08/08/08
June 22 (Sun): We had another free pizza this week. This time they were handing them out at the Go Station near Andy's work. She brought it home pleased as punch. Again, it was delicious. I had also been out for dinner to the Outback Steakhouse Wednesday night for a work celebration.
Lucky for me one of the guys heard my order, thought it sounded good so ordered it as well, then didn't like scallops as much as I don't like shrimp, so we traded. Those scallops were SO good! The whole dinner was SO good!
Saturday, we headed down to Niagara Falls for the day as we had appointments with both the chapel coordinator and the hotel catering manager to get all our details sorted out. That all went well plus we had some time to tour around. This is a truly funky fountain inside Casino Niagara. They've based it on the Hydro Generating Stations that are such a core part of the city.
The American Falls.
Mom says we did this when I was a kid, but I don't remember. We went down to the tunnels of "The Journey Behind the Falls".
This is a shot on the left taken from the platform shown in the shot on the right (it's actually level but I couldn't get the angle right).
I guess it was our weekend for water. Today, we had the wickedest rain storm we have seen since moving back here. It made a river of the road and sidewalks and even overflowed the eaves troughs.
It looked like we'd rock-salted the garden!
Andy was trying to swish water away from the house. When I saw how much was on this side I suggested that she might try a shovel rather than ruining my squeegee further! She later reported that the snow shovel worked quite well.
That was it for excitement. Otherwise we spent the day doing chores. Ho hum. And unfortunately the recording of the French Grand Prix failed, but it's being repeated Wednesday, so we'll try again.
June 17 (Tues): I forgot to mention two things.... #1 - free pizza!
Andy popped out of the Go Train station the other day and completely missed being handed a free promotional pizza! She got to the car, at which point I had been sitting watching numerous people come out of the station with a pizza box in their hands. She got in and I asked what was with the pizzas. She said she guessed someone was handing them out, so I said, "Well, go get one!!!" Ours wasn't pepperoni, but deluxe and with a whole wheat crust. We had it for dinner and it was delicious.
Andy just told me this today: Ben came in the house Saturday asking Scot to come out and play with him. Scot replied that he was busy installing the floor with Andrea. Ben paused for a second, then asked, "Who's Andrea?" Scot then clarified....."Auntie Andy".
June 16 (Mon): We've got one fantastic side of the house.
However, the fruit trees in the back are in a sorry state. We finally found out we have an apricot, a plum and a peach. The apricots have already gone off badly. They are basically little leathery pockets of air.
And the peach tree has a bad case of "leaf curl", plus apparently needs a regimen of pesticide spraying through the summer, which we are not interested in. Those little green fuzzy things are possible future peaches.
Friday night we finally made it to one of Vickie's monthly jam session nights and had a very good time. Nice to get out and about and listen to some fun music.
Andy got chatting half the night again with Cheryl, see here with Vic.
Saturday, we were off to Mom and Dad's for an early Father's Day. Again, we are giving the gift of labour.
While Andy and Scot installed laminate flooring in dad's TV room, Monica and I worked upstairs on window frames, doors, and trim. I also moved Mom's computer into the room that will now be her office.
During a pause for lunch, Dad was showered with....cards and a special hat.
In the evening, we all took the kids to the stock car races for their first time at Flamboro Speedway, which is where Dad used to take us every Saturday night when we were kids.
Sunday, we had a nice day mostly at home doing chores. We also called Andy's parents for a chat and took a break to go to the movies.
It wasn't bad but wasn't great either. They seemed to be really trying too hard at times.
June 8 (Sun): We're just finishing up another thunderstorm after a third day with a high of 30o and humidex of almost 40o. But I'm glad to report the central air in the house works well! We made it through the heat Friday without having to turn it on (I was off work doing some chores and trying to finish some unpacking), but it hardly cooled down overnight, so it was already 27o on the main floor by 9 am yesterday. At that point we decided to try out the A/C. The temperature started coming down but very slowly. Then I went and bought some blinds for the dining room window and that seemed to help quite a bit against the morning sun. We've since done some asking around and consensus is that it's more economical to leave it on to steadily cool than to turn it off during the work day then back on when we get home. We will just raise the thermostat a couple degrees when we are out.
Friday night we went to Grace's dance recital. She did two routines, tap and we think jazz, during the 2.5 hour show.
At the end of the performances, all of the 150 or so kids went up on stage while a few scholarships and prizes were handed out. Our entire row gasped when Grace's name was called out. But none of us are sure exactly what she won for - it was either "most improved" or "most promising" for tap. They announced what the award was before they called the name, but none of the Cooper/Gibbs row were paying much attention. Then we all jumped to it when we heard her name. We are all so proud....I got wispy and Monica outright cried.
Yesterday morning, we had another mini-milestone of home ownership.....Andy got to wash the car in our own driveway for the first time!
She was having a bit of trouble, though, as it was drying almost as fast as she could work. I didn't get to help as I was too busy washing the cats' drinking fountain, which probably took longer than the car! When she was done we rode our bikes over to Central Park (about 3 minutes away) for Halton Pride. It was just getting set up so not crowded yet.
In the afternoon, we went to a 70th Birthday Surprise Party for Aunt Sandy.
Here are the 5 siblings: Uncle Lanny, Aunt Cathie, Aunt Sandy, Aunt Gail and of course, Dad (Lowell).
Dad's the oldest, then Sandy, then Gail and Lanny (twins), then Cathie.
