July 1st  

A wonderful day to celebrate. I hope everyone really appreciates what we have here in Canada. It is my opinion that Canada has to be one of the best places in the world to live in. Our standard of living, our way of life, our acceptance of other cultures and our societies values are all excellent. We are so lucky to be born here.

We sort of were hoping Penny would be going to the hospital today as having a birthday on July 1st would be great. I know Larry Geddes loves it.  Happy Birthday Larry !

What a beautiful day. 25 degrees and sunny. LOADS of people downtown enjoying the day. Kids playing

in the water park. A new citizen event. Food trucks. Street performers, live bands, and a T’ai chi demonstration in China Town. This was amazing. I would have loved to be able to do

this but without the training. They are fast. Numerous booths selling things, and face painting artists. Lots of interesting things to see and do. For lunch we were lucky enough to get a seat on the patio at the Barley Mill. Life is good when you can sit with your family have a couple of cold beer, great food and people watch. It was a fun day. The Eau Claire part of downtown is first class with it’s location next the river, walk paths, housing, stores, and bars.

Oh one other thing. Here on Canada Day we ran into “young”  adults with signage ” Do not vote for Harper”  It is good that the younger generation is getting involved with politics but please be informed and not stupid. I had to talk to them  to bend them a bit and received a paper from them. It is a shame how people following a certain ideology get swayed so easily. More NDP’ers.  And to do this on OUR CANADA DAY.  This group is upset over , Bill C51,  Oil spills in BC, Alberta’s deforestation, healthcare, gun registry,40% cut in women’s group funding, Kelowna accord cancellation and aboriginal rights. All good things if they had any perspective. I will just highlight a couple or I would run out of space on the internet.

1. First Bill C51- we should be ecstatic that we have a government that is being pro active in the war against terrorism. What most people don’t understand is yes the judicial process is different,but expediency during crisis is critical and the judge that can sign a warrant still must uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights bill. They have a lot more power to track down and stop terrorists. They will have access to a lot more information on an individual if needed.You only need to be concerned if you are active in unusual terrorist activity.
2. Gun registry-  Implemented by the Liberals with Chretien . Cost the country millions for a program of no value. First estimate 2 million but ran over 500 million. How many registered guns are involved in criminal activity ? The entire structure should have eliminated but at least Harper recognized an expense of no value and modified it.
3. Kelowna Accord- another Liberal fiasco that Harper decided not to fully engage. It would have given close to 5 billion dollars to natives for school, roads, infrastructure,health services ,and economic development. When is the bleeding supposed to stop. You can’t just give give and give without thought or a plan that can be adhered to.

What a lot of people forget is as Canadian’s we went thru the world recession in 2008 better off than any other country. It helps to have a educated economist at the helm.

Too bad this happens on Canada Day but that is part of what makes our country great is that we are allowed to voice our opinions. It’s to bad the NDP prey on new Canadians to influence them though.I should have stayed longer to bend these young guys as it is always fun when they stutter. Interesting to know if they had a job.

A wonderful wonderful fun Canada Day !!

Happy– Things don’t make you happy. Been successful doesn’t make you happy. Money doesn’t make you happy. You can choose to be happy. Train your brain to be happy. Love what you do. Happiness is infectious . If you don’t practice being happy that part of your brain atrophies. Be nice, help people, and it will make you happier. Being Happy is the best way to live.

You know it would be a great time for a cheap holiday in Greece right now. I am sure they would welcome any tourists money they can get. Also why are people lining up at the bank for cash ? Do they not have debit or visa ? Odd. But I bet a great deal right now.

Thought of the Day 

What makes me most proud to be Canadian is certainly how our country’s values of tolerance, inclusion and respect have shaped our society. I am always amazed to see how people from so many different backgrounds can live together and not only accept, but indeed value each other’s faith, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, system of beliefs, education, and opinions.  Our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms incorporates into the Constitution every Canadian’s fundamental rights and freedoms. The democratic rights in the Charter include the right to vote and to run for office, while the guaranteed freedoms include freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. I know the  Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms helps makes Canada a wonderful place to live.Happy Canada Day everyone!

July 2nd

What a morning. Beautiful sunshine and warm with a forecast of 28 today.  Up very early to golf but it is nice in the am. I was happy with the front nine. Lost a ball left on the first hole but still ended up with a 43 on nine. On the back nine I like the next 3 or 4 holes than I hate the 14,15, and 16 for scoring. I took a 9,8,7 on these holes and killed my score for the day. I ended up with a 90 (esc)  and played well except for a couple of holes with lost balls. One day it is all going to come together. LOL .  Still a wonderful fun day.

Put the sign in Peter’s car but only have had a couple of phone calls so far which isn’t good for a quick sale as it will fall to the back pages quite quickly. Fingers crossed.It is usually the first few days were you get the most action. Two of the guys wanted the supercharged model.

Arranged to drive 3 guys to Lethbridge to play the Lethbrdge Golf & Country Club next Thursday. Should be a fun outing. I am hoping for a lack of tree and wind day. LOL

Had a good supper, went for a long walk and just relaxing tonight. Jackson and I will be having fun tomorrow. I was going to the parade but I think we should a couple of years yet as it is long and difficult to find seating. So off to the worlds largest outdoor train tracks and air museum in Nanton. Best candy shop and ice cream shop there also so I am looking forward to a great day.

Thought of the Day 

Best thing about retirement is the time to just hang out and not feel guilty. 

July 3rd 

Another hot summer day with the temp supposed to heat 30 today. Jackson arrived at 8 am this morning. I had to start the morning off right and hide outside our door as Jackson and Corey  were approaching I  “boo’d” them scaring them quite well. Corey as much as Jackson.  Jackie had already left the house. Our first order of business was making breakfast. Today’s meal was waffles with blue berries and syrup and chocolate milk.Jackson cleaned his plate and enjoyed every bite. Now play time. First we had to find the lego box. Found them and dumped them on the floor. We made houses, cars, smashed cars, jails, airplanes, and guns. All of our made things had to be destroyed when completed, naturally. Then cutting of paper and drawing for a bit. Then down to the gym to play with the bouncing balls and put our feet in the spa for while.

Jackie arrived home and we headed out to Nanton.  Our first stop was the Nanton War Museum. Pretty amazing that we in Nanton have one of four only in the world a

Lancaster Bomber that is in running order. That is special and this place is excellent with interactive displays and lots of planes , movie reel room and lots of informative plagues etc.. Very very interesting. Jackson enjoyed it and we spent a fair amount of time in the hanger.

Our next stop is a drive thru Ma & Pa drive thru food experience. We ordered and sat down in the shade. This place reminds of Jack’s Drive-In in Spruce Grove. Fantastic hamburgers and great fries at reasonable pricing. We had a great lunch then

headed to the Nanton Blue Sky Railroad. Now this place is

amazing. First the store has every train accessory you could think of. Then in the back you will find huge covered area’s with huge wood train tracks and trains. A super kid playground. They actual have birthday parties

held here. Jackson had a great time playing with all of the trains. Planes and Trains two of the best things for kids to play with. Just out back and there

it is. An amazing display of  mini trains and terrain with all of the details. Sounds coming from a sawmill, sounds coming from a saloon and the trains blowing their horns when needed. Water fall, bridges, huge hills, tunnels, numerous tracks, mini towns with incredible detail and landscaping. It

was very interesting to watch all of the action in the huge yard. Then they have a small train for people to ride around the park on. A great place to take your kids.

We then went next door back to the drive thru and ordered ice cream cones. HUGE is the only word that comes to mind with the sizing of the amount of ice cream. Jackson and I had TIGER the best hard ice cream made. He kept asking for Cheetah but somehow they never thought of that flavour. They did have a Saskatoon Pie flavour which is neat.  Jackie had a boring soft ice cream. When I say soft I mean it as it was 30 outside.

 

Next stop before heading home was a spotted out door playground. Quite a huge playground with all of the areas they had. Jackson loved it. He is good an climbing but doesn’t have the arm strength yet to make use of all area’s. Had to catch him and move him a few times. Jumped into the car and headed home. 5 min into the ride he was sound asleep. A real fun Jackson visit day !

