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 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 with it 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 now I have 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 things to learn again.

Lots of other stuff going on. Corey is finishing up the arbor which is starting 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 and 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 stabilizes and increases to 14,500 as soon as possible. The USA is doing well it is only China and Greece that is causing issues. Canada is not doing well due to Alberta bringing the entire country down. Scary future with our ideologist governing Alberta party still pushing through on the min wage and royalties. Could have a couple of tough years.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.  

September 2nd

Up and spent all day still going thru the motor home checking out everything. Found out I had skanky water in the tank so I drained it completely. Added a full jug of Bleach and refilled it. Drained it again and refilled. Drained again and refilled. This takes a long time as each fill is 78 gallons. The odor is now gone with clear water and just a hint of chlorine smell. We will make sure to close our eyes the first shower or so as we do not have water connections at Pembina.

Funniest thing happened to me yesterday. It hurt my feelings. I was doing this work in the front of the condo near the turn about. There was at least 20 ft of space for any truck etc that needed to go past me. A car rushes up to me and an older women about 75 years old rolls down her window and says ” What the hell are you doing here? This is a residence and your blocking the street and you have no business doing that here” The hair rose on the back of my neck. I don’t anger very often and never quickly but I wasn’t going to let a hormonal imbalanced psycho woman shout at me . My response ” So your telling me that you are such a lousy driver you can’t get past my motor home ? “ ( in a relatively calm voice, and stated matter of factually caused by my own passive aggressive tendencies.) Her response as the window rolled up and she sped away ” Why you arrogant old bastard “  I can live with the arrogant and the bastard part even though I think of the the movie with Mike Meyers “the Fat Bastard” character in it but the old part hurts. Who does she think she is ? LOL  One of the issues we are dealing with is the lack of men’s rights. Everyone has rights except us. Women know they can act anyway they want as they will not get hit in the face ( in most cases). If a man approaches another man in a hostile manner as above there is good chance he would take a punch so in most cases you don’t see this type of aggressive action.  

Went golfing last night with Jeff and only did so so. I just can’t seem to drive well anymore. New driver and swing hits long but I am wild off the tee. Loads of fun though and a wonderful golf night. Jeff had an off game with drives and irons but did turn it around on the back nine quite well. On the way home Jeff left before me and took his “shortcut” way back to Calgary as we were going to meet at the Bull for a beer and wings. I took the standard way and ended up arriving at least 5 minutes earlier than him with neither of us stopping for anything. Jeff is a good friend so I should tell him his “shortcuts” don’t work. He does the same thing leaving Turner Valley and I can see his white headlights at least three miles back of me taking the standard road when we hit Hwy 2. I laugh to myself each time. I remember years ago golfing with Corey and Jeff at Speargrass and the same thing happened. I said to Corey look down the road to tell me how far away Jeff was behind us before hitting Hwy 22. I enjoy the mouse and cat game each time. You need to have fun. LOL

Thought of the Day 

Being called old isn’t nice. I should have hit her with my stick and thrown my teeth at her. 

September 3rd

Read portions of the operators manual. Have the fridge figured out now. Tried to work the auto leveling system again. It appears the jack arms have very little length to them so if you are parking in a uneven spot you can’t use them. You need to be fairly level to begin with. Played with a bit and I believe I have it have figured out. The test will be at the campsite tomorrow. Hopefully the spot is relatively level for the first time working it. Beer/pop can holder doesn’t fit into fridge on this unit. Read up on the TV and dish system with surround sound etc but didn’t get it working as of yet. Lots of new stuff.

Readied up for golf and headed to the course. It started raining and poured. The Doppler showed it should be over in about an hour and yes it ended and we started to golf and it turned out great. I am getting a little frustrated on my driving. First nine I had a 39 if I remove a 9 i took. Second nine a 45 if I remove an 8. Lost balls of the tee. Not comfortable and thinking to much at the box. I know I can be great at this game if I can get this under control. Work in progress. I don’t want to practice a bad swing so I may ask for help to see if they can fix it up. My playing partners said today if your driver swing was like your irons you would be off to the races and it is true. I swing great with irons. Work in progress.

Looking forward to Pembina Golf and Sask in the upcoming week. Sporadic postings unless I find internet somewhere.I know Pembina doesn’t have. I am going to make a bold prediction for this weekend. Larry a score of 255 and Keith at 264. Remember low score is the winner. I will let you know.

Thought of the Day 

Golf is the only game where you win 20% of the time and you are the best.Golf is an endless series of tragedies obscured by the odd miracle that keeps you coming back.

September 4th

I am glad the voters did the right thing yesterday. Hopefully Notley will now understand she didn’t win the Alberta election based on ideology but on the fact Albertan’s wanted change and the split vote plus the fact of a brand new leader for the Wildrose she just got lucky with all the stars aligned. To bad as 4 years can really hurt us before Alberta truly votes for agenda’s not to get rid of a party.

Packing and see ya !  Sporadic posts coming based on internet access. Sorry

September 4th to September 13th 

Had a good drive up the highway. The traffic was unbelievable as usual on the QEII. I took us a long time to get out of Calgary as the traffic was tied up for miles. I can’t say if three lanes would be a good idea but I am sure it would speed up the traffic a bit and not cause too many accidents. We stopped in Red Deer for supper amongst the masses of people. We

didn’t arrive until dark which is unfortunate as the first time setting up it is a little better to see what you are doing. The option of having docking lights was nice and came in handy. Started the process which for the first time is fairly difficult. First the auto leveling I knew had an issue but I was able to use the manual system at home. At the campsite again the auto system didn’t work. Using a level I adjusted the coach to level and started to take out the slides. Removing the locks everything went well. I didn’t remove

everything out of the storage bins as it was late and raining. Only issue that came up and still haven’t figured it out yet is I can’t get hot water. The tank is full of hot water but the tap doesn’t have any. Checked all by pass valves and juggled them around but no luck in getting them to work. I may have a stuck flow valve somewhere. Hopefully I can get it fixed before the long week in Sask as hot water does come in handy.

Got up and went golfing at 9am. It was a cool day but dry which was great. After a while it even turned out better as the sun sort of came thru. I golfed with Ron, Ted, and Keith this time.I was happy with how I golfed and had some great shots. I blew up on two holes with a quad and triple an ended up with a 90 which is not indicative of the play. The score would have been around the 82 or 83 mark without the blow ups. Next time. Luckily Keith also had a few issues and the game ended up a tie. I will say the greens at the Pembina golf course are amazing. The slope and speed were amazing. Trickiest greens EVER!!!  This added to the score big time. But it sure does make it fun.  On one hole Keith ball was 6ft away and he shot it up the slope of the green. It rolled up went right around ( looped) the hole and returned to the 6ft away mark. I had one great shot on a par 4 that blew past the green about 10 yards from the tee.

We were able to have our supper outside and sit around the fire for the whole night which was great. Nothing beats sitting around a campfire in the dark cool night talking, laughing and enjoying the evening.

