Minnesota turkey!

So I'm finally going to get to see what American Thanksgiving is all about. I drove down to see my girl in Zumbrota on the weekend and after getting stood up for Trace, things have been so nice. I really enjoy my time with Jewels and I even have my own two drawers in the bedroom dresser so I'm guessing that our relationship is rock solid :)

Josh and Jill are visiting tonight from Milwaukee and leave tomorrow for Lake Ojeebojee (or whatever) and we are driving down to Duluth to have Thanksgiving with Bob and Judy, Scott and Kim, and Tom. Always a bit scarey, these Laven get togethers and mucho stessful for my Jewels but I'm sure it will be nice and all will survive. I know we will eat a lot and enjoy what is THE big holiday in the states (after xmas of course).

Death and Taxes

Since I was sick last year, I have noticed that when I'm reading my newspaper, I have developed a habit of pausing at the page(s) that list the obituaries ... just to take a peek. I have been noting that there are a lot of people that are passing on to the next stage that are often younger that I am. I guess I will have to count on the family genes and hope that I can keep up with Mom and Dad who both have late eighties on their resumes and Mom is talking about 100!

Anyways, a couple of months ago, I saw an obituary for an old school friend, Albert Monkman who had colon cancer. His photo was a bit eerie in that he looked almost the same at age 60+ as he did in his school days - a beautiful smile and so sincere and happy looking. Today, I noticed that another school and 4H chum, Kay Lamblin passed on from cancer. His funeral is in Lundar tomorrow and although I planned to head south, I just may detour and pay my respects.

I don't think I'm afraid of death.. but I am certainly more aware that I should be making more of my life and enjoying the next 20 years or so because.... well, just because, OK

By the way, If anyone from Revenue Canada is reading this, I promise to pay my outstanding taxes from 08 before the end of the year.. I promise!!!!

Pics taken recently of Shaya for the family xmas cards.

Time is flying by....

I left home on the 14th of October.. drove out to Edmonton and carried on to Vancouver to oversee the production of EZ Street asphalt for a new client on the west coast. It went well, in spite of all the rain and I'm glad to see that we have a customer that is anxious to work with us and wants to cover as much of the western provinces as we will allow. We have to see how things work out with him for now but I'm optimistic that this is just one piece of a growing puzzle.

I was pleased that I could take a few days to visit with Jill, Wayne, and Shaya. My lovely little grand daughter is growing so fast and she was very comfortable with me right from the start. I love spending time with her.. she is at my favorite stage.. vocabulary growing daily and communicating and interested and interesting. Unfortunately, I only had a few days with the kids as I had some work in Edmonton to follow up on. Gawd the drive back to Alberta was horrible. It is the first time that I have ever been really.. I mean REALLY, concerned and somewhat afraid with the road and conditions.. Blizzard in the mountains with major delays due to accident.. followed by heavy fog and black ice road conditions - it took me almost 24 hours to make the trip that normally would be about half of that. But, I arrived safe and sound in Edmonton in time to oversee a production of EZ Street at the city of Edmonton paving plant. Again, all went well with that. The Edmonton trip was combined with spending time at the NUNA offices. This is the company that has bought 50% of our business and I found it interesting to spend a few days with the new manager and get to know some of the local staff. I spent some time again with my friends Bill and Pat who have opened their house to me at any time I need a bed.. they have been so very good to me and Julie since my surgery last year. I really do not know how I would have survived my illness and stay in Edmonton last year if I did not have their support and friendship. I love them both dearly and wish I could show my thanks in some special way. I will have to give this some thought and perhaps next year when it is time for them to move to Nova Scotia and enjoy retirement, I can help them in some way.

I got to spend some time with Jesse and Nikki as well. Jesse is doing incredibly well with his school and I am so proud and happy for him. He is working hard and is dedicated to this course. Jesse is having a bit of difficulty adjusting to "co-habitation" .. this is his first real relationship and I spent a bit of time giving him the benefit of some advice from the wealth of experience I have in dealing with women.. LOL... actually, I told him if he ever figures it all out, to let me know as I have not been really successful but am working on a very important project at the present time.. right Jewels??

I made a very tough.. and for me, bold decision a couple of days ago. I decided to semi retire... at least, to leave the employ of EZ Street/Nuna Innovations and leave it up to my partners and staff to run that business. I am counting on them to make enough profits to look after me in my old age. In the meanwhile, I will pick at part time work and get to spend a bit more time with Julie.. it's time to make something more of that relationship. I love my girl and I want to spend more.. much more time with her.

CBC Northbeat clip featuring EZ Street cold asphalt

My kids..

