Meeting Colonel Chris Hadfield - A Day I'll (hopefully) Remember ....

It's not often I mark a day off on my calendar - except for work, that is, and that only so Howard can keep track of me and meet me at the sky train station on the right day and the right time - but Colonel Chris Hadfield's visit to Black Bond Books in Surrey rated a bright red reminder on November 15.

I had to go in the morning and get a ticket so I'd have a place in line - number 96? That's actually a pretty good number, as they were expecting 800, to match the number of books they sold.

That meant I would be in the first line, starting at 7 pm. First station completed - next came lunch. I'm not overly impressed with the food court at Surrey Central Mall, as I don't think there is any place to get a nice bowl of soup there. However, I found Charley's Grilled Subs and decided to try them out.

I ordered a Philly Cheese steak - their picture sure looked yummy -

However, that picture and a picture o the actual sandwich would never have worked in a kid's Memory Game. Mine came spread apart like a $2 ... well, we won't go there. I was pretty sure they had forgotten the cheese, but did find a small amount near the last bite. It was an okay sandwich ... the fries were home cut, which was nice, and their lemonade was fine.

Then came a visit to Target, which has finally opened in Surrey Central Mall. I didn't buy anything - some prices seemed good, some a bit high, like every other department store in the world, I suppose. But it was all brand new and lots of staff were offering help, which we didn't really need as we weren't looking for anything in particular. I imagine by the time we go there for some serious shopping, they'll all be jaded and hidden away in some obscure department.

Weather wise, it wasn't a very nice day at all, rainy and windy, so walking around outdoors to other stores wasn't a popular idea and we just bussed home. Of course that meant I had to get dinner ... but that's okay.

At 6 o'clock, we (meaning Nikkie) drove back to the mall so we could stand in a line amongst a thousand noisy people - sort of like cafeteria duty in an elementary school lunchroom.

So ... what do two kids do while they have to wait a looooong time to meet someone they don't know? I had a notebook in my bag ... but only one pen, so that didn't really work well.

A trip to Target ate up some time, but when  they come back they still had a ton of energy. Luckily enough, I had two cameras in my bag .... so that kept them entertained for a little while.

See?

I'm not sure who took what, but ..... if we ever forget what life from a kid's viewpoint looks like ...

... it's even worse than being 5' 2 3/4" ....

... and probably makes scary things look even scarier. 

However, there's a ton of cuteness in a camera too -

And finally, the 4 of us gained entrance to the store, where Colonel Hadfield was welcoming the readers of his book ... everyone got a handshake, and he gave Chris some advice - When you're shaking hands with someone, always look them in the eye! - that I'm sure Chris will always remember. It's not every day he meets an astronaut.

I imagine the poor man must have had a sore wrist before he was done signing all those books ... in all this gravity ....

But, he made my day ... Thank you, Commander Hadfield, for inspiring us all to reach for the stars, wherever these stars may be. I think your book should be required reading in all schools.

Another Trip Up North - Icicles, Deep Fried Bacon, and Rogue Toilets

Work isn't always bad - for example, on Tuesday, as I was pricing even more Christmas stock, my left lower pelvic area started to buzz - it was my cell phone vibrating in my jeans pocket! And who would be calling me?

It was Neil, offering me a ride 'up North.' I said Yes! 

So after work, he picked me up and away we went in his brand new 2014 truck, which has no name yet ...

 ... with his brand new travelling companion - Bosco - who, even though he may never win a beauty contest...

  ... has won my heart. Such a good dog - and, because of certain lucky events in Neil's life, came to him as a gift. A brand new dog like this, an English Bulldog, costs almost as much as my first car did, believe it or not. Of course, that was back in 1974. It was a yellow Chevy Vega.  Nice, eh? However, I digress ...

We had a whole through-the-night trip, and it was so good to see black skies and shining stars. I was so happy to see the mighty Orion back in the northern skies too - my favourite constellation of all. Maybe that's because it's one of the easiest to recognize. Or maybe not.

I had to give up for a few hours north of Hope, though, but I did make sure we got through Yale before I conked out. Yale gives me the creeps - I keep thinking I should have brought wooden stakes and silver bullets on these trips. I'm sure it's a lovely little town, though. Positive. Probably.

