Can you imagine....

This is the view of my car when I'm working... I have my files and my clip board ( and yesterday at least.. my map book ) ....but the thing that everybody comments on..... is my pen holder thing.....( hand made, of course... out of high quality cardboard ) ....




















What is actually nearly impossible to believe .... is that I arrived at the door of a customer the other day..... with no pen..........

jeeeeeeeeeeepers

Friday's Trip Home.....

Saw this about 16 kms from home..... I am SO thankful for God's safety on the roads

Inspecting Thursday...

I was up north Thursday... a different north than usual.... did a 3 hour tour.... Belleville to Kingston, North to Charbot Lake, and then back to Cloyne, then Tweed and back south to Belleville....

saw some gorgeous country side....

There are more pictures :

HERE

and

HERE

Today, I'm heading to inspect in Cobourg, Newtonville, Toronto, and then home to pick up my kids for the weekend.... whooo ahhhhh!!

To quote Paul Harvey........

Good MORNING americans.... it's FRIDAY!!

Mom's new toy...

Dad got mom a laptop for mother's day... it arrived yesterday
Mom wasn't real fussy on having her leg in the picture....

so be kind.. look away!
I'm excited for her.... she can talk on MSN with most of us, from her bed now... or from her comfortable chair in the living room..... but MOM, if we find you starting to have lots of spare cash around, we will KNOW you've been playing on Pokerstars.net

Hills

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

Isaac's first soccer game of 2008

I went to watch my nephew Isaac play soccer tonight...... he's off to a fast start... scored 3 goals tonight, and assisted on one more I think.....

the kid is an incredible competitor......

I hope he remembers Uncle Paul when he makes it to the bigs!!

I JUST LOVE that picture.... I have no idea what he was doing... but the expression on his face cracks me right up!!
This one ( above ) he had just scored.... and was doing his victory lap... after he scores, every TIME , he runs the entire length of the field, and straight to the sideline to tell his mommy that he scored..... it's pretty precious actually....



Talk about intense......

My brother is coaching the team.... the kids loved him!! it was pretty neat to watch.....

as you can see, Eva was in there like a dirty shirt....

I asked her if she was going to play soccer.... and I got a neewwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! not on your LIFE Uncle paul!!! This is my favourite picture I think..... he was practicing his stance during the game..... you'd think he was ready for a big shot...

but no...

This was what was going on in front of him.... but he was READY just in case!!!

It's worse to pay too little

I saw this a couple of weeks ago..... it was posted on the wall of a little chip stand in Consecon.....
I wrote it out, while I was enjoying a hot dog! ( Breakfast of champions!!! )



It is unwise to pay too much
but it's unwise to pay too little

When you pay too much you sometimes lose a little money thats all.

When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything.... because the thing you bought was not capable of doing the thing it was bought to do!

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done!

If you buy from the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do THAT?? you will have enough to pay for something better!

Attributed to John Ruskin ( 1819-1900 )

The swimming hole....

saw this pond last week.... pretty spot.....

Princess Diary....

So yesterday, my niece turned 3 ... she wanted ( and had ) a princess party...



it was really neat... my brother and sister-in-law did a ton of work for the party... and it was really neat.....



I did the only thing I knew to do, to keep with the Princess theme...


I dressed up as a princess..... Spent $30 at Value Village.... and made a total fool of myself...













sigh... but hearing Isaac laugh ( and I mean double OVER laughing ) and hearing Eva giggle, made the humiliation worth it!!



sigh... I love you Eva ...





You can see more photos :



HERE



and



HERE

Life is such a blur..........

Camera

if you want a good camera.... I realllllllly like the Canon Power Shot ...

I use the S2 IS .... my mom has the same camera, only 2 years newer.... it is the S5 IS

The S5 IS is almost exactly the same as mine... except that it has a wider view screen at the rear, and it has a spot to mount a detachable flash.... which I think would be good in certain situations, because the built in flash is pretty dim......

However, that said, the "Automatic" setting is amazing at how bright a photo it takes!

Gatineau Olympiques.....

The Gatineau Olympiques got elminated from the Memorial Cup last night..... they went 0-3 and got sent home....

That leaves Belleville, and Kitchener battling in the semi final on Friday , and the winner taking on the Spokane Chiefs on Sunday for the Memorial Cup...

Today on my way to Belleville.... I got passed by the Olympiques bus.....

I was glad it wasn't the bulls bus!!


Go Bulls Go!!

Uncle Doug

My Uncle Doug and his wife Germaine came to visit my mom this week..... I haven't seen them for several years.... it was so fun to visit......While the adults were upstairs talking, I took the kids to the basement.... but because I was so NOISY, my dad came down, and sent ME upstairs to visit ....

he played hockey with Isaac in the hall.....

at last count, it was 5-3 for Isaac!! The GOALIE stance!
Eva, was upstairs polishing off the berries!! her favourites are either blue berries or Raspberries.....

