Amy and Bert were married on Saturday. The ceremony was in my back yard, and despite the rainy day, things could not have been better.

I’ll post a few photos for now, and some more later on.

The last couple of weeks have been, to say the least, stressful on me.  But, I think we’re all happy with the result.  Of course, there’s a few little details that will need to be completed after Amy and Bert and Jack move in (we hope they can move in – the last remnant of stress still hanging on – waiting for the mortgage approval)

We decided to get an appraisal on the house, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, and on Tuesday evening we were still installing the furnace and air conditioning.   I didn’t know that type of work involved a bottle of rum, and a bottle of rye, but apparently, it’s a prerequisite.  On Wednesday morning, the were still a few final touches to finish up, but we made the deadline with an hour or two to spare.

Here’s a few photos…

more on the next page…

Bert proves he’s more than a house renovator and just another pretty face to shows us his skills at the grill.  I’m not surprised though.  I know Amy’s specialty is Kraft Dinner served to you in one of three ways – soggy and overcooked, crispy and undercooked, or instant in the microwave. 

And this is as good as time as any to comment on Bert’s ambitious endevour at the little shack.  Even though I tend to make it sound like a “we” or “our” project, Bert deserves most of the credit.  Thanks Bert!

The foundation on the south side of the house had been falling in for a couple of years. We found there there was actually two (maybe three) basement walls.  In any event, the wall supporting the side of the house needed to be repaired.

We smashed out the old concrete sidewalk beside the house, and removed about 6 inces of the dirt to see how bad the damage was.  Bert took the time to tidy up the stucco at this time as well.

Of course, the first item on the list was to get rid of the old lathe and plaster on the second floor.

And that makes me a grandpa again!!!

As soon as I get some more photos, I’ll get them posted here.

Here’s a couple that were emailed to me. I’m hoping for more, but mom claims she’s kinda busy…

I had never used it, but it was supposed to let me take a photo from as far as 25 feet away. So, when someone said they wanted a family photo while we were in Edmonton, I thought it was the chance to try it out.

After I figured out how to make it work (you have to change some of the set-up on the camera to enable it) I set the camera on a tripod and lined everybody up and pointed the marvelous gadget at the camera and pushed the clicker button.

Nothing happened.

So I waved it around (cause that’s what you do with a remote control when it doesn’t work) and tilted it up and pointed it down and aimed to the right and then the left and pushed harder on the button and pushed again and still nothing happened. I moved a little closer and pushed the button and still nothing. About 5 feet from the camera I got a beeping sound, and a red light started flashing, but by the time I got back to where I should be, it was too late.

In the end, one of Ashley’s friends acted as the remote control. Not quite so high tech, but it worked better.

There was some sort of a game going on here. Being old, with brittle and weak bones, I wasn’t going to get involved. I think it was called “bum fights” or something like that. I believe the idea was to try to make the other person fall off the trampoline, or at least lose their balance.

Sounds and looks kind of dangerous, but it DOES appear to be fun. So is sky diving, bungee jumping and race car driving (or so they say) I’m not going to try any of those neither.

Somehow, even though I never understood the rules, I think that Amy was defeated in every round, even though she was obviously the most determined bouncer.