Oct 1st

Daisy and I were up at 6:30 am in the morning to head to Lethbridge. We got ready and then headed to pick Jackie up at Audrey’s. As it was a holiday today from school we picked up Jackson to take with us so he could have a play day with his cousins. I will say Jessica’s place is one busy place. We visited “outside” with Penny’s brother, Penny’s Mom Margy dropped by, Penny’s sister Maisy dropped by , Jackson was playing with Atti, August, and their cousins Maverick and Bowie. Plus Penny was cutting hair with clients so It was a a busy place. Jessica, Jackie and I worked outside all day long. We accomplished a lot which I was happy with. I finished the electrical, with installing the lead GFCI receptacle for safety, finished the wiring in the house, added a new breaker, finished off the electrical in the shed, and turned the power on to test everything and all is working perfect. I got worried for a moment when I plugged in the patio lights and they didn’t work. We then discover the bulbs have to be turned extra tight to light up ( Chinese made stuff !! ) I complete my posts for the patio lights and installed the hooks and the patio lights around the firepit. I completed the batten’s in the bar section of the shed. Jackie & Jessica worked on organizing the interior shed part and did a wonderful job putting up tool hooks and placing things in their spot. They also enclosed both ends of the skateboard ramp for extra storage with tarps which worked out great. They installed a ledger board and tarp on the side of the shed to cover for the winter the bikes etc.

I then worked on blowing out the irrigation system and got that all done.

So a very productive day. One knife slice when working on the wiring which happens but does hurt a bit. These seem to take forever to heal.

The girls wanted a “Modern” looking shed and I think we accomplished that. A bit of touch up paint here and there on it ( door trim, doors, windows) and it is complete and then they can fill holes and paint the drywall inside. Decor is their thing and they are good at it.

I am pleased with the outcome. Building during Covid isn’t the cheapest but I found a lot of different ways to save the girls some money with different materials and processes and I also learned about metal roofing as it was my first job. I hope people like it, I hope the girls love it and I hope they get good use of it.

I see the bar side finished with a paint , fridge , perhaps a cupboard and counter and cool shelving. Floor can be paint, or vinyl tile or plank.

Timing is good to finish with it being October 1st.

Daisy slept like a log last night with all of her play and no sleep and is quite lethargic today.

I came home after putting all of my tools away in my shed and worked on my budget. I have all of the numbers saved just didn’t finish inputting them yet. Lazy. LOL The numbers this month make it the first month in 2020 where we have less money than the prior. A TSX 700 point drop in one month hurts. A LOT. There is a saying what goes up must come down which I don’t like. LOL

I thought the pre-season NHL games were odd. I watched the Oilers lose ( hopefully quite often this year) playing the Kracken. The Oilers lose yet they still have a shoot out for audience fun. Shoot outs are always fun but it seemed odd. Nice to see hockey on TV again. I am afraid my poor Flames may struggle this year but I will support them fully to the end.

Thought of the Day

A doctor can bury his mistakes but a carpenter can only say “use a little dap”. Or in this case “it is only a shed “.

October 2nd -3rd

” Mercury Forecast . Mesa 35 degrees, Calgary 21 degree Edmonton 15 degrees”

Our GREAT weather is coming to an end shortly. Looking ahead the odd station has even said snow on Thursday. It would be nice to wait until after Thanksgiving but we have take what we are given.

We are having the family out to the lot for Thanksgiving for Covid rules. I have a 200 sq ft gazebo that I can use a heater for or firepit so we will be ok plus a campfire so as long as the proper clothes everything will be fine. I plan a full Turkey dinner as I will never go a Thanksgiving without. I will cheat and modify it a bit but it will taste great.

Jackie came over for supper tonight and we had Kabobs and rice which always makes for a good meal. It is nice to have her back even for just a few hours. Daisy loves it as she can’t figure out what is going on. It has been a month. Audrey is getting much better lately which is good.

We had a relaxing couple of days really which I enjoyed for a change. Lots of walks for Daisy and visiting other dogs, some TV shows and paper work so all is good.

With the bad weather coming i have three golf days booked this week. I will cancel the last one if too cool. I do not like to golf below 10 degrees. Get’er in while we can. I am getting itchy to leave though. Only 18 days left before my decision is made how and when to go. Driving down on Oct 22nd would be ideal.

Jackie came over to use our large shower, do her hair and pretty herself up this morning. Jackie brought a few groceries with her for me. Ok, I now have ORGANIC, SPROUTED, Non-GMO, MULTI GRAIN, GLUTEN FREE BROWN bread. I don’t think she meant to buy it for me. LOL On this note, for years we had Smoothies and as Jackie was sensitive to milk she used Lactose milk in them. Well after years of Smoothies it wrecked my gut. It took a long time but I can now drink normal milk without any issues again. It took a long time. I love milk and Tim’s ice caps are so it was good that removing Lactose milk my stomach aches and other issues (lol) disappeared. Anything that is not natural isn’t good for us. Introducing normal milk in smaller amounts slowly allowed me today to drink normal milk freely. Special Note: I as a child I was allergic to milk and had to drink powered milk. Same thing then with small usage and building up your system to natural products it will be accepted.

Daisy and I were just hanging and getting ready to head to the lot to a little cleanup. Leaves will need to be cleaned up the day of having guests as they are falling like mad from the trees.

What a day. It hit 25 degrees out at the lot today. We picked away at a few things, tidied up and moved a few things around. Filled the batteries, went for walks and relaxed. It was a very enjoyable day. Moved leaves and they moved around themselves. LOL

I will head out on Wednesday to finish everything before the weekend. I t was nice to have Jackie all day to visit with.

Thought of the Day

What did one leaf say to the other ? I am falling for you.

Oct 4th-5th

No forecast. The weathermen in Calgary suck. They are off so many times it is amazing.

On Monday Jeff, Wendy, Jackie and I headed out to McKenzie for a golf outing. I like McKenzie and shoot well here. Today was a good day except for one hole. Any time low 80’s I am ok with. No triple and I could have been in the 70’s. Jeff’s back was sore but still played quite well. Jackie played very well with some great drives. Wendy had her standard pretty good game and it included a birdie for her.

It was a lot of fun. We had a 1.5 hr frost delay so Jeff & Wendy were looped from their drinks by the first hole which helped them relax. LOL It was getting quite cool out by the time we finished. As the restaurant was packed we decided to forego the patio with the temperatures we had. It was supposed to get to 18 but didn’t feel like over 12 and with the wind less.

Jackie and I on return took Daisy for walk. She thought she was in a sprint the speed she had going. Burns off some energy of the day as she stayed with Audrey this time instead of golfing with us.

