Makes Me Happy

There are some things in life that are certain to bring a smile to your face. This is one of those. I had one of these when I was little. I played with it for hours. I would cut up scraps of material and make them into rugs and towels and bedding. I found one of these at a garage sale on Saturday. I got it for $30.00. They typically go for about $100.00 on E-Bay. I am hoping that my little grand daughters like it as much as I did. It was hard for me on E-Bay. I wanted to buy all the other metal doll houses that are a little different than this one. I figure if one makes me happy just think what five would do? If you are bored just Google vintage doll houses and see if it is just me that these houses tempt.

Insignificant

Sometimes I think about weird insignificant things, alright, let me correct that before somebody else does. Often I think about weird and insignificant things. Ya should have seen what I just wrote before spell check! I can hardly function on the keyboard this morning let alone spell. It feels like my hands are not really attached to my body or the fingers belong to somebody else and I am trying to use them for the first time. I wonder what it would be like to have all the fingers on your hands transplanted with fingers from somebody else. What would it be like hypothetically if that happened to me and I got man fingers with hair growing out of the knuckles or worse yet fingers from a chimpanzee. Perhaps there would be some positive. Maybe I would not be so challenged when I am fighting with a stubborn jar lid or I would be really good at getting kites out of trees. Oh but, I digress. That is not the insignificant thing that I was going to write about although I have to admit it is typical of all the insignificant things that I think about. The insignificant thing that I did plan to write about is: Where do all those childhood potty jokes come from? Are you sitting there and scratching you head? Are there no potty jokes floating around in your brain that were planted there during your childhood just waiting for some odd cue to cause them to come blurting out again into the light of conscience? Things like:

Book: Yellow River
Author: I. P. Nightly

or that beloved poem:

How dry I am
How wet I'll be
When I can't find the bathroom key

and there is the old stand by:

Jean had a machine
Joe got it going
My dad let a fart that blew it all apart

Truth be told, may dad could blow one that could destroy machinery especially after drinking buttermilk. I used to think that some perverted old man used to think these things up and whisper them into the vulnerable ears of little children. The older I get and the more I am around little children, boys in particular, the more I am not so sure about this theory. I think the reason that I have not rethought my beliefs is the fact that I spent the time my kids were growing up in shock that resulted in to being pretty much oblivious to pretty much everything as a survival technique. After listening to all the scatological humour that my grandsons enjoy so much and listening to them try to outdo each other I am sure that such things evolved from the fact that all their brain cells have not been as of yet filled with information and they are simply trying to fill the void. Eventually Ben, Sam or Noah will hit on something that rhymes with buttocks and perhaps it will go viral spreading across the globe although some of the genius may be lost in translation but in the mind of a child, it really does not matter.

Life With Sam

Yesterday evening after coming back in the house after letting the puppy and two boys out of the crate and letting the four legged creature outside to do her business, I seemed to be missing the other puppy, the one you see below with the orange dog toy. This is not usually a good thing especially as how I had left my computer open. That child can punch keys so fast his fingers smoke. I am worried that they could spontaneously combust. He was nowhere to be seen so I figured that the computer was safe and so were his fingers.



Meantime Ben had found my camera. He was trying to take pictures and wanted me to show him how to work my camera because he could not figure that out. I don't know about you but I tend to fear for my camera when the grand kids get a hold of it.

Frankie puppy was at my feet and was working at removing my slipper. Ben is pushing buttons on the camera. Sam is nowhere to be seen.

Frantically I searched the room for Sam. Ahem...there he was in the broom closet. You can see why he was so hard to find. In the end I was glad that Ben had the camera handy. I am titling this picture:

If I Can't See You, You Can't See Me!

This morning, Sam dressed himself. You can't really see it but his shirt is on backwards as well. I am sure that he would have put his jacket on and happily went to town just as he was. The funny thing is, he KNOWS that his cloths are on backwards and he likes it that way. He would like it as well if he could have green or blue hair so I am titling this:

The Nonconformist or
Dances To The Beat Of His Own Drum

This evening we had a nice story time. I found it very hard to keep a straight face considering that the boy has a pair of his underwear on outside his pajamas. (look closely or enlarge the picture) I did manage to keep somewhat sober but it did help that he moved the underwear off of his head. I am sorry I did not get a photo of that one. He uses the leg holes for his eyes. I am titling this:

You Are Killing Your grandma

You can see there is never a dull moment. I am wondering how his mother keeps her sanity although, come to think of it, maybe she has not. Sometimes I think I see her eye twitching.

Santa Parade

This evening I attended the Yorkton Santa Claus parade with the grand kids, Becky, Glen and Angela. The highlight was to touch the Olympic torch. Yup...I touched it. Then I held a candle that the torch group was handing out. Stood out there on the street holding my torch candle thingy slowly turning into a Popsicle. Where are the hot flashes when a person needs them.

Now I am back at Becky's and Glens waiting for Angela and Becky to get back from the store and make supper. It is 7:00pm. I think they are planning to make some kind of spicy Vietnamese soup. I think I will have toast and cereal. It is too late for spicy. I will not feel sorry for them when they are troubled with bad dreams and acid indigestion in the middle of the night although I am sure that they are long past coming to me to make it better so I should be safe, just in case you were worried.

The kids are all pumped up on candy they got from the parade. They gave me all their rejects but even some of those I had to reject so I passed them on to Glen. He gets all the Pete's Pucks candy. Seriously, who in the world would name their candy: Pete's Pucks? They taste like fruit flavored soap. Glen says that they are not too bad. It is an acquired taste. He must have ate a lot of Thrills when he was a kid. For those of you who don't know, that is soap flavored gum. Nasty stuff.

I love you El Nino

I love shopping on line. It takes a lot of stress out of Christmas shopping. What fun it is simply to wait for the postman. It is fun to go to the various on line stores and shop drinking a nice cup of java or hot chocolate. (snow soup as Ben and Sam call it) Hot chocolate helps put me in the Christmas mood. I can put my feet up. I don't have to worry about sore feet or sore hips. I can play my own Christmas music. I can sing along and not bother anybody.

The weather outside is delightful
The fire is not so frightful
Since we have no place to go
Don't let it snow, don't let it snow, I said no to snow.....

Hee hee...see...not bothering a soul.

Next week I am going to decorate the yard snow or no snow. Truthfully, I am hoping for the no snow. I am loving this weather. It was fun going out with Ben and Sam and the puppy and running through the leaves. I shall put up the tree as well. Bah...who needs snow! I love the no snow thing. Chris does not have to shovel! Yes! I love it. No to wet dog feet tracking into the house and no to winter boots blocking the doorway. No to getting stuck in the back alley and no to having to sweep the car off with my bare hands because I forgot to bring my gloves along.

It may look strange out there but I think I can get past that. Most probably, there will be snow. It is a rare thing not to have snow. I am thinking it will snow before Christmas. Sigh....

This evening, we are going to cook hot dogs outside and barbecue chicken. That wood smoke is going to smell fantastic. Like I said, I love this weather! With that said, I am heading out to enjoy some more sunshine. I am going to pour a cup of coffee and sip at that and read my book and listen to the neighborhood children play hockey on the street. You don't need snow for that. Floor hockey is fun. See! A no snow winter would be just fine.

Hmmm...not my best written composition. Oh well...to nice out to worry about that. Bye, going outside and am wearing only my sweater and again, loving it.

Sunshine, Children and Dogs

We are having another glorious bright fall day in Saskatchewan. I am loving it especially seeing as how it is usually winter in Saskatchewan at this time of the year. It is so nice to be able to put my rambunctious puppy outside and let her run her energy off playing with Roscoe. The kids are disappointed and want me to chase Roscoe into the house because Frankie would rather wrestle with him than play with them plus when they are playing Roscoe needs room the maneuver and he tends to bowl the children over if they don't get out of his way fast enough. In all fairness to Roscoe, room to maneuver is necessary as Frankie's idea of play involves chewing on everything including Roscoe. Benjamin loves to play with Frankie and is looking forward to me coming out to his place tomorrow and bringing Frankie along. He will have her to himself for a few days and not have to compete for her affections with a dog.

This morning I just about died laughing. Frankie loves to get hold of the luxurious fluff that surrounds Roscoe's hind end. She gets a pretty good hold on him and he can't dislodge her easily. He has tried walking along but she hangs on and and drags along. He has found a solution. He sits on her. About all that sticks out is her tail. It was not just a fluke because every time she gets a grip on him he sort of backs up to relieve the tension and then he sits. I find this hilarious. It doesn't seem to hurt her. His butt is pretty padded. We still have not got the cameras out and captured the puppy play. We have to do that before we leave tomorrow. I refuse to go until this is accomplished.

