March 1st-2nd

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -16 degrees, Calgary -15 degrees, Mesa 26 degrees”

You know that saying “In like a Lion and out like a Lamb” is happening for Alberta. Cold and snow. I know there are many many people that love this wintery winter that ski, sled, ice fish etc but I am not one of them. Loads of car accidents which is too bad. The nice thing about March/April Alberta weather is you know in a couple of days it will change.

Our big Alberta dinner & dance is this evening which is always fun. Bad timing though as I have a 6:30 am wake up to golf in a tournament at Superstitions Golf Club. It is the Canada Cup tournament and I am hoping our team does well. We have two long hitters with myself and Ron so we should be down long on most fairways with a great backups if needed by Jim and Kirk. We are counting on Jim to putt well as he has the past while and Kirk to get close to if not on the green. I have seen all four of us chip and will need all four to get lucky. All dressed in red if we don’t win we will be in the running for best looking team. !

I had my VP golf ( at 8am) but now the weather is like 18 above at 9 am so nice. I golfed pretty decent but tied, did not win or lose any money. Mid 80’s score again only due to errors. A fun day again ending with Ron buying us drinks and finger food on the patio.

Look at this. This is our neighbor Donna with her friends. 5 ladies all having SALAD, water or juice for lunch right beside us having Chicken Wings, Onion Rings and Beer. Women live longer than men no arguing that, but the why hasn’t been answered. Environmental issues, stress issues, hormonal issues, workplace death etc all have thought to be the difference but maybe this picture is trying to tell us something. I will say to live 5 years more and not FULLY enjoy it , is it worth it ?

Between my friends, Jeff, Darren and Ed we literally have consumed 1000’s of wings. Every Friday night after work with Darren and Ed at the local bar we would order a 100 wings. Every Wednesday after golf Jeff & I would have 2 pounds of wings at different locations. Oh the memories. !

Once I get a moment ( 1 hour) I will do up my sheets for our Feb budget. Knowing what we bought, spent and made deposits on it won’t be good plus moving money this morning it was 1.3907 on exchange. Good thing the TSX has been very good. It is a little bit scary as you see your dollars shrink every year compared to when your were contributing but that is the way it is supposed to happen, just harder to get your head around it. What is interesting even with our investment decline our net worth has pretty much stayed the same with the real-estate portion having decent increases even with other assets experiencing depreciation. I prefer liquid over fixed asset worth though as it is hard to buy a chicken wing with a fixed asset.

I have always believed that our minds are a huge weapon against anything be it illness, pain, success, confidence, love, etc. I love the lyrics of this song. As I have said you can’t let your world shrink as you age. You can NOT SAY I AM OLD and use that as an excuse for anything. Do not say I CANT DO THAT. Do things yourself even if a struggle and only ask for help when absolutely needed.

Don’t let the old man in
I wanna leave this alone
Can’t leave it up to him
He’s knocking on my door

And I knew all of my life
That someday it would end
Get up and go outside
Don’t let the old man in

Many moons I have lived
My body’s weathered and worn
Ask yourself how would you be
If you didn’t know the day you were born

Try to love on your wife
And stay close to your friends
Toast each sundown with wine
Don’t let the old man in

Many moons I have lived
My body’s weathered and worn
Ask yourself how would you be
If you didn’t know the day you were born

When he rides up on his horse
And you feel that cold bitter wind
Look out your window and smile
Don’t let the old man in

Look out your window and smile
Don’t let the old man in

Jackie spent hours on the phone with Flair to book our tickets. I am flying home for two days to reset my insurance and picking up Jackson to have him here in AZ for spring break and he will drive back with us in the car. His cousins are fortunate that are going to Mexico for spring break so we thought we would spoil Jackson with a warm adventure while here and a 22 hour drive home in a car with his grandparents and dog. LOL

The necessary evil task of flying home to reset my insurance so we accomplish two tasks. I get a reset and Jackson gets some away time.

It is beyond me the stupidity of making someone fly back to reset for another 90 days using up all that jet fuel and wasting time.

Sitting in the backyard patio a golf ball comes whizzing from the 9 hole course and hits the neighbors house. The fairway is at least 50 yards wide, over a house lot 50ft, over a street 25 ft and three houses in 75 ft. That is what I call a bad slice. LOL

The Alberta Party was awesome. Well organized, well decorated and an amazing meal. A full turkey dinner that was excellent. The band also was good, They could have had a stronger beat to dance with but I enjoyed music.

I know quite a few people that do NOT like LINE DANCING. I hate it. It is annoying and dumb. It was created for single women with no partner, for older women with a partner that doesn’t want to dance and gay men. Tonight we had one song with a small group of ladies trying to line dance that I tried to keep getting in their way on the dance floor, but Jackie kept trying to veer me away

And lo and behold tonight on the Boot Scooting Boogie song a bunch of ladies up to line dance and one OILER male fan among them. No surprise. LOL

Fun night, great food !

This was the second year after a long hiatus of the Alberta Party and we had over 360 people attend. I believe the Saskatchewan party is the only larger one.

The turkey did make everyone sleepy though as a lot of people left early. You have to remember the saying 9 o’clock midnight.

Jackie and I did leave a little early only due to feeling tired and knowing I had to be up a 6am. I am not a morning person.

I think we should have won the best dressed couple at the dance.

Up at 6:15 am and out of the house and at Superstition Springs Golf course. It is our Canada Cup golf tournament we entered. Our team just like last time was Kirk, Jim, Ron and I. Going into it and having a lot of experience with scrambles I knew we could not win with the rules in place. No handicaps and no specific amount of drives from each person. What this does is set it up to have four very good golfers together and killing it. We were there for the fun but wanting to do well. The winner ended up with -19 which means a birdie on all 17 holes and one eagle. Most tournaments like this the winner scores are usually around -8 to -12 at the most. We ended up at -3. We could have done so much better with so many putts missed that would have been a birdie or remove our two boogies. We had fun although I will say I didn’t see the best from any of us four. A great meal, and good prizes. Ron was the only one that won and it was golf balls.

A full slate is usually 144 players or 36 teams. We had 30 teams today and we finished in 15th place. Mediocracy at its best. LOL

Thought of the Day

Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better. 

March 3rd

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton -17 degrees Calgary -16 degree Mesa 24 degrees”

All I will say is ” It is Winter” in Alberta. It is just a reminder to me how lucky we are. I do not know if I could handle the boredom of going to Mexico or Europe for a long period of time rather than having a home away from a home. Only so many castles, pool days, beach days or places to eat or visit and then it is the same. While every “vacation” we have taken has being wonderful it has always has been 3 weeks or less which is exactly how I like “vacations” to be today. This social interaction at Viewpoint is phenomenal, entertaining and enjoyable and can’t be matched..

I got to sleep in a bit this morning which was awesome while Jackie took Daisy out to the park to play with her friends.

I started first thing this morning before the afternoon heat hit. First on my list was cutting down our Palm tree. I loved the tree but it is more hassle and headache than worth. Chopping it down and having it NOT hit a house was a concern. The wood trunk of a Palm tree is weird and seems to be a very soft wood. The tree trunk was about 18 inches round so no little feat in cutting. I burnt through 2 blades and broke one but finally got it done. I cut it up into manageable but still very heavy sections to haul away. I do have to say it was hot outside getting this done.

I then started on trimming the lemon and orange trees. We are going to a get a boat load of lemons next year with the amount of blossoms on it. They both look great now. Tree is done so only one thing left to get done before we leave and that is the side wall fix.

Just a gorgeous warm day and timing was perfect as I sat in the shade and talked to Mom and got a break from working.

We met Russ & Carol at the billiard hall right on time. I really enjoy playing pool. Guys against the girls again and another win for “mankind”. I played very well as did Russ. The games all were very close so made for a fun event.

After pool Russ & Carol came to our house for drinks and discussion. Sitting outside at night is just wonderful. Jackie “made” me turn off my blinking bar light. She thinks it could bother people and cause a headache or something. It is no different than anything, if you let something bother you it will. I don’t care if it is fear of the dark, motion sickness, needles, a certain smell, lactose intolerance, tinnitus, seafood allergy or anything, if you allow it to become your thoughts it will affect you. Certain things you can’t control but don’t fall victim to them. Fight not flight as there are always way to win.

