Tattoos and Talks

We headed down to the Lazy River this morning.  A beautiful day once again.  

During my tour I saw a guy who had a tattoo on his back "Made In Canada".  I asked him if he had any problems down here because of it.  He said, on the contrary, lots of positive comments.

Sounds like a good idea for when I get home, with a flag included.  And, Maureen's granddaughter, Chyna, is in that business.  So we'll see.  How about:    

                                          Made In Canada                              

                                                    1937

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I have a sort of speech prepared if I get a chance to interact with a MAGA supporter.

    "Have you ever visited Canada?  (That may lead to an interesting       conversation, but if not...)  I've visited all 50 of your states and          all 10 of our provinces, and we both have beautiful countries,              but there are differences.

    "We are better educated.

    "We have a  higher standard of living - we don't have millions             housed in trailer parks and run down shacks.

    "We have better health care - that's why we live four years longer       on average.

    "We don't have mass school shootings - thank God!

    "Our prime minister is not a convicted felon.  And our government       is not quite as corrupt as yours.

    "We already have a wastrel King.  We certainly don't need another.

    "So, can you explain why we would want to give all of that up?

Hope he or she isn't carrying a gun!

And, you know, that might be an effective argument to use on the young Canadians who think it would be a good idea to become the 51st state (second rate protectorate).  Give it a try.

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Tomorrow is moving day.

Stay well.

+Flags, Flog and Friends

 I have received one response to my tattoo query.  We'll see how far that goes.

But, in the meantime, I'm counting on my Tobermory Trompers crests...........

..........to identify me as a proud Canadian.  I have two such shirts with me and I'll be wearing them as much as possible for the next month.

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We golfed with a couple from north of the GTA today.

Along the way we noticed that Orange Lake has taken a step to increase their units (and profits) by converting a section of two bedroom units into one bedroom units.

You would have to hope that your neighbours who share the patio are nice people!

P.S.  I parred the island green hole again.  Beat Mardi by a stroke, but she won 5 holes to my 4.  Life is sure tough!

Then we headed to the Lazy River for the afternoon.  Nice and sunny today again (sorry ladies).

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And, tonight we welcomed Maureen and Matt to our abode.  They'll be with us for two nights.  Then the four of us head for a rental house in nearby Davenport.

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Stay well.

 

Towel Waving and Tattoos

 Correction:  Apparently, I didn't check that picture very closely before including it my last blog.  It was Pat who did the smoke detector check-up, not Carol.  Sorry ladies!

Hopefully, I got it right this time.  That's Mardi waving the towel.

As you can see, it doesn't take much to amuse me.

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Mardi and I went for a walk yesterday.  It was a bit chilly.  Fortunately, Mardi had a selection of toques to choose from.

We started out on sidewalks, but eventually the sidewalk turned into a golf cart path.  So we walked two holes and found two golf balls each.  A profitable day.

It hasn't been great weather for the ladies this past week.  Cloudy, cool and breezy with some rain seems to have been the norm.  They left this morning and, as you would suspect, the forecast becomes much better starting now.  Sorry once again ladies!

Mardi and I spent a couple of hours at the Lazy River, both in the water and subsequently catching rays.  A beautiful day.

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Is anyone else thinking about getting a maple leaf tattoo?

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Stay well.

Safety Equipment

 We had a visit from the guys who check the fire extinguishers and water sprinklers today.  Makes you feel safer.

Of course, we already knew that the smoke detectors worked.  Cooking bacon was the test, and Carol was the attendant with the towel, earning her keep!

Now I just have to figure out how to keep Pat busy!

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Cool, rainy day today.

The ladies shopped.  I vegetated.  Should be better weather tomorrow.

Stay well.

Golf's Distractions

 Mardi and I golfed at the Legends today.  Nice warm sunny day, with a friendly couple from Syracuse, what more could we ask?  Maybe I'll ask that we don't talk about golf.

