CHRISTMAS BANQUET

Last night we went with C&J and their offspring to Lakeside Restaurant in Keswick where we are now Honorary Wikiens. The food was really great, Mrs.G and I had roast beef which was very tender.The only problem we have is that it used to be traditional to slice the roast beef in thin slices, now every place we go serves it in huge chunks; of course we probably should ask to have it sliced properly but always forget to ask for it that way when we order it. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the food, it's the barbaric way people eat today that bothers me.



Nathan and Mikki were fun to watch as they struggled to eat it all but had to finally admit defeat.



We all had a good time and we even had enough left over for our dog.



Finally, I have no idea what this blog will look like when I am finished because I have no idea how to get the pictures in any order.

Visiting Wally

Today we are going to visit my cousin Wally and wife Pat. We don't see each other much any more. As kids we got into quite a bit of trouble together up to the time that we got married, then we kind of drifted apart. Even after that we did on occasion have a couple of incidents but for a few years it was only the wedding & funeral thing.

We last saw them at the Jamboree in August and had some light fun but agreed to get together before Christmas. I am looking forward to the visit but now we mostly revisit some of our past events. life is much easier this way.

REMEMBERANCE DAY

I love Rememberance Day, it is very important to me. I don't go to any rememberance day services I prefer to be alone. Yesterday was an exception though, I sat with Nick in front of a suppliers shop with the radio on for the broadcast of the service. Neither of us said a word for 5 minutes then we picked up the parts and left. In the evening I read a blog where the leader of the Liberal Party spoke and I thought he did a good job, with one exception. Later on TV I saw a portion of the Premier of Ontario speech, he did a good job, with one exception.

Let me also say that this has nothing to do with politics, it just happened that CTV ran part of his speech, but there is a common thread by many people when referring to Canadian Troops at war.

They both made, word for word, reference to Vimy Ridge, Normandy, Korea and Afganistan, and so they should. I do not fault them for it. The men and women who were there and still are there deserve it and MORE.

Very seldom is there any mention of Canadian Troops who fought and died in Sicily and Italy. To name a few Battles, Campobasso, Ortona, Hitler Line, Gothic Line and many more.

My Dad, as a sniper and scout participated in all the above and after being wounded 4times, was sent back home. He left Canada Sep.1939 and got back to Canada Dec.1944 when I was 10 years old. The rest of his regiment, The 48th Highlanders were later moved to help out in Western Europe meaning that many of them were 6 years overseas.

Occasionally there are comments like "D-Day Dodgers" when referring to them, but seldom, if ever, is it said that these Canadian Troops tied up thousands of Crack German troops which would have been available for the Normandy Invasion, that they were fighting with short supply of weapons because they were stocking up in England for the upcoming invasion, nor is it mentioned that these same Troops were fighting and dying in Sicily and Italy a year before D-Day, and thousands of them are just as dead as those killed at Juno Beach.

What is my memory? Three little kids and and their mother praying every night for 5 years "send daddy home again safe please" and the telegrams: "We regret to inform you that he has been wounded", 4 different times, that "He is missing in action", and neighbours coming to the house with condolences; that my friend Carl Duckworth's father had been killed in action, and seeing the "messenger of doom" as he was called when he came to the neighbourhood on his bicycle with another telegram for somebody.

It would be nice if the rest of Canada also included Canadian Troops in Sicily and Italy, in Remberance Day Ceremonies.

GONE

Yesterday we took Jean to the airport and she has gone home. In total we spent about 5 weeks with her, at her house, in Iceland, and here and it was good fun. The three of us travelled extensively together. We visited with some of her friends and she with ours and there was never a cross word. She is a pleasure to be with because she is so easy to get along with and she is welcome here any time.

While she was here she even helped cut down a tree in our yard, but she did violate some Health and safety rules doing so.

My only problem was, I had nothing to Grype about.

DOG OR HYDRANT ?

Some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant. Sunday was one of those days.

We started out in 3 vehicles Wendy & Jean in one, Gryper & Mrs. in another and Jamie, Devon, Scott and Andrew in the third with an ATV and Dirt Bike. We were headed To the Dirt Bike Track to watch Jamie ride.

At Shelbourne my truck suddenly lost power then quit. I got it started then caught up to the others who were stopped down the road. I said that there appeared to be a problem but would keep going. We made it to the track but some loss of power on hills.

Jamie & Andrew got dressed in their armour and hit the track. It was really exciting just watching them and all the others roar around the track. Jamie is a very accomplished rider and we took a lot of pictures at various jump locations and had a great time. Everybody had a good time.

On leaving, Scott lead off then Me then Wendy, At Flesherton Wendy split off heading for home, Scott kept an eye on me in case I had further problems. We made it to Orangeville with no serious problems except my loosing power at times. We all went to Wendy's for supper then headed home. Because of the now heavier traffic I went ahead of Scott in case I had further problems. At Schomberg the engine quite again with a large truck immediately behind us so I had to jump a curb to get out of the way. We were able to get started again and made it home.

About 2 minutes in the house Jean realized that she had left her purse with all her money, credit cards and camera at the Wendy's. Mrs, G phoned Wendy's and got some "no mind" on the phone who took 10 seconds to decide that it wasn't there. We decided to go back over in the car and when we got there, after pushing to see a manager it turned out that the purse was there so that ended on a happy note.

On Monday the truck got a new fuel pump and is now happy.

Jean in Canada

Since Jean got here we have taken her to the usual sights, Niagara, C N Tour where she even went to the top pod and also stood on the glass floor, Eaton's Centre, Lake Muskoka and the Winnona, the Segwin was not sailing, but it was still fun, then on to The Big Chute.

At K & W the leaves are in full colour with which she is totally thrilled then on to the wolf preserve and since the lake was flat today we went out in the canoe for a trip across the lake. She was somewhat nervous at the outset but with my great instructions she was in very short time paddling very well. It was a little bit too cold for comfort but it was still fun. There is still lots to pack in and she is great fun to have here and she is enjoying everything so far.

Switzerland Trip

I do not intend to trivualize the portion of our trip spent in England because it was wonderful and we always enjoy our time with everybody there and just tripping around England. In this blog I will give you a little peek at Switzerland and Iceland.

In the first leg of our trip we flew by Iceland Air to Iceland. I was pissed off with Iceland Air because we had asked for seats near the wing and were told that we had row 16 on all flights then we were stuck in the last row and couldn't change. Then the flight attendants were not very pleasant and to top it off they gave us a couple of 2 oz. drinks of water during the whole flight. There was a questionaire screen on the TVs on the seats asking 13 questions of our opinion of their service, rating them 1 for good to 5 for bad, so I mostly gave 5.

We arrived at Iceland and had a 1.5 hour layover which we intended to use to get some food but we spent the whole time in security lines then onto the next flight which was much better but we were 3 seats from the rear SO I was still bad mouthing Iceland Air for the rest of the trip to England, Switzerland and back in England.

We had arranged for a Ford Focus before we left Canada But at the car rental I spent some time joking with the rental guy and he decided to upgrade us to a Mercedes at no extra charge which was kind of nice

We spent 3 or 4 days in Wales at Joan and Herrick's house.

This is J & H house from the street, that's our Mercedes beside the house.

Then I took our car to Birmingham Airport and we checked in on Swiss Air, flew to Zurich, took 4 trains to Wengen( pronounced Vengen) and walked a short distance to our hotel. About 1 hour later our luggage, which we hadn't seen since we checked in at the airport, arrived in our room.

This is Hotel Belvedere, Joan & Herrick's room is at the left corner of the balcony immediately above the arched window above Thelma's head, ours is along the balcony to the left from the corner.

This is from our balcony

Every day we took trains and gondola trips to various locations in the mountains. It is the first time I have ever seen trains that go up the side of mountains by driving them with "rack and pinion system" which are sprockets on the train.

