A Hard Day's Work and the Pay Off

Today I helped with landscaping a suburban community (is that what it is?) sign. A lady that leads the home community (small church group) Clara and I have been attending has a small landscaping business that is starting up now with warmer/drier weather. It was especially lovely today even though the forecast had threatened rain. The other worker beside myself picked me up at 7.15a (on a saturday morning? yipes!) and we met with Liesl, the landscaper, at her house then drove out through what is considered wine country to pick up some river rock we were going to use.

It was really foggy as soon as we hit the agricultural area and got away from all the cement of the developed areas.





This was my team (Liesl and Will) as we were discussing the game plan.



We turned this:



Into this:



And along the way, I found this guy!




He is a Rough-Skinned Newt, which happens to be the most poisonous newt/salamanderaceae in North America. Luckily I didn't lick his poisonous skin (secreted through mucous), though I did offer it to Will who didn't think he'd want to do that.



Here he is up close. He moved so incredibly slow that I was able to keep track of him for a long time.



Here is another newt, I don't know if he is a Rough-Skinned or if he is something else but he (she?) was markedly smaller and more orange. Unfortunately we found it after someone sliced it's tail off with the shovel! *I'm so sorry!* You can see the dismembered tail in the left bottom corner.



No tail.



Squirming tail (on Will's glove).



Then I came home and took a nap with Orson for a while and then read til Joel came home. We ate dinner and then I somehow convinced everyone to get excited and go to Whiffie's Fried Pies! It's a food cart that shares the same lot as Potato Champion (fries and poutine -- look that one up yourself), Perriera Creperie and a couple other delicious carts.

Joel and the Whiffie's cart.



Excited and waiting!



Delicious fried pies! Clara got a peanut butter creme and chocolate chip pie and the rest of us got cherry pies.



Delicious pies make people lie somewhere in between childish glee and serious conversation. Here are two such examples.




And sometimes it just puts people in a loving stupor (this one goes out to all the moms). Someday I'll get a good clear picture of me and Joel together.



This was all that remained of the fried pies. This is Joel's inconspicuous milk flask, because no dessert is complete without milk and that was something he wasn't willing to risk.



Tonight I imagine I will be sleeping like a log, the nap was good but I don't think I ever recovered back to the full awakened state (usually this is the accompaniment for afternoon naps). And I will gleefully sleep in with Joel on his day off tomorrow -- hurray! And then monday its back to the grindstone. Spring break is OVER!