July 2021

Been a long time since I posted anything here.

Getting older and more forgetful 😄

Still in Cheyenne. It’ll be 10 years in September since I became a dual American/British citizen. Wow. 

We’re all still doing well. Caden is 7 now and enjoying school and karate. 

Ash now works in a bank (credit union) and I’m still at Sapp Brothers. 

Hope you’re all keeping well. ❤️❤️

Happy birthday to me

Well, I guess I made it a full half century.
50 years old eh?
Quite surprising considering the amount of stupid stuff I’ve done.
Here’s to the next 50!! 🍻🍻🍻

March 2017

MARCH 2017
Winter is (hopefully) done with here in Wyoming.
Caden is doing great. He'll be 3 next month. Flying by.
Ashlie is doing good and so is Christopher.
I'm still working the same job and going to be racing some quad motocross this year.
Soon be summer. 😊

JANUARY 2016

Still here, living in Cheyenne. Not been moved to corporate in Omaha just yet.
All the family are doing well.
Caden spends his time watching Thomas and eating bananas.
Christopher doing well in school and shovels a lot of snow.
Ashlie running her store and selling kids books.
I'm trying to play my drums and get home more often.
Boots is enjoying his retirement.
Happy :-)

June 2015

Caden's getting bigger. Walking around and shouting. He's a happy kid. We're very lucky.
Work's still ticking along. I'm usually away from home 4 or 5 nights a month. Could be worse.
Ashlie's still managing the pawnbroker store and Christopher's on vacation in Florida.
Off to the mountains for a few days tomorrow. Happy days.

January 2015
Caden is almost 9 months old now and he's doing great, as are the rest of the family.
My job changed in October.  I'm still with SBT but I'm now taking care of the safety and DOT compliance for the national fleet rather than just 3 terminals. It means I'm spending more time away from home than before but not too bad, usually 3 to 5 nights a month.
All in all, life's pretty good.

June 2014

JUNE 2014
Been a long time but it's been a bit busy since September.
Our son Caden was born 8 weeks early on April 22nd after Ashlie took a helicopter ride from cheyenne to Denver.
Mom and baby are both fine but it was a worrying time for us all.
He's home now in cheyenne after spending a few weeks in the NICU at Presbyterian St Luke's in Denver.
Now looking forward to the whole UK family visiting this summer.

September 2013

Yesterday was the 6th anniversary of me arriving in the USA. Life's pretty good. :-)
Mum and Graham are here right now for their annual visit to Cheyenne.
I visited England in April for the first time since 2006 with Ashlie and Christopher. OMG, that place is busy.
I think I'll stick to Cheyenne.
Bought myself a motorcross bike (2012 KX450f) and Ash just bought herself a sport quad (2006 Raptor 700R) which she lets me play with sometimes :-). (pics).

November 2012

Still in Cheyenne.
I quit smoking back at new year and started running/jogging in July.
Never gonna be a fast or long distance runner, but I feel a whole lot better than I did this time last year.
Christopher's still doing really well in school and we're both still working at the same jobs.
We've had some snow a couple times so far this winter, but nothing major.
Living the dream. :-)

July 2012
Mum and Graham are in Cheyenne for 4 weeks for a vacation.
It was a nice surprise as they didn't tell me they were coming. It seems everyone else in Cheyenne knew though. Sneaky people :-).

April 2012

Still ticking along here in Cheyenne.
We bought a house last month. 4 beds, 2 baths. Much more room than the condo which we're now renting out.
Ash is still working at the same place and Christopher is still doing great at school.
All my American family are doing well.
Not much new then really. :-)

November 2011

All's well in Cheyenne.

The family are well and we're still doing the same jobs.

I'm doing a little part time daytrading on the stock market, just for fun for now, to see if I can learn how. Just treating it as an expensive hobby right now.

Maybe I'll start a blog on that so I can look back on how I started.

Nearly Christmas. :-)

September 2011

Well, the interview and oath ceremony in Denver all went well and I became a dual American/British citizen on the 14th.

