Busy, Busy, Busy (Busy spending money that is!!!)

So.... I my little pothole repair business is rolling along. I decided that I needed a better method of tamping down the asphalt in my repairs so I found a nice little compactor online and within a week and an expenditure of $1230 (included freight from Mississauga) I was the proud owner of a dynamic EVCC90 vibrating plate compactor.

Wellll, the only little problem was that this unit tipped the scales at 170 lbs.. a bit of a ball buster trying to load and off load from the back of the truck. No problem you say! Just buy a trailer (cause you need more space for hauling asphalt and all those nice little tools) and you can slide the compactor in and out of the trailer. So, within a mere day, I was the proud owner of a rosy red (matches the truck) Agassiz Voyageur 4 x 6 trailer... along with an expenditure of $1995 - peanuts to a big operation like mine!

The only little problem was that the unit still weighed 170 lbs and I still couldn't lift it in or out of the trailer. Lucky for me, the guy I bot the trailer off is VERY handy and he rigged up a wonderful hydraulic lift in the trailer that solves the 170 lb problem. It works well and the guy didn't really charge much considering the product and effort required to set it up... of course, I needed belts to tie down the compactor as well as some of the tools... and.. uhhh.. well the electrical wiring to the hitch on my truck had an issue and I had to go to CanTyre to get that fixed.. so the day cost me another $350

But I fixed a crack in a guy's driveway near Brandon today... billed the guy $38 for the job.. so I'm only ...hmmmm $1230 + $1995 + $350 + $50 (gas and meals for the past couple of days) totalling
$3625.. less my $38 income = a net shortfall of $3587 for the week.

And Julie is worried about me not having done my taxes yet! But it was +22C today, the sun was warm, the birds were singing, I have a nice job tomorrow at a local Brandon hotel ($900), and Life is still Good!

It's was a maple syrup weekend down in Duluth.

Well, I went down to Duluth this past weekend to celebrate Julie's father's birthday - Bob turned 82 on Sunday.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB... and in addition to a birthday celebration, it turned out to be maple syrup weekend as well.

Scot had been busy tapping the maples and we all gathered up the sap and melted it down to a fine tasting syrup. It's a long process in that if you gather 40 gallons of sap, after melting it down it will make 1 gallon of finished maple syrup product.

The photos I attached show Tom collecting sap, Julie taking up a position as "oversee-er" beside the fire in her official Minnesota Maple Costume (Plaid shirt and goofy hat), she was later joined by Kim and her mom, and finally several pics of Julie and Scott as they finalized the process with the meldown of the sap, adding the butter to flavor and prevent the product from boiling over, and finally the taste test (YUMMMMM).

It's too bad but for some reason, I never got any photos of the birthday boy. He was probably out back on his mission to blow all the leaves off the property, which he managed to do over a couple of days.

It was a glorious weekend, great food and drink, lots of card playing, good company, wonderful warm weather... ahhh needless to say, Life is Good.

Pics are boring but this is what I do.

My plan for the summer is to work at doing pothole repairs. It sounds kind of boring and trivial .... and I guess it is - BUT - Jimmy does have his reasons. Number one - I figured that there would be lots of opportunities to get work as there is no shortage of potholes in this country of ours; Number two - I have access to one of the best products available to do this kind of work (our EZ Street cold asphalt); Number three - I really wanted to work outside in the sunshine and fresh air and do something physical - I am 60 years old afterall and this type of work gives me the outdoors as well as an abundance of opportunity to do physical work and feed my feeble old body; Number four - I want the flexability to move around with no set schedule, just a few loads of asphalt in the back of the truck, a couple of changes of clothes, my shaving kit and variety of pills, and of course, the golf clubs. Yes, it seems like a good plan.

Since I have started this work, I have picked up a couple of jobs from which I did pretty well on the $$$income side of the ledger, I've been able to visit mom for a few days, I did a trip down to Duluth to visit my Minnesota gang, and now I'm back home and looking for more work. It just needs to warm up a bit for the golfing side of the "workplan" and .... well, you know what they say - Life is Good!

Wow.. a month has gone by - it's time to update!

