Sept 1st

20 days until Fall and you can see it with the leaves turning color and coolness in the air.  I do love fall as it is the best season of them all.

This long weekend was a test. What is more tiring, looking after three grandkids all weekend or late night drinking with friends at a campsite. TIE   LOL

We had Jackson Friday and Saturday night and we had Atticus and August Saturday night and Sunday night. As you all know small boys are MUCH different than looking after girls. Jumping, hitting, activity in general etc. I am looking forward to our time even more when they are a just a little older. LOL  All three of them overall were very well behaved.  As a group we did a lot of things and I am sure they all had a blast.

Saturday night was our Early Halloween Event. This absolutely is the best event ever. Some RV lots have spent hundreds and hundreds on decorating their lot. Mechanical, electronic, motion sensored costumes etc all out. We will build up our Halloween decorations over time. The streets were packed with kids and adults. Plenty of adults dressed up also. Scary displays at some lots. It is an adult and kids event with every second lot handing out Jello Shots. Jackie had 2 which for her was going overboard. I do know Tom our neighbors tasted like plenty of alcohol in each shot .LOL They were strong but very good.

Tor, Cor, Jackson, Atti, Auggie and Jackie went out while I manned the candy bowl for the handouts. At least 150 kids or more. A lot, lot of fun.

The kids had a blast as did we all. How can you go wrong with candy, scary things, trick and treating, walking and costumes. Everyone had a blast.

This year about 1 hr before the dance it started it to rain. It rained enough we didn’t feel like hiking it to the pavilion for the Halloween Dance. They put on a great dance and as evidenced by others and pictures it still was well attended. Great that the rain didn’t rain on the tricksters very much.

Next day if kids loved Halloween how about Family Carnival?  The park does another wonderful job with this. This year we had : A long army obstacle course, a huge bouncy castle slide, a large tug of war blow up, a dunk tank, horseshoes, face painting, tattoo’s for the kids, popcorn, freezes, and two commercial food trucks. All free of charge except for the dunk tank which was raising money along with the 50/50 tickets. $2200 worth of tickets sold which is going to make for a great party again next year along with our free pancake breakfasts, and cheap hotdog lunches.

The kids had a blast in each event.

I have to comment on this. Kids need shoes that are easy to take off and they can put on themselves. Forget about design, cool factor etc. You shouldn’t need to agitate a kid or yourself to get  pair of shoes on. We struggled with shoes all weekend. At the event and coming in and out of the motorhome or shed. What is wrong with Velcro shoes or sandals. LOL

Many trips to the playground were taken. August makes friends very easily and had a blast playing on the slides and swings. We spent hours there with Jackson and him. My arms were tired from pushing the swing. August is funny. I was teaching him to pull on the chains and stretch out his legs but he found it a lot easier to say “Push me please.” LOL

Monday a.m. we drove down to Lethbridge to drop off the kids. First we had to stop at Walmart. While at the playground we saw numerous kids playing with Nerf guns. August says to me he would like one. I was shocked a 4yr old had zero Nerf guns  !  I had to get him a big one and that meant getting Atti a smaller one. EVERY boy has to have a gun to play with. That is how we learn to communicate. The kid shoots someone. The someone goes Ouch. The kid has learned what works to get a reaction. Hopefully he keeps the dogs off his bullets for a while. I may need to get more bullets. No eye shots and they are one of the most fun toys as you can play Cops & Robbers, Cowboy & Indians, ( sorry, Policemen & misdirected youth, Cowboys & Indigenous peoples,)  Just shooting Mom is fun especially when she is not expecting it. Have fun !!

Who would have thought selling a dryer could be a hassle. I put our dryer on Kijiji cheap to get rid of it. It was a high end Samsung unit  with steam that is in perfect shape that we paid close to $900 for 8 years ago. I put it up for $150 to move it fast. Well not being home and doing this isn’t the best approach. First of all every “CHEAP BASTARD” in the world comes out of the woodwork. I had people texting me if would I take $80. Come on people. I would prefer to give it away to someone free who really needs it before selling it at less than what I want  to. People were saying they needed it for school clothes for kids etc. If you wanted it so bad offer a reasonable amount or find a less expensive machine. I had one gentleman commit to a time today that I  had to hold it out of respect to integrity to see it and buy it at the correct pricing. Still people kept low balling me. I was glad it was gone as it became a hassle . For $150 it shouldn’t be such a chore to get done. This is a fancy machine and may last another 10 years or it may calf tomorrow. But be reasonable please. My lesson learned is the next ad which will be my kayak I am going to state. This is the Final Price. Don’t bother asking for a special price.  This is a lesson to all Kijiji buyers. DO NOT LOW BALL , and commit to a time or price right away if you want it. 64 hits on a dryer is a lot in a couple of days

A great weekend. I am sure the boys all had a fun time.

Thought of the Day 

The quickest way to get a kids attention is to sit down and look comfortable.

September 3rd to 6th

A few wonderful days. It is like summer finally. Hopefully we have a long Indian Summer. I didn’t bring my laptop out the lot with me so wasn’t able to input anything. So now I have to remember everything. These few days will be short. LOL

The first day we stayed out and enjoyed ourselves. I installed a wonderful picture taken of Jackie & I at Yellowstone National Park which is one of those taken with old western clothes in black & white. Looks great in the Saloon. I hung a couple of western coat hooks. Used my angle grinder to cutoff the 4 bolts holding on my swinging saloon doors. Stapled my electrical cords and used silicone to seal my LP fitting and GFI boxes. Cut the shooters s around our trees and a few little few up here and there.

I made a wonderful BBQ supper. Range hood worked perfect and sat out late into the evening. An infestation of aphids isn’t nice though. Need that one hit of frost.

I installed my new Smart TV in the bedroom. I had to be very creative as the new TV’s are wider but smaller in height.  I jimmy rigged the perfect TV backing out of plywood. I had to build the frame and get installed which if I have to say myself turned out perfect. I my plan for the space above the TV is build a faux speaker with a 2 x 4 and cover. If only Radio Shack was still around. The new TV is awesome but didn’t fix what I wanted. The DVD player when playing makes squiggly lines. I thought it was the TV. Now another plan B coming up. When I installed it I signed up for Amazon Prime and I love it. No buffering and a huge selection of programming. Way cheaper than satellite TV. Started watching a new series Jack Ryan which has been fantastic. It includes the CTV free app which I haven’t checked out yet but hoping I get the news each day.

I love the Speargrass Men’s night. Jeff and I  headed out in the warm weather but had a bit of wind to fight this afternoon. The feed lot next door was spreading manure next door and it took your breather away. I overall had a good game. Jeff had his off and on. A little more consistent on certain shots and he will be back to normal. He has wonderful drives normally and has been forever a great putter.But we are having fun which is the important thing. This men’s night fir $60 includes golf, cart, driving range, sleeve of balls, beer and a wonderful meal. I say wonderful when it could be called exceptional every time. Tonight was ribs, coleslaw and fries. Our lady that knows how to make a Caesar was at it again.

As this was Jeff’s co workers first day back at school with the kids and him just retired  we sent a picture of Jeff driving the golf cart with the caption  ” Tough commute to work today ”  You got to love life.

