Raining, Snowing, Raining, Snowing...Make Up Your Mind Already!!

It has been rather cold today. The light breeze was biting and the temperature didn't rise above +2-+3C all day.  After an overcast morning the damp mist began sometime after 1pm and by 3:30pm the first flakes of snow were coming down, only to be washed away by more mist.  Mist and rain and snow have been vying for first place for the past couple of hours.  I am guessing the mist and bit of rain we had earlier today are going to be frozen into a thin cover of  ice all over everything before much longer. More snow is forecast to come down between tonight and sometime tomorrow, so I am guessing either we will wake up to an invisible icy coating on deck, sidewalk and street, or ice patches covered in at least a couple of cm of snow.  Winter is here...YUCK!

I am in complete denial.  Although I know in my rational mind that the lovely autumn weather has come to an end, my "wishing mechanism" is expecting this moisture and chilliness to be over in a day or two and the  lovely autumn weather will return until next spring.  Yeah right...unfortunately winter cannot be avoided here on the prairies and we are now in for it. Sigh....

At least we did get some chores done around the house this morning after a relaxed, non-alarm induced, wake up.  Right after lunch we finally managed to get to the hospital to see our friend.  She was pretty perky for someone suffering severe mobility issues and now that the infection that originally hospitalized her is gone and she is off the strong antibiotics  she is rational once again...no more hallucinations.  Whew!  Our friend has returned to us!  

We ran one more errand after the hospital visit, then came home and crashed in our tv chairs, ate an early dinner and now are preparing to wash dishes and catch up on some writing and research projects.  

When we were watching tv while we ate our dinner, we came across an ancient film on Silver Screen, "The King of Jazz" from 1930, so we watched part of it.  It is typical of the era that there is no story line, just a collection of song and dance numbers directed by the aforementioned "King of Jazz", band director and musician Paul Whiteman...for you old timers like myself, think of his recordings of "Three O'clock in the Morning" and "In a Little Spanish Town".  While his era was before my time, my parents and grandparents were big fans of his recordings so I grew up listening to them regularly.   This little movie was not a hit despite its overwhelmingly expensive 1930's price tag of two million dollars and the film was eventually lost. It was rediscovered in 1970.  The film makers were playing with special effects such as over dubbing one film track on top of a second track to create ghostly effects.  Unfortunately some of the lyrics of the singers are difficult to hear. We are guessing the sound was picked up on the same strip of film as the video track using magnetic tape.  There are songs, dances, comedy routines, animations...a real olio of typical 1930's productions. Bing Crosby made his screen debut in this movie.  It is fascinating.  I recorded the rest of it so we can watch the over 2 hour production in segments as it suits us.

We are grateful we have no outside the house chores tomorrow.  It is time to get ourselves into winter hibernation mode over the next few days, only going out when we need or want to.....unless my wishful thinking turns out to be more than just a wish and the snow and ice do disappear before the weekend.  Wouldn't that be "loverly"??!!!

Thank You To Our Local Mazda Dealership!

While we have had good servicing experiences for each vehicle we have owned since our arrival here in Regina, we are very much taken with the service we receive from the Mazda dealership.  

Yesterday was a perfect example of the treatment we, along with our vehicle, have received over the past few months since our purchase from them.  When we dropped our car off for a tire change and new tire and rim purchase, despite the place being off the charts busy the mechanic we checked in with took plenty of time to answer questions my husband had about some unrelated issues.  We forgot to pre-book our Courtesy Car ride home, but that was no problem.  We were even allowed to take our long walk to the nearest restaurant for breakfast before returning to the dealership and THEN asking for a ride.  We had a choice: we could wait for about 20 minutes until their own driver returned from dropping off someone else back at home, or they could call an Uber for us and pick up our cost for that if we needed to leave within the next five minutes or less.   We opted to wait for their own driver and that was just fine. Magazines and newpapers were brought to us while we waited.  When the call came in mid afternoon that the car was ready, we were given another option: did we want to wait until the car had been washed there before coming to pick it up or would we prefer to be given a ticket for a free car wash at any Co-op car wash so we could wash the car at a more convenient time for us?  We opted for the ticket because of today's weather report likely making an immediate wash a waste of time and effort, the dealership called an  Uber for my husband and he was back an hour before the exterminators showed up to help us deal with the mice. (3 mornings in a row now with no creatures in the traps, yay!)

