Christmas Re-Cap

As most of you know we had been in New Brunswick over the Christmas holiday visiting family and friends. We had a wonderful time despite the horrible drive there in the middle of a snow storm that made for 20 hours of white knuckle driving and a 7 hour stay in a hotel. To jump ahead, our drive back to Ontario was much less eventful with only some black ice and slow going near Kingston. Despite this improvement, we have decided that we are now going to be "flyers"vs "drivers" at Christmas time.

It was great to be home for Christmas. I was surprised once again that I was actually able to get time off . I feel as though my luck is bound to run out soon regarding time off around the holidays but I'll take what I can get.

Despite only having 4 full days, I think that we both managed to do everything that we had planned even with a few changes in the regular Christmas routine. Cookies were decorated (I am now Cookie Decorating Champion for the 4th year running) and outrageous amounts of food was consumed (esp by Robbie). I was able to get together with my good friend Becky on Christmas and we had dinner at her sister Jill's house. Normally dinner is at her mom's but we decided we could be flexible this year and it was OK because her mom brought the traditional raspberry trifle for dessert. We had boxing day roast beef a day late this year on the 27th in Westfield with my aunt, uncle and cousins of my dad's side and we got to see cousin Charlotte via skype who is currently living in NZ. Robbie had to miss out on this delicious feast as he was getting winter tires put on the car but I am greatful that we had better quality tires for our drive home, so his abscence was justified:) I was also able to get together with some classmates of mine, Crystal and Sue, and we caught up over nachos at Jungle Jims and discussed crazy vet stories.

Robbie spent Christmas eve this year at his dad's place and Christmas day with his mom. Traditionally they alternate every year. Mandy and Penny were both home but unfortunately Tracy was unable to come this year so I 'm hoping she was able to spend the holidays with good friends and that we will see her next year! By the look of their tree, Santa found all the Smiths and they must have been really good this year:) Robbie will have to recount the rest of his holiday first hand but it sounds like they were very relaxed and played alot of cards and games.

Our Christmas present to ourselves is a new 40'' LCD tv which we get to pick up on the 14th as well as a new coffee table!! We are pretty excited to get the tv mounted on the wall and watch Robbie's new Planet Earth DVD's. It should look pretty amazing! Now we might have to concider getting cable.

But now our holiday is over. I was back to work yesterday (30th) and worked a half day today an again Saturday and Robbie has been into the University tending to his cells and will be back to TAing next week once classes resume. We don't have any real plans for New Years save hanging out with one of Robbie's lab mates from school and having a few drinks but tomorrow we have plans for dinner and a movie. My New Years resolutions are to 1. be more active (so we are signing up for a ball room dance class and I'm going to resume pilates) and 2. to write more consistantly on the blog.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Years and that 2010 is a great year!

Settling In

Its been nice being back in Kitchener and being surrounded by all of my stuff including my boys, Robbie, Cooper and Bailey. In my rush between moving here and leaving 3 months ago to Pembroke I have seem to have misplaced certain items that continue to be missing such as my nice black leather mittens, my purple neck warmer and random veterinary books that I know must be somewhere. It is very frustrating not knowing where things are and after having searched in every possible box and tote I am left wondering if they have just got up and walked away. Eventually I will get organized and go through all of my things, through a bunch of junk out and hopefully find my mittens!!
I have been off all week enjoying being able to sit around but at the same time being somewhat productive. I've been out to see Bailey every other day, working him on the lunge line and he is doing very well. We had a Bell technician out and she got our internet up and running so I no longer have to steal it from the random signal I was picking up from somewhere in our building. (Although less convenient, pirated internet would have been much cheaper)!
This past week Robbie and I headed out to take in some of the holiday events in downtown Kitchener. There is a German market that is taking place this weekend called the Christkindl Market down at city hall which seems similar to the christmas market put on by the Boyce Farmers market at home. There are lots of craft tables, food vendors, apple cider and a skating rink set up! We only briefly walked through on Friday but plan on going back again today to see what its all about. Friday we also went out to dinner at the Rum Runners pub which was very tasty. Robbie had pecan encrusted chicken and I had the maple and chili glazed salmon. After wards we headed over to the adjoining Yuk Yuks club and took in a standup comedy show. I thought is was hilarious (but had also had three beer) and Robbie thought that it was "alright".
Yesterday we traveled to Richmond Hill to visit with Rob's mom, relatives and Mandy. It was great catching up and as expected we left a few pounds heavier. Thank you for the wonderful day!
Today Robbie is supposed to be marking student papers but doesn't appear to be getting much done as he is snoozing with the cat. Later we plan on heading back downtown and running errands and hopefully I'll make it out to the barn.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't get any snow between now and our trip home on the 22nd but it looks and feels as though winter is on its way, but hopefully our drive will be uneventful and we'll see everyone soon!!

