Great Googly Mooglys

02 Jun 21

07:30 hrs

     I'm at work. Actually I'm waiting for the crew to arrive and I really hope that today will be a short day. And that's for several reasons:

1) Its another hot windless day here in the Valley and I really don't like the heat all that much.

2) I need to get more work done on the bookhouse. 

3) I have to assist Chef Blaine in prepping the pork roasts for pulled pork.

4) I have a head like five pound Smartie.

     

     Last night after work I was granted permission from my Lobster to go out to play. It doesn't happen very often so I took the opportunity by both reins took a shower and headed out. My mission was to meet up with a friend from a long long time ago - the Great Ghiz. I first met him when he was in Combat Arms stationed in the Fatherland and I met him again when I was sent to the Peg. By then he had changed trades and was working on a flight line. Over the years we have bumped into each other now and again and he was one of my two Best Men at my nuptials. We are and always will be Brothers in Arms and if the need arises we both know that all it takes is a phone call for help to arrive.

     So I met the Great Ghiz at his hotel where, Beer Flu restrictions be damned, it was maskless hugs all around. We dined, caught up on our current affairs and reminisced on the past. Much later, younger members of his crew showed up at the venue. We invited one of the puppies to join us as his cohort would let him join in on their Reindeer Games. My Lobster sent me a Derek Edward's text - 1,2,3,4,5... I only had 3 plus food so I was good to go. I left the Great Ghiz with a hug and a promise that we would reconvene on Thursday for Chef Blaine's pulled pork on Thursday. It will be part of my Birthday Extravaganza as my Friends from Over the Hump will be joining us at the Wayward Inn. My Lobster has given a set of steel cribbage pins and a bar of dark chocolate already. Life is good.

Hello Dear Readers

25 May 21

05:00 hrs

     Good morning Dear Readers! Thanks for waiting. I've been focusing a lot of my time in and around the Wayward Inn. As you know, or maybe you don't,  my Better Half and I planted - with the physical assistance of the two Couch Monkeys - a pair of trees. We put them in a blocking formation on the sight line from the back patio and the open area long our back fence. This had been created when one of our neighbours dropped a half dozen trees to build a workshop - he didn't get the variance so he sold the house and moved - and another neighbour who continues to prune lower branches off of the remaining trees to gain more sunlight for his garden. We also moved the bamboo into a planter box. Those new trees plus the growth on the Saskatoonberry bushes will soon provide more privacy by blocking the view down the fence line.

     Last week I was shopping at the big giant box store when I spotted something that really floored me that I have been mentioning for years. When you go through the checkout in any of the big box stores you will be asked to contribute a couple of bucks to some charity of some kind and for doing so you can have your name printed onto a paper thank you balloon that will be strung up for all to see. What happens is at the end of the year the company gives a big donation of your collected dollars in the name of the company and gains the tax deduction for itself. But now, at this one particular big box store, when you are asked if you wish to donate there is a QR code that you can photograph that allows you to claim your donation. Outstanding!

26 May 21

06:30 hrs

     By the end of this week all residents of the Wayward Inn will have had their first shot of the Beer Flu vaccine. It will be a few months more before we get our second shot. The good news is that more than 50% of the country's population has been vaccinated and there is a plan in place to return to normal,  whatever that may be.

     The book house has all of the siding on. I have to finish the sanding so my Lobster can paint the outside. It's just the doors and the roof left before it can be mounted. I'm sure the patrons will enjoy it.

     We've had a few days of cooler and wetter weather. This has allowed us to put the topping on the lawns. The Loin Fruits helped too and most of the three yards of soil has been distributed. 

     A dear friend of mine from long ago is coming to the Valley. He was - and is - a Brother in Arms. We, as many of us, have worked, bled, buried our brothers and cried together. For him, and others who I call Brothers, the doors to the Wayward Inn are open and if they need my assistance all they have to do is call.

     I watched an interesting movie the other day. Denial on Netflix. It's about a Holocaust denier being taken to court in The Old Country and made eat his words. It is a true story and in light of what some Whackadoo Representative in the Hugh-ess has been saying by equating the  CDC's imposition of wearing a protective mask to bearing the Yellow Star of David as required by the National Socialist Party. What is truly amazing is not only how some people can continue to squawk such utter nonsense out of their ass but the hundreds fold who have their hands over their ears with their faces upturned to catch all the bullshit. 

