August 1st- 2nd

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 26 degrees Calgary 27 degrees. “

August already. Time has a way of going by too fast.

Now this is interesting. Can you image the distance your golf ball would travel on rock. It may be beaten up and a new one needed every hole but what a unique golf course. This picture is from Keith Harry who is up in Yellowknife visiting his daughter on a holiday.

I think it would be an interesting golf course. I will have to ask what the score was. LOL

Today I headed out to the lot to do a few things. I finished off my hard plumbing for my grey water line. I had to replace the plastic hose three times in 5 years as the sun just deteriorates it so quickly. It required a stop at Woody’s RV plus Home Depot in Calgary and a third stop at Rona Strathmore to complete it correctly. Now I just have to twist left on pin connector and the whole pipe will swing out of the way to exit or return to the parking spot. Having said this the twist prong connector from Woody’s was supposed to have a rubber washer but it was missing and i had to remove one from an old sewer connection to make it work. It is a little thicker so very difficult to get on but works like a charm now after leaking when I first installed it.

At the Depot the small world hit again. The gentleman helping me was the retired VP of Trico Homes .We attended a lot of functions together. He retired got bored and decided to work parttime at the Depot.

I like my simple design. No more hose. I don’t know about others, but I find the grey water can smell worse than sewer water sometimes so no more holding it as it will run with the knife open right into the collection pipe.

I dead headed and watered all of my plants. With this warm stretch it is very very unlikely the WID will allow water to be drawn as they even have restricted the farmers. Rain every few days would be nice but not in the cards. I feel for the farmers unless they are cutting already. I noticed Dalemead Lake on the way out to the lot has land showing 100 yards out from shore it is so low. Southern Alberta for sure can be called drought like.

I weed whacked the neighbors and my yard and cleaned up some branches.

I thought I was close to being done projects, but as I sat the relief valve on the hot water tank starting dripping and I couldn’t stop it. New valve tomorrow after a trip to Rona or Cdn Tire. That is the second one I have replaced which is odd. China shit !~

Talk about things getting expensive. Our Enmax bill was $74 in May today $233. That is just plain stupid.

It is nice and quiet along with being cool at night out there. No a/c needed.

Today I built a new shelf and re organized my extra shed. Lots of tools in it and I was struggling getting them out. This turned out great with easy access to most things. Looks better, much easier to find things and things will remain in good shape. One tool is my 8″ miter saw that I bought in 1980 for our first house. This thing has made so many decks, sheds, fences etc. it is crazy, and I still use it today on most projects. The 10″ deluxe miter is only a few years old but heavy and big but works for larger size posts and mitering. I still have a lot of tools in the bunkhouse closet also.

It turned out to be 34 degrees. What a beautiful day. I had to work for a couple of hours then sit for a 10 mins and drink water. Love it.

An odd thing. I fiddled and played with my hot water heater for at least an hour. I emptied it, pushed pulled wires and cleaned it a bit in the tube. I tried this am and it worked perfect all day. It turned out the leak from the relief valve was just that, relief. The heater got too hot and set itself off. It had no reset button so only time will help. I ran the hot water tap to cool it down. After all my dicking it worked perfect all day and I have no idea why it started to work or why it over heated. I am going to order a new thermostat to carry with me as I am sure one mishap will lead to a future one. It is only a 15 min job to replace the built in thermostat and only $30 so it will be nice to have to change when the evitable happens as it must be on its last legs.

My neighbors invited me over for a drink. It is their 54th wedding anniversary today. Bill and Bev are just nice people and wonderful neighbors.

Thought of the Day

The word queue is just a Q followed by four silent letters…

August 3rd-4th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 23 degrees Calgary 26 degrees”

Today is Jackson’s 12th Birthday. Yes, he has had a lot of parties to celebrate this event. LOL Today along with Audrey we met Tor,Cor and Jack at Stacks for breakfast. Everyone loved their choice. I don’t know if I would call Yogurt a good choice when going out for breakfast as it should be a special meal but to each his own. I had the French Stack which was French toast, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, eggs and toast along with tomato slices. Very good. Even breakfast places now are expensive.

It was nice gathering and great food to celebrate with Jackson.

First time in years where I have seen Jackie get sunburned. She forgot (yes you can bug her) to put cream on her chest and today it is bright red. Can’t remember the last time she did that. I never even turned a color without any cream.

We then met the Waldies at the XO Ice Cream shop to have birthday cone. NO Tiger ice cream. Perhaps why they are not called XOX. I decided on Cherry but it wasn’t the perfect selection.

Wordle lately has been pretty good. Three and four seems to be the go-to and Jackie had a two this week. Lucky !

A few comments:

1. Never nice to see someone’s marriage fail but Sophia must not have liked Justin’s policy at home as much as we hate his gov’t policy for us. Now I never cared for Sophie with her French attitude, but she can do so much better. I am positive the injury we just saw on Justin’s forehead was Sophie related. Just like Tiger when he took a beating then separated.
2. Unions as I have said forever are destroying businesses. The writers’ strike and actors strike should go on forever. They are entertainment and we all DO NOT NEED them so let the union break up and the workers settle on a fair deal. The dock workers should all be dismissed and replaced with workers wanting to work for the fair salary or train all new people. This is an essential service if not mandated to work drastic action needs to be taken. We will suffer short term, but the union will be dissolved. Ridiculous demands caused a 30K employee company Yellow Transport to file for bankruptcy. The union won’t be there to help the workers thru that. Companies HAVE TO make profit to pay employees and people and unions seems to forget this.
3. The indictments against Trump are just dumb. Yes, some charges are valid but two years later and with the political landscape in the USA it is dangerous. A lot of the charges are politically motivated, and are a waste of time and money to indulge in. If they thought a riot happened at the White House then, if convicted it could be a way worse. Let the voters decide his fate and get past all of this party fighting and get back to running the country as the USA is falling behind big time.

I had the Flex inside and outside detailed today. It looks great but the paint on the hood has a lot of rock chips which on black paint are noticeable. On the Jeep and motorhome, I have the 3m protective sheets but didn’t add it to the Flex. I should have. It looks great now and it is always nice to drive a clean car. I had the leather seats all conditioned also as they can dry out crack if not maintained.

