I am home….summer is over….sigh….I didn’t even notice it go by. It would have helped had we had a spring and summer but in our new two season year, I guess that wasn’t going to happen.

The weather was not optimum for a weekend at the Little House in the Woods. (Yes, we did indeed trek back up the valley to Harrison for yet another Long Weekend traffic crawl) One day…possibly Saturday, (but in my boggled mind I can’t remember) was decent although not at all summery. Yes, I am pretty sure it was Saturday as tea was served by the pool. The other days it was done in the main lobby. We did swim quite a bit although not in the evening as it was just too darned cold at night to contemplate putting on a bathing suit and trotting across the wet marshland of grass to get to the pool. Actually the walk up isn’t bad but the trip back being wet and dripping over the cold wet grass was daunting. The resort was pretty full on Saturday and Sunday. We ate at the buffet on Saturday night and it was delicious. And James, Nicci the kids and I ate at the breakfast brunch on Sunday. That was really good. I ordered the entertainment book to get the two for one coupons for the restaurants but of course it didn’t show up in time. I did print an on line one though….it made a big difference as they are buy one get one free coupons. I ordered next years book also and the shipping was free and I got a discount for ordering.
Ben was supposed to be going away this weekend but ended up staying home. He started on a project and called now and then which made me nervous as I wasn’t sure what we were going to find when we got home…when he mentioned something about digging a two foot trench I was really starting to sweat….and when he mentioned a pipe broke by the hot water tank I am sure I was hyperventilating and my imagination was in overdrive trying to remember what…besides my doll stuff and the carpet and the bedrooms is on the floor downstairs. I was almost afraid to come in the gate to see what he had done. And the fact that he called several times to see if we had left the resort was really making me nervous as he is not prone to "missing" us when we are away which led me to think he was up to something he needed more time to complete. Once when his number came up as a missed call on my phone I had his Dad call him back and he apparently wanted "nothing"...as the beads of sweat started forming on my brow...I didn't dare tell his Dad I suspected he was "doing" something to our poor house. Well, he wired the carport for electricity as he has the motor cycle out there. He actually did a really professional job of it. The wiring is buried underground, it is all mounted properly and secured and he has done a better job than anyone we would have hired. As for his water leak…well, it seems one of the old copper pipes had a pin sized hole in it and was spraying water. (I am not entirely sure this didn't happen when he threaded the new electrical wire through that area). He is very handy to have around, as it happens. He went and bought new pipe, (after turning off the main connection) and installed it and welded it in place. I really did have to ask him why this task involved taking the 4 litre jug of water I had boiled and put in the fridge for drinking water down to the area by the laundry tub. It seems he needed cold water to cool the pipes while welding. OK...so he needs sterilized water to weld?? In any case, It seems to be doing well so far. I guess when he gets tired of computers he can always go into plumbing and electrical. He has helped a lot of folks out with building different things so he is pretty proficient at it.