Happy days.

AUGUST 2011

Just a quickie. My citizenship interview is on September 14th, down in Colorado.

Fingers crossed it all goes ok.

June 2011

3 years eh? How fast did that go?

On May 23rd, I had been an American resident (Green card holder) for 3 years. This means I'm now eligible to apply for Citizenship as I became a resident through marriage to an American citizen. If you become a resident through employment or various other reasons, the wait is 5 years.

I'm still working at the same place (SBT) as the transportation/safety manager in Cheyenne. We haven't had any snow for a few weeks now, so maybe summer is here. Maybe.

August 10 - December 10

Well, lets have an update.

The transportation manager at SB Fuels (Cheyenne), (now SBT inc) left in August and I was offered the job, so I'm now the Transportation/Safety manager instead of a driver. I'm enjoying it so far and I don't have to drive the rockies in the snow anymore, which is a good thing.

I also decided I'd have a try at going to college and I managed to get an A in my Math course and an A in my criminal justice course, so I was pretty happy about that. I also went on a 'ride-along' with the Cheyenne city police for the criminal justice course, which was interesting. I didn't get to play with the sirens though :-(

We had some visitors from England since my last update. My Mum & Graham came out in October for 2 weeks and seemed to have a good time. They spent a weekend up at the cabin in the mountains with Tom & Jan (Ash's Mom & Dad) and they went up to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse memorial etc etc. Mum even had a go at shooting Ash's .22 pistol, which surprised everyone. An old friend from England, Bobby Strode, also came through Cheyenne just after Thanksgiving and we went out for breakfast and spent 2 or 3 hours catching up on old times. Over 20 years since I'd seem him. Where does the time go?

Ash is still pretty happy with her job at the pawn store and Christopher is still doing well at school.

Nearly Christmas now. Hope you all have a good one :-)

May '10 - August '10

So, in June the merger finally happened and, for several reasons, it meant that we wouldn't be able to stay in Florida and so we headed back to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

I managed to get my old job back at S.B. Fuels and we still had our condo here, so we just moved back in.

Christopher is back at school now and seems to be happy. The school he now goes to is just at the end of our street, so it's much easier for Ash to drop him off in the morning.

Ashlie got a job in another Pawnbroker's store and is enjoying it. After only around 5 weeks there, she's already the stand-in manager whenever the full time manager is away.

Mum & Graham are coming out to Cheyenne towards the end of September and we're all looking forward to seeing them again.

The pic is from when we were still in Port St Lucie, Fl.

Why does someone always sneak up behind you when you're having your picture taken?

Anyway,
May 2010

Still here in Florida and, let me tell you, it's a tad warm.

Still waiting to hear what is going to happen at work after the merger. We're hoping to hear something later this week, but don't hold your breath on that.

We've kinda given up looking for a house to buy until we know what's going on with my job. We looked at a lot and put in offers on 2 or 3, but for one reason or another, they didn't work out.

Christopher is heading back to Cheyenne for summer vacation when he finishes school at the end of the week. Depending on my job, me and Ash will either be heading up there for a week later in the summer or maybe even end up moving back there altogether. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

February 10 - April 10

Well, still here in Florida.

My Dad & Tessa came to visit for a few weeks in February. It was good to see them after more than 3 years.

Ash is working part-time in a local store and I'm still driving a fuel truck.

We all have new mountain bikes (thanks dad) so we can go ride together at the weekend (when we get around to it) and we're in the process of trying to buy us a house.

Ash got another dog (Titch). It's a small white fluffy dog. That's about all I know about it.

Christopher still seems happy enough in school. He still likes to swim in the pool sometimes and plays with his lego when he isn't swimming.

My computer seems to have gotten bored with being a computer and has decided to try its hand at being a bag of crap. And, to be fair, it seems to be doing a pretty good job at it.

Anyway, the sun is out, the sky is blue and I'm off to work.

Lovely.