When we hit the bed it started to rain and it rained all night!! It was still pouring first thing in the morning, and it continued to rain. We all had to eat breakfast inside this morning. Read a lot of literature and I think I have the engine brake and the Alison over drive system figured out.  Jackie got the rear TV to work. Fireplace works great adding the warmth and ambiance which is very nice. The furnace is amazingly quiet as it is in the front of the motor home. The second furnace is nice to control the temperature in the bedroom but is the standard noisy furnace.  I love the unit if only I could get the hot water to work. I think it will be an off day today just sitting around and playing cards and reading. I don’t mind that as I haven’t done that for a while and down time can be very relaxing and enjoyable. Hopefully we get to golf tomorrow and the rain quits soon.

The rain didn’t stop. We did have intervals of mist or slow drizzle but it continued on all day again. We had a crib tournament, sat outside under the awning as much as possible but it was just one of those days. The temperature alone was only about 10 degrees and with the constant rain, no golfing. As it was pouring there wasn’t very much interaction between the sites so it didn’t have the normal Pembina feeling. The girls refused to float down the river which is their big thing to do. I thought for sure they would tough it out and go at least once but the cold scared them. They must be getting old. You can’t do anything about the weather though but do want you can and leave the rest for another day or time. A few couple left early and a lot of people were bunkered down in their units. The kids especially were good considering the temperature and rain. Some units had a pile of kids or grandkids with them.Still a fun weekend but disappointed in the lack of tee times and campfire gatherings. Oh well next year.

We decided to leave about 10 am in the morning as we wanted to get to Lloydminster before 2:30pm to watch the Labour Day Classic game. I had 10 bucks riding on it with bets from Keith and Ron. I believe I have won this bet for at least 4 years in a row or more. I know we have beaten the Esks 11 in a row. We arrived in Lloyd at 2pm with Keith pushing the speed limit a bit to make it. He says his truck chewed down the gas at that speed so we wanted to make sure next day we slowed it down a bit. I was only running about 2500 rpm so we were fine on the gas. I did hit the speed limiter once which I found out is set a 80 mph. We found the bar Original Joe’s bar that was playing the game with very few patrons and sat down for a great game and some food. The food we ordered was all great and with the beer in frosted mugs and cold you can’t go wrong. We also had the perfect table for viewing the screens and people watching. We had a few couples walk past us to get to their seats. I hate to say this but as Canadians I think we are becoming Americanized. These people and I am not talking about 4 or so but 10 perhaps are huge. We have become American sized !!

Well you all know what happened. It was total domination again by the Stamps easily winning. Another wad of bills in my pocket. Thanks Ron & Keith. After the game I received a text from Ron wanting to double down. I believe he means double or nothing which I am all for. If I win again he owes another 5 bucks to me and if he wins I owe him nothing. Bet is on with Keith also involved.  After cold beer and excellent made Caesars and our meal we decided to camp overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot rather spend a few bucks on a site that we would only be sleeping in. The Wal-Mart had a huge lot and the Canadian Tire store next door had a free RV dump and potable water station. And we had Tim Horton’s only a couple blocks away. Everything worked out well. Jackie had a 7:30 am conference call to attend in the morning so the alarm was set to make sure she got it. I got up when the call happened and walked a few blocks to get Tim’s and bring it back to the motor home. After the call we packed up, dumped, tried to see if city water pressure would work on the Hot water heater but it didn’t. A near RV store opened at 8:30 am so I whipped over there to see if they could help. The tech come out and states he is 99.9 % sure it is a stuck bypass valve. They don’t stock these types of valves as they are only used on larger Class A homes so he couldn’t help me. I am not 100% convinced it is that. I am sure it is the check valve on the hot water output line. He suggested a RV place in North Battleford that deals with the larger units. At least he had the part for me to repair my TV antenna leg. Took only a few moments and it was like new again. I also was able to buy a baggage door holder there which every store in Calgary was out of for the other motor home. Once more on the road again.

It is a shame to say but here it is. Saskatchewan has become the New Alberta. The Yellowhead highway all of the way from Pembina to Lloyd is embarrassing as a main highway with its state of repair including going thru the city of Edmonton. The frost heaves are ridiculous and rough sections abundant and rolling sways within the highway are like riding a roller coaster. As soon as we crossed into Saskatchewan it was night and day. It wasn’t that many years ago everyone made fun of Saskatchewan about their roads being crappy and with gravel shoulders. No longer, this highway is 10 times smoother than on the Alberta side. Every highway we took was great compared to some of our Alberta highways. Some of them had a lot of patches but were very smooth.  At North Battleford I talked to the tech at another RV stop and he believed the same thing as the first tech. Again no parts. So I thought I would bypass the bypass by using pex piping and push on fittings so I picked up the pieces. Later to discover that idea wouldn’t fly as the bypass is a special 3 way valve and I couldn’t make the piping work.

The drive seemed to take a long time but it is a long ways. The actually reading from Pembina is 736 kilometers to Waskesiu. I love the scenery on the way. The farmers here are very lucky as the crops look fantastic not like our fields that have dried up. At every river crossing we saw dead road kill raccoon’s which are an oddity for us to see.  We made it to Waskesiu and found our campsite. It was like a ghost town with even the park entrance and camp ground manager shacks closed. Moved into our spots and were half done when Jenny and I noticed we did not have a fire pit. Looked around and not one site had a pit. We were in shock as how can you have a wonderful campsite without a fire pit. While voicing our displeasure and disbelieve out loud a fellow camper came over and suggested that we look at another campground across the road that had pits. So Keith and I headed over there which is only about ½ mile away. Out of, I would say 100 sites not ONE camper on site. Beautiful treed sites and free fire wood at every site. Only issue out of a 100 maybe two we could fit into and they would be a challenge. So we decided to have picnic fires there and camp where we were at. Our sites are nice and right in town.

After setup etc we decided to go for a walk to the lake and town. For anyone that hasn’t been here it is amazing and worth a trip. Beautiful clear lake that is huge, nice sandy beach area

and picnic spots and an amazing town area make it very interesting. It is the perfect mix of Jasper, Banff, Waterton and Sylvan Lake all rolled into one.  Only word to describe it, exceptional. There are rental cabins, excellent suites and hotels to stay plus the great campgrounds. Dress shops, ice cream stores and art galleries. It is a special place with a special feel about it.

Had a quick supper and started to work on the water heater again.I took it all apart to gain access. The plumbing is unusual. I tried everything to unstick the valves with no luck. The bypass is weird. I understand the concept and design of most bypass systems. The bulk of them use an  H system that requires one closed and two open valves. This one after many attempts has me and Keith baffled. At least the techs will have access as we could not get it work and my bypass idea failed as we could not determine how to plumb it to make it work. I am still sure it is the check valve not the bypass valve that is the issue. I didn’t want to take it apart as we are hours away from a hardware store if I needed plumbers tape etc. Luckily we have hot showers that are clean and nice on site.

Playing crib outside in the cold at night was funny. Jackie and Keith both had on toques and

they needed them to keep warm. The girls were “sick” tonight kicking our butts 4-0. That never happens. What has happened to my luck? I will need to earn my “Crib” middle name back tomorrow evening.