Thought of the Day 

There is always light at the end of the tunnel.  Wait I think it is a train !

July 4th

Loaded up the Cherokee with my tools and headed to Lethbridge for the day. First order of business was the tub and shower. We brought along a molding to use between the tub and surround as the previous owner must have used a full tube of caulk on the tub. I spent at least 3 hours removing silicone with scraper, knife, and Goof Off and Vim with bleach.It turned out a way better than I thought possible so it didn’t need the molding. After removal and cleanup I re-caulked it. It turned out great. You don’t need a lot of silicone as long as the water can’t penetrate to the wall. A surround is designed to overlap the bathtub edge by about an 1″ so the caulk really is stop wicking and the looks. I did use a small amount on the seams for safety and had to use a fair amount on one soap dish that was cracked. If Jess and Pen watch for any shrinkage or teeny pee hole it may need just drop more but the room after Jackie  helping clean up looks great.  It just needs paint and a fix up to the vanity. I opened the vanity and saw something I have never seen before. I felt like Mike Holmes for a minute. Angry !  I have never seen such incompetence and laziness in my live. They put a new vanity top on and the sink drop height was different. The plumbing pipe was 2″ too short to hook up to the basin. SO duck tape to the rescue. First they started with a whole roll of plumbing tape and then a roll of duct tape to allow the water to flow from the basin into the plumbing.  So I could not not fix it. Off to the Depot to get the pieces after stopping in at Canadian Tire ( very poor plumbing dept) . Picked up what I felt I needed. New union pee trap, extension and compression nut for sink basin down. First time EVER where the ABS fittings had two different threads. I pulled apart the p-trap to save time and make the job easier but the the new nut had a different thread. ABS fittings must now be going off shore.  So back to  Cdn Tire as I had seen the part I need now to complete the job differently. After a bit of working on it got it all done perfectly I might add. I do find it annoying that every plumbing job I end buying more ABS glue . Why can’t they make a smaller tin for small jobs ?  Looks great now and works properly. Mike would be proud. DYI’s can be dumb sometimes but in most cases it is being CHEAP or lazy or perhaps just stupid. Pen and Jess had her Dad and sis working like mad also. Painting, cutting the grass, weed pulling , washing the deck etc. Jackie painted the one bath and moldings. Looks great and another room done. Tom ( Pen’s Dad) cooked us up some steak which was awesome. I was a little tentative at first as I saw a lot of blood on the plate but the steak was cooked perfect and tasted wonderful with a Greek salad.

Hit a huge wind storm and rain on the way home. Moved the Cherokee  around quite a bit on the road as trees were lying on their sides. On the Granum road there was a biker with his girlfriend riding with him  travelling at only 30 kms because of the side wind and the road was full of water in the big truck dips in the pavement. It was only 13 degrees and they had no jackets and were soaked. It was like a moving wet tee shirt contest.

Thought of the Day 

Mammaries! Sorry I mean memories !

July 5th

Had a 7:30 am call from the golf course that my services were not needed as it was cold, windy and raining. It was only 13 degrees out this morning and the wind was to blow all day. It was cold outside. I was awake early though.

So I though great I could stay in bed a bit but I received another call on the car and hit the shower. I have a conditional sale for the car until Monday which is great. Plus the gentlemen getting the car is getting a great unit at a great price.  Win win

Went for groceries while Jackie was attending a baby shower. I don’t mind getting the groceries as I get to pick a lot of different foods that she may not necessarily choose. For dinner tonite I decided to go with Pork Loin Roast, mashed potatoes and veggies. Sobey’s only had two small roasts left so I picked up both of them. It turned out to be

the correct amount of meat. We had 8 people over for Audrey’s birthday get together. MaryAnn brought a Caeser salad. So it turned out to be a great meal and birthday gathering. We hadn’t been together as a group for quite a while. Makes it even a little more difficult as Alan lives in the far opposite side of Calgary. It is just about as quick to get to  Red Deer. We have the rest of family all close with Victoria being 7 minutes away, Audrey being  8 minutes away and Peter being 12 min away.   A fun night and we talked about a lot of different things.

Thought of the Day 

A man will travel the world to search for what he needs, and return home to find it.

July 6th 

One of those enjoyable days. Out the door at 8 am and off to work with Corey to install crown molding in a reno job he has. If anyone has installed crown they know it is a lot more difficult than any other moldings to install. To find a perfect 90 degree corner on the vertical or wall to ceiling in any house is impossible.  Having to think backwards and cut that way sometimes can get confusing. Corey has a great handle

on this. We installed crown in the main living room,

family room, hallways and master bedroom . This is my dream reno project using crown, chair rail, large headers with crown and large baseboard all with architectural detail rather than plain stock as is so common today for the ease but also looks good  but not as great as detailed. The homeowner was a detailed lady with high expectations, She has very happy with the job. The home is going to look great. It is amazing how a few hundred dollars so dramatically can change the look of a place. I always complain on the quantity of pot lights we have in Arizona trying to figure out which switch makes them work, this lady has 68 pot lights in her remodeled home.

Got home about 4:30 and started to charge the battery of Peter’s car. Drove the car to it’s new owner. It is an amazingly well handling car with exceptional ride qualities.  Dropped off the car with everything the new owner needs. Another task accomplished. Just a matter of depositing the cheque into Peter’s account. It was a waste to have the car just sitting when someone can have a great car to use. Peter, I don’t believe will ever drive again.

Stopped at Peter’s Drive In. NO HAMBURGERS !  The guy that does the ordering should be fired today. During Stampede and at a burger drive in place and you run out. Amazing !. Still ordered my Peter’s milkshake which is awesome.

Another great enjoyable productive day.

Thought of the Day !

Do what you enjoy ! The day passes by very fast. 

July 7th 

Up very early to go golfing. Jeff stopped by and picked me up at 7:45 to head to Silverwing golf. It was colder than I thought this morning with a cutting wind. Luckily the wind died down a bit after nine holes. This Silverwing is a duplicate of Boulder Creek. An easy course as there is no tree trouble but surprised today as the grasses were quite long which could cause lost balls.  We were paired up with a young German lad that was in the oil industry but now is looking for something else due to the layoffs and is attempting to start a German restaurant in Canmore. Nice guy.  Even with it being cooler it was a fun day. Great greens with a lot of slope on them. This did raise the score a bit for sure. Jeff played quite well day even the score didn’t indicate it but take away three putts and the odd iron gone wrong he did well. I had an 84 which I wasn’t happy with as I should be lower on a course like this but miss a few putts etc.

This will be the last time I golf with Jeff for three weeks as they are leaving for Europe.  Great place to see and I am sure they will have a great time IF they make it there, IF they find a hotel that is nice, IF they have a way to travel around etc as they chose to organize everything themselves online.I remember one time in Florida the picture and comments were not event close to the real thing at a chain hotel.It was very disappointing.  Booking everything themselves instead of thru a agent always adds the  extra risk of hotels not being what Trip Advisor says about them or a lot farther away than thought etc. You can save some money but we like peace of mind and guarantees when we travel to foreign places. They should have fun though and I am sure they will thoroughly enjoy the architectural buildings,history,  museums, and life style that these nations enjoy. Wine cheese and bread the staples of life.

July 8th 

Up early and put on the Stampede gear for a traditional Stampede Breakfast at

Peter’s place. This was an exceptionally well organized event. They had a live band of older guys

and gal that were fantastic. They knew every song as long as it was made before 1950. Sounded great but the singer worried me as he had to sit once and just about fell. They had a photo booth which the people loved. They organized barrel racing with the staff and kids and had  an amazing balloon artist there.

Even the PC MLA attended giving out label pins and pens. Great food, great music, entertainment and lots of fun for the older people.  Older women love to dance and there was some pretty old ones up on the floor swaying away. Literally, as they just got up from their walkers, but they were determined to have a good time. A fun morning at the home for everyone. The organizer does deserve an award as she did a great job getting everyone involved.

It is too bad the Stampede Spirit couldn’t last for a lot longer. Take the Christmas spirit and the Stampede spirit and have people act this way all year we would make a wonderful place to live. Calgary is an amazing place that knows how to have the whole city participate. I guess that is why they call it “The Greatest Outdoor Show in the World”. We know as we have been to Hawaii and the Mediterranean countries and everyone has heard of the Stampede. There are only a few celebrations in the world with that kind of recognition. There maybe more but here are a few that come to mind. Mardi Gras, Carnival,  Running of the Bulls, just to name a couple. Fun times.

