Rub-a-Dub-Dub

The wife and I were talking today as I got ready for a bath, and for some reason that set me thinking of baths of another time. My mind was cast back to when I was very young and WWII was still in its infancy.

I was drawn back to a houseful of people, kids mostly. This situation was created that way as a result of being evacuated. Groups of families were being made to fit into whatever accommodation was available. Our small two & a half bedroom house had a total of seven children and five adults. As a child it never occurred to me that if the kids occupy the beds, where did the adults sleep? Of course children didn’t think of such things at that age.

The bathtubs of those days were the iron porcelain glaze type with legs on them. They always seemed to look more grey than white, with the perpetual rust stain that seemed to come with every tub. Looking back I chuckle; for at times, when the tub got filled with the water from the tap, the water often looked almost as if someone had used it already. I don’t know if this was the effect of the colour of the water, or if it just looked that way because of the grayish tone of the bathtub.

I was certainly reminded of five children to a bed, and us kids getting bathed, all three brothers in the tub at the same time. The water was heated mostly by pots being boiled on the gas stove, you get the picture.
There were days during the cold winter months when mom gave us a farmers bath. We would take turns standing in a large basin set on a hand pegged rug in front of the open coal fire. Because it was so cold and damp upstairs in the rooms, we used to pull our clothes into the bed to warm them before we could get dressed.

There’s something to be said about getting older; for with memories like these, one never forgets what life used to be like and I’m thankful for that.

I headed for the bathroom, thinking twice about pulling the wife's leg and asking where’s my rubber ducky!

C'ya

A chuckle

The things a long hard winter will do to you!! ;)



C'ya

South is Thataway!

Canada Geese getting ready for the parade.


I have been studying these geese for some little time now.

There is a park across the road from where we live. Beside there being a sizeable lake, there are walkways, gardens and a playing field. This area is a sizeable habitat for a variety of wildlife and the geese in particular.

When not on the lake or some other such mischief, they congregate on the playing field in large numbers especially when the sun is out. The strange thing I found is, they all sit facing the sun as it dips toward the west, in rows almost like a battalion of soldiers on parade. It is very regimentally impressive I have to admit.

I have come to the conclusion, that just as humans have a need for vitamin D, so too do wild life, the birds in particular. Almost as if they are charging their batteries ready for the long flight south.

Of course having the geese around in such numbers, one gets to see them in flight, in their now well known V formation. Which raised another question, why? To which I also formed my own opinionated answer.

When in flight there is always one goose at the lead position, changing one could presume at intervals, moving from the lead down back to the rear of the flock. I determined then, that over the course of their journey, no doubt every goose within that group, would spend a time both leading and also at rearguard.

It occurred to me. What if they arrive at the wrong destination? They would have no one to blame, but themselves. Maybe even, all that honking is everyone trying to give the lead goose directions! Bunch-a backseat drivers! J ~

C’ya

No Cause for Alarm

Have you ever had some of those days when you feel like the ball, in a pinball machine? For some time now things around here have been too calm and uneventful. That is until recently.

Last week we were around the stores (four of them) looking at 5x8 area rugs. Of course we couldn’t agree on a pattern or price, so came home empty handed a number of times.

I should tell you that lately when we go into the store, the carpet area in particular, we appear to get funny looks from the staff, or else it’s my imagination. Anyway that’s how it feels, as the hairs on the back of my neck start to tingle.

I forgot to mention that in her eagerness to examine every rolled up carpet in the store, Elizabeth has a wrestling match, eventually managing to pin every carpet with a fall in the aisle! Believe me, everything falls down and it looks like a bomb hit the place. After a half baked attempt to correct the situation, we sneak furtively away and leave things for the store assistants to sort out. You get the picture.

The other day we had a great day, at least we thought so. We had settled the carpet fiasco a day or so prior, so didn’t have to worry about that anymore. So out we went again and ventured into the uncharted waters of a huge new mall complex. Hiking boots and a good quality leather back pack were the intended shopping victims for the day.

We do seem to get ourselves into some situations at times, well the wife does, and she belongs to me so we’re it!

We didn’t get the boots that day but the back pack was a real beauty!
Or was until one of the zippers went a few days later. I will spare you the wails of anguish accompanied with the pain. Talk about panic stations!

