Decision Made

At last a decision has been made on our application, unfortunately they do not indicate the result of this decision. After more than 3 years we can wait a bit longer, but it's stressful I can tell you. There is a cloud next year September and it getting a bit darker every day. Should I look for something else? Norway maybe, as that is a cold country too. It turned out I like cold countries, this despite the fact I declared someone going skiing out of his mind for "voluntarily place his butt in the snow". Obviously things change. The wait is on...... Again......

Me likka this!!!

Unfortunately the bull did not pierce his private parts. That I would have liked even more. What stuns me is the fact this is still allowed as Spain is part of Europe. Beautiful picture and video this one. No difference to the bull, unfortunately it dies anyways, but he had some fun in this, for the bull, bloody and painful unequal battle. The coward cuts the bull's neck-muscle so it is less dangerous, but if you are so stupid that you trip over you own cockiness the bull will pick you up. So you are headlining you own stupidity and that of Spain. Great-Beautiful-Fantastic-Extra ordinary!!!!

Weather Craziness

The last couple of weeks we went from -8 with 10 inches of snow to a scorching +32 last Tuesday, the day Ellen and Gerard touched down at Calgary, to 2 days of solid rain and today we even have wet snow. The rain and wet snow are very welcome don't get me wrong, nature-wise. But with Ellen and Gerard visiting and going on a RV trip we, and they especially, could have used some improved weather. Nevertheless they made a nice visit to Elk Island and saw some bison and other wildlife, also thanks to Johan who has a keen eye on it and knows a lot about it. He sees birds where I only see branches, knows species, behavior and uniqueness. For me they are an UFBO.
E+G are in Jasper now and are on their RV tour, I really hope the weather improves and by the looks of it next week will be better with temperatures close to 20 degrees. It was very nice to have them visit us, although too short, and show them where we live, work and spent our time in this very special country.

Lower back X-ray

Yesterday I was at the chiropractor's again, I have to go twice every week now. But it helps greatly, I can walk for over an hour without lower back-pain, this was not possible the last couple of years. I remembered they had an CD with X-rays. "Take it, it's yours anyways". So now I can share an X-ray of my lower back. You can see disc #3 and #4 from below are starting to grow towards each other and, without treatment, they will soon become one. Causing a lot of trouble, potentially. The cartilage in between seems stuck also. The main goal of the chiropractor is to get all the discs moving again and in that way releasing the nerves so freedom of movement will improve. So far he is doing a great job with me. His assistant, Serena, knows 2000 patients by name from the get-go, amazing.
Also in one of his treatment rooms there is a nice quote from Thomas Edison (1847-1931): "The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease". I suppose there is a lot of truth in this quote. It is not a painful experience, at the crack-man as I call him, there are only the popping sounds of which you know it will reduce, if not end, the pain. At least for a improving length of time, until it becomes just maintenance every once and a while. Good call on March 17th to go see the crack-man.

Rolly View or Rollyview?

Both are listed in several official documents, so I do not know yet. I do know Rollyview made Wikipedia, check it out. In 2005 we had 58 inhabitants, it's not much more currently I'm guessing. When you enter Rollyview it is listed a one word, so I will go with that for the now. Does it matter? No not really; post arrives anyways based on the postal-code at the general store. On another note I always thought it was zip-code instead of postal-code,  that's probably used in the US.
Emma and Johan are on a camping trip enjoying the great outdoors, fly fishing at Kananaskis Lake, Joka is off to work and I am postponing lawn-mowing on this beautiful sunshiny Saturday afternoon, all next week it will be 20+C and better. I'll have a beer and enjoy Vos having fun outside.

CAD$ to €

I started watching the € a couple of weeks ago, it was valued at $1.42 to €1.00. Over the weeks this dropped bigtime due to the Greek deficit, rumors on Spain and Portugal being even worse than Greece, contributed to this steep decline. I needed to transfer a big chunk of $$ to €€, so my smile became bigger with the hour. I had locked in a target, with the help of Graham at Custom House, of $1.285, which is valid 24/7, and Wednesday overnight it had hit it's target, just around the low of this week. At our office we have a guy, Gerry, who watches the exchange-rate very closely. The word is one is hoping the rate will not break US$1.25; if it does all hell will break loose and the € will go into a free-fall towards $0.98; if that happens we are fucked worldwide. So I am really hoping the worst is over and I have been just bloody lucky, again. Maybe I will open a Foreign Exchange (ForEx) account and go trade currencies also. I'm just having fun over here.

Echoes.....

This is truly one of the best ever rock songs by Pink Floyd, especially the Live in Gdansk version. But if you are in a emotional state of mind, like to have had your dog put down, it is not the best song to listen to. Why? It really gets the tears rolling and goes right in and thru your bones. At least with me. Pink Floyds music does this to me anyways, Echoes-Sