Large Text, the Wave of the Future

Good news: Our busted camera is in the shop and should be fixed this coming week, and I also found the cable for our older, crappier camera. So we now have a working lens into our world again for all to enjoy. I even got an old webcam running, but there’s no reason to put out a grainy shot of my bed head.

A fine Sunday morning today, I got such a warm content feeling with my feet up, coffee in hand, munching grapes and watching a tape of last night’s Flames win over Edmonton. Every so often I would gaze out the window and marvel at my good fortune to have wound up in this time and place. Bethany was still asleep, getting her extra mommy rest after a late night at a friend’s house party. Thanks to Anne and Ray’s hand-me-down VCR, I was able to both attend that party AND see the game in the morning. Fantastic! In the afternoon, we have been reading pregnancy books together, feeling very cozy indeed in our warm house with the rain coming down outside. Actual quote: “This is lovely, would you like some soup?”

Still, this weekend turned out quite different from what I’d been expecting. Dad came up with tickets to one of the most anticipated Canucks games of the year, versus Toronto. I was planning to meet him over there, but at the last minute I was called to work on the ferry the morning of the game. Blast! So that plan was dashed, but luckily Dad had some other buddies there and had a good time still. He called just before faceoff from the seats behind the Toronto net, front row on the upper level (nice!). He couldn’t hear me at all, it was so loud and rowdy. My ferry shift was done in time to let me watch the game on TV. The Maple Leafs played terribly, allowing the mediocre Vancouver squad to lurch towards a win.

It’s been another great week for the Denman Irelands! Bethy and I (plus one) did a quick one night “Babymoon” last weekend at Tigh na Mara in Parksville. Took the Old Island Highway instead of the faster, boring one and it paid off big time – last weekend seemed to be the best point in time to catch the abundant maple trees changing from green to yellow. We enjoyed a fancy dinner, a cool log cabin-style room, the pool, the beach, and best of all was Bethany’s “Expectant Mother Massage.” That’s what drew us to that particular resort in the first place. It was apparently a great massage, but she says mine are still better. How kind! I should set up a massage chair on the ferry deck and make a fortune.

The week turned out to be not bad weather-wise, which meant more work days at the house build. My task for the past while has been to plane boards. It’s pretty satisfying to turn out a nice smooth board for use in this fantastic house. It’s mostly cedar, so it smells quite nice as I plough through a major sawdust-making operation. The building has taken shape, and now has most of its huge wavy beams in place on the top floor. No roof yet though, which is why I must plane, plane, plane some more.

There was a fire call last Thursday night, the same night as our weekly practice. Every week, a series of test pages go out in the hour leading up to practice. That’s when this genuine call of a hydro pole fire came in, and at first I thought it was just those routine tests. We carried on with dinner, but a few minutes later there was chatter with sirens in the background, obviously a real call at a coincidental time. I got to the hall too late to be needed, but I still got in on the ‘action’ later. A tree had fallen over and was leaning on a power line, just a small fire slowly burning through it -- not urgent so they decided to proceed with the scheduled test for the rest of us. I was one of the first done, so the chief sent me and another guy to assist the lone captain on scene. He had us douse the spark with foam and water, and we were able to leave it before the hydro truck arrived. So how about that! Late to a call, still got to handle some hose. Luck of the Irish.

The coming week has lots to look forward to: Halloween of course, there’s a Denman dance on Friday night, then trick or treaters coming on Saturday, followed by Sat. evening fireworks. We have a great costume idea, so we’ll have to spend some time on that. Thursday night is another fire practice. Wednesday could be the start of a new radio show we’ve been looking forward to. There’s Tuesday night floor hockey I’ve been meaning to try out. Bethany has a doctor’s appointment on Monday to ask his thoughts about the new flu shot. Pregnant ladies are first in line, so we’re reading up all sorts of H1N1 info. There are plenty of things to consider, so we’ll be doing so in the next few weeks.