Congratulations to Jerry and Angelique

From Angelique:

Ryan Daniel Edward Markin was born on thursday May 22nd at 12:36am. He weighs 7 pounds and is 20 inches. Jerry and I are extremely blessed with our baby boy! And we are so in love with our son! Here are just a few pictures of Ryan that we wanted to share with all of you.

All our love, Angelique and Jerry xo..

"Before you were conceived, I wanted you"
"Before you were born, I loved you"
"Before you were a minute old,
"I would have died for you"
"this is the miracle of life" ~ For Ryan From Mommy and Daddy


Jerry and baby Ryan, their miracle baby

At 7 pounds,he still looks teeny compared to his dad's hand

And just like an angel

Auntie Mary and Uncle PAul, (bless his soul) are so thrilled and proud to have another great grandchild to love. Sadly, Katie isn't here to witness this cute little fellow, but perhaps she passed along her great sense of humour and zest for life that she always had. As Mildred said:"Katie would be bustin' her buttons!"

"The Creator"

And the Thought Plickens

And here is Mr Castlegar Sticky...all dolled up...

Another update... this time from Castlegar Lori:


YOU MUST BE SHOCKED, SAD, CONCERNED AND SOOOO VERY WORRIED....

I WAS TOTALLY DUMBSTRUCK TO HEAR OF THE GOINGS ON IN YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS. I SURE HOPE THIS DOESN'T SPREAD TO CASTLEGAR. WE HAVE HAD SIMILAR EPIDEMICS OF THIS NATURE IN THE PAST............ AND THEY ARE NOT PRETTY. IT CAUSES QUITE THE UPROAR THROUGH OUT THE FAMILY. A HOME AND FAMILY CAN BE VERY DEVASTated AND AFFECTED BY ALL OF THIS....

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I SAW YOUR "STICK", LIMP AS A D*CK WEARING THAT SAD ILL FITTING RAINCOAT. MY GOSH ....... YOU MUST BE QUITE BESIDES YOURSELVES OVER THIS WHOLE ORDEAL. I AM QUITE CONCERNED THAT THE CULPRIT WILL NOT BE CAUGHT BECAUSE I AM ALSO WORRIED ABOUT OUR DICKIE.......ER.... I MEAN "STICKIE". OH MANNNN....I CAN'T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT.

AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE IMAGE I AM SENDING..... OURS DOESN'T HAVE THAT SAD DOWNWARDS LOOK ABOUT HIM , AS YOURS DOES AND HE OFTEN DRESSES UP FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS. HIS MOOD IS QUITE UPRIGHT MOST TIMES AND THE COAT THAT HE SOMETIMES GETS TO WEAR FITS NICELY, ALWAYS A GOOD LENGTH AND LOOKS QUITE COMELY ON HIM . BUT I AM SURE THERE WILL BE THOSE DAYS. I WAS VERY UPSET WHEN I SAW YOURS WEARING THAT ..........THING!!!!

AS FOR HORATIO............HMMMMMMM....... I WOULD BE QUITE CONCERNED OF THE POSITION HE HOLDS IN THE CRIME SCENE WORLD. I HAVE HEARD THAT HE CANNOT ALWAYS BE TRUSTED WITH DNA THAT IS FOUND AT CRIME SITES. I KNOW THAT THERE WAS LARGE STOCK OF RAINCOATS OVER ACROSS THE LAKE ON HEROUX ROAD AT NINE MILE SO YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT ANY MISSING MEMBERS FOR YOURSELF. DON'T GET SUCKED IN........ I ALSO KNOW THAT THERE IS ALWAYS A LARGE TURNOVER OF MEMBERS IN THAT NEIGHBOURHOOD....JUST CHECK WITH THE NEIGHBOURS. BUT BEWARE OF THEM ALSO. (ESPECIALLY THE LITTLE GUY NEXT DOOR TO THE RAINCOAT HOUSE).

