November 21 to 27, 2024 ; Dugald, Manitoba to Christina Lake, British Columbia

 We will be spending this winter on Vancouver Island. We’re driving there. Mostly because we now (again) have a dog. But we also cannot endure another winter of travel like the last two winters, in Portugal and Mexico, with excruciating long distance air travel, and airports, and frequent illnesses in foreign lands with impossible access to good health care in our own language. And as we decided a few years ago already, we most certainly cannot endure any more winters in “Merka” ! Now more than ever ! ! ! ! !

Thursday ; Dugald, Manitoba to Moosomin, Saskatchewan

This morning we finished our “depart for winter” preparations, walked Apollo and neighbour’s dog Gracie, and pulled out of Dugald Estates parkade at 11:45 AM, fifteen minutes earlier than planned. WOW … we’re never early for anything ! I refilled the car with fuel at the Esso station in Dugald, and we were on the road at noon, precisely on schedule. HA HA HA !

West on Hwy. 15 / Dugald Road a short distance to Winnipeg’s Perimeter Hwy. 101, north on the Perimeter Hwy. all the way around Winnipeg, turning right / west at Headingly on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1, heading for Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia for the winter. WOO-HOO … road trip !

The temperature when we left home was -2° C. It became colder and colder the further west we travelled. By the time we reached Moosomin, Saskatchewan at 5:15 PM, just as it became dark, the temperature was -12 ° C. The winter storm that travelled across Saskatchewan and Manitoba yesterday did not quite reach Winnipeg / Dugald. As we approached Portage La Prairie there began to be some snow in the ditches. We went around Portage La Prairie on their bypass route, and once around Portage La Prairie and on the west side of the small city we turned back a short distance into the city to take a rest break at the Portage Mall. YIKES ! The mall is nearly abandoned, and will be closing permanently on December 31. Oh, well … at least the bathrooms are still functional. HA HA HA !

The mall’s parking lot was filled with snow and slush frozen to ice from yesterday’s storm. After a bathroom break we returned to the Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 heading west. The highway from Portage La Prairie to Brandon was in poor condition, slippery, still covered in snow and frozen slush / ice. From Brandon to Saskatchewan the highway conditions improved. We stopped to refill again with fuel in Virden, the last opportunity to refill fuel in Manitoba. Saskatchewan’s fuel prices are higher than in Manitoba.

While I checked into Motel 6 in Moosomin Joanne took Apollo for a walk around the parking lot. BRRRRR … winter ! Apollo was too cold and/or too excited to focus on the purpose of the walk. We got settled into our room, brought some stuff to the room, I had a cup of tea to rest and warm up, then we took Apollo for another walk shortly after 7 PM, just before having supper. He was again too excited by the adventure of a day of travel, and then moving into a motel room, to focus on the purpose of the walk <rolling eyes>. While we ate supper he fell into a deep sleep on the motel bed. HA HA HA … good boy, Apollo.

Before going to sleep I went outside and plugged in the car’s engine block heater. First time I’ve done that since 1987 ! ! ! I had to search for quite awhile for the plug end tucked inside the engine compartment.

Joanne’s health is still … well … not great. Our first day of travel has exhausted her. <shrug>

Friday ; Moosomin to Swift Current, Saskatchewan

This morning in Moosomin was -2° C with light snow falling. As we drove east to west across Saskatchewan it stopped snowing and the temperature continued to fall. It was -12° C in Swift Current this evening.

We checked out of Moosomin’s Motel 6 this morning at 10:30 AM and drove a short distance into town to buy a jug of winter windshield washer fluid at the Co-op Home hardware store. I used a lot of washer fluid yesterday and expected to use a lot today.

We continued westbound on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1. The snow stopped falling as we left Moosomin. The highway was slushy and slippery (YIKES !) from Moosomin to the east side of Regina. As we travelled around Regina on the bypass highway the snow on the farm fields and slush on the highway diminished, and the road conditions became less treacherous.

Wednesday’s snow storm across Saskatchewan and Manitoba fizzled out shortly before reaching Winnipeg. The heaviest accumulation of snow, and the worst driving conditions, were between Portage La Prairie and Regina. By the time we were west of Moose Jaw there was minimal snow on the farm fields and the highway was clean and dry.

