A Few Favourites..........

........... I have a post to do about Thanksgiving with the little boys, and one to do about some knitting I've done.........but time is of the essence so today I'm just doing a short post to share a couple of photos.  First of all..........

..........three sets of "old blue eyes".  I love this shot of Uncle Mark, Poppa and Gramps!  Then, just to be fair.....

.... here are their better halves!  I would have called this "brown eyed girls", but Auntie Cecile has blue.....so that won't work.  So - I'll just call it "the girls" - Nanna, Granny & Auntie Cecile.  Next up.....

.......... one evening we had this beautiful pink sunset - and at that time a jet flying overhead left a pink jetstream.........click on the photo to make it bigger and you will see it!  Next.......

........ Mikey (the new bear!) got some clothes - but he still doesn't have a coat, so Taffy wore her purple one, and loaned her other coat to Mikey when the weather got too cold for shirt-sleeves.  One more.....

......... this one is for Granny...........this is our old alma mater, which is scheduled for demolition.  As you can see, the work has begun.  So far, the only evidence is this pile of debris outside the school - so I guess they have started tearing out the interior.  I'll try to keep an eye on it!  Another picture worth sharing.....

..... the evening before we headed home from our visit with Granny, Trinity came to visit us and drew this wonderful picture for me!  It is now hanging proudly on the fridge in my kitchen.  Finally....

.......... here is an awesome picture of our two little boys, Curtie and Munchie, taken just a couple of weeks ago!  Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Presenting................

the 2013......

..... Captain of the Belleville Bulls............

.......... our very own .............. Trent Duncan!  Yes!  Recently we went to visit Granny and Gramps, and got the opportunity to go and watch Trent play.  Poppa missed most of the game........

...... (love this action shot!) because he was busy golfing - but I got to watch it with...........

....... Trinity (isn't she beautiful!) and Granny (who has always been beautiful too!).  I had such a good time - it was a wonderful weekend.  We also spent some time with .....

.... Gramps and Granny - who were dog-sitting Kylie for the week.  Uncle Kevin and Aunt Christine were in Las Vegas celebrating Aunt Christine's birthday.  Kylie doesn't sit still very often and I didn't get a really good picture of her, but I thought this one was kinda cute.  But I digress - back to the hockey arena!!  As luck would have it Poppa and Gramps finished golfing and arrived at the arena just in time for the end of the hockey game.  Then...

........after a few minutes, No. 17 showed up in person........much to the pleasure.........

........... of several of his most avid fans!  From left to right, Granny, Tristin (back to camera unfortunately),  The Captain, Uncle Sean and Poppa.  Gramps is just out of range on the left side.  Trent gathered up his gear and just before they left...........

........... he turned and smiled in my direction!  Our hero!  Talented, terrific and totally Trent!

Another Pest.......

........I'd like to tell you about.  Skunks and raccoons and who knows what other kinds of wildlife, like to eat grubs and insects.  Grubs like to eat the roots of healthy grass.  Poppa likes to keep his grass healthy.  Do you see all the connections?  So, one day recently.........

........ when it was pouring rain outside.......I heard noises at the front of the house and went out to investigate.  Peeking carefully out the garage door............

...........I see this strange creature coming towards the driveway!  Who is that and what are they doing?

Oh!  It's Poppa in his rain gear, spraying for grubs.  Apparently this stuff works best if it is raining when applied to the lawn!  But..........

..... that rain brought in some chilly weather and.....

.... the critters were out scavenging for food to fatten up before the winter.  And...there's Poppa putting another passenger into the truck for removal to another - more wild and remote - location!  He.....

.... climbed into the truck and drove out to a remote country location.......

......... carefully placed the trap and opened the door.  Before long.....

......... this critter came running out - too quickly for a good picture, but a good enough picture to identify it ....... a raccoon!

And - just look at the size of this raccoon - it was the biggest raccoon I had ever seen.  Since that day, Poppa has caught another raccoon and also taken it for a drive in the country.   He has had about three critter-free days now....we'll keep our fingers crossed!

The Wild Life.........

Some of you are aware of ............

