Mark Cullen

If you are into gardening, please check out Mark Cullen's garden site for great Canadian tips. Lynn and Val went to one of his talks in Trail and totally enjoyed all he had to say.Check out the info under his Gardening Guide and particularly, the garden planner that you can download.

Brenda's Fruit Streudal

We had a nice hen session at Connie's on Thursday...always a blast of laughter,that is for sure. So a few people enjoyed the Fruit Streudal I brought...and thanks Zelda for inquiring about it. A person has to scroll down on the right hand sidebar until you pass the photo section, then you will arrive at the recipe section which is arranged under alphabetical order.Click on the recipe entitled "Brenda's Fruit Streudal" and you will find the recipe on that page as you scroll down. Any probs, and we can work it out through email...give me a call.
Hope that clarifies things! Or you can click on the streudal links I have underscored...
Thank you for it being Saturday today!
by the time I shopped for groceries last night and came home and cooked up my fishy wishy, I was tired. I still putzed around on the computer...till I found the Funny Video of a four guys on a tread mill...doing some tricky treading. I don't know if that was the one Z. was talking about,but this one is pretty good. Click here toTake a look!

So the other very neat thing to download if you have an Itunes account, is the phenomenol performance of Celine and Elvis on the American Idol Gives back show on Wednesday night. For $2.98, it is a piece of technological history worth keeping. Open your Itunes program, click on Itunes store and check the available downloads to find the Celine and Elvis performance... I couldn't find it by googling Itunes store...funny eh?

So have a good week-end. We are expecting John and Ronda today...so lots of food, fun and festivity...

"The Creator"

Happy Belated Birthday Virginia!

39 and holdin' You look great Virginia...and it looks like a fun night out with your friends!
Cheers everyone.....
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, this cutie is sucking up the noodles!
Thanks for passing the pics along... Mom and daughter look alike with that blonde hair...Very sweet!

"The Creator"

Train Derailment in Trail

Lawrence and Lori's neighbour,Bob took these photos today,before the engineer was discovered dead. The other two workers jumped free of the train.
And I was just thinking the other night, that the train passing by our house at 3:00 in the am, sounded very loud and squeely as it rounded the corner..it gives me the "Kreeps!"

"The Creator"

Some garden pics.../Newly Painted Store!

I started at the top of the flower bed where I could see some semblance of growth that wasn't all weeds
The Lavender Heather is in full bloom. I planted my two new heathers near by,in hopes they grow just as big.
This is on the outside of the fence. I salvaged a poppy or two and many globe primulas, but had to quit when I reached that knot of grass at the top of the photo. Any diggers out there???
The swallows have returned from Capistrano...and are back to their old house. I was hoping a pair of bluebirds would move in, but no luck so far...even if they have visited us two week-ends in row.
Talk about Margarita green...Not bad for bright! The jewellery looks fab against the new walls, and check those shiny refinished hardwood floors! Better yet, drop in and take a boo.

"The Creator"

Good Garden Week-end/ Pork All in one dinner.

This is what your All in One dinner will look like ,before it goes into the oven, after it comes out of the oven and before it goes into the fridge...Ha-ha... I have to say the dinner tastes better than its brown gravy looks in a picture. Maybe one could add some bright veggies to give it some colour! Dinner recipe at end of post...scroll down...

We couldn't call it a heat wave, but it wasn't raining. It was pleasant enough to get our tails outside and dig into the garden. Lets say I was the one digging in! At first I thought there was no hope for my flower bed along the fence. It was over-run with grass and the worst section was a chunk that I couldn't face last year. In fact I took out half of the matt of morning primroses last year, but couldn't face finish removing them, thereby leaving a good six foot run still suffering from that wild perrenial that went crazy on me. The roots were in a thick knotty mat over five inches thick from fence to border. I took the pitchfork to them and wiggled and jiggled and hunked off a chunk at a time until I removed the whole lot of them.
Voila! Reclaimed flowergarden.
By then I had snippets of "good" plants from iris to bleeding heart and globe primulas that needed to be replanted. It helped fill in a few holes in the now barren chunk of flower bed.

