The Past Few Days

Birthday ride for dinner out....

Jeanette had proposed we head out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.  Saturday evening had us heading to a new spot in Fort Langley.

A rest stop at a favourite little park along the Fraser River

We took a detour and dropped in to view the height of the Fraser River, on our way to dinner. 

At the Fort Pub's new outdoor terrace restaurant.

We had not been to the Fort Pub since it renovated and opened its new outdoor terrace.  It was a treat.  Food was quite good and the menu was full of pleasant surprises.

The Fort Langley train station - now a museum

Sunday being Father's Day, we invited Ginette, Trevor and Easton for dinner at our home.  Deni called me from Edmonton to wish me a happy father's day and Courtney joined in on the call too.  

Before dinner, Ginette and Trevor took our new ride and I rode our trusty Nomad on a 45 minute ride in the lovely roads in our area. 

Back home, Easton was helping his Nana with dinner preparations....more or less rearranging her cupboards.

The completed pond - without the flagstones

In the previous blog I mentioned posting new photos of the new and improved pond.  Well, the concrete retaining wall and subsequent water diversion is now complete.  These photos really do not do justice to the new and improved look but once the flagstones and dressing is completed, it should photograph much better. Jeanette and I will go shopping for new flagstones in the days ahead.

Making progress

Another view

Other than those special occasions (birthday and Father's Day) our routine involves looking after the numerous plants we have (that is principally Jeanette's domain) and generally enjoying the fine weather we've been experiencing.

It seems that Easton enjoys his naps while riding around the neighbourhood.

He loves the strawberries from our patch in the back yard...

And that's about it from here.

Thanks for dropping by.

Busy Week but Normalcy To Return

Phew, it was another busy week for us.

Jeanette returned from Alberta, late last week, feeling that she and her sisters had achieved a large part of the task of emptying their family farm house. 

The family farm house in Alberta

We will return there in late July to complete more clean up works - mainly cleaning up the farm yard.

There is more of this type of scrap metal all around that has to be cleared.

Deb dug into the rhubarb patch. And that was but a small bit of what grows out in the garden.

Mother in law, Mary, was also involved with the girls and it must have been somewhat difficult for her to watch those material things, that were her life, leave the family home.

Janette and her mom

Mary and daughter, Deb.

Darlene and her mom

Darlene is the daughter who lives closet to her mom. As such, she gives up more of her time to look after her mom's needs - such as dental or other medical visits, shopping and more. 

Courtney, Deni and Ginette visit the farm last weekend.

In Edmonton on business, Ginette joined Deni and Courtney on the 80 minute drive out to the farm.

Deni got busy mowing the large lawn-scape.

Here at home on the coast, I was busy with a project that is nearing completion and I did manage to find the time to complete the pond work in our yard. Photos of that in the days ahead.

Jeanette and Deb faced some severe weather on their four hour drive to Calgary from the farm.   There was a very rare threat of a tornado that did not materialize.  Good thing!

Easton loves to make faces.....

With his wonderful sense of humour, Easton and his mom came by for a visit the day Jeanette returned home from Alberta.  He is walking now.....!  Look out!

 

Broken tail light on our Nissan.

When leaving the Costco parking lot on Friday afternoon, we were about to drive out when another driver did not shoulder check and backed out of his spot to damage our tail light.  Crappy!  I saw him go into reverse and back up without shoulder checking.  I was inches away from escaping any damage.....but the bike rack on his car caught the tail light and made a small dent in the metal above the light..  I am led to believe this tail light costs well over $500.  The local body shop will confirm this in the coming days.

He would not admit fault so we took several photos to prove that the damage was due to his negligence.  Why he simply could not 'man up' is further evidence that 'deny, deny, deny' is symptomatic of the society we live in. 

I filed a report with ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) who will rule 'At Fault'.  Either way, the damage will be repaired. Jeanette and I could not believe that not one shopper would stop to offer witness information.  Everyone is in such a bloody hurry and no one cares anymore.  Several people did witness the event. What a society we have evolved into!

R-L  Mark, Wes, Warren and Trevor

On an up note though, our son in law, Trevor, was on the Fraser River - two weeks back - for a father/sons fishing adventure and he caught this wonderful 100 lb prehistoric fish (catch and release, of course). It is a Sturgeon.   Nice!

Golf, this past Friday, was postponed due to rain.  That is two Fridays in a row.  What's with that?

And that is the week that was.

Thanks for dropping by.

Productive Weekend

With the new Metric speedometer installed on the Harley, it passed inspection and is now a bonnafide registered Canadian motorcycle.

A good part of Friday was spent getting the speedometer changed out, having Canadian Tire inspect it for approval into Canada (kind of a joke, really) then registering and insuring it.  It's nice to have that done. It is now legal to ride....and ride I did!

Jeanette with my sister, Paulette, in St. Paul, Alberta

While her mother was at a dental appointment in my former home town, Jeanette got together with one of my sisters. I received this cell phone photo.

Saturday was ideal to get the new pond liner installed, reconnect the plumbing and pump before filling it up.  The retaining wall worked out really well.

I kept busy with removing the concrete forms and prepping the site before Trevor came along to help me lift and move the heavy waterfall rock back into  the pond.  That was a back breaker.  We filled the pond to let the liner find its rightful placement and all I have left to complete is trimming the rubber liner, securing it into the ground and spreading about one inch of cement to overlap the liner with the grade.  I had hopes of completing that on Sunday but it rained.  Can't pour cement in the rain.  So.....another delay due to weather.

Trevor is testing the system....

With rain preventing me from completing the pond works, I rode off to the Sunday morning 'Open Mic' coffee meeting in White Rock.  

I chose to ride.....rain or no rain! 