Thought of the Day

I beat people with a stick for fun

March 5th-6th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton -15 degrees, Calgary -6 degrees, Mesa 24 degrees”

I cut up the Palm tree into manageable pieces to haul to the dump. I loaded the golf cart and Jackie was going to take it in the morning. Luckily she had a nice gentleman help her throw it in the bin but she would have/could have done it herself.

Jackie had Bunco and Yogi today so was busy in the morning and afternoon.

Daisy and I had a fun time at the dog park.

Up and out of the house before 7am again. As I have said I am not a early rise person yet I enjoy the golfing in the morning. Today I was golfing with Ross from Elkridge Golf resort in Sask and George a doctor from Thunder Bay and gentleman from Emma Lake Sask. First nine holes with two birdies so I am thinking should end up pretty good. Then a double and a triple hit so it is game over. It is funny how two holes kills your score. I played quite well today so relatively happy except for the score. Some killer drives today landing on one Par 4 green 275 yards away and pin high on another 265 yards away both risk reward holes over water. Chipping once again the nemesis. One chip after a wonderful drive with about 65 yards left skulled and lost over the back.

A great day golfing and having fun but no money won.

Tonight Sandy and Dave came over and we played 5 Crowns and crib. The girls killed us 4 – 0 in crib. And Dave and I were the highest in Crown 5 so in both games girl power for sure. And they rub it in so much. LOL

Ok i need to clarify something with this picture. It is 10pm at night, we are outside playing cards and it is about 18 degrees but Jackie loves her puffy vest. LOL It was another full fun day except for no money in golf and the girls whipping our butts.

Thought of the Day

Losing a game leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Always try to have a good competition with your opponent. It is not necessary that lack of skills is the only reason for the loss but in most cases exceptional good luck on your opponents.

March 7th-8th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -4 degrees, Calgary 0 degrees, Mesa 18 degrees”

Alberta in a warming trend and we have a one day cool down with a slight chance of sprinkles.

Jackie headed out golfing today which is good and so far no drops.

Today is MaryAnn’s birthday. I won’t spill her age. MaryAnn is just a nice person. She is married to the baby in the Huggett clan which is no easy task and has fit into the family perfectly. Interesting enough family relationships is one of the top 5 reasons for divorce. It just seems odd to have known her since 1980. Time flies. At her current age she now lets her hair down. LOL

Wordle in 2 for me !! Love the game. Jackie in 5 today. Finally a win.

Jackie got in her golf game and then it started to rain. It actually rained much more than forecast and stayed a little cooler all day. I good day to finish up my sheets from February. A bad month ! You have air flights, food for two places $1400, over $1500 for camping deposits, golfing with VIP and Turner Valley coming due and repairs to the outdoor kitchen it adds up fast. It was actually the first month in 10 years where expenses exceeded income. If we have a big bill ( AZ HOA , cruise, vacation, repair etc) I save in advance to amortize it over a period. I will blame it on the one extra day in Feb I forgot to take into account. Trudeau said the budget is supposed to balance itself so something went wrong.

Daisy and I had a non work day other than on the laptop paying bills, and filling out sheets. I even squeezed in a bit of the Mecum auction today.

I did check my work on the eaves and kitchen with the rain and it is good. I knew I would have a small amount of leakage at the plexi-glass and I am happy with the result and the eavestroughs are running perfect. Hard to tell on the downpipe as the wind was strong and driving.

I expect cart path only tomorrow for our golf game and a lot less roll on the fairways as they will be soft.

Lots of weird stuff still happening in politics. Trump as the nominee is surprising, Biden as the nominee is dumb, Robinson resigning is just wrong and the circumstances surrounding it, the union leader wanting to run for the NDP along with Neshi is telltale to the socialist thinking of the party. Socialism is great until we run out of money. Life long politicians like Biden, Trudeau, and many many more should have a cap in service.

Thought of the Day

Politicians and diapers should be changed often. And for the same reason

March 8th-10th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 5 degrees, Calgary 9 degrees, Mesa 23 degrees”

My early start again for golf. I don’t like the early part but I have to get up anyways to book the tee times at 6:30am so I may as well stay up and golf.

My Viewpoint group has been having a full slate each time which is nice. As usual my guys playing today were a lot of fun to play with. Some had good games some had bad games. I had one of those great days. Not one slice, long drives and great chip shots with ok putting. Best game of 2024 so far so that is good. The low gross score of the group, the low net score of the group, the most pars and the most birdies and in my target scoring range. It feels so good to do well but scary the last few holes as you do not want a blowup hole. You can go from a 77 to 84 just like that with a bad hole. Great golf, great weather, great friends make for a great day.

I had everyone over to our house for our after golf and to fix the world issues which we did fine. Jackie had everything ready for us which was nice.

I quick afternoon nap at 2pm and then to get ready for our Farewell Dance. Fred, Terry and Tim were at our table. The biggest party for us this year with over 650 people in the dance hall. The table at the back to allow us to converse is nice.

We just got into the dance hall when it started to rain. We didn’t bring a coat or umbrella and walked to the hall but luckily it stopped before the end of the dance. My friend from golfing was the bartender so he made me great tasting Caesars.

The band was good but kept to the blues side more than the C&W side which is my favorite but having said that some excellent songs to dance with. Jackie & I closed down the hall. The 9 o’clock midnight hit too many people as by the end of the dance we were down to only a couple hundred people.

The second last song was a long one and an excellent one with us finding our stride and tearing around the floor. Jackie thought we were moving a little fast but I was hitting the top beat and she was following the bass. We danced very well together and had a blast.

Liquor pricing has dramatically increased from years ago with beer being $2 and wine $8 now at $5 and $14. All things up. LOL

The meal tonight I would not give a great review on. Tacos. Hard shell. Road kill meat and fixings you had to do yourself. Why feed us food from a third world country ? Refried beans are just wrong. Roast beef, turkey, chicken, pulled pork so many other good foods to serve and we get old beans and rice. Don’t get me started on the dangers of eating rice. It did accomplish it’s task of filling us but not an enjoyable fill. I can’t imagine eating Mexican every day. It should be like Chinese and KFC with a once or twice a year outing only. Now Italian I could have everyday. LOL

At the dance the table right behind us had some people Jackie golfs with. Now this story is one of the funniest I remember in recent times. I laughed to myself then, in my dreams last night and even now as I write this.

This very nice lady who is from the northern part of the states starts to talk to us. She was a high level educator before retiring. A few yards away there is a group of people line dancing. She looks at us and comments ” Are you guys watching the gay guys line dance” I almost burst out laughing as it is like she knew me. It turns out one of the guys line dancing was her husband !!! A little later her husband asks her to line dance and she says NO. He gets up and says I guess we have to leave then and off they go. I LOVE this lady !! I will chuckle to myself over this for a long time.

Fun night in Arizona.

When we arrived at our house we noticed our gate not locked and our Arizona room door slightly open. Jackie had a little panic set in but Daisy was hiding in our bedroom either scared of the wind noise, rain or thunder. We must not have closed the door properly and the wind opened it. All is good.

This is a picture just before the storm last night.

I whipped to the ballpark as this weekend is the last one for hamburgers and hotdogs. Great burger for $5 and packed. I was in line and waiting for this 80 yr old man to garnish his burger. The amount of time and effort this took was astonishing and the USA wants to elect an 80 yr old president. It is just illogical.

The big finale in ball this weekend. It is amazing how these guys can still hit and run. I just don’t like the underhand pitching. Great ball players though.

Daisy and I went for a park ride then relaxed on the back deck. It was hot out and i had to come inside after a bit. But feels so wonderful.

My golfing friend Jim Wyatt wins the brand new golf cart worth $15K in the raffle. Good for him. Darn for us.

