Feb 16th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -17 degrees snow, Calgary -15 degrees winter warning, Mesa 20 degrees”

This is when I love Arizona as I see the weather our friends and family have to deal with.

The plane was only slightly delayed but we did not get home and to bed until 1 am. A small world happens again as sitting by the luggage carousal we run into Sandy. It turns out our friend George, who used to own Lealta, was on the same flight. He was arriving with our family. I haven’t seen him for a few years. I will say he looks younger now than before so good on him. A nice quick visit knowing we will be golfing the next day together. Welcome to AZ.

Everyone slept which was nice. A cool evening after a exciting trip makes one sleep.

A busy day one ahead. Everyone getting ready for the day.

You get sun, water, and boys what happens.

The boys had a blast and loved the desert atmosphere. The Cactus are in full bloom.

Atti experienced pulling a orange and grapefruit off the trees and having them. A bit too much sugar but he loved him. He didn’t eat the lemon. LOL

As it was a last minute decision, and I had booked a golf game with the guys and after gathering I didn’t cancel.

Another wonderful group of guys to golf with today. We had a former auto dealer owner from Lethridge, a lumberyard owner from Lethbridge, an asphalt company owner from Regina, a Freightliner dealer owner from Saskatoon, a tire shop owner from Saskatoon, a trucking company owner out of Innisfail and a trucking company owner out of Lloydminister. Just think about the amazing talent lost out of the business world.

I had a blast playing with Sandy and George. For George it was the first time hitting a ball for a few months. It was the first time in about 25 years I beat both of them. I will take it every time I can. LOL George was one of my favorite customers that I would invite to any company golf event we would have. He attended a lot of them including a trip to a Seniors PGA event in Washington. He loves golf. Sandy and him play together at Henderson Lakes in Lethbridge.

As soon as my golf gathering ended we whipped up to Fat Willy’s for burger night. The first time sitting on the patio at Fat’s this year. 24 ounce beer mugs go great with burgers. Nice that Jessica loves the same.

Two movies to end the night and day one done.

Thought of the Day

Beer and burgers: proof that happiness can be grilled and poured at the same time.

February 17th-18th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -20 degrees snow, Calgary -15 degrees snow, Mesa 20 degrees”

Atti got up first thing this morning to go for a walk with Jackie & Daisy. They walked 4kms this morning. Atticus got to hold the leash of Zooey for the walk.

We played the new UNO golf game. It is a little different based on the golf game and fun but a little copy cat and not as good. As we get used to it we may like more.

I was reading the instructions with Atti and said ” Look at that it says right here. Papa always has to win” Atti without a pause ” Papa I didn’t know you could read French ? ” I had the French side up. That kid kills me. LOL

The kids and Jess decided today was their visit day with their Aunt Heidi and her kids. So we dropped them off for another adventure.

We picked them up. Since it was a cooler day (17 degrees), which is a warm Calgary day, we decided to have some fun inside. It was an adventure.

Atticus and August had a blast at the game park. Surprisingly busy for mid day while school is still in.

For supper on the way home we picked up the world famous Raising Canes . This is how far the internet reaches as Atti knew about their secret sauce. Loads of food .

Yes I lost at Uno Golf. I think I was picked on.

The curtains and patio heater worked out perfect as we stayed out until 10 pm playing cards and You tubing it.

Wow what a close squeaker in the Olympics today. It was a fun game to watch. The tension was high. Luckily, Canada pulled off a win in OT. Crosby hurt is scary for out team moving forward. Canada beat these guys 5-0 the last meetings so someone sure did their home work as they were equal to our team in every way. Mc David once again in a do or die game like a Oiler playoff game was not himself. But we won and the gold is ours if we play well. If ALL players play well.

The USA got by in a OT game also. They were scared and all shock up in disbelieve. It was funny. I was hoping they would lose. Then I changed my mind. I said I want our team to beat them in the gold game. That is much better.

