So Now I Think I've Seen It All!

 I just collected my mail for the day.  Good grief!  What next??  In my box was a card from Canada Post announcing they have partnered with the TD bank and will now be able to offer financial loans to their customers!  A loan? From the post office?  Wow...the loans business must be a real money maker with all the interest collected, so I suppose I should not be surprised that even the mail delivery business wants to be able to take part in that industry.  Aiii yiiii....I also suppose my age is showing, being so surprised and all by this turn of events.....yikes!

Drained

 That is how I am feeling today: drained...drained of all physical and mental and emotional energy.  I am pooped out, done in, finished, kaput in terms of any sort of energy.  Just having to process thoughts of any kind is draining away any energy I have left today.  I realize that for the past year or more I have been forcing myself to keep functioning as well as possible and the weight gain along with the constantly heavy eyelids tell me I haven't actually been functioning very well at all.  No amount of sleep is sufficient to take away the dull ache of every fibre of my being these days.  Might as well just admit it.  The prayers and energy of good friends is what has been keeping me afloat. I thank you all for that.

As my exercise regime has been reinstated, I confess I have been conscious of every step I have taken on every walk.  Have I enjoyed the walks?  Oh yes, very much, but I am conscious of having to push and push and push to keep going, not only physically, but mentally/motivationally as well.

This morning I am thinking back to when this all started.  I think it started in 2020 just before my father died, when I contracted what turned out to most likely be a severe case of shingles that lasted for over 8 months, my father's death just as the worst shingles symptoms were starting, being ill with shingles all summer, closely followed by my mother's heart attack, then the news early in the new year that Ruth was ill with a mysterious brain malfunction that turned out to be cancer that had metastacized from undiagnosed tumours in her lungs, followed by months of stress for my husband, then a trip to Edmonton...a year ago today we had been home only about 5 days after our trip and my husband was arriving back in Edmonton to help Ray nurse her through to the end of her life on July 5th, so the one year anniversary of her death is nearly upon us.  A few months after her death Ray's cancer was pronounced terminal and of course there has been a lot of stress walking with him through his treatments and fears for the past year. My mother died at the end of this past February and dealing with her estate has been a never ending, nightmare merry-go-round of emotions and hassles with banks, plus recently the happiness that probate was completed four months ahead of schedule, followed within days by the news that the lawyer and his office manager were going to be gone most of the summer so I will not be receiving the Grant of Probate papers and the final bills until the last week of July or possibly not even until the end of August, thus causing my emotions to peak and nosedive once again, plus the stress of the upcoming resumption of dealing with the banks and tax accountant to wrap things up, attempting to assist my husband in understanding what the word "retirement" is supposed to mean to his lifestyle.....this exhaustion is obviously long term, not some recent phenomenon. 

If it wasn't for this frustrating diabetes situation I would crawl into bed again this morning and remain there for at least a week to try to catch up with at least the physical exhaustion. However, I can't take the risk.  I have done that twice before in my life, many years ago and wow, it was incredibly healing. I could go for two or three days not eating, just sleeping and resting body and mind.  Wish I could do it again.

BUT.....I can't! So, what to do from here.  Well, I have been going to bed earlier than usual, therefore getting a few more hours of the important pre-midnight sleep.  That has already helped a little bit, so I will continue with that.  My husband is planning a retirement kind of summer, so that is one less stress. He is also helping me with some house chores that we agreed to share once he was retired and his own energy was starting to come back.  It is very important that I continue walking for an hour a day at least 4-5 days a week.  So grateful that I had my friend to go with yesterday or I would have copped out on walking for the entire day.  Her friendship is a ministry to me in more ways than one!  I will make full use of the chances for prayer in person with others, today being the first day of my prayer group being restored since the pandemic shut us down.  I will make sure I am at church every Sunday that I am in town because just being in the building with my spiritual family energizes me, plus it is a good walk.  I will accompany my husband every time he asks me to go with him on even the most mundane of tasks. This morning we are driving quite a long way across the city to the gasoline station on the reserve lands to pay less for our fillup.  I will go outside and clean the bugs from our last foray away off the windshield of the car.  

I will get past this and all will be well.  Just glad I decided it was time to figure out what the heck has been going on when I woke up once again today completely drained of energy despite another good night of sleep.  Prayers from friends, that is what has kept me going. I am very aware of that. I look forward to feeling much more energetic very soon!  Life is good, but I have been too flattened by exhaustion to care about that as much as I should.

Confession is good for the soul and, hopefully, today it will also turn out to be good for the energy levels! hahaha

Sounds On A Summer Evening

 Tonight has been a good introduction to the types of sounds I will be listening to most evenings at home this summer: The kids are out of school now and therefore will be outside running about, squealing with delight as they play tag, ride bikes, kick balls and make chalk drawings on the parking lot, or squealing with upset over skinned knees and pulled hair when they fight amongst themselves, as kids invariably do after spending long hours playing together.  I confess I enjoy the sounds of the kids playing, even when they are right outside my open windows.  The kids here in our court play very well together and have their own united nations happening. There are caucasian, east indian, syrian, Iraqi, indigenous and eastern european children and they seem to have the most fun times every evening outside.  The long periods of sustained giggling just crack me up.

Other summer sounds include bicycle bells, muscle cars with cracked mufflers, racing small motorcycle engines, squeaky stroller wheels, spongy soled athletic shoes, Bullhorns announcing events at the park, wind blown streams of all kinds of music coming from outdoor concert venues around the city, car horns announcing passing bridal parties celebrating the nuptials, birds honking and tweeting and cawing, pattering rain showers, moms and dads calling in the children for dinner or for bedtime....the list goes on.  I love the sounds of summer.

Took a lovely walk around the lake this morning with my walking partner.  we saw so many birds, SO MANY, some of them still with teensy, still almost baby birds in tow.  there were a number of very cute squirrels running about the park.  The weather, although reaching a high temperature of nearly +30C in the afternoon, was still pleasant enough to be completely enjoyable.  The walk also produced a sound I haven't heard in a long time: the low snarl of a dog on a leash that I got a bit too close to as we walked passed it and its person!  In a split second it had its open mouth wrapped around my hand and I could feel its teeth graze my skin. The owner took immediate control and as soon as he said the dog's name, the dog let go and we all kept moving in our opposite directions.  I wasn't hurt, the dog didn't bite down and leave a bruise or a mark or break my skin, but it shook me up momentarily because I have been bitten three times before by otherwise calm and well behaved dogs for reasons no one could understand at the time.  I am grateful to God that this little tooth grazing skin incident turned into nothing at all. Whew!! thank you Lord!

Another sound I think I will get used to quickly this summer is the sound of my new "one pot" pressure cooker a friend gave to me for my birthday earlier this month.  My husband and I finally took the time to learn how to use the thing tonight.  What a cool little cooker!  We cooked a roast, medium well done with carrots and onions and a ton of our home grown herbs packed in around the meat to make a wonderful soup stock that is currently in our freezer to await the next soup making extravaganza.  It is going to be the perfect answer to our desire for hot meals during the hottest days of summer.  We can have a wonderfully hot, fresh dinner without having to put on the oven or even the stove top.  the One Pot is very easy to use despite it being a pressure cooker, something I have always been frightened of after some scary experiences with a large, ancient aluminum pressure cooker I fought with for many years and finally dumped over a decade ago.  I am going to have a great time listening to it burbling as it roasts stews and chicken and potatoes.  What  fun! A new kitchen cooker "thingy" I will actually use!! YAY!

