One Scary Guy

Almost ready

2007-09-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

Several people have asked for house updates. We estimate that we are just a couple of weeks from possession. Just the plumbing fixtures and the appliances as well as the final structured wiring (cable, phone, internet, sound system etc.) to go.

Day 2 of another vacation

2007-08-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

They like me!! They really like me!! People still visit my much neglected Blog.

Today was a travel day, starting in Revelstoke and ending in Kelowna with stops in Sicamous (Butter pecan ice cream in a waffle cone at D Dutchman Dairy - yummmy!!). Craigaliky...no....Craiggalagy...ummmm.... the place with the last spike!! The requisite craft store for Cheryl. BTW, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHERYL!! We also visited the Old Log Barn to smell the food and feed the goats - exciting!! Tomorrow we go to Vancouver and then the cruise ship on Saturday.

Day 1 of another vacation

2007-08-29T21:50:00.001-07:00

I know it will come as a great surprise to many of you to see a Blog update. Then again, the "many of you" to whom I am referring have long since stopped visiting my Blog looking for updates, 'cause there haven't been any. Make a comment to let me know someone out there still cares. Today is day 1 of our B.C./Alaska vacation. We drove with Cheryl's parents to Revelstoke and will continue on to Kelowna tomorrow. Today we saw much wild life. Unfortunately it was all ravens and crows. The only "mountain" wildlife we saw was stuffed and looking very ferocious at the Rogers Pass orientation center. It was very, very...ahhhh.. informative in a drab and altogether boring kinda way. Not much in the way of exciting pictures. There were some good photo moments at Lake Louise, but the Japanese tourists had taken them all by the time we got there. I know that because with the spectacular panoramic vista presenting itself over the aqua blue lake, some were taking close ups of the rocks by the pathway. I looked to see if I had missed something and if there was anything interesting. I hadn'y and there wasn't.

Talk at you later!!

On our way home

2007-06-01T02:16:00.000-07:00

Well we are almost at the end of our vacation. Yesterday we had our final port of call in Helsingborg, Sweden which is a small city near the southernmost tip of the country. Accordingly it tends to be the vacation and resort area of Sweden because it gets the best weather. We visited one of Sweden’s most famousest lighthouses which didn’t do that much for us ‘cause Newfoundland has many lighthouses more spectacular that this one, but the weather was beautiful and warm and it beats working!! We also visited a quaint country inn which is famous for their home-baked sweets. They, too, were very good and since we hadn’t eaten in at least an hour, we were, understandably, famished!!

The day previously, we were in Copenhagen, Denmark which is a cool city. It was also the coolest day of our vacation, but it didn’t rain as was forecasted. In the evening, we went to Tivoli Gardens which is an amusement park that’s been in operation for over 160 continuous years. It’s said that Tivoli was the park that gave Walt Disney his ideas for Disneyland and it has that same feel to it although nowhere near as big. Given that cruises usually leave their ports of call around 5 pm, it was unusual to be somewhere in the evening. We enjoyed it very much.

Now we are spending our last day at sea before arriving back in Dover tomorrow morning. We have a tour of Windsor castle booked before being dropped at Heathrow airport for our flight to Calgary. We’ve had a great vacation, but know that there’s much waiting for us at home too, so we’re anxious to get back now that all the fun is over. We saw a woman walking her dog yesterday and Cheryl’s looking forward to seeing her puppy – I’m pretty she’s looking forward to seeing everyone else as well.

In Copenhagen

2007-05-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Finally, I can make a blog update. We are overnighting in port in Copenhagen and I'm camping on an unsecure network that I can access from the ship, so it costs me nothing. The ship's internet connection is a satellite based feed and slow doesn't even begin to describe its connection speed or expense - almost $0.50/minute and it might take 2 or 3 minutes just to download a page!! Upload speed - laughable!! usually times out before complete.

Here are some pic's - out of order, but at least you can finally see them!!

