Half Moon Bay

The kids and I are having a great trip.

We had a bit of a schmazzal with the rental car that still is not quite worked out, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. The rental car company had us flying into Boston (like I would book myself into the wrong city) and there was a bit of a price difference (try $350bucks US) they want me to pay the difference and I don't want to.



We got to spend two days with Shannon and her family. The kids get along so well together, every time we get them together I think we need to get them together more often.



The kids and I talked a lot about what else we wanted to do and I suggested the beach. They loved the idea and I decided we should drive out to Half Moon Bay. The day was beautiful and the kids had a great time. They have been to a small beach in Vancouver before, but I don't think they had ever been to a beach with the power and energy of Half Moon Bay. You should click on the picture below and make it big, well worth it.



It is one of my favorite places in the world and I think I have three kids that are now in agreement with me. They loved the drive there and really had a blast playing in the ocean and in the sand.



On the drive home we all talked about the power of the ocean and agreed it has this ability to sort of wash away your worries and stress. We all came back from there feeling refreshed and relaxed. I am so glad that we made the time to get out that way.



We are having a great time and the weather is improving everyday. We are spending the second half of the trip at Mom's house I am going to try to post some photos for you in the morning of what we were up to today.

Honors Performance

Here is what we looked like on Saturday. Normally by this time we we are having rain and there is no snow on the ground. We are sitting at 8C today, but the even better news is that I will in Sunny California in just a matter of days.



There is a Fine Arts Festival here in the Loops that is put on for all the students who want to showcase theirs skills in front of an adjudicator and get some feedback on how they do.

There are all sorts of categories: musical stuff from vocals to instruments and there is coral stuff, kids who do short plays, children that stand up there all alone and do a memorized piece. There is dance stuff as well, everything from ballet to modern dance. There were 1200 performers all total that were a part of the festival.

At the end of the three week festival the adjudicators pick a few of the top performers for honors and they perform at the Sagebrush Theatre for all of the Loops.

Sebastian's and PJ's class did a performance last year that was chosen for honors so we did not expect them to be chosen again. They try to spread it around a bit from year to year.

As it turns out their group was chosen for honors again this year and they were the only group in their category invited to go. They performed a choral piece called "Sun Up"



The kids were amazing they memorized the entire thing, it was a 15 minute piece. Sebass got an honorable mention for his solo as Father Time.



The piece was about a group of Puddle Jumpers that are tired of the rain and want spring to come. They think of several ways to ask the sun to come out to play with them. First a general orders the sun up, then a girl suggest that they ask the sun to come nicely. They try to charm it up. They even have a go at casting a spell with the help of a witch in hopes of bewitching the sun to come out.



Finally it is father time that brings out the sun. He ticks through the months, right through to May Day and the sun decides to show herself. They were wonderful and they all had a great time doing it.

Quickie

Paul's Grandma is here for the weekend having a visit. We have not seen her since the summer and have been having a great time catching up.

I have my suitcase out and I am trying hard not to start packing until next week.

I am sorry to be so brief, I wanted to catch you up on our weekend doings. I am going to scoot, Paul is off to play hockey and I am going to enjoy chatting with Granny for a little while.

Mooning Over Finished Stuff

Here is the view out our front window this evening.



This second picture is a close up of the moon that shows you the true colour this evening. Amazing isn't it? Mother nature sure knows how to put on a show.



I finished the buggy socks last night. I am happy with them, in spite of all the breaks in the yarn. I never did find any bugs in the ball of yarn itself. There is a little leftover that I am going to put outside tonight, the -15C should kill just about anything.



I talked Sebastian into taking a picture of the lace cowl for me. He was funny, I am in my pajama and therefore not wearing a bra, I asked him to make sure my breasts where not in the picture so no one could tell I was bra-less. So the first picture he takes is from my chin down. When I explained again what I wanted he said "Ohhhhhhh, I got it." Cracked me up



Shannon knit her pretty lace cowl and I liked it so much I asked her what pattern she used. She said "the one on Knitty." So I went to the website, clicked on the "archives" and did a search for cowls and scarves. Only one cowl came up so I printed the pattern and started knitting.

