Pooh

I love Winnie the Pooh. He is an absolute genius, and way ahead of his time. Here is a quote to quantify my feeling.

"It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words, but rather short, easy words like, 'What about lunch?"

Brilliant! He's my kind of guy!

Good to know

Apparently Canadian men are healthy, but not enjoying copious amounts of sex. Good to know... See what a great a country this is! Check out this link.

More about camping

I'm already looking forward to our next trip to The Pinery Thanksgiving week-end. For me, it's so much fun to check out other campers. Here are some things I noticed:

- About 70% of people have dogs. Little dogs yap a lot.

- I love people who post a name plate on the front of the site. It's good to know that the "Carson Family" gets out

- I like seeing strung lights, tiki torches and even Christmas lights. Fun stuff!

- There is always at least one German or Northern European family. The appear to be purists. No lights, name plates, or crazy tarps. They have top of the line bicycles.

- I like to see people sitting on camp chairs reading in the afternoon. Very nice and mellow.

- There is invariably one loud, obnoxious family with fat kids that cut across occupied campsites. The kids gorge all day on pre-packaged snacks and complain that they are bored.

- There is always 2 young guys on a non-electrical site sharing a very small tent.

- Never have I seen an all girl camp site (I have been one, though)

- There is always one big group of family or friends that gather on one site. They bring pot luck to a huge dinner. There is usually 4 picnic tables on the site and at least 4 dogs.

- Campers sleep in. It's pretty quiet until about 9:30ish. Except the yappy dogs and early birds packing up to get on the road.

Here are pictures:

The beach at Point Farms

Billy and Pooch at the Drive-in. We saw Mr. Bean's Holiday (it sucked...) and Borne Ultimatum (again).

Red-neck kids at the drive in. Sweet couch. The OPP came and I think kicked them out...

These are some small rapids in the Maitland River just outside Goderich. The rivers level is way down, but it was fun!

African breed dogs afraid of the rain can swim! We're so proud of her!

Back

It was a great week-end camping in Goderich. It rained on Friday evening, but apparently not as bad as it did here, as I heard that there were some tornadoes. Yikes!

The weather really cleared up and became nice on Saturday night and Sunday. We spent one day at the Maitland River and the other day on the trails in Goderich, then at the beach. Awesome.

We ate like kings with our camping companions. Because of the rain, and everything at our site being wet, we had to bring our share of the chow to them, which I found to be an imposition. I really hope that next time we can either figure out how to fix the pop-up canopy, or even purchase a dining tent (with at least 2 walls...) better yet, hopefully it won't rain!

With the storm, the park became a shanty town, and I'd have to guess that there was thousands of dollars worth of tarps protecting everything from campers, camp fires, tents, picnic tables, and canopies. There were tarps tied to trees, posts, campers, signs posts, and my favorite: the side mirror of cars. People can really be creative when faced with rain and given some rope and a tarp.

The first night we were next to a seriously disturbed guy who decided at about 2 am to start his big ass diesel truck every 5 to 20 minutes for 2 hours. When someone finally had enough and yelled for him to give it a rest, he yelled back, 'Eye for an eye, brother!" I also should mention that he was hammered, swaying really bad. Although his site was a good 15 metres from ours and separated by trees, I could see him fairly clearly in the break of the trees where the electrical outlets are. A few times he staggered toward our site, I felt like he was staring at me. Creepy! Also, there were 3 bikes on the site, yet I never saw a wife or any kids. He also had a 19 inch TV in his crap pull-behind. Weird! The rain drove him away, he may have been kicked out, as I discovered after gossiping with some surrounding campers that there were several complaints.

Good times, pictures to follow!

About packing/camping

I recently read a friends' blog in which she discussed preparing and packing for a move, her husband, as mine, is not really into packing. I thing it's a genetic thing.

It was all well and good for me, as I packed things when we moved the way I wanted to (control freak) in a organized, easy to unpack (OCD) way. It all worked out.

Last year, when Billy saw my camping list, he thought I was going overboard. "All you need," he said, "is hot dogs and some buns." My question to him was, "What about the mustard? Onions? Knife to cut the onions? A cutting board? Plates? How are you going to cook it? Do you have newspaper and matches to light the fire? Do you have propane for the barbecue? Are you going to turn the dog with your fingers, or do you need a utensil? You can't eat on the nasty picnic table, you'll need a table cloth, what about napkins? (I know you are infamous for mustard leakage) How are you going to keep the hot dogs and mustard cold until you eat them? You'll need a cooler and ice. What about something (uh, non alcoholic) to drink? Water? Pepsi? Cups? Are you going to wash the plates and cups? Because if you are you'll need a kettle, soap, a washtub, water jug, sponge and a dishtowel!"

