078 PERFECT CHRISTMAS

Here we are, it’s Christmas Day of 2016.  It has been an amazing journey these last nine months or so.  Going from my tiny 600 square foot basement suite to this beautiful new townhouse.  From cooking on a 2-burner hot plate and an electric wok, to using this huge 5 burner gas stove and a gas convection oven.  I am thankful every day for the change.

As I have documented in the past months I have made good use of that stove as well.  Mastering new baking skills and learning to cook and bake new things.  I still managed to cook some good dinners in my old place, but it’s so much easier now.  I did a turkey dinner for 8 on Thanksgiving and will be doing another tomorrow on Boxing Day.

FILLING THE TARTS
TEACAKES IN OVEN

Renee will be leaving shortly to go home where she and her friend Carol will walk the seawall in Stanley Park as they do every Christmas.  Toby and I will spend the day here doing our usual routine and will join them later for dinner at Carol’s.  My task each year is to bring the desert, which is usually me bringing a pumpkin pie and spray whip cream from the store.

ADDING STARS

Not this year though.  Last night I baked 24 mince tarts, which as I am told are Carol’s favourites.  I also baked 31 Russian Tea Cakes.  Only a portion of those will go to Carol’s place while the rest will be shared with my kids at dinner tomorrow.  Renee can hardly wait and I must keep them hidden until she heads off.

We have some great new neighbours and have even exchanged cards with a few that we have become closer to.  I had one great neighbour at the old place, Yoko, but here everyone is so friendly.  I think it has something to do with the fact that we are all in similar situations, moving into new places in a new location.  Some are new to the area like the girls behind us who came from Montreal.  Others have lived in Maple Ridge for years and are downsizing.

I have decorated the house with lights outside and a Christmas Tree inside.  Next year I will add to it by doing some inside decorations and maybe add to the outside display.  But what could possibly make this any better?  Well it is something that very rarely happened in Vancouver.  That is a White Christmas.  Maple Ridge tends to get more snow than Vancouver, although this year when we have had the few big snowfalls, the accumulations in Vancouver were greater.

From what I understand, a lot of the snow in Vancouver has melted with the rain over the past week.  It was raining here too and the snow we had was quickly disappearing.  I joked that if there was still a little bit left, could we call it an Off-White Christmas?  We shall see what happens.

Friday morning, the dawn of a special day.  Ten years ago, we drove all the way to Yakima, Washington and got Toby.  We were both sick, which made for a miserable drive.  But, 5 hours isn’t bad.  Except we got jammed up in Snoqualmie Pass with avalanche control and the 5-hour drive turned into 9.  It all worked out and we got home the same night at 11:30 PM.  This day would also have marked my Mom’s 99^th Birthday.

KID AND A SNOWMAN

INFLATABLE

 My Mom loved snow.  Maybe that’s where I get it from.  She was born and raised in the Prairies and you would have thought she would have had enough of the white stuff, but no, whenever it snowed, Mom was like a little kid again.  She loved sitting and knitting and watching the snow fall.  I’m the same way, minus the knitting of course.

SALT TRUCK WORKING

DECORATED

I don’t like to shovel it, but I don’t have to worry about that here.  That is all done for us.  It was a little disappointing when I got up at 5:00 AM and looking out the window to see it was pissing rain.  When I looked out again at 7:00 AM it had switched to glorious snow.  It snowed all day from 7:00 AM to almost 7:00 PM.  Even despite that, we didn’t get a lot of buildup.  Two inches would be a very generous estimate.

However, on Saturday, the temperature dropped and everything froze solid.  It was treacherous walking Toby yesterday morning.  He was sliding on the ice, Renee was sliding and I was doing my very best to avoid it.  I wore my runners and did sort of modified penguin walk, but we got through it.

WHITE CHRISTMAS

So here we are on Christmas morning and waiting for the one thing that will make Christmas perfect.  Not knowing what happened with the weather overnight, but hoping for the best.  I peeked through the blinds and sure enough, the snow is still here.  We have a White Christmas.  A great welcome to the new house and our first Christmas here.  My first White Christmas in many years. Hmm, I wonder if my Mom had something to do with it?

077 SNOW DAY, YAY

Finally, after waiting all week, we got some snow.  It was supposed to happen Thursday morning, then Thursday afternoon, then late Thursday night, but it finally started at 7:00 AM on Friday.  It started very gently, with a powdery snow and kept it up until 9:00 when Toby and I went out for our morning walk.  It stopped then.

There was maybe ½ to ¾ inch of snow.  Walking our driveway was fine because at 7:30 AM one of the guys from the construction crew grabbed one of the bobcats and shoveled all the roads.  It worked well and even picked up the ice left from our -10-degree day yesterday.

STARTING THE LIGHTS

FINISH LIGHTS. A LOOK INSIDE
THE INDIANA JONES GARAGE

For salting, it was hilarious.  I looked out the window and saw the same guy sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck.  They came slowly up the road and the guy in back had a big bag of salt and a tin can.  He would dip it into the bag of salt and sprinkle it onto the road behind the truck.  By the time, I got to my camera, they had disappeared around the corner.  Hey, it may have been improvised, but it worked well.  It was just funny to watch.

The pathway was fine for walking as well, since it’s gravel.  The place I had problems was on the city sidewalks.  The roads themselves were plowed and well salted.  Sidewalks not so much.  The top part of the 240^th hill had a path salted into it but the rest, not so much.  It was also hard walking in my new boots which I haven’t fully broken in yet.

