SPOD PRODS

I have to clarify here…it isn't just Spod.  Monte needs to make some extra money for a particular piece of recording equipment.  I have a horrible closet that is in complete disarray and needing some heavy duty cleaning, lifting and organizing.  These two things go well together.  Last night just before he went to bed I asked if he would like to work for me this morning and earn some bucks to put towards his purchase.  Yes!! he says.  It is now eleven oclock and where is he?  I even phoned at nine and talked to him and 'I'm soooo tired…"  To hell with it.  I will do this myself and he can suck eggs for extra cash.  And I have a huge guilt trip all ready to lay the moment he does deign to come upstairs.

As for Spod.  The only thing I need him to do, and have been prodding him for over a week now, is to transfer his clothes (and there aren't many) from the shelves to a plastic container.  I have already taken all his hanging clothes and packed them neatly away.  He just simply does not do it.

I see him sitting there on his laptop…almost 24/7. I will ask, 'Are you going to pack those clothes?'  He always says Yes Yes…soon.  All week.  Today I am mad.  So after Monte so rudely reneged on his offer, I stomped into the bedroom and did all I can do until Spod does his thing.  And where is he?  At the table, on his frigging laptop.  So I ask him again  "I need it done NOW!!"  Oh okay.  He gets up and actually goes in the bedroom.  I tell him where his container is in the garage and tell him I am waiting until its all done.

  A little while later he shows up at my door with the wok in his hands.  What???  "I am going to put this in the garage" he states.  First of all why is he putting kitchen stuff away and why would he suggest putting the most used thing in my kitchen out in the garage?  I explode…NO NO NO!!  I use it all the time and if you just BEND OVER it can be put away easily.  And have you put all your stuff in a container yet?  Of course not.  All he did was get dressed, came right out to the kitchen and started to fuss around.  

I must admit I don't get it.  I thought everybody just planted a picture of the finished chore in their head then ploughed forward until the reality matched that mental image.  Clearly not.  At least clearly the men in my house don't.  Now I can hear Spod clanking around in the garage.  Sigh.  TTYL

MY LIFE IS TOO HUMDRUM TO POST EVERYDAY

I would love to post everyday…I love to write and tell stories and expose vulnerable people etc…but my life is so boring and uneventful I am afraid I will bore everyone into a corner.    In the last few days I have been sick.  Other than a couple of forays out into Langford, and onto the back deck for dinners and into my stinky kitchen, I have done nothing but sit in my purple room, coughing up a lung or two.  And it isn't like I don't have a ton to do…I need to pick out every piece of my kitchen to be built, I need to go through a 14 inch stack of mail, including overdue bills, I have to finish clearing out my horribly messy walk in closet, I have to pick out every little piece of my new bathroom to be, plus a whole bunch more crap.  (shovel list times ten)

So, this week's challenge.  It's the most ridiculous one so far.  Here it is:  Get rid of the dust in your house.  Dust is bad.  And I am going to list just a few of the suggestions on how to do this:
1.  Replace all your upholstered furniture with leather, metal or wood.
2.  Replace any curtains with either metal, plastic or wooden blinds.
3.  Redo all your carpeted floors with tile, wood or lino.
4.  Wrap your mattresses in airtight plastic.
5.  Seal all windows and doors.

So, this now brings me to OCD.  I am beginning to suspect that the author of this book is either OCD, or, she was simply fleshing out the fifty two challenges to sell a book.  But did I mention that I got this book from an awesome website that offers either low cost or free ebooks…in an email everyday.  This gem was free.  So if she isn't making much money that leads me to the other choice…OCDism.  Kind of reminds me of Dr. Oz, a show I stopped watching a loooong time ago.  I would love to go back one year, everyday at the end of the show write down his recommendations and just see how much of your time, dollars and stomach would be sucked up trying to follow it all.  

I guess the next thing on the horizon for Spod and me is booting that old lady out of that house in Nanaimo.  She will probably be gone…at least I hope so.  Its just so much work and messy when people leave their stuff behind (and themselves).  And given that I have just had to fork out another bunch of money to cover the utilities on the place, I want to punch someone.  Should be interesting.  Its a cute house frankly just in a really bad part of Nanaimo.  Kind of like Monte's place.

