Feb 1st

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -3 degrees, Calgary 5 degrees, Mesa 28 (82) degrees”

This month always is a great month. Most importantly it is heart month. It is Valentines day month. It is Darlene’s birthday. It is Larry’s birthday. It is Daisy’s birthday. it is Family day month. It is Penny’s birthday, and it is the month Jackie heads back to Calgary for a bit.

You sure can’t beat that weather. Love it.

Put away all of the block party stuff. The tables, chairs, napkins, etc. Our extra chairs put away in the back shed. Our camping chairs away in the back of the car.

Whipped over to Dwight’s place to remove and reset his smoke/CO detector as it was going off and was amazingly loud. It has a sealed battery so if it a low battery it is a replacement required. Personally I would check it with a match. It appears to be ok though.

Then a quick google search on my two way spring tension hinges. They work similar to a garage door spring and are very tight. The are a little dangerous with the snap back. There are 4 spring tension controllers. You need pliers and a rod. Turn them tight to keep the sag out. This will allow it to self-center when returning from either direction.

The little silver pin is the tension holder which is under a lot of pressure. At $50 each they are pricey.

The sag is gone and it seems to be working like a charm.

Booked a special golf course for my birthday. Golfing and then dinning out for steak after.

This morning Jackie & Sandy stopped by for a cup of tea. The dogs had a blast running back and forth between the couches. They were tired after a long haul of playing. I think Daisy thinks she is heaven with all of her play mates and things she gets to do.

We watched the Farmers Golf with Justin Rose blowing away the field. Koepka struggled in his debut but it was mainly putting. Excellent tournament.

Tonight we had BBQ’d chicken breast, sliced potatoes with onions and roasted asparagus. They have the biggest breasted chicken ever down here, We actually cut one in half and had plenty. I love asparagus done this way. 5 Salt & Pepper Spices, tossed in olive oil and a fresh lemon squeezed over them. Delicious.

What a warm day but for couch comfort we decided after spending all day outside to watch the Grammy’s indoors. Great show and host.

In our conversation we wondered how Audrey was enjoying the Grammy’s with the closed caption on. She only uses this to watch TV. It was quite funny.

Nice to see Justin Beiber doing well. His performance was amazing. It was quite mesmerizing and unique.

Jelly Roll looks awesome. I am going to say at least a 200 pound weight loss. Great singer.

Lady Gaga has an incredible voice.

Thought of the Day

I don’t need a stage to sing. My shower is sold out !

Feb 2nd

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -3 degrees , Calgary 10 degrees, 28 degrees”

Ground Hog in Alberta, Cactus Day in Arizona

Darn another 6 weeks of 28 degrees winter weather !!!! Balzac Billy saw his shadow. This means 6 more weeks of winter. Right, I look at the forecast. I see 14 degrees weather for three days in a row. This is coming up for Calgary.

Sad more young hockey players are killed going to practice. I can’t imagine the families grief losing a young son and such a young age out of stupidity. I know vehicular manslaughter can be a charge but any accident with a death needs to be investigated. There is absolutely no excuse for such a driving error.

What a wonderful day to be golfing, Our group of guys is a fun group of average golfers. It varies in age between 69 and 84 years old. The odd time we have a 89 year old guest.

The new handicaps showed their accuracy today.

On a disappointing note. I was the youngest of our group today and ended up with the highest score. Ron at 83 years old shot a 84. Wayne at 83 years old shot a 85. That is great golf.

Today our low gross was 74 and our low net was 66. Two awesome scores. I had a back nine allowing me to break 80 but had a few screw up holes on the front nine.

The entire group golfed well today with the scores all between 81 and 88 and one low score of 74.

Too bad for Ron S though. While he was putting I saw his shadow. It means 6 more weeks of three putting.

A nice after golf get together at our place with Jackie getting everything ready for it.

Thought of the Day

Never saw one ground hog on the course today ! Oh I forgot we don’t get winters in Arizona.

