Happy Birthday Darlene

We had a good day today celebrating Darlene's birthday.  We took Darlene and Steve and Lisa to an Olive Garden restaurant for her birthday.  We first did some touring around and sightseeing with Steve driving our van.  We saw some of the places they have lived and a lot of surrounding country side.  It is really beautiful country.  On previous trips here we were just in the city so mainly saw concrete and pavement.  This time we were on a lot of winding roads through the tree covered hills and valleys.  After some touring we went to the restaurant and had a very enjoyable meal and visit.  Since we were there mid afternoon it was not busy at all and we had a great time. 

Scooting Around Shaw's Garden

 

Today Darlene, Lisa, Elaine and I  visited the Missouri Botanical Garden aka Shaw's Garden.  It was originally the gardens of Henry Shaw founded on the estate of his home in 1859.  Darlene and I rented scooters since it is a 79 acre garden with a lot of paths.  Elaine and Lisa walked faster than the slow scooters.  In the picture you can see Darlene leading the way on her scooter. 

 

There was climate controlled dome with tropical  trees and flowering  plants.

Elaine and I are at one of the rose gardens in this picture. 

 

The gardens are beautiful and we had good weather.  It was a very enjoyable day.  

Road Trip Day 3 - Here Safe and Sound

We finally got here to St Clair yesterday evening after a longer day than we expected.  All was going well driving from Council Bluffs IA down to Kansas City and then a severe thunder storm hit.  There were tornado warnings on the radio for several areas in the region and then we heard the tornado sirens near where we were and the radio warning said "Do not delay take cover immediatelly!"  We pulled off the I495 at the next exit to look for a place to stop and pulled into the first place we saw which appeared to be a church.  As we ran to the entrance to get out of the rain downpour we found it was a funeral home.  The people there said we could go downstairs with some others listening to the warnings on the radio.  We waited there for about an hour until the sirens and warnings were off for that area.  Then we went to a Mcdonalds to get some lunch while using the wifi to check the weather reports on my ipod. By that time it looked good enough to head back out on the highway.  The rest of the trip was less eventful and we made it safely to St Clair after several more hours driving.

This area has had several tornados in the last while so that is the main news down here and people here are taking the warnings seriously.  The tornado at Joplin MO on Sunday had 122 confirmed deaths and many more missing. There were about 12 deaths in other tornados Tuesday.  While we were travelling yesterday there were continuous warnings of tornados in various places and it is a good thing we took shelter until the storm cleared because one tornado caused damage and injuries in a town just ahead of where we were heading.

We arrive here about 7 PM tired but safe and sound.  I will post more about our visit later and some pictures...

Road Trip Day 2

We had a good day travelling across North and South Dakota and are at a hotel at Council Bluffs Iowa. We made good time since the speed limits in ND and SD are 75 mph (120 km/h) and 70mph (112 km/h) in IA. We are right on our planned schedule to get to St Clair tomorrow and are excited to get there.

On the Road

We left this morning on our trip to the US. We have now checked into a motel for the night in Jamestown ND. We plan to go to Council Bluffs IA tomorrow night. But we are flexible on how far we go each day. We had a very good day travelling today and are enjoying the trip.

I will keep this short since I am posting from my Ipod.

Retirement Countdown Completed

I finished up at work this morning, said my goodbyes and handed in my ID card, office key and security remotes for the gate and front door.   They had a come and go retirement function yesterday afternoon at work and quite a few people came including a number that previously retired.  So this morning was just the final wrap up and personal goodbyes.

   The secretary tied a Happy Retirement balloon to my briefcase coming home today.

 

Everyone who retires gets a portraicature from SaskPower.  I was amused that they showed me typing with two fingers.  I am not sure how the artist knew that.   And note the running shoes.  

 The work group gave Elaine these flowers when we were out with them at a restaurant on Saturday. 

 

At the retirement function they gave me a gift card from money they collected toward a gift from my coworkers and others who came.   I used it toward the purchase of a new camera.  I got a Canon SX130IS which is the current model similar to Maryanne's SX120IS which I was very impressed with.    I was trying it out with macro on the bolt of the scissors in the picture above.  Also Elaine used it to take the picture of the flowers above.

My other corporate retirement gift was a watch.  I chose a Victorinox Swiss Army Officer watch.  I still need to get the bracelet adjusted before I wear it.  

Now after all these retirement festivities we have to get serious about getting ready for our trip.  We plan to leave Monday morning for the US.

Time Flies

The time seems to be going by quickly and I haven't done a blog post for over a week so I thought I would do a combined update of what we have been doing over the last while.

Last weekend on Saturday night I attended Elaine's choir performing Verdi's Requiem with the symphony.  This was excellent and I enjoyed it very much.   A requiem is funeral music  but this was music that would wake up the dead.  There were soft beautiful parts and then much with great volume with choir and orchestra.  I was up in the 3rd balcony which gave a view over the whole performance from above.  It was about 90 minutes plus intermission for the whole performance and I was pretty well on the edge of my seat the whole time.   The four soloists they brought in were amazing as well.   It was very enjoyable.

Then last Sunday for Mother's Day Janice made the supper at home with an excellent pork roast.  Mike was here and we had a nice evening visiting.   I think Elaine enjoyed a quiet evening at home after being out so much with her rehearsals and her concert.

Last night we were out to a restaurant with people from my work for my retirement.  We had a very nice time with the group I have worked with plus two people who retired previously.   I just am into some final cleanup in my office at work with 3 1/2 days to go.  On Wednesday afternoon there is a come and go retirement coffee/ tea.  Elaine will come then and bring home my custom office chair and a few personal belongings.  Then Thursday morning I will just do some goodbyes and hand in my keys, etc. 

This evening we just got home from an enjoyable BBQ at Bronwyn and Wade's with good food and good visiting with friends.  We are finally getting some weather that seems like summer is on the way.   Now we will have to start preparing for our trip which is just over a week away leaving Monday May 23.  Time flies ... 

Papers all signed

Yesterday Elaine and I had a meeting all afternoon to sign the papers for my pension and benefits.  So everything is as official as can be now.  It took a while since even though we had already thoroughly analyzed the pension options, they have to review everything to ensure there is no misunderstanding of the financial implications.  Then there were tax forms and designation of beneficiary and insurance plans.  The time is coming near and I only have 8 1/2 working days left after taking a vacation day tomorrow.

 
Other than that we have been busy getting arrangements for some outdoor work before we get back to the basement renovations.   The driveway and front sidewalk are way overdue for replacement and we are getting estimates from contractors.  We also have to decide want to do about new front steps at the same time.  And we need to get someone to do some grading around our house so the water drains away from the foundation.    This will help keep the basement dry and then we can get back to getting some work done down there.   I won't be doing this work myself but just the planning  and arrangements will keep me busy for a while after I retire.