Author Archives: Al Zylstra

It was October of 2013. Alex and I were settled in to our new home and adjustsing to having space and a yard. Alex decided we should have some backyard chickens. When a nosy neighbour behind us caught wind of that, she complained to the City. Unbeknownst to us, city bylaws were in place whereContinue reading “Rest in Peace, Patches”

When we bought our home back in 2013, we knew that we would have a SMALL back yard and an equally small front yard. It was agreed by myself and Alex that he would be the one to take on management of said pieces of land. In my wildest dreams, it did not occur toContinue reading “Yard work is NEVER ENDING”

This year, Alex and I decided that we would not be traveling for my vacation. Rather, we would pick a project and use some of my vacation time completing that project. We have a few items on our list: new windows, new electrical, new plumbing, potentially new insulation, and heating / cooling system. The heatingContinue reading “Home Improvements”

Celebrating my birthday at our favourite restaurant: – The Old Surrey Restaurant ! Great food, great atmosphere, excellent service

Today was a good day. Tackled our fish pond. Cleaned the small one first. Moved 24 good sized goldfish into it, drained and cleaned the big one. Now just filling the big one back up so they can migrate over to their bigger and cleaner home!

Has it been THREE months since I wrote anything? That is crazy! So, let’s try and fix that right now. February – Busy month. Filled with lots of appointments, both personal and professional. Had so many meetings with my accounts through work but, I managed to juggle them all and fill them with glee atContinue reading “AUGH! So much I missed posting”

Happy Belated New Year! This year has started off with a bit of a bang. Alex is not one to sit around if there is a project to be done. The weather has been chilly outside and he found that the cold and damp air was problematic for his breathing. So, he stayed inside. HisContinue reading “January projects (not mine)”

I am finding it difficult to believe that the end of 2025 is almost upon us. It is truly amazing (and awful) that the year just flew by. It feels like it was just Spring and here we are with the middle of December already! I have discovered that I didn’t post as much thisContinue reading “Ahhh – 2025 – so glad you are almost done”

Alex has been pining (pardon the pun) for a couple of decades now for a real Christmas tree. So, this year, I got him one. Meet Bruce the Spruce! He is roughly 2 metres tall, and is a sight to behold!