We have a special group Facebook page here at Viewpoint. This is a generalization but a very accurate observation. So many old battle axes wanting to complain. They are beyond being called Karens. Old women are nuts. Pages and pages of complaining about everything. Why I say this is, I was letting Atti drive in my golf cart when I was stared down by an old bat that thought I was breaking a cardinal sin. On Facebook at least 40 supportive verbiage about the rules not being followed, dangerous, etc about this. I know hormones go crazy on old people, I know loneliness ( mostly self induced) causes irrational thinking, I know them thinking they are saving the world comes into play but what is it that makes them think this is all right. For the 40 “friends” that support them, it is herd mentality. For the other thousands around them we think it is just another old lady gone batty.

I don’t swear as I know it is a sign of an unintelligent person trying to express themselves but in this case to stress my point if some old lady says anything to me about this while I AM DOING IT AGAIN I will be instructing them to take OFF some where not so nicely.

What is surprising is this complaining generation HAD to experience some of the things I did. I was driving a large tractor pulling either a plow or rake sometimes for 10 hours a day all by myself in a field miles away from the homestead at 12 YEARS OLD. Heavy dangerous equipment. Having said that I would take Jackson at 14 yrs old to drive me anywhere over a 80 yr old angry woman.

It is not just in this park as I did say a generalization. I even see it in my own Mom where the day consists of complaining about something everyday. Sometimes not something but everything. Perhaps, as we try to keep social media and news away from young people, we should do the same for everyone over 75 years old. Their cognitive decline exasperates them and their state of mind slowly becomes more and more negative about everything. As an experiment, ask yourself a question. When talking to any older person with a focus on women. Can you have a conversation without one complaint brought forward ? We know medical conditions will come up but that is another whole story.

As I write this I smile as I am complaining about the complainers. LOL

I will walk outside into the sun in a few minutes. I will enjoy it. It will be behind me. For some it will continue to be their focus for days or more.

Today is the women’s Gold game, chair setup and concert and we will get something in like the pool or Lego Land .

HUGE difference between Canada and the USA. Today is the Women’s GOLD medal hockey game and NBC is showing figure skating not the game. Only highlighting the game. Crazy. Either the network believes the medal chance in figure skating, first in 20 years, is more important than hockey. Or they think women’s hockey isn’t that important. Sure not the Canadian way of thinking.

It was a great game. Down to the last couple of minutes and the US tied it. Then a OT goal. Now we did get silver which in anyone’s mind is an amazing feat. But with this format you are losing gold not winning silver. The ladies handled it very well. It is very difficult to dream about a win for 4 years and then lose that dream.

I sure do hope the men can pull it off tomorrow. We are the underdogs going into this match. Fingers crossed.

Atticus once again rushed to get ready for his walk with Daisy and Jackie. Wasn’t the sky weird today ?

We finished the game and Jessica with boys went to the swimming pool. It was a nice day even though considerably cooler than we are used to getting up to 18 degrees only. Jessica found a friend at the pool and spend the entire time talking. LOL

We set up for the concert tonight and headed out to Papago Park to visit the Hole in the Rock. A Thursday afternoon and it was packed. It was a like a Japanese Tour bus dropped off a full load. Camera’s ( phones) were in everyone’s hand. It is a sight where people go to see the sun set. The boys and us headed up the mountain and around to the back to access the hole. They are good hikers. We should take them to Usery mountain to hike.

We walked up the mountain and visited the hole and around the lake at the bottom. When up at the top Atti and I discovered a HUGE bee hive with large honeycombs. The bees were flying in and out.

We witnessed three different photo shoots. A wedding, a team and a just a picture shoot.

I do not know the kind of bird but it was huge.

Watched a movie after cleaning up the ballroom. After we had come back from Bashaws with cinnamon buns.

Another fun day in the books.

Thought of the Day

“When you are a grandparent questions like “Why is the sky blue seem like rocket science “

February 20th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -12 degrees, Calgary -10 degrees, Mesa 17 degrees”

Last cool day before we hit high 20’s all next week. 80 degrees and above most days. It is funny how 17 degrees seems so cool now that we are used at much warmer days.