Each day we went to a different area and walked the trails which were various degrees of difficulty this one was the roughest but spectacular.

The homes everywhere are well cared for and fun to see because of the pride that people have in planting flowers and even their vegetable gardens.

This is an example of what is a common sight.

This is Tea Time at the Hotel.

We went up a Gondola which went part way up the mountain then made a left turn to aprox. 80 degrees and continued to the top. At the top there was a zip line which travelled at about 85 KPH for aprox. 1 Km.

It was fun but also kind of boring, not worth the price, but glad I did it.

When we left to go back to England, we left our luggage at the desk and picked it up at Birmingham Airport, which I thought was a miracle.

We had a great time in England visiting with everybody for a couple of weeks and brought Jean home with us as a souvenir.

We left a Canadian thing in England

We left England and flew to Iceland on Icelandair and I changed my mind about Icelandair because we had much better flight attendants on this flight than the one from Canada to Iceland. They were pleasant as were the ones from Iceland heading home, however, we didn't fly to Canada, they sent us to Boston then to Pearson on Air Canada and unfortunately Jean will have to go back to England via Boston. You can now disregard my comments about Icelandair at the beginning, though we only sat in the row we had been told we would be in on 1 of the 4 flights.

Iceland was a big surprise, it was not like we imagined it would be. There were a lot of very modern buildings, lots of cars, and a lot of industry. They have a lot of trees which have been imported from Canada, Birch & Pine mostly. They seem to speak very highly of Canada and our tour guide mentioned different things in relation to Canada.

This is downtown Reykjavik.

This is our Hotel were breakfast was included

We took the Golden Circle Tour which was aprox. 300km and was a good show but to tour around the perimeter of the island takes 4 days according to a lady from Minnesota we were talking to. The island is about the same size as England with a population of 300000.

This falls appears to be about the same height as Niagara Falls. The water is from a glacier.

The 2 horizontal lines above the van are where the continents North America and Europe meet and are crashing together

This is one of several Geysers in the area that we saw on the tour.

This the end of the tour, there is much more to see but that's all you get from me.

THE BOOZE FREE PARTY

We all had a great time on Saturday at C&J's party, Well all but one person that is and she appears to enjoy being her self. Edwin was well received as an all round nice fun guy and fitted in very well. He also threw the football type THING with Nick, then under duress went into the pool to play Marco Polo which he was obviously not comfortable doing but persevered to his credit. I finally found out the object of the game but didn't play

John & I once again beat Nick & Andrew at Horse Shoes, only the second game we've played but the cream always comes to the top as one might say.

It was unusual to say the least, seeing nobody drinking anything but water or pop all day but we all survived. It was a potluck meal with great results.

In the evening John lit a fire and we sat around it feeding the mosquitoes. As usual J& C threw a great party.

Forgotten Blog

On june 25 I did a thing about GO Trains then forgot to publish it so today I found it and sent it. So today I sent it but of course it showed up as June 25 SO if you care to see it you will find it back in June.

Did I just became a time traveller??

WESTWARD HO

As most of you know we went west with K&W and Richard & Caroline. R&C left a few days before us and we were to hook up with them in Thunder Bay. We were meeting K&W at a truck inspection station north of Huntsville. As we drove past Gravenhurst I thought to myself, it would be funny if we arrived at the intersection at Bracebridge at the same time as K&W. As we approached the bridge. guess what, there they were coming around the bend which was about 30 or 40 KM ahead of our meeting place.

We moved right along talking on the CB's and stopped at a Husky station in Hearst for the night then met R&C next day in TB. The next few days were steady driving as planned right through to the mountains with uneventful stops at night. As we entered the Rockies, I had to explain about the factories that build the mountains which are visible to the right, to R&C, but that's another story. At Sicamous we left R&C and went to Abottsford were we stayed 4 nights then K&W went to visit Megan & Adam in Everett WA. and we kept Muggans for the day, no big deal, I thought at the time, till they returned and informed us that they had a private tour or the Ship that Adam is on, NOW it is a big deal!

Next day M&A came to abbotsford and we went to Fort Langley for the day, it is a restored Fort from the Hudson Bay fur days. I participated in a fur traded demonstration which was fun.

The lady doing the show asked my name and I said "Tom" then she dressed me in period costume and I was a fur carrier delivering them in a imaginary canoe. Later she asked my name again and I replied "Tom still" so she started calling me "Tom Still". Later that day M&A went back home.

The following day we went to Stanley Park where a guy on a bike said some thing I didn't like so I accidently pushed him a bit and he called me a nasty name which was kind of funny.

We hooked up with R&C and headed east to Yoho Nat. Park on the way R&C had engine trouble so had to spend a night in Revelstoke to get it fixed and we all went on to the park and they showed up a day later.

We spent 4 nights in the park touring the sights then headed back to see S&L in Kenora then came home.

Go Trains Horns

Every morning, some where between 6am and 7.30am, as I sit at the computer, the Go Trains come to Newmarket. It appears to me that one of the requirements to be an engineer on these trains is you must be mentally handicapped.

It used to be that when trains came to a road crossing they gave 2 longs 1 short 1 long on their whistle (Here in, horn or whistle are interchangable) as they approached a station they also whistled and used other signals for messages to the train crew, before radios and intercoms.

When these guys come to Newmarket they sit here and play with their whistles for no other apparent reason than to amuse themselves and to abuse the people of Newmarket. An example of this is the old familiar " shave and a hair cut, two bits" they use or portions there of.

There have been some mentions of this in the local paper and somehow it comes out that it is for safety. Don't eat that Elmer, it's horse shit.

At this point another train arrived in Newmarket and we were theated to yet another example of their stupidity.

They don't get away with it other locations because they are not allowed to do it. Why then does Newmarket allow this to continue, there is nothing cute about it and I feel sorry for the poor bastards that live close to the tracks.

I first wrote this June 25 and never got around to sending it. This is actually July 27 But today there is no difference, the fools are still doing the same thing like little children.

The Wedding

On Saturday Thomas and Megan were married. Megan was beautiful and Thomas was impressive in his uniform.
The wedding service was very relaxed as was the Priest. There were several emotional moments which was wonderful to experience. As for me I must admit that Thomas caused me a few tears, which for me most people didn't notice or will soon forget. For Thomas, I suspect it will be a long time before he hears the end of it. I also suspect that by the time he gets back to work there will be many of his buddies wanting to discuss the situation with him in some fashion.

I believe that over the next coming decades, NO the rest of the Century, Megan will get a lot of mileage out of it. It will be little jabs just for the fun of it.

The reception was great fun and I particilarly enjoyed Homee Dad's speech, a little long winded but that's Homee Dad and he gave us advanced warning, IT WAS enjoyable and accurate.

It was nice to see Nora & Don after so many years.

It was good to see everybody having a good time and the meal was good but not too calorie wise, you could say it was filling, as you might say, but very good and I believe that nobody left hungry.

I congratulate Thomas & Megan and wish them a long and happy marriage and hope it is as good as ours has been and still is.

VICTORIA DAY

Last night we were at Shady Lanes for their annual Victoria Day party and as usual it was great fun. John had the big bon fire going and the water boiling for the corn boil. Probably the best part of the night was seeing Nick having fun without any booze in him.

We had corn, hamburgers, hot dogs and water and lots of fun. Mikki was her usual entertaining self, played soccer with Nathan, and gave Linda many anxious moments by running past the fire on many occasions.

There was some doubt whether the rain which lasted all day, would spoil things but it stopped in time for the party. The wind was quite cold especially for Lisa who came there half dressed but the rest of us dressed for the occasion, even Nick had to put on extra clothes since he had no alcy in his system to numb the cold.

Nick and Andrew were in charge of the fireworks and did a great job of it while Mikki announced what the name of every one before it was launched plus worrying Linda to death as she kept running past the fire with the info.

