place, and when he gets stressed... whew! Imagine the very worst smelling underarm scent you’ve ever encountered. (think back to that hot summer day when you sat on the bus with the sweaty, smelly guy next to you!) DOUBLE IT. You’re getting close.

Fortunately, we’re not noticing it so much anymore. (It’s Day 3) Either we’re getting used to it (it’s not all that unpleasant in small quantities), or our noses have had their linings singed off. Considering our Saturday afternoon guests noticed a slight odor, but weren’t offended by it ... his quote was “I like it!” ... it’s not that bad. Actually, I kept circling the kitchen in an effort to discover the source of the horrid armpit stink, (yes, I’m weird), only to discover that the smell was coming from the package of fresh basil!

We tried contacting the Wildlife people, to no avail. Did you know that Government services close down over the weekend?! The SPCA didn’t want anything to do with it. Even Heavenly Creatures, as helpful as Jessica was, couldn’t do anything for us.

No worries. We’re going to feed him up for a week or so and then release him ourselves. He’s eating well. Very well. I wonder if they eat until they bust or if they self-regulate. Hmm..

Because he has such tiny baby teeth, we figure he’s just teething now. We fed him small bowls of evaporated milk mixed with water. A 1: 2 milk to water ratio seemed to be favored. Some canned cat food, using the sample of Taste of the Wild that I picked up at the NL Pet Expo last weekend. I started thawing the feeder mice I keep in the freezer for our snakes. I thought, since he’s a small critter, we’d begin with the smallest size available. I was impressed to see him chomping through a half-frozen hopper! I picked up a handful of minnows from the pet store, and he seems to have enjoyed the first one, once he found it. I guess it doesn’t have a strong odor. Their noses aren’t their strongest asset.

We’re thinking that we should let him get some exercise so he doesn’t turn into a fat lump of furball with poor digestion (think of your last airline flight!), so we started releasing him into the downstairs bathroom for feedings. I’m planning to set a pan of water down for him to explore. Mink are semi-aquatic hunters and damn good swimmers, but the bathtub experience was traumatic. A smaller setting might be more appropriate. Tossing a pair of minnows in for good measure. Something for him to chase and catch.

lol... which reminds me of last evening! Our next door neighbour has one of those live-trap mouse catchers. She caught a mouse and offered it to us for little Stinky. Let the fun begin.

Sequence of events:

Set trap in mink bin.

Slide open the trap door.

Mouse FLIES out.

Mouse zooms around mink bin and returns to trap.

Flies back out of back side of trap.

Decision is made to remove the trap so the mink has a chance to catch it.

Open mink bin.

Mouse flies out of mink bin and zips into kitchen.

Mook and I scream. I dance in place, my heart going pitter-patter. Mook jumps onto the couch.

Regina and Paul scramble after it, dustpan in hand. Paul laughing like a loon.

It took some work, but the dreaded mouse was soon clobbered and ready for re-insertion in the bin.

BUT!!! ... there’s always a “but.” ... There was a second mouse in the trap! Who knew?! It took advantage of our distraction with his compatriot and also flew out of the mink bin. (More screams from Mook and I.) This one stayed behind the buffet in the dining room. It took a bit more work to finagle it out, but again, the dustpan proved to be a good tool for sedating the damn thing. So, two adult mice, one live, one definitely deceased.

Moments after putting the still-barely alive one in, I heard a startled squeak, cut off quickly and replaced with a sort of crunching noise. Apparently, Stinky starts at the head and works his way down to the tail.

Well, we know he’s capable of eating larger prey. Now we’re going to see if he can catch it himself. I’m not sure how to do that. I am sure I don’t want to go through the role of mouse-catcher again.

It’s kind of interesting to have a wild mink around. We looked on the ‘net and found that many people have taken them on as pets. Probably the domestic ones that are used in the fur industry. Apparently there’s a window of opportunity when they’re young where you can socialize and tame them. Ours is probably in that window, but we’re more keen on releasing him into the wild than turning him into a pet. With that in mind, we’re not handling him more than necessary. Leather gloves. Did I mention he was able to eat a half-frozen mouse?! I like my fingers just fine where they are.

He strongly resembles a black ferret with a white chin-spot. Heavier headed, longer and stronger neck, and solid bodied. Soft, plushy coat. I can understand why people favor them as coats. But he’s got such an expressive face and I’ve watched a few of them cavorting in our stream over the last few years. They’re beautiful to watch! How could you peel the skin off and wear it? I don’t get it.

Catching up a bit...

2011-06-16T11:02:00.000-02:30

Hello again, all you wonderful Blog readers... lol... you know who you are. (Hi Mom and Schum!) :D

It's June 16, and spring may be here. Okay, it's PROBABLY here, but some days it's hard to tell. In fact, if it weren't for the dandelions and lush greenery (mostly on the same plant), it'd be tough to tell by the weather. It's been foggy for the majority of June. A couple of nice days. Tuesday was gorgeous! Sunny and almost warm. Wednesday (yesterday) wasn't too bad either. I took a walk on the East Coast Trail with Paul and the doglins in the afternoon. I wore mini gloves, but that might just be because I'm a wuss. Or not.

The dogs got all-over muddy, as usual. The trail is somewhat wet. I wonder why?! ;p I've discovered a great way of pre-washing the beasts before letting them in the house. The stream! I stand them in the stream and give them a little rinse. Yes, it's cold. No, they don't like it. Do I care? No! When they've got mud all the way up to their elbows, they need the pre-wash! Have you ever tried carrying a pair of 15 - 20 pound dogs up to a shower? At the same time?! No? Well then...

Today is a rainy rainy day. Paul drove in to work with Alia instead of riding the motorcycle. I guess it's not comfortable standing around in wet clothes in the cold basement at the hospital. Nope.

I'm putzing with my drawing of Karen and Sean, Alia's cousin and cousin-to-be. The wedding is on July 9th, (my Sean's birthday!), and I'm sure they'll love it.

Family members... shhhhhh!!! It's still a surprise!!!

I went to the NL Pet Expo this past Sunday. I'd hoped to see the Newfoundland Agility Demonstration, but sadly, I missed it. I stood in the arena, listening to some guy introducing a bunch of dogs in a ring. I didn't hear the announcement for the Agility Demo being held outside. I spoke to a lady on Tuesday who said the fellow at the demo wondered why there weren't many people watching... Bad acoustics? Yep.

It was a fun event nonetheless. I met a number of people with Cavaliers, and one woman (Hi Mel!) who's anxiously waiting for her first Cavalier to arrive! One of the little Cavvies, a 7 month old, looked exactly like Niki! No, I didn't get a photo of her, but believe me... the face was identical! Cute and pretty.

There were a number of vendors at the show, food samples (I prefer the Taste of the Wild), pet treats, (I discovered a new treat for the beasties... Freeze-dried Beef Lung! Yeah, I know... yuck... but hey! They love it) a pet groomer, NL Pet Finder, The Doghouse, Little Angels Doggy Daycare... many more!

One of the vendors was a pet portrait artist whose name completely escapes me! I have one of her cards somewhere around the house, but I can't seem to be able to find it... I'll be keeping my eyeballs peeled. She does really good work. She's been in business for about a year and doesn't advertise on Facebook or Website or anything. Just word-of-mouth. She says she's doing pretty well. I'd love to get in touch with her, so if anybody reading this blog knows her name or has her contact info... please let me know! "Dana" Something... (She and her mom at their booth in the background)

Here's Niki and I with another purple-apparelled, black & tan Cavalier owner.

They had a Pet Fashion Show and a Pet Walk where they talked about the different kinds of dog breeds. (Miranda walked them on their tether... Igor fell off the stage... funny!) Niki and Igor wore clothing borrowed from The Doghouse for the fashion show. Igor wore an adorable xoxo's jacket, while Niki wore a very amusing red snowsuit. (I don't think she was amused.) The winner of the Fashion Show was a Great Dane wearing a homemade Batman costume. Not a surprise. It was a fabulous outfit! (bad photo, sorry, he twitched and the camera isn't the quickest.) Ferrets, rabbits, rats, dogs, cats... All kinds of pets were in attendance!

Igor's trying to get out of the ring.

Niki's not too keen on wearing the snowsuit. I can't blame her... It looked pretty funny.

Oops... He sort of fell off the stage. Miranda had her hands full with these guys!

A rat in a flower costume

Bat Dog!!!

A pair of ferrets and their girls

Little Niki got a piece of hair bling at the pet groomer's. It looks so sweet on her. I like it and if I can figure out where to get the metal beads that the groomer used to crimp the feather to the hair strand, I'm definitely picking up a handful! Very, very pretty!

Hair Bling for Niki

Miranda's getting fitted for some mouth metal this summer. She had her orthodontist appointment this past week. They put the mold material in her mouth and she nearly gagged (breathe through your nose, honey!) ... not too much fun. Then they took photos of her teeth (very funny), and her jawline, some x-rays. Several girls in her class have braces already, so she knows what to expect. She's not very thrilled, but rather resigned. Here's a picture of how they took a photo of her teeth. Enjoy!

And just to wipe away the memory of that picture, here's a few more that we've taken over the past few months.

Crazy Hair Day

Bun Hawk. Super easy to do!

Fuzzy hair as a result of wearing a Bun Hawk

Pretty hair

Knotted hair into a pair of pigtails. Very charming.

And here's a few pictures from my recent walks.

There. Did I wipe out the memory of the lip spreaders? :D

sigh I just want it to stop...

2011-06-03T18:41:00.000-02:30

What's that? I want the g.d. harassment to stop. My neighbour down the way is still irked about the way the Dominion Hill issue went. Obviously. It's not even THEIR issue, but it's her brother's. Ah well. They do say that blood is thicker than water. Apparently other things are also thick.