Had a golf tee time with Jason Cameron and Paul Bortoluzzi  at Turner Valley tonight. I haven’t seen Jason for over a year and only once then when we had a JW staff lunch last year. As everyone knows having Jason around is always a fun time. So it was great he could join us. I like golfing with Paul as I like to watch and learn from him. He is a very good golfer with perfect technique. You can learn a lot like watching him play out of sand noticing the open face angle, the shorter chip shots how he can get under them and he is especially good on the drives. I haven’t got close to being as good as him on the drives.

It was a hot night, the course was in great shape and moved very well for us with very little waiting. No shack open was disappointing on such a hot night. Jason played very well considering it was his only his second game of the year. Paul played very well except putting. One of the rare occasions were he missed more putts than normal. That resulted in a one stroke win for me and wins against Paul are very very rare. I played very well, especially with the irons and only lost one ball off the drives. It is amazing how some days things just click. A very fun night. Missed having my cold beer on sun filled deck after golf as it is a long long drive home for Paul and Jason needed to get home. Jeff is away for three weeks.

Jess & Pen are still waiting for baby boy’s arrival. Saturday is “D” day as the inducement will take place then if he doesn’t decide to come earlier.

Thought of the Day  

Calgary Stampede- the most fun time you can have with your boots on !

 

 

July 9th 

First thing, I think this is the best weather we have had in YEARS . Hot and sunny today and heading for Lethbridge at 9 am to play with my group from Turner Valley at the Lethbridge Golf a& Country Club. I had a full vehicle with Clark, Randy and Rick joining me for the drive. Two stops, one in Seton and one in High River and then to the course. This is a private course so we were very lucky to have the opportunity

to play it. You can tell there is money here. Benz, Corvettes, and

BMW’s are all you see in the parking lot. At my course all you see are half ton trucks. The drive into the course and the view off the course is wonderful. The course is 100 years old and you can tell by the growth of the trees that is true. Great greens, great fairways and elevations but a little on the tight side. The front nine is fully large tree lined and back more open and in the coulee.  Who ever heard of Lethbridge having no WIND. Not a breeze and 35 degrees was hot. I play in Arizona and don’t sweat but today was hot. Perhaps the shirt sticking to me could be used as an excuse.As everyone knows golf is a funny game and I didn’t play as well as I would have liked.  I

lost too many balls to have a good score. On one hole I lost a ball in the wide open space between trees. Had to go down a marmot hole. The marmots here are 20 lbs giants and not afraid . I had to drive back to the tee box to re-hit. ( just like Tiger did LOL )Just one of those days. Finished third in my group. The staff

treated us exceptional, and supper  was included which was spectacular. We had about a 7 ounce steak, garlic bread, potatoes, crab cakes and Caeser salad and finished with ice cream and cookies. One other neat thing is the beer was in a tub full of ice at the turn which was fantastic as they  were ice cold. It was a wonderful wonderful day and a very enjoyable one. Wish the golf had been better. LOL

July 10th

A small child named Jackson jumped on my bed this morning to get me out at 8am. Jackson was staying with us as his day home lady was on vacation. As usual he wore me out. Epic gun battles ( nerf guns) in the condo, down the halls, in the library and back to the halls running down all three floors and the entire length. We encountered one only resident and proceeded to “shoot ” her as Tony is our lady that takes care of our place while we are away in the winter. I shot her but Jackson was to nice. LOL  Domino’s, eating breakfast, having pizza for lunch, more gun fights, and playing  hockey and mini golf in the hallways wore me down. Tiring, no, exhausting but fun !!

Spend the afternoon working  on the computer, paid some bills , looked up on u-tube and adjusted my R9 driver to see if it will help the slice instead of using the Sasquatch. I closed the face full draw and it being a 8.5 loft should be around a 10 degree now . I will take it to the range for a bunch of testing. I would love to have a draw like Paul uses every time but would be  happy with a reasonable controllable fade. I believe more courses are set up for a fade vrs a draw overall.

Went to visit Peter tonight. The thing I hate most about dependent living sections in the retirement homes is the smell. It is horrible. Everyone of these old farts are wearing vests, sweaters, jackets etc when it is 100 degrees in their room with a humidifier going. If they would let their body regulate their heat they wouldn’t smell as bad and it is better for their heart to pump blood to the extremities. You take that smell, the bodily functions smell and decaying skin smell they are nasty. I really dislike that. OPEN a window or turn the a/c on or wear normal clothes. Then they wonder why a cold or flu spreads thru the building.

Had a phone call from Jess and they are heading to the hospital. The plan is to soften the cervix and possibly break the water at 1 am this morning. So we have decided to go to Lethbridge tomorrow instead of attending Dave & Erin wedding celebration. Luckily it was a party and not the actual ceremony otherwise we would have had a lot of driving to do.  Jessica was texting us updates as things progressed.

Thought of the Day

Each month has 30-31 days except the last month of pregnancy which has 1453 days 

July 11th 

Penny did not give birth last night and a new timeline is in place. She has her contractions but they are waiting for a certain dilation size before breaking her water. The expectation now is around noon or so. Talking to Jessica it was funny as the two of them heard a lady next room giving birth and the screams and groans

scared them. ( gout for a man is equal to childbirth pain, see below lol ) Remember childbirth is a natural thing. Although I can see someone getting very nervous with the screaming next door. I would run. Hopefully everything goes on this timeline as each hour waiting becomes more difficult.

Thought of the Day 

Quote 

” it was a female GP of my acquaintance, who has had four children by natural delivery, who assured me that gout is indeed worse than childbirth. That is something I can never know, but please, reader, at least accept my assurance that gout is agonising”

Off to windy city.

Arrived and it was beautiful. Checked in with Jess & Pen and still progressing but no baby as of yet. Every time they soften the cervix  they then have to wait hours to see the results. The op-gyn was involved and involved  the entire time. It was supper time when we arrived so we decided to go out for supper before doing anything. We decided on the KEG which is one of my favorite restaurants and they had a sun filled deck over looking Mayor MaGrath Street which is the main street for the Street Wheeler’s cruising events. This weekend the big car show put on by the Street Wheeler’s event which includes cruising, drag racing and show & shine and is awesome. Second biggest event in western Canada. Had a wonderful supper (steak) including desert. Also had a couple of Keg sized Caesar’s. The Keg makes the best one

there is. The correct way with salt & pepper rim

instead of seasoning salt and celery. They also include a bean. The BEST Caesar around. Heard and saw some great cars. While the girls were busy I went for a drive and stood on the corner to watch the cars. Fantastic selection of old and modern mixed cars. Nice short bursts of power to impress the by standers. ( see rant)   There were some amazing cars. Sort of give me spring fever on wanting one again. I love the feel

of power from a dead start. While standing there I was bugged for at least 1/2 hour or more by  a drunk girl that was at a wedding in the hotel and came out for a smoke and won’t stop talking. What kind of car is that ? Oh like the Mustang’s ! etc and on and on. I found it rather annoying and couldn’t get rid of her until she went up to another lady to ask to borrow a smoke and was declined and she disappeared. Thank you so I can now enjoy the cars again. Great night , fantastic cars, huge amount of spectators and a warm warm night. Only complaint would be the amount of want to be muscle cars. ie the new Camaro and Mustangs.