Mr. Enthusiasm, Toby started yanking me along and I started to lose my balance, but managed to stop from falling by grabbing one of the fences around the boulevard trees.  It would have been fine, but Toby kept pulling and I felt something in my wrist, creak.  Man, did that hurt.  Once I got home, I iced it and took an anti-inflammatory and it seems to be a lot better this evening.

It started snowing again around noon, only a lot harder this time.  It’s a lot warmer today at only 0 degrees.  The hose really holds the heat well and normally stays around 19 or 20 without the heat being on.  Yesterday the inside temperature got down to 14C and I was finally forced to turn on the heat for the first time.  I was wondering how well the electric baseboard heaters would do, but they had the heat up to 20 within an hour.

BEFORE INSTALLATION OF EXTRA
LIGHTS, WINDOW LIGHTS
AND SNOW

At 3:30 PM, Toby and I headed out for our evening walk in the winter wonderland and directly after headed to the Westcoast Express to pick up Renee.  The train was 25 minutes late today.  Driving was easy using 4-wheel drive, with all-terrain tires and just driving slowly and carefully.  We saw both extremes on the road.  The road itself was clear of snow, but there was some idiot driving at between 10 and 15 kph.  It’s good to go slow, but there is a limit.

On the other hand, after we got parked and were heading inside, some moron went by at between 80 and 90 kph and throwing snow everywhere.  I’d be amazed if he makes it home at all and without killing someone.  You just have to shake your head and wonder.

After dinner, I finally got around to putting lights up around the front window.  That finishes off the front decorating.  I put these lights inside the window though.  I still must do the back window, but I’ll do that tomorrow.  They look good from the outside, but I should have turned off the house lights as they don’t show up too well in the photo.  The snow just completes the whole picture.

FRONT OF HOUSE WITH WINDOW LIGHTS
EXTRA LIGHTS AND SNOW

I’ll re-shoot the photo tomorrow with the house lights off, so that they will show up better.  Hopefully the snow will still be here in time for the photo.  One can never tell around here.  What is heavy snow one minute can be heavy rain in the next minute.  We shall see, but for now, I’m just happy we finally have snow.  It just makes it feel so much more Christmassy!

076 SNOWMAGGEDON, NOT QUITE

I admit it, I love snow.  When it snows, I am transported back to those days as a kid when I would run outside at the first sign of snow and play in it for hours.  So long in fact that by the time I got home, I could barely move I was so cold.  Back in the day, Vancouver used to get lots of snow but nobody believed me, until we got that huge dump of snow in 1996 that hung around for weeks.

Over the years, Vancouver seems to get less and less snow and when we did get it, there would just be a dusting in the morning that was gone by evening.  Lots of times there would be no snow in Vancouver, but lots out in the valley.  So, when the time came that I had decided to move, my choice of location, was somewhat influenced by the extra snow.

Imagine my excitement when the snow warning was broadcast on Sunday.  I spent the evening right up until bedtime, looking out the window and checking for snow.  I can sit for hours at a window watching snow fall.  It is so peaceful and brings back memories.  My Mom was the same way, even though she was born in Saskatoon.  She still loved snow and maybe that’s where I get it from.

So, when I woke up yesterday and heard all the reports of snow in Vancouver and surrounding municipalities, I kept waiting for it to happen here in Maple Ridge.  Instead, the temperature hovered at 2 Celsius all day and it rained from morning to night.  As if we haven’t had enough rain.  Even watching the traffic snarls didn’t dampen my enthusiasm.

Admittedly, I’m retired, so if I drive anywhere, it is usually by choice.  I don’t drive near as much anymore as is evidenced by my truck which was purchased December 29, 2010 only has 32,000 miles on it on December 6, 2016.  That’s not a misprint.  My truck has a button that can switch the readout between standard and metric.  While I can certainly understand kilometers per hour, I have no clue what gas mileage in kilometers per 100 liters mean.  That’s why I use miles on my dashboard.

I have absolutely no problem driving in snow, partly because of all the various driving courses I have had over the years and partly because my truck has 4-wheel drive.  I even anticipated the snow last week and had some very nice BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires installed on my truck.  I opted for those as they will handle anything and are rated for snow.  It also negates the need to store 4 tires and have them changed back and forth.

What I do have a problem with on the roads, is not my driving skills.  It’s all the morons out there who are incapable of driving with any shred of intelligence in the sunshine, let alone in snow.  Driving with summer tires, driving too fast for conditions, getting stuck repeatedly.

I can remember one snowfall in Vancouver, there was one woman who managed to get stuck at not only the same intersection but the same spot, every day for eight days straight.  The strange part about it was she was turning to go downhill.  The first day, probably half a dozen neighbours came out to help get her unstuck.  The second day it was reduced.  The third day it was down to two and on the fourth, only one guy came out.  On day five one old guy came out and yelled at her to get herself out.

Shoveling the snow is not an issue, because living in a townhouse means that the management company takes care of any snow removal.  I don’t have any sidewalks to shovel anyway.  But, since we didn’t get any snow, there was no test of the efficiency of the snow removal work in the complex.

So, the reports yesterday of 8 cm of snow in Vancouver and up to 15 cm in Surrey was very disappointing as I sit looking out on bare streets and rain.  I got up this morning hoping things had changed overnight.  It has at least stopped raining but the temperature has dropped well below freezing and I can see glistening of ice on the road.

We shall see what the rest of the week holds as the weather reports are all calling for sub-zero temperatures for the next week or so and another snowfall warning is in effect for Thursday.  That means Wednesday will be clear and I can make my usual long trek to UBC to play hockey.

075 A BAD CASE OF GAS

Yesterday I took advantage of the momentary lull in the 90-day rain event and managed to get Toby out for his morning walk in the sunshine for a change.  No, it didn’t last, but we go every morning rain or shine and maybe even snow next week.  We also do another walk in the late afternoon.  It’s good for him and good for me too as it helps me to get my 10,000 steps per day in.

