Bob And Susan

So, today Susan and I worked a half day and we were ready to  go see Zach, leaving at noon. We were so excited, he’s but two weeks old. We were going to go last week, giving Lindsay & Jeff the respectful first week to figure stuff out, but I felt it better to give them more time after ” The Zack Attack” ( so named by Uncle Buck)  came in to this world with more enthusiasm than expected.  On my way home today it started to rain and snow, -2 at the time. I have a 35 minute drive normally, it’s a bit of a way as it’s all highway in these mountains so I’m going quite a way, we have no traffic except for the tourists in the summer. I saw people who were in the ditches and over the banks, fortunately all soft landings. What I didn’t see was any salt/sand trucks. We can drive on snow easily, and snow all the way to Kelowna was  fine, but freezing rain was not. The government privatized our highway maintenance system years ago. Salt costs money, and a private contractor will use it sparingly for the bottom line….makes sense really. It’s about the bottom line.  Who gives a hoot about people like me. The government doesn’t care here in B.C. about anything more than their individual  images and legacies. Hell,  how many premiers have we had who were kicked out or quit in the last years? Crazy.  And for all this nonsense I get to pay taxes. I pay lots in taxes just like everyone, but we get so few government services because we choose to live  in the forest. Having a well maintained highway is of importance to me.  I have for years put up with driving in terrible conditions, just dealt with it and showed up late to work…..today, I don’t  feel the same way. I am not going to see my newborn Grandson because the Government of B.C. are inept at running a business. It’s really that simple. We need to get business people involved in government, but good business people will not go there. What a dilemma we have. What person who loves making money would go to a field where they earn less? We’re buggered. A simple hope that our roads are safe to drive on should not ever be a problem.  Incompetent administration of the People’s money should be the most important value we value when considering our votes.

I have tried to be polite here but you need to know I’m very sad that I can’t be with the kids today as expected. I don’t sweat the small stuff and that’s what this may be, but I do think venting by writing is also very therapeutic. Nothing on my chest now……see you soon Zachary.

Love Grampa

So, who could believe that this year I would have 2 grandchildren. As Susan blogged we now have Zach in our lives. Jeff and Lindsay are doing great 9 days later as I write this. Zach beat up Lindsay pretty good in the process, and Lindsay has made a remarkable recovery. Zach took a few hits too and was pretty banged up himself but now looks beautiful as does his Mother. Jeff was their “everything you could ever hope for Father” and his tireless care and compassion helped  to bring a quicker resolve to their health.  Susan and I love and like Jeff, his actions come as no surprise to us but I thought others should know.

Now, a lot of people saw the picture from Zach that he sent on my birthday last Thursday which also happened to be  his one week birthday.  People have a tendency to think I’m a gloating grandfather (Ava) and I’m going to try and show that I’m really not. Case in point, while running around work on my birthday with  the picture  in hand  many people were impressed that my Grandson could write after only being one week old.  They would smirk at me when they said it based mostly on being skeptical about the past accomplishments I’ve mentioned about Ava. Well those skeptical fools are really the fools. Who in their right mind would thing Zack could write being only one week old?   If you look closely the writing was done by Lindsay and Jeff. The greeting was printed, not written…..Jeesh! Please don’t approach me with asking how his Math is going, think Arithmetic for goodness sakes, he’s just 9 days old.

Love Bob

Haven’t blogged for some time and now that it’s snowing, the truck/plow and chains are ready, I have a bit more time for this. To warm up I’d like to say that I just celebrated another birthday which Susan once again, as is tradition, made me meatloaf , gravy, cream corn, and potatoes. This is my favourite meal. Today I made a meatloaf sandwich, on a kaiser with mustard. Afterwords, I decided that this was the best sandwich of all times. A significant announcement you must think. While I have a love of pastrami, Montreal smoked meat, and corn beef of course, I’ve decided to rate it above my own personal classic. It was a tough decision, and I feel bad for my creation, but it’s made. By the way, the classic was baloney, peanut butter and green pepper on caraway rye. The burst of the green pepper followed by the blending of the peanut butter and baloney make for a dining experience you’ll never forget. A beer is essential to the experience or it won’t go down, rather, it’ll just clog up in your throat and you’re liable to choke to death. (my disclaimer for liable). While it seems an odd combination, anyone who likes all 3 items should enjoy it. The blending of good foods is critical to being able to enjoy the meal and not worry about Brussels sprouts or broccoli throwing you off. I guess that’s why my birthday meal works so well.
You’re welcome….

Hi,

I haven’t blogged for a very long time . . . basic laziness!

We now have a new member in our family . . . Zachary Mason Sills (7 lbs/10 oz).  Lindsay gave birth to Zach at 4:25 p.m. November 10th.  I can hardly wait to meet Zach but in the mean time we will just have to be patient while Lindsay heels and the new parents, Jeff and Lindsay, bond with Zach.  I keep checking their blog for a photo but none yet.  A new cousin for Ava, a new niece for Rheanna, a second great grand child for Bob’s parents, and a beautiful grandson for Bob and myself!

