Cloverdale clunk statue

A year or so ago someone in the Cloverdale business or someone at Surrey's city hall came up with the idea of revitalizing downtown Cloverdale and contracted 3 statues to be erected depicting Cloverdale's history.

The first statue showed up a few months ago. Its some guy wearing a baseball cap and leaning on a post. I'm not sure how that depicts Cloverdale's heritage to a rural farming community. Other than perhaps suggesting that Cloverdale farmers wear ball caps and prefer to lean against fence posts other than getting any work done.

Brings back memories of the old Cloverdale Clunk jokes I heard growing up. Yes, I'd say this statue should be aptly named The Cloverdale Clunk.

Gotta have some fun with him. I thought he could use some reading material and he is holding a copy of Rain Song by Alice Wisler. I show him that I know how to lean too.

Cloverdale rodeo fair and fall fair

Growing up in Cloverdale we had two fairs each year at the fairgrounds. On the long weekend in May it was the rodeo fair. We had a midway with rides and games of chance and food stands with corn dogs and cotton candy and candy apples. The rodeo had the usual events: bull riding, bronc riding, wild cow milking, barrel racing, and chuckwagon races. These were all held in the inner field of what is now the Fraser Downs racetrack. The chuckwagon races went around the outer track, but ended in the mid 1970's when the Standardbred racetrack opened and the track was changed from dirt to limestone.

There used to be an indoor arena on the east side of the parking lot, near 60th Avenue. We'd go in and sit on the bleachers and watch the greased pig contest. This would consist of boys and a few girls, mostly in their early teens, chasing after a greased pig. Whoever caught it got to take it home. Back then Cloverdale was mostly a rural area so probably the lucky kid lived on a farm and had the means to take care of a pig. I can't imagine a kid who lived in a house or apartment would be too popular coming home and opening the burlap sack to show his parents a squeeling bundle of joy.

In mid-September the fall fair was held. It had the midway rides, games, and food set up. The halls were full of farmer's produce competing for the best potato, apple, and other fruits and vegetables. There were other competitions for sewing, art, photography, and other crafts. We'd spend a lot of time wandering the exhibits and admiring the winning entries and the runners up.

That was growing up in the 60's and 70's.

Eventually the fall fair was merged into the rodeo fair held on the May long weekend, combining the rodeo events with the arts and crafts exhibits that compete for prize ribbons. A little too early in the season for farm produce.

Unfortunately eliminating the fall fair cost Cloverdale its small town country fair flavour. Maybe one day this annual event will be resurrected.

We've discovered the Maple Ridge Country Fair held in the Albion fairgrounds each summer. It picks up where Cloverdale left off and is now the place to go for a typical country fair.

Otter Co-op staff dinner and awards

Last night we attended the Otter Co-op's staff dinner and awards night held at Newland's Golf Course in Langley.

Of course, the only interesting thing is that neither of us work for the Otter Co-op.

Party crashers!

The Otter Co-op is a grocery store, hardware store, clothing, feed store, and has some gas stations. The main store is on 248th Street, the Otter area of Langley, close to Aldergrove. They recently amalgamated with the Consumer's Co-op, a hardware and feed store in Pitt Meadows. Here's where we come in. Kerry is on the board of directors at Consumer's. However he is soon to be out of a job when the amalgamation process is complete at the end of April.

It was a very nice meal and my tablemates were all happy to be the one of the first tables called up to the buffet. Never any doubt in my mind. Whatever table I sit at generally gets called quickly to the buffet. Great food, lots of vegetarian choices.

There were a lot of prizes available, lots of small items, so it looked like everyone's ticket would get drawed at least once. On our first round to the prize table I claimed a night light, spot light, flashlight thing. The prize numbers were held for awhile as the Co-op started to recognize longevity awards: 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, 30 years, and one employee for 35 years of service. This kind of dragged on for awhile. But we were entertained by the ballroom on the other side of the wall with music playing. We enjoyed not Glenn Miller's rendition of In The Mood, then the little bird song. Gee, I don't even know the English name to that song. I used to hear it all the time when I was living in Spain courtesy of Maria Jesus and her accordeon:

Pajaritos por aqui
Pajarits por alla
Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep

The English translation is roughly: little birdies over here, little birdies over there, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.

And then everyone does the little birdie dance.

Afterwards I heard Staying Alive. Sounded like a good party going on over there. Should have maybe joined them. But we were there for the duration listening to all the longevity service awards. Some of them didn't even show up for the banquet.

And then more prizes were drawn, so we got in on the second round and got a new shirt for Kerry. The evening was dragging on at this point. Got out of there at 11pm. I'm not even sure how they could have sped up the process other than recognizing the people while everyone was eating.

Our last meal. Unless of course Kerry runs for the board of directors at the Otter Co-op.

