March 1st 

Everyone tells you how fast time flies by and I will reiterate it doesn’t seem real that it can go by so fast. We have had some amazing times in the last 6 years.  We have had two grandkids born. We have bought a RV lot. We have made numerous trips both in Canada and Europe. I have had more projects than I can list in the last 6 years. We have some awesome times with friends. I have golfed more in 6 years than the rest of life combined and still am a double digit handicapper.  You know I believe retirement is the best time of your life but I am going to say again it is better than best it is wonderfully awesome. Jackie & I are so lucky to be able to do what we have done and in the future what we will do. I wish this on everyone. You do have to grab the bull by the horns though, take a little risk and let things just happen. We have some wonderful friends in Alberta and Mesa that make things that much better. Quite a unique  group from business friends, camping friends, golfing friends, party friends, old school friends and just nice people. Lucky .

JUST ONE THOUGHT ON THIS. RETIRE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS TIME FLIES AND YOU WANT AS MANY YEARS AS POSSIBLE LIVING THE GOOD LIFE. If that means a tent instead of a camper, once a month golfing , no eating out etc but make the jump to enjoy. To sit outside,relax and listen to the birds while everyone else is working, is divine. JUST DO IT !

Hopefully the market corrects itself quickly again so we can carry on like normal. You know it is cold in Arizona when I put my socks on with sandals, and you will know when the market hurts when I start mini golf instead of at the course.

The Coronavirus has been blown so far out of proportion it is ridiculous. It is destroying the world economy only because of the media. Yes some will die, yes a lot of people will get the virus and get sick but it still is small scale versus the regular flu which get very little coverage. I can’t figure out who is behind this as it doesn’t make sense. It is killing China and will affect every country that deals with them including the States.  How such a thing is so big and so front and center it is unbelievable. The news and  social media are all to blame to just keep feeding the frenzy.  It is not right. I hear of people going off booze for month, or pop for a year etc why not turn off the news for a year until they start to report real news with facts and try to create news and drama to scare people and win ratings.

Stock tip- Buy 3m stock as they are supplying all the masks needed for the flu as people panic and the price will go thru the roof. Time it right and you will make a bundle. Sad !

FYI in the 2017-2018 flu season 61,000 Americans died. So far Coronavirus has taken 2900 lives. Not even close or even in the same league and yet people are panicking and the stock market is plummeting. SHUT UP NEWS PEOPLE. At least it gets them off the climate crisis another news joke.

Today’s media is such a joke it is ridiculous and is difficult to fix as ratings are everything.

What a beautiful day.

We picked up Alan & MaryAnn at the new Terminal 3 in the Phoenix Airport. First time to pick up anyone there. Alan & MaryAnn say it is a beautiful terminal. I do know it is easier to get in and out with the cell lot so close.

Lucky the first day for them is nice and warm out.  We got them all fixed up and sat outside on the back deck in the sun. Always a great way to start a wind down.

I can’t load pictures right now in WordPress so hopefully they get that fixed.

We had arranged a golf game to get Fred out with Fred, Terry, Jeff, Wendy, Tracy, Ralph and us prior to knowing Alan & MaryAnn were coming. It all worked out perfect as Ann played as a sub for Terry and Terry decided to remain home and cook a meal for everyone after the game. It all worked out perfect as Alan & MaryAnn took our Buick for a ride and cooked us a wonderful meal of Ribeye Steaks and potatoes etc right after the game. Awesome meal.

After the suppers the 4 of us headed up to Fred’s place to visit. The 7 of them had already finished eating and were into the two fingers drinks by Fred. It was a lot of fun conversing with everyone and as usual the teasing was rampant. A few people were flying on the high side and every one was having fun.

Alan & MaryAnn getting up at 3am did very well staying up and alert well past 10pm.

A fun day and fun night.

Thought of the Day 

People that love to eat are always the best people. Second thought, three inches of whiskey to some is a jigger amount. 

March 2nd-3rd

Another sunny wonderful day. Alan & MaryAnn said they had a good sleep which is good. After a Costco trip with them buying some Melatonin it may have worked perfect.  During this trip they even found a special toilet seat that we are bringing back for them. Toilet seats are now high tech with lights, soft close, auto open and close etc. This one has to be special.

MaryAnn is an amazing guest. I have never seen another person ever help with dishes, help setting up anything and even cooking or making sandwiches for us. She is a special person.

We sat around and had a lot of conversation, went for walks and enjoyed the day.

For supper we decided to go out and we went to a place that I had heard about being good. That is an understatement. Red White & Brew ( a play on wine and beer) was amazing. Nice décor and even with a full house the noise level was quite manageable. The service was fantastic from point of entry to the finish of the meal. Our waiter Matt ( with two t’s) was superb. We had a Cobb Salad, Chicken Marsala , Club, and Chicken RWB which is a special of theirs.  Huge portions, great presentation and fantastic flavor. We all thoroughly enjoyed the place. What was exceptional was the Huggett’s paying for us which was much appreciated but far far from needed. They tried to explain their rationale for paying but it wasn’t needed at all. Very nice.

We came home and settled in to watch the Bachelor. Luckily Alan & MaryAnn enjoy this show also. Jeff & Wendy stopped by but weren’t interested in watching this. A very enjoyable show. Reality shows have their place.  Much better than some dark Netflix series with violence and nudity or some old English show.

Alan had their dog Tia along. This is the quietest, nicest, cutest dog ever. We never heard from it, it sat on Alan’s or Jackie’s lap the entire time, went for walks and was fun to have around.

We decided to head up to Cave Creek for the day. This is a artsy fartsy little city based on the country western theme. Lots of shops to look at crafts, Mexican pots and metal work. They even have a show that is on for the weekends with a western town background and a band stage. We toured around the tour and visited a few shops. I made sure to pay for their lunch at this small burger milkshake store. A great patio that allowed dogs and it was great sitting in the sun on a picnic table.

Jackie got up and Wished Happy Birthday to MaryAnn on a chalkboard that was on the fence that had to be 12 ft long.

Cave Creek is about 45 minutes away from Mesa. After visiting the place we headed to Sun City to drop Alan & MaryAnn off at Ann & Derek’s place for a couple of days.  It is about another 45 minutes to Sun City. Funny as Sun City is in the complete opposite corner than Mesa. We are far southeast and they are far northwest. To get their I decided to take the new portion of the 303 bypass that has only been open for about a year. As we got closer to their place MaryAnn was able to guide us right to it by memory.

Ann & Derek just sold their place a couple of days before we arrived. They used to own our twin unit just a few homes down on our block in Viewpoint. They sold it to move to a gated bungalow community closer to relatives in the north. We were very surprised they didn’t stay in Viewpoint.  Their new place is nice, a lot more square footage and they have done a great renovation to it. I didn’t care for it for a few reasons though.  First while nice it didn’t feel cozy and warm. It is a side by side unit and you would enter the unit and never see anyone. The backyard was big but all hardscaped and blocked off from seeing anyone or any action. I would have felt trapped in the complex. Funny enough one comment made was boredom. Reno’s were all done. I can guarantee you will not be lacking in conversation or things to do at Viewpoint. But everyone has their own ideas. It will interesting to see what their next adventure is. They did mention a beach so that won’t be Arizona. I don’t miss  a beach what so ever as we do not sun worship at all. The pools are my beach. LOL  It is always interesting to see life decisions that people make and how they turn out for them.

On the drive home I took another short cut using the newest portion of the just completed in Feb of the 202 south portion. It is a true ring road adding a few miles but now you can miss the underpass on #10 which is always backed up. I loved it. I have a pretty good handle on the road system here. It is first class.

Took us about an 1 and 15 to get hour in rush hour so not bad at all.

Thought of the Day

Ways to my heart:  Buy me lunch, make me lunch, be food.

March 4th

“Mercury Forecast – Mesa 24 degrees, Calgary 4 degrees, Edmonton 4 degrees, snow “

You knowing the saying you learn something new everyday here is another sample of that. I will be wearing a red shirt this Friday.

http://www.redfridays.ca/emailstory.htm

Sandy was right on time again. The mornings are light now and warm. Feels good to be golfing in warmth on hole one.

My team today was awesome. I had a guy from Innisfail, Saskatoon and from Washington State. As always 3 great fun guys to golf with. Today was special as my Captain was just that. Read this article and many others on this guy. Jim Scissons is not only a nice guy but he is one amazing golfer. http://sasksportshalloffame.com/inductees/james-jim-scissons/   Today at 77 years old he scored a 75 and made it look easy. If only a couple of putts would have dropped for him. I wanted to do well today playing with him but ended up only ok. If I could remove 2 triple boogies I would have a 82 which is good on this course. I had two holes that blew up with desert balls happening.

As a team though we didn’t win any money unfortunately but had a blast. Great day, good golf and fun times. An absolute pleasure to watch Jim golf like he does. It is a thing of beauty to see his control.

I have to throw in two random pictures here;

I came home and sat on the back deck in the sun which was very enjoyable. I love the Arizona sun. This week is our first  90 degree day that is going to hit us.  Wonderful.

Watched Survivor and relaxed and will hit the bed a little earlier tonight as getting up early does wear on you.

They say that older people need less sleep and that their Melatonin levels drop hence why Alan & MaryAnn buy it from Costco. I can’t say that. I find that I can go to sleep quickly, I can get up and pee and go right back to sleep and I can sleep an easy 8 to 9 hours with no problem. I am very fortunate that very few age related issues have affected me. When working on projects I could use a little more stamina but I take the approach there always is another day coming. My eye sight diminished a bit which I hate but overall being a natural athlete I am doing pretty good. LOL  Getting older is great in a lot of ways but overall something I think most of would choose not to do.

Thought of the Day

The way I see it and we all have to live with it is ” If you are not getting older you are dead” 

March 5th

“Mercury Forecast  Mesa 30 degrees, Calgary 9 degrees Edmonton 2 degrees “

What a nice day for everyone. Jackie was golfing with the girls today.  Today was my day to get a few things done.

1. I sprayed all of the weeds that had started to grow around the backyard
2. I trimmed all of the trees Lemon, Orange and decorative bushes being very careful not to remove the blossoms for next years fruit.
3.  Fred & I removed my Purple Rock Cress and transplanted it to the front yard after giving it a shave. New hole with fertilizer and it should be set to go.
4.  I cleaned up all of the leaves under and cuttings under the trees and used the blower for the driveway and patio.
5.  I made sure to have the underground sprinkler heads one shut down and the other opened for the new plant.
6.  I put away some of the stuff in my storage bin.

Warm day when ever you are approaching the 90 degree mark.I then headed to Fred’s place for a cold beer and a game of crib. AGAIN Fred wins 4 and I win 2. What’s happening ?

The girls stopped by for a quick drink and discussion which is always fun to tease anyone. They looked weather beaten with the heat as they walked the nine holes. Wendy was clever bringing an umbrella with her.

We walked home and I reheated the steak, potatoes and mushrooms which were awesome.

Good day, great day, fun day

MY RANT

A few things to spew about. Always interesting to hear others opinion even when they are wrong.