He's So Cute

That is what Sammy says but in reality let me ask who is the cute one in this picture? Sammy was so happy because Libby Beans decided that she wanted to sit with him on his chair. I think in reality, Beans just wanted to see what Sam was having for lunch. I told Sammy that Libby Beans was a girl. In Sam's brain all animals are HE and in Sam's brain almost all of them are cute.





I had an eventful day that ended with girls night out at the theater to watch New Moon. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. There is something about being in a room with so much estrogen hooting and giggling and clapping and swooning that just cracks me up. Now I am just plumb tuckered out and I am ready to go to bed. I have lots to do tomorrow so in a nutshell this is all you get folks. If you want to be entertained hop on over to Becky's. She had an eventful evening and has just about enough energy left to do a great post. You sure won't want to miss out hearing about the HEX and all and to hear about her take on the movie adventure. Hop on over to Mellisa's for another fab movie review. I am too tired to do it justice or to make sense. Oh, Thanks Jen for getting the tickets and for making them so special. It was a blast.

Great Minds

Sammy loves to hide in my room. If he is missing that is the first place that I check. Usually I will find him either hiding in my closet or weighing himself. He loves the remote for my ceiling fan. The light will be on and the fan will be going full throttle.

Sometimes I will find one of his treasures left behind.

I bought this retro Barbie car last summer at a garage sale. I could visualize Abby and Hannah having so much fun with this. In my imagination I could see their beautiful Barbies all dressed to the nines and finely accessorized driving off on some lovely shopping venture

I was not quite prepared for this, Optimus prime riding shot gun barking orders to his cohort, off to save the world from some evil whatever. Gosh, I hope they don't use the car phone. It will confuse them to no end when Barbie answers and invites them shopping or for lunch. I am so afraid that the temptation will be too much and the rest of us will suffer some horrible dastardly deeds because of their poor judgment.

The boys and Frankie are becoming fast friends. Sammy makes sure that she is entertained at all times. It seems to work. I think in dog years that Frankie and Sam are the same age. They think alike obviously.

Purple Nurple

Hold still Hannah! I eat you ten I pinch your nipple.

Dere, tat was not so bad was it?

Now you hold still Abby while I taste you! You OK wit tat?

There are always sunny patches. They pierce the darkness. The warm light comes in many different manifestations. It comes in the form of grand kids and it comes in the form of friends and it comes in the form of t-towels and in particular, t-towels with chickens on them. Priceless! I don't think that I can express how happy this pair of towels makes me. They are positively sunny. You can not imagine my surprise to receive them. They were unexpected. Thank you ever so much to the ever so talented Fluffy. If you were here I would give you a huge hug and if you did not want one that would be too bad cause I bet I can run faster than you.

Sweet Pea

John and I spent the better part of last week visiting our kids and grand kids who live out of town. We really needed to go. There is no better pick me up. I had fun playing with all of them. I taught little Hannah new things. It was so funny. I would click away with my tongue like a maniac. She would just stare and stare.


I figured that she thought her grandma was just a real nut case but lo and behold, out came one little click. At first I thought it must be a fluke but then out came another little click followed by the biggest smile ever!


I would follow that up with my own laughter and then she would follow that up with another big big smile. She is only two months old. We think that this is amazing. I don't remember if my kids mimicked at that age.

I attended Ben's preschool graduation. Here he is with his bestest buddy. They are so happy because they get to be in the same class in kindergarten. His mom and I find the size difference hilarious. They really don't notice.


Look up at the camera Sammy. Say cheese. Look at grandma. Sammy. Sammy. Here. Arghh. Sigh.... This boy is not shy. The picture may say he is shy but do not believe it.

I have been outside today gardening. I am hoping that we won't have anymore frost or snow. It is terribly windy today so I am eating a lot of dirt. Phteww!! I am waiting for John to get back from the store with my tomato plants. A little break is in order.

Our passports came in the mail today. If you squint your eyes enough, you might be able to see me jumping up and down. I am so relieved.

We are still waiting to find out what happens next with John's treatment. First the physician who reads the bone marrow biopsy's was away for a week and then our transplant oncologist was away this last week. I think we won't find anything out until Wednesday. Tuesday is the day when they go over every bodies files and make all the big decisions. We did find out that the last three rounds of chemo did absolutely nothing. That did not surprise me as we were told that usually a person hits a plateau. It is too bad that there was no way to figure out how a person was reacting. It would have saved him a couple of months of suffering.

