April 16, 2005

  • Well, hasn’t it been a long time. I knew it was a while, but not this long! Things have really changed since my last entry. I was writing that Kevin was recently arrived in Afgahnistan, that was forever ago.  If any of my old buds from my posting days read this, please give me a link to the boards. A few months back my computer self destructed, and I lost everything on it. Thanks.

August 11, 2004

  • Thanks for the comments! I got an interesting email from Kevin this morning, I’ll post it here. :)



    Went into the centre of the city for the first time today on mission.  It is the wierdest place I could even imagine.  Most of the people were really friendly but we got a few middle fingers and one kid pretended to fire an RPG at us, which was different because the kid was about 5. 


    They have markets everywhere with gutted animals for sale in the open swarming with flys, not very hygenic, but I guess its how they like it.  We also saw a kid who looked about 5 or 6 carrying an Ak-47 down the street, which was a first for me. 


    This picture is of us on patrol today, driving past the Kabul river which is sorta like the LA river, no water, but has more mud and wrecks of Soviet tanks in it from the 80s.


     

August 10, 2004

  • Here is a cool picture that Kevin sent today, of him and a little Afghani lad.



    He has sent several pictures over the past few days, but this is my favourite. I’ve already sent it to most people in my address book, lol!

July 26, 2004


  • Today I said goodbye to my #1 son, Kevin. He had been home on leave since Canada Day. How can twenty five days possibly pass in a minute and a half?! It was a bit harder than usual to say goodbye as he is leaving in a week for Afgahnistan. It will be a six month tour, but he will be home again for leave in September. Silly eh? The reason he’ll get leave so soon is because he said he didn’t have a preference for when he took his. Of course they have to stagger the leave dates as there are so many hundreds of them going over.


    He is so very glad to be going on this tour. He has worked hard for it. There have been months and months of training and testing for the spots. Many many were refused when they didn’t make the grade. I know how much he wants this, and I am proud of him. But DAMN, could it have hurt him to fail at the testing for this??? After all, it didn’t bother him when he failed Grade 11 math and had to go to summer school. Ok, that was my mother side whining. Now I’ll just be happy for him, and proud of him and no more being a baby.


    He has his girlfriend Jill here too and she is having a hard time dealing with him going over. I bet you he comes home with a ring for her. They have only been together as a couple for the past year, before that it was best friends since they were sixteen. She has a son who is a sweetie, she’s such a good mom! He and Davino are great friends. So Davino could become his uncle, lol! Of course that would make me his Grandma. :) I know Steve is old enough to be a Grandpa, but me, a Grandma? Ok, ok, so I’m plenty old enough. When I have kids that are the same age as my possible future grandson, it just seems funny.


    While he was home, Kevin and Jill took our three youngest camping. They had her son, age 5. They had my son, age 5. Plus my girls, age 4 and 3. I guess people gave them some funny looks. Jill is 21 but she looks about 17. Imagine what people thought when they saw this young couple with four little kids, lol!! I am surprise nobody tossed condoms into their tent. Anyhow, I thought they were brave in taking them all. Especially taking the girls, as their behaviours can be quite difficult. They all had a fantastic time, and Kevin and Jill had no troubles dealing with the kids. I have to say, Steve and I had the quietest four days we’ve had in a looong time!


    Scott has taken up the guitar. It was his birthday this month and we gave him a guitar and lessons. The lessons were a week long, going every day. He loved it!! Of course he is begging for an electric guitar and amp now. We’ve got him signed up to start weekly lessons in September. On his acoustic guitar! You know, if anyone is considering getting their son or daughter started on an intstrument, I highly recommend the guitar. Even when he didn’t have a clue how to play it still sounded good. Unlike the saxaphone, clairinet or violin. :)


    We had a darling little one year old boy staying with us who went home on Friday. We all miss him, he is a doll. I hope to take a bit of a break now, and not add anyone new to the family for a while. There is quite a bit going on here, and I don’t want to totally stress myself out. There are going to be some big changes to our family makeup that will be hard on us all.


    We are redoing the front yard. Next year will be the back. We had five gigantic trees cut down, pines that were over 100 feet tall. I swore I would never cut them down, but they are gone. We still have five, I think it’s five big trees left.Two pine and two (or three, I’d look to see for sure but it’s dark out) arbutus. Now at least we get sunshine in the back yard. Something we didn’t get before with all the trees. Now I can plan a garden back there. If anyone knows of good places online for getting ideas for landscaping, I’d appreciate the links. How is that for cocky, assuming someone will actually read this after I’ve basically disappeared for the past how many months!

May 27, 2004

May 6, 2004

March 10, 2004

  • This is for our friends and family that reside off Vancouver Island. We understand that you have had some fairly wicked winter storms in Eastern Canada, Central Canada and in Alberta and Saskatchewan. We feel your pain and see the need to share winter storm stories with you.

     

    Actually, I don’t quite understand why your storms get all the news coverage. We here also had a wicked storm pass through. Was it country wide news? No! For some reason it appears the rest of the country doesn’t care about our suffering.

     

    Collectively, we will all be stronger if we share. Attached is a photo of the damage from the terrible coastal storm that passed through Vancouver Island late in Jan. 2004. You know the one – people huddled at home and most schools got cancelled. It really makes you cherish what you have, and reminds us not to take life for granted.

     

    Winter Storm Damage On Vancouver Island

     

     

     

February 5, 2004

  • Take this simple vision test – an early test for cataracts that is simple to do and it’s actually fun to take!


    Remember, cataracts know no age boundary; young and old can have this  “preventable” eye disease. When you’ve finished, share with those you care about!


     http://home.mn.rr.com/t1camp1/Focus.swf


     

January 26, 2004


  •                             CAN YOU DO THIS? 



     



    Take your time and see if you can read each line aloud without a mistake.



                                          The average person can’t.



     




    This is this cat



    This is is cat



    This is how cat



    This is to cat



    This is keep cat



    This is a cat



    This is dumbass cat



    This is busy cat



    This is for cat



    This is forty cat



    This is seconds cat



     



    Now go back and read the THIRD word in each line from the top down



     



     



     



    Hey, don’t get ticked at me, I fell for it too!


     


    We are getting a puppy.  Steve and I both grew  up with dogs. Scott loves dogs, everywhere he goes dogs gravitate to him. As soon as they see him their tales start wagging!


    Our dog Montana was a Shepard X Collie. She was a great pet, but a couple years back she bit a lady who had come to the door. It was totally unprovoked. I had just opened the door to her when Montana ran by me and clamped on to her leg.  I know that she felt threatened for some reason, or that we were threatened. We did not feel we could keep her after that, seeing we have a house full of kids and strangers coming by regularly. It was so heartbreaking… 


    Now we are ready for a new dog, but this time we are going small. My friend breeds little fluff balls, and she has a litter that is eight weeks old. We are taking the kids out to see them tonight. There are six puppies, two males and four females.  Two of the girls are smaller.  They weigh two pounds right now, the rest all weigh right around four. I think I want to pick one of the wee girls, but I suppose that could change once we meet them. The kids are very excited, and so am I.

December 23, 2003

  • Yes, someone does indeed still live here. ;) I wish you all the most happiest of holidays.