We were working on putting the finishing touches to the basement when the lights flickered on and off then ....pzzt darkness befell us.

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There was a power cut I called into to NB Power to report an outage. We sat on the deck enjoy our enforced break and I took advantage of the dire situation and used my Kelly Kettle to knock up a quick brew... Really impressed Julie with my emergency preparedness. The NB power truck turned up and and the girls went outside to the front to watch the fuss. SHOCK HORROR it was a squirrel who caused the power cut! The conversation went something like this.

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"What colour is the squirrel is it red or grey?" (daughter asks NB power man),

NB Power man answers ..."I dont know, but It is black now!" (he missed of the crispy bit of the description).

Sadness decends,  OMG it could be Rusty our relatively tame Red Squirrel who eats out of your hand We know the cable was one of Rusty's routes across all the drive ways.

 Rusty in winter (well April) ahhh isnt he cute?

(actually it is a she, I checked when it crawled up the screen in front of me )

Jokes about roasted nuts do not go down well. Or my remarks about terrorists training suicide squirrels to sabotage the decadent Western electrical supply.

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Anyway today I call home to let them know I am still alive in Montreal, and the first thing I hear is that Rusty is alive and well. It serves that other squirrel right for using Rusty's route   Women are soooooo weird. 

Home again after a week of travels. (I definitely see Fredericton as home now). I started the week in Newfoundland - prounounced similar to understand with an emphasis on NewfundLarnnd. I love the accent and the Newfies are really friendly and welcoming to all. (even the English ).

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I spent all monday teaching a group of 12 on the fundamentals of project management and felt exhausted at the end of the day. I enjoyed it the whole day I get such satisfaction out of seeing the lights going on when they understand the point I am making. Teaching is fun. PS I had a great opportunity to reverse the phrase I often hear, I told the class I love their accent

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While in Halifax I managed to find a Kelly Kettle  and I felt compelled to buy one as I have been admiring them for a couple of years. To those of you who have never seen or heard of a Kelly Kettle, you need to know it is one of the greatest inventions to come out of Ireland. It is a device for boiling water (damn obvious because it is called a Kettle) anyway here is a picture from their site showing how it works.

The fire is fuelled by pine cones, twigs, leaves, newspaper any old bits of fuel you can pick up while hiking. My version is the Pint version and it boils enough water for two mugs of coffee in about 3 - 5 minutes. The kettle will be for camping / day outs to whip up a quick cup of coffee, make some cuppa soups etc... I am thinking of getting the 2.5 pint version for our 72 hour emergency kit. 

Kathryn has already laid claim to it when I die. I guess that starts to happen more when you are 50 , "Dad, I love your .... can I have it when you die?" I don't consider it callous just practical plus it cuts down on death duties HAHAHAAHA (by the way they don't have death duties in Canada so your family keep the value of everything you have accumulated)

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Greasy Gary is my secret name for a new ground hog we have under the shed. It is a young pup and the girls all insist on giving our wildlife residents cute names.  Although the Racoon's name has changed from Petunia to Bandit while I have been away. I guess it is because Petunia was it's mother's name (dont try to rationalise it, just go with the flow).

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We had our annual Newcomers Club Potluck BBQ yesterday. Location Mactaquac's Centenial York Park. When we arrive it was drizzling and overcast, but like true Brits going to the beach on a summers day we persisted.

Then the sun came out and we had a great time. I think there was about 34 people including kids. Stuart and I were flipping the burgers, wieners, corn cobs and some sausages. This was accompanied with a whole pile of green salads, potato salad, bottles of coke, lemonade etc finished off with several cakes (Virginia made an excellent Banana Cake), water melon etc... I think we finished about 6pm so 4 hours of fun and it was great to see the tennis cricket game using the empty burger boxes as wickets. I didn't get any pictures sorry.

Montreal all week again, I decided to let them suffer my version of French and ordered all my meals in French, even if the waiter was speaking in English.  

Of course the smiled graciously and replied in English (thank god). Montreal is a nice city. However I wake up to the morning news and hear about drive by shootings, drug arrests and general low level stuff. Whereas in New Brunswick is is more ..... hmmm mundane. Except for this week when the police had to shoot at someone and grazed him, he stole their police car and ended up rolling it. The said they needed to taser him when he got out because he was still threatening them! That was in Campbellton in Northern NB miles from quiet old Fredericton.

