A Very Quiet Day Working Around Home

Our wonderful May weather continues here on Vancouver Island but I hear there is some rain in the forecast for this weekend.  That’s probably good as we have not had any rain in a few weeks and our yard is already beginning to get bone dry.  It’s way too early for that, I think.  Paulette has  had the sprinkler going on her flowers and gardens every night now.

Rain or not, our grass is growing like crazy.  I’m having to cut it twice a week right now just to keep it from looking like a hay field.  Yesterday, it was time to cut the front lawn.  Using my gas push mower, cutting the front and back in one day is a little too much so I’m alternating days between cutting the front and back.  That seems to work o.k. for me and it is good exercise for sure.  At least the Lawn Boy mower is co-operating and starting up on just 1 or 2 pulls of the cord.

Neither Paulette nor I had anything on the go yesterday so we both spent a quiet day at home just puttering around.  In the afternoon, Paulette started up her big quilting machine and finished the ‘5 Monkeys’ Baby Quilt she is making for our Grandson due in June.  Carrie, our daughter, is doing well and all settled into her new apartment so now it’s just time to wait.  She called last night and she’s beginning to get excited as her due date is now only 4 weeks away!!

Well, Paulette was right again when she said the photo of the water I posted in my blog on Thursday looked like a Monet rather than Lime Jell-o as I thought.  The only person to agree with me was Ruth (Five Just Rolling Down The Road) so thanks, Ruth, I need all the help and support I can get around here.  What I do know is the animal in the above photo is a deer!  No doubt about it.  I snapped this shot while driving down to the grocery store yesterday.

I’m not so sure my idea of a quick comment using the G+ Button was a good one.  In fact, it just might have been one of my worst ideas in a long while.  it turns out that 17 readers used this button rather than leave a comment and as of 7pm last night there were also 17 comments on my blog – so, a tie.  That’s not exactly what I had in mind but I’ll see how it goes before I decide to nix it or not and just go back to a regular ‘comment or not’ format.

For our afternoon walk on Thursday, we went to the trail in the Mill Bay Nature Park.  The tide in the bay was out so we were able to walk out on the rocky beach for quite a distance.  Molly and Rylie really like this as there are all kinds of interesting things for them to see and dig up in the sand.
Have a great Friday, and thanks again for visiting!

A Walk In The Park And A Few Quick B.C. Facts

It was addition mostly quiet Saturday at home for me. I don't apperception those types of canicule at all because I can consistently acquisition lots of being to accumulate myself absorbed and busy. Before I got absolutely angry up on my computer for the day I did administer to get out and cut the foreground lawn. It was addition one of those canicule of alternate rain showers but I managed to get the grass cut average the rain.

Most of my Saturday morning was spent alive with the new Google+ architecture and blockage out the abounding changes that accept been fabricated as a aftereffect of the Google I/O Developers' Conference endure week. it's a appealing above check to the attending and feel of G+ and it has been acutely able-bodied accustomed by the G+ community. Sure, there are the accepted amount of "why did they accept to change this?" complaints, but the all-inclusive majority of users like the apple-pie simple accomplishments that acquiesce the absolute abstracts to flash through and yield prominence.

We dodged the rain showers in the early afternoon when we went for walk in the Mill Bay Nature Park.  This was a pretty safe bet for us as most of the trail is sheltered by the big fir trees so even when it rains fairly hard, we still manage to keep fairly dry.

This little park is probably Molly and Rylie’s favourite simply because they’ve been to it so often.  Once out of the car, they race for the start of the trail and know exactly where we’re going.  They mostly stay to the beaten path although on occasion they’ll wander off on a little adventure but not for long.  It’s a safe place to go for a walk as the park is bordered by the ocean on one side and by various neighbourhood homes on the other 3.  We’re never worried about encountering any bears or cougars in these parts.