Speaking of which, Monte arrived on our doorstep unexpectedly yesterday!  I made a massive amount of mac and cheese for dinner the other night.  I sent a couple of zip lock bags home with Emily but there were still four bags in the fridge/freezer. Well needless to say he made short shrift of them!!!  I love living close enough for a drop in visit to happen.  He is staying until tomorrow or possibly he will travel up behind us to Nanaimo and give us a hand changing locks etc.  We will have to see how much junk there will be left in the house and on the property, decide how to get rid of it and then do we sell? or do we rent?  I guess we will take the truck, and get familiar with where the nearest dump is.  Here we go again….

I have no new pics so I hopped back as far as I could go looking for some randoms.  May not be so interesting.  I took these shots on the way out of St Petersburg, Russia.  I was told it is an old abandoned Navy base of some sort.  It was a  at that golden part of the evening, a photographer's (not that that is what I am) fave time to shoot pics. The ship was moving slow enough so the pics weren't fuzzy.  TTYL!!

ALL THE NEIGHBOURS CATS AND DOGS

Does anyone remember that song?  Jonny Rebeck and his sausage making machine…all the neighbours cats and dogs were never more to be seen.  They all ended up in Jonny Rebeck's sausage making machine.  Silly song.

Aryn came over here on Thursday, the same day we returned.  She was determined to make sausages, using my Kitchen Aid machine I got for Christmas.  She had given me the attachment and I purchased the meat grinder part.  Unfortunately I got violently ill that night and by Fri morning I thought I was going to die.  

We headed out to a local butcher, an amazing one I might add, and bought ground lamb, pork sausage meat, suet and casing.  We stopped at the Millstream Market on the way home and picked up spices and herbs and such.  I don't remember much of that part.  As soon as I got home I sunk into my chair and passed out.  Poor Arnie!  At one point she was standing in the living room with Spod on one side, snoring, and me on the other, snoring.  Such an exciting trip home!

I felt much better today when I got up.  We hauled out the mixer and got it all set up.  We mixed up the meats and fat and spices, cooled it all off (the most important part we found out) and got started. I have to say, this was probably the most erotic and/or suggestively 'dirty' activity I have ever been involved in pertaining to food!!  The whole process and what we were doing evoked some pretty odd images!  We were pretty successful I might add…for a first time around.  We fried up a couple after we were finished and they were absolutely delicious!  Pic to follow.

Later on we had friends of Aryn's and now ours, over for dinner.  What a delightful couple.  Honestly, the time just flew by!  We made ribs, salmon, corn on the cob and watermelon salad for dinner and ate out on the deck.  We sat out there visiting until it was too dark to even see each other.  A totally wonderful evening.

And now its the middle of the night, I can't sleep for some reason so thought I would catch up here. Aryn goes home this morning.  I think I will finish cleaning out our walk in closet.  Yay!!  So much fun!  TTYL    PS:  Yet again I forgot this week's challenge.  This week she says to eat like our Grammas did…just until you are full and only foods that would have been available 80 years ago.  So no chef ravioli or cheese in a tube people!!!

THIS IS WHERE WE LEARNED THE STUFF HAS TO BE ALMOST FROZEN TO WORK

WE SOLICITED SPOD'S HELP…FOR ABOUT TWO MINUTES

RUDE LOOKING THINGS!!!

BEAUTIFUL VANCOUVER

Vancouver IS beautiful, its just too full of cold unfriendly and sometimes snotty people. On just the drive over here to North Van from Tsawassen we encountered several pushy road ragers.  But on the other hand the traffic congestion has risen to a level that would drive a saint to murder.  It IS nice though to be back into a more diverse population.  Victoria is so white bread.  

Here is an example.  We decided the other morning to head down to Victoria's public market.  There aren't many over there.  Here in Vancouver Metro each 'burb has its own version of a public market.  Granville Island, Lonsdale Quay, New West Quay, Richmond Night Market.  All of them are full of a rich array of different nationalities selling every conceivable food, produce and product.

