Relaxing Hot Tub

Well last Saturday when Tim got home from work he decided that we should go for a hot tub. When we climbed into the tub the dogs were lying on the deck watching us. It was pretty hot out (close to 30°C) and I don't think Diesel & Dexter realized that the water we were in wasn't cool and refreashing rather it was 104°F. Diesel was just shaking cuz he wanted in the "cool" water so bad. I climbed out of the hot tub and BOING Diesel was in and swimming around. Dexter soon followed. Looks like it's time for us to drain our tub and put new water in.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot Hot!

Last Tuesday when Tim was on his way home from work he noticed smoke coming from Stirling. He drove to where he saw the smoke (a few blocks down from our house) and noticed a house on fire. He went straight to the Fire Hall. The other firefighters had just arrived there as well. I went and tried to get some video of Tim fighting his first fire on the Stirling Fire Department. It was pretty hard as the house was surrounded by trees and there were barricades up so I couldn't get very close. I did get video of the water Tim was spraying on the house and of him climbing the ladder with the hose over his shoulder. I have put captions in the video to point these out. Please don't mind the shaky videoing as it was super windy out and the blurriness is because I didn't realize the digital zoom was on.



They fought the fire for close to 5 hours. Tim was really tired when he got home. He said it was hard work. The house is pretty much gutted. It was too old and was falling apart so they couldn't get inside to fight the fire--just had to spray it down from outside.

A few weeks ago I told Tim that the Fire Department should make a calendar. Then on Tuesday I saw the rest of the firefighters and well let's just say that they should NOT be in a calendar. But my husband was hot, hot, hot, hot!

Weird Stuff

I've been tagged by Casey to list 8 unknown/odd things about me. I enlisted my husband's services in coming up with some of these. He's apparently very aware of my weirdness. Anywho here we go:

8) I hate alarm clocks. I'd get up at 5 am every morning if it meant that I didn't have to listen to an alarm clock. The problem is that there's no way I'd be waking at 5 am without the assistance of an alarm clock. Yep, it's a double edged sword.

7) I'm extremely ticklish! Doesn't matter what part of my body. Even the thought of being tickled makes me shiver. Tim is terrible for tickling me all the time. He thinks it's great. He's learned the hard way that if I'm being tickled I don't hold back. I will do what I can to make you stop which will include pinching, kicking, and biting (I don't scratch and I'll explain that in the next point.) Early in our relationship he ended up with a huge bite mark on his shoulder from a time when he wouldn't stop tickling me (I gave him fair warning).

6) I cannot scratch! The thought of skin or other stuff under my nails gives me the creeps. The feeling I get when scratching skin is like dragging my nails down a chalkboard. It makes me shudder. Tim asks me to scratch his back and I have to refuse. I did offer to buy him one of those back scratcher thingys though.

5) Okay Casey...don't puke with this one. I cannot hang up the phone with my husband without telling Tim that I love him. I cannot let Tim go to work without getting a kiss, telling him that I love him, telling him to be careful & drive safe (one time I forgot the be careful & drive safe thing and he was in a car accident, now I never forget). I cannot go to bed without getting a kiss from Tim and telling him that I love him. And I cannot go to sleep without touching Tim. We can cuddle, spoon, touch feet, or hold hands (yes I make him hold my hand in bed...hehe). All of which are okay as long as we're touching. **Hey stop judging me. At least I'm admitting that it's weird by putting it on this list.**

4) I love bed! Not any bed. Just MY bed. It's my favorite place. If I wasn't too cheap and bought a second receiver for our satellite dish for my bedroom TV I'd never leave my bed. At night when I finally get to climb into bed I run towards it, let out a scream/squeal and jump onto the bed. And by the way I can't do the squeal on command. Tim has asked my over and over again to demonstrate the squeal for Trent & Tara and no can do.

3) I once had a stalker that I no longer remember. My family all remember it though. I was a server at a restaurant here in Lethbridge and apparently this dude would come in all the time and then wait out by my car. I guess police were involved and my mom and dad came to help me out with the situation. It was about 5.5 years ago and I have absolutely no recollection of this. I guess I suppressed it.

