Return of the Fat Bastard - Overpriced hipster crap.

July 30th, 2016

From our bacony at the Red Lion, Jantzen Beach

      I was up at 7 am blogging like a fiend. We were headed down to Portland and I wanted to get yesterdays blog posted before we headed out. The plan was to be on the road by 10. As they say the best laid plans...... Bro Steve arrived just after 9. I was done with  my blog. As the house came to life one person at a time I was already showered, packed and ready to go. I already had 4 cups of Jo in me and a sesame bagel with cream cheese. I continued to drink Jo and wait. That's my life. I wait. Usually I only have to wait for one woman. Not today my friend. We have Joan staying with us. When I got up at 7 Joan was already showered and coiffed and putting on her face. Bro Steve, Dr Dan and I were in Bro Steve's car. The lovely Lisa was driving Papa Dawg and Joan. By the time we were on the road it was 11. Off we went Bro Steve leading the way. The plan was to cross the border at the truck crossing. Bro Steve, on auto pilot, drove past our turn off so Sumas it was. We made good time until we got about 500 meters from the border. We slowed to a stop until we saw the entrance to the Duty Free we whipped in there and Bro Steve bought some Cuban Cigars and we all used the washroom. It let us cut back into the line 10 cars from the border. The Border Guard saw the guitars in the back seat, the trunk was full of luggage. He asked us 3 or 4 times how much we were being paid. We told him 3 or 4 times we were going to Aunt Olinka's birthday party/house warming. I don't think he believed us but sent us on our way.
      I 5 a ribbon of ashphalt that runs in a straight line from Canada to Mexico. But first we had to get to it. It's an extra half hour to get to I 5 from the Sumas crossing not counting the extra half hour it took to get to Sumas. We did that because we thought it would be quicker than the 60 minute wait  that was posted for the Peace Arch crossing. It was academic anyways.After Bro Steve drove past our exit we were commited. We wound our way through the open fields of northern Washington State. Past the fruit stands selling the last of the seasons cherries and the first of the sweet corn all in the shadow of Mount Baker.
      We stopped in Bellingham for gas and Jo before starting south again. Bro Steve and Dr Dan are good travelling companions. They keep the conversation light and moving, very little about politics and none about religion, two topics that are pretty much guaranteed to create conflict. Instaed we talked about music and family and previous trips. The lovely Lisa and I have travelled extensively with Bro Steve, Prague, Burning Man and Napa to name a few but this was only the second trip I have taken with Dr Dan. The first was an Alaska Cruise with 22 other friends and family but Dr Dan had his hands full with his wife and 3 kids. He's a good guy to be stuck in a car with. Smart and with a good sense of humour. It helps the time go by.
      We stopped at a restaraunt just north of Everett for lunch at a fancy looking joint called Ram.

Pre lunch

Post lunch disappointment

It was not my first choice. I wanted to go to Denny's right across the plaza but that suggestion was met with derision by my car mates. Dr Dan likes the upscale kind of places. The last time he picked a restaraunt we ended up at a chowder house in Yaletown that featured $8 beers, $5 cups of coffee and over priced miniature portions of over cooked seafood. Comparitively speaking, this one sucked. On the bright side the beers were only $7 but my $15.95 basic hamburger was a frozen patty a piece of lettuce and a tomato it was accompanied by a Dixie cup of fries. Dr Dan's said his chicken burger had the texture of chicken paste and was as flavourful as a piece of styrofoam! Joans cobb salad was cobbless and the toast on the lovely Lisa's Rueben sandwich was so badly burnt she had to send it back. When the waiter brought it back half the meat was missing. As we were leaving I said to Joan "We should have went to Denny's."  " I love Denny's. Joe and I used to go the one in Bergenfield New Jersey all the time" Joan said.Joe was Joan's first husband now deceased. I would have liked to have met him. He was a guy my size who loved to laugh. But you can't unring a bell. You just suck it up and try to wash the taste of bitterness, and poorly prepared food out of your mouth. Does that sound petty? I have the same problem with the Keg. Really, I think to myself, I just paid $40 dollars for a steak and you charge me $5 for a freakin potato. I just can't enjoy it. All I can taste is my wasted money. The strange part is, even though Papa Dawg picked up the tab it didn't make me feel any better about it. Maybe it's because I'm Scottish or maybe it's just because I expect to get descent food when I'm putting out $20 for lunch. Back in the car we continued south at a good rate of speed until we hit Seattle (Go Seahawks!!!) where everything came to a grinding halt. It took close to half an hour to get through Seattle on the I 5. You can only stare at the Space Needle for so long. It's like a miniature CN Tower.

