Kevin's Ramblings…

Yesterday was the last day that patios were going to be open for a few weeks (at least) here in Alberta. As other areas in the world are fully opening up, Alberta is going in the opposite direction and are closing things down.

A few weeks ago, they allowed restaurants to open patios. As some of you may be aware, Alberta in May is not necessarily “patio weather”, this year was really no different. A lot of places spent a fair amount of money on getting their patios open, installing wind screens, heaters, umbrellas and what not. Now, our lovely government says “shut ’em down”… I would be willing to bet that there are very few, if any, known transmissions due to patio dining, but does the government care? No, of course not – they have to appear to do something, although they do the same things over and over and over again yet expect different results. Absolute insanity.

So, back to it – I went to Boston Pizza in Pincher Creek, second day in a row actually. The weather was amazing. Low 20’s, sunny and not windy. I am not sure when the area didn’t have much wind 2 days in a row, but May 5 and 6 did.

The food there is always good, I had a Caesar salad and chicken parmesan and it was excellent. I had some other running around to do and then had to zip home, collect the dogs and help with a baseball practice.

I have been slated to be as assistant coach for the local high school team for the last two years. Although there won’t be a season this year, some of the guys who wanted to play wanted to get together and have a practice of sorts. We threw the ball around and hit grounders and worked on double plays and what not. I am surprised that I am not sore today but the shoulder and back feel fine.

The dogs ran around outside the baseball diamond, until Blondie and Twix discovered that they could squeeze through where the fence met the dugout – Hera tried but was just too big. The didn’t chase any of the baseballs, but I guess they just wanted to be closer to me – they stayed in the dugout for the most part and kept out of the way.

It was a good 2 hour workout and then we all headed out. We may get back together, I am not sure if it’s actually allowed under Provincial rules or not – the rules change, randomly, so it would seem.

Today is cooler and it was raining when I let the dogs out so I think it will be more of a stay at home day. I do have stuff to do around here so that’s ok with me. I guess it is Friday, so enjoy your weekend. This is the end of my third week off, not bored at all as yet so that’s a good thing.

Wednesdays are the day that I sent Blondie, Hera and Twix to day care with Crowsnest Pet Care. They get about 6 hours of constant play with the other dogs who are there, typically 20-30 of them in total. They have a great time, so I am told and come home absolutely exhausted.

I asked about Hera and her dislike of little dogs and was assured she’s good unless they bug her. Now, if you were an 8lb Yorkie, would you bother a 100lb German Shepherd? I wouldn’t, but that’s me. They watch her to make sure no one is bugging her. Anyway, they enjoy it, it’s a day per week they can have fun and socialize.

It’s also a day that I can do my running around. Yesterday I made a quick trip to Pincher Creek, stopped at Walmart and had lunch on the patio at Boston Pizza before patios are closed, yet again, by the idiots in charge of Alberta. It’s gotta be a major emergency since they waited 3 days before closing patios. I digress…

It was perfect patio weather. Temps were in the mid teens and it was a rarely windless day. A few years ago, not only would I not eat at a restaurant by myself, but I would never eat on a patio. I guess I’ve matured, yeah, that’s what we’ll call it.

When I got home, the company that I hired to do my yard work was hard at work. The yard has been cleaned up and looks great. They’ll maintain it every 2 weeks now for the summer, until the grass is dead that is, it’s typical pretty dry by July or so.

I ended the day with a double header of baseball. The Rockies held on for a win and series win against the San Francisco Giants. It was a bit of a nail biter, 6-5 final. My other team, the Astros lost their second straight to the Yankees, they are not playing well at all. Good thing it’s a long season.

That beings us to today. No idea what’s on the agenda, but I’m sure I’ll find something to do. Have an amazing day.

Yesterday was a relaxing day. It wasn’t supposed to be, I had plans for doing and hopefully finishing stuff around the house, but, those things did not materialize.

