Some Pictures From The Month

Just trying to pad my end-of-month posting stats and such.  And also a chance to post some pictures from the month.  Shelly and I do print five or six pictures each month to put in an album for Molly.  So we do have a record of the better pictures.  Most probably are on the blog, but some probably not.  I have a portable hard drive with a few hundred pictures on it over the past 2 years.  Some day, some time, something will undoubtedly happen to it in that it gets ruined.  I will be S.O.O.L.  However, and as we all have been warned, they say whatever you do on the internet will last forever.  So in some regards that is good because there is a great deal of pictures on this blog that should survive.  But, then again, I wouldn't be surprised in 10 years if blogs and social networking looks entirely different, and has entirely changed.... 

So, it is my hope that people will get to read this in the future online....  But I am going to pay a bit of $ and get this content put into a book.  I know there are a few companies that do it.  And even if it cost a few hundred bucks, I'll have it forever....  So long as it doesn't get burnt in a fire, ruined by water, or the like.

To the pictures:

We are all great....  No problems here.  Shelly is still doing those things she does.  She is quite busy.  Work stuff, her social stuff, family stuff.... 

Molly is another story.  Yes, she is busy.  But she has her own style and flair which mostly consistent, but doesn't make any sense.  She doesn't like to get dressed up or be set in fancy clothes - any attire is fine.  She doesn't mind her hair being combed, but she hates have ribbons, or elastics in it.  She likes being in the tub and blowing bubbles and getting her face wet, but she hates, hates getting her hair washed.  She doesn't mind washing herself with soap on a cloth.....She'll eat mostly all kinds of food - as for her favourite -cheese and ham.  Cheese and ham.  She asks for it always, but she doesn't complain when it is breakfast and toast is served.    She is getting to be quite fussy in the stroller and has to be latched in.  She likes to eat with utensils, and her hands....  That, she doesn't have a preference.  She is actually getting pretty solid on her vocabulary - we are drilling the pleases and thank-yous and that is going well.  I usually put her to bed because she wants Shelly to keep rocking her and reading stories to her - I suppose she doesn't expect such love from dad.  But seriously, she goes to bed instantly with me, but not really with Shelly.

All in all she is doing quite well from being just a month a few days short of 2.

Mid September

Just a quick posting.  I have been telling people that my lackluster emails are because I keep this site updated and current with the news and events of what is happening...

A week or two ago I headed down to Windsor.  I have to make mention that I took the bike down and I encountered a few firsts on it.

The first thing to note, and I am under no allusion that others will enjoy these stories because they aren't that interesting - however, since I am documenting my travels....  It started to rain on my motorbike and I actually pulled over and put on my rain gear.  This was a first.  Usually I soldier on and get wet.  This summer when this happened to me on the way up to North Bay I said never again.  Never will I not stop and put on my rain gear.  So, I stopped as soon as it was raining, put on the gear, and drove off.  It stopped raining within 5 km....  However, I drove on for another 30 or so and stopped at a gas station.  I was just about to get on the 401 to rip the last 100km towards Windsor.  So I gassed up and took off the rain gear.  A guy filling up beside me said, "You don't want to do that."

Not taking his advice was a big mistake.  I took off my rain gear regardless.  And what do you know....  By Chatham it was down-pouring.  Just raining cats and dogs.  One of the scariest things I have ever done in my life happened next.

Since I recently professed to never ride in the rain without proper clothing, I pulled over under a bridge on the 401 to put my gear back on.  This was a horrible idea.  Changing on the side of the 401 was not wise.  The rain was coming under the overpass sideways - I was still getting soaked.  And the cars and trucks whizzing by was terrifying.  So, ya.   I made it to Windsor safe, but wet and beaten a bit.  No matter.  It was straight to Biblioasis Bookstore to visit with Alex.

There was a lot of confused looks in my direction as I walked in for Alex's 40 minute seminar and reading from his Giller Prize nominated (2011) Light Lifting.  What could I do except sit back, have a cold beer, gather my wits, and listen to Alex.  As usual, he did not disappoint.

I went to Windsor to celebrate with some friends the University of Windsor's 50th Anniversary.  To make a long story short it was enormously anti-climatic.  There is a worker's strike on campus and as a result there was an abbreviated schedule of events.  Well, Alex and I made the best of what there was to enjoy, and hung out a lot with Jason Petro, and then some other great guys at the football, and the Dominion House on Saturday night for some pints.