This dealership, and I am assuming they represent most major Mazda dealerships, knows the meaning of "valued customers" and we have never felt more that way.  Not to knock any of the other vehicle dealerships we have dealt with here as they have been excellent as well, but Mazda has their own special touches we have not experienced before to this degree.  Congratulations Mazda for knowing how to build a reliable customer base! 

Thus far today, at nearly 11am, the only sign of our freezing drizzle and snow forecast is a sky full of very dark clouds and a bite to the air and breeze, but obviously the weather IS going to change at some point today.  So we have decided to go visit our hospitalized friend just after noon in an attempt to beat the freezing drizzle.  If we interrupt her lunch I think she will forgive us. 

Up 'N' At 'Em, Morning Number 2....YAWN.........

The past two mornings we have set the alarm to be certain we would be up in time for morning commitments.  How spoiled are we that now in retirement we don't have a great many of those mornings most weeks.  Since I am currently in my pattern of sleeping for about 4 hours and then being awake for about 2 more hours before falling asleep again, I have had to be awakened by the alarm yesterday for church and today to get our car to the garage for winter tire change.  Oooh, groggy headed moi!  I have been awake now since 7:30am, shaken from a sound sleep, so I am grateful for the gentle sounds my iPad alarm makes after enduring for several years the BLAAATTTT sound from my last alarm clock that took away any wonder as to why so many people have heart attacks when waking up in the morning!!

Church went well yesterday.  We have been mostly absent from the services since the middle of August due to the travels taken to see family and friends elsewhere, so it was nice to be "back in the fold" with no more plans to travel now, Lord willing, until sometime next spring. The sermon was very good and after hearing a series of sermons on Romans (Thankful for Zoom!) over the past couple of months, where our minister has concentrated very much on the concept of God's transformation of our lives, I realize that detailed sermons on transformation of our characters and lifestyles post salvation have been somewhat missing in my past church experiences.  This series, while also spending sufficient time detailing why as Christians we must undergo these transformations, has brought out more of the positive aspects of the changes God tries to make in us and that has been so appreciated.

After the service we both felt like we should ask someone out for lunch but no one was able to come out with us.  We felt kind of odd that we both felt that so strongly, yet no one was available.  As we got into our car to pull away from the church, out of the side door came a friend we had not seen during our time of asking for lunch buddies. She and her roommate were very happy to come for lunch and afterwards my husband was able to help them figure out some yard work jobs they are working on, so it was mutually beneficial. What a nice time we had together.

This morning when the alarm rang at 7:30am I was so sound asleep I almost missed it entirely.  Ten minutes after it started to ring I finally awoke sufficiently to understand what I was hearing and process what it meant. hahahaha  Fortunately, despite my being late getting going, we did make it to the service garage right on time and got our car registered.  We had a nice long walk to the nearest restaurant for breakfast, then walked back to the garage in time to be able to get a Courtesy Car ride home. Now we wait for the call that the new studded tires have been installed and get another ride back to pick the car up.  Since our first "real" snowfall is to happen tomorrow we are very grateful for the timing on this tire change.  I will feel less grateful when we get our bill today for the four new tires, studding and rims. hahaha  No complaints though. It has been a number of years since we have had to purchase a full set of brand new tires for our vehicle.

This afternoon the exterminator will be here to assist us with our "mouse in the house" issues. We are most grateful that we have gotten up to unsnapped traps two mornings in a row now. Perhaps that is the end of it for another few months?  Let's hope.  The exterminator usually helps us pull out the refrigerator and stove to such up the mouse droppings with his big ShopVac type of cleaner, then we can disinfect the floors and push everything back into place.  My husband and I will empty the rest of the large storage cupboard ourselves and jockey it away from the walls to do the disinfecting under it.  It is a huge job and if we mask up and wear disposable gloves we can easily do our own cleanup there. It has to be moved somewhat gently from its crammed corner in order to avoid damaging the walls surrounding it.  

