2009-01-30

Rain!?!

We had pouring rain all day Thursday. Does that mean we have to change the rhyme from April Showers brings May Flowers? Around here btw, that is April snow showers usually.

How about: January rain makes you want to take the train.

It was a nice warm rain, not a freezing rain, of course as soon as the sun disappeared it started to get slippery. I spent my shift at work putting signs on the doors, because people don't remember that January rain means it will be slippery. Then I went around all the bldgs and scattered gravel and ice melter...for all the good it will do. Within a couple of hours, the ice melter will be frozen up and the gravel will be covered with new ice. Today is supposed to be sunny and warm, then we are going to drop below freezing again, but not by much and only for a few days. Weird weather this year.

You may have figured out by now, that I have nothing to post about. I just thought I should let you all know I am still around and doing alright. I have been practising with Gimp (like Adobe photo shop) to see if I can do anything with my photos. I like Adobe, but can't afford it right now and Gimp is a free download. So, I am learning how it is set-up and what the new names are for the things I did in Adobe. I haven't used it enough yet to decide if I hate it, or just need more time to play with it. For the next little while I suspect you will be getting straight photos, little cropping and adjusting will be done.

Well, that is about it - have a good day all.

2009-01-27

Just what you all need!

I just got this in e-mail from a friend and as I have no WWC post for today I thought this might make some of you laugh.



For those of you who can never understand our Canadian temperatures. Hope this helps:

The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart



50° Fahrenheit (10° C)

Californians shiver uncontrollably.

Canadians plant gardens.



35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)

Italian Cars won't start

Canadians drive with the windows down



32° Fahrenheit (0 ° C)

American water freezes

Canadian water gets thicker.



0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)

New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.

Canadians have the last cookout of the season.



-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)

Mt. St. Helens freezes.

Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.



-100° Fahrenheit (-73° C)

Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.

Canadians pull down their ear flaps.



-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)

Ethyl alcohol Freezes.

Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg


-460° Fahrenheit (-273° C)

Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.

Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"



-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)

Hell freezes over.

The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup



Hope you all have a good day
;)

2009-01-22

Miserable weather!

I couldn't have waited one more day? Today was the last appointment for awhile, the consult about the colonoscopy. It is -17 C (1F) with a wind chill of -29 C (-20 F). In spite of two coats, long johns, scarf, hat & hood, I think I got a bit of frostbite, in just a few minutes worth of exposure to the wind. Not probably enough to do serious damage, but my cheeks were aching by the time I got indoors.

So, the appointment was a bit of a farce. I got a physical (after a fashion) from Junior Dr. and he took all my information and history. Then the Dr. that will be doing (or supervising) the actual scope came in for a couple of minutes and concurred that I need a colonoscopy. Yep, that's why I'm here dipshit! (no, I didn't say that). Now, of course, I have to wait until March to get the actual scope done. Hopefully by then, the weather will be more pleasant - of course, here, there is no guarantee of that. I am sure the only reason I had a physical was so they could bill healthcare for it. The last three or four times I have had this done, the G.P. I see has been the one to give me the instructions and the cleanser and I have only met the gastroenterologist just before they knock you out. Those were all before the latest round of cuts I guess. Whatever.


So, Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad, where ever you may be.



Have a good day all.

2009-01-21

Well, good then!

Just got back from my mammogram and bone density tests. Nothing to report, except they don't want to see me now for a year! No more 6 month visits - yay! *do a little dance*

I haven't heard anything about the blood work, so I figure that is good news too. I have the consultation tomorrow for the colonoscopy, but no idea how quickly the actual procedure will be set up for.

I still don't get why all of a sudden, I have to have a consult, but I suppose it has something to do with making sure you have the right patient. I suspect they will sign my butt too! They had to sign the shoulder on the side that was having the surgery last time I was there.

I just hope I can understand her. Yes, that was politically incorrect - I don't care, it is my health we are talking about. Besides, I'm going to Hell if there is one anyway. ;)

Well, that is all there is to report for now. Have a good day all.

2009-01-19

WWC: "B" & Unusual Perspective

I won, I won! I won another Golden Spork Award! I am so excited! So very honoured. Tink hands these out to a select few people annually, so it makes me glow with pride to have received one two years in a row! ;)

The other thing that Tink does is host the Weekly Word Challenge. Sometimes she makes it a bit difficult for us. You be the judge. This week is the letter "B" & Unusual Perspective. Remember to click on any photo to enlarge it.