” MY RANT”

COPS- it was embarrassing to see  how the cops handled the cruise on Saturday night. You take a bunch of snotty nose kids that were beat up and teased in school and hire them as damaged goods policeman you have what was happening in Lethbridge. The police chief should be hauled into town council and asked to explain his staff’s actions. There was talk about the Street Wheelers leaving Lethbridge after 37 years and they should. In a ten minute span I saw five officers handing out tickets. A small tire rotation and a stunting ticket. A small burst of horse power and a speeding ticket. One light burnt out a ticket. RIDICULOUS !   We wonder why as a society we have lost respect for the police this is a prefect example of why.  The economic impact to the town is huge with hotels, food and visitors. Mayor MaGrath drive was lined the entire length  with viewers wanting to see the odd minor burn out or quick acceleration then slow down. The poor drivers wanted to deliver but the cops were being stupid. In NO case was any one in danger, it was all in fun and safely done by all.  There were some amazing cars on the street. Luckily we still saw the odd speed burst as the cops couldn’t stop everyone. I would like to see donation boxes on the corners so we could help pay for the tickets.  I really think we should re-look at our police staffing. We need them for control of a our society on the whole, murder investigations, drugs, thefts but the new hire traffic cops are stupid and need to be better handled. Their  job is a revenue builder not a safety handler and public protector.  BUT THAT IS JUST ME !

 

July 12th

Welcome to the world August Lane Hicken our newest grandson.

Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night with the

update texting going on but we liked to be involved with each step as it was comforting to know everything was going ok. Up early in the morning for a baby visit and to see Pen & Jess along with a stop at Tim’s for them. Pen having a C section was in a lot of pain but August was wonderful with a beautifully shaped

head. Some natural birth kids are ugly for a while as their head is distorted.All three of them are doing ok but very tired.

Bought some groceries for Jessica’s place and Victoria, Corey, Jackson, Margy, Jackie and I had lunch at home. Sat around for a while to give the girls a break at the hospital and then Tor,Cor Jack and I headed home. Jackie and Margy had plans to go back up to help the girls after a few visitors had left. They will be the hospital for a couple of days due to the surgery so Jackie is going to work from there  and drive back later this week. I have a few things to do in Calgary to get done.

Interesting fact: Today in Calgary area there are 11200 homes for sale. In the Edmonton area 4500 homes for sale. Great economy we have eh !

The TSX drops for fear of Greece defaulting. Why is is .3% ( 11 million only population) of the worlds GDP. Ontario is most likely bigger. Media driven hysterics is amazing. Today after Greece agreeing to concessions the TSX was up a bit.

Thought of the Day 

There is no other organ quite like the uterus.

If men had such an organ we would brag about it. Why don’t  the girls. The miracle of birth is an under statement.

July 13th 

I was waiting for an email to confirm my entrance into a tournament in Canmore or to golf with a TV member at another elite course but it didn’t happen.

Up early and changed vehicles with Corey as he has electrically issues on his Dakota. No brake lights, dash lights nor tail lights. We checked all of the fuses and tested each wire but there is no power to certain lights. He needs this to work fast as he drives all over the city pulling a trailer and he needs lights.  It may have taken a day to figure it all out testing each circuit so into the garage hopefully for a fast fix . There is a mess of wiring for the trailer hitch that I believe has grounded it out. It doesn’t look the factory wiring. The fuses being ok it must be a relay or grounded out with a broken wire somewhere under the truck. Hopefully they have the parts and find the issue fast. There must be a relay tester they can use.

Bought some groceries for myself as Jackie will stay in Lethbridge for a while.

I played ten  holes at Heatherglen before the rain hit. Played very well with one over on nine using the new driver. Not confident with it but was lucky with any misses.Hit the ball a lot further but still at risk of slicing big if not hit right.

After supper went to the driving range to hit a lot of balls. The new driver scares me. It goes farther, still high for a 8.5 degree driver and relatively straight but NOT every time. The misses are huge slices which will kill the score on a tight course.  I will continue to work with it as I do like the overall feel versus the Sasquatch and hopefully can get better control of it. The turn of the hips if the timing isn’t right creates a huge slice or  perfect drive or strong pull left which doesn’t help the feeling not knowing where it is going to go.

Thought of the Day 

Golf is a humbling sport.

July 14th 

Easy day today. First I washed the Wrangler and then a few hours later went for a drive to the golf course and hit rain. No longer clean. Played nine holes at Heatherglen and again hit with rain.  Did a few things around the house then went to the range to work on the R9 driver during a dry spell. Still not comfortable with the control over it. More huge rain drops hit. Very warm but hard rain and very black outside.

I was going to start working on a arbor for Victoria but I discovered I didn’t have the right tools needed. Next week perhaps or fishing perhaps , we will see.

Went for a long walk down to the river and saw a few fisherman trying their luck. No fish today for them.

Not very good news for the world today. Obama got his way and has made a deal with the devil that will come back to haunt us in the future. They have a negotiated a deal with Iran. It lifts the economic sanctions allowing Iran to create wealth to  fund terrorist groups.Allowing Iran to continue with it’s nuclear program with monitoring and the only punishment if not met is for the sanctions to go back. We are asking for trouble. I am sure the whole middle east especially Israel will not be happy.  I am surprised an agreement was met.

July 15th -16th 

Did some house cleaning . Washed the Jeep again. Watched a bit of the intro to the Open. Watched BIG BROTHER in the evening. Watched America’s Got Talent in the evening. Went to the driving range again with only limited success. I have searched the internet for ideas to reduce the incidences of the slice. I hate the slice other than pumpkin pie slices. I tried choking down, hand rotation, hip turning, closing the face, forward in the stance, back in the stance, keeping elbow tucked in etc without me finding a consistent cure. I find golfing with the old guys very annoying where they are hitting it 210 yards straight and scoring 80 and I am hitting it 280 but looking for it in grass or bush and scoring 90 because of lost balls. There will come a point if I can’t fix this I will not golf as much. If anyone knows me they know about a character flaw  I have that if I can’t win or at least have a chance to win I won’t play. I have had this flaw forever whether it was in business, racing cars, or playing games. I don’t have to win but I need to have the chance or at least be quite good at it. Could save me a lot of money. LOL    I can’t continue to play courses like Heatherglen,McKenzie Meadows or Blue Devil too many times as my handicap will keep falling and wreck my chances of winning at a much harder course like Turner Valley the low net score. Funny thing you know what they say about reading instructions. I tested and worked with my R9 driver and had the weights set the opposite way. It made sense to me that the heavy weight be on the toe to direct the ball left. BUT  the internet and a friend stated it should be at the heel . With toe being heavier it would lag behind causes a open face. Sooo I will start all over again. LOL   Thanks Paul for giving me the advise after he wins by a couple of strokes !!

Wonderful night golfing last night with Paul, David and Hammer. David is Paul’s new boss which I know from functions for years as he used to work for AWW. Hammer was a friend of David’s that joined us. On the ninth hole while Hammer went to get a drink I asked Dave how did he get that name. It is a old football  showering nick name. I don’t need to say more. Hammer is a very husky guy. Paul is an excellent golfer as is David. Hammer is good but doesn’t get out much. Ended up Hammer beating us all. He literally smokes the ball 300 + on his tee shots with very good control. David had a rough game, Paul had the highest score I have seen from him for a while and I didn’t play to well struggling off the tee.  It was a wonderful night and  lot of fun. These guys are cigar golfers.  Low score 85 high score 92.

Talking to Hammer who is a HVAC guy he said it is amazing how all of sudden the school system has so much money to spend when just a few months ago they had none. Borrow 6 billion and let the tax burden hit the public and you can do anything. Just remember if the rates do increase you can be in quick trouble.Ask Greece. Worst yet at a premier’s meeting our wonderful Notley no mind is in a conflict with Brad Wall the premier of Saskatchewan.A man that understands business and the oil industry and not the do- gooder socialist that we accidentally elected. This an article out of the Sun that basically tells it like it is.

“Dear Saskatchewan,

We propose a trade. Straight up! Our premier for yours.

Not good enough? We’ll throw in a handful of cabinet ministers, a $6-billion line of credit and a lifetime of park passes to Banff and Jasper. They have mountains and wildlife there. You’ll like it.

Deal?

Your Premier Brad Wall has left many of us jealous. Green with envy, really. We like his attitude. We like his swagger. We like that he’s not afraid to stand up for the oil industry.

Our provincial boss Rachel Notley is out East to discuss energy and pipelines, but she seems almost ashamed of our oilsands.

She seems far too accommodating to those who have no problem taking billions from our province but shame us at every opportunity for the sake of their own political fortunes.

It seems Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard won’t give his blessing to pipelines through Fleur-de-Lis land until we do some more work on the way we treat the environment.

Funny, our environmental record wasn’t an issue when his province cashed all those billion-dollar cheques from Alberta for so-called equalization.

