HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!

I have 2 birthday wishes to send out today. I'd like to wish Michelle and Natasha a very happy birthday !! I won't give away their ages but one is in her 20's and the other is in her 30's. These two could pass for sisters. Michelle is now a reader of this blog so feel free to say hello to her in your comments. I'm sorry I'll be unable to drop by for a visit to help you cellabrate but I'll be on the road once more heading up to visit my Muskoka family once again. Hopefully I'll be able to make it over in the new year. I should be able to collect frequent travel points for all the miles I've put on my car going to Muskoka but since I lived there so many years it just feels more like home to me. Hamilton is just too busy on the roads and it gets frustrating driving around here.

I'll also take this time to wish everyone A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!! If I don't see you before, I'll see you all on the 7th !!

One of the birthday girls
Sorry I never got a picture of Natasha before she slipped out.

A very Masten Christmas !!!

oxing Day was the day Jean and her family celebrated the family Christmas. I wasn't sure if I was going to be invited or not but Kim had already asked me so when Jean finaly asked if I'd be around I told her I had planned on just getting in the way all day and not moving out of the way so it was better I was invited LOL.

It was nice seeing everyone. I've seen Kim and Glenn and the kids a few times but I had only seen Michelle once and hadn't seen Rick or Natasha in a few years. Natasha has grown up from a cute young girl to a cute young woman. Was nice to see her again as well as everyone else. Joan even joined us for dinner.

Dinner was great and I even helped out a bit. I cut up the sqaush earlier in the day and then I carved the turkey. I had also helped set out the second table and put the leaf in the main table. Jean had even made me a special stuffing without onions and it looked great !! Only problem was it was burnt black on the bottom and you could taste it throughout. I felt bad and didn't want to say anything but she probably would have noticed something by how little I had ate. Before that happened someone told her and she was very sorry. So tonight with leftovers she made me another one.

On a sad note

Aunt Shirl called today to tell us that Uncle Don and Aunt Glad's daughter Joanne passed away Christmas eve/Christmas day in her sleep in Duncan B.C. She was discovered after a neighbour had gone over to wish her a Merry Christmas in the morning and couldn't get hold of her. The police were called and found her. Arrangements are unknown at this time.

2nd Christmas today

After getting home from Muskoka I had to get busy making some Cheesecakes. One for Terry's place and one for tomorrow with Jean's family. I got home at 2pm and we left for Terry's just after 4pm. It was nice seeing Shawn and Marianne, Mandy Jr Emily and Jordan, Terry and Dave and Bailey and Blue. We sat around and talked and ate shrimp, cheese, crackers and other finger foods while Terry with the help of the other ladies finished preparring dinner. JR cooked the turkey and brought it to the house. Shawn was the biggest kid there. He kept bugging Terry about oppening gifts saying she said before supper. He had his presents stacked and had carefully examined each one. At one point he grabbed a gift for Jordan and told him to take it into the bathroom and open it and throw the paper away. After taking it to the washroom he came back to make sure he could open it and Shawn said yes. He came back and told Shawn what it was and they were both giggling. Dinner was erved and the food was great!! I followed a Christmas tradition by eating too much !! I did save room for the Cheesecake. Shortly after Shawn made his way to the front of the tree and got things started. Gifts were exchanged as well as hugs and Shawn and the kids were very happy to have finaly oppened the gifts. Everything went well and we all enjoyed ourselves. Although Dad was tired he had a good time and was feeling good when we got up to leave (painless not drunk) Jean on the other hand had too many glasses of wine so we wrestled the keys from her and I drove us home safe in the fog. Thanks to every one !!!!