Jackie found an outstanding bill for the taxes on our parking spots. It arrived when we were on our cruise and forgotten about. No warning letter. LOL It just seems odd to me that I have to pay taxes $140 a year in taxes for a titled parking spot in the underground parking when the complete building is taxed already, and I can’t sell one of them as each unit has to have an assigned parking spot. It is like paying $200 bucks a year for a windmill fountain where some neighborhoods pay $300 for a lake to enjoy. Oh well.

Still no rain which we need desperately.

Thought of the Day

Is the ʽsʼ: or ʽcʼ in ʽ scentʼ silent?

August 5th-7th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 26 degrees, Calgary 27 degrees”

Still no rain in the near future. First time I am struggling with brown grass and wilted flowers as our lot still is without irrigation. I have managed to keep most of the flowers alive but my one pot I do not have enough soil for it to maintain its moisture.

It was a beautiful day in the warmth and sun.

It was a close call as Jackie & I ended up with tie in crib games. She didn’t want to play that ONE more and lose so it was a draw date.

We had a wonderful baked potato, sirloin steak and corn on the cob with garlic bread supper. My BBQ at the lot is not as hot as my Napoleon at the condo and that makes an adjustment to get everything working out the same. Having said that it turned out perfect and was delicious. Meals sitting outside just seem to have that extra taste to them. Brings back multi-generational memories of when my great papa killed a deer and cooked it on the fire, I guess.

Lovely day spent enjoying the summer.

This morning we picked up Audrey and headed out to Kananaskis. A 45 minute away trip to heaven. Today much longer (at least an hour) as the traffic was stopped both lanes for miles and miles on the highway. All caused by the stupidity of one traffic cop being an alpha male. He blocked off one lane for no reason as when we came to the site there was no apparent reason whatsoever to do this. Dumb and he just watched at least a 5 mile back up of two lanes.

To spoil the ending but we had a wonderful fun day today. A great drive, scenic, discovered a glorious “pond” and even saw deer and mountain goats.

Funny for a Sunday to be so busy with traffic but everything moved ok after the episode.

The pond was called WEDGE POND. A spot that we will for sure visit again. Perfect for families as it is a lake about the half the size of Midnapore Lake and is protected. It has picnic tables all around scattered in the bush. Fires were allowed, outhouses and a nice beach completely around the lake. It is a gravel beach. Paddle board and kayaks seemed to be the order of the house. A very nice walking trail around it and lots of parking.

We went sightseeing the Spa and Village and visited our campsite we booked in 2 weeks. Nice just wish they would have had more days open.

To add to the fun we experienced all kinds of weather. Hot sun hitting a high of 25 in K country, rain and hail with a low of 7 degrees and then back up with cloudy skies reaching back to 18 degrees. It hailed so much and hard enough we had to take cover in the bush to protect the car from dents.

We had a nice picnic lunch at the pond which was fun. A full day of fun with us not getting home until about 6 pm.

A lot of accumaltion on the sides of the road. 24 degrees then 7 degrees within minutes.

It is funny the reaction of everyone. I am worried about dents, Audrey is worried about not getting home, Daisy is wondering why it is so loud in the car and Jackie is taking pictures.

Spaghetti and salad supper ends the perfect day.

Big Brother a show we have watched for years is getting pretty stupid and our interest is dropping fast. Change is not always good.

August 8th -11th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 23 degrees Calgary 24 degrees”

Plus, one day of cloudy off and on showers which is lovely.

Yippy, Yahoo and thanks for the rain. FINALLY, we get a bit of rain. Not a downpour but about an hours’ worth or so. Jackie was lying in bed watching a movie in the motorhome with the window open and Daisy was watching the light show on the dash. One huge bang made both of us jump and Daisy ran to our bed. Not scared just curious and wanting to know what that was. Lol I don’t jump often.

A early morning walk and it is amazing what a little rain can do to green up everything. It has been a hard year with a late start to irrigation and then no irrigation for months. And none in the near future. The plants are getting hard to maintain.

I love the sound of rain on roof.

Today was Raymond day. We got up at 7:30 as we needed to be in Raymond for 10am. A quick stop for gas and breakfast at Vulcan and we arrived right on time. I will say this again. Raymond has the BEST amenities of any place EVER. Atti and August were taking swimming lessons, so we wanted to visit with them and watch them. It is always fun to watch the kids.

August is quite the swimmer. Only one girl in his class near as good as he is. He loves to jump and races every time he is in the pool. We had a blast watching the activities. This work from home gig is pretty awesome I guess as there were at least 50 parents there that should have been working at home but are lucky enough to be able to support their kids. We never had such a luxury.

After swimming and with Jessica having to work we took them to the park to wear them out. We lost.

Kids are funny. August was at the top of the playground and yells” Hey Grammy I am on top of the world do you want to come up here? ” Jackie didn’t answer right away and August goes ” Oh it is all right I forgot you are old ” Jackie ” I am not old I just have a sore back” August ” So you would come up here if you didn’t have a sore back? Jackie had no choice but to climb up to the top. LOL

After the playground we headed back and started to play cards. August at 8 years old is an amazing CRIB player. He understands the game and adds up his points extremely well. He is GOOD. We also had a few games of UNO. Luckily my middle name is still UNO. He is one smart cookie.

Here is the boy versus girl thing. Two boys wanting to take an ice bath. I would say who in their right mind would want this. LOL They did. I love the pic with Jackie throwing in ICE cubes.

ONE million bugs killed tonight on the way home.

Nice relaxing morning with a Daisy walk and coffee, in the sun cannot be beat.

We met Jeff & Wendy at Speargrass for a golf game. I like this course, always have and have had 2 Hole in Ones there. Today the weather was perfect. Still, nice but bordering on the warmer side with it being nice and sunny. The course was relatively busy, but we moved along very well with no hold ups.

As usual being causal golfers we had great shots and poor shots. What was most important was we had fun and love the good shots we had.