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The work there is going well and hopefully I will be completed by the 8th August. I am planning to be in Fredericton for the week of the 21st July as it is Kathryn's 21st Birthday. Hey a father has to be sensitive to some things. and I am renowned for my sensitivity or lack of it.

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The basement is finished (well my bit is ) I put up the ceiling this very day.  Now Julie will whip some paint on it and we will put in the single bed's, ready for visitors.  Hmmmm   perhaps we should open a B&B ..... on second thoughts perhaps not.

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Next week is another busy one, with me doing the rounds of 4 Provinces in 5 days. Newfoundland Sunday - Monday, Nova Scotia Tuesday Wednesday , Quebec Thursday, Friday morning and back to New Brunswick on Friday afternoon  it is good for the air miles collection.  Well thats all I have time for so I will sign off and go enjoy the lovely evening. The summer is progressing nicely with average temperatures around 26-27c sunny for the last two weeks and forecasted for all of next week too!

Well it is the 5th of July and I am back at home!

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The last 2 weeks have been a whirl of work. Yes I know we emigrated so I would have more time with the family but occassionally I need to put in some extra time and I think until August I will be very busy flying, working and not sleeping very well.

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I am working in Montreal of the next 3-4 weeks helping to replan a very large project. There is alot of cultural sensitivity about being seen as a collaborative experience rather than a English led session. I was worried that my genetic inability to speak French would be a problem. But it was fine, I mutter my pathetic attempts to speak the language with Bon Jour and Jer Voudrais Cafe Noir but then go and ruin it be finishing with Por Favor or Gracias  Anyway it keeps the Montrealeans amused

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I love Montreal! It is a beautiful vibrant city, which mixes English and French without any effort. You will hear 'Bonjour, Hello' and however you respond they switch into the appropriate language. Without making you feel guilty . Very different to Quebec city.

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Julie and Kathryn were very excited when I phoned home on Thursday. They saw a Skunk in the flowerbed (see Lupin photo previously) and it then walked around to the bird table. They were sat on the deck, no more than 8-10 feet away. I wonder what the average Skunk squirting range is? Mental note to buy some Skunk Stinking Shampoo just in case.

I flew into Fredericton Airport yesterday at around 11:30pm and drove home. I often use the cruise control to stop me speeding on the local highway. So as I came off the highway on to the local road I resumed the cruise control and carried on down the hill when ..... flashing Police lights oh bum speeding! I dutifully pulled over and waited. The young constable came over and told me I was doing 103kph in a 70 zone! In my head I calculated that to be about $250 -300 fine. Then he recognised me from the accident where I was rear-ended. It was the same constable who recorded the accident a couple of weeks ago. He commented on my hugging of the other driver, (well she hugged me but what the heck) and he then gave me a written notice of warning telling me it would be $250 fine next time  So next time you have an accident in Canada, hug the other driver and don't get angry it might save you from a speeding ticket

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Next two three weeks I am clocking up some serious air miles with flights to St John's Newfoundland, Halifax Nova Scotia and Montreal and finally back to Fredericton  Then perhaps a restful summer.

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The pool looks inviting it is 26c and sunny tomorrow is forecasted to be 29c so I am off to swim. Have a great weekend where ever you are!

Today has been a beautiful sunny day right from the start.

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I awoke early (6:30am) and eventually got out of bed at 7:00am made big cup of tea and sat out on the deck in the morning sun. I love the summer mornings here. No noise other than birds singing and I sat sipping my tea and thinking about nothing much in particular. Luxury!. Kathryn was up about 8am to go for breakfast with some of her friends before working today.

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Julie and Gemma got out of bed about 9am and we all sat our on the deck with a boiled egg breakfast. So civilised

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I have a couple of photos for you. one of the above ground pool now full and a nature shot taken by Gemma the ace photographer.

15 foot diameter and 4 foot deep.Visitors to be bring your cozies!

