July 15-20, On the road again

Sunday morning Dave was pretty sore after his 10km race the day before. I got up first, made coffee, took Margaret out to do her business and came back in to massage his calf's before he got up. We had a quick breakfast and I set Dave up writing a blog post with Margaret. I went out for my walk/run. I am trying out some new shoes and they seem very comfortable. I'm not likely to become a "runner" as my back won't tolerate much impact. I have started running on grassy areas though. I did 5km in 43 minutes today and that is enough. After showers we headed out to Spruce Grove for groceries, fuel etc. We also got some concrete sealer as we need to put a couple coats on the garage floor and parking apron before we start construction next week.  Around 6:00 pm there was enough shade so out we went with our rollers and got it done.
July16
   Monday morning Dave's legs felt a bit better so we took a slow walk with Margaret. We started cleaning and packing as we are heading back to Bonnyville tomorrow for a couple days. Around 2:30 Derek (Carter) came out for a visit. We took him on a walking tour of Pineridge and, of course, stopped at the Nine Iron Grill for a beverage.

Cheers!

Dave may not miss work but he does miss the people

Derek had a date so headed back to the city and Dave and I had a couple games of crib outside on the picnic table and then some supper. Afterwards Dave did a second coat of garage sealer on the apron while I cleaned up. 

July 17

    After breakfast and a short walk we got everything packed up in the truck. It's 31C today....so hot! We got on the road fairly early as we are stopping in St. Albert to do some shopping and have an appointment with our financial planner. It was too hot to leave Margaret in the truck so I ran in and out of stores while Dave stayed with her. Thankfully the staff at Investors let her join us for our meeting. They even brought her some water. That's service!! After that we were off to Bonnyville...again. We got home in time to unpack, make supper and head downstairs where it was cool.

Momma and triplets! Still have spots...so cute

July 18

   We discovered that the realtor (we think) had left all the exterior lights on the back of the house when he showed it June 28th. Uggghhh! The entire back of the house is covered in webs, bugs and bug poop. I have to run to town for groceries, pick up the mail and grab some Spider Ban. Dave got on the tractor and started mowing. When I got home I swept off the back of the house and then got at pressure washing it. Dave was done with the tractor by the time I finished the upper level so he helped out with the lower level. Then I had to clean all my windows...again. We have really hard water here and it leaves a real mess if you spray it and leave it. 

July 19

  Thursday we were up early to start again. This time Dave is roto-tilling my old vegetable garden and then spraying the entire driveway as it too is now covered with weeds. I set out to weeding both my big perennial gardens. Acreage living is a lifestyle choice and we loved it for many years. When you are there full-time it is easily manageable to keep up. Now that we are spending most of our time away it has become nothing but work and stress. I sure hope it sells soon. It would be lovely to come back to Bonnyville just for visits and fun! Screw it! Let's do that right now! I called up Tianna and she is home. It's about time I met her new baby, Indie :)

Two beautiful girls! I really miss my work family too 

Next stop is Paul and Di's. Di is still at work so we had a nice visit with Paul to start. Him and Dave loaded up a few tools that we are borrowing for our our garage build. When Di got home we drove down to the lake and had a visit. It was great but too short.

Paul and Dave

 I only took one picture of Di and it was terrible so I won't post it but it was great to see her beautiful face. I miss you every day! We got home shortly after 7:00 pm to have some supper, do a load of laundry and run the dishwasher.

July 20

   Friday morning Dave went for a short run (2km) as his knee has been bothering him. Margaret and I did a 3km walk. Home for showers and to pack up the truck. We did a quick run through town and then out to drop a compressor to Paul (we took his big one and brought him our smaller one). Now we are off to Pineridge. The weather is quite nice but they have severe weather warnings out for most of the province this afternoon. We made it all the way to Trailblazer RV (to pick up a pressure switch for our hot water heater) before we hit really bad weather.

This could get weird

Checking for rotation, nope. Let's hit the road.

Bad choice: Rain, hail, wind and lightning. Maybe we should pull over.

Much nicer inside O.J.'s in Stony Plain

While we were enjoying an appetizer and a beverage we got a text from Kent. The sailfish that our grandson, Nathan, caught last winter in Cancun had finally been delivered. Beautiful fish Nathan! I'm thinking it cost a lifetime worth of allowances to get it mounted though! lol

We finally arrived at PGR and unloaded the truck in the pouring rain. The storm was heading east towards Bonnyville. We hear they got 4 inches of rain there. Crazy!!

