photo show

the perfect pose

This morning at the walking group there was a heron, perched perfectly upon a branch. It was aching to have it's picture taken, but that wasn't going to happen. Mr. Heron was a week late, as I had my camera LAST WEEK!!

Today was perfect walking weather, not hot, and not cold, and excitingly enough... NOT RAINING!

I left my world at home, with sleeping chicklets, and a laundry room that was calling to me...but I am back now.. to complete 10,000 projects all in one day. this could be the longest day of my life, especially if I do not get these projects done. Oh well.. I am certain I will live to see another day... or projectedness & perfect poses!

Hello world...

What are these WEEDS called?

I'm waiting...

For many things actually...

...................Like a reject letter from the job that I applied for yesterday. (Yes surprise surprise folks.. I have applied for yet again another job.....!) (OK, but here is the story on this... I think it really is the planets aligning for this job... (GEMMAK.... I hope the planets are aligning for you as well!)... so, if I am totally wrong on the planet alignment, then I will wait to see what fate will bring to my door next week...as it generally has something to offer me.. but that doesn't mean that I take it).

.........................OH.. and another REJECTION from my photo people thingy thing that I have applied to do. They have accepted my photos so far, and I have submitted them for publishing, but then I have to wait for the other people to have a look at them.. and then they will either ACCEPT or REJECT my photos. So, the fingers are crossed on this little endeavour. I am very excitedly wishing to experiment this summer with my photography.....I have many plans, which I should write down before I forget them all. (With all my photography friends.. we could start our own union... do you know that!)

......................For the boy to come home. He has decided that he has become the sixth son at his friends house. Yesterday I sent him over there with TWO pizzas for the offering. I forgot to buy some MILK and RICE KRISPIES and deliver them to his friends house for the next offering. It is an interesting day in a parents life when you have to beg your child to come home and sleep in his own bed. I asked him what the SECRET is over there... he said... "endless hours of freedom with the XBOX, and tag at night in the acres of land". OK, I will go with that. In the meantime he may be deeply disappointed when he calls yet again, and asks if he can stay over... and the answer will be.... a resounding NO... and then he will beg and beg and beg and beg and beg and beg to stay over. I am not sure where this has all come from.... but I think he is truly excited to have a friend that likes him for just him. (OK, the other real reason is that they have a DAD that talks... similar to myself...)

.............For the rest of the family to come home. They have disappeared on me. But that is OK, since they are out in the VEHICLE that has broken down lots in the last two weeks... so I am almost acting like the rescue person in this case.

..........For the house to cool down... of course I am situated in the ULTIMATE location at the moment... next to the laundry room, which is next to air conditioner. LISA..... you wouldn't know that because you have never been here... and you haven't even responded to my email that I sent you in the middle of the night. I thought surely to GOODNESS sake that you would have had something to say about my natterings... as psychotic as they were. I am openly surprised I didn't see men with white jackets hiding in my front lawn, and behind my cherry tree... (they can't hide behind my bushes, as I got rid of them last year... but you wouldn't know that either...!)... you see people we are basically EMAIL friends... and if we do manage to run into one another... we shield our eyes, and hold up our hands for fear of burning ourselves with each others faces. (this would be some rum and coke humour at this point, in case you are falling out of touch.. other 3 readers....!)

I am just so excited that today is today... I am THANKFUL that today is today... it is the beginning of summer... all I have left to do tomorrow (I will not talk about laundry) is go out for lunch with my lovely group of people...AND.. I may even walk there... in the morning... just to get some added exercise in. GLORIOUS to me.... it is just so exciting to be finished school, and my group for the summer...

...................for my memory to return... I am thinking with the decreased number of obligations that I have beholding to myself, that I will infact get my memory back.... Now I am not getting all excited about knowing what I did last Tuesday at 1:26, but I am looking forward to mapping out my days without fear of double & triple booking myself in many locations all at once.

