June 24th 2016
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| I just like this picture |
"Will he go round in circles?" as Billy Preston once inquired. Yes I will! First of all, I've discovered a way to keep your day full and busy. Don't get out of bed until 11:00 am. In the last blog I said it was 2:30 and I was going to bed. Didn't happen. I opened up this game I play called Luxor. It plays full screen so there is no clock visible while I'm playing. I was going to bed so my wrist watch is on the night stand and for some reason there is no other clock in my office. I was snapped out of my Vidiot like trance when the lovely Lisa got up to go to the bathroom. "It's 5 am .......Idiot" she said under her breath as she went by my office door. The Idiot part under her breath, not the 5 am part. Then I slept till 11:00.
I didn't have two mouthfuls of Jo in me when I was recruited for a shopping trip to Walmart! In Surrey ! It's the last Walmart in the lower mainland that has the item she needs. It's a 3 gallon Beverage dispenser with a fancy silver spout $25 and she needs it for work. The last one was damaged when one of the other chefs didn't secure things properly in the truck then drove back down the Sea to Sky Hwy like Evel Knievel!
In keeping with my Scottish temperament, rather than pay the $3 on the Port Mann Bloodsucking Toll Bridge we thought we would just scoot over to the Pattullo Bridge which is Free. My favorite price. But is it really free? When you sit in a virtual parking lot of vehicles, undoubtedly filled with fellow Scotsmen trying to avoid the toll, for 20 minutes, is it Free? Does my time have no value? Do I not lead a full and busy life full of important things to do and important people to meet?!
No I do not! My life is full of mundane tasks and small projects that may or may not result in generating some level of usefulness. Time is irrelevant at this point in my existence! I don't want to sound cliche, but in the back of my mind, after what I've been through the last few months, I feel that I'm living on borrowed time. A second chance if you will. The opportunity to live every day to it's fullest! A wake up call to stop and smell the Roses.
For a guy who didn't want to sound too cliche I sure can drop them! The point being, generally speaking, I have no where to go and all day to get there! Okay last one, I promise. For now.
This is where the going in circle part starts. The lovely Lisa, Go cup of tea in hand went down to start Otto for the trek to Surrey. I closed the door. I got half way down the stairs when I realised I didn`t have my wallet. I also didn`t have my keys. So I got the keys from the lovely Lisa went in and got my wallet. Beating back the Ratdogs who tried to make a break for it I was half way down the stairs when I realised I had no glasses Sun or Reading. The Ratdogs tried the escape on 2 fronts approach and it almost worked. Nutmeg coming from the left slipped past me.....briefly! I spun like a Ninja and scooped her up by her halter. I was just getting into the car when the lovely Lisa asked me where my coffee was. Damn! This time I would outsmart the Ratdogs. I came in the back door. It wasn't hard because I had left the doors wide open. I grabbed my Jotogo and we were finally on the road.
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| The Hydrangea I passed several times on my way to the car. |
Once we finally got to and across the Pattullo Bridge it was clear sailing all the way back to 152nd Street. Which is right by the Port Mann Bloodsucking Toll Bridge, which is right beside our house! On the bright side, we saved $3. Yay.
Surrey must have the biggest Walmart in the city. It's huge. What is truly amazing is that they can run this place with 13 people! That's the same number of people they need to run a 7-11! The lovely Lisa had checked on line and this was the only place in the lower mainland that had them. We looked high and low, first for the beverage dispenser then for anyone who worked there! While the lovely Lisa was hunting down the elusive Blue Vested Stock Boy, I bought a pretty cool T shirt for Canada Day. I've been wearing the same one for ten years now.
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| ATTENTION WALMART SHOPPERS!!!! |
I loitered in the Produce section for a while......touching all the fruit. Making pornographic sculptures with the bananas, coconuts and kumquats! You know just, waiting around bored guy stuff. I caught a glimpse of a bright yellow windbreaker being chased by 42 inches of hair. The lovely Lisa had spotted the rare Blue Vested Stock Boy and was in hot pursuit.
As the muscle of this operation I have to keep up or she will just ditch me. Then when I find her she has an armload of stuff and a stern look on her normally Angelic face. So I tear off after her. She was easy to follow, in that bright yellow jacket, she looked like a Hairy Canary. Hey, that rhymes! I'm a poet and I didn't know it. Because my feet are Longfellows and smell like the Dickens! Wait a minute!!! That was funny when I was a kid!
Okay, back to Walmart. The Lovely Lisa caught up to the Blue Vested Stock Boy. It turned out to be a female of the species. She knew exactly where to take us to find the 3 gallon beverage dispenser with the fancy silver spout $25. The aisle at the end of the shoe department. Where else? Probably 20 aisles from the kitchen wares. There were 4 left. In the whole of the lower mainland.
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| The Holy Grail.....of Beverage Dispensers |
Chef Boy R Lisa bought them all. Then she giggled and laughed all the way home so happy with her new purchase. When you feed a couple of hundred people a day you need them and they're seasonal. Oh yeah, all the way home took 7 minutes over the Port Mann Bloodsucking Toll Bridge.
