May 18-31, 2019 More Work, Travel And $$$

Hey guys, it's Leslie here. Dave's away for a couple days and it's raining so I thought I'd get another blog started. 

Saturday morning Dave and I took a trip into Stony Plain to pick up some drywall, insulation and poly so we could complete the interior firewall of the garage. Our building permit expires in a couple weeks so we best get on it. We got back home and got organized shortly before Ryan kindly arrived to help us.  He has plans for this evening so we got straight to work. It is so nice having him here to help out. I enjoy doing this kind of stuff but my back isn't terribly happy lifting full sheets of drywall. It's nice to have two sets of man muscles for the heavy lifting!! We got all the major work done and got him home on time. Thanks for all your help Ry. It's really appreciated.

Ryan's rockin' the fanny pack screw pouch!

The heavy work is done!

Sunday

After breakfast and coffee Dave and I got back to work in the garage doing the finishing work. Since this is a 45 minute rated fire wall we have to run the drywall all the way to the roof line. This requires multiple cuts to fit it around the trusses. It's time consuming with lots of measurements, cuts and trips up and down the ladder but we finished up by noon.

Drywall has to run right up to the roof between trusses.

Fitting the last piece.

We hit the showers and packed up for a trip to Edmonton. Since we were in Bonnyville for Mother's Day we decided to celebrate today with a nice dinner out. We met up with Ryan, Ashtyn, Sam and my sister, Lorin, at a Greek restaurant in Sherwood Park called Vicky's. Unfortunately Lorin had not been feeling very good all day. She tried her best to tough it out but it was obvious she needed to go home and go to bed. She left right after the food came out taking her meal as a to-go box. Get better my sister. The rest of us had a fabulous meal and a great visit. We had a few drinks and even some dessert. It was great.

Happy Mom!

We all headed back to Ryan's for Game of Thrones and a sleepover as it is a long weekend so no-one has work tomorrow. What a great day!!

Monday

We had a great sleep and once we were up decided to go to Tim Hortons for coffee and breakfast with Ryan and Ashtyn. We had some running around to do before heading back to Pineridge. Once home we started cleaning up. I ran a small bag of garbage to the dumpster and found it overflowing. A short time later Dave and I took a walk and noticed a few people taking even more garbage to the dumpster. What a mess!!

People own these lots and still do this!!

Being the first long weekend of the summer the bin was packed with empty boxes and construction materials etc. On top of that was all the household garbage falling out where the birds (and scarier animals) could get at it. The garbage truck isn't scheduled to come until Friday. Dave and I grabbed the truck and loaded up what we could reach to drive it to the landfill 15 minutes away. It's closed today of course so we will head there tomorrow.

Filled our dually with garbage from the ground.

The property owner is sending his guys to move some trash to another bin.

Tuesday

Dave has still been having some trouble with his hamstring so today he is trying a bike ride instead of a run. Margaret and I headed out for a walk and when she had enough I dropped her back at home and set out at a brisk pace on my own. Dave got home just after me and reported his leg was feeling good. Yay!! After a quick shower we headed out for our "date day" to the dump and then out for lunch at the RV Pub & Grill. Pretty fancy date, eh? Next was packing up for our trip back to Bonnyville Wednesday. Uneventful travel day from PGR to our house in Bonnyville.

Thursday

Right after breakfast Dave drove down to St. Paul to pick up our new zero turn lawn mower.

Our new Toro MX5000 50 inch zero turn mower!

He didn't get much chance to try it out before we had to head into town for our annual doctors appointments. I had my lab work pre-ordered and all results were better than ever. Apparently retirement is really good for me!! lol. Now if only my back would smarten up. Dave has to go get his lab work done but he checked out healthy too :)

Friday

I have to go to work today for some mandatory education (CPR, bELite and a few computer courses)  Dave is planning on giving the new mower a work out. He texted me around noon to let me know that the mower was not working right and will only turn left. The left drive motor is just squealing. He is more than a little angry and frustrated. Oh man! Less than an hour in and it broke down?? WTH! The shop is sending someone, with a replacement mower, to pick ours up and repair it. Good news is they dropped off a slightly used Kubota zero turn, even better!

Saturday

We got moving fairly early and were over at Paul and Di's just after 10:00 to help with some yard work. The guys loaded up the ATV's with gear and headed off to take care of some trees and mowing while Di and I caned and mulched the raspberries and planted and caged the tomatoes. Di then made us a huge, delicious brunch. So good. We visited for a bit before heading home. So nice to spend some time with our friends.

Sunday and Monday was spent doing house work and yard work. I managed to get most of the weeding done and got some fresh mulch down.

Before

After

We had noticed a small bit of water staining on the drywall in our basement utility room a couple weeks ago. We contacted our builder, Ron Kalinsky of Bayrock Homes, and he had come out with some of his guys to fix it. They had to dig down about five feet at the front of the house to repair the foundation seal as it was getting water behind it. It was quite a big job but he wanted to do it right as our 10 year new home warranty runs out in July. They came back today to fill it all back in and to re-grade the slope away from the house. Pretty awesome builder to come back in year 10 for free and repair the foundation! Thanks Ron.

Had to remove my huge false spirea and some lawn.

Of course Dave jumped into the truck to help out Jared & Ron.

All put back together (except we need to figure out where to put the downspout)

Not staying there!

Tuesday

After breakfast I headed in to town for an assessment with a chiropractor. I'm trying another one to see if I can find some help for my back. My doctor has asked me to try to "reset" things by taking anti-inflammatories, using ice and trying a chiropractor for two weeks. While doing this I will also try to work on my core strength. Fingers crossed!  When I got home Dave was gearing up for a run so me and Margaret went for a walk. Dave managed 7 km with no pain. Yay! 

We had also noticed that our water pressure was surging so today the plumbers are coming to install a new pressure tank and clean and flush the interior of the water heater. Unfortunately while doing that they discovered numerous holes in the exchanger and it also needs to be replaced. $$$$ Ugghh. Of course no warranty coverage on this one. The joys of a 10 year old house.

