Friday, November 30, 2007

Lady Smith light up

Last night the wife and I went to Lady Smith to see the light up ceremony. There are thousands of people in this small town covering the main street all waiting for the street to be lit up. They have live music which I thought sounded like Valdy doing Christmas carols but when I made it over saw that it wasn't I was dissapointed. We were standing in a huge line waiting to by a smokey off of one of the vendors. I told Patty I had to go see if it was Valdy cause if I heard it had been later I'd have to kick myself for not seeing him.

They do a count down then throw a switch and the whole main street is alive with christmas lights. I took pictures of the lights last year and may go back and take some more this year.

Next comes a parade which has gotten alot bigger since I seen it my first year on the island. I took many pictures and quite a few didn't turn out because I tried not to use the flash or you wouldn't see the lights. I think you will like the ones that did turn out because you can really see how much effort went into making the floats. I put one example up.

After uploading the pictures a lot more turned out than I had thought although I took about 150 pictures in total. I kind of rushed this post as we are heading out for the evening so it may not make any sense.


























Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Winter Photos

Monday evening we got some snow in paradise. After I got home from work Tuesday morning I decided to take a few photos. I wanted to get a shot of the moon which was sitting bright and clear in the sky. By the look of the photos you'd think it was dark outside but it was actually pretty bright. If I lighten them up you lose the contrast in the moon. I also got a few pictures of snow on the ground. I hear we are going to get more snow today but I hope they are wrong and its just rain as its plus 3 outside right now.

Tomorrow night we are going to go to Ladysmith for the Christmas light up event held the last Thursday of November every year. I'll post some photos on the weekend.







Monday, November 26, 2007

University ?? and more

I called Mal U and set up an appointment for tomorrow. They have an information session in Nanaimo tomorrow but I don't really feel like driving there then coming home and going straight to work. I'm going to check and if Patty is interested they will change my appointment to next Tuesday after 4pm. I'd like to do this but not sure if I will be able to afford it. I'd have to take a first aid course and a food safe course before I can even think about it. That's about 500 dollars. Then the actual HS/RC attendant course is close to 4 grand. Will look into it cause I might be able to get some assistance.

Right now I'm actually liking my job except for the fact its outside and cold. Graveyard shift isn't a big attraction either but I do get to see Patty and Ben a lot more. Right now I'm not doing a whole lot because of the broken ribs thing but I've been training a guy on the saw and driving the fork lift alot. I talked to the owner the other day because I didn't see a raise on my check. by the time its all said and done I think I'll be getting 3 dollars more because I'm temp foreman. I told the owner now that I'm doing it I'd like the opportunity to be the foreman when the time comes and we have a full crew on nights or at least some builders. He said we can discuss it when the time comes so I'm stepping up and doing as much as I can now. None of the other guys on the shift could do it or wouldn't want it. That's why I've been going into work even with my broken ribs because I told him one thing I can be is dependable.

We had a guy get a sliver and miss 3 nights now he has something else and has a Dr's note to get some time off. Tom who has been there 3 years is a nice guy but very slow. Not just at his job LOL. The guy I'm training on the saw is new this week. Jumped right into the fire because normally they start as a stacker and work up to sawyer. Sawyers make the most money there. There was a stoner that quit after he was told he couldn't smoke pot at work. There is a native who is a nice guy but makes more puppies than anything else there. We get two 15 min breaks but I don't push them back till after 18mins. Found he was going to break at least 4 minutes before everyone else. When we are done break he heads to the washroom for a few more minutes.

I'll have to learn more about building which I really don't know much about. Hopefully they will put guys that know what they're doing on this shift. There is one guy that said he'd be interested in going to nights and being foreman but he is the best builder on afternoons and they don't want to lose him on that shift. We could probably work good as a team like they had at Atlas. One guy in charge of builders one guy in charge of sayers

Patty and I went shopping and bought a nice little tree and some decorations. We will be putting it up this weekend. I bought a little tree that looks like Charlie Brown's tree and we have it in the living room now. Its kind of cute and I'm just going to hang my three wolf decorations on it. Keep with the theme of the living room. ummmmmmmmmmm looks like that is all for now can't think of anything more.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

I've got nothing....

Just a little steal from Mike but I really don't have anything. Went to work all week. Tried just doing light duty but I hate standing around especialy on graveyard shift. Didn't get the pay raise I was looking for so called the owner and got things straightened out....I hope. He seems pretty good to talk to. Not sure whats up for this weekend. Still can't do much because of the sore ribs. Worst part is sleeping cause I can't lay on my left side so can't snuggle with Patty. Last night I got her to switch sides with me so I could snuggle. Only problem was the cat decided to get in between us. Didn't sleep great and was up early as usual. Might go to Nanaimo I'm buyying a lens off my buddy for my camera and another memmory card for back up. I'll have 2 - 2 gig cards now. The lens is a 50mm 1.8 so will work good in low lighting. He just bought a 1.2 to shoot basketball in doors. If I can I might go shoot the hockey game next week in town to try it out. Christmas is getting close and I actually started shopping/looking for gifts yesterday. Kinda sorta looking forward to Christmas this year. Going to Fanny Bay to spend it with some of Patty's family. Probably most of the ones in the photo from last Christmas. Pretty sure I posted it. I just looked and I had.