We got into Prince George around 4:30 am, dropped off a bunch of groceries, and headed on up to Vanderhoof for another store drop-off. That brought us up to about 8 o'clock in the morning, and since the store actually opened at 8, it was a handy potty stop for me. I still don't feel comfortable enough to squat behind a tree in the middle of nowhere - especially with Orion watching.

Vanderfhoof was a bit colder than Surrey - icicles in November?  Really?

After unloading, we seemed to run out of driving time, so had another few hours to wait - 8, in fact - before we could get on the road again. So we decided to go searching for a nice breakfast.

However, as we walked up the street, all we could find were fast food places, which really didn't tempt us, so we dropped into a shop to ask for local advice. The nice man suggested the North Country Inn, and gave us directions to this log cabin restaurant.

The inside was very rustic and welcoming - although there were a lot of dead animals and dead animal heads hanging around, not my favourite decor. However, I did see a real cowboy, and even got him on the pic below. And I don't mean the wooden one, but the guy with the cowboy hat and red bandanna eating breakfast at the next table. He was wearing jeans, had a huge silver belt buckle, and even sauntered. I was hoping to see him leave and hop on a horsey, but unfortunately he hopped in a truck instead.

And the breakfast absolutely ROCKED. Best bacon in the world - Neil informed me it was deep fried. I would never have ordered deep fried bacon - before that morning. This was just a basic bacon and egg breakie with toast and hash browns ... but this was The Best of the Best. If you're in Vanderhoof - go here, and order this.

 

After breakfast, we walked back to the truck - took a few pictures on the way -

The snow on the bushes outside the restaurant was seasonally appropriate to the baskets of artificial poinsettias and holly on the inside window sills ..

 We passed a beautiful old church, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, but didn't see a cornerstone to date it. And searching on the web didn't help either.

 And then we headed back to the parking lot with Bosco and our bunks waiting ...

We ... I ... was lucky, as there was also a Tim Hortons in this strip mall, and I had to really use the washroom, and I really couldn't just go in without buying something. Hence the box of six donuts. We only ate one each though, so that was okay. And aren't the winter boxes cute? Even if winter isn't?

 And then? Back to the truck and a nice warm cuddly Bosco. 

 Since we still had quite a few hours to wait before we could load up at a lumber mill for our trip back home, we slept - it's not hard to sleep in the middle of the day if you've been up most of the night, that's for sure. And then, it was pitch dark when Neil had to find the mill, where they really overloaded his truck. A trip to the scale, a trip back to the mill, where they unloaded a big huge chunk of lumber, then another trip to the scale - green light! We were on our way home! A stop in Prince George for fuel (both for the truck and for us) and a waste disposal (both for the garbage in the truck and for us), and we were good to go.


Talking about washrooms, take a warning from me
If you're in Prince George and you're needing to pee
The Husky has washrooms with two bathroom stalls
The first is the one to avoid - if you can at all.

It has an automatic flush that's gone awf'lly awry
As soon as I sat down the water did fly
With Niagara Falls force it provided a mist
That soaked stem to stern and left me quite pissed

Four flushes it gave me before I was through
But that wasn't all that was wrong with this loo
When I turned on the tap for to wash up my hands
The water hit the sink and splashed up something grand

Getting everything soaked that was missed by the gush
Of the icy cold water in the automatic flush.



 

A Deja Vu Moment - as in, Been There, Done That ... Well, Now I've Done It Again, and Taken The Pictures too ...

This was not a 'Wowee, gotta get out and do something' day. This was more of a 'stay in bed til 10, drink coffee, and stumble around wondering what to do' kind of day .... until I read my friend Roxie's Facebook status - she hit the treadmill against her will, and that gave me a little nudge to get some shoes on and get going too.

The shoe part was the hardest. My sneakers were still wet from walking to Walmart on Wednesday, so I had to find something I could wear with socks, as the weather is not quite right for Flip Flops. So I ended up with a pair of flats, which didn't prove to be the best for my outing .... however, I didn't slip and fall into anything, so everything was good.

The first thing that caught my eye was this seagull, perched on a vent on somebody's roof. I guess he found a spot where he could both survey his surroundings and keep his belly warm.

I chose this particular shortcut to 88 Avenue, as I wanted to see how the wheelbarrow I've been checking on for a couple of years has weathered the seasons.

