18th Month of Retirement Bliss

August 1st 

Celebrating Jackson’s birthday today !

 

Victoria found the perfect spot. We have a great water splash park right on the Glenmore Reservoir. It is super clean, very big and has a huge shelter that we went early to hold for ourselves. The kids can have a great time at a splash park and today it was hot and sunny which worked out well.

The SHARK theme went well. We had a shark cake, cards,

the kids made beaded necklaces with a shark tooth and went very well with the water park. We had a 6 ft sub

, water, pop and chips for food plus the cake. All of the kids got a goody bag. Tor and Cor had a lot of friends and it seemed like everyone of them had just had another baby. There were a lot of babies.

A fun day that I am sure Jackson enjoyed and he sure got spoiled in the gift department. I am waiting for Jess to send me a pic or two of Jackson opening his presents.

After the party off to Boston Pizza with the group to have a great supper with a group of ten. We had three children under 6 with us and they all were pretty good. August was perfect and he was the youngest. You have to love Coor’s Lite in a frosted cold mug on a sunny warm patio with family & friends.

I have said lately that life is great.

 

August 2nd

Jackie is working on Scotia work for about 4 hours while doing laundry for our upcoming trip. I got the motor home and Jeep ready for travel with gas , groceries etc. Took most of the day getting everything done. Watched the PGA for a little while but wished Ricky would have won.

 

August 3rd to 10th 

Gone on a road trip to the great southern Saskatchewan. Waiting to hear how Tor is so we can leave. Jackie is stressed with leaving plus the amount of other issues she has been dealing with for the last couple of weeks. Hopefully a week away may help . Will post when I am back or on line at some campground.

We are off to Saskatchewan. It was a nice sunny day for a drive. It is amazing how many windy days we have had this year and even though nice and sunny it was very windy. Too bad it wasn’t a pushing wind instead of a head or side wind. The traffic for a long weekend was very light compared to driving on the Hwy #2. It was easy to bomb along at 110kms and relax other than the odd driving correction needed due to the wind. We stopped along the highway to have a quick lunch which is always so nice with having a motor home as it makes it easy and quick. The scenery really is not exciting on this drive with very few “great” things to look at. I thought the Med Hat Tee-Pee was missing one stick from it’s top but maybe it was designed that way. We used a lot more gas than normal with the winds. Ironic also that amazing as it sounds Hwy 1 has a fair amount of grade hills on the way. I found this surprising for the prairies. The drive seemed to take a lot longer than I had imagined but looking at the odometer we were close to 700 kms away from Calgary. Along the way we stopped for the welcome to Saskatchewan sign. They make it so a larger vehicle can’t access it so we had to stop on the side of the highway. Not clever. Arriving 7 hours later at Moose Jaw in the early evening. We found our campground which is very close to downtown and extremely nice, well treed and great sites right beside the Moose Jaw River. This was a very good find for Larry on the internet. Set up everything we needed, cooked our supper and relaxed with Larry & Anita. Talked , laughed, sat around the campfire and had a fun evening.

Up and had our morning smoothie for breakfast. Talked, went for a walk and got ready for the day. We finalized our plans and decided to bike ride into downtown for the day’s events. On the way we had one accident on our bikes with Anita running into a cement bridge and scraping her arm. Luckily only a scrap but she did leave a souvenir of skin on bridge wall.On the way back she pushed her bike thru the narrow pass.  Larry had a map of Moose Jaw and we used it to find the Tunnels Of Moose Jaw which ended up being right downtown.  As we arrived about an hour early of our tour time and with timing it was, we decided to have a quick lunch at the bar beside us. Can you believe they had a special on chicken wings at $5.00 for 5 wings ? Yes ONE dollar per wing. I asked the waitress if they were extra big or something. Nope, $1.00 per wing. It scared us in ordering anything as we didn’t know what quantity of food we were going to get for the price we paid. Turned out they gave extra large portions and the food was very good tasting. In fact a little too much food. Not enough moving though. Arrived for our first tour the “Chicago Connection” . No camera’s allowed which is too bad. I thought this tour event was exceptional. The staff playing their roles were fantastic. The scenery and the decor was amazing. This is a first rate tourist attraction and their rates of $13 per person are very reasonable. I would recommend anyone passing thru on Hwy 1 t stop and visit this. The amount of work and attention to the small details and the decor inside each special room is first class. The other tunnel tour we took was the “Chinese Connection”. Again very well done with great detail spent on the small things to make it realistic. The topic being a little more dull made it less exciting than Al Copone’s escapades on the previous tour but the history behind this one made it very “real” and a little shocking that as Canadians we treated a people this way. In fact the Chinese immigrant was treated extremely poorly not only by the government but by companies and the general population. It was an eye opener for sure. A head tax on the Chinese wasn’t removed until 1969 which is unbelievable. Every other immigrants nation was removed from this tax long before. Where would we be today if these people hadn’t been so diligent and passionate about wanting to live here?

Thoughts of the Japanese concentration camps we used to have in Canada came into mind as well as the treatment of the native population. We aren’t as nice as we think we are.

After our 2 hour tours we decided to grab the trolley ride around town. Moose Jaw is known as the “Friendly City”  and they live up to it. This town is amazing. We have been on a fair

number of tours but Moose Jaw rivals any of them. The amount of historical buildings and interesting things to see for a small down is incomparable. And everyone waves as you go by.The guide also was very good at her job and made it a very interesting tour for us. We even stopped by and saw “Mack”

the world’s biggest moose and a Snowbird Jet that accomplished the feat of stopping right on top of a pole near the town entrance for everyone to see. Moose Jaw is the home of the Snow Birds training field. This town knows how to promote tourism.

Making our bike trip back to our campground without any incidents we decided to start supper. Larry G & Anita brought with them racks of smoked ribs that Larry cooked in his new smoker at home. They were perfect. It was a spicy dry rub on them that was very good and the meat just fell of the bones. They also had brought Taber peaches & cream corn which everyone knows is the best.  A wonderful, wonderful camping meal or in fact at any time. A way too much food though. I have a doctor’s appointment next week so will have to make sure to lose any gained pounds before then. Sitting around talking after supper and having a great wine, it starting to rain. It poured. But, it was still very warm so it was quite enjoyable to watch the lightning, hear the loud thunder, and listen to the rain. We did this for a couple of hours before heading to bed.

The rain continued all night which I love, the sound of it all night on the roof is soothing. We had a couple of pictures sent to us from Victoria showing the amount of rain Calgary got which by the pictures was a lot. Jackie also heard from Audrey who said that she had a few trees fall down from the rain and wind. Luckily, no wind for us so I didn’t have to get up in the rain in the middle of the night and put the awning down.