I stayed home all day, other than a quick trip to Tim Horton’s. It was a cold, rainy day with drizzle on and off most of the day. That means that the dogs and I didn’t end up going for a hike, but that was ok, they were still recovering from being in boarding for a few days. It always stresses them out, although they do have a good time and this time around, they had a Great Dane puppy to play with as well.

They seem to be back to their normal selves today, mostly. Blondie hasn’t ate anything but treats since she’s been back home, she often protests when anything “changes”, silly dog. They all happily ate a piece of my beef tenderloin last night that I made for dinner, big surprise there. Only Hera has been eating normally – I am not concerned, they will eat when they are overly hungry and decide that eating is more important than protesting my occasional trip away from them.

I have another trip coming up, just heading to Calgary for 2 nights over the May 24 weekend. I am getting a spray-in liner sprayed-in my truck. I got a good deal on it, cash, and that’s good. The back has gotten scratched up so this will protect it from rusting and what not. I am glad that I have a truck, it’s been awesome for picking up stuff that would be impossible in a car or SUV. I must love it, I have had the truck for just over 2 months and have already put on slightly over 10000km which is a bit insane. I need to cut down on the amount of driving I do, otherwise my warranty will be gone in two years.

Today, I hope to be more productive around the house. In the apparently never-ending saga of setting up my home gym, I want it completed today. It’s a simple matter of moving the bed frame to the basement and finding a new home for the dresser in there. I am thinking it will fit (barely) into the master bedroom but it will be tight. I don’t want to sell it, it’s the last thing that I have that my parents owned. It was purchased in 1950 so it’s 71 years old and still in pretty good shape considering its age.

I also need to head to Pincher Creek today, need a few things at Walmart and I think I will stop in the Co-Op there, I haven’t been in it since I’ve moved down to the Pass. I really should update my address with them, I likely have some small cheques that have been sent out from money I’ve spent there, they won’t amount to much but money is money.

Well, here’s to being productive today. Have a great day out there.

I have been making minor changes around the house for the last month or more. I am pretty slow at making changes, so they have been slow to be implemented, that is something I do not deny.

I have changed my second bedroom into a home gym. As I have noted before, I purchased (all used) a Bowflex gym, NordicTrack elliptical and an exercise bike. The gym should be setup and ready to go today, presuming I am motivated, of course. The bed frame that is in there needs to be disassembled and moved to the basement and the dresser needs to be moved to the master bedroom. I can then move the gym and bike in there and have a legit workout room.

In the living room, I have a new TV stand which is awesome – I sold the dining room table that the TV had been sitting on. I have taken down the battered curtains in the front window and replaced them with nice, gray curtain panels – 4 panels in total and they are room darkening as well – they look good. The stuff in the kitchen has been moved around and I purchased a second small chest freezer which fits in nicely.

I bought a propane firepit and it’s setup on the patio outside and also got one of those chimney fireplaces for the top of the yard. I won’t be able to use it for part of the year when we regularly have fire bans but it will be awesome when we don’t have fire bans.

I replaced the old, ugly rubber mat at the back door with a new one that I got at Giant Tiger and it looks great. I guess I need to take pictures of all of this, and I will.

Today marks my second full week off of work. I have kept busy and have enjoyed my time off. I guess I am being paid to write blogs now.

Have a great week.

My trip to Saskatchewan wasn’t exactly as I expected. I do have to say that I don’t like Saskatchewan and likely will never return. It’s too damn flat and boring. I know that we need to grow wheat and wow, do we ever, everywhere in Saskatchewan.

I arrived around dinner time on Thursday and, due to unforeseen events, I left less than 24 hours later. I made it to Medicine Hat by 930pm on Friday evening and stayed at a great Comfort Inn and Suites.

I hit the road at 430am and was home by 8. The drive was good, no deer tried to run on front of me to commit suicide.