I made it all the way down to the lilac tree and only severed two roots of the peony! In the end , I even got some of the outside of the fence dug up and did move to a point whereby I could plant my sweet-peas. That was the point of the whole exercise. I accomplished what I set out to do, and even a little more. I stuck in a few marigolds and then some Cosmos on the outside of the fence and even some radishes inside the garden.
By the time I finished, around seven tonight, I was pooped out, but feeling good at what I got done. Silk and I took a walk on the beach while my dinner cooked.

Emil's mom often made this quick dinner that I made tonight.

Save-On had big trays of pork sirloin steaks on sale. They are perfect for this rather quick dinner.You need :

Pork steaks...they are large but tasty . (I can eat one by myself. )
an onion chopped in a large dice
a can of mushroom soup
a can of button mushrooms or sliced mushrooms
Potatoes peeled and quartered lengthwise for however many you are feeding ( 4)
salt and pepper
A mushroom or brown gravy mix
Pam and a little oil to brown the steaks in.

Preheat the oven to 350*

Salt and pepper your steaks and spray your fry pan with Pam and add a little oil so the steaks don't stick. Pop them in the hot fry pan and brown each side until golden. In the meantime, get a nice pyrex casserole dish ( 9x13) ready by Pamming it. Then chop up a good sized onion into a large dice. Open a can of button mushrooms. Don't drain. Open a can of mushroom soup. Find yourself a package of gravy mix.
Once the steaks are browned on both sides, you can remove them and lay them in one layer in the bottom of the pyrex or casserole dish.
Now toss the onions into the hot frypan with the brownings from the pork.
Saute them...stirring until they are soft.
Add the can of mushrooms, including the juice.
Add the can of mushroom soup.
Stir with a whisk to mix in the mushroom soup as best you can... don't worry if a few lumps remain. Mix your gravy mix according to directions ( stir into a cup of water or a less) and add the mushroom soupy mixture.
Stir to cook the gravy a bit, then dump the whole works over top of the browned steaks in your pyrex dish. Top evenly with quartered (lengthwise) potatoes , so that they are submerged in the soupy mix if possible.( Salt and pepper the spuds). Cover with a sheet of tinfoil, then pop into your hot oven and bake at 350* for about 45 minutes. It will smell so good when you are baking it, that you will be sitting at the table waiting for the dish to come out of the oven! Be careful when you remove the tinfoil, as the steam that escapes could burn you!
Enjoy!..I did!
"The Creator"

Digital Scrapbooking at the Digital Scrapbook Place! Computer Scrapping is the hottest new way to preserve your memories!

Digital Scrapbooking at the Digital Scrapbook Place! Computer Scrapping is the hottest new way to preserve your memories!
If you like Scrapbooking, perhaps you'd like to try "Digital Scrapbooking" .

Spring is in the air...

Yeppers, this is what Calgarians woke up to this morning...I promise I won't complain about rain anymore! Thanks Denise for putting us in our place....our non-snowy place! Look who is down at the ranch!!! A couple of newcomers to Joyce and Morgan's ranch!

Great new smile there, Morgan! Nice new choppers! I hear they are almost broken in now...not from biting the dog either!
Now ,this is how we celebrate spring up here in Harroponia! Coffee in the hot-tub, first thing Saturday morning...
And if you are Co-Co...this is how you celebrate a warm spring day!
Last but not least...Happy Birthday to Mataya... She is heading off to Dollywood to work in a Pottery
for the summer. Good Luck Birthday Girl!

"The Creator"

Tuesday-Schnoozeday

Lynn came over on Saturday and we had our little birthday celebration in honour of her 58th!
Cheers Lynn...my older cousin!!!!!

We were lucky enough to catch more than one glimpse of this strikingly beautiful Bluebird and it's mate on Saturday. Funny thing, is that in my bird book, the bluebirds were here in 2004 only one day earlier... Amazing!

Lynn and Lynn and Co-Co
The weather was less thatn wonderful,s o we took a drive down to neighbour Lynn's new Garden shop...What a pleasant surprise. She has an excellent choice of clematis, dahlias, lillies, beautiful grasses, and some very interesting special plants. We bought the cute little heathers that come in three varieties, including a yellow one that is striking! So drop out to Harrop...first left after the ferry, and on the left. Look for the green shed with the Erindale Gardens sign on the fence...Open all day!