One day I am to the cast off edge and I am talking to Shannon on the phone. I ask her, "Did you use this funny bind off they are talking about here in the pattern or did you make up your own?" She said, "what funny bind off?" We compared pattern and it turns it out this is not the same lace cowl Shannon knit. I got a chuckle out of the whole thing because it was her pattern that inspired me to knit this.

The yarn I used was a very lovely silk that Shannon gave me for Christmas 2007. It had seed beads spun right into the yarn and it was so fun to knit with and feels so soft against my skin, I love it. Silk is very warm, I think I will wear it Wednesday to work.

Wooly Weekend

Holy Cow! I did it. I wound all that yarn into balls and got them all organized downstairs, I will try to take pictures of that later. To tired right now. (All my stash was not featured in the the pictures on the back deck, there was also a bin of cotton, a basket of wool hiding in my room, a medium sized bin yarn set aside for felting project and a bin of misc. stuff.

That blue bin in the picture above is three balls deep. Now that is sentence you don't get to type every day, "three balls deep" I hope someone googling for some freaky porn comes up with this blog post on knitting instead.

Some things that surprised me about my stash:

1. Huge variety in colour. I don't seem to lean towards any one colour at all when it comes to my yarn choices. Lots of rich jewel tones and earth tones, but also a mix of pastels.

2. Made me feel very spoiled. The amount of yarn that is there that has been gifted to me on birthdays, Christmases and just for no reason at all is staggering. A HUGE thank you to fellow knitters for making me smile and feel so spoiled.

3. I only came across three unfinished projects. One sock for PJ that I gave up on because I worried the pair would be to itchy for her. (Delicate flower thinks everything is itchy) She tried it on and decided she would wear them if I finished them for her. One half finished sock that is a very pretty yarn from Blue Moon Socks that Rock kit that is fussy and is sucking up the yarn so fast that I don't think I can even finish the pair. I decided about an hour ago I am going to rip it out and start a different pair with the yarn. And a pretty lace shawl that I have left because I put it down for a while and I forgot where I am am in the lace pattern.

4. I apparently need to start some lace knitting 'cuz there is some beautiful lace yarn stashed away in there (Thank you Shannon and Mom!)

5. I have a sizable stash. I could go on a yarn diet for a long while and not go hungry. I think I will be knitting from my stash for while and only buy yarn if I really really love it or have specific sweater in mind.

6. I realized why I love to buy sock yarn. I know I will use it and I always know how much of it to buy.

(Is my count right? Did I blog 3 times last week and I am starting out this week with under my belt already?)

Frozen Wool

Mom had a great suggestion for my little bug problem. Freeze my yarn. What a great idea!

Here is the problem: family of five and only two little freezers. I have the small freezer above the fridge upstairs and the small freezer in the beer fridge in the garage. I can't buy a stick of butter and without using up what I have first for lack of freezer space. (I know I could really use a deep freeze, but the brand new washer and dryer was really a better choice at this point)

So I am racking my brain about how to freeze my stash a little at a time, you know I could quarantine the yarn that had not been frozen yet, while organizing the stuff that had, I could wind everything into balls as I go, I had lots of ideas. Then it hit this morning while I was telling the kids to dress warmly as it was -11C when they were heading off to school. (It warmed up a bit by the time I got organized enough to have my camera out)



The latest cold snap I have been complaining about (we are ready for spring around here but mother nature is not hearing us) is my salvation. Put the yarn outside! Duh. I don't know if I owe mother nature a thank you for the cold snap or if we call it even; after all she is the one that hatched the whole idea of wool eating beasts.

I took this picture before I got my entire stash out onto the back deck. It is a bit embarrassing how much yarn I have collected. I am wondering if I could give mom a run for her money yet?



