DEEP DIVE

 There is simply a lighter feel in the air.  I think it can be attributed to three things.  Summer, vaccines=safety and the end of Covid around the corner.  There is still a wee ways to go...that Indian variant may cause some trouble before it's all over, but the end seems to be near.  And really the variant will be wreaking havoc on the unvaxxed, and that frankly is their problem. 

 I have a feeling the speed up on getting our second doses has more to do with that variant than the fastness of how we all got our first ones.  I don't totally trust the powers that be, they can be pretty sneaky with their dribbling out their info, portending what is coming around the corner that we may not like.

I was feeling pretty happy and bouncy until that terrible news came out of Kamloops.  I have a feeling that that is only the beginning.  Those poor wee souls, it actually hurts, hurts right down in my heart to think about the incredibly awful treatment those innocent, so undeserving little people received....at the hands of adults, religious adults, government officials, the sick bastards.  I hope they have pictures of those heinous people and parade them out to the public. 

 And I sincerely hope anyone of the generation above mine is feeling some responsibility  for turning away and letting it happen.  May I make the suggestion to the people my age (69), if you have parents still alive, ask them how this happened.  I would sure be interested to hear the 'reasons'.  We do have to remember though that there wasn't internet, or even decent communication back then and possibly they were unaware.  I don't know.  Like most human reaction, I am looking for someone to blame and be angry with.  I sure like to hope that it wouldn't happen in today's white culture.  And I would hope that our First Nations People today have a much stronger, heard, voice.

I have been deep diving as they say into how protected we actually are after a single dose.  What I repeatedly found was.....completely ridiculously unclear.  On CBC Health they quoted learned people and it went from 35% all the way up to 90% at different times past the date of the shot.  I would really like to know seeing as how we have to live on one shot for quite a while and we are all running around and going into places etc...and there is a renegade scary variant out there that the head honchos are sounding pretty nervous about.  Sure I know we will obviously still wear masks and distance and all that crap, but I would really like to know definitively.

My apologies for this rather dark unhappy post.  Let us all take a few minutes to just sit and think about the babies that were lost.  So many lives.  It is inconceivable.

Take care, stay safe and send some loving strength to the survivors here who have to feel their lost ones pain.  TTYL.....this is a quote I wish to send to all that are so effected by the tragedy.

"May the stars carry your sadness away, may the flowers fill your heart with beauty,  may hope forever wipe away your tears."  Chief Dan George

LOOOOOOONG WEEKEND

It was a very very long weekend.  I wish I had paid more attention to the current rules.  I took the suggestion of staying home or local to heart and did just that.  Seeing what everybody else has done I should have done what I really wanted to do.  And that was for Monte and I to go to Tofino and see Graeme.  We have all had our shots and being outside there is easy.  Also, we could have hopped into the truck and gone to Uky and had lunch at the Blueberry Cafe.  That'll teach me!

 Restaurants open tomorrow, Monte and I are going to Smitty's to celebrate!  Turkey dinner here we come!!!  They make the best.  Let's hope the numbers don't go back up when restaurants open.  Since shutting them down and restricting travel, the numbers have really gone down!  Please Lord, let's hope they stay down!  I don't think the restauranteurs will be able to keep from exploding, (even though they have done fairly well with patios and takeout/delivery) if they have to shut down again.  And I am worried that Horgan will start handing out our money to them again.

Well I finally made the smoked cod chowder.  It turned out beautifully, at least according to Monte.  He loved it!!!  I didn't eat any of it.  I just don't like smoked stuff.

  In 1996 Bill and I and the little kids went to Maui.  We bought a can of smoked spam.  Now I quite like spam, done the right way.  And clearly to me, smoking spam is NOT the right way!! I haven't been able to stomach smoked anything, especially fake smoke, since.  In fact if you put a plate of smoked spam and a plate of rice pudding in front of me and on my life I had to eat one or the other, I would be dead. 

 The best way to eat spam is to coat it lightly with a little brown sugar and fry it without burning it.  It will caramelize and it is delicious!  Add a ring of fried (air fryer people, don't judge!) pineapple on top over a mound of rice.  If you pop a poached egg on top you have a Hawaiian breakfast!!