Well. I had better get back at it. I am way behind on the yard work. I guess I will go and spit some more dirt.

The Spring Flower

What a difference a good camera and a good photographer makes! Here she is, looking like herself. In defense of me for the bad picture, I was rushed and under duress. The nurse wanted to get her hands on her to get her weighed and measured. I had a hard time getting a good angle. Poor pumpkin, Grandma took a picture looking straight up her nose and with her mouth hanging open. She is a good baby and deserves a better photo. She is so sweet and patient. She is going to need that with her two wild brothers. Mommy is going to need that too. She can't believe how good she is. So far, she sleeps like a baby. That is new.

This is the best view of the hair that her mom could get. I would say that she is a strawberry blond, now that she had a shampoo. We are hoping that she gets to keep this color. Hairdressers work overtime trying to get this color. Her mother had red highlights but not as much. Her mom's hair turned the most beautiful shade of golden blond. I loved making it into ringlets. Hannah looks very much like her mother. Isn't she pretty in pink? Her skin is so soft. Sammy calls her his little softie.

I love the variety that we got. Abigail is such a dark beauty. Hannah is like a spring flower. I think I am going to go out and buy a tea set for them today. What fun we are going to have! I can hardly wait until she wakes up this morning. I think mommy is going to try some cloths on her. It is going to be funny. She is going to drown in them. She is such a little peanut.

Beautiful

Hello!
My name is Hannah
I made my grand entrance this morning at 8:40 AM
I weigh 6lb and 11 1/2 oz.
I am 19 1/4 in.
I have red hair!
All the nurses couldn't wait to show my hair to my grandma and grandpa
They think it is pretty nice.
I figured that I should keep my hat on for awhile.
Give a kid a break! I am only about a half an hour old after all!
No hair pictures until I have had a good shampoo.

Ground Zero

B-day is getting closer and closer! Eeeeeeeeee! The Grandpa and I are at ground zero. There are only two more sleeps. It appears that Hannah is going to cooperate and arrive on schedule. I can hardly wait to meet her. I can hardly wait for her mommy to try on her Easter outfit. A photo shoot is planned. I am sure her mommy will let me have some photos for my blog. She will get the first picks. I am sure that the left overs will be fantastic.

The boys were very excited to see the Grandpa and me. They had so much joy and exuberance. Usually all that energy goes into wrestling the Grandpa. They decided that the Grandma needed to wrestle too! They wore me out and I slept like a baby.

I love their new house. I love the split levels. I can go and rummage around in the kitchen in the morning without fear of waking the whole house up. This house is great! I can't express my joy at the kids being here enough. I am happy for them.

I don't have a lot to write. Lately, my mind has been a blank, nothing but air and anything that is in there is really not anything that I think that you would want to hear about. For example, I am sure you would not want to have a detailed description about the yearly, spring excavations that take place in my backyard as the snow melts. It is a mine field. Just in case you haven't figured out what in the world I am talking about, my dog has been laying bombs out back all winter. See, I bet you are very happy that I shared that with you!

Six More sleeps

Let me tell you, I am getting ever so excited. It is better than Christmas exciting! New baby exciting! I can hardly wait to meet my newest grand daughter, Hannah. Somebody needs to come and tie me down. I think that if I get at some of the projects that I have lined up, it would help the time go faster. It needs to go faster! It has slowed to a crawl. That is what happens when you are looking forward to something. Have you ever noticed that? If it is something that you are dreading time speeds up. If it is something that you want to happen NOW it slows to a crawl.

John did the taxes today. I am so happy. I was so afraid that I was going to have to pay a lot of money. We get money back. Enough to put siding on the garage. I guess that means that we will be getting just a plain tub. John says the garage has priority. I guess it is the responsible thing to do. It just is not fun. It is like buying tires. That is no fun either. I told him that a spa tub would add value to the home. He said that siding on the garage would add just as much value to the home. Arghh! There is just no arguing with the man. He is right, of coarse! Maybe if I promise to go out and work a bunch? Thing is, he will want the money up front. He will say "Show me the money honey!"

The Sham Wow was not what made the dog stink. I guess I missed part of him on his previous bath. Just thought you would want to know. Now that I washed the Sham Wow, I think it will be more absorbent.

On Hold? Anytime!

We are sorry that we are unable to take you call at this moment. We do value you so please hold the line and somebody will get to you as soon as they can. We do not have music for your listening pleasure but we do have the next best thing. We have your grandchildren. We hope you enjoy them and are not unduly inconvenienced.

