Have Den, Will Travel!

Good(Morning, Afternoon, or Night, just pick the greeting that applies to you,) hope everyones had a good week, wore off some of that turkey belly, got over the hoilday hang over, etc. Now for one of my favorite times of year, Halloween! Every thing is spooky cool! and there are lots of great movies on tv,(not to mention, the simpsons hell-o-ween, spooktacular marathon!) I like to think I keep a little halloween with me all year long! Then comes the low point of the hoilidaze, christmas! Malls full of over priced,(under built) trinkets, bought by weekend parents trying to buy a years worth of love, from kids who'd rather just be love all year anyways!(but this is only my opinion, if christmas still works for you, thats great! but why not be smart, and move it back like a week, then give bigger gifts after the mega sales! huh, good idea eh, sorry not mine, but still a good idea.)

Moved the DufferDen on thursday, and the WoodyShed aswell. I didn't move it, but was there and helped, i.e. crawl under stuff, hook the chain on stuff, move heavy stuff, go get stuff, etc. It was quite a day indeed. The day started early, with a fresh dusting of snow,(for the animals to play in, Carlin&Sam, show your dogs this picture, of Mago,the big furry one, Spotty, the smaller spoted one, and The Momma cat, all playing in the snow...like real dogs do,) First things first, have to clear the new spot. Now the most important thing to moven stuff,(or recking stuff for that matter,)is to know some one with a hoe,(and no, not a pimp!)and back hoe that is. Stuff will get moved! My new spot was inhabited by a old, falling apart redneck summer home,(camper)that had to be moved before I moved in. As you can see, it was not a problem to just get it gone! The banner shot is of the camper dissapearing into the back pasture, past the bored horse, and confused llama.(stupid llama, I had to chase it back in two times in three days! Nobody shaves it, nobody pets it, and nobody even looks at it...I wonder how llama tastes?) So the operator of the back hoe,(or hoe master,)(still not a pimp,) is my Mom's(sort of)borther in law. His name is...well everyone just calls him Punky. A few days after the move, I was driving by his place, and took these shots of the Tree of Woe, and the Bush of Death on the hyway side of his property,(and yes there up all year long, not just for Helloween,) If you notice, the trees are planted upside down, and the skulls are on the roots! Cool!(the stuff you can do with your own hoe!) To my eye, this is art, I seen art,(and more then just the naked stuff too!)and to be art, there has to be a meaning behind the whole thing,(no, cool is just not enough!)like how the giant corperation pisioned the water and all the cows died, and this was His silent protest ageinst the uncaring, faceless, earthkilling greed!(or somthing like that, in one of the shots that didn't make the cut, there is an old rusty water pump, repersenting the unuseable, death water,)(heavy stuff!)

So after the spot was cleared, it was time to move the DufferDen, and after a few more tire issues, the move rolled right along, smooth as a 40yr. old trailer, could be expected to anyways! And after a few twists and turns, and a couple tight places, the Den slid snugly into its new home! So now I have to skirt it, and have been working on the water, and sewer. The gas will be hooked up soon, and I've being digging a power trench,(a trench to put the power line in, that is, not a trench full of power,)(oh and my mom dug the part in the dog yard, with the dog poo, I don't do, dog poo, do you?) This may be a good time to tell you of the mistake in last weeks blog, I thought my trailer was 10x100 ft. but remember, I had just finished my ceiling in a very un-ventalated place, so may have been seeing double, or something. It is indeed 10ft. wide, but as my mom pointed out its 52ft. long. Then after looking at our marks painted on the ground, we decided to measure the darn thing, and get ready for it,(dum roll please!)its really 42ft6inches! SNUG!

