Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO PUT A DAMPER ON SOMETHING and A WET BLANKET

In this English lesson, I wanted to teach you the English phrase to put a damper on something. When you put a damper on something, it means that you make it not fun. Or something can also put a damper on something else. Right now, the weather is putting a damper on Jen's ability to plant things. It's been raining for two days, and that has, certainly put a damper on progress on the farm. This can happen at work, too. Maybe your boss, decides that everybody has to work on Saturday, and that really puts a damper on your weekend plans.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is a wet blanket. A wet blanket is a term we use to describe someone who makes something no fun. If your boss makes you work Saturday and that puts a damper on your weekend, we might say your boss is a wet blanket. A person who makes something, not fun. So they are someone who steals the joy from something. You might know someone who, if you invite them to a party, they're a wet blanket. And they don't add any fun or joy to the party. They just complain all the time.

So, to review, to put a damper on something means to make something not fun, in the way that, you know, something or someone makes it not fun. And then a wet blanket would be a term used to describe someone who puts a damper on things. They're kind of related, aren't they?

But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Sibelk. Thanks a lot. And your farm looks so peaceful. And my response, it is nice, but a bit rainy and cold the last few days. That's really putting a damper on things. Thanks, Sibelk, for that comment. And that was me using, the phrase in the comment. So I hope you enjoyed that. You do know that's where my phrases come from, right? I interact with people in the world and then I use what they say, to create English lessons for you.

So what was I going to show you today? Well, we're walking out here in the rain. There are puddles along the driveway. I put these little French drains in. I think I showed you this last year. And they're kind of working to keep the puddles away. But I feel like I need to add, another one here. I took the shovel out this morning and I dug one temporarily. But you can see as it rains, the water is all flowing this way and creating these puddles, which, I don't enjoy having. I like it when, the driveway stays dry. I don't mind rain. I don't mind water. But I do really like it when the driveway stays dry.

And then. Yes, this is putting a damper on things. Jen would love to be planting flowers and even harvesting some flowers. But in order for flowers to grow and bloom, you need sunlight and you also need warmth. Like, it has to be a somewhat warm day. Here you can see some water again, just trickling. I was going to show you that I wore mismatched shoes this morning. I just put my running shoes on because, I don't know why I should have put normal shoes on. I'm kind of on my way to work, so I do have to go back in the house and change my shoes, before I head out.

So, Jen just said we're in a rainfall warning. We already got an inch of rain today and, since yesterday. And, yeah, hopefully it stops soon. I don't have crops out in my big field yet. My neighbor did come and work up the field, but, we're going to have to wait on that as well, for a week or more until everything dries up. So there you go. The trees love it. The grass loves it. Way out there, you can see Walter. Walter, come on. Pup. Walter Walter. He's not rea

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO PUT TOGETHER and TO PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to put together. When you put something together, it means there are pieces. And then you attach all the pieces together with glue or screws or nails or something like that.

If you're wondering what the noise is, Jen's driving by in her gator, which kind of cracks me up because one of the last comments was that there was too much noise when I make these videos in town and some, someone wanted me to do them on the peaceful farm. And I thought I should do that. But, then there was still some traffic, wasn't there?

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Anyways, when you go to Ikea and you buy a bed, it comes in a box and then you need to put it together. When you get home, you need to use the tools and the screws that they give you. Or maybe you need to get your own screwdriver and you take all the pieces. And when you're done, after you put the bed together, you have a, bed. So when you put something together, it's in pieces and then when it's done, it's whole.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is to pull yourself together. I might have taught this one before. All of a sudden I just thought, maybe I have, but I'll teach it again. Anyways, if you are emotional, if you are sad or upset or crying, you might need to pull yourself together. Let's say you're at a wedding and it's beautiful and maybe someone you know is getting married and you're, you're just crying a little bit, but they're tears of joy. And then you have to go up and give a speech. You need to pull yourself together before you go up and give the speech. You need to get control of your emotions. You need to calm down.

So to review, to put together, to put something together means, oh, here's another good example. If you ever played with Lego, you get a Lego set. And then you need to put together all the pieces to build what you are building. And to pull yourself together simply means to calm yourself down when you're in an emotional state. When you're in a heightened emotional state. But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from ksenom. I never get up on the wrong side of the bed. There's a concrete wall. What's the difference between make the bed and assemble the bed? Dandelions grow here in Finland too. However, this spring, the night temperatures have been unusually low, so the flowers haven't appeared. Yet. And my response, when you buy a bed from a store, you assemble it. You do this once, you put it together. When you make the bed, you tidy up the blankets.

