Blog Fog

 

Mardi and I had a wonderful Christmas morning, she with A.J. and family, me with David and family.  Nice to be included with one of our kids on that special day (the rest are hundreds or thousands of miles away, unfortunately).

I don't know about the rest of you, but my life seems to have been on pause since then.  Weather not conducive to being outside.  Just doing some minor housekeeping items in preparation for our Florida jaunt.  And Mardi knitting, me doing Sudoku puzzles, working on the memoirs, and both of us binge watching Blue Bloods reruns.  Exciting stuff!

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Merry Christmas

I have been fortunate to have been involved in three fraternal organizations in my life.  The Optimists, for 64 years; the Trompers for 40 years; and Fishguts, the campfire band which was formed several years ago from a bunch of guys that I started fishing with over 40 years ago.

They have all contributed to who I am.

The other day, Barry wished our Wordle group a Merry Christmas which included the Fishguts song "A Fisherman's Christmas" and that's what drew me down the above line of thought.  So I'm also going to send it your way.  The primary voice is Barry Kopysh, then my brother Roger, with the rest of us contributing to the chorus.  Roger convinced me to pick up the accordion that I hadn't touched since dad died!

What I think that you might take from this song is that every day can be a "Christmas" if you take the time to appreciate what you have.  

Enjoy, and have a wonderful Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCLBaHiy-Q4&pp=ygUVZmlzaGVybWFuJ3MgY2hyaXN0bWFz

Books and Birthdays

 Vision is improved today, but all the drops that were put in my left eye yesterday to expand the pupil haven't totally lost their effect.  A little too much light is still evident, so I'm idling at home today.

Pretty bored, so I started looking at some historical stuff, including the book that Gary and Doc put together to commemorate the Tobermory Trompers.

Our group first got together 40 years ago!  

The following picture was taken on our last excursion five years ago.  Do you recognize the guy with the beard?  Hint - he's related to the two guys at the ends of the back row.

It was a nice pleasure reading the book of pictures and stories once again.  Lots of great memories of times enjoyed with good friends.  A couple of bad ones too, like in 2009 when my retina detachment woes first began on one of our trips.  And, the loss of some good friends over the years.

It was my adventures with the Trompers that gave me the courage to take on Machu Picchu with Sean, and the Grand Canyon with Malcolm and Ewen.  Thanks guys!

Most of us are getting a little long in the tooth now to contemplate the demanding excursions we once took on, but it would be nice to reconnect on a memorial trip of some kind in 2025.

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Nothing planned for tomorrow so, in case I don't blog, I'd like to wish my kid brother a happy 75th birthday.  He's the one who is back left in the picture above.  Have a great day bro'!

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Stay well.

Welding

 Today is Mardi's niece Rachelle's birthday.  And tomorrow Rachelle's sister Rebecca will celebrate hers.  Nice Christmas presents for Bonnie and Steve back then.

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Got my retina welded this morning.  That's just one week between diagnosis and laser procedure.  Pretty good service!

Should be OK now but, since it would be a preexisting condition there would not be travel insurance coverage if I have a problem while we're in the U.S.  Dr. Arora advised that they would charge about $1,000 for a "hi and bye" and $2,000 for laser treatment down there.

He has scheduled me in April for another touchup after we return.

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Some discomfort remaining, and my dilated pupil hasn't recovered yet so, this afternoon I just vegged out.

Stay well.

Trump, Satan, and Montezuma

I decided to publish today after all, so Happy Birthday again Malcolm.

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Today's excitement was delivering the remaining toques that Mardi made to the Food Bank, together with the $60 she got from selling some toques to our neighbour.  Felt good, but sad to see the folks, who needed that kind of support, doing their shopping.

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Trump is once again threatening to take over Canada, and he thinks that's what we want.  He needs to read (OK, have read to him) a bit of history.

The last U.S. President to think about taking over Canada, James Madison, had to run from the White House when the British burned it.   And had to accept that he had gained nothing from the war which saw his soldiers chased out of our country.  He had thought, as Trump seems to do, that we Canadians would welcome entry into the U.S.