I've been sick with a lovely flu bug for the past 3 weeks, and have been doing small perambulations with the dogs whenever the weather permits. Usually a 15 - 20 minute walk, down the road, down and around the trail, maybe as far as the beach, then back up and around on our hillside. The other morning, after sending the Mook to school, I decided to walk the dogs. I paused briefly at the neighbour's place to pat their dog. He wears a shock collar, so is unable to go as far as the end of the driveway, so I walked about 4 feet up the driveway to visit with him. He was happy and wriggling his entire body as only a border collie can. Suddenly the neighbour's voice boomed out, "Do you MIND getting of my PROPERTY?!" I paused in my patting of the dog and said, "Sure." (not happy about that, because the dog looks lonely and unloved.) Then he went on with, "No PSYCHOS allowed!" ... um... huh?

My first thought was, "Well, YOU'RE sure in the wrong house." The second was, "Ooooh... He's learned a new word!" ...

What a slack-jawed putz! Seriously! Other people stop off to pat the dog all the time. I've seen them! He's never yelled at any of them to get off his property. AAAgh!

Psycho? I'm not a psycho! I may be crazy, but I'm NOT a psycho!

Anyway... my day proceeded along its merry way with no other problems. I fetched the Mook home from school at 3, and decided that since the sun was out, I'd go for another little walk.

As I approached the end of the street, I noticed the missus standing outside. With a camera! She's pointing it at me, and I suppose she's taking pictures of me walking down the road with my *gasp* off-leash dogs!!! I continued my walk, ignoring her the entire time. (I thought I did very well... I didn't stick my tongue out, nor did I shoot her the finger.) I was wearing my sunglasses, so she couldn't tell if I was looking at her or not. She stood there, camera to her face, until I finally turned the corner.

I'm waiting to hear from the Animal Control guy (it's a new one again) to tell me that there's a leash law in town. I'll smile and nod. Agree that there's a leash law. But you know something? My dogs are actually very well behaved and typically don't wander more than 8 feet away from me. If I'm on a main street, they're on a leash.

However, Moore's Valley is a dead end street with a grand total of 5 houses on it. 4 on one side, ours on the other. We own 3 acres, and that encompasses a pretty huge chunk of frontage. From our fence line, down the road, and then down the trail, it takes @ 2 minutes to stroll back to our hillside property. Speed limit is 30 kph. (the only people who go faster are the odious neighbours themselves.)

I've also seen a ton of people walking their dogs on the trail. Off leash! Do I have to start taking pictures of them? I sure don't want to... I like the idea of letting my dogs get a bunch of exercise while I enjoy the great outdoors. I think well-behaved and under-control dogs should be allowed their freedom on the trails.

But you know, I can't help but wonder when these people are going to step over the line into actual harassment. I mean, they've already written a letter to the town indicating their displeasure with the idea of me running a home office in the form of a pet portrait business. Yes, really. She wrote that she's concerned about all the traffic my tiny (mostly online) business will bring to the neighbourhood. She also tried to get me in trouble by pointing out that we're already known to be running a B&B in our home. (No... we don't.)

She talked about how we had 4 vehicles, only have 2 now, but when my son comes to visit there's 4 cars. AND since we have the B&B, our guests are vying for parking. She mentioned that people park half on the street, half on the boulevard. There's no sidewalk here so our cars come straight out onto the street. (huh? How's that relevant?) ... well, her math is skewed, (2 + 1 = 3). Strange for a teacher, you think? AND, take a look around at ANY house in town when there's a party going on. EVERYBODY parks on the side of the street. *grumble* ...

The town granted me my business license, but they indicated that they will be keeping an eye on our parking lest it become a problem. Believe you me, the next time they have a party down the way and somebody parks on the street, I shall be photographing their g.d. licence plates and reporting THEM to the "proper authorities." *grumble grumble*

It isn't going to accomplish anything. We're not leaving. Like it or not, we live here, dammit. Sure, they're getting under my skin, but I don't let THEM know that! So why? Why? Hmm???

End of rant. Thanks for listening. Again.

I'm DEFINITELY using the credit card!

2011-05-12T12:34:00.000-02:30

So, there's been this disturbing stuff in the news today. According to an Evangelical Christian group based in California, Judgment Day is coming up this long weekend.

http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/the_world_will_not_come_to_an_end_on_may_21/5e605131

According to this blurb, on May 21st, true believers will ascend to heaven and non-believers will be stuck on Earth, subject to natural disasters and horrible catastrophes.

It's a bit odd, to say the least. Apparently this same group had made similar claims several years ago. So... does that mean that these guys are the ones who were left behind?

There's even a website where believers (true optimists, indeed) can pay to have their left-behind pets taken care of by confirmed atheists who will (of course) be left behind. http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Home_Page.html

Can you say "Crazy?"

So, I'm planning to have a table at the Dog Show taking place on that weekend. I've been busy planning my table display, drawing, making business cards and posters. Should I worry about finishing the job? Maybe I only need half of the items I figured, since I'd only be there for one day. ?

And hey, I've bought a bunch of paint so that I can colour up the house a bit! Should I return it, or just do a giant Jackson Pollock with them all?

Also, I'm thinking of replacing the toilet in the master bathroom, calling a plumber to make sure the pipes are unclogged. I wonder if they'll take credit cards?

Well, if it doesn't happen this weekend, there's always the Mayan calendar to go by. According to them, there will be some sort of big happening next year, just before Christmas. On Kyle's birthday, I believe. hmm... I wonder if I should plan the party for the weekend before. Just in case.

I do wish they'd make up their minds.

*sigh*

I'm not a "believer," so I'd be "stuck" here. I'm okay with that. Actually, I really hope that none of the things they're talking about will happen. I like this place. I like the idea of it being here, in great shape, for future generations. If people'd look after it more, stop letting other people muck it up... It'd be pretty darn nice!

We could be here for a long time! I like that idea even more.

Mother's Day, 2011

2011-05-08T21:52:00.000-02:30

We've had a couple of eventful days this week!

On Thursday, Paul made cookies. Yes. Paul. Made. Cookies. He brought some into work for sharing. The rest stayed home in multiple bellies and bowls.

Oatmeal, raisin, flax, sunflower, coconut cookies.

The boys took me out on Friday for Mother's Day dinner and 5-pin bowling! It was pretty fun. We took Paul along, rather than forcing him to sit at home by himself. He kicked our asses at bowling. Such style, such grace. He didn't land on his face... This time. :D

Paul and I did the East Coast Trail custodial trail hike from Flatrock to Torbay on Saturday. 2 1/2 hours of walking through varying conditions of trail and with a light misting rain. The point of the exercise (hahaha) is to assess the condition of the trail for maintenance and safety issues. Since the ECTA had just done a massive overhaul of that section last year, there really wasn't much to report. Some mud, but that's to be expected. It's spring in Newfoundland... helloooo...

Muddy patch

Lots of moose tracks. Big moose. I'm very grateful that we didn't bump into any of them!

Moose

Another moose

Lord tunderin' jaysus! Another moose!

We took food. I'm glad we took food. I needed it! You know me... I forget to eat. Well, I had a slice of cheese toast before leaving the house, but it wasn't enough. Half an hour into the hike I found myself huffing and puffing, getting all shaky and feeling abused by the gruelling pace set by the Hike Nazi. (Heil, Paul!!) We stopped for a sandwich and a rest. The food energy kicked in fast, and within 10 minutes I was hustling along, cheeky and opinionated again. It was GREAT!

Shortly after our lunch break we paused to enjoy the view from Whale Cove. Right on cue, a gigantic bald eagle drifted by just below our feet. Only moments later, he drifted back the other way, a little quicker, pursued by a quick crow. No picture. Mouth gaping. Busy being Zen.

Surprisingly, (or maybe not, given the grey skies), we only saw one other hiker on the trail. A bird-watcher and her dog, PJ. We paused for a quick photo and dog greeting and moved along.

Suddenly, through a thin layer of scrubby pines, we heard rustling. Cow rustling. (sorry... couldn't resist.) As if drawn by some irresistible force, the black and white cows drifted towards the fence, keeping a sharp eye on little cow-coloured Igor. Greetings were in order. Igor wasn't thrilled, but the cows were enthralled.

Tapper's Cove continues to be an attraction for photo shoots. Just as we got to the stairs, a car zipped to the wharf and unloaded a prom-clad couple and their skater-esque photographer. He was wearing a white pimp-daddy suit and she wore a confection of pink fluff. Too cute.

The cookies came in handy for a quick burst of energy at the end of the trail. Thanks for baking, Paul! You're welcome to try making a batch of banana bread anytime you like. :D

Pause for cookie break

Nearly home. 2 1/2 hour trek. This is where we ate the last of the cookies.

The dogs got a much-needed shower and collapsed in their respective blankies for a nap. They're still looking a bit bagged today.

Matt D., an adventurer/sailor who's been living in Iqaluit for the last 6 months, arrived in St. John's last night just before midnight. We visited with beers and Mike's Hard Lemonades until the wee hours of the morning. The hot tub made prunes of all of us, but it was so nice relaxing and gabbing. Matt had some tales to tell of his life. Kangaroos and sled dogs. I'll never think the same way about either of them! We finally crashed around 2:30 am. Sadly, my internal clock woke me up for coffee at 6 am.

Matt will be in Whiteway for the next couple of weeks, getting a crab boat rigged up as a research vessel for northern waters. He'll then take the boat to Greenland where it will be used to observe the narwhal breeding habits! He's getting off the boat and heading back to Manitoba to work on another project. His brother, Chris, the lawyer, will be staying on the water. I'll have to get more info from Matt, but it's a project funded by one of the big family-run organizations. All I remember about the name is "Pew" ... family name. Kind of like Ducks Unltd, but not.

Mother's Day has been pretty quiet. I got a bit tied up with odds and ends in the morning, and the afternoon stretched long and languorously into evening with a nap followed by a short hike down to the beach. Paul cooked dinner. Grilled Arctic Char (Matt brought 2 pieces) a scoop of yummy grains (thanks Paul!), a bowl of Cream of Leek soup, and a glass of wine. Okay, okay! A bottle of wine. Blueberry. My favourite.