Gemma's bumblebee close up using my Fuji S7000 in Macro mode

In the afternoon we went off to Wilmot Park for the Newcomers club Potluck Picnic in the Park event. We had a good turn out of about 30+ and we played some boules, tennis, badmington and frizbee throwing. The beauty of the potluck concept is everyone contributes some food and collectively you have a great meal. We took a potato salad and a pile of chicken wings with an orange sauce. Everyone had a good time and it lasted from 3- to around 6pm.   Sorry no group photo this time (too busy having a good time ).

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We have just finished mowing the grass and are exhausted. Mowing our half acre of lawns is certainly a good way to get fit.  One thing I noticed surprisingly few mosquitos today (Megacatcher is doing its job!) . I would say this summer we have used about half the amount of repellent we would normally use. So now we are relaxing with a coffee, slice of toast and waiting for an episode of Lewis which is being broadcast on the New England PBS channel.

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This coming week I am in Halifax and next weekend is a long weekend after which I am off to Montreal. They want me to carry out some replanning on a very large project ($100 million) .  I guess they have more confidence in me than I thought, or it is in such a mess they think I cannot make it worse

Both our daughters are now adults. Gemma attended her graduation Ball on Tuesday and looked fantastic in a dress made by Jules, complete with matching purse.  (photos some time soon). She had a great time coming home about midnight and then sitting down by the fire pit with several friends cooking sausages on long forks. They stayed over and she seems much more settled these days. Her boyfriend (Jay)  from the UK arrives next Tuesday, so she is pretty excited about that. She is taking drivers education too..... It is all happening for her!

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Gemma graduated from Fredericton High School on Thursday. Below are some photos from the ceremony at the Aitken Centre. I found out at the ceremony that Fredericton High School is the oldest in Canada (founded 1785). It used to be the largest secondary school in the Commonwealth and is still one of the largest in Canada.

Gemma with her High School Diploma	Gemma with proud mum
The biggest tassel twirl in Atlantic Canada - 400 graduating students!

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After the ceremony and a reception at FHS until 11pm all the students were whisked off to SafeGrad an all night party (no alchol) at a camp on the edge of Maquadivic lake and poor  Dad  has to get up at 5:45am to pick her up from school on Friday morning..... I was tired all day. Gemma slept until 5pm ...

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The Water Man came and filled up the above ground pool (a sort of adult paddling pool) $110 for 14,000 litres of water. We should have bottled it and sold it to the public for $1 a half litre which would still be cheaper than they pay now. I am still amazed at how much people are prepared to pay for a bottle of water!

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The water temperature today was 19c and sounded warm! So in I climbed and I swear my armpit hair got frost bite! Anyway the pool is ready for the summer.

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This week I have fixed up a couple of stud walls in the basement and it is looking pretty good.  All that is left for me to do is to put up a couple of new lights with an extra switch; fix the plasterboard onto the ceiling; cut and nail on the skirting board ; cut and nail ceiling moulding and then watch Julie paint it all . The beds are moved downstairs and the girls are now in luxury with a double bed each. Julie has decorated their rooms and I was impressed with Kathryn's bedroom complete with handmade pelmets.

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Tomorrow we have a Newcomers event - Potluck Picnic in Wilmot Park. Lots of people are going and taking outdoor games (Badmington, Croquet, Boules, and there are free tennis courts and a paddling pool in the park. The forecast is 24c and I predicting a great day .

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I will take some group photos and share them with you. The Newcomers club is certainly growing, with more people coming out from the UK, and we have some new members from Germany and Switzerland

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I have to dash the girls are challenging to a fight on the Wi and I love beating them. (its the only time I win an argument)

Well that is the last of the brood through school.

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Today Gemma graduated from high school  and promptly called me at 10:30am while I was in the middle of a teleconference (it has been a completely crazy day today and it's only Monday). I was a very understanding father, listening to her shrieks of happiness and I congratulated her then asked to be excused so I could rejoin the 15 other people who were waiting for me. Any way I was glad to take the call and hear her happy to have finished school..

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Welcome to the Adult World.... Although I am still waiting to discover where and what she will be doing in terms of further education? But heck what am I but the father.

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I will await the graduation photos and if there is enough demand I'll publish them on a post.

Beautiful day which inspired me to take some photos of the flowers that Julie has cultivated since we arrived. Bear in mind that the house only had grass and trees everything else Julie has created/dug out,planted fresh and nutured.

