This just in from The Vancouver Sun.....

About that HST vote... The good news is, you've got two more weeks to get your act together and decide to keep it. Do I want to refund Ottawa's donations? NO! Do I want two separate pain-in-the-ass taxes when one is enough? No! Can you see where I'm going with this one? Right out the door, that's where. 
 

Last sunset of June, 2011

And a singularly unspectacular one it is too. This is the kind of weather we have been getting now since last November, and we're all thoroughly sick of it. Call it global warming, or climate change or whatever you like, it's the shits, Kiddies! Welcome to the July First Long Weekend, during which we will all gather around the old campfires and wash out our spare long-johns, while we sing another rousing chorus of 'Stormy Weather'.

 

There it goes again......

Dear Abby:

A picture being worth a thousand words. Enjoy your mail, everyone.
 

Pet Poster.....

Someone on the web is asking $40.00 for this old poster, black & white only. I think a little color adds to its charm, don't you?

Will the sun ever shine again? Sometimes, I wonder.

It's another of those brilliantly non-sunny days in Lotusland, folks.....and I could cheat by tinting this to look like a better day..... 

But that's not going to make it nicer outside, is it?

Rumours say the mail moves again....

Today's 'Question Everything' is:-

"Do any of us really use snail mail these days, except for that junk we keep saying we don't want?"

I suspect the vast majority of us are using the Internet because it's quick, it's easy, it's cheap, and there's nothing to lick. So there, Postmaster!

Every time you lick a stamp, you're kissing the government's ass.
  

Today's weather

Ah, Summer - Isn't it wonderful?

Keep the sunscreen handy, and don't spend too long gawking at those slim young lovelies in their teeny-weeny bikinis......What's that? "No sun and no bikinis? Raingear and snuggies? Winter-like conditions in June?" Relax - they don't call this 'The Rainforest' for nothing.... gas up the boat and enjoy it!

Watching TV is fattening.....want proof?

Apparently, it's true - because while we're watching, we're munching. You can read all about it in this article.
 

Preview......

Preview of tonight's sunset. Obscured by clouds. Pink Floyd and all that.
 

Indians return ?

We're now at a point where we're saying "I'll believe it when I see it" because there have been several aborted attempts recently to revitalize this original brand, and none has succeeded yet. I love the look of this classic old bike. It takes me back to my wild and crazy youth when I dreamed of one day being a hotshot biker and 'king of the road' on a motorcycle that would turn heads.

It's several decades later now, and I know what it's like to be a 'hotshot biker' who leaves hunks of his butt cheeks on all the most interesting corners in beautiful British Columbia, and rides a motorcycle that can turn heads. And I still get a warm and fuzzy feeling from looking at those old-time bikes that inspired me to try all this, but would I actually buy one if they appeared in a local bike showroom? No! I prefer the rush of my ZX-10 with its 10,000 RPM redline, and 137 Hp and top speed of 180 MPH. They didn't make bikes like this when I was dreaming about those old Indians. My ZX-10 is no youngster either, but it's like having your own jet fighter. As one noted bike writer said of these bikes, "There are few cars on the planet that can keep these in sight." And I love it passionately!

Everything old is new again -

Remember a few (or a lot of) years ago, when those built-like-a-brick-outhouse Russian motorcycles tried to invade North America by cutting the prices and pretending that welding splatters at the joints in the high-pressure pipes used for the frame were really quite classy? And each bike had a sidecar that would make Colonel Clink smile like a basket of bananas? Well, they're b-a-a-a-c-k !!! And just as ugly as ever.....See?
 

Summer Solstice sunset

These were taken at about 8:40 PM and the sun hasn't quite set yet at 8:57 PM on our longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.
 

Today's ski report for Cypress Mountain

Ah! So!

Sunny day bring out girls in shorts. Guy walking behind. Must be Spring!

Foxgloves for Father's Day

Father's Day - another of Mom's inventions!

Somebody's Mom invented Mother's Day, and a few years later, around the turn of the 20th Century, another one invented Father's day, mostly because it takes two to tango. 

