!!…Wooden Capital City Adventure…!!

Weather people aren’t very accurate.  It’s part of their job and most of the time it’s not their fault.  Reporting what happened though should be fairly simple.

Yesterday a storm in around here and while Moncton and Saint John took it in the groin, especially Moncton who always gets a groin pummeling when it comes to snow storms.  We can accept that.  Fredericton according to Environment Canada was “spared the brunt of the storm”.  This is also mostly true.  “They only got a couple of centimeters” according to Environment Canada meteorologist Andy Firth who based on the accuracy of his statement I would suppose is in Vancouver without a working telephone. 

Having just finished snow blowing the driveway, I can assure him of a couple of things.  He doesn’t know math and needs a new ruler.

When it comes to dieting I suck – and I’m ok with that.  I’ve learned that I love food and the key for me is to keep the bad things in moderation and to make the lesser bad choice when possible.  Order the small steak, order the Chinese dish with lots of veggies, eat lots of veggies, get the pizza but avoid the pizza with sausage and pepperoni.  These things work for me.  Every now and again though I forget these principles and like an alcoholic who is just going to have “a drink or two” I go launching off the wagon like a golden retriever after a tennis ball.

Yesterday was one of those days.  “We’re getting sholtens’ poutine for lunch” what do you want.  I’ve had the poutine before, it’s good.  It comes in two sizes, small and large.  Small while nutritionally bad is not quite a full meal if you are hungry.  Large is ridiculous and what bears should eat before hibernating before the winter.  I know this to be true and yet still said, I want a large.  Even as the rest of the group ordered smalls, I did not say – you know what I’ll have a small after all and there’s some turkey in the fridge to boost it later.  Nope I need a large.  Ironically I was going to have a modest turkey sandwich for lunch before the takeout plan was hatched.

Poutine, while delicious, may be the single most awful thing that Canadians eat and explains why New Brunswick is one of the fattest provinces in the country.  Anyway so the large order arrives, and it’s even bigger than I remember.  To make things worse there’s got to be extra “gravy” (we’ll use that term loosely) on top of the 2lbs of fries and cheese.  I don’t eat the whole thing but most.  I’m too cheap to let a lot of “good” (we’ll use that term loosely as well) food go to waste.  Not 10 minutes after finishing I already have regrets.  I still don’t eat supper hours later as the cheese and gravy has insulated me from hunger, that or my body is scared I might ingest another calorie bomb and does not want to go into a food coma.

My stomach and digestive system hates me.  I might as well gone on an all night bender, the effect the next day would be the same.  My body is still trying to expel the toxins and there’s no end in sight.  I remain thirsty no matter how much water I drink.  I haven’t cried yet, but I’ve thought about it and I’m close.  I regret all things about my decision, and just hope I can recover for new years eve.  I’ve vowed to never eat that shit “thing” again – and I mean it. 

Here’s a picture of our Christmas tree, tis the season of overindulging after all…

Like everyone else, early this week got pummelled with ridiculous quantities of wind and rain.  While it was warm the weather was ridiculous and brutal.  Schools were closed, which I’ve never heard tell of (but admittedly I haven’t lived in a flood prone area before), roads closed and the town of St. Stephen got a massive bath (and still didn’t come clean? – hiyoooo…).  Colleagues at Sue’s work were shocked when the dry parking lot they left their cars in the NEXT morning, were submerged in 3 feet of water by the end of the day.  In addition to all the moisture we set a record temperature of 15 degrees, which for December is pretty ridiculous.

Having lived in a place prone to hurricanes and torrential downpours I can say that this rain was as heavy as any of the rains we experienced during any of our tropical storms and hurricanes and was probably harder than most of those.  There are some really impressive photos of St. Stephen floating around Facebook that are worth the gander for, but here is what we found in our area…

There is a small stream that runs next to our house and is normally 3 or 4 feet wide, but was several times larger in width, depth and speed

washed away road.

But despite all the water the warm temperatures did allow Keaton to have one more day in the sandbox, play with his baseball set and generally do all the things without mittens that he loves to do outdoors and won’t be able to do likely until things get warm again.

Well we all are but only one of us is this cute…

…it’s just that we thought it would take a little longer to get here.  Today is December 1st, although some of it has melted, there is 5 inches of snow on our deck.  Now if you had told me that we would see some snow before December, I would have said “sure that’s possible”.  If you would have said not only would we have seen snow, but you would have had to snowblow the driveway (which as an aside is way more fun than shoveling, but more work than I would have guessed) and it would be “stick-around snow”, I would have said that you need to put away the box of wine and switch your egg nog to unleaded.