Tuesday I had a golf game arranged at the Innisfail Golf Course. It has been awhile since I was there and I always said it was the nicest, prettiest and best layouts in Central Alberta and today again confirmed that. Jeff & Wendy were supposed to come but their bodies wouldn’t cooperate so I headed out as a single. Our VIP deal here is $50 with cart and range and with the season ending I needed to get it in. A lot of courses are closing next week. I was hooked up with a young couple from Red Deer that sold Real Estate and a young guy that was in the building material realm. The young lady was just a beginner golfer so she struggled and only played about half of the holes. Her husband only a so so golfer but the shingle sales-rep was a golfer golfer. He knew a lot of the same people in the industry that I knew so we had a great time. The guy was a super golfer and a lot of fun. He played Black and I played Blue tees. Even with the difference in the tee box he still out drove me 50% of time and I played sweet today. Only one slice and some long drives and great shots. He pushed a few into the bush which I didn’t though. Poorer putting again that wrecked the score a bit. Two birdies is always nice and should have had more if my putting would get better. Here is my take on this course- first it is beautiful, some high elevated tees, long holes, tighter fairways compared to most courses, smaller greens and everyone of them tiered and I would say it plays more difficult than most courses due to the tight fairways. Just a nice nice course. Busy today with a full tee sheet so it took just over 4.5 hours but being at such a wonderful golf course, fun golfing partners, and having a good golf day it made for a great outing near the end of the season. It was supposed to hit 23 degrees but again they were a lot off. I was prepared though so no big deal.

Quick bite to eat and picked up Daisy and headed home to relax. Love the game of golf. Need to putt better. Repeat need to putt better. I could lose I bet at least 5 strokes a game with better or luckier putts. Great day today though overall.

Thought of the Day

Take 5 minutes studying putt. Ends up 5ft short !

October 6th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 31 degrees, Edmonton 11 degrees Calgary 14 degrees “

It is cold enough I could leave to Arizona right now. And the week ahead doesn’t look that great. I will winterize the RV on Tuesday after Thanksgiving. We will for sure need to use the firepit in the gazebo to keep warm.

Daisy kept me company all day . We had a couple of walks but only interacted with a bunny.

I had a doctors appointment today. I first have to say we have the absolute best family doctor. Todays visit was a way different than the last twenty years with her. She appears to extremely concerned about Covid in all of actions and verbiage. You have to wait in your car for a phone call. Enter and immediately dawn on booties, hand sanitize and put on her special face masks. Prior to this you receive a multiple question Covid exposure quiz. Everything you touch she sanitizes. She is adamant that people should not be going to labs for testing as it only increases contact unless there is something wrong with you. I have a blood work for spring ( when hopefully the covid is less) and 200 days of pills. She is very sullen nd subdued which I am positive is the pressure as she has had not one day off this year and she works extremely long hours. Dedication to a fault in a way. Lucky to have her. It is funny as last time there in June she warned about Delta before it was even a thing. Hopefully she takes care of herself also.

I worked on a few things today and relaxed.

I have maybe my last game of the year tomorrow at Turner Valley by the way the forecast is looking.

Thought of the Day

Does shivering counts as exercise?

October 7th–8th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 34 degrees, Edmonton 13 degrees, Calgary 13 degrees”

Most likely the last day at Turner Valley Golf Course this year. The weather set for 13 degrees and I thought it might be cool and dressed appropriately. Turned out to be an absolutely wonderful today. A sunny and nice day to golf.

Getting to the end of the game first. Money was flying my way this time. Money from Larry P, Rick and Donn. It was nice seeing the loonies fly my way. I scored ok today on Turner which was nice. Not great, but it was really only one hole that killed me. It started off nice with 3 par’s in a row. Throw in a birdie also helped . But those blow up holes do hurt. So to win money from the guys and bigger money on the last game was a fun time.

I am looking forward to next year already.

I came home after enjoying a nice visit with the guys and surprise Jackie came home for the night. As i said it is always nice to be with someone. Daisy didn’t like it much with Jackie taking her pillow. She stared and was confused with what is going on for a while.

Coffee made for me this morning was great. And a Smoothie so all is good.

I stopped at Home Depot and picked up some of those special leaf bags and headed out to the lot. I got out there about 10 am and worked until 4:30 picking up leaves and tidying up. Cleaned out the eaves and decided to cut off the grasses and pull out some flowers. I few are still looking pretty good so I left them for now. I maybe wrong with the number but I would say 10 bags.

I cleaned up my yard then looked over at the neighbor’s across the street. If the wind blows you know where these leaves will end up so I decided I may as well work on them also.

I pulled the gazebo curtains closed as if it is cold out we will use them for keeping the heat in. I cleaned the BBQ and whipped into Strathmore to fill the propane tank.

A very enjoyable work day. Lots of bending which affects my back a bit but semi ok.

When I got home I texted back and forth to Fred. Fred & Terry made it to Arizona and are settling in. I got them just when they arrived as you can see they don’t even have the cushions out yet. I AM JEALOUS !

With our texting Fred whipped to my house and sent me this pic. My trees and shrubs have gone wild again. I had them trimmed earlier this spring but a warm summer with irrigation they go nuts. I will get the tree guys to visit again asap.

The picture on the left is what I am dealing with today. The picture on the right is how I keep them trimmed. The Bandit in front isn’t the landscaper but a vagabond named Bob most likely stealing fruit.

This is the perfect example of how quickly things grow. Bob Ferris had a Palm tree in his backyard that spit out a seed and a small suckling grew in my backyard to about 6 inches tall. Fred & I removed it and planted it in his side yard. Wow this is Covid times plus one season so 2 1/2 years old and look at the size of trunk. It is beautiful. I don’t know the type of Palm but it does grow 30 ft high and you need to clean it’s trunk up. I love Palm trees. It was growing right over the utility and water lines so I couldn’t let it continue.

My Men’s league on Wednesday in Arizona that I have played in for the last 8 years or so has decided to move from Whirlwind to Longbow. Another excellent Troon course and it is 40 bucks a round less and 40 minutes closer so all is good. Hopefully it is a Larry friendly course. Dog leg rights and open desert sides. LOL The only complaint anyone can have about Longbow is it is right beside an airport and the planes fly right over us when landing. Not the quietist but interesting to watch. I have played this course a couple times with Bob and Keith. I am looking forward to it.

Thought of the Day

If money DOESN’T grow on trees why do banks have branches ?

October 9th–10th

Jackie and I headed up to Edmonton to visit Mom and to celebrate Thanksgiving with her. After her fractured ankle and vertebrae in her back she is not able or willing to travel anywhere. The is the most determined woman you could ever meet but between the ankle fracture ( still very swollen) back fracture ( severe osteoporosis) and her multiple TIA’s including a stroke it has taken it’s toll on her. She succumbs to letting people now help her do few things but still is adamant to carry her laundry down the hallway to do. She lets housekeeping now vacuum and make her bed as it is too much for her back.

Mom when she was young was 5’10 and today 5’5 with the osteoporosis. But at almost 90 years old I guess you have to shrink a bit. 5 inches is a lot though. Two of her sisters had the same results. Both my Dad & Mom experienced Osto which isn’t looking good for me as I have dealt with a bad back since high school. Rounded shoulders is something I had as a teenager. Both Mom & Dad had plenty of milk in their diets which didn’t help.