Thought of the Day

You know that saying in golf. ” he who has the fastest golf cart never has a bad lie”

March 11th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 8 degrees, Calgary 9 degrees, 27 degrees”

Any time you have the temp hitting 80 degrees you have to love it. A nice day yesterday. We watched a bit of the golf tournament, listened to the curling game, and watched the entire Oscars. I enjoy the Oscars not only for the dresses and quick jabs at stars but it is interesting to see the stars all mingling together.

Nothing better than sitting outside on the patio watching TV in the warmth. I think the picture confirms a bigger TV is needed.

The usual early morning start for my Viewpoint group. Full slate again today. I will start by saying money came my way. I started off a little slow but ended the game with a decent score. 3 third best of the group of 8 so only semi ok but fun. Just the odd mistake that happened so you are stuck with a low 80’s score.

I enjoyable day for golfing, a great after golf gathering where we all got to check out Jim’s new golf cart. Beautiful cart with a huge screen monitor, Bluetooth, rear camera etc. Very nice.

Then get ready to play billiards. The girls had an off night. The games were close but Russ & I prevailed again. I enjoy our pool hall nights. We are playing a 1/15 game which makes it more interesting and fun.

After billiards we headed to Russ & Carols for a couple of drinks and conversation. Nice people and we had a blast.

Daisy once again was a great dog and eagerly waited for our return.

Another great day in the books.

When I was entering the weather I noticed the ridiculous warm temperatures coming up for Alberta next week. All of the snow will be gone and it is basically spring like weather. Not warm enough or consistent enough to make me want to come home but still nice to make the winter shorter for everyone there.

Thought of the Day

I can handle the heat but only to a certain degree

March 13th-14th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 6 degrees, Calgary 7 degrees, Mesa 24 degrees”

Up and out of the house before 7am. Sandy like a Rolex is on time every time and has been this way for years. Just a warm beautiful day getting to the golf course at 8 am and not even needing a coat just my golf shirt. I was playing with the commissioner of our league and in the first flight today and had to take a little heckling from my car ride buddies.

I could have, which is always the case played better but I was happy. Not one lost ball, too many missed putts but some wonderful drives. On both of the risk and reward Par 4’s that are completely edged with water ponds one at 245 yards and one at 275 yards I drove my ball over the back of each. Not getting a birdie but still happy with a Par.

The commissioner/ organizer Bill Lewis is 81 years old and today shot an 80 again. He is such a smooth player with very very few mistakes.

My winnings today put me on the TOP 10 Money List again. I will miss one game and then the final one for the year the following week.

Top 10 Money Winners
Frank Pizzuto $159.58
Dennis Delwo $150.83
Buckey Buckley $145.42
Chris Gibson $141.25
Greg Doucette $136.25
Ron Dowling $136.25
Bill Lewis $130.42
Brian Brown $128.33
Larry Willard $125.42
John McClelland $121.25

Daisy was so lucky today getting a new toy gift from her dog friend across the street Murphy. She shook it and chewed it, liking it very much

Jackie, makes this Italian linguini with olive oil, garlic, and pepper that tastes amazing. That along with garlic toast, and a wonderful salad made for great meal tonight.

A bit of a storm cell coming thru town and I hope it passes quickly before our wiener roast.

We have had our place here in Arizona for 17 years and have stayed here 4 months for the last 10 years and have never seen a golf ball come close. Tonight just before supper sitting outside one golf ball comes flying and hits our outdoor kitchen. Two minutes later another ball hits the neighbors. Same number and type of ball so you know it the same golfer and the balls are from the same sleeve. Too bad they weren’t Titleist Pro V instead of Warbirds. That is ONE mean slice and a hitter like that shouldn’t be playing on the nine hole course. Three balls in two weeks after 17 years is amazing. Balls hitting houses always make me smile and remember when Jeff hit a house at Boulder Creek Golf course. It was funny that all is I am going to say.

Beautiful night for a long walk around the park. Wonderful sunset and very warm even at 7 pm.

Moved some of Mom’s investments around with GIC’s now paying 5.15% which for no risk is pretty decent and more than double of some of the GIC’s she had.

It feels like quite a busy schedule coming up and yet it really isn’t but fitting everything in takes a bit of juggling.

Jackie had 9 ladies today golfing in her group. The after gathering was at our house so Jackie did a lot of fixing up for food and drinks. Wine and Women I think I could write a country song. Wait, it has been done.

While she was golfing I re-organized the shed, cleaned up outside and added extra chairs for the ladies. I had a meeting with our caretaker and fixed that all up with bug spraying and cart battery maintenance, and paid him his money for the year. He is a little more than our last taker which we had for 8 years and 8 years a prior caretaker so hopefully the same from our new guy. Funny how $400 looks like a lot of bills and then it is gone. LOL Our caretaker is a retired Elementary School Principle and does this during the summer for something to do. Easy tax free side cash which is all good.

I picked up some bigger stuff and started to load a shelf or two from Fred’s to my place shed. Wanted to see how I am going to make a 32 sq ft shed fit a 100sg ft shed worth of stuff. Vertical. LOL

Daisy and I drove around the park to waste time while the lady golfers gaggled. We visited with Fred & Terry and Tim and we watched pickleball for a bit. I will say again. What a slow game meant for OLD people. They have fun, that is what is important and it does have a similarity to ping pong but very very little stamina required and no damage of a rotary cuff injury like tennis. Fun to watch though.

Then a comedy of errors and scary in a way. An old guy was trying to back up into his RV lot with his 5th wheel. A shorter one at about 32ft. I will start with, his license should be repealed immediately. It was just sad watching his skill level and scary knowing his was on the highway only a few minutes prior. Unbelievable. The comedy part was not only him going back and forth 10 times with no success but to get into a disagreement with his wife helping him back up and getting frustrated and leaving. I saw him drive to the main office but they must NOT have had any other spot so 15 mins later I catch him again going back and forth into his HUGE spot and the security gate guard trying to help guide him in.

I finished replacing the siding and caulking the west wall. I went to replace the siding with LP Smartside and picked it up at Lowes but on the way out I saw this composite product the exact thickness I needed. As I said before there should be a Class A law suit for this type of product LP Siding that when wicking moisture turns to sawdust.

I removed the old siding and was lucky and surprised. Lucky in that the studs and bottom plate were in perfect condition after removing the totally destroyed siding. Surprised in the fact of no Tyvek or sheathing. The wall cavity was in good shape, the insulation dry and lifted slightly off the bottom plate and just a small amount of black mold in the back side of the closet drywall which bleach fixes. With lap siding it is nailed bottom up to hide the fasteners. I had to have a couple surface screws which I am ok with. I was also surprised in that I had painted the entire outside two year ago and the west wall already showed signs of fading when I painted the new product I put in. Caulked and done, hopefully for a few years.

My favorite golf tournament this week end. We have two Canadians in the top 13 and Scottie only two behind. ANYBODY but the whining Rory Leprechaun. The 17th hole is amazing and super fun to watch and there are many other tricky holes on this course, I remember the 18th as being very hard with water all down one side and narrow, 16th hole tricky again with water and not a island green but the green is extended out into the water, and 13th being a real tough Par 3. Not only the layout but the rough here was insane with 6 inch deep grass.

I wish I would have kept or at least a picture of my score card when we played as I did for the Waste Management but I do remember the caddie saying ” I wouldn’t want to play you today picking up your tee so fast” He thought I was confident in where it was going but in reality I was just playing fast. LOL

I loved the experience:

Les Schwartz from Home Hardware Stettler was my customer of choice to bring to this epic event. Les and I even stayed a day longer to play more. We played TPC Sawgrass in a pro-am, played TPC Valley the day after, we played the Bear & Lion Golf Course and visited the World Golf Museum and a Jack Nicklaus designed course the Grand Cypress Golf Club. Full access to the tents, joined the winners after party with KJ Choi and had a supper at Freddie Funks house. All first class and beyond amazing.

I was so lucky my company paid. This is this years rack rate from 2 weeks ago. WHO in their right mind would pay $900 to play a round of golf. Very nice and a once in a lifetime experience but I would never have done it at this price.

Thought of the Day

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.