I'm not in a good frame of mind right now to talk about Ingrid. My first baby.. beautiful baby.. that Benj and I lost at the age of two to a genetic disorder that brought on a disease that was similar to muscular distrophy. It gradually weakened Ingrid's body and brought on her death. It's strange how time has dulled the pain and I am not affected by this in my day to day life - but any time I think about her and spend some time talking about her, it's like it happened yesterday and the pain comes back... the pain comes back with such force and reality and hurtfulness... It will never be easy to go back there I guess and that is probably good... Ingrid would have been in her late 30's now and I have to wonder what could have been for this bright and sensitive little soul. One thing I learned from this experience, and this was re-inforced by my illness last year.. is that we have to enjoy our time on this world of ours because it can be taken away from us at any time. Once our time is up, that's it baby.... so enjoy, do things you can while you can.. experience life... don't be afraid to try new things.. learn to love and be loved.. blah blah blah...

If there was any good that came from losing our Ingrid, it opened another door.. a door that we would never have considered if she had remained healthy. The door opened to give us the opportunity to have a family by adoption. We were so lucky to be in the right place at the right time to adopt Jill when we lived up in Inuvik in '85. When we moved to Yellowknife, we applied to social services for a second child and Jesse rounded out our family in '88. Benj and I had first considered adoption as an alternative to having our family but were very afraid .. or concerned that it might not work for us after the pain we went through. We worried that we could never feel the same about a child that wasn't naturally conceived by us.. we soon learned that this was not an issue. Both of the kids, Jill and Jesse, were instantly "our" kids and there was never any difference in our feelings or acceptance of these two wonderful children as part of our real family. I am not sure how to express this, but I am so happy that we made that decision to take in these two kids and especially now - considering where my life has gone. I have two children that are now young adults.. two children that have had their share of distress in their lives in spite of the love that we have for them... my kids whom I love and am so happy to see how they are now gaining some direction in their lives. And of course, my grand daughter.... my baby's baby .. that sweet little child Shaya that I so adore...

Jill is enrolled in Island College in Courtney BC taking a photography course. She has worked hard to get things set up to take this course and I am so proud of her that she has found a way to get trained in a field that helps her to express her artsy fartsy side.. she is so talented and this is only a beginning for her to create her future doing things that she loves to do.

Jesse... ahhh my sweet loving little boy is such a big young man now. I thought that I had lost my boy and I guess I did for a while... but it looks like Jesse is back now and as with Jill, I am so very proud and happy for Jesse that he has taken back some control of his life. He has found a way to get into college attending NAIT in Edmonton and is taking an Aircraft Maintenance course. Jesse could never be accused of being artsy fartsy and this course is step one in developing the "hands on" type of skills that Jesse posseses.

Both the kids are lucky to have S.O.'s in their lives that support them in what they do. Wayne and Nikki have been positive influences for them and I so hope that their lives are happy and fruitful and I want them to know how extremely extremely happy that I am and will continue to be a part of them..

Where do we go from here - what is Jim working at???

I haven't done anything on this blog for a couple of months.. Jeez the time seems to fly by. I have to admit that I have been feeling quite frustrated over the past couple of months. I am involved as a partner in a company called EZ Street Canada. We own the distribution rights to a wonderful fantastic cold asphalt product that actually works when repairing paved surfaces... yes, the dreaded pothole can be cured! Anyways, we have a verbal agreement with a large company to purchase 50% of the business. It will give us the clout to take our business to the next stage and it is already showing signs.. very positive signs of being a huge success with representatives making our product in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta/NWT and BC. The frustration is that the sale has been virtually stalled over the past 2 months waiting for I's to be dotted andt T's to be crossed.. lawyers.. accountants.. but..I firmly believe that this week the deal will be done and we can get on with business. It has been very difficult for me as there has been NO income for a year now and I think everyone would realize that this is not good. I'm really looking forward to getting it done.

In addition to the EZ Street sales, our company had also been involved in sales of another product called Airstar lighting. This product is a highly efficient and easily portable lighting system that can be used in a multitude of situations. We have been marketing the lights in the past to construction, expediting, and mining companies who work in remote locations. We have been salivating at the prospect of getting these lights into the oil sands at Fort McMurray without much success. We recently got a surprize call from a construction company in that region looking for a demonstration of the product and as a result, we quickly arranged a trip up to Ft Mac to show off the lights. It appears that our trip was successful as we have a verbal ..ouch..there goes that verbal word again.. aggreement to rent a large number of lights with a promise to let us use their project as a base for showing the products to other companies in the region. There is so much potential with this product in the oil sands and the client was blown away with the lights and is anxious to get them placed.

Excuse me for sounding optimistic... it has been very tough financially for poor old Jim the past year but... it is going to change very soon and with a few dollars coming in, it looks like it will be a very busy time for the next couple of years. It is exciting and I only wish I were 20 years younger to work at and develop these opportunities.. but I'm not and I'm healthy and I'm happy and who could ask for anything more.