So Plan B was a wonderful day long visit at her apartment and to bring in turkey dinner. I ordered for us from Ricky’s All Day Grill their Thanksgiving special. Here is my take on them. Huge quantity. Delicious mashed potatoes, surprisingly very good dressing, roasted carrots with squash and zucchini ( Mom didn’t like that,LOL) great gravy, lots of turkey ( pressed but it is real and with gravy very good) Caesar salad and Pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Everyone was surprised at how good it all was.!

Here is a picture of Mom from last weekend at Darlene’s place in the back yard where Jim took some pictures. Looking Pretty good here. Hard to believe she is turning 90 years old in April.

The highway travelling to Edmonton was packed. As busy as I have seen it. Coming home only semi busy. So the Pandemic sure hasn’t slowed down the travel which people are not supposed to be doing.

We got home about 10:30 pm, relaxed a bit then headed to bed. I forgot to mention though this whole time Daisy was a princess and very good. She wouldn’t leave Darlene alone giving her kisses but was exceptionally well behaved and easy to have along.

I received an update from Fred in Arizona and he is going to arrange a bug spray as he says there are plenty of them around. Not being in the house for 18 months they may think it is abandoned.

After deep consideration I decided to cook the turkey today and bring it out to the lot. For a couple of reasons. First I didn’t want to get up early to put the turkey in as it would need to be started by 8 am at the latest and it makes it easier having one less thing off the plate. I will just tinfoil tent it with broth and heat it up on the BBQ and it will be as moist as cutting it right then. If not add extra gravy.

Today is also my friend Jeff Grace’s birthday . As I have said previously calling it Happy Birthday is an oxymoron as I am sure no one getting old feels happy to be another year older. So for Jeff’s story. He says he is turning 59. We all remember that person that says they are 29 instead of 30 . Could this be the scenario. He is retired, he does have grey hair, he walks a little slow, has a hard time bending down, forgets the odd thing which maybe the telling story. We will just pretend it is 59. Have a great day. He gets a turkey dinner and a long weekend for his birthday what do we get ?

Oh to be so young. Oh I forgot. I am turning 59 also. LOL

The turkey in the oven smells so good. I love the smell of turkey. Due to Covid rules our guest don’t get to enjoy that or the warmth of being inside a house. Oh well. Hopefully by Christmas it will be semi normal.

First snow ALREADY today.

Thought of the Day

We all have only one life to live and we better live it to the fullest. You wait and wait for something and then you miss more than you thought.

October 11th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 28 degrees, Edmonton 6 degrees, Calgary 6 degrees”

You just never know what the weather will be like at Thanksgiving. Last year it was beautiful, this year a little cool. So here was my plan. Keep the gazebo curtains closed and use a 1500 watt heater and as we had dogs and kids coming the firepit which would make it hot in there wouldn’t work. Plus the BBQ on and the lights it kept it quite nice. I also had the Saloon set up with 7 chairs and with the fireplace it was nice and toasty plus we had the firepit all ready to light. I smell like smoke tonight !! So lots of room and lots of places including the motorhome to stay warm. We had 18 people this year for dinner. Jackie & I, Tor, Cor, Jackson, Jess, Pen, Atti, Auggie, Alan, Ken, Chris, Danny, Kristen, Sheldon, Dave, Erin and Audrey. Last year finding a small turkey was a problem and this year finding a large one was difficult with me getting the largest one Sobeys had at 17 pounds which is the correct sizing for this amount of people especially knowing the quantity the girls eat. I would have liked a 20 pounder. Having said this we need a new method of rating a turkey. I suggest a system like A ,B, C ,DD etc as we had a 17 lb turkey but we received a small breasted one with large thighs. This new way we know the breast size to to help determine the overall weight required.

Once you get over 10 people it gets a little more difficult with the amount of burners, oven space etc you need. We kept it simple with 17 pounds of turkey, 10 pounds of potatoes, 5 pounds of carrots, lots of dressing, over 6 cups of gravy, 2 dozen buns, one huge pumpkin pie and two apple pies.

Using the BBQ really works as after we mashed the potatoes I was able to keep them warm, the turkey on a lift with broth under it keeping it warm and moist in the BBQ, the carrots on the side burner and the gravy kept hot on the raised rack in the BBQ. Over the years Jackie & I have made quite a few dinners but for whatever reason I thought this was the best tasting yet. I used a lot of spice for the turkey including full onions and garlic cloves stuffed inside and hot half and half to make the potatoes that much more creamy. Victoria did the glazed carrots which were perfect. After reheating them they were perfect. Not too soft or hard which sometimes is difficult and I prefer harder than soft. Jess brought buns from her bakery friend that were delicious and you can’t go wrong with Costco Pumpkin Pie and my sisters homemade apple pie.

So a decent day weather wise, a fantastic meal, and lots of family so a very good Thanksgiving.

Here are all of the girl cousins playing in the leaves. Remember I took 10 full bags off my lot only 2 days ago. Nice to see them all together. Everyone double vaccinated, outdoors and apart most of the time so relatively safe during this dumb Covid time.

Dave & Erin came down from Edmonton and we had a small cupcake birthday wish for Dave’s birthday.

After everyone left Jackie & I started the cleanup. We cleaned out most of stuff to bring home as we start the process to end the season. The temperature got down to -3 degrees last night which is getting iffy with pipes so I winterized before coming home. Every year this motorhome ^%%$& me doing this. A simple process that normally is 15 to 30 minutes always takes longer. Tonight I had a leaky gasket on the water filter system perhaps from the cold and I couldn’t get the system to fully pressurize. Took me again a way to long but it is all done for another year. My final preps will be tomorrow.

Thought of the Day

There is a new movement that hasn’t caught on yet. October is EAT HAM month !

October 12–14th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 22 degrees, Edmonton 6 degrees, Calgary 4 degrees”

Sad to say but it is close up time. I was very fortunate that Jackie was able to help me today. We accomplished a lot.

Loaded up all of the cushions and pillows into the shed. Pulled the tarps out and packed all of the furniture in the gazebo. We stacked it like a puzzle and completely wrapped them up. I used the patio chair covers to cover the resin chairs. I put away all of the power lines, water lines, sewer lines and internet lines.

Jackie carried on while I prepared the motorhome to drive to Strathmore. I have one leveling jack that is stubborn retracting every time. I will get it repaired next spring with two new springs. I had a flat and the drive used the jack to lift the motorhome and it struggled after that.

Driving into town I thought to myself wow does this drive nice. It is a pleasure to drive it and I always have to be careful not to speed as it just creeps up there.

It takes just $400 to fill it with gas and it took $48 to fill the propane tank. I always fill it completely and then add Stablock and let it run including the Genset.

Loaded up all of the alcohol and food for both fridges. Jackie loaded up all clothes. It is amazing how many clothes a person keeps in different spots. Jackie says she brought home 10 jackets of mine. I will need to verify. LOL A lot of these golf shirts etc will just go with me to Arizona. Lots of options yet I always lean towards a favorite short and sweat pants.

I put my cow figures away for the winter and took the batteries out of my solar lights and put them away. I hooked up the trickle charger to the motorhome chassis battery.

