Monday, March 31st - March is certainly going out like a lion!

It's currently 0' and the forecast has a winter storm watch with freezing rain and maybe more snow in the next 24 hours. Are they kidding me?  It's going to stay at 0' all day and get cooler tonight. I think I've just about had enough of weather that's of no use to anyone!

I had a great drive to Riviere du Loup on Friday but the drive home yesterday was not so much.  It started snowing about 15 minutes down the road and just got progressively worse as the day went on. It was a very long and tense drive but I'm pleased to say I made it home. The last couple of hours were not so bad because the freezing rain that was weighing down the trees in New Brunswick, had changed to rain and the roads were mostly just wet. I had sort of talked myself into staying over in Moncton but then when you are that close to home, you want to just keep going. Turns out this time it was the right decision. But it could have just as easily gone the other way. Problem is once you've made the choice to keep going, you have to keep going because there's no where in between Moncton and home. This time I did good!

I had a great weekend from Friday afternoon till Sunday morning. James was busy so didn't see as much of him but Patti and I got to spend the day together sitting in the stands at the arena. I'm amazed at how organized these people are. The parents all do this all the time and it's like a finely tuned machine. When they get to the rink, out come huge coolers, slowcookers, etc. Meals are made right there instead of having to eat the offerings of the arena canteen. The lunch break was only 45 minutes so there really isn't enough time to go out to eat anywhere. We enjoyed meatballs and rice out of the crockpot along with veggies and dip and various other snacks through the day. They were going to be having pulled pork on a bun for lunch on Sunday but I missed that one. 

Skating didn't go so well for James on Saturday. He fell in his first race and that seemed to set the tone for the day. But he did very well in his first race on Sunday morning and I hear he did much better throughout the day. Not a medal winning performance but a great experience. He met skaters from other clubs that they've not been up against before.  There were skaters from Quebec (of course, as they were the hosts), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Nunavut. I had a chance to chat with some of the parents from the PEI club and when I texted Patti on my way home, I asked her to let those folks know what the roads were like. She later texted back that they were grateful for the update and that James was welcome to come and skate with them anytime he was on the island. I assume they must have met him after I left. When I was talking to them earlier they asked me who my grandson was and when I told them  and they all knew the name as James had the honour of being the first skater to get a disqualification for the day. Apparently  when he fell he took out another skater with him and it seems that's frowned upon. Or as James put it "if I'm going down, I'm not going alone!"o Fortunately neither got hurt - these things happen all the time, as I saw. It's too scary as a grandma to see these little bodies go flying off into the boards at a great rate of speed. I know there are mats on the sides but it's still  terrifying to watch - especially if it's one of your own.

All in all a great weekend and I will have some photos later in the week!

FRIDAY, MARCH 28TH -IT WAS QUITE A WILD RIDE !

We are very happy to report that we sailed through the storm unscathed. It was a pretty intense 48 hours. There are all kinds of stories from islanders being stranded in some pretty awful weather. But this morning, it was all calm again. So much so that I was able to head out to Riviere Du Loup.

It was a good trip and I arrived at the hotel exactly  8 hours after leaving Charlottetown. We are currently all relaxing in the hotel. We have a balcony that overlooks the indoor pool. It has a patio table and two chairs so we need to head out now to find some wine for later.

Stayed tuned........

Wednesday, March 26th - the calm before the storm

It's a cool -9 this morning and if it was windier out here it would feel more like -15. We should reach a snowy high of -3 later today. It's the 30 to 50 cms of snow they are predicting this morning,  being blown around by 100 km/hr winds that will be a treat. With any luck they will send us home before it gets too bad.  All weather specialists have apparently been studying this impending 'perfect storm' and are already comparing it to 'White Juan' of 2004. Being relatively new to the area we haven't had that experience. We've sat through many fierce snowstorms in the past so how bad can it be??? I have a feeling we're about the find out! But as long as everyone is safely at home it should be fine. If it lasts all night long as they are predicting then Thurday morning will be the big challenge. Of course there is talk of it turning to rain so that will create some pretty messy conditions. Just have to wait and see what happens over the next 24 hours.