Well guess what?  I got a very polite, apologetic email from Joe, the patio guy.  He was asking me if I was still interested in having the patio done.  Heehee!  He said he hired two new guys so he would be able to fit my job in.  I answered YES immediately.  Now, I had put the money aside for the job but when I could see he wasn't coming and there was no one else in town to do it, I sent the money off elsewhere!  So now I have to collect up the money all over again!  Which I am more than happy to do.  I am so excited to get that patio out there and really happy with where the money was sent to! A win win!!

For some of you long long time readers you may remember how my extremely overstuffed garage in Langford drove me nuts.  When I moved I made sure that my garage in Kamloops did NOT fill up like that other one.  I could always park my little jeep in it.

Well I have a similar thing here that sits in the back of my brain, driving me nuts.  It's my spare bedroom.  It's a lovely steam punky type bedroom.  It is twice the size of the room I chose for my bedroom/purple room.  But it has become a storage room, a really messy, can't hardly open the door, storage room.  There isn't a lot of storage in this house so things get 'temporarily' put in that room and now it is lodged in the back of my brain.  It is awful.  It is going to take me yonks to get it cleaned up!!!  And the trouble is there is nowhere to move that stuff to.  Jeez!!!!

I just had a horrible shock.  Right after I typed that last thing I remembered that I planned on making a phone call to my old hairdresser in North Van.  Annie has been doing my hair since forever.  She is the only one that truly knows how, and is willing, to do a proper spiral.

So I called to make sure she is still working there and to let her know I will be getting her to do my hair in the middle of Juneish.  Only to be told that she had passed away!!!!!!  I was totally shocked!!!  She developed brain cancer and died.  She was only in her very early thirties and was a mom of two young kids, very young kids.  I am upset, she was a friend.  And the hairdresser I had before her, in the same place for a long long time, Elaine, had a brain aneurysm!  She didn't die but she was incapacitated. She was my age and she had a huge crush on Bill!  That was why I had switched from her to Annie.  So awful.  I hope I don't get attached to another hair dresser.

The challenges for this week:

35.  Buy a new travel item.  Now that kind of makes sense seeing as how we will be travelling again soon.  I think I will buy a 2022 cruise...that counts as a thing doesn't it?

36.  Donate to a charity.  Well I am going to count my patio money as that was not that long ago and that is what I actually did.  :)

That's it for today.  I am feeling kind of sad now so I am going to sign off and go find an appropriate quote for today.  Stay safe, noodle, talk to an oldster. TTYL

"Problems are inevitable.  Misery is a choice."

-Ann Landers. (again)

I NEED ANNIE

VEGKABOB HELL

 I forgot to put my quote on the last post so today there will be two.  I can't believe I forgot....it's my favourite part of posting.

I had the brilliant idea of making skewers for the bbq.  This involved going into Walmart, first time I have been in a store for months, to find skewers.  I also was on a mission to get a sturdy tough mop to scrub the back deck.

The place was packed.  Walmart really is the only show in town.  I guess there is a Canadian Tire but nobody but silly men buying spark plugs go there. Anyway I did find the skewers back in bbq country.  They are the fantastic kind.  A flattened part at the end for easy handling and they are flat.  So sensible. Flat keeps the stuff from rotating when you rotate the whole thing.

Found the mop and got out of there.  I had bought all the vegetables the day before...curb delivery.  So we hurried home and I started the prep.  Oh fer geez!  Who knew how frigging much work that was and it didn't go smoothly at all.  

I sliced up the eggplant with the dullest knife on the planet.  So I had to stop and get out the knife sharpener and sharpen it.  Didn't help much.  I put the hacked up eggplant into a bowl and thoroughly salted it.  I took out the slab of uncut bacon and decided to pre cook it.  It would take much longer than the veg to cook.  So I cut up cubes and put them into the cast iron.  It took FOREVER!!!!  And I had to turn them onto each of their sides to brown and cook, one side at a time.  A cube of bacon has SIX sides and there were fifteen cubes!