The white cliffs of Dover

St. James Park, London

Tallin, Estonia

Peter the Great's palace at Peterhof, St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Isaac's cathedral. St. Petersburg, Russia

Tallin, Estonia

Old Gdansk, Poland

Today is Wednesday, May 30. Yesterday we visited Berlin. It was a 3 hour train ride from the ship. Berlin was nice, not sure we experienced enough of it to really appreciate it, but we got a chance to touch the remnants of the Berlin wall and we saw a few sights. Our tour included 2 hours of free time, but they dropped us in the trendiest of shopping areas in West Berlin – all the same high end shops we have at home (and don’t shop at there either) plus the largest department store on mainland Europe and a Starbucks on every corner – again, not exactly a “Berlin experience”. The weather turned out better than expected with sunny skies and about 25 degrees. I’m glad I wore those zip-off pants, ‘cause shorts were definitely great. But at 4 pm, while we were shopping, a HUGE thunderstorm rolled in with crackling thunder and pounding rain, but we had already done our sightseeing and our bus was leaving at 4:30, so it didn’t interfere that much.

Today, we visited Copenhagen, Denmark (it’s about 9 am here). It’s an unusual port stop for us, ‘cause we don’t get in until noon and don’t leave until 6 am tomorrow. We got to stay onshore late at night and enjoy Tivoli Gardens (if you want to know what that’s about, just google it). Tomorrow we spend a few hours in Helsingborg, Sweden which will be our last stop for the cruise.

In the Baltic

2007-05-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, May 21 and we are enjoying our 2nd day at sea. We are deep into the Baltic Sea having rounded the northern end of Denmark and going under the 2nd longest suspension bridge in the world which connects Denmark with Sweden. The weather since we left Dover has been fabulous. I was a little nervous given the reputation that the North Sea has for rough waters, but the seas are absolutely calm the skies are sunny. Yesterday we saw several people get sunburns from lying by the pool. Tomorrow we arrive at our first Port of Call and we have a very busy schedule over the next few days with six consecutive days of ports (Gdansk Poland, Klaipeda Lithuania, Stockholm Sweden, Tallin Estonia and 2 days in St. Petersburg Russia). We’ll be very tired after all that.

Eating in London

2007-05-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

Cheryl has been updating her facebook with lots and lots of pic's. So i thought I'd talk about the food. First of all, we enjoyed a typical British tradition of Fish & Chips, served up in a typical corner pub. Believe it or not, this pub had a "No Smoking" section. It was completely disregarded, but at least it was a nice try..

Next we had another typical British meal of Bangers and Mash with mushy peas. It was very good especially since they served 3 different kinds of mustard with it.

Heres food that we could have had, but didn't!! But doesn't it look yummy!!

Now here's a first for me - a plate of fried bait!! Mmmmm - good!! We ate in a French restaurant and one of the appetizer choices had some hoity toity name of course, but when served, it was basically fried bait. Little fishies not big enough to clean or de-head, so they didn't. Look carefully for their little eyes!! At first I left the heads, but after a while, I said.. "What the heck" and ate the whole thing. I wonder what the inside of my stomach looks like - I'll have to ask the little fishies!!

There's also other things in London which eat of course..

there's squirrels always looking for a handout.

..and pigeons in the public squares being ever opportunistic and unafaid of people.

..and geese doing what geese do.

Tomorrow, the London portion of our vacation ends and we are off on our cruise north through the Baltic Sea with stops in Denmark Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Sweden and Russia. Lots to see yet!! Stay tuned for updates to my Blog.

Kerry and Cheryl

In London

2007-05-16T01:24:00.000-07:00

My brother has informed me that I'm not a very good blogger - no updates.

So, I haven't added any pictures of the house in a while. There's lots going on inside, but not much outside, but here's a recent picture nonetheless. They are currently doing all the rough-ins (electrical, cable, phone, internet, water, sewer, sound system, heating ) and will probably have all that done near the end of May. Then they'll start the insulating and drywalling).

Our daughter, Ashley has finally gotten engaged!! Nathan asked the most important question of his life "Can I have your permission to ask your daughter to marry me?" last week and the engagement happened on Saturday, right before Cheryl and I left for England.

Finally, London!! Cheryl and I have arrived in London for the start of a 3 week vacation to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversay which was yesterday. We went to Le Miserables last night and it was great. Today we have more sightseeing to do.