1.  Coronovirus–
2. I am tired of this taking up the news. It is so OVER BLOWN it is ridiculous.  The death rate can’t be pinned down as normal seasonal flu is upon us also.  Even at the current rate which in my opinion is drastically over stated it is minor. 3000 deaths out of  8 billion people. If you are compromised, old and weak or even a young child you are at a very small risk. The economy is tanking due to mass hysteria that is reinforced by  over zealous news makers
3. .https://talkingpointz.com/coronavirus-get-over-it/?fbclid=IwAR0hAwg8Ym6T4GDCIMTiQn1fcrXjYV2G4eAhU_ZlmxZ3htnMbNZydQUBgVE        This is a good article by a realist that I would consider should be normal. MUST READ 
4. Everyone take a breath… you don’t need more toilet paper! That won’t help with the Coronavirus BUT HERES SOME INFORMATION THAT WILL!  82,000 People are sick with Coronavirus at the moment, of which 77,000 are in China.
   This means that if you are not in or haven’t recently visited China, this should eliminate 94% of your concern.

   If you do contract Coronavirus, this still is not a cause for panic because:
   81% of the Cases are MILD
   14% of the Cases are MODERATE
   Only 5% of the Cases are CRITICAL

   Which means that even if you do get the virus, you are most likely to recover from it.Some have said, “but this is worse than SARS!”. SARS had a fatality rate of 10% while COVID-19 has a fatality rate of 3.4%

    Moreover, looking at the ages of those who are dying of this virus, the death rate for the people UNDER 50 years of age is only 0.2%

   This means that if you are under 50 years of age and don’t live in China – you are more likely to win the lottery (which has a 1 in 45,000,000 chance)

    Let’s take one of the worst days so far, the 10th of February, when 108 people in CHINA died of Coronavirus.

    On the same day:
   26,283 people died of Cancer
    24,641 people died of Heart Disease
   4,300 people died of Diabetes
   Suicide took 28 times more lives than the virus did.

   Mosquitoes kill 2,740 people every day,
   HUMANS kill 1,300 fellow humans every day,
    Snakes kill 137 people every day,
    Sharks kill 2 people a year.

   Let’s tackle problems that matter!

5. I have heard of people cancelling trips, buying masks and supplies all due to fear from the stupid media. People have lost millions due to the marker drop by naysayers.
6. The term Pandemic is not understood by 80 % of the people. It DOES NOT MEAN a death sentence, it does not mean the end of the world. It is word used for a condition that implies a virus will travel across the world. The severity of it is not in question. FYI The black plague killed 75 million in 1350. That is a bad one but this one not so much.
7.  ENOUGH already . Let’s be careful not panic and let it run its course which means the odd death.
8. Stock Markets-
9.  It is unbelievable to me that a news item can have such a big impact on the market. Billions lost for no reason. Trade from other countries held up, travel bans, isolation, and quarantines are useless. It may slow it down but doesn’t stop it. Masks only work at helping the person wearing them to keep their hands out of their mouth. All hype for nothing.
10.  Years ago I would loved the drops we are facing as you know the upside isn’t far away. Today I hate them as we pull money out at the knock down price we never get a chance to make it back up again. Even though it is not as bad as 2008 it hurts. Ouch ! 
11.  Politics –
12.  My feelings are we need to get rid of Trudeau asap rush pdq rfn as he is the worst Prime Minister ever.
13.  I am tired of us bending over for the rights of groups that should have no rights. Our oil lines, gas lines and our business atmosphere is so poisoned now it is going to take years to get normal. I would like them to fire every doctor, every nurse , every teacher, every government union worker that decides to protest in Alberta. You can’t have the highest salary in Canada being paid when the province is broke. Get real.  The worst part is the bad example set for upcoming young people coming into the these careers. These people want to help others as their main objective and yet they will fall into the trap ” I need more” and when the youth see the mentors of their profession doing this kind of stuff it should be concerning to everyone.

Why do people follow so blindly ? Why don’t people think for themselves ?  Blind sheep to the slaughter house is fitting.

Today a trucking company that at one time had over 200 trucks on the road is going bankrupt as they were oil and rig haulers. That is 200 plus drivers out of work ( 80 currently) and you hardly hear a peep. Sad ! Why, because they are not public employees and it is in Alberta.https://www.itrucker.com/2020/03/02/oilpatch-trucking-company-shuts-down-as-bankruptcy-looms/?fbclid=IwAR0gS3zbeWZElDLvgq8t9YNtwAzjVFoCIa5tzbiXr2rKTg_m37da-v6sAa0

The news again peeping off about brain drain, no doctors etc. Please, when you pay the highest why would anyone really leave. The odd duck out of principle may leave but let them as they are not dedicated anyways. You become a doctor, nurse or teacher not for a desire of a high salary but it should be a calling because you want to help people. 

BUT THAT IS JUST ME !

Viewpoint is an amazing social place to be. Ann who was visiting with Fred & Terry seemed to love the place. She loved the multiple activities like bike riding, pickle ball, tennis , golf etc.  She had a lot of fun here and is looking at ways to come back next year.  I am also very glad Jeff & Wendy are liking the place. They have been very involved with trying different things out. Golfing, bike riding, pickleball, swimming, gym, parties etc. They have fit right into the lifestyle which is awesome. Even better if they buy so we see them every year. Time will tell.

Maybe heading to the pool hall tonight. We used to do this when there was the mixed league but haven’t yet this year.  I like billiards as it is fun game.

Thought of the Day 

My mantra though is ” Why fit in when I was born to stand out” 

March 6th -7th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 31 degrees Calgary 4 degrees heavy snowfall warning ,Edmonton 2 degrees”

What a good night of TV last night. Grey’s Anatomy is always a good show and this one special as they are losing a long term player. Station 19 is another Shonda series that is tied into Greys and is exceptional and them Million Little Things a new show that is pretty good.  So we had a relaxing TV watching evening.

Jackie is out the door doing her early morning walk again. I am getting ready for golf and wearing my RED shirt.

Another great day in paradise.

Another huge hit to market. You take the condition of the economy in Alberta, the stock market drops lately and the virus panicking stupid people we are in a world of hurt in Alberta. I feel for the businesses impacted, I feel for all of those unemployed, I feel for young families trying to make a living and the worst part of it is mostly self induced with poor government decisions. Between what the NDP did to Alberta and what Trudeau is doing and done it is a disaster. Being landlocked we are in a difficult position.

There are millions and millions lost for retirement and savings with the Coronavirus. I don’t understand the logic of trying to be the first or best scare story for ratings instead of looking at he best picture. THIS IS NOT A STATE OF EMERGENCY but rather just a stronger version of the flu that will run it’s course. Brokers will make trillions as they can buy now and have a 30 percent gain in a few weeks. Sick !

A warm day golfing. Partners today were Bill, Jeff and Nick a friend that joined us. Bill and I ended up partnering and I must say I am happy to report we won the whole lot. A fun day. Jeff,  I thought today did very well. Great drives and good putts only the odd missed iron shot. Being a high capper Bill & I needed to be very careful. Jeff gets a par I need a birdie to win unless the other partner makes an error.  The scoring was real low but we won on the holes we needed to take it. At 85 degrees it gets warm out there. For me it doesn’t affect me what so ever but some people it is like the heat puts them in slow motion and they start to drag. And it is only going to get warmer.

We all went over to Ron S place and again his wife was showing us all up with Pickled Eggs, chips with a dip, sausage and cheese. Awesome but a lot of food.

Jackie had Angel Hair and meat all ready for supper when I got home.

A few great TV shows and another night and day done and one could say a very good day.

Up early as we had a 8am Tee time at Apache Wells golf course for the Annual Scotiabank Golf tournament. Dan Rhode with Gary and their wives along with another couple do a great job of organizing  this event. Apache Wells is a great course. Par 3’s are very long and it has a lot of Par 5 over 500 yards. Another course in beautiful shape.

This year there were 48 players with 36 of them being bankers. Neat to see such a large group of  retired Scotia Bankers in one area. Jackie & I’s playing partners were Bill & Sandy Salter. Interesting that Sandy was the mother of Jackson’s previous home care and babysat Jackson numerous times. A very nice couple and one of the few players I play with that hits it just as long as I do. In fact two years ago Bill & I tied for the longest drive contest with us both winning golf shirts.

Today Bill finished third in low gross and I finished 4th out of the 48 players. Two guys beat us shooting mid 70’s. The girls also played a good game and enjoyed the course.

A great meal and fun get together after the golf. What a perfect way to spend the day.

Very few times in my life have I been baffled and unable to find a solution but I have to admit today I am. I have been struggling uploading media files to WordPress for the last few weeks. I found a round about way that takes a lot longer but worked but now that has stopped working. I have tried numerous “fixes” and am still at a impasse. These webpages are relatively simple but become extremely complicated with plugins, API’s, extensibles, and on and on. The upload for jpeg’s isn’t working and the drop & drag function isn’t.  I have tried everything I know of so now have to see if I can get help. I wish WordPress had a chat line.

Thought of the Day 

The older I get the harder it is to find my balls.

March 8th 

“Mercury Forecast   Mesa 22 degrees, Calgary -7 degrees, Edmonton -8 degrees “

Quick thoughts:

1. Time is going by a way to fast
2.  Weather is perfect in the mid 70’s and sunny
3.  Only 13 games left in the NHL and Edm/Cal separated by one win
4.  Coronavirus fear is killing the world economy over media hype and ratings.
5.  People are funny and odd overall.

First thing on the agenda today was our final block party meeting. It was a smaller group than normal as our one attendee has been taken to hospital.  Clayton at 95 years of age was in perfect health and even prepaid his money for next years Christmas decorations so you know he is a positive thinker. Unfortunately “rumor” has it he was coughing up blood which is never a good sign.  We are all hoping he is back on the block asap. Ironic though and I am not sure which came first his illness or his selling of his unit but a For Sale is up in his yard. One couple on the planning committee has decided they are just too hectic to help with this party and any future parties. And they are younger than most. Our other couple couldn’t attend our meeting and have always been extremely helpful but have family and events going on so they couldn’t make it. So the four us remaining made a lot of decisions fast. Remember my passive aggressiveness is still rampant over the block party fiasco so we are taking a much easier route this year. Again it baffles me that people think  these things are a lot of work. A couple of hours of work at most. We are going to attempt to have it on the street with tables and chairs from the banquet hall. Mimosa’s and Coffee with Baileys will help calm the mood right off the bat. Being a breakfast/brunch potluck we get a lot of different items which is nice. It should be a fun gathering and hopefully a good turnout as next year with only two parties it will not be as social as that is a lot less mingling.