2) And I'm only mentioning this one cuz Casey bared her soul in hers. If I'm naked and there is a mirror I will dance. Not a naked sexy dance for Tim. It's not sexy at all and it only happens if I'm alone (or at least when I think Tim isn't watching). I remember the first time he caught me doing the jig. I was embarrassed and didn't realize he had been watching me the entire time. The odd thing is that before he caught me that day I didn't even realize that I would do this jig EVERY TIME naked me and a mirror were in the same room. I'm much more aware of it now.

1) Keep wet hair (that's not attached) away from me! I can't deal with wet hair. It doesn't even matter if it's my wet hair. I will dry heave (and sometimes throw-up) if I get one around my fingers while doing dishes, swimming, or showering. And if I get one in my food or heaven forbid my mouth...I'm done for. I will also throw-up if I see someone else pull a strand of hair from their mouth even if they are okay with it. Oh man, I'm gaging and my eyes are watering just writing this. So sick nasty!!

Now I tag: Skye, Mike, Julie W, and Julie A.

Lewis & Clark Caverns

We made it to the Lewis & Clark Caverns in Montana and had such a great time. We left Friday night after work. It took us over an hour to get across the border. The line-up was so long. We didn't have any food that they could take from us, but we did have dog food that they made us give up. Why the heck can't I take dried dog food across the border? Anywho, we stopped driving at 2am and parked at a weigh scale and slept there. Yep, total class. That's how we roll. We got up early Saturday morning and drove the rest of the way to the campsite at the Caverns. Dad, Mom, Kimmy, & Brendan met Tim, Trent, Tara, & I at the campsite. We did the Cavern tour Saturday afternoon. Monday afternoon we went swimming at the Hot Spring in Fairmont, MT. We love the hot springs in Fairmont, BC but it was fun to try these ones out. And of course we threw in some Montana shopping.

Well here are some pictures of the trip:

The group (Tim & Ashlee, Dad & Mom, Kimmy & Brendan, Trent & Tara) at the opening of the caverns. I almost had a heart attack climbing up to it. Right behind Tim is where the campsite is. We could zoom in with our video cameras and see Diesel & Dex (our dogs) hanging out at the site.

Tim & I at the cavern opening.

My sister Kimmy with her husband Brendan inside the caverns.

Tim, Tara, & Trent ducking through a low spot.

Trent & Tara posing for a photo.

Tim & I looking super hot (actually it was very chilly in the caverns).

Me crawling through another low spot. There were a ton of low spots and we bonked our heads a few times. Dad actually drew blood and then had a scab on the top of his head. I bruised my tailbone, but that's a story for another day.

There's Tim!

Me, Mom, & Dad. You can see that some of the formations are broken. I guess back in the day when they did the tour through the caverns by candle light the tour guide would encourage people to take pieces of the formations home. And now, your not even supposed to touch the stuff cuz the oils in your hands will appartently destroy the formations. So don't look too close at our pictures cuz there seems to be some hand touching stuff going on. Some parts of the tour you couldn't help but touch cuz it was such a narrow passage.

And the group (minus Mom the photographer) at the cavern exit.

And here's a photo of our RVs and Diesel & Dex in the back of our truck (with Tim sneaking in the picture).

Our tiny trailer is about the size of Mom & Dad's slide-out on their 5th wheel trailer. But we made it to the caverns. Yep, 14 hours of driving, over an hour at the border, 6 tanks of gas, wind, rain, snow (yep we drove through a crazy snow storm), and no dog food. We had a blast! I'd do it all over again in a second.

Pet Peeves

I hate when people in public washrooms put the toilet seat cover down over the toilet seat. I try my hardest not to touch any part of a public toilet so when these people put the seat cover down then I'm FORCED to lift it. Yucky! Seriously people, just leave it alone. I'm not a germophobic. It's just that it's a public washroom and well you get my drift.

On the topic of pet peeves, I have a few of them.