March 15th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 11 degrees, Calgary 14 degrees, Mesa 16 degrees”

I have been checking the weather continuously checking for golf and our wiener roast.

I decided we had to cancel our Annual Wiener Roast today and reschedule for Monday night. Every webpage, TV channel etc had rain in the forecast plus cold. We had everyone committed to the gathering for tonight but with the new date we will be down to 18 people only. Prior commitments which is understandable but unfortunate for us not to get full attendance. And good thing we did cancel as it was quite cool and showers all day.

Golf was still on this morning. I was up at 6:30 am and not raining so I phoned Ron in Fountain Hills to come on down. At the clubhouse there were very few golf carts around. I checked in and was told the rain check policy is they will refund you if you don’t start but if you play one shot no refund. Needless to say not many golfers showed up. Our group was amazing with all 8 guys showing up. That is where amazing ended as 4 players back out as it was a slight drizzle.

Here is where it gets interesting. We had out of the 18 holes maybe two holes with very slight drizzle only. It was cooler starting out at 12 but it was very easy to play and quite nice. Not great scores but very decent scores from everyone. In fact Mike most likely lowered his handicap with his score. I struggled driving today pulling them all left. Layered clothes restricting and cold hands. Maybe not focused enough. lol

We played 18 complete holes in 2 1/2 hours. It goes to show how slow some players are holding others up. It is sad that we accept 4 to 4 1/2 hrs as normal. People take FOREVER over over the ball, walk all around the green to putt, and search for a lost ball a way too long.

We had a lot of fun, fun conversation, teasing and some great shots with too many bad shots thrown in.

I lost one buck on the Par 3 contest closest to the pin on all of the Par 3’s.

Thought of the Day

For some golfers their handicap is counting and adding up their score correctly.

March 16th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 10 degrees, Calgary 14 degrees, Mesa 18 degrees”

Awesome temps for Alberta for two days more than back to the deep freeze with day highs at -6 to -9. Same with us back to normal temp hitting 24 to 28 after today.

It is nice and warm and DRY as Jackie is out scouting the park for deals at our yard sale event, Over the years she had made some INCREDIBLE deals. One year she bought a SS range hood fan, fireplace and Tv for less than $100. We still use the TV and the hood fan and fireplace are out at Oasis.

I just used up the bulk of our cash on the caretaker so she has limited funds with her today. Good plan !

Daisy and I went to the park and a long walk.

I see there is a new ArrCanada app available and a new MPC app for US customs that I downloaded to make travel easier. I hate them changing the apps so often.

Sprayed all of the weeds today, cleaned up the shed, drying out the golf cover, organizing wood, chairs, forks etc for out wiener roast.

Watching a bit of the Players. Cleaned up in the house. Grocery shopping so a semi busy day.

March 17th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 16 degrees, Calgary 19 degrees, Mesa 20 degrees”

Alberta hitting close to 20 degrees in March is awesome. But for two days then back to a high of -6 to -9. Mesa cool today at 20 degrees than up to close to 30 in two days. Alberta cold air pushing the warm air to us. Yes !

It is ST Patty’s Day. Parades, car show and my favorite of sitting on the patio drinking cold green beer. Here a few pics from years past and we are booked on the deck today with a band and stew !

People are loving these 70 degree days as they know the 100 degree days are only a few days away. It is funny thougha s it seems cool

According to the United States Golf Association, the average male handicap is 14.1 and the women’s one is 28. So, presuming that this Average Joe Golfer plays to his handicap – and most of the time he will not – and then, if you also presume his course handicap is the same as his handicap index, then he goes round in 86 on a par-72 layout. That means a 7 shot difference which means taking 8 out the best 20 scores the chances are very limited. In fact less than 5% of all golfers break 80 regularly. I know it is difficult with myself making breaking 80 only 5-10 times a year only. Luckily for me going over 100 is very rare nowadays but can happen. Not once this year yet. LOL

Our annual trip to Fat Willy’s bar on St Patty’s day. Fred & I have done every year we have been here. We had to miss one year due to covid so for sure 10 years but for another 7 years when both of were here in March it was or go to.

This year Jackie, Terry, Tim and Keith joined us. JUGS of beer, and fish & chips. One of the best fish & chip meals I have had ( i will give Whitby UK first place0 but these were awesome being Alaskan Cod. Three huge pieces for $16 is a great deal.

A fun afternoon.

A sneaky Leprechaun kissed my inner thigh without me even knowing it. This maybe our last St Patty’s on Fats for bit as they have sold their place and are going to try to enjoy “vacationing” in Mexico. I hope they really enjoy it as it will sure be different here without them. When I think of Mexico I think of a great beach place with a lot of issues. Rip tides, thieves, bandito’s, diarrhea, missing people, hot hot sun, great beaches, neat history but now that I am not working I do look for a hot beach spot. I do know they will look at overseas also which is much better.

I can say we all had a fair wee bit to drink. After Fat’s we headed to Fred’s and BBQ the best beef ever for roast beef on the bun. He is such a good cook and makes it look easy. Games , fun and three finger drinks were abundant.

I passed on golfing as getting up at 6:30 to golf after St Patty’s is a no no plus to prepare for our annual golf wiener roast.

I cooked up the 7 pounds of potatoes, sliced the radishes, eggs, onions and prepped to make the sauce. I usually double the recipe for the sauce to make sure I have enough. Surprising how long that all takes. I whipped to the grocery store to pick up a few things to finish off everything.

At 4: 30 Jackie & I went to prepare the fire, tables etc. My fire starter works perfect and within minutes a full blazing fire. I would say within 15 minutes a rain drop happened with loud thunder and lightning. Within minutes it started to pour and hail. Actually the largest hail stones I think I have seen. Then the chaos started. We were thinking the gazebo and using the fire stoves but the rain and wind said no. So off to Harry’s place. His BBQ would not light so Kirk offered his place. So phone calls and carts headed that way and just before his house Lyle offered his place. Lyle only has been golfing with us for about three weeks so very nice of him to offer. His place was awesome with electric drop down shutters all around his car port patio. Not only protected from the wind and rain but nice and cozy and great looking. Lyle also cooked all of our dogs on his Traeger smoker. We were so fortunate to have this work out. Thank you Lyle.

So a very different end of the season gathering. Fun, yet hectic and not organized like I would have liked but all turned out well. I have left over firewood for next year. LOL

This group of golfers are all just nice people that make living here and golfing fun

March 19th

“Mercury Forecast .Edmonton 2 degrees, Calgary 4 degrees, Mesa 24 degrees”

I am quite impressed with how people love winter and are willing to stay in a cold place for the whole winter season. Here it is 2 days before spring and a snow fall warning is happening in Calgary. It better not TRAP me at home as I travel up north to stupidly reset my travel insurance. Crazy ! In and out as fast as I can. LOL

I started first thing in the am with Fred and Tim to pack up Fred’s shed. Over the years we have bought a lot of tools together and he brought a lot down of his older stuff as we stuff needed tools for projects. Harbor Freight likes us.

There is just about any gadget or tool you would ever need to do anything plus all of the needed accessories. A bittersweet day for Fred as he sees his ” shop” cleaned out and the sale sitting in. You could tell it was not easy for him or Terry in the house was experiencing the same impact of cleaning up everything. I think everyone wished it wasn’t true, but it is reality now. I hate it also.

At least 6 golf carts full of stuff delivered to my shed that I prepared for the tools. As I said taking a 100 sq ft shed and fitting it in a 32 sq ft one isn’t easy. I think I will get most of it in and semi organized. I will do most of this on my return and perhaps even in the fall when we come back.

After working we played games consisting of 5 Crowns, Play Nine and crib which is always fun. Fred had reheated Chili with bread for supper that was excellent.

For anyone that plays 5 Crowns playing on a 10 they can see I am out and two other players figuring out how bad they got hurt !

I printed off my boarding pass, organized my stuff and am all set to go.

Jackie wasn’t feeling well today with diverticulosis hitting her. She did her yogi which is most likely the cause of all things and then spent a few hours in bed sleeping with a hot bag. It can be quite painful.