The walk became a little broken up and mixed up though.  When we got to the top of the trail, all the construction fences had fallen over blocking our way.  So, we turned around and went all the way back.  While we were heading back down, we could hear a rushing sound.  It sounded like our little creek had turned into a rushing river, or it was the sound of escaping gas.

Suddenly, the air horns started blasting and I saw the construction safety officer yelling for the workers to get off-site.  They were all complying too.  Dropping their tools and heading out in an orderly fashion.  That’s when I smelled it.  Natural gas, which has a very distinct odor like rotten eggs.

We continued our walk and headed for the upper trail, which is well away from the townhouse complex.  Unfortunately, the wind was blowing in our direction and the smell of gas on the trail was almost overwhelming.  We completed the trail and headed through the neighbourhood and now that we were out of the wind the smell of gas disappeared.

When we got back to the upper driveway of the construction zone we found it full of fire trucks, police cars and Fortis BC trucks.  There were construction workers, civilians, policemen, firemen and gas workers milling about and figuring out the plan of attack.

I got talking to the construction safety person and discovered that someone using one of the big machines was digging out an area near our soon to be finished club house, when the shovel pierced a significantly large gas main.  This had the potential to be dangerous.  Everyone on the entire site had been evacuated.

So, I was still quite a distance from home and a distance from my truck which is parked on the street.  One of the fire guys, seeing Toby and me both shivering, offered to escort us to the truck to get out of the cold wind.  I was cold because I had been working up a sweat, Toby was cold because he got shaved down again a couple of weeks ago.

So, we headed down the street and got to go right past where the Fortis guys were working hard to seal the leak.  It was an impressive looking line.  Anyway, we made it to the truck and got in, got the heat going and managed to stop shivering.

Not counting the walk, we were only kept out of the house for a little over an hour and then got to go home.  The line had been capped, but the smell of gas lingered for quite a while.  I was nervous about turning on the gas stove, but managed to do it without incident.  That’s funny, because I saw someone on the street, close to the leak, light up a cigarette.  Someone with a shred more intelligence convinced him to put it out.

Just as we got back in the house, the sun had disappeared and the heavens re-opened and it poured rain once again.  It continued all night and again all day today.  Noah only had to put up with 40 days and 40 nights of rain.  On the weather report, they said between September 1 and November 30 we have only had 5 completely dry days.  The rest have had measurable rainfall either at some point in the day, night or the whole day.

They are calling for the possibility of snow on Monday afternoon, but we shall see.  Either way, I’m ready.  I have a 4x4 and just put on a set of Extreme All-Terrain tires, which even carry the snowflake symbol on the side.  I’ve never had trouble driving in the snow, it’s what all the other poor drivers out there do that scares me.  Some are not capable of driving in the sunshine, let alone snow.

074 MOVING RIGHT ALONG

It is now the last day of November and things are moving right along.  Renee decorated the tree with all the little baubles a couple of days ago, but it remained unfinished.  The snowflake tree-topper would not work at all as it had a strange little scoop thing on the bottom, designed to balance on top of a large branch or trunk.  This tree doesn’t have one.  So, it was back to Canadian Tire I went.

TREE ALL DECORATED

I started looking at the trees on display and saw that there were tree-toppers that had a very impressive looking clamp.  Then I started looking at the tree-toppers available and came across the exact same one that Renee liked initially, but we rejected because it felt too heavy.  Right there at the bottom was a very skookum looking clamp, so I bought it.  Renee has her first wish tree topper, but she doesn’t know it yet.

NO FLASH JUST LIGHTS

The tree-topper is a solid looking star made from chips of wood and has jewels embedded in it.  It’s very west coast looking.  Now if I can just get it to work with the tree.  The cashier that took the return of the snowflake one saw this one and hoped it would work.  I told her that I would give it a shot and if it didn’t I could always bring it back as well.

Of course, I couldn’t go into Canadian Tire and just buy one thing.  So, I ended up buying a third string of lights to put on the fence.  This will complete the back yard.  The front is another chore.  I do have a battery-operated wreath on the front door, which has a timer allowing the lights to be on for 6 hours and off for 18.  Unfortunately, I obviously set it wrong because they were on all the time and I burned through a set of batteries in 3 days.

RUDOLPH IS READY

Renee set up some gold leafed path markers and set the timer correctly since they go on at 4:00 PM every day and go off at 10:00 PM.  Oh, well, I bought more batteries and I will re-set the front door wreath.  If it ever stoops raining I will tackle the back-yard fence and the front of the house.

I wanted little lights for the inside of the windows but the shortest string I can find at Canadian Tire is 33 feet and I don’t think any of my windows are big enough.  When in doubt, measure.  So, once I get home I will measure the windows.

As luck, would have it, it stopped raining.  I waited just to be sure and it stayed dry for several hours, so off into the yard I went with my string of lights.  Of course, as soon as I got about 10 feet done, the heavens opened again and I got soaked.  But the lights are done.  The string was too long for just the top of the fence, so I doubled it back along the bottom of the lattice.  It looks good tonight too.

BACK YARD FROM THE DECK

The front of the house will have to wait until Thursday or later now.  It’s already the earliest I have put up Christmas stuff, as I usually wait until December 1.  New place, new rules I guess.  Lots of people in the neighbourhood are getting into the spirit, as lights and decorations are going up everywhere.  The complex is looking more festive every day.

