Phone Dump

Where the heck have I been for the last month? If you follow Kelly’s blog, and I think most of you do , you know that life has been a little crazy for the last little while.  But with her up in The Big Smoke now, I’m finding myself with a lot of time on my hands, albeit often bored and unmotivated.  Of course I miss her, that’s not a shocker, but it was  my lack on interest in doing things without her that surprised me. Without being able to share fun things with her, they aren’t nearly as fun. Meh.

Don’t worry, I’m not sitting around moping and pining after her. It’s not at all like that. I am so happy for her and for us. She is getting to do what she has thought about for a very long time, what partner wouldn’t want that for their significant other? I’m just trying to keep busy until we can be together again in the same city and have date nights and movie nights and all that other fun stuff.

So I was fumbling around with my blackberry this morning and I thought it might be a fun post if I just randomly dumped some of the odds and ends in my picture folder and explained the story that went along with the picture.  It will hopefully give you a bit of an idea of what I’ve been doing, and maybe even give you an insight into how my brain works. Or doesn’t work. Whatever.

This one was taken today, at the Buskers Festival. It’s hard to see, I was pretty far back, but the young lady was sweet, sexy and funny. She incorporated two men from the audience into her show, and in this shot she standing on them while getting ready to juggle three flaming torches. I wonder what her insurance rates are like. Just before this, I had gone to the new downtown farmers market and bought green beans, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, a loaf of rye bread and a delicious peach and strawberry pie. Yum!

Yes, this is the back of a car. On my 3pm break from work yesterday I went for a walk with my friend Alfredo. As we walked past the area where the Buskers festival was going to be, they were setting up a car raffle and this car was on display. The sign on the car said “vehicle supplied by Dan Kane Chev/Cadillac”. That’s great. But it’s a Ford Focus. (?)

This is a US Coast Guard patrol boat. I was at the marina watching the sun set, and this boat came right into the marina. I thought it quite odd, and honestly I was somewhat annoyed. There were a few guys standing around having a coffee and they seemed to know a thing or two about a thing or two. So I asked them, “are they allowed to just wander in here like that?” The answer was not what I had hoped to hear. Apparently our government, according to these guys, has entered into an agreement with the US Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security to patrol our waters around here. “They pulled me over when I was out last week” he told me. As the boat exited the marina, I noted there were four very large guys  inside that little boat.  They saw me watching them and waved. I didn’t wave back. Take that.  (for my American friends, it’s sovereignty and pride issue. We have police boats, we can police our own waters, I don’t understand the reason for this)

I found a new conservation area to wander around in, and I took a few pictures to send to Kelly to let her know what I was up to at that moment. This is a small river that runs through the park, and miles from there it flows into lake St. Clair. I realized after taking this shot that I was way too close to the edge. How did I realize? One of my tires slipped and spun on the mud as I tried to back away. Only a little, and just for a second, but it was enough to scare the poop out of me. Sometimes I do stupid things.

This is the sunset I was watching when the US Coast Guard interrupted me. I sent it to Kelly. With some love attached to it.

This one I took not because I thought it was a really cool looking boat, which it was, but because I was curious about the flag on the back. That flag usually tells you where the boat is from. Being part of the St. Lawrence Seaway means that we often see some pretty fantastic yachts. I just about wet myself a couple years ago when I realized I was looking at the SIS-W owned by Charles Walgreen Jr.  Why did I care?  Because it’s a massive luxury yacht AND it’s wheelchair accessible. Unfortunately, Mr. Walgreen died last year. The SIS-W is currently for sale and could be mine for a mere $15 million. Oh to be ubber rich. Sigh.  Anyway, I did not recognize this flag.  I did some research and I think it’s a United States Power Squadrons Ensign. Yawn.

Detroit was hosting their annual hydroplane races, and as part of the festivities, an F-18 fighter plane does some pretty crazy stuff over the race site for about 45 minutes. I was on my lunch by the water, so I took this picture. That little spec in the sky is an F-18. I swear it is.

And lastly, this is my van, parked in a deserted picnic rest area off the highway on my return trip home after dropping Kelly off in Toronto. I didn’t even remember taking this until I saw it on my phone. I thought my van looked good under a tree, all by itself, not a soul around. Moments after I took this,  I was backing into the van and I mis-judged the angle. One of my wheels fell off the edge of the ramp and I got stuck, one wheel on, one off, teetering on the edge, unable to get any traction. The sun setting, nobody around. There was a parking lot way behind me, but from there, all anyone would see is a parked van, I was on the other side. I had my phone, but other than call the police, I didn’t know what to do. I was still about an hour from Windsor and anyone I know.  I sat there pissed off at myself for about 5 minutes, and then started rocking my chair violently from side to side while spinning the tires. I was either going to flip it over, or get myself unstuck. It took about 20 minutes, and I pulled a muscle or two, but I finally was able to get myself out. Like I said before, sometimes I do stupid things.