Closing

12 Ag 21

08:00 hrs

     Good morning Dear Readers, 

     So here we are at the Sage's.  I've been here since Monday and Li'l Sis got here late last evening. She was delayed several hours coming out of Cowtown due to a horrific accident about a half hour out of town. She, and all the other westbound traffic, was diverted down a secondary dirt road that added three hours of travel time. Needless to say she got in the house and within twenty minutes she was changed and ready to go to ground. Naturally, she was up when the local Trash Pandas were still prowling the neighbourhood. I ended up rolling out of the rack a half hour later ... at 04:30 hrs. After my morning walk we finalized the photos and music for the service on Saturday. We still have to meet with the funeral director to ensure he has the ability to play our program. Tomorrow, I'll head south to Lake Town to pick up my Better Half and the Loin Fruits at the airport. The forest fires in the area are still burning and depending on the wind direction it can get pretty smokey. 

     Here's something that I have noticed and I may have mentioned it already. The next time you use your debit card and when the prompt appears for which account you want to use take a close look at the spelling of the word "chequing". Sometimes you will see it spelled "checking". Now, as far as I know - and as far as I'm concerned - it should be spelled "chequing". A "cheque" is an instrument of monetary transfer whereas a "check" is means to mark or indicate or identify an item. So, are you transferring monies or are you identifying something? It's pure laziness and probably influence from the You-Alls. Home Despot is a company from the Hugh-ess so guess which one is on their pin pad.

18:00 hrs.

     I learned today that one of my Cuz'ns is a new father. Congrats. His parents will be travelling out to the Sages for the final goodbye to the Senior Sage which takes place on Saturday.

     Right now we are ready to watc the Lions and the Stamps hammer each other in a game of pass the pigskin. I don't normally watch sports at the Wayward Inn. Maybe I should.

13 Aug 21

05:45 hrs.

     My Lobster and the Couch Monkeys are are the move. Their current position is at the Valley airport and they'll soon be on their way. I only hope that the smoke from the forest fires in the Interior will not hamper their arrival. Overnight another community has been evacuated from the Interior all the way to the Coast. Come Sunday we will have to drive near the area. That particular fire has grown in size to rival the largest city in the Golden Horseshoe - 560 sq. kilometers. 

This will be my last entry for a while as I am going to be busy Dear Readers. Stay tuned.

At the Duck Pond

06 Aug 21

07:00 hrs

     It's a good place to take a short rest in the middle of my walk. I'm schlepping along to the soundtrack from the movie Heavy Metal. That's right. The animated movie taken from the pages of the semi-adult fantasy magazine that educated so many of the youth in my cohort. In the time it took to listen from the title track to the opening of Queen Bee - some forty minutes - I covered over 4600 steps. As my dad would say, Not bad for an old fart!"

     On my journey I went past the latest rabbit hutch. I'm sure the interior trades are now working like a colonyňfo of ants. Electricians, plumbers, wall boarders, flooring guys - they'll all be pretty busy going from unit to unit. My Better Half got a reply from an enquiry she had sent to the developers. In part is said the units - the four one bedroom condos and the fourteen two bedroom condos are scheduled for completion this coming Jan/Feb. The starting price for the for the one bedroom units will be around the upper 300k mark and the two bedroom units near the lower 400k point. There was no mention what the hundreds of rentals. From their website - 24 condos, 204 rental apartments,  22 affordable suites (government mandated lower price), 1050 solar panels generating 345 kW. All fairly interesting.

07 Aug 21

05:30 hrs

     Yes, I am up too damn early. I want to finish this book, go for my walk and then install the dash cam in my Lobster's car. As I had my, after the Jr. Loin Fruit's accident we decided to purchase and install dash cams in all of our vehicles. I did the Ram and the only issue I had is that I needed to full time 12v outlets. One for the camera and one for my beacon lights when I'm on the airfield.  Those lights must not be on the ignition side of the power source. Therefore, the installation in the Ram was a bit more involved. What wasn't involved were either one of my two Couch Monkeys who knew that I would be or was actually installing the device and did not take the slightest interest in seeing how to install the unit. My Lobster has said that I am to assist them in putting their camera in. Well, first of all when I was their age I was already twisting wrenches on multi-million dollar pieces of equipment, could do my own oil changes and had installed stereos, radar detectors, fog/driving lights on numerous vehicles. These two... not so much. I think it's their lack of interest in acquiring the knowledge and expanding their skill set for their own benefit plus the wilful blindness of what is happening around them - unless it is in their interest - that pisses me off the most.

     Again, why should I have to help someone who : 

A- should be capable of doing it themselves and, 

B - is apathetic to their surroundings.

08 Aug 21

05:30 hrs

     By this time tomorrow I'll be in the Ram headed for Hub City to grab a ride with the Left Coast navy. By supper time I'll be at the Sage's. Li'l Sis will be joining me on Wednesday and my Better Half along with the Couch Monkeys arrive on Friday. On Saturday the family will gather to say goodbye to the Elder Sage. It should be a gathering of epic proportions however I will be driving my branch of the clan back to the Wayward Inn on Sunday so I will not be saying goodbye to the extent that I would like to. I'm sure my Lobster will be counting....1..2..3..4..5! The only thing that really concerns me is the driving portion of the trip. Not so much the driving but the forest fire situation is jeopardizing some routes. Unlike some provinces, this one does not have a radio frequency that continually broadcasts road conditions.

