Project Completed

18 Mar 18
08:18 hrs

     Work on the Mobile Wayward Inn has now been completed. The floor was resurfaced, trim installed, a new power inverter (the likely cause of the persistent electrical power supply and distribution issues), one new battery and a battery isolation switch with new cables. All that is left is to de-winterize the water system and, if possible, have the vehicle electrical coupling changed (with the new hitch the cable is a wee bit short).

     The Loin Fruits are now of an age where they no longer want to go camping with us and I'm not going to make them either. They know how much fun it is to go out with the Mobile Wayward Inn but I can see spending more time around a campfire with my Lobster - sans Couch Monkeys. Everyone could do with a little more campfire therapy.

19 Mar 18
06:30 hrs.

     The start of another busy week. The Sr. Loin Fruit starts his new job on Tuesday.  Hazah! The Jr. Couch Monkey has an early class today. My Lobster is off to brighten the day of some gloomy people - it's a Gift that she has. And yours truly, Dear Readers, will try to keep his nose clean and out of trouble while keeping the streets safe from the nasty four legged beasties.

20 Mar 18
05:45 hrs.

     I have noticed a lot of new buildings going up in the Valley. Lots of residential and some commercial. Unfortunately the residential properties are not rentals which are much needed and there are already many commercial properties that are sitting empty. The problem is our city fathers can only see $$$ from building permits and property taxes even if the building sits unused. For the speculators, putting up these shells are a straight tax right off and therefore profitable.  Eventually, when the building gains an occupant or is sold it will be even more profitable.

     A win/win, right? Wrong!

     The citizens of the Valley end up losing with all the empty buildings. Sure money is made during the construction phase but once empty the jobs are gone. Those construction workers could be out of River City or Hub City or the Capital Region or even from the Mainland and they are not spending their wages here in the Valley. They're taking it home.

     My Better Half and I watched a movie on Netflix last night. Well, she watched it and I saw most of it. It was called BURNT. A movie about a Michelin level chef clawing his way back into the industry. Sure, it was produced by the Weinstein Company with Chef Mario Batali providing culinary consulting. It is a good movie and if you are enamored, like I am, with the world of the higher end of the food scale then you will really enjoy it. Here in the Valley there are quote a few really good restaurants and maybe four or five outstanding eateries and possibly one incredible destination.

     Some have asked why Chef Blaine has never tried to achieve this level of expertise.  He states that maybe in another lifetime but for now he is happy to feed the guests at the Wayward Inn.

     Enjoy.

Uninvited Guests

14 Mar 18
06:30 hrs

     For those of you, Dear Readers, who have been following this diatribe for any length of time you know full and well that the ethos of Wayward Inn is to be welcoming to all walks of life. We have even stated that the Wayward Inn is a safe haven for those in need and assistance, along with guidance will be rendered. That being said there are some who are not welcome at the Wayward Inn.  Vladimir Putin along with the Tangerine Tyrant and most politicians for that matter, members of the press, door-to-door purveyors of religious ideals, raptors (the NBA team the flying ones are cool), fleas, giant centipedes, a wolverine that is high on angel dust, Klansmen, goats and vermin.

     Last autumn my Better Half and I were sitting out back, hoping the Albertans next door would curb their kids, when she spotted a creature racing across the top of our back fence.

     "Look! A mouse!"

     Our two cats were certainly interested but one quick glance told me that this was not a mouse but a rat. After checking around the raised planter I found a hole where it or they had been coming under the fence. I waited until two days ago to set the trap and baited it with the world's best vermin bait...peanut butter. Sure enough, yesterday I was rewarded with a foot long rat that was promptly bagged and Tossed into the trash. I had thought of tossing it into the Albertans yard but they now have a new four legged canine noise maker and I would not want to harm it. I reset the trap but neglected to bait the trap fully. This morning the trap was sprung with no carcass so I re-baited it and reset it. Time will tell.

