Checkered Lounge Pants

I got a call the other day from my friend Peter Kydd, a rail worker here in Windsor, asking if I was going home to Winnipeg for Xmas this year. "No" I said, "staying home this year". Winter storms are wreaking havoc on Xmas travellers this year, eh? Once we caught up on the rail gossip he signed off. The next 24 hours seemed to include a kaleidiscope of the harshness of Old Man Winter. Its started snowing outside and it seemed to be a string of crappy weather from coast to coast. I had hoped it settled down before Boxing Day. I got my eye on some sales. BRB...gotta get the shovel and do the sidewalk.... .....no sooner had I shovelled the walk, and, Xmas came and went, the weather m an changed the forecast from snow to rain. The snow disappeared, that covered the electrical cord to the lights in the little tree in my back yard, and is laying like a long orange snake (see pic on the right) winding through the yard feeding off my outside plug. Well, we had a white chr

"Well it looks like we are going to have a white Christmas after all," Kevin said, "it finally feels like Christmas", regarding the heavy snowfall on the drive to his work this morning. That is pretty much typical for a Winnipegger that's moved to Essex County. I remember the first Xmas I had herein Windsor Essex County, and it snowed Xmas eve. Sweet Pea Valerie and I were in some kinda funk that we were going to have to experience a green Xmas (which is a bitter sweet phenomena for Winnipeggers, because, we dream of such a thing when living in the prairies, but go into culture shock when thrust into a green Xmas). I remember my folks saying, "it might be a green Xmas this year", when the snow had not yet arrived, on the prairies, at November's end. Have no fear of that, was going through our youthful prairie minds. Speaking of youthful...its my mother's birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Ma (do I recall an earlier blog regarding a gauntlet of D

Fireplace is crackling (built a fire early today to ward off the dampness from the rain) and most of my Xmas shopping is done. The remainder on my Xmas shopping list has to be purchased in town (Windsor) and Thursday is "town day"on this months calendar. I couldn't wait for a haircut so I got Kevin to cut my hair the other day and he did a good job. Its pretty short, but the "mop" was getting annoying, so short is good. Speaking of good, my long time friend John arrived home from a mission to dig wells for drinking water in Liberia. His wife Charlotte sent us a few pictures of the adventure, but, this one is so typical of John Kuban. I would describe John in one sentence... "A man with a strong sense of determination and will, with a heart as big as all outdoors, and a very good friend to make in life". Welcome home John. I wish I could drop in to Lorette to hear the stories, sitting in your shop over a case of Blue. Speaking of a mission of mercy, I w

POLAR BEAR DIP...... Hoooooooly Moly that was cold. I walked out on the stacked ice pack ( don't ask me why!!) yesterday and fell through when I stepped on the lake ice, 50 feet from shore. Good tha ng its shallow out there. Now having to plod through the broken ice and halfway back to shore, I had to turn back to thrash around and fish out my boots....wasn't going to lose them to the lake. By the time I was back on shore, my sopping wet clothes were starting to get pretty froze. Val said I was turning an ever darker shade of purple while peeling off the wet clothes in the porch. I had to promise Val that there would be no more winter swimmin' or Polar Bear dippin ' without supervision. Yo, did I just throw down a rhyme?? LOL . The day was not a total loss. I took Kevy job hunting, after dropping Val at work, since his layoff (greenhouses are inherently seasonal) and we stopped at the (Un)Employment Insurance offices (actually they are now called Service Canada) an

So this is Christmas......house rules have prevailed and Valerie Sweet Pea's birthday is complete so on to the Xmas festivities. The weekend was quiet and reserved (Forbes and Suzanne opted to stay home in Sudbury, but Audra brightened our weekend) and now its tree time. We will get out our little munchkin tree and ceremoniously decorate it with Sweet Pea placing ALL the decorations in their proper place (her OCD kix in big) on the tree, while I observe. We spent Saturday morning at the local hockey rink watching the neighbour's Austin play in his peewee hockey game. It was mega fun. So many things reminded me of the boyz playing hockey back in the day. I got right into the game and caught Valerie and Alexis (Austin's sister) looking at me like a nut while I was cheering on the lil guys. I found myself recalling the winter I was coaching the kids (bantam) one year and losing my voice in the playoffs. Nevertheless, with a decisive victory for the Kingsville Kings, as the bu

Hi Hi Hi Ho Ho Ho......how are things going? Have you done all your Xmas shopping? I have not even started.......GeeeeZ. I have a gauntlet of December birthdays to get through before Xmas. Just sent 2 cards off today with gift cards (from Timmies.....dont tell, k?) and Valerie Sweet Pea has a birthday on Saturday ( and neighbours threw a party 4 her last weekend ) so, house rules prevent me from any Xmas preparation until after birthday girl is celebrated fully. Furthermore, Kevys fiance is flying from Boston and Forbes and Susan are driving in from Sudbury for the weekend. Speaking of house rules, have you seen the crazy drama in Canuck parliament??? I saw a hasty interview with GG Jean from Europe and she was hardpressed to fill in the sound bite. Canadian politics have finaly outlegged US politicians for spinning fervour and misspoken rhetoric. Its very very difficult to keep your finger on the string of developments that lead to a coalition option for parliamentary governance. Ever