We are back in the city after the finale of the Deep Roots Festival
There were only 2 events today that we attended. This morning at 10, we went to "Rise Up Singing", a joyful, energetic performance featuring many of the performers from the weekend. We saw Tannis Slimmon, Up Dog, Coco Love Alcorn, and Cuckoo Moon. They were so good we didn't want it to end.
After lunch, and a quick visit to my mother's, we returned for the finale, which I'm sorry to state was a mixed bag. We loved 14th Street Brigade and Heather Kelday. 24th Street Wailers is a fusion of rockabilly and blues, and we can't wait for them to come back to the province so that we can see them again. My God, they are an amazing group, and I wish them every success. If they come to your town, see them. Do yourself a favour, and see these guys. If it helps, their lead guitarist, besides being a virtuoso player, is also very attractive. The saxophonist is easily the most exuberant such person in the history of that musical instrument. The bass player wowed us. And the lead singer is also the drummer, and we can't decide which of those roles she was better at. I don't swear much on this blog, because I believe that there are other ways to express things without vulgarity, but holy f*ck they're excellent. See them. Just see them. I love them. Love them. Love them!
After the intermission, we had Celso Machado again. You know, the Brazilian performer we saw Friday night. The show he did for us on Sunday was virutally identical to the one from Friday. We got bored pretty quickly. I have no idea how he would sustain a 90 minute show.
People had been raving about how good "Beautiful Wild Animals" was/were/whatever. We had high expectations, but we ended up disappointed. One guy plays an accordion like he was married to it; the other played a violin and sang in a voice that would make Michael Jackson take notes, if Mr. Jackson were in a position to take notes, of course. We walked out on it, so we ended up missing the ORO! Orkestra. I am guessing it was an amalgam of many of the musical acts from the whole weekend.
We got some dinner. Visited my mother. Bought some produce. Picked up Cindy Clawford. And drove back to Halifax, arriving around 7:40. I cleaned up and stayed awake to see the last episode of "Breaking Bad" and "Talking Bad" where they discussed the episode.
It was a wonderful weekend. We had a terrific time. And we can't wait for the 2014 Deep Roots Festival. We will just make sure to book off the Monday following the festival so that we can recover. It will be a very long day today.
See you later.
Bevboy
Monday, September 30, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Post 2460 - Deep Roots Day Two
Back home after another excellent day of roots music!
I left Patricia to fend for herself in Wolfville while I visited my mother. She wanted to do some shopping, so we did. We ended up grabbing victuals at the Old Gummer's Restaurant. I hadn't been there in quite some time. I won't be back for some time. Mom loves it there.
I met up with Patricia at 2:30. She'd just been at the song writer's circle. I guess it was excellent. Sigh. We made our way over to the Al Whittle Theatre to see "Guitars and Accordions". Several artists playing and singing songs, pretty good ones, using the above-noted instruments.
When that was over, we returned to Mom's. I mowed the lawn. Patricia rested.
We returned to Wolfville around 6:20. We parked next to the Farmer's Market. We made our way to the Festival Theatre.
There were six artists. Cuckoo Moon were 3 women from, I believe, the North Mountain. Their music reminded me of Madison Violet's. Very enjoyable. Crabtree and Mills were a duo. I think they pissed off the floor director because we could see him hold up 10 fingers, indicating they had 10 minutes to wrap things up, and blithely ignored it and kept playing until the co-hosts all but threw them off stage. A little ugly, but I enjoyed their performance very much.
Ray Bonneville was next. He lives in Austin but knows this part of the world. He and his drummer performed one blues song after another, and I was disappointed when they finished, because I could have listened to them all evening.
After a brief intermission, they had a give away of a nice barbecue set from the NSLC. The questions was, which act at this year Deep Roots also played at the first 3 festivals.
I had this duo say that Friday night. I jumped up and shouted, "Jay Unger and Molly Mason" just ahead of someone else who may or may not have been correct. The MC heard and saw me, so I won. Sweet!
Anyway, the amazing Coco Love Alcorn was next. I have seldom heard someone hit the high notes that she did. Loved her.
The last performer was Jesse Winchester. His music is more subtle and less ostentatious than many other folks there this weekend, but it grew on me. Remember: "Unless you're from another star/tears are a part of what you are". I think "A Little Glass of Wine" was my fave tune, though.
The show over after three and a half hours, we returned here. We are both overtired, but we want to attend the "Rise Up Singing" at 10 and of course the closing concert at 1pm.
God, I'm having fun this weekend.
See you tomorrow!
From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!
I left Patricia to fend for herself in Wolfville while I visited my mother. She wanted to do some shopping, so we did. We ended up grabbing victuals at the Old Gummer's Restaurant. I hadn't been there in quite some time. I won't be back for some time. Mom loves it there.
I met up with Patricia at 2:30. She'd just been at the song writer's circle. I guess it was excellent. Sigh. We made our way over to the Al Whittle Theatre to see "Guitars and Accordions". Several artists playing and singing songs, pretty good ones, using the above-noted instruments.
When that was over, we returned to Mom's. I mowed the lawn. Patricia rested.
We returned to Wolfville around 6:20. We parked next to the Farmer's Market. We made our way to the Festival Theatre.
There were six artists. Cuckoo Moon were 3 women from, I believe, the North Mountain. Their music reminded me of Madison Violet's. Very enjoyable. Crabtree and Mills were a duo. I think they pissed off the floor director because we could see him hold up 10 fingers, indicating they had 10 minutes to wrap things up, and blithely ignored it and kept playing until the co-hosts all but threw them off stage. A little ugly, but I enjoyed their performance very much.
Ray Bonneville was next. He lives in Austin but knows this part of the world. He and his drummer performed one blues song after another, and I was disappointed when they finished, because I could have listened to them all evening.
After a brief intermission, they had a give away of a nice barbecue set from the NSLC. The questions was, which act at this year Deep Roots also played at the first 3 festivals.
I had this duo say that Friday night. I jumped up and shouted, "Jay Unger and Molly Mason" just ahead of someone else who may or may not have been correct. The MC heard and saw me, so I won. Sweet!
Anyway, the amazing Coco Love Alcorn was next. I have seldom heard someone hit the high notes that she did. Loved her.
The last performer was Jesse Winchester. His music is more subtle and less ostentatious than many other folks there this weekend, but it grew on me. Remember: "Unless you're from another star/tears are a part of what you are". I think "A Little Glass of Wine" was my fave tune, though.
The show over after three and a half hours, we returned here. We are both overtired, but we want to attend the "Rise Up Singing" at 10 and of course the closing concert at 1pm.
God, I'm having fun this weekend.
See you tomorrow!
From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!
Friday, September 27, 2013
Post 2459 - Deep Roots Day One
We are back to my mother's after a very pleasant evening at the Deep Roots Festival!
We got to Acadia's Festival Theatre around 6:45. The showed started at 7. David Myles was the host. Each artist had about 35 minutes to wow us.
They all did.
Celsa Machado is a Jamaican. He plays a guitar and then whatever he can get his hands on to produce percussion. He slapped his face. Tapped his tummy. Took a swig of water, replaced the cap, and banged on the bottom of the bottle. Noises came out of his mouth that should not emanate from a human, but they did.
Tannis Slimmon is a male and female duo in their fifties. She sings like an angel. He plays beautifully. The highlight for me was the last song, which she did without musical accompaniment.
What can I say about Laura Smith? Her voice is back! She had a very hard decade or so, but she's back and sounds better than ever.
I was unfamiliar with the music of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. It is about as folky as you can get. If you have seen Ken Burn's "The Civil War", then you have heard their music, as one of their songs is the main theme for that documentary.
The David Myles Trio rounded out the evening. He told the story of how they played "Inner Ninja" at his mother's aqua fit class. They did doo-wop. And they performed a tune from his latest album that has cracked the top 40 in Canada. His fit song to do so. I guess "Inner Ninja" doesn't count.
From there we drove to the "Old O" to check Cajun Heat. A lot of zydeco. People who are into that kind of music are extremely passionate about it. I don't quite get it.
We returned to the house around 1am. There are more acts in less than 12 hours. We need our sleep.
We're having a wonderful weekend so far! How's yours going?
See you tomorrow!
From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!
We got to Acadia's Festival Theatre around 6:45. The showed started at 7. David Myles was the host. Each artist had about 35 minutes to wow us.
They all did.
Celsa Machado is a Jamaican. He plays a guitar and then whatever he can get his hands on to produce percussion. He slapped his face. Tapped his tummy. Took a swig of water, replaced the cap, and banged on the bottom of the bottle. Noises came out of his mouth that should not emanate from a human, but they did.
Tannis Slimmon is a male and female duo in their fifties. She sings like an angel. He plays beautifully. The highlight for me was the last song, which she did without musical accompaniment.
What can I say about Laura Smith? Her voice is back! She had a very hard decade or so, but she's back and sounds better than ever.
I was unfamiliar with the music of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. It is about as folky as you can get. If you have seen Ken Burn's "The Civil War", then you have heard their music, as one of their songs is the main theme for that documentary.
The David Myles Trio rounded out the evening. He told the story of how they played "Inner Ninja" at his mother's aqua fit class. They did doo-wop. And they performed a tune from his latest album that has cracked the top 40 in Canada. His fit song to do so. I guess "Inner Ninja" doesn't count.
From there we drove to the "Old O" to check Cajun Heat. A lot of zydeco. People who are into that kind of music are extremely passionate about it. I don't quite get it.
We returned to the house around 1am. There are more acts in less than 12 hours. We need our sleep.
We're having a wonderful weekend so far! How's yours going?
See you tomorrow!
From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Post 2458 - Thursday
It is past 10:30 on Thursday evening. I am off work until Monday. I promise to think of you until I go back to work, and while I am at the Deep Roots Festival all weekend.
We were gonna go up to the Valley this evening, but while our spirits were willing, our bodies were not. So, sometime relatively early in the morning we will drive down there and take advantage of our weekend pass. I will drop by the radio station to pick up the 2 tickets for the Friday night Blues fest at the Old Orchard Inn. And I will spend some time with my mother because it is fun to spend time with a woman who doesn't criticize me over every little thing I do, think, or say.
We have promised each other that we will not eat out this weekend, but that promise may not come to be. There is a pretty good diner in Wolfville called The Front Street Diner (next door to the animal hospital!) that she has not been to.
I am looking forward to the next few days. I will try to tweet often and even get some pics for you.
Deep Roots, here I come!
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
We were gonna go up to the Valley this evening, but while our spirits were willing, our bodies were not. So, sometime relatively early in the morning we will drive down there and take advantage of our weekend pass. I will drop by the radio station to pick up the 2 tickets for the Friday night Blues fest at the Old Orchard Inn. And I will spend some time with my mother because it is fun to spend time with a woman who doesn't criticize me over every little thing I do, think, or say.
We have promised each other that we will not eat out this weekend, but that promise may not come to be. There is a pretty good diner in Wolfville called The Front Street Diner (next door to the animal hospital!) that she has not been to.
I am looking forward to the next few days. I will try to tweet often and even get some pics for you.
Deep Roots, here I come!
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Post 2457 - Dinner With A Friend
We are back home from our dinner with the lovely and talented Megan Edwards.
She was a bit delayed because of an interview she had had to do for CTV Newsnet. That is the most creative excuse I have ever heard. I must try it sometime.
It was very nice to see Megan again. She is even more beautiful than she was the last time I saw her a few years ago. Vancouver has clearly been good to her.
Anyway, Megan and Patricia finally met face-to-face. They seemed to get along quite well. Megan spent the hour or so we were together catching us up on her life changes. For one, barring some kind of miracle, she will never live in Halifax again, even though she is from here. She fancies herself a larger city person. And, let's face it, the opportunities are far more plentiful there than here. It has ever been thus.
Before we ate, Megan promised that she would not say that she had to pee. This is a reference to a story I have told many times where she announced a desire to urinate after our first meeting in 2010. It has always drawn a good chuckle, each time I have told it.
She talked about how she met her current boyfriend, a member of Mariana's Trench. It is interesting how things work out, isn't it? If she had left Z earlier than she did, she would never have met the man. By being laid off, she was able to get a severance package and use that cash to move out West and kindle the relationship with the man of her dreams.