The house is looking good now, but am I finished?  I doubt it, although I really can’t think of more to do yet.  I do intend to project the animation of Santa in the window, but I must find some translucent material to put up to project onto.  I checked the Atmosfx website with the intention of ordering it from them.  Unfortunately, a roll, not big enough to cover the window costs $74 American and then they want another $74 American to ship it.  Then you can add in duty and 2-week delivery time and I said “forget it”.  I’ll put my brain to work and come up with another idea.  How hard could it be?

Anyway, the decorating saga continues and who knows where it will end.   We shall see.  I may be done now, but I really don’t think so.  I have a nice ledge under the winter painting that is crying out for some Christmassy items.  Sure, wish I had that set of snow people my Mom made years ago, but I will find some other items to put there.  I should maybe even get a Christmassy table cloth for when the kids come over for Boxing Day dinner.  We shall see.  Stay tuned for more adventures.

073 CHRISTMAS CHEER

As a follow-up to the article “And So It Begins”, Canadian Tire is having a big sale on everything, but especially on Christmas stuff.  I finally made the decision to go with an artificial tree and Canadian Tire has some amazingly lifelike ones.  Better yet they are on sale and so the one I settled on is over $100 cheaper.  I ended up getting a 7’6” Noble Fir, which even with a tree topper will fit nicely as I have 9 foot ceilings.

A really nice part about the tree is that not only is it very lifelike it comes with the lights built in.  Over 300 lights.  Renee wanted just white lights, but I like multi-coloured ones.  So, we compromised and I got colour changing ones.  They go from white to multi-coloured and back again. It’s a very nice looking tree and setup is supposed to be easy.  It comes with a bottom, middle and top section.  You just put them together and fluff out the branches and plug it in.  I’ll let you know in a later article whether it was easy.

BOXED TREE

BOTTOM SECTION

In addition, I got some multi-coloured ball ornaments.  We were worried about the possibility of them falling onto the laminate floors and shattering, but these are all shatter proof plastic.  They look like glass, but without the danger.

TWO SECTIONS

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Renee found a couple of tree toppers.  One was a large star made from wood, but it was too big and heavy to be able to go on the tree.  The second was also a star made from twigs and lights, but it was too small to have an impact on such a large tree.  Finally, I spotted a nice and delicate snowflake design, plus it is just the right size and light enough to perch on the tree.  Renee really wanted one of the stars but relented and picked the snowflake.

I also bought another string of 150 lights, but imagine my shock.  Two weeks ago, they were $29.99 and the same string of lights were now $49.99.  I need the lights and would have paid that if necessary, but one of the managers dropped the price back to the same $29.99 because of all the other stuff I was getting.  There is still more to be bought but it will come later.

TOBY KEEPING WARM

Imagine my shock when I picked up the box holding the tree.  Not only does it look real, it feels like a real tree weight wise.  Holy cow, is this thing heavy.  I managed to muscle it into the shopping cart and then into the truck.  Once we got home I lugged it into the garage and then the next step will be to lug it up the stairs.  I may have to do it a section at a time.

The next chore will be to put up the lights.  I’m going to line the balcony railing and maybe around the patio door.  I’ll also be putting lights around the front door and wood columns.  The neighbor across the street has lights lining his lower roofline and I may do the same, depending on my energy and bravery level re going up a step ladder.

I also plan on getting some indoor lights to go around the windows, since I don’t want to be going up a ladder to do those.  I also have a DVD to project on the window called “Santa’s Visit”.  It’s made by the same company that did the animated pumpkins on Halloween, but for this one I must get a translucent covering for the window that will allow the video to shine through.  It says you can use a “frosted” shower curtain, but I can’t find one.

This will also give a neat set of ideas for the kids.  They always complain they can’t think of what to get me.  Since I need ornaments for the tree they can get me some special ones from them or make some that will help to replace all the personal ones that I inadvertently gave away.  Again, it was long before I thought about moving and Dad had just died, so I was not thinking that far ahead re the Christmas ornaments.

So, the shopping for decorations is well underway, and I don’t think I will need too much more, but it will depend on what I discover I need after setting stuff up, or neat stuff that catches my eye when shopping.  It’s hard to believe that it is down to a month left before Christmas and for my first Christmas in the new house.  Almost 9 months I have been here now.

072 ACTION GALORE

It was almost non-stop action around here for a couple of days during the Remembrance Day long weekend.  It was like being on an action movie set.  It’s usually pretty quiet around here and quiet being a relative term with all the construction noise next door.  Now granted, that is only during the day and I’m one of the few that is home during the day.  The buildings though are pretty well sound insulated, so it isn’t too bad at all.

But, I digress.  Shortly after watching the Remembrance Day ceremonies on TV, we were surprised to look out and see three RCMP cars come racing into the complex with red and blue lights flashing.  They raced past my place and up the street to the security fence where they were met by the on-site security guard.

The officers bailed out of their cars and set up containment around one of the buildings under construction.  A short time later they were joined by two more RCMP cars.  One was a Supervisor’s unit and the other an SUV with a dog.

After searching the building for a short time, they came out with a suspect in handcuffs.  One member was carrying a very expensive looking bicycle and the other carrying two back-packs.  After loading the suspect into one of the cars, they went back to searching the building.  This is a building which comprises of six individual townhouse units.

It is not even in the lockdown stage as of yet.  The windows are all in, but not all the doors and you can freely walk between units inside.  I don’t know if this is just a moron who picked the wrong building or if he was hoping to steal copper pipes, wires or left-over tools.

He would be out of luck on all three counts because the places are not wired yet.  They use plastic or PVC pipes and the workers are extremely diligent about not leaving tools behind.  He could just be one of the many druggies who roam the streets looking for a score, or he could have been a homeless person just trying to get out of the rain.  In any case, the Mounties did a great job and received a round of applause from all the residents gathered.

