Canoe Trip on The Tobique River - Friday

Hey everyone! This past weekend Darcy and I took a trip with Mary and Chris to Plaster Rock. We stayed at "Chappell's Campground" (which is a very nice place), and took a canoe trip down the Tobique River. I have to say, the Tobique is the nicest, cleanest river I have ever seen. We had such a blast the whole weekend and met some very interesting people!

We arrived at our site around 7:30pm. We had lots of sites to pick from, and we could have camped right along the river bank like all of these people.. But, we chose to go further away into the corner of the field..that way we wouldn't be disturbing our neighbours..heh heh! It didn't take long to set up camp..luckily Mary loaned us her little tent (ours is HUGE..and we really didn't need one that big). This is taken right before we started setting up camp..
Here's the site we had...
Darcy testing our coleman stove..I think it's working just fine! Check out the look on his face..lol!!!
Here's Mary and Chris's "hotel"..very comfy! The tent was their livingroom..
And the back of the truck was the bedroom. Mary (er..Martha) looks so relaxed!And what would a camping trip be without fireworks? Boring! We didn't have many, but it was still lots of fun!
Later in the evening some people from down the road came up to visit, and they ended up staying to party with us for a few hours. They were from Perth, and were a very friendly bunch. I got a group shot of everybody..from L to R is Derek, his girlfriend Jennifer, Mr. Brown, Mary, Chris and Darcy. Just look at Chris! What a laugh! (inside joke: I thought Darcy was supposed to be Stuart!)
We had a great night! The sky was clear and I got to see more stars than I've ever seen before! I actually left everybody at one point and went out to sit in the middle of the field so I could get a better view. I obviously appreciated much more than anyone else! Oh well..they don't know what they missed, because it was just so awesome.

Overall it wasn't too late of a night. We all knew the next day would be a very long one (which is absolutely was!). Good thing we didn't go too overboard or it could have ruined the canoe run, which was so much fun! Read on to the next entry for Saturday!

Later,

Liss

Canoe Trip On The Tobique - Saturday

Howdie! Time to continue on with Saturday's events! Very early that morning, (somewhere around 6:00am)we woke up at Mary's request to see a deer in our campsite. Mary was standing there feeding her some bread. Unfortunately I could barely open my eyes let alone find my camera so I didn't get a picture. I did manage to get some later, since the deer figured out where to come for food and made many more appearances.

Mary, a.k.a "Martha" cooked up a huge breakfast and we all started packing our canoeing gear. Chris went to the gate to arrange for our pick-up (we had previously paid 10 bucks/canoe for them to drop us off about 1/2 hour down the road)..but there was nobody there! We were anxious to leave, and worried about the impending rain later that day. We decided to ask our new buddy Derek if he'd give us a lift..he happily obliged.