And that's just for damned hot dogs!

The fact is there is a lot of preparation for camping unless you want to be constantly running to the not so convenience store to pay for overpriced items Good planning makes for a good, easy going fun trip. No worries, no running to the store, no suffering without some extra conveniences. I like planning and packing. I like having everything we need in a simple way. It bugs me if we forget something however small, (uh, like the cooler full of food... that's another story...) best to be prepared...

Don't get me wrong, we don't travel with the kitchen sink by any means. We're actually fairly basic food and personal item wise. A radio, some CD's, a cell phone charger and an electric blanket is the extent of our luxuries (yes we have a mini fridge and hydro...) Okay, okay, we're spoiled rotten, and might as well be at the Holiday Inn... yay for Mom's pop-up!

There have been many times in my life, that I camped with no more than a tent, a blanket, a package of hot dogs and buns, and a cooler of beer... I prefer these days much more!

Looking forward to Friday!

Dreary

It's another dreary day in Essex County. After the extreme heat of the last few weeks, recently it has been quite chilly, (like in the 60*'s) and it reminds me that fall is coming. The grass is green again due to heavy rains over the past few days.

It's not so bad really. I refuse to recap the summer as I feel that it's not truly over until I pack away my golf shorts, which may not happen until late October, but there is that distinctive feeling in the air.

I still feel that September is a time for new beginnings. Remember getting ready to start the school year, and you'd say to yourself, 'this year is going to be different.'? I know that I always hoped to re-invent myself. I never did. I never got the better marks, played better on teams, or was a better person.

Maybe today is that day, but probably not.

A wee week-end

It was another great week-end. Billy put some serious miles on his truck considering he was at home every night.

Let's review...

Thursday Billy played in a 6 man (3 team) scramble shotgun (that is one packed course if you know what I'm saying... the round was 6 hours...) in Thedford at Widder Station, (awesome course if you ever have the chance...) Thedford is 110 miles, (22o round trip). He had fun, I stayed home and watered grass at the house I was watching and cleaned our house, no mind...

Friday Billy played with Davey at SC, and had a great time. I again cleaned the rest of the house and watered my friends' yard. (Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely not complaining, just trying to give you the big picture...)

When they got back here we had some drinks (love Belvedere and OJ) and a fantastic prime rib dinner. We sat outside and pondered life, then decided to go to the drive in. In Grand Bend. Add another 122 miles (244 round trip) to the odometer...

Foolish really. We left just in time to arrive at the drive in, and buy popcorn, ($0.25 refills... hahaha) and we got home at 3:30 am. Oh we are sooooo spontaneous! Grabbing life and all! Ratatouille and Bourne Ultimatum, (Davey slept through the entire BU and the way home, Billy caught a nice little nap midway through BU and then drove all the way home...). So much fun!

Billy was up at 8am the next morning to golf at SC. I had an 11 am tee time at SC, so I showered, changed, went to the house, came home and stayed in bed until 4pm. Too much vodka, rye and popcorn... no golf for me...

Needless to say, we lounged the entire Sunday, only going out to (besides me again going to the house...) have a fine dinner of ham (Billy hates ham) at MomG's.

Good week-end! Billy needs to go back to work to take a break!

Recent funs and forwards

Last night at golf Kim and I had a great time. The last two holes we golfed really well, so of course that encouraged us to attempt another 9 holes. I say attempt as it was getting rather late.

Good God did we have fun! The course was completely deserted, and we could have played the back holes naked if we chose (we didn't). But it got dark, really dark. It was actually humorous that we even tried to play the last two holes. Glow balls would have been handy.

It was so dark that I put down my drink (in a beer skin) and I lost it. Kim lost her ball on the approach to the 18th green, and she would have been on in 4. Sonofa! We must have looked like a couple of idiots. Fun. I shot well too. Woo hoo.