They counted 18 small holes.

The joys of hard well water and a softener system.

New system installed. A.O Thompson instead of Navien. Better warranty.

Wednesday

Dave drove me into town for another chiro appointment while he went to grab material for the new downspout. I ran across to the grocery store where we met up again. We stopped in at our insurance agency to pay our house and the Harley insurance. More $$$.

Thursday and Friday I had to work. I was a little jealous looking at Dave and Margaret all snuggled up comfy cozy in bed as I'm leaving but someone has to replenish the bank account!! lol 

Dave took my new Subaru in to our friend Joyce at Sign Solutions to get 3M coating applied. We do so much highway driving that it really is a good investment to avoid rock chips. I met him there after work and we had a nice visit with both Joyce and Trent at Sign Solutions. Great to see some old friends. 

That's enough for one post. Hopefully the next one isn't as expensive!! lol

May 5 -17, 2019 Pick up the new car and more work.

May 5
I signed up for a 10k race at the end of June so I'm starting my day with a 7km run. It's cool outside but that's okay while you're moving. Leslie is doing a 4k walk, some with the dog and some without. Margaret doesn't like long distance much any more.
When Leslie got back she enjoyed a nice long shower and I did the same after my run. We have water supply and it's so nice lol. We took our time getting ready and then hopped in the Mustang for a trip into Edmonton to Ryan's house. We're joining Ryan, Ashtyn and Sam for a couple drinks, dinner and our favourite Sunday evening event.... Game of Thrones! We had a fabulous dinner and watched another episode on Ryan's big TV. Love that 65 inch TV! The down side of watching G.O.T. is the late trip home. We got back a little before midnight and of course called it a night.
May 6
Leslie spent a part of the morning arranging paperwork for her car and some work stuff in Bonnyville. We are driving to B'ville in a couple days for Les to work and I'll get going on the lawn out there. Meanwhile I was doing a little yardwork here at Pineridge and getting things lined up for work in the garage. We had lunch at the clubhouse for a change and spent the afternoon packing stuff for the trip. We need to haul tools etc. back and forth every time. Not the best but we're not buying double of the stuff at this point. 
May 7
We have an appointment for 11am to pick up Leslie's car and bring it home. Pretty exciting! Our salesman, Victor, went through the orientation with Leslie but we'll need to read the manual and drive it a while to get everything figured out. She finally gets to drive her new car!!

The new Subaru Forester.

Pretty big smile :)

A car hug lol.

Where is the first place Leslie gets to take her new ride?? To the grocery store of course lol. We met at Sobeys in Spruce Grove and did some shopping and then back to PGR. We backed the Subaru into the garage and that's where it will stay until we get back from B'ville. We're bringing both the Mustang and the truck/ trailer with hopes that we can sell the Mustang while we are away. We spent the afternoon getting the rig ready to move and relaxing in the evening. 

May 8

We left PGR together but Leslie is stopping at Costco in St. Albert for some things we want in B'ville while we're there. I'm driving to B'ville with the trailer and Margaret. I was just on the other side of Edmonton when I got a call from Leslie. We have incredibly bad news about Smoky, our old cat that is living the best life imaginable at Leslie's sisters place. Lorin noticed that Smoky was breathing funny and very lethargic while she was getting ready for work. She contacted her vet and asked if she could drop him off. They will fit him in even though they have a full schedule. The vet called Lorin, who in turn called Leslie, that Smoky is in a bad way. X-rays showed that his lungs were full of fluid and that his chances to survive are not good. We were not expecting that news at all. Terrible news for all of us. You get so attached to your animals. Leslie is spending the night in Edmonton and her and Lorin have the awful task of putting Smoky to sleep. So sad but the choice is clear; he's suffering and no chance of recovery. You will be sadly missed Smoky, what a great life you had though.

Smoky .... all 20 pounds of him :)

His retirement life at Lorins. Super spoiled, awesome place for him!

That severely changed the mood of our day. Leslie is staying in Edmonton tonight with Lorin and they will likely have a couple glasses of wine and remember our ol' boy. Margaret and I continued on to Bonnyville and we'll cheers him later as well. Being at the acreage will bring back lots of good memories of Smoky in his country "hunter" days. 

Derek and Devan came over in the afternoon to load up the weights etc. that they have in the garage. It's a lot of gear and of course it's heavy, enough to fill both of their half ton trucks. I gave them a hand loading up but I stuck with the light stuff. I'm old, they can carry the big stuff lol. They were being responsible so we didn't even have a beer afterwards. They needed to get this stuff unloaded at Derek's friends place and then get some work done on Derek's house. I did a few trips into the house from the trailer bringing in the things I would need. There would be many more trips to the trailer in my future as I thought of more items to bring in. I had a couple beers with my supper and said a cheers to Smoky and then just relaxed in front of the TV. That was a long day.

May 9

After coffee and a quick breakfast I geared up to get to work outside. It's a beauty day for yard work. Leslie is moving a little slow this morning, they had a couple glasses last night, so she'll be here later this afternoon. I hooked the rototiller to the tractor and did the garden and as much as I can between the trees. Back on my Kubota tractor. Life is good! I unhooked the tiller and mounted the 60 inch mower deck then the rear bagger attachment. I like to cut it short and bag the first cut to clear off all the leaves and dead grass from winter. It's a lot more work and there will be a ton of grass but I'll just fill in a hole in the trees with all the clippings and cover it with dirt. Good compost in the future. I did one pass from the front yard down the fence line to the very back and all 3 bags are jammed full. This is going to take a while! 

Leslie got to B'ville around 2:00 so I stopped for a bit to say hi and help her bring stuff out of the car. She is going to work inside this afternoon getting the house stuff set back up. She is doing more trips to the trailer for kitchen stuff and she found some more stuff that Derek and Devan left behind. The house is nice and clean after the boys moved out but Leslie is wiping cupboards and arranging things back to the way we like it. Kind of odd being back in our house. It seems so big compared to the last 8 months in our trailer lol. 

