only on Canadian TV

Thanks Kay for your video selection on Canadian Comercials . Love it.

Bye Bye Dock

Today we are bringing in the dock. I use "we" as in the royal we. I am not going to do it. I am going to watch. Yep, and maybe suggest things that will be ignored sweetly by the men folks.

I am going to miss the dock, but I also don't want to wait until its really cold to bring it in. And everyone is well. AND a neighbor has offered to help this weekend. All this works for me.

After the dock, its off the get ManChild #2's glasses fixed. He knows where to go, he can go in by himself, and he wants me to drive him. Hmmmm.

I was looking up taking French, and the Quebec government actually pays immigrants (that would be me) and naturalized Canadians (that would the ManChildren) to take French lessons. They PAY us. Wow. Of course you have to jump through all the hoops the govt types up here have. Red tape galore.

Speaking of govt types, red tape and jumping through hoops . . . I was promised that I would get my medical card this week. Ok. So, MainMan calls and now its sometime (no exact date or time) after October 1st. Patience. It is a life lesson that is being drilled into me up here. Oh, and my Permanent Resident Card that I have been trying to get for over a year and was supposed to get in September? Yeah, well, I should be getting it in 2-4 weeks. But on a different note, I now have my SIN (like Social Security Card) in hand. When I went this summer, the lady promised to mail it the next day. After two weeks, I called. "Oh yeah, its right here. There used to be a law that you had to be interviewed to get your card and that interview took 6 months to get-so you are so lucky. I promise to mail it tomorrow." I got it a couple weeks later. But I got it. Yeah!

Must learn patience. Must learn patience. I am almost there. I am so much there compared to last fall.

Time to reboot?

My computer is running slow this morning. So am I. But I can reboot my computer. Hmmm, I wonder if I can reboot me? Coffee maybe?

I had a meeting yesterday with an Artist Association. They liked me. And want to have me print their art on cards. But, it was stressful. Nothing like sitting at a conference table listening to a language and having no earthly idea what is being said (they were finishing their meeting before I got to present my services). Most understood me, however, I was asked by an older lady to speak slower. Funny, I never thought I spoke all that fast.

I did get an interesting lead on some French lessons. I tried to look it up but it was in French. Okies-that's gonna help. It is a full time class (8-5), five days a week. But I don't know how long of a class it is. I have the phone number to leave a message but the artist lady said "I think you can leave a message in English, well, I hope its ok".

And, not a lot of pictures to post. I looked at my camera and noticed that I had over 700 pictures on it. So, I deleted em. It's not like they aren't already in my computer, just a little extra back up (doesn't that sound like a good excuse for not doing something?)

But I did have a couple of the local geese family and ducks. Not great, but I wanted to post them to let Tricia know the difference of ducks and beavers. Geese and ducks have feathers and beavers have fur (plus big flat tails). :)

I miss shopping on Saturday nights

What do kids do here on the weekends? Teenagers, I suppose. The malls and stores close at 5 on Saturday and Sundays. So, if girls get together and giggle and say, lets run to the mall to look at some shoes (whatever), grab some fries and see a movie (and check out the local studs at the same time)- just WHAT do they do instead?



Well, if you are 18 or older, I guess you go to the local pub, nightclub or restaurant. Maybe a coffee shop? Movie? . . and then the pub, nightclub or restaurant. I am not sure. Movies are sort of expensive up here ($11). Notice the key thing that connects this is drinking (well, not movies but pub, nightclub and restaurants).



I guess they could sit around outside and visit, etc. (not going to go into what "visit" means). But, once its back to the ice age-what do they do? Stay home? What teen wants to do that? (OK, besides MY teen).



On, another point. I went to get some cold meds for the sickos of the house (that would be the children) and noticed that they still sell children's cold meds for infants and toddlers. Maybe Canadians are smart enough NOT to over medicate their children, whereas, the US thinks Americans aren't. Let me think on this one. . . . hmmmmmm.