Sadly, he seems to have found a receptive ear in Notley. She says she wants to grow the energy industry but is ready to bring in a royalty review at a time when oil is down.

Her lobbying to get Alberta oil to market seems to always come with a finger-wag about what we need to do for the environment.

Lost in the noise is the fact big oil companies are improving their environmental record and constantly innovating to get even better.

Holding them hostage won’t make that happen any quicker.

She has gone as far as to say your premier is “showboating.”

Wall said this week: “Maybe we need to have equalization payments start flowing through a pipeline to finally get one approved through Central Canada.”

Zing!

We won’t lie, we kind of like his showboating.

It shows confidence and it lacks the type of apologetic shame our premier projects when speaking about one of our nation’s top employers.

Come to think of it, he’s a jewel.

We’ll sweeten the pot.

We’ll add season tickets to the Flames and Oilers and we’ll let the Roughriders win at least one game against our teams.

Now, can we have him?

Sincerely,

Many Envious Albertans

We just  have to hope that her damage isn’t irreparable after her first and only term. I especially like the comment about Quebec never complaining about our equalization payment for years. Perhaps we could export all NDP supporters to Quebec the perfect socialist province. I couldn’t say everyone that voted NDP as I know there are a lot of people wishing they could take back their vote.

Funny when Jackie is away how late I stay up.I prefer to go bed a little earlier. Pouring rain this morning again. Watched the Open first thing this morning. Tiger struggled again and I think he will end up in last place. Interesting if he will play tomorrow knowing he is going to miss the cut. I can only imagine what he is struggling with mentally being such a dominate player to not being competitive today.

Will get the motor home ready for this weekend get together at Brazeau Dam near Drayton Valley.Fuel, propane, clothes and groceries and we will be set.

It is not easy to get pictures all of the time but I will try to get more as they are great to look at. I have added a new page above for August our newest grandson.

Thought of the Day 

Never give up and be confident in what you do. There maybe tough times, but the difficulties you face will only make you more determined to achieve your objective and win against all odds. I believe in this but I may need to change my objective. 

I remember a quality control program in business we used to have. Then I went to the meeting and a tour and struggled with the concept of the quality control program.       ” if the spec couldn’t be met, change the spec”. It was difficult holding back on that.LOL

Twins are amazing. There has a been a lot of things that they both get or have together. Victoria had gall bladder issues and then Jessica just a little while later. Victoria had an episode of pericarditis and yesterday Jessica had it , Jess and Jackie stayed up all night at the emergency room. Lucky they only had to go a few floors downstairs.

Pouring rain again all morning. Cleaned up a bit. Went grocery shopping for the weekend. Pulled out the motor home and filled it was gas, propane and water and the food. I have it sitting on the street and will load my clothes and fridge food in there after supper.  Just  getting ready to watch the nightly news. I have said before that news is always the bad in the world but there are  so many things going on around the world that are not good I can’t help but watch. Here is just few things :

1. Notley at the helm destroying Alberta
2. Iran nuclear deal
3. Russia troops in Ukraine
4. Greece riots and austerity moves
5. Canadian dollar lower and interest rates lower also
6. Nexen spill ( bad yes , but the odd spill is going to happen)
7. Wild fires
8. African killings ( Boko Haram with over 2000 killings)
9. 3000 Chinese people killed because they believed in God.
10. Darfur genocide ( over 400,000 people)
11. USA mass killings over and over again

These are just a few. It really is a sad state the world is in. The worst thing as Canadians we are mostly immune to it and are desensitized to it with the coverage albeit it is very fleeting coverage and then people forget but it carries on.

Thought of the Day 

We really only need to follow the the golden rule and the world would be a better place. How ?

July 17th

Raining, no I mean pouring out ,again this morning. Had my breakfast and will wait till the rain stops to take the food out of the freezer to the motor home.

Poor Edmonton, the rain doesn’t help their cause but flipping my way to the OPEN the Edmonton K Days Parade was on. The street turnout it self was unbelievable with no one showing up.It is shame that such a big city in fact the second biggest in the province doesn’t have a draw  and the organization to have a good parade. The entry level and quality is like a small rural town with walkers, company vans, and posters. It just has such a weak look about it. The antique car collection was great.Edmonton used to have great corporate sponsorship and participation when it was the original Klondike Days. The theme was fantastic and had a great following. Then came the Capital X and killed it. They have gone back to K Days which is good but they have  a lot of work to get everyone involved. Go back to the original theme and promote, promote it and it can grow and become successful.  They may need to change it to ICE days to with their new downtown theme. Everyone wearing parka’s, ice drinks, hockey, could be a theme. LOL They shouldn’t have let the ICE hockey team leave.

Heading to Brazeau Dam today as soon as Jackie get’s home. It is a four hour drive. It is too bad Alberta is the way it is. If you live in Edmonton you go north only a couple of hours and you have loads of great campsites. If you live in Calgary a couple hours and you loads of mountain and forested campgrounds. BUT in between the two cities we are very limited to where to go other than in the Rocky area which needs to be booked far in advance. We most likely won’t hit the campground until 10 or 11 tonight.

Jackie is still in Lethbridge and is one busy lady. She is working on contract everyday, she was painting at night, she was helping with August and she was in the emergency room with Jessica all night due to Jessica’s pericarditis which is inflammation  of the heart. They gave her meds but they aren’t working so they are doing further testing which may include stress test, x- ray or a cardiologist visit. So she is swamped and most likely quite stressed.

You know in interviews  how you are supposed to present  a negative as a positive. Well Jackie’s positive is she is so accommodating to everyone all of time and the negative being it catches up to her.  A wonderful lady as a wife, mother, sister,daughter or friend but she needs to be careful and a little more concerned for herself.

Nellie Jessica’s rescue dog has become a mama bear and is August’s guard dog now.

July 18-20th 

Had everything ready to go except for Jackie’s clothes when she arrived home from Lethbridge. Tired girl and still lots to do over the weekend to finish up a couple of reports ( terminations).

The highway was only so so busy surprising but leaving the city at 6:30 pm the work traffic and the home from work traffic is just about done. The quickest way according to Google was to take Hwy 2- Hwy 11 – Hwy 22 and then turn at Drayton Valley  towards the dam another 50 kms. Nothing worse than following an old fart just under the limit thinking he owns the road. Unfortunately I need a fair amount of spacing to pass as fast a motor home is not. I good ticket system would be to raise the limit to 120kms but give a $50.oo per km over or under the limit. That would encourage the drivers to all be driving at a similar rate and reduce the accidents with people passing, rear ending by get surprised at the slowness or excessive speeding.  It was windy so in a large flat sided object you get pushed a fair bit so it does take two hand driving and caution. ( still no reason to go to slow)  Using up a lot of gas  if the wind isn’t behind you though.

Love the motor home because if Jackie needs to go to the bathroom she just walks back. She made us  sandwiches for supper and we can just carry on with out stopping if we are going somewhere with a timeline. I wanted to get too the lake before dark but it was very very dusk when we arrived.  If anyone hasn’t been to Brazeau Dam it is a great place. Very nice campground with open and treed spots. Very clean outdoor toilets. No showers or flush toilets.  The neat thing about the dam is the way they flooded it it has islands and coves and protected areas everywhere from the wind. Good thing too as we did have a windy weekend. Loading the boat the first night presented itself with challenges due to the cross winds. On the trip were Alfred, Mary, Kayla, Kari, Darlene, Jim, Mom, Jackie and I .Most likely won’t see Kayla again before see heads off to South Korea to teach English. I am fairly daring but going by myself to a foreign country I do not think I would enjoy. Decent salary and included room but the experience is the main reason people do this.It was very hot ( good thing for the wind) both days with a few people burning. Fished the first day and NO luck. Huge reservoir and no fish. No weeds either so perhaps not a lot fish to begin with even though the signs say Pike and Trout are in it. Darlene is a great chef and loves food. We had a wonderful pot luck supper of Potato salad ( our Grandma’s recipe and the best ) Home made hamburgers ( nice to have the sauce and onions already in them) corn on the cob, macaroni salad and all of the fixing. Fantastic. We also had a great breakfast gathering. ( This family EATS toooo much )  Fishing, cruising, campfires, talking, and visiting it was a great time.  We didn’t see much of Jackie as she had her laptop and worked most of the day.  It is great this year she did work to pay for our deck etc but it would be nice to come and go on our timing. Next year.  The Doppler radar and Weather network were perfect again. I kept telling them ( the skies were dark and cloudy) no rain until 11 pm on Saturday night and no rain for Sunday. At 11:15 pm it started to rain. At 8 am after raining most of the night it stopped and the sun came out perfect. I have had such incredible luck with the rain cast being accurate it even surprises me. We left about 4 pm in the sun for a nice drive home.  A few kilometers under 800 (500 miles)round trip and at 9 mpg it uses up a lot of gas but we can make it about 850kms per tank.  Good thing I planned for that expense. It was a fun weekend and nice to the family.