So I have been back to Toronto twice in the last 3 months.  The first time in late August for my father’s 80th birthday and then the second time in mid-October for my mom’s 75th birthday.  I had a great time both visits.  The first visit I was there for over 10 days so I got to spend time with a lot of people.

I saw my friends, Patty and Graham Burton.  Patty and I have been friends since grade 4 at Heather Heights and we have always had a close relationship.  I believe that Graham went to Heather Heights as well but we didn’t really get to know each other until Graham and Patty hooked up, got married and had three wonderful children, Colin, Danny and Rachel who is their youngest and off to University next year.

I got a good visit in with my friend, Judi whom I also met at Heather Heights when I was in grade 4 and she was in grade 5.  We have done lots together over the years.  Judi has a son, Dylan, who is in his twenties and a fine young man.

I saw good friends Bob and Jean Black.  Bob and Jean also became grand parents this past March to Greyson, their daughter, Kierra’s and her husband, Mike”s son.  I got to meet Greyson when I went over to the Black’s for a very delicious brunch.  Jean also went to Heather Heights but we didn’t become friends until we were in our 20s but knew of each.  I met Bob Black when I was a teenager.  My Bob and Bob Black grew up together from a very early age.

I got a good visit in with my sister, Judy, too.  We went to see “Eat, Pray, Love” and then back to her apartment and just chatted for the rest of the evening.

The second visit was a short but a great quality visit.  Since I was only there for four days I didn’t phone a soul.  I just hung out with my parents and enjoyed every moment of it.  We went on an excursion one of the days and saw all of my dad’s childhood homes and all of my  mom’s childhood homes (they both came from an area called “The Beaches” in Toronto), and all of the homes they shared right up to the condo they live in at this time in Pickering.

In mid-August my friends, Cathy and Diane (we all met as very young teenagers) and Bob and I met at Lindsay’s and Jeff’s home in Kelowna.  Thank you Lindsay and Jeff for welcoming my friends into your home.  It was a short but lovely visit.  On the very hot Saturday we all went to the beach.  Albert (Cathy’s wonderful partner) and Cathy had their boat with them ~ well we did lots of fun water/boat stuff.  Rheanna and Ava were able to come to Kelowna on that visit as well.  Rheanna and Ava had been staying with us for a wee visit  before we went to Kelowna.

I know this all sounds so dry but it has been such a long time since I have blogged that I am pretty rusty right now.  I will try to blog more often with much more humour.

It’s been one year today (July 28) that we lost Joe. I still miss him greatly. If time heals as they say, I wonder if I’ll live long enough to be healed. Doesn’t really matter, I remain checking the cars that come up our driveway to see if it’s Joe’s. I’ll remain patient…….

This is a warning for Men about something I had never heard about.
It’s about having your nut get twisted and how I dealt with it. The 3 days of pain were like getting a puck, baseball or foot nailing you so bad that you curled up on the ground in a fetal position.
Here’s how I got mine….We take Susan’s Sebring now when we drive long distance. I guess it’s come to be because I want to keep the mileage down on the Lincoln. The problem I’ve always had with the car is that it’s small. Worse yet, when I’m driving, the seat has a tendency to cause my body to push forward, and I have to constantly pull at my jeans to loosen up the jewels. I decided to not wear jeans on my last trip from Calgary and opt for sweats…thought they’d be more comfortable and relaxed. I was so wrong…..2 days later I was in agony. Every time I took a step I felt like I was getting kicked in the nuts. I went to work and broke down and called my Doctor Brian of 30 years. Luckily I can see Brian on short notice….a wonderful story for another blog.
Told Brian I had a bad testicle, and we should have a look. He put on his gloves, I dropped my pants. “Don’t touch or I’ll sue ya” You can only look. I told him of how the pain resonated to a place I couldn’t understand, just up the inside my stomach. He immediately told me what I had and prescribed rest. If I rested it would return to normal. It’s getting better now a few days later. I only write this because I needed to vent as I am a bit miserable as you can imagine. Sometimes writing is a good way to vent. Susan seems to think it’s good for me as she has had to put up with me being miserable. Being the ever loving gal she is, she asked if my writing this could be made better with her being able to post photos on our blog site and post up a picture of said testicle….. I write this for Men who need to understand that if you get this, rest…rest..rest…
Love Bob

 I love Japanese Eggplant sometimes called “Millionaire Eggplant”.  I was fortunately able to purchase six today.  They are very small so hopefully they will survive and bare some fruit.  They like it hot and so far this growing it is anything but.  It was end of the season for “Two Thumbs Up” green house in Pass Creek so they were having a blow out sale - 2 for 1.  I got two containers (six little plants) of the eggplant and it was the kind I prefer (double bonus) and I got 2 squashes, Table Queen Acorn and Green Hubbard. 

