Sensations from the Shuswap

Is our newly appointed Prime Minister, the (ahem) Right Honourable Mr. Harper as stupid as he is acting, or is he merely as overzealous as a new puppy?  I mean, d-u-h..... the only reason old George Bush has Harper down in war torn Afghanistan and Iraq etc. is because Bush is playing Harper for the fool he appears to now be  and using us Canadians as his expendable pawns.  "Get them there Canadian troops down there, Harper, old pal; let the Terrorists blow your troops to smithereens for a bit while I recoup mine, OK? Let the Terrorists get pissed at you for a bit; let them decide to bomb a couple of your towers and Parliament buildings, for a while, OK? While you're using your Canadian boys as decoys, I'll figure out a way to take over the oil reserves, OK? We're getting mighty low on fossil fuel down here, and while we still owe you Canucks about four hundred million for the natural gas we use, we'll just add it to our tab and I'm sure you won't mind- we'll work something out like the soft wood lumber tariff and the NAFTA Agreement, OK? We just gotta fool them there rag heads into blowing the crap outta you guys and get them to hate the shit outta you guys for awhile. Hell, open up a Tim Horton's while you're down there: that'll make the Afghannies REALLY like you...." And I can just see old Harper, sitting there on his haunches, waggin' his tail, licking Bush's hand......when can I go boss? Huh? Huh? I go now? Huh Can I CanI Can I????

Most of the time, people enjoy sleeping in, snoozing on the couch, laying on the livingroom floor perusing the weekend newspaper, watching a flick....whatever, on a Saturday when they have weekends off.  For us, George works most weekends, so Colleen hops out of bed and heads for the kitchen at unnaturally early hours on the weekend.

The bread baking Satrudays are an all-day gig.  The  traditional recipe makes nine regular loaves, two french loaves, two round loaves, and a dozen buns.  We like to vary the ingredients that make different kinds of french loaves and round loaves.  Some days its cheese, olives, olive oil and sun dried tomatoes, some days its asiago cheese, oregano and tarragon.  It adds a lot choice, and of course it is DELECTABLE!  We also make the cinnamon buns, sticky buns, parker house buns, whatever!!! The big round loaves are of course grrrrreat for cheese dip fillings, salmon dip fillings, thick stews and chilis.Scoop'em out and fill 'em up.  Then you have chunks to dip, and leftover chunks (rare) are great for croutons or stuffing!

 

Later in the afternoon, out comes the vino and the serious cooking begins.  Chilis, lasagne, cabbage rolls, meat pies; yadda yadda yadda ....all the old comfort foods that freeze well and that us professional people LOVE to come home to and just pop in the oven!!!!

 

Pour a glass, crank up the tunes, and chop and saute and season and simmer.... MMMMM....

 

Then, on any given weeknight, you can produce a dinner that delights and without breaking a sweat! I don't know about you, but the idea of grilled tofu and salad five nights a week is plain well..... ewwwww.

 

It's also super great that all this yummy sustainance can be stored in the freezer, because once the snow melts and the temperature heats up, who wants to be in the kitchen?

 

Stay tuned for the day in the distant future when Colleen will have time to publish favourite no-fail recipes that will guarantee a super happy soul mate!

 

Your visits are important to us; it's the new way to keep in touch!

A day to celebrate the Death of St. Valentine, a saint who performed secret marriages  for forbidden love....

 

I sure love this day!!!

 

George and Colleen are old bona fide softies and Valentines Day was a day to divulge.  George woke up Valentine's morning to a big heart shaped box of chocolates and a card which depicted two little monkies kissing, and a caption that read " I like you.... AND your cooties"---now THATS devotion!!! Boy cooties...ugh!

 

Colleen went off to work, only to be surprised with a huge bouquet of deep red long stemmed roses in a particularly attractive funnel shaped vase, held by a wrought iron spiral base, that had three little rose shaped glass candle holders nestled in iron leaves with tealite candles. There was also a little silken sachet that contained creamy white chocolate cranberry bark, yummmmm!!! Colleen's three favourite things- roses, candles, and Chocolate!!! That George sure is a magical guy! And not to forget about poor Goose; he received a nice little "denta bone" which he munched down in about seven minutes.

 

Dinner that night consisted of a huge steak, sauted giant shrooms, fresh baby herbs salad, stuffed cream cheese n garlic baked potatoes with all the trimmings, home-made garlic bread, and coconut cream pie for dessert! Colleen had to do a special dinner in appreciation of the gorgeous flowers and everything. Then later of course, came the shower... ahem

Love this Day!!!!

