December the second last post of 2011

Wow kids! I can hardly believe that 2011 is almost over. I took the time the other day and reread all the inverted cow posts for the year and figured that I will do a end of year review like everyone else is doing. But I think I will do that on the last post of the year. Speaking of end of the year posts I took a read through some interesting timelines detailing the protests over the last year. I reviewed my facebook wall posts for the last year and the news stories that caught my eye. You know that this year Jesus was acquitted of murder because he was criminally insane, and the world ended twice but when it did not happen someone said oops?  It is funny how people can twist things around to suit there needs. In America the government is systematically removing God from the country. Everyday I see things that are written coming to pass and wonder just how long does this world really have. Mankind is slowly ripping itself apart, the world now is home to 500 billion people, and the food stocks are unable to feed that many people for more then 6 months. The weather network has stories of floods and typhoons, cyclones, hurricanes and earthquakes every day, but in the bustle of it all we, as a whole, seem completely disinterested in it. News stations don't even bother any more to report on all the news, just a few headlines and a blurb on one thing or another. Revelations calls it 'birth pains' if so we may have allot of people who will be having a very bad day very soon. If this is the case then I pray to be blogging this time next year, and that you, my fellow readers, will still be enjoying the rantings from this twisted mind.

Meanwhile back at the ranch....

Here at the home of the Inverted Cow things are plodding along with the usual quiet that comes from this time of year. Marianne is working overtime on the Fifth Ave Jewelry, I have been happily driving the big yellow limo, I keep coming up with ideas for new and better renovation projects that I can attempt. All in all it is a great time of year. Now if it was still September then I would be right on schedule! I am still working on "The Calgary story" Really I am! Christmas break is coming next week so I am hoping to pull my butt off of Facebook and get caught up on the blogs. I know I am weak, but it could be worse.

Ok enough ranting. Where to begin. OH I know COFFEE!! Cant think without coffee! C[_]

AHH On with the blog this is it!
(sung to the merry melodies opening theme song)

The Guest room renos. 

The repairs on the front bedroom are as complete as they are going to be for the year. Marianne has taken it over for her Fifth Ave Jewelry open house that she wants to hold next week. I am going to place an unbiased plug here.
THIS IS HER WEBSITE GET YOUR SPECIAL SOMEONE SOMETHING SHINY NOW!!!
http://www.fifthavenuecollection.com/mjensen

Marianne's Advertisement in the Around Town (local weekly paper)

The room looks good, the wall paper is about a biziallian years old give or take a day. So the glue on it was questionable to say the least. What we did get to stick had to be patched up with contact cement. We bought some trim that we used as baseboard and chair rail. (I hate doing trim) It is up, but I need to find my nail set and some dap and then it needs paint. But for this week it is unfinished trim with finishing nail heads poking out and corners that look like crap.

Old unsticky wall paper all fixed up
and almost looking kind of ok.

Shelf mirror and some shiny stuff already to show

The main spread. 

Stories From the Cheese wagon!   

The last two weeks I have been filling in on first one route, then I got switched with a driver who lives in town and he is sparing on the route and I am driving his. The route that I started on was the "worse behaved kids in the school" I have a ride along person to keep the kids in line. They are really not that bad of kids, I think it is just the length of ride they have that is stressful on them.

The kids come from a little town about 45 minutes drive from school. There are a few who get picked up first and they add about 15 minutes to the ride. Farm kids out here get some of the most interesting pickups I have ever done as a bus driver.

It was sad because the kids are picked up from an area that was affected by where they had flooding this spring and you can see the dykes and in some cases sandbags still in place only a few feet from their house. The water on the other side of the dyke is still high, So I imagine the stress from that is also working on them. I did get to see some of the historical buildings hidden out in the bush out that way. Perhaps next spring I will take the camera and head out for a day drive and get some pix of the buildings out there.

I then switched with Charley and had a chance to talk to Rylee about his behavior, His mom saw from the house that the school bus sat there for bout 3 minutes after the boy got on and I guess he got another talking to when he got home. Kids are good they just have to understand that you will stop the bus and chat with them when necessary.

I also finally got paid for the first runs, Not sure if I take almost a month of lag between doing the work and getting paid for it. I also had the opportunity to finally deal with a person who was being a internet 'troll' and making prank phone calls, untouchable they are not. Finally the principle, who I had the fun with on the last post, got a game of turnabout. I had a sick kid, (vomit and kids are not fun in a big yellow fishbowl) I called ahead and was expecting to have a teacher whisk the kid off the bus. Instead I sat there for 5 minutes while the teachers sat inside and waited for the bell. I took a moment when loading in the afternoon and had a chat with them about it. I said a sick kid should have not had to wait, everyone else could, but not the sick one. This won't happen again.    

Hope Update

Hope all tired from running all over the house, climbing the walls,
and attacking the flys in the lampshade.
She knows she looks cute and can get away with it.

Hope is recovered quite well from her hysterectomy. She had some bloody stool but the vet thinks it may have been parasites, a wormer pill seems to have cleared it up, they gave us some pills that we should be attempting to give to her. I say attempting because  we are now to the point where we need to dissolve the pill in fish oil then mix it with food so that she will eat it. The scratches on my arms and midsection from the forced attempts are almost healed.

Another sign of the Apocalypse; Hope, Mitza, Marianne and Midnight
all sharing the same couch at the same time, and it is not because they are freezing,
starving or in any way threatened, drugged, or imperiled! 

Last Thoughts and other ramblings. 

There are a few of the farmers around here that are taking advantage of the nice weather to burn off some brush piles. I was driving the limo home one evening and spotted this one just down the road from us.

This was a short clip of the locals burning bush piles in one quarter just down the road from us. 

I finally lost the last piece of bone from the tooth that was extracted over a month ago. The piece was about the size of my little fingernail, but of course the dentist missed it. No I am not going to post a picture of it. But on the plus side the infection is finally starting to clear up and my mouth hurts less. I am so thinking malpractice lawsuit is in the works.

Other than that things are quiet here in the ol home stead, I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas (yes here in Canada it is still legal to say that) Enjoy your holidays and whatever else you do at this time of year. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE! If you are going to go drinking get a driver. I will drive for you if you are close enough. I do not care, the life you save could be yours or someone who is very important to me! Either way it is not worth the paperwork. Stay sober and play safe. OR ELSE!!!

This is the real brains behind the inverted cow
I just type what he tells me to.