It was a great night, Nathan had fun playing soccer,TJ and Pam had a good time, most of the grass was dry and not burning, of course the fire was in the fire pit.

The cold wind finally took it's toll shortly after the actual fireworks.

The main thing was everybody had FUN.

BOTTLED BOATS

As most of you know a few of years ago I built a boat in a half gallon wine bottle, not in the usual way people do it by making a skinny little boat with a draw string on the mast which they then slide through the neck of the bottle then pull the mast up then claim to have built a boat in a bottle.

The first one I built was fashioned after a ship from a National Geographic article about a slave ship called Hentietta Marie which had some good pictures from which to work.

The model was 5.25"L, 1.25"W, 1.5"H not counting the mast height, the neck of the bottle had a .75" opening SO to build the boat I obviously had to assemble it inside the bottle, which I did. Somebody who saw it said "I know, you just put it in and pulled a string". Duh, he gave no thought to the boat being bigger than the neck of the bottle, which floored me because he is a smart guy. I let it go because I have no intention of telling how I did it anyway.

A few years ago I found a 1 gallon jug and I thought that I might do it again some time BUT it will be a much bigger boat. When we were on the Manitoba Trip I bought a diaghram of the ship Nonsuch that the Hudson Bay Co. first used in fur trading, with the intention of building another boat.

The problem is that it's kind of nerve wracking sorting out all the problems you encounter, then it becomes an obsession. The results were that in my mind, I have been building that boat for over a year then I started last fall preparing some material then started the project.

When I was 11 years old my Dad built a thing in a bottle which he called Jacob's Ladder. He wouldn't tell how he did it which pissed me off and I said some day I will do something better and I will never tell anybody how I did it.

Yesterday I finished Nonsuch which is 7.5"L, 2.25"W, 2.5" H not counting the mast and the neck of the bottle opening is .75".

The only problem that I forgot was to wash the jug before I started building the boat and it is in the way now.

THEY USE EVERYTHING HERE TOO

While at FG's house , I discovered this precariously perched bird next on a fallen dead branch. We are not sure what kind of a bird built it but it is made of discarded human hair and dog hair clippings. We thought it was early in the season but since there is still snow it may be a snowbird next. Besides everybody knows that early birds get worms.

We haven't seen any birds at the next yet but we were able to get this picture of the next.

WINTER JOY

Having just read FG blog I decided to do one.

I don't much like winter so what do I do for entertainment? Well when forced to do so, I shovel the snow which has been plentiful this year. We went to several music concerts in Haliburton and on Christmas Day, 3 of our daughters and their down line came to visit then we got a phone call from Carole & Clive in England.

We went to Cheryl & John's house for a New Years party which was great fun, however Wendy misplaced her camera which caused a great deal of excitement and suspicion for a few day!!!
In the past few years we have gone to FL for a couple of months BUT with the economy situation we decided to not go. Later we decided to go for a couple of weeks.

The morning of departure the battery was dead in the trailer which created a slight problem, but hooking up the truck to it solved the problem. We drove through some terrible conditions and a blizzard before we got to U.S. then the sun came out south of Pt Huron. As we approached Detroit I75 was under construction and a detour through Detroit was disasterous. We arrived in central KY but it was too cold to stay in the trailer so we stayed in a Super 8 whose driveway was all ice. The next day south of Knoxville we ran into another Blizzard which was unusual. Locals were crawlling along I75 so we were passing all of them being followed by Truckers.

Fl was pretty cool, no it was cold, but warmer than at home. With the dish, we could watch the snow storms at home which made FL seem warmer. In FL we learned about the ISS which was visible over head every night. ( when we got home we found that it wasn't the ISS)

When we went to leave FL the battery on the Trailer was again dead but the truck one worked

When we got back home I got to shovel more snow--lots of times.

That's the way it's been the rest of the time, look out the window and curse the snow and rain then go out and shovel it. etc. etc.

A couple of days ago it warmed up enough to try to locate the trailer battery problem but that's an ongoing problem.

Before I started typing this, I thought that I have done nothing since the fall.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS)

At 6.25 am I looked at the schedule for the ISS and saw that it was to go over at 6.27 with a 4 minute window. I rushed outside just in time to see it exactly as is described in the schedule.
It was 20 degrees above the north horizon and I was able to see it for a couple of min.

The best time previously was Sat. Feb.22 at 5.33am when it would have been almost directly overhead for 2 min. the problem on that day was heavy overcast.

This time it wasn't the Florida hoax.

I was hoping to see somebody looking out the window at me but I guess they were too busy with frivolous chores.

What I had for the web site was wrong. Wendy has put the correct address in the comment section

WRONG

So the story about the ISS that I told you in the last blog turns out to be a Florida myth.

The bright light which is almost stationary in the sky is actually not the ISS which we found out on the weekend. The ISS is travelling around the world at a speed of over 17000 MPH or over 27000 KPH at an altitude of 215 miles or 346Km.

The bright light is invaders preparing to attack earth. Send me all your money I will protect it for you.

ICY FLORIDA

On Sunday we got home from FL. where we spent a couple of weeks in the cold. Well it wasn't cold all the time but it seemed like it.

Most of the days it was in the high 50's but at night it frequently dropped to around freezing. Fortunately we had the dish with us so we could watch the weather up here which made it seem better in FL.

D & C were there also and D had his computer there so we could communicate with events at home (scrabble). With the dish and his computer we could keep up with what is going on in the rest of the world which is difficult to do down there. Each State seem to have a policy of not knowing what is happening outside their State so most people in the U.S. haven't any idea what is going on in the world.

The big event in Disney is always Buzz Lightyears where you get to shoot the Evil Emporer Zerg which we do constantly because it is a competition trying to beat each other for highest score.

Really there is lots to do there besides the theme parks, we bike around Fort Wilderness and travel around on Disney buses and just generally have fun. Most of all I didn't have to shovel SNOW .

Fortunately when we got back home it was quite warm.

One thing we did discover is that the International Space Station is very visable to the eye and after arriving home we found it is visable here too. If you look high in the Western Sky on a clear night there is a bright white light which is the ISS, not to be confused with a planet.

Check it out.

WE ARE PREGNANT ????

Last night while watching a program on TV, the characters said "We are Pregnant" which of course I have heard before. This got me thinking about Pregnancy back when we were having children and indeed when our children were having children.

In all cases we and our friends conceived in the same way( I think) as people do today. However when the Female portion of the relationship conceived, she became Pregnant and the male remained the same. To make it clear to today's generation that means that in our case for example, my wife was Pregnant, I was not.

At that time there was a common statement made in a joking way that went like this. If after the first Pregnancy was over, the man had the second Pregnancy, there wouldn't be a third Pregnancy. While you might find that confusing, if you think about it, it is self explanitory.

Following the birth, in most cases, the male and female then worked together with such things as changing diapers, doing some household chores, getting up to the baby at night etc.

In other words, she was no longer Pregnant and the male still wasn't Pregnant. However in most cases, not all, WE--- SHARED the follow up work load, that is when the "WE" came to be.

That's the way it use to be.

I have noticed and it is confirmed by others that the WE has taken on a new meaning. To make it clear what I have said so far is, The Lady gets Pregnant and has a Baby after which the Daily Chores are shared as in WE do the chores.

Today, WE get Pregnant then the baby is born then the WE disappears, from this point onward the Female portion appears to become unable to do anything except say to the Male portion, the baby needs changing, the floor needs sweeping, cook supper, I need some rest, etc, etc. You fill in the rest.

Now to really Piss you off, I would like to point out that Mrs. G, Wives of friends and relatives, and our children gave birth then carried on a normal life and further more aprox. 10 days after our last child was born, we moved to a new house and Mrs. G. did more than her share of the WE part of moving while looking after 4 children.

When you comment, and you will comment, please explain, what happened to WE.

YOU DON' T KNOW COLD

My hero, the old guy on TD Canada Trust commercial says "What's wrong the way it used to be". Well let me tell you the way it used to be.