I have been doing a lot of research on SIP housing as Jessica & Penny are having  few issues with new home warranty. I don’t have all of the facts, pictures or knowledge on their house but after researching, reading the engineering report, understanding simple building codes, seeing pictures and spans etc I believe the whole situation is extremely over blown with a engineer being overly cautious to protect themselves and they themselves not understanding the idiosyncrasies of SIP walls. A lot of their comments  are related to poor workmanship not structural integrity. Yet the report presents itself as such on some items. A poorly hung door doesn’t mean structural shifting like implied, a cracked seam between post and drywall again doesn’t represent weight load or structural shifting just the lack of caulking before painting. Cracks in concrete occur with normal shrinkage and doesn’t have to be structural by any stretch. One concerning thing I see is the touching of the vertical glulam beams to concrete. The metal bracket should have been the exact same size as the beam and set into the concrete so that the beam is level and the exposed end is touching the metal and NO concrete .This is not good for wicking, rotting, and water retention, swelling in the lumber. The suggestion is pressure treated but as a interior support beam I am sure NO builder would have paid the huge upcharge to go pressure treated glulam even if this large size was available and I would say that is a BIG IF.  Attaching a floor or even the outside porch to a SIP panel wall is much different than standard construction.

 

My first thoughts are WOW with the SIP system they rely on structural screws for their support as this isn’t conventional construction. But with adhesive behind the ledger board, proper joist hangers and the correct structural screws placed on spacing determined by span it is a good system. The screws have to be correct and go thru both panels to have no chance of vertical weight load failure. The only way to tell if this was done is to remove the pine t&g roof and inspect. I am thinking no issue as I remember when I was on site and seeing the huge structural screws being used.  A mention of excessive span for the second floor is also on the list. The only un-supported area not held up by  load bearing walls is the area directly above the kitchen. It according to the inspection is a 2 ply 2 x 10 beam.  Using standard span tables 2 ply 2 x 10 can carry over 10ft.  I agree a little on the light side but still fits within the span tables criteria. I would be interested in knowing the actual distance of interior wall to outside wall in the kitchen as it looks like 10ft and if I remember correct it even has raw wood decorative beams also with load bearing capacity.  Every SIP house does panel cutting on site as needed. Most larger walls are ordered to size but every house requires some sections to be cut . For them to suggest different is lack of knowledge on the system. Another comment was that metal roofing is not suitable for low slope and in this case a 2:12 slope roof. Again very untrue as metal roofing is very suitable for low slope and in certain cases can be used down to 1/4: 12 slope. You just need to have the correct steel roofing for the slope which is called standing seam metal roofing which if memory serves me is what the entire roof is done with.Generally 3:12 is done easily without any mods and is the default slope that manufactures typically use hence the engineers call out of “supposed” versus knowledge again. The engineer doesn’t know the product used . It appears to me the inspector is just pulling out any card in case of a law suit without doing any due diligence. I would be more upset at the engineers report than the builder as the report is blatantly trying to blame without consultation, investigation or regard and in my opinion a very fallacious report without a whole lot of merit until fact checking and investigation is done. This is one report if mine that would have raised my blood pressure with untrue statements and innuendo made by again in my opinion a very naïve or unknowledgeable individual.

I hope everything works out well for the girls but I hate engineers using scare tactics and worse case scenario’s when reality is entirely different and if not an expert in SIP construction let the professional’s make the determination and then find an acceptable solution without all of worst case scenarios being brought up. Self preservation in case of law suits is no excuse for fear mongering.

We toured the park today on a long bike trip and scouted out our location for our year end annual golf wiener roast. Turns out the location we have been using still is the best for our needs. I will start getting this together right away.

We watched a bit of pickleball which I think is a fun game that I will need to try. I just need to get my head around it as it is slow. I compare it like mini-golf to real golf, like walking to walking with a walker, like breathing and breathing with an oxygen tank. It is tennis slowed down for older people but it does look like fun. A large ping pong game and I loved that and excelled at it. My only memorable loss was to a 80 yr old Chinese lady on a cruise ship.

We rode by Jeff & Wendy’s and saw them out on the deck playing dice. Quick beer and we decided to head to the billiard hall. Right as we were walking to the hall Wendy’s brother pulls up in his 5th wheel. They plan to stay a bit in the park. Hopefully they like it.

I have to say the guys versus girls scenario for playing billiards wasn’t the correct choice as Jeff & I destroyed the ladies. We had to pull back a bit and miss the odd shot to even the games out. It was a lot of fun as we haven’t played pool for at least an year. Like riding a bike. Loads of fun.

We came home and sat outside and watched TV and had a wonderful BBQ porkchop and salad meal.  Life is good !

Thought of the  Day 

Sometimes you have to care a little less about winning to make others feel good. (not)

March 9th-10th

” Mercury Forecast  Mesa 25 degrees Calgary 2 degrees Edmonton 2 degrees”

The stock market keeps getting hit. HUGE HITS. Now a oil pricing war with Russia has plummeted oil pricing. Here is the time if a person could have a do-over one would choice a public employee job of any kind or large company with a defined pension. Having to live off of savings only when there is a huge market drop hurts as we don’t have pensions sucks. I may relook at our budget numbers and do some cutting for April. What is helping us again is Jackie’s contract work.  Lucky. I may need to rent a ball retriever to save money by searching for golf balls in the ponds at courses. I may have to take up Pickleball as a pastime as it is cheap. A lot lot cheaper than golf. It is an ego thing though if I have to say to anybody what sport do you play.  It is like a woman saying she quilts.  I think the reason it is so popular is it is cheap entertainment and easy to play for 90 year olds.  Really the stock market performance is the only thing that causes angst as it determines lifestyle but you can’t control it so no use fretting over it you just live with it. What goes up must come down. And to think all caused by over zealous media outlets trying to get the highest ratings.

I can imagine the ER and doctor’s offices with dumb people thinking they are dying due to a cough or cold. The whole marketing campaign behind flu shots depends on intimation of people to convince them they are safer by getting a seasonal flu shot. Hasn’t anyone thought to themselves why do I have to get it each year ? ( money)  Why do I still get the flu even with a shot ( marketing-it’s a different strain, but it reduces the severity) Why doesn’t the flu shot protect me against Corona, SARS, MERS, swine, etc ( marketing- they are caused by two different viruses)  People are followers, they do not think for themselves and fall victim to all kinds of BIG business propaganda.  If only I had some of the snake oil from years ago to bring back as a cure all of all viruses.

What another gorgeous day. Today Jeff & Wendy and us were golfing at the Painted Mountain Golf course. I have played there before and liked it and this time the same. I actually really like this course. It is on the shorter side , a very nice layout and tricky greens. The greens today I thought were wonderful but slower. I thought Jackie & Wendy both played quite well scoring at the 100 mark. Jeff had his low score game of the year at 87 and had some great holes. I drove fantastic but still ended up with a 81 due to putting. 4 out of 5 games in a row I could be in the 70’s except for putting. I am over reading the breaks, misjudging the weight and missing 4 ft putts for birdies or pars. If I would have chipped closer the putts are easier but I need to get better at putting and will do some work on it. Problem is compounded as we golf a different course each week and not having consistent speed, roll and slope and curves of the greens makes it much more difficult than playing the same course each time.

A wonderful day, great mountain view, loads of sun and a lot of fun.

Jeff & Wendy were busy after golf with her brother so Jackie & I headed to Fat Willy’s for burger night. Man are those good burgers. Sitting on the deck  at 7pm at 70 degrees out drinking a cold beer with a beautiful woman and a 7 oz burger is awesome and all I can say is I am very lucky.

Another wonderful day in paradise.

Still having issues importing pictures to the media library. I may need a librarian. LOL. I will struggle with it and attempt to fix it again but am out of ideas.

It is winter and some forget that. We have three cool 20 degrees days ahead with showers as a storm passes through. I do like the smell of desert after rain. Great for the plants and blossoms as spring is hitting and the rain right on time.

I will do some catching up today on a few things. I finally found a “hidden” live chat for WordPress. As usual when it comes to computers they all have the same answers.- restart( everyone does this) clear cache ( everyone does this) try a different browser( answer to fix everything but who wants to keep switching between Edge and Chrome over and over ) try new editor ( old editor worked perfect until this, maybe a plan on their part lol ) So after it all I will continue with my work around which is fine but cumbersome. Fun and games of computers always makes things interesting.

Well I found a fix. Using the Chrome browser it works perfect. Using EDGE as my default and favorite browser it does not work.This is a WordPress issue and I commented that to them a request based on service I received via the chat. I hate Chrome but will need to use it each time to easily import and post pictures.

I cut down the tree beside our house making room for a new shed I am going to build as I need space to put our three extra sets of golf clubs, some tools, Christmas decorations, etc. I cut it down to the roots and turned off the water and expect it to die. I am going build a lean to 2w x 8ft long and 8ft high using stick framing and Smart siding. I am running out of days to get this done. Biggest issue is pickup and storage while building and timing.

Watched the final episode of the Bachelor and I have to say I am not impressed with Peter. He will not make a go of it with Madison and has made an huge error hurting Hanna. Love hurts. LOL

Thought of the Day 

All you need is love- a powerful song, a powerful saying but not always true

March 11th

“Mercury Forecast   Mesa 20 degrees showers, Calgary 3 degrees  snow Edmonton 3 degrees snow “

For only the second time in 5 years my men’s league was cancelled due to inclement weather. It was raining pretty hard yesterday and this morning it was pouring. I had cancelled this week anyways yesterday when I saw the forecast and also cancelled until November as we have the kids and getting ready to leave coming up.

I headed to Fred’s place today. Today we were going to replace all of the POLY B piping in his unit. Fred had started and had the access panels already cut for us. The difficult sections are the piping to the shower, the bathtub, and the sinks. Small area’s to work in and difficult to feed the piping thru the same holes. Luckily the bulk of the plumbing was under the unit rather than in interior or exterior walls. The new PEX piping is so much better as it even uses color coding piping red for hot and blue for cold water. While re plumbing the whole unit we added shut off valves, a new drain valve and organized the hot water heater piping to make it look very professional. Fred had brought some Pex rings from Edmonton down and I have to say they were ten times better than the ones here in Arizona. They stayed on the pipe and gave a gapping between pipe fitting and the ring. Using the Pex crimper I have found over the years isn’t the easiest to make sure it is perfect. I would say we have the perfect job here. I laughed as I did the area where if mine leaks huge damage can happen and Fred did the underneath where if his leaks it is just into dirt. It took us about 6 hours to complete the plumbing. Tomorrow we will finish up the cabinets and cover plates where holes had to be cut into the drywall.

Another fun project almost done. Fred may not say fun as he worked under the unit in the mud and sand and dark on his back in very little space. But he will say he likes the looks and will feel better knowing their unit isn’t at risk of flooding. This especially holds true as Fred’s son-in-law was out of his house for 6 months and had 200K water damage due to a water leak.

Jackie is getting ready for her after golf party tomorrow. I was the taste dummy and I have to say and I never thought I would say but I love her humus recipe tarts she made.  They were unbelievably good.

Jeff, Wendy, Eldon and Cindy came over for a game night tonight after supper. I am hoping my middle name is DICE. It was beautifully warm outside as the cloud cover kept the heat in. A fun night with Jeff winning a couple of games and one win for me. A fun night, laughing, playing and enjoying the conversation.

Eldon & Cindy got moved to their RV site today which will make them happy.

TSX Free Falling – not my favorite song these day. Ouch. Pain, Hurt.  Huge net losses.  One just has to remember what goes up must come down but being retired and living off this money and having it snatched away due to government policy ( NDP, Liberal) and media stupidity is quite frustrating.

