June 1- 3 Steve & Diane at Pineridge

June 1
This afternoon Steve & Dianne of Living the Dream are coming to spend a couple days with us on their trek east. They are going across Canada this summer with their rig visiting some family and seeing the sites along the way. Use the link above and check out their blog, it's always great and they do fantastic photos.
Before they get here we want to pick up a couple things so off we go to the thriving village of Evansburg, Ab! Evansburg is a great little village and has the cool Mom and Pop stores that we like to support. We started with a couple groceries and then over to the liqour store. A paper sign in the window says "back in 10 minutes". That's small town stuff right there! The bakery is a short block away. Let's get a sandwich to share as we just had breakfast. Oh look Leslie, cinnamon twists!! Whatever, we've been exercising lots right? We got a chance to enjoy second breakfast and drove back to Pineridge to wait for a message to meet our company. Shortly after 1 pm we got a message that they were close so we drove out to the highway to show them the way in and open the gate for them. They stopped to check out the site and we all did hugs and handshakes. We went to our rig to do some prep for supper while they get set up.

Getting squared away

Leslie's fave, the veggie mix

I walked over to see how things are going and Steve doesn't look happy. There is an issue with their inverter/charger and it is beeping and saying internal fault code. I know nothing about that stuff so it's best to get out of the way and let him work. They came over in a little while and we got in our truck to go pay for the site. They are trying a hard reboot with help from the manufacturer, not great but hopefully works. Well long story short, it didn't help and that means that even though we have 50 amp power supply it can't get into their rig. They ran an extension cord to a power bar and were able to charge devices and plug in the tv. No a/c, no microwave and running on batteries. Friday afternoon, not much we can do today. Umm should we have a fire and happy hour? Yep that's the plan.

Left to right, Bert, Vera, Steve, Leslie's chair,Dianne and me

Our across the street neighbours Bert and Vera walked over to join us. They also spend winters in an RV in Casa Grande, AZ.  We all had lots in common to talk about. After a couple of drinks we said see ya later to Bert and Vera and went in for supper. I barbecued some steaks and Leslie did everything else. Turned out pretty darn good!

Looks yummy!

We finished dinner and sat down and chatted to get caught up and share plans for the next few days. For a dessert treat we brought out one of our faves.... Chapmans Black Jack Cherry frozen yogurt. Neither Steve or Dianne had tried it before. We love it and it turns out Steve does too! Dianne liked it but has the willpower to limit how much she enjoys. More for Steve I guess!

June 2

We had the usual quiet morning and around 10 a.m. we walked over to see if they wanted to check out the Seba Beach Farmer's Market that is on for a couple hours downtown. Sure, they said, so we jumped in the truck and took the scenic drive along the beach of Lake Wabuman to the farmers market.

Ready to shop!

We were wondering if it was a bad idea to bring Margaret to the market? Turns out lots of folks bring their dogs, some much larger than Margaret.

Nice puppy !

We bought some farm fresh eggs, some fresh made apple juice and some veggies for later. I also grabbed some thick cut bacon from a butcher in Calmar, which was great when we cooked it up later. After the market we went back to Pineridge and took a little break to put things away.  Next up was a little truck tour as Steve wanted to look for a new 50-30 amp plug for their rig. We were driving to Spruce Grove and Grove RV in particular. Along the way we decided to check out Wabuman Lake Provincial Park just for future reference. We were driving right into a rain storm, not that big but high wind and lots of rain. Dianne is still wanting see thunder and lightening Alberta style! This wasn't it unfortunately.

Entrance to the park

It's a nice park but not big rig friendly by any means. I'm not sure we could drive the loops with our trailer much less find one to back into. We drove over to the day use area and beach, wow this part is definitely worth a look.

Nice walk along the beach 

This bay is shallow but a nice dock

Great playground if you have kids

There was also a snack shack and not too terrible washrooms for the public.