Thought of the Day

Sort of like being a voodoo doll victim.

March 20th-21st

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -7 degrees, Calgary -6 degrees, Mesa 28 degrees.”

My flight was scheduled for a 9:30am departure which means a 6:30 am arrival at the airport. Whenever I have an early alarm, I never seem to sleep that well waiting for the clock to ring. The alarm goes off at 5:30 and I checked a text as Flair sent me one stating the flight was delayed for about an hour. A little more sleep and then another 1/2 hr and a text stating a 3-hour delay. I arrived at the airport and had a great breakfast at Cowboy Cais. Odd no toast but the English muffin with bacon and eggs was good. I larger breakfast as no lunch. A supposed arrival for 1:30pm ending up being close to 5:30pm. I will blame this on the HELL FROZEN OVER place called Calgary. 30 cms of snow and COLD. It has to be difficult for retired people to spend the winter in Calgary and I wish everyone of them could experience the warmth. I think even if I went broke, I would hitch hike to a warm spot to escape the cold.

My return is twofold. The stupidity of our insurance companies, and not being mandated to change that require a person to come back to Canada for two minutes to reset their insurance for another 90 days, is asinine. Think of the wasted time, the fuel used by the jet and the bureaucracy involved makes it just dumb. I land today Wed at 5:30 pm and back at the airport at 3 am on Friday morning. That is one reason but also to pick up Jackson and fly with him to Mesa for spring break. He will have a mini vacation with Grammy and I and drive back 22 hours in the car with us at the beginning of April. Lucky guy stuck with his grandparents? LOL

Tor was going to pick me up but due to the blizzard road conditions and the late timing as Jackson had his final hockey game of the season tonight, I took a cab. I arrived at the condo, changed out of my sandals put on my WINTER coat and my Dad’s winter boots and headed to the hockey game.

MINI RANT

I don’t fit into this “nice” ” fair ” world of today. Jackson’s team came out flying and was dominating the other team. Halfway in the game with the game tied ( we scored twice on ourselves) the coach to be fair changed to the backup goalie. THIS KID SUCKS. He doesn’t even move. The team just gets deflated, and they ended up losing 11-5. I don’t care about anyone’s feelings, proper thing to do etc this is just wrong. Every kid on the team knows this kid sucks, this kid knows he sucks and every game no matter what the situation is meant to be WON not to be about fair. How is this fair to the other kids. You don’t learn ANY lesson by being subjected to a coach that wants to be fair and not want to win a game. Try hard with your best players and you lose that is fine. Trying hard with a lead anchor killing you does NO ONE any good. I feel for the team. I feel for that goalie, but he is on the wrong team and has to know the kids will resent him and roll their eyes every time he sucks. If we want to be nice, kick him off the team to save his personality from getting screwed up and let the other 20 kids experience the feeling of winning when they try hard without a huge handicap. I have no problem losing but it has to be a loss than isn’t caused by “fairness”

The last play of the game was hilarious as Jackson was tripped and no penalty called so he tripped the other guy and got caught. The game was a way out of range by that point.

It was still fun to watch but frustrating to the efforts of the entire group thrown out of the window.

Amazing amount of snow fell already.

Surprised this morning with no Tim coffee in the pantry. Darn !

I checked in this morning early as I didn’t receive a notification. So hopefully no delays.

Jackson is coming over this evening to sleep for the few hours before we head to the airport.

A fun night though watching him play.

My cab driver said there was over 150 crashes on the roads today. We slipped and sled on the Deerfoot a few times. Blowing wind and lots of snow plus COLD.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. I think Mother Nature put the wrong goalie in.

Up to 30cm of snow. Not my idea of spring.

Had my first ICE Cap from Tim’s. Love these.

It is amazing how sometimes even though tired you can’t sleep. Plus no dog or Jackie in bed with me.

On my Tim’s stop I picked up a flat bread for lunch and a Blueberry muffin for breakfast.

I had a off and on relaxing day. I printed my boarding passes and cleaned up the house. I did notice the kitchen faucet must be a little plugged with sediment as the water is quite restricted.

Corey, Tor and Jackson came over for supper and visit.

Jackson readied everything and hit the bed about 10 pm. Alarm set for 2:20am. Not enough sleep. LOL

United Taxi uses a software system like Uber so you can track your cab. Works wonderfully and is very handy. Taxi arrives right on time. International Flights are supposed to be 3 hours early to clear security and customs. We arrive a little early as we had a great driver and check in with Flair. We had pre-planned our luggage to make it all work.

Flair opens at 3:30 am and then here is where it gets weird. 5:30 boarding so we need to be at the airport at 2:30 to follow the suggested timing. Flair open at 3:30, security at 4 am and customs at 4:30am. Now it is a good thing we went early as the lines start piling up. We got in line about the 30th person, Lines moved quite quickly and we were clear at 5 am. A quick breakfast at Burger King and then onto the plane. The plane was packed which is good for Flair. Every event from checkin to flying Flair had a handle on it and did it well today. Two flight attendants from today deserve customer service awards. First time on a plane i have seen projectile vomit from an adult. Chaos as people scramble to get clear of the mess. Luckily there were three middle seat the staff moved people to. The women ran into the washroom and changed her clothes. These two staff members spent at least an hour cleaning the seat, sanitizing them including the washroom after the lady was in there. They did extremely well. Feel bad for women as she was exiled on the plane but either don’t drink or eat before or if sick stay at home rather than get on a plane.

A 3 hour flight seems long when you are dead tired. Three lousy and short sleeps in a row.

Needless a lot of head bobbing on the way but not sleep really.

Jackson is excited and wants to do a lot of things. First on the agenda was to drive the golf cart all over the park. Good practice for him as he will be able to drive a car next year.

Then off to the pool. I sprayed him down with 50 plus which is like wearing a full body suit but lo and behold missed one spot that turned pink. He is a white boy. LOL I rarely use sunscreen. ( another media hype with name change from suntan lotion to sunscreen) re screen it does nothing to reduce skin cancer all it does is give you more time in the sun but you will still burn eventually.

We sat on the patio in the sun which hit over 80 today.

Fred & Terry with Tim as Tim is leaving soon decided to go for supper and Tia Rosa’s was the place. Love the decor at this place. A new menu with a couple of my fav’s gone but still a great Mexican place. Taco’s fried ice cream, rice, and chicken , shrimp and beef all were great.

Fred had a picture with my eyes closed but he didn’t send it to me. Tired !

You just never know when you could meet someone special. Here is a picture of Jackson and his new girlfriend. I am sure her paperwork is all in order. She was very quiet.

We get home from supper and off to the pool with Jackson , making Grammy sit beside beside him on the cart. I am going to bed. LOL Grammy wants steps so they walk. LOL Jackson wants driving fun and pool time, Larry wants sleep.

Thought of the Day

Let’s give ’em something to taco bout

March 23

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -5 degrees, Calgary -6 degrees, Mesa 27 degrees”

A wonderful 12 hour sleep that was well needed.

Jackie must have been too close to some sicky while I was away as she has a cold/flu. Good thing I sleep on my side so her breath isn’t direct towards me. I think itis one of those woman colds.

Jackson has made himself right at home, slept good, had a good breakfast, and played on his phone outside on the patio.

We took a long drive around the park on the golf cart. Jackson is a pretty good driver. Funny as a beginner driver he only uses one hand which has to change to pass his license. I directed him all over and then said drive me home to see if he could remember where our home is. He did very well.

Our monthly block party which we were not prepared for and Jackie not feeling well we decided to “cheat’ and ordered pizza from Fats. Jackson drove us over to pick it up.

Another great gathering and we had a few new people so nice to meet them. Our block is becoming more Canadian with Albertans and BC’ers moving in. All nice people.

One of the youngest on our at 57 yrs old does an amazing thing. She is running the NY Marathon this year. It is very hard to get qualified or and exemption into this. You have to run 9 pre qualifier races, or get a lottery pick. She has ran 26 marathons. That is impressive.

