Don't get excited but

This is what the greenhouse is supposed to look like when it's all done. We aren't even close to that stage. Today we had to source out the lumber for the foundation...needed 4 x 6's as well as 2 x 12's. This is heavy stuff! We got it loaded on the truck, made the 50 minute drive home. Had lunch then started to cut and build the base. It shouldn't have been that difficult. The good news, we cut it too long not too short! Add our miscalculation to the fact that we bought and paid for 12' lengths and got 16's! No wonder things didn't look right. Sunday we hope to get everything screwed together,squared and leveled & in the final location. After that...dealing with the sod, landscape fabric and 24 cubic feet of pea gravel....more sore muscles! Once all that's done, then the real fun begins - the structure itself. Stay tuned!

Any Corner Gas fans?

When Joe went to pick up his new work vehicle, he went on a field trip to Dog River. The cast was filming, so no access to the Ruby but Joe has gotten closer to Brent & Oscar than any of us!

Playing around

I've tried something new to my blog, a drop down menu for the archives. It seems to be working for me SO FAR but would appreciate any input from others. Also, has anyone tried the Beta format of Blogger? I looked for some feedback but all I found was negative ie...taking days to switch from the classic version to Beta. What exactly is the deal with Beta...faster, prettier, easier to use? This enquiring mind wants to know your thoughts! Have a great Thursday!

Grinning from ear to ear!

Nope...I haven't started building the greenhouse! But I got a couple of nice things from Saskatchewan!

Joe arrived home safely after taking delivery of his new for work Sprinter! He knew what he was getting, but the actual size and roominess of the unit surprised him. And the real big surprise...it has a govenor on it...no speeding tickets for this baby!


Joe just happened to stop by Lee Valley for me and picked up 3 tins of this goody. I still don't know why they won't sell it in AB...something to do with the cows....I hope it's not linked to BSE! MOOOOOOO!

It's that time of year!

With the cooler temperatures, it's that time again to clean up the yard in preparation for ...dare I mention it...snow.

I have the flower beds all cleaned out, but have to wait for the big freeze before I put my roses to bed. They are something you can't do early. The veggie garden is done except for 7 lonely pumpkins, still on the vine awaiting their time to be cut and delivered. Joseph & Alex will each get a big one (well the 2 biggest in the patch!) and the rest I will prep into puree for future pies and/or muffins.

The lawn will be cut and mulched as soon as it dries, hopefully this afternoon. I have the whipper snipper on to charge up for a last trim. I also have a half bag of good quality grass seed which I will use to overseed the front lawn. We have been doing this to the back for several years and now have a very plush lawn that requires only a minimum of care, mostly cutting and the odd weed to hand dig up. Now if we could just figure out how to neutralize the dog pee! The sea weed fertilizer does help with the regrowth in the spring, but the odd patch is resistant!

If the weather Gods permit, I will start removing sod this weekend where my new greenhouse will live. This is an early anniversary gift from Joe, he knows how much I enjoy being outside with my plants and just getting dirty. This winter, those seed catalogues that arrive about the same time as the holiday bills, will take on a whole new look to these eyes! The easy to install instructions says it will take 2 adults ~ 8 hours to build once the foundation is done. For that I have to source out some beefy lumber, 4 x 6's and 2 x 12's...and the landscape fabric and pea gravel for drainage. Lots of fun! Stayed tuned for updates and photos. No updates means no progress!

Did I need a drink!

I will probably laugh about this is a few years but just re-thinking about it has my BP on the rise! The incident that I refer to in Les's blog goes something like this...

We drove the camper to Calgary to park it for the winter. We pulled into Les's back lane only to find it fully blocked by a moving van...it parked on one side of the lane with it's ramp fully extended over the oncoming lane...

Joe stopped, I said I would run down and ask them how long they would be...that way Joe would back out of the lane before he got down too far... I talked to the first one I seen, he wasn't the driver but he said at least 30 minutes but he would check with the truck driver. I turned and signed 30 minutes to Joe, still at the top of the lane. The driver showed up, I spoke to him and then turned to tell Joe we should back out and come in the other direction. Wasn't I totally shocked to find Joe and camper had crepted right up the the road blockage!