.... all the trapping that Poppa has done this year.  I believe he has captured a total of 11 skunks, 5 raccoons and 2 squirrels.  Once there is a prospective client in the trap, if the client is a skunk, he throws a blanket over the trap (carefully).  This is supposed to disable the inhabitant from seeing him and thus preventing the malodorous explulsion of spray.  Poppa has only been sprayed once - we're not sure if the skunk had unusually good eye-sight or if Poppa was a little slow tossing the blanket on - but the results were extremely unpleasant and long-lasting.  Every time it rained for the rest of that year, there was hint of eau de skunk in the truck.  Anyway, after carefully dropping the blanket over the trap (this is not necessary for racoons - and he just lets the squirrels go right away), he loads it.......

 ...into the back of the truck......

......takes a long drive in the country............where he waits patiently for the critter to make its escape so he can take the trap home......

.... and clean it again in readiness for the next hapless critter who wanders in.  Recently he had set the trap at Aunt Peggy's since she seemed to have unidentified critters trying to make a home under her sunroom.  When he went to check it out, the trapdoor was closed but there was nobody inside.  On closer examination he discovered that the trap was badly mangled and broken and the door was bent.  After much discussion and scrutiny, Poppa and Kev-Inn concluded that a much larger and stronger varmint had been exploring the possiblity of a fish and peanut butter dinner.  Then, not hungry any longer but now wanting a nap - this aforementioned varmint discovered much to his dismay, that he could not get out.  They assume he quickly became angry enough to struggle until he managed to force the door open sufficiently to squeeze through and escape.  There were traces of varmint blood found on the trap, so he did not escape completely unscathed.  Thus, the conclusion was that it was probably a fox, coyote or other larger related species as opposed to the normal skunks or raccoons.  Whatever it was...........

.... Poppa had to do some work to straighten all the wires...........

.... and then he had to take the trap to his workshop and actually weld it back together again!  Eventually, after several hours of fixing and testing...........

.... it was once again ready to re-set...........he placed it carefully in Poppa's park - where he had encountered some evidence of varmint activity..........

Once again....

.... my computer is down, so I am using the old one!  The 5-month old computer is in for repair, and I have purchased a new one for myself - Poppa will get the older one.  Unfortunately, neither of them is quite ready for us to pick up yet....I'll keep you up to date!

Finally..........

.......... the reunion!  I have a few minutes while Poppa finishes getting ready for church, so I'll try to get a blog in.  The reunion - as you might remember vaguely! - took place on the Labour Day weekend.  We started out by picking up Aunt Grumpy at her new condo and when we had finished our tour, we left for the home of Poppa's cousin's home where the big bash was to take place.  We arrived a little late due to the high volume of traffic on the highway - with all the cottagers returning home in time for the little ones to prepare for school.   So......

.... when we arrived there was already quite a gang there!  You can see Uncle Ernie keeping an eye on the children while he is having a chat with the host of the party - Poppa's cousin Don.  Now - here is a surprise... if you look to the left of Uncle Ernie you will see a young lady in a blue dress.  Standing beside her is her husband.  He is a very nice young man named Dave Clarkson.  Yes - for any Toronto Maple Leaf fans out there.........he is the Dave Clarkson who just moved from the New Jersey Devils to become a new player for the Leafs!  His wife is Brittany and she is the daughter of another cousin of Poppa's - an extremely nice young lady and I would never have guessed that this couple was so well-known if I hadn't been told!  A bit of a thrill for all of us gathered there!  It was a rainy, drizzly day....

... but that didn't stop everyone from having a good time.... in this photo you can wee Poppa and Auntie Denise chatting with a gang of rascals......

.... here are a few more of them.  The food was under that red umbrella.  Uncle David barbequed and the food was very scrumptious!

........ here you can see Aunt Grumpy and Poppa visiting with our host, while Munchie tries to convince Poppa that it would be more fun to play than stand around talking!  Yes - our little boys were there with Mommy and Daddy too!  Because of the rain and the transient nature of visiting relatives I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked!  A few of them....

... (including me - when I wasn't taking pictures) chose to sit under this gazebo for protection from the damp weather.  I did manage to .............

..... get these two people (Lee Ann & Kevin) to stand still long enough for a nice photo, and....

.... Liz and Brendan were moving a little slower than some of the other people there!  Yes - that is little Brendan who was just about three months old last time we saw him!  Like most fun events, this one seemed to end too quickly and we headed back to drop Aunt Grumpy off and then home.........

.... where Poppa had other things to deal with!