A few days ago, while hiking with Paulette and the muttzo’s in the Glenora section of the Cowichan River Park, we came across a bunch of wild Dogwood Trees that were in full bloom.  These are beautiful trees and we’re very lucky to have not only a white Dogwood in our front yard but a Pink Dogwood as well. 

Blackberry Cheesecake Cupcakes & Thetis Lake Park

We had a appealing quiet Wednesday as Paulette was active baking up some aliment for her black Sorority Accumulation banquet party. I anticipate I'd like to accord to a accumulation like Paulette's as they do assume to eat well, bigger than us poker guys.

Paulette's addition was a few dozen Blackberry Cheesecake Cupcakes. I did get to sample a brace of these and anticipation it was bent that they were all traveling out the aperture in the black to the Sorority party.

While Paulette was active baking up a storm, I had to drive into boondocks to renew the authorization tags and liability, blow and absolute advantage allowance for our truck. Once again, I managed to delay until the endure day accessible as the accepted year allowance expires May 23rd. That didn't yield continued as I was in and out of the ICBC broker's appointment in 5 account and $900 poorer.

This couple had hip waders on as they fished in the lake

We went on our afternoon airing a bit beforehand than accustomed bygone as Paulette still had some advancing to do for the abode banquet affair she was traveling to. We just went down to the Cowichan River Estuary for a nice, active 2 mile walk. Although I did yield a few pictures, I'm instead traveling to allotment the ones I took on our backpack about Thetis Lake on Tuesday.

A twisted, gnarled old Arbutus Tree hangs over the trail

BBQ’d A Whole Chicken & Tags

After a anniversary or so of added blurred canicule than sunshine, we awoke to bright dejected skies with just a few billowy white clouds blind around. Amazingly, the sun and dejected skies backward about all day so it fabricated for a nice change from our backward May black weather. On the downside, I had actually no alibi for not traveling out and acid the foreground lawn. I'm starting to absence my old John Deere mower!

My first whole BBQ Chicken on our Weber Q120 – It was pretty good!

By George (aka The Weber Q Man of Blogland), I followed his instructions and BBQ'd my aboriginal accomplished craven on our Weber Q120 endure night. And, I’ll be accursed if it didn’t attending just as acceptable as George’s and it tasted as acceptable as it looked too! it got the "2 thumbs up" address from Paulette so that's about as acceptable a assurance as I’m anytime traveling to get for affable anything!

Not continued afterwards lunch, we absitively to yield advantage of the sunshine and go for an aboriginal airing as we still don't assurance the acclimate all that much. It was o.k. admitting as the skies were bright and at no time did it anytime attending like it was traveling to rain. Our destination bygone was a accustomed one - the Mill Bay Nature Park.

It was great to look up and see blue skies for a change

Walking down the aisle and again on to the bank at Mill Bay, we saw 2 families of Canada Geese with babyish Goslings. There appeared to be about 2 dozen of them walking about and again demography turns traveling for a bathe with their parents befitting a actual abutting careful amphitheater about the little ones. We had a nice airing afore branch aback home so I could get active with the BBQ for dinner.

When I apprehend the aboriginal few comments on yesterday's blog, I accomplished I had abashed abounding by advertence that "license tags" for my barter amount $900 for a year. That's what I get for application a appellation (Tags) that is not absolutely applicative actuality in B.C., I just best it up from a few American blogging accompany not absolutely acumen that it was just for authorization plates, or tags, and not for auto allowance costs as well. Actuality in B.C., we pay for our Authorization Plate "Stickers" in aggregate with our car insurance. So, my $900 amount included Basic Liability, Third Party Liability, Collision and Comprehensive Allowance advantage as able-bodied as accepted year "stickers" .

BBQ’d Our First Roast Beef On Our Weber Baby Q 120

One of the bloggers I apprehend every day is George (Our Awesome Travels) and in a abundant attitude he posts a photo of what he fabricated for banquet that night for his wife Suzie and himself. George is the baker in the ancestors and a lot of generally he uses his accurate little Weber Baby Q to barbecue up abundant searching meals. His commons attending aperture watering and I've consistently wondered why I couldn't do the aforementioned with my Weber Q?