Tomorrow morning will bring some minor car maintenance items to the fore and then I will walk to my friend's house after lunch for the reinstating of our ladies' prayer meeting....it has been over two years since we last met...thank you so much COVID 19! 

A Gorgeous Day For Weight Loss!

 What an absolutely fantastic day it is outside here today!!  The sun is shining through some white puffy clouds, there is a hint of a breeze, the temperature is only going as high as +24C....just a perfect day to get out and walk!!  After a lazy morning here at home, that is exactly what I decided I must do this afternoon.  

I wandered uptown to the bank, then stopped in at the nearby optometrist's office to have the frames on my glasses tightened.  Closer to home I stopped again, this time at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, before wandering along under some gorgeous old trees back to our place.  What a great way to spend the early afternoon.

My husband is happily going over his class presentation for this evening's session. This morning he admitted he is FINALLY excited about not having any more work related committments for the rest of the summer.  I have been waiting in hope of hearing this ever since April.  YAY!!  I am excited for him to be able to discover what it means to be able to have no plans but his very own, at least for a few weeks.

A friend of mine called this morning.  She feels God is calling her to step away from her present place of worship and will be explaining that to her pastor this afternoon.  It is unnerving to have to tell your minister you are leaving with no idea what you are  moving toward instead, just that God is calling you away.  Been there and done that a couple of times. It is not always well received, but I pray that her pastor will understand that sometimes that is just how God works and that he will not take it personally. He has not failed in his ministry. God has simply asked her to be ready for a new adventure in ministry.  I have prayed for her a lot today....another wonderful thing about going for long walks is that your brain has time to process prayer requests and you can chatter away at God while you walk along.  So cool.....

This morning it took me awhile to wake up. I felt so very lazy all morning!  So, I spent a couple of hours watching part of a previous season of "Love It Or List It Vancouver".  Wow....I LOVE home renovation programmes. The thing I have learned from them is that I am beyond grateful my husband and I are no longer responsible for owning a house/property!  Yes, we have done some maintenance here at our suite that the property management company couldn't seem to handle properly, but ultimately the responsibility for the condition of this building does not stop with us.  When our lease expires we can simply pack up and walk away.  We don't have the social/peer pressure to keep our furnishings and wall colours etc. up to date.  We are not responsible for replacing carpets or rebuilding decks or replanting dead areas of lawn.  I have also learned that too many people are opting for, even now after it became popular about ten year ago or more, for open concept homes with vaulted ceilings.  I wonder how much some of them are regretting their choice as they have discovered how the sound of visiting echoes throughout those open spaces, making it impossible for people in each of the living/family/dining rooms to chat about different subjects because they have to holler over top of each of the other groups.  The vaulted ceilings carry all the noise from those rooms straight up to the bedrooms above.  Having lived for a time in an "open concept" home, vaulted ceilings and all, I learned a LOT about noise and how it travels. I also learned how much more it can cost to heat those monstrosities in the winter as the hot air rises up into those lovely vaulted ceilings to sit and relax.  If you the reader happen to live in such a house and are quite pleased with it, please don't take offense at my own experience, okay?  I am simply admitting that such a house is not the best choice pour moi!

I am somewhat encouraged about my weight today.....SOMEWHAT....because I put on a pair of snap top, zipper front capris to go walking in and could do them up more or less comfortably, after not being able to get them done up at all at the end of last summer!  They were quite comfortable for my walk uptown and the blouse I wore overtop of them covered the bit of muffin top the capris pushed up over the waistband!   Whew!  Although the change is happening ever so slowly, my weight SEEMS to be moving in the right direction...DOWN!!!  It is apparently going to take all summer to lose 8 little, miserable pounds, but it is a joy to know at least there is some hope!

 

Seems To Be Working. Thank The Dear Lord!

 For the past 6 months we have been innundated with scam calls, as many as 5-8 calls per day, 5-7 days every week.  I tried everything I could think of to stop the calls, not answering at all, freaking out once I access a living person, etc., but nothing worked.  However, over the past month I have started doing something different that apparently is working....for now at least.  As soon as I look at the call display and see a number I don't recognize I simply pick up the phone and say absolutely nothing at all.  Not hearing a voice at the other end of the connection seems to keep the scam recordings from triggering and after anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds the automatic time out on the caller's end hangs up on me.  If the caller is legititmate, it only takes about 5 seconds of silence on my end of the line before the person says a tentative, "Hello?"  Then I answer, they identify themselves and we talk.  Scammers who are planning to talk immediately in person, rather than after a recorded message, are not hesitant or tentative when I pick up the phone and say nothing.  Even when they start stridently talking I still say nothing, no response, so in order not to waste their own time they hang up rather quickly.  In the past two weeks I have had exactly two scam calls.  I don't know how long this particular tactic is going to work for me, but it has been wonderful not being awakened at 7am on weekends by these parasites. Oh Lord, may the harrassment be gone for a good long time.  May these people find a legitimate line of work that still pays their bills. Thank you, Amen!

Dang It! My Mistake!!

I really blew it this weekend and didn't even realize just how badly until I was out driving this afternoon.  Twice on the weekend I thought perhaps I should take the car to the gasoline station and fill it up. Once I forgot immediately after the thought crossed my mind and once I deliberately didn't go because I assumed the prices, if they didn't drop after the weekend, would at least stay the same for a couple of more days before the drastic Canada Day weekend hike next weekend.  Duh....I couldn't have been more wrong.  Today the price has risen fifteen cents a litre. Sigh....so....the 80 kilometer range left in the gas tank is going to have to suffice for as long as possible or until the prices drop, whichever comes first and I suspect the prices will not drop one tenth of a cent per litre until after the Labour Day long weekend in September.  Double, triple, big, huge, unhappy sigh....  It isn't that I can't afford to fill the gas tank, it is that I don't want to buy into the highway robbery that has taken over our gasoline prices until I absolutely have to.  However, I am nervous that if I don't fill the gas tank before Thursday at the current price, it will rise even higher for the long weekend and the rest of the summer travel season.  Poop!

In happier news, it has otherwise been a very productive day around here.  My husband is working busily and happily, getting the final sentences organized and the PowerPoint completed for his Bible Survey course tomorrow night....the major prophets. Fortunately the Book of Daniel was covered in a previous session, so that ONLY leaves Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel...ONLY....hahahaha.  It will be a good class, just like all the others. It is hard to believe his last class for this course will be the first week of Sept. and then he will be all done.  

I have been kind of dreading having to get up and go grocery shopping at 7am tomorrow.  I have been dreading it for the past week actually. This morning I decided such stress over simply getting groceries early in the morning to avoid the crowds was getting silly!   So, right after lunch I headed over to three different grocery stores and purchased about three weeks worth of supplies.  It was a perfect time to go shopping for me. The stores were a bit busier than at 7am, but not horribly busy.  All the things I needed that tend to be sold out by the end of the weekend had already been restocked by the time I arrived at all the stores.  I used a twenty-five dollar gift card for one of the stores and was able to purchase all the produce on the list using that.  It was a lovely way to spend a Monday afternoon!  I got everything wiped down and put away as soon as I arrived home and now have the rest of the day to just enjoy doing as little as I please.  I got the ironing done before lunch, so it really has been a good day around here for me.

