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.