I was planning on spending my 50th birthday in Saskatchewan with friends, that’s not happening. Honestly, I’ll never return. The roads there are brutal, a mess of patchwork pavement and horrible shoulders. The people seemed to be rude, perhaps it’s because I have Alberta plates? Whatever it is, it didn’t appeal to me. I’m happy to be back in Alberta and happy to be back in the mountains.

I dropped the dogs off at a friend’s place on Wednesday afternoon. They used to own the kennel that I used to go to, but they sold it (unfortunately) and now want to look after a select few dogs that they liked when they had the business.

Blondie, Hera and Twix met and played with Chiquita, a Great Dane pup. She’s going to be a big girl, she’s 4 months old now and her paws are bigger than Hera’s. She’s a typical “biting” puppy, you know how their little shark teeth are, but she’s an awesome dog. They had a great time chasing one another.

I hit the road for Humboldt, Saskatchewan at 620am yesterday. It was a long drive with a few stops along the way. I was driving along with my former next door neighbour, she in her SUV and me in my truck loaded with a bunch of her belongings, moving from her house in the Pass to her cabin in Saskatchewan.

We stopped in Medicine Hat at the largest Giant Tiger I’ve ever seen before. I found a great Pink Floyd hoodie to add to my hoodie collection. I also picked up a great door mat for the back door to replace the broken one that’s there.

Our next rendezvous was Costco in Saskatoon. Gas was $1.14 a liter, so not a bad price at all. I filled up and dropped into Costco briefly. The last leg to Humboldt took just longer than an hour.

My GPS used a number of minor highways and back roads to get me to my destination. On my return trip, I think I’m going to stick to the main highways, the Trans Canada to Medicine Hat and then Highway 3 home. I’ll have to look at the best route to the Trans Canada from here, but it shouldn’t be rocket science.

The cabin is right on the lake and is rustic, but quite nice and only a few minutes from Humboldt, although it seems to be much more remote than that. It reminds me of the vague memories of my grandfather’s cabin in Northern Ontario. We had a latish dinner last night and then a stop at Dairy Queen.

All in all, not a bad day of driving. Here’s to relaxing.

The dogs are going to doggie day care today. They love it and come home absolutely wiped out. It is good for them to get interactions with other dogs as well, they need to be social. They go every other Wednesday, get picked up around 930 and dropped off around 330.

After they get home, I will feed them and then they are off to boarding for a few days as I am heading East to Saskatchewan, a make-up for the trip that was cancelled about a month ago. I will spend a few days there then head home. It should be relaxing, I am looking forward to it.

I am not looking for new employment at the moment and don’t plan on it until late Summer so I guess I plan on taking 4 months off, or so. If something comes up before, great, if not, no issues taking time off.

Today, I hope to get the home gym setup and ready to go. I will then start my work out routine when I get back from Saskatchewan. I have the elliptical, a Bowflex gym and newly purchased (used), an exercise bike. That will get me ready for riding my real bike once the weather decides not to suck so much.

Enjoy Hump-Day.

I have run a Labrador Retriever group on Facebook for a few years now. In general, it’s an excellent group with really good members. We do get our share of members or perhaps bots that post things that go against the few, simple rules that the group has.

We do not allow posting of dogs for sale or rehoming. Posting that type of thing gets you removed from the group and blocked. It is VERY clear to anyone what the rules are and yet, I get multiple posts a day that I remove. I had to turn on moderated posts, I see everything before it gets posted – that has cut down on a lot of the crap. People are inventive though…

Instead of making a new post, they comment on an existing post with their dogs for sale posts. Since the group is still pretty small (3300 members or so), I turn on notifications for every post so I am informed when someone posts a comment. I then go and look and see if it is a “you’re dog is awesome” post or if it is a post of dogs for sale. Sigh… I suppose it doesn’t take much of my time so I am ok with it. If the group ever gets 100,000 users, I would not be able to handle the sheer volume, but for now, I can.

