Kevin's Ramblings…

I was booked for a trip to Ontario last October and was looking forward to it. A week before I was set to go, I got a sinus infection. My doctor suggested not flying and gave me some good reasons, so, reluctantly, I cancelled the trip. I had a good staycation at home.

I’ve been figuring out when I could return, had thought about June but that didn’t work out and then thought that I’d go for 4 days around my birthday.

On Wednesday, I booked a flight and would be in Ontario from August 8 and return on August 12.

On Thursday, the airline that I booked with declared bankruptcy and will cease operations effective tomorrow, Sunday.

I am not an overly superstitious person, but I’m feeling like something is not wanting me to visit Ontario. I’ve mentioned this to a few people, people that I wouldn’t say are overly superstitious either, but they agree.

So, for now anyway, I am not rebooking with another airline and am not thinking of visiting this year.

I called the bank and after waiting on hold for just over 2 hours, I found that yes, indeed, I’ll get a refund on the flight. The agent I spoke to was apologetic about the wait, they had never seen call volume that high. It’ll take up to a few weeks to get my refund, but that’s ok.

So, now I need to find another time to take some time off. Doubt I’ll go anywhere, a staycation sounds good to me.

I’m.on day 3 of a 4 day weekend. I needed a break at work and I got one.

My friend and former neighbour turned 65 on Thursday and I can down to Crowsnest Pass for the weekend. Hera and Twix are at home and I’m having my “dog lady” look after them. Excellent service, she’ll come and let them out or take them for walks if I’m away and this weekend, she’s staying in my spare room and looking after the dogs.

I let Airdrie around 1030 on Friday morning and had a smooth trip down to Crowsnest Pass. I stayed in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in downtown Blairmore. They’ve done a great job with the renovations, the rooms were very clean, gorgeous hardware floors and quite comfortable.

Friday night I had a great home cooked meal consisting of pan-fried steaks, baked potato, carrots and brussels sprouts. We had cheesecake for dessert. On Saturday, we headed to Kalispell, Montana. We stopped at Walmart and then Costco. Costco was a disappointment. Just about everything was at least as much as it would be in Canada then you add on 35% for the exchange rate. Not impressed. We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and it was as good as always.

Last night we went out for Indian food and it was great. I’m heading home this afternoon and will be off tomorrow for Family Day.

All in all, a great weekend.

I’ve been in Airdrie Alberta for almost 2 months now. I’m really liking the city. It’s a good size, the population is around 80000 people. It’s well.laid out and easy to get around in. Rush hour can be a bit slow going, but all in all I don’t mind driving even during those slower times.

The house I’m in is great. I have a basement suite, 2 bedrooms and it’s a good size. There’s plenty of light from the windows and both bedrooms have full size windows in case we need to get out via an alternative method.

I’m thinking that I may move upstairs when the tenant up there vacates, she’s looking at buying a house. It would give me access to the fenced in backyard, a larger deck and a very cool fire pit area. More importantly, no stairs. As the dogs get older, they’ll start to struggle with the steps, I am sure. No issues now, but Hera is 9 and Twix will be 11 in less than 2 weeks. There are 3 bedrooms up there, unsure of the exact layout, so the bedrooms must be smaller, or the living room / dining room are smaller anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Airdrie has everything that I could need, pretty much. I do have to take a 5 minute drive south on Highway 2 to get to Costco, but that’s not a big deal at all. There are 2 grocery stores within walking distance, restaurants galore and everything else that I could want or need within a short drive. I’ve noticed that I’m saving a bunch in gas. I filled up this morning for $64, I still had a half tank and I last filled 2 weeks ago.

Calgary is close, I can get to downtown in 25 minutes or so. I’m looking forward to umpiring the spring/summer league with Babe Ruth Calgary again. I may also do some umpiring in Airdrie, unsure as yet.

