Ken Dryden

Montreal Canadiens retired Ken Dryden's # tonight.....













I grew up IDOLIZING Ken Dryden..... I was 8 when he started playing for the Montreal Canadiens.... those were the Glory Days for the Habs..... he played with the likes of Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Frank Mahovolich, Henri Richard,Pete Mahovolich, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Jacques Lemaire, Serge Savard, Jacques Laperriere, Guy Lapointe, Doug Jarvis, Doug Risebrough, and the list goes on.....



















The ceremony tonight was spine tingling..... Ken Dryden.... a true class act!

Fetch

made a new friend while inspecting last week..... this guy looks more like a BEAR than a dog...

I was taking pictures and he came over and dropped his bone at my feet.....

I asked the owner if that bone was the LAST insurance guy that came around...

he didn't respond.....!!

Ho Hum

WELL..... there really isn't much to blog about..... have been with my kids since Friday night.... I really enjoy time with them... we haven't done much at all, just enjoyed having somebody around.

Taylor and I went to a men's breakfast on Saturday at a church in town...it was quite fun..... and a really good breakfast too!! I still maintain that being up at 8 am on Saturday is NOT what GOD intended for men to do on a SATURDAY..... maybe at 10 or 10:30!!!
I don't have a chapter and verse for that though!

Kids head home in an hour or so..... heading back to Peterborough in the morning..... back here for 1/2 a day on Tuesday to skate with Abby's class..... then back up north Tuesday afternoon again...
Thank GOD the price of gas is down under 80cents!

well... off to pack the car.....

My Sister's birthday tribute

Carol wrote me the kindest nicest tribute ( or as she so nicely put it, a Eulogy!! ) ....

on her Blog yesterday....

you need to go read it....

but please... when you get to the pictures.... sigh... please look away!!!


http://lifeisjustsooodaily.blogspot.com/2007/01/happy-birthday-big-brother.html

Thank you Carol.... i was almost in tears when I read your post yesterday....

and then I saw the photos... that is when the real crying started!!!

I love you !!!!!!

Create your own back yard rink contest

CBC.CA is having a contest.... create your own back yard rink...

Once you have your rink done, then you write a 250 word essay ( which sounds a LOT like homework to me ) ABOUT your rink.... and forward pictures of it....

The grand prize winner will get to go to the NHL finals in the spring.....

the 13 runners up will win a prize package from Hockey Night in Canada

This package includes:
A Framed Copy of Your Rink Photo & Story
Set of 4 HNIC Scarves & Toques
1 HNIC Blanket
1 HNIC DVD Trivia Game
1 Autographed HNIC Jersey
1 HNIC Clock
1 $100 Home Depot Gift Card








so..... what I find totally funny about this is :

on the website, they have several Tabs to surf through :

Prizes Entry Form Rules and Regulations How to Build a Rink FAQ

I clicked on How to build a rink.... they had a detailed list of instructions, the most impressive of which was :

the list of supplies to use.....

1 spool of measuring string
1 measuring tape
60 12" spikes
22 2” x 6” pressure treated wood boards
22 2” x 4” pressure treated wood boards
8 sheets of ½” plywood
2 boxes of 2 ½” galvanized deck screws
2 boxes of 1 ¼” galvanized deck screws
1 cordless drill
1 circular saw
1 hammer
1 stapler
1 roll of duct tape
1 Plastic tarp/sheet in white or clear (should be 2’ longer and wider than actual size of rink)
1 lawn hose with fine spray nozzle
1 wide snow pusher
60 of ¾” pipe foam to fit over rink boards




No purchase necessary.



no kidding.. at the very bottom of the page, are the words NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

I'm wondering, where, exactly are people supposed to come up with 22 2x6's, 22 2x4's, 8 sheets of plywood, 4 boxes of galvanized deck screws!

I think I'm gonna go out and shop lift some and if I get caught, I'll just tell them that CBC told me I could... tsk!

Supper

Had two inspections down in Northumberland County today, so I went to my folks house for supper...... as it happens, we were celebrating my parent's oldest son's birthday... so it was a timely day to do the Northumberland inspections!