Thought of the Day

Most plumbers have a drug problem.  They always have a lot of crack.

March 12-13th

” Mercury Forecast  Mesa 17 degrees showers , Calgary -14 degrees with snow , Edmonton  -15 degrees” 

We have had off and on showers for the last couple of days which has sort of been nice. It feels fresh and smells awesome  Still beautiful to walk around and hasn’t stopped us from doing anything.

First thing today we started repairing and building access panels for the showers and tub faucets for future changes or issues. All builders should do this but most don’t. Didn’t take us that long to cut all of the panels, install the access panels and put up the quarter round molding. Another job well done !

Today was the girls golfing get together was at our house so I went home and set up the tables and chairs for ladies.  I helped Jackie move the end tables around. The group can be as big as 30 people so we had to be prepared. Jackie was busy making her dishes for the group. Wendy came over and made a dish also. The actual golfing for them was off today as the course had too much sitting water on it.

After finishing that I stopped by Jeff’s place and picked him up to visit Fred as the girls were busy. We played a few games of crib. Fred had his lucky pants on. With one game I just had to peg two points to win and didn’t get the chance. It is always fun though. Fred made some very good Caesars and some very cold beer.

Next adventure was to checkout Ralph’s place. Another few beers on the deck and conversation. Ralph was finishing off the inside of his shed.

The girls phoned and said they needed help to finish off some appy’s so we had to go. Jeff Wendy Terry Fred and us played Dice for a few hours along with more cold beer and drinks. A fun day, lots of drinks, great card games and a fun time talking. I had Fat Willy’s deliver us pizza which was very good. A fun day

Today is my men’s league and am just waiting to head to the course.

“MY RANT”

CHICKEN LITTLE, CHICKEN LITTLE, THE SKY IS FALLING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO04VXBIS0M

It is unbelievable to me the STUPIDITY of the average person. This Coronavirus is out of control all caused by media and stupid people. First I am going to bet 90% of the public doesn’t even know the meaning of Pandemic –

1. (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

This doesn’t mean it is going to destroy the worlds population. It just means a virus is spreading among the population. People hear this word and think the worse. We have gone a way way to far with this. Universities, schools, sports, events all shutting down. The stock market has already dropped 20% and it is going to get worse. This virus is minor and is just over blown all due to news ratings. We need Korea to drop a bomb so we have something else to talk about.

Here are some facts :

1. AIDS pandemic 2005-2012 killed 36 million
2.  HONG KONG FLU  1968 killed 1 million
3. ASIAN FLU 1956-1958 killed 2 million
4.  FLU  1918-1920 killed  50 million
5. SIXTH CHOLERA-  1852 killed 1 million
6. BLACK PLAGUE  1346 – 1353 killed  200 million people
7. PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN  541 killed 25 million people 
8. H1N1 2009- up to 500,000 killed
9.  SEASONAL FLU  2019   killed 200,000 people
10. OPIOID’S 2018 killed 450,000 people
11.  CORONAVIRUS 2020  killed 5373 people 

Point is. How dumb is the population to panic over this. It isn’t even close to seasonal flu and the world is panicking.

Something is behind this crisis.

Like how 9/11 changed the world and caused economic chaos this is going to also. ISIS right now is spending every moment watching and loves the chaos and will be attempting a whole new strategy in the near future.

Remember Y2K and NOTHING happened.

And a LOT of the fault is the general public buying into this stupidity. Buying pallets of toilet paper, and cases of water is just dumb.( don’t tell the stupid people water comes out of the tap) ( flu doesn’t cause diarrhea why not buy tissue paper to work for both ends )Limiting the size of crowds is dumb. One case of the virus and you still infect another and it spreads. We should be encouraging gatherings so we can build immunity to it. Like a chicken pox party.

I did find out why people are buying toilet paper. One person sneezes and 20 others shit themselves.

Viewpoint has cancelled the going away dance, the St Patty’s parade amongst other things including BINGO. How could they !  Again an over reaction to the extreme. I have seen and heard of people leaving early due to the scare tactics of the media. Think about this. Arizona has 9 cases of the virus Alberta has 24 cases. Arizona in another week could be 90 degrees and will kill the virus Calgary or Edmonton will still be -10 degrees.  I like Kenny but his health minister stating out of country residents returning need to self quarantine is another stupid statement. Who is going to control it. 

A natural culling of the human race is needed. If all of the stupid people would be eliminated wouldn’t it be a great world. 

I AM TIRED OF THE NEWS BEING WRECKED BY VIRUS NEWS and watching the stupidity of the general population.

Stupid is a bad word you know.! ( this is for jess & tor )

BUT THAT IS JUST ME !

The day turned out to be wonderful. Calgary weatherman are bad but Mesa weathermen are the worst.  We had a few clouds but overall a great day to be at work golfing. The score wasn’t the best today but it was fun, the course in great shape and as always a fun game.  Some wonderful shots, some poor shots, which is golf. No money changing hands today.

It is becoming a funnier world. Ending the golf game without a hand shake is odd. The guys came over for drinks after at our place and Jackie had everything all ready. Lots of discussion on travel plans. Some have to go , some are going to stay longer to avoid this chaos and some are undecided. All in agreement we are in a new age.

I wonder what the detention center is like at the Coutts border crossing for all returning Snowbirds so they can spend their quarantine time there ? Most likely stocked with Cheesie’s, Shreddies and Motts Clam juice. No toiler paper though.

Ironic that tomorrow we are going to music show where we have a buffet supper. How many people touch that spoon before you ?

Thought of the Day 

To all of the virus worriers- You are not a sheep. Quit acting like one !

March 14th

” Mercury Forecast – Mesa 22 degrees, Calgary -17 degrees snow, Edmonton -14 degrees”

It is getting worse around here. The rumor’s, the innuendo, the false facts etc. Take a group of older people and panic sets in. I have talked to numerous people today as it was our resort yard sale and it is amazing. Some are saying as the WHO called a Pandemic they have ten days to get home or their insurance doesn’t cover anything, some are saying they are worried about getting across the border, one doesn’t have insurance, some are saying their insurance company wont cover them as it is a Pandemic, other’s they can’t get an addition to their stay. Old people panic. If they only would look at the FACTS. The park will be empty at this rate in about a week. It is just unbelievable to me. Now I am a little bit skeptic of any discussion without having the person do some fact checking. Even my Whirlwind group has now called it the end of the year as they all rush back .

The rhetoric is unbelievable ,so relax and enjoy the sun today and smile to myself every time some one says they have to rush home and replay the clip Chicken Little.

Tonight we went to the Rhythm Cats show.  This is a break away group from the Barleen’s group. Like Barleen’s this show was fantastic. The musician’s and the singers were awesome. Some very unique instruments with the long horn from Switzerland, accordion, and numerous wind instruments. The singers had some excellent choices. The ABBA selection did make me wince inside. Mama Mia should be banned from being played. The additional singer they had was excellent at certain songs but didn’t quite fit the others.  Too much of a pretty boy for the new addition guy.

They normally have a buffet but now DUE TO they had servers dishing out the food. I believe it sped up the process a lot as it eliminated the indecision of the old ladies of what to put on their plates. I bet it also saved on the food costs and food waste. The buffet food was wonderful and you couldn’t ask for a better tasting meal with a chicken, pork and beef choice to be had.

I have to say I was impressed with the quantity of old people that came out with the fear mongering going on. Good for them.

It was a fun night out with Fred, Terry, Ralph, Tracy, Jeff, Wendy and us.

I am also very impressed with Jessica and Victoria and their families. They are both taking this fiasco in stride, no panic, and enjoying watching people become frantic.

I was talking to Jackie today and we both agreed that this was a wonderful winter season but for the first time in 12 years our Phoenix trip was filled with negativity.  Dam Coronavirus and human nature.

Thought of the Day 

Don’t assume you are weak if you have panic attacks. You are. 

My favorite saying forever that I even posted on the lunch room wall for my staff over the years is :

Think not of ill and disease, and thou shall defeat the foe within. 

Basically a fancy way of saying mind over matter.

March 15th

“Mercury Forecast  Mesa 24 degrees, Calgary -8 degrees, Edmonton -10 degrees ” 

Where is the common sense ?

The governments are trying to maintain control over the spread so are limiting crowd sizing to 10 people , 250 people, and or 500 people depending in what jurisdiction. Due to human nature people panic and want to get home or stay at home. To get home 1000’s gather at the airport. Isn’t that great making everything the government wants, go out the window. The stay at home people by the 1000’s gather at Costco to buy toilet paper which again makes the crowd size idea gone. Unbelievable.

A Canadian insurance company says due the WHO declaring a Pandemic their policy holders are only covered for 10 days from the 13th for Coronovirus. Break a leg, have a heart attack you are still covered but get Covid 19 your not. What are the chances you are going to get it and if you do what affect will it have on you. I don’t understand the panic. If today I felt sick, or coughed or figured something was wrong I know for a fact I can drive home in 21 hours straight. Less than one full day and I am at home.

Although it is important people do what feels right for them .

We have a busy week planned even with all of changed plans. Monday Jackie & I will be golfing at the Ken McDonald’s Course. Tuesday we will celebrating St Patty’s Day on Fat Willy’s patio. Wednesday we have a block gathering and I will be golfing in the afternoon. Thursday Jackie has her ladies golf league and get together. Friday Jackie has a beauty parlor appt and I have my men’s golf group and we have the annual round up Weiner Roast party.

Instead of giving money out to every group that has hurt feelings this is the time Trudeau should compensate medical workers salary and give at least 1.5 times their salary bonus extra. Nurses, doctors, lab workers, etc can you imagine the stress knowing they are potentially exposed to this virus every moment of their shifts. With a huge workload due to the amount of illness and add to this the risk  they deserve it. Perhaps give a cash payout to each one that didn’t whine on the cutbacks or walk a protest line and everyone else NOTHING.

We went to Safeway for a few things. It is like a movie scenario. Everything is out of stock. I am positive it just isn’t hoarding. Why buy milk and lettuce when they only have a short time frame to be ate. Every shelf was empty. No toilet paper or water in the store. It just is an odd situation.

We had a wonderful goodbye supper at Fred & Terry’s place tonight with Jeff, Wendy, Tracy and Ralph. Fred cooked his ribs again and they were great. I like the no sauce so you can taste the meat. We were lucky we didn’t break Viewpoint rules as we only had 8 people gathered. Jeff & Wendy are leaving tomorrow morning right after an admin office visit with me to see if we can get money back for the cancelled concert tickets. For us we will just have them give us a credit for next years concerts. Fred & Terry are leaving Wednesday morning along with Ralph and Tracy. Ralph and Tracy have  a new grandkid being born April 15th so need the time to self quarantine so they can be involved. Lots of people are in the park are leaving rapidly as the fear heightens.

Thought of the Day 

Ironic that everyone wants to be together in a crisis and the government is telling us to be 6ft apart 

March 16th

“Mercury Forecast   Mesa 27 degrees Calgary 2  degrees, Edmonton 2 degrees”

What a beautiful day. 81 degrees today for Jackie and I to golf. Wendy & Jeff left this morning. Fred & Terry are leaving tomorrow morning along with Ralph and Tracy.