As long as it's somewhat cleared away by Friday morning. Lloyd has decided he would prefer to stay home as we don't know what kind of clean up will be needed after the storm. There is also the risk of the power going off and no one here to keep the fire going. But in reality, the big thing is the chicken eggs that are going into the incubator this weekend. He wants to monitor them and make sure everything works as expected.  That means I'm off on a little adventure all my own. But I don't mind, I have no problem traveling by myself.
As long as I have lots of tunes and snacks, I will be just fine. With Lloyd not going, I can now leave as early as I want. My plan is to be on the road by 6:00 so I'm at the bridge by 7:00 when it's daylight.That will put me into Riviere du Loup  mid afternoon, hopefully.

We had our dance class last night, followed by tasty treats at Daniel Brennan's. We worked quite hard in our class and it was still light out when we left, albeit a bit ahead of schedule.  We chose Brennan's because we had a really delicious dip and pita bread there a few weeks ago. We thought there was something else on the menu we wanted to try but instead we went with the same thing. Not a bad move as it's really delicious.

Other than that, it's a pretty quiet week - just waiting on the storm. Stay tuned for a further update likely on Thursday evening.

Found this information on the weather network regarding the pending storm and what we might expect:

Every single computer model points to an epic early Spring storm for Atlantic Canada within the next 48 hours. There is no disagreement about the storm's potential natural power and its impact on our daily lives.
The only change in the forecast will be minor adjustments to the storms track, timing, precipitation and wind velocity values.
Could it be as bad as White Juan? White Juan was a Nor’easter. It developed on February 17 2004, just off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Seasonally, that’s just a month earlier than today's storm.

Central barometric pressure on White Juan fell 57 millibars in 42 hours, that's explosive pressure change - it’s also a key indicator that forecasters use to determine the force or intensity of a storm.
Our storm is expected to drop 50 millibars over a similar period - Potentially as dynamic as White Juan!

In 2004 Halifax received over 88 cm of snow in a 24 hour period. Recording exact snow accumulation was difficult due to the powerful winds which remained steady at 80-100 km/h with gusts as high as 124 km/h - for a 12 hour period. Radar estimated that during those hours on February 19th, snow fell at a rate of at least 5 cm per hour.
That one event made Halifax the largest city in the world to get that much snow in one day!
White Juan also halted a everything in the east. Curfews were imposed in Halifax - where six million tonnes of snow needed to be plowed from city streets (it took 3 days to simply make them passable).
An unprecedented province wide State Of Emergency was declared for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. A 150 km wide swath of over 60 cm of snow with drifts measuring over 2 metres ran from the south shore of Nova Scotia through southern New Brunswick and PEI.
Transport was halted for days - some schools & businesses shuttered for a week!
White Juan could be thought of as a winter hurricane - though to be a hurricane a storm must form in tropical waters - it’s winds, storm surge, precipitation volumes and impact on people was indeed epic.

Hang onto your hats folks - it could get interesting!

Monday, March 24th - could be an interesting week with the weather!

It's sure not feeling very springlike this morning, after a fairly mild and sunny weekend. It's currently -13 but with a wind chill of -23. We're only going up to -9 that will still feel like -18 so it's going to be chilly all day. 
 The big news over the weekend and will likely be for the next two, is the coming of a nor'easter on Wednesday. We are being told to expect maybe 20 to 30 cms of snow with very high winds and storm surges - a weather bomb in the making. Who knows - perhaps it will be one more snow day for the season!



We had a great weekend.I met Lloyd in town after work and we toured around the motor cycle show that was going on
at the East Link Centre. Then it was  off to visit Charles and Laura and catch up on their little flock of sheep. When last we met, they had two new lambs, and now the total of furry little babies prancing around is 7. Oh my gosh, they are so cute! And did I mention how tasty they are going to be? We enjoyed their father, 'Ramsey', for our dinner. He was slaughtered a short time ago and is now residing in the freezer. Laura cooked some chops for supper in an herb laden sauce and they were just delicious. Along with some rice and roasted carrots and parsnips, it was a great meal.

