JUKE

Got the call today that the JUKE was in for pickup. Too bad it had to coincide with a snowstorm sweeping across southwestern Ontario, made for interesting drive home getting used to the new vehicle. Also memorable to have picked it up on 11/1/11. Yes, that IS binary for "cool car".

Nobody at the Nissan dealership had even seen this colour before, "Root Beer", and apparently a few staff members almost stole our car before we got there. Looks black from a distance, but a nice deep bronze up close. Looks nice, drives real nice.

Better pics to follow in daylight tomorrow or later, these were the best we could do for tonight, taken in the garage at the dealership. At least they kept us from having to clean all the snow off it.

Juked when we should have Jived

Juke can look but Juke can't touch

Happy New Year!!!

Managed to ring in a quiet New Year at home, taking a break from our Twilight marathon to flip over to TV for Great Big Sea and Barenaked Ladies live in Niagara Falls. No, the band....not the usual barenaked ladies found in Niagara Falls. It is a border town, after all.

We did finally break into the bottle of chianti we bought in Italy and brought back on the plane. Also enjoyed a green New Year here, +10 C and no snow in sight, except maybe the deep ditches.

All the best in 2011!

A Chianti New Year

New Year's Day

Shadow Mike in the afternoon sun

A Special Holiday Visitor

Enjoying our Christmas morn, and what to our wondering eyes did appear? Or maybe, "WHO to our wondering eyes did appear?" would be more accurate.

HOO! HOO!

He/She just sat there on the front lawn and stared at us for a few hours. Extra creepy when you're already in the middle of a Supernatural marathon.

I Always Feel Like, Somebody's Watching Me

'Owlin Mad Murdoch

Tell me this wouldn't creep YOU out!

Looks like a little feathered person, like an Evil Ewok or something.

Thornley and Big Wreck Wrock Norma Jeans!

We took advantage of the annual trek to London area for Coxmas festivities to line up a show at Norma Jeans. Luck was with us, as not only was Ian Thornley playing on the night in question, but he was also jamming with his old band, Big Wreck.

The place filled up fast for the sold-out show, but we had gotten there early and snagged the best seats in the house. The first set consisted of all Thornley Band tunes, while the second set featured all Big Wreck material.

Perhaps most impressive, I managed to drink the bar completely out of Labatts 50, despite the brewery being just a few blocks away. It's one good way to ensure that the waitress never forgets what you ordered.

Coxmas provided its usual holiday treat the next day.....though I gotta say, a Coxmas without porn is like a Christmas without snow.

A sold out Norma Jeans

Ian Thornley sizes up his fans....

....and then rocks them!

Tidings of Automotive Issues, Comfort and Joy

The poor old Honda seems to be having a tough time of things lately. Yes, our little girl is almost 12....they grow up so fast! Despite Jane's colourful corrective action regarding window issues, following a chilly recent drive home from Kingston, now the engine is acting up. We're limping around on three cylinders, and had to make the age-old decision - how much money do we spend on a 12-year old car with 240K on it before it just makes sense to get a new one?

They make such interesting duct tape these days!

We opted for the new one. We may fix the Honda in time (read: not until spring at least) as a second beater for local runs, but in the meantime we have ordered a shiny new Nissan Juke. Likely won't get it for a month or two, in order to get the exact colour we wanted ("root beer") and in a manual transmission, so we limp along a little longer.

Since we couldn't fit that actual CAR under the tree.....

The cats have fully adjusted to the annual winter rite of passage, whereby we live in the downstairs for a few months to avoid heating all of a large old farmhouse. Rather than moving the bed to the living room as usual, this year we opted for the dining room!

There's a fourth cat around here somewhere.....

The World is Diminished

We lost one of our finest this past week, my grandmother Lillian. She survived the Depression, the Second World War, and losing her youngest child at forty just a few years back. Born and raised in the rugged Ottawa Valley near Renfrew, ON, followed by over sixty-five years of rural existence in Prince Edward County, she was easily the wisest person I have ever known.

Rest in Peace, Grandma.

Lillian Cole (Byers)

1925 - 2010

A lifetime to remember

Winterizing?

Fall weather spells winterizing around here, if only because we know what's coming. Plastic on the windows, moving the bedroom downstairs, and generally battening down anything outside that might blow around when the fabled winds of Wheatley REALLY start whipping.

Finally even got the septic tank closed. In the end, we went and bought the biggest frickin' metal bar we could find and sunk it in the ground. Give me but a lever, and I can move the Earth....or at least the many hundred pound concrete lid of the septic tank.

Having said that....it's getting towards late November and still beautiful. We've barely had any frost (first frost Nov.1st), and double digits and sunny all this weekend. Still need to winterize in anticipation, but awfully nice to have great weather to do it in....

Tucking the Hyundai in the barn for winter

Thank you, Giant Metal Bar!

Filling the septic tank back in

November 20 - still good BBQ weather!

November 20 - they just never stop