Kevin's Ramblings…

The dogs go to day-boarding on Wednesdays so that they can socialize with their dog friends. They get picked up at around 930am and get home about 6 hours later, give or take, and are absolutely exhausted. From the pictures that Crowsnest Pet Care posts, they have a great time. I think it’s important that they socialize outside of their 3-dog pack. Hera is even good with the little dogs, unless they bug her and really, if you’re an 8lb Yorkie, how dumb do you have to be to bug a 100lb Shepherd. They all have their specific friends that they enjoy hanging out with as well – it’s very cute.

So, Wednesdays are my to-do days where I can get stuff done out and about and not have to worry about the dogs, not that I really worry, they are fine by themselves but at least I know I don’t need to rush home to let them out or feed them.

Yesterday, I make a Facebook exchange on Marketplace. I had a large bedside table listed for sale and a person that I had purchased from before was selling a huge and gorgeous wood wind chime. She saw my post and asked if I would be interested in trading. It was a done deal. The bedside table has been delivered and the wind chime, which was made in Indonesian, was picked up. It is going to be very cool hanging outside and made a cool sound, not like those annoying metal windchimes.

I also decided, reluctantly, to get my covid shot yesterday. I had been humming and hawing about it, there was a spot in the back of my mind telling me not to do it. I have never been ant-vaxx at all, I have all of my shots (as far as I am aware). I just think this one was developed too quickly and we really don’t know of any long term side-effects. It hasn’t even been approved for use outside of the ongoing emergency situation. Anyway, I got it – no side-effects as yet, no third arm growing out of my back (would be handy to scratch my own back). It really came down to that I want to travel and it sounds like countries are going to require it to travel. There are many countries now that require the standard immunization to travel so this isn’t that much different. I know that our governments (which I have absolutely no respect for, any level, any party) want everyone to get it and won’t re-open us until everyone, or close to everyone is. Time will tell I suppose. I am still unsupportive of mask mandates, they are ridiculous and am against any sort of lock-downs, closings, whatever. Let’s get back to normal and let’s do it now. We need to protect those that are most vulnerable, and I believe we have, but let those of us who want to, get on with life. For those who are still scared (and there are many, many who fall into this category), let them stay huddled in their basements. There, I said my part – love me or hate me, makes no real difference.

Other than that, Wednesday was a baseball day. The Rockies, my #1 team lost yet again on the road and again to the Padres. Their road record this year is pathetic (I believe they are 2-17 on the road) and have lost 13 of 14 in San Diego so that is a few seasons anyway. They will be lucky to win 50 games this year I think. A team can’t suck forever, can they? I then caught some of the Angels/Indians game – are they still called the Indians or is that not politically correct? They will always be the Cleveland Indians to me anyway. That multi-use player on the Angels was pitching – sure, he’s good and leads the lead in homeruns, but so what? MLB is all over him and it’s quite sickening. Move on… I ended the day with the Astros playing in Oakland against the A’s. It was a second place AL West team facing the first place AL West team. I went to bed when it was 5-1 and the Astros held on and beat them 8-1, I think it was. Grienke was pitching, love watching him and the occasional 52mph pitch he throws that barely makes the plate and yet, somehow falls in for a strike. Amazing pitcher and he’s been at it for a long time. I guess I am happy that one of my two teams is doing well, although I continue to hear about their cheating scandal in 2017 when they won the World Series. Sure, they got caught, most if not all teams do some sort of cheating – it’s not right, but it is what it is. You know what though, I wasn’t involved with the cheating, I am just a fan. Sigh…

Today, the dogs are going to boarding for 2 days and I am off to Calgary today. I will be back this evening though, so just a day trip. The weather sucks, we are getting snow today/tomorrow and up to 25cm of it as well. It will be gone by the weekend as temps are going to warm up. We can use the moisture anyway but come on, it’s the May 24 weekend, let’s have some nice weather and have it stick. Yeah, that won’t work, Mother Nature can be a bitch, can’t she?

Yesterday was a day of nothingness.

You need to have those every once in a while, even when you aren’t doing much to begin with.

I slept in. Well, slept in for me anyway, did not wake up until around 4am. It’s pretty sad when 4am is considered sleeping in, but, it is what it is. The morning was dark and gray and the day got colder as it moved along.

I had a glorious 2.5 hour nap at noon. I guess I was trying to catch up on missed sleep overnight and also because I knew that both the Rockies and Astros played on the West coast so the games would go late. Well, late for me, not too late for “normal” people who sleep normal hours.