Well going to go get dressed and go to Tim's for brunch. See how it works out since I have the rib thing and its always quite crowded. Well not bad for nothing but thats it for now.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Getting old sucks!!!!!

Just a very quick post here. Yesterday Ben and I went skating and I was going to show Ben how to stop but my feet went out from under me. I went down hard.....real hard!!! They had to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital as I couldn't catch my breath and was in a lot of pain. Ex rays show at least two fractured ribs. Doc said good breaks but pieces don't look separated. Poor Ben was so upset and blames himself cause he asked me to go. While I was stretched out on the ice talking to Ben because he was upset a cute girl skated over to talk to him. She offered him a hug and he said no thanks. SHEEEESH I thought in the year I've known him he learned better than that. Take the hugs where you can get them. I told Patty the girl could have offered me one as I was the person in pain LOL.

Well off to find a comfortable position again.

Sorry no pictures. Will have to teach Patty that when I'm in the hospital and she is called grab the camera LOL. That seems to be the family thing to do.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Double post

I like blogger better than facebook but blogger still gives me a hard time now and then. There was a whole other paragraph with my last post about the salmon fighting each other. Plus more about the Natives being allowed to fish there while no one else can but I can't remember all of what I typed. Apoparently it went south cause when I posted the blog it wasn't there but I know it was there before I posted it.

Patty and I don't go out much in the evenings on weekends. We do stuff durring the day but hang out around the house together in the evenings. This past friday we decided to go out. A friend of mine, Glenn Olsen is in a band and they were playing in Duncan. They are called Sadly Available. We got there a bit early and Glenn had set up his drums already so he came over and sat with us and chatted for a while. They are actually pretty good and they play mostly their songs with a few covers thrown in. A few Tragically Hip along with a few others. Durring the second set Glenns wife came in and sat with us. Patty and her hit it off pretty good and we ended up closing the bar. It was fun to be out like that we'll have to do it again soon.






Becomming a West Coastner !!

A friend of Ben's stayed over a couple nights and when his mom came to pick him up Saturday afternoon she oppened up her trunk and asked if we would like some Prawns or crabs. She had a huge bucket full. Both Ben and Patty like Prawns so we got a pail and she loaded us up. Now I had never seen Prawns like this I've only seen them cooked and peeled. These things were still alive. Ben was too excited about ripping the heads off these things so we checked with Aunt Claire to see how to do this. Apparently you grab the head and body squeeze tight with your fingers and twist and pull. It took me a bit after watching Ben but I finaly decided to try it. Mine was still squirming a bit which I didn't like too much but then I don't think he liked it too much either. I did get through it and then Patty gave it a shot. Hers jumped and it scared her so much I thought she was going to pee herself. The look on her face was funny wish I had been prepared with the camera. Ben kept picking around the big guys abd Patty and I helped with the small guys but Ben did most of it on his own. Then Ben grabbed the big one and let it rip. He was pretty happy after it was done. We then washed them off and boiled then in a pot. Then we peeled and cleaned them again and then put them in a bowl and poured garlic butter on them. I only had a couple but they werent too bad. Not as bad as the time Rob and Mike had some Jumbo Shrimp in the fridge and Rob talked me into trying one. Cold and like rubber so after a couple chews it went in the garbage. I might have to try crab one day but I'll never ever try Calimari again!!!

There was one thing in the bucket that no one was sure of what it was. I took a couple of pictures of it so if you know please let us know.














Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Some photos

Well things are starting to slow down for me and I decided to post some pictures from the past couple weeks. Patty and I like to get out Saturday and Sunday mornings and go to Tim Horton's for breaky. Then we like to go somewhere for a walk or go window shopping. A couple weeks ago we had gone to the park where we had gone for a walk on our first date .... or was it when I proposed because it was around the same time LMAO!! Anyways I brought my camera in case there was something to photograph like fall colours but it wasn't that colour full. On our way back to the car I was watching a man play Frisbee with his dog so I stopped and took a couple photos.






There were many people in the park as it was a sunny but cool day. There were also alot of dogs being walked which is another reason I like that park. I stop and pet many of the dogs and Patty and I talk to the owners. One woman told us of a spot on the Reserve where he daughter goes to take pictures. Its near the old brick church I had taken photos of and also near ducks unlimited land. It was late afternoon when we got there which is not the best time to take photographs but we looked around any ways. We found an old shoot that they used to use for corralling cattle to brand them or load them on a truck. It is hidden pretty good by weeds growing over it but looks kind of neat.









This past Sunday we had to go down towards Victoria to drop some stuff off for Adam. On the way there we decided to stop at Goldstream park to see if the Salmon were running up stream yet. By the look of all the traffic and full parking lots its a very popular thing to do. It is a nice looking park with lots of trails to walk on. We basically stayed close to the river to watch and take pictures of the fish. They have rangers throughout the area to talk to the visitors and explain whats going on. There were also a few natives who were there taking advantage of the running salmon and were fishing as only the natives are allowed to do. Its funny that at one spot the ranger was making people stay back from the edge because there was a female salmon making a nest supposedly within 10 feet of where she was born. 50 meters down stream there was a native with a big hook on a pole standing in the water dragging some of the salmon out onto the shore then beating them with the pole so they stopped squirming. Some people were appalled and others were fascinated. I went from appalled to fascinated LOL. I didn't have the proper filter on my lens and it was a cloudy day so most of my 300 pictures are trash but here are a few.