I am praying that I will finally be able to get myself over to the hospital tomorrow afternoon, despite the predicted snowfall, to see my friend who I have been trying to visit since last Friday!  Between mice and a severe allergy attack I thought was a cold coming on, I have not made it yet. She is going to be wondering where I have gotten to as she used the triage desk phone to call me several nights ago now asking me to visit. Sigh....so many things got in the way.  I hate when that happens as I know what it is like to be sitting in a hospital room for weeks thinking some days that even my best friends have forgotten me.  

At least tomorrow, as far as I know, we don't have to wake up to an alarm.  We have two days this week where we can wake up at our own pace so that is a relief.  We have errands to run in the snow in the morning, but any time before 1pm will be just fine to do those things.  If the predicted snow does arrive it will be a good test for our new snow tires!!  I can easily believe the forecast is correct because the 16 block round trip we took between the service garage and the restaurant was very windy...a biting wind of the type that announces the oncoming winter.  Brrrrrr...so grateful for a hood on my puffer coat and warm gloves! 

 

A Reminder Of Me Mum And Dad!

 When we were in Calgary last week we visited the two long term friends of my parents' who were present for our small time of remembrance just prior to our taking their ashes out to the mountains for burial. This photo was given to me when we visited this time, but since  I was not present for the Friends Event where this picture was taken and their friend couldn't remember the date, I assume it is sometime in the 1990's.  The visits and the photo have had me thinking often in this past few days about all the fun times our families had together.

My parents and I enjoyed many, many entertaining evenings in this particular home, where close friends, members of their 14 years long dinner club, lived for several decades.  When I was growing up I had fun in this house as the oldest of the up to five children present for birthday celebrations and dinner parties...good times and wonderful memories of my childhood.  In this photo both my parents are still fairly healthy, happy and up for having a grand time with their friends.

Catch Up Thanksgiving Dinner! Yum!!

Our church has a number of middle aged and older single women who love to get together a couple of times a year to celebrate festive seasons like Thanksgiving. They are an enthusiastic and fun bunch to spend time with. Occasionally a visiting male relative is invited to participate and at those times my husband and I are also included in the invitation so that the visiting man has a peer to chat with. Last night was one of those dinners but the visiting male relative baled at the last minute. My husband found himself to be the lone male presence at last night’s Thanksgiving dinner….a delayed celebration as a couple of the women had been travelling on the actual Thanksgiving weekend. My husband, being one of the original feminist supporters from way back in the 1970’s, gets along well in groups of women so he was undaunted finding himself in a group of a dozen women last night. 

I hadn’t realized how much I missed having a traditional turkey and ham Thanksgiving meal this year. At the time we were busy packing for our AB trip, making plans for get togethers there with friends and relatives; we didn’t even make it to church on Thanksgiving Sunday. 

So the turkey and baked ham were especially delicious last night. Instead of partaking of the sweet desserts I had a second helping of turkey, stuffing and gravy….oh my goodness, it was a delicious meal. Someone brought a hot potato salad that was fantastic. There was a casserole dish filled with my favourite old fashioned mix of buttered peas and carrots. Growing up that was THE standard veggie mix every Thanksgiving and Christmas, without fail, world without end, amen! 

The food was delicious, the fellowship sweet. Leftovers were sent home with anyone who wanted to take them and the remaining desserts were plated and labelled for use at coffee hour after church this morning. 

We arrived home late in the evening, checked the mouse traps and found no more mouse carcasses, so we are hopeful the traps will still be vacant this morning. Once the exterminator has arrived tomorrow we can get his help to move the fridge and food storage cupboard away from the walls so he can use his large vacuum to clean up the mouse droppings and then we can sanitize the floor underneath. New traps will be set and the exterminator will come back the following week to check things out. Maybe the end of this latest mouse infestation is in sight. 