R.I.P. : The Tank

Well it has been months without any updates so it is time you were filled in on the latest news. I'll try to be brief.

Jennifer is back from her veterinary excursion in Petawawa which she was a little bittersweet for her to see end, but she will be starting her brand-spanking new position with a Kitchener small animal practice in the following week. Sadly she came back minus her late, great car, "The Tank". While I was up visiting her a few weeks ago, she must have been blinded by love because she drove through a stop sign into the back end of another vehicle. Luckily everyone was unharmed, but her vehicle met it's end. A 1995 Civic is not worth spending 2000$ to repair. So I gave her "Civvie", my car, to drive around as I take the bus everywhere anyway. So if anyone was thinking of getting her a car for Christmas the timing is perfect.

She is happy to be home though, I think and she went to see her fat horse (her word not mine) today. I made her eggplant parmigiana and stuffed pork roast for her welcome home dinner last night. But in turn she will be helping me make the time consuming empanadas for a pot luck I will be attending Thursday.

The best news is that we plan on coming home, weather permitting, on the 22 and returning to Kitchener on the 29. I won't bore you with details of how school and teaching is going, suffice to say I am content.

Oh, and here are pictures of the pumpkins we carved for halloween. Jenn's is the wolfman and mine turned out looking like some kind of ape.

Pembroke/Petawawa

So as Robbie mentioned earlier I am now temporarily living in Pembroke Ontario and working for three months at Petawawa Animal Hospital. My good friend and AVC classmate Katie and her boyfriend are letting me stay in the spare bedroom of their 3 bedroom house in Pembroke. It's a nice little community just slightly larger then Oromocto, about 15000 people, and is only 15 minutes away from work in Petawawa. Most would be familiar with Petawawa for its military base, also similar to Oromocto, but nicer.

Small animal is taking some getting used to after having spent an entire year working exclusively on horses but so far they have been nice to me and I am mainly doing vaccine appointments and health checks. They are slowly throwing in medicine type cases plus the odd surgery which have not been too complicated. It is somewhat frustrating knowing that at one point in time I knew a lot more than I can remember now, but some of this info that has been locked away in my head is slowly returning.

Katie left last Saturday for her vacation in Holland leaving me to take care of her dog Finnigin and the house so it has been a little lonely here for the past few days but I've been keeping busy with work, reading, and walking the dog. Finnigin is a very friendly, attention seeking lab that is much too needy for my liking but he is a good dog. It makes me realize that I am quite happy not having my own and that Cooper is very independent in comparison. Katie will be back in 2 weeks.

Becky has planned a trip to Ontario to visit with Robbie and I on the 25th of Sept. so I am excited to drive back to Kitchener for the visit. I will also be driving to Kitchener the following weekend for a working interview at a small animal clinic that is looking to hire as well as to celebrate my birthday! They will both have to be jammed packed weekends as it takes almost 7 hours to drive there and back.

I'll keep you posted on the goings on in Pembroke/Petawawa and post some pictures as soon as I get my camera cord!!

A couple bachelors

Well Jenn is in Pettawawa working at a small animal clinic and Cooper and I are on our own for the next three months. So far she seems to be enjoying the new job but I'll let her tell you more about that.

