Sunday ; Low overcast, mild.
AWWWWW ... just ****ing great ! Big blizzard today on Crowsnest Hwy. 3 across southern BC. <sigh>
Pre-departure preparations continued today. We took Apollo for a walk in the park around 6 PM. Met Josef, an 84 year old immigrant from Iran, in Canada for 50 years. Lives in condominium building across the street. Very friendly fellow. Sang the praises of raising his three sons, all with engineering degrees from University of Manitoba, here in Tuxedo / Winnipeg / Canada.
Painter came by this afternoon to pick up paint colours sample booklet, and keys to our building and suite. Painting and renovation work will be done in December or January. WOO-HOO ... looking forward to seeing results when we return in mid-April.
Monday ; Rain all day !
Joanne’s sister came for a visit this afternoon. The plan was for her to come over so that we could all go for a pleasant walk in fine fall weather. Nope ... not today !
I continued working on fall pre-departure preparations. And I combined that with some maintenance work in the suite, removing bathroom fan vents and cleaning inside the ducts. And this suite has four water valves that are behind walls, and require a special tool that inserts into tiny holes in the wall to turn them on or off. I checked them a few days ago, and two of the four were stuck / seized from years or decades of never being turned off or on. I lubricated them with Liquid Wrench lubricant a day or two ago, and today I was finally able to loosen the two seized ones, and with considerable difficulty, close them and re-open them.
There was a lot of risk in doing that. If a valve broke while being forced to close / open, well ... they’re behind walls. Two of them are behind the wall behind the washer. Two of them are behind the wall behind a bathroom vanity. Breaking them would result in rapid flooding inside the walls. And repairing / replacing them would cost thousands of dollars ! And repairs to suites on lower floors below us would cost tens of thousands of dollars.
And you wonder why I get pissed off about lack of routine maintenance done by previous owners of homes we’ve bought ? ! ? With assistance from my OCD, I am in the process of preparing a “preventive maintenance” spreadsheet for this suite. “Lubricate, close, and re-open water valves behind walls” will certainly be on the “to do annually” list ! ! ! ! !
Tuesday ; Sunny and cool, another pretty nice fall day.
At 12:30 PM we left home heading for Transcona for Joanne’s optometrist appointment at 1:15. I waited in the car with Apollo while she went in to see her eye doctor. This appointment was made about six months ago, before we decided to move.
After her eye exam was completed we drove to the Crossroads shopping area at Regent Ave. and Lagimodiere Blvd. I dropped Joanne off at Freshco to buy some produce and I drove to the next mall over to shop at Rona. This Rona store had one of the two items I was looking for. I returned to Freshco and took Apollo for a walk while we waited for Joanne to finish grocery shopping. On the way back home we stopped at Rona (again), Canadian Tire, and Home Depot on Kenaston Blvd., looking for the second item I was shopping for. Didn’t find it. <shrug>
Once we were back at home we both continued working on fall pre-departure preparations, and I continued maintenance work. I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel of suite maintenance. In the evening we watched the season premiere of Married At First Sight.
Wednesday ; Sunny and cool, another pretty nice fall day.
Today was “pack for winter” day. I hate “pack for winter” day. Admittedly Joanne does most of the work, but it’s always very stressful for both of us. “Where is (fill in the blank) ?” “Where did you put (fill in the blank) ?” “Do you want or need to bring (fill in the blank) ?” “Should we bring (fill in the blank) ?”
It was such a nice afternoon we took Apollo for a walk in Swindon Oaks Park (across the street) again. Again we met and chatted with Josef, the elderly Iranian immigrant who lives in the condominium building across the street. Such an interesting and engaging fellow.
Watched tonight’s episode of Amazing Race while having (chicken) pollo mole (Mexican, specifically Oaxacan, pronounced “poyo molay”) for dinner, recorded tonight’s episode of Survivor to watch tomorrow.
Thursday ; Overcast, occasional light drizzle.
Packing and preparations for departure on Saturday continue in earnest. Have been dreading and procrastinating emptying desk contents ... again. Had to do that less than two months ago for moving from Dugald Estates to Winslow House. Had to do it again today to lighten load of extremely heavy desk that painters will have to move when painting office.
Went shopping for dog food and treats at PET VALU in Tuxedo Park Shopping Centre this afternoon. Monthly seniors discount day ! Bought a small bag of Apollo’s food. Usually buy big bags for economy, but don’t want to haul big bag from Winnipeg to Victoria.
Watched last night’s recorded episode of Survivor while having supper.
Friday ; Overcast and cold.
When we moved suitcases out of our hallway storage closet I was reminded that behind the suitcases was some wall damage that I had not had time to repair before we moved stuff into the storage closet. Today was the opportunity to rectify that.
Joanne baked cookies and muffins to take with us on the road. Because of our many years of experience of full time RV’ing, and trailer hauling / delivering, she is an excellent planner of feeding us while we travel. Even though we no longer travel in an RV, and consequently don’t travel with a kitchen on board, we do have a small fridge in the car. She prepares and brings enough food to feed us for the first couple of days of travel, and then is very adept at replenishing our food, in small quantities, usually with a daily brief stop at a grocery store, to keep us healthily nourished. With frequent visits to bakeries, if I have anything to say about it. HA HA HA !
Saturday ; Winnipeg, Manitoba to Moosomin, Saskatchewan
Overcast in Manitoba, sunny in Saskatchewan, cold and windy.
We finished our travel packing, I winterized our suite, we left home at 11:30 AM, half an hour ahead of schedule. I refilled the minivan with cheap rez gas at nearby Oodena Gas and we headed through the small amount of Winnipeg that remains to the west of Tuxedo, and onto Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 westbound.
We stopped to eat lunch at a rest area near Elkhorn, Manitoba. I drove from Winnipeg to Brandon, then Joanne drove from Brandon to Virden while I napped. I drove from Virden to Moosomin. We arrived at Moosomin’s Motel 6 at 3:30 PM, five hours after we left home (time zone change).
Apollo was very restless this morning at home, sensing that we were “moving” and worried that he would once again be “abandoned”. Poor little fellow ! He settled down once we were on our way, when he knew he was not being left behind. He travels well, enjoying snoozing, front half on Joanne’s lap, back half on his travel pillow on the console of the car. For reasons unknown to me, my lap is unacceptable, and when Joanne drives and I nap in the passenger seat, he pouts and lies down in his dog bed behind the console, looking forlorn.
We checked into Motel 6, Joanne unloaded stuff from the car to our room, I went to the breakfast room and got Joanne and me each a cup of hot chocolate, Apollo climbed onto the bed, messed up the covers to his satisfaction, and went to sleep. He LOOOOOVES Motel 6’s. <shrug> Go figure !
Tonight we watched the World Series game seven. First baseball game I’ve watched in ... <thinking> ... about sixty years. I was very tired, but able to watch until the end of the game in the bottom of the eleventh inning. <sigh> Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
DSK
