Always on Duty

With Christmas only a day away and the presents around the tree, poor Ginger had to be on guard duty full time. Here is a shot of her minding the goods. She may not look it but she is ready to attack (and lick you to death) at the slightest provocation.

The New Shower

So, with a new house comes reno's. Here is a clip of our shower installation, you will notice that the original shower head was at Daryl's chest level. He basically had to shower on his knees if he wanted to get wet (though Karen didn't see the problem with the height). We are finding that like the original shower, most things in this house need work (by someone who has a clue) though mostly cosmetic.

It's almost Christmas

We have been busy today making decorations, putting the tree up, baking cookies and other things to prepare for Christmas. Here are some pics of Gavin, Shayla and Justin having fun with our Santa mask. Daryl would like me to mention that he thinks we put our tree up at a "proper time" verses the middle of November like some other family members. haha.

WATCHDOG

When she's not flaked out in front of the woodstove, Ginger enjoys sitting at the front window monitoring the activity of the neighbours, garbage collectors, the people driving up and down the street as well as the cats, deer and other animals that wander through the neighbourhood. We love our little watchdog!

Hallowe'en

Here are the children in their Halloween costumes. Shayla was an angel, Gavin was a, uhm.... scary thing with a mask whose eyes lit up, and Justin was a serial killer. I think he wanted to be an axe murderer but Daryl wouldn't let him take the axe as one of his props (ah yes, the wholesomeness of Halloween). We went "trick or treating" with their cousin Matthew and Justin's friend Gerald who was a robot. All the children had a good time and got plenty of loot!

HALLOWEEN PREPARATIONS

Lately, the kids have been busy gathering ideas and props for their Halloween costumes. This weekend they carved a pumpkin for our neighbour Bob as we will be "Halloween-ing" in town this year with their cousins. Bob gave us a little kit with patterns, plastic eyeballs and carving tools. The kids decided on "Frankenstein" and transferred the pattern onto the pumpkin, cut it out and inserted the eyeballs. It turned out really well! After Halloween we will post more pics of the costumes and "bounty" they have collected.

No More Seats Left in the Truck...

Some friends of ours needed to give their dog away, and so we aquired Ginger a few days ago. Ginger is 9 months old, weighs about 60 pounds and is a border-collie/german shepherd/boxer cross. she is a lovely, quiet dog who is (usually) well behaved and well socialized. she did run away today as she saw a deer in a yard down the street and took off after it. (Man she's fast!!) she is also loves being with the family and always wants to be in the same room with you. We are very excited about our "new addition" to the family!

Like Master Like Doggy

Well, After a long "wrestling" match in which Ginger accidentally gouged Daryl's eye with her paw and rendered him blind for several hours, the two made up and decided to have a little nap together. We think she realized she hurt him as she's been sucking up ever since. Daryl currently looks like he got punched in the eye as it's swollen closed. Karen found an eye patch at the local drug store, and Daryl is trying to convince her to sew a skull onto the front of it. (Pictures to follow)

A few of my biker buddies

This past weekend Daryl attended the 23rd annual Port Albernie Toy Run. There were 1018 bikes that registered and at least another 200-300 that weren't officially counted. This was Daryl's second time on the ride and it was more fun the last. Unfortunately Karen was in Tennessee and had to miss out again but there is always next year. Here are just a few of the people Daryl rode with. Each person must bring a new toy to donate at the end of the ride. The toys are then distributed to the less fortunate, and hospitalized children at Christmas.

By The Sea

When Julee and Chris were here, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a photo taken of the family. As we quickly viewed it we thought: "Great! Everyone is looking at the camera, everyone has their eyes open! It's a good picture!" However, on closer inspection, we noticed that each child was doing something randomly silly. Oh well, this is as good as it's ever going to get.

Family Visit

This weekend, Karen's sister (Julee), brother-in-law (Chris) and nephew Sam Elliot (a.k.a "Smelliot") came for a visit. While it was much too short, we had a great time showing them the house, sitting by the fire, taking walks, getting to know each other better and trying to rope them into building us some fences/stacking some wood. Julee also got to go for her first ride on a Harley Davidson and had a blast.

Completed projects

Well, we finished the garden enclosure and the new woodshed. Now we just have to move the rest of the wood in so we can knock down the old eyesore and plant grass which will make the yard larger.

Yard work

Daryl's Mom and Step-dad were down for a week so we put them right to work in the yard. We had an enclosed area to keep the deer out of the garden. Problem is that it took up 1/3 of the yard, and was way too much garden for us. We spent a few days tearing it down, putting in new posts and enclosing the new area.

