Blogged Off to Canada!

You have Been Evicted! Please leave the Little farm house.

2009-10-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well as harsh as that may seem it probably does not seem as bad to our landlord. He decided that he wants to move back into the house himself. This despite saying we could have it for as long as we wanted not as long as he wanted. Oh and the best bit he didn't even come round to say it to us or even by phone, he sent a text message to Tara and she doesn't even know his mobile phone number so she just got a random text asking when could we be out of the house because he wanted to move in. Tara was hoping it was exactly that... a random text but no she called the number to clarify and it was he. bit of a coward if you ask me.
We told him we would be in no rush to find somewhere new and we would let him know when we did. So we have found somewhere new but we are not overly excited about moving again. The house is in the same area which is good but in our opinion it is not exactly like what we have now, which we love so it is taking quite some motivation to get into the moving frame of mind. Hopefully it will work out in the new house.
The move will happen over this weekend coming and there is lots to do. For me it really is more a mental thing and I just have to get my head round moving. There are other things too, like our present house came with appliances the new one doesn't so we will have to pick up some essential household equipment. Oh the joys!

Anyway no point dwelling on it too long I guess it just has to be done, so its onwards from the 6th concession to the 3 rd concession road, Harrow.
Hope to see you all there sometime soon!

Happy Birthday!

2009-09-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Well on Sunday past we celebrated Hope's 3rd birthday, hard to believe she is that age! We had a family get together on Sunday afternoon which was very enjoyable for all.

Also it is My Dad's birthday today the ripe young age of 53 again it seems like only yesterday we were celebrating his 50th. Well I would not like to let it pass without his grandchildren passing on their regards so here it is.

Happy Birthday Dad!

A Life in the Sticks

2009-08-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know its been like forever since I last blogged but for the most part I have a good excuse, it goes something like this........

After staying with the in-laws for quite sometime since moving to Canada we had got pretty well settled over here obviously there comes a time when a child should leave their parents home especially the second time round! So Tara had been looking and found a house that she thought would be perfect for us to rent and me being me I let her go ahead and look at it and sign up for it without even looking at it, trusting her judgement. I did get to see it briefly in the dark one night before we moved in.
Its a nice little farmhouse out in the county and its address is listed as Harrow, it is outside of the blink and you miss it town though. Once we moved in we realised that things you come to take for granted like TV, Internet, phone and Timmie's are not as common place as one would think.

No cable out here so you can have satellite but not wanting to pay or get locked into contracts with TV we gave that a miss and I installed an outdoor antenna which gets us most the channels we watched anyway. No Internet was a different ball game altogether, It seems its dial-up you can get or again get locked into a long contract with some random ISP. We decided to leave it and make sure we explored all the options open to us, this lasted a few months and although we both used the net on our phones it is not really the easiest way to browse and communicate. So with the price reduced a little with one of the random providers we got xplorernet installed. So far not so good on speed tests I have carried out I have it to be slower than dial up even though for the first month you are forced to pay for their fastest package! What does this mean? well it means that the desired package we want could possibly be even slower if they don't push through the same amount of bandwidth once the first month is over!!! Tara has contacted them and they gave some lame excuse about fixing towers in the area and extended the 1 month get out clause until September. Hopefully the speed does get better because there is no way I am going to pay over the odds for Internet to be given a really slow service for 3 years! So we wait and see whats going to happen and they better not try charging full price for this poor service either!

You see good excuse!

Little House in the Country

2009-04-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry to everyone who has not been entertained in recent times with an update of any kind on the blog but things having been getting pretty hectic round here.

Now that we are moving into a house in the country and I am working silly hours for 'Turners Audio' climbing mad roofs trying to install antennas without the aid of any kind of safety equipment and with out the use of my hands as they are filled with tools and parts!!! crazy but that's for another blog.

This one is just to add a couple of photo's of the house out near Harrow which we will be renting for now. Its a tidy wee number with around an acre and half of land and a swimming pool.

So once we are in you'll be glad to know we operate an open door policy... As long as someone is home there is a welcome at the mat! Please feel free to take us up on that on a casual if you are local or with notice if you are making a special trip to the area.

We hope to be BBQing and making use of the outdoor facilities all summer long!

The Power of Buckleys

2009-02-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a wee video update, this is of Hope taking some medicine. This stuff is like drinking Vicks vapo rub. You know what they say it tastes so bad it must be good.