They have lots of baby chicks that they've hatched, at various stages of growth. Can't wait to hatch our own. They have some eggs that are the same as our rooster, Oscar,  so Lloyd is going to pick some of those up later this week. They are really nice birds. They're called Austrolorp - The Australorp is a chicken breed of Australian origin. It is a large, soft-feathered bird, with white toenails, black legs and beak, and a moderately large and upright single comb, with five distinct points. The Australorp is hardy, docile, and a good egg-layer, as well as a meat bird. Our eggs will be a cross with Rhode Island Reds but the eggs from Charles will be pure Austrolorp so we'll have some of each.

Sunday morning I baked some cakes for an upcoming benefit this Saturday that we will be away for. I can still participate by baking something for the cake auction. Look for photos on Friday morning when they come out of the freezer and get their final decor added!  I'll drop them off to Brenda to deliver for me, on my way out of town.

In the afternoon we decided to try a bit of cross country skiing. It was a beautiful day once you were out of the wind, but the snow was a little too sticky and the crust underneath the light snow kept breaking so one foot would be several inches higher or lower than the other. Not ideal. Instead we opted to return home. I got back in time to help Lloyd unload some firewood and then he returned to visit with our friend Richard, while I had a nice hot bath and got changed to go over to the VanGaals for another delicious supper. When we were done cleaning up it was time for Will to head out for his week on the road. His truck was in the shop so Brenda was dispatched to drive him out to Borden to his big truck. I went with them so she would have some company coming back (any excuse for a road trip!)  The weather was clear and the roads were mostly dry except for a few patches of snow that had blown across the road. On our way back we passed one motorist who was not quite so lucky - it looks like he had skidded off the road and the car was lying on  it's side in the field beside the road. There were several cars stopped so we kept on going. Hopefully no one was hurt.

I just had to "borrow" this piece from the Cambridge Speedskating Club's website ( who borrowed it from the local paper!).  Our kids were there to skate with two skaters just returned from the Sochi Olympics - Richard Shoebridge, who is a past member of the club, as well as John Eley, who was the flag bearer for the British Team. . What a great inspiration for our young skaters! 

Posted: March 18, 2014 -
Leading the Way
Olympic speedskating Richard Shoebridge skates with members of the Cambridge Speed Skating Club Tuesday night at the Hespeler Memorial Arena. He was raised in Cambridge but represented Great Britain in Sochi.

Richard tweets: 
Thanks for an amazing reception @CSSC11! I'm so proud to be a member, made me feel really special tonight.
CSSC tweets back:
 Thanks for skating with our young athletes. You've just inspired them to reach for the stars!

Friday, March 21st - Happy Spring ?

It's actually not so bad. We were supposed to be heralding the arrival of spring with snow, freezing rain and then rain. We did get snow - about half a dozen flakes and then a little bit of rain but not enough to really call a rainfall. This morning it's a milder +1 and should go up to +3  or better later.

It was a very pleasant, but windy night Wednesday night, but Thursday night was a bit quieter, and still quite mild, at least compared to what we've been experiencing. The yard is quickly turning into mud as is the lane but it is part of the process I suppose. I have no doubt whatsoever that we will see more snow before it's all done for another year - possibly as early as next week.

I spent the better part of last night out in the craft room painting some wooden picture frames I'm planning to use for our conference. Looking at the calendar and factoring in that I will be away twice and James will be here for several days as well, that I'd best get my act together. None of the things I'm planning are difficult or especially time consuming but they do need to at least get started on. That's generally half the battle.

But it can't all be work.  Brenda came over on Wednesday evening and we had a snack and glass of wine. It's been a while since we did that so it was nice to just sit and relax and catch up. It's just been a busy time and we haven't taken time out to just chill a bit.

