FANTASTIC WEEKEND

Stupid blogger is changing the interface here.  For a month we have the option of going back to the old one...which I did.  In the new interface I can't, for the life of me, find the 'new post' button.  I just wish they would leave it alone.  I hate figuring out new stuff.

Last Friday (it is now Tuesday) Monte and I cleaned and organized and got ready for company!  So exciting...seeing people for the first time in four months!  I mean people, not thirty year old boys!

On Saturday around noon my brother and his wife arrived!  They parked their trailer out front and we all sat out on our huge deck and visited.  I love having them come visit.  We always have tons to tell each other, sipping wine and beer and coffee, running from rascally wasps.  A wee bit later, in time for our lunch spread, my nephew David arrived.  I love having David.  Again, we had tons to talk about and laugh and eat and drink.  It was totally wonderful.

They stayed for the night.  Stan and Antonia were outside in their trailer and David borrowed our Peter's bed downstairs.  I didn't think he would mind! After a big breakfast they were on their way.  It was so wonderful to have people around.  It's been so long.  

 Because it was insanely hot outside Monte and I went swimming out at the swimming hole.  I love love love sitting in my comfy nine dollar chair in the shade of a big 'ol chestnut tree by a gently moving river with a soft breeze blowing.  Cannot beat it!  Monte swam for a while and we visited a bit with some people that were nearby.  Just a perfect afternoon.  On the way home we drove thru Dairy Queen and got an ice cream cone.  Mmmmmm......

This morning I had half a package of good bacon left over.  I fried it all up and got the tomatoes Monte picked yesterday from our plants.  So it was piled high tomato and bacon sammiches for breakfast.  The tomatoes are amazing!!!!!  He also picked some serious sized zucchini.  I am going to have to start grating and freezing for future recipes.  I kind of wish we had planted some cauliflower.  

My recipe for the day....take bite sized veggies...broccoli, cauliflower, zuccini, Brussels sprouts, squash, par boiled carrots, beets...anything and put it all in a bowl.  Mix mayonnaise, parmesan cheese and any herbs and spices you like and toss the veggies in it until totally coated.  Put them on a bbq mat or tinfoil pan with holes poked in it and bbq on high until cooked and caramelized.  Delicious!!!!!

Anywhooo...I am organizing my massive load of laundry and tomorrow I am spending the entire day doing and sorting laundry.  There comes a point.....its gotta be done!  Stay safe and six feet out!!!  TTYL

SORRY BUT THIS IS AN UNIMPORTANT FIRST WORLD PROBLEM RANT

Potato salad...the elixir of the Gods.  The most revered pot luck addition.  My most requested dish.  I hear there is potato salad and my heart quickens.  I have two kids that ask for my potato salad more than anything else I make.  (I also have two kids that won't touch it..go figure...where did they come from anyway)

But...here comes the rant.  I don't know how many times I have purchased a potato salad, and with great anticipation I confidently hammer on the salt and a layer of pepper (I know there won't be enough...there never is enough), dig my spoon into that yumminess and take that first bite...and NOOOOO!!!!  it just doesn't taste right.  Huge disappointment!  In fact sometimes it's almost made me gag.

Now I am not a picky eater really.  I hate rice pudding and I dislike meat.  Other than that I can pretty much down anything.  But I had an experience the other day that surprised me.  

On our way home from Victoria we pulled through the KFC drive thru.  Now I can just hear you all groaning and judging and saying"Ewwww!  We NEVER eat KFC...its just greasy inedible crap!!!!"  Well you are wrong!!!!

  It is delicious.  The skin is totally amazing...even if its flaccid and moist  (as opposed to crispy....shovel list)  The meat underneath is juicy and full of 11 flavours!  I mean what more do you want from a piece of chicken.  And their coleslaw...an evil pleasure.  Full of sugar and crispy pulverized cabbage and carrots and onions.  Come on!!! The perfect counter mouthful to the delicious chicken. In fact the coleslaw makes it easier to keep eating the chicken.  It's a fine balancing art it is!!!

But....I decided to branch out from my usual practice and I bought a little container of potato salad.  I skipped the Mac salad cuz I know it has that unpleasant chemical thing that catches you in the back of your throat.  All bought Mac salads have that attribute.  I know cuz I have tried them all.  So back to the potato salad.  