We loaded up on plants!

Lynn having her strawberry shortcake on a cranberry scone... Happy B-Day and it was a nice week-end to visit! Lynn helped me in my front garden on Sunday before she left. Thanks Lynn-I appreciate your enthusiasm!
After Lynn left, I took my gardening tools to my big garden and almost had a cry. It is overwhelmed with crab grass and trees that have outgrown their space. Need an evergreen? I have a beautiful pine that will probably grow to a hundred feet. It already has at least ten or twelve feet already grown! Then there is a blue spruce that has to go, as well as countless others. My garden needs to be cut in half with the top part made into a little park. Any landscapers out there? Any one who loves digging? Help!Pond builders?

Okey kiddos...so much happening here...Joyce left for Rupert this morning... I hope she got out as it was pouring cats and dogs at my place at 9:00am. In town, it was improved. Happy Birthday to little Jamie who turned two! Nice when they will live closer!
Arlene called this morning to say that Uncle John Kazakov passed away at the wonderful age of 92. He was a sweet fellow with so many stories to tell and such a great way with words. Remind me to rewrite one of his letters on the blog...they were delightful! he left me with a lot of good memories of a man whom I only came to know better after the late nineties. Mainly it was because he lived in the States and wasn't in our lives for many years. However, the fact remains, that he was a step brother to my mom, Pauline, and his sister Mary (nee Cheveldave), married my mom's brother who was a Tamelin, thus I ended up with two Auntie Mary's...one a sister and one a step-sister to my mom. It was always a little confusing to me as a kid, but eventually it cleared up!
And last but not least, Emil did something to his back and is in serious agony, trying to sleep it off. It struck suddenly, on his way home and he has been in pain ever since. i might be carting him off to the doc, if he doesn't improve after the pain killers!







"The Creator"

paraskevidekatriaphobia

tHAT WOULD BE FEAR OF fRIDAY THE 13th... hmmmm...my font came out a little weird...I didn't really come across any black cats today, nor was I forced to walk under a ladder, and thankfully, no mirrors broke,even when I looked in them!!
Wow!
I am eating that lo-carb Orville R. popcorn that tastes like chunks of cardboard until you doctor it up a bit... .. drizzle on a blend of 1 scoop of brown sugar and a dollop of whipping cream that has been nuked for a minute and voila....a treat worth writing a blog about...
Silk is waiting at my chair for handouts, but she only gets the popcorn that missed the caromel bath. I am drinking a Perrier water that Emil brought home from a recent air trip...Yum-yum...no wonder Carolyne's sister has one as an after dinner drink...Aqua con gaz... I drank so much of it in Peru, once I realized normal water made me ill. You could buy it by the litres down there...
I guess that Club Soda is the same as a Perrier, but it just doesn't taste the same! How come?????

A big thank-you to Neil an Jim for stopping up at Kolmel's to meet Sonia's mom and to select some fun pieces for their significent others! Nice to meet you fellows -Always interesting to actually meet the peops that tune into my blog...thanks for your readership (to all)!

So. it was a busy week at work, hence the lack of being on the blog... I went for groceries after work last night and by the time I arrived home it was 8:00 and then after unloading the grub, I decided to clean out the fridge and before I knew it ,it was 9:00 and I was starved and I still had a bag of produce to figure out what to do with. The good news is that I cooked up a bucnch of ribs that I bought at Super Store. They were the long strips that are the left overs after the breast part is cut off ( the rack of ribs) . I chopped the strips into riblets, and coated them with Costco bought chopped garlic , some Lawreys non MSG seasoning salt and some Garlic Plus seasoning ( from Costco) , and some black bean with garlic sauce and then lime juice squeezed all over them. I tossed them into a big tupperware to season them all, then threw them into a broiler pan ( without the rack) that I had sprayed with PAM and lined with Parchment Paper. No need to PAM the PArchment... just toss in the ribs. Grind on some of that Kirkland Sea Salt from Costco for a nice touch. I roasted them at 350* for an hour and a half ...tossing them around every half hour or so until they were all golden brown. At this point you can use them for sweet and sour ribs , or just eat them the way they are.