Busy Week

2009-01-29T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well the old man has been left off at the airport in Detroit today after a week visit. He thought it would be good to see Canada in the winter, you can ask him if he still thinks it was good idea.

After arriving last Thursday evening we set off to Niagara Falls on Friday when the girls got home from school. We felt it was only fair that he and Marguerite should still experience a 4 hour drive in the car. So we could to the Howard Johnson or Hard Jansen if you are from Norn Iron or in fact if your down with the youth they have re branded thing and are now HOJO. Anyway it was a pleasant surprise to find this hotel was actually right off Clifton street so everything we need to see was on the doorstep.
Friday night comprised of a little dander down and around Clifton st. picked up some info on things to do the next day. We all then turned in for the night.

Saturday came and we all went to Denny's for brekkie, not much Kop and I wouldn't really recommend it but it filled a hole. So it was off to the Falls to take in the awesome sight and it really is nice in winter. So we walked around and up to the table rock plaza, cue Hope to have another incident, a smell that would make the eyes water. Tara had to throw her clothes out. So me and Tara headed back to the hotel to get the car and fresh clothes.

We picked everyone up then headed back to see Ripley's believe it or not, (some weird stuff going on in there) then we got ready to hit the Skylon for dinner.

Unfortunately the revolving restaurant was not working but we got good window seats in the static dinning room. The only downside being that the lights on the falls seem to be put on later and we did not get to see that from the Skylon. So with belly's well filled we headed back down to Clifton st. to have some fun.

We went on the big wheel and got a good view of the lights being on we also got hand sculptures made out of wax, while we waited for them I headed of to find a couple of caches!
So after a long day we all headed back to the hotel

then I went out and got some night photos taken before cuddling up with Tara with Pizza, Ice cream and a movie. (City of Ember, made in Belfast a few big names, crap movie!)

Sunday morning came and it was time to head behind the falls for some photo opportunities. The viewing from behind the falls was totally frozen but we got some nice views from the viewing deck beside the falls.

So all the tourist attractions we could handle had been seen and it was time to head back to the Belle but first a stop off in London to Visit Grant & Marla and the kids. Now I was unsure if I should go in as last time I came to London I seen Erin , Marlas sister and a couple of my kids got hurt but I was assured no harm would come to them here, so everyone went in for a bit craic and to catch up after all it had been like 10 years. Oh what is that I hear? yes that's the right its the sound of pain and an injured child, as luck would have it we got the full set and Bekah got a chin shredder, she had a nice pattern on her chin for a few days. So it was time to go, run out the door and never come back, just kidding we don't hold things like that against anyone as I know what happens when people come to our house.

So we all came home tired from the weekend, ate some pizza then headed off to bed.

My Dad even had a chance to walk on water albeit Frozen

Another couple of busy days getting in what we could then the week was over and it was time to head back to Detroit to leave Big Gordy and Marguerite off. They do say that time flies when you are having fun and this week certainly did.
I need a couple of days sleep now!

Just an update

2009-01-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

OK so the last half of last week it got pretty cold around here. -18°C and with wind chill we had been getting as low as -30°C. Now by any ones standard that was pretty cold. So when I was out on Friday night I called Tara and she was telling me Gaby was investigating the effects of the cold. She asked a couple of days previous what happens when you touch your tongue to metal when it is freezing, Tara told her your tongue will stick to it. This answer however did not seem to be enough for Gaby and she wished to investigate more. So when they were coming in on Friday Gaby licked the door handle thus welding her tongue to the metal. Obviously then she knew the answer but not the cure, So as Tara's hands were full and she did not tell her to wait until she got warm water Gaby pulled her tongue off. Of course now you have lots of crying and a bloody tongue. Now was she settled she was very annoyed as they had just come from Timmies with hot chocolate and a donuts which she could not drink or eat. She is now fine and eating donuts again. She still insist that this was an accident and that she slipped and fell into the door handle with her tongue. Yup just as I thought! who doesn't use their tongue to break their fall when they slip?

Sorry no photo's as Tara is not as snap happy as me.