Up early as I had a early tee time with my Turner Valley guys at the Vulcan Golf & Country. The course was in excellent shape both fairways and greens. It has two distinct 9 nines with the back nine being a Les Ferber design a little open but very nice holes and the front nine heavy treed lined with small bowl greens. I played very well today on a unknown course. I was the low gross first nine with a 41 but had an 8 on a mean hole on the second nine.

Four good scoring games in row. If I only could get rid of those blow up holes as they are killing me.

My group of guys were a lot of fun with all three being members at Vulcan. We had a blast making it one fun day . Life is Good !!

I booked the Enclave in for it’s free rock chip repair. Jackie took a hit and it is a spreader.  My glass shop offers this service free which is a great add-on. I also booked in the Wrangler for a new windshield on Monday morning also. I use the cheap, no tint, Chinese glass as Wranglers are known for cracking with it being a flat window.

Booked our flights home in late November. And booked our return flight right after New Years. Looking forward to Arizona again this year. I have my days allowed all figured out !!

Fred & Terry are staying a lot longer than us this year as I follow the 120 day rule and they follows the 182 day rule.  Having Fred & Terry is wonderful and this year Ralph & Tracy and Jeff & Wendy will be down for the winter also. Now if only we could talk Keith & Jenny into buying.

I installed my new PIAA light lens today.  It is the complete unit minus the back and bulb. Took me a bit to figure out how it comes apart and clips together. No instructions. LOL Installed it and worked like a charm. Love the lights. $60 for a lens is pricing but then I noticed the factory paid $17.25 usd for USPS mailing. Ouch ! The bulb alone is $95 so I guess the lens isn’t that bad.

Thought of the Day 

Why doesn’t a band-aid work on a windshield ?

September 7th- 9th 

Today is a good day for Canada. GO BIANCA GO. It is exciting that this young lady has a very good chance of winning the US Open. Serena won her first Slam title before Bianca was even born. Serena has an awesome serve that could be an issue but Bianca is very good at ball movement and hits the ball extremely hard on returns. I am hoping in straight sets Bianca. !

Wonderful day before the bad weather hits. I have my Jeep booked in for  anew windshield on Monday. I have a golf game with Jeff on Wednesday.  My Men’s league on Thursday I may pass on as there is a tournament that day. I may play another course.  I will go out to the lot and do a few things also.

Wow Go Canada Go as we are setting a trend. World Basketball Champions , Blue Jays. World Tennis Champ Bianca Andreescu and soon we can add World Hockey Champion Stanley Cup Calgary Flames and not world but Canadian Football Champions Calgary Stampeders.

Trump may send out a tweet”  Canadian Domination has to be stopped”

Ps Did you all see where Calgary is the 5th best place to live in the WORLD. Love it !

Since moving to Calgary I have been so fortunate with our sports teams. I hit just when Calgary was becoming a powerhouse and Edmonton in decline. This has carried on now for years. I enjoy teasing my Edmonton friends as they live in misery. I have won a lot of money from our Calgary teams.

” Memories”

When I first transferred to Calgary the Edm/Cal Labour Day Classic was about to happen. I bet the Edmonton warehouse that whatever amount of money they came up with we would match. Someone did an incredible job as they must have had the buy in from every staff member as the dollar figure was huge. Talk about a risk and having to cover a huge portion of the bet myself. Sweated that one but Calgary came through. I did learn my lesson and set a number after that.

Speaking about football bets in about 1992 or so Mark Henderson ( owner of Henderson Wholesale Building Materials) bet Jim Thorogood ( owner of Totem Building Supplies) on a game between Calgary and the Bombers. Calgary won. Mark phones me up and asks me to check into a delivery of pennies to Totem Head Office. To get $1000 worth of pennies wasn’t easy as most banks didn’t have that many in stock. I found a main branch downtown and hired Brinks to deliver them. I think it cost $200 to deliver them. I arranged to have them sent to put on Jim’s desk. Funny thing is, it  would have cost him the same to remove them also. LOL It was pretty funny ! 

Jackie and I headed over to Tor’s place and picked up a bunch of stuff to take to Value Village of Peters. Trying to finish this off and clear up some space for Cor & Tor.

We had a very nice time walking around the resort and enjoying the warm sun and talking to our neighbors and fellow camper at the lot tonight.  I BBQ’d chicken wings which turned out great. Burned a bit of junk in the fire and cleaned up a bit. Nice day.  Love the place.

Raining all day today so worked on updating my budget as I was a bit behind. We got killed in July/Aug with a few things. New mattress, new washer & dryer, gifting to the girls, and finishing off the Saloon. Most categories where reasonable but I hate being so far over. September I may be able to hold down but in October we owe our 6 months HOA for Arizona. It is budgeted for but still pumps up the number.  Took a few hours but got it all updated to the end of August.

I then discover I have misplaced my cell phone. Not a good sign. LOL I believe it is in my Jeep but can’t check until I pick it up from Easy Glass.  Darn phones. !!LOL

I earned a speeding ticket on Highway 23. I think most of you know my thoughts on traffic cops. As I have said before the traffic division of any police department is were they put the lowest performing officers as it doesn’t take much intelligence to hold a radar gun. They are the golden goose though for the department. Purely revenue focused with no common sense.  To be 20kms over is so minute( that is 12mph)  that anyone with any kind of standard rationale would understand this is riduculous to punish someone other than soley for purpose of revenue for the department. 100kmph is too slow. That is 63 mph which is slower than we drove before our metric change as we were 65. The cars today are comfortable at 75 mph. Won’t happen as the dollar loss would be huge. I do not understand how anyone can come home at night after a day at work and feel they did a good job when they are doing such stupid acts. I am positive most traffic cops were bullied as kids, have low self esteem and no confidence, so they became a cop to have power over others. Someone driving erratic , or slow is dangerous. 12 mph ticket over it is ludicrous. Money talks !! Oh well another court building visit. On the bright side this was the first WANT TO BE A COP ( Alberta Sheriff) I have encountered that was cordial.

Rain for a couple of days. I have a tee time booked for Jeff & I at Turner Valley on Wednesday and the girls and us have a tee booked at the new Phil Mickelson course in Calgary. This is a brand new Phil designed course that will be private but they are allowing the everyday guy or gal to pay free once. Should be fun.

As if I didn’t know exactly where my phone was. Sitting right on the front seat where I left it. LOL

Thought of the Day 

I don’t lose my phone often but every time it is on silent.

September 10-12th 

Rain and rain. Lots if it.

I think Sept 11th will remain as one of those days most will never forget. I know Peter hated that his birthday fell on this day.  Today would have been Peter’s 85th birthday.

We headed down to Lethbridge for a visit with the girls and kids.  We were looking after the kids for a bit as it was a intro day at the school for August for parents only.  Heading Raymond around noon we decided to take the kids out for lunch. Ended up going to the local Burger Baron. Every small town used to have these and with their special sauce had great tasting burgers. Unfortunately most of them have disappeared.  They didn’t disappoint in food quality as the burgers were great. The fried perfect and the chicken fingers were perfect. Lots of choices of hard or soft ice cream. My only comment would be pricing. I understand needing to a profit and I am sure they aren’t getting rich but it seemed high with 2 kids ( one order shared) and 2 adults being $40 bucks. No complaints though and I would definitely go back.