Muskoka Christmas

Merry Christmas from Muskoka. Well it was a very nice Christmas morning up in Muskoka. We slept till about 8am or so. I drove up last night and got to an empty house around 11pm. Empty except for 2 cats that hated each other and I never knew about it. I went downstairs to play Xbox hockey and and all of a sudden there was fur flying everywhere. To be honest I never seen the second cat. I could hear it and saw fity (sp? cat #1) but never saw cat #2 (Ewok) I did manage to get cat #1 out of the room so I could relax and play hockey. I'm not sure how long after but the Gowers from Muskoka came home and there was Christmas cheer everywhere except for 2 un named Gowers that didn't know where their stockings were. They were sent on a mission. We chatted a while then it was time for bed but not till after I taught Geoff a lesson in NHL Xbox hockey. We turned off the lights and went to sleep awaiting Santas visit. Sometime durring the night cat #1 decided to break into the basement and terrorize cat #2. The cats were seperated again ! Back to sleep till 8am. In the morning there were full stockings and presents galore !!! Gifts were exchanged and there was nothing but happy faces to be seen. After hugs and thank yous we sat down to a Christmas brunch like youve never seen before. Eggs, bacon, sausauge, toast. hash browns french toast dish with berries and O.J. and diet coke. Can't thank you enough for the full belly I drove away with. I left around 11am which was only 12 hours but was a nice visit. Thanks to everyone for a wonderfull Christmas !!!! Here are some pictures since I had the only digital Camera.

Merry Christmas

Thought I'd say Merry Christmas to everyone before the Scrooge in me wakes up.

so Merry Christmas
Love Kevin

yorkshire pudding and other ramblings

Hey All. Glad to see other blogs being updated once in awhile. Kris actually updated her blog !!!! Must be Christmas. Well first thing is I want to talk about dinner the other night. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, and mmmm mmm mmm yorkshire pudding. I love yorkshire pudding. I've had it 3 times since being back. Kim made it when I went to their place for dinner. Jean made it when we went out to Annettes for dinner a couple weekends ago. And Jean made it again the other night.



In other news, Robert dropped by today. Has been a while but it was nice to see him here. He was in town on other bussiness and decided to drop in for a visit. It's funny cause I thought I'd see more of him since I'm staying at dad and Jean's.

Fit For A King !!!

They were here today to work on the toilets to make it easier for dad. I have to admit other than the bar being cold on the ass when you go to sit down it's kinda nice (No smart ass remarks about the Gower butt I have either) The seat is raised so you don't have to squat down to far and there are handles on either side so you can rest your elbows when your reading and your legs won't fall a sleep on you. Just be carefull when you back down that the side of your cheek doesn't touch the pole cause they sure feel cold. I might wrap some kind of cloth around it to help out....for dads sake LOL. Not that I would need anything to help me out. I havn't checked out the upstairs bathroom but I'm sure it's raised but there is a pole instead of the handles on either side of the toilet because of lack of room. I think I'll get the book "War and Peace" and go test it out.

Quick post no pictures

Not much going on around here. Quite cold outside. Von and Phil were here for a visit. They brought lots of goodies including Nanaimo Bars. I tried a couple. Was a nice visit. It's been a long time since I seen them. Back in the days when I had a Comadore 64 and would go there and swap game disks with them. Dad has been in pain the past few days. Saturday was a real good day and its been downhill since. A therapist was here today for a visit. they are going to set up the bathrooms to make it easier for dad to get up and down. I wasn't here so can't remember the changes I was told about. In the morning before I go to work I'm taking dad to get some blood tests done. Down in Stoney Creek somewhere. They are going to lunch with Dad's cousins and sisters tomorrow. I was invited but have to work. Well I don't have to but I want to.

If your interested you can go to www.viraiders.com and see the slide show from my trip to the Football Hall of Fame

Merry F*#$@%G Christmas !!!!

Not sure if you can tell by the title but I've been pounding the pavement doing my Christmas shopping the last 2 days. I had been out browsing for ideas a few times but this was actual shopping. I took Terry to Burlington yesturday to a couple malls and then met up with her again today after I had taken Kim and Glenn's son Justin to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. To be honest the Hall of Fame is pretty lame but I had a nice talk with the managing director. Next year they are doing a big display on the Canadian Junior football League so we were talking about the Raiders. I had to go check her computer because she didn't think she had our logo but it was under Island team. I found out alot of info and passed it on to the team via an email just before I started this update. I think the best thing at the Hall of Fame for Justin was a virtual field goal kicking display. You punch on the computer how long of a field goal you want to try and the goal posts appear on the screen. You kick the ball and they tell you whether you made it or not. I believe Justin made a 25 yarder. I didn't even make the 15 yarder.