Blizzard Caching

2009-01-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

As the title says I decided to go do a bit of geocaching in the blizzard. It was pretty nasty trying to drive the car on the roads and visibility was not great either. I managed to pick up 4 caches and got 3 Did not finds (DNF) I reckon the reason for the DNF's was the snow, not the best weather to be searching for Tupperware in the woods. You probably will not be able to make out me talking on the video but there was about 4-5" of snow on the ground and plenty more blowing into my face. As it happens I did not find the cache I was looking for in the video. That coupled with the condition I had today it was not ideal to be out. Lets just say a fart was totally out of the question.

Not Chocolate!

2009-01-06T12:39:00.001-08:00

This is an earlier than expected update but one I thought note Worthy indeed.
After being out with Tara and Hope this morning we came home and put Hope for a nap. Now I reckon the terrible 2's have come since Christmas. So she didn't really settle but stood and sang and fooled around. After a bit I decided to get her out of bed as it was a waste of time. I was confronted with one very happy child in the state below with no clothes on but a shirt. Like I said this is not a photo of Chocolate. The one upside for me and Tara is that it is not us who will never live this down!

I bet you are glad it is not scratch and sniff!

She even said "Cheese"

The Other London!

2009-01-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

We headed to London Ontario on Saturday to visit with a couple of friends which I had not seen in anything from 4.5 years to 13 years. So we packed up the truck in the morn and left for a bit of caching and catching up. With the going good it only took us around an hour and a half to get to London, so we stopped at the dog park. Now this is a great idea a park dedicated to letting your dogs roam free, now we were not brave enough to let Forrest roam but he had fun sniffing around any other dogs who cared to come. At this point Hope declared while standing beside her 120lb pup that she was afraid of dogs ( quite funny). So with the dogs leg stretched and the first cache bagged we had on the short trip across the road to the Kilaly (or something like that) trails for another couple of caches. With a couple of inches of snow on the ground I could not find the first cache but continually found myself breaking through ice and I had no idea what was below it, luckily the water had rescinded. So I headed back onto the path with the rest of the family and continued on round the trail toward the next cache. We got to a flooded piece of the path which was now ice covered and I was urged to go and test the ice, I did so very tentatively and turned back a couple of times as I heard the cracking and groaning beneath my feet. Yet again I was urged on by Tara, so I finally made it over and everyone else followed. As I got close to the next cache I had to go off the path again and cracking through more ice. I got to the cache to find the large container to be a solid block of ICE. Back to the car and off for our first visit with the Weston's, 13 years since I had seen Erin and she probably thought she'd seen the back of me but like a bad penny I turned up again. Good times where had catching up and waiting for Nate to get back from work due to Erin's inability to make coffee (well we all have our faults). The kids all played well together and a good time was had by all until disaster struck. Hope came in from playing outside with a small scrape that turned into a small bump which turned into a HUGE bump (think EMU egg). More of that hard to find resource Ice! was applied to get the swelling down before any photo's could be taken as evidence in the law suit. Luckily no signs of permanent damage have been seen YET! Not long after that Gaby came in crying because she had burned herself, on what you ask? naturally the leaf blower, it was being used in snow removal and the not so savvy Gaby wanted to pick up the wrong end. Again no real damage done. It was at this point I gathered the family close to me and made a hasty retreat stating that we had other 'real' friends to go have dinner with.. All joking aside a good time was had by all and we look forward to meeting up again but perhaps in a soft play area.
Now off to the DeVries for dinner. I had not seen Mark and Kristin for over 4 years, so again it was good to catch up and to see Spuds on the menu. Good time watering the lawn (ice rink) and checking out the marine life here, Kids played well together and NO health issues here, only problem seemed to be at the time the black hole in the house. First Hopes Dummy disappeared into it then the remote for the car but on the next days inspection the dummy was retrieved from the hole and the remote was found in the car, so all accounted for. I took the time to look through the remnants of Kristin's photographs as her scrapbooks where in storage. I still have not seen very much photographic evidence of the first mission trip to Norn Iron in 95.
So we headed home tired and bruised but able to fight another day!

A Little bird nest.
Some hungry Beavers around here.

On Thin Ice.
Ice formation.

She only had to hold herself upright on a handful of occasions (she said she was seeing double but I told her it was a mirror)
You can hardly even tell it was burnt, but her teacher in school today insisted on putting cream and a band-aid on it.

Woody Woodpecker

Time to Leave London for now. We'll be back honestly!

Road Trip!

