Yesterday started out normal. Normal enough. Messy house. I started with the clean laundry and put the baskets in the living room. Yeah, I will get to that-fold it and put it in the right rooms. Kitchen messy-dirty dishes in the sink-yep, that's on my list. Dinner to think about. Ok, I will start it so all I have to do is put it in the oven. I start by flouring the meat to brown. Whoops, I spilled a little flour on the stove top.
Then its mail call. Ohhhh man, I have boxes. And #1 has something from immigration. I open his big letter first. It's his evaluation of his high school with a cover letter from Quebec . . . I think. It's all in French. Great. So I scan em and send them to Larry to be translated. (and yes, it was the docs we needed for school and yep, it only took 5 months LOL). #1 has everything he needs for school now (hopefully).
Next up, the boxes. Inside the boxes are boxes and packing stuff. And since I am having fun, everything goes all over the place-next to the baskets of clothes. I love getting things from the states (TY ty ty ty).
Yep, the house is a disaster.
And the doorbell rings. It's the owner. She is visiting her parents. Oh greeeaat. Inside she comes. I stand there. Hmmm, messy kitchen, messy living room. Sort of like a tornado came through. Well, she must just love how I am taking care of her house LOL!
It stresses me. Things like that always does.
And I ended the night watching Deadliest Catch. It was the one where Phil dies. It was sad. Brought back memories.
Not a good way to end the day.
Today will be better. Yep.
Sitting here with a cup of coffee-in my fav mug (at the moment). Just thinking. Hmmm, I should post something, but I don't have pics. I know how you love pictures. Or is that ME that loves pictures?
#1 will be 21 next week. Wow. Time flies. He is loving his job. Seriously. And he has the best tan in his life. Not a surprise there since I have been the sun screen mother from hell most of his life. I did give him a ton of sun screen this summer and he did use it. Now he has a great tan. And while I know it looks great, I cringe just a tad. Sigh . . . neurotic motherhood-does it ever end?
21 isn't a big deal up here. After all, the boys were "legal" the moment we crossed the border. Drinking age is 18 in Quebec (19 in some other areas of Canada). So, none of that get so drunk you pass out on your 21st birthday. Maybe they do that when they turn 18? There is a lot of educational information at #2's school about over indulging (alcohol and ummmm well, that green stuff that is grown). And kids are giving a special D/L that is probationary for two years. Zero tolerance for drinking and driving during that time. If they think you are drinking, they will take your D/L away. End of story. And it can take a while to get the probationary license back-sometimes years.
That said, folks up here LOVE their beer. It's a serious past time. The beer is stacked up high at the grocery stores. All little local markets have walk in beer fridges. Lots of beer to be had. And by watching those who return the bottles and cans for the deposits, lots of beer has been had.
On another note, Trish is due to give us a new grand nephew soon. I am pushing for #1's birthday. She wants a couple days earlier. Hey, Tricia, what's a couple days? I mean, you are only super preggers and its only the middle of the hottest summer on record. Geeessshh, hold it in until the 27th. :)
I didn't take this picture. or the next one. Think of these as visual aids
Here's the deal. I want to take a picture of a local beaver. No specific beaver in mind, just one that is nearby. I figure, since I am living in CanadaLand and blogging from CanadaLand, it would be perfect to blog about the mascot.
These guys are all over the place this time of the year. On the side of the road, eating and munching on fresh greens. I see em. I wanna take a picture. But, pulling over on the highway isn't a good idea. Same said for some of the local roads.
I had my eye on a fat and happy (I am guessing here on the happiness level) beaver that would show up near the local nursery. Yeah, I could park in the parking lot and walk up to take the picture. How easy is that?!? Here's the problem. Whenever I would see him (evenings or rainy days), I didn't have my camera with me. Or if I had the camera, he wasn't to be seen.
Then . . . one day-there he was. DEAD. Run over. Dammit, my easy beaver was dead. I suppose that made him even easier. I said to #2 that my beaver died and it was my easy beaver. Sigh. Ok, even I snickered after I said it. Actually, I laughed. Remember, it is a mother's duty to embarrass her children as much as possible.