Hello?

Hello

Grandbaa? Hey it is Grandbaa. Graaandbaa! (sounds of jumping)

Hello Sammy! How are you?

Fine, (insert breathing and chewing noises plus mother prompting in the background Say: I miss you grandma) I mih you grandba (this is said in the sweetest voice that you could ever imagine.)

I miss you too Sammy!

(more breathing and silence followed by prompting Say: I love you) I love you. Bye Bye. (thunk)

Well, that was short but rather sweet and sincere. ( spoken out loud but to the air)

Pause

Hello Grandma, this is Ben. Sammy does not want to talk to you anymore so I am gonna talk at you O.K.?

Well...O.K. I really wanted to talk to you too.


And talk we do. It would be too hard to type in the whole conversation. We talked about many things that concern only a boy and his grandma, well except for when he almost told me what his mother got me for Easter. Rats! His mother was listening just a little too close. He always tries to manipulate the conversation toward the goal of getting me to commit to coming to his house (three hours away) like right away. He usually uses supper to bribe me. If I tell him that it takes to long to drive and that I would miss super he promises: "We will put some aside for you."

*My daughter really doesn't have a message like the above. The message that I do get goes like this: "Ohhh, I can't talk now (frantic) Here, BEN talk to your grandma! gotta mumble mumble! Ohhh! Followed by:

Hello, this is Benjamin. Is this my grandma?

In my imagination I wonder: Is she burning the lunch? Is Sammy on top of the cat condo again? Or...maybe...No! The horror! Did she leave out the Sharpies? Hahahaha!

Shameless campaigning

I can say with absolute certainty that I feel not even a hint of shame to do a little campaigning for one of my favorite blogs that I have been following. Momisoides has been nominated for a Scholastic award for best mommy blog. Out of 500 blogs put forward they narrowed down the field to the final ten. She is one of the ten. If she gets through to the final five, she will be featured in Parent and Child magazine. Ummm...she did not ask me to do this but I really would love to see her win so I did it! Eeeeeeeee! Follow the purple links...follow the purplke links....follow the purple links. Ahem...sorry, just my little attempt at some virtual hypnosis. Did it work? No? Close your eyes. Repeat the red words a few more times. There! Away you go to vote.

I was away all last week. I jumped on the bus. I went to help my daughter with the renovations on the new house that they have purchased. It has been so much fun to watch the house come out of the eighties and be turned into a modern bright and fresh home. We got the babies room painted. It is the most beautiful soft shade of pink. The crowning glory in the room is the chandelier with the pink crystals. We were both clapping our hands with glee.


I was expecting to come home and start packing to leave for Seattle this week and to probably be leaving the week after. That was what was supposed to be happening. While I was gone, the people in Seattle decided that they wanted John to do one more round of Velcade, Cyclophosphomide and Dexamethasone. They have proposed that instead of going directly into the donor transplant, they figure that they should do another autologous transplant (using his own cells) and then follow right away with doing an allogeneic transplant (donor cells) . They want to do all of this in Seattle. It is all up in the air at this point. Our doctor is against doing the auto transplant. He is away this week. I think we will be meeting with his associate later this week. We really are confused by all of this change in direction by the people in Seattle. There was no talk of the possibility of doing another auto while we were out there. Both of us are dreading that possibility. It is a very hard thing to go through. It will extend the time we are out there.

The only good news about everything is that we may be able to be here when grand daughter number two is born on April first. My daughter still is having problems believing that this is indeed a girl. Well just a little anyway. It has to do with the date of the C-section. April Fools day! She thinks that maybe....yeah... April fools...its a boy! Oh, one last cute picture! Sammy fell asleep with his head on a ball.

Comfy huh?

Bliss, One Happy Boy!

This picture says it all! She is a keeper.

He did not quit smiling the whole time he held her.
He did not want to give her back.
Ever.

He can hardly wait until his little sister comes along.
She will be his own little keeper.

After Girls Night Out

Grandpa Baby sat. Let us see how he did.
We come in the front door.

Grandpa is buried with toys and boys.

The living room is full of toys.
The kitchen is full of toys

Roscoe wishes he could fit into the cupboard too.
If I had not seen this picture that the grandpa took, I would not have believed that Ben fit himself into the cupboard.

Before you have too much pity on the grandpa, he did not look after the boys all by himself. He had help. Jonathan and Noah came over to give him a hand.

