Kevin's Ramblings…

It’s 6 days until I leave for my cruise.

I’ve arranged for a ride to the airport on Wednesday morning. We fly to LAX via Vancouver, flight leaves Calgary at 6am. We arrive in LA around Noon and get picked up via Limo and dropped off at the ship.

We should be able to get into the cabin around 1pm and our luggage should be there waiting for us.

Check-in starts at 130pm but we should be able to board before that. We do our muster drill which is checking in and watching a video on our phone. Easy peasy.

I’ll watch us depart from deck 16 or so with a drink in my hand.

We’ve got 5 days at sea before we get to Hawaii. We’ll travel around the islands for 4 days then 5 days back to Mexico, a few hours there then back to LA for a 6am docking. We’ll get picked up by limo at 10 and off to the airport and back in Calgary before midnight.

It’ll be a great holiday, I am sure of that.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook and haven’t blocked my feed, you might have noticed I’ve been posting a daily countdown until my Hawaiian cruise, which is now a week away.

At about this time (4am) my neighbour will be driving us to the Calgary International Airport for our flight to LAX (Los Angeles) via Vancouver.

That will mark the first time I’ve been to Vancouver since 1986 when I was there for Expo 86, it’ll be the furthest West I’ve been since 86 as well, that record will be broken once the ship arrives in Hawaii in early October.

No, I have not started packing. I’ll do my packing Monday and will finish Tuesday night. In the cruise Facebook group, some people have posted that they started packing a week ago think I think is crazy, but that’s just me.

To say I’m looking forward to this cruise is an understatement. It’s going to be an amazing time. I’m in an inside cabin as opposed to a junior suite with a balcony. The balcony was fine, but there was little breeze due to the barriers between balconies and it was simply too hot and humid outside. I’m told that this cruise won’t be as hot, so we’ll see.

I figured that I spent less than 2 hours on the balcony during the 7 day cruise the last time, there’s plenty of deck space to enjoy the fresh breezes, plus bars and food right there as well.

I’m sharing my cabin with my friend and former neighbour, Sasha. We get along very well, two twisted peas in a pod.

We are going to have a blast.

It’s been a month now since I got my 2026 Bronco. I’m scheduled for an oil change this morning already. I’m just over 7000km on it. Wow.

I have taken several road trips. Let’s see…

Edmonton and back. I’ve been to High River a few times, that’s 100km a pop. I did a 5-day trip though Montana to Yellowstone National Park to Idaho (Twin Falls and Eagle), through the panhandle to BC and through Crowsnest Pass back to Calgary. I’ve also been to Cochrane Alberta a number of times, what three, for Achilles.

Then in the last week I’ve been to Banff, Drumheller and all over Calgary. It’s been a lot of driving, that’s for sure.

I’m absolutely loving this vehicle. It drives like a dream. Adaptive cruise control, lane assistance. I love having a moon roof again. The infotainment system is awesome. It really is the best vehicle I’ve ever driven.

So, today I’ll make the 15 minute drive to get an oil change at 730am. It’s included in my maintenance package so nothing out of pocket today. I’m guessing they’ll fill my windshield washer reservoir as I’m low on fluid. There are no other issues that I’m aware of, so that’s good.

I’m debating whether or not I’ll take the dogs, and right now I’m leading towards no. They’ve had a very busy week as well and I think they can use the downtime at home. I can then also just relax and have some coffee at the dealership. Yeah, I think that’s the plan.

Enjoy your Tuesday. It’ll be a relaxing one for me and I can see a nap or two in my future.

This past week, I’ve done a mini tour of Alberta with my friend from Ontario.

We hit up Banff on Wednesday. The weather had been unusually wet for the first part of September, and Wednesday was the first bright and sunny day for a week or so, she must have brought great weather with her. Banff was actually pretty quiet. We left two hours later than we expected, but that’s not unusual at all. We did some shopping in Banff and got some deals. We didn’t go up the gondola to the summit of Sulphur Mountain, the ride costs $100 which is a bit insane, the views are great though.

We drove to Drumheller with the dogs and we left early as it was expected to get quite warm (for Alberta standards anyway) in Drumheller. The scenery is unique with the rock formations. We didn’t go to the Royal Tyrell Museum, which was ok as I’ve been a number of times over the last couple of years. We stopped at a great fenced in dog park and there were a number of canine friends for Apollo and Achilles. We had an inexpensive lunch at DQ, Carrie had never had the chicken strips and she agreed that they were good.

