August 1st/ 2nd

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 22 degrees Calgary 24 degrees”

The perfect summer temperatures are continuing. Love the sun, the warmth and hope it carries on.

Having said that storms happen in this heat. The storm that hit Central Alberta was unbelievable. Baseball sized hail is something I would not want to see. I was in a storm and had 9K damage with golf ball hail in 2006. Large hail can kill animals and watching on the news the cars taking a beating it had to be a little scary for the poeple in them.

Over the years we have experienced a lot of hail damage and insurance claims.

• St Albert- fence re-stained, house re-stained, shingles,
• Calgary- new siding, new eavestrough, new roofing
• Calgary- 9K damage to a 2006 Dodge Ram

Jackie headed back to town with Jackson and I stayed to finish off some work.

I painted and stained the bar. Unfortunately the stain splashed into my eyes and even today they hurt. After sanding it, I painted the black and then stained the cedar.

I cleaned up, tidied up things outside as Jackie went nuts inside the motorhome and it was like brand new, she cleaned it so good. Looks great.

I had a nice visit with the neighbors as they get ready for their maiden voyage in their new motorhome.

I made myself a wonderful supper, corn on the cob, bacon wrapped chicken and potatoes with carrots as I used leftovers and left over food.

Then the wind started up as the storm up north was to cause major winds in our area. I do not like wind with our big trees we have around us. I just received a quote of $945 to just trim them a bit. I think I am going with that as our deductible is $1000 on the motorhome and it may never be the same if hit.

The wind felt so nice after a warm day coming thru the windows even though a little scary. The warning said up to 80 kms wind. Nothing fell which is good. LOL

Victoria sent me a few pics of the kids on our beach that I will add a day late. LOL I liked them too much and I don’t want to back date the pics.

Thought of the Day

I couldn’t work today as I had a eye problem. I was ready in case someone asked me what kind of problem. ” I just simply couldn’t see myself working today “

August 3rd

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 20 degrees, Calgary 28 degrees”

A funny day as it was overcast for most of it then the sun burned off the clouds and wham the heat came up. I prefer full sun but it was still a nice day.

August 3rd is Mr. Jackson Waldie’s birthday. I think from past references you know how we feel about this kid. Super smart, kind, caring, keen sense of humor and a nice guy. We have a lot of fun with him being around.

As it was HIS DAY he had a great one but is still looking forward to his paint ball game on the weekend.

Corey & Tor worked very hard to get his special gift ready for him. They took their spare room and changed into a gaming room. They painted two walls black, added a cool trim design, a floating shelf cabinet, LED color changing lights, moved a leather couch and bean bag into it and have it set up with a TV for games, movies etc. Jackson loves his room and it looks really neat.

For brunch Jackson wanted us to meet with him at STACKED a new breakfast specialty place on 130th. YOU HAVE TO GO. Like Cora’s but a little more on the simple side and they also do lunch with burgers etc. I would call their portions gigantic. Huge ! And very very good. Everyone except for myself had take home cartons needed. The pricing is extremely good when you consider the quality and quantity Everyone had something different and each was wonderful. They even home made their jams for toast. Good coffee also.

Highly recommend it.

After getting stuffed with a delicious brunch we checked out Jackson’s room. He is very proud of his special spot now. It will be put to good use I am sure.

We left and picked up a pair of SAS shoes with Audrey as it is located in a busy part of town. They make great shoes and I do need a new pair but they are $200 a pair and I have a $1000 tree trimming and a $1700 tire replacement bill coming up so I will wait. I may also look at Berkshire as a alternate.

On our way home Jackson wanted to see if we were interested in playing Laser Tag . Jackie wasn’t but I am all in. I remember when my middle name used to be Laser. We had about a 20 min wait and then our turn with 10 others. Two teams but individual scoring. It was a first class facility and turned out to be a blast. I did very well even though ripped off as they listed me as 2nd but I was tied for first place being player #12. It was such a large facility it took at least 10 minutes to run into someone and that long before I even saw Tor, Cor or Jack. It was less dusty than some I have been in which was nice. Larry Laser Willard is pretty good sounding.

I think Jackson was trying to “practice” his shooting skills before Paint Ball this weekend.

What a better way to the end the day then a Peter’s Drive In milkshake. Boy are these good ! I had a banana/strawberry which was awesome. Corey had their #1 seller Chocolate and Tor had a mint/ and caramel I believe mix. Jackson had the same as mine and we had the best !

A fun day for the kid and here is hoping he enjoyed his birthday.

For supper on his birthday he had a Weiner roast and birthday cake to end the day.

When I got home Jackie had spent close to 2 hours cleaning out the Flex with vacuuming and spraying. The car looks great.

Thought of the Day
Winning isn’t everything but wanting to win is !

August 4th-5th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 19 degrees, Calgary 18 degrees”

I checked the weather NUMEROUS times as today we were committed to golfing at the Kananaskis’s Golf Course. Weather Network, Weather Channel, Accu-weather and local weather and NO ONE had the same forecast. What the perfect job to be wrong and everyone is ok with it. I checked the Doppler and came to the conclusion I would be just fine wearing shorts not only due to the weather but because it is August.

It was a weird day with the weather. We had sun, then cloudy, then sprinkle, then sun, then downpour, then cloudy and then wind. The temperature did not hit his high it was supposed to be. But, it was plenty warm with for shorts. I did need to put on my rain pants when we had the downpour.

Kananaskis is difficult to get tee times on as this one was booked when the site opened. April I believe. This is a real under rated course. It is rated the 9th best course in Alberta and the 69th best in all of Canada. The Wolf Creek Course near Ponoka is ranked higher which is just WRONG and has to be political as there is no way.