Received a phone call from Toni to let us know about a fire inspection at our condo and she commented on my voice mail message. I love my message but she didn’t. LOL   ( it says “ Larry , you know what to do”) Up in the morning to a beautiful sunny day. The ground was muddy but will dry fast.  A busy day coming up doing the tourist thing.

Larry & I headed to the Western Development Museum. $10.00 cost and worth every penny.

This place is amazing. It is about the evolution of transportation in Sask. The government here spent their money very wisely as it is something to be proud of and something that helps history be told to everyone. It is separated into wings. First the auto section which rivals any collection and surpasses most. Between the cars, trucks, bikes and parts etc it was great. There were brands of cars I never knew existed and have never seen before. I also learned about a Corvair SUV that I never knew existed which was in great shape. Car section 8 out of 10.

Train section was great but only had CP Rail cars. A great presentation of the trains and cars along with the stories. I even saw three samples of my “switch lights” that are from Peter’s place that I want to use in a landscaping project. The boat section was good with old canoe’s, old boats, boat motors, ferries and a cut in half ship that was on the rivers in Saskatchewan. Great presentation again. They also had a Snow bird presentation which was  first class. I wish they would have had an interactive training simulator to use though. It took us close to 2 hours to go thru the exhibit.

Off to the campsite for a quick lunch and then off to the CFB base to see the Snow birds and to visit the Pioneer Museum and Sukanen Ship.  The base took us by surprise as they had no security at all. Look at the USA with their issues and they let Larry & I go into the base without any inspection what so ever. We were told just don’t climb any fences or open any gates and we are free to go anywhere. We were only yards away from fighter jets. If we were the bad guys we could have taken out half of the Canadian Air Force. Too bad the Snowbirds were out of town. Watched a few training flights land and takeoff then circle and then headed south to our next adventure. The Pioneer Museum was only a few miles south and it was exceptional. It is as good as Heritage Park, Fort Steele or any other.I do wish the streets were dirt rather than grass to add to the realistic appearance. If anyone is going thru Moose Jaw this place is a must see. It has such perfect buildings and everyone of them are full of artifacts like nowhere else. Very very interesting , informative and done exceptionally well.  Now the ship—Well the first thing we were little disappointed in. For some reason I thought it was supposed to be concrete. It turned out to be neat but not what we expected. It is a wood structure

covered with tin and it is huge. Built by a Finnish guy wanting to bring back his family from Finland.  He was going to build it and sail on the Saskatchewan River to the Bay and take the Strait to the Atlantic Ocean back to Finland. He never quite made it. They have it erected and poled now for everyone to look

at. It is an interesting story but still just a little disappointed. They say we all learn something new every day. Well we did. Larry & I learned the meaning of ship lap boards. Sold it for years and even had a house with it

on but until today did not know where the meaning would come from.  The girls had tea and lunch in town and a little shopping while we did our museum trips. Only one other small injury with Jackie stubbing her big toe and cracking her toenail.

A hot day, a fun day, and we were taught something plus had a very enjoyable time looking at history. I do have to say one more time. Retirement life is good.

Tonight after supper it was crib night. As most of you know my middle name is Crib ( Larry Crib Willard)so I expected to have a fun night winning. Mr Larry Geddes has such good luck it is amazing. I lost three games to one with one being a skunk game. The hands he managed to get were unreal. You know the saying even a blind mouse finds the odd acorn. LOL. Larry played well and yes he beat me this time. My new name is Larry ib Willard until I win back my status. I am sure it is in the cards. I will overcome this defeat and rise to reclaim both my middle name and dignity.

It started to rain last night and kept raining. Heavy thunder and lightning around 3am and the rain continued all night. I was going to cook outside a camp breakfast but the rain didn’t stop. We had our smoothie breakfast and got ready for our road trip to Manitou Beach and the healing pond. We took a little wrong turn and ended up on a gravel road shortcut. Only about 11kms but we even had the traction control lights come on as it was a little muddy. It was about an 1 ½ hour adventure to get there. One stop for lunch

in Watrous and carry on. First impressions, not so good and a little surprising. The lake was very high and no beach left at all with the high water. The building looked ok but wasn’t impressive. Inside the check counter is only mediocre. Great system for lockers and clean change rooms.  The pools though when you enter them are fantastic. The minerals in the water do discolor it but the pools are

well kept clean and the perfect temperature. One pool at 103, one at 100 and one at 93 degrees so that everyone can enjoy the therapy. The water is amazing as your feet will not sink to the bottom. Anyone including a non swimmer will float. It has a huge amount of sodium in it yet the ocean tastes saltier. I have to check this out. Overall the pools are very good but probably will not go back. The overall impression isn’t the best. The Radium or Fairmount pools are just a lot lot better and closer. But I am glad I experienced it and it was on my bucket list. Nice place to visit with the pools, the dance hall, beach and golf course right there.

Ps I am cured. The healing ponds work ! Wait what ailment did I have ? I do know the water removed a lot of my tan as it just sucks out the moisture with it’s high salt content.

Showers still coming down with sporadic intervals of clear sky. Luckily during supper hour it was dry enough to cook. Another wonderful camp supper with chicken breasts BBQ’d and salad. Sitting around talking and curing all of the world’s problems was next. Then back to the cribbage games. Being down 3 games to 1 a

good night was needed. As luck would have had I have redemption. My name once again is Larry Crib Willard with a massacre of sorts coming back from the deficit to end the night 5 games to 3 games. Yahoo ! It is nice when lady luck is on your side. More rain and then quiet until some late arrival decides to pull in beside us at 11:30 at night and wake the entire campground. You come in this late you should at least try to be courteous and think of others. He had his lights on, beamed right at another tent site, he pulled in the wrong way only 4 ft from us, he was yelling at his kids to hold the flashlight for him and he kept his truck running. Larry happened to be out for a walk with his dog Maggie ( by the way the second best behaved dog I know after Teddy) and approached the guy and said “ you know some people are trying to sleep” The guy agreed and ended his antics. In the morning he had a long piece of wood he was trying to use to level unit wedged between the tires and his unit. Things disorganized and thrown everywhere so you could tell he quit early. At 7 am Larry’s other neighbor started to pack up and was backing up to his unit with a loud warning back up bell going off. I am sure it had to bother quite a few campers.

“My MINI RANT”

What has happened to common sense and respect for other. Two campers within 10 ft of us on both sides oblivious to others sleeping and only concerned about their own agenda’s.                                  BUT THAT’S JUST ME !