Now that's a world where we would live five years less on average, due to the loss of our health care.  Where we might have to join the pretend Christian Evangelicals who worship their Satan.  Where we would be ruled by Elon Musk and his puppet President.  Sounds great, right?

No thanks!  I'll take my Canadian dollar with its withered value any time over that option.

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Have a kind thought for Mardi who is dealing with Montezuma's Revenge right now.

And stay well yourselves.

Lougheed Christmas

 Tonight, Mardi and I joined her brother Steve and Bonnie and brother Greg and Diane for a Christmas dinner at Southcote 53 in Ancaster.  A really nice evening.

By the way, if I can insert a commercial, if you are looking for an investment counselor, we can recommend Steve.  He's doing a great job for Mardi and me.

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Tomorrow looks like a boring day, so I'll wish grandson Malcolm a happy birthday in advance, in case I don't publish.

Stay well.

Memories

 My post yesterday sent me down a nostalgia trail.  I spent this morning going through a box of old pictures and letters.  

A few of the pictures that I found will make it into the Memoirs, including this one of me with Mom, being a quasi-dad to my younger siblings, the day that I married Jean...........

........and these, of me.........

...with my medals.........

............and my Tromper buddies.

Quite a roller coaster ride of emotions!

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Even more emotional was the return of my lover from Mexico.  Boy, did I miss her!  Life is now right side up again.

Stay well.

Cooking

Judy drove me to the eye doctor's today.  They did more tests and confirmed that I have a small hole in the retina.  So I go back on Friday to have it welded (lasered) .

We then headed to the Ancaster Fairgrounds to pick up our Dofasco Christmas treats.   Because of the postal strike, tickets didn't get mailed.  So they had to verify everybody before handing out the gifts.  Took an hour in line to get our nutcracker and popcorn pail.

Merry Christmas.

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When I was out with Roger and Judy recently I shared an advance copy of the Memoirs that I have been writing.  Roger suggested that I should include more detail, such as what I wrote yesterday about my trips with grandkids (which I have now included).  The Memoirs are for the grandkids, so that they can better understand why I am who I am.

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My supposed friend Barry posed the following question in our Wordle thread:

One has to wonder how much weight Bud will lose given he doesn't cook and Mardi is away sipping on margaritas in Mexico.  

Perhaps the question should be how much will he gain while relying on takeout to fill the void. 

Answer:  No takeout meals, two dinner invitations (thanks Sue and Maureen) and no weight lost (so far - but she doesn't return until tomorrow night).

Some of you know the story of why I don't cook, but I'm going to burden you with some of my Memoirs to explain to the others.

My Career

 When the Bar-Don Lanes opened in Stoney Creek, dad was instrumental in forming two leagues, the Saltfleet Men’s League and the Saltfleet Mixed League.  He had bowled in a Dofasco league for a few years prior.  It was at the Bar-Don that I got my first job at age twelve.  We started out setting pins six nights a week and were upset when they cut us back to four.

 My dad died when I was in grade ten at Saltfleet High School.  The next school year I started helping the janitor sweep floors after school to make extra money.  I did my homework while I set pins at the bowling alley.  

Then I added a Friday night and Saturday job at Clayton's Men's Wear.  (Working three jobs and pretending to be a dad to my younger siblings didn’t leave any time to learn how to cook.)

 The summer my dad died, and the following summer as well, I worked as a mail boy at Dofasco, carrying requisitions throughout the mill to obtain the requisite superintendents’ signatures.  Dofasco turned a blind eye to the fact that I was only 15 that first summer.  I made about $30 per week.  I continued to work weekends at Clayton's.

 When I was 17 and had completed grade 12, it became necessary for me to quit school and start working full time to help support the family.  For a year, I worked at Clayton’s (at $35. per 46 hour week), until he got a job flying supplies for the construction of the DEW Line and decided that he needed a more mature person to run the store in his absence.  Although I was offered a job by Stu Chapple to work at the hardware store and had also been approached by Walter Scott, the manager of the Royal Bank, I decided to try Dofasco, where I started at $45 per week.