New House Photos

2007-03-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

So it's been a long time since I posted some new house pics. They've been framing all February and are nearly done the framing process.

This was mid-February. It was very cold - as februarys tend to be in Calgary.

I know, I know. It looks good but the garage is a little short!!

This picture was taken last week.

There, that's better. I guess it's easier to build the garage roof when it's still on the ground, pick it up, build the walls and then place the roof on top again. This picture was taken today.

P.S. Cheryl must really like that jacket!!

Winter Wonderland

2007-02-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

In January, Cheryl and I and a bunch of friends went to Fernie B.C. for a ski weekend. It snowed 1 ft overnight and we had a great day on the slopes.

A fall in winter

2006-12-26T01:05:00.000-07:00

This year we have the biggest Christmas tree we've ever had. It's Christmas tree with shoulders!! That's because I had to cut the top off to get the angel on top. It also stands to reason that the biggest tree we've ever had should also be the heaviest and evidence to that effect was presented to us 2 days after we put the tree up. It decided to fall on the first day of winter. Here's what a perfectly good tree lookos like right after you stand it up again before you completely have to de-decorate it in order to re-decorate it again.

Meanwhile on the new house front, there's nothing to report. Our house is still just a poured concrete basement. So here's another house that looks like ours. Other than finishing details it's exactly like the one we will be building - or rather - hope to build!!

We have concrete!!

2006-11-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

We now have a basement. This pic was taken from the backyard. You can see the house that's being built 2 lots down. They haven't started the house next to us yet. Today, Cheryl and I signed off on the HVAC and picked up granite samples. Tomorrow we see the kitchen designers and, hopefully, finalize our kitchen design. If the good weather holds up, things should move along quickly.

Our daughter, Ashley sure is talented. She was in the kitchen last week while Cheryl and I were reviewing something on the house plans and she's not only completely competent with my camera, but she's figured out how to photoshop a bald spot onto the top of my head. Smart girl!!

Update

2006-11-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

There's not much happening that needs any pictures. We got our new car. I could take a picture of it, but it's covered in snow, ice and frost and it looks just like the car below, so just look at that one and pretyend it's ours.

They've done a little more work on our house although it sat for nearly 3 weeks with no progress. They've poured the footings and I think they'll start pouring the basement this week. We've done a lot of the selections for the house (appliances, plumbing) and have selected some upgrades. We have a lot of tile in the house and are going with a heated floor system which should be cosy.

When there's something pictureworthy I post some more.

BTW, right after I posted last time bragging about our wonderful pooch, she got kicked out of doggy daycare!! She's been overly dominant with other dogs. We certainly don't see that at home, but I think she's a different dog at daycare. She's the most senior (been there the longest) and clearly thinks she's boss dog. I actually witnessed her aggression with other dogs and it quite surprising, but definitely real. It like being told your kid's stupid when you have your dog expelled but "que sera sera".

Dogs

2006-10-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

We have the world's best dog. Her name is Bailey. Yes, yes.. I know everyone out there who has a dog thinks he has the world's best dog. I guess that says a lot about dogs... they're just so darned loveable.

Everyone thinks their's is the best 'cause they can't imagine anyone else's being so great. Says a lot about the canine breed.

I once heard a motivational speaker ask the audience how many had a dog. He then asked everyone what happened in their house when the doorbell rang. All us dog owners knew the answer... and everyone's answer was the same. For you cat owners out there, the answer is this... The dog leaps up from anywhere in the house and runs as if the very hounds of hell were licking at their feet to see who has come to visit. The speaker then asked.. "How many times was the door actually FOR them??" After the moment of realizations he said.. "Be the dog!!".

Later

Scary

New Things

2006-10-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves new things!! I know I do! I love shopping for them, I love looking at them, I love looking forward to them. Here's the 3 newest things in our house. First, we bought Cheryl a new car.. well... we made a deal on a new car. It's actually somewhere between here and Japan on a ship, but we're assured that it'll look just like the one shown. Secondly, we're building a new house. They're just getting ready to pour the foundation.. Right now it's just "our dirt" or as Michael says "our ...." I can't say it!! Finally, we have a new god-daughter - Courtney Legge. She's just 2 1/2 weeks old in this picture. Now, she's a sweetheart, huh? I didn't have to shop for her, I didn't have to pay for her either, but unlike the other 2 new things in this picture, she's going to get better with age. Welcome to our world, Courtney.