This is a great chance to organize things. I have hatched a master plan that I will share with you on my next post. (I have not forgotten to tell you the story of the Cowl, I just got distracted by wool)

Knitter Nightmares

I have fallen a bit in love with simple lace patterns. (I blame this on Shannon and her lace cowl. I have knit one of my own but that is a story for another day) After I was done with the cowl I thought I would do an easy lace sock pattern. I pulled one out of my Socks that Rock collection. In the sock kit the pattern was paired with a very pretty pastel yarn that came with two patterns to pick from. I am saving the pastel for the second pattern, I think this pattern is called "sweet tarts" but I may have that wrong.

I chose some older STR yarn to use, it is a lightweight that I got in one of the kits the first year Mom and I subscribed the the STR. I did not love the pattern that the yarn was paired with those many years ago (3 I think) so this yarn has been sitting (wound up and ready to go by the way) for quite sometime.



The first sock has moved along quite quickly, but I have been having some trouble with the yarn. I did not get to far into knitting the sock when I came across a spot where the yarn was weak and a little frayed. I frowned at it, cut out the small bad spot, knotted the yarn and kept on knitting. I little further into the sock and I came across another spot, I treated it the same as I did the first.

I remembered that the first year Blue Moon did the sock club they changed yarn suppliers part way through the year. I thought about that and figured they must not have been happy with the yarn they were getting. I mean two week spot in one hank was a bit unusual. I kept knitting.

A little while later I am knitting along and a yarn end slips through the hand I keep the tension with. Okay now I am really unhappy with the yarn. I have a close look at the yarn ends, they are clean break, like someone cut the yarn, no frayed ends, no weak spot, just broken yarn. I tie another knot and keep on going.



The fact that I did not clue in at this point kind of baffles me. In retrospect I wonder if I am an idiot or just to optimistic to think this could be anything other than poor manufacturing. I knit on. I knit for quite sometime with no more incidents. I figure it must just be fluke and worry about it no more.

Until another yarn end slipped through my fingers. Then I complained to Paul about the yarn quality and picked the ball up off the floor for a closer look. Do you see what I saw? First look in the picture above. If you can't spot it there don't feel to bad, I had to get out the macro lens for the photo below.



Something ate my yarn.

I really not sure how to proceed. Is this an epidemic? I my entire yarn stash riddled with yarn eating vermin? When I showed the hole to Paul he had the nerve to say, "I bet something crawled in there and laid eggs." I can't even go there.

I decided I am going to knit my way to the answer. I am going to finish the socks, knotting yarn when I need to and see what is in the middle of the ball. I will keep you posted.

On another note PJ wrote this note and posted it on her door yesterday when she got home from school. I was at work but Paul told me about it. I guess when he and Quentin read the note they both went in and helped PJ.

She was in a great mood by the time I got home from work and showed me the note with a big smile on her face. I love the phonetic spelling of 'only', which of course is the word "olee" in PJ'S note. I have to respect anyone that can express themselves as well as PJ did yesterday. She managed to turn her "Bad Bad Day" into a good one and the whole family shared a laugh about it.

A New Love

I have been wanting a pair of front loaders (get your minds out of the gutter) for years now. I don't know how I have gotten by with a family of five and no front loaders. I bought these about a month ago and I am in love. I can fit way more stuff in there and they are better for the environment.

I love that this pair has a sanitize mode, no more bleach for my running gear. I washed all the linens off the beds with the sanitize mode, all the towels in house smell fresh all time. I used it on Paul's hockey gear and it took the odor out of it all together. I don't know if you have the pleasure of hockey stink but it one of the worse smells ever.

When I bought them, Paul actually asked me if really thought we could use a washer that holds so much. Dude seriously needs to do some laundry in this house. I definitely don't have to do laundry as often as I used to.