We toured Raymond the town which is very nice. Quite a mixture of old housing and new. They do have a street issue with potholes and still gravel streets. Downtown main street is unique. Centre parking and lots of neat stores. Even a Home Hdwe store. Made me think that I should have bought one of these years ago as I loved hardware stores. I loved subs I guess just a little more. Nice rodeo grounds, rec center, hospital and rec center.

We played all afternoon and the kids were great. One dog that barks a way, way to much. I love the girls house with it’s design and texture.

Penny actually had a client this evening to try out her new space. Her small shop looks incredible.

Penny made us Chili tonight for supper. I love Chili. I love making chili. I love eating Chili. One year for our May Long pot luck we had each family make chili and had a little contest. Fred who uses moose and beef meat made what I considered the best. Tonight’s Chili was exceptional and is one of the best. Just missing the mushrooms.

Rain most of way home. Kept the speeding down after my incident.  Fun Day !!

Worked on my Viewpoint address book for hours. Still many hours to go. I decided to change the background from a shaded pic to nothing to save ink. Looks a little more sterile but will cost a lot less to produce. Last year we had too may changes with people selling due to death, illness or just a change of lifestyle. I will only leave when I can’t afford to come anymore or can’t come due to illness. I love my desert life !

Jeff and I played Turner Valley today. I love Turner Valley and it is my home course and in perfect shape this year. I played great today and accomplished the lowest score I have ever had on Turner Valley of 80. It is difficult with the bush and narrower fairways. I was very pleased how I played. Jeff struggled with a few things but is getting it worked out. It was nice out but  a storm cell passed through and we got poured on for three holes. Luckily it didn’t affect our game too much. A great outing. Can’t beat the Black Diamond Hotel and it’s food.

Thursday the first day of pre-school for August. MAN DOES TIME FLY !  It is a little scary as I have only approx. 20 years left if I make average life span. 20 summers doesn’t seem right. Come on weather smarten up I need 20 years of horrible winters in Calgary, beautiful hot summers in Calgary and wonderful winters in Mesa AZ. I have been retired for 5 yrs already so only times  4 and poof ! Darn !  Good thing I still have my good looks and no physical conditions that I know of. LOL

“Memories”

School is the best. Luckily I was relatively good at it so no stress there. But the fun over the years was amazing. Here is a few things I remember over the years from Grade 1 to 12.

• I had a bad cold as I was often sick. In first grade the teacher asked us what was the name of a baby deer. I put my hand up as I knew the answer and I couldn’t talk due to laryngitis from my cold. Nothing would come out. The class burst out laughing and I burst out crying to the hallway and ran home about one block.
• I had a teacher Mrs Ibsen that was tough. She yelled and looked mean. Scared me. I am sure I cried due to her. I am not sure but I think my Mom had a talk with her.
• On the swings with Jim Kruse when these Grade 4 bullies which to us were “BIG ” kids,pushed us off the swings and onto the ground a couple of times. With a few punches thrown in for good measure.
• Grade 5 portable for a class room was great. This older student in Grade 5 but had failed once if not more and a few friends and I were playing in the portable during recess. Dwayne pulled off Cheryl Kool’s blouse and bra and she ran around the room. She was well endowed by Grade 5 standards.  I will say us boys loved it. Cheryl seemed to enjoy the bouncy run.
• Wrote a “love letter” to this girl I liked, Karen Carter but unfortunately my buddies got a hold of it. Took a far amount of teasing on that.
• Nothing more fun than snapping a training bra strap.
• Had a week long “SIT OUT” when the school fired our favorite teacher for smoking pot. 
• Skipping school and having your Mom and your friends Mom drive out the lake we were at and forcibly take us home wasn’t good for the image or cool factor.
• Mr Popil another scary teacher. When he gave someone the strap his feet would  literally lift off the ground. He would throw pencils and chalk brushes at you if you were talking or not paying attention. And I mean full force throw right at you. I don’t know how we didn’t lose an eye.  
• Sitting in the hallway and when a girl came by in a dress laying across the hallway so she had to jump over us. There would be at least 10 guys in group.
• Having a girl dance on the roof of my car right outside the principle’s office with no shirt on. I had a great stereo and a little lemon gin you never knew what was going to happen.
• Mr Bill Wolosyhn our gym teacher in high school hated long hair. I got into a tussle with him and it ended up with him pulling my hair as hard as he could and me holding him up to the lockers by the neck. Took a long time before either one of us would give up.
• I had this girl save me a seat on the bus every day to sit beside her. 30 years later she became a minister. I would never have thought. I had to leave the bus quite a few times with my book or coat  in front of me.
• In Grade 10 I was walking down the crowded hallway when these two Grade 12 guys came running down it towards me. I have no idea why but I put out my hip for a hip check and the guy literally dove head first into the lockers. Glasses all bent and came up hurting. Angry he came at me and just in time his friend  Warren Crowell stops him from giving me a beating. Both guys were 6’4 at least and a lot heavier than I. 
• Skipped enough high school and ending up in the same place each time, the spot became known by the locals as Willards Hill. A large hill just outside of Stony Plain where you could see from both directions if any cops were coming. Had a lot of fun on that hill. !!
• Having a girl roll my car over a cliff numerous times totally destroying it. A beautiful 1968 Dodge Dart GT with Cragar SS all the way around and white vinyl bucket interior. Luckily only minor injuries to the 4 occupants as the drop was huge. Didn’t get a cent from her !!
• Called into the principles office as this Grade 10 girl who was found to be drunk ratted me out for buying her liquor. Best defense ever!  .” She must be real drunk. How could I buy her liquor when I am not even 18 yet and allowed in the liquor stores. I have no idea why she would say my name. I did see her in class this morning ”  In Grade 12 I took a filler course ART 10 which was mostly girls. I made a lot of money bootlegging beer. LOL
• The dances, the playing hockey in the hallways, snow fights, socializing, and good friends make school one of the best times of your life,

Wendy, Jeff and us had registered to play the new Phil Michelson course in Calgary out at Harmony. They had only 10 holes ready but it was free, new and wonderful. This private course when open will be spectacular. I would say one the nicest we have in Calgary. Great day . Everyone had a good game today with Jackie and Wendy having some great hits. a great one of a kind expereince on a nice sunny day.

The day ended up with us visiting the National a brewhouse in Westhills. We all loved the place and our food choices. My Clive burger was excellent. They also serve 2 oz cocktails. Yahoo !  Good Ceasers but the menu said with a celery stick and I got a pickle. But very good tasting.  We will be back. Too far away to be our go to place. The far south needs more places to eat that are great. I miss Harvey’s, I want a Olive Garden , only one KFC in Midnapore plus we need new cool places like this.

Thought of the Day                                                    

Funny how drinking 8 glasses of water in a day seems impossible but 8 beer in 4 hours goes down faster than the large kid on the see-saw when the other kid jumps off.

Memories

In Grade One at Niton Junction school I was out playing with my cousin on the see saw during recess. The bell rang and he jumped off making me crash to the ground with my foot under the see saw. Sprained my ankle badly. I managed to get into school and on the bus but when I got dropped off at my Dad’s service station the walk was too far and the ankle too sore to walk. I remember sitting at the road end crying for someone to help. Still today I have had one ankle that has been sprained numerous times and is weaker than the other. Thanks Cous !

