Catching up again

So here I am again, late in the evening playing catch up on my blog, I am truly sorry for the sporadic and inconsistent blog writing, but until I get my work schedule sorted out, I may very well be writing more update and catch up blogs in the near future, please bare with me as I will get some sort of consistent blogging schedule figured out … eventually.

cartoon3My wife continues to do well, she is feeling good and strong, trying to get her to relax and get plenty of rest and have afternoon naps is akin to herding cats, she will have non of it and wants to help with the house work and has insisted that we at the very least go for daily walks (weather permitting) , her walks usually involve a couple of miles down the grid (gravel) road. As for the house work itself, I have been able to keep on top of it, but let her do the light duty stuff such as dusting (only because I hate dusting) and she makes the meals most often.

The Cancer in her lungs doesn’t seem to be bothering her at the moment, I still worry about her being on a two month break from treatment, I worry that the Cancer will act up again and she will become very ill again, especially if I am at work when it happens. But so far so good, she is almost a full month without treatment and is doing well, her hair continues to grow, she used to be a light blonde but now her hair is coming in darker, how much darker exactly we don’t rightly know yet and won’t be able to say until it grows in a bit more.

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Our son “Hammy” went to the city today for the Punt Pass and Kick regional tournament, he had a blast but Victory eluded him, he came in 4rth , but only the top 3 get to move onto Nationals, he wasn’t very bummed about not making it to the nationals, he said he gave it his best and had a lot of fun and that’s all that really matters to him.

We are very proud of him as he is turning out to be a fine young man, he is very thoughtful towards others, and has a good work ethic, he babysits full time for a couple hours a day after school and has been going around getting clients for his new snow shovelling business that he is starting up this coming winter, he is saving up for a new home desktop computer and a playstation 4 as well as setting his Christmas money aside.

Our son doesn’t get an allowance, he never has, he has always had to work for his money be it house chores or helping me with the yard maintenance business, we taught him early that nothing comes for free, he buys all his own video games and anything else he wants, we just feed and clothe him, the exception being his Birthday and Christmas (Santa goes all out) and yes occasionally we do buy him something such as a game, or bike etc. just because he is a good kid who deserves it and we do love him very much. ( I am bursting with pride when thinking of him )

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So I wish I could say my job is the ultimate Butch job, but alas it isn’t, the only power tool I get to play with is the shop vac….which I blew up tonight! , yeah imagine my surprise when that happened!! vacuum motor parts launched across the room! big BANG!! I ended up having to run home and grab my own shop vac to clean up the friggin mess the work vac left.

I also get to play with the deep fryer , grill and gas stove oh and a pizza oven !! ( I’m trying to make this sound as Butch as I can….and no matter how I word it I fail!) basically my job is Head Cook (hell I’m the only cook) and Butch Chamber Maid (picture that) and for the record I wear jeans, tee shirt, runners(sneakers) and my Camo Base Ball/Hunting Cap that says Git-R-Done ( I bought it at a Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall tour show about 3 years ago).

Other than blowing up the shop vac (not my fault) work goes alright, it’s just part time 3 or 4 days per week , I like the hours it’s usually from 3pm til 10 , leaves me the mornings to slip into the city with my wife while the kidlet is at school, or to sleep in or do pretty much anything I please.

As I said in the previous post, free beer, free food and a pay cheque…what more could a Butch want?

Well that’s about all for tonight, so remember folks: express your love often,never take tomorrow for granted,and be kind to others.

Butch
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Spring Flooding

This is our garden, under about 2 feet of water, all the snow we got this past winter has left our property a ruddy mess, its not just our garden that flooded but most of our property.

I have been busy pumping out the water but there really is no place to put it, the ditch out front is overflowing, the water I pump out of the yard is pretty much running down the road.
I am not the only one flooded almost everyone here in Pense has flooding to some degree and some are flooded worse than we are so the village held a huge sand bagging bee, in 8 hours we all together have bagged over 5000 bags, which are free for the taking by anyone who lives here.



This is the entrance to our secret garden, it looks rather dismal right now, but once the water is pumped out and the area cleaned up it will once again be a cozy little hide away to sit on the bench swing and watch the birds and squirrels and breathe in the scents of wild flowers while shaded from the hot summer sun.



All things considered, the flooding aint so bad, this photo was taken exactly 1 month ago, when I was busy digging the RED DORF out of the snowbank to get it ready to sell, so when it comes to the flooding, it could be worse! it could always be 40 below and we could still have 6 feet of snow on the ground, so yep, Ill gladly take the warm weather and flood waters!