It's 9:30 pm and Paul and I are relaxing in the living room in front of the fireplace. The dogs are snuggling. I think it's time to finish the wine and end the day with an early bedtime. That brief nap didn't really help all that much. Or is it the wine?

May 1st, and the weather is still a bit touchy...

2011-05-01T16:49:00.000-02:30

The sky is grey and overcast, and I hear rumours of freezing drizzle, possibly snow. I hope it doesn't come to that. Pity the foo's in Winnipeg (lol... you know who you are!!) who woke up to a blanket of the white stuff. This, after a "fooler" of a high temp of 22 and sunshine last week! Hahaha!!!

Of course, you realize that this is merely sour grapes on my part. At least you will, once you get past spring, achieve an actual summer with sunshine and heat. Those of us in Newfoundland will continue to get grey skies mixed with rolling fog banks, and occasional bouts of sunshine. Summer is expected on a Wednesday this year. I think. Sad for those who work weekdays and only have the weekends off. They'll miss it.

Paul's did a jiu jitsu seminar this weekend, and achieved blue belt status. Yay him! We went out to the Celtic Hearth for dinner last night for the visiting sensei's birthday party. Instead of the Jiggs Dinner Pie that I usually order, I had the Beef and Guinness stew. Mighty good stuff. I could've done without the two chunks of mega-heavy soda bread that it came with. Steamed veggies or a salad would've been great. Ah well. Note to self: NEVER order a bloody caesar at the Celtic Hearth. The bartender managed to mess it up. Twice!

Today was a great day to take the dogs for a walk. It wasn't raining! They gallivanted up and down all the hills nearby, down to the beaches, (all 3 of them), and then up and down some more hills on the way home. They got good and mucky, tangled with twigs and burrs, and needed a shower. Igor's a hoot. I usually shower him first, then Niki. He really enjoys getting wet. So much so that he typically strolls back into the shower while I'm busy washing Niki and tries to duck under the spray! What a little nuisance. :D

Did you know that Cavaliers rub themselves dry on any available surface? Niki typically uses the back of the couch, which is one of the reasons I keep the living room furniture covered with blankets. Today, she used the side of the house in the back yard. Igor watched in amazement. Really. His eyes were huge! Finally he deigned to rub his head on the siding. I don't think it's his gig. He went back to the backyard and ran around in circles until he was semi-dry. There's enough of a wind blowing that I was surprised the dogs weren't drier than they were!

Tomorrow I shall consider prepping some surfaces for painting. Rooms. Not paintings. Actual walls. *sigh* Putty the window frames first. Let them dry for a couple of days. Prime. Prep the bathroom. Paint. Did I mention, "sigh"?

Bye for now. I'm going to sit down with a cup of chai. Relax. Wait for dinner.

Walking around the Lake...

2011-04-23T16:40:00.002-02:30

This was going to be a rant against the never-ending winter, however, after several days' worth of snow falling and melting over and over, it appears that spring is going to make an appearance. I still wouldn't recommend going out in anything less than a pair of long pants and a wind-proof jacket, maybe bring a pair of mini gloves and a pair of ear-warmers... Kleenex, for when your nose runs with the cold air...

Alia, Mook, and I took Niki and Igor for a walk around Quidi Vidi Lake this afternoon. It's a nice jaunt, nothing strenuous. It was a time of several "firsts" for little Igor.

1. First time on a leash for more than 10 minutes

2. First time encountering more than 2 dogs on a walk

3. First time at a dog park

4. First time seeing a bicycle

5. First time seeing ducks

Probably more firsts that I haven't listed.

He started his walk with the most pathetic crying, whining, and howling you've ever heard. He settled down fairly well, and actually insisted on entering the dog park when he saw all the activity going on in the fenced yard. Once there, he proceeded to greet as many dogs as he could, exposing his belly when he had to, then running around like a noodle-head. It was great to see him having so much fun.

Niki wasn't so enthusiastic about the dog park. It was her first time entering one, and she was under-whelmed by all the excitement. Dogs coming up, sniffing her butt, trying to climb on top of her. She stayed pretty close to my feet and kept asking to be picked up and taken out of the melee. No distress, just disgust.

Igor really got into the idea of greeting dogs after the dog park experience, so he was delightfully friendly with the all dogs on the trail around the Lake until we got to the 9-week old boxer. She was NOT a good experience. She grr'ed, chased him around, nipping all the while. He finally growled back at her and scrambled onto my lap.

I'd been clever and forgotten the water bottle at home, so I let the dogs drink out of the placid areas along the shore. Of course, Igor tried to drink where the waves were a bit more energetic. He tried lapping the water but the water lapped him instead.

Moving along a bit further, Igor noticed the ducks. He dashed into the water after them and started swimming. No worries about him and the pool. I think he's going to be a fine water-dog. Good thing I keep towels in the truck.

All in all, a good walk.

The dogs are napping. I'm thinking about joining them.

The Mexican Experience

2011-04-06T16:25:00.002-02:30

Paul and I are currently sitting at the Sports Bar in sunny Mexico at the BlueBay Grand Esmerelda on the Mayan Riviera. The internet connection, while free, is a bit slower than I’m used to, so I thought I’d give a quick recap of our holiday, and post later. The memory, she ain’t what she used to be!

View from our balcony. The Oriental a la carte/bar/outdoor breakfast area.

It’s Friday, and I have to admit that neither of us has been keeping track of what day it is except where the Excursions are concerned. We arrived Monday afternoon (March 28), spent a leisurely time on the beach, drinking tequilas and banana daquiris, giggling while we negotiated the fairly well-lit paths on the way from the beach to our hotel. The hangover gods were kind to me, as a well-timed Aleve kicked it in the arse. Paul, well... the usual “argh, why did I drink that last couple of cervesas?!” routine... but he was “best kind” quick enough. :D The man has to learn to drink, ya think? I mean, really... he’s a former rugby player!

The Swing Bar

Tuesday, March 29:

View at the Poolside

The orientation meeting with the Nolitours representative shed a lot of light on the rules and rights of the all-inclusive, and with light and happy hearts, we headed off to the beach after lunch. The lightweight drinker turned into “Lobster-Boy.” *sigh* Again with the Aleve... and the Solarcaine with topical anaesthetic. He’s better now. I can’t talk much about the need for sunscreen, as the next day, Tulum Extreme took care of my shoulders. Ouch!

Wednesday, March 30:

Tulum. What can I say. The whole event was ... entertaining. It’s about an hour away from our resort and we went with a couple of families from another resort. One of the first was a heart-stopping moment when the 6-year old daughter disappeared. One moment mama was applying sunscreen to her, the next... she was gone! The police were called and everybody looked around for her. Except for the other kids (older than the missing one) who were told to stay where they were on pain of beating. And Paul, who figured things would iron out by the time he finished his beer. He was right. Child was found at the entrance to the Tulum ruins. She’d followed another tour group, clambered onto the trolley bus, and hey presto! Gonzo! Tour guide and mama hyperventilated, but all was well in the end. Tour continued. Or began... depends on your idea of adventure.

Tulum is an archaeological site, nothing like Chichen Itza, but wow... My heart went pitter-patter when we passed through the gate. An hour later we emerged, amazed, exhausted, hot, hungry, thirsty. The best tacos were to be had at a little taco stand and we moved on to cervecas and the tour bus.

The best best best tacos!!

The next stop was the “Yucatan Yungle” as Carlos, the tour guide, said. He described the fauna. It made me decide to not wander around at night... ocelots, yaguars, boa constrictors, on and on... Zip-lining wasn’t sounding nearly so bad anymore! Photos to follow. Maybe a video.

(I wish it were larger. Sorry. I tried uploading it directly from the computer, but the Blog video uploader was kind of slow. REALLY slow... I gave up after 10 minutes of sitting and watching. YouTube took about 3 minutes total.)

It was fun!!! I could’ve done with a few more runs, but hey... who knew?! Rappelling down a 100’ tower into a cenote was anti-climactic. Hands got a bit heated about 2/3rds of the way down... braking and releasing. I think, with a bit more practice, I could get into it! The final “adventure” was snorkeling in a cenote. *sigh* Dark, mysterious, soft calcium-rich water. Lobster-boy *ahem* ... PAUL... says that his burn felt immensely better after the immersion. 6 times the calcium content of milk. No osteoporosis, but problems with kidney stones for the locals.

The temple at Tulum

The doorway through the wall of Tulum

Zip-lining

Rappelling

Snorkelling in the cenote (pron. sa-no-tay)

Thursday, March 31:

We took a cab into Playa del Carman where we wandered 5th Avenue. A true tourist-trap. The same tokens of tourista-ville on every block. We finally ditched and headed to the beach. Words fail. Blue azure water, fluffy waves, gorgeous golden sand... a policeman with a sub-machine gun. Yes... I got a picture with him. Cervecas and cigars for Paul, a sundress for me. We caught the shuttle back to the hotel and arrived back in time for last lunch. Beach from 3 - 5. Good time for non-heat, but some sun-tanning. A refreshing dip in the ocean followed by dinner at the Oriental a-la carte. Bed.

Hand-made cigars!

A bronze sculpture of an Agave being harvested (Agave = Tequila)

Think he'd let me touch it?!?

Hard-packed sand at Playa del Carman

Yes, Kyle. They have 7-11's in Mexico. Sorry, man.

Friday, April 1:

Paul’s Facebook birthday. We spent the morning pool-side. Sunning and swimming. Wasting away in Marguerita-ville! He’s celebrating with lime margueritas, tequila, losing track of the days (“It’s Friday?! Hey! Happy Holiday!!!”) and going to the beach this afternoon. Steak dinner at the a la carte tonight.

Stuff I didn't buy

A leather thing I DID buy

Coatimundis. Apparently they're quite delish. They eat ants and termites, and occasionally take a nibble of tourist.