Instead, let's talk about the two baby gators who were fishing for their lunch.  Or, the flock of turkeys......

...........protected by that Tom in the background.

Or this Carp that had been sitting on the nest.

There's lots more to life than golf, right?

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That's it for today.

Stay well.

Cool But Tough

 Mardi and I played the nine hole Crane's Bend course today.  It was sunny, but just 8C and breezy.  That's today's excuse.

Nevertheless, we both parred the island green hole.

While we were golfing, Pat and Carol were down by the pool catching some rays.  Tough Canadians!

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Tonight we headed to the Olive Garden for dinner.

The fellow in the background of the picture below is a crippled Korean War Vet.  Another gentleman came over, thanked him for his service, and paid for his dinner.  Nice gesture!

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Stay well.

Terrorists and Aliens

 Canada has now labelled Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations.  Makes sense I guess.  

I have another suggestion: the American Republican Party.  What they are doing to Canada certainly qualifies as terrorism in my book.

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Took this picture of an alien who visited today.

Sorry, I can't continue 😕.

Stay well.

Warm Snow

Happy birthday Monica.  All the best!

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Our guests enjoyed the Lazy River today.

 WOW!   This is better than fighting the snow and ice!

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That's all folks (I'm done talking about Trump for now).

Stay well. 

An Interesting Life

 You know, I've been thinking about the Trump situation.  I'll be 91 when his term is up, which is a reasonable life expectation number for me (the great uncle that I'm named after lived to 92, my mom died at 91, paternal male relatives in their 80's).  So, I'll experience the "Trump Effect" for most of, or perhaps the rest of, my remaining life.

And I quickly came to the conclusion that the rest of my life is going to be really interesting!  And I'm going to make the most of it.  Trump be damned!

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Speaking of Trump, I'll share an email I got from my friend Wayne.

An open letter written by a Florida judge about the CANADA/USA relationships & history.

By Robert Meadows (Circuit Court Judge, Florida).

Here is one American’s take on the growing trade war with the US and Canada.

"Have you ever stopped to consider how lucky we Americans are to have the neighbors we have? Look around the globe at who some folks have been stuck sharing a border with over the past half century:

North Korea / South Korea

Greece / Turkey

Iran / Iraq

Israel / Palestine

India / Pakistan

China / Russia

"We’ve got Canada! Canada. About as inoffensive a neighbor as you could ever hope for. In spite of all our boasts of “American exceptionalism” and chants of “America first,” they just smile, do their thing and go about their business. They are on average more educated, have a higher standard of living, free health care, and almost no gun problems. They treat immigrants respectfully and already took in over 35,000 Syrians in the last two years.

"They’re with us in NATO, they fought alongside us in World War I, World War II, Korea, the Gulf War, the Bosnian War, Afghanistan, the Kosovo War and came to our defense after 9/11. There was that one time when Canada took a pass on one of our wars: Vietnam. Turned out to be a good call.

"They’ve been steady consumers of American imports, reliable exporters of metals and petroleum products (they are the biggest importer of U.S. products from 37 states), and partnered with NASA in our space missions.

"During 9/11 many aircraft were diverted to Newfoundland, an island province off Canada's east coast where Americans were housed in people's homes for two weeks and treated like royalty. In return for their hospitality, this administration slapped a 20% tariff on the products of Newfoundland's only paper mill, thereby threatening it's survival.

"And what do Canadians expect of us in return? To be respected for who and what they are: Canadians. That’s what I call a good neighbor.

"But the King of Chaos couldn’t leave well enough alone. Based on his delusions of perpetual victimhood, out of the clear blue, he’s declared economic war on Canada. On CANADA! And he did it based on Canada being a national security risk to the US! For no good reason, other than the voices in his head that told him it was a war he could win. So why not do it, then?

"Again, we’re talking about Canada. Our closest ally, friend and neighbor.