After the trailer move, the little woodworking shed,(code named, The WoodyShed) was the next to find its new home. The snow had been melting all day, and the hoe was slipping all over the place, till Punky scraped it all away, to get some good traction, heres a shot of the WoodyShed in its new home,(with spoty still hanging around,) see how much the snow had melted already? The shots of Punkys "Death Portal, Under Life" piece were just a few days latter, and I've seen cars at the golf course, so...am really hoping to get out once more this year

So this afternoon, while bringing in coal, and firewood,(yup, I'm farm boy now!) I saw the kittens over by the frount of Mom's trailer,(right next to the pen full of little poms, who will kill them at any chance,) and it was getting dark. The trailer where they live,(for now,)is way across the yard, a long, long way for little kitties!(so I gave them a bunch of dog food, to tie them over till they get back home,(and boy, did they love it!)(and boy did the poms hate it!)(hehehehe!)and snaped this shot of 4 of them, the other two must have stayed home, with the cushy pillows and stuff.)Bunker is in the frount, cute little one! Any way, its been a long day, still lots to do, just got a new window in the bedroom, so can finish that wall now,(fun fun!) hope you all have a great week, latter DufferKev.

The DufferDen

Well how the hell are ya?(was trying to think of a new intro, might need some fine tuning yet,) but seriously, hows it going? I'm still busy restoring the old trailer into the frisky new "DufferDen". For those of you who don't yet know, I inherited a 1969 trailer,(yes insert trailer trash/red neck joke here...I've heard them all,)its about 10ft. wide,(on the outside,) and a whopping 100ft. long! So when I first saw the trailer, it had been used as a dog kennel for some time,(years,) so it was hard to understand all the mouse shit, don't dogs eat mice? But after a good cleaning, it looked much better!(of course now, with the renos, it looks like dirty chaos!) I started in the bedroom bathroom area, and because the hall was so narrow,(my joke was, it was to small to fall down when I got drunk, except if I fell on my face!)I decided to just re-move a couple walls here and there, and make the bed room into a master bedroom with an en-suite! This has several advantages, like its easier to jump into bed after a shower, and theres no wall to slam into in the middle of a bleary eyed night,(no, but there is a dangerously low ceiling fan, oh, this will be fun, if I thought the couch demon moving the coffee table for me to slam my toes with was bad, just wait till the demi god of the ceiling fan decides to move it 8 inches to the left, just as BlearyEyedKev, comes wandering through, zombie like, on the path to "whiz now, and be back to bed before you wake up,"land, right untill the fan digs a furrow in mybrow! oh this will be fun! the words I'll say, in the middle of the dark and lonely night...)and of course, theres so much more room.

So I was working on the ceilings for the last while, and almost have it finished, here are some during and after shots, these after shots, have only one coat of spar varnish on them, they will get two,(very shinny, oh and should be used in a VERY well ventelated area, saddly, my area was all sealed in plastic, and it was too cold to leave the door open, so it was VERY unventelated). Some parts of the ceiling, were dented in,(like maybe santa was double parked with the easter walrus or somthing,) not good, so I had to brace up portions, to make them level. Soon it will be time for it to be moved to its final resting place, then it will be time for the re-skirting,(insulating the bottem to keep every thing nice and toasty=re-skirting, now you know, and knowing is half the battle!)and of course, hookng up all the utilitys. But for now, I'm just taring out the old wood style panel, and beefing up the old insulation. I will be dry-walling after the move, afraid it might twist loose during the move.(drywallings not quite enough fun, to want to do it twice.) I will write more updates as things get finished. This is my first home that will really be mine, maybe its a case of manopause,(the male version of the mid life crissis, and thats assuming I'll live to 80! seams like a kind of big assumtion to me!)but it sure feels good to work on my place.(even if its as old as me! no kidding, the trailers from 1969 as well, little did it know, after its unglorious accention into mediocrity, some 40yrs would pass, before its triuphant rebirth as the dignified "DufferDen"!) I'm goin for a classly little bachelor's pad,(no, not the zebra striped, round bed, and disco ball, approach!)but will have to see how it turns out. Trying for the 3 C's of design, Cozy, Comfortable, and of course, Cool!(with maybe just a dash of Crazy, thrown in for spice!) When I'm moved in, then I'll resume the "Bachelor Tips of the day,". Iv'e been told by some, I must have rocks in my head, to fix up an old trailer, but heres what I say about that, A)the older stuff is usally built better,(although, I might be the exception!)B)Most of the insulation was in real good shape, plus I'm adding like an other inch of styrofoam to all the exterior walls, so it WILL be cozy! and C) I recently had a catscan, and as you can see, no rocks!(so there!)

