"From the place they call the ZOO!"

Good day all! So here I sit in the bright sun shine, writing the latest of the lost blogs, weeks behind agein,(I blame you of course!)in the outskirts of the town of Morinville. What I'm doing here is, house sitting for Lyn,(you all rembmber Lyn, whos cottege I repainted out at gull lake,)who is off galaventing around the warm part of the world,(with my mother,)and leaving me behind to sit her 4 dogs, and 3 cats,(one of witch is pure hell, from the second he wakes up, till, well I don't know if he sleeps really, yes Chris, Im talking of you,(hes laying above my head level now, just waiting to jump down on me, or the puter, witch ever,)other then Chris, all the critters get allong well, and are peacful.)

Chris has decided to strech out in the sunshine and sleep,(instead of jumping on my head,)so I feel safe enough to keep writing this! The only bar left in town here is called the Zoo, but I think if they spent any time here, they'd give up the name!
The shot on the left, and the top shot, are of a foggy cold day, out my frount door. The warm air from the south, meets the cold ground, and the moister in the warm air freezes, and presto! we get ground fog! Frozen little air mollicules, floating around, neat.

So maybe its because the Vancouver winters were so ugly,(like always wet slushie, dirty snow,)but Id forgotten how pretty winter out here is! These are some midnight shots, of the frost coverd branches. Kind of looks like coral reefs or somthing,(I really got these off the coast, 35 feet down, while looking for nemo! stupid little fish!)
This one just reminded me of a cool hellowen type shot,(BoooHaaaHa!)just out side my bedroom window, my outside light, makes it glow with a creepy kind of shine, all night long!

So I moved into my house, on I think the 26th of dec. So these shots,(and the entire blog for that matter,)are old news, so to say, these shots are of the finished waynes coating.

I still have to do the finishing trim, and fill/caulk the windows, and door. I just bought a paint sprayer,(well 2, but the second ones tiny!)so will cut all my trim, then spray it all instead of the roller/brush trick.

Here is a shot of my new looking dresser, witht the new shelves above it. The dumb thing was, my waynes coating was thicker then the stuff I first thought of using, so I had to trim off an half inch off each of my newly painted dresser drawers.(oh well, they still open and close, and now are full to bursting with all my clothes! and that new shelf is full to the ceiling with clothes, seams some where along the line, I got too many clothes! also too bad is that I found the army surplus store here, I bet they got cool pants there!)

These next few shots are taken by my Mom, she was trying to kill her batterys before the vacation,(lucky girl!) so she got a couple of great shots of the close up kitties! First is Muligan, look deep into the light, you are getting sleepy, you will no longer wreck the house, youre a goldfish, trapped in an invisable, mine like fish tank! when I snap my fingers...

Now this shot is just plain creepy. Never have I seen Slice look more like a rat! and those zombie like dead eyes! just horrific! Nice job mom!

Now we come to the part of the blog I'll call "Red Neck Fun!" Remember a few blogs back, Punky the ho master? the guy with all the upsidedowntreedeadcow art on his yard? Well some time around "Jolly do gooder day" on an afternoon in the -20s somthing, Punky shows up with his boat!(now why he even has a boat when we're may miles from the nearest water, is beyond me.)

So on the frount of the boat is a chain, and on the other end is an old ford pickup. This is the fun part, you put the women and children in the boat, tell them this well be safe, then drag them at an ludicrious speed trough feilds and slews, untill the frount of the boat tares out, and all the riders are stranded out in the middle of nowhere!(see I told you this was fun!) My mom took thses shots as well, I was out side all morning so was too frozen to get my camera. All aboard the S.S.Snowplow!










It looked like Spotty and Magoo wanted to go along, they would have been better on the walk back!
Well, thats it for the old news, next week, I'll give you the last weeks news, then we'll all be almost caught up! Latter all, DufferKev.

I've Been Floored!

Well Merry Super Happy Snow Day, to all! We have had snowy weather here for the last week, and its starting to pile up!(at least its not -35 any more, our water froze for a few days,(like 6!)but after chain sawing a hole in the skirting, we realilized the heater under the trailer was broke, so my brother replaced the heater, and presto! an hour later we had water!)(Its kind of wierd how some things are just taken forgranted, untill they don't work!)