Watched the end of the Open with Zach winning which is nice but I wanted Louis to win. Went the car wash as the front of the motor home had 10 lbs of bugs on it and I don’t like them to sit to long. Scrubbed the roof again and washed the entire unit. My elbow kills me when scrubbing which is frustrating. At the truck wash somebody washed a truck and got grease all over the hose. I got on it on my pants, legs, shoes etc and even in the motor home. Took me 1 hour cleaning the motor home and 1 hour cleaning up my mess. Annoying.  Came home and spend an hour in the shower trying to get the grease off and another hour cleaning the shower. Funny when things go wrong. But I am clean now ! Well maybe just shriveled up.

The a/c in the condo was working perfect since i had it repaired in April but last night the coils were icing up. The guys are working on the deck again and if they moved it a copper tube can leak.It will nice to get our deck back.

Thought of the Day 

To all of the summer campers. Make sure you don’t burn your weenie ! 

July 21st 

First thing in the morning  I went to shampoo and vacuum the carpet in the motor home. The car wash vacuum and soaper was out of order so I went to Canadian Tire to pick up a couple of cans of cleaner and scrub. Cleaned the carpet and vacuumed it all. Turned out great. Cleaned the steps and sprayed them with wd40 to lube them. Tightened a few screws etc. I am getting quite a few hairline gelcoat cracks around the front windshield that I don’t like but can’t do anything about. Nice that I can start the genset and put the a/c on while I worked in the coach.

Came home for lunch then headed to the Depot to pick up the stain and brush to finish off the fence at Tor’s house. I had stained the boards all brown and today the rails and posts were all done in black stain. Started at 1 pm and took me until 6:30 pm to finish as it is a lot of detail work and cutting not to get stain everywhere. Found a great piece of thin cardboard to use which made the job a lot easier. You have to be careful as it is a shared fence and the neighbors have natural and a cedar stain not the darker colors like we used. Even though a lot a lot of people leave their pressure treated fence unstained I don’t care for the look of it after a few years.  In Corey’s case it also made sense to stain as one neighbor used pressure and the other cedar. Now it all looks the same.

Looks fantastic !

Tor & Cor bought us KFC for supper and Jackie came over for a visit. Love KFC but can’t have it to often or want it to often. Their gravy and fries are to kill for. Absolutely beautiful outside tonight.

Jackson served us all ice cream from his ice cream

shack.

He is a funny boy.

We chased each other, killed bugs and hammered on a rock . He is following his Mom in that he is scared of wasps. He hasn’t been stung yet but the reaction of others makes him think it must be bad. LOL .  He did cut himself and showed us he was bleeding and then panicked a bit . Luckily his Grammy and Mommy were there to console him. Kids are fun to see them change. He is just about four but now likes to talk in a baby voice. Odd.  We always have an enjoyable time as he entertains us the whole time.

You just can’t have days like this if you are tied to a work live. A simple pleasure day !

Thought of the Day 

Your children will follow your example not your advice. 

July 22nd

Up early today, had my breakfast smoothie made by Jackie and headed to Victoria’s to pick weeds. On the one side of the house where it is still undeveloped there were a lot.  Cleaned up the front yard landscaping and moved around the rock and mulch. I

moved the Chinese temple to the front yard which I think looks great beside the river.

Moved into the back and fixed up by the chain link fence and around the trees. I sprayed any small weeds and placed more peat moss around the flowers. I installed the chicken bell on the fence ( missing the ball inside) and moved the wind mill into the flower section.  I was missing a long extension cord so I couldn’t use the weed eater.  Need some dandelion killer as there are to many plants choking out the grass.

The yard looks good !

Got home about 1 pm and all over the news and radio were weather alerts. Calgary was on the path of a tornado. Nothing to sneeze at as we were in Edmonton when they had the big one . We had a lot of damage to our home and we were on the opposite side of the city. On my way home numerous people had stopped on the side of the road and were out taking pictures as the sky was very ominous and you could see the tornado tail going up and down. BUT the media blows everything out of portion and were all over this. Every station, radio alerts , warnings etc . They have to

play it safe.It is amazing though to see

the funnel clouds and the dark sky. I tracked the storm on the Doppler and knew where it was and going. At our condo we never even had a drop of rain. I watched the news and waited until 2:30 and then drove to the golf course. Paul and guest decided to bow out. The course was never in t he path of the system. I arrived and the course was empty. The first couple of holes were windy but then calm, sunny and hot. I changed the

weights in my driver and tested it on the range and then headed out. Overall I was quite happy. Not comfortable but when I hit it it goes a mile and straight. Weight change, swing change and low spin balls seem to work.Lost two off the tee but was able to come back to my green. I can’t do that at Turner. Not playing for 6 days my arm felt better than for a long time. I golfed fantastic and could have broken 80 if I would have used a mulligan. It was hot and sunny out. The leaves from the wind caused a sight issue a bit trying to find your ball but the grass was short. The greens today were fast. I hit a small bucket of balls and golfed 18 holes in 2.5 hours.

Arrived home and found Jackson playing in the hallway which means there I go running up and down the hallway and riding the elevator playing with Jackson. Jackie made us supper and we played with Lego until Corey arrived.

Relax tonight, help Corey in the morning with his truck and then head for my Snips & Sips game.

Thought of the Day 

Social media , internet, TV  can cause mass hysteria in a few minutes. We need to be careful as people panic without really thinking. If it is on the internet or a TV reporter says go to your basement they run !!   And potentially miss a wonderful warm day of golf !!

July 23rd 

Urban Dictionary has a listing “Crappy Tire” slang for Canadian Tire. I have always loved Canadian Tire and still do on the hardware/fishing/sports side. I have never been a fan of the auto service side as they don’t hire the best mechanic’s due to the salaries being paid. They have a lot of apprentices. Having said that the convenience of no appointment and the ease of out and in I have had a fair amount of work done there with overall success.

Today was different. Corey had electrically issues on his Dakota with the cluster lights not working, and brake and signal lights not working.  This  included the trailer hitch as he is pulling his new work trailer.   Corey and I checked the fuses and they all appeared to be ok. Thought it maybe a relay. Checked the trailer wiring under the truck and it was a mess which could have grounded out everything.Somewhere in it’s lifetime the wiring was worked on and spliced numerous times. With no lights on the truck there was no way to find power at the hitch and Corey needed to work so we thought a quick stop into Crappy Tire while he used our old Cherokee would work.  It didn’t. They had it a week. Couldn’t fix the electrically issue and left the ignition key on and killed the battery. Corey picked it up with it being “all fixed” to find it was not. Back again. Third time maybe lucky.  We dropped it off this morning again with no power to the trailer. We were told the mechanic that does “electrical” was off today and wouldn’t be back until Friday. One mechanic only that knows electrical ? You would think on a recall job they would prioritize it to satisfy a customer. As it was to a n/c job I am sure they wanted the original mechanic to fix it for ease but also to track his “unpaid time”.  Not good customer service. Hopefully on Friday it will be done. This makes me laugh as my good friend Gary Leedahl is BANNED from all Canadian Tires across Canada after a auto service incident where he received extremely poor service and they kicked him out of the store with him shouting to the other customers ” Run, get your car out of here . They are crooks etc”  So if you see a poster of a banned man in your nearest store that is my friend Gary who was only trying to get an issued resolved.