So. All in all, I’m very happy being back in the area. I’m missing my friends in Crowsnest Pass, but I’m definitely not missing the constant wind and the typically crappy weather. I’m glad I made the move north, even though the trailer experience didn’t work out as planned.

I think I’m settled, until I decide to retire and that’ll be here before I know it, I’m sure.

The nasty cold snap that we had has ended. We had 10 or 12 days with nighttime lows in the low -30s and not much warmer during the day. It was 6C yesterday, so, much better.

The dogs didn’t get to go for a walk during that time. It’s too cold for Hera, never mind Twix who has rather thin fur. They were very happy to go for a walk again.

I have a 3-day weekend this weekend, I’m off today. I also have no plans which is awesome. I may go to Costco, but otherwise I’m not doing anything. That’s a good weekend as far as I’m concerned.

Last weekend the Buffalo Bills lost in the playoffs, again and continue letting me down, year after year. It’s been almost 40 years in a row now. I guess it’s like being a Leafs fan. Some have suggested that I choose another team. Nope. Can’t do it.

So, if I watch any more football, I really don’t care who wins although I DO NOT want the Chiefs to win this weekend, I doubt they will though. I’d love to see the Lions beat the 49ers but I sort of doubt that’ll happen either.

Nothing else much going on, and that’s ok. Enjoy your weekend when it arrives

I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks, but a fair amount has happened.

Winter has finally arrived in Alberta, and many other places and it didn’t arrive slowly, it arrived like an avalanche.

One day, it was 15C and then the next it was in the low -30s. It was literally that quick. Let me tell ya, although I enjoyed living in the trailer, I’m glad that I have not been in it the last 10 days or so. The furnace would have been able to keep it at a comfortable temperature, but it would have run almost constantly. I can’t imagine going to and from the main building for the washroom, shower and for getting water for the dogs. Walking 300 meters or so in the low -30s would not be fun, not at all.

So. Needless to say, I’m very glad that I’m in a house. A nice. Warm house with running water and sewer. VERY GLAD.

I’m sure the dogs are pretty glad as well. Although they’d follow me on whatever quest that I decided we needed to do. They are loyal, awesome dogs.

Work has been busy and a bit rocky. We are working on the rockyness and hopefully will get that sorted soon.

I had some rather bad news delivered last week. My ex-boss and friend Chris, who was responsible for sending me to Alberta from Ontario (and believe me, that’s a good thing) passed very suddenly after a very short battle with cancer. He was a big, teddy bear of man with an excellent heart. He was a great boss and an even better person. He will be missed by all who knew him and I wish his family my sincere condolences.

Here’s to Chris and also to hoping for a short winter, although we know the short winter won’t happen, so, here’s to Chris !!!

So, I’m not a huge New Year’s Resolution type person, typically. This year, I’m making an exception and going to try very hard to fulfill this resolution.

I resolve to take the dogs for a daily walk, at least one walk a day, every day where the temperature is above -10C and where it’s not raining (the dogs and I don’t care to walk in the rain).

I was pretty good last year, but there were just days that I didn’t feel like it and that’s not good for the dogs, or for myself.

Now, there will be some exceptions, for instance, if I’m traveling without the dogs, it’s sort of hard to take them for a walk.

So, here’s to a healthier 2024 for, Hera, Twix and Kevin.

It’s just about the end of 2023. A lot has happened this year, mostly good, some things didn’t go quite as planned.

I’m still working for IBM although the client that I work for switched way back in February / March. So, I’ve been with my new client for 8 months now and am enjoying it. There are challenges, of course, but the team I have working for me is excellent and we get drive what needs to be done.

My cousin and aunt visited in July and that kicked off my adventure in living in my 5th wheel trailer in Balzac Alberta. Before I moved from Crowsnest Pass, I was told that I would have a full service site for the winter. So, I moved the dogs and myself and settled in. About a month later, I was told that I would not get a full service site for the winter, so that really sucked. I camped without water for 7 weeks, that was a bit rough, but now we are in a great location and enjoying it.

