Tubes and Turkeys

 Yesterday, I dropped Mardi off at East Side Mario's in the Costco plaza for a luncheon with the ladies.  Then I carried on to the greenhouse to say hi to David and Sean.

They had their hands full, building a fertilized water recycling system.  This is the first section.  David is drilling holes for the piping connections.

And it's dropped into position.

Lots more work to do.  I'll leave them to it!

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This morning Mardi had her final laser treatment on her blurry eye.  All is now good.

And tonight we headed to the Optimist Club for our annual Turkey Roll.  We had some winners!  Ron King, Judy Murray, David Craig, Sandro Cervoni, Jo-Ann Greene, and Mardi, who copped two wins.  The "turkeys" this year are $40 Fortino gift cards.  I will be delivering them shortly.

The fun part of the evening for me is always the turkey races.

In lane one you have "Tom", lane two "Girty". lane three "Gobble", lane four "Beefy", lane five "Wattle" and lane six "Stuff It".

I should have known better.  I bet on Stuff It every race (he's the one that the fingers are pointing to).  I forgot that before a turkey gets stuffed it has to be dead.  Stuff It sure was!

Nevertheless, a good time was had by all and the club can now continue its good work.

Stay well.

A Quiet Time

 On Saturday I mailed Mardi to Mexico, to join son Greg and granddaughter Chloe.  She is having a wonderful time, including dipping her toes in the Caribbean, swimming in the pool at the condo complex, and fishing.

Here is their recent catch.

They had some cooked up for their meal and the rest stayed with the Captain of the ship. 

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David and Sean are not planting Easter Lilies this year.  That crop always interfered with other plantings and created some chaos with those crops - which should be resolved with this change.  The garden centre is still active, but because of the change the growing areas are pretty quiet and will remain that way until later in December when the Geraniums will be planted, followed by other crops.

And my hand operation, which is progressing very well, has prevented me from the digging that I would otherwise be doing.  That will have to wait for spring.

So, I'm fading away.  No Mardi, no Blue Jays, and no greenhouse jobs.  Poor me!

But, I was cheered up by a delivery this morning.  "His and Hers" golf bags arrived.  

Something to look forward to.

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It looks like the Epstein files will be released now that President Trump has reversed his position.  The prevailing theory is that the revolt of his Republican Congress and the civilization of Marjorie Taylor Green made him change his mind.  There might be another reason.  Maybe he got word that any reference to him in the files had been redacted, or that the new investigations he initiated on Friday will prevent sensitive files from surfacing.  We shall see.

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I enjoyed coffee with David and Sean this morning.  And went for a mile walk down to the lake.  Positive stuff.

Tomorrow I'm heading out for coffee with brother Roger and sister Judy.  Between my two eye operations and my carpal tunnel operation it's some time since we've been together.  Looking forward to it!

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Stay well.  I'm trying to.

Remembrance Day

 Mardi and I attended the Remembrance ceremony at the Stoney Creek monument this morning.  She laid a wreath on behalf of the Stoney Creek United Church.

A solemn and meaningful ceremony to honour thousands of Canadian troops who died, mostly in other countries, most of them very young.

As the drawing points out, in the U.S. they also honour (I guess in this particular case I should spell it "honor") their troops.  They call it Veterans Day and recognize all of their veterans.

Either way, it's an important moment.  Let's not forget.

Stay well.

Indigenous Veteran Day

 

Each year on Nov. 8, communities across the country mark Indigenous Veterans Day, a national day of remembrance that originated in Winnipeg in 1994.

Before its creation, Indigenous veterans were often excluded from Remembrance Day ceremonies.

They couldn’t march together as a group or lay wreaths at cenotaphs.

The day was established to correct that oversight and recognize the thousands of First Nations, Métis and Inuit soldiers who served in conflicts dating back to the War of 1812.

My daughters' grandfather missed out on this tribute, coming home from war with an injured knee which never worked well after that, and enduring the prejudice of the time. 

He is the man on the left.

I'll be thinking of him again on Tuesday at the Remembrance Day ceremony when I also remember my Uncle Roy and Mardi's Uncle Arn.

Lest we forget.

Stay well.

Moving On

 Birthday wishes go out to Rose Strecker today.  All the best, and I hope that Ed has gone all out to help you celebrate Rose.

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I guess that it's time to put this year's baseball season to bed.  They didn't win the World Series, but they put on an awesome performance.  A series for the ages!

Can't wait to see next year's version.  I've printed off their spring training schedule and I expect that Mardi and I will be attending more than one game while we're down south..

Go Jays Go.

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It's fun to watch the Conservatives disintegrate.  The Pierre Poilievre/Reform rhetoric has doomed his leadership role.  He's as good as gone.

If the Conservatives had won the last election, he would have been gone sooner.  Can you imagine him taking on Trump?  No contest!

My prediction is that if Poilievre isn't turfed, then when the dust has settled the Liberals will have a majority. 

And we won't have a tariff deal any time soon.  Trump still intends to take us over and won't give up that fruitless quest as long as he remains President.

Hopefully, the Reagan Republicans will get their backbone back and bring some sense to the political scene.

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Stay well.

Halloween Horrora

 The biggest news about Halloween relates to Mardi and me.  It's the 22nd anniversary of our first date.  And a happy 22 years it has been.  Thank you my love!

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On Halloween it seems traditional to see horror pictures.  So, in that spirit, I'm including a picture of my hand.

An incision on either side of the nerve and tissue removed (I assume that is what happened - I didn't watch 😟).  Tylenol 3 got me through the first three days.  The pain remains but it's now bearable.

Can't get it wet yet, so I dress up for my shower,

The eye issue remains.  Vision is bright and clear, but there is distortion.  I couldn't figure out how to accurately describe it, but the ball game gave me a clue.  I looked at the strike zone image with my left eye and it fills the bill.

With my left eye, the image is smaller and somewhat wavy.  Across the centre of my vision it's quite scrunched up and distorted.  It may improve, but I can cope if it doesn't.

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And, as I threatened, it's time to consider the Optimist Club's Turkey Roll.