The weather today is quite lovely.  Although there is a stiff breeze, it isn't gale force and it isn't a freezing cold wind either. The sun is shining brightly and the temperature is in the middle to high +20C's.  Yup, happy camper, that is what I am today!

"I'm Sweatin' Hot Gamma, Sweatin' Hot!"

When my husband was a small boy his very prim and proper British grandmother came to visit him and his family in their two room log cabin on their subsistance farm in central Alberta.  I am trying to imagine this regal woman being able to actually enjoy visiting her daughter and grandchildren under such trying conditions, but she did manage.  She herself had been a farmer's wife for a number of decades, but at a much larger, better producing operation.  She asked my husband one day if he was getting too warm outside one summer day and his reply was the above title of this post.  He was only about 3 years old at the time. haha  I am not sure how his response went over with her!

Today isn't nearly as hot as the past days mid week, but I discovered it is plenty hot enough in the direct sun as I helped our new next door neighbour move heavy boxes and assorted "stuff" into her suite from a rental truck.  I was on my way home from a short walk to the grocery store nearby when I saw the truck parked in a large empty space beside our vehicle in the lot. I confess I panicked for a moment, thinking she might already be disgusted with the place and leaving only a couple of months into her lease.  However, she was very stressed out as she and her daughter hauled box after box out of that truck, into her suite, their faces red and sweating from the heat of the direct sun.  I offered to assist them with the rest of the load and I am glad I did.  I nearly collapsed after only a half hour of moving the boxes across the lawn and up the short flight of stairs to the back door of her place.  I am not sure my neighbour would have lasted without the extra help. She was utterly exhausted.  Apparently the house she and her ex shared previously sold unexpectedly quickly with a limited number of days to vacate the premises.  Once the papers were signed her ex announced there was nothing he wanted from the house after all, so she had to find a storage unit and a truck rental within a day or two and start hauling everything out. That poor woman.  Right now her tiny kitchen and living room are stacked up wall to wall with boxes and loose items that didn't fit into any of the various sized boxes she was able to get on short notice.  I feel for her.  Quite apart from the stress of her personal situation, she is now stuck with a TON of things she doesn't want either!!  SHE had to find and pay for storage and a moving truck, SHE has to find somewhere to put all the things that don't fit in the storage unit, SHE has to decide how to get rid of so many things no longer needed by her and not wanted after all by her ex.  I can relate to having far too many boxes of assorted useless, unnecessary, unwanted things that simply have to be dealt with. So many things my husband and I dragged around move after move after move, as we never had time to go through things before they had to be removed from wherever we were living at the time.  The general scenario was that my husband was working out of town for a month or more before the moving date and at his last day on whatever job he had pre-move, invariably he didn't arrive home until dinner time or later to start tossing everything he owned that I hadn't been able to pack for him into boxes and bags before pulling up with the moving truck, (more often than not our work van still filled with construction tools from the job), so that the two of us could spend a frantic half day...or full day if we were fortunate....tossing all our boxes into it in an attempt to get away on time. Aaaaaargh!!!!  When we move from here next year, Lord willing, I PRAY it will not be like any of our previous moves. This time I PRAY we will actually be ready to move and to move only the things we truly need to keep!  From my mouth to God's ear!!

I really enjoyed my husband's sermon this morning about Elijah and Elisha. I like that he comes at things from a slightly different angle than usual.  He always gives me something new to think about, even when it comes to stories like this one that I am so familiar with after all these years of Bible reading. I enjoyed participating unexpectedly as well in the service this morning.  The lady who was to do the prayers wasn't well enough to attend this morning, so the pastor asked if I would read the prayers this lady had written.  It was my privilege to do so.  The lady who wrote them is the ordained pastoral leader at our denomination's seniors' residence and she is a wise woman.

After church some friends took us out for lunch at the Knotted Thistle.  We sat in there for a couple of hours after we were done our lunch.  It wasn't at all busy, so we had the server's permission to stay as long as we wanted to...so obviously we did! hahaha  After sitting in church all morning and then sitting so long at the restaurant, I was desperate for a walk, so I dropped my husband off at home and then I walked over to the grocery store for a few items.  The hot sun felt so lovely on my back.....ooooh, I love that feeling when I go walking in the summer.  Then home to help the neighbour and put the groceries away.  It has been a lovely day and I am hoping for a relaxing evening.

I am very excited that the ladies' prayer group I was part of for a few months prior to the start of the pandemic, is starting up again later this week.  YAY!!  Oh how I have missed being with those dear sisters in the Lord.  A new person has been invited to join the group and I hope she will do so.  It is nice to have a group that, while not wanting to be too large, also doesn't want to stagnate and become some kind of clique that can't handle the addition of a new member.  It is also nice to be in a group that is not associated directly with my church.  

I am hoping for decent weather this week. Several friends are interested in going for walks with my husband and I, so I hope that works out this week. Between, rain, extreme heat and gale force winds, each fighting for dominance most of the past week, going for an outdoor walk has been less than appealing!!  My husband's last teaching committment is about 49hours and 57 minutes from now and then his holidays begin....wow...we can then maybe experience that retirement he tells me he is living in! hohoho!!! 

A Truthful Church Meme!

If you have ever visited a new church you will totally understand the following meme...teehee...SO TRUE!

Be ye a desired new recruit, or be ye a threat to the Choir Kingdom status quo?  Only the choir members of longest standing know for sure......

Crying Weather Wolf

Despite the ominous clouds, a few lightning bolts north east of town and a few minutes of light rain, the tornado warnings last evening were mostly for nought. I saw a photo of a small funnel cloud near Marquis, but have had no other reports of obvious tornados overnight here in our area of the province. Turns out we didn’t have to cover the window wells or repack our tornado kits after all. Well, at least we were prepared. We were not the only people in our complex making regular trips outside between 7-10pm last evening, anxiously watching the sky and making a few preparations just in case they became necessary. Ergo, those of you chuckling behind your hands over my apparent over reaction to recent weather reports, I am not alone in understanding what could happen this year during the most active tornado season we have experienced in this area in the nearly eight years I have lived here. Experienced prairie dwellers in our complex also have tornado flight kits tucked away in the safest hiding spots in their residences. So there!! hahaha. Gotcha you nay sayers! There really is a reason to assume we could have a proper tornado here this year. 

Today is overcast and happily much cooler than the past two days have been. My husband and I are having a slow, relaxing morning. Right now we are going to watch last night’s episode of Alone and then my husband will get to work polishing up his sermon for Sunday and completing the PowerPoint for his next week’s class. I need to come up with a spectacular plan for dinner so we can eat at home this evening!

Repacking The Kit!

 It was a lovely day today.  The chat with the lawyer went so well,  I had subsequent excellent and clear communications with Mom's financial advisor and the tax accountant, got some bills paid, ate a hearty lunch and then enjoyed a full afternoon of visiting with the Calgary cousins...such fun!  Such fellowship! Such friendship!  My husband had a a productive time at his clergy conference and got a good long walk there and back, despite being rather warm in the +30C with blazing sun and very still air.  He arrived home in time to spend an hour with the cousins as well.