     Speaking of unwanted vermin, Britain is punting out nearly two dozen undeclared intelligence agents as a reprisal to the poisoning of a Russian double agent who was working for the Brits. For the Russians, the use of poison to eliminate opponents on foreign soil is the preferred method above all others. The Bits have begun to investigate another twenty some odd other mysterious deaths of foreign nationals that had been previously ruled as accidental.

     Another unwanted individual would be Rep. Saccone (R) from Pennsylvania. In a special election the undeclared winner is (a) Lamb. Mind you there are still a couple of absentee in ballots to be counted but even if you divide them equally (the) Lamb wins. If nothing else this is a huge loss to the Tangerine Tyrant's base. A year after he had handily taken the state in the general election with promises of restarting the coal industry, among other things, the electorate is quite obviously displeased. More to follow.

     For those of you who reside in the Valley  I am sure that you are aware that the Snow Chickens will be arriving in a couple of weeks for their annual training session.  With their arrival there will be the annual return of the  noise complaints from those who consider the air demonstration team to be unwanted guests. Well Kidlettes, the air base and it's noise generating visitors were here long before you were and if you live near an air field you can expect to have aircraft noise just as you can expect to be enjoying the scent of nature if you live near a farm.

This will NOT be pretty!

07 Mar 18
05:05 hrs

     At long last there has been some headway made at the Wayward Inn.

     Our Sr. Couch Monkey has been so engaging and helpful since he left college we sometimes wonder if it's been a case of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He has spent the past couple of weeks upgrading his basic job skills with a group in town called Blade Runners. They facilitate people to get basic first aid, food safe, whmis and a bunch of other letters. Once done the applicants are placed into work experience slots hopefully in fields of interest. Blade Runners also pushes the applicants to pump out the CV's and distribute them. Now that this is all said and done the Elder Loin Fruit has been placed in a field of his liking and he starts this afternoon. Yeaaaaaah! He also has a position on hold in the service industry.  DOUBLE YEAAAAAAH!!

     Our Jr. Loin Fruit has grasped the importance of not getting sucked down the rabbit hole on his computer. He was always using Google Docs for his homework because he could work on it here and pick up where he left off at school and vice versa. But, if the Net goes down your screwed because all of it is in The Cloud. Well, skeezicks pull your head out of the cloud and out of your ass too. Here's a brand new copy of MS OFFICE so now you can do your homework at anytime. Save it on your hard drive and back it up on a jump drive. This was something I tried to impress upon the Sr. Couch Monkey when he was doing his English 12 through Distance Ed. After five months of taking the course he informed us that he had 85% of it completed. When I had checked with the school he had turned in only one assignment.

     So I sez to my son, the flesh of my flesh, "Where's the rest of the work you have done?"

     "I had sent it in. They must have lost it."

     "But, you saved a copy of your work right?"

     "Yeah Dad, it's in the Cloud."

     "Well, pull it out of the Cloud and re-send it to them because as of right now they have just one assignment from you. Now, if you have done the work, and you say that you have, then let's make sure they get it."

     "Okay, Dad."

     A couple of days later I checked with the Distance Ed staff and they had recieved nothing. My Best and Brightest now tells me that the Cloud must have glitches because he can't find it.

     "Well then, you did save all of your work onto a jump drive before saving it on THE CLOUD, right?"

     "No, Dad. I didn't."

     "Well, unless you can pull it out of THE CLOUD" you will have to do it all over."

     And, he did.

12:25 hrs

     The fuel prices have gone through the roof, starting on the Mainland. This will certainly impact travel, especially for tbe commuters. One caller on CBC indicated that if the Hugh-Ess wants to put a tariff on materials - aluminium and steel - coming over the border then WE should tariff the crude oil heading South of the 49th Parallel. Sounds good to me.

     The Oma-nator has gone back to the Nation's Capital but her presence still lingers as I was subjected to watching the end of The Bachelor.  Yes, Dear Readers have some pity on me.

