It's been a while...

So we haven't been very good bloggers lately and I thought I should change that! Here's a brief update, although nothing fantastic has really happened lately.

I'm still going to school! I know you must all be shocked :) The semester's workload hit all at once so I've been living in the library and on my computer for the past month or so. Boourns!! It's going really well. I've written only two midterms, but have had a bunch of assignments and labs, so it's busy. I'm enjoying this year significantly more than last year. We're actually learning stuff that I think I'll probably use in the pharmacy!! I thought this day would never come! (I'm a little bitter at the immense waste of time last year was, but, c'est la vie).

Anyway, as for Remi, the Vancouver city workers are FINALLY off strike!! It lasted over 80 days!!! AMAZING. That's what unions do, folks. Anyway, what that means is KUNG FU is back on!! Remi went back for the first time on Wednesday night (and is actually there tonight) and has been complaining about sore calves ever since. He's also been able to bike to work the past couple of days because, although cold, the weather has been incredibly nice out here this week. Needless to say, he's getting some well-needed exercise *cough*chubby*cough* Just kidding ;) He thought he was getting fat, but he's crazy.

Other than that, Maggie is still lounging around, as always. No ear infections this week and no dog fights, so it's a good week ;) She's laying behind me chewing a giant bone right now, so is obviously in seventh heaven.

In other news, my dad is interviewing for a job in Edmonton on Monday!!! It sounds pretty sweet from what we know so far, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that they might be making their way a little further west soon :)

That's about it. I should be studying (pharmacology midterm next week - eek!) so I'm going to sign off. We hope everyone is well!! Please let us know with emails/posted comments/postcards/huge money orders made out to either Sarah West or Remi Masson ;)

Love Sarah

Another Maggie Video

So, if Blogger will work, here's a video of Maggie in Gold Creek.

Turkey and Camping

First of all, happy turkey to everyone! This weekend went exactly as I'd hoped it would. Remi was able to get the same days off work as I had and I was able to take Tuesday off work at Shoppers as I had no class that day. We spent Saturday doing homework (me) and building the model boat (Remi), worked Sunday and then went camping for Monday/Tuesday. The weather actually held and we only got rained on overnight. More on that later.

Firstly, TURKEY! So as usual, I made a succulent turkey for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the evening, but we had a traditional West-style Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, salads, cranberry sauce) with cheesecake for dessert. It was an apple topped, praline cheese cake. Yummy ;) I invited several of the guys from my class over who weren't able to go home for the holiday and we ended up with four guys and us. Dinner was a hit and there were hardly any left-overs ;)

As for camping, we headed to Golden Ears Provincial Park, which is less than an hour's drive from here near Maple Ridge. We camped in the Gold Creek campground. It was car camping, but still awesome. We just went for one night and it was the first night of the off-season and the Monday night of the long-weekend, so once the weekend traffic left, it was pretty much just us and a few other parties who were far enough away that it felt like we had the campground to ourselves. We did some hiking on Monday. There is quite an extensive trail system in that park and it was really quite nice. The leaves are all turning out here and we had some sun on Sunday, so it was just a nice fall day. The area really reminded me of near my parent's place in Sauble Beach, ON.

Anyway, the biggest excitement of the weekend came Monday night. We were just settling in to our campfire, making some grilled sandwiches over the fire, and I turn around to see (but barely, because it was very dark) something appearing to roll across our campsite... "Remi, there's something on the site..." *no answer* "Remi, turn around and look! There's something on the site!!" He clearly had his head up his bum or something and it took him a minute to finally turn around. While he was coming back to reality, I had fumbled with my flashlight and had shone it on our assailant. A raccoon had had the guts to climb up onto our picnic table while we sat less than 10 feet away at our campfire, and had dragged an entire loaf of bread across our site into the trees on the far side. Needless to say, there would be no more grilled sandwiches that night!

But, the plot thickened when our little thief was joined by a "friend", another raccoon. I am so thankful that Maggie was in the tent and was actually too scared to try to come out because these two raccoons started fighting over the bread!! It was a vicious scene! Remi finally stepped into action and grabbed a rock to heave at them to get them to break it up. He must have hit one because it squeeled and started climbing a tree just off our campsite. The other one vanished. BUT, it came back!! Remi was cleaning up the picnic table and putting all the food away and it climbed up onto the table seat WHILE HE WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE!!! These are by far the tamest wild animals I've ever seen. We scared that one away, but spent the rest of the night with a bright lantern lit, gawking around every time we heard the slightest movement.

