i'm an uncle!

(this is not the new shum or belke...but i have no pics yet of the little critter so...i stole this off the net...)

well, ok, not really, but i kinda like to think i am....
brent and mina had their baby on the 10th of september-mishi thinks that's the day she had picked in the baby pool...i picked march or may so i was way off....
who would have thought or suspected over ten years ago when i was helping to set-up those two kids that they'd be making babies...? not me...but now they have and i think it's great. i'm proud in a wierd kinda way. i love them and i think they're going to be great parents. and i'm gonna be a great uncle, of sorts. i'll teach him how to blow-up shit, drive fast and talk to girls. and when the time is right, how to give the finger and use swear words effectively.
his name is tai. fuck, i hope that's how you spell it...tai shum-belke, or tai belke shum, or ti shum or tai belke, or tai garnet marc belke-shum...i dunno....he'll be a good kid.

good work kids. i love you.

garn xo

rubber side down and keep yer chin up little camper.

as a kid growing up there were few people who really impressed me. or made me think that they were pretty cool. my uncle glen was one. he and his wife denny had an old datsun convertable, i think, that i thought was cool. i believe it had a checkerboard patterned top. my dad was up there. he would fix my floor hockey sticks so they wouldn't bend by putting wood into the middle of them producing a very hard wrist shot. he did other things, of course, but that was one of them. my mom was always cool, and still is. she would drive me to hockey early in the morning, watch me play baseball, do everything else i needed done and always told me i was the best at whatever it was..which was rarely true...but that's ok...
but this isn't about them. not today. because i could talk about them and others for a long time.
when i was growing up one of the things that i remember the most are the summers i spent at sprott lake and in port alberni. we'd stay at my grannie's place or at the lake for a lot of the summer. my cousins were always around and for the most part we all got along well. we were kids so it was easy. we swam, watched the mars water bombers and ate like champs.
one of my cousins that that came to the lake was my cousin rob-he is actually a second cousin so he's my mom's age not mine . he was from california and had a brother, les, who lived in maple ridge. they were both printers and had lives i really thought were cool. they grew-up in california, lived that life, had both married women named jan, which always reminded me of jan and dean. they water skied better than anyone else, were always laughing and les' kids, anne and eric, were two of my favorite cousins. les and rob's mother was my grannie's sister, agnus.
i saw rob, now probably in his late 60's, in the summer at my mom's place. still funny, still givin' 'er shit. they were up to visit and i made sure i made it out to issy's to see them.
i found out today that rob has been diagnosed with cancer and has a couple of months to live. he's upset, as he should be and i know there are a lot of people on his team right now. les has gone down to be with him and help out where he can. we were never close but i always liked that guy. he is a good man. and i want the best for him. i would like to see him but i don't know if that will happen.
take care rob. we love you.

garn xo

my poor noodle...

i think, and eric pointed this out today, that if this show we're on was in the winter, we'd be less grumpy and pissed off. we've all missed our summer. and for corie and me that's shitty, but for guys like eric and al it's worse, they have kids and wives and all the family stuff...and they're kids are great. we're nearing the final stretch and it's gonna be a doozy... corie is testing head hits at an alarming rate, i'm spending money and organizing like never before, well maybe, and we're all getting packed up and moving our shit to ashcroft to work for ten days or so...shitola. we're staying in the bear's claw lodge in cache creek...good times..look for blog action for the hinterland soon...
the other day i was talking with ken diamond and decided that i hadn't seen him in too long and invited him out to dinner at the topanga...he agreed and corie and the network came along as well...i really like that guy...always good for a laugh and he kinda puts it all in perspective. he works in film or rather used to work in film but only does now every once in a while. he is giving own work a go. and it really is great stuff. he makes leather goods-bags, day timers, sandels, etc...very different from what the garbs does so they can co-exist in this town without having to have a shootout or fight at the monkey bars after school.
check out his stuff:
kendiamond.com
i'm tired. i have to be at work at 5 am or before and it's all about getting all this shit together to go north...all the while keeping shit running smoothly here...we've all basically worked 35 days straight...and there won;t be a break until around day 52...nice...

i love you kids...

g. xo

ken diamond gets happy after a big meal at topanga.





and speaking of ken...thses are the feet of my grey king that showed-up with a few toenails missing...the fight is ongoing...

these are the good times...

i know that in a few years corie and i will be sitting around having drinks and we will look back at this time as they good times...the good old days. the times that we lived the most we could have ever lived at this time...we lived our lives to the fullest. i know that day will come. and boy, will we laugh....
i just finished reading the new shepard fairey book 'supply and demand' and it was a better read than i expected. i, like everyone else in the world, had seen the OBEY Andre the Giant stickers plastered all around the streets and wondered what the hell...i found out a few years ago about shepard and the stickers and the propaganda style posters he was making and the obey manifesto and was very interested in it. his art has become so widespread now it's become used in commercials and advertising, the very things he was rallying against but his justification for the use of his art this way is detailed in the book. anyhow...i really enjoyd it. there are pieces of his art that reflect, to me anyways, some of the work done by cindy sherman and, more blatantly, barbara kruger. and it's just a good lookin' book.
ok..that's it for the art speak bullshit. i hate that shit.
the grey king ken saga continues, it was pointed out to me that he, besides being scuffed, was also missing some of his toenails...so shitty. i am now fighting with the seller to send this sad gorilla back to england and get my money back...i'm not holding my breath.
i have a big bottle of advil that now lives right above my desk...i have never needed that shit as much as i do now...
somewhere out there, there's a driving trip with my name written all over it. and today i got an e/mail from my pal monica in NYC...she's moved into a new place..and she's gonna have a house warming party...maybe i can mae it...maybe i'll be working.

