"Got some Salm-ON"

Has everyone seen that new "Old Navy" commercial? You know, the one where a girl blows a gargantuan bubble with her gum, then starts to float away? Her friends all jump in the air in all sorts of freeze-frame poses, then grab onto her so she doesn't float away, while the music plays "get your fash-on"? You remember? Good!

I love the commercial, but Colin hates it. When it comes on, I will get up off the couch and try to do the same poses mid-air, but still can't seem to slow down time enough to do that "pause" all the models can do. Hmmm. They must have learned that in their model training. Colin, on the other hand, reaches for the remote to change the channel. Usually, he enjoys watching me act out things, making a complete fool of myself, but not for THIS ad!

Ever since I've been singing the ad, I'm turning every word I use that ends in "ON" into a song. Like, "Everyone go to Save-On to buy a lem-ON" or "Went to church and heard a good serm-ON".

But this post isn't about fash-ON, a lem-ON or a serm-ON. It's about fishing!

You see, (sing with me) "Colin went fishing and caught 2 salm-ON"!

He dedicated the past week to cash in on the short opening of the Sockeye season. He spent the evenings untangling lines. Oh, wait! That was me! How did I get suckered into that again? Colin was tying lures, making his own lead weights, and getting his gear ready. Then on Saturday morning at 7, they left for the day and came back with one fish.

Not completely satisfied, they went out again after work one day this week and came back with 2!

Upon returning home, cutting up the fish, and trying to remove the fish smell from the kitchen, Colin says, "I think I'm done fishing for a while".

GASP! Did I hear him right? Colin get sick of fishing?

Well, he IS allowed. Can't have too much of a good thing anyway! At least my freezer is stocked for awhile.

Outnumbered

Something happened to me on the weekend that made me feel old and young at the same time.

Friends of ours who own an acreage had us over for a BBQ on Saturday. There were 8 adults, and those with kids brought them (obviously). There were just as many kids as adults!! 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5 and 6 year olds, and 2 newborns! Two of the couples have 3 kids, and one has 2 kids.

Then there was me and Colin.

The "old" feeling came from hanging out with some friends, who all had mutiple half-lings. The "young" feeling was due to the fact that we don't have any!

We're no strangers to children, but I don't think we've ever been outnumbered like this before!

It was a different evening than we're used to, but was both amuzing and fun. Instead of a candlelit dinner with a table cloth and soft music, it's "Everybody outside! If you spill the dog will get it".

It was funny to observe the parents going through their "dinner" routine, demonstrating how well they know their kids' specific tastes, and how much it has become second nature. One likes the hot dog cut into lengthwise strips, ketchup on the side, hold the bun. One likes it cut widthwise with mustard to dip it into. Bun on the side. One wants to do it herself, so has a hot dog in a bun, with a LOT of ketchup!

Colin and I served ourselves after our offer to help was turned down (and I see why...I wouldn't know how to make the kid's dinners properly), and went outside to eat. We looked around. All the kids were outside eating or being served. No adults around except us! They were all busy taking turns fulfilling requests, and eventually joined us outside to eat.

It was also fun to see the different personalities of each child, even though I don't know some of them well. There's the pixie-like 1 year old whose favorite task was to chase the chickens, yelling "kikkin!!!". The adventurous 4 year old boy who walks barefoot through the wilderness. The 6 year old girl who makes sure everyone has someone to play with, and the laid-back 2 year old girl who was learning how to drive a tractor. A REAL tractor.

Someday, we'll join the ranks of parents and all of this will (hopefully) become second nature. On this side of things, it seems scary! REALLY SCARY!!!! I hope that when the time comes we'll be able to roll with the punches and be good parents like the ones I observe.

5 years, and counting!

All the corny things you hear about marriage are true. At least they are in our marriage. Things like "your spouse is your best friend" and "two become one come to mind. Yes, it sounds rather nauseating, but I am blessed to have a marriage that mirrors these statements!

Saturday, August 19 was our 5th Anniversary! It's been 5 years since we said "I do". I do NOT know how it happens, but I DO manage to love my wonderful husband more and more each day! Corny? Yes. True? DEFINATELY!!

So I thought I'd post my favorite photos of us (for which we get credit for only one) from the past year! They are all taken while we've been off on some adventure in our beautiful province, mostly with friends! Thanks to the photographers for capturing these moments, and sharing the moments with us!

Sorry folks...since we don't have kids yet you'll have to put up with photos of us until then (5 years down the road?)!