As for me, my trip to Bar Harbour Maine was fabulous. We had rain on the way in and on the way out but it was otherwise a beautiful week. I managed to fit lots of tourist activities into my time there. I climbed Mount Cadillac, went swimming at Sand Cove, hiked the Ocean Trail and around Jacob's Pond and enjoyed a couple fabulous lobster dinners. I did manage to fit a little work into my time there, however. We (hopefully) have managed to initiate several cod and Atlantic salmon fish cell lines that I will be nursing over the year. Here is a video of an elasmobranch tank (sharks, skates and rays) I took at the marine station:

Other than that it is life as usual. Now that I live closer campus I take the bus and have been able to join a few extracurricular activities such as tae-kwon-doe. While I liked our last apartment I won't miss having to plow through massive snow drifts to reach Waterloo.

Helter Skelter

So far August is shaping-up to be a very busy month for Jenn and I.

Jennifer has officially given her notice at her clinic and accepted a short-term position at a small animal clinic with a friend in Petawawa, about 5-and-a-half hours North-East of here. The clinic consists of just two vets but will give her greater range of experience for her resume. It runs from September until probably the end of November. In the meantime, we have dropped her resume off at numerous local clinics.

We have also been on the look-out for a new apartment. I saw four yesterday, four today, and I have two lined up for tomorrow. It has been a little exhausting as they have been spaced throughout the day and I have been jumping back to the university between visits. But I have seen some very nice, reasonably priced apartments. It will be very different than where we are now as they are all very large apartment complex's in the city.

In other news, the weather here was completely wild yesterday. I was driving to see an apartment when it started raining so hard that you could hardly see a thing (One guy switching lanes very nearly hit me in his attempt to get off the road). Then hail, nearly the circumference of dimes started pelting down. It sounded like my car was under machine gun fire. This only lasted about 10-15 minutes tops but so much rain had fallen that the street I was on became a lake before I realized it. The water at its deepest point was up over the top of the hood of my car. I was scared I would stall-out before I made it to dry road. At least it was warm today so my car could get dry. The floors were soaked as the water started pouring in from below.

Other than that we are both excite to be heading home for a smidgeon of R & R and my sisters wedding! See you all soon!!

Paper is finished

Well it took a week of 11 hour days but I finished my paper yesterday. If anyone wants to know anything at all about saponins, you can come to me. So now that that is done I will regale you all with my birthday BBQ.

Jenn and I went for a delicious pot luck BBQ with the rest of my lab gang down in Cambridge (about an hour south of us). I had a delicious double cheeseburger and tried some interesting salsa that Dr. Lee got from a military biomedical research company (?). It had hints of honey and cocoa. Then came my cake which was adorned with sparklers. It was delicious (we also had a cranberry cheesecake later around the fire). And I got a 8 GB memory stick which I think they knew I needed because my last one died. I had brought my dead one into the lab to look under the microscope to determine if it was a damaged circuit. Anyway the rest of the evening was spent around the fire.

And if that was not enough, Jenn took me out to a apparently famous breakfast spot in Kitchener ("Country Boy") the next day and made me a roast with homemade rolls and pumpkin cheesecake for dinner! So it was a great birthday.

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes.

P.S. - Here is a picture of Jennifer and Cooper trying out the new sleeping bag.

Canada Day Festivities

Jennifer had to work on Canada Day. So I was on my own for the morning's festivities which started off with a rubber duck race. For some reason the duck race took place in a little, stagnant drainage ditch. So we had 100 rubber ducks pretty much not going anywhere until the Drayton fire department fired a hose into the ditch. But alas my ducky got stuck on a reed.

After the race it was off to admire the antique tractors. Yes there were tractors dating back all the way to 1956! Then came the local arm wrestling competition of which I did not partake.

After all that fun I decided to check out the "exhibit" center. There were booths for quilts, vegetables, what to do in a power outage, and my favorite, Alpacas! They are a smaller, friendlier, less ugly version of a llama.

Later that day when Jenn got off work we went down for some BBQ'd burgers and fries and homemade strawberry pie. We were worried the fireworks might not happen as there was some light rain but it was a spectacular display considering the rural surroundings. Unfortunately my pictures don't do them justice. And that was Canada Day in a nutshell.

Oh and I made guacamole that weekend too. Killed our second and last blender while doing so. Apparently the avacadoes weren't quite ripe enough. Wasn't great. C'est la vie.

