Aging Issues

Birthday wishes to Al Knapp and Grant MacLean.  All the best!

------------------------------------------ 

Our day started with Mardi heading to Kathryn's to assist her with packing for her move at the end of the month.  And I stayed home to welcome the Shipton's technician who did an annual servicing on our aging, 50 year old, air conditioning system.

The HVAC units in this building are unique (a kind word).  Our first attempt at having the unit serviced failed - the guy couldn't figure out the system.  The units were made specifically for this building and one other - there are no replacements.  They are wired in a confusing manner and do not drain - there is an evaporator system for moisture collected during the air conditioning cycle.

Shipton's do most of the work in the building and since we started to use them things have gone well.  That needs to continue because if the unit fails a custom replacement is pretty pricey.  Thus our annual servicing contract.

--------------------------------------------

Next up was my visit to The Ontario College of Health and Technology for a massage.  I'm crediting them with helping me to get my leg strength back - it's at about 80% now.  And the young man also worked on my sore shoulders -  a shovelling and dumping of red clay result from yesterday.

Similar to the HVAC issue, my 85 year old body was a custom unit and replacement parts are nonexistent.  So I plan to keep getting it serviced and functioning.

--------------------------------------------

Next up was supposed to be a visit to Winterberry Health Clinic.  That's where Mardi and I got most of our Covid vaccine shots.

We got a call a few days ago from the clinic.  They are part of a Moderna vaccine trial to deal with a respiratory issue that affects old people and called to invite us to participate. A bit confusing that they would pick us if it is an old person issue!

In any event, we were to go today for an interview for the trial but the interviewer was sick so we're rescheduled for next week.

If selected to participate it would be a two year trial.  Double blind, so both of us could get the vaccine, one of us could, or we might both end up with a placebo vaccine.  Possibly protected from whatever they are trying to deal with.

We would get paid for each of 10 phone interviews and 5 in-person interviews.  The other benefit is that we would presumably get some pretty good health follow-up during the trial period, and perhaps afterward.  We shall see.

------------------------------------------------

Blue Jays beat the Red Sox in a close 3 - 2 tenth inning win.  Looking good!

Stay well.

Mums For Sale

 Worked at the greenhouse for three hours until the heat and humidity drove me home.  Reorganized the soil skids up the driveway.  Watered.  Weeded.

Also, when the sign guys cemented in the new sign posts they left a couple of wagon loads of red clay on top of the garden loam.  So I dug it out and dumped it back by the pond.

While I was there, I saw this Cormorant fishing.

I think his name is Bud, because while I watched him fish, I never saw him catch.  Been there, done that!

----------------------------------------------

While I was back there I checked out the work that is going on to install a culvert under the driveway behind the pond.

A fairly hefty project.

------------------------------------------------

I need to tell you that the Garden Mums are now ready for sale.

They start at 4 for $10.

You are receiving this commercial because you are silly enough to read "dorsalsdiary".  He accepts no responsibility for your lack of good taste.

-----------------------------------------------

Blue Jays beat the Red Sox 9 - 3.  They got 8 of those runs in the third inning with 2 out.  Fun to watch.

Stay well.

Weather?

 Golf day today, so I headed to Grimsby to pick David up.  Poured rain as I drove there.  And as we passed Burlington, once again pouring rain.

But we managed to get in a full round at Cambridge.  Once we got on top of the escarpment things were good, although Ron King advised that rain started after we headed home from the course.

It was obvious from the new lakes on the course that Cambridge had previously been hit hard by rain.

Of course you would expect water at the beach.

That is my ball swimming in the foreground.

Surprisingly, other than the standing water, the course was very playable.  And the rain held off long enough for us to celebrate with a beer.

We played two man matches today, but modesty prevents me from naming the winners.😀

------------------------------------------

Mardi volunteered at the Optimist Booth tonight.  She's been doing that for several Mondays now.  Love that lady!

No Jays game.

Stay well.

An Anniversary

Took the day off.  We were invited to dinner with Matt and Maureen, along with Monica and Jim Maguire, and Therese and Grant MacLean, so I didn't want to get worn out in the heat and humidity ahead of time.

And it gave us the chance to watch the Blue Jays implode in their final game against the Yankees.  Oh well.

Dinner was wonderful and we all helped Monica and Jim celebrate 51 years of marriage.

 A really nice evening with good friends.   Thanks Maureen and Matt for hosting!