The Hickens had plans to have a visit from Scarlett today so we started off low key. We watched the Canada game with us luckily getting thru. Finland has 24 out 25 players from the NHL and we had all 25 so pretty evenly matched games again. ONCE AGAIN McDavid did not stand out. He just disappears in big games unlike stars if the past. I would not call him a super star. He did no show anyone that is is supposed to be the best player in the world.

We also watched the USA game. They appear VERY STRONG and Canada will need to play a lot better than they have to win this one. A lot at stake as the ladies lost to the USA already. We need to win this one.

I spent a long time on the phone with Alfred, Darlene, moving companies, Lewis Estates and storage companies. Alfred suggested a company in Spruce Grove that will work perfect for us. Fairly inexpensive and will work perfectly without a contract. Finally found a moving company that is reasonable and will work out for us. That was a little difficult with timing, costs and conditions.

So I have the Lewis Estate room done with a good payment outlook. I will finalize the storage company after Alfred does a visual. Then I will finalize the date for the movers. The biggest issue and the most work is getting the room ready for the movers. Even though using movers it is a huge task to organize, pack the essentials, and separate things. Unfortunately we are not there.

Atticus was so happy today. I gave my Flames hat to him and we went over to Tim Hunters home, here in the park. Tim and his wife Kim are so nice. Jessica & Atti knocked on the door and Tim was so accommodating. Numerous pictures autographed and Atti’s shirt and hat signed.

Tim’s stats are 62 goals, 138 points, 1 Stanley Cup, 3146 penalty minutes. He is number one for the Flames in penalty minutes. When we first moved to Calgary he was one of my favorite players. Tough and fought Semenko numerous times. He is in the Alberta Hall of Fame

As it was a lower key day this is where a lot of time was spent.

Cooking loin roast, bake potatoes , carrots, and peas for supper.

A full house tonight with Heida and her gang. This is such a nice family. Everyone of these kids is wonderful. I believe their was enough food but the potatoes, meat, and mushrooms were all gone. Salad, and a few carrots and peas were all that was left.

Jessica entertained the group of 6 at the pool and at our house while we attended the dance that we were committed to.

i was a little surprised at the lack of attendees tonight but the band was great and had a lot of people dancing. Just my belief but having a theme scares people away. Tonight’s was a Pirate theme with a fair amount of people dressing up. In my mind it like we are attending a kindergarten dress up event. Old people acting like kids is just weird.

We have all heard of “Karen’s.” Tonight at the dance, the kids and Jackie experienced the male equivalent, “Dick.” Jackie mentioned that the kids came into the hall, enjoying the music. This “Dick” approached them and sarcastically asked, “Do these kids have tickets?” Why people have to be this way is beyond me. Knowing Jackie, I was surprised it didn’t escalate further. The rules were being broken, but who really cares? This was especially true at a dance with low attendance and only about 45 minutes left before close. Why ?

Today was a nice sunny day at 22 degrees. It was a slower start after last night.

Then the fun day starts.

First stop was Goldfield Town. This is a wonderful place with many things to do. The boys loved the gun show. Atticus got a handgun that uses caps. He loves it.

We spent a good portion of the day there.

Then off driving the beautiful sharp cornered highway into the desert up Tortilla Flats. We had the ribs and burgers and they were amazing. The boys kill me though as they order big but never ever finish their meal. This is another wonderful tourist spot and was very busy. These traps seem to still attack a huge amount of people.

I love the road but this time we had an old farmer from Minnesota that was in a F350 that drove so so slow and held up the traffic.

I love this picture with the three of them getting Arizona’d !

Next stop was the Marble Slab for ice cream.

First time in a long time I had to fill up for gas. At home every week or two ties a week but here maybe once every two or three weeks.

I had to put this in here. This car was at Tortilla and I had to check it out and google it. It is worth $200K. Two hundred thousand for a amphibious car that sure doesn’t look like it.

One amazing car.