A friend asked me to go to Fernie to assist with picking up a couch. It was a good drive there and one of the rare times that I was actually a passenger. Thankfully, she’s a bus driver and it was an excellent drive – I approve. The couch came apart very easily, the back of it just slid off making it super easy to load into her truck. Since we were in Fernie, we stopped off at DQ for dinner – their chicken strips, fries and gravy are amazing, easily the best restaurant chicken strips going. I also had a chocolate brownie blizzard and added strawberry – very good and I am sure no calories.

We headed back to the Pass, unloaded the couch (it was actually a love seat) and I headed home. I decided to watch the Astros game, it started earlier so I could go to bed earlier. They opened up a large lead but unfortunately could not hold on and lost 6-5. Disappointing. On the NL side of things, the Rockies lost a close 2-1 contest against the Padres. I would expect the Astros to contend for the AL West title. I am not expecting much from the Rockies. If they win 50 games, I think it’ll be good, well, as good as it’s going to get anyway.

Not much planned for the day today really. The dogs are off to day care in 5 hours or so, that lets me do some running around and what-not without leaving the dogs to their own for entertainment. I placed an ad on Facebook Marketplace, selling a really nice bed side table that I really don’t have room for. I listed it for $50. I got a text last night from a lady that I am buying a cool set of wind chimes from, she wanted to know if I would accept a trade for the bedside table. Sounds good to me, I will deliver it this morning. The wind chimes are cool. If I remember, I will post a picture, maybe a video.

Tomorrow and Friday, the dogs will be in boarding as I am heading to Calgary. I plan on going to Cross Iron Mills mall north of Calgary and doing some other stuff around the city. I need to get a screen protector put on my new phone at a business at Cross Iron Mills, they are inexpensive and do a great job. I think I will be back Thursday evening though, I am not saying over as I originally planned, that could still change though, perhaps.

Enjoy Hump Day, the weekend is half way here.

I have heard a bunch of good things about a restaurant and general store in Twin Butte, Alberta so yesterday I decided to take the almost hour drive to check it out. I absolutely love smothered burritos, so that was my plan to have for lunch.

I didn’t take the dogs as I wasn’t sure if there’d be anywhere good for us to go for a hike. I headed out shortly after noon. Well, when I arrived, if you sneezed, you’d miss Twin Butte. There was no issue finding the general store and restaurant, they are right on the highway and there isn’t much else there other than a community hall and an ice cream place. I presume they survive on traffic going through to Watertown Park, another place that I have not been to, but need to go to.

So, I go in, no one is around. A clerk appears from the back and tells me that the restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Well, isn’t that wonderful. No burrito for me. I suppose that I should have checked to see if they had odd hours and actually, most restaurants in the Pass are closed on Mondays but I didn’t even think about that.

I bought a Mars bar and a Starbucks cold drink for the drive home. I stopped at Walmart in Pincher Creek since it was on the way and made my way towards home.

I stopped in Lundbreck at a great small business that repairs and sells lawn equipment. I purchased a power washer, the owner showed me how to start it (it’s gas) and we chatted about this and that. He loaded it in my truck and off I went. I visited with another friend for a bit on the way home then actually made it home as it was nearly dinner time for the dogs. Hera gets “hangry” if she isn’t fed when she thinks she needs to be fed, we don’t want that.

No baseball last night to watch as the Rockies were playing in San Diego and I don’t stay up that late. I also decided, yesterday, after thinking about it for months, to cut the cord. I called Bell and cancelled my satellite service. He did offer to downgrade my service, get the basic package and add 10 channels on for $20 but that would gave meant I was still paying $45 a month for something that I don’t really watch that much. I passed… Most of the stations that I want nowadays are owned by CTV and the CTV app is great, I can watch them all their, logging in with my Shaw account. So, I will save $75 some per month. I am paying for some streaming services, I have Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+ and MLB.tv. I had looked at TSN and SportsNet, but that $30 or so for both, it was a bit much I thought. I rarely want to watch hockey anyway and I can skip on watching the Blue Jays (they are blacked out in Canada on MLB.tv).

So, the start of a new era, no traditional TV services. Took me long enough, for sure.

The beautiful weather we’ve had the last few days ends today. The high is supposed to be in the low teens today and by Thursday, they are calling for snow which is sort of gross for this time of year. It’s not the May 24 weekend yet, so snow is always possible. Hell, it can snow in June for that matter. Anyway, more normal temps return by the weekend and next week.