Well one thing led to another...Joe listened to the home owner who was getting the furniture delivered and the truck driver and his associates...Joe didn't listen to me.

Well it got ugly...The camper got STUCK up against the moving van and this guy's cedar fence! I was ugly at the point. The guys were saying Go - you're clear when I could see we weren't! I told Joe to put the truck in park and hopped between the truck & camper to access the damage! Yes there was damage.

In the end, I talked to Joe, ignored those other'experts' and we decided to jack up the trailer, unhitch the truck, pull the truck forward and then back up and rehitch at a sharper angle. This way when we moved the truck it would pull the trailer off the fence. While we did this, the guys put their backs up against the trailer while the moving van driver inched his unit forward a foot.

Final result...We got the trailer off the fence, no damage to the truck. The trailer's corner trim was ripped off a bit but we can repair that with a little patience and longer screws. The home owner has a fence rail to reattach to a 4 x 4 corner post and has some lovely scrape marks on his fence. He may be able to sand that out, or live with it!

Like I said earlier...I can feel my BP going through the roof just reliving this enough to explain how our weekend went! Joe just doesn't want to hear anything more about this. Gee I wonder why?

On the plus side, we had a great visit and got the chance to deliver the baby furniture to Heather & Jeff's place. Lesley & Aaron bought them the oak change table and Joe & I bought the dresser and the crib that turns into a headboard/footboard once the baby is much older. Now I'm excited about the Thanksgiving weekend when we go down to actually start putting the nursery together! No back lanes for Joe and we will be fine!

This says it all!

This is posted in Newfoundland! Thanks Shawn!

What's in your purse?

I seen a quick ad about an upcoming episode of Oprah in which she is asked this very question. It got me thinking about what's in mine! I think the only real surprise is how many tissues I actually have and I never leave the house without grabbing a couple more! Other than that, I have wallet, blistex, pen, sometimes my cell phone, my loyalty cards...I think they multiply in the dark! and a few supplies for those not so nice surprises. I also have an assortment of coins which I am quite willing to use with my purchases. Don't you just love stumping the clerks who don't know what to do with those extra pennies!

At the library, while flipping through some ladies magazines that I don't buy, I noticed a reference to the Purseket, a organizer with a bunch of pockets that you fill with your stuff & just drop into your purse to keep everything tidy and in easy reach. Stuff stands on end, taking up less room. I forget how much this 'gotta have' costs but they say you can quickly change purses by lifting the whole thing out and droppping it into the new bag. Not sure about you but I only change bags when I go out at night and/or in the spring/fall. That gives me a couple of good opportunites to purge some of those tissues! You guys...you have things so easy...who cares if your wallet is colour coordinated so long as you have money in it and are willing to spend some of it on us!

Thursday already?

Where does the time go? I have found that as I age, time goes faster and faster. Am I running away from my mispent youth and want to put as much distance between me and that me? Or, am I racing to the end....which in itself is a grim thought? Oh well, as long as I'm having fun, being a good person and helping others when I can, I shall enjoy my ride.

Works for Me Wednesday

I knew before we bought the house, I needed some changes made to have a workable kitchen.

First, I needed a wall re-installed between the front room and the kitchen. Someone had taken it down and anyone coming to the front door could immediately see everything on the main level. And I hated the idea of sitting at a kitchen table mere centimeters away from my couch and in plain view! So the wall went back up and that left us with a small awkward corner on the kitchen side.

But it was just perfect for a swedish put it together yourself using pictograms pantry closet. It was just a plain white plastic box with shelves - we added more! I took an $8 can of blackboard paint, and painted a large rectangle with a foam brush. Three coats later...I have a very workable blackboard for menu plans, grocery lists, important things to remember etc. After ~ 18 months, I may recoat the black...from the same can. Talk about bang for your buck!

http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/

Where can I hide the apples?

