Blogging Sacrificed because of Facebook

It's true. Spending way too much time on FB means less time being spent keeping my blog up to date. I upload tons of pics to FB and then immediately forget that I really need to be keeping my blog readers informed, entertained, amused, delighted, enchanted (oh stop it already, Rosemarie).

Ok, so you see a four-door GMC Jimmy on the left. Yes, yes, last year I dumped that POS Toyota Matrix and traded it straight across for the two-door Jimmy featured in an earlier story (scroll down to previous entry). The man and I made a trip to eastern BC and Alberta in early May, and that's when I realized I couldn't live with a two-door anything.

In early September, the man was perusing the local daily rag, and saw a picture of this four-door Jimmy, which was at the same dealership where I had purchased my faithful steed, the 1991 Chev Blazer, which transported me and my stuff for 17 years. Anyway, the man read the ad out loud to me (while I was on Facebook ... gaaa), and then I sort of forgot about it.

The next day was my bi-monthly blood donation to the Canadian Blood Services. I happily share my good health and good fortune every second month, keeping my fingers crossed that I'll never need it (paying it forward, as the saying goes).

After my donation, the mother of an old friend and I were refuelling at the cookie and juice table. It was a lovely visit, and I was happy to see her. We said our goodbyes and as I was pulling out of the parking lot, I remembered the four-door Jimmy up at the Chev dealership, and scooted right up there. There she was, same colour as the two-door, five years older and with lower mileage! Immaculate interior, not so much as a chip in the windshield, she had been purchased at that dealership ten years earlier and driven by the same couple for those ten years.

I found my friend Shawn, a salesperson at the dealership. I told him I wanted to do a straight-across trade (knowing full well they'd be getting the better deal). He talked to the person who approves the deal, and, the deal was approved. I took her out for a drive, after picking up the man, and that sealed it.

So after owning one vehicle for 17 years, I ended up with three different vehicles in one year. I am thrilled with my four-door Jimmy, and will be keeping this one until it's undriveable. The man installed GE Nighthawk headlights, and now I can see Sarah Palin's nose hairs when I'm driving home from work in the darkness.

Here are some garden shots: Grapes, oh my lord, we had GRAPES this year. Hundreds of pounds of grapes. Ate lots, and took about 150 lbs. to a friend who made wine for us. I'm not a drinker (at all), but the Man finds it palatable, served up in style out of a quart sealer. :-)
Here is some of the squash which grew from undecayed seeds in our compost. It was a lovely surprise. We really love squash, making the appearance of several plants in our garden even more delightful than if we had actually planted it on purpose.

Tomatoes. The Man only buys heritage tomatoes, including Brandywine. These pictures were taken in September, after he had built a cover over the tommytoes to prevent the rain from causing some kind of mouldy crap which would kill our plants.








See the pretty blue flowers? I think that may have been lettuce, at one time. The flowers were gorgeous. And then are those lovely kiwis. We had about six dozen on the vine. They don't get picked until late December or early January, barring any frost. Well, we got a killer frost and snowfall, and the kiwis, even after defrosting, were just too bitter to eat. Very disappointing, indeed, particularly because we rarely have freezing weather here.

See the lovely window? We picked up some gorgeous windows on Freecycle about three or four years ago, and this year, The Man pulled the old windows out and installed these beauties. They are triple-glazed, open and close and look so much better than those sad old single-pane windows that used to be in the basement.

This little flowerbed is the beginning of what will be my dahlia bed. Before I owned the house (which I bought nearly 23 years ago), this space was a greenhouse. Someone had disassembled it before the house was mine, and in 2009, The Man and I dug it out, sifted out the rocks, etc., introduced lots of organic material and planted some "black" tulips, dahlias, etc. It's a work in progress, but I'm hoping we can build up the bed to make it about 4 inches deeper and get some more perennials in it.