Better to be lucky than good, I suppose. Wednesday’s snow storm struck the day before we began travelling. We will be having a rest day tomorrow in Swift Current. And tomorrow there should be quite a blizzard across eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan. Lots of snow expected tomorrow here in Swift Current. <shrug> Shouldn’t have much of an impact on our travel plans. Highway should be cleared by Sunday morning when we resume.

We stopped to have lunch and refill fuel in Moose Jaw. We arrived at the Motel 6 in Swift Current at 4:30 PM, an hour before darkness. We checked in, got settled into our room, then took Apollo for a walk while it was still daylight. As we walked him behind the motel he chose to take a shortcut across a snowdrift, badly underestimating its depth. Did he reverse ? ! ? NOOOOO ! ! ! He just “porpoised” across / through it, totally covered in snow and looking pissed off at us when he emerged on the other side of the snowdrift. HEY … we didn’t force you to do that ! Silly dog !

Swift Current, Saskatchewan

Blizzard / rest day. -12° C.

Well … the blizzard was a little late getting started. It was supposed to start late last night. It didn’t start until about an hour ago, at 11 AM. And while the wind is blowing mightily, creating near zero visibility on the roads (we can tell by looking out our motel room window) the snowfall seems relatively light, so hopefully there won’t be much accumulation. We have just returned from taking Apollo for his noontime walk. He wasn’t very impressed with the weather. Well … and neither was Joanne. She commented that this is why she doesn’t want to have a dog in the winter, when we are no longer able to travel and must remain in Manitoba for winters. Apollo will likely be gone to the big dog park in the sky by then (as might I), and we / she can get a cat. Or two. HA HA HA !

As planned, we had a lazy day. Apollo and I had a long nap in the afternoon. We ordered take out dinner from an Indian restaurant. When we went out at 7:15 PM to drive to the restaurant to pick up our dinner … SHEEESH … I had severely underestimated the amount of snow that fell today. Swift Current’s downtown streets were clogged with deep snow. The relatively short drive to the restaurant … a few kilometres … and back was challenging. I have not driven in deep snow since … <thinking> … well … 1987 ! Just before arriving back at Motel 6 we stopped at Canadian Tire Fuel Bar and I refilled the minivan with fuel to save a bit of time tomorrow morning.

MMMMM … supper was great !

Sunday ; Swift Current, Saskatchewan to Lethbridge, Alberta

-12° C in Swift Current this morning, -19° C at suppertime in Lethbridge. Windy all day, very cold ! Things did not go smoothly today.

We checked out of Swift Current’s Motel 6 at 10:45 AM. The snow in the Motel 6 parking lot was so deep and drifted that I had difficulty backing out of our parking spot and getting out of the parking lot. Shortly after getting onto Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 westbound I noticed that the cold temperatures had reduced the tire air pressures enough that the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) was displaying a “low tire pressure” icon.

Light snow was falling and the strong winds were blowing it across the highway, making the road slippery. The speed limit was 110 km./hr. but I did not feel safe driving faster than 90. About halfway to Lethbridge we reached Medicine Hat, Alberta where we stopped at Wal-Mart and I bought new winter wiper blades for the car. And more winter windshield washer fluid. The gallon I bought in Moosomin Friday morning was finished. I refilled the washer fluid tank and installed the wiper blades in the Wal-Mart parking lot. My hands were painfully cold ! While I was doing that work Joanne had a late lunch in the car. I wasn’t hungry, having drank too much coffee while driving.

I drove across the street to Canadian Tire to adjust the tire air pressures. The Canadian Tire service dept. was unwilling to make an air hose available to me. HMPH !

At Medicine Hat we left Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 and entered Crowsnest Hwy. 3 at its starting point, continuing west. Hwy. 3, which starts at Medicine Hat, is the more southerly route across western Alberta and almost all the way across British Columbia, ending at Hope, BC. Our previous home near Keremeos, BC was on Hwy. 3, so we’re familiar with Hwy. 3, and most importantly, at this time of the year, Hwy. 3 is likely to have better weather than the more northerly route following Trans-Canada Hwy. 1.