Shannon and Mom have been posting such pretty spring pictures I thought I'd show you what our backyard looks like right now. Last week we had another cold snap, we are usually starting to melt by now but the melting season seems to be starting a little late this year. We got a bit of fresh snow last night and the sun is shining today. Here is the second snowman of the season. The first one is a chunk of ice about the size of an exercise ball hiding behind this one.

We got a bit of melt in freeze in mid February so under all this pretty soft snow is a layer of ice about 4 to 6 inches thick.

I have never seen an icicle grow in this spot before. This thing is amazing and the kids have left alone to see just how long it would get. During the melt/freeze last the month it really grew quite a bit. I think it is about 3 feet long and would be longer if it hadn't run into the top of the retaining wall in the backyard.



It did get up to 5C today and here you can see the roof of our house steaming as it warms up.



As you look down the street you can see the whole neighbourhood steaming away. I think it looks pretty and makes me feel a bit like spring just might be around the corner. I heard a rumour of 10C for Monday T-shirt weather!

Shannon Calls Me Out

Shannon called me sometime last week. I had no idea she called, she left a message with PJ that was never passed on to me. When I found out I swear I heard mom's voice in my head chewing me out for not taking a message when someone called her. I heard her voice come out of my mouth "How would you like it if one of your friends called and I forgot to let you know????" It has begun.

I called her back today and we had a nice chat. She razzed me a bit about not posting in almost a month. I deserved the razzing. We decided on a challenge Shannon and I are both going to post at least twice a week for the next month. If I fail to post twice in a week I owe her a ball of yarn and if she fails to post...well you get the idea. I have lots to update all of you on, I just need to get on the stick and post about it.

We can all thank Shannon for lighting a fire under my butt. I think it was when she said, "Your blog is getting to be like Will's, I just don't check it anymore because you never post." She nailed it.

Skiing and Kntting

Here are those pictures I said I'd show you. It was such a pretty day out, the sun was bright and it must have been only about -3C. Here is Q skiing down the hill, you can't tell from the pictures but he pretty much skis straight down the hill as fast as he can.



I don't know very much about skiing but it really looks to me like PJ is the best skier of the bunch. She takes her time and really enjoys each run, she turns as much as she can linking lots of turns in a row and zig zags back and forth down the hill. She is not the fastest of the three, but she sure gets the most out of the mountain.



Here is the speed demon. Surprise, surprise. He was so fast I never did get him in motion. I think the boys need to slow down and learn thier turns. But this comes from the girl that has never been on skiis before. (Let record show that I do know how to snowboard, but would much rather snow shoe)



Here is the ony picture I got of the kids at the tube park. I was busy riding the hill myself to take any!


I took these to give you idea what the tubing hill looked like. It was getting overcast and dusk was on it's way so the pictures are really crappy. Hard to get any depth of field under those conditions.



These socks have been laying around with no toe until yesterday. I finished them up while watchig the SuperBowl. (I think the superbowl is especially for knitters: good excuse to knit, watch tv and drink beer on a sunday...as if we really need an excuse)

Tons of Fun

What a fun day we had around here.

I got up this morning and drove out to this huge beautiful ranch, they have over 80 horses there. I was asked if I would come up and adjust a couple them. I had the pleasure of working with Copper and Champ, they are both sweet animals and did really well with the care.

I then went to meet Paul and the kids at the ski hill, I took a few pictures of the kids skiing, but I have not had time to download them yet. I will try to download them Sunday...we will see how that goes. I have time now, but I am a bit lazy.

After skiing we all went tubing. What a blast. The ski hill has a tow cable that pulls the tube up the hill as you sit in it. When you get the top the tube unhooks and then you get to ride the tube down the hill. I was surprised at how fast you get going they lay out hay and rubber mats to slow you down at the bottom of the slope. It was a lot of fun, but the lines moved a bit slow, I would like to go again sometime when there are less people there. I know the tubing hill is open at night, I think that would be even more fun.

