Two Years and More Camp U.S.A.

The bad news.  This is again, mostly about Janet and Phil's stomachs.  All we doggies did was hang out and chill.

Janet just  remembered that today marks two years of her sharing our riveting lives with all of you.  Thanks for reading about us - it makes us really happy!

See how pretty the sunset was?

Saturday, everyone headed out for lunch.  We chumps said a very blurry goodbye.

They went to a new brew pub at the new windsurf launch sight.  It was called Pfraim.  It was delicious!  Janet had mussels and frites and Phil had Bratwurst with warm Belgian Salad.  Today, Phil sashayed home with some bratwurst from The Whole Beast and told Janet if she really, really loved him, she would make some warm Belgian Potato Salad.  Janet did her best to comply, but has only two middle fingers, so we aren't sure if he got the message.

If Kim Kardashian can do selfies, why can't we?  Kim says the most important component of selfies is to hold the camera above eye level.  How is it Janet knows this s**t?

The next day, Janet spent a couple of hours cleaning out the flower bed.  It was getting dark, so she had to quit.

On Monday, they went to their favourite Mexican restaurant in Hood River.  It's way more fun in the summer on an outside table in the hot sun.  Food, however, was still delicious.

It's a little desolate in the winter.  See the back left hand corner - that's where we hang with our people while they eat great Mexican food and swill back Margaritas and Coronas.

On our last day in PDX, we stayed at home, as usual.  Phil and Janet ran some last minute errands and had delicious lunch at Podnahs, a great BBQ place.  Phil had two rack of ribs and Janet had the Tex Cobb Salad with Brisket and house made blue cheese dressing.

Turns out the reason we went to Camp U.S.A. was to bring Pash back to Camp Canada because Mike and Bronwyn were going on vacation.

Pash was pretty excited about her big adventure and her very first hotel visit.  We stayed overnight in Port Angeles so we could take the first ferry home on Wednesday.  Upon reading the fine print at check in, Janet discovered only two doggies are permitted in each room.  Janet, the Rebel thought WTF; we have no other option now, so we skulked in under the cover of darkness.  We were all good and quiet doggies, so no one else knew.

Bad, Bad Janet

It has been more than one whole week since Janet blogged for us.  We can only imagine the disappointment our legions of fans must be feeling!  We want her to blog an apology, but she is pig headed and probably won't go there.

The reason for her huge neglect - we went to Camp U.S.A.!  Yay!  It was a clear, sunny morning and there was frost on the ground.  Look where Rockers was lying on the ground while Phil packed up our car.  Our trip to Camp U.S.A. is her "official" excuse for not blogging. 

Meltdown Alert!  The real reason for the neglect is that stupid, stupid British TV series "Shameless" that she cannot tear herself away from!  She was able to watch additional seasons on U.S. Netflix, but we aren't sure if it will revert back to the Canadian version now that we are home.  We are searching for a support group as we speak.

We took the Coho Ferry.  Our first stop was Snug Harbour Inn for lunch.  Next stop was Hamma Hamma Bay Fish Shop where Janet hoped they could buy a couple of cooked crabs.  No such luck.  But check this out....this little baby is eight weeks old and loves to eat oysters.  An employee was bar-b-queing some oysters on the patio.  Janet thinks the little babies "dad" is a fisherman, so liking oysters would be appropriate.  Here she is, tucking into one.

Due to lack of crab, Janet and Phil ran into Costco as soon as they got to Portland and grabbed some pork back ribs for dinner.

Next day, they hit the ground running - Target, Walmart, Costco, Uwajimaya and downtown for lunch at Piazza Italia.  Super yummy, they said!

This was Phil's dish - pasta with peas and Italian sausage.

Janet is a firm believer in the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" theory.  Gino's Favourite aka Pasta Carbonara.

They came back to the house and threw us in the back of the car.  Hood River, here we come!

By now it should be apparent that the only thing these two think about are their stomachs.  Dinner - sukiyaki!

Delicious, really thin cut, boneless beef short ribs for sukiyaki from Uwajimaya along with tofu, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, Napa cabbage and negi (Japanese green onions that are so much more than regular green onions - Janet says not to mention the price...$4/bunch!)

Check out this trio of really good looking doggies!

Janet promises to much more diligent and tell you all about the rest of our trip tomorrow.

Friends Come Over For Breakfast!