Pouring rain as we packed up which is never fun. Jackie was a big help and accomplished a lot today packing up fixing up the entire inside and helping with the outside things. Things were WET. Drying water and mud off everything takes time and to put it away probably when pouring is a little more difficult. But we did it. I packed the wet carpet for outside in a garbage bag and dried most everything else off. Luckily for us Larry being up a little early moved our towels under the awning which kept them a lot dryer. Jackie was bugging me

about leaving them outside. I said to her “ What makes you think I was drying them. I was washing them first” Didn’t go over perfect. Loaded up and headed.  We drove about 2 hours and stopped at a Tim’s for lunch which was nice and a change. Carried on for another hour or so and stopped at a Shell station to get gas. It had no advertised gas price so I asked the guy their price. $1.13 per litre. The most I have seen for weeks. I only filled to $100.00. In the station being Shell I wanted to use my airmiles card. Nope only Aeroplan. Then I get the receipt it is on an Esso logo’d receipt. I better check my visa asap as something odd with this place.   We started to carry on down the TransCanada Highway. Then we saw the road signs indicating construction ahead. Bad luck.  They had laid loose rock chips on one lane and hadn’t packed or sweep yet. Lots of signs to say no passing and 80 kms per hour.  5 minutes in and we get passed with rocks flying everywhere.  Then I see a semi truck behind us switching lanes to pass. Protection mode kicks in and I straddle the lanes and move over to the chip side. No one can pass as I am near Larry in the clear lane.Rocks flying everywhere from my tail and the semi backs off and drops back to the clean lane behind us. Half ton truck after half ton truck try doing the same thing. Each time with me pulling into the chips and them realizing they better get over to the clean lane and not pass if they don’t want no windshield and a cellulite looking front end. 5 times I had to do this. Larry and I’s windshield is worth 5k while they have one worth 300 bucks. Pulling my Jeep I was a little worried about causing my own incident but the rock guard I bought for the front worked perfect.

“MY RANT”

This is biased towards Saskatchewan drivers as this is where we are at and 4 out of the 5 had Green & White Plates. CAN’T YOU READ NO PASSING. Haven’t you ANY common sense that rocks are going to be flying and destroying windshields ? DON’T you have any consideration for others ?  Are you dumb  or just plain stupid ? After a few miles when each vehicle passed us when the construction was gone not one would look my way as they passed.  Unbelievable really that someone can be so ignorant and inconsiderate.  BUT THAT’S JUST ME !

Arrived at our new campsite which looked pretty good. No one was around  so looking around we saw a Cobra kit car in the garage. Beautiful car and it had the keys still in it. You know you are in Sask when the guy feels comfortable to leave the keys in a car like that. The check in lady arrived and we had a little laugh about the two Larry’s and a brother Darrell. ( Newhart show) Turns out I was wrong all along. It is two brothers Darrell and another brother Larry. Who knew.  Well it is funny.

If you are in Maple Creek stay at the Willowbend Campsite right in town.  It is a beautiful campground with full services. We pulled up beside each other and set up camp.  Unpacking I opened the garbage bag with my wet outside mat and it had a gallon of water in it. Lucky I put the bag over it. It dried out quick in the sun and wind.

We took our bikes and got lucky with no accidents this time. Rode all over town and it is a perfect little town. Just over 2000 people and quite historical but with a large football field,  curling rink, and a large outdoor swimming pool. Very nice. During our ride around we heard some music which turned out to be the “Cowboy Church” having a outdoor concert. Great singers.  They have a great downtown, hospital and as with every small rural town a Co-op store. Also ran into these larger than

life chairs. Anyone remember the show Laugh In. Ruth Busby used a large chair for a sketch every time. These guys look so small in these chairs.

For a day trip we decided to head to the Cypress Valley Winery for the afternoon. It was hot , close to 30 and no wind so a prefect day for a drive. The owners of this venue did an awesome job. The vines are in perfect rows, the yard is uniquely fenced, a beautiful office with a wine tasting bar, wine accessories to buy, a neat “picnic” pick your own area and beautiful decks to sit in the sun for a brunch. We sat on the deck and you would believe you were in France with the waterfalls, ponds, flowers, picnic lunch including fresh made bread and assorted cheeses. Throw in a hot sun,wine and your taken away to another world. It is quite beautiful and you wouldn’t expect in Southern Sask. They have a done a great job and is worth the visit. Cypress Hills Winery !

 

 

Back to the campsite and another wonderful night of food, drink and conversation. The campground owner ( cobra owner) visited us a few times in the night. Quite a character. He owns the campground, is a volunteer fireman for town, owns a tow truck company and the local overhead door company. No wonder he needs a little playtime with his Cobra. It has a wonderful sounding cam in it. It is a Ford 302 bored out to a 348. Sounds nice and looks great !

I can honestly say I wish everyone would jump on the chance to enjoy life instead of being dragged down by the pressures of everyday living. Here are four happy campers. Two fully retired and the other two just tired for a while yet anyways.

The whole trip Larry & Anita had their wonderful little dog Maggie keeping us company. I tried to make quite a few trades with Larry for things including him giving me this well behaved great little cute dog but he won’t bite on it.

Maggie liked me and I thought she was the best dog ( other than Teddy) I have met.  We had a lot of fun with her. Larry & Anita were fun also. LOL

Another wonderful trip done, saw a lot of unique and different things  and a couple of things marked off the bucket list !!!   Now I need to go fishing !!!

August 10th 

Stepped on the scale and the holiday food got to me. Gained a couple of pounds that I will work on. My doctor appointment is on Tuesday so won’t be my exact weight of last time but still 35 + pounds less than when I started and only 3 pounds up.

Fixed up the motor home and got it ready for the next trip next week to Park Lake with Jackson for some fun times and visits with Jess, Pen and August.  Took the Jeep to the car wash and spent $12 there as it was the dirtiest it has been pulling behind the motor home in rain. Looks great now but ran out of tire dressing on the last wheel. I will need to remember to visit Canadian Tire again.

Got ready for my game with Jeff at Heatherglen. Went a little earlier to continue to work on my new swing and driver. I am getting there and am starting to like it and feel confident with it. This is the first game back after a 10 day hiatus and I was relatively pleased.  Irons were fine, short game not bad, and drives semi ok. Ended up with a 86 but a lot of little mental errors that I should have not done.  I had 10 pars but the doubles got me. Jeff coming back and only playing a few games did quite well. I was hoping Jeff was up for a lot of golf this week as time is running out for him to go back to school but he is a busy guy doing other things so we only have two games together this week. So I have booked for myself another three games. Hopefully we can use up our Windmill pass before school but the timing looks like I will be golfing as a single which is still fun meeting new people. We have Boulder, Spring Bank Links, and Harvest Hills left after we golf The Hampton’s on Wednesday.  Jackie & I are golfing a nine and dine on Friday evening.  I am Marshaling on Sunday.