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| The Bloodsucking Port Mann Toll Bridge 30 seconds...$3 |
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| 4 minutes from home |
So we drove in a big 2 hour circle to get to a place 7 minutes from our house to save 3 dollars. That's sticking it to the man! They'll have to pry that toll out of cold dead hand! The lovely Lisa is out in the garden and I'm sitting in my office writing this Blog.
I'm hungry. I don't know why I'm telling you this. By the time you read this I will have had something to eat and my being hungry will be a moot point. I really only wrote this last line so everyone could say moot. Go ahead. Say it. Say moot! It's a funny word. Ah, never mind I guess it's pointless!........... get it? I think I'm delerious with hunger. Or perhaps "I AM MOOT!"
I stole that from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Alright I'm back. I've been a busy little Squatch while I was gone. First I had to eat something. Chef Boy R Lisa brought home these Pakora like dumplings that were amazing. I had a couple of those and a yogurt.
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| Pakora and french`s mustard...yum yum |
Now I'm back to my regular delerium. Right after lunch we were on Cherry picking duty.
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| Cherry picking Mama |
The lovely Lisa climbed up to the top of the tree and then to the top of the ladder while I used my 14 foot pole saw/grappling hook to pull the cherry laden branches closer all the while providing ballast on the step Ladder.
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| With a little help from my pole. |
Ask the lovely Lisa if you don't believe me. I make excellent Ballast!! She says it's one of the things I'm really good at! I don't recall if I told you, and I'm way too lazy to look back 5 posts, but we have a 5 way cherry tree. The Bing's are early and what is left of them are splitting with all the rain the last week or so. There are a ton of sour cherries but unless your making pie or jam?? The ones that are ready now are called Montrose and they are amazing.
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| OMG |
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| and tasty too! |
I ate all the ones I could reach from the ground while the lovely Lisa was up the ladder with a bag around her neck foraging for her family.
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| My Cherry Pickin Bag Lady |
Like the Pioneers of old the women folk do all the work. I stood guard with the fearless Ratdogs ready to defend against marauding crows and raccoons!
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| A little more than 5 lbs |
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| Happy Happy Happy |
We were getting ready to head downtown to pickup Dr Dan just before 7:00 then off to Tentatsu to meet up with Bro Steve and G McT for a sushi spectacular before we whisk him off to the airport for his 10:30 flight to Prince George. Dr Dan that is. Not G McT.
The lovely Lisa said "Get ready! We gotta get going, I want to see Mom on the way out! I just have to put on the kettle" So I probably only have another 10 minutes of waiting time. That's my job I wait.
I managed to make my way to the car on the first attempt and we started off on another adventure. We were going to swing by Mama Lee`s for a visit and to give her some cherries. She's having a bit of a tough go right now so it was good to see her smiling when we came in. She was smiling even bigger once she got into the cherries. We spent half an hour talking and making plans to bring her here to the house to watch the movie Brooklyn. We can no longer transport her in the truck she needs to be able to stay in her chair. Taxi Time.
We headed down to Robson Street where Dr Dan was picking up his new glasses. We went past where he was going the wrong way an d then made a left turn into West End Hell!!!! Dead ends barricades, one way streets. Dr Dan was left standing on the street corner like a common street walker while Lisa Andretti blocked 3 lanes of traffic while trying to make a left hand turn across Burrard Street at 6:45 on a Friday night. Finally an Asian woman in a giant SUV took pity on us and let us in. Lisa Andretti found a pit stop right on the corner of Burrard and Robson. The wrong corner. I could see Dr Dan across the street. I got out of the car and started calling his name and waving my arms. He never saw me! Judging by the looks on the faces of all the people between me and Dr Dan they saw me fine!
We crossed the Street and got into the car for the quick trip to Tentatsu. Bro Steve and G McT were meeting us there. We were running late when Bro Steve called to say there was a lineup and he had put our name in. By the time we got to the restaurant we were on deck. G McT was a first timer here and was not impressed with the time or the traffic it took to get here. It was a really fun table. We laughed and joked and ate so much really good Japanese food. Wild Salmon Sashimi so bright and firm, man it was nice. Vancouver Roll made with Unagi and so much more food.
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| Part of the meal |
After a lengthy meal and several cups of tea I needed to use the facilities. When I got back it was a Scotsman's dream. The tab was already paid. We said our goodbyes to Bro Steve and G McT and headed off to the Airport to send Dr Dan back to Prince George. Conversation on the way was all about the end of July. Stephen "Squidly" Decker is coming for a visit. He was here last in the winter where he spent 3 fabulous days falling down Cypress Mountain on a snowboard. Have you ever seen a 6'6" 140 pound guy tumble down a mountain? He looked like a Squid doing cartwheels! Okay, I'm off topic again. He's here from the 20th to the 26th so he will be going to the Hillbilly Hoedown at the Devlin's this year. Squidly is maybe the smartest person I have ever met. He worked for NASA one year, then worked for the European Space Agency in Italy the next year. The third year they were fighting over him so he did 6 weeks with each of them. All while getting his degree at one of the top engineering schools in the U.S. I can't wait till he gets here. My laptop is Fucked!!
With Dr Dan Safely launched back to the far North, the lovely Lisa and I meandered home by the back roads so we could enjoy the view. Huge piles of sawdust, dump trucks and assorted factories with their lights off and gates closed. You don't get to see that every day. All in all, a pretty good Day.
That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all
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