So thanks ksenom. for that comment. And hopefully you understood the difference. When you use the verb to make the bed, it's to put all the blankets flat. But if you were to get wood and cut the wood and like, not assemble it, like you are literally going to build it, we could use the verb make as well. But generally, 99% of the time when you make the bed, it means you're putting the blankets on nicely.

Today I wanted to talk about shade. The shade has returned on my farm, on my property. One of the problems with making videos in town is that you don't get to see all of the changes here on the farm property. So you can see that hopefully I'm not rotating you too quickly. You can see that shade has returned. I'm standing in the shade of this tree and it is beautiful. And hopefully, cross my fingers, the weather is beautiful on the first Saturday of June. And I can sit here. You'll recognize the view in a moment. I can sit here and do my l

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO GET UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED and TO MAKE THE BED

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to get up on the wrong side of the bed or to wake up on the wrong side of the bed or to get out of the wrong side of the bed. There's a lot of different variations to this phrase, but basically it means that you're in a bad mood. If I was crabby and cranky, Jen might say, hey, did you get up on the wrong side of the bed? I wanted to make sure I said this version of the phrase, did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? And that would simply mean, wow, did you not sleep good, did you have a bad sleep, and now you're in a bad mood.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is simply to make the bed. This is what you do after you get up. You put the pillows nice at the top of your bed and you put the blankets nice and flat. We have what's called a sheet, and then we have a comforter. And we just kind of make the bed every morning after we get up. So we put all the blankets nice and flat and tidy.

So to review, to get up on the wrong side of the bed or to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or to get up out of the wrong side of the bed, however you say it, it means you're in a bad mood. And to make the bed simply means. Yeah, to put all of the blankets and sheets flat so they look nice.

So let's look at a comment from a previous video. If you're wondering why I'm out of sorts, it's so bright out here, I have to find my sunglasses. You know, you'll notice I can hardly keep my one eye open. I'm not sure if the camera communicates that.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Ismail. Hi, Bob. That sign that says more points, more ways on the gas pump, I think it's about a rewards program like getting points when you buy gas. But I wasn't sure how it works exactly in that place. Just curious, what's it all about? And my response, yes, you get points when you buy gas. This is from the video from a couple days ago at the gas station. You can then use the points to get 4 cents a liter off your purchase. I think you need about 4,000 points to do that.

So thanks, Ismail, for that question. Yeah, at our gas station and at a lot of places, you get points if you buy certain things and then you can use Those points like money. I don't know how many points you get for a tank of gas, but I do know that every once in a while I have enough points that I can get 4 cents a liter off.

So what am I doing here? I wanted to show you dandelions. So we are in prime dandelion season. Dandelions are, of course, these little yellow flowers that show up in lawns probably in a lot of different places in the world. I'm kind of curious whether you have dandelions where you live or not. For the next week or so, there will be a lot of dandelions around. Like, this is a local soccer field. They do a lot of work here to make sure the grass is nice and green. But the dandelions, they still come. They are pretty good at growing almost everywhere in Ontario, Canada.

I don't want to go over there, but in the distance, there's actually some sort of school event. It's not my school. I wonder if it's a track and field meet. A track and field meet is where you run the 100 meter, the 800 meter. You do long jump and triple jump and all those other kinds of events. Because there's children involved. I don't want to walk over there. They want their privacy and just not a good idea. If I'm in a public place, like when I'm at the publ

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO SUGARCOAT and A COAT OF PAINT

Hi. I'll teach the phrase in a moment. I just got to get my gas pumping here. And then I will get started on the phrase to sugarcoat. Let me see here. Almost ready. There we go.

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Well, hi. In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to sugarcoat. When you sugarcoat something, it means you're giving someone serious news, but you're making it sound not serious. A great example would be if you go to the hospital, maybe you were in an accident and they do some X rays and the doctor comes out and says, well, I'm just gonna say it won't be very long before you're feeling a lot better. You might say to the doctor, please don't sugarcoat it. Just tell me exactly what's wrong. And then the doctor might say, well, you broke your leg and your arm and you're going to have a long recovery. Something super serious like that. So to sugarcoat means to make something serious sound not serious.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is a coat of paint. If you look here, this looks like it has a fresh coat of paint on it. My van could use a fresh coat of paint. When we talk about a coat of paint, it's as if when you put the paint on, it forms a coat. Sorry, there's a big, huge truck going by if you're wondering what the loud noise is. But anyways, a coat of paint is just the paint that you put on in one layer. Sometimes you put on two coats of paint, sometimes three.