Sandpiper kind of bird

Parasailing

Pelicans

Further to the Steak dinner, Paul had the flank steak (the very special “Butcher’s cut”), which is what they use to make their fajitas. Super tender and tasty! I had the hard-to-mess-up if you remember it’s still supposed to go “Moo” tenderloin. Delish. Paul didn’t want any of the desserts on the menu, so the waitress fetched a bowl of ice cream for him! Vanilla ice cream. I can’t begin to tell you how absolutely delicious the vanilla ice cream tastes out there. Amazing. Creamy. ... great service everywhere, but this was a very nice extra touch.

Saturday, April 2:

Our 2nd and final excursion was to Rio Secreto, the Secret River. A large underground river system which sustains the Yucatan Jungle. It’s the 3rd largest freshwater reservoir in the world. Discovered by the property owner about 7 years ago (a large sinkhole found in the jungle), it’s been open for tourism for the past 3 or so years. Before we entered, we had to follow some stringent guidelines. No sunscreen or bug repellent (shower was mandatory on site), no cameras or jewelry, no touching ANYTHING. Not the walls, the stalactites or stalagmites, and we had to be careful not to step on any of those new formations on the ground. The stalactites (hanging from the ceiling) and stalagmites (point up from the ground) are amazing to see. It’s awe inspiring to realize that drops of water combining with the calcium carbonate (limestone via coral) created all this over hundreds of millions of years. They took us through only a small loop. Seven miles are mapped and still more is being explored all the time. We walked, scrambled, duckwalked, dodged, and floated through 1 1/2 kilometers of cave, stopping here and there to gawk. At one point, we turned all our headlamps off and listened in complete darkness of a cathedral-like cavern. Tiny musical plinks of water droplets was all we could hear. The perfect meditation chamber. Other than the undulating walls, ceilings, and floors, there were holes in the ceiling where bats flew in. We saw blind cavefish, strange spider-like insects... not much lives in the dark.

Sunday, April 3:

Sunning and beaching. We took a walk up the beach, wading through a couple of small fresh water rivers. I hooked up with a German couple from Dusseldorf (2 of 4 Germans on the resort!) and spent a few hours chatting. Many lime margueritas met their doom that day. Hey! It’s one way to replenish our lost-through-sweating salt stores. :D

Mexican a la carte finished off our day in fine fashion. While the cream soups throughout the week had been great, the Mexican Truffle Soup topped them all. It was like a mouth orgasm with every spoonful. Gorgeous flavour. Fajitas x 2 (there’s that flank steak again!) and chocolate volcano cake for dessert. I’d rather have had an extra bowl of soup.

Hola!!

Monday, April 4:

We checked out after a leisurely 7 am breakfast on the patio, and spent the next hour hanging out in the sun. Last minute sunning on my part! Our shuttle picked us up at 9:50 for a 1:30 pm departure from the airport. Pass security, stop at the Duty-Free for a bottle of D’Aristi Xtabentun Dulce (Omigod it’s delicious!!! Anise liquor with honey) and Baluarte Reposado Tequila. (It has a full-mouth feel with a smokey flavour. Paul says it’s sort of like a single-malt scotch. I say it’s tastier.)

Our flight was delayed an hour, so we had a burger at Johnny Rocket’s, a retro burger joint. Thank goodness we did, because no sooner were we about to step on the plane, than we were all turned back. Why? Well, it seems somebody on the Mexican ground-crew overfilled the gas tank, causing jet fuel to spew out of the overflow vents on the wing! We watched it for a while... Kinda funny... mops and buckets and a large garbage bin, followed by an application of Zorball to the tarmac to sop it up. Between the clean-up and the paperwork, it was another 2 hours. We didn’t mind the wait! Better they check it out thoroughly before sticking us on a flying Death Can.

Some odds and ends:

A Banana Tree

A cool-looking frog hanging out at the buffet light

We had a great holiday. Relaxing as all heck. I’d go again. Tomorrow sounds good.

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-04T10:45:00.000-03:30

Christmas has come and gone and the New Year has begun. What's new and exciting? Well... not much, actually. We had our usual quiet holiday.

Dana came to visit on the 16th and left on the 30th, but the two of us packed as much into that time as we could. Quietly, of course. She introduced me to the Gilmore Girls, so we spent many evenings watching episode after episode, knitting all the while. We discovered that we don't need the DVD's because it's available on NetFlix. Woohoo! $8.oo per month with all the movies and television shows you want to see! No additional charge per show. (somebody asked Paul that question)

I've also been watching Stargate Atlantis after Sean badgered me to take a look at it. I used to watch the original Stargate series, but stalled out somewhere in Season ?? 2 or 3? Can't remember. I've enjoyed the series, but he just informed me that it ends with Season 5! Hey! I'm ON Season 5 now. That's not good news. I'll have to find another program to use as a knitting aid. Seriously. I knit while watching t.v. It's handy for those stockinette rows with very little else to commend them. If I'm not doing something else, I start dozing off within a few rows. It's hard to finish a sweater with that kind of behaviour. I'm still working on my Lilac Silken Scabbard which I started January 1st, 2010. I'm nearly done the body though, thanks to the above-mentioned television watching. I still have to do the long sleeves. *sigh*

I haven't done any drawing or painting over the holiday season. I'll be starting that again this week or next. First things first... organize the new "closet" space. Since Kyle moved out on December 1st (He's doing well in his new place, btw), I've got a spare room that I've been planning to turn into a storage closet. I'll probably end up tossing many things in the direction of V.V. Boutique during the process of re-organizing. Just as well. "Too much stuff" can be a bad thing. Especially if you can't find your stuff because you've got too much of it that you put it in strange places, meaning to remember where it is, but then forgetting, because you've got too much stuff!!!

Igor has been growing like a weed. Last trip to the vet revealed that he's now 8 pounds! EIGHT Pounds!!! Wow... (Niki has lost 1 1/2 pounds since her last visit, so she's now 18.5 pounds. Probably because she's running around with the puppy instead of lounging on the couch all the time.)

Igor now does a fairly reliable "sit" and "down" although when he's hungry is NOT the best time for a training session. He gets too excited and just can't keep his butt planted on the floor. Velcro may be needed. He comes lickety-split when he's called, and he actually jumps into the shower after a walk. That's a very good thing because we're a very muddy place these days. I'm starting to think that snow wouldn't be such a bad thing to have.

I had to do a quick intervention when he started guarding his chewy treats. Growling at me when I try to take something away from him is NOT acceptable. The trick is to persuade him that I've got something better to give him. So far, so good. Maybe today I shall try him with the Greenie again.

Niki (2yrs) and Igor (3 1/2 mos)

Puppy feet. Paul feet. Feet feet feet

Merry Christmas to you! Igor and Dana

Candy Canes RULE!! Miranda and Dana

Head warmer

RIDE!!!! Igor's 4 months old here.

Puppy and Lambie

Igor. One week and counting up.

2010-11-26T07:07:00.000-03:30

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!

2010-11-20T13:38:00.000-03:30

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!

2010-10-08T11:27:00.002-02:30

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

2010-09-22T20:52:00.002-02:30

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

2010-08-27T13:09:00.000-02:30

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

2010-08-25T21:55:00.000-02:30

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

2010-07-15T09:22:00.001-02:30

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...

2010-07-15T08:55:00.000-02:30

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

2010-07-05T12:56:00.001-02:30

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.

2010-06-29T20:24:00.000-02:30

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!

2010-06-23T18:38:00.000-02:30

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... )

2010-06-21T22:07:00.000-02:30

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!!!

2010-06-16T21:53:00.000-02:30

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

2010-06-10T13:33:00.000-02:30

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

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

The weather outside is frightful...

2010-05-04T16:28:00.002-02:30

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:

2010-02-05T13:40:00.000-03:30

(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...

2010-02-03T09:54:00.000-03:30

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??!!!

2010-02-03T09:09:00.000-03:30

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

2010-02-01T08:33:00.000-03:30

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

2010-01-29T08:51:00.000-03:30

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!!

November 20th, Paul's birthday...

2009-11-20T23:30:00.000-03:30

It's been a while since I've been able to get onto the computer. Not that I "couldn't" get on, but I've been keeping really busy lately. Since I moved some of my studio items up to the front foyer, I've been able to get in there and paint whenever I wanted. Bought a book on techniques/tips and have been enjoying practicing the projects. Mostly. *wry grin* I've been knitting like nuts and currently have 2 things on the go. Alia has kindly offered to do the garter stitch on the scarf for her brother. Yay! I cast the sucker on (110 st). It's a thick and chunky yarn being worked on size 13's. It should be done in next to no time. Which is good. I want to mail the stuff off to B.C. sometime next week. 2 things for the girls, one for Jen, and one for Dante. Should I do something for the dogs?

Finished 2 pairs of mittens, one of which I'm happy with. I'll keep the originals and wear them as driving gloves/mitts. They're definitely not warm enough for Winnipeg winter. One more pair to go, and a scarf. Then the Winnipeg contingent is finished. Hooray!

I finished a cute little hat for Miranda. My favorite "Homespun" pattern, but with a different yarn. Or should I say "yarns" since I used 3 different colours. I really hate that the first stitch always looks staggered and stupid. I tried lifting the stitch below and knitting it together with the next one, as it suggests in the darned book, but it actually looks worse. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. I'll be searching for an answer on that. Soon.

Working on the same hat pattern for Shauna. Hey! It's a cute hat! I like it. I still want to make another one for Alia and myself. Two hats. Not one to share. Two. I've got this lovely purple Homespun... Maybe after Xmas?

Hey, Dana! Thanks for teaching me to knit. I think.

Sewing sewing sewing. I've got some sewing to do. Projects are cut and ready to assemble. I'm heading off to Tina's place on Monday (hopefully) and I'll see if she can machine embroider some cute little emblems on the doll sweatshirts. If not, I'll have to sacrifice a bit of material. Note to self: next time, ask Tina to embroider BEFORE cutting out the pattern piece.