Went over to Victoria’s place for a while and supper. Stopped and picked up a great meal at Sobey’s. Corey had his men’s night golf outing so we just visited with Jackson & Tor. I walk in the door and get a running hug from Jackson. Always nice. After supper Jackson & I went outside on a discovery mission. We played with ants, handled a large and small lady bug. I had a mosquito land on my hand. Jackson and I watched it fill with blood which is a neat thing to see. He thought it was cool but didn’t want anything do to with it. Then SWAT, killed it with blood squishing all around. Pretty cool. After catching a few moths, bugs we were off to another game.

Watched the Bachelor in Paradise show last night. First where do they get so many fit  guys and girls. The everyday public sure  doesn’t look like that. And these people are single?  Goes to show you  looks isn’t everything.

Thought of the Day 

So much golf to play and not enough time to do it ?  I would like to see the fairways a little narrower. That way everyone would be playing from the bush not just me !

August 11th 

I had to finish my July budgeting as we were on a trip and I didn’t feel like it or have any time set aside for it. Took a few hours this morning. Not bad as even after a whack of “one time” expenses in helping others we ended up $107 dollars over budget. Not all of the categories are filled as I stole from the vacation fund etc but the final number is perfect.  It is amazing how easy it is to spend money. The unfortunate thing as a retired person it doesn’t come back into the bank account on payday. Each year we will get a little smarter and save a bit here and there. Our biggest savings this year has been on golf as I use my membership and my free golf at Heatherglen instead of golfing at other courses. That adds up to more than a few hundred bucks each month.

Since I had no golf booked on this beautiful day ( darn) I visited the range and continued to work on my drives. Getting more consistent every time and i was happy. Nice thing about the range is you can try different things and card each as successful or not. I learn a lot this way. I can draw an iron or fade it when dealing with longer ones. Not accurate as of yet but learning. Learning the wedge distance and feel is critical to a good score so I like to practice that. BUT most time spent on the driver. I can score low 80’s easily if I didn’t loose any balls. Especially critical  in my men’s league as stoke and distance is a killer.

Went and got groceries today. Nice to shop when no one else is in the store. Makes it much easier and faster. Another retired perk. Lots of specials on food we normally buy so all is good.

Getting ready for the doc in an hour.

Same old same old talks. You know if you never go what you don’t know may not hurt you. Oh well, I have to trust the doc is looking after my best interests.

Thought of the Day

Lying about your age is easier now as sometimes you forget your real age anyways. I always kept my birth date and age a secret from my fellow workers. It lasted a long time for years without them knowing really until Larry G somehow found out. Although I did have a large 50th birthday party which should have given it away, maybe I was fooling myself. LOL 

August 12-13th

Picked up Jeff and met Paul at the The Hamptons Golf Course. This is now a private club but Jeff & i had bought a package golf deal before they switched so we had to use it up. It is a beautiful course. Pulling into the parking lot you can see the money. Jag’s, Benz, Range Rovers etc. I pulled in and parked right beside them in my Jeep. This course the last few times bit me and again it played hard. It is not really difficult but the slice was with me and I lost to many balls ending up with a 96 score. Not good and quite annoying as on a great course and a hot sunny day things should click. The ball with the irons was going to far, I missed the drives and lost balls and had some stupid shots. Jeff had an equally bad day. Paul played the course quite well ending with a 89 but had a quad on one hole so he would have had a great score. He is always so consistent.

Up at 6;30 for my Men’s league and it was  scorcher reaching 36 degrees.  Everyone in our group played away above their handicap and with 30 guys playing there was only one deuce which paid well. I missed by inches two deuce putts.  The whole group had a off day as the low net was 70 which is on our higher side. My group, everyone played about 10 strokes above their number. BUT it was hot, wonderful and a lot of fun. Soup and beer afterwards was full of joking as everyone sucked. Scored a 95 only due to stroke and distance penalties. Every other shot was very very good. Haven’t got this new driver working as of yet !!!

Stopped at looked at another motor home as we are still considering. I had been watching ever night. This one has everything except ( and there is always a except) it is about 3ft longer than I would really like. Priced ok and in great shape so we will see.

Thought of the Day 

There is a great saying ” Don’t go broke trying to look rich. Act your wage”  The reason I hesitate. 

August 14-15th

I love the fact that I don’t have to get up early in the mornings. Never was a early morning guy and never will be. While nice and quite enjoyable to be out side in the sun early on a summer day it is equally nice and perhaps even better to enjoy the cool air under a feather down. I have heard that as you get older you need less sleep. I am very glad that hasn’t happened to me as of yet. I enjoy my breakfast in bed ( extremely good wife) and enjoy the bed warmth.

I worked on the motor home today doing a little cleaning, moved a few things,throw out a few things, closed my drains, and tightened a few screws but forgot to fix our entrance door. I need to scrap off the tape and silicone on the re-installed glass we put in on our last trip. Cleaned the Jeep and pulled a few weeds at Tor’s house. The needed putting around the day flew by. Was stopped on the Deerfoot for about an hour due to a accident so didn’t get a chance to go to Western RV in Airdrie.

Jackie had taken Tor to the clinic for blood work and arrived a little later than I had hoped as we had a golf game planned. Luckily she was very fast in getting ready and we headed out in the rain. It took a bit of convincing that the pouring rain ( very hard) was going to pass and we would have a great golf night. This is our DINE & NINE night.

Arriving at the course it was still pouring. I checked my forecast and Doppler and knew it had to quit very soon. We had a wonderful supper in the clubhouse while it continued to rain. At out tee time I checked in and NO RAIN DROP touched my head. Again the computer model was 100% accurate and the sun came out and it was beautiful. NO RAIN DROP touched Jackie’s head except for when we ran into the clubhouse on arrival. Jackie had a sore neck for some reason but as she has had very little golf this year she sucked it up and played quite well even though you could tell it hurt and she was stiff. As I have said before golf is a funny thing. I played the nine holes the best game I have ever played. I scored a 39 which isn’t my best 9 hole score ever but the golf ball striking and aim was the best ever. Just a lot of missed birdie putts. I had 7 pars in the 9 holes.Not one slice. I love it when this happens. I played a few more holes just for fun but didn’t track these. It was a fun night !

Jackie got up very early today to help out Tor this morning. I am sure Victoria is glad of the support and company.