"On behalf of an embarrassed nation, people of Canada, I apologize for this idiotic and wholly unnecessary attack. Please leave the back channels open. We the People of progressive persuasion stand with you."

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Back to the fun stuff.  We welcomed Pat and Carol to our Florida home this afternoon and started our adventure at Miller's for dinner.

So now I'm dealing with three crazy women.  Told you my life would be interesting!

Stay well.

Sacrifice and Sunshine

 Yesterday we played nine holes of golf at Crane's Bend in windy conditions (that's my excuse).  Then we played cards while waiting for a thunderstorm that had been forecast, but didn't quite materialize.

But the conditions here didn't seem so bad when Maureen shared a picture of the nasty wave conditions and snow and ice at their place.

It looks like we picked a good winter to stay away from home, even though it means we're having to put up with Trump and his arrogant, lying, misled Republican friends.

So far I've tried to straighten out two of them.  I don't think that I changed their minds - both of them couldn't understand why we wouldn't leap at the chance to be a part of the U.S.  They do tend to be smug don't they?  Of course we're somewhat self righteous too.

In any event, I just have 77,303,566 Trump voters left to talk to.

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In an email conversation with John Buckley yesterday I suggested that we may have to consider stepping away from NATO and the Commonwealth when this is over, because I sincerely doubt that any of those countries would live up to their commitment to come to our aid when we are under threat.    We've sent billions of dollars and sacrificed thousands of our troops for Europe's benefit.  It's been a one way street for over a hundred years.  It's time to protect ourselves!

And, if we are totally honest, that thought process is probably what is driving Trump currently regarding the Ukraine peace he is pursuing.  How many of the U.S.'s trillions of dollars of debt has gone toward fighting Europe's and the Middle East's wars for them?

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Now for some more positive news.

Our walk today took us to the North Village.  Along the way I was struck by the beauty of this place......

.............and the tree is pretty too!

It leads you to this conclusion.

Orange Lake has its big girls and boys slide.  It also has a small girls and boys slide.

Mardi tried to talk me into going down the slide, but I wasn't wearing my bathing suit 😞.  Maybe another time.

The North Village is perfect for little people............

 

----------------and it's fun to watch them enjoy themselves!

Good night.  Sleep well.

Politics

 Today was a pool day.  Nothing exciting.  Just two old folks having a good day.

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Generally, we avoid conversations regarding Trump or the 51st state topic.  But, when our U.S. friends start the conversation I do participate - a couple of times so far.

Yesterday it was with a fellow from Illinois.  We talked about winter weather and I pointed out that his area probably had harsher weather than we do in Canada's wine country.

Then he said that the U.S. has better health care (do you suppose he's a Republican?).  I responded that the American wealthy have better health care, but in Canada we all have decent health care.  That's why we live, on average, four years longer than they do.

Surprisingly, both countries spend about the same amount per capita on health care.  But a good portion of their spending stays with the insurance companies and with the bloated U.S. drug and health care system.

That's about where he seemed to lose interest in the conversation. 

If it had continued, I would have pointed out that during Covid that age expectancy number widened to five years because President Trump didn't take it seriously and Americans were more complacent.  The U.S. has about ten times the population of Canada.  If you take the Canadian Covid death count and multiply it by ten you are still short more than a million people of their death toll.

The Republicans are castigating Dr. Fauci, but if they had listened to him those million people didn't have to die.

Second topic:  The U.S. has regular mass school shootings (defined as four or more people - only the big ones make the news).  That alone is enough reason to avoid becoming the 51st state!

Third topic:  President Trump talks about their trade deficit with Canada, but he doesn't mention the billions of dollars that we spend on our visits to his country.

If they don't want the money that Mardi and I spend down here we can certainly go elsewhere.  Mexico, Portugal, the Mediterranean coast, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand all have warm weather during our winters.  Florida is convenient, but we do have other options.  

If that happened, we would still book our timeshare at Orange Lake, but rent it out, probably to Americans, and pocket a decent profit that would come back to Canada and help finance our trip elsewhere.