To my story…

One of my regular members who’s been pre-approved to post in the group often posts awesome pics of her dog, Bowser and her family doing various things outside, inside, birthday parties – everything. Her posts are great, excellent pictures and I’ve watched her dog grow into a happy and healthy 2 year old Lab today.

Yesterday morning, I was devastated to see a post where Bowser was killed in a tragic accident. It hit me hard, almost as hard as if it had happened to one of my dogs really. I had tears in my eyes thinking of Bowser and his family who were mourning his loss. I have tears in my eyes now writing this entry. For those who have lost a dog, you know it’s like losing a member of your family.

I will miss the posts of Bowser and watching him grow and play. I really will. I wish the family all the best in this difficult time and may the memories of Bowser provide some comfort in the days, weeks and months to come. The pain does go away, it takes a while though. In another month, it will be 6 years since Zeus passed away and I still miss him to this day, even though I have 3 awesome dogs that keep me company and love me unconditionally.

Bowser, you were loved by many, many people and although most of us never met you, you will be missed. May you rest in paradise.

I am heading to Lethbridge today or tomorrow, unsure which day at the moment. I have a bunch of computer equipment to return to BDO. I offered to return it to avoid the cost of a courier to get it back to them, not that I would have to pay it, I was trying to save them some money. I will be paid to return it, so, it’s a free trip to Lethbridge for me. It’ll allow me to visit Costco and get some frozen food and what not.

I am hoping to hear more about my severance package today as well, although I am doubtful I will. More details at some other point, although I won’t be able to detail everything, I am sure.

Spring is supposed to arrive, starting today – temps will be in the 10-12C range which isn’t so bad. The snow will start to melt and it will be rather sloshy as we had about a foot in total. Won’t be a few good days to hike with the dogs, unless I want a lot of muck and water tracked into the truck.

Nothing else much planned for the week. I still have stuff to do around the house including finishing setting up my at home gym and my “summer” bedroom in the basement for when it’s hot.

Enjoy your week.

It seems I am still saddled with getting up very early in the morning. Today, I woke up just after 3am. I didn’t get up at that time, that would be insane, but I didn’t get back to sleep either. I actually got up around 5am and fed the dogs and then settled into the couch with some coffee and music. The dogs definitely thought it was too early, they were all crashed out on the couch.

We all went for a hike shortly before 7am. We received nearly a foot of snow over night, so much for it being spring. I think we are getting more snow tonight as well. The ground is cold enough for it to stick, the roads aren’t though. The backroads that I use to take the dogs to our hiking spot were though, lots of snow and drifting snow. I would not have attempted the roads in the Ford, but the truck made it through without any issue.

It wasn’t overly cold and no winds which is odd. It was a pleasant hike and even Twix didn’t get cold. I was able to break in the new winter boots that I bought a few weeks ago and that I didn’t figured I would be wearing until late September or October. They worked well and kept my feet nice and warm.

I went to a local brewery/restaurant for lunch today. The Pass Beer Co is what it’s called. I tried 3 varieties of their beer, enjoyed one of them, the other two, not so much. I had 2 pounds of wings and they were excellent. I may have found my new wings place. I know their pizza is amazing and I may return next weekend for that (if I am around).

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching movies. V for Vendetta was one, excellent movie and it sort of reflects some of the stuff going on in the world right now. A totalitarian government controls all aspects of citizens lives until a vigilante decides enough is enough. If you haven’t seen it, see it – it’s great. The other movie is 300. This is the Spartan war against Xeres and his enormous army. Quite graphic, except in this version for TV wasn’t. I hear it doesn’t follow history very closely but oh well, it’s a movie. Both are well worth watching though.

I didn’t watch any baseball as yet today. The Astros absolutely destroyed the Angels 16-2. Talk about a beating… The Rockies are playing right now, so I think I’ve found my evening entertainment.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, one more day to go. Me? I have another 6 months or so of weekend. 🙂