KEEP A CLOSE WATCH.... STRANGE THINGS WILL CONTINUE TO OCCUR........ SIMILAR TO THE FAMILY HEIRLOOM..... I THINK YOU WOULD REMEMBER THAT LITTLE...I MEAN....... BIG GUY THAT SEEMS TO POP UP AND WANDER AROUND THE FAMILY LIKE A GHOSTLY APPARATUS........ OOOPS I MEAN........ APPARITION. I AM SORRY.... I KEEP GETTING MY WORDS MIXED UP........ THIS IS JUST ALL SO UPSETTING...

WELL........ TAKE THIS AS A FAIR WARNING ........ KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED........ AND DO NOT TRUST ANYONE..... WITH YOUR DICK-STICK... DIP STICK...... WELL...... YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN....TAKE CARE.

FROM A SISTER IN LAW WHOM CAN BE TRUSTED...SORTA

LORI ANN

So there... Just look at her Dickie..ours is still suffering quite badly and can't seem to rise up to the occasion of sunshine...I might try some eucalyptus oil on it. I'll check it tomorrow morning for improvements.. Meanwhile, no sign of Haratio.

No sooner I said that, and here is the email that 9Mile Phoebe sent:

Seems I should respond to this ongoing tale of intrigue of strange things happening over there and you suggested I should enlighten you about this friend Horatio. Well, last week I would have been able to do so but I'm afraid that it seems something has happened to my dear friend and I can't help but think this is somehow connected to your problems at your house. While he was at the Airport all set to come to our aid up here something terrible has happened to H and it looks like he may have come to a tragic end which is so heartbreaking for me personally.

Now far be it from me to point the finger at anyone else regarding this but you know there are some men that are very jealous of this good looking hunk and I do know that my very special garden-boy thinks that he is disgusting and can hardly stand to look at his face while I'm sitting there drooling.

Yes Bea there have been over the years a lot of strange happenings around here and involving Tennessee...you know, the super ugly old witch, the weiner tree etc. and you're right, things seemed to have moved much further north and if I were you I would definitely look over Vernon way and not Nine Mile for the source of all of our shenanigans.

So Haratio has met his maker, has he... and I still have no word about the DNA from my people, so it may be a mystery that continues until the end of time... or until the next time, whichever happens first. Maybe we'll just bury this with Horatio.

"The Creator"

Creston Wildlife Management Centre

Joyce and her friend took a trip to Creston yesterday and went for a spectacular visit to the Creston Wildlife centre...and look what they got to see ... a mama moose and her baby newborn calf... in fact there were two mother moose on the site. Quite amazing! She mentioned that they also have excursions such as hikes and a one hour canoe trip through the marshes and ponds...sounds wonderful! chalk that up as a thing to do this summer. Arrange ahead of time,as the canoe trips bok up quickley. It is just at the base of the Salmo Creston hill...watch for the signs..





Wooly bear caterpiller (mamoth looking)

Jamie and Ethan on their new trampoline... I want to try that out! Probably snap my knees off!


"The Creator"

And the Lake is Rising

My Mayday tree is in full bloom and looks absolutely beautiful this year... the best yet!
Thanks Correna and Joe!

As you can see, Emil brought his Annie boat back home...plenty of water to moor it in, at our dock right now. Today Emil needed hip waders to go out onto the dock...in a week he'll be swimming for it!

So last week, Silky and I were walking where all this water is.

Not a bad looking boat eh? And the dock looks pretty good too! Emil redid the whole deck of the dock. It is in two tones right now, until the new boards weather a bit, then Emil can stain them brown like the old boards at the front of the dock... All in due time!
everthing in the yard and outdoors is shaping up so nicely since E. retired... he has been working full time on maintenance long over-do. Today he finished up powerwashing the outside of the house... My balcony looks sooooo clean! The spiders will all be looking for new digs!
Okay, it is official, a multi family Street yard sale on May 31st...at least three families and also our neighbour, Lynn at the beginning of Erindale will have her little garden shop open. She has some fabulous deer resistant shrubs and trees...so I bought a couple today...also lots of clamatis, and shrubs like Wageilia...a very nice selection at reasonable rates. Mark it on your calendar and come by for garden stuff and all sorts of treasures and Elli and Pete will have heavy duty truck accessories and mechanical parts in adddition to normal items... see you in a week or two!