Oh dear Lord, I just gotta ask,”Why oh why have we not been able to find a different place to move to yet?” We started looking again as soon as we got home from NYC, but the results of our search have not yielded an answer. Trying to weigh out the options for which new set of problems we are willing to take on in the places we can afford to rent is proving difficult. It is a trade off between continuing to cope with the problems here just because we are used to them and exchanging those problems for the new problems we have discovered when viewing alternative accommodations. Thus far moving will not solve the problem of having to park out of doors in the winter, nor of having an extra half 🛁 bath, nor of finding accommodation on one floor with either or both solutions to the parking and bathroom issues. Trades grade finishes do not offend us. Apartment living we can get used to. Well, we will keep praying and looking. I have even been willing to make a move right away, in the winter, before the next hip surgery, but…. Interesting times for us, that’s for sure.

One Messy Mousie!

About two hours after my last post we discovered where mouse number two had been hiding before it got itself trapped during the night: on the bottom shelf of our large kitchen food storage cupboard. Oooooh and didn’t it have the most lovely time chewing labels off cans and starting a nest building project with the soggy bits and pieces! What a mess my husband found in there. It was actually kind of interesting to see how busy and focused the little mouse had been. However it was less interesting to have to haul out all the tins of tomato sauce, beans and chickpeas, a huge box of falafel the mouse had chewed right through, cardboard outer and plastic inner linings….at least we know what it was eating….and I don’t know how many bottles of olive and sesame oils, canola oil, balsamic vinegars, rose water….it took me the better part of an hour to examine the packaged products in order to sort out which products needed to be thrown out due to a mousie breach and which ones had not been compromised, then disinfect absolutely every box, tin and bottle remaining. While I was doing that my husband was busy eliminating the evidence of the 🐭 mouse’s presence, throwing out the nesting materials and disinfecting the space. We checked all the other shelves in the huge cabinet but fortunately the mouse was satisfied to stay where the food and nesting materials were in abundance. The hours between now and Monday afternoon when the exterminator arrives are going to seem interminable! Hopefully we won’t have any more four pawed paper chewing visitors between now and then. From my mouth to God’s ear! All the bottom shelves of our lower cupboards have now been emptied. 

As a result of visitor number two, instead of doing hospital visitation in the afternoon we spent the time giving the basement a thorough going over but could find no )evidence of mice being down there either. We reset the main floor and basement traps and will see what we find between bedtime tonight and tomorrow morning. Sigh….two small mice, one huge disinfecting and baiting project. Blecch!

More Mice….Ugh!

We are less than impressed to have found another mouse trapped beside the refrigerator this morning. Drat! We were so hopeful after catching the first one yesterday that it was a case of “one and done”. Unfortunately not.

My dear husband decided to get his ladder and open the attic access from our hallway ceiling to see if there was any evidence of mice there. Nary a sign of them, but he put two baited traps up there and scattered fresh mouse bait pellets as well. (These are things I am so grateful he is knowledgeable about and capable of doing after growing up on a farm.) He searched the basement diligently and found no evidence of mouse activity or obvious entry point anywhere down there. Surely we couldn’t have had two mice in two days run inside right under our feet while entering or exiting our suite? It is puzzling. 

We will have to remain vigilant and also keep the under the stove drawer up on the kitchen counter now until the mouse issue is resolved. I don’t want to have to disinfect all that bake ware a third time! 

Tonight we will be at a dinner at church so the suite may be quiet and deserted enough to bring any more hidden mice to the traps. 🪤 Perhaps we will make another overnight capture, or while we are at church tomorrow. Looks like we may have to purchase more traps this weekend as the exterminator cannot come until Monday afternoon. Rarely having to deal with mice in my house until a few years ago I find it difficult to relax wondering when the next trap may be sprung on a new victim.

One huge relief here today is the weather! While Central and Southern AB suffered horrific winds, significant snowfall, freezing rain and slush, all we had was a bit of rainfall in the late evening and overnight that was mostly dried up by the gusty winds that continue to howl this morning. We have no ice to deal with thus far on our streets and sidewalks…looks like another few days of reprieve from true winter weather until mid week next week. Yay!