Kathryn's Bird Table with Speedwell and Lupins behind. Link to photo of the bird table in the winter

Clemantis Trellis with Bird Bath at the bottom, some ferns, varigated privet and peony. The snow came about 8 inches below the top cross bar on this trellis!

No flowers but lots of grass (that needs mowing again). You can just make out our above ground pool on the right behind the boulder. The pool is 15 foot diameter and fills to a depth of 4 feet. We are waiting the water delivery man to fill it up ($100 for 10,000 litres of clean water). We are wishing for a long hot summer!

Julie's south facing Iris and lily flower bed. This photo doesnt do it justice. Kathryn's greenhouse is just in the shot too.

Now for some of Gemma's Macro (close up photography). Blue Lupins Chives Spider hunting in the Lupin flowers.

OK must dash now I am back in the basement fixing up the new room ready for our summer visitors It is looking good

PS Happy Fathers Day to all you Dads out there.

I have been travelling this week. First half of the week in Halifax working on a presentation to the Nova Scotia Dept of Health. If they buy us I could spend the summer and autumn in Halifax.

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I stayed at the Delta Hotel on Barrington Street and visited a couple of excellent restuarants (don't ask their names I was a guest rather than choosing). I arrived home later Wednesday night and Gemma rushed off to change into her Prom Dress (Julie has made her a nice crimson evening dress) and show it off. Looks good and when she dresses up, I will get a photo for the blog.

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Today I returned the rental car and drove up Smythe Street in Fredericton, taking Gemma to school (not a route I would normally be on).  I stopped at a queue of traffic and the car behind made no attempt to stop, just rammed into us, I think she was doing about 30-50km.

I controlled my language as Gemma was in the car with me. After getting out I saw the car that hit my Escape was one of the Nissan Altima and it was not going to drive away anywhere soon. The Altima was a write off, having driven under my bumper. My exhaust pipe is bent back and the bumper is cracked. Anyway, she called 911 and we had the full complement of Police, Ambulance and Fire Rescue. I am guessing they are a bored and wanted to get out.

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Being the caring father I am, I asked Gemma if she was ok and when she said she was fine I told her to walk to school and sit her exams. . All the services were good and did a thorough job of checking everything was ok. The firemen cleaned up the road and cut through her battery cables. Paramedics wanted to take us to hospital to check for whiplash etc... The Policeman was great, cool, collected information and then gave out accident reports with both drivers, details and insurance information on.

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I arrived at work and after 20mins her insurance company called me up and told me that they wouldnt be contesting any claim and to instruct my Insurance company to go ahead. Tomorrow I have an insurance assessor coming round.

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One thing that was weird is the other driver gave me two or three hugs! I was thinking..... "hold on lady I'm British I dont do this with my own kids". But she seemed happy and it helped stop her bursting into  so I accepted it.

Sometimes when I am really busy on a project I find it hard to switch off at night. So at 2:30am this morning I woke up and damn if my brain didn't start whizzing around filling my sleepy head with all sorts of work thoughts.

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Next week I am going to Halifax to help present a bid for a project in the Nova Scotia Dept of Health. I suspect if we win I will be asked to be the Project Manager, and so begins a summer of weekly commuting to Halifax (four and half drive each way).

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Good news!

I just yawned, and so this is my last entry for tonight/this morning. I may be gone for a while  don't send out the search party until 7:30am.

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I promise to empty the Mossie Catcher tomorrow and post some news. We have certainly had markedly fewer Mosquito's this year.

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From the title you can tell that my MegaCatcher Mosquito Trap is working. .

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It is a shame the Black Fly are not quite so interested in being sucked into the trap.

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Black fly are different from Mosquito's in that they do not suck your blood. They chew a hole in your skin and sip like elegant ladies drinking tea. See prove below.

Because it takes long to chew they try to hide in your hairline!  Itchy and red hairlines isn't very attractive. I will adjust may MegaCatcher luring strategy by changing from the net, to the cup filled with water, coke, sugar and a little soap (to break the surface tension so the little beggars drown). I will report back on the results.  Anyway enough about the joy's of spring. It has been a very busy week here in Mooseland.

