Xed’s Weblog

Tracey took this with my camera and I just noticed it this morning… Super cute!

Vincent

Since acquiring my new Can-Am Outlander, I have been on the lookout for a good second hand trailer. I finally came across one for sale on Kijiji Montreal recently. Unfortunately, neither vehicles that Tracey or myself own have a trailer hitch. So I had to sink some money on that as well.

After some grief on Tracey’s part arranging to have the hitch and receiver installed on her Equinox (bigger towing capacity than my little Matrix), it all got done today.

I took this candid portrait in early December of Tracey’s dad, Ross Moore, at his birthday party… I liked it so I thought I would share it. Mr. Moore is a veteran of WW2 and is hard of hearing due to concussion from a tank shell. He also had shrapnel damage to one of his legs so he is a bit unstable but surprisingly mobile considering his age, 87… And a very generous, lively and nicest person you will ever meet…

My cousin dug up an old photograph of my grandfather. He was a WW2 vetern, it has been many years since he passed away from a heart-attack when I was a teenager. I don’t remember the exact year now but I do remember upon hearing of the  news that I spent an entire day staring out my bedroom and crying over it.

A few things I still remember of him… He always teased me. He was a frequent ear scratcher and he had a very unique way of doing it. I remember one morning when my grand parents had their trailer at Oromocto Lake parked on the lawn at my parents cottage. He was cooking bacon, it was probably the best bacon I ever had… It was the fatty back bacon I believe and I’ve never had anything like it since…

It has been an interesting year…

Almost a year since we brought Monty home from Gerdy’s Rescue. He was left behind by his previous owner who moved to Ireland and could not take him. I had been browsing Gerdy’s website for months looking at potential dogs and I asked Tracey her thoughts on him. We picked him up in February. He is a clumsy giant and we have had him down to New Brunswick a couple of times already and this summer to Nova Scotia. He really loves the water…

We recently had trouble with him early in December, stomach torsion, where his stomach got twisted over on itself and he was in serious discomfort. We had to take him to the animal hospital (DMV in Montreal) where we were told he needed emergency surgery to correct the twist. His deep and narrow chested body style is prone to this problem. Being very late at night, we had little option but to perform the operation. The DMV have really great people but they are exist to gauge and profit at the expense of animal lovers. The bill for this adventure was over $3300.00…

He recovered pretty quickly and we were able to take him home within about 3 days stay at the hospital where he recovered pretty well.  The bugger managed to keep pulling out his staples over the course of several weeks but he finally had them all removed (intended) last weekend. We have had him offleash and running in his favorite place a couple of times this past week, at an undeveloped empty field near our home. He was at one of the local dog parks, a second favorite place where he got to mingle and meet more new friends again…

His third favorite place, our bed, where he spends the nights cuddled between Tracey and myself…

Merry Christmas everybody, and have a Happy New Year!

My year round hobby is being a member of a local R/C model airplane club called WIMAC, which stands for West Island Model Aeronautics Club. I happen to be the club’s webmaster so this is a blatant plug for more hits as well…

This winter I will be taking a shot at R/C flying at our Indoor gym rental location (school), which is located near Highway 13 & Highway 40, in Montreal. If you are interested in electronics and video games, then R/C should be right up your alley… It is like playing a real-life video game, in an environment where safety is strictly ahered and you get to meet new people with a large variety of unique interests.

It’s been a long time, 2008 is already well past half over, summer is finishing and fall is in the air. Tracey and myself moved into our new home in Saint-Lazare at the end of May. We still have some boxes in the garage and basement to unpack and decorating still to do. We did not get the opportunity to use the pool as much as I thought we would due to the crappy months of June and July and our three weeks of vacation in the Maritime provinces in August… Time does fly when you are having fun!!!

This photograph was taken at EV -2.0 at the shoreline of Tracey’s cousin (Barb) in Lismore, Nova Scota in August 2008:

This barn was taken using my Canon EF 10-22mm lens near Nackawic, New Brunswick: