Thursday, February 01, 2007

I'm in a fog

Everyone seems to be saying that this is an unusual winter. There is very little we haven't experienced over the last three months. Torrential rain, snow dumps, freezing temperatures, hurricane force winds; and now fog! This lonely heron is grounded, as all flights (in and out of Denman International) have been cancelled for birds for the last week. The ferry fog-horns it's way across Baynes Sound twice an hour from six am til eleven pm. One crew member stands at the front of the ferry on "fog watch" peering ahead, and I assume, will jump up and down and wave their arms frantically should some obstacle appear in our direct ramming path. This should allow us ample time to brace ourselves for impact.
Our little replacement ferry remains a contentious issue as there are missed sailings a-plenty. All islanders will be rejoice upon the return of our old rust bucket, er, I mean, beloved vessel, the Quinitsa.

All is quiet on the home-selling front. We've had a couple of viewings on Nelson, but I don't expect any serious contenders until the weather warms and the lookyloos come out of hibernation. One last open is scheduled for Cedar this weekend... if no action, she gets blown-out on the realty network.... no reasonable offer refused. I learned some lessons here....
1) buy mainstream price point . 2) buy mainstream house style. 3) repeat 1&2
One must apply the 80/20 principle... buy what 80% of people can afford, in a style and location where 80% of people want to live.

Kari, going boldly, where none have ventured before, approached our neighbor about the shed (with the volcano mural) facing our driveway..... it was agreed that we could paint the side facing us. Not taking any chances that they would change their mind; and armed with a roller, in sub-zero temperatures, she rolled her way to relief. I expect the paint should dry some time in April. To add to the blockage of said eyesore, she convinced a local nursery that they should dig up some eight foot cedar trees for us to plant between the properties to further provide some visual blockage.
Monday; we were able to walk out into the frozen fields of the nursery to pick out our 6 new trees. We were told that they would be dug up and would be ready the next day for pick-up. Tuesday; Arriving at the nursery with trailer in tow, the boys said they would be right back with the trees. They arrived shortly after in a front-end loader, with our trees in the bucket. Each tree sported a substantial root ball, weighing in at something around 300 lbs. Needless to say, after loading the first three trees, the fenders of the trailer were firmly riding on the tires. Ropes and dollies were required to finagle the brutes into the trench dug into the frozen ground.
Wednesday; repeat Tuesday.

The Denman Cougar, ("DC") which we generously donated to our sister Hornby, had not been heard from since November; everyone here had assumed that he had headed back to the big island for some nooky. Not so; he had indeed been helping himself to a local livestock smorgasbord and living the high life over there on Hornby. He found himself on the wrong end of a posse earlier this week. A sad end indeed.

Dave's (Cheap) Wine Corner
First, I fixed the link to Vanmag... it should work now, just follow the links to the cheap wine awards.
As this blog is a little late, it gave me just enough time to taste two wines on the "best of" list.
#1) de Bortoli Petite Sirah, $11.99 (Australia)
I'm not sure just what a small Sirah is, but well worth the twelve bucks! A very nice mid-body red that apparently is not related to the syrah/shiraz. I say get off you yellowtail and try something a little less commercial!
#2) Finca Los Primos Malbec. $9.99 (Argentina) Malbec is the new shiraz... you heard it here... a similarity but with some black fruit punch. Two thiumbs up.

Here's a great stat for you... oh my, how far we've come! This quote is from Nat Decants (check out her (cheap) wine pics):
"In the early 1970s, Canadians preferred sweet “pop wines”; one of every 24 bottles consumed in Canada was Andre’s Baby Duck sparkling wine. The menagerie of other pop wines on the market at that time included Gimli Goose, Pink Flamingo, Baby Deer, Baby Bear, Little White Duck, Fuddle Duck and Luv-a-Duck and Pussycat."
If you order her book, can I borrow it?

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