December 09 - January 10

General:- I'm still driving a fuel truck, Ash's still looking for a job, Christopher's still cheeky, we still live in Florida and it's still warmer here than where you are (probably). :-)

Christmas was fun. My Mum & Graham (my step-dad), Nicola (my sister), her husband Simon and their 2 sons Nathan and Josh were in Orlando for 2 weeks. Ash & Christopher got to spend pretty much the whole time up there with them doing the 'Disney thing' and I managed to get up there whenever I wasn't working. They all came down to Port St Lucie for Christmas day because I was on call for work and some of them were even silly enough to go in our cold swimming pool (my wife with all her clothes on for some reason). Americans eh? :-)
It was great to see everyone. I hadn't seen Mum & Graham since they were in Cheyenne for Christmas '07 and I hadn't seen Nicola and her family since I was last in England for Christmas '06. Tempus fugit.

The pic is Me, my Mum and Ash at Seaworld around Christmas time.

October/November 09

Ok, so, on October 19th, I flew from Orlando to Denver to pick up my family in Wyoming and drive us all back down to Florida. Spent the night at Tom & Jan's (Ash's mom & dad's) and had some food and a few beers with family and friends. Hooked up the U-haul trailer and set off for Florida early(ish) Tuesday morning. A pretty uneventful trip down really and arrived in Port St Lucie on Thursday evening. Time to settle into our new life in the sun.

Christopher seems to be happy enough in his new school, I'm still working for Flying J driving mostly to Orlando and back twice a day, sometimes to Fort Lauderdale and occasionally down to Caloosa Cove on the Florida keys. Ash is still trying to find a job.

The pic is me and Christopher playing in our pool.

August/September '09

OK, so, left Cheyenne on Sunday August 30th with wifey for our vacation in Florida. Stayed in Missouri for a nap on Monday then drove through to North Carolina and arrived at Michelle and Tracy's house Tuesday afternoon, 1700 miles later (Michelle and Tracy are Ash's Step-sister and her husband. Had a nice stay there and set off for Florida Thursday morning. Spent Thursday night in Ormond Beach, Florida. Friday, we headed south again and stopped for breakfast at the outer marker cafe on Space Coast Airport, where I learned to fly in 2000. Ran down to Port St Lucie, another 100 miles or so, and booked into the days in for our stay.

Spent most of the rest of our vacation watching Ash fish off the piers around Jenson Beach and checking out the local area.

Took Ash to Orlando airport on Monday 14th for her flight back to Cheyenne while I stay in Florida to look for work and a place for us to live.

Good news. Looks like I may have a job with the company I used to drive for in Cheyenne (Flying J). Things are pretty slow down here for work but, fingers crossed, we'll work it out and we can stay down here.

Ash and Christopher will hopefully be down here during the week of October 11th. I don't like being away from my family but, hopefully, it'll all be worth it.

The pic is christopher, my step-son, who was 8 on Tuesday.

Tuesday July 28th

Well, the economic downturn/crisis/crunch/toilet duck finally caught up with us. I got laid off from Flying J a couple of weeks ago.

The plan at that point was for me to get the house painted and fixed up ready for selling, then head off down to Florida and try to find me a new job down there. There wasn't much point in me looking for another job here in Cheyenne as we would be moving down to Florida in 2-3 months anyway. Anyway, plans change. The day I got my final check (yea, that's how they spell cheque over here), the guy who gave me my job at Flying J back in September called me and offered me another job hauling fuel (he's now in charge of Sapp Brothers here in Cheyenne (another truck-stop/travel plaza chain)). So it all worked out kinda good really. I got some severance pay from Flying J and just continued hauling fuel for someone else at the same kinda money. The only down side is that I don't have a fixed schedule at work yet. It's a day to day thing which causes problems for Ash as she doesn't know whether to find a child minder for Christopher or whether I'll be at home to look after him. It's not ideal, but I'm still earning some money while I paint the house.

