October 10 to 14, 2024 ; Daniel’s 70th birthday, our 50th wedding anniversary, Canadian Thanksgiving

Thursday, October 10, 2024 ; Daniel’s 70^th birthday

This morning I had my annual consultation with my gastroenterologist, by telephone this year, arranged by him, to discuss / review the status of my ulcerative colitis / inflammatory bowel disease over the preceeding year, and to discuss and schedule my next colonoscopy (July 2025).

My birthday gift to myself was to fulfill a lifetime dream of having an “introduction to aerobatics” training flight. My original intent was to fly with Steinbach based Luke Penner in his extremely fast Extra 300L aerobatics aircraft. But after watching both him and Dan Reeves perform at the Manitoba Airshow in Portage La Prairie a couple of months ago I decided to fly with Dan Reeves Airshows in his Bellanca Super Decathlon airplane. It is slower, and more “graceful” than Mr. Penner’s very high speed airplane.

So around lunchtime I headed out to St. Andrews Airport where Mr. Reeves and his Bellanca Super Decathlon C-FZGI (call sign “Zulu Golf India” or ZIGGY) are based. My ab initio private pilot’s flight training was at St. Andrews airport about forty years ago. The small airport has grown and changed so much in forty years that it was hard for me to recognize any of it.

Mr. Reeves had assigned one of his aerobatics instructors (Joel) to take me flying today. Joel was a former Canadian Forces CF-18 fighter jet pilot, followed by commercial helicopter pilot in British Columbia, now an aerobatics flight instructor at Mr. Reeves’ flight school, Winnipeg Aviation at St. Andrews Airport just north of Winnipeg.

Joel gave me a pre-flight briefing in the clubhouse on what we would be doing, then took me out to ZIGGY and “strapped me in”. I had never before been (tightly !) strapped into an aircraft using a five point harness, necessary for aerobatics flight. And I certainly had never before worn an aviation communications headset with chin straps to keep it on my head while flying inverted during aerobatics maneuvers !

Joel handled the take-off and landing because I have no experience / training in taking off and landing in a “taildragger” aircraft, with tail wheel at the back end of the airplane. All of my flying experience has been on tricycle gear (with nose wheel) aircraft. But a few seconds after take-off Joel “handed control” of the aircraft to me to fly to the aerobatics training area north of the town of Garson. It was to give me the thrill of flying for the first time in seven years (since my cardiac triple bypass surgery) and for him to assess my flying skills, which we both assessed as still very good !

St. Andrews Air Traffic Control cleared us to “Cloverleaf Departure Route” (over the junction of Highways 59 and 44) and climb to 4000 feet over the aerobatics training area just north of the town of Garson.

Once over the “practice area” Joel began a “normal” flight lesson, demonstrating each maneuver to me, then handing aircraft control to me and “coaching” me through repetitive iterations to “get it right”. We started with “warm-up” maneuvers that I needed neither demonstration nor instruction to perform ; steep turns, stable slow flight, very slow flight leading into aerodynamic stall and recovery, aerodynamic stalls leading into incipient flat spins and recovery (200 feet altitude loss … pretty darn good for an old guy), etc.

First truly aerobatics maneuver was very steep 180° turns (wings banked at ninety degrees, not possible to do in Cessna 172’s). Joel demonstrated, then I did it a few times in each direction. OOOOOFFFFF … G forces ! Then … barrel rolls. OOOOOFFFFF … more G forces !

We continued aerobatics flight training for about forty-five minutes ! Until I began to feel really ill ; nauseous and dizzy. Doing slow barrel rolls and flying inverted (upside down) really did it to me ! I asked Joel for a break so that I could shake off the nausea and dizziness. I flew gently for a few minutes, until above the town of Beausejour. My nausea and dizziness would not subside ! I told Joel that I had had enough of aerobatics, with a few more maneuvers still left go (such as “loops”, not to be confused with “rolls”, and hammerhead stalls with spin turns, a “dead end valley” life saving bizarre maneuver that I have actually done multiple times in a Cessna 172 while taking the “Mountain Performance Flying” course in 2009 in BC’s Okanagan region where we lived for many years).

<sigh> Lots of fun, but sickening !

I flew the airplane from Beausejour to the village of Dugald, where I did some steep turns above and around our Dugald Estates condo building, while Joel took some photos for me using his phone. I was reluctant to disconnect my five point harness to dig my own phone out of my pants pocket for fear that I would puke while trying to do that ! HA HA HA ! I flew back to St. Andrews Airport where Joel took control of the aircraft for landing, demonstrating the Super Decathlon’s amazing rapid descent capability using a very aggressive side slip maneuver, dropping down “sideways” the last few hundred feet of altitude almost vertically to the runway threshold. Oh, joy … just what my tummy wanted. A 500 foot “elevator drop” with wings banked at a steep angle !

