Snowstorm in Calgary

Well, this is the second huge snow dump in 7 days for poor Calgary! UGH and double UGH!!! Lesson to self....never ever ever again buy a house in Calgary with a huge driveway no matter how nice the house is!!(Unless of course I have a big strong guy with a snowblower to clear it). In total my driveway can hold 9 cars so I do indeed believe it is quite large. It is a single lane going from the street up to the house and that can hold 3 compact cars and from there to the garage it expands to 2 large lanes wide and can hold 6 cars easily.We have had so much snow in the past week I am running out of room for it. Lots of people are starting to pile snow on the street in front of their homes. For me that would be far too much work to get it down to the street so I guess I will just keep piling it up the fence. If this keeps up I most likely will lose part of the double wide area of the driveway and go down to a single lane.I guess the good news is that we definetly will have a white Christmas in Calgary so the little kidlets will be happy. Mind you as I type this it is -27C with a windchill making if feel like -37C,and tomorrow we will go all the way up to -26C, windchill making it -29C. OOOOOHHHH, lucky us!More flurries by Wed so I think I will be getting my excercise this week.
Funny thing, a lady a couple of houses down from me got stuck in my next door neighbors driveway this morning. By the time I noticed her, she had been out there an hour-first digging her car out on the street and then attempting to drive on the road. She figured out she wasn't going anywhere so decided to try to turn around in the neighbors driveway where she got stuck big time.She was quite upset and frustrated with her car that she has only owned 3 months, it is a standard and she most obviously did not have a lot of experience with using the gears.She said she had used up almost 1/4 tank of gas.Not only that-her tires were darn near bald, not a good thing to have on a car in Calgary this time of the year.She was basically useless when I was attempting to get the car "rocking" no matter how much explaining I did and finally another neighbor came to help also. Eventually he asked if I could drive a standard and I can, so I took over. Weird thing is, she just stood on the road in the snow watching Tom pushing and rocking the car as we attempted to park in back in her original spot.I finally asked her to help but we got it done before she did.She was very grateful and sorry for causing a problem. No worry, back to my house I went to shovel more snow from my very long driveway(see 1st paragraph...gggrrrr)and she comes running up and asked if she could give me a hug for helping her out. She was on the verge of a total breakdown as she hugged me and said she has had a horrible past 2 months and I rightly assumed this was just putting her over the edge.So here I was judging this poor soul who has been through a nightmare recently.I found out this aft from a different neighbor that her mother died a couple of months ago.Another lesson to self-quit being so judgemental!!!

RICOH JOHNS...Dec 15,1992-Aug 29,2008

We got our wonderful terripoo as a 3 month old puppy-we were unbelievably his 3rd owners in that short time! He was called Sandy when we went to see him and Matthew, Marc and I instantly fell in love with him. As we were bringing him home in the car I said that Sandy was far too common a name for a dog like him with his color and somehow the name Ricoh popped out. We all agreed it was just the perfect name for this most amazing energetic bundle of joy.
Now what did I know about dogs??? I was actually a cat person so what was I to do with a dog who had a mind of his own????? We managed to get through the tough times with a dog training course and lots of advice from my good friends Gary and Coleen who knew an awful lot about dogs.
What a loyal dog this little guy was. I used to rough house with the boys and Ricoh was right in there barking like crazy at me if he thought I was hurting them at all. We used to play that I was about to spank one boy and there was NO WAY that Ricoh would let me do that! Boy-any burglers would have been in big trouble if they had hit the 'Johns' household with Ricoh around!All the years that I babysat children Ricoh was right there enjoying everyone and was a best friend to all.
I totally believe that Ricoh had a great life with our family and was very happy. He started slowing down at about 9-10 years old so we adopted another dog at that time to keep him company. What a trooper Ricoh was, he seemed to become a younger dog as he adapted to Harley being his constant companion.He may have sensed that Harley needed him as he had been a badly abused dog until coming to us at 1 1/2 years old. The two of them enjoyed a good relationship even as Ricoh developed a growth on his inner left rear leg that was diagnosed as a sort of fatty build up. The vet said that it was far too risky to operate on him as he would probably die from infection after surgery as the location was far too dificult to allow for proper drainage. Well, our precious Ricoh managed to hang in there for another 3 years with the growth increasing dramatically with time and moving his organs out of place.It never stopped him from enjoying his runs in the back off leash area though. The time came when we had to say goodbye to him and I cannot begin to explain how tough the day was. It was kind of ironic that this happened the day before Marc turned 20 years old-almost confirmation of the end of childhood for him.
We handled this as we have handled most of our issues-as a family. The trip to the vet was not a time I will forget anytime time soon and my sons stood with me and we all said goodbye to our most faithful and loyal companion. The boys made the decision that the only resting place for Ricoh would be our backyard and they found a wonderful spot for their childhood companion. I like to think that Ricoh is checking out the back field and very happy that he is sort of still at home and watching out for his family.
Actually, this memory has come about this evening as I was decorating our Christmas tree and I pulled out an ornament that I was given in Dec of 2002 when Ricoh was still our only dog. It is one of the "Willow Tree" angel ornaments with the angel(or girl)hugging a dog in her arms-well seeing this just floored me for awhile as it brought back a flood of memories and the knowledge that our buddy will not be with us this Christmas.
RIP little buddy, we miss you and love you.


Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Boys playing 1

I have attached a couple of videos of the boys in their playing/recording "studio" in our basement.As you can see, I tried to give you an idea of where it is located in the centre of the basement in an enclosed area. The boys have tried to soundproof it as best as possible using carpets suspended from the ceiling and mattress's along the walls as well as some sheets and some sort of egg carton type sound things. They have even made a recording booth in a closet which I forgot to show in these videos but will in future ones. Much to my surprise as I entered the room and turned the corner I saw Matthew(22) on the drums! Heh, I am only the mom-how would I know he can play drums too!!! Giving myself credit, they have only just set up this room in the past week, previous to this they were playing in a different basement and I seemed to only be there when Matthew was playing guitar and Marc the base guitar and dabbling on the drums. Marc (20)bought himself a drum set aprox 1 1/2 months ago and I cannot believe how good he is on them---self taught, as is Matthew.Their friend Mike is also in the first video, he was there doing some DJ things with a phonograph-too bad I hadn't got that on video as it was quite good. The boys have been really respectful with the sound loudness and the lateness of time playing. I tried to email these video's to their Uncle and was not able to, so that is why I now have them on my blog...not a bad addition I say.