Another birthday gone by.

Well it has been a month since our last blog post and a lot has happened, so I will start chronologically with one post each day for the next few days so as not to overwhelm you all.

Our trip to the small south-western town of Virden Manitoba to visit the Kilford clan was a lot of fun. We spent most of our time at a cottage on picturesque Oak Lake. The weather didn't cooperate with us the first night, but as the rain poured down it did not dampen our spirits.

The next day the weather improved somewhat and I was introduced to the game golf. But this game had no clubs and the golf balls were tethered together with rope. It is similar to the game of horse shoes and despite being a noob, I actually one a game or two. They told me Oak Lake was shallow but I figured it couldn't be too shallow for a swim. I was wrong. At the deepest part of the designated swimming area, about 30 metres out or so, the water was not even waist high. But it was still quite refreshing.

The next day I was introduced to several dozen Kilford decendants who showed up for grandpa Harry and Grandma Hazel's 60th anniversary. Luckiily Jennifer had made me a family tree beforehand so I wasn't entirely bewildered. The number of gophers at the park almost outnumbered the guests. I had never seen so many in one place. But best of all was the enormous array of delicious food as it was a potluck.

The following morning Jenn and I contributed to breakfast with a very large fruit pizza. I wish we had taken a picture of it as it was a work of art. After breakfast, cousin Carla and her husband Jesse, both arborists, gave us a demonstraion of ascending a tree. Then we all took turns getting in the gear and attempting, albeit poorly, to pull ourselves up using rope leveraging techniques that are not designed for sandals. After that it was off to the golf course where we played a game of best ball and Jennifer, never having actually played a game of ball before actually had the best ball on numerous occasions. That evening I had deep fried turkey for the first time.

Virden itself was a quaint small town. It has a new fancy restaurant that we went for appetizers for and then it was off to the horse races! Rhoda had given us 2 dollars that she instructed to place a bet with on horse number 3. The horse's name: "Roadhouse Rhonda". Thinking it had to be a sign from the horse gambling gods we made a semi-sizeable bet for us (5$) and that lame horse came in second last!. Oh well.

From what I saw of Manitoba it was a beautiful province and I had a great time. So perhaps we'll have to make an appearance for the 61st anniversary too.

Countdown to Virden, Manitoba

Only 9 more days until we leave for Virden for Jenn's grandparent's 60th Anniversary! I'll be able to knock off another province I've been to. It has been a fairly mundane month otherwise.

Jenn had a couple of interviews yesterday that went well. They both have their pros and cons but they are both small animal only so she is still keeping her eye out.

I had a 45 minute presentation I delivered this week to my proposal advisors that went well I think. Other than that I have been fairly busy in the lab trying to develop a new mucous stain, ewwwww. Actually it is interesting research. This is a picture I took of some gut cells that were stained. Mucopolysaccharides are stained red and nuclear material blue.

From the kitchen, I made hummus this past weekend and Jenn made onion rings. Both very delicious. Hummus is a little spicy because Jenn and I confused the chili powder and paprika. Must get around to labelling that bottle as that was not the first time that has happened.

May 23rd Weekend

I finally got a weekend where I was both off and able to enjoy some nice weather!! I had decided that I deserved a little time off so I finished work early Friday afternoon and spent the entire afternoon with Bailey. I went for my first ride of the season which was a little bumpy due to my being out of shape and Bailey being slightly hesitant of what we were doing but we smoothed out enough to have a good time and after wards Bailey got a bath.

Saturday Robbie took me for a tour of the lab where he spends most of his days; It was lab-like, and then we went for lunch at a sketchy looking establishment called the "Fat Cat" which specializes in donairs, gyros, souvlaki and shawarma. We wanted shawarma but ironically they were out so we ended up with some gyros which were very yummy, plus a steal of a deal at 2/$6 (except Robbie forgot to show his student card so we paid $7.90)...Still not bad.