Other than the ruined campfire, the weekend was pretty good though. Here are a few pictures :)

Ahh, a nice fall stroll. This was on our first day there (Monday). The trail I am on was pretty much empty, but we descended to the trail below down a precipitous embankment (the one Remi is on) and it was crowded. Needless to say, while it was beautiful, it was a little too populated for Remi and my liking.

This is a picture of the "creek". The definition of a creek in BC and Ontario is obviously quite different. This picture was taken from a little private area Remi and I found after bushwhacking through a 100 m or so of brush. Below again is a picture of the "creek" and below that, the viewpoint over Alouette Lake.

Home sweet home! Our camp with some more of Remi's world-famous tarp technology. It was lucky he set these up over the table because, as mentioned, we got a bit of rain. Below that you'll see our big baby, happy as usual to be camping ;)

Remi and his tripod at work :)

Look at how green the water was!!

The end :)

Sarah

P.S. Need I remind you again to post comments?? Please!!! It's easy! Just go to "post comment" and post under anonymous. You don't need a blogger account to post a comment! Just make sure you sign so we know it was you.

ROCK ON!

So last night I went to see Styx and Def Leppard play at BC place (that's where the Canucks play). It was, in a word, awesome! Unfortunately I didn't take my camera because I thought they wouldn't let me in with it, but I guess they don't worry about that anymore and now I'm really kicking myself! So I found a couple pictures online of the bands and we'll just pretend that I was there :)
The other two are Def Leppard and this is Styx.

AND! Gowan (who any 80s fans will know is a) Canadian and b) singer of such hits as "Strange Animal" and "Criminal Mind") has been a member of Styx for 8 or 9 years, SO he was there!! As an 80s fan, that is supremely cool to me ;) You may or may not agree.

Anyway, ROCK ON! It was a blast. Both bands were good, although (and I hate to admit it) Styx were a little more entertaining than Def Leppard, but I'd pay to see either again.

Sarah

Promenades...

Vendredi soir nous sommes allés à "Lighthouse Park" à l'ouest de Vancouver. Nous profitons des derniers jours de l'été pour pique-niquer dehors.

Remi and I (and Maggie of course!) went to Lighthouse Park in West Van the other night. It was a beautiful evening, if not a little chilly and we really enjoyed ourselves. Here are a few pictures!
Maggie ne peut pas résiter l'eau et s'est baignée un peu.

Portrait de famille.
Le coucher de soleil

Remi and Maggie went to Lynn Canyon this morning - without me, I'm working :P Here are a few pictures from that!
Ce matin nous avons visité Lynn Canyon, au nord de Vancouver.
L'eau est glaciale...
A part ça, pas beaucoup de nouvelles. Je travaille un un peu moins et Sarah continue ses études. On ne pourra probablement plus faire de camping cette année, surtout s'il pleut comme l'an dernier. Mais j'espère profiter un peu plus de la neige en montagne cet hiver. Il y a de clubs qui font de randonnées interessantes.

Maggie loves swimming no matter how cold it is! This is glacial water!! Remi also mentions here that he's working a little less now (thankfully!!) and I'm still studying hard. We're most likely not going to get any more camping in this year because the rains will start soon, but he's looking forward to snowshoeing, etc. in the mountains again this year. He's actually looking into joining a hiking club in Vancouver that a friend of mine and her husband are members of. That'll mean he's not going out by himself, which will be safer and make me happier ;)

Hope all is well with everyone!


Rémi and Sarah (the translator)

Sarah's Solo Hike

So I decided to stop being such a wimp and went for a hike last weekend by myself (because Remi is still working six days a week). It was a park we've been to before, Lynn Headwaters on the north shore (North Vancouver), but a walk I've never done before. It was actually really nice to be out there by myself, so quiet! And of course I took Maggie, my protection from bears - which is good because as I was walking in the park there was a sign posted that said "Bear in area". That, come to think of it, is quite hilarious in itself... It's in the woods, on a mountain side in BC... I'm sure there are ALWAYS bears in the area! They must have to post a sign every time someone reports a sighting, but I'm sure there are always bears wandering around on the north shore. In fact, I know there are. The black bears are actually moving down into the burbs here - Surrey and Burnaby have both had bears run up trees in the last few months.

Anyway, I digress... Here are some photos of my lone hike.

Here's Maggie, my unwilling subject ;)

She actually managed to look cute for a couple pictures - when she wasn't running away.