I cut up a couple of zucchini which was easy peasy. And I cleaned off a couple of packs of crimini mushrooms.  That went okay. I cut up a green pepper and and onion with no grief.

SEE THAT RED BOWL?  IT'S FULL OF THE LEFT OVERS.  AND IT HAS TO FIT INTO THE VERY OVERSTUFFED FRIDGE.

  I then opened a container of pineapple spears and managed to spill the juice I didn't know was in there all over my shirt, my bare legs, the cupboard door and onto the floor.  Fuckadoodle!!!!  Now I am pissed off!  (sorry for the offensive language but JEEZ!!!)

Now the kitchen is in a colossal mess, which makes me cranky.  I don't like working in a giant heaving mess.  Last thing were the cherry tomatoes.  I grabbed the container and...I don't know what happened but as I pried the stupid thing open somehow it just exploded.  Effing cherry tomatoes rolling EVERYWHERE!!!!  Those suckers ended up on every inch of the floor.  And with my shitty eyesight I managed to step or kneel on at least ten of them before I was through picking them up.  One bonus though, Wrangler likes squished tomatoes.  When I finished picking up the good ones I called him in.  He licked off my knees then slurped up the squashed tomatoes.

Meanwhile, this was taking soooo long that Monte and I were starving.  We decided to have a starter.  (I can't spell Hor's deurve).  I heated up mozzarella sticks in my wee oven (they freaking melted everywhere) and shared a plate of deformed sticks.

Finally it was time to do the skewering, my fave part.  I made eight skewers, I had planned four but there was so much stuff!  Who knew that you only need an eighth of what you would normally cook?  I happily handed them off to Monte to bbq.  I then made spaghetti sauce and noodles for dinner to go with the skewers of veg.  And...you guessed it.  We weren't hungry. Honest to G!!!  We did each eat one skewer but no spaghetti.  So now I had to find room in my overstuffed fridge for six skewers, a big bowl of left over skewer material AND spaghetti.  They did taste good though.  Monte basted the skewers in olive oil and basil.  Guess what is for breakfast this morning!  And oh yeah...it took me absolutely forever to clean that kitchen.

STUPID FRIGGING THINGS

The eggplant was the best thing on the skewer.  And I don't think I will do that again.  Maybe a meat one with only a couple of things but not this one.  At least not for a very long time!!!

Now, Covid.  Nah!!!  I honestly could care less about covid anymore.  We are all heading back to 'normal' and everybody will forget about all this two years of hoopla.  The economy has already turned around, unemployment is way down.  And we are back to square one, where we were years ago, carrying an enormous huge federal debt, thanks to Moonbeam and Horgan.  Handing out money like it was xmas presents on xmas morning.  Sure, the excuse was 'Oh we gotta keep the economy going' but what about now?  Inflation has already started to change our daily life and it's going to be a whole lot worse before it's over.  Did they even think of that?

So two quotes today.
 
1.  Our job is improving the quality of life, not just delaying death....Robin Williams (bless him)

2. I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage....Erma Bombeck

Stay safe, noodle, take an elder to lunch and never ever make vegkabobs!  TTYL

SMOKE COD CHOWDER

 Hmmmmm....not sure how this is going to turn out.  Monte found the recipe and smoked the cod.  Now it is my turn.  I have to go do the mis en place.  Except when I woke up this morning my right hand hurts so bad I can't use it.  I can't even turn the salt grinder and if you know me that is a true disaster!  I don't know what the hell is wrong with it but I am not happy.  How does one cut celery and onion etc..with a gibbled right hand?  Dammit!!!

Okay, I will admit I typed the above paragraph two days ago.  I had to stop because of my hand.  (shovel list). Now I am back, a little late.  Today is Wednesday.  And Wed. means clean the house before bedtime day.  Millie is coming tomorrow and it's garbage/recycling day tomorrow as well.