Hopefully the golfing will be warm enough to enjoy and the course dry enough to a least have a 90 degree rule.

The day started off looking great. A clear but cool morning. Up earlier than normal as the sheets on the bed were all shifted to Jackie’s side with her pulling the covers to keep warm and then pushing them to the side when a hot flash happens. I am left with just a little bit of bed I can hog and a few inches of sheet to stay warm. The furnace ran a lot last night with it hitting only low single digit numbers. Nice that these units have huge tanks so you never have to worry about running out. I cooked a camper’s breakfast for everyone this morning with scrambled eggs, sausages, hash browns and toast. You have to love this kind of food. Took a wonderful warm water shower in the building on site and just relaxed for a few hours before readying to go golfing at Waskesiu. We thought we would go early to see about starting early, but their men’s league final was on so we were stuck with our tee time. To the driving range to practice and spent about an hour with good results.  The LOBSTICK tree in the centre of the first fairway which the course is famous for is different. The original tree was cut down in 2013 as it was dead. A replacement tree is on the fairway but is only about 10 ft high. But time will do it’s thing and we will have the landmark tree again causing havoc on the first tee. They are selling slices of the original tree in the clubhouse for $150 if you want to have something to remember it by. Interesting! The golf course was in amazing shape both on the fairways and greens. The fairways are not as narrow as I had assumed. Tough course but a fun course. The greens are smaller and are quite sloped to make it very interesting. I had at least 6 three putts which hurt. Keith and I played good but not great due to errors on the greens and some misjudgements of distance. We think, perhaps the world’s axis has changed while we were away as the GPS distance on certain holes was out by 20 yards or more but only on certain holes. So took a few adjustments. And it cost a few strokes coming up short all of the time until we figured it out and used our own judgement. We had to wait on every hole and every second shot but still managed to finish in about 4.5 hours so not bad.  I would highly recommend anyone to come here to play and visit this wonderful little beach town. We even had a wildlife adventure today on the course seeing three deer and one large elk. The female elk was only 10 yards away from us and not scared at all.  It must be near rutting season as she kept smiling at Keith and turning her butt to him with head over her shoulder looking at him seductively.

Tonight playing cribbage outside with toques on the girls won again!  I don’t know what has happened to my luck as I rarely lose at crib and every night the girls are kicking our butts. Tonight the sky is so clear you can see every star there is. I should really study the constellations as I only know a few. It is going to be a cool one with that clear sky. Good thing for our furnaces. We came inside about 9:30 pm as everyone was on the cool side, to watch a movie, read, or just relax. It was a fun day of golfing, turned out warmer than thought and a wonderful evening supper, drinks and cards even though the guys did not win.  It is amazing how cool it is outside though. I prefer fall nights a little warmer. LOL

Up this morning with the sun shining brightly. It was supposed to be 18 plus today. We had a smoothie breakfast today and got ready for golf. I decided to wear shorts today with the heat.  We headed to the next course called Elk Ridge. The club house and lodge are amazing.

The area looks gorgeous with cabins and larger homes. It is a huge conference centre and spa resort. Our tee time was right on time. Funny thing this course on the first hole also has a tree centred in the middle of the fairway.  This course is fantastic. It was hard to decide which was better between the two courses. Waskesiu has too many blind holes which I think could be the only negative. Both are in perfect shape and wooded and feel like high end mountain style courses. Another wild life adventure for us today. We had deer visiting on

holes and then on hole #2 of the second nine when we were about 100 yards away from the green a large black bear wandered across the back of the green and down the left side. This caused the girls to be a little tentative. Jenny did some running and kept checking the bush for movement. I told Keith not to turn his butt to the bear as it seems the animals here like him. The girls were nervous on the balance of the holes. Every chance I could get I mentioned the bear. “Look Jenny you are “BEARLY” in the tall grass” “I can’t stand you to “BEAR” the weight of a shot like that”  “Look at the BEARies on that bush”, “ BEAR with me while I shoot” Kept her on her toes. Not a tight course but wooded and if not straight you are in trouble. I am getting tired of having to deal with a slice. Keith and I did not have stellar games. It is a shame to have such a beautiful course and not do well.  The girls liked the course and had loads of fun. Everyone had some perfect shots it was just the few others that hurt. At least I recovered today and beat Keith by 3 strokes. Having said that, he is up one stroke over the last three games. Good thing for the earlier games this season.

On a downtown walk we see three men in a tub. Three huge 250 pounders in one small Dolpin

fibreglass tub which is small watercraft. This is funny to see but to top it off you have three government officials in a tub that is a way over loaded doing some type of citizen paid for research wearing bright red safety vests and no life jackets.

After having a camper’s supper we played cribbage again. At least tonight the guys won every game besting the girls 3-0. We have not caught up but nice recovery on our part. In the truck coming back from golfing Jenny & Keith were talking about the idiot ranger shining a flashlight in their unit’s windows late last night. He was possibly looking for a proper park pass. I was killing myself laughing inside in the back seat as that was me when I went to the washroom outside. I couldn’t wreck the story. I even had the chance to embellish it.LOL So tonight I decided to do the same thing again. Wake them up a bit. This time being clever I shone the flashlight on their windows and shone it on our motor home also to make it look more real.  Darn Ranger ! LOL   I checked with them in the morning to see if they saw the idiot ranger again. You got to have some fun. Makes me smile .

Another wonderful day of sun, golf, food, drinks, crib, sightseeing, wildlife, just about a romantic encounter between Keith and the Waskesiu wildlife and friends. Can’t get any better.

Keith & Jenny headed out this morning about 8:30am as they need to get back tonight as Keith has a St John’s course booked for Sat and Sunday. Too bad as there are quite few smaller courses we saw on the way up that we could have played. Work again interfering with life. LOL Jackie and I will enjoy the town today, check out the beach and relax.  Love the place. The beach area is fantastic. This being Sept is great as everything isn’t busy at all. Walked a few miles down the beach area and saw all of the great cabins, tourist stops and shops along the way. This water is so clear it puts most of our central and southern lakes to shame. Having said that we know the fishing is great here but we have only seen one boat out on the lake. Walking around most everyone is retired. We saw one only younger family at

the beach. They must have been under 6 to be out of school. The weather is wonderful and in fact got too hot for us walking we had to head back to the RV for shade, drinks and lunch. We

didn’t bring our bikes so we can’t take the easy route of covering a lot of miles. My shoulders today for some reason are very sore and tight. ( reason for poor score, maybe lol)  We checked out a 37ft Embassy with the exact same paint scheme as our Commander in the campground. It had all of the bells & whistles and was a diesel pusher. Looked great. I see a lot of people using those screen rooms over their tables. Not a bad idea to protect against bugs and to keep the dew and rain off everything. If they fold up small enough it maybe a good idea.

The RV dealers that deal with motor homes in Calgary are very busy.  One late Sept the other Oct first week before they can get me in.When I get back I am going to change out the check valve and see. I am sure Home Depot will have it. I have a busy week coming up with having to get the old motor home ready for sale and get the new one’s water heater working. Washing both of them alone takes a bit of work. Wait I am retired I have the time to do it. LOL.