So I’ve officially been off of work for a month. The month has flown by, it’s been crazy busy. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself as well. It’s more or less been vacation time more than anything.

I haven’t done any job searching at all. I’ve seen s couple of posts on LinkedIn that I’d be qualified for, but, I want out of IT for sure.

Yesterday was a gorgeous spring day. Blondie, Hera, Twix and myself got a fairly early start and headed for Calgary. I dropped off a gift for a buddies kid and picked up a bed frame that I bought off of Facebook Marketplace cheap. We stopped at a friend’s place to go for a walk with her and her dog, but they weren’t home. So, we went to the park that we used to walk at and the dogs spent about 45 minutes in the Bow River.

On the way home, we stopped at Costco for gas, I was going to go in but there was a big lineup so that was a no, hate lineups.

We made it home by 6pm so it a an 11 hour day on the road. The dogs were tired, exhausted more likely. I was tired too, slept from 9 until 4, that’s longest I’ve slept in a while.

Another new week is upon us, I hope yours is good.

Yesterday was a productive day on the homestead. My cleaning lady came over to finish up. I asked her if she could clean the oven and she complied, although she didn’t want to. She hates cleaning ovens (can you blame her?) and this oven was particularly dirty, we are unsure when it was last cleaned, but it has been a while to say the least. It looks great now, after some elbow grease and swear words were applied.

I got stuff done around the house while she was cleaning and the dogs mostly stayed out of the way. I made a quick trip to Canadian Tire in Fernie, needed and bought a power drill. I also bought a new set of dishes, they were on sale, half price. I have used the same plates for 25 years, I thought it was time for a change. I will offer the dishes I have now to someone who can use them, a young person moving out for the first time or something, I am sure someone will take them. They are all in good shape, no chips or anything.

The set I bought are black with red highlights, pretty cool looking and very heavy. It’s only a set for 4, but, I can’t recall the last time I have had more than 4 people (including myself) for dinner – it’s been years, in fact, it would have been back in Ontario, I am not big on dinner parties.

Today, the dogs and I are heading to Calgary for the morning. Heading out at 630am, going to pick up a bed frame and then hopefully going for a walk with one of their dog friends. I will stop at Costco on the way home for gas, don’t think I need anything else there though.

No other plans for the day, other than baseball watching this afternoon. The Rockies are playing the Reds this weekend and are 2-1 thus far. I believe that their loss yesterday was because I didn’t watch the game – sorry Rockies Nation. The Astros are on a 5-game winning streak. They are playing the Texas Rangers though, so I am not even sure if that counts.

So, that’s the Sunday that I have ahead of me – I hope yours is good as well.

Yesterday was the scheduled day for my cleaning lady to come over and do her thing. She arrived right around 8am. She has fallen in love with the coffee I drink, and I can’t blame her, it’s quite amazing stuff. I but a French vanilla / hazelnut blend from Costco. I buy a 2lb bag of beans and grind it myself. Well, actually, the coffee maker I have grinds it and makes amazing coffee. She drinks copious amounts of coffee, even more than I do.

Anyway, I asked her if she wanted to go to Lethbridge with me. I had to go and pick up a digital camera that I was purchasing to pursue my new hobby of photography. Also, since I was going to be in Lethbridge, a trip to Costco was in order and I also stopped to wash the truck and pick up Domino’s pizza.

On the way to Lethbridge, with the cruise control locked in at 130kph (speed limit of 110kph), I was pulled over by a sneaky RCMP officer, or perhaps he was an Alberta Sheriff, unsure. Anyway, his radar picked me up before I even saw him, so I knew I was caught.

Anyway, I pulled over and waited for him to catch up… He was young, in his 20s I would guess. He asked me if I knew why I was pulled over, I bit my tongue and didn’t allow my sarcasm to come out… I gave him my license and insurance/registration and off he went.

Less than 5 minutes later, he returned with a speeding ticket, 20 over, no break on it AT ALL and a $175 fine. We joked a bit, my sarcasm came out and H (my cleaning lady) was like KEVIN !!! – I replied with “What? He can’t give me another ticket”… H loves my sense of humour, I think.