Coats were kind of thick wool or cotton that the wind could blow through mitts were knitted wool that got wet as soon as snow got on them and Boots were worst of all. Boots were usually rubber boots or lace up leather "high cuts" both of which you put felt pads in the bottom which you took out at night to let them dry because snow went down your boots when you walked in it.

When you got to school you put your wet woolen mitts on the steam radiators to let them dry,and everybody had to sweep the snow off each other before they went into the school.

There was no such thing as windproof nylon coats with thick insulation and insulated boots & gloves. We were tough in those days. We were so tough that kids were always crying because they were always cold, and it was wet cold, not dry cold. We just Endevoured to Presevere.

We had to WALK to school and home in winds that blew constantly at 100 MPH (161 KPH) in our face no matter which direction you walked, so we took turns walking backwards just to fool the wind. The snow was always 4 FT (1.2192M) deep no matter where you walked and it was always 1.5 MILES(2.41395KM) to school and 1MILE(1.6093KM) back home. To make life more miserable, it was up hill both ways.

But because we Endevoured to Presevere it has made life easier for you.

WOOPS

SO, in case you don't know it Wendy found her camera today.

For all you who read my last blog and read "between the lines" I was obviously incorrect in what I sort of implied.

For all of you who thought the same thoughts as I : "Shame be he who evil thinks" this also includes me.

Enough said!!!!

NEW YEARS PARTY

We attended a great party at C&J on New Years Eve, it was a lot of fun. In attendance were K&W, N,L1&M, T&T, C&J, V&S&L2. It was a potluck so everybody brought food which made it easier for C, who in the past supplied all the food. Earlier C had called to ask what T was bringing but she wouldn't tell because it is a potluck.

For a change N didn't have a drink which is different, and I for one congratulate him. The good thing is that when N drinks he is a happy drunk so is fun to listen to. The problem is you listen & listen & listen, so it was fun to see him this way and to actually NOT drink.

We had great fun slidding down an Ice Track that C&J had made down the hill to the driveway but had to watch out for the well cover and a tree. There were a few minor injories but nothing serious. It was good fun but kind of cold.

We chose sides to play pictionary which took a long time to do because we drew marked sticks BUT each time we chose them, there were more or less than those in attendance. Eventually we got a correct number and were able to play. Everybody played except L2 who left early to go with friends to another party, and M who is a little too young.

The game lasted a long time and the Red team won the game but we, the Blue team only lost by 1 point, which was kind of disappointing considering the talent on our team and the dumb luck on the other team.

The disappointing think which occurred is that W's camera went missing and in spite of the fact that we all have searched homes and vehicles, we can't find it. Which puts a blemish on the night.

MERRY UNCHRISTMAS

I as usual had a great Christmas, visiting with much of my downline and friends.

I enjoyed in spite of all the people who Bitch and complain about it and their miserable lives. You know the ones I mean, It's become too commercial, then spend a pile of money buying toys etc. for their kids who already have too much, but that's the fault of the advertisers. Then there those who feel that by giving something to somebody they don't know, they are some kind of National Hero or something, what about all the ones you didn't give to, you chisellers.

What about the ones who are so wise that they won't let their kids believe in Santa Clause because, they" WON"T LIE" to their kids. They are the worst, because Santa already lives in their heads, otherwise they wouldn't bought their kids "Christmas presents" in the first place. When they were kids, presumably their parents "LIED" to them about Santa Clause and they got their presents and pretended that they" believed" just to fool their parents, SO are they now embarassed by the fact that they lied to their parents OR do they just enjoy being miserable?

Because they apparently are miserable because of Christmas they try to drag others down to their miserable levels.

Well I do not buy their complaints and that's why I waited till after Christmas to make a comment on their miseries which they deserve anyway. I won't allow them to destroy my Christmas with their stupid thoughts which would have been better kept to themselves in the first place. That also is the reason that I commented on somebody's Blog"you all have my sympathy" the sympathy being a form of sarcastic which I suspect went over your heads because each one of you deserve what you get.

SO if you have a problem with "Merry Christmas", then "Merry Unchristmas" and that should ruin your Unchristmas life too. You Deserve it.
'

Relics

On Thursday my cousin and wife came to visit, we don't see each other very often but it is always fun getting together. We are the oldest living creatures on this branch of the tree.

In days gone by we used to get in all kinds of trouble, stuff that would considered today as crimes. Mostly, I would call them pranks but basically harmless things. None of us ran around sticking people with knives or paint stupid marks on walls like today' s kids, ours was just fun stuff. Enough said on that subject except to reiterate we were good kids back in those days.

We used to go hunting together when you only needed a One dollar gun license and you could walk down the street with a rifle and not be acosted by those lunetics on the SWAT team.

Those were the good old days.

Is always fun getting together any ways and as we always say " we will have to do this more often".

COPE

Around the world we hear of Military Copes taking place, one example of course is Afganistan. It is a group of people who want to overthrow the Government for their own gain, most people think that it is wrong.

So in Canada we now have a Cope going on. We have a group of people trying to overthrough the legally elected Government with no thought of the fact that it is a Cope. We have many Canadians agreeing with it saying it is good because they don't like Stephen Harper, for what ever reason they have and are therefore in favour of a Cope. To hell with Democracy and to hell with the fact that he was elected as Priminister, overthrow him, kick the bum out. Maybe the next Cope will require more violent methods BUT it's a start!!!

I believe that the rest of the world is watching and saying we're no better than anybody else in the world spite of our bragging about being so great and respecting the rights of others. We have stooped to the level of allowing a Cope to overthrow the elected government.

It is lead by a person who, in my opinion, is the Sneakest scoundrel in Canada. If this guy had been the Priminster of Canada in 1939 I believe Hitler would have won the war because he would not have wanted to get involved, he would have wanted to negotiate as did Nevil Chamberland meanwhile Great Britain would have stood alone. He has already said that the Canadian troups should have been pulled out of Afganistan and that he would pull them out leaving Afganistan to stand alone. Then he would send Canadian troupes in as Piece Keepers. He apparently believes that the Teleban (sp) would accept them as friends.
He makes an alliance with a group who are dedicated to the destruction of Canada for his own gain then when asked a question about a statement made by that groups leader, as to how they will benifit greatly in their cause, his reply was "you will have to ask him".
He next cons the leader of the oposition into aligning with his plan knowing fullwell he will be happy to be caller priminister, as temporary as that will be because his party wants rid of him.

With this guy's attitude and the Liberal's attitude toward the U.S.A. who are our biggest trading partners, if I were the new president, I would say like so many Canadians ,
To Hell With Canadian Democracy, who needs it, HAVE YOUR COPE.

NEW AGGRAVATIONS

So today I spent the day learning how to use Facebook. This is just what I need, more aggravation.

When Wendy decided that I wanted to start blogging, I tried to fight it, then finally gave in and started to do it occasionally. Just when I was getting the hang of it it seemed that everybody switched to Facebook, SO, I said to hell with that, I don't want to start something else.

Now Wendy has decided that I want to go on Facebook, SO, I spent the day learning to Facebook and find Friends etc. it appears that I am getting the hang of that now, SO, it's time for everybody to switch to the next lunacy what ever that might be, then in a couple of years Wendy will decide that I want to start doing that and the cycle will start all over again.

HOME AGAIN

So we spent some time in Kenora working on the generator room. It was long days and very busy trying to get as much done as possible before I had to be back for my 5000 mile inspection on my new eye. I did enjoy doing the work but little time to play.

We stopped in Dryden at Timmy's and bought coffee and a baggle then headed home. A couple of of KM out of town we caught up to a guy crauling along the rosd at 80KPH so I cut out and passed him then an OPP came around a bend in the road ahead of us, after he passed us, I saw his lights come on and he cane back to visit us.