Today we were golfing at Ken McDonalds golf course. The back nine is wonderful and the overall course is nice but not as pretty as some others we have been to. Great pricing at $88 total for two with cart. The front nine we had an elderly gentleman join us that has had three strokes, blind in one eye and not very good balance but an awesome golfer. He petered out for the back so we joined a couple of young guns with one of them being a golf pro. Fun young guys with monster drives and skill. I am positive they were extremely high on something as they couldn’t shut up and were very hyper. We had some long stories while trying to golf. They both drove at least 20 to 50 yards past me and I was playing decent with a 85 on a new course and 6700 yard course with Par 3’s at 184 yds, 195 yds,170 yds and 216 yards. Makes for tough Par 3’s and then add a 570 yd, 513 yd, 515 yd and 529 yd Par 5’s the course played real long.

Fun fun day and the weather was amazing.

Well what I didn’t want to happen is happening. We are leaving early due to a few things.  We are falling victim to the rhetoric. Our block party which can have 60 people was down to 6 people coming, our weenie roast with up to 25 people was down to 8 people. Jackie’s golfing ladies were down to 3 or 4. My golfing partners were down to 4 people.

Viewpoint a few minutes ago  just sent a notice closing all the pools, hot tubs, and 10 person restriction for anything else .

Plus Trudeau gave a tearful speech begging me to come home. It tore at my heart strings.

So all said and done we are leaving this week after we get all organized and packed. Typically it is a two day packing event putting away all of the furniture from the back, patio furniture, covering the outdoor kitchen and general stuff plus I want to cut back the trees before I leave.

I will say this just once more. We all have let the Coronavirus  destroy the economy and fear monger us into submission. Shame how the panic set in and I think it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

I will see how I progress tomorrow packing.

Thought of the Day 

What is interesting is the power of media. We must all try to use it for good 

March 17th

“Mercury Forecast  Mesa 24 degrees Calgary 4 degrees, Edmonton -3 degrees snow”

You can see why we are hesitant to come home. The weather is so nice. Covid 19 in Arizona at 20 cases and in Albert at 74  . Arizona has 7 million people and Alberta 4 million. Much safer here but the sky is falling and panic is setting in everywhere.

One thing is that the younger generation has greater access to media platforms and are swayed by the huge onslaught of negative news and are contributing to the hype. They are also much more sensitive to issues all compounding everything. Having said that the governments are going nuts. If the President/ Prime Minister would shut down Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok and remove the signal from Fox News and CNN the virus wouldn’t be as bad at all.

What makes people think another flu won’t come next year and shut us down again.

We are leaving tomorrow with toilet paper, food and pillows with sleeping bags in the car just in case.  California has locked down the entire Bay area 7 million people which may roll out to other spots so the closer to the border we get the better so we can make a run for it! I understand even service stations are short of gas on the way. At least fast food places are open for drive thru only.

I trimmed the trees, covered the outdoor kitchen , packed everything up, put away all of the chairs tables etc and took down all of the  decorations and lights. Just taking a break and starting on clothes so we should be ready first thing. One FULL DAY to pack up and my back is sore.

My gate worked out perfect as I just removed it and we were able to get the patio furniture thru it just fine. I was happy about that.

Funny thing as about 10 golf carts formed their own private Patty’s Day parade and honked down the streets. Rebels ! Awesome !

I paid the office, closed off the mailbox, went and picked up money for our caretaker and should be just about set to go in the am.

Just a random thought. We all have heard the term of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials etc and I believe due to the Covid 19 isolation for 14 days we are going to have a baby explosion and I am suggesting the term “Corona’s”   to describe these kids 9 months from now.

Impressed with the Florida spring breakers. Go to the beach, have fun, forget this mess especially with the odds of catching the flu minuscule compared to an STD. They are doing it right and the naysayers are only jealous of their enjoyment and freedom. Party on !

We visited with Ian & Gail and Dwight & Gini tonight. Ian got lucky and had a flight change to tomorrow as WestJet is stopping all flights in and out of the USA on the 22nd and all international flights. I bet Onex won’t like this financial hit.

Very nice neighbors and always interesting to talk to. We also along with others have a LOT of food left but between Jackie, Jake and Dwight a brilliant idea to use the neighbors fridge as a food depot for the block. Should work out great as there is a salmon, huge roast, lamb, porkchops, chicken thighs, fries, berries, eggs ect for anyone to use.

All done except sleep and then leave.

Thought of the Day

You know you are a lousy driver when your GPS says “Stop 300ft ahead and let me out !” I have a special setting where all she seems to say to me is ” Faster” 

March 18th to 20th

A wonderful warm but cloudy morning. We had everything done except for the power to turn off for the hot water heater, set a/c to 90 degrees cool and turn off the water.

We got up a little earlier than normal and left the park at 7am.  Sad to have another year gone, sad to HAVE to leave due to human stupidity, sad to leave under negative terms and sad to be heading home to winter.

We are safer in Arizona with only 46 cases versus Albertan hitting 150 cases.  Arizona had 24 yesterday so it maybe just starting to spread.

Hopefully no workers at the Silver Star theatre were carriers. LOL

The morning rush hour in Phoenix was ok. Always busy and a lot of traffic but we had very little time where we were stopped.

Rain started about 15 mins away from Viewpoint and you know what. We had rain, sleet, or snow from Mesa to Calgary. No more than one or two hours maximum without rain or snow. In the dark rain without good lane markings makes it hard on the eyes.

We decided to stop at McDonalds in Wickenburg for breakfast and in the double lane for the drive thru was Denis & Moe Holden a gentleman ( term used very loosely) and lady that Jackie and I golf with weekly.  They are on the way home also. Small world.  BUT WAIT   Turning the corner at Butte MT there was Denis merging onto the highway. Ran into him gain a day later.  Now that is a small world !

We drove the first day EXACTLY 11 hours and stopped in Ogden, UT.  Ogden is on the far north side of Salt Lake. As we were driving our phones gave an Alert of a 5.7 earthquake hitting Salt Lake.   I guess there was some structural damage and power outage for thousands. That night we slept there was a 4.0 after shock and since then for 17 hours they have had 160 aftershocks. We didn’t feel a thing but witnessed a lot of infrastructure damage as the highway lanes were all messed up causing vehicles to swerve at high rates of speed quite often as the entire road way must have shifted.

No restaurants were allowed to open so McDonalds again for supper.

We made an error in our hotel choice. Wonderful well priced and appointed hotel but too close to the highway and we had that side of the hotel.

I remember when Jackson was younger he had a sound machine with him in our hotel room playing a train on the tracks sound. Drove us nuts. This was the same with the cars. Needless to say we did not sleep well. Too bad as the bed and pillows were heavenly. Lesson learned.

This hotel was awesome as they came up with a plan to still give everyone a hot breakfast. They had you come into the dining room one at a time, say what you want and a server would plate it for it and you then take it back to your room. Ingenious !

Due to not sleeping very well we got up early, forwent our free breakfast and hit the road early.

Pouring rain, in the dark and poor road marking for a couple of hours until the sun rose makes for a little slower driving. Having said that it is just over 2500 kilometers and we made it in exactly in 23 hours. When you consider gas stops, pee breaks, some slower sections like Phoenix, wait time at the border, wait time at Virgin River gorge construction and slippery sections thru the mountains etc I was happy with that.  First day driving at 11 hours and second day at 12 hours we were home.

Setting the speed control at 142 kilometers ( 89 mph) and enjoying the scenery is my kind of driving. I would say at least 40% of the trip can be held at the 90 mph. There are three sections of this trip I really enjoy. Going thru the winding road in the mountains is fun, the Virgin River Gorge, and the Salt Lake City section is always a blast.

The gas stations were all stocked up with everything a person could want so that made it easy.

Our border crossing experience was great. Only took us about 30 minutes or so. They were very organized directing traffic for the first time ever.  Just the normal questions and a pamphlet on self isolation. Funny as one motorhome and car used the right lane and they were forced to back up a mile to get in line where they were supposed to be at. Always someone that wants to beat the system.

After the crossing into Canada and setting the cruise at 119 kph it just seems so slow and boring. Come on Alberta lets raise the limits.

Seemed very odd to drive by Raymond and not be able to stop in. One would hate it if in fact anyone got sick due to you or even the question of, so we had to drive by. Atticus from a baby has had respiratory issues so better safe than sorry.

First stop in Canada was Tim Horton’s in Lethbridge. A tea, a ICE CAP and few Timbits tasted wonderful. One good reason to come. No restaurant is open so I cant get a Caesar though.

Victoria and Jackson were wonderful at stocking up our fridge before we arrived as we are not  supposed to go out. That is appreciated.

Back home and stuck in the house but safe in Canada.

No sports to watch. Reminder Oilers DID NOT make the playoffs again. No movie houses open. No restaurants. I may have to break my cardinal rule and turn the TV on during the day. I can see the carpet being worn out by us walking back and forth for exercise LOL Fun and games !

Overall a good year but looking forward to next years

1. The weather this year in Arizona was on the cooler side with more rain than normal and less real hot days. Having said that plenty of wonderful mid 70’s sunny days.
2.  Only golfed 30 games this winter which is down. Some rain, some just things to be done. Fewer games in the 70’s all due to bad putting.
3.  Tortilla Flats, Bourbon and Chili Festival, Rhythm Cats, Mesa Market, Viewpoints Dances and a couple of concerts and fun game nights all were a lot of fun
4.  Nice to have Jeff& Wendy , Ralph & Tracy and Fred & Terry all there for the 3 months. Makes it a little busier trying to fit everything/ everyone in but makes for a fun time.
5.  One hi-lite was Jeff rolling 6 dice all the same to win. That is a rarity like getting a 29 hand in crib.

Something to think about.

There are two scenario’s to this Coronovirus:

1. We discover a vaccine for Covid 19 and everything goes back to normal with only a limited amount of loss of life similar to any other flu season. Some company or person becomes a trillionaire over it and we forget about it just like all prior emergency virus incidents.
2.  We find no cure, isolation has limited success, our economy collapses into depression and we lose millions to the Coronovirus.  Current death rate is about 1.5 %. That means in the world we could lose 300 million people this year.  Similar to the Black Plague deaths.

There is always an argument what is the first day of spring. The 20th or 21st. I am going with the 20th. Why ? I like good news. I like people looking forward to good things ahead and we all need a pick me up. I love Canadian summers. I like spring but dislike the warm and cold days intermixed and I especially do not like the poplar buds dropping.  Can’t wait.

I am looking forward with great anticipation to going out to the lot. I have a flower bed to build, finish off the bathroom, my silhouettes to make , install my underground sprinkler system, and artificial turf area’s.