"B"

This is the easiest building key to find on my key ring...the rest have dots (yes dots).



B is for bear - isn't he cute!


B is also for blue glass.


B is for books (time to weed out and straighten up the shelves)



Unusual Perspective:


This is the inside of a chip bag.



The front stairs in all of the buildings in the complex have this half-assed circular stair.



A different way of looking at one of Mom's paintings.


That is my head on the floor (upper left) and the cat trying to reach it. Taken over my head with the camera upside down! (Not able to see the view screen.)


Me on the floor, cat in the chair - isn't that the life of those owned by cats though?


Well, there you have it. If you would like to join the WWC, pop over to Tink's place and she will give you the scoop!

Have a good day all.

2009-01-18

MTM: Put on your woolies!

It is time for the Ice on Whyte Festival! Although with our little warm spell, they aren't doing very well. For better photos click on the link above, those were taken when the carvings were fresh. Click on any photo to enlarge.

This poor fellow has lost one antler and both of this friends (an Eagle & Big Horn Sheep).



The stegosaurus seems to have lost a bit of his ridge too.



The slide is very popular with both young and old. (Yes, that is the line up to slide down)



Don't worry, they didn't forget the little ones. (More my size too!)



There is a maze, but most of the kids were just stepping over the walls.


This little igloo has a rabbit inside.



This is the bridge over the moat to the castle. (The moat is filled with blocks naming the sponsors of the event)


The Castle entrance, the statues to either side have lost any recognizable qualities.



A feast laid out for the guests .



The last remaining intact torch.


The fireplace didn't put out a lot of heat though - good thing.


A nice cosy bed.



And no castle is complete without a throne!



These were not made of ice, they were just around the perimeter, but I thought they looked pretty.


There were several other carvings, but the sun had done them too much damage to tell what they had been. The festival continues on until the 25th, they will be having carving contests throughout and classes. There will be Jazz one night and every night there is a tent set up to get hot drinks for a donation to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.


MTM is the brainchild of Travis Erwin. It is currently being co-hosted by Sepiru Chris and Junosmom while Travis rebuilds.


Have a good day all.

2009-01-17

Recipe (not for the faint of heart)

While visiting Jay's blog the other day, I made reference to my recipe for Chicken with bacon gravy. It is fattening as hell, but oh so tasty! I thought about making it (and I still might) then I thought that at least I could post the recipe. I then had a blogger that reads the Cynical Bastard drop in looking for the recipe, so here it is Fiwa:

CHICKEN WITH BACON

1/3 c All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Thyme

2 large chicken breasts, halved
8 slices bacon

GRAVY

2 Tbsp Reserved flour mixture
2 x 1/5 oz chicken bouillon cubes
1.5 cups boiling water

Mix flour, salt, pepper & thyme together in paper or plastic bag.

Add two chicken pieces at a time. Shake to coat. Save flour that is left.

Put bacon in frying pan with floured chicken. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes. Turn and cook 30 minutes more until tender. Put cover askew on pan, not on tightly, while cooking. Transfer chicken to platter. Keep warm while making gravy. Serves 4.

GRAVY: Add reserved flour mixture to very crisp bacon in frying pan. Stir until white colour disappears. Add a bit of butter of margarine if necessary.

Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water. Stir into bacon-flour mixture until it boils and thickens. Loosen any bits on bottom of pan. Makes 3 cups crunchy gravy.

*****

Now, I like my bacon crisp, not burnt and I use skinless boneless breasts, so I tend to cook the bacon, set it aside, then cook the chicken in the same pan. That also allows the bacon to cool enough that you can break it up to pieces without burning your fingers, when you put it back in the pan to make the gravy part. I suppose, if you wanted to cut calories, you could use a separate pan and not use the bacon grease for the gravy, use Pam or whatnot, but it kind of defeats the purpose. Those that are watching their weight, will have to decide for themselves, or they can just put in some more time at the gym or whatever it is that skinny people do ;)

Have a good day all!

2009-01-16

January thaw!

As a wee break from the awful temperatures we suffer through up here in the north, we get blessed with a January thaw. Right now it is 5 C (42 F) tomorrow it is supposed to be 11C (51F). The city is out and about removing as much snow as they possibly can, but the roads will still be slushy and will freeze overnight to horrible ruts. The wind shield washers on cars will get lots of use in the next few days and it gives us an opportunity to air out the domiciles. It gives us promise of spring to come. It breaks up the cabin fever a bit. Of course, then comes February, but we don't want to go there yet.