 For the first year, I worked steady nights, picking up time cards throughout the mill and calculating the hours worked for each person.  For the first three months of that stint, I also worked days at the Men’s Wear store to help the new manager get into the swing of things.  I would get about three hours sleep Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, eight hours on Wednesday (a half day at the store), and virtually no sleep Friday when the store didn’t close until nine.  After closing the store at six o’clock Saturday night, I could sleep around the clock because I didn’t have to go back on nights at Dofasco until Sunday midnight.   I lost 15 pounds that summer (from 135 down to 120).

 After a year on nights, I was brought into the time office and for almost two years worked on payroll.  I was then sent for psychological testing and after a grueling day was told that I should quit Dofasco and go back to school to become an accountant (which I couldn’t afford to do).  Instead, Dofasco put me on the Sales training program and I spent the next year and a half working in various labs throughout the plant, including several months in the Steel Casting department (Dante’s Inferno).

 I followed a path that would be impossible today without a university education.  My determination to achieve and dedication to the job, together with an analytical bent and long hours, helped me to finally become Director of Sales Planning and Administration, with a staff of about 80 people and a spot in the “Management Group” which got to eat in the separate executive dining room and rotated through attendance at monthly Company Directors’ Luncheons.

 After retiring, I worked for Laurence Marshall at Larry’s Truck and at Golden Horseshoe Tire for about three years, as Credit Manager, management assistant and finally as Purchasing Manager for Truckland, after Laurence had sold it and it changed names.

 Perhaps my most satisfying job has been my “farm labour” activity as I tried to help David wherever he needed assistance.  Watching your son overcome the obstacles and challenges of entrepreneurship to build a successful business and playing with your grandchildren on the job is as good as it gets.

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So now you know.  And, I don't do laundry either.

Stay well.

 

Traditions

Headed to the greenhouse today to fix an outside bench support and one of the Christmas tree stands.  

By the way, Christmas trees are non-taxable as of yesterday, and that continues until February 15, so no rush 😂.

Spent some quality time with Sean as well (every time with Sean is quality time - we've been bosom buddies since Machu Picchu).  Speaking of that, here are some pictures of that trip when he was 12 years old.   On the 70 mile hike..........

..........celebrating at the 14,000 foot pass crossing with our guide (we also crossed a 16,000 foot pass, but I was on oxygen at the time and incapable of lifting a camera)......

.......and overlooking our destination.

I had made many trips with my oldest grandchild, Yancy, but this was the first of what would become a tradition - a special adventure with each grandchild after they turned 12 (and before they became addled teenagers).  

Thanks for that go to David.  I had first asked him to accompany me, but he declined due to business pressure and suggested that I take Sean instead.  That turned out to be so wonderful that I had to do it with the other grandkids.

Anna to New York City, Malcolm to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and down into a slot canyon, Kyle on a Caribbean cruise, Ewen on a 28 mile hike across the Grand Canyon, and Sarah-Jean, with Mardi's granddaughter Reggie, to tour the U.S. south west.  Awesome times!

You all should try it!

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Stay well.

Queen of the Yucatan

 Happy birthday today to Sandro, and to Mardi's nephew Julien Couture.

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A.J. sent along this picture of his mom today.

Mardi is having way too much fun!

Meanwhile, poor me.  I have been a wimp regarding the greenhouse for the past couple of days.  The job jar only contains outdoor projects right now, and very cold and windy doesn't seem to agree with me.

But I managed to spend a couple of hours there today, correcting an electrical issue (those lights in the picture below), moving my Oak saplings close to the greenhouse so that they have a better chance of surviving in their pots, and cleaning up a couple of gardens including this one.

These plants (can't remember their name, a common occurrence for me these days) have refused to totally succumb to the freezing weather.
 I got tired of waiting, so I cleaned them up today.

Still crisp!  Amazing!  And hard to believe that they produced all of the growth shown in the first picture.

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Stay well.