Another would have to be DRIVERS. And that is all drivers on the road except for the vehicle I'm in. I have so many issues with other drivers I don't know where to begin. Some of my major ones are: driving below the speed limit, not signaling (thank goodness we got our trailer signal light working), tailgating, not knowing how to merge, etc. The list goes on, but my number one driving issue is a Utah Road Block!! For those of you that don't know what that is I'll explain. It's when there is supposed to be a fast lane and a slow lane EXCEPT some idiot has decided to go into the fast lane and drive side-by-side with the slow lane vehicle therefore creating a road block. People in Lethbridge are great at this. But it's named after Utah cuz Tim spent two years there on his mission and told me how horrible it was there and then we drove all the way to Vegas last summer and the only traffic problems we had was the Utah Road Blocks in Utah and the minivan with the Utah license plate in Idaho. Now I know I have a lot of people from Utah that read my blog and I'm hoping you all are the exceptions to Utah drivers. But rest easy cuz the Utah Road Block happens in Alberta all the time.

But my number one pet peeve is leaving the cap off the toothpaste. It takes only 0.5 of a second to put it back on. This stems from sharing a bathroom with my sister. She was horrible for this and therefore I always got nasty, crusty, dried out toothpaste. I haven't had this problem with Tim, thank goodness. It's cuz I buy those flip cap toothpastes now. However he does threaten to leave the cap open when I forget and leave my wet towel lying on the end of our bed (yes, that's Tim pet peeve).

So now it's your turn. Tell me your pet peeves. And for those of you that read this blog and never comment...well here's your chance as well. Let me in on your pet peeves. And Casey, you can't say newlyweds, socks in the middle of the floor, or 11 yr old girls.

Hoodoo vs Mountain vs Poo

Well Casey, I've never heard of someone using hoodoo as another word for poo. Lucky cuz I sure didn't want to be climbing all over giant piles of poo.

Now here's your geology lesson. A hoodoo is also not a mountain. It's a thingy all of it's own. Now remember that Tim & I live in middle of the bald prairies and we found the Writing on Stone hoodoos near our home. We travel to my parent's place in BC to find lovely mountains. Please see exhibits A and B.

Exhibit A



These are funny shaped rocks that are fun to climb on, but if you need a better definition check this out. Ms. Wikipedia explains it a bit better than I could.













Exhibit B


These huge mountains are in Jaffray, BC. Not just funny shaped rocks.

Writing on Stone

So Writing on Stone was so fun. The weather was so nice. We even went swimming in the river that afternoon. Yes, it was THAT hot! We went climbing in the hoodoos Saturday afternoon. We had a blast. And I loved having a trailer with a fridge, sink, nice bed, and toilet. I even had a good sleep cuz I didn't have to worry about bears eating me. Actually if you've ever been to Writing on Stone it's not really the kind of place you'd find a bear. But watch out for the rattle snakes and huge porcupines. However we do a lot of camping in the mountains...and the bears do live there.

Here's me climbing over a hoodoo.

And Tim taking a rest at the very top of a hoodoo.

Check out the cool ledge I got up on...okay I had a boost from Tim.

And there's Tim way the heck out (and up) there. Too high for my liking.

Me with our puppies, Diesel & Dex. They are WAY better climbers than me. Dexter especially. Everywhere Tim went Dex was on his heels. Dexter would jump from the top of one hoodoo to the next with Tim. Diesel would climb down and then back up the next. I thought our dogs turned into mountain lions.

Then Trent & Tara came out to visit us Saturday night. So here's Trent getting ready to do the huge leap and Tim's gonna catch him (it's a long ways down as Tim is standing on a ledge himself). Okay he didn't really jump. Tara and I were having a fit cuz they were up way too high.

Tim thought this hoodoo looked like a climbing wall. Trent & Tara looked on while he tested it out. This was the only time that Diesel & Dex couldn't figure out how to get to Tim.

Tim and Trent made it to the top. Tara and I were very nervous during their climb. Diesel & Dexter were just nervous cuz they couldn't get to Tim. They must have done 50 laps each around the hoodoo trying to find a place to get up to him.

We Made It!

Even after all the obstacles we made it camping. We still don't have a left turn signal, but Tim has this entire week to figure that out before we go camping in Montana next weekend. Well maybe not the entire week as today after work he has to do the electrical for some guy's bathroom renovation. And not tomorrow cuz we have Tara's birthday. And not Wednesday cuz he has to do the electrical for a different guy. Okay so that leaves Thursday. Anyways, camping this last weekend at Writing on Stone was great. Everything worked on the trailer (not counting the turn signal of course). I'll post some pictures of us in the hoodoos later on.
And Tim's still trying to figure out how he can cover up the sweet orange and yellow strip. The colors in the 70's rock!