................. for the husbandman to return... and tell me why I keep hearing all these cracking sounds. What is going on out there people???????????

.........................For the sun to return tomorrow.. and for the PIP to pose for me in the sun... not that I want her face... but it's her hair.. it's her hair that I am after....

................For some comments..... really...

A ha!

G Q & guess who?

OK..

First and foremost.. this bloody blogger will not remember me... EVER! Damn them.... I have lost so many cookies, the toilet is now giving back; or better yet... I am stealing them... from tiny little children.

Secondly.... I need help.... one glass of wine and then this happens:

(I write my friend a SIMPLE email back to work):


somehow simple doesn't make it into the memory bank after being filled with red wine.. OK, a freaking glass.... GGGGAAAAWWWWD.

OK... I would soooooo love to not come to work. But I have this problem, I am not sure if you would know about it.... it's someone with the name of BILL that continuously follows me around god damn it... I am not sure if you have a BILL stalker as well, but this person seriously has my number.

ah aha hahah ahhaha ah ahah

You shouldn't send me such tempting emails. I would love just to not show up.. but then of course I would have to be a home where I am not required anyways on the weekends, as the family becomes very dysfunctional with the mother in the midst.

Besides... I might even have a reason to come to work.. someone wants to buy my dog barrier.... and she is willing to pick it up at RCH. So you know, I stand to make 40 bucks! (She found it on craigslist!).

AND... coming to work is a rest from the routine. Although of course the day itself has it's own routine, and some days that just makes me nuts... (refer to the email that started this letter)...whine whine.. will get me no where.

So I have a letter to send to the CEO, I just need to send it. I wonder if I could get a job out of it... my problem of course is that I have to send the letter. I live such a challenging life.

I saw a bear earlier... speaking of writing letters... I wrote another letter to the conservation officers and asked them if they had blown away another bear this week in our neighbourhood...( have only heard of suspicion of black bear murders). they haven't given me an answer yet. If I don't show up for work one day... just assume that I have been blown away by a conservation officer... as I will be standing in the way of him and the intended target... (black bear).

My girl seems to be walking around in a bit of a delirious state. Poor thing. I was really hoping that the tylenol would have kicked in, clearly it hasn't. I took her to the walk in clinic on the hunch that she had a sore throat, and it could be of the infectious kind. I was right... even the walk in clinic doc couldn't believe his eyes. She claimed it was just a bit sore...he said he didn't believe her, as the throat was beyond nasty. The antibiotics need another day to make her better. Poor chicklet... and I thought that the fact that she had given up eating was due to just not being hungry, and being excited about the end of school. (She tends to be like that... of course she also tends to love food....).

OH... finally. I am feeling warm. (*this comes with the aid of a glass of red wine). In fact I think I am tingling. I wonder if I have been bit by a rattle snake ( ... I saw that on the news in the 60 seconds that I watched it today).

Tomorrow is going to be tricky. I have a walking group that I need to attend, a teacher gift to buy (out of guilt), grade 5 leaving ceremonies & try and convince Gramerica (the boy) to join us on our annual end of the year lunch date (the boy, being 13 1/2 is a bit tricky to TRICK into joining us for lunch, perhaps I will break down and buy the 59.00 lunch at Red Robin... that just might include icecream... )... although... I could put a gentle reminder in his head that he had horrible GAS- PAINS-THAT-LEAD-TO-YOU-KNOW-WHAT after an abundance of food that he ate yesterday.. so maybe he will just wish to join us, without over indulging.