When we got home I dove into the chicken first.  I dug through the barrel (yes, we got a barrel for the two of us, the biggest one) and dug out all the rib ones...my fave.  Selfishly told Monte he wasn't to touch them.  He started to protest but I growled at him that I paid for it so I get to boss the chicken.  I ate one.  I ate two.  I needed a motivating flavour contrast to eat the next one so I dug out the potato salad and popped it open.

It didn't look quite the same as it did before.  I hadn't bought KFC potato salad in yonks and its changed.  Actually the chicken kinda had too, but still close enough that I could supplement the reality with memory.  After layering on salt and pepper,  I grabbed a spoon, not a fork because it was looking a little soupy, as opposed to thick and creamy, dunked it into the salad and took that first bite.  And I gagged.  OMG!!!  It was simply awful.  Not so little cubes of almost raw potato, no other product like onion or egg or celery or anything, swimming in a sweet...yes SWEET disgusting watered down mayo.  It was awful.  The only part that was good was the salt and pepper!

  I mean how hard is it to taste what you are selling and go "Why jeepers, this just doesn't taste quite right.  I think we need to go back to the drawing board and look up a recipe or two and fix this."  Straight into the garbage.  Actually fired from across the room into the garbage.  (I have a pretty big open garbage in my kitchen thank goodness). I was mad!!!

I have had a few other experiences lately with potato salad that I won't go into here and bore you stiff.  But take a suggestion here....MAKE YOUR OWN...you can't beat your own!  

Stay safe peeps, don't buy KFC potato salad!  TTYL

ps:  Jonathon Joe showed up around one pm yesterday and proceeded to do the most amazing job on the yard.  I am happy!!!!

I NEED A BILLY GOAT...ASAP

I am in lawn hell.  I know in this age of dangerous diseases and potential tp shortages, lawn hell doesn't seem so bad.  BUT IT IS!!!!  I really hate scruffy lawns and believe me, mine is BAD!  Those really tall dandelions have taken over and I need it mowed before they go to seed.  My neighbour is nervous.

It has been over a month since it was mowed.  I finally fired the people I have used for a year and some.  They did a great job but they were completely unreliable.

So I hired a new guy.  I asked for recommendations in the local fb page.  He was super recommended so I hired him.  He was coming last Saturday.  I hired him on a Thursday.  Didn't come.  Said he would come on Sunday.  Didn't come.  Said he would come on Monday.
Didn't come.  Said he would come on Tuesday.
Didn't come. Said he would come today at noon.  It is exactly 12:05 and he isn't here yet.  If he doesn't show up I will fire him and go buy a lawn mower and whipper snapper.  Between Monte and I we can do a better job than this.  I just really didn't want to get those right now. So I will wait.

It's been a cranky week.  I got my lab stuff done and I got a call to go in to the dr.  So you have to go stand in line outside and if you don't get there at least an hour before they fill up.  I can't stand that long on my nuero damaged feet.  I will have to take my soccer chair.  Last nite they were already lined up by four.  The first appointment was going to be five.  I will try again later today.
(SHOVEL LIST)

On a happier note I went swimming with Monte in the river.  It was amazing!  It was super cold at first...thought of you Cookie!  It took me a while to get in and I remarked to Monte that I didn't think you WOULD get in!  But it was so much fun.  The crowd there were mostly First Nations, who are probably the most fun people to be around.  So friendly and unaffected.  I love their little roly poly kids!  We had a great time.  We went out a few times.

Our garden is being very temperamental  Some things are growing like crazy and other things are barely surviving. Some things that are growing like nuts is chard, lettuce, potatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers.  The beets and carrots are doing okay. The tomatoes only so so and my sweet peas barely at all.  The 200 bucks worth of impatiens, petunias and geraniums are exactly the same size as the day I planted them.  There is going to be a super big change in things next year.  

So Monte has been bringing in bags and bags of lettuce from the garden.  It's really really good lettuce and we have been eating it as much as possible. This morning I decided to make a Bob sammich for breakfast.  So delicious!  I put pics below!