Well, the wheelbarrow was gone. In its place was a big Tonka-like machine, a back hoe maybe, a freezer, and several other pieces of non-photogenic crap, all sitting on a bed of gravel. Change isn't always good, Donkey.

Farther down the short cut ... the empty lot, that once held a falling-down rancher. Now the rancher is gone, and this corner of the lot seems to be turning into a communal dumping ground.

Shame on these people.

However, the other end of the lot has been taken over too - by Mother Nature. It was hard to pick my favourite pictures here, so I ended up with two ...

This one because of the shrivelled up thingies .... are they rose hips? I'm not sure. I know they're not hazelnuts or acorns ...

... and this - same subject, different angle. I really like the fence.

Walking down the sidewalk at 88 Avenue, these berries caught my eye, as well as the red leafed tree behind the fence. Much nicer view than the millions of vehicles zooming up and down the street to my right.

And if you need some Aluminum ... here's where to get it. Unless of course they used it all up on their fence, which was much bigger than their house. See? Even their car is made of aluminum.

88 Avenue was once know as Kennedy Road, and if you keep walking up this road, you would end up at Kennedy Heights, and North Delta. All uphill, though. I'm not heading this way, I'm heading downhill to Bear Creek Park.

Because a year ago, we saw salmon spawning here.

The Creek was very full of water this year, because of all the heavy rains we've had. I saw a few salmon flipping around, but they weren't very visible for picture taking. The water wasn't as clear as last year either, so the river bed wasn't visible. So I decided to just walk the trail a bit.

I'm not sure if I posted this in a previous blog, but if I did, you can see if the tree has grown any since then. Don't feel bad if you can't read the words on this plaque - I couldn't either, and I was really close to it. I just took the pic so I wouldn't forget what kind of tree it is ...

A Black Cottonwood - and wow, it is SO tall. I wonder what it thinks of these jerks who throw their garbage here, there and everywhere? Because it must see everything ...

I guess the little leaf below didn't want to fall .... so it's clinging on for life, hoping this fencepost will adopt it.

And what is this? To tell the truth, I didn't see anything special when I took the picture, but there seems to be a Sockeye salmon in the stream. Hmmm. Either that or someone lost their salmon shaped, salmon coloured sock.

The stream here is so full of character - so peaceful.

And no, I didn't know ....

But thank you, stream. I won't cross you. But I will get closer in a wee bit ...for very good reasons.

It's easier to see squirrels than salmon.

And beautiful colours to brighten up a grey day.

Hmmm. I thought I heard a splish splash ....

I did! I did hear a splish splash! There were actually two groups of sockeye frolicking about here.

I know they were sockeye salmon, because they are the only salmon (as far as I know) that turn red when they ready to spawn, which makes them easier to see.

I was not watching from a 'Watching Site' here, but a 'Sneak Through Some Trees Where I'm Not Supposed To Be' place.

I was hoping to get some pics of them flopping between the two rocks, but unfortunately that didn't come to pass. I did see a huge salmon (not a sockeye) jump and splash down this part of the stream, but missed an extraordinary photo op. That's when I realized my camera was too slow for this job, and whipped out my trusty IPhone instead. The IPhone camera has absolutely no time lapse between press the button and take the picture, unlike the camera that seems to stop and consider whether or not it should use the flash or not, a length of time that approximates the time it takes for a pair of salmon to swim out of sight.

This isn't the first post I did about spawning salmon - the first one was more 'educational.' If you missed it, you can get somewhat the same information from Stomping Tom Conners and his Coho Song - same ritual, different type of salmon.

Do you happen to remember my footwear? These 'little' shoes happened to have extremely smooth soles, and I was walking on extremely wet slippery leaves which were scattered over a layer of mud.

And don't you love my socks? It wasn't until I was almost home, I realized they didn't match. The other was a few shades lighter. As you can see, I don't have a Lady's Maid to help me get dressed.

My viewing place was great though - there used to be a bridge here, and this foundation was the perfect height for resting my camera-taking hands .... and stop me from slithering into the water.

On my way home, I took a different route ... and found this ... the muse behind The Holly And The Ivy

I don't have to go very far to find a bit of amazement, thanks to the Guy who lives above. Sometimes we forget to open our eyes and our hearts to the beauty around us ....