Well, this time last night I was watching the rats scurry around the Kal-Tire parking lot. It was extremely special. (We will not talk about the husbands new JEEP toy thingy breakdown.., and then I call the brother in law, who picks up the husband, and then they leave me with the JEEP, so somebody doesn't steal the rims...) Of course I did not want to move to far away from the huge cement bricks that were keeping me warm (and backed up against something so I could see any predators approaching), and yet I needed to stay far enough away from the rats to keep from screaming! Then of couse I wanted to duck a bit when I saw someone unloading boxes in a green volvo... I thought for sure that I was going to be blown away now that I had just seen "the transfer" go down. BUT... I did not fear... as I felt secure in knowing that I had just realized I had ONE bar left on my cellphone.. to make that all important 911 call...... just a minute.....the girl is moving about the home... (I am not certain why shower curtains are moving...)... OH, she seems to be back to her normal state, the tylenol has kicked in... now she is putting polysporin on all of her mosquito bites)... OK, back to the story...so, I felt safe in knowing that I had not just witnessed a transfer, because eventually a woman with a little toddler came out of the home ( not that this has stopped anyone before)... but you know.. I just felt safer. The husbandman was kind enough to call when they were heading back to the vacant-and-yet-eerie Kal Tire parking lot. I just hoped he hadn't wasted my last bar on a "hey honey we're coming for the JEEP, I mean YOU!" call. OH.. shockingly.. I am still alive today.

So that is it for me.. I have more, but you know... this is work email and alll... I should have sent this to your home. I wonder if I drink more wine if it will make me smart...yes, I am doomed.

OK.... see you SATURDAY....I guess at this point it would be pretty shitty to say... I'll work all of Saturday, and if you want you can work all of sunday... that wouldn't work either... you know, if I would have my way I would help the world... (That is what I do Monday thru Friday anyways... , I should continue on the weekends). I am sorry that you could not be with YOUR PEOPLE at Whistler.... that would have been lovely. I am sad for your sadness that you can not be there. Working is just not good for our lives... it just isn't... and yet... in a weird way it helps us.

Just before I send this I will copy and paste... I like the all true to life terrrifying paragraph I just wrote... ( I failed to mention the truck that did a couple of circles in the parking lot a number of times, and the crazy security guard with the rotweiller sticking out the passenger window as well....all looking at woman leaning against some huge bricks in a vacant parking lot.....) SEE ... SEE.... this is why I am crazy.

From yesterday

It started out like any regular day. I am usually busy... doing things.

I was very happy yesterday morning as we had a little sleep in. I didn't make it out of bed until 0730. That was very nice.

I will never know for the life of me how it is possible that we can still be a couple minutes late, despite the fact that I am up, and get the girl up... but we are.. oh well.... it's the end of school. AND next year... she will be embarking upon the trek down the road along with her friends, and they leave at 0800.. so her chances of being late will be slim to none.

The day started at the regular steam level... I had my walking group, which was a beautiful day for a walk. We finished the walk with coffee and goodies for one of the ladies that will be leaving our group for a while, I say a while, but I do not know how long she will be gone, or if she will return... as she is heading back to Korea. I will miss this adventuresome lady.

I left the walking ladies and returned to collect the girl from school at lunchtime. (this was a pleasant surprise for the missy). I purchased some sandwiches, and all the people in the home were very happy for this festive sandwich occasion. Life is good on full sandwiched stomachs.

We waited for our friends to arrive, and eventually they did.. (not without me doing some laundry and extras, including flossing my teeth!)... and away we went, it was about 1:30 in the afternoon. The day slipped by very quickly, and before we knew it the Fort Langley was closing, people were hungry, and I still had on niggling task that was keeping my mind occupied. I couldn't figure out what it was.. I had to be somewhere... but I couldn't remember where.

It finally dawned on me.... we were supposed to be at my nephews baseball game, as it was the last of the season. It was 6:15 in the afternoon. OOOpppps. So there we were, out in Langley, a 20 minute walk from the ferry terminal, another 10 minute ferry ride, another 10 minutes to the car, and then another 30 minutes to home. My hopes of watching the ball game had gone awry.