That afternoon we decided to take a spontaneous trip to Elora, which is a small town about 30 minutes from Drayton, to hike around the Elora Gorge Conservation area. There is an actual gorge through which the Grand river runs and there are some nice trails with beautiful scenary. The sun shone all day and there were very few bugs. We are thinking about taking a weekend to do some camping and maybe some tubing down the gorge.
http://www.grandriver.ca/index/document.cfm?Sec=27&Sub1=124&sub2=0

Today was less eventful but still enjoyable. Robbie spent the majority of the day working in the lab and I went for a second ride on Bailey. Robbie has gotten it into his head that it will be fun to dye his hair Dark Brown so I'm going to do it for him but I'm a little scared so I will keep you all posted on how it turns out.

Victoria Day Weekend

We have both been so busy with work/school that we have not been up to much since the last post. My associate had a death in the family but for some unknown reason she didn't think twice about leaving for the ENTIRE week, meaning I have been the only equine vet on duty and that I have been stuck doing the on-call for the past eight days excluding Thursday, which my boss was "nice" enough to cover. To say the least I have been busy and I am hoping that she has the decency to show up on Tuesday.

I am sad to say that I have managed to kill my healthiest tomato plant in an attempt to transplant it into a larger container. Despite our valiant efforts to stabilize the stem which snapped in half, within 20 minutes it was limper than a wet rag, so it does not look too promising that we will be having fresh home grown tomatoes anytime soon. On a brighter note we enjoyed some home grown Swiss chard with dinner tonight and it was delicious. Mom was right though, alot of fresh leaves shrinks significantly once cooked.

While on a walk today we came across a side table that was being given away for free so we now have a new to us table which Cooper appears to enjoy and I have discovered that biking in the wind, up hill, when it is hovering around freezing, is not an enjoyable experience. (The weather has been unusually cool). I have been going to palates class every Thursday, but I am still waiting for my yoga matt to get here in the mail, then I might be motivated to do more exercises at home.

I hope that every one had a great long weekend! I should go save my cinnamon buns before Robbie eats them all!

Chicken soup and canasta

Being the frugal shopper that I am I thought I had found a great deal when I found a large package of chicken for under three dollars. What I found out is that chicken necks and backs have very little meat on them. What meat was on the many-boned carcass was mostly fat and cartilage. So Jenn had the great idea that I should make homemade chicken soup. I decided to make it in the slow cooker and it was delicious with the homemade biscuits Jenn made. Last night our taste buds ventured to South America with a stir fry marinated with a honey/habanero pepper sauce imported from Costa Rica (a saporous, spicy gift from Rhonda Brown ;).

Now I'm going to let Jenn tell you about her weekend emergency surgical adventure. It involved bones, blood, and Butorphenol.

I did feel a little like a super star on the weekend but I guess I should hold off on the gloating until I recheck my patient at the end of the week. A small yearling paint tried to jump over the breast bar while in a trailer and got her legs hung up over a partition. She had a large laceration over her hind cannon bone and after thorough examination had also fractured her medial splint bone (which is vestigial in the horse but would be equivalent to the long bone in our index finger). So with 10 or so onlookers and Robbie as my "technician", I dropped the horse outside on the grass and cut out the broken end of the bone. Then I got creative and borrowed some guys dremel tool and smoothed off the remaining bone and then sewed the leg back up. The horse woke up and got back on her feet and was able to walk back to the barn. I felt just like James Herriot. So now I just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope that the wound doesn't get infected. I think that Robbie secretly enjoys coming with me on calls.

Robbie again. So apparently James Herriot is some old school vet who is famous for writing many veterinary inspired books.

Destruction, Mayhem, Carnage: Drayton, 2009!

Well we finally have our power restored after a day and a night without it. Sadly the popsicles did not survive. However we are still on a boil order. It was quite the maelstrom. The thunder, lightning and wind hit like a miniature hurricane. Shingles were flying off roofs (and at least one roof blowing off), trees torn from the ground, and a Home Hardware gazebo in ruins. The power conked out mere minutes after the storm began and Hydro One reported that it would not be restored until 12:00 noon tomorrow. Thank goodness for small favors.

