Not-Summer

Well, there it went. Summer is "over". I say that because, all the little kiddies are back to school, I'm back to work and the long hot days are getting shorter. We've had some really cool nights now and even some chilly autumn days.

So a recap of the summer... Hmm.. Well I started off driving taxi for a bit. Also did some bus charters but mostly didn't work much for the month of July. It was nice having the time off but I got worried about money. Then my cousin offered me a job so I started working 6 hour days there. Although I had plans in the works about Si-Man coming to visit so I had to be upfront and tell my cousin I was going to need some time off while we had friends in town from the UK.

It was fun to find out many differences between our countries and it was trying at times to have 3 extra people in your house (hope we didn't scare you away!) We did many things while they were here. We took them to Canada's Wonderland, camping (canoeing and fishing), we drank entirely too much and we shared some amazing experiences. We took them and were able to have them catch the Pokemon that is region specific to Canada. They tried real Maple Syrup and Poutine and Kool-aid. Si-Man took it upon himself to not allow us to pay for nearly anything during his stay. He also thought it funny to buy us some really expensive gifts! So The Ole Man and I each of brand new Xbox One S consoles, and two games. My daughter got my old One and the other got a new TV. Now she has the best TV in the house lol he certainly spoiled us!

My Jane decided that she'd had enough abuse this summer and vomited transmission fluid through the wall of the housing. Another project.. The Beater PT has been having oil and overheating issues... it's just been one thing after another. The idea of having a newish vehicle is taunting.

I am sad that the summer is over. It always goes so fast. I much prefer summer over winter. People can complain about the heat but I'm already missing it. Not working in it, but certainly missing warm days over the ones we've been having, reminding me that winter is just around the corner.

McCrea - Spring 2016 Edition

**Photo post**

Well we did it. We went up to McCrea just like we wanted to. We went on the may long weekend. We decided two nights was enough and we'd take the third day to relax at home.

2nd Portage

Giant frying pan

1st Portage

We arrived pretty late on Friday, but I caught a good one of the sunset as we canoed into the lake to find a site.

 

The view from the site we chose.

It was a hot and sunny weekend. We chose well, and both got quite a bit of sun. We canoed around the entire lake, visited the site we were at last year to see if anyone had made any changes. We also added a little table to the site we picked. I always like to try to do something to make a site better when we go.

Pike - 2ft long

The biggest of the four fish I caught. I caught two the first day and two the second day. The Ole Man sacrificed his own fishing so he could paddle the canoe at the correct speed for trolling.

The waterfall at the portage on our way out.

I was very happy to use my new camping set. I also had gotten a seal for the little two burner. That did not make us pack light though. We took much more than needed for sure, but we were comfortable and had a good weekend together.

There was one point during the portage that a group was coming in and one guy was right pissed off yelling at a girl for not helping (it did seem that she had come in earlier in the day and was meeting them at the portage so I'm sure she already carried her own gear in). I looked at The Ole Man and smiled, "we made it in without a fight" I said and we were both grateful that we get along so well.

Back Again

Well here I go again.

Spring is finally here. There is little to no snow left. We had an ice storm a couple of days ago that wasn't too nice. I've been working on my getting master prestige on Call of Duty Black Ops 3. It's starting to look like I'm going to run out of bad weather to make it lol

I didn't get approved for my unemployment insurance benefits for my Christmas break, so I didn't bother applying for it for March Break. I'm debating if I should apply for the summer, or try and find a part time job. I guess I could try finding a job and if it doesn't work out then apply for EI again. I should have enough hours by then to get it.

I'm excited for the opportunities of having time off in the summer. At the same time, worried that I won't have the money to take advantage of said opportunities as they arise.

Definitely something to look forward to this summer, my Brotha-from-anotha-motha is coming to visit with his small humans in tow. We also visited some friends from eastern Ontario that we don't see often and they may ship us one of their kids to visit for part of the summer as well.

Last weekend was the one year anniversary for Ye Ole Man and I. We got our tax return recently so we booked a weekend away down in the city. We also went to Medieval Times, which was something we've both wanted to do. It was a blast! Evening filled with Lords and Ladies, good company, good food and entertainment too. I would love to go back if we can afford it!

This week I got assigned to a bus route that actually takes me to Barrie every day, twice a day. So far its the earliest run I've had to do. I've been getting up at 5:15 ugh. Not fun. I've had a nap both days this week (glad monday was a holiday!) and will probably have to for the remainder of the run. I feel like I just got myself used to going to bed at a certain time, and getting up at a certain time. Just to go and fuck with it all and have to get up even earlier!

It really messes up my day, I get home earlier than I'm used to, which isn't a bad thing, but then I have to go out earlier in the afternoon to be in Barrie for 2:20 so I have almost no time to do anything during the day. Yesterday after my nap I had to drop something off at school for the kid, then come home to put dinner in the crock pot, leave again to visit him on his lunch to come home and leave 20 minutes later. Today I'm proud to say I got in a shower and went and picked up my new eyes.

Small victories.

Speaking of which, it's getting about that time for me to go.

New Stuff

Last year (even though it was only like a week ago...) I met a guy. He shall now be known as The Ole Man. Although it's really not been that long (March last year to be a little more precise), it's felt like a lot longer. It feels right, and good and too much sometimes for me to comprehend lol

Since starting this relationship, and wasting yet more time working at a place that doesn't give two shits about its employees (with hiring a single parent and making them work mostly evenings and every second weekend, paying them the bottom of the barrel wage but putting them on a job that everyone else gets paid more to do, etc) and wasting the summer working weekends and long hours when there is so much more I could have done... I finally quit. I gave my notice and headed for the light at the end of the tunnel.

So far the replacement job has been good, I get up really early in the morning and I upgraded my license so I could be a school bus driver. I get home after the morning run and take a nap if I need to. I visit The Ole Man on his lunch break, and I get EVERY weekend off. Which is glorious. I still am getting used to it and have all this time, to DO things. It's really amazing. I'm glad now our work schedules can be more alike, it certainly makes life easier.

I got two weeks off for Christmas, I'll have a week off in March, and I'll be off for the summer, and oh the possibilities that leads to. It leaves me more time with the kids, more time to work on welding things and more time to go camping and car shows. I'm very excited to see how much I can do when I don't have to work for two months during the best time of the year.

Short and sweet, there you have it.

Thoughts On Dating

Do people actually date anymore? Like actually, go on dates?

As a 30 year old woman, I find dating weird. I don't understand why there has to be a label on this. I mean, can't you just hang out with someone to get to know them? Once you add the big label on it, it seems much more nerve-wracking and now you're expected to act a certain way. It's especially scary to think of going on a date with someone you don't know at all. It's much nicer to just hang out with someone for a while first, with no stress and no labels.

I recently got out of what some of my friends might call a bad relationship. I might say that it was good, and turned bad. It especially turned bad when I found out the person I was in love with, was in love with someone else, and had been seeing the someone else for quite some time. I had seen the signs, I had called them on it, they just kept weaving their web of lies and I kept believing them. You wanna see this chick turn into complete psycho? Let her find out the years of lies you've been telling her. HA!

Enough of that now, it's old news.

I'm not sure I'm "ready" for the dating thing yet. I really don't know, but I think I will know, when the time comes. I do, however, hate how everyone and their brother seem to think that a newly single female is open season within weeks of a traumatic ending of a 5 year relationship. Hell, even a month seems not enough time. Maybe it is that easy for some people to get over something like that.

I'm not some people.

I've been thinking though, given that everyone is different and people may need different amounts of time to get over things like this. There should be some sort of code of conduct, or rule list for people. So that guys and girls alike, can tell when someone is ready to start dating again. It's really hard for someone to just walk around saying "Hey, I'm available, I'm ready to date now!"

That being said, I have found it weird when people I consider friends, and were friends with "us", want to date me. I think that under normal circumstances, there's got to be some sort of line, somewhere between friend and acquaintance, where I might be comfortable trying to date (still kinda don’t like that word). Mostly, people I consider friends, have been friends so long, that I really don't think it's a good idea. Then, once they've shown interest, it becomes kind of weird and awkward.

Onward! Get to the damn point already!

So here are some signs someone might be ready to date:*
1. They stop continually posting relationship meme's on facebook about cheaters/liars or past relationship shit.
2. If they are a regular poster on social media and suddenly stopped, they are probably too occupied in their head and healing to bother. When they start posting regularly again.
3. You notice they are being socially active again, when there had been an absence.
4. When they stop talking about their ex.
5. Their current favourite songs have nothing to do with breakups, ex's or anything like that.
6. They will likely act more confident, less self-conscious and be in better spirits than they have been while they were healing.
7. (This one may just be me, but) When they don't act angry a lot of the time.