It is a wet one today and is supposed to rain heavy most of the day. So perhaps a easy day. Watch a little PGA golf ( too bad Tiger didn’t make the cut) and do a few other small inside things. Great day for a haircut. Great day to stay indoors. Hopefully some of the fire areas are getting this rain.

Checked out a few motor homes at a few lots .We discovered there sure are a lot of companies that don’t provide good customer service. A lot of not so friendly or helpful people. I will say that the two locations of Western RV did provide the best experience and was good. Must be a company agenda. Good for them. A lot of poor homes out there. Was trying to go thru a dealership for the trade in aspect but we are looking at a private sale now as will sell ours in the spring.

Thought of the Day

Everybody wants happiness, no one wants pain. But you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.  You can’t be fit without moving a bit. You can’t retire without having to work in a mire.  I am a poet and don’t know it. I better stop before I get another thought.

August 16th-18th 

The weather today was supposed to be a little cooler than normal. Dressed up in pants the first time in a long long time to marshal today on the course. BUT received a phone call and the tee times booked were limited so they didn’t need my services. I don’t mind that but I do not like to schedule a weekend knowing I am working then have it canceled. I understand the reasoning but it is a little annoying. Oh well it well help me feel less guilty when I take off three weeks in a row in Sept. Watched the PGA which was fun seeing a newbie win his first major.

Got  up early and worked on the motor home all day. Washed and waxed, Polished chrome rims. Removed dripping window sealant. Cleaned silicone from door window,  Tightened screws and adjusted everything that I knew was an issue. Tried 3 different Canadian Tires and Woody’s RV for a white baggage door holder but everyone was out of stock. Re-organized some of the storage compartments and cupboards and threw a few things away. Checked all tire pressures and discovered one inside rear tire valve needs replaced so next oil change will get Fountain Tire to do put a new one on. Hopefully the inside pressure is similar to the outside wheel.

Golfed with Jeff, Paul and David at Turner Valley on another wonderful evening. I love the TV course as it is tough. Paul started with 7 pars on the front nine but then lost it a bit. I drove not bad only losing one off the tee but didn’t score well which was disappointing as i am starting to see some nice shots happen on a consistent basis. Just a few to many mistakes. But I take condolence in the many great shots knowing it is going to happen any time now where everything comes together. David had a off night as did Jeff. I think one thing everyone should remember is there is so much advice on “how” to golf that if you start trying to figure it all out you will go nuts and not golf well at all. If I am struggling with anything in particular ie pitching etc watch a good golfer and see how they do it. Look at the position of the ball in the stance, study the grip, check the back swing distance, notice they let the club loft do the work by not putting their hands to far forward, check their foot lineup. It is amazing how much you can learn. I love watching Paul golf as I “steal” a lot of ideas other than his draw. I prefer straight or a fade. LOL

Had another wonderful meal sitting on the deck in the sunshine looking down the 18th green ans seeing the mountains right behind us with no snow on them.

Watched another episode of Bachelor in Paradise. Dumb show but I do like the interaction between the guys and girls. Victoria and I were talking and isn’t it amazing that such great looking people are all single. Then you hear them talk, see the intellect, and attitude and understand why. If nothing else entertaining. I do not like the amount of kissing though.

 

Sailing day today.  I was a little skeptical today about the day but it turned out to be a great day. First of all the boat that Michael has is fantastic. I originally thought it maybe a very small sailing boat. Michael has 17ft Hunter boat which is one of the better looking boats on

the water is the perfect size. Quite big but small enough to maneuver with quite a tall mask. It has 5ft deep

rudder which makes it very stable in the water and great sized jib and mainsail. Never having sailed before it is interesting to learn when and how to move the jib and sail along with the angle to attack the winds at. Micheal is a good sailor and handled the boat fairly well. My job was to control the jib ropes. It takes a bit to figure them out but I am  sure after a few times it becomes easier.  The winds were supposed to be hitting 20 knots (37 kms) per hour. I thought excellent should be a great day. The winds turned out to be a lot less so we had a good rate of speed but would have loved the 40kms wind to really move us. It was fairly windy on our takeoff which caused a bit of trouble and took us while to get going

but once out in the water it was a lot of fun. I could sit in a boat for 10 hours a day be happy. We sailed off to the other end  of the lake and docked and had lunch on the pier and then back again. I will say the steering control as you rely so strongly on the wind is something I don’t care for. The lake was very busy with the paddle wheeler on it and a whack ( at least 50) small dingy sailboats from the sailing school flying back and forth everywhere. On our return we headed right in the middle of the small sailboats. I thought we were going to run someone over but made it to dock safely. I love boating, I love the sailing part , prefer a less busy spot but I do have to say the time it takes to ready the boat and the lack of braking power or control I prefer a motor boat by a long shot.  The dull hum of the engine and slapping water (

and even the gas smell sometimes) is very very nice. I had a great time, would have liked a bigger less busy lake, more speed and a little windier day but thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Thought of The Day 

A smooth body of water never makes a good sailor. You can’t adjust the direction of the wind but by changing your sail you can still make your destination even though you may have to move back and forth to catch it.

August 18th

Babysitting day as Jackson’s day home was away on vacation. Jackie was working so it was me and Jackson today. First see if he wants to go to the Gopher Musuem. This is still on my bucket list. As soon as he found out the gophers were dead it didn’t

interest him and he thought it may be boring. 1 1/2 hr drive and only spend 5 min there wouldn’t be a good idea. Plan B – we decided to go to the play parks. It ended up we visited three different play parks. The best one we found was in Sundance. So

needless to say we climbed, slid, jumped and ran around. First break to the store for a Popsicle and a little rest.More play time. We then had the dreaded bathroom break. More play.  We then decided to go home for lunch to have a ham and cheese sandwich. Then back to more play ground time.  We then choose to head home to cool down a bit as it was hot outside today. A long time running the halls and playing hide and seek then to the hot tub. Jackson loved the bubble sin the hot tub and the outside air in the room was nice and cool. He used it as a swimming pool so he had a lot lot of fun. Me tired.  Next adventure was to have Jackson go with me to buy the weekends groceries.  Let me tell you we have a lot of food we normally don’t have. Chips regular and BBQ, JU JUbes, Cookies two kinds, ice cream sandwiches, and wieners and marshmallows for cooking.  As long as the weather is good it will be great. We have lots of movies along in case  it rains. I think Jessica & Penny along with August are planning to visit us so that we keep Jackson happy as he loves his aunts.