      Once we were past Seattle and the giant Boeing compound I reminisced about the numerous tours I did in the Ranier Beer plant we were driving past. Half an hour on the tour of the plant then an hour in the tasting room sucking up ice cold Raaiiiiii- neeeer Beeer. The best beer commercials ever. The Beer Hunter! It's been converted to Condos now. When I was doing standup I worked out of Seattle a lot. My friend Jeff Dittebrandt was the producer and he let me live in my van in his driveway when I didn't have a gig. His wife Marilyn, not so keen on it but came around when she discovered how wonderful I am.
      Slowing down again through Tacoma I recalled seeing the Eagles play in the Tacoma Dome about 40 years ago. That sent Bro Steve on a minor tangent. For some reason Bro Steve does not like the Eagles. It's weird because he's such a great guitar player and the Eagles had so many great riffs in their songs. Oh well, Life in the fastlane I suppose. I would have liked to be in the fast lane but on the I 5 through Tacoma there wasn't one. I was happy to put Tacoma in the rear view and continue south towards Olympia, the state capital.
      We pulled into a rest stop about 40 minutes later for a pee break and to stretch our legs. They had a kiosk there where some service group hands out coffee and cookies by donation. I had no Yankee dollars so I just had a drink of water from the water fountain. Also I still had an AM/PM  Jug "O" Jo. 48 ounces for $2. No wonder I needed a pee break! We spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out what the giant mountain we were headed towards was. Mount St Helens? Mount Hood? Mount Shasta? Still a mystery. As we cruised through Vancouver Washington and onto the Interstate bridge we looked down and there was our hotel. Red Lion Jantzen Beach. Thank God it looked like it was a good one. At $175 a night it should be! It's always a risk when you book a place you've never seen on line. We had a bad experience when we booked a hotel in Miami before our cruise for Mama Lee's 65th birthday. The site said and I quote " A beautiful Art Deco Boutique hotel in the heart of South Beach" The room smelled of mildew and the walls in the bathroom were sweating. Since then I've been much more aware of online bullshit!
      This one is a really nice hotel clean and friendly with beautiful grounds and all the amenities. After we checked in Papa Dawg and Joan went to their room to relax and Dr Dan, Bro Steve, the lovely Lisa and I went for a walk around the hotel.

Bro Steve and the Lovely Lisa

The hotel is situated on Hayden Island and besides the Hotel there are several different condo communities around it. Lots of no Trespassing signs and No street access signs and lots of other signs telling you what to do.

The place just reeks of money and snobbery. Hey, that's what you get for $175 a night. When we got back Joan and Papa Dawg had found the bar and were out on the deck enjoying the view.

Enjoying the view.

      Aunt Olinka wasn't feeling well so she blew us off. Kind of pissed me off. When Dr Dan called her she was surprised we were here. The trip has only been in the works for 2 months and it's her birthday. Her brother, Papa Dawg, who she hasn't seen for a number of years flew all the way from New Jersey and then drove down from Vancouver to see her only to be left in the lurch. That sucks. We had contacted her son Rueben who works for Nike and he was going to meet us after 9. He had a previous commitment. We headed into downtown Portland to Mississippi Ave North. It's where all the restaraunts and bars are. The first place we went to was a pretentious little joint called Quantrelle were you could get a half a chicken for $25. I couldn't do it.

Dr Dan, Joan and $20 cheese plate

I know I wouldn't enjoy it. I had coffee. They ordered drinks, a cheese plate, sardines and a piece of cake $137 without the tip!  When Rueben showed up about 9:30 he ordered a beer and said hello all around. His wife is pregnant with their first child and stayed home.
      After they finished their drinks we walked down the street to a Brewery called Stormbreakers where they had a late night menu that was pretty good and reasonably priced.

I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a bowl of Tomato Bisque for $7. I was finally happy.