Paul texted this pic from their deck rain gauge!!

Saturday we are celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary and Ashtyn's birthday! We're going to their house (Ryan & Ashtyn) this afternoon for some bevvies and supper. More on that next time. Look at this we are caught up and current on the blog !!!

July11 - 14 A couple small projects and 10k race

July 11
Leslie and I are both still a little sore from spreading gravel. Clint, our cement guy is sending the skid steer to level and pack the rest of the gravel. Leslie wants to continue putting Thompsons Water Seal on the picnic table. She did a bit yesterday to make sure it works alright and yes the test patch looks great.

Test section turned out good.

We set the table up on a sawhorse to make it easier to reach. This is Leslie's strength, I don't have the patience for this type of stuff and she excels at it.

Just about done.... love the colour.

All done, just needs to dry. Good work buddy!

I cleaned up the inside of the trailer while Leslie was outside working. I went for a shower but for some reason there is no hot water?? It worked earlier for Leslie. Hmmm? No matter what I tried it won't work so I grabbed a toonie and my towel and walked over to the showers here at PGR. That worked great actually, very nice showers and nobody there, perfect. I'll troubleshoot the water heater this afternoon. 

In the early afternoon the truck from CRC (cement guys) pulled up and 3 guys get out. I asked them "where's the skid steer?" "We are the skid steer", was their answer. Um, okay cool. They asked to borrow a shovel and our wheel barrow and they dug in with rakes they use for spreading concrete. I joined them because I just feel guilty standing around watching people work when I am capable of helping. In less than an hour we had the driveway levelled and sloped exactly the way I wanted it. Amazing what happens when you add younger strong backs and guys that do this work everyday, to a job like this. They will be back tomorrow with the plate tamper to pack it and that's it for the driveway for now.

Next up I want to tackle the problem with the water heater. I have the manual with trouble shooting tips and a wiring schematic. I used my multimeter and felt I found the problem. Everything seemed good until the ignition control module. A call to Rae-Ann at Trailblazer RV and I can pick one up tomorrow, perfect, I'm pretty confident. 

July 12

We started with a run/walk and then hopped in the car to go to Trailblazer for the module. Unfortunately that wasn't it and I'm not a happy camper! Well thanks to Steve & Diane and Rae-Ann, I know a mobile RV repair guy so I just admitted defeat and called Rob Stewart from Robs Mobile Repair. He'll be here tomorrow. A little more money for travel but we don't have to pack up and move. That's worth the money to us. More PGR showers but that's alright as they work great. Not much I can do right now so how about a happy hour at our neighbours place ? Great idea! Thanks Bert & Vera for hosting. We got home for supper around 7 and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

July13

I'm resting my calf before the 10K, so no run today but Leslie did her speed walk and snuck in a short run on the grass in front of PGR. She needs to be careful to not shock her back so she is "soft jogging" on grass. So proud of her and she's being smart about it, awesome! Rob the mobile repair guy came out and found my heater problem in minutes. I was so angry at myself. I had checked the same things but didn't measure voltage correctly on the pressure switch. I had replaced that same switch last summer (1year and 4 days ago, to be exact) so I didn't think that was the problem. Well Rob doesn't have the part and I am capable of changing it so I'll get a new one and do it myself. So mad! Education costs money and I just got schooled. I won't make that mistake again. So we need to drive into Edmonton anyway and I'll stop at Trailblazer and return the ignition module, with my head down lol. On our way into Edmonton there was an accident or something just outside Spruce Grove, 45 minutes to move less than 10k! I turned off on a range road and got on 16A finally and we got to Howard and Chris's place later than expected. We get to have a visit with Howard and Chris and then drive over to MEC downtown location to pick up my first ever race bib!!

All 1's really, pretty excited !

Rachelle and her Mom, Florence, are also there as well as Graham, Britt and the kids. Rachelle and Britt are also running the 10k tomorrow so we all are excited to do this. Britt has been in other races but this is Rachelle and my first one. MEC is the sponsor of this run so we all get a 10% discount on anything we buy today. Leslie found a great pair of runners on sale and I grabbed some compression sleeves for my legs and a smaller water bottle to carry. 