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Julie is busy decorating Gemma's bedroom, and Gemma, being Gemma would never has anything simple like four walls painted in some suitable colours, has asked for something that demands a significant effort. Apparently this is bedroom is going to be a master piece of geometric designs painted in various colours. (I will post some photos on here when it is finished).

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Kathryn has fully recovered from having her wisdom teeth taken out, and I can report that she is no dafter than before! However she does complain of earache and I wonder if it is her brain is trying to move out!

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Gemma is getting more excited about having her braces of next thursday than graduating from highschool the following week. I still have no idea what she is going to do after high school. We hope she will go on to university.  Julie in her spare time is also making a Prom Dress for Gemma.

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Me, I have had a very busy week at work, and when I get home I am joined by Julie in her other spare time job of fixing up the new sewing room in the basement. We have the dry wall up (plaster board to you Brits) and I have rewired a couple of sockets (not a single spark in sight).  

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Last night was the Newcomers Club pub night at the Lunar Rogue. We had about 12 people there and everyone had a good time and we eventually left just after midgnight and made it home around half-past midnight without turning into a pumpkin.  However I do have a headache this morning, two beers and two tomato juices ? I knew I shouldn't have had those tomato juices

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Poor Kathryn had four Wisdom teeth out this week (now she has an excuse for being occassionally daft). Her face still looks like a football and is pretty bruised. The total cost was $1,350  But the insurance reimbursed us $940 . Thank god for employer health insurance! I do care about her, honest, I just thought you would be interested in the finance side.

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Gemma has starting working at MacDonalds (Mickey D's) as a cook in the back.  OK, everyone who knows Gemma should sit down now, otherwise you may fall over. She is working hard and enjoying it . Not to shocked I hope.

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This coming June Gemma graduates from High School, and I am still waiting to be enlightened on her plans for University. UK or Canada who knows?  I do know that she is still seeing her Boyfriend, Jay after nearly three years so who knows where she will go. One thing to note she did tell me that she loves living in Canada and our house.  I tried to hide my shock!

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I still have to relocate the Mega-Catcher Mosquito trap thing. It could be purely incidental but I think there are less Mosquito's in the back garden compared to the front. I will move it tomorrow and take some photo's of my catch .

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I am busy fitting up the extra room in preparation for the summer visitors. The extra room will eventually Julie's sewing room but for this summer it will be extra bedroom. While I practice my building skills Julie is redecorating Gemma's bedroom, gardening, using left over material to make scarves to match her purses/handbags and a million other things.

She makes me feel so unproductive, but I guess I can live with being a single tasking man

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PS: Another family arrived in Fredericton this week. We are meeting them tomorrow and they have already put an offer in for a house in the Lincoln area of Fredericton.

I thought this was worth sharing. (see end of the entry).

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Today has been a good day, we pottered around in the garden and not much sign of the Mosquito's. The MegaCatcher is doing it's work or perhaps all the Mossie's had gone on holiday. Tomorrow I will check the Megacatchers collection bowl and post information and photo's on here.

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We had been invited to an afternoon BBQ with our extended family in Canada. There is a great gang of us now who are linked. Alex and David invited us all round for the BBQ, we took wine and 20 pieces of marinated pork lion, others contributed salads and some great deserts.  The list of attendees are:

• Ceri and Jason who brought little Ellen (the boys were at a birthday party);
• Helen and Colin brought their three kids (Alice, Harry and Lucy);
• Mark and Kate (arrived in Fredericton last week) brought their three girls (Daisy, Sadie and Tessa)
• Donna and Pierre (locals and neighbours of Alex and David).

The BBQ lasted 5 hours and we all had a great time

My friend Matt often sends me joke emails from the UK. Today this one arrived and I felt I had to share this stress reliever for all your stressed out Brits who are still in the UK and those who are living else where.  Turn on the sound and Click on the link and enjoy the amazing stress relief!

Despite the cold long winter the Humming birds have arrived on the 13th May this year. These little Ruby Throated males are amazing to watch. It still seems so strange to be living in Canada and seeing tiny humming birds hovering around drinking not nectar, but pine sap and Kathryn's feeder with its sugar syrup mixture at the moment (nectar later). Below is a picture of one, nice eh?

However they have been accompanied with the other hovering menace, the MOSQUITO.