So what's up for the Roth's NEXT year of marriage? I'm not even sure THEY know! I guess you'll have to keep tuning in!





Lake Louise
December












Savary Island
July











New House
September












Savary Island
June












Whistler, where Colin proposed 5.5 years ago!
Aug 19, 2006.

The dog...Pet or Accessory?

I saw 3 dogs on my 15 minute bus commute downtown this morning.

One looked like a fat, mangy squirrel, and was being carried by his owner. Ok maybe not quite as ugly as this dog!

One was a golden retriever, and was being towed on a bed with wheels behind a bike. He had a harness on and had 5 or 6 bungee cords strapping his harness to his chariot.

The last one was a mid size dog, which was also being carried by it's owner.

I thought that dogs like and NEED exercise. Most dogs are exuberant and full of energy. Yet the 3 dogs I saw today are being coddled, and making their owner do all the work for them. I know that there's probably a good reason why these dogs weren't doing any work, but it made me wonder...where do you draw the line between pet and accessory?

Curious.

EXTREME-ER Kernel Adventure!

One of Kernel's original purposes was to be a "dingy" to get from a moorage to the shore. That is what we need at Salty Shack, so we decided to bring her along. The dingy we have up there is an inflatable row boat which takes approximately 3596 pumps with the air pump to get full, and a leak that is MIA, so you need to add air every time you use it. So taking Kernel was a good idea, right?

You'd think so!

However, we have found yet another way to abuse the poor rowboat. We were towing her behind the boat. She was listing left to right quite badly, even though we'd filled her with roofing material. Putting weight in it is supposed to help. The faster we went, the more it shook back and forth. Then all of a sudden....SNAP! The rope busted, leaving Kernel all by herself in the Ocean!! Luckily she didn't sink, and all the roofing material was still in there - bunched up on one side. No WONDER it wasn't going straight.

So then we had to devise a plan to get her to the cabin and since we were only 5 minutes out of the boat launch, it was still WAY TOO FAR for someone to row her there. They'd arrive with enough time to row back home!

We ended up lifting this 100 pound boat out of the water, and putting her on top of all our stuff... soaking wet! Did I mention the boat was already packed to the brim with the gargantuan amount of stuff we "need" for a 4 day trip? Then Colin and I had to hang onto her for the remaining 20 minute ride, so she didn't fall off the boat. It was a funny sight.

Almost as funny as the time we had a recliner in the boat, and Justin sat in it drinking a cup of tea on the ride up. Or the time the entire interior was covered with a few mattresses (covering the seats), and I was laying on the mattress the whole ride up.

It rained one morning up there. Colin and Kernel went fishing in the pouring rain, but didn't catch anything. They also went the next day. He caught a huge Ling, but couldn't get it into the boat because he had no net, and Ling Cod have REALLY sharp teeth (See above photo - from Savary)! Later on, he caught another one! So he rowed Kernel to the cabin with the fishing rod tucked in between his legs. We pulled the boat to shore, he got out of it, and then reeled the fish onto the beach! J, L and I were running aound madly trying to find some tool to help. We took a knife, shovel, crab trap and a fire poker stick We found out that a fire-poker stick makes a great gaff hook, and the rest of those things were useless.


Colin is an extremely resourceful guy. We ate half of the fish for dinner, but had no way to freeze the rest. So Colin went behind the cabin (aka the "junk heap") and found an old propane fridge (we think), a BBQ grate, a TV tray and an old piece of art. He turned these material into a smoker, and then proceeded to smoke the rest with a cedar and alder fire! He really does amaze me!

We had no salt though, so we used a "Garlic Plus" spice mix on it. Lets just say...I had a SMALL piece about an hour before bed, and I ended intentionally sleeping with a piece of gum in my mouth.

Rodent Rodeo

Our latest holiday with the Keitches is now passed. The were here for some fun, and now they are not :-(
But as promised, I have some crazy stories about our adventures!

Salty Shack (the cabin where we were) isn't the most...oh, what's the word....sanitary? Devoid of creepy crawlies? We arrived there last Wednesday evening, excited to see it still standing! So we went inside and....spiders EVERYWHERE! There are always some spiders there, but THIS time, they were having a conference in the cabin.

I hate spiders. I'll take a snake over a spider anyday.

