04 July 2010
Marsha Puts Up With So Much
04/07/10 06:45
It started early this week. We ran out of Mayonnaise so I wrote Mayo on the shopping list.
But not wanting her to get Miracle Whip I extended that to
Mayo…Mayo
I looked at that for a minute and then wrote on the list for quite a long time.
Mayo…Mayo…
Daylight come and I want to go home
Come mister Mayo Mon Makum me a sandwich
Daylight come and I want to go home
White Bread and roast turkey
I don't want no Manwich
Daylight come and me want to go home
Later on I put added another item.
Ordinary, regular not flavoured, other than chip and salt, regular familiar, two clear bags in a box regular Old Dutch Ripple chips.
You see I wanted to make sure she knew what I wanted.
When Marsha looked at the list. She just shook her head said that was why our shopping lists were so long.
She puts up with a lot from me. She mentioned that I shouldn't put the container back in the freezer with only a tablespoon of ice cream. So a couple of days later I finished the ice cream, washed out and dried the container. Then I put it back in the freezer. In honour of the queens visit let's just say she was not amused.
Speaking of the queen, she is in Canada this week. She's helping to honour the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Canadian Navy. Thursday, Canada Day she was in Ottawa for the celebrations. There were live performances from a number of Canadian bands and artists. That morning we found out that the announcers on the CBC have a very dry sense of humour. At 5:00 we were awoken by the announcement that "Tonight the Queen will be entertained by Bare Naked Ladies". When you're half asleep you don't immediately put it together that it was the BAND The Bare Naked Ladies.
However good things do happen to Marsha. Last week she decided to put in additional strawberry plants. We've enjoyed the ones we have, one or two berries per day has been a nice treat, so why not some more. So she prepped a space in the garden and we set out in search of some strawberries on clearance in the Superstore or Canadian Tire garden section. But first, on the way we decided to stop by Barbara's. Well, two doors down from her place, along the side of the road was a little table with some pots on it and a sign saying Free Strawberry Plants. We stopped and I grabbed them. There were only four but it was a start. After we saw Barbara we were driving back and THEY HAD REFILLED THE TABLE. So Marsha out of pure luck got more strawberries than she needed for free. Even better the plants were so healthy that some even had ripe berries. What are the odds.
But that's how things seem to go here. Dumb luck seems to be the order of the day.
Which brings me to my writing. A week ago I did an outline for a science fiction short story. It's going to be the darkest most cynical, blackest depressing story I've ever done. It should be a lot of fun to write. The trouble is that it's very very hard to write something Orwellian when it's sunny, fresh strawberries come in the door every day, birds are singing, bees are flying from flower to flower, and the cutest newborn fawn just sproinged across the front lawn. It's really hard to get in the right frame of mind when everything is so bloody beautiful and cheery. Now I know why Orwell went to Scotland in the Winter to write 1984. You just can't do it in a place like this.
So things have been going along quite swimmingly for us. Thursday the first was Canada Day, Canadian Independence Day. We both had to work a bit but we got half a day off which was nice. I've finally completed the living room flooring project. Oh sure the floor was in a couple of months ago but I had to dispose of the carpet and padding. The trash won't take a big roll of carpet. Everything has to fit into one bag per week. The option was to stuff the carpet and pad into the pickup truck and haul it to the dump and pay to dispose of it. I said no as I already pay for trash I don't want to pay another $50 for a load. So I cut the carpet up into little pieces. Then each week some of the carpet would go into the trash, there's only two of us so we never seemed to fill up our container anyway. I'd also take some to the various offices and toss them in the trash there. Little by little, piece by piece week after week, I disposed of three rooms (living room, dining room, and we still had some left from the bedroom) of carpet. I kept thinking this was like some weird sequel to the Johnny Cash song "One Piece At A Time". Every week the pile in the garage would shrink a little and Marsha would just sigh and say nothing. But finally this week it's all gone. A triumph of tenacity over, well, common sense probably, but I'll take a victory no matter how trivial. What's even stranger is that I mentioned this saga to my mother and apparently back in the 1960's my dad did the same thing with an old sofa the trash man wouldn't take. Chopped it into little bits and slipped a smidgen into the trash each week for months until it was gone.
I had no idea this was an Aalseth family tradition.
Like I said, Marsha puts up with a lot from me.
Doug & Marsha
Geiger puts up with a lot from me too.
Today we went up to Parksville to Morningstar Farms, a farm/winery/cheese place. There were newborn calves, and goats, and rabbits and chickens. We never actually saw the chickens but the rooster made it's presence known every five minutes or so.
A goat contemplates the possibilities.