September 13th-15th

Paid my Mesa insurance. Quite expensive compared to Canadian insurance.

Checked on the shipping status of my sink for the Saloon.

Working today at the lot including a long talk with the neighbor and a couple of beers. He was the President of the Union for CP Rail for 26 years. That is impressive to get voted in so many times.

I installed a closet rod in the Saloon. I found a replacement latch on Amazon for my motorhome sliding closet door so I took apart the old one. I changed the position of the my TV swivel in the Gazebo to get better visibility and have the light less blocked. I tightened ONE MILLION allen screws in my Gazebo and I was surprised how many were loose. The winds moving it they must back off a bit. I sorted and organized all of my tool boxes and tools. I put together a new deck box for some of our cushions. A good day

Jackie came out and we had a nice supper and a great walk around the park. I laughed at her as she has caught a cold from Atticus. How can I full grown immune system not handle a kids cold. LOL  Nothing like a summer cold. ( fall not until Sept 21st).

Full moon and Friday the 13th today. What is going to happen ?

I pressure washed the deck today as the popular buds and bird dropping were staining it. The  birds are horrible here as they eat these black berries we have in the park trees and then drop red colored shit everywhere. The buds are like glue so I pressure washed enough to take it back to raw wood. After our get together on Sunday I will sand and re-oil Monday morning, I am thinking I should be done by noon or so. It will look like brand new again. I wanted and love Cedar but it does take a little maintenance. But all worth it with the looks.

I noticed a few lots packing up for the season.  Come on people we are going to get a wonderful Indian Summer this year and you need to enjoy it. Until we start hitting consistent -3 or 4 degrees I won’t winterize the motorhome.

Just before bed we decided to have a crib match. First game a close one but my middle name being Crib helped me squeak out the win. The second game which ended up being a great game as it stunk. Yes you read right. A wonderful skunk. 3-0. Love crib.

Watched more Jack Ryan on our new Tv and love Prime !

Had a slow internet issue so had to get that fixed. Why is internet no matter where you are so difficult to manage correctly. It is because they want to charge for every transfer rate Mbps they can so keep it slow hoping people will buy a more expensive plan

The wind last night was so loud and steady it gave Jackie and I headaches. Amazing amount of wind we have received this year.

Up early and headed into Strathmore for milk, a birthday cake and Chinese Food for our Jackie’s birthday celebration. We have Jess, Pen, August, Atticus, Audrey, Alan, MaryAnn, Tor, Cor , Jackson and us coming out. I bought the dinner for 8.

Does anyone else hate diets ? I am sure so many people are destroying their metabolism with all of the fad diets. Keto, Mediterranean, Paleo, Atkins, Vegan, Dukan etc.Most which never work and are created by media to sell something or advertisements. Weight loss is a Simple Calculation. Energy consumed, energy used and if a negative sum you will lose weight. You could eat 1000 calories of just ice cream a day and you would lose weight if your body needs 1200 calories. Eat everything in moderation and do your simple calculation and you will be surprised.  If you sit all day in a chair and think just eating less food will cause weight loss guess again. You need to burn calories or your body starts to store fat . JUST MOVE The reason this comes up is the amount of food left over. People are starving themselves .

It was a great day with the weather turning out wonderful. Plans changed as the girls were originally going golfing with Jackie but somehow that got waylaid. I could have bought for 4 people with the qty of food left. Left over Chinese is great though. Diets !!  It was nice sitting around and wishing Jackie 59 forever. The kids played at the park and went swimming a couple of times. The odd event triggered off the odd kid but overall great. It is amazing the difference when parents are around how a kid acts compared to when left alone .

This picture made my smile and then laugh out loud. If anyone knows me I have an aversion to vests. They just don’t make any sense what so ever. Your extremities get cold and can fall off if frostbitten. They get cold first and the most. No arm covering including shoulder to tip of finger. Warm heart no arms is illogical. Looking at the picture I see Audrey is wearing one. I said to myself ok she is 80 plus so living up to an older person image makes sense. My Mom wears one all of time and used to bug my Dad who always wore one but it is now her favorite  also. They bring in truckloads of them to Arizona to sell. My neighbor used to wear one all of the time. Then I see MaryAnn and I go WHAT ?  You see the picture of Atticus and you can tell by no clothes and the bar length it is HOT outside.  Let’s pretend they are believed to be a fashion statement. Maybe like a scarf or pashmina which to me doesn’t add one thing to the fashion. But everyone to their own. It is a good thing we are all so different. I do remember having suits with vests. Why ? They were a way too hot, and the extra layer of stiffness but I did think they were semi cool. I do like cowboy vests. I love leather vests on ladies. Perhaps I can slowly come around before getting old and trying them. I promise I have to be very very old. I am thinking I like Atticus’s accessory more and may look at getting one of those .

It was a very nice and hopefully Jackie enjoyed her 59th Birthday celebration. I understand it is the 59th for a few years coming up.

Thought of the Day 

I discovered the secret to staying young

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Lie about your age !!

August 16th

The weather today was wonderful. I had pressure washed the deck the day before as between the bird shit ( they are eating the ripe blackberries off our tree and shitting purple poop) and the popular buds from this spring I wanted to see how it would turn out. I decided about 1/4 way in to redo the deck. It has been two years and these factors plus sun and dirt take their toll. The pressure washer removed any loose stuff including tung oil so I only had about a hours worth of sanding. It is quite relaxing really sanding and sanding. After re-oiling it is like brand new again and looking wonderful.  Great day and great results. I also re-oiled my wagon wheels and fence on the other side of the shed. All looking great again.  I love my cedar deck and am very happy choosing this over pressure treated or composite. Can not beat the looks.

Started about 9am and finished everything about 4 pm so a nice easy day. Just made me think how nice it is not to have to worry about fitting work in.

I had a big left over Chinese lunch which was nice.

Thought of the Day 

Make each day YOUR Masterpiece ! 

Sept 17th 

The most important day this year. Jackie’s birthday day. It is an odd year as I know she will be this age for a few years. I will need to remember it is her 59th birthday for the next few. Yep she is getting old. Good thing I married a few years younger than I.

Jackie is the best thing that happened me. Without her I am sure I would have been in jail and had no career or family. I was very lucky to meet her at the right time . Here are some pictures of her through the years. Not only very smart, too giving to a fault, kind, funny, sexy, hard working but beautiful still today. We have had a lot of fun and continue to do so.

She came out of the bedroom today and it shocked me. Here she had a light VEST on. I  screamed NOooooo.  I may need to start a petition against these monstrosities. Vests are for hunters, fishermen, police and cowboys. Leather vest as I said before as a lingerie item on a lady is good. Luckily she took it off soon after. Whoa !

Finally received my Amazon shipment. Living in a condo sucks for Amazon delivery. Being Prime now Amazon doesn’t use Canada Post.  I will come up with a fix for this. I still have my sink which is large item coming that I am sure will result in chasing it also. The pro’s and con’s of multifamily.

