Monday 24 April 2017

Money Issues

Today was a normal run of the mill day in our daughters household after spending the weekend in Brooks.  Sheri was back to work and the kids were back to school.  Sue and I got busy and did some book work and cleaned up the Ponderosa a bit.  One of the things that I did was get the piggy banks in order.  While working on that I realized that there are some differences between a Canadian piggy bank versus a USA piggy bank.  I will explain how.  First of all when you dump your pockets to put your change in the piggy bank in the US this is what you may find there.  That is about a normal amount of change to be in my pocket.  $1.63 to be exact.  Now I know that is worth about $2.25 Cnd. but we won't do conversions for this story.

Sunday 23 April 2017

Back to Lacombe after Tournament

Well we haven't done so well in this tournament.  We are 0-3 after the round robin and just figured that we would not be in any playoff since every other team has one at least one game.  Well we were informed that we have to play off for bronze tomorrow at 1:30 pm.   Now I have a little problem with how they do this.  Lets just take the team with the 3rd most points and give them the bronze and let them go home.  No, thats not how it works, there are no losers here and we all have to get the proper medal (which they didn't have any of anyway).  So rather than going to check out the dinosaurs at Drumhellar, we had to stick around to play another game, which none of the boys even wanted to play.  The score was 15-1 after about half the game and they were all just playing around.  What a waste of a day for everyone because even the kids didn't want to play this game.  Just my opinion.  Guys overall had a good time at the tournament so the weekend was fun.

Saturday 22 April 2017

Tournament in Brooks Alberta

We spent all day at the Lacrosse tournament today.  The kids had 2 games today with the first at 12:30 pm and then another one at 8:30 pm.  Sheri joined us for the later game.


Dani spent most of her day in the swimming pool..Brooks has a great Leisure Center with all kinds of activities and the swimming area includes a wave machine, water slide, and lots of areas where water squirts and gushes out of.  It made an ideal place for her to spend the afternoon.


Other than watch Lacrosse, we didn't do much else for excitement.  After the late game we headed back to Wally World for the night.

Tonight we are Wally Docking in Brooks, Alberta, and this is the view from our other window.


Friday 21 April 2017

A Lacrosse Roadtrip

Today we are heading to Brooks Alberta for Donovans Lacrosse tournament.  We will be taking the Ponderosa because we have to stay for 2 nights.  If we didn't it would cost us for 2 hotel rooms plus we would have to eat all our meals out.

Thursday 20 April 2017

It's a Miracle!!

Now the strangest thing has happened to me.  As reported on Wednesday I was fully enveloped in a "Man Cold" which is normally a long and painful disease and comes with moaning and groaning and bed rest.  Now the strange thing is that I woke up this morning without any symptoms at all, save a bit of a runny nose and that subsided later in the afternoon.  Strangest thing that ever happened to me.  I was sort of looking forward to just lazing around under the guise of being deathly ill, but now I will have to go back to doing chores etc. like normal. Oh well, maybe if I am out lots and get my feet wet and cold, it will come back.

Wednesday 19 April 2017

A Man Cold

Well all of this winter weather has resulted in me getting a nasty cold.   I have felt poorly for most of the day and I know a man cold is one of the worst things a person can experience.  For all of you women out there it is probably fitting that I give you the 3 stages of the man flu so you can recognize it well in advance.  Only with your help will a man make it through this nasty ordeal.  I am currently in stage 2.

If you find yourself in the position of primary carer for your boyfriend or husband then DO NOT PANIC.   Rest assured that all of you women are completely immune from Man Flu, so do not worry about providing the care needed.  Your beloved will shortly become completely dependent on you, requiring you to tend to his every need. Do not shun any request, don't forget that the affliction that he's suffering from is hundreds of times worse than the simple affliction which you know and understand as the common cold.

There are three distinct stages to Man Flu and it's important you know your responsibilities :

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Winter Winter go away!

Well, it did it again.  Winter just will not let go of Alberta.  Although it wasn't too cold this morning, it was snowing like there was no tomorrow.  Great big fluffy flakes, the kind that my mother used to say signaled the end of winter.  Hope she was right.

Monday 17 April 2017

Grandpa is getting OLD!!

Today started out as any Grandpa would like it to start on his Birthday, with breakfast in bed.  Dani and Donovan prepared a nice breakfast of toast and eggs and even a tart along with coffee and delivered it to the Ponderosa.  During the course of the day all of my kids and grandkids wished me Happy Birthday so that made my day.  I am now old enough to get a Geezer pass in the USA but because I am Canadian, they won't give me one.   Perhaps I should call Donald and see if he can get that fixed for me.

Sunday 16 April 2017

Frost on the Pumpkin - In fact the Pumpkin is frozen stiff.

When we woke up this morning we were surprised by the temperature outside.  Our water line from the hot water tank to the pump is frozen, but will thaw out quickly when I switch the heat over to that compartment in the basement.  We did not bargain for these kind of temperatures.  And the forecast does not look that great for the near future.

17F for my US friends

Saturday 15 April 2017

Easter Preparations

This morning we had a rude awakening.  The whole reason we go south for 6 months is to escape the snow. Well it finally caught up to us.  Just enough to cover the ground and make us shiver.

Friday 14 April 2017

Charlie is back!

