Oct 1st   7th month Retirement Anniversary !!  And loving it !!

Arrived in Quebec to see a wonderful looking city from our ship. The wall surrounding the city and the huge Frontenac hotel were amazing looking. Having never been to Quebec it is amazing the history here and the city is beautiful. It is exceptional as it also is so clean. We love the  narrow streets, the cobblestone, the European feel and the look of the city. Our excursion today was to the Montmorency Falls just outside of Quebec. These falls are spectacular and are over 300 ft high. They are 100 ft higher than Niagara Falls but a lot narrower so they don’t get the recognition. Beautiful falls with a walking bridge and a suspension bridge over the top of them. A 90 yr old lady with a cane walked across the bridge  with me but I couldn’t convince  Jackie to come. I even promised not to bounce or move the bridge. We also had a tea and biscuit party at the house at the bridge which was fun.

After viewing the falls from the top we drove around to the bottom for even a better look. Beautiful falls. We loaded up on our bus and headed to the sugar shack. This was a neat experience as we ended up on a old maple tree maple syrup farm. Two great presenters showed us how they tap the trees, make the syrup and how to make a favorite Quebec treat. Love the French humour and accents. The treat was boiled syrup and then put over ice and you rolled up the syrup onto a wood stick and ate it like a popsicle. Very sweet but very very good. We now have another 10lbs of luggage to take home with the treats Jackie bought.
Went to supper then danced a bit at the bar then off to see the local Quebec singers and spoon players. It was a great act that was enjoyed by everyone. Note: I loved the show but native Quebec dancing is like watching Scottish dancing or Native American dancing as after a couple of dances they all look the same. Great day.

Thought of the Day

Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it, Ontario and Quebec milk it, and you can well imagine what it is doing in the Maritimes.

Oct 2nd
Last morning on our ship. We had to get our last buffet in and make use of our coke card before leaving. Our turn to disembark was 10:30 am. We had to get up early has we needed to be out of our room by 8am.  Got off, and while waiting in the line noticed our luggage was damaged by the crew. It had one wheel already a little damaged so we didn’t bother to bring it up. We had numerous trips with this luggage as we bought it in Florida 8 years ago. The hardsided cases worked well for us. We will replace the damaged one before next trip. We took a taxi to our hotel called Hotel Manior Victoria in old Quebec which is wonderful. An old hotel completely renovated. As our room wasn’t ready we put our luggage in storage and headed out to explore Quebec. We walked down one of the busiest streets and loved the look and feel of the town. After a bit we ended up at the Frontenac  and did a bit of people watching. The boardwalk next to the wall is great. It is about 50ft wide. We were thoroughly entertained by a street performer who played his heart out  and was collecting a good amount of money from the visitors. As it was so sunny and warm out we decided to take a horse and carriage ride around the city and learn more the important historical elements of Old Quebec.  The ride was shared with an American couple and was well worth the cost. We split the cost of $100 and had a great time on the ride. It was about a one hour adventure. Laughed to myself each time our French guide pointed out ” we the French Canadians beat the Americans”  Started our walk back to our hotel and Jackie had to go to the washroom. If anyone knows Jackie she needs food “right now” when it is time and she needs the bathroom “right now” when it is time. So we didn’t make it back to our room. We made a stop at this Irish Pub on our way and sat down on the outside patio as it was so warm and sunny so that Jackie could use the washroom. While there why not have a Moosehead beer in the sun. Right beside us two American tourists sat down. Got talking to them (Allen & Jeanette) and had a quick connection. We had a great conversation about everything. The beer kept coming. Jackie says Allen and I  had at least 8 pints each but I wasn’t really counting. Had a blast talking to them for a few hours. It was Allen’s fault as he kept ordering them. Time to leave and looking back Allen wasn’t walking that well. I was perfectly fine !!!  Checked into our hotel then headed out to find the perfect French poutine. On two recommendations we ended up at Aston’s and their poutine was awesome. Walked the streets a bit then off to bed. Great rooms.

Thought of the Day

Dear Alcohol, we had a deal where you would make me funnier,smarter and a better dancer….. we need to talk.

October 3rd

Up and at it around 9am. Headed down to the Tim Hortons for  breakfast and to use their internet. The Asus is great at certain things but a laptop is 10 times better. I will load pictures and more info at  home. Today we will just wander the town. Quebec is a beautiful city. We walked and walked looking at a lot of things.                                                                                                                                           The Frontenac is

an amazing CP hotel, saw the Plains of Abraham, the great wall city, the parliament buildings, numerous statues of famous French explorers and government officials and we stopped to have

lunch in a street side restaurant which was wonderful. Rested a bit in our room and watched golf then off to find a place for supper. Ended up in a quaint place that had fantastic food. I love the friendly atmosphere and the playfulness with the language barrier is fun. We stopped at the Pandora store and picked out a Quebec Flour charm.

Remember Old Quebec’s population is only 3K people. All others are tourists. Well today they have 6 cruise lines at the dock. That is apprx 18K people extra . I understand this is a special occurrence but the town is ready for it with stores staying open and extra staff on. Great day.

Thought of the Day

1. You know you are Canadian when you order pop not soda
2. You go to the washroom, not the restroom or bathroom
3. Pike is a type of Fish not a some part of a highway
4. You use the letter U in labour,honour,and colour.
5. You use Canadian Tire money to buy products

October 4th

A little cooler today but not as cool as the weather forecast showed Edmonton at -9 degrees. No rush today as it is our last day in Quebec. We got up and got everything  ready and headed to Tim’s for breakfast. It is a little cool today so we didn’t walk a long ways. Relaxed at our hotel, read a bit, added a bit of verbiage to this blog and studied the wonderful mouldings in the lobby. Ventured out to storefront shop and look for a great diner to eat at. Lots and lots of choices with us picking the same bar Allen got drunk in.  Had a great  meal made only like a Quebec company can. Picked up our luggage and headed to the airport. On our way we saw their new arena ( 400 million) in hopes of getting their hockey team back.It is a nice looking place, something like Calgary should get. The Quebec airport is a very small airport which makes it easy to get around in. Finally got on our plane for the short trip 3/4 hr to Montreal. Mid flight we had a rough ride as the winds were high. Just like Bond I had a drink shaken but not stirred. Landed in Montreal with quick up and down. That is a large airport as we discovered as Jackie and I were given 45min  to clear security,customs and to make our gate. As luck would have it our NYC flight was at the farthest away gate. We literally had to sprint from gate 19 to gate 84. It took us at a power walking pace at least 15 min. We made it to our gate just at loading time. Right at our gate from Starbucks I bought the most ridiculously priced sandwich and water. $18.00 . This was a large airplane filled with only about 20 people. Air Canada lost money on that leg. Perhaps people are objecting to the new bag charge.LOL  Watched 3/4’s of my movie and we landed. At the airport we grabbed a cab to our hotel which was only 5 minutes away.The Hamptons is a wonderful hotel with everything and for NYC at $175 a night a  steal. Fantastic pillows and bed again. We decided to go to the lounge for a real late supper. Nothing like hot chicken wings at 10 at night.Up and had a free hot breakfast and readied to take the free shuttle to the airport. Our next stop is Ebola condemned Dallas then home. At the airport Jackie helped this lady with her Mom and children load their bags up. No one was helping them and they had a way too many items to handle themselves. At the security check the young lady guard says looking at my passport picture ” my my Mr Willard you have lost a lot of weight ” I said to Jackie a few feet past ” that was sure nice for that lady to  say “My Mr Willard you are good looking ” Jackie laughs and says “that isn’t what she said” Funny what you hear sometimes.I guess I did pretty good with all of the buffet meals. Tried to get a quick lunch but the terminal system was down. Amazing how much we rely on computers now to do anything. No till would open. Finally found a place quite a ways down the terminal that was cash only and counting money. While waiting in line Jackie & I noticed this young girl that had an amazing butt. It stuck straight out and basically had a ledge on the top of it I could place a beer. Fake looking. Low and behold on the plane in the Skymall catalogue they are selling butt enhancement underwear for men and women !!! Quite funny. On our flight now and again a passenger that thinks he needs to sleep on board. My knees will be working again.! Good thing for solitaire to spend the time on the plane. The Dallas airport is amazing. Tons of shops and restaurants to choose from. It seems we have this thing for Irish Pub’s lately. Had a wonderful supper that was exceptional. Walking to our gate change I noticed two things. First what is happening to the manly guys of this world. Guys wearing Dallas Cowboy jerseys sitting get their feet rubbed and scalp massaged in a express spa. More men than women in the spa. Why? What is going on ? The other thing that was different is they have “Minute Suites” starting at 38 bucks you get a small private suit to catch a nap and a hot shower if you want. I think they call it Minute for a reason . Nudge Nudge wink wink

MY RANT

Technology— The world sure has  changed. If the power goes out we can’t buy anything as know one knows how to count change. They may not even be able to open the till. Look at everyone when they are eating. NO one talks to each other. They are all playing on their phones. Everyone walks while looking at their phone. No one stands and does nothing. They feel to look important they must play on their phone. Little kids to old ladies it is an epidemic. At least the not so cool guys with Bluetooth ear pieces have disappeared. You are all important you don’t need to pretend to be busy to feel that way. Get rid of the phone!!!!!  BUT THAT’S JUST ME.

 

Thought of the Day

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all of your money. Then take half your clothes and twice your money.

October 6th

We didn’t get home until after 1 am which is 3am according to the time we were used to. So we slept in a bit. Home so back to our energy Smoothie for breakfast. These things are good for you , not low cal, but full of vitamins and antioxidants that are all great for you health. Lazed around a bit then headed to have a great lunch with a bunch of friends.  I can say I really enjoy inter- action with them and it was nice to see and talk to them as some of them I haven’t seen for 8 months or more. Whipped out to get a newspaper and few minor food items. Unpacked, checked out the suitcase condition and Jackie washed clothes . We managed to  put everything away. Jackie starts her small contract tomorrow.She had lots of time on the phone with people discussing the holiday and getting up to date on things. The money is very welcomed and she doesn’t seem to mind my golfing or being out each day.

Thought of the Day

Smile, it is the second best thing one can do with one’s lips, Guess which is number one ?

October 7th

Got up early ( for a retired guy) and made our smoothie’s but added a special ingredient to see what Jackie thought. I love it and she agreed. I added 1/2 cup of chocolate milk to them. Anytime you get cherries, blue berries and chocolate together you can’t go wrong. Did our weigh in and was relatively happy. Being away from home for 5 weeks and spending 10 of those days with a buffet on the ship the increase was acceptable. I gained only 5 lbs which I can lose pretty fast. A couple of workouts and careful eating and we will be fine before Thanksgiving. Decided since Jackie is earning a living I would head to the golf course again. I used up my pass I bought for Calgary and golfed the Silverwing course. Best golfing of my life. It is an easier course due to the open concept with few trees so no lost balls. I am STILL slicing which is annoying but scored a 74. I was very happy with the irons and putter.Golfed it in less than 3 hours and headed home to make a wonderful supper. Started doing my budget for Sept.

Thought of the Day

While playing golf today I hit two good balls, I stepped on the rake 

October 8th 

Got up, smoothie time and worked on the budget. Very happy as we only spent $66 over budget except for the special assessment levied on each condo due to our decks needing replacement. Total cost is close to 10K per unit paid in three installments.So we were over by 3K . Still happy as we did a lot of travelling in September. October will be the month with the cruise bill etc.   I was supposed to golf with Jeff today as we haven’t golfed together for about 4-5 weeks but he had to cancel to be home as he is getting new carpet in his basement. So I decided to head to Blue Devil in the 16 degree beautiful sun. Golfed wonderfully again today especially considering the newly rolled greens that were lightning fast. Scored a 79 again on a easier course where you can’t lose your ball. Still SLICING !!!   Keith & Jenny have booked to visit us in Phoenix early Feb which will be fun.Should get  a few different courses in then. Did a bit of house work, relaxed and getting ready to head to Edmonton in the a.m .to help Mom organize the GIC’s from her house sale. A friend and old customer invited me to golf on Friday at noon so we should have a fun time there. Still looking at our schedule as we need to be in Edmonton for Sunday and need to arrange a get together with Jackie’s Mom and Dad if we can make it work. The weather is spectacular . I also received an invite for a One Man Scramble tournament which should be a blast.

Thought of the Day 

If you are of those people that say it is hard to meet new people, just try picking up the wrong golf ball. 