------------------------------------------------

The news that the Catholic Church was let out of its obligation to pay reparations to their Indigenous victims is not new news.  It was reported a couple of years ago.

Canada agreed to "forever discharge" Catholic entities from their promise to raise $25 million for residential school survivors and also picked up their legal bill, a final release document shows.

The Canadian Press obtained a signed copy of the 2015 agreement through federal access-to-information laws, marking what appears to be the first time the document has been widely publicized.

 Although a sum of 25 million dollars was settled for pennies on the dollar, what is more important is that the original sum was set so low.  And now the Canadian government is saddled with a billion dollar issue.

Disgusting!

-------------------------------------------------

Keep breathing!

Yard Sale Day

 Went yard saling and got to see my sister for the first time in three weeks.  We had a good day.

I found a brand new 3 litre gas can for $3.  Filled it up later on the way to the greenhouse.  It will be my emergency tank for the mower.

But Mardi did even better!  She found this West Coast box, which included a deerskin pouch.  Total price? Twenty five cents!

She also found a radio for $1. which will bring in 590 The Fan for Blue Jays games that are not on public TV.

And she found some art supplies for Kathryn.  A great day.

-------------------------------------------------

Cut grass for an hour.  Too hot to do anything else.

-------------------------------------------------

Blue Jays won their third in a row off the Yankees, a 5 - 2 victory.  Looking good!

Stay well.

Show Time

 While I was gardening at the greenhouse, Yancy, Kayt and Rowan drove in to say goodbye to David, Sue and the twins.  I was invited to join them for coffee (thanks Sue), but it was a disappointing visit.  

I thought that I was Rowan's favourite but she spent a lot of time flirting with Ewen.  I've lost out to a younger man!  I had to console myself with the fact that I'm sure Charlie still likes me best - sorry Ewen!

And as you can see in the following picture, she held David's hands - which she wouldn't do for me.

But she did give me a smile so I'm pretty happy after all.

A wonderful visit.  Got to enjoy Rowan on three different days.  Great grandpa is a happy camper.

------------------------------------------------

So, on to the rest of our day.  You will remember that we didn't get to finish the rescheduled play in Port Colborne due to the medical emergency.  Missed the last 20 minutes.

So today we headed for Port Dover for the Sherlock Holmes thriller.  Thriller indeed!  Twenty minutes in and the power failed in downtown Port Dover.  We were told that it would take about two hours for Ontario Hydro to get things going again, so the show was cancelled.  Will be interesting to see what the reschedule plan will be.  We're a bit gun shy - twice bitten in one week!

So, it ended up that we drove to Port Dover, used probably a quarter tank of gas, for an expensive dinner at Schofields Bistro.  The food was really good, but...........

Mardi had an ice cream cone for dessert.

Salty caramel.

-----------------------------------------------
We got to hear most of the Blue Jays game on the car radio.  It wasn't on public TV, just Apple TV, so we sat and listened to the last inning in the apartment parking lot.  They won 4 - 0 over the Yankees, their second victory in a row against the Bronx Bombers.  Great pitching and decent offence.

Tomorrow we start with Yard Sales.  First time in three weeks.

Stay well.

Lexophilia

 Rowan and I opened fortune cookies yesterday.  Hers read "Others appreciate your expressive qualities".  That's for sure!

Mine read "Don't give up.  The best is yet to come."  I'm good with that too.

-------------------------------------------------

Barry is the moderator of our Wordle group and starts us off each day with an example of lexophilia.  The Lighthouse Theatre included one in an email today that I am going to share.  Mardi and I are going to see "The Real Sherlock Holmes" tomorrow evening and in a teaser message today they included the following:  Why does Sherlock Holmes have such bad posture?  Good detectives usually have a hunch of sorts.

Sorry about that!

--------------------------------------------------

About one hundred years ago the Catholic Church forbade Inuit women from getting tattooed.  They have just recently been able to return to their tattoo tradition, which tells their life story and family connection.

But some things never change.  The Catholic Church is not going to open an investigation into the sexual abuse class action suit which includes their top Cardinal for "lack of evidence".  No kidding!  If you don't investigate you'll certainly not find evidence.

What a sorry medieval institution it is.

------------------------------------------------

Blue Jays soundly defeated the Yankees 9 - 2 tonight.  A good all-around performance.

Stay well.