We have been walking “south” along the Fraser River towards Burnaby lately, and every day is like a new journey. I put the south in brackets because when we start walking we are heading east, naturally, but the river slowly bends to the south.
The river is affected mightily by the tides – way more than I ever imagined – and when the river is close to the shore, the birds are much closer to shore, of course. And that makes them much more intriguing to Bailey!
I’ve posted another video of her chasing seagulls across a field, so you know she might not be the brightest bulb in the candelabra. Her latest attempt at bird capture is with the Canadian Geese. She will charge them whenever she gets the chance. They simply retreat to the water squawking at the her, but won’t fly away. Now Bailey has taken to swimming after them!
She gets so muddy, I let her get in the river to rinse herself off and she does a great job!
In the morning, Bailey and I take a little walk along the Fraser River. There are lots of ducks, Canada geese, eagles, herons – just what you’d expect along a river near the coast, of course.
Today, was very bright, and the river was very calm. Standing on a log, this Great Blue Heron was amazingly well camouflaged. As soon as I turned on the camera, it started to move, and the sun was so bright, I really couldn’t figure out where it was in the view finder. When I got home and viewed the film, I see I managed to capture the bird grabbing breakfast!
Pam and I went to the Vancouver Canucks – Nashville Predators hockey game on Saturday night. One of her work buddies has season’s tickets and couldn’t go so off we went to Roger’s Arena. It’s been a while since we’ve been to a game so it was fun to be there.
The Canucks won 4-2, which was good. Our seats were quite high, behind the Preds goal for the first and third periods. The Canucks played very well the first period outshooting the Preds 14-4 , so lots of the action was in our end of the rink.
We thought we might see the new Russian Tank, the basketball player sized defenceman Nikita Tryamkin. He took the pre-game skate, got some advice from Henrik Sedin, and didn’t play! Rats.
First time seeing Jake Virtanen play live was impressive. He looked pretty good, a little wild still, and sometimes seemed not quite lost, but needs to find out where he is on the ice sometimes. I don’t think he’s really comfortable out there all the time, quite yet, but you really notice him out there. He certainly looks like the real deal.
The beer was 8 bucks or 8.75 for premium, quite normal for beer in a bar-type setting and I wasn’t outraged, just resigned. I also wanted a hot dog, $5.75 which I figured was reasonable. I ordered “A hot dog and a beer please.”
The hot dog arrives and I get my beer and she says “That will be 21 bucks.” I ain’t the best dude at math, but that seemed a tad out of whack, so I said “uh that’s a pack of taxes on that 15 buck bill eh?” She said, “oh no I gave you the double, saves you money!”
First off, I didn’t order a double, second off, it’s not even on the menu, ok? What scam is this? My other complaint about the place was how many people are drunk! I don’t mean fun to be around good times dudes, who have had a couple, but flat out, barely able to stand, bright red-nosed, drunk. And no wonder. Young guys are thinking they are getting one beer, pounding back 4 or 5 and actually having consumed 8 or 10. Who functions well with 10 beers in them?
Last little complaint – I’m sure this is associated with the over serving of alcohol – the three young men behind us, used the f-word every third or fourth word, sprinkled liberally with the c-word, and then they’d throw in the odd n-word for good effect. Seated beside me was a young family, three young girls, and a boy 5 to 11ish – all dressed in Canuck hats and stuff. I turned to the dudes and said, “c’mon eh, young kids don’t need to hear that constantly.” Two guys apologized, and one said, “f-off, it’s a hockey game.” sigh
I look at the blog and see that I’ve really neglected it. We’ve been in the process of repairing flood damage and getting a new kitchen installed since November of last year. It just sucks the life out of you having no kitchen – no place to cook, no plumbing, no walls – it’s a bitch doing the dishes in the bathroom sink, believe me!
Dishes and pots and pans and cutlery and appliances are stacked everywhere – in the spare bedroom, the living room, the dining room, the bathroom! – since there are no cabinets, not even walls!
But it’s been worth it in the long run. It’s almost complete now, and we’re really happy with how things turned out. Every contractor we hired, or were hired by the restoration company, were first rate pros. I’ve got some painting and tiling above the back splash to do, and then we’re finished. I’ve already got the back splash done on the left side – we’re leaving the right clear for now, for the electrician to do his work.
If you look at the four pictures of the kitchen, the top two are obviously the before pics, and the bottom ones are roughly the same view with the new cabinets and floors.
Bailey on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care about those kind of things. So long as there is a bowl of food and a toilet is open to drink from, she’s happy!
You can see her rolling her eyes at us as we try to take her picture.
And here is a little movie of her having a splash in Everett Crowley park, just a block from where we live.
We have been walking “south” along the Fraser River towards Burnaby lately, and every day is like a new journey. I put the south in brackets because when we start walking we are heading east, naturally, but the river slowly bends to the south.
The river is affected mightily by the tides – way more than I ever imagined – and when the river is close to the shore, the birds are much closer to shore, of course. And that makes them much more intriguing to Bailey!
I’ve posted another video of her chasing seagulls across a field, so you know she might not be the brightest bulb in the candelabra. Her latest attempt at bird capture is with the Canadian Geese. She will charge them whenever she gets the chance. They simply retreat to the water squawking at the her, but won’t fly away. Now Bailey has taken to swimming after them!