Of course, I got some photographs. I hope you like them. I hope you agree that I can pucker with the best of them.
Oh, and I was the one who had to pee before we left. TMI?
See you tomorrow, my lovelies.
Bevboy
She was a bit delayed because of an interview she had had to do for CTV Newsnet. That is the most creative excuse I have ever heard. I must try it sometime.
It was very nice to see Megan again. She is even more beautiful than she was the last time I saw her a few years ago. Vancouver has clearly been good to her.
Anyway, Megan and Patricia finally met face-to-face. They seemed to get along quite well. Megan spent the hour or so we were together catching us up on her life changes. For one, barring some kind of miracle, she will never live in Halifax again, even though she is from here. She fancies herself a larger city person. And, let's face it, the opportunities are far more plentiful there than here. It has ever been thus.
Before we ate, Megan promised that she would not say that she had to pee. This is a reference to a story I have told many times where she announced a desire to urinate after our first meeting in 2010. It has always drawn a good chuckle, each time I have told it.
She talked about how she met her current boyfriend, a member of Mariana's Trench. It is interesting how things work out, isn't it? If she had left Z earlier than she did, she would never have met the man. By being laid off, she was able to get a severance package and use that cash to move out West and kindle the relationship with the man of her dreams.
Of course, I got some photographs. I hope you like them. I hope you agree that I can pucker with the best of them.
Oh, and I was the one who had to pee before we left. TMI?
See you tomorrow, my lovelies.
Bevboy
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Post 2456 - Never Again!
So, I was looking for a light timer for the house. They didn't have what I wanted at Wal*Mart, so I reluctantly went to Target. I literally couldn't find anything in the same category. I wandered around the place for 15 minutes before I got fed up and left.
Patricia and I ended up going to the Montana's in Bayer's Lake for dinner. It was kinda meh. It was expensive for what we had, and the taste wasn't really there. There were barely enough potato skins to make it a plural. The fajitas were tasteless. And the bill/cheque was way up there.
We will never set foot in either Montana's or Target, ever again.
Disappointing.
What was not disappointing is what happened during my lunch hour today. In addition to finishing Ron Jeremy's "The Hardest (Working) Man in Show Business", I managed to win two tickets to the late night Friday concert at the Old Orchard Inn in Greenwich; it's part of the Deep Roots festival. It is NOT covered by our weekend passes, so we have yet one more reason to exhaust ourselves. We will have to take a nap Friday afternoon or something.
Tomorrow after work, Patricia and I are having dinner with Megan Edwards, who is back in town for a vacation. It is hard to believe that it has been a full two years since she was let go by Z103 (now Energy 103) and nearly as long since she moved to BC to seek fame and fortune (and a boyfriend who's a member of Marianas Trench.)
The sad fact is that there is no career path for her here in Nova Scotia just as there isn't one for an awful lot of young people today. If I were her age again, or a little younger or a little older, then my reality would probably consist of leaving Nova Scotia and finding work in a place like Toronto or Vancouver.
Anyway, Megan will fill me in on what she's been up to, and there should be enough material for a small-ish interview to be published here. Maybe she will let me pose for pictures with her again. I should shower or something.
The first episode of "SHIELD" is half over. Agent Coulsen is back, and there is a hint that he didn't go to Tahiti after the events of the Avengers movie, after all. I think I know what happened to him. Let's see if I wasted all that time reading comics when I was younger. I knew they would pay off someday.
You guys have a wonderful evening. I'll be sure to say hi to Megan for you. If you haven't read my itnerview with her, please do so. It is one of the most popular posts on this blog, ever. Read it and see why.
Bevboy
Patricia and I ended up going to the Montana's in Bayer's Lake for dinner. It was kinda meh. It was expensive for what we had, and the taste wasn't really there. There were barely enough potato skins to make it a plural. The fajitas were tasteless. And the bill/cheque was way up there.
We will never set foot in either Montana's or Target, ever again.
Disappointing.
What was not disappointing is what happened during my lunch hour today. In addition to finishing Ron Jeremy's "The Hardest (Working) Man in Show Business", I managed to win two tickets to the late night Friday concert at the Old Orchard Inn in Greenwich; it's part of the Deep Roots festival. It is NOT covered by our weekend passes, so we have yet one more reason to exhaust ourselves. We will have to take a nap Friday afternoon or something.
Tomorrow after work, Patricia and I are having dinner with Megan Edwards, who is back in town for a vacation. It is hard to believe that it has been a full two years since she was let go by Z103 (now Energy 103) and nearly as long since she moved to BC to seek fame and fortune (and a boyfriend who's a member of Marianas Trench.)
The sad fact is that there is no career path for her here in Nova Scotia just as there isn't one for an awful lot of young people today. If I were her age again, or a little younger or a little older, then my reality would probably consist of leaving Nova Scotia and finding work in a place like Toronto or Vancouver.
Anyway, Megan will fill me in on what she's been up to, and there should be enough material for a small-ish interview to be published here. Maybe she will let me pose for pictures with her again. I should shower or something.
The first episode of "SHIELD" is half over. Agent Coulsen is back, and there is a hint that he didn't go to Tahiti after the events of the Avengers movie, after all. I think I know what happened to him. Let's see if I wasted all that time reading comics when I was younger. I knew they would pay off someday.
You guys have a wonderful evening. I'll be sure to say hi to Megan for you. If you haven't read my itnerview with her, please do so. It is one of the most popular posts on this blog, ever. Read it and see why.
Bevboy
Monday, September 23, 2013
Post 2455 - Deep Roots
Now that it's bought and paid for, I can tell you what we will be doing this weekend. We have bought weekend passes to the 2013 Deep Roots Festival in Wolfville.
Cue the fanfare.
What is this thing called Deep Roots, you wonder? Wikepedia doesn't tell me much.
It is Roots music. Folk music. Blues. All wrapped up into one package.
There are many performers coming this weekend, including Jesse Winchester, the omnipresent David Myles, Cuckoo Moon, and dozens more. Here is a link to the full schedule.
We have Friday off work. We will be driving down Thursday so that we can be all ready to attend the festival all weekend long. We will be spending the weekend at my mother's. We will do our best not to eat out even once, dining and supping at my mother's instead.
We can hardly frigging wait to go. We have been waiting for months for this to happen, and it is almost here.
Time to go watch "Sleepy Hollow".
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Cue the fanfare.
What is this thing called Deep Roots, you wonder? Wikepedia doesn't tell me much.
It is Roots music. Folk music. Blues. All wrapped up into one package.
There are many performers coming this weekend, including Jesse Winchester, the omnipresent David Myles, Cuckoo Moon, and dozens more. Here is a link to the full schedule.
We have Friday off work. We will be driving down Thursday so that we can be all ready to attend the festival all weekend long. We will be spending the weekend at my mother's. We will do our best not to eat out even once, dining and supping at my mother's instead.
We can hardly frigging wait to go. We have been waiting for months for this to happen, and it is almost here.
Time to go watch "Sleepy Hollow".
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Post 2454 - Sunday
Well, I just finished watching the penultimate episode of "Breaking Bad". Without revealing anything, the set up for the final episode should be amazing.
I didn't do that much today, at least not as much as I was supposed to. I washed the dishes, a major undertaking around here. Patricia made an excellent meal of corn and chicken legs, even if I decided I didn't want to eat meat today and stuck with the corn.
What else is happening? I had a shower this evening, so the people at my work who have been complaining about my malodorous body lately will have nothing to complain about for a couple of days. As usual, my hair looks even better this evening after the product went in, than it did before.
I am listening to my Sirius satellite radio quite a bit lately. I am hooked on the 40's on 4 channel, featuring music recorded in that fine decade, or at least newly-recorded versions of those old songs. I listen to that channel far more than I should. It almost makes me want to go out and buy a zoot suit. Is there any place in the area where I can buy one? Maybe I can go here, now that they're shutting down the business.
I have to get up in six hours and go to work, so I will cut this short.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
I didn't do that much today, at least not as much as I was supposed to. I washed the dishes, a major undertaking around here. Patricia made an excellent meal of corn and chicken legs, even if I decided I didn't want to eat meat today and stuck with the corn.
What else is happening? I had a shower this evening, so the people at my work who have been complaining about my malodorous body lately will have nothing to complain about for a couple of days. As usual, my hair looks even better this evening after the product went in, than it did before.
I am listening to my Sirius satellite radio quite a bit lately. I am hooked on the 40's on 4 channel, featuring music recorded in that fine decade, or at least newly-recorded versions of those old songs. I listen to that channel far more than I should. It almost makes me want to go out and buy a zoot suit. Is there any place in the area where I can buy one? Maybe I can go here, now that they're shutting down the business.
I have to get up in six hours and go to work, so I will cut this short.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Post 2453 - Saturday Adventures
It is now nearly midnight Saturday evening. The plans I had made to do some stuff down here in my home office did not materialize. Here's why.
We got up late this morning. Starving, we went to the Timberlea Beverage Room for brunch. They had changed the menu recently and hired a new cook. Not in that order. The result was they now have edible food, which did not make you spend hours on the toilet after eating it.
On the way to the TBR, we had noticed some signs announcing yard sales. We doubled back and checked out a couple of them. And this is where the cool stuff begins.
The first one at the Baptist church in Timberlea, which is tucked away on a street that has a bunch of houses surrounding it. I don't know why to this day they put a church there, but they had their annual garage/yard/sale there.
They had baked goods. I got some. In the next room, we both found a camera bag for a dollar each. We noticed someone's name on the wall to whom all funds being raised would go. We learned that this was a young man who had been out riding his bike back in May when he was hit by a car. His father chanced upon his son a few minutes later. Against all odds, the boy is recovering. He may walk again and be able to resume a relatively normal life. If he had not been wearing a helmet, the story would have been much different, and sadder.
I don't discuss it here very much, but Patricia was in a very serious accident when she was six years old. She was run over in front of her house. She was in a coma for days. She endured many surgeries and had to spend more than a little time at the Sick kids hospital in Toronto to get the kind of care unavailable in Nova Scotia. The accident eventually cost her an eye. I believe it is her left eye. I can never remember which one.
Patricia and I heard about this young man from a woman named Evelyn; she became emotional at the thought of what the boy was going through and how similar her own situation had been and was hugged and comforted by Evelyn, who lives right next door to the church. We then met the young man and his father. We chatted for a few minutes before taking our leave. We were invited to a prayer meeting at Evelyn's house, which apparently happens every Monday and which includes finger food. I am getting peckish just thinking about it.
From there, we went back on to the Bay Road and found another sign for another yard sale. Actually, we had seen that sign on the way back from lunch, but it was impossible to make that turn without causing an accident. Anyway, we drove up that street and toward the yard sale. I happened to look to my left and noticed a fellow mowing his lawn. He looked familiar. I stopped the car and waved.
It turned out to be Charlie, the very nice man who runs the Metro Deli, which I haunt every day during my coffee break, and sometimes I buy breakfast there before I start work in the morning. (They have an early bird special that is to die for, and which includes coffee.) Charlie and I go back quite a few years. I had forgotten, until he reminded me, that he worked at the Pizza Town pizza place that I have frequented for years now (easily the best pizza in the BLT area, even though he doesn't work there any more.)
Charlie is one of the 4.7, a guy who reads my blog most every day. He shares my blog accounts on his Facebook quite often, apparently. And he has got his sister back in Lebanon interested in my blog, so I got him to mail some Blog business cards to her to distribute to her friends. I had no idea that we were neighbours, at least in the sense that we both live in Timberlea. We chatted for a few minutes. He said hello to Patricia, and we let him get back to mowing his lawn. I had my BlackBerry with me; I wish I had thought to pose for a picture with him in front of his house. Silly me.
We drove to the yard sale a block up from Charlie's. They were selling stuff like WD-40 and an amazing cleaner that has a citrus smell. Patricia got some cans of spray paint at a price that's about 25% of what it would cost in a store. I got the WD-40 and that citrus stuff. We left, waved at Charlie as he continued working on his lawn, and returned to the house.
Today was one of those days you look back on with some degree of bemusement and incredulity. We ran into someone who had stepped out to mow his lawn seconds before our arrival, and our trip to that street had been delayed because I couldn't have made that sharp a left hand turn without potentially unpleasant consequences. Cosmic tumblers lined up in such a way that we would see Charlie. I don't want to calculate the odds of that happening. I look forward to being invited over to his place for dinner sometime. After all, I know that he can cook.
The other neat thing was the yard sale at the church. We met a young whose lot in life was made topsy turvy in a way that resonated with Patricia in a special way. We met a lady who hugged Patricia and made her feel welcome. We also met the young man who has challenges facing him. But with the love and support of his family and the community, he can make it.
Days like this don't happen very often. They don't happen, nearly enough.
Anyway, that was my day. How was yours?
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
We got up late this morning. Starving, we went to the Timberlea Beverage Room for brunch. They had changed the menu recently and hired a new cook. Not in that order. The result was they now have edible food, which did not make you spend hours on the toilet after eating it.
On the way to the TBR, we had noticed some signs announcing yard sales. We doubled back and checked out a couple of them. And this is where the cool stuff begins.
The first one at the Baptist church in Timberlea, which is tucked away on a street that has a bunch of houses surrounding it. I don't know why to this day they put a church there, but they had their annual garage/yard/sale there.
They had baked goods. I got some. In the next room, we both found a camera bag for a dollar each. We noticed someone's name on the wall to whom all funds being raised would go. We learned that this was a young man who had been out riding his bike back in May when he was hit by a car. His father chanced upon his son a few minutes later. Against all odds, the boy is recovering. He may walk again and be able to resume a relatively normal life. If he had not been wearing a helmet, the story would have been much different, and sadder.
I don't discuss it here very much, but Patricia was in a very serious accident when she was six years old. She was run over in front of her house. She was in a coma for days. She endured many surgeries and had to spend more than a little time at the Sick kids hospital in Toronto to get the kind of care unavailable in Nova Scotia. The accident eventually cost her an eye. I believe it is her left eye. I can never remember which one.
Patricia and I heard about this young man from a woman named Evelyn; she became emotional at the thought of what the boy was going through and how similar her own situation had been and was hugged and comforted by Evelyn, who lives right next door to the church. We then met the young man and his father. We chatted for a few minutes before taking our leave. We were invited to a prayer meeting at Evelyn's house, which apparently happens every Monday and which includes finger food. I am getting peckish just thinking about it.
From there, we went back on to the Bay Road and found another sign for another yard sale. Actually, we had seen that sign on the way back from lunch, but it was impossible to make that turn without causing an accident. Anyway, we drove up that street and toward the yard sale. I happened to look to my left and noticed a fellow mowing his lawn. He looked familiar. I stopped the car and waved.
It turned out to be Charlie, the very nice man who runs the Metro Deli, which I haunt every day during my coffee break, and sometimes I buy breakfast there before I start work in the morning. (They have an early bird special that is to die for, and which includes coffee.) Charlie and I go back quite a few years. I had forgotten, until he reminded me, that he worked at the Pizza Town pizza place that I have frequented for years now (easily the best pizza in the BLT area, even though he doesn't work there any more.)
Charlie is one of the 4.7, a guy who reads my blog most every day. He shares my blog accounts on his Facebook quite often, apparently. And he has got his sister back in Lebanon interested in my blog, so I got him to mail some Blog business cards to her to distribute to her friends. I had no idea that we were neighbours, at least in the sense that we both live in Timberlea. We chatted for a few minutes. He said hello to Patricia, and we let him get back to mowing his lawn. I had my BlackBerry with me; I wish I had thought to pose for a picture with him in front of his house. Silly me.
We drove to the yard sale a block up from Charlie's. They were selling stuff like WD-40 and an amazing cleaner that has a citrus smell. Patricia got some cans of spray paint at a price that's about 25% of what it would cost in a store. I got the WD-40 and that citrus stuff. We left, waved at Charlie as he continued working on his lawn, and returned to the house.
Today was one of those days you look back on with some degree of bemusement and incredulity. We ran into someone who had stepped out to mow his lawn seconds before our arrival, and our trip to that street had been delayed because I couldn't have made that sharp a left hand turn without potentially unpleasant consequences. Cosmic tumblers lined up in such a way that we would see Charlie. I don't want to calculate the odds of that happening. I look forward to being invited over to his place for dinner sometime. After all, I know that he can cook.
The other neat thing was the yard sale at the church. We met a young whose lot in life was made topsy turvy in a way that resonated with Patricia in a special way. We met a lady who hugged Patricia and made her feel welcome. We also met the young man who has challenges facing him. But with the love and support of his family and the community, he can make it.
Days like this don't happen very often. They don't happen, nearly enough.
Anyway, that was my day. How was yours?
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Friday, September 20, 2013
Post 2452 - Friday
It is 10pm. Friday. The weekend is here.
After work this evening we had another meal at the Swiss Chalet in Clayton Park on Lacewood Drive. Second time there this week. I had the half chicken with baked potato; Patricia had ribs and chicken. She has this great interest interest in eating ribs, but I do not share it. I find them messy and fatty. The sauce on them is the only thing that provides flavour. If I never ate another rib again, it would never upset me.
Afterward, Patricia got groceries and I went into Wal*Mart to get sneakers. That's what I call them, by the way. Sneakers. They are not "running shoes". They do not have an overly exuberant brand name. They do not inflate by activating a special button somewhere. They do not glow in the dark. They cost $29 plus tax. They are sneakers. Get over it.
I have noticed a difference between men and women. Besides the shopping gene and breasts, that is. And earrings. Anyway, men tend to own only enough shoes to last them until they wear out and they go out and buy another pair. Women... well, they go a bit overboard in the shoe department, don't they? They buy shoes for the sake of buying them. Frig knows why.
One woman I used to know was running late for work one morning. She reached into her closet and pulled out two red shoes, stuffed her feet into them, and dashed out the door. It was only when she got to work and looked down at her feet when it dawned on her that she was wearing a red shoe from two different pairs of red shoes. I can't think of too many men who would be in that predicament. If I wear a black shoe from two different pairs of black shoes, I doubt if anyone would notice, including me.
I forgot to tell you the other day that on October 5th, at the Northwood Old Folks' Home in Halifax, that I will be presenting the test speech for the annual Toastmasters Evaluation Contest. There is a more formal name than that, but that's good enough to give you an idea. The test speech is just that: A speech that is presented for the participants in the evaluation contest to evaluate. I will give the speech and sit down and have 10 people or so evaluate my performance. It will be like being married and having your wife point out your shortcomings in 10 different tones of voice. I can hardly wait.
Turns out that, for some time now, I am only 2 steps away from achieving my DTM, the Distinguished Toastmaster designation, which is the highest level one can achieve in the organization. Some DTM's rest on their laurels; their speaking skills deteriorate to the point where they might as well not be in TM any more. That's why they often refer to "DTM" as "Dead Toastmasters".
Others go whole hog the other way, and re-do all of the things that would earn them all those earlier designations, all over again. I can understand that on an intellectual basis, but aren't there other things to do with one's life other than re-do things over and over?
Once I get my DTM, I hope to strike some kind of balance.
Tomorrow will be here before I know it. Time for beddy-bye. Newbie is giving me that come hither look and I cannot resist it any more.
See you Saturday!
Bevboy
After work this evening we had another meal at the Swiss Chalet in Clayton Park on Lacewood Drive. Second time there this week. I had the half chicken with baked potato; Patricia had ribs and chicken. She has this great interest interest in eating ribs, but I do not share it. I find them messy and fatty. The sauce on them is the only thing that provides flavour. If I never ate another rib again, it would never upset me.
Afterward, Patricia got groceries and I went into Wal*Mart to get sneakers. That's what I call them, by the way. Sneakers. They are not "running shoes". They do not have an overly exuberant brand name. They do not inflate by activating a special button somewhere. They do not glow in the dark. They cost $29 plus tax. They are sneakers. Get over it.
I have noticed a difference between men and women. Besides the shopping gene and breasts, that is. And earrings. Anyway, men tend to own only enough shoes to last them until they wear out and they go out and buy another pair. Women... well, they go a bit overboard in the shoe department, don't they? They buy shoes for the sake of buying them. Frig knows why.
One woman I used to know was running late for work one morning. She reached into her closet and pulled out two red shoes, stuffed her feet into them, and dashed out the door. It was only when she got to work and looked down at her feet when it dawned on her that she was wearing a red shoe from two different pairs of red shoes. I can't think of too many men who would be in that predicament. If I wear a black shoe from two different pairs of black shoes, I doubt if anyone would notice, including me.
I forgot to tell you the other day that on October 5th, at the Northwood Old Folks' Home in Halifax, that I will be presenting the test speech for the annual Toastmasters Evaluation Contest. There is a more formal name than that, but that's good enough to give you an idea. The test speech is just that: A speech that is presented for the participants in the evaluation contest to evaluate. I will give the speech and sit down and have 10 people or so evaluate my performance. It will be like being married and having your wife point out your shortcomings in 10 different tones of voice. I can hardly wait.
Turns out that, for some time now, I am only 2 steps away from achieving my DTM, the Distinguished Toastmaster designation, which is the highest level one can achieve in the organization. Some DTM's rest on their laurels; their speaking skills deteriorate to the point where they might as well not be in TM any more. That's why they often refer to "DTM" as "Dead Toastmasters".
Others go whole hog the other way, and re-do all of the things that would earn them all those earlier designations, all over again. I can understand that on an intellectual basis, but aren't there other things to do with one's life other than re-do things over and over?
Once I get my DTM, I hope to strike some kind of balance.
Tomorrow will be here before I know it. Time for beddy-bye. Newbie is giving me that come hither look and I cannot resist it any more.
See you Saturday!
Bevboy
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Post 2451 - Kitty Cat
Hey. Ten o'clock. Getting late. Long day. Turning in soon.
We took Cindy Clawford to the vet's this evening. She is down about 5 ounces since last week. We have decided to feed the cats from different cans of food so that we know how much each cat is getting in the run of a day. That will commence tomorrow.
I am down here in my home office tapping away. Newbie is on the bookcase to my immediate left. His weight gain is becoming quite noticeable.
This weekend I will be spending quite a bit of time down here. I will be sifting through what vhs tapes I want to digitize and which ones to toss. I am thinking I will toss 95% of them from the get go. The ones I will hold on, contain things that are just not replaceable in any way, shape, or form. I recorded a lot of radio shows in the 1990's and early 2000's. Morning shows and editions of the Hotline when Brian Phillips was the host. Dozens of hours of the stuff, mostly on vhs.
I also have several editions of "Maritime Mysteries", hosted by Bill Jessome. He did the individual stories on Live at Five; but from time to time, ATV would edit several of the stories together and broadcast them as half hour specials. I have several of those broadcasts. Other things, too. I won't know until I chance upon them. By Sunday evening I hope to have located all the stuff I want to transfer to my computer. Then, the real-time process of dubbing to dvd and then ripping those dvd's can start. That will take a long time.
Once I have digitized these radio morning shows I can upload them to a place where folks can download them if they want to. I highly doubt if there are any copies of these broadcasts extant anywhere, so I feel it's important to preserve these broadcasts.
Anyway, long day, and I have to get up not many hours from now. Guess I'll turn in.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
We took Cindy Clawford to the vet's this evening. She is down about 5 ounces since last week. We have decided to feed the cats from different cans of food so that we know how much each cat is getting in the run of a day. That will commence tomorrow.
I am down here in my home office tapping away. Newbie is on the bookcase to my immediate left. His weight gain is becoming quite noticeable.
This weekend I will be spending quite a bit of time down here. I will be sifting through what vhs tapes I want to digitize and which ones to toss. I am thinking I will toss 95% of them from the get go. The ones I will hold on, contain things that are just not replaceable in any way, shape, or form. I recorded a lot of radio shows in the 1990's and early 2000's. Morning shows and editions of the Hotline when Brian Phillips was the host. Dozens of hours of the stuff, mostly on vhs.
I also have several editions of "Maritime Mysteries", hosted by Bill Jessome. He did the individual stories on Live at Five; but from time to time, ATV would edit several of the stories together and broadcast them as half hour specials. I have several of those broadcasts. Other things, too. I won't know until I chance upon them. By Sunday evening I hope to have located all the stuff I want to transfer to my computer. Then, the real-time process of dubbing to dvd and then ripping those dvd's can start. That will take a long time.
Once I have digitized these radio morning shows I can upload them to a place where folks can download them if they want to. I highly doubt if there are any copies of these broadcasts extant anywhere, so I feel it's important to preserve these broadcasts.
Anyway, long day, and I have to get up not many hours from now. Guess I'll turn in.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Post 2450 - Grr!
So.
There is a woman who owns one of those little sub-sub-compact cars, the kind where they give out little red round noses to every new buyer. This woman realized last year that she could park her car in front of the legislature on Granville Street, wedging her vehicle between two other vehicles that had paid for parking spaces, because her car was small enough to do so. This would result in the people who did pay for parking to have to struggle to get their automotive conveyances out of their parking spaces without hitting her circus-related car.
As you might imagine, she is a polarizing figure. For every person who think she's sticking it to the man, there are 10 others who are out for blood. My favourite comment on the CBC message boards was to the effect that if she got behind or in front of their car, that they would wrangle some friends to pick up her car and put it on the sidewalk.
This woman, whatever her damn name is, took great umbrage at these negative comments, thinking she was being threatened. She probably didn't go to the police because they would tell her that she couldn't park there to begin with.
Anyway, when I drove to Toastmasters this evening, I ended up having to park behind this vehicle. The space between the car behind me and hers was compromised because she was straddling two parking spaces in an effort to park at no cost. I used my mad parallel parking skills to get into the space, but it was very tight; the ass end of my car nearly ended up in the next parking spot because of her.
I took a few pics of her car to show you how close we were.
After the meeting was over, I drove two women in my car to where they needed to be. They saw my vehicle jammed in there and expressed negative sentiments about her shitbox. For all I know, she may yet be parked there.
A few thoughts.
She took a lot of heat for her behaviour and attitude last year. Yet, she persists in parking there, which says a lot about her attitude and degree of self-absorption. She is a sociopath. She just doesn't care about anyone other than herself.
Why the hell don't the parking nazi's who slither and skulk and ooze their way throughout the downtown, ticket her out of existence? They should ticket her car every day. If she doesn't pay those tickets, then the government can refuse to do any business with her, up to and including declining to renew her license.
How long will it be before she, in an effort to finagle her car into this virtual parking space of hers, hits another car?
How long will it be before a vehicle legitimately parked on either side of her accidentally-on-purpose hits her car and just keep on going? Given the visceral reaction people have had toward her scheme, I am surprised it hasn't happened yet.
Ah! I feel better getting this off my chest.
How do you guys feel about people who flout the rules, who think that these rules do not apply to them, who just don't care about anyone other than themselves?
Bevboy
As you might imagine, she is a polarizing figure. For every person who think she's sticking it to the man, there are 10 others who are out for blood. My favourite comment on the CBC message boards was to the effect that if she got behind or in front of their car, that they would wrangle some friends to pick up her car and put it on the sidewalk.
This woman, whatever her damn name is, took great umbrage at these negative comments, thinking she was being threatened. She probably didn't go to the police because they would tell her that she couldn't park there to begin with.
Anyway, when I drove to Toastmasters this evening, I ended up having to park behind this vehicle. The space between the car behind me and hers was compromised because she was straddling two parking spaces in an effort to park at no cost. I used my mad parallel parking skills to get into the space, but it was very tight; the ass end of my car nearly ended up in the next parking spot because of her.
I took a few pics of her car to show you how close we were.
After the meeting was over, I drove two women in my car to where they needed to be. They saw my vehicle jammed in there and expressed negative sentiments about her shitbox. For all I know, she may yet be parked there.
A few thoughts.
She took a lot of heat for her behaviour and attitude last year. Yet, she persists in parking there, which says a lot about her attitude and degree of self-absorption. She is a sociopath. She just doesn't care about anyone other than herself.
Why the hell don't the parking nazi's who slither and skulk and ooze their way throughout the downtown, ticket her out of existence? They should ticket her car every day. If she doesn't pay those tickets, then the government can refuse to do any business with her, up to and including declining to renew her license.
How long will it be before she, in an effort to finagle her car into this virtual parking space of hers, hits another car?
How long will it be before a vehicle legitimately parked on either side of her accidentally-on-purpose hits her car and just keep on going? Given the visceral reaction people have had toward her scheme, I am surprised it hasn't happened yet.
Ah! I feel better getting this off my chest.
How do you guys feel about people who flout the rules, who think that these rules do not apply to them, who just don't care about anyone other than themselves?
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Post 2449 - Target Visit
Today, 3 Target stores opened in Halifax. I thought we would check the place out. We ended up going to the one in Bayers Lake.
We arrived there after work and had a hard time finding a parking space. We figured that this would be an issue, so we persevered until we found a place to park. We went into the store. The Target was originally a Zellers until earlier this year. Despite all the money clearly spent to make the place not look like the store it had been, it was still highly reminiscent of the Zellers.
I made my way to the electronics section because, well, I am a guy and like to look at electronics. Girls can look at the shoes in the adjoining section. They had roku media players, but I know from experience that their codec list is very limited, so I won't buy one of them to replace that piece of crap neo tv media player. I saw an RCA media player there as well, but the research I did on that device revealed that it is likely a bigger piece of faeces than the neo.
I stuck around and looked at other stuff in the electronics section. They had clock radios, so I took a look. They had quite a few of those Sony Dream Machines that looked identical to the one I took great delight in recycling a couple of Saturdays ago. They were 20 bucks each. That would only be the financial cost of the item. One also has to take into account the drain on one's mental health and the inevitable diminution of one's self confidence and self esteem as one becomes increasingly frustrated trying to set the time and alarm on the bloody thing. I will spend the rest of my life shouting from rooftops and mountain tops about these lousy stinking clock radios. Please, folks, do not ever buy a Sony Dream Machine clock radio. Just don't.
I looked at portable and external hard drives. The prices were not even slightly competitive compared with the very same item at stores like Best Buy and Future Shop and Staples. They claim to have a price guarantee at Target, but there are always ways for stores to get out of that "obligation". Better to go to those other places and buy the item in question there.
People were queued up to pay for the stuff they had decided to buy at the Target on its opening day. I am not sure if they were really getting a good deal or just got caught up in the fever and excitement of walking through a bright and shiny new store. After all, anything would be better than the Zellers it replaced. However, the owners have to make sure that their prices fall in line with their competition on the things that are compelling to me, or they will not see much of me there.
We left without buying anything. We returned home and fed the cats. I have spent most of the evening here in my home office researching the media player I mentioned above, beginning the arduous task of going through my vhs tapes to see which ones I want to digitize and washing clothes. It is now 10:30, and I think I will turn in soon. Cindy kept us up for a big part of the evening with her vomiting and food demands. She has her next vet appointment Thursday night and we are not looking forward to what we may learn then and there.
Time to prepare for bed. Maybe I can stay awake long enough to listen to some of Art Bell's new show on Sirius XM. Or not.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
We arrived there after work and had a hard time finding a parking space. We figured that this would be an issue, so we persevered until we found a place to park. We went into the store. The Target was originally a Zellers until earlier this year. Despite all the money clearly spent to make the place not look like the store it had been, it was still highly reminiscent of the Zellers.
I made my way to the electronics section because, well, I am a guy and like to look at electronics. Girls can look at the shoes in the adjoining section. They had roku media players, but I know from experience that their codec list is very limited, so I won't buy one of them to replace that piece of crap neo tv media player. I saw an RCA media player there as well, but the research I did on that device revealed that it is likely a bigger piece of faeces than the neo.
I stuck around and looked at other stuff in the electronics section. They had clock radios, so I took a look. They had quite a few of those Sony Dream Machines that looked identical to the one I took great delight in recycling a couple of Saturdays ago. They were 20 bucks each. That would only be the financial cost of the item. One also has to take into account the drain on one's mental health and the inevitable diminution of one's self confidence and self esteem as one becomes increasingly frustrated trying to set the time and alarm on the bloody thing. I will spend the rest of my life shouting from rooftops and mountain tops about these lousy stinking clock radios. Please, folks, do not ever buy a Sony Dream Machine clock radio. Just don't.
I looked at portable and external hard drives. The prices were not even slightly competitive compared with the very same item at stores like Best Buy and Future Shop and Staples. They claim to have a price guarantee at Target, but there are always ways for stores to get out of that "obligation". Better to go to those other places and buy the item in question there.
People were queued up to pay for the stuff they had decided to buy at the Target on its opening day. I am not sure if they were really getting a good deal or just got caught up in the fever and excitement of walking through a bright and shiny new store. After all, anything would be better than the Zellers it replaced. However, the owners have to make sure that their prices fall in line with their competition on the things that are compelling to me, or they will not see much of me there.
We left without buying anything. We returned home and fed the cats. I have spent most of the evening here in my home office researching the media player I mentioned above, beginning the arduous task of going through my vhs tapes to see which ones I want to digitize and washing clothes. It is now 10:30, and I think I will turn in soon. Cindy kept us up for a big part of the evening with her vomiting and food demands. She has her next vet appointment Thursday night and we are not looking forward to what we may learn then and there.
Time to prepare for bed. Maybe I can stay awake long enough to listen to some of Art Bell's new show on Sirius XM. Or not.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Monday, September 16, 2013
Post 2448 - Help! I Can't Breathe!
I could have choked to death this afternoon.
A bit of background. I have tennis elbow by times, which means that I am getting a bit older and the joints are not what they used to be. My doc suggested I take Ibuprofen for those times to lubricate things up again. I bought a bottle of the stuff. They're gel caps, and 400mg each.
People swear by gel caps. I swear at them. They are just sticky enough to get stuck in my throat on a semi regular basis, even with copious amounts of water to wash them down. This afternoon at work, I took today's gel cap with water, and it didn't go down my throat. It just kinda lodged at the back of my mouth and stayed there, like a relative who doesn't leave when he's supposed to.
Instinctively, I coughed. It was all I could do, as my breathing was partially obstructed. I took more water. After 20 seconds or so, it went down, but not before a couple of people asked me how I was doing. Sorry for the disruption, folks. I didn't do it on purpose. I found it hard to talk for a few minutes as my throat had been irritated by the mishap.
This has happened one time too many with these gel caps. I will either cut them in half and take them separately or buy traditional pills and throw the gel caps in the garbage. A pox on the people who invented gel caps. I will get you some day.
Unless you get me first.
Gulp.
(It feels good to be able to gulp again!)
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
A bit of background. I have tennis elbow by times, which means that I am getting a bit older and the joints are not what they used to be. My doc suggested I take Ibuprofen for those times to lubricate things up again. I bought a bottle of the stuff. They're gel caps, and 400mg each.
People swear by gel caps. I swear at them. They are just sticky enough to get stuck in my throat on a semi regular basis, even with copious amounts of water to wash them down. This afternoon at work, I took today's gel cap with water, and it didn't go down my throat. It just kinda lodged at the back of my mouth and stayed there, like a relative who doesn't leave when he's supposed to.
Instinctively, I coughed. It was all I could do, as my breathing was partially obstructed. I took more water. After 20 seconds or so, it went down, but not before a couple of people asked me how I was doing. Sorry for the disruption, folks. I didn't do it on purpose. I found it hard to talk for a few minutes as my throat had been irritated by the mishap.
This has happened one time too many with these gel caps. I will either cut them in half and take them separately or buy traditional pills and throw the gel caps in the garbage. A pox on the people who invented gel caps. I will get you some day.
Unless you get me first.
Gulp.
(It feels good to be able to gulp again!)
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Post 2447 - Sunday
I have been fairly busy today.
I did the dishes. I cleaned up the kitchen to the point where I have realized some food preparation space again, which makes us happy.
Patricia returned home around 4:30. She had a grand time at the Becoming Outdoor Woman thing. She won some bear repellant, a key chain, and a fishing pole. She has learned how to fillet a fish. She observed someone clean a fish but did not do it herself. Which is what I have done in my own life, come to think of it.
She did some archery this weekend. Kayaked. Participated in games by the light of a fire. Meanwhile, I was at home doing home stuff.
I bought a Neotv media player several months ago. I am afraid that the media player has been disappointing. It often freezes on us, and doesn't play nearly as many of the files on the network hard drive that it should. Many times, I have to walk over to it and press the reset button, and then unplug it. When it does work, it is very slow even to connect to the web.
This Winter I bought two Asus O! Play media players. The only thing they don't do is access netflix. They play every kind of audio and video file format I can think of. If it did handle Netflix, we'd be very happy. As it is, I own two of them, with one at the cottage and the other at my mother's.
I am wondering: What is the best media player you can get your hands on? One that plays every kind of files I throw at it, plus accesses netflix and other online services such as Youtube?
Please let me know. Newbie is ticked at me for buying this neotv piece of crap.
Still trying to come down from this evening's "Breaking Bad". Only two more episodes to go.
That's it for tonight.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
I did the dishes. I cleaned up the kitchen to the point where I have realized some food preparation space again, which makes us happy.
Patricia returned home around 4:30. She had a grand time at the Becoming Outdoor Woman thing. She won some bear repellant, a key chain, and a fishing pole. She has learned how to fillet a fish. She observed someone clean a fish but did not do it herself. Which is what I have done in my own life, come to think of it.
She did some archery this weekend. Kayaked. Participated in games by the light of a fire. Meanwhile, I was at home doing home stuff.
I bought a Neotv media player several months ago. I am afraid that the media player has been disappointing. It often freezes on us, and doesn't play nearly as many of the files on the network hard drive that it should. Many times, I have to walk over to it and press the reset button, and then unplug it. When it does work, it is very slow even to connect to the web.
This Winter I bought two Asus O! Play media players. The only thing they don't do is access netflix. They play every kind of audio and video file format I can think of. If it did handle Netflix, we'd be very happy. As it is, I own two of them, with one at the cottage and the other at my mother's.
I am wondering: What is the best media player you can get your hands on? One that plays every kind of files I throw at it, plus accesses netflix and other online services such as Youtube?
Please let me know. Newbie is ticked at me for buying this neotv piece of crap.
Still trying to come down from this evening's "Breaking Bad". Only two more episodes to go.
That's it for tonight.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Post 2446 - Saturday
Hey, everyone.
I am sorry that I didn't write on Friday. It was one of those nights when I got home from work and decided to take a little nap. The next thing I knew it was Saturday morning.
I eventually got up and went out to lunch before returning here and commencing laundry. There is a great deal of dirty laundry to do. From time to time I think that a dozen people live here rather than just two.
I have tried to keep the two cats separated today. It is not always easy. Newbie and I are both downstairs in my home office; Cindy is upstairs. Both want to eat nearly constantly. That is good for Cindy as we hope to get her back to a good fighting weight; but as I mentioned before, Newbie is becoming quite a hefty kitty.
Patricia remains at the Becoming an Outdoor Woman. She is learning to clean fish and kayak and whatever the hell else it is. I am home washing dishes, cooking, and doing laundry. Role reversal much?
A few hours ago, hungry, I decided to head out to the Timberlea Tim Horton's. I craved soup and a sandwich, and coffee, so I had them. Because of the latter, I will probably be up for a few hours yet. It is nearly 1am. Probably be up until 3 or so.
Patricia will be back here around 2pm, maybe 3 at the latest. Before she gets here, I will do several more loads of laundry, cook a meal or two, feed the cats a few times, and maybe grab a few hours of sleep.
OK.
More than a few hours of sleep.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
I am sorry that I didn't write on Friday. It was one of those nights when I got home from work and decided to take a little nap. The next thing I knew it was Saturday morning.
I eventually got up and went out to lunch before returning here and commencing laundry. There is a great deal of dirty laundry to do. From time to time I think that a dozen people live here rather than just two.
I have tried to keep the two cats separated today. It is not always easy. Newbie and I are both downstairs in my home office; Cindy is upstairs. Both want to eat nearly constantly. That is good for Cindy as we hope to get her back to a good fighting weight; but as I mentioned before, Newbie is becoming quite a hefty kitty.
Patricia remains at the Becoming an Outdoor Woman. She is learning to clean fish and kayak and whatever the hell else it is. I am home washing dishes, cooking, and doing laundry. Role reversal much?
A few hours ago, hungry, I decided to head out to the Timberlea Tim Horton's. I craved soup and a sandwich, and coffee, so I had them. Because of the latter, I will probably be up for a few hours yet. It is nearly 1am. Probably be up until 3 or so.
Patricia will be back here around 2pm, maybe 3 at the latest. Before she gets here, I will do several more loads of laundry, cook a meal or two, feed the cats a few times, and maybe grab a few hours of sleep.
OK.
More than a few hours of sleep.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Thursday, September 12, 2013
P:ost 2445 - Vet Update
Patricia is back in the city, much to her disappointment. Cindy is, too, much to hers.
We corralled her into her carrier and took her to the vet's. The vet took her away to weigh her, returning a few minutes later with a song in her heart. The vet, that is. Turns out that Cindy is up to six pounds and half an ounce. Nearly a pound increase in 2 weeks. We just have to make sure she keeps eating and putting on weight.
Meanwhile, Patricia noticed tonight that Newbie is becoming a chunky monkey. He is eating the same high fat diet Cindy is, along with the flora stuff that acts as a probiotic to stimulate appetite, which only makes Newbie eat even more.
Patricia will be out of town for the Becoming an Outdoor Woman thing. While she's gone, I will keep both cats well fed, especially Cindy. She gets to eat pretty much as much as she wants as long as she is able to keep it down. She's on meds to help prevent that. As long as I can keep Newbie away from all the extra victuals.
We had a brief power outage at work today. In a near panic, I confided to my co workers that if I should die before the power came back, that they could turn on me. Was that an overreaction? I'm not sure.
Been a long day. Time to turn in.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
We corralled her into her carrier and took her to the vet's. The vet took her away to weigh her, returning a few minutes later with a song in her heart. The vet, that is. Turns out that Cindy is up to six pounds and half an ounce. Nearly a pound increase in 2 weeks. We just have to make sure she keeps eating and putting on weight.
Meanwhile, Patricia noticed tonight that Newbie is becoming a chunky monkey. He is eating the same high fat diet Cindy is, along with the flora stuff that acts as a probiotic to stimulate appetite, which only makes Newbie eat even more.
Patricia will be out of town for the Becoming an Outdoor Woman thing. While she's gone, I will keep both cats well fed, especially Cindy. She gets to eat pretty much as much as she wants as long as she is able to keep it down. She's on meds to help prevent that. As long as I can keep Newbie away from all the extra victuals.
We had a brief power outage at work today. In a near panic, I confided to my co workers that if I should die before the power came back, that they could turn on me. Was that an overreaction? I'm not sure.
Been a long day. Time to turn in.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Post 2444 - @Liveactionfloyd Knocks It Out Of The Park!
Gee, I take a personal/vacation day and this happens.
My friend Floyd at Live 105 in Halifax was the subject of cyber bullying this morning. Rather than respond in kind, like I would have done, she decided to ask her followers on Twitter to institute the hashtag #hugsnotshrugs.
(Full disclosure: I had a troll on this Blog a couple of years ago. He took great delight in mocking my first name. It was no end of amusement for him to compare me and Patricia and wonder which one of us was the male, and which, the female. Or, maybe, we were both women. Hardy har har. My ribs. My ribs. We eventually found out who the impotent little beachcomber was. I even discussed the issue with a police friend of mine. Perhaps that is what scared the little worm off. The guy, not the cop. Because of the troll, all comments to this blog are now moderated: A lasting legacy of an unpleasant time.)
Within hours, this new hashtag was trending on twitter in Canada. I read earlier this evening that it had made its way across the pond to Scotland. MSN has picked up the story. The Huffington Post has picked it up. The CBC interviewed Floyd on the supper time news this evening, mere hours after the hashtag went live. By the morning, it will probably be trending in the United States.
Floyd, of course, is a friend of mine. She has always been nice to me and generous with her time. She is one of the good ones. We had lunch not long ago, and I hope we have lunch again not long from now. For some internet troll who doesn't know her, has never met her, doesn't know what she is like as a person, to accuse Floyd of capitalizing on a health issue, is simply being hateful and stupid and uncaring about others.
It is very easy to target a person in the media. To many, they are simply voices on a radio, or flickering images on a television. It is easy to succumb to the notion that they are not real human beings with emotions and feelings and mortgages and health issues. You know, like the rest of us are. If I went up to someone at my work or my Toastmasters club or at my mother's nursing home and said, "Gee, you look awful today. You're losing a lot of weight. Do you have an eating disorder; are you lying about having Celiac Disease?", I would not blame that person for reacting angrily. It would be a rude thing for me to do, to put it mildly. But somehow, in some way I do not understand, people in the media are expected to take that crap with a measure of good humour that most of us do not (and should not have to) possess.
Without naming names, I have had friends I work with pronounce negatively about radio people. One person said she didn't like the station of the person I was interviewing at the time, in the presence of this jock. Another essentially accused another female jock of being less than intelligent and would not listen to the station this person worked at, as the jock's voice and demeanour were annoying to her. I can cite other instances.
For Floyd to take this situation and turn it around within hours speaks once again of her high character; my respect for her grows by the day. She did something that I could not have done, that I would not have done, but that I should have done.
Congratulations to Floyd.
And, let's do something nice for someone tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that.
Oh, here's the link if you want to see the video.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
My friend Floyd at Live 105 in Halifax was the subject of cyber bullying this morning. Rather than respond in kind, like I would have done, she decided to ask her followers on Twitter to institute the hashtag #hugsnotshrugs.
(Full disclosure: I had a troll on this Blog a couple of years ago. He took great delight in mocking my first name. It was no end of amusement for him to compare me and Patricia and wonder which one of us was the male, and which, the female. Or, maybe, we were both women. Hardy har har. My ribs. My ribs. We eventually found out who the impotent little beachcomber was. I even discussed the issue with a police friend of mine. Perhaps that is what scared the little worm off. The guy, not the cop. Because of the troll, all comments to this blog are now moderated: A lasting legacy of an unpleasant time.)
Within hours, this new hashtag was trending on twitter in Canada. I read earlier this evening that it had made its way across the pond to Scotland. MSN has picked up the story. The Huffington Post has picked it up. The CBC interviewed Floyd on the supper time news this evening, mere hours after the hashtag went live. By the morning, it will probably be trending in the United States.
Floyd, of course, is a friend of mine. She has always been nice to me and generous with her time. She is one of the good ones. We had lunch not long ago, and I hope we have lunch again not long from now. For some internet troll who doesn't know her, has never met her, doesn't know what she is like as a person, to accuse Floyd of capitalizing on a health issue, is simply being hateful and stupid and uncaring about others.
It is very easy to target a person in the media. To many, they are simply voices on a radio, or flickering images on a television. It is easy to succumb to the notion that they are not real human beings with emotions and feelings and mortgages and health issues. You know, like the rest of us are. If I went up to someone at my work or my Toastmasters club or at my mother's nursing home and said, "Gee, you look awful today. You're losing a lot of weight. Do you have an eating disorder; are you lying about having Celiac Disease?", I would not blame that person for reacting angrily. It would be a rude thing for me to do, to put it mildly. But somehow, in some way I do not understand, people in the media are expected to take that crap with a measure of good humour that most of us do not (and should not have to) possess.
Without naming names, I have had friends I work with pronounce negatively about radio people. One person said she didn't like the station of the person I was interviewing at the time, in the presence of this jock. Another essentially accused another female jock of being less than intelligent and would not listen to the station this person worked at, as the jock's voice and demeanour were annoying to her. I can cite other instances.
For Floyd to take this situation and turn it around within hours speaks once again of her high character; my respect for her grows by the day. She did something that I could not have done, that I would not have done, but that I should have done.
Congratulations to Floyd.
And, let's do something nice for someone tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that.
Oh, here's the link if you want to see the video.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Post 2443 - Satellite Radio Fun
So, here I am, in my home office, listening to my satellite radio channels through my computer.
I got the satellite radio and the docking station about 4 months ago. I paid for a year's worth of programming in advance, which got me a month for free. This evening, for the first time, I decided to check out my account online.
I paid a little extra so that I can listen to the various channels online, thereby not requiring the actual satellite radio. Which is fine, because I am finding that reception is all too often not very good and cuts out on me. Much more convenient to listen down here and not worry about that crap.
I have been exploring the various channels this evening and have landed on the "liquid metal" channel. It's the type of music in which they don't sing so much as they scream as if someone were squeezing their balls in a vise. The music is headbanging and loud and obnoxious, and I enjoy it much more than I have a right to. I find myself listening to it all the time. Maybe I like it so much because I can't make out a bloody word of what they're singing. The songs could be about sunshine and lollypops and rainbows for all I know, and I comfort myself and justify listening to this music in that context.
Anyway, they also have on demand shows on many of the channels. On the Liquid Metal channel, they have a weekend program called The Devil's Dozen. You can play that back online whenever you want, and I am listening to that now. They're playing a song called "An Ocean of Wisdom" by a band called "Gorguts".
To put it mildly, this music is not for everyone. However, if you really want to hear them, here's a link to that song.
Now that you have had your ears cleaned out, we can move on.
I have more than 100 different channels to choose from here. Each channel plays songs you seldom hear on the radio even if there is a station whose format is in the bailiwick of that kind of music. I can spend many, many hours exploring all this rich content. I can see why people become addicted to satellite radio! And that's just the music stuff. There are plenty of spoken word channels, including lots devoted to sports. You know I listen to the latter channels a whole bunch, don't you?
There is not much else going on. Patricia remains at the cottage until Thursday. That evening, we take Cindy Clawford to the vet's to see if the cat has gained or lost weight. The next morning, Patricia heads out to her second visit with BOWNS, Becoming an Outdoor Woman for Nova Scotia. She will come back knowing how to hunt and fish and clean fish so that you can avoid the nasty parts and eat the good ones. Fine by me. Saves me the trouble of learning.
I remember when my dad would buy or catch fish, back when I was growing up. He would go out behind the garage to clean the fish, leaving the entrails and nasty parts behind for animals to munch on. My cat back then, J.R., would happily go back there and help himself to that stuff. Meanwhile, we would eat the non-nasty parts, and not give a thought to what Dad had left behind.
I guess "cleaning a fish" is euphemistic in the same way that "field dressing a deer" is. "Field dressing a deer" does not involve selecting a suitable outfit for it to wear and helping it don this attire. I'm 99% sure of it. And I found out last year that "honey buckets" do not contain bee barf. Being naive doesn't get a fella anywhere.
What other euphemisms can you think of that you thought mean one thing but actually meant something else entirely different?
It is late and I still have dishes to wash, so I guess I should get to that, huh?
See you guys tomorrow.
Bevboy
I got the satellite radio and the docking station about 4 months ago. I paid for a year's worth of programming in advance, which got me a month for free. This evening, for the first time, I decided to check out my account online.
I paid a little extra so that I can listen to the various channels online, thereby not requiring the actual satellite radio. Which is fine, because I am finding that reception is all too often not very good and cuts out on me. Much more convenient to listen down here and not worry about that crap.
I have been exploring the various channels this evening and have landed on the "liquid metal" channel. It's the type of music in which they don't sing so much as they scream as if someone were squeezing their balls in a vise. The music is headbanging and loud and obnoxious, and I enjoy it much more than I have a right to. I find myself listening to it all the time. Maybe I like it so much because I can't make out a bloody word of what they're singing. The songs could be about sunshine and lollypops and rainbows for all I know, and I comfort myself and justify listening to this music in that context.
Anyway, they also have on demand shows on many of the channels. On the Liquid Metal channel, they have a weekend program called The Devil's Dozen. You can play that back online whenever you want, and I am listening to that now. They're playing a song called "An Ocean of Wisdom" by a band called "Gorguts".
To put it mildly, this music is not for everyone. However, if you really want to hear them, here's a link to that song.
Now that you have had your ears cleaned out, we can move on.
I have more than 100 different channels to choose from here. Each channel plays songs you seldom hear on the radio even if there is a station whose format is in the bailiwick of that kind of music. I can spend many, many hours exploring all this rich content. I can see why people become addicted to satellite radio! And that's just the music stuff. There are plenty of spoken word channels, including lots devoted to sports. You know I listen to the latter channels a whole bunch, don't you?
There is not much else going on. Patricia remains at the cottage until Thursday. That evening, we take Cindy Clawford to the vet's to see if the cat has gained or lost weight. The next morning, Patricia heads out to her second visit with BOWNS, Becoming an Outdoor Woman for Nova Scotia. She will come back knowing how to hunt and fish and clean fish so that you can avoid the nasty parts and eat the good ones. Fine by me. Saves me the trouble of learning.
I remember when my dad would buy or catch fish, back when I was growing up. He would go out behind the garage to clean the fish, leaving the entrails and nasty parts behind for animals to munch on. My cat back then, J.R., would happily go back there and help himself to that stuff. Meanwhile, we would eat the non-nasty parts, and not give a thought to what Dad had left behind.
I guess "cleaning a fish" is euphemistic in the same way that "field dressing a deer" is. "Field dressing a deer" does not involve selecting a suitable outfit for it to wear and helping it don this attire. I'm 99% sure of it. And I found out last year that "honey buckets" do not contain bee barf. Being naive doesn't get a fella anywhere.
What other euphemisms can you think of that you thought mean one thing but actually meant something else entirely different?
It is late and I still have dishes to wash, so I guess I should get to that, huh?
See you guys tomorrow.
Bevboy
Monday, September 9, 2013
Post 2442 - Random Thoughts
I spoke with Patricia when I got home from work today. Turns out that she has decided to remain at the cottage until Thursday afternoon. She will return with Cindy at that time as the cat has a vet's appointment that evening. That's when we may find out what is wrong with Cindy. As things stand, she is eating quite well, but blows chunks quite frequently. She is on various medications to inhibit nausea and foster appetite, and they are mostly working; but if she goes off them, the symptoms resurface, and she is back to square one. We are hoping for the best. We just pray that she keeps the weight on that she has been gaining, plus adds a few more pounds.
Newbie has been all over me tonight like a lonely woman drinking margaritas. I can't go anywhere without his being with me. Maybe he is a lonely woman drinking margaritas. I have long suspected him of that.
Everywhere I turn there are dirty dishes to wash. I am not sure where they come from. I wonder if other people in the neighbourhood are breaking into my house when I am at work and dropping off their dirty dishes thinking that I won't notice until it's too late.
It is 10pm. Where did the day go? It's amazing how quickly time can pass when you're asleep.
Why do I yawn so much? Is there someone else using the hashtag #yawn reading this, and yawning as well?
Is the Hokey Pokey, really what it's all about?
I have six radios here in my home office. Two at one computer desk. Two at the other. The remaining two on the study desk Dad built for me when I first moved to the city, 25 years ago. Should I get a couple more? Desks, that is. I have enough radios.
Speaking of radios, I took 4 of them to a recycling depot on Saturday. They sounded like crap. I bought two more radios the day before, so I have a net decrease in radios in the number of two. I feel naked.
Enough random thoughts for the evening. Will do this again sometime.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Newbie has been all over me tonight like a lonely woman drinking margaritas. I can't go anywhere without his being with me. Maybe he is a lonely woman drinking margaritas. I have long suspected him of that.
Everywhere I turn there are dirty dishes to wash. I am not sure where they come from. I wonder if other people in the neighbourhood are breaking into my house when I am at work and dropping off their dirty dishes thinking that I won't notice until it's too late.
It is 10pm. Where did the day go? It's amazing how quickly time can pass when you're asleep.
Why do I yawn so much? Is there someone else using the hashtag #yawn reading this, and yawning as well?
Is the Hokey Pokey, really what it's all about?
I have six radios here in my home office. Two at one computer desk. Two at the other. The remaining two on the study desk Dad built for me when I first moved to the city, 25 years ago. Should I get a couple more? Desks, that is. I have enough radios.
Speaking of radios, I took 4 of them to a recycling depot on Saturday. They sounded like crap. I bought two more radios the day before, so I have a net decrease in radios in the number of two. I feel naked.
Enough random thoughts for the evening. Will do this again sometime.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Post 2441 - Sunday
How has your Sunday been so far?
I took myself out to lunch today. The TBR is short for the Timberlea Beverage Room. We had only been there sporadically in recent years because the menu and the decor were always the same. I decided to go there today anyway because I didn't feel like driving into Bayers Lake to get a meal. They finally got around to changing the menu. The server told me that they were playing to make additional victual list changes in the near future. I'm just grateful you can get a chicken dish there now. One never could before. I had developed the theory that poultry was sacred at the TBR and could therefore never been consumed. I guess I was wrong.
And, at long last, I have completed the dishes that have been taking up residence in my kitchen sink. They did not like it, but I persevered.
I finished watching season one of the Netflix series "House of Cards" this afternoon. I look forward to season two. Not as much as I look forward to season two of "Orange is the New Black", though.
I am finally caught up on watching "Breaking Bad". There are 4 episodes left. I am hoping to watch it this evening in real time so that Newbie and I can discuss it afterward.
Patricia is hoping to spend another couple of days at the cottage, returning to the city on Thursday. I am trying to remember what she looks like. Haven't seen her in a week now. I miss stroking her blonde hair.
Crap. I just remembered that I didn't check the oven to see if there might be any dishes to wash there as well. If you'll excuse me...
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
I took myself out to lunch today. The TBR is short for the Timberlea Beverage Room. We had only been there sporadically in recent years because the menu and the decor were always the same. I decided to go there today anyway because I didn't feel like driving into Bayers Lake to get a meal. They finally got around to changing the menu. The server told me that they were playing to make additional victual list changes in the near future. I'm just grateful you can get a chicken dish there now. One never could before. I had developed the theory that poultry was sacred at the TBR and could therefore never been consumed. I guess I was wrong.
And, at long last, I have completed the dishes that have been taking up residence in my kitchen sink. They did not like it, but I persevered.
I finished watching season one of the Netflix series "House of Cards" this afternoon. I look forward to season two. Not as much as I look forward to season two of "Orange is the New Black", though.
I am finally caught up on watching "Breaking Bad". There are 4 episodes left. I am hoping to watch it this evening in real time so that Newbie and I can discuss it afterward.
Patricia is hoping to spend another couple of days at the cottage, returning to the city on Thursday. I am trying to remember what she looks like. Haven't seen her in a week now. I miss stroking her blonde hair.
Crap. I just remembered that I didn't check the oven to see if there might be any dishes to wash there as well. If you'll excuse me...
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Post 2440 - Saturday
Well, I decided to surprise my mother today, so I drove to the Valley this morning. There was a "fun day" at her retirement facility, and she had been hinting for me to go for the whole week. Rather than tell her I was coming, I just went. I have to remind myself that she is 81 and should not be surprised very often.
Before I visited her, though, I went to a recycling place in New Minas and dropped off a laser printer that wasn't working and never would work. I also dropped off (horror of horrors!) some radios that were very subpar. One of them was a Sony Dream Machine. Ironically enough, it was a nightmare even to set the correct time or activate the alarm. The brain trust at Sony took everything that is intuitively obvious about a clock radio and threw it out the window in favour of a device that confounded me time and time again. Just this morning, I was trying to figure out how to set the time on the ruddy thing; setting the alarm was equally as baffling. It was a pleasure to get rid of it this morning. Folks, do not under any circumstances, purchase a Sony Dream Machine clock radio. It will put you in the nut house.
Afterward, I got to my mother's. As I mentioned, she was pleasantly surprised to see me. We had to go to lunch. Well, I was hungry and wanted to take her to lunch. So, we went to Swiss Chalet in New Minas. For reasons known only to God and/or the devil, they built one of those roundabouts in the village in the last year or so. They took a perfectly straight road and twisted it into a pretzel in the hope of, I suppose, making traffic more efficient. It is anything but. People enter the roundabout with trepidation, knowing that there are lots of people who don't know how these things work, and don't feel obligated enough to learn. Part of me doesn't blame them.
Anyway, the meal was good. Mom told me several times how much she enjoyed the meal there. I think she just liked the company more. I know I did.
We attended the fun day. It consisted of a husband and wife singing duo performing old Country songs that the old folks enjoyed a great deal. My appetite for that genre of music is less than theirs is. There was also face painting, and there was a woman making twisting balloons into shape, so I asked her to make a balloon sword for my mother, and she cheerfully complied with my request.
They also had free beverages and small bags of popcorn or Cheezies. You can bet Mom and I had our share. I also got some pictures, and I will put some up here soon.
By 3:30, I left my mom in her room and returned to the house to mow the lawn. That done, I scooped up a few things and drove back to the city. It is now 11:30. I have been up since 6:15 this morning, and been busy ever since. I think I have earned a bit of rest. Or, maybe, a lot of rest.
Yawn.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Before I visited her, though, I went to a recycling place in New Minas and dropped off a laser printer that wasn't working and never would work. I also dropped off (horror of horrors!) some radios that were very subpar. One of them was a Sony Dream Machine. Ironically enough, it was a nightmare even to set the correct time or activate the alarm. The brain trust at Sony took everything that is intuitively obvious about a clock radio and threw it out the window in favour of a device that confounded me time and time again. Just this morning, I was trying to figure out how to set the time on the ruddy thing; setting the alarm was equally as baffling. It was a pleasure to get rid of it this morning. Folks, do not under any circumstances, purchase a Sony Dream Machine clock radio. It will put you in the nut house.
Afterward, I got to my mother's. As I mentioned, she was pleasantly surprised to see me. We had to go to lunch. Well, I was hungry and wanted to take her to lunch. So, we went to Swiss Chalet in New Minas. For reasons known only to God and/or the devil, they built one of those roundabouts in the village in the last year or so. They took a perfectly straight road and twisted it into a pretzel in the hope of, I suppose, making traffic more efficient. It is anything but. People enter the roundabout with trepidation, knowing that there are lots of people who don't know how these things work, and don't feel obligated enough to learn. Part of me doesn't blame them.
Anyway, the meal was good. Mom told me several times how much she enjoyed the meal there. I think she just liked the company more. I know I did.
We attended the fun day. It consisted of a husband and wife singing duo performing old Country songs that the old folks enjoyed a great deal. My appetite for that genre of music is less than theirs is. There was also face painting, and there was a woman making twisting balloons into shape, so I asked her to make a balloon sword for my mother, and she cheerfully complied with my request.
They also had free beverages and small bags of popcorn or Cheezies. You can bet Mom and I had our share. I also got some pictures, and I will put some up here soon.
By 3:30, I left my mom in her room and returned to the house to mow the lawn. That done, I scooped up a few things and drove back to the city. It is now 11:30. I have been up since 6:15 this morning, and been busy ever since. I think I have earned a bit of rest. Or, maybe, a lot of rest.
Yawn.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Friday, September 6, 2013
Post 2439 - Friday
Hello again, my 4.7 friends.
I had a day off work today and was gonna do hell and all. Instead, I went to the Tim Horton's in Timberlea for a late lunch and into Bayers Lake where I bought a 1TB portable hard drive for a really good price that included a free pouch to keep the thing in. But the highlight of my day was going to the Value Village in the Park and buying a couple radios, which will replace a couple of the poorly-working radios here at Casa Bevboy. I won't miss them. They kept drifting off station and sounded like crap.
There is not much else going on. I was surfing the web this evening when I chanced upon a link in Facebook that made me think about our pets. Comedian Sarah Silverman just lost her dog of 14 years and was so devastated that she wrote an obituary for him. Here it is.
Any person who likes dogs and cats has several legs up in my estimation of them. I figure if especially a cat takes to a person that the person can't be all bad. And, yes, Hitler had a German Shepherd he named Blondi. Hitler would be an exception to my rule.
Patricia has had Cindy now for almost exactly 10 years. Her neighbour had Cindy before Patricia did and had just got married. The wife did not want Cindy around and Cindy began to roam the neighourhood because she was pretty much kicked out. One place she ended up at was Patricia's. One very cold evening Patricia got home and found Cindy on her deck, freezing nearly to death. She opened the door. Cindy peered inside, took a sniff, and walked in as if she had just paid her mortgage and repaired her automobile. She ended up that night sleeping on Patricia's head to keep warm.
Not long afterward this neighbour asked Patricia if she wanted a cat. She agreed, and Cindy was hers. Cindy would run away from time to time because we were not used to having a cat around. She would whiz through the door when I arrived and visited Patricia. She had run away from us just as Hurricane Juan hit in late September of 2003; days later, another set of neighbours called Patricia and threatened to sic the SPCA on her for letting Cindy roam around. We got her back and were 1000x more careful keeping her in sight and on a leash.
We have had lots of fun with Cindy over the last decade. I spent a cheerful couple of hours this afternoon looking at an awful lot of digital pictures on my other desktop in an effort to find some Toastmasters pictures to give someone who's attending a TM thing on Saturday. Along that journey I located plenty of Cindy pictures. In many of them she is being playful and hiding amongst the blankets on a bed, or spooning with Patricia or giving us head butts. After Patricia's mother died, Cindy spent the night with Patricia rubbing her head against hers in an obvious effort to assuage Patricia's overwhelming grief. Cindy knew what was going on. After my own father died, both cats hovered around me, actually getting along with each other for a change, as if they were checking up on me and seeing how I was doing. Yes, I noticed. Yes, they cared.
Cindy Clawford hasn't been feeling well lately, and we are puzzled as to why. In recent months, she has been eating less and sleeping more, even more than a cat does by default. She lost about half of her weight, from 12 to 6 pounds. And she doesn't seem to be in any pain. Like I said, most puzzling.
We took her to a vet last month during our vacation and she was put on a regimen of meds to reduce nausea and increase appetite, and something to help with her extreme dehydration. The weight loss has slowed down considerably, and there are times when she gains weight. She is with Patricia at the cottage this week while Newbie and I remain here in the city. Cindy has been vomiting from time to time. Today she retched up a hairball along with some food, but I am willing to conclude that the hair ball needed to come up anyway, and the victuals went along for the ride. But we both worry about her, and it's because we love her to pieces and want to postpone the inevitable as much as possible.
Just like Sarah Silverman did with Duck.
The day will come when Cindy will leave us, and we will miss her terribly. The death of a pet is never something that one grows used to. If one does, then one is not the type of person I want to know or spend time with. I hope you feel the same.
Say, I know. Why not respond to this post, or the tweet announcing the post, or the attendant Facebook update, with a story or an anecdote or a vignette about a special animal who was in your life? Did you have a Newbie or do you have a Cindy in your life? Tell me about him or her.
(Yes, Him or her. Not it. Our pets are referred to by their gender, because they are not objects, but living, breathing things.)
Long day tomorrow. Better hit the hay. Newbie will be right behind me, because we're buddies, and we look out for each other.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
I had a day off work today and was gonna do hell and all. Instead, I went to the Tim Horton's in Timberlea for a late lunch and into Bayers Lake where I bought a 1TB portable hard drive for a really good price that included a free pouch to keep the thing in. But the highlight of my day was going to the Value Village in the Park and buying a couple radios, which will replace a couple of the poorly-working radios here at Casa Bevboy. I won't miss them. They kept drifting off station and sounded like crap.
There is not much else going on. I was surfing the web this evening when I chanced upon a link in Facebook that made me think about our pets. Comedian Sarah Silverman just lost her dog of 14 years and was so devastated that she wrote an obituary for him. Here it is.
Any person who likes dogs and cats has several legs up in my estimation of them. I figure if especially a cat takes to a person that the person can't be all bad. And, yes, Hitler had a German Shepherd he named Blondi. Hitler would be an exception to my rule.
Patricia has had Cindy now for almost exactly 10 years. Her neighbour had Cindy before Patricia did and had just got married. The wife did not want Cindy around and Cindy began to roam the neighourhood because she was pretty much kicked out. One place she ended up at was Patricia's. One very cold evening Patricia got home and found Cindy on her deck, freezing nearly to death. She opened the door. Cindy peered inside, took a sniff, and walked in as if she had just paid her mortgage and repaired her automobile. She ended up that night sleeping on Patricia's head to keep warm.
Not long afterward this neighbour asked Patricia if she wanted a cat. She agreed, and Cindy was hers. Cindy would run away from time to time because we were not used to having a cat around. She would whiz through the door when I arrived and visited Patricia. She had run away from us just as Hurricane Juan hit in late September of 2003; days later, another set of neighbours called Patricia and threatened to sic the SPCA on her for letting Cindy roam around. We got her back and were 1000x more careful keeping her in sight and on a leash.
We have had lots of fun with Cindy over the last decade. I spent a cheerful couple of hours this afternoon looking at an awful lot of digital pictures on my other desktop in an effort to find some Toastmasters pictures to give someone who's attending a TM thing on Saturday. Along that journey I located plenty of Cindy pictures. In many of them she is being playful and hiding amongst the blankets on a bed, or spooning with Patricia or giving us head butts. After Patricia's mother died, Cindy spent the night with Patricia rubbing her head against hers in an obvious effort to assuage Patricia's overwhelming grief. Cindy knew what was going on. After my own father died, both cats hovered around me, actually getting along with each other for a change, as if they were checking up on me and seeing how I was doing. Yes, I noticed. Yes, they cared.
Cindy Clawford hasn't been feeling well lately, and we are puzzled as to why. In recent months, she has been eating less and sleeping more, even more than a cat does by default. She lost about half of her weight, from 12 to 6 pounds. And she doesn't seem to be in any pain. Like I said, most puzzling.
We took her to a vet last month during our vacation and she was put on a regimen of meds to reduce nausea and increase appetite, and something to help with her extreme dehydration. The weight loss has slowed down considerably, and there are times when she gains weight. She is with Patricia at the cottage this week while Newbie and I remain here in the city. Cindy has been vomiting from time to time. Today she retched up a hairball along with some food, but I am willing to conclude that the hair ball needed to come up anyway, and the victuals went along for the ride. But we both worry about her, and it's because we love her to pieces and want to postpone the inevitable as much as possible.
Just like Sarah Silverman did with Duck.
The day will come when Cindy will leave us, and we will miss her terribly. The death of a pet is never something that one grows used to. If one does, then one is not the type of person I want to know or spend time with. I hope you feel the same.
Say, I know. Why not respond to this post, or the tweet announcing the post, or the attendant Facebook update, with a story or an anecdote or a vignette about a special animal who was in your life? Did you have a Newbie or do you have a Cindy in your life? Tell me about him or her.
(Yes, Him or her. Not it. Our pets are referred to by their gender, because they are not objects, but living, breathing things.)
Long day tomorrow. Better hit the hay. Newbie will be right behind me, because we're buddies, and we look out for each other.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Post 2438 - A Change In Plans
Remember when I mentioned a few days ago that I might be uninvited, or disinvited, or whatever, to the cottage? Sure you do.
Well, it has come to pass. Patricia is going to stay at the cottage for several more days, and it was decided that she would rather have that time up there to her and Cindy. Girls only.
This means that Newbie and I are on our own this weekend. I almost certainly will stay here to do stuff at home that has been sorely neglected as of late. Just think of one or two things you need to do around your own place. All 4.7 of you come up with 2 items. If I take all those items, and assuming they're not duplicated, it would be a good beginning to what I have to do around here. I will probably stay pretty close to home this weekend. But I will take the time to think about you and to keep my hair looking as long and luxuriant as you and I expect. It does take work, folks. It didn't just come this way.
I will go break the news to Newbie that we aren't going to the cottage after all. He will be inconsolable. He may attempt to harm himself. He may seek surcease of sorrow by overdosing on catnip. I may even join him in an effort to allay the rain of tears sure to fall from my eyes as the reality of the situation sinks in.
Perhaps some women reading this could see fit to send me a message to cheer Newbie and me up. That would be very nice. Especially if you told me what you were wearing when you sent the message. It would be very helpful and aid me in bringing your note into its proper context.
Of course, I may seek solace in the bottle. The bottle of ketchup in the fridge to be more exact. It is good when you squirt some on a cloth and huff it. Really gets my mind off things.
Ladies, get your typing fingers ready. Send me some love.
See you tomorrow, assuming I make it through the night.
Sniff!
Bevboy
Well, it has come to pass. Patricia is going to stay at the cottage for several more days, and it was decided that she would rather have that time up there to her and Cindy. Girls only.
This means that Newbie and I are on our own this weekend. I almost certainly will stay here to do stuff at home that has been sorely neglected as of late. Just think of one or two things you need to do around your own place. All 4.7 of you come up with 2 items. If I take all those items, and assuming they're not duplicated, it would be a good beginning to what I have to do around here. I will probably stay pretty close to home this weekend. But I will take the time to think about you and to keep my hair looking as long and luxuriant as you and I expect. It does take work, folks. It didn't just come this way.
I will go break the news to Newbie that we aren't going to the cottage after all. He will be inconsolable. He may attempt to harm himself. He may seek surcease of sorrow by overdosing on catnip. I may even join him in an effort to allay the rain of tears sure to fall from my eyes as the reality of the situation sinks in.
Perhaps some women reading this could see fit to send me a message to cheer Newbie and me up. That would be very nice. Especially if you told me what you were wearing when you sent the message. It would be very helpful and aid me in bringing your note into its proper context.
Of course, I may seek solace in the bottle. The bottle of ketchup in the fridge to be more exact. It is good when you squirt some on a cloth and huff it. Really gets my mind off things.
Ladies, get your typing fingers ready. Send me some love.
See you tomorrow, assuming I make it through the night.
Sniff!
Bevboy
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Post 2437 - Wednesday Radio Miscellany
Hello, my 4.7 readers! How was your day? That's good.
I am still at work even though it is past 4:30. Typically, civil servants rush out the door in a stampede reminiscent of the running of the bulls; however, my Toastmasters club meetings start up again this evening, and I really should go. It will be our first meeting since the middle part of June, some 3 months ago.
What else is going on? Not much. I am pleased to report that there have been no changes in Halifax radio this week. JC Douglas has been at The Wave for 4 days now and hasn't been fired yet, a near-record for an employee at MBS.
Radio965's fetish for David Myles continues unabated. A guy at work reported to me this afternoon that he can nearly set his watch by when certain songs are played on that station. I guess they have to work on that.
Sexy Girl/Rachel Dodds' last appearance on Q104 will be on Thursday morning. She just rejoined the morning team in the last several months, and now she is leaving town. Who will replace her? If you are a female with a certain degree of pulchritude, send in your resumes now. Or maybe the reports of moving away from edgier material are true and you won't hear as much of it going forward. Maybe they will have Educated Girl, who defies stereotypes and explains business and science principles to an enraptured audience interested in only her raw intellect. Or not.
In other news, I work with a deaf guy. Hello, Elliott. He knew I had a headache yesterday and asked how I was doing. I replied I was doing much better, and that the headache pills had been very useful. "Zomig?", he asked. "Not any more. It's the generic stuff, just called 'Zomipitran'."
The interpreter broke character long enough by asking me to take pity on him. I spelled the word as best I could, and he dutifully signed it.
Well, it turns out that after our meeting this morning, that I had misspelled it as well. Turns out it is called "ZOLMITRIPTAN". Actually there are three letters in front of it. They are "pms". So when I get a headache I take "pms-ZOLMITRIPTAN". Oddly enough, I take these pills when women in my life are experiencing PMS, as their histrionics only cause me to develop a migraine. There is an irony there somewhere, but it is hard to pin down.
It is time for me to brush my teeth, or "polish my pearlies" as Sherman T. Potter used to say. I can't show up for my Toastmasters meeting with unpolished pearlies. What would the neighbours think?
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
I am still at work even though it is past 4:30. Typically, civil servants rush out the door in a stampede reminiscent of the running of the bulls; however, my Toastmasters club meetings start up again this evening, and I really should go. It will be our first meeting since the middle part of June, some 3 months ago.
What else is going on? Not much. I am pleased to report that there have been no changes in Halifax radio this week. JC Douglas has been at The Wave for 4 days now and hasn't been fired yet, a near-record for an employee at MBS.
Radio965's fetish for David Myles continues unabated. A guy at work reported to me this afternoon that he can nearly set his watch by when certain songs are played on that station. I guess they have to work on that.
Sexy Girl/Rachel Dodds' last appearance on Q104 will be on Thursday morning. She just rejoined the morning team in the last several months, and now she is leaving town. Who will replace her? If you are a female with a certain degree of pulchritude, send in your resumes now. Or maybe the reports of moving away from edgier material are true and you won't hear as much of it going forward. Maybe they will have Educated Girl, who defies stereotypes and explains business and science principles to an enraptured audience interested in only her raw intellect. Or not.
In other news, I work with a deaf guy. Hello, Elliott. He knew I had a headache yesterday and asked how I was doing. I replied I was doing much better, and that the headache pills had been very useful. "Zomig?", he asked. "Not any more. It's the generic stuff, just called 'Zomipitran'."
The interpreter broke character long enough by asking me to take pity on him. I spelled the word as best I could, and he dutifully signed it.
Well, it turns out that after our meeting this morning, that I had misspelled it as well. Turns out it is called "ZOLMITRIPTAN". Actually there are three letters in front of it. They are "pms". So when I get a headache I take "pms-ZOLMITRIPTAN". Oddly enough, I take these pills when women in my life are experiencing PMS, as their histrionics only cause me to develop a migraine. There is an irony there somewhere, but it is hard to pin down.
It is time for me to brush my teeth, or "polish my pearlies" as Sherman T. Potter used to say. I can't show up for my Toastmasters meeting with unpolished pearlies. What would the neighbours think?
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Post 2436 - Quickly Noted
I took a sick day today. A migraine hit me pretty hard over night and carried over into the work day. Didn't get up until mid afternoon.
Remember last week, when I wrote the review of the Max Allan Collins book, "What Doesn't Kill Her?" Of course you do. I told you that MAC himself would read the review, and he did. I am pleased to report that he has linked to the blog on his own blog. Read this week's entry and you will see the link; then, you can go to the link he has for the book and see a quick quotation from "Bevboy".
Gosh, maybe I should review more novels on the blog. What do you think?
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Remember last week, when I wrote the review of the Max Allan Collins book, "What Doesn't Kill Her?" Of course you do. I told you that MAC himself would read the review, and he did. I am pleased to report that he has linked to the blog on his own blog. Read this week's entry and you will see the link; then, you can go to the link he has for the book and see a quick quotation from "Bevboy".
Gosh, maybe I should review more novels on the blog. What do you think?
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
Monday, September 2, 2013
Post 2435 - Happy Monday
Happy Labour Day to my 4.7 readers.
I hope you had a great day. I spent time in the Valley this morning and this afternoon. I washed the dishes. There were quite a few to wash, since I had made some meals over the weekend. I visited my mother thereafter before returning to the city mid-afternoon.
Newbie had remained in the city this weekend. We had not been able to find him before we left on Saturday, so we left without him. Not a big deal as we had left lots of food out for him and Patricia was around to feed him Sunday evening. He gave me the cold shoulder when I first arrived. He was standoffish, even more than a cat is by default. He eventually came around, though, when he remembered that I have access to the food in the house.
Patricia was not here when I arrived; she had left for the cottage this morning, and will remain there for the balance of the week. As things stand now, I will go there this weekend. Of course, if she gets mad at me, she may uninvite me. Or is that, disinvite me? Or is that decide I am not invited after all? I wasn't sure what word to use, as the spell checker on Blogger is a little conservative. If I do remain here all weekend, I will be sure to think about you.
I brought my satellite radio back with me. I bought it at a yardsale in Wolfville back in the Spring for about 35 dollars. It is a very small radio that fits in a boombox-type docking station. I paid for a year's worth of programming in advance, justifying it by saying that there are not nearly as many radio stations in the Valley as there are here, and therefore fewer choices to listen to when I am down there. Since I paid good $ for the radio and the programming I figure I may as well keep it here. It is not like I can hear "Liquid Metal" on any radio station in Halifax, nor a steady diet of 1940's Big Band music, nor 24x7 Grateful Dead tunes.
I won't say that satellite radio is where it's at. But, it is fun. However, their financial model is built on the hope that there are enough people across North America who want to hear 24x7 Grateful Dead music, or 24x7 Elvis songs, or 24x7 Liquid Metal, or what have you, to justify having at least one music channel devoted to each of those kinds of music. There is no way there would be enough of those folks in Halifax or most any other market. Maybe a huge market like Toronto or New York, but likely not even there. As a result, you get a wide swath of music that embraces nearly every kind of musical genre, but precious little local material. If there is a traffic delay on Bayer's Road in the afternoon I won't know about it by listening to Sirius XM.
It sure is nice, though, to have a huge variety of music without having to fill up an mp3 player and press shuffle.
Back to work in the morning. Will have to rely on myself to get up since Patricia is out of town and Newbie is pissed at me. Do wish me luck.
See you tomorrow.
Hugs and kisses.
Thinking about you.
Blah blah blah.
Bevboy
I hope you had a great day. I spent time in the Valley this morning and this afternoon. I washed the dishes. There were quite a few to wash, since I had made some meals over the weekend. I visited my mother thereafter before returning to the city mid-afternoon.
Newbie had remained in the city this weekend. We had not been able to find him before we left on Saturday, so we left without him. Not a big deal as we had left lots of food out for him and Patricia was around to feed him Sunday evening. He gave me the cold shoulder when I first arrived. He was standoffish, even more than a cat is by default. He eventually came around, though, when he remembered that I have access to the food in the house.
Patricia was not here when I arrived; she had left for the cottage this morning, and will remain there for the balance of the week. As things stand now, I will go there this weekend. Of course, if she gets mad at me, she may uninvite me. Or is that, disinvite me? Or is that decide I am not invited after all? I wasn't sure what word to use, as the spell checker on Blogger is a little conservative. If I do remain here all weekend, I will be sure to think about you.
I brought my satellite radio back with me. I bought it at a yardsale in Wolfville back in the Spring for about 35 dollars. It is a very small radio that fits in a boombox-type docking station. I paid for a year's worth of programming in advance, justifying it by saying that there are not nearly as many radio stations in the Valley as there are here, and therefore fewer choices to listen to when I am down there. Since I paid good $ for the radio and the programming I figure I may as well keep it here. It is not like I can hear "Liquid Metal" on any radio station in Halifax, nor a steady diet of 1940's Big Band music, nor 24x7 Grateful Dead tunes.
I won't say that satellite radio is where it's at. But, it is fun. However, their financial model is built on the hope that there are enough people across North America who want to hear 24x7 Grateful Dead music, or 24x7 Elvis songs, or 24x7 Liquid Metal, or what have you, to justify having at least one music channel devoted to each of those kinds of music. There is no way there would be enough of those folks in Halifax or most any other market. Maybe a huge market like Toronto or New York, but likely not even there. As a result, you get a wide swath of music that embraces nearly every kind of musical genre, but precious little local material. If there is a traffic delay on Bayer's Road in the afternoon I won't know about it by listening to Sirius XM.
It sure is nice, though, to have a huge variety of music without having to fill up an mp3 player and press shuffle.
Back to work in the morning. Will have to rely on myself to get up since Patricia is out of town and Newbie is pissed at me. Do wish me luck.
See you tomorrow.
Hugs and kisses.
Thinking about you.
Blah blah blah.
Bevboy
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Post 2434 - Sunday
I cooked two meals for Patricia today. I made my world-famous French Toast this morning. And I cooked haddock pieces for dinner tonight.
In between I visited my mother and took her shopping. And, alas and alack, I slept a lot.
I've just finished watching two episodes in the last season of "Breaking Bad". I'll watch a third one in the morning and catch episode 4 on Monday or Tuesday.
Patricia returned to Halifax this evening. Tomorrow morning she'll go to the cottage for the week. I will return to the city sometime Monday afternoon.
How has your Labour Day weekend been?
Guess I'll call it a night.
It's a ... Sorry. Old joke.
From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!
In between I visited my mother and took her shopping. And, alas and alack, I slept a lot.
I've just finished watching two episodes in the last season of "Breaking Bad". I'll watch a third one in the morning and catch episode 4 on Monday or Tuesday.
Patricia returned to Halifax this evening. Tomorrow morning she'll go to the cottage for the week. I will return to the city sometime Monday afternoon.
How has your Labour Day weekend been?
Guess I'll call it a night.
It's a ... Sorry. Old joke.
From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!
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