I got some positive comments about the pies, but do you realize how much work is involved in prepping these things? After a couple of hours of washing,coring,sectioning and then peeling these slippery suckers, I had enough apples for 3 more pies! I did measure it out and add the sugar and cinnamon to each before putting it into the freezer bags. I know I will appreciate all the hard work in January when we are eating leftover turkey and want a yummy dessert. But yesterday, my cold,wet and cramped hands were telling me otherwise!

On a happy note, we did join Lucie and her friend Bev for supper in the city. I can see why Lucie enjoys Bev's company so much, she is so easy to talk to about anything! But we gorot the hoilday pictures, so Lucie wants to come up for a weekend so we can really get comfy in our pj's, enjoy a libation or 2 and catch up!

Apple Pie & a cup of tea!

What a way to end the wet and cold weekend, warm apple pie made from our very own apples! Would you believe me if I said it wasn't very good? It was EXCELLENT!

We did a test run to make sure it was going to be worth all the prep time before we moved onto the 2 big buckets of apples. We are going to package to up in pie size freezer bags, complete with the sugar and cinnamon...all we will need to do for more pie is prep the crusts, thaw the apples, dump into the pie shell, dot with butter, top and bake!

I feel for those people who live in the concrete jungle, never having dirt under their fingernails, thinking pie comes from Safeway!

Sniff sniff...the veggie garden is done!

All that remains in the garden are the pumpkins...and I need to research those to see if I have to take them in also. I have about 10 pounds of green tomatoes...you gotta love fried green tomatoes! Joe helped me pick the rest of the apples...seems I'm too short even standing on something! We have about 50 pounds! We are scheduled for a 6 hour power outage tomorrow so we may be sitting around the kitchen island processing apples tomorrow! I plan on doing them up with cinammon and sugar into pie size freezer bags. I may keep a few of the nice ones for my neighbor and a few baked apple desserts!

But today...joy joy...we get to go shopping...checking out a new....drum roll please...SUMP PUMP with a battery back up! Doesn't that sound like fun?! Just to let everyone know, our community has a bylaw in place that requires sump pumps in all new houses...and ours fell into that category. I must say...besides the nuisance of it going off when I walk by the discharge hose...hello wet feet...it's no bother except when the power is off for extended periods during rainy season. Bailing is not a fun afternoon activity. But so far...no wet basement!

OK...this isn't fun anymore!

The weather just SUCKS! As my family knows, on the best of days, I enjoy the cooler weather more than the heat. I've been called part Eskimo because of my reluctance to put the furnace on. I've had increasing bouts of power surges...AKA hot flashes. But since being back on black cohosh, they have been manageable. How long does it take to get off those stupid things???? I would do just about anything right now for a hot flash, I feel that cold and I'm too cheap to put nudge the thermostat. Here are the exciting NOT details of our weather for the upcoming weekend.

Environment Canada Weather Forecast
City of Edmonton - St. Albert - Sherwood Park Issued at: 5.00 AM MDT Friday 15 September 2006
Today..Periods of rain. Amount 10 to 15 mm. Wind northeast 30 km/h gusting to 50. High 7. Tonight..Rain becoming mixed with wet snow overnight. Rainfall amount 10 mm. Wind northeast 20 km/h becoming light this evening. Low plus 2. Saturday..Periods of rain. Rain mixed with wet snow in the morning. Wind becoming north 20 km/h late in the day. High plus 4.
Sunday..A mix of sun and cloud. Low minus 1. High 8. Monday..A mix of sun and cloud. Low zero. High 15. Tuesday..A mix of sun and cloud. Low plus 3. High 11. Normals for the period..Low plus 3. High 17.

Rise & Shine!

We had an extra early start to the day. Joe is so busy at work he could only squeeze in an interview with a potential new employee at 7 am. Yesterday was long and mind draining. He had class room work for a new software program the company wants to launch 1 November. Joe doesn't think it will happen. They want Joe's department to run the thing and after the briefing yesterday, seems like they will need an IT person with accounting background. Hmmm...the last time I checked, Joe was "JUST A COOK"! Seriously though, he loves the challenges but it's nice to know that there is at least a slim chance to accomplishing something. You go Dear!