In other news, is anyone else becoming frustrated with Bloggers inability to keep the side bar links up to date? I just got the change for one of my links, but the post was two days ago! That is getting annoying.

My new cpu is running Vista - of course! I have managed to get rid of the annoying message asking me if I want to do what I just told it to do - how stupid is that message anyway? "Are you sure you want to access the internet, it is a scary place and you might get infanaminamity!" Well, that might be a stretch, but, if I didn't want to do these things, I wouldn't have clicked the damned icon - if I clicked in error, I am smart enough to close the window too! Even people that don't have much in the way of computer knowledge will close a window if it isn't where they wanted to go.

Of course, it has changed the way Firefox works...I have to investigate and see if I can get it working the way I want it to. Right now, it is not saving any settings so I have to log in everytime I relaunch. Oh well, I will get it sorted out. In the meantime, I will just swear and curse at it ;)

I guess that's it, I am going to go and enjoy our bit of warmth. Have a great weekend all!

2009-01-13

WWC - Our favorites of 2008

This was the hardest Weekly Word Challenge! Our task was to find our favourite photos that we took during 2008. I have never done well at critiquing my own work, so trying to pick a favorite was not easy. I look at things after and think,"oh, I should have", or "I could have", or "why didn't I" and find fault with everything.

So, in no particular order, her are a few that pass muster. Click to enlarge, please.


This Arctic Fox at the zoo, was the one on guard and kept peeking to see if I was still coming closer.

This is Lucy, getting her tongue scratched.

Classic pose I know, but black swans are just so beautiful. I cut off the top of his head, so I had to crop that closely around the rest to make it look like it was intended. Oh, well!

I like how the sun is filtered here, I don't have any photo editing installed yet, or I would have cropped this a bit.

Rocky Mountains from a long way away.



Foothills near Grand Cache.

Really low clouds near Grand Cache.

My sisters Clematis.

A pretty weed on Sis's farm.



Dragon boat, I liked how the sun flare almost looks like he is puffing steam.

Lily that I grew last summer.

Sunset over the river downtown.


Clouds building up for an overnight storm.



So, I hope you enjoyed my choices. The WWC is hosted by Tink of Pickled Beef, you can drop by her blog to see how to join the fun. It's a good thing I know her address, I don't have all my bookmarks loaded yet. On her site you will find a link to our Flickr site though. I should be able to link to it next week ;)

Have a good day all.

2009-01-12

Monday

Well, I finally got a new computer, well, CPU. I replaced the monitor a few months back. The keyboard is quite a bit different touch than the old one and I am not the best typist in the world at the best of times. This will take a bit of getting used to.

So, now that it has taken me two days to get the wireless set up, um and four different tech people. (not a happy experience that one) I have to get my photos loaded. The Weekly Word Challenge for tomorrow is to show your favorite photos of last year. That should be interesting, but first I have to be able to look at them.

Have to go get my blood work and x-rays taken though, so won't be able to get to it until the afternoon. In the meantime, I am on the net which is what matters. I will get the old stuff loaded soon enough.

So, you all have a great day, hopefully it won't be too miserable to go out tomorrow.

2009-01-09

I do so go out in winter...

Thinking back to my summer bounty of outdoor photos and videos, it would appear that I don't get out in the winter. I do, but, it is a pain in the ass when it is cold. I thought a little video for those in the south would clear things up.

Warning: this video contains language which may be offensive to some viewers.




I have been walking with an upstairs friend this last week, because she's crazy and I need the exercise. I was going to film this when we were both out last night, but it was so cold we didn't go. I damn near froze walking from the office - a mere 100 yds (give or take) from the wind chill and we do about 2 km (yes, I grew up using imperial then they brought in metric). By the time I went out and filmed this the temperature had risen and the wind had died, it was almost pleasant - I should have done the whole walk.

It is supposed to warm up even more over the next few days which will be nice. I can go out and restock my cabinets with food.


Sorry, the sound sucks - and it is not a very good video.

Have a good weekend all!

2009-01-07

The wonderful world of Blogosphere

I am amazed at how small the world is when you blog.

As I mentioned in my post on Tuesday, Travis Erwin's house burned to the ground on Sunday. Fortunately no-one in the family was hurt, but they have lost everything. A couple of other bloggers have set up a web site Habitat for Travis for anyone that would like to help out.

