Google Earth has street views of a bunch of Canadian cities, and I wondered if I would actually be able to see my street.  After all, it’s a pretty insignificant gravel road in Moose Jaw (Where the hell is that)

But it’s there. If this works you should be able to scroll around and see my street and eventually my house… You can click on the little arrows (or cameras, depending on if you are using the full version of Google Earth) to move down the street

View Larger Map

Also, there’s one for Amy and Bert’s house from Oxford St:

View Larger Map

(you can actually zoom around and move down 3rd Ave to get a view of their house from the front – click (or right click if full version) on the little cameras or arrows

and Sherry and Herb’s house. 

View Larger Map

If you need (or want) Google Earth, you can get it at Google Earth and I’ve included the files you can load into it to get the full meal deal…

My House Amy and Bert’s House Sherry and Herb’s House

There.  Remove the curse.  Please.  Over the last two months here is what has happened… I’ve probably missed a couple…

microwave quit working – only worked on high.  Repair method – slapped it like we used to with TV’s and radios when they hummed or picture went goofy… sometimes the turntable rattles a bit now, but if you whack it again it stops.  Sometimes you just have to swear at it.

TV startup – apparently my Samsung  HiDef TV has faulty capacitors.  Repair method – replace capacitors (about 20 bucks) but try and find them – they are ordered, but I haven’t turned off the TV for a month, cause it probably won’t start again (additional electricity bill $????)

Toilet – don’t flush properly (if at all) Repair method – (none of which have worked) – plunger, sewer snake, remove and reinstall toilet, lots of swearing…

Truck oil leak – oil puddles under the truck .  Repair method – open hood and come to the obvious conclusion I have no idea where to even start looking.  Take to shop and pay the nice people $550.00 to replace a broken oil cooler pipe.

Dish Washer leak – it’s a portable, and eventually will be replaced by a built in, but in the meantime, I don’t want to do them by hand.  Anyway, it leaks where you hook it up to the faucet.  Repair method – it’s a simple washer that needs replacing.  They quit making the repair kits two years ago.  You have to buy the whole assembly for $85.00 now.  Still unresolved, but if I hook it up and unhook it about 20 times (and of course, accompanied by swearing) it will eventually stop leaking…

Computer mouse – it just started working if and when it wanted to.  I think the laser was burning out. Repair method – new mouse.  About 40 dollars ’cause I bought one with extra buttons that I have no idea do.  But it is ergonomically designed.

Computer sound card- been stupid for a long time, but I think it’s still associated with the curse somehow. It has always buzzed and had static, and was always turned almost off so I couldn’t hear the noise.  Repair method – new sound card (cheap one – $65.00) I also bought new cables for the second hard drive, because it would vanish every once in a while.  On the drive where I keep all of my music, so now that I have a sound card, I might as well have music working

Oh yeah, let me reiterate that I think my brother is a really great guy, and very wise, and really good looking (for someone his age… )

I suppose I’m tempting fate with that last little bit…

I usually avoid re-mastered oldie CD’s.  Especially favourites like the Beatles.  The “Love” collection re-mastered CD was not the Beatles. And to tell the truth, the CD’s I have of the Beatles just ain’t the same as the original vinyl.  Good sound, but missing something.  I could never put my finger (ear??) on it, but it’s more than the snap crackle pop that goes with those big old fashioned antique analogue disks (notice the “k” – that’s how we spelled “disc” back then)

I was browsing through the CD’s at Wal-Mart today. I picked up and put down and walked around and came back and picked up and put back and pondered some more about a hundred times before I finally decided I would get the remastered Sgt Pepper CD.   Honestly, I’ve bought cars with less consideration.  Oh well, if nothing else, it came with a T-shirt.

And to be really daring, I grabbed the remastered “Let It Be” CD. The one without the T-shirt.  I wasn’t convinced that these new versions would really be better than the ones I already had at home, so a second free collectors t-shirt (for an additional 10 dollars) didn’t seem necessary.

My old records are back!  At least the way I remember them…

As soon as I plugged in the CD, heard the orchestra tuning up, and then Sgt Pepper and his buddies start playing, I knew the band was back.

The bass thumped  the way it should – not the car window rattling,  my-sub-woofer-is-bigger-than-yours stuff, …real bass thump.  The kind you get in front of a live band.  Like the record had.  The original record on thick un-bendable vinyl with a bright green Capitol records label. Definitely not the flimsy floppy thin replacement album I bought later on.

The closed high hat cymbal made the ssstt ssstt sound it was supposed to.  The ride cymbal actually ting tingety tings. And the floor toms had that good old slightly harsh almost too loud maybe even distorted quality.  Exactly how it was supposed to sound.  Not corrected, not filtered.  Exactly as I remember it.

The CD  is a great memory. Best memories?

“Somebody needs to know the time, glad that I’m here”  BVVWOOM (sliding bass note, kick drum, crash cymbal) in Good Morning Good Morning

The chicken at the end of Good Morning, that squawks perfectly in tune and in time with the first guitar note of Sgt Pepper Reprise.  “Bckk Bckk BckkAWWWK!” My old CD seemed to have some sort of corrected volumes that ruined the effect.

The open-close high hat sound in Mr Kite.