My husband has been craving the food at Birmingham's, so off we went again for dinner out. Urp...HOWEVER it is Taco Thursday there and we were able to order two small soft tacos each, along with a small order of Mexi fries.  As far as carbs for both of us it was a perfect, light meal, a bit too much sodium because of the fried tatertots, but it wasn't a large order, so I think we will be fine.  It is just so wonderful to be able to get out in larger groups of people once again....although we were brought up a bit short today when we learned that the husband of a friend's daughter died the other day from COVID at the age of 32....very sobering....

Shortly after we got home from there, I checked the weather report as we were watching large thunder clouds forming far north west of the city. Sure enough most of the south central part of the province was under a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch.  As I was watching tv awhile later, about three hours ago now, the beeping notification came across the tv screen that the watch had been upgraded to a warning. The warning is in effect for MANY areas of this part of the province. The storm system is huge. We started watching the sky and sure enough....it is about 10pm now and we are watching the flat bottom of the gigantic thunderhead moving in a circular direction from west to east.  It is coming closer to the city and some of the small hamlets far to the north east of here are experiencing heavy rain, strong winds and a lot of lightning right now according to the reports we are getting.  

A few minutes ago when we stood out on our back porch and looked at the sky, we realized the huge, slowly spinning cloud has moved farther south toward our city. SO, we dragged out the coverings for the window wells and got them in place, repacked our tornado kits and took them to the basement in case there is heavy rain even without a tornado and now we wait.  We are sleeping in our clothes tonight unless we get the all clear in the next couple of hours. My husband already had a bed put together for himself in the basement earlier this evening because it is far too hot upstairs for him to sleep in his own bed.  If I wasn't so completely freaked out by spiders, I would sleep down there tonight too, but......even the concern about a possible tornado is not enough to put me down there unless I have to flee the storm!!   hahaha  I AM far more frightened the spiders at this point. 

Instead of thinking about the storm possibilities I am going to think about the delicious small soft tacos we had for dinner tonight. They are so tiny and they were absolutely stuffed with our choice of pulled pork, fried chicken pieces and spicy beef, salsa, avocado slices, sour cream, and a hearty sprinkling of cilantro on top.  Just delicious and since it is Taco Thursday, they were on sale. So were the pineapple marguaritas so my husband decided to try something new and had one of those. He said it was fine, but he wouldn't order it again, that the fresh pineapple slice which garnished the side of the glass was the best part of all.  hahahaha He is SO NOT a cocktail guy!  Next time he will stick to a beer or his more usual huge glass of water with a slice of lemon.  

Well, I am going to return to the back porch and watch the giant thunderhead that is starting to churn up there in the sky.  A giveaway that there may be weather "trouble" in the area is the total disappearance of the mosquitoes that generally make standing out on the deck after dark intolerable. The many hares that generally frolic across our back lawn this time of night are nowhere in sight. There are no geese honking. In terms or weather it just may be a "bumpy night".

Take care all of you wherever you are! Stay safe!

A Summer Reprieve!

 I am very grateful for the lawyer we are dealing with in regard to Mom's estate.  I had a wonderful chat with him this morning. He called at the exact minute he was supposed to, so I was all ready with my questions and he was very clear in his responses.  I know the path now once I receive the paper work to take to the banking institutions.

The reprieve is that the lawyer is going on holidays in a few days' time, so of course is swamped with unexpected work pouring in...boy, do I ever understand THAT!!  My husband and I have "been there and done that" throughout all our married life!! There is nothing like a planned holiday to bring on the unexpected emergency work situations.  So, happily I will not receive the Grant of Probate papers (or his bill) from his office until at least the end of July.  Instead of being upset or disappointed, I am THRILLED!!!!  OUr summer will not be disrupted by fights with banks who don't want to disburse funds they are legally required to disburse. (Ruth's stepson just went through a dreadful hassle with my least favourite bank when he took her Grant of Probate in to deal with the funds and he had to threaten to call in her lawyer before they would release the funds. Is that what I am also going to have to face??)  So bank estate lawyers and financial advisors can take their summer holidays without interfering with MY life!!  Everyone wins!!  The lawyer was most apologetic, as he didn't realize what a favour he is doing me.  Bless him!!

I didn't sleep well last night, despite the joy of having my husband home last night and his insistence that we go out to the Knotted Thistle for dinner as soon as he walked in the door after his long drive.  I know the lack of sleep was from the estate stress, but this morning when the lawyer called, I was calm. There were people praying fo rme and God certainly said a huge ":YES! OKAY!" to their prayers.  I am grateful.

Shock and Surprise!!!!

 I just received a call from the lawyer's office in regard to Mom's estate....it has already cleared probate!!  The lawyer is as shocked as I am.  However, last week the courts in AB began a procedure to completely overhaul the probate application process.  Thus, they are pushing all the tiny estates like Mom's through the system as quickly as possible.  The lawyer will be calling me tomorrow morning to go over next steps with me. I wish my husband was going to be here to be sure I understand what exactly is going on, but he will be at a meeting...dang it. O well, I will trust God to keep my thinking clear!  Whoa....I thought I had the whole summer off to take care of these things and now July is going to be another banking gong show...I can't believe it...so much for getting away in July.  Well, the good Lord knows.....wow...I am kind of in shock.  I will have to keep my morning free tomorrow, so not sure what will happen with the cousins' visit.  My little fuzzy brain is in a tailspin.  Please pray for me that I don't screw things up somehow. Thank you.

Day 5 At The End, The End......

My husband texted me a few minutes ago to say he is on his way home a day earlier than originally planned.  Well, whatever. Personally I am very happy he is on his way back.  Looking forward to seeing him sometime this evening.

Last evening I had a ton of fun with Kat and Val.  To celebrate the summer solstice, they took me for iced cream at a place called Polar Palace because they have sugar free iced cream there.  I thoroughly enjoyed a "small" (that is a relative term I think for the huge double scoop I received) Maple Walnut cone...a tiny cone that had few carbs!  Next time I will get the Junior sized cone as that will be sufficient, but I surely did enjoy my small sized treat. Delish!!

Then they took me on one of their favourite drives on some country roads close to the city.  Wow, for not being far out of the city we certainly did see a lot of wildlife.....birds and deer....well, I will just show you a few things we saw.

A VERY surprised deer! CcKat

Friend Hawk...... CcKat

....who let us know he disdained our presence, in his majestic way.  CcKat

More disdain from the storkicans (pelicans? storks?) who turned their backs on us! CcKat

The ubiquitous Canada Geese and their little ones..... CcKat

.....swimming off across the slough.... CcKat

....into the gorgeous sunset. CcKat

So a lovely evening was had by all.

Now it is time to get going on getting my laundry done before the heat of the day sets in.  

Tomorrow's agenda hopefully includes a visit from the Calgary cousins while my husband is at a clergy event.

Master Of Modern Technology, That’s Me!! (Day 4)

 Hohoho! 

Yesterday I enjoyed taking myself out for lunch. It was also a learning experience! My booth was close to the ATM where the people using the gaming machines in the bar were emerging every so often, clutching their bank cards and frantically pushing buttons on the ATM to get more good money to throw away after bad! 