I love the course. I just didn’t play well today. I kept pulling my drives left but real long but it caused a couple of lost balls. Best shot of the day was a Par 4 around the river and I landed 4 feet off the green. It was a 277 yard Par 4 that is meant to be a lay up hole.

Some days things don’t go right with the pulls but it was very very fun. Jeff & Wendy played well as did Jackie and the weather added another element to the golf game.

After the game we stopped at the restaurant at the course and had a very enjoyable evening. We had a cousin of Wendy’s as our server ( she was from small town Sask) which was fun and we had fabulous meals. My steak with a peppercorn mushroom sauce was fantastic. We even shared a desert for $5 which is good thinking. Ours was a mousse and the Graces had a brulee. Just the right size and price.

This brings to mind how people like Apple product is beyond me. It is represents such a small portion of the marketplace, is a way more expensive and if poeple look at what you get versus cost Android is mile better, it is incestuous driving all products to Itunes, does not support Microsoft Office products properly ( the main reason NO business uses Apple). My daughters briefly went Apple but came back next phone purchase. This company is known for it’s unethical business practices such as anti-competitive behavior, trash ligation, tax tactics misleading warranties and i’s lack of creativity compared to the competitor. Even ease of use is no comparison. But the transfer of pictures always is difficult to work with. But that is just me. Ps when the company finally finds that missing part of apple I am sure it will catch it up to Android. lol

I do want to point out the blue sky in the pictures and the ONE only guy wearing shorts as it is AUGUST and summer out.

A very enjoyable day/evening with us not getting home until about 11:30pm.

Life is Good !

I worked on my July budget and only for the second time this year we were under budget. Mostly due to us being too busy with things to go much of anywhere. Groceries still over a $1000 for the month for two people just seems so odd and expensive to me.

Jackie was out so I took Daisy for a long walk down to the river. We met a lot of people and she even drank out of the river.

I finished off some computer stuff and the day was gone.

I talked to my Mom today a couple times as she was having another TIA episode. These things are scary and take a long recover period every time. For those that do not know what they are they are basically a small stroke that each time are dangerous and can result in less capacity both mentally and physically. I agree with Mom refusing to go to the hospital as the doctors can’t do anything for her. Tests, exams and always the same thing that they can do nothing to eliminate or help her with them. Blood thinners are supposed to help but they keep happening for Mom. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow after having a good night sleep.

Thought of the Day

Teach a child to always be polite and courteous, and when he grows up, he’ll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway. 

August 7th -8th

“ Mercury Forecast SUMMER AT LAST ”

We were invited to Alan & MaryAnn’s for supper and then for desert at Sheldon’s parents place. It would the last time Kristen & Sheldon were coming to Calgary before the baby was born so it was a nice impromptu get together.

Sometimes you meet poeple you just like. Sheldon’s parents are those kind of people. Easy to talk to. Fun people to talk to, which made for an enjoyable night. Daisy had a fun night also being chased by Shamba, Kristin’s dog. He is a male, fixed but still thinking he isn’t, so Daisy had her work cut out to stay out of his reach. Loads of running and hiding. She loved it.

We had an excellent Lasagna and Caesar Salad supper at MaryAnn’s and Alan’s .

These two have completely painted their house at least 4 or more times. It is funny though as they have come full circle from builder beige ( most common color all builders paint their interior) and then they add color to their surroundings and now back to builder white. Most builders use white or beige so that the new owners aren’t turned off by the colors and they can add their own character to the home later.

Those that know me, know, I do not consider white a color. It isn’t. I had one white vehicle that I had to add a huge amount of black to it to get it to look good. Fender flares, mud flaps, limo tint windows, black bumpers and kept the tires with Amorall black shine all of the time. Even though all white is fresh clean looking, some may say ” hospital like” ,it could be described as plain that requires a lot of accenting or color adding to make it pop. The all white did “modernize” and freshen up and has a nice clean look in their house accented by dark colored flooring and furniture. I do like it ! I particularly love the master bedroom look.

We decided to whip up to Edmonton today to see how Mom was making out after her recent episode.

She is farm tough for sure. Any time you have a mini stroke it is exhausting and sets you back. I was impressed she was doing as well as she is. At 90 and getting hit hard with these strokes isn’t fun, but she is determined to do as much as possible for herself.

I know a lot of old, older people and I will say getting old is not a good thing. Physical health, mental health, common sense, mood, socialization, too strong of opinions, critical of people, being cynical, paranoid and situations that happen just isn’t a good thing and no one is immune to it. I try to make sure every day to enjoy myself, whistle a song and just enjoy the sunshine to keep a positive attitude. I enjoy razing, teasing and poking fun at people, via email, in person or on Facebook or this blog. It is funny though as sometimes the message is confused or not understood. LOL But I have fun and am tempting fate as I will try everything in my power to avoid this.

We had a great visit and headed out at supper time. The road HWY 2 is a busy road. Packed. Nice though finding a “rabbit” and getting to travel 130 to 140 kmph most of the way home.

Today was a golf day with the Graces at Mc Kenzie. And it was a perfect temperature to golf. I had a good front nine scoring 39 but fell apart on the back. Focus, dumb mistakes, and no back pills today started to get me and I lost a couple of balls.

Jackie picked up Daisy from her haircut today so I hurried back to the clubhouse to pick her up. Daisy as usual was excellent even though a little uglier after her cut.