After I finished the ceiling, I deicided to panel the wall behind the toilet in the same pine board as the ceiling, and for some stupid reason, I decided to do it at 22.5degrees,(because like 90 or 45, would have been way too easy or somthing!)not the quickiest choice maybe, but hey, I like it. Here is a before and after, of the same wall.

So the banner shot at the top is the view from where my frount window will be, and the second shot is of where my back window will be,(my moms trailer, is some where on the left, so I'll get the morning sun first! oh, and beening back there means I'll be closer to the gas, and power hook up, closer=cheaper!) About an hour after I took these shots, it started snowing hard again,(while I was busy finishing the wall,)and made every thing look so pretty, unfortunletly it was too dark to redo the shots, so just imagen it all with 3inches of fresh, clean snow blanketing all the scenery,) I was afraid it was gonna kill me, the first snow, or -8,(-12, with that ever persent north wind, blowing up my back,)but other then the foot warmer part of the Blaze's heater not working at all,(seriously, I wore my slippers driving on the way to town today, the ones from wallmart, with the cute little skull-n-cross bones on them, very macho, I know,)I think I'm doing alright, it seams to be warmer, here, then in Van. even when its colder, I was born even farther north then this, so may be more use to the dry cold, as oppossed to the VERY wet cold of the coast.(Although I could,(did)golf in the wet cold almost every week, now, not so much!) Any way, hope you all have a great week, Iv'e got a little more to do to prepare for the big move,(across the yard,) and will be sure to get some shots of the event, will keep you updated, more exciting tales of the reno next week, Latter, DufferKev.

Lost, Treasure Found!

Hey, hey everybody! Hope youv'e all had a great week, Mine was busy as normal, getting my trailer ready to move to my new yard, and picking up my(slightly)used rv trailer, the "Birdie Station". Now when I first saw this mobile mansion, I was deceived into thinking this was a normal, ten year in the bush, type of rv, but in realility it was much more! This was in fact one of the lost Dharma laboratories. Its real name is "The Dharma Initiative(Canadian Branch)Mobile Golf Reasearch Station, The Birdie," or just "Birdie Station" for short. If you remember from last blog, I mentioned spending the night after the BeerFest in the Birdie Station, and awoke knowing I was in some place special. Now like most diamonds in the ruff, this gem required some work! First like I've already stated, the Birdie had sat in the bush, un-used, for over ten years,(must have been picked up form a Dharma yard sale or something,) and was given to me by my great friend Lyn, after I finished her cottage paint job.(one hell of a tip, I'd say!) Here is a shot of the exterior, and the finished paint job,(I hope she loves it as much as I love the Birdie, my brand new home instead of home!)

I hook up to my trailer, and gank it from its tree lined grave,(you remember gank, dont you, giant+yank=gank!) I should say the inside was/is in great shape, no mold, mildew, or dead mouse mummies,(you should see the ones I found in the bigger trailer I'm restoring, complete mouse mummies with full skeletons, and fur piles all around them! don't belive me? well I took a shot of one, just to show the likes of you! see, if you look close enough you can see it's little skull, ribcage, and backbone/tail.) No, the inside was pristien! The out side a disaster!(but not un-cleanable.) So I spent about an afternoon, plus next morning cleaning the outside, and changing the broken roof vents,(of course the second one was much easier to change then the first, why is that? I really still didn't know what I was doing for the second one either.) After hours of scrubbing, with every type of brush, and scouring pad I could find around the CommPomFarms, the results were stunning!


Here is a before and after of the back, before was taken at Gull Lake, and the after here at home.

And the front before and after aswell,(just thrown in for good measure!)

Unfortunatly, I am unable to show any pictures of the interior,(because of the super secert, sensitive, scientific equipment contained within, and stacks and stacks of Dharma Porn!, just kidding.)(Although the Dhama beer, and snacks are wonderful, after the peanut butter is empty, I plan on a Dharma sock 2000, just in case I'm stuck some where,(like a island)my socks will always be fresh and clean!)