Hmmmm....I had never used an ATM before, not even once. Not exactly the GOAT in the wonderful world of banking technology, right? Well....I gave all the cash I had in my purse to my husband before he left on his trip, not so much as a nickel did I have in my purse.....in fact I had to use my bank card the day before for a one dollar purchase, how embarrassing....I forgot, in my hurry to avoid the rain after church on Sunday, to go to my bank branch near there for some money....I would need to spend $6.50 to take a round trip on the bus to get to my nearest branch....$6.50 I didn’t have of course.....SO: I sucked up my terror of trying anything technologically new to me without a helper standing by in case I messed up and with trembling, sweaty hand inserted my bank card into the slot. Unfortunately it was the wrong slot and I had quite a battle pulling it out again. Aiiii yiiiii, not an auspicious start. However, I battled on. No one was watching me, so I bravely tried again. This time I found the proper slot for my card. All the bells and whistles chimed from the machine and a series of questions for identifying my card appeared on the screen. Push correct buttons to answer, easy peasey!!! I must have answered correctly because the last question was whether or not I wanted to continue the withdrawal since it would include a three dollar fee. Hmmmm....did I??? Hmmmmm....$6.50 for the transit bus vs $3.00 for the fee. Even I could figure out the answer to that question! I punched the YES button and with a loud sputter and more chimes ringing the ATM dispensed my money and popped my card back out of its appropriate slot!! Yippee! I did it!!! I was shaking so hard from the stress I nearly fainted trying to walk the three steps back to the booth to sit down!! I did something new (to me) involving technology without needing help! A red letter day!! 

Now I am sitting here with all the windows open enjoying a cool breeze and once again waiting for the rain. I think we might actually get some here today, finally. Now the thunderstorms are supposed to arrive this afternoon after light rain sometime this morning. If I was younger I would love to be a storm chaser! As terrifying a task as that would be, weather events fascinate me. I really enjoy a good storm, sans tornadoes, as they are amazing!! Since I have no other plans for the day I will relax and read books and watch the weather. 

All Packed Up And No Reason To Go!

For all the weather hype leading into today, thus far we have had not so much as a drop of rain and it is after 10pm now. hahaha The thunderheads that started building this morning had dissipated by noon and the sky remained mostly sunny, or at least with a light cloud cover, all day long! So here I sit with my bags packed ready to run for the basement, but I may not have to after all.  (thankfully)

I am glad I had this trial run in case TOMORROW's forecast for intense thunder and lighting activity actually happens!!! hahaha (Yes, I will believe it when I see it!)  Severe thunderstorm watches have been coming and going from the weather reports all day long. I have barely been able to keep up with all the changes.

However, if anything ever does happen in the future, I know how to pack to run to my hiding spot that may afford some degree of safety.  I followed the instructions of a friend who lives in the U.S. midwest and has had to prepare to flee for her life several times as tornadoes in her area posed extreme threats to her safety:  I have my purse attached to the other 2 bags, one of which is a small briefcase containing my mom's estate papers and the most important of our own personal papers, the other contains a complete change of clothes for myself; undies, jeans, a shirt, sturdy old boots and a coat.  I have so much "stuff" crammed into all three carry bags that I could probably crouch down behind THOSE, hang on for dear life and be under no threat of a tornado taking me out.  It would never be able to lift them off the carpet! The combined weight of the three of them is pretty embarrassing actually.  Well, don't say I am not prepared!

I have a strong suspicion that 24 hours from now I will be putting everything away again, but the practise has been good for me according to my tornado savvy friend down south.  Either that or she has been stringing me a big long line and is killing herself laughing at me for believing her....sigh....

Thus far the worst weather in our province has been in Saskatoon. They received something like 77mm of rain in an hour. There are all kinds of photos circulating from the flooding at their Market Mall. The parking lot is awash with cars that are in too much water to be driven out of the lot and the mall is closed until the water can be drained away.

This reminds me of when we lived in Tokyo and all of us missionaries had to be prepared for earthquakes at all times.  In our earthquake preparedness kit we had 3 days worth of bottled water and a 3 day assortment of dried foods, as well as a rope ladder so we could climb out of the building to escape if it was crumbling underneath us.  Of course, all this preparation was strictly for the sake of giving foreigners a false sense of security.  Should a quake of the magnitude required to topple our building occur, it would be large enough that the water, food and rope ladder would be of no use because we would already be dead under the rubble before we had a chance to grab all that stuff and make our escape.  PS: escape to where exactly with all the streets and buildings around us being ripped to shreds, right?  

Had a nice chat with my husband tonight. He and Ray had a busy morning at Lee Valley picking up some tools so that Ray can replace a rusted out cover on his large bbq.  They took a lovely walk along the river valley and ate lots of good food. They had afternoon naps and spent time doing texts and emails to their family and friends.  The time spent together seems to be going very well and they are enjoying each other's company.  Ray doesn't have a ton of energy of course, but he is in far better condition than my husband expected.  He is encouraged now that it appears Ray is going to live for a much longer time than his original prognosis suggested.  This is quite exciting!! Thank you for your prayers for him.  He is getting a bit of a reprieve now that the effects of the gamma radiation for the brain tumour have disappeared.  So thankful for that.

Day 3

 The forecast has been updated...naturally, right?  Now the thunderstorms will not arrive until closer to dinner time tonight.  That means I will have time to take a walk today, right now even. Perhaps I will treat myself to lunch out because I completed the housecleaning this morning.  Now I have a couple of days to fully enjoy the tidied up space before my husband arrives home.  That is always the best part about cleaning house when he is away, teehee.  

The thunderheads have begun their slow formation up in the sky.  So far the clouds are white and puffy with light grey bottoms, but as they start turning into true thunderheads the white circles of puffiness will climb higher and thicker out of the cloud base. It is a stunning sight to behold.  I do love the rain and find thunderstorms to be awe inspiring, but I could do without the power outages and tornado watches, that is for sure.

Right now the sun is shining through the clouds in spots and the visible sky is deep spring blue. So pretty.

I ate breakfast at 7am today, so I think I will use that as an excuse to get to the restaurant early and enjoy my lunch without benefit of noon hour overcrowding.  Yes....a celebratory lunch out is definitely called for!

Tornado Talk

I am less than excited by the weather forecast for the next two days. Looking at the black clouds coming in from the west I am assuming that there actually will be the predicted thunderstorms starting by noon. Unfortunately there is to be an ongoing series of thunderstorms rolling through for about 24 hours and that is most likely going to spawn a number of tornadoes in the area. It seems that often when my husband is away I end up with tornado watches in this area. hahaha So, I will finish the housework this morning in case there are power outages at some point, as well as collect my purse, the documents for Mom’s estate and some other important paperwork. I will put those items into the basement space I would need to flee to should a tornado occur. 

Yes, I realize this sounds a bit extreme, however.....I have learned a lot from some of my more elderly friends who have lived in tornado prone areas during their lifetimes. I am copying their example. I am guessing we will not have a monster tornado hit us in the next 24 hours, but I prefer to be overly prepared for the possibility than caught short. 

Another good sleep last night (7 hours) has me feeling great again today. Time to get moving and get the last three rooms cleaned this morning!!

Just 'Cause......

 Going through photo files and having some laughs and good memories. Here are a few photos you might get a smile out of:

With my parents in 1977....yikes.....

Weeeelllll....it WAS the '70 after all...were you smokin' what I was smokin'? The car apparently was.......aiiii yiiiii........

My mom with Ebot, aged 4 months, in 1980

Ebot and best buddy Christal, 1982, the day she potty trained him for me!