So we loaded on our canoes and piled in the back of Derek's truck and we were off. So if any of you have ever seen the movie "Dumb and Dumber" you'd remember the "Mockingbird" song..with all the people in the back of the van? Well, we were in a truck, but we still felt like we were in that movie..what a laugh! We sang that song many times..well, Darcy and I did anyway! About 1/2 hour later we were there!
This picture is a bit crooked, I was trying to turn around without flipping the damn canoe..it was quite an effort! You can see Chris and Mary in the background..
Here's the happy couple..Chris was casting a line. He and Darcy both fished a bit, but there were mostly suckers swimming around so they gave up rather quickly. While we were on the river, I took some video..the quality is not the best and it's pretty loud with the wind blowing..but it works! So, feel free to check them out here, here , and here. And for some video of the ducks we fed you can click here.
Here's the rain on it's way..we worried about it, actually thought about cutting the trip short halfway through..and then said to heck with that! Who cares if we get wet? By this point, the coolers were getting much lighter, so all caution was being thrown to the wind.
We arrived back at the campground around supper time, and we were all in fine form! (As you can imagine!) We decided to eat something, which put everyone in a very blah state, and our paralyzer supply was almost gone. Just when we thought we'd have to crash..in pulls our new buddy Derek! Man, does this guy ever have good timing. He was on his way to the general store for some beer and asked if we needed anything. So we put in our order and in the meantime had another visit from our friendly neighbourhood deer. This time I managed to get a picture!
We also spent a good deal of time setting up tarp town. We knew it was just a matter of time before the rain hit, and we were prepared for it! Mary pulled out the biggest tarp I've ever seen in my life..and we set up a great little shelter. Later on, Derek, Jennifer, Mr. Brown, and another couple (I forget their names), all arrived and we had a fun little party goin' on. Here's a pic of us sittin' around under the tarp..
The best part was the rain didn't last, it only came in spurts. We still had a fire going the whole time (which is the most important part!), and after a couple of hours our company left. Shortly after, Mary and Darcy went beddy-bye..Chris and I decided to venture on down the road to Derek's trailer to join their party. What a time! I won't get into details..but I met a new friend who I like to call "Giggles"..that would be Chris! We didn't get back to our site till around 3:30am, where we found poor Darcy trying to dry out by the fire. The inside of the tent was damp and cold..yuck! Nothing worse than trying to sleep in a wet tent!

Despite being up half the night, we all managed to wake up relatively early to pack up and hit the road. No pictures from Sunday..put it this way, the Plaster Rock was a rough ride home, Thank God for gravol!

Till next time,

Lissy

Tearin' Off The Porch

Howdie! Figured I'd do a quick post to get you all up-to-snuff on what we've been up to. The past two days we've been tearing the front porch off of the house, and what a gross job it's been. The wood was so completely rotten, black and stinky! It's hard to believe that nobody has fallen through that thing!

Tuesday night the roof and posts were taken down, then all of the wood was put in the truck and trailer and Darcy and Mitch hauled it up to the camp. I stayed behind and picked up shingles and garbage..fun fun! Here's what the front looked like that night ..Yesterday Darcy tore the step off, which really sucked whenever we had to get in the house! The dogs especially had a rough time, poor Kate took a nose-dive right out the front door and got a faceful of sand. Can't wait to get that deck-door!

Anyway, after the wood was loaded in the truck Darcy and I headed 'er for the camp for another wood drop-off. We also had to pick up our camping supplies for our trip this weekend. So, I know this is not "life at the camp" blog, but I couldn't resist a few camp pics! I miss that place so much!
I can't get over how good the lawn is coming in up there, and how green it looks!
And I had to get a pic of the huge woodpile! This is for our "ceremonial porch burning" which will take place next weekend (see Coll..you gotta come!) It should be a great fire! LOL
So, after we unloaded all the wood, and grabbed our camping gear we headed back out to that awful highway. Just as we were cruising along a corner, and going downhill, we had to hit the brakes to avoid this...
How ridiculous is that? The ambulance was parked right in the middle of the road! We probably shouldn't have been taking pictures, but at least we didn't capture the injured people! That car parked on the side was some guy driving from Quebec who happened upon 4 teenagers who had ditched their car many miles back. He picked them up (one guy was bleeding real bad...major head injuries)..and used his cell to call the ambulance. He then kept driving till he met up with the paramedics, he actually flew past us, but at the time we had no idea what was going on. We ended up sitting there for about 10 minutes until buddy moved his car, by that time we had a line of cars behind us and were waiting to get rear-ended by a transport or something. It was a strange drive home!

When we finally got back (safe and sound), we pulled in the yard to see this...
Poor Teddy! He lost his front porch home, so he was just sitting there chillin' on the only thing left..the concrete step. I laughed but felt quite bad for him too! He's gonna have a hard time adjusting to a much smaller step, guess we'll have to get him acquainted with the deck!