I put in about 4 hours on the mower and I'm about half done. I'll catch the rest tomorrow. It's a slow process stopping to dump the bags every round but it's coming out great! I actually enjoy cutting grass. It just looks good when you're done. A sense of satisfaction I guess.

Before (left side) and after (right side).... plus the garden all rototilled.

May 10

We took our time having coffee and breakfast. There's so much room in the kitchen it took extra time to make breakfast haha! Leslie has a plan to do some laundry and a run to town for groceries. Derek is coming for supper tonight. Devan has other plans so he can't make it. We wanted to make a good dinner for the boys as a thank you for looking after our house all winter. Puts your mind at ease when you feel your biggest investment is being well cared for. Thanks guys!

I continued on the tractor/mower combo to get the lawn done today. The grass is thinner on the remaining part of the yard so it should go a little faster. I got a huge pile of dead grass off the lawn, probably 10 feet long by 5 feet high and 8 feet wide! More than I expected for sure.

Beside a dirt pile but the grass is easy to see.

More than I expected!

I have been contemplating selling the tractor for a while now and we agree that it's time. Sniff, sniff. I have a friend that is interested in buying it and he's willing to wait until I'm done the spring yard work, great deal! It's a 2005 that I have owned since 2007 when it had only 300 hours on it. While I was mowing the grass it turned over 1000 hours! We have used that tractor for so much while turning our acreage from a pasture to a residential yard. It was also my snow plow all winter for the driveway. Great piece of equipment but at this point I would really like a zero turn mower. Supposed to be so much faster. Would be great to cut my mowing time in half. On a good run I can cut my lawn in just over 4 hours so a little over 2 hours is huge.

A big milestone for my Kubota.

Leslie has done all the prep for our dinner tonight while I was outside. Derek arrived in time for a short happy hour and some great conversation and then we grilled some steaks and enjoyed a fantastic supper together. Great work Leslie! Normally a dinner like this would mean a sleepover for Derek with more than one after dinner beverage. Derek has responsibilities to take care of now and we should stay focused on our tasks as well. Look at us being all responsible!! So after a few glasses of water we gave big hugs to our boy Derek and thanked him again for looking after our place. Thanks to Devan too. Unfortunate that he couldn't make it to dinner.

Before we called it a night I got a text from our buddy Ailsa. She is competing in an Ironman Triathlon tomorrow in Santa Rosa, California and sent us a pre competition carb loading picture. Not shown in the pic but she usually has a glass of wine as well. Not all elite athletes agree with alcohol before a competition but she does just fine with it! Good luck tomorrow buddy!

Looks delicious :)  Have a great race Ailsa.

May11

Leslie spent the morning cooking up a storm. She made a batch of dog food and then got to work on her awesome pasta sauce. My favourite by far! She also made a batch of keto muffins so she gets a treat now and then. They turned out really good.

Of course one is missing, that's how we know they're good.

I kept busy cleaning up the tractor and mower for when my friend comes to have a second look at buying it. I also got a couple offers on the Mustang, stupid low ball offers which I instantly declined. Hopefully it gets better.

In the afternoon we stayed inside watching Ironman race updates on my phone and Leslie's laptop. Ailsa is doing really well at Ironman Santa Rosa and we are tracking her online. On the Ironman website Leslie found where we could watch live results at the finish line over the internet. This is awesome! It's like we are there cheering her on. Ironman is of course based on your chip time but at the finish it gets a little confusing because competitors left at different times at the start but they may not be the first to finish. That's what happened here, there was another female that crossed the line and they held out the ribbon for her as she crossed and everyone cheered and it seemed she was the female winner. We were waiting and watching for Ailsa to show up on the camera at the finish because we knew her time was really close. She showed up on the camera and finished really strong, running really great after 10 hours out there. We cheered like crazy and we were messaging Barry who was at work but in his room at camp watching as well. When the time was posted Ailsa had won by 19 seconds over the top female !!! What a crazy fabulous effort to pound that out. The swim is not her best event but she was flying on the bike and ran a really great race to finish first female in Ironman, Santa Rosa !! Way to go buddy. She completed the race in 10:16:05 as the first in her division and first in female competitors. What a blast!

Stole this from Barry's facebook.

Her chip time is 10:16:05.

We were super excited for her and we wish we would have gone to the race after all. We were going to go and then cancelled our plans, that's a long story. She did great anyway.

We of course had a drink to cheers her run and then made a good supper. So cool to watch the race finish live. A bit of TV and then we are off to bed. We're tired from just sitting and cheering, bet Ailsa is more tired. Good work champ!

May 12

 Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!!

I made breakfast for Leslie but the celebrating was over after that lol.

Keto breakfast, avacado, bacon, cheese and an egg with sliced tomatoes.

Ryan and Sam messaged and called her but she still got back to work on house chores after she chatted with them. It's not a statutory holiday lol. I had some items of my own to take care of and one of them was a big disappointment. On a rural well water system there is a pressure tank on the system that is there to smooth out the swings in pressure when the pump starts and stops. I had noticed the shower and the toilets were getting pressure swings so I suspected the pressure tank was shot. Yep, it sure is. I didn't know at the time but it turned out to be a $475 item. Wasn't expecting that little gem.

In the afternoon we decided to go visit some people and stopped in town at Ron & Shelley's place. Ron was at the gun range but we visited with Shelley until he got back and then enjoyed a small happy hour. They were going to Kent & Rachelle's for supper and Rachelle invited us over too. Thanks guys, very nice of you! Kent had brined and slow cooked a ham on his smoker/barbecue. The meal was fantastic and we had a really nice time seeing the boys and visiting with everyone.

The ham was incredible! Good job Kenter. The whole meal was fabulous.

May 13

Not much to say about today. We've been going at a good pace for a few days so we slowed things down a little. Leslie is making some freezable keto food with recipes she got from Rachelle last night. 