Cheyenne's been very busy this last week. It's Frontier Days (a big rodeo festival thing) with a load of cowboy stuff going on and some rock concerts etc. I haven't been out there with my crazy work schedule, but Ash went to see Kenny Chesney (I think that's how you spell it) with her brother Heath and sister Michelle. She also bought a t-shirt at the concert for $30!!!!!!! I'm still giving her some hassle about it (just for fun) but it made her happy and that's all that matters really.

Still planning on Florida. I'll let you know when we get there.

I know. I've been neglecting my blog again.

Not much has changed here recently. The snow has finally gone (I hope) and it looks like we're heading for summer at 6000 feet in Cheyenne.

I'm still hauling fuel back from Denver/Aurora twice a day/night and Ash is still working in the store in South Cheyenne. Christopher's still cheeky. Kiko still leaves her fur everywhere. Tilly still has dual personalities and Squeekers thinks it's perfectly ok to wake us up at 3am so he can come in.

Ash has now got a shotgun to go with her .22 rifle. It's a Mossberg Maverick 88 pump action 12 gauge, for anyone who's interested in that kind of thing. It's really just for home defence as she doesn't like my Springfield XDM .40 handgun.

We're still planning to move to Florida later this year. It's just a matter of waiting for a job to come open down there with the company I work for here. I'm looking forward to living near the sea again. Might even get us a boat in the future so Ash can do some sea fishing and I can get drunk in the sunshine.

We went to see Rodney Carrington last night in Cheyenne with Ash's Mom & Dad. Had a great time. He's a funny man.

The pic is the Jupiter inlet, near where we're going to live in Florida.

Me and the wifey out shooting at Vedauwoo.

Wednesday November 26th - Wednesday January 14th

Ok, so I'm slacking a bit on the old blog. Scuse me.

Still haulin fuel back from Denver every day but it's been a bit quiet over the Xmas period, so not been as busy as usual. Hopefully it'll pick up again soon and we'll all be able to get our loads into the ground without too much waiting around.

I should have been working on Christmas day, but as it was so quiet, me and Gary (the other driver scheduled for work on the 25th) didn't have to go in at all and got the day off.

So, Christmas day was spent with the morning at Jan & Tom's house (Ash's Mom & Dad's) with us, them and Heath, Jen & Natalie (Ash's brother & his family). Managed to talk to my Mum, Graham (my step-dad) and my sister Nicola and her family over one of those web-cam-video-call thingys. Nice to actually see everyone rather than just hearing them as it's been 2 years since I was last in England so I haven't seen anyone from there except Mum & Graham since then (they were here last Christmas).

We had a big family bowling party for Jan's birthday on the 28th which was fun. I managed to get the night off work so I could go, which made a nice change as I don't often get to go to family events with the hours/days I work.

New year I was scheduled to work again and this time I ended up doing just that. Ah well, can't have everything.

Nothing much happened in the last 2 weeks since new year, except it's been a little windy on a couple if days, as you can see from the pic. Doesn't really bother us driving tankers though, so no problems there.

Thursday Oct 2nd - Tuesday Nov 25th

Still haulin loads of diesel back from Denver twice a day. Pretty easy job and pays pretty good too.

Gas/Petrol has gone down & down in price for a while now. Now $1.49 a gallon (around 27p a litre in English money).

Managed to revalidate my pilots licence today out at Cheyenne airport. Only took me 2.7 hours with an instructor, which isn't bad since I've only flown around 11 hours since 2000, and 8.8 of those were in helicopters.

The pic is 'Five Eight Juliet', the plane I've been flying out here.

Sunday Sept 21st - Wednesday Oct 1st

Got all my loading rack cards now and started venturing out on my own. Just running 2 loads of diesel from Denver back to Cheyenne at the moment. Clint, my boss, says he's going to let me get comfortable with the diesel loads before he starts giving me gas (petrol) loads as well. So, all's going well so far.

Ash started a new job last week working in a store on the South side of town. She seems to like it so far and it'll be nice for us to have some spare money now we're both working again.