     And speaking of Bullshit,  the Case(s) against the Tangerine Tyrant has just taken another step forward with the empanelling of a special grand jury. Two separate jurisdictions have been working together and had announced last week that they were examining possible criminal charges in relation to his businesses. A key figure in all of this is his CMLO - Chief Money Laundering Officer - who surely knows where all the cheques were cashed.

28 May 21

05:35 hrs

     My Lobster has been slogging through my new book. She is doing the editing. I'll have to make the corrections on the final copy. I know she hates it by the way she grits her teeth. Part of the problem is that I had written it as a non-fiction book and I believe that with a few adjustments it can now be good fictional story. Unfortunately, it reads like all business. And then there is the question of exactly who is the target audience. So, I don't know if it will ever get published.

     We've had rain here in the Valley which is great for the forest and for our garden. Of all the things we planted - parsnips, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and horseradish -it's the horseradish that has really taken off. The bad part is I can't harvest it until next year. For homemade horseradish tbe wait will be worth it.

Short Sightedness and Poor Planning

12 May 21

04:30 hrs

     Yesterday I had planned to go drown some worms with my Friend from Over the Hump but my boss had put the kibosh on that. Due to my qualifications I had the pleasure of escorting some individuals out onto the airfield to inspect the roof of a building. The timing was tight. An hour or less squashed between their lunch and the launch of the Snowchickens for their afternoon practice run. One hour. In middle of the day. The only good thing was that I was paid for four so I can't complain too much. When the job was done I had errands to run.

     Errand One - take the bent window screens to the Window Shoppe and get them fixed. Easier said than done as the business had relocated from quite near the Wayward Inn to some place down the big hill. I Googled the location but drove past it on the first try. 

     Errand Two - take a run to Crappy Tire to purchase a special tool to remove the bolt holding the cable that supports one side of the Ram's tailgate, the cable that I trip over every time I try to get my ass into the back of the truck. This is where the problem started.

     The Bigtown council, in their infinite dirty soap dish mental capacity, has allowed the maintenance on the Small Bridge to go ahead without any consideration to the traffic issues that it would be causing. It took me over twenty minutes to get to the Big Bridge and so I could go to Crappy Tire. Bridge Number Three is an advertised option but it would only dump me downtown which is no where near where I needed to go. For my return trip I simply punted up to the freeway and drove around town to head back to the Wayward Inn. The distance was greater but the Ram was purring g at a buck twenty so it went by pretty quickly. The question is why, if the Middle Bridge is so important to the flow of traffic, insnt the work being done at night? There are little or no residents in the area, except for the Residentially Challenged and they're going to stay away anyways. Of course this also begs the question of when will the towns in The Valley finally acquiesce to putting in another bridge across the bay? The obvious location at the junction of the parkway and the Main Drag is out of the question because of the monstrous Seniors Rabbit Hutch being built. I say find a location and build it now because the traffic is only going to get worse.

17:30 hrs

     Wham Bang!! 

     I've had my Beer Flu vaccination. No issues - so far - and so easy. I dont understand why there are holdouts and mark my words this shit is not going away and everyone will need regular boosters from here on out. Things will be much better once it is being produced here in the Great White North. 

13 May 21

05:00 hrs

     Our Sr. Couch Monkey has indicated that he is looking towards a career as opposed to just a job. Wow! Shock and disbelief! Well, my Better Half and myself will support him as much as we can including assisting with financing for schooling. But saying is always different from doing and as we have seen before his well intentioned plans sit on a shelf because he will not act on them. He knows that in order to move into his own residence he must be able to afford it and working full time on part time hours at slightly more than minimum wage will not ever get you your own two bedroom condo in a half decent neighborhood. 

     My friend K told me that her Lobster, K, was biking home from work the other day and was watching up ahead for traffic, kids, old ladies - generally for anything that may fall into the path of his bike. He spotted a dark shape up ahead and slowed to be safe. Nope, it wasn't Bambi, which are a common sight on our roads. It was Yogi. That's not too bad. If it was Pete Puma then you have to be worried. K&K had attended my expedition last year when we went Out in the Weeds to look for our Eight Foot Tall Hairy Friends. 