I'm doing another run with the mower/bagger over the thick part of our lawn. Got a few more bags of dry dead grass out. That was the highlights of our day.

May 14

Leslie is off to work for 9 am today so it's just Margaret and I. It's a tough day for me. My friend Mike has decided to buy the tractor. We agreed on a price and he is coming over with a trailer. I have mixed emotions whether this is a good idea but it's downsizing right? There are things all of us don't want to part with. Leslie will soon be saying good bye to the Mustang for instance, just not to the idiot that figured I should sell it for $10k. Yeah that's a great downpayment till you bring the rest. 

Mike came over and I helped him with learning some of the stuff about the tractor and mower. We hooked up the rototiller at the same time and loaded all the implements on his trailer and my truck. I followed him to his place and we offloaded everything and then I showed him how you can rototill with the mower still hanging underneath. It's a great tractor and I will miss it.

Last pic in my garage.

Following the tractor to it's new home. 

From there I drove to town and deposited the check. That made me  feel a bit better lol.

May 15, 16

Leslie worked both days and I just did more stuff at home. Got a couple more ridiculous offers on the car from Kijiji. Some people!! Really? You can't be serious. Frustrating task selling this car. We have a low but serious offer from our local Ford dealership and it's starting to look better all the time if I have to deal with all these low ball offers. 

May 17

We talked at length about the Mustang over the last couple of days and have decided to take the dealership offer. It's less than what I would have liked but they can have a check ready today. I just don't have the time or the patience to play the game. This way we can go back to PGR and put the plate on the Subaru and we're done. 

Saying good bye at the Ford dealer.

So with another check in the bank I can think of only one way to feel better. Let's go look at a new zero turn mower!! Leslie isn't quite as excited but she'll like it. You'll see.

We stopped at Extreme Power Products in St. Paul on the way through and didn't actually buy a mower but they are bringing one from their other store for us to "look" at when we come back to Bonnyville next week.

We continued on our trip to Pineridge with the trailer and backed into our site in the late afternoon. The highways are super busy with all kinds of RV's and trailers. We forgot that we are travelling on the Friday of a long weekend. The May long weekend is when all the RV's get dusted off. It was a little slower than normal but we're back safe and sound.

We have more projects planned for the coming week but we'll post them in another blog. Stay tuned.

Cheers everybody.

April 24 - May 4 A tale of two towns...and car shopping.

April 24
This week will be very different for us. Leslie is going to Bonnyville to do her work training and Margaret and I will be staying in Seba Beach.  First time in a very long time we haven't been in the same place together. Leslie has this strange smile on her face?!?!
Leslie needs to print some papers, sign them and send them back for her license stuff. We need a couple things from the grocery and propane so we will be doing a trip to a small town/hamlet to the west called Evansburg. We can use the library there for a computer and printer and get everything we need at the same time. Evansburg is quite small, about 800 people, but has all the necessary stores. There is a bakery there that is so good. My truck seems to pull in there on it's own lol. Apple fritters the size of a small plate! My favourite.
We got everything we needed plus an apple fritter to go and drove back to the rig. Leslie made a batch of dog food for Margaret and then jumped right into making supper right away. After supper and cleaning up we made a big mug of tea and walked over to the clubhouse to watch Survivor at 7 pm. We get it in the trailer at 9 pm but it is an excuse for a short walk. Not a tough day.
April 25
We started our morning taking care of some banking stuff and expense tracking. It's better to do this together before Leslie heads to B'ville. While Leslie is packing stuff up for her week I went out to see if we have water pressure. Nope. The jumper hose is working and right now there are only 2 rigs with people in them on our loop so we just fill our tanks and we're good for a few days. Still would be nice to have water. As I think of ways to try to move the ice plug I give them a try (after I check with Jeff the property owner, of course.) We are both power engineers so he trusts my trouble shooting skills but he needs to know what I'm trying.
At lunch time Leslie has her Mustang all packed and ready to roll. We said good bye in the driveway and Margaret and I watched as the tail lights faded in the distance. Sniff, sniff.   PARTY!!!!
Margaret gets treats for supper and I'm having barbecued hot Italian sausages with ketchup and bread. No salad, no vegetables. Just meat and bread... man food haha. I did actually feed Margaret but she did get more treats than usual. Then we just sat and watched TV like normal. Woohoo right?
Leslie texted that evening that she made it safe and sound to B'ville. She's nervous and excited to go back to work tomorrow. She made herself a nice salad (Yuck!) then watched a movie as well. The WIFI at the house is much better than our phones at Pineridge. She got a really nice sunset picture from the front porch.

Beauty !

Leslie update: I am taking advantage of our time apart to try a low carb diet to see if it helps my belly issues (as the ER doctor suggested). I'm sticking to protein and veggies. Fingers crossed!

April 26

Leslie's first day back at work!! She spent most of the day behind a computer doing online training and emails. Mentally exhausting after not having to do that stuff for a few months.

I had a leisurely morning and then went for a nice run. In the afternoon I packed up some stuff for Margaret and I to go to Bonnyville for a night. Paul's brothers funeral is on Saturday and of course we are going to offer our sympathies to the family. Derek has moved out a little early just because of his shift at work so Leslie and I are back in our room and our king bed in B'ville now too. Nice. 

April 27

It's really strange waking up at our house again and we don't have all our stuff there. For example; making coffee with a drip basket sitting on the mug as the coffee maker is in the rig. We got through our morning alright and took both vehicles to St Paul, AB for the funeral. It's a short 45 minute drive from our house. After the funeral I'm on my way back to Pineridge. Bad news is that there is a heavy snowfall warning on the highway west of Edmonton where I'm going this afternoon. That's just lovely. Hopefully it's mostly done and melting by the time I get there.