A couple of wonderful Caesars and a steak sandwich to finish up was great. Jackie even ordered something different. Yes different. Not her normal. Shocked me too. Jackie had a salad but with a bowl of Chili. Even Jeff was out of the box with Southern Fried Chicken . It must have been the heat or wind that got to them. Every meal was awesome. Nice to have place serve good food at a reasonable price and with good Caesars, but without a stick of celery. They go bean. My first choice traditional is celery, then asparagus, then bean. The saving grace was the correct rim trim instead of just Lowry’s.

Great weather, great golf course, great food and fun friends and one ugly dog for the ride so what more could you ask for.

Thought of the Day

Dogs know when they are ugly due to a bad haircut. Daisy won’t leave her bed.

August 8th/9th

Jackson came over tonight to stay and ended up staying two nights. He is getting to big for his bridges. He beat Jackie at billiards, he beat Jackie at darts and he neat Jackie & I at NYT Wordle. He got it in three and us in four. The brat !

I went out to the lot and did all of the catch up work. One planter was looking worse for wear as the water wasn’t enough for it so I reset the timer for an additional 15 minutes. Hopefully it come back strong and stays looking good. I watered the neighbors lot plus trimmed it when I did mine. Always lots to do around there which is nice.

I weeded our garden. I am semi pleased with it. The radishes are a no go and I will try again next year. They are about 2 ft high flowers though that the bees love. Carrots and beets I think will be fine, leeks are slow but the lettuce perfect.

On my way home I cut about 6 inches of the lettuce row off and brought it home. Mashed Potatoes, Cranston Fried Chicken, and a garden salad with fresh lettuce from our own garden was wonderful. Jackson loved it.

We had Slurpee’s, popcorn and a movie for entertainment tonight. Jackson also built a Lego airplane on the timer. Took him 23 min to complete a new Lego plane.

I forgot to mention this. Jackson sleeps in the spare room. Daisy jumped into bed with him and slept in his room the whole night not once worried about us. When Jackie got back in the early morning walk with Daisy she runs and looks at my bed then runs back into Jackson’s room and sleeps in bed with him until he got up. What a dog ! Chopped liver we must be !

Thought of the Day

With the war in Ukraine, conflict in Israel, and China making noise, some people think the world is coming to an end today. I don’t understand as it is already tomorrow in Australia so why worry ?

August 10th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 27 degrees, Calgary 28 degrees”

Love these summer temperatures. It was the perfect golfing weather.

Jackie had a work commitment and Wendy had a family issue so Jeff & I headed out. I booked Wintergreen. I will say this is one of the nicest golf courses near Calgary. It feels like you are in the mountains like a course in Radium. The best greens and perfect fairways. Bush lined but a lot more fairer than even Turner Valley. Both of us LOVED the course.

I started off real strong getting a birdie on the first hole and even the front nine with a 41 after taking a couple of three putts. It fell apart a lot in the back for no reason other than 3 putts and mistakes . I ended up with a 89 which I hate. I was fearful of a slice on a tight course and NOT ONE slice. I played quite well but the 7 each 3-putts killed the score. Very impressed with the course. Jeff had some great shots off the tee but struggled with his irons today. All said we had a very fun day ending with a IPA and Caesars on the deck. Another great day in paradise. Well Calgary anyways.

Just look how great this course is. The 18th hole fooled me not knowing the course and the water behind the green ate my ball. I couldn’t find a smile filter for the middle picture but trust me I was having a blast all day. I was concentrating on the screen as a video kept coming up and the glare didn’t help.

Wordle in 3, killing Jackie tonight !!

Thought of the Day

When I was a young I was a poor golfer. But after years of play and practice I am no longer young.

August 11/12/13th

” Mercury Forecast SUMMER plus 30 for another week. I love it ”

Today was my men’s league at Turner Valley. I enjoy this group, love the format and like the course even though it is one of the toughest around. Two weeks in a row I won money but it didn’t happen this time. Two holes, two blow up holes taking an 8 and a 9 killed the score. Having said that though I played pretty decent and if I removed the overage and brought them to a boogie I would have been in the money. So no luck there but it was a very fun day, pretty good golf except for two holes and a great day. I am on the verge of getting good if I can eliminate the blow up holes and the one or two dumb mistakes. Irons and driver over all are pretty decent. Chipping is getting better and putting ( minus the odd 3 and 4 putt I experienced lately)

Today is a do not much day. I caught up on emails, banking and sitting. It was hot out today.

I have confirmed power all of the way to the bulbs on my PIAA system and can’t believe both bulbs would burn out at once. But I guess it can happen. I was still not convinced so I started right from the beginning with my light tester and circuit tester. The switch checked out, the relay/resistor was allowing power to pass, I find power at the bulb switch and the ground connection turned out. I removed the one stab connector on the bulb and and wired it direct and no light. Unbelievable that two bulbs burn out without killing the fuse at the same time. Issue for me is these two small bulbs are $150 as they are 85 watt extreme white. I replaced one a few years ago and the other has lasted10 years but they have limited use as technically not DOT approved.

A wonderful BBQ supper tonight with a baked potato which is one of my favorite ways of having a spud. Amazing vegetable. Think about it mashed, roasted, scalloped, baked, fried, French fried, with each kind tasting completely different. A must for every meal in most cases.

This morning I met Alan at Audrey’s house to work on her deck. After a few changes in design to make it better we came up with a plan. We ripped out the joist and cut off the screws. We were just getting to the point of construction when the battery went dead. Unfortunately no spares so we were out of luck. Our plan is tomorrow start at 9 am. The HOA causes a few design issues with steps and the window well which adds extra time and design issues but I think we have those covered. Hopefully everything goes fine.

I will work for about 4 hours then I have to go to our lot and move the motorhome as our tree is being trimmed.

33 degrees out and then a quick rain shower happened. I am sure everyone appreciated this. I love mid day sun showers.