No news of yet on a sale for Jessica’s or Audrey’s home so hopefully some action very soon. Both great looking units that just need to find the right buyer.

I had a lot of fun today playing hide and seek with a squirrel. I hid Planter’s peanuts everywhere and thoroughly enjoyed watching that guy run back and forth to his hide out one at a time. He would pick up a nut, twirl it in his mouth like he was checking it out and then run away. I watched him for hours and kept refilling my stash for him. One time he was only a foot away from me. I bet he isn’t use to the salt on the peanuts but I also bet he loves it. It may raise his blood pressure. LOL

Sat outside in the sun relaxing, did a little of this and a little of that but nothing major. A very relaxing day, starting with a hot shower and ending with a cold drink. Life is good. Had a great BBQ supper and packed up everything except the water and power. When ready I will close up the slides, dump and start our trip back thru Saskatoon as we plan on visiting Pat & Bob Ferris our Mesa neighbors.

We had a great drive down to Saskatoon. Weather today was over 30 degrees. Funny how as soon as the heat hits the bugs came out. All the way to Waskesiu no bugs due to the cold weather but this trip bugs were an inch thick on the window.

We arrived in Saskatoon about 1 ½ later than planned but Jackie phoned to warn Pat as she is the ultimate host and ready’s stuff in advance. She made homemade pizza and she saved it for us when we arrived. They live on a wonderful cul-de-sac and have a wonderful looking house. They painted their exterior a darker black color which made it looks very modern. They have  the most amazing backyard and is most likely the nicest prairie oasis I have seen. A lot of work and time and effort into it

and it look’s amazing. Pat even made a large quantity of stones from cement and using a rhubarb leaf for the design. Looks amazing. Neat idea with using granite sink cutout’s as stepping stones. Looks great. The perfect retreat. We see now why they love their Mesa place as it has more trees than any other lot. I love the creativity of Pat on the design and products used. I loved my backyard with it’s river, bridge and waterfall but the Ferris’s really does look like you are at a retreat or resort. On our way out of town we even saw a huge gathering watching their team play in a shopping mall on big screens outside. That’s the spirit.

 

A few hour visit and we were on our way again as Jackie had promised to meet with David and visit her Dad for his birthday at 10 am Sunday am. At about 11:30 pm fighting the pitch black darkness and massive winds I decided enough already. The winds were blowing in excess of 60 kms per hours and I was only able to travel 50 kms per hour or less on the highway along with any semi truck still on the road. It was throwing all of us all  over the road so I stopped in Hanna at a truck stop to sleep and get up early in the am to make home in time. All night the motor home was rocking and it wasn’t us doing anything. I can’t remember that strong of wind ever. Got up a 6 am and made it back in time to make everything work. Peter was in pretty good spirits and we visited for a few hours and watched the people and dogs at the dog park for a few hours. Good to get him out of his place every once and while.

Unpacked the motor home and now am just going to relax with sore eyes and tired due to lack pf and poor sleep. You would think the rocking would put you to sleep like a baby.

I do know we have plans to go to Lethbridge on Monday to visit the family there. Other than that just work away getting things done.

Our trip to northern Saskatchewan was awesome. The golf courses were fantastic, the weather a little cool a few days but the location was superb. I would have liked to stay a little longer to fish and bike around but we will get that next time. Love the place. We have had the chance this year to see northern and southern Saskatchewan and both are great. We will be back and tell everyone it is place you can’t miss.

As mentioned above the final golf scores for this trip ended up at :

Larry  283

Keith  282

September 14th

A wet and cold week ahead. No golf this week due to the weather and I have a few commitments that timing is during possible golf times. 

Jackie left early for Lethbridge and I decided to stay here as she was only going to help with August and I would just be sitting around. First thing was to try to get another spot at the rv storage lot. Issue came up as they only have 30ft spots or less available. I will need to look around for another place. I went to the Embassy and picked up a few remaining things. I threw the kayak into the locker storage and out a few other things away in the home or storage. It was pouring rain so I was a little limited to what I could do.

Today was I determined to get the hot water working as the shops are busy until October. I took everything apart to access the heater. Interesting as this has been opened before by the various types of screws used etc.  Took a bit to get at everything.  I had two RV techs tell me it was the bypass that was blocked or not working. I didn’t 100% believe them. If I had no water I would say yes but I was getting cold water. So gaining access I decided to change out the hot water outlet check valve first. I removed it and it wasn’t plugged but it didn’t seem to work when I was blowing thru it. So i decided to put a new cold water inlet valve and the hot water outlet valve on first. If needed I would order the special bypass valve later. Off to Woody’s and after getting to talk to the parts manager they found my valves in the back. Lucky as at first they said no. Back to do the install. Used three wraps of plumbing tape as I had no rubber bushing washers. Tighten everything up real good and started up the heater to ready for a test. Test #1  Didn’t work and I was disappointed. Tried everything again and still no success. Test # 3 checked all flow arrows, tapped each valve and the bypass. Checked heater for hot water and then tested the taps. Wham HOT WATER !!!   I am very pleased. Goes to show you, you should ask for second or third opinions all of the time. Took a long time and froze my butt off as it was raining and only 10 degrees out. Luckily the hot water heater was under the awning which I put out and it kept me dry. Very happy I don’t have to book it in. Great Great Day !

Thought of the Day 

As the saying goes ” If at first you don’t succeed try and try again until you do ” 

September 15th

A week of doctors appointments. Today was the lab work needed. I had booked a on line time but it still was a two hour adventure. I hate going to those things with  all of the sick people in the waiting room. Had to fast for 14 hours so rushed right after to Tim’s for lunch as I was hungry. I winterized the Embassy, washed it and readied it for sale. Vacuumed the bins and inside and just need to dump tomorrow and then put it on kijiji. Hopefully sells before winter. Took all day doing this.  I also loaded and updated our Garmin’s one for the states and one for here. A cheap Garmin is 10 X better than the ONStar navigation we have in the Enclave. The GM system not only sucks but it is not portable, is difficult to manage and costs a fortune. I was paying $44.00 a month until I said no more.

September 16th 

I had to do a sweet talking sales pitch to my RV storage manager. First I will say our spot is fantastic as it’s location can’t be beat, gravel not grass, professionally managed with security gate and guard that drives around to ensure everything is safe. Pricing is fair so I want to stay here. When I inquired over the phone about accessing another spot i ran into a big hiccup. The rules are 30ft and no longer. I am 32ft. Try as I might I couldn’t convince the lady to let me rent another spot until our unit sold. So I decided as I have to move a bit of stuff between the homes yet I would go talk to the older lady direct face to face. Doing my due diligence just like I used to prepare for a speeding ticket court case took about an hour. I parked my new coach beside our old one and took pictures. I also took pictures of others where I thought the rules had been bent or they were very poor drivers. Made an appointment and discovered instead of the angry old women I thought I was talking to on the phone the lady was a nice looking younger lady in charge. This helps as older women won’t compromise as they have been “not in charge their whole lives” and really like to assert themselves. Presenting my case, with obvious  concessions made prior and with pictures that strengthened my argument the young lady finally conceded and allowed me to rent a spot. I was happy with her decision. I had to really push the limits to make my case work. Now I have the boat storage issue that will come up when I sell the older home. I will worry about that when it happens.