     Last night when I got home after work my Lobster informed me that we were going to be planting a few more trees along our fence line. Why? She overheard the Type A(sshat) neighbour planning to put in some kind of water feature. That coupled with the fact that the guy behind us has been pruning his trees to gain more sunlight for his garden has reduced the privacy screen we had previously enjoyed. So, she's going shopping for some large shrubbery for our side of the fence. 

     Driving into work I notice that the warm weather that we are enjoying has caused the snow line to creep it's way up the mountainside. It still looks pretty though.

     For those of you in my age group you will, or should, recall the movie SHAFT starring Richard Roundtree. It was remade with Samuel Jackson and it was great. Now there is another in the story with Roundtree and Jackson and some new kid. I just finished watching it on Netflix. Five Stars, Dear Readers. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as long as you're not a language prude.

How does your garden grow?

01 May 2021

15:15 hrs

     Dirt!

     The Lady of the House needs dirt!

     And so, I ordered three cubic yards of screened garden/compost/top soil mix. We have planter boxes to fill, garden beds to raise and lawns to top off. At the same time I'm working on the new gigantic book house. 

03 May 21

15:00 hrs

     A friend of mine and her Lobster - he's a Veteran - have been back and forth to the mainland Big City because he has been awaiting a liver transplant. A couple of days ago they received another call about a donor and they headed for the boat. I am happy to report that the operation was a success and hopefully they will be home in a couple of days. In the meantime, they get to stay at Honour House which is a residence for ex-service members and family under going medical care. There are similar houses funded by other service clubs that provide shelter for their members. 

     The Big Swede has done a podcast with a couple of premier investigators on "Bigfoot and Beyond - Episode #104". I suggest that if you are interested in the subject that you give it a listen on your favourite podcast app. Another interesting podcast on the same subject can be found at "Nicola Valley Bigfoot".

04 May 21

05:15 hrs

 ....AND MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!

     If you do not understand the meaning of this line then I strongly suggest that you do not read my blog because you are underaged. It is on this day that Star Wars fans everywhere celebrate the series. I remember when the first movie, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, came out in 1977 people lined up to see the movie over and over and over and....you get the point.

06 May 21

05:30 hrs

     Yesterday was my Aunt's Bday. I dont really care how old she is. Does not really matter. I gave her a shout last night and wished her all the best. I really like talking to her. She is someone who has practical life experience that is beneficial if you take the time to listen.

     Just a heads up, the second batch of homemade hot sauce has been now processed and bottled. I hate to say it but my Sr. Loin Fruit's batch was actually better. I think I tried to hard and the flavours got muddled. It's still good just not as crisp. That's okay I have a pint jar of straight Thai chilies fermenting for a minor batch and I have some pickling for when I'm Out in the Weeds. 

Going Up!

20 Apr 21

21:30 hrs

     The big Rabbit Hutch development near the Wayward Inn is reaching for the sky. There is now a crane on site for setting the next two floors and the roof. This is just one of four buildings in this development and when completed I'll have to look for a different route to the Wayward Inn as the traffic will be heavy. Of course, all the town would have to do is add a left turn only signal at the nearest intersection. But, they won't. 

     The huge Vertical Rabbit Hutch being constructed across the bay is getting even bigger. One portion looks to be, dare I say it, FIVE STORIES TALL! Has city hall gone mad! Its probably an observation level for the senior citizens who will be living there and not actual living quarters and that's how the construction company got away with it.

22 Apr 21

19:30 hrs

     Today is the Sr. Sage's birthday. Eighty years young he is! He and his Lobster had dinner at a relatives place (they are all inside the same Beer Flu bubble). He recieved a number of phone calls and a whole bunch of cards full of well wishes. My Lobster and the Couch Monkeys call him as well.

     A co-worker went across the Strait with her Better Half early this morning. His liver has been failing for years and after a battle with some medical morons he was placed on the waiting list for a transplant. They got the call and headed for the ferry. At the hospital he was called in for the surgery prep but at the last minute it was determined that the liver was no longer viable. The trip wasn't a total loss as they now know what to expect the next time.