Picked up the motor home and was lucky enough to get a parking spot in front of the condo. Started the fridge up and loaded my clothes. Drove over to Tor’s to pick up a load of needed toys, bike, wagon, scooter etc for him to play with rather than get them in the am. Weather is looking a little iffy right now for Friday. It may end up I rive the motor home home and Jackie takes the Jeep as I have to Marshall on Sunday.

So the blog will be quiet for a few days as I have no internet. Hopefully lots of pictures to show you and some funny stories Jackson creates. Looking forward to next week as I get to fish north of Edmonton for a few days.

Thought of the Day 

An inability to stay quiet is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind. 

August 19th – 23rd 

A trip to the lake with Jackson.  Jackson’s day home lady was on vacation so we took Jackson

for a little adventure. Our trip included a visit to Park Lake Prov Park, Lethbridge and Nanton campground. We couldn’t stay all of the time at Park as the campsite was

full which was fine as we included a few different things. Having a 4 yr old along sure does keep you busy. There is no time but having fun with him. No sitting, no reading, no blogging just playing. We had two great kid play parks at the campsite. We had numerous trips to these. It has a great beach area complete with a concession stand. Yum we even had huge Tiger ice cream cones. The best ! Even though the campsite was full it didn’t seem busy anywhere. That was nice.

Some of adventures included swimming, playing in the play parks, looking for leeches, fish and snails, walking, biking with his strider ( next year a real bike), playing board games and card games and just having fun. Jackson found a mommy

snail and baby snail in the water, watched a blood sucking leech and watched millions of wasps die. We had great weather and we had cold weather. It was down to 5 degrees one night.  I can say Jackie likes to turn up the heat with company so between the furnace running and the heat you don’t get a perfect sleep. We even had a party group one night blasting loud music until 3 am which is odd in a Prov Park but there was no conservation officer to be had. It is too bad people have to have loud music blasting out in the country quiet. It is rather dumb. As music lovers, especially Keith Harry we never ever blasted loud music at the campsite. And our music was a way better then the hip hop of today.  Other than the lack of respect for families near by it is the stupidity of thinking your cool by having lour music going.                                                                             Jackie’s wasp traps worked

perfect. We probably killed a 500 wasps ourselves. While there I noticed a new water tap in the park. This is the water tap that Rob M accidentally just nudged and broke off.  Sent water spewing everywhere. Now it is

recessed and large reflective tape on all four sides. I had to bug Rob about this. Jackson liked the the game of LIFE that we sort of changed a bit for him to play. He liked and did well with Frustration but as with any four year old it only lasts a short time. There was a FIRE BAN on at Park which I don’t like. What is camping without a fire ?  We had  a supper visit with Penny, Jessica and August one night which was nice. We also went into

Lethbridge one night for a Boston Pizza night. My favorite place.  We also visited a bunch of new show homes as Jess & Pen are showing interest in one of these. Very nice homes. In the one show home though I was shocked at the framing carpenters skill level and the job sup allowing it to pass. The sales lady says she will have it checked into.  One our way home we stopped at the Nanton Campground. This is a very nice place and they allowed

fires. First driving error in a long long time. I tried to take the motor home and tow Jeep up a hill that was too steep and bottomed out. Stopped us solid with it hitting the hitch, tow bar and rear gas tanks. Luckily with Jackie

 

driving and me steering the Jeep and watching the tow bar we were able to back up few feet with the Jeep still hooked up and maneuver out.  Lesson learned and hope to never forget again. I surprised myself not thinking  the steep incline would be to great. No damage just hurt pride. Victoria & Corey joined us for a wienie roast that night which was fun. Great discussions and stories around the fire with a little

boy having the time of his life playing with a burning stick in the fire. We even saw bats flying around which Jackson loved. This trip with all of the activity and outside air Jackson actually slept 10 hours each night without getting out of bed once.

Recap :

Watched- fish, leeches, snails,wasps, butterflies,bats

Played – two parks at Park, park at Nanton, biked around the park, played games inside, skipped rocks,

Ending– One tiring fun week !!

Thought of the Day

Jackson doesn’t think he wants a haircut like mine ! WHATTTT ! 

August 24th 

Marshaled today. It was a very busy weekend due to the great weather. With busy comes issues. Speed of play and course management are the critical aspects of these job. After two days of solid rain the fairways were very soft so we had to enforce cart path only. Not a difficult concept one would assume. Wrong. People are dumb. People don’t respect others property and think the rule is made to inconvenience them. Numerous, numerous conversations about staying on the paths to numerous parties. One can forget or cheat a little on the corners etc but follow the rules so you can play next time without ruts in the fairway or dead grass.  Speed of play is the topic of discussion at every course and even on the PGA. People are taking to long and a game is being extended to 4 1/2 to 5 hours. It also means less tee times available. This concept of just keeping up to the group in front of you is difficult for some. A warm Sunday is not the day to teach your kid or wife to golf. It is not the day to have a newbie on the course unless they are willing to keep up which may mean picking up your ball and only playing double par and letting quicker groups pass by. Then it is no issue for anyone. But unfortunately we have the “i paid my fees and to bad for everyone else” guys out there. A slow party affects five or ten groups all behind them. This is always a difficult subject on the course as I feel for the golfer but also understand the frustration of groups behind. You try coaxing them along, follow them a bit which helps them speed up but certain personality types can be difficult with not wanting to help speed up or let other groups go by. You always have to be very polite, understanding, considerate, accommodating, yet firm enough to get people moving.

Most people are great and I have a blast out there teasing and interacting with the golfers. Some fun great people.

MY RANT

SLOW PLAYERS–  Let’s do a little math first. 4 1/2 hrs is usually the recommended time for a golf game even though a lot of courses are expecting 4 hrs and 15 min.  4.5 x 60 mins= 270 mins to play a round. 270 mins divided by 18 holes is 15 mins per hole for the group.  15 mins divided by 4 players is 3.75 min per player per hole.  Par is 4 on most holes so 4 divided by 3.75 is 1.06 min per shot. On paper it looks short. But from putting the tee in the ground to hitting it for an average player is less than 15 secs. There is no need for 13 practice swings. There is no need to say the Lords’ Prayer staring over your ball and there is no need to fall asleep before you shoot. None of that will help.1 minute is long long time. Just trying holding your breathe that long.  Last men’s league game we timed one of our partners that was slow and it was frustrating to watch and he was only using up 39 seconds over the ball.  Ready golf both on the tee and on the green reduces the time even more. Stopping your cart in the proper locations to reduce walking time makes a huge difference. Mark your score at the next tee will allow the group behind to hit up to the green. Looking for a lost ball really eats up the time. You can buy balls at Walmart for 50 cents per ball. Take your stroke penalty and move on and be glad you aren’t allowed stroke and distance on a normal game. YOU hit your ball in the wrong spot .One should ALWAYS shoot a provisional ball if there is even a outside chance of not finding your ball. Takes 15 seconds. Have your conversations in the cart not at the tee box or on the green. MARK down double par and move on to the next hole if you are slow or having a bad bad hole. And most importantly just keep up to the group in front of you. Well perhaps more important is LISTEN to the Marshall. LOL   BUT THAT’S JUST ME !!!!