First we tried to fix the zipper but quickly realized that we were out of luck there. Next thought was obviously lets get a return, or better, an exchange. That’s when Elizabeth paled somewhat as she told me she had that very morning dumped the cash register receipt into the garbage! Mission impossible now was to recover the receipt, so you know what that entailed.

Fortunately for us they have quite a sophisticated garbage set up here, so at least we wouldn’t have to go through mountains of crap.

As it was there was the wife up to her armpits sifting through the bags looking for our bag of litter. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever see her doing that.
Believe me the relationship between Elizabeth and her new leather bag is a torrid affair, so nothing was going to stop her from getting that receipt back!

I could see she had been successful when she came back with a triumphant smile on her face, albeit a little mussed up.

The following step was pretty dull after all the excitement and panic. A trip to the store, a few nice words with the assistant and out came the wife smirking all over her face and brandishing her new bag.

On the way home we called in at the carpet store. They had some smaller rugs on sale to match the carpet we bought earlier, so we picked one up. ~

At our apartment we are lucky, not only do we have the elevator, but they have a shopping cart to help carry the loot the upstairs.

The elevator is not overlarge, so when we get the cart in there plus me with my walker it gets somewhat congested. Today we were going upstairs in the elevator when Elizabeth decides she wants to turn the cart around ready to get off at our floor, that’s when the fun began, again!

In turning she somehow caught the emergency button with the buggy, which dials for help, thus setting the alarms in motion! Elizabeth’s first words were “Wow! The shopping cart is the exact same height as the alarm button!”

To our horror there didn’t seem to any way to shut this thing off! ~ Yeah, you got it. We hightailed it out of there as if the place was on fire, thankfully nobody answered the call this time. Never a dull moment where we are I can tell you!


C’ya

Dogface

Aren't Moms just wonderful, she sent us this card recently.

At 82 she still has a knack for picking a funny laugher. Thank you Mom, you're a sweetie.





C'ya

Tidbits

I was idly reading an article, contemplating the latest price for gas and wondering what new highs and lows were in the local news today.

One of today’s topics I believe was something to do with grocery stores and bagging your own groceries. ~ There was some mention about cashiers bagging or not, or at least something along that line of ~ Can you remember when?

Along a related line was the latest on environment green. No more plastic bags ~ back to paper bags again? But then what about cutting down the trees to make the bags? I tell you it’s a no win situation.

So can you just imagine some person having to bag their own groceries, standing in the line up and hating every minute of it. What was worse, ~ even having to buy the bags!

There they are dragging their butt and grumbling all the time while they bag. I guess one can’t blame them when you see the prices in the grocery stores these days.

This for some reason prompted me to come out with the remark:

‘Bag your own grocery shopping bag rage!’
I mean like. ~ Just think about it.

We have road rage and someone stole the parking space rage, or someone jumped the lineup rage etc, etc.

“Jeeze the stores these days want you to do their work for them! While they stand watching, with their blah, blah, blah.”

If you’ve ever grocery shopped, then you have heard it all before I’m sure.

Meanwhile you get someone else who is waiting in line, getting a little bit impatient, stomping around whilst waiting their turn to bag.

I can see it all now, ~ “Man gets arresting for whacking another customer with a wet lettuce while bagging same!” ~

The mind could work wonders with that one.

I must keep that possibility in mind and shop where they bag the groceries for you!

C’ya

Hockey Night in Canada

Just lately there has been a lot of hullabaloo about the Hockey Night in Canada theme music. The surprising thing is, this music has been used for the last forty years ~ now all of a sudden this commotion.

This has prompted CBC to scamper around, considering the unspeakable. The Toronto Star newspaper has even launched a contest for a replacement song/poem, so at a suggestion of a friend I thought ~ why not!

Hockey Night in Canada

With the sounding of the trumpet,
The drumming of the beat
Excitement reaching feverish pitch,
As the fans reach out to greet.

Players coming onto the ice.
Cherry waving, takes a look
Smiling, as excitement resounds
With the dropping of the puck.

The roar of the impatient crowd,
Sounding out the rallying call,
It’s hockey night in Canada
Come on you fans, come all.

Eric Valentine Aug 11-08 ©

Go git em Leafs!

Footnote

After further research I have discovered my friend was wrong. They are looking for a song not a poem!.. ~ Any takers?! LOL

C'ya

Doggie Diner

A friend mailed me the fawn pics earlier, I thought it was cute.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

A fawn followed this beagle home -- apparently, right through the doggie door --

Later the owner came home to find the visitor had made himself right at home.