Thought of the Day 

People say nothing is impossible. But I plan to do just that for the next week. LOL 

March 21st  —

” Mercury Forecast   Mesa  23 degrees Calgary 3 degrees Edmonton 4 degrees” 

You can see why I didn’t want to leave with the weather being so wonderful down south. I am only going to post every few days as sitting in the condo really isn’t that interesting . Not much happens. I will clean out my closet, organize my golf stuff, clean out the lockers, do my budget with NEW numbers, clean up my picture files and try to keep busy. Staying put is harder than it appears. Lucky for us Victoria bought some great food. It must have killed her to pick up REAL bacon for me. LOL

I am going to attempt not to speak to much about the virus situation as I have a total different perspective on it than most as most are overcome with fear of the unknown including our leaders. I will say one thing. IT IS A FLU and yes it will come back again or a version of and yes we will be crippled economically for years after this.  This change will be bigger than 9/11 and does NO ONE any good.

Well I attempted to downsize my closet. FAIL  I organized everything into work clothes etc and ended up with only one vest ( I will NEVER wear) and one pair of pants to give away. That was mostly a waste of time. But I did throw away one bag full of junk that I never use from the drawers that was collected like junk.

I cleaned the BBQ inside and out. It is cold outside. Stainless steel cleaner and paper towel made it look like brand new again. I turned it on high for quite while and burned off any old ashes or rust. And wire brushed it. Yes I still use that, Looks great and ready for the next meal.

I sorted and printed off my Feb numbers to use most likely tomorrow in my budget. I am doing two things. Lowering the expense side and lowering my expectations as the market has kicked everyone HARD. Good thing when we retired we went more conservative but still huge hits that will take years to recover so we will reduce expenses to help. Even on the conservative side to live off your money at todays interest rates you need a huge amount of savings. We don’t have that so have to adjust to make this all work.

Went over my mail from the last three months. Good Sam I like for our on road assistance but the quantity of applications they send you don’t know if you need to re apply or not.

Got our nice Costco check back at $500 which will pay to load up the motorhome with food in a few weeks, hopefully.

The City assessments came and I am a little surprised the assessed value hasn’t  dropped as much as I thought. The way the assessment has traditionally worked is the bank accepts it with a 15% upage for people to borrow against as the valve of your home if you were to sell. Typically the market pricing is about 15 to 20 percent higher but remember the time difference between the assessed date and the current market selling conditions have a huge impact on this. I have heard of people complaining about a too low of assessment to the city tax department. The lower the assessment the lower your taxes, so why. The market pricing will in effect determine the homes value.

TSX continues to drop. It most likely will fall further than in 2009 as this event is going to take a long time to correct itself and is 100 times worse on the economy with the quarantines and closures. Sad really. You work hard for your money, you save and save to make enough to live on and to retire on and with the current interests rates as there is no choice other than be in the market and it is taking a huge hit. After the last event we moved to a more conservative portfolio but even that is being drastically hit. It compounds the problem when you are taking out each month to live on and it is being removed at the low number. It is happening to everyone is the only consolation. A GIC plan only pays 2 1/2 percent so you need a whack of money to make that work. $1,000,000 @ 2.5 % only pays you $25,000 a year to live on. I have always used a 5% return from interest earned as a number and dissolve the principle as needed but that is getter harder to work with.

I do have to say it is a little boring. In 6 years of retirement no issues and now with quarantined there is nothing to do. A person that stays at home all day without hobbies like, golf, quilting, pickleball , fishing etc must go nuts. Any other time I can find LOTS to do but am limited with the restrictions and this winter weather.

Jessica and Penny sent us this picture today. Even though everyone is going to struggle financially this virus and the family time created may do the world a good.

I bought this Electric 12V Razor for Jackson 7 years ago. He out grew it and kindly re-gifted it to August for his third birthday. It was an expensive thing around $600 plus an additional battery but while still working it made sense. Wonderful to see it still in use and the boys having fun still with it.  I would have loved one of these as a kid. I was extremely lucky in that I bought a go cart when i was about 12 with my own money and my Dad fixed it all up with a seat and motor. It had airplane landing tires, a racing steering wheel and Dad added a comfy seat and a 5hp Briggs & Stratton. Only thing forgotten was a brake but who really needs that anyways. I had a blast ripping down the acreage roads with it. Mom even took it for a test drive and ended up running into the garage door due to no brakes. It was funny at the time. To stop you had to reach behind and push a metal plate against the spark plug to stop the engine and coast. Timing was everything. LOL

Below is a very disturbing picture I forgot to post. We have seen blatant vandalism done before but I never expected it at Viewpoint. Disregard for personal property by vigilantes has to be stopped. If only I could figure out WHO DUNNIT.  Although being like Inspector Jacques Clouseau I think I know !!

I was checking back on prior years what we were up to. Makes me a little upset to see us enjoying 28 to 32 degrees in the sun and this year sitting quarantined in zero temperatures.  I realize the importance of public safety but the overkill is killing me. I want spring to come NOW.

I would like to know the number of people taking advantage of this situation.  I see all kinds of people out my window and wonder. Why are they in groups, self isolating is 6ft not 2 ft.

We have a few future trips coming up that maybe in jeopardy like our Alaskan cruise and May Long trip. I sure hope not .

Yes this self quarantine thing sucks. It is a little boring.  The weather is not nice anyways so even if not quarantined there wouldn’t be a lot to do if we had come home early anyways. Note to self : Make sure not to come home early !

Gas pricing is awesome. Cars driving down the streets are a lot less.  People moving about are a lot less. We can’t go down to the gym as it is closed so we have to be careful on calorie intake.

Humidity levels were at 19% in the condo when we first arrived and today just hit 31%. I like it around the 35% level but having to open the door to cool the place down hurts the percentage big time. It takes a while for the carpet, sheets, curtains etc to absorb enough to keep the levels higher. You sleep better, breathe better, skin is less dry and no static so worth the work. I would say I have gone thru at least 16 gallons of water so far.

I hit my 35% RH and it is stable and I noticed sleeping last night my throat and nose felt much nicer. And people believe the desert is dry. Alberta is the driest province in Canada with a RH average of 48 %. Phoenix has an average of  36%.  Remember warm air holds a lot more moisture than cold air so in the winter Calgary is DRY.

This dry air has caused me so many sleepless nights over the years it is ridiculous. WARPED doors were so common here it became the norm to send out replacements just about on every job. The quantity was staggering. I remember the first year as the Manager in Calgary we had $40,000 dollars worth of defective doors to get rid of. I tried numerous things to reduce the warpage.  With customers input we created Semi-Solid oak doors to help the warping. We tried wood styles instead of mdf. We had center rails installed to reduce it. We had double stiles installed. Along with a huge amount of education as builders and painters were our worst enemy with storing doors leaned against a wall in a hot house with it being -30 outside. It was always a challenge, always a conflict between the builder, our customer, my warehouse and our factory. I always tried to be as fair as possible to all sides. I was very lucky to have some incredible customers that I was able to work with. Gary & Chuck at Continental Door were amazing to work and between us we came up with some neat ideas. Gary, Barry & Roger at Regal were incredible to work with as they understood the door business and helped educate the builder.  Frank & Fred at Northern Eau Claire were exceptional at working with us. Ray at Totem exceptional. Les, Bruce, Jules, Richard at different Home Hardware stores that were great. George at Lealta one of the best at communicating to the builder what the deal was. Monty at Fancy Door that was amazing. Many many more great customers that understood. I had a few that were very very difficult also like Bill @ Bigfoot, Ron @ Makin, Ron @ Nufab, that after a few years I understood it is better NOT to do business with them. The door industry was special and very enjoyable to work in.

This quarantine thing sucks. I have tried for the last few days to order groceries from Walmart but they are so busy that they don’t have any slot times open. I do not want anyone to go shopping for me as that only increases their risks of catching anything and I do not want to contribute to that. So our meal selection becomes a little different. I have said how much I hate RICE.  No taste, not filling, not enjoyable to eat but one thing we have that lasts for quite awhile that we have been having. You make do. Nuts and potato chips is a healthy diet right ?

Interesting scenarios some countries are trying.

India a complete martial law lock down for 21 days. Only essential services and EVERYONE else locked in their homes.  That is 1.3 billion people locked down. I can’t imagine the chaos.

Denmark with a 75% coverage of the worker wage while businesses closed due to the Covid 19 is a unique  strategy. How the govt looks after this with a huge huge debt will be interesting. A socialist states way of thinking.

A combination of both of these would work in Canada. We are relatively strong financially thanks to Harper we could go into debt. Immediately if the govt would transfer a sum of money to every unemployed worker and have a lock down mandated for a period we may get back to normal faster. Can’t see it happening but you just never know.

Don’t know why this just popped into my head but when we were loading the fridge next door for the neighbors as a block food depot I was surprised to see some odd things. Certain brands CAN NOT be duplicated. You MUST buy French’s mustard, you must buy Heinz Ketchup, you must buy KRAFT Mac & Cheese, you must buy Coke or Pepsi. The generics or alternates just don’t cut it. These are not negotiable yet I saw brands I never heard off when I loaded the fridge. I hate it at restaurants when they serve Hunts Catsup as an example. It is not good and wrecks the fries. There are a lot brands like that. Even within accepted brands the taste is drastic. ie Coke vs Pepsi, Lays vs Old Dutch, French’s vs Heinz, Heinz vs Hunts, KD versus any other million brands. Taste is funny thing.

Being quarantined is a little difficult getting stuff. We needed a few more groceries but I don’t want Tor & Jackson exposed any more than they have to so I wanted to ordered groceries from Walmart for pickup. They are swamped and booking a time is just about impossible. I tried for a couple of days so last night at 12:02am I logged in and was able to get a spot. 2 minutes after 50% of the times already were booked. As a first time customer it took a little while with the data entry though. Got it done and all set. We can add to the order up to the day of so this will come in very handy. Interesting that they don’t list toilet paper, paper towel or disinfectant wipes with the hoarding going on and they were out of stock of a few items. I can imagine their workload. Another forgotten group that hopefully people will realize how important they are, the truck drivers, warehouse workers, tellers etc. I am glad that is done and we should be set for another week or so.

Next is to figure out how to get a prescription filled without making a doctors appointment.

How many games of crib can I win before I go nuts ?

Ironic how the Alberta Unions are so quiet. Do you think they finally get it seeing the massive layoffs, salary reductions everywhere else ? I doubt it long term but for a while they will remain quiet to avoid the backlash.

I hate the fact that I have changed. My hands are dry and cracked from the many washes. I am careful with my mouth and fingers. Extra careful cleaning fruit and veggies. Dumb !  All the while still believing this is a massive overkill created by the media. Getting a little house bound.

Thought of the Day

I have never faked a sarcasm in my life 

March 26th

” Mercury Forecast   Mesa 21 degrees  Calgary 7 degrees Edmonton 6 degrees “

Big day today for us and our kids. Today is the 37th Birthday for Victoria & Jessica.  I thought it would be fun to recall some of our favorite times with the girls over the years. There are many but I will just give short stories of a few of them. Having twins was the best.

We have to go back to the fall of 1982 to get the facts on this story. Being a natural athlete and a very virile man, I had another great “night” with Jackie. I can’t go into the detail but I will say twins are not in our families on either side. Again I can’t go into details but you have to be special to split an egg and not scramble it.  This was the beginning of something we did not know of until birth day.