Anyway, that's all for now. We're going away for the weekend with Mary and Chris to a campground on the Tobique River (in Plaster Rock). Apparently it's a beautiful spot, you set up your tents, and they take you down the river where you put in your canoe. Then you canoe back to the campground (it's supposedly a 7-8 hour trip). All I can say is I hope the weather is nice, and that the river is not too challenging since I've only been in a canoe once before! Should be good for a laugh anyway! I'll be bringing my camera along, but not while I'm in the water for obvious reasons. Have a great weekend everyone!

Liss

A BIG Boat on the River...How Exciting!

Woo hoo! The blogger site is letting me post some pictures! I felt like taking a minor break from our renovation stuff (blog-wise), and showing you guys what all the excitement was on the river today! I got to work this morning and immediately noticed this huge boat, I should say yacht or ship...anchored in the river right in front of the wharf. It stood out like a sore thumb! What a beautiful boat! Anyhew, once I started work, I heard lots of customers talking about who owned it. Apparently it's here from Bermuda, and some people said that it's Sean Connery's..while others are saying it's Alan Jackson's. (I think the Alan Jackson rumour started since the big outdoor country concert is happenin' in Moncton this weekend). You all know how people love to tell stories around here! Heh heh!

So, being the nosebag that I am, I went home to get my camera and binoculars and spent half of my lunch hour on the wharf trying to see who was on the damn boat! Of course, I saw nobody, but I did get some pictures! Here they are..this is just a shot of the wharf, nothing special..The BIG boat...isn't she a beauty?
When I was walking back into work, dodging various bulldozers, trucks, etc..I figured I'd take a few more pics of front street. It's still torn to pieces, but at least they have the new curb in now..If you zoom this one in you'll see that guy staring back at me..he probably thinks I'm trying to take his picture..ha ha!
I can't wait till all of the construction is done! Anyway, that's all for now..I'll let you all know if I ever find out the real owner of the boat! Later,

Liss :)

The Deck is Finished!

Hello everybody! Can anyone tell me what the heck is wrong with this darn blogger site? I've been sitting here trying to add pictures and I only managed to get three! That really sucks! I figured I'd put up what I have so far, and I can always edit and add more in later on.

So, as most of you know we spent the weekend finishing the deck (I should say Darcy finished the deck!). I'm not great with a cordless drill, so I found other projects. Here's a picture of it completed..I love it so much! The best part is when you are sitting down you still can't see over the fence. :)Here's our firepit..that was my project. We had dug up some old patio stones that were in front of the shed and so I dug a huge round hole, transplanted the sod, then filled it in with crushed rock. After leveling it, I put in the patio stones. Voila!
Here's how the deck looks with the lights Darcy installed along the bottom of it. They are dusk till dawn lights, so they turn on and off automatically. They give just enough light, very subtle.


Unfortunately that's all the pics for now (damn you blogger site!), I still have lots more for another day! We had our deck christening party..kinda! The only people who showed were Kim, Rickey, Michelle, Cleve and family. We couldn't have a fire because it had rained all day and the wood was soaked! We also were forced to take the party inside by 10:30pm because some of us were being too loud! LOL Oh, well! Kim and I had a great time drinking our Banana Popsicle drinks, thanks for the recipe Brian :). They were very tasty! We all had fun regardless, next time Darcy won't be on call!

Oh, our new door is not going to be here till next week now! How ridiculous is that? So, as I'm writing this, Kim is outside watching Darcy tear the front porch off of our house. This should be interesting..I've gotta go see it! More later,

Liss

Still Workin!

Hi everybody! I'm finally posting...I know, it's been a couple of days which is apparently too long for some people (eh Dean?). Before I get to the pictures I figured I'd fill you in on what we've been up to for the past few days.

Tuesday evening was spent finishing the gate and beginning to dig sod from the side of the house, where the deck is being built. Wednesday we had lumber delivered as soon as I got home from work, (thanks again Mark! lol), and Darcy, Kim and Rickey all arrived shortly after. The four of us and Mitchell carried all of it from the driveway to the backyard, and we continued working till dark. Darcy started building the bottom sections of the deck, while Kim and I dug up sod and started transplanting it along the fence where the lawn was massacred. Rickey helped out with both jobs back and forth as needed..we had a great little system going and got lots done! By the end of the night two bottom sections of deck were completed.