'90's glasses, hair and the ubiquitous home made femo earrings, hahaha!

In Chicago for missions training, 2000

Church Portrait of the Old Geezers, 2019

Life does bring its changes to a person, does it not?  hahaha

Day 2

 I slept incredibly well last night!  The combination of the extreme heat and the strenuous housework yesterday knocked me right out for eight consecutive hours!  I only got up this morning when I did because I wanted to go to church in honour of finally shaking off the last of the reaction to last week's medication.  YAY!  I was still just tired enough that I almost copped out of going to church, but I didn't.  I realized I was going to have to walk at least part of the way to church regardless because I had to pick up something for my husband at the pharmacy.

I am very happy that I did go after all. The walk in warm temperatures, under the dark clouds in the sky, with no wind at all, was wonderful.  The trees along my route are in full greenery, beautifully leafed out for spring.  How I love June in Regina!  The gorgeous old trees in the downtown area are looking their very best.

It was very nice to see the people at church and have a chance to chatter with a few folk.  Some friends came to sit with me, which I so appreciated.  Since we all still have to wear masks...until next week when masks become a matter of personal choice....I felt quite safe sitting that close to my friends.  Lots of people raced off afterward to prepare for the church picnic in the afternoon. I don't do picnics....I don't do outdoor activities much at all actually at this buggy and goose poopy time of year....so I came straight home.  There were a few sprinkles of rain falling, so I enjoyed that even though those few drops wreaked havoc with my freshly straightened hair, hahaha....

This afternoon I cleaned the living room, stairway and upstairs hallway.  I suppose I could also have cleaned one of the bedrooms, but they can wait until tomorrow.  It is incredibly muggy in this suite so that zapped my energy. I suppose it is because of all the moisture up in the clouds, just waiting to fall on us.  Such humidity!!  WOW!  

My husband sent me an email. He is delighted that his son called him for Father's Day and that Hani also sent him a greeting via email.  The kids are out at the summer house on Long Island this weekend enjoying a break from the city and from the many present stresses in their careers.  Nice!!  He also told me a bit more about Ray. Apparently Ray has good energy most of the time. He is not actually taking standard chemotherapy. Instead he is having immunotherapy and is not experiencing most of the side effects of standard chemo. Immunotherapy has its own side effects and Ray is being tasked with monitoring not only which side effects he is experiencing, but their intensity and frequency.  My husband is thrilled with how well Ray is doing at the moment. The jury is still out on the condition of his remaining kidney, so we hope for a positive outcome as the tests continue.  Today they had lunch with some visiting Calgary cousins and had a very good time.  This trip has turned into more of a relaxing holiday than a care giving expedition and I am happy not only for Ray that he doesn't need care right now, but also for my husband who needed a break out of this place.  Oh Lord, WHEN will it be MY turn?  I have only been alone for 2 days and already feel lonely and miserable....okay, it is mostly because of the weather, BUT it is also because I don't have our vehicle.  I feel rather trapped as the weather is making it too miserable to be out walking, riding buses and window shopping.  The next few days are going to seem rather long I am afraid. Well, you never know....lots of unexpected and wonderful things could happen despite the miserable weather!

Day One!

My husband left this morning to go to Ray’s for a visit. Finally! Now my husband will quit pestering poor Ray about getting together and Ray can stop feeling guilty for not feeling like seeing any family for the past few months. Yay! My husband made the drive in decent weather, and took a few breaks along the way to rest. He was thus able to avoid our miserably hot day here! The weather reporter said we reached +35C, but that the humidex gave us a reading of +39C. Whatever the exact numbers, it was darned well hot all day and isn’t much better tonight.

Despite the heat I have had a grand day, very productive!! In the morning a friend emailed me a devotional she has written and she asked me for my comments. The way she wrote it got me thinking about a whole bunch of other interrelated ideas and I ended up sending her more of those thoughts than actual critiques of her writing. haha. So, her devotional got my fuzzy, tired brain working and I have been thinking about that devotional all day! Impressive that her devotional spoke to me so much. I hope the missions group she was presenting it to today got as much out of it as I did.

I was able at last to start ridding this suite of dust!! I was despairing most of the morning because I woke up feeling that meds hangover again...hopefully for the last time as I completed the course of medication last night! Yay! Good thing I had my friend’s devotional to read because that is about all I accomplished until after lunch. By 1pm my energy started making a comeback, so I got myself dressed and started cleaning! I intended to only clean the kitchen and bathroom and wash the floors in order to pace myself on such a hot day......I have no air conditioning, thus the need to be careful not to overdo it. I tossed in a thorough cleaning of the stovetop and range hood and did a load of washing. I was looking forward to a relaxing evening watching tv, but barely finished watching one programme before realizing I was bored. So, I stripped down all the knickknacks from both china cabinets, cleaned them, then thought I might as well clean all of the dining room. That leaves me three tiny bedrooms, the stairwell and the living room to clean tomorrow after church. Nice! I thought I was going to take three days to do all this work, but only two will be required, yay! 

 

Now it is nearly 9pm and I am finally feeling like I can settle down on the sofa, fold towels and enjoy a home renovation or veterinary programme on tv.  Church tomorrow....looks SO FAR like I will be able to walk to church before the rain starts falling, but coming home I think I am going to get drenched! haha That will be fun! I like walking in the rain and will dress accordingly.

A Day Of Surprizes...Most Of Them GOOD!

 The first surprise of the day was waking up at 2:45am and not going back to sleep again despite two attempts at daytime naps.  Oh well....by the time I finish this post I will have been awake for approximately 20 hours, so yes, I am rather tired!

I suspect it was a combination of being crammed into the little den area overnight, the chemicals that the carpets were cleaned with and an inability to turn off my thought process for most of the night.  Isn't it crazy sometimes some of the things our minds get stuck on during the early morning hours, leaving us unable to relax enough to sleep!  This week's meds have wreaked a touch of havoc with my digestive system and my twitching stomach didn't do anything to assist me in falling back asleep.  Well, at least the carpets are looking much cleaner and brighter....although their age and general poor condition are also more obvious, unfortunately.

The next surprise was a very happy one indeed! The phone rang just before 8am, (nice that I was already wide awake and therefore not tempted to curse at whoever was calling us so early), and it was the wife of a former assistant priest of my husband's in our very first parish.  We were very close, but all our various moves and changes in life circumstances have reduced our contact to an annual phone call at Christmas.  Today she announced her job was bringing her into Regina for a few hours and after work she would have time to come over for an hour of visiting and tea drinking!  YES!!!  Wow, it was fantastic to see her.  She survived the Rwandan genocide...about 28 years ago now....although her father was murdered and her family home burned to the ground with herself and the rest of her family still inside. She and her sisters and mother managed to escape and eventually find their way to Canada, although her mother has gone back to live in Kigali.  Our friend is filled with joy at being alive, filled with gratitude to God despite losing members of her family and everything she owned.  She thanks God every day for the fact that some of her family members did escape and she holds no bitterness toward the tribal people attempting to wipe out her own tribe.  She believes and successfully models forgiveness and refusing to look backward, both here in Canada and back home in Rwanda whenever she goes to visit her mother.  Speaking of which, she has a ticket to go to see her mother in a few months' time, but the French speaking Congolese are  upset about an English language world leaders' meeting to be held in Rwanda soon and they are starting to attack Rwandans who live close to their borders.  It is a frightening situation looming once again so she has asked for prayer for safe travel and for wisdom.  She does all she can to mitigate tribalism whenever she has the opportunity and her Christian testimony is awe inspiring. She truly lives what she believes and has no bitterness toward the tribe that attacked her family and so many others in the past.  What an amazing woman.  We felt buoyed by her enthusiasm for the Lord and her understanding that he knows the end from the beginning and all we have to do is trust him when life as we know it crumbles and becomes terrifying.  Learning to move on is a key element in her testimony. I want to remember her words and example in the future as I am watching our own country and continent teetering on the edge of sanity these days.