Not to be out-done, ~ why not said the bear!




C'ya

Surf n Sale

Who said "Trunk sailing” wasn’t exhausting!




Last week we went through the newspapers looking for garage sales. It’s amazing how many of them there are each summer. Having just moved, we were in the market (pardon the pun) for a few items.

How different things are nowadays. Today we used the computer map-quest search, for all the street names we didn’t know. Plotting a route to take in our onslaught for the goodies. It’s amazing how many people get themselves out there ‘in the hunt’. Long caravans of vehicles practically racing each other to see who can get there first, ~ ‘follow that van!’.

Whilst in the planning stages I got a little curious. I remembered the English TV program “ Steptoe & Son” the ‘rag and bone men’ from the successful BBC series. I remembered the same people in real life from when I was a kid growing up in England. That brought to mind other well known names related, I thought, like trunk sales, rummage sales, garage sales as well as the famous ‘Flea Markets’. I decided to google the origin. ~ What a pleasant surprise and such a good read. This is the link:


These are part of the loot from our sojourn into the world of sometimes mad, who said it doesn‘t pay to get ready to rumble!




BarBells for exercising. $5.00





Cabinet to hold microwave.. $4.00





Finally what I figured was 'The Prize' ~ Marble Chess set $1.00!!





We arrived home, feeling a little like “Fagan from Oliver Twist!” having picked someone’s pocket.

C'ya

Night Sky

Two more storms last night, more rubber shoes for Elizabeth! ~





This is a picture after the storm, moving away.

C'ya

Zap Bang Wallop

Crack! Boom!

“That’s it!” Elizabeth exclaimed and heads for the closet. “What are you doing?” I ask. “Putting on my sandals. I hate thunderstorms.” I look at her feet, “And the sandals will protect you?” “Yes, the rubber soles could save my life. You should put yours on.” Well no, a doubtful expression on my face.

I realize Elizabeth has had more than her fair share of close climate encounters and once lived in a place that was hit several times by lightning. I feel we are pretty safe here though.
She’s eyeing the maple tree outside. I know the bathroom and kitchen are off limits for now. Sigh.

“You know that’s a myth, about the rubber soles?”

“Yes, my sandals will not prevent me from being hit by lightning. But, years ago a neighbor of mine was struck. The lightning came through the kitchen sink faucet from the lake and he had his hand on the counter. It shot up his arm, down his whole body to his running shoe. Huge scar.
The hospital said the rubber sole shoe saved him. Probably sleeps in them now. So, myth or not, these sandals give me comfort and I’m not taking any chances. You shouldn’t either. Damn! I hate thunderstorms.”

(At least she is in an awareness state of mind because of her belief I thought.)

***

Elizabeth was beginning to remind me of my Mom. When I was young we used to have a small add on to the kitchen in the old house. Often we would put our bikes in there, especially if it was storming. When the thunder and lightning came, my mother would run out and put towels over the handle bars. I’m convinced she thought she was hiding the metal from nature and the storm.

I watch my wife as she changes the placemats on the dining room table. “Are those the non-conductive mats, Honey?” Big smiles right across my face!

Uh oh, Makes a beeline for the door!

C’ya

It just goes to show

A number of years ago I was living in a second floor apartment, then I finally got the opportunity to move to the ground floor. Have you ever experienced the difficulty of doing a move when your health is impaired? So I needed help.

Anyway I asked around if anyone could recommend a mover and I got these guys. I was never so impressed in my life at the job they did for me on that occasion. They were so thorough and affordable I would recommend them to anyone. On the upstairs move they even placed everything in exactly the same position downstairs, that the object had previously occupied, including a bag of garbage that I had set to one side, now that is thorough.

***
Going to a different area, the move this time definitely required the movers and a truck. Isn’t it amazing just how much stuff one acquires in a short time.

Below is an email the wife sent to her friend for it says it all, boy were they having a chuckle!

“Hi,
Just got the computers set up and we're back online....:)....Wow....what a week.....

Eric's physiotherapist was able to help me last Wednesday morning for 3 hours and between the 2 of us, we filled her van twice and our truck and took the computers and fragile stuff over to the new apt. Initially we were a bit concerned about the movers because they said there was no top on their truck (they had tarps) but fortunately it was a sunny day.
Eric had used them before for moving from an upstairs apt. to downstairs. They arrived at noon.