So its now offically winter!(so its ok to be cold right? before was just pratice winter,)and soon the days willl start to get longer. Im starting to go a little batty, no golf will do that to me after a while!(not quite ready to run screaming into the desert of my mind yet,("we can't stop here, this is Bat Country!")but lets just say, the kitty litter is starting to look like a sand trap to me!)(you know, I think I could make that shot!...just open up the face, sharp angled swing, hit behind the ball,(miss the turd,)short follow through,(to avoid the lip of the litter box!)but this might really piss off the kitties, and they are terrors enough when thier happy, so...I'll just wait for spring.)
Here is a sneak peek of my waynes coating, with one coat of spar varnish on,(and a peek of the green wall behind, but dont look at that, its dusty, and not looking its best.) Its sitting on my new puter desk,(I got to chain saw apart a old teachers desk, yes it was fun!, and mounted the frount half to my floor/wall. Installing things saves space. Because I removed the back legs and the back of the desk, I could move it 4inches closer to the wall, over the pipe cover I had to build to encase the water pipes from the kitchen to the bathroom!)(this pipe cover will make a nice foot rest when I'm on the computer, or just watching the snow pile up out the window, nice!)

Now that its warmed up some,(strange how -10 feels warm to me now! although today is -25) the kitties have started to go back out side. I think they like the snow a little bit, as long as they can run back inside as soon as the little toes start to get cold! They are starting to learn some cat balance, and of course like to show it off. Here is Bunker sitting on a little post, and Hazzard had to one up her! A few weeks ago, right before the snow, and -35 spell,(a spell is a measure of time, some where between a little while, and like forever,)our little kitty Putter went missing.(Putter used to be called Grey Ghost, and was the fat little two tone grey one.) I had held out hope, but with all the snow, and super cold weather, not to mention the hawks,(sharp eyed and ever hungry)Putter would have really stood out agienst the white world background, so now we only have 5.(but they play extra hard, as if to fill the void, 5 destoying as much as 6 ever did!)

Out on back deck,(by where my brothers pad is,)there is this bird feeder, and as the kitties have started to balance, they figured out how to get up to the feeder. The logic is simple, birds go to the feeder, kitties want birds, so kitties wait by/on the feeder for birds!

One of them was even in the feeder, waiting to ambush an unwarry little birdie, swooping in for breakfest, and getting a face full of furry hell instead! They seamed surprized the birds didn't come back, so they ate some bird seed and came back inside, to sit by the warm fire.(some times when I come in, the kitties are all lined up around the fire, sort of semi circle, like they are all as close as they can be, with out melting whiskers anyways, and some times even a dog lying some where close by as well.



Ok, on to the reno part of the story. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnle,(or the on coming train, some sort of light anyways.) Not the end yet, but...well Winstin Churchill, a wise,(and drunk!)man, said it best, when he said,"This is not the end, nor the begining of the end...but this is the end of the begining!"Brillient! keep it vague, like a weather man, or a good politition. As a first time home owner, I had questions I have never thought of before. Like, how much closet space do I need? Do I even really need a mirror?(if I ever forget what I look like, I have a drivers licence, I could just look at that.)And my new favorite, what type of wax to use on a no wax floor?(and here I thought, no wax was the right choice!) I got my floor done! and here it is, I like it, very simple/cheap, and reminds me of a 50's dinner, or old barbers shop, or somthing other then a 40 year old trailer any ways.

This is the No-Wax floor, with 2 coats of wax for No-Wax on it. I am now worried about covering it with stuff,(another thing I never thought of before,)First two shots are of the bedroom/bathroom, and then the puter room/office. I also used the left over scraps of floor tile to line the drawers of my dresser.(waste not, want less!)

So today, I'll do the last coat of varnish on the waynecoating, and if its dry enough, install them. then all I'll have left is the trim. So I hope to build my bed stand as well, so, should be moved in before my next blog. Any ways, I should be out there doing things, instead of writing this, and hiding from the cold, cold, reality, waiting to attack me, just inches away through the door, creeping up the windows, infultrating our world, growing through the glass, like a crystle mold...bye. Have a great Super Happy Snow Day, every one! latter DufferKev!

BBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Well hello world! Seams I'm a week behind writing this blog again, you people really need to read faster, your a week behind already, I can only write these as fast as you read them you know, so keep up! hehehe. Speaking of a week ago, last blog, some jackass(most likely me!) was saying if only we had a foot of snow, he could stop thinking of golf all the time!(idiot!)Well he,(me), got his stupid wish, and we got it!(the snow that is, not the other wish, of the beer truck filled with dancing girls, and cheese products!)(hes a strange one that jackass!)Unfortunatly, the snow dose little to calm my unrulely golf desires,(espicelly with the every day Tiger Woods gossip, on every station, bombarding me with endless reminders that the worlds luckiest man will soon be able to play even more golf,(when hes single again that is!)) Around here, when it snows, there is usally a hard wind with it, so a few inches of snow will pile up to 3foot drifts over night!(and other spots are still bare ground, wierd.)