I've been a father five times, but I can't prove it, because none of those little rugrats are now on speaking terms with their dear old daddy. And that isn't the hardship it might seem. I don't get invited to any fancy family dinners that I'd end up paying for anyway, and I don't get a lot of mushy cards written by total strangers because my own kid is too lazy or too uncaring to express himself or herself personally and directly to their 'old man'. And best of all, I don't get a lot of tearful requests for those 'loans' that never get repaid and are essential for preserving the kids' status quo or dignity or credit rating or reputation amongst his peers. Being completely ignored by my kids turns out to be a definite win-win situation - and teaches them a lot about self-reliance that spending my paltry pension wouldn't do.

So in the interests of better parenting, I recommend the rest of you follow  my example and get your kids to ignore you completely, especially if they are in their mid forties and working on their second divorces......

Happy Father's Day!

Quick lunch.....

A nourishing and tasty lunch.
 

Just passing by....

In case you're confused.....

This is the only genuine Spam - accept no substitutes! And while I'm on the subject, here's something else from the major food groups.......

Don't go home without it! In an emergency it even makes palatable chip dip....
 

The Weeping & Wailing Dept. -

I'm so old, I can remember when Leo Labine played for the Boston Bruins, away back when.  He came home for the summer one year with a bright red convertible and it was a real 'babe magnet'. 

Hooray! The Hockey Season is finally over!

Now, maybe all those dumb-asses with little flags blowing in the wind from both sides of their cars will shut the hell up, and let us get our lives back to normal. After all that hoop-la and concentrated bullshit about how good the Canucks are, they got whupped by the boys from Beantown. Their millionaires were just simply better than our millionaires, that's the whole story, Kiddies. Read it and weep.

 

Coming down - instant firewood!

Firewood, Anyone?

This is how they bring down the big ones in your yard. They limb them, and then climb up and cut them down in short blocks - instant firewood.

The wood butchers strike again....

For those of us unfamiliar with the sight.....

A look at some honest-to-God blue sky, by golly! And it's only six months overdue.
 

Foggy mountain-tops and blooming bottom-lands....

Not a great day on the hilltops.....

But better down here where most of us patiently await nicer weather.
 

Decadent Snack....

Banana cupcake..... the cupcake is chocolate cake, and the icing is banana. Very nice! 

Look, Ma! No leaks!

Old ZX-10 visits Dr. Kawasaki for a check-up

The diagnosis was better than I expected, and the need for a new water pump was solved with a new 0-ring instead. I also got rid of a couple of other little add-ons that I didn't need, like the throttle lock for cruising, and that annoying anti-theft device on the ignition. I doubt that any bike thief with an I.Q. more than twice his shoe size would bother stealing a bike that's already 22 years old. In people years, that's like ninety or so. Fortunately, the bike doesn't know how old it is, so it just carries on, eating Ferraris for lunch, and you've gotta love a bike like this! Even at $95.00 an hour for shop labor. It's still cheaper than a new bike, and it keeps up to the traffic just the same.

Tree-trimming our jungle

When I first moved here, these trees weren't much taller than I am, and now, they're real timber. The branches are bigger now than the trunks were back then. 

New house now has its windows

This morning's weather, in all its splendor

What we see is what we get. Don't like it? Wait 20 minutes!

 Could this be the start of summer? Ask me next week.....

Achtung Monsieur Beep!

Achtung Monsieur Beep: Sie sind gesund und munter und immer noch Spaß auf Gran Canaria und den Süßen?

We haven't heard from you now for quite a long time, and are beginning to wonder.

Trying to shine...

Out touring on the ZX-10

There's still lots of snow on the ski hills....

This is one of the runs at Cypress Mountain today.....

And this is how I got to it. This great old bike is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Would I lie to you? It can almost fly.....
 

My "new" bike......

I wish I looked this good in my old age, and could get my ass down the road as fast as this baby does! This can still show the younger ones how. And if you've never had a bike with a Corbin saddle, you don't know what you've been missing all those years. It hugs your ass like you're sitting in the hand of God! And at the speeds I like to travel, that's very reassuring. 
 

No, it's not a house fire.....

It's just "old Smoky" cooking supper. But you coulda fooled me....
 

Will it ever stop?