creepy

found this.

yikes.

g. xo

rib night at the garnyard

shauna and i had a ribfest tonight at the garnyard...nice. and here's my big hint of the day - a duh hint - don't buy ribs on granville island buy them elsewhere...i knew and know this but had to yesterday and man, they are expensive there...like 40% more...go to columbus meats. love those guys. and better ribs. i think.
ribs with salad made with stuff from my garden...nice action.
shauna and stella head to their place tomorrow and will fall in love with their own bed again. welcome home.

have fun tomorrow.

g. xo

nice action.

bombers win! bombers win!

yup. it's true. we won our first title last night in north van winning the spring/summer league playoffs. they came to fight but in the end the Replacements were no match for us or our stellar goal tending - drew, our saviour. a 4-1 final sealed it.
now, in short order, the start of the winter league.

g. xo

pics from last night.

late for dinner

a few more pics from hornby and the drive home....all eleven hours of it...

g. xo



i had set the timer on my phone as i left garvie's on hornby...

nice brownie.
nice line-up to the ferry.

nice view on hornby.

hey ferry! wait for larry...

wouldn't be hornby without a facepainter.

actually it's not that it wouldn't or won't wait for larry, it's just that the ferry from hornby to denman island only takes 30 cars at a time and we were around 40th after the ferry at 1 p.m. left and then the 2 p.m. ferry was full also so we're now number eight i think...if it was raining or shitty out it would be a bummer, but dude, i'm totally on island time and just chillin' watching some episodes of breaking bad, walking around, and then more chillin'. i have some provisions so all good.
yesterday was jam packed with action here - the farmer's market, some beach action, fish and chip and ray's seaside fish and chips...this morning we had breakfast at gloria's, i think, and then a big walk around halliwell park and then a visit to the cardboard house bakery.
now. the ferry life begins again.
below. the last day or so in pictures.
enjoy.

g. xo

ailsa's house/cabin on hornby.

veggies at the market.

larry loves the ferry.

garvie buys some fruit and veggies for a woman that has such a short skirt on when she bent over....god lord - cover the kid's eyes.

gailan, i think her name is spelled...a friend of shauna's i kinda know. she makes and sells pottery on the island. her dad is a big deal potter.

larry loves hornby.

fiona loves cinn. buns.

the fish and chips were ok...bot great but ok. always better when on vacation.

god's country.

doro and tom - ailsa's parents.

beach action.

arts and crafts.

parksville loves classic rock - all nihght long.

ok. so maybe the skylite's close proximity to the 19A wasn't such a good thing. little bit noisy. at around 4:40 a.m. some local rocker was cruising around listening to pink floyd's 'the wall' at top volume. then around 5:00 a.m. a few guys sat on the side of the road listening to 'riders on the storm' , pretty cool. and then at 5:30 a.m. a guy pulled up outside my room and let out the girls who are staying in the room above me - getting back after some parksville all night beach party action.
ok. i need to get going before anyone notices i haven't got the correct stickers on my car.
i don't think i brought enough clothes. oops.

have a great saturday.

g. xo

island time

i managed to make the 7:30 ferry and am now holed-up in a hotel in parksville - any town with 'ville' in the name is ok by me. it's the world famous skyline hotel of course. i'm tired and need a good sleep before i head over to hornby tomorrow morning.

it was about halfway across the water that i realized i didn't put the new sticker on my license plate and at midnight tonight i won't have a valid plate on my car - even though i do have new insurance, it's just sitting on the floor of my element which is parked at my place in kits. oops. if i get pulled over i'm good but it'll take some 'splainin'.

the island is really just over here, so to speak, but it's really a world away and moreso as you head up island - the hairdo of the manager at the skylite is clear evidence of this fact. if there was a 70's version of madmen she'd be the joan on that show, just less buxom. slightly hee-haw with just a hint of 'get smart'. or something. the girl at the petro-can who was picking herself up a bottle of soda, who, as she walked by my car as i was filling it up said, with her head slightly tilted, "niiice caaarr", could have been mistaken for a more blonde suzi quatro minus the leather jacket. i love it. but i'm still a little weirded out by it.