Took my lanterns and hanging rope and put them away. I blew a a ton of leaves again into a pile and bagged. I threw any any garbage then closed everything up.

It took Jackie and I all day and myself another 3/4 of day to finish this. DONE

New pictures today so I thought I would add them here.

Jackie & I have the best Grandkids ever. Not only are they smart,super handsome and funny, they are kind gentle kids. Our girls have done a wonderful job raising them. I do have to say raising girls there is a HUGE difference between parenting boys. Each with distinct differences, nuances, and energy levels. Boys will be boys is a truthful statement.

As the temperature only reached 6 degrees and I was working outside I put on a heavier jacket. Jackie makes fun of my with the qty of jackets I have but this one, is one of my favorites. It’s weight is ideal for early winter or late fall and it is light enough to wear easily while working. This jacket brings back loads of good memories.

This one is from about 1992 or 93. I convinced head office that as a team booster and unity tool that gifting each year our employees a jacket is a worth while expense. Luckily Mark Henderson agreed and gave me each year a small dollar amount to work with. As our branch experienced rapid growth we were a little bit of a favorite. If our purchase was more than the dollars allocated we all would make up the difference. The employees loved this as did I and I did it for a number of years. Darren Woods/Arnie Henning organized the purchase for a few years for me.

We had some nice jackets over the years.

Ok Jackie WINS. It is much easy to write that verbalize it. LOL She washed 11 of my jackets yesterday. I have 17 total jackets. Too many ? We do have 4 seasons. Certain colors don’t go together. Certain jackets are required for certain events. So no not too many.

I put all of the freezable stuff from the shed in our storage, decided right then I am going to sell my kayak in the spring and a couple of chairs I haven’t used in years. Just to much stuff in the storage room.

Had a couple of walks with Daisy meeting a few dogs and people as it is quite nice out today. Send a few emails, talked to a new neighbor for a long time. This guy talks !! Funny thing in our parkade this is the stalls beside me. Larry P, Larry W, Ray, Larry ( new guy) . It is like they stick all of the Larry’s together. Such a wonderful name for so many people. BUT how many of them have a Chinese middle name ? I think my Mom was trying to start a trend like the many many many middle names ie Dawn, Lee, Lynn, James, Rose etc. but it didn’t just catch on.

I am taking Jackson to the new BOND movie tonight. I picked my seats in a 1/4 full theatre a long ways away from anyone but in my sleep I thought did I pick right up front or at the back. LOL I checked and we are very near the front but we do get to recline so hopefully ok. I didn’t see “screen” on the menu when I picked. LOL

Thought of the Day

Never hold your farts in. They could travel up your spine to your brain and cause a shitty idea.

October 15th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 29 degrees, Edmonton 17 degrees, Calgary 15 degrees”

YES FINALLLY THE BORDER RE-OPENS NOVEMBER 8TH

Too too long . 20 months since they closed it. I will be in the line up with the other million Canadians waiting to cross. I am going to assume a long wait. But very happy !! Too bad Milk River didn’t have a Tim’s as my Lethbridge Ice Cap will be gone by then.

I now can start to pack and plan hotels, flights for Christmas back etc. I plan only to stay a week or so at Christmas time. I hate winter and after the “EVENT” all that is left is cold weather and this year is predicted to be a brutal cold snowy winter.

Last night I had a “Date” night with Jackson. We went to the new James Bond Movie.

I love action movies like these with fast cars, beautiful women, innuendo, fights and bombs. It just makes for a fun movie. Jackson and I both enjoyed it but it is a long movie.

Most of you know this is the last Bond for Daniel Craig. I like him but he by far isn’t my favorite Bond. Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan all were better but the movie business was also different then.

I didn’t find Craig with any charisma. He is not a smooth talking ladies guy. He isn’t the handsome guy that girls swoon over and he is on the small short side. This movie for me lacked a few things. There was no innuendo at all. He was not suave, charming or engaging with beautiful ladies. There was in fact only ONE beautiful lady in the movie and she had basically a cameo performance of one scene as a new agent. Hardly any fighting, no love scenes, but some great driving scenes. A good movie to watch but not my favorite Bond or Bond movie. Perhaps the Bond movies I really like are gone with the new pressures as I am sure a character now with the name Pussy Galore would be put through the ringer. No sense of haw haw anymore. LOL

WOW are the concessions expensive. Two people for the food and drink came to $56 plus the cost of tickets. SICK and not right, but people including myself do buy, so I guess what ever works.

One hour frost delay for our afternoon golf game. To be expected this time of year but I am surprised that the starter can’t get caught up by noon by shrinking the tee times. Not a very good starter. Push people out even if you get down to 5 minutes intervals. Golfers will understand why the slowness. Oh well !

We got off and finished in plenty of time. McKenzie Golf course as usual was in great shape. No leaves, nice greens and great fairways. And great weather. We had 12 holes nice and warm, 2 holes windy, 4 holes on the cool side.

Now for the golf as this is just my observation.

• Larry- had a very good game except for two holes. Numerous GIR and birdie putts but only made one. Many pars. But lost balls on the one hole made the score higher than it should have been.
• Jackie- she had some very good drives overall. Struggled on some second shots. Had some great chips and overall a decent game.
• Wendy- pretty consistent golfer. Always seems to drive good. Today a few right shots but no trouble and always quite long. Some great second shots and a few good chips. Overall she had a very good game
• Jeff- I would say without knowing the final score he would be pleased with it. I saw a few GIR and birdie attempts that resulted in Pars or a Boogie. Best driving for awhile and overall a good game.

So it was a good day in the sun, relatively warm, and fun golfing. We stopped into the clubhouse for a bite after. Three of us had the Fish & Chips special. McKenzie has good food. I wasn’t overly pleased and would give the fish a 3 out of 5. Smaller pieces and not the best fish I have had overall. Still a good meal and fun conversation after golf.

Life is Good

I only joined Facebook ( due to the girls issue) and still dislike the premise but it does have it’s redeeming properties. I “friended” our JW Marketing Manager Laura Kirk just recently. This lady was the best in the business with what she did. Quite instrumental in JW Canada’s growth and presence in the market place. 8 years since I retired so out of contact or the loop for awhile so just discovered Laura ended up marrying one of other JW Marketing guys. Eric always was a nice guy and extremely helpful. I would not have expected it but love is a strange and wonderful thing. Good for them and nice to both of them still very active with high level careers.

Not knowing how long the wait time is going t0 be at the border it is hard to figure out where to book a hotel. And this year we have to find a pet friendly one.

Thought of the Day

I have stayed in numerous hotels over the years both for business and vacation. One of the memorable ones had a very accessible closet. A nail on the wall.

October 16th/17th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 32 degrees, Edmonton 11 degrees, Calgary 21 degrees”

I drove out to the lot to do some final final things. Daisy joined me for a nice visit and while there we walked the entire park. Talked to a few people working on their yards and still picking up their leaves. It was a nice day and it was enjoyable out in the country air, quiet and just feels good. It is too bad we got hit with our colder than average nights as it would have been nice to keep the motorhome open. I saw this as on my phone “Memories” showing Larry G and I fishing this time 7 years ago

I don’t know if it is the weirdness of Covid or what but I didn’t enjoy enough time fishing this year. I am for sure going to correct that.