Our garden may be a little late getting planted this year as once the water is gone the ground still has to dry, but with some hard work, patience, and a positive attitude we will have a wonderful garden around the first of June. better late than never eh?

guess thats all for now, yall have a wonderful weekend.

Butch
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from far far out in left field again

Okay so umm Ive developed an unusual habit of watching the clothes get sloshed around by the agitator in the washing machine, so lets just back up a moment and say that I, Butch, blew up my wifes washing machine by accident *sigh* this happened almost a month ago, what happened was I got tinkering with the machine and thought hmmm I can increase the pump velocity thereby making it drain faster... so I did and it did, I had that piddly pump draining at around 20 gpm where as the stock drained around 5gpm , I was pleased with myself, it served no real purpose and didnt help the laundry chores go any faster, but still I was pleased with myself,

well things worked well for a few days, then ummm BANG! what happened next was simply EPIC!! the piddly little impeller inside the pump sheared off at such a high velocity that it not only blew apart the pump but also the hoses from the wash tub to the pump before embedding itself in the floor, okay THAT was pretty freakin AWESOME in my books, but my wife didnt see it that way! she was so mad at me she was speechless and just glared at me while the sparks flew and the water pooled at her feet.

Now fast forward to the present, I replaced her old washing machine, and it was old, at least 15 years old, so I bought a heavy duty C6 model, not brand new but a 4 year old with a ground up rebuild, it only cost me $100 and came with a 3 months parts warranty, my wifey is happy and that makes me a happy Butch as I can finally come out of the dog house.



as you can plainly see its a used washer, but dang it works great, its not that old just 4 years, and it can handle anything, as I discovered you can put a weeks worth of laundry for 3 people in one big load! I be liking it, and my wife has yet to use it because I have volunteered to become the laundry taker carer of person, and heres where it gets a bit weird, its the agitator, it doesnt just go back and forth like the old washer! this one is a 2 parter!! the bottom half goes back and forth while the top half goes in a jerky continual motion in 1 direction.... counter clockwise, and for some reason unbeknownst to me it fascinates me! to the point where it has become my personal obsession to stand there with the lid up and watch it as it sucks the clothes down under the water.



it is just a washing machine, but I am obsessed with watching that agitator for reasons I cant explain, my wife and kidlet think I have finally gone nuts! maybe theyre right and I have, but everyone has got very clean clothes and the laundry hamper is always empty!


well Im off to.... you guessed it, run a load of laundry

Butch


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Catching up Again!

Sorry for not writing in awhile, there are a few reasons (excuses)as to why I havent been writing lately, #1- out here in the country we lack Cable internet or any other form of land based internet, we rely on a wireless internet mobile stick, (like wifi) , which has many advantages over land based connections, such as complete control over who uses your internet (no stick no internet simple no?), also you can plug it into any pc or laptop ipad or any internet able device and boom youre online instantly, your not restricted to any buildings, grab your laptop and sit in the middle of a field day or night or use it in your car etc, its mobile.

The downside? we have only 1 internet mobile stick and we have a 12 year old who "needs" to electronically amuse himself, (he plays games posts kid type stuff on his facebook and writes his pen pals ) , I am also married to a wonderful wife who has a pretty bad You-Tube addiction, she is hooked on 80s music and funny videos, so that means (even though I pay for the device),I get the last dibs on the internet! (dunno how or why that came to be, I just come to accept it as fact)

Sooo, since I dont get use of the internet often (as much as "I" would like), I have been keeping busy winterizing the cars, the house, the work sheds, the yard etc. getting ready for another 6 to 7 months of pure Canadian Winter HELL, (okay so Im getting old and the winters are getting harder on me with each passing year) I tell you unless you live in Alaska or the North Pole, or Siberia, you just can not fathom how bitterly cold our Canadian Prairie Winters can be, imagine 12 foot tall snow banks on either side of your 135 foot long driveway, that you have to shovel by hand at times because its so bitterly cold your snow blower and tractor are froze up solid, now keep that image and add a balmy minus 45 to minus 50 temperature, much colder if the wind is blowing quicker than 10 miles an hour ,and it does, it usually gusts 40 to 80 miles an hour, yeah, well there you are ,Welcome to HELL and yes it does freeze over!!

I shouldnt curse our luck just yet by mentioning snow just yet (yes snow is a 4 letter swear word , in fact it is the foulest of swear words known to human kind), I mean there is None YET!! this time last year we were buried up to our asses in it, so I count my small blessings,this is October so anything is possible.

