Christmas Slips, Slides and Crashes

So today started out as many recent Christmases have, with an early morning trek down Highway 7 towards Ottawa to visit my sister. What we totally ignored was the warnings of a pending rain/ice storm. In Peterborough it was basically fine, slightly above zero, rainy and dark, not particularly slippery and it seemed pretty consistent. By the time we got to Kaladar, we needed gas so we stopped – and I immediately wiped out when I stepped out of the car due to the sheet of ice on the ground – I had no idea it had got so bad. It was indeed so bad that the pumps weren’t working, so we moved onto the next station which thankfully was open.

We continued down the highway and made it to Perth, and as per usual, I wanted to do back roads, as highway 7 was getting a little busy. I slowed down dramatically for my turn onto Tennyson Road, turned onto the turn-off and tried turning onto the road to no avail – then quickly tried braking, again with no success. We found ourselves nose first into the most inconvenient, deep ditch, right in front of another car that was iu the ditch going the other direction.

The OPP was already there for the other car, so called for a tow truck and did all the police report paperwork needed. Amy and I were both OK, though she was understandably shook up from the experience. We sat in the car for another 20-30 minutes while we waited for the truck, contacted Kimberly for a rescue, and watched as the tow truck pulled our car out of the ditch – unfortunately leaving a significant amount of the front end behind. The officer took us to Tim Hortons while we waited for Kimberly, touched base with the Dafoe clan to let them know we were ok, and waited.

The rest of the day was actually pretty great, as Kimberly’s Christmases always are – full of games and laughs and Hagrid cats and dinner, which was a wonderful distraction from a pretty awful start to the day. Kimberly then drove us home very late in the day – I was pushing to leave a bit earlier on a train, but she wanted us to stick around, and stuck through the drive, which was thankfully quite a bit less harrowing than the road up to Ottawa.

We will see how the insurance pans out.

Out of town adventures and Shai Hulud

Today the clocks were pushed forward an hour and we got an extra hour of sleep – did we actually take it? Not at all, we were both up way too early, but we did get in a walk with Brocky in the morning, as well as some laundry.

My main mission for the day was to finally see Dune, the long delayed mega blockbuster I’ve been waiting for years for – and it was pretty amazing. It’s hard to really be wowed by a story I’ve heard and read and experienced so many times, but this is probably the new definitive interpretation. Amy got excited and seemed to really enjoy it, she even started reading the book tonight, and asked me a billion questions about all the obscure references and words in it.

Our secondary adventures involved going to Bed Bath and Beyond, where we got a new comforter, non-haunted ice cube trays and little egg frying forms, all thanks to a wedding card from my sister – we’ll still probably bug her for a tour of the Ottawa one, or we’ll just bug her in general.

We also went to Canada Computers for the first time in two years – miraculously, I didn’t buy anything – nor did I buy anything at Best Buy. Some day, we should return to the little plaza where Bed Bath and Beyond is – assuming we leave our credit cards at home – that plaza specifically has all sorts of cool places, including a different Canada Computers that we didn’t have time for, Visions Electronics, assuming I give them another chance, and loads of other places – that whole stretch of road has grown pretty rapidly – and it reminds us of Cameron, since she came from right around the corner from that locale.

Honeymoon

For the past couple of days, we’ve spent some time out at Lake Edge Cottages near Lakefield and Young’s Point. It wasn’t the best weather for adventures, but it was pretty great weather for hiding indoors at a cottage.

We opened gifts, and I made it so we had to delay opening them, only opening one at a time every few hours – our last gift being opened just before we left – this gave us something more to look forward to, and let us reflect on the great words and thoughts shared with our loved ones, and so we could enjoy the presents even more. We have a lot of Thank You’s to get expressed.

As for the cabin, it was pretty amazing – it feels like you’re out in the middle of nowhere, though Highway 28 is seconds away. Each cabin gets wifi and a hot tub and a full apartment, so not exactly roughing it – we actually went in the hot tub on the second night there, and it was pretty snuggly.

Hopefully we can go back, maybe next year for a weekend. It’s the sort of escape that lets us experience far-away places, but not actually be far away.

Tied the knot!

Amy and I finally did the public deed and had our wedding after several delays and obstacles. Obviously for reasons of budget and COVID, it was a tiny ceremony, but many of our most favourite family and friends were present, and lots of laughter, smiles and kisses ensued.

Kimberly was Amy’s Maid of Honour, and stepped up into this role like a champ and proved why she’s one of the best people I’ve known. She was also instrumental in creating one of our favourite wedding gifts, a book of family quotes, stories, photos and details that we adore endlessly. Vincent kept her afloat, and even helped out with some of the preparations and challenges I had before the ceremony.