2008-12-28T16:57:00.001-08:00

The New Jersey Railway station. This is the old station, a really nice building, now used to sell you tickets and also has 9/11 memorial walls.

This is a story of 2 people, 4 states & a Province, 1300 miles, 1 dog and 11 geocaches!

Well Boxing day rolled round and due to unforeseen circumstances we were to be reunited with our dog Forrest. He was due to land in Newark airport on Saturday the 27 December at lunch time. Now what else would you do on the days after Christmas but sit around and put on weight? We decided to go for a drive to pick up the dog!

We arranged for the kids to be watched by Tara's 2 sisters, which was very much appreciated as I'm not sure sitting in a car for 24hrs would appeal to them very much at all. So we got them dropped off early on boxing day so that we would be hitting the road early to make the best of the time we had. After drop off 2 in Taylor MI we had hardly made the state line to Ohio through the ice rain and there was accident after accident along the road. we sat not moving far for 2 hours!! finally when we did get going and the weather got a bit better things went well. I got to pick up a few caches along the way ( I was trying to make my 300 on this trip but because of delays and the likes I still need one more) Apparently Pennsylvania is a beautiful mountain state, well by the time we got there all we could see where silhouettes of mountain tops oh and a pocono ski resort all lit up. We made it to East Orange in New Jersey around 11 pm, booked into a hotel and crashed. We woke up in the morning and decided while we are here and have some time might as well try and make the most of the area and headed towards the Liberty state park to see the Statue and the famous New York Sky-line. It was at this point that it donned on me that this very time 10 years ago I spent 10 days in New York with Simon Gibson whilst visiting Sharon Canez (then Coulter). This time it was spent in the company of my wife! As you can see in the pictures we got there just in time as the fog was descending rapidly. We got on the ferry out to the statue but decided we did not have time to go in as the dog was due in soon. Probably a decent idea because by the time you get in and up the statue visibility would have been zero and the last time I went I reckon it was about a mile as we could not even see back to Manhattan then. By the time we got back on land Manhattan was invisible and I quickly grabbed a near by cache before getting the dog. It took quite a bit of time to get the dog and we only got back on the road around 5 pm with fog thick around these mountain roads thank goodness for tom tom and also people who I have named 'Wilson'. Now at this point I will say that Tara did all the driving as she does not mind it and I don't like driving places that I am unfamiliar with. So she was the real star of this whole show. OK back to Wilson now most of you I hope have seen the movie castaway with Tom Hanks and he gets very attached to a volley ball made by Wilson and names it the same. Tara had a similar affection for cars that's seemed to know the area and continued to drive a fair old rate through the fog. She figured that they knew better and if they go over a ditch she would have time not to do so herself... oh and also they would get pulled for speeding first. Now when you are travelling 1300 miles it will be very unlikely that another drive is going on the exact route as you. So as these 'Wilson's' headed off the road Tara would get upset a bit like Tom hanks did when he lost Wilson. So a name was born and now when cars pulled off the road we would shout "wilsonnnnnnnnnnn" until the next Wilson was found.

We finally made it back to Taylor and crashed at the sister-in-laws house at around 3am, then headed home this morning. All in all a great trip but not something I would do too often.

Manhattan Sky line, Now You See It! (well most of it)

Now You Don't! (taken looking in the same direction about an hour later)

Proof that was Tara went.

I think this is the new construction work around ground Zero 9/11.

"get your coat Love, you've pulled!"

LETS GO RED WINGS!

2008-12-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

Well as the title says I headed off to a Red Wings game. Derek and Collin came with me or I should say Collin and myself went with Derek as he kindly got us the tickets unfortunately our other Brother-in-law could not make it.

Game was good and the Red wings won easily enough and tickets costing only $9 makes it worth while even if there is not much atmosphere at a game of this nature. Here are a few photo's of the night

Getting the ice ready!

All Stand for God Save the Queen...... Sorry I mean The Star Spangled Banner

Face-Off

Derek & Collin

A Festive Treat

2008-12-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

Here before you is a mixed bag of Videos to let you in on a little taste of Canada at Christmas. I hope you enjoy and don't bug me for updates as there is plenty here for you.

Weather Just In.....

Snow Fun

A Little Electric Light Parade. A house not far from us.

Santa Actually came to Visit our house!

Hope Tried To hide from him.