Here is a week old shot,(as this is last weeks blog, all news and pics. are a week old!)(read faster!)taken out my back door,(dew dew dew, snow drift out my back door!)as you can see, there is a 3ft. drift, next to the bare ground.

And a nice frosty tree shot!(with the bright, clear blue,(cold!)Alberta sky as the backdrop.)

Thankfully, I got most of the outside work done before"winter"hit.(wew!)I have been working mostly on the inside of the DufferDen, so have more stuff finished(and as youre still a week behind, even more stuff is done! boy you really got to keep up, I mean, Im writing as slow as I can!)I have finished the drywall,(in the back 2/3 of the trailer that is, Im doing it in chunks)(more affordable that way,)and have got the primer coat on, also have the first coat of white done on the wood parts. The more astute of you will notice the ugly color of the walls,(those of you with color monitors anyways,)and you might be thinkin"what kind of a moron would go through all of this trouble, just to paint it a crappy teal, off aqua puke kind of color like this?" Well, me thats who! oh, and this is only a half strengh primer coat, the real color is dark green, like it is now, but since your still a week behind, I guess you'll have to wait for next weeks blog to see the real color!)(Sorry for you!) The first two shots are of my puter room/office,(sounds better then the videogame/life wasting room, dosent it?)
And the next two are of my bedroom, and part of the hallway, on the right, you'll notice my new/newly installed back door,(dew dew dew...STOP IT! Freak! You dont have to sing CCR every time you say back door you know!)
Funny thing about the back door, it was too big for my(door)hole, I guess people have gotten bigger in the last 40 years. I had to cut off the bottem to make it fit, and it dose, but the problem is, now the handle is low. I guess I should have trimed off the top, or both, because I hate being too tall to reach my own knob!(hehehe! maybe thats just funny to my own brain!) Its no problem from the out side, cause I'll just open the door from the stairs, but I find myself bending to reach the knob,(still funny to me!)from the inside. Oh well, I'll just count it as excerise,(like if I do a sit up, in bed, then a bend, knob reach,(hehe!)to get outside, and a squat to pull my boots on, well that should keep me out of the gym, for like ever!)

Remember last blog, I said I'd show you all the Woodie shed, with its armor coating? Well the pictures pasted the censorship board, and here they are. The one on the right is a older shot, of warmer days, when the Woodie shed was wood!(and a shed.)

The shot on the left is the after shot, with the metal on,(and a coulpe of windows in,) Behind the shed is one of the Atco trailers, whitch was used as a dornor,(where we stoled the metal from!) The ground isnt that slopy, I just shot this leaning out my front door, holding the camera at arms lenth, to shoot around the door,(I think I'll count that as excerise too!) We still call it the Woodie shed,(the Steally shed sounds stupid!)because after its warmer,(insulated,etc.)we'll do wood work stuff in there, and thats where the wood is stored.(Luckly, I didn't change the door here, so I don't have to reach for the Woodie knob!)(Ok, thats the last one, I promise!) Here are three shots of the trees, just to finish us off. This is an afternoon shot of the hor(?) frost coverd branches,(not sure if its hor frost, or horror frost, or whore frost? ethier way it'd work!) the same thing happens to my beard, after about 30 seconds out side. I end up looking like poor Chewie here,(sure wish I had a lazer crossbow though, that would be cool!)(Then I could bullseye wamp rats, or somthing, Chewies even kind of got my haircut here too, although more(I hope,)back hair, I bet thats warm though huh? ummmmm, warm back hair, and a lazer cross bow? that sure is one lucky wookie!) Thats all for last weeks blog, see you next(this)week, try to keep up eh? Hope your all warm and happy! have a great week. Latter, FrozenKev!

Grey Be Gone!

Well good day all, told you I'd be back soon! Been busy working on my place, and not sleeping quite enough due to increased night time kitty activity! Added the banner above just to remind myself(and of course you,)that I used to golf, saddly, even though it was +9 today again, every night it is well below freezing, and the courses are all closed.(I kind of wish it would just snow a foot and then I would stop thinking about it so much, like I'm ready to set a basket in the bush and just start chippin, I mean I got lots of old balls,(yes more then just two!)) And to make my suffering even worse, about 5 miles from my home, a brand new, top notch looking, golf course is being built!