Wednesday, March 19th - spring will come, right?

It's still quite chilly. It's a chilly -10 this morning feeling more like -15 but it does't seem too windy at the moment. It should warm up to a sunny -3 later on, still somewhat below what it should be this time of year but it's an improvement.

Not a lot going on the past couple of days. Not even a Tuesday evening out to report on, as we didn't have our class because it's March Break.

Lloyd has pretty much finished his incubator. Last night he was ever so pleased so show me the automatic egg turner. It moves back and forth very slowly, gently turning the eggs first one way, then the other. He's picking up a timer today, I assume to determine when said eggs get turned, and then he's ready to go. He'll begin collecting eggs and then putting them in and hoping for the best. He has spent so many hours working on this, I hope his mission is successful!

We're going to visit our friends Charles and Laura for supper on Saturday. We haven't talked to them since the first two lambs were born but they were expecting more at any time. It will be interesting to see how many they have and how they've grown in the past three weeks.

Then on Sunday I plan to spend the day baking. There's a benefit at the Rec Centre on the 29th that I will miss so I can at least bake some cakes for the cake auction. Hopefully they will do better this time as the Rec Centre usually has an area where the cakes can be viewed before hand so people know what they're bidding on. I'll have to make them as attractive as possible to entice people to bid on them. I have a few ideas I want to try. I'll be able to freeze the iced cakes and then deliver them to Brenda's on the Friday morning the 28th on my way out of town. They will be fine till Saturday.

Other than that, nothing much going on. I haven't even been out in my craft room this week as I was doing laundry the past two nights. I think I'll be spending the evening out there tonight.  While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I was finishing up the last couple of episodes of a Netflix series I was watching. It was called Mr. Selfridge - about the American who built Selfridges Department Store in London, England when no one had seen such a shop as his. It was very interesting having been in the modern day store a few years ago. I did some online research into the real Mr. Selfridge only to learn that the store was eventually taken over in 2008 by a Canadian investor - a family by the name of Weston. Who knew?  Amazing what you can learn from a TV program that sparks a little curiosity.

Monday, March 17th - Happy St. Patrick's Day to all our Irish friends!

It's a chilly morning - might make you turn blue rather than green. It's currently -14 with  a wind chill of -24. It will warm up to -8 later but will still feel like -16. Winter isn't finished with us yet.

Well, it was a socializing kind of weekend. Saturday evening our friends Donna and Roy came over for BBQ burgers. Unfortunately our master BBQer has one hand out of commission so we opted instead to cook the burgers indoors on the grill. No worries - they came out fine. We hadn't seen them for quite a while so it was nice to catch up. Donna's pretty excited as she's heading out west the end of the month to visit her son and his family. They have twins who are 4 1/2 years old so she's really looking forward to seeing them.

Sunday was a pretty quiet day. We went over to our friends Richard and Daralen to pick up some fire wood and stayed for tea. Another couple I haven't spent time with in quite a while so it was also a nice afternoon. On the way home we stopped in the Van Gaals to see what was going on and after some wine and cheese and crackers, and a chance to catch up, we finally headed home. Another lovely visit.

Unfortunately I had put a piece of pork in the oven to slowly simmer before I left. I really should have put the heat down lower than the recipe called for, but I didn't plan to be away so long. Needless to say when I got home it was completely dried out - not a spec of the liquid I had put in when it went into the oven. Just a charred black piece of something that a few hours before was actually a piece of meat, and the entire inside of the pot blackened. Not a pretty sight. Oh well, all meals can't be winners! Good thing there were a couple of burgers left over from Saturday night!  It was all good.