A great sports day today.

First it was an amazing game watching the Stamps excel at their game against BC. Domination which was good as they started off slow this season but are looking very good now. Hopefully a Grey Cup in our future this year.

As soon as our big win in football we are off to watching the Flames first game of the year and against the Oilers.

Before I say anything I need to clear something up. The typical Oiler fan is like a Jonestown follower. The are loyal to a fault. They are blind to reality. They are lost in objectiveness. They are obscured by dreams. The current Oiler team is not even close to being a Cup contender this year. They have added a few players but currently they are a good regular season team then will lose first round again. Here is why. Not tough enough. Check two players and the rest of the team will fail. Smith while good will get tired. No depth does not win a cup. Some of you may think, that I think Calgary can. No, we are years away yet. We will be a competitive team, tough and hardworking but we will be fortunate enough just to make the playoffs.

It was a good game. Some bad luck with Mc Happy Meal getting a loose puck from a bad bounce to get goal and I can not confirm but there could be a back door protocol to pull the goalie to help Mc Happy’s goal stats. Did you know every year 10 percent of his goals are from empty net goals. TEN PERCENT. Every time a goalie is pulled he gets massive ice time with no goalie. Pretty easy to get a goal. The Flames with almost 50 shots played a good game as did the Oilers overall. The Flames dominated for a long time but couldn’t get a goal and it cost them this game.

I know some of you will say how could you let your daughter be involved with this cult “The Oilers” They prey upon innocent young people and give them glimmers of hope that if you follow them they will deliver you to the promised land. It is sad how as parents we have to gently console them EVERY year. But, they are adults now and must live with their own poor decision making. We will always be here for them as we have first hand experience of the trauma involved when you first leave but only for short time until you find hockey utopia on the other side.

I understand this morning Jackson was on a break away and scored a nice goal. That had to be fun !!

A fun sports day.

House cleaning all morning, play time outside with Daisy and a nice walk on a beautiful day.

And then a great golf game. I wanted Rickie and he played well enough to win but Rory stole it from him.

Jackie came up with a brilliant idea and most of the food we took out of the motorhome we can take with down south so expiration dates don’t run out. We know 90% of what is in the fridge will need to be thrown out due to expiry dates when we get there.

Audrey found this amazing picture of our city Calgary, Alberta. Spectacular !!

Thought of the Day

You know you are getting older when you just keep scrolling and scrolling to find your birth year on a drop down box.

October 18th-19th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 29 degrees, Edmonton 6 degrees, Calgary 5 degrees”

This happened yesterday on the last day of the season for Turner Valley. This is the kind of golfer I deal with at Turner and Mesa. They are amazing. Below Par on nine and 4 Hole In One’s and scoring your age. SICK !! I only wish.

I hope everyone got out an voted today. It was a huge ballot that I think they may to restrict as 27 candidates for one job is a way too many.

Here is my take. Here is a list of a few people I HOPE DO NOT win as we will have achieved nothing.

For Calgary –

1. Jeromy Farkas will be nothing but trouble. An agitator, egotistical, arrogant and not a team player.
2. Jyoti Gondek is a socialist, money would be spent like mad. Difficult to get along with.
3. There a few people that would do a good job and hopefully one of them gets the job. Davison, Field, Hopkins to name a few.

For Edmonton

Only one guy that should never be voted in again Amarjeet Sohi. He is lifetime politician, liberal minded , spend like mad like the party he used to represent. Edmonton after Iveson cannot afford this. There are a few great candidates there also like Watson, and Comrie. In this case the polls show a real strong support for Sohi which is no surprise from Edmontonian’s. I will hope for Edmonton sake that he doesn’t pull it off.

The results should be known by 9pm at the latest unless a real tight race. Judging by the number of people waiting outside the stations it may be a low turn out for voters.

Ok not a good night.

Jyoti wins surprisingly by a good margin. She will be a LOT better than Nenshi but her spending will be scary. She is very well spoken, and presents her self well which is a nice change. Her sociology background will result in a lot of unneeded programs. Climate, welfare programs, focus on left wing arts, and social programs will kill us.

I take condolence in the fact Edmonton voted for a person for the job in that city that will be just as poor for the city as us. And Sohi won by a large margin. LOL A Liberal, bus driver, and unionist he is going to be a winner. I am being facetious.

And to add to the misery the Flames lose again. Out shooting, out playing and another lose. Not good. It has to stop.

Thought of the Day

We all would like to vote for the best man or women. Unfortunately they are never a candidate.

October 19th

” Mercury Forecast Mesa 26 degrees, Edmonton 9 degrees, Calgary 10 degrees”

I had a old mercury filling that needed to be replaced as it was starting to leak. What ever that means but I do know you don’t want to swallow mercury so I consented to getting it done. This old filling was from when I was a kid where the dentist actually used his finger to push in the silver mercury. During examination my dentist discovered a cracked tooth on the other side. If I haven’t said I dislike dentists I will say now. I hate dentist work. And we have a great dentist not only from a cost side but ethical side where he will only do what is needed and not inflate the bill with unnecessary procedures. The first dentist we had when we came to Calgary was like going to McDonalds. Your order a hamburger and trying to upsell you on everything under the sun. So multiple needles. Lips froze, cheeks froze, gums froze in both sides including a frozen tongue as I moved it at the wrong time. I smiled when the doctor says ” Relax your shoulders” I dislike dentist work. I was in and out within an hour with one filling removed and replaced and one grinding and new filling to fix the crack. Boy it is hard to swallow with those dams on but removing mercury requires it. All done for another year. Fluoride perhaps will help in the future.

I ate a small lunch and couldn’t have supper as everything was still froze so I had soup. I weigh myself in the morning and I am under my 190 threshold that I live by. I have kept my weight from 2014 to now, 7 years within a 4 pound range. 189-193. I feel the best around 192 which is where I stay the bulk of the time.

Jackie went with me to lift the multi ladder on the roof of the Jeep and I headed to Audrey’s to attempt to fix her fan. Alan met me there as I figured we may need to drop it to see the wiring. Jackie had dusted it and right after the lights would only flash on and then go out. We checked at the light box and Alan tightened the Marr connectors just to make sure but everything appeared ok. We then dropped the top cover and did the same thing. The lights still not work. I checked and we had power at the sockets so I thought perhaps over wattage bulbs setting off the resistor control. I whipped to HD and picked up bulbs and a battery for the remote.

THE ENVIROMENTALISTS HAVE DESTROYED ACCESS TO NORMAL LIGHT BULBS. It is a joke how you can not find normal light bulbs anymore. ( I have a 24 pack in Mesa as I want and like the incandescent)

New bulbs and still not working. New battery and on our last attempt success. One could think it was the battery all of the time which it may have been but twisting the connectors may have made a difference.

I THINK AN IMPORTANT LESSON HERE. One opinion in a lot of cases could be wrong no matter what the circumstance. Slowly eliminate one item at a time as a fault.