New subdivisions and narrow streets

We have a lot of new subdivisions being built in Surrey. They all have narrow streets. If someone parks in front of houses on opposite sides of the street, there is barely room for vehicles to pass. And only one vehicle at a time, so if you see someone coming the opposite direction, one car will have to wait for the other to pass before proceeding.

Compounding the problem is these new houses are built with basement suites and carriage houses for rent. So instead of being one family dwellings with a couple of cars, they now become 3 family dwellings, with multiple vehicles. They have 2 car garages, that are generally full of stuff in storage, therefore no room for cars. So everyone parks on the street. Good luck finding a place to park. These houses are built on narrow lots a few feet apart. That's a lot of people in a small area.

A couple of days ago I was at a house that Kerry is working on. The truck delivering the molding and baseboard had arrived so I was standing on the front porch holding aside a piece of netting that was drooping down from the roof above. Don't ask me what it is or why it was dropping.

The streets are narrow and there are a lot of tradespersons parked along here. This street has only one way in and out, though there are several lane accesses, there is no way back to the main street except on the one street that I was standing on the porch watching the action.

A huge truck with a crane showed up to deliver roof trusses to a house a couple of lots up. He humped it up partially on the sidewalk, but was still blocking the road. Directly across the street a trademan was parked with his truck and trailer. For all extents and purposes he had probably been parked there for a few hours working on the house across the street. Behind the truss truck a tandem dump truck/gravel truck pulls onto the street. Now, this is near the top of the street where the main road is. He can't go anywhere due to the truss truck and the tradesperson's parked truck and trailer. I daresay only a motorbike could have got through that gap.

Now it gets interesting. Some of the tradepeople from other houses are trying to leave. They drive up the street but can't get past due to the truss truck and the gravel truck not leaving a wide enough gap for vehicles to pass through. So the people wanting to leave start driving up and down alleys. I get a good view of this because not all the lots have started construction yet. Up and down and no way out and they all come back.

Meanwhile, the man in the tandem gravel truck keeps honking. He backs up a bit, he tries going forward a bit, he's doing a lot of honking. The man delivering the molding to the house Kerry is working on is also checking out the action. He thinks the truss truck has a good 20 minutes before he's done.

Now the man in the gravel truck is done honking and he gets out of his truck and starts yelling. He's East Indian and I'm not sure which language he speaks but he's getting responses from some of the other East Indian tradespeople. So this is getting pretty entertaining for me standing out there on the porch holding up the webbing.

But all the honking and yelling worked. The man who owns the truck and trailer parked across the street gets into it and pulls it down the back alley of the house he's working on. Now Mr Honker can finally drive his truck down the street and everybody else who wants to leave can do so.

End of show.

And this is just when the trades are working here. Wait till families start moving in.....

Too close for comfort

We have a lot of new communities springing up around here, houses, townhomes, and condominiums. The trend for new houses these days are modern homes with modern appliances built on small lots. These new houses are about 5 feet apart from each other. Many have basement suites for rent so the homeowner can have extra income to pay the mortgage. Many new houses in our area also boast carriage houses. In the lane entrance a 2 car garage is built and on the 2nd floor is an apartment, either a bachelor or one bedroom. And these units don't rent for small change either. $800 to $900 month for these tiny 2nd floor apartments is average rent.

In the new subdivision where Kerry is working all the homes are also set up as commercial, meaning the homeowner can also run a home based business from their house, generally in their basement suite if they aren't planning to build an apartment down there.

Oddly enough I saw only one house in this new subdivision that doesn't have a carriage house. Its just a normal size two car garage, no apartment above. A little unusual in a community where every garage has an apartment above.

Earlier this week someone set a carriage house on fire. Unoccupied. None of the houses in this block have anyone living in them yet. The carriage house/garage burnt down. But remember these buildings are built close enough to spit on your neighbor. The carriage house next door burnt to the ground and the carriage house on the other side is severely burned on that side though the structure remains standing. Also the back of the house belonging to the middle carriage house has also been badly burned, but the structure remains standing.

Why they caught on fire is unknown. Unlikely an insurance claim because everything is still under construction the insurance will cover rebuilding. Possibly an angry tradesperson. Who knows.

All I know is I don't want to live in a subdivision where the houses are this close together. One house catches on fire, so do the houses on either side. Yes, I'm perfectly comfortable with our corner lot on a quarter acre. Our next door neighbor's house is kind of close, about 15 feet from our carport/workshop/sundeck. But not close enough to be concerned if there is a fire.

