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John,
I went out yesterday just after 1PM with my mom and dad to the Bank of Montreal to see about
setting up that new “Disability Savings Plan.” I told you about in last Tuesday’s E-mail
(the message that I sent you on Tuesday Dec.23,2008).
We didn’t know until we got to the bank that we needed an appointment, the lady told us that we
wouldn’t normally have to book an appointment for something like this but there are so many
people who are applying right now for the RDSP (Registered Disability Savings Plan). We
went back to the bank yesterday afternoon at 3PM and were stuck in our appointment for a good
hour and a half, my dad said about how it’s awful to go into the bank and you have to wait while
they phone their head office twice which is somewhere in Eastern Canada, and that’s the same
number at which I told you my dad got put on hold forever. And my mom said, “it’s a good thing
that it’s not very often when we have to do something like this.”
My friend, Mac, phoned me two days ago (on Monday) after supper. This was the first
time him and I talked to each other since before Christmas. He said that he was at the bank when
I called him last week, he was there to get a new debit card because he lost his other one. We
might meet on Friday afternoon to give my presents to him and here’s what else we talked about
on Monday night:
• You like chocolate, right? And do you also like candy canes? A lady who was at
the banquet dinner that I told you Mac was helping out at mixed both things together. Have you
heard of that before?
• Mac’s dad drove here all the way from Saskatchewan to spend Christmas with them...on
company fuel. He’s a truck driver and got out of paying for the gas by asking his place of work
if they had any runs to make out in British Columbia. They said that there was a run to make out
to Delta
from Saskatchewan so the dad then said to them “perfect.”
• When I told Mac that we got a train this year to put in our Christmas village, he said that
he set up his train before he set up the rest of his village. And then once the train was set
up, it made it once around the track and then it burnt out. Again, this happened before he even
got the rest of his village set up.
• And Mac said that he was at the A&W in Semiahmoo Mall earlier that same day in the
afternoon (on Monday afternoon). He had one of the bigger tables that has four chairs when
this creepy old lady comes up to him and asks him if this seat’s taken. Mac then said to her
quote, “not anymore.” She then sat down there right at the same table that Mac was sitting at,
and Mac said it was a good thing that his mom showed up.
Now stories about our cats:
• Two days ago after you left, we saw Izzy laying on the couch in the family room
next to my dad’s jigsaw puzzle. She had knocked some of the pieces onto the floor, pieces that
were already put together before she knocked them.
• My mom saw Chloe pawing at something on the deck yesterday morning so my mom looked to find
that sure enough the dead bird that Izzy brought us last Sunday morning (on the morning
of the 28th) was buried in the snow.
• Also, I remember my mom said sometime yesterday (on Tuesday the 30th) about maybe we
should take all of the decorations off the Christmas tree so that the cats could play in it.
• Did you read the story in my previous E-mail (the one that I sent you last Sunday)
about Izzy running off with my new gloves on Christmas Day?
• And I went to feed my aquarium fish today just after lunch. I don’t give my betas just the
ordinary fish flakes that I feed to all the other kinds of fish that are in my tanks, they have
their own “BETTA BITES” in a container which I keep on the ledge of the china cabinet. Now today
when I went to feed my fish, I couldn’t find my “BETTA BITES” container at first until I found
it upside down on the floor between the china cabinet and one of my big tanks (the 38
gallon). Did you do this, or did one of my cats do it? My mom and dad said that you could tell
it was probably one of the cats because it was upside down when I found it.
Speaking about surprises, I remember when you were here two days ago you asked me if we found
any since you saw me the time before (on Saturday the 27th). We haven’t found any recent
surprises (unless you did hide my container of “BETTA BITES”), but I’ll tell you that we found
the ping pong ball in the Christmas village which we didn’t discover until earlier that same
day (on Saturday the 27th) before you came later that same day. My mom couldn’t believe that
it was there the whole time since she had to tidy it up lots of times after the cats have been
jumping up there. And when I told my mom two days ago (on Monday) after you left that you
made more surprises when you were here last Saturday, she then said quote “you mean my house is
booby-trapped.”
In addition to the stuff I already told you that my cats got in their stockings, they also
got that little green dog...the one that you tried to make a surprise by setting on top of my
camera tripod but it fell off before my mom and dad came home. And I attached a pic to the
bottom of this E-mail of the toy (a little lamb) that I told you came with extra
catnip.
Two days ago after we finished playing “Connect Four,” I remember you were looking at a slip
of paper that said on it “woolly wool SHEEPSKIN SPECIALTIES.” That came inside the bag with a
pair of slippers that my dad got my mom for Christmas.