The woods are actually quite beautiful and all the leaves are out right now - even though some of them are turning yellow!! Are the leaves changing at home yet? We actually had a pretty warm week last week, but it has cooled right off this week. We've actually closed most of our windows because it gets quite chilly at night. And I'm not sure what these flowers are, but they're very pretty.

And I seem to be really into fungus right now and am actually considering a micology class as an elective. It might actually be useful for pharmacy because yeast infections and athlete's foot are both fungal (there's my pharmacy-plug for this blog post).

That's about it! I hope this blog finds everyone well and remember, even if you don't have a blogger account, you can post a comment under "anonymous" - just make sure you sign your name at the end so we know it was you!

Sarah

La pêche

À la fin du mois d'aout, nous avons commencé une étude toxicologique sur trois espèces de poissons dans le fleuve Fraser. Les détails de la recherche sont sans doute banals, et de toute façon je ne m'en occupe pas personellement. Par contre, pendant deux ou trois semaines nous avons du pêcher à la seine sur les rives du fleuve.
Les journées commençaient tôt. Je quitait la maison avant 7hr pour arriver à la rivière vers 8hr. Heureusement nous avions toujours le beau temps et malgré les diverses industries, notament celle de la pâte à papier, le paysage était fantastique.

Puisque nous n'avions pas assez de temps pour embaucher des biologistes, nous étions obligés de recruter Bob, un type un peu louche qui reside dans un bateau de pêche délabré. Quand la pêche commerciale était encore très importante il n'avait probablement pas de mal a se trouver un boulôt, mais avec l'extinctions commerciale de certaines espèces de saumon (rouge ou sockeye/argenté ou coho) il s'est retrouvé au chômage. Malgré ses défauts il a nous aidé un peu.
Pour pêcher à la seine, il faut attacher un bout du filet sur la plage alors que le bateau trace un demi-cercle pour pieger les poissons entre la rive et le filet.

Dès que le filet est placé, il faut immédiatement commencer a le tirer pour éviter qu'il s'accroche sur le débris au fond de l'eau ou que le courant l'emporte. Ce n'est pas une tâche facile. Le fond est jonché de déchets. Pendant des années les ingénieurs se sont amusés a renforcer la rives avec des vieilles voitures, donc il n'était pas rare de s'accrocher sur des bouts de métal et de déchirer le filet. Comme si ce n'était pas assez, le courrant de la rivière et les fortes marées rendaient parfois la tâche presque impossible.
Malgré les problèmes, nous attrapions beaucoup de poissons. Içi ce sont des saumons roses. On en avait parfois plus d'une centaine dans le filet.
Puisque ce n'était pas une des espèces que nous cherchions il fallait en relacher la majorité.
Ce n'était pas toujous facile de les relâcher sans se mouiller complètement et sans perdre les autres poissons.

Plus récemment on est aller pêcher à Steveston, un peu plus près de la mer. C'est içi que la pêche c'est vraiment industrialisée vers la fin du 19e siècle en Colombie Britannique. Depuis, tout tombe en ruine, même s'il reste encore des centaines de bateaux.
Un chalutier.
Les saumons rose on une vie courte. Ils reviennent dans la rivière deux ans après la naissance pour se reproduire avant de mourir. Malgré la sur-pêche, il y en a toujours plusieurs millions qui reviennent içi tous les deux ans.

Video Attempt

So I noticed yesterday when I was posting my most recent blog that there is now something that looks like a video icon on blogger!! Yes! I just put my cursor on it and it said "add video". Remi and I have been taking a lot of videos lately because our new camera actually has sound (for some reason the old one didn't) and we think it's the best way to show people what we've been doing. So here are a couple videos from our most recent camping trip to Manning Park (First Brother Mountain). Enjoy!

Okay, so these videos take about 6 years each to upload, so it'll just be two for now and I'll try again later. Actually, after over an hour of trying to get the second video to upload, it'll have to just be one for now... Crappy blogger!

Sarah

Most recently...

So, sadly, our camping trip for this week was cancelled because Remi's work got a new contract and the girls he works with were unwilling (unlike my dedicated sweetie) to change their plans so Remi got stuck working the whole weekend (except Saturday). Apparently it was "man's work" anyway - hauling nets and such. His work actually "hired" some guy who was just hanging out around the docks to help them! He's now in charge of looking after the boat and the $4000 net they're using and they all call him "Crazy Bob"... He allegedly joyrides on the boat when they're gone, but they need the help and don't have a choice, I guess. I, personally, think the idea of hiring a "river" person (apparently the people who live along the river are of an interesting sort of folk) and trusting him with your gear is absolutely hilarious!! But I digress... The following are what we've been up to lately.