The pic is one of C R Englands' trucks on I-25 heading towards Denver. I still sometimes get a little twinge for home when I see one. I don't really miss the country though, just some of the people still there.

Tuesday Sept 16th - Saturday Sept 20th

Finally got back on the trucks after more than a year.

Started my training with Flying J Transportation on Tuesday. I've got to drive the truck around with Jeff, who's training me, and load 3 times at each of the 3 loading racks down in Denver and at the 2 loading racks in Cheyenne, then take a test at each of them to get my authorized drivers' cards so I can load gas (petrol) & diesel on my own. Obviously, driving a truck isn't a problem but the loading rack computer systems and the paperwork is pretty complicated when you've never done it before. It's sinking in though and hopefully after another week with Jeff I will be ready to head out on my own.

The pic is the truck I've been using all week.

Tuesday Sept 2nd - Monday Sept 15th

Still working at the Flying J on maintenance.

Christopher started a new year at school in 1st grade.

The pic is Natalie (Heath & Jens' Daughter (My step-niece)) and Jan (Ashs' mom) with her pet eagle.

Wednesday July 9th - Monday Sept 1st

1 year in the states already. September 1st last year was when my (now) wife drove all the way to Saskatoon to pick me up and bring me to Cheyenne. Sometimes it doesn't feel that long ago. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever. You know how that goes.

Anyway, back to now.

Flying J corporate have now cleared me to drive their gas tankers, so now I have to pass the Flying J driving test (a little nervy as I haven't driven a truck since I left Canada). If I pass the test, I then have to wait for a job opening to come up. One more hurdle cleared then but still have to wait and see.

Home life has had a few downs in the last few weeks. Ash's Grandad John, one of the nicest guys I've ever met, sadly died in Houston where he'd gone to get cancer treatment. I've never heard anyone have a bad word to say about him and everyone thought the world of him. A very sad time. Another down was that Ash lost her job when the company she worked for closed it's Cheyenne office. It also meant she lost her car. It's been a difficult few weeks to say the least but we'll get past it. Hopefully we'll both have good paying jobs in the not-too-distant future. I'll let you know.

Saturday May 24th - Tuesday July 8th

Ok, so after I stopped worrying about getting my green card, the problems return to finances. Not working for 9 months can put a serious dent in your bank account and that's what it did. Time for work then.

On May 27th, because I couldn't reapply for my hazardous materials endorsement until I had my green card and then wait 30 days for the necessary TSA clearance, I started work at the Flying 'J' truck-stop working on maintenance. This mainly involves cleaning showers and picking up after people who feel that the trash cans are too far away for them to walk to. Obviously, this isn't very mentally taxing and pays around the same as I earned at 18 driving a forklift in Tesco's warehouse, but you gotta do what you gotta do and it's better than nothing. Just.

Anyway, on July 2nd, I finally got clearance from the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and went along to the Wyoming DOT to have my HAZMAT endorsement put on my licence. So, now I can finally look for a job on the gas/petrol tankers and hopefully be able to afford both to run my car and buy enough cornflakes to feed my family.

I'll let you know...........

Sunday April 27th - Friday May 23rd

Still been doing the same things. Applying for jobs etc.

May 23rd was our immigration interview in Denver for my adjustment of status (AOS). We travelled down to Denver (once cheyenne's tornado sirens had stopped wailing) on Thursday evening and stayed the night at the Guesthouse hotel on Quebec st. Up early, around 5am, to get showered etc ready for the interview. Got round to the USCIS office on 47th ave around 6:50am and waited for them to open the doors at 7am. Sat in the waiting room for around 25 minutes until the immigration lady called my name and we both followed her through to her office. After taking the 'we promise to tell the truth' oath, we all sat down and she started with the interview. She asked us how we met, when we met after that, if our families approved of our marriage etc etc. She then asked us for evidence that our marriage is real (marriage certificate, utility bills in both our names etc) and for birth certificates for us and any children we have (my 2 and Ash's 1). Anyway, after around 40 minutes, she said she was satisfied our marriage is bona fide and that she was going to approve me for PR (permanent residency). She said my 'Green Card' (which isn't green at all, apparently) should arrive in around 2 weeks and until then she put a stamp in my passport (I-551) which shows I'm a US permanent resident.