Here are some things I'm looking forward to:
- Prime rib dinner on Friday night. Killer hot horseradish compliments of the Keg. Yumalicious.
- Golf on Saturday morning with the Judy Crew. Weather is supposed to be divine.
- Big Brother marathon on Sunday night with my husband, (I'm sad that Hell's Kitchen is over, but it was a good season).
- Trying out some new recipes in the Michale Chiarello and Giada De Laurentiis cookbooks that MomG ordered for me. Good stuff...
- My friends coming home from their 2 week vacation, as going out there twice a day is getting on me a bit.
- Camping in Goderich in less than 2 weeks! I've never stayed there is August and I hope that Lake Huron is warm enough to swim, (it's usually about 65*F in June... brrr!). Also looking forward to dinner and drinks with our camping companions and of course the Drive In! I wish Bourne Ultimatum was playing (in the book Jason Bourne was in his 50's... hm....), Pirates or Chuck and Larry... I think it may be a Nacho Libre repeat if it is Ball of Fury playing... it looks awful...
- Shores of Erie Wine Festival. (Not the 'Ears of Shorie' like I was saying last year after a bottle of Windex... )TOL, some others and myself had a fantastic time last year.
- Club championship on Labour Day week-end. It will be so much fun! Hopefully I win a cooler bag, (just kidding).
- Ladies Field Day at the club should be fun too, and another opportunity to win a cooler bag, or maybe some stamps! Sweet! Yes!

So many good things...

Sponsored by the letters F and U

Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in. - Michael Corleone, Godfather III.

The names have been changed to protect the stupid... but not the grammatical errors, those are just funny!

Hi Vince,

I spoke with Mario, and of course we were not aware of any problem since the fix a year ago. It is what is called in real estate a latent defect, (a fault that could not have been discovered by a reasonably thorough inspection prior to the closing date), if there actually was a problem prior to the close. I hope it is evident to you and Marty that Mario has gone above and beyond to get his home sold, (pool care, etc) and knowing Mario, he would never do a band-aid fix. He thought the job was a permanent fix, and paid well to have the problem solved.

With that said, he feels bad that there is a problem. He knows what it is like, and actually recently had the same contractor to his current house to fix a leak, but of course he's not responsible for problems with 20 Suck St. beyond the closing date, especially with a home inspection completed.

Feel free to contact the contractor. He has done a lot of work for Mario over the years and is apparently a great guy. His name is Tony Corleone, Mario believes that the company is Corleone Construction, but I couldn’t find a listing for it in the phone book. If you find a number and are speaking to an old Italian guy, that is the father…

I hope this helps you, please call me if there is anything else I can help you out with. Sorry about this problem, and good luck!

LG

Hi LG
What I believe is that it was a band aid put on it and that there is no contractor and really is a friend of his that did the work. And we were told that it was a contractor and that's why there was no further looking into the possible leaky issue. If it was really a contractor, than there is an invoice. If no invoice than not a contractor and therefore we were deceived about the repair. Example not knowing name of contractor, phone # but just having work done recently sounds fishy
Please have an invoice to prove work was done by contractor or I will have to purse other avenues

Thanks Vince


Vince,

If you choose to ‘pursue’ other avenues, then you do that. Obviously I take that as a threat to sue myself, Mario or both, and if that is the route you wish to take, go for it. My lawyer is Joan B. Solicitor in Amherstburg.

If you want to be reasonable then read on, if not, I do not want you or your brother to contact me again except through my lawyer. I have given your brother good customer service and it pisses me off for you to imply that I purposely deceived a customer, and essentially you are calling someone whom I consider a friend, Mario, a liar.

Things go wrong with homes, and most often it is at times when not convenient for the home owner. At the time of closing neither Mario nor I were aware of any problems with roof line leakage. As far as Mario knew the problem was fixed. That’s why during our phone conversation I told you the most I could do was find out who the contractor was.

Mario didn’t happen to have the phone number of Tony Corleone on him when I spoke to him, and in the interest of time, I emailed you what information I knew. There is no invoice because apparently it was a cash job. His number is: 519-971-0031. Feel free to call him, he is expecting your call.

I do not believe that it was a band aid, or a temporary fix. Mario was upfront and honest with me with the problem, as I was with you. Neither Mario nor myself attempted to mislead you in any way with issues concerning the past leak in the roof line. I told you a contractor did the work, as that was what I was told, and that is who performed the work.