We landed, taxied back to Winnipeg Aviation’s hangar, extricated ourselves out of ZIGGY and … <blink blink> … I discovered that I could barely walk. In addition to being nauseous and dizzy, my legs felt like rubber, and were wobbly. My vision was impaired, I had mild tunnel vision, lacking normal peripheral vision, and the world was sort of “black and white”, like sepia toned. <wobble wobble>

I met Dan Reeves while I was paying my bill … <blink blink> … YIKES … then left to return home. I felt “impaired” while driving home to Dugald, as if I was driving drunk. Upon arrival back at home, I explained the whole experience to Joanne while I sipped on a glass of water. I was still feeling ill, so took a late afternoon nap. I felt much better after napping for an hour.

I walked Apollo and Gracie (neighbour’s dog), then Joanne prepared a birthday meal of my favourites ; Caesar salad, then spaghetti with meat sauce (my Mom’s recipe). I deferred having any Black Forest Cherry Torte birthday cake until bedtime. Thank you, my love !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !

Friday, October 11 ; Dugald to Victoria Beach

Today was sunny and mild.

After lunch we finished our packing and preparations for departure, and left home around 1:30 PM heading for Victoria Beach on Lake Winnipeg, where we had rented a cabin for the weekend, mostly to have peace and quiet and privacy to celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary tomorrow.

We headed north on Hwy. 206, through Oakbank, past Birds Hill Park, turned west on Hwy. 44 for a very short distance to Hwy. 59, then continued north on Hwy. 59 to the East Beaches (of Lake Winnipeg) area. We dawdled, exploring each of the East Beaches as we drove past them ; Patricia Beach, Beaconia, Grand Marais, Grand Beach, and finally to Victoria Beach to our rental cabin, arriving around 4 PM.

We made ourselves comfortable in this lovely cabin, equipped with a wood burning stove, a hot tub on the wraparound deck, and a large screened porch / sunroom. Apollo and I napped briefly while Joanne brought our stuff from the car into the cabin, then we all went for a walk through the woods behind the cabin, on trails that I think are winter cross country ski trails.

We don’t know if Apollo has had any “travel adventures”, and we were a bit anxious about how he will behave / perceive being away from home, particularly since we will be away from home, on “travel adventure” for the entire winter. He was great. He thought exploring beach area after beach area was great, then he thought exploring a temporary home in the cabin was great, then he thought hiking in the woods was great, etc. Looks like he’ll be a good traveller, and great adventurer.

While Joanne prepared supper I got online and tuned in CJOB to listen to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers game against the Toronto Argonauts. <sigh> The Bombers lost ! After supper I lit a fire in the woodstove, and while Joanne read the newspaper I worked on processing yesterday’s aerobatics flight photos. They’re GREAT photos in my opinion. Some were taken by me using our i-Phone, and some were taken by my instructor on his phone while I flew the airplane over our condo in Dugald and tried not to puke ! Joel (the instructor) took a photo of me flying. I used my photo software to turn my face color from green to pink. HA HA HA HA HA !

After the Bombers game was over we went outside to soak in the hot tub for awhile before bed. Apollo sat on a chair beside the hot tub and seemed to be wondering what we were doing in that “bathtub” with the strong chlorine smell. We finished the evening with hot chocolate and birthday cake.

Saturday, October 12 ; our 50^th wedding anniversary

As I said in an e-mail a couple of days ago to Shirley, our friend since high school, and Joanne’s Maid Of Honour, when she sent us a congratulatory message … “Fifty years ! Long time ! Lots of joy ! Lots of struggles” along the way to this milestone.

Joanne, I loved you then, I love you now, I’ll love you always.

We began our relationship in early 1972, while on a high school trip by bus to visit Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. WHEW … lots of hormones at 17 years of age ! I think we got engaged sometime late in 1973, but … <snicker> … my memory of most of 1973 is a little … <ahem> … hazy ! HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA ! We got married on October 12, 1974, a secular ceremony in the basement recreation room of my sister’s and brother-in-law’s first home, a new home in a new suburb area of St. Vital.

Our wedding reception ceremony that evening was in the Sokol Polish Hall on Marion Street, with live music by Stan Kaskiw & The Polka Drifters ! <shrug>

Our honeymoon was a road trip (the first of many such adventures) to the Canadian Rockies national parks in Alberta ; Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper. We indulged ourselves with a stay at the magnificent Banff Springs Hotel. We couldn’t really afford it at that time. That’s possibly still true today ! HA HA HA !

Today was overcast, cool, rain starting around noon.

This morning we took Apollo for a long leisurely walk, then drove to the nearby community centre to browse their fall craft sale. I bought a Remembrance Day poppy brooch from a jewelery maker. And a box of cookies from a Girl Guide. We drove around exploring the village of Victoria Beach, ending up at the pier where we went for a walk to see how the many fishermen were doing. Lots of perch, a few pickerel / walleye. We drove to the local artisan bakery and bought a loaf of whole wheat bread as it was coming out of the oven.

Back at the cabin, while Joanne prepared lunch I lit a fire in the woodstove. AHHH … very cozy afternoon ! Apollo and I napped after lunch, then at 4 PM … 50 years to the minute after our wedding … Joanne and I sat together on the sofa and reminisced through our wedding photo album, the first time we’ve looked at it since … well … fifty years ago, I guess ! We had not remembered that inside our wedding photo album was a transcript of our wedding ceremony. Looking back, what a profound and prophetic ceremony conducted by our secular marriage commissioner.

Here are the things that I had forgotten about that day ;

• how beautiful my mother-in-law was.

• how beautiful Joanne was (and still is).

• how young and small (10 y.o.) Joanne’s sister was.

• how old my father looked (49 y.o.)

• how long my sideburns were. Joanne’s comments today were that they were almost a beard. <doing my baritone Elvis impersonation> Thankyou … thankyouverymuch !

• how often there was a cigarette dangling from my lips !

At dusk, around 6:30 PM, the rain stopped and we took Apollo for his suppertime walk. BRRR … chilly ! We returned to a warm, cozy cabin because I had kept the woodstove burning all afternoon. Shortly after 7 PM a pack of wolves began howling nearby. Spooky !

After dinner, as Joanne and I cuddled on the sofa with Apollo, and continued to pontificate about fifty years of marriage, she commented that reaching our 50^th anniversary was due to staying together and staying alive, both of which were uncertain at times.

Sunday, October 13

Sunny, cool, windy. We slept late this morning. I got up first and made breakfast, as usual.

We took Apollo for a long, leisurely morning walk. We had an early leisurely lunch. After lunch we drove south to Grand Beach to explore. Joanne wanted to find the beach boardwalk and her uncle’s cottage that she remembered from her childhood. I thought that as long as we were doing that I might as well search for my aunt’s cottage that I remembered from my childhood. We found the boardwalk, although it has been rebuilt at some point since Joanne’s memory of it about 65 years ago. Joanne went for a walk exploring along the rebuilt boardwalk, now actually a wide concrete walkway, like malecons in Mexico. It was too cold and windy for me and Apollo. We went for a walk inland along a trail and through a large park. Afterwards we drove through the village of cottages. I think I found my aunt’s street and block, but there has been such extensive remodelling and reconstruction over the last 65 years that I was unable to identify her cottage. The same was true of Joanne’s uncle’s cottage. She wasn’t even able to identify the street and block with any certainty.

We returned to Victoria Beach and our rental cabin about 4:30 PM. I napped briefly, then we took Apollo for another long walk. As afternoon turned to dusk it became quite cold again. I lit another fire in the woodstove, and kept it going until bedtime.

Joanne and I played checkers while we ate dinner. Neither of us had played checkers in over 60 years. It seems as if her checker playing skills have apparently not improved with age. HA HA HA !

Around 10 PM we prepared for a final soak in the cabin’s outdoor hot tub. <sigh> The temperature was at 86°, about the temperature of a swimming pool. When we used the hot tub Friday night I was poking at buttons trying to reset the hot tub’s temperature from its setting of 101°, to the maximum temperature of 104°, more to my liking. Obviously … I failed “hot tub temperature setting” ! It seems that I had adjusted the temperature setting to 104°, then inadvertently turned off the heater. DARN ! No hot tubbing tonight ! HMPH ! At the ripe old age of seventy I have acquired the skills to not only fly an airplane, but to fly it upside down, yet I can’t adjust the temperature of a hot tub !

Monday, October 14 ; Thanksgiving

Sunny and cold !

We packed up this morning and left the rental cabin at 10:40 AM. We decided to take a “scenic route” home, driving a large “loop” from Victoria Beach to Pine Falls (WOO-HOO … cheap rez gas on the Sagkeeng Reserve !) to Lac du Bonnet to Beausejour to Dugald. We arrived home around 1:15 PM.

We had lunch, then Apollo and I napped while Joanne brought our weekend stuff up from the car in the parkade and unpacked.

Joanne prepared a roast leg of lamb for our Thanksgiving dinner.

As always, I’m thankful for Joanne’s survival of cancer (twice) and my survival of cardiac triple bypass surgery.