Jason was my best man, and he was expectedly amazing at it, being his bubbly, endearing self, even loosely agreeing to drinks with my bubbly, endearing father in law. Chrystal kept him grounded as she always does, and it was great to see her as I so rarely do.

Mom and Uncle Bob were there, and it warmed my heart that they could both be there on our day, I don’t get to see Bob very often, especially since Grandma Baker died and COVID started.

Mom and Dad Dafoe were obviously there too – Dad’s speech wasn’t the big spectacle he warned us of, but it was from the heart, which I always knew it would be. They showered us with love and gifts and even more gifts, especially in the form of paying for the ceremony, reception and photos.

My favourite part of the day of course, selfish me, was spending time with Amy after the fact – the quiet but cozy ride back to home for a brief pit stop before a rainy trip out to Lake Edge Cottages for a tiny little honeymoon.

1.5 days left

It’s my last day of work before a 4 day weekend, and a day and a half until the missus and I tie the knot. Getting nervous, but keeping busy.

We have everything packed in the car now, so things are getting real. We also found Amy’s bathing suit for our weekend at the local cabin.

Tomorrow I will be driving all over the place to drop off paperwork to our officiant, but mostly I get to relax I think. Amy will be heading to Belleville tomorrow and I won’t be seeing her again until we’re ready to share our vows. It’s always hard to be away from the missus, but I know she’ll be lovely when I finally see her again as she walks down the little aisle.

4 Days Until the Big Day

It’s Tuesday morning, the week before our twice postponed wedding – I think I’m pretty ok, though I’ve been sleeping more poorly other nights this past week.

We’ve received loads of gifts from unexpected sources, from Amy’s TOPS pals, to Aunt Beth, and my sister and mom’s week of bridal shower gifts, one of which was dual-addressed to me as well. We certainly aren’t expecting gifts, as that’s not the goal, but we’re super shiny and happy for the extra attention.

I got an extremely mediocre haircut on Saturday afternoon – my first paid haircut since before the pandemic. I know at least some of it is my own lumpy head and buzz cuts for the past two years, but you’d think they’d be able to do something better with what I had. Oh well, hair gel will hide all sins.

It’s a short work week for both of us, and we get a four day weekend starting on Friday, going to Monday, and a little honeymoon surprise that fulfills both Amy’s desire to get away, and my desire to stay close to the critters, hopefully I will post more on that soon.

Dunn Family Reunion

A rare, non-funeral related Dunn family reunion was held in Athens at my dear Aunt Debbie’s place – it was a quiet affair, from my perspective at least, as my section of the reunion was predictably hushed, but it was good to see everyone, including some new faces.

Amy wasn’t able to attend as the date kept switching on us at the last minute and she actually booked off the 11th, so lots of driving for me, but it was good to go on adventures to see my fam and get some good vittles.

Welcome to Cameron

We tend to prefer stability in our family situation, at least I do – maybe we’ll change this policy in the future, but having one empty food dish after years of seeing three cats rush over for meals is a big symbol of the empty place in our life where Punky lived.

In July, we were approved by the Durham Humane Society to adopt Cameron, and she has moved in and is very slowly getting used to her new home. She’s been almost catatonic with fear and hiding under the bed, and after much strife, we got her to hide in the living room, but have to move the couch every day to get her out.

We are finally getting snuggles and recognition now, though she’s still very cautious and chaotic. We do love this little ball of nerves though!

Rest in Punkiness – 2002-2021

My dear Punky passed away last evening after a quick deterioration. She had gone blind 2 or 3 weeks ago, but was still trucking along, being bad and snuggly. In the past 3 days, despite profound blindness, she actually got herself on the bed and was sleeping on my pillow. But last night she started having breathing difficulties and collapsed, and we made a very tough decision.

19 years is a good, long life for a naughty kitten, and we’re all lucky to have known her!

InstaCart is rife with scams and awfulness

It’s tough to continue trying to ‘make money’ with this service

  1. Amy has mostly lost her motivation, which sucks because my own motivation was always lacking
  2. My most recent delivery actually cost me money – 2 hours of not interacting with a scammer who chose to not to use “contactless” delivery – ending with having to return all of the items to Walmart – the workers there looked at me like I was ruining their day
  3. The tax burden is pretty enormous, I went into debt to overcome last year’s charges for Amy and I

Amy has basically uninstalled the app at this point – I have not, and reserve the right to continue, but it’s been very trying lately, and I haven’t done a delivery in a while.