The Victoria public market takes up a portion of the old Hudson Bay building's first floor.  As we entered I noticed that there were no spicy yummy smells.  No soapy smells, baking, cooking…nothing.  We then walked along the middle to the end in less than five minutes, encountering maybe fifteen stalls.  Very disappointing.

  But we had planned to lunch there, so on that note we wandered back through scanning the few choices for a lunch.  We finally decided on the Cow Bay seafood lunch counter.  We ordered a large order of fried oysters to share (11 bucks), two cups of chowder and a diet coke….all came to 35 dollars.

When it arrived I was rather taken aback.  There was a little rectangular dish with four odd looking deep fried balls.  The little cups of soup looked good.  Looked….but it had zero seasoning.  What a way to wreck a good chowder!  No seasoning at all.  And the salt in the shaker was too big for the holes so I ended up taking off the lid and adding a fair amount…so did Spod and he never adds salt.  But salt added after is NOT the same as salt added then cooked into the food.  People don't get that.  "Oh I didn't put any salt in…people can just add their own after"  It ain't the same people.  A good cook does NOT do that.

Anyway I ate most the soup but left some, wasn't enjoying it enough for the calories.  And the oysters…it was like they had chopped them up, mixed them in batter…a lot of batter, then wrapped it in a wonton wrapper then deep fried it. So there was no oyster flavour, raw batter and a very crispy hard to bite shell..and there was only four..for eleven bucks.  In the end I was glad there were only four.  But the diet coke in the can was really really cold and delicious.

There weren't many people in the place and not one brown person.  Everyone was quiet and polite and BORING!!!!  Not going back any time soon I tell ya!!

I am sitting in a hotel room right now.  Spod is having a biopsy done on a growth on his nose at the moment and April has just walked down from Myles's place.  When Spod gets back we are going to meet Spod's buddies at the Rusty Gull for lunch.  I shall report back!

Well now, that was a hoot!  We finally got down there and the two guys were already there.  It was so good to see them again.  And its so much fun listening to them poking at each other.  You can tell they all have been friends for a long time…they say perfectly awful stuff to each other and its so funny.  Lunch was really good too.  The food there is always good!(Hi Claire!!  It was so good to see you and catch up on all the news today!) 

 Claire, bless him, keeps up with this blog.  One of the first things he said to me today was "You haven't posted since Tuesday!"  Every time I start thinking about either not blogging anymore (always a very very short thought cuz I enjoy it so much) or even stopping (god forbid) I remember the few people that do read this regularly and it keeps me going.  I know how I feel when a blog I have been following for a long time shuts down.  One time a blogger I was following didn't blog for a while, til we all were worried and leaving comments.  Then suddenly there was a post, from her husband, she had died.  Such a horrible shock.

Tonite we are meeting Arnie and Bradley for dinner.  Myles and April are coming with us too.  They picked a seafood place out in Horseshoe Bay.  Oysters Rockafeller!!!  I shall be one of those annoying diners taking pics of my food and I shall post it here.  I see restauranteurs are complaining how people with their cell phones are causing their bottom dollar to decrease…by taking up more time at the table taking pics and doing whatever on their phones before they order, during the dinner and after.  Suck it up!! I say.  Its a changing time and thats just the way it is.  So I will be one of those at dinner tonite and I don't care!

Well Spod ended up getting sick…again.  His belly hurts and his nethers are keeping him busy…back and forth.  I am making him go to a doctor Fri. morning.  Our doctor is gone til Aug 7th and he needs help before then.

 He stayed here and we changed our location plans to the pub below.  So it was just Arnie, April and Myles.  We had a wonderful time.  Good food, good drinks and good visiting.  And making plans.  Aryn is coming over to Victoria tomorrow for a few days.  We are going to make sausages.  Hmmmm….not sure what kind.  I have a meat grinder, which is a good start.  On our way out of town tomorrow we are stopping at an exotic meat place to buy the 'casing'.  I don't really know what its made of and don't really want to know!  So I am off now.  TTYL

THIS IS HOW SPOD SLEEPS IN HOTEL ROOMS

APRIL/CLAIRE/DAVE/SPOD

DAVE AND SPOD (OMG!!  ARE THESE GUYS CUTE OR WHAT??!!)