Yesterday I asked Bob to turn my magnificent compost but I had to take out my pepper and eggplant plants first ~ I have them in there to stay warm at this time.  I saw the pepper plants but I just couldn’t see the eggplant – did someone borrow it.  So Bob goes to turn my magnficient compost with the pitch fork and he says. “Hold on a minute something is stuck on this thing”.  It was my very healthy waiting to be planted eggplant – now busted ~ guess what my reaction was – it wasn’t pretty!

Large Gardening Day:

Yesterday I continued to rassle with the rest of those darn Blue Bells and the chick weed in my no-longer-rose garden so I could get the bedding flowers planted.  It got done and it will hopefully be spectacular but it was a lot of work – I mean my body doesn’t get that good hurt any more ~  it is more like what now hurt.

Then I moved onto the large vegetable garden.  I started to putter in the end (tires) which I planted at least 3 weeks ago.  Hmm . . . why isn’t anything coming up?  Well the Blue Hubbard is up as well as the Parsley and Cilantro but where are the squashes and cucumbers?  So I replanted the Barbra and  Zucchini squashes and the cucumbers.  We have had so much rain that maybe the seeds floated away or maybe the red wigglers have eaten them?

Then I moved down to the front of the garden and did some weeding.  That end is looking pretty healthy and most everything is up and getting to the point of thinning out.

At the end of the large gardening day (I call it that because I put so much time and effort into it) I put my big, comfy cushion on my Muskoka chair and proceed to tell Bob that I think next year I will either plant all garlic where the veggies are at this time (that depends on how the garlic does this year and if I make enough money selling it to make it worth my while) or even plant grass seed.  My reason is that there is only two of us, I don’t harvest other than freeze (I don’t even like frozen vegetables and Bob isn’t a vegetable fan for the most part).  The no-longer-rose garden is plenty big enough for what we want in fresh veggies and I grow a lot of veggies and herbs on the deck in big pots any ways.  I could easily move the two remaining rose bushes to another garden area then till and fertilize the no-longer-rose garden and away we go – easy, less time consuming and a lot less watering and expensive fertilizing.  I am not even worried about the Blue bells because I have a plan which I will divulge another time.  Bob is not so keen on the idea of shutting down the big vegetable garden since we have invested in a $1,000 dollar electric fence but we can easily move it over to the no-longer-rose garden and have it still be aesthetically appealing.  I think I have quite a good and sensible argument.

I just finished a short audio book called Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson.  Bill Richardson is host of CBC Radio’s afternoon magazine and he lives in Vancouver.

Bachelor Brothers’ Bed &  Breakfast is a story about Hector and Virgil, the twin hosts of a rustic retreat.  The story of how the brothers were conceived – romantic yet shocking;  their motley inheritance – a big house on a small island in British Columbia; a huge library; an aged, cussing parrot and a dozen musical eggcups.

This was a fun and fast listen while I did a little housework and made dinner.  I especially liked the recited poetry in the story.

A few years back Bob built me a couple of raised beds ~  one for various whatever and the other is suppose to be a rose garden.

I worked really hard today in the raised various whatever garden.  In the half that is close to my magnificent compost I planted a large beef steak tomatoe, a big Bertha pepper, a sassy red pepper and a few cucumber seeds ~ these are close to the oregano plant ~ hence “Greek Salad” garden.  I put the tomatoes and peppers in between assorted chive plants hoping that the deer will not want them since they don’t like chives.  I also planted lots of flowers in the various whatever garden:  sunflowers (in sunken pots so they don’t rob the soil of nutrients that other plants need) zinnias, pom-pom zinnias, cosmos, calendulas, nasturtium, red rocket snap dragons and marigolds.  This was hard work and took a couple of hours but I hope the results will be worth it.

Then I moved onto the rose garden.  It looks like most of my roses have died this year as well as some lavender shrubs.  I think that it could be a combination of two factors: one is that we had some lovely hot summer like weather a few weeks back then it started frosting again and being chilly.  Also in my rose garden I have this weed that I have been battling for years – Blue bells.  At least twice a season I take out many wheel barrels full of this obnoxious weed with it’s tubers that grow towards China and I think with the aggressiveness that I battle this weed and the fact that I think it is strangling my roses and lavender has caused the demise of these plants.  So again today another battle and to make matters harder it had been raining a lot here for the last couple of days so the soil is very heavey.  I shovelled, pulled, tugged, lifted and tossed about in the rose garden for quite a few hours (I am hurting –  my back, my bad knee and my hips) but I got it just about done (I had to stop or I was going to pass out).  If the weather is nice tomorrow then I will plant lots of different cut flowers in the no-longer-rose garden.  I have quite an assortment of bedding out flowers that I think would make Monet want to grab a canvas and paint brush.  I have cosmos, zinnias, salvias, asters, snap dragons, nicotina and lobellia ~ should make some lovely bouquets (provided the deer stay clear). 

I certainly did enjoy my well deserved bath with a muscle soak of epsom salt stuff that Lindsay and Jeff gave me for my last past birthday.  I think that the soak must have of worked as I really do feel better. 

I will post some photos when the show starts.