July 29th – August 2nd

Well a wonderful sunny August 1^st long weekend. We have always stayed at home for this weekend since retiring as it is a very busy one and we have no traditional event that we have  unlike the Sept and May long weekends.  I caught a cold while fishing at Keho which I believe was a bug passed by Jackson when we were camping. I DON’T catch colds but this one has a strong hold on me now for at least 6 days or more. Golfing with my head down is a chore as my nose plugs up quickly. A cold also does wear on one a bit.  Head congested and that stuffed up feeling isn’t fun.Our plans are to try to finish Jessica’s & Penny’s basement salon. The thing with ANY person not familiar with construction is they have no concept of how long it takes to do certain things. To start from scratch and complete an entire basement is no short and easy project. I prefer to do things right and work steady and no be subjected by time frames. I must be getting old as I worked 12 hour, 16 hour and more 12 to 14 hours days on this project than any in my life and I am tired and got tired by the end of the day and days we spent there. This weekend no different.Went to the Depot to pick up the stuff we needed not to waste time in the morning.  Got everything we needed. I am so glad I had Corey generously offer to help me a few times as it would most likely have killed me. This weekend we worked long hours again with a 12 hour day and two more with Corey’s help. Accomplished a lot and we are completed, ready to open. The laminate on the stairs and platform area look great. I used 1 .5 gallons of glue plus 1 ½” nails to hold the laminate on the treads. Capped off with a metal stair nosing looks wonderful. Stairs alone were most likely considering everything 12 hours. As smart as we are as a people you would think we could find a way to create simpler, easier install applications for chandeliers. I was teasing Penny that in order of things I hate it goes. Sofa Beds ( I refuse to move another one as they weight to much) and then Chandeliers ( nightmare to get wire, chain, height and wired correctly in short space). Finished all of the electrical, finished the stairs, hung the doors, installed locksets, baseboards, trim, nosing, quarter round, and a plethora of additional items that kept popping up like cabinets on the wall and door stops etc. All taking a lot of time. We also had to move the fence so we cutoff a few posts, built new sections and manually dug a hole including adding cement. Lethbridge has a crazy by law so we had to convert the backyard beside the garage to a customer parking space to meet their requirements. So got it all done !!! Without Corey’s help I would be dead or still slowly moving to get it all done. The only thing left is tile around the bathtub but it isn’t a priority right now. There is still a good full day on the fence for capping and post toppings to be done but not urgent. I am tired !

Again huge shout out to WARD rentals in Lethbridge. These guys are just awesome no other word for it. I had to rent a 10” compound mitre saw and a nailer to complete the job. RENT FROM WARDS if you want good tools at a very good price with great customer service.

I sent the girls to Depot to pick up the 4 locks we require. Depot marks up their Weiser to the point it is ridiculous.  We ended up going with Defiant line which turned out to be a extremely well made easy to install copy cat door lock for half the price. With a 25 year warranty. Good on China.

We had some great meals while in Lethbridge with Margy making us one on Monday night, KFC one day, great sandwiches another time and an outing to Boston Pizza. Ok I like Boston Pizza and we as a family went there every Friday night for at least a decade. BUT this Lethbridge Boston Pizza puts on a Caesar special and when they come they have no vegetable. No celery, no asparagus, no pickle, no carrot , NOTHING. How do you put something on special and then not have any vegetables to go in it. Mistakes happen in ordering I understand but the waiter also missed bringing out a salad. The meals did not come with vegetables as per the menu and he almost scalded August by putting a cup of boiling water right in front of him. Still loved the meal but disappointed in this visit. Next time hopefully it will be better again. I love the menu and the selection at Boston Pizza.

We worked from 9 am to 8pm on Monday then drove home. DONE JOB !

Now all you Lethbridge and surrounding  area people you need to book an appointment with Penny Hicken of THE BASEMENT . The place looks great, I know the hair cut will be awesome as Jackie has had her best cuts done by Penny. Penny is artist and recognized as one of the elite hairdressers. Phone and book , you won’t be disappointed.

Here is one link :https://www.instagram.com/p/BIl8tjyjqW3/

Facebook page The Basement Salon  https://www.facebook.com/The-Basement-Salon-1388539327829274/?fref=ts

(403) 393-6335 Penny for appointment to get a  great hair cut in a wonderful salon.

Headed home.

The cold sure did not help energy levels but when we arrived home it was very nice to sit on the couch and relax.

We watched the finale of the  Bachelorette. She picked the right guy.

Slept in today to recover which was excellent.  Drove the motorhome to dump the sewer and grey water as the station was under repair when I got back from Keho. The extra orange packs worked wonderful. Funny at the dump station behind me pulls up a very old Class C motorhome ( circa 1980) . The front license plate said Party Girl. Then a women approaches me from the motorhome to ask about how to use the dump. This lady was in her 50’s, daisy dukes, push up bra, smaller waist and in reasonable shape but just looked like a hooker from Dukes of Hazzard. Scared me !  I hurried to get done while she stood over me asking question after question.

I went and bought groceries as we haven’t been home a lot and then relaxed for a bit. Started my July numbers for budgeting but my eyes got sore so I headed to the deck to sit in the sun and breeze and enjoy while still sniffling. BBQ chops and corn tonight and all is good again. I will need to get a golf game in before my men’s league as I want to do better. I will squeeze it in.  I need to help Corey to install railing on his deck as a must do. Other than that I great week coming up !

Thought of the Day

Note: Work hard 8 hours a day and you may get lucky enough to be the boss and work 12 hours a day. !

August 3rd – 5th

Big day today with it being Jackson’s 5th birthday today. Time goes extremely fast. Victoria and Jackson came over for a visit and to figure out what we were going to do. It was a rainy day so outside activities were immediately eliminated. Jackson thought he would like to go to Tommy K’s which is a great place for kids to have fun. Loaded, headed out and discovered on arrival they were packed. Every Mom in Calgary had the same idea. This is a little jaded but what every happened to entertaining your kids in the back yard or at a park instead of letting them loose playing in a controlled environment while you read a book or watch a series on your ipad. Come on! These places should be for special occasions. They were over capacity so Jackie remembered another facility that is similar and we headed there. Luckily it was only 3/4 full. Turned out to be a great place with lots of interesting things for the kids to do. Jackson even got to play black light mini golf which is cool. We spent quite a few hours there while he had fun. I even saw Victoria at the very top of the climbing area with him. A few treats, carousel rides, golf, climbing, swinging etc it was a fun day. We headed back to our place and asked Jackson what he wanted for his birthday supper. Turns out McDonalds wins but I think it is only because of the toy you get. Had our supper, had our birthday cake, sang our birthday song and had fun. We even gave the slap to grow fat, pinch to grow an inch and the birthday bumps. Turns out he loves the bumps and kept wanting more. LOL

Just about forgot. Jackie and I said Jackson could pick out any Lego he wanted at Toys R Us. WE went to the store and after only 10 minutes he choose his favorite. I love this kid. I went there thinking oh no this is going to be costly. The Lego set he choose was $13.00. I expected $ 60 bucks. Nice that kids don’t relate cost to value. He loved his Lego set. If he continues to think like this he could retire at 55 with no money issues. LOL

He was going for a sleep over but last minute changed his mind. Perhaps a good thing as that night we had an idiot playing loud music next door so we didn’t get to sleep until midnight after me pounding on his door to talk to him.