CLAIRE AND DAVE (SUCH HANDSOME DUDES!!!)

JUST SAY NO

Yup!!  That was this week's challenge that I forgot to post on Monday.  Sorry to those that are actually interested.  The whole chapter is about how saying no to doing things isn't selfish and people will understand (no they won't) and do yourself a favour and don't load your life up to the point of cracking.  So…there you go.

The last few days have been quite pleasant.  Its nice how this house stays clean and not messy.  I now and then have to prod Spod (thats what we call it now, not nagging but Spod prods) to clean up behind himself.  He is a dropsy…drops stuff just anywhere.  He does seem to be getting better though.

We have forayed out occasionally for specific items.  I needed a proper table cloth for outside, which I happily found.  I took a pic and its at the bottom.  We had our dear friend Heather from Bamfield in for a dinner and catch up.  I bbq'ed lamb chops, but I am still getting intimate with that monster on the deck and they got a tad overdone.  I marinated them all day in brown sugar, dijon mustard and a vicious mint sauce.  Even overdone they were delicious.  But I think the star of the dinner was the watermelon salad..holy cats it was good.  You know when you take a bite, expecting the normal flavours, but you suddenly get surprised by how amazing it is?  That is what that salad was.  By far the best one I have ever made.  I think Heather was a little trepaditious (sp?) as she hadn't had watermelon salad before and she was pretty shocked at how good it was!  We had such a good time and it was so great to see her.

Now I am getting ready for our trip to Vancouver next week.  Our usual hotel was booked so now we are booked into the Holiday Inn…which is good and all but stupidly expensive…for what you get.  They used to give you breakfast but now you have to pay.  The upside is it is right near the kennel and April and Myles.  Aryn, Bradley, April and Myles are meeting us for dinner somewhere on Wed. nite!  On Thursday on our way home we are picking up April and Aryn.  They are coming home with us!!!  Aryn will be here all the way to Sunday.  First though we are stopping at Ikea to look at kitchens.  Some final decisions have to be made.

Now onto the day.  Not sure what we are up to today.  Its stormy and windy out…a welcome change to that suffocating heat.  Sorry for the sad sack collection of pics in this post.  TTYL

AS I WAS WALKING OUT OF A FAT LADY STORE THIS PIC IN THE WINDOW CAUGHT MY EYE…IS IT JUST ME OR DOES THIS PIC NOT LOOK……RIGHT AT A FIRST GLANCE?

SERIOUSLY!    THERE ARE MORE BUGGIES HERE THAN THE POPULATION OF LANGFORD!

FOR LACK OF PICS TO SHOW YOU GUYS I ADDED THIS ONE…MY NEW TABLE LINENS

SOME WILLY TIME

ANNOYED, SAD, HOT AND GENERALLY DISGRUNTLED

I got a call from my eldest daughter today, checking to see if I was still alive.  Apparently she reads my blog and I hadn't posted in a while, which is true.  Normally I try to post at least every other day but if I am not happy or haven't done anything worth talking about I just don't post.  Nothing worse than a boring blog and I don't want to revert to outright lies and exaggeration.

SAD:  This is really sad, really really sad.  In fact I am tearing up just writing this.  Monte made the heartbreaking but very mature decision to give up Keenai.  Keenai is a very high maintenance dog with some very difficult behaviours.  Bottom line, the dog is not happy.  He needs an owner that is able to spend hours and hours training him, and he needs an owner who has crazy amounts of money to take him to vets over and over to get to the bottom of health issues (like not eating) and he needs a home where there is tons of room for him to roam free, a home with children and other dogs.  Keenai is not happy at Monte's and Monte, even though he loves the dog more than anything in the world, made the difficult decision to let the dog get a better more suitable home and owner.  And ever since he made the decision he's been crying.  Jeez!!  Me too…I loved that dog but he just isn't happy.