Coal Creek is being built on an old coal mine, and has old equipment laying around the course. Some of the slag heaps, and dredge mine scrap hole, are left to enhance the playing fun!(nothin says fun like losing you ball down a bottemless pit!) On one of my drive passed, I saw what looked like coal black bunkers, witch would really make the ball stand out, if I was ever to be in one.(but why I'd ever be in a bunker, I dont know...maybe I'll just throw a ball in to see how cool it looks!) As I said, this is the old coal mine, the new one is only 2 miles from here, and a winters worth of coal, is about $30!(depending of course, on the weather, and how warm a person needs to be.)This winter has been warmer then normal, so that might be a high estimate.

My Brother Carlin has come to the Commpomfarms for a while, and is fixxing up his own old dog trailer to live in,(mines bigger! but also older, and so far about 100x more work, so I guess it must about even out.) together we sided the woodie shed, with some metal siding we found just laying around,(after we peeled it off the side of a couple of Atco trailers, that is, theres more trailers around here then I could shake a stick at...although why I'd be wastng time standing around shaking sticks at old trailers is beyond me!) pictures of that project are being saved for the next blog.(have to clear the trailer park censor board first!)
Ok, on to the Grey Be Gone bit. Remember a few blogs back, Grey Power, in witch I give several reasons why having a grey beard was good? Well two times in the last month, people have mistaked my Mom, for my wife! So I decided to get the Grey be Gone! On my Moms next hairdresser visit, I tag along. This first shot is of the "old grey" me.( My brother Carlin use to shot weddings, not like me who just shot at weddings! hehehe! and He came along for the fun, and took these shots of my ordeal.) Norma, the hairdresser, whips out this paintbrush looking thing, and just starts swabbing it on, then sends me into the bleachers to wait it out. While in limbo, I had plenty of time to ponder things, like why are cows so funny to me? and do deaf cows mooo differently? and of coruse, how whould you tell if a cow is deaf, or just ignoring you?
This is my cow pondering look...oh and thats my mom in the background, the one wareing the same stylish brown reverse cape,(and the same hair varnish eating into the brain glaze! Bleary eyed indeed!)

A few minutes latter, it was time to kneel at the rince alter, and low and behold, Grey Be Gone!(and as I feared, instantly people started to expect more from me!, naw, just kidding...no one expects anything from me!) After the rince, the hairdresser decidied to shave my head for me, its been a long time since I got a pro haircut.(only 1 time since the biker chick redid my dreads, and that was over 15yrs. ago! she was funny, her card said," Cut-Kurl up&Dye!" I wasn't sure if she was a hairdresser or maybe a part time assassin!) Apparently, my last shave was alittle crooked/ragged/uneven, so Norma took it "down to the wood", as she would say. Its a very sliming type of haircut, like now Im more steamline or something. Good thing its not -40,(yet). So these next two shots are ones I took myself, note the bags under the eyes, and extreme onset of bleary eyes, must have been after my bed time.(I only look younger, Im still the same old fart I always was!)

Well as for the trailer restore, I got the bathroom all hooked up, and the wall behind the shower boarded, still have to varnish it though. Also got my computer room drywalled, and tonight my bro and I did the subfloor in that room.


I found out that the old window I changed from my bed room is the same size as the puter room window, so did a double window,(hope two old windows are almost as good as one new one.) And dont worry, soon the flower print wallpaper will be gone!

Well the hell kittins are quite for the moment, so should off to bed be gone,(no telling how many will wake up in the middle of the night for a game of jump on the sleepin duffer!) will update the trailer status as things get done, Carlins trailer is done enough that he will try sleeping in it tonight, although I think its because little Muligan the kat took his dead mouse in to Carlins room to enjoy, and some times they dont quite finish them. Oh well another week shot to hell, golfless! Have a good one, DufferKev!

"I HAVE THE POWER!"