*yawn* It's nearly 11:30 pm and I'm pooped. It's been a long-ish day. I have to remember to get on Facebook tomorrow and let my "Preserve the Torbay Coastline" group know that Geoff (the new Deputy Mayor) has brought up a motion (or something like that) to rescind the rezoning of Dominion Hill at the next meeting. Yay! I'll have to ask Madeleine for more details before I go off half-cocked. Still... "Yay!"

Can't talk... knitting...

2009-11-08T19:19:00.000-03:30

Making a pair of mittens! First ones ever. I hope the recipient (who shall be nameless until post-Christmas) enjoys them. They're not perfect. Nope. Not by any means. Since I'm using Bernat Satin, they tend to show boo-boos quite well. Oh well. At least she will know they were handknit. Hopefully she'll see the love that went into them, rather than the mistakes. :)

RIP Steve

2009-11-08T19:14:00.000-03:30

I was just looking over Paul's Ride the Rock website yesterday. It's something that the motorcyclists 'round these parts have hooked up with. Paul's been able to connect with riders all around Newfoundland and beyond, both online and in person! It's been really incredible. A great community.

However, there was a tragedy a few months back. One of their members was in a head-on crash with a truck when his bike swung wide onto the wrong side of the road on a blind turn. Steve died at the scene. He had been on a month-long holiday, biking and camping across Newfoundland, a dream of his since he'd seen the gorgeous photos posted by some of the Newfoundland members. He was with another of the Ride the Rock members. Nolan just posted the ride report, which is what the riders do upon completion of their trips. It includes photos and brief videos of their time together. Steve's wife and children wrote on the forum, expressing how much it meant to Steve to be involved with the motorbike community and how, although it was painful, the photos and videos helped them through the rough times right after Steve's death.

I was crying before I even saw the darn pictures. Kleenex were flying like snow while Paul scrolled through the report. The report and the photos showed a pair of grown men having a wonderful time, doing their favorite thing (dirt biking). Laughing, having fun, getting to know each other and becoming more comfortable with each other as their friendship (in person rather than just online) grew. There's a video clip of them "hanging around" at a playground, acting like a couple of kids hanging on the monkey bars and swinging on the swings. Smiling, laughing. Good times.

I laughed through my tears because I just couldn't help myself. But it was just so damn sad. I realized that I was seeing the last days in the life of a very nice man. The final photos and video were taken within a few hours of his death.

Life is so fleeting and you never know when your number is going to come up. I wonder if it's a consolation to Steve's family to know that he'd enjoyed his last days...

~ Chris

Where's the Easel?

2009-10-31T17:30:00.000-02:30

In the old "puppy room" !!! Lucky us, we've got this entry-way on the side of the house that we never use for entry or egress. It's got a coat closet on one side and a heater on the other, a pair of ceiling lights that can be adjusted (if you stand on a ladder) and a pair of double-doors that open into the foyer. The only drawback to the room is that there's no electrical outlet in it. If I want additional light, I will have to import it via extension cord from another room. Oh well. A small price to pay for the pleasure of having my drawing and painting materials upstairs where everybody else hangs out.

Why is this a big deal to me? Well, it means I get to poke and prod at my drawing whenever I want without having to go all the way down to the basement. I can, for instance, be wandering from the kitchen to the living room, catch sight of my easel from the corner of my eye, and think "Hey! I should draw!" How cool is that, hm? Yeah. That's right. Way cool.

AND the other really good thing I'm doing is putting a small folding table in the living room so that I can put my sewing machine on it and do the exact same thing. Feel like sewing? Pull up a chair and sew. Done with sewing? Push in the chair and ... (this is the good part) ... WALK AWAY without cleaning it up first! That's awesome!

All these things can be done without leaving the companionable space on the main floor. EXCELLENT! Am I excited? Oh yes. I am. Very excited. yes yes yes... I've got these sewing projects to finish before Christmas!!

Back to the coal mines now!

I love getting presents in the mail...

2009-10-31T17:16:00.000-02:30

Especially when they're full of yummy goodness like CHOCOLATE!!! It was an unexpected surprise, but that's the best kind, right? Right. Mom and George sent me word the other day that "a package was in the mail" and should be arriving soon. "Soon" was shortly defined as "in a couple of days" because it just arrived on Friday! Yayyy... Thanks so much!!!

Remember the days of "snail mail?" The days before e-mail sucked everybody along in its wake. The days before Hotmail, Yahoo, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter... You know, the good old days when you'd sit down and write a letter, maybe tuck in a few photos, or even tuck a letter into a parcel and then take it to the post office.

Ever since moving to Newfoundland, it has become the norm to send or receive a parcel! It's always a pleasant surprise. Sometimes there's a letter or card to accompany it. Nowadays, with the ease of "send to print" style letters written on the computer, the simple act of sitting down and scrawling a few lines makes the note more personal and cherished.

This week, Dana received her care package from us. This week, I received a care package from Mom and George.

Oh.... what's in it? lol... wouldn't you like to know?

Hey, Mom! Do I have to share the chocolate?

~ Chris

Well, further to the drawing workshop weekend, I went to a painting studio today...

2009-10-28T17:44:00.000-02:30

there's an instructor, every Wednesday morning from 9:30 to 12:30 at the Arts & Culture Centre. She's got an MFA in painting, so I'd say she knows what she's talking about. I went with Gerri and Laurie today and managed to listen-in and pick brains. It was good. I didn't bring any painting supplies today, but I did bring some photos for references and my small-things ziploc baggie full of goodies. What kind of goodies, you ask? Well, I've got some devil's purses, teeny mussel shells, a snail shell, a couple of whelk shells, a tiny starfish, and some white thing that was leftover from last year's cod fishery. Dunno what it is, but it looks cool. I drew one of the whelks. It felt so good to be drawing again! Why did I leave it for so damned long? *sigh* Stupid, I guess. Next week, I'll try to be ready to begin a painting.

Tomorrow is a drawing studio with a live model. I'm hooking up with one of the people who was at my drawing workshop this weekend. Should be good. Should I bring paint? Hmm... I haven't done a nude in anything other than pencil and charcoal in a looooong time.

Paul has been home this week. He got kabonked at judo the other night and has been walking around with a sort of "halo" around his head. He says that it feels like the "veil" is lifting a bit today, but his brains are still sort of scrambled. He's been taking it easy the last couple of days, snoozing with Niki. Reading hurts his peepers. sucks... I'd hate not being able to read!

Well, after my studio tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll re-arrange a few things. Since Dana's coming to Torbay at Xmas-time, I'll be needing to use my "studio" as a spare room again. I'm going to bring my drawing/painting things upstairs to the former "puppy room" and use that as my new studio. It'll be nice to have stuff upstairs so that I'm not tucked away in the basement, away from everybody... except the boys...

Busy afternoon, sitting on the phone today. I had to contact Air Miles in order to book Dana's ticket to Newfoundland. It's always a long drawn-out process. Since she's bringing Shelby with her, I also had to contact Westjet to make sure there was space for the little girlie-dog. Usually the Airmiles person confirms the availability before doing the confirmation code for the passenger's flight, but the wait time was atrocious! As it is, I ended up waiting for nearly 20 minutes to get an actual human. Fortunately, everything worked out the first time around. Dana's coming on the 15th! Hooray!!!

Lucky me! Sean made chili for dinner today. Too bad he didn't get a chance to have any for dinner before he and Kyle headed off to judo. :) More for me! He makes awesome chili. ... he makes awesome cheesecake, too. And he makes this really great Chicken Divan dish using chicken (duh!), tons of fresh broccoli, cream of broccoli soup, and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. He usually serves it with egg noodles, but it's good with rice or just by itself.

Well, I think I'm going to go and have some of that wonderful-smelling chili now. Too bad Sean didn't make a side of biscuits...

Niki and Baby

2009-10-25T21:36:00.000-02:30

love to play with each other. Sometimes I'm not really sure if Baby is playing though. He's a bit of a tough kitty, cranky and bitchy. He screams and hisses, occasionally he tackles little Niki-girl to the ground. I've come upon the two of them in a clinch, Baby on top with Niki on her back... Baby usually pins her down by holding her by the ear or on her collar. But just as quickly, Niki ends up on top with Baby trying to box her ears while balancing on HIS back! The blows fly fast and furious, both beasties boxing one another. Baby snarling, Niki buzz-growling like an overgrown bumblebee. Baby usually jumps onto the chair, feeling that he has the advantage. Niki has grown enough to be able to jump into the chair after him and so she sometimes chases after him and he ends up leaping to the top of the chair. Mostly though, Niki dances around the chair while remaining on the ground.

Something attracts their attention outside and the combatants call a truce. With fangs and claws and cute puppy-dog eyes, they join forces to guard the house.

October rain, Baby Shower, Drawing Workshop

2009-10-25T21:08:00.000-02:30

I finally downloaded pictures from the camera, so here's the picture of the stream/waterfall from last week! It was awesome to see how high the splash reached! About 6 feet in the air, which is ... hmm... about 6 + feet higher than usual.

Along with the over-abundant rainfall which caused Whiteways Pond to overflow was a huge drop in temperature. It got COLD here during the last few days! *Brrrrrrr* Cold enough that I dragged on a pair of gloves to go outside for a short walk. Not as cold as Winnipeg, no. And the little bit of snow that fell was immediately dissolved in the copious amount of rainfall.

Alia hosted the baby shower for the two ladies from work Teri (the brunette - a Rad Onc, due in 4 weeks but she ain't gonna make it!), and Anna (the blonde, a physicist from Saskatchewan, due at the end of December), and all went well. Miranda and Niki were the greeting committee, with Niki offering a combination of "hello's" and kisses and Miranda taking the gifts and guests to the living room. The house looked fantastic, all decked out with balloons and streamers. The driveway was loaded and cars were spilling out onto Moore's Valley Road! People brought all kinds of yumptious munchables. Sean's cheesecake (picture below) was delicious, as was the chocolate fondant cake made by my friend Jenny's friend Michelle. Some leftovers made up my dinner that night. And lunch the next day. Yummm... I think I'll have another (small) piece this morning for breakfast.