These two cuties went into the backyard next door and then into Janet's so called "Victory Garden" for some breakfast.

Janet is really sad because Mr. Deer has a bad limp on one of his front legs.

Finally, someone who enjoys Janet's veggie patch and doesn't think it's pathetic.  We doggies feel sorry for Mrs. Jolly Green Giant whenever she shows someone her veggie garden.  Everyone does their best to cover up their faces of pity.   This year, she couldn't even get zucchini to grow, which is a new low.  No wonder she doesn't mind that the deer are enjoying it.

Used to be cauliflower, maybe!

While our new friends were munching their way through breakfast, Noodles was on high deer alert.

Guess what else happened?  Janet made chicken stock that actually turned out.  Then she turned it into Chicken Vegetable Soup with Barley.  She could hardly contain herself, she was so excited.

Janet is still plowing her way through her new TV show "Shameless".  She thinks it's hilarious.  Noodles also really enjoys it.

I found the nylabone this morning and decided to tuck it under my chin while I was sleeping.  I didn't want Noodles to find it.  I was a bad doggie and licked the bed.  Janet always tells me not to, but the rebel in me does it when she isn't in the same room.

I also get into trouble for licking the floor.  If Janet hasn't vacuumed for a couple of days, it's kind of like having a snack.

Who Knew?

Phil packed up and went on his vacation to Lethbridge.  I knew something was going down and paid close attention to his suitcase.

Noodle is also beside herself with anxiety.

We walked up to the Cenotaph which is a pretty big walk for us.  There were so many people, it was excellent.

Turns out, Janet's idea of "party hardy" while Phil is gone is to watch TV.  All.  The. Time.  She is now hooked on the British TV series "Shameless".  She watched so many episodes she is not willing  to admit to.  Turns out, there are in total, 11 series, but luckily for us, there are only four on Netflix.

Remember the building we told you about a couple of days ago?  This is the part that fell on the sidewalk.

Phil is coming  home this evening and Janet was a whirling dirvish.  In a pathetic attempt to make it look like she hadn't watched TV ALL weekend  long, she raked leaves and mowed grass like a maniac.  It was dark when Phil arrived home, so we aren't sure if he bought it or not.

Our Lives Are Boring Lately

We are going through kind of a slow phase, but didn't want to disappoint our legions of readers and decided to make a post.  About. Nothing.  That's how boring our lives are lately.  The good news is we are about to hit a "party hardy" stage when Phil goes to Lethbridge on Saturday.  Janet says it will be 24/7 of doing whatever we want, whenever we want.  We actually felt that was what she did on any day of the week, but we didn't want to burst her bubble.  She will be feeding and walking us, so it's probably important to stay on her good side.

We have the painters working at our house right now.  One of them left a sander on the living room floor, that of course, Noodles discovered.

Crumbs on the floor, leading to the larger mass.  Nice, really in focus photo, Janet.

A small part of the actual mess.

Janet says it's the gift that keeps on giving.  Even after vacuuming, she is still finding pieces.

We had a stormy Saturday last weekend, but check out Sunday!

This building is on the way to downtown from our house.  It was apartments and a coffee shop at one point in time, but has been left to it's own devices for too many years.  When we had the big storm in September, a large piece of the building fell to the ground and now the city has given the owners an ultimatum - fix it or we demolish it.  A group of people are trying to save the building, but Janet says it's likely it will be torn down.

Phil likes to drink green tea because he thinks it's good for his health.  Every day, without fail (and sometimes more than once a day) he makes his green tea and then lets it sit in the microwave until it's stone cold.  Janet says most people drink their tea hot, but maybe Phil is on to something.

Big news!  Mr. Baby gets wheels!

For $25, Mr. Baby has his own little car, replete with keys and a cell phone!  Meg says this is the new version of walkers that our children had when they were little.  We heard Janet tell Meg that Jeremy walked his walker down some stairs.  Meg says that Jer has ruined it for future daredevils as they are now all stationary.  We think perhaps a certain mother wasn't paying enough attention.  We doubt they were banned on Janet alone, so perhaps many, many mothers weren't watching!