90 minutes on the Weber Baby Q120 and we had a perfectly cooked roast

The acknowledgment was appealing simple 'I'd never tried! I've consistently ashore appealing abundant to my old BBQ standards like hamburgers, craven breasts, hot dogs, steaks and pork chops. Never had I anytime approved to barbecue a accomplished craven or beef roast. George absolutely aggressive me to adventure alternating and accord something new a try on my little Weber Q. While at Costco the added day, I bought a baby beef buzz and again I angry to Maharishi Google for a few BBQ'ing tips application our Weber Q 120.

I used an upside down stainless steel tray to act as a ‘Trivet’

One affair Weber recommends is adopting ample roasts off of the capital barbecue to anticipate afire acquired by flare-ups. This aswell creates alteration like calefaction that flows all about the meat. Weber uses a baby accoutrement alleged a "Trivet". I didn't accept one of those so I just acclimated a collapsed baking pan with holes in the basal and angry it upside down on it's handles. I aswell placed a area of aluminum antithesis beneath the stainless animate tray and cut a few slits in the antithesis for drippings to cesspool off.

Adding seasonings and a Montreal style steak and roast rub

About 3:45pm, I angry our Weber Q on High to let it calefaction up for 15 minutes. While that was happening, I acclimatized the buzz beef with peppercorns, garlic alkali and a La Grille Montreal Rubbing Marinade I begin in one of the cupboards. It wasn't even opened so I knew we hadn't approved it afore so I anticipation I'd accord it a go and rubbed it in all abandon of the roast. It had a nice appealing chaw to it.

All done after 90 minutes, looking good and tasted even better!

The hardest allotment of this for me was afraid the allurement to accumulate adopting the lid on the Weber Q afterwards I put the buzz on to cook. I consistently wish to see how things are traveling but that's a "no-no" with Weber Q's apparently. For ten minutes, I larboard the calefaction on Hi again angry it down to average low until the temperature barometer was abiding at just beneath 350F. Then, miraculously I never opened the lid to analysis for 1 abounding hour. When I opened the lid, I was afraid – it looked like a adapted roast!

Weber Digital BBQ Thermometer – gotta have a gizmo right?

To advice me forth with my new Weber BBQ'ing, I ample I bare some affectionate of temperature gizmo. I begin the absolute accoutrement at Home Depot for alone $19. It's a agenda delving that registers the exact temperature and it works acutely well. After 1 hour on the grill, our buzz was 125F which was a little too rare. I bankrupt the lid for addition 30 minutes, activated the temperature and by 4:30pm our buzz was adapted absolutely how we like it. I anticipate I may accept a new job as BBQ Chef!

The Google+ train was rolling again yesterday at the I/O Developer Conf.

The anniversary Google I/O Developers Conference kicked off bygone in San Francisco with a boatload of new announcements. The one I noticed about anon was the new Google+ format. Instead of a individual cavalcade in the "stream layout", Google+ showed 2 columns by default. Oh, oh I anticipation “ association aren't traveling to like that. Luckily, Google has accustomed us the advantage to change the architecture aback to a individual cavalcade (Good Google). Just attending for "More" on the top toolbar, bang the "down arrow" and annal to baddest Stream Layout option.

The new Google+ Format – You can revert to single columns like this:

There will be lots added to appear out of San Francisco in the next few canicule and if there is annihilation abroad that affects us as Bloggers and/or Google+ users, I'll let you all know, o.k. From what I've apparent so far, it looks appealing good. Gmail babble and messaging is getting replaced by Google+ Hangouts (here comes that alternation again) and Hangouts itself has some accurate new features. I like the new architecture as a lot of being has been organized bigger and is now easier to find.