I was completely shocked to see two of my cousins that I hadn't seen for years. Unfortunately, I must've moved when I took this shot as I've cut Jamie off on the side. Jamie is one day younger than Scot, worked up north several years teaching the Inuit and is now teaching in Hamilton. Matthew, centre, who is Jamie's half-brother, was a lot younger than Scot and I so we never knew him that well. He is living in England going to Oxford working on a PhD in History. Just a few weeks ago he married Dorian, who is American and also working on a PhD at Oxford.
Apparently mom told Matthew that Andy is from England and then they came running over to meet her and talk to us, and we had a great chat. What totally blew me away is that he is nothing like his father, who I couldn't stand. He is so nice. Scot and Monica weren't able to make it out because it was the day of the Caledonia town Yard Sale so they were busy at home. We had taken over a bunch of stuff to sell and we've heard we are now $162 richer.
Now, as I said, it was a very hot day. Andy and I are very conscious to stay in the shade as we both burn easily. Every once in a while the breeze would turn the umbrella we were sitting under and someone would have to turn it back. After a few times, my cousin, Colin, decided to bug me. He turned the umbrella on purpose to see how long it would take me to notice. This is him in the red shirt.
As he had himself a good laugh over the fact that I noticed instantly, several people came to my defense. I told them not to worry about it and laughed along, while subtly reaching into our cooler, uncapping a bottle of icy water, and turning with perfect aim to give Colin a good splash. Score one for Heather! He took it well and luckily a water fight did not develop.
Today was another party. Kathy and Denise were celebrating 25 years of being together, 5 years of being married, Denise's 60th year and Kathy's 50th year. Unfortunately, there was far less of breeze than yesterday, so we only lasted a few hours.
Notice everyone hugging the side of the house for shade?
This was also the first time we got to see Sarohda with her pregnant belly.
She's had a somewhat rough pregnancy, was in the hospital a couple times, and was almost put on straight bed-rest, but she is doing well now. The baby is due in about a month. She and Kalpana are quite excited.
Tonight we had another big thunderstorm roll through and even had a tornado watch. What is with all this August weather in June???
June 6 (Fri):
What a shocker! As of 2 pm it is 30o with a humidex of 39o. I'm home for the day, partly because I found out I have 8 days of vacation left over from last year, partly because I have lots of things to catch up on, and partly because most of the staff were having a golf tournament this afternoon. I would rather have dental work than play golf, so opted out. And I am soooooo pleased I did. Suckers!!! They are stuck out there melting while I'm in the house at 24.6o, which is quite bearable, and it's even cooler down in the office and basement. But to think....I almost waited to cut the grass until today. I am so glad I got it done last night!
June 4 (Wed): How fast can I write this blog??? Again, we have been very busy. Saturday I wasted the entire morning and a great deal of gas money by borrowing Mom and Dad's van for us to pick up a new bookcase that we found damaged when we got it home. At least having the van made it easier for Andy to go get the wood needed for our little piece of fence to go on the east end of our house. We took turns going out to do errands as one of us had to stay home waiting for The Brick delivery truck to come and swap us a new coffee table, as the first one was damaged. They came mid afternoon and the new one is perfect. But after the smashed bookcase in the morning (especially as we had gone to get it the night before to find it wouldn't fit in the car), both of our moods had gone down hill. We were both miserable. I told Andy I was going for a nap and she ended up joining me. That was all we needed, because once we got up we were a couple of tornadoes until it was again bed time. Hmmm.....maybe I shouldn't say tornado considering some of the whopper thunderstorms we have had this past week!
Sunday, we went to my Aunt Debbie's to rebuild her back step. Much of the wood had rotted and when we went to demolish it we realized that it was no longer even attached to the house due to all the rotted and disintegrating wood. We picked the whole thing up and carried it aside and it basically folded in our hands. We pried the steps off of it as they were still in good shape, then set about building as best we could without digging holes for posts. We opted for cement feet instead.
In the end the handrails were a little screwball but, considering our challenge of making it fit to the existing stairs and the patch work we ended up doing on the house under the door, it came together quite well - and Andy put a couple hundred screws in it so it's good'n sturdy. This took us most of the day, then we stopped at Costco just before closing and scooped a gorgeous bookcase that now lives in the office (and the one that came smashed on the bottom will be returned for refund). Mid-assembly:
We then went back Monday and Tuesday nights to try to get another one, but each time the stack was gone. In fact, Tuesday night we were told that somebody had just wheeled 3 of them out. Today the display was even gone but we hope they will come back again in a few weeks.
Monday night was the kids' first soccer game of the season. This year they are "Superior Boiler Works" with gold shirts. Ben played goalie for the first half of the game and Grace for the second half. Scot is coaching again.
Goal scored!
All three Coopers working hard on the field.
Grace giving her favourite auntie the devilish eye.
Yesterday the dishwasher got fixed. Yay! Hurrah! Whoopeeeee! "There was a spring off on the bottom that connected to the solenoid that controls the drain pump so it kept needing to drain". But of course I couldn't let the repairman think us messy with a sink full of unwashed dishes, so did them all before he got here, meaning we still have yet to try it again officially.
And finally, tonight. We are very pleased to present............the fence!
Yes, I helped too. I held things, was chief leveller, banged in nails, was allowed to cut some wood, and screwed in the tapcons to attach the 2 by 4 to the house. Andy was project supervisor (of course) and shared the same jobs I did, but she also did all the digging. She likes mud more than I do. We obviously still have to do the lattice, but at least now, hopefully, we can keep the bunnies out and give our plants a chance to recover!!!