Lynn is coming out tomorrow,so I thought I would make some Chinese food. I will forego the sweet and sours and just do the ribs and also some dry roasted wings. We will celebrate her birthday with a birthday dinner... Now what about desert?

We had a wonderful ham dinner over at Dick and Anne's tonight and she made a lovely blueberry pie for desert. It was my first ever blueberry pie, and perhaps the most perfect berry pie ever...not too thick, not too thin , and a crust to die for. She adds a teaspoon...or was that a tablespoon of baking powder to each pie crust pie that she builds. Her crust is enviable and delicious and maybe the best piecrust I have had! One thing about Anne...she is a great cook!
Dick showed his National Geographic quality film of their trip down to Mexico where they camped with Lynn and Rick at Penasco. It looked to be awesomely warm and delightfully full of white herons and pelicans and gulls. They travelled back up to Joshua Tree Park California,and on over to Montecino and Santa Barbara and Monterey, before heading back home to the mega snow of Harroponia.
I'd say that if you have some retirement time on your hands and a month or more to explore, you could follow in their footsreps for a beautiful holiday. The Aquarium in Monteray was incredible...

Ok. Back to reality.
it is half past my bedtime...Lynn is due to arrive in the morning...also some lady interested in Emil's tin boat....
I better take out the wings to thaw for tomorrow night's dinner.

Just a little side note to say the Loreen, my cousin. Lorne's daughter, was in the store the other day. It is always an adventure to chat with her... She was writing her final exam in Golf management up at Selkirk, in preparation for a trip to Morocco to manage a golf course there.!!!
You heard me... and if you do a few google searches ,you'll discover that Golf and Morocco go hand in hand! Meanwhile her daughter, Nicole, (age 19) will be in Kenya ,working at an orphanage for her second year...at the same time. Nicole just spoke at the opening of a seminar in Vancouver,that the noted Canadian and Humanitarium, Stephen Louis, was the key speaker. He is devoted to the issue surrounding HIV/AIDs and the orphaned children of Africa.

Loreen's fifteen minute visit to the store made me feel like grass was growing under my feet as I stood there!!!!!
Kudos to her and her daughter for taking on the world!

Joyce stopped in to say hello with her new "Doo" Looked great Joyce ! She is off to Rupert to see the kidlets and celebrate little Jamie's birthday. My goodness...we were all in Edmonton at her baptism, at this time last year! My how time flys.

Carolyne gave me a copy of her "Biodynamic Gardening Calendar... today, in hopes that I'll read up on it and get my garden planted on time...and Joyce gave me some Lucifer plants today to set into the ground...Thank-you Joyce! I'll get on that in the morning! ( but only if it is recommended in the calender!)

Speaking of plants, Lynn from down the street opened her new gardening store today..right in her shed! Erindale Road Nurseries . Way to go Lynn! We'll be down to see what you have...japanese maples and dahlias...Yum!



"The Creator"

Happy Birthday Lynn!

Wishing Lynn a very Happy Birthday today! Her and I will celebrate next week-end...Whahhoooo...Party-On in the Hot-tub!
"The Creator"

Commercial Commodity Unbundling Program and Stable Rate Option for Residential Customers

Commercial Commodity Unbundling Program and Stable Rate Option for Residential Customers
Listen up gang...In less than a month you will be asked if you wish to purchase your natural gas from a gas Marketer instead of Teresen gas... thus, in order to make an informed decision, you must become an instant specialist in projecting gas prices over the next five years, cause that is how long you will be able to lock into a fixed price that you pay for your Natural gas...if you purchase it from a Natural Gas marketer. The list of Marketers are on this web page above.
For a list of FAQ's provided by Teresen gas... read up about it here.
Perhaps, someone who has moved here from Ontario will have some experience regarding buying gas, as they have had this option since the early nineties. in fact , I ,myself , went to a job fair once , in Quebec or Ottawa and this is precisely what the position was....to go door-to-door to market natural gas to the locals. Half the people in the room, left in disgust, because the pay was of course related to the amount of customers you drummed up...much like selling Amway or Fuller Brushes.