He and his buddy walked up to us and I had just taken a big bit from my baggle and couldn't talk when he informed me that I was doing 106 in a 90 limit, in view of the fact that OPP on 400, 401, 404 seem to ignore anything under 20KPH over the limit,I was a bit surprised that he was going to ticket me. He then asked what I had to say about it, I tried to answer but couldn't talk because of the damn baggle. I managed to force some of the baggle down and was able to say a few words, like where I was going and where I had been and why I was up here in the first place.I thought that there would be no point in mentioning just having passed the other guy and that there wasn't time to fall back to cruise control which was set at 98-99, before he came into sight, plus he's heard it all before.

Finally most of the baggle was gone I as I handed him my papers I said that my son in law was OPP up here and I thought at first that it was him that was coming to stop me. I hoped that a little grease on the wheel might help. He took my papers back to the cruiser and eventually came back with them. I said that I can talk now and he sort of smiled, then said that he was letting me off with a warning. We both thanked him and departed.

We noticed an unusual amount of OPP on the road all the way home and also heard a lot of comments by truckers on the CB as to the number of OPP out on the road.We counted 6 between Dryden and Thunder Bay, 3 between T.Bay and Nipigon, 9 between Soo and Barrie and 1 on the side between Barrie and Newmarket.

The question was asked by somebody "why didn't you say Ex son in law" well I didn't think "EX" would count for much and I still don't know if it helped but I thought it was worth a try. I later thought that as long as I was name dropping maybe I should have thrown in another OPP officer I know who works or worked out of Dryden, who shall remain nameless because of my distrust of Blogs and what info appears on them.

A- MAZE-ING FUN.

Over the last few years I have seen various Corn Mazes and thought it looked like fun but how hard can it be.

On Sunday we went with CG & John and their downline to a Maze, it was great fun.

The event started with rocket launches in their front yard with various sizes of rockets being launched, some returned to earth intact and others in various states of disrepair but it was great fun. It was hard to tell which size KID was having the most fun.

Most of us stood near the launch site where I thought it was the safest place, Mrs.G. tried to stand under trees thinking they gave most protection, it seemed that the rockets thought otherwise because they landed closer to her more often than anybody else.

When we started at the first maze, I thought that this will be easy, all you have to do is look at the hard packed ground and no problem, WRONG, we all started out as a group along with another family of 4 making a total of 16. In a short time we started breaking into smaller groups then would bump into each other again and again.

There were posted clues along the way to help guide you through. Eventually Mikki and I were on our own which started at 1 particular clue, we took a wrong turn because we had got seperated from the rest. We then found ourselves back at the clue.
From then on we took turns saying "lets go this way" but we always came back to the same clue. Mikki was a real trooper but got anxious a couple of times because she could hear the others not far away. Eventually we saw CG standing on a bridge and calling directions to us, we followed her instructions and Guess what, we came back to the same clue, AGAIN. At that point there was another couple showed up and we all discussed things then walked together to one of the many forks we split there and finally found the right trail. That one was labled as the easy one however the hard one was easier, maybe because we had hooked up with the group again.

It was AMAZING FUN.

We all went back to the rocket launch site for more launches using damaged rockets
which we had patched up with old pieces. Some did not fly in the prescribed manner, flying in wobbly and semi circular patterns.I think everybody was prepaired to hit the ground.

NEW LOOKERS

In March of this year I had a Cateract removed from my right eye. After my 1000 Mi. inspection we went to England where I decided that I could see to drive without any glasses on so I quite wearing them and drove there with my new eye.

When we got home I went for my 10000 Mi inspection. Dr Liu asked me how I felt and I told him that I was so happy that I want my other done ASAP he said we will do it in the Fall.

In Oct I went for my Pre Delivery Inspection then on Oct 14 I went to the Hospital and had my Left eye done. It was actually a fun time, I joked with the nurses in the O.R. and they joked back. The subject of my being married for 55 years came up and 1 nurse said that's a long time with 1 person which lead to other jokes.

The point is that they made it fun. The actual operation took aprox. 10 or 15 min. They do it while you are completely concious. The only problem is, I fell asleep and started to snore, which eventually everybody started joking about it. When they took me into the recovery room they asked Mrs. G. about me snoring at home, which I quickly denied.

On Oct.15 I went for my 1000Mi. inspection and everything is great.

So now I have artificial ears and artificial eyes, I wonder if ??----oh never mind.

VOTER APATHY

I heard on the news today that this election had the lowest turn out ever. I can hardly wait to hear the complaining about what the GOVERNMENT should do about things, especially from those who didn't vote.

I will be asking, "DID YOU VOTE????"

ALL POLITITIONS ARE LIARS

I believe that nobody should be confused by or even believe what a politition says, ANY Politition. That being said, the only other choice you have is the one you think has the most believable lies.

In an old movie staring Bruce Dern and Kirk Douglas, a guy says "All Polititions are full of "SHIT" and that sums it up very well.

If Jack Layton heard somebody say Canada should put a man on the moon, he would probably say, we have a plan to do it and it won't cost the taxpayers anything, plus the poor will reap all the benifits.

He says he has a plan to spend Millions that he says the government doesn't have now to perform all kinds of miracles, which IF he became Prime Minister he would then say that the previous didn't tell him there is not enough money.

Dion says he will introduce a Carbon Tax which won't cost the Tax Payer anything because it will be cost neutral. That is what Allan Rock said about the Gun Registy which has cost around a Billion dollars and the gangsters are still shooting each other and the courts are still letting them out.

A carbon tax will presumably be on all fuels, heating your house,driving your car and eating a loaf of bread. WHAT you say, not on bread, it doesn't use fuel.

YES I say on bread.

A farmer drives to town and back for seed TAX , he drives his tractor to plant the seed TAX, he furtilizes the plant TAX, he harvest the wheat TAX, he takes to market TAX, grain is shipped to mill TAX, flour driven to baker TAX, bread driven to store TAX, you go to store for bread TAX. Nine TAXES and I have missed some that I don't know about.

Harper should have carried on with his minority Govt instead of calling for an Election but he said that he couldn't carry on even though the other parties appeared to be satisfied with the way he was doing things.

ALL POLITITIONS ARE FULL OF SHIT.

MIXED DRINKS

Yesterday after Prince Charming's book signing we all went to Shady Lane for a corn roast / barbeque.

Before going I decided that instead of taking Gin and Tonic water seperately I would mix it at home then take it in an empty GILBY'S bottle. I carefully poured aprox. 4 or 5 ounces out of a full bottle of BEEFEATER Gin into the GILBY bottle then 2 cans of Tonic water for a total of 710 Ml. I stuck the bottle into a plastic bag so that I wouldn't have a visible open bottle in the truck. We grabbed our stuff then went and picked Cam and the kids.

We arrived at the party which was already in progress and joined in on the festivities. I am pointing all this to you at this time because of all the unsavory characters who were in attendance and whom I suspect will give their version of what was to follow a short time later and which will be grossly exagerated by them.

I took my carefully prepared bottle of G&T out, grabbed a 12oz. plastic cup from the table and carefully poured aprox. 6 oz. into it then mingled a bit and eventually sat near the fire. Some how the drink tasted different than usual but with all that was going on around me I just ignored it and carried on.

Soon I started to feel somewhat impaired which seemed unusual since I had only the one drink, not throwing them back like Hommee Dad with rum, but I think that I finished the drink, I am not sure.

Eventually Ken said why don't you get up and walk around? I replied that I can't get up, then I apparently was more tired than I thought because I fell asleep. I slept for quite some time and eventually awoke but still felt quite peculiar. Then I noticed that Mrs. G. seamed to be upset about something, we discussed it briefly at which time she claimed that I was drunk and I of course pointed out that I couldn't be since I had only one drink from the bottle.