” Memories”

In about 1976 Jackie, Keith , Jenny and I headed to Kelowna for a vacation. I had just brought my car out of the body shop with a new paint job and had just installed a rebuilt transmission. Just before Kelowna I started to hear what sounded like a connecting rod coming loose. I talked to Dad and he suggested to drive it and if the motor blows we will tow it home and rebuild it as we were at least 8 hours away. I went to two different mechanics to see what they said. Each time they said a engine rebuild. ( up to $10K) The noise just didn’t sound right to me so I found one other small shop and asked the guy to hoist it and lets put a stethoscope on the pan to make sure. When we lifted it we discovered when I installed the transmission my bolts connecting the bellhousing to the engine had worked loose. Or I didn’t completely tighten them. If I remember correct there are about 4 bolts and two pins that hold the tranny to the engine. My mistake and fault. In hindsight I should have used Loc-tite on them or at least torqued them to spec. ( something I never did) BUT HUGE LESSON learned. Trust your instincts and always get more than one opinion. Saved me a big bill and a great vacation. Naturally I had to test it out and the RCMP visited my campsite that night to warn me to slow down.

We had Daisy get her haircut today and a little shorter for Arizona today. She is looking pretty and smelling awesome. Tonight’s walk was with her coat on. She doesn’t mind that at all. I had to layer up as the wind had a chill to it.

Thought of the Day

Getting a second opinion is like moving to a different slot machine.

October 20th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 29 degrees, Edmonton 15 degrees, Calgary 12 degrees”

One of those perfect fall days.

I went for a visit to Home Depot and picked up a couple of storage containers. I needed 2 for our motorhome stuff we removed and I larger one for us to carry stuff to Arizona.

I picked up two “milk crate” for the motorhome stuff and larger bin with a lid for the travel. When I was there they had a shower head on sale. I wanted to change out our regular shower head to a hose and multi spray head. It will make it much easier to clean the shower. Plus now I can PULSE my water over my head. LOL

I came home and organized it all in it’s proper boxes. They all worked out perfect.

I opened up the storage room and pulled out our luggage in preparation of Arizona. Jackie likes to organize everything for hers so it takes time. I only need a hour and i will be done. Golf shirts, golf shorts, dress shorts , dress shirts, one pair of pants, one jacket for evenings and sandals. I will wear shoes while driving. Shaving kit, pills, passport and vaccination records, Daisy records and we are done. Can you tell we are excited to go. LOL

I previously said poor choice Calgary and Edmonton made for Mayors. The younger generation really doesn’t have a clue. To choose a left wing, socialist, liberal minded individual is a recipe for disaster and only one day after the election our lovely Mayor says her NUMBER ONE PRIORITY is to declare a CLIMATE EMERGENCY. Her #1 priority when we have 40 story office towers without a single tenant. We are the Oil Capital of Western Canada and our Mayor makes it her #1 priority Climate change. What a dumb move and you can be sure the capital investment from oil companies will once again plummet. We the voters are our own worst enemy as was proven with the NDP and now two mayors that will further hurt Alberta. Sad really because if we had good governance we would be such a wealthy thriving province. Oh well, next young person, or NDP, or even Liberal supporter says they lost their job, can’t afford a house, groceries are too expensive, taxes increasing etc I will just smile as other the abnormal inflation right now I am not deeply affected. They are and will be years. Ideology and realism are on opposite ends of teh spectrum and until people start to understand you cant have governments pay for everything ( it is that are paying) we will continue down the road of heavy debt loads, under performing economies and civil unrest. Poor Calgary and equally poor Edmonton as we have 4 years ahead of stupidity.

Thought of the Day

Like sheep being lead to slaughter we vote

October 21st- 22nd

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 31 degrees, Edmonton 11 degrees, Calgary 14 degrees”

What a gorgeous fall day. They said 14 degrees but we reached at least 17 degrees by 4pm. Bright sun, no wind and blue sky.

Today Jackie & I were golfing with jeff & Wendy out at Lakeside in Chestermere. I like this course and it is always in perfect shape. Today the greens were fast and in perfect shape hence 5 three putts and still ending up with a mid 80’s score is livable.

It was a fun day and everyone played decent. Some great shots some very poor shots and some people having a off day and some having a great day. A typical golf outing.

Always fun, always entertaining , a very small amount of exercise ( a fitbit will say 9,000 steps but reality by GPS tracking only about 5000) The other steps are contributed to arm swinging when wearing a FitBit.

We stopped for a bite to eat on the golf patio. I love these guys Caesars . A pickle, a bean, and a sausage make for a drink with appy combo. We all enjoyed our meal.

Little did I know it would be the last game of the season with this foursome. I checked every course I could think of and they are all closed or closing this Sunday. Heatherglen and Blue Devil are still open but for the quality of course and the pricing they want it is ridiculous. No thanks . Blue Devil is $103 and Heather is $83 and definitely not worth it.

The weather after Wednesday turns cold so it would have been only one more game. I do have one more game left with my Turner Valley guys on Wednesday at The Track. They are closed Mon and Tues for line blowing but reopening otherwise I would have had a couple of games there.

A great golf season with the weather. Not my best scoring year as Turner Valley caused me all kids of issues. and just overall did not score as well ending up 2 strokes on average higher than last year. I need quite a few below 80’s scores on Viewpoint to bring it down.

ONLY 16 MORE DAYS BEFORE WE LEAVE !!!

Good news for people needing travel insurance as Trudeau finally removed the non-essential warning. The border is going to be one busy spot again caused by stupidity. If it had been opened Oct 1st we would have this mass exit at one time. A friend said that MediPac ( the largest snowbird insurance company) is only doing online apps for insurance right now as they are overwhelmed and that towns with campgrounds near the border are packed as people are trying getting in the que as soon as possible. Even if a person is at the border at 12:01am on the 8th I am sure it will be a long lineup. Just like a Boxing Day sale before opening time.

Another friend that just keeps adding to her age. As I said Happy Birthday to someone over 60 is an oxymoron as most people are not happy to say that out loud. Jennifer Judy Johnson now known as Jenny Harry is that person, a way way over 60. I have known Jenny since she was 16 years old and the fact of me knowing she needs joy I will say Happy Birthday to her. Happy Birthday Jenny. She has a lot to deal with like getting old, living in Edmonton, cheering for the last place Elk, cheering for the over achieving Oilers, living in a city that votes in a known Liberal , socialist, unionist mayor, and her most difficult task living with Keith. She is a trooper so we all should wish her a Happy Birthday. One day to forget about things and enjoy. I am sure Keith will go all out as he is a very romantic sensitive caring loving softy type of guy.