Well it is now 12:30.  Here's hoping he shows up. I really don't want to spend money on a mower and snapper....but I will if I have to.  I shall report back.  Stay safe and healthy and six feet from everybody!  TTYL

ARYN:  6.  Make your bedroom screen free.  Ummmm.....between Murder She Wrote and Murdock I have a feeling this ain't gonna happen.
7.  If you need to lose weight start now...with small easy to obtain goals.  Hmmmm....maybe I will shoot for a pound a week.  That would mean I would lose about twenty pounds out of the 70 I need to lose by xmas.  A pound per week....4-5 pounds a month, thats one year to lose it all.  Maybe.....
8.Eat a good breakfast.  Oh fer jeez!  This again.  I think he missed reading the latest info on this topic.  If you are NOT hungry, do not eat your first meal until you ARE hungry.  Even better do daily intermittent fasting.  But thats a whole other thing.
9.Breathe from your belly.  Finally...something I can do and actually I do do it frequently.  When I got that horrible abscess a couple years ago, I lay dead still and barely breathed for over a week because of the pain and by the time I got into the hospital my lungs had half collapsed.  They gave me instruction on how to breathe, especially if you are sedentary somewhat.  So consciously breathe from your belly and try to make it a constant habit.
10.  Quit smoking...well thats easy!!!!  

Til next week......

THE START OF A BOB SAMMICH

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AT LEAST FIVE INCHES

THERE IT IS IN ALL ITS GLORY

THAT IS FIVE INCHES OF LETTUCE SQUASHED DOWN....DELICIOUS!!!!   LOTS OF PEPPER!

COMETS AND JUPITER

It's been a great couple of days.  We have been bbqing, swimming and sky gazing.

Monte took me out to the paper mill dam swimming hole. Not sure where it got its name from.  Its a beautiful spot!  Calm, clear water and the sockeye were jumping all over the place.  The eagles are gathering to start eating the returning fish.  I sat on a bench and watched the activities.  There weren't too many people there and the sun was warm and the pea vine beautiful....it was truly wonderful.

The next day it was 30 out.  We went back out there but there were so many people it would have not been fun.  Waaaay too many people.  So we backtracked to a park that is along the way.  No bathrooms there but a wee patch of sandy beach and not a soul to be found.  We had taken Wrangler this time and he had a ball.  ALL BY OURSELVES!!!!!  Loved it!

I read in one of my news feeds that there was a new, just discovered in March, comet in the sky.  We happen to live in the perfect place for sky watching.  So last night we drove for ten minutes out to Cameron....a long straight stretch out on the dirt road to Bamfield.  Not a light within a mile.  And we found the comet!!!!!  Soooo exciting.

  Monte, who is quite the photographer, set up a toolpod..I mean a tripod, and set his DSLR, with a 400 zoom lens up, and got a great shot...which he has put on instagram...under Sea Glass if you wish to see it.  It was sooo exciting.  BUT...

Even more incredible was this.  Behind where we were looking was a very bright star.  I always presume those really bright ones are Venus.  Not this time!  Monte took a pic of it and it was Jupiter!!!!!!! complete with its moons!!!!  I was blown away!  Way more exciting than the comet!  There is just something magical being out in the pitch black, sky watching.  We are going back tonight.  I am going to take that loser camera I haven't used since Hawaii.  It has crazy ass zoom so we shall see.

Anywhooo its been a fun couple of days.  This morning I got up super early and got the garbage and recycling out then went to the lab and got all that done.  We will prolly go out to a swimming hole again today.  I shall report back.  Stay safe and healthy.  TTYL

ARYN:  Well here we go.  The book is divided into five sections with steps in each section.  The first section is to do with general health.  It gets more detailed as you go.  He says that studies (he uses a LOT of studies) show that doing several steps at a time is better.  They support each other and you may be more successful in your endeavour.  So, with as little explaining as I can get away with here are the first ones.