I went bowling again last night. Guess what, I still suck. Really bad. But I am better than I was but not by much. I just can't get the hang of such small balls ----light small balls and pins with little ropes on them. You don't get the pin action with these.



My left shoulder still hurts. Darn it. Remind me not to play with docks that are floating away.



Oh, yeah . . . we got a free standing A/C. They were on sale at . . . (are you ready? can you guess where?) . . . Canadian Tire. 40% off. Now, these babies are expensive, so 40% off is good. And it works just great when its cool outside. Yeppers, works great. And I think it will work great in the heat too next year. :)
And finally, here is what sits on the counter. It's an ice maker. Makes ice cubes. Main man gave it to me on my birthday. I didn't think I needed it. But I did. It's great and now, the little freezer has a tad bit more room without the ice cube trays- AND I have ice in my ice tea.

WARNING: Images may be disturbing to non cat owners

I woke to slight rain this morning. Which is good. It's been very dry here. All that water in the lake and the poor grass is dying. Well, not totally but it was thinking of dying.

As I sat with my coffee checking the morning news, reading little quips here and there, I saw KC come running past the window toward the back door. A good cat mother, I got up to let him in. But I noticed something. He was "meowfffing". I looked down from the window.

I don't think so, kitty. I mean, we have gone through this before and I am not in the mood to do it again in the morning.

Really, I don't think so. Forget it. You can stand there in the rain waiting and meowwfffhuffing all you want. I might feel a slight twang of pity. But not enough.

And I saw you let him go and catch him again. Yeah, I am watching you. And I know you are wet. Sorry. It's the price you pay when you play.

But, I am proud of you. I think they are cute, but don't like the little burrows.

But not proud enough to let you in to play with him in the dry, warm, snug house. Come back later without your friend.

Lysol anyone?

I was wondering. Is it wrong to consider dipping a child in Lysol? I mean, he isn't a child anymore, so it wouldn't exactly be child abuse. Teen abuse? But not really abuse since all I would be technically doing is ridding him of germs.

Yeah, I got a sickie. He even stayed home from school yesterday. And should stay home from school today. But if you miss school, you are supposed to get a doctor's excuse (even with the flu thing going around), so, I am thinking they want sick kids at school.

#2 started on Friday. A bit of a sore throat. As the weekend developed, so did he. On Sunday, I suggested that he take it easy. Stay home. Rest. Ooooohhh, well, that didn't happen (well, it was his birthday and all).

He woke up yesterday. Voice is mostly gone. He stayed home. He got chicken soup and lots of rest.

Today, he is better. Still a germ factory, I bet.

Montreal Kitty

He is a strange cat. He doesn't come when he is called (well, according to the cat world, that doesn't make him strange at all). But, if he is outside and you walk out and casually walk, he will come running up and past you at full tilt. LOUD running. Like something very large is running up on you.


He also chases balls, tries to catch little bugs (never said he was a great hunter-I think its the loud running that does him in), has an ongoing love/hate relationship with the local squirrels who know they are perfectly safe with him (he might just surprise them one day because they are being so relaxed with him), sleeps on the porch at night (what will he do in the winter) and will go out in the middle of where ever he is and meow over and over and over again until someone comes up to him to tell him he is ok (that can be human or feline-KC goes up to him and nose touches which seems to settle him down).


He lets the boys hold him anyway they want, even upside down which may or may not explain him not coming when called. We need to work on that. If he was a dog, I would keep a little treat in my pocket to share when he came, but he is a cat and couldn't care less.


But, he is a cool cat. Yeah, my Montreal kitty. Hey, maybe that's it. He spoke French for the first month or so of his life. Maybe its a language thing. :)

It's his birthday

Hard to believe, but my baby is 19 years old. Oh, and according to MainMan, I am not supposed to do things on my blog that might embarrass the children. I am guessing calling my baby "My Baby" might fall into that category.