On Friday afternoon, we had a lovely mild day and the water outside on the parking lot at work tends to collect in one spot. There is a storm drain in the middle of the lot but it doesn't drain properly and the guys have to go out with giant squeegees and push it in that direction. I was looking at it and mentioned that it looked somewhat like a lake and that we should give it a name. One of the salesmen was at my desk and suggested we could call it .......Lake Superior - being as we ARE on Superior Crescent. Brilliant, but I think that names already been taken. Still there is a tall orange marker over the hole where the drain is, that's just begging for someone to put a sign in there. I'm sure we can make this happen! 

I have to say I'm enjoying my new Ipad mini. I finally got the case for it that I ordered online and I'm ever so pleased with it. So a big thanks to Patti for suggesting that such a thing was available. I had looked at Staples and they didn't have any with the keyboards. This one has a blue tooth keyboard so there's no wires connecting the two. The keyboard is also easily removable if you just want to take just the case and Ipad.  Now it's ever so functional! Just like a tiny little laptop.

Friday. March 14th - it may be a slippery ride this morning

It's a very chily-13 this morning feeling more like -21. Not sure how much more snow fell last night. There wasn't a lot last evening but what did fall, formed into some fair sized drifts out on the road on top of copious amounts of ice that fell in the form of freezing rain the night before. I was awakened at 11:20 last night as Lloyd was hung up on  a patch of ice and just could not get the truck moving anywhere. Wasn't sure just how much help I was going to be as heaving lifting or pushing isn't easy at the present time but we got the job done. What a pair - me with cracked ribs and Lloyd with his sore hand.

He did finally go to the doctors office on Wednesday and they sent him to emergency. At the end of the day he has 6 stitches in his thumb and 3 in his middle finger. Of course the prep was much more advanced and ugly after 24 hours. But it should heal much better than it would have if he'd just left it. I just can't imagine what a mess he would have been left with if it had just been left to heal as it was. He goes back in tomorrow morning to have the dressing changed. Fortunately he didn't damage the bones so healing should go fairly well. He has drugs for pain as well as antibiotics so he should be okay.

Other than that, the only other big news is that James is off the the Canada East Championships in Riviere du Loup the last weekend in March.  He was the first alternate and he got the news this week that he's going so he's pretty excited about that. He knows he's facing some pretty stiff competition but it will be a great experience to skate for Team Ontario. I gave it some thought and then talked it over with Lloyd when I got home. He thought it might be nice if we both go. We haven't been away for a weekend since our trip to Nova Scotia last winter. It's a little over 7 hours drive from here, a bit closer for us than for Patti. I'm going to take the Friday off and we'll head out after Lloyd gets done work in the morning. Then he can nap in the car on the way. It will, of course, depend on the weather. We'll just play that one by ear.
 

Canada East Championships

Date:   2014/03/29 - 12:01am to 2014/03/30 - 11:59pm

Event type:  National Competition - Short Track

About the Canada East Short Track Championships

The Canada East Short Track Championships brings together the best skaters in the Training to Train stage of development for the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario and the territory of Nunavut.
The Canada East and Canada West Short Track Championships are intended to be the focal point of athlete preparation for skaters in the Training to Train stage of development. The Training to Train championships provide meaningful, high profile and developmentally appropriate end of season events which are a source of motivation and opportunity for recognition of the best developing skaters in Canada.
These events will serve as primary introduction to national competitions where skaters represent their Branch in competition. The events raced at the Canada East and Canada West Short Track Championships focus on providing a positive learning environment which reinforces the training objectives for skaters in the Training to Train stage of development.

I was browsing around the Speed Skate Canada website and I was impressed with their philosophy and training programs geared to the skaters level and ability rather than just their chronological age.  It will surely be a great experience for him to compete at a slightly higher level.

 
Other than that, a pretty quiet weekend is in store. I have a couple of things I'm working on for the conference in May so I'd better get to them because it will be here before we know it! This weekend might be a good chance to do just that. It's time to start focusing and get my act together
Have a great one everybody.

