DIRT - ROCKS - COMPOST - MULCH

Now that she's purchased her tickets, we can be honest about what Mom is really doing when she gets here. We've rented a U-Haul pickup to take 140 cubic feet of fill dirt to the dump, then we have to go and pick up a few loads of 1.5" river rock for the drainage, compost for the raised beds, and then bark mulch for where Jill's planted. Mom only thought she was picking berries.

Actually, I'll be loading and dumping the dirt on Saturday morning as the landfill closes at noon. The rest is easy. All will be done Saturday. It's now obvious why Tom is staying in Sacramento.

BILL AND JILL TO WHISTLE COLONEL BOGEY'S MARCH?

Now that the airline tickets are purchased, Jill and I are feverishly studying our Lonely Planet guidebooks to Thailand. Jill's inspecting the general guidebook and I have the miserable job of reading and looking at pictures of paradise in the islands and beaches book. What I didn't realize until I started to read was that the real (read: ugly) Bridge on the River Kwai is in Thailand, along with a cemetary for over 7,000 Allied soldiers who died building the original as part of the Imperial Japanese Death Railway in World War II. This tells you more about the bridge itself, as well as the nearby town of Kanchanaburi.



Apparently, many tourists walk across this modern rail bridge whistling Colonel Bogey's March, just like the soldiers in the movie.



You don't think I would do that, do you?

WHAT'S A LOUGE, EH?

To no one's surprise, Vancouver BC was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics by the IOC today. The link will take you to far more information than you ever wanted to know about it courtesy of the Vancouver Sun newspaper.

Fact is, I'm thrilled and I'm not. I think it'll be exciting to have the Olympics not too far away. Not only that, but Vancouver/Hongcouver/Vansterdam is a fantastic place to visit pretty much any time of year. That's true for recreation, culture, dining, sightseeing, shopping, gardens, or anything else you can think of.



Problem is, until now, everyone and their dog has always, though ignorantly, viewed Seattle as the big, beautiful city to visit in the Pacific Northwest. Fact is, just between you and me, Seattle is kind of a dump. Everyone in this part of the world, except for the folks living in Seattle of course, knows that Vancouver is the true gem of region - for all of Canada as well, as far as I'm concerned.. and I've seen more than my share of the Great White North.

So, if tourists permanently head up to Vancouver in greater numbers now, there's more crowds and higher prices. Oh, well. Maybe that'll free up Seattle. Jill and I still haven't toured Seattle together since we've been married. When we head north on I-5, we never bother to exit before the Canada border if we can avoid it.

MORE UPDATES TO COME: I'll have Cathay Pacific Airline food pictures among others, the First Class Dining Conspiracy, and my promised post on why John Adams got the short end of the stick.