Another thing that didn't happen was the chowder and it wasn't because of my hand, although I told Monte that.  It just wasn't appealing to me.  Each time I thought about 'smoked cod chowder' my stomach would heave a little.  I finally fessed up to him yesterday.  So he is going to make it tomorrow.  I ended up making a delicious potato and chicken curry.  Yummmmmy

On Sunday or Monday I was talking to Arnie and she told me that for the first time in her life she sat down in the morning to read a new book she got and didn't stop reading until she finished the book!  I got the name, went to Amazon Kindle, bought the book and started reading it yesterday morning and didn't stop until I finished it.  It was a really really good book.  And that is one of the biggest perks about Covid for me!  Guiltless reading.

When we were growing up my dear mother somehow made me feel guilty about sitting and reading.  It was like I was shirking my chores or duties or something, I don't know.  I just know if I was sitting on my bed reading and I heard her coming, I would panic and quickly leap up and hide the book and stand there looking for something to do to make it look like I was busy.

I didn't really think about it until I was old and living with Bill.  In Bamfield if Bill came in the door from outside, I would do the same thing. Panic, jump, hide book and look busy.  When I finally noticed this ridiculous response to his entering the house I took the time to analyze it.  And frigging STOPPED doing that.  Now I read voraciously and the more chores I am ignoring the better the reading sesh!!!  Anyway it was a real page turner.

Monte went out last night to a party.  It was only about six people, pretty much the boys in the band.  They have been vaccinated and it was mostly outside.  It was one of their friend's birthday.

  I drove him to the party and picked him up at midnight.  He had such a wonderful time.  He has been so considerate of me, staying home and not seeing his friends at all so I was happy he got out.  And got drunk.  Oh my goodness, drunk Monte is so funny.  He wasn't falling down drunk, just happy drunk and may I say....VERY LOUD!!!!  He was so funny!!!

Now for two more challenges.  The first one is wonderful, the second one will only work for a few.

33.  Hand write a letter to someone and mail it.  I love this!  And may I suggest you do this to an elder.  It will be a lovely old school reminder for them.

I received a wonderful hand done letter and wee gift in the mail yesterday.  The card was delightful and the gift just as much so.  It was from Ainsley!!!It made me sooo happy!

34.  Buy something that makes working from home more comfortable.  The person making this list bought herself a cold brew coffee maker.  Which is lovely, but expensive. I suggest something a little more humble, like a really good pen, or a pillow for your back or the perfect pair of slippers.

I am going to put a couple of random pics on.  I have been going through all my pics lately and found a few I really enjoyed seeing again.

Take care people, we are almost there!  Continue to stay safe for now, phone an oldster!  TTYL

GRAMPA GOING WALKIES WITH DOGS AND BABY

ARNIE WAS ALWAYS THE DIRTIEST KID ON THE BLOCK....AND HAD THE MOST FUN

THE BEST PART OF GOING TO PARIS.  THE KAISER BOULANGERE

LITTLE DID I KNOW THIS WOULD BE OUR LAST WALK TOGETHER

SIX HUNDRED POUNDS

I am watching that show My 600 Pound Life for inspiration.  No matter how little I eat and how many 'exercise snacks' in a day, my weight just doesn't change. The doc says it's the pills I am on and the diabetes.  I don't know.  Those sound like excuses.  I have always been able to lose weight but it doesn't seem to budge these days.  So I am watching that show for motivation.  

What I find funny is that to lose the hundreds of pounds, the clients have to completely cut out carbs, except for salad, the right kind of salads.  And back in the seventies at the start of the Atkins craze, that doctor took so much crap about his diet.  And so did the people that did the diet.  You ate a reasonable amount of meat and basically zero to 20 carbs a day.  Like one cup of broccoli.  I know I lost 100 pounds and basically kept it off for twenty years.  It didn't go smacking back on the minute I went on maintenance, it didn't wreck my metabolism, it didn't wreck my health...all dire warnings from everyone.  And now, these morbidly obese people on this show are doing exactly that...the Atkins way.