So to review, to sugarcoat something means to make it sound better than it is. And a coat of paint simply refers to a layer of paint that is on something like a van or this post here.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. Let me check my gas for a sec. $70 already. Wow, it's expensive. This comment is from Meng. Daffodils in England were in full bloom a month or two ago, and now they are past their prime. Oh, I'm done pumping. I should hurry up. And then I responded by saying, I guess you're ahead of us then. Also, great use of the face... of the phrase past their prime. Yeah, it's a good phrase. When something's past its prime, it means it isn't. Isn't doing well anymore. It's getting old and not in its. Well, in its prime. I was gonna say in its heyday, which is another way of saying it.

So how much is gas here? Let me have gas is $1.35.9 cents. Gas in Canada has gotten a little bit cheaper. But honestly, I have a bit of a dilemma because if I go to the city, gas is right now 10 cents a liter cheaper in the city for some reason. I don't know why, but it's 10 cents a liter cheaper. So the problem I have is do I drive to the city and use extra gas to fill up my van so that it's cheaper? Or do. Or do I just buy the more expensive gas?

So hey, some of you might be wondering, I think in a previous video, I don't know on which channel, I talked about how this van had to go to the garage for some work. It smelled like gas. It ended up being something fairly simple. It was less than $200 to get it fixed. So I'm happy that my little blue van is still on the road and still doing well. Hopefully it lasts a long time because we need it to. So yeah, I tanked it up with gas and it's good for a little while yet. By the way, only I drive this van. My kids have decided they like the newer car better and the red van is, I think, more reliable. So it's just me now. Me and my blue van, which some people think is gray, but I think it's blue. Maybe let me know in the comments below what color you think this van is.

Anyways, thanks for watching. I'll see you in a

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO COVER YOUR TRACKS and TO COVER ALL THE BASES

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to cover your tracks. Now, if you do something and you don't want anyone to know you did it, you might want to cover your tracks. Let's say there are cookies in the kitchen and I'm not supposed to eat them. I might go to the tray of cookies and eat two and then I might move the other cookies so it looks like they're filling the plate. Still. I'm trying to cover my tracks. You also hear this phrase when you watch a show where there are criminals. After a criminal commits a crime, they might try to cover their tracks. They might put everything back the way it was. Let me see, let's say they were stealing money from a safe. They would probably close the safe and make everything in the place where they are stealing the money from look the same way as when they got there. They try to cover their tracks.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to cover all the bases. This means to make sure that you do everything in a situation. Let's say you're working on a project at work. You want to make sure that you cover all the bases. When you work on that project, you want to make sure that manufacturing goes well. You want to make sure that design goes well. You want to make sure that you have thought about and taken care of all of the aspects of the project. You want to cover all the bases.

So to review to cover your tracks means to make it look like you haven't been there. I've actually done that after I've eaten cookies before. I rearranged them on the plate so it looks like the plate is still full. And then to cover all the bases means to make sure that you take care of all aspects of a project.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Minosmil. I can imagine Bob and Jen going on a trip, but I'm not able to picture Bob the Canadian without pizza. And my response it would be hard! Right now. We make homemade pizza for supper once a week. It's my favorite night. Yes. So thanks Minosmil for that comment. Yes, I can imagine going on a trip. If I go on a trip, I'm hoping wherever I go that there's pizza there because I still like it. What an amazing food. Crust, cheese, sauce, some meat on top of it's just amazing. Hey, what was I going to say? I was going to say something else. I can't remember Jen and I going on a trip. That should happen at some point in our lives, probably.

So here's what I wanted to show you. We're a little behind right now in this part of Ontario, Canada. If you look here on the lilac tree, you'll see they're just starting to get their little flowers. And usually this has happened already. I should pause a little bit and stop moving so you can see. And then over here we have some purple ones. There's actually not a lot on this tree either. Hopefully I'm not too close. Hopefully you can see, if I go too close, it doesn't focus. So hopefully in the next little while things warm up a bit.

