Another Beautiful Road Trip

It's hard to believe that May 2-4 (24th) weekend is here again. It doesn't seem like a year has gone by since that hair raising drive through the Cabot Trail...I guess time really does fly when you are having fun.

The weather was even better this year than last for a nice drive so Lyndon and I packed up the dogs, Maddie and Tucker and headed out Sunday afternoon around 2:30 pm. I've been wanting to make the drive up to Miramichi so this was to be the destination of the day.

Tucker wasn't too impressed with the car ride to start with but eventually settled down to sleep on the blanket in the back seat. A couple hours into the drive we stopped to let the dogs out to do their business and get a drink of water. Maddie, being a more seasoned traveller took only a small drink, enough to wet her whistle, while Tucker gulped down as much as he could before the dish was taken away. It wasn't long after we started driving again that the water he drank along with his breakfast made a big mess on the blanket! We pulled off on a dirt road where there was fresh water running out of a culvert in the ditch and Lyndon washed off the blanket...none to impressed with the job I might add.

After taking an unexpected scenic route we finally arrived in Miramichi around 6:30 pm. Of course it would be my luck that there was a huge bridge to cross...not my favorite thing to do...but I managed it without a panic attack.

One thing I have noticed out here is that there are many cemetaries overlooking the water. How very peaceful they are and very suitable for the area.

We found a place called French Fort Cove where we had a nice walk in the woods and the dogs got a bit of exercise too.


I should have looked up Miramichi online before our adventure because I found some things on their website that I would have been interested in going to, such as "The Kitchen Party" but there is always next time.


As the sun started to set we decided it was time to head back home, taking a different route than the one we took to get there. Instead of going back to Moncton we headed to Fredricton then back to highway 3...only saw two deer and two police cars the entire trip.

Home safe and sound at 12:30 am ready for bed.

Another Mouth to Feed

I know...just what we need!! A few days after the fire Lyndon's friend Shawn showed him the new puppy they had. There is still one left if you want one, he told Lyndon. So, Lyndon came home and told me about this puppy and that he wanted to call and see if there was still one left...it's father is a black lab and the mother is a shepherd/lab cross. I really didn't want a big dog, I wanted another little dog if we were going to have another one but tell me this...how do you say no to someone who's face got torched and yet they haven't complained once???? I figure I am lucky that a free dog is all he wanted because I probably would have said yes to anything Lyndon asked for with him looking so pitiful!

So the call was made and off we went to see the "Pity Puppy". Of course once you see it you're going to take it. He was just so darn cute and lonely...all his brothers and sisters were gone. The man handed me the little black ball of fur and he immediately nuzzled into my neck and whimpered...."take me home...pleeeeeease!" Well, that's how we got the new dog who during his first night inside a house curled up tucked inbetween our two pillows to sleep on the bed, peed on my hand during the night and somehow still managed to worm his way into our hearts.

Welcome home Tucker Marshall

FIRE!!

Sunday, April 25th, 2010...suppertime. Lyndon had just taken the ham steak off the barbeque and came inside to put a pot of veggies on the stove to cook. Having turned them on, he resumed playing his game on the computer while we waited the few minutes it would take for them to boil. Within just a few minutes I heard a POP!!! I looked up from the computer towards the kitchen where the sound came from and through the window in the door leading to the kitchen I could see and orange glow. "There's a fire!!" I yelled and we both jumped into action. Lyndon was the first to reach the door and upon opening it the flames leapt from the pot which was on the back burner (a pot with less than 1/4 inch of grease had been left sitting there) and caught him on the side of the face. He rushed through the kitchen, grabbed the fire extinguisher and within less than a minute from the time I yelled, the fire in the pot was out. Flames were still licking away up inside the range hood and after Lyndon removed the pot of grease he quickly extinguished that fire as well. In all the commotion Maddie had run out into the street and was barking feverishly...a car stopped and a nice man got out to see if we needed help as he saw Maddie and then noticed the smoke billowing out the open door. Everything seemed to be under control so they went on their way.

Inside we started to clean up and figure out what the heck had happened and what we were supposed to do next. We concluded that the back burner where the pot of grease was sitting had gotten turned on instead of the front burner with the veggies (something that happens to everyone). I called our neighbour Sandy and he came right over. I then called Brandon McGee our real estate agent/insurance man and he too said.."I'm on my way." Meanwhile, Lyndon had gone upstairs and I heard water running up there. My first thought was that the fire had gone up through the wall so I called up the stairs to see what was going on. He assured me it was ok, he just got a little burn. Next thing I know, he comes downstairs, hands me a towel and says..wet this down. I did this and then turned to hand it to him and saw the burn on his face and neck. I don't know how he managed to stay so calm and collected...I thought I was going to throw up!! He wrapped the towel around his head and Sandy told me to take him to the hospital..he would stay here and mind the house and watch Maddie. After making a quick call to the medical clinic to be sure it was open and there would be someone there to see him we were off.

It was a scarey drive to Black's Harbour as Lyndon had the seat back and was laying there shivering. I was afraid he was going to go into shock so I sped up, not too fast though as I knew the last thing we needed was to be in a car accident. Lyndon looked at me and asked, "why are you driving so fast? I think you are in worse shape than I am!" He was probably right but I checked my speed and was still within the limit even though to me it felt like we were crawling.

The nurse that had answered my call earlier and told me that the doctor would be gone but a nurse would be there to see Lyndon greeted us and also informed us that the doctor had stayed as well to tend to him. Whew, what a relief! Before too long they had him bandaged up and looking very much like Osama BinLaddin and when I went in to see him, Lyndon was cracking jokes with the attending....everything just seemed so surreal to me! After receiving a shot of Demerol, a doctor's note for his work and a few tylenol 3's to go, we were on our way back home.


Brandon had been in and taken pictures for insurance and had then left to head down to Black's to meet us at the hospital. We had just missed him apparently and a few minutes later he also returned to the house. He assured us we would be taken care of through insurance and that someone would call us in the morning. He also offered us a hotel for the night but we chose to stay home with Maddie.

The next day the insurance adjuster came and gave us all the information we needed. He was fabulous as was everyone else that helped us through this.

So now, almost a week later, Lyndon is healing up nicely, we have our new stove, we are gradually getting everything washed from all the smoke, now it's mostly just the upstairs to finish. Once all the cleaning is done we have to paint every ceiling in the house as well as the whole kitchen. Tomorrow I plan on spending most of the day at the laundromat washing up all the bedding I had just done as well as most of our clothes. It's astounding at how much damage and extra work is caused by a fire that lasted less than one minute. We were soooo lucky that we were here when it started, I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if we had been sitting on the deck or even anywhere else in the house and had not heard that pop!

Thanks to Lyndon for remembering we had a fire extinguisher (this hadn't even crossed my mind), to Sandy and Lise our awesome neighbours who are always there for us and to Brandon McGee and Stanley Insurance who continue to take very good care of us.