A Spot of T

River Boating to the Falls

Never give up...never surrender.  I want that on my headstone when I die.

I'm not even going to get into the kind of day I've had.  But one good thing that came out of it was....I somehow managed to get my Flip to work.

My preeeeeecious Flip that has 60 minutes of video on it just waiting to be downloaded.  It's been months since I've been able to use it and I was going into full blown withdrawals.  My left eye had begun to twitch non-stop and I swear people were beginning to think I was hitting on them where ever I went.

Me to the gentleman behind the counter at Shopper's Drug Mart:  "Hi.  Can I get a lotto ticket please?".....twitch of the left eye.

Gentleman behind counter at Shopper's Drug Mart looking at me with raised eyebrows:  "Well sure you can."

Me:  "Thank you very much."....twitch twitch of the left eye.

Gentleman behind counter at Shopper's Drug Mart:  "You're very welcome Ms."...wink.  !!!

It had to end I tell you.  So today I decided since everything else I touched was going to hell in a handbasket, why not give the Flip another try.  It couldn't hurt.  It didn't hurt.  It now works!  Because I'm a genius.

So without further ado and because I need to get some sleep....here's a really lousy video.....made with much love.....

**Edited to add:  A few 43!!! people emailed and asked about the pine trees in the video.  Personally I was impressed you even noticed those trees.  That is until someone was kind enough to tell me I could view the video in high quality on youtube and low and behold the video looks like it does when I made it on my computer.  See because when I downloaded it, the quality just wasn't like it is on my computer and I was some ticked thinking I went to all that work to have a really crappy quality video.  But it's not me at all and I didn't need to put 'lousy' video after all.  So you know.  Who knew.

Ummm.  Right.  The question many people are asking.  "Why do those trees look like they do in the video?"  There was more but that's the jist of the questions.  In the video there is a full shot of a forest.  You will see lovely shades of green pine trees but you will also see orangey brown shades which are also pine trees.  Those however, would be dying pine trees.  It's unbelievably sad to see the forest like that and it's all because of a tiny 5 millimeter beetle called the Mountain Pine Beetle.  Oh do those bitty things cause havoc on our forests...and they are killing our pine trees at an alarming rate. 

Lifeguard On Duty

Any spare second I get I am going through Prince Edward Island vacation pictures.  Unfortunately there hasn't been too many spare seconds lately.  Something I'm hoping to rectify next week.  I swear, I don't know how anyone expects people to blog, plurk, facebook, or catch up with internet friends when real life consistently gets in the way.  I mean really.  Someone should do something about that.

The below pictures were taken on Cavendish Beach.  This beach was two minutes from my cottage so every morning I would get up early and drive down to this beach.  I would walk for one hour and take that time to think and completely relax.  I never brought a camera, I never brought a Flip, just me, the sand, the water and contemplating life.  It was glorious.

One morning I happened to sleep-in so I never got to the beach but after a day of sightseeing, the weather turned and it was windy, raining and a bit cooler out.  I thought it would be cool to see what the beach looked like when it wasn't sunny and calm.

I was shocked to see a Lifeguard on duty but as I looked down the beach I saw five teenagers playing in the water.  The waves would come crashing in and they would try jumping over them.  Sometimes they would be pulled in more and that's when I stopped watching them because the mom was coming out in me and it took everything in my power to not go up to them and tell them to stop jumping in the waves because surely they could be pulled in.  I know nothing about such things because being deathly afraid of water....I never get that close to find out.  Probably no such thing could happen so I minded my own business and turned the other way so I didn't have to watch them.

But not before taking these pictures of this brave Lifeguard who had to be on duty because some young punks were out playing in the water.  He would sit up on this stand, the rain pouring down on him and the bitter wind biting at him and then he'd go in to a little shack nearby.  Only to repeat the whole thing over again every five minutes or so.  I stood out there getting soaked and taking probably a hundred pictures in the hopes of capturing just one good one.

"Hello?  Smile a great big smile for me k?"

The above picture shows where at one point he saw me taking his picture and this is where he may have muttered something under his breath.  Something like "Go away!".  Who knows though as I was pretty far away.  Thank you zoom lens.

"Hey?  Hey Mr. Lifeguard?  Wait."

Then in the above picture you can see him turn his back on me.  Probably to watch the punks on the beach.  Nothing to do with me I'm sure.

"You're brave.  And you should get a raise!"

This is him trying not to look at me.  I bet his peripheral vision is excellent though and he could indeed see me, although I'm sure he thought I was slightly retarded when I would shout things to him to try and get him to look my way again.  Like he should get a raise.  And how brave he was.  And would he like a towel.  And could he come save me.  But he was on duty so he was all serious like.  Probably cold too.

Bitten By The Travel Bug

I was thinking about the last two posts and my ordeal with the *shivers* spiders.  For only one incident to happen in a two week holiday is pretty darn good I think.  As I've said, this was the biggest holiday I've ever gone on so I'm not familiar with how holidays usually go.  I guess I just assumed there would be some sort of problems along the way and I/we would deal with anything that came up.  You know.  Because airplanes can get delayed.  There can be a mix-up with reservations.  Snow in June.  Things like that.  Hard to believe 99.9% of the time I'm a glass half full kinda gal isn't it?

I had a lot of emails from people asking if they understood me correctly and yes, you understood me correctly.  This trip to Prince Edward Island has been the biggest holiday I have ever gone on.  I don't lie here people, it's not what I'm about, but I can understand how some people would think it's pretty hard to believe.  I am 44 years old after all, and this was my first ever major holiday.

The fact is, when I was younger?  I won't go into details but I'll just say there was certainly no money for any kind of holidays.  Skip ahead to me fleeing moving out at the tender age of 'almost' 17, having two jobs and just barely being able to support myself.  Holidays were still not in the picture.

I meet Gregg, we date for four years, get married and start a family right away and have three children in under three years.  Which is exactly what we wanted so it's great it worked out that way.  Sure, there were a couple of trips to Jasper or Banff in these past 22 years, but never any more then two or three days because Gregg had to be back to work.  See, it worked this way back then.  Gregg was a rig welder way back when and he contracted himself out.  This meant when Gregg worked, he got paid.  When Gregg didn't work, he didn't get paid.  No steady pay cheque, no holiday pay, no...nothing.  So he worked every opportunity he could and I can't even tell you how grateful I've been to him for sacrificing like he has for his family.  I really don't think we tell him how much we appreciate him.  We should do that more.

I didn't work outside the home because we always felt with one parent never here, it wouldn't be fair to the kids to have a mother who worked outside the home too.  Which meant even though that wonderful man was able to keep pretty darn steady in times when others weren't, you never knew when the next job was, so if you were smart you never blew all the money he did make in a short amount of time.  Job equaled paycheck and paycheck equaled food, clothing and shelter.  There were no luxuries for many many...many....years.  The money had to last for the times the work was slow and it was a juggling act that still amazes me to this day how we made it work for all those years.

To be honest?  It never bothered me we never traveled.  It's just the way it was and we were fine with it.  We were also really really busy.  Gregg working incredibly hard supporting his family and me raising children.  Friends would talk about their holidays and I would always be mesmerized.  To this day I am the one you want to talk about your holidays with.  Unlike some people who role their eyes and say "Oh no, they are going to start talking about their holiday." I?  Love hearing about when people travel.  Pictures?  Show me any pictures you have because I can't get enough.  I always felt if I couldn't travel then the next best thing is to talk and listen to people who have had the good fortune to travel.

I remember a long time ago someone asking me if I was jealous of those people we knew who could travel so much and her being surprised by the look of surprise on my face.  Uh no.  By nature I am not a jealous person.  I have absolutely no idea why but I'm not.  Maybe coming from nothing has made me unbelievably grateful for anything that does come my way so it doesn't bother me what other people have?  Like I said, I have no idea.

I have never wanted what the next person had.  Even as a small child I would never say "I want what so-and-so has.  I have to have that too."  Not only would I have been knocked into next tuesday for saying such a thing back then, but I never felt the need to.  I knew back then what I wanted and I worked to get it.  I still do to this day.  I am always happy for you and what you have, but I am very secure and confident on seeing the goals and expectations I have for myself fulfilled.  Which means there is no need to be jealous of anyone right?  Right.  I know.  I probably could use some good therapy one of these days.