Take a deep breath.  End of sermon.

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Stay well my friends.

Happy Valentine's Day

 I didn't post last night because it would have come across as a lot of whining.

We hadn't played Willowbrook Golf Course for a few years because it was in such a state of disrepair.  But we had a voucher for a car wash near the course so decided to give it another try.  Big mistake!

The only grass that gets cut is on the greens and tees (but not all tees).  And there are large areas without grass.

Add in 33C temperatures and high humidity and it was a tough day.

Even Chip had problems with the grass.

By the way, that Great Egret in the background is eating a fish it caught.

Normally, we would see lots of alligators at Willowbrook, but a housing development being created over what was a swamp next to the course seems to have eliminated them.

Altogether we were totally spent by the time the game was over.

Willowbrook is a municipal golf course which probably explains the lack of money spent to keep it in good shape.  But conversely, the golf club employees are all friendly and wanting to help - a totally diffeent experience from the more arrogant, uncaring folks who work at Hamilton's municipal courses.

Turns out that the car wash was the highlight of the day!

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But, today was much better.  A bit cooler, and colourful......

.................and prettier!

My valentine!

We finished off Valentine's Day with a tasty Salmon dinner.

That's coffee and Bailey's in the cups (cool evening).  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stay well.

Slides and Senility

 Today was a pool day, and I decided to check out the giant slide while I was there.  

The sign said 42 inches high minimum - check.  Two hundred and twenty five pounds max - check.  Nothing about age - check.

So, I decided to try it out.

A nose full of water........

....but a quick rescue..........

-----------and a happy celebration.

On a previous visit I did the climbing wall.  Next year?  Maybe a hammock 😎.

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Tonight we headed to Breezes for dinner and "Chip", a.k.a. "Bogey Boy", came along with us.

Turns out he's a two fisted drinker!

We're golfing at Willowbrook tomorrow.  Hopefully we'll lose him there.

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This picture has nothing to do with anything, but I was attracted to the tree blossoms.  Enjoy.

Buy Canadian and stay well.

Bogey Boy

 Yesterday we headed to Port Richey (actually to Bayonet Point) for a game of golf at Beacon Woods Golf Club.

Unfortunately, Ed's talking golf bag, Bogey Boy, tagged along......

.................and I blame Ed and Bogey Boy for me losing to Mardi.

Bogey Boy will feel the pain as our vacation progresses.  Mark my words - I don't think we've heard the last of him!

Afterward, we all headed to the Overtime Bar, where a game of musical bingo was taking up the attention of our friends.

But, no wins.

After dinner it was back to their place where a game of Skip-Bo was the highlight.  Ron and I are not talking about that, nor about the golf game.  Sore losers?  Perhaps.

But, we did have a good time with Jill and Ron, and the boys will get even, some day.

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Back to the vacation grind tomorrow.

Stay well.

Buy Canadian

 A quiet weekend (Ed has gone home 😏😇).

Nine holes of golf yesterday - she beat me.

Played in the water and soaked up sun today.

Tonight we'll watch the Super Bowl.

Tomorrow it's off to Port Richey to visit and play golf with Jill and Ron.

I'll leave you with a fun response to the Trump shenanigans.  

Thanks Monica.

Buy Canadian.  And know that "Made in Canada - minimum 51 per cent Canadian" is good in every case except where it's going against a "Product of Canada - 98 per cent Canadian" option.

Shop well.  Stay well.

Friends and Enemies

 We had a hearty breakfast with Rose and Ed this morning.

And then the ladies walked the Lazy River one last time.........

...... before we took our friends to the airport and mailed them home.

We thanked them for the wonderful weather they brought with them.  Warm and usually sunny every day.  Thanks guys!  Fun times!

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Justin Trudeau has said that Trump wants to take us over in order to get control of our precious minerals.

Steve Bannon says it is because he wants to control the Artic shipping channels and prevent Russia or China from taking a controlling position in our far north.