We stopped at Cross Iron Mills and Carrie was able to get Alberta themed souvenirs for friends and family back in Ontario.

We toured around Calgary as well and saw some of the sights. We still need to visit Canada Olympic Park, the views from the top are spectacular. She wanted to see the Saddledome before they rip it to the ground sometime in the near future.

We ate a lot of great food, Carrie is definitely a great cook. She made the best minestrone soup I’ve ever had, I have enough to last a while, same with chicken and rice soup and two huge lasagnas. We also hit up some great restaurants – we had an amazing lunch in Banff at a burger place after the Mexican restaurant was closed due to having no hot water. We may go to the Calgary Tower today and have lunch in the revolving restaurant, it offers amazing 360° views of the city as it rotates once every 45 minutes.

Today will be a more relaxed day for sure, summer-like weather has returned and it’ll be in the upper 20s today, too hot for my tastes really but Carrie will at least be warm for a change. She hasn’t taken well to the typical September weather, dry and cool.

All in all a great visit. She leaves on the red eye tonight back to Ontario and it’s warm and humid weather. Until next time, safe travels.

I’m sure that I’m annoying Facebook friends with my daily countdown to my Hawaiian cruise, but it’s probably better than the normal twisted crap I post…

My friend and former neighbour and I leave for our Hawaiian cruise in 10 days. They say that time moves faster when you’re older and in general I accept that. The exception is when you’re planning something fun it seems because time is not moving quickly of late.

Time is now moving much more slowly. It’s sort of like the anticipation that you might have had when you were a kid waiting for Christmas. That’s as close as I can come to what it feels like.

Hawaii has always been a bucket list item for me. I’m not huge on beaches and sun destinations, but it’s a beautiful place, so I’m told and I can tell from what I’ve seen. I’ve been to Mauritius in the Indian ocean on a work trip, and Mauritius is described as the Hawaii of the Indian ocean. Well, Mauritius was amazing, it was also nice that it wasn’t on my dime, I was there on a work trip. Not a bad deal, at all. It was a month in the tropical paradise. The only downside was the 36 hour trip (including layovers) to get there.

This time, it’s sailing across the Pacific ocean for 5 days to get there, 4 days touring around Hawaii then 5 days back, with a quick stop in Mexico.

Looking forward to it would be an understatement, and 10 days seems like a long time. It’ll get here though, I just need to be a bit patient.

I bought a crate for Achilles, he doesn’t really want to go into it, but he doesn’t really complain. I need to get a larger one for sure as he’ll out grow this one. I don’t trust him on his own, not yet…

We went to Banff yesterday. We were about 2 hours later leaving than we planned but hey, that’s ok. A friend brought Apollo and Achilles to the dog park for me, that was great.

We got there around 1pm. The lineup to purchase a park pass was relatively slow. We headed to a Mexican restaurant that I had been to before, but it was closed due to a water issue. We walked down the street to a burger place, it was quite good. I had an amazing avocado chicken and bacon burger and it was very good and very messy. C had an elk burger and said it was quite good.

We did some shopping, C got souvenirs for people and dogs. I think I’ll get the same dog toys she bought when I return before Christmas with my cousin. We headed out around 330 or slightly before.

Neither of us ate dinner last night, the lunch meals were quite large. I watched the Bills play the Lions, the Bills won by 10 points, it was never close. The Bills do need to get their defense in order if they expect to go far. Two games in a row where they allowed 31 points, that won’t produce wins regularly, or shouldn’t anyway.

Today I think we are taking it easy. We are going to Cross Iron Mills mall and tomorrow we are having lunch in the Calgary Tower, the restaurant revolves so you can see the entire city.

It’s been a fun week. Cheers to the weekend.

Heading to Banff today, it’s supposed to be a beautiful day. Achilles had no issues with being in his crate yesterday, so that’s a good thing. He’s too young to trust with the run of the house at the moment, he likes to try chewing on things he shouldn’t be chewing. After having puppies previously, I would much rather come home to a non-destroyed house and a puppy who might not be that happy about being in a crate for a few hours then a destroyed couch and then I am very unhappy.