09 Aug 21

07:00 hrs 

     I'm on the boat. I even made it upstairs for breakfast. What a disappointment! I suppose the lackluster food offering is due to the drive for efficiency and the Beer Flu. And I think the virus was the Golden opportunity for the contracted provider to cut costs. No longer is there a choice of how you want your eggs. Everyone gets scrambled which in itself is not bad. If they're done right scrambled eggs are a delight. In fact, my Lobster makes the best scrambled eggs that I have ever had. However, these particular should never have come out of the industrial size cardboard box that they arrived in. I may be old but I almost had a flashback to a point before I was born. A point when troops in the Kotean War were fed powdered scrambled eggs. Certainly an affront to chickens everywhere and any Chef who was told by managment to cook them should have walked off the job. No plate. All the components of the meal - the shitty eggs, toast, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage and salsa - was geometrically placed inside a waxed cardboard takeout box. I suppose this the new high dining experience on board the Left  Coast Navy. 

     Speaking of dining experiences,  yesterday my Better Half, the Oma-nator and I were out for a bit of an adventure so we decided to stop for brunch at a local diner. Again, due to the Beer Flu the menu was limited. I chose the Monte Cristo sandwich. When I ordered it I had noted that it came with a wild berry aioli.  Right from the start I knew that this was just plain wrong. A Monte Cristo sandwich is supposed to be savory but the waitress assured me that there was very little on the sandwich. In hindsight I should lied and said I was allergic to aioli. But it wasn't just the condiment that ruined the dish it was its very construction. A Monte Cristo sandwich is ham and turkey between two slices of swiss cheese that is place between two slices of bread which is then dipped in egg batter and then fried until the cheese just starts to melt out. Perfection. This hot mess was two slices of french toast onto which the innards were piled on and steamed until the cheese poured out. Instead of being gooey and drippy the cheese was a liquid schmear. Obviously,  the cook - there is no way I would call the individual a Chef - was cutting corners by pre-making french toast that could be used for several different dishes. For example,  the Oma-nator ordered stuffed french toast which was just fruit and whipped cream placed between two pieces of french toast. And speaking of fruit, my Better Half ordered a Blackstone Benny which arrived with two forkfuls of hashbrowns, hollandaise sauce that looked like it was poured out of a can and no fruit. 

     No excuse!

Henry is Missing

29 Jul 21

06:45 hrs

     On my walk this AM I saw a sign on a bench at the duck pond by the Rabbit Warren. 

     HENRY IS STILL MISSING.

     Last seen June 18.

     Of course, Henry is a brown/black striped tabby that doesn't wander from home and will not approach strangers. Which points out the problem - if he doesn't wander then he should be at home and if he is not approachable by strangers it is unlikely that someone scooped him. The note doesn't say how old Henry is but all pet owners know that if their animal feels like it's going to die it will seek out a quiet place. That being said I would surmise that Henry could be close to home but someplace that he felt really safe or if he did get out near the duck pond a hungry eagle may have picked him up for lunch.

03 Aug 21

06:00 hrs

     I know that I have been slacking off on my blogging but I have been busy doing stuff around the Wayward Inn. That plus the walking regimen is keeping things hopping. And that's a good thing as I am down five pounds but whose counting. It's more about health choices.

     The apple tree that had been up against our back fence for the past ten years finally broke its bonds and fell over. Many years ago it had been secured from falling over with some 100lb cordage. When that finally broke the weight of the apples was too much and the tree toppled onto the yard. Realistically, the planter box that it was in was too shallow. We are planning on using the box for other gardening ventures but I have been tasked at raising the box.

22:30 hrs

     If you have seen the news of late the new variant of the Beer Flu has struck the Hugh-ess with vengeance. Of course the politics of getting the shot and making is being pushed to the forefront. The end result is that more You-Alls are going to die.

04 Aug 21

17:00 hrs

     The heat here in the Valley is oppressive. Thank goodness we don't have the humidity like they do in the Golden Horseshoe. Down there you can shower at 06:00. Go for breakfast and by the time you get to work you need another shower. It's so humid you practically drink the air you breath. 

     My Better Half informed me that was a wild fire reported over on the Beauforts just about directly across the valley from us. The bush has been without precipitation for over a month. Hopefully, the forest service has a handle on it. I haven't seen a lot of smoke over that way so I'm sure it's under control. 

     The Ram has a dash cam. Eventually,  I'll get them installed in all of our vehicles. 

     The Oma-nator has made well over a dozen and a half dish cloths for me to take to the Interior. It gives her a purpose.

     With so little time left I've really enjoying not working. It's not that I don't want to work. It's that the project I was providing security for is on hold and the boss has nothing else for me. So tomorrow, after my morning walk I'll start getting my gear ready for after the trip to the Sage's. Tent, camp stove, kitchen, tarps, ropes, electronics and the like. I really should make a list.