So, as you can imagine, we are much more relaxed now and can start to plan our future knowing where we will be living.

Wednesday March 5th - Saturday April 26th

Oops.... has it really been nearly 2 months? Sorry.

Lots happened. Got my work visa, social security number, advance parole document (so I can leave the States and come back in, if I want) and my CDL(A) with N,T & P endorsements. Have also done my fingerprint check thingy with the TSA to apply for my HAZMAT endorsement (still waiting for that to come back). Our immigration interview is at the end of May in Denver.

Oh, and I did the ground-check with Don at 'Wings of Wyoming' at Cheyenne airport in order to revalidate my FAA private pilots licence (still got to do the flight check and some refresher hours, when I earn some money (probably quite a few by now. Last thing I flew was a Robinson R22 down at Booker airfield near High Wycombe when I was driving cranes in London in '05-'06 and it's longer than that since I flew a fixed wing. Gonna be very rusty by now, I'm sure)). I did send off and exchanged my old paper pilots licence for the new plastic-card type one though.

Ok, so I've now got (almost) everything in place to go drive gas (petrol) tankers for a living and earn some decent money without having to leave my new family for weeks at a time like I would with an OTR trucking job.

Fingers crossed please............

Monday January 28th - Tuesday March 4th

Still waiting for immigration for my work visa, advance parole (allows me to leave the USA and come back in while we wait for my residency) and my permanent residency interview. Still playing around with the forex.

On March 1st, it was 6 months since I arrived in the States and since I last worked. I'm looking forward to being able to work again. 6 months without earning any money isn't a very nice experience.

In anticipation of my work visa arriving, we went out and bought me a car (pic). It's a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria P71 police interceptor with a 4.6L, V8 engine, fresh from the Cheyenne highway patrol. We paid $4200 for it, which is a pretty good deal I think.

Yesterday (3rd) was Ash's birthday and the 3 of us (Me, Ash & Christopher) went to the Outback for dinner.

Saturday January 19th - Sunday January 27th

Forex & Websites during the week and a quick trip up to Casper from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon for Ash to do a course for work.

Made a nice change apart from the hotel which was garbage.

Got another website up. http://www.homerun-baseball.com/

What to do next?

The pic is one I took when I was learning to fly helis back in Blackpool, England.

Sunday January 13th - Friday January 18th

Still working on Forex and playing with my websites.

Made a new one about American football. http://www.football2football.com/

Time to start working on another one I think.

Thursday January 3rd - Saturday January 12th

Back to normal after the Christmas-New Year excitement.

Ash back at work, Christopher back at school and me messing around with my websites and Forex.

We took another step in the right direction on the 12th though. Me and Ash set off around 6:30am and drove the 100 miles or so down to Denver for my Biometrics appointment for immigration. Had my fingerprints and photograph taken and that was it. In and out in around 15 minutes. Hopefully wont be too long now 'til I get my work authorisation & travel permit.

Wednesday December 26th - Wednesday January 2nd
Happy new year!!
Spent a great week with my Mum and Graham.
Went up to Jan & Toms cabin and got snowed in........lol. Went out a few times on the snow-mobiles and had a great laugh. I nearly rolled the mountain-max over and Graham killed a tree and a road sign. Real good fun :-)
Got back to Cheyenne for new year and most of ashs family came out for a meal on my mums last night here at the Texas Roadhouse.
Sad day Wednesday. Took Mum & Graham to Denver for their flight back to England.
Hopefully it wont be too long until we see them again. We're planning a visit to England some time this year.
Miss you Mum xxx

The pic is Tom (ashs dad) & Graham (my step-dad).

Christmas Day 2007

Picked Mum and Graham up from the hotel and took them back to our place for pressie opening. After that, round to Tom and Jans house for more pressies and then on to John (ashs grand-dad) and Ruths for Christmas dinner with around 40 other family members from as far away as Texas and Kansas. More gift giving in the evening and then home to bed.