MOVING DAY!

Well, it's been almost two months since we have updated the blog. We have finally settled (mostly) into our new home with just a few last things to unpack. This picture is before the moving started. We did get it all done, and got the truck back with 2 minutes to spare, literally. (it was 3:28 and we had until 3:30). UHAUL charges $100.00 per hour for every hour or any part of that you are late, so we were very happy to have made the cut-off. So with that kind of speed and work (it was just the two of us), the smiles pictured were soon replaced with pained expressions of "It's too heavy!, I can't hold it any more!... and "you have to tell me before you just drop your end!" (sorry Daryl) :)

Nice Wood

Well after a few months of waiting, here it is. The table is finally finished, it took longer than expected with our busy lives but it turned out pretty nice I would say. It is completely hand made from solid cherry and seats 6 comfortably.

Daryl's "Rock Star" moment

Here is a picture of Daryl at the Calgary Stampede, he was voted the "most deserving member" by his peers and had to go on stage at the Grandstand in front of over 20,000 people (pictured above). The only problem was that the Emcee pronounced his last name incorrectly. Interestingly, 5 of Daryl's relatives happened to be in the audience that evening to witness the momentous occasion.

FATHER'S DAY!

Father's day was a while ago, and I am a little late posting the pics. Justin was at a swimming competition that weekend and did quite well, and Gavin, Shayla, Daryl and I enjoyed a green ice-cream cake, picked out by Shayla, and our usual Friday night pizza. Daryl received a lovely "handcrafted" card from Shayla, which he particularly enjoyed because it depicted him with an extraordinary amount of hair, and a fabulous lizard paperweight painted by Gavin. I got to take pictures. It was the highlight of my week. haha. Actually, it was fun, and hey, any weekend with the family (instead of being at work) is all good.

Pine dresser

Here is a picture of the dresser that Daryl built for Justin. He made every part (except the handles), even the trim pieces. It is all pine and stands about 5 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. This was a picture before the varathane went on.

Checking His Wood....

Daryl is in the process of building a solid cherry dining table. So far he has turned out four legs, completed the skirting and is now working on the table-top. Tables like this are being sold downtown for $700 or more. This one has cost about $200.00 to build. Here is a picture of Daryl inspecting the wood before running it through the planer.

Grabbing Some Wood....

This is Karen's contribution to the table as Daryl won't let her use his tools. Once the wood is put through the planer, Karen gets to catch it and hand it back to Daryl (yipee) for inspection and further planing. It's grueling work, but someone has to do it!

SPEEDY GAV-ZALES!!!!

After placing first in the four hundred metre relay in the school finals, here is a picture of Gavin holding his sixth place ribbon which he won in the city finals the following day. His team was in first place all the way through the race, but the last runner tripped so they ended up coming in sixth and still beat out three other teams. Good job Gavin!

IT'S HUGE!

This is a tomato plant we bought at superstore three weeks ago for $1.57. Gavin helped me to plant it, and it has been growing about a foot a week! Recently we saw this little addition and we're very excited about it. Shayla wondered if we could eat it next week. I told her it would probably be like chewing on a marble at this point, and that maybe we should wait at least until it turns red.

Just plain done

So, after a full day of weeding, learning how to use the new gas whipper snipper, and a few Bud, Karen is completely done for the day.

Getting Ready for bed

Often just before bed, Daryl tries to convince me to give him a backscratch. Tonight, I got sucked in and it became a family affair. I'd like to point out that nobody is scratching my back..... not that I'm bitter or anything. :)

Home Sweet home

Here is the new house we just purchased in sooke B.C. We take possession of it July 27. Daryl can't wait to paint it black and put a scull and crossbones on the front. Just kidding. We will turn the carport in to a garage in August.

Daryl and Karen

Here is a picture of myself and Daryl. We were in Cranbrook B.C visiting his brother Dan and his family at the time this was taken. we had fun with the kids ice-fishing, tobogan-ing and building snow-forts.

In The Beginning....

Well, since everyone else in the family has a blog, I thought: "Why not create a blog too?" So here it is! Now it will be easier to keep everyone up to date on what's going on, with us and with our new home.

Let me put some faces to the names you have all been hearing about. On the left is Gavin, Daryl's second child. He's a funny, bundle of energy. Next is Justin, who has a wonderful sense of humour and who is an excellent athlete. On the right is Shayla. She's a smart, inquisitive young lady who loves to read. I can't wait for everyone to meet these kids!