I will say this....the new Atkins diet has added column one of the glycemic scale to his diet.  I have always retreated to this way of eating, but not this time.  I just can't eat meat like I used to.  Age, conscience, expense, all play a part in that.  So maybe that's why I don't lose weight.  My body is in shock at what I am doing to it! The hardest part for me is giving a hoot.  I just don't need peoples' approval bad enough to starve to death to lose weight.  You don't like the way I look?  Bye bye now!  Hahahaha!!!!

Well I took the bull by the horns today and confronted a herd of people walking by.  They go by frequently.  All fairly young.  They live two houses down and they are THAT house.  It seems every neighbourhood has one.

It's a multi generational house.  Great Granparents, Grandparents, Adults and their rangatang teenagers.  They also have a passel of younguns'.  Plus a badly behaved ginger cat and a rascally Rottweiler that barks and barks and barks and barks.  One member of the house hold is not right in the head.  He goes outside at three in the morning and screams and yells the most foul language super angry and super loud.

So they were walking by today and I happened to be outside bringing the garbage can back in.  I stopped them and asked if they were the ones that owned the dog that constantly barked. They said yeah, he always barks.  And they said they yell at him but he doesn't quit.  I said that they needed to either find a way to shut him up or take him inside at night.  The whole neighbourhood is pissed.

  And do you know what they said?  "Why don't YOU shut up!!!"  So I asked, "Who is going to pay the fines when they start coming in?"  'We ain't paying no fines."  So I said, "Good!  Then they will take the dog.  Phone the SPCA and ask them.  Third infraction, fine, no pay, dog gone.  So Please, don't pay.  I want the stupid thing gone."  They then called me terrible names and walked on.  Sigh.  And none of them ever wear masks.  But due to who they are they have been vaxxed.

Speaking of which, April has made her appointment for April 28th.  Finally.  Aryn is getting hers any moment now.  I will be able to relax a little now. My biggest worry was one of my kids getting deadly sick and I would not be able to be there.

And Leeloo is in the hospital.  She eats anything and everything she can get her choppers on and clearly she has eaten something that has created a blockage in her system.  Poor little thing.  She won't be happy over there.  They may have to operate.  They have to wait and see and that is hard.  They love that dog so much.

Well it looks like covid is slowly beginning to wind down.  And I have to kind of laugh at all of us Canadians feeling so smug because we were doing so well compared to the renegade bull headed spreadnecks (as my darling Alberta daughter calls them) to the south.  But look whose laughing now!!!!  

They have double vaccinated so many of their citizens that they are beginning to be able to not wear masks!!  So who had the last laugh?  Canada is so slow it's aggravating.  Meanwhile Mr. Moonbeam in Ottawa is dancing around all rainbows and roses going on about how fast everything is going and how we will all be vaccinated by next September (it keeps getting later and later.) Our population is equal to only California! At the moment total number of people double vaccinated in Canada is 3%.  God! And if we can't mix Astra Zenica for a first dose and Pfizer or Moderna for the second one, we will be hooped.  There just isn't enough AZ coming in to do all the people with AZ for a first one.  At least that is what a doctor on the news this morning is saying.

Because this is a covid post, even though I swore I wasn't going to write about it anymore, there is one thing I wish to mention.  And that is the general mood out there in the public.  It isn't good. 

 We have stopped celebrating our front line workers.  Businesses have ramped up their whining and they have their hand out for more of our tax money to save their asses.  As fast as drug addicts are dying from fentanyl, the homeless drug addict population is growing, theft and vandalism have increased dramatically in downtown centres, gang activity is at an all time high, neighbours have turned on neighbours, reporting group backyard gatherings and parties, activist activity has increased to the point where your average citizen isn't even listening anymore and if we do we are just annoyed.  And worst of all, to me, is that the young have developed two societies that need to be gone....woke culture and the cancel culture...both evil and almost oxymoronic. 

 Maybe its just because when we are on lockdown, there just isn't enough to keep our minds busy and too much time to be spoiled brats.  And let me just throw it in here...MEDIA DOES NOT HELP!!!!!!