More Extreme Driving.

2008-12-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

I hope I have given you all time to view my last video blog but today I seen one of the funniest things since I have been here. Now I am sure no one else blinked at it but when you come from where I come from this kind of thing just would never happen.

I was driving through Belle River when round the corner comes a guy driving some vintage tractor. Now that I am sure many people back home can identify with but never would you see the tractor driver wear a green over coat and a balaclava (ski mask).

This would surely only be a joy rider or a paramilitary hijacker, in fact I think it is illegal to be wearing that kind of thing in Northern Ireland. I just wish I was not driving and was able to turn round and get a photo but alas no.

Extreme Driving!

2008-12-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of what it is like to drive in Canada.
Enjoy

As you can hopefully see driving is extreme in Canada especially when sitting on the wrong side of the car. No Animals or Children have been hurt in the making of this video!

It's Snow Joke

2008-12-06T08:56:00.001-08:00

Well we have just been hit with the first meaningful snowfall and the kids took to their snow pants and gloves. The snow is so light and fluffy it just blows about, unlike the wet stuff we get back home. Bekah and Gaby are now outside shoveling snow I brought Hope in as she was complaining about the cold but didn't want to come in.

Here are a couple of photo's too including the Ford Explorer.

Mexican stand off

Thanks giving bye Christmas Hi!

2008-11-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

Well we just celebrated American Thanks giving yesterday with turkey dinner No.2 so now its time to get fully focused on Christmas. This will be our first year not planning our traditional festivities, I love Christmas and all it brings. You just can't beat hearing the Salvation army brass band playing carols out in the street, in the shopping centres or in Church. Warm mince pies and cream or custard, Finger food and shloer, friends and family over as much as possible, Church on Christmas morning. Decorating the tree, the inside of the house the outside of the house, the garden, wherever. Oh and Turkey dinner, who can not enjoy the spreads of Christmas? Turkey, spuds, veg (especially sprouts) sausages and the ever so very important stuffing!! My tummy is rumbling away now!!
The big problem for me this year will be being organised early for my family/friends at home. i reckon I should have already sent out greetings and the like. (note to self, do that this weekend)

Hopefully enjoying a new version of Christmas preparations will give me lots to write here and hopefully I find time to write about it. Well I need to go rest now as I have had a migraine all day at work and I have to help my sister-in-law move house tomorrow and the Manchester derby on Sunday, so yet again no lie-in this weekend. Oh the joys of Canada!

Settling in.

2008-11-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

OK things are pretty much settled here right now. So far no complaints but there my be some in the future but I don't have to worry about something I don't know.
We made the decision that we would benefit from 2 cars so that Tara can pick up work easier as there would be no constraint on waiting for me to get home from work. So we went looking, now I'm a fan of the Ford F-150 pick-up and would have liked one of those with the quad cab but at the minute there is no real need at all for back bed. So we happened upon a 2002 Ford Explorer which has seven seats and rides almost like a truck perhaps a little lower. It is a 4wd beast with 4 litres of engine and at best I can hope to get 20mpg thank goodness Gas has just gone under the 80c mark. The car is like most other Chelsea tractors. Next update I Hope to perhaps add a video of it.
So now I am used to the food and getting used to the cars what could possibly be next?

A time to reflect

2008-11-11T16:36:00.001-08:00

November 11 @ 11am

This is a traditional time for many people to take time and remember people who have fought in battles over the years to ensure our freedom. We may not agree with many of these wars but the fact that their are many men and women prepared to go to the front line to defend us is something we should never forget.

Many people have paid the supreme price in this cause and died whilst in service. This should never be forgotten and even though for many November 11 is just another tradition I think it is important that people are reminded of what has been done for them.

In many ways this service was very similar to what we would find at home in Northern Ireland. A parade of colours followed by a Pipe band and then many local groups. Now here are possibly the main differences. The local priest said a few words and prayed and then we had a 3 gun salute. just a couple of things which may not have gone down to well at home!

Never Forget!

Sorry

2008-11-02T17:51:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I updated this blog not really because I have nothing to say but I was formulating my new video blog and still have not got round to making it yet. So I thought I should give you a general update instead.