October 9th

Up early to head to Edmonton.Jackie was working today  so  left right after getting up. My first stop was at the Tim’s near Carstairs on Hwy 2. Low and behold I see Arnie working away on the side of the road typing an email. He didn’t even see me approach his truck ( it was early in the morning and he was very diligent in his typing) I stopped and had a short visit with him as he was correcting an issue with the plant ( first answer they gave was no so he had to revisit) . He was happy his situation was corrected and I had a nice short visit first thing in the am. I could tell his truck a mile away with all of the Saskatchewan logo’s . Wonderful sunny day for a drive. Got Mom’s banking all fixed up and she should be fine until age 97.  I hung her grandfather clock for her and we bought picture hangers and a TV bracket. We were going out to get a few other things but she had arranged a hair appointment so I left. Once her living room furniture arrives the place will look good. Nice building. Driving home the QEII was the busiest I have ever seen it. We were bumper to bumper at 60 kph for half the way. They need to add a third lane quick !  I was reading the Edmonton Sun at the Wind Mill Donut shop in Red Deer and looked at the pictures of the Oiler alumni . That was an amazing team with those guys. Funny how years change people. Some of them are unrecognizable from the days when they played. Even the good looking Paul Coffey

looked OLD. All this hype can only be spoiled by a Flames win on Oiler’s opening night.Sort of like the spoiler wrecking 5 in a row.

Though of the day  

Life was much easier when APPLE and BLACKBERRY were just fruit. 

October 10th

Well well well. The Oilers are off to a good start. LOL  Enough said as I understand the emotional turmoil you guys are going thru with all of the enthusiasm and excitement of living in the past with the 1984 Oilers in town ( probably the best team ever )  and then having to live with the nightmare of this team for the last 5 years. I would love to continue on this subject but I have to get ready for a T time in the 21 degree weather Calgary is getting today.

Awesome day. Golfed with a guy that has golfed Speargrass he says over 400 times. 61 years old and can hit the ball a mile. Great golfer. I golfed quite well the front nine scoring a 42 with a 4 over on one hole. I remove that blow up hole and give it a boogie I am at 39 which is good. Slice haunted me on the back nine as you need to be straight with the tall grass on the edge of the fairways. One foot in and lost ball. Had great shots on the back nine but lost 4 balls. Some of them inches in the grass but couldn’t find it. Went for a visit to Garth’s house on the course. A beautiful home. A beautiful long weekend coming up. Home relaxed and watched a movie Live Die Repeat with Tom Cruise which was an ok movie. Just figuring out where we have to be in the next couple of days.

October 11th 

Up and at it. Drove over to Micheal’s & Audrey place to help move a mirror door upstairs and have lunch with them. Filled the vehicles and looked at the stock market.Huge drops in the numbers again on the TSX that are affecting our investments big time. Good thing we moved to apprx  60/40 mix as I am sure a lot of people have seen some major declines.It would be nice to have small incremental increases of even 5% but continuous instead of this roller coaster each time something happens in the world. The TSX is still up about 4% for the year but the last few weeks have wiped out the nice gains we had made. GIC pay just a little over 2 but that isn’t even inflation.

October 12th 

Early rise and off to Edmonton. I bright sunny day for a drive. A road I have driven too many times now. Easy traffic, stopped for our Ice Cap breakfast and made it to Edmonton quite early. Headed to Mom’s place to put up a few pictures and see what else we can do at her new place. Then headed to Darlene’s for Thanksgiving lunch.We had just about the complete Willard clan except for Cassie’s family Jessica and Penny.Mom,Alfred,Mary,Graham,Karen,Jessie,Gage,Rayann,Corey, Victoria,Jackson,Garrett,Mariz, Darlene,Jim, Kayla and Kari were all ready to eat.These Thanksgiving dinners are the best.Ate two large meals and headed home. Always nice to see the entire family together and see what each are doing. There has been a lot of moving with Graham ,Mom, and Mary all moving into new places. Thanks to the Alseths again for the amount of work they put into having us all there.

October 13th 

For Jackies’s side we had the turkey dinner at our place. In attendance were Penny, Jessica,Alan, Maryann, Kennedy, Peter, Corey, Victoria, Jackson, Audrey and Micheal. Only missing was David & Erin who traditional never attend and Danielle as young love grabbed her away for the weekend. Luckily for us we had it as a potluck of sorts with Maryann bringing the salad, and Audrey and Micheal bringing a vegetable dish along  with potatoes. Everything turned out fantastic and what is especially nice is to have Peter and Audrey both attend at the same time. Love pumpkin pie so will need to watch the food intake for a bit.Had a great visit with everyone.

October 14th 

Made our smoothie’s and put away the dishes from last night. Took some back pain pills in advance of golf today. Another wonderful day and good golf game. Under 80 again which is 3 out of the last 4 games which is awesome. If I could stop slicing this would be consistent. Gives me something to work at. Enjoyed a long talk with Tom Bladon from the Flyers. It is very interesting to hear the stories about tough hockey years ago. He was a Edmonton Oil King in junior hockey. He is a very nice man. A great group of guys I will golf with next year as tomorrow the course closes.

October 15-17th 

GONE FISHING !  

 AWESOME ADVENTURE !!!!!!

Well I got ready, loaded the motorhome up and tried out my new home made boat loader. Love it as I can easily load and unload the boat by myself in just a few minutes. I am very happy with my design, looks, functionality and the cost. I decided to head out to our meet spot early as the web has a lot of campsites closed for the season.I emailed the directions to myself and headed out. The directions on the internet were wrong and I drove a lot of gravel roads I didn’t need to or like to. How they could be out by 10kms is the unknown. My red Jeep became a white jeep very fast.  After a bit of driving and detective work with phone, and hard maps I found the place and only had 7 kms of gravel to drive on. There was NO ONE  at the site and the nearest place was 20 kms away. Sort of an odd feeling. I may need to buy a 22 calibre gun.Our beach in front of our site was awesome.I emailed a picture of some shit to Larry G to see if he knew if it was bear or not. Turns out I was safe. LOL  ( I can drive at 150 mph and feel safe but in the wilderness by myself in the dark it is an odd feeling)

Found this lake side campsite and settled in. Unfortunately the wind picked up and it started to pour. So I took my Dad’s tackle box, my old tackle box and my new one and picked out and sorted the best fishing tackle of the bunch. Pinched off a few barbs and checked out the rods and reels as I had four along with me. Two of them the best you could buy in 1978 from when I worked at Sterling Dist. The last time I went fishing with Fred they were a topic.I do have to say that they failed me on this trip.One had the line so twisted from being spooled so long it tangled every time twisting due to memory.The other had difficulty in spooling in the line. I see a new baitcast reel coming soon.  Set the furnace low, grabbed one of the hundred blankets Jackie has in the motor home and looked forward to a great sleep. The winds blew so hard the tree branches kept hitting the roof and kept me awake. The only trees for miles and miles and I picked this site and they keep me awake. LOL.  Had a great breakfast ( eggs and bacon) and then started to unstrap the boat. Larry showed up and we worked for a bit getting everything ready and hit the lake just before 10am. It was a cool but sunny day with very little breeze. Our mission today is to catch fish. The first one will be the first  fish caught out of this boat. My boat the “S.S. Jackie Lynn ” performed remarkably well. It is very very stable,the motor purrs like a kitten, is very quiet , no smell or vibrations. Perfect day, perfect weather, perfect location ,perfect company, perfect lake with very few weeds and we are ready. About an hour in Larry G gets a fish on and it is a nice one. The FIRST FISH and it is no minnow but a mid sized great looking Northern Pike.