That's it for today.  Be safe, get vaxxed.  TTYL

"Know when to tune out, if you listen to too much advice you may wind up making other peoples' mistakes"

Ann Landers

BOATS AND MOUNTAINS....THIS IS WHAT PORT ALBERNI IS

FOR A CHANGE TODAY I DON'T HATE A THING!!!!! IT'S TOO BEAUTIFUL

I am sitting in my beautiful bedroom on my comfy bed waiting for a Roots of Empathy Virtual Symposium to start.  For the next two hours I shall be immersed in some of the cutting edge info on anti bullying the intelligent emotional way.

Till then I shall battle blogspot (shovel list, but I shan't let it make me mad today)

I JUST GLANCED UP AND THIS IS MY BLOGGING VIEW THIS MORNING.  LOOK AT THAT SUN ON THE FLOOR!!!
Now that I have inserted the picture here, the font and location of the paragraphs are all wonky.  Sigh.  Oh well.
I have had an interesting week.  Monte and I are all vaccinated, first one only, and feeling a whole lot more secure.  What a difference it makes to NOT have that particular axe hanging over our heads.

We had our first full fledged visitor, IN OUR HOUSE, this week!  I almost forgot how to have visitors!  April has a friend whom I shall refer to as E.  She is a newly minted Registered Nurse.  She lives about an hour away. E is a high school  friend of April's.  I have a huge amount of admiration for this kid.  She is carrying an extremely heavy personal load plus fighting some personal demons, as we all are at her age but she has a wee bit more than most.  She arrived early afternoon and stayed til after 11!  And you know she could have stayed longer and we wouldn't have run out of stuff to talk about!  What a wonderful day!

I mentioned last post that I had hired a fellow to make my patio out front.  I think I also mentioned I was having a hard time pinning him down on when it was all going to happen.  I finally got him on the phone today.  It started off well, and didn't end the same way!  It went something like this:

" Hi Joe.  Helen Price here.  I was just wondering if you could give me a rough idea of when you would get to the patio installation?"  "I don't know."  "Okay, I understand that this is a busy time of the year.  But can you at least give me a ball park idea?" "No. Two days, two weeks, two months, I don't know." "Well two months is way too long.  I need it sooner than that, like the middle of Junish.  Would that be possible.  You told me it would take a couple of days to complete...could you manage that?"  "I don't know." "Well I am going to have to try to find someone else to do this then.  Is there anyone you could recommend?" "No."

Seriously!  That is exactly what the conversation was!  I hung up in the midst of calling him a flake.  So damned typical of this town.  But....I can't say the same about Windsor Plywood!  I asked for an estimate for a new front door and total surround wood and glass and they sent someone today.  He was so good and is going to be able to do it all.  I am even getting a lit keypad so we won't have to have keys anymore.  Lets hope a nuclear armageddon doesn't happen...all things electric stop working, or so I have read in my post apocalyptical novels!  Mind you I don't know when this is all going to happen.

The house across the street did sell.  I happened to be out there when the real estate lady was getting into her truck outside our house.  I asked her what it sold for.  It sold for 445,500.  Insane.    I do believe all this property selling for silly prices is going to put our taxes up for sure.

I also mentioned Monte got the smoker going.  He filled it with salmon, which was absolutely amazing!  OMG!!!  I def ate way more than my share!  He has also got the bbq up and running.  He has barbied two sirloin roasts already!  Plus miscellaneous pork chops etc...midnight snacks!

Yesterday we attacked, I mean really attacked the deck.  I had him put the Adirondacks down stairs in one of the sheds. Myles, bless his heart, the last time he was here he got a tap going up on the deck and there is a hose with a pretty powerful nozzle thingy on it and Monte sprayed everything down.  It looks pretty good!  It was a lot of work.  So much stuff to find places for.

So how did last weeks challenges go for you?  I sat one day and plowed right through the book I have been wanting to read.  It was good but not as good as her very first one that led me to her to begin with.  The Chaucer was a little tougher to stick to.  I didn't totally complete it but all that I did read I thoroughly enjoyed.  I had forgotten how funny he was.

Now for this week.  One I absolutely am not doing.  Five more things are heading out the door.  The other one I am almost able to already do.