In other news Jennifer has a free yoga mat on its way. And all I had to do was eat 5.2 kilograms of yogurt. Free yoga mat = 30$. Eight tubs of yogurt = 32$. Apparently because the receipts I sent in didn't actually say "Astro Zero" yogurt they were not valid. Well I had promised Jennifer the mat so I couldn't turn back now so I bought four more tubs of yogurt and cut out the UPC's to send in. Oh, and did I mention that I had to eat all eight tubs of yogurt because Jennifer had contracted a parasite (cryptosporidium sp.) from one of her barn visits? She is all better now though so she better enjoy her yoga mat.

Hmmm just heard some thunder. I better wrap this up. Last thing I need is an electrical surge killing my computer along with the power.

A Capital Time in the Capital City

Last weekend Robbie and I drove to Ottawa to spend the Easter weekend with Laura, Ian and Mandy. We left Friday morning from Drayton around 930 am and drove the 6 hours to Ottawa arriving around 430. Laura and Ian had a delicious turkey dinner waiting for us and Laura had even baked a pumpkin pie!! Conveniently it turned out that Mandy lives only a few blocks away and was able to join us. The entertainment consisted of us helping to put the dinning room table together as apparently is was much too difficult for 2 engineers. We ended the night by going out for drinks and the Fox and the Feather and crashed at Laura and Ian's.

Saturday we did a walking tour of the grounds of the legislative buildings and down around some of the market area. There was a large but peaceful demonstration going on in front of parliment (which Laura was disappointed at when discovering that it was not a parade) against the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka....lots of flags and lots of shouting. We also went on a tour inside the legislative building which was very impressive and consisted of the "center" block, the library and the peace tower. The architecture was beautiful. Ian met up with us later for lunch at Darcy McGee's and then we all went to the Natural history museum to take in some dino's, mammals, birds and a special exhibit of Jane Goodall and her chimpanzees. Mandy cooked a delicious dinner and we stayed in, drank wine and played Apples to Apples. Laura and Ian were the official champions.



We stayed over at Mandy's that evening as we had to leave very early, 5 am, to drive to Toronto for brunch with Robbie's aunts and other relatives. Brunch was delicious, although I think I was still full from the past 2 days, and then we participated in their tradition outing of bowling. Good thing Robbie and I had been practicing up, we didn't even know there would be bowling, but we were probably the best ones there. Must have been first timers luck.

We were exhausted by the time we got back to Drayton, but we had a wonderful time. Thank you to L, I and M for letting us stay over!!!

Elmira Maple Syrup Festival

Well as the title says, this weekend Elmira was host to the annual Maple Syrup Festival which is apparently a really big deal around these parts. Naturally Jenn and I were in attendance. We left early with visions of stacks of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup in our heads but when we got there the array of food was overwhelming. So instead of pancakes we shared homemade apple fritter, then Jenn decided to have gyro (no surprise) and I started out with a German potato pancake with sour cream and maple syrup. I followed that up with a massive turkey drumstick.


Despite it having been very cold the street was packed with throngs of people bused in from Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph. After eating we joined the crowd to watch the annual pancake flipping contest for which teams had to flip pancakes with everything from tennis rackets to SCUBA flippers (on their feet).


Due to the cold and my being somewhat lethargic from consuming a large quantity of poultry we opted not to go on the sugar bush tour and instead opted to top off our trip with a fruit and whip cream covered funnel cake. And of course we bought a bottle of maple syrup which Jenn used to make maple curried chicken tonight. So we basically had a weekend of gastronomic overindulgence.

Oh and I should mention that my sister, Penny, was on TV square dancing with her students. Yup, square dancing.

Mechanics are thiefs in greasy coveralls.

So I took my car in today to find out why the engine light was on. After "scanning" it all they could tell me is that it is something to do with the exhaust system but it should be nothing to worry about. If I wanted them to fix it, they said it could cost anywhere from 50 to 300$ because there were a number of things it could be. So they basically charged me thirty bucks to tell me they don't have a clue.

But got some good news in the form of a 12, 000$ research grant. Plus my brussels sprout casserole and zesty tomato pork chops were delicious!

Jennifer has become a knitting machine. She would put little Guatemalan sweat shop children to shame.

Cooper is ignoring his recently grown cat grass completely. I tasted it and I must say it lacks much flavor so I don't blame him.

So now you' re caught up.

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.