I Stand Corrected

I stand rightly corrected... the pea-hen mentioned in the last blog is a Guinea Fowl, native to parts of Africa and apparently quite tasty. These were undoubtedly someones future dinner, I mean livestock.


Last summer we saw a lizard on Denman. The few people we mentioned it to, said that they were newts. But no, I've been swimming with the rough skinned newts at Chickadee Lake and this lizard was considerably larger and a whole lot faster.... by sheer fluke, I cornered one of these little guys in our front garden and he turns out to be the Northwestern Alligator Lizard. He was not nearly so quick on the laminate floor, but I still could not manage a clear picture. But, at least it has been proven!


At fire practise this week, I was initiated to my first "Burn House". In a word, it was hot! Quite literally. The exercise simulated being inside a burning building. At one point, there was so much heat that some materials behind us, (several feet further from the fire than we were) spontaneously ignited. Quite enlightening, (no pun intended). This exercise has also given me incentive to get a hair-cut, (but not a real job). The said hair-cut will be the first since, hmmm November?

Whoa, two days in a row with warmish weather... 14c in my backyard. Very decent to say the least and there were lawns and firewood to be cut. Today, Monday, we had post holes dug for a fence which will be built this week along our front property line. We hope it will block out some of the junk our neighbour has been collecting. The fridge in the front yard was the last straw!


Friday evening, there was an incident in front of the school, (where it was teen night). Some of the kids witnessed a fellow, (Not from Denman and off his meds) beat up his girlfriend. The school went into lock down mode and all the kids were kept safe. Saturday morning, the search was on for the guy and the Comox Valley Search and Rescue Team were called in to help the Denman Island Volunteer Fire Dept. and some other helpful residents to comb the island. A command post was set up. Ground search parties were dispatched, while a helicopter zig-zagged the island. By dinner time, there was no sign of him and few leads... and the searchers were getting hungry. Pizza was ordered from the D.I. Bakery and a couple of firefighters picked up the food and returned to the hall. A few minutes later the lost guy was spotted at the Bakery. So, I'm thinking the guy may have been having dinner at the Bakery at the same time the pizza was being picked up by the searchers... perhaps a good sit-com in the making, but a very expensive undertaking nevertheless. I was extremely impressed with the support offered by the school and community to the kids that were at the school that night. It also proves that this stuff happens everywhere... the difference is how the community reacts.



Saturday Evening, we went to see the Chucky Danger Band at the Denman Hall. The pop-rock group entertained young and old with loads of catchy originals and a couple of cover tunes... including "Back In the USSR" which the lead singer claimed he had written. Check them out if you get a chance... we were impressed with just how tight these Beatle-clones were. These young lads from P.E.I were quite unique. It's not too often you'll see the whole band playing a single drum kit as seen in the picture to the right.


Cheap Dave's Wine Corner. Vina Chilcaya Chardonnay (Chile)$11.99. Finally, as the weather warms, my taste buds ask for whites.... as strange as it seems, white wine and warm weather just seem to go together. This Chard is the last of the show-stopper bargains, (as voted by Van-Mags International Wine Awards , that I wanted to try. We found tons of green pear and butter with a pleasant acidic finish. We'll add this to our summer sippers list. Gismondi says: Soft buttery, peachy nose with sulphur, honey and baked apple notes. Round and fresh on the palate with honey, butter, mineral, citrus flavours with a mineral, lees finish. Solid, fresh, easy drinking style with fine acidity. Good value.