I smiled when I saw their truck, said to Eric, who was still indoors at the time, 'You're going to love this'. LOL





Talk about a redneck truck!



The guys worked extremely hard for the next 3 hours...they had blankets and tie-downs and were more careful and efficient than any movers I've ever seen....absolutely wonderful. Cost.....$200. We had gotten prices previously of $400 from other movers.

Been pacing ourselves with the unpacking....perhaps 1/2 unpacked....Eric is getting his exercise walking from the east wing to the west wing.. This place is so huge!....LOL:) “

Just goes to show, it’s that the job got done. ~ Never mind the how!

C’ya

The McGonagle

A St. Patrick’s Day Fairytale

The greenhouse was suddenly illuminated by consecutive flashes of lightening. An ominous roll of thunder followed, almost jolting the tray out of the hands of the leprechaun. Carefully he made his way from the bench, in the pouring rain, taking the precious cargo inside. While the thunderstorm raged outdoors, he gently went about his task. Gradually the storm passes and like he, fades into the night.
***
She sat there gazing around the room. It wasn’t a bad room really, of course if you wanted more light and sunshine you had to lean over a little. Looking over at the books on the shelf unit, she wished she could read. Instead, all she ever did was sit here and have the occasional drink of water.

In addition to not being able to read, she couldn’t walk either and didn‘t even have a proper name. You see she was not a human, but just a simple little tree plant sitting in a nice blue pot on a coffee table.

Often she pined for another plant to talk to when human’s weren’t about, but these humans were so busy with their life, that thought never occurred to them. It was in those moments that she would get a little sad and it might be imagined, shed a small tear perhaps.
**
It was at one such moment, when McGonagle the Leprechaun appeared on the scene. “Don’t cry little one, don’t you remember what I said to you when you were just a small seed?” Tree plant waved her leaves a little, thinking that she understood what the wee man was saying.
He refreshed her memory by carrying on, “Remember when you and all the other little seeds were laid out in my tray?”

“We little people have special powers, just in case you didn’t know. At certain times of the year like St Patrick’s Day, we are always around even though the big people don’t see or hear us, how else would we ever get anything done. We little people also like to talk and can get carried away a little I might add, but that’s beside the point.”

“Now where were we. Hmmmm Yes the tray! Didn’t I tell ye that I would take the tray to a special place and the magic rain would fall down on you?”
Tree plant mumbled something, tailing off. Not hearing her he carried on, “At that time I told you too that the magic rain would fall on you, giving you the power to make a wish. You would be able to wish and grow into whatever your little heart desired! But choose wisely I said.”

“But, but”, Tree plant stammered, wondering at the same time if any of this was real. Was this really happening?

**
Often she had sat there and mused over where she had come from, and why a tree plant? Vaguely she could recall a sense of being, and occasionally hearing voices. Wishing at that point, to be like one of those talking people even though she had not yet seen a human. The ladies as she found out later, sounded very nice and so interested in how the plants were coming along. Yes! She wanted to be one of them!
**
All this had seemed strange to the tree plant for she could not envision anything at that point yet. The tree plant had felt and sensed things, although everything around her was dark, even moist and wet. It was only after that gestation period that she finally emerged one day from the dark into a brilliant light and her small green shoot poked out of the soil.

Frequently, she was put out in the rain in the nice blue pot she lived in now, rain was so good for her growth. Since then she had been moved staying with different people, until one day she arrived here, where she lives now.
**
Looking at the Leprechaun, tree plant, now over the shock of meeting him, finally found her voice. “Mr wee man,” “Yes me darling” The McGonagle said, “what seems to be troubling you, that brings you to tears and so sad too?”

“Well Mr wee man”

“McGonagle!, me name’s McGonagle!” the Leprechaun exclaimed.

“Mr McGonagle” said tree plant, “What I’d like to know is, why didn’t I get my wish that you said I could make, because of the magic rain falling on me?”

“But you did!” retorted the leprechaun, a big smile all over his face. You see he was delighted that tree plant had finally found her voice and was talking to him. Tree plant shook her leaves, trying to understand what McGonagle had just said.
“But I didn’t, for I wished to be like the human lady, instead here I am a tree plant stuck in a blue pot! I don’t even have a name,” her indignant leaves jumping around quite vigorously.