I am adding this article below as I love the saying.

If only people would take a long hard look at this. It is so current with governments today. We have poeple like Bernie Saunders wanting to re-distribute wealth. We have young kids wanting free university. We have the general population wanting free healthcare, grants, CERB, work at home, short work weeks, benefits galore, extra vacation. etc.

I just wish governments and in particular the  NDP, but Liberal and Democrats also would stop pushing this on the general population.

Utopia created by socialism is a dream that can not be accomplished for man kind. NO ONE ever mentions that NOT ONE country in the world EVER has done it. Utopia may never be accomplished but we are far far from living in a dystopian society.

The closest to practical perfection socialism is Sweden. Not my wish on anyone. They have a marginal tax rate of 56%. A doctor makes $105K and has to pay taxes with a net of $50K. Yes free education, and universal health care but at what cost. A 500 sq ft apartment is a luxury over there.

But it is a lot better than true communism where everyone make the same. Doctor and janitor but both get government paid for health and education.

We are being over run with the left leaning and the right have moved to the radical right a bit much but we cannot continue to be lead down the path of socialism, with left biased policy, politicians like Notley, Singh and Biden, as our world and our kids world will not be better off.

The old saying something earned is of much more value than something given is so true. To discourage individuals from wanting to be better off and gain wealth is asinine.

Jackson came over as his Mom & Dad had a party to attend. We picked him up and decided on Boston Pizza. As i have said before our favorite place for years. Not as good as it once was with all menu changes but still a good place for eats.

I had the Smoky Mountain Spaghetti. It is one pound of pasta. I used to eat this all but for the last few years have saved a portion for the next day. Jackson had ribs and I bet NO ONE can guess what Jackie had. YES! Chicken Caesar Salad. LOL They had pints on sale and the special was on a 20 oz glass. No wonder kids can’t figure things out when one bar sells 12 oz pints the next 14 oz pints and a PINT SALE tonight with 20 oz glasses. Cold frosty glass and it was wonderful. How many ounces in a real pint ? One of the issues is an Imperial pint is 20 oz and the USA pint is 16 oz. No one offered me a 16 oz drink !

This kid is getting too good at things. We played billiards and we played darts. Jackson won multiple games. One game I was miles ahead and made a causal shot and missed. He comes back and wins knocking numerous balls down. He beat Jackie and he beat myself. Billiards ended up tied and darts I won but ever game now I will need to concentrate. Kids beating adults. Just not right.

I still am Larry Laser Willard so life is good.

Jackson has started watching Young Sheldon so we watched a few episodes of that. I love the show. It is better than the BIG BANG.

He slept over and again Daisy was his company all night. She loves him or something.

Thought of the Day

One day or day one it is your choice !

August 14th

“Mercury forecast Edmonton 27 degrees, Calgary 32 degrees”

Up earlier than normal this morning. Jackson and Jackie still in bed when I left the house as I was meeting Alan at 9 am to work on the deck.

A quick stop for gas which has really come down as today it was $ 1.46.I talked to a guy filling up with a 1969 Z28 in perfect shape. Rare getting a 302 Z28. Nice car. I bought some ice and water. I was getting two bottle of water from the cooler when I noticed each one was $2.19 and then looked over to the front door a a case of 12 was $5.99. Go figure, other than the cooling costs but I had my cooler along anyways so a case it was.

Tim’s for breakfast and ready to work.

I will jump ahead here. 9am to 6:30 pm in the sun is a little warm and tiring as you can’t drink enough water.

We managed to get the deck 95 % done. This isn’t my favorite way to build a deck as we couldn’t attach it to the house, we couldn’t dig down and put in pilings and it was too high to sit on 6 x 6 or such. It is difficult to get square and hold square especially with a large cut out for a window well and built in steps. I am happy with our work. We are out by 1/4″ over the run from the house which is very easy to work in and not be noticed what so ever. We got very lucky with two 4 x 4 supports hitting some concrete in ground. This will work perfect.

It looks great and will last 20 to 30 years or more. We plan to finish it on Tuesday am.

We left about 3 pm and headed out to our lot. Our tree is being cut tomorrow and I need to move the RV. I trimmed the edges, cut the grass, dead headed all of the flowers, fertilized them, then started on the motorhome. Removed the wheel covers, removed the sun screen from the windshield, unhooked the power and water along with the internet line and pulled in the slides and raised the levelling jacks.

Our neighbors came over and loved the bar and especially loved the tractor seat. It is the most comfortable seat EVER. Daisy was in heaven with Michelle and Rick being right at face height as she was on the bar. 100 kisses each.

On the way out we stopped and cut a lot of lettuce.

You reap what you sow. !

We arrived home about 6:30 and lucky me with my left over Boston Pizza meal and a wonderful salad with our fresh garden picked lettuce.

Wordle in 3 tonight Jackie in 4. Hard word but I had a little luck.

Another great SUMMER day !

Thought of the Day

Decks are funny. You can hear it say ” Come sit on me”

August 15th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 27 degrees, Calgary 30 degrees”

Loving the summer.

Today the phone rang at 7:00 am sharp. It was my tree trimmer confirming our appointment. Now that is early for a retired guy but appreciated that a business is professional and communicates well.

I hurried to get out the lot.

Now let me see. Yesterday I had to be a job site to help build a deck at 9am, Today at the lot for landscaping and tomorrow to be a a job site at 9am to finish the deck. Three early days . It feels like a job. LOL

My guy showed up right on time. Within my original communication with him we were discussing the potential removal of three large limbs to protect the gazebo and motorhome. It was a slight trim my expectation. What I received was almost a Brazilian and am very appreciative of the extra work he did. It was exceptional. Very talented, thorough, organized, safety conscious and fast, and hard working.