Monte took him back to the Errington Spca…the most awesome SPCA in BC.  They are truly amazing and understanding people.  And true to form they totally understood the situation and said they had a number of people looking for a dog like Keenai with lots of space and kids etc…They had Monte write out all the awesome things about the dog and all his special needs.  Monte gave them the big crate, leashes, dishes, food, beds, yard runs and a huge donation.  Pat, Monte's friend who went with him, told me he was pretty distraught and the fellow at the SPCA was truly understanding and comforting.  Okay I don't want to talk about this anymore.

ANNOYED:  I just can't seem to get anything, renos etc… started, figured out, decisions made etc…  So annoying (shovel list).  Partly its because I just don't know what to actually tell a potential contractor and why would they want to piddle around with a weeny project like mine and I can't decide what needs to be done first, and I can't seem to make my mind up on the flooring and tile and vanities etc…and I JUST WANT MY ELLIOTT BACK …  WAHHHHH!!!! It was so much easier when I could just call that lovely man, whine and cry to him, tell him what I want and he would magically pop out samples and brochures and BOOM! I would have a new bathroom or floor or deck or whatever. 

Spod built a wonderful little outdoor coffee table for our back deck…the one we can't use until at least seven at night cuz of the insane heat and sun out there.  I will take a pic and put it on here.  I love that deck, if only it weren't rendered useless for most of the light of day.

Spod went to Vancouver on Sunday for one night. He had a doctor appointment, and he has to go back next Wed.  I think I will go with him.  I will arrange for Aryn, April and significant others to meet us for dinner somewhere.  On Thursday we are going to meet Aryn at Ikea and take a look at the kitchen I am going to buy and Aryn is going to build.  So, exciting times ahead…'sigh'.

Actually I think I am going through an empty nest syndrome attack.  All my kids are gone and none of them are moving back.  This really is the very first time Spod and I have lived alone….ever.  And its weird.  The house stays clean longer.  I am actually losing a little weight, just from not having food around, I run around in my underwear all day long, I don't put my teeth in until after noon….or my first meal of the day…, which all seems good but I would rather have to put in teeth, get dressed and overeat.  I miss them.  This house is very quiet and out here in hinterland it feels very cut off from everyone and everything.

Well I go now.  TTYL

THIS IS THE LITTLE TABLE SPOD BUILT FOR THE DECK

HOT HOT HOT

Our house gets so hot upstairs, crayons melt.  About all we can do is sit there and swelter.  On Wed. we decided to go exploring.  An air conditioned car is better than sitting here watching our ankles swell.

We happened across a First Nations Canoe event on the shores of Sydney.  So we hopped out of the car and watched the greeting ceremony.  It was all so colourful and so very very friendly.  Everybody was happy and making a point to communicate with everyone that was there.  

We then went and found an awesome little spot to have lunch.  Kind of a hipster place, and really really slow but we weren't in a hurry.

  The reason I mention this here is because they had something on the menu that kind of shocked me.  They had something that is like my all time favourite food and I thought I was the only one in the world that made this particular dish..and only for myself.  I would never dream of serving this to anyone.  And this is what was on the menu.  Two bowl dishes…one was pulled pork over top of coleslaw and the other was pulled bbq chicken on top of coleslaw.  Nothing else.  Just the coleslaw with hot meat on top.  We each ordered a bowl, Spod got the pork and I got the chicken.  It was totally delicious!!!!

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning and putting 1,234 things away. (shovel list)  Its amazing how in one day a lot of stuff gets set down just any old where.  Emily and Austin were coming out for dinner and I knew we wouldn't be eating until about 7.  The back deck gets cool and pleasant around then.  So I decided we would eat out there.  I love our deck.  Its so easy to use.  Spod cleaned up the bbq and hooked it up.

When Aryn and Bradley were in Maui they bbq'ed us steaks.  And what they put on it was so delicious I decided to try it.  Its a mixture of dijjon mustard, brown sugar and Montreal steak spice.   Holy Moly it was scrumptious!!  And I like mashed spuds with steak.  I made the ones I always make now….mashed with either cream cheese or sour cream, green onions and montreal steak spice….they taste just like baked potatoes! You can add bacon bits into them as well.  Green beans, wedge salad and apple crisp rounded it out.