We attended Dennis Levasseur's funeral at the Catholic Church in St Paul. Again our deepest sympathies to the whole family on Dennis's passing. We hate cancer and how it is affecting so many we know and love. It was a nice service and as we went outside afterwards they rang the bells in the steeple. Dennis was a very well known and respected member of the local business community and he will be missed.

I had Margaret sitting in the truck with blankets to keep her warm. It's not freezing outside but not far above it! Leslie and I went to the luncheon to say hello to some friends and then I said good bye and headed west back to Pineridge and the snow.

Roads are good but they got a few inches.

Our view out the window :(

Leslie stayed for a little while visiting at the luncheon and then drove back to Bonnyville and just relaxed for the afternoon/evening.

April 28

Part of the reason I drove back yesterday is to attend our annual AGM for the condo board here at Pineridge. They are not earth shatteringly interesting but there is usually some news we pick up. It's also a good chance to meet some of the other lot owners. The meeting lasted from 10am until about 12:30 and then I met up with Jeff (the property owner) and Derrick (a board member) who owns a plumbing and heating business in Edmonton. Brings a lot of piping knowledge to the table. We walked the whole water system and hammered out a couple more scenarios to help Mother Nature thaw these lines out. That's what I'll be doing for a couple days now. The short version is we are hooking up hoses to commercial hot water heaters and flowing warm water through the adjacent pipes to hopefully transfer heat to the frozen one in the ground. Not expecting miracles but it's something.

Leslie has a whole day to herself in the house and she is building a big pot of homemade chicken soup for her lunches and if I'm lucky she'll bring some home. She makes fantastic soup! The other project she is tackling is packing up her Mom's china and crystal  and giving it to her daughter Sam. So nice to be able to pass it along with some of the memories those dishes bring back.

Lots of pinwheel crystal to enjoy

Some of the good China that got passed down, hope you enjoy it Sam.

Here's the part where I'm jealous a little. Leslie is enjoying a big bowl of homemade chicken soup for supper and then watching Game of Thrones downstairs on our 50 inch TV. My internet is only off the phone so no G.O.T. for me. Getting closer to the final episode!!

April 29

Leslie is going back to work this morning for more training and emails. Pretty soon she'll be able to take an X-ray again! It's just part of the deal when you have been away for so long, a little boring but necessary.

My plan for today is to get the warm water flowing past where we believe the line is frozen in our loop. There are two sections where I can hook up and flush through. We're calling this the short section and tomorrow will be the long run from the water header building all the way to our lot at the other end of the development. I'm using a bunch of hoses and a 60 gallon high efficiency hot water heater as a source. I want to try to limit the water temp at around 20C/70F so we don't do any high heat damage to the underground line. I got it all hooked up and flowing and then got geared up for a run. Between my run and walking back and forth I put on 16 km's or about 10 miles for the day. Still no water at our lot. Try again tomorrow on the long line.

April 30

The long run is about the same as the short run yesterday. I hooked up to a different source and got warm water flowing from one end to the other. No running for exercise today. I'm actually using my truck today it's quite far from one end to the other. Long story short; I ran water for over 4 hours and we are still frozen. Can't say we didn't try at least. Jeff is buying a hose and heat tape to hook up as a jumper line for our loop. I'll gear that up tomorrow.

Leslie is working from 7am to 3:15pm and then she is driving to Pineridge after work. It will be a long day but she wants to be home again. There is a risk of snow this afternoon but hopefully it holds off. She's really enjoying being back with the gang at work. She missed them.

The girls hard at it.

Leslie and Mallorie, get to work!

Leslie made it home just after 7pm and luckily didn't see snow all the way. We've had a little rain and it's really close to freezing but she's home safe so that's good. We had supper together and a couple glasses of wine while sharing the stories of the last couple days. Margaret is very happy to see her Mom again. She immediately jumped up on her lap with her blanket. Ahhhh... everything is back to normal.

Leslie update: After a week going low carb I'm feeling way better! My pain level is way down and I've lost a few pounds (bonus). I've decided to go "all-in" and try Keto. Stay tuned for more updates :)

May 1

Welcome to May in Northern Alberta!

It got below freezing last night, obviously, but is starting to melt while we are having coffee and breakfast. We're not moving fast this morning anyway. After the roads cleared and most of the snow disappeared we hopped in the truck to go to Evansburg for groceries and some electrical supplies for the garage. I found a local electrician named Devan who owns Just Wired Electric. Great guy. He stopped by to estimate the job and helped me build a list of stuff that will be needed to complete what I already have. He agreed to let me be his helper so I can learn a bit and he'll do the work to get our garage all wired for power. Perfect. I like being involved and learning some stuff. What I definitely learned.... if you have never wired a garage, hire a professional! There's more there than "just a couple circuits". 

We did our shopping and went back to the trailer. Leslie made a batch of dog food for Margaret. Thanks again to Earl & Allison's recipe. Margaret is doing great on this food! Then we just relaxed and watched TV. It's cold and nasty outside so we're staying inside.

May 2

Jeff had left all the stuff to heat tape and insulate a hose for a jumper so Leslie and I had done that yesterday in the garage. Forgot to write that above. I was all ready to hook up our jumper and insulate the ends but thought I had better check our supply.

WE HAVE FRESH WATER AGAIN!!! It thawed out by itself. Thank you Mother Nature! Maybe the warm water flushes helped, we'll never know, but we have water supply to our zone now. I checked a few different sites and they are all running. That's good news. I texted Jeff to let him know. He's really happy and relieved too. 

Les and I spent the afternoon in Spruce Grove test driving the Hyundai Tucson and Ford Escape that we had looked at earlier. The Hyundai dealer wanted to bring in the exact one Leslie was interested in from their storage and they had called us to say it was in. That took most of the afternoon and when we got home we both went on the laptops to compare some numbers and really dig into the comparisons. We both really liked the Tucson so far, the Escape was nice but the Tucson offered more stuff for less money. The rest of the night was just relaxing.