Surprise number three, also good!  Raymond called to confirm he really wants my husband to come to see him next week.  My husband is busy tonight starting on his packing up of clothing and food for the trip. It will be a very short one, but that will be just fine for now.  Raymond got very good news about his brain tumor at his follow up appointment this week: the gamma radiation totally killed off the first tumor and there is no evidence at this time of another one forming. Thank you Jesus!!!!  He didn't mention the kidneys, which he also learned about this week, so either that means the news is as dire as we thought and he wasn't prepared to discuss it until my husband arrives, or else things have not progressed much there and so he didn't think to share it.  The radiation is shrinking the pelvic bone tumor and he is able to walk much better again. What he did share was very encouraging and he is very grateful for the prayers you all have been saying for him.  He wants my husband to take him to a church service during their visit. 

On thing I was thinking about during the night: some old friends from when we lived in Alberta, friends I began thinking about the other day actually.  Our kids grew up together and we remained close friends for years, but we have moved so many times, then they had a series of moves and you know how it goes. Life happens and you lose touch with people.  I went on an online search today and located a phone number for them in the town where they currently reside.  What a joy that they were so delighted to hear from me. We talked for nearly two hours and we have promised to go and visit them next time we are in their area.  The call was surprisingly well received after being out of touch for nearly eight years!  YAY!  So glad I got that little nudge to find them and pick up the phone!  I need to do more of that sort of thing...even with people I am close friends with right here in the city. I am so phone call making averse....aaaargh! Gotta get over that.

Then we got an email from Kat and Val just before dinner tonight asking if we would like to meet them at DarBar tonight to share a meal together.  As if we would have said "no"! hahaha It was delicious as always and the service was particularly attentive tonight from the newly hired front staff and servers.  We had a lovely time chatting and feasting.  It was a nice send off for my tired husband. I don't think he slept all that well either last night.  He is a bit sore still from round 2 of the bbq build at his friend's.  The "old man" is not in fit tradesman shape any more at age 70! hahaha  Two more sessions will finish off the large bbq pit and grill.  During round 2 the fellows took some time to go to the scrap dealer's and locate just the right kind of metal pan for the raw coal chunks, as well as the brackets and such to be able to raise and lower that grill so the heat can be adjusted.  The guys have had such fun creating the plans for the project.

Well, I should go and help my husband figure out what he wants to take with him on his travels. I have his prescriptions ordered and can pick those up tomorrow.  I have filled the gasoline tank in the car....for $85! Gleep!!  I have his clothes set out and his box of snacks prepared.  Better to be ready too early than too late.  Tomorrow morning I will set up a schedule for myself for deep cleaning the suite in his absence...so glad I refrained from doing the cleaning before the carpets were done as having the back door open for over an hour last night to accommodate the huge cleaning hose and having all the windows open during last night's windstorm to mitigate the fumes and ensure the carpets would be dry by morning, means the entire suite is FILLED with dust! Absolutely everything is covered in a thick layer. The dust will be the first thing I attack tomorrow!  Gross!! Which reminds me of another happy surprise:  with the surge in the wasp and mosquito populations here, we were dreading the prospect of coming home last night after the carpet cleaning was completed and finding a  suite filled with both breeds of insects....oh and of course flies!  UNBELIEVABLY, (although not really because we prayed so much about it), there was NOT ONE MOSQUITO, NOT ONE FLY in the place and the only wasp that we found was crawling along the kitchen baseboards this morning and was easily released outside.  WOW!!  Incredible in this insect infested part of the city!  If there are any spiders in here, they sneaked in and are still in hiding, but I am so used to them now it is not a big deal getting them outside again.

Although the wind nearly ripped the hair off my head when I walked up to the post office today, it kept the heat down from the very hot sunshine beaming on me.  We only made it to +28C today and since we are supposed to be going to +33C or more tomorrow, I am glad I was able to get my walk in today! 

Oh happy day........ 

  

Flooding Basement??

Although we have not had as much rain as expected this week, there was a bit of dampness in one corner of our basement during yesterday’s showers. The ground is saturated and that water is seeking an outlet. Enter our crumbling foundation! My husband has done a marvellous job of resealing the basement walls, but with so much water in the swampy ground Regina is built upon, any remaining minuscule fissures in the cement will begin to open up from the mounting pressure of the ground water. It is inevitable. Sigh...

I am a bit concerned about the forecast for next week, with rain beginning on Sunday and continuing daily for at least seven days. There are thunderstorms forecast for several of those days and thunderstorms usually mean at least short periods of heavy deluge. I would be less worried if I wasn’t facing the prospect of babysitting the basement by myself. So far my husband’s trip to visit his dying brother in law next week looks to be happening. Before he leaves I am going to get him to help me clear a few things out of the most unstable areas in the basement walls.  Wow, I cannot wait to get moved out of here next year and pray there will be no more of the types of unforeseen circumstances that have cropped up in the midst of our moving plans over the past two or three years. Covid destroyed our plans in 2020, the death of my husband’s sister in 2021 kiboshed that year’s plans and the timing of my mom’s death scuttled the move this year. Please Lord, is there a way we can exit this elderly building next year? Please? 

Yesterday was a nice day. My husband drove me around to several community library boxes so I could donate the last “ton” of books I finished reading and pick up some new ones. I had a good time being chauffeured around the city. In the afternoon I began reading “The Boat People” by Sharon Bala. Only a few pages into it, but it starts off interestingly enough.  Here’s hoping....

Soon my husband will be up and about, heading off to Moose Jaw for day two on his friend’s bbq building project. A day between rain showers is most appreciated!! He will come home in time to help me get the furniture moved about for the evening appointment with the carpet cleaner, including moving our bed into the third bedroom that does not need the carpet cleaning as badly as the rest of the rooms. We will sleep in there tonight while the rest of the carpets dry overnight. Usually we arrange carpet cleaning while we are out of town on holidays, but this time we decided we had better take the appointment when it was offered! Carpet cleaning companies lost a lot of business when Covid kept them out of peoples’ homes, so we decided we would accept this hastily offered opportunity. The company is owned by one of our neighbours and he does good work. 

I will spend today moving whatever furniture I can move by myself up against the walls to provide the cleaner with an open space to clean the high traffic areas plus a bit more. The disintegrating carpets will likely release much of the remaining fibres, but a “holey” carpet that is clean will still be better than the filth that we have now. The carpets are still releasing dog and cat hair from the previous tenants....nearly 8 years after they moved out. Oh dear Lord, thank you for giving us grace to stay here this many years. 

Because Not Much Is Happening, (YES Even Less Than Usual), That's Why.....

 ....I haven't posted for a couple of days.  