I lost at UNO Golf AGAIN ! Too many losses.

And SPEAKING OF LOSSES

Canada lost. I have to say we played pretty well. We outplayed the USA by far but it is the final score that counts.

6 am is too early for anyone. Coffee please !

McDavid as usual in any important game disappears. He sucks. I am sure he suffers from anxiety causing depression with two Stanley Cup final losses and adding this loss to his resume will only make it worse. He is not a superstar but a good player. He is not a clutch player or a go to guy. Having said that during the series he played quite well. Always the bridesmaid.

Perhaps ban pro athletes. They are so scared of getting hurt and affecting their NHL career they play like a no hit pee wee team. Two good hits the balance of game like a All Star game with a unwritten rule of no contact.

It is too bad we lost but they can hold their heads up high as overall they outplayed the USA by far. 3 Gold compared to 9 times.

Interesting what is happening in Mexico. The government kills a cartel leader and things heat up. Air flights are cancelled, stay in place orders, no non essential travel. The chaos should be over after today hopefully.

This is the main reason I have never considered Mexico as a feasible option. Even without today the history and the crime level in Mexico is a way too high. These poorer countries all have these issues. Having said that go into Harlem, Detroit, Hasting Street etc and even in what people call the wealthiest countries we have the same thing happening. It is pretty simple. Supply and demand. Stop the demand and drugs disappears.

Mexico has never been on my to go to list and the only reason people do is cost and warmth. It is not a safe place on any given day unless you stay on your resort.

We have two groups Fred & Terry Keys and Mary’s brother Jim Brown that are there right now.

If Covid scared people home I wonder how many are rushing home now. LOL

Jessica has a nick name for Atti which I believe is Bubba. I pretend it is BooBoo. His best friend’s name is Forrest so I call him Timber. I love bugging him and his reaction. Time will tell but I believe Atti is above average in intelligence with his humor and knowledge. On the way to the airport I pointed at the outside temperature on the dash monitor. It was 27 degrees. I said to him.” Atti look at that you are not going to see that for months” A instant response. “Yes we will but it will have a minus sign in front of it ” That is brilliant.

We had a baseball concession lunch today and spent the time at the pool , on the deck or back patio until time to leave.

Timing is everything as this is what our temperature are next week

Even though a cooler week it did not stop us from having a blast.

It was a fun week and we did a lot of different things. Hopefully the kids enjoyed themselves.

The Love birds are loving the heat

Another busy day with kids, parents , issues, fun time, stress time etc.

Thought of the Day

Being in the sandwich generation means you’re the bread holding everything together… until someone forgets to buy groceries, and suddenly you’re just toast.

Feb 23rd -24th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -13 degrees, Calgary 1 degrees, Mesa 30 degrees”

They think we will break a forever record by having more than one 90 degree day in Feb. They are forecasting 5 days in a row.

I know for some reason I felt the heat today.

It was my VP golfing group. Wayne had his new girlfriend join us today as we had a few no shows.

I am just struggling lately at golf. My slice is killing me and my score. I lost two balls today. It is sick how it just pops up. I drive well I score really well. Most of us said it was a warm one today.

6 pretty good golfers including a scratch golfer were beat by a NET 67 today from Betty. She was a good golfer. I saw some of her drives and they were hit well. A small lady in her 70’s that was just good at golf. She even beat a few guys gross scores. I was in the no money today zone. Ian killed it today with three Par 3 wins and a low gross.

A marvelous day and we spent outside on the patio quite late watching TV tonight.

A different morning today for sure.

Jackie left early this morning for Yoga but wasn’t able to attend. I took Daisy for a walk down to the park. She needed to do her business because she had a salon appointment today. Luckily she was a very good girl.

i whipped her to her salon. Her new cut once again makes her pretty

It turned into a fairly hectic day with parental issues. Keeps the phones hot and good thing for a USA/Canada plan.

The start of 90 degree days and it was hot in the shade today.

I wanted to trim the trees so why wait for a cooler day. I will say it was a little tiring.