Today we woke up to RAIN..sucky! We figured the night would be a complete waste, and then the sun came out at about 6:30. Kim came up to help out, and unfortunately I wasn't much help at all! I'm so freakin' sore! Now I know that everyone is sore (Darcy!)..but I am just a whiner! So I did minimal work tonight, mostly held boards while Darcy leveled them. Kim brought many loads of crushed rock (which was dumped in our driveway), to our backyard. She created a nice little path that runs from the gate entry right down toward the firepit. It looks really nice! Thanks Kim! Darcy managed to put the next two sections of the deck-bottom on, so we're good to go for deck building this weekend..woo hoo! The weather is not supposed to be too bad, hopefully it will cooperate. Our door for the kitchen is on order, but won't be in till next week, so that'll be Monday's project. The deck is gonna come first after all.

Anyway, here's a few pictures I took tonight. This is the gate..a view from the driveway. I'm glad we decided to keep the gate relatively high, you still can't see too much into the backyard.This is an inside view of the gate, the picture is a little blurry, but you can still appreciate the fine craftsmanship! LOL

By the way, since the gate has been added our dogs can now run free in the backyard. It's great for us and them! Here's a quick video of the three of them running around for the first time...they are quite excited! Check it out right here!
Here's the bottom two sections of deck, Darcy is busy working away on section three. You can see the deck blocks on the grass, which gives an idea of how far out the deck will extend. It's going to measure 16ft by 20ft. We decided to build the deck low, for privacy reasons, and we'll just build steps down from the door onto the deck. We're putting a railing all around it..and pretty soon we'll have to buy patio furniture. I wanted to take a picture of the work that Kim and I did..I'll try to explain. All along the fence was crushed rock, it looked really gross! The first bit of grass closest to me in this picture is all transplanted sod, and the rest we covered with topsoil that we dug up from under the deck. I wish we didn't run out of sod, but we can always buy some grass seed!
Here's Darcy and Kim working away..while I'm running around taking pictures! I'm savin' myself for this weekend's work, honestly guys!
Darcy playing peek-a-boo!
Later in the evening, just before we were ready to come in for the night, we had the coolest sunset ever! I had already put the camera away, but decided to run in and take a few shots. Lots of really cool clouds, and the pictures are really neat! I couldn't resist adding in a couple of them...check out those colors! :)
And what would a sunset be without our bridge? Not the same! I tried to take this from the corner of the yard, and had to zoom in lots to avoid our neighbor's yard, so forgive me if it's a bit blurry. Wish I had a tripod!
So that's it for tonight folks! Time to hit the sack and get all rested up for this weekend's work. I can't wait to christen my firepit and sit on my patio with a nice cold beer! Cheers!

Liss

Finishing Touches! - Sunday and Monday

Hey everyone! This is my last entry for today..I'm ready to hit the sack and it's only 8:00! Guess I'll just get on with it!

Sunday morning we woke up early once again and went out to complete the fence. It actually didn't take too long, and it was a beautiful day! Rickey stopped by for a quick visit, we had a little break and then continued working. We decided to start the fence section between the shed and the house. Unfortunately we couldn't build the gate since we had no hinges and all the stores were closed yesterday and today. The other unfortunate thing was the hole for the post had to be dug by hand (by yours truly), 4 feet down. Luckily it's really sandy so it didn't take very long to dig, and I had the cement mixed and poured in no time. We wanted to get it done early so it would set in time to build the fence that night.