I played very well today and was on a roll. I started with a birdie and had a par on every hole except for two taking a bogie on each. Then after a perfect drive right down the middle of the fairway I lose a ball. Impossible ! Unfortunately, when things go wrong for me on a course like this it takes a few holes to tell my mind forget about it. I took a double on that hole with the lost ball and then a bogie and then a double. Then I was back to normal except for the last hole which cost me a stroke. Lost my cart and partner somewhere on the last hole and had to walk and hit with wrong clubs. I ended up with an 80 instead of a score in the 70’s all because of one lost ball.

One of the reasons I enjoy playing with my men’s league, is on every tee every player knows where the ball is or close to. We all search for the ball. Having such different lengths off the tee there can be three to six shots taken before we get to the location of the furthest ball.

Now that I think of it again that lost ball still bugs me. LOL

After a fun game of golf Jeff & Wendy came to Oasis for supper. Albeit the long route thru Glechen. They made an error and turned the wrong way at Hwy 22X. It turned out good as I had the BBQ all light and heated plus loaded with food before they arrived from their adventure. They travelled quite a distance.

For supper we had olive oil dipped, thyme, rosemary roasted potatoes along with thick seasoned pork chops and sliced carrots. I added corn on the cob also with garlic bread that the Graces brought out for us. We also made gravy which just tops it off. I was happy with the meal and hopefully everyone else was also. For dessert how can you go wrong with apple pie and ice cream.

It was unfortune that it started to blow and cooled right off along with some rain while eating outside. I would have liked to play some Queens card games as my middle name is Card.

A very nice fun golf day and evening with Jeff & Wendy.

Up early this morning to run my stool test to the lab. Wow was it busy, but I only had to hand it in. I don’t care for these places as sick people are potentially there.

Then off to Turner Valley for my men’s league. Without a lie I don’t believe I have ever golfed this good but still didn’t score well. Turner is a hard course due to its tree lined fairways but most importantly there is not another course in Calgary with this much subtle movement on the greens. They are just hard. 3 putts killed me. On the first nine I was on the green in regulation seven times and still scored a 44. Sick. I HAVE TO GET BETTER AT PUTTING. Next week I am going to spend many hours at McKenzie trying different things. Not one lost ball on a tight course and some amazing second shots.

Having said that it was a nice money day for me finishing third on the money list with $50.

I will take that every day. I expect next game the scoring will also come down if my putting experiments make a difference. It is my third putter I have tried this year, so I know it is not the equipment.

I picked up my new thermostat and ECO stat at Woody’s and headed out to work on my heater today. I was thinking about a 1-hour job max. It was 6 hours. I removed the old equipment and started to install the new product. I was only going to change out the thermostat as that was the issue but Woody’s had a kit that also included the emergency cutoff stat also so I thought may as well change it while in there. It went together pretty well including installing the peel cover, then an issue. My old system had 4 spade connectors and this new one had three spade and some kind of newfangled push on connector I have never seen before. This was the connection for the thermocouple and when attempting to make things work as the wires and connections were corroded and seized the old thermocouple wire broke.

So back to the city. I got the new thermocouple from Woody’s and asked to see another thermostat kit to see if I had a one-off made in error. Nope that is the new system I was told. I asked Woody for a connecter for it, and they said I need to go to Princess Auto. No luck there.

Back at the motorhome I connected my new coupler and cut off the “new connection” and opened a spade connector wide to fit the blade. I squeezed it tight and it appears to be perfect. Near perfect. I had to use a small section of new wire to connect the couple to the stat and I covered the connection with heat wrap. I am thinking it all looks good.

I tested it first with gas. It started (YES) and it shutdown at 140 degrees. It was working correct. I then tested electricity, and all went well, and it tested at 155 degrees. I had to do some research as that is too hot as it can scold your hand if you run pure hot water and as the saying goes you learn something new every day. The ECO shutdowns at 180 degrees and the relief valve at 210 degrees. The reason the temperature is so high is due to the fact of only being a 6- or 10-gallon tank, this way the hot water can last a lot longer. BUT you have to be careful you don’t burn yourself and it really isn’t safe for kids. It is the standard on a RV though which doesn’t make much sense to me.

A full day and another project successfully done.

Ok the Jack man got me. Jackson who I have tried and quite successfully scared numerous times, got me back today. I walked around the corner and I have to say I jumped like a little girl. Never expected anything and thinking too much he tricked me good. I will get him back !!!

Tonight, with the warm sun it calls for a cold beer, great food and fun company. Friday night as a family we went to Boston Pizza for years and years. Tonight, I had my two favorite Jacks with me. Montana’s has great food, a wonderful deck that is dog friendly and decent pricing. And yes, you are looking at Jackie stepping out of her comfort zone and she did not order her usual Caesar salad. Tonight, we both had Fajita’s. It has been years since I had a sizzling plate on my table. Chili’s closed down which had the best. Tonight’s was fabulous. Loads of chicken and ingredients to add. And filling.

The young punk scares me and I end up buying him supper ? Something wrong here.

It was fun evening with Jackson and Jackie. The leather covers on the handles were cool.

Thought of the Day

We all have waited behind the door to scare someone and then leaving as they took too long.

August 12th-13th

“Mercury Forecast – SUMMER “

Just a wonderful summer we are having. Horrible spring then it turned out to be a dry hot summer. Only wish the rain would happen a little more often.

Today was supposed to be the coolest day at 24 degrees in a long time but they lied. It started off cool and then wham.

We decided to spend all day at Victoria’s to go thru Peter & Carol’s stuff and throwing away, sorting, for a garage sale and seeing if anybody wanted more items.

It took us 6 hours at least to get about 90% done. They had at least 20 full photo albums filled with pictures from every cruise and holiday they took. One whole photo album of the reno they did on their new home. I found this interesting in the different things I saw that could have and should been different. They built a full basement foundation under the dining room addition and instead of spending a few bucks more and enclosing the bay window with a foundation under it they chose to cantilever it. Less expensive as it saves a small amount of concrete but it has a tendency to be a cold area as it no heat under the floor. Plus, it visually detracts having the overhang. The only advantage to a cantilever is it does not count as square footage for tax purposes yet still provides the space. Tar paper under the vinyl siding was the standard in the day but it only provided limited protection against rain, the reason Peter decided years later to change out his windows as the frames had rotted. They spent a bundle on this reno with the addition plus siding and roofing and triple stall sized garage.