By the time we made it home the kids were worn out to the point of grumpy. I went downtown and adjusted our local WHL hockey team before their game tonight. Paul stayed home to catch up on paperwork from the office. We often stay and watch the game after, but the kids are to tired to sit through it tonight, so I am listening to it on the radio. It is silly how happy it makes me to hear one of the players I adjusted score a goal.

Big Boy Room

Every once in a while I go into the kids rooms and clean them out. I wait until the kids are at school and I really CLEAN them out. I throw away a lot of crap, I give a way a lot of crap and I get them organized.

Last week it was Sebastian's turn. His room was pretty clean already but I was having trouble him staying up late and reading in his bed. I wanted to move things around so that his books were less accessible for him, he could to easily pull one of the shelf and I would never know it. He will stay up until 10 or 11 at night reading and then be crabby and tired the following day. (I have no idea where this trait comes from)



As I began to pull furniture away from the walls I realized what a mess his walls were. Full of dings and paint chips and what not I thought it was time for a paint job. Classic how a room clean out turns into a weekend project isn't it?

I picked the kids up at school Friday afternoon and took them down to the hardware store. I took Sebastian to the paint isle and asked him what her would like his room to look like. He took a quick look around and pulled a neon green paint chip off the wall. "I want it painted this colour."

I didn't figure his colour choice would help him sleep any better than reading did. I tried to find a middle ground that he would be happy with.



He decided he wanted to paint an "army room." So we did. He picked out a few colours and this is what we came up with:



I even managed to get his dresser and some shelves painted for him. It was done by Sunday evening if you can imagine. He is very happy with and except for putting the shelves back up and finding some army hooks it is ready to go. I have been waiting for the shelves to get good dry and Sebastian has been thinking about where he wants them. I am hoping to put them up tonight.



This all snowballs of course, now PJ would like a room "full of stars" (I am thinking of stealing Shannon and Will's glow in the dark paint idea for that one!) and Quentin wants a "race car room"

It looks I am going to very busy over the next few months!

GoodByes

Goodbyes are always so hard aren't they?

To allow Shmoo to depart from this life with the dignity she always had during it I had to have her euthanized this morning. She was 20 years old. She has been with me for more than half my life. I know I did the right thing and she was ready to move on, but I will miss her terribly.

I have so much in my head and heart as I think about her today that I am at loss on many levels.

10 days...

...since my last post. I have the best intentions and so much going on that I want to share. I am finding by the end of the day I just want to unplug. I don't turn on the computer, the TV, I don't even open a book, I am not really sure what I do.

We have been undergoing a lot of changes at the office. We added another massage therapist and this is good for us...but we are jammed packed in there. It raises a whole set of problems that need to be handled on the fly. Growing pains...totally glad to be having growing pains in this economic environment so I am enjoying every problem I am dealing with.

How can I make this short so I don't bore you to tears? We have always sub-leased (they pay a flat monthly rent) to the RMT's in our office (registered massage therapist). This gives them a great deal and has worked out well for us, the thing is with me working more I am losing $$ on the room my RMT rents. I can make more $$ if I use it myself and Paul and I each run 2 rooms apiece.

When we hired our new RMT (started in Jan) we have him as a subcontract. We take a % and he gets the rest, we cut him a check twice a month on payday with the rest of the staff room now makes me $$. Old RMT has a really good deal and has been getting lots of stuff she does not pay for (laundry, reception benefits from out marketing...and tons more) we are changing her sub-lease to a contract that is more fair for us and she is NOT HAPPY about it. We are seeking compromise but this is a bit stressful for everyone.

Let's go back to the new RMT, he has contracted for services such as reception, laundry, billing and more...we are happy to provide it but we are working with staff to get proceedures in place and it makes more work for staff.

