Thanksgiving with the Family

Yesterday afternoon and evening we had the family here for Thanksgiving.  We started off with a wonderful meal with turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes, etc.....   Janice roasted the turkey and made the gravy, Elaine did the mashed potatoes and sweet potato and dressing,  Mike brought salad and Maryanne brought cranberry sauce, and made pumpkin pie. Everything turned out perfectly.  So we were very well fed with a wonderful meal.  Chris and Maryanne were having their second turkey dinner after having a Thanksgiving dinner with his family the day before.   And we have quite a bit left from a large turkey so we will be having it in various ways for a while.   

During and after cleanup we watched the football game, moving to our new TV downstairs for the second half.   It was a good game with another Rider win played in Toronto.  The Riders outplayed Toronto on the field, and the fans in Rider green dominated the stands.  The cheering sounded like a Rider home game.  By that time our dinner was settled enough we were ready for the pumpkin pie.

In the evening Mike showed us his pictures of a recent trip to Chicago.  Then we played a board game called Power Grid that the family gave me for  my birthday but had not had a chance to play yet.  This is an economic strategy board game that I had not heard of before but is highly rated by board game experts. On the website Board Game Geek it is ranked number 6 in a data base of over 60,000 board games.  The game is played in 5 phases for each round of the game. 1. Determine player order (changes for each round); 2. Auction power plants (decide if to pass or bid more than opponent); 3.  Buy fuel for your power plants (fuel prices go up as lower priced fuel sold out); 4. Build houses and pay building and interconnection costs in the network; and 5. Receive payment for number of house supplied with power.   The first time though it took us quite a while referring back to the rules to get the procedures and learn how to balance costs and revenue.  The board is shown below using the US  map (1 of 4 alternate maps including Quebec, Germany, Europe.)    

After about 2.5 to 3 hours in the evening we had to quit for the night  since some had to go to work the next day (not like us retired folks who stay up late.)  The picture is how the board looked by the time we ended for the night. We recorded where we were to continue again another day.  It should go easier when we continue since we are starting to know the game rule better.

All in all it a was perfect day with the family.                     

Watching the sunset

This evening we were up on Douglas Park hill overlooking Wascana Lake at sunset.  From where we were standing at the top of the hill the sun was setting directly in line with the legislature across the lake.  I took several pictures with my iPhone as the sun was setting.  The pictures below are over a 10 minute period from 7:50 to 8:00 PM.   If you click on the first picture it should enlarge and you can do a slide show of the sunset pictures in sequence.  

Enjoying Summer Days

Last evening Elaine and I were out enjoying the nice summer weather.  It was up to 30C during the day but early evening was 25C with little wind.  We followed our usual route and I drove Elaine to the start of the bike path and then met her at parks along the way.

 I was taking pictures with the camera and Elaine took pictures with her iphone.  Here she was taking a picture from the bridge at the start of the bike path. 

   I drove down and met Elaine where the bike path goes near A.E. Wilson park. 

 This is the view of the creek and islands from the bike path where I met Elaine. 

After meeting a couple other places along the way we stopped for a while at the waterfall park.  This is one of the many beautiful areas adjacent to the bike path.  This is where we had our family pictures taken last year (as well as in 2001.)

   
I drove to the legislature and met Elaine at the Queen Elizabeth II gardens.

   The Queen Elizabeth II gardens were renovated and just recently reopened.  This view is looking at the gardens north of  the statue with the Queen on her horse.

I set the camera on timer to take a picture of Elaine and I at the QE II gardens.  After a little more time in Wascana park it was time to head home after a beautiful evening.   

Summer News and Views

I haven't blogged for a while and we also have not been taking a lot of pictures, so have not been too inspired to post anything.  But it is time for an update.  We started July with a week at the North Battleford  church camp as we usually do.  We very much enjoyed the meetings and visiting.  During that time Darlene and Steve celebrated their 25th anniversary and we had a supper for them at a restaurant.

          Darlene and Steve (with daughter Lisa between them) at their 25th anniversary supper

Then after camp we went up to visit Elaine's parents for 3 days. They are needing more help now and the family has been going to see them more often.  We were also there in early June. 

After we were home Darlene and Lisa came to our house for a visit (Steve had already gone home for teaching a music camp.)   They were here for 9 days and we had a nice visit.   They just left last Saturday the same time that we left to go to North Battleford for the weekend to attend a wedding. 

So for the first 3 weeks of July we were either away or had visitors here.  Now this week we are back to just Elaine and I at home.  We are getting some things done but also taking some breaks to enjoy the summer weather.  On Monday evening I drove Elaine to the bike path.  She rode her bike and I drove to meet her at some parks along the way, finally ending up at Wascana park. 

       I was enjoying the view from the upper level at Pine Island

Then yesterday evening Elaine and I went to the Willow restaurant at the Wascana marina.  It is a wonderful restaurant with great view of the lake.  Our family gave us a gift certificate to go there for our 35th anniversary at the end of April and we had not used it yet.  So we thought this week would be a good time to go.  We had a great meal and very enjoyable time.   