Always interesting to hear what peoples plans are for the summer. Just like when getting back to school we all stood up and talked about ours. One couple was visiting England, one couple had three weddings in different states attend, another with a wedding, lots with lake lots, some babysitting grandkids but all interesting stories.

A good variety of food choices again. I love that Ian brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Everyone liked them.

Jackson was teased and talked to by a lot of different people.

Then off to the pool. We stayed for about 1 1/2 hours swimming and hot-tub. Jackson just about made it from one side of the pool to the other. He is a pretty good swimmer. We were the only two people in the pool.

Jackie said it looks it was going to rain tonight so I went out and covered the patio cushions and golf cart. 5 minutes after getting in the downpour happened. Lucky timing.

Another wonderful day with the warmth and sunshine. And Jackson did not get burned today.

Thought of the Day

What race is never run ? A swimming race

March 23-24th

Todays world is certainly different from when I grew up and even when our girls grew up. You hear young people saying they can’t afford to buy a house while sitting at Starbucks having a $7 coffee and wearing Air Jordan runners and $1500 iPhone in their hands. Our girls never had or even asked for ” brand name” products. In fact I never had a ” Brand ” name product until a trip to Vegas in my 30’s and my runners broke and I needed a new set and bought a NIKE runner. As a kid never a brand name and as youngsters our kids never had brand names. I believe a big part of the issue for young people is that marketing and a society pressuring them to “join” the club and then they are forever in debt or struggling.

I laughed to myself as Jackson has a brand new pair of Birkenstink sandals. My one error is I used to fall trap to SAS sandals by marketing until I realized it is a 100% marketing scheme also. I now buy Jules Sandals from Amazon at $49 compared to BirkenSTINK or SAS at $150 to $220 a pair. In my opinion every bit as good.

One might wonder did I make a spelling mistake on Birkenstink. No it is what they are referred to, due to the cork absorbing sweaty foot odors and stinking. Solution wear socks with your BirkenSTINKs.

I can buy 4 to 5 pair of my non brand name, have just as comfortable shoe, have a non smelling shoe and still be ahead of the game.

SAS uses an elastic band for their straps that breaks quite often. I had them to the shoe repair guy in Midnapore three times. Good leather though. Perhaps different models but I notice BiirkenSTINKs do not have a back strap which is not a good sandal for long walks or climbing hills or even running. Jules weakness unless you take care is the Velcro straps wearing out. These are over a year old now and still work perfect. My SAS did last 5 yrs plus. The only reason Birkenstink became popular is the push by young “woke” kids with their ethically sourced products, environment friendly products, and cruelty free policy, All marketing schemes that the younger generation falls for ands supports by paying more for a BRAND name with no solid advantage for foot comfort or arch support. Viral internet solicitation at its best.

Busy day.

Our first order of business was the pool. A little cool today so no one was at the pool. The family pool empty and the main pool only one person so we snuck in again as it is a lot warmer for the old ladies do to their pool noodle exercising.

Then off to a car show. We arrive at the show and only two cars there with their chairs all set up waiting. Seeing no food trucks we head to a place Jackson hasn’t been before, In & Out Burger. This chain is cheaper, busier and better than McDonalds. Fresh burger and fries with a very very limited menu. Burger, double Burger, cheese burger , fries and milkshake and soda. That is it.

I made a mistake in picking a parking spot and when we were leaving had to wait and sneak out due to the long drive thru line up. This is a great family diner.

Back to the car show. Well it seems a dark cloud keeps people away as the show was cancelled. We saw a 1980 Corvette, a Cadillac CTV Black edition and a Nissan GTR that is it. Pretty sad.

Back home and the request for driving and more pool time. This time we were the only ones in the warm water. Jackson loves water. His attempts to make it all the way across the pool under water were successful today. It was cold getting out but I ran to the hot tub.

Tonight I made a wonderful BBQ supper. None of this odd new age thinking stuff like Quinoa, Basmati, or fake bacon but a wholesome meal of Pork Chops, Roasted Potatoes, roasted carrots and garlic toast. It was all gone !!

Then off to the Billiard hall. We played for quite awhile. He is getting good, better each year and has some amazing shots but luckily Papa still kicks his butt. LOL Every game was close though. A few games with Grammy and back home to watch RUSH HOUR 2 an iconic movie.

Another great day in paradise even though only hitting 18 degrees today which by my new standards is cool. Hopefully Calgary has a hot spring with rain twice a week at night. Not asking for much.

Last night putting on the golf cart cover I scratched my head quite deep on the tree branch. The only negative to being bald. LOL It hurts ! Can’t wash my hair now.

Thought of the Day

They call me Papa, as Partner in Crime sounds like I could be a bad influence.

March 25th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -1 degrees, Calgary -7 degrees, Mesa 22 degrees”

On today’s agenda is a bit relaxing and then to go golfing with the four of us. Jackson, Daisy, Jackie and I.

Jackson wins at Wordle today. Beat by a 12yr old !! He is good and I really like his favorite start word.

With the rain we have had this year, the desert flowers are absolutely wonderful. All of these pictures are right in our resort and when we travel back in 6 or 7 days the entire desert will be in full bloom.

We got ready and headed up to the club house. Nice now that the shotguns are done we can book regular tee times. We went for the “special” late rate. To have three golfers play 18 holes with a power cart for less than $100 is great .Our tee time was 3:15 and we finished 18 holes in 3 :10 minutes. A nice day with a little bit of cool wind.

Jackson golfs maybe once to twice a year. Today he started off topping the ball but still getting good distance. The back nine everything started to work, Here is a 12 yr old golfer with no experience and he scores a legit 101. I gave maybe two mulligans. He played very well. Jackie was doing well also but quit after nine. Her cold caught up to her. Who gets a cold in this heat. LOL

Jackson and I carried on and had a blast and his golf just kept getting better and better. Awesome score he had. I played semi ok one stroke short of my 70’s score I like.

Daisy was perfect the whole time and her first golf game of the season. Time just goes by so fast.

We headed home and dropped her off then headed up to Fat Willys patio for Burger Night. We were lucky to get the outside patio with a heater as it was cooling off. Man, are those burgers GOOD, Such a good deal. We ignored the Salad section and I couldn’t ask if they had jugs as I was drinking by myself.

Another great day comes to the end. I had to fill my batteries today which were quite low and took me by surprise. I will need to make a diary entry to check each week not randomly.

Thought of the Day

One putt after taking 5 shots to the green. Winning !!

March 26th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 2 degrees, Calgary -1 degrees, Mesa 23 degrees”

An oddity for sure but more rain last night. The desert loves this as do the cities water reserves. In fact drought is off the table for Mesa for now at least.

I was up earlier than normal for a off golf day and headed up to Fred’s to help him move his stuff from his place to Tim’s. A couple of trips on the golf cart and all is done.

They are busy with getting together with people and moving so we haven’t got together to play games at all yet. We will on Friday before or after dinner out at the Longhorn

Jackson and I headed to Bashaws and i picked up two jugs of distilled water $1.39 for 4 liters to use in the cart. Distilled water which is captured steam requires processing and is cheaper than normal spring water. Doesn’t make sense.

People don’t make sense.

As Jackson and i were driving by in the cart where the music on the green is going on I noticed about 8 women line dancing on the chipping area. WHY ?

Then a little further down towards the main office in the over night stay section for Rv’s here is guy with his levelers down and lifted his rear wheels completely off the ground. He is either new to RVing or dumb. You lift your rear wheels which are locked with the emergency brake to get your levelers down and any movement, wind, etc you can roll forward or back and bend your pistons and you do not have a stable RV. This is rule 101 in RVing.

Jackson and I played tennis today. The first shot we each took we said wow are we strong as the tight strings make hitting the ball so easy. Tennis is an athletes game unlike Pickleball. We had a blast and for not playing much we did ok and had fun. I do know I was careful in my decision making to go for it or not. After all golf is a way more important than a tennis game. I do have to say that after an hour or so the back does start to stiffen up. It was a blast though and he is strong.

We came home and Jackie is still not feeling well. She took a Covid test but was fine. It is as suspected a “women’s cold.” The worse.