February 3rd

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 5 degrees, Calgary 8 degrees, Mesa 28 ( 82) degrees”

Gorgeous winter days in all three cities. Quite amazing really. Although it is relatively nice, it is still winter. There are limitations on what you can do in Alberta. We are only 2 hours away from deep snow in the mountains. If we wanted to feel what winter is like, we could take a drive.

Jackie is off to Yoga this morning and I headed to the dog park with Daisy. It was a small dogs world today with most of them being smaller. And at 8:30 already heating up outside.

I had a leak under the deck rear patio. Bad thing to waste water but most importantly under a deck scorpions and termites would be in heaven. Getting out those Torex composite decks screws is difficult. They break, the head spins out, and they don’t suck out. I had to remove two deck boards to get at the line. It was a spider line that I had run some time ago. We had flower pots back there years ago. For some reason, it got a hole in it. So out comes the irrigation kit. I need to replenish it. I didn’t have a joint connection. However, I had a tee. So, I used that with a short line and a plug to fix it. I didn’t see one insect. Whew !

Whipped to Pet Smart for a few Daisy treats and food. We switched her treats out for another brand and her breathe now is a sweet as candy.

We have replenished our golfing group and have too many for two tee times. I whipped up in my cart and talked to Karen at the pro shop. Now she is the most efficient and knowledgeable lady there. Unfortunately in years past she lived up to her name and to be frank was a little bitchy. I need three tee times which is against the rules to do for one person. It is a pain in the ass to get someone else to book and get the boxes together. That saying ” You get more bees with honey than with vinegar” once again proofs its worth. I know as a sale rep the most important thing is connection and trust. In this case I asked nicely for her help. This way it doesn’t seem like I’m making a request. It feels more like she is helping out of goodwill. It worked once again. She allowed me to add another tee time. She also said she would allow Barry to book three on Friday the 13th. I was happy and she was happy. Everybody is happy. I like to see people helping other people. They tweak the rules for the betterment of the golfers. This is done without jeopardizing the integrity of the clubhouses overall rules. I always refer to it as ownership. On the sales desk if there was a customer complaint or issue, fix it. I would back the employee up and they learn the limits. One time, it cost my company $40K. However, it retained a loyal long-term customer. We would make a threefold profit on this customer in a short time.

Today is my younger sister’s birthday. It is funny as my entire family had winter birthdays. Dad in Dec/Jan , Alfred in Jan, Darlene and I in Feb and Mom in early April.

Darlene’s birthday is one day before mine. As I have previously stated I always thought she should be older than I. We have two years between birth years but for one day only each year we are only 1 year apart.

Time flew today. Love the sun, love the warmth, love the life.

Thought of the Day

Remember as a kid when you hit your sister too hard and frantically apologize before your mom sees?

February 4th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 9 degrees, Calgary 16 degrees, Mesa 28 (82)degrees”

The 4th of February is always my favorite day of the year. Good things happened.

A nice start to the morning with phone calls, video calls and messages from a lot of people. When Jackie returned from her Daisy walk I opened a couple of gifts. I was quite lucky with fancy golf socks, tees, great shorts, balls etc.

Then off to the San Marco Golf club. This is a very nice course with a great layout but on the longer side. Built in 1918 if I remember correct.

They say a small world. We were teamed up with two guys. The one guy turns out to be from Okotoks but as we are talking he is from Viewpoint. Turns out he had friends visiting and didn’t want to have them play Viewpoint due to the greens. There is 7 players lost because of poor greens. How a manager doesn’t react to this is amazing. Discount the price and people will forgive and leave with the conditions. Don’t, the result could be lost customers forever. We paid less than VP for a way better golf course.

It is the first time in many many years I have golfed with a guy I did not care for. Our guys from Viewpoint/Okotoks was a gem. The other guy from Ohio was a jerk. Moody, quiet, not social, did not talk, grumpy and did not follow the standard etiquette rules. He would lose his ball off the tee. He would shoot again instead of stepping back to the bottom of the order, which is an unwritten rule. He would shoot two balls numerous times after having a poor shot. He would putt out of order. To add to this here is a guy with everything golf at the highest level. He had $200 dollar torque twist shoes. He had a $3k set of brand new PXG clubs. He had a Bushnell range finder and Pro V 1 balls, and then to suck at golf. He was just bad. Two good shots is all I saw.

Daisy again today was awesome. Not a whimper not a sound and watched every shot for four hours.

The greens were spectacular and the fairways superb.

You would think for my birthday I would have had some luck. I forgot how small the front nine greens were. The first three holes I screwed up on and then came around. So not the overall great score but respectable. Jackie golfed quite well today. She slept on her hand last night and had a pain all day because of it.

The first picture shows Jackie & Daisy my playing partners today. The second picture captures us golfing with the historic Al Capone house behind us.

A real fun course, fun golfing partners except for one and a sunny warm day.

Had rush hour traffic going home but it wasn’t bad with the way people drive here. I love it.

Tonight I choose to go to the Black Angus Steakhouse. I will start by saying a 10 out 10. I have had supper at a lot of higher end restaurants and this meal equals any of them. I had a Filet Mignon and it was awesome. Add loaded mashed potatoes with roasted veggies made for one super supper. The waiter even waited for you to cut into your steak to check if it was done to your satisfaction. The Caesar salad was one step above. It was made with ice cold lettuce. Add warm bread and it was one of best meals ever.

I need to say that Jackie enjoyed her meal. I had to keep my nose turned not to wreck the wonderful smell of my steak. Her salmon looked ok. She said delicious. To each their own.

The decor is old school western. This style may turn some off, but it states the obvious. We are a meat place.

We got home and enjoyed incredible Birthday Carrot Cake. I love Carrot Cake and as it is a vegetable it has to be good for you.

And look at that just for my birthday the Battle of Alberta is on.

it is my birthday so Calgary hopefully wins. And win they did decisively. Man are we a good team. LOL

Thought of the Day

If golf relaxes you, you are either lying, medicated, or retired with no expectations.

Jan 5 -6th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 10 degrees, Calgary 16 degrees, Mesa 27 degrees”

I sorted thru a few things in the shed.

Checked my golf cart batteries.

I watched while Jackie was golfing with the ladies the Waste Open today. My favorite player Scottie the number one player in the world finished tied for last place today. He was shocked, a little upset and the result surprised everyone. Not nice to say but it is nice to see him be real. Things happen. I know.

That is the true way to be thinking.

Tonight’s concert wasn’t a big seller. Only 250 chairs to set up. Yet the concert turned out to be wonderful. The sound was perfect and the band played non stop. It was a band that was after my time for listening to some songs I did recognize a few. I enjoyed the concert as did every one in attendance. Old people need to stretch their comfort circle. Def Leopard was awesome man. The crowd was the loudest and more vocal than any other we have been to.

It doesn’t appear so but the audience was into the music . Well Jackie, Sandy and a new friend took it to another level.

A nice after concert visit with Sandy & Dave sitting outside in the warmth evening. I love the the freedom of warmth.

Thought of the Day

Am i considered a outdoorsy type of guy if I enjoy drinking outside on a patio ?

February 7th 8th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 5 degrees, Calgary 9 degrees Mesa 28 (82) degrees”

If there was a perfect temperature for doing anything I would say 80 degrees with no wind is perfect. So close today.

Lots going on everyday. Love it.

Today was my VP golf group. A wonderful day. Some excellent golf and some bad golf. Ever since getting back in Jan I have struggled with a slice again. Costing lost balls or poor second shots. Today the same thing happened. Takes you from a high 70’s to high 80’s score fast.

I ended up winning money which is good. I am in third place on the money list so all is good but the slicing is frustrating. Worst part is with trying so many different things it just screws up things.