Frankly it’s colder than we expected, but if the sun is out and winds are down, (that’s a big if, like if I was independently wealthy or if I was 6 feet tall) minus “insert small number here” is not as cold as we would have predicted a few short months ago when we were more worried about keeping Keaton’s room cool than warm.  Also when IF it’s not blowing sideways, and you don’t really have to go anywhere, the snow is pretty majestic falling down if you stop and watch it.  Almost can make you appreciate it a little bit.

But it’s all worth it.  Christmas is fast approaching and we can hardly wait.  All this snow, just helps the cause.  In fact our backyard could be a Christmas card if it wasn’t for the sandbox left on the lawn that we were supposed to move before the snow arrived.

[Editor’s note we originally wanted this posted last week, but we had site issues.  Since creating it, it’s been warm and raining and we’re sad to see all the snow has gone…]

Friday night we came home delighted and surprised to find that the painters were done.  They did a pretty good job, and we are thrilled at having some colour on the walls (no offense previous home owners, but your colours sucked).  We’re also able to decorate, hang stuff on the walls and generally make the place feel like home.  All of this is very exciting, except that it means curtains are going up, an item that I have made my life’s mission to oppose (even if it makes me sound like an irrational fool).  Oh well you win some and you lose some.

Keaton is equally excited, he gets to wipe his nose on the curtains, and that is very convenient.  He apparently though felt the walls needed a little touching up, though and couldn’t wait more than 48 hours to leave his mark. 

What’s ironic about this, is that this is the first time he’s ever coloured on the wall…..

There’s always that one guy who gets his Christmas lights up and on before everyone else, that makes everyone else get there’s up.  Secretly nobody likes that guy, but since its Christmas you can’t exactly punch them in the face can you.  Well we’re that guy this year for Eaglewood – woot!.  There’s snow on the ground and the Christmas parade is this weekend, so fair game we say.  Getting to put decorations up is a quite a treat since no one really did it in Bermuda, so we’re diving in head first.  This is only year one, in a couple of years we’ll rival the Griswalls muhahahahahah!

Today for poops and giggles, I checked the weather today in Bermuda.  Being late November, summer is gone, there is no more going to the beach and the like.  The days are longer than they are here by a little bit, but fall is upon them and “winter” is not far away.

A mix of sun and clouds…  Winds northwesterly light to moderate…  High near 22°C/

That compares to Fredericton

Sunny with cloudy periods. 30 percent chance of flurries early this morning. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40. High minus 1

That’s a 23 degree swing yikes, perfect weather for putting up the Christmas lights.  Despite the cold temperatures, it already feels more Christmassy here and we can hardly wait.  Sue is having a tough time adjusting to the rapid onset of cold temperatures.  It was 12 degrees last weekend, and highs in the minusesesess are tough to swallow and frankly something we didn’t expect until December.

The view outside the house this morning, pretty snow, pretty cold.

We’re finally ready for winter, or at least as ready as we’re going to be.  Winter coats are purchased, the snow blower is being delivered tomorrow.  Winter tires for the AWD CR-V go on Friday.  We have a shovel, so winter do your worst, in the immortal words of Lt. Dan “Here I am come and get me”.

A couple of weeks ago we added wildlife to the house by adopting a cat in need of a home.  Lucy the Cat was a shelter cat who had been with the fine folks at the SPCA for over 4 months.  She’s had some adventures in her 3 years, including being a mom, lots.  She’s also had a run in with something that did some good damage to one of her eyes, that’s permanent but doesn’t hurt her.

The SPCA houses some cats at the Pet Smart store.  We went in there to kill a few minutes before we went to supper.  Keaton thinks pet stores are about the greatest stores you can go to and are always good for a good time.  Anyway we saw Lucy (or Luxy as her shelter name was) and thought, she seems nice and she needs a home.

The next day Lucy came home and she’s really been an amazing cat.  She loves to play, yet is very calm.  She small and amazingly tolerant.  I mean amazingly tolerant of Keaton.  Keaton thinks she is hilarious and loves to pet and play with her.  Unfortunately the cat is like crack to the poor guy and he can’t control himself.  He pulls at her and especially likes to use her tail if he isn’t happy with her current location.  Not once has she tried to bite and scratch him, even though I don’t think anyone would blame her if she had a couple times by now.

Litter trained and ready to go she’s been a great addition, even if she does seem to have some sort of foot fetish with Shawn’s feet….