We carried on to Grove RV and ended up looking through a bunch of really expensive motorhomes in the showroom. We all enjoy checking out the shiny new ones and seeing the new gadgets they come with. Leslie hit a button for the night shades in one rig and it dropped down and kind of folded at the bottom. That's not the one we want lol. What's next? The part Steve wanted was there but ridiculous price, he can find it elsewhere at a way better deal. Of course all this walking and looking is making us a little hungry and thirsty. We needed to stop at TD bank anyway and "Oh look, it's a Canadian Brewhouse" in the same parking lot. How convenient! Steve & Diane have never been to Brewhouse before so it's a great idea.

Not too busy and good snacks and beer!

We had a great server, she was from Newfoundland originally and working here now. Super nice and takes a nice phone pic.

We drove back home and relaxed a bit before supper. Dianne invited us for burgers and salad tonight. Perfect! Burgers on the bbq are one my fave meals. Leslie's favourite is the salad and the meal was delicious. Great company and great food, life is good! 

June 3

We all had mentioned the night before that we would like to get in some exercise this morning. Steve & Dianne have resistance exercises that they like to do and Leslie and I like the walk/run thing so that's what we did first thing. Then back to the rig for some food and showers before we get going. Today we are going to Stony Plain Rodeo!! Steve has been to rodeos before but this is Dianne's first one! We're excited to take them as we know at a small town rodeo the seats are usually very close to the action. Even the nosebleed seats are only 10-12 feet up lol. First we have to find parking. Let's not do detail on this one but we found a school parking lot where a shuttle bus runs from and parked and boarded the "shuttle". Of course it's a school bus! How fun is this??

The wheels on the bus...

After a short ride to the rodeo grounds we got off and headed for the bleachers.

They got these Bud hats down south, howdy pard'ner, lil' lady

We walked past some booths selling hats and other good stuff but we wanted to get in and grab seats before it got too busy. The line at the mini donuts was way too long or we would have been enjoying that sugary treat. We found seats close to the middle and second row from the top. I could have jumped down if needed.

Not the only big hats in town and cold beer at the entrance!

We waited about 40 minutes for the start and a nice tribute to our military men and women after the national anthem. Good stuff.

Now let's get to the critters!

 Junior steer riding

 Barrel racing, always exciting and fast!

I didn't get pics of every event, that would be too much anyway. They had 3 girls doing trick riding that was really cool and some of the rides they did looked like the horse might step on the head. Incredibly athletic.

 Hands free at whole new level

Literally hanging from a galloping horse

And of course the event everybody loves at the rodeo.... bull riding! We had to wait a little because one of the bulls was trying to jump out of the chute. Didn't want to play nice that day, so the rodeo clown kept us entertained by messing with the pickup guys and dancing on the top of his barrel.

 Clown in back dancing and the pickup men

The bulls won the day, don't think anybody made 8 seconds

There it is, Dianne's first live rodeo and a great day so far. I think we all enjoyed the rodeo but it does get a little tough sitting on a plank for 3 hours in the heat. Good thing they had them big hats. Steve brought his"real" camera to the rodeo. If you'd like to see some better pics please check out their blog link at the top of this post. We caught the bus back to the truck and decided on supper at the 9 Iron Grill at the clubhouse at Pineridge. The food there is really good and it's so close to home. 

Well now that we had some fun.... I want to try to roll my shed to it's new spot tomorrow. Good times :)

May 26 - May 31, Pineridge time

May26
We set an alarm for 5 a.m. this morning!! Haven't done that in a very long time. Our athlete buddy Ailsa is running a 50 mile ultramarathon at Cooking Lake, about 2 hours drive from us. Her race starts at 6:30 so we are missing the start but we will be there for her first aid station stop. We left Seba Beach just before 6 am and with a quick stop for fuel and a breakfast sandwich in Sherwood Park we arrived at Islet Lake Staging area on the east side of Cooking Lake. Barry was there and all set up beside the course with the race gear for when she comes in. At about 8:50 we recognized Ailsa coming in on the trail. She sat and quickly pulled off her shoes to switch to her old favourites for trail running. Columbia has sent her some different shoes to try and the pair she had on were not working at all. Swap to the tested faves. On with a fresh running pack and see ya later.