Dakotah hadn’t seen the parade at the PNE fair so in all our infinite wisdom, we decided to take her last night as it was an excellent parade. I took my shopping bag and camera along. Of course by the time we arrived the rain was coming down torrentially. But we donned our water proof coats and carried on. The place was packed despite the rain. When we first got there, we came in by the midway and James plunked some money down on one of the games and immediately won a huge stuffed dog of some sort. Sheesh….he somehow stuffed it into my shopping bag (along with his two bottles of juice and pop) and off we went. Pepa had asked us to go back to the Home Depot building to get him Swiss style nuts as he got them the first time we were there and is now addicted to them. So off we went to get that…well…add 5 bags of nuts to the shopping bag….my arm is now breaking…I can’t find my drink in there nor the camera which is in there somewhere but covered in stuffed dog….and of course James, Nicci and Cory tried the nuts and brittle and are also now addicted so they bought a big bag of stuff also. We hung out on the bleachers in the Home Depot building until it was close to parade time then headed back to that area. Found a tree where it wasn’t raining too hard…just happened to be across from the mini donut booth so had to go there as well…add mini donuts to the shopping bag…and waited. Well, 9:00 came and went and finally an announcement came on that due to the weather, the parade was CANCELLED…..OMG….we went all that way, paid gate admissions just to get in for that stupid parade and they cancelled it. Dakotah was very upset at this turn of events and in tears of course. She wanted to see the dancing princesses...sigh... Luckily (for Dakotah, not for the rest of our noses) Gramma spotted the barns and suggested we go in there if it was opened. It was (thank goodness) and we spent about an hour in there letting her pet animals etc. The lovely smell of “barn and animal manure” filled the air and coupled with the inclement weather, made quite a disgusting smell. There is a bull in there that is called Peter and he is huge….he was 110 pounds at birth and now weighs something like 3500 pounds. He is some kind of record breaker. And lots of baby animals who kept trying to eat Dakotah’s rain coat…LOL We finally managed to get her out of the barns and began the trek back to the gate we had come in. We went past the midway and Cory plunked some money on one of the games and they gave him two huge stuffed toys. (the fair ended last night and I think they didn't want to have to pack it all up at the end so were generous with the prizes) And of course I had to try (if the 14 year old could win something...surely I could...right?) so I ended up with one also. Off we went on the 6 block journey in the dark and rain and uneven sidewalks to find the car and here is Gramma, carrying 2 huge unicorns, a humongous stuffed dog (Nicci was carrying the other one) and the darned shopping bag which now feels like it is filled with lead weights. (And James never did drink the stupid cans of juice I packed around all night) Oh yes…and another supply of the kettle corn that Loretta got me hooked on last summer!!! And that was my weekend!

Oh...one more little story about the weekend...on Friday I wandered into the indoor pool and hot tub area and noticed the hot tub was closed...kind of hard not to notice when there is yellow tape surrounding it... The thought entered my mind that it looked an awfully lot like the tape police use at a crime scene but I calmed my over active imagination down and reminded myself Pepa uses that kind of tape at construction sites and we have been known to use it around our homemade graveyard in James Halloween displays in the past so it must just be there to let everyone know it is broken. I didn't think much more about it. Yesterday (Monday) my back and bones were aching from the "oh so comfortable" bed in the cabin, Nicci had Dakotah at the pool and I had my hands free until she could find me so I rushed up to the hot tub and it was now open again. I sat and blissfully soaked for about 10 minutes until my back and joints felt somewhat better than joined Nicci and Dakotah in the pool. Tonight Pepa arrived home from work and couldn't wait to share the "news" he had heard. It seems the lady at the shop he gets coffee at in the morning had also been at Harrison but a few days before us. She said on Wednesday night apparently an older man had been in the indoor swimming pool and then went to the hot tub. The other guests in the pool couldn't figure out why he appeared to be diving in as the water is shallow. When he didn't bring his head back up, they got a bit nervous and discovered he was DEAD....no one knows why and it is apparently under investigation although given the circumstances, I would suspect he had a heart attack from the hot water in there but who knows...guess this is why it looked like a crime scene! And I just had to go in there yesterday after not being near it all weekend...sigh...I am really hoping it was drained and cleaned before it was reopened...

And that is it for this chapter of the Blog!! I will try and post pictures when my camera card and computer get near to one another.

I found a Chatty Cathy in an ad today and thought maybe I would finally find an elusive doll in the immediate area. The ad was posted way back in July but I hadn't found it before. I called the lady and she offered to send pictures...unfortunately it is a US doll with faded limbs so I won't be trekking out to the country to see the doll. Too bad, I almost thought I had something! I am getting closer, though. I also missed a huge American Girl lot awhile back. That was going for a really good price but the lady has advised she has some offers and if they fall through she will contact me. I don't think they will fall through as the resale value is too good on the stuff she has. Ah well...I keep looking.