OK I worked nights last week in my job, we had to remove an old roof from the local whiskey factory. The thing is that removing the roof is done during the night and I believe that night is the time God intended us to sleep not work but nevertheless I went and did my bit, 10 hours night shift of manual heavy labour. Now from doing the job all week I have concluded that this is exactly the kind of work that you imagine criminals should be doing once they have been given their prison sentence.. Seriously I reckon this is exactly the kind of hard labour in chain gangs they should be doing. Now I don't mind riding the little dump trucks across the roof but lifting hundreds of squares of cut up fibreglass/felt/pitch is just nasty and that pitch dust burns!
But my not being one to complain I'll just muddle on and get on with it for now. Hopefully that job that would be more rewarding will come along in due course.

Tara has got a few hours with a company called 'Nurses next door' hopefully this will lead to more hours but things in this field of work seem to take forever to get moving like another company 'Christian Horizons' have been in contact with her since before we left Norn Iron and they have given her an interview on Nov 14 and they think this is normal oh and that's only the first interview after that they ask you for another so maybe she might get a job with them before Christmas but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The kids are settling well. Bekah and Gaby are getting used to school and singing 'Oh Canada' every morning. Both seem to be enjoying school as much as they ever did, so that means Bekah loves it and Gaby hates it. So things are good. Hope is Hope happy as Larry (whoever he was).

The in-laws have headed of on Vacation for 3 weeks today. Driving down to Florida. so we have the responsibility of keeping everything together here in Belle River. We have been given all our instructions so we should be fine.

Oh and the kids went Trick or Treating on Friday. Now I wish we had this level of professionalism in handing out candy to kids at Halloween. If they outside lights are off you don't go to the house. As it was such a nice night most people in our sub division sat with their garage doors open handing out the treats.
Now we only let are kids go to the houses in our street and they still managed to fill a carrier bag full with goodies. Crazy, some kids seem to make to come from all around the county filling pillow cases with junk. Our kids are still high on sugar.
You should also see the level of decoration that now goes on with house illuminated with lights and pumpkins and gardens turned into graveyards. CRAZY!!

Think that'll do you for now!

Its a hard life!

2008-10-21T14:15:00.001-07:00

Well things are starting to settle down a bit the kids have been in school for just over a week and are getting used to it. I have been in work (well whenever they actually have work) for the same time. So far nothing bad to report. Tara is still looking for a part time job so hopefully she gets something she wants soon.
Just finished watching Man u beating Celtic so life is good!
Also received a Northern Ireland sticker via Millisle for my car. so i can report that if you post something using Royal Mail to our old house it gets sent redirected mail to Canada and all the price of a royal mail stamp.
news just in the Door I have received my Beanie from Surf Mountain but no jacket yet so I hope that arrives before any heavy rain does.

I am working on my next video blog at the minute so hopefully that will be ready by this weekend.

Today's Blog was brought to you by the Letter C and the Number 6..... oh that reminds me I have a new Canadian Cell phone number which I did text the number to folk back home. If you have not received a text I have not forgot about you I just think that I sent it to the wrong number because I forgot to change the numbers correctly. So please email me and ask for the new number!

Bizeeeeeeeee!

2008-10-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well I know I was meant to provide another video blog of the Thanks giving meal but i was too busy eating it to make videos about it. I have final realised why I moved to Canada.... You start eating Turkey dinners in October!! (I sense a food theme running through my blog, some people will think all I do is eat!(I'm just trying things out honest))
OK well the kids started School this week on Tuesday. They said they enjoyed it, then Gaby Cried and screamed the next morning about not going back but that nothing new she did that at home too. I started work on Tuesday too, Hard day1 We went to the site waited for 2 hours for a delivery which didn't come so me and the other new guy got sent home and the rest of the day turned out to be great. So I started proper work yesterday it is really quite basic simple labouring. it is good simply from the point of view it gets me into construction of sorts here so I can learn some things. The foreman seemed to be impressed by my work and I honestly didn't do anything other than do as he said. He told me I was good but I'm not sue if he does that to try and make sure you come back the next day. Well day 2 today was much of the same for the first part of the day but later in the day we had to cover the roof in stones, so I wheel barrowed I dunno how many tons of stone up and down the roof which was heavy work but again nothing but a heavy days work nothing complicated. I expect tomorrow to be much the same so hopefully i don't have to work Saturday to give my muscles a break as its been a while since I did full time manual work, the benefit hopefully will be I lose the weight I put on sitting behind a computer for 9 months!
OK its time to put the kids to bed and sit and watch TV and experiment on some new snack foods!! d:o)

Video Blog Food Part 1

2008-10-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

As a tribute to Thanks Giving weekend Canada I will be making a couple of video blogs on Traditional and less Traditional Fare.

