Spirited Away.

My Slightly Sideways Look At Life And Trucking In Canada/US

The spelling mistakes add to the charm of this Blog..!! A Blog is like a woman..???? you start at the bottom and work your way up,,,!!!!!

Für min chumpels üs di schwiitz, nim da google übersetze

Just go to Google Translatehttp://translate.google.com/translate_t



Friday, June 5, 2009

A Day At The Races

Just a 15min drive from Niverville,lies the little village of St. Adolph,a quiet little hamlet,that host all through the summer one of the loudests sports ive ever attended, stock car racing.
This years season has started late due to the shitty weather,and yesterday was almost washed out as well, but the race gods did their bit and racing got underway,after the US and Canadain natonal hymns,nothing happens here unless they sing Oh Canada or the Star Spangled Thong ??






They race various classes, and to be honest Dave http://thecaldwellsincanada.blogspot.com/( he lives down the road and is a Scott) wernt to sure what the classes are but we had great fun watching high powerd bumber to bumber racing.


Friday, May 8, 2009

A BIT DAMP

Well it looks like we've kicked winter in to touch,what happens when snow melts,,,,yup we get water,, and lots of it !!!!!!!!!





OK where has my house gone..??????

OK this IS the main road,,should i even be driving/floating here ???

Will this never end, its like Waterworld,,i could be kevin Costner !!!!

Woo hoo dry land....lucky we bought the house in the dry bit...hee hee

Monday, March 23, 2009

Fallen Way behind,,,Ooooops

Well this wont do will it, all those avid fans waiting on the next thrilling enstallment of my life in Canada, and me being a lazy bugger,,,,
So whats new ?? Well on feb 14th i got married,,,dead romantic eh, valentines day,such a smooooothie

Yes Louise and i both said "i do" so that means she now my misses..
We had a dead simple ceremony here in our house, just a few friends then of for a scrumptious meal then back here for drinks etc. We did it our way,,

14 days later i was back in hospital having bits chopped of and other bits sewn on,,,,i look and feel like a friggin quilt,,, The OP took 4 hours longer than expected,8 in total, the reason being bits of me were missing from the original accident ???? It seems the muscles that opperate my little and ring finger were ripped out, and probably lying on the Hwy75 30miles south of Atlanta GA,,if any one happens to be passing that neck of the woods please keep an eye open ok,,
So the surgeon did some fancy needle work, after having taken a 2foot long slab of meat from my left leg and plopped it on my arm,,,,pretty simple stuff really, sowing blood vessels together no thicker than a human hair for 7 hours
Upshot is my arm looks tonnes better than before and finger movement is loads better too,hopefully with loads of therapy i'll get most of my hand motion back,,,

On a happier note, winter has given way too spring,not without a fight tho, the snow is melting quickly, to quickly actualy so their might be some flooding along the Red River, it soon will be garden and BBQ weather, cant wait,,

Saturday, February 21, 2009

CAR FOR SALE...!!!!!

Hey do any of you who are coming to Canada Winnipeg area want to buy a car ????
For Sale 2000 SATURN SL1

Options : AM/FM Stereo, Air Conditioning, CD Player, Dual Air Bag, Power Steering, , , Tilt Wheel

Year: 2001
Make: SATURN
Model: SL1

Mileage: 160,000
Engine : 4-Cyl. 1.9 Liter
Transmission : Manual
Drive : FWD
Interior Color : Black
Exterior Color : Brown


Price: $4125 Call 388-6026

Friday, February 20, 2009

Info on Immigrating to Canada

Hi all, yup im still alive and kicking.e
I recieve many a request for info regarding coming to canada as a trucker, i am willing to help as many families as possible,specialy those who are willing to help themselves.. research,research and then loads more,, Blogs like mine and many others go along way in providing a parsonal view on living and working here.. Their are offcourse many other sources of inside info on immigration, two that i highly recommend are,,,,, http://www.britishtruckersabroad.com/index.php
and
http://britishexpats.com/forum/

Hope this helps any hopeful immigrants to Canada be it as a trucker, taillor or computer maker, the info and help you need is in these forums....
Sorry but i cant enter into direct contact via my Email for obvious reasons, but you will find me on both site as either "gremmie" or Spirit 8 and will gladly answer any questions you have either on the open forums or via PM...

Friday, January 30, 2009

Big Boyz Toyz.....!!!!!!

So what do "boys" play with in Canada during the loooooooooooooong coooooooooooooold winters,well if they are completely mad they go snow mobile racing,,, a warm sport doesnt seem to enter their frozen brains... Its just like motor cross but in the friggin cold, but the biggest nutters are those that go and watch...moi...4 hours of noise and a bitter cold that is beyond belief.... still enjoyed it tho...