Eva and I were having a contest... a race really.... we would count to three, and then see who could eat their blue berry the quickest....

I won, nearly every time..... I felt guilty beating her, but it was the only way I could get her to share the berries with me! I had to make a GAME out of it!!!

When the berries were gone, Eva decided to play drums with the container......Personally, I think it was a ploy on her part.... cause Grampa made a point of finding RASPBERRIES... maybe to keep the noise down!!!

Eva puts th berries on her finger..... she was SO fast I could hardly get a photo of the berry on her finger!!

After the berries were gone, she did what she always does.... Snuggles up on gramma's lap for some reading.......

For whatever reason, I find great therapy in watching Eva enjoying my mom's lap..... or maybe it's the enjoyment that Mom is getting from Eva....

sigh....

Here's my Uncle Doug!!





Here is nearly everybody... Germaine and I were taking pictures!

I told mom to pose for a picture...... I shouldn't have!!!

This is a fruit basket that Uncle Doug brought

7 years ago tonight.....

was the worst night of my life......

I might as well have broken a mirror.... I've had 7 years of lousy luck....


starting tomorrow??? my sentence has been served!!!

This is INCREDIBLE.....

check out this guy....





Today, the Court of Arbitration for Sport anounced that he could compete for the chance to compete in the Olympics.... he still has to qualify for the South African team, in order to get the chance to compete at the olympics...





Watch the news this weekend.... you will likely get to see clips of him running.... it is INCREDIBLE to watch!! Here's the link to read the story on CBC Sports online:


Click HERE

Pretty.....

My Office.....

This is what my office in Brantford looks like... it's a 12 x 20 single car garage that has been convered into a den...

Lately, I've been working from Belleville.... and staying at my parents house....

this is the desk I have been using

Going back in time......

Newtonville .... is a tiny little three street town, east of Newcastle.... I've been there a few times lately inspecting......

there are some neat old buildings.... seeing them is like going back in time....

I'm not sure if this was a school house or a fire station... I'm thinking fire station......

The Bell



The Feed Station across from the fire station...

I love this... the scales are still sitting on the front step!
The Sign
Next Door and around the corner from the feed mill is this old service station.... I LOVE IT...

Reminds me of Sawyerville This is blurry... but you can see the diner inside if you look closely....
air... back when it used to be free!!

The Coke Machine... built right into the wall of the Service Station
I love the corner wall....

The Gas Pump.... back when there was no such thing as unleaded fuel!

My son has become quite enthralled with Guitar Hero .... have you heard of it?? it's this computer game ( X Box, Wii , etc ) .... where you play along with music ( of several different genres ) and key in the colour coded notes....

I haven't dared try it.... mostly because I don't think there is a Southern Gospel category!!!



I have, however, been encouraging my son to try different styles of music..... in the hopes of branching out his cultural interests...



with that in mind, I am considering the idea of ordering THIS game for him :

Some fond old memories.....

Site of the first National League Baseball game I ever saw.... Jarry Park.... Home of the Expos til the mid 1970's

Sigh..... I Miss the Expos

Dream World

Well... the last couple or three weeks have been pretty up and down for me... more down than up, physically....

when you combine that, with nearly 3 weeks of unpaid sick time, and medication up to my eyeballs...... sleep has been a hard thing to come by...
and when I AM asleep, it's restless.....

last night was no exception..... in bed before 11, awake til after 1 .... awake again at 3:30 ......

and to top it all off, my dreams are completely frustrating..... take last night's dream, for instance....

Time frame and logistics aside, in my dream, I'd gone on vacation to visit my friends Bruce and Gayle down east..... where down east, I have no idea..... even awake, I'm not sure where they live.... some valley.. near a mountain or the ocean or something.... Gayle is vague.. I think she's hiding something....

anyway...... I GO there in my dream.... to visit the family.....

and GAYLE....... my childhood friend... went to work just before I got there and didn't come home.... not ONCE during my entire visit...

hhhrrrrmmpph ....

That's the last time I dream about visiting THEM!!!

The Big Apple

I stopped at the Big Apple in Colborne a week or so ago.... they bake Apple Pies ( no really!! ) ....

here are some of the photos, of them putting the pastry tops on the pies...

Painful......

so ....Friday, I leaned into my trunk to get something.... and heard a nasty crunch....


and I went to my knees... feeling pain in my lower back like nothing I've ever felt before....


Old age, to quote my father, is not for the squeamish...


so for the last 3 1/2 days, I've been walking around here like a gimp... barely able to get up the stairs.... almost unable to roll over in bed at night..... and finding it hard to find any position that is comfortable for more than 2 minutes....


Every time I tried to do aaaanything all weekend, Abby would walk up to me, tap me on the hand and whisper..... " You shouldn't do that in YOUR CONDITION" and then she'd giggle!!!



brat!


so today I went to the Chiropractor..... he told me it was accumulative strain ..... I THINK it was his way of saying... YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE MORE OFTEN!!!


he told me if it happened again on a weekend, that I should ice it... not ice per se.... but something frozen.....


just open up your freezer, and you'll find something that will work.....


at this very moment, I'm icing my back.....


with Compliments Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream....