Today the mosquitos hatched, and as I sat on the deck I notice a formation of "bombers" advancing over the lawn towards me. I quickly decided to slip back inside and prepare for WAR!

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Tomorrow it is chemical warfare day. We have the 'Deep Woods Off' spray and Skintastic, for the more sensitive souls in the house(i.e. everyone except me). I have also gone a step further, and armed us with the ULTIMATE in biting fly warfare. I brought one of those MegaCatch trap things at around $299 and turned it on today. I will keep you updated on the progress of the war.

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Rufus the Raccoon visited  (Yes I know it's a pest but the girls insist on naming everything that appears in the garden). Gemma has some photos but I don't have access to them at the moment so you have to make do with some snaps of Rufus from last sept/oct.

(I have no idea if they are the same Raccoon, but they are all called Rufus, or Mrs Rufus if two appear at the same time)

This looks like a missus raccoon to me?

Friday night Tango instruction, and we are progressing well. One of the instructors (Donna) told us that she hated to interupt us while dancing because we look so romantic. I guess is it the way we gaze lovingly into each others eyes. We have really enjoyed learning the Tango and I suspect that we will move on to another type of dancing. Perhaps next year after completing another session of Tango.

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We have more time for socialising in our new life here in Canada. Last week at work an email came out offering tickets to the YMCA 150th birthday bash. My company had brought a table and they offered the tickets to first come first served. I replied and received two tickets. Last night was the celebration and it was quite a night with speeches, dancers and an announcement that the government has sold the Albert Street School site to the 'Y' for $1. In the coming year they will build a new facility on the 6.5 acre site. Another great project for Fredericton. Plus we had entertainment from the Downtown Blues Band an excellent local band. Everytime we are exposed to some new event here I am always amazed at the amount of talent for a city of 50-60,000.

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When we arrived home we found that Kathryn had brought a Nintendo Wii game platform, with her tax refund money (I'll write another entry blog on tax filing). So we ended up spending the next hour boxing, playing tennis, golf, baseball and ten pin bowling! The possibilities of the Wii for increasing fitness is amazing. A session can give you a good work out with lots of motion. I have never been a great fan of computer games but this Wii has possibilities. I shall restart my keep (well get) fit regime.

It has been an overwhelmingly busy week! I am almost thankful it is over. (Hate wishing my life away).

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During the drive home I noticed that we have swapped seasons. The leaves are coming out, and my windscreen (windshield for non brits) is now splattered with bugs, and this year they seem to have put some weight on! Sometimes when you drive by a lake you go through a cloud of bugs and it sounds like rain as this miriad of bugs hit the windscreen... eeeehhh

There are many seasons in Canada; Winter followed by roadworks, Spring followed by river flood. It seems there are two windscreen seasons; Winter frost scraping season and summer bug gut scraping season! On that graphic image I will leave you.

Thursday saw a successful Annual General Meeting for thePMI of New Brunswick. The evening went better than I planned. We have been organizing this for the last month and it was a great success.  

I took friday off and we drove down (or across) toSaint John and browsed the shopping centre. We got to ride the escalators in New Brunswick Square Shopping Centre!(such a thrill  Gemma was right we are much more easily pleased than before) . We don't have any escalators in Fredericton

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Friday afternoon we drove to the Chickadee Lodge where Christine is having a yardsale because they are moving to Calgary Alberta. Julie and Gemma picked out 11 DVD's to add to our library. I decided the whole family should go  fishing this year and picked up three fishing rods with reels. Julie picked out a Chinese dinner set of rice bowels, spoons, and serving dishes, a rug, dressing gown and fleece blanket. Total for the lot $60!  (I am not sure that Julie is convinced about fishing)

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On the drive home Hawkeyed Jules spotted our first Porcupine siting ever. She has been spotting all the wildlife this year. I knew the Green Planet Dvd series was educational and Jules (Hawkeye) Whelbourn is living proof. Did you know that Porcupine's live in trees?  Also they eat sheds!

Life is good!

The sun is out, and we have hit 20c for several days on the trot. Our snowdrops and crocuses are all fading. But we now have one daffodil and three tulips actually in flower! It is true I swear it.