August 25 – 30th GONE FISHING !!!

Had a beautiful day to drive. The QE2 was a busy highway again.Amazing how many cars drive that road everyday. Lots of want to be rent a cops ( sheriffs) with radar along the way so the overall speed was great but just to many cars for two lanes and everyone driving at different rates just is an accident waiting to happen with the pulling out and in. That’s why I believe a 120 kms per hour limit enforced with zero tolerance would make the traffic flow better. If the cops see a car driving at 100 kms per hour give them a ticket for careless driving as they are the accident instigators. If your car can’t do 120 or you are scared either lose your license or be forced to drive on secondary highways. I took the Henday around Edmonton which is a great ring road as it isn’t to far around and moves well. I do have to say as soon as we neared Edmonton the traffic dramatically drives slower than Calgary. Most likely they don’t like to wreck their cars in the huge potholes so they are cautious in their driving or they have ticketed so often by photo radar ( Edmonton is the photo radar king of Canada) that they can’t afford to get another one. Ps Maybe this is how they fund the new arena. LOL  Wow ! has St Albert grown. I got off at Messier Drive instead of taking the Gibbons drive so went right thru St Alberta and I hardly recognize it. Everything has changed and it is now a little big city. I think it may have changed enough that it loses it appeal it used to have. Arrived at the campground at about the 5 hour mark. This BlueBerry Hill Campground is beautiful and right beside the golf course plus very near quite a few great lakes. The people running the place are exceptional and the grounds themselves immaculate with loads of flowers and trees and with full service at a great price.  Fred & Terry picked the perfect spot as it is a double spot with privacy and loads of room.  We had a tee time that afternoon. Full sunshine and warm. Even could be considered muggy. Athabasca Golf & Country Club is awesome. The landscaping unbelievable and course exceptional. Narrower fairways that cause trouble but the elevations, the greens and the terrain around the course makes it a prefect and fun course to play. Had a few errand shots with a couple of lost balls but a lot of fun.  Back at the

campfire I had a few of Fred’s three finger rye drinks. I do have to say walking back the short

distance to my motor home I took a few extra steps. Must have been the uneven ground. We cooked hotdogs on the fire. Fred has the most unique wiener cooker I have seen. It flips your dogs for you to cook on both sides evenly. I am not completely sold on it.

Coffee on in the morning by Fred , we had our lunch and then we started getting ready for the fishing. It is about 60 kms to Calling Lake where we were heading. Arriving at the lake it

was covered with green algae and the unloading ramps were a little rough. Fred unloaded the boat and drove the truck around to the next pier to jump in. The lake is very low with Fred bouncing his big motor off the odd rock coming to the pier. He was 50ft out and still only two feet of water. Jumped in and headed. This is the perfect fishing boat. We headed out to a

spot the campsite owner said to check out at 42 mph across the

water. It is fast and smooth. Trolled for a bit with no action on the finder or our lines. Then the beep on the finder I said “look Terry a big one coming right at you”. Wham it hit her line. That would have sold anyone on a fish finder. LOL  It was a great afternoon of fishing. In 5 hours we caught 14 fish. The largest being my close to 9lb Jack and Terry catching a 4lb Walleye. Everyday you learn something well today I was taught that there is a difference between Walleye and Pickeral and I should call our Alberta ones Walleye. The Walleye have the spined back unlike the Pickeral that only has

the dorsal fin. It is those easterners that confused the whole thing up. We don’t have Pickeral in Alberta we have Walleye.We

do have Sauger which looks like a Walleye though. Over the years people just started calling them incorrectly and it carried on that way. Now I know !

 

 

It was a fun day with lot’s of action on a beautiful lake. Odd though why Fred only caught Walleye and I only caught Jack ( 1 walleye) and Terry catching loads of Walleye. She did pluck out a baby pike though. Besides the fishing being relatively good the size of the fish were awesome.

No one would be unhappy with our fishing success. 14 fish only  two undersized , the 4 pound Walleye, the 8.5 pound Jack plus Terry getting the day before another 8.5 Jack and a 7 pound  today it has been good. Next trip out I will put a larger plug on hoping for the “big one” even though it will reduce my chances of catching many.

We had tee times booked but as we knew Jackie was arriving late and would be rushed to arrive and then golf we cancelled them and just enjoyed the day. She arrived around 4 pm and settled in. As she drove by our campsite we were playing cards on the table she opened her window and said “You guys look like old farts sitting there playing cards”. I am positive she wasn’t referring to me but my company. LOL

Fred has a tradition that on his wedding anniversary he cooks up a big meal. Fred is an awesome cook ( i received jars of canned goods, cherries, pickles, carrots from Fred that he made himself) so as you can see by the pictures we were “GLAMPING” not just camping with real wine glass, three great tasting wines, and a

excellent meal of marinated steak, new potatoes bakes with dill

cream or sour cream, corn on the cob and garlic bread. This camping life is rough. We also played a new game that Terry had along called Crazy Marbles which is very much like a game the neighbors have in Mesa. It is a fun game and when played as partners is great. Now I do have to say the girls did beat the boys 3-1. One game was my rookie error on a marble switch that allowed them  to be given the game. This will change. I could say they were lucky but they did play very well and won. Had a great fire roaring last night and sat around talking until after midnight as the temperature was close to 20 above at that time even though you could feel it starting to drop. Yes I did say midnight.A full moon and it was a super moon last night so it was very bright out. Sitting out, two times a few rain drops fell and then disappeared.

Today the weather can only be described as great. No wind lots of sun and very very warm. Should be an excellent day on the water.

Out of sequence and not related to our camping/fishing trip but I had to add this. This is a great picture of our two Grandson’s. I have to say grand kids are awesome and I can’t wait for them to be old enough to fish and play golf.

 

Thought of the 

Sex is like fishing. It is not in the cast or the trolling speed it is all about how you wiggle your worm !