MY RANT

Music !

I have forever believed that people that use vulgar language only do so because they lack the intelligence to use a normal adjective or common noun in our English language. I have now come to the conclusion that people that are addicted to music are emotional handicapped. Music is addictive, it can make you cry, it can make you happy, it can make you sad or hungry or make you feel comfortable when alone. It is a crutch for people. Why would anyone want to spoil the peaceful wilderness sounds with music ? Why would anyone want to have loud music blaring while reading or relaxing ?  A person puts on a headset while on a airplane or bus as a way to tell the world they don’t want to communicate or to say look I am special as I listen to my music and I am not alone!  People become reliant on music to sooth them, to comfort them and to entertain them instead of reading and learning something new or doing a physical activity. Music is wonderful in the right circumstance and conditions. It is horrible in the wrong hands of people that believe the whole world should listen to their music ( and loudly).  I have no suggestion on how to ban music or control it but I wish people would be more respectful of others right to silence and more responsible with sound levels and places they play it. Go to a beach and you have four competing boom boxes all blaring. STOP it and listen to the beautiful sound of the lapping waves or playing children. Go to a campsite and 1 mile away you can hear music blaring for everyone’s enjoyment. Really ! Buy a stereo made for a rock concert and play it on high in your condo knowing you have neighbors beside, below and above you. Really !

Thought of the Day

Silence is Golden. Silence will calm your soul.

Golfed with my Thursday Men’s league. Great partners today again and the best weather ever. 24 degrees with no wind was wonderful. One of my partners was 77 years old and scored a 80. He had a few bad luck shots or he would have shot he age. I don’t understand. LOL  I played the best golf I have in a long time but scored horrible only due to putting. I took 8 three putts. I would have been very low 80’s if they would have sank or I was a better shot. Great drives, wonderful second shots but just couldn’t putt today. Had a fun time and enjoyed the company so all is good. Funny how driving and putting well haven’t happened on the same day for me for a while. But I haven’t golfed a lot with only getting in maybe 5 games in the last 5 weeks.  Too busy.

Right after golf I helped Corey with his aluminum railing around his deck. At first I thought this was going to be a fast easy job but turned out with sizing etc that it required a lot of cutting to make it look proper. Then we had two damaged pieces so we couldn’t finish the job. Hopefully tomorrow we get it done before Jackson’s party.  Looks great the part we got done.  A little landscaping and they will have a first class beautiful deck that should last them forever.

Building the deck my Makita drill set got damp. Damp not wet. Both of my batteries become useless which is annoying as they are only two years old and well over a $100 for a new set. I phoned Makita and they told me to come to the service centre in Calgary. Wow is Makita good. They have a tester that tells them the age of the battery, how many charging cycles, are the electronics in it working etc. Very high tech. Two BRAND new n/c batteries from them and I am a happy camper. Way to go Makita.  That is service.

Checked out windshield pricing in Mesa compared to Calgary and it is cheaper to buy in Calgary. It amazes me how Canada has become so competitive on certain things. My tires were cheaper here and now windshields.

My cold STILL has not gone away. Shocking for me one that never gets a cold and to have it now for close to two weeks. Darn

Off for a bank visit today. We are changing our debit cards to cash back.  I can get 2- 3% back on my debit card which is as much as a GIC pays today. Forget the movies as we rarely go anyways. I get back 2-3% on my Costco MasterCard and now debit so every little bit helps.

Just got back from the bank and tricky advertising. Yes you can get 3 % cash back but only for the summer and then it converts to 1% for the balance of the year and years going forward with a max of $300. So not so great but still every 1% is a win. We will see.

Wow got a notice Viewpoint in Mesa HOA are going up $300 US a year and our condo here in Calgary are going up $300 a year ( 5.8% increase) . The increases are getting out of hand.

Thought of the Day

Beware of little increases. Remember a small leak can sink a big ship !

August 6th

I received a phone call from Heatherglen late last night and due to the weather forecast and limited amount of tee times booked I wasn’t needed to Marshall today for my shift. So I got to sleep in a bit and then get ready for Jackson’s birthday.  Lots of kids there this year and with the giant bouncy house they had a blast. It drizzled and spots of rain all day unfortunately. I used my canopy from the motorhome and the kids were in the play house so it still worked out great. Jackson had two sets of grand parents there with Peggy & Don along with us. He also had a great set there with Michael & Audrey. Victoria ordered a huge amount of pizza from Costco which was excellent. For anyone wanting lots of pizza at a super price you can’t beat Costco pick up. Jackson also received some great presents and had a blast with all of his friends there. A fun day.

Neat to see so many kids just having fun in the bouncy castle. The odd injury happened with the bumps etc but everyone had a great time.

It was also nice to talk to some of Victoria’ s & Corey’s friends and neighbors during the party.

I think even Nelly had a good time with all of the available food for her.

 

 

 

Thought of the Day

The best birthdays of all are those that haven’t arrived yet…

 

August 7th

A relaxing day ahead. Nothing to do, that I need to do. Wonderful.

Forgot, Jackie & I received from Penny & Jess gifts cards to the Keg for helping them with their basement renovation. The Keg is my favorite restaurant. Thank you

Watched Jim Furyk shoot the lowest score EVER in PGA history. I have liked JIm for years and forever always thought he was older than he is but he sure does play well. He has made over 70 million in the last 25 years. !7 PGA wins so he is an elite player and it sure is nice to see him steal some thunder from the young hot shots.

Finished my July budget numbers today and am happy. We came in under budget for the month which is great. Golf fees were down and just other expenses were a little lower all combining for a less than budget number. Awesome ! Now if only the returns would go up. At this time in my life I would love 10% interest rates. Come on you young kids, start working harder to make this economy grow so they have no choice but raise the rates.

Thought of the Day

Today a man knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the local swimming pool, so I gave him a glass of water.

August 8th

I spent a good 2 hours at the Makita service centre this morning trying to figure out with the tech what is going on with my batteries and charger for my drills. Finally after a lot of frustration I have two new batteries and a new charger which seem to be working perfect now. Makita has great service and if I need any power tool will get another Makita.

Dried out my “tent” from the party and put it away in the motorhome. Chained up the boat and organized a couple of storage bins while the sun did it’s job.

Contacted and tried to confirm a reservation for our May long week end trip next year but due to rules I may have to wait until April 1st to confirm. Nice people and I understand conditions but hopefully they will be a little lenient and allow my selection and requirements to go thru. We will see, otherwise I will wait and if I cant confirm will need to scramble for another place.  So I wont give the name out until confirmed.

I had about 10 nut drivers that rusted due to the rain while helping Corey build his deck. I placed them all in a bowl of vinegar for a couple of hours and wow they came out like brand new. It is amazing what certain products ( vinegar,coke etc) can do. And to think we put this in our stomachs. I am very happy with the results.

