The Big 17

well my son is almost grown up.... he turned 17 on Saturday..... sigh.. hard to imagine that little tiny baby has become such an incredible young man..... sigh

I got to see him for a few minutes Friday night before his birthday, and then he and his two buddies ( jason and kyle ) and I went to a Blue Jays Game yesterday to celebrate his birthday...

we had a really fun time..... will post more pictures later... am heading to Belleville for a funeral tomorrow... will hopefully be back in a better blogging groove soon!

April.....

I'm not sure why, but I find April a really depressing month...... weird eh? in April of 2000, I crashed ... emotionally... deepest darkest hole I have ever been in....... and hope I'm never in one like that again in my LIFE .........

Strangely, every April it's like I go through some sort of deja vue flashbacks...... the smells of spring, the sounds of birds chirping... it all brings back flashes of terror in my heart.....

it's weird...... when everybody else is dreading the last day of April cause of the tax deadline, I'm longing for May 1st .....

I thought I was the only one who had a bad April...... til I heard this eery statistic last week:


Branch Davidian ( Waco Texas ) Siege - 71 Davidians died, including 21
children... the final siege ended on - April 19, 1993

Oklahoma City Bombing - 168 Killed, 800 injured - April 19, 1995


Columbine High School Killings - 15 dead, 24 injured - April 20, 1999

Virginia Tech Shooting - 32 dead, 29 injured - April 16, 2007


sigh................. I'll be glad when April is over!

Flirt

Well......... yesterday, I got flirted with ( jeez, I sound like a hick!)

anyway... I got flirted with.... don't get me wrong: I'm pretty out going, and I like kibitzing..... I mean ... I DO.... I tease everybody; I joke with the lady at Tim Hortons, I tease the girl at the Esso Station, I joke with everybody.... but for the most part, it's harmless....

But YESTERDAY.... honestly.... it made me quite uncomfortable..... I'd arrived a few minutes late to my first inspection ( I'm blaming it on the line at the bank ! ) but the fact is : I didn't realize it was West of Port Perry that I had to go to..... anyway.... I called on the way, joked and teased and everything was fine.....

I started with the house, and then headed outside to do the outbuildings... normally I go alone.... but not this time....

We'd just gone through the little gate in the back yard when I felt a little nudge from behind..... it caught me off guard ..... I tried to rationalize the fact that maybe it was an accidental bump.... but as I walked towards the shed, i got bumped again... and again.... gently, but noticeably....

then I felt something near my ear.... my spine tingled, it startled me that much.....

then the nudging started again... then the ear thing again.... jeeeepers

and repeatedly... every step I took.... bump, nudge, touch, sniff........ right behind me...sometimes I'd turn.. and try to make eye contact... and they'd pull away..... just out of eye sight... it was really strange....

It's an awkward spot to be in.... wanting to be professional in my demeanor, wanting to be friendly, but feeling the need to be circumspect....

Finally, after repeated attempts for contact, I started feeling warm breath on my ear and on the back of my neck... I finally had to address it :

Lady....

would you PLEASE have your llama leave me alone!

pretty wild llama.... Carol thinks I should call him the Pauley llama....!!

when we left the corral... the poor llama stared at me longingly with his ears all down..... it was sad!!

sigh.... at least I'm getting some attention eh?!?!?!

Wednesday

Well Wednesday was a long day..... I left my folks at 8:00 am ( THAT's early for SOME of us Dawna .. shut up! ) ..... My first inspection was in Bath..... I normally have a shower in the morning.. yesterday I had bath... oh brother!! I've resorted to groaners!!!!

Bath is half way from Napanee to Kingston..... I saw this quaint little church there....

Across the lake is Amherst Island... apparently there are a bunch of farms over there.... I didn't see the ferry so I didn't cross.......

Driving east, I DID see the entry for the Millhaven Penn. accross the road .... I uh... didn't cross to THAT either!!

My second stop was in Cardinal .... The bridge to the USA there is quite scenic......

I tried to take some pictures of scenery along the way.... but I was a few minutes behind for my 11:00 am appt... so I didn't dare stop.....so I took pictures on the fly... aren't you glad I did.. jeepers!!

My last stop of the day was Ottawa .... I didn't get very many pictures , ok I didn't get ANY of the city itself .... other than where the Sens play, when I was on my way home.... since I'm a montreal fan, I didn't dare look at the arena straight on.... I figured it would be safe to look at it in the rear view mirror though!!!

I I had supper with my second cousin and his wife... Paul and Ruth Porter ......

I found out some interesting family history.... none that I dare share publicly, but that I will certainly remember!!!

Paul's gramma was aunt Lollie ( Olive Mackay Porter ) ... she was my grampa's sister ( Richard Mackay ) .... they were from South Ham...

That's just outside east pork ( oh paulllll!! )

Paul's middle name is the same as mine : Paul Allan .... cool eh?

Paul works for .. well I can't tell you which governement agency ( you know, freedom of information kind of thing ) .. but it rhymes with

Heaven View Canada .... I won't say I'm behind in my taxes.. but I am expecting to hear from Heavenview in short order!

and Paul.. when I said " keep in touch" .... that wasn't what I meant!!!!!

Ruth and I went to the same high school..... mind you, she was long finished before I ever darkened the doors of the place ( ok, not LONG finished, but done, never the less!!! ) .... we laughed a lot about life at Alexander Galt .... and Orange House, and Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen House, and Purple House..... brought back a lot of good memories....

We took a picture just before I left.... check out Ruth's feet... standing on her tip toes.... in attempt to be as tall as everybody else.... sheesh... vanity vanity vanity!!!!

it was a really fun visit...

If you are ever near Orleans, drop by....

Roast beef supper and GREAT ice cream!! Tell them Paul Allan sent you... she'll never know which of us to blame!!

The trip back to Peterborough was pretty uneventful.... had only really ONE bad " stuck behind a guy" situation..... It was a 15' panel van.... after a few miles, I finally got past him..... and a few miles farther.. stopped to take a picture and he PASSED ME AGAIN.. crap!! oh well... sunset was worth stopping for!!

This one turned out kinda neat... I didn't even slow down for this one... ok, I slowed DOWN.. i didn't stop!!

Cool House

I saw this house today on my way to my first inspection.....

Really cool ... I love " castle " houses.....

This one, I thought, was really realistic.... until I saw the two satellite dishes .... oh well!!!!