1.  Create a supportive surrounding. eg:  Keep your pantry full of healthy choices.  Keep your water bottle close at hand.  Schedule your exercise regime as if it were an appointment. Surround yourself with healthy people so your lifestyle seems normal.  And anything else that will help and support.
2.  Make more than one good choice at a time.  Which I already talked about up there.
3.Enjoy your morning coffee.  He goes into lots of studies etc...about how that morning coffee is super good for you.
4.  Sit less.  He goes into excruciating detail about how sitting is BAD for you.  If you have to sit, at least once an hour get up and do jumping jacks or pushups or something for five minutes.  And don't even think that because you do hours of appointed exercise every day that that combats the damage of sitting during the rest of that day.  (shovel list)
5.  Get enough sleep.  I don't need to go into this one too much.  All the obvious stuff that he gets into in detail more later.  In the meantime he went on about what bad sleep does to you.  It was interesting.

So thats it til next Wednesday.  Let me know how you do.  I have the feeling you are already pretty up on a lot of this.  Me? Not so much.  Sigh.

THE FIRST SWIMMING HOLE

THE SECOND SWIMMING HOLE

THESE First Nations WERE WAY ACROSS THE WATER ON THE RESERVE SIDE, I ZOOMED

Add caption

THE PARK WHERE THERE IS NO BATHROOM

THATS THOSE PEOPLE WAY OVER THERE

ARYN MADE ME....HERE WE GO AGAIN

Well nothing has really happened since the last post so this one is basically and primarily for Aryn and myself...for Aryn, she is going to do this too and for me, accountability.  But seriously, please, the rest of you, skip this post and future stuff written below the sign off.

I have spent the last five months on my ass, in my chair, on my laptop or phone, with a clicker in my hand.  I have loved every single minute.  Covid was not just made for Kevin, as I mentioned before, but definitely for myself as well.  And I must admit that the guilt is beginning to set in.  Well maybe not guilt per se, but uneasiness.  I accidentally (I finally for the very first time ever wrote accidentally, 2nd time, without a flipping red line under it) came across this book.

Now most of you regular readers know I am a total sucker for 100 day or thing plans.  They just appeal to me for some reason.  It was a kindle purchase, in other words cheap, so I bought it.  And I like what I saw when I quickly scanned it! Well most of it anyway.  And I have a feeling that Arnie is already doing ninety per cent of it all anyway.

The first step though, without even looking at the book, I know I need to get some kind of 'out of my chair' thing going.  So does Monte.  So he and I had a meeting.  We decided, that starting on Wed, (we have some forbidden food to get through before we do this seriously... don't want to throw out good food you know) we would execute a doable plan.

We got our one and only physical calendar and made the schedule.  I am pretty sure it will be compatible with the book's 100 things.  On every other day I put first a W then the next day a P and on Sunday an O.

  W:  walking...out at Cameron on the .7 kilometre straight stretch to the shake mill. There and back will be 1.5 klicks.  I will walk with my poles and Monte will either walk with me or ride his bike.  Eventually I would like to get up to five klicks.

P:  project, or some job that needs doing.  It will be a mutual decision...laundry, wallpaper my room, clean the deck, update the garden etc....

O: O is only on Sunday...off day.  And we decided that if it's raining on a W day, we get a day off.  Will maybe give us a more positive outlook on the rain.

IF WE CRAP OUT ON A DAY OR GET SICK OR SOMETHING, THERE WILL BE A VERY DARK X OF SHAME ON THE SQUARE

Of course through all of this there will be a large change in our eating habits.  More veggies, from the garden mostly, less or no meat for me, no sweets and no days off of the food.  Last night we had a very scrumptious veggie dinner off the bbq.  There will be a lot more of those dinners.  There is a very misplaced pic of our dinner from last night at the very top of this post.  Stupid Bspot.

Now I shall be reading the book over the next couple of days and I will be listing the first two or three things we are to do to get healthy (or healthier in Arnie's case).  I will post them after the sign off on Wed.'s post.  I might even post my current weight.  I have gained so much due to cooking for boys which I love to do.  Anything under 260lbs will be a bonus.

Stay safe peeps, don't get sick!  So far I do not know one person personally who has or had covid and I like that track record!!!  TTYL

FISHYNESS

Well we delivered Austin to the Mill Bay Ferry Wednesday.  We had a lovely trip down, listening to Prince.  There is simply no one like Prince.  The night before Austin had us watch the movie Purple Rain.  It was awesome!!!!  We hooked the tv up to the big speakers and gloried in his amazing music.  What an evening!  Then Austin and I sat up til three in the morning talking.  My fave thing in the world!  We so enjoyed his visit.  Covered lots and lots and lots of ground verbally!