23 Apr 21

05:00 hrs

     Here in the Valley there are two main bridges that connect the two sides of the community. The older one is right downtown and it will be under going some maintenance for the next five or six months. As a result traffic will be down to a single snail's pace crawl.

11:00 hrs

     I happened to be cruising down the main drag - I was off work early - when I spotted another Rabbit Hutch in the process of being hatched. I don't know if it will be rentals or for purchase but seeing the building going up is a good sign. Lord knows we need more housing but please make it affordable for those who need it. If I owned a building I would charge the renters a rate that was a percentage of their pay. Say 25%. You make 50K after taxes. That's $12,500 per annum or 

$1,042 a month. You're making only 30K then you'll be paying $7,500 per year or $625 a month. Those making minimum wage - less than $20K - will only have a two bedroom place and each will be required to pay 12.5% or $208 a month. I think I would call the place "The Social Arms".

Another project!

09 Apr 21

05:15 hrs

     Before I begin Dear Readers I would like to note that His Royal Highness Prince Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh has passed away at the ripe old age of 99. As a cadet I had participated in the youth challenge program that he had started, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, finally being awarded the gold standard. May he rest in piece.

     If you have seen my social media page you will have seen that my Sr. Couch Monkey decided to try his hand at making his own batch of hot sauce. Here at the Wayward Inn we all enjoy the spicier things in our diet just a little bit and so we welcomed his attempt at the recipe, which was for a huge batch of sauce. He decided to reduce the size of his first batch to 1/4 of the recipe. Despite not having the correct equipment and despite never having attempted to make any kind of condiment or home preserve I am proud to say that his first batch is some pretty good stuff. Heavy garlic, kinda sweet with an early burn. I would like him to keep track of his recipes so he can repeat the successes and learn from the failures. My interest in my eldest's kitchen works has lead my Lobster to conclude that the home manufacture of hot sauce will become a competition. Maybe. Probably. I'm already looking to purchase the correct container for fermenting peppers and I'm devising my own recipes, which will be recorded. 

11 Apr 21

08:00 hrs

     A couple of days ago I had hauled out the smoker for the start of the season. That in itself is incorrect as here On the Rock there really isn't a time of year when you cannot use a smoker. If you were living anywhere on the Home Prairie it would be extremely difficult during the winter months to get it up to temp. Mind you there are some Prairie Die Hards who will fire up their Flame Pit within the shelter of the garage after donning the snow suit and cracking the door for ventilation. Anyways, for this first go I selected a pork loin roast and some mild Italian sausages. I also did a couple of onions and a block of non-meat stuff for my Jr. Loin Fruit. In the end, the onions could have cooked longer and Jr. stated the block of stuff turned out too smokey. Fair enough,  I won't have to trouble myself with that again.

     Speaking of the Jr. Couch Monkey, he did not pass his driver's exam. Don't get me wrong, he is a good driver but if anything he is too kind. He slowed down so someone could cross the street and a did couple of other nice things racking up too many demerits.

14 Apr 21

05:45 hrs

     Yesterday I had to pick up a 1/2" sheet of plywood for the new book house. Can you believe $65 for a sheet of plywood? A 3/4" sheet is $94 before taxes. Insane! It will take me some time to build but taking some lessons learned from the last one I hope to do a bang up job on this one. Kne thing for sure is this one will be simpler and bigger. Much bigger. 

     Well, Dear Readers this has gone on too long. If you live here in The Valley take a look around and you will see more unaffordable vertical rabbit hutches being built.

Working at things

24 Mar 21

05:30 hrs

     Hello Dear Readers, 

     What's shaking?

     Things are progressing along here at the Wayward Inn. Day by day, week by week we are marching steadily towards summer to the point where you will find my lazing outside with a nice Cuban rum on ice. Sounds delicious doesn't it. Now add the sound and smells of food on the Flame Pit. 

     Back in the Nation's Capital The Oma-nator lost a dear friend. She was 90+ years young. Her husband had passed away six months earlier. Both of them were living in a seniors facility that was right across the street (six lanes wide) from their home. Their son resides in the house and he is battling a resurgence of leukemia. Bad news all around.