I found a cute Baby So Beautiful doll at a thrift store today for 1.99. She is the wigged variety, not the rooted hair one so is an older doll. She is cute. She doesn't have any clothes but came with a pair of nice shoes....speaking of which...has anyone noticed the price doll shoes are going for these days? Wow, I am glad I am not looking for any. I ran across some of Apryl's ads today and her shoes are going for between eight and ten dollars plus shipping. I figure Dakotah might like the doll and the shoes were worth the 1.99 in any case...LOL

It was a dark, dreary day today. I find it hard to believe summer is almost over when it never actually arrived. We seem to have only had two seasons in the last year, winter and fall.....so much for living in a place with 4 distinctive seasons. I wish we had had a nice spring. I usually really enjoy spring.

I bathed both dogs yesterday after walking them up the trails and then I brushed and combed them both. Molly is no longer speaking to me. She hid under one of the beds.. way at the back where I couldn't get her while I was bathing Max. Eventually she got curious and came out and I grabbed her and threw her in the laundry tub for her turn. She is a funny dog...more human than dog a lot of the time. She has "attitudes" and does a lot of snuffling and snorting when she is annoyed about something. And she holds a grudge...who would believe a dog would hold a grudge?? Well, any nonbelievers need to come and meet Molly. She is also on a starvation diet and refused to eat her dinner last night or tonight despite the tempting morsels of human food I added to the top as a garnish. This is too punish me, I think. She had no problem taking cookies from hubby for her breakfast this morning. She is something!!

Well...I think my book is calling my name so best to head off to my bed.

And last but certainly not least, I downloaded some recent photos of baby Jaime, who was 4 months old on July 14 and is about 17 pounds...he is a BIG boy!! He is a sweetie. He laughs and chatters all the time now. Of course we don't exactly know what he is saying except when he is hungry (which seems to be most of the time...) When he is hungry he lets out blood curdling high pitched screams...real attention getter's!!

OK..onto something other than the dreaded deck talk. I also downloaded a couple of other photos. One is of Dakotah's "new to them" van. Jaime's car seat would not fit into their car as it still needs to be rear facing. There was just no way it would go in there and he is too big for the infant car seat now. Nicci's Grandma loaned them the money for the van and it is working out really well as there is an unbelievable amount of stuff that needs to go where the kids go...diapers bags, strollers, car seats, and a variety of other things they "need" while out.

Well, as you might be able to see, we are progressing. These pictures were taken on Thursday when we brought a new little carpenter in to help out. The plywood is going down on the top of the deck. It is all being screwed in and Dakotah is really screwing it down. She wanted to help and she learns fast. She is also really strong, she puts those screws in with the drill a lot quicker than I do...I think we should hire her but I am sure the child labor folks wouldn't approve!! LOL There are two more pieces of plywood that need to be cut and then it is all down I think. The stairs are being moved so there are temporary ones now up. Hubby is going to put up some kind of temporary railings for the time being as this thing is high up and Molly the fearless keeps going to the edge to look over. We finally had to put her leash on so she didn't jump off after a squirrel or something else that moves....she thinks she is a hunter, she does not buy into the lap dog theory...

I still haven't figured out how to put in the photos properly so I type, insert and publish and then start over to get them in here! The top photo shows the foundation and how far down we actually had to dig to get it where it needs to be. I painted all that black tar over it to weatherproof it as it will be back filled when we are done. The area where the glass sliding door is and the windows is my laundry room. When phase one is complete, that section is going to be torn down and rebuilt. I hear from the boss my greenhouse window and sliding door are not going back in there....sigh...however, on the good side, I will have more cupboards to cram more of my "stuff" into....

The deck is progressing to a stage where it is now looking like a deck. Who knew there were so many steps involved to get to this point. Hubby took a couple of days off of his job this week as we were pretty much rained out last weekend and we got a lot done on the deck. I took some pictures earlier this week.

Note my pretty palm tree and flowers..I wanted to get something pretty in the picture as the house and lumber doesn't look too great at the moment!!This shows how the framing is coming along and was earlier this week. As you can probably see, this is one large deck!

