Month: August 2022

Two posts in one day, what’s the matter with me? I usually eke them out to tantalize and titillate. I had spent the day in Nanaimo doing chores so I was a little punchy.

Earlier in the week, I had a rare face-to-face visit with my doctor. (perhaps that was why I was a little punchy.) He said I was as healthy as a horse and smelt faintly of one so now I have to change my aftershave.

I had lots of time so he filled me in on what to expect as I grow older. One of the things that caught my attention was incontinence. He said that women have a problem with peeing while men have the same problem with pooping. Ah great, something else disgusting to look forward to along with deafness, cataract surgery, memory loss and ingrown toenails.

He told me that there were some treatments for men’s incontinence and one of those was botox shots. I thought this needed some thinking about as I wasn’t looking forward to it. Then it hit me that this might be fun after all. After the botox shots, every time I fart it would sound like a duck sneezing. That made me laugh and I asked if I could get it sooner rather than later. He declined saying I didn’t need it. I know I don’t need it but I still want it!

My imagination runs wild!

Old age is so much fun. We can go where we like when we like and do what we like. When I say ‘go’ I wasn’t meaning the incontinence thing. When we were on our road trip we could just take our time and saunter along, as long as we got back for my doctor’s appointment. Ah! life is good.

I mentioned that my granddaughter was about to have a baby, well she delivered our new great-granddaughter ‘Stevie’ on 18th August. Awesome!

The roof on the trailer is coming along slowly. Brad the contractor who is 72 arrives in the morning just after nine and he and his helper Clint, who is 69, start working. At about noon or 1:00, they quit for the day as the roof gets really hot. At this pace, we may or may not see the roof finished before we leave for Mexico. We’re all seniors so who really cares, they are doing a great job and we get to postpone paying him.

There was still a vibration in the front end of the car so I took it into Fountain Tire. They did a high-speed balancing test and found a few problems so I was happy. Once on the highway though the vibration was still there. When I went back for a re-torque one of their guys went with me on a road test and sure enough, he could feel the vibration too. So I have an appointment for another test. It’s getting expensive. So far the vibration has cost well over a thousand dollars and we still have to replace the windshield.

While the girls went shopping, Gordie took me to Kitimat to see the LNG plant. It’s huge! It’s the largest private project ever done in Canada. There are accommodations for ten thousand workers in three camps. They have a fleet of about eighty buses for moving everyone around. The pipe bringing the gas from Fort St John is 48” in diameter and when completed will take between 600 and 800 PSI. Now with the War in Ukraine, there are rumours that the site will get even bigger. 

There has been a lot of sitting around talking and of course too much drinking with Gordie and Giselle and various friends who dropped in.. We also had a great night out at a local Greek restaurant owned by a guy from India. 

The rest of the trip went by in a blur. We stayed with Gordie and Giselle for four days and then went to Vanderhoof, the home of Rosalie’s sister Delorie. It took us five hours to get there. The drive was great, only a few slow drivers so I didn’t have to jump up and down too much. Two more of Rosalie’s sisters, Suzanne and Marina, drove up from Prince George and we had a great visit with them. Being alone with four women was a lot of fun and we caught up with all the news.

That night we stayed with Rosalie’s aunt Betty in Prince George and again caught up with a lot of family news. I didn’t know most of the people they were talking about so Rosalie told me to go and read my book which I happily did. Next day we had lunch with Rosalie’s Uncle Lorne and his wife Ylanda. It was Lorne’s 80th Birthday.

The next stop was Horsefly to see some old friends, Ron and Eleanor. We stayed overnight and again did a lot of catching up. Another birthday as it was Ron’s 77th. My age but much younger.

At about this time I got an email from Jim saying that the crew framing our roof was making a complete mess of it and to get hold of Brad the contractor. Then I got an email from our neighbour Mary-Ellen saying that my hydroponics sounded as if the pump was running dry. I asked them to top it up and hoped that there were enough nutrients to keep the plants alive until I got home.