My cousin and aunt’s visit was good, but fairly tiring. We started in Calgary when I picked them up at the airport. We headed north to Edmonton for the night, stopping along the way for dinner. I brought my German Shepherd, Hera with us and she experienced her first elevator ride – I can safely say she didn’t enjoy the elevator ride at all.

We had brunch the next day with my brother and his family, my 2 nieces and nephew-in-law, is that a term, as well as my great-niece and great-nephew. It was good seeing everyone and we visited the West Edmonton Mall and even Hera got a tour of the mall. In not sure if dogs are normally allowed or if they thought she was some sort of service dog, but security didn’t object at all to her being in the mall.

We headed back to Crowsnest Pass and spent the night in Coleman. We headed out early the next day to drop the dogs off in boarding in Fort Steele British Columbia and then made our way to Banff Alberta. We toured Banff for the afternoon but didn’t stay there, hotels were a bit pricy so we stayed in Calgary for the night.

We headed to Jasper Alberta and stopped in Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, it was my first visit and it was beautiful. We then spent two nights in Jasper and did the Skytram to the top of the mountain, the views were amazing. He headed back towards Crowsnest Pass and stopped to get the dogs along the way. I felt bad for my cousin in the back seat of the truck with 3 large dogs, but they all fit. We had planned on going to Drumheller Alberta, but it was going to be awfully hot so we cancelled that part of the trip and instead, headed back to Calgary for an overnight stay before my cousin and aunt got on their return flight to Toronto.

It was a whirlwind trip and a lot of driving, just over 4000km in 6 days but my visitors got to see and experience Alberta and I got to see quite a bit of the province that I hadn’t seen before.

After the trip is when I started on my hunt for a trailer to live in. I have a 20 foot trailer but it would be far too small to live in long term. I purchased a 30 foot 5th wheel, a very nice trailer for sure. The plan was to move to Balzac in late August.

Right after my birthday in August, I made the difficult decision to put Blondie down. She had been slowly going downhill for about 6 months, but in the last 2 weeks of her life, I knew her time was up. I was much more prepared to lose her than I was when Zeus passed, so, as awful as it sounds, it didn’t hit me the same way. I’m lucky to have Hera and Twix for companionship, they are awesome dogs, but we all miss Blondie and her antics.

We stayed in the 5th wheel until the first week of December. In October, I enquired about 2 potential rentals and looked at one of them. It was too far away from civilization, it was actually more remote than Crowsnest Pass was, so I knew immediately that it would not work out. I was told that the other place had already been rented, so I figured we’d make the best we could in the trailer and I’d keep my eyes open for a new place.

A couple of weeks later, I received a text from the other rental, her renter had to back out and would I be interested in taking a look. I most certainly was and the place would work perfectly. I was set to move in on December 15. I was told that I could move in early since the previous tenants left early so we moved in on December 8. I found a storage facility for the 5th wheel quite close to my new house, so that worked out well.

We’ve been in the new house for 3 weeks now and am loving it. I also love the city of Airdrie. It’s not too big (around 75000 people) but big enough that it had everything one could want. I plan on umpiring in Calgary next summer which will be great. I’m going to dial back a bit though, just single games, no double and triple headers.

So, all in all, 2023 was a pretty good year. I’m looking forward to 2024 and the adventures that it’ll bring.

To you and yours, have a Happy New Year and all the best for 2024.

The past week has absolutely zoomed by. That’s a good thing I guess. Work has been good although it was busier than I figured it would be. I was a bit short-handed at times, something to remember for next year. The agents that work for me tend to forget about taking time off and then want to use it all at the end of the year. I hope that changes in 2024.

The new place is basically all setup and ready to go. I do have to find places for some stuff, but it definitely feels like home. I also need to get some stuff out of my trailer, nothing really important, just miscellaneous items that I’ll have to find places for.