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Everything is growing at an amazing rate, and soon I will be mowing the grass. I fetched the Lawn Mower out of the shed and de-winterised it. Which means I cleaned the one spark plug and charged the battery... de-winterising sounds like so much more work . I will take the blade to be sharpened this weekend in preparation for a summer of mowing.

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I took Julie to Racines for lunch today, as I was working from home this afternoon.

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True luxury is, sitting on the deck with your laptop computer linked to the internet via a wireless connection,  and sipping an ice cold beer,  while sending emails whizzing around getting your work done.

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Racines is one of my favourite restaurants in Fredericton, small friendly and high quality food and service. They stop taking people in at 9pm and they close when you leave!

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Oh well must dash, time for dinner  Julie has made some real BBQ ribs (not those brought ready packaged), potato wedges and the bonus "British Heinz Baked Beans"!

A few more photos from the flooded Fredericton.

Officers Square, under water.	The Road is now part of the river
	Which way to the river bank walk?

The waters are now receding and the clear up begins. We are high on a hill so not affected by the flooding but a friend of mine was evacuated from his house and it will need extensive renovations.

Other than thinking about the flood we have had a pretty good weekend.

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On Saturday we visited the Mactaquac Beaver Trail for the first time without snow shoes and we saw our first Beaver this year, Julie spotted it, and the Bald Eagle flying over our back garden. She is becoming a regular hawkeye. While walking a Jack Rabbit hopped across the path and sat and looked at us for a couple of minutes before hopping into the woods. You can tell the animals are on a reserve because they have little fear of humans.

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Sunday saw us invite some newbies to NB from the UK for Sunday lunch with Ceri and her kids. The couple come from Tamworth with their two young kids and are using the Provincial Nominee Route to come to New Brunswick, they are expecting to land next February or March (Brrrr not a time I would choose to land). 

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Tonight we stayed in, and watched Dexter. This is one of the strangest series I have ever watched. It is very addictive and the star character is forensic blood splatter expert and a serial killer! Series one has just finished and Series two is scheduled to start soon. If you get chance to get hold of a copy watch it. I am sure you will find it fascinating viewing.

It's May (obviously) and Mum Mooses everywhere are doing the sensible thing and telling Teenage Mooses to move out. .

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Last night as Jules and I were driving to Home Depot for some pink stuff (Julie's word for insulation / soundproofing rockwool) she spotted a teenage Moose wandering around in a local garden.

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These things are huge (tall) they weigh about 600Kg (1200 pounds or for the Brits a shade under 86 Stone). They stand over 6 feet tall and most of that is legs. They have big ears and you can see why they earned the name Swamp Donkey. The photo below shows their general appearance but you dont really get the size.

For more photos follow this link to Mooseworld Slideshow.

Anyway if you meet one on the roadside be careful. They can trot at about 30mph and anything that weighs nearly 87 Stone, and is trotting at 30 miles per hour isn't going to stop quickly! If you collide with one duck behind the dashboard because their legs are so long they come over the bonnet and in through the windscreen. 1200 pounds of Moose coming through the windscreen is pretty dicey to say the least.

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Be safe and drive slowly this "Kick out the Teenage Moose" Month. You have to wonder if Mum Mooses have the right idea

Well all that melting snow has been assisted by some rain high up in the Saint John River basin. This has delivered the highest water levels in the Saint John river since 1973 (so far).

Fall 2007 showing all the islands with the church in the foreground	May 1st Flood 2008 Flood waters reached 8.7m - Flood Alert is given when the river is 6.4m about normal.
I hope they moved the lawn mower out first !	Locals with a sense of humour

Seems this blog is creating alot of interest from potential emigrators (if there is such a word). I now have about 18 resumes. Plus a flurry of people who are arriving to carryout their reccie visits of Fredericton and other spots.

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Today the Bradbury family arrive on their reccie visit. On the May 6th we have two families arriving the Warren's the Hawkin's and Kathy and James + family are arriving in May too. Finally on the July 22nd the Beeston's arrive!

If you guys all land in Fredericton , we will almost double the number of children and young people in the Newcomers club!

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If any more of you readers are planning a visit let me know and I am happy to help with anything you need, meet ups, car hire, etc...  and no I don't want any money,  I do it because we need more people  and I enjoy helping people.