I wasn't at the baby shower. but that's okay, because I was at a drawing workshop with GERRY SQUIRES!!! Wheeeeee!!!! He's one of my very favorite Newfoundland artists, with Lloyd Pretty and Jean Claude Roy being two others... must remember Ron Bolt as well. His work is beautiful! So, it was a drawing class with a nude model, Emma, who was an absolute trooper. She stripped down in a very chilly room with nothing more than a pair of heat lamp things that were more for lighting than heating. A beautiful girl, curly red hair coloured with purple and fuchsia (a la Miranda style!). I'm posting photos of my charcoal drawings, but you have to remember that they're nudes, so if you're going to be offended, well... just DON'T LOOK at them!!! :)

when it rains, it pours...

2009-10-22T11:22:00.000-02:30

and pours and pours and pours...

So, first came the discovery that the clothes dryer (a nearly 3-yr old LG stacked model) wasn't actually drying the clothes anymore. That happened while Pat was over, so, of course, she wasn't able to dry her clothes while she was here for a week and a half. Sean and Kyle tried to do their laundry (such nice young men) and discovered their clothes was coming out of the dryer in the same wet condition that it had gone in. Hmmm... a bit of trouble-shooting on my part, and I realized that it wasn't the breaker, but something wrong with the dryer. It tumbled, but didn't dry. Either the heating element or the thermostat. Turns out it's the thermostat. Of course, the "professional" didn't show up for nearly a week and a half and now it's going to take at least that long to get the damn part sent in from the mainland, and then (of course there's another "then") we'll have to wait until the guy can come out again, waht with them being busy and booked up and all.

Then came the windows leaking like a sieve during the horrible fall flurries of rain blowing in from the ocean which necessitated the use of many many towels to mop up the incoming water. The towels have been washed a few times since then, but damn... I STILL hate crispy towels.

Then, no doubt just for shitzandgiggles, Paul went into the crawlspace to check out the leak that the boys first mentioned several months ago. Why? Really? Probably because he wondered if the furious rains had caused any trouble. Well, a plumbing leak was suspected, but the professionals (see other posting) have ruled that out. It did involved some fun and games in the bathroom. Imagine this scenario:

Mutt, while standing in the main bathroom: I hear water running!
Bubba, standing in the main bathroom: Me too!!!

Water merrily gurgling outside the window from the raging stream and waterfall below: GURGLE, GURGLE, SPLASH, ROAR...

Mutt, while standing in the bathtub with ear pressed against the wall: I think it's louder when I'm here!
Bubba, standing next to the doorway of the bathroom: Uh-yup! Me too!

Chris, opening window to bathroom: I think it's coming from the stream, boys.

Mutt: No, it might be the air exchanger! You got an air exchanger?!
Chris: Yep. Two of them. You want I should turn them off so you can confirm it's the stream making the sound of running water?
Bubba, perhaps sensing a glimmer of sarcasm in my voice: No, that shouldn't be necessary.
Mutt: No no! You should go make sure nobody's running the shower!
Chris: Um... okay... I'll be right back.

Chris returns from the basement with the news that nobody is in the shower and finds Mutt and Bubba standing outside the main bathroom with their ears pressed on the walls on either side of the doorway.

Mutt: I STILL hear water running! Man! This must be a big leak!
Bubba: Yeah... me too!

*note to audience* While there is a shower on the one side of the bathroom door, it was not in use at the time and there are no plumbing pipes on the other side of the doorway where Bubba was "listening."

Mutt: I'm going to make a professional call on this and say it's probably the stream making that noise.
Chris, inaudibly: Wow... I should go to plumbing school. How much is this going to cost us?! (btw, it was just over $300.oo)

The professionals, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that it's ground water seeping into the house (no weeping tiles because this is, after all, a Frankenjudy House), and that short of installing weeping tiles (an impossibility due to the stupid location of our house on the berm of fill), we should dig a flippin' hole in the ground under the house and put in a sump pump. Oh joy... But hey! They don't do any digging.

Gotta drive Sean in to work now, and then pop in to Gerri's house to use her clothes dryer. Thank goodness for good friends!

What's up with people who "dent and run" ???

2009-10-22T11:02:00.000-02:30

We've got this cute little car, a 2005 Toyota Echo, new to us. We've only had it for the last couple of weeks, and it's a dear little thing. It doesn't particularly like doing anything over 120 kph on the TCH, shuddering until I slow 'er down to a sedate 100 kph. It doesn't really like hills, but Paul has asked me to keep it at or below "2" on the rpm scale... so I do try my best. It's not really a spacious car in terms of spending the day shopping. I had to lower the back seats to make room for groceries and Walmart shopping, but hey, it did okay considering it was only Sean and I out shopping.

So, in other words, it's a nice little car. Well, there I was, with Paul, coming out of Cycle City in Mount Pearl, all unsuspecting of what lay ahead. Paul walked out of the store to his motorcycle (the Buell Ulysses, but let's not get into Harley Davidson shutting down that line of bikes) and the car was parked just alongside it. The not-quite-setting sun shone down on our little Echo, and there, big as a fist, was a dent! A DENT in the passenger side door! And a scratch just below!!! Just beneath the side-view mirror!!! How the heck did that get there? Well, gee... obviously I took a mallet and whaled on it, then took a screwdriver and scratched it as well! NOT!!! Sometime during the day of shopping, parking in strange *shudder* parking lots, SOMEBODY banged their door into our little Echo, popping a fairly large dent into it and scratching it while they were at it!

Don't tell me they wouldn't notice something like that when it happened. THEY KNEW! They KNEW and didn't bother to have the bloody decency to leave a note with their particulars so we'd be able to contact them and get their insurance to cover the repair. Stupid STupid STUPID people!

*sniff* our poor little Echo. I'm going to take her in to see Uncle Scott and find out when he'll be able to fix her up good as new.

So the plumber asks me "do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

2009-10-22T10:51:00.000-02:30

Why oh why do people always do that? Okay, so it was fun while I was the one doing it, but when somebody else does it... the decision-making process you have to go through when you KNOW that while the bad news isn't really what you want to hear, hearing the good news isn't necessarily going to be all good news either. But just which do you want to hear first? If you ask for the good news first, then you have a good idea of what the bad news is going to be. Not necessarily a good thing. But, if you ask for the bad news first, then you have to wonder what could possibly be better than this bit of information! Argh!

Oh well. At least we know now what the stink is all about. Hopefully. There's always that little bit of uncertainty, no matter how positive the experts are. They always give you that little qualifier. The "I'm not completely 100% positive, but pretty darned sure, based on my years of experience, but don't entirely take my word for it that this is going to solve your problem." *sigh* What do you do? Believe them? Ask for another opinion? Geez... at $300.oo for just one lousy visit, I'm not in a hurry to call in another of these so-called "experts." And why do they charge extra for checking out the crawl space? I mean, c'mon! If Mutt's assistant "Bubba" (names changed to protect me from slander charges) weren't so darned lard, *ahem* I mean large, he'd have no trouble getting through the hole in the floor to the crawlspace. He'd have no trouble scooting around in the spaciousness that is our sub-basement if he weren't so ungainly. I mean, c'mon!!! If Paul, at 250+ lbs can get down there and meander around with impunity, and Sean, at 6'3" can ramble without bashing his brains out... what the heck is "Bubba's" problem?! Agh. Anyway. An additional fee was charged for going in the crawlspace.

Now I have to find out a) do we REALLY need to dig a hole for a sump pump in the crawlspace, or b) can it be outside the house in the backyard where we have room to dig a 2'x2'x2' hole and perhaps deal with the possibility of large friggin' rocks because the house is a Frankenjudy and was built on top of a ginormous pile of fill. Just remember the huge deal it was to put in the fence posts when we first moved here! Argh... again!

aha! I've GOT it!

2009-10-19T16:52:00.000-02:30

now what do I DO with it???

~ Chris

New! Open Hotmail faster on the new MSN homepage!

MORE rain?!!!??

2009-10-19T13:42:00.000-02:30

Jeezuz... How much more rain is going to fall before our house floats away like Noah's Ark? It rained the other night again... starting sometime during the early morning hours. I lay in bed listening to the rain beating on the windows, thinking to myself, "should I get up and check the windows? Naaahhh... it's not raining that hard." Toss and turn toss and turn. "I should get up and check the windows. Naaaaahhhh... go back to sleep." Toss turn toss turn... "Damnit all... I'm going to get up and check the windows... maybe I should kick Paul and get him to check the windows?" Decided against that one... lucky Paul. Crawled out of bed and checked windows. In the dark. They were wet. Luckily I had some dry towels to put down on the window sills!

It took a while to get back to sleep after all that excitement. Yes, believe me, it's exciting to get up in the middle of the night to wander around the house and get dripped on/step in puddles/dart into the darkness outside to close the storm door while getting completely soaked. I finally slept for a couple of hours, but woke up around 6:30. Ungodly hour of the morning. I don't understand how people manage that every day of the week. *quizzical frown* Good thing I got up though. Some of the towels were already sopping wet and needing a change. While I was up and making coffee (lucky Paul), I decided to take a picture of the stream/waterfall. It was doing some sort of acrobatics at the bend just before the pool deck, leaping about 6 feet into the air before wending its way down and around to the bay. Eeep! *note to self: insert picture sometime soon. Preferably before it goes missing in the Pictures folder*

Here's the photographs from Pat of the Yorkies with their red and white dresses *ahem* sweaters on. They look adorably silly. lol... dog clothes...

These days I'm busy knitting baby shower gifts for Alia's friends, Anna and Teri. A pair of (omigosh they're so damn cuuuute!) kimonos, some kind of dumb looking toques (sizes range from Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear), and a pair of cuddly bunny things. I'll have to remember to take a picture of them and post them once I get downstairs and download them from the camera(s). Procrastination is becoming my new middle name. Why not? It's popular!