08 Mar 18
06:45 hrs

     Today is International Women's Day, the day that is supposed to used to recognize and promote the women around the world. This isn't like Mother's Day where you drop a dime and call mom to see if she of she's still playing bingo at the seniors centre on Thursday afternoon.   No, this is much more important. I would like you, Dear Reader, to take the time and reflect on the plight of women around the world where they have no rights. Places like Saudi Arabia, where a husband can legally behead at high noon in the middle of a traffic circle his wife for any suspected transgressions. Where hundred and hundreds of girls are taken at night from their villages to become slaves and the tribal womb for the Boko Haram. Yes, think about this when you hear of the plight of the hard done by like Paris, Chloe, Ivanka and all the rest. The self promotion of their petty issues is enough to make me want to puke coat hangers. 

    

Happy Birthday!

625 Feb 18
07:00 hrs

     Yesterday was The Oma-nator's 85th birthday. We held a surprise party for her at the Wayward Inn with a dozen or so friends in attendance. Chef Blaine and Sous Irene with the assistance of the Loin Fruits put on a spread of food. We had a great time. Too bad you missed it.

26 Feb 18
13:15 hrs

     There has been a change on my health of late. For the better for all actually even though it is a sign that I am getting older. That's right, I now have hearing aids. For years I have been suffering from hearing loss and a major case of tinitus complements of working on a flight line with hearing protection. This condition has caused me to persistently raise my voice to the point that everyone at the Wayward Inn said you must be angry because your shouting or talking loudly. This in turn put them on edge which put me on edge.

     Round and round.

     It was my Lobster and my friend from Over the Hump who more or less demanded that I go in to Connect Hearing for a diagnosis. Sure enough, it was Service related and the DVA claim was launched. That was last year. The claim was accepted but still I did not go in to get the devices. Finally, after putting up with it for a while longer - read self denial - I finally went in and was fitted for a pair of Phonak hearing aids.

     Are they any good?
     To quote the Sages -"They're Awesome!"

     I think the most impressive part is the absolute clarity that they provide from the world around me. Here's an example of the clarity:

     At the end of the day I had folded me pants over the bench at the end of the he'd.  Some change had fallen out of my pocket. No big deal. I picked it up and tossed them into my coin jar But what I didn't know was two coins - a quarter and a loonies had falling into the rolled cuff of my pants.  For the next two days I would be walking and I could hear coins clinking together and I would check my pockets. Nothing but a couple of old receipts. Clank. Clink. Check again. Still nothing. I thought I was losing my bloody mind. Then, I had to tie up a shoe lace. Lo and behold I found the coins. Coins that I had been hearing for two days.

     Simply amazing.

19:00 hrs

      I got home back to the Wayward Inn to find the evening meal ready and no one had eaten. They had waited for me. Well, don't do that. I am used to grubbing for leftovers. Thanks for thinking about me though. It feel nice to be wanted.

     Currently, my Better Half and I are seated in the back row of a Graduation Dessert Night meeting. I know, it's bullshit. From what I've seen the parents of the grads get more wrapped up and enamored with goings on than the kids do. That being said, I think the parents are just wanting to celebrate the milestone their child has achieved.

19:46 hrs

     The meeting is over and a lot of info was passed on to us. Info that we will then pass to our Jr. Couch Monkey. That's all folks time to go back to the Wayward Inn and work on the new tome.

    

The Olympics Anyone?

15 Feb 18
06:05 hrs.

     Some people are all pumped up about the Olympics. Some are not. Here at the Wayward Inn, I am slow to catch that Olympic Fever but I am a starting to catch it now. The individual sports and the small team events are always great to watch in any Olympic competition where the training and skill of the individual shines through like a beacon. It was in the larger team sports that soured my Olympic viewing. Years ago the Olympics was for amateur athletes only. Once you were paid to participate in that sport you were a professional athlete and you wete no longer eligible to participate in The O-Games. The former Soviet Union's Red Army hockey team got around this rule by publicly stating the team members were all "paid as members of the army" who just happened to play hockey. Everyone knew that this was bullshit but little could be done. Somewhere along the line the IOC gave permission for recognizable professional athletes to enter the Olympics especially when the You-alls pushed forward their "Dream Team" in hockey and basketball.