Colleen was driving to work last Friday, enjoying the sunny drive, enjoying the nice new Jeep, enjoying a coffee, enjoying the new cell phone while calling in to win a radio contest, when the local DJ's, Brian and Betty of the Morning Show on Sun FM advised that they had been participating in the 3rd annual Have a Heart Radiothon.  They were staying awake and broadcasting live for 36 hours straight to raise $20,000.00 for a new incubator for Vernon Jubilee Hospital.  The sad news was that they had been up and at it for 27 hours and had raised about $7,000.00.  There was also a drive-through breakfast happening, but it seemed to be going slow.  Well.... guess who got to feeling pretty guilty about having it so good while others, especially babies were suffering? And to say nothing about how Brian and Betty and the unseen others involved were all donating their time to help a local hospital, and not succeeding very well.  So, off to work, and one email later, the ball got rolling.  The staff at Nixon Wenger was challenged to donate a paltry $20.00 Hey, it was payday!! With this small donation from each and every staff member and support staff, NW could donate nearly a thousand bucks!!!! Well.... Doug Lemiski, one of the Partners also received this email, and promptly replied to Colleen that the partners would match whatever the staff raised.  Well, with a little cajoling and a couple of friendly threats,  the staff, within three hours (counting lunch hour) raised $800.00!! Woo hoo!!! And it just so happens that the President of the Hospital board is also one of the partners, Chris A. !  So he emails Colleen that he will take an $800.00 cheque and Colleen can take the $800.00 and together NW  will personally deliver the cash to Brian and Betty on location.  That was too cool. Not only did Colleen get to skip out of work, but got to go meet Brian and Betty in person, who of course know who Chris is and Colleen gets some socialite points for hanging out with a Lawyer/President of the Hospital board.  THEN Brian and Betty get a load of how much money we are handing them so they make us stay to go live on the air!!! Well.... old Colleen doesn't miss a beat.  Betty starts the interview and Coll plugs the firm and plugs the brief time it took the staff to step upto the plate, and how generous the partners are, yadda yadda yadda.  Then Betty  went to Chris who reiterated a lot of what Colleen said and also spoke his part from the hospital side of things.  After Betty does her speil and is moving away with the mic, Coll grabs it and says" hey -hey -hey -wait a minute, we want to send a challenge, all up and down the Okanagan to ALL the other law firms, and you know who you are, to not just meet, but to BEAT our donation!"  That was cool.  So then off we went back to the office, where a whole bunch of congratulatory emails waited and everyone gathered around to hear what happened.  Later on that night as the radiothon was winding down, Brian and Betty had exceeded their $20,000.00 and were up to $24,000.00!!! They mentioned all the large donations that were made, and do you know that not ONE other law firm had donated.  By the next day, though, the final tally was--- get this--- $39,000.00!!!! The hospital said it was now able to buy 2 incubators, which was especially groovy since the two they have are 14 years old, and one was actually cracked!  One of the girls at work actually cried when she came up to Colleen to say thanks... she is pregnant, haha!

So that felt pretty dam good, and it was not hard to do......

The little Banshee boat is still undergoing it's surgery, and the anxious parents are pacing about. Well, George is, any way!!

 

In the interim,George has purchased the new slide n swivel seats, the new downriggers, a new salmon fishing rod, a new mig welder.... yes, it is relevant to the boat building....strange as it seems.  George is going to custom-build the gas tank himself after learning that the pro's want about $1600.00 to build one. George can buy the welder, the gas and the gas contract, and all the relating gadgets for under a grand... duh. The tank can be built, installed AND we will have a welder and tools to spare! This will help offset the little price tag of about $250.00 to have the paint for the boat custom made. We have the vinyl flooring, the cushion covers and bench seat covering all picked out; lo and behold no one manufactures the color of paint to match. But for about a measely $125.00 a QUART, we can have our color specially made. Then the cost of painting will be added. It is going to be a real change to the old girl, but it is gonna be a blast!!!! Hope you all will have your water wings ready!!!!

Egad and Gadzooks!!!  Our baby!

 

And it all started one cold and snowy day in January of  '06....

 

George got a bug to do something wild and crazy; Voila!!! 

 

Our little old 1979 Banshee boat is no longer. 

 

**Special note.... no this in NOTa direct result of Fat Lola crashing the motor back in the summer of 2005!!!!

(kidding, Lola... but we CAN't resist, tee hee)

Did anyone hear that story?  If you would like to hear the story of how our little boat died from trying to haul Lola on a tube around Shuswap lake, leave a comment.... we'll give you ALL the dirt!

 

Ahem.... Anyway....as you will note in the above album of the same name; the boat has been piece by piece dismantled and ripped out from end to end.  All that is left is the hull and steering wheel.  You will like  the cool plans and ideas George has for the restoring and rebuilding of this little boat.  We pondered and perused, fretted and floundered, but after viewing MANY boats, and taking our boat to a "boat doctor", the said doctor advised us that the boat was in particularly good shape; the hull was sound and for her age, the boat is still very strong,and a "face lift" would be a splendid idea. Also, about $25K less than a new boat.

The whole rebuild will take up to six or so weeks, with the "fiberglassing" to start happening about Monday next. After all the repair work is done, there will be a few modifications; the rear seating area will be extended a bit, the old downriggers will be replaced with new ones that can be manipulated from the sides of the boat instead of leaning over the back and doing a balancing  act as it functions now, the existing rod holders are just attached to the (in)sides of the boat and therefore poke us when we are sitting on the back seats, so new ones will be built right into the boat, then we are going to build a new fuel tank to be placed in the bow of the boat (it will plane much faster and takeoff will be much more fun with the toys!). Therefore, the back end will all be reconstructed and a bench seat that can be folded out into a mini "sunning deck" will be built where the tanks and battery used to go, with storage underneath.  The existing seats will then be replaced with slide 'n' swivel pedestal seats that will make for much more room (especially for Goose) so then the avid fishermen (George n Reg) will be able to swivel around to see their lines when a fish hits rather than having o crane their necks like at present.  Then there will be a little removable pedestal table that can be set up when it is time to sit back and enjoy your favourite beverage. The colour scheme will be a gentle metallic gold with ivory inlay and accents.  *I can't wait until next summer to try this baby out*.  The results from the tank being set up in the bow will allow for improved weight distribution so the boat will remain more level and  then make for spectacular rides on the sea biscuit and boogie boards, knee boards, etc. and George is going to get one of those two man tubes with a back rest next.  This will allow George to disengage two people at a time while speeding over the waves! So next time,when you say "go ahead, TRY to dump me"....LOOK OUT!!!!

 

Stay tuned for further updates....!