A fun after gathering at Kirks place. A little too much political talk for my liking. I will just make a quick statement. I see Canadians becoming much more polarized than ever before, I see divisiveness happening and much more negative energy. I never mind anyone having a different opinion. In fact, I sort of enjoy it just to keep things lively. Too many people get upset. I figure who am I to judge others wrong thinking.

Do not watch the news. Do not believe the news. Think for yourself. And live for yourself.

There are people scared to come to the USA due to the news ONLY. There are people selling their homes here and sacrificing their enjoyment due to a political agenda. Stop it. Enjoy your life NOW, Forget the noise. I know today is an excellent time to buy. Some people just want out. The pricing has dropped and in a few years it will increase again.

We had a wonderful dance tonight. The hall was packed with at least 1000 people. The band was exceptional and the supper was fantastic. We had fried chicken with macaroni salad, coleslaw, buns, and cookies. It was hot and good.

The band had the the floor packed song after song. Jackie and I cut some awesome moves. LOL

Really enjoyed the dance.

After the dance Sandy & Dave came over to sit on the patio in the warmth. Everything was great except the girls BEAT US. There i said it. Our game night turned out bad. LOL

A late night getting to bed and then to have my first night with a poor sleep. Busy day coming up with the Open final and the Super Bowl party.

Sports Sunday for sure.

The Waste Management Open was great. I was happy with the result and even more so with the interview with Chris Gotterup. Nice guy and he played a pretty steady game. It was absolutely amazing that my Scottie finished only one stroke behind to take 3rd after his start. He is by far the best golfer in the world.

A fun tournament to watch especially with the memories.

One tough course. Bob & I played it from the blue tees at 6500 yards. Between the long rough, the greens and adding in numerous water holes it was hard. I had three birdies but lost balls killed me. I even had a birdie on the iconic Hole 16. There were no fans in the stands, so we had to cheer all for ourselves. The pic is beside the rock that Tiger had the fans move for his win.

It was a once in a lifetime event for me and i will remember it forever.

Then we had the Super Bowl Event. Ok I will say it. The NFL is BORING. I thought we were going to have a game with NO touchdowns. I will say I am glad the Seahawks won. I think the 4 downs causes such slow play. It is an on the ground game that tends to be boring.

Ok the half time show. Once again how do we allow the thoughts of having two different half time shows. We want to make everything divided. Bad Bunny put on a great show. Yes it was in only Spanish. But that is the official language of Puerto Rico which is part of the USA. There have been other stars putting on Spanish shows. It included Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and Rosanne Barr. I thought it was well done and good on Bad Bunny. Better than a lot of Ghetto artists. It will be interesting to know how many people turned on the alternate.

A fun sports day. We did not win any money on the square pool board for the Superbowl.

Thought of the Day

The arts have the potential to become the driving force for healing division. We can achieve this if we are open to it.

Feb 9th/10th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 6 degrees, Calgary 8 degrees, Mesa 27/81 degrees”

The weather every day can only be described as wonderfully fantastic. No wind, the very rare cloud and perfect temperatures. Having said that, I will change the tee times to an 8 am start in March. This change is to avoid the 90s coming up.

It is unbelievable to me how FAST the time is flying by. Mid Feb and it seems like yesterday we just got here.

Today was my VP Golfing group. They are great guys. They are fun guys. They are very wealthy guys. Some of them are multi multi rich. Everyone of them is just like a regular guy. A everyday guy in every way and we have fun.

Today’s scoring was exceptional by everyone. Multiply players in the 70’s and some wonderful and some lucky shots. Ron S chipped in from off the green on 3 out of 4 holes. He scored either a birdie or par each time. He played very well doing everything. He had a 34 on the front 9 with a triple on the Par 3 ninth hole. Ian was 1 over par and Sandy a 77. Needless to say Ian and Sandy stole our money. Just a fun day golfing with less than 4 hours to get done.

We watched the Olympics for awhile. So many events to see.

Jackie was off doing her Yoga thing so Daisy and I headed to the park. Then off Home Depot as wanted a light and a electrical plug in the shed.

Wow are things different today from years ago and even between countries with ideas and codes. I said to Jackie I have to be careful as I was annoyed in the store with the product selection. At Marshall Wells we had a full service electrical department for the stores and contractors. I sold a lot of electrical equipment. The new age way is so different. PVC boxes now instead of steel. Not a bad thing as PVC does not conduct electricity but bad in the install and wire clamps. But talking to the Depot guy, he says they don’t care about clamps anymore. Some PVC have tension clamps which don’t work. They just want a firm wire staple 6 to 8 inches away from the box. I disagree as the wires are not secured as much. I like PVC as no need to wrap screws with tape inside of the box. Waco instead of Marrattes I don’t care for. It took me a little while to find everything that I wanted. Even the wire staples are now plastic. One hit steel staple worked much better and UV rays will break up that plastic.

It took a few hours working in the tight spot and tight corners. Nice now for light and to charge the battery packs up. I could have cut the leads longer for a tidier wire look inside the box. But the 14/2 wire here is a lot smaller with less covering and has the dumb paper wrap in it. A real picky inspector may request a redo on the boxes but it is 100% safe.

All done, with even a small sweat on. I just have to reorganize it as I moved everything to get at stuff. My shed adaptor works perfect and is a good idea.

CTV moving over to Crave sucks. We could watch CTV using my VPN but now with the change it keeps coming up with a proxy error. Even disabling the VPN i couldn’t get a work around. All I can say is BELL/CTV/CRAVE as a company is struggling and no wonder.

I am tentative to switching over to a IPTV system as at some point the powers to be will clamp down on this. They were clever in convincing the authorities. The programming is delayed by a minute or two from active broadcasting, so it is streaming, not live TV.

The USA killed our girls today in hockey which is unfortunate. Counting on a bounce back and for the men’s team to hold up our pride. Hopefully as it is now a little more than just sports.

Thought of the Day

Just remember 1812 and be proud.

February 11th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 5 degrees, Calgary 7 degrees, Mesa 26 degrees”

Beautifully warm today but overcast. Keep that sun behind the clouds it feels cool. If it would have popped out 85 today but the clouds kept it to a comfortable 79 degrees.

Jackie and Daisy were out the door early for the morning walk.

When they returned the realtor that most use was putting up a sign on Dwight’s house right across from us. 3 units in a row right across from us the street will have another big change. Sweet time to buy as the pricing is down and the offerings awesome. One across from us has a new golf cart and Explorer thrown in with the deal. One has a huge, very nice Arizona room. Another has a huge outside Arizona room that is hard to find. It’s a wonderful thing to have. All three priced nicely. Two Canadians and one American selling. Health issue for two and a change and closer to family for the New Yorkers. Big changes.

Today was our “Date” golf day. We were booked into Painted Mountain today. They are very organized with drop off staff and bag loading. I checked out the tee times and it worked out perfect as we played as a twosome. As it is non competitive day I didn’t take any pills. It was fine but not loose. I really didn’t have a good golf swing today. It was more like an involuntary muscle spasm that occasionally resulted in hitting the ball somewhere.

But a decent game , low 80’s, but too many poor shots. Mrs Jackie Willard showed up. Another round of golf breaking 100 with a score of 96. Only one break given on a lost ball for her taking only one stroke. Great game again with the wrist pain not noticeable.

The greens were very nice and again ran bump free so takes awhile getting used to compared to Viewpoint.

Funny how so many turtles gathered on a small island in a large pond with the ducks and koi.

After golf on their patio we had supper. I asked a lady working there if our dog was allowed on the patio. After the fact, she turned out to be the manager. She said we didn’t even need to use her bag. Nice !