     BULLSHIT!

     Reality came in the last couple of years when widespread doping by the Russian Olympic teams was proven to the world which lead to a total ban of the Russian Olympic Team. Individual athletes from Russia are allowed to compete but they do so under the Olympic flag.

     All of this has has been in the news so unless you have been living under a rock you should be aware of this. Another news item ypu should be aware of is the latest shooting in the Hugh-Ess. A former disgruntled student in Florida was able to legally purchase an assault rifle with no wait and no background check. He entered his former high school, pulled the fire alarm and started shooting. Seventeen people dead. Oh, he was an adopted troubled youth.

     BULLSHIT! GIVE HIM THE CHAIR!

     From the news feed the FBI were aware from Facebook posts from someone with his name that this was going to happen. From what I've learned thus far local authorities did nothing. They should be held accountable as well. The question remains when will the Hugh-Ess government wade in and try to prevent this sort of domestic terrorism violence. In 2018 there has been more than two dozen school shootings already. That's one every two days and since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 there have been 273 schools have been shot up.

     How many more innocent lives have to be lost?   Real change will never happen as long as the gun culture is addressed. Of weapons known to be legally licenced there are 101 weapons for every 100 persons in the Hugh-Ess. In Japan, the ratio is something like .23 weapons for every 100 persons. It takes six months and a mountain of paperwork just to buy a shotgun and last year there were six deaths attributed to gun violence.

     Six! That's all.

     Something to think about.

     Here's another thing to think about. A member of the gun lobby wrote a report for the ATF on the need to reduce the amount of restrictions on acquiring/owning firearms. Of course he did.

     This just in...

     The Tangerine Tyrant says he will find a way to make schools safer but did not mention gun control in his speech. Go figure. After the Sandy Hook shooting the NRA stated lives would have been saved if "the teachers were armed".

     Inanity at its best.

    

The Winter BLAHS

07 Feb 18
17:30 hrs

     Yes Dear Readers the Winter BLAHS are upon us. The weather is still dreary with the continual daily drizzle foggy sun-less days that suck the life right out of you. The dampness can seep into your bones right down to the marrow and if you are not on your guard somewhere you will get tagged by a virus that will make the next week even more miserable.

     My Better Half has a cold. If all goes well it will last two weeks on the inside. On the outside it will be a bulk of Costco triple ply kleenex, plenty of tea, lozenges and a boatload of angst. It's now time to step up. My advice to those in the same position is to ne more attentive and patient with your loved one. If you don't, then heaven help you.

08 Feb 18
06:00 hrs

     Have you heard the words coming out of our Prime Minister' face lately? I'm not talking about his so called joke about moving to a more inclusive term by replacing the word "man" with "people" which social media immediately grabbed onto and jumped into submission. Peopletoba, Peoplehole, People-ager and more were posted along with the PM's likeness. No, I'm talking about Justin's response to a Canadian veteran who asked, "Why the Feds and Canadian Veterans Affairs have not come through with their promise to reverse the former  Conservative governments cost saving measure of changing Veteran disability pensions from a Life Long pension to a Lump Sum payout". In no way does the  latter add up to the former and as a result injured service members who filed a claim prior to 2006 recieved a life long pension for their injury and those who filed after the change received a calculated lump sum dependant on the type of injury sustained. In other words, this has created a double standard amongst veterans and Justin was elected in part because he said he would correct it.

     Well, there was a bit of a change. The Trudeau government has now allowed the lump sum to be payed out over an extended length of time. It's as if they believe the ex-service members are a bunch of stunned morons.

     "Hey, look over here!  It's shiny and new! Come on boy! You know you want it! It's all yours! Just for you! Good boy!"

     Who in the hell are they trying to fool? The numbers don't add up and everyone knows it. Of course, the Fed's hoped that no one would notice that they were trying to pull a fast one but the average veteran is nobody's fool. When confronted by a veteran who asked the PM why there was still the double standard and why has it not been corrected Justin responded, "They (the veterans) have asked for more than we can give at this time".