Monte has been going nuts with both the bbq and the deep fat fryer.  We have done chicken wings a couple of times, Cavendish fries a couple of times, falafels...not!  And he has bbq'ed all kinds of stuff, from hamburgers, sausages to veggies.  And we use the fire bowl almost every night.  We love sitting around it and roasting a midnight snack of some sort!

Millie, the housekeeper, came on Thursday!!!  Holy Hannah!!! It took the poor woman three hours to get this place back in shape!  Normally she would take one and half hours every two weeks before, but the place was DIRTY!!!!!

But you know who didn't come!!!???  The stupid lawn people.  Its been three weeks now and the lawn looks simply awful!  They do a great job when they do come but jeez!  Its supposed to be once a week on Friday and they haven't come the last three Fridays!  I have emailed them yet again. They answered the last one saying they were sorry, that there had been some injuries and they would be here yesterday.  No.  They didn't come again.  So this time I wrote a pretty direct less friendly email.  I would fire them but there just isn't anyone around that I can hire to take their place.  Kids don't do it anymore.  I really don't want to buy a lawn mower and whipper snapper.  I really really don't. 

Monte has a friend here, James, whose birthday it was yesterday.  A bunch of their friends gathered out at the lake and went swimming.  On his way out Monte saw the First Nations Ladies selling sockeye at the side of the road.  They were 25 bucks a piece.  Good sized ones too.  So he bought four good ones and brought them home, all excited.  He dumped them out of the garbage bag into the sink and.......THEY WEREN'T CLEANED!!!!!  We have bought fish out there this way several times and the fish were always cleaned.  Jeez!  But Monte set up a cleaning station on the deck and had them all cleaned super fast.  Hadn't forgotten how!

But....they needed scaling.  Ah fer geez!   I absolutely hate scaling.  Those scales end up everywhere...all over my glasses, clothes, counter, window, up to my elbows.  (biggest shovel list possible).  I like salmon....but I don't really love it.  Maybe if I deep fry it...or make my potato chip burgers out of it.....

Well gotta bounce.  I shall put some pics here that I am sure most of you have already seen one way or the other.  I now have to phone the spca about the neighbour dog...again.  He barks every evening til midnight, in the middle of the night and starts at six in the morning.  And the lying bastard owners always tell the spca that 'oh we didn't realize he was barking'.  Yeah right.  Its a Rottweiler for christ sake...you know its barking!  They never take him in.  Stupid frigging dog owners...they are a breed unto themselves.  Stay healthy folks....don't trust anybody to not give you a virus!  TTYL

MR. FISH CLEANER

FIRST TIME WE HAVE USED SPOD'S BIG GIANT KNIFE HE ALWAYS CUT THE SALMON UP WITH

A TERRIBLE PIC OF ME DOING A TERRIBLE JOB.  LOL!!

AUSTIN AND MONTE AT THE MILL BAY FERRY

MONTE'S FIRST PRODUCE FROM THE GARDEN

ALL BY MYSELF.....FOR A MINUTE!

It always shocks me how quickly the days pass.  I thought I had posted a couple days ago and now here it is five days.  Grrrr...

Lets, see....we drove Peter to Victoria and helped him settle in a wee bit.  It was a wonderful trip down...so easy and pretty.  We made a couple of sugar cane run stops (shovel list) and coffee.  We did make a serious stop at Wendy's in Nanaimo.  Mmmmmm....so delicious!!!  Best fast food out there folks!

Peter's house is fantastic and in a fabulous area.  Its quaint and villagey and a bit olde Englishy.  His house is adorable!  I will put a pic below.  His room is obscenely tiny.  Which of course would suit me to a T!  The tinier the better.  You would not be able to swing a cat in there by its tail... not even a Manx who DOESN'T have a tail.  Apparently someone in the house with a bigger room maybe be leaving and he will talk to the landlord about taking that room.  In the mean time its an amazing homey place.  The kitchen is better decked out and supplied than mine and the living room has absolutely everything you could possibly want....music, tv, wifi etc...  There seem to be about five rooms rented to different people in the place.  I feel good about him being there.  He is near his sisters and Austin's brother Levi...whom he is very close to.