Anywho.  Skip ahead to about five years ago and the T Family takes a week and drives to ski in Montana....which was the first 'big' holiday we had ever been on.  It was at this point I got bit by the traveling bug.  Oh man was it ever fun.  The kids were older by this time (15, 14, 13) so there was no need to be stressed out about anything.  Well.  Except the ski hill was closed so we had to go for plan B.  Oh and except for Gregg's driving which gave all of us a heart attack.  Oh and Gregg on the ski hill and royally ticking the kids off.  One day I will have to write about that.  We laugh about it now.  Then?  Not so much.

Two years ago, a friend of Gregg's took us to Las Vegas for a week as a thank you to Gregg for giving him so much work over the year.  We would never have spent that money on ourselves and quite frankly, Gregg would never have taken the time off work for such a thing.  Which meant we wouldn't have gone if this person hadn't paid for it.  Turns out we both had such a great time and Gregg really got the chance to relax and see what the word 'relaxation' felt like.  I loved seeing him have so much fun, lord knows he deserves it.  The travel bug bit again.  And there would be a picture for this too but I was too intoxicated to take any good ones I can't find any right now.

So this Prince Edward Island trip was a two week holiday and not only was it the longest holiday I have ever been on, but the farthest I have ever been in my entire 44 years on this planet AND I got to go with the man I love most in the world...double bonus!!  See because according to google maps, Edmonton to Las Vegas is 2,387 km...don't ask me what that is in miles because I have no idea....but Edmonton to Prince Edward Island is 5,151 km.  I have now been 5,151 km away from home.  Hee!!  And let me tell you, that travel bug took a big ol chunk out of me this time.

My Night in Hell - A Very Long Part Two

Gregg arrives in PEI, we meet and we decide to tour a bit of Prince Edward Island before going to the house.  A few hours later, Gregg gets on the phone and talks to the guy who has a spare key to the house.  On the phone the guy gave the first clue as to what we were getting ourselves into.  He says to Gregg "Oh hey that's great to see you made it.  Just come to....the location.....and I'll leave the door unlocked and the keys will be in the microwave.  Just go right on in and make yourself comfortable.  I did want to say I was in earlier to open the windows and air the place out a bit.  I tried to sweep up a bit but I'm just not good with those things.  We usually have the cleaners come in after the house has been sitting for so long, but I hope it's ok."

 

Now this is where the differences of two people come in.  If that would have been me on the phone listening to that man?  My radar would have shot up faster then anything.  Gregg is different.  Gregg is very different because I swear Gregg heard "The door is unlocked because we have people coming and going out of the home all the time.  There's a microwave in case you want to pop some microwave popcorn and the windows are open which means the place smells like the beautiful countryside around it.  Cleaners have been in and swept up so I know it's ok.  So long now."

 

We pull up to the home and say "Hey it looks like a cute little old home."  We walk in the cute little old home and it's nicely decorated.  It's obvious this is a loved home.  They have painted each room, new flooring has been installed and they are decorating it to suit their tastes.  A true summer home if I ever saw one.  It didn't take long to figure out a home which is only lived in a few weeks out of the year and then locked up for months on end....has.....issues.  As we're looking around I could literally hear a moan come from Gregg who was about three feet ahead of me.

 

It's really a toss up between what the bigger issue was in this home....bugs or the odor.  Ok never mind.  Hands down it was the bugs.  Spiders to be exact and if you knew me at all you would know what a huge issue this was going to be.  Think of the scariest thing you can think of, times it be a trillion, then times it by another trillion and you maybe have some semblance of what it's like to be me around spiders.

This is where I've never been more proud of myself because there was a time when I would have insisted we leave and there would have been no living with Gregg for the next three days because that's how mad he would have been.  I would have insisted anyway and we would have left.  But Gregg hadn't slept all night, we had done a ton of driving around during the day and it was now eleven o'clock at night.  He looked absolutely drained and I just couldn't bring myself to say we needed to get out of there.  **If I die right this very minute I had better get some sort of pass straight up to heaven for this one.  I'm just saying.**  So I found the vacuum and proceeded to start vacuuming every square inch of the house.

 

I'm here to tell you what I found and sucked into that vacuum would make a grown man cry and wail for his momma.  Little spiders, medium spiders and the grand daddy of all spiders.  All kinds of shapes and sizes of spiders were crawling around in that house.  The webs they wove were amazing.  I should know.  I walked into a million of them.  Then I did the 'spidey eeby jeeby dance' and then I sat down and sucked my thumb and rocked back and forth until the eeby jeebies went away.  Then I got up and vacuumed some more and then I repeated the whole process about a thousand more times.