The pic was taken Christmas eve.

Monday December 24th

Went to the Village Inn for breakfast. Mum & Graham got to meet some of my new in-laws for the first time. Tom & Jan (Ashs mom & dad) and Norma & Ken (Ashs Grandma and her husband) came out to meet them.

After breakfast, last minute Christmas shopping around Cheyenne and round to Norma & Kens house in the Evening for the big family get together (a family tradition amongst the in-laws).

The pic is some of my new American family on Christmas Eve.

Sunday December 23rd

My mum and Graham (my step-dad) landed in Denver to spend Christmas here and meet my wife and her family. Ash and me drove the 100 or so miles down to Denver to pick them up. By the time we got out of the airport it was dark so they didn't get to see the snow covered Rockies just yet. Got back up to Cheyenne in under 2 hours and dropped them off at the Little America hotel where they're staying for the 10 days they're here (we'll buy a bigger place where visitors can stay once I get my work visa).

The pic is up in the Rockies near Tom and Jans cabin.

Monday November 26th - Saturday December 22nd

Still busy with Laundry and meeting the school bus.

Got our receipt from USCIS saying they have our immigration application forms.

Built a little website for Ash about crafts (http://www.craft-bag.com/) and started building an info site to help foreign truck drivers wanting to move to Canada (http://www.global-trucker.com/). Keeps me busy if nothing else.

The pic is my new in-laws, playing nice.

Wednesday November 21st - Sunday November 25th

Wednesday night, we drove up to the cabin for Thanksgiving (Thursday).

Jan and Tom (Ash's mum and dad), John and Ruth (Jan's dad and step-mum) and Me, Ash and Christopher were there for the Thanksgiving meal, along with Kiko (our dog), Herc and Yolis (Jan and Toms dogs) and Sarge and Yoda (Heath and Jens dogs). Heath and Jen had gone to Ohio for Thanksgiving (where Jen is from). We all went to John and Ruth's cabin (around 100 yards from Jan and Toms cabin) after the meal for coffee and pie.

We stayed up in the mountains until Sunday evening and did some more building work on the cabin.

The pic is a few miles from the cabin.

Tuesday November 20th

Ash got a new job :-)

It's actually another job. My poor girl has got 2 jobs until I get a work visa.

She'll be working evenings where her Mum Jan works during the day.

Thanksgiving this week. Another new experience for me.

The pic is Christopher, my stepson, taken on his 6th birthday in September.

Tuesday November 13th - Monday November 19th

Good news, good news.

My mum and Graham (my stepdad) are gonna be here in Cheyenne for Christmas :-)

Not seen any of my British family (as opposed to my new American family) since Christmas last year when I was in England last. It's gonna be great, can't wait.

Other than that, nothing new happening here right now.

Got an e-mail from an old school friend, Myles benbow. Good to hear from you mate and thanks for the good wishes for my new marriage and life in America.

All's good so far...........

The pic is terribly sexist and not funny in the least. Shame on you.....lol.

Excellent

Saturday October 27th - Monday November 12th

Well, we managed to get all our paperwork/documents together for immigration and get that all sent off to our attorney in Las Vegas, NV. We also had a trip down to Fort Collins in Colorado for my immigration medical. I had a blood test for HIV and Syphilis (I'm happy to report I have neither), a chest x-ray for TB (clear again) and a little chat with the doctor about drug/alcohol abuse (never used drugs, just have a nicotine issue I'm working on). So, all's well with the medical then. One less thing to worry about.

We've been married 1 month now and everything's great.

We've spent another couple of weekends up at the cabin but there's been nowhere near as much snow as in the last picture I posted on here. I don't mind the snow but it can be a bit interesting getting back to Cheyenne after a big downfall.

I've almost managed to stop sniggering when I see someone in a cowboy hat and boots now. I've just got to remember that those are normal here and that when I'm wandering around in my Isle of Man paddock jacket, I'm the one who looks odd. Nothing new there then.