Sorry Justin I didn't take any pictures of the screen after you made a field goal but we both know you did very well.

Back to the Christmas shopping last night was not bad because for some strange reason the mall wasn't that packed. Today it was crazy. I never even made it to Limeridge and looking at the traffic jams in the parking lot you would never find a spot to park. People are so freaking rude out there. And thats just Terry LOL Stopping in the middle of a busy isle to discuss Christmas dinner plans and such. No brake lights no warning just stop and lean on the cart. I always said excuse me when I passed in front of someone standing with there back to one shelf while looking across 8 feet to the shelf in front of them. By the end of the day I started purposely stepping in front of rude people trying to cut through without an excuse me. Or Id say excuse me when they rudely walked in front of me. Honestly I wanted to swear at some of those people. There were some polite people out there that would thank you for holding a door but would look at you strange sometimes because they were not used to it. Or the odd person that would say excuse me before bulling their way past you. Terry wasn't one of them LOL. I can't pick on Terry too much because she did help me out with my shopping. I hope everyone had better luck than me. It's hard doing this because Dad and Jean are out at Joan's and I have the game on in the background and for you leaf Fan's it's not looking too good. Ottawa hasn't played well the last few games but they sure came out ready for the Leafs. well take care and I'll try to do another post soon.

My plan for Christmas as of now is to leave here around 9pm and go to Muskoka after spending the evening with dad and jean. Then around noon Christmas day I'll be heading back for Christmas dinner at Terry's place unless she reads the blog and withdraws my invite LOL Thats the way I want to do it so don't try and talk me out of it.

By the way dad was doing pretty good today. He looked good and said he wasn't feeling much pain. I think the new stronger pills are really helping.

Happy shopping all !!!!!!!

Ghost of Christmas present

Alice was bugging me to make another post so I was thinking I needed something different. I was up at Karl and Trudy's this past weekend and had a great time as usual. I went to visit some people on the street where I used to live. Was nice surprising them. I never took many pictures and I don't want to copy Karl's blog so I had to come up with something different. I hope you like what I did for you guys !!!!

OoooOOoooOOoo Christmas tree.....

Just a quick blog about helping Dad and Jean put up their tree. Hopefully this weekend they will get it decorated because I'm getting all Christmas'd out and getting ready to get my scrooge hat out.....yeah thats righ bah humbug !!!!

Update on Dad (Papa)

Well I'm not sure how many people want me to make a post like this once in awhile but I'll go by negative comments.

Dad went to see one of his many Dr's yesturday. Apparently the prostate Cancer has spread some more. They have up'd his morpheen (sp) to a 12 hour pill and he can take one of the others if he starts feeling pain before the 12 hours are up. He started wed night and felt no pain thursday morning. Also starting today he will have a nurse pop by once a week to check on him. This is just a routine thing and the nurse said that after a bit they will probably back it off to once a month or so. She just wanted to check all dad's meds and see what was working and what wasn't. Also asked him alot of questions and said they can work on problems that may arise faster with all the information the Dr will have with these visits. Dad has lost about 10 pounds over the last month and judging by my pants being so tight I think I found it for him. The nurse sudgested a supliment drink that has lots of calories in it to help boost his intake. Dad does not eat much most days. Also starting in early January dad will be going for regular chemo treatments I believe every 3 weeks at first. Dad went today for his needle in the belly and then Jean and I traded places and I went with dad when he got his radiation treatment via intravenus (sp) It was at the cancer clinic near the Henderson General. Gave dad and me a chance to just shoot the breeze. Was nice spending that time with him. Dad and Jean both said that this new stuff does not mean anything has changed from the initial prognosis. Both their Dr's thought there should have been a nurse comming right from the start. In case they had any questions or concerns she can help.

Well sometime tomorrow I'm heading up north. I'm going to work in the morning I think ??? Then when I get home I'll probably have to do some shoveling for dad. Kris will be home around 4 or 4:30 and the way I see it if we leave right away we will hit bad weather and bad traffic so it might be better to wait a bit. Will play it by ear.