Here we have the Traditional Sized snacks.

Hi-Ho

2008-10-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

it's off to work I go!

After a week long drive of handing out my resume and looking on the net for job opportunities I sent my resume to a roofing company. There was not much detail on the ad it just said general labourers (5). So I decided that I was general enough enough to fit the bill. The ad said hand your resume in person or fax it. So not wanting either of those options I called them up and spoke to someone to get a suitable email address and for them to fully appreciate the charm of the Ulster accent. Anyway I sent it in and then headed out into the mildness of fall in Windsor, when we got home there was a message from Mike Raugh (head buck cat) of Raugh roofing. He left a number for me to call him back so I was about to do that this morning when the phone rang and it was him again (my resume is THAT impressive) so he told me that I was more than qualified for this general role and that the pay was low. As I am more interested in getting some experience over here that did not deter me and I said "nay ballher" (no problem to any foreign or native reader) So Mr. Raugh has asked me to come in tomorrow morning for an intro to watch a DVD and answer some questions for legal reasons. Hopefully I can bounce some questions off him and see what all is involved and all those other questions anyone sensible would ask.

So I took a wee drive down today to make sure I can find the place OK and I did so there is another bonus.

For a special surprise my next update on the blog will be a video due to popular demand and the fact some of my loyal fans back home struggle with reading.

The way of Life

2008-10-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well we have been i n Canada a week today and I would like to share some observations which I have known for ages but it is only when you are living here that it actually means anything.

I had a drive around the county yesterday going to such far flung places as Leamington. Firstly the speed limits seem a little on the low side if you compare it the speeds we are allowed to drive back home on country roads. Over here you quickly feel like you are not going very fast even though you are on a big open straight road. Turning right on a red light is good no need to wait for lights if the way is clear. Then you have such things as all-way stop signs everywhere for no apparent reason, I can understand it a little if it was for traffic calming in built up areas but you do still tent to get them out in the county a bit. It would be much easier if like at home one side 'Gives way/Yields'.
then there is the price of provisions we went into a store and I remember many years ago when I started coming to North America things where about the same in dollars as they were in pounds, so that would always have made things roughly half the price. Now as I look around everything is double the price in dollars, so that really makes it about the same price as we are used to paying back home. There are a few things which still seem to be very/ cheap like pop.. On sale you can get 12 tins (which are bigger than at home) of the Coke family for $4.29 (2.15) or 24 tins for $4.99 (2.50) or water 12 bottles for 99cents. Eating out on the whole is much cheaper and much more pleasant experience. McDonald's and the likes have crept up in price and in general are getting close to home prices but you get more junk for you buck!

I was trying to open a bottle of power ade last night and I don't think I had the required level of education to do so. First there was a plastic seal around the lid once I got that cracked I went for a slug only to find the crafty folk here had put another seal under the lid. Now we can see wasteful packaging in action. Never going to save the planet with all this waste!

so go get a piece of land and start growing your own. Carrots, onions pumpkins, beans, lettuce, bread and the likes and perhaps some day you might strike oil too!

Got wheels will travel!

2008-10-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ok the settling period continues unabated. More paperwork is getting filled in and we are starting to intensify the job search. So the next logical step is to get some kind of motorised vehicle. So Tara came back last night to say she had found a cheap and cheerful car on the local car lot, we went down and had a look and I think it is a Chevy cavalier of the 1999 variety and probably the only one in existence in North America that is a manual which means I will be gear shifting with the wrong hand and driving on the wrong side of the road. Ontario be afraid be very afraid! I think we might be getting tonight after it has been 'Safetied' lowered some big rims and possibly some flames up the side....well maybe not be the safety has to be done.
So it has been almost a week since we lift the Emerald Isle and it is still impossible to say how the transition is going mainly down to the fact that we are living in a familiar area and of course in a familiar house with family around us. I hope that because of these reasons that things will continue as they are now as far as not feeling too stressed out but I'm sure there will be stressful times ahead in the not to distant future but lets remember Matthew 6:34 "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

I'm in...I'm In!!