Spent some time with Isaac and Eva... and oh yes, their parents... who remain nameless and for the most part, don't get in many of the pictures!!!

my mother, bless her heart, made me a special birthday cake......

i remember when I was a kid.. they were CHOCOLATE.... now, they're uh... VEGETABLES .. jeepers!

January is National Altzheimers Awareness Month

I did know that,

but I had forgotten.....

Snow

I was up to Parry Sound today.... highway 11 going up was really snowy....

made for a tense trip....
















THIS, was the view on the way back... go figure!!
I was still glad to be back home tonight!

Pretty Sunset

Saturday, I was driving back to Brantford from Belleville... and saw this sunset... it was gorgeous!

Ice in Brantford Monday

so , my kids did get their snow day Monday.... more like an ICE day..... I stayed home with them, it was quite fun...

Poor Abby came FLYING down to my room at 20 after 8, frantic.. that i'd slept in.... I had decided not to wake her to tell her there was no school... but by the time she woke up herself, she was so frantic, that she didn't even bother going back to bed! poor kid!

It was Anna's 15th Birthday on Monday... so we got to just relax, watch a movie or two..... the kids played on the internet, and over all, it was really relaxing....

We bought a cake for Anna ( since I'd not expected to be there for her birthday, I'd not made one... ) .... and then didn't have time to eat it.. so I sent it home with them, and they celebrated her birthday last night in paris....

Here are some photos of the ice..... check out the one of Taylor's window... wicked ice build up on the screen.. ugh

























Here are a couple of shots taken from the third floor of my town house..... sure looks blase in the clouds and rain huh??

















my car looks no better from the top than it does from the ground!!

Midnight Phone Call

I've heard it said ( and please please don't take this as me being bitter )....

that marriage is a lot like a midnight phone call.... first you get a ring, then you wake up
( ok, i do sound bitter, but really I'm NOT!! ) ... anyway, 11:47 last night, my land line in Peterborough rings...
that is unheard of...... very few people even HAVE that number, for starters...

second.... i almost never get calls that late at night... my friends tend to think it's funny to call me when they wake UP to do chores at 5:30 ( I won't tell you his name, but it rhymes with Steve Storey ) ....

ANYWAY..... some guy is on the line, last night... and after I said hello,
he, in a squeaky voice, goes... " Uh... DANA????? "

DO I SOUND LIKE A DANA TO YOU BUDDY???

lol made me laugh!

so tonight, if he calls again, i'm gonna put on my most sexy female impersonation, and be DANA .....

Yup, I really do need a hobby!!

New TV Shelf

I spent a few hours yesterday moving some stuff around my basement.....

My office/bedroom is the only real room in the downstairs... And it's a drop zone.... As soon as we arrive here, the kids usually unload their back packs, and boots and coats... And I unpack all my inspection stuff from the car and it all gets dropped in here.... Until today, it's been FULL Of stuff.... Now that the back room is empty, I could put the bulk of it away back there...

anyway, it's a big relief... I actually vacuumed my office tonight... Found out the carpet is BROWN .. Who knew!!!

For the last 4 years or more, my TV Stand has been two big wooden electrical wire spools..... I used the bottom parts to put videos on... But they kept falling off.... So yesterday, being completely frustrated with the mess of my office and in back room, I moved a big shelf from the back room, put the TV on it.. And cleaned out the back room... WHOO AHHH ... Did it feel good to get the mess cleaned up.....

Quote of the day

While I was remodelling the basement tonight, I had TBS on...... They were playing some movie... I have no idea what the movie was called.....

Anyway... there was a line that jumped out at me while I was listening :

" Father's don't like to admit that their daughters can run their own lives... it means that we have become spectators "

Life after death

ok... so I'm not dead after all..... had a very very busy week, and wore myself out in the process....

and since I'm a man of VERY FEW WORDS.... I didn't blog... i mean, there's no point in needless drivel right???

anyway... I'm alive.... kids are away at snow ( snowless ) camp in the Muskoka's this weekend, so I have the house empty again.... I remember times in my life when I couldn't wait until I had a few minutes to myself..... I've outlived that feeling, and have come to realize quiet is sometimes over rated!!

well I'm going to go make my bed and vaccum..... jeepers!!