“There, there“, McGonagle said, “I will try to explain some more” the leprechaun squirmed a little trying to think how he was to handle this. “Remember when I said you could wish to be whatever you want? Mmmm. Well that’s not quite exactly what was meant, young lady. You have to remember that you were a seed and seeds grow into plants or flowers hmmm, all them other things that seeds grow into.”
“So what was really meant was you could choose what kind of plant or flower you would grow into.” This was getting kind of complicated he could see.

“So when you wished to be like one of them I believe you said, then that’s how you did grow, a tree plant but having grown with the shape of a woman, you can see that if you look in a mirror. After all, humans come from a different place.”

Tree plant felt sadness and disappointment at the news, it showed in the tremor in her voice. The leprechaun was right of course, and the way he explained it, how could she have thought otherwise? Now tree plant finally understood, I mean how can a seed grow into a human? Their seeds are different altogether.

“Oh”, tree plant uttered sadly “ Now I think I understand, but you still said anything” McGonagle squirmed a little more, “I really am sorry for misleading you tree plant” he said. “ I dare say we leprechauns do exaggerate and don’t always tell the whole truth of things.” Tree plant shook again and gasped! McGonagle quickly continued, “But you are the prettiest tree plant that I have ever seen, you are in fact, unique! Because you are so special it occurred to me that your name should be something that has meaning. So I will call you Aislinn! The name is actually a Gaelic word that means dream or vision. As legend has it, it is also a poem about Ireland represented as a beautiful girl in peril. How does that sound?”

Now tree plant was really trembling, this time with excitement. Just fancy a name! Aislinn. She liked the sound of that. “Oh thank you, thank you Mr McGonagle, that is wonderful, now I am happy again”. The Leprechaun smiled in relief, whew! I’m glad that’s resolved, he thought, leaning back and drawing on his pipe.

“As a special surprise for you Aislinn, I think you are going to have some company fairly soon.” Then with a twitch of his nose, a little green shoot popped out of the soil, quite close to Aislinn! The tree plant squealed in delight. Aislinn was so happy to have company and would never be alone again.

Eric Valentine March 14/08 ©

C'ya

Vent on Wee-venge

It’s been some time now since I have been able to write anything at all. I guess it could be said I have lost all sense of direction; not that I had a specific plan in mind in the first place.

When I started blogging a year ago, not having written before, I stumbled out of the gate and words just tumbled onto the pages daily. I thought at the time, Wow! This isn’t so bad after all. Since then however, I seemed to have covered a multitude of things, sort of like riding a carousel, but now ending up right where I started from and Ye Olde question. ~ What do I write?

Life right now is one big ‘Pandora’s box’, some of the ingredients are known, such as my COPD and this never ending winter season. The lousy new neighbor we have in the apartment overhead; one of the most inconsiderate, ignorant and noisest people that I have ever come in contact with. A stark raving rollicking idiot!

Living below such a person is worse than having to share living quarters with a herd of cattle, at least the cattle are more civilized and will respond to kind gesture.

Tried the civil approach ~ She blamed the Cat! Judging by the amount of noise, it must be a 'Mountain Cat!'

Things just about reached a peak today at one point, when ‘upstairs’ seemingly toppled over some heavy piece of furniture sending it crashing to the floor.

“That’s bloody it!!” I burst out, “ I’ve friggin had it!” Fuming I pondered a course of action. I decided on the broom handle and give em a good rap on the ceiling.

‘What you going to do?’ asked the wife.

“I’m going to give them something to get upset about” I retorted.

‘I think they just went out’ ventured the wife.

“I’m going to rap em anyway” ~ the wife looked at me and smiled.

“Well I’ll get even with their cat then!” I bristled, with the totally useless retort anyway.


At least I ended up with a bit of summit to write about after all.


C’ya

Spring Feverish

The picture on the TV screen turned a brilliant red and I groaned, I knew what that meant. Relentlessly the text continued to pour out onto the screen, at times moving faster than I could read. I cursed whoever was handling this production of painful information. I wondered at times if it was some sort of sadistic idiot, exacting grim satisfaction from the things that were about to befall us.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome “The Weather channel!” ~

The announcement of yet another storm, the third in just over a week, brought a curse to my lips. Just how long is this frigging winter going to last! This has to be the worst, coldest and the most weird winter that I have encountered in many years. Such prolonged sub zero temperatures and more snow than I can remember in over thirty years around this area. ~

Our first indication that winter had arrived came in November, we are now in our fifth month! Thank God we drive a 4x4, at least we can get around.
Since then it’s been one storm after another and believe me they have been genuine storms. I’ve lost count now of what number this latest one is.