31.  Read a graphic novel.  Simply not happening.

32.  Meditate for one hour.  She always makes the challenges longer or harder than necessary.  Like the graphic novel.  Why a novel....why not a comic?  And why meditate for a whole hour?  Most people are lucky if they can meditate for ten minutes!  I do this at bedtime.  Everything goes off, I lean on the wall sitting on my bed, and just let my mind go until I fall asleep.  I choose to call that meditating.  I will never be a guru but I sure get lots done...in my head!

So that's it for today.  Take care folks, noodle (if you aren't vaccinated) and do an elder.  TTYL

"It's amazing how clean my house can get when I am pissed off!"
Anon

 

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE BLOGSPOT

Isn't it funny how when a vehicle parks in front of your house where you usually do, you feel violated? Monte was off doing things and whilst he was gone a giant black pick up pulled into our normal spot.  It just didn't feel right.  It felt like an invasion.  There has been a lot of activity at the house across the street that was for sale and vehicles need spots to park.  But there has been a house inspection (I read the side of the truck) and a new hot water tank put in today.  I would say its prolly sold.  So I would expect the traffic will die down now.  How can you tell I have no life at the moment.

I am seriously missing my kids.  I am seriously missing my grand children.  Fenton has gone from child to teenager.  Elise has gone from missing front teeth to pretty girl. April has gone from day one at university to being a graduate.  Kevin has gone from a renter to a house owner.  Aryn has saved my ass spice wise and business wise and I can't hug her for doing that.  One of my best friends has gone from married to widowhood.  My other best friend almost lost her husband, who ended up spending two weeks in the hospital.  All of this and I haven't been able to be there for any of it.  So all you people out there that have been able to see your grandchildren and your adult kids be grateful.  A whole lot of us haven't seen anyone since Feb. 2020.

Anyway, enough whining.  I am beginning to sound like those very people I am most impatient with.  We all have to do our bit for the cause and I guess being isolated from family counts.  

It is funny to me how the more I am not on a timetable of a to do list and have all the time in the world, the less I get done.  I have a list longer than a Bacon brother's rap sheet of things that need to get done.

One exciting thing is on Monday at noon I have an estimator coming from Windsor Plywood to measure up my whole front door, surround sidelights, and big glass window over the door.  I have the worst front door in Port.  I will put a picture below.  I don't know what the previous people did but that door was a lovely white when we bought the house and now....well you will see.

Also, I have hired a fellow to build me a patio out front in the corner of the yard.  I want to put the adirondaks out there with tables and tiki torches.  I am going to put pots with flowers in them around as well.  It will be my coffee spot!  But the guy was supposed to do it two weeks ago and I can't get hold of him.  I know landscapers are flakes but we will see.  He sent me an estimate which I chose from.  He knows I am serious.  I have repeatedly emailed and emailed him.

We have been emptying the deck out. I have had Monte haul the chairs etc downstairs in preparation for power washing.  I have had a bit of a problem finding a place that rents power washers and was worried I would have to buy one.  Just now as Monte was working outside, Harry, our awesome next door neighbour got talking to Monte and the long and short of it is in the next couple of days he is bringing HIS power washer over and is going to teach Monte how to do it!  He will not accept any pmt, not even cookies or dinner!  What a guy!!!!  Ah likes him!!!!!!

Well Monte is firing up the smoker tomorrow.  He purchased some salmon filets for a good price and he is going to brine them over night.  This is pretty exciting.  He finally gets to use his Xmas present!  I saw on our online marketplace someone is selling a Rival roaster/smoker.  I am so tempted.  In two corners there are fitted containers that hold chips for smoking.  You can't smoke a whole roast or chicken in Monte's but you can in this roaster.  And it's only 55 bucks.  