Whipped out to Oasis and installed my mini blinds in the Saloon. I wanted to cut them to fit inside the openings but they will only cut the expensive brand. So rather than spend $45 per blind I went with the outside install method which when hung look great. These were only $13 per blind. I like that.

Two other projects for today. First I installed my black annealed pipe towel holder. I went to Lowes and Depot and they have the same stock. The black color on the nipples is totally different from the elbow, cap and flange. I still love the look and got it installed.

My Amazon delivery was my sliding door catch in the motorhome. A little bit of a poor design from the factory here as the latch on the existing and this one strike the door if pulled wide open and can scratch it. Installed it and it is the duplicate of the original which I never thought I would find. Awesome for Amazon ! Done for the day.

Jackie and Audrey went out and got their birthday manicure and pedicure. Jackie chose RED which sort of is a present for me as it is my favorite color for ladies nails or toes. Looks wonderful.

Worked on my Powerpoint file for our 800 Block address book we use in Arizona. Need two more responses to update and print again. If I printed a new one for each unit it would be 900 pages. I bought a large pack of ink cartridges from Amazon so should be ok. I need a quick stop at Staples for photo paper before I print. Hopefully the two missing units respond. You know old people sometimes when a stranger asks for personal info they think they are being cyper attacked. LOL Oh those old people.

Funny not using Office much anymore I have to struggle to find ways t to make things work. Picture shape, text in front or back, overlapping text boxes, sizing etc. I enjoy all Office products. I took courses when I first became a manager to better understand these and enrolled every sales rep to bring them up to speed. Where they ended up in knowledge of each was determined by their own desire to learn. Some excelled ( pun on words) like Arnie, some not so much. I even took a Office course on a cruise to make a movie instead of Powerpoint for  Victoria’s wedding. Moviemaker was a fun software to use.

Off to Stage West tonight for Jackie’s birthday !! Supposed to be a funny one. Lets hope. The last play we saw in Rosebud was awesome so here is hoping. I know the food will be good.

First I will talk about the food. Stage West buffets are always amazing. They have a specialty salad bar. They have a specialty Sushi bar. They have a huge desert bar. They have the cold salad and dish bar. They have a specialty grill bar. They have seafood bar. And then the main course hot food bar including the roast beef . It was fantastic.  That jumbo shrimp bar was a dream. Shrimp with sauce and New York Cheese cake is my favorite. On one cruise vacation I had that for 14 days straight. Love the food.

Now me being a lot more English than most people, 82 percent to be exact, I have a true affection, understanding and a true acclimation for English humour. Sorry that was an oxymoron as you can’t put English and humour in the same sentence. I will use English wit. I only know of one guy that is English that is funny and he is John Cleese which is the best there is. Perhaps Mr Bean the only other. Being a farce you really don’t laugh, you groan. The actors were fantastic. They all were superb. The only problem is you need a funny script. A way too few one liners. Something the English were never good at. Some good slapstick but they could have really pushed this. Overall a fun play to watch but you just kept waiting for it to get funny. One has to remember :

Comedy is a work of art which is amusing and intended to be humorous.

Farce, as defined by the literal dictionary meaning means “a play that depends for its humor on quick and surprising turns of events and on exaggerated characters and situations, or the type of humor characteristic of such a play.”

That is the biggest difference between American comedy and British comedy.

It was a nice night. Great food. Good play and wonderful company.

Waiting for doors to open we were joking with one another. I don’t know the exact number of people there so I will estimate 200. Out of 200 there were 10 people , 3 couples on dates, that were younger than 60. A whole group of cotton heads, silver foxes and just plain old people. Thought I was in Arizona as that is the way it is down there.

Happy Birthday !

Thought of the Day 

Age is just a number someone once said. They forgot to say it isn’t the same once the number becomes a high one.

Sept 18th

8am the fire alarm is going strong. Today is testing day in all of the units and as they are tied together everyone’s unit has lights blinking and alarms ringing. Noisy but good that as a condo we are cautious. This made me think as after 10 years it is recommended and expected to change out your co2 and fire alarm.

“MY RANT” 

The crazy world we are living in today-

This will be encompassing a lot of  subjects in short form.

• SAFETY – In the name of safety and we all know that we have gone overboard on this. A perfectly working alarm must be changed out after 10 years. Doesn’t anyone question this ? Isn’t it in the best interests of the factory to recommend this to keep a cash flow going ? If it is working it shouldn’t need changing.  Between helmets, car seats, life jackets, safety lock outs on tools, sunscreen, job safety and the list goes on we are going overkill. Creates income streams and jobs and may save the odd life . Not too many .
• FOOD ALLERGIES-   Why is everyone becoming allergic to everything. We have fish allergies, shellfish allergies, gluten, lactose, dairy,peanuts, eggs, soy and the list goes on. 90% of the people could “cure” themselves but fall for the marketing, fear mongering ,and trendy issue that makes having one of these “cool”. Most of these are limited to younger children as they adjust to their food intake.  There are a few that can have a anaphylactic reaction that requires a EpiPen that need to be careful .A lot of people out grow their allergies.  The thing is, allergic, intolerance and sensitivity are all lumped in as one and are totally different. If most people would try oral immunotherapy they could cure themselves. But they are scared by media propaganda. All of this has created a huge industry for the food markets in restaurants and manufactures that have created their own market. 
• DIET INDUSTRY-  the weight loss industry in North American is over 80 billion dollars. Doesn’t anyone get it. We are being taken. Look how many gyms and programs are running. We have the food industry producing sugar laden food and we have the weight loss people selling memberships and programs. Amazing . A fat person is going to die due their eating habits. ” Fat is beautiful” They don’t get it. It is killing them to be beautiful.  Again a simple calculation. Energy in ( calories in ) Energy spent ( living and moving ) and if spent is greater than in you will lose weight. Then you can concentrate on what is good for you versus just calories.
•  FEELINGS- as a society we are becoming out of control worried about everybody’s feelings. Participation metals should NEVER exist. Do you want average achievers or excellence ? Kids need to learn to try hard to WIN. Bullies have existed forever and even with all of the regulations will always be around. While wrong and needs to be controlled and knowing excessive can be dangerous everyday incidences do make a kid stronger. They learn to cope, fight back and change. The determination of excessive is the hard part as what affects one kid may not affect another in the same way but this is the parents job to help but not isolate them from a natural occurring action of all animals. All of the movements are getting out of control. A man can no longer flirt with a lady out of fear. A woman can no longer dress sexy out of fear of judgement. I guess  phone sex between to consenting adults will be the new norm to avoid lawsuits. I feel for the younger generation.
• MEDICAL INDUSTRY- We have to trust these guys but the whole system is profit driven.  Thalidomide– no sane mother would have ever used this drug if she had known the side effects. The doctors trusted the pharma companies and guess what it caused huge chaos and suffering for millions. Lawsuits and compensation don’t cut it. Ritalin – for doctors any kid that was a little too active this is what they prescribed. The side effects are huge.  It is claimed thru multiple lawsuits ADHD was invented by the American Psychiatric Society to invent a market and promote this gold mine of a  drug as a cure. Lipitor – sales expected by 2020 of 1 Trillion dollars. You don’t think they are going to promote this as much as they can. I have talked about this one a lot but a new study out of the UK suggests it increases our lifespan by 4 days. This after all of the side effects. Do your own research if this is the be all to end all life saving drug it is supposed to be why has our average life expectancy not gone a way up in the last 10 years. This maybe the biggest fraud, and the biggest lawsuit in history in the near future. There are over 20 drugs now on a class action lawsuit that have caused harm to us. Most recent Oxycontin. Doctors handed this out like candy. The manufacturer just filed for bankruptcy with 10 billion in a reserve to settle lawsuits. Zantac– the go to pill for anyone is now being investigated 

“BUT THAT IS JUST ME ! “

I had the alarms changed which is all good.