Trees, Tease and Eyes

 Thought that I should finish the story about the Christmas tree stands.  First, you take this tapered drill and drill a hole up into the base of the trunk of the tree.

Then, you stand four trees on the steel posts to display them for the customers.

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Meanwhile, my love has been sitting on a balcony in Mexico, overlooking the pool, and drinking rye.  Not fair!   What a tease!

The closest that I could come to getting even was to have a pre-Christmas lunch with brother Roger and sister Judy.

We talked for four hours, reminiscing about our lives and our heritage.  I only came to tears three or four times.  

It was a wonderful way to spend time together.

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Then it was off to my Optometrist to follow up on light flashes that I have been getting at night, which suggest a retina trying to detach.

You know that I have been complaining about our health care system lately, still on a waiting list for over five months regarding my carpal tunnel problem, and Mardi waiting for cataract surgery.

Well, this time it was different.  I called the Optometrist yesterday and got today's appointment.  After examining me she then got me an appointment at the St. Joseph's Urgent Care Eye Clinic for an hour later.

They didn't find a problem, but they in turn have booked me for 11:15 on December 16 with the doctor who lasered my eyes in 2009.  Excellent response!  I definitely want this issue to be dealt with before we leave for Florida!

(Judy, in case he lasers me again, are you available to get me to, 867 Upper Paradise, and fro?  Mardi will still be drinking Rye in Mexico that day.)

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And tonight, the Optimist Club's Christmas dinner.  Sat with Ed and Rose who will be joining us in Florida for 12 days in February.  Another nice night.

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Stay well.

She Left Me

 In the dead of night she left me......

.......heading away for a week with her son, A.J., at his place in Mexico.

But, I'll get even.  I'll enjoy time with David when he accompanies me on the drive to Florida.  We plan a golf game then too, plus a middle of the night ride to the airport when I send him home.

Mother and son.  Father and son.  It doesn't get much better than that.  Sorry girls 😇.

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Today's project was to repair and build Christmas tree stands.

One repair went well.  A second ended with a sacrificial fire.  Some trial and error involved.

Speaking of Christmas trees, the new GST holiday includes them in its mandate.  The only such item that David sells.  So, after December 14, David has to figure out how to exempt them from GST.  

Probably only a few trees left by then, so an expensive system fix isn't justified.  Knowing David, he'll come up with an ingenious solution!

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My friend Wayne sent me the following:

Below is the last paragraph in Volker Ullrich's riveting account of Hitler's final years as the Fuhrer.

 

" If Hitler's life and career teaches us anything, it is how quickly democracy can be prised from its hinges when political institutions fall and civilising forces in society are too weak to combat the lure of authoritarianism, how thin the mantle separating civilization from barbarity actually is, and what human beings are capable of when the rule of law and ethical norms are suspended and some people are granted unlimited power over the lives of others"

 

This message is really meant for the people in the United States who voted to put Trump back in the White House. You should be very afraid. What have you done to your republic?

In our next federal election I plan to vote for someone who might have the same tendencies.  But in Canada we seem to be able to get rid of, and control, the bad ones a bit better.  Despite the risk, we need to toss out Trudeau and his word salad party before they make our country look even more foolish and bankrupt us.  One Conservative term should hopefully get us back on track.

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Stay well.

Trays and Toques

 Stopped by the greenhouse this morning when I was out shopping, to see how they made out after I left yesterday.  Apparently they didn't miss me, and finished just after lunch time.

Sean sent a picture of me at my post.

Actually, I only got to sit in that chair about a half hour each day.  Most of the time I was helping put trays on the floor, helping with the tagging, avoiding wrecks, or cleaning up wrecked trays that hit the floor at the corner.

And yesterday morning I spent a bit of time trying to fix the rows that our temp guy messed up while my attention was elsewhere.

The rows are supposed to be aligned with the posts on the left.  By the time that I caught his mistake he was two rows out of line.  I wonder why he was laid off from his previous job?

But all ends well.  These trays will be relocated when growth is showing and it is time to straighten out any off centre plants.  The trays will be relocated, straightened and there will be a separation between them.