I went out to today and bought a new (my first front loader) washer/dryer for the office to accomodate all the laundry the RMT's generate. (I bought a pair for at home too! OUCH for the pocket book, great deal when you by two pairs) And guess what? The fridge at the office crapped out yesterday so I bought a new one of those today too (great deal $300)

After I bought it Paul checked the old one...it looks like it may have been unplugged. Do you laugh your ass off or pour yourself a shot? I am not sure.

Lots more at the office...we are trying to buy a building this year, we are actively looking, this takes time and energy. We are having a new billing program go in that will accommodate more practitioners, this will great and efficient, will keep me from having to hire more reception as we grow...(um like right now) we need a new computer built for the office we have let several computer places in town know what we need and are awaiting quotes.

Squeaky wheel at the office amongst my staff-she thinks she should be paid more than everyone else and has worked the least amount of time for me. I respect (sort of) what she is saying but can't do it. Staff meeting to iron that all out and clear the air.

Have I mention the parking problem? We are so busy with lots of people working for us...we are all out of parking spots. All wonderful stuff, I am enjoying the process of growing and love what the future is looking like for us but we are hopping busy right now. That is why I have not been turning on my computer at night.

Sebastian's birthday party is all planned for tomorrow. I will tell you about it then. Shmoo is not doing well, lost her sight last night quite suddenly. Vet tomorrow...I will keep you posted.

I need to get an early dinner on the table so I am going to roll. The boys are off to a birthday party for a few hours and we are taking PJ and her BFF Christina to the Blazer game. We manage to squeeze in a lot of fun between all the work!

A Bit Late

I have not gotten around to posting any Christmas pictures...until now.

These are from Christmas Eve at the neighbors house. The kids opened the gifts from Darryl and Mom while we were over there.

They love the Zoobies as you can see by these pictures.





They were a huge hit with the all the neighborhood kids that we got them for as well. My Zoobie is well loved too, she sits on the couch in the front room. I even caught Paul laying down with her once!

We are back to our work routine and the kids are back to school. PJ cracks me up, when I asked her what she missed most about about school she said, "My friends and math." Huh? she must get the love of math from her dad. I can balance a checkbook and all but I don't love the stuff.

Kind of a random post. I am feeling better but still have serious brain drain by the end of the day. I think it is time to go snuggle up with a giraffe and a good book.

Birds of a Feather

When we were down by the river for the Polar Bear Swim I was surprised to see we have 3 pairs of swans wintering here.





After asking around I understand they have been coming here to spend their winters for several years now. To me they seem incongruous with the snow falling around them.

When I think of swans I always think of ones that live in Disneyland. It sparks my imagination to think I could be sharing swans with Mickey Mouse.



To answer mom's question I posted the picture the women making their dash over the ice to the waters edge. It looks like they are cheating the cold by wearing tights, but don't be fooled those are fishnets and I can't imagine they provide much in the way of insulation. I did not post the picture with the last batch because I was not happy with the lighting in it. I could have brightened it up a bit for you...but frankly I am kind of lazy today.

I have had a bit of a nasty head cold/sinus infection since the day after Christmas and I every time I think I have recovered I get bogged down with some body fatigue. Monday we return to our regular routines so I hope to feel better by then.

Polar Bears

We went downtown at noon today for the Polar Bear Swim. It happens every year, but this is the first year we had a reason to go.

Pablo and his current host father, Greg some how got roped into the swim today. I don't know the whole story, but I believe Pablo was volunteered by another Rotarian and then the whole thing turned into a fund raiser. If $1000 was raised for a charity then Greg agreed to swim as well. Naturally the club raised the money.



They both turned out to do the swim but lady luck it seems was on their side. You remember how cold it was a week ago? Well it has frozen over some of the river (the most I have ever seen frozen). I guess by the time you walk out on the ice to jump in the water is about 10 feet deep. It was decided by the city that the conditions were unsafe to do the swim. There was concern about the ice breaking and about the swimmers being able to get out the water once they were in.