At the small town of Bow Island I found a Shell service station with an air hose service. I adjusted all the tires’ air pressures, freezing my hands yet again. The TPMS “low pressure” icon turned off.

We reached Motel 6 in Lethbridge at 4:30 PM, having earlier crossed from the Central time zone to the Mountain time zone, gaining an hour. We checked in, went to our assigned room no. 111, brought all our stuff in from the car, took Apollo for a long, very cold walk, and upon returning to our room discovered that the bathroom sink was clogged and wouldn’t drain. The manager was unable to unclog the drain, and assigned room no. 222 to us. <sigh> While Joanne began to reload all of our stuff back into the car I went upstairs to room 222 where I immediately discovered that the room was sauna hot, and the thermostat was non-functional. <sigh> The manager was able to repair the thermostat, but I balked at being assigned a room where we would have to repeatedly ascend and descend a slippery outdoor metal staircase. After some discussion and debate he assigned us a third room, this one on the main floor, like our first assigned room, with parking right outside our room door. By the time we moved to room 118 it was after 6 PM. The process of “musical rooms” took more than an hour and a half, and by then I was feeling really tired.

Supper was leftovers of yesterday’s Indian take-out food from Saffron House in downtown Swift Current, and astoundingly good Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup from Chef In The House in Beausejour, a new home delivery personal chef service which delivers directly to our seniors' condominium home in Dugald. We brought two types of their soups, frozen in one litre containers, from home with us.

Monday ; Lethbridge, Alberta to Cranbrook, British Columbia

-12° C, light snowflurries, no wind this morning in Lethbridge. -2° C, light snowflurries, no wind, thick accumulation of slushy snow in Cranbrook late this afternoon.

We checked out of Motel 6 in Lethbridge this morning at 10:30 AM, drove across the street to Husky and refilled the minivan with fuel, drove north across town back to Crowsnest Hwy. 3, and turned west. The highway was slippery with light snow blowing across the road. At Fort Macleod the snow began falling more heavily, and the highway became even more slippery. I had to slow down to about 80 kph to feel safe, and that was my speed for much of the rest of the day. At Pincher Creek the Rockies became visible, even through the low cloud cover, and the highway began to ascend upwards into the mountains. It wasn’t long before we were driving in the clouds, with thick snow falling as we climbed up and over Crowsnest Pass into British Columbia. The zero visibility in cloud and blowing snow made it almost impossible to see the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep on the side of the road … and the cars that had slid off the road. HA HA HA !

The change from barren fields of grain stubble across Alberta to the thick evergreen forests of the Canadian Rockies covered in snow was beautiful. I thought when we were planning this trip that we would be at risk of having to drive in winter conditions all the way across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, but that once we were in British Columbia the wintery conditions would end. I was wrong !

At Sparwood, BC we stopped to have lunch at a Tim Hortons. Not our usual choice for a place to eat, but we had a gift card we wanted to use. We arrived in Cranbrook at 4 PM. Before checking into yet another Motel 6 we refilled the car with fuel again, at Superstore’s Mobil Fuel Bar, then went into Superstore to buy something for supper tonight in our room.

Tuesday ; Cranbrook, British Columbia

Rest day ! About 4 AM I fell out of bed ! No, no … I don’t know how that happened ! Yes, yes … I did hurt myself ! I landed on my right side, hurting my right hand, arm and shoulder. I don’t recall ever having fallen out of bed before ! Maybe Joanne is right. Maybe these motel room queen beds actually are smaller than our queen bed at home.

Today was cloudy with temperatures ranging from -2° C to +2° C, snow melting and slushy. Apollo thinks Cranbrook is infinitely better than Moosomin or Swift Current ! HA HA HA !

We leisurely did some errands today. We left our motel room about 11 AM. First stop was a new bakery in town ; COBS Bread. The owner of this franchised business in Cranbrook is a fairly young man from Winnipeg, moving here only three months ago to open his new business. Next stop was Mike’s Car Wash to wash the Manitoba to British Columbia winter road grime off the car, especially the undercarriage. We will need to wash the car again upon arrival in Victoria. We went to Wal-Mart and while Joanne selected some food items for today’s and tomorrow’s meals I selected a winter wiper blade for the rear window of the car. I installed it in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Much easier than it was in Medicine Hat’s weather a couple of days ago !