The head honchos at the job fair had many maps showing pipelines and had an explanation for how they could supply gas better than their opponents. Well, maybe they could. The CARP website I pointed to a few weeks ago has a preferred Natural gas supplier that saved their customers 136%...so I will be contacting CARP to see if they have any preferred suppliers out west for their members.... I'll keep you posted!

Happy Easter Sunday

Moi and Emil and Annette after the first course!

Janice , Ed, Gord, linda nd Elli...

Emil and moi and Annette on Janice and Gord's beach soaking up the rays

Janice and Gord...with the Balfour narrows behind them

Miss Sunshine herself!

Yoo-hoo...We had a wonderful day on Easter Sunday once we all got up and got mobilized. Emil had made reservations over at the Balfour Golf Club for Sunday brunch...along with Janice and gord and Ed and Linda and Peter and Elli... My oh my...what a feast they put on. The Golf Course has hired a new General Manager and two new chefs...The chefs are from the college and one is a pastry chef...Yum-Yum. He had every pastry from danishes to big fat cinnabuns to muffins and cakes and pecan pie! The whole setup was done up right and the selection of foods were awesome...Eggs benny, Ham, hash browns, pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausages, cold cuts, salads, pickles, buns, fresh fruits, ice cream, fruit mousse, tortes, fried bananas, & creme brullee! Lets just say that if they keep up the good work, it will be a full house every week-end! Perfect for getting a good bang for the buck, because your coffees and orange juice were all included, and the service was excellent for the amount of people being seated. I would highly recommend it!


After lunch, we stopped off at Gord and Janice's for beer in the sunshine, on the beach...felt like summer. Gord even flew his kite for a bit before it tangled in the dead birches... It was a picture perfect day for spending with Annette before she had to end her vacation with us.!





When we returned home, no-one could hardly move...too much food!


Emil was first to get mobilized, then me...We brought down a load of manure from out in the front yard to the garden. I raked up a little patch of the fresh tilled garden and dug in some manure and then planted my strawberry plants. Morgan also brought me straw and I was able to surround my four new rows of strawberries with straw. It looks magnificent.


Then it rained last night and today. With any luck, that will give the strawberries a good start!Yea!
Oh yes, I have to mention that Annette ,our Easter bunny, brought Joyce and I a set of firefly solar lights for the garden! These are the cutest...about five 2"long fireflies on bendable wire stems that shoot upwards about 15"out of a weighted fake rock...They absorb the sun's power by day and by night they flick on and off ,just like a real firefly... awesome! Thanks, Annette! I hope they scare the deer away!








"The Creator"

Maddie's real birthday Party!

Nothing like having several birthday celebrations to turn nine! Click on the new web album of her birthday to see her and all of her friends! They even got into a game of Nosica Nosica to finish off their birthday party!

"The Creator"

Happy Easter Egg Everyone!

Auntie Joyce and Annette!
Thats the boat of pyrogies being passed around..Yum

Who's egg is smashed...???? Annettes! Booh-hoo


Emil Lost to Joyce

And the winner is....Moi!




Janice and Ed and Linda rode their bikes over for an afternoon "Destination Location" Visit...a Beer in the sunshine was good for and afternoon break!


Still sunny on our back deck at 6:30pm...when J&M arrived... they brought me a load of manure and 3 bales of straw...sort of slowed them down a bit!


And who are these fine looking love birds?

Annette with her new bling from Kolmels!


My phyllo apple pie thing


Colouring eggs after Annette and Emil got back from their little trip south of the border...YES...she brought me a Peter Paul Almond Joy chocolate bar...Yummy!




Its been a great week with Annette here for a visit...She and her dad had a few days together, and now it is my turn for the week-end! Thursday night we coloured eggs for our game of Nosica Nosica and yesterday we played the game after dinner... TA-DA...My two eggstra-special eggs were the winners! Annette brought Purdy's chocolates for everyone to share for the prize...so those were awesome! Joyce and Moargan joined us for our ham/scallopped potatoes and pyrogy dinner which was a little late...but delicious in any case...Joyce brought out a desert of raspberries in jello atop a cream cheese and Eagle-brand milk topping that sat on a graham wafer crust...Yummy and I made a lemon merengue pie and an apple something or other in phyllo dough!


