I think I have the Turkey Brain

Well Christmas number two is over.....and another turkey dinner is history. I feel like that guy in the commercial with the Turkey brain from all the left overs. My daughter has winged back to Calgary heavier with presents after a good visit. My father is on the mend, home again and feeling much better. We have had a few minor snow falls all of which only required a shovel but on one of them I hauled out the snow blower as it hadn't been used last year or yet this year. Surprise it started right up and after a short coughing spell starting purring. Boy I am missing not heading down south this year and reading all the blogs of those who have just adds to the funk I am in. Oh well maybe Sue and I can get away for the March break down to Myrtle Beach which is only a day and 1/2 drive south. Won't take the trailer however, I know a friend who has a number of time shares which I might be able to rent. Well off to go out and sit in the hot tub. I can at least have the warm water if not the warm air outside.
Doug.

gearing up for Christmas number 2

Christmas was a bit different this year as I had to call an ambulance for my father on Dec. 23 He had a cold that moved down into his chest and made him quite stuffed up. On a 93 year old that is not a good thing so off to the hospital where he was for a full week. This kinda changed our Christmas plans as the number of people coming to our house for Christmas dinner kept changing. Oh well a smaller group this year only 12 but a good time non the less. My father is now home and on the mend but a week in the hospital takes a toll on a 93 year old and it will take some time to get back to normal. I will be staying around Ontario this winter to help with caring for him. Now to Christmas number 2..... my daughter who lives in Calgary now has never missed a Christmas before but had to work this year sooooo she is flying in on Jan. 10th and my wife assured her that we would have a Christmas with her then, sooooo, that means all the decorations stay up and we will be having another Christmas dinner while she is here. I hope the weather co-operates and she has a good flight into Kitchener with no major snow storms to contend with.
Hasn't been bad here so far this winter. I still haven't used the snow blower once yet this season.
To all a very Happy New Year
Doug.

caught in the middle of snow

It's fall in Ontario which means Lake effect yes Buffalo NY south of here got walloped last week with about 100 cm of snow and this week its the Bayfield London Corridor north west of here that got about 100 cm of snow. Here in the middle in St. George we only have a light dusting of the white stuff on the ground. Hardly enough for a good snowball. Oh well I'm sure the snow belt areas are hoping the lakes freeze over soon to help put an end to the constant snow streamers coming off the lakes. I have been trying to catch up on the honey do list and so have been painting for the last few days. I hate painting I'm just too big and clumsy for it and inevitably get paint all over where it's not suppose to be all over. Oh well almost finished that job just some touch ups left to do. Went out to Swiss Chalet last night and ran into a group of friends from my working days. A group of school secretary's were out doing the Christmas special thing. It was nice seeing some of the people who really do run the school. I don't think the secretaries, caretakers and EA's get enough recognition for the work they do I know they don't get the pay they deserve. Well almost ready for Christmas, the tree is up and presents bought. This will be a different Christmas however as our for the first time our daughter will not be home. She is in Calgary and has to work over the holidays but she will be home in January for a belated Christmas and our Son who is presently in Sask. working in the oil fields still isn't sure if he'll be home this year. Oh well got to get the work while you can. Still not sure if I'm heading down south this winter or not. Once Sue decides to retire that question will be a no brainer. Sandy beaches here we come.

Christmas decorating.

My DW decided to pull out all the christmas decorations we have stored in the basement. She wants to decorate but more importantly we are hoping to downsize the pile in preparation for selling our house. Hopefully when Sue decides to retire we will go full timing for a while sooooo got to get rid of a lot of stuff so we don't have to store it somewhere. Boy do we have a lot of "stuff", seems every shelf wall space etc. has a christmas "thing" on it. I downsized the outside decorations last year so don't have many of those to get rid of. Still no accumulation of snow on the ground here but heard that south of here in Buffalo they got a big dump of snow. Well the rest of my time has been spent doing "chores" for Sue I made a big pot of chilli for her to take to work for treat day and a few shopping trips.
Doug.

Deja Vu

Dreary and overcast here for the last few days, however the temps have been OK for this time of year getting up to 12 degrees Celsius yesterday but lots of rain. Got a call from a former colleague of mine who had to attend a meeting in Toronto today and wanted to know if I would like a days work covering for him. So that is where I was today back at that 4 letter word... work.. Actually had a good time got some work done for him and had some time to visit other colleagues I knew. The temps have been dropping all day and this evening it started to snow not sure if we will be getting much of an accumulation though. This evening Sue and I plan on starting the house decorating for Christmas. Oh by the way I mentioned that our church and choir taped a version of Silent Night to raise money for the armed forces chaplins the finished product can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gf1UsiqscE
Be kind we are a small church :-)
Doug

a youtube sunday

I sing in our church choir and after this morning's service we taped the choir and congregation singing Silent Night to upload to YouTube. This is an initiative of the Anglican church of Canada who have challenged other Anglican churches to do the same. Those who do are also encouraged to donate a twoonie for each singer which will be given to the Anglican Padres in the armed forces for use with our troops in Afghanistan. I will post the link once our effort is uploaded. Left directly after church to drive to the Stoney Creek home of my sister who was holding an open house. She designs and makes artificial flower arrangements and Christmas decorations and holds this open house once a year. She and my Father (who carves) have all the artistic talent in the family, I certainly don't. After supper I headed back home to watch the Grey Cup. Good game except the team I wanted to win Saskatchewan blew it with an interception in the last 2 minutes to loose to Montreal. The weather has warmed up here again and no traces of the snow from yesterday.
Doug.

Christmas crowds

Well temps went down last night to -6 degrees C. and the wind was a howling. Started to (caution four letter word) snow mid morning...........but not too bad so decided to head up to Cambridge to go to Costco. Got about 15 km north of here and it started coming down big time had about 4 cm on the ground already. It got so bad I decided to turn around and head home. About 2 km north of town it cleared up and the snow was melting as it hit the ground so just wisps of white in the low areas, funny how the weather can be so different between two close communities. Went into Brantford to see if inspiration would hit for a few gifts I need to get. Well the Christmas crowds were out in full force. hurry, hurry, jostle here, jostle there, everyone in a rush. Didn't get inspired much on the gift side but met the DW in town and we finally did it.......... yes after many many years of wedded bliss we finally............... bought an artificial Christmas tree. Yikes another thing that needs to be put together. I hope I don't end up with spare pieces when I'm finished like I usually do. That little foray up to Cambridge got we wondering why I'm not heading down south about now. Maybe after the holidays. :-(
Doug.

Been a mild fall so far

This fall has been really mild here in Southern Ontario so far, and I haven't seen a flake of snow yet. Well Sue and I went to a retirement seminar for her (I am already retired) last week and she has finally decided when she will be retiring. Not ready to make it public yet but will be within the next two years. Hooray Boy sure am getting envious of all the people who I follow in blog land who are already down south or are heading there. I have spent the last two winters down in the Rio Grand Valley and have had a ball..........this year however, not sure if I will make it down south. After the great trip we had this summer out to Alberta and B.C. I might just sit tight and try to replenish my bank account (and try to pay down the loan for the new truck I got). As you may know Glendale (who made the Titanium 5th wheel I own) went bankrupt last January. Well I just found out that Heartland RV bought the rights to the patented design of the cab over Titanium and are producing a new Bighorn Titanium edition. They have just built the first prototype and it should be at the winter and spring RV shows. May have to start saving my pennies for one of these babies in the future.