Well, here we are at Monday again. We had hoped to get some of the deck done on the weekend but it seemed like every time we walked outside, it rained. Actually, I heard on the news this is the rainiest July in 16 years and we have now broke the record for the most consecutive days of rain in July ever...what a crumby record to have broke... in any case, back to the deck...on Saturday we persevered and stayed out in the rain laying joists. I mean really, it is July...no one gets pneumonia in July...right?? So we slipped and slid all over the place but got a little bit done. While I wasn't holding wood up I wandered over to my poor flooded and drowned garden and pulled weeds that I swear were coming up faster than I could pull them out. Sunday we went to our favorite (tongue in cheek here) shopping location. I mean what is not to love about Sunbury Cedar and Home Depot?? I was only along for the ride and to watch the lumber while hubby was in Home Depot buying paint for my "side job". He was worried some crack head would steal it from the truck if he left it unattended. As we were in Surrey, that was probably a good guess. So I sat in the truck and and reminded myself how dumb I was not to have taken my book with me. Well, we got home and went out to work on the deck and of course...it started to pour... We decided two days in a row was inviting a cold to come and visit so gave it up after putting up 3 ...yes 3...pieces of wood. I spent the rest of the day painting in the carport under cover. Today I finished up the rest of the painting. the sun actually came out...briefly...just long enough for me to have set up 6 pieces of 12/4's up and to get one side of each painted. I was waiting for that side to dry and was busy gathering up cans and bottles for yet another of my side jobs...recycling the bottles at the bottle depot....(doesn't pay well but better than nothing) when all of a sudden I felt water on me...yep, you guessed it...it was raining again and this time I had all this wood set up and now it was wet with fresh paint...jeepers...I ran and grabbed a couple of tarps and covered it all up. About 10 minutes later it stopped. I am really ready to go out and do the "rain, rain, go away" dance....(and what a sight that will be, huh?) I bbq'd for dinner and while I was out there trying to keep the flames from devouring hubby's chicken, I started to pick off the dead flowers on my hanging baskets. The poor things don't have much left to them now that I have pulled all the wet, mushy, yucky messes that used to be my flowers off....sure hope the sun shines tomorrow...the weatherman has promised sun...but you know, I have given up on him, he lies....

Seeings as I haven't yet figured out how to move pictures around on these posts, I did multiple posts. Hopefully it worked, I haven't looked at the end result yet!

Oh yes....one more footnote...Karen you BIG tattletale!!! LOL You went and told Loretta how much I over packed!! Loretta has packing down to a fine art. I will never get to that level of packing. I like having my "stuff" with me even if it is too much!! I am hopeless...sigh...I guess that is why I collect "things"...like dolls...

And last but not least, in case you haven't noticed, here is my most favorite doll of all.

Some of my favorite photos and what would a road trip be without a dolly shot! American Girl Emily (mini) came along and posed for a picture in the garden.

Other miscellaneous photos I took along the way. there was a classic car rally with some very neat vintage cars this weekend.

This is our "little cabin in the woods". It was cabin 11.

Below is the view of the hotel as we left.

On Saturday night Dakotah started saying she didn't want to leave the next day. she was having such a good time but all good things must come to an end so on Sunday we packed up, said goodbye to the mosquito's who had enjoyed dining on me all weekend, bid farewell to the horse fly who took a chunk out of Papa, and went for a last dip in the pool before getting in the truck to return home.

Max and Molly enjoyed their trip although Max being the neurotic animal he is, wanted to spend a lot of his time in the truck. He would stand at the door of the truck and cry until we let him in and then he would lay down and go right to sleep. He has been to this place several times before so I am not sure why he wasn't comfortable this time. what a goof!!

Saturday night we went to the restaurant in the hotel where they featured a prime rib buffet. The food was excellent with lots of shell fish and salmon (which hubby loves) various salads and a dessert bar. The food was plentiful and the view was superb. It was by far the best meal we had there. Dakotah made it through dinner...just barely....she did manage to wake up in time to go to the pool later that evening. the outdoor pool is open until 10 for children, 11 for adults and the indoor pools are open until 1am for adults.