My washing machine leaked when I used it on Thursday, as the landlord told me it might. He came over to try to fix it and was unsuccessful, so, I now have a new washer. I was impressed with how quickly he got back to me and resolved the issue.

I’m heading to Crowsnest Pass this morning. I will stop at Costco for gas (cheapest place around) and will also get some white chocolate raspberry scones at Cobb’s bakery. It’ll be just a quick morning trip and I’m leaving the dogs at home since it’s supposed to be sort of cold this morning. On Friday afternoon we had temps in the mid-teens, it was gorgeous. When I let the dogs out yesterday morning at around 4am, there was between 2-3″ of snow in the ground. So, I guess we are having a white Christmas after all. I’ve actually had a white Christmas every year that I’ve been in Alberta, not that it really matters to me. If it wasn’t for the white stuff, I wouldn’t have to shovel.

I’m working tomorrow, on Christmas, I volunteered so that coworkers could spend time with family. My family is 4-legged and they don’t mind if I’m working. I don’t expect much to happen, it should be a quiet day.

To you and yours, enjoy Christmas and whatever festivities you are involved with. Have a good one.

I am fully moved out of the trailer as of this morning. I found a storage facility for it with a pull through site, I hate backing up trailers… The storage site is 5 minutes from where I’m living so that’s convenient for sure.

I am and am not sorry to not be in the trailer any longer. If I had gotten full services that I was told I’d get, it wouldn’t have been bad. As I think I’ve mentioned, I’ll never take running water for granted any longer.

So, the trailer is safely parked for the winter and I’ll decide what I’m doing with it in the spring. I may camp a weekend here and a weekend there. The used trailer market is hot right now as well, so I may sell the trailer. For now, there’s no reason to make a decision.

I’m all setup in the house with the exception of some minor items to find places for. It’s a great house and I’m going to enjoy living here for sure. I really like the city of Airdrie as well. It’s small enough but has everything that someone would want.

So, today was a fairly productive day. Moving the trailer was a breeze and I’m glad to have it out of the campground now. I guess I’ll sell my StarLink internet as I have Shaw here. Should be an easy sell I’d think since the hardware has shot up in price.

Another week at work until the Christmas break, although no break for me, just that the client will be closed which will give us a chance to catch up which will be nice. I’m working Christmas Day for the first time ever. I figured I’d volunteer so that those with family could spend it with their family. I do have family of course, the immediate family is the 4-legged variety and as long as they get some attention, they don’t care if I’m working.

Enjoy the holidays, they’ll be here before we know it.

I am settled into my new place. I am enjoying being back in a house, having the luxuries of water and sewer. Those are two things that I will no longer take for granted.

Everything is unpacked and put away. The dogs are settled in and I think liking the new house. There are excellent walking paths that are plowed in the winter, we are getting used to the area.

It’s a great neighbourhood, everything that you could need is right at hand. There are two grocery stores within walking distance, several restaurants, gas stations, a drug store, not bad at all. I’m very close to Highway 2 and quick access to Calgary. Costco is now 10 minutes away, as opposed to the 5 that it was in the trailer.

Had I had full hook-ups, I would have been happy at the trailer, but, perhaps camping is something for weekends and not long term. I haven’t decided what I’ll do with the trailer as yet. For now, storage and I’ll make a decision in the Spring.

Otherwise, work is going well, it’s been better lately. I felt almost out of place for a bit there and I’m unsure why. Now I’m feeling much better about the job on a day to day basis. My team is working well together and my client seems happier than they were.

I’ve volunteered to work Christmas Day so that other Leads who have families can enjoy the day. Not that I don’t have family, but mine are the 4-legged variety. My people family are back in Ontario and travel during the holidays is far too expensive to join them. I haven’t decided if I’m rescheduling my trip to Ontario or not, I guess I’ll see how much flights are in 2024.

For now, it’s business as usual.