Funny as we were watching the news we saw the flooding that occurred in the North Calgary and even as close as MacLeod Trail and us in Cranston not even a drop of rain. That is one benefit of living in the best part of Calgary and with a much better climate than north of the river in Calgary. There is a defined line of good versus bad weather.

Thought of the Day

He who laughs last thinks slowest

August 9th

Got up this morning and thought to myself. Self lets go golfing today as you haven’t had the time to go very often lately. I do have  golf booked on Thursday with my Men’s league, Friday with a friend from the condo and Saturday with Keith & Jenny so will be all caught up. LOL

Wow was today good. I have been golfing good but not scoring well. At Turner it is the lost ball thing where I have to shoot 3 from the tee as the fairways are tight and bushy or the 3 putts as the greens are tricky. Today I golfed Heatherglen at 6300 yards. Today everything went right. MY LOWEST SCORE EVER AT 74. It was my Jim Furyk day. He shot a 72 then next day a 58. Last Thursday I shot a 92 today a 74. Putts dropped, and I know I can score better as I missed at least 7 shorter birdie putts that ended up pars. It is a fun day when every thing goes well. One young guy I golfed with asked why I liked the centre and such long drives, facetiously.  I measured a couple drives over 300 yards. ( 304 and a 307). Only two drives sliced with no issues to come back though. I had a lot of fun today and hope on Thursday it carries through.

I have recorded it and will remember it for a long time until I can get a 72. I had a 36 on one nine but couldn’t par the back nine. The back started getting a little sore near the end which didn’t help. Love the game !!

Isn’t the weather amazing. Thunderstorms every night and rain just ablur every day. As of today we have 96% of our normal annual rain fall so it is a no brainer we are going to blow that record away. Hopefully the farmers are happy with the warm and rain.

Thought of the Day

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

August 10th

Have we had a wet summer or what. I feel for the poor people taking summer holidays in this as it just makes a mess of everything. Rain off and on all day today again. Right now it is raining hard. Very hard.

Went out to the Depot and picked up my ABS pipe for my roof rack as I lost a couple of pieces last time I unloaded the boat. Went to Princess Auto for a piece of aluminum to fix my depth finder/fish finder once and for all. Talked to a guy that had a beautiful 71 Camaro all fixed up. Great looking hugger orange but with a GM performance engine which isn’t really performance. These crate engine are great but are only in the 300 to 400 horsepower range and they just don’t have that lumpy cam noise thru headers. Found a piece that will work. Cut all of them to size and put them away until next time. The alum I will drill holes when it stops raining and I can get to the boat.

A reading, relaxing day today. Very nice. Still funny to watch the politics in the states. Even if Trump doesn’t win he sure is good at shaking up things.

Entered my low score in my golf sheets and it brought down my average by .34. Not much. LOL  But a few more like that and it will start to decline fast. I still smile when I think about how I golfed yesterday. Fun.

Jackie is going out with the girls tonight so might jump out and get my favorite Swiss Chalet meal.

The general Alberta population impressed me. They may have been dumb( that really is too kind of word for it) enough to vote in

the NDP and destroy the province for years but they did boycott Earls so effectively the CEO arranged to speak and apologize at the Alberta Beef convention.  Ok, people make mistakes, he apologized, he should be forgiven but I still won’t eat there out of principle until at least next year. No one knows what percentage he still is buying from the States. I am impressed by the magnitude of the boycott and I am impressed by Earls apologizing.

I read an interesting article today ” Too much cardio accelerates aging!  When you put your body under prolonged stress, you start producing free-radicals, which damages your cells and causes inflammation…and inflammation is what makes you OLD.  Think about a engine. If you rev that motor ( raise your heart rate) the engine fails and fails quicker than slow and steady. I think all of these fitness guru’s have it wrong. LOL  Interesting note to this. My family doctor specifically stated to me not to exercise to hard or long. Exercise yes  but within a scope that would be considered average or normal and not to raise the heart rate too much to damage it.

Thought of the Day

The stupid neither forgive nor forget, the naïve forget and forgive, the wise forgive but don’t forget.

August 11th -12th

I noticed the trees are starting to turn yellow already brought on by the excessive watering. But fall is just around the corner and I can not believe how fast time goes by. If anyone that retired and says they are bored they must be weird people. There is never enough time in any day to get everything done. I can say that I am having a blast.

Up early this morning to head out to Turner Valley. I was hooked up with three great guys. One guy a Calgary Fire Station Captain. Hits the ball very long. Talking to him about the recent news with women becoming firefighters it was interesting to note that they have special considerations for women to join. I am not for that. To have true equality the testing should be the same. Having said that they have no testing after being on the force for ten years. So some over weight out of shape guy has a job that perhaps a women will perform better than but cant get on the force. Odd really.

I was a little disappointed in my golfing today. Just off a bit but still in the 80’s with two holes having a triple boogie on due to lost balls. Remove the 6 extra strokes and I am happy. Oh well next time.

Picked up a few groceries and looked at the dark ominous sky again today. Very humid today.

Up this morning to get ready for my golf game. Had my smoothie. Today I am golfing with a friend from the condo and a gentleman I have golfed with in my men’s league. Just a wonderful sunny warm day. The golfing went ok. If I removed a triple and three balls out of the bush I would be very happy but again still golfed in the 80’s.  Had a little slicing going on which is annoying but overall not displeased. As I have said to golf Turner it is a difficult course. The slope on some greens are unbelievable and unreadable to me which adds strokes. The hitting of the balls as far as contact, distance and direction was pretty good. I have noticed a slight increase in distance lately which I am getting used to. My 5 iron now is a 200 yard club and my 7 iron a 170 yard club. Even my SW has gone up to 75-80 yards instead of the 50 to 60 it used to be. I had the chance to beat my neighbor ( which I never have as of yet) but lost by one stroke. I got called on a whiff shot ( missed the ball completely going over the top of it as a stroke trying to get out of the bush) which was the one shot difference in our games. I did remember a possible double hit out of the sand that he had but I didn’t call that on him. Next time I will get him.

Watched a little TV, watched Canada doing very well in the Olympics and relaxed.

Thought of the Day

If tomatoes are technically a fruit, is ketchup a smoothie

August 13th

Spartan Race Day today with Victoria, Corey and Jackson. This should be fun. And it is a hot one. Wow 19 -one million dollar winners and 1- 50 million dollar winner last night in the Lotto Max. Got to check my ticket. I buy one ticket for each week but haven’t won anything for quite a while. It is always a good feeling to get a $20 dollar winner or more.

Love the Canadian Olympic team. We are a great country and it just seems our athletes are nice people unlike some American egotistical maniacs and loud mouths and show offs. Overall we are just a nice country.