Well I just finished sifting through miles of posts on marketplace and I found it.  And....I bought it!  It is a beauty!  I am not sure what I will smoke first.  We want to make sandwich meats that are done without sodium nitrates.  I have a roast in the fridge.  Maybe I will do that first.  Tonight Monte is bbq'ing a spatchcocked chicken that is marinating in a Texas
marinade.  (so why is there a t in marinating and a d in marinade.  stuff like that just makes my spelling even worse.  shovel list)Nothing to say about covid today other than poor Bonnie Henry and the Provincial Health Dr. Deputy got grilled by the media about not releasing more detailed info about what the covid counts are in specific parts of areas.  I have kind of complained about this too.  But I guess they are going to start doing that next week.  Should be interesting.

Stay safe, noodle and do an elder.  TTYL

MY WHITE DOOR

 

I had plenty of pimples as a kid.  One day I fell asleep in the library.  When I woke up, a blind man was reading my face.

Rodney Dangerfield.  (Bill's fave comedian)

MY DOG ADMIRE'S ME

 Now, I know I wasn't going to mention covid anymore but.....I was talking to my Sister yesterday and I was mentioning one thing to her that I have become aware of since the pandemic started.

Covid hit in January 2020.  Little did I know that the Christmas the month before would be the last time I saw my kids.  And the July 1st before that would be the last time I saw my extended family, including my grand children.  And the May before that would be the last time I would get my hair done.  And...when you are nearing 70 this has forced me to become aware that I only have so many years on this planet left.  Ten or twelve if I live to 80. I don't really want to spend any more time in my front window staring at the neighbours.  This has to end.

I do have to mention here that I am by far not the unluckiest of them all.  What about people that live alone?  I have always said I would love to live on a mountain top and be a hermit.  No I wouldn't. I really know that now.  And seriously Monte has saved me.  I can't imagine not having at least one of my chillins' living with me.

And I am not older with a loving spouse in an assisted living situation where I couldn't see them.  Honestly, that would be hell.  Can you imagine being in your nineties, which should be celebrated, and have a wife or husband in a place and you could not ever see them?  And at that age?  Our dearest friend Clare went through that with his beautiful wife Tish.  The agony was unbearable.

I do understand that in many ways I am blessed, and I do count those blessings now and then.  But right now I am pissed off.  I want to see my kids.  I want to see my grand kids.  I want to see my family.  I want to see something other than the stupid dogwood tree's flower progression across the street. And for God's sake I need my freaking hair done!!!!  And I know I have a lot of company out there feeling the same way.

So I cooked a corned beef yesterday.  I bought it already brined in a plastic bag.  Next step was to cook it.  Following a recipe, I put it in the crock pot, covered it with water (after washing the salt off it), threw in a small handful of pickling spice and cooked it on high for six hours until it was super tender.

And as the smell permeated the house as it cooked, I remembered that I hate that smell and that I hate corned beef.  How could I have forgotten?  I don't mind corned beef hash, but the cooking and the for real corned beef with no hash is overpowering.  Blech!!!!!!

Today I cut it into chunks and layered it with cabbage, sauerkraut, butter and topped it with a mix of smoked gruyere and Swiss cheeses and baked it in my toaster oven.  It looked fantastic and Monte loved it.  I didn't try it.  Not making it again.

Oh jeez...now I am talking about the food I have cooked...again.  Seriously!  Something has to happen!!!!  My life has become ridiculous.

Okay, now for the next two challenges.  I really like the next two challenges.

29.  Read a book you have always wanted to!  Yes!!!  I have just finished a book on Hemmingway's last years...so interesting.  But I have been saving a book to read for a time when I can just sit in total silence and read read read until it is done.  It is written by one of my fave authors.  She is a very very different type of writer...dark, nasty, unexpected, get even type, written in the first person.  So you are inside her head the whole time.  I love it!!!

30.  Read a travel book or a book that involves travel.  I have six I can pick from.  But I think I am going to re read The Canterbury Tales....or is that kind of fudging it.  It's about a trip...of sorts!  It has been a very long time since I read it.  And if I remember correctly, a very amusing pilgrimage to a place that Bill and I sat and ate paella.

Stay safe people, noodle and listen to an elder.  TTYL

"Know yourself.  Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful."

-Ann Landers. (why leave her quotes when they are so appropriate!)