The boys went to go hook up the water, and Lorene and I went nuts with the raid. I think we may have emptied a good half-can in 10 minutes. Luckily, the raid did the deed, and we were not plagued with the 8 legged devils at all for the remainder of the trip!

The rodents, however, had a more sinister agenda.

Maybe it's because we smoked the poor bats out of their dwellings (underneath the shingles of the exterior cabin walls), or maybe because it was blind as a bat, but one bat got into the cabin. None of us saw it get in. I just looked up and saw the thing moving overhead. I wish I had a video to show. I am not afraid of bats. But when they are divebombing your head when you are inside a building, I challenge you not to scream! The girls were screaming whenever it got within 4 feet of us, and the guys were trying to coax it out the door by gently suggesting with a towel which way it should go. At least that's what I think happened. It's all a blur. He was quite cute though. I'd have one as a pet if they don't carry rabies, bite, or fly around. When we finally managed to get it outside we laughed so hard! "Only at Salty Shack!".

The first night there, I heard mice. There were no mouse traps set. The second night we forgot about them. Then the third night...

Colin put their favorite peanut butter snack on the trap as bait, and we went to bed. Not 10 minutes later we hear this "tap tap tap tap tap" of the miniature mice toenails scurrying across the lino. "Tap tap tap tap WHACK taptaptap.. tap..... tap........tap............."

Their rodeo ended.

Be thankful I do not have photos on THIS post.

Ode to Ryan

I must compose an Ode to Ryan. If I were computer savvy, I'd make his name (on the first sentence) into a link to his blog. Alas, I am not. So I will change the colour of his name to trick you into thinking it's a link, and then direct you to the actual link on the left to his bi-weekly updated blog! Bi-weekly in the sense of 2 times per MONTH, not 2 times per week!

The reason I am writing this ode is also because I am not computer savvy! My blog readers know how fed up I am with computers. Well, Ryan has commandeered my IBook while I am on vacation, and is giving it a makeover! I can hardly wait to see what he does to it, then I will be able to write "nerd alert" posts like Andrew as well!

Thanks Ryan, you rock!

And no, I don't think you guys are nerds!

Fess up...how many people tried to click on the purple names????

Update

Well, since I am uninspired to write anything, I will give an update of my past blogs.

Update #1: I am still unable to get some darn photos on here, hence my "uninspiration". Yes, the Mac is better, but it would help if I knew how to use it! I'm hopefully going to get some time this weekend to sit in front of the thing and figure it out! Is it only just me, or does iphoto suck? I don't want to flip through all 5000 photos everytime I want ONE PHOTO! Any tips would be helpful.

Update #2: I am still not reading the 24 hours! One month and one week clean! Well, sort of. I must confess....
A few times I have looked at my bus-neighbour's paper out of the corner of my eye. But not the celebrity smut page. I stopped myself before I read anything. Once the friend I take the train with opened it in front of my face and said READ THIS!!! So I looked. The news about Pamela Anderson's upcoming quadruple-wedding made me not want to read it even more.

I even took the paper once from my old bright orange box! I had to because there was some actual news I wanted to read. There was a SWAT team in my parents quiet PoCo neighbourhood for a whole day this week, and I wanted to see what it was about! I scanned the titles of all the articles. Unfortunately, this news isn't as important as Suri Cruise sightings, so it wasn't in there.

I have found, though, that I really don't know what's going on in the world. I might even start picking it up again, and just being more mindful of what I read and what I don't. Haven't decided that yet.

Update #3: I STILL HAVE NOT FOUND A PAIR OF SHOES!!!!! Still wearing the same flat-footed-flip-flops for the same amount of time I haven't been reading the 24!

Enough said about that.

Update #4: My hot birthday date was awesome! Colin scored some big-time brownie points by taking me to a restaurant that did not have a coupon! GASP!! Even though it comes out of the same bank account, it still feels like I'm being treated! The Olive Garden is soooo good! There was a...shoe store.....in the same shopping area so he took me there to find a pair of shoes (Please re-read update #3 for the outcome of this shopping trip). Then, we went home and I was spoiled by his gift: scrapbook supplies! I think I spent the rest of the evening playing with them...and every evening since!

Update #5: THE KEITCHES ARE COMING TOMORROW!

Update #6: THE KEITCHES ARE COMING TOMORROW!

Think I'm excited?

Well folks, that's it for today. Unfortunately, in the last minute of my lunch break, I have been "inspired" by something I just wrote...but I guess it will have to wait until Tuesday!

Have a great long weekend!