The following evening I finally managed to surprise Renee.  I told her we were going to Canadian Tire to get the new Christmas tree and decorations, but instead took her to The Keg for a Prime Rib and Lobster dinner, to celebrate our 13^th Anniversary.  She was very surprised, so surprised in fact because for the third year in a row, she forgot it was our anniversary.  People think men are the ones who forget things like this.

Sunday, morning and we had the whole adventure from Friday repeated.  RCMP units converging and again, they managed to arrest a person in the same building.  I saw him being led outside and it was a different guy.  He was fighting all the way and screaming that the security guy had let him in.  In fact, it was the security guy who spotted him and phoned it in.  this guy was taken away and on the way out was trying to kick the window out of the police car.  Another great arrest.

On Monday morning as Toby and I were going for our walk, I saw the head of construction and told him about the action.  He was aware of the first incident but didn’t know about the second.  It turns out the first guy on Friday was a member of their construction team.  So, all charges were dropped.

I kind of suspect that the guy was one of the “working homeless” and just ducked into the site to get out of the rain for a few hours.  Who, really knows though.  The second guy though, I have no idea who he was or what there is for an update on him.

It’s worked out well though as it has all the residents more on their toes and looking around at who is around.  This could also be because of Maple Ridge City Council imposing a “red zone” on downtown Maple Ridge.  Any of the known criminals in the area are not allowed to be found in an area in downtown.  Unfortunately, this will force them into more outlying areas, which will make us targets as well.

071 AND SO IT BEGINS

…And so, it begins.  After going crazy on decorations for Halloween a visit to the store reveals that even while the Halloween decorations were still out, just one aisle over were, you guessed it, Christmas decorations.  Now, I would never think of putting up Christmas decorations until after Remembrance Day, but even if I wanted to, townhouse bylaws state no decorations before November 15 and they must be gone by January 15.

In the old house, living in the basement, I had LED lights around the back door and around the front window.  They were plugged in on December 1 and unplugged on January 3 every year.  The lights were small and unobtrusive and so I left them up year around.

For a time, I used to put up a Christmas tree (a real one) especially when the kids were younger and would be coming to my place over the holidays.  But after the arrival of Toby, I stopped doing the tree.  I had one up the year he arrived, but he came two days before Christmas.  I stopped because it was just too much temptation for him to either pull it over or pee on it.  Plus, it was very crowed in that tiny basement.

My Mother, many years ago, made some neat Snow People and those were put out each year.  My sister had a set as well.  Hers got destroyed somehow and so I let her have mine.  After Dad died and my sister and her crew were clearing out the house, I told them to take all the Christmas decorations because I wasn’t using them anymore.  This was long before I even thought about moving out.

Now I find myself with a real urge to decorate for Christmas again.  I think this was brought on by the fun of decorating for Halloween.  I have one neighbour who decorates for every holiday.  Valentines, Easter, Canada Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas just to name a few.  I have no intention of reaching that level, but, Halloween and Christmas are in there.

I’m having a great deal of difficulty deciding between an artificial tree and a real one.  The mess made by the real ones is a great deterrent.  I was vacuuming up needles for a month or more afterwards.  The artificial ones didn’t look real and sure don’t have that amazing smell.  Well, imagine my surprise when at Canadian Tire yesterday, I saw some amazingly real looking trees that come with lights built in.

Real trees are expensive ($50 and up), messy and it’s killing one more live tree.  Yes, I know they are grown specifically for Christmas.  You also never know what you are going to get or how long it will last, plus they are major fire hazards.  There are no regulations saying you can’t have a live tree, but those factors make it less likely.

Artificial trees are expensive ($199 to $699) but it’s a onetime expense rather than one every year.  You buy the specific size to fit your living area and the tree is always the same.  They don’t have the amazing smell, but that can be achieved by getting some real branches and there some amazing new artificial scents that can be used as well.

We went to Canadian Tire yesterday for something else and I did buy some multi coloured lights to put around the deck railing and some icicle lights in blue to hand down the railing.  I like the multi coloured lights and Renee likes all one colour and so this was the compromise.  She also picked out a reindeer to hand from the front door.

So, this is the beginning.  I saw two great statues that would look great on the deck.  One is Santa and the other is a bear.  They are both about 3 feet tall and heavy as hell.  They are also $250 each, so I think I will skip those.

So, like the title of this article suggests, “and so it begins”.  There will be more purchases, I am sure.  I also need to buy decorations for the tree, whichever way I opt to go.  There are some great personal decorations that went with all the rest, but I’ll be starting over.

One last note.  On Halloween, I had the great animated pumpkin program and I have just gotten one called “Santa’s Visit” that I will put into use.  It projects a video of Santa prowling around in the house.  It can be used in many ways, but I think I will get some translucent material for the window and project him on there.

070 HALLOWEEN SUCCESS

So, there we have it.  The first Halloween in the new house is in the books.  It sure didn’t start out very promising.  It pissed down rain, almost in deluge format from 5:00 AM until 5:00 PM and it wasn’t looking good for the trick or treaters.  Then almost on cue at 5:00 PM it stopped raining and turned into a relatively pleasant evening for the little kiddies, and us big kiddies.

DECORATIONS

ANIMATED PUMPKIN FACES

BACK DECK DECORATIONS

Unfortunately, I could not put out some of the animated stuff until the last minute.  It took me awhile to get the projector set up with the three pumpkins, but it worked perfectly.  It’s too bad that the way I had it set up, it couldn’t be seen from the street.  But the main thing is that it worked and it was a lesson for next year.  It took a while to get it working perfectly and so I was crunched for time.