Every day at 4 there is a tea served. On nice days it is out by the pool. On inclement days it is in the main lobby. They serve Red Rose tea (their slogan used to be "Only In Canada" but I don't know if that is still true today) and they also serve an assortment of fancy cookies and the best banana bread around and lemon/poppy seed bread and sometimes cranberry or blueberry bread. It is a nice afternoon tradition and Dakotah and I went each day. she would have 2 chocolate/chocolate chip cookies and I had the banana bread.

On Saturday the weather was fairly good but there were very high winds blowing. We went to the beach anyways and Dakotah had a great time playing in the sand and later playing on the playground equipment. There are lots of things to do for kids around the area.

Dakotah found a new friend the first day. Her name is Rachel and she is 6 years old. She and her family are staying at the resort for three weeks prior to their move to Spain, where according to Rachel they are moving into a mansion where her bedroom has it's own balcony and they also have a pool and a sand box which seem to be important selling points to Rachel. They will be living there for 3 years and have rented out their house here. The girls had a lot of fun together. Friday night we drove into the town of Aggasiz for dinner. The choices were Subway and A & W. This is not a very large town! Dakotah fell asleep on the way so we just grabbed take out and took it back to the cabin.

Home again!

Well, the weekend went way to fast! The weather was a bit odd. It was supposed to be very hot and we were worried about the lack of air conditioning at our little house in the woods...well that turned out not to be a problem! Thursday when we arrived it was gorgeous. they didn't make us wait until 4 to check in as a cabin was available at the time we arrived. We unpacked (yes...all the excess stuff found a place...haha) and then went to the pool. Dakotah loved the pools. We ate at a local coffee shop that we enjoyed last year but the prices have gone up sky high there. They have no kids menu or pricing and the food was just OK and the price was very high. Friday we woke up to rain...sigh...it wasn't supposed to rain at all this weekend. Dakotah and I made the most of it and walked up the road to the shops. she picked out a couple of t-shirts she just had to have. We looked for one for Jaime but apparently baby clothes aren't a hot item so there wasn't much to find for him. we found a bib. When we arrived back at the hotel, the sun was finally shining so we went back to the pool after a stop at the spray pool.

One More Sleep!!!

Well, after all this deck work, housework and everything it is one more sleep till we head out for our weekend off. Unfortunately our weather has not been good this year...we go from extreme to extreme....2 weeks ago we were wearing jackets and drowning in rain and now we are dying in a heat wave. All the temperature records were broken today. It hasn't even been near this temperature on this date in July since 1958 and today was hotter than then in many areas. Our house feels like a blast furnace and unfortunately, where we are heading is even hotter and there is no air conditioning. That has never been a problem in the past but could be a problem this time especially as we are taking Dakotah with us. We have asked the younger son to come and water for us while we are gone. I sure hope he does as I would hate to lose all my flowers at this point. I will flood everything before we head out tomorrow and ask the older son to at least water the hanging baskets before he leaves for the weekend on Friday. He is heading south into Washington State to go crabbing with some friends. They do this every year. Oh well...I need the rest and the mini vacation so will just leave everything as wet as I can and pray they survive. I took my Mom for her groceries yesterday and packed all the heavy stuff up to her condo for her so she should be OK and not need much through the weekend. she has an electric scooter she buzzes around on and can get to the mall and the air conditioning quite easily from her place. She plans to spend the afternoon there tomorrow and have her dinner at Arby's and stick around until the temps drop a bit.

The photos I added are from two years ago when we were there...last year...(can you believe this???) I forgot the camera card in the computer and brought the camera and battery charger etc. We drove to all the nearby towns looking for a replacement card and none were to be found so no pictures from last year!!!

The first photo is of the cabin we stayed in that year (there are two hotel towers as well but we like the cabin and the dogs are allowed and can lay on the grass outside when it is hot). the second picture is of the lake. It is a huge lake. And there is a nice beach to build sand castles. The third photos is on the hotel grounds and the fourth photo is one of the many pools they have there that are filled with natural mineral water from the springs. Usually it is very warm water...I am hoping they have the temperature a little lower this time to allow for the weather conditions...but the hot tub is going to feel good on these sore and aching bones come night fall!!