Either nature has a warped sense of humor or else it is being very cruel & sadistic. One hears music hall jokes all the time about this country being the land of the Igloo and lots of snow. This could be true to a point, but if I recall correctly most of the storms we’ve suffered this year have come from south of the border! ~ Hey! What are good neighbors for eh? ~

After that big storm that we had over Xmas, we were left thinking maybe that was the last heavy snowfall of the season. ~ Wrong! After that snow we had a few days of extreme cold, then gradually the temps started to warm up.

The resulting rains over the next week certainly gave thoughts of an early spring, washing away all of the snow that we had laying around.
Wow I thought, green grass and birds out there frolicking around & why not? This is after all a common breading area for a lot of North American birds.

Since then we have had three more of the red screen scenarios, with resulting sub zero temperatures and snow exceeding anything I’ve ever seen all the time I’ve lived here.

In a more serious vein though, I am convinced that we are now the victims of a geographical malfunction, ~ no longer are we located in the southern part of Canada but have been relocated somewhere near the north pole. (On Mars maybe!? )

Only last night we received another 12 inches of the dreaded stuff and now the red screen monster is predicting yet another storm for Friday night..


The ground hog had said an early spring! ~ Tell that to the Easter Bunny sitting here in sub zero temperatures and the sixteen inches of snow in the backyard.. ~ Ask me who I believe! I’m sorely tempted to toss my slipper at the idiot box ~

Time to hit the sack.

C’ya

Packin Pistols!

Here in the trees hidden in the dark
I lie in wait for the dreaded foe,
I keep my eye on the garden gate
If I don’t, he may slip by real slow.

With my trusted pistols in my hand
I’m determined, a hit I will get
And although he won’t get killed
I’m darn sure he’ll be good n wet!

The plague of the feeders is whom I want,
That pesky squirrel is the one I seek
I’m fed up of his sneaky ways,
Just once, I want to hear him squeak!

If I don’t do something, he will drive me nuts!
But I can’t just let him have his way.
It’s a war I can’t win, of that there's no doubt,
But this battle belongs to me! So varmint pray!

E.Valentine Jan 23/08 ©

C'ya

The Intimidator

Today I had a nice surprise email from a close friend. After reading my last blog “Joust a Minute”, my friend came up with an idea for me. I took a wild guess that my little Red Knight was hardly intimidating enough to these parking lot bullies. ~ So we give you:

“The Intimidator” which to me, meeting him in the parking lot, would be enough to scare the poop out of my scoop!



As a result of all this fine photoshop work, I tried something I have wanted to do for a long time now. ~ It worked, and the ‘New Banner’ above is the result.

The photo is one we took at Fairy lake, quite close by us.

C’ya

Kettles Ahoy

What the hell was that? I sat bolt upright in bed. I had been rudely awakened with a loud bang, but now all was silent.

Climbing out of bed to check, I pressed my ear to the wall. Listening, I strained but heard nothing. Grumbling, I went down the short hall and checked the door peephole. Again nothing. I could swear I had heard faint voices, it was 3am.

Getting up later, ~ it was still on my mind as I put the kettle on for a cup of tea.

While I waited for it to boil, I switched on the computer, trying to wake up. It had been a few bad nights now with little sleep and I was a bit grumpy. Merry ho ho ho, right! ~

Something wasn’t right. Walking to the kitchen I checked the kettle, nothing. Oh no not again, I groaned. It just didn’t seem to want to start boiling. It got just short of boiling point and conked out, ~ switching it on, I tried again. I remembered the episodes of previous kettles before we settled on this one. ~ Well we wrestled with that thing all day, then finally gave up.

I hate it when you have to boil water in a pan. When I checked the warranty I discovered we were still in under the wire. That at least was a good thing. So next day after another erratic night, we cleaned it up, descaled the kettle with the proverbial vinegar, all ready to go. A thought then crossed my mind, ~ well maybe we should try a boil just to be sure before we contact them. ~

Well I’ll be! Yep she started working again alright. That prompted the remark from me that the kettle had been talking to the toaster and the fridge! Remember those?