The lovely Lisa, Joan, Papa Dawg and I said our goodnights as they were closing down the place. Bro Steve, Dr Dan and Rueben continued enjoying the overpriced hipster crap that Portland has become famous for while we returned to the hotel. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't write, all I could think about was how the lovely Lisa and I would never treat friends like that let alone family. We have given up our own bed when people come by unexpectedly. I finally nodded off about 2:30 am and rolled out of bed at 6:15. It's now 8:49 and I'm the only one awake out of our group. I'm going to finish this posting then I'm going to take the 5 minute walk to the Denny's for a grand slam or maybe biscuits and gravy.


That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all

Return of the fat bastard - They're not really bagels.

July 29th, 2016

What the ????

      Jet lag. That's what we're putting it down to. The morning started out at a snails pace. Michelle formerly of the one L now the Cellar Troll was first up and I wasn't far behind. She has a new toy. It looks like a perculator but it's really a French press. Personally I didn't care for the coffee. I don't think it's because it was a French press. I just think she put in too much coffee or let it french press for too long. You know those French! They're so.....French!
      Slowly the house came alive. Dr Dan was in the shower first because he had a meeting downtown. He was going to borrow the lovely Lisa's car and go to his meeting then meet us for lunch and do the Fly Over Canada ride down at the Convention Centre. I had the toaster up and going full out on the Bagel Toasting. They were bulk Bagels bought from Stuperstore. They're not really bagels. They appear to be just dense buns. Bagels are supposed to be boiled then baked. These were definitely not boiled though they were baked and by the way so was I. Joan is from Brooklyn but has lived in New Jersey for many years. Her and the lovely Lisa have something in common. They both have to explain "what's wrong with your man?!" A lot!
      Bagels and cream cheese, washed down with coffee that I made in my drip coffee maker and that tasted really good! Just saying. While the rest of the gang was distracted by the food I was in the shower. With 6 adults and 1 bathroom you gotta take the bull by the horns when the chance presents itself. Unlike the other sleepy time cowboys I knew that Dr Dan and Michelle with one L had already showered that meant I was in third and would still have lots of hot water. I was last yesterday and the water was tepid to say the least. Fortunately it's been screaming hot around here, 43 degrees on the front deck at 4 pm. So a cool shower was not the worst thing to happen. It was still warmer than the pool. I did come close to setting a land speed record for the quickest shower by a guy not in prison!
      We sauntered our way through the morning. Fueled by coffee I managed to do the watering, front and back, trim my tomato plants and download our passes for the Fly over Canada. We were out the door just after noon.
      If you haven't done the Fly Over Canada thingy you should. It's a little pricey at $23 per, but it is what it is. Joan definitely enjoyed it. "I could have stayed on it for an hour." she said with her Brooklyn Accent thick as an east coast fog. The lovely Lisa and I have done it before. We did it when they had a double header, Fly Over Canada and Chasing the Dragon over China. They showed us a movie in the round first. Some people jumping on stuff and climbing walls and doing flips set to some really loud music. "I hope that's not it" I heard in a voice strangely reminiscent of Fran Dresher. We were taken into the loading area where we were told to stand on dots on the floor where we watched a short safety video that was quite funny. Into the ride and put on our seat belts and the show was about to start. It takes you on an aerial trip across Canada from the Frozen North to the Left Coast. It's amazing how big, beautiful and diverse this country is. We came out of the show with smiles on our faces and a renewed love of this amazing country.

The Convention Centre on a beautiful day

Stanley Park and the Lions

       We took our time getting to the Tap and Barrel where we were going to have lunch. Walking around the perimeter of the Convention Centre marveling at the pace of activity on the harbour. Float planes, ferries and pleasure craft all competing for space set to the backdrop of the North Shore Mountains. We sat on the patio outside with a great view of the harbour and had lunch. When I was doing security at the Convention Centre I always wanted to eat there. The food looked so good but I never had time during my lunch break and I always wanted to just go home after my shift. The food was as good as it looked. Pizza , Mac n Cheese x 2, a Cobb Salad for the lovely Lisa and I had a burger that was excellent. Every entree on the lunch menu was $15.95. A little steep for Mac n Cheese but it does come with a view!