 

Where was Gregg as I was having a stroke cleaning?  Why he had found some god awful smelly comforter and was on the leather couch in the front room trying to get the huge flat screen TV to work.  Spiders don't bother him.  Neither do bugs and thanks to his deviated septum, he didn't really get the jist of how bad the smell was in the house either.

 

I worked my way upstairs with the vacuum and the smell from the upstairs bathroom hit me full force as I reached the top stair.  I almost threw-up right then and there.  Then I made my way into the bathroom to see what had died.  Nothing had died.  The bathroom hadn't been used in months and this is what happens when the bathroom hasn't been used in months.  I opened the window wider, grabbed some Lysol the man had obviously used earlier to try and mask the horrible stench and I proceeded to spray until there was nothing left in the can.  Then I closed the door and got back to more vacuuming.  I never entered that room again.

 

I worked my way with the vacuum into the master bedroom.  I even crawled under the bed with the vacuum because as any good person with a spider phobia will tell you, under the bed is where spiders like to hide.  They also like to hide behind pictures on the wall, behind dressers, under dressers, on TV's, in TV's, in drapes.....oh good lord do they like to hide in drapes.  I let out a scream as I moved the curtain back and started to vacuum and saw hundreds of little baby spiders fall down the curtain panel.  You have never seen a vacuum work so hard in your life.  You have never seen spiders scramble to get away like that either.  Then I sat down and sucked my thumb and rocked back and forth again for a long long time.

 

What was Gregg doing all this time?  Did he run up the stairs to see what I screamed about?  No.  He didn't hear me.  He didn't hear me because we was snoring on the couch downstairs with the TV blaring.  So I came downstairs and hit him with the vacuum.  Ok no I didn't hit him with the vacuum but don't think I didn't think about it while I was upstairs sucking my thumb.

 

I got as many spiders and bugs as I could possibly get in the few hours we had been in the house.  I knew I hadn't gotten all of them.  How did I know that?  Because not only were there trillions of them, but when I went downstairs to sit on the leather chair across from Gregg, I saw something crawl up from the floor vent.  "Umm Gregg?"  "Gregg what the hell is that?"  "GREGG!  Something just crawled up from the basement."  "Oh christ.  Something else just crawled up from the basement!!"

 

Gregg slowly got up, saw the bug I was pointing to, grabbed a paper towel and scooped up whatever was crawling up from the basement.  Then he did it again.  And again.  Then he went into the basement and when he came back up from the basement he said "Well.  The basement has a dirt floor in it which probably explains why there are bugs crawling up from the vents."  I lifted my feet up as I watched another bug crawl up from the basement.  I had vacuumed up a lot of spiders in the house and I think those bugs knew it.

 

I had taken the sheets off the upstairs bed and thrown them in the washer and dryer earlier and when the dryer buzzer went off, I grabbed the sheets and went upstairs.  By this time, Gregg was snoring so loudly I decided to leave him on the couch and go up to bed on my own.  By myself.  Just me.  With no one else.  I kept telling myself "This would be a great time to face your fears Joy.  You can do this."  Then I cried a little.

 

No way was I using the comforter from the bed as it was below the curtain when all those baby spiders came tumbling down and I had thrown it in the room across the hall.  So I went back downstairs and grabbed Gregg's jacket and used it as a blanket.  I laid down and shut my eyes and told myself not to open them for the rest of the night.  No matter what noise you heard or what horrible crazy spider thought you had in your mind, you just keep those eyes closed and daylight would soon be here.

 

About ten minutes later, I sat up in bed because I swore I felt something crawling under the sheet.  I had visions of baby spiders marching from the room across the hall looking for vengeance on the woman who had sucked up half their spider family.  I sat up in bed with my knees under my chin for hours.  Then I went downstairs and draped myself over the leather chair across from Gregg on the leather couch and tried to sleep there with the TV still blaring because I couldn't find the remote.  No doubt hauled off by the spiders.