Well today we got up an headed in to Sheri's house for breakfast as usual.  Something was different we thought and then we realized that Charlie was back to walking, actually running on all four legs.  He was acting like nothing was wrong with him.  He was obviously in no pain whatsoever and just wanted to carry on with life.  The vets diagnosis seemed to be right when he talked about the little pieces of calcium just floating around and lodging in weird places, and then moving on again.  We hope they don't get into his joints too badly any more, but will wait it out if it happens again before spending a bunch of money on x-rays.

Charlie was moving so well now, that he was slipping on Sheri's slippery hardwood floors.  So we had to head down to pet valu to buy him some socks with little rubber pads on them.

Thursday 13 April 2017

Charlie's prognosis

Not much to report in our world today.  The kids were off to school and Sheri was off to work.  They have to continue with their lives even though we are here.


We took Charlie to the Vet at 8:30 and dropped him off.  The x-ray machine was still down but there is a tech coming so they will just keep him until they can do the x-rays.  They called us to come down to pick him up at 2:30.  Good news is that Charlie has nothing broken in his front or rear leg.  Bad thing is that he has really bad arthritis which is mainly caused from the Prednisone he has been taking for his allergies.

Wednesday 12 April 2017

Hockey Award for Donovan

We didn't have a lot of miles to go today so we were a little late getting on the road.  Charlie is worse today than yesterday and is hobbling around on three legs and showing a lot of pain.  Sue phoned a vet in Lacombe and they will take some x-rays at 3:30 this afternoon to see what the problem is, so that is our schedule to stick to.  I figure we will be there by 2:30.

Tuesday 11 April 2017

Back in Canada

We have one last push to make it to the Canadian Border at Coutts Montana.  This is the same border crossing we came across last year.  A lot of people seem to think that we are home now, but in reality we still have about 1000 miles to travel yet.  We are actually going to spend some time with our daughter Sheri-Lyn and our grandchildren Donovan and Dani in Lacombe, and then head back to Manitoba to spend some time with our son Derek and Nicole and grandchildren Abby and Silas.  We really need a good dose of granchildren after being away so long.

Monday 10 April 2017

The Tale of Galena Gulch


Our travels today took us to near Boulder Montana by the name of Galena Gulch. This is near Basin where the Merry Widow Health Mine is located.  This is where people come to receive radon spa therapy.

Sunday 9 April 2017

Churches Churches everywhere


We are just having bad luck when it comes to the weather.  We looked at the forecast a couple weeks ago and thought this might be our window to head north because the temperatures looked to be on the rise.  Well that is not how it is turning out.  This morning we awoke to snow on the ground although once the sun came out it melted fast.

Saturday 8 April 2017

Odd job day


Woke up this morning to scattered clouds and no wind to speak of.  Nice break after a night of rain showers and lots of wind.  We put the slide in last night, not because we were really concerned about them, but rather because the wind makes some weird flapping sounds in the slide toppers and it wakes us up sometimes.   Charlie and I headed off for a walk and passed this sign which is one of the reasons we picked this spot.  There is not target shooting allowed.

Friday 7 April 2017

Windy Day in Utah


Today was a great day to start out with.  About 20C and sunny so we sat outside and had our coffee.  The forecast was for wind this afternoon so I got the drone out while I could to take some shots of where we were parked.  The mountains were not as spectacular this morning as they were yesterday but still something to see.

Thursday 6 April 2017

Beautiful Lake in the Mountains

I have been having a terrible time getting internet that is strong enough to do a post so I am sadly behind. If you are interested I am posting the last 4 days today.  We have had some interesting travels and it may be worth the read.

We are trying to watch the weather and be in the best spot possible for the ugly weather that is going to plague us for the next couple days.   Starting on Friday the winds will increase and the rain may start on Saturday.  Now we are not against driving in the rain but as we go farther north there is a possibility it will turn to snow and I hate snow.  So we will head up to around Salt Lake City and see what happens from there.

Wednesday 5 April 2017

Bryce Canyon


We got off to an early start today because we had a lot of miles to cover today.  We need to average 100 miles a day and we are a bit behind.  Today will help out but we will have to make sure we tour Bryce Canyon this afternoon and be ready to move again on Thursday.

Tuesday 4 April 2017

I found my own Dinosaur

This morning started out to be beautiful but the wind was a little over the top.  The wind would sure dry things up on the beach in a hurry and that is a good thing because right after supper we have to move out of here.  Our time expires at 8:00 pm.  Even with the rough weather we have enjoyed it here just because we are near water.

Monday 3 April 2017

Dinosaurs are Everywhere

We knew today was supposed to be rainy so we didn't get in a big hurry to do anything.  Life on the beach looked a little wet this morning.

Sunday 2 April 2017

The Great Canadian Field trip begins


Today was moving day.  Our trek north has begun.  We have decided that we need to be at our daughters for Easter so that means we need to average 100 miles a day for the next 13 days.  We decided that we are going to follow Highway 89 for as long as we can and stay away from I-15 as long as possible.  Our first stop will be the Lone Rock Beach camping area west of Page UT.  I actually learned of it from fellow Bloggers Jim and Barbs RV Adventure.  They wrote a great post on the Lake Powell/Page area and got us wanting to come here and explore.  Check out their story about it here.

Saturday 1 April 2017

Solar Scrubbing

Another great day in Arizona today.  We have had some wind and rain lately but it seems to be over for now.  Time to resume Morning Happy Hour on the deck.  Sue was the first one out this morning.  Still a tad chilly but that changed quickly as the sun peeked over the Ponderosa.