It is shame that someone spends so much time organizing albums with memories and when they are gone, they have to be thrown out. Carol spent countless hours on each album as she typed verbiage under every picture with the explanation of it.

There was one picture I could not throw away. I am hanging it my Saloon shed. It is a picture of Peter with a beer in his hands under an umbrella looking a little lit at our gift opening the day after our wedding. I love the picture.

It will carry on being hung in our shed.

The story behind the picture. This picture was taken at our gift opening the day after our wedding so June 15th, 1980. We had keg beer at our wedding and brought the left-over keg and cooler to the backyard for the gift opening. On a limited budget with close to 200 guests and with a Toonie bar concept not yet in existence we decided on kegs to limit the costs. This worked out wonderfully with cold beer and plenty of it at a reasonable price. This was also before all of the incredible choices available in beer. My best man Keith Harry and Peter went a little hard on the beer this day and both of them had a good time. It was a fun time, and I will have this as a reminder forever.

Needless to say, the garbage is full of extra bags, and everything is sorted out for a garage sale. A few years late in getting it done but finally close. So a good day.

This morning we visited with Alan & Maryann at Audrey’s place. Tia and Daisy are funny together as Tai really isn’t a player, but she keeps Daisy entertained.

Chaparral was hosting a bike race today, so the roads were semi closed which resulted in us taking a longer route but no delays which was good and no extra time really plus we got see a plethora of people running on the road.

Not a lot on our agenda for this afternoon.

It has been back and forth on Wordle. Enviably it ends up being a 3, 4 or 5 and a tight race between us. Jackie is pretty good at these things, so it keeps me on my toes and Wordle has gotten trickier.

Thought of the Day

Thanks for teaching me the meaning of Plethoria. It means a lot. !

August 14th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 26 degrees, Calgary 33 degrees, Mesa 42 degrees.”

Awesome summer temperatures. Some rain would be nice though. Calgary got a short rain burst last night but it didn’t hit Oasis where I want it to.

Halfway done August already which is unreal. I was looking ahead at the weather for our K Country trip and at the moment it is not good. Maybe a few days of book reading or game playing coming up.

I will start by saying when driving back from the lot today my gauge read 36 degrees. That is getting warm. I do know working outside today I had to drink a lot of water as I did, just, start to perspire. Another degree and perhaps sweat so I got lucky.

Today I was organizing the shed closet. I built a power tool battery charging station to store and make it easy access for my drills and bits and to have the charger packs right there for my Makita, Black & Decker and Mastercraft batteries. Lots of little dicking around but it worked out perfect with my shelf design and using 3-inch ABS to hold the drills. Little projects like this take time and many tools but are fun and work out to be great to use.

I unlocked my toolbox and miter saw bike lock and have misplaced the key for now. So next visit to use any tool I will need to find my key or cut the cable. Hopefully it just fell to the bottom of the storage bin.

Retested my hot water heater and being on for 7 hours it worked perfect.

With my charging station done I organized the rest of the shelves and still need a bit more time on that.

Loads of water and dodging into the shade every once in a while, it was a good day!

Watered my plants and boy did they need water. I understand water restrictions, but this is getting crazy having no access to water whatsoever.

I installed my “Peter” picture which I love, and I think it looks great.

Notes;

1. What happened in Hawaii is unbelievable. It will take years to rebuild.
2. The actions against Trump and Biden are bordering on ridiculous.
3. Gas pricing up again . Thx Justin
4. Interests rates are going up again with some people expereincing a rate increase equal to double what they had.
5. The world in turmoil with protestors, strikes, violence.

Another great day.

The last time we had piles of paper to discard we burned it at Oasis. Tonight, Jackie is a shredding machine guru with tons of paper going thru until it overheads as she gets rid of some of the papers from Peter & Carol. She will be there for a while. LOL It is amazing the paperwork we all keep. I am thinking we need to do our own now.

Golf tomorrow and putting will be my main focus. Slow easy patient, less reading the breaks and not looking up is the plan. Main plan is get it down in less strokes. LOL

Thought of the Day

I love it when no one can complain about the cold weather. I hate having weather be the go-to subject matter. Then health problems come up. Find an interest! If you are younger sports come up. You just can’t win.

August 15th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 28 degrees, Calgary 34 degrees, Mesa 43 degrees. “

What a gorgeous day. Jackie went for a dog walk at 8am at 19 degrees. You have to love this heat wave.

I paid some bills one of which one was a $700 dental bill and did some catching up on things then readied for golf with Jeff & Wendy. Dentistry needs to be better covered by our health care. To have a elderly person with no teeth because they can’t afford to see a dentist is wrong and third world like.

We dropped off Daisy at Audrey’s as the cart would have been awful warm for her all day.

Here is my take on the days golf. Everyone I thought had a good game. Jackie had one drive only that wasn’t great, Wendy had a lot of great drives and had 5 pars which is awesome, and Jeff had some great drives and a few great putts. I think everyone came off the course relatively happy with their success. I started off perfect with par after par and birdies but had one blow up hole to finish the game at 82. Other than that one hole, drives were great, and the holes played out well. So many birdie putts missed again as putting continues to be my nemesis. Fewer three putts so some improvement albeit on an easy putting course. I need to figure out what to do better.

A fabulous day with sun and a slight breeze. Having to park the cart so Jackie wasn’t in the sun was a challenge at each hole. We brought her special water containers (Yeti) and wow do they work by keeping the water cold.

After golf as per our tradition we went for supper and perfect for them to have a steak sandwich special on. Can’t go wrong with this and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cold beer and supper with friends after a hard day at work is always fun.

Thought of the Day

I have noticed a lot of older people are now hitting the ball long. They are hitting it so far it is out of sight. ( 150 yards) Thier sight. LOL

August 16-18th

The weather just continues to be unreal until the 18th. I will get back to that.