My path now is clear, my mission, obvious, I am ment to continue the research into the superior golf exsistice, the "Birdie Zone" if you will. I must now travel the world,(Canada,) and seek out the true essence of the perfect golf experience! No small task, granted, but one worthy of a life long obsession. Unfortunently, I don't have the funding behind me, like the real Dharma has,(yes they still are around, just harder to find,) so if you feel the urge to donate to this worth while, and potentally earth shattering experiment, to quote Psycho
Mike-o from The Infectious Grooves/Suicidal Tendencies, "We take cash, we take checks, we'll even take your momma's dentures if they got gold in them!" Because, lets face it, towing this station around will be expencive, aswell, the price of golf is never cheap, and whats to become of me? Non-stop, indepth, mind altering, golf experimentation, will surly take its toll, on my mind, body, and soul. But this price I will gladly pay, for the betterment of all mankind, for with the discovery of unlimited golfing power, surely the planet will heal its self from all maner of conflict and strife!(the ultimate power struggle, and oil greed, will pale in comparison to this great acomplishment!)


Moving right along,(just as if I wasn't rambling for like the last 2 minutes, or something,)here is a shot from my Mom's cell phone, of this humble duffer, at the beer fest, notice the ramrod strait pinky finger, that is from years of being a tea tottler, while living in a english mannor house, back when I was known as "Lord DuffeKev", no, but very British of me none the less. Notice also the shit-eating-grin, thats from the other 17 beer I sampled before this shot! I think this beer was the Zeitgeist, see it is black like satan's semen, that DrunkKev, sure is a shrewd one.(Sure wish I'd listend to his advice on marrage, though, could have save all kinds of time/misery!)

About a month ago, one of the very tame yard cats gave birth,(probably the female one,)and the search has been sort of on for the kittens ever since. One day I spotted them playing in the sun, and snapped this shot of one of my faverites. Not sure if it's a boy, or girl, kitty but I'm calling it Bunker Kat,(like the sand bunkers from a golf course, cause its got one sandy paw, like it was in a bunker.) The first time I saw this little one,(with the other 4, we think,)with my Mom, the others were alright, but this one, reared back, and tried to hiss at us. It was soooo cute, cause it didn't know how, so it just went,"hthaa, hthiss, hathoo," at us, more of a perverts heavy breathing, then a scared/pissed off kitty. So right away, I like it's spirit, don't let not knowing how to do something(or even why you do somthing)stand in the way of it getting done! I might even move Bunker into my DufferDen,(when the trailers more re-stored, and it's bigger then the mice I expect it to eat,) but will have to see, I've had some great cats, and some I didn't care for much at all, so will wait a bit to see if we clash or not. In the mean time, do you want a cat? there are 3or4 to choose from, all little fluffy things, just looking for someone,(just like you!)to love them, and take them home before the expencive stuff starts! Thats it for now, hope youv'e enjoyed it, latter, DufferKev!

Beer! Glorious Beer!

Well hello world! Iv'e had a busy few weeks. I have finished my jobs at Gull Lake, and have returned to the "CommPomFarm Trailer and R.V. resort park". As I was wrapping up at "the lake", I heard on the radio about the international beer festival being held a few minutes drive from there, soooo...I decide to come back! First let me just say, when I found out it could be done, I was as excited as Ren with the Happy Helmet on!(just look at the pure joy in his little eyes!) Even with weeks of work here to be done before the snow flies, I pack up my Mom, and friend(who has asked to be nameless, must have read my stuff,)into the Blaze, and headed out for the 2+hour drive back to where I just was before!
So the name itself cojours up images of pure delite! Inernational,(from all over the world!) Beer,(holy water, mothers milk, lifes blood!) Festival,(brining together of, reason for being, PARTY!) and in my sleeping mind the night before, the rainbow of barmaids from the world over were lining up to entice me with their liquid treasures!

After the uneventful trip,(back to the lake,)we had diecided on some lunch,(good idea to NOT go to a beerfest on an empty stomach!) and as I was backing out, we hear a crunch/snap sort of thing. This was when my brakes broke! Now there had been some previous grindings and gripings, so the broke brakes was not a total shock,(the repair bill, and the fact that my mom was willing to drive with me through a major city, with brakes that may not, was a bit of a shock!) After fixing about half of the sugessted estimite,(and working out a deal with my Mom, her magic card,(gotta love them airmiles!)and me being the yard slave for about the next 4 years), the Blaze was in the air, and under the gun.