In the meantime, the Gramerica son was dealing with severe abdominal cramps & two stops at the washroom, and the missy was all "crdy" (Just like the word cry, but I add a D for effect), and pink cheeked. WE made the trek home in good time, the husbandman was waiting in the driveway with his JEEP to go for a ride over to the baseball park (which was another 15 minutes away). Him and I jump in the JEEP and begin making our way over to the park. Then something happens....

Just like the Sunday the husbandman said.. his JEEP made a funny noise. We managed to make it over the Mary Hill Bypass, and then onto Lougheed, and then revived enough momentum to take him to Kal-Tire. Yae, lucky us. I call the sister... as she is at the park another 3 minutes away, except that it is a 22-25 minute walk. NO answer on her phone. Very not handy. I call the brother in law... he comes to our rescue... but not before another fellow shows up in the parking lot (as he was just driving through)... with the exact same 18 year old jeep. Him and the husbandman confirm that it is the gas line from the tank to the pump that is somehow malfunctioning. The fellow wishes us luck, and drives off. I just wish my sister would answer her cell phone. I call the brother in law back, and he then kindly meets us in the parking lot. The boys form a plan, which does not include driving me anywhere, but rather I stand guard over the JEEP. Now why that plan was hatched I do not know... but that is the way it ended up. So there I am...me, a blue jeep, a parking lot, some garbage cans, and a family of 10 rats. I did have the common sense to back up against the large cement blockade things and warm my back from them. And then I waited... and waited. I felt extra special... as when I looked at my phone, I saw it had one bar left.. so I guessed I couldn't play my bejeweled for fear that I had to make a desperate come and get me phone call.

Finally... the husbandman came up with a plan to place a gas can on the hood of the truck and attach the gas line directly to the fuel pump. He dug into his medical bag and tensored bandage around the tank, and then zap strapped everything together. The only snag in the plan was being pilled over by the fuzz. Guess who the first person we crossed paths with was? Luckily, the fuzz character was busily chewing on his jelly donut to notice our law breaking stunt.

We did make it home safe and sound.

An incredibly busy day..

Today/yesterday was busy....

So busy that it has now taken me into tomorrow.

I must go to bed now, so that when the morning comes, it feels like a new day, although now is a new day, but at night.

AND.. for things that go bump in the night... I definitely heard something outside... not sure quite what that was... but it sounded big, and made a big bump.

OH.. and I emailed the conservation people to find out whether they are blowing away the bears in our neighbourhood again. Yes, it is as sickening as it sounds.

More details in the a.m.

There is heat..

outside!!!!

You would think that things would just be livening up after our raining spells, but guess what?? A bunch of the plants were bone dry. I think was even DEAD! How wierd is that.

In other things not under my control:

The husbandman and his new toy seem to be costing me (US) a good amount of money. That little bugger is having fun semi-building and tinkering with his new prized project. I told him yesterday that his new toy needs a new lense....YES... a big new lense to get him through it all.. more importantly.. to get me through it all!

Now I must go shopping...

Just call me Julie.

Julie McCoy, cruiseship director, or something like that.

I think I loved "The Love Boat", and then I grew up. It is sad to grow up, and realize the vileness of some of the shows on television... ( You will NEVER read me talking about survivor that way!)....

Anyways... I am working hard at keeping things running smoothly with all aspects of my homestead. This has been on unbelievable challenge. I think it is time for me to set my telephone system to send me constant messages about upcoming events to keep me in line with other activites that I have already planned. It's practically unthinkable the amount of time I utilize doing things, while really getting nothing done at all. This may all change this week with the winding down of school. I can only hope.

After today, all I have left for next week is my actual group itself.. and we are going out for lunch. That will be nice... and then in September things will start up again in a huge frenzy... as I will start to book apointments with people for speech sessions as well as running the gorup. I truly need to find a volunteer this summer. Maybe even two. And I won't be one of them.

I have a car, laundry and a bathroom all waiting for me. I am not sure in what order, but I think I need to get started on something. I should add colouring my hair to the list... that is a job and a half.

BEE ready.