A friend will let the dogs out twice for me while we are gone. I said you’ll have to gently encourage Achilles to return to his crate, but just give him a toy or two and he’ll be fine. I do want to get him a larger crate though and in no time, he won’t need it at all.

My house guest made minestrone soup last night, it was amazing. I have 6 double portions in the freezer, and enough left over for dinner this evening as well. The entire lot cost less than $25 which is amazing. She’s going to write the recipe down for me and this will be a winter staple for sure.

The week is flying by. Banff will be fun for sure, not sure what else we are up to, but we’ll see. It’s been a great week. Hopefully you’re enjoying yours.

Well, almost.

Achilles has been with the pack for nearly a week. He’s gaining confidence daily and his personality is coming out.

He and Apollo are getting along great, other than some minor jealousy issues. I’ve added a trunk as a coffee table so I can use it for beverages and what not and I’m sitting in the middle of the couch so I can have one dog on each side.

Apollo still doesn’t like it when he doesn’t get all of the attention, same as with Twix. He sulks. He goes to his chair and doesn’t look at me. The poor baby, I think he’ll survive though.

Achilles loves going for walks and also loves the dog park and wrestling with Apollo and their mutual friend, a chocolate Lab named Ivy. Hey have a great time and wear themselves out. A tired dog is a happy dog, so I’ve read and have been told.

I have two more weeks before my cruise to get Achilles into the routine, he’s doing nicely. My sister in law will have two velcro dogs, I’m sure she’ll love it. I do feel bad about leaving for 2 weeks just three weeks after getting him, but he’ll be fine and I already look forward to the dog welcome home greetings.

The tour of Alberta begins, it’ll be a fun week.

I’ve collected things all my life. When I was in Ontario, I had a huge number of shoes. I’ve gotten over my show hoarding. I have about 10 pairs of shoes now (conservative estimate) and I regularly wear about 3 pairs, so I think my shoe thing is over…

I have a LOT of baseball hats. Too many baseball hats. They are mostly Astros and Rockies. I have a Bills hat of course and a few Jays hats, and a Mets hat and a number of minor league hats and other hats, Babe Ruth, Calgary Flames, a Stampeders hat… I haven’t counted them, and don’t want to actually. I am NOT going to buy any additional hats, this year. I don’t need any more and, more importantly, I don’t have room for  any more.

Now, when we get to hoodies, it’s insane. I am not going to give the exact count, but I have more than one hoodie for each day of the month.

Some of them are lighter weight hoodies, good for summer evenings in Calgary, some are heavier hoodies which are warm enough for Calgary winter mornings. I also have two t-shirt weight hoodies which I love.

Most are from places I’ve been as souvenirs that I wear. I try to rotate through them so they all get used. I do have my favourites though. I cannot buy any more hoodies, simply can’t.

As much as I am out of room for hats, I am really out of room for hoodies and I am NOT buying any more. I won’t even buy one on my upcoming cruise.

Watch and see…

It’s been nearly 4 full days since Achilles came to live with Apollo and I.

He’s starting to get settled, he’s walking great on leash and is learning our routines. First thing as soon as I get up, we go outside to pee and then typically off to the dog park to take care of business.

He and Apollo wrestle and have a great time.

We come out, eat breakfast (well, the dogs do, I eat later) and then relax… Both dogs seem to want Dad time so I’ve been sitting in the middle of the couch so I can have one dog on each side of me.

I never had this issue when I had Blondie, Hera and Twix, they seemed to be happy sharing me. Apollo and Achilles both want my attention all the time. It’s tough being so popular.

Both are showing some jealousy over the other if only one gets attention, so I have to be equal. Apollo sleeps on the bed with me, but Achilles jumps off right away if I lift him up. We’ll see if that changes moving forward.

I got a crate for Achilles yesterday. He is crate trained, I hope not to have to use it too often though, just when I am out and can’t take them with me. I’m afraid he’ll chew on things he’s not supposed to, like my couch. Speaking of which, I think I’ll get a couch cover to help protect it. I am trying to get them to NOT wrestle in the house, it’s something they sort of listen to but are getting better. We do go to the dog park numerous times a day, so they should not need to wrestle inside, this is human logic however.

So, good progress and Achilles is a cutie. They are getting along well, so that’s great. More later, gotta feed the puppies.