Now we have at least 4 hours to kill, and I have a repair bill to forget,(temperarly, of course, to quote Homer,"ah alcohol, the cause of, and sulotion, to all lifes problems!") so into a cab, an to the fest we go!
After the $20per head, at the main gate, there was a ticket purchase booth,(the tickets were $0.50 each, and each 4oz. cup was between 2-4 tickets!) also at this booth were little(cute even)beer mugs that where at least 5.5oz,(may be even 6oz!) for an extra $5, now I may not have been a math wizz, but to me, all I had to do was drink enough extra beer in my mug, and it would be free!(and I swear the beer tasted better!)Plus at the end of it all, I would have a charished keepsake,(family airloom!) Heres a shot from last night,(yeah, I'm still using it,) with a tiny Homer trying to steal my beer,(Bad Homer!)

I could have just went and had a great time, but this was an oppertunity to expand my knowledge of beers, and my plan was to be taking notes of each beer, along with pictures of my faverites! I had brought a great note pad/pen combo, witch I had left in the truck, now 6ft. in the air,(and 2miles away!) so was just enjoying the differnt beer, trying to take mental notes,(like carving into granite with a bent spoon!) when my Mom, grabs me a old shopping list,(I think,) and a pen, so like the true professinal I obviously am, I had to re-try the ones, I had just tried!(if a jobs worth doing, its worth over doing!) So armed with this shoping list note pad, I set forth to try the untryable, drink the unknowen, and some how live to tell you all about it! This will be a mix, I'll try to match up the notes with the pictures, and decifer the code,(some where along the night, it appears I started using some kind of a code, maybe a cross between a long lost Axis powers ww-2 code and some form of ancient sandscript,) must have been for security! I'll write the acual notes, then a discription of what I acually remember.

Suyturys-Ekstra, 5.2% "Ukrainian brewed, smooth taste, clean finish, cheeky little number, nice bottle." This was one of the first of the re-tastes, and I remember liking it quite a bit, think I was there, again,(and again!)


1488 Whisky Beer! 7%"Whisky tainted beer! Strong whisky aftertaste, smooth start, not more than one, poor finisher!" I had tried a whisky beer in Kelowna once last may, and had enjoyed it alot! a whisky beer, is a beer that has been aged in a old whisky barrel, and absorbs the whisky flaver, this one had been aged in a scotch whisky barrel, and this whould explain the reason, I didn't like it much, I don't like scotch, maybe form the time I accidently mixed some with linseed oil, that had been stored in a ginger ale bottel(?) Aparently, at first the beer was thrown out because of the whisky taint, but now they sell it for like $8 a bottle!

Drummond preimum lager 5%"Drumund beer, Smooth, cheap, Red Deer brewed!" I had gone to the Drummond booth to try both the lager draft, and the gold draft, but the gold tap was nothing but foam, so they refilled my mighty mug for free from the lager side, and aked me to come back latter for the gold.(and I did!) Now some where along the line, my friend bought a shooter of chocolate vodka, and tells me, its the worsed thing ever, I don't like the taste of vodka, and am not a chocoholic, but drank it anyways.(why is it when some one tells you some thing is bad, the first thing we do is try it, its like the stinky fart thing, you say"oh thats a smelly one," and the first thing, some one sniffs and will say,"yea, your right, that dose stink!" like I'd lie about that or something!) Oh and by the way, the chocolate vodka, did suck!


Coney Island-Human Blockhead, tough as nails lager 10.5%"Smooth but STRONG aftertaste, like hit in face with dirty sock! stay away from this one!" One of the few American entrys, small brewer with lots of humor!(check out the Re'jewvenator-HeBrew,(the chosen beer!) on the left, this was a doubled brewed, extra strong version of the Human blockhead beer, and appeartly not as smooth, and as rough as the blockhead was, I opted out of the HeBrew beer!(I'm a professinal, not an idiot! the thought I had was like choosing between sandpaper, or a pinecone, as a toilotpaper subsitute, when the next stall over had 2 ply!)(I, moved to the next stall, by the way,)

Somewhere in here I had a jumbo japalano-cheddar smokey dog, from Fat Franks, and boy it was good!(have to clear the pallet, for more true flavour to soak through!) By now I had worked my way over to the German section, I've always enjoyed the clean, clear, taste of a good german beer, so was really looking forward to this section.