May 3

Devan, the electrician, is coming over today to wire the garage. He has a small job elsewhere first and then our garage. Awesome! Leslie built a list and hopped in the Mustang for a trip to Spruce Grove for groceries. Devan pulled in about 10am to get started. It's a mix of snow and rain outside and only 3C/37F so it's a good day to be working inside. We were done in less than 4 hours and Leslie bought us some sandwiches in town and I made coffee for us. We chatted with Devan and ate our lunch. Glad that job is done. We still have to trench in the supply power but that's a whole different job from getting the inside ready. I need to trench 36 inches deep for 23 feet through hard clay/sand and gravel. I see some sort of trencher in my future. Not doing that by hand. We said good bye to Devan and went inside for the rest of the day. This weather is ridiculous, it's freezing outside and it's May already!! Good thing we have propane and power!

May 4

We are driving into Edmonton this morning to continue our car quest. We have compared stuff online but Leslie wants to drive each one on her list and "feel" the difference. I totally get it and will support whatever decision she makes; this is her car. I dread the sales people at times, they can be really annoying in my opinion. Leslie wants to drive a Honda CRV, Toyota Rav 4 and a Subaru Outback or Forester. Going to be a long day.

We test drove all 3 brands and were a little overwhelmed with all the options and prices. We needed lunch so we texted Leslie's sister, Lorin. We are very close to her neighbourhood. We met at Sherbrooke Pub. Even better, we get beer with lunch. We discussed a bunch of car stuff over lunch with Lorin and left the pub a little more relaxed and refreshed. No decision yet and we think it's best to head home and mull it over. Leslie has her favourite right now which is the Subaru Forester. She just liked the way it drove and handled. Plus the new Subaru's have all the tech stuff like lane departure and autonomous cruise control. It was nice but my pick so far is the Tucson. They were all pretty nice really. They all have their good and bad points.

As we are driving on the highway back to Pineridge we get a call from the sales guy at Subaru City. It's after 5pm but he's just checking to see where we are on our decision. We haggled over a couple points and Leslie looked at me and shook her head yes! That's the one she wants and the price is where we are comfortable, deal done. We'll go in Monday and sign everything up. I was surprised a little that she chose that one but she's a happy wife. (You know the rest of the saying ;)

So we say good bye to the "Muzzy"

What a fun car to drive!

Soon to add this to our garage!

That's a big decision behind us now. Of course we need to sell the Muzzy but hopefully that will be easy being spring and it's a convertible. Well technically it's spring! There is a warm up in the long range forecast thankfully. 

We'll show the pictures of Leslie picking up her new ride in the next blog. Need to get registration and insurance taken care of Monday and then pick it up. Personally I want to go for a rip in the Mustang, last few chances to enjoy the V8 and 5 speed manual. Plus it just sounds so cool, sorry Les the Subaru SUV just ain't as cool. It's so much more comfy though lol.

Cheers everybody!

April 16 - 23, 2019 Pineridge to Bonnyville at our house.

April 16
Our plan today is to make the trip to Bonnyville with the truck. It will be good to see all the family and friends there too. We also need to get our tax info to the accountant and get that filed before the end of the month. Derek and Devan are still living at the house but they are slowly packing their stuff and moving to Crane Lake where Derek bought his new place. Very exciting! Derek is working dayshift and Devan is working nights but he says he sleeps like a rock so we can do what we need to do during the day and he won't hear us. Thanks buddy.

Wabuman Lake is still frozen over. We came back too soon.

We left Pineridge about 11am and headed east on highway 16, a 4 lane freeway through Edmonton, to a small town named Mundare, the sausage capitol of Alberta! They even built a giant ring of sausage in the town square to commemorate their sausage.

How can you not include the worlds biggest

ring of sausage in your blog!

There is a butcher shop there that has been in business since the early 1950's and they are bigger and better than ever. The same family still runs the business. It's called Stawnichy's. (pronounced Stuh-neech- ee's) Mr Stawnichy passed away a couple years ago but his wife is still in the office every day or behind the counter. Fabulous place!

A must stop if you are near Mundare.

Much bigger than it used to be.

We made a brief stop for some garlic sausage, of course, some of their unbelievably good jerky bites (the little bits that they cut off while making beef jerky, about nickel sized, like jerky treats for humans) and a couple racks of their barbecue ready ribs. The ribs are smoked, seasoned and already have sauce on them. Just put them on the grill for a bit to heat them and they fall off the bones. So good! That's what we are making for supper tonight.
Mundare is a little over an hour from our house so before long we were back at our other "home" outside of Bonnyville.

The boys trucks in front of our house.

The "pond" is pretty full. Neighbours driveway is barely out of the water!

It's good to be home.

Derek is at work and Devan is sleeping downstairs still so we quietly brought in some of our stuff and then took Margaret for a walk around the old 'hood. We had a great walk and when we got back Leslie threw in some of the laundry we brought with us from Pineridge. Yes, we could have done it there but we don't have to pay for the machines here. The first load in the dryer she noticed a weird noise on startup but it went away and seemed to work fine. Cool. Devan was up by this time and after a quick workout in the garage (they have probably $10 - $12k worth of gear in the garage) he showered and left for work. Derek got home just after 7 and we had supper ready for the three of us. We grilled 2 racks of ribs from Stawnichy's. Very good. We had a nice dinner and talked lots with Derek while catching up on each others news. We haven't seen him since January in Arizona. Sadly no pics, sorry buddy. It was an early night for all 3 of us because we are just tired from our day and Derek leaves the house at 5:20 am to get to work for 6:15. I don't miss those days one bit.

April 17

It was a weird night sort of because Derek is in our old room and we stayed in the spare bedroom. Don't think we have ever stayed in there before. He offered to switch rooms but hey, he has been living here and we are only staying a few nights so it's no big deal. 

We got busy printing what we needed to take to the accountant and organizing our morning in town. We also made an appointment to meet my nephew Kevin's old boss from Calgary at the Credit Union in Bonnyville. Randy and his wife just moved to B'ville in February, during the worst cold snap on record, so we might be able to share some info about the area. Plus we get to see the interior of the new  Credit Union building they finished last fall while we were gone. It's impressive for a small town.