A break up is hard. I'm not sure about men, but as a woman, I certainly can relate to a chunk of meat, when I get hit on by people I know already. It feels as though they were just waiting for the moment you were single, regardless of your feelings.

Meh. Food for thought, I guess.

*Even using these signs that a person might (I said might) be ready to date again, they may still not be ready. It might be good practice to play it by ear, and wait a bit longer even, just in case.

A Discovery

My ex husband was a "hunter". I say that in quotations because he always said he liked to hunt, and talked about having guns handed down from his grandfather, but didn't actually do a lot of hunting.

The Boyfriend started out kind of the same way. It did seem that in his youth he did more hunting, and just didn't have quite as much time for it anymore. He also had another big hobby to fill a lot of his time. The hobby that just so happened to bring us together. The reason we met.

Now that he doesn't have his car anymore, it seems things have shifted. He is now full-out hunter. I think it's a bit overboard. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the new hunting craze coming to life with gigantic amounts of new Reality TV shows...

My whole life, I have never thought of hunting as "cool" or something I ever wanted to do. I think guns are dangerous and that way too many people have them, that shouldn't. This craze is beyond me. I did, live on a farm, and did know the life and death of many animals.

The other day I watched a video of a child, perhaps of 10 years old, and her father investigating a deer they shot. This child was literally vibrating with excitement. It then dawned on me, why all these years I have felt the way I do about hunting. The hunters close to me have disclosed that they take joy in hunting.

This child was so excited about killing something. The fact that they had shot and killed this deer.

Now, just wait a minute you may say. Killing is the natural thing we humans have done for hundreds of years. You would be completely right. I'm not saying that humans shouldn't kill things. I'm not against the death of animals for the sake of food, this is what we have done for hundreds of thousands of years to survive. It happens not only with our species but many, many others.

My problem is the fact that people take joy in killing. I don't think I will ever get that concept. I think that killing something for the sake of fun is disgusting and sadistic. I think now, that most people, hunt as a sport. I doubt that the majority of hunters are actually hunting for good reasons. I think that farmers have good reason to hunt the creatures that kill their livestock, and I think that there are a very few others that hunt solely to help feed their family (at least in the area I live in).

So there it is, my discovery of why all these years I have never liked hunting. One video made me realize this, after all this time. I'm pretty sure I've finally figured it out.

Winter Time Blues

Yeah, that's me. I'm depressed.

Watch this.

If you're Canadian you'll think ooooohhh fuck yeah bud.
If you're American you'll laugh and not even notice that this was filmed in the summer time and we don't have snow!

Okay, so today I went out for a rip. Not in a truck, but a snowmobile. The Boyfriend borrowed his dad's for the day so he took the kids out for a rip, then went out for a rip, then took me out for a rip.

Haha, sorry (no I'm not).

We went out to 'Giant's Tomb' on the bay. This is the point in my life where I felt like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Let me see if I can find a vid of that.

Overall it was a good trip, and it was nice to get out of the house and do something different. I'm pretty sure my last ride on a sled was more than 5 years ago, and a single trip like this one. Before that, probably closer to 20 years ago.

I like watching video's that make me laugh. So, what's you're happy? I shared mine, now it's your turn to share yours!

Boyfriend-less

The Boyfriend was away for two weeks hunting. The Dog and him came back both very tired and proud boys. They did well.

While they were away I had some adventures of my own.

It certainly is a weird feeling when you're used to having someone around and they're not. Cooking dinner and trying to cook half the amount you normally cook because you don't want a weeks worth of leftovers.

Working on your own car because otherwise it won't get done. The Beater hasn't made it to "road worthy" status yet. Mostly to due to bad timing and weather.

I suppose Jane is mad at me for running her while Mother Nature decided to play a nasty trick on all of us. I didn't have a choice!

Of course, The Boyfriend is away and I am trying to DO ALL THE MULTITASKING and the alternator goes. I am now the proud owner of a shiny brand new alternator. With some luck and some help from friends, I got back on the road fairly quickly, with no help from the wasp that decided to sting me in 6c weather,  through my sweater.

Since the alternator replacement, I've been having some strange radio issues. I'll be driving along and find the station has been changed. It's been changing randomly. Sometimes landing on an actual station, sometimes not. Up the dial, down the dial, a couple of stations, or a lot. Sometimes it even changes to AM, with no rhyme or reason. What are you trying to tell me Jane?

All Of The Bullshit.