Can't put it off any longer

We have so many apples still on the tree, the branches are sagging! I'm going to try and weigh the good usable ones as I bring them into the house. The birds have enjoyed some and so has Joseph & Alex! I don't have any apples on the bottom brnaches because they both thought apples looked a lot like balls! And boy do they have good throwing arms. I can see both of them playing baseball at some time in the future. Mind you, someone will have to gently explain to them to pitch the ball towards their team mate not drill directly at their HEADS! I found more apples from previous visits, underneath some of my annuals that I cleaned out of the flower bed earlier this week. Too bad the boys aren't around to climb to the top of the tree for Nannie!

The pumpkins are almost all orange...not sure if they still grow after that or just stay the same size. I have one for each of the grandsons and a few for me to put up in the freezer. I'll post photos as soon as I re-install my camera software...seems it disappeared...but that's another story!

It must have been a hundred dollar sandwich!

That's an expensive sandwich unless you calculate in the cost of all the TLC that went into growing those plump red tomatoes! YUP! We had the first ripe Manitoba tomatoes for supper in the form of toasted BLT's! Joe had to throw in some cheese for extra goodness on his. I tell you, it was worth the wait of...how many months...started the seeds in the house in March...this is September 13, so about 6 months! But a good 6 months!

I just hope our weather forecasters are WRONG....some are saying we could have white stuff before the end of the week! I'll be busy tomorrow, picking all the tomatoes and a few hundred pounds of apples, just in case!

We rejoin this program...

Yes, I had more technical problems with my computer/internet. Seems the electrical storm we had Monday night/Tuesday morning fried my modem. Poor Telus had to come out and install a new one. Thank goodness the surge protector did it's job and kept the computer safe.

I remember

That fateful day 5 years ago. I was working, receiving a truck when I got the word from the back office. Perhaps because I didn't see it played out visually all day long, it still seems almost surreal to me. I can not imagine the pain the families must be re-living every anniversary. Let them be but never forget.

Water babies!

Our grandkids continue to amaze us. Last year Alex was very timid in the water, especially after Papa accidently sprayed him while doing something technical with the tub filter. This year, he's in there splashing around and even causally shakes off the occassional dunking from big brother.

Joseph has always liked the water, even when he first got into the hot tub in his little floatable boat. This past summer, look out everyone...I need lots of room.
He took the entry level swimming class where they get used to the water and blow some bubbles. Well, Joseph has gone beyond that with the aid of a swim mask! Joe may have opened a can of worms by asking the boys if Papa needs a bigger pool! Joe, we need to talk!

Site construction

Well, something went terribly wrong last night with the blog...things were scattered everywhere. My close family/friends know how anal I am about things in their place. So I have reverted back to a tried and true blue blog template. At least until I get the urge to change something around.

Boys like their big toys and Joe is no different. Here are a few from our travels last month. It is so hard to hold Joe back when he gets an idea in his head! He wants to drive some of the heavy equipment. But then he also wants to show them how a real flag person would do it! We actually seen 1 really on the ball woman who was controlling the traffic like she owned it! She was probably the owner of the company!

Joe - with HAIR!

I was looking through some old floppy discs...yes I still have some! and found this photo that a friend took of us at a function at the mess in Cold Lake. If you don't know...we left there in the spring of 1999!

And YES Heather & Lesley and all those other people to watch my fashion sense or lack there of, I do still have that same jacket. I love to wear the classics - style and colour - cuz I'm a classy kinda gal!

Do I look like 200 posts later?

I thought today I would just ramble on and see where this takes me. Feel free to join in and leave a comment or 2.

Are you an apron kind of person? I have one that I absolutely love, besides the fact it has a neat wine graphic on the front. It's a study almost canvas like fabric with the bottom turned up forming 3 pockets. I can go through the house, cleaning and stick stuff that belongs in anothe rplace in my pocket and not have to keep backtracking. Backtracking often results in my seeing something new that needs to be done and there I go...off on another tangent!