The Spartan Race event was pretty neat. First the attendance of spectators and participants is unbelievable. They have done an excellent job at marketing it as an elite athletic event ( due to TV shows like American Ninja etc ) and as a social walk in the mud event. Being sarcastic but for the non competitive events the name could be changed to Spartan Walk. There were a large number of participants that walked 5kms, accomplished no obstacles but had fun playing in the mud. It was a lot of fun watching the people caked with mud slipping as they walked. Jason Harry’s wife Stephanie performed awesome in the elite group finishing 1st in her age group in a great time.A die hard competitor. Corey did extremely well as he was one of 250 in his group that actually ran. He also beat most obstacles. Ryley, Jason’s daughter also did amazing finishing near the front of her group. I was also proud of Jackson doing extremely well and trying very hard. The one thing that I found odd is NO ONE crossing the finishing line was dead tired. That is why they could change the name to a obstacle walk. LOL  Todays event did have the added pressure of the entire course being muddy which not only slows people down, is dangerous and adds to the endurance factor.

So here are my thoughts on the Spartan Race.

1. A lot of disorganization ( they MUST have spotters to count burpees for fairness) Better signage directing people, a way way better obstacle course set up as in the open events with amateurs with very slow people there were 15 min waits to get thorough so to time an event is a waste of time.
2. Group size has to be reduced as letting 250 people go a the same time compounds the issues.
3. They have to group people in predetermined categories. They should not have a person that can finish the race in 30 minutes racing with someone that is going to take 2 1/2 hours. There were people that were holding up others that were released a full hour behind them. This could fit into the disorganization category. A simple question on the entry form could class them in the right group ( similar to a golfer playing from the back tee when they should be on the red tee)
4. Participation Medals – please, maybe for anyone under 10 years of age. Medals need to be earned not given. If people like the medals idea at least have a goal that anyone finishing in under 1 hour gets one. Incentive and reward not acknowledgement of doing something with no goal other than to finish.

We had a nice gathering at Corey’s & Victoria’s place after on the new deck. There were a lot of people there with 6 from Edmonton plus Calgary friends ,Lethbridge and co workers. A fun time with the kids. It was a fun event for the group as you could tell by the conversations about the walk and what they could or couldn’t accomplish.

Thought of the Day

Winning isn’t everything but wanting to win is. You enter an event you should cross the line with all of your energy spent otherwise you just wasted time and took the spot from someone that wanted to try.

August 14th

A beautiful day for a drive and a golf game with friends. We met Keith & Jenny at Forest Heights Golf course near Sundre. This sort of unknown course is really nice with some great holes.                                                                                                                                                                  I love the 125 yard par 3 with a 200 ft elevated tee box that has a very difficult green to stick.

A very fun course, lots of slope on the greens and semi tight fairways. Views are amazing looking west to the mountains. After a decent round of golf in perfect weather we decided to head to Boston Pizza for supper. We arrived at the exact same time as a bus load of camp supervisors. Luckily our waitress got our food orders in before the kitchen was slammed. Smokey Mountain Spaghetti you can’t go wrong.

Great fun day with everyone having a great time. Both Jenny and Jackie played decent and overall both Keith and I did ok. Hard on a new course sometimes knowing where to hit the ball. If I could only aim. LOL

Blood donation tomorrow. Drink lots of water.

The time for summer is going by so fast. We haven’t golfed enough, I haven’t fished enough, we haven’t travelled enough, and we haven’t relaxed enough. We have a fishing trip in Northern Alberta coming up, a camping trip near Athabasca, a long weekend golf trip at Pembina west of Edmonton and a week trip to the Valley coming up which will use up quite a few days.  With Jackie still on contract it has been harder to fit everything in but it sure is coming in handy have the little extra money and not having to draw as much from our savings account. I hate seeing that number get smaller each month. LOL

Thought of the Day

I always have to remember my worst day at golf still beats my best day at work.  I also have to remember to continue to swing hard in case I hit the ball.

August 15th

Up and at it as I had a blood donation appointment downtown today. Traffic and construction plus finding a parking place is always an issue. They have  a new system which is about time. You answer on line the questionnaire which is a lot shorter and better than the old one you had to pencil in your answers and answer the sex questions. It is easier and you just have to show the attendant your QR code on the phone and you are done. Easy ! Faster ! and less staffing.  I got one of the regular guys there that has been a employee for years that I have gone which was nice and then dumped off to the nurse to poke me. I HATE NEEDLES and I hate pain involved with needles. I have difficult veins to hit and some times they roll. I have had both arms penetrated and no luck, wrapped up and sent home without given blood a couple of times. I have had the blood stop midway as the vein collapses. This nurse AGAIN took the easy route and picked the painful vein that runs sideways instead of using one under the skin in the middle of the elbow. Her reasoning is the proper one is to close to the tendon. The side vein HURTS.  I hate giving blood and wouldn’t if I didn’t absolutely need to as per my doctors orders after my cancer scare a few years ago. It is a win win as someone gets my lovely blood and get a healthier liver. So  a good plan that has been working.

Funnies that happened at the clinic today –

While at the clinic another older gentleman was sitting in the chair beside me before entering the check in room when a younger girl ( 20’s) walked by in daisy dukes. Her butt cheeks were hanging a bit out which looked great and the guy leans over and says to me ” I have to have my blood pressure checked in 2 minutes ! Great ! ” We laugh. My blood pressure turned out ok LOL. You have to love summer .

The nurse was going to poke me when she asks the assistant to give her a couple paper towels. The assistant and I looked at her a little funny and she laughed.” I will put them right here so not to wreck your beautiful clothes you are wearing today.” ( I dressed up for my torture)  So I am thinking does she expect the blood to squirt from my arm to my chest and stomach where she placed the paper towel.?  Does she know what she is doing ?

Have I said I hate giving blood. Be back in 3 months.

Came home and put my tools away, moved my clubs and headed out to wash and clean inside and outside of the Jeep.  The arm was a little tender and tired rubbing the Jeep but was ok. Jeep looks great and I got home to cut off my bandage and blood is trickling down my arm. Great ! But at least I didn’t have a foot of tape holding a gauze on that has 100 hairs attached to it. Ouch !

Off to get some groceries and then sit on the deck and hydrate and enjoy the wonderful sun. Jackie is off golfing tonight and having supper out. I will have my left over Smokey Mountain Spaghetti and a salad.

Thought of the Day

Here is a quote to ease some of your minds so you aren’t so fixated on gathering wealth and not enjoying life.

“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” JESUS CHRIST  Matthew 19:24

August 16th

30 degrees today. A wonderful day to golf and with the warm and perfect conditions should be a good game.

Jeff was picking me up this morning which is great to save taking two vehicles. I did wait 20 minutes for his arrival but am quite aware of his tendency to be late so I relaxed outside on the bench and read the Metro. I had to go inside after about 15min to check my phone in case he had to cancel and noticed a “will be late message”. It was a wonderful experience sitting outside relaxing in the am. I enjoyed the time. Jeff picked me up in his new Cadillac which is a very nice car. If we didn’t need a larger vehicle I wouldn’t mind one of these at all. For us though a little too small, doesn’t seat seven, seems underpowered, poorer gas mileage considering the size difference and the same mpg, and a little more noisy interior, but I love the gadgetry and the luxury look inside. I did love the chrome wheels on his last one a little better though as I am getting tired of the “black” look on trucks and cars. I bought the “black” look for my Jeep but am envious of the bling guys. The cycle should be over soon. Bling is good.