I will continue to support Canadian Tire on their retail side but will only use them on the auto service side if absolutely needed.

Had my men’s league and golfed with 3 great guys. The low handicapper was 9.  It was just one of those days. I really have begun to like my driver. To do a whole swing change and club change at the same time isn’t easy. I tracked all of my drives and only had one slice ( i lost my ball) and every other drive was pulling left which is good. Pulled left with some just off the fairway but playable and real long. I think this driver and swing have me hitting it farther than I have ever done. I was at least 20 to 30 yards past everyone on most shots. Today it was the proximity to the hole and putting that killed me. I had 6 three putt holes. That is potentially 18 strokes but a reasonable 12 strokes. Needless to say it was high 90’s. Only lost the one ball but just couldn’t putt. The greens had been rolled and were fast fast.  A one foot putt and the ball pops in and out. A three foot putt and the ball makes a 360 and comes back to me. It was at least entertaining.  Another wonderful sunny day with wind on three holes only and a potential storm that moved right past us.

The one gentleman I was golfing with used to work with Gordie at Onoway Lumber. They say a small world and it really is. He plays in our league during the summer as he is a teacher in Black Diamond. He has his hands full as he is taking 30  Grade 8 kids on a ship trip on Van Island . Wonderful that we have people like that.

Babysat Jackson last night as Cor & Tor had some personal stuff to take care. Another fun evening with me being able to teach him all kinds of bad tricks. A lady was walking past the car on the sidewalk and we honked the horn. She jumped a mile high. That is fun !!

Thought of the Day 

A farmer had 15 sheep, and all but 8 died. How many are left?

 

 

The 8 sheep that were left.

July 24th -26th

A few full days . People are scared everyday now with the warnings and dark skies.  Checked to see if any damage on the motor home after the hail storm went thru. Bought the groceries for the week. Worked at Tor’s place in the morning. Place looks nice. Had to rush and pick up Jackson at his day home. Quickly went into our condo and changed into clean clothes and walked to pickup Jackson. When I arrived at the door and he saw me he asked ” Papa why do you have your Army clothes on ? ”  Now that is funny as I had a camo shirt and hat on. He tired me out again with the games, lego and running up and down the hallways. I used to take care of girls when they were small and it didn’t seem like half the work. Age is one thing, boy is another but they also had two to play together.  Fun fun but tiring.

Babysitting Jackson today as Corey is working all day . First order of business was a

quick visit to Tor , lunch and then the Pet Palooza event downtown. It was a nice sunny day and the amount of dogs and

breeds was amazing. It was a well organized event with every dog accessory in the world to buy. There were dog watering stations, and rest stations. The most fun was watching the British

Bulldog races. These dogs are so short but so muscled and bulky it was fun to watch them race. The amount of contestants were amazing.  The amount of people were amazing. And it was hot outside. Jackson was very good and enjoyed himself.

Then off the water park and playground. Water gun

 

fights, rolling down hills, climbing slides and you wonder why I say it tires me out. LOL  Watched a

movie called Astro Boy which was a great movie with Jackson and then Corey picked him up.

Sunday is a golf marshaling day for me and a babysitting day for Jackie while Corey tries to get caught up.  Hopefully the weather stays dry all day for me. Had breakfast with Jackson. He created the perfect mustache on himself.

Started at 10:30 on the golf course today. There was a contractor staff tournament on which I like. They were well organized as was the pro shop with everything. I gave my spiel to the whole group ( cart paths, second nine, shut off of carts, no off course alcohol, markers on holes, dinner location etc ) . There were 35 guys and one lady in the group. The bulk of them being young 20 something workers. A very well behaved group compared to some. There was one guy in the group ( a 3 handicapper) that on the longest drive hole against the wind hit it 330 yards. Caught the owner of the group making an error and having to push the cart back to the cart path. Funny to watch due to the embarrassment as they were to be the responsible one.  The weather forecast was dire but again the sun shone when it wasn’t supposed to. It was beautiful day until 4 pm and then the rain hit hard. We had just about everyone leave the course on rain checks so there was no reason to stay for myself. So i checked out and left. Save the course a bit of dollars.

Got home to help Jackie with babysitting Jackson. Where this young man get his energy is beyond me. I can not keep up. I have to run the hallways, ride the elevators,

play guns, go into the gym to play, run some more,

build lego, break lego etc. It is very tiring. That is one advantage of having two kids together either a sibling or friend is that they can play with each other. I never remembered being tired with Jess & Tor. I used to pick them up from their daycare early most days so they could play while I made supper.

 

Thought of Day

July 27th 

I only had a few things on my list to do today.

Talked to a gear specialist on my rear differential on my motor home. It had a gear whine so I replaced the entire diff and bearings at a 4K cost. 25kms later I am starting to hear it again ever so lightly. Talking to the gear specialist there is little that can be done. The pinion nut may have backed off a bit. They are supposed to be locktited on.  I will bring it in after holidays for a check.

Our a/c unit  in our condo started to ice up again right after our railing was moved. I checked and the workers again jammed the railings between the wall and the pipes. Sure enough ice build up and a leak again at the connection to the unit. It is amazing to me why people can’t take care. I paid $350 for this exact same thing this spring so I wrote an email to the condo board and management company. I have to say I am impressed with C-ERA management company. They are calling a repair guy and paying the bill to have it repaired. It is the correct thing to do but to do it with the speed and urgency they have done is impressive. Kudos to C-ERA as they did well !!!

Went over to Tor’s to start a arbor project but got rained out. Maybe tomorrow. Worked on the computer, checked out different motor homes including one Larry G had emailed me but I am still hesitant to spend the 80K or so. I would like the market and oil to stabilize a bit. We continue to have a way too much volatility in equities and the dollars is expected to go 74 cents or lower plus the low oil pricing

Jackie is extremely busy the last two weeks with Victoria, Jackson , Jessica, August,Audrey and Peter plus her busy work schedule. I will need to hide her phone when we go to Sask next week.

I bought Safeway meatballs and added them to our spaghetti sauce tonite. Not quite the Smoky Mountain Spaghetti that Boston Pizza has but was very very good.

The thought of the day is relative to a conversation I had with Larry G. We both agreed nothing is better than if a job doesn’t get done today we will get it done the next day. Maybe.

Thought of the Day 

Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.

July 28th    A couple of things today that I hope you don’t laugh at.

1) Jackie and I watched the final episode of the  Bachorlette. Our Canadian girl. Now I didn’t like Shaun but she ended up picking him. He doesn’t present himself as too intelligent. ( I hear the laughs saying  neither are you if you watch this show. STOP IT) I rather like these types of dumb shows as mindless entertainment. I do hope that she actually does love this guy and they have a great life together. ( I give them 4 months before they hit the tabloids with their breakup). Wouldn’t it be funny if she was pregnant with Nick’s baby. LOL

Got a few needed things done first thing this am. Booked the a/c repair for 8am tomorrow. ( Yes 8am , why ?) It should done in a couple of hours.

Booked the doctors appointment for a prescription refill of my blood pressure meds. I would like to get off of these as I am running at 120/78 just about every time. Even if it raised to 130/85 I think that would be ok versus using the drugs. Unfortunately with the odd place of my heart blockage I have, the doctor won’t hear of it.

2) I had to drill 4 post holes in Tor’s yard for the arbor I am going to build. Started at 10 am and worked until 5 pm. Yes 7 hours to manually dig 4 holes. AND I couldn’t even get any of them to 3ft. They are all around the 28-32 ” range. I have never seen such packed clay. I have never seen so many rocks in the soil. Dig down an inch and work on a rock for 10 min before being able to dig again. I am ok with this depth as I am positive I will see no movement in these posts. FYI the frost has been measured in Calgary down to a depth of 7 ft so the standard of 3 ft really doesn’t make sense anyways. I have built numerous decks, numerous fences and have never seen a frost heaved post. I did have a post drop a good foot one time as it was some kind of sink hole after a huge rain.

Jackie is still visiting Tor and waiting for a change . Hopefully tomorrow we will know what is going on. Jackson received new clothes from Corey today at the Superstore and he was ecstatic with his choice of Star Wars shirt and pants.

I will go over to Tor’s tomorrow to work on but not complete the arbor. I am retired I have certain standards of time frames  I have to maintain.