Wednesday, March 12th - no storm yet but they still say it's coming

It's quite a nice morning out there with the temperature sitting at -2 with no wind to speak of. We had a light dusting of snow yesterday but nothing of any significance. We'll see what comes later today and this evening. It may be a mix of rain, snow, ice pellets - who knows. On Monday they were saying 15 to 20 cms of snow, but now it's 5 to 10, so it's anybodies guess at this point.

We had our dance class last night and it was another good workout. Afterwards, we headed over to St. James Gate. It was on the list of places we haven't visited yet on a Tuesday night. They had the beer that I like and we ordered a dish that featured grilled pita breads with three different kinds of spreads. They were all really delicious and we even had to order another stack of pita's to finish off the dips. Yes, they were that good. We will definitely put that on the places that make the second visit list!

I was talking to Lloyd first thing this morning and it seems he and the table saw had a bit of an argument yesterday and the table saw won. No digits are missing but a couple of them are a little chewed up. I haven't seen them yet, that will be tonight when I get home. I asked how he did it and he said he was being stupid, although he insists he was being careful.  I guess there might not be so many lawnmower comments in the future. I was also being careful when I did something stupid so many years ago. Fortunately it's just a flesh wound, or so he says. I'll have to wait and see. Of course getting him to have a doctor look at it is like pulling teeth. Guess it will just have to get better on it's own without any significant pain meds.



He was apparently working on a piece for the automatic egg turner in his incubator. It's turning into quite the project.The two little gauges on the right side measure the temperature and the humidity. He's working on fine tuning those and making sure they keep everything at the required settings. He was apparently working on something for the motor for the automatic egg turner yesterday when he had his little mishap. I suspect work will be stopping for a few days.

He knows he's under the gun ever so slightly because he wants the eggs to be hatching when James is here for Easter. Being as they take 21 days to hatch they will need to get 'cooking' soon. That may not be happening this trip. Oh well, if it doesn't I guess that just means James will have to come back for another visit!

Monday, March 10th - you have GOT to be kidding me!

It was a pretty good weekend with much milder temperatures than we've been getting lately. It's cool this morning when I checked the weather network at -11 with a wind chill of -17. It should warm up to -5 later. That I can live with. What is most disturbing is the forecast for Wednesday. Are they seriously telling us we could receive 15 to 20 cms of snow??? That's a pretty cruel joke to play on us just 11 days away from the first day of spring!  I guess we just have to look at the bright side - it will extend the ski season.

It was a busy weekend, or at least Saturday was. I worked only two hours in the morning, leaving at 11:00.  I had tickets to the Women's Expo at Red Shores, that I had won on the radio (that was the only way you could get in). I arrived in time to have lunch, visit the exhibitors booths and also for the fashion show. It was a lovely morning out.  Kerry Wynne from the radio station was the hostess and did a marvelous job, considering she had been out sick the entire previous week with a severe allergic reaction to we still don't know what.  So job well done.  The fashion show was quite good. although Kirk, the other morning host wasn't able to make it to help model the men's apparel.  He is usually a staple at this event but was off island for a hockey tournament. It became necessary to find someone else. Fortunately KW was able to find someone - a fellow that she's known for a very long time - she mentioned he used to follow her around on the golf course as a caddy at the age of 11 so they go back a long way. Seems he's gone on to become fairly successful. Now he works downtown - Premiere Robert Ghiz.  Guess if that premiere things doesn't work out, he can always get a job in the fashion industry! Only on PEI!!