Joanne is responsible for meal planning on this trip, whether it is meals in our car, or motel rooms or restaurants. Today for lunch she had researched and selected Dash Eatery, a restaurant located near downtown in a large, elegant, old home. The inside of the building reminded me of my early childhood home. She selected this restaurant partially based on its excellent reviews. The reviews were justified !

On our way back home we stumbled across an interesting looking thrift store. <shrug> Why not ? I purchased a pair of pants, Joanne purchased a package of Christmas themed table placemats to use in our Victoria suite. We stopped at a restaurant that Joanne wanted to check out, contemplating buying some take-out there tomorrow morning for tomorrow’s lunch while driving. We checked it out and decided it wasn’t what we want for lunch tomorrow. But in formulating tomorrow’s lunch “plan B” it necessitated another stop at COBS Bread again.

Upon our return to our motel room at 3 PM Apollo and I decided we had earned a long nap. HA HA HA !

Wednesday ; Cranbrook to Christina Lake, British Columbia

Temperature this morning in Cranbrook was -5° C. This afternoon in Christina Lake it was +2° C. As we travelled it fluctuated constantly from a low of -8° C to a high of +4° C, depending on the elevation, which varied widely as we drove today. For much of the day snow was falling, varying from light to heavy.

Driving conditions today were terrible, the worst day so far on this trip, varying from horrendous most of the time, to downright dangerous some of the time. Coming into Creston this afternoon, on a downhill curve, the car suddenly skidded on black ice into a 45° angle, across both lanes, for an adrenaline filled five seconds or so until I was able to wrestle it back under control. HMPH … seemed more like five minutes than seconds ! When I finally got it back under control I looked in the rear view mirror to see the car following me wildly skidding around also. I thought he was going to slide sideways into the rear of our car, but somehow he managed to avoid that. I wonder how his adrenaline level was ? HA HA HA ! To feel safe (most of the time !) my speed never exceeded 70 kph, and occasionally was as low as 30 kph. For a lengthy period this afternoon I slowly followed a snowplow truck downhill. Immediately after being plowed and sanded, the road had reasonable traction … but only very briefly !

Yup … we’ll be leaving two weeks earlier next year ! ! !

We checked out of Cranbrook’s Motel 6 this morning at 10:45 AM and continued westbound on Crowsnest Hwy. 3. Soon after leaving Cranbrook the highway began to slowly but steadily rise in elevation. For a very long time. The higher we got, the lower the temperature became. Soon we were driving in the clouds, with heavy snow falling. Kind of like driving on ball bearings, with a sheer curtain draped over the windshield. Most of the day was like that ! Seemed somewhat like flying an airplane in IFR conditions. But without all the supporting instrumentation ! HA HA HA !

Early in the day we passed what looked like a wolf standing on the side of the road, thinking “NAH … couldn’t be, must just be a big farm dog”. A few hundred feet later … a group (murder ?) of crows was feasting on … a mangled dead wolf in the middle of the road. Aw gee, the first one’s mate ? Later in the day a cougar scampered across the highway right in front of us.

We stopped in Creston to have lunch at Tim Hortons again, mostly to finish using a gift card we had received as a thank you gift from the school across the road from our seniors’ condominium, for caring for their school vegetable garden for July and August.

We stopped again in Castlegar for a bathroom break and to reset our watches and car clocks as we had recently passed from the Mountain time zone to the Pacific time zone. We arrived at our motel in Christina Lake at 3 PM, having gained an hour from the time zone change. In Christina Lake, in the mountains, on a cloudy day, it became dark an hour after we arrived ! I selected this motel in Christina Lake because it is pet friendly. However, it is the most expensive motel of our entire journey, from Winnipeg (Dugald) all the way to Victoria. To make our daily distance driven about what I wanted it to be, and to facilitate lunch (Doukhobor borscht !) and dog food purchase (monthly seniors’ discount day !) tomorrow in Grand Forks, I did not want to make it all the way to Grand Forks tonight.

DSK

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