House construction underway

2006-10-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was fast wasn't it?? Not really. Cheryl and I are in the process of building a new house (she's surprisingly handy with a hammer and saw and her cement mixing abilities are astounding). Anyway, they've broken ground and the house will look a lot like the one pictured here. A PDF of our house is also here. http://www.archcontrol.com/Applications/277/7299-1-FrontElevationA.pdf Keep checking back and I'll post updates. Speaking of new buildings, EnCana (the company I work for) just announced the design for their new office tower in Calgary. I've also attached a photo of that new building as well. It'll be the tallest (59 floors) and biggest office tower in Calgary when it's finished. I wonder which one will be completed first??

Last Post from our Cruise

2006-09-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

This is our last post from our cruise. Today, the last day of our cruise, we were in Catalina Island, California. The town is very Mediterranean looking and the weather was great - pushing 30 degrees by mid-day. Cheryl and I went on a sea lion viewing tour and we saw lots of wild sea lions and pelicans. The weather made it very pleasant – then we did the shops, more shops, still more shops and finally we finished up the day by visiting a few shops. Tomorrow we head home, the ship is traveling very slowly as Los Angeles is only 26 miles away and we have more than 12 hours to get there. We have had a good vacation but are looking forward to getting home. That’s all for now.

Last Day at Sea

2006-09-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings!! Today we are at sea. It is a very nice day, very calm seas although not as warm as you might think given that we are quite far south. Just 2 more days left in the cruise. We were in San Francisco yesterday. We went on a tour of Alcatraz and then just walked around the Fisherman’s Wharf area. It was a great weather day except that the fog really started to blow in just as we were leaving at 6 pm. Hence, it was very windy, cool and overcast when we sailed under the Golden gate bridge. I’ve attached a photo of Seattle as we were departing – it was an exceptional day. Then the sunset that night was really nice (see photo). Lastly I’ve included a photo of the Golden gate bridge as we were approaching it – it looks like a bad day, but it was really better than that for the majority of the day.
Tomorrow we are at Catalina Island for the day. We are going on a sea lion cruise although we saw (and heard!!) several hundred sea lions yesterday in San Francisco – they like to camp out at the end of one of the piers. The last photo is, if it’s not obvious, a seal lion. We are going home day after tomorrow. It’s been a good trip, but we are ready to return to normal life.

Beautiful, sunny Seattle

2006-09-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

However, these pictures are not of Seattle. The weather has really improved. Yesterday in Victoria was warm, sunny and 23 degrees. We went to Victoria Citadel for the morning worship service and then drove out to the small town of Sidney and walked along the waterfront. Today in Seattle we have the same weather - we walked all day through the Pike Place Market. We might even get suntans out of this!!! Here's a couple of pic's from the Alaska portion of the trip. The first one is Orca Point Lodge where we had a Salmon Bake after whale watching in Juneau, Alaska. We saw 15 or 20 humpback whales. Note: there are no whales visible in this picture!! The second picture is of the Hubbard glacier just after calving. The face of the glacier is 300 ft high, so the chunk of ice that fell off was very big to make that kind of splash. The ship got up to just a few hundred feet and the glacier calved many times right in front of us, including an underwater calving (there's another 300 ft of glacier underwater). A huge chunk of ice (really a small iceberg!!) just catapulted to the surface - it looked like a giant whale breaching. It was very impressive. Tomorrow is a day at sea and then we arrive in San Francisco.

More from Alaska

2006-09-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from yesterday's posting - although I note that they're in the opposite order of how I selected them, but you should be smart enough to figure out which is Cheryl, which is me and which one is the rainforest. I might note that while I have the expensive camera, the rainforest picture is from Cheryl's camera!!