DSK

70th birthday aerobatic flight photos

 

WELCOME TO APOLLO

Saturday, May 18, 2024 ; Our neighbour Patti is moving out of Dugald Estates this Victoria Day long weekend, and relocating to a small community near Edmonton, Alberta, to live with her son and daughter-in-law. To facilitate her move-out we are dog sitting her two dogs this weekend ; Peeta, the 12 ½ year old black Labrador, and Apollo, the 12 ½ year old Miniature Schnauzer.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances, she can only take one of the dogs with her. So … as we have known since last fall was a very slight possibility, and have known since early in January was a certainty … Patti will take Peeta with her and will need to leave Apollo behind. With us !

We are thrilled to welcome Apollo to our home. It has been over three years since we’ve had a pet, and we are more than ready to have Apollo become part of our family.

Today (Saturday) and tomorrow Patti will be packing and loading, with the assistance of her Alberta son who is flying in this afternoon.

Peeta and Apollo came over to our suite at noon today. We cared for them for two weeks last summer when Patti was away on vacation, and we have visited with them frequently, so they are both comfortable with us. Since we returned a month and a half ago from our winter in Mexico Apollo has been over for a few “sleepovers”, to help him become accustomed to living with us. He even spent an overnight here while we were fostering Tigger the fat cat. She was not thrilled with his presence, but everybody survived.

The afternoon was uneventful. In the evening Peeta became restless and stressed. He’s aware that “something is afoot” because Patti has been packing for the move for awhile already. And Peeta is “concerned” whenever he is away from Patti. So … I brushed him. That calmed him a lot. Fortunately Apollo does not suffer the same “concerns” and stress. He happily comes to live with us. He happily returns to Patti. I hope that holds true once Patti and Peeta are both gone in a couple of days.

Sunday, May 19 ; We had a bit of a rough night. The dogs are on a different schedule than Joanne and me. They were ready for sleep last night before we were. That’s not a problem. But … they were ready to get up long before us. Especially Peeta who wanted to go outside to relieve himself at 5 AM. Then he wanted breakfast at 6 AM. Then Apollo wanted to go out at 6:30 AM. Then they both wanted the day to really get started before 9 AM. Apollo wanted breakfast. Peeta wanted MORE breakfast. Hey … he’s a lab ! Then they both wanted their long morning walk. <sigh> OK !

As we returned from their long morning walk Patti and her son were just arriving back home from picking up their rented U-Haul trailer. Peeta and Apollo “said hello” to them, then surprisingly to us, happily returned to our suite without showing signs of stress from leaving Patti again.

We had a pleasant afternoon, working on chores, enjoying the fine weather. Apollo followed one or both of us around like a little sidekick. Peeta moped around feeling sorry for himself, worrying that maybe Patti was abandoning him. Late in the afternoon we went for another long walk, our farewell walk with Peeta.

Shortly after 8 PM Patti showed up to retrieve Peeta, and say farewell to us … and Apollo. She will be leaving early tomorrow morning, before we are awake. I quickly took Apollo outside for a walk, leaving Joanne to say goodbye to Patti and Peeta, and to help Patti take Peeta and his stuff back to her suite for their last night here.

When I returned to our suite with Apollo, to our surprise, his spirits immediately sunk very low. It seemed as if he finally realized he was being abandoned by Patti and Peeta. Poor, sweet, little fellow. We had not expected this. He is usually such a cheerful little fellow, we never anticipated he would “crash” like that. We spent the rest of the evening trying to console him and make him feel better. We didn’t really succeed.

Monday, May 20 ; Well … upon arising this morning, Apollo is “officially” ours. Welcome home, sweet little boy ! We promise to take very good care of you. We will lovingly help you to adapt to your new reality.

His spirit was improved this morning, although he was still uncharacteristically subdued. And he was disinterested in eating. I have been eager to try adding some yogurt into his diet for its probiotic value. Apollo has previously had some intestinal (pancreatic ?) issues. I added some yogurt to his food this morning, and it did entice him to eat a bit, but not much.

Once Joanne was out of bed (Apollo and I were up before her) his spirit improved even more, and he initiated play with one of his favourite squeaky toys. We took that as a good sign that he will soon bounce back to his normal, high-spirited self.

Right after lunch we left to run some errands in Winnipeg, and to visit Joanne’s sister to introduce Apollo. We have kept our “adoption” of Apollo a secret until today. Yes, yes … Joanne’s sister was surprised ! While we visited with Lorraine in her backyard, Apollo explored the yard. It was a great outing. The car ride, visiting, and exploring all lifted Apollo’s spirits immensely.

After visiting with Lorraine we drove to a garden centre in South St. Vital to buy vegetable seeds and plants. We will be planting a vegetable garden in a few days. We left Apollo in the car, parked in the shade, with partially open windows while we shopped. We want him to accept that practice, and behave well when we leave him in the car briefly.