My JELD-WEN friends are not receiving my jokes. The emails keep bouncing back. Either JW has increased the security settings on their server or my email address is tagged. LOL  Couple of ways to get around this- Use their personal address, I can create a ghost address, or blank out certain words that will be tagged.  A life without humor is no life. Even though some jokes could be considered  inappropriate, come on, don’t take everything so serious. Life is to short. We all know they are jokes and not indicative of personal thoughts or ideas. We as a society have become so careful with racism, sexism and political correctness that it is sucking the fun out of everyone’s life. A lot of the time if you are the blunt of a joke it will make you stronger. There is not a person alive that hasn’t been the target. ( bald, blonde, fat,skinny, tall, short, dumb, 4 eyes,white,brown,) Lighten up world , make fun of each other, it will ease the tensions. Just because a joke is verbalized doesn’t mean the giver actually believes in what was said. Bad jokes are out there and sometimes are mean. Get over it.  Sometimes we use “funny” in place of “screwed up.” Sometimes we tease other people to compensate for our own insecurities and sometimes we make fun of ourselves for the same reason. Sometimes we push it too far and it becomes abuse or bullying.BUT they are still a joke.Get over it.

1) The worlds funniest short joke- Two women were sitting down quietly. 

2) Tooth brush says to a toilet paper roll – Sometimes I think I have the worst job in the world. Roll-  Ya right !

3)  A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: ”Ugh, that’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen!” The woman walks to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: ”The driver just insulted me!” The man says: ”You go up there and tell him off. Go on, I’ll hold your monkey for you.”

2.  ”I went to the zoo the other day, there was only one dog in it, it was a shitzu.”

3.  ”Dyslexic man walks into a bra”

4.  A young blonde woman is distraught because she fears her husband is having an affair, so she goes to a gun shop and buys a handgun. The next day she comes home to find her husband in bed with a beautiful redhead. She grabs the gun and holds it to her own head. The husband jumps out of bed, begging and pleading with her not to shoot herself. Hysterically the blonde responds to the husband, ”Shut up…you’re next!”

5) Shortest joke in  the world-  I guy pulls down his pants 

Now don’t we all feel better. I apologize for my insensitivity to blondes, ugly people, handicapped people, dumb people, less endowed men and of course women and that is just for a couple of “funny” jokes above.  I am not prejudice to any of the above.

Jessica and Penny are having the time of their lives with August. He is going to be very spoiled. But you can never be spoiled with to much love and caring.  I love the pictures they send to us. I put a lot of them under the tab “AUGUST” on the top of this page. I love the winking one !

Thought of the Day 

Interesting fact: Golfers don’t retire , they just lose their drive.

July 29th 

You can already see the change in August. Just a couple of weeks and he already

looks bigger . It is quite unique how a dog knows when you have a baby and it becomes it’s guardian. Nellie is 8 years old and has taken on the protector mothering role of August. No one would come near August even though people will not know that Nellie is a big lovable bear. Her appearance and bark are intimidating. This is one of those dog pictures that makes you feel warm.

The Honeywell tech showed up right on time and is working away on the unit. It sure requires a lot of technical equipment to complete all of the testing needed. He has been working for 3 hours now and I am getting anxious to get working on my pergola as it is nice and sunny out. Hopefully he completes the task quickly and successful. To think such a time consuming job just because some worker moves the unit and loosens the flange nuts or bends a tube.

I left around noon as I wanted to get started on the arbor. Day 1 was the digging. Day 2 was the cutting of the main beams.  I cut the four main beams with the detailed ends and curve in the middle. It seems every time using a jig saw the cut is angled and causes a lot of work

to straighten. Again. I tried the reciprocating saw and had a way better cut on the curve but the design on the ends is too detailed and requires the jigsaw. They all have to a duplicate of each other as they hang only inches away from each other. I lot of double cutting and belt sanding to get it where I was happy. It isn’t fine furniture. I was relatively happy over all. I installed a portion of the one header and had them put into the holes. Somethings just require two people. I was lucky Corey came home early and spent an hour with me to set the post plumb and square. All braced for tonight and I should be able to complete the other header tomorrow. Perhaps even more.

Ordered Jackson’s cake from Sobey’s and checked out the Dollar store and Walmart but looks like Toy’s R Us will be the place to find our cake topper. I need a SHARK to go on the top of the blue icing cake with waves on it.

I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow for my men’s league to golf.  My elbow is hurting and I can imagine the other parts of my body after a day of physical labor. Getting older is a pain literally.

Penny & Jess along with August whipped up to Calgary to visit Victoria. Her procedure today went well and testing and results should be apparent tomorrow. Audrey helped today by babysitting Jackson after daycare. There are a bunch of tired people around here. Poor Jackie has a lot to deal with, with her family issues plus the workload is greater than normal as of late with her taking care of Ontario. I can see the stress and hope next week she just relaxes.

Thought of the Day 

Work–life balance is a concept including proper prioritizing between “work” (career and ambition) and “lifestyle” (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development). This is related to the idea of “lifestyle choice.”

July 30th

Up at 6:30 am this morning for my Men’s league at Turner Valley. It was a beautiful sunny morning and I rather enjoyed starting in the fresh coolness of the morning. I had three great partners this time with a 12, 14, 15 and 18 handicap. I thought today was the day. Finished the front nine with a 38 ( 2 over) . Then went par, par, boogie, boogie and then everything went wrong. Took a 9 then an 8 and just golfed poorly scrambling the remaining holes and finished with a 52 on the back nine.  There are three holes on this course that have my number and ever time I play I dread them and they eat me up. I will fix this !!!!!   My driver even though the cause of a few lost balls was working great when I hit the fairway. My distance is longer than ever. Soup and sandwich after golf but no money from a snip or deuce.

Arrived home to see Jackie had picked up Victoria from the hospital. She is very tired but I am sure very thankful to be out of that place. I am sure both Jackson and Corey are also glad to have her at home. She has a lot of procedures fro a follow up int he up coming weeks.

Then off to Tor’s house to work on the arbor. Starting to look good. Hung all of the headers up. Looks great with the end detail and are carbon copies of each which is a nice look. Cut off

the top of the posts. Glued the rise over each beam. Installed the black aluminum spindles horizontally for a look I like.  Caps and cross beams which take a long time to dadoe each still to come plus the stain. I love the looks of it though.

Thought of the Day

I like to sit in my backyard ( well Tor’s) . You can just relax, mediate, listen and enjoy the scenery. Nature is calming and it is nice to go outside just to clear your head. ( if it was mine though I would phone the city on a smell complaint as the neighbor doesn’t like cleaning up after their dogs) 

 

July 31st 

Full day ahead of me today. First thing in the morning I headed to Alison’s house which is the house we used to manage for her when she was living in Toronto and renting. I spent the morning there cutting down trees and suckers. The sand cherry tree had a huge limb 6″ diameter that needed cut down. It was close to 20 ft long. I used the reciprocating saw and started on the end and worked back. Cut everything into 3 ft pieces to stuff  into the garbage can. It is one full can. The backyard looks a way better for the potential buyers of it.

Then off to Tor’s to cut and dadoe all of the headers and make the curved side boards. Long tedious job but turned out great. I used the Skilsaw to dadoe three boards at a time which worked out perfect. The arbor was pretty square and plumb as I only needed adjustments on one board. Trimming the ends for the detail and the dado cuts took a long time. Used 1 x4 for curved design pieces on the ends which I like. I also installed solar light post caps on the top which add detail and look great at night.

Finished ( to tired 34 degrees to clean up ) and headed with Jackie to the patio for a beer and steak. Awesome night. It was extremely warm out. Stopped by Tor’s place for a visit with Penny, Jessica, Victoria, Corey, Jackson and August. It was warm in their house so glad to come home to a a/c unit.

Picked up groceries and party things at the Bulk Barn ( shark candy) The Dollar Store ( goody bags, small gadgets etc) and Superstore for drinks and treats.

Should be already for the party tomorrow. Tor hopefully will be feeling well enough to enjoy.

Thought of the Day 

Why is birthday cake the only food you can blow on and spit on and everyone still rushes to get a piece.