Holding the pack up for easy slip on

That's how we help her race, be ready with the gear and respond to what is going on with her physically and mentally. Barry has been to so many races he can tell how she's doing just by talking to her so Leslie and I try to help with shoes and sunscreen etc so Barry can talk to her. It's actually pretty exciting during the races. She's in the lead quite often which helps with the excitement. So now we wait..... she runs, we sit. Race crew is exhausting lol.

A little while after the aid stop we got an unexpected surprise when Ailsa returned to the stop and pulled herself from the race! She strained a calf muscle prior to this race and it was giving her grief today. With the Western States 100 in Lake Tahoe race so close (it's a really big deal, only 350 competitors that had to win other major races to gain entry) she won't risk further injury. Tap out now and heal before we get to Lake Tahoe June 23rd for the 100 miler. Sad but smart.

We decided to pack up all the stuff and go over to Barry and Ailsa's place in St Albert for brunch, well that's what we'll call it anyway. We were supposed to have barbecued steak for supper after the race so Ailsa and Barry got everything going early and started on a massive brunch with steak, eggs, roasted veggies and well, we've been up for several hours, how about a beer!

Ailsa & Barry

We enjoyed a huge delicious meal and maybe a bottle of wine or 3, yeah we went a little overboard, but we recovered and drank a bunch of water so we could accomplish some things today. Much later in the afternoon Barry and Leslie went to Walmart for some new patio furniture and did a quick Costco run. Ailsa and I took Margaret for a walk around their neighbourhood. I was feeling tired so laid down for a nap while Ailsa did some chores around the house. When Barry and Leslie got back we all went outside and assembled the new furniture. It looks great! Unfortunately we didn't get a picture so you'll have to trust me on that. After all the work we went back inside and Ailsa warmed up all the food that she packed for the race for the crew. We ate pizza and salad that she made and Barry steamed some mussels in garlic butter, yum. After supper we decided to head home instead of the intended sleepover. The day had changed so much from the plan after Ailsa pulled out of the race. We're all tired and everyone needs a good nights sleep. We drove home into a little rain and called it a day. Sorry for the strained calf champ but we'll be ready for Western States in a month!

A little shower!

May27

We got a good sleep and a nice slow start to our day with coffee and breakfast. We are doing our run/walk this morning and I'm excited to try some new gear that Barry & Ailsa gave me yesterday!

New trail shoes and a cool running watch!

Barry had these shoes but they didn't fit him and he wasn't using them. They fit me so I'm trying them out, they are "zero" drop Altra trail shoes and he tells me to only go short distance until I get used to the flat profile. Lots of running shoes have a"drop" from heel to toe but these don't. It's supposed to be more natural with zero drop, or so I have read online. We'll see how they feel. Ailsa gave me the running watch that she won at last years Sinister 7 Ultra, how freakin' cool is that? They both have run watches already (of course) so I'm going to try this one. Thanks guys! Awesome having athlete friends with swag :) You guys have been a lot of help while I am trying this running thing.

After our morning routine we messaged Leslie's kids to se what they were doing. Sam was busy doing stuff but Ryan was home and doing projects in his yard. We love projects lol. Ashtyn's Mom is giving them a hot tub. Sweet! They are digging out a spot for a base beside their deck and we can do some planning for the fence we want to build at their place this summer.

New tub soon !

Just like the one on Instagram, pro work!

Instagram inspired base

It was a good workout, we shoveled the dirt into the wheel barrow, then from there into Ryans truck and he gets to shovel it off the truck at his dad's garden. You're on your own from here buddy! We kept some of the dirt so Ashtyn can upgrade the planter boxes in front of the garage. Let's say the others are umm, done.