Jen and I need to start our farmers market in four weeks and things aren't growing as fast as they normally grow. We had a burst of growth, like the daffodils started growing really well. If you look over here, you can see there are some daffodils there. These aren't ones that we grow and sell, but definitely it needs to warm up a bit around here. The trees are starting to get leaves, so that's cool. But, yeah, it's like, you can see I have my sweater on again today. So it's another cool day here. And yeah, we need the su

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BELT OUT and TO TIGHTEN YOUR BELT

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to belt out. So a belt is something you wear on your pants so your pants don't fall down. But it's also a verb we use to talk about someone who's singing very, very loudly. You can belt out a song. Let's say you go to a karaoke evening somewhere and you choose your favourite song and then you get the microphone and as the words show up on the screen, you start to belt out the song. So kind of a unique verb, but it is a verb that you will hear quite often. Sometimes people will say, wow, the singer could really belt out the songs. It was very cool to listen to.

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The second phrase I wanted to teach you today is to tighten your belt. When you tighten your belt, it means you're trying to save money. So let's say Jen and I wanted to go on a trip in six months, but in order to do that we would have to save up some money. We might need to tighten our belts. So we might need to tighten our belts. That means that we decide to not go out to eat. We're not going to order pizza, we're going to make all of our food at home. How else would you save money? Maybe we're going to cancel Netflix. We're going to decide to tighten our belts so that we can save some money.

So to review, to belt out simply means to sing something loudly with lots of energy and enthusiasm. And to tighten your belt means to decide to not spend money on extra things for the next little while.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Freddy Wolf and the comment is. Here we go. Thanks, Bob. While your temperatures are currently quite low and a bit chilly, we are experiencing very high temperatures up to 30. This is in France, by the way, for the month of May. This is a record since weather forecasts have been taking measurements. Sand from the Sahara is even predicted to come up to us. Our cars will all be sand colored. Mandatory wash in sight. See you soon. And my response. Oh, wow, that's a long way for the sand to travel. I've never experienced something like that. I hope it doesn't last long.

I think I forgot to put the T on last in that comment. There's a little, there's a little error there you'll have to correct if you see it. But yeah, thanks Freddy for that comment. Sand from the Sahara or the Sahara, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to pronounce it. Even English speakers sometimes don't know how to say the words properly, so. But that's interesting. That's a long way for the sand to travel. It reminds me of when we had the wildfires in northern Canada and the smoke traveled all the way to New York City in the United States. That was kind of incredible.

But hey, where am I today? Well, I'm just out walking in a typical Canadian subdivision. If I show you, that is a very large dog. Yes. I'm not always a big fan of dogs. I'm just going to walk quickly. Now. This is a typical Canadian subdivision. Every once in a while I do come and make a lesson in a subdivision. I always hope that the people who live in the subdivision, if they see me, don't mind. I also have a sense that there might be a car coming up behind me. Oh, no, it's turning. So I'm safe. I have to be hyper aware of my surroundings when I come and make an English lesson in a place like this. But there you go. You can see that a lot of Canadians have more than one vehicle. One vehicle there. When you see a vehicle in the driveway, there's often another vehicle in the garage. And then someone even has a boat over there. I wo

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A REAL HEADACHE and A SPLITTING HEADACHE

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the phrase a real headache. Now this can have two meanings. The actual meaning is that your head hurts and maybe you need to go to a pharmacy to get some medicine so that you don't have a headache anymore. Maybe you have a real headache, an actual headache. But we also use this to talk about a situation that isn't easy. Right now I don't think I want to go to the United States because I think crossing the border would be a real headache. I think they might ask me too many questions. If you didn't know the US and Canada aren't getting along very well right now. So I'm not sure I want to cross the border because it might be a real headache. You might go for an interview for a job and you might say, oh, the job interview was, it was a real headache. Like they asked me questions for two and a half hours. So sometimes when it's not an actual headache, we still use the word real to describe a situation that is kind of annoying and kind of difficult.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is a splitting headache. This is an actual headache. If you have a splitting headache, you will probably go to the pharmacy and get some acetaminophen or ibuprofen to help with your headache because you have a splitting headache. Sometimes people go out and they drink too much, they have too many alcoholic beverages and the next morning they wake up with a hangover and they have a splitting headache.