Graham and Britt headed home to Ft Sask as the kids are ready for supper and done following us around. Leslie and I talked with Rachelle and Florence and decided to go to Olive Garden near their hotel for supper. Pasta place should be perfect for a carb load before a race. Ah whateve, it's a pretty good choice anytime.  I like pasta. We had a nice dinner and a good visit and jumped back in the car for the drive back to PGR. It's raining and cool and the wind is really blowing but tomorrow morning is supposed to be nice. I hope so, don't want the first race in the rain.

July14

It's race day!! I actually slept really good until about 5:30 and then laid there waiting for the alarm. We both got up and got coffees and a bite to eat. Leslie is awesome as my crew She didn't sleep well and she is more nervous than me I think. It's really nice of her, she's treating this run more like Ailsa's race prep but it is only a 10k. It's my first race though so having her go through a list and bring everything is fantastic. I am driving to St Albert, just so I don't sit there over thinking this run. We arrived close to 8:30 and Rachelle parked right beside us, bonus. Race start is 9:20 so we have time to kill. We walked to Lions Park in St Albert and saw Graham and Britt coming in. Perfect, we're all here and ready to go! The weather is not bad for a run, about 12C/58F and cloudy but no rain in the forecast. It's still windy but the trail is right beside the Sturgeon River and slightly protected in the trees. It will be great.

My awesome crew! Margaret's cold.

Ready to run

Rachelle and her Mom (Florence) pinning on her bib

Rachelle, me, Britt and Rylan

Ryan, Ashtyn and Kirby came out to cheer, thanks guys!

We waited and watched while the folks in the 21.1k and the 15k started out and then it's our turn to line up for the start

I'm the tall one....

As you might expect we took off in a pack and bunched up on the first 2 turns but everyone quickly found their place. The three of us ran together off the start and for the first 5 km. We all said we wanted to pace ourselves and not go too fast but for the first 3km we ran way faster than normal! Race pace lol. We said more than once to slow up a little but that took a few km before it happened. Rachelle said that it's a good thing to start fast in case we want to walk a bit later. Of course that turned out very true.

Rachelle was getting warm with her jacket on. She managed to un-pin her bib from the jacket, pin it back on her shirt and remove and tie her coat around her waist and never broke her stride! That's a Mom move right there. I was impressed. We all stayed together until about 5k when Rachelle dropped back a little. Brittany and I were able to maintain the pace we had for a little further until she noticed her shoe had come un-done so she stopped for that. I kept going and Brittany caught up fairly soon and Rachelle was just behind us. There was a couple small hills on the course so we walked a little bit but we held a good pace for the whole race I think. When we had only 1km left Brittany said to walk for 30 seconds and I said I felt I had this last one in the tank so kept going. Well that turned out to be a bad decision. There was a little more uphill getting to the finish and I was totally gassed. I saw Britt coming up behind me and I saw Leslie and our gang waving at the finish but I had nothing left. Britt passed me in the last 50 or so meters and got in 3 seconds ahead of me. I pushed across the line and man that was awesome!! We did it!! I was in at 1:00:32 (Britt at 1:00:29!) and Rachelle came in at 1:02:08. All of us so close together and we made our goal time of 1 hour, or close enough for all of us.

The photo finish, Les running and taking pics lol

What a blast!

Rachelle right behind us.

That was a great time and, yes I will do it again. Would be fun to do another with Rachelle and Brittany to see if we can shave off a few seconds. Maybe "don't try to outrun your pacer" would work lol. Brittany has run a few races including half marathons but for Rachelle and I this is the first race. I know there will be more. Back in December we were happy to run for 3 minutes and then walk for 2 We just ran for an hour! Pretty damn happy :)

Post race and we still look good lol.

After the race Rachelle and her Mom went to the farmers market next door and to Costco before heading back to Bonnyville. The rest of us drove over to Cora's for breakfast. I'm starving.

Leslie, Ashtyn, Ryan, Graham,Rylan, Katelyn, Britt and me

We all did hugs and handshakes after breakfast and everyone was heading home. My legs are tightening up for sure and I would like a shower and a nap. We did just that back at PGR but we set a timer for 1 hour so we didn't over sleep. Boy that was a great nap but holy geezus my legs are tight!! Oh man there's stairs from the bedroom to the living room, down one...ow, down two....ow I'm not going outside, that's 4 stairs haha. I sat at the table and started to get caught up on blog posts. Finally I get my post race beer!! Yayy.

Ahhh tastes pretty darn good.