Linda

I am pretty close to giving up on the blog issue. I have three things in draft mode and none will publish nor is there a publish button in site. I went to the help section, the help boards etc and nothing there is what I am seeing on my screen. I think maybe this is not a hobby I am going to enjoy. It also will not allow me to copy and paste the text I had written. very frustrating.

I had started in my draft by saying that the photo at the top is not my photo. it belongs to my friend Loretta who is a photographer extraodinaire. I tired a dozen different photos stored on my computer and this is the only one that comes on and displays at a somewhat normal and appropriate size.

I still have the desire to share my Canadian Chatties in their Canadian finery as it is our Canada Holiday on July first. So, I will try and insert the photos in this post as I have some control over the size which they will post at. Seems it would make sense that control would be available for the top photo as well? It would make sense to me in any case. Well, here goes, hopefully the photos will post and this doesn't end up as a draft again.

I was looking for a photo to post at the top of the blog and ran across these wedding photos. I was trying to make the one at the top of the blog smaller but can't figure out how to do that. In any case, back to the wedding photos, they were taken on Friday March 13, 1981 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Pictured in the top photo are my brother Larry, My girlfriend Sally, Hubby's Aunt Pa-ainga (now deceased) hubby's cousin George, My Mom, Me, Hubby, His Auntie Olivia (also now deceased) and Sally's children Cathy, Christopher and Karen. I am wearing a Pikaki lei and hubby has a purple Vanda orchid lei. There wasn't a bouquet for the bride, we followed Hawaiian tradition and went with the leis instead. I have found a few interesting photos so will maybe post and talk of them when I can't think of anything to say!

And last but not least, I must post a photo of my sweet little granddaughter who holds the key to my heart.

And lastly...if anyone has any idea how to rearrange photos once they are uploaded, please teach me how!! Mine are going all over the place regardless of where I directed them to go on upload. Hints or help would be appreciated!!

I Am Not Fond Of Weekends....

Well, it is another Saturday and that means more work on the deck. Is it any wonder I am no longer fond of weekends? I sure do wish this deck project would be over but hubby has grandiose visions that involve gutting my laundry room, enclosing the area under the deck and eventually adding another badly needed washroom. I just want the deck over and done with and don't really care about any of the rest. Today I painted the concrete block retaining walls that will eventually hold this massive structure up with black tar paint. Messy work. Not terribly difficult but time consuming and not something you want to get on you as it is impossible to clean up. Hubby screwed wood with concrete anchors to the top of the retaining walls. And kicked the lawn mower around the yard a few times as it still will not start...stupid thing. Only good thing was, he couldn't get it running either so I don't feel so hopeless having not been successful at starting it all week!!

We started the morning at the bank. Hubby discovered the last three Visa payments I took to the bank for him were not posted to his account. It seems they had recorded the wrong number. Oh how I hate their "paperless" banking system. It is more headaches and problems than useful but we don't have a choice at our bank any longer and it is remaining paperless. The problem, which is a bank error, cannot be fixed until Monday as the department that deals with it is closed until then. I had all the statements that the bank had stamped as "paid" so now they have to figure out where they put the payment as it is not showing up on his bills.

Well, that is all my exciting stuff for the day...see...I am very boring!!

Something New...

Hi and welcome to my blog. I am very new at this and expect I will learn as I go along. My name is Linda and I am a Mother to two grown sons and a Gramma to two adorable grandchildren. In my spare time I enjoy collecting vintage dolls. My favorite doll is a 60's talker by Mattel named Chatty Cathy and a lot of them now live with me. I live with my husband of 26 years and my oldest son. We also have two dogs named Max and Molly who are a big part of our lives. Max is a Llhasa Apso Bichon Frise cross and 6 years old and Molly is a Bichon Frise and is 7 years old. We all reside on the "wet" coast of Canada.