When the expo was over, Lloyd met me at the East Link Centre,  which happens to be conveniently attached to Red Shores.  The Home Show was taking place so we had planned to check it out.  It took a few minutes to connect with Lloyd as we came in different entrances. While I was wandering around looking for him, I ran into a couple of familiar faces - Bruce and Boomer. I just had to request a photo as proof I was at the home show.  I finally met up with Lloyd and we spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the exhibits. We were looking for some specific information on wood burning furnaces and finally found it at the last booth we visited. But once again, at least for me, the highlight was the cheese tasting area. That's where you will usually find Brenda and I when we go there. When the show  ended, we headed over to Hunter's Ale House for something to eat. I had told Lloyd about the nachos Brenda and I had a couple of weeks ago and he was keen to try them out. They aren't kidding in their ad when they say 'Great food, great rock, lots of it!'  The portions are huge! We had the same nachos and we could barely finish one order between us. It was really busy so we had about a 45 minute wait for our food but it was nice to be out together for a meal - something we don't get to do so often anymore with our differing work schedules, so it was a  nice treat.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny and beautiful. I just knew that Brenda would be calling to go skiing. Unfortunately because of a couple of cracked ribs, I have been strongly advised not to do that (they may have seen just how ungraceful I can be on the ski trail at times). Good thing Brenda's cousin and her husband were also planning to go so she had company. She called later to suggest that she pick up pizza on her way home and we could join them.  I worked out in the craft room for the afternoon and then came inside to make some quick little blueberry tarts to take over for dessert. It turned out to be a really great evening, and good chance to catch up with each other. She's had a very busy week and welcomed the opportunity to relax over a beer and some pizza. So thanks to the Van Gaals for yet again, a great time.



When I got home I checked my email and had a message from Patti. She's never really been to Victoria before and wonders why no one ever told her how beautiful it is there.  After the cold and snowy winter they've been having I think it was a very welcome change for her. I wouldn't be surprised to see her book more layovers in Victoria, for a little touch of spring just a bit early.I can't imagine how nice it will be when I visit in April!

Friday, March 7th - looking forward to a milder weekend

After several days (and nights) of frigid temperatures, we're looking forward to a few days that should hover around the freezing mark. It's a very cold -15 this morning with a wind chill of -21 so the -1 or so that we should reach later will feel absolutely balmy in the sunshine.  Bring it on!

I received this photo in my email box this week. One of those treasure you certainly don't want to lose!

A number of years ago, when we still stayed in the bunky on our visits to the island, the Fort Augustus Rapid Transit System was born (F.A.R.T.S. for short!)  Many things have changed and people have come and gone so we're very pleased to let everyone know that F.A.R.T.S. is back in operation, albeit in a slightly different format. But the changes are quite dramatic. No more cramped little trailer - now the customers can enjoy a luxury ride in a spacious seat, all while enjoying the pleasant PEI breezes as they make their way to their chosen destinations. This happy passenger was on his way to a bonfire in a local farmer's back yard one warm evening last summer. (No names have been used to protect the innocent!!) Who says we don't know how to have fun out here in the country!

 *********************************************************

The creative juices are really flowing at out here on top of the hill.  Lloyd is busy researching and designing his incubator for hatching baby chicks. If he plans to have some hatching at Easter, he'd better speed it up a bit! I never know when I pull in the driveway at night just what new development has taken place during the day. The past week has seen various gauges and gadgets appear on the kitchen table in test mode. Yesterday afternoon the components were all assembled into a handsome looking pine box for further testing of temperatures, humidity, etc.  Apparently it's not quite perfected as yet but it's getting there, one step at a time!

I, on the other hand have undertaken a new project.  A while ago I was sorting through, and discarding some old T-shirts. In retrospect I should have waited, but hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it. I had a large number of shirts from The Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Those who know me, know that this event was a big part of my life for a number of years. Each years event would net you at least 2 shirts, 3 if you were a crew member. Many of these shirts have been worn for painting, cutting grass, various activities around the house and were simply worn out. Hence the purge. But as I was looking at what remained, I decided there might be a way to preserve the memories these garments conjure up. So, I went in search and found the perfect answer - a
quilt! Each shirt has a graphic on the front and the back and many have the dates of specific events. I found that if I cut the shirt into two pieces, a front and a back, ironed on some interfacing to the back side, it made them into a stable piece of fabric that doesn't stretch like T shirt material. So I'm slowly going to work on doing that with each piece of shirt and assemble them all into a quilt. A functional use of something that will bring back many memories of a lot of great people and events. Last night I just worked on cutting up the shirts but I did one test piece to make sure it works - and I'm excited to say that it does! It's going to be a time consuming project but a very worthwhile one for me.