Today I need to go get some rubber maids.  While I was in Port with Monte, Spod managed to knock two shelf/clothes hanger poles off the closet walls. So now finally he has agreed we need to get specialists in to do closet systems.  But, of course, firstly I must empty the closets completely.  Sigh.  (shovel list)  Off to Walmart.  TTYL

BAMFIELD AND CHALLENGE

Well its Monday…so another weekly challenge.  This week it is 'beware the beverage'.  She goes into detail about how soda, sugared or artificially sweetened, juice etc…are bad for you.  She then suggests substitutions like water with sliced lemon..yeah like thats a good substitute.  She's right but it isn't the same.

The last couple of days have been awesome.  On Fri evening I was cooking dinner when there was a knock at the door.  Monte opened it and in came crazy Ed from across the street…and he was drunk.  If you know anything about me at all you know how much I don't handle drunk hobos very well.  He staggered into the kitchen and hugged me (ewwww smelly) then kept touching me all over (I kept shoving him away) and talking and slobbering.  And where was Monte?  NOT THERE!!!  He had gone into his room and was on the phone.  He left me alone with that guy!!!  So I went and got him (turned out he was phoning his friend Pat across the street who keeps an eye on Ed).  He finally left but I felt besmirched after!  (shovel list)

The next morning we got away to Bamfield.  I drove up and Monte drove back.  We talked and listened to music and the trip went by so fast.  The road was awful as usual, but certainly not the worst I have seen it.  We stopped at Pachena Bay first at the entrance to the West Coast Trail.  What an amazing peaceful healing piece of earth.  We walked and walked and sat on logs and walked some more and took pics.  For twenty years that was our summer back yard!

We then drove on into Bamfield and really I can't explain how I felt.  Its been six or seven years and after living in this place for twenty years, part time, building a house, getting to know so many, it was a bit of a mind psyche.

We drove down to our log house first.  Still the same curtains and stuff in the house.  They weren't home so we were able to look in windows etc…  It was hard.  So much personal history there.

We drove around every inch of Bamfield after that.  We went up and saw Mom's old place and ran into people we knew here and there.  Found out that Rod Dyck, the fellow who built our house and we became really good friends with had died the week before.  Cancer.  Kind of a gut wrencher…we were going to go see him while we were there.  We had dinner in the pub and in the hotel room we watched an episode of Game of Thrones.  The next day we met a really good friend for breakfast at the local cafe then headed home.

We got home early enough to make a dinner for Pat and Ange.  They came over and we had the nicest evening.  Today Monte is going to the gym this morning and we are going to finish cleaning his house.  I am making a big roast beef dinner complete with yorkshire puds for the neighbourhood.  I think everyone is coming.  I shall take pics!  TTYL

140 BUCKS PER NIGHT…CAPTIVE AUDIENCE

SWAMP WE SAW ON THE WAY HOME

IMAGINE BEING PAWED AND HUGGED BY THIS LOVELY FELLOW

IN THE SWAMP

PACHENA AND KEENAI

PART OF OUR LOG HOUSE WE BUILT

ITS THE ONE ON THE RIGHT…THAT WHOLE TOP TRIANGLE OF FRONT WINDOW GLASS IS NATIVE STAINED GLASS

STUFF THEY DON'T WANT…ALL STUFF SPOD AND I BOUGHT FOR THE PLACE…I WANTED TO TAKE IT ALL BACK

THEY HAVE REBUILT THE DECK AND ITS SO BEAUTIFUL…THIS IS WHAT I WANT IN VICTORIA.  SEE THOSE TWO PLATTERS LEANING ON THE WINDOW?  ONE IS A YELLOW AND BLUE SUN AND THE OTHER IS A YELLOW AND BLUE MOON.  I WOULD KILL TO HAVE THOSE BACK

THE LITTLE CHAIRS THAT BOB (MY NOW DECEASED STEP-DAD) BUILT

SORRY FOR THE BAD PIC BUT FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT SPENT HOURS AND HOURS IN THIS HOUSE HERE IS A FAMILIAR GLIMPSE

COAST GUARD STATION FROM MARINE STATION

A FAMILIAR SPOT…MARINE STATION

THE NEW 'CLAMSHELL' AT THE MARINE STATION