"The Creator"

Mystery of the Stick continues...

HRmph... this is apparently what the John and Ronda weather stick looks like. Note how it isn't a limp Stick like ours due to sabatage.

Maybe this letter will shed some light on the mystery...

Hello B.,

Wow, heard all about your "sabotage" last weekend. You must be very devastated to say the least. I'm surprised Silky didn't notice anyone hanging around...? I hope you have success gathering the DNA and the rain that day didn't wash it all away! But... I wanted to let you in on a little secret. My Mom chatted with me the other day and here is our conversation.... if I were you, I'd be a bit suspicious about those people over there at Nine Mile... you know they have all kinds of strange happenings over there...


Mom : " Have you heard about the terrible happenings over at Harrop?"

Ronda : "No"

Mom: " Didn't you read the Blog?"

Ronda: "Oh yeah, I can't understand what happened?"

Mom : "Well no, you couldn't where you live, but I'm worried sick cause we have a Stick too, and I'd hate to think those kinds of people around that would do such a thing...but you know, I have a good friend that could look into this for me and I should tell B. not to worry as he will come to the rescue."

Ronda : " That's a good idea, will probably make them sleep better at night."

Mom : "You may have heard of him... his name is Horatio and he's with an investigation group and I think they should come here and put everyone's minds to rest. "

Ronda: "That would be a wonderful idea... if anyone can get the job done it's "H"!"

Mom : "Until he does, I just don't have a clue... maybe you could shed some light on it, cause when I think about it, maybe you guys saw something when you were recently over there. I've checked on our Stick, and so far, all's well. "

Ronda: "No, we never saw anything unusual as long as you don't count Emil... LOL. But other then that, we saw nothing!!!"

Mom: "I've kinda seen those kinda "raincoats" before. In fact, I remember having a stash around here. Me thinks I should go and take stock... what do you think?"

Ronda: "Good idea, you never know....they may be missing and you might need one for your upcoming 60th anniversary! "

Mom: "Funny, funny!!! "


So, what do you think??? Fishy for sure!!! But I also wanted to let you know that things are pretty quiet here in Vernon and I've sent you a couple of pictures of our "stick" and as you can see, "NO WEATHER PROTECTION IS NEEDED HERE!!!!

Talk soon,
Love Ronda and John


Your mother is a wise woman, Ronda! However, she best let me know a little more about Horatio? Is he disguised as her garden -boy?

"The Creator"

Hole in One!

Ronda did it...She shot a Hole-in-One last week-end when we golfed Balfour... In fact, the clubhouse ought to have this shot hanging on their wall! Like Ronda says..."Don't I win a car or something????"

"The Creator"

Edmonton's Best Meat

Edmonton's Best Meat

Sad to say we don't live in Edmonton to enjoy this fine meat! Last night and tonight, we had the pleasure of eating the tasty steaks and sausages from this Alberta meat supplier...he just happens to be a brother to Lorraine's partner, Pete...who came to Bill's memorial, loaded with fresh meat. The steaks were soooooo delicious last night...cooked on the BBQ and tonight we roasted the sausages over the fire..Yummy! now my tummy is full full full! Thanks Pete, for bringing the meat!
Yes, it is just about a year since our dear neighbour, Bill passed away. The sad thing is that now, that his daughter Deb and her hubby, Ashley, live in the house, we have met more of his immediate family than we did in the nine years prior. The best thing is that they are all very fun friends now, and they have enjoyed Bill's yard and house , like never before. . It is too bad that all this didn't happen when Bill was alive. He was alive , but his house wasn't . Now his house is alive and he isn't here.
As Alanis Morisette would say "

Isn't it Ironic?