Goodnight

In memory of John Lennon

In memory of John Winston Lennon who was gunned down 25yrs ago today on Dec. 8, 1980 outside his building in New York City.

Google Earth

I was up late last night messing around with Google Earth. I found something out that I didn't know so had fun trying it. here are a couple examples. Then I have to get ready in case I work today.





I was going to do one of Gravenhurst or Bracebridge but it doesn't zoom in on Muskoka.

Baby You Can Drive my Car...

WOW
Is it ever nice having my own wheels again. After driving dad and Jeans car for the last couple weeks I forgot how small and crappy it is but HEY !!! IT'S MY SMALL AND CRAPPY CAR AND I LIKE IT !!!!!!! It runs better than it ever did...Thank You Soooooo much Glenn !!!!! I'm betting its going to get me to Gravenhurst and back no problem this weekend. If I had the money I'd be headed somewhere else tomorrow. I had thought a year ago if I was only in Ontario I would love to go to New York city on Dec 8th 2005 for the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's murder. I bet it's going to be nuts outside the Dakota and across the street in Strawberry Fields. I should have talked to Brad I bet he would have gone for it. He did go to Chicago with me in a small crappy car to Beatlefest !!! I'm pretty much living on my credit card but should soon get some money from Dave which will pay my way up north this weekend. Then when U.I. comes in I'll be able to get caught up and pay off some debts and maybe buy myself a new toy. Only after I'm caught up I'm going to buy myself a new digital camera. A Canon D20 Digital SLR. Around 2 grand with taxes but I've held one and played with it and it's beautifull !!!! 5 frames per second and no delay when you press the shutter button down. Great for those fast action sports shots !

Here is a site I thought Karl might like http://blognhotties.blogspot.com/ And here is one that I found that I like and might be able to try with my new camera LOL http://www.playboy.com/specialeditions/howto/

Have a great night all I'm going to shower and venture out for an hour.

One last thing...
I really hate getting stuff that has been forwarded but this is actually cute so I will post it here. Doesn't mean I want more of this type of crap LOL

Day 2 - Vancouver Blizzard 2005 - Revenge of the Commuters

Chilled Vancouver commuters faced their second day of winter hell today, as an additional ¼ centimeter of the peculiar white stuff fell, bringing the lower mainland to its knees and causing millions of dollars worth of damage to the marijuana crops. Scientists suspect that the substance is some form of frozen water particles and experts from Saskatchewan are being flown in. With temperatures dipping to the almost but not quite near zero mark, Vancouverites were warned to double insulate their lattes before venturing out. Vancouver police recommended that people stay inside except for emergencies, such as running out of espresso or biscotti to see them through Vancouver's most terrible storm to date. The local Canadian Tire reported that they had completely sold out of fur lined sandals.

Drivers were cautioned to put their convertible tops up, and several have been shocked to learn that their SUV's actually have four wheel drive, although most have no idea how to use it. Weary commuters faced soggy sushi, and the threat of frozen breast implants. Dr. John Blatherwick, of the Coastal Health Authority reassured everyone that most breast implants were perfectly safe to 25 below. "The government has to do something," snarled an angry Trevor Warburton. "I didn't pay $540,000 for my one bedroom condo so I could sit around and be treated like someone from Toronto."

at the time I posted this it was plus 6 in Nanaimo !!!

My Car

Just received a phone call from Kim telling me that my car should be ready in less than 2 hours. Glenn was out putting the final touches on it as we spoke. He told me the other night it starts good and sounds good. Couldn't hear no knocks or nothing. It will be nice to have my wheels back even though I have always had the use of Dad and Jeans car when I needed it. She said they will bring it over.

Dad and I went and seen Walk The Line yesturday. It was a good movie. Reese Witherspoon did an excellent job as June Carter. She should get an Oscar nod for her performance. The Johhny Cash character was pretty good too but Reese stole the show as far as I'm concerned.