The course was relatively busy which was surprising for mid day mid week. Both of us had off days  with my game being the worst I have played for a long time. Nothing seemed to work. No crisp drives or iron shots .BUT I still had a blast in sun and golfing. Jeff also struggled today until the back nine.  I still ended up mid 80’s but was not happy with everything at all. I did like the 298 yard shot on hole 17 to land beside the green. A great day, a fun day, a wonderful sunny day. I like summer. I like retirement. I like golf . Notice I didn’t over use the word love. It fits into the way I feel about the previous statements but it is one word that’s meaning gets demeaned due to people using it too much.

Sitting on the deck, cold beverage in my hand and relaxing is what it is all about. Forgot to include the BBQ’ing and the people watching. Life is Good!

Thought of the Day

The ball goes left it is a hook, the ball goes right it is a slice, if the ball goes down the middle it is a miracle.

August 17th -18th

Interesting news about the JELD-WEN company on the internet in the last few days. It seems Onex is taking the dual track approach to dumping the company. They have a registered IPO offering from June still out there but are now considering to just sell the company off. With the success of IPO’s this year chances are they wont be happy and would rather have an outright sale. The IPO values the company at 5 billion and it appears the “sell” price is 3 billion making ONEX a couple of billion in profit.  If anyone thought JW has gone through changes in the last bit wait until another equitiy investor buys it and wants to put it’s stamp on it. The best scenario would be a private sale with someone wanting to make the company as good as it once was rather than “cook” the books by slashing staffing and expenses to sale the company for profit in a few years. These equity investors that buy hurting companies or misdirected companies and re-sale them for profit a few years later are the leaches of profit in business and destroy reputable companies.

Played a golf game today with Jeff at Heatherglen. Another wonderful sunny day. I was a little surprised at my golf as I expected a wonderful score and only ended up with that mid 80’s score again. Both of us were off a bit in having crisp clean accurate shots. I pulled the irons to the left too many times and missed a few putts that could have dropped. Missing by millmeters or cupping out at least 5 holes would have put the score where I like it. But it didn’t happen.

Still a fun day of golfing in perfect weather. For years Jeff & I would play screen golf in the winter and then go for beer and wings somewhere. Since we finished early today we decided to go to the Bull & Finch to sit on the patio and enjoy. A few cold beer and a couple pounds of wings along with an entertaining waitress and sitting in the sun made for a very fun afternoon. Have I said I love retirement. Long time since at the bar and they fixed it up quite nice with some reno’s. Same good wings and cold beer which is good.

How can you have a better day than golf in the morning and wings and beer in the afternoon.

Up this morning to start the fridge on the motorhome to get ready for Blueberry Hill near Athabasca. I will pick up some groceries later in the afternoon when it gets a little colder for the week. Fishing , the odd round of golf, visiting friends and most of all relaxing at the campground on the agenda. Looking forward to it. To bad Jackie can’t get it off but she will drive back and forth on the weekends for a conjugal visit. The weather is suppose dot be spectacular. I checked the fishing report and it appears the Calling Lake is struggling this year with it’s fish population. The fish management has to be a lot more strick here if they want the stock to grow and be plentiful.

Lots in the news, Trump, fake robbery in Rio, the love between Bolt and Degrasse ,more metals for Canada, TSX increases, possible rate hike for the USA, lack of jobs in our new destroyed province of Alberta.

MY RANT

That just put a thought in my head. The NDP government has to get off their high horse and look at reality. We held a job fair for our new terminal opening at the airport yesterday. 300 jobs with over 3000 applicants for mediocre paying jobs. In Calgary we have close to 9% unemployment. Think about that a city with 1.2 million residents and having 108,000 people looking for a job. Our unemployed alone would make up the third largest city in Alberta.

More than 4100 business closed so far this year in Calgary. Think about that. The oldest Western Wear store Riley & McCormick in Calgary after 115 years. Owner says depressed sales, minimum wage increase and no hope for a brighter future in the horizon. Minimum wage increase and carbon tax are economy killers.

The biggest issue is the NDP policy. The problem is the population that voted them in and are not affected by the downturn. They are all unionist, government, civil, environmentalists, socialist people that are not going to be affected. If you are a government worker, in the medical field, in the education system, from Edmonton or in the clean energy structure and on and on there is no repercussion for your actions. We have three more hellish years and a few years after that for the new government to fix the mess. Unite the Right movement has to come to fruition to eliminate the current government. Every NDP government in every other province has had a history of doing the exact same thing but our voters didn’t listen and every other province kicks them out big time which hopefully will happen again.

Motorhome is all ready. Groceries are all in and just need to clothes, and to hook up the Jeep to be ready. And Jackie’s stuff which she hasn’t had any time to get ready as she had been working 12 hour days on this new project .

Did you guys see the 2 inch miss from the Japanese golfer at the Olympics. I don’t care for gimmie’s as it does not give you a real indication of your true final score. I will admit though 2 inches from the hole I would have picked up. You just never know though as the ball can spin around the outside of the cup and pop out quite easily. She had to be shocked to top the ball and only move it 1 inch. A couple of weeks ago I hit the ball on a practise spin and had to count a stroke. A couple of games ago I missed the ball in the trees by going right over top of it and had to take a stroke. It is amazing what can happen. I don’t mind a pre agreed mulligan as it sure can save you the odd time but again it is not reflective of your real score. You need to keep score as real as possible in order to see your improvement over time.

August 19th

Just a heavenly day to golf. Mid 20’s no breeze, great course conditions and nice people to golf with. I golfed with the 2016 Men’s Club Champion. He rarely makes a mistake. I lost by 4 strokes and I wanted to beat him as I wanted to say ” Well I guess that means handing over the Champion Belt Buckle to me please” LOL  I didn’t get the chance. I took an 8 on the 18th hole otherwise it would have been a different story. An 8 on the last hole. Missed two three foot birdie putts which would have really help. Oh well next time and I had a very enjoyable day. My driver and irons just keep get longer and longer. I now use my pitching wedge for 140 yard holes. My 60 degree for 100 yard holes and my driver when contact is good is awesome. Feels good when things feel right. I used to have a sticker on my 1969 Nova SS on the rear that said “IF IT FEELS GOOD DO IT”  Scared a few girls away I bet. LOL

Our one partner struggled today with all aspects of his game. I sort feel bad when that happens as I think everyone has had one of those days.

Got home picked up the motorhome and parked in front of the condo for an AM departure.  Here is a question-  If on the street there is a parking open of say 100ft do you pull up to the front car, stay back with the end car , or park right  in the middle of the space. It amazes how people cant think. Literally as it shouldn’t even be a question.  I had enough space to park motorhome in front of the dummy and had to unhook Jeep and will hook it up in the morning. Lots of space for everyone if the guy would have thought.

I cooked the potatoes and made the sauce for my Mom’s and Grandma’s potato salad recipe for supper with Fred, Terry, Ralph and Tracy tomorrow night. This way I just combine everything and we are set to eat if we arrive later than planned. Jackie has been VERY busy this week and hopefully will have a restful couple of days. I am staying to fish for the week and she will rejoin us next weekend.