Well, we roasted those sausages over the fire with thoughts of you, Bill, tonight. I hope you enjoyed it from somewhere above... we miss you, brother Bill, as Emil called you.
"The Creator"

The Life and Times of Elijah Noah James

The Life and Times of Elijah Noah James
Mataya started a sweet website for Noah... bookmark it and check back often... His grandmas will be!

"The Creator"

Beware of fake Paypal update!

My spam checker picked out a fake email from someone posing as PAyPAl asking you to update your credit info! Don't believe it for a moment! First mistake is that it isn't from Paypal.com.
Mistake number two: It isn't addressed to me by name...just Dear Subscriber...
Lastly, the grammar is very poor. Never update any credit card info unless you at the very lest check those two things. ...then be very leary. Mostly no-one will send an email out of the blue asking you credit card info, so don't get sucked in!

"The Creator"

Happy Anniversary Joyce and Morgan!

Who says they can't still dance up a storm ? And this was taken in the summer at Leah's wedding, just after Joyce had her new knees installed! Congratulations you two "Rock and Rollers!" Happy Anniversary . The question is, which anniversary is it? Maybe number 44?


"The Creator"

Catching up on my neices...

Nadine and little Nolan...Look at how beautiful those blue eyes are!

Kendra helping her mom cut the birthday cake...a beautiful one at that!

And who are these two fashionistas?!! You both look great!

Cute Mackenzie and Kendra.....look at how they have grown!
Thanks for the photos, Lynn and Joyce...
Here's hoping that Lynn made it safely to Her kids in Calgary! It was a beautiful day for a drive!



"The Creator"

Warmest day of 2008!

Can anyone argue with a perfectly sunny day and then a warm evening to boot? Janice came over for the first time since she retired and we all had a big visit, followed by dinner of one half of Emil's nice Dolly...on the BBQ...excellent! Tastes like you are eating a chunk of lobster...it was so fresh! Yum!

Even the moon co-operated!

Where there is smoke, there is fire...but first there was a lot of smoke!


A little wine, but no whine! Check that sunshine! Wow! One of the best days yet!


"The Creator"

My fisherman is Back!

Emil took our neighbour Stan out fishing today and they caught fish...Stan got two and Emil caught this Dolly VArden... Nice eh?

It looks a little like a wolf eel in this photo...about five pounds...nice We'll be putting half onto the BBQ tomorrow night when Janice comes for dinner!

Last night , the clouds broke away and revealed a little glow of sunshine on the mountain peaks...Now I realize that the spruces are growing so tall, that someday in the not too distant future I won't even be able to see the mountains.!

This morning I had a mini invasion of those tiny sugar ants....marching right up onto my counter!!!! Chipotle pepper doesn't deter them, nor does the Swiffer cleaning fluid, but a dose of Ant B gone, seemed to keep them out for the rest of the day. I stopped at Wal-mart and bought the very last two packages of ant traps, and another container of ant killer. Looks like I'll have a little project on my hands this week-end. Make that ANOTHER project!

My plants upstairs are probably dieing as we speak for lack of water... and my doggy woggy needs a bath big time, and all my plants need to be put into the plant pots...and then there is the onions to be planted... Oh my... and this week-end is Bill's one year anniversary since his death. Hard to believe aye? The nice thing is that we have become very good friends with Bill's daughter, Deb and her hubby Ashley and two of their daughters who live at home- Caitlin and Kristen. Caitlin is a good little hairdresser, who trimmed up my hair tonight. Certainly is nice to have a hairdresser living right next door!
Night night... I'll try to get some of Joyce's pics up tomorrow night, of Virginia and family,after her trip to Red Deer... HAve a great Thursday tomorrow...What? Yes, it is supposed to go up to 30*. The lake is supposed to rise 36 inches or so this week. It is back up to the deep end of the dock...Emil's new dock!


"The Creator"

Yahoo! Answers - Home

Yahoo! Answers - Home
Can't find the answer to a question...ask here?