You could feel the excitement as we are sure we are going to catch a lot of fish.  We fished until about noon and headed in for a quick lunch.  We are still expecting a good day of fishing. Had our lunch and headed back out to the lake. This is a big lake. (80kms of shore line tip to tip)  As we were having a great time this  discussion came up . Those poor working Joe’s do not have clue how nice retirement is when you have a enjoyable day like we are having in the middle of the week with no time frames to have to meet.We laughed and continued to have a great great day. Laughed again as we have a whistle by law in our emergency kit and there is NO ONE on the lake and miles away from the nearest farm. Cows and deer would be the only things to hear our cry for help.

The relaxation of fishing is very soothing.

Larry is another example of what retirement can do for you. He has lost 16 lbs since leaving and looks great. His doctor is considering lowering his BP meds. I will reiterate one more time. There is nothing like retirement to enjoy what you like doing when ever you want to. Whatever that is. ( next week back to Radium for fall golfing) We fished for 8 hours straight and ending up with only the one fish on the line. Bass Pro here I come for a fish finder.Larry tried hook after hook but with no luck. I was persistent and only changed once.   I have been skunked twice this year. But they do call it fishing and it is one sport where the prey have the advantage. Got to love it . A poor day fishing is still better than a good day at work. At 6 pm we loaded up and started to head home feeling very good about the day and the circumstance.  The motor home was very dirty as the Jeep was. I cleaned the motor home thoroughly , filled all of the tanks, emptied all of the contents and winterized it. Took me a good 6 hours and I still have the Jeep to do. Arranged an oil change for late next week and then I can put it’s cover on.I need to winterize the boat motor but will need to do a little research on the how to’s.

MY GREAT FISHING ADVENTURES completed for this year. Life is good.

October 18th 

I was lucky enough to be able to sleep in this morning. Because I can and because I wanted to. LOL Started organizing the motor home stuff in the storage rooms, brought down all of the patio stuff to the lockers and put away the boating equipment.Spent most of day getting this done. Washed the Jeep ( spent $16.50) and when I parked I still had sandy dirt pouring out of orifices that I never knew the Jeep had. Will require another wash to complete.  Went over to Audrey and Micheal’s in the afternoon to help install a set of mirror doors. Their place is a concrete building and it is the toughest concrete you can find. To put a tapcon in, is a nightmare. The doors are up and look great. Slide very nicely. Finished off the day just relaxing and enjoying the day. Talked to Mom and she still hasn’t received her couch and chairs to finish off her place. Hopefully as promised this Monday. Her maintenance man is a little tardy is installing her TV to the wall so I will give it another week and I will need to phone the manager to get it done. Peter has been put into isolation again and back on antibiotics. Another small set back but hopefully only for a short time.

Thought of the Day

Q: What do the Edmonton Oilers and the Titanic have in common?

A: They both look good until they hit the ice!

Q: What’s the difference between Frequent Flyer Miles and the Edmonton Oilers?

A: Frequent Flyer Miles earn points.

 Q: What do you call 5 Edmonton Oilers players standing ear to ear?

A: A wind tunnel.

 Q: Whats the difference between the Edmonton Oilers and a mosquito?

A: A mosquito stops sucking.

 Q: How many Edmonton Oilers does it take to change a tire?

A: One, unless it’s a blowout, in which case they all show up 

Had enough I could go on. Last place again. Give it another 5 games and the GM or Coach will be fired again. At least the fans are starting to turn. Throwing the jersey on the ice says it all. ( interesting how Toronto and Edmonton follow each other) ps.

Marketing should sell cheap Oiler tee’s at the next game so everyone can join in the fun.

 I hearby promise not to make fun of the Oiler’s anymore. I am sorry for any ill will felt or actions caused by my delivery of the truth.Edmonton has a great “helpline” for anyone having bad thoughts and wishing the season was over all ready. May the win column stay as it is setting a new record.May the fans another year remain loyal to the slow death of another season that had so much promise.

MY RANT

Politics- touchy subject for some.  First disclosure on my part. I will be voting for the Wildrose Party in Alberta. I was a loyal PC supporter for years and was proud to say Ralph was my Premier. My how fast things change. We had Stelmach which  I thought was the worst one we could have then Redford come along. I am somewhat in disbelief the arrogance ,ignorance, gull , sense of entitlement, posturing, and corruption within the PC party. It is time to give someone else the wheel. Now some would say Daniel Smith doesn’t have the knowledge to be a good premier but please remember everyone needs a chance and giving the opportunity some amazing things can be done. Fresh ideas, new ways of doing business, accountability ,visibility and a back to the roots approach I believe would be welcomed by everyone.Just look at the unknown party Saskatchewan has and their success.Prentice is the same old PC party guy. Didn’t show up to a town hall meeting at the last moment. Offered paid memberships to get votes. Spending like mad to entice the public to vote.Look at his choice of a non elected person to be our health minister who has no knowledge of the system. Look at what Jim has done already to buy votes.Good for Prentice for promising to sell off the province’s problematic fleet of aircraft.Good for announcing provincially funded infrastructure construction sites will no longer carry politicians’ names and look like Tory campaign billboards.And good for the premier for cancelling the order for ugly new licence plates.He wanted this gone asap as the name Wildrose Country reference was not acceptable. Didn’t matter the cost.These were all easy, symbolic gestures.Now we have two fresh reminders of just how engrained the Tories’ sense of entitlement is and there is not much of a refreshing breeze blowing from Jim’s office.The first example is the severance package given to outgoing interim Premier Dave Hancock. After 17 years in the legislature representing Edmonton-Whitemud, Hancock is leaving public office with a departing gift from taxpayers of $714,000.Worse, though, is the $320,000 in untendered contracts given by the Redford regime to Navigator Ltd., a communications consultancy, for PR work on the 2013 floods in southern Alberta.This is bad because Navigator has close, close ties to both Redford and Prentice, so awarding the company large, sole-source contracts looks fishy, especially since the contracts were awarded in contravention of the government’s own rules.