Extra dirt for the new planter boxes

We finished up what we could and headed to BP's for supper. Ryan& Ashtyn are buying us supper for helping. Thanks guys! Leslie and I drove back to Pineridge and crashed. Good day and we're tired.

May 28

We felt good enough this morning to get a walk/run in this morning. We're both a little stiff from yesterday and moving around will help. It's time to do a major clean of our yard at Pineridge. Weed whip, spray some weeds, Leslie assemble and install the solar lights and we'll plan where we want to move our shed. The spot we have it in now just won't work with the new garage build. We work good as a team so in a little while the yard looked much better, can't wait to see the solar lights tonight, and we have a plan for where the shed will fit. Now just need a plan to move it, it's heavy, I went extra strength as usual when we built it, so now it will be a pain to move. I'm thinking rollers somehow on fence rails. The Egyptians built pyramids, I can move a shed right?

We needed a couple things from a grocery store so we decided to take the Mustang into the town of Wabuman to check out stores there. We are still exploring places to buy things here in the area. Of course when you live by the tracks, chances are you see a train.

Hear lots of these!

We toured the town and the dock a little and stopped at the car wash to spray off some bugs. We went to a small grocery store and then headed for home. Wabuman has a big dragonfly festival every year and they have the worlds biggest dragonfly at the edge of town.

That's a big dragonfly!

May 29

Today we are pulling out a small poplar that is too close to our bedroom slide and spreading some gravel on the west side of our lot between us and the neighbours. Jeff, the resort owner is coming with his skid steer to push over the tree and drop us some gravel. Thanks Jeff!

Too close for comfort that tree

Will make decent firewood when it dries

Taking out the low spot at the door

That looks better right?

Cool clouds overhead

We had some stuff to go to the dump after our little work bee. Leslie and I always joke about having a date to the dump so off we went on a "date". The transfer station here at Seba Beach is only open Tuesday and Saturday so our timing is good. The rest of the day we just did easy jobs and decided where we want the shed, for sure, we think??
May 30
We did the run/walk thing in the morning and got cleaned up decided to meet Sam at Mucho Burrito in Edmonton. Sam is working as a gardener and it's raining so it's a forced day off. Along the way I stopped at Spruce Grove Dodge to ask about a noise my truck is making. We agreed that it is the limited slip function making a noise in the rear diff. The service person felt that a differential oil change when I get my next service will do it. At least then they can have a good look at it. Oh and it's $300 for the look because the diff oil is expensive. Of course it is.
We had a great lunch with Sam. Mucho Burrito is a favourite of ours. We decided to stop at a greenhouse for Leslie to buy shrubs for the spot between us and the neighbours. Great idea, it's cold and windy and raining a little, let's shop outside! We got some shrubs, Leslie can tell you what they are, short greenish ones to me. Next we went over to Ryan's place to lend a hand cutting some 4x6 timber for the new planters and the hot tub base, at least that was in the garage out of the wind. Leslie, Sam and Ashtyn made supper for us all and then it was time to head home. The weather is supposed to be better the rest of the week.
May 31
Our friends Steve and Dianne from Living the Dream blog are coming tomorrow for a few days so we both wanted to extend the distance of our walk/run today. Leslie walked one loop with Margaret and then dropped her off and did a long loop around the entire resort. She got a good pic of the 8th hole and our rig at the end by the green.

Way down there is our trailer and Wabuman Lake in the background

Les planted her shrubs when we got home. They are Froebel Sprirea, like I said before they are a lovely shade of green lol.

Need to fill in some more gravel

We filled the rest of the day with some more outside jobs and I did a blog post. Had a nice fire and a cold beverage that evening. Not too shabby here at Pineridge, if we could just get an offer on our house in Bonnyville we wouldn't have to do double yard work! We're excited about the next few days with Steve & Dianne, we really enjoy their company and we want to tour them around a little so they can see our new neighbourhood. Oh and they might be the extra muscle for the shed move! Hi guys, look what we get to do!!!

We'll see how it goes.