Jackson and I played 5 Crowns on the patio and after the game I am sure he is ready to take on the Keys. He learns quick and it is a fun game.

After supper we headed to the pool where we stayed over an hour which was pool, hot tub and sauna.

Only one guy at the pool which was good. Turns out he was from Med Hat. A nice guy but a typical senior complaining about the golf price increases. People just like to complain. I think everyone when they get up each morning should say to themselves how lucky they are and commit to one day of not complaining. Do it a few times and maybe the attitude may change.

March 26th a big day for Jackie & I as our daughters were born 41 yrs ago today. It is always nice to see your children turn out wonderful. We are proud parents to both of them in all aspects of their lives. Still work to be done on their humor but they are working on it. Happy Birthday Victoria and Jessica.

Thought of the Day

It is not economical to go to bed early to save power if the result is twins.

March 27th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 11 degrees, Calgary 7 degrees, Mesa 27 degrees”

Up and out of the house before 7am. I got caught by surprise by construction which closed a road I take and I arrived only 15 mins before my tee time. The traffic was routed right thru the residential area and school zones. A little poor on the planning side.

I was partnered up with the commissioner of our group and our money guy plus a nice guy from Chestermere.

It was such a beautiful day and the last game of season I wanted to do well. I will start with saying we did win $70 bucks so that is good. The golfing I did not like. I replaced my shaft a few weeks prior and it is not the same club as before. I had to fight the slice all day. Add in a few mistakes etc it resulted in a mediocre score only. We had a blast, fun group to play with and some great shots.

It turns out this was snips day so our money guy did the snips game and I did the TRIAD game money. Our commissioner was an accountant with his own business so hates math errors. Luckily I like math and double check everything. We had two groups screw up their counts. Tonight after receiving the update I noticed Bill made a mistake in his calculations. I won’t tell him. LOL

I came home and Jackson and I played games outside in the warmth. That kid has luck and is good. He killed Jackie and I at the first game and was winning the second up to the last go about with Jackie pulling off the win. He likes to win and is fun to bug and gives it right back.

A wonderful supper of ravioli stuffed with Italian sausage and a great salad. Love it !!

After supper Jackson and I headed to the pool. Busier tonight as everyone is trying to get their last fill in before leaving. With a early Easter and April coming up the park is already emptying out. I would stay another two weeks if I could as I know what kind of weather we will get when we get home.

Standing on his head, swimming under water kept Jackson busy. We stayed for about 2 hours.

My cart batteries were low on water and I refilled them but I am worried they may have been damaged been charged without enough water. I have learned my lesson to check a way more often.

The sky was clear and we could see a lot of stars, satellites and planes.

As we were sitting outside a cart went by and then WHAM we hear this hit. Turns out they hit a house at the end of the street. Dumb ! We didn’t see the cart or person that did it as we didn’t rush out. Quite a bit of damage to the unit and amazing that the lady driver backed up and ran away before anyone could stop her. Drunk, sun in the eyes something, but don’t run away from your responsibilities.

In prep for leaving our car is going in for service and tire change. Fred will pick us up and we will have a great breakfast ! Jackson wants up early too go with us.

Thought of the Day

Keep responsibility on your radar- unless your job is a watchmaker, then it’s essential

March 28th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -1 degrees, Calgary -1 degrees, Mesa 27 degrees”

I see Alberta is coming close to 20 degrees next week, For one day ! The weather has been so up and down it is amazing for Alberta. Starting to get quite warm here everyday now hitting close to 30 degrees. Love it !

We had our new Airbeam fiberoptic line ran to the house so all ready for hook up. Jabba our current internet is horrendous in customer service and product , We pay $40 per month for 10 mbps download and struggle getting 1 when everyone is streaming or using devices. With Airbeam it is $75 but for 750 mbps so we should have ZERO issues. Nothing more annoying than struggling to send a simple email never mind Prime or Netflix not loading. We will find out this fall.

Jackson and I were up early this morning and headed to the garage. This Green Light Garage is amazing. Today again superb customer service from reports, texts etc. Then the bill. $60 worth of parts and $30 buck worth of labor. UNHEARD OF. It was $12 worth of labor to rotate the tires. NICE. I used these same guys years ago to change out a catalytic convertor on our Buick. Just nice fair people. Too put HONEST and Garage in the same sentence doesn’t happen often.

For picking us up I bought Fred and Jackson breakfast at the Wildberry Cafe. Food here is amazing with huge portions. Fred & I had the two eggs, two homemade sausage patties, shredded hashbrowns, sourdough toast and sliced tomatoes. Jackson went all out with 6 pieces of French toast, two eggs and sausage. Wonderful meal, great service, super coffee and decent pricing.

Fred & Terry are out of their house having closed the deal and will stay at Tim’s place for another week or so before heading back. Next year will much different for them. I know going to the Mediterranean during winter it is not very warm but lots to see. I know going to Mexico it is hot but what are you going to do for months to stay busy. Every place in the word has unique things to see but only so many things. I am no longer a beach person. Museums and castles get boring. Nature sights are nice, I love the fact that in AZ I get to sleep in my own bed, have the warmth and numerous activities to stay busy at a decent price and a social network like no other. If something every happened it is really only one long day drive away from home and in a friendly country with limited issues. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Having said that though once retired to have a redo is hard, due to income and inflation. As an example Fred’s place sold for 3 times what they paid for it when they came here. They are at an age if they want to do something different it is the right time as they only have about 5 to 10 years max left of easy travel and great health.

We then decided to head to Tiger Woods special PopStroke mini golf center. All kinds of reference to Tiger which it should as he does own it and designed it. Now the Pebble Beach golf in Calgary is great, this is fantastic. It has two 18 hole courses and a challenge hole. The courses are exceptional in design and the place was packed as it is spring break. Dates, kids, old people all were having fun. Not only the golf but we played Foosball, they have ping-pong, and corn hole also and a awesome dining seating area.

They have their own app for ordering alcohol and it being delivered at any hole you are on, or at your seat. Small hiccup here as the app doesn’t accept Canadian phone numbers for text or visa’s. I am sure they will fix that.

We had a blast and the 36 holes plus extra’s took us at least 4 hours to play. the first course Jackie killed Jackson and I. The second course I got lucky to win and was surprised as Jackson went on a tear with 2’s on a whack of holes. But the creme de la creme was Jackie getting a HOLE IN ONE on this Tiger Woods designed course, albeit a mini golf course. LOL

The lady with her family right in front of us was fun to watch as she was a very competitive lady wanting to beat her kids and husband.

It was a very fun afternoon, evening. Then social media influenced Jackson to try this new place called Raising Canes. A chicken specialty place that only serves chicken fingers, Private owned similar to a few great chains here in the States. With 750 stores now it is becoming a big chain. Only chicken fingers ! Unbelievable.

The end to another fun day which I am sure Jackson will talk about with his friends.

Thought of the Day

March 29th-30th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 2 degrees, Calgary 0 degrees, snow, Mesa 29 degrees”

Readied myself for my last golf game in Arizona for this spring. It was one of those days that only can be described as wonderful. No wind, no clouds, nice and warm. Today my group was Mike, and Ron P as we had two groups of threesomes. Everyone for the last game golfed reasonable well with both Mike and I below 40 on the front nine setting ourselves for a below 80 score. On number 18 a long Par 5 with a eagle putt I came up 2ft short. Mike was going for a birdie putt. Ron P cleverly suggested for all three of us to count them and we accepted. Unbeknownst to me with Ron’s handicap he was stroking and it took a buck from my pocket. I had to laugh as he got me good.

A great last game with a bunch of nice guys. They all came back to our house for the last of my beer and rum and talk about what a great season we had. This place will be a ghost town after this weekend.

After my guys left Fred & Terry came over for some card games and later for us to take out for their going away supper.

Jackson loved the games and was the first loser in all of our games. He lost be one point to be in second place in 5 Crowns and PlayNine. He caught on to the games very fast and played very well.