Today we are in Juneau Alaska. We went whale watching in the morning where we saw 15 - 20 whales plus many bald eagles. All the other tourists on the tour also got excited about the deer on the beach, but given that they eat our apples in Calgary all year long, I elected to not fall into the photo frenzy. Tomorrow we go to Sitka, Alaska and then start making our way south. The weather has been good and the Hubbard glacier yesterday was magnificent. Still couldn't upload my panorama shot - guess the file's too big. See you all later.

Kerry & Cheryl.

In Alaska!!

2006-09-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well, Cheryl and I are now in Alaska. It’s not like we just got here today or anything. We’ve had 2 stops so far – Ketchikan, Skagway and today (Wednesday) we sailed in to see the Hubbard glacier. In Ketchikan, we went on a rainforest hike. It was incredibly lush as the photo indicates. Sailing out of Ketchikan, the weather cleared and the views were fabulous – but while sunny, it was still a little chilly in the wind and on the water. In Skagway, Cheryl and I went up the Whyte Pass railway – well actually, we took a bus up and the railway back down. It’s still the original tracks that served the Klondike gold rush of 1898. It snows over 20 ft per year in the pass, so they had a giant snowblower that they pushed ahead of the train.
Today we sailed in to see the Hubbard glacier. It was breathtaking. The captain took the ship up to within ¼ mile ( The face is 300 ft thick and there’s that much again under water). The glacier calved many times immediately in front of us. Some of the ice falling into the water created waves so big that we felt them in the ship (The ship is 1000 ft long, so it takes a lot to move). I tried my hand at creating a panoramic picture by stitching together 6 photos. After an hour of Photoshop, it looks pretty good. The native interpreter on the ship said that it was one of the best displays of glacier calving they had seen all year – lucky us!! The last time we were here, it was raining, windy and cold. Today was comfortable, although cloudy.
Tomorrow, we stop at Juneau, Alaska and will go whale watching and enjoy a Salmon Bake at Orca Point Lodge. Keep watching for future posts.

Kerry & Cheryl

Sorry, the ship's internet connection is dreadful, can't post pic's right now!!

Can anyone celebrate on 9/11??

2006-09-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

Can anyone feel good about 9/11? It seems so cold and callous to even think that someone can find something to celebrate anything on that day?

We all remember that day well, but at our house, it was everything everyone else remembers and something else as well.

Early in the morning we all witnessed the horror in NYC that cost so many innocent lives, but later that afternoon, Cheryl and I sat in a small examination room and listened in disbelief as our
doctor told us that the biopsy results confirmed that Cheryl had breast cancer. It seemed to us on that day that another innocent life was going to be lost.

The next months brought, surgery, radiation and 2 rounds of chemotherapy.

Now, every Sept. 11, while remembered in reverent silence and grief for much of the world, we, in our family, see another year of survival.

Sept. 11, 2006 marks 5 years survival for Cheryl and last week we watched our beautiful daughter Lindsay walk down the aisle with Ashley as her maid-of-honour. This was a day we feared she wouldn't see.

So, being aware that there are many children out there who's mother or father won't be able to be there on that special day, we look to God with reverent thankfulness for His goodness to us. Allow me to be a little selfish on this day and say "Thank-you Lord, for your underserved kindness to me - for allowing this angel to still be with me here on earth ".

PS. Lord, a few more years (like 50 of them!!) would be great too!!

North to Alaska

2006-09-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

North to Alaska

Cheryl and I are heading to Alaska on a cruise in a week. We've been there before and we just want to make sure it hasn't moved. We're going on the cruise ship shown here, but I think they've re-painted it since this photo. We get on the ship in Vancouver and get off in Los Angeles. Of course, we'll be getting on and off at other locations too, but...well... you get the idea.

Cheryl really needs this vacation because we just married off our oldest daughter Lindsay and she (Cheryl) poured out her guts into this wedding. I guess Cheryl really wanted to get rid of her!! Just kidding!! Here's the happy couple below. Michael, our new son-in-law, looks really happy doesn't he?? Well he should!! Cheryl and I put a lot of work into that young lady and she's turned out more than pretty good.