This course was unique. Two Marshals came up to Daisy and gave her treats. The cart girl also gave treats to her. She loved it and it is something you don’t see.

This clubhouse used to be an awesome steak house but now is an Italian restaurant. I have never seen so many pizza choices. Jackie had her salad with chicken. Surprise. I had the Pappardelle pasta with a mushroom cream sauce, four cheeses, and Italian sausage. A 10 out of 10. It was awesome and very filling as they are a big pasta noodle.

Wonderful day. The golfing from me was so-so. Jackie played awesome golfing. Daisy got treated. To finish on a patio with an amazing supper, you have to just say how lucky are we.

Then on the patio I see Pete Vantriet. I play with him at the Turner Valley course in my men’s league. Last year he was out at Aquilla the same time as I. In a city of 6 million and to see him again, amazing.

Sitting outside tonight and it is so warm, caused from the cloud cover. 23 degrees above at 7 pm tonight.

I received a phone call just as we were loading up our clubs from my surgeon. I am booked for April 20th. I wanted the first of April but the operating rooms are very busy. In fact I have to head to High River on that day. It still is fine. Reading the pre-op instructions though they are saying 6 to 8 week recovery. I am saying 3 to 4 weeks max. I guess it will depend on the incision size and the complexities of the removal. So May golfing could be affected. Good reason to get in as much as I can now. LOL

Wordle in 6 Darn !!

Today is Tracy’s birthday. As it was so close to mine, we would celebrate both by going out for supper here in Arizona. For a couple of years we had a threesome birthday with Tracy, Wendy, and myself. Now they are gone. ( insert sad face)

The news today from Canada is just sad. When you have any amount of youth murdered it is sad but to have 10 as a mass shooting it becomes unbelievable.

It doesn’t look good on Canada. The worse part about this case is the circumstances involving a transgender. The mental health issues and harassment issues become pronounced. We will never know the real reason behind what happened. I just hope no one makes a statement claiming this is why the Alberta government put in an age restriction on puberty blockers. I agree with the restriction as it gives time for a more mature decision to be made with parents consent. But in this case we do not know the facts yet. I also hope no government blames this on guns and thinks the gun back was a good program. We need to focus on the victims and their families not the perpetrator.

I do know a small town of this size will be devastated. Tumbler Ridge is a survivor town though as the climate green no minds basically shut down this coal mining town and they found a way to still exist. They had to and still are refocusing on dinosaur discoveries and tourism. I can’t imagine the anger, pain, and grieving ahead for them.

Thoughts of the Day

I came for the golf, stayed for the shock of seeing a familiar face in an unfamiliar place.

February 12th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 9 degrees, Calgary 11 degrees, Mesa 26 degrees”

Beautiful day but looking ahead we get hit with a cold front next week. Highs only 17 or 18 degrees and two days with potential of some rain. It has been a fantastic run and they need the water as do the courses.

Pretty special day today. It is Daisy birthday and for this year we now have TRIPLETS as daughters. Victoria & Jessica are 42 and Daisy in dog years is 42 yrs old. Pretty cool.

She was so happy to see her Mom help celebrate her birthday. She had been very upset the last time because her Mom wasn’t there. Everyone had treats and congratulatory messages for her at the park.

She is one spoiled and loved puppy.

It is funny. I asked AI to create a collage of her. I posted it and then realized one pic was of Sampha, not Daisy. Not so smart eh ! You can’t remove one pic out of so I left it and smiled. Even Google does that the odd time.

Happy Birthday Daisy !

Daisy may not be waiting but I sure did. LoL It had to think to make Daisy look so cute.

I watched the Canada Hockey game this morning. Mc David is on a mission. Man did he play well. Nice to cheer him on for us during the Olympics. As a team we played awesome but only winning against one team matters.