We might have a way to go with that. While we shopped we could hear him barking in the car. Hopefully we can modify that behaviour over time.

This evening at home he seemed quite tired. I suppose it was both an exciting and stressful first day for him with us.

Good boy, Apollo !

Tuesday, May 20 ; Another big day for Apollo ! This morning we took our neighbour Glennis’s small puppy for a walk with us, which we have offered to Glennis to start doing on a daily basis. Glennis acquired Gracie last fall at the age of two months, so Gracie is about ten months old now. And … is quite a handful for Glennis, who is … well … elderly.

Gracie benefited greatly from having a long walk. It allowed her to exercise off a lot of excess energy. Glennis can’t take Gracie for walks. Today Gracie began to learn to “pack walk”, an exercise that we have always considered a very important part of a dog’s social development. And it allowed Apollo to exercise some of his “alpha dog” dominant tendencies, acting as a mentor for Gracie. Win, win !

Joanne went to run errands all afternoon. Apollo and I gardened. I took him with me to our community’s garden plot area, and I worked on preparing our assigned garden plot, which is seven feet by twenty feet. It was already covered in weeds, testament to the fertility of this area’s soil. I weeded it, measured it, roped it off, and marked it with stakes every eighteen inches, to define my planting rows. I worked on the garden for at least a couple of hours. The entire time Apollo sat nearby, watching the world go by, visiting with our neighbours / condo residents as they happened by. Twice I left him sitting alone in the garden while I returned to our suite for a few minutes to get stuff I needed. He sat patiently and attentively waiting for me to return.

Good boy, Apollo !

Wednesday, May 21 ; And yet another big day for Apollo. And again he was a very good boy ! And … we tired him out … again.

Immediately after lunch we all loaded into the minivan and headed into the city to run errands, mostly shopping for Apollo stuff. First we picked up a home fire extinguisher that I had sent in for inspection and refurbishment / refilling. Then we headed to PetsMart where we shopped for way too long for supplies for Apollo ; a new harness, a raincoat, biscuits, ear cleaner, and styptic powder. Selecting the right brand and size of harness, then raincoat, took way too long. Sorry, Apollo ! But he was patient, and very well behaved.

As an aside … I was thrilled to buy Apollo a bag of Northern Biscuits. I feel a “connection” to the genesis of Northern Biscuits. Shortly after we began our first (of four) pet food & supply retail stores in Ottawa, in 1990, we were approached by a young married couple from Toronto about our age with a request to “test market” their new “all natural” dog biscuit product. They had a few stores in Toronto trying out their home made product, and on a trip to Ottawa one weekend approached me with a request to be the first store in the Ottawa region to give their biscuits a try. I struck a hard bargain with Nick on a Friday evening for a case of biscuits “on consignment’, with no payment until they were ready to head back to Toronto on Sunday afternoon. No payment on Friday, payment on Sunday only for what I could sell between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Well … shit … I sold the entire case by Sunday afternoon, and people were already returning to buy more ! On Sunday afternoon I paid Nick for the first case, and ordered more to be shipped ASAP ! Eventually Joanne and I became very successful in our pet food & supply retail stores, and obviously so did Nick and Patty with their Northern Biscuit line of all natural dog biscuit products. They’re still going strong. Congratulations, Nick and Patty of Northern Biscuits !

Next store was PET VALU, the chain of stores in which we were franchisees. They certainly have evolved over the last 34 years ! And their stores and staff still have excellent pet food knowledge. We were very impressed with the young woman who served us at the Reenders location. She helped us select a new pet food for Apollo, a Canadian made, limited ingredient, prebiotic and probiotic loaded sensitive stomach and gut formulation. And we purchased some treats in the same product line. Thank you for the PET VALU gift certificate, Patti. We put it to good use.

While Joanne went into Sobey’s for a few grocery items I took Apollo for a walk around the perimeter of the mall parking lot. We refilled the minivan with fuel at Superstore, then headed home to Dugald.

Again … Good boy, Apollo !

Thursday, May 22 ; A nice weather day. I spent the entire afternoon working on preparing and planting our garden plot. Apollo once again joined me as my garden sidekick, sitting or lying contentedly in the garden watching the world go by, occasionally visiting with neighbours.

We are now taking our neighbour Glennis’s ten month old puppy Gracie with us on our twice daily exercise / dog walks. Apollo likes to lead, Gracie likes to follow, he’s a good mentor, she’s a good student. She’s beginning to figure out that our walks have a purpose, and she needn’t rely on her indoor “puppy pads” exclusively. Valuable lesson to learn !

Friday, May 23 ; A terrible weather day, cold and raining. After our somewhat miserable noon time walk two of our neighbours, Nina and Gail, met us coming back indoors with two wet, cold dogs, and accepted our invitation to come into our suite for cookies and tea. Apollo enjoyed visiting !