Tap and Barrel

       Dr Dan had left my car parked over where his meeting was and walked from Broadway and Granville to meet us so now we drove him back to the car. Dr Dan and the lovely Lisa wanted to go to Locarno Beach where they grew up. Papa Dawg and Joan where done. I took them home where Joan's feet had swollen up tremendously. "It happens all the time" She said "I have bone spurs in my heel" Ouch! I got her an ice pack and had her put her feet up. Papa Dawg was in his bed and sleeping before I got the kettle on.
      I played a little guitar, warming up for the party at Jerry's place tonight. Jerry is a sax player and I really like playing with him. I save several songs I play, including 3 or 4 originals, that are great sax songs until Jerry joins the stage. I had made some Squatch baked chicken but when you have lunch at 3 pm you're not really hungry at 7 when Dr Dan and the lovely Lisa got back to the house. I decided to take the chicken to the party, minus the 3 pieces that Dr Dan liberated. I guess that walk on the beach must have stimulated his appetite.
      We were at Jerry's about 8 and the music was going full bore with the Ukelele ladies at center stage. We wandered through the crowd introducing Joan and Papa Dawg then I hit the stage.

George far left Steve , and Linda with the Ukelele

Okay,  I hit the part of the lawn where the PA was set up. Mike set up his bass and a guy named Steve had another guitar. We had a lady drummer who though not fancy was rock steady. I'm so bad with names.

The lovely Lisa and Danielle, great voice!

 Not as bad as the lovely Lisa is with taking pictures of which she took 7

Bill and Linda. Though not in this picture I was on stage at this time.

....none of me. "I know what you look like" she said when queried about the lack of me. "Do you recognize me now?" I said as I dropped my pants to my ankles and mooned her. Okay, I didn't do that because I like being married to the lovely Lisa, but I thought about it!

Dr Dan and  ?????

By 10 Papa Dawg was on his second bottle of Vino and was getting a little too philosophical for a music party. I pulled him away from Steve when I heard him telling him that he knew a guy who knew a guy who could have cured his wife's cancer. She died over 2 years ago. Steve was not impressed. I ended up being on stage most of the night, sometimes leading sometimes following. I sat in with Bill Frew, a hard core country guy with an amazing baritone voice. Next thing you know it's 5 to 11 and the Cops are circling the party. Shut down the PA and move the music inside and acoustic. It was at this point I decided we should leave. I love Jerry but 35 people with guitars crammed into his tiny house was not something I really wanted to do. I went into the house to say goodbye to all and it was already 1,000,000 degrees in there.
      We were home by midnight a late snack of boiled eggs and ice cream cones and we were in bed by 1:30. I tried to write but was too tired to focus. I got up at 7 and wrote this for your reading enjoyment. Once again lamo in the picture department!

That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all

Return of the fat bastard - I must have lit it in the middle!

July 26th and 27th and 28th 2016

      I have to say totally unbiased I have pretty good Grandkids. They were dropped off just before 8 this morning. I left my alarm in the living room and slept right through it. My 7:45 wake up I mean.
      Okay, so it's now Wednesday afternoon. I wrote the above paragraph Tuesday morning and that's all I've done. Is it because I've not been inspired to write? Is it because I'm a fat lazy bastard? No it's because I've been running a taxi service back and forth between my home and the airport. On top of that I have  Papa Squatch Day Scare going on all week it's like a freakin job!
      It's now 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning. We just got back from the airport again. In a fit of obvious senility Papa Dawg told us they were coming in at 9:45 on the 28th of July. Thank goodness I spent the day getting the house ready for his and his lovely lady Joan's visit. He meant to say July 27th. We were down watching the fire works at Kits beach. We were not on the beach but sitting in our car. Every few minutes another cop would come along and make us move. We finally found a spot where the cops were unconcerned about us parking under the no parking sign.  We had a clear view of the last half of the fireworks, if from a distance. The fireworks were okay. The music was excellent Pink Floyd and David Bowie. The finale was excellent.
     We were on our way to Jericho beach to enjoy the sushi I had bought when the phone rang. It was Papa Dawg. He was at YVR. Waiting to be picked up.
      The last three days have been a blur. I have also been doing Papa Squatch Day Scare so I get to bed after 2 am and get up at 7:45 for the arrival of the Grandkids , then I have to convince them to be quiet because everyone but CT and I are still asleep. Ever try to keep seven and six year old siblings quiet. It's like trying to herd cats. The days with them were spent Swimming in the pool , playing on the trampoline and shooting hoops.