Today I am just doing a bit of computer work, relaxing with Daisy and we are going to a hockey game tonight. Life is good but cold right now. LOL

We have the environmentalists and then we have the nuts. Our Canadian government is committing to reducing methane gas by 75%. Guess who the main targets are. The oil industry and the cattle industry. Guess what Alberta’s two largest industries are. We have gone bonkers. To add a chemical to our cow feed so they don’t create as much methane is just wrong. The oil industry can reduce a little easier. I am not a scientist but to me this is nuts. They want and have joined a world wide pledge to reduce by 75%. It is only 30% of our total gas emissions. Canada emits 1.5% of the total worlds emissions. 1.5 percent and we are going to lead the charge by destroying oil and gas and farming. I know I will not EVER become a vegetarian. We have been carnivore’s for as long as in existence. It is a crazy world. Greta is invited to speak at the Un meeting in Scotland this year. A 18 girl with no education, no knowledge, no experience is going to tell the world how bad it is. And the young kids just suck it all up.

What a fun evening, Jackie & I went to watch a hockey game of Jackson’s tonight. It was at the Edge School which is a hockey school in Springbank that a huge amount of Hitman and a quite a few NHL players attended. A very nice facility.

It was an extremely entertaining hockey game ending up 4-3 for the bad guys but a well played game by everyone, Jackson got a goal which was nice to see. His goal celebration was a fail but very funny and entertaining. He is good player. We had a lot of fun cheering them on and a back & forth close game is always a blast. Victoria is the perfect loud hockey Mom.

Corey is the head coach of the team and loves it. He is organized, great with kids and has been teaching them a lot. Helps when you you were a good player yourself. I do think he should be wearing a suit and tie though.

As I said we had a blast tonight watching the game and cheering the Chiefs on. The Eskimo’s had to change their name and the Oilers should, as I am deeply hurt thinking about the impact oil has on our environment and this team flaunting the name of a dirty product but so far no feedback on the Chief’s name. A fun night !

Thought of the Day

Why don’t pigs play hockey ? The would hog the puck.

October 23rd-24th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 32 degrees, Edmonton 3 degrees, Calgary 6 degrees ,rain”

It was pouring out when we woke and it continued for most of the day. I got lucky and squeezed in a walk with Daisy around 1pm and another around 7pm when it was stopped or just drizzle.

She did get a little wet when we ran from the car to Home Depot. I wanted to change out the front door lock to allow access without a key. I was going to get one of the new WiFi deadbolts but for $300 and as often we would use the function it really isn’t worth it. I picked up a PowerBolt 2 which allows 6 codes and a one time user function that will good for us. I hate buying retail knowing the markup. Pretty easy install and set up and should be set to go. We are having the hallway carpet replaced so the one time code will work for this. Set up the code and it auto disappears after one use.

Daisy enjoyed our walk through the Home Depot. She is getting to be pretty good with our outings. At the hockey rink she was perfect.

With it pouring out I didn’t do much else today. I do know that with the cooler temps some of the old farts are starting to turn up the flooring heat. Put on a vest and let us breathe instead of suffocating in the heat. I turned the a/c back on to keep it reasonable.

Too many people I know lately are being hit with medical issues. Men are so much more affected than women and in most cases die 3 to 5 years younger. My one golfing partner in Mesa is out with surgery hopefully no longer than January. A good friend and business associate that I have known since 1975 has had stent surgery. Both of them are waiting for doctors approval to head south. And now I see one of my golfing partners from Mesa ( 3 times a week) has his place up for sale. We are assuming for health reasons as we haven’t talked to him but he has had some bad luck the last few years. It goes back to what I have said all along. Live like there is no tomorrow as you just never know. To die with loads of money in the bank is a waste of a good time. Enjoy enjoy today. I would rather be 85 if I live that long and broke and enjoyed myself than live life scared to spend money on a lifestyle or good time.

I don’t know why but searching Amazon I found this product I had to buy for Jessica & Penny. As you all know they own a food truck in Raymond that makes the best Gourmet Hot Dogs ever.

I love the gag costume. It looks great and hopefully the girls find it amusing. They could wear them when their food truck is out as the food truck mascots. LOL I know buying it I loved it and seeing a video of them trying them on and smiling makes me smile.

Thought of the Day

I am your hot dog. You are my bun. Wrap yourself around me and lets have some fun !

October 25th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 32 degrees, Edmonton 11 degrees, Calgary 13 degrees”

Wonderful fall day when you consider last year at this time it was minus 18 degrees and snow.

I loaded up the equipment Audrey rented to make her place easier to live in which included a raised toilet seat and a two wheel walker. It was a easy return to the Coop Medical store. They have a lot of neat stuff in there for handicapped people like lift chairs, bed rails, walkers, raised toilet seat, grab bars etc.

When I got home it was beautiful out and already hitting the 13 degrees. I thought to myself it is too nice of a day to do nothing. I phoned Blue Devil at 12:15 and he said be here by 12:45 and we have a spot for you. A quick change and off to the course. It is only about 7 minutes away.

I got all checked in and was teamed up with three guys from a group of 7 from the Hamptons. Nice guys with money that I witnessed when we put away our clubs in our cars. A SL500 Mercedes, a R7 Audi and a 730Li BMW. More than lots of money but very very fun nice guys. All members at Hamptons and out as a group for a last hooray. My three all were good golfers with three out of the four scoring fairly close. I ended up the low guy out of the group.

Having said that I golfed pretty good but could have a lot better. Not knowing the course well also hurts. I looked up on my Excel sheet and I golfed there once since 2007.

9 Pars and a Birdie help but errors happened and I had doubles. Still very happy .

I had my closest chance at an Albatross this year being about 8 feet away. I missed the Eagle but got the birdie. This was a 501 yard hole so took two wonderful hits. The greens while very smooth and nice were on the slower side.

I very warm day with it hitting 16 degrees on my car gauge and 3 fun guys to play with for a last minute decision. The trees on this course are finally getting to be a nice size. The blue tees were close to 6500 yards and I felt it as I was coming in with longer clubs than normal for me.

I came home and put in the BBQ a nice pork loin roast. I included roast potatoes and carrots in the pan and it was a wonderful meal. The roast took about 1/2 hr longer than expected but was fantastic. I love pork and I love roasted potatoes.

AND I STILL have ONE more golf game to play this year as I am heading to the the TRACK with my Turner Valley guys on Wednesday. Then a 12 day day break before hitting Viewpoint Golf course. Yahoo.

Fred had texted me the sales info on the unit behind him that is for sale. This is a private sale and priced exceptionally well. They could ask a good 10-15 grand more for it easily. Pricing in Viewpoint is rising fast. Most units are that 20 grand or more than last year. They are not staying on the market long as I am sure this one that has everything, AZ room, golf cart, shed, good furnishing etc will be snapped up fast. People love the fact it is such a wonderful community with everything right there to do. For me anyways it is the most fun we have as a group with friends, playing games, golf, concerts and outings.

Thought of the Day

I like my pork pulled and my meat rubbed.

October 26th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 24 degrees, Edmonton 15 degrees, Calgary 14 degrees”

An absolute wonderful fall day hitting 15 degrees with no wind. One more good day then we get cold fall weather, I golf tomorrow as I said which will be the last one this year in Canada.