I had a fantastic time and thank you to everybody that helped out especially my crew, Leslie. Love you baby and thanks for your support. Of course thanks to Barry and Ailsa for the inspiration to even try this and all the advice to help me along the way. Love the run watch too btw. And of course Rachelle for running with me in Bonnyville and letting me use her treadmill in the winter. Now a few Advil and lather on the Voltaren and I should be walking normal in a couple days. Cheers everybody!

July 5 -10, 2018 A few fun days, less work.

July 5 
Graham and the grandkids are coming over today. We are taking it easy in the morning and we'll save energy for when they get here. We got some free firewood blocks a couple weeks ago so when

Graham gets here we'll use the electric splitter and he can take some wood home. He built himself a firepit and is burning old lumber, some of it was treated so not good for anybody.

Graham, Katelyn and Rylan waiting for pieces to split 

It's a really warm day and it didn't take long before we said we had enough wood splitting. We are so close to the lake and we rarely go to the beach but the kids have swim suits and are all about going to the beach!! We'll load up in Grahams truck because he has the kids seats in there.

G and Rylan

And Katelyn on the other side

There are closer pics of Dave and G but nobody needs that lol.

We stayed for a little while but the water was really cold. The kids played with some other boys on a foam mat that is anchored in the water. They had a ton o' fun but it wasn't long before they were looking for a towel with their teeth chattering! Time for ice cream!! Nothing like ice cream when you're freezing but they managed alright ;)  We drove back to the rig and built a small fire to roast some hot dogs.

We look similar don't we?

Summer is great right?? The beach, ice cream, hot dogs, beer, well of course the kids didn't have beer, but you get what I mean right ? Around 5:00 it was time for the gang to head home to Ft. Sask. Leslie and I just relaxed for the rest of the evening. Kids play us out. :)

Beautiful evening on the 8th green!

One more quick thing. I got a text from my buddy Scott Woodford pretty late at night. He is in Chicago at a blues club owned by Buddy Guy (legendary blues guitarist) coincidently the place is called Legends. Leslie and I went with Scott and Kayla to a Buddy Guy concert in Edmonton a few years ago, absolutely unbelievable concert that we all really liked. Scott lives for music, he plays many styles of guitar and goes to probably 12 - 14 concerts per year all over the world. Anyway it was after 11 and I was getting tired but Scott sent me a pic that made me so jealous....

Scott with the man himself!! Buddy Guy was at his own bar!

July 6

We started our day with a run/walk. Just down the road from us in the RV park was a really nice picnic table with a for sale sign on it. I told Les to have a look at it and see if she likes it. Her birthday is in a couple days and it's a nice table. Score! We met up with the owner later in the afternoon and bought the table. He even helped us load and unload the table at our place, great deal! We went to Evansburg for a few groceries to be ready for a birthday lunch for Leslie tomorrow. There's a few people coming out to help celebrate so we are cleaning up and getting things ready today.

July 7

It's party day! We invited everyone over for noon so we can have a nice easy morning. We have been so busy lately that Leslie had to mostly put together her own party. I know I suck but I helped as much as possible.... and I saw the table first. Sorry Les. You are the best, baby! Happy 39th birthday again! Ryan and Ashtyn arrived first and then Graham and Brittany with the kids (2 visits this week!) then Sam and after a phone call to get the right directions, Leslie's sister, Lorin, found us. She checked out phase 2 first, we are in phase 3. Lol

Ryan & Ashtyn and the kiddos

Brittany, me and Graham

I fired up the barbecue and grilled burgers and hot dogs and Les and the girls made salads to go with. It was really good and we tried out the new table.

Lots of room!

Portable table is the kids table now.

I had texted Ryan earlier to pickup a cake in Edmonton on his way out. Not fancy but at least there was cake. Hmm forgot candles, improvise with a tea light.

Happy Birthday Leslie!!

The cake was really good and we all enjoyed a slice. Now with full stomachs we get to just enjoy the company for a little while. The weather forced us inside a couple times for short spells. The wind was crazy and then it would rain for 10 minutes and then nice again. Welcome to Alberta. 

Graham, Britt and the kids were the first to go I think, followed by Lorin. Thanks for coming guys on short notice! Sam, Ryan and Ashtyn stayed a while longer and we played Yahtzee on the table outside. I'm not a huge fan of games but we played a couple rounds and had lots of laughs anyway. Leslie won one game and Ryan won the other, Leslie got 2 Yahtzees in one game so the birthday girl luck was good. They headed back to Edmonton in the early evening and Les and I relaxed in the rig. Not my best effort for Leslie's birthday but great to enjoy it with family like we did. We were a little closer this year at least, not 3 hours away.