The last few days have been basically preparing to lose Graeme.  Ahhhh...Graeme, or Toonykoot Munchkin as I like to call him, much to his chagrin!  He is the most fun to tease and give shit to...I am so going to miss that.

Yesterday the Zed Hotel people came and picked him up and he is off for training in Victoria.  Its very very quiet around here.  But then I got a call from Austin.  He was in Cumberland (about two hours by car from here) on his bike of all things, and wondered if he could bike over here for the night on his way to Victoria.  I was so happy to hear from him!!

  He arrived last night around ten and we sat out on the deck around our fire bowl and didn't get to bed until 2am!  We are driving him to Duncan today.  We have been careful to distance but in the truck, as big as it is, we will have to be extra careful.  I am sitting in the back seat with Wrangler!  I can always wear a mask if need be.

So now I am making breakfast.  Hash browns, smokies and over easy eggs.  Gonna check out my camera battery, find some decent clothes to put on, wake up Monte and be on our way.  Yippiedoodle!!!!!  Stay safe peeps!  TTYL

PETER'S HOUSE

THE NEXT HOUSE OVER

NEXT HOUSE

NEXT

PETER'S AGAIN

GOOFY BOYS SAYING GOODBYE

ROAD TRIP!

Off to Victoria today.  Taking Pete down to his new abode! I am seriously going to miss him:(  He is going to try it out down there for a couple of months.  If he can't hack it he will be back.  He said he would get a Covid test before coming back.  One part of me wants him to not be able to hack it!  But the other part knows I want him to succeed too.

We are planning to stop at Wendy's in Nanaimo.  We are so deprived here!!!  There are a few places but Wendy's is our fave fave.  Such good food.  Graeme isn't coming with us so I can leave Wrangler here.

Last night we made buffalo wings, super from scratch!  Dredge the thawed wings in flour and deep fry ten minutes, into a bowl and toss with homemade buffalo sauce.  I found a stellar recipe on allrecipes.com and Graeme made it.  We also made asian wings.  Soooo good.  We also had another round of shelled peas and picked from our garden salad.  I made a lemon pie for dessert..pics below. Peter said it was the best meal he had here!  Jeez!  If I had known how much he liked wings I would have done it a whole lot more...especially now we have that amazing fryer.  But from now on its going to be an almond flour dredge and peri peri powder.  No more sauces.

Monte and I have been going out everyday for drives, picture hunts, shopping etc.  A couple of times we had lunch somewhere.  Yesterday we went to a taco place not far from here.  Now, I am not a real fan of Mexican food.  Especially tacos.  As Bill always said he didn't want to pay good money for plates of beans and rice.  But let me tell you..he would have LOVED the food at Porto Taco!!!  It was unbelievable.  Fresh, flavourful, beautiful.  I wish I had taken pics of it!  Maybe we can take Graeme there before he leaves in a few days and this time I will take pics.  If any of you come to visit....we will take you too!!!

We made a trip out to the bridge a few miles on the highway towards Tofino.  The First Nations people will often sell sockeye there....and the sockeye are running!  We want to get some fish and instead of filleting them we will cut them into thick steaks, you know, the u shaped ones.  They are much easier to bbq and there is absolutely not one ounce of wasted meat.  Nothing like fish straight out of the water!

Well there isn't much else to report.  Town is incredibly full of tourists.  I can't go into Walmart or Save-on anymore...just too many people that aren't from Port.  I don't trust them.  None of them social distance or wear masks.  They are hooked up to giant trailers or loaded up with full campers, a lot of them towing boats.  They have to go through Port to go to Ukey or Tofino and they stop to do their last shopping here.  So frigging disrespectful.  Mask up and stay your distance people and keep moving.  Let Tofino deal with you.

Off to Victoria.  Kind of a sad day.  I shall report tomorrow.  Stay safe peeps and mask up!!!!  TTYL

I LOVE MASKING UP....HIDES MY CHINS

I LOVE THE COLOURS

MY LEMON PIE....FRUIT INSTEAD OF MERINGUE

BUFFALO WINGS