     My Sister in-Law, The Sorceress of the Golden Horseshoe, has been thwarted. A local eye doc has provided me with a potion that blocks the sharp stabbing pains that I personally have attributed to the Voodoo Doll being used down east. Additionally, she and her Lobster are pulling up roots and heading farther down the lake front. Good on them. They've been in the place for a couple of decades and its time for something easier on the body. Something with less stairs! 

     Speaking of pulling up roots, my Lobster had me yank out a couple of bushes that were either under performing or not to her liking. She has a plan to put something else in their place. I'm looking for lots of ground cover to choke out the weeds.

30 Mar 21

05:30 hrs

     Good Morning Dear Readers!

     March had come in like a Lion and two days ago it was acting like a Lion again with hail and high winds. It sure took the Valley by surprise. Since then the sun has been shining but the winds have been out of the north. I guess I can't bitch. Our Redneck Province next door went from 15°C to a full blown blizzard that caused a seventy vehicle pile up. I buddy of mine is a long haul driver who is getting long in the tooth too. Eventhough he has a gazillion miles of safe driving under his belt I worry about him sometimes. 

06:45 hrs.

     I was on my way into work and there was a line of cars behind me. All of us were turning left. After the turn I checked my mirrors and noted three of the four cars behind me all took a second left into the coffee shop on the corner. I don't know if they were purchasing just a coffee or maybe it was a full blown breakfast.  Either way I can't imagine the amount of cash these people are going through every week or month or year. Just think of it. Ar $2 for just a coffee that's $10 for the week and $40 for the month and $520 for the year. Add a few bagels and you can easily top $1000 a year. And this is the cheap place. Think how much is spent when people go to a full blown barista joint wher the prices are tripled. Now, I enjoy my coffee. I think if you were to draw a pint from me it would come out as dark roast. When i was doing the patrol job I used to buy one extra large cup from the local coffee joint per day when I was on duty. So, fourteen cups a month. And, I would make it last all day. I'm an old line servicing rat so drinking cold coffee is nothing new to me. But now, I take one thermal cup and a thermos full and even then I may not finish it. Is that amount of coffee cheaper. Sure is when I'm buying a one kilo can for $8.

09:30 hrs.

     On the drive in this morning I also noticed that the walls on the development near the Wayward Inn are stating to go up. My Lobster and I have also learned that there will be four buildings all with underground parking, between the buildings there will be a green space with a dog run and solar panels on the roof (probably a grid-tied system). There will be twenty four condos and two hundred apartments. On the ground floor of one of the buildings will be commercial space. The price tag for these units are anyone's guess but I would imagine the condos will go for $600K and the apartments will tent for $1600 a month. It's just a guess but the new units by the BIG BOX STORE are $650K and that's partly because it has the  Tiara Island Estates develipment attached to its name. Cha-ching! This brings about the notion of what is affordable housing and when will truly affordable housing going to be built here in the Valley. Right now there is no way our Sr. Couch Monkey could afford to move into one of these places. Not when he's earning just above minimum wage and working just under full time hours. Sure, he could try to work two part time jobs but the stress would kill him. He could find a roomie to cover half the rent but I'm not sure that work either. 

31 Mar 21

09:00 hrs

     Last night my Lobster, the Oma-nator and I went out to run some errands. This included measuring a bookhouse for its dimensions as I have to construct a new one. On our way back to the Wayward Inn we were driving along the ocean when traffic started to slow. We had no idea what the hold up was. It was too late in the day for construction. Maybe an accident? We rounded the corner and witnessed the Penny Boys loading a house onto a barge.  The barge was being held against the shore by several small tugs. It already had two houses on board and besides the one being loadedtbere was room for the fourth one sitting on cribbing. How big were the houses. I don't know. Single storey, 40 x 40 feet or so. Maybe the powers that be have stated the houses can no longer be stored in that place prior to being sold. I don't know but it was really cool to see how they were being moved.

     One final note. My Sr. Loin Fruit has decided to make his own hot sauce. We go through a lot of hot sauces at the Wayward Inn so he decided to make some. Of course my Lobster said that it will end up in a competition. 

     And, it will.