Miscellany!

Just some random pics so that you don't think I have forgotten you, my faithful audience. It's hovering just between winter and spring right now here (i.e. deep mud season), but soon we should be out taking inspiring pictures of the local flora and fauna.

My first Sensei

Class Reunions for Schools of Fish

It does beg the question - how many noses could a pickerel pick, if a pickerel could pick noses? If nothing else, it would give those poor woodchucks a little breather.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's all about one-upsmanship, Valentine's Day...who can out-romance the other???

Our version is slightly more twisted....but infinitely more fun. At least for us. At any rate, it certainly challenges the traditional definition of "romance".

It all started this morning when we went to the Car Barn in Wheatley for breakfast. I told the server, whom we know, and indirectly the rest of the room, who we don't....that I had purposefully NOT shaved ALL week. That way I could give Jane the Valentine's "gift" of shaving my face. "It's all in the setup", I declared sagely.

Jane responded in line at the Superstore in Leamington, when the checkout lady gave her a free flower, the same carnation all female patrons were receiving just for shopping on Valentine's Day. Jane took the opportunity to declare aloud in a crowded grocery store, "well it's more than you got me, isn't it?".

Clearly it was ON.

I returned fire at the Eye on Video movie rental place....we had forgotten our frequent renter bonus card at home, so the girl offered us a new one, proposing that "now you EACH have one of your own!". I turned to Jane with a straight face and said, again VERY loudly...."That will be perfect, for when you want to rent porn when I'm out of town!". The employee thought it was pretty funny. The woman behind us, though, was apparently quite mortified. Advantage, Mike.

Next stop, M&M Meats. As we browsed through the frozen meats, Jane proudly proclaimed to the employee in a luckily otherwise empty store, "I get to pick out my own Valentine's dinner...isn't he sweet???".

Clearly the madness had to end. Not to be outdone, and to punctuate the afternoon's antics....I did what any sane man would do. I drove the car off the road and into a ditch....and when I say "car", of course I mean Jane's car. Don't get me wrong, I wisely chose one of the lesser ditches in this area, only 5-6' deep, rather than some of the 12-15' monsters we have around here. Yep. Nothing says loving like ditching the car.

In reality, we fell asleep to green grass last night and awoke this morning to a world of white. The backroads to Wheatley were a little on the icy side (in hindsight "glare" may best describe them), and narrow at the best of times. Some other romantic twit approached us and refused to yield any of the centre of the road, forcing me to broach the sketchy shoulder of Essex County Road 15...or at least where I thought it was under the fresh blanket of snow.

She roared on by, oblivious to our peril....and then we promptly caught an edge and started to spin. For awhile it was kinda fun, as we careened sideways down the road in a semi-controlled powerskid....even completely off the gas and with no hope of braking, we held on for a good 100m or so. Oh sure, I would have preferred the muddy corn field, but at that point the car was basically making all the decisions as to where it felt like going. Apparently it felt like going into the ditch.

No injuries, no damage, no harm, no foul! The car just kinda slid in quietly and "sat down" into the ditch. Thankfully my co-worker and resident farmer Martin lives nearby, and within about ten minutes after a cell call he showed up with his 4x4 and a tow strap and yanked us out. Car and passengers were entirely fine....and up one unforgettable Valentine's experience.

I am working on an alternate theory, and hear me out here - Cupid had been drinking, and while aiming his arrow of love at Jane with his beer-goggles on, he hit the front tire instead, prompting the violent death-spin that ensued. Of course, Cupid lawyered up right away....typical drunken cherub....

Sorry for the crappy pic, but the cell phone was all we had at hand. Good thing too. Thanks again, Martin.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Spring Tease

So we know it's probably just a Spring tease....but a few good solid days of mild weather have left things looking and feeling pretty spring-like around here. Even if Winter returns next week, at least it will do so with much less snow on the ground. And who knows...maybe it won't come back at all!

We went for a good drive around today. Everyone was out enjoying the sun and mild weather, from walkers in the parks to fishermen out on the ice. A couple of intrepid sportsmen even had hovercrafts at the Leamington marina to get to and from the ice huts in style!

The yard, looking decidedly spring-like

Ice fishermen on Lake Erie

Ice fishing in style - with hovercraft!

No need to bring the trailer to the launching ramp....

Now I know how a Brrr-Hobbit feels...

COLD, that's how.

Woke up this morning wondering why there were icicles forming on my nose. A quick assessment of the situation revealed several pieces of important information:

1. The furnace was ON but only COLD air was coming out
2. It was -14 C (6 F) outside
3. It was just below 5 C (40 F) INSIDE
4. My feet were rather cold by the time items 1-3 had been discovered

So clearly the furnace was malfunctioning, and at a very inconvenient time of the year. Luckily, Jane was away visiting friends in Barrie, so only the cats and I had to suffer. I pulled out the three electric space heaters we have and placed them strategically near the kitchen and washroom areas, i.e. where all the plumbing is that might soon freeze and burst.

Once I actually found someone who still services OIL furnaces....I only had a four to five hour wait until they could make it out to Wheatley. Clearly I was working from home today, as my body heat may very well end up being the differences between the pipes freezing or not. Thankfully, I'm a warm person.

:)

The space heaters plugged away, battling valiantly against the encroaching cold. For good measure, I hugged each pipe for one full minute, at twenty minute intervals, to keep them from freezing. Just kidding, but I did actually run the water every so often just to make sure. After all, if it's only 5 C inside the house, and -14 C outside....there's a good possibility it may be below freezing in our uninsulated crawlspace where all the pipes reside.

I went outside to shovel out the crawlspace entrance that I knew the service guy would need access to....and for once it didn't seem that cold outside. Then I waited...

Long story short, service guy had to replace the ignitor and nozzle - meaning $500 later we have heat again, which is good because Jane should be home soon....and even better because it's supposed to go down to well below -20 C tonight. Not even my personal warmth could save the pipes from that. Money well spent, I figure....after all, buddy spent two hours laying on his back on the frozen clay in our crawlspace.

It begs the question - why do we have a beer fridge?

But at least we have heat again. Maybe now the cats will stop giving me dirty looks.

BLUE = inside RED = outside

...and that's AFTER a few hours of running the space heaters

The cheery fake fireplace doing the best it can

Angel of the Oil Gods (yes, I mean Georges H. and W. Bush)

"The Hatch" to the narrow and damp crawlspace

Chili con Carnage!

Keith, Tanya and Grayson endured the long drive from Orillia to pay us a weekend visit....and on a blustery winter weekend, what better than a few dark beers and a bubbling slow-cooker full of spicy chili goodness?

We made two batches, one mild and one wild...the MILD for Tanya and Grayson with ground chicken and no spice...and the WILD for the rest of us with ground beef, jalapenos, some Brick Bock and ample spice fixin's. Throw in some nacho chips and you have yourself one fiesty little meal, mis amigos.

Of course, before any of this could happen....they had to get INTO the driveway in the first place. Our drifty driveway and their bald tires made for some highly entertaining moments, including the action shot captured below of Mike and Tanya pushing the car while Jane stands in the warm house taking photographs out the window... .

Then of course we had to shovel them out again, so that they could leave....it doesn't need to actually snow in Wheatley to have to shovel your driveway again. The wind takes care of all that for you, and just moves some more around the yard. In the midst of winter, we usually park at the road and walk in, so as to avoid shovelling the lengthy driveway....but we thought we'd pull out all the stops to impress the company.

Dicing the garlic...or Dicing with Death?!?

The start of Chili con Carnage!

You can't leave until you shovel your way out....

All visitors get the Royal Welcome, i.e. a push