More Random Pictures from the holidays

Here's a picture of the kids on Thursday afternoon, when we left Mom and Dads...
















This picture was of the Christmas baking.... we apparently made short work of mom's stash!!!















Wednesday afternoon, the Churchills and the Mackays went bowling .... It was the girls in one lane, and the boys in another......



There were a couple of noteable shots... Taylor shot one, that bounced out of our lane, and into the girls ..... missed all of the pins in THEIR lane, and used up Anna's last shot... he was NOT popular!

After a while, we had them put the bumpers up, to help reduce the number of gutter balls...... I took one shot, I mean.. I BLISTERED it down the alley.... hit the bumper, and it went carreening into the corner... never touched a pin... I NEVER GOT ONE PIN down... with the BUMPERS up.....

David's mouth fell open.. HOW DID YOU DO THAT???? it takes a special skill, with bumpers up, to NOT knock a pin down, thank you very much!!!!

For most of us, bowling was an excercise in humility ...... Carol, at one point, decided it was futile to bowl frontwards.... and bowled backwards.....

I'm not saying she's better that way..... but you tell me????















ok, that was not the same turn.... you'd have picked up on that, if you saw there were only two pins left when she bowled backwards...

On the way home from bowling, I saw this pretty sunset view of the Bridge at the top end of downtown Belleville.... I took this while Taylor was driving... just think about how many more pictures I can take, now that I have a second DRIVER in this family!!








Taylor brought his guns to Belleville ( He has 3.... two BB guns and one airsoft pellet gun ) ..... Gramma has had a hate on for some of the rodents in the back yard.. and has threatened to buy a gun... in fact, DID go to buy one a couple of years ago...... she went, though, to TOYS R US ..... they didn't actually have the calibre she needed!!! anyway, taylor convinced gramma she should try the gun.... blew the can right off the top of the little arbour..... DEAD EYE MOM!!

Welcome Home

well.... the kids and I came back to Brantford Thursday night..... I was only here 9 nights in December, and have only been here one night since the 17th of December.... I blew in for Christmas eve day and Christmas day..... slept here the 24th.... left the house in a rush Christmas day so I could get the kids to their mom's .... and didn't really clean up...... We stopped here for a couple of hours on Friday night ( the 29th ) on our way to Belleville, long enough to dirty a couple of dishes, leave a Wendy's Frosty in the sink...( which was a Wendy's CHUNKY by the time we got home last night ) .....

soooooooooooooo.... the place looks like a cyclone hit it...... and what am I doing about it?

sitting at my coffee drinking my desk...

ok... let me try that again..... ( JEEEEEEEEEEPERS .... apparently I need caffeine! )

na... forget it... lol I'm going to fill my cup and drink more coffee and admire the mess !!! Happy January 5th everybody!

Some random Christmas photos from 2006

This is Jacob, opening his present from Taylor.........

















and THIS .... is his father playing with it!!!!





















and THIS picture???? is why Isaac is no longer a part of Papa's Will!!!!
















Taylor got " Deal-No Deal" ( the game ) for Christmas from Uncle Bruce.... and he ( Uncle Bruce ) played with all of the neices and nephews...... the only chair left for him was the short one.... made him fit in though!!!














Isaac LOVES that show... and as you can see, was pretty intent on the game that night!!































Eva and Isaac absolutely loved the puppet show theatre that Uncle David and Aunt Carol gave them.....














Isaac was more interested in using it as a Drive Through Window.... He sold McDonalds hamburgers for a while.... sadly, everything was the same price.. THIRTY FIVE....

The first few customers paid it, but then the line dwindled!! Bruce, growing up, was often called Alex P. Keaton II ..... I believe Isaac will be Alex P. Keaton III !!!

Belleville's smallest snowman....

New Year's Eve, Anna and I ended up sitting out on the front step.... the house was hot, we were tired, and yet still wanted to stay up til midnight..... at about 20 after 11, we went outside, and sat there... just enjoying the last December evening..... The snow wasn't quite all gone, so Anna grabbed a few handfuls of snow and made a snow man out of snow balls....

I set the camera on the step and took some photos just to remember the moment.... kind of a neat ambiance....