Can't blame Trump for the latter issue.  Canada has found it convenient to fall far short of our NATO obligations.  I think that we still patrol the Arctic with Canadian Rangers, equipped with single shot rifles!  If Russia were ever to invade it would be up to the U.S. to rescue us - because we didn't look after ourselves.

And why should they have to do that?  We didn't hold up our end and there should be a penalty for that.

So, his takeover ambitions, besides feeding his ego, are an understandable reaction to the current facts.

But, rest assured, he wouldn't make us the 51st state.  Oh no, that would put their Conservative majority at threat.

My bet is that we would become a "protectorate" like Puerto Rico.  No votes that count, and no benefits at all except protection from Russia.  Whoopee!

Any Canadians who think that Trump taking us over would be good for us need to give their heads a shake!

And, if Trump does take that path, you can bet that the other NATO nations, who have guaranteed to protect each other, would have no interest in helping us take on the U.S. other than empty talk.  Even our great Commonwealth partners, including the U.K. would be absent.

 Good night Canada!

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Sleep well!

Mountainside Golf

Swam this morning and then played golf. 

A very mountainous course!

Mini putt of course.  Mardi was victorious.

She also won the Mexican Train game.  Great day sweetie!

For dinner we headed to Culver's for their deluxe butterball hamburger meal.  Buns toasted and buttered - delicious!

Be Canadian.

No News

 No post tonight - Mardi and Gary have hurt my feelings.

Besides, all we did today was play in the lazy river and soak up some sun.

Buy Canadian.  Stay well.

Golfed My Age!

 We spent some time yesterday in the pool and then headed to Disney Springs to see the movie "Wicked".   Can't remember why.

Pretty remarkable media experiment, but not really my cup of tea.  I won't be going back to see the next "chapter" in the story.

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Much more fun today.  Although we woke up to a heavy fog......

............................it eventually cleared and we headed out for a round of golf.  And I finally had a golf score (83) lower than my age (87 until April 6).

Full disclosure: We played Deer Creek Golf & Country Club, the 18 hole course connected to an RV park.  Par is just 60.  Ed and I played from the white tees (3,181 yards) while the ladies played from the red tees (2,523 yards).

Nevertheless, it's a marker that I can try to improve upon.

A very pretty course, with some challenges.

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Trump postponed the tariff gambit, so I don't have to feel guilty yet about spending money in the U.S.  Sure glad that we brought some Canadian made cereal down with us though!  That will show them!

I can't understand why the Canadian politicians don't point out that there is no trade deficit when you add in the money that the Snowbirds pour into the U.S. economy.  Not that it would make any difference to the tariff king I guess.

We'll see what his next demand will be and what it will take to keep postponing his wonderful 25% tariff.  

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Buy Canadian.

Stay well.

February Two (couldn't think of an appropriate title)

 Bet you can't guess where we were today.

I met these young beauties while on a stroll..........

............and they agreed to join Ed and I.

We had lunch after the Carillon performance and then wandered the grounds.  Saw this pretty thing in the pollination gardens.

Next up we headed to Davidson's of Dundee for our candy fix.  

Then Webb's for ice cream cones and fudge.

And finally, home for a libation.   Busy day!

We'll take it easier tomorrow.

Stay well.

Mount Dora

 Today we headed to Mount Dora for their annual Art Festival.

The whole downtown is blocked off, with block after block reserved for artists and their displays.  An awesome show!

A $2,400 musical instrument, played by its creator.

Artist at work.

A familiar face.

Coloured pencils.

This item was not for sale.  Made from a tree that had been hit by lightning.

Even the restaurants get into the art form.  This is Mardi's Spider Sushi.

Lots of walking up and down Mount Dora's 184 foot altitude "mountain" streets, but well worth the effort.

And we may have to return in a couple of weeks.

We'll leave you with this message from Rosa Parks as we celebrate Black History.

Stay well.