A poor company here in Calgary gets blasted over a tweet asking if we are watching the women’s event. It amazes me how everyone is sensitive. We have two women with a medical condition that raises their testosterone to levels that make them look like men and perform like men. Testosterone is a performance enhancer. Is it fair to the other women ? Shouldn’t levels be defined so we don’t have women using this to win medals. What if men started taking extra testosterone ?  Fair sports should be just that.

Thought of the Day

My life would be so much easier if I wasn’t intelligent enough to realize just how stupid some people are. LOL  Although, without stupid people we would have no one to laugh at.  

August 20th to 28th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t believe they have wifi so it may be a week before I load anything. Perhaps a bucket list fish scratched off my list. If WiFI every couple of days anyways.  Have a good one !

August 20-28

We had a nice drive up north on Hwy 2. This is one amazingly busy highway. It doesn’t matter what time of day or what day even the traffic is heavy. Two incidents of stupidity this trip which is odd as I normally drive for long distances and often and overall people are relatively normal. First incident is a merge on to the highway. How hard is it to understand that you need to be going faster than the traffic you are merging into. You NEVER stop on a merge lane. Judge your distance in the mirror, be going about 5 to 10kms faster and merge or lower speed to slip into an opening. Today a dummy was merging and maintained the exact same speed as us and had to slam on his brakes. He literally stopped in the lane after me laying on the horn after blinking my headlights for him to merge. NEVER ever do this. It caused us to have to slam on the brakes as we didn’t know what he was doing and cars behind us all jamming up and the dummy coming to a standstill in the merge lane risking getting rear-ended.  Next incident was from a biker. I saw and pointed to Jackie a 100 bikes entering the highway from a side road. As we got closer and rounded a corner here was a biker stopped in the middle of the highway with his bike sideways in a lane. He was attempting to stop traffic to allow his buddies entry so they could travel together onto the highway. Coming up to him I started to slow and then was in disbelief to see him side ways in the middle of the lane. Again slamming on the brakes and going around him as I didn’t have the room to slow down to a stop.Amazing. Loads of road construction on the way up which is good as we need some people working. Arrived and set up our camp. BlueBerry Hill RV Grounds are wonderful. First the owners are gems of people and the site Fred books is a double site and the best site in the campground.Fred, Terry, Ralph and Tracy were here already and beat us by about an hour in the set up. Got everything done including setting up my new tent with side walls, and rope lighting. I also hung my lantern from the centre to play cards later that night. A few drinks and a few more drinks it was a fun afternoon. Isn’t this the life?  I made my Grandma’s potato salad and readied the corn while Fred started his steaks. He marinated them from the day before. Terry and Tracy readied the bread, salad and we all organized the settings. We had a wonderful ,wonderful supper with Fred being the master chef. After supper and a few drink’s we fixed up everything in the tent to play the great game of Crazy Marbles. A fun game and boys against the girls. I will let you guess who won. That’s right the boys again. I do have to say it was a close call but we prevailed again. A fun night with us hitting the hay around midnight.

Had a great sleep in the quiet and coolness. Only a few bathroom breaks in the middle of the night due to the extra drinks. I do have to mention again Fred gave me 4 finger vertical measured drinks. Awesome Ceasers were included among the whiskey drinks.

Up in the morning, hit the shower ( love this about the new motorhome with it’s size) and had breakfast. Sat outside in the fresh morning and relaxed. Kieth & Jenny showed up about an hour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

before our golf tee time which was perfect. This Athabasca course is a hidden gem. Tough little course and in nice shape. They have not had the rain we have had this year but the course was still looking good. Most of us struggled on this course. I had a good front nine but lost to many balls on the back. Ralph played quite well, Keith had a few issues and Fred who doesn’t like golf game along for a joy ride and cart driving exercise. I am disappointed in my score as I should be able to play new course better but had a few bad holes that killed me. Still a wonderful day in the sun and with good friends. We had a great BBQ burger supper and a few drinks before Keith & Jenny had to leave.  The Keys and us sat outside until about 9:30 pm a little sprinkling happening then went in to read, relax and enjoy.

Have I said I love being retired. Tracy & Ralph, Keith & Jenny all rushing home to get to work and us relaxing and have the time of our lives enjoying the nature and friends. Pretty fortunate to be able. Tomorrow is supposed to be rain and then 5 days of hot weather and hopefully great fishing. Keith said he may try to slip up if he a slow day. He can stay in my unit as Jackie is heading to Calgary tomorrow .

It rained last night big time. Lightening all night but luckily not a lot of wind. I got up a few times in the night to check the awning.

8:30 am I heard this huge crash. Fred’s awning collapsed. It was loaded with water and when he tried to lower the one end the whole thing collapsed. The spring roller snapped in half and the bars bent.  The awning itself even ripped. We phoned a RV store in Dapp and the guy was able to find a 18ft awning that was the right color and kind. He is supposed to install it on Thursday.

Just bad luck with the awning. Unfortunately it can happen to anyone. I have seen quite a few people have awning issues. Kieth lost one to wind, Ron lost one to snow load, now Fred to rain water load. I love my new auto awning. It has a wind sensor if the wind hits 18 mph it will automatically retract. It also has a weight sensor where it will dump the water to the one side automatically if it is being weighed down. Only complaint would be to be able to set the wind speed a little higher as a sudden gust can retract it. Problem is everything will get wet under it as we store clubs etc there.

Jackie left about 1pm to get ready for work this week. Hopefully she will have an easier Friday so she can make her way back up here.

Had lunch with the Keys, fixed a drawer in their unit with Fred and spiked down the gazebo as it was quite windy out. Little raining so we decided to have a nap, shower and read and relax a bit and hope for a better today tomorrow.

Played cribbage with Terry winning the game.  I am going to lose my title of Worlds Best Crib player if I don’t start to get back to winning. We then went through the stack of movie’s that Penny and Jessica had given us to us for while. The action type movie is harder to come by in the selection but we found one that worked out quite well as we hadn’t seen it for years. Mr & Mrs Smith which is a fun good movie. A good supper, movie, treats and drinks while camping how can you go wrong.

Woke up this morning and I was surprised to see the bed covers and sheets hadn’t move a bit. It must be Jackie moving them around. LOL.  It poured out all night again. Westlock got flooded out and we had at least 4 inches or more according to the tub Fred had outside. His boat had gallons of water on the tarp that had it stretched to the maximum.  This morning it is colder outside. I had to turn on the fireplace to warm the unit up before stepping into the shower this morning.

We had a drive into the big town of Athabasca . Not much to see but Terry picked up a few groceries and I needed a new under arm deodorant as I forgot mine so all is good. Fred picked up some screws at the HH store for his 5th wheel and a new crib board. He bought it he said for me to replace my plastic one. They are bad !!! But it is a nice board.