Had a wee bit of snow last night so I went out and shovelled the driveway. Feels not too bad out side. Thought it was colder. The sun was shining while I was shovelling but has dissapeard for now. Kinda like Karls story on the tree only I never heard any music playing. Maybe they were playing it in my bad ear and I couldn't hear it.

UPDATE Here is a site that Karl might like to check out and others as well. http://blognhotties.blogspot.com/

Last night Glenn, Justin and I went to the Bulldogs vs Baby Leafs game at Copps arens in Hamilton. The Bulldogs are in a slump and I think that was there 6 loss in a row. The game was pretty entertaining. The Bulldogs outshot the Leafs by a pretty big margin but just couldn't put them in the net. There was one good fight but down at the far end and against the boards where we couldn't really see much. There was another one but the refs jumped in too quick to stop it. Later on in the 3rd period there was a good fight in the stands down near where the fight had taken place on the ice. Just when everyone thought it was over and were sitting down the one guy sucker punched the other guy and they started swinging again. Soon after Hamilton's finest dragged them away. With about 4 minutes to go Glenn got up to visit the pool and he saw another fight with a couple idiots that were running around in Toronto colours and helmets and the police. He was just a couple feet away from it. Justin was mad his dad didn't get him to see it but his dad said he was still on his way to the pool when it happened. By the way the Bulldogs lost 3-1. The cab ride home with Mario driving the taxi was pretty exciting too. He was flying up the nountain in and around cars then took a phone call. Justine said that was his first ever ride in a cab and Glenn said glad we made it out alive so he can talk about it.

In just over an hour Dad and I are heading out to see the Johhny Cash movie. Dad must be in the mood because I woke up to Johhny Cash music for the first time since I've been stayying here. When I get back I'm going to make a cherry cheesecake and give most of it to Glenn and Kim and family. They like cheesecake but said they have never had mine. I told Jean I will steal us both a piece first. I'm actualy going to make my own pie crust as well !! This will be a first although when I lived in G'hurst I had bought the graham crumbs but decided to eat them as a snack instead. Will let you know how both the movie and the cheesecake turn out.

Sunday we are going out to visit Annette and the family. Ryan has to leave for work around 6 but Tyler is not working. I havn't seen Tyler yet so it will be nice to finaly see him. I heard they got some snow the other day. We have a dusting here but it's freaking coooooooold.

One last thing. I emailed the bitch from the football team and told her that I'd like to update the awards page on the web site if shed send me the information. Her reply was..."Kevin I am so glad to hear from you, I have some really important info to get on asap...Is it possible for you to do it?" Would I have asked for stuff to put on the site if I couldn't ?? I did get a couple nice emails from her after ... "thank you....I have missed you dearly :)" and "Hi Kevin, How is your dad? How are you? I can't wait until you come back :)" I think the reason she was a bitch is because she wanted me and knew she couldn't have me LMAO ... yeah that's it !! Oh I did get one more email from her after I changed the web site for her... "your the best!" but I will tell you I never got the information I had asked for...figures.

That's all for now feel free to leave comments !

Car progress

Talked to Glenn last night on the phone and he says the car is running. There are still a few things that need to be done on it but after many hours the other night he got it started. I really appreciate all the work Glenn is doing. I didn't even imagine him working on it durring the week because it is dark by the time he gets home from his job. I guess the weather was good enough to work even in the dark because we are expecting snow this weekend.

Glenn, Justin and I are going to the Bulldogs vs the baby Leafs game Friday night. Should be fun. I'm glad the Hamilton Bulldogs are Montreals farm team because if they were the Leafs farm team I wouldn't be able to cheer for them LOL. I hate the Canucks game being on so late because I usually fall asleep durring the game. Was glad they finaly beat the Avs last night.

I went to Terry's last night and went next door to visit the cat. She seems to be doing fine over there. She has the run of the place and not a dog in site. She came over to see me for a bit then took off running up and down the hall.


Last note: I've asked Jean to hold back on the chocolates for a while. My pants are getting too tight on me. It's not easy because there is chocolate and candies everywhere. So far it's been 3 days and the last 2 I have taken Brandy out for a long walk. Gotta get a little more room in the waist band so I can pig out at Christmas.

Hope everyone doing well !!!