It was funny, we two holes left in Play Nine , and Fred figured out I was feeding the odd card to Jackson. I thought I was being subtle. The sun was a little too warm while playing so we had to juggle the table around to keep us out of the heat. A fun bunch of games. We played for quite a while and then had to head out for supper. I choose a place that was recommended by my friend Sandy called the Longhorn Steak House.

I will say it was awesome. The friendliest server ever, that teased and loved Jackson and the food beyond amazing. It was as good as you can get. Selection of incredible steaks and side dishes.

ONLY one small compliant per say. The sizing of their steaks is huge. 16 oz, 22 oz with only about two smaller choices. Great pricing so a good find and lovely meal.

Sad for the occasion as they are leaving and we will need to change it up a bit ourselves but happy they are comfortable with their decision for now.

A fun night, FULL in the belly and send off for the Keys.

We came home and continued with games with Jackson carrying on being the second place person. Pretty awesome just learning.

Hot today, start of the pack up, storm coming with snow in Flagstaff so heading to Vegas.

A busy weekend with it being Easter. One the most important days of the year with it’s religious implications. It is rather odd that here in the USA it is not treated with the same importance as Thanksgiving. Especially considering the USA is a god based country.

It is also is one of the events that happen each year that is special with a gathering of family or friends and the meals that are presented with it. I love the meals. A traditional Easter meal is Ham versus Turkey which makes it a very easy meal to prepare and a lot less time involved in the kitchen. Give me a ham with mashed potatoes and corn with plenty of devilled eggs, I am in heaven. A turkey meal with all of the fixings can be time consuming and cumbersome but ham with potatoes is simple easy and fast.

This year for us it will be different. Fred & Terry are having the meal but we declined as we were just with them, I don’t want them to go to the work, they have other guests coming also, and we will be getting packed up and leaving Monday morning which we had originally planned for Tuesday.

The three of us may have ham and cheese sandwiches which counts as a Easter meal right ?

Jackie got us all booked into the Excalibur hotel with a room. She also was able to secure three seats to the Medieval Jousting exhibition which will be fun. Man has that pricing gone up. I would say the last time we went to this was at least 30 years ago so the changes will be interesting to see. I can see a Knight asking for permission to joust before stabbing the other. I picked Spain as our Knight to represent us. Choice between Spain or France, it was a pretty easy decision.

Our neighbor, Ian came over for supper tonight with us having lasagna, salad and garlic toast. One of my favorite meals.

Love the conversations with this man. A brilliant entrepreneur , nice guys and fun to converse with. So many amazing things going on with his family right now. One daughter in Nepal climbing to 19,000 ft. Fun night. Daisy loved Ian licking his legs madly as Ian used a vanilla moisturizer on them. She is a brat.

Let’s hope her Vegas experience she does well with.

Jackie and Jackson head to the pool for the last time before leaving.

Thought of the Day

Surely you joust ! Joust do it !

March 31st

EASTER SUNDAY

Our religious beliefs and celebrations are slowly being eroded as Christianity is being overtaken by other religions and society pivots more towards self gratification and moral decline. Bibles are being removed, prayers at school not cited, and Christian holidays not accepted. It is too bad really.

Rain last night which is a drag to pack up in. Up this morning and Daisy got soaked in the rain for her walk. I think Jackie enjoyed the moisture though.

I picked up Ian and whipped him to the airport . Such a nice guy. He is talking about selling which I understand but wish he would stay.

I got home and Jackie was working like a mad women and had a huge amount done already. Then with Jackson’s help we started putting everything away. Getting wet and putting away wet stuff isn’t the best. It is like camping and on the last night it rains and having to put everything away. We did good and got it all put together like a lego puzzle and tarped. My gate is the exact sizing to allow the back patio furniture and deck box to fit into the front deck. I am not covering my outdoor kitchen anymore as with the new roof it is pretty protected and i will power wash off the dust in the fall. I was surprised how fast we did it all. I guess after a full ten years you get the hang of it and another 7 yrs of part closing up we have experience. lol

I still feel a little sad when leaving after the winter and I can’t imagine it being a final time for some.

Clothes, laundry and car packing and we will be done. I figure about supper time tonight.

Supper time and not done yet. The car is FULL. I lose about 4 cu ft of space with the extra passenger. Doggie stairs, fishing rod, two folding chairs. two large suitcases, pressure washer, mega speakers, two power surge protectors, two Daisy bags, three full sets of golf clubs, cooler, two over night bags, food bag, travel bags and on. It is stuffed. Won’t be bad once we leave Vegas and actually hit the road. I will miss Mesa/ Phoenix as the drivers here are drivers. My kind of people and the roads are not ladened with overjealous quota driven money grabbing radar cops.

HOW TO DRIVE IN PHOENIX:
1. You must first learn to pronounce the city name, it is: FEE-NICKS’. There are other names to learn such as Awatukee (Ah-wa-Too-Kee) but that will be included in the advanced course.

2. The morning rush hour is from 5:00 am to noon. The evening rush hour is from noon to 7:00 pm. Friday’s rush hour starts on Thursday morning.

3. The minimum acceptable speed on most freeways is 85 mph. On Loop 101, your speed is expected to at least match the highway number. Anything less is considered ‘Wussy’.

4. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Phoenix has its own version of traffic rules. For example, cars/trucks with the loudest muffler go first at a four-way stop; the trucks with the biggest tires go second. However, East Valley, SUV-driving, cell phone-talking moms ALWAYS have the right of way.

5. If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear ended, cussed out, and possibly shot.

6. Never honk at anyone. Ever. Seriously. It’s another offense that can get you shot.

7. Road construction is permanent and continuous in Phoenix. Detour barrels are moved around for your entertainment pleasure during the middle of the night to make the next day’s driving a bit more exciting.

8. Watch carefully for road hazards such as drunks, skunks, dogs, barrels, cones, cows, horses, cats, mattresses, shredded tires, squirrels, rabbits, crows, vultures, javelinas, roadrunners, and the coyotes feeding on any of these items.

9. Maricopa Freeway, Papago Freeway and the ‘I-10’ are the same road. SR202 is the same road as The Red Mountain FWY. Dunlap and Olive are the same street too. Jefferson becomes Washington, but they are not the same street. SR 101 is also the Pima FWY except west of I-17, which is also The Black Canyon FWY, and The Veterans Memorial HWY. Lastly, Thunderbird Rd. becomes Cactus Rd. but, Cactus Rd. doesn’t become Thunderbird Rd. because it dead ends at a mountain.

10. If someone actually has their turn signal on, wave them to the shoulder immediately to let them know it has been ‘accidentally activated.

11. If you are in the left lane and only driving 70 in a 55-65 mph zone, you are considered a road hazard and will be ‘flipped off’ accordingly. If you return the flip, you’ll be shot.

12. For summer driving, it is advisable to wear potholders on your hands.

I know every time after hitting the Canada border it drives me nuts until I get to Lethbridge and have a Ice Cap. I then adjust to the crawling speed limits we have to endure. 22 hours of 85 to 90 miles per hour and the sudden change 63 mph is hard to take.

Last night, so off to the pool for us. Jackson loves the pool. He could spend hours there. Tonight while he was swimming and floating away I headed to the hot-tub after the pool. I met a lady there from Yellowknife. Her memory, recall and sharpness was exceptional. She talked STRAIGHT for about 45 minutes. Wonderfully interesting lady but I think it must be some form of dementia that does not allow the person to take a breath. I know everything about her and her family. Wow can she talk. WOW CAN SHE TALK.

Jackie went and said goodbye to her golfing friend and the funniest school principle I have met. She had the bad luck of breaking her ankle so will be out of commission for a while. Still makes me smile with Line Dancing comment. LOL

10 pm all done except for final things after eating and getting ready.

Viewpoint good-bye for another season. A wonderful fun time filled with over 36 games in 2024, many gatherings, card games, dining out, dances, no shows this year for us, project works, pool, billiards and enjoying the warmth, the sun and the socializing. A great weather year with only one day of golf cancellations, warm days but not to hot perhaps cooler than prior years overall but a lot warmer than last year. The end of another season.

Last night of gorgeous sunsets.