I filled the fog machine and put it out to warm up, and it was too bad that I hurried it, because I could not get it working under any circumstances.  It was only afterwards when I was packing up that I discovered that the intake hose had a plug in it for transport.  Had I removed it I’m sure it would have worked perfectly.  But that was the only glitch on the night.

Well there was one other when Renee closed the screen door and I didn’t know and just about walked through it.  Luckily, or maybe not, I bounced off it.  But, man it hurt.  I did manage to remain upright, but it’s like skating g with your head down and that big defenseman comes across the ice to take your head off.

ANGEL

OLD DUDE

COME TO ME MY CHILDREN

Renee dressed up as an angel and then later tossed on an old man mask and caught me completely by surprise.  It worked well with her costume.  I had not planned on dressing up, but I got into the spirit of it anyway.  It was just something I had lying around.  I debated wearing my Canucks uniform or even wearing my old police dress uniform.

Instead, I had bought a camouflage Ghillie suit (aka a sniper suit) last summer with the plan of using it for wildlife photography.  I never did get around to use it, because my sidekick Toby would give me away anyway.  So, I threw it on and was amazed by the number of compliments I got from parents walking with their kids.  I was even more shocked when an 8-year-old boy said to his Dad, “Hey Dad, he has a Ghillie Suit”.  Most people don’t know what it is, let alone what it’s called.  Even on a cool night, it was hot in that thing.

GHILLIE SUIT GHOUL

BOO

The weather held off all evening and there were lots of kids patrolling the neighbourhood.  We ended up with close to 50 kids and used up more than half of the candy in the bowl.  There’s still some left for us though.  It was great to see that many kids around, as last year in East Vancouver, my neighbour had less than 10 kids.  This was more like the days when I was young, although, then my Mom used to get over 200.

Since the complex isn’t even half constructed or full yet, we weren’t expecting too much.  But it was way better than expected.  We had close to 50 trick ort treaters and once everything is occupied by next year, it should be a great turn-out.  Still, it was an awesome evening and it felt like being a kid again.

GOODIE BOWL

MY JACK-O-LANTERN

RENEE'S JACK-O-LANTERN

I learned some lessons about setting up decorations and next year I will be better prepared.  Or at least I hope I will.  Having it rain all day though, limited my options.  Maybe next year the weather will be better.  One can always hope.

The other thing that was great, is that the fireworks were very limited and much farther away, so Toby wasn’t panicked.  With the park across the street from the old house, the fireworks were constant from 9:00 PM to 2:00 AM.  Tonight, the fireworks, even in the distance were done before 10:00 PM and Toby wasn’t freaked out at all tonight.

Hurray for Halloween and already looking forward to next year.  The next big project will be Christmas decorations.  Going to have to get lights for the front door and the back deck.  I’ll even think about doing the windows and getting a tree.  I just must decide on real or artificial.

069 HALLOWEEN HORRORS

Here we are, the day before Halloween and I’m as excited as a little kid.  Most of the decorations have been up since early in the month.  Yes, I said decorations.  I have never decorated for Halloween before other than the traditional carved jack-o-lanterns, but this year I have gone nuts.

There are spider webs in the living room window, although the way we put them up, and when I say we, I mean Renee.  I bought the stuff, she decorated.  The spider webs feature lots of plastic spiders and along the window sill are several plastic rats.  My hope is that is the only rats to invade this house after a long battle with the real ones at the old house.

There is a skeleton hanging from the railing as well as a light up tombstone.  There are electronic skulls on the railing.   They are designed to be pathway markers, but it was better to put them on the railing out of the way of the gardeners.  These have a switch that detects motion which causes the eyes to light up and trigger a cackling spooky voice.

I mention these because they have been out on the railing for almost two weeks, with the switch turned off.  But last night we had a very spooky thing happen.  Around midnight we were already in bed and we could hear strange sounds.  Renee looked out the window and discovered the skulls lit up and cackling.  It was so odd.  The skulls were checked and we discovered that the switch had been turned on.

Renee swears she didn’t do it, and I believe her.  I know I didn’t do it because I have felt so crappy lately and the weather has been so bad, I haven’t even been out on the deck, so I have no idea how these things got turned on.  Just one of those spooky Halloween adventures I guess.

There is an animated witch, which won’t be going outside until we are sure it’s not going to be raining on Halloween night.  It is also motion activated.  Her partner is an animated skeleton playing “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round The Mountain” on a harmonica.  Again, he won’t go out until we are sure of the weather.

BONES HARMONICA

RENEE AND FRIENDS

Completing the high-tech mentality for the evening is the fog machine that I acquired.  This will produce a nice low lying fog to add to the mysterious nature of the evening.  Hopefully the weather cooperates because I won’t be able to use it in the rain.  It will come in handy around Christmas as well, in addition to using it for smoke effects in some portraits and other photos.

Finally, the last high tech thing is a video from AtmosFearfx called Jack-O-Lantern Jamboree.  Using a projector, it projects animated Jack-O-Lantern faces onto three uncarved pumpkins.  These are complete with sound and the videos have the three pumpkins making rude sounds and making faces, they sing songs or tell stories.  I’m excited to see the kids and adult’s reaction to these.

Finally, we bowed to tradition yesterday and carved two more pumpkins with the traditional candles inside.  They are out on the deck already and will be proudly lit and displayed on Halloween night.  As I said, I went completely mental as far as Halloween goes.

LIGHTING THE JACK-O-LANTERN

2 SMILING FACES

I guess because I was not able to participate for years because I was usually working and because the kids would not come to the basement door of the old house.  I have stocked up on goodies to hand out, although I must keep them well hidden for now.