Jim and the Politically Corrupt Party (PC Party)deserve to be sent away for a while. All he has done so far is reverse a lot of STUPID ideas that the PC  princess tried to ram down our throats. That’s NOT leadership! All smoke and mirrors. Why does the media keep referring to him as “Premier”?? He has not passed the vote test yet! He was put in place by .0005% of the Alberta population. The majority of those votes were bought and paid for by him, so, I would not say that he has any kind of a mandate to govern. His buddies were appointed by him and placed in large portfolios without public input or a democratic vote! The people that should have been facing criminal charges of fraud and deceit were PROMOTED and shipped out of sight (Horner) Prentice has proven that he is just another politician who will say anything to keep his gravy job. Looking at the Wildrose candidates for these by-elections next week and I am pleased to see that they are just REAL people who want to make a difference. If the public stands up and votes against the PC members including Prentice’s seat we might see a difference in the PC party. Most likely won’t happen but one never knows.Can you imagine the “Premier” and 2 ministers not winning their by elections. Can you see how this will help the PC party refocus.  Alberta is know for rednecks but usually rednecks are a little slow on catching on .This is your chance to make a difference. Let’s give the Wildrose Party a chance !!  Vote WRP to send a message.  BUT THAT’S JUST ME !!!!!

October 19th 

A trip to Value Village to continue our purge was in store for today. Picked up a beautiful frame for the picture of our Niton Junction service station. Picture now looks awesome. Helped Corey winterize his trailer and had a visit with Corey, Victoria and Jackson. Home now getting ready for my trip west to Radium.

October 20th – 21st

Will let you know when I get from Radium  how I made out.

Jackie is still working on her BNS contract. Peter has returned to isolation and is on antibiotics again.The C Diff hasn’t returned as of yet but they are being very cautious . Odd illness as the antibiotics cure the ailment but also contribute to the getting it over and over again. Hopefully they caught it this time quick enough.

Thought of the Day

The reason the pro tells me to keep my head down is so I can’t see him laughing.My problem is  I’m hitting the woods just great, but I’m having a terrible time getting out of them.

Have I said lately how much fun we are having. Well me a little more than Jackie as she is working on her contract with the BNS for a while. Sure helps keeping me living in the style that I have come accustomed to. This week and by the weather forecast upcoming may be the last week of golf in Canada for the season. Only one course now open in Radium and even our normally stay open as long as possible course in Calgary is closing this weekend. Snow in the forecast. There is NO place in Canada as beautiful as the drive through the Rocky’s. Some cities say they have a wonderful river valley, or a picturesque skyline or water front but you can’t beat the majestically beautiful and  scenic mountains. This is on my way back and you can see the snow is coming fast toward Alberta.

The first day of golf was with a group from Saskatchewan. Excellent golfers and loved to drink to much. We had a blast on the course. The adopted me buying me drinks, trying to convince me to  lose my money in poker to them etc. Made it a fun fun 4.5 hours. Love the fact that the 30 yr olds were extremely annoyed that I kept out driving them.It was one of those days. After more exhausting research on slicing I did a small adjustment and only sliced on the last hole.Deserved it as I was going for the all mighty long hit and got carried away. Didn’t lose the ball and on a par 5 still salvaged a boogie. Shot an 84 with a triple boogie on a par 3 and a few missed putts. One of those days that you wish would happen every time you golf. Had supper late as the Sask boys wouldn’t let me leave. Wonderful meal at a Old Trappers Coffee House. Late to eat and a few drinks not make for a great sleep. Got up fairly early as I wanted to golf and then drive home and get thru the pass while the light was still out as the animal traffic is huge on the side of the road. Woke up looked out and I had a deer right below my window.

A great site except for the rain coming down. Plan B. Leave early and golf in Calgary. Texted my friend Dale Shudra and had a great conversation with him over breakfast. It is always so interesting to hear what others are doing. Dale has organized a community garden project in town and has completely sold every box. They were able to get huge donations from local companies in town like Canfor to build the project.If someone knew about this project including the scope and size it most likely would win an award as Radium is not a big town. He has been very busy enjoying his retirement from The Finishing Centre.  Lot’s of things going on for him.Besides a recent daughter wedding he is another husband looking after his wife as Merilyn just had her hip replaced and is in recovery. She won’t be able to dance on her 40th wedding anniversary.Left Radium and found a rabbit and thoroughly enjoyed the drive home. BC now has a law, and signage posted on Hwy 93 if caught 40Kms over the limit your car will be confiscated. 40 over is only 130 kms on a wonderful stretch of  road.Bureaucrats !!  The farther east the sunnier it became. Got into town and drove to Heatherglen. No one on the course so I finished in less than 3 hours. Shot a 85 and 79 respectively. Very happy. Two games and only about 3 slices that had the potential to raise the score. One last kick at the cat this Wednesday night.Hopefully the trend continues.

Thought of the Day

True love isn’t found. It is built, one day, one kiss,one compromise, one conversation, another compromise, at a time.  I have a lot of friends that have been married for a long long time. That is what makes them special. Dale S, Rob M,Larry G,Fred K, all around that 40 year mark plus others that I am not sure on like Brian E. Being such a young lad Jackie and I have only been married 34 years. Just getting started  really.

October 22nd- Happy Birthday Day to Jim and Jenny

Today is Jim Alseth’s birthday. Here is wishing a great birthday and you having a nice evening with your family.Don’t go to wild on me now.

Today is Jenny Harry’s birthday. Congratulations Jenny as you are now a member of a special group. Having reached the ripe old age of 55 you are special. You are considered a pre-senior and now are able to get the following:

1. M+M meats 5% on Tuesdays
2. Rexall Drugs  20% off once a month.
3. Shoppers Drug Mart 20% last Thursday of each month
4. Best Western Hotels 10%
5. Sandman Inns  special rate
6. Howard Johnson Hotel 10%
7. Auto insurance reduction
8. Denny’s  plus numerous other restaurants ( look at back page of menu)

This is just a few. You just have to ask. Some have exclusions and I can’t verify all 55+ but most are plus a whole lot more. Swimming pools, rec centres, plus many more. You don’t have to worry about dying your hair as grey is the new black. You need to stay in shape but don’t have to strife for perfection anymore,you can always use the excuse “I’m a senior you know” and if you forget anything you can laugh it off as it doesn’t really matter. You are just around the corner from the real good life  “retired”.  As everyone knows you had a tough year and much much better things await you . Congratulations, enjoy your new membership, remember everyday is special and have an extra special day today. You now can plan next month to go for supper to Denny’s, pick up your medication on the last Thursday at Shoppers etc.