I heard you discuss at length with your brother your unhappiness with the roof line. You pointed out to me the why that particular roof line is problematic, and you discussed with your brother how and why it had to be changed. The fact is:
A) I told you that there was a problem in the past.
B) It was apparent that work was done, (new drywall, caulking, etc.)
C) There were no obvious problems at the time of the professional home inspection or the final inspection of which you were in attendance. (The information from the home inspection is property of Marty, and technically I have no right to know it unless Marty chooses to tell me, as Marty and your father were not my clients, but customers)
D) According to Marty, the Home Inspector said that there are current problems with the roof, and Marty choose to continue with the sale.
E) There was a home inspection performed and wouldn’t that be considered ‘looking further into the leaky issue’?

I’ve spent enough time writing this email. Good luck. LG

Rough Night

Last night was Ladies golf league, and I must say that it went really well, and the 89*F temperature combined with no wind and 100% humidity (not kidding) made is especially challenging... did I mention the booze shack was closed? Rats! anyway, we golfed the back and despite 2 penalties I still shot a 46. Not too shabby, could've been better, has been much worse... so anyway... I'm really starting to know some of the women in the league and that's a good thing. One woman I absolutely despise, as she is a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater, with a nasty disposition, but most of them are a lot of fun, (yes there is an age difference of 10-35 years... Kiks being closest in age to me...).

After golf I headed over to the house I'm watching for the week, and oh yes, there is an alarm going off... To make a long story short, after speaking with ADT, not sleeping last night, emailing the Riu Palace in Cabo San Lucas, and calling the previous owner, the problem was solved. Carbon monoxide tester. I was so happy when I ripped that thing from the wall I nearly kissed it then smashed it to pieces, but I didn't, instead I removed my earplugs, (seriously) gracefully closed the garage door and skipped on home. Ahhh, relief!

Tonight is Billy's golf night, so I've invited Little Miss Mackenzee (sic) Marie to spend the night. I'm sure it will involved a lot of 'Oh my God', 'like', 'y'know' 'uh my friend told me' and perhaps Wii or Dance Dance Revolution (It could be renamed Flab Bounce Revulsion in my honour...), and maybe a little hair dye as the Kool Aid highlights from last week didn't make it past the pool...

Wish me luck, I must say, all in all, life's good! Oh yes there are still some rants in my pants that I shall discuss! Eventually...

It's raining again

It's raining and has been for the past 4 hours. I can't tell you how happy this makes me, despite the fact that golf tonight will more than likely be a rain out.

I'm watching a friend's house while they are on vacation and they just spent thousands of dollars seeding the yard. The area they seeded is just under 2 acres. No sprinkler system. One of my responsibilities is to water their newly sprouting grass. I know it was a big favour for them to ask, but it's not a big deal to me really. I know what it is like to invest so much time and money into a yard, so spending a few hours there a 3 or 4 times this week is no problem. However. I'm pretty happy about the rain. It takes the pressure off me to do a good job, and will make them feel as though they have not inconvenienced me too much. Whew!

Civic holiday

It is the Civic holiday. I didn't know it's purpose so I looked it up and it really has no purpose except to encourage people not to work. It's a nice little break between Canada Day and Labour Day, and Billy is still sleeping soundly upstairs.

Last night we had a couple and their daughter over for dinner and some drinks. Of course the Wii was busted out and proved to be tons o fun. Good times.

It's been a good week-end! Tonight I'm looking forward to watching DVR'd episodes of Big Brother and of course, Hell's Kitchen. I love the nights where Billy and I get lost in the couch and just veg...

Something to say...

I don't have long, but I do want to say that some of the girls, plus KT's sister came over last night, and it was nice. Crazy with SuperT's 4 kids, but fun.

Sitting around, conversing, gossiping, eating apps and drinking Sangria, I of course can't help but notice how normal this all feels. Comfortable, nice, just another day in life. Friends, food, and a little booze, nice...

This leads me (because all thoughts lead to another) to get angry at Other People's Bad Behavior, or at least Behavior I Don't Understand. There's a few people I will comment on when time allows, (see I'm all booked up this morning...).

Little moments like last night again make me totally appreciate my friends, my family, my husband, but at the same time, after thought, it makes me mad at others. Make sense? Of course not!

It's all good

I just don't feel like posting today. I haven't written anything since Monday and nothing is wrong, I just don't have much to say. (Hard to believe, I know)

I'm gearing up for a crazy good rant so stay tuned...