Firstly, our friends from Nanaimo, Scott and Nicole, are moving (as we speak actually) to Saskatchewan. A couple weeks ago they had a "house cooling" party at their place in Nanaimo and we hopped on the ferry and went over to hang out with them for the weekend.

Maggie decided to ride in style. As you may or may not know, dog owners are considered third-class citizens by BC Ferries and are forced to ride on the vehicle decks. The ride there was pretty nice, actually. We were out of the wind on the back of the boat. But the ride home was BRUTAL. We took a late ferry and froze our asses off INSIDE the boat while breathing in noxious and cancerous car/oil/truck/trailer/etc. fumes. AWFUL. Remi actually wrote a letter to BC Ferries, but I don't think he's heard back yet. He was polite and everything!! Either they get a lot of complaints (which wouldn't surpise me) or they don't give a horse's ass. Both are likely options.




The house cooling... We played twister. Bums in faces... What more can you ask for at a party?? Oh, and Remi passed out at about 10:30 pm. He actually wasn't the first, but Nicole only beat him by two or three minutes ;)


Maggie got to see her best friend Koda. They played. As you can see from the look on Scott's face, we all became a little tired of their rambunctiousness after a while. Every time we tried to put them outside to play they'd stop playing and stare dumbly at us. Kind of like cows in a field... Maggie was also freaked out by the grass in their backyard. It was just regular grass!! But try telling her that... I've never seen her tread so lightly!!


These are a few pictures of Remi's solo hike up Mt. Strachan, near Vancouver. The helicopter was being used for some concrete work for something to do with the 2010 Olympics. More habitat destruction for a one-time event!! Good job, BC.

There was a plane wreck up there. He took a bunch of pics thinking my Dad might be interested. If you are, Dad, let us know and I'll email you a few others.


This was just yesterday on our only day off together for the long weekend. Maggie, as usual has to have the biggest "stick". This was at Indian Arm Provincial Park. It's about a half and hour drive from home and has a bunch of great hikes, so we'll definitely be going back. Unfortunately, not many photo ops on the hike we were on, so no pictures of that.

What Remi likes to call a "perk" of his job. Because they're out doing sampling they catch a lot of pink salmon as by-catch (accidental catches) in their nets. Although Remi claims to have tried to rescue several of the fish, he still managed to bring home FIVE fish of his own. How we're ever going to eat five entire fish, I'd love to know. Luckily our landlord took one and we're hoping to give another to Chris and Laura, our dinner-date buddies here in Vancouver (Laura is a classmate of mine). This is after our whole fish on the BBQ dinner. It was quite good, but too garlic-y. The recipe didn't call for garlic, but Remi put in 7 or 8 cloves anyway. Yuck. Next time, no garlic ;) We had hoped to use the rest of the fish for some salmon pate, but it didn't actually turn out very well. A little bland. Any suggestions?

And this was today... Maggie decided to CHEW the fishfood bottle. We ran over to the grocery store before her afternoon walk and I guess she didn't like that. It was all over the freakin' living room!! This made me especially mad because I just cleaned the house today! We both gave her heck, so hopefully this doesn't happen again. She seems to be going through some kind of rebelious phase right now. The other day she chewed apart a bag of calcium carbonate (another fishtank item) and ate a chunk of fertilizer (also fishtank related). Maybe she doesn't like the placement of the 10 gallon tank in the living room. Which reminds me, Remi bought a 35 gallon fishtank which is now set up in the kitchen. We'll post some pictures when it's set up a bit more.

I guess that's it for now. I head back to school on Wednesday. I'm sort of excited but also a little scared. Let the drug memorization really begin!! Here at UBC you actually only learned pharmacology for two years of the program, 2nd and 3rd, so it's pretty intense. I'm also getting sick of school and assignments and the like. I don't wanna do homework anymore!! I'm too old for this nonsense!!

Anyway, enough whining ;) I'm off to cuddle with my boyfriend and listen to some Mozart. We're relaxing tonight.

Hope all is well with everyone and remember, if you read this, post a comment!!! We'd love to hear from everyone :)

Sarah

P.S. This is the next day. Sarah and I went out for some fancy Italian (pronounced eye-talian)food, and the stupid dog chewed some more useless aquarium crap. So I cursed her out good for a while and sent het to bed. Tomorrow I put an add out in the paper for a dumb dog. Hopefully we can sell her to the gypsies.

Rémi