Anyway, I plan on fighting the ticket. Not that I am not guilty, I am. But, I have never had a speeding ticket before and really, is 20 over that bad? Yes, I admit it’s speeding but “everyone else drives at that speed”… I accused the officer of having a bad day and/or being in a bad mood – I think H thought I was going to be arrested or something, but the officer was laughing – I think I made his day. I did thank him for his service, Police Officers have a VERY tough job, and although this one was making my day a little worse, in general, their service is invaluable. We discussed what is considered “speeding” and what isn’t. At 15kph over the limit, I would have been fine, so, I guess for the next while, I will use that as my guideline. Does anyone know if a radar detector is legal in Alberta? LOL

Back to getting to Lethbridge, albeit a bit later than expected… I stopped where I was purchasing a Nikon digital camera. A photographer friend of mine said it was a good starter camera for someone like me and the price point was excellent. I paid via eTransfer but after the seller and I made small talk for 20 odd minutes, she still had not received payment. I happened to have cash on my as I am getting a spray in liner sprayed on next week and need cash – I used $400 of that to pay the lady and I cancelled the eTransfer (to the sum of $3.50, dammit, I am cheap). Off H and I went to Costco.

Costco wasn’t too busy – gas was $1.19 per liter. I picked up what I needed in Costco and off we went to get the truck washed. H apparently doesn’t like the confinement of car washes. Domino’s pizza was the next stop – I love their pizza and get it just about every time I am in Lethbridge and bring some home to freeze as well.

Back home, the package I waited for all day Thursday had arrived, a day late, but it had arrived. An OtterBox case for my new cell phone. Thanks FedEx, unsure why it was a day late, but at least it arrived.

Low-key for the rest of the day – watched the Rockies clobber the Reds for the second day in a row and trolled my buddy, California #1 who happens to be a Reds fan.

I was asleep by 11pm and, unfortunately, awake by 2am, out of bed by shortly after 3am. I may have a nap this afternoon, or I may zip up to Calgary for an event, unsure at this point. My tiredness will likely win over.

So, that was Friday. A trip to Lethbridge, a speeding ticket and a new camera. Not a bad day, I suppose, save the ticket… 🙂

Blondie, Hera and Twix have been in boarding since Wednesday. It wasn’t planned. They go to day care every Wednesday to get their weekly dose of dog socialization and I messaged Crowsnest Pet Care to see if they could keep them until this afternoon. They were scheduled to be in day care again today.

I had a lot of stuff to do around the house and I didn’t want them getting under foot. An occasional break is also good, both for me and I am sure for them. I do miss them though, my morning routine is different for sure, I don’t need to fill three food dishes and the water bowl and clean up after them, but, regardless, I am looking forward to having them back this afternoon.

Yesterday, I stuck close to home as FedEx was supposed to deliver my new cell phone case that I ordered from OtterBox. At first, it said out for delivery by 5pm. As 5pm came and went and no FedEx, they did update the time of delivery to “end of day”. Well, I am pretty sure it isn’t Thursday anywhere on the planet, so, I think they are late. When I check the status this morning, it says “pending”. Good job, FedEx (not).

So, I presume FedEx will try to deliver today. I have a Purolator sticker on my front door that if I am not home when they try to deliver that they will leave the package at my back door. I don’t know if such things exist with FedEx, I presume they do but I don’t have a FedEx sticker. I will leave a note on the front door asking him to leave it at the back door, hopefully he will accept that, otherwise I am sure that I am not getting my case until Monday and that will suck. Phones without cases are too dang slick and dropping them tends to be too dang expensive. I have to zip to Lethbridge this morning/afternoon and am not sure if I will be home when they try to deliver, presuming they do. I have far more faith with Purolator than I do with FedEx.

My cleaning lady is coming over this morning. She is aiming for early, but her definition of early and mine are two different things. She might shock me and get here at 7, but I am not counting on it. Anyway, I tend to work better at getting things I need to get done when there is someone else here working away. She does a pretty good job for me.

So, as I was saying, I am heading to Lethbridge. I am planning on buying a used Nikon digital camera and also making a Costco run while I am there. I have always enjoyed photography and want something better than my cell phone camera. It can become a very expensive hobby, if you let it, that’s for sure. Anyway, it is a decent camera and hopefully the deal works out, it appears to be in great condition, the owner upgraded. We’ll see.

Costco is a monthly (at least) trip. I actually really enjoy the store, other than they stupid mask rules and believe me, you don’t get in there without one. Hopefully that will all end soon. Well, soon is a relative term I suppose, it’s been “just two weeks” for 15 months now.