Ryan, Leslie, Lorin & Sam

July 8

Okay today is actually Leslie's birthday! Similar to last year we are going to cheer on Ailsa at a race. She seems to plan races on her birthday lol! We were up early for the race start in Stony Plain. We met Ailsa at Allan Beach Resort. She's doing an Olympic Triathlon. The distances are 1.5k swim/ 40km bike and 10k run. She's doing this as a warmup for Whistler triathlon at the end of July. 

Swim start

Like a school of fish.

On the bike for 40k

Easy 10k run, doing the jellyfish lol !

Ailsa had a great race, nowhere near as gruelling as Western States, and she had a big smile on her face at the finish. First female across the finish!

There's a happy racer. Time on the clock is for full Tri...not the Olympic Tri

After the race we met at Canadian Brewhouse in Spruce Grove for a post race burger and beer. It's kind of tradition to do post race and as support crew it's where we shine ! Ailsa got Leslie a real nice birthday present.... Purdys dark chocolates and a nice bottle of red wine. Always a favourite, thanks Champ!

Mmmmm dark chocolates :)

We just drove home and relaxed for the rest of the day. What a great weekend, enjoying time with family and friends. That's what we thought retirement would bring. Happy!

July 9 

We have an 8 a.m. appointment for the truck in Stony Plain today. Lomax diagnosed a problem we've been having with the rear differential and it should be warranty work so Stony Plain Dodge it is. We went for breakfast at the Uptown Grill in Stony. It was really good and we were the only people there? Like having staff of our own. Surprising because the food is great, a little early maybe. Leslie is toying with selling the Mustang and getting a more fuel efficient, smaller SUV. We were driving past Grove Hyundai so we stopped in to look around. We have time to kill before I get a call about my truck. We looked at a few used vehicles with a sales guy named Bob and thanked him for showing us around. We were having one last look at a Lexus SUV when all of a sudden I hear a gasp out of Leslie and then a "holy $#@&" and she was standing with one foot off the ground beside the only wet, muddy spot in our vicinity. She was looking at the Lexus and slipped in the mud in her flip flops. When the one foot slid she slammed the toes of her other foot into the pavement to regain her balance. Ouch that has to hurt! Umm let's go sit in the car.

Yeah that's broken.... oww

My truck took way longer than expected and cost more than I hoped. The clunking sound in the rear diff has been heard in other trucks but Chrysler insisted on a rear diff service ($217.00) first and then drive it for at least 2000k before they try anything else. Gee thanks. They did repair my marker lights under warranty and I got new fuel filters which I forgot to have done at Lomax. We grabbed some groceries at Super Store, Leslie limping on the broke toe, and I washed her car at the awesome car wash behind Super Store. Time to go home, this has been an expensive day :(

July 10

We started our day with a walk/run, Leslie is taking Margaret and going easy on her toe. It's really purple and swollen. I'm trying to go easy on my right calf but still get in some jogging miles before my 10k on Saturday. I need to know my leg will hold up. I did 4.7 km and as I was jogging back down the park road, I saw the gravel truck at the gate. I had ordered 10 yards of gravel yesterday which was expected between 9 and noon and here he is! EGT gravel is not far from us and the driver split the load into 3 piles exactly where I asked him to put it.

Looks like 3 piles but right where we need it.

Our cement guy agreed to send his skid steer back to spread out the gravel but we want to take some to the back and sides with the wheel barrow. We like a good workout. It ended up we spread almost half of it by hand. Les is limping still and now we can add sore muscles all over from shovelling/raking gravel. Time for a beer and a good supper. Lorin had brought us a big bag of fresh garden basil, mint and Kale that she is growing. Leslie had googled a recipe for pesto earlier today. So she made fresh pesto sauce with all fresh ingredients and we boiled some gluten free pasta and fried shrimp in garlic butter. OMG was it good. I thought we would have leftovers but we ate it all. Yumm

 So delicious and look at the presentation!

Of course after a big meal like that we just parked in a chair and watched TV. Oh and we may have had a couple Purdys chocolates for dessert. Don't want them to go bad! That was a big pile of gravel so maybe a little easier tomorrow. We'll see.