We stopped by the hospital for Leslie to get some stuff and luckily our friend Di is working so we gave her big hugs after being away for so long. As we are there chatting Paul, her husband, walks in too! Awesome timing buddy so we get to say hi to both of them. Paul is slowly getting better after a trying winter but he is cancer free!! That's fabulous news.

We finished all the errands in town and headed home. Leslie had put in a second load of wash when we left and switched it to the dryer when we got back. She started the dryer and it made a loud thump and then a loud squealing noise and the drum wasn't moving. Perfect, I need something else to do lol. With the help of a Youtube video I took the dryer apart on the step in the garage. One step closer to the dump if need be. The problem turned out to be a seized roller on the left front corner of the drum. Leslie found the part online with 5 day delivery and got it ordered. I was able to clean and lubricate the old roller and make it work temporarily but it has a flat spot from sticking earlier so it rumbles like a train as it's turning. 

Lots of screws but got it working again.

Since I was feeling good about the dryer fix I jumped right into an attempt to fix the dishwasher door spring. Devan had explained yesterday that the door suddenly just dropped as he opened it a couple days ago. I hoped maybe the spring had just fallen off. Turns out there is a small rope with 2 fancy plastic ends that goes around a roller and attaches to the spring on one end and the door on the other. After 9 years in service the rope broke. My parts manager, Leslie, went online and found the exact one also with free shipping from LG and got that ordered. It will be a week and we are leaving so what to do in the meantime? Did I mention I grew up on a farm? I found a boot lace in a drawer in the garage. I told Les I saved that lace for a good reason, and made a new rope by tying the 2 ends together. Not rocket science right? It worked, not as good as a new one but it works for now. 2 for 2 !!

An old boot lace to the rescue.

We finished up our projects for the day and grabbed some takeout in town for supper tonight. We are going over to Kent & Rachelle's after supper to say hi and see the boys. They are real close to our place so it's easy to go over. More family time now that we are back in B'ville, awesome! 

Nathan & Leslie, man he's growing!

Dominic & Leslie, good stuff!

We talked and visited until it was bedtime for the boys and then came home. We watched a little TV and called it a day ourselves. It's good to be back.

April 18

One of the features we installed in our house was an oversize bathtub in the main bathroom. It's deep and 6 inches longer than a normal tub and Leslie loves having her bubble baths. We also have a tankless hot water heater so she can run all the hot water she wants and stay in there for as long as she wants. That's her plan for this morning, a nice long soak in the tub. She's earned it for sure. 

I went outside and started pruning some of the trees but it's already a little late in the season for that. They get to grow wild this year I guess. I switched to servicing the push mower and then cutting/bagging the grass around the house. I like to cut it short for the first cut and bag it to get out as much dead stuff as possible. It's a dusty, nasty job but I still enjoy doing it.

Leslie came out after her tub and did some stuff in her flower beds. It's a nice day today. We worked for a while and then decided to go watch Survivor on the laptop. We missed the last episode. Can't work all the time haha.

We had made plans to join Paul & Di and Alan & Denise for supper tonight at Paul's place. Leslie attempted to order Chinese food but the 2 places we like were both closed today. We switched it up to good ol' KFC. Haven't had that in a long time. We picked it up on the way over to their house and with big hugs and handshakes said hello to our friends we have missed over the winter.

Alan & Denise aka Gramma & Grandpa.

Enjoying a fire after dinner in their backyard.

We had a fantastic evening catching up and enjoying the fire. It cooled off lots after the sun went down so we called it a night and went home. Good times, good friends and KFC!!

April 19

We are heading back to Pineridge today as we have Easter dinner plans with Leslie's family over the weekend. We loaded a bunch of stuff in the truck that we want to move to our other garage and headed out. The truck is packed full inside and in the back. Slow but sure we getting the stuff moved over.

This time as we got close to Mundare we called our friends Scott & Leanne who live beside the golf course there. They are home so we are stopping by for a visit with them along the way. They're awesome people and we stayed for a couple hours catching up with them. Sorry guys, completely forgot to grab a picture. They retired from Esso too but Scott decided to do a short contract job with Esso for a few months. That's a nasty four letter word you guys lol. Big hugs and handshakes and we headed for Pineridge. We unloaded all the stuff we had packed in the truck and I filled the water from our neighbours water hydrant. It's still not thawed out on our loop. We watched some TV and called it a day. Back in a king bed again, yay!

April 20

We are taking it easy this morning and having a slow start to the day. Leslie is going to Stony Plain with the Mustang for groceries and I'm going to hook up with the property owner, Jeff, to see if we can help Mother Nature thaw out the water supply. I figured out that if we hook a hose from our neighbour's lot #10 to my lot #9 that we can pressurize the whole zone and everyone will have water at a lower pressure and volume. It might even help thaw the ice plug with water movement from both sides. The big drawback with that is the forecast is for freezing temps over night for a few days so the jumper hose will freeze and we are pooched again. Leslie and I are leaving tomorrow and I don't trust someone else to depressure and disconnect the hose every night. It could be very costly if our hydrants split because someone else forgot or whatever. Our condo AGM is next weekend and it would be great to have a water supply so people can come stay in their units. The story continues.

When Leslie got back from shopping she was in a lot of pain in her stomach on the right side. It got bad enough she could only lay curled up on the couch and she was sweating pretty bad. We hopped in the car and drove back to Stony Plain to the hospital emergency room to get her checked by a doctor. We're thinking gall baldder-ish type thing. Luckily it wasn't too crazy busy at the hospital and we didn't have to wait too long to see a doctor. 

I talked to an older fella beside me that was there because he dropped a set of elk antlers on his head while trying to hang them as decorations on his fence! He said they were record setting antlers that his dad got in 1935 or something and were really big. He had a couple nasty cuts on his head for sure. Lucky he didn't kill himself with those antlers! Plus he fell off the ladder he was on while working. Just when you think you're having a bad day.....