I then picked up the bottle and guess what, the lable on the bottle was not GILBY'S, it was BEEFEATER, I had put the wrong bottle in the bag, my mixed drink was still at home. I drank 6oz. of straight Gin thus explaining why I went to sleep.

As you can well imagine, there will be some exagerated stories from other sources that will say that I wasn't necessarily sleeping the whole time. There will probably be things like, I fell out of the chair, I said something wrong, I made nasty hand signs, I offended somebody some how, or who can imagine what else will be said.

I can assure you that they will be all lies, no matter what any pictures may show.

BUD THE SPUD

As you all know, we were in PEI, well now we are home.

We had a great time there and on the way to there.

The plan was that we would leave here and K&W would leave Fort Irwin with the idea of meeting at Kawartha Downs at the same time. Just before we left home, we get a phone call from K&W saying that they were having truck troubles and were stopping at a garage in Haliburton. The truck had trouble pulling and no power. We said that we would wait at home till we heard from them. My comment to Mrs. G was that it sounded like a dirty air filter.

At around 8am W called to say that they were now running and on the way so we headed out for the meeting place. We arrived at the meeting place and within 2 min. K&W arrived. It turns out that a mouse had built a nest in the air cleaner of their truck and starving it for air. The end of problems except that we were about an hour behind time which sounds like no big deal, BUT WAIT, IF YOU CALL RIGHT NOW, NO thats another story. The end results were that we arrived in Montreal just in time to join in on the Rush Hour and that is FUN, it took for ever to get out of there.

In Disney World the saying is "IT ALL BEGAN WITH A MOUSE"!!!!!

We arrived at our first destination of a KOA at Quebec City just before dark. The next AM we took a tour bus into Old Quebec with a great & knowledgeable, fun to listen to Driver who gave us a ton of info on old Quebec City then dropped us off so we could explore it. What a great place it is to experience.

Our next stop was at Fundy National Park and to the Hopewell Rocks at low tide with all it's giant flower pot formations.

We crossed Confederation Bridge to PEI and on to Linkletter Prov. park as our first PEI tour base. from here we travelled around the west side of the island including biking on some of the confederation trail, which is abandoned railway lines. We stopped at Skinner's Pond where Stompin' Tom Connors used to live and went to school and where his school is now a museum which he paid to restore and was closed.

Then on to Cavendish and of course Green Gables, (where Nikki G. wouldn't take Mikki, and eventually she won't forgive him for) the home of the famous Ann of Green Gables.

We then went to the east side of the island to another Prov. Park and toured that side and downtown Charlottetown where Confederation had its start and saw a great presentation of the meetings and first start towards the Canada we know today.

On the way home, at Quebec City we ran into a huge traffic jam due to a collision at KM something 08, and while sitting at an exit, Ken remembered that exit from our tour of the city so we jumped off there then along a road beside the highway, past the collision and back at the next intersection, KM something 05,thus avoiding an extremely long tie up.

It was a great trip.

GET TOGETHER

Yesterday Ellen&Roy, John&Audrey and Dianne came for supper, Wayne has decided that he now wants to live in a Rest Home so has moved out from Dianne's place, so he wasn't here.

It was a great time rehashing all kinds of things we have done over the years which resulted in a lot of laughs. Some of the things were kind of crazy but fun at the time.

One of the crazyest was one time when John and I were swimming in the Trent Canal near our cottage, we got to talking about a story we had heard of a guy who was tied hands and feet on a boat who rolled overboard and swam to shore. John decided that we should try it out.

we tied his hands and feet with rags and he started across the canal, with me beside him for safety backup.He was doing fine until he started to laugh and couldn't swim SO I started to push him, then I started to laugh. Fortunately the water wasn't very deep so I went to the bottom and shoved his along then I came up for air then down and pushed him, all the while we couldn't stop laughing. Needless to say we both survived the trip but we concluded that it was possible to do, just don't laugh while doing it because it would be hard to explain at a Coroner's Inquest.

WE never tried again!!

There were many similer stories on different subjects that were rehashed and best of all, we survived them all.

In any case the evening was great fun and of course we said as always, we should do this more often which of course we won't get around to doing.

WE MUST DO THIS MORE OFTEN!!!!

PFD / LIFEJACKET FORAY

Well it appears that I am force into this opinon subject.



These things can be good and they can be bad, they might save you and they might kill you, I believe it depends on the existing situations at the time.

Some years back there were 3 of us in a canoe (which was one too many for that river) on the Snake River in Wyoming, we got dumped and fortunately we all had PFD/Lifejackets on. They were "approved" by somebody. TJ & Mrs.G fortunately had good fitting ones which kept them afloat and also high in the water. I had a poor fitting one which floated above me in the water, I had to reach up and pull it down over me so I could breath (breathing is important). Being in the USA, these were not US Coast Guard Approved SO the Park Warden was not impressed BUT they did save our lives.

Yesterday while playing around in a Kayak I wore a PFD commplete with a whistle, which I am told is manditory, while standing up (just for fun) I of course fell out,
by the time I turned around the wind had the Kayak moving away from me, the PFD would not let me swim to the Kayak even though I still had the paddle and was using it to paddle me with. This event was just a lark cause I was being blown toward shore and John was in the row boat and came to my rescue.

Suppose I had been far from shore on cold water and actually got dumped, things would have been much different, I could not swim the first few strokes to the grab the Kayak and may have been out of luck unless somebody happened to see me. You now say well you could not get back in the Kayak when you caught it which is true but I possibly could drift with the Kayak. If you wish to carry on with what ifs, be my guest.

It is also required that you have a PFD while board sailing, If you have ever been caught under a sail and had to swim down and away to get out, then you know how stupid having a PFD on would be, They don,t let you swim down.

Rigid laws in my humbled opinion are stupid laws by stupid people. A good example is, take every persons GUNS so that idenifyable minorities will stop killing each other, but that's another story.

The good thing about PFD/Lifejackets is that it makes it easier to recover the body.

If there is anybody who disagrees with me, please note that I have mistletoe pinned to my coattail.

MERCURY IS POISON

I have just watched a program which I taped last night from ABC Detroit.



It was Investigative Reporting, a segment of 11 o'clock news, with very interesting stats on Autism and Mercury. The info is available at " WXYZ.com", for internet buffs.



For illiterates like me, I will attempt to summarize what I heard.



1 in 150 children in the USA are Autistic.


In the Amish community there are 4 in 22000 Autistic.

of these 4 , 3 had been vaccinated and 1 had lived near a Power Plant which emitted MERCURY.

Statistically there should have been 130 Autistic.



They showed the ingredients label, which describes MERCURY as THIMEROSOL.



There are 11 Vaccines which contain THIMEROSOL.



THIMEROSOL is also in Tetanus and most Flu Shots.



Tests on Monkeys showed that it caused Brain disorders in the monkeys, similar to autism.

Studies done approx. 10 years ago recommended that the use of MERCURY should be STOPPED but nothing was ever done about it.

THE SAME AMOUNT OF MERCURY IS IN MOST VACCINES AS 10 YEARS AGO!!!!

FIFTY FIVE YEARS OF LOVE

So as most of you know, on June 26 it was our 55th wedding anniversary, that has been a wonderful journey so far with NEVER a serious arguement or disagreement. That in its self is a great acomplishment especially when you consider that today 50% of marriages won't make it more that 5 years. It is something you have to have to put your best effort into, not run to the door when there is a problem.

Here endith the lesson.

We thought that we would like to do something different for the occasion.

Over the years we have visited and toured Cities all over North America and several in U.K. So we thought why not see Toronto, after all it is close to where we live. I, over the years have probably driven over 90% of Toronto streets but have never really seen them.

We drove to Yorkdale and took the subway to Union Station then walked to the water front where we went to "The bus and boat company" and took their boat tour of Toronto harbour and the islands then went on their tour bus for a guided tour of Toronto, it put a new light on the city, fortunately we didn't see David Miller or his band of thieves.