March 26th at 2am in the morning Jackie yells from the bedroom her water broke. I was still up watching movies as we just received the newest hi-tech thing Super Channel installed. Can’t explain it but the first thing I said was ” Can’t this wait until morning ? ” .

Off we go the hospital in the dark. We were not ready for a hospital visit as we hadn’t even finished our birthing classes. I think we got one class in and it was only about breathing and think of your vagina as an elevator. I guess we failed that class with no attendance.

I called Audrey and she came to hospital which was good to cover me off in the room . Jackie was in a lot of pain ( second only to gout) and was pounding the bed with fist singing Yankee Doodle Dandy loud to help her manage. One nurse came in while Jackie was having a contraction and said    ” Now, now Mrs Willard” Words spewed out of Jackie’s mouth that a censor would have fainted.

Everything was going fine and I got all dressed up in my gown to go into the delivery room. Then a hiccup as a babies hand, arm extended out of Jackie. A blue little arm sticking out.  The babies heart beat was perfect .After what seemed like a long time the team decided the only course of action was a C section which I couldn’t be part of. Good thing as I would have fainted.

I can’t remember the timing but eventually the nurse comes out of the room and says ” You have twins” Wow that is shocker. Our doctor was from the Caribbean and didn’t believe in ultra sound etc so NO ONE had a clue as the heart beats were identical until the doctor pulled out one little girl and discovers another hiding in the back. We were very lucky no complications as this is a risky unknown. Both girls had to be bagged to get their lungs to expand.

As they were early they tipped the scales at 4.2 and 4.5 pounds. They stayed in the hospital for about 3 weeks after being delivered which meant Jackie & I went each day to gavage them in the nursey.

When Jackie awoke I got to tell her we had twins. In a daze she didn’t believe me and I had to get the nurse to convince her it was true. Later that day Audrey and I were having supper or snack trying to find another name as we only had one picked out. Between the three of us we choose Jessica, Victoria and decided to have the same middle name Laine. Laine was a character from a TV show Flamingo Road that Jackie liked. I always told everyone we came up with that name as that is where they were conceived ( the back Lane)

With every joyous occasion comes some obstacle. In those days car seats didn’t exist but they had plastic bucket seats for kids. I had a beautiful black Corvette where I had measured and one seat fit perfectly in between the buckets. Two won’t work. I had to sell my gorgeous looking Vette to be able to transport my kids.

In the hospital I remember looking at them thru the nursery windows and saying to Audrey.        ” I feel bad for some of those parents as their kids are pretty ugly compared to ours.” No birthing deformity and beautiful babies and lucky they were ours.

Memories-

• Shopping at the grocery store and Victoria jumps on a grocery cart and goes for a ride. Then looks up and sees she is on the wrong cart and jumps off scared and in panic. Most likley scared the guy driving the cart as much.
•  Jessica slammed the car door and wouldn’t you know it Victoria’s fingers were got in the jamb. Jessica comes screaming into the house leaving Tor outside on the drive way with her fingers squashed in the car
• The girls fell down the stairs when they were about 9 months old. They both had started walking at 9 months as Jackie and i spent a lot of time practicing with them as Jackie and I both reached that milestone as infants. Not too common. Jessica’s leg was hurt and Victoria kept bringing her toys, food, anything she wanted to her as she wouldn’t get up and walk for quite awhile.
•  The girls were quite quiet one night so Jackie and I snuck upstairs to check on them. They had entered our bedroom and used crayons on a  8 x 12 space of the wall above our bed. I guess some may say artistic but try getting crayon off.
•  The girls were outside playing in the backyard . We had sliding patio doors so could watch them very easily. The doors supposedly were locked one Saturday and Victoria had to go poop. She squatted in our backyard and did just that and carried on playing.
• When the girls were very little they would get colic every night. Between Gripe ( contains acholol) and putting them in the car for a 30 min drive was the only way to calm them down for months.
•  We had wrist bracelets and painted toe nails to tell them apart for a long time. I am sure we may have mixed this up. Even when they were a lot older when sleeping it was impossible to tell them apart.
•  One weekend playing with an older friend in St Albert they were convinced they saw a car with a dead person holding a gun behind our place. No matter how much we tried to dispel this myth they were adamant in what they saw.
•  I used to get home from work early each day to pick the girls up to play with them before making supper. I used to tie to my 10 speed bike their trikes and tow them around the neighborhood. No helmets and I used to fly around corners at least 20 mph . We never crashed once.
•  When they were still in baby seats so about 1 year old coming home from daycare for what ever reason I decided some fun was needed so I went 4 x 4 ing across the farmers field. 3ft deep snow and I get stuck in the middle of the field. I can’t leave them in the truck, no cell phones, no one can see us as we are in the middle of a field and my only choice was digging us out without a shovel, gloves or boots.Hands and feet I dug as I was panicking a bit. I had to get enough snow out from under the 4 x 4 to get it moving. My hands and body were freezing but finally after awhile I was able to rock enough to start making my way home. Lesson learned.
•  Jackie and I went on a weekend get away thanks to Audrey for our 5th anniversary to Jasper. Audrey get sick and Alan has to babysit by himself these two kids when they were two and he was about 17 years old. On arrival the girls rush out to hug us and proudly say     ”  Uncle Alan is a he-man and Daddy is a wimp”  Brainwashed my poor innocent kids as a way to entertain them.
•  Jessica jumping out of a moving car in Radium as a wasp got thru the window while eating lunch. Victoria trapped in the backset with a wasp hovering around in utter fear with me trying to convince her not to move and it was going to be ok.
• Jessica jumps out off a air mattress at Pine Lake in panic as a wasp was flying by and injuried her back which I believe still today is an issue.
•  The girls vandalizing their playschool window jambs. Life lesson you don’t vandalize by writing your initials or name and expect not to get caught.
• Countless hours of playing video games. I loved the competitive side of the girls. I believe you have to win fair and square and not be default or because you are a kid. They loved the competition and they only won when they deserved it and fairly. Perhaps why they are successful today.
•  Both girls were in Karate when they were about 6 or 7 years old. Jackie used to practice with them every night. They became quite good at it and earned different colors of belts along the way. Their first full contact tournament was a blast and scary. Both girls had numerous wins leading up the final against one another. In Jessica’s first fight she punched this kid and his guard pushed up against his nose and made it bleed. She though that was cool. The girls were pretty equal but Jess was a little more aggressive. This is a twin thing happened but I am convinced Jessica let Victoria take first place as it was her least aggressive fight.
•  Teaching the girls to drive was a task. I can say this wasn’t my best performance both out of fear for my life and frustration. I can honestly say I rarely rarely get angry but Victoria was driving down Shawinigan Drive and doing very well when this car started tailgating her. It was literally right on our bumper. I yell at Tor to stop the car. She says here. I say right now and she stops in the middle of road . I open my door and run to the car behind us ,open his door and grab the guy by the neck and suggest I will teach him how to drive. Not a good role model and a few days later I find out the guy was a relative to one of the girls best friends whose dad is a cop.
•  Jessica falling into a campfire was scary. Jackie was very quick thinking and we rushed her to the lake into the cold water. We bundle her up and rushed her to the ER. The doctor was impressed with the quick thinking and told us we may have saved her from skin crafts. It did heal amazingly well but even today if in a hot tub you can see the where the outline of the burn is.
•  During one competitive soccer game when the girls were about 6 years old Jessica scores a goal and puts her hands above her head and runs down the entire field like that.
•  One holiday in Penticton Jackie goes to buy the tickets for the cart racing and asks for two youth tickets. The clerk asks the age as they had a price set for 8 and up and Jackie forgot and said 7. The girls were adamant. Mom we are 8.
• They girls were crushed as sitting in the camper they overheard us talking about Santa Claus when we were camping. They were 8 years old but still hung on to believing until then.
•  Here just a few quick things the girls will recognize:
  • Black tongue
  • Limo incident
  • Stupid is a bad word you know
  • Hand prints on school
  • Hockey game turn around
  •  Fingers in school door
  •  Loosing front tooth over again
  •  Hitting a Camaro with your bike
  •  Me getting a speeding ticket on the way to the movies you girls thinking I am going to jail.

There are plenty more fun times we all had. As a family it was a fun time. We have no regrets and you only do what you think is best and are able to do but if we could go back we would change our bedtime routine for the girls. They were horrible at going to bed at night and had to get up between 5 and 6 am to get ready for daycare the entire time. It was the only time where we spanked the girls. We needed a little time to ourselves and a 8pm bed time wasn’t that early. We can’t go back .

Twins are a challenge. One would cry and wake the other up that finally got to sleep. You didn’t know how much each was eating so we started labeling bottles. 150 diapers a week we went thru. Yes cloth diapers. The attention we get in stores was incredible with them.

I don’t know the difference of having one kid at a time versus two at once but I do know it was hectic, amazingly fun, enjoyable and we were lucky to have two incredible girls hit the world. We couldn’t ask for better daughters. They are brilliant, beautiful ,bold, competitive and with a unmatched sense of humour, and that is just from me and when you add Jackie’s attributes these kids are exceptional.

HAPPY 37TH BIRTHDAY JESSICA & VICTORIA

Happy birthday. I loved your Mom’s saying. You started off in isolation for three weeks and 37 years later here you are again, in isolation.

Thought of the Day

Isolation is the worst possible counselor 

March 27th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 20 degrees Calgary 7degrees Edmonton 6 degrees rain”

Looking at the weather to get the numbers I noticed a couple of things. Mesa is going to be 30 to 32 degrees next week. Calgary will be down to a daytime high of -6 degrees and Edmonton with 6 straight days of snow/rain and cold with a -8 high as a high. Not quite spring like. This won’t help  the quarantined people. It is almost April people lets have spring.

With time on my hands I thought I would check out JELDWEN. They are hurting with their stock at $41 as a high and in March down to $7 a share. Their EBITDA  is down to 8.4% last quarter. I remember when JELDWEN of Canada was running and we at the branch budgeted for a 15% EBITDA as a minimum. The down turn will hurt them even more in the months coming up but even before this the Canadian division from 2016 to current was/is extremely poorly managed. It is a sad when you see “one of the best” companies in the marketplace fall so hard due to management making poor decisions.

The division JELDWEN Distribution Canada had at one time, 11 distribution facilities. Today 2. They were the dominate player in just about every market other than  BC and Ont as Premdor the competitor was well established and had plants right there. JW lost all of their long term senior management 2014 to 2016 and that was the start of the decline. New management ideas of supply management wasn’t close to reality and what the market would bear. A constant change and more poor decisions. I don’t believe today they can ever make an impact back in this marketplace.

I talked ( phone call, email, text) to a few of my friends and everyone is struggling a bit with the lockdown. It is boring. I have no inside project I can work on without going out to get supplies so I can’t start. The worst part is it is the end of March and spring looks like a long way away yet.

My plan for this afternoon is to clean out the fridge checking expiry dates then sit on the deck in the sun and enjoy the fresh air.

Emptied the fridge and reloaded it throwing anything away that was stale dated, half full, old or we don’t use. Made a big difference in space and being able to find anything plus our first online order from Walmart is tomorrow so needed some space. I am interested in this to see how it goes. I have accouple of special likes ie brand of mustard, ketchup, and I like my tomatoes on the green side, banana’s on the green side , brand of beans etc and they do substitutes. Time will tell but beggar’s can’t be choosey.

