All Bugged OUT !!!!!

Wild and wonderful things have happened to these children and here is the story of their visit to Pippus ville. Having just enjoyed a trip to the brand new Walmart (to purchase the all important bug eyed glasses) and a cup of hot cocoa at the local Tim Horton's, the gang all went sledding when the windchill was -28. The hill was out of the wind...if a hill can be out of the wind in SK. We ate lots of snacks and went out for a hockey game...the Bruins won! We got up too early and skated in circles, played playstation until our fingers were numb and gathered up for a picture when it was all over. Here's what we looked like, our eyes all buggy and red...but give us a few weeks and we'll be ready for another gathering of the Pippus crew. No animals were hurt in the taking of this picture.

Makeover Madness

When you are stuck indoors for weeks at a time one begins to look around and say "yuck". For the last week or so Tim has been working away at projects that have been sitting here for a while. It is actually a great hobby to divert the brain away from the everyday and challenge it to dream of how something could look finished. Now for all you husbands out there who are thinking that I just cracked the whip and the Tim is working, this is all done and begun under his own steam..no prodding or nagging. Now nagging does happen but not about this getting done. I am pretty sure the project itself has been doing most of the nagging for me. I am planning to get some painting done this weekend too. The lime green walls of the basement while fun are just a little much. So I would take before and after pictures but maybe you will just have to come and see for yourselves. While we may get finished, I doubt it will be the end, as a change around here is as good as a move. Nothing like a little paint to change the view. Maybe I could paint a beach with palm trees...I am missing summer just a touch. Today is the first full day of sunshine we have seen in about 30 so we have been out in -20 weather soaking it up. I'll take the sun any way I can get it. Well I am off to pick up the paint and get started. Stop by to see the changes when you can.

The Pippus ZOO?????

Dogs, Dogs and more dogs!!!! Recently some friends of ours left for a holiday to the sunny shores of Belise....nice! Okay so yes it is colder than stink here and warmer than stink there but I am not jealous even a little. With that said you should know that when they go on holiday we get to dogsit their lovely Samoyed dog Clara. Well this time came with the bonus of their son's (he works all day and has no yard) dog Cody a very pretty Husky. So as I lined up their bowls to feed them I thought it resembled a zoo just ever so slightly. Now all the dogs get along very well but the dining room where they spend most of their time is not that big and they each weigh 50+ pounds just to give you an idea of what our zoo is like!!! So you wonder what we are up to at least this weekend....letting in and letting out...feeding...watering...scooping...walking....playing....and so on...... Hope your "zoo"was as fun this weekend.

Man's Best Friend - HA! :(

(Those who have weak stomachs and do not like even slightly gory details - maybe you should skip to the next posting - Tim) :)
Those of you who read Sari's last post will know that I was violently ill in Dauphin last week. I mean violently ill!!! I never get sick, but when I do it is a doosy! :)
I woke up at 2 am in the upstairs bedroom and I felt awful, so I got up and ran downstairs to main floor. Now the main floor bathroom is right beside my inlaws' bedroom, so being the kind and considerate (not to mention handsome) son-in-law that I am, I kept going down the stairs to the basement bathroom. Immediately upon arrival I was in trouble and so I did the only logical thing I could do - I threw up in the bath tub. (Some may not see this as a "logical" occurrence, but, believe me, considering the alternative it was!) :)
Now, my lovely and nice wife followed me downstairs and when she arrived and saw what was happening she promptly announced "Oh gross!!! That is disgusting! There is no way you are coming back to bed with me!" (If you ask her she will tell you that she was trying to be kind and said "Oh you poor dear! Let me make a bed for you in this room so that you can stay down here - nice and close to the bathroom" - but I know better than that!) :)
Every 1/2 hour from 2 am till 5:30 am I was in the bathroom (here comes the somewhat gory part)...... 6 sessions of throwing up 3 full times. Throw up 3 times - go to bed - get up - throw up 3 times, etc (It was so bad that, by the end, I was throwing up stuff that I hadn't even eaten!)
So what does this have to do with the title of this post ("Man's best friend - HA!") you ask?
Another valid question at this point may be, "Why am I wasting my time reading this at all?"
While I have no answers for the second question - I can fill in the dog part for you.
Murphy's kennel (with Murphy sleeping in it) was right beside the bathroom door. Every time my "parade of puke" forced me to get up, I had to turn the light on (how else would I possibly have found the tub again, right?) and each and every time I turned on the light on, I could hear Murphy in his kennel take a deep, deep breath and then let out this sound....

"SSSSSSiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!"

He sighed at me like 16 times that night!!!

And I don't mean a "Oh that is too bad" sigh. It was an, "OH BROTHER!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MAN???? I AM TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!!!!" sigh.

No sympathy! No whimpers of concern! Nothing!! Just 16 big, inconvenienced, sighs!

Maybe, though, he would have been a little more sympathetic had I not laughed and laughed at him while he ran around the yard during the whole "Hydrogen peroxide" incident (see earlier post). Oh well!

Man's best friend - HA! I DON'T THINK SO!!!! :)

(Ps. The rest of the story..... I Stopped throwing up at 5:30 am - ran a fever and slept a good share of the day - ate some soup at 3 pm - some potatoes at 6 pm - then I did what any smart, highly fevered, weak from throwing up, Canadian prairie boy would do - I went to a Dauphin Kings hockey game! And now, I feel fine! Hockey - good for what ails ya!)

Dauphin New Year

We spent the beginning of 2007 in Dauphin with the folks there. It was a treat to check out the new rink and find out why hockey players where padding...thanks Joel! We spent the better part of a week sledding, having bonfires in the yard and going for walks in the winter wonderland of the parkland. Dad is doing well after his first treatment for leukemia and we all enjoyed and savoured being together just a bit more than usual. Dad and I even tried out the snowshoes and laughed at trying to scale a hardened snow drift in them. A few of us got the flu...well everyone but the girls and me. Go girl power!!!! Sorry Tim:( A wonderful holiday time doing what we hoped we would..well all except for Tim and the long night of.......he can tell you more about that if he wants to.

Moose Jaw Christmas

We spent the first part of our holiday with the folks in Moose Jaw. Arriving on Xmas eve we got to Deb and Dorians in time for a yummy supper. Then we all piled in our van and headed out to check out the lights of the "Moose". (A tradition to Tim's side of the family) Then we ended the evening with the viewing of the black and white version of a Christmas Carol.(Also a strongly held tradition) On Christmas day one of the highlights for Tim was playing on the outdoor rink his brother has been working on in his backyard. The kids loved it too. Megan stayed out and skated back and forth for several hours. Katie and her cousins played hockey when they could get the ice time away from Tim and Kurt. We all were treated to a wonderful Christmas supper from Tracy's kitchen.
All in all we really had a super time with much more to tell and so little space to tell it in. "Christmas ROCKS" or so my oldest daughter says. I would have to say I agree.