Finally, Renee has an Angel costume to wear and I am just going to wear the camouflage Ghillie suit I got for wildlife photography, but I have not yet worn.  The final prep piece is to put a sign on the front door to direct kids to the back.  Partly because I don’t want to be running up and down all those stairs to hand out treats and partly because all the decorations are set up out back.  I think it will be magical for the kids as well, to walk down the boardwalk between the houses.  Especially if everyone participates with decorating.  It will also be a lot safer too, since there won’t be any cars to contend with.  Happy Halloween everyone.

RENEE AND JACK

PUMPKIN PAIR

068 RECOVERY AND MORE

Holy cow has it ever been an eventful integration into life in Maple Ridge.  It literally feels like I have been in recovery mode since I got here, but I sure do love it here.  First it was the fractured wrist and the rehab which lead me to Spinal Decompression.  It was wildly successful and I was all set for hockey season when my eye went wonky and I had a torn detached retina.  Now my latest adventure.

Early in the season I had a puck bounce off the side of my foot.  Not a hard shot, didn’t hurt all that much but afterwards my little toe was swollen.  Fast forward a few weeks and on a Thursday morning, after playing the night before, I noticed a little white mark on the top of my toe.  I rubbed it and a little pus came out.

So, I rinsed it with alcohol, put on Polysporin and a Band-Aid and thought nothing more about it.  The next morning, pus was oozing out and when I touched the toe it poured out.  I did the same routine, alcohol, Polysporin and a Band-Aid.  By this point I was feeling as sick as a dog and let the organizers know I would not be playing Sunday morning.  I felt like I had a wicked cold or flu.  To this point my toe was not hurting.

Sunday morning and my toe was a gawd awful mess, leaking all over and hurting.  I took Renee to the swimming pool and while I was waiting, the pain was growing, so when she came back I told her we’re going to the hospital.

After getting in and being seen, the Doctor immediately put me on a dose of intravenous antibiotics, cleaned and dressed the wound.  He told me the flu like symptoms could possibly be the earliest indicators of going into sepsis.  Now the bad part of sepsis, is if left alone, it will kill you.

An x-ray of my toe revealed no fracture, but there were several holes in the bone indicating that the infection had infiltrated the bone which make treatment very difficult.  I must visit the hospital every afternoon for another course of intravenous antibiotics.  This will now be going on for 4 to 6 weeks of daily visits and doses.

I had a strange vision the other day as well.  I was sitting in a long corridor waiting for the Doctor to see me, when I looked way down the hall.  There was a man walking towards me and I would swear on a stack of bibles that it was my Dad who passed away in January 2015.  To the best of my knowledge, he had never been to Ridge Meadows Hospital.

So, this man is walking towards me.  He was wearing a grey and blue patterned jacket, just like my Dad.  He was the same height and build and had the same hairstyle.  It was kind of freaky.  Finally, when he got close enough, I could see that he was in fact a real, solid person, but up close he did not look anything like my Dad.  Other than the height, weight, hairstyle and clothes.

As of this morning my toe looks good, it’s not leaking anymore and doesn’t hurt much.  My feet which tend to swell are way less swollen now.  Although the Doc suggested I start wearing compression socks.  So, I bought a pair of those today.  If this course of antibiotics doesn’t work and there is no indication that they won’t, then they will have to amputate my toe.

Meanwhile no hockey, as I have an IV tube sticking out of my arm.  Even if I could pad it up enough, the antibiotics have played hell with my stamina and I’m only able to complete about ¼ of our normal morning walk.  This morning though, I managed to do the whole thing for the first time in 2 weeks.  After breakfast, I passed out and slept until it was time to go back to the hospital.

Throughout all these misfortunes, I am still smiling and every morning I wake up and look around and am so happy and thankful to be living in my wonderful new place.  I appreciate it every day and I’m so glad to be here.  All my neighbours are great and the complex is starting to take on a spooky air as people get into the spirit of Halloween.  Maybe I should be one of the Walking Dead, because man that is how I feel.  Oral antibiotics would be so much worse though.  I will get through it.

067 DISASTER AVERTED

The story starts simply.  We went to the local swimming pool like we do every weekend.  Renee swims her laps and I wait in the truck.  I like swimming, but in a lake.  I hate public pools.  So, I wait in the truck.  Sometimes I nap, most times I play Words with Friends or other games on my iPad.  The parking lot for Walmart is right next to the pool and that’s where I park.

This day though, there was a difference.  Once Renee had finished her swim, we decided to go into Walmart to shop for Halloween decorations.  I haven’t done Halloween in many years.  Partly because I was usually working them, but even after I retired, kids didn’t come to the basement door and Dad was too old to be getting up and down to answer the door.

Even when I lived in Surrey, we didn’t really decorate, other than maybe a cardboard witch in the window and carved pumpkins on the doorstep.  As s kid I always loved Halloween and even as an adult.  I just didn’t like dealing with all of the violence associated with it, once the little kids were done trick or treating.

Anyway, I decided to go all out this year.  I bought a fog machine online as well as the ingredients for making “Fog Juice”.  I looked online for decorations bought I had no way to tell if they were just “cheap” knock offs.  I did notice that they were very expensive and so the decision to go to Walmart.  I knew the prices would be reasonable and I could physically see if something was worth it or not.

ME WITH THE THREE

Not wanting to leave my iPad in the truck, for fear of it getting broken into and stolen, I took it with me.  I just tucked it under my arm and away we went.  The array of items was impressive some really cheap junk and other items that were great and great value.