Mitch starting at 8 am and ending just about noon. I was in disbelief as he kept trimming and trimming to my delight. My almost $1000 bill was MORE than worth it. Last month it cost me $220 for my trees in Arizona and they are only 12 to 15 ft high compared to this at 80ft high and having to use a lift. Very skilled to watch them.

This is only one small pile and half the size it was.

If you ever need trees trimmed this is the company https://www.meeshtree.com/

I was not only surprised with the amount of work, the huge pile of limbs and the cleanup they did was awesome.

The tree now looks wonderful. Like a much younger version of itself and no dangerous branches to hit the gazebo or motorhome. Looks great.

Just about a Brazilian.

Someone said to me, you paid a $1000 bucks to have trees trimmed ? Think about this I have a $1000 deductible on insurance and will have a damaged unit that would never be the same versus being pro-active. The logic fit my profile.

Before putting it back I whipped into Strathmore and washed it. The amount of up and down with the foam brush and wand is tiring. It took just over $60 bucks to wash it.

I then drove over to the Coop and put $350 dollars of gas in it and $40 bucks worth of propane. All set to go, somewhere.

On my drive back lo & behold again a major accident on Hwy 22x. Jackie and i have seen two accidents that were fatality accidents and at least three more where we do not know the outcome. The highway was completely closed and the RCMP were directing traffic on a detour rout past Oasis on a gravel road. By the time I got back to the lot I was real dusty and as this road is only about 300 yards away from our place it was extremely dusty. It is beyond me the drivers on this road. Carelessness, stupidity and slow drivers always the cause. A driver get impatient then takes a risk passing. Head On! When passing say at 120 and a car coming at 100 the distance between shrinks awful fast. It is impossible to legislate stupidity and perhaps the cops should look at ticketing every car NOT doing the limit. I am always very cautious passing as a few more miles of following versus being dead is a pretty easy choice.

I spend all afternoon cleaning up branches, leaves etc and fixing the incident that happened during limb falling. Two irrigation heads had to be fixed and one planter box line. Pretty minor.

Thought of the Day

Why did the tree need to take a nap.

FOR REST

August 16th

“Mercury forecast Edmonton 29 degrees, Calgary 31 degrees “

Summer carries on. LOVE IT

Up early and out to finish the deck at Audrey’s. I love watching my news in bed and three days in a row wrecked. The war could be over and Trudeau could be out for all I know. LOL

Today we built the down step from the deck to the grass , installed the one board I had to trim and built the stairs coming down from the house. We also trimmed the deck with lattice to cover the end up. Over all I am pretty happy with it. The deck boards today are a different width than the originals which maybe 10 years old or even 20 yrs old so we couldn’t match them up exact. It should last another 25 yrs and now only needs a coat of stain to finish it. Alan took the lead on this with material ordering, waste management, design etc and it is nice that he is a easy guy to work with.

After finishing the deck I decided to check out Canadian Tire. Amazon was $68 a bulb so close to $140. These are for 85W Extreme White. Tire had some Sylvania bright whites for $50 each which is pretty good but only 55w. While looking at the H3 lights I found a a BAJA TOUGH H3 100w bulb. Not made on China ! More wattage but not bright white which is my preferred. A $50 bulb on clearance for, get this 93 CENTS. I didn’t believe but thought I will go the checkout and give it a try.

After a month of testing the switch, then the relay, then the wiring, then the ground I was stuck as I couldn’t believe both bulbs at one time. I figured if nothing else this would let me know if the bulbs were shot. I am happy and so so happy. For the quantity of time I use them I am happy. THEY WORK ! I think I will go buy two more bulbs as Halogen 100 watt bulbs for less than a dollar is stupid. I will miss my bright white as they used to blind people but now with my new LED headlights I can still smile when poeple flash me.

Jackson came over this afternoon so upstairs to play pool and darts. As I said I have to watch him now as he could potentially win every game if I am off a bit. And he did win games but lucky for me not enough to win the best out of. Whew !

BBQ ribs and roast potatoes for supper and Wordle in 4 so life is good.

Thought of the Day

There is a moment in parenthood when your child discovers you are not infallible, that you can be beaten. The first time a kid wins a game of cards, pool, connect four against their mum or dad or Grand parent, or solves a math problem their parents can’t even begin to understand, it is profoundly bittersweet. While it is wonderful to see your child growing up and becoming independent, when they get good at things, they are a little bit less yours, and you are a little bit less heroic. I have to hang up my cape !

August 17th-20th

SUMMER WEATHER CONTINUES LOVE IT

We are now in the records books of having the second longest stint of over 27 degrees in history. We are at 13 and the record is 17 which we won’t meet. I bet in whatever year the longest stretch was the news said drought, climate warming and warnings. It has been great weather. I feel for the farmers as we had a really cold wet spring and now a hot dry summer which isn’t conducive to the best crops. But for a non working guy the weather is awesome.

I have been busy and timing was off to keep this updated so now will have a shorter version based on quick memories.

I worked out at the lot for a full day. Always lots to do and enjoyable work. I had one planter that struggled a bit but other than that everything is doing well except a few veggie garden issues. My radishes went to seed and my potato tops are like a plight or brown from not enough water. I hope the bottom potatoes are good and time well tell.

We had Jackson stay and as usual lots of fun playing pool and darts.

Thursday morning was my Turner Valley Men’s league. It was hitting 33 degrees today but with a slight breeze which was awesome for golf. High expectations.