I've only taken 10,000

Well, not really 10,000, but that is what it seems like in an effort to come up with ONE picture that is something that I envision in my mind. As always... it's better luck next time for me.

Life in the fast lane.

I wouldn't know anything about it... as I really do not go anywhere... even more so now that the GAS prices are cutting my drives shorter and shorter. It's quite scarey actually.

The SISTER and I were just talking... and we were wondering where our mortgages will be in the coming years.. as the rates are going to continue to climb. I wonder if we will be reliving the eighties, when mortgage rates went somewhere around 18-19%. I can see the difficulties that people will face, in view of the fact that the rates will not have to climb that much to equate to that percentage, as the housing prices are ridiculously expensive. This brings me to the thought that I might have to work more...

EEEEEEEEEKKKK!

Bad thought, bad thought, bad thought!

In the meantime... I will continue to vacuum, and dust.

Insert picture here

WE were leaving from the sister's house last evening. We had had a nice dinner, but since summer time hasn't quite arrived, it was time to face the responsibilities, and take the chicklets home, as well as put hers to bed.

My BIL had a new used NIKON D80. I was busy investigating it.... when the husbandman yells


BEAR ! BEAR ! BEAR!!!

This flipped everyone out... NOT ME!..... including the bear... and he left.... SO, what would have been a great picture.. isn't.

The sister did call me today and told me that she saw it... and I could set up basecamp whenever I wanted...

Little finds

I liked this little guy... he was hiding behind the pole, then he peeked out to see if I was still there.

the girl makes it home

The PIP survived her school camping trip. She didn't even have to use her three bandaids, although did come home with tragic stories of fingers being crushed, and falling down the stairs, but she is still vertical and intact for the moment.

The boy was not so lucky. He managed to find a nail sticking out of a board, and then promptly shoved his through it. So ouch for him right now. I am thinking he will survive.

Along with my owl that I spotted earlier, I also spotted a little coyote finding his way into the bee zone down at the bear spotting location; and then later the girl and I went to see if we could spy on bears again, but instead ran into some beautiful deers.

In the meantime the girl and her bag of tricks were quite filthy, but all is clean now. I think even her ears are cleaned out... since she complained of the DARTSY doing a lot of yelling the past three days.

Well, the husbandman is in dire need for his computer time, so I am done. I am not sure when he decided he was a computer junky...I think I will have to put up a protest about this current outrage.

Oh, ... in other things that I am crazily doing.. I decided to write to the CEO and complain that my hospital doesn't have a Recreation Therapist, and that we need one. I am not sure who else to ask, other than the man himself that hands out the cash for these things.

Not quite what I expected

I was driving along this morning after dropping the boy & his friend at school. They are a fine mix, as one day they feud with one another, and the next day they talk. They have been known each other since they have been old enough to know people. So anyways... since I did not have the PIP by my side, I took along my trusty camera, just in case I MIGHT want to drive back down to the honey spot from yesterday. As I was cruising along the back road, I spotted this guy sitting on the side of the road in the brush. HLY SHIT... as I slam on my breaks and my bucket full of coins goes spilling everywhere... but you know... I had to see what I thought I saw... so I back up. As I was backing up, he flew off... so instead of a beautiful up close and in your face picture... you get this one... but I am fortunate to have gotten this, as he flew deeper into the forest a moment later. WOW again for me.

She showed up!

It started like this. I had just gotten in the vehicle to drive away.. and then for some reason I look in the rear view mirror. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had just been standing right at that spot, taking pictures of leaves and fields... Then a guy in a truck comes along... and honks like a crazy man, and drove her away. I drove away thinking that that would be the last I see of her... when I came back... her and her babes were back. The evil part to this story is that I was playing with my settings... and started shooting without checking where I had left it. I do not think I will ever learn. I followed her for a bit.. and shoed her away into the field... it's for her safety that she stays away from humans. This was an exciting day!!!!

While the green was the attraction