Pablo and Greg did earn the $$ anyway, they rolled around in the snow in their swimsuits. As you can see in the picture above it was cold enough for Pablo.



We had fun playing in the park for a little bit. It is a nice day to play outside, about -5C and snowing. Very pretty and mild.





Some folks decided not to heed the safety warning and go for it anyway. I snapped a picture of this guy thinking I might be capturing the picture to accompany the Darwin award for 2009, nice to have that out of the way early in the year.

I like the idea of wrapping a rope around his middle. Ouch. He was able to get in and out on his own accord. And others followed. Lemmings.



Pablo and Greg after snow diving:



A picture of the railroad bridge I have never been able to get before. I am standing 10 feet out on the iced river to take it.

You Must be Tired of This

Winter was quite serious about it's first day around here. That is -17F. It is so cold it feels weird to take a deep breath when you go outside.

You know what I find really strange about the cold? I find it odd how quickly we adapt to it. Today it warmed up to -18C and snowed a bit. Everyone who came into the office today was talking about how it is so much milder than the day before. People are very happy that it has warmed up to -18C. Funny.

I drove the truck to work today. Usually I drive the van around town, but Paul had the day off with the kids and had some errands to run so he asked me to take the truck to work.

The van lives in the garage this time of year, so it stays nice and cozy warm. The truck lives in the driveway, it has a block heater and the van does not. So we can plug it in and it won't free up. (Except for last week, when it was parked at the office and the fuel pump froze, chalk that one up to Mysteries of Winter)

When I left for the office I double checked with Paul, is the truck plugged in???? He mumbled something from our warm cozy bed and I scooted out the door. (which I am sure now was a "yes, don't forget to unplug it.")

I got in the truck and drove merrily away...you know where this is going don't you?

I forgot to unplug it from the house first. I did not even realize it until I got to the office. It dawned on me as I turned the engine off. A little to late.

I ripped the plug (it looks like your standard three prong cord only it plugs from your vehicle into an extension cord that plugs into your house) off the block heater.

I am a good wife, I went to the auto parts store to get him a new cord on my way home from work tonight. They were out of them all over town. It is nice to know it's an epidemic. I said to the sales man, "I'm not the only one?" He said, "Oh, no! you have plenty of company."

Still Cold

It is still a bit cold outside, I think it is -17C right now and the wind is blowing pretty good making it feel damn cold.

We don't usually have any trouble with our vehicles or anything when it gets cold, we are pretty well winterized. This year the truck decided to make an exception to our winterized rules.

On Tuesday the mercury hung out at -20C all day. Paul had just filled the truck with supreme gas (I guess that supreme has a lower freezing temperature than the regular stuff.) Anyway the truck would not start in the evening leaving Paul stranded at work.

He thought his fuel line froze and put in an additive that was supposed to thaw things out. It did not. We figured out how to get home from work (gong show) and how to get him at work by 7:00 am Wed while I got the kids off to school before I went to work (another gong show)

He calls BCAA from the office and traveling mechanic comes out to take a look at things. He has Paul turn over the engine and the traveling mechanic says he can fix the problem right away. He gets out a rubber mallet and crawls under the truck, in the snow, in the very cold snow. He instructs Paul to turn over the truck and the mechanic whacks the fuel pump a few times with the rubber mallet. The truck starts right up.

Apparently the fuel pump was frozen and few whacks was all it needed to wise up.

This morning I am at work and Paul calls. He can't make it in, the truck died getting on the highway....blah...blah blah.

The moral of the story is the truck is still in the shop waiting on a fuel pump. They have it in stock, they just FORGOT to call us to approve the work order, so they did nothing instead.

As a lovely addition to this story while Paul was outside trying so hard to get the truck to start on tuesday night. He just about froze. How cold was he you might ask? He froze his cell phone. He has a three year old blackberry that has been through thick and thin with him. He froze it so that now when you dial the numbers, letters pop up.

I did not know you could freeze a cell phone just standing around outside with it did you?