That was blown up quickly taking a 10 on Hole 1. Water, sand, putting and 10. After that you know you are out of the game. BUT I still won money with only 6 Deuces paying out $23.00 so all is good. After the bad hole it is hard to recover and it didn’t happen for me. Numerous bad shots and missed putts. I just relate to Tiger missing a cut. Things happen and they sure did today. But I was happy still winning my prize.

As I said before Turner’s restaurant has great food. I love the cold salad with head lettuce, peppers etc much more than most fancy places. Love it.

Chicken and potatoes BBQ is always a go to.

Friday I worked at paying bills and whipped out to the lot with Jackson and Corey. We were doing a measure for a potential deck job for Corey. I do not care for rules that so not ground digging as building a gazebo without support poles imbedded isn’t easy.

We will see what happens here.

Then picked up Jackie and headed to Lyalta for the Muirfield Golf Course. I like this course as it is a fun track with extremely difficult greens due to undulation. We were meeting Jeff & Wendy there today.

I showed up a little early as the course doesn’t have a range to warm up on. So we just relaxed for the 1/2hr. I bought two waters for myself as it was warm out.

Two holes kept me from having a great game. One was a Par # where I took a 6 on it. But lots of Pars, one Birdie and ONE EAGLE. This was a nice shot. The 280 yard hole is a Par 4 with water all along the left and hills on the right with a very very narrow fairway slanting towards the water all of the way to the green. Perfect shot would be a lay up about 150 to 180 yards and wedge in. I didn’t go that route. I hit, when it left my clubface a not perfect shot I thought, but my ball ended up 5 ft short of the pin . A perfect putt for my first ever EAGLE on a Par 4. I have had eagles with putting and chipping on a Par 5 but never one on a Par 4. Very nice shot.

Mid 80’s score only due to 3 putts. One of the hardest putting course this year. Everyone of us had numerous 3 putts. even with this Jackie broke 100 which is very good on any course but considering the difficulty exceptional.

After golf we stopped for supper at the clubhouse. They have a short menu but of teh food we all ordered it was great. I case Jackie breaking 100 really made her stretch out of her comfort zone as she had a Chicken Breast burger with regular salad. Not a Jackie thing but she loved it. I had a perfect sized smaller steak and salad which was superb. Wendy and Jeff seemed to enjoy there choices. Now Jeff decision wasn’t perhaps what he wanted. He had a tooth pulled, plus bone craft and 6 stitches so he had to choose certain food only. I hate dentists and they are money crooks. It will be a expensive bill for sure.

Fun day golfing !

When I golfing in a non competitive situation I mark the scores E for par, + 1 for bogie. It just makes it fast and easy to see where you are at while playing. Somedays though with enough par’s it is easy to know without a scorecard.

Today Jackie and I readied for a visit to Fred & Terry’s place. A quick shop at Walmart was a great experience. I bought two pair of Wrangler cargo shorts for $11.00. That is UNBELEIVABLE. Brand name, cargo and cheap!

All ready to go in the morning after loading.

What a Canada Junior game. How that stayed out is soooo lucky and a good goal on our part. I love winning.

Might not be able to update until we get home Wednesday evening. I will try.

Thought of the Day

Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I’ll show you a man who can’t get his pants off. 

August 21st to 24th

We are back. We had an absolute wonderful fun time with no rain, storms or clouds just wonderful warm summer weather and evenings. Awesome !

It still amazes me the volume of traffic on Hwy 2 every time we travel it. Where all of the people come from is baffling. This time we decided to go Hwy 2 , Hwy 11, Hwy 20, Hwy 39 and then Hwy 759 to Hwy 16. It did seem shorter and other than heavy truck traffic on #20 it was light traffic.

Fred & Terry’s place is beautiful. The grass, flowers, landscaping , gardens and bunk house are exceptional.

We had games of Card Golf, Dice, Crib and Darts. All of which are a lot of fun. Always fun to play but more fun to win and I am relatively happy with my success. We also thru in a day of fishing and a day of golfing. Every event was fun.

In darts it was Jackie & I against Fred & Terry. Interesting scenario as Jackie is English so is born to be a good dart player, it is Fred’s board and darts and he plays quite often so the results could be lop sided or even depending on a little luck. I will say the Willards came thru big and were the winners each game. English wins I guess. Fred has the perfect dart board system he built. It looks awesome, very sturdy and is portable to put away.

I do have to say at Card Golf I did not do well. I even played a strategy to go after large numbers and it backfired on me. I do not believe I won single game of this type. I really like the game though and it nice to see smiles on my friends faces. LOL

Crib was extremely close this time. I believe Fred & I are a few games behind. We had wins and loses which I didn’t keep track of. Fred has it marked down in his black book. I do know we were one point short of winning and the girls counted in but in retrospect Fred/I made an error in counting just before them of two points that would have given us the win. That is a hard one as we know we really won but a miscount it just that and in fact some people play you can steal miscounts so the girls have the win. We will remember this.

We used Fred’s new truck to haul the boat the lake today. I love this truck. It has a GM Detroit Diesel in it, it does not have one rust spot and the interior is like brand new. This was a true find on Fred’s part. The perfect truck. It just feels powerful when you start it up.

Fishing was a blast. Fred’s boat is wonderful and we can fly across the lake at over 30 mph. The fishing over all was not good. It was spotty, slow and sporadic. Enough fish to keep us interested but not like the 100 we caught last time. All smaller Walleye except for my one small Pike. We both lost a fish but I am sure mine was a huge one that just got away. The lake was like glass, it was hot out and not busy at all so very pleasurable. I loved it. I could have stayed out a couple more hours but timing worked out great for supper etc by coming in when we did. Plus the loading dock wasn’t busy.