So to review, a real headache can be an actual headache or it can be a difficult situation. And a splitting headache is when you have... your head just feels like it just feels awful. It's not very nice at all.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Ünsal. I've noticed there usually aren't many people around in the videos you film in town. Is that because of the time and place you choose to shoot? Or are those calm, peaceful streets just part of the vibe where you live? Thanks for filming outside. Even with the strong wind, it's always such a joy hanging out with you. Thank you so much for this useful lesson. Have a great day. Bye. And my response? I'll try to find a place today in town with more people. A lot are still in their cars because it is early spring. The warmer weather will come soon.

And you've probably thanks Ünsal for that comment. And you've probably noticed as I stood there, there were a lot of people driving by and there still are, but there aren't a lot of people walking by. That gentleman does have the window of his truck open. And I'll show you what Canadians do sometimes. Sometimes Canadians, at this time of year, we don't start spending time outside. We just stay in our cars. So this is the Tim Hortons. Drive through and you'll see that there are quite a few people lined up to buy some food, to buy some coffee, maybe some donuts and those kinds of things. If you look way over there, you'll see people going from their car into the Tim Hortons restaurant. But, yes, I would say that it's still maybe a little bit too chilly for people to actually be outside.

Oh, there's someone over there. So I'm gonna guarantee you that that person. Oh, I thought she was maybe gonna go into the drugstore, into the pharmacy, because maybe she has a headache. But no, it's still a little. Oh, she did. She did go. I should have kept the camera there. Anyways, Ünsal, you wanted to see more people. I think I showed you three. But, yeah, I think it's mostly due to the weather. Li

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases THAT'S THE SPIRIT and A KINDRED SPIRIT

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase that's the spirit. When we say that's the spirit to someone, we are encouraging them or recognizing that they did something cool or that they're excited about something. I'm not sure I'm explaining this well. Let me explain. If I said to someone, I want to go for a hike tomorrow, but it's going to rain, if they said, I'll just wear a jacket and bring an umbrella, I would say to them, that's the spirit. They are showing a positive attitude towards something that might be hard. If I said to a student, the exam is going to take three hours, and if they responded by saying, well, then I'll just study for three weeks, I would say, that's the spirit. They are showing a positive attitude when something difficult is going to happen.

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It's very windy out here today. I'll show you in a minute. Hopefully I don't blow away.

The second phrase I wanted to teach you today is a kindred spirit. A kindred spirit is a person you meet who is very similar to you and has a lot of the same interests. I have a good friend, and that friend and I both read science fiction books when we were teenagers and we often talked about them. We were kindred spirits. When I was at university, I met people who I really enjoyed hanging out with. We were kindred spirits.

So to review that's the spirit is used to basically recognize that someone is being positive in a situation that might be negative. And when you say a kindred spirit, you're talking about someone who thinks a lot like you, likes a lot of the same things as you.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Pedro. Talking in person is different. It brings back a kind of warmth you don't get through a screen. Have a great weekend, Bob. And my response? Yeah, I like in person better than online. So that was a reference. Thanks, Pedro. That was a reference to the last lesson where I talked about face to face and in person.

Let's walk over here and see if we can see. Oh, I was going to say one more thing. I used to have to do parent teacher interviews online during the pandemic and I didn't like it at all.

Okay, I'm not sure if you can see this tree. It was moving quite a bit more earlier. I'll just point like this for a bit. It's just really, really windy out here. I'm gonna walk this way so the wind is at my back. That's better for the microphone. Then the sound, the audio quality should be pretty good, but I'm just walking in what I would call a typical Canadian neighborhood in a small town. Notice some of the driveways are gravel, some of the driveways are concrete, and some of the driveways are pavement.

Last time I did a video like this in town, a lady ran out of her house and wanted to know what I was doing. So I don't know if that will happen again, but people are quite protective when they see someone with a camera. Although the last time it happened, the person thought that it was some sort of sensor that I was looking for gas leaks or something like that. This person must be getting ready to go camping. It's a little early for camping in Ontario, Canada, but you can see they have their pickup truck hooked up to their camper and it looks like they're getting ready to hit the road and maybe find a campground that's open. I don't think a lot of them are yet. They usually don't open till the middle of May.

Anyways. Again, a view of the trees moving in the wind. A nice view of a typical Can

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