Loved the planter.
Parksville did their flower plantings in the form of a giant peacock.
But not wanting her to get Miracle Whip I extended that to
Mayo…Mayo
I looked at that for a minute and then wrote on the list for quite a long time.
Mayo…Mayo…
Daylight come and I want to go home
Come mister Mayo Mon Makum me a sandwich
Daylight come and I want to go home
White Bread and roast turkey
I don't want no Manwich
Daylight come and me want to go home
Later on I put added another item.
Ordinary, regular not flavoured, other than chip and salt, regular familiar, two clear bags in a box regular Old Dutch Ripple chips.
You see I wanted to make sure she knew what I wanted.
When Marsha looked at the list. She just shook her head said that was why our shopping lists were so long.
She puts up with a lot from me. She mentioned that I shouldn't put the container back in the freezer with only a tablespoon of ice cream. So a couple of days later I finished the ice cream, washed out and dried the container. Then I put it back in the freezer. In honour of the queens visit let's just say she was not amused.
Speaking of the queen, she is in Canada this week. She's helping to honour the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Canadian Navy. Thursday, Canada Day she was in Ottawa for the celebrations. There were live performances from a number of Canadian bands and artists. That morning we found out that the announcers on the CBC have a very dry sense of humour. At 5:00 we were awoken by the announcement that "Tonight the Queen will be entertained by Bare Naked Ladies". When you're half asleep you don't immediately put it together that it was the BAND The Bare Naked Ladies.
However good things do happen to Marsha. Last week she decided to put in additional strawberry plants. We've enjoyed the ones we have, one or two berries per day has been a nice treat, so why not some more. So she prepped a space in the garden and we set out in search of some strawberries on clearance in the Superstore or Canadian Tire garden section. But first, on the way we decided to stop by Barbara's. Well, two doors down from her place, along the side of the road was a little table with some pots on it and a sign saying Free Strawberry Plants. We stopped and I grabbed them. There were only four but it was a start. After we saw Barbara we were driving back and THEY HAD REFILLED THE TABLE. So Marsha out of pure luck got more strawberries than she needed for free. Even better the plants were so healthy that some even had ripe berries. What are the odds.
But that's how things seem to go here. Dumb luck seems to be the order of the day.
Which brings me to my writing. A week ago I did an outline for a science fiction short story. It's going to be the darkest most cynical, blackest depressing story I've ever done. It should be a lot of fun to write. The trouble is that it's very very hard to write something Orwellian when it's sunny, fresh strawberries come in the door every day, birds are singing, bees are flying from flower to flower, and the cutest newborn fawn just sproinged across the front lawn. It's really hard to get in the right frame of mind when everything is so bloody beautiful and cheery. Now I know why Orwell went to Scotland in the Winter to write 1984. You just can't do it in a place like this.
So things have been going along quite swimmingly for us. Thursday the first was Canada Day, Canadian Independence Day. We both had to work a bit but we got half a day off which was nice. I've finally completed the living room flooring project. Oh sure the floor was in a couple of months ago but I had to dispose of the carpet and padding. The trash won't take a big roll of carpet. Everything has to fit into one bag per week. The option was to stuff the carpet and pad into the pickup truck and haul it to the dump and pay to dispose of it. I said no as I already pay for trash I don't want to pay another $50 for a load. So I cut the carpet up into little pieces. Then each week some of the carpet would go into the trash, there's only two of us so we never seemed to fill up our container anyway. I'd also take some to the various offices and toss them in the trash there. Little by little, piece by piece week after week, I disposed of three rooms (living room, dining room, and we still had some left from the bedroom) of carpet. I kept thinking this was like some weird sequel to the Johnny Cash song "One Piece At A Time". Every week the pile in the garage would shrink a little and Marsha would just sigh and say nothing. But finally this week it's all gone. A triumph of tenacity over, well, common sense probably, but I'll take a victory no matter how trivial. What's even stranger is that I mentioned this saga to my mother and apparently back in the 1960's my dad did the same thing with an old sofa the trash man wouldn't take. Chopped it into little bits and slipped a smidgen into the trash each week for months until it was gone.
I had no idea this was an Aalseth family tradition.
Like I said, Marsha puts up with a lot from me.
Doug & Marsha
Geiger puts up with a lot from me too.
Today we went up to Parksville to Morningstar Farms, a farm/winery/cheese place. There were newborn calves, and goats, and rabbits and chickens. We never actually saw the chickens but the rooster made it's presence known every five minutes or so.
A goat contemplates the possibilities.
Loved the planter.
Parksville did their flower plantings in the form of a giant peacock.