Just checked the blog site visits and I see a trend. The views per visitor and the views each month from the start (March 2014)of my blog are dropping just a  bit each month. I need to find a way to make this more interesting it seems. I really like the “Thought of the day” and I enjoy the MY RANT but perhaps they “scare” people away.Perhaps but very unlikely there are a lot of upset Oiler fans out there.Maybe someone’s story isn’t  that interesting. Yet Facebook is the giant it is .  As with anything a new toy, car etc the likability, excitement etc wanes as time goes on which is our human nature. I said in my good bye email one week after leaving a company people forget about you. Even if you die the same thing happens. The progressive reduction is worst than a spike and then a drop and then a rebound. I will need to hand out more business cards to get new visitors LOL  I will need to find new ways to tell our story that are entertaining.I won’t stop writing as I thoroughly enjoy it. It gives me the opportunity to “bug” people, make sarcastic comments about people , teams, events, explain how I feel about certain things real or not and tell our life story on retirement bliss. It allows me to celebrate special events and give out congratulatory notices.I will change the format to go by month by month so there is a lot less scrolling as I know on my smart phone it is a lot of scrolling to get to the current day. Perhaps a really big adventure may spur the interest of the blog followers.

Watched the news today and even Canada is getting hit with stupid attacks. First the car ramming killing and now a Parliament shooting.It would be so nice for everyone to get along.Not a rant but a comment on religion. It is amazing how something meant to be good for people is always the thing that causes the bad in people. Religion itself is man made and we must have it wrong if different beliefs come to war every time there is a disagreement.Land, property, rights,freedom,and choice, all end in wars or killings.That in itself is a commandment ( god given not man made)but is forgotten instantly.I feel for the Muslim community as a few radicals are destroying their reputation and I am sure they are thoroughly disgusted with these types. It is amazing how Canadian citizens can convert to a radical Islamic group and become the “in house” killers. Scary really as we don’t know how many. They all can’t be suffering from a mental disorder.

OCTOBER 23RD

Eureka !! I found the solution to bring on board more followers. It came to me in my sleep as I was tossing and turning to figure out my dilemma. This is BIG. It will be a cliff hanger.

I am going to post a SEX TAPE.  Watch for it !! No really watch for it  ! In 30 days !

Up early and picked up the motor home to get it’s full fall service. Everything was perfect except it needed a head lamp alignment. They didn’t go ahead with this so in the spring I will get it done. After parking the home I took pictures of my boat front seat to get a cushion made up for it.On my way back from dropping the motorhome off I stopped and visited my friend Gary White at Regal Building Materials.Gave him my card and we will see him and his wife this February in Mesa.While the motor home was being serviced I washed and vacuumed the Jeep again ! Still sand coming out of places that surprise me. Used lots of glass cleaner and Armorall. I then attempted to start the Cherokee as I haven’t used it for about 5 weeks. The battery was dead so I used the Wrangler for a boost. The alarm goes nuts. The remote wouldn’t work. The starter will not engage with the alarm being in this mode. After about 15 min of that horrible noise I tried to move the speaker down so the noise wasn’t so loud and it broke off in my hands. Finally I figured I would put new batteries in the remote and if needed change out the battery in the Cherokee. The alarm was disarmed ( no sound indicting such LOL) and I was able to start the truck. I will now use the original factory remote. Cost me about $800 14 years ago for this remote and it was an amazing alarm.Jackie from  the 40th floor and a block away could start the truck. So it has earned it’s rest.  Washed the Cherokee and drove it to Victoria’s to charge the battery. When I was booting the Cherokee and opened the Wrangler’s hood I was in shock again in the amount of dust inside the hood. Another car wash required !!  Tonite was  a wonderful spaghetti supper which I ate a bit to much of. I am not Italian but I make a great spaghetti sauce.( Love sweet peppers in it)  It was a full day from 8am to 8pm and I feel tired. And it was my own doing.

Looking at my calender that was signed for my retirement I noticed a phone number and a call me on today’s date. It was Romi. Talked to him for a while and am looking forward to re-organizing my blog by the month to make it easier. Ps Romi is now engaged !!  3 day party I am sure. Carly and Romi do make a nice couple. They will have a very interesting wedding combining Indian customs and christian customs together. I like the combo idea.

Thought of the Day 

 

 

 

 

 

OCTOBER 23RD

We had a take our Enclave into the shop for it’s annual and two recalls. In the news they are talking about all of these recalls and the impact it is going to have on the service centers. With Toyota and GM alone the amount is staggering in the millions. That happens when you try to outsource everything and the quality lacks.  Dropped the truck off and started working on finishing off the winterizing of the motorhome. My home has three heavy batteries that I have to lift over a cowl stuffed in between the rad and grill.To make an extended vertical lift like that with heavy batteries is a killer. I like Larry G’s with a storage bin on the side with a pull out tray. Washed them all up and took them to Victoria’s for storage and charging. It still was early in the morning so I started to help clean up their garage. Built a garden tool rack, hung hooks for bikes and general cleanup. I ran out of screws, bolts and hooks to complete the job. Took me most of the day. I drove to pick Jackie up to drop her off at the dealer and we both went to the storage lot to put on the winter tarp. It was a little windy so putting a 40 ft long by 30 wide tarp on the roof gets a little iffy. Finished it off and we are set until April or very early May. This year I increased the tire pressure by 10 lbs to help eliminate any flat spots and the tires are covered also and on wood. I had a full day of getting things done.  Busy weekend coming up with us heading to Edmonton for a day visit on Saturday and then to Lethbridge for another day visit on Sunday. Will fill this in on Monday.

Watch for the coming soon !

MY RANT

What ever happened to “original”. Why can’t manufacturers just leave stuff alone. A new thing is nice but call it something completely different and don’t make your customers have to ask and demand for the original to come back. I loved Libby’s brown beans. Try finding the original. I loved Coke. They changed the formula and then were forced to create a new original.I loved Baby Dill pickles. Try finding the original. There are now 20 different kinds and they suck. Look at Kraft Dinner. The original is hard to find on the shelves. Again they keep making something new that is not near as good. Potatoe chips. They have “original” in big letters because they know people are looking for that. How many movies where the original was the best and never copied. Banks require the original. A person that is unique is considered original.  Stop the madness and just give us the  original. That’s all we really want.BUT THAT’S JUST ME!!!

Thought of the Day

The problem with winter sports,follow me closely here, is that they only take place in winter.But some very lucky people get to enjoy summer sports in the winter by heading south.