Picked up the gift for Jackie’s birthday tomorrow. I needed a 5 x 7 landscape picture of Jackson and August for my gift and this became quite difficult. Staples wouldn’t accept an email to print a picture. ( lack of customer service and knowledge on the sales persons part). I could have won another disagreement as I have done that numerous times before but it was late and I was rushed to get home. Checked out Walmart and due to a hack job on their online photo store they were of no help also. If I had time I could have gone home and put pictures on a stick but I was rushed. So I printed off a couple at home ( not great quality) and will work on the “real pic” later on.

We readied ourselves to go to Victoria’s for a birthday supper with Corey, Victoria, Jackson, Audrey, Micheal and I. We ordered Chinese food from Mighty Mango which in my opinion has the best. I think we ordered a way way to much. Had a great time with the conversation and with Jackson being our star.

Jessica, Penny, Corey & Victoria gave Jackie an awesome gift ( a way to expensive though)

but they gave her two tickets for us to go see Shania Twain in concert tonight. I get lucky to go and to see Shania with Jackie.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           I will need my  binoculars for the show. Now some of you maybe asking “How old is Jackie anyways ?)  She has finally reached the age were we both can get the Denny’s senior discount meals. She now qualifies for a lot of additional discounts at numerous stores. Welcome to the good life Jackie !  It is just odd to think of her age as of now I have known Jackie for 40 years. Married to her for 35 years.  Time sure does go by. Anyone reading this please just consider in your own life how fast time has flown even if you think about the last year alone.   The funny part of it is, if God willing I could add 40 more years of knowing her to my resume. That would be wonderful. She still is an amazingly beautiful girl in my eyes.

Happy Birthday Jackie !!

Thought of the Day 

I love being married. It is so nice to find that one special person you want to annoy  for the rest of your life.

 

September 17th 

Coughed and hacked all night so I phoned the dentist and cancelled. I can’t keep my mouth open for an hour while a girl picked at my teeth without coughing or breathing.

Went to the empty grocery  store again to get groceries. This is a special perk of retirement to shop while everyone else is at work. I picked up a French Baguette. Man are those great to eat with meat and cheese. So good !!.

Paid bills, transferred money to accounts and am starting to look at the budget for next year where I can cut. The land phone I think will have to go depending if Jackie gets another contract or not. Special Assessment is done which is good but hurt. No plans for any large expensive trips next trip. We may look at a very long extended trip in 2020 ( 4 years away for our 40th)  I would feel a little better if the TSX would bounce back and stick around that 14K mark or better go up.

Got a phone from the golf course checking to see if I could work on Friday as the Marshall.

Got ready to go see Shania Twain. I was very lucky to be included in  the tickets as I like Shania as much as Jackie. The girls went overboard with our seats as they were very costly but we were first row back from rink boards. So very close to the stage. First thing I have to say before I go on. The concert was overall was one of the best we have been too. Second

Shania being 50 years old is still an stunning woman. Now the take. First a person has an impression of someone and then real life changes it. Shania has aged very gracefully( perhaps with help) but has changed a lot. Her weight has increased from when she was younger and changed not only the look of her face but she is somewhat shy in wanting to show off her body now with the extra girth. Her clothes choice was not great until her

last outfit. Frumpy tee-shirts (ac/dc and the rolling stones) but still with shorts. Her face looks completely different with the extra weight and gravity shift. I am positive she is using hair extensions as her hair was a little off plus being a way way to blonde. Like I said she is still a very very beautiful woman but different than what I thought she looks like. Her voice has dramatically changed. You all know due to emotional stress she lost her voice for a year. If she sang 20 songs only about three or four sounded like her voice from before. She was off key and had a whine to her voice that through me.  Gavin Degraw was absolute awesome. He but on an amazing show. Overall the concert was fantastic with it’s sound, stage lights, fire ,

screens smoke etc. Excellent concert.  Never mind Shania changing. Boy have concerts changed from the time when I went as a teenager. No more smoke from the Mary Jane, no more puke spot in the middle of the floor, no drunks dancing like wild, no fights, no action to watch. Everything changes.  Great night !!!   Thanks girls.

Thought of the Day 

Isn’t it funny how day to day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different !

September 18th 

Off to work for a shift 9-5 at the Heatherglen course. This course is looking great. The greens are fantastic, the trees haven’t dropped their leaves as of yet and the fairways are lush. On arrival I discovered we have three tournaments today. That is a lot of golfers on the course. Good thing for 27 holes.  I spend a few hours bringing all of the carts to the tee box lined up to put the names of the golfers on each. We used the two close tee boxes for both groups and the tee box for the 3rd nine which is a little ways away for the smaller group that was running a shot gun. We used just about every cart we had in the stable. I know near the end of getting people out I was running out of keys also.Timing is everything. We need to make sure all the present golfers have made the turn and that each group makes the turn at the right time or we would have a huge back stop of carts happening. Everything worked out perfect today. Great groups that were a lot of fun to work with. Only one group out of all the groups was an issue. Two young ladies had too much to drink and couldn’t walk or shoot very good at all but they managed to drive their cart and slow the whole course down. LOL  Their male team mates struggled trying to keep them maintaining pace. Interesting to watch.  But a warm beautiful fun day to work and enjoy yourself. I enjoy the teasing, banter and kidding that this jobs affords me.

Thought of the Day 

Every day is a weekend when you are retired. No more Mondays or Fridays. So a quick call and if no plans yes I can help you.

September 19 -20th 

Off to Stony Plain just east of Edmonton for my 40th HIgh School Reunion. Interesting to see everyone again. As we had a smaller school it looks like we will only have about 80 people there. I was amazed looking at the list the amount listed as deceased. Makes you think ! I will post some pictures on my return.

Next week I have two golf games booked and two days of fishing so life can’t get much better. Well the 55 million Max would be nice to share it with a lot of people. I would love to able to have everyone together and play Oprah and say. 1 million to you and you and you. Dream big you never know.

On our way to the reunion along Hwy 16a I look over and see Mary ( Alfred’s girlfriend) driving along. I honk the horn and we pull over to talk. Great timing as we arranged  to meet for Sunday brunch. Timing is everything.