Today I Want To....

Finish Up: Get this ready for the mail. I finally finished it and even went to a special store to acquire the little surprise that I wanted to tuck inside. I promised this box, I think, over a year ago. I am not one hundred percent happy with the job that I did. Part of the problem is due to the fact that I can not find the superior boxes that I used to be able to buy. The lid on this is so thin, I can't carve as deep as I would like to. I felt like starting over but decided against it. I had lots of problems with it.My dear husband fixed them all. With tongue in cheek, he told me that he would like some credit. Hahaha! Maybe I should give him all the credit. Maybe the surprise inside will help. I sure hope so.

Explain About My Birthday: My birthday was on Feb. 8th. I did not write about it because I was on a pity party. I had already invited too many others to attend. Seriously! When I am like that, I don't need any further encouragement or the party could go on for days on end. I hope that nobody got the impression that my family was ignoring me. A party was planned. Things just came up to cause it to be cancelled for a little while. Hubby got me this:


It cost him double the price he should have had to pay. He forgot it in the cart outside the store. Nobody turned it in. He had to buy it a second time. He said that I was worth it. I have to wait until Valentines day to get this:


I was distinctly told not to go into the filing cabinet. I FORGOT! Shhh! please do not tell on me.
I love heart shaped boxes. I have always been a sucker for them. I love what is inside the heart shaped boxes even more. I got John some woodworking magazines for Valentines day. Nothing says "I love you" like a woodworking magazine. Seriously! Nothing says "I love you" more than getting him what he asks for.

My daughter, Angela, is taking me out for a girls night only tonight. I don't know what she has planned. Oh my goodness! Part of the plan just walked into the door. Becky, Ben and Sam! Eeeeee! Got to go!

Dumb And Really Stupid Ticket!

I am back home and am fine. We were away for a little bit, that is all. Sorry if I worried any of you. We had a nice trip and a great visit with the grand kids. It was a busy time due to the house selling and house buying that is going on in grand kid land but I did have some great help from my four year old grandson Ben in the home selling cleaning preparations. He vacuumed, dusted and picked up the stuff from the floor that I was having trouble reaching. I did something rotten to my back. I don't have a clue what I did but it is hard to bend at the waist and reach the floor. He was such a sweetheart. Every now and again he would ask me: "How is the cleaning going Grandma? Can I do anything?" What a perfect child. I do not remember my kids being so amicable but possibly I have simply forgotten how easy it is to trick a four year old into thinking housework is fun. I had such a fun afternoon with him. I had him all to myself. The grandpa and the mommy were out shopping to get the things they needed for some home repairs to make the place more presentable for selling. We went to the store later and picked something out as a reward.

We got home Sunday evening. Monday we were busy with appointments. The appointment at the renal clinic went well. John's kidneys are now functioning at 42 percent so that is 5 percent better than they preformed last summer. I did not know that they would still have the ability to improve.

On our way from the Renal clinic to go to the Cancer Center, we got stopped by one of the boys in blue. Here are a few adjectives to describe our reaction to the ticket he gave us: Flabbergasted, confused, incredulous and disgusted. Here is one choice adjective to describe the ticket: IDIOTIC! The infraction: Unlawful use of sunscreen on the front side windows. The penalty: $115.00 and removal of sunscreen and present the vehicle to the police to prove said removal by Feb. 5, 2009 or auto insurance will be canceled. We did not know that this was illegal. The car was sold to us this way. We will be phoning the Beemer dealer where we bought the car and tell them thank you ever so much for taking care of so well. When John brought it to the attention to the officer of all the other vehicles driving by us that had the same sunscreen (we figure about 40 percent of the cars out there have it) the officer told John "Ummm, we have not caught them yet sir." Hahahaha! THEY HAVE NOT CAUGHT THEM YET? I wonder, do they plan on it? Well, I guess that would be much, much easier and much safer than going after all the real criminals out there. I wanted to ask him if we could get a charitable donation receipt for the ticket but I bit my tongue. One thing that I know for sure, John sure does seem to attract dumb tickets. He got one last summer for parking off the dirt road onto the prairie grass when we were at Lake Diefenbaker. The signage for that was tiny and somewhat hidden in the bushes. I could go on some more and itemize other tickets the poor man has got that are nothing but thinly disguised money grabs but I think I will spare you plus my back is hurting and I need to sit in a different chair for awhile.