The tour in total lasted almost 4 hours and was great fun.

We then jumped back on the subway and back to Yorkdale where Mrs. G. toured several shoe stores looking for a specific pare of shoes which she eventually found. I thought it appropiate that I should take a couple of pictures of her trying shoes on.

We then drove back home through rush hour traffic, to which I made no comments all the way home.

We then went to "The Buttery" for supper which as usual was a good meal with good and friendly service.

We had a wonderful day and it wasn't very Expensive.

PLAN D or E

We got the computer back after what was suposed to be Plan A or B or C or something since it kept changing.

The first one was to take Cycling Granny to Petawawa then Visit with Doreen & Wes in Kilaloe for the night then eventually pass the bikers somewhere on the road toward Fort Irwin, a very simple plan which was all changed by an unborn baby.

As was planned, we drove Cyk Granny to Petawawa, listening all the while to her complaining. Example : your going too fast, J.C., you can't pass here, there's a car coming, OH NO , look out, and on and on for hours but not entirely unexpected.

On the way Doreen phoned and said stop on the way for lunch, which we did, then on to Petawawa and dropped Cyk Granny off. We then went back to Kilaloe to Doreen & Wes where plans had changed slightly, we were now going to another friends farm with D & W to help castrate a couple of young Bulls.

The next morning,after a late breakfast we went back to Petawawa and picked up Cyk G and her bike because the baby had changed its mind. We then headed to Fiddlin G's house at Fort Irwin with Cyk G doing her best complaining, AS USUAL, ^%##%&* you're going ttttto fast, lllllllook out, don't pass, OH NO and on and on, all through the winding roads, around the blind corner, up the hills & down the hills, moan, groan, yell and scream I could hardly concentrate on the strange roads and bends we were slidding around, what with her complaining and the tires squealing on the bends.

We finally arrived at Fiddlin G's but thanks to the baby that wouldn't come, the crowds that were supposed to be there weren't there, half were still in Petawawa waiting for the baby to arrive.

Meanwhile Cyk G was still complaining about MY DRIVING!!!!!!!! Go figure!!!!

LAST OF ENGLAND PIC

This is the last picture that I will show you, we have lots more but these are just a few of the wedding of Max. & Mike .




If you double click on the picture you will see Dunster Castle in the background.
This is in the field beside the reception barn.
The wall behind is part of the churchyard.
The reception barn is probably the original barn of the castle which has been converted to a reception hall.

I should point out that it doesn't look like a barn you would see in North America, it is brick with huge timber beams and plaster walls.

More England

The day of the wedding I wanted to go into this house but Jeeves the butler blocked the door, however after some discussion, we came to a financial arrangement.




Here we are resolving our differences
with the aid of a 5lb note.

I was then able to enter the estabishment.














The day before the wedding we were pressed into service at the reception location decorating the room and the layout of each table, which had fortunately been set in place by others. We then arranged the seating locations after which we were allowed to leave.

The day after the wedding we were forced to take down the decorations and carry them out to the waiting service vehicles, take down the tables and put them away, then sweep the floor,
After which we delivered some of the decorations to a designated location at which time we were fed.

In thinking it over it could be that I may have exagerated things a little bit, maybe, just maybe we were NOT EXACTLY forced to do anything maybe we did it because we wanted to.

The fact is we had a wonderful time at the wedding and visiting with Carol & Clive where we freeload for several days.

I forgot to mention the repairs to the door and the wheel bearing in Carol's car but that's another story.

The Wedding

In the previous blog you will see 2 pictures taken at the wedding in England. As you can see I obviously managed to send them however when I went to type a description, in my usual fashion,I hit a wrong button and suddenly the computer said that I had sucessfully sent them. I of course immediately protested that I didn't want that to happen but to no avail the dasterdly deed was done. This therefore is an attempt to cover my mistake.

The 3 pictures I send complete with written description yesterday were done while being supervised by Fiddling Granny but today I am flying on my own.

The 1st picture is Max & MIKE at the church with kids from her school class who came to see her get married.

The 2nd picture is Max ( the bride) Carol and Clive.

Hopefully my next attempt will be all done in ONE blog

A TRIP TO ENGLAND

Mrs.G and I went to England for the wedding of Max & Mike and also to visit our various relatives.

Driving in England is exciting especially if you start immediately after an overnight flight with little or no sleep. We got our rental car then headed to Milton Keynes, which is approximately 30-40 MILES. At the first roundabout we took a wrong exit the end results was a 132 MILE drive to get there due to various problems BUT that is part of the fun of driving in England.

The embarrassing part was trying to explain it to Geoff & Marilyn who were expecting us before noon and we arrived at approx. 3PM. however they were very understanding and got a good laugh out of the whole series of events that took place just trying to get to their house, mostly as a result of getting used to a righthand drive car, driving on the left side of the road, roundabouts & constant tailgating high speed English drivers, plus no sleep on the plane.

We had a super time although too brief visit with them then headed to Minehead mostly avoiding the M series roadways.

Driving around the roads of the west country is great fun and sometimes very close quarters as you can see in this picture.



Sometimes we had to take short cuts to get to where we wanted to be.



Sometimes the bridges were a close fit, BUT the whole time not one scratch on the car. It was a new Nissan with 10 Miles on it when we got it.

We had a great time visiting all the relatives and friends, too many for me to mention considering how long it takes me to type, but the 3 weeks seemed like 3 days because we enjoyed it so much.

There were many tearful goodbyes.

We put 1180 miles on the car AND nothing to GRYPE about.

Haliburton Spring

On Apr.13 we left K&W and went to C&J's so Susan could see the place. On the way in we drove through huge puddles into the cottage, in FWD. As we were leaving, in the process of turning around to get out, I heard a sight bump sound. With only one hearing aid in, just hearing it was a small miracle. We drove out through the mini-lakes and home. Then I discovered that I had no front license plate thus no val-tag either.

Ignoring the fact that Cops don't care if your license plate can't be read due to rust or plastic shields but do love this golden opportunity for an easy jabby if your val-tag is not visible, I drove all week without getting caught.

On Apr. 18 we returned to C&J"s mini ocean, bounced through it and on to their cottage where I retrieved the license and mounting bracket which had been pulled off last week by a snow covered stump, now visible. Not wanting to push my luck any farther and risk the wrath of Fantino's troups I reinstalled the bracket which is held in place by 2 tiny plastic THINGS then back out through the mini-ocean to the safety of asphalt.

On the way through more road lakes to K&W all the while enjoying all the beauty?? of spring and all it's wonders, the puddles, the washouts, the mud, the grey ice on the real lakes.
When we arrived at K&W"S , Ken was boiling the last of the maple syrup, the final yields of the greedy maple trees which had now decided to keep it to themselves.

Saturday we brought their trailer home and set it up on planks to keep it from disappearing in the mud then wash all the pails and equipment of making maple syrup.

The grey ice on the lake is too thick to swim or paddle in or allow reinstalling the dock and too thin to walk on so the dock was to wait for the proper liquid stuff to reappear.

SO that's Spring in Haliburton

According to the most recent weather reports which predicts freezing rain there may be a problem on our coming to Petawawa, this probably would not normally be a problem BUT based on the attached comments I have some misgivings about the wisdom of leaving the safety of this refuge.

As I indicated in the previous paragraph, I would ignore the weather man and just GO, GIVER, LEAVE, but fear of another sermon now gives me doubts and questions.

Stephanie & Matt said... (On mrgryper.blogspot.com)
Wow you still have some quick thinking left in that old brain of your :) heeheeWell i'm sure gald you do. NOw a lecture.. What the hell were you doing driving in conditions like that.. you should now better at your age.. Mum told me always to consider when the weather is bad, before you go out is this trip worth getting hurt/accident/dying/ killing somebody... and i do everything there is bad weather.. Tiss Tiss you shouldn't have been on the roads, yes your skills may be good enough but you never know about that on coming car!!!!! ok that is the end of my lecture :) love you
Wednesday, December 05, 2007 10:42:00 AM

Is all the above going to happen???