Like minded guys get together weekly (very weakly) to solve the world's problems.  With only three of us there, we were quick to bring solutions to the pressing world problems.  LOL.  It is just a fun get together with friends who have known each other for many, many years.  There are often 7 - 10 friends who show up for our 'Open Mic' Sunday sessions.

White Rock classic car/truck/motorcycle show and shine

After the 'Open Mike' session, I rode the few blocks to Morgan Crossing where a 'show and shine' was taking place.  With the on and off rain showers, the vintage car owners were busy drying off their classics.  The sun shone bright while I was there.

My favourite 1955 Chevrolet 1/2 ton truck - a true beauty!

I use to own a 1964 Chev truck like this one....but mine was a step side box...

Another 1955 Chevy. 

I am partial to vintage trucks and this show featured several.  The typical custom rods were prevalent and one section was devoted to classic restorations.

Nice '55 Chevy

Not a fan of this paint job....

While I was checking out these wonderful classics, our daughter Ginette, son Deni (and his wife Courtney) along with Jeanette, her sisters and her mom were at a one year celebration since her father's passing one year ago, in Kaleland, Alberta - about 90 minutes east from the city of Edmonton.

Jeanette, Ginette, Mary (Jeanette's mom), Deni and Courtney paying tribute at my father in law's grave site.

Jeanette, Deb, Mary, Darlene and Georgina.

The timing worked well for Ginette, who was on a business trip to Edmonton.  She returns to the coast this evening.  I will meet her at the airport and get her back home to Easton and Trevor.  While away, Trevor's mom, Sandi,  offered her 'Easton sitting services'.

This will be another busy week for me.  Jeanette will be busy too.  She returns home this Thursday morning.  Following a couple of weeks cleaning and clearing out the farm house, I'm sure she'll be glad to be back home

Time to get going!

Thanks for dropping by.

No Time To Blog During This Busy, Busy Week...

It has been a very busy week.  Jeanette is in Alberta tending to family things with her mom and sisters while I kept busy here with work and appointments.  Although I did manage to catch up with reading blogs, I just didn't have the time to write anything.  Add to that the fact that our stories would be kind of mundane and that is reason alone for not writing anything.

Spending time with Easton

Our little guitar strumming Easton was fun to look after when his folks were out to celebrate Trevor's sister's birthday.  With Jeanette away, I was the designated sitter.  That was all pleasure!

Jeanette, Mom and Deb.  Darlene is missing from this photo.

Jeanette, on the other hand, was keeping very busy , with two of her sisters and mom, cleaning out the farm house to ready it for a potential sale. They have taken a few breaks to get their mom to a couple of dental appointments.

As I write this, Jeanette is having lunch with one of my sisters, Paulette, who lives in St. Paul, Alberta.  That is happening while my mother in law is spending time in the dental chair at the local clinic there. 

At my sister in law and brother's place in Yuma, AZ this past winter.

My Yuma, AZ, snowbirding brother and sister in law, Bernie and Rita, also spend their non-USA time in St. Paul, Alberta, but I am not certain if Jeanette has or will have the time to get in touch.  After all, their focus is to get that farm house ready.

Jeanette sharing a hug with our son, Deni, in Edmonton, Alberta

Jeanette did get to spend a few hours with Deni and Courtney, in Edmonton, before continuing the drive to the family farm.  I do know that Deni and Courtney, along with our daughter Ginette, who is in Edmonton on business this week, will be heading out to the farm to lend assistance this weekend.

I, on the other hand, will focus on getting that back yard pond of ours completed with SIL Trevor's assistance this Saturday.

Today was a day for appointments; several of them!  Apart from the routine medical stuff, I chose to trailer our Harley Davidson to the local dealer for a speedometer change over from US to a Metric one.  It took two weeks for the speedometer to arrive.   That done, I will take the motorcycle for final inspection (takes about 15 minutes for that) at a local Canadian Tire shop,  before getting it insured and attaching a new license plate.

A change in weather is calling for sun and blue skies, in the days ahead.

It was raining this morning so I hitched the enclosed Wells Cargo motorcycle trailer to the Nissan truck and loaded the Harley.  Good thing too.  The rain was very heavy,while driving to the dealership, and I just did not care to dress up for rain nor get the motorcycle dirty.  Yea for the enclosed trailer!!!!

The rain has stopped and the weather forecast is a good one.  Sun this afternoon is to be followed by more in the days ahead.  Yea  to that!

That's it.

Thanks for dropping by.

Got Some Work Done

The weather finally cleared up.  That had me outdoors to form and pour cement for the new and improved retaining wall on the back yard pond.

Retaining wall formed and almost ready for cement

I had pre-cut the forms, using 1 X 4" boards - that were scored with my circular saw - to permit bending.  Due to the circular nature of this little wall, making cuts every six/seven inches worked out well. 

It took five bags of cement mix to fill the forms.  And it took little time to mix the contents with water in a wheelbarrow.

Curing

It's a waiting game now. The cement will cure to concrete and, in the days ahead, I'll remove the forms, install the new rubber liner - that will cover and overlap the concrete wall - then reinstall the pump and filters, the rock waterfall, fill the pond and complete the project with rock and flagstone. 

Jeanette has flown to Calgary to attend her 40 years nurses reunion.  That is happening today. Tomorrow, her and sister Deb will drive to Edmonton to visit our son and daughter in law before driving 90 minutes east to where Jeanette and Deb's mom resides.  The two sisters, joined by another sister - Darlene, who lives nearby - will spend some time clearing out the family home on the farm and ready it for potential sale.

With a busy week ahead for me, I quite likely won't be able to get back to my pond project till next weekend.

Our weather is looking great in the coming days.

Thanks for dropping by.