Hey hey, every one, sorry its been so long since my last blog,(like almost a month!)but I have been busy!(like keeping 6 kittins off the table isnt a busy enough life!) This weekend promises to be justs as busy, so thought I'd at least start writing this morning. So, what have I been doing? whats up with the kitties? whats with the weird He-Man referneces? All will be told! O.k., as for the He-Man thing, I hooked up my power! so indeed "I have the Power!"(and of course with this victory, I assumed the classic He-Man pose, thrust my screwdriver high into the sky, and by the power of grey skull, I looked just like the hero of old!(except for the thinning hair, grey beard,& beer belly, of course, but its been like 30 yrs, I'll bet prince Adams traded in his six-pack for a keg by now too!)and turning to find mighty Battle-Cat...gone, all six kittins choose this moment to run away, quickly!(cowards!))
So in order to have power at my trailer, I had to run a trench to the dog house,(witch use to have power,)then hook my trailer into a splitter, then trench to the side of moms trailer, crawl underneith,(i got the privilege of crawling under all three trailers in the park, and my moms was the worsed! the axles are removed, sand piled under to reduce the cold, and tons of bugs!)and stick a fat wire through her floor, cut her main power, hook another splitter,(from her house to the dog house, from the dog house to my house,) turn on the main power and pray it all works!(witch it did!) Here is a shot of the inside of her wall, with a thisle plant growing
up through the hole in the floor, and up past the main power box.(had to have been at least 9 feet long, and never saw the sun in its whole life! weird!)

Here is a couple of almost finished shots, after the hooking up work was done!(ever try to stick a quarter into a dime slot? this was about as hard! the bigger the wire the harder it is to bend/stuff into the holeBut at the end of the day, all was working! On the left is a shot of the main power cable into my trailer.(Some of you may notice the trench, its suposed to be almost 3ft. deep, and it may not look like it is, but as any man will tell you, things look smaller when its cold out!)(thats my story and Im sticking to it!)

After I had power/lights/heat, I started the drywall prosess, witch really helps to make things feel like a house, instead of a 40yr. old trailer! Also helps drive home the fact that I've still got a long ways to go! I also hooked up my sewer, and water system. Here at the CommPomFarms trailer park, there is a well, but the water is too salty, so its undrinkable,(also the well is right next to the barnyard, so its doublely undrinkable now.) I burried a 240gal. tank, that is filled from a system in town that pipes fresh water out from Edmonton. After the tank is filled, the insulated line runs under my trailer to a jet pump, that presserizes the water before it gets into the trailer.
Here is the tank before it was buried, and the jet pump under the trailer, notice also the very sturdy skirting, with 2inch styro foam and 4x4's/landscape ties etc. in event of tornado, I'll be under my trailer, it'll be the last thing standing!

So on the day I(and my Mom went to get water, it was a clear, cool day of about +2, and I got a little wet when we took the tank to a local car wash to clean before use, no big deal the old truck has a good heater, so we fill the neibours tank first,(I also burried/hooked up her water and sewer system, just cause Im soooo nice!)then back for the second trip to fill mine. The water fill station has a big pipe with a hose on the end, hanging about 15ft. up.(for trucks to pull up undernieth and fill from above.) There is a pipe to connect the hose to the top of your tank,(helps to keep the water goning where you want in, in your tank!) On this attemp the hose/pipe suddenly seperate, and about 30gal. of barley above freezing water pours directly onto my crotch! Stunning! The best part was my Mom, who instead of hitting the off button, just stands there and giggles at me!(she laughed for about an hour after too!) So by the time I realilize whats happening, and what to do about it, ie. put the hose and pipe back together, the water stops,(you only get about 80 gal. for a $1 token,) Luckly for me we're only about 7min. from home and a hot shower. After I fill the tank, and we are testing the system, I got a small amount of revenge. The old trailer water lines had a few leaks. I had moved the bathroom sink, so had shutoff valves on the pipes, and while I was checking out the leaky kitchen sink, both of the stoppers blew off!(jet pump kicks ass! indeed.) So Shes got a finger stuck in each pipe, and waters spraying all over my new bedroom! Mom is yelling,"shut it off! Shut It Off! SHUT IT OFF! And Im running around the out side of the trailer to unplug the jet pump, before my drywall gets totaled.(Oh yeah, and before my Mom gets too soaked,) Too bad I didn't have the time to really enjoy her soaking, the way she got to enjoy mine!

I fianlly got my shower installed and hooked up...wait for it..."I have the Shower!"(this time Im holding a rubber ducky skyward, waring a bathrobe, and shower cap on my beard!) Today I'll have my bathroom sink installed, and hopefully the kitchen sink repaired, so will try the water system again.(just have to wait for my mom to get home first, hehehe!) Well thats about it from the land of the Duffer, will really try to blog again before a month passes, there is always sooo much to do around here, but will try to share the fun with you all. Oh, yeah, the kitties are getting really big, they are almost the same size as "momma cat" now, Stripe face cat, was remamed "Slice", and grey ghost, renamed to "Putter", so we may have to keep all six, since they all have golfing names now. Have a great week,(or month, depends how busy I stay,) DufferKev.