I wanted to shrink the size of our lemon tree. So I started on my three year plan for sizing and to make it a square tree. I had 30 ft hedge of Cotoneaster that I made as a square. My plan is to have the Lemon square, the orange round and my shrub as square. It should look good and be easier for me to trim. Climbing 12ft up to trim is not as easy as it was in 2007 when we had the trees planted. The limbs are now 2 inch thick so hard to cut.

I sprayed the yard today for crickets. We saw a couple the other night when we were outside so this will kill them quick. It was funny tonight. After spraying, some were running for their lives. I was able to stomp them out. Crickets are food for scorpions.

I watched the State of Union tonight. Some great policies. It is shame he so divisive and condescending. The party system is good but more non-partisan voting has to be done.

Thought of the Day

Campaign promises are like Wi-Fi signals — strong before you connect, weak once you’re in

February 25th-26th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 5 degrees, Calgary 6 degrees, Mesa 30 degrees”

No breeze today and warm. All three locations I track have decent days.

Jackie & I decided to stay home today as today was Mom’s move out day. I have the moving company and the storage company all under my name for billing and contacts. The first call was around 8:30 am. It appears everything went pretty well but as with any move one item got damaged.

Darlene & family packed up Mom’s place and I knew it was a big job. But the time it took with the movers with two professional men it must have been a real big job. I can’t imagine the amount of boxes. No matter what the future brings it is a good time to cull stuff. I chose this moving company over the others I talked to because of the pricing. But most importantly, I could understand them. The pace is a little slow and it’s charged by a hourly rate. The bill will be bigger than I thought. However, considering the difficulty for us to handle it, it will be worth it. It is amazing how everything is expensive in todays world. I moved a sofa bed for a neighbor when we got back from Calgary and my shoulder/back are still stiff. I wouldn’t want anyone else to move a sofa bed and in fact they should outlaw them. Even some large couches are ridiculous in weight especially if going up stairs or in tight doors. Quick note. EVERY front door should 3/0 not 2/8 as the code asks for.

Alfred is in Spruce Grove with the guys packing up the storage unit we have. We have a 10 x 15 which we hope is big enough.

I speed up to the the dump this morning to get rid of my cuttings and a couple of things.

I chose to make the Lemon tree a square and the Orange tree round. I made a bush square because I like the looks. After chopping the Lemon tree down a few feet, it will be easier to trim in the future.

It is a warm one. The heat takes your breath away. It makes me drink water. I am up to 6 glasses already today.

We went to Trader Joe’s this afternoon. This is the first time I have been there. It is an odd store. Pretty cool in a lot of ways. Really cool in others.

It was such a neat experience I had to do a little research on them. Brilliant. This gentleman starts a corner store and now they have over 600 stores and 16 Billion in sales. The are the opposite of normal retail.

Most businesses believe more SKU’s relate to increase in sales. Joe believed the opposite. He wanted quality products and an inexpensive price so went about private labeling everything up to 80% of store. Most stores will have 20 types of peanut butter for example while Joe has three. He did this with every product line.

It reminds of the successful lumberyard Totem Building Supplies as they only carried a good better best assortment not a overkill of choices.

I like the store, I like the private labeling and after a few visits I can see the draw for simplicity and costing. Friendly staff also helps.

Joe’s generates $1750 per sq ft of space compared to $600 for the typical grocery store.

I ran into Jackie today literally, while dealing with the moving company in the door way. Possible lawsuit for back injury from her. If anyone knows me moving fast is my modus operandi . For what ever reason I do things quick. Jackie is a fast walker but today she was slow. LOL Accident in the house.

I would rather be 30 minutes early than 1 minute late to anything. I can shower and be out the door in 10 minutes. I eat and am done before others are half finished. My beer is empty when someone just cracked theirs. I can make a decision right or wrong within seconds and live with it.

You get Jackie on a long walk she is fast.

It is important for everyone to watch your gait. A slower walking pace is associated with cognitive decline as the brain struggles to process the information needed for a smooth movement. It is a exercise in making sure you are not slowing down.