     Social media has not been kind to the PM and I can appreciate the all attention that it is receiving. There has been numerous memes depicting wounded vets struggling with paying for daily neccessities while corporations, foreign countries and immigrants & refugees are handed federal monies by the boat load. Really Justin? $20 million to the Clinton Foundation! Sure, as a veteran and as a Canadian, this blatant federal government we'll do want we want and screw you attitude pisses me off but despite the rhetoric there was a portion of Justin's reply that is being purposely left out. They are the last three words. "At this time". Now, if he was a smart politician he would stop being the global Liberal that his father was. Stop the federal loans to Outer Slobobia which, after the Third World country declares bankruptcy, is then added to the Canadian National Debt and start looking after the kids in your own back yard with some real iniatives. If you don't, you'll soon be looking at the Speaker of the House from the other side of the aisle.  

     Our Sr. Loin Fruit has had a job interview and is awaiting the results. In the meantime, he is being proactive with training sessions with Blade Runners. I know the job market is tough but as long as he is putting forth a concerted effort then I can't complain. It's going to take some time. Meanwhile, the Jr. Couch Monkey has recieved his report card from his first semester. Considering the pace at which the semester system moves and after missing almost three weeks of schooling when he went to Okinawa he still managed to complete the majority of the outstanding homework that resulted in a solid "B" across his subjects. This semester he has only three subjects and a study block so he should be able to pull up his socks.

    

    

Guess who's coming for dinner?

01 Feb 18
10:00 hrs

     About two weeks ago my Lobster headed for the Nation's Capital to look after The Oma-nator who had been suffering from the flu. The decision was made to have her come out to the Wayward Inn for an extended length of time. After moving the Sr. Couch Monkey into the guest suite The Oma-nator will now have a larger room with an ensuite. She is a joy and I can't wait to see her.

02 Feb 18
07:15 hrs

     Happy Ground Hog Day!
     And once again the proponents of such animal weather forecasting have misinterpreted the signs. The press, bowing to public pressure, has screwed this up just like a lot of other things. The popular misconception is that if the groundhog doesn't see his shadow winter will will end early. This is wrong. The saying is "If the groundhog sees his shadow and goes back in his burrow there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow then winter will end on time." Around the continent there are a number of these hairy hoary quantum meterologists. There is Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie and Shubenacadie Sam to name but a few. This year, Staten Island Chuck predicted six more weeks of winter, the immortal Punxsutawney Phil celebrated his 132nd weather prediciction and Shubenacadie Sam bit the CBC reporter.

     Yours truly has a meeting with the new manager. He's the FNG and is up from the Island's Capital on a "fact finding tour". This is a first. In four years, ever since the local manager was dispensed with, no one has ever been up to check on us.  In four years no one has responded to any of our requests. On four years no one has written the required annual performance evaluation, which they call an "alignment check". I wonder if this FNG wants the truth or just a nice story. It's not that we need a manager here in the Valley but we do need someone responsible to answer our questions and cover our six. That's all we need. In the job that we do any additional managerial oversight would be a detriment to our task.

20:30 hrs

     I met the FNG and the Handler at the office this morning. The mooks  didn't even take us for a coffee. But at least it was made clear that we need a new patrol vehicle and it was accepted as a fact.

     My Lobster and the Oma-nator will be touching down in a few hours. Fresh flowers have been bought for both of them. I'll make some canoli tomorrow as a dessert. I would have done it today but Sous Irene wants in on it.

     I read that the words to our national anthem are becoming gender neutral. When I read this I posted a response to the change on Facebook. If you haven't read it yet here it is.

     Personally speaking changing the words to our national anthem to be gender neutral is stupid. I'm going to sing the anthem the way I learned it in grade school. Changing the words so some people won't be offended offends me. It seems that people's skins are getting thinner on a daily basis...and the cry of "I FEEL OFFENDED" is only getting louder. The Calming the Nation is only creating more sheep. For all those agree with the new change I can hear you singing it already.....

BAAA BAAA BAAAAA!