But, as I have said before, its my blog (most of the time) and today, he is my baby.

Yep, at 7:30 pm (pacific time) 19 years ago, Manchild #2 came into this world. (This was after 35 hours of back labor)

Happy Birthday Manchild #2. I love you. And I know you hate being called "ManChild" and prob "#2" too. So for today, just today:

Happy Birthday, Matthew.

Hi there my Bloggie friends

So, guys, did ya miss me? Sortof? A little?

It's not that I am busy. Well a little. I have a few orders here and there. I go fishing in the evening with Lizette. Sometimes in the Kayak (oh, my, I still don't have getting out of that thing down), or her hubby takes us in his fishing boat.

Here are few updates:

Mr. Tomato plant is on his second breath. I thought he had been mortally wounded by the move, or by MainMan turning him over to drill holes in his pot. A main stem was dead, but the rest was ok. I had ignored him for a while but then noticed he was full of little tomatoes. If it doesn't freeze too soon, we should have another little harvest.

I went bowling last Friday night. Update alert: I suck at bowling. Ohhhh, yeah. But it was fun, they tried to speak English.

I met a neighbor who is famous in the Guitar world. He has several factories to make guitars. Very nice man. His wife is from the states (North Carolina) and just became a Canadian citizen (she is dual: US/Canadian).

I got the outside of my van washed (hey, I never said my updates were interesting, did I?)

We are still battling the fruit flies but at the moment have the upper hand. I was getting pretty mad at em. So, I did the oven thing. I know, I know, not all that nice in the world of fruit flies. And then I got my hair dryer and turned it on, and turned it so the intake part was near the few flying around. It sucked em in and well, they disappeared (remember, it's my little world here and I say they disappeared, NOT burned to their deaths). We only have a couple fruit flies here and there.

I have a goal of taking pictures of beavers. I found a dam (would that be a damn dam?). I know there are beavers there. It's only a matter of time.

I got grumpy with a company where I ordered an online game for #1. They didn't have a contact number so I would have to email and wait for them to email back. After a few emails (do these people read the emails? NO, they read the first three words and reply) Finally, I wrote 5 emails to customer service at the same time saying REFUND MY MONEY. Guess what? They did. Wow. I didn't expect that. LOL

Our next door neighbor actually waters our grass for us. I was using the real water out of the facet to water. He has a special pump to get the water from the water from the lake. He waters with that water. Nice.

Our other neighbor told me that in the fall, thousands of geese come to the lake for a short while and it's really cool to see.

I will take some pictures soon and post. I just haven't felt like taking pictures.

Oh, and someone offered Mr. Literal/ aka My Straight Arrow/#2 some, ummmm, brownies at school. He said no. Ahhh, nothing says upper education like brownies with added ingredients.

I am thinking of sending a "Canadian" care package to someone off at school for the first time. I thought, hey, it should be really Canadian. You know, Canadian flag and . . . ummm . . . and . . . hey, what is truly Canadian? I can't send food (against the Canada Post rules), I can't send a beaver (yeah, I bet that falls under the same rules)- so what to send? I mean, really, what is Canadian? Canadian Bacon? Nope, that's food. Maple whatever? Food again. Beavers? They don't pack well. Ice and snow? Might melt. A tee shirt that says pot is almost legal up here? I am thinking that won't fly all that well down there.

I will have to ponder this.

Bowling anyone?

Bowling. It ain't (yep, I said ain't- I be an English type rebel) exactly the same up here. Well, that's not really true. They do have a few places where you can bowl with the big balls. But most are small balls.

Yeah, bowling with little balls about the size of softballs or maybe grapefruit.

Our neighbor invited me to go bowling with them. They needed to practice. And they also wanted someone to be a substitute for their league. They had invited another lady to come with us.

Now, I was nervous. Why? Cause I had NO idea what in the heck I was doing. Bowling with little balls? Hmm, how do you hold them? No holes. And how do you score. But, I went.

