Tarred then Retarred

This past weekend, our friend Kevin came over to help me patch up the roof. It had started leaking in a couple spots during the last few thunderstorms where the flat roof of the addition meets the sloped part of the original house. At first C and I had a roofer come out to give us an estimate to patch the leak. He said the whole flat part of the roof should be redone for $3500. Whaaah? That's when Kevin said he could come over and help us fix it for free. What a guy!

I could tell there seemed to be a couple of low spots on the roof where the shingles and the gravel met. We suspected that's where the water would flow to and then somehow leak into the roof.

Doesn't look TOO bad.

Whoa, we had a satellite dish? Cool. Too bad we don't subscribe. That baby's gonna have to come down if we're going to reshingle the bottom rows there. Anybody wanna buy a dish?


Anyway, first thing I did before Kevin got here was sweep the gravel away from the seam. The temperatures that day reached 38° C (about 101° F)! I had a cooler full of bottled water (and a few beers) to keep us cool and hydrated.


Of course, just as I finish sweeping the gravel back, a BIG, menacing thunder cloud starts rolling toward the house from the west. I jumped down and got on the internet to check the local doppler site and sure enough, there was a big rain blob heading straight for Regina. Crap!

"My corn's a-hurtin'! Must be rain."

I went back up and spread some tarp over the seam with C's help. The cloud seemed to break up over Regina so there was barely any rain that fell. False alarm.

A short time later Kevin arrived and we got to roofin'! First thing we did was tear away the bottom few rows of old shingle.

Tearin' down the house!

Ripping old shingles away is much easier than putting new ones on, so after only a few minutes of work our confidence level was pretty high.

Now what?

Once the shingles were torn away, it was time to slap on the tar!

It's like peanut butter, but not as tasty.

Kevin and I slathered on a few good coats of tar all along the seam. If there was a leak in there, it's dead now. We took a quick break from the grueling sun (with a couple of beers) before getting to work on putting on the new shingles. Maybe it was the mid-afternoon heat, but this was the most miserable part of the whole job.

"Let's just sell the house and buy a new one."

But after some good old fashioned prairie persistence, the shingles were installed and the roof looked great. All there was left to do was throw on another layer of tar over the low spots and we were done.

Bring it, rain!

Once the rest of the tar was used up, I swept the gravel back onto over the seam and the job was done.

Good as almost somewhat new-ish!

Now we just have to wait for the next rains to come. I thought about getting the hose out and testing the roof to see if it leaks, but I decided to just wait for the next rain. Call it denial or whatever, but I don't want to push it. Hey maybe there'll be a drought up here and we won't get any rain for the next couple years! Wishful thinking.

Until next time... adventure!
R-

Dog's First Swim

Moxie and Django loved our new wading pool so much that C and I took them over to the off-leash dog park to see if they'd swim in the creek that runs along the side of it. We see labs and retrievers jumping in there all the time to fetch balls and sticks and we always fantasized our dogs would do that too someday.

The dingos love going to the dog park.

Moxie had actually gone swimming before when C took her on a hike with our friends, Kevin and Dauminique. Django just stood in the water up to his stomach but wouldn't go any further, so I wasn't sure if we would be able to coax him into going in. "Of course there are no sharks in the creek, Django! Crocodiles, alligators and leaches maybe, but definitely not sharks." But once the ball went into the water, Django hardly hesitated to go in after it.

Okay, we'll have to work on that, Django.

Moxie, however, took to the water like a pro.

One two three GO!

"Django look out behind you! A SHARK! Ha ha. Just kidding."

Moxie seems like a natural swimmer. Django, however, panicked a few times suddenly making loud, deep splashes with his front paws before turning back to shore with wide, excited eyes.

Good boy, Django!

Some people say Blue Heelers aren't supposed to like the water, but there must be a dash of Labrador in these guys because they seemed to be having a great time.

Yeah, tell me this dog isn't having fun.

Good girl, Mox!

So after a good day's workout in the creek, we headed back home for a much deserved rinse down.


And a rollicking game of "I'm gonna tear your face off" with Allis the Cat.

It's Allis' famous Claw Meets Snout technique.

Fun fun fun. Hope everyone is doing well.

Until next time... adventure!
R-

Dingos Gone Wild!

Summer's definitely here and so are the high temps. While C and I were at Canadian Tire a couple weeks ago, we picked up a wading pool to help keep the dogs cool. We figured, they love chomping the jet of water coming out of the hose, maybe they'll like sloshing around in a plastic pool.

It ain't the waterslides at Disney World, but it'll do.

They were a bit tentative at first, but after C shoved them into the water, they didn't mind it that much.

"This feels kind'a funky."

They seemed to be a little freaked out by the yellow octopi designs at the bottom of the pool because they spent the first few minutes trying to dig through the water to get at them.

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face, Mr. Octopus!"

But once we turned their arch nemesis, Mr. Hose on 'em, it was back to their old hijinks.


Needless to say, Moxie and Django were cooled off... and tired. Oh and get this, after our afternoon of 33° C heat, the very next morning we were hit by a big thunderstorm! And it even started hailing! BwuuUUUgh?

Moxie: "Wow, Mr. Hose must've gone crazy!"

AAAAAA! Is winter here already!?

Then of course, later that afternoon, the storm moved on and we were back basking in the summer sun. Crazy Saskatchewan weather. Hope everyone's doing well!

Until next time... adventure!
R-

Sisu publicity machine

Publicity about C's film project is really starting to spread. She was recently written up in this month's the Finnish American Reporter! There was a full page on the story of Tom Sukanen, the subject of her feature film based on a true story of a Finnish immigrant here in Saskatchewan. Click on the article below to read it.