The commercial of “Canada Tears” wasn’t shown in Canada. It belittled the Canadian Hockey team by the US team chirping when asked ” Say two words what you want out of these games” Win Gold was the intended answer but it was ” Canada Tears” They are not hoping to win they just want to beat us. It will not be a friendly game but in these games if a fight breaks out you or the team is GONE. So I forsee lots of penalties.

I spent the afternoon finishing up the shed. I have one more shelf I want to install. Considering the quantity of product I am pleased and can find most things relatively easy. All labelled and in their spots.

Over 600 chairs this afternoon to set up for the Woodstock concert. We didn’t receive the final number but I think more than that.

Woodstock relived. This was my favorite concert by far. The sound mixer made it sound wonderful. The singers were incredible. We had songs from Crosby Stills & Nash, Janis Joblin, Joan Biaz, CCR , Joe Cocker, Sly & the Stones, Who and The Band plus others.

The crowd loved it and even the flashlights on the phones were out. Best yet !

Thought of the Day

Missed Woodstock—still waiting for the sequel . A lot of songs on my playlist

February 13th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 6 degrees, Calgary 7 degrees, Mesa 21 degrees”

The very first day in 2026 that was cold. We only hit 21 degrees (70 degrees) and we had mist for about 4 holes. We had one player phone in sick. Unfortunately like everyone else a person catches something that puts them under.

7 players works out for me and the money game. When I have 8 people I need one dollar bills from everyone.

I saw some great golfing today from a lot of people. Ron S had a par or birdie on 15 of the holes. Bob had an exceptional game also wining 3 of the 5 Par 3 closet to the pin contests. I blame Friday the 13th for a few errors for not being just a little better.

Old people are funny. When I say we had mist for a couple of holes, I am sure that many people sweat more than it misted, and yet they cancelled due to the fear of rain. The course was relatively empty. We finished in less than 4 hours.

The greens are slowly getting a little better.

Jackie had supper started when I got home which was nice as then supper doesn’t become a late thing.

Canada wins a good game against Switzerland.

i think the desert dust has gotten to Daisy a bit as she is snoring from her short nose. I could be blaming the wrong person all of these years for the night time noise.

Jackie spent the better part of the day working in the house getting things done.

Thought of the Day

In the mist my drives look straighter as I can’t see where they land.

Feb 14th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 2 degrees, Calgary 5 degrees, Mesa 22 degrees”

We got lucky and the cold spell we were going to get now is pretty good. No rain and only down to around 18 to 22 above. So many places are having a chill down.

I am glad because Jessica and the boys will be here on Sunday night. For them, 20 degrees will feel like a hot summer day. It was sort of a last minute thing but we will make it work around our commitments. I canceled one golf game. We have to set up chairs on Thursday. On Monday, I am committed. Other than that, we will be tourist guides. Some ideas besides pool time include going to the gun show at Goldfield. We could also have supper at San Tan Flats around a campfire. Another option is hiking up to Lookout Mountain. We can visit the zoo, explore LegoTown, or play Tiger Woods golf. I am sure we can keep them busy.

We headed to Walmart for a couple of bags of groceries ($250). It wasn’t even that busy, considering it was a long weekend. They had a 65 inch TV on for $298. That is a deal

We watched the hockey game and some curling today.

Tonight going for a walk we witnessed the strangest thing. In the sky was a huge vapor trail. It looked like a rocket flying by with a drunk driver as it wasn’t going in a straight line. And not up but sideways. Maybe Elon Musk’s doing. It did make sky line look cool.

Turns out it was a SpaceEx satellite going up. To me it didn’t look like going up.

We have huge lemons this year on the tree. Maybe the boys could make lemonaide when they here.

We decided to have a low key Valentine’s day because we would be going out more than normal next week. So, we just stayed in this evening and had a wonderful Chinese supper. Like I have said once or twice a year like KFC it is great. No more as rice is just so plain. It is digested in one hour is why you are hungry again in no time. People DO NOT realize that rice is much higher in calories and a way less dietary fiber. I have said it all along. Short people eat rice. It doesn’t nurture the body. Never mind the lack of taste.