After their visit we left Apollo alone in our suite for the first time in the week that we’ve had him, while we went to Winnipeg Humane Society to pick up our new foster cat Snooki, who will be with us until June 17. She is being “tested” on a new to her hypoallergenic diet to see if it will reduce her food allergies, and to await dental surgery on June 18.

<whispering> We saw Tigger in the cat adoption wing.

When we returned home after a 2 ½ hour absence one of our neighbours commented that Apollo made a bit of noise during our absence. <shrug> Get over it ! We have to endure sharing a condo community with some of your annoying peculiarities … it’s a two way street !  Apollo has been through a traumatic experience of “abandonment” less than a week ago, he’s still adjusting, overall his behaviour is excellent… yeah, get over it !

Snooki will live in our office / spare bedroom, with the door closed most of the time, we think. When I left the door open, with a baby gate installed, Apollo stared at her for awhile, then barked once. As he did with Tigger a few weeks ago. Same as with Tigger, Snooki did not really appreciate being barked at, so the door to the office will remain closed most of the time.

Saturday, May 24 ; What a miserable weather day ! Cold, windy, raining ! Good practice for us spending next winter on Vancouver Island, I suppose.

We took Apollo and Gracie (neighbour’s puppy) on a morning walk. Miserable ! We took them again on an afternoon walk. A bit less miserable, but still … !

We began to trim Apollo’s nails this afternoon. We didn’t get very far ! I hit the quick (blood filled nerve) on two out of three nails I cut ! ! ! That hurts like hell ! ! ! And bleeds ! Good thing we waited to do this until we bought styptic powder (to stop the bleeding) a few days ago. I’m very sorry, Apollo. I quit after hitting the quick on both the second and third nails I cut. Obviously his nails aren’t as long as I thought they were, or … his quicks extend very far down the length of the nails. <sigh> He has black nails so it’s impossible to see the quick.

Good thing Apollo is so forgiving !

He vomited his meal today. And … <sputter> … so did Snooki (the foster cat). <sigh> Remind me again how much I’ve missed having pets ? ! ?

DSK

March 31 to April 6, 2024 ; Oaxaca (city), Oaxaca (state), Mexico to Dugald, Manitoba, Canada

 Easter Sunday ; Sunny and hot, 95° F / 35° C at 3:30 PM.

Joanne continues to feel ill, but slowly improved throughout the day. She declined to participate in our morning exercises routine, or noon time exercise walk, but felt well enough to join me on a slow walk around the neighbourhood at 6:30 PM.

I went for a walk by myself before lunch. As I walked by Mercado de La Noria, expecting it to be closed due to Easter … it was filled with people and noise. A real “happenin’ place”. The small food court was filled to overflowing with loud, boisterous family groups, enjoying Easter brunch, I surmise. Dressed to the nines in their “go to church on Easter” finest. Although … here in Mexico … there is a very fine line between “go to church on Easter” finest clothing, and … <cough cough> … “porn film shoot” finest clothing. HA HA HA ! The local women must watch too much telenovelas.

On impulse I decided to buy a few items to provide lunch provisions for our remaining few days. I bought five eggs (sold individually for three pesos / twenty-five cents each), a couple bolillos / sandwich buns, and an aquacate (agwaKAtay) / avocado (ten pesos / 82¢). Mi amigo perro Lucho was not at work today. <sigh>

On our late walk, at the end of our block, at 6:30 PM, was … a horseshoe arrangement of perhaps fifty chairs, blocking the entire street, covered by a sun tent, the kind that flea market or farmers’ market vendors might use. <blink blink> HUH ? The building at the corner has shown no life during our three month stay here. BUT … tonight, the doors and windows were open as we walked by beside the sun tent and chairs. One large room looked like it was a commercial kitchen. The other large room was filled with large Easter floral arrangements, and lit religious candles. <blink blink> HUH ?

Large family Easter dinner ? Impromptu Easter twilight church service, with flowers, candles, and appies ? Holy Roller revival meeting ? ? ? Beware of the Kool-Aid !

There truly seems to be no municipal regulations / restrictions of any sort here. Want to block the street with a sun tent and fifty chairs ? No problem ! Anything goes !

During and after supper we watched yesterday’s episode of Saturday Night Live.

HMPH ! Just had an earthquake (at 10:35 PM) ! ! ! Well … THAT was kind of interesting !

Monday ; Sunny and hot, 91° F / 33° C at 5 PM.

Joanne is almost healthy. Should be good to go on Wednesday. I had a somewhat frustrating, but productive day, taking care of “return home” chores and more.