More Kitchen Disasters

At this rate, we are of the opinion that Janet should sell her fancy pants stove and get a bunson burner.  She set out to make some Date Bran Muffins from a recipe book.  All completed and now busy baking away in the oven.  For some stupid reason, while putting away the package of bran, she checks out the recipe on the package to see how it compared to hers.  It has sugar!  Janet rips out her cookbook and guess what!  It has sugar, too!  Sugar is NOT an ingredient in the ones that are baking in the oven.  After many, many bad words, she threw them out and had Phil stop and get her some more buttermilk.  Should it actually take a couple of hours to make 10 muffins?  We doggies don't know anything about baking, (except for the bad language part) but we are thinking not.

They went to Lolo and Steve's house for dinner on Saturday.  Super yummy.  Janet said they had Chinese Chicken, Spring Rolls and Stir Fry Veggies.

Look at how pretty this tree is.  It's in our neighbours yards and Phil says it almost glows when the sun is on it.

We also had some really beautiful sunsets the other evening.

After "our" stock and muffin disaster, Janet did manage to pull of a couple of dinners that were palatable.

Beef Enchiladas, Mexican Rice and Guacamole that actually isn't grey in the photo!

Beef Short Rib Stew.  Janet just loves short ribs.

Last night was Halloween.  Janet was pretty sure we could be good doggies when the children started to come to our house.  Noodles, however, proved her to be more than wrong by running onto the step and barking at everyone.  So much for greeting the kiddies.  Now we are trapped behind the "bad doggies" gate.  I wish Noodles could go into solitaire on her own.  I wanted to see all the children.  There were some firecrackers or fireworks later in the evening and we were both really scared.  We sat beside Janet so she could pet us.  Janet was very disappointed at how few children we had this year.  Normally, as we are so close to the Bonfire, we have tons.  This year, not so many.

This is Natalie and Gillian from down our street.  Janet hasn't seen them for awhile and was shocked that Gillian could walk - seems like only a couple of weeks ago that she was born.

We are bookends!

A Day In The Life

Our lives are fascinating and filled with days that we can only describe as incredible.  This is in part because we can watch Janet and Phil stumble from one mishap to another!

Janet had planned to make Prime Rib for Thanksgiving dinner, but Meg announced she really wanted turkey.  Now the hunt is on for a nice free range turkey that has lived the good life and doesn't weigh 35 pounds!  Best they good do was 19 pounds, but in the end it turned out to be OK.  We invited Karen and Ken, Lolo and Steve and Brad and Kim over in an effort to help.

The dinner went well.  Every year, Janet fancies herself a soup maker and sets up using the carcass to make stock.  She consulted many recipes and started out with this:

Looks good, right!  Wrong!  Yet another stock failure.  The end product was a really delightful dark grey colour, similar to mud.  One of the cooks at Our Place suggested that perhaps she had cooked it for too long.

All was not lost, however.  She managed to make some Turkey Pot Pies and use up all the turkey meat.  In addition, one night they had Hot Turkey Sandwiches.

Janet, Janet, Janet....why don't you tuck the pastry edges under so they look pretty?

Janet doesn't like brussel sprouts, but thought this was pretty amazing.  They were selling them on the stalk at The Root Cellar.  In fact, Janet hates brussel sprouts.  She has never made them and has no clue if Phil even likes them.

This is how we roll in Victoria, for at least the last week.  Heavy fog.  Some days, it doesn't burn off at all.

Thursday was a pretty busy day at Our Place.  They had a fire drill at 9AM.  Then there was a funeral service for Priscilla, a woman that Janet very much liked at 10AM.  They had just started to serve lunch at 11:30AM when the fire alarms went off again.  First they were told it was a false alarm, but a few minutes later everyone was told to evacuate the building.

The firetrucks came while everyone waited outside.  The culprit - the Volunteer Coordinator, Rodrigo, was lighting sparklers on top of a birthday cake he was giving to a volunteer and it set off the alarm!

 Speaking of birthdays - remember all the parties and festivities chat about how Phil had done squat for Janet's 60th birthday?  Absolutely.  Nothing.  The other day, he starts telling Janet about the plans he is making for his 65th birthday in December.  She didn't say too much, but her eyes glazed over and she gave him her WTF face.  We doggies left the kitchen before it turned ugly.

Check out this huge pumpkin and squash (Janet thinks) that they had in the kitchen at Our Place.  The black bin on wheels comes up to Janet's knees.

I'm such an important doggie, I take up two dog beds.

Good night, everyone.

Last but not least, a cooking success!  Chili with Ground Beef and Italian Sausage, topped with sour cream, cheddar cheese and green onions.