Another  wonderful day. The weather was perfect and we all had a great sleep as the night air was cool and after the heat and staying up late it was easy to sleep like a log. Up this morning and had breakfast and just spent a few hours relaxing before the lake. We decided

to go to the other loading docks as the water before had been clearer and the the water was supposed to be deeper. It was. Fred unhooked everything and I backed

the boat and trailer into the lake. When we were 90 % in the boat just dropped. In water that was difficult to see in the boat loading cement beams were angled and what was 2 inches apart at the beginning became 8 inches under water. The trailer wheel fell into the hole and we were stuck. You can rip the axle right from under your trailer if not careful. Inspecting to see what  had happened we threw large rocks under the wheel to hopefully lift the boat trailer up. Luckily it came out easy. You feel bad when it isn’t your equipment but not seeing and I never dreamt that we would get caught like that. I made very sure on our take out of the boat I straddled each section so it wouldn’t happen again. No damage done.

It was a dream day to fish. The water was a little less clear than before but flat and the sun was beating. The fours of us spent about 5 hours out today. It was a slow day for everyone in our boat and the other boats. Today we only caught 4 fish. So the total catch in three days of fishing was 21 fish. Out of these we had maybe three we couldn’t keep. The lake is giving up great sized fish. Our catch consisted of 2- 9 lb Jacks, 7 lb Jack, 4 lb Jack, 4lb Walleye, and 3 lb Walleye. Fun time catching great sized fish. The 3 pounder Walleye was 49 cm long.

Farmers Market and golfing tomorrow.

It was a small farmers market but some interesting stuff there. One booth had homemade wood toys, the standard tye-dye clothes, canned goods, baked goods etc. Jackie bought a few gift items and I bought two pies for supper. Blue-berry Rhubarb and Pear Pie from the Hutterites. The girls picked up a few things, Fred picked up olives from Turkey and we met

Ralph and Tracy there. Fred even happened to know the Hutterite boss from business dealings. Luck would have it the local grocery store had free lunch of hamburgers or wieners, bean and coleslaw. It was good and who would complain about a free lunch.

Stopped the Home Hardware store in town. Best nut & bolt department I have ever seen. I love hardware and regret not buying a hardware store instead of our sub shop.

Off to golf . The flowers around the club house are amazing. The clubhouse had Nike gloves on sale for $10.00 each so I bought two. Great deal. I looked for Jackie to come see and she started to come. Then BAM! she trips and falls right to the floor. She hurt herself but after picking her up she managed to walk it off even with a very sore ankle. I had an arm band I had lent Fred as he hurt his elbow. Giving it to Jackie i discovered $40 in it. It was the $40 I gave Fred for gas etc. He thought I wouldn’t find it for while. Got him. It is now hidden somewhere that he will find in about a weeks time. He always tries to return it. I always try to make sure he gets it. I have even seen him throw out a $20 bill out of his window at me. I think I have him this time.

As I said before this Athabasca Golf course is one of the nicest I have seen in Alberta. See review.  I had one f those games. I would say at least 6 birdies that turned to boogies and pars putts that turned into boogies. Ended up one of my highest games but eh fairways are TIGHT and I haven’t got the driver going perfect yet. Having said that when you have to wait every hole to drive and every shot it gets to you and wrecks the game set. Great course, fun with Ralph and the girls did very well.

We all headed back to have a communal supper. Meat was pork chops and we had all of the good things to go with it.  The pies with ice cream were excellent.

Then GAME on ! Crazy Marbles. Girls VS guys. I had to say this but the guys lost. Twice. Can’t believe it. They did have a lot of luck and us a bit of hard luck. The game is fun especially with teams. Trying to watch the marbles in the dusk light and so many on the board at once is difficult. The Jacks especially are difficult to make and move and have the timing right. Your partners or opposition move and they can become a liability instead of an asset. We will get the next time.Ralph & Tracy like music at the table at night. It is the first time I remember feeling I hope the camp owner or other guests don’t mind the music or the laughter. We were up to 1:30 am. Yes 1:30 which is the latest I have stayed up for a long long time. Luckily no complaints and we had to go to bed knowing the girls had won again.

Last  night, darn does time fly by. We had the best weather, great golf course, fantastic fishing, wonderful food and fine friends to enjoy it with.  Great trip !

Thought of the Day

Life is more fun if you play games.

Aug 31st  – Sept 1st

On our back from Calling Lake we decided to stop and look at a couple of coach motor homes that were on for sale in the area. Real long story short we ended up buying one. As I previously said we did a lot of deliberation over this and the decision came down to we have 20 years to enjoy RV’ing and a new unit will last us and offer a lot of luxury that makes the extra time we are spending wit more time next year in the Rv that much more enjoyable. Fear sometimes can be a hindrance to success or enjoyment. After the fact no buyers remorse what so ever as the new unit is gorgeous.  What it offers is a more spacious living area, lots of luxury add-on’s like auto  retrack awning, side camera’s, a way more carriage storage, larger and nicer to use shower and bedroom area, built in vac etc. Camping with Larry G which has these options it is a nice comfort feature that is not needed but does make the experience even better. Three negatives are, I can’t fit the kayak in this one, we have two less sleeping spots but we will fix that with air mattresses and i have now a motor home to sell as quickly as possible. Well over 100K tied up in a RV needs to be reduced. Love the unit. So Monday it was all business and travel. Tuesday a full day moving stuff from one to the other. Lots of discarded stuff and I have a pile of stuff to give to Tor for her trailer if she wants it. When I say full day i mean a full day from 8am to 8pm and only 98% done.  I am tired ! Jackie brought me supper and we ate in the new coach and continued to organize it. I should be done tomorrow for sure.  Maiden voyage will be this weekend to Pembina River then off to Waskesiu Sk. It has a lot of new thing to learn again.

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of other stuff going on. Corey is finishing up the arbor which is stating to look fantastic and Jessica has gone wild finishing up the last minute details to sell her house. This house should sell easy. It is decorated very

very nicely in the interior and shows extremely well with good pricing for a younger family or some one that likes the older part of Lethbridge. If you are looking for a house in Lethbridge check this out. A renter would more than pay the mortgage. Look at the ad you will love the interior work done. It looks exceptional and done by a designer. Hopefully sells fast for them .

Started my month end budget but got busy. The numbers are not good this month with the huge decrease in the TSX. Most everything  gained in the last year is lost. My hopes are it stablizes and increases to 14,500. The USA is doing well it is only China and Greece that is causing issues. Canada is doing well due to Albert bringing the entire country down. Being retired I would love the interest to go a way up. At  least to 7% would be nice. Not nice to debtors but great for investors. I will keep my fingers crossed and carry on holding on. As a working person with the low stock pricing averaging on the buy right will pay off big time. Not so much for some one not buying stocks today.

Thought of the Day 

The biggest risk is not taking any risks. In a world that is changing so fast the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking any risks.