October 24th

What am I doing getting up so early?  Up at 7 am to head to Edmonton to pick up a ping pong table from Mom’s old house at Darlene’s. Corey and Victoria wanted it to put in the basement of their place.As the table is a huge ping pong table it is a difficult thing to carry home 3 hours away and to strap to the top of a vehicle difficult. They were trying to fit it on their Xterra and to fit into a truck box with cap on it. Both would not have worked to well. I thought our Cherokee rack would work but after looking it carefully decided the best bet was on the rack of the Wrangler. Removed all of my stuff early this am and headed to pick up Corey to drive to Edmonton. A quick stop at Tim’s for breakfast and on our way. Made it in good time and went straight to Darlene’s to load it up.  It actually fit quite well on the truck and with the straps I brought along was very secure other than it being a large wind catcher. While we were there  Darlene graciously gave Victoria & Corey the Patty-0-Room tent

attachment for the awning on their trailer. This things are excellent as we used to use it for our girls when their  friends came along to sleep in. A few of our friends also stayed in it. You just open the trailer door and let the furnace heat it up or if you have power use a ceramic heater and it is nice and toasty. We had a blow up air mattress Queen size on legs that worked great in there. I can see Jackson and friends in it or Corey’s & Victoria’s close people using it. Darlene also gave them a free air conditioner unit which will come in handy next summer  as the upstairs of any house does get hot. Got it loaded and headed for a quick visit with Mom. Corey and I being the interior designers we are placed 6 pictures on her walls very strategically.No only did we enhance the visual appeal of the room but we hung them in such a  matter that brought warmth to the place. If only the couch would arrive her place would look very nice. We just made it before  lunch time so we went down to the dining room with Mom and sat with three very nice senior people. A wonderful lunch was served. Potatoe & Bacon soup, chili with cheese and sour cream  and fresh baked dinner rolls along with a fruit plate for desert. Corey got ripped as they forgot to add sour cream to his chili. Then we filled up with gas and headed home. It was a very windy day and pushing a sail down the highway where I would normally run 1800 rpm I was running 3100 rpm. The truck just sucked up the gas, I mean guzzled the gas and we ran on fumes into Victoria’s yard. Unloaded and I filled up the 71 litre gas tank with 70.5 litres to go 290 kms. Very very windy.

Thought of the Day 

I live 20 miles away from 30 miles per gallon.

Watch for the big event coming soon !

October 26th 

We got up this morning and for the first time in months we have nothing we have to do. I was going to Lethbridge this morning but changed my mind and will go another day. The only important personal thing I need to do is change the leg oil in the boat motor which I will get done next week. That is a little bit of a messy job unfortunately. I will use today as a relax day, watch some golf, tidy up a bit and consider the painting job of the bedroom coming up. It is a cool fall day but nice and sunny and quite beautiful with the colored trees. Great day for a walk.

Thought of the Day

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.” 

October 27th 

Today was a great day. Worked at getting the paperwork ready to renew our passports first thing in the morning. Then off to see if I can get repaired or repair my Porter Cable air compressor and my Delta 12″ compound miter saw. Both of them had issues.Ended up going to two different parts places as with all of the buyouts of Dewalt, B+D and Delta Porter Cable service centers are struggling with parts and what they can and can’t repair or don’t want to repair.  Picked up three pieces for the Porter and one piece for the Delta and will attempt to repair them myself as the locations really were not interested. Had to replace the air hose , 1/4″ 150 psi line from the tank to motor which required taking the complete motor housing apart. Had to go to Princess Auto for the clamps and valve that need replaced. When I took it apart the wires were just about cut thru from the fan blade so I had to splice and tape them and make sure on reassembly to have them kept aside. Not a perfect design. Mission accomplished and it works perfect. The Delta which is a BIG saw was a different story as no one at the repair shops wanted to deal with Delta and refused to repair it.This is a compound miter 12″ saw designed for crown cutting with gauges and stops plus the fact it can work great for decks and posts as it does have the large blade to cut right thru. The blade alone is a $100 for a carbide tooth one so it is a very welcomed saw to have.I came home and went over the manual and checked the parts list and discovered that I was only missing one part not even broken. Lowe’s had a replacement that worked perfect and another tool up and and running perfect. Total cost to repair for parts was $22.00 but a lot of running around and it did take about 6 hours to reassemble everything. Very happy with the outcome though. You have to love the internet to discover how to do things.

Thought of the Day 

First refer to rant on politics a couple days back. Today is by-election day and we need to send the PC party a message.

To make democracy work, we must be participants not just observers . One who does not vote has no right to complain. Let’s get rid of the PC elites. Make sure to look at Wildrose or even the new Alberta Party which I believe will be a much better government for us. Edmonton scares me a bit as they have always leaned to the socialist side liking the NDP which would be a disaster for Alberta . Tomorrow we will see.

October 28th

I am both disappointed and embarrassed by the voting last night. We have the most scandal ridden and corrupt government in Canada and we vote the said party back in. It really is unbelievable but what happened is the “stupid” factor and people not understanding split votes and wasted votes on a party that has no chance of winning. Just look at the numbers and you can see. People should know this before voting.

ED	ED Name	Polls Reporting	LIB	NDP	AP	GPA	IND	PC	WRP
09	CALGARY-ELBOW	83 of 83	1,519	472	3,412	0	0	4,207	3,056
11	CALGARY-FOOTHILLS	79 of 79	458	444	212	261	23	6,898	3,545
27	CALGARY-WEST	74 of 74	926	336	265	0	0	4,843	4,528
46	EDMONTON-WHITEMUD	95 of 95	2,043	3,150	202	95	0	6,003	2,679
Total Vote Count Percentage Electoral Divisions Leading / Won No. of Polls Reporting 331 of 331			4,946 10% 0	4,402 9% 0	4,091 8% 0	356 1% 0	23 0% 0	21,951 44% 4	13,808 28% 0

 

Because of our system allowing multiple parties the votes get split and it makes it difficult. Look at Calgary Elbow. Three parties have  50% more votes than the winner PC. 8000 to 4000 .People want a change but can’t seem to vote the same way to make this happen.Calgary Foothills did have it correct for this bi-election as the PC leader should be in house to make decisions for now. Calgary West was a just a close call by the voters but overall wanted a change. Edmonton and their socialist thinking as I thought. It must be because it is a government city and they all like give-aways, free day care, free education, free medicine and believe the NDP can deliver it without bankrupting the province.The Edmonton district again is lost due to vote splitting. We need people to realize if they want a real change they have to vote smart. If we continue to split votes the PC will have power for another 40 years. Oil below $80 for too long will begin to show us the real governing philosophy of the PC’s. Jim has promised a lot with our money to win votes but may have to back track with oil at this level. There is a saying “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” It is missing the third leg which should read “Fool me three times , I may be dumb” For all of those history buffs you will remember how the Nazi party won the election. 14 parties running with split votes of  33%, 20%,17%,11% ,8% plus the 6th of no significance plus another 8  parties running taking the balance of the vote. Very easy for the wrong party to win an election with more than three parties and voters that don’t get the number crunching.Not to suggest any correlation between the PC’s and the Nazi’s but to demonstrate the significance of a spit vote.My hopes but now very dim hopes that the public of Alberta will catch on. I would be in favor of a three or four party maximum  to try to reduce the voting splits.