~ Weird! Maybe those were the voices I heard?

It’s getting pretty bad when you start to believe that inanimate objects actually talk to each other, but then of course, there’s always a good argument for computers?

So there we were just sailing right along, this Englishman, with the kettle and his cup of tea! I might have known though, the euphoria lasted all of three days! The kettle died much the same way as before, the sleepless nights continued, but this time the voices were silent.

We’ve tried most all the stores for a replacement, and we have gone through much the same as the last episode, which has put me into something of a ‘small appliance rage’, trying to get a reliable instrument of torture.

An Englishman without his morning cuppa can be ugly! But tell that to the kettle, all it does is laugh and go zonk!

We do a fair amount of shopping at “The great Canadian Superstore” Loblaws for short, the store famous for its “Presidents Choice” products. So while touring this huge grocery store, which now seems to sell everything, from the food off the shelf right down to the seats you sit in to eat. The wife, checking out their small appliance section comes across this promising looking kettle. ~

It now resides in our kitchen, works fantastic and is most definitely forbidden to talk to the other appliances!

C’ya

The Treatment

Have you ever stopped to think about the word “Treatment”? Such a flexible word that can be and has been used down through the ages for effect.

There are of course the most obvious uses of the word, like when you feel ill or catch a bug, an “uh oh better get treatment for that“. There are many secondary uses of ‘that word’ such as the carryings on, between let’s say businesses & unions, ~ they sure know how to give each other “The treatment“ come bargaining time. ~ Kids have been known to give parents the treatment, to get what they want. How do you look after your dog/pet? Nice treatment ~ How do you treat the material things you buy or own, ever think about the treatment they get? ~ You get the idea.

The best use of the word though I think, comes into play when you get into the behavior of people. Have you ever took stock of how different people treat each other, depending on which side of the table you come from or the situation?
How about the wife? Does she give you the ‘Treatment’ if she doesn’t get her own way? ~ Yeah, you know what treatment means at those times, it‘s painfully obvious. ~

Elizabeth and I have a lot of fun. I like to goof around and I tease her an awful lot sometimes, ~ but even I am not beyond getting ‘the treatment’ if I go too far. (Insert a smile at this point)
I think that if I had to be serious most all the time I would go nutz!

So I act the goat, be a comedian, take your pick, for there are a thousand cliché’s for the things I do, just to keep life happy and simple. Of course I could do none of this if I didn’t have such a caring and fun loving partner.

You might well ask, what brought all this up? This topic?

Well earlier today, I was busy trying to solve that computer problem I’m stuck with for now. That’s when the wife chose to say

‘let’s watch a movie‘.

Well normally I don’t like watching movies in the early daytime, I’d rather watch in the evening, so I said no I don‘t want to waste time watching a movie! I had to try to fix the problem & the noise from the boob tube would disturb my concentration. ~ Perfectly understandable to my way of thinking.

That’s when I noticed this distinct cool change in the atmosphere, this silence with the retort ~ ‘fine!’
I always know she’s upset with me when she says fine like that.

I looked at her sitting on the couch, trying to keep that serious schoolmarm look on her face, her with her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose. (She’d make a pretty schoolmarm)

I said “You’re giving me the treatment aren’t you?”

‘Who me? What is that? ~ She said,

I just burst out laughing as I pointed out the schoolmarm bit to her. At that point she cracked up, and we both laughed together, she can never stay upset for too long, as I explained that I had, had a lot of experience with “The Treatment” thing in my life and could tell in a minute that‘s what she was doing, more laughter from the pair of us, as she said

‘I never thought of it quite like that’,

I just looked and smiled for she is just so sweet. Having second thoughts I said to her,

“ Put the movie on if you want, I’ll manage somehow”.

‘Nope! It’s been on too long and is half over anyway’

I looked at her incredulously then at the clock.

“It’s been on ten minutes! If you discount the intro and commercials, you’ve missed maybe the opening credits!”

‘It doesn’t matter now, it’s too late’

She buried her nose in the book she had started reading. I sat there,

“You’re doing the treatment again!”

Elizabeth looked up, a smile tugging the corners of such a pretty mouth, she has this way of rolling her eyes at times that is so cute.
I tease her some more,
“No point looking up there, you’re on your own with this one”.