Top 10 Things NOT to say to a Cop

Here’s another little gem that I have saved in My Documents. I have no idea where I found it, but its kind of cute:

Top 10 things NOT to say to a Cop:

10. What, no donut?
9. Gee, that s great officer, the last cop gave me a warning too!!!
8. I can't reach my license unless you hold my beer.
7. Sorry, Officer, I didn't realize my radar detector was plugged in.
6. Excuse me.... is stick up hyphenated?
5. I almost became a cop, but I decided to finish high school instead.
4. Aren’t you that guy from the Village People?
3. Well, when I dropped my crack onto the floorboard, I reached down to pick it up, but my gun fell out of my lapand went off...
2. MAN!!!! You musta been doing at least 120 to have kept up with me...
1. Didn't I see you get your ass kicked on COPS?

The Coffee Shop further up the Street

A few years ago we leased a farm in Pitt Meadows. As we put it whenever we gave directions to anyone: “last farm on the right on Harris Road right before the Fraser River”.

Further up Harris Road, in the business section of Pitt Meadows, we discovered a coffee shop called Bad Ass Coffee. Nice place that also served light lunches and suppers, sandwich type fare mostly. In addition to a wide range of coffee drinks, they also served ice cream and desserts. The fun thing about this place was Friday nights live entertainment, usually a singer or two and their guitars playing cover music. We also enjoyed Sunday afternoons songwriter café where local musicians could showcase their own music.

Bad Ass Coffee had a decidedly Hawaiian atmosphere, from the names of the drinks to the interior décor, an unusual theme for this part of Canada. But the owners filled us in that the Bad Ass Coffee Company was a Hawaiian chain of coffee shops with franchises in other locations across North America and they’d bought into the franchise.

The owners even hired us and two of our mini donkeys for the Pitt Meadows Days Parade to promote their coffee shop.

One day we showed up and the name had changed to Café O Lei. The owners said they’d had enough of dealing with the franchise and decided to let that part of the business go, thus a new name. The Lei part of their name allowed that they didn’t have to make any changes to the interior décor.

Friday night music changed a bit to acts that we didn’t care for too much, but they really packed in the coffee shop by inviting all their friends. Slowly we began to choose other establishments for our Friday date nights. We couldn’t really blame the owners, they have to do what’s best for their business and unfortunately the musicians we liked the best who sang hits from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s just didn’t pack the house. Sadly most of the time we stopped in there would only be one or two other patrons. The coffee shop was never what I’d call booming with business.

And then we moved back to Cloverdale, ending our frequent visits to Café O Lei. We stopped in about a year ago when we happened to be in the area only to discover that our friends had sold the restaurant. The new owners had changed the hours, closing a couple of hours earlier. The restaurant still wasn’t busy.

A month ago we were in Pitt Meadows and stopped at the sushi place next to Café O Lei for dinner. Kerry got in before me because I’d slowed down to look at a notice on the door of the coffee shop. It was a sheriff’s notice that the doors were locked due to arrears on something....And here I can’t remember the actual dollar amount, but it was over $10,000.00.

Sadly another small business fails.

Ten Foods You Should Never Really Eat

Sometimes I wonder why I save things on my computer. Here's a little gem I came across while going through my files. I'm not too sure why I saved it, or even where I found it, but the title speaks for itself. I'm assuming the names of the people at the bottom are those who researched this list.

I'm a vegetarian and most of the items on this list wouldn't be an issue for me anyway.


Ten Foods You Should Really Never Eat

1. Raw milk (Salmonella dublin)
2. Raw hamburger (E. coli)
3. Raw roadkill (you never know how long it’s been lying there)
4. Raw shellfish (hepatitis)
5. Organically grown lettuce (Listeria)
6. Polar bear liver (vitamin A poisoning)
7. Live goldfish (it’s cruel)
8. Food from a swollen can (botulism)
9. Home-processed sausage (botulism if prepared without nitrites) and improperly cooked pork (trichinosis)
10. Poorly identified wild mushrooms (mycotoxin)

Source:

Fad-Free Nutrition
Frederick J. Stare, M.D.
Elizabeth Whelan, ScD., MPH

Another Blast of Winter

Yesterday we had a few snow flurries in the area. I was in a few of them, either walking the dogs, driving, or waiting it out so I could ride my horses. The flurries spread themselves around the area over a course of several hours but didn't amount to anything. Although we have had snow in March in the past, its not common.

This morning was another story. The snow was falling pretty good and sticking to the streets. The way the news channel showed it was like a massive snow storm. In reality we only got one or two inches, but it was enough to create havoc and slippery streets.

Kerry wasn't feeling well today and his truck was scheduled for a brake job. Our mechanic is a mile away and I was OK driving but not pulling the work trailer in the snow. The shop is in a tight area where I wouldn't want to tow a trailer and then try to back it into a spot in the snow. Not to mention it would be a little tough for the mechanic to put it up on a hoist with the trailer still attached. Kerry got up long enough to disconnect the trailer and I took our dog Lacy for the drive, and ultimate mile hike home. The first thing I see as I drive down a street is an SUV swerving all over the place after he turned onto the street. Hmm, ever hear of not tromping the accelerator when the streets are icy? I made it there safely and Lacy and I walked home in the blowing snow. Of course, she loved it. The snow was sticking to her black coat and she was prancing along like a young pup instead of the 12 year old senior dog that she is.