Nature sure is pretty this time of year though, all the leaves have turned bright crimson reds and bright yellows,except for the evergreens, blue spruce, white pines, and majestic douglas furs who defy the seasons and remain vibrant greens and blues, the grass is still green though dormant now, hordes of wild geese and other warm weather fowl are gathering in the now empty fields preparing for their journey south, while the summer birds go the winter birds are arriving, chickadees,snowy owls,etc, the rabbits are turning from browns and grays to white, it really is a pretty sight.

I will purchase a new camera (since I drove over my last one) and take photos and post them this winter,I would like to get even more wild life photos than I managed last winter,if I can get a good enough camera I will get you all some photos of our winter storms too, I would also like to get a cheap video camera so I can post videos to this blog, Im working on that, maybe Santa will be nice to me this year.

anyway, thats all for now

Butch
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UpDates Home Alone Again Staying Busy

Well Tuesday June 10th was the big day for my Wife’s surgery to repair an aneurysm on her main artery on her heart, we had to be at the General Hospital at 6:30 am so we were up at 4 am (Coffee,shower,etc).

The surgery went well, they went in through her groin and snaked a wire with the coil all the way through her ,through her heart to the aneurysm, where they embedded the coil which re-enforces the artery wall, the aneurysm should not grow or burst and should eventually dissipate since there is no more blood or pressure on it, at least that is the hope.

I was able to take her home that same day at 4:00pm , she was exhausted and sore but fine and pretty much slept as soon as we arrived home, I was wiped out from the early morning and being stressed and worried sick about her all day so I too went to bed around 7 that night.

Wednesday June 11th , I had to take her into the Pasqua Hospital (where the Allen Blair Cancer Center is located),for some blood work and to register her to admitting so she could get a bed for her next round of Chemo, Thankfully they gave her a 24 hour pass so she could come back home for the day/night.

This morning I took her back to the Cancer Center at 9:30am for her Chemo, she hasn’t had much recovery time from her surgery, just wham 2 hospitals in 3 days! She started her Chemo right away, and might be able to come home tomorrow, but most likely Saturday for sure.

Our son “Hammy” is off on a school camping trip until Friday (he left wednesday), so here I am Home Alone again ,and as I have said before, our house just isn’t a home without my wife being present, it feels even colder tonight because our son is also not here, just me,the dog,and the cats.

I do get lonely, but don’t really mind being alone, it gives me time to think and decompress, to take a much needed break from being my wife and son’s emotional/spiritual rock, I am tough and ever steady on the outside,but not always so on the inside (if that makes sense).

So to keep from going nucking-futs (a Saskatchewan word),I keep myself busy, tomorrows agenda includes removing the old worn out recliner from the living room and replacing it with a super comfy chair and ottoman, taking our son’s bed apart and donating it down the line to the next kidlet that needs it,(“Hammy” out grew it) and replacing it with a new one that fits a growing soon to be teen boy.

My sister gave me the chair,ottoman, & bed since she is moving away from the village,she is moving to the city, I also have to finish up a bit of welding on a fire pit that I have been commissioned to build, I’ll post a few photo’s of it when I am done, the extra bit of money will help, lately a lot of people have been asking me to do odd jobs for them, I am not a professional welder, never worked in a welding shop, just learned the basics in high school shop class in the early 80?s and have been self taught ever since, but word got out that I can weld, now people are bringing me things to fix or asking me to build.

I only have half a workshop to work in until I get the roof repaired, which I will get at shortly (I hope)

anyway, it’s late, I’m tired so I’ll stop here, thanks for stopping by, remember to express your love often,and don’t take tomorrow for granted, and be kind to one another.

Butch
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Death visits us again … pet loss

My son and I are still emotionally raw from the loss of his Mother,my Wife, we are coping as best we can with her death and trying to move forward one step at a time through life, now as it happens my wife was an animal lover, so much so that she resented me to a degree whenever I went hunting (I supplement the grocery bill with wild game), I was never allowed to bring home a dead animal nor clean/dress it anywhere near our home, I had to do that where I dropped it, I had to go to a friends house and we would butcher and wrap the meats before I took it home.

Now being an animal lover she also rescued any stray cat or dog she come across and would foster them, clean them and make sure they were healthy before finding them forever homes, as it happens we soon acquired multiple cats (her furry babies) we had 5 of them, 1 in particular was her favorite, Sabre, a grey cat that she coaxed into our home about 11 years ago, he was the most sorry looking cat I’d ever laid eyes on, and the meanest bastard on the planet, we lived in Calgary at the time (Big City) and he was ferral, he had been abused and tossed aside, he was missing the tip of his tail, his tail also had a permanent kink in it, he had a broken rib or 2 (probably from being kicked), he stank really bad, had fleas and mange , he was starved so bad that we had to feed him little bits of moist cat food at a time so he wouldn’t get sick and die .

