The Injured rock London!

Last night we made the trek to the east end of London to catch "The Injured" play at Hot Shots (Shotzzz?) Roadhouse on Clarke Road. It's a great venue, large and open, with surprisingly good food and disturbingly cheap beer.

"The Injured" are, of course, the current "respectable gig" edition of the erstwhile band occasionally known as "The Shitflowers". The result was the usual fraternal insanity of brothers Keith and Eric on guitar and drums and brother-in-law Jay on bass, with the addition of Matt's powerhouse vocals.

Three fulls sets, with beer breaks in between. Truly a great show. Jane even drove my drunk self home afterwards, and we stumbled in the door at 4am. Jane herself put it best, as she sat patiently and did nothing to help as the band set up and prepared to Rock:

"Hey, I'm a Groupie, not a Roadie."

The Injured live!

Matt belts out the set list

Not much of a mosh pit....

The Superfan congratulates the band

Odds and Ends

Tomato madness has begun in earnest in the Leamington area. It's a little late this year due to the cool summer, but already the familiar tomato-laden wagons are rolling around the countryside and streets of Wheatley and Leamington.

We thought we'd kick it off with a little BBBBQ - that's beer butt BBQ chicken - yep, that is one can of Alexander Keith's finest up in there. And then we stuck an onion in it's neck......which was the style of the time.

He Played the Game of Chicken.....and lost!

Tomatoes from our garden, headed for the stewing pot

Sunrise over Wheatley - Aug.27

Was leaving for work the other morning, stepped out the back door encumbered with coffee, laptop, files and man-bag, trying to find a free hand to lock the door....then had to set it all down anyway to go back in the house for the camera. Too nice a sunrise not to snap a few pics!

Lightning Crashes

I passed through a wicked thunderstorm the other day on the way to Windsor for work, travelling pretty much perpendicular to the very BLACK storm front. At one point, there were FIVE simultaneous lightning flashes in my periphery. The only good thing was that I passed through it quickly, basically in about a minute.

A short while later I got a text from Jane, at home....asking if I was OK. Apparently she heard the loudest thunder clap EVER, and retreated to the safest internal place in the house.

When I got home I found this:

Ash Tree Struck by Lightning

...or was it a large cat?

Yes, the loud bang she heard was one of the large ash trees in our yard getting struck by lightning. Not the lightning rods on the house...or the lightning rods on the barn....or the huge telecom tower across the field.....or the 43 nearby windmills.....

Nope. Our tree. Sure, it's already being killed slowly by the Emerald Ash Borer, and only has a year or two left....but still.....lightning? Was that really necessary???

We found tree shrapnel fragments for 50' in all directions, including OVER the shed. The tree itself looked more like it had been mauled by a very large and angry feline. There were actually strips of tree expelled with such force that they were sticking out of the ground like arrows!

Also started laying the checkerboard flooring in the dining room on Sunday, now that Bickey isn't throwing up on it several times per day....

What else are you gonna do on a 42 C Humidex summer afternoon?

A Very Good Week

After NINE weeks of force feeding and medicating Bickey in the hopes of kick-starting his ailing liver, for three days in a row now we have caught him eating on his own. It may not seem like much, but he hasn't eaten without our manual assistance (i.e. a syringe) in two and a half months.

We still have to keep up the daily meds and some of the feedings to make sure he gets enough high-protein food.....but ironically it was not any of the sumptuous dishes we have tempted him with that he ended up eating.....it was his regular boring dry kibble. He is also still a little on the yellow side, but far less jaundiced than he was.

He has also been showing a lot more energy than before, jumping up on things, grooming himself (which he had also stopped doing), and even playing from time to time now.

Things are definitely looking up! :)

Mmmmmm.....dry kibble.....

In his happy place, The Box

Bickey at Play

August Long Weekend

Fortune favoured us with fabulous weather for the long weekend, accompanied by a visit from Keith, Tanya and Grayson along with the annual Wheatley Fish, Fun and Folk festival. The weekend's itinerary also included a night at the dirt track stock car races at South Buxton.

Later in the weekend, Jane and I travelled around Chatham-Kent searching for photo opportunities, including a visit to Erieau, the Wasaga Beach of the south. Lots of fishing boats, pleasure craft and sun worshippers out for the long weekend sunshine. We also visited North Buxton, a one-time terminus of the Underground Railway and one of the first black settlements in Canada.

Wheatley Fish Festival parade

Erieau Harbour

North Buxton Schoolhouse

Rural Splendor

Summer Weekend

Another beautiful summer weekend here in the sunny south.....a bit of rain on Friday night, which the garden needed anyway (saves me from watering!), so we spent it at the cinema in Tecumseh watching the latest installment of Harry Potter.

The garden got some much-needed attention over the rest of the weekend, between weeding and tilling, plus harvesting the bounty of green and yellow beans. Cherry tomatoes are ripening daily as well. Also found time on Saturday night for a nice bonfire, and even slept out in the tent - too nice a night to waste indoors!

Bountiful garden

Bickey is showing signs of improvement - still weak and not eating, but he is showing glimpses of playing, grooming and other indications of energy that are positive. He is also looking less jaundiced. Still, we had to add a new high-calorie food supplement to his force-fed diet, this one a thick molasses like goo from a tube. Since of course he won't eat it on his own, we are left to smearing it on his face and relying on natural cat grooming instinct to lick it off.....leading to this obvious moment of hilarity:

The Dirty Sanchez

Finally got the old Cox family van off to Tilsonburg recently.....after pushing it the hard way out of the barn in neutral, then had to boost it several times, not only to get it running, but the battery would not hold a charge. After about the fourth boost, we finally drove it to Wheatley, on fumes mind you, and had a new battery installed. We figured with our luck we would run out of gas AND have to boost it again! After a bit of an adventurous drive along the Lake Erie shore, with Jane following behind in the car, the good ol' 1980 Ford Econoline Chateau was delivered safe and sound to Jane's parents.

Givin' the ol' girl a boost

Happy Canada Day!!!

As a federal public servant, I am required to acknowledge Canada Day in some fashion beyond merely taking the day off with pay (p.s. - thank you for paying your taxes). So I did the first thing that came to mind, and patriotically cut the grass. Sure, the umbrella may appear to have more to do with self-preservation in the heat of the mid-day sun at the 42nd parallel....but really, I was feeling every minute of it.

Even the grass stands up for the National Anthem

The garden is progressing nicely, soaking up the heat wave that has permeated the area for the past week or so. Beans are blossoming, there are tiny tomatoes growing on the vines, and we are already eating the radishes. Corn, broccoli, cauliflower and watermelon are also coming along. I knew it wouldn't look this good for long, right after extensive weeding and the rototilling between the rows, so I had to snap a picture.

The Garden, as nice as it may ever look....

I recently started a batch of homebrew pilsener in the kitchen, a nice light summer beer for this hot weather. Of course, beyond drinking the stuff, my greatest satisfaction comes from ensuring that each and every batch is made safely. With that in mind, I can honestly say that no babies were harmed in the making of this pilsener.

Don't Let Yer Babies Grow Up to Drown in Beer Buckets