We arranged with the Clubhouse to have beer and wings and reserved a table for the Eskimo game on Friday night at 8pm. They were very accommodating.  Hopefully Jackie can make it to celebrate with us. It is always nice to see the hopes of  Edmonton crushed again. I can’t wait to see Fred walk back to the camper with difficulty as he struggles with yet another loss while I skip along happily knowing that once again being a Stampeder fan it pays off. I also hope we have loads of Sask fans as they are fun to watch in their despair. The hate between the two teams with the Chris Jones fiasco makes it fun.

Sitting outside in the colder than normal temperatures. But still relaxing getting caught up on a few things. Too bad about the wind and coolness as out on the water it would be cold.

Out on the water and fished for over 4 hours. The fishing today was poor with us only pulling in only 2 fish. Terry caught the two. They just were not biting which most likely was due to the large storm we had the night prior. Fish are supposed to be influenced by the rain, blowing winds and lightning and if the results are such it sure has a major impact. Still a wonderful day out in the water, trolling and enjoying the sunshine. Terry actually turned a bit red.  Played a lot of games when we got back. I like that crazy marble game which is a fun game. Instead of having the middle name “Crib” I will need to change it to “Marbles” Played a few hands of crib and drank a few beer and whiskeys.  As usual Fred did an awesome job cooking up supper on the BBQ. Fred had a couple of days bad luck with his awning being ripped off and the lack of wins in Marbles and Crib and Dice. His day of reckoning was coming the next trip on the water fishing as he killed it.

Terry and I played golf while Fred waited for his RV mechanic to come to install the new awning. Terry has drastically improved her game hitting some nice balls. Her pace of play is actually very good now. I played great except the last hole. Converted to a 18 hole score it would have been a 79. It was fun golf game. Pretty good golf the last week. 84,79 and 94. The RV guy didn’t show up until about 4pm but was very quick and did an excellent job of installing the awning. It sure helps to know what you are doing as they used quite few neat tricks to make their job easier. The awning looks awesome. Fred most likely will be a little more cautious with this one. It can get expensive. Played a bunch of crib games. The gazebo works great for light and bug protection at night. We have sat outside just about every night. I am very glad I bought that thing as eating with no bugs, playing games outside with no bugs and lots of lighting and having the table inside worked out great. It does take a couple of people to set up and take down though.

While waiting for the awning guy we cheated and headed to the clubhouse for lunch. We all ordered fish and chips. Now I ask you does anyone use beef gravy (brown gravy) with fish and chips. I laughed as Terry and Fred both ordered brown gravy. Can’t take the prairie out of the people. Fish with beef gravy. LOL.  Great fish and chips though and we reserved a table for Friday night for the Eskimo game. They were more than accommodating for us.

Today was fishing day again.  It was a warm warm day. The water was like glass. 10 minutes in we caught our first fish. The day turned out great. No, better than great .We lost count but we had well in excess of 20 fish  and most likely hitting near 30 with us catching 5 in the first hour. We also had some great sized fish. The management of this lake is doing an awesome job. 10 pound Jack, 8 pound Jack, 6 pound Jack, 4 pound Walleye and numerous other 3-4 pounders Walleye plus more nice sized Jackfish. It was a very very enjoyable day. Couldn’t ask for better weather or fishing. It was great. Fred had this rattling Rapala white colored that was a hit. The amount of Walleye that he pulled out was amazing. They loved that hook. It is on my buy list next time at the store.

Back in camp. Shower relax and headed for wings and beer. Have I said I love being retired.  The food and drink was excellent . The game was also a nail biter with Sask coming back and making it a closer battle. It was a fun game to watch. Now it isn’t like watching a good team like the Stamps but was still very interesting. Love the little guy BELL I believe his name was. Amazing player. The bar was empty which is to bad for the owners but the service was excellent.Just got a text from Jackie stating she wasn’t going to come up here for the weekend. It is a long drive but it is only one way for her. Too bad as it would have been nice to have her here for Fred & Terry’s anniversary but it is a long ways with not so great weather in the forecast. We had another wonderful breakfast cooked up by Fred. Since Jackie wasn’t able to make it and it was Fred’s & Terry anniversary coming up I decided to head home a day early. They need some alone time. LOL  Thanks to Fred & Terry for a very fun week, with fishing, cooking, gaming, drinking and friendship. They are very generous people. Wonderful week.

Rained all of the way to Edmonton where I stopped in to see Mom and check on how she is doing. Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling well so we couldn’t go out for supper but I had a nice visit and checked her money situation and pensions etc. She is doing very well here and if it continues is set up well into her late 90’s.  The interest and expenses are running exactly where I had planned and input into my excel sheet. The GIS reduction is minor. I would rather be receiving too much income than getting a smaller amount from the government. People ate to see a reduction but it is simple math. INTEREST EARNED – REDUCTION HIT=  ??     If the ?? is higher than the reduction you are winning. You may have no senor reduction in the price of a pair of glasses but you earned a way more interest than the expense or reduction. It’s just that people see the reduced amount. What I hate is how generous we are to new immigrants compared to our own seniors. It is not fair at all but that is the Liberal government.

Stopped at Red Deer at the Windmill for stew and sandwich and made it to Calgary on the one tank of gas.  Unloaded the motorhome and Jackie picked me up.

Weighed myself this morning and I gained 6 pounds in one week. Lots of beer which calorie laden. Give it one or two days and a good bathroom break and everything will be back to normal.

Getting caught up on emails, paying bills, added pictures to my blog and going to relax today and watch a bit of golf.

Thought of the Day

I wonder how people would react if I walked into Sea World with a fishing pole ?  I am retired but I do work at golf and fishing if that counts for anything.

 

August 29th  -30th

Another beautiful sunny warm summer day. Even though we have had a real abnormal amount of rain this year we have had some wonderful summer days. Just plan any event before late afternoon.

Golfing today with Jeff as he heads to school on Wednesday.  Arrived out at TV a little early and hit the driving range. I like to hit a few balls as it does warm up the muscles and lets you figure out what you need to do. I had a real sore shoulder today which was odd. A stiff neck with shoulder isn’t perfect for golf. Luckily I am able to forget about it and play even though the tight muscles do have an effect on the muscle control.

Started off good with 5 pars out of 6 holes then fell apart. The balance of the golf was horrible hitting ever sand trap and pulling shots and couple of lost balls. I ended up with a 96 ( about 10-15 strokes too many) which tied for my worse game of the year. I hate that happening but it does unfortunately. We had a older man and lady golfing with us which were very good golfers. Great swings and shots for the most part. It is a game to forget.  Jeff and I headed to the Black Diamond Hotel to have their fantastic Diamond burger and couple of beers. Always fun to have the social after golf.

Talking to Jeff about his hospital visit and checkups the doctor has asked him to go statins. ( I will rant about these again)  Timing is good as insurance companies won’t insure you if you have had a change or new meds within three months so they just squeezed it in with perfect timing to get a Christmas vacation.