Boot's fans (you know who you are) will be happy to hear he's happy and well and currently keeping himself busy heading up one of the 2008 presidential election campaigns. I can't, of course, tell you which one.

The pic is one of our crazy cats, Tilly, who, as you can see, will sleep anywhere. She doesn't live in the cage, she just sleeps there.

Friday October 26th

Another big day today, my 40th birthday.

It was also Boots' 3rd and Terris' 2nd birthdays.

We went out for lunch with Ashs' mum and Grandma and then went up to the mountains for the weekend.

My pic was taken on our wedding day.

October 13th - October 25th

Well, still here in Wyoming, being a housewife :-)

Our plans changed somewhat on the 13th. Our original plan when I came down to Wyoming was for me to go back to Canada around Oct 5th and work there while we filed for a K-1 fiance visa through Montreal. We were going to have a weeks vacation in England from the 21st after which I'd go back to Canada and Ash would go back to Wyoming. Anyway, after a month here with Ash, we changed our minds. The new plan was that I'd stay here until Oct 21st when we'd both go over to England for a week. After that week, Ash would come back to Wyoming while we filed for a K-1 fiance visa and I'd stay in England. Anyway, Ash decided she would rather we were married before going to England so we decided to do that and then file for a K-3 spousal visa while I was in England instead.

So, the day after we got married, we were looking at the timeline for a K-3 visa on a visa/expat website when we found something interesting. On the website it said that, as long as I wasn't intending to stay in the USA when I entered the country, (which as I've said, I wasn't) and we decided to get married while I was here, I can stay in the country and file for an 'Adjustment Of Status' (AOS). We'd never heard of this before, so we spoke to an Immigration attorney to check if this was possible and were told that yes, we can do that. Obviously, this meant that we wouldn't have to spend 8-12 months apart while I was in England filing for a K-1 or K-3, so we decided I'd stay here and we'd file for AOS.

Now we just have to get all the immigration paperwork together.

The pic is my wife Ash and our dog Kiko on one of the 4 wheelers at Tom and Jans cabin.

Friday October 12th

A big day today. We got married.

It was only a small wedding with Ashs' family down at the court house in Cheyenne.

Afterwards we went for a meal at Red Lobster in Cheyenne and then round to Ashs' Grandmas' house (where the pic was taken) for coffee and cake.

October 3rd - October 11th

Time for another update.

Not doing much really (can't work in the states yet) so just enjoying a break and life in Wyoming.

The pic is Tom and Jans' (Ashs' mum and dads') cabin in the mountains near the Wyoming/Colorado state line. We get up there once or twice a month for the weekend.

Sept 2nd- Oct 2nd

OK, well, I'm even gettin complaints from Australia now about not updating my blog, so I better do something. Nothing much to report really. Been down in Cheyenne for a month with Ash and Christopher seeing what life's like in the old wild west. It's pretty good :-)

I was due to be back at work on Oct 7th, but I called Mike H yesterday and told him I wont be back. Nice guy that he is, he left the door open for me to return in the future if I want. Can't ask for more than that. I guess I must have done something right in my 14 months in Canada.

Anyway, me and Ash are going over to England for a week at the end of this month for my 40th (how old????) and to see family and friends for the first time since Christmas. Can't wait.

I'll let you know what's going on as it happens.

The pic was taken from Ash's car on our way down to Cheyenne in Wyoming.

Saturday September 1st - Sunday September 2nd

After my Friday night Edmonton run, I hooked the Saskatoon LTL (Less than Truck Load) trailer and ran it into Stoon. Last day done for a while. Packed my gear up out of the truck, gave half my stuff to Marvelous Melvin Bird, who's gonna store it in his garage for me for a while and when Ash arrived, threw the rest in her car and headed off to Wyoming for a few weeks. Got to Cheyenne (900 miles from Saskatoon) Sunday afternoon and had a beer. Lovely.