Zeitgeist ?% "Black like satans seaman!" This one I liked for the lable alone!(the beer was like a Guinness stout, very dark, and thick, with a wood aftertaste,) the very stylelish sheep in peoples clothing! This was a beer for the cold winter evenings, next to a fire, a good stout beer!

Yellow Hammer-golden ale 4.2%"Light fruity taste. Smooth finish! Melts from back of tougne(?)great with food, clean aftertaste, cloudy colour, one o my faves!" This one was a great beer! Even my mom/disegnated driver, had a few sips of this one,(she is not a big beer drinker, at all! a six pack could die of neglectic in her fridge, untill I showed up at least!) This one I would hunt down!(hope they don't read this and raise the price!)


Gosser ?%(although I do know the cans worth $0.20 in Qubec!)"Very German, very clean! Yummy!" I now notice it said Austria's finist beer, on the can, but at the time, and being right next to the german booth, I can understand the mistake. I also notice the desriptions are getting shorter, bigger, and somewhat harder to read! Around this time, somewhere, my Mom takes off to retrive the now fixed Blaze, and knowing my time is getting short, the "reviewing" shifts to hight gear!Saku-Originaal(thats the way they spelt it,) 4.6% "German, very clean, dissapears from tounge! Smooth! I like!" Theres that dissapears from tounge thing again, I think I'm refering to the zero aftertaste, the no gunk left in the back of your throught feeling.

Pumpkin Pi-Spiced Ale 5.4%"..................!"(?) Sorry for the lack of intel on this one, not much to say, don't remember the pumkin flavour overwhelming me or any thing like that, decided to check my ph. and found like 7 missed calls, and then it rang(?)(I some how had put it on mute durning the night,)in my hands, my ride way almost there, time to run and hide? no, saddly that might blow any cool I had build up, if my mom had to come get me from the beerfest! So drained the mighty mug, once again, and dive feaverishly back into the fray!



About this time, I headed back over to the Drummond Draft booth, to get my sample of the Gold, so as to make a careful comparisen of the lager that I had tasted over 2 hrs. ago. The girl remembers me,(not many,(any)other greybeards about!)so insisted I take one on the house!

Drummond Gold Draft 5%"FREE! Cold! Smooth! Good!" Well, I have nothing to add to that, so moving right along.

Ricard's Red 5.5%?(code might be starting to break into the sandscript portion here!)
"My fave, nice with meal, red or white meat!"(?) To the best of my knowlage the smoky dog was the only meal I had there, and I'm pretty sure it had no white meat,(or maybe even no meat!) so not sure where that came from. The Ricard's booth was the first stop I made,(and the last by the way, it was close to the door!)

Ricard's White 5.5%? "very smooth heppervisen(?) fruity taste, gose well with orange slice!" I do remember the orange slice chunks, but will have to check that heppervisen(?)thing, just hang on. O.K. it dose exciste, but its spelt Heffenveisen, and refures to a cloudy, citrus-y, summertime beer, who knew DrunkKev was so smart? So now I'm almost on my way out, and stop for one more Ricard's Red, and to grab a shot of the two Ricard's together. I say to the lady,(in as clear as way as I can,)"Do you mind pushing them together for a picture?" and she didn't, then she pushes the bottles together aswell, so I think I missed the picture, she thought I wanted to take! Where was her mind? I'm a true blog pro, and was only intresseted in the beer!(I must really be slipping!)

So drain the mug again, and head for the door. On the way out, a group of young guys stop me for beard info, like how long is it, how long did it take to grow, if I do devil horns with it, stuff like that, and as I'm leaving, the one said. "Thats cool, I'm goin grow one just like it, when I get old!" And for some reason, that made me laugh for about 10 min. I get out side just in time to avoid the "mother come to get me" senario, then went back to the lake,(for a few beers, of course!)before sleeping in my new birdie station,(RV)for the first time. All in all, a very informitive time! I hope you had fun learning about beer from around the world with me! And don't be afraid to experiment the next time your thirsty, you'll never know, your'e new faverite beer may be just the next sip away!

Have a great week, Latter Duffer(Beer experimentor)Kev.