We also had a huge pile of fill that was dumped in the middle of the yard by a bucket loader, and it was time to get it off the lawn and spread out in front of the fence. All that shovelling is such hard work, but it's so worth it in the end! The back corner of the yard was another major concern. As you can see below, the fence stops right before it, leaving a gap between it and the chain link fence. Plus there was lots of junk in front of those trees, so we had to figure out how to block it in and make it look half decent! Here's the before shot...And here's how it looked after! At least now the dogs won't be able to jump over to the neighbours yard. Plus it looks much cleaner, now we just need some topsoil and grass seed!
Here's the little firepit or should I say firebowl, that we bought. I'm very anxious to have a little fire right in my own backyard, but we've been too tired at night to even bother yet. Now that says something doesn't it? LOL
I know that this is a boring picture but I wanted to explain how uneven the yard is. This is how deep we have to dig to remove sod and earth from the side of the house where the deck is going to go. It's gonna be lots of digging, but the deck has to be on somewhat level ground. Darcy started digging some of it up today, until the rain started. That'll be another job for tomorrow or the next day depending on the weather.
Here's Darcy trimming up my Christmas tree....
And Darcy planning on burning the bows that he cut off...he didn't really, but you could tell the thought crossed his mind!
Here's the fence we built last night. I love how it blocks the view to the backyard! The space beside it is where the gate will be. That's tomorrow's job!

So that's it so far! I think we did pretty good for one weekend! We got a lot further than we estimated, so that's a bonus! Tomorrow night we have to build the gate, work on levelling the ground and buy a door for the kitchen. We may even start cutting out the kitchen window! We want the door in before we build the deck..and that's another job for later in the week and the coming weekend. So, I'll keep posting each time something new happens. Chow for now,

Liss

Fence Building Day! - Saturday

Well, I must say that we could not have begged for better weather this weekend! It was sunny and breezy, not a bit muggy! Perfect building weather! Saturday morning we were up bright and early, Rickey headed home and we headed to the yard (after lots of coffee) :). Darcy and I worked on our own till about lunch time, then Cleve and Mom came to help for the afternoon. We had LOTS of visitors, friends, family, neighbours, people just driving by...very crazy! I added a few "visitor shots"; here's Cleve's daughter Tiffany holding Jody and Melanie's little guy Ben. Very cute!This picture cracks me up! Dad, Jody and Cleve "supervising" while Darcy cuts the arc shape at the top of the fence..good job guys!
Here's Melanie, Mom, Tiffany and Ben...Marlee (Michelle's daughter)was supposed to be in the picture too but she ran out of it just in time!
Here's Darcy levelling a bottom board..that's Trenton on his bike in the background. We had sent all four kids (Mitch, Trenton, Tiffany and Marlee) to the town pool for the day, but they came back early. They weren't too bad though, except for the water fight they had inside the house..GRRR!!
With me being the only person taking pictures, I felt left out because I'm in NONE! Believe me..I was there! LOL So being the moron that I am, I decided to take a picture of myself..:) Dig that sunburned face! Luckily it's the only place I got burned!
Here's Darcy going with a load of fill for the bottom of the fence. We had to put down lots of fill because walking in our back yard is similar to a space walk on the freakin' moon! It's so uneven! We're filling in as many low points as we can and then we're going to cover it up with topsoil.
I decided to take a walk next door to see how our fence looks from their viewpoint..poor buggers! They are perfectly OK with it though, we discussed it with them long before, but it still must suck for them!
I took this picture standing in the back corner of the yard by the shed. I think it gives a good effect of how freakin' big our yard really is..not to mention our fence! Ha ha! I never realized how much space we have back there until now. I LOVE it!
We worked SO hard all day Saturday! All of our company was gone by 5:30, Mitch went to spend the night at Trenton's so Darcy and I worked till dark and finished the whole fence except for two partitions. I wanted to finish it all..but I was so damn tired and sore that I just couldn't! Plus, it was getting dark, so we called 'er a night and decided to finish up the next day. So, now I'll have to do another post for Sunday and today! I think I'll do it right now and get it over with, that way I'll be all caught up before tomorrow's events. Later,

Liss