Today was my men’s league at Turner Valley. High expectations with no success. Like Tiger missing a cut I just didn’t play well at all. Only semi ok on drives and second shots. Needless to say, no money won but well deserved not to get any. I will say it was the hottest day of 2023 so far at 36 degrees with no wind which is the excuse I will go with. I do think a person’s muscles just get to loose, you don’t concentrate enough and perhaps a little oh well sets in after a few mishaps. I still had a fun day but wished things would have gone better. The after golf was fun and one partner won big getting over $90 with a net snip and a deuce. As I have always said there is always next time.

Jackie and Audrey were heading to Rod Stewert and Jackie had being looking after Jackson so Jackson and I decided to head to a real movie and picked Mission Impossible. With his new braces he isn’t allowed popcorn which was too bad.

Mission Impossible was a good movie and great marketing to call it Part 1 and not give a final ending. I will need to see the next one.

As far as movies go it is not the best by a long way but it is a great action movie. Over 2 hours of nonstop action with car chases, fighting, planes trains and automobiles. So not a lot of deep acting required, or verbiage needed. They did this very very well and was fun to watch.

The plot didn’t help as I had trouble figuring out which side all of the actors were on. A enemy should be a person not an entity.

We enjoyed it.

Stepping out of the movie at 9 pm it was dark and the smoke hit us. It was like being in a smudge shack it was so smoky and stinky.

We came home and walked over to the store for ice cream and then played pool. This kid is a pretty good pool player, and it is nip and tuck each game.

Jackie didn’t get home until at least 12:30 after being at the Saddledome since 5:30pm. Talking to her she said it was a good show that the old fart still puts on. 78 years old and still having it.

This morning from 9am to 4 pm I readied the motorhome. Pulled the wheel covers, pulled the windshield sun shades, pulled in the slides, lifted the levelers, and blocks and unplugging the water lines, electric, internet and grey water pipe.

I worked on fixing my granite countertop spring. I used epoxy JB WELD which is supposed to one of the best adhesives, but it failed so this time with gorilla extreme. So far so good but will the bouncing on the road cause it to fail time will tell. So far so good. Everything is done and ready to leave.

On my way home Jackie phoned to say Corey’s Xterra won’t start. He had in a shop for a knock sensor and cam sensor now will not start up. I have the Premium Good Sam membership for the last 10 years and never have used it, so I thought why not get a free tow. Corey’s truck was left in front of his work in Calgary a city of 1 million people so should have ready access to everything including multiple tow truck companies.

In my opinion GOOD SAM for Canada is the most incompetent, untrained, with no procedural chain, and no customer service protocols whatsoever. I highly recommend YOU DO NOT sign up with them. They may be good in the USA

First call at 5:30 pm and passed to 6 different people without any resolve. This in itself is frustrating talking to people whose English is their third language never mind their second. No one taking ownership of the situation and just passing it on to someone else. Victoria looks them up online and notices they have a special number for Canada (not on my membership card at all) . So we get Tor to phone that number while I am talking to my 6th person on the other line. I repeated my name and location to all 6 people along with all of the pertinent information. Tor’s agent finally gets the details again and gets the ball moving. Cory and I waited at the truck for the tow truck until 8pm. I called again and another incompetent agent. He tried to pass the buck again which I said ok and then he comes back and says his system isn’t allowing him to transfer. I expect him to arrange a tow truck for me and he can’t even transfer a call. Needless to say, I was not impressed. I hooked up my Jeep and decided to pull Corey to the shop. Towing in a big city on main roads is not easy or recommended but I chose a less travelled route, and we made it successfully. I had a plan to have Corey phone me and we could talk while towing. For those that have never being towed it is not an easy task without some knowledge and skill. The phone worked out perfect as I could tell Corey to start braking for a light etc. The trick with rope towing is to keep the rope taut. I give Corey a 10 out of 10 for the job he did. Then the tow truck driver phoned to say he would be at our truck in 20 minutes. This was at 9pm. 4 hours for a tow truck in city of 1 million is totally illogical and unreasonable. The issue today is most AWD or 4 x 4 SUV’s do not have a lock out for the transfer case so the tranny and transfer case can run dry and cause damage. We only had a short distance to travel and kept the speed under 60 kms on the main roads. It is the long distance and higher speeds that cause the issue. It really shouldn’t be called a 4 x 4 if no neutral for the transfer.

Ten years a member and never using the service is a gold mine for a company. I phoned first thing next morning and cancelled. I am getting a refund of $250 USD being sent back to me and I will go back to AMA. It is nice that AMA has their own fleet of trucks.

Remember I said incompetent and untrained. A loyal customer leaves and there is no urgency to retain the customer. Unbelievable. I should have been offered a free year, gift, something to at LEAST TRY to retain me as a customer. The cost of acquisition to gain a customer is HUGE with marketing etc and the cost of retention is minimal if the relationship can be salvaged. Just not a good business model and the funniest thing about this is, this company is owned by Marcus Lemonis from the Profit fame on TV who helped struggling businesses. There is saying ” Look after your own backyard before”

Next day afternoon Jackson and I had a more pool games. The kid won!!! And then his Grammy beats him. WHAT !!

Loaded up the motorhome, washed the bikes and trailer and only have to put our clothes and food in tomorrow to be ready.

Our walk tonight with Daisy you needed a coat on it was so cool. I can imagine in the mountains I will need my winter coat. Tuesday is K Country golf day so it better be good that day.

I would take 30 degrees everyday over 18 degrees. It just seems cold.

The winter prediction this year for the Prairies is COLDER and more SNOW than average.

Thought of the Day

When it is cold, I dislike parking in tight spot parking as nipples can scratch the whole side of a car.

August 19th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 17 degrees, Calgary 18 degrees, Mesa 38 degrees.”

Mesa is calling early. I will tell you that this evening walking Daisy, Jackie and I had to wear more clothes than normal. I had my Alaska jacket on which I am bringing to the mountains.

Our forecast is pretty good hitting low 20’s all week but it is in the mountains and low of 2 or 3 degrees at night.

