Today is Gary’s birthday. Can you believe it? Gary’s forty freakin’ five! That’s two score and five years. Jeez, Gary, you feeling as old as you are gettin’?

Here we are, my wife and I, with Gary and Deanne (hidden behind my wife’s hair) at a Garth Brooks concert 10 years ago. (Has it really been that long?) Wow.

Happy Birthday to the family’s newest teenager!

Here she is, almost ten years ago, looking super cute in her hat. Thank God she didn’t take after her mother! Aaaargh! Just kidding Deanne! (I don’t know when your birthday is, so I had to take the opportunity to sneak this picture in somewhere!)

Happy Birthday Lindsay,

Love Uncle Steve, Aunt Donna, and Cousin Garrett!

Happy Birthday Mom! (Today!)
Here’s me mudder, 44 years ago with my oldest brother Gary, on his first birthday which, almost coincidentally, is only two days after Mom’s. Not really two days, you know. Two days and a bunch of years. Three months after this picture was taken, me brudder Bill was born. Oh me nerves!
Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday Gary! (Two days from now!)

Happy Birthday Melissa! The BIG TWO OH!!

P.S. Stop pointing at me!

Moncton’s first blast of winter for 2006/07 came yesterday.

The forecast was confusing and ever-changing. Depending on whether you believed the radio stations or the weather channel AND depending on what time you listened, we were supposed to get anywhere from 5 cm (2 inches) to 25 cm (10 inches) of snow, with varying amounts of rain and freezing rain at different times throughout the weather event. We ended up getting all snow, at least in my neighbourhood. I estimate around 15 cm.

Here’s a view of the maple tree in my back yard, first thing this morning. It’s a pretty sight, but I am not a winter person. I don’t really enjoy the shoveling, or the cold, or the shoveling, or the short days, or the shoveling, or the slippery roads, or the shoveling. But most of all, I don’t like the shoveling.

Happy Birthday, Shelly!

I’m never really sure when my sister’s birthday is. It was always November 14^th. But then, for some reason, she needed to get her original birth certificate from a hospital in Quebec. When she got it, it said November 15^th. So, then her birthday was November 15th. Our mother was insistent that she was not mistaken all those years, but how could you argue with official paperwork? Well, we came up with a theory. The hospital reproduced the birth certificate based on a Julian date, that is, the day of the year. Well, my sister was born on the 319^th day of the year. AND as everyone knows, the 319th day of the year is…. November 15^th. Except, of course, on a leap year. My sister was born on a leap year so ta da! She was really born on November 14^th. Mom, you were right!

Either way, Happy Birthday little sister!