Plastic shopping bags - how many is too many????? I realize that we need to put our shopping into something but we seem to have reverted away from those handy tote bags and crates from the 80's. Our garbage collection rate just went up and I feel I should max out my trash to get the best value for the money spent. On the other hand, I try to do the 3 r's - reuse, recycle and refuse. I use a bag to scoop the cat box, then the back yard, I line the little trash cans in the bathrooms. But at the end of the week when it's grocery shopping time again...I still have lots left. Maybe I should braid the bags into door mats! Any takers?

Pennies - how many do you have in a jar? I'm trying to spend my pennies as I get them. I'm afraid if I don't, the government machine will decide making them is too expensive and all the retailers will round their prices UP to the nearest nickel!!!! Come on, let's all start carrying a pocketfull of pennies and keep them in circulation. You can always cheat...and drop a handful into those take a penny dishes!

Support your local retailers vs big box shopping. I love a good bargain and having a choice of what to buy when I want to buy it. But, more and more, small towns are losing thier downtown core to big box malls. I try to spend our money in our little town as often as I can. You have to love it when the clerks recognize you! And the service, what can I say? We've gotten more bargains, just because! A prime example...we were a day late returning our videos and went in to pay the fine while it was still fresh on our minds...well they looked up our account, said the fine was forgiven because we don't make a habit of being late! Another time, we wanted to rent a couple of movies, Joe thought I had the money, I thought he had some in his pocket...we had walked, and stopped in as a last minute idea...anyways, they put it on our account! You can't do better than that! Support your local shops & tradespeople as often as you can!

You gotta love a wedding!

JJ and Mitch get to sit with 3 awesome young ladies in their finest dresses.

Betty & Jerry check out the wedding program

Jeremy & Patrick ham it up

Aunts Anna & Marie Anne with Cory & Bernice

Lorenzo

Betty Anne & Tony

Camping @ Wal Mart!

Everyone who knows Joe has heard him talk about the Wal Mart Warriors and wanting to join the group. Well we can chalk that up on the list of things accomplished!

We left our comfortable home in the wee hours of July 28 and drove straight through to Brandon Manitoba. I think that Joe had planned it all along, that we would be tired and hungry with no camp sites in HIS vision...and so we pulled into Wal MArt.

I must say it was a weird sensation, in that you still had some late night shoppers zipping around the parking lot when we finally turned in. We did sleep good and I was somewhat surprised to see we had the company of other campers around us when we pulled out at 6 am. And just like the lady at the Customer Service desk said....Timmy's was just up the road a bit before we got back onto the highway. Camping is THE WAY to go!

A gorgeous Labour Day Weekend!

We couldn't have hope for better weather! The big boys got in 2 rounds of golf...I think Joe had the better scores. Aaron, please correct me if I'm wrong! The young boys got lots of fresh air to the point where we didn't get a chance to colour or play indoor games!



Joseph in a hurry to get onto the play equipment!

Alex right behind big brother!

Joseph hanging ten while Nannie takes the shot!


Alex concentrating before crossing the monkey bars.


Alex taking his Mom on a Flintstone style ride!

We all went to the St Albert Farmer's market. We picked up garden fresh peas and zucchini, a strawberry rhubarb pie as well as some sweet smelling bath salts and soaps.

Saturday evening, Alcide, Jacques, Darrell & Doreen popped in for a visit and signed the guest book. The only ones missing were Heather & Jeff, but they had a wedding to attend Saturday. Heather called Sunday to say it went off very nice and she has more wedding ideas to shift through! Everyone seems to be doing well in redneck country!

Fun & Games

Company arrived Friday night and within 5 minutes of arrival, clothes were off, swim trunks were on and the little boys were in the tub!

Today, the big boys golfed, the little one tooks Lesley & I to the school park and then we all met up to go to the farmer's market. We bought garden peas, zucchini and corn as well as some bath salts and a pie. What a rough way to spend a Saturday!

Friends

Finding time for friendship is more difficult these days -
It seems we're working all the time, and going our separate ways...
But even so, I always know whatever else we do,
You'll be there for me and I'll be there for you!

Peggy, I'm so glad we got to re-connect last month! Have a great long weekend!