Jackie was out for her walk and at 8 am it was already 18 degrees. Daisy with her new haircut handles it fairly well.

Then back and off to golf for her. She had to pick light clothing as she knew it was going to be hot.

I whipped to Safeway for a few things we needed and picked up our supper. I BBQ’s orange sauced chicken skewers which turned out awesome.

Chair set up was only 400 chairs for tonight’s concert which is the Master’s of Soft Rock. Should be good but I think as it wasn’t a cover band per say people were scared to book.

I have about 12 guys that I organize golf with each week. I used to get up early twice a week but luckily one other “volunteered” to take one day. My whole life and some would say a weakness was it bothered me with people’s lack of commitment. In my work life as a manager of 100 employees in three branches I sort of expected it but that is hard to parlay into the social environment. Too many cancellations. Special circumstances yes, the odd time yes, but consistently, I find it a little annoying.

With golfing it also thinking about the course. You gave up a spot that they could have sold and made money on. I have no problem with any course saying a 50% of tee rate charge for a cancellation.

it is a commitment and that is based on your word and promise.

Thought of the Day

i don’t ever want to walk so slow my shadow would file a missing person report.

February 26th–27th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -16 degrees, Calgary -8 degrees, Mesa 34 degrees”

Alberta hit with a snow storm for the next few days and a little on the cool side. I love the AZ heat.

The Alberta Budget was released. I am not surprised but I can see the NDP, ATA UNA and AUPE all screaming what is going. I am just going to say this “DO THEY NOT THINK THEY ARE A BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM”

The increases to pacify these unions was a unnecessary burden on the rest of the population. Greedy unions with no regard for anyone but themselves.

There are some items in the budget I hate and think are wrong. But without cutting it could be a lot worse. We need the immigration under provincial control. It is the root cause of hospital shortages. It also leads to overcrowding in schools and long surgery times. I would have no problem with a straight across the board 5% cut for all unions employees in Alberta. But provide the industries with the needed aid. I like the deficit timing to get people to sign up for a independent Alberta for a tactic to hold the federal government accountably. I support having our own police force. I also think our own pension plan is a good idea, similar to Quebec in both instances. Additionally, there needs to be a massive change to the equalization schedule. It is estimated we gave 27 billion last year in payments. We give 27 B and have 9 b deficit. Doesn’t anyone see the irony in this. It is a funny world.

Naheed Neshi will be on a high horse making stupid statements for sure. The investment in education and health care is unprecedented. Won’t appease the left wingers. I love the fact of additional investment in the Heritage Trust even though running a deficit which is forward thinking in a future revenue stream.

The concert tonight was awesome. The band Yachtzilla the monster of Soft Rock was a fantastic event. They have some amazingly talented artists. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the concert.

The Congo line was fun. The lighting was off tonight for good pictures.

After our chair take down Sandy & Dave came over. Even stayed up past 11 pm. LOL The dogs have a blast while we are outside. At 10 pm it was still 22 degrees outside.

We got Jackie all booked for her flight back. Now juts on time and all will be good. I see a winter storm warning for southern Alberta. Doesn’t look too bad but will make things a little messy again.

I will reiterate one more time. The lifestyle of snowbirding is better for your health and happiness. We move more. We are soaking up VIT D. We are socializing. We are overall active in so many ways. When I say Snowbirding I don’t mean a two or three week winter break. While this is good and breaks up the winter it is not close to spending 4 months or more in a warm spot like southern USA, Mexico, or Europe.

As long as our health and money permit it we will live this life. Having said that Jackie and I are booked in for a comprehensive body scan with 11 cardiovascular and abdominal screening plus multiple other conditions.

Much easier than waiting for something to go wrong and dealing with a family doctor. I know I have a few issues but nice to see a improvement or change.

Daisy will have a different week as I golf at 8 am and I am not getting up at 6 am for a dog so she will need to do her business on her pad or side yard before I leave. She will adjust.