Ontario, Mini Van Capital of the World

This morning we decided to treat ourselves and took a drive into Listowel for brunch. Being Sunday, all church parking lots were filled, some with vehicles, some with horse and buggies and other with almost 100% mini vans. Here I thought that the mini van was on the way out but apparently, here in Ontario, having a very large poplutation of mennonite families with large numbers of children, the mini van seems to be a very popular choice.

The rest of our day was fairly uneventful. Robbie, as expectied, prepared for his interview and I spent some time planting swiss chard and knitting a new hat. We had a delicious dinner of salad, rice and chicken curry and now I'm going to sit down for the evening and enjoy some of Robbie's wine!!

Nothing New

There hasn't really been much going on lately. Spring is definately on the way , it was 11 degrees today but hasn't been very sunny and the weekend is forcast to be warm with a chance of rain. We usually go for walks every evening but have had to skip the last two days due to rain.

Robbie has been very studious reviewing for his interview with DFO which is on Monday so he plans on studing as well as doing some repairs to his car this weekend. On one of the coldest days we had in January Robbie couldn't get his car to start and when he went to pull the hood latch it was frozen or something and he pulled the latch right off.....amazing strength!! So ever since he has had to use a pair of pliers to open his hood. Anyway, he finally ordered the part and plans on fixing it himself. He also needs to replace a windshield washer jet that broke off and it turns out that this stupid small little part costs $27.00!! Figures, stupid Honda, so hopefully he can find one for cheaper at Canadian Tire.

Work is starting to get more busy, we've been doing more and more herd healths as everyone is getting ready for summer and showing. This means lots of vaccines, deworming and teeth. I got to visit some very nice miniature donkeys today. They are just pets but their owner loves them very much....and they are actually well behaved and very brave for thier needles.

I also saw two white tailed deer running through a field while driving around the country side. I didn't get a picture but I do have this nice one of two Canada geese that often swim in the river that runs through Drayton.

Spring Weekend

Well here in Drayton this weekend was like a breath of spring. Jenn and I took advantage of it going for some long walks. Robins are everywhere, flowers are coming up and there is almost no snow left.












Jenn is happy because the palm she thought was inching towards death several months ago has sprouted new branches, actually becoming obtrusive.







And just to show we care about the environment we have taken to picking up garbage as we go on our evening walks. That is a picture to the left of the trash we picked-up and bagged in case your wondering. So we're basically awesome.

The Tank Lives

My poor little car (95 honda civic hatch back) otherwise known as The Tank has been sitting idle under a few feet of snow for the past 3 months. Now that the snow has melted and I can actually see my car I decided that I'd better go and fire her up. I was worried (I worry about everything) that having sat for so long she wouldn't start or that she would have been damaged in some way due to weather but when I turned the key she fired up first try.........and then there was a horrible sreaming sound following by thick white smoke that rose up from under the hood.....not good. It turned out that a belt had snapped. So this morning I was scheduled to take the Tank into the garage but despite my begging her to start, she refused. Thankfully with the help of Robbie, my work truck and some jumper cables we got her going and on her way. $505.11 later she now has a new alternater, belt and oil change. I'm not sure how much longer she will last, but she is one good car despite Robbie insisting that she is from 1989.

Sketchup

Well I spent four hours today modeling our apartment in Google Sketchup. I figure it will probably take another 20 hours or more, but it is a labor of love. I have included a video of a polychaete enclosure I modeled. If you don't know what a polychaete is than look it up. They are fascinating.

I also spent two hours making a 4 cheese rice casserole which unfortunately turned out a little bland. But not every recipe can be a winner. We are going to make pizza again tomorrow to use-up the ingredients left over from our last pizza. Mmmm, pizza.

I had the great idea that I could use a laser pointer to deter Cooper from climbing on top of me to go to sleep every night by distracting him so he would jump off the bed. Sadly immediately after I shut off the pointer he jumps back up no matter how many times you use it (9 times he chased it out of the room and came bounding back to the bed!). Jennifer think he sleeps on me because she is too lumpy, mushy, and bony. Maybe I'll have to start dousing myself in cologne before I go to bed. He hates cologne.

P.S. - This is what Jennifer would look like as She-ra.

Green Beer

Happy St. Patty's Day all. I hope you are all dressed in green and drunk. Got to keep those Irish stereotypes alive. Jenn and I are having green beer this evening.

Jenn wanted me to mention that Bailey (her horse) received a pedicure today. It is almost nice enough to start riding here now if the ground was not still soft.

Alas I will soon no longer be receiving free chocolate goat milk and goat cheese as the Dairy CO-OP I work part-time at will become defunct in three more weeks. Meh. Well I'm going to go have some roasted peanuts and more green beer.

Pain in the back.

Well I woke up to a wonderful stabbing pain in my lower back today. But on the bright side I got to spend the morning introducing myself to a unique show called Dexter. Watch it. Or don't. I guess I don't care.

It was an otherwise beautiful day here in Drayton. And tomorrow is supposed to be a balmy 14 degrees! My back felt well enough to go for a walk through the new subdivision they are starting, with Jennifer this evening. Not a particularly good idea as you can see from the picture.

Then I lost my eighth consecutive game of Yahtzee to Jennifer. Eight games! I think I'll stick to cards.

Here is a picture of Cooper looking cute in the closet being good for a change. Well its almost bedtime, so ttyl.

Wine and license plates.

Greetings and salutations readers,

Only 3 more days until I bottle my Valpolicella!! That means copious amounts of hopefully delicious wine. Mmmmm, wine.

In other news Jen and I watched Matrix Reloaded today. Pales in comparison to the original. Jenn started knitting a hat which is kind of like a matrix of wool.

Fast fact of the day: The organic toxin in poison ivy, oak and sumac that causes an allergic skin reaction is urushiol. Consider yourself educated.

Oh and if anyone in the Ontario region lost their license plate, we found it. You can find it in the ditch somewhere off some highway.

Welcome to our world

Hello from Jennifer and Robbie (Jennobbie: a portmanteau à la Branjolina).

So this is our introduction to the wonderfully cosmopolitan world of blogging. Do not expect stories of fast cars, international espionage and high culture on this page as you will find none. This will simply be an account of our daily occasionally mundane lives.

Today however was a fairly exciting day by our humble standards. We started our day with our 9:00 am Saturday wake up siren courtesy of the Drayton Fire Department saving us from a good mornings sleep-in per usual. Then as we were too lazy to make breakfast hopped in the car and ventured to a new restaurant in Elmira for brunch.

"The Crossroads" is a restaurant and mercantile. And if you are looking for a fabulous home cooked buffet breakfast, lunch or dinner than look no further. We give it 4.5 stars (out of five).

Then it was off to the bowling alley where we realized we were dismally bad bowlers.

Next it was to the Beer Store to console our (my) hurt pride at losing 4 strings of bowling. As I finish writing this our homemade pizza is coming out of the oven. One word: delicious.

All in all a pretty good day for our first blog post.