Got up and washed the motorhome today first thing. It was very dirty after going through the rain and construction coming back from Athabasca. Drove over to Safeway gas station to get a chip filled on the windshield so it wouldn’t crack. This windshield is $4200.00 so a $40 bill is a easy pill to swallow. The young kid there did a great job in fact better than some of the other fixes on the shield. Worked on making sure everything is fine with the motorhome but I couldn’t  get the valve to release any air on the back inside dually tire. Even poking it I couldn’t get air out so I headed to the closest tire store to get a tool to remove the valve to check. I removed it and no air. Discovered the tire had no air in it. I check before each trip so I was surprised NO air. The mechanic took off the tire and we checked it out thinking perhaps the stem got plugged with something. Nothing wrong with the tire ! He filled it with air after putting in a new valve and put it into the water tank to check for leaks. The extension stem which is a rubber one was cracked and had a large leak in it. He replaced that and blew up the tire.  I was watching the process and talking to the guy the whole time. He then started to wheel the tire back to install it when he saw a large bulge on the sidewall of it.  Turns out there were two larger bulges. New tire required!! As it is a dually with 40Kms you can’t change just one tire. I could have put a new one on the front and the two older ones together put after discussing it with the sales guy and mechanic I decided to replace both dual tires and look  at the front later. We used the tire gauge and the new tire was considerably taller as the older tires had 40kms on them. Expensive day as each tire is $530.00 each. One of those things though that you can’t fool around on. 24,000 pounds on bad tires isn’t a safe bet. Checked the internet and again these tires are cheaper in Canada than in Arizona. Amazing !

Found out today another old friend from JELD-WEN was let go. This is a genius of a man that actually wrote the software we used for business at HENDERSONS. Yes another 30 year employee let go. He started the same year I did in 1987.Very disappointed in this companies approach. They just keep cutting instead of trying to increase sales. Very fortune to have left when I did.

MY RANT

Rather than concentrating on one subject I thought I would just put into bullet point things that make me rant without going to much in detail. Not in any order

Statins –A lot of power over us.  Have doctors done their due diligence or have they attended a seminar and left believing the subject ? Are there kick backs ?   Are the side affects worth the outcome.

• Pfizer gross profits 2016 year to date $40.33 billion
• 50% of adults over 50 are on statins
• Heart deaths have only reduced from 1800 down to 1400 per 100,000
• Every 66 seconds someone in America is diagnosed with dementia
• 1. Statin drugs work to lower cholesterol, and as your levels fall, you may assume that is proof that you’re getting healthier and lowering your risk of heart disease and heart attack. But that would be far from the truth.
  2. There is far more that goes into your risk of heart disease than your cholesterol levels. Further, there is evidence showing that statins may actually make your heart health worse and only appear effective due to statistical deception.
  3. One report published in the Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology concluded that statin advocates used a statistical tool called relative risk reduction (RRR) to amplify statins’ trivial beneficial effects.²
  4. If you look at absolute risk, statin drugs benefit just 1 percent of the population. This means that out of 100 people treated with the drugs, one person will have one less heart attack. This doesn’t sound so impressive, so statin supporters use a different statistic called relative risk.
  5. Just by making this statistical sleight of hand, statins suddenly become beneficial for 30 to 50 percent of the population. As STATS at George Mason University explained, “An important feature of relative risk is that it tells you nothing about the actual risk “
• It is for each one of us to determine what is right for us. NO ONE should 100% believe just because someone tells you they think this is right we fall for it. History will be the tale of Statins that I think will shock millions. If they can remember to be shocked. We need Cholesterol as it helps in the formation of your memories and is vital for neurological function. Your liver makes about three-quarters or more  and our food intake is only about 25 %. It is inflammation not Cholesterol that is bad. Every wonder why people in warm climates are not affected by dementia like northern climates. Look at what Vitamin D does for you.
• Environmentalists  The mayor of Montreal dumps raw sewer into the Saint Lawrence and he has the balls to say no to the pipeline. We have given that socialist province equalization payments for years and he wants to cut of the head that feeds him in the name of “green”. This could be a long one so I will try to be short. These people are the biggest hypocrites flying in jets, using air conditioners in their house and cars, buying everything they need knowing the impact on the earth, and trying to convince everyone the world climate is changing. Well DA !  It is in constant change and will be forever. You think they would have read about the ice age by now. GMO products are the only way we are going to feed the 7 billion people on earth. Coal power generation is not DIRTY and it is ludicrous to believe solar power can fill our needs. What makes so many semi intelligent people jump on a band wagon that if their wishes came true tomorrow we would all be hungry, live in caves, and walk everywhere.
• Religious fanatics- you hear about all of the negative aspects of the Islam religion in todays world. History has proven religion is the biggest factor of human death tolls. What is meant as a saving grace for humans has become the instrument of death for millions. It is hard to understand how something good has become so evil.  Look up these wars and the cause:
  • Second War of Kappel
  • Lebanese Civil War
  • The Crusades
  •  Sudanese War
  • German Peasants War
  • 30 Yrs War and 80 years War

Why cant we all get along ?  Where have we all gone wrong for so many years and by the looks of it for years still to come.

Todays society – we have become so politically correct and wishy washy it is amazing. Why are we so scared to call something like it is not what is politically correct. Manhole gone from our language. Can’t spank a misbehaved kid. Give a slap on the wrist to a murder. We wonder what is wrong with our society. We have come up with politically correct words for people of every race except for the white race. We have changed the rules to allow women to enter the police force or as a firefighter. We promote the handicapped, minority, female even though  there may be 100 better prospects. We give all of the fringe groups a way to much say and not enough weight  behind common sense. We are to sensitive to everything. Take a teasing at school makes one stronger. It is not bullying. It is called growing up and learning filters.  One WINNER not rewarding participation medals.  No strong punishment for disrespect causes society insolvency. Teachers have lost respect of the students when we stopped strapping, when they became causal dressed to become less intimating and hold no power over the kids. Police have lost respect with frivolous  ticketing , power hungry mistakes taken with shootings and general misconduct. Politicians have lost respect with the corruption, expenses, lack of discipline and laziness.  To put it simple we need help.

We live in a wonderful world with the majority of people wanting to be good. We do need to go back to some of the older principles of discipline, respect, work ethic and caring for each other better.  Jackie and I and our friends are so lucky to be the age we are. I feel for our children and especially our grand kids as they will have it a lot tougher than we had. Now I do have two amazing daughters and grandsons that will do just fine.

Thought of the day

Life has no remote. You have to get up and change it.

August 31st

Washed the Jeep. Worked on organizing and fixing the odd thing on the motorhome. I removed and cleaned the coach batteries. They had a lot of white accumulated sulfuric acid and hydrogen crystal dust. I removed them cleaned it all up and sprayed the box, connections and pull out rails with RustEX which will fix the issue.  Topped up the batteries with distilled water. Tightened up a few screws and all set to go. I read the manual again and adjusted the automatic hydraulic leveling system. It took a few tries each about 15 minutes to adjust all jacks correctly to level first attempt. This weekend on arrival I will see my success. One large bump ( railway tracks) can changed the system unfortunately as it easily discharged.

It was a wonderful sunny warm day. Enjoyable to be working outside and the process did take up the bulk of the day.

Last day of August , wow has time flown by. Summer is basically gone. A very busy summer and I think the fall will go as quick with what we have planned.

Thought of the Day  

I wonder what the blood alcohol level of any mosquito that has bitten a human that has a lot to drink.