The meds I have been on the past few days have knocked me for a loop.  Sunday I was so exhausted I couldn't even drag myself to church!  I spent the entire day in my housecoat flopped out on the sofa trying to watch tv, but drifting off to sleep every fifteen minutes....this went on ALL day!  

Yesterday I felt somewhat more alive so went grocery shopping and running other errands with my husband.  He slept in so we didn't get away until after 10am and were gone less than two hours, but by the time we arrived home I was ready for another afternoon of couch sleeping!  I managed to pull myself together after dinner long enough to go over to some friends' place and succeeded in enjoying a delightful visit with them before heading off to bed as soon as we arrived home.  Yawn.....

Today I was another degree more with it and got a bit of work done around here this morning. Then I spent nearly 3 hours with a friend this afternoon. That was delightful, but by the time I got home I was wiped out and asleep on the sofa once again.  The nap allowed me to be up later tonight....it is just after 10:30pm and I am just now starting to look longingly at my "jammies" and warm quilt.  I am SO grateful that my husband has happily agreed to take over cooking the meals for a few days until I have more energy again.

We shall see how tomorrow goes.  It is supposed to be pouring rain again all day tomorrow, so my husband and his bbq'ing buddy will have to postpone day 2 of bricklaying for an extra day.  

Thursday night the carpet cleaner is coming to clean the main traffic areas in this miserable suite and I know that will brighten my mood as much as it brightens the carpet....come to think of it my mood will likely be far brighter than this wretched old carpeting! hahahahaha  I expect half the carpet material will find itself pulled into the cleaning hose along with the dirt.  When carpet starts disintegrating due to old age it is a sad looking floor covering!  The furniture is always covered in dust that is actually fine carpet lint.  Aaaargh!  Another thing I won't miss if we can get out of here next year.

Well those jammies and quilt are calling my name. Time to pack it in. Hopefully I will be feeling even better tomorrow!

Storms A Comin' Tomorrow!

I didn't need the weather forecasters to tell me this weekend that there are likely thunderstorms in the offing for sometime tomorrow.  Today it was very warm indeed, the first day it has felt this warm since sometime last summer.  The air was completely still all day, not even a hint of the breeze or a whisper of wind. The insects were not much in evidence outside this afternoon and evening. The air is so still that we are getting the full brunt of the pot smoke from neighbours three doors down. Usually the nearly constant breeze blows it away from us.  Sounds from many blocks away seem to be happening right outside our suite.  We shall see how the weather develops tomorrow.

Kat sent me a gorgeous photo of our spectacular sunset that displayed itself a couple of nights ago near our fair city. I must share it with you:

CcKat

 

Each Day Is So Different From All The Other Days!

 I love how each day is so different from the previous ones.  With retirement being our new lifestyle, there is so much more room for spontaneous events and decisions and directions than there was during working days.

This morning my husband had a nice long sleep in after his tiring day of fun building his friend's bbq.  I woke up a lot earlier and enjoyed my breakfast, but realized shortly thereafter that my body had been taken over by a UTI....oh joy, oh bliss....  The walk in clinic I go to opens at noon on Saturdays, so I had a long enough wait to know a  UTI was definitely the problem.  So grateful the clinic has restored the weekend walk in clinic since its two year pandemic closure.  

Negotiating the short drive over to the clinic was a bit of a problem.  The street I normally take to get into the parking lot was blocked off due to that street being used as the "muster station" for the participants in today's Pride Parade.  I was going to have to go so far out of my way to get there that my 4 minute drive was going to be closer to 15 minutes.  Blocking off that one street shut down access to every other available closer detour for me.  One driver ahead of me on the street seemed particularly angry and agitated by the disruption and deliberately turned down a street that came to an intersection just slightly less congested with people and parade floats.  I could see there was a gap in the barrier at that intersection, likely the reason the other driver headed that way. I was practically riding the back bumper of the other car as we squeezed through the small gap in the barrier. We manage to ease our way across the intersection without mowing down any pedestrians or parade organizers or small tots running willy nilly all over the street. WHEW!  Once we cleared the intersection the frustrated driver ahead of me hit his gasoline pedal pretty hard and away he went!  I figured out how to get back to the clinic parking lot eventually, after another nearly ten minutes of driving up and down the streets and did still manage to arrive just in time to be first in line to get in. Thank you Lord....there is no pain or discomfort that compares to the pain and discomfort of a UTI and I was determined to see the doctor as soon as possible!

As it turned out, it was my very own doctor who was supposed to be taking all the patients today.  At first I thought that was wonderful, until I realized that as soon as she pulled up my chart she would see that she should have lab test results back from my annual physical exam that I had nearly 2 week ago....ummm.....well....ummm....I haven't actually been to the lab yet....umm....because.....well.....ummmm.....  So I started to panic just a bit. I really didn't want to waste her time trying to explain why I am waiting.  

Turns out I needn't have worried about that. By 12:20pm she still had not arrived at the clinic.  Those of us in the waiting rooms were  wondering why she was SO late...she does tend to be late, but this was overly late even for her!  The office manager came out to tell us why we hadn't been seen yet. Turns out my doctor not only got caught up in the traffic attached to the Pride Parade, she made a VERY wrong turn as she approached the parade route and ended up actually IN the parade!  She couldn't escape once she was there because all the side streets were blocked off and she was going to be unable to exit until she reached the end of the parade route.  hahaha I can just picture my teeny tiny East Indian doctor, ponytail bobbing as she struggled to see over her own steering wheel (I have seen her driving and it is adorable because she looks like a 4 year old sitting there in the driver's seat) inching along between the floats. hahaha  I have no idea what time she finally arrived at the clinic because I was gone by then.

Shortly after we got the news of her inability to get to work on time, another doctor came in, huffing and puffing and freaking out because he too had been held up by Pride Parade activities. The office manager asked him what he was doing there, as it wasn't his clinic day!  He was struggling to get his considerable girth into his white lab coat as she proceeded to tell him in no uncertain terms that he had messed up and come in on the wrong day, and why didn't he look at his schedule that she puts in his mail box AND emails to him every Thursday?? Why? Why? Why?  The poor man crumbled under the tongue lashing, apologized for his mistaken appearance at the clinic and said he would fight his way through the traffic and return home. The office manager informed him that O NO he would do no such thing! He WOULD be staying to see patients until the originally scheduled doctor was able to give up her Pride, (hahaha...see what I did there?), and get to the office.  So thus he did!  He was very, kind to me, paid no attention at all of course to my last appointment with my own doctor and the fact that there are no lab results on my file, gave me the meds I needed and off he went to soothe the next frustrated patient as I made my escape to the pharmacy!  Talk about a serendipitous experience pour moi!

I spent the rest of the day doing my laundry,since I did my husband's laundry a few days ago when we still thought he would be on his way to Edmonton today.  The meds for the UTI work well for me....it has been two years since the last one....and I am feeling much better tonight.  So grateful I was able to get help after all.   My husband spent the time I was away watching a football game on tv and boiling up a chicken carcass for soup. We sat and listened to the sprinkling of the rain coming down this evening. There is no wind accompanying the showers, so we could leave all the windows wide open and enjoy that wonderful smell of wet green grass and the herbs growing on the deck.

It has been another good day, just different than expected and very different from the previous days this week. Love the variety! Happy retirement, right?