Travelling under a bridge while a train goes over top was pretty neat.

The bunk house Fred converted was amazing. It has a dresser, mirror, table and chairs and bunk bed. The bed has a Zinus Foam mattress which is incredibly comfortable. we slept well. The first night was too warm but the other nights was perfect. Opening the windows and blinds were great. They had night lights, USB plugs etc in there like a hotel.

I was very impressed with Jackie. For me after drinking I have to go pee a few times in the night as does Jackie. For me around the back of the shed in bush works perfect. The 5th wheel is only 20 yrds away but you don’t want to bother the hosts and the resort washroom maybe 100 yards away. Jackie snuck out behind the shed each time. Way to go girl !!

The first night Fred & Terry had my favorite meal for supper. A full turkey meal with mashed potatoes, carrots, dressing and gravy. Awesome tasting and the spuds and carrots were pulled from the garden only a 1/2 hour before eating. You can’t get any fresher. My favorite meal and wonderful.

Fred doesn’t like to golf. He could be great as he hits it a mile but it is just not his thing but he lasted the entire 12 holes. This is a 12 hole course which is the new thing and does make the time less than 4 hours. He did very well. The girls played well and I had a lot of fun. It is neat course as 9 holes are the old school small greens with rounded shoulders and 3 new large new style greens. It does not play easy and is beautifully landscaped and cared for.

After golf Jackie & I treated Fred & Terry to supper at the Mexican restaurant at the clubhouse. It was odd as this was one patio where they did not allow dogs. We had to make the choice and decided with Fred & Terry’s approval to leave Daisy in their trailer with the a/c on. On our return we were happy to see she did well being left alone.

I think Daisy had a relaxing and enjoyable time.

We were out to supper to help celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. I am sure Fred wanted to get down on one knee and propose again but Terry wanted nothing to do with it. LOL They haven’t aged a bit since our last anniversary celebration on their 40th at Blueberry Hill. The before and after 5 years difference. To the non tech poeple. Move the bar to see both pictures.

The meals were excellent, the Caeser drinks were great and we had a fun evening.

A very nice visit, lots of games, fun fishing and lots of laughs.

While I was finishing this up I received two wonderful Facebook messages. The first one was from Rita Cadieux. She was on the sales desk at Henderson’s when I transferred to Calgary in 1991. One of the best sale desk people ever. She was smart, a very good talker, great personality and the customers loved her. I needed one of the best for a new branch in Kelowna I was responsible for and opening. Luckily she agreed so she headed up the sakes desk in Kelowna for me. After a few years she was transferred to our Abbotsford branch that was having problems and later become a Sales Territory Manager in Vancouver for us. I lost track of her after that. She is one person that if any company hired her they would have an incredible employee. Her laugh was contagious.

A few minutes later Lou Weran contacted me. He was the assistant warehouse manager/shipper/receiver at Sterling Dist which was the company that give me my start in the building supply industry. He was a great boss. Unfortunately he told me he lost his wife Paulette 3 years ago. She was our office clerk at Sterling and later a office clerk at Glenora Lumber, one of our accounts. She was such a nice kind, gentle lady and a lot of fun. Only the good die young is quite true.

Just neat to be in contact with them again and hopefully remain in contact.

Thought of the Day

If the world were a logical place, men would be the ones who ride horses sidesaddle. 

August 25th

“Mercury Forecast – Edmonton 30 degrees, Calgary 23 degrees”

Today was my Turner Valley men’s league. I had high hopes that quickly faded. Things just went wrong today. That is golf.

Having said that here is the winning money purse for today.

Needless to say it was a great money day for me. Number one on the money list today is a good thing.

I had a deuce on Hole 17, a net eagle, and a gross skin. I missed a two foot putt for another deuce but still anytime over $50 I will take it.

So a good and ugly golf day. Great money day with a bad score taking a 10 followed by a 9 back to back. I will forget the score and relish in the money.

Thought of the Day

One nice thing about egotists … they don’t talk about other people

August 26th to 30th

First the weather was and is amazing. Hitting 30 degrees this year is the second most in history is awesome. It is not climate warming just a one of year. But I love it and hope it continues until October.

Friday was getting ready to head to Park Lake. I love Park Lake as it is a smaller lake, 12 mph speed limit on the lake so no speed boats, a little weedy so lots of fish and a huge beach where you can walk out a long long ways. Plus it has a concession stand for ice cream cones/slushes or if you are lazy or arrive late hotdogs, burgers and fries. Wonderful.

We bought the groceries for the weekend and included a lot of “kid” food. Pop & Chips and non of the junk food. Funny though but the first kids I know of that don’t like Kraft Mac & Cheese. LOL

It was a nice drive going down and arrived and ready to set up. We got lucky as there was a cancellation so I picked up a site but without power. No movies, no power to recharge phones etc. Really roughing it. Our plan is to get the kids playing real games. Atti is a little too young yet but August and Jackson love trying to beat us at anything. I discovered August is a UNO guru and loves the game. We had numerous games with WAR and FISH thrown in. Jackson played some video games on his phone but was involved with every game we had. The boys loved BOCCI ball.

We spent hours on beach each day. Hours at the playground and a few trips for ice cream of course.