Christo

Bella

Julia

At the playground around the corner.

The first 2 days I had no car. Dan had Otto on the Island still and Chef Boy R Lisa was at work with Roger Rav 4. I was stuck like a rat in a trap!
      Papa Dawg and Joan flew in from New Jersey and were pretty well jet lagged. Dr Dan flew in from Prince George for the second time in 5 days.

Joan, Dr Dan and Papa Dawg

Julia is only 4 so Dr Dan had to escort her back to Prince George then turn around 2 days later and fly back down for our trip to Oregon for Aunt Olinka's birthday. We had him Sky train in from the airport so we didn't have to leave Papa Dawg and Joan on their own. It took the better part of 2 hours for him to get here. Chinese food for dinner from the Austin Diner/ Red Star Restaraunt. That will definitely be the last time. Since it was sold the prices have gotten ridiculous and the quality of the food has gone down.

Sitting down to a mediocre Chinese Dinner

       Not only have I been burning the candle at both ends, I think I must have lit it in the middle! I sat down to write last night and couldn't keep my eyes open. I'm going to put up the few pics I took. Right now I hear CT in the kitchen making a pot of Jo. I'll wait till she's done then get a cup and try to finish this post. Not up to my usual level of insanity and definitely disjointed. Frickin In-laws!
      Coffee is ready and I can no longer resist the smell of it wafting from the kitchen to my office. Which is now stuffed with everything from the Basement, the spare room and the lovely Lisa's car! I have managed to clear a pathway to my computer but I barely have room to turn around.

Even at my sleeker 282 lbs it is a tight squeeze.

That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out y'all
   

Return of the fat bastard - When your beers are gone

July 25th 2016

      At this point I have the Papa Squatch Day Scare thing down pretty good. I was up at 7:45 and they walk through the door with Jen at 8 o'clock. I am so proud of Jennifer today is her first day as a production manager on a series starting from square one. She's done a movie and she took over the second half of Legends of tomorrow I know she's going to be great at it. It was a beautiful day today really easy to boot there little butts outside. The two of them were in a really funny mood. Bella was sitting on the swing slowly moving back and forth. Christo was sitting on the lawn chair staring into space. So I turned the hose on them! Bella ran away laughing. Christo said in his best whiny voice " Don't Papa" so I squirted him again. And I kept squirting him until he started running and laughing. It works better if you have a cattle prod but all I had was a hose. It was about 10:30 or 11:00 when Rylan and Avery dragged their teenage butts out of bed. For some reason that I can't quite fathom Ryland is applying for a job as a laborer for a roofing company. He works as a lifeguard for the city of Prince George. He doesn't get full shift because he's the FNG. So I helped him with his resume. I told him it's a roofing company he doesn't care about your Elementary School awards or that you like to play chess. He's probably more interested in the fact that you are 6 foot tall and 160 pounds of wire and athletic and can probably run up and down a ladder with a square of shingles on your shoulder all day long. I doubt he cares whether you can read or write. Also his resume was 3 pages long. We got it down to one page and a cover letter espousing the values of conscientiousness and hard work. If I was him, I'd still rather be a lifeguard! They are headed to Australia in November for a year. Some kind of work program. So I'm sure he wants to make as much money as he can before he goes. But frying your brains out on top of a roof hardly seems worthwhile. Unless of course you're a fiddler. or a cat on a hot tin one.

      Since the Grandkids we're already wet we decided it was time to take the tarp off the pool. That and the fact that it was now about 25 degrees. The recent bout of rainy fall like weather though Handy in keeping people from moving here, does very little to encourage proper pool maintenance. I might have missed an entire week of chemical treatment. When we pulled back the tarp the bright blue bottom of the pool was a little more on the green side of blue. That's what Grandkids are for. I'm a firm believer in exposing kids to dirt, grime and small doses of toxic chemicals. Toughens up their immune system. A little bit of algae won't kill them! I hope. They were a little bit hesitant about it especially after I used the pool brush to sweep the bottom of the pool and turned the entire pool green.There was only one thing to do.No kid with Squatch blood in them can resist getting the pool and trying to drown Papa Squatch! It took all of 30 seconds for them to forget about the algae and concentrate on staying out of the way of the Squatchnamis that were coming at a tremendous rate. I got them to run around the outside of the pool while I stood in the middle with the skimmer scooping up the floaters ten at a time. We were in and out of the pool all day.