Wednesday, March 5th - enough all ready with the cold temperatures!

It's been freezing again ever since Monday morning. It's -16 this morning but feeling like -23. We're only going to warm up later to -14 and still feeling like -20.  It's March - it has to start getting a teensy bit warmer soon! 

I was planning to go to BC this weekend where it's expected to be 10' and there are daffodils and crocuses blooming, but instead I'll be staying here in the deep freeze. It should go up a little bit by Saturday, let's hope they're right. I've put off my trip to the west coast until the first week of April - it should be really lovely out there by then. Patti is going to Victoria this weekend on a layover so she'll be able to fill me in when she gets back.

Not a lot going on right now - it's been a pretty quiet week. Brenda called yesterday to advise she wasn't going to dance class as she was feeling pretty crumbly. I have to say I was ever so grateful that she did. I really didn't want to go either so I cancelled on both our behalves.  My arms were very achy from skiing on Sunday afternoon. I didn't realize just what a workout I'd given them. I also have some fairly achy ribs from a bit of a slide I took on Sunday afternoon. Needless to say I felt like my whole body was uncomfortable yesterday, so thank you Brenda. I didn't want to be the one to cancel so I'm very grateful you did. This morning the arms are good, just the ribs to deal with and that may take a few days, but it's just a mild ache - more of a aggravation than anything else.

But who am I to complain. I'm really not meaning to. A fellow I work with was recently diagnosed with cancer. As of yesterday he will be off for at least 8 months and after chatting with him, the rounds of surgery and treatment he is facing looks pretty daunting. Kind of puts a couple of sore ribs into perspective.

Too many people close to us are fighting cancer right now, or have lost the battle. It just all feels so hopeless at times but we have to try to keep positive for those still fighting.

Monday, March 3rd- really cold morning after a pleasant weekend

It was quite mild yesterday, at least in the woods it was. But it turned cold again last night and this morning it's -15, but feeling more like -19. It's not going to get a lot better later on: -9 but will still feel like-16. BRRRR! But we DO know that spring is on the way - Brenda and I went out to Dalvay to ski yesterday as we had to try out her brand new skis! On our way around the trail, we saw a robin. So, it is coming - eventually, but you wouldn't know that this morning.

It was a busy weekend. First, we had pizza and beer at the VanGaals on Friday evening. (I think we may have a new Friday Feast tradition brewing). Then on Saturday after work, Lloyd met me in town and we went out to visit our friends Charles and Laura. They have a few sheep and all are due to give birth any time but one had her babies at the end of the week. She had twins and oh, my gosh they are so cute.

After spending the afternoon catching up with them, we headed home to spend a relaxing evening in front of the TV with something to eat. Sunday morning Lloyd was up bright and early so he could head off to Holton, Maine with our friend Richard. He needed a ride to go and pick up a car that he's purchased in the US. It was shipped to Maine, just across the border so the trip to pick it up was planned for Sunday. Bernie was a little bummed out that he couldn't have gone along but I'm not sure they'd let the three of them into the US if they were all together! They are a dangerous lot when left alone as a group. I haven't seen Lloyd yet this morning but he is home, so it looks like they had a safe trip. I was at the VanGaals for supper last night and The boys were on their way home when Richard called Bernie to get Lloyd's cell phone number, and then Lloyd called Bernie to get Richard's number. Good planning guys!  Good thing Bernie keeps track of everyone.


And last, but certainly not least, a big congrats to James. He received a plaque last week that was meant to be given to him last year. He missed the event when they were handed out and I suppose it just got overlooked. He was chosen Best Drill Team Member for 2012-2013. Well done, James!  Not that any  of us are at all surprised. He is really doing well in Cadets and seems to really enjoy it.

 His little brother Tristen, had a sleep over at the Scout camp on the weekend so I'm waiting to hear how that went. They are all growing up just way too fast!