Disaster struck when I tried to whip the cream in my C02 Dispenser. I guess the lid wasn't on tight enough to begin with and then some of the C02 leaked out when I tried to put that cartridge in, so the cream wouldn't shake up to whipped stage. Then I decided to add anothter C02 cartridge and thats when all hell broke loose...Too much C02!!! WAY TOO MUCH!




The cream was puffing out from beneath the lid and I finally squirted it all into a bowl to salvage as much as possible. By now whipped cream was everywhere! Such delicious fun! Oh well, we all ate desert topped by semi-whipped cream! And I was telling Joyce how simple it was to whip cream this way! yeah!

Time to go play outside in the sunshine!












"The Creator"

Small List of affected Cat and Dog Foods

Here is a list of Cat Foods from Eukanuba and Iams of their foods that have been pulled off the shelves. pets are still getting sick and reportedly thousands have died from eating food poisoned by Melamine. Foods affected are mostly from Menu foods, and involve wet foods with names like "Cuts and Gravies".
Hills (Known as Science Diet) also has been affected by this same poison found in the wheat gluten used to thicken the gravies. The other list of dates and foods can be found at the Menufoods.com site at their recall page. By now,stores should have all the bad products off their shelves, so check your cupboard for any older stock from late last year. FAQ's about the recall can be found here...
A list from Menu foods with the dates on the cans can be found here.
In other words, if your cat isn't sick or dead yet, it was shear luck that you never fed it those kinds of foods! A comprehensive list seems hard to find in one piece of dialog on the internet, even though the media just says to go to Menufoods. com and check under recall.

It will take a little homework...but good luck and don't be like the Ottawa woman who tasted the cat food to help the cat eat it... I surely hope that wasn't our dear friend Jean with her cat, Bea-Bea!

Virtual Hairstylist - iVillage

Virtual Hairstylist - iVillage
You can have a little fun at this website without regeristering, and it gives you a few tips on hairstyles to suit your face shape. Have Fun!

Cookin' with GMA from WCHS-TV8

Cookin' with GMA from WCHS-TV8
Check the sidebar of this link for hundreds of recipes that you might of seen on Good Morning America...My mouth is watering, but I better go to bed... The Pie recipes look great!

Hoffman Canada Home Page

Hoffman Canada Home Page
Have Issues? Have Burnout? too much Stress? Maybe a look-see into the Hoffman Process will be of some help to you. An advocate of the Process talked about it today at work and firmly believed it could help most people... Has anyone else heard or dealt with it? Apparrently a lot of pent up anger can stem from early childhood memories of abuse . It sounds like this Hoffman process can help heal the wounds of childhood. Dates to attend are coming up in May in Calgary...very interesting....

How was your April Fools Day?

I guess I had at least one person fooled yesterday...but the Express newspaper had more people irate than me! They called the paper REGRESS and on the front page showed a photo of Nelson's Baker Street all cobblestoned....the caption read "Nelson gets Stoned"! too funny...as Nelsonites are by the most part stoned anyhow! A lady came into the store,and took one look at the photo in the newspaper and did a big "Hrumph" and said..."Nelson has more important things to take care of, than to be spending money on cobblestone streets!"
Had she read the article, she would have seen that the proposal was to close the street to all but foot traffic and to get a McDonalds...but they would keep the golden "M's" to a maximum height of 18 feet, so as to be not too invasive.
It was a good article to show what Nelson strives not to be, however, the stoned part isn't far off the mark!
Ok...time to get ready to go into that fair city and go to work. My bosses are back with lots of new goodies...I'll be in tagging mode to get a bunch of it ready for sale.
Also, Annette comes today...yahooooooooo... and we are supposed to BBQ.

It snowed out last night!

That was after we had a nice fire on the beach yesterday afternoon over at Bill's. The wind gusts were freezing, but the fire was huge and kept us cozy. We even roasted some hot-dogs and called it dinner after a desert of carrot cake that Bill's daughter brought out. Bill was his best ever since his surgery. It was good to see him in great spirits...and hungry! He ate 2 bowls of soup while we enjoyed the dogs and a beer.
okey dokey...time to get this roadshow on the road... Happy Monday everyone!

IT IS APRIL! WOW...


"The Creator"