Camping...too much work!

Today we're going to go camping for the first time in our new (to us) trailer. But I was just wondering if ANYTHING could go right. We've had such a hard time getting things ready.

First off, all last week Tim worked on the lights & brakes wiring on our truck. Now Tim's an electrician, but wiring a truck for trailer lights and brakes isn't the same as a house or a motor. All done..the truck plug was corroded.

Then there was the electric brakes on the trailer. Now if we could only get the wheel off to look at the brakes we'd be doing well. Five people trying to loosen the bolts (yes bolts, not lugs) and four of us give up. An hour later Tim yells, "Are you kidding me?" What is the deal with Righty Loosey & Lefty Tighty??? Was someone smokin' crack when they put left threaded bolts on the wheels instead of sticking with a right thread. Lefty loosey is useless to us from now on? Problem solved.

Have I mentioned the water pump yet? Let's try it out. Works not bad, but there's a little leak. Perfect all we need to do is replace a seal. Now let's take the pump apart to get the seal off so that we know what to buy. Ooops, now we cracked the pump. Off to the store to buy a new water pump for a 1977 trailer. Five stores later, we find a pump. $100+ out of pocket and hopefully Tim knows some plumbing. All fixed.

And last night Tim worked on the tail/signal lights of the trailer. Easier said than done. Can't just replace the fixtures, we (and by "we" I mean Tim) needs to run all new wiring. Okay that's done..let's see how she works. Tail Lights--good! Right Turn Signal--good! Left Turn Signal--crap, both the right and left are flashing! The clock reads 11:30pm...oh well, we'll just make right turns all the way to the campsite.

While Tim worked on the lights last night I tried to pack the trailer. Supplies all fit with tons of storage to spare. Great! I tried to pack the food that I picked up at the grocery store on my way home from work. Problem #1: Why the heck won't the stupid trailer fridge get cold? It worked just the day before. Hmmmm guess I'll just have to use the fridge on propane. Problem #2: Where are all my groceries? I'm missing stuff. Did I put it in the trailer--no! Did I put it in the pantry--no! Did I put it in the deep freeze by mistake--no! Then I call the SuperStore (which is difficult cuz their number is unlisted, but I got it now). "Miss SuperStore, do you have some green onions, wine gums, granola bars, etc there that I may have left behind?" "Yes dear, we do. Bring your receipt in to prove what you bought and I'll give you the items you just listed." "I don't have my receipt. Can't you just give them to me? I just listed off a half dozen of completely random items--do you think I just guessed that someone left those behind in a single bag?"

Quading Videos

Quading Overload!

Friday after work Tim and I loaded up our quad and headed to my parent's place in Jaffray. We needed to do some serious quading in the mountains. We had a blast. My dad had to work Saturday morning so my sister Kimmy and her husband Brendan borrowed my dad's quad and the four of us headed out. We couldn't get to the top of the mountain cuz the snow is still too deep up there, but we did drive near some waterfalls and then hiked down to the falls (it was super steep and I was sure winded climbing back out).

Tim & I at the first waterfall.

Tim at the top of the cliff looking over the second waterfall.

Me too chicken to stand on the edge, so lying down on the cliff to look over the second waterfall.

Me & Kimmy at the top of the second waterfall.

And then that evening Tim and I went out with my dad and his dog Kodiak. Dad knows all the great back roads and quading trails around Jaffray. We went so many places.

Me, Tim, & Kodi (yes the dog rides on the back seat) riding the on the pipeline.

Tim & I at Lake Koocanusa. There's no water in it right now. They'll fill it in the summer.

Koocanusa is great in the spring if you want to play in the mud. Dad got stuck in a huge mud hole and it took Tim almost 20 minutes to winch him out. Dad had to get off his quad (check out how muddy he is).

Back in Jaffray all muddy, but Dad was for sure the worst!

I didn't get muddy as I was videoing Tim and Dad playing in the mud. I'll post some video later.