"The Creator"

FFA

The Federal Foreskinsic Agency has been around today to collect DNA evidence. It appears that there is some connection between the balls above and the limp pr*ck stick down below. Someone has tried to protect it from the weather using a pathetic excuse for a raincoat, thus trying to incur further limp pr*ckedness in the weather stick... since the raincoat is far too small. For real protection, it would require a longer raincoat,and not such a droopy affair as seen below. In any case, we have had nothing but lousy weather since the weather stick arrived,and now that it has been sabotaged,we have more rain.

The weather stick is confused.

The balls and the raincoat were dusted for prints and small fragments of DNA. All the evidence is being sent to the crime lab in Nashville Tennessee, where other crimes of a similar nature were committed in past years. Mysteriously, the Nashville occurrences have ceased, but they have picked up in such northern locations as far north as Nelson and Vernon...

If anyone around here has had their stick sabotaged, possibly even with wieners, please let me know...the culprit uses many disguises and modis operandi!

Stay tuned for the reveal , in next week's episode...of the FFA.



"The Creator"

Saturday

we met John and Ronda up at the Balfour golf course Saturday morning, just as a good nor'wester started to blow up. It was cool to start,but in a few holes, after numerous whacks at the old ball, we all warmed up! Above,you see John doing a little fishing on the back nine. It wasn't enough that Ronda's ball hit the drink, but then Emil had to give it the old college try and in he went also,and then Ronda drove another right in...too funny. Meanwhile,I avoided the water but went right into the sand bunker..sad, very sad!

Ronda could smack that ball good!

Back at the house we tried out the new "Toss up " game. The Reeses have another name for it...Bolo? I call it Bongo-Pongo! The idea is to toss those two rubber balls that are joined together, and aim for any one of the three bars on the stand..(about 15 or 20 feet away) If the balls wrap around the top rung, you score 3 points, 2 for the middle rung and 1 for the lowest rung. You play in teams of two to 21.

I confess, that we were better than the above pic demontrates! It was a lot of laughs as we tried every which way to fling the balls on a string.
John prefferred to do a powerful overhand throw so that they would bounce off the grass and up onto the rung above. We had to put a stop it before the balls exploded from stress!Lots of laughs. We'll be practicing up for the party. If anyone has any outdoor games they could contribute for the day,bring them along ,as we will have bocce and horseshoes and this new game to get everyone up and moving around!

Happy Birthday Annette/ Happy Anniversary Lynn and Bob

Happy Birthday Annnette!!!!


Wasn't she adorable as a baby? ...


Look at her now! All growed up into a beautiful woman!

And she is off to Vegas to meet Scott, tomorrow... Happy Birthday Annette and have a great time in Vegas! You lucky dog! Celebrate! How many years now??? Lets see, if my caculations are right...it should #36...and holding! Looking terrific honey!Love you!

Of course, just when I was as big as a house, Lynn and Bob were getting married on the Saturday.. and guess who went into labour and had Annette ? Moi, I missed the whole wedding because one was bound to the hospital for a week...and I even sewed a new dress for the occasion!
So...A big HAppy Anniversary to Lynn and Bob...also celebrating 36 years together...Love ya both! Hope your dinner out at Gabes, was yummy...


"The Creator"

Righteous Annie

Looking up to the Purcells on a perfect day.

We all took turns in our "patch of sunshine"...even Silky!
Emil shut the motor off and we just floated around and listened to the Righteous Brothers! Fabulous!

A new home that was started last year is still being finshed. This is up at Queen's Bay.

Emil put the petal to the metal...and we were off. This is sort of our maiden voyage since Emil had the boat repaired and a new stereo put in...

The Osprey is back in service...it came tooting along just after we left the narrows...whew! I never want to be there at the same time, as now that the water is low, the narows are even narrower!

"The Creator"




Click on the black arrow at the bottom to see a little video of how great the day was..and hear the music!

Twas a gorgeous day in the neighbourhood today...maybe even the finest day we've had this spring. After a bit of work around the house and yard, we took the opportunity to take the Annie out for a cruise. First time,since Emil had a new stereo installed and boy oh boy, was it a blast to cruise to music...It felt like we were back in the Dominican on that catamaran.