Music to her ears

I think this pretty much sums up what Lynn thinks you should do when you're retired!

Ah the rites of Spring

The snow is gone and with it the tedium of snow shovelling and snow blowing along with the prospect of seeing your house buried in snow. Now it is time to rectify all that we discovered was wrong with the design of the backyard that made our lives miserable during the winter. After careful analysis and severe number crunching coupled with several power point presentations, Lynn laid out her vision to make our lives better this coming winter. First, the front porch needs a new set of stairs adjacent to the house which would alleviate the need for shovelling 20 feet of sidewalk and six stairs. Second, the rear deck would have to go, which would eliminate many hours of shovelling and another six stairs. With her ever dutiful husband on board, what remained was finding the appropriate material to replace the deck. A beautiful cobblestone patio was envisioned by our landscaper but I think he was really envisioning building his summer cottage with his profits, so out went that idea. We settled on asphalt which we already had on the ground level in front of the deck but since the deck would be in the way of the asphalt people, it had to go. Lynn then enthusiastically tackled this major undertaking. As you can see, from the pictures below, it was quite the chore. These pictures do not show all the work that went into removing the stairs, railings and bench seating from around the deck but they give you some idea of what went on.

Steve Colbert and the U.S. Election

The Daily Show: West Virginia Voters "No Interviews Please!"

This video sums it all up for me at least.

Now he's got two!

To think, we were worried about him, now he's got two!

Jakes first trip to the beach

The puppy grows up and up

My first time in the ocean

My first clamshell

Faithful puppy and Lynn

Always a nice day to walk on the beach

Strange cameraman catches his eye

He doesn't seem sure of all this picture
taking.

Pause for Reflection

We were out buying a graduation card for Garrick and after picking the appropriately funny one, we headed off on our mission to procure trees and shrubs for the house. We planted four rosebushes in our front flowerbed, ordered another apple tree to replace the one that was mangled by all the snow and four bushes to plant alongside the fence to shield the neighbors from the hounds from hell or Petit-Rocher, whichever works for you.

We couldn't arrange the flight for Jonathan due to AirMiles restrictions on one way fares so he will have to come out another time. It was a shame because I know he was looking forward to the visit and so were we, well with any luck we'll have him before the winter or in the following spring.

I'll be heading off to see my family in Toronto in a month or so and that will be nice, I'll even be there for Dads birthday, he turns fifty this year, which makes me thirty and my brothers in their forties. With my kids being in their twenties, this is gonna be a hard sell :) It will be an occasion nonetheless. Anna's cooking, Rick's movies and nephews and nieces galore along with all of their children, it's always such a busy and vibrant place. My hair might even be longer than Tedd's now, that would be something, oh and regardless if it is or not, I have no grey :)

I'll post some more pictures of the puppy since he is growing so fast, he'll be a dog in no time at all. He had his first trip to the beach a few days ago and it was an exciting time for him and for us too since we haven't owned a dog like him before, he can be let off leash, he doesn't run away, doesn't bark at everything he sees and generally is everything they say that a golden retriever is, a family dog.