Four Cousins

This picture is of little sister Darlene and I (on left) with our cousins Stan and Ev, taken in 1968 all dressed up to attend a cousin's wedding. We were the cousins closest in age to each other, and also the closest in friendship. I was looking for a picture of us together since today is cousin Stan's birthday. Last year on my birthday day my son Mike said "Happy Birthday Dad, you're half way to 110." Now cousin Stan has reached that point. If you do the arithmetic, in this picture I was 15 and Stan was 14. Our very well dressed sisters were of course much younger.

Exciting Times

We are resting and relaxing this afternoon after Mike and Nicole's wedding yesterday. Everything was at the RCMP Heritage Centre starting with pictures for 2 hours in the afternoon. Since it was 31C and all the men were wearing suits with vests it was good thing the outdoor pictures were in the shade. The museum is open to the public until 5 PM and after that we had the whole building to ourselves for the evening. Then the wedding was at 530PM followed by the reception in the evening. It was exciting and a very beautiful event.

We do not have any pictures yet. We did not even take our camera along and will look forward to getting the "official" photos taken by Nicole's aunt and uncle. Mary posted some pictures on her blog yesterday and more today. I did not seem to show up in any of her pictures but I was there for sure.

High Voltage Power Line Repair

I was watching an episode of the program World's Toughest Fixes on the National Geographic Channel about working on high voltage power lines. The power company PSEG let the host of the program actually do some of the work on the lines including live line repair from helicopter. This video is a clip from the show on the program's website. Each episode is about a major repair that the host participates in. On a recent episode they were installing a new diesel engine generator in a cruise ship. I like the shows of the theme: world's largest crane, building the world's tallest building, the world's largest digging machine, etc, etc....

Moon Landing 40th Anniversary

Today is the the 40th anniversary of when Apollo 11 astronauts first landed on the moon July 20, 1969 in their landing module Eagle with the words "The Eagle has landed." In the video, Neil Armstrong the first astronaut to step on the moon said the famous words "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Then Buzz Aldrin also joined him on the surface. The original live television coverage was in low resolution black and white. I remember it very well since I was almost 16 years old at the time.

We Lost a Good Neighbour

Our next door neighbour died from cancer on Sunday evening. Norman was 79 years old and he and his wife were our neighbours for 30 years, moving in about one year after we did. They were very good neighbours. Up until a few months ago they permanently had a key to our house and Norman always looked after our house while we were away. As Norman's health worsened they were fortunate that both daughters and their son live in the city, and some of the family was almost always at their house over the last while. They had to take Norman to palliative care on last Thursday and he passed away Sunday. The funeral is on Thursday morning and Elaine and I are planning to attend.

Back Home Again

Elaine and I got home yesterday afternoon from our church camp in North Battleford. We came home a day early so Elaine could attend the shower for Nicole, our future daughter-in-law. We have a few quiet days before Mary and Chris are back here from a trip to grandma and grandpa's farm. Then in about a week Darlene and Lisa will be back as well. And it is two weeks until all the relatives will be showing up for Mike and Nicole's wedding. So we are just enjoying the calm before the storm for a few days now.

Going to Camp

Tomorrow morning we are heading up to North Battleford for our summer church camp. Elaine and I have been staying at a motel when we have gone there the last couple years for Easter and summer camps. It is more restful at the motel and gives me room for my oxygen tank and to set up the ventilator beside the bed, etc. We plan to be there until the next Saturday morning. We are looking forward to it.

Canada Day Visitors

On Canada Day Chris and Mary were cooking on the new BBQ we got recently.


And Mary was trying out the new patio furniture we got this week.


Our friend who blogs as "Crazy Mom" was here with her two very cute girls she calls Pooky Bear and Little Monkey. They were here to get ready to go to the Canada Day fireworks with our "kids." This is a very nice picture of Mary and Janny with "Pooky Bear".


Here I am with my little patriotic friend "Little Monkey" with her Canada flag all ready to go out to celebrate Canada Day with the fireworks at the park.

Golf Caddy and Chauffeur

Elaine and I were at Aspen Links for golf and a BBQ with people from my work. Elaine golfed on one of the teams and I drove her around in an electric golf cart. There were 6 or 7 teams of 4 golfing. One person on her team was not able to come so that is why I could go along. This was actually the first time I have seen her golfing, which she had wanted me to do sometime. She said I was her caddy and chauffeur. I kept score and was looking at the information about the next hole each time. Off the start she was having trouble getting her drives to go anywhere very good. She hadn't been out golfing for a couple weeks. On one hole she asked "How many yards is it?" I said "Does it matter?" She said "Well, Thaaaanks!" But later in the round she did hit some pretty good shots. Anyhow we had a pretty good time. It was a nice day and quite enjoyable.