Easter is late this year, so now we have four and a half months to regulate their growth through light and heat so that we have a nice show for April 20.  The ones that start to bloom early will head to a cooler to pause their growth.

Three thousand more bulbs will be arriving to be planted next week but that will fill less than half a house.  No sweat!

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And, she's still at it, between coughing spells.

Mardi has delivered about 30 to the Food Bank, sold 8 to a neighbour (gave the money to the Food Bank) and just keeps on going.  Well done babe!

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Stay well.

Aberfoyle with one Al

The greenhouse shift didn't go so well this morning.  Some wrecks at the corner while I was trying to help with the tagging, and a screwup in the setting down of the trays by our temporary worker while I was distracted by the wrecks and tagging.

Felt really guilty leaving Sean and the crew at the morning coffee break, but went anyway 😞.

After I got home and got cleaned up, David and Sue picked me up and we were off to the Aberfoyle Mill.  A glass of wine and my guilt was swept away  😋.

I have a great group of golfing friends......

........and the conversations flowed.  A really nice event.  Thanks for setting it up Gary!

And thanks to Al for this musical tribute.

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Stay well.

Lilys and Lunkheads

 Sorry for ignoring you folks for a couple of days.  It's been a busy week so far for an old goat (some say that "goat" means "greatest of all times" - in all modesty I must object, but thanks for the thought😏).

Eight hours at the greenhouse working on the Lily project, followed by a couple of ryes, then dinner and to bed by 8 or 9.  Three days in a row. Routine for an 87 year old, right?  Every bone in my body aches!

But, we're more than 75% complete.  Tomorrow should complete the planting.

Unfortunately, I'll only be there until coffee break.  Then it's off to a luncheon at the Aberfoyle Mill with my golf buddies, including David (sorry Trillium Hill folks, but you'll do just fine.  Sean's got it under control - he's the best).

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I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm more than a bit disturbed by Trump's comment about us becoming a 51st state.  Domenic Leblanc chalks it up as a joke.

Hey Domenic, Trump doesn't know how to joke!

Have you ever imagined conversations about how you would react to different situations?  I do.  And here's how my conversation would have gone.

Trump: We could make you our 51st state.

Me: Go ahead stupid.  We crushed you in 1812, we'll see how it goes next time.

Trump: It will be over in a day.

Me: That's what Putin said about the Ukraine three years ago.  Good luck.

Trump: We're better than Russia.

Me: Ok stupid.  You do realize that you'd also be fighting the U.K. and Australia right?  We're part of the Commonwealth.

Trump: It would be over before they get here.

Me:  Then we'll blow up the oil pipelines that are critical for your economy, and the Quebec Hydro lines that feed your northeast.  And we'll stop sending Maple Syrup your way.  You're toast my friend.

Isn't imagination wonderful?

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Relax.  Stay well.

Lily With One Al

 First off, a hearty best wishes to Dave Jewett on his birthday.  Although you're probably snowed in up there in Kincardine, hope you have had a good day Doc.

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I got to the Lily planting today despite spending so much time reading Al's emails.  It took just an hour to get some bulbs cleaned, start the line, train the temps and work out the kinks.

And we were on our way.

This is my corner.  If the trays come down slightly off line they crash and end up on the floor.  Only three dropped today and only one of them caused a momentary stop of the line.  I count that as a success.

After turning the corner they head into one of the houses to be placed on the floor.

And eight hours later, 14,000 made it.  Two houses complete.

We're 25% of the way!

Sadly, it didn't seem the same without Donna, who has recently retired from Trillium Hill and was a key person in our Lily plantings.

 

We all miss you Donna.   Charlie does too!  

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Back at it tomorrow.  Stay well.

 Not much to report today.  I headed to the greenhouse just to check on how Sean was making out setting up for the Lily run.  Looks good.  Can't wait 'till tomorrow to get started.

In the meantime, I thought that you folks might enjoy the Optimist Club's monthly bulletin.  It features our Pat in one of the pictures, and yours truly in a couple of others.  Mardi shows up a bit too.

Enjoy.  Stay well.