The doctor ran some tests on Leslie which all came back good and he prescribed some meds to calm her stomach pain. They kept us for a while just to watch her and then let us go around 7pm. I think we were there for about 5 hours total and she has an ultrasound test booked for 8am on Monday just to be sure of things. The doctor told her to limit what she eats for Easter dinner to just turkey and veggies, no gravy. He said she could have wine in moderation too so she'll be okay lol. We went back to the rig and basically went to bed. She slept good after the meds etc so that was worth the trip.

April 21

Happy Easter! Hmm no bunnies or eggs at our house? Wotten wascal wabbit haha. (that's from Bugs Bunny if you're not old enough to remember.)

Leslie is feeling okay, still sore stomach muscles but not like yesterday so after a slow morning we packed an overnight bag and headed to Lorin's house for Easter dinner with the family. It has been ages since all of Leslie's family has gotten together and good for Lorin to set all this up. We got to Lorin's about 1ish and helped where we could to get everything ready. She has almost everything done already. Brother Dave and his wife Kerry are bringing the turkey already cooked, Lorin has homemade perogies and cabbage rolls and Caeser salad and buns and...... well everyone brought a ton of stuff. It is a fabulous dinner plan. So much food. All the family is supposed to show up around 3pm for a couple drinks and then an early dinner because some folks work on Monday. 

Dave & Kerry were first to arrive, and then everyone else showed up soon after. The oldest brother Dan and his wife Celia, Ryan & Ashtyn, Jessica & Michael (Leslie's niece and nephew) and of course Sam. Plus all the dogs. Four in total! Lorin's cat's are in hiding! Margaret doesn't mind the smaller dogs but when Dan brought his beagle who is only just over a year old, Margaret wants no part of that energy!

Mike, Sam & Lorin

Ashtyn, Ryan, Dan, and the 2 Daves lol. I'm taller.

Ashtyn, Ryan drinking and Dan.

All together in one place. L:R Dave, Leslie, Lorin & Dan. Charlton siblings.

We had a really nice afternoon and a great dinner. Everyone pitched in to help clean up and in the early evening some of the gang started heading home. Ryan, Ashtyn, Sam and Mike stayed for some games and Game of Thrones at 9pm. We played a game called "What Do You Meme". Even I like this game and I usually dislike games. This one can be hilarious as you match the cards with sayings to a picture from the deck. It was a fun way to enjoy some time together and wait for G.O.T.

Game of Thrones seating.

Of course after the show it was home time and bed time for everyone. Leslie and I are having a sleepover. Big hugs all around until we see them again.

On an incredibly sad note, as we were getting ready for bed Leslie got a text from Diana that Paul's older brother, Dennis, passed away this evening ending his own struggle with cancer. Our deepest sympathies to their whole family. He will be sadly missed.

Dennis Levasseur.

Treasure the people you hold dear, you never know what twists life will throw at you.

April 22

We set an alarm for 6:45 so we can be in Stony Plain for Leslie to get her ultrasound exam at 8am. We grabbed a coffee and gave Lorin a hug and thank you for a great day and night. We arrived at the hospital right on time and they did Leslie's ultrasound. The emergency room was really busy this morning and we were told to wait there for the results and a consult with the doctor. We waited quite a while unfortunately. We talked to the doctor about noon and left there around 12:30. Everything checked out fine which is great but what caused the original pain?? The doctor thinks it may be a diet issue and recommended doing some experimenting such as limiting carbs or dairy etc. We shall see.

We got home and the sun was out so we got busy raking up leaves at the back of our lot. Some good exercise after sitting around for the morning. 

Before.....

After !

Enough bags for a date to the dump where they compost.

We puttered around doing some other yard stuff and then took Margaret for a nice walk around the golf course. It's not open yet so it's okay to walk there. We had a real nice supper of leftover turkey dinner that we scooped from Lorin and then just relaxed inside for the night.

April 23

Leslie spent the morning on the laptop and the phone organizing her return to work stuff. She needs to reinstate her licenses and register for the training she needs to refresh before she gets to take an x-ray. She needs to renew stuff like CPR, patient lifting procedures and read some of the 920 emails she has collected over the winter.

I went outside and tried our water again to no avail. Warm up already! I loaded the bags of leaves and raked up a little more that blew in getting ready for our "dump date".  Oh I know how to impress a lady lol. On our way back we stopped at RV Pub & Grill now that they are open for the season. They have really good home cooking style food there. Part of our date.

Not fancy but good food and beer in Seba Beach.

Tried to include the pelican, a little backlit ....

When we got back to the rig our next door neighbour, Lynn, was there for the afternoon to level their "new to them" toyhauler. We had offered to help because their truck doesn't even have a fifth wheel hitch yet. They got their trailer delivered to the site. The delivery truck got it close to the right spot but we need to move it a little and block up one side a bit. No biggy for our dually. We got that done and had a tour of their new rig. It's a very nice, gently used 2014 Heartland toyhauler. We chatted for a while and then let Lynn get back to work on the inside organizing the rig. We  just chilled for the afternoon and then made supper. Kent gave us some frozen Walleye fillets that he caught a few weeks ago in northern Saskatchewan while ice fishing. They were absolutely delicious. We coupled that with a monster greek salad that Leslie had made and a nice glass of white wine.

Living like kings! Next was the lazy boys, sweats and slippers (toasty toe slippers by Dianne ;) in front of the TV. That's a good day.

That's another week in the life so I'll post this and try to keep hammering out posts to catch up. We'll be doing a change in format soon because it's supposed to be a more travel/ sight seeing blog. You don't need to hear how many times I cut the grass or every day that Leslie went to work. We'll try to stick to the fun stuff. Oh but you will see how much grass I took off the 3 acres on the first cut with my tractor and bagger!! So exciting, stay tuned! Haha.

Cheers everybody :)