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News - December 22, 2024

Merry Christmas to family and friends around the world! As I type this we are ready for Christmas. We have been busy visiting friends and of course, buying presents. The house is decorated inside and out, I even put reindeer antlers and a red nose on my car!

Mark and his lady Jillayne, Isla, and Kiwi (Jillayne’s son) will come over on Christmas eve for a visit, snackies, and to open gifts. Christmases are always busy and complicated with Isla going to see both sets of grandparents, her Mom’s place, and her Dad’s place. She is also going to see Jillayne’s family.

Special congrats go out to Isla’s mom and our ex-but still part of the family-daughter-in-law Melissa who recently became engaged to Andrew Cowan.

We have had a total of over 2 feet of snowfall so far this winter. The piles beside the driveway are now about 3 feet high even with the compaction from the snow blower. Once again this winter that machine has proved its worth in saving my back!

Last June when I went to see the optometrist to upgrade my prescription because I couldn’t see very well. She told me my cataracts were now bad enough that I should get them removed. The idea of having my eyeball cut open and the lens replaced, while I was awake, unsettled me.  

I talked to a couple of people who reassured me that it was not too traumatic as you can’t see the blade approaching your eye, and of course the eye is frozen so there is no pain. Since my choice was get the surgery or go blind, I really didn’t have an option. It took about 6 minutes per eye for the procedure and no, I didn’t see the scalpel, or anything else for that matter. They did my left eye two weeks after my right eye. Now I can see with 20/20 clarity although I still need glasses for my astigmatism and close up stuff like reading.

My one day a week volunteer driving gig with the Canadian Cancer Society is on hold until the new year when I will have healed from my cataract surgeries.

Since we can’t comfortably go camping, winter is when I have a little extra time to work on my family trees. I have spent this year working on my 10,815 member paternal tree. In January I will switch to my maternal line which still has lots of blank spaces to fill in.

That’s it for this update. Take care and stay in touch!

Greg, Tess, & Spike

News - April 3, 2025

As usual in this part of the world, the weather is making local news. A couple of weeks ago there was no snow and with the temperature in the double digits, the motorcycles were out and about. Then came last Tuesday evening. The snow started about bedtime and didn’t let up until late Thursday afternoon. The forecast was for 20cm but we got a lot more. 30 cm I bet. Check out our deck, BBQ and table:

Of course I had already put the snow blower away for the season and had to dig it out from under the deck.

By Friday the melt had started and yesterday (Monday) when I was out, the streets were bare and dry. They are predicting daytime high temps of 13 on Saturday. Even so, I am not putting away the snow blower until the end of the month!

Sunday Mark, Jillayne, Isla, and Kiwi got back from a week at an all-inclusive resort near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They had sunshine and warm temps as expected. At sunset on the beach between crashing waves and palm trees Mark proposed to Jillayne. Of course she said yes. We are very happy for them all.

Isla took a video and Kiwi took the stills including this one:

Here they are all happy:

Now that my eye surgery is all healed and I have my new glasses, I am back driving cancer patients to their appointments on Fridays. I really enjoy meeting all these courageous and very tough people from all over the world.

The other day I drove past the storage lot where our motorhome, Seven, is hibernating. I miss camping! All I can do at this point is plan maintenance and trips, and put the batteries on the charger once a month or so.

I have been working on Tess’ family tree again. It is very challenging because few records before 1900 are available on line. I have found Tess’ great grandfather, born 1841, and two of his brothers but nothing on her gt gt grandfather. It turns out they didn’t record names very often and often just changed their names when they felt like it. I may just look at her tree once a year or so to see if anyone in her family has found more verified information.

Tess went a little over budget with her new kitchen floor. It looks great although with the lighter colour, bobogs are easier to see so there’s more vacuuming and Swiffering to keep it looking good. The resurfacing of the deck and the new shingles on the garage may have to wait until next year.

If you are a Canadian, get out there and vote on April 28th. If you don’t vote, you are not allowed to complain about the federal government!

That’s it for this update. Take care and stay in touch!

Greg, Tess, & Spike

News - June 4, 2025

Here it is, June already. The Oilers are in the Stanley Cup final (starts tomorrow), we have been out camping already, and the air conditioning in my car quit working on a 32C day!

I’ll leave the Oilers thing alone except to say I think the Cup will be back home in Canada soon. Go Oil!

Our first camping trip of the year was, as every year, at Carson-Pegasus Prov Park just outside Whitecourt, Alberta, about 2 hours drive north-west of home. We stayed 6 nights and brought home a bunch of fish. You can read about it and see the photos here.

We are thinking about going north-east a couple of hours drive for our next trip but it depends on the wildfire situation. Right now there are a bunch of out of control fires burning, evacuations, and fire bans in place so we have put plans on hold.

I do have some exciting news about Mark and his fiancee Jillayne. They have purchased a house in Sherwood Park, Alberta. This is a bedroom community just outside Edmonton proper. He has sold his condo in St Albert effective September 1st.

It has a great back yard and deck too. They are planning some minor renovations and updates to make it their own. Congrats, kids!

I am still enjoying my volunteer driving patients to the cancer hospital for their treatments. Their strength, determination, and courage are inspiring. You should consider doing volunteer work too if you have a few hours a week, or month.

Earlier this spring I scored 4 slightly used Michelin tires for the motorhome since the old ones are now 10 years which is too old to be safe running near their maximum rated load and pressure. I also purchased a pair of new steer tires for the front and had them installed at the local truck tire place.

While much more expensive than car or pickup tires, I’m happy with the overall cost. This does use up the annual repair and maintenance budget so I’m hoping nothing major will need to be done this year. The good new is that gas is cheap again at $1.20 per litre so that will help.

On the family tree front work continues. A new version of the software that I use was released. It is significantly faster and seems more stable so I’m happy. I have posted a new story about an interesting family member. You can read about some of his antics, including 11 marriages(!) here.

That’s it for this update. Take care and stay in touch!

Greg, Tess, & Spike