First thing this morning I headed to the AMA office. Professional, pleasant and welcoming people. I bought the package spending less than I received back from Good Sam but with a little less “potential” services. I have 160 kms towing versus any distance I need and limited to 4 tows versus as many as one needs. I say if you need 4 tows in one year you need a new vehicle. I did discover they have one higher plan which give 360kms towing which I may switch to next year. I also discovered they allow my motorhome to have ” storage” coverage over the winter so I have to check that pricing out when I get back. Hopefully if and when needed they do a much better job.

Finished off the groceries for the trip and loaded the motorhome and all set to go in the morning. Daisy knows something is up.

We are golfing with her on Tuesday so hopefully good weather.

Thought of the Day

Is everything just expensive or am I just poor?

August 20th-August 25th

No cell or service until Thursday

We are off this morning to Kananaskis and the Elkwood campground in Peter Lougheed Prov Park. A normal drive with nice enough weather and the normal traffic flow. A little slow down between the roundabout and Hwy 1 where the new construction for the Springbank reservoir is being done is about all we witnessed. Daisy likes the ride in the motorhome and goes from sitting on Jackie’s lap to looking out to a lay down on the couch. It is great for her to have a pee pad and water to have, at her whim.

Pulled into our site at 2pm and got all set up. It takes a bit to level, pull out slides, move stuff around, outside mat, BBQ, stove, chairs and to assemble the pull wagon for the bikes. I always find it fun getting everything ready to camp. At about 3 pm the camp manager came around. Very nice man and we had an enjoyable conversation and a reminder that we weren’t supposed to check until 4pm. LOL He was ok with it.

Great site with 20 steps away from the water spigot if needed and 20 steps away from a very clean outhouse. They are also very nicely spaced apart. Impressive campsite.

We went for a nice trip down to a lake that is close. Jackie has weak wrists and says her brakes were difficult, so she took it easy. Daisy and I whipped to the lake. A narrow gravel type path and luckily just a wide enough bridge for the cart to travel through. This Mara Lake has 12-inch-long leeches in it and plenty of them visible from the dock.

Daisy loved the new smells and sights.

Our on ride we noticed in our loop of maybe 50 campsites at least 20 of them empty and I had a hard to time booking. There needs to be a HUGE penalty for a no show. A large portion of these sites are made up of tenters. I like that as it is true camping and with the new technology and material they are set. The campground has a shower building and people used a lot of tarps. This was an extremely quiet place.

No hookups but fires allowed with most people having one on the go. The site manager every night drove around with a truck full of wood to buy.

Notice our bikes and trailer. They still look like brand new except for the odd scratch from loading, hauling and leaning. If you take care of things, they will last. The bikes and trailer are from 1991 ( 32 yrs. old ) Arashi brand is very good.This trailer has carried Samson, Teddy and now Daisy around. The style really hasn’t changed that much so they still fit right in. Front shocks and rear suspension on some newer bikes, does help the rideability. Electric bikes are more common now but not on these paths where you are climbing hills. I still think electric is cheating. Biking in itself is not much exercise versus walking but with an electric bike, why even go for a ride. Run out of power and staying at non-service site and have your bike battery go dead 10 kms away it won’t be pretty. We did meet one older guy with an electric bike that stated it could get 180kms to a charge. BUT it weighed 75 pounds so it would be hard to push. Good luck.

We had long walks around the campground and ended the day playing crib. It pains me to say it, but Jackie wins tonight.

Jackie’s addiction to technology came to head. She drove the Jeep to the park main administration each night for a fix. I thoroughly enjoyed no service, no emails, no cell calls, no news etc as it was just serene, relaxing and quiet.

You have to love the cool mountain night air to sleep in.

You just can’t beat bacon and eggs cooked outside when camping. Daisy the whole trip was entertained by squirrels and birds coming up to the site.

I now “fry” my eggs differently. They are more like poached eggs as I use water. I prefer them versus the traditional way.

We did over 10 kms today on the bikes. There are some larger hills to climb, and I have to admit I had to push Daisy and the bike up one hill as I didn’t get enough speed up to make it. The trailer with Daisy, cooler, blankets etc does add extra weight.

Conehead movie out camping. Using the helmet while still wearing a hat. LOL

We took a drive further up the road to see the lower and upper lake campgrounds. Every one of them are excellent and a few with power. The InterLakes one is self-registration which is awesome and right on the shore of the Upper Lake.

Love the HUGE ice cream cones they have at Bolton Creek General store as they were amazing.

Similar with our bikes we have maintained and kept some incredible stuff for camping over the years. Like I previously said I have a 43 yr. old Sterling Cup I still use every day, plus 43 yr old plates and knifes I bought when Keith Harry and I bought all of our camping equipment when I worked at Sterling. I am on my second Coleman stove as the first one was Naphtha fuel. It is getting a little old as I lost my box for it as I left it outside and it got wet so loading and hauling around has taken its toll but only aesthetics. It still works perfect.

I will look at a new BBQ though as the portable ones are cheap and don’t work too well. My Coleman BBQ grill does get hot enough and isn’t tall enough to cook a roast or anything big.

Even my white camping chairs from the 80’s are still perfect.

Tonight’s supper was awesome with BBQ pork kabobs, garlic bread, deluxe salad and olive oil seasoned fettuccine. Meals just taste better outside.

Today with decent weather we were meeting Jeff & Wendy at the Kananaskis Golf course. I cannot remember one time we have a great weather here. Again, today a decent day but at least four or five holes with rain and not the warmest but far from our coldest or wettest.

I thought everyone played pretty good today. I know I played very well ending up with 82 only due to a slice on the 1st and 18th hole. It was a very fun day playing. Great shots from everyone.

Daisy was the best golfer of them all and behaved the best of all time. Not one bark, just sitting watching what was going on. She did awesome.

One different thing this time was Jackie’s decision to take a swim mid golfing. On the 9th hole the fairway has a stream running across it. Jackie had to take a lay-up and then go to the green. Rather than walk back to the path she decided to cross the stream. I watched her from 100 ft away and wondered why. She had three large rocks to jump on to cross and jumped to the first one then hesitated. Down into the water she goes. ” Help me” is all I heard and before I could get the cart to her she jumps out of the stream. SOAKED.