Hmmmm,Let me think about it, do I want abuse from Stephanie?????

Here's looking at you.

So last week I had a cateract removed which was kind of fun, the Dr. just froze my eyeball then took out the old catteractey ( that's a technical term) lens and stuck in a new blue uv lens and I was finished in about 15 min.

I am not supposed to lift anything heavy which makes it awkward when I need a Pee, but it is a good excuse to sit on my ass all day and do nothing. We went to K&W for the weekend then over to C&J's new place where we had a good time laughing it up then all went to supper in Minden for some great food.

It's hard to do nothing for very long. To break it up, on Monday we hung pails in preparation for Maple Syrup time but I suspect that winter is never going to end this year.

On the way home twice we almost hit deer on the road but thanks to my new lens I saw them first. I don't have to drive brail any more.

Grumpy Old Men

This is what it looks like when Gryper is having a good time with a happy friend.















Signed, Blog-master

Stolen

It appears that somebody sneaked in through the window and stoled one of my connections. There was no signs of forced entry and nothing else was missing. I checked around the house in case I had put it some where without realizing it. I know that I use it quite frequently but don't take it to any other place in the house. I could wait for Mrs. G to get up to find out if she had put it some place but I am quite sure that she doesn't use it, besides it would be embarassing to admit that it was my fault that it was gone. I suppose that I could have put it in the garbage but that was picked up yesterday so forget that. I have been all over the house looking for it, in the kitchen, rec room, laundry room even cleaned off my work bench, which was a major pain in the butt.

I tried to remember if I had taken it out to the trailer for some reason so I checked there in spite of the fact that I would have no use for it out there, of course it wasn't there. Then I wondered if I lent it to somebody but that made no sense.

After much deliberation I concluded that theft had to be the answer but there was no use in calling the cops because there was no signs of forced entry and they would think that we left the door open or unlocked or some other excuse so they wouldn't have to do a bunch of paper work, and I know they hate to do that.

It became obvious to me that I was now on my own to find a solution. I finally decided that the easy out would be to use somebody elses connection, they wouldn't know that I was doing it, I wouldn't have to admit that I could have lost it, it wouldn't do anybody else any harm SO damn it I will do it, I will sort of sneak in the backdoor as one might say. You could say it was deceptfull or dishonest. Now I am having second thoughts but why should I let that stand in the way of getting what I want, other people probably do the same thing I reasoned, SO yes I will do it- period- end of story- I WILL DO IT and damn the concequences.

So I clicked on Cyclin Granny's blog then I clicked on Fiddling Granny's connection and presto I was in Fiddlin Granny' site even though she had NOT put the connection on my blog or had subsequently STOLEN it at a later date.

ALL IS WELL

As usual I think I pushed the wrong button a minute ago and sent you a blank screen.

Well Mrs. Gryper looks good since her face cleared up.

That probably isn't a good way of putting it, it sounds like achne or something. What I really ment is that the bruises and red eye from falling out of bed are all gone and she is looking good again. She is now going out in public again.

We went to see my cousin Wally and Pat on Wed. and he took a few light hearted shot at me as to what he thought had happened to cause the problem. We don't get together very often but it is always good fun when we do.

I currently have nothing to Grype about which is pretty boring, the snow appears to be going which is good, it makes the road messy and dirties my Truck which is bad next week out comes the cateract which is good.

It apppears that the good outweighs the bad so----Good by.

BACK

We left for Forida on Dec. 31/07 and had a easy trip south. 1st night in central KY, second night in south GA and third night at Stephen Foster park in north FL. It is a really nice attractive park with all kinds of memborabelia of Stephen Foster who I particularly like.



At supper time we decided to go for supper in a little village close by. The whole place was gruesomely attractive, like you might see it a horror movie. There was only one restaurant which matched the rest of the town but it was closed. We went to the park visitors centre and asked about a place to eat, we were told everything in town closes at 3 o'clock, there is a place out by the freeway it MIGHT be open. NOT !!!! so we ate at the Macdonalds.



Next day we arrived at WDW where we spent 2 glorious month of mostly sunshine, good neighbors and lots of fun, especially at Buzz Lightyears trying to kill the evil Emp0rer Zurg.



We took the satillite dish with us so we could watch the weather reports from home & the car crashes & slippery roads and all the snow every where and for a minute we felt sad to not be able to partisapate in it, having instead to ride our bikes and just play.

Carol & Clive arrived from England for 2 fun filled weeks of enjoying all that WDW has to offer & in addition we went to the space center for a day.

In mid Jan. K&W arrived bringing Dave & Joan with them we all had a great whirlwin time trying to pack in as many things as we could in a short time. In the past, Dave apparently had never thought much of the idea of going to WDW but he got a big surprise as to how much fun it really is and I think he has reformed.

After they all left, we just biked around, played in the sun, went to the theme parks,played in the sun had breakfast with Tony & Fay and their 2 kids then went on the safari ride all of which was great fun. Did I mention playing in the sun?

Our friends Dorene & Wes, who have time share in Orlando, came to visit for a day & we toured around WDW enjoying the sun and had supper at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Finally it was time to go back home. The drive north was good, the driveway was open that was good, we unloaded the trailer without incident put the dish back in place, all is good. Next we were ready to go to Swiss Chalet for supper, since I hadn't disconnected the truck from the trailer, we will take the car. The battery is DEAD , oh well, start it with the boosted and away we go. After supper out to the car, guess what the battery is DEAD and in my rush to get going, I set the booster on the floor of the garage and forgot to put it in the car. SO we walked home in the cold blowing wind. I got the booster then in the cold blowing wind, I walked back and got the car. Back home, in the furnace heated house, we watched TV then went to bed.

At 4am I am jerked awake by a loud CRASH, I jump out of bed and there on the floor is Mrs. Gryper crying out "I,ve hurt myself", Lay still I said then checked to see if anything is broken. NO the floor is OK, but she landed on her face, she isn't so OK. She has a bit of blood on her cheek, a sore shoulder & a skinned knee. For the rest of the night we kept packing ice on her cheek, fortunately no serious damage but she now is sporting a black eye and bruise on her cheek, which looks very sinister. The problem occured because the bed in the trailer is only about 18 " high and the bed at home is about 36' high, when she went to get out of bed, she forgot that we were now at home.

Monday a was pretty good day and we were able to get unpacked. Then came the snow which we had carefully avoided for 2 months. Now we have Black eye, ass deep snow, cold wind, shovel a driveway, hearing aids which quit working, a cateract to be removed and more snow on the way, finally I have things to GRYPE about, what a relief!!!!!

SCREWED UP

Things were rosie while I was Mr. Gryper, I had no idea what I was doing on that Blog but I occasionally stumbled through. Now I am plain old Gryper I am more screwed up than before.

I don't recognize anything about me or this new blog and by the time I got to this point I forgot what I wanted to say in the first place.

But like Scrooge, now I know that I know don't know anything.

So to hell with it ------HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

TRIAL

We spent the weekend at Fiddling Granny's where we had a good time after which she, having got tired of listening to me grype about blogs and computers in general, decided for me that what I needed was a new blog site which more suited my pleasent personality. SO this is the new me which she decreed was better.

This represents my first efforts to see if she is right.

As we left her place the rain, thaw and slush made it almost impossible to get out of her driveway, I had to make several trys in 4 wheel drive and low range just to get up the hill which chewed the drive up pretty good but it didn't bother me because Ken is the one who has to fix it.

The road to Ft. Irwin was Homicidal because of the deep slush but we got through OK thanks to my great driving skills which I have eluded to on my other blog.

So much for not complaining, I think that I will stick with good old GRYPING, it's more fun.

Welcome

Welcome to my happy little world of postive thinking.