2008-09-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

OK well I'm officially in Canada now. After a smooth visit to immigration in Hamilton which only took maybe 20Min's at most I got my paper work which says I'm now a settler. I did tell them at immigration I was a little disappointed that once they stamped the forms no balloons and streamers came from nowhere welcoming me to Canada, but they did says they would consider the idea for future. I think they really should put a little effort in for people who take the time and effort to enter the country the correct way and take all the time and money filling out forms, going for medicals and getting my photo taken at least 16 times.

So yesterday was spent travelling round the driving licence place, and city hall to get health cards and social insurance. All that has went well except there is some stupid rule in place that if you are from the UK you can just surrender licence and get a Canadian one but if you are from Northern Ireland you have to do the G driving test but you can drive for a year on your own licence first. So hopefully I will put some pressure on the government of Northern Ireland to come into line with the rest of the UK just so I can skip the test.

The kids are glad that they will have another week off school because they have to get a TB test done. Maybe my home schooling friend can forward some work!

So what next I guess I need to think about looking for some work. Now I don't actually think I really have a problem with that but the only issue may be trying to drive around lost trying to find these potential employers. Ah well all part of the experience I guess. I think I will need to keep a little verse at hand when I go for jobs. Psalm 104. Vs. 23 says "Man goes out to his work and to his labour until the evening." so hopefully there will be no odd shifts and weekends for me but I highly doubt it.

The Sum of one's worth is not....

2008-09-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

in possessions!

OK so I sit here on the eve of my departure from Northern Ireland, obviously there are mixed emotions. Intrigue, excitement, fear, nerves. I walked into the living room of the Smiths where all our stuff is, it is mostly packed now. I surveyed that in 28 years of collecting clutter my possessions along with that of the rest of my family had amounted to about 7 hold alls and a few small bags. There are also quite a few boxes in storage back at our house but I had to then go and take Richard to the airport and I said that my life has amounted to a handful of bags in his parents living room to which he pointed out that the sum of mans life is not in his possessions. So as I have box loads of Cd's, DVDs, Stuff, gadgets, clothes and other odds and ends gathered up and then the stuff I intend to bring I have realised that at the end of the day it is just stuff and it won't really be missed. We (I) spend so much time and money cluttering up our lives with things that just don't mean anything to us. So as I head out to Canada I make it a goal not fill up on new stuff but try to move away from that. Do we really need that 1980's CD? or the toy, the 'Invisible man' which is really just an empty box? I don't really think so.

So I encourage you all to sit back and reassess the things about you and consider just before you spend your hard earned cash on that all important piece of stuff, how long the novelty will last and is it worth it? Please feel free to point this very fact out to me if you see my in the local gadget shop or online shopping.

So what is the sum of one's worth? It is surely the close family and friends around you. As I have witnessed over the last week I have some truly awesome family & friends ones that will never be far away from my thoughts and prayers. So I encourage you all to be all that you can to your nearest and dearest because that truly is the sum of your life!

Love Your Neighbour in other words!

The Long and Winding road...

2008-09-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well as part of my transition to Canada I have decided to start a blog. Not sure how frequent it will be as I get more stressed out and have too many things to be doing but hopefully I will keep it up.

I am now sitting in the Smiths house as I am now a gypsy with no home to call my own as we have rented out our house the the tenant wanted in quicker than we could move. So we are (or I should say Tara) is running around try to get all the loose ends tied up before we fly out of Ulsters green and pleasant land. Still not sure the enormity or reality of the whole move has full sunk in and I probably won't be able to fully appreciate it until we get o'er the pond.

Hopefully exciting times lie ahead for the whole family and for the most part we are looking forward to getting in to it and settling in. Myself and Tara will be looking to get regular jobs quite quickly and I will have to find out about such things as social security numbers (whatever that is) o and then I reckon it would be senisible to consider the fact that I now need to drive on the other side of the road. The is also the fact that everyone over there has an accent which the seem unaware of, so I will have to battle with them having to learn my language too. This may prove quite long but I feel they will be a much happier nation when they can speak Norn Iron.

So it's time for this little F.R.O.G to look up out of my little well and discover that their is a whole big wide wrold out there waiting for me to be dropped into and start to discover what happens when you do exactly that FROG, Fully Rely On God!