Shoes, socks, pants and arm soaking wet. Luckily, she didn’t hurt herself but let me tell it was funny. Not for her. LOL

She quickly changes at the halfway house. I returned our coffee with Bailey’s as I had ordered Hot chocolate with Baileys which is 100 times better. I hate to do this but it just tasted bad.

We stopped into the clubhouse, and it started to pour. We had a wonderful supper. Jeff with a pasta dish with prawns, Wendy with short ribs and some ugly rice called risotto. It is not good. I didn’t even know Italians had a traditional rice dish. Jackie had a spinach and mandarin salad with garlic prawns. A way outside her box. I had a steak with mashed potatoes. Fantastic tasting. I was surprised with the mashed which is my favorite as the menu read fingerlings which I was ok with but not familiar with. First time I have seen roast potatoes called that.

This is the creek that Jackie fell into and our view from our table.

On our return we went for a long walk with Daisy. As we entered the motorhome it started to rain.

Crib winner Mr Larry.

It rained all night but just lightly.

After getting ready we left the campsite around 2 pm.

Our day took a turn when as soon as we had a mobile connection, we discover Corey and Victoria are broke down at Chain Lakes with a radiator bursting. They were on their way to BC for a family vacation and just ran into bad luck.

We had to do some thinking and come up with a plan. Our plan worked out perfect. Instead of driving home we took Highway 22 down to Chain Lakes which was about 2 hours away.

I confirmed in fact the top tank of the rad had opened up. This cannot be fixed on the road, so it required a tow truck.

I hooked up the trailer to the motorhome and Jackie phoned for a tow truck. It arrived in 30 mins and the nice young guy hooked up the Xterra. Tor, Jackson and I headed home while Jackie and Corey followed the tow truck into Nanton. I had just bought our AMA membership on Friday, but Jackie thought it was worth a call. She gave all of the details and they said they would cover it. Still annoys me that a 4 x 4 doesn’t have a neutral transfer.

I give AMA a 10/10. We got a tow in no man’s land within an hour and they paid the entire tow bill for us. IMPRESSIVE ! They have my business for years and years now. That is service.

Pulling a trailer with a motorhome I am sure everyone thought we were a Catholic family with 10 kids. I thought of us as on National Lampoons Vacation with Chevy Chase

Tor bought us all burgers at DQ in Nanton. They discontinued my fav the Ultimate burger, but the new burger is even better. In fact, incredible.

We all made it to Tor’s place and started to unpack the trailer as they thought they would take their other vehicle and meet their group anyways and stay in a tent or friend’s trailer. The Xterra will take a few days to fix.

I noticed something under their trailer and had Tor pull it out. Turns out the cover for their propane tanks blew off and was stuck under the axle. Luckily only minor road rash so they still have the cover. Must have been a up draft wind.

On our way home when Jackie & Cor passed us, they phoned to say a safety chain was low so I stopped. I didn’t notice the missing cover as they didn’t. An odd one.

First thing this morning out to the lot after hooking up. I worked all day setting the unit up again to stay a bit.

This is where I made myself smile and go DUH!

I love my new hard plumbing for the motor home grey water, but what I forgot in my planning was making it adjustable. This meant precise driving to connect it up. I can’t be out more than 1/4 inch or I can’t hook it up. In and out of the driver’s seat a few times but got it done. If it becomes a pain in the ass, I will cut it and install a coupling that gives me some flexibility.

I cut the grass and cleaned up.

Wordle in 4 Jackie in 5 tonight.

Thought of the Day.

The one thing you need to pack for every vacation or trip is your sense of humour.

August 26th-27th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 28 degrees, Calgary 29 degrees Mesa 43 degrees.”

I could put the weather forecast in one word. WONDERFUL

Here is the difference between 2000 and 2023.

How to write I changed a light bulb on a resume in today’s world:

I single handedly managed the successful upgrade and deployment of a new environmental illumination system with zero cost over runs and no safety incidents.

I must have been ahead of my time but as a way to validate the worth of every single job when I managed Henderson’s I had business cards made up for everyone and created titles. My purchaser was procurement manager, my forklift drivers were material handling specialists, my shop foreman was production manager and so on. My thought was to elevate the status, so each person felt special and for them to be proud of their job whatever they were doing. I do know that Henderson’s Calgary before we merged Edmonton/Calgary to the same P+L was the highest volume distribution center in Canada. Not due to this but in combo with just some wonderful employees.

Today we celebrated the first birthday of Silas Pittman which is our niece’s son. Kristen is our niece who just got married.

His first candle experience and he loved the cake. LOL

Silas is a big kid. The most amazing cheeks and smile. A real cute baby and extremely well behaved. As usual kids get lots of fun toys to play with for birthdays.

We had a wonderful supper made by Audrey for us that was perfect and one of my favorites. Sheperd’s Pie (Cottage Pie) . There are a lot of variations of this, and I have had and or made a lot of different variations of this. I really liked this version as it was simple and delicious. Moist and cooked to perfection. Along with this the perfect Spinach Salad which again was the simple delicious version.

KISS is a great acronym.

We had a little pee incident with Sampha but that happens with excited dogs.

It was a fun gathering and nice to see everyone. After supper Gord and I had a great conversation and if elected we could cure all of the world’s problems. LOL A nice man.

Thought of the Day

If you think the world has a lot of problems, you are correct. But trust every problem does resolve one way or the other.

August 28th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 28 degrees Calgary 32 degrees Mesa 47 degrees”

I will pretend I am old and talk about the weather. On my temp gauge it hit 34 degrees and I have to say working outside it was on the warm side.

First thing this am I went to Tower Dodge for my free oil change that now costs me $10.00. It is funny as going to this place is like going to the doctor or dentist. You know it is not going to be good.

They are trying to get rid of me with my free changes now for 11 years, but I won’t go away. The EXPRESS oil change inevitably takes 2 to 3 hours. I sit in the waiting room and play on my phone or watch the tv and have their coffee. I always wait in anticipation of the stupid vehicle report. Only $1700 to fix everything today as per their suggestions. I need a transfer case flush on the report, and it was done by my garage just before the last change. They do NOT look at anything and want to repair everything based on age or mileage. The auto repair industry for no other word is crooked and should be regulated that they have to follow the manufactures guidelines. Plus, this industry has blatant price fixing as the shop rate is controlled by a group not each garage. I had the perfect garage I used until he joined NAPA but he still is semi honest.