More laughter and things are fine once more.

This is the way we are in our relationship, it works fantastic and we wouldn’t have it any other way. You see, ~ Sometimes “The Treatment” does pay off ~ mostly for the ladies and once in awhile, ~ Maybe the guys win one.

C’ya

A Hairy 24

Monday we went out to the mall, mostly for me to exercise walking. Of course going anywhere, where there are stores can be fatal when we go out. I’m not a compulsive shopper, but the wife does believe in having back-ups. (cough, cough)

Like lots of people who live in these cold and in winter dry wastelands north of the border, (heating season) we do (especially because of my COPD) have a number of toy’s to compensate for all these climatic changes.

In winter it can get pretty dry here without the use of a humidifier. Ours just needs a new filter this time around.

Monday the day started off in a real hairy fashion. First the missus & I had a lively discussion about the filter as opposed to buying another machine that goes without filters. ~ That’s when the toaster decided to go on strike and refused to toast, oh boy! ~ Elizabeth’s eyes just lit up like a beacon! ~ Ours is a nice cream color, (she says antiquated old white! ~ Bah humbug! ) the wife now would like a black one. Another item to the list, all this and I hadn’t even left my chair yet to find out why it conked out. (I was thinking about the kettle incident!)

We arrived at the mall to walk ~ ahem ~ Elizabeth was off like a shot looking for the aisle with humidifiers, after finally catching up to her, we looked over what was available, we’re not impressed. ~ We were still discussing the filter, when we turned into the toaster aisle. There was a couple already there examining the toasters, and as we approached you could hear them voicing opinions on stainless steel verses black. She it seems, is leaning towards the black one.
That’s when we see…… the nice looking black toaster that the guy was holding in his hands. ~ He spotted us watching him, I guess we had made it pretty obvious, and with a smile he said’ you want this one don’t you?” I chuckled, this guy was a smart cookie alright.

He & his wife had not decided yet what they wanted, so I tried pointing out another store to him, where they had some great stuff, but he wasn’t falling for that either, or putting the toaster down! ~ When we came back a little later they and the toaster were gone.

We did find the aisle that held the filters & even got so far as finding what we needed, but the wife was adamant, she wanted a new filter-less machine.

So more stubborn resistance on my part, and sulks that would bring a fountain to tears on the part of the wife. That was the end of that store and so off we went to another favorite place to shop. Forgotten now it seems was the primary reason for coming out, re: walking exercise! Oh well, walking around a store can be deemed a workout in more ways than one. ~

When we got home with the new machine………… Well it was said that it wouldn’t hurt none to have a backup just in case……We never did get the toaster that the guy was holding, oh well there is always another day.


A number of times during this summer we have experienced a few minor problems with the fridge….. Uh Oh!………. Yesterday in line with all the other hairy goings on, the fridge decided it wanted to be a freezer,…. by freezing the eggs……… At this point it might be understandable then, that there were definite grounds for the gnashing of teeth! ….. C’est la vie……

This morning, after sleeping on an otherwise crazy day Monday, we rose bright eyed & bushy tailed. Elizabeth, all nice and cheery starts to prepare the breakfast. Going to the fridge…….. Surprise! ~
The fridge is once more a fridge again, not being able to compete with the freezer, and the eggs were just fine. Lo and behold, forgetting that the toaster was broken she flipped bread in and pressed the lever down, … The toaster, deciding that it wasn’t going to be replaced, considered it too had better work again, which it did! ~ The wife still in a shocked state served breakfast and forgot my eggs! Then on hearing my yelp! realized she had given me the wrong plate. Still the toaster worked! So today was going to be a fine day after all.

Later Elizabeth sat there deep in thought, then suddenly broke into excited chatter. She had started off by saying that she felt a little guilty over the humidifier, after all we had one that is still ok………. I said don’t be silly, we can always use a back-up…… Yikes! ………Did I say that? She burst out laughing at me. She then went on to point out that with all the savings, offers, adjustments and not having to buy a replacement filter, the new machine wasn’t that expensive anyway!.. Boy! Talk about cost justification.

I said to Elizabeth, ‘be careful what you say around me, you might end up in my blog !’ ~ More chuckles! ~

As you can tell by now, we tease the hell out of each other and have a lot of fun doing it.

A Hairy 24 will do that to you.

C’ya