Ohhh, yeah. Little balls. And the little pins have cords on the top. Once you knock them down, the cords pull up the pins and reset them. I had a bit of a problem with throwing too hard. Hey, I am used to much heavier balls.

Scores the same. Same type of shoes. Lanes the same.

And in case you were wondering, I suck at bowling.

Kayak and fish

My neighbor invited me to go fishing with her on her kayak. Hmmm. I have never kayaked. And to fish at the same time. This could be a challenge.

So, I grabbed a nylon jacket, a sweatshirt, the pole and some worms. And off I go. She has a life jacket for me (gooood idea). She gave me her hubby's fishing type boots. I couldn't find my cute little rain boots (which was probably good since I think she would have judged me harshly as a fishingtype person).

The kayak was a two seater. I was able to get in ok. Just a little nervous. She explained how to do it. We rowed (whatever) for a while until we came to a local island. Then she dropped anchor. She didn't know the English word for it, but I was able to figure it out myself-heavy thing for the water. I wasn't catching much so she gave me one of her poles. She had two (but only allowed to use one). We had fun catching perch. Then the biting stopped. All of a sudden I got a great hit. But it got away. Then she did. It was a big bass. He jumped and got away.

Then I got something big. Hmmm. It sort of reminded me of . . . oh no, don't tell me. What if it's an eel. I can't really cut her line. It's her pole and set up. Well, crap-it was. So I pull my handy dandy pliers out of my back pocket (oooh, yeah, I come prepared). And I try to get it on the hook without touching that damn wiggly, slimy thing. I did pretty good too until it squirmed around the line and almost landed in my lap. I let out a yelp. Ok, it was a scream. Luckily I was in control enough not to jump or lean away (here's a hint, we would have been swimming).

Finally, I got something really big. And it fought. I thought at first it might be an eel. But it was fighting more than an eel. It just didn't want to come in. It was a pretty big catfish. Over three pounds. Now, she doesn't keep catfish. They don't like them. But, I know catfish are good eating but hard to clean. I have seen an easy way on You Tube. And besides, I had to bring it home to show the family.

The finger prints on the door: "keeping it real"

I now have a fish in my fridge-in ice. Waiting to be cleaned. Will I clean it tomorrow? Can you clean them after they are dead? I have iced him down, put in a plastic bag in a big bowl. I need someone to come over here and clean it.



Hey, Nol-wacchhaa doing?

Oh, and btw, getting out of the kayak wasn't as easy as getting in.

money

I know, I know . . . I have been pretty slack on posting on my little blog. I am sure Dawn is having withdrawals from her daily intake of bloggism.



No excuses. Well, maybe a few but none that really count. I was hot. My brain stopped for a while. It's back (and that's a scary thought all in itself). I am still a bit tired from the heat. Yeah, yeah, I didn't take care of myself. I have learned my lesson. (Ha!).



And I have been in a war. A major war. Against damn fruit flies. I swear . . . they are winning. Not a lot, but always a few. Now, I guess I could wait until it is really cold outside and just leave the windows open for a while. But, I am trying all the things I said before. Bleaching the sinks, fruit fly traps, no fruit. I swear-they don't care. Every morning, there they are. Sigh. I am losing this war.



#2 started school. He likes it. Guess what his favorite part is! Go ahead-think of him, his personality and guess.



Give up? His favorite part is the breakfast he buys in the cafeteria every morning. Sigh. Second fav? Lunch. Now, he is on the thin side. His pants are always falling off (not a fashion statement). If he keeps eating these cool breakfasts and lunches, he might fit into his small jeans. Hey, maybe even go up a size. Freshman 15 or so. I will keep you posted.



I grabbed my money jar tonight. I tend to dip into it every once in a while. But I got some cool coin holders. I packed two sets of each and sat back. Heyyyy, that's $150 right there. $150. Hard to believe.