Off to get our passport pictures taken as we need them done asap. Have to remember not to smile. Everyone in front of a camera has been programmed to smile so you really have to concentrate on getting this right. I will pull up the dahlias today and sort thru the tools in the drawers to make them more organized and hang a few more things. Worked for about 5 hours cleaning and organizing. Starting to look good. Still not finished and will continue organizing.

October 29th 

Did a few things around the house and then readied up to meet Romi on his lunch break.Nothing like a Starbucks coffee with free internet. In my case a Mocha Frappuccino.  Romi is the blogging guru and as you can see this new format works great and saves a lot of scrolling. Thank you Romi very much!!!!. Also neat to listen to the different ideas Romi has with his wedding mixing the two cultures together. It will be an amazing wedding. Good luck to them with all of the planning especially considering the size of the guest list. Finished our lunch break and I headed to another 5 hours in the garage and still not done. Hopefully tomorrow. I booked a single tee time for Friday as we are going to hit 18 above but have to get up a little early as it is a fairly early tee time. Oh the hardships I endure.  Planning to go to a Jackson concert for Halloween tomorrow and over to Victoria’s house for the big spooky event on Friday.

Watch for the big event coming soon !!  Move over Kim and Paris.

Thought of the Day

 Retirement: World’s longest coffee break

October 30th

The Jackson Halloween party was a great success. Every kid dressed up and quite a few of the parents.

Jackie went as a Grammy. I went as, without much work,the tall dark handsome stranger.It is a lot of fun to watch the kids perform and you know the teacher spent a lot of time with them to memorize the words and actions. We also were giving a lot of Halloween treats, cake, cupcakes, chips, cookies, spooky banana’s etc. Jackson proudly wore his Captain America costume.Victoria and Corey looked great. But know that I think of it, they were not far off character. Victoria was a witch ( mind you a nice one)and Corey looked rather pale.

 

Makes the kids anticipate the actual event even more. Miss Jennifer as she wants to be called was well organized and lead the people and the kids very well. There were crafts to be done.Painting to finish.Games to play.

They had a pumpkin carving contest with Jackson

submitting his masterpiece.  I think a little help from his parents was involved. I remember years ago having to make a crate to drop eggs in for the girls. It was supposed to be their project but I sort took it over. Had a lot of fun with it though. LOL

 

I was impressed with the amount of parents that were able to show up during a work day. Very nice to see that kind of support for their kids. I am sure everyone thoroughly enjoyed the entire event.

On my list to do this morning is to see if I can buy an add-on to get another 30 days coverage in the States for our travel insurance. This afternoon’s project is to pick up the molding I need and finish cleaning the garage up.

Well I bought the add-on for insurance which is reasonable at $3.00 per day per person for 10 mil of coverage. We are all set so we don’t need to rush home in April as we are now covered for 120 days. Went to pick up my moldings and ended up going to 4 different stores to get. I ended up going to the second Windsor Plywood store as the Depot and Lowes don’t carry a library panel mold and the first Windsor was our of stock. The Lowe’s rep stated no one uses that anymore everyone goes shaker style. I politely replied ” That’s unfortunate that people don’t know that this molding brings a simple but classic elegance to a room”then headed to Windsor.

Unloaded everything and looked at the clock and it was 3 pm so I decided not to go to work on the garage. Nice thing is it can wait  as I have no time line. Got to love it! Jackson babysitting was our fun for the day. We had a lot of fun and a lot of pre-Halloween treats, plus popcorn, supper and lot’s of fun talking as we took care of him until his Dad got off work. I think he is all warmed up for tomorrow.

October 31st  Halloween Day! 

I had to get up a little earlier than normal today as I had a Tee time for  9:45 am at a course, Boulder Creek which is just outside the city limits. What a wonderful fall day for golf. No leaves on the course, the greens were smooth but a little slower than during peak season and the course overall was great.  Started off at 8 degrees but ended at 16 degrees at the end of October so no complaints. Looking at the forecast this may be the last game for 2014 ( didn’t make my bucket list goal for number of games) as we have decided not to go to Phoenix until right after Christmas and make New Years there. I can’t say what really happened but another fantastic game. I thought I was going to have  under par on one nine but didn’t quite make it ending with a 37 on one and a 41 on the other. I have had 8 out of the last nine games under 80. The one hiccup was Speargrass where on one nine I had a 39 but lost a couple of balls due to slicing on the back nine.I pretty much have cured my slice. In fact I strong pull to the left side and the distance is amazing. In fact regrettably my eyesight has diminished a little and with the distance I am having a hard time keeping track of my ball. I used to be able to see the ball on a green from 200 yards away but not so much anymore. I will need to rely on my golf partners more for ball finding as my eye function isn’t conducive to wearing eyeglasses for golfing. My two Chinese partners today were a little on the hacker side so we spent more time looking for their’s which even make’s it harder  to find mine as you lose focus as to exactly where it was.

I paid and cleared up all of the bills and visa’s today as it is the end of the month and I like to keep each month separate in the billing and payments. Will do my month end this weekend.  Spook time tonite and molding time tomorrow. Here is the Waldie family picture wishing everyone a Happy Halloween .

Have fun and be safe. The weather this year for Halloween for the kids will be awesome as they won’t need to cover up due to cold. It should be around 10 above at supper for the treat haul to begin. SHhhh Don’t tell anyone but Jackie and I are going to Victoria’s to help on the walk or hand out candy and I am going to steal  some candy for myself. I remember years ago the girls would go out and when they were asleep Jackie and I would go thru their candy and pick out what we liked. They used to get a pillow case full so they didn’t really notice.

I noticed Corey and Victoria put their ping pong table downstairs. I forgot to tell them that I was the Stony Plain Composite Memorial High School Ping Pong Champion 1974. Perhaps a wager is in line. ( rubbing my hands together) Like Paul Bortoluzzi says about golf ” It’s like riding a bike”

It was eerie spooky Halloween night. Being a warm night it was great to walk around to the homes being relatively warm even though the wind did have a bite. We brought the wagon along as Jackson was feeling a little tired before our adventure. It was a great idea as when he filled his pail we just dumped all of the candy in the wagon and carried on. He made quite a haul. !!  Victoria had 78 kids at the door so you know the neighborhood has  a birth explosion. It was a fun night.

Thought of the Day 

A guy walks into a bar … OUCH!