i caught-up on my 'breaking bad' on the way over.

there was a huge dude with his shirt off sitting outside the room next to mine when i first arrived. he and his wife were outside taking in the highway 19A sights and having a few smokes each. i said hi and got a 'howdy' back. i like them already.
tomorrow i'll hoss-down a little of the continental breakfast and hit the road towards hornby island...along the way the sights and sounds of the island.
see you soon.

g. xo

shortsighted

well, the vote is in. welcome back the gst and pst.

very shortsighted in my regard.

too bad.

g. xo

don hoven - great set of hands, all-round good guy.

the other night i was putting in ailsa's new tap set and one of the nuts was seized so i needed a second set of hands to hold the top side while i wrestled, from below, with the nut to get the thing off and put the new one in...so i called the only man for the job - and one that only lives two blocks for ailsa's place - don hoven - and went and grabbed him and went to her place to make shit happen.
he's a good man that don hoven. - very good friend of the garbs and when we needed a new guy at the shop, we wanted him. and he's been a great addition here to the BOC gang - just delinquent enough to fit in. always a smile on his face and willing to help out where he can...and laugh at you when you do something stupid...
anyhow...after we got the tap set in, we sat and had a beer and had a few laughs...good guy. good man.

i've been trying to get all the lawns done during the week after work or at lunch time because i'm thinking of going to hornby island tonight to see ailsa as she's up there right now for a couple of weeks with fiona on their annual vacation there. i think her parents are there right now too...i've never been there and feel like going on a little adventure so why not hornby? after work last night i raced to the dog lawn and cut as fast as i could while the sun went down...i was sweating like a freak. but got it done. i have a couple to do today, which i should be able to do, and then i can go sit in a chair and read a book on hornby island. and as i love ferries so much, i get to take three each way...
ok. busy day at the salt mine.

have fun.

g. xo

getting shit done - late night stealth syle

the other week i was installing a new GFI outlet in ailsa's bathroom and shorted out the plug. no biggie. (usually.) but this time it was. sort of. the breaker box wasn't tripped but the plug and another close by failed to work anymore. i looked at what i could but decided to let someone a little more knowledgeable look at it. enter scott. he came by ailsa's last staurday and had a look. we took off panels, tested breakers, etc.
nothing. everything seemed as it should be.
fuck.
so yesterday another fx guy came to work for us - wray - and wray happens to be an electrical dude and i guess he and scott were talking and he told scott what he thought the problem was...and scott told me..and last night after work i went to ailsa's and like magic, it worked.
for those who care...
if you have several GFI outlets - usually in bathrooms, in your house, if one trips and won't reset, go check the other one(s) in your place as they may be tripped from the other and they're all, usually, ganged on the same cuircut and cancel each other when they trip. and that's why you don't see it at the breaker box.
ok. electrical lesson is over. for now.
i also installed a dimmer in fiona's bedroom yesterday as her chandelier, that i put up at xmas, is a little bright so now it can be dumbed down a little. and..then, it was time to do the new tap set in the kitchen. and since there was one nut that had/has rusted on to the shaft of the thingy, it will have to wait until tonight or tomorrow before i can fix it - i need another set of hands on the top side to hold the fixture as i lossen it from below.
a little late night contractor action.
busy today here in the old salt mine. soon, i think, i'm going to need a second driver as paul is being run ragged with all that has to be picked up in a day and donovan is getting great at running errands but i need him here as well. helpful little fella.
ok. back to it.

g. xo

tuckered out

my neighbours - whom i have seen exactly once...planted some sunflowers...i like how they peek over.

