Eeeek!

While I was out watering plants the other day I stumbled upon some rather unique looking spider eggs. When I saw the big black mama clinging underneath them, I ran in the house and googled "Black widow spider eggs" on google images. The photos were a perfect match. I put Robert on spider-killing duty so he grabbed a sledgehammer and went to get her. Well, for a spider, she was pretty smart: saw Robert, and headed straight under the deck. We waited about an hour and went back for her. Like a good mama, she was back with her eggs. This time we brought the gardening tools. With one fell swoop Robert dug her out with the shovel, and sliced her in two with an ice scraper. Her babies met the same fate.

I guess her husband is now a Black Widower.

Gardening

I have found the new joy of my life: gardening. Yesterday Robert and I spent the entire day working in our yard; he mowed and edged while I planted flowers and weeded. I don't know how I went 24 years without weeding, but yesterday was truly my first weeding experience and I love it! The results are immediate, and it feels so good to pull them out of the ground. Robert is building a raised garden plot for me in the back of our yard where soon I will be able to grow vegetables and herbs!

Today we are painting our fireplace room a lovely earth color and tonight we will celebrate the great summer weather with salmon barbecued on cedar planks - yum!

Here are some pictures of my flowers...

Bennington Bloopers

Tonight we're at Silva Bay on Gabriola Island (settled by the Spanish conquistadors - yes!) and Robert and I took a little dinghy ride around the islands. Kai managed to find a coconut on the beach (yes, a part of the South Pacific in the Pacific Northwest...I don't know how either). We're still on the lookout for whales, but we have seen tons of sea lions which are so friggin' cute! Amidst the sightseeing, crabbing, walking, reading, and eating, there have been a few comedic moments that we have been lucky to catch on film:) Here's a map of where we are, along with some bloopers... enjoy!

Look closely at the white dog on the left side of the photo - she's pooping:)

Robert -the caveman- inspecting the coconut


Yes, I have incredibly freakish feet

Kai didn't want to "say cheese"

Not sure what kind of cow this came from!!!

Penny got a little tangled up while crabbing

We're located at the little green arrow on the map tonight.

Canada, eh?

Captain Gene - arrgh

Kai and Molly in the dinghy at Pirate's Cove

Robert took this one by setting the timer and running really fast:)

Holly cooking fresh shrimp scampi!

One of our poor little crabs - RIP

Today marks the completion of our first week and the half-way point of our trip! We've been travelling around Vancouver Island, and did some crabbing and shrimping along the way. We (and when I say "we" I mean everybody but me... I'm just the photographer!) dropped some traps down about 200 feet, left them there for a few hours and then returned to collect our "booty" as the pirates say:) Although the trap was full of crabs, we only ended up keeping two - the rest were runts. Our first shrimping attempt was unsuccessful, but the next day Robert and Gene set the trap again and caught about 50 big ones! Needless to say we had fresh shrimp scampi that evening. I must say the whole hunting thing makes me sad... even with hard-shelled water creatures. I could not believe that those cute little crabs would meet their end in a pot of boiling water... or that the poor little shrimps would have their heads brutally ripped off while they were still alive!!! Someday I really will become a vegetarian...

I've still been doing plenty of reading, but Robert and I have been taking Kai on really long walks too. We anchored in Pirate's Cove last night (arrrgh!) and took the dinghy boat over to a little island. It was incredible because it was so wild and desolate. We saw plenty of sea lions right off the shoreline, and even saw two bald eagles from a distance. I was sure we were going to be eaten by bears, but Robert reassured me that bears do not live on tiny 2 mile-wide islands.

Today we are in Nanaimo (one of my new favorite words), and ran into a guy who breeds Chesepeake Bay Retrievers just like Kai! We naturally had a lot to talk about with him (a very friendly Canadian who kept ending phrases in, "eh?") as he has TEN "Chessies"! Kai was his friendly self and kept taking turns dropping his tennis ball at each of our feet while we chatted.

Stay tuned for more Bennington boat adventures!!!

Aboard the Champagne Lady

So after four nights on the Champagne Lady, we've done more walking, eating, and shopping that I think I've ever done in my life:) Robert and I have been napping regularly, eating plenty of fruit and oreos (not necessarily together), and drinking lots of yummy Pinot Noir from all over the world. We tried a French one tonight which I particularly enjoyed. We began our journey in Anacortes, Washington where Gene and Penny keep the boat, and have been travelling through the San Juan Islands into Canada. Tonight we're in Sidney, Canada on Vancouver Island. Robert and I spent six hours walking around town today with Kai, and realized that sunny days mean we should wear sunscreen; both of us are suffering from major sunburns to the face and neck regions. Not sure about Kai since he's covered in fur:) I did find a really great pair of sunglasses though, so the pain is well worth it! I think we'll be spending the bulk of our time in Canada since we managed to make it through customs (Robert doesn't have a current passport and mine still has Smith as my last name... oops!). A little explanation of the above photos: top one is us on Jones Island. We took the Dinghy boat over to the shore so the doggies could go potty and snapped the photo of us with our boat in the background. Middle photo is a close-up of our furry son, and the bottom one is us with Popeye... he's a real seal that hangs out at Friday Harbour. He has a funny eye (hence the name), and we actually saw him just floating/napping in the harbour. Alas, it was a Tuesday and not a Friday:)

Okay... time to curl up on our "waterbed" - the bed is actually solid, but the whole boat is kind of floating in water:)

Love you all!