g. xo

in god's country...

yup...we're out there all right...burning it up good. out past mission, past mission city, past hatzac lake and beyond, inland, to danny virtue's ranch. man, yer out there. it's beautiful...until you see the big smoke we're making all in the name of geting it caught on film for this block/nutbuster 'shooter'.

i'm tired, corie's tired, al's tired, eric's tired...we're all fuckin' tired...so enjoy the pics...

oh..i also drove by my great grand parents place in hammond. it's now a hertitage house called...wait for it....'harry house'. pretty cool.

i need a nap.

g. xo

my great grand parents place in hammond. my father's grand father. my father was named after him - floyd. he had a son named garnet. i was named after him.






the shriner gets down making cork hits on the farm.



eric and corie enjoy the smoke.



mike gets attended to by the craft service woman. he was hoping for a sandwich.



corie gets back to his urban roots.



gitte, a pal of mishi's and mine. she does make-up...she makes marky mark look good.



dummys.

i can hold my breath until next wednesday...

but i won't.
years ago, in the mid 80's, i was a beat farmers fan. they played a brand of bar-country rock that was all held together by country dick montana. they were from san diego and every show was a drunken display of three chord rock. dick would eventually make his way into the audience, covered in sweat and beer often being caried to the bar on the shoulders of the bigger members of the audience...dick died at a bar in whistler while drumming for the farmers. god bless ya dick.
but that's not what this is all about.
one of my favorite songs these days is by the drive-by truckers. nothing earth-shattering about the song, but it makes me think of the farmers and that bar rock. lately the song 'wednesday' has been played alot as i drive around...i like it...maybe you will too...
yesterday i worked a getting shit ready for tuesday morning out at the ranch in mission, cut four lawns, went over to drop some crap off at joel's place, hit whole foods and have a great end of the summer bbq with the network, corie, mishi and garbs...which included, two different types of chicken/turkey sausage, lamb, chicken and salmon...potatoes, yams, corn on the cob and salad....and to end it all...a blueberry pie from savary island with ice cream...good times...

here are some pics form the last few days... it was a full few days...

welcome to the end of summer...

g. xo

some pics i took without looking... just fired the camera out the window...






joel's kids- indiana and cole - hang out with larry.




julie and taylor.

labour day? yes...there was some of that....

no real report... i worked a little today...or a lot..or something inbetween...and cut four lawns, and had a great bbq with all the kids....

more on all this tomorrow...i'm fuckin' tired...

night.

g. xo

the network jumps with janz

the network had mentioned a few times that she wanted to try skydiving...so who better for her to go skydiving with than steve janz? so on saturday she and steve did just that. she drove out to pitt medows airport and at around 12,500 feet, she jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. so while we were working and blowing things off the back of corie's head, she was flying throught he air with mr. janz...by all accounts she loved it....good for her...not this cowboy...
after work i needed to pick-up some groceries and right near the choices at richards and davie they were having a handcuff party...gotta get a picture of that...how come they never put people in cuffs in my 'hood?
worked today and will do a few hours tomorrow...
i was out on my bike tonight...it was a good night for it...ran into some old high school pals, ate a little thai food, had some ice cream with mishi and now will head to bed...i'm such a party animal...

sweet dreams

g. xo

good times.



the shriner at virtue's ranch...workin' in film is so excellent!

corie's brain can take no more and...kaboom!

a guy can only take so much...today at the shop corie was testing different head hits for the scene where a guy gets his head shot off while in the back of a truck...excellent. here are some of the pics...

also other various shots from the start of our long weekend....

g. xo






that hat may have to be replaced.



al and eric work it out.



dar's pretty excited to be working this long weekend.



it's a lovely view from our shop rooftop.



maxim crane lifts the car out of the river. iven was pretty happy to be working this weekend as well.

good morning...you said when...? shit!

well, this morning as i drank my coffee the phone rang and it was joel, our fearless leader, my boss, asking me where the snow product i had bought the day before was at. um, i'm mixing it this morning (it had yet to be made) and then i'm shipping it out...fuck! it was suppose to be here for call!!!!
oh.
ok.
so i dressed as fast as i could, didn't even do up my pants or brush my teeth, drove like starsky to the shop and had all the boys making snow...it was awesome...and i cut my hand...very small, like a paper cut...but still...i cut my hand. and the snow is now in mission, or close to mission. another job done half right.
last night we dined like champs at topanga...fawn, the network, don bull, corie and myself...it was try on fawn's sunglasses night...she bought them in miami for 8 dollars..says it's the best 8 bucks she's ever spent.

so welcome to september. the first day of the first day closer to winter. i still need a hot dog.

garn xo

krista tries out the shades...



as does lisa...



and the network gave 'em a whirl..



i look like a complete idiot...



don and fawn try to rock the shades...



corie...



don gets a close look at my nearly crushed leg...



fawn gives my leg the thumbs up...