Today Jeff & Wendy invited us to golf with them at Heritage Point . This is a public premier golf course with a standard rack rate of $110 with cart. I normally wouldn’t play such an expensive course but we were fortunate to have this gifted to us by Jeff & Wendy. Very generous. The day turned out very nice hitting about 16 degrees at it’s hottest. I would say the golf was not stellar but the course and company definitely was. I only played this course once before about 20 years ago. It is fantastic. One of our best. We all struggled a bit but as always was fun.

I ran into the old GM of Heatherglen Golf , Joel who now works here as a pro. A nice guy and a great chat.

After golf we headed to the Berwick Pub. A waiting line at a pub. Busy. Luckily we got in fairly fast and some great wings and beer.

Fun day and fun night.

Thought of the Day 

They call it golf as all of the other 4 letter words were taken.

Sept 19th -21st 

I had my last organized men’s league today. Golfed with our group mixed with the league players from Vulcan. I had a lot fun all day and we had perfect wonderful weather. Even though I had the lowest score in my group I wasn’t pleased overall. I didn’t lose one ball off the tee which at Turner Valley isn’t easy but the greens had just been shaved and were lightning fast. Scary fast. A great group today but we didn’t make any money. I had 4 birdie short tries and failed. Darn.  The soup and sandwich special today was super.

Picked up Jeff & Wendy and headed to Crowsnest Pass to play the new designed course in Blairmore. Wendy found us a deal on groupon which was great. It is always a easy nice drive down Cowboy Trail to the pass.

No wind in the pass which is unheard of plus nice and warm .

The course is spectacular. In my opinion it rivals ANY mountain course BC has. The beauty, the mountain views, the elevations all were first class.  The new clubhouse when done will be amazing. The course was in first class shape. If I was going to say anything about it would be it is confusing where the next hole is as they juggle us around to make 18 during the make over. My GPS didn’t work so hopefully the next update it will include this course in it’s final design. I loved it and will be back for sure more than once. Jackie made us sandwiches for lunch and a few beer on the course and it was the perfect meal. The golfing had it’s up and downs for everyone. The ladies had some incredible drives. Wendy had some great holes. It was the shortest yardage I have seen though from a ladies tee box at 3976 yards. I played quite well over all and was only 2 over par for the front nine.  The pace was great, the scenary great and we had a lot of fun.

Finished our round and headed to our Travelodge Hotel. Redone, make over, made the rooms quite nice especially for the price.

Started to pour rain just as we were changing to go out for supper. Ladies don’t like to get their wet. We headed into Coleman to the RumRunner Bar. Neat decor. Excellent food. I had steak but was a little sorry as the fish & chip specials kept passing me. The fish was huge !! We had great service. One of those funny things happened where you might need to be there to find it funny but it was funny. Our younger waitress comes to our table to ask us for our requests.  To get the billing correct I to say to her as I point at Jackie ” I am with her” Wendy pipes up ” Larry ,she isn’t trying to pick you up” The waitress and us all had a great laugh.  Great place to go if you want wonderful food.

A fun day and evening.

It turns out the steak causes gas. I couldn’t hardly stand myself.  Good thing we had a King bed as I couldn’t find Jackie.

We had our free continental breakfast. I do have to say it was the smallest selection I have ever seen. Porridge, yogurt, bread, buns and waffles or cereal. Small but still works just fine.

Out of the door at 10am and we head to Nanton for a noon tee time. Wonderful sunny drive with it hitting 20 degrees today. We used to play Nanton a lot but for the last few years haven’t due to being a member at Turner and being retired.Jackie decided today her thumb was too sore to play do she was Wendy’s caddie.  The course was in excellent shape. Fast greens and the fairways lush. Another good and bad day with some great shots and some bad ones. We all had fun and enjoyed it. Jeff played quite well today. I had a wonderful shot on a Par 4 where I hit the green from the tee. It is a 329 yard short Par 4 but if you cross the water it is only about 235 yards. Landed and  stuck the green. No eagle but I will take a birdie any day. This was the first time EVER I wore my glasses to golf. I forgot I had them on and headed out when I normally leave them in the car. Not wanting to scratch them I thought lets see what happens. I LOVE the fact I can see the ball even when it is 300 yards out. It makes it nice and clear. I didn’t want to give up on them but being progressive I found out if I tilt my head at the wrong angle it changes in appearance how far the ball is away. I hit the ground a few times as I was swinging to low thinking I wasn’t. Putting also when looking far to the hole and back down you have to be careful as the depth perception is off. After it all I like more than dislike so in unimportant times I will wear them more often to get the hang of it. No excuse just reality.

After golf we hit up our Nanton favorite restaurant The Wild Thyme Café. Homemade real Italian cuisine and fantastic. The owner even personally greets everyone. The service awesome and food wonderful. Stop by here to support this guy as it is well worth it. The place is for sale which may chase some away but it has been for sale for years. The owner is getting old. SUPER GOOD FOOD !

A nice few day get away that was a lot of fun.

Look at this weather forecast.  I hate cold weather and this is ridiculous.  Makes me think about staying 180 days in the States as this is just plain horrible. We have had more rain and cold than EVER this year. Only 7 days above 25 degrees and 71 day with rain. Now this.  The Almanac says a horrible winter ahead for Alberta. That just isn’t fun.

I am in disbelief that the year has gone so fast again. It is a little scary. I may need a few boring days just so time doesn’t fly by so quickly. At -5 degrees I will need to let my motorhome furnace run not to freeze up as it has to warm up. I don’t want to winterize everything. Let all those young do gooder kids freeze their butts off this winter and then tell me it is climate warming.

Thought of the Day 

It takes hundreds of golf shots to gain confidence but only one lousy slice to destroy it 

Sept 22nd-

 

Off to Lethbridge to install an underground irrigation system for the girls. It is always hard to work away from home as you never have the tools you need. I had to pick up a trencher from Wards Rentals which weighs 230 pounds and put it into the back of Jessica’s truck. Two guys no problem so I will see what I can figure out for a ramp etc. I hope to get all of the piping run and will install the heads in the spring and after the lawn is laid.

The weather today was excellent to work in. About 18 or 20 degrees and cloudy with a slight breeze gusting a bit. A 15 hour work day. Up at 6:30am and got home at 9:30pm. I went to Wards Rental in Lethbridge and these guys as in previous experiences are awesome. I picked up my 230 pound monster. Two young guys loaded it in the back of the truck and when talking to the desk clerk he let me have a ramp to use to unload and reload. That is service.

This thing is heavy.