Perhaps the most important achievement of the day was … <insert drum roll here> … I secured a reservation for two months next winter at Xanadu Estate in Cobble Hill, a small seaside village on Vancouver Island, halfway between Victoria and Nanaimo (see www.xanaduestate.ca).

I verified that our automobile insurance will be reinstated upon our return home. I verified that some work that needs to be done in our Dugald Estates suite a week after our return will be done. I left a message and am expecting a return call from the Winnipeg Humane Society volunteer/foster team. I left a message and am expecting a return call from an apartment hotel in downtown Victoria regarding a reservation for next winter season. I paid some difficult to pay bills online. Long story … online banking drama ! Required two phone calls to Montreal for assistance by technical support agents. I filled out and submitted our ArriveCan forms. I worked out check-out details with our landlord here. And finally … at 6 PM we walked to Lavanderia Cancer to pick up our laundry which has been there since noon last Thursday. <sigh> Not ready ! Not surprised ! ! ! <sigh> Guess we know where our morning walk tomorrow will take us ! ! !

During and following supper we watched last week’s episode of Survivor.

Tuesday ; Sunny and hot, again 95° F / 35° C at 5 PM, on our final day in Mexico.

GOOD NEWS ; Joanne’s gastro-intestinal distress is over !

BAD NEWS ; She now has a cold … again ! <sigh >

We just can’t seem to catch a health break this winter in Mexico !

Around noon we walked to Lavanderia Cancer to pick up our washed laundry. WOO-HOO … finally ! Clean underwear ! By the time we had walked half way to the lavanderia Joanne was complaining about the heat. I suggested that she return home and I would continue on to the lavanderia. She declined my suggestion. <sigh> We picked up the laundry and walked home. I left her at home to sort and pack our clean laundry … except for some clean underwear … and I walked to OXXO to buy cold medication and lozenges to ease her discomfort today and especially on tomorrow’s long (about 18 hours) journey home. Oh, joy … ANOTHER long trip home with a sicko … just like last year ! <sarcasm>

After lunch Joanne slowly prepared and packed for departure early tomorrow morning. I tried to achieve as much as I could online and on the phone prior to leaving. Once we’re home the “at home” priorities will prevail. My main achievement of the day was securing a “long term winter stay” reservation for a suite at our chosen apartment hotel in downtown Victoria, BC for next December and January. WOO-HOO ! I now have the accommodations for the entire winter on Vancouver Island arranged. Well done, Daniel !

I confirmed the reactivation of our home TV and internet service tomorrow. I secured a meeting in a week at the Winnipeg Humane Society to complete our new volunteer / foster paperwork, and … <insert drum roll here> … be assigned our first foster animal, probably a senior cat. I arranged for another replacement water flosser to be sent to our home in Canada. Remember ? The first one lasted about two months. The second one lasted about a week and a half ! Maybe third time’s the charm ? Probably not !

I tried repeatedly to “check-in” for our flights tomorrow, but the Delta online check-in system would not allow that. Perhaps it’s not possible to check in online for flights that start in one country, fly from point A to point B within that country, then fly to a second country, then to a third country ? Oh, joy … just what I needed / wanted … airline drama ! Memories of WestJet ! ! ! <more sarcasm>

Joanne was responsible for managing our food, so that we would have little to no food left when we leave here tomorrow morning. She did an excellent job. I was responsible for managing our cash, so that we would have little to no Mexican money left when we leave Mexico tomorrow. I also did an excellent job. After paying our restaurant bill tonight, I have 300 pesos ($24.59) left for the taxi ride to the airport early tomorrow morning, and 500 pesos ($40.98) left for lunch in the Mexico City airport tomorrow.

At 7 PM we went out for our “farewell to Mexico” dinner at Oscuro Brebaje, the local upscale restaurant where I ordered a custom made birthday cake for Joanne, and where we went once for Sunday brunch. Tonight’s dinner was excellent. And Joanne wanted to share a piece of their pineapple pie, but … after dinner we were too full. We ordered the pie anyway, and asked for it “para llevar” (yayVAR) / to go. We might have it as a bedtime snack tonight, or more likely as breakfast at the Oaxaca airport tomorrow morning.

Wednesday ; Oaxaca to Mexico City, Mexico to Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, to Dugald, Manitoba, Canada

Sunny and hot in Oaxaca and Mexico City. Not so much in Minneapolis and Winnipeg / Dugald !

Awoke at 5 AM. Left apartment at 6:50 AM, pre-arranged taxi waiting. Arrived Oaxaca airport at 7:15 AM. Waited in long line to check in at AeroMexico counter … at 8 AM. HMPH … forgot that our Delta Airlines tickets did not include luggage charge. Had to pay 1000 pesos / US$60 / CA$82 for 2 pieces of luggage. Through security at 8:15 AM. Boarding at 8:45 AM. Wheels up on time at 9 AM.