The reunion. First let me say the event was awesome. One of the most fun evenings for along time. It was exceptionally well organized. They had picture name tags with our grad picture

on them. These came in very handy throughout the night.  The

venue was perfect with a lot of thought. No dance so no loud music which makes it difficult to talk. Round tables so everyone at the table could be involved with the conversation. Picture taking with a gown, grad cap ( mortorboard) and certificate was a great fun idea. Appetizers were abundant and tasty and speeches and slide show added that extra touch. Very well done and a LOT of fun. Let me say though. Everyday one looks like in mirror and you see subtle changes to yourself knowing that you are getting older. BUT what 10 – 40 years and see someone after that time and whoa ! Do people change.  Some people just

look OLD. From  a line that Jackie’s boss once said. It seems most

people were able to conquer their anorexia. I am now lighter than when I went to school but a whole lot  less hair though so another change that can happen.One of the funniest things from the night happened right at the beginning in the hallway. We were all talking and this guy walks up and shakes my hand. Not recognizing him I check out his picture name tag. “Ken Wagner”. I tell him “Boy you don’t look anything like your picture but I remember you from school” We laugh and laugh. Then his wife runs up to him and says ” Ken. Ken you have the wrong  name tag on. She places the correct one “Ken Parker”. We couldn’t stop laughing and all night it was brought up with the laughter. One of those funny moments I will remember for a long time as I am sure Ken will. LOL  There were people there I don’t remember from school but I was busy doing other things then.  LOL

Out of all the attendee’s we only had one from Germany, one from Houston and a few from Calgary. The balance just didn’t wander far.

It was a lot of fun seeing old friends, talking to old classmates and learning about their lives. Odd though out of the whole class I was the only one retired.  Too bad for them. LOL

September 21st

Worked on all of the boat stuff plus boat. Hooked up the Jeep and filled up with propane etc. Plan to leave earlier in the morning for the Larry’s fishing adventure. Lifting the boat motor into the carrier and loading the boat on the roof went quite well especially as I did it myself. I took a pain killer pill after as I was golfing in the afternoon.

It was a perfect day for golf. Jeff and I both had pretty decent games. In fact my second nine one of the best nine this year at 38 which is 2 over. Getting an eagle and a birdie helps. Nice to relax and golf so well as the score could have been a lot less except for a few missed putts.

 Sept 22-24th  

Picked up the last few groceries and headed down the road. It was nice and sunny but a little windy as has been the usual this year. Our meet place was only 1 1/2 hrs away so it was a easy jaunt.  I was meeting Larry G at the Crawling Valley Reservoir. On the record, this is one of the nicest campground, beaches, marina and lakes I have been to in Alberta. Northern Alberta has some nice lakes but even though this is a man made lake it is spectacular. Nicest campground I think I have

been to. Loads of space between each unit. Old section and newer section with large big old trees in the old and smaller but lots of trees in the newer. In 5 years it  will be amazing. Our campsites were only about 30 ft away from the marina. I was

able to park my boat right in front of our sites as no one way was there. September camping has it’s benefits. This is a very large lake with Perch, Northern Pike  and Walleye. In fact Fish and Wildlife had about 10 people camping there and each day they would net fish and do counts and tags. Talking to them they said the Walleye are starting to get to be a nice size. Right now you can’t take any Walleye from the lake. This would be a nice job. I should have done this as a career.

Parked and set up. The auto leveling system worked away better this time. I think it is starting to loosen up after sitting for 2 years.  Had a great Smokie lunch then headed out into the water. The water was quite rough with small white caps. There were only a couple of boats on the lake. I wasn’t bothered by the choppy waters and Larry wasn’t either so we carried on.  I thought he may get quite wet as the waves were coming over the front. After a

couple of hours  the wind subsided and the water smoothed right out. It turned out to be Larry’s day as he caught 5 fish with one being a Walleye. I caught 4 only Pike. I probably won on the poundage. Nine fish in the afternoon is a good day. Sitting in the sun in a boat is a good day.

Funny during conversation we were thinking about the poor guys having to work while we enjoying life as it is meant to be.Then we laughed and said ” Life is Great ”  Let’s not tell them there is more to life than work,stress, complaints, pressures etc.  Our greatest pressure was on our asses as we had to switch positions every once in while to watch our rod or re-position for comfort.

For supper we had some pulled pork that Larry smoked on his new smoker, He makes some pretty good meat on that thing. I have had his ribs and now his pulled pork recipe and it is awesome. A little house cleaning and dishes and then to the next important stressful part of our day. Who is going to win at crib ? Again Larry took the crib championship. All of the games were very close which makes it that much more fun. We had a few beer then moved over to rye. I believe Larry was trying to sabotage my crib game as he poured the rye drinks

putting three fingers again in the vertical position instead of horizontal to figure how much rye to put in them. I think a jigger should be on Larry’s Christmas list.  It worked as he was successful in winning more games than I.  We played outside until at least 10 pm as it was very warm outside. The clear sky with the stars shining though meant it was going to be a cold mid night. The furnace ran quite a bit but as I only turn on the front one it is dead quiet.

Up in the sunshine and out to make a campers breakfast. You just can’t beat eggs, toast and maple bacon with a hot cup of coffee in the morning. Great meal sitting outside in the early morning sun with the dew/frost on the tables.

Hit the water again. I guess the only complaint I would have about the lake is there are quite a few weeds in spots. They don’t hit the surface but are difficult to troll through. There is also one hidden rock bar only a couple feet under the surface that if you aren’t careful you could lose a prop quite easily. I wasn’t happy with my depth finder. The suction cup doesn’t work very good and my clip system allows the transducer angle to be wrong. So I am going to Plan C which will work for next time. It would be nice if Dad was still around as I could throw my ideas at him and he would create what I need. I will get this fixed before next time.Today was my day. Now Larry may call the odd fish I caught a large minnow but remember a fish is a fish and if caught counts. I killed Larry today catching 3 Pike to his 2 only.  So over the two days we both caught 7 fish but Larry keeps rubbing it in he DID have one Walleye. I will give that to him. LOL  So a great two days camping, relaxing, eating, drinking and fishing.  Maybe the last for this year. Shame our summers are so short. I DON”T ice fish.

 

Headed home unpacked the boat and motor home and will put the storage locker stuff away tomorrow.

Thought of the Day 

If people concentrated on the only important thing in life there would be a shortage of fishing rods.One note : I always have a stiff rod when I fish.

September 24th 

Weather Network say 20 above today but not achieving that until late afternoon. Thought about shorts and even had them on the bed. Good thing though I decided on pants as it never warmed up until about 3 pm.Today was my last day for my Men’s Senior golf league. The course will reverting to shotguns after the closing tournament this weekend and then closing early Oct weather depending. I had three great partners today. I have played with two of them before and had a new guy today. It was a great day of golf. I shot an 82 but played a way better as I had a triple and a double and missed lots of birdie putts. Nice payday for me coming away with a snip and a deuce pot portion. The snip was from a couple of weeks ago that I got paid today. Usually a birdie converts to a snip but another guy also got a birdie on the same hole. Only one slice today and that was on the last hole when I attempted to hit it a little too hard. Luckily I still was able to play it. My drives were long today but as I was playing with three older guys in there 60’s and I was out driving them by at least 20-50 yards. Nice to end the men’s league on a high note as that is my best score in league play. No stroke and distance penalties makes a huge difference. Just about made an error on a cart path drop as closest relief wasn’t good. Luckily my cart partner advised me.  Great day and fun group that I am looking forward to golfing with again next year. With the after party and the golf today it was a full day adventure. LOL

Have two Marshall days now booked coming up which is always fun to do. Have a dentist appointment booked and a blood donation booked. This retirement keeps me too busy.