The punchy walking bass in A Day in the Life – “found my way upstairs and had a smoke, and somebody spoke and I went into a dream”

The clarinets and oboes, (I think) tubular bells,  and old fashioned guitar background stuff in When I’m Sixty Four.  A new find I never noticed – the rolling “R”s in “grand children on your knee – Vera, Chuck and Dave”

If the first line wasn’t “what would you think if I sang out of tune” would you think or notice that good old Billy Shears might actually be  singing out of key on “With a Little Help From My Friends”  Or is he?

The almost ear-piercing, shrill guitar at the start of “Getting Better” (What do you mean, turn the stereo down…)

And of course “Lovely Rita”  – “got the bill and Rita paid it,” my favourite line, for some unknown reason, with it’s hard strummed guitars… always liked this song

Unfortunately, “She’s Leaving Home” still is almost unbearable.  Never liked it.

There’s even something for your dog -  they’ve included the sound at the end of the long fading note of A Day in the Life that only dog’s can hear.  It was removed from the North American version, so only European dogs had the opportunity previously.

Don’t bug me for a day or two – I’ m on a day trip to the 1960-1970’s  – just because I can and it’s kid of fun.  Now if only my hair would grow back.

The smoking area is in the back parking lot, and you can see the street where a lot of the people park to go to the casino.  I watched a couple of older couples (does that make sense) walking to their car.  In typical senior fashion, the two men were walking side by side, and the two women trailed along three or four steps behind.  When they got to their car, the two ladies jumped into the back seat, and the two men got in the front.

It’s not their fault, because the snow removal plan is a little lacking, but it was soon obvious they were stuck.  The guys got out to push, and one of the ladies got in the front to drive.  Unfortunately, co-ordination seemed to be a stumbling block.  One of the gents went to the back of the car, the other went to the front.  And they both started to push.  Despite this marvelous effort, the car was still not moving.

In a couple of minutes, the lady wound down the window, and I imagine she told them they should both push from the same end.  The men accepted this idea, and both of them walked to the other end.  The key word is BOTH. Not one.  BOTH of them walked to the other end.

They were once again pushing against each other with all their might. and the car still wasn’t going anywhere.  I could see the woman waving her arms at the one at the front, and I’m just thinking here, telling him he should go to the back where his helper is.  I’m pretty sure there was a remark about lack of intelligence I could hear even from my viewpoint, but I’m not positive.

I was just about to walk across the street to help out (after all, there was still two free sides to the car that I could push against) when a group of teenagers came along and basically lifted the car out of the ruts.

Aw well, back to work.

Anyway, we bought a new lo-water, lo-profile model and all should have been good.  Except for the fact that it actually flushed “#1″ sort of haphazardly, and any deposit you could actually be proud of was at least a double flusher.  All of that made the lo-water, environmentally friendly feature redundant.  The only solution was a “How to Use the Plunger” poster displayed prominently on the bathroom wall.

The fact still remains, it’s a good looking, futuristic toilet. I’m sure if I could hook it up to the internet, or use a USB plug and connect it to my computer, I could download an important update that would actually make it functional.  But alas, www. toilets-R-us.com seems to be down for the moment, so I need to revert to the old fashioned plunger and sewer snake method.  Or perhaps a sledge hammer.

I’m leaning toward the sledge hammer at the moment…

It’s a carnivorous dinosaur that lived in China. But that’s not the news. It’s actually the first dinosaur that they can actually prove the true colour.   And it ain’t lizard green! They found tiny amounts of pigment in the feathers (you did know some dinosaurs had feathers right?) and the colour is “ginger” (according to CNN International)

I call it orange, but I’ve been told that men don’t have any clue about colours.

If you’re interested, go to the National Geographic web site to find out more ( http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100127-dinosaur-feathers-colors-nature/)

And yeah, even though I’m an old geezer, I’m still fascinated by dinosaurs…

Here’s some photos:

where's the car

My car is under there someplace.

My back driveway

More on page two…

A little while ago, I might have, maybe, perhaps, possibly, accidentally made fun of my brother’s new microwave and his absolute amazement that the new appliance had a popcorn button.  And a turntable.  And a coffee button.

Okay, I’m still making fun of him, but there’s  a couple of other old sayings that come to mind right now -  “You’ll get what’s coming to you,” “God will get you for that” and the ever popular “Now, what the f— ?!!!” 

Yesterday, I put some pizza in the microwave, hit the reheat button (my brother has one of those now, too) and waited my four minutes  and ten seconds for hot food.  I pulled the plate out carefully, because sometimes they can get hot and set it on the counter.  Then, as is my usual habit, and for the life of me, I don’t know why, I stuck my finger in the re-heated food to see how hot it is.  Don’t laugh, I’ve seen other people do that.  In fact I think it was in the instructions that came with microwaves (like the one my brother just replaced) back in the day.  But I digress…

Anyways, the food was still cold.  Or almost cold. If I had sat on the pizza for four minutes and ten seconds, it would be warmer than this frigid plate before me right now.

So my microwave is now just a noisy, poor imitaion of a rotating “Dessert Dispaly” (remember they had those in restaurants years ago – I could watch the banana cream pie for hours, but again I digress)

So the moral of the story is: “Cold pizza really ain’t that bad”

I guess a new microwave is on my shopping list