after waking up so early for a sunday morning, i am now a sleepy sort. i may also be extra sleepy after a dinner with the garbs at refuel - burgers will do that for sure.

it was a big day - cleaning at the garnyard, a little shopping, gardening, a nice visit with mishi at the pickle (where i may or may not of helped make a sale of some cufflinks...), lunch at the pickle, a bike ride to kits beach for a visit with shauna and her crew (claire, devon, john, hottie, jeremy, kerry...that i can name right now...) - it was a late birthday celebration for shauna, then back home for a clean-up and off to get the garbs for dinner...

action packed.
ok...a little relaxo now and then bed time...back to the salt mine tomorrow...

have fun

g. xo

pump kin

hey! look! i discovered a going-orange pumpkin just minutes ago. we planted these pumpkins for fiona and they weren't looking so good but now they're happenin'...kind of. one of them weaved its way into the neighbour's garden so there are two green ones and one orange one. we'll see who wins the race.

ok. windows washed - in and out, gardening done, deck swept...i feel better. now some shopping.

g. xo

nap time

stella and shauna have been staying with me for a few days now and will be here until the end of the month when shauna gets her apartment back...she came back from spain sooner than expected and her apartment was sublet so she blew up and air mattress and now it's in my office area for the next week or so. except last night when i decided i'd move it outside and sleep on my deck - something i've wanted to do since i moved in here. shauna took my bed and i crashed outside. pretty cool. oh, except the part i didn't know about which was that the air mattress leaks a little and by the morning an otherwise hard firm mattress becomes a saggy 'you ass feels the concrete' mattress - but at least it was the morning and not in the middle of the night.

and look something red in my garden - the garden that is a disaster this year - friday night garvie and i had dinner with katherine at roma and she was saying that this year her garden was less than great as well. though she's starting from scratch at her/their new place and figuring out what works where is part of the new process....whereas mine just didn't work. i'm gonna go out there today and try and pin up some saggy tomatoes and see if the pumpkin patch is actually gonna make it.
have a wicked sunday.

g. xo

one for nine

if i was a baseball player i'd be sent to the minors or to winter ball in mexico to get a tune-up...today i drove around to see how 'my' lawns were doing but, due to the lack of rain, there wasn't a lot of grass growing this last few weeks. i cut one lawn in the west end and that was it. so i drove from kits, to the west end to the east side, dropped by the shop, up to main street area, then to richmond and then to dunbar. one lawn. i did stop in at que pasa for some lunch, which is always good but, not so much green. it's been like this the last few years in late july, early august and then by sept. it's wet lawns again and the end of the season in october it's boots and wool socks to cut and get it over with. i love it, cutting, but it can be frustrating.

ok. i need a snack.

g. xo

puppy love

my good friend debbie sent me this today...
....

Good Morning All,

For those of you who don't know yet, Kathryn and I welcomed Chloe, a pregnant 4 year old lab into our lives last Saturday, to foster her while she gave birth to and raised her pups for their first few weeks. She arrived on August 13th and her babies followed on the 14th, with the last one making her grand entrance early in the morning on the 15th.

Five days later, we are happy to report that 8 little girls and their Mother are doing just fine. (I am going to quit my job in accounting and apply to the circus as a shit-shoveler, as I have gained alot of experience these past few days, and have become quite good at it.)

In about 7 weeks Chloe and her pups will be returned to the Toronto Humane Society where they will be spayed and then put up for adoption. Ideally we would like to find homes for all of them before this happens. Any adoption would still go through the THS, but it would be great to return them knowing that the stay there would only be temporary, for shots, spaying and recovery.

If you, or anyone you know is interested in adopting one of these little girls, let me know, and we can move forward from there. Chloe is a Lab-cross and her babes are to be determined - quite can't tell yet.

For those of you in Vancouver, shipping can be arranged so no excuses! (seriously, if you happen to know anyone in this area that would be interested, please pass the information along)

Thanks!

......

g. xo