In baseball action, the Rockies held on for the win last night against the Reds. I have a bet on the season series of games, 7 games in total, 4 in Colorado and 3 in Cincinnati. The bet isn’t for huge stakes, that’s for sure – $1 per game. It’s with my friend, California #1. The good thing, if I win, he pays me in USD, if I lose, I pay him in CDN. Not a bad deal, although our money is increasing in value so by the end I may end up losing out. Anyway, the Rockies went into the 8th inning holding a comfortable 10-0 lead. The Reds scored 8 runs in the top of the 8th to pull within 2 and I had thoughts that the Rockies were going to blow the game. Well, they scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th and held on in the 9th for a 13-8 win. So, I am $1 (USD) richer, or will be. The Astros also defeated the Rangers, but, unfortunately, I can only watch one game at a time.

Anyway, it is the end of the week, the weekend is here, not that this means too much to me at the moment. Enjoy your weekend.

My new cell phone arrived yesterday. I ordered a Samsung S20 5G Ultra. It’s the first time I’ve gone away from a Google phone in 8 years or so. I was going to get the Pixel 5, but that one was actually more expensive.

I switched to Google phone back with either the Nexus 4 or 5 and continued with the Pixel, I know I had the original Pixel, the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 3A XL. They were great phones, Google sys a great job with them.

I had used several Samsung phones prior to that, I know I had several of the Note series and thus far, I’m impressed.

The phone transfer wizard was great. I had to download an app on the old phone and it transferred my settings wirelessly. Quite nice she super easy.

I’m getting used to the new phone, it’s bigger and heavier. The keyboard is different, I’m not used to it yet. It’s got a great camera, amazing zoom. By default it installed Samsung apps instead of Google apps so I’ve had to force the Google ones to install.

I’m sure I’ll find other oddities in the days, weeks and months ahead but right now, it’s great.

I have been unmotivated the last few days to do much around the house. I went to school, for a number of years to get my Doctorate in Procrastination and I am putting it to good use. LOL

Yesterday was a gray, rainy day. I couldn’t do much outside since the dogs and I don’t particularly like getting wet. I should have gotten stuff done inside the house, I still have a number of incomplete jobs that I want to do, I guess I just don’t have the get-up-and-go to do it.

The dogs are going to day care today so I won’t have them to trip over, so, I am telling myself that I am going to be productive. We’ll see if this actually happens. They go to day care on Wednesdays to get some interaction with their dog friends, it’s important to socialize. They have a great time, so I am told and they come home exhausted. Hera is generally really good with the little dogs, unless they bug her then she “tells” them not to – she doesn’t like the little dogs, I am unsure why. Perhaps because they are yappy little things that “think” they are large dogs. The girls that run it are excellent and ensure everyone is happy.

I need to assemble my outside fireplace that I am going to put at the top of the yard.

That is the style that I got, or very similar anyway. I have a propane fireplace and this will be a good addition. I have the propane firepit since we often have fire bans in the late spring, summer and early fall. Anyway, it is still in the box, needs to be assembled. I am awful at assembling things so we will see how it goes.

Wish me luck on getting my to-do list done today. I will need it. Enjoy your day.

The last few days have zoomed by. I haven’t gotten much done around the house, I’m taking advantage of my as Doctorate in Procrastination.

This past weekend was back to cold and snowy weather. Yesterday, it hovered around the freezing point with light snow flurries all day. I haven’t weakened though, my heat is still off in the house. The house is well insulated obviously, yesterday morning it had only dropped to 59°F.

How I know some people would find that intolerably cold, but I only have it set to 63°F in the winter and it goes down to 58°F at night. I did turn on the space heater in the living room to take a bit of the chill off. It’s supposed to be warmer starting today, so that’ll be welcome.

I’m waking up at stupid of o’clock lately. The last few days it’s been just after 2am. I can’t complain really, I had 18 months there where I slept like a normal person. I know that I’ll start sleeping normally again in the next few months as well. So, for now, I wake up really early, middle of the night really, I catch up on news and Facebook and lounge in bed for about an hour before actually getting up. I have tried going back to sleep, it doesn’t work. The dogs are likely wondering why we get up so early. They at least nap all day. I haven’t been napping either, but I am going to bed rather early, last night was just after 8pm. If I nap during the day, I stay up another hour so it all balances out.

I’m leaving the world of the Pixel phone behind me. I’ve ordered the latest Samsung phone from Rogers with a 5G plan. I’m not even sure if we have 5G here as yet. It’s also got wireless charging and is bigger than my current phone and double the memory. I was going to get the Pixel 5 but the pricing was higher on a less expensive phone. It’ll probably arrive tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest. I love new technology.

Well, that’s about it for the last few days. Nothing earth shattering happening this week, as far as I’m aware. Enjoy your week.