 

I had myself somewhat draped over the leather chair and was looking up at the ceiling and wondering when daylight would appear so my night in spider hell would be over, when I see something move out of the corner of my eye.  I slowly move my head to the left and there it is.  The biggest mother*ucking spider I have ever seen in my life, sitting on the back of the leather chair.  Staring at me.  I slowly get up because I know with every fiber of my being that this thing can leap tall buildings if it wanted to.  Or at the very least 5'7".  Then I let out a scream and ran upstairs like a scared little girl and sat back on the very bed I know in my heart of hearts is infested with spiders.  Gregg?  Was on his own with the beast spider.  Maybe if it ate him first it wouldn't come looking for me.  Don't judge me.  You weren't there.  It's every woman for herhimself in situations like this.

 

It was at this point I came up with the plan that I was going to go into my suitcase and start putting on layers of clothes.  Then I was going to put Gregg's coat on for more warmth and I was going to go outside and sleep in the rental car.  Unfortunately somewhere in all my planning, exhaustion took over because three hours later I woke up and looked at my watch.  It was 7:30am and I have never been so happy in my life.  I ran downstairs to hear Gregg still snoring on the couch.  I woke him up and said "I want to go now ok?  I stayed the night and I was good and I didn't complain once but I want to go.  Ok?  Let's go.  Ok?  Please?  K?  We need to go.  K?  K??  OK?????!!"  And so we left.

I wanted to cry so bad I just knew if I started I wouldn't stop.  So I didn't start.  I was horribly upset by this point though and even Gregg who can be as blind as a bat when it comes to his wife sometimes, could tell how upset I was.

Below is what saved me from losing my mind.

I immediately called information to see if Charlottetown had a Delta Hotel and because God loves me, Charlottetown did.  The Delta Prince Edward to be exact.  This suite was just what the doctor ordered.  As a matter of fact, we loved it so much we booked it for another night as well.  Oh how I love Delta Hotels!

I still suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome at the thought of my night with the spiders.  But with more wine therapy I am confident I will recover and be as good as new in no time.

 

 

My Night in Hell - Part One

Sorry about the word 'hell' on a Sunday.  I said three Hail Mary's and crossed myself.  I saw how to do it on TV one time so I'm ok now.

After a week in the above beautiful cottage at a lovely place called Kindred Spirits Country Inn, I was about to leave my little piece of cottage heaven and face my worst fear.  I was about to spend the night in the pits of hell and face my demons head on.

Turn back the clock to one week before my holiday began and I get a phone call from Gregg....

Gregg:  So how would you like to save some money on your holiday?

Me:  I love saving money.  What's up?

Gregg:  A friend of mine got wind that we were going to Prince Edward Island, so he offered us his home.  He said you could use it for the week you are there and then for the couple days when I come and join you.

Me:  Wow that's pretty cool and so nice.  Let me think about it and get back to you.

I did think about it, I really did and I thought it was so sweet someone would just offer their home to us like that.  But after I got on google map and discovered the home was about half an hour away from where the group of Angels were staying, I decided I didn't want to be that far away from the 'pack'.

Even though we were all going to be doing our own thing during the week, I thought about the things I had planned to participate in with the Angels and I didn't want to have to worry about leaving early to find my way back to the house in a strange place.  Of course after being in Prince Edward Island now, I wouldn't even hesitate to stay anywhere as I'm pretty darn confident I could find my way back from the deepest depths of the Island on any given day.

I called Gregg back and declined the home for the week I was going to be there and explained why.  He certainly understood but we did agree to stay in the home when Gregg arrived in PEI to join me for the rest of our holiday.  Gregg only wanted to stay in PEI for a couple of days, so for those two days we would take his friend up on staying at his home.

Such hospitality.  Such kindness.  A home all of our own to spend two whole days in.  Excellent.  Or was it?

2006 Prince Rupert Fishing Trip

Here are the pictures....finally......of the guy's Prince Rupert Fishing trip in August.

Michael (left) and Tyler (Michael's friend) with their Halibut catch (Day 2)

Unloading the days catch (Day 1)

Spring Salmon, Coho Salmon, Ling Cod, Sea Bass (Day 1)

The Guide cleans the fish, but Michael and Ty had to get in there.

Strictly Halibut Fishing - Day 2 - The 200 pounder is still out there!

Norwegian Sun Cruise Ship docked in Prince Rupert

             The Poop Deck?

Light House  Harbor

We don't get a thing for recommending them, but anyone we've ever sent to Reeling Charters has come back with nothing but great memories.  Reeling Charters Rocks!!!