introducing the world's newest ocean...and of course it's at the Manor! oh and Happy May Two-Four (24)!!!

it has been foggy and rainy and wet and grey for almost 2 months now, with the occasional sunny day here and there. have a look below - that's pretty foggy!

oh and misty, too!

 

all of this fog, rain, wetness and mist have created the world's newest ocean.

here's a peek at the brook formerly known as Strachan's Brook:



 this pic was taken almost a year ago to the day (check out those wild clouds! pretty nifty eh?). well anyway, the above-pictured brook, formerly known as Strachan's Brook, will from here on in be referred to as "Strachan's Ocean". check it out:



pretty wild eh? that's a pic from about a week ago. check out this pic:

 

 i guess you can see why we are calling it Strachan's Ocean. and here is a pic showing how it is running into all of the low-lying land nearby:



it's pretty crazy! jambaloney and i are dying to get down there with the canoe and see whatever we can!

as i already mentioned, we have had a lot of rain! and lots of grey days. try 4 straight days of rain, wet, fog and grey followed by one day of sun, followed by 4-5 more days of rain and grey - well, i guess you get the picture. and all of this rain has really gotten in the way of building the greenhouse - arghghghghgh!

jambaloney had to take the truck in today to get new calipers so no work on the greenhouse today. it doesn't matter though cuz it's grey and rainy. tomorrow is supposed to be more rain but sunday, monday and tuesday look like they will be good days to get to building! we can't wait! he already has the framing for all of the walls built so we plan to scramble on sunday. we have to paint all of the railings for the roof with fishermen's paint, an oil-based paint and we need 2 coats. while waiting for paint to dry we will be scraping all of the windows - they are pretty clean considering all of the rain and i have scrubbed all of the roof windows with a mop and soap. but he plans on putting up all of the frames for the walls and then building the roof first, so the roof windows have to be spotless in order to glue in, caulk and re-caulk. as you can probably tell, i am pretty excited!!!

anyway - here's some random pics from around the Manor - i hope you enjoy them! beautiful daffodils on a rare, sunny day!



some yummy quinoa salad with delicious local berries and fruit (that we froze when they were in season!), some green onions, kielbasa and brie...a nice dinner break in the middle of the day to enjoy with your baby!

more quinoa fruit salad with a yummy grilled steak, grilled peppers and green onion and a nice plunk of kimchi to round out the meal!

and since i put up a pic of Frankie Blue Eyes (also known as Frankly, Mankly, Spankly and Spankly Patoonch) last post, i thought i would put up some pics of our other cats. here is Noodle, Nudie-Nu because he doesn't wear pants, also known as Noodin, Boodin, Doodin, Noobie and Nubie-Nu). i'll let you all in on a secret, shshshshhhhhh - don't tell him, k? he thinks he is a tiger. he thinks he is a jungle cat. he goes out onto the plastic-wrapped porch and if it is under 20C, he sneezes. he won't step on wet ground. if he accidentally does, he starts flicking his paws. he is jambaloney's project manager - if jambaloney is outside working with power tools - Noodle is there taking charge of everything. oh and he's very proud of himself. he is demanding, cranky, snarly, growly and pretty-much all-around hateful. he's my baby. i love him so much. we think he is 12-13. we don't know - he is a stray that our other cat Moe brought home several years ago. he's beautiful!

 

 and then there's Barley-Moe (also known as Barley, Mo, Barrel, Mobin, Moebee-Mo). Moe is one funny little guy. we got him from neighbours. he's in charge of all of the cats (don't tell Noodie-Nu!) and has the nicest disposition of any animal i have ever met. he is soft and friendly and very loving. he weighs about 40lbs and has the biggest backend of any cat i have ever met. he's a lovely little guy! here he is, perfectly content in his paper bag.

this is the paper bag that now lives in the middle of my tiny living room that also serves as a dining room.

we were packing up winter clothes and unpacking spring/summer clothes. we use these paper bags to store our clothes in. the bags work out really well as we have a nice, dry attic and no attic/pantry moth-type-thingies. anyway, a bag made it to the floor, Little Frankie Blue Eyes attacked it, beat it up for a bit, got inside of it and then the other cats had to come and see what the commotion was all about. as it would not befit a king of the jungle to get into a bag, Noodie-Nu sniffed it and walked away. Moe got in the bag. and promptly started snoring. that cat snores to high heaven. and the bag has been there in the middle of the room ever since. geesh.

last up - some little buddy burgers on tiny ciabatta buns with lettuce, tomatoe, pickle, cheese and my infamous "tastes just like McDonald's Big-Mac sauce" sauce. i love the stuff. jambaloney hates it! if anyone is interested in my tried and true Big Mac sauce recipe - just yell in the comment section!

well i guess that's the end folks. hope you all are having a wonderful day! to all of our Canadian readers - Happy May Two-Four (24) weekend!

(i know it makes no sense for the Happy May 24 weekend to happen on May 17....however, up here in Canada we do a few weird things that make no sense and this is one of them! it's actually in celebration of Victoria Day, which happens on May 20 - see what i mean about weird? look it up if you are interested. basically, May 24 is the day/weekend when Canadians who have been slumbering through a long, cold winter bust out of their slumber, get their cottages ready for the summer (woohoo!) and spend the weekend drinking with their friends. May Two-Four also refers to a case of beer - up here in Canada, we call a case of 24 beer "Two-fours". May Two-Four weekend in Canada is more important than Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and New Year's all wrapped up together! we love us our May Two-Four!!!!)

whether you are Canadian or not - go celebrate May Two-Four this weekend for us!