RENEE, TOBY AND THE THREE

There were animated figures specifically a witch and a harmonica playing skeleton.  They were a little on the pricey side but the demos in the store were awesome and so they became mine.  We literally filled a shopping cart with Halloween stuff and headed off.  As we were going out I put my iPad in the child seat of the cart and headed for the truck.

Once there we loaded everything into the back of the truck and headed home.  I drove up to the door and we unloaded the stuff and Renee and Toby stayed while I went and parked the truck.  Yes, I know I have to organize the garage one day so I can park inside.  It was as I parked that I realized my iPad was not beside me on the console and I frantically looked all through the truck for it.  No luck.

SAMMY SKELETON AND WANDA THE WITCH

I phoned Renee and had her look through all the bags and with a sinking feeling, she reported it wasn’t there.  The next step was to activate the Find My iPhone app on my iPhone to locate the missing iPad.  No luck.  I have one of those covers on it that turns it off when closed.

So it was back in the truck and back to Walmart we headed.  I thought I may have left it on the counter when I was paying, but I remembered putting it in the cart.  If that was the case, I was pretty sure it was gone for good.  We finally got to Walmart after what seemed like an eternity and even managed to pull back into the same parking spot.

Even before we got parked, Renee looked across and screamed, “there it is!” and pointed.  Sure enough it was sitting straight up in the child carrier section of the cart.  There were 10 or 15 more carts all around it, so people had been there, but they were either too honest to take it, or too distracted to notice it.  Either way it was with a great sigh of relief that I retrieved it from the cart.

This is actually the second time I have lost the iPad since I moved to Maple Ridge.  The first time was the day I took possession of the house and once I had my documents, I had to go to the Post Office to pick up my mail box key.  I was carrying a bunch of file folders and put them down on the counter along with the iPad.  I had to give her my address and phone number.  After getting the key, I headed off and before I got to the house for the first time I got a call on my cell.  It was the postal clerk telling me I had left the iPad on the counter and she would hold it for me.

So Halloween has turned into a big adventure this year.  Both for the excitement of all the decorations and also for the loss and recovery of my iPad.  Renee was so excited about them she started putting up the decorations right away.  I was too darn tired and sore from hockey that morning and the fact I had been on the go since 5:00 AM.

066 HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

It’s here, after a slightly delayed start.  After all of the physio and surgeries and pain, finally tonight I get to hit the ice for the first time since last April.  It’s not the first time I will have travelled from Maple Ridge to UBC as I did that for the last 7 games of last season, so that isn’t new.

READY TO PLAY

I started off by watching Canada against the United States in the World Cup of Hockey.  The only game of the tournament I have watched so far.  I can’t watch tonight as I will be too busy playing in my own game.  It was great to see Canada come storming back after giving up the first goal and then go on to a 4-2 win over the States, eliminating them from the tournament.  That has been psyched for today.

Let’s recap though, off what happened post last season.  I re-fractured my right wrist in two places just after the season ended and went through total agony and no sleep for almost a week.  I went in and had physio three times a week for several weeks.  While there I learned about, studied and finally committed to spinal Decompression therapy.

When I went in, I was hurting all the time and the only range of motion I had was to be able to touch my knees.  After an entire summer of decompression, my back is essentially pain free for the first time in years and when I bend now, I can touch the floor.  I then spent the last several weeks allowing everything to heal.  It cost me time at the cabin, but it was worth it.

Just when everything was looking good, I started having a shadow, some floaters and a blurry spot in my left eye.  The whole story is chronicled in the previous article.  I got full medical clearance to resume playing last Wednesday, which was the first game of the season, but the bubble in my eye obstructed my downward vision, so I opted to not play.

Suddenly Sunday morning, I woke up and the bubble is gone, so here we go.  First game of the season.  My conditioning is nowhere near where I want it to be, but I have been walking between 4 and 9K every single day, so that will help.  I had planned on going back to the gym, but the eye problem stopped that.  I was even going to go yesterday, but I didn’t want to be completely stiff and sore to start the game tonight.

So we shall see how things go when I get there.  I am well into my game day ritual as I write this.  I took Toby for his 4K walk this morning and had a pre-game nap.  I had my lunch and I’m adding a pre-departure hot shower today, just to make sure everything is good and loose.  I usually carry a hot water bottle and put it on my back while driving, but I think I can skip that with a shower.

I’ll feed Toby his dinner at 2:30 PM and then make myself a big travel mug of coffee.  I’ll take a couple of B vitamins for the energy and then we shall head out from here at 3:00 PM.  This will give me time to stop into my favourite hockey shop in Burnaby on the way.  There I will get my skates sharpened and grab a few rolls of tape and then head to UBC.

I try and time my arrival for just after 4:30 PM, that way I only have to pay $4.50 for parking in the parkade, instead of $10.50.  I will then roll into the dressing room at about 4:45 PM and will be the first one there.  That gives me 45 minutes to tape my sticks, defog my visor and put my gear on.  There will be lots of chatting and joking as the guys start to filter into the room.

At about 5:20 PM, I’ll go out to the bench with one or two other early birds and I will do my stretching routine, while watching the Zamboni clear the ice.  There it will be, a fresh new sheet of ice, to start a fresh new season.  After a 10 to 15-minute warmup, the game will be underway and I will be back where I belong.

I am looking forward to this season even more than normal.  Partly because of all the trials and tribulations of the past summer, but also partly because I am happy to be still playing at 61.  The game that has owned me since I was a kid and I am still playing.  This year I am looking forward even more with the new found flexibility in my back, that seriously had me wondering if it was all over.  Now there is re-found hope.  Maybe even a re-found slap shot that has all but disappeared in the last couple of years.