Thought of the Day

As I get older I have noticed 100% of my putts that are short don’t go in.

September 25th

Wow does time fly. The 25th already. I had a free day and looked at the long term weather forecast and decided to winterize the boat. Putting it away in the storage locker and winterizing took all day. I changed the gear oil ( in perfect shape), changed the engine oil ( like brand new) and tried to empty the carburetor of gas. This didn’t work perfect. I usually let the engine run dry and have  no need to empty then but I forgot to at the lake. I was able to fit everything in except my bike rack but I chained it to the chain link and everything should be ok.  I decided to winterize after looking at the weather forecast. A couple of good days then colder sitting around 12 degrees. I can wait until next year.  A good day’s work.

I am Marshaling tomorrow and golfing in Sundre on Sunday so a good weekend coming up.

Thought of the Day 

People ask me when they discover I am retired “What do you do to keep busy ?” Like people believing they have the right to rub a pregnant woman’s belly this question should not be allowed. There is saying “there is no stupid question”  I question that !

Posted on Kijiji my 2005 Triple E Embassy 29XL SE Motorhome. This motor home is a pleasure to drive, fits into any campsite, sleeps 6 and is in perfect condition.  Only 47340 kms. Great for a young family or a older couple wanting to travel. We thoroughly enjoyed the panoramic views out of the huge front windshield while sitting in the leather captain chairs. If you are looking for a easy driving great motor home get a hold of me at 587-284-3537 . You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

 

September 26th

The weather was supposed to be hitting 18 by the early afternoon. I checked my weather apps and the overcast sky wasn’t going to allow this to happen. So I decided to wear pants today at the course while being the Marshal.  The course was very busy today with 4 tournaments on. 3 larger ones and one small one. I ran the start for the tournaments which is my favorite job getting to address everyone with the rules, regulations and conditions. The first part of the day wasn’t off to a great start as someone screwed up and left the keys in the cart. This allows people to take the cart to the range, their car extra and then it becomes a nightmare trying to get everyone off at their specific tee time.  You need to have the carts lined up and loaded to start them off at the correct timing. I will make sure this doesn’t happen again when I am running the tournaments. I have another one on Wednesday. A great group of people today. Lots of beer and fun but no real  drunks or course destroyers. Everyone was in a good mood as the sun was out ( not warm though) and the course was in pristine condition. The leaves had been blown all to under the trees which helps speed up the play.  I was the starter for a couple of hours then hit the course. Loads of fun ! A great day !!!

Thought of the Day 

Men at 25 play football, at 40 they play tennis and at 60 they play golf. Have you noticed as you age your balls get smaller. Does that mean in the 70’s they will play marbles.

September 27th 

A beautiful sunny fall day. A little on the cooler side with the temperature around the 13

degree mark but heading to 16. In Sundre it maybe a little cooler though as it is closer to the mountains. We had a little difficulty finding our course as the signage wasn’t the best on the curve of the highway. We had to make a quick turn around and found the sign a much better one from the north versus the south. Let me

say this golf course Forest Heights Golf Club is one of the hidden jewels in the mid Alberta area. I loved the course. It had some generous fairways and some tight ones. A few holes with great elevation and a few with blind spots and long. The greens were fantastic and the fairways quite lush. I would highly recommend anyone visiting this course for a great golfing experience. The new ownership last year has put a lot of work into the course and it shows. Try it out.  We met Keith & Jenny there for a nice golfing outing.It is nice to have a couples golf outing.  The greens here were very tricky with a lot of undulation which caused us all to add strokes to our game. We all played quite well with decent scores considering first time there and have a few to many putts. A great day. I think I may look at this course for our 2017 May Long Week End outing. They have a group site with a fire pit but no service which is fine for a couple of days. They are priced reasonable but I would like to see them a bit lower as they weekend rate is $49.00 plus cart. With few blind holes they have a couple of them with 12 ft tall hole pins. If it was windy these would be hard to hang on to.

After golf we decide dot go out for supper in Bowden. We chose THE DINER which is rail car

replica diner which looks awesome, Besides the diner look the food was fantastic. We have driven by this numerous times and now that we know it is a great place to stop most likely will be back.

Three interested parties in the motor home so hopefully I can finalize that.

 

 

“MY RANT”

It has been a while. It is time again to rant. First take a look at the web page i have hi-lighted and decide for yourself. If we all band together perhaps we can rid ourselves of the NDP government that is on the path of destroying the Alberta economy for decades to come.

https://www.change.org/p/the-alberta-government-ndp-implement-recall-legislation-for-the-alberta-legislature? 

The world issues are not their fault but with the oil pricing and environmental agenda’s out there our Alberta government has to be proactive and business oriented to help us through a few tough years. This is FAR from the case. The NDP so far have been absolutely horrible as a government and are really incompetent and unable to manage the situation they have been thrown into.  What have they done so far ? Well they have borrowed 6 billion more bucks to run the province and doing this without a budget in place. They continue to campaign for Mulcair. Lied about the Alberta’s environmental record. Sabotaged Alberta’s oil and gas industries and have driven them to other provinces. Has NOT produced a budget so she doesn’t damage Mulcair’s chances in the election. Going to destroy small businesses in this province with her idiotic idea of $15 a hour.Raised business taxes by 2 percent in a sluggish economy. Hit the higher earning employees with a tax increase. Increased by 500 million the funding to medical, human services and K-12 schools in a sluggish economy and raising the carbon levy from $15 a tonne to $30 a tonne in a depressed economy. A 7.25% wage increase to senior staff. Not smart. NDP did not expect to win and were not ready to govern. Now if you are any type of union employee, government worker, teacher, nurse, medical field employee, truck driver, bus operator,etc you are going to love Rachael. But remember everyone outside of the union umbrella will be heavily burdened trying to find more to give to help you. Socialism does not work in a capitalist society.  Socialism creates laziness, idleness and lack of desire to do better as the expectation becomes the government will look after me. Look at Greece. How are we allowing her to hire an anti-oil activist to be her Chief of staff. It amazes me how docile of a society we have become. The bi-election proved very strongly that we had a government elected due to a split vote and trying to remove the PC party not voting in a party based on their agenda. How do we stand for her not putting forth her budget. For all of those that support NDP that is your right. It is nice you are on the winning side , but trust me you will be changing your mind before to long as we all become losers.Young people ( and I am glad they are getting involved), gov’t workers, union employees, noisy environmentalists  get caught up in the hype of the free money for education, for medical, for pensions, for child care and the perceived guardian ship of our environment. Things aren’t free. Where is the money going to come from ? You need to take some risks to protect the economy.  It is interesting times. Not good times and I feel sorry for the younger people just starting in the workforce. If you area unionized employee you have no fear of getting fired and your cheque will come until the government has completely run out of money. Look at Greece. Why are we not hearing cuts coming up.  Get rid of 10% or more of the government workers, reduce in every department,cut all salaries and pensions. Make them competitive to the average workers salary and pension.At the end of last year, as of December 2014, the average wage for Canadian employees was $943 a week – or just over $49,000 a year. ANY union employee making that. NO. Now some would say why is it every time this group gets hit with a reduction. Best reason is: They are public servants on our payroll, they have considerably higher salaries and benefits than any average individual and as they are so protected within their unions a government demand needs to be implemented as no union is going to their members saying ” hey guys we make a way to much compared to the private sector do you think we could reduce or hold yours for while ? Won’t happen. Shrink the size of government. Nothing drives me more insane than driving by a union road crew and seeing 5 people there with one guy working. Where is Ralph we need him ?  Hard ass and not everyone liked him but a realist. Create an environment where oil and gas is booming again instead of in Saskatchewan. Don’t spend our hard earned money on sympathy programs, educational, and day care programs. Spend it on infrastructure and creating a business environment that breeds profits, jobs and stability.  Any government run program is a way more inefficient and not as profitable as a actual independent business. ie Air Canada, Canada Post, ALCB stores, registry offices, etc. Shrink the government businesses. Third party more. Reduce the govt payroll big time. Some of my best friends and family will be affected by the cuts but I am sure if you ask them they know they are privileged in our workplace and would accept the cuts as their part in helping the province get it’s books in order as long as it across the board and other reductions that make sense are implemented. JUST do something please.  BUT THAT’S JUST ME .