There are other beavers and I will take a picture. It's a goal. And what is life without goals?
Nope, didn't take this picture either . . . but it is a beaver. That should count for something.
Ahhh, summertime and the will to burn puffed sweetened things. Yeah!
There is a fire pit near the water, at the edge of the lawn. We have been putting the twigs and small branches there for the last year. Our neighbors do the same. They decided to burn their wood Saturday night, so we followed and burned ours last night.
Even though it rained a LOT on Friday, the old dry twigs went up really fast. It made for a hot time.
But, slowly the fire settled down and #2 was out with Marshmallows. He shared. Thanks #2.
#2 and I sat and watched the fire burn down. I wanted most to burn-less clean up. But I didn't want to leave it by itself. You know, fire has a mind of it's own. It was nice to just sit there and talk with the kid (the other kid and mainman had gone to bed . . . being working types). It was pretty dark but you could still see the lake, etc. I thought I saw a dark shape go towards the dock and then go under it. Hmmm. I must be seeing things. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. I mean, if it was an animal, it would be walking in the water about 15 feet from shore . . . but its not very deep water. I guess I was seeing things. Then I hear #2 say "Cesar! Is that you? What are you doing in the lake???" I look over and the creature had come out the other side of the dock. It was about the size o f the cat (but bigger). I said to the kid-I am thinking that is an animal-and NOT our cat. He was sure it was the cat. I was even more sure it wasn't. Several reasons-but the thought of our cat walking in water being up there on the list.
Yeah, it was a raccoon. I never knew they would go so far into the lake, or under the dock. When he saw #2 walking on the dock, he ran under it. #2 jumped a bit. The raccoon decided it wasn't worth it and walked away. He went to the shore and ran off.
About that time Cesar came running up to #2. Smart cat.
Ok, I have to say it (or whine it): It's been terribly hot here. Heat index over 110 for too many days to think about. Hot, its hot, really hot. Hot. So hot.
Got the picture yet? I suppose you do. I know I do. It's funny, when we lived in California, it could get over 100 and it didn't feel that hot. But it was a dry heat. I can still remember walking outside and feeling my skin tighten up from losing moisture. No problems like that here. It's been big hair for me! You know, curly thick hair goes REALLY big with 97% humidity. No control. Ah, control is overrated, I guess. We finally got a reprieve from the heat yesterday. Its supposed to be a nice weekend with less heat and less humidity. Yeeeeaaaaahhhh. It rained and rained hard! Ohhhh I could hear the grass sing.
I walked to the dock in a light drizzle-it was so nice to be able to walk outside and not have a hot wet towel thrown around me. As I walked on the dock, I heard a big splash under it. I have heard it before and figured it was the little frog I have seen. I sat on the dock for a bit and got up and turned around to hear and see a big slash beside the dock. Hmmmm. That was a big splash for a little frog. I walked to the area and looked down. I saw something strange and bent over and saw this:
Ohhh, yeah, you can't call him a little frog. It was a BIG bull frog. The strange thing I saw was his leg all folded up as he tried to hide.I am guessing when you are a BIG frog, hiding gets hard to do.
Since MainMan is off for two weeks, we decided to make a quick trip to Vermont. Never been there-so its on my list. Off we went through Montreal to the big bridge that heads to the States. I remember going over that bridge when we first moved here and realized I was really, really lost. But this time, I knew where I was. Yeah!
It took about two hours to get to the border. The weather was a little overcast but pretty. It was lunchtime and the wait was about an hour to get through the border. It's hard to get used to border waits. 
We drove around Burlington for a while-hit a couple book stores, and the mall. Then went to the hotel. We got a suite. # 2 turned on the tv and Discovery was having a Deadliest Catch marathon. There is several week delay on showing DC in CanadaLand, so I was able to catch up on shows that haven't been shown up here. Yeah, we spent the evening watching TV. 
Burlington is a very pretty city. University of Vermont is located there. Nice college town. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Bright blue skies, not too hot and a gentle breeze. It was wonderful. And the weather followed us home. This past week has been great!
Montreal welcomed us home. Hi there, Montreal. 