I didn’t bring the Jeep or boat but Jackson wanted to fish so I set him all up. His 4th cast and he catches a fish. He loves fishing and has lots of patience. I had put on a large #2 Red and White and this smaller fish swallows a way past his gills. I left him in the water while going to get my pliers to see if I could get it out but no luck. I had to kill it unfortunately. Small Jacks are dumb and this guys was long and skinny so was hungry. I switched over to a single hook jig to help. Jackson caught 4 fish and loved it. August wasn’t interested in learning to cast this year. Jackson has it down pat sending the hook a long ways out. I took off my real good reel and put on a closed face for him. This closed face is one I got from my Dad. The second day of fishing the button broke on it. Sometimes I amaze myself. I took it all apart with it’s little pieces and springs and fixed what I thought what went wrong. Reassembled it and it is better than when Jackson started with it. The button, popped out of the casing due to the pin not catching the line when reeling in and the line was tangled up behind the spool. Wonderful and should be good for years again. I am going to say it is most likely 20 or more years old.

We had some great meals and the kids did vey well. All three kids slept in the living room. On the second night we had storm come up and it was WINDY. We lost at least 10 campers around us as tents and gazebos were being destroyed or blown away. I figured since we had no neighbors I would start the generator and let them watch a movie as we were trapped inside. This worked out great.

Here is a funny story that happened. Sometimes you just need to be there. LOL We decided to go to the playground in Circle B which is nicer and newer. There had to be 20 kids there when we arrived. The boys like this. One of the older boys 12 or 13 yrs old got to the top of the playhouse and shouted ” Kids at the park do you want to play a game? ” He then shouts ” Ok let play GHOST TOWN” Every kid in the park starts screaming loud pretending they are scared. In ghost town you are supposed to play without making a noise. The young boy puts his hands on his head in disbelief and shouts ” Kids, quiet we are going to play GHOST TOWN” The kids again start screaming. Jackie and I are sitting on the bench watching just killing ourselves laughing. Then Camper KAREN ( with the perfect Karen haircut) comes up the bank and shouts. ” Quiet, stop the screaming NOW ! She said angrily. I had to pipe up. ” The kids are just having fun ” Her response in the form of a angry shout ” NO” and then leaves back to her site next door to the playground. Another mother comes and has a normal talk with the kids including hers and they became a little quieter.

What happens to older women that causes rage is beyond me. How dumb is this Karen booking a campsite right beside the playground and expecting no noise. You book a hotel near a highway expect road noise, you book a cruise suite beside an elevator expect noise.

We left after the incident as rain drops started to fall. I guess you had to be there but I do know I thought it was hilarious as did Jackson.

I have to say one thing about Lethbridge. I love the town and it has a lot to offer but there are more mentally and physically poeple than anywhere I have seen. Over the weekend we experienced two bus loads one each day. One young guy was wearing his Batman cap and ran thru the woods and they had a nice beach visit and lunch with them at the beach. But to add to this there were multiple kids with issues and a few parents also. Poor Atticus witnessed first hand a parent kid combo when this little girl had a huge fit as she thought he wasn’t going down the slide fast enough. The little girl had a huge fit and was taken off by her Dad. Huge fit is understating a meltdown. We witnessed kids and parents with issues that you just don’t see that often. Wind effects ?

This couple spent hours in a sand castle building contest until the daughter had a melt down and they left. Funny watching the parents in a stressful situation and how they handle it.

Another weekend in the books.

I started to organize and put myself together my stuff for my fishing trip in Northern Sask. I tried to buy a new flannel plaid hoodie but NO ONE had them in stock. And some wonder how Amazon is destroying the local stores. Because they are dumb and don’t want to stock anything. Poeple will pay more for immediate access. Canadian Tire, Walmart and Peavy Mart had NO STOCK.

Look at the choke cherries on this tree at Oasis. I can’t bother with jam making or pies or jelly but someone sure could get a lot of berries. The name is Choke Cherries for a reason as the pit is 90% of the berry and i am sure poeple have died from these things.

Thought of the Day

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home, and when he grows up, he’ll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway

August 31st

” Mercury Forecast Calgary 35 degrees, Edmonton 32 degrees”

Wow talk about beautiful weather. It too k forever to get here but once summer came the weather has been amazing. What I do not want to believe is that this is the last day of August and while I love September and fall I know what comes after that.

I did my month end banking and the accounts are still taking a pretty big hit from where they were. It is a little annoying that things come down so fast but take forever to to increase. Our net worth is still greater than March 2014 when we retired so I happy about that. Jackie working part time has been a huge benefit and sure makes up for not have company monthly pensions. We have had a very enjoyable 8 years.

Today was golf day with Jeff & Wendy at McKenzie Meadows. This course again was in great shape and surprisingly still green even after all of our heat. As usual it was a fun day golfing with the Graces. I thought Jeff drove the ball very well today and just made too many chipping errors. Wendy didn’t have her usual good driving but played decent all day with nothing blatantly great or bad and Jackie I thought played very well with great drives and decent second and third shots. I was happy with my play except for putting. I HAVE to get better at that somehow. I finished with an 82 and took 6 three putt holes. Only one slice and some very long drives today. It is nice to hit the ball on a course like this and not worry about a tree lined narrow fairway like Turner Valley. It was a fun day of golfing and we finished at 4 hours.

We stopped for supper at the clubhouse and I believe everyone enjoyed their meals. I did, as the steak sandwich was a nice size and very tasty.

I enjoyed the warmth and could go as far as saying it was a touch warmer than I prefer but it was nice. I won’t complain as getting over 30 doesn’t happen that often. Jeff’s Accuweather had it at 35 degrees but we had a slight breeze to keep the heat down.

We left Daisy with Audrey which is probably a good thing with it being quite warm.

After golf we headed to the Wholesale Club and picked up the Halloween candy for the kids this weekend as it is our Oasis early Halloween party and carnival. Loads of fun as everyone is coming.

Wordle took 6 but at least not a fail

Thought of the Day

All I ask is a chance to show that loads of money won’t make