Dauminique and I are also mentioned at the bottom of the second article.

Woooooooooo-hoooOOOOOOOoooo!

I'm famous! Oh, and although she wasn't credited, that picture of Tom there C actually had drawn. Nice.

Back in May she was on a local Moose Jaw cable access show, talking about her film. The Sukanen museum is just south of Moose Jaw so the locals there are really excited about the movie being made. We were going to try to get a copy of the interview but haven't found the time yet. Maybe we'll post it on YouTube and then link to it here.

On Monday, C will be on CBC Radio's Morning Edition. The local station will interview her about her film. If you click on the link it'll take you to the Morning Edition's webpage, where you can listen in on their show live via the internet, if you happen to be on your computer Monday at around 8am. We're also going to try to get a podcast of it or record it somehow and post it so you all can listen in. Fun fun fun!

R-

Renee & Brady's wedding!

After quite an eventful (and delicious) Saturday running around L.A. with my brother and sister, it was time to head over to the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens for Brady & Renee's wedding. Our family loves Brady and we were all very excited to see him and Renee finally get married.

Here's Renee and her dad, Gerry. (Renee's the one on the right)

The ceremony was just lovely, and short, which was great because it was pretty freakin' hot sitting under the direct sunlight. They did have these cool umbrellas for all the guests, but of course I was too manly to be holding an umbrella. I'd rather collapse from heat stroke than look like a dandy. Hee hee.

They made it look so easy. I thought I was going to pass out at my wedding.

After the ceremony I got to hang around with my nieces and nephews for a little while. Man, have they grown over this last year. I hate to admit it but they're not the funny, snot-nosed little kids that used to crack me up anymore, they've all turned into young men and women. They're still snot-nosed though. Ha!

Here's me and my godson, Brian. Bri is Ray's older son. He's headed off to UC Davis this fall to start college. Wow.

I remember I used to pick this guy up over my head until he cried.

Jeez, what are you feeding these kids? Here's me and Monique my niece. She's my sister, Vivian's, kid. Her dimples are so deep they went through her head and even went through mine. She's a cutie!

"Weren't you like four years old a couple months ago?" They grow up so fast.

Here's Monique and the rest of her family. Nice.

Can you guys stop looking so beautiful for even just a second?

Soon the reception started and after the requisite toasts we had a great dinner (no, no enchiladas or taquitos). Just when dinner was wrapping up, the biggest hit of the whole reception pulled up outside. It was the Churro Truck! AWESOME! Renee and Brady hired their favorite local Churro Truck to park outside and serve up free churros to their guests all night long!

Chu-rros! Chu-rros! Chu-rros!

I think we freaked the churro people out because they were a little wide-eyed when we rushed the truck. Maybe the tendency is to drive away real fast when a group of screaming Filipinos comes rushing up to your vehicle. Frankly, I don't blame them.

Brady and Renee's first churros as husband and wife. Aaaaaaaaww!

It didn't take long for a line to form.

Oh man those churros were great. They were fresh and hot and tasted so good. I think a private Churro Truck should be standard fare at any wedding.

Once everyone's cake holes were stuffed with churros, the DJ cranked up his equipment and everyone got busy shakin' their butts. Here's Renee and Brady shakin' their butts for the first time as husband and wife.

Didn't I see this move in Shoalin Soccer?

Then it was Gerry's turn to have a dance with his daughter. Gerry was so proud. Then Brady danced with his mom, Martha. Everything was so beautiful. Sniff sniff.



Then it was back to the Churro Truck! Woooo HOOOOOOO!

Yeah! Churros baby! They're everywhere! WooooooOOOOOOOO!

The reception wasn't all churros, they had a nice cake too. Here's Brady & Renee cutting their wedding cake.

Hey don't cut that fire hydrant! Just kidding, that's the wedding cake!

The cake was a good sugar boost for the hardcore dancers. Here's Brady and Renee showin' everyone how it's done. Whoa, those are some far out moves!

It's Mr. and Mrs. Hammer time!

And no official Viceral family get-together would be complete without a limbo contest. I'm happy to report, no one was injured --seriously.

Brian's got a Slinky for a spine.

Everyone spent the rest of the night dancing away. The batteries in my camera were just about dead by this point, I'd taken over 500 pictures over the entire weekend (love that 1GB Flash card!).

It was a great evening. Great job Renee & Brady!

But alas, the dancers started pooping out and we all started to pack into our vans. I had a great time as I'm sure everyone else did too. Thanks Brady & Renee!

The next day we all went over to their house. We visited for a while and watched them open their gifts. When dinner time rolled around a bunch of us walked over to a taco truck for some tacos. Mmmm. I didn't bring my camera with me, doh, but I did get some pictures on my cellphone, but I can't figure out how to email them to myself. Errrrr. The tacos, of course, were delicious.

The next day the rest of the family headed back to the Bay Area. I had a few hours to kill before my flight, so I headed down the block to Little Tokyo and had some sushi. Oh mama, that was good too. Who knows when the next time I'll have really good sushi again.

Hey Mac, shoot me a bento box over here!

As you can tell from the picture, I was the only one in there. I think they weren't quite open yet, but I had a plane to catch soon and I wasn't heading back to Saskatchewan without a California roll and some nigiri in my gut, dammit!

Lunch/brunch was great and I jumped on the Super Shuttle to LAX. As nice as the weekend was, I couldn't wait to get back to my pack back home on The Ranch.

"Point this thing toward Regina, Cap'n. And STEP ON IT!"

Thanks to my family and all of Los Angeles for making my stay so nice. And congratulations to the new couple, Brady & Renee! You two absolutely ROCK!

Until next time... adventure!
R-