I thought it would be self propelled but it isn’t and after using it I see why. It is like using a jack hammer and rototiller in one. I dug the drenches 12″ deep. It has a ratchet spring wheel clog system. You are actually pulling it back every few inches to lock into place as it digs down.  It is bouncing, it is heavy to pull back and it takes a while. I DUG 300FT of TRENCH. I wore my mechanics gloves but it still got to my hands. I have three huge water blisters that all popped and a real sore palm from the bumps  in the grips. My shoulders feel like lead weights are on them. But all good to get it done and deep enough there is no worry about aeration spikes hitting it. The lot is huge so I made into three zones. Each sprinkler has the capacity to do reach 20- 30 ft. As the girls still do not have a landscape plan I was left guessing. I installed one center line with 360 degree heads. I installed one line about 1 foot away from the fence. I figure if they put trees or landscaping the pop up will still work and on the neighbors side I put it about 4 ft away to allow trees to be planted closer to the fence. I am hoping to have very few “dry” spots were I don’t get coverage. I know of one for sure but I can add another head if needed. That is where a landscape plan helps big time. On the return of the trencher I told them I lost one tooth. They charge $15 a tooth as they are a large metal piece that does the digging. Hitting a rock it broke  off. One is not bad as I did run into a few rocks. Ward Rentals ( if renting in Lethbridge you have to use these guys) when leaving and discussing what I was doing suggested this landscape place to get my irrigation. Wow it is a irrigation wholesaler with a 3 acre lot of product and knowledge. It was priced a way cheaper than the Depot and I have commercial grade HUNTER heads. I got everything installed including my valve box which makes the job look professional. In the spring I will adjust and install the different nozzles. I didn’t want to do that now as I need a manifold and connection system to blow it out and was short of time and energy. I told the girls about $400 to $500 and it came in about $525. That is money well spent to have a lush easy to take care of lawn. The yard is just too big to haul around a sprinkler to get coverage. A professional installed system ( they have to have a landscape plan to work with) for a lot this size would be at around  4 to 5 thousand dollars.  This system will work JUST as good as the professional system with some tweaking. In the future if they want it to be auto I can add that for about $150 . Their system is designed to add drip irrigation  to flower beds around the patio if they choose and beds or trees on the neighbors side.

This is the third system I have installed as I had one in St Albert and in Shawnessy. I loved them and never had a problem with them. This one is the biggest system due to the size of the lot and using pop ups rather than gear driven. I am looking forward to spring to see what kind of coverage and dead spots it has.

Just checked the 14 day forecast and after Thursday of this week the highest temperature we see is 7 above with low as low as -9. Have to winterize.

Thought of the Day 

This Do It Yourself Project isn’t as fun as the Drink It Yourself Projects in the south. Brings a whole new meaning to DIY. 

Sept 24th-26th

“MY RANT” 

We give a 16 year girl Greta Thunberg a platform to talk at the Climate Change Forum in front of the world leaders. Unbelievable. At 16 NO child has the knowledge, the expertise or experience to have a educated opinion on anything !  Only a guided opinion indocrated by some parent.The media is blowing up her profile like unbelievable.  She arrived via solar powered boat so I give her kudo’s there compared to people like David Suzuki or Al Gore.. We continue to give coverage on these ” big stories” instead of facing reality. I will say her speech is passionate. She supposedly has Asperger’s which is difficult to know as a main character of this condition is a person that has persistent difficulties with social interaction and social communication. She doesn’t exhibit any of that. We are all aware of the need for some changes but they have to be done in a economic sustainable way and with every country’s participation. In a way I believe her parents are committing child abuse. To put an innocent child in such a spotlight knowing very well it is a controversial subject isn’t right. She needs to keep quiet and go to her bedroom as with the media hype it will affect some other children to believe her rhetoric. The greatest threat to our way of life isn’t nuclear weapons, market crash or war it is the environmentalist agenda  to have us all eating unhealthy food, use no fossil fuels and live in a impoverished state due to following an unsustainable agenda. There is not one product we use or need for everyday life that doesn’t leave a carbon footprint in manufacturing or delivery.

“BUT THAT”S JUST ME !”

We are hitting -9 degrees coming up which is too cold not to winterize the motorhome. I went into Canadian Tire and right at the front, pallets of plumbing antifreeze.  They had 4 liter jugs on sale for $12.99. I thought to myself wow has this ever gone up in price. I searched the aisles and couldn’t find any other. I thought I would head to Walmart to check them out but stopped at the service counter first and was told they had pallets at the back of the store. Finally found them and they meant back of the store. I got a 10 liter jug for $14.99 which is good pricing. I felt a little annoyed they would promote a expensive kind at the front of store as a lot of people would just walk out with a jug or walked out of the store with out buying. I think a dumb marketing idea that in my mind is more negative than increasing sales..

Our motorhome every year causes me grief to winterize.  I can winterize an RV in 10 minutes and every year this motorhome takes me a hour. I have a bypass of the hot water heater, I have a bypass for the filter system, a difficult metal HWH plug, a pick up valve control, and a drinking water tank bypass knob.  This was the first time I got it right the first time and finished it in about 20 minutes.  I pulled in the slides after rubber conditioning them because  if we get the predicted 10 to 20cms of snow it can rip and stretch the slide-out awnings over the slides. Cleaned up a few things, warmed the engine and tranny up, and checked water levels in the batteries.

It was warm out, then a shower, then warm. I was putting and taking off my jacket like mad. Shoulders still extremely stiff. Time fixes everything.

I picked up two Amazon shipments at the Sobey’s post office. I am going to try this every time as it works perfect as I can pick up on my schedule. Too bad Amazon didn’t let me do this with my sink. Received my speaker cloth for my bedroom TV to fill the space going from a square TV to a rectangular one. These will look like a real speaker and professionally finished.

Wendy & Jeff invited me to golf with them at Heritage Point again to use up some passes they bought. Very kind of them as I have said before I wouldn’t ever golf at Heritage due to the expensive pricing. I will give back to this couple in the near future somehow. The weather turned out again to be a fantastic fall day. This is one beautiful course with spectacular elevations and amazing holes. It was alot of fun. There was as usual some great golf, some very poor golf but all fun golf. The hole designs caused a bit of issues not knowing the distance where the fairways ends but I did quite well. A mid 80’s score on a difficult and new course I can live with. Wendy continues to hit the ball exceptionally well off the tee and is improving the other aspects of her game all of the time. Jeff is still working out the kinks and changes to his swing and plane after lessons but I am sure after golfing this winter in Arizona he will be a lot more consistent.

Entering my scores I notice my average is higher this year than the past 3. I only had three games this year in the 70’s where past years I had 8 to 10. Hence my handicap increase. Turner Valley golf course being the instigator with losing balls off the tee. I seemingly have that fixed for the most part now.

In the balmy 9 degree weather I headed out to Oasis.

I created my faux speaker for over top of the new smart TV in the bedroom. The speaker cloth from Amazon was perfect as you couldn’t see thru it and looked great. I used a 1 x 6 Cedar fence board and cut it with rounded corners. I stretched and stapled the cloth on and wow just like a speaker and correct sizing. I installed it with velcro but will do some travelling to see if this is heavy duty enough. I like the looks of it and it completes the TV change out.