       I made Vegan banana pancakes for lunch. Avery Is vegan and Ryland is trying to be vegetarian. I told him " If God didn't want us to eat animals he wouldn't have made them taste like meat! They would taste like radicchio!" To be honest the pancakes were vegan by accident. I bought the wrong pancake mix. This one uses milk, eggs and butter. Not quite up to vegan standards. I was not aware of that I thought I bought just add water. So I did when I made Blueberry pancakes for Squidly and the Grandkids last week. I did it again, this time with bananas and everyone was happy. It's definitely a denser pancake more like a crepe. I had mine Elvis style rolled up and peanut buttered! We were back in the pool when Ryland and Avery were headed out to the bus stop. They were meeting a friend down town and then taking the sky train to the airport for their flight back to Prince George.

      I shot some hoops with the Grandkids until Christian arrived to pick them up after work. I have them all week and Dr Dan still has Otto on the Island. I had dinner with the lovely Lisa and on her way to bed CT got home and they were sitting out on the porch gabbing. I wanted to go to the Heritage Grill tonight and it was getting late, I left them on the deck and when I got there I ended up 11th. I got on at 11:00.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtvUqFhqoRA

That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all

Return of the fat bastard - Who you callin a Ho!

July 23rd 2016

With Meaghan

      Sometimes they get it right. The weather man that is. Or in the case of the news I watch the weather girl. There are no curtains on the cabin. When the sun comes up so do I. So it was just after 7 when I got out of bed. I made my way from the cabin to the house where I put on a pot of Joe wait a minute no I didn't I made myself a cup of instant Jo. We were socked in pretty good but far off to the east was a growing sliver of blue. By 9:00 it was blue skies over me.

Squidly in the Sunshine

      As Hillbilly Ho Downs go, this one was pretty calm. No one was injured, No one was killed. Okay no one has ever been killed at the Ho Down but a raccoon was last year and spent a brief few minutes strung up at the workshop while a drunken Hillbilly was preparing to turn it into a Daniel Boone hat in front of the 30 or so children in attendance before Daryl put a stop to it. That event was sandwiched between a kid going into shock and being rushed to the hospital after being stung by a wasp and a donut display in the field that ended up with the drivers new pickup sitting on it`s roof, which was now sitting where the hood used to be. The year before presented multiple injuries during the Backhoe fling. This is how it works. Take one Backhoe, half a dozen drunken loggers and 20 feet of rope. Tie the rope to the bucket and fling away with a thrill seeker hanging onto the rope. Once again we learned that Timing is not a city in China! Timing is the point where you let go of the rope ....or not. That`s the point at which you crash painfully into the bank of the pond. But that was in the past. This year the drama took place away from the Ho Down.

      First though, let me tell you about what a great day we had. Besides the incredible weather, the pond had a trampoline in it and the water was just about the perfect temperature.

Last one in is a rotten egg!

Perfect for riding bikes off a ramp into the pond

or jumping off the bucket of the Backhoe 25 feet in the air.

      There was a California Kickball Slip and Slide court.

A lot of kicking, slipping and sliding going on. I was a spectator. I`m not going to take a chance on hurting myself. My main concern is my chest. It`s been 8 months since they took the pruning shears to my breast bone and I prefer to keep it intact.It did not however stop me from trampolining into the pond with my Hillbilly Go Pro.

Hillbilly go pro.

I was in and out of the pond all day.

Yo Dude, a ladder would be handy

I`m a regular water baby!
 Some of the kids were doing flips and stuff. Not I said the fat man!

 

      We had hamburgers for lunch with salads and fruit. The lovely Lisa and CT went with Bro Steve to meet Dr Dan in town and lead them back. Columbus couldn`t find the place! Since they started work on the Dam and closed down the road that led more or less directly to Hillbilly Acres you have to drive all the way to Duncan Bay to get to a pot hole filled road, that in comparison to the dirt road you take for a few km, seem like a pool table. While they were gone Squidly and I played muckers,

Ryland throwing Muckers

Bocce and ate massive quantities of watermelon. What`s that What the cluck is muckers. Is a heavy rubber ring that you try to throw onto a peg 21 feet away. The name comes from the company that makes them. It`s scored like horseshoes without the shattered fingers and bruised shins. 