You can tell when the market is getting a little slower in the construction business ( thanks NDP) as Corey had time to fit in a wonderfully made addition to his kitchen. He created, built, stained and varnished this table and bench for his kitchen. I think it looks amazing and is the current “IN” thing to have in the house. Great job Corey.

 

Thought of the Day 

I find that Golf is the only game that always tests my skill against my opponents luck. 

September 28th

Winterized both motor homes completely today and cleaned out all of the perishables from the big one. Loaded it all up and when I got back to the condo realized there is another pantry to empty. Next trip. Have a viewing of the motor home this evening so I polished up  this and that. The new one isn’t as easy as the older one to winterize. Between three winterizing valves and a water filter etc it took a while to get it all figured out. The lines are much longer also. Finally and in a odd way I got it done. But I used three gallons where normally I can winterize with about 1.5 gallons including the pee trap fill at the end. Next year perhaps a better handle on it.

I couldn’t close the sale tonight. My hope is they still phone me back the next day or so. There was no negative comments and only great praising for the shape and cleanliness but no offer. They are looking for a C Class but wanted to check out my A. Still hopes for this couple if they get past the larger sizing and being easy to drive. This unit is easier than car as everyone move out of your way.

Put the new tire covers on the new home and finished up the winterizing . All done now except removing the batteries which I will do in a couple of weeks of so.

Blood work in the morning and then off to golf with Jeff at Heatherglen.

Had to add the newest picture of August. Good looking kid Eh !

Thought of the Day 

The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why. 

 

 

September 29th

Three calls on the motor home which is good. Hopefully it will be a fit for one of them. Only one phony fake caller or email this time on Kijiji which is good. I like that they are masking the email addresses now.  Up earlier than normal as I had to head down town to give blood today. I don’t really care for this but it is a win win for everyone. White coat syndrome hit a bit with 148/92. I didn’t take my pill this morning before giving blood. The young nurse this time took a different approach and hit a cross vein that others have stayed away from. Hurt  more than normal the whole time but bled quickly as it only took about 5 minutes to be done. Great she didn’t miss it as others have.  Came home and went to get groceries. Love shopping when the stores are empty but this time the timing was a little off as there was no one in the store and no stock on the shelves. Must have hit between filling days.  Home work today like vacuuming and cleaning up a bit then off to golf with Jeff on a beautiful fall day.

Note: Did you know ,

Swart and Weaver calculated that, if we burned every last drop of the tar sands, the planet would warm by about 0.36°C. This is about half of the warming that’s been observed so far. If we only burned the parts of the tar sands proven to be economically viable, that number drops to 0.03°C. If we don’t expand drilling any further, and stick to the wells that already exist, the world would only warm by 0.01°C, which is virtually undetectable.

The real game-changer, though, is coal. If we burned all the coal in the ground, the world would warm by a staggering 15°C. There’s a large uncertainty range around this number, though, because the linear relationship between carbon emissions and temperature change breaks down under super-high emission levels. The warming could be anywhere from 8°C to 25°C. In the context of previous climate changes, it’s hard to overemphasize just how dramatic a double-digit rise in average temperatures would be.

You would think the environmentalist groups would target coal power generation and leave the tar sands alone. What most forget is by being stupid and not allowing a pipeline we have to transport the oil another way. The carbon foot print by truck and train is huge compared to pumping oil into a pipe. The potential for an error causing an environmental issue is equal. I guess some people just like taking up a cause as it is a current and cool thing to do not realizing the economic impact.

Whoa!  In Canada for 2015 there are more people now 65 years and older than are children 14 and younger. Grey Power !!!

September 30th

It was wonderful night for golf. It was very warm and the leaves were all blown  to the sides of the fairways. Jeff and I both golfed reasonably well. I did end up with 83 but only due to a Triple on one hole and a few missed putts. Jeff drives were good and irons worked better tonight than the last few games. Fun night !

The sun was shining and it was bright and clear. Arrived at 9 am and my first order of business was to line up all of the carts for the tournaments. Lining up 47 carts takes a while. I had to get a wet cloth and clean them up a bit as there was a lot of spilled beer on the consoles that didn’t look great. I wouldn’t want my cart like that.  Next order of business was placing 47 golf bags into the correct carts. As this was a tournament with a lot of out of towners that required rental clubs we were very lucky to draw from three course to get the needed 47 sets. Again takes a while.  Next order of business was placing the proximity plaques in the designated holes.They had one neat idea as on one hole if you landed in the circle ( we made a rope circle) in the middle of the fairway you had a chance to place your ball on the green in a set spot and try for an eagle. Another idea was the marshmallow longest drive. Not easy. Placed drinking waters in each cart and readied for the group to arrive. As it was a shotgun we had three of us lead the carts to the correct holes. Some people just don’t listen and each one of us lost a couple of carts that thought they knew were they were going. Luckily we got them all to the right spot and the horn went off right on time. A great group that followed most of the golf rules and had a fun day. I also had a great day !

I have another potential buyer tomorrow coming to look at the motor home.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX index ended the day up 270 points at 13,306.96, yet the index is still 1200 points or 8.5 per cent lower than where it stood at the end of June. But it at least rallied a bit. I need and want it to hover around 14500 mark. Ironic the rally happened the last day of a quarter even though no ones returns will look good for this year.

Interesting reaction to the first step in raising the minimum wage. One multi restaurant owner had a meeting with his staff. He said he has three choices,  1: charge more for every item ( but sales may drop and revenue resulting in less or no staff) 2: add a NDP tax line on each receipt 3: Split the tips with the servers, kitchen, etc and with the owner to help pay the additional costs.

Just a quick pic to help you visualize:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought of the Day

I turned the brightness button all the way to the right on my TV.  It must not be working as I still did not get anything intelligent from the TV.

“PENNYWISE TIP”

Turn off the TV now.

You will not only save on your energy bill but you won’t be tempted to buy all those gadgets for Christmas.