12 MORE DAYS BEFORE WE LEAVE

It is too bad the Grace’s or Harry’s wouldn’t jump at buying the home of one of my golfing partners that health is getting the best of him. We have travelled to Hawaii, Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Europe and while I love these places the fun of having a home away from a home with the community and activities that Viewpoint offers in my mind can not be beat. If a person had enough money to own here and still take a 3- 4 week excursion to a foreign country would be the ultimate way to life. Having said that though a 4 week trip costs the same as our 12 months in Arizona. While interesting and wonderful to see many parts of the world, special animals, castles, waterfalls, beaches etc they start to all look the same after a while. But every person has there “way” they want to spent retirement. I take a game of golf, a game of cards, a backyard BBQ, a concert, a block party, a gathering ,all with friends new and old which I could call social utopia over visiting a museum, castle , foreign restaurant any day. Can you tell I am excited about getting back to our home in the sun. 14 years now we have enjoyed it and it never tires.

My side kick Daisy and I drove out to the RV lot ( another wonderful investment in life’s pleasures) to pick up my turkey rack, drop off my electrical tools that I had to bring to Audrey’s, and a cooler.

We walked all thru the park and saw another brand new RV being backed in. The lady was so excited but anxious as she won’t camp in the winter and wants spring to come early to use her new unit. The driver that delivered it from the dealer was a pretty good driver as it was a tight spot. I am thinking to myself why a long box double cab as it only makes it more difficult.

I brought the stuff home I wanted but on the way I thought why not have a cooler 12V in the car for travelling so I am heading to Canadian Tire on Thursday for one that warms and cools. Sandwich’s, water and pops for the trip or warm pizza if we want it. I think we will use it often.

We will most likely put in the rear as I assume the motor may make a little noise. Or turn up the radio. LOL

I whipped to PetSmart and picked up $200 worth of treats and food for Daisy to have down south. Familiar food and not having to change it is best for a dog.

The little brat Daisy TWICE today escaped the front door and ran down the hallway to her boyfriends place. Toni hears outside the door and opens it and her dog Barkly and Daisy tear around the condo like mad. She doesn’t listen well when fun is happening. Twice today !

Thought of the Day

Beergasm – the climactic moment when you take that first sip of cold beer.

October 28/28th

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 25 degrees, Edmonton 13 degrees, Calgary 12 degrees”

The weather forecast keeps getting worse and worse. The today’s cast shows 5 to 10 cms of snow on Friday and all next week highs of plus two or three degrees.

Today was my last day of golfing and Larry had booked us out at the Track. We knew the wind would be a factor and it was. Not only for the golf but the temperatures. Having said that even though extremely windy with gusts up to 60kms per hour that actually moved the ball on the greens it wasn’t that bad.

Putting was vey difficult as you were being pushed as you tried to line up.

But today was the most money I have won in our side bets all year. The MOST all year. That was nice with people handing me their hard earned money.

I had a 354 yard drive on one hole (wind assisted) We all had holes were we shot 200 yards and the ball blew backwards 50 yards. Side winds on certain holes made it even more challenging . Putting was difficult for all of us. I even had a 4 putt. It ook a lot of thinking to determine what club you were going to use.

It was a very fun day golfing on a reasonably warm but windy day. It was fun with the challenges faced and even more fun to take money from everyone.

Take a couple of old guys, add cold weather, strong winds, multiple layers of clothing and bending down takes time. Zzzz LOL It looks like their clubs are holding them up.

Notice how clear the sky is. The wind blew all of the clouds to Saskatchewan.

A early phone call at 7am from Victoria as Corey was having a health episode. Jackie got up and drove over there and returned with Jackson to take care of him until they could get it all sorted out.

Our tee time as 12:03 and when we arrived at the course it was 4 degrees. We were supposed to hit 8 today. Needless to say it took layers of clothing and winter gloves plus a toque to stay warm. Lucky for us the sun came out and the wind was slight so it kept the temperature semi decent. On a day like this the scoring is secondary as it is golf survival. Some great shots but a lot of missed ones also with all of the restricted clothes.

I won an end but lost one and the overall so it ended costing me $4. A cold day to golf but still out and a lot of fun.

I have been very lucky with weather when golfing. There have been times were friends will back out due to cold, or rain and I head out and have a great golf day. This year my second round of the year I golfed in Picture Butte as a single as friends backed out.

THIS IS IT. No more golf in Canada unless LOL.

It has been awhile and i know, I KNOW it is very early but I like the look of it.

10 DAYS LEFT BEFORE WE LEAVE

Thought of the Day

A person just has to remember no matter how bad you are golfing you could always golf worse.

October 29/30th/31st

“Mercury Forecast Mesa 33 degrees, Edmonton 7 degrees, Calgary 4 degrees”

Well winter is here. Looking ahead we have a week with the highest day time temperature being 4 degrees.

It makes me think how lucky and fortunate we are. As I have said before I have not been bored or found nothing to do for 8 years now being retired but I am fairly sure if I had to stay in Canada that could be an issue. I can blog, check webpages, go to the gym downstairs but it all isn’t that entertaining. I finished all of my house projects. I can go to the heated driving range but again only short time filler. The only time I have felt restless is the time waiting to go to AZ and the too long of time we have spent in December back here.

Todays plans are news, blog, go to Canadian Tire and pick up a cooler, go to GolfTown and get some golf balls to take down with us , lunch, pay month end bills, move cash to the US dollar account and wait for the snow to happen. As usual I expect NW Calgary to receives inches and us very little.

Speaking of inches isn’t it dumb how we are stuck in limbo between the two systems. Our weather is all Metric, my steak sandwich is all Imperial, my speed is Metric, my sheet of plywood is Metric thickness but Imperial width and length, my hammer is weighted Imperial, my finishing nails are all Imperial length and I hate how rain and snow is Metric and I have to convert to know the true amount. I like distance, speed in metric for cars. Still use Imperial for distance on the golf course. We are stuck in limbo!!

I started and finished my October budget. It is amazing where money flies. Our dog Daisy I noticed this year alone is $3000. Our communications entertainment bill which includes TV, internet and cell is $5000 a year. Things are expensive and by the looks of it only getting worse as everything is going up. These two items alone are not covered by our meager CPP cheques. We really need to relook at our senior benefits rather dish out money to groups, other countries etc. I know it won’t happen in my lifetime but as more and more companies have moved away from defined or even contributory pensions the seniors will be less and less able to afford to live. In todays world we protest everything but no one wants to bite the bullet on this matter. Funny thing as the youth continue to sway the policy that every thing, group etc matters and want socialization of our society there will less and less money available to relook at this. Karma will come back and bite the under 40’s of today BIG time.

Who doesn’t love Halloween ? Kids love the treats. People love seeing the decorations and costumes and the scary music is always fun. It is one holiday that from birth until you die you can participate in and have fun.

Here are some memory pictures of Jessica & Victoria when they were young.

Jackie loved dressing them up.

Things have changed and I can not say for the better as you have to be very careful not to offend anyone with your costume. I know the hookers on the street are very upset with being copied with the party girls costumes. Speaking of that as a young adult guy we loved Halloween with the girls costumes. LOL

Thought of the Day

Two Potatoes are standing on the street corner. How can you tell which one is a prostitute ? The one with the sticker that says IDAHO