      By the time the lovely Lisa and the gang were back with Dr Dan, Julia, Ryland and his girlfriend Avery, a case of Bud and a case of Corona. People started rolling in and the action was fast and furious. I have hundreds of pics and videos.
Here are some of the folks.

Everly

Can't remember her name

Me and Abigail

Michele the Cellar Troll

Can't remember and Kaydance

Daryl our host and benefactor

Julia and a gang of 5 year olds

Some of the Gals

Allie and Abby

That's just a little bit of the fun. We ate about 6:00. More food than you could imagine. Meaghan made six lasagnes. The lovely Lisa did a ham and everyone else contributed a dish or two. No one went away hungry.

The Smorg.

We splashed in the pond and played games until dark. That's when the Beer Pong got started in earnest. Squidly, fresh from his grad with his Masters Degree. Told us how he played in college. True but he never played with Hillbilly women and Canadian beer! He lost! miserably!

Beer Pong

As dark approached and the Hillbilly water park shut down for the night the campfire was, with the help of a motor oil and diesel cocktail was burning in seconds!

Who needs kindling?

When you have Diesel!

Here's a few more pictures.

Giant hammock fun

Lining up for a fake tramp stamp

Bro Steve, Avery and Squidly on the Bocce court

Dr Dan and the lovely Lisa

And of course, it finished as usual at 2 am with Bro Steve and I playing around the campfire. I left just before Bro Steve and in the loft of the cabin where Ryland and Squidly were bunked Squidly and I found a bear skin rug. I set it up teeth first in Bro Steve's bunk. I could hardly contain myself as I lay there pretending to be asleep, waiting for him to get into bed. I wish I had taken a picture. When we all stopped laughing we were asleep in seconds. Exhausted from a day of too much fun, sun, games and food!

With Squidly

Another great day at Hilbilly Acres. A great time with great people in a great setting. I can't wait till next year!

The loft in the cabin

Dr Dan, Ryland, Avery, The lovely Lisa, Squidly and Bro Steve.

Did someone say Donut?!

     We were up before we went to bed. Or at least it seemed that way. 7 am! 5 hours after we went to bed, I was up, and so was CT. She already had her stuff together and was enjoying the beautiful morning beginning right there in front of us. And as soon as I had a cup of Jo in my hands so was every one else. It's amazing how people leap out of bed when you drive a Backhoe onto the porch! Kidding! Beside the porch! Then they all went to the house for coffee and never came back until I had nearly finished packing the van. We were up and gone before almost anyone else was awake. We made sure to wake up Meaghan and give her a kiss goodbye. I love these guys. What a great fun, loving family.
     We had tried to get a reservation 2 weeks before but that didn't work. Sold out. So with Chef Boy R Lisa's 2 am call time hanging over us like a hammer we took the inland Island Highway with only one stop for a pee break we were in the line up for the ferry by 10:30. We were told a 1 possibly 2 sailing wait. Bastards! We had a plan B. The lovely Lisa would walk on and be picked up on the other side if neccesary. Thankfully it was not. We were on the 12:15. One of the last 10 cars they boarded. Woo Hoo.
      We dropped CT at her car on the North Shore and Bro Steve at the Stupor Store on Dollarton Highway were he met his ride then off to Tentatsu for some late lunch. Bro Steve joined us after picking up his car at home in Deep Cove. Ryland wants to go there every time he comes to town.
      Back at Casa Lisa everyone had a shower starting with the lovely Lisa who then went right to bed. I went down to our Stupor store to do her work shop for her and came home to hot water and a water pic. Ryland, Avery and I played a game of 3 handed crib, Ryland won. Then I took them to the airport for the flight back to Prince George. I dropped them at 10.10 for their 10:50 flight and left for home. They missed their flight! It should have been no problem but they got caught behind someone who was having issues and by the time they got to the front of the line they had missed the flight. Dr Dan called me, but only after he woke up the lovely Lisa to rat me out! Then he called me. I called Ryland and went back to the Airport to pick them up. They fly out tonight at the same time. They'll be at the airport by 8 tonight.


That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all