Anyway, it was a decent weekend all in all.  No pictures....  It was not a great weekend on the bike, however, any weekend you get home safe and sound from being on two wheels, that is reason enough to be thankful.

Just a quick posting on my device.  This isn't as efficient as using the computer.

The device is quite unique.  Johnny Wright brought me home this knock-off/clone copied HTC system.  He is in China...  So it came from there with Chineese instructions and characters.  I am figuring it out slowly.  It is also a phone, but I have to get a SIM card for it.

Mostly I think it is cool that I have something from the Chineese blackmarket.  It could even be illegal!  (Like me switch blade collection, and firecrackers...)

Puff Balling + Biking

I got into a few adventures this weekend - Although I haven't been feeling too terrible well.  Nevertheless daylight was burning on Saturday, my mom took Molly for a few hours, so Shelly and I loaded up 800lbs of scrap steel of clean up around the farm.  We took it into Secondary Resources and got a piddly 6 cents per pound.  Well, with just under 50 extra bucks in our pocket we had a bite to eat and thought how nice it was to get a bit more cleaned up.  That just leaves 20 tires off the rim to take to the dump....  I guess we got our farm looking pretty good all in all for the year.  There aren't any trails cut - We still need a bulldozer for 10 hours or so to move and shake the place up.  But it is not so bad out there for the most part.

In the afternoon I got on the bike for some ripping around and back road exploration.  I hit most of the usual paths around Ball's Bridge and the railroad trails.  It was a terrific day.  No problems with the bike other than it is incredibly dirty.  It is a bit colder and I'll tell you that those air cooled engines love the low teen temps.  If anything then, the bike is running great.  I plan on being on it this week quite a bit and taking it down to Windsor on the weekend.  As long as it isn't raining, I'll be happy.

Sunday was a bit of the same thing.  I had the bike out.  Mid September however means puffball season.  So I was blazing path through Kinloss Township looking for the famed white Basidiomycota.
 

So ya, it didn't take too long before I came across a few beauties.  I ended up scoring 5.  3 were somewhat bigger than basketballs.  2 were just bigger than a tennis ball.  They all were really hard.  The harder the better.  These things can grow quite big, quite fast.  The barely last 3 days or so until they rot out and turn soft and yellow.

These are really rich tasting.  You can't eat too much or you'll feel it.  First you have to cut a few inches off the outside.  Then, take a decent enough look for the odd worm or snail that may have burrowed into it for habitat.  They are best fried.  I cook them as if I was cooking french toast.  I beat 3 or 4 eggs into a medium sized cake pan.  I slice the puffball into the thickness and size of a piece of bread.  Just the egg though.  And of course I butter the pan and have it hot.  Not many people have ever tried a puffball.  I have also found that not many people are willing to try them either.  Like I said, you can't eat too much of one, but they are okay.

Up next - goose and duck season is open!  Bow hunting for deer starts at the end of September.  There is a fall turkey season that starts just after Thanksgiving.  November first is rifle season in Lucknow for deer.... So anyway, just a few examples of how the land provides. 

Pictures/School Starting

Just so excited to post the picture of Shelly and I with the fellers in Blue Rodeo....  We had a terrific time at the concert.  It was just neat to be apart of the meet-and-great because so few were chosen or had the opportunity.  It would have been so much better to have a pint with them and ask a few questions about their music and their world - however.  For that brief moment, and like most people, I felt as if they really enjoyed our company.  That goes without saying!

We got some first day back to school and daycare photos taken on our rainy Tuesday morning this week.  There was some significant reorganization and shuffling at Brookside actually which effected my numbers and whatnot.  But that was sort of expected.  For the next 190 working days I'll be teaching 25 students in a fourth/fifth grade split class.  There are 12 fourth graders and 13 fifth graders.  I have been pretty much on the ball during these first three school days.  But something funny actually has happened.  Well, maybe it is stupid....

I sent home September's monthly calendar and for the most part it was fine.  But in the important dates to remember section I indicated what day class pictures are to be taken and when open house is, but I also included that there wasn't any school on September 28th.  September 28th is a Saturday.  Stupid story, I know.  I wasn't exactly wrong.

A few other funny pictures - Molly, at times, has been playing with this really odd looking doll that she has.  We been told by others that she mostly looks like the daughter, or could look like the daughter, of that fictional character Chucky.  So, yes.  Molly likes it.  She doesn't really know any better.  You be the judge.

Chucky:

Molly and her doll:

And we are always into wearing anything around the house as a hat too:

And just being coolish: