They're Here!

I got a call from the Tesarowskis just a little while ago. They have arrived in the Nation's Capital at last. We're going to get together some time tomorrow evening and visit.

A Bear Story

An atheist was walking through the woods.

“wow! what majestic trees! what powerful rivers! what beautiful animals!” he said to himself.

as he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. he turned to look. he saw a giant grizzly bear charge toward him. he ran as fast as he could up the path. he looked over his shoulder, and saw that the bear was closing in on him.

he looked over his shoulder again and, the bear was even closer. his heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. he tripped and fell on the ground. he rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw to strike him. at that instant, the atheist cried out, “oh my god!”

time stopped, the bear froze, and the forest was silent. as a bright light shone upon the atheist, a voice came out of the sky.

“you deny my existence for all of these years, and you teach others that I don’t exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? am i to count you as a believer?”

The atheist looked directly into the light, “it would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a christian now,” he said, “but perhaps, could you make the bear a christian?”

“very well,” said the voice. the light went out, and the sounds of the forest resumed. and then the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head, and spoke:

“lord, bless this food which i am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful.”

The weather where you are...

Here it's amazingly craptastic! The rain is literally POUNDING on the roof! I've never seen rain like the rain here. I'm sure we'd give the fiercest Tofino winter storm a run for its money. The Farmer's Almanac said we'd have a wet May and June and a hot, dry July and August. It can't come soon enough!

Now you!

Canada Day and Work

Well, it looks like I'm going to be busy on the days the Tesarowski's are in Ottawa. I've got work booked almost every day next week unfortunately and Rebeca will be back in Michigan to see her Mom so you'll probably have to entertain yourselves while you're here....not that you will have a problem with that. I'm hoping to be able to wrap up the work I have to do each night as quickly as possible so I can come see you. I think we'll both be around on Canada Day though.

From left to right: The Langevin Block (where the PM hides his office), the War Memorial, the East Block of Parliament, the Peace Tower of Parliament, and more of the East Block. 

Look at the moon out there!  

How to Post Photos to a Blog

Andrew, there are all sorts of ways to post photos to a blog or a webpage but for this blog the easiest way is to use Hello. Hello will let you post photos to the blog and, if you have friends with Hello accounts, share photos with others who have accounts.

Holy cow! With that camera, the C300, and a 1gb card you're going to be taking loads of photos!!

This is what we woke up to this morning! Is'nt that nice. I did'nt take an after shot but she's as good as new with a pretty good plastic patch job. They say Duct Tape can fix anything! 

Kitten War

Just to let everyone know. Willow has entered the KittenWar so if you come across her make sure you vote to help her win.

Frosty always threw a fantastic party. Anyone who was everyone was there.  

Check out Mom's new chompers! 

None of this will be happening for a while! Steve goes today at 12:20 to have three of his wisdom teeth pulled out. Ugh!  

The Globe and Mail Challenge....

Turn to Page D26 and read remark #5!!

Guess who??

Congratulations, Jessica!

When you live in Ottawa you some times forget to appreciate just how wonderful this city is. There are so many gems sitting around in plain site, you just have to look. This one, a truly noble creature, sits perched above the main entrance to the Centre Block of Parliament which just happens to be at the base of the Peace Tower.  

Talked to Uncle Wallace

Uncle Wallace's youngest son, Raymond, died last night about 1 a.m.He was 47. I just phoned Uncle Wallace this evening about him. He was over 400 pounds and diabetic, as well. He was staying with his sister, Patsy, because he hadn't been feeling well and was nervous about being alone. She got a hospital bed for his use. Yesterday sometime, he fell out of bed and they couldn't get him up so called the ambulance to take him to the hospital but Uncle Wallace thinks he died before they got him into the ambulance because the attendants couldn't revive him.
This is also the day Aunt Leona died. It's about 7 months since Sandra was killed so it's been really hard on Uncle Wallace.
How did he ever get to 400 pounds? I think every one of his children is overweight. He has a weight problem, too, and knee and hip problems. His oldest daughter should have hip replacement surgery but is too heavy. Sad for all of them.
I sent an e-mail to Gloria's Jennifer this morning but there's no reply tonight.
Aunt Evelyn said Gloria and Barry were down south during the winter and came to spend three or four days with Carolyn and Richard at the home they have in Georgia.
Stay healthy, all of you. Dad seems to be the only healthy one among his siblings.
I have to get to the library yet tonight. The museum has a hamburger sale tomorrow and then we only have the pancake breakfast to do for our opening July 9th.

Clocks

A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him. He asked, "What are all those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie, the hands on your clock will move."

"Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that one?" "That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she's never told a lie."

"Incredible," said the man, "and whose clock is that one?" St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that old Abe only told two lies in his entire life."

"Where's Paul Martin's or Jean Chrétien's clock?" asked the man.

"They're in Jesus' office. He's using them as ceiling fans."

Laura exists!

Here's the picture we sent to our French exchange student.

Check out this raging torrent. It's usually less than a foot deep. I don't know how much higher it is, because it's so muddy, it's hard to tell. Steve's fancy camera trick makes it look extra fast and raging! 

Steve risking life and limb to capture Mook smelling some fast smells! 

Gmail Accounts

Would anyone else like a Gmail account?

Another functionality test...this time of Hello. 

Katie and the Clay Dudes

For my birthday, we went to a place in SF called the Zeum, where you can do all sorts of technology-related activities. First, we did the Claymation, a la Wallace and Gromit. Each of us got to make a clay figure, and then you pose them, moving a little bit at a time, and it makes a little movie you can take home. We did a movie called "Blairmore Buddies", featuring Uncle Steve, Aunt Jessica, the Goose, Boomer, and Bruno the Loveable Donkey!

I tried to post it here, but I couldn't figure it out.. aww..

It started with Bruno, twitching his tail and ears, when along came Boomer. They 'chatted', and then came the goose, as Aunt Jessica appeared in a nearby window. She went to see the animals, but then, look!!! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No!! It's Uncle Steve, soaring into the scene from above. What an entrance! Then, the goose bit Aunt Jessica, and she cried, with real tears and everything. Uncle Steve picked up a carrot and fed it to Bruno, then Aunt Jessica rode Bruno. Then everyone waved and took a bow, and that was the end.

Here's a picture of them:


And then, guess what came in the mail the other day! A really cute new Stone's Throw T-shirt, which I'm wearing right now. Mom took a picture. That's my tuba (well, it doesn't quite belong to me, but I got to take it home over the summer.)





Can't wait til this summer!!!

And this is pic three to signify a good coffee!! 

This is pic two of the ad 

If this works, these three shots will be part of our next bathroom ad, reading something about cooling off with a nice iced coffee! 

I seem to be doing this backwards......

The shot below was taken on the first of June and it was a soggy one! It has been raining here for about three days or so and theere is no sign of it letting up! The A&B Liquir store decided they need the yard cleaned up, they were first going to call the cadets and offer them money to tidy up the place, but the manager of the store piped up and said the C.I.B. crew would do it! It always seems to rain when Jess tries to do something nice for this community! Every clean up day started by her and C.I.B. it has poured but there has still been a great turn out no the less! Anyway that little job should help the fund a little!

A few of the very wet crew!

Too much rain, too little sun

We are so tired of all this rain. Or did I already tell you that? Woke up this morning to water in the basement so I was down there about an hour and a half pushing it with a squeegee mop towards the drain. There are dips where it collected and they just kept filling up as I swiped through them. The water is coming in on three sides of the foundation. Dad patched all the holes in the walls but this appears to be getting in at the bottom of the walls. Grrrrr!
Yesterday about mid afternoon, we had a terrific down-pour that was likely the cause of the basement getting it. It rained during the night and was raining when we woke up this a.m. about 5:30 so maybe it rained the whole night, for all we know.
I took the umbrella when I walked the dog. My head and shoulders were dry and the arm holding the umbrella. The rest of me got wet. I've three pair of V.V. track shoes I rotate. What fun!! (#%*@%*) (Katie, Grandma was saying there,'Oh, my! Dear me! ') How come you can't buy rubber boots for women? They could have roses painted on them or something to make them appealing to ladies.