Yes it is Valentines Day.

As a kid this always was a special day. In school, we used to make a Valentine for every kid in class and our parents to bring home. Mom used to save them all. We would put each Valentine in a homemade holder with each kids name on it. It was always fun to bring home a homemade card for your Mom & Dad. Teachers were awesome in doing this for years.

We sat outside for the evening. It was so nice for supper. We had a pleasant visit with our neighbors across the street who are selling. They have a wonderful Arizona room and it was fun explaining curling to them. The USA won that game.

Thought of the Day

Curling is the only thing in life where you get applauded for sweeping not just doing a chore list.

February 15th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 2 degrees, Calgary 6 degrees, Mesa 25 degrees”

Just a observation. I think Feb 15th must be the happiest day of the year. I have seen so many people smiling today. Karen’s being nice. jovial interactions with everyone. Everyone in a good mood.

I watched the Canada verus France hockey game while Jackie was out for her walk. A just about a fight in this one. We have Canada in a controversy in men’s curling and the Canadian women in it’s own. Luckily Britain has their own. It just looks bad on Canada. The third Marc Kennedy who swore on live TV should have to publicly apologize to Sweden and the viewing audience. Additionally, he should be fined. Sweden was wrong in their actions but handled the event respectfully.

If Canada versus USA happens in the final game, you know it will be a battle. There will be many fights in the third period, depending on what the score is. Can’t wait !!

I went to light my outdoor patio heater the other night and it wouldn’t light. Today’s task what I thought would be a few minutes turned into a marathon. There are numerous things that can go wrong on these things. It is a matter of elimination.

• First check propane level. It was a little low so I changed out the tank.
• No gas up top so, with new tank it had to be the regulator which is quite common. There a few tricks to reset these like removing it, turn off tank and reinstall and slowly turn back on to reset. Still didn’t work.
• Checked hose and no gas coming from disconnected hose. So either the tank valve or regulator. Switched tanks. No success. I whipped to ACE to pick up a new regulator.
• Reinstall everything no luck. I had checked hose to find no gas coming from tank.
• New tank, reinstall regulator and shake the heater had to release the dump switch which is a ball mechanism to stop gas if the heater falls. No luck.
• I had to dissembled everything to get to this point. So we are down to control valve or thermocouple. It was a little dirty so I cleaned it up. NO luck thoughts are now a defective control valve. $80 and I only paid $100 for entire heater about 15 years ago.
• One last attempt which was to heat up the thermocouple. Remember the thermocouple, the dump valve and the back valve are all in place for idiots. Not needed but for the safety guru are now a must.
• Remove the regulator, reset the regulator, shook the heater hard to reset the dump valve, kept it on pilot to remove any air lock and heated up the thermocouple really hot and bam like new it lite up.

It was a matter of deduction, common sense, and tenacity. With Jackie’s help, screwing it all back together it worked perfectly.

I understand safety issues as there are a lot of dummy’s out there. But it is becoming overkill. Here are a few i hate. I will add the thermocouple, and dump switch to the list but the safety on a table saw is nuts. In fact it causes other dangerous issues. The safety on a rotary saw when trying to cut is a pain in the butt. When ever you are trying to push two buttons due to a safety device is causes issues. On a BBQ lighter it is crazy how hard it is to light for no reason. These are just a few. I know most contractors as they are professional hate them and a lot of them remove them.

Anyways a few hours to fix something that should have been easy was expected.

Open house across the street. Hopefully for Ian’s sake it sells fast as the market right now until April is prime. Unfortunately, many people are being silly. They want out, and it has caused a big drop in pricing. A unit like Ralph & Tracy’s which they sold for $140 is now $99K. It’s a great time to buy. Some people will start to panic sell before April. The HOA is due, and they will want it sold before they leave.

Picking up Jess and the boys tonight at Mesa airport. It will be a busy week but a fun week.