Spring Flooding

We have seen the news reports of flooding in many areas across the prairies from the spring runoff.  After supper Elaine and I went for a drive to see some of the flooded areas within the city.

 

The golf course is mostly water hazard 

The bike path and the dog park (in background) under water 

Signs along the bike path peeking above water

High water level on the lake looking across to the legislature at twilight.  

We will be heading to North Battleford  next weekend for Easter.   We will likely see what the other areas north of here through the valley are like at that time.   There is a flood risk warning that water could top the highway at Lumsden within the next few days.  Some people are talking about possibly going up to NB via Moose Jaw.  We will wait and see what unfolds the rest of this week. 

Spring Cleaning

With my last day at work coming in about 6 weeks I have been going through the files in the file cabinets and the binders in the bookcase in my office.   Some of the files I inherited from people who left long ago and had never taken the time to fully go through them.  I got rid of a lot of paper (many boxes worth) when we moved to the new part of the building in 2001.  But one file cabinet, that I didn't use since then, I never took the time to go through the files.  I have now gone through that file cabinet and only kept one file folder that could still have some value.  The rest I either put in recycling or for shredding.   I did the same going through binders in the bookcase and got rid of a lot of stuff, and organized information that could have longer term reference value.  Hopefully then the person who moves into my office will have some room to organize her own stuff. 

Ukraine 5 - Scotland 0

This evening we went to watch Mike play in the first game of the annual WCP Cup soccer tournament.  He is playing on team Ukraine who beat Scotland this evening 5 - 0 in a fairly easy match for them.  Mike said the other teams in their group will be tougher to beat.  It is very large tournament with men's, women's and youth divisions played over a 3 week period.  The games get good size crowds which are quite lively depending on which teams are playing.  The exhibition grounds were very busy since the world men's curling championship is on at the same time, but that will be over next weekend and the soccer continues for two weeks after that.        

Pushing the Button

Today at work I submitted my official retirement notice effective May 31 which is 60 days from now.    There is a pension plan database that has a retirement notice page that you fill in the information and the effective date and then click on YES to submit the retirement notice.   Everyone at work talking about retirement  refers to this as "pushing the button."    I heard of some people who  had the screen open on their computer for several hours with the mouse pointer hovering back and forth over the YES button before finally pushing it.   For me it was not a major issue since I had decided some time ago and planned to give my notice on March  31  which is 60 days before the official May 31 date.  With vacation days and other days off to use before retirement I only have about 30 actual working days to go .... 

Getting Ready to Travel

Elaine and I applied for our passports yesterday.  Neither of us had one before since the last time we traveled to the US they were not a requirement yet.  Applying is a pretty simple process now since there are no lineups like some people faced when passports first became a requirement to go to the US.  We had our forms, pictures, and ID all ready, paid our $87 each and were in and out of the passport office in about 10 minutes.   They will be processed and mailed by April 8 so we should have them the following week, in plenty of time for our trip at the end of May.  We are planning to travel to see Darlene, Steve and Lisa (and Tessie their dog) leaving on the May long weekend.  My official retirement date is May 31 but my actual last day is Thursday May 19 using up vacation days at the end.   We are overdue for a trip down to visit them near St. Louis so we are looking forward to that. 

First Day of Spring

Elaine doing some shoveling out front on the first day of Spring. 

    View of the snow in our back yard from our bedroom window.

High, low and median temperatures for winter 2010/2011

According to the calendar today March 20 is the first day of spring, which has been termed the vernal equinox and now usually just called the March equinox.  Basically we have "turned the corner" with equal day and night and we start to lengthen the days.   But we have not seen many signs of spring yet.  We had another layer of snow today on the record snowfall we had this winter.  With the amount of snow we have it is just  as well if it does not melt too quickly.  The temperatures have been slowly trending upward in  March after some large swings close to 0C or above and then down to below -30C in January and February.  But spring is on the way and we are very ready for it ...

Retirement Planning

I took the day off today and then tomorrow Elaine and I are going to an all day retirement planning seminar put on by my work.   It will have presentations on the pension plan and the various benefit plans such as health plan and life insurance as well as financial planning.    I am in a defined benefit plan which is referred to as the "old plan" since it is only for people starting before 1978.  The pension is based on years of service and there are options depending on how much you take before 65 versus after 65, and what percentage your survivor will receive.   Those that know me are probably not surprised I have already done all the spreadsheets and bar charts comparing all the pension plan options.  On Monday the 28th Elaine and I have an appointment with a financial planner to review the pension options and overall financial plan.    My plan is to submit my official retirement notice by the end of March for retirement date May 31 and my actual last day of work May 19 using vacation days.   May 31 is coming soon -  73 days by my retirement counter ...

Still Praying For Kaia

In December I posted about praying for Kaia, the little girl with glasses and pink pants in this picture from NB summer camp.  She still very much needs our prayers.  I want to see her again this summer running around playing with the other children ...