That mangy cat took right to Pauline, she cleaned him up and nursed him back to health, after many vet visits he was deemed healthy and disease free, so we had him fixed, that cat loved Pauline with all his heart and soul, he followed her from room to room, slept by her head, would sit on her lap every time she sat down , she always talked to him in her sing song voice, and soon he was a member of our family, he thrived on all the attention people gave him, she had taught him how to trust and love and be loved by people again, she spent the next 11 years babying him more so than the other 4 cats we acquired.

Sabre was a Happy cat, and he was well loved and he knew it, when my wife passed away, he somehow knew that too, he spent his days going from room to room yowling at the top of his lungs looking for her, he stopped eating, and when I brought her urn home he would lay on the floor just below the shelf she sits on and cry, physically cry, I had no idea cats had tears until I witnessed this.

Coupled with my sons grief and my own, listening to Sabre cry none stop for the last month has been almost unbearable, I tried and tried to get him to eat, he drank some milk now and then, ate very little of the wet cat food, just a few bites here and there, his grief overrode his need to eat and overrode his natural survival instincts, he was grieving hard and no amount of comfort would help him, he was slowly wasting away, he was dying of a broken heart.

Tonight he passed away, he died of a broken heart, I wept as I carried his lifeless body out, it hurt me so bad that he passed , that he didn’t want to live without Pauline, I know she was there to take him to the Rainbow Bridge, I asked her to come and end his suffering and take him quietly and quickly, she did.

I am guessing Sabre was around 12 or 13 years old, he was already a year or 2 old when my wife first coaxed him into our house.

Sabre, Pauline’s favorite cat and fur baby, you will be missed my dear friend, but I know that right at this moment you are in Pauline’s loving arms once again, and for that I so desperately envy you . Rest well old friend .

anyway, that’s all for tonight, so remember folks:express your love often,never take tomorrow for granted, and be kind to others.

Butch
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Getting remarried to my Beautiful Wife again

17 years ago we stood at the alter and exchanged our vows , promising each other and before God that we would love and remain together through sickness and health , richer or poorer til death do us part.

To my Beautiful Wife, I want you to know that you are so much more to me than just my wife, you are my very best friend, the person I go to with all my triumphs and failures, the person that I trust my life with and that knows all my secrets both good and bad yet doesn’t judge or condemn me.

You are my partner, you complete me, without you , honestly, I am nothing, you found me when I was broken and you with your love, compassion, devotion and faith healed me and made me whole again.

You are my soul mate, I don’t know how to tell you how I know this, I just know, when we first met I was scared and unsure of myself, but something deep down inside me, cried out in joy and I knew in that instant that no matter what we were meant to be together, I knew then that no matter what I must win your heart and have you at my side, I knew then that my life had no meaning or purpose without you.

In the 17 years we have been together my love and devotion to you has only grown and become stronger, thanks to you we have became parents, and you let me share in raising our child, who like his Mom, is a pretty amazing kid, you showed me a softer gentle side of you , you are an Amazing Mother, I have learned so much about parenting by listening and watching you, Thank you for helping to make me a good parent, I could never be without your gentle loving guidance, Thank you for having our son and giving me a Family to watch over and protect, you gave me purpose.

For me it seems just like yesterday that we were young and crazy and just met, everyday for 17 years I have woken up and fallen head over heals in love with you all over again, and for 17 years each night I have prayed and thanked God for putting you in my life.

It’s been 17 wonderful years full of life, full of joys and hardships, but together we have faced each day with love and determination , You have given me the strength, hope, desire to carry on when there seemed like no hope, with you at my side I knew I could take on any obstacle or hardship head on, you quietly gave me the strength to carry on and never give up, you gave me hope when there was none, you quietly encouraged me to strive to be better, not only for myself,but for our son, for you,for those around us, you taught me compassion, you brought out my softer side and encouraged me to give of myself without any expectations, you taught me to always do the right thing no matter how difficult it may be.

Even now in your sickness you continue to bring the best out of me, your so loving caring and giving and often suffer in silence while being strong for both myself and our son, I know this, I see this, I understand this, it breaks my heart but at the same times deepens my love for you.

So I am asking now, once again, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness or health, will you honor me one last time and be my wife and marry me once more?

All my Love and deepest Devotions, your loving partner

Leslie
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