My reaction after I read his post on Monday was simply shock, followed quickly by relief that he and his family were all safe. Of course, then my mind started in on the "what can I do" wheel. I have barely enough money to get through a month at the best of times, so, "I can bake" - unfortunately Edmonton Transit doesn't make any stops in Amarillo, Texas. "I could send some things: clothes, blankets" - yeah and that would take weeks and cost how much and I am sure that local people will have already covered those needs by the time it gets there.

It wasn't until I had thrown out all of the usual ideas that it occurred to me, this is a person you met on-line, he lives in Texas. There really isn't much you can do from this far away. So, that kind of made me a bit depressed. I am very glad that this website has been set up and I think I will be able to send along a few dollars, maybe not enough to buy a brick, but houses have corners and need 1/2 bricks too.

So, my best to Travis and family, I wish there was more I could do for you.

For the rest of my blog family, thanks for being you.

2009-01-06

Scattered

One of the things my Dr did for me yesterday, was to change one of my prescriptions. I was on a very mild anti-depressant, it is fairly common to prescribe these to Breast cancer survivors. I didn't think I needed it, but, I would give it a try. Well, I certainly never felt like I was depressed, but I did notice a change. I am not as much of a cranky bitch and don't even get the occasional "woe is me" bouts. In fact, I am damned near perky! This is what they are changing...the new one has been found to help with the hot flashes - Odin knows I need help with those! My pharmacist, told me that these new ones work a bit differently, on the whatchamacallit, and to take them in the morning as they might cause sleeplessness. Great, I have such luck in that area already.

So I took one this morning, with 1/2 of the old one...yes, I have to taper off the old, while tapering onto the new. I really hope it was just an off day for me, one of those scattered days that you really don't get a lot accomplished, but it feels as if you have been running at 10,000 rpm, while in neutral. So, I had started thinking about a post for today, then I got distracted. Then I started to think about another post for today...this is what you are getting - me rambling on, but, at least I gave you sentences. Shit I hope this settles down otherwise I don't think I will be wanting to take these - I'll be a perky whirling dervish!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A friend made me go out walking with her in the cold Monday night and these are a couple of the photos I took along the way. As it was cold and I didn't have the tripod, they are a bit blurry, but they are the best of the shots.


House across from the complex, that did such a good job a Halloween.


Next block over, they filled the yard and fence and trees, too bad it is so blurry, those are nutcrackers with lights in them on the fence posts.


Love the colour of the blue tree, but the inadvertent streak off in the top right corner - looks like a UFO.


Have a good day all!

Well, so much for that

I was composing a post in my head yesterday morning - never a good place for me to store much of anything. It started something like: woke up late, whine, whine, cold waiting for the bus, whine, whine.

Then, while I was on the bus, I was reading posts on my phone and read about fellow blogger Travis Erwin's tragedy on Sunday. It puts things into perspective. It didn't relieve me of the cranky mood I woke up in, but, it did remind me that my troubles are not all that large.

Of course, later when I got home and was reading more blogs (my battery died) I find out my sister has been sick for days! (and yes, after I typed that, I got up and put my phone on the charger)

So much for whining yesterday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is a new day :)

So this month is the month for all the tests to make sure I am still in the land of the living and cancer free. I have to make an appointment to get my blood drawn and my tatas squished. I have to make an appointment to get a pretty new sleeve for my arm, to keep the swelling down.
I also get to go and have the worst test done - the one where they shove a camera up your colon.

That was part of why I was cranky yesterday. I had the appointment for my physical. The Dr's office, when they phoned to give me the appointment, told me 09.00. I bust my butt to get there, only to have the girl at the front desk tell me the appt is for 09.20 - wtf! Then she hands me a sheaf of papers and asks me to fill them out. It is a medical history form! Hello? I've been coming to this office for 5 years! What is the purpose of this?

As I said, I was cranky, so I underlined all of the typos and spelling mistakes and erroneous words. They want me to "enlist" all of the drugs I am on... in what? the Navy? After I did this I realized that my Dr. (who is German) may have been the one that wrote up the form, but still, his staff should have caught it!

So, I asked my Dr what was the purpose of the form..."well, you may have had a surgery, or seen another Dr and been put on a prescription that isn't in our files"... and if I hadn't told you about them, then I would be a complete idiot, thank you!

So, I need to make phone calls and set up more appts today. I will make a post at the end of the month and let you all know how things are going. Well, before then if I hear anything.

I'll post about other stuff in the meantime. I'm going to try to post more often. But, then again the road to hell - you know.

Have a good day all!