This is a self-photograph of Elaine and I on the patio overlooking the lake in front of the restaurant after our meal.   

But the excitement is just beginning here as Chris and Maryanne are on the road arriving Friday.  So the quiet times this week may be just the calm before the storm ...

 

  

Picking Up Speed

This week we got our high speed internet upgraded.  For many years we have had the high speed basic at 1.5Mb/sec, and we got it upgraded to 10Mb/sec.  The speed test showed we have 10.3 Mb/sec download and 850 kb/sec upload (advertised as 800 kb/sec.)     These data rate units are kilobits per second and megabits per second.  A byte is 8 bits, but to get the effective download speed for a given file size it is easier to estimate by dividing by ten.   For example on the upgraded internet a 60 MB file downloads in about a minute.    

One of the noticeable differences has been with my iPad.  I have National Geographic and Popular Science subscriptions which are huge downloads.  June issue of NG was 259 MB and PS was 517 MB.  With our basic internet the National Geographic download would come to a standstill and timeout on an error.  After the upgrade it down loaded in about 6 minutes.    

We are also looking forward to trying out the faster internet with Skype.  We were getting a faster internet service and better connection on Skype on my iPad using Elaine's iPhone as a hotspot on 3G at Waskesiu, than on our basic internet at home.  

We have come a long way since our first dial up modem at 300 baud (comparable to bits per second.)   It took  about 5 minutes to fill one screen of text.  We then moved up to 2400 bits/sec and then to 56k bits/sec before finally going to the basic high speed.  We must have had more patience in those days. 

High Tech Breathing

I have been using a respiratory ventilator at night for over 5 years since I was in hospital in 2007.   I had respiratory failure from high CO2 buildup in my blood.  I have had several blog posts about this, and have been using the same model of ventilator at home each night since I was in the hospital.  

For the last 5 years I have used a Phillips Respironics PLV-100  ventilator set for respiratory volume assist/control.   This ventilator model is out of date and no longer supported by the manufacturer.  It is a simple and reliable machine, sometimes with a few clunks, honks and rattles, but it just keeps puffing along.   The family says I sound like a steam engine.  It is a pretty rugged machine and I told the respiratory therapist it looks like it was designed to mount in the back of an army truck.

Then earlier this year we got the news that the provincial health department  had approved the purchase of new ventilators.  Mine came yesterday and the respiratory therapist was here to get me going using it.

 The new machine is a Covidien Puritan Bennett 560  ventilator which is the latest technology.   I used it for the first time last night.  I woke up after sleeping one hour and then had some trouble getting used to the new machine before sleeping and waking several more times.  After being used to the feel and sound of the old machine it takes some getting used to sleeping with the new one. 

The old ventilator we called a "steam engine" with the sound of a large piston  cycling back and forth with each breath.  The new machine has  a variable speed micro turbine that has a varying higher pitched whirring  sound with each breath.  The feel of the breathing cycle is different as well.  Hopefully tonight will be better as I get used to it.

One big advantage of the new ventilator  is that it is much lighter to take with us when we travel.  It just has a zippered soft  case with a shoulder strap for carrying.  The old one had a large heavy steel framed shipping case.  Not having to take the old heavy ventilator in and out when we travel will make Elaine very happy.  We will get to try out the new ventilator when we go away for the upcoming long weekend.
 

  

Anniversary Travelling

Elaine and I are away on a holiday for a few days at Waskesiu  for our anniversary.  We arrived last evening and today is our 35th anniversary.  It was raining when we arrived on Sunday evening and still light rain this morning, but this afternoon the sun came out through the clouds and we had a wonderful time touring around in the area.

One of the most beautiful places we were at this afternoon was the Waskesiu River where it comes out of Waskesiu Lake.  Here we are on the bridge on the walking trail.  Elaine went around the nature trail while I stayed and enjoyed the scenery and watched the waterfowl in this area.

This picture is looking up the Waskesiu River from the walking bridge.  The still water nearer the bridge was reflecting the trees and sky, with the rapids farther up river roaring in the distance.

 
After we got back from an afternoon of touring around we had dinner at a nice restaurant for our anniversary.   After dinner the sun was setting over the lake.  This picture is the view from the front of our suite. 

Beautiful Day in the Park

We had a beautiful sunny day today with a temperature high of 20C.   This is the nicest day we have had yet this spring.  This afternoon we went up to the start of the bike path in the northwest of the city and Elaine had her first bike ride of the season. I drove down to meet her at some places along the path.  Then she loaded the bike in the van and we drove to Wascana Park and went to Pine Island. 

There were a lot of people out in the park enjoying the nice day.   The picture is from the upper level on Pine Island.  The place I usually take pictures across the lake is from the walkway below.   

Elaine was happy to be out at the park on such a nice day. 

"This is the face I made when my picture was taken."  Actually I think I was just saying something when the picture was taken.   Aside from my expression I was also very much enjoying being out in the park.