Points about meals and snacks:
• Tuesday Dec.30,2008: After we left the bank when we went out the first time, we
drove around the corner to the Tim Hortons location on 152nd Street in front of Semiahmoo Mall
and got two donuts for myself; one Chocolate Dip long john and something called a “Candy Cane
Chocolate Donut” which is a chocolate cake ring donut dipped in chocolate fondant and topped
with candy cane sprinkles. I had the long john yesterday for my afternoon snack at 2PM and I
plan to have the other donut tonight for my dessert after supper.
• Tuesday Dec.30,2008: I had fish and chips for supper, “Mrs. Friday’s” brand battered
halibut from Costco and the “straight cut” fries that my mom buys at the grocery stores.
• Sunday Dec.28,2008 - evening snack: I told you that I had planned to try a couple of the
Purdys chocolates that my cousin, Shelley, and her husband, Bill, gave us for Christmas. The two
I had on this evening (on Sunday) were a strawberry cream and a Chocolate Symphony, but
there are also some chocolate-covered cashews in that same box and I might try some of those for
my snack on another evening.
My dad told me after he saw the weather yesterday on the six o’clock news that now we’re
suppose to get lots of rain and heavy wind.
And my dad took lots of videos of the baby, Marshall, when he was out there last
Saturday (on the 27th), I could show them to you when you’re here tomorrow afternoon. Also,
my dad took another good picture this morning of the heron when it was on the roof of my dad’s
workshop.
When I downloaded still pictures off of my Sony camera for this first time since I got it
back from repair, a picture of Brandy had somehow downloaded with the rest of my still pics.
Brandy was the dog who we had put down three Christmases ago, and this sounds like a “ghost
thing” to me because we didn’t get this camera until almost a year after Brandy was put down.
How did a picture of Brandy get onto a camera that we never took a picture of her with, how did
a picture of her get on a camera that wasn’t made until after she was gone?
Now a few things before we look at the videos:
• When my mom, dad, and grandparents were at my auntie Karen’s last Saturday, Ben
went outside to play in the snow. A while after he went out, he was complaining to his grandma,
my auntie Karen, about he wanted to play in the snow on this one part of their deck but Buddy
had gone poop there. That’s their Cocker Spaniel.
• At another time when Ben was out playing in the snow, he picked some up and thought about
eating it when Karen told him that he doesn’t want to eat that because Buddy goes pee in it.
• Last Saturday when my mom and dad were at Karen’s place, my mom saw the fancy walker that
Karen got for Marshall. There are a few shots of this walker in the video that my dad took, and
my mom said that she’s never seen a walker that has so many toys and gadgets.
• Karen also has this little seat for Marshall that just sits on the floor and has a peg in
it that helps him sit up on his own. When Karen tried to lift Marshal out of the seat at one
time last Saturday while my mom and dad were at her place, the seat came up with him because of
like my mom said that “he’s so chubby.” Karen even said that Ben fits better in that seat right
now because he isn’t as chubby as Marshal is.
• My cousin, Jeff, got Ben this big flatbed truck for Christmas that’s made by Tonka and it
unfolds. Once unfolded, the truck is four feet long.
• Ben, who is currently four years old, is excited about turning five because that’s when
he’ll be starting kindergarten
Remember I told you that Karen was looking after the kids while their mom and dad, Shelley
and Bill, stayed at a hotel in Vancouver. My grandma was telling my mom last Saturday when they
got together that Shelley and Bill decided not to buy Christmas presents for each other. They
both needed new clothes, so they instead decided to go shopping for and spend their money on
clothes while they stayed in Vancouver.
Also remember I told you sometime ago about the pipe that burst in my grandparents’ apartment
building and only one of their two elevators has been working since then. There
was still only one elevator working last Saturday when my mom and dad picked up my grandparents.
They told my mom and dad that they were at first told the elevator was only suppose to take a
week to fix, it’s now been a month and still only one elevator is working. Speaking about the
elevators in my grandparents’ building, I didn’t tell you yet about this story that happened one
day not long after the pipe burst when my grandparents were having my auntie Karen and uncle
Robert over to their place for supper. They brought Robert’s mom, Dren, with them. When Karen
and Robert got to my grandparents’ building with Dren, they had to take Dren home and then come
back and walk up the stairs because both elevators were out and Dren has health problems.
And my mom got a reminder in the mail yesterday for her dentist appointment coming up on
Wednesday Jan.28,2009 at 11AM, so would it be possible that you could come on the Wednesday that
week instead of the Thursday? We could go out for lunch at either A&W or McDonald's.
See you tomorrow at 1PM.
-Neil
P.S. Here is that strange pic of Brandy that I told you I downloaded off of my Sony camera
followed by the picture that I said above I am sending you of the one cat toy that came with
extra catnip:
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