It's hard to believe that almost a month has gone by since I left Vancouver Island. I was visiting this weekend with my Minnesota family and Tom gave me hell and told me it was time to get to work and update this blog. I finally got my cord for downloading photos so it will be easier to get motivated and do my updates.

I picked out a few photos of the ferry ride to the mainland (which I absolutely love - can't wait for this summer's cruise) and then the drive through the mountains. This trip was uneventful other than taking in the scenery. I stopped in Edmonton and spent the nite with my pals, Bill and Pat. Missed Jesse as he was on a class outing to Calgary. I arrived safe and sound back into Manitoba and am ready to get to work and see if my plan for a summer of pothole repairs is a good move. I'm looking forward to it and it has to be the answer because,well, Life is Good!

Visiting the gang on Vancouver Island

The crappy weather continues to follow me around - although my drive out west through the mountains went much smoother than last fall when I hit the worst possible weather. I left Edmonton around 4pm and since the weather was nice and clear, I drove through to Hope arriving around 2am. After a nice sleep, I woke up to a raging snow storm and the only time it hasn't been raining the past week, it's been snowing.

Today, the day before I return to Edmonton, it was relatively nice with just a few showers. We took a drive this morning down to Qualicum Beach and visited Graham at his plant. Very impressive operation where they build concrete forms for a variety of construction uses. We then went over to his house and had a visit with Leah and the kids. First time Shaya got to visit her cousins and although it was short, it was a nice visit.

I wanted to collect some driftwood this trip so Jill, Wayne, Shaya and I drove up to the ferry depot for the Powell River Ferry and took a stroll up the beach. We picked up a few very cool pieces and found some very interesting old logs with plants growing out of them.

Tomorrow, if it's nice I hope to get some nice photos off the ferry from Victoria to Horseshoe Bay. It's been so nice to visit with the kids and especially to spend some time with my sweet little grand daughter.

Life is good!

Back in Canada - for a while.

Well, after spending almost 3 months down in Minnesota with my Julie, I returned to Canada a couple of days ago. It is with mixed emotions as it was so nice just to relax and spend time with Julie and appreciate what a wonderful woman she is and how good it is to spend my days and nights with her. On the other hand, I must admit I was going a bit stir crazy without working and I guess I found out that just sitting back without any real goals to achieve (or income) is not the answer - especially if I expect Jewels to eventually agree to marry me and I want to get going and resolve that little old situation. Maybe if the golf courses were open, it may have been a bit easier to ease into a retirement scenario but - hey - it's pothole season and time to get to work.

I'm hoping to set up my own little company to work at asphalt repairs and hopefully, it will be the answer to create a source of income while keeping active and having a bit of fun doing something that is quite different from anything I have done since I was a young pup just out of high school. But, before I take this project on, I intend to drive out west over the next couple of weeks and visit with Jesse and Nikki in Edmonton as well as my wonderful friends, Bill and Pat and at the same time, drop by the Nuna offices to visit with Dana. From there, I'll probably fly over to Comox and spend some time with Jill and Wayne, and of course, my little Shaya before heading back to Manitoba and getting to work.

That's all that has been happening for the past while. I snowshoed around the local Lundar Golf Course today - took over an hour and breaking new trail all around the course was a great workout and I just may do that again tomorrow. Visiting with Mom is always nice and we got into a mean old card game with Auntie Lara and Laurie tonite.

Ah, it's an exciting life but, Life is Good.

Exercise, Eating Right - and Drinking Lite Beer d'accord

Well, almost two months since the new year and although it wasn't really any kind of a "resolution", I was determined to try drop some pounds. Julie and I joined the local fitness centre and although it is difficult for her to go on a regular basis what with working full time, I have had no excuse other than position number two in the attached caricatures, lying on the couch and enjoying a few beers.

OK, I still enjoy the odd beer - especially the abundance of micro brewery brands available at the vendors down here - but I have been exercising - allllmost daily - and have dropped 10 pounds since early January. I must admit that I am feeling better and I think the exercise along with eating more healthy foods has helped me with my ongoing pains and rituals resulting from my surgery last year.

Anyways, my goal is to drop 20 pounds by my 61st birthday and should be a snap if I can keep with the program. Then I'll be ready to put it all back on when we take our Alaskan cruise the end of July.

Oh well, Life is Good, n'est ce pas?