Must remember to take the Malibu-bu in this week to get the oil changed. Can't procrastinate that for too long.

The new Echo is a cute little car. Sounds a bit like a lawnmower sometimes, and Paul's always warning against pushing it too hard at start-up. I still think it says "I think I can, I think I can," as it chugs up the hills. Hope it does well in winter. Paul says it did a bit of a wheelie on Marine Drive the other day... the wind caught it and tossed it onto 2 wheels! Got lessons from him on how to re-ground the vehicle if it ever (hope the hell not!) happens to me... turn AWAY from the wind. Kite strings, anyone? No, no... that's for Niki, for when she goes outside in the heavy winds!

Ciao for now. This is a boring post so I might as well leave asap.

October storms

2009-10-15T09:42:00.000-02:30

Damn! October is turning out to be a real pain, weather-wise. It's gotten chilly, rainy, dark and gloomy. One day of sunshine does not a happy Christine make. Yesterday was absolutely horrible. It was Paul's last day of holidays and it absolutely POURED all freakin' day! He picked Gerri up with the Echo (echo echo echo) so that she didn't have to swim over and we had coffee in the living room with the fireplace blazing. Lovely heat.

Around 10ish Sean showed up to report that there was water all over Kyle's floor, leaking from his ceiling. Uh-oh... Scamper down the stairs with towels and buckets and discover that the window is leaking from several places as well. Scamper back upstairs to find that the water on Kyle's ceiling is likely due to the water gushing in from the living room door immediately above his room. More towels, more buckets. Water is also dripping from the window casing of the living room windows. Uh-oh... This does NOT look good... scamper further upstairs to check on the master bedroom... sure enough, water's springing from the windows AND the door as well. AAAAAaagh! More towels and buckets! Miranda's room too! Oh no!!! At least the skylights are holding.

Out of towels yet? The dryer still isn't repaired and I'm currently sitting amongst several large bath sheets strung over doors, railings, racks...

The sun is shining today. It's as if nothing ever happened. *sigh* I guess we'll be replacing the windows next year.

October is chilly!!!

2009-10-09T14:17:00.000-02:30

I'm very glad that we have a fireplace in both the living room and dining room. It gives me such options for when I decide to sit down to read or knit. Knitting also has the added advantage of keeping me warm while I lay it on my lap. ... dog sweaters aren't always the biggest items though. Needed the dog, too.

Pat's visit is nearly done and tomorrow is Turkey Day. Sadly, the real turkey from next door, Smokey, died this morning under a pine tree in our yard. He was 16 years old and had been the neighbour's pet. How can I face turkey tomorrow morning? *sigh* ...

So... Pat's visit was busy! Paul had the week off and we spent the time motoring around with a new car! Okay, okay... back up a bit... we TEST-DROVE a Toyota Echo the other day. Drove the *bleep* out of it on the way to Cape Spear. It's a small thing, but brave. I swear I could hear it chanting "I think I can, I think I can" the whole way up the hill. Anyway, to make a long story short, we bought it and brought it home yesterday. It just fits in the small section of driveway between the gate and the road. Hmm... It's just a smidgen bigger than a Smart car.

Pat was canny this time and brought her hairstyling tools with her. It seems that the experience of trying to cut our hair with my sewing scissors was still stuck in her brain and she wanted to avoid the horror of it this time. lol... hair colour and new styles all around. Pictures? You want pictures? Sure! As soon as I get some taken of the girls 'n hair. :)

Knitting was a blast as well. I made that adorable (if I do say so myself) outfit for Niki and one for Shelby while Pat watched in awe. She persuaded me ( it was easy!) to make a pair of sweaters/dresses for her sister-in-law's pair of Yorkie-girls. Well, I started with the backs while waiting for the measurements to arrive from Grace. They took me a couple of days, but they're adorable. I REALLY hope they fit and can hardly wait to see the photos of the dogs wearing them. That goes for Shelby's dress as well. Hurry up, Dana! Put it on and take a picture once you get the parcel!

Gotta go find out if my little Malibu is ready for pick-up from the mechanic now. It's just past 2:00 and I have yet to plan dinner, take Sean to work, and fetch the Mook from school.

Cheerios! (yes, I know they're a cereal)

October already!?!!?

2009-10-03T16:20:00.001-02:30

Where the heck is the time going? It's already October 3rd and I'm so not ready for winterizing myself. Oh well. At least I've been winterizing my puppy-girl. :)

Ravelry has been a great place to "shop" for ideas to clothe Niki. Thanks Dana!!! Alia suggested a Halloween costume for the little bumpkin, so I went "shopping" for ideas and patterns. I found a sweet King of the Beasts costume (that'd be a LION) that came complete with an adorable mane. The yarn is a super-chunky that's knit on size 13's, so it works up really fast! All was going well until I finished the body and stitched it together. Oops... wrong size. Big-time wrong size! What to do now? It's all done!!! Argh! I did what I do best and improvised using my sewing machine. I stitched that sucker up and down the sides and then *gulp* CUT it.

Again, all was going well until I was finished with the sleeves. Wrong location. Well golly-gee... what to do now? It's all flippin- done! If it were a computer document, I'd have hit the "delete" button by this point. Frogging wouldn't work. I'd cut it. Well, since it only took me a day to stitch the first version, surely it'd be as fast to do the 2nd. So, off I went with another ball of yarn.

Second version, ahoy!! It was beautiful! I decided to modify it hugely. Extra stitching details and additional decreases to re-shape the body here and there. The piece de resistance was the crocheted ruffle on the butt-end. Absolutely darling!! I finished the rib knit (wow!!) collar and added a bit of ruffle around it to hide the (oops) missed-stitches, and it now looks like a turned-down ruffled collar. Very very adorable!

While all this was going on, we had an absolutely wonderful French girl staying with us. French, with a lovely posh British accent. Emma arrived from Iceland via cargo ship in Argentia and got to our place on Sunday, Sept 27 and left us just this afternoon (Oct 3rd). She was my knitting buddy through the week. She'd just learned to knit in June and the pair of us had a great time playing with our projects. She practiced cables, I made doggie sweaters.

Pat A. showed up on Friday am! Hooray!!! She'll be here until the 11th. I'm going to knit a pair of sweaters for her to give to a pair of doggie-pals of Shelby (Xmas presents) and another for Shelby :) as well. Fun fun!

WOOHOO!!!!!

2009-09-26T12:27:00.000-02:30

I just learned to knit and purl in the Continental (left-handed) method! Knittinghelp.com works for me!!! The purl stitch is a bit tough to do at first, but it smooths out after the first couple of stitches. The knit stitch is pretty easy and goes well. The hardest part was figuring out how to hold the blooming yarn in the left hand, wrapping it around the pinkie and pointer fingers and not dropping the whole mess into my lap. Dropping needles out of the yarn stitches isn't any fun either. Fortunately, there's videos about how to pick those up too. Yayyyy!!!

I'm going to go knit in the living room now. Away from the computer! Away!!!

Oh yeah. Our couch surfer, Emma Laigle, should be arriving sometime today or tomorrow. French girl with a (holy smokes does she ever have one) British accent who just spent a bunch of time in Iceland.

Bye-bye!

Things to check out for editing Blogger.

2009-09-25T10:36:00.001-02:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pozsSkNpeh0&feature=related

Hope this link continues to work! I hate trying to figure out how to use YouTube. :)

An "argh" kind of day...

2009-09-24T21:25:00.000-02:30

I have such a tough time figuring out how to FIND people's blogs on here! Agh! I wonder if maybe it's the wrong name... Ah well. I'll have to check that out further.

It's been one of those weird kinds of days where I ended up on the computer for long periods of time without actually managing to feel as though I've accomplished anything. Why? Well... many many e-mails were sent back and forth about a flyer we're doing for the Dominion Hill issue, but it doesn't seem as though they were all being read in the same way by everybody on the mailing list. Too bad. I think it's just about time for me to pull my feelers back in and hide out in my shell again. Just for a bit. The election is next Tuesday. ...

Funny, but I just realized that I'm donating blood that same day. Wheee... Is there something Freudian about that?

Tuesday again.

2009-09-22T09:12:00.001-02:30

Funny how the days just keep sliding by. We've been cleaning house like crazy this past few days. Company coming, etc... Miranda's room's been completely changed around. She loves it, but there's tons of stuff to discard. Value Village, here we come. Well, here ALIA comes. :)

I get to finish the job with a vacuuming this morning. All the carpets need it desperately. And sweeping. I get to sweep too. Yeehaw! I hope to get some time to play with Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 today. What're the odds? Yeah. Pretty slim.

Unless you count using it this morning to crop a photo of Miranda to attach to Alia's e-mail about the Terry Fox Run. I wonder how that'd print... hmm... I guess I could give that a try too. Laser printer is up and running...

Procrastinating again, aren't I? Yup.

Here's the picture I wound up with. I wonder if I can get Alia's hand/arm out of the photo too. ... hmmm...

Saturday...

2009-09-19T15:59:00.000-02:30

Took a Smart car for a test drive today. What fun! It felt really strange at first, not because it's a small car, but because there's no power steering and you have to turn as you're moving, and also because the brake pedal is a weird thing... push from the top instead of lightly from the bottom like the Malibu.

Too bad we're not going to get one... *boo* It was fun!

Talked to my dear darling daughter for a bit this afternoon until her pain inna butt friend came over. *grr* I'M more important! Talking about KNITTING is more important than studying chemistry. *hmpf*

Picked up a new book at Michael's yesterday. "fitted knits" by Stefanie Japel. Some fun looking sweaters in there. I added it to my Ravelry library and checked out some of the sweaters in the book. Some definite possibilities in there!