So we enjoyed a rare walk together in the snow on March 9, 2009. All too soon it ended and the sun came out by late morning.

But oh joy, we are in for well below freezing temperatures for the rest of the week. However no precipitation in the forecast. I guess we'll see. Won't be the first time the forecasters are wrong...

Lemon Meringue Pie, just like Mom used to make. Not.

My mother frequently baked lemon meringue pie while I was growing up. I loved the meringue part. I don't remember if I ever watched her make the pie. I'd come home from school and the pie would be cooling in the fridge. I think she might have used that lemon curd that can be bought at the grocery store, Robertsons, the jam company sells them. A British institution for more than 100 years, they're discontinuing the line, but that's another story.

I'm not positive if Mother used that lemon curd. But she was from Scotland and the British like this sort of stuff. I just remember we always had a jar of it in the fridge and I don't remember what else it was used for.

Its been around 20 years since I last had some of Mother's lemon meringue pie, and she didn't keep the recipe around so I'll never be able to duplicate it.

A couple of years ago we took my father out to the Home Restaurant in Maple Ridge. As the name suggests it is home cooked meals, or at least inspired just like home meals. They have great homemade pies. In the summer they often have great tarts too. They have a great lemon meringue pie with heaps of meringue on the top. As we came in I pointed out the lemon meringue pie to Father and he was quite happy to see it, commenting he hadn't had one in years. He had soup for dinner and that was it, leaving plenty of room for the huge piece of lemon meringue pie that he enjoyed for dessert.

Today I made my first lemon meringue pie from a recipe I found on the Internet. The thing takes a good hour of preparation time, mostly the cooking of the lemon filling. I wondered if my pie crust was a little thick, but I left it alone. When it came time to whipping the egg whites and sugar it took forever for the little peaks to form. After 10 minutes at high speed on the mixer I left it running and dealt with taking my laundry from the dryer and folding it. 5 minutes later I decided it was maybe going to be as peaky as it would get and I spooned out my lemon filling into the pie crust and topped it with the meringue. Now I managed to get peaks, but no way was my meringue the huge topping like the one at the Home Restaurant. In fact it was about the same height as the meringue on the pies Mother used to bake. It takes 15 minutes in the oven and then about 4 hours to cool down in the fridge before it can be eaten. So there's a big time committment here.

And then it was time for me to try a piece. I cut into it and served it on a plate. Yes, it looked exactly like the pie Mother used to make except the crust was a little thicker. But even with a thick crust, my crust tasted better than Mother's. My secret to a good pie crust has always been to use Crisco golden shortening. The pie itself was OK. It was not like how Mom used to make.

I'm going to try another recipe, maybe next week, maybe in a couple of weeks. I kind of want to get this lemon meringue pie down.

Tomorrow I think I'll bring a slice of pie over to my Father.

Cloverdale Clay

Growing up in Cloverdale back when there were woods, pastures, and swamplands I was familiar with a local byproduct called Cloverdale clay. This stuff is nasty, sticks to everything and is hard to get off again once its stuck to your shoes. Going barefoot was usually and easier option and then washing the clay off.

An RCMP detachment was built in Cloverdale in 1972 on the #10 Highway and 176A Street. However built on Cloverdale clay it started sinking into the ground. I remember hearing it sunk 6 inches but I don't recall if that was the final stop. That building was taken down about 15 years later due to the sinking and relocated to another part of Surrey.

I sold my first short story to the Western Producer magazine called "The Cloverdale Clay Girl" about a university student who earned her tuition by catching unsuspecting drivers in the cloverdale clay.

The catch up Cloverdale clay is it never looks wet.

The area around Cloverdale has been hugely developed, new houses, condos, and businesses. We don't see much Cloverdale clay around anymore. But if we have to dig a hole in the yard and go down several inches we do find the clay.

Yesterday I was walking my dogs in a new housing devlopment area. We started off on a paved path that turned to a dirt and stone path. It had rained the night before and was lightly raining on our walk. As we went down the hill and got to a flatter area I realized my feet were about a pound heavier than they should be and looked down. My running shoes were coated in Cloverdale clay! I used my old childhood trick and used a stick to push it off my shoes. But that only worked as far as my next step. Stubbornly I continued on because it didn't look muddy at all, but I had enough after two minutes and turned back. When I got home I used the boot scraper we have near our front door to try to get more of it off, but left my shoes downstairs on the mat when I got in. Today the Cloverdale clay is a dried mess on my sneakers.

Ah, childhood memories.....