Today 3 hours and then off to Oasis. The heat was warm as I worked outside for a few hours. I then turned on the a/c and worked inside. I forgot to charge my phone this morning and it went dead so no UTUBE to figure out the valve replacement on the Flex steel mattress. I checked my folder of all my RV parts and Maintenace and found a sheet on it. Lo and behold instructions on how to replace the valve. Ok, let me say if you are putting on your info/instruction sheet how to replace a valve you must figure it is a weak part.

The replacement of the valve sheet for its second instruction said, ” Simply just roll ****”There was nothing simple about until I figured it out and for next time. Next time I am sure I can do it in 10 minutes this time an hour. That word ” Simply” hurts. LOL, I got it all done and it now works like brand new again. This is a valve that cost me $38 for the part and $32 bucks for duty and customs. Am I alone in thinking this is not right either. It is strange time we are living in. I could have ordered an Amazon replacement one with free freight, but I wanted the exact correct manufactures one not a Chinese universal fit one. All done all good.

I spend a fair amount of time looking for my gate fob but wasn’t successful so hopefully it shows up or I will need to buy a replacement for next year.

I then started working outside again. At Chain Lakes I accidently drove over my tow bar release tool and slightly bent it. Wow is it tough metal. Hammer, vise grips, pry bar I tried everything, and I could not bend it back. Finally, I used my long plumbers’ adjustable pliers and vise grips and heated the metal with my blow torch, and I was able to make like brand new. It was hot outside doing this. 4 bottles of water in an hour.

I also replaced one sprinkler head as it was clogged with dirt, and I couldn’t clean it out. I am shocked the WID has let us have a bit of water. Great for the golf course as it is in dire need plus nice for us and our lawns.

BBQ pork chops roasted potatoes and carrots for a quick easy supper tonight. Daisy and I sat outside in the shade and enjoyed the slight breeze while it was cooking.

We need to head to the Wholesale Club on Wednesday as we have over 250 kids this year for our early Halloween party and Carnival. One of the most fun weekends ever and this year we will have all three grandboys staying overnight with us. I still have to decide on my choice of shots for the adults. I have made Witches Milk, Devils Piss, Real Man, girlie shots, Dragon’s blood, and Vampire syrup. What concoction this year will fun.

Both of us in THREE tonight for Wordle. Darn !

Thought of the Day

The satisfaction of solving Wordle was practically orgasmic.

August 29th-30th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 28 degrees, Calgary 32 degrees and Wednesday only 20 with RAIN YES !”

It was a nice warm day to golf with Jeff & Wendy at Rivers Spirit. As I have said before this course feels like you are playing at Kananaskis it is so pretty and wooded with a mountain view.

We both arrive at the same time and got ready with water and driving range to warm up.

The golf was ok. I finished with an 82 due to two bad holes losing a ball. I did take a mulligan on one of them. LOL Jackie was off a bit but still shot a 107 which isn’t bad on this course as it is long and has some difficult holes especially the par 3’s. The Graces had some great and some poor shots but as always, a fun day to golf. And the breeze kept the 32 degrees at bay so it was awesome. We left Daisy with Audrey as it would have been a little warm for her on the cart.

Wendy chose a place for us to eat and it was wonderful. BUT first the unthinkable happened. Jeff & Wendy beat Jackie and I there. Two things happened. They were there before so knew the location and knew a shortcut that worked well. THEY BEAT ME ! Won’t happen again.

The place is Bobby Place in Legacy. An awesome English Pub with a great patio and super food. The patio is shaded and dog friendly for future reference. I like their menu. After I had ordered my meal though I saw they had a Salisbury steak which is one of my favorites. Next time.

We had a great visit on the deck after a nice day golfing. Can’t get much better than that.

This morning I whipped to the Wholesale Club to pick up candy for the kids for our early Halloween. This is a great place a sit is bulk where the general stores buy their stuff. I calculated enough candy for 200 kids this year even though we may get more. We will close up shop at 200. It worked out to be about $1.00 per kid for candy.

I also picked up two new Halloween creatures as I add to the collection. Should be another fun night with the trick or treating and dance.

Another doctor’s appointment which I am getting a tired of. Hard to get to see, long time waiting, difficult getting prescriptions and everyone has something wrong if they look hard enough.

I booked our flights from Mesa to Calgary and return tonight. Between government and insurance regulations and rules it sucks. To keep the IRS and the border patrol happy including the Canadian government it is a pain in the ass literally. This year we are returning to Calgary on Flair Airlines Dec 4th and going back to Mesa on Dec 29th. A LOT LOT LOT longer than I like, and it still is an issue as we only get 90 days coverage for travel insurance so that means April 1st return. I am going to watch flights and possibly return in Feb for 1 day to reset so I can stay later in the year. I can arrive in the morning and return the same day and have another 90 days. As long as it is less than $900 we are ahead of the game. The time we return in April until it is spring is just boring and I do not want that ever, so prefer a late April return.

Thought of the Day

It is always comforting when the doctor says you are normal for your age. But then I start thinking dying will also be normal at some age.

August 31st

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 24 degrees, Calgary 20 degrees ”

Well, the traditional summer is over. While September can be awesome the nights get cool and the days quite short.

The forecasters lied again. I wore shorts for men’s league today and should have worn pants. I would say a high of 16 degrees cloudy and breezy that had a cold chill to it. Winter is coming. I shivered all day and wore multi layers. Where is my 32 degrees I love ?

It was a good and a bad day. I WON money from all of my playing partners. I played quite well and scored decent except for a Par 3 where I took a 7. Bring that back to a boogie or par and it would have been a great day.

Larry P is a better and more consistent golfer than I and I love taking his money.

A cool day, a real fun day with great, good and a few bad shots all thrown in. The putting again at TV is HARD but a lot of fun.

A great gathering of the mind after golf to end another fun day.

Thought of the Day

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. LOL