Kamloops was next and a visit with our good friend Maureen. The three of us spent a nice evening on the deck watching a thunderstorm go by. The following day we met Rosalie’s cousin Hubert and his wife Gloria, for a special lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

After lunch, we drove the Coquihala to Rosedale to see our daughter Lisa, her husband Peter, their very pregnant daughter Katelyn and her partner Max. It was only a short visit and we will go back after the baby’s born.

At 6 am we left for the ferry and caught the 8:45 for Nanaimo and so to home. In all, the drive covered 2,300 km.

At home, the hydroponics were fine but there was a small leak and the water was getting low. I took care of that and was amazed at how much the plants had grown in ten days.

At the trailer, all was not well. The crew who did our roof total hashed it up. they built a wall along each side of the roof and one side was 3 inches higher than the other. Everything was wrong. As soon as Brad came by he fired the lot of them. Brad and his helper took off the whole thing and started again so now it’s looking a lot better. It gets so hot up there that they have to quit at about 1 o’clock so it will take a while to get completed.

Okay, the blog’s working, here we go. Better late than never. The comments are also working again so you may continue to criticize every little thing I print.

The journey to Prince Rupert from Port Hardy and all places south of there started on 1^st Aug. The trip started an hour early, 9:00 am instead of the planned 10:00 am, so we took a leisurely drive for our first stop in Campbell River for lunch. Just outside of Cumberland I realized that I had left my camera behind. As this was a special trip, I decided to go back and get it so we actually left on time after all.

There was an overnight stop in Port Hardy so we had booked a hotel. Fortunately, some new friends live there and invited us for the night. We were joined by another couple and everyone went to the pub for happy hour and dinner. Needless to say, a good time was had and I ended up with a bit of a hangover. A great start to our holiday.

Our ferry left at 7:30 and we had to be in the lineup before six. The check-in process took a while but we finally got aboard. A cabin had been booked for the day although I’m sure I didn’t ask for one. It was fine though as there was a TV as well as a bathroom with a shower, neither of which we used. 

There were also two lounge chairs booked which hadn’t been asked for but I guess, when ordering, I inadvertently booked the whole deal. They were nice though, they reclined and had kick-outs so you could put your feet up. Rosalie even had one of her famous naps there.

The ferry left on time and within 15 minutes they were making announcements about orca sightings. Our lounge chairs were in the bow of the boat in a lounge only accessible with our room cards. (oh, we’re so special.) There were floor-to-ceiling windows right in front of us so we had a great view of all the goings on. 

The ferry arrived in Bella Bella about noon and after unloading and reloading, left to complete our journey. While there we watched the eagles in the trees. We were sitting next to a family visiting from Kent, my home county, and they were loving every minute. 

The weather was very overcast and dreary but we still enjoyed the journey. I friend had loaned us a pair of binoculars. There were a few sighting of whales and eagles but alas no enemy submarines. I also didn’t get any real opportunities for photos. It was getting a bit boring so we took a few naps and spent a lot of time in our cabin toward the end of the trip. As I was going to have to drive in the dark for an hour and a half, I managed to sleep for a while before we disembarked. 

The boat arrived on time and we set up the GPS for Terrace. The road had many twists and turns and it was misty and foggy and hard to see. I drove at what I thought was a safe speed and we arrived at 1:30 am. There was some catching up to do so we eventually closed it down at 4 am.

As you may have noticed, Or perhaps if you don’t read this, you haven’t, I have been offline for a while. Technology again. (Well, me really.)

I got a reminder from WordPress that I needed to renew. I ignored it because I have my site hosted by BlueHost. I was wrong and my site stopped working. I contacted BlueHost and they referred me to GoDaddy as my domain was with them. Now I’m starting to get confused.

I contacted GoDaddy by online chat. They have always been great but this time I got a total idiot. After going back and forth for about an hour they directed me to a recovery site. I uploaded all my information, including a copy of my driver’s licence, and waited.

I’m trying to stay positive and grin through it all.

Finally, a week later, I received an email linking to my account on GoDaddy’s site. Finally, I was connected to someone who knew what they were doing and after another hour of going back and forth my site is up again. (I can hear the groans from here.)

I have a lot of catching up to do so hang tight.