I cleaned the patio furniture, the BBQ again and put out our flower pots for spring. Lots of dust. I sat outside in the sun for a couple of hours as it hit 11 degrees and I am impressed as I bet I saw 6 people wearing shorts already. Good for them. You definitely see the personal spacing work as people are staying away from each other.

We all know the baby boom is coming 9 months from now with a whole generation of “Corona’s” but I think this lock down has created a lot of family time togetherness which is good. I say this as I watch a lot of couples with their young kids going for walks together, a lot of older couples walking hand in hand and the kids playing with their parents all the way down the street.

Victoria delivered our grocery order today from Walmart. Extremely impressed with Walmart. The ordering process is easy and after getting a pick up time slot you can add to your order up to the night before pickup. This comes in very handy. The webpage is easy to use. A whole selection of foods. They even will substitute an item if you check that off.  Our order came complete and I was impressed with the freshness of all  of the veggies. They even substituted organic carrots for our normal ones at the same price.  Victoria said they were swamped and yet they had the order within the time slot. I would imagine with Covid they are probably double their normal business. I liked this so much I think I am going to continue to use it as it sure is easy. For a working family have it ready for pickup on your way home from work would save you a huge amount of time and keeps you from filling your cart with unnecessary items. Liked it a lot !

Nice to have a great selection of food again to choose from and to make for suppers etc.

It was supposed to be warm today but here it is 1 pm and still -3 degrees and no sun. It is Saturday and no sports, no golf, no fun . LOL

I was talking to my Mom in Edmonton today where the building she is in has a lockdown to prevent the Virus from affecting the seniors. But she has had a leak in her ceiling ( top floor) since Febraury. Here it is a senior care facility and they have a pail for the leak and no light fixture above it as that is where the water was coming down from. No excuse not to make this a priority. Not acceptable.I have sent them an email and am waiting for a response. I expect on Monday and will see what we have to do.

The upcoming weather for next week is ugly. In like a sheep out like a lion this year. One good thing about the cold weather people may stay inside.

It seems odd to me that knowing 65% of the new Covid 19 are community generated people insist going out or having visitors. NO ONE knows what contact points other people have and all this does is increase the chance of getting the disease and extending the time frame of the decease.

Last night we had a wonderful supper. I BBQ’d a wonderful Ribeye steak , mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, and salad were wonderful. Best tasting steak in along time. Garlic salt, salt, pepper, Montreal, Mrs Dash as a dry marinade made it tender and tasting great. The 1000 degree sizzler on my BBQ makes searing the steak fast and easy and seals in the juices. I do need to cut it to check for how well it is cooked but in most cases it is the final check. It sure tasted wonderful.

I think we should SHUT down everything and let this disease past as quick as possible. If people refuse to stay at home except for groceries or emergencies, give them a huge fine. The longer this disease goes along the longer and deeper the recession/depression is going to be. For the sake of a couple of hours of fun with friends or family why risk your life and your risk of infecting others.

How can we trust the Chinese with numbers, how can we trust their products, why do people all think price over quality, why did we let China control essential products like medicines, PPE, steel etc.  A big mistake that I am not sure we can correct now.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/the-netherlands-has-recalled-600000-coronavirus-face-masks-it-imported-from-china-after-discovering-they-were-faulty/ar-BB11RH9H?ocid=spartanntp

Everyone needs to do their part. If you see a US or Canadian made product on the shelf beside a China made one EVEN if it costs more you have to buy the US or Canadian ones. We can slowly build back our manufacturing if we do this.

Last week, Spain stopped using test kits imported from China after finding they had an accuracy rate of only 30 percent.

Here is an example of a guy trying to cheer up everyone by putting out his Christmas decorations on his front yard just down the street from us.

THOUGHT OF DAY 

STAY HOME ! SELF QUARANTINE, SELF ISOLATE , SOCIAL DISTANCE ( the USA has now predicted they will have over 100,000 deaths in the U.S alone from Covid 19 and we have people not understanding these terms)

Footnote:  Definitions for Dummies

1. Self quarantine

If you are returning from a trip outside of Canada  you must self quarantine. No stops at Tim’s, no groceries, no picking up dog, no taxi, you are expected to go RIGHT home. No visitors, no guests, no walks,no contact with any people, no leaving your house.

If are not feeling well and have any symptoms consistent with Covid 19  you self quarantine. Phone the 811 number or use self assessment tool and do not leave your premise and quarantine yourself away even from family members in the same house. Follow the directions given for further health decline or testing. No visitors, no guests, no walks, no leaving your house.

1. Self Isolate 

This is for everyone.  You are to keep a 6 ft distance between yourself and any other person. You should only travel for groceries or medical needs. You can go for a walk in an uncrowded place but the distance is to remain 6ft apart. It is ADVISED to stay home. Only essential services are open. Those that HAVE to work must practice all social distance and hygiene rules. There is a 15  person limit for gatherings due to funerals etc but people have taken the liberties thinking they can have a party with this many . No gatherings should really happen. No get togethers with friends, no playing with other kids. Do your best to stay at home

1. Social distance

It is finally being called physical distancing as people have struggled with the term. It means any time you must leave your self-isolation you must ensure that you are never closer than 6 ft to another person.

This isn’t hard to understand. You may not like it but it is reality and is the only way to reduce the infection rate and with that the deaths. You maybe responsible for killing your friend, partner, child, or parent if you don’t heed the advise some of which is LAW.

One month wait to hug someone is a lot better than never being able to hug them

SMARTEN UP

If we all took this to the extreme we could slow down and stop this virus in a lot less time with less deaths or we can ignore all common sense and have deaths like Spain, Italy and by the looks of it USA. 

March 30th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 22 degrees Calgary 3 degrees Edmonton -7  degrees snow fall warning”

It is sick. Edmonton for this week is getting down to the -20 degrees numerous nights this week, it has a heavy snowfall warning and highs of -7 all week.

Why did we have to come back so early. Darn virus !  Talk about keeping everyone together as they have to huddle all inside as it is so cold.

At least our condo is warm. I am going thru 5 gallons of water a day trying to keep the humidity up though. I have to turn the lights on a noon today as it is so foggy and overcast. Dreary days don’t help make it seem like spring or even just about April.

Trump started off a little slow but man is he throwing  everything at it now with two floating 1000 bed hospitals, army engineers assembling multiple hospital bed facilities in conference  centers , and recalling up to 15K vets or reserves and putting on notice thousands more. He gets a bad rap but when he gets to his final decision it does happen. His ratings are higher than ever, our Trudeau’s should be lower than ever but his smiling stupid face seems to attract a certain type of voter. We are so lucky to have such good provincial leaders that in most provinces they have done an excellent job.

I have to clear something up.

Even though I still believe this Pandemic is extremely overblown by the media I do agree with the measures all of the governments have taken to reduce the loss of lives. The fatality rate is a lot higher than what we normally see but the rate of infection is the most concening so it is hard to compare to say the normal flu season. The flu is spread out over 5 months and most don’t require ventilators. This virus is hitting extremely fast and is much more potent. Hence the hospital overload. The USA is targeting to be under 100,0000 deaths as a success story. Normal flu kills about 30,000 a year in the USA.  If you are a numbers person 100,0000 people out of 350 million people is only .03 % death rate which is my mind is very small. But if the actions of closure and isolation etc were not taken we are talking about a possible 3 million deaths or more in the US alone.

So after saying that, that is why the change in stance from ridiculous, stupid and a way overkill to ok lets be smart take the economic hit now, FOLLOW the rules and save lives, many lives.

I have always been open to a change of mind or direction if I see fault or a better way of thinking. I even was  wrong once but I made a mistake.

BUT THAT IS JUST ME !

Isn’t it ironic the new Titleist T100 irons are lofted 2 degrees less to increase distance when the PGA is concerned about that.

Allegiant Airlines came thru nicely for us. We had booked tickets in January for the kids to come down to Mesa for a visit with us in March. We had decided in early March with everything going on we would cancel them as things were going nuts with the virus. Jackie cancelled them and they held back $400  which we didn’t like but better than not getting anything back. Today they sent an email with two vouchers for future travel.  One voucher for the $400 hold back and the other for the remaining ticket pricing. Thank you very much and appreciated.

One caveat though to the vouchers. They expire1 year from booking date not flight date so we have vouchers that we have to use up before Jan 14th 2021. We will need to make a plan.

Yep winter is here again. I look out my window and see the heavy snowfall But wait. I do not have to shovel it. Bonus.

News, is what it is. Bad.  Why can’t we show exciting, fun news once or twice. One good thing about the Covid 19 is we don’t have to watch or hear about the Democrats leader run, the Conservative leader run, impeachment of NFL football and basketball. Miss the hockey. I was hoping for some news to take over but this virus thing is going a little too far.

Kenny stepped up big time with a 7  billion dollar commitment including a loan guarantee to get the XL pipeline completed. Looks like work could begin in April.  Gutsy move at this time but will be very well recieved by all Albertans.

I have to change that, by most Albertans except the do-gooder NDP supporters and Green people. This brings up an interesting point. Just a few months ago these same people were blocking trains and trucks and now they can’t help but  be grateful for the delivery of food and product we all need by dirty gas burning trucks and trains. I always find it interesting how people are so willing for a cause until they themselves are impacted.

On the news again the medical and education unions upset at Kenny spending money on a pipeline while cutting their budget. These are highly educated STUPID people that encourage and solicit support from the left leaning sector of our population.

This article below from the CBC is a perfect example of this stupidity in our world. This was one of the best decisions by a politician in a long time. If the UNION employees and environmentalist whack jobs would just shut up we MAY be able to avoid a economic depression. Within any budget, excesses in departments HAVE to be cut and infrastructure expenditures done ( while we have low interest) is smart business. I thought with the massive layoffs we are seeing in other sectors this type of rhetoric would stop. But no:

“It is telling that Premier Kenney is firing educational workers and attacking doctors to save money during a pandemic, yet can somehow find $7.5 billion to prop up a pipeline project that the private sector won’t back,” 

“He may want voters to believe that boom times are just around the corner, but even before COVID-19, global investors and central bankers were warning that the smart money is moving out of fossil fuels.”

Investing in other energy sources is in every persons best interest but timing, quantity and costing has to be factored in, not just emotions.

I am hoping after this virus we make us  a smarter nation.

Last day of the month and spring is miles away. Normally  we would not be here in Calgary SO EARLY so would have missed this and I can see why. I don’t like. it. I really dislike it. NOT ONE DAY ABOVE 10 DEGREES FOR THE NEXT 14 DAYS. That is mid April and not hitting 10 above is sick.

How much do you bet with it being April’s fool day this Covid 19 will be a front page gimmick saying it is all fake.

Making my Cottage Pie recipe that a lot of people incorrectly call Shepard’s Pie. This is one of my favorites.

Thought of the Day 

What do I do when I see someone tall dark and handsome. I smile, I stare and then put the mirror down.