Got new canvases yesterday too. *pbbbtttht!* at Dana ... Three 30" x 40" ... or is that 40" x 30" ?? Hmm... Depends on how I want to set them on the wall of the kitchen. Now to figure out exactly what I want to paint! Must get some drawings/pastels done. I was thinking of something that sort of looks tropical and lush, to match the painting that Miranda's planning to do for Xmas. But maybe I should do something using some of the great photographs I have from Winnipeg. Birds and flowers... birds' eye view of the flowers? Eh. Whatever. I'll get some drawings done and figure it out from there. You'll help me, right? Dana? Hellooooo! :)

I'm going to re-paint *gasp* the buckets on my Casting for Capelin painting. The more I look at the stupid things, the more I hate them. I can do better than that. I should've changed it as soon as I realized the perspective was wrong. But I didn't... Now I'm unhappy. It's off the wall. Soon it'll be on the easel. Yeah. That's right. On The Easel.

Wait... where am I going to put the easel? We've got a couchsurfer coming sometime this month, and then Pat is coming at the start of October... argh! It may have to wait. NooOoooooo.... *sigh*

Going to go upstairs now. Either I'll take a bath or I'll take up my knitting. No... knitting in the bath doesn't work. Maybe I'll hot tub instead. Yeah... that and a glass of wine. That may get rid of these stupid little aches I've got thanks to catching Miranda's cold. Yeah... hot tubbing!

Garbage Truck hits the Deck...

2009-09-17T10:30:00.001-02:30

Weird. There I was, innocently minding my own business and thinking about pouring a fresh cup of coffee... then sitting down and knitting (agh!) when I saw the garbage truck go by... no biggie right? It's garbage day. Suddenly *WHAM!!!* ... the house shook! Damn truck hit the deck! Clutch slipped? Something... The guy had managed to toss 2 of our garbage bags into the truck, gone back for the 3rd and final, turned... truck's rolling!!! Missed the car in our driveway, missed the side of the house... just took out the front deck. *Phew!* Could've been worse.

Enough excitement for the day. Tow truck needed to haul it out. That might be fun. :)

Am I hooked?

2009-09-17T09:01:00.000-02:30

I'm not entirely sure what constitutes an addiction. I usually take great pride in NOT being able to get addicted to anything, but realize that I'm a huge book-devourer. THAT might be an addiction. But other than that... and chocolate... So far, I've gotten away with it.

Is that changing? I'm working on this shawl, and I want to have it done for Christmas. I'd really like to have it done even sooner so that I can start on another project (oh no... another sign!!), and that means I have to commit time to knitting. I've been knitting while visiting with my best friend, while cooking dinner, while sitting with the family post-dinner, pre-bed, and now... post-bed!!! I'm knitting while waiting for it to be time to drive Miranda to school!!!! While waiting for coffee to be done!!!

Worst thing of all is that I'm actually wavering between reading and knitting! AAAAAaaaaaaggh!!

I'm afraid to go to the library, because it might become official when I start looking for knitting books. Oh gods... what am I going to do?!!!

DANA! This is all YOUR fault!

Love you. ;)

Gotta go doctor up my coffee and pick up my knitting again. I'm heading out to Michael's with Gerri later in order to use my 50% off coupon to buy a ginormous (or medium-sized ginormous) canvas... maybe some yarn... and some non-plastic needles! They squeak and my yarn sticks to them!

... going now... must get off the computer before I look at yarn requirements for another project... *gasp*

Knit ? Purl ? ... go crazy!

2009-09-13T15:53:00.000-02:30

It's been a while since I've been here. Too many other things going on, I guess. Went to Winnipeg to visit with Dana (Hi, Dane!!!) and had a fabulous time. Ethnic food galore (oh yum!), shopping and hanging out with Dane! (yaaaayyyy!) We watched a few movies, some of them repeaters. Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes are proceeding apace. Dana! Stop watching them!!! This is a "you-and-me" thing to do. Otherwise I'll start watching them with Alia! Yes. She's asking. ... hmm... It means I might get the whole series watched before I'm 60. *thinking*

Ron and Diane's wedding out in Grindstone National Park, Confusion Corner Bar and Grill with Dana (Beach Salad!), all the fun stuff. *sigh* It's going to be a long time before next summer comes around.

Dana learned to knit not long ago. She kept at it, even while I was visiting. She asked if I'd like to learn. My response was a pretty big "NO WAY!" ... After about a week, I'd softened up and asked her to show me. It seemed pretty easy.

Note to self: Never try learning something new when you're exhausti-pooped and stupid-blind. I couldn't even count as far as 2 on a continuing basis. Ah well. I got over that little learning bump and have since been doing pretty well.

My first project, a dog collar-cover with a neckerchief attached, turned out pretty well. Unfortunately, it's the wrong size scarf for Niki. I have to find a smaller dog to give it to. Try again with the larger size! I'd also like to get a sweater knitted for Niki before it gets cold. Poor puppy... don't want her to freeze!

The second project was hilarious. I think I must've cast-on about half a dozen times before I finally got it! Then I'd stitch a couple of rows, realize that I'd messed it up and proceed to tear the whole thing out! Argh! I finally stopped being the "anal knitter" and left it as is. The shawl took much longer than the pattern indicated it would take, but it's finally done. Funny thing though, I kept making longer and longer rows, thinking that I was making the part that lays over the shoulders with each pass. Nope... not so. It turned out that the beginning part that I'd ripped out repeatedly until the yarn was actually a bit fuzzy-looking was the top-centre. Right at the nape. *sigh* Fortunately, it looks gorgeous everywhere else. I refuse to look for mistakes and I push Alia's comments aside every time she tries to say anything about it. She's quit now.

Project three is well on its way! Another shawl, but not the triangular kind. Something a bit different, and using a boucle (eep!) yarn instead of the thick bulky stuff.

Pictures to follow. Honest!

The fog rolls in and the fog rolls out...

2009-06-24T21:03:00.000-02:30

Well, here we are. Torbay. After a couple of FABULOUSLY sunny days (nearly a week of them) we're back in the rolling fog for which Torbay should be best known. Seriously, there are times when I'll be driving back home from St. John's direction and quite literally be shocked at how thick the fog looks ahead of me. Torbay seems to have a wall around it. The fog creeps, the fog crawls, the fog wisps... crazy! It looks like an impenetrable wall of cloud. Strangely though, once you get INTO the fog, it's not so bad! Of course, that doesn't take into account the days like today, where even though I swear I saw a fishing boat come into the harbour and anchor just offshore, I couldn't make out more than a mere outline a couple of minutes after the fog swallowed it.

We've had some Couchsurfers staying with us since last week. Stephanie (Toronto) came in on Thursday (she's our repeat offender from last year) and Jason (Toronto) and Terhi (Finland via Ottawa) arrived on Friday. Steph's still here until tomorrow noon, but J. and T. left on Monday morning. Weekenders. :)

Cheesecake bake-off between Steph and Sean is still going strong. Steph made a scrumptious strawberry cheesecake on the weekend, followed immediately by the O'Brien's Bread Pudding. Both were awfully good! Sean made a Caramel Pecan cheesecake this afternoon. Taste testing will be anytime now, I hope! I hope he remembers to take a picture before cutting into it!

Lobster season is nearly over. *boohoo* It's been a real treat to have lobster feasts nearly ever weekend! I'm so glad we bought the humongous lobster pot last year and the propane burner this year. It eliminates so much of the hassle. I remember watching Alia try to cook these huge things in the turkey roaster last year. Too funny...

Okay. Gotta go and "remind" Sean to take a picture of the cheesecake! Pictures to follow one of these days.

One of those days... again...

2009-06-12T18:03:00.001-02:30

Is there anyone who hasn't had one of "those" days where you just want to crawl back into bed? Well, this is certainly one of mine.

Last week was so sunny that we called the "Pool guys" to come and set us up for the season. They showed up on Monday. I think that might have been the very last of the sunny days! It's been rain rain rain ever since then. A bit of a downer for a transplanted Manitoban who has long been accustomed to a sunny AND WARM spring season. You'd think that after 2 1/2 years of living in Newfoundland I'd learn to expect fog and rain. Nope. I'm normally an extremely optimistic gal and look forward to the good things life brings.

So... several days of rain and my head feels like it's full of clouds and fog. A cold coming on or a fogbank moving in? Hard to tell some days.

AND just to make things more entertaining, I can't find the house keys. *sigh* I hope they turn up soon.

Living on The Rock

January is chugging along nicely...

Moose tracks means Moose nearby... right?

November et arrive!

Nearly October already!!!

Happy Birthday, IGOR!

You know you're on a roll when...

A rant. A lengthy one. Some disturbing images...

Summer is AWOL, and we discover "Stinky" the Mink

Catching up a bit...

*sigh* I just want it to stop...

I'm DEFINITELY using the credit card!

Mother's Day, 2011

May 1st, and the weather is still a bit touchy...

Walking around the Lake...

The Mexican Experience

Happy New Year!!

Igor. One week and counting up.

Igor Hurricane Stravinsky has finally touched down!

October and still warm!

Hurricane Igor

FYI, we live in Newfoundland, NOT New Brunswick

Fireworks Torbay Days 2010

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

The new storage container...

Go Hero HD Helmet Cam Durability Field Test

Weird and randomness... nothing special.

Finished the painting today!

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

I passed my motorcycle training course!!!

Watching the U of Wpg's convocation on a Webcast

The weather outside is frightful...

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

Keeping in touch...

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

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

Dominican Republic holiday

November 20th, Paul's birthday...

Can't talk... knitting...

RIP Steve

Where's the Easel?

I love getting presents in the mail...

Well, further to the drawing workshop weekend, I went to a painting studio today...

Niki and Baby

October rain, Baby Shower, Drawing Workshop

when it rains, it pours...

What's up with people who "dent and run" ???

So the plumber asks me "do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

aha! I've GOT it!

MORE rain?!!!??

October storms

October is chilly!!!

October already!?!!?

WOOHOO!!!!!

Things to check out for editing Blogger.

An "argh" kind of day...

Tuesday again.

Saturday...

Garbage Truck hits the Deck...

Am I hooked?

Knit ? Purl ? ... go crazy!

The fog rolls in and the fog rolls out...

One of those days... again...

sigh I just want it to stop...

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