I drilled a hole and installed my new spigot into my rain barrel and it looks great and will work perfect for next year. All of the time freezing my hands. I hate cold !!

I feel sad that that the summer went by soooo fast. Even though got I a lot done and was very busy everyday I feel it was a lousy due to weather and time went by tooooo quickly.  When I think about it I could never imagine Jackie being so old.

I am heading up to Edmonton tomorrow to my Mom’s bank to redo her investments. As she wants to her money to be safe our main vehicle is GIC’s. It is amazing to me that the bank rate is 2% return on a 5 year non redeemable  while the cost of inflation is 2% percent. Yet they are allowed to charge 18 % or more on their credit cards. Our govt needs to look into this as in my mind this is loan sharking and they should be punished.  To put this in perspective if you had 1 million dollars in a GIC the return would be only $20K.  That is just not right.  I still get upset when I see our returns on our at risk investments of only 6% or so. As a retiree I would love the interest rates to sky rocket. LOL

Thought of the Day 

 ” All of my bills in the mail I am receiving say OUTSTANDING. I guess I am ok with that”

September 27th-29th

I forgot to mention a fun event Jackie & I had coming back from downtown Calgary where we picked up some wool for Audrey.

We get to a stop light on the Blackfoot Trail where right after the light is a merge lane. I pull up beside this window darkened Tesla Model S. Right behind him is a BMW M4. I started to tell Jackie about how quick a Tesla is. I said I am going to boot it and see if the guy will let me merge in. Knowing when I speed off the Tesla will respond and M4 will follow. Just causal observation and knowledge of how a sports car mind works. LOL The light turns green and I boot it.  Just like I predicted the Tesla booted it and the BMW right behind it. I will say I didn’t have to worry about merging as the cars flew past me in time to get over to the lane. It was a lot of fun and predictable. Even Jackie was laughing as we hit 100kph in about a block. Here are the factory times 0-60mph. Jeep Wrangler 6.7 seconds, BMW M4 3.8 secs and the Tesla 3.0 seconds. That is fast. I would have loved to have had my Camaro to see what it could do. The BMW driver flew past us all down the road after the Telsa slowed up.  Makes for a fun evening drive for me !

I got everything all fixed up at the bank for Mom. Negotiated a rate increase over the banks published rates which is good but as I said it is just not right what they pay. Jackie and I for years have used the laddered GIC system as it allows for renewing when rates are higher or lower each year not to take a hit every 3 to 5 years.  It worked well over the years as it is really dollar cost averaging. The bank sets the rate based on their loan and investment portfolio of the bank and in this case the 18 month term paid the highest so that is where the bulk of the investment is tabled in.  Mom is doing well and after my calculations I did 5 years ago for her and todays she is exactly on target. She has lots to spend unless she lives to 105 yrs old. It is nice to see her reap the rewards of her hard work.

We took Mom out for supper to Astro’s Restaurant in the west end right across from the Continental Inn. I visited this bar even when in high school so for a long time and on many occasions and never have been to Astro’s. Even taking customers out to many places in the west and never went here. Yet it is fantastic. A Greek family owns it and the food is wonderful. I had the veal cutlets which were amazing. It is normal pricing perhaps even on the higher side but the portion size, quality and service is first class. I normally tip 15% but it was so superior I gave 20% which brought the bill for the three of us to $90. Drinks and appetizers add up quickly. Try this place out as you won’t be disappointed.

Had a normal drive home with a little freezing rain but very little snow.

We are babysitting the boys for Jess & Pen tonight so we headed to get them. We decided to meet Jessica at Claresholm to do the transfer. We had lunch at the DQ and headed back home. I told all of them that the storm is coming and they should cancel their party but they decided to go ahead. The trip down was good with only slight drizzle and snow.

The boys are getting to an age now they are a little easier to entertain. We played all kinds of games. The had a bath. Played more and more. Watched a movie, had popcorn and treats and supper. Atticus has a cough so we had to give a shot of his puffer to help him breathe. August had a great sleep but Atticus awoke a few times.  Jackie slept in the bed with them.

We carved a pumpkin but kids attention span changed quickly and Jackie looked lonely as her students took off to play Lego.

Snowing big time outside and the warnings and watches continue.

The kids awoke and we played more games and had breakfast as best as they would eat. Atticus is a decent eater but August eats nothing.

Loaded them all up for the trip back to Lethbridge. We have about 6 to 8 inches so far. The highways were in rough shape . Not cleared at all. 50cms expected between Calgary and Lethbridge. Heavy snow laying on the road had us all drivng at 60 kph as it was throwing us around and pulling hard as it was so deep. I do have to say that the inventor of low profile tires should be sued. These are the worst tires made for winter. They really should be banned as rain and snow cause all kinds of issues with them.

“Memories”

I had a brand new Acura sports car years ago with low profile tires. It looked wonderful and performed very well but the first winter hit and they were a nightmare. I couldn’t stop at any intersection in time. Between ABS and low profile tires the car was unsafe. I phoned my purchaser agent at my office and told him I wanted four winter tires immediately put on my car and get it done asap. He found a great deal on some Blizzak tires. Like a totally new car. It was unbelievable to me the difference. I am 100% sold on winter tires and believe it should be LAW that everyone has them especially low profile tire cars.  Having said that NO ONE would put them on in September. 

We got to the second Okotoks turnoff . Between the heavy snow laying on the highway pulling us around, the wind blowing, and the tires on the Enclave I said to Jackie we should turn around as it would be a 4 hour drive and unsafe with the kids in the car as there are some dumb drivers out there. In fact beside the cars we saw in the ditch we watched one guy out of control but managed at the very last moment to save from ditching it. I love driving in the snow but not in this car and not with two young kids so we turned around and will look after them for another day. Remember I told them the storm was coming. LOL  I am hoping the plows and sanding guys get busy and clear the roads soon.

So we had to come up with plan to keep the kids busy. Lego, movies, games, and building a snowman kept them busy. A trip to McDonalds for them to play in the playroom after supper. August had a blast but poor little Atticus is just to young to keep up with the other kids. That is the problem being the young one.

Big difference between boys and girls. 5 minutes after construction come destruction. Young girls will marvel at the beauty and enjoy it rather than destroy it.

August had a saying he used a way too many time on everything ” No, no, no” Didn’t matter if he wanted it or not. His new favorite saying ( i think he is going to be a politician) is ” I really, really want that ——–”  I really want so bad ” Great at soliciting for want he wants and playing on guilt and needy feelings.

The snow is still coming down. Here is hoping the road crew get out early tomorrow. Volker Stevin in my mind is lacking in it’s need for urgency. No main corridor highway should have 6″ of snow on it between the tracks. That is always the risk of hiring out a third party to complete a process rather than the govt’s own employees. When you consider the pension and benefit package of union employees though I understand them doing this.

Funny my Mom phoned us tonight to tease us that in God’s country ( Edmonton) they didn’t have any snow. The news media had to over report again on the situation in southern Alberta.

We will leave mid morning with the kids as I am hoping between traffic and plows the conditions will be much approved. We are staying over night at Tor’s place as we babysit Jackson for week and look after Hazel while Tor & Cor are away on vacation. Plus Jackie has to work tomorrow.