Landed on time in Mexico City at 10 AM. HMPH … fifteen minutes of taxiing and waiting for available jetway. Not off aircraft until 10:30 AM. Walked and walked and walked about halfway to next gate, then found place near sandwich restaurant … City Baguette, Mexican version of Subway … to sit and rest. Both of us falling asleep ! Slept poorly last night … again. Insomnia for me, coughing for her !

Around noon, I bought a small container of milk for me and a small container of chocolate milk for Joanne at a clone of the 7-11 convenience store chain, then a sandwich at a chaotic Mexican clone of the Subway sandwich chain, and we had lunch. We found our way to our departure gate, then each of us went to the restroom and changed from shorts to long pants. I went to a money exchange booth and converted my remaining pesos to … < rolling my eyes> … forty dollars Canadian and two dollars American, with five pesos left over. <sigh> Looks like I now have a five peso coin as a souvenir. HA HA HA !

At 1:30 PM we boarded our Delta flight to Minneapolis. We were wheels up fifteen minutes late, at 2:15 PM. We landed in Minneapolis thirty minutes early at 7 PM. However … <fume> … because we were thirty minutes early, we sat at the jetway for twenty minutes waiting … <fume> … for a “jetway agent” to show up and position the jetway so that the aircraft door could be opened.

AND … <sputter> … just to remind me of the magnitude of my contempt for the United States’ Customs & Border Patrol agency … <sputter sputter> … and their incessant “make work for ourselves” … Canadians landing at Minneapolis simply to make a connecting flight are required to “clear customs”, then retrieve their luggage, simply to walk it over a few feet to have it checked in again and sent to the connecting flight ! ! ! Ostensibly … <sputter> … just in case the CBP agent decides that the luggage should be “examined”. Examined ? ? ? ! ! ! ? ? ? Neither we Canadian connecting passengers, nor our luggage is really “entering” your shithole of a nation, you assholes ! ! !

<taking a deep breath> And we’re not finished yet ! ! ! After retrieving our luggage, and re-checking it in again a few feet later, we had to go through security again. Despite never having left the “secure” boarding gate area of the airport. Including … <sputter> … taking off our shoes, and … <more sputtering> … I had to go through a full body scanner because I “have metal in my body”. My sternum has been sawed in half for cardiac bypass surgery, then the two halves were “re-connected” using a series of titanium clips and wires.

That whole Customs & Border Patrol bullshit took forty-five minutes ! ! ! It took us another forty-five minutes to walk all the way through Minneapolis Airport’s Terminal 2, through a long series of covered walkways to and all the way through Terminal 1 to our connecting flight’s departure gate. WHEW ! Minneapolis Airport is another HUGE facility, like many of the airports we’ve been through in the last two winters ; Pearson in Toronto, Lisbon in Portugal, Mexico City. However, Minneapolis Airport is clean, well organized, relatively quiet, and … civilized !

While walking we were checking out where to have supper. After finding our departure Gate 20 C we backtracked to the area around Gate 12 and went to Chick-fil-A for supper. We had never been to a Chik-fil-A before. It was pretty good. Joanne was a bit reluctant to eat there because of her vague recollection of news about its “association” with MAGAts. While eating supper she Googled it to refresh her memory.

AH, yes ! The MAGAts / American “conservatives” / RWNJ’s / “deplorables” (that term is so apt !) boycott Chick-fil-A because it is so … woke ! HA HA HA HA HA ! My kind of place ! ! !

We finished supper and were back at our gate at 9:30 PM to board our 10 PM flight. Without explanation from Delta Airlines we did not board until 10:15 PM and were wheels up half an hour late at 10:30 PM. Our first time on an Embraer aircraft. Very comfortable.

We landed in Winnipeg fifteen minutes late at 11:45 PM. We were through customs (thank you ArriveCan) and had retrieved our luggage by midnight. We found an ATM, withdrew cash to pay a taxi, unloaded from our luggage and put on sweaters and jackets, and were into a taxi by 12:15 AM. BRRRRR … winter ! ! !

We were home at Dugald Estates at 1 AM. <breathing deep sigh of contentment>

Thursday ; Sunny and … well … cold ! It’s still winter !

First thing this morning … AHHHH ! ! ! ! ! Instant, unlimited, high pressure hot water ! What a luxury ! What a privilege ! AND … <snicker> … no cockroaches in the bathroom ! HA HA HA !

Saturday ; Joanne’s cold has worsened since we arrived home. But … it hardly matters. We’re home, we’re comfortable, she’s resting a lot. I’ve already made two trips to PharmaSave in Oakbank (nearby town) to purchase lots of drugs por mi amor.

DSK