I'm not actually putting it on my back..... I figured since the back of my stomach actually was quite CLOSE to the spine, it would likely do the same thing...





so I'm administering it uh..... as fast as I possibly can..... you know... for my back.... to help with the pain immediately!!

its kinda sore tonight!!!















I LOVE modern medicine!!!

A Tight Squeeze

Thursday morning, I was inspecting just outside of Port Hope ..... While inspecting a house, I went to the basement to inspect the oil tank.... It was in the cold room under the verandah ...... those little rooms are pretty tiny.... and ummm... I'm not!!

So in I went... took a photo...

then leaned over to look at the top of the tank to find the ULC label... to get the year it was manufactured....

no label...... but the tank was new, the lady said...

the label must be on the other end over there...

and she pointed..... good grief......

the entire room is 38 inches wide.....the tank is 24"... that leaves a gap on the right side of....of hmmm maybe 12 inches to squeeze in...

Paul Mackay doesn't squeeze THROUGH a 12 inch space.....

oh mannnnnnn..... where is Steve Storey when I need him.........

so as I'm standing there, staring.... with my mouth open in fear....the homeowner left for a couple of minutes to tend to her little child....

As soon as she left, I started peeling off my equipment... my clip board, my laser, my camera... my jacket.....

Stood there for a moment of silence..... and then literally threw myself into the space.....

I got halfway down to the end of the tank and got no further... MAN!!

after a couple of seconds of THAT , I lurched back and forth .... and worked myself down towards the end of the tank, almost unable to breathe!!!

Man if only I had some vaseline... this "TRIP" down oil tank lane, might have been easier!!!

The whole time I'm thinking..... they will need JAWS OF LIFE to get me out of here if I get stuck.....

After those couple of lurches, I got to the far end..... with my flashlight in my mouth.... , gasping for air.... and leaned around the corner and found the label...

SUCCESS!!!

While I'm here, I thought to myself, I need to take a picture of the FILTER....

I reached to my neck area, to get my camera so I could take the picture....ugh... no camera.... I looked back.... it was sitting over on the floor....

I am NOT going back to get it... and I was squeezed in so tight, I was afraid to holler to the customer to come back in and hand me my camera....I didn't want ANYONE to see me like this... wedged in so tight, my face was turning blue...

so .... we'll just SKIP the picture of the filter, I thought.....

and I start lurching backwards, to get OUT....

what I had not realized was... that there was a railing stuck along the wall.... on the right side.....

i got myself back THAT far..... and got stuck on it...

and there I stood... wedged, my heart racing... my breathing fast....

my life flashed before my eyes...

at some point in those fleeting moments.... this thought struck me :

there are two ways I do not want to be found when I die... no, there are three ...

When I die, I don't want to be found :

[1] Under water ( cause I dont' want to drown )

[2] I don't want to be found using ANY bathroom fixture... shower, bath tub.. or ANY item that people sit on... I'm just sayin....

and most recently added is the third:

[3] I dont' want to be found wedged in between an oil tank and a block wall!!!

with a HUGE gust of energy, mixed with 2 parts fear and one part panic...I threw myself against the railing, shoving it flying.... nearly tearing my pants..... and STUMBLED into the wide open 38" section of the room...

gasping....

THANKING GOD for wide open spaces....

sigh......

when I bent down to get my camera... a thought struck me.....

I pointed and clicked... and GOT my picture of the filter....

... success again!!

I think it's time I cut back on the Oreos ...... sigh!

baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

H u m b u g

The Love of God......

This is one of my very favourite old hymns...


The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.



Click HERE to hear an incredible version... with unbelievable harmony, particularly in the second verse.....
+++++++++++++++++++++

those are the two most common verses...


here's one that I don't think I have ever heard before...



When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,

God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Brutus...

I made a new friend yesterday.... You'd like him!

I was inspecting just north of Port Hope when I met him.... He seemed lonely when I stopped to inspect their house.... so I took a couple of minutes to visit.... in that visit and in the hours afterwards, I learned a lot about Brutus and his family....


Originally from Swiss Descent, Brutus was born here..... his ancestors originally served in the Roman Catholic Church, ministering to travellers between Italy and Switzerland....


in Fact, his great great great great great Uncle Bernard worked there, for an Italian monk ..... and Brutus, indirectly was named after him...


it was one of those unique visits, albeit short......... where you come as a stranger... and leave as friends...

in fact, sometimes, it's not just your life that they touch... I've been offered preserves, have had coffee with some..... sometimes I come home with a cookie in hand... or a funny story...

and visiting with Brutus was one such visit... I came away with something ... the aroma of his presence lingered long after the visit.....





I felt bad for Brutus....... to have to be chained to the oil tank like he was........

yup.... Thanks for the take home gift Brutus...

The Gift that keeps on giving!!!!!!!!!