I also got the Chevy truck fixed and put that on the road, she,s a Cevy Silverado 5litre v8 with all the bells and whistles ...Woo Hoo

Not bad for a freeebie, she had sat 3 years on her rims,,,,poor poppet no one loved her,,, so Graham to the rescue,,i,m a sucker for a damsel in distress,,,, Well all the gal needed was some TLC,,, tender loving care,,, plus a new batterie,windscreen wipers,2 bulbs, and an oil change, then Varoom the old gal burst into song,first turn of the key,,, see i still know how to turn on the chicks,,, I put her through the spa and wellness centre,,,, car wash and valet service,,, And the old gal repayes me with a comfy ride...!!!!!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Next OP !!!

As ive mentioned before, the last OP was a bit of a flop,finger movement didn,t improve at all...
So it was meet and greet with the surgeon today to discuss what to do next,,,gulp ,,,its going to be a bigy,4 -5 hour OP, a new skin graft,micro sugery, 5 days in hospital, but in 3 months time,, The last OP must be completely healed before he can chop me up again,,, i might just get deppressed soon,,

Friday, January 9, 2009

My Health is going from bad to worse

This is from Gremmies colonoscopy journal:
I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis. Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner.I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!'
I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America's enemies.
I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor.Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep.
You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug; then you fill it with lukewarm water.(For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.)Then you have to drink the whole jug.This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground
.MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough
.At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand.
There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate.'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said.And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade.
If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.=========================

Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies: (the last one is the best!)
1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!
2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'
3. 'Can you hear me NOW?
'4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'
5. 'You know, in Arkansas, we're now legally married.'
6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?
7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'
8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'
9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!
10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'
11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'
12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'And the best one of all:
13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head was not in there?’

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Scars and Cold Friends

OK to up date on the health side,i had the hand OP on friday,took only an hour and was most probably not a succes... well not to the degree i and the Docs had hoped..


But i now have yet another juisy scar to add to my collection..they managed to clean up the scar tissue from inside my hand,but the tendons allthough in tact are blocked further up my fore arm..This means another OP and small skin graft,, woo hoo

But now to more enjoyable subjects,my long eared fluffy friend is back,well i dont think he ever really left... We had yesterday heavy snow fall and strong frickin cold winds -35 ish.



30cm of fresh snow when i opend the double garage doors


I took a peek out of the window and low and behold Bunny had snuggled into a snow drift for shelter..
Home Sweet Home
And this is where my Cold long eared friend stayed for approx 30 hours

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Had enough of this,,,

DIARY OF A SNOW SHOVELER

December 8: 6:00 PM

. It started to snow. The first snow of the season andthe wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window, watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma MosesPrint. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!December 9: We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow coveringevery inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be alovelier place in the Whole World? Moving here was the best idea I've everhad. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I didboth our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snow plow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life!


December 12:

The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment.My neighbour tells me not to worry; we'll definitely have a white Christmas.No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't thinkthat's possible. Bob is such a nice man. I'm glad he's our neighbour.


December 14:

Snow, lovely snow, 8" last night! The temperature dropped to-20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away,but I warmed up by shovelling the driveway and sidewalks. This-is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn'trealize I would have to do quite this much shovelling, but I'll certainlyget back in shape this way. I wish I wouldn't huff and puff so.


December 15:

20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer.Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. Ithink that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.


December 16

. Ice storm this morning. Fell on my ass on the ice in thedriveway putting down salt, Hurt like hell. The wife laughed for an hour,which I think was very cruel.


December 17:

Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere.Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her.Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit, it to her. God Ihate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my ownliving room.


December 20.

Electricity's back on, but had another 14" of the damn stuff last night. More shovelling. Took all day. Freakin' snowplow came by twice. Tried to find a neighbours kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow-blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying.


December 22:

Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inchesthe white shit fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt tillAugust. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to piss. By the time I got undressed, pissed and dressed again.I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he's too busy. I think the asshole is lying.


December 23:

Only 2" of snow today. And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she. nuts??? Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's damn well lying.


December 24:

6". Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel.Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the son of a bitch who drives that snowplow, I'll drag him through the snow by his balls. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at a 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over whereI've just been! Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was busy watching for the freakin'snowplow.


December 25:

Merry Christmas. 20 more inches of the @#$%'~& slop tonight.Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. God I hate the snow!Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot. If I have to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" one more time,I'm going to kill her.


December 26:

Still snowed in. Why the hell did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.


December 27:

Temperature dropped to -30:and the pipes froze.


December 28:

Warmed up to above -50. Still snowed in. THE BITCH is driving me crazy!!!


December 29:

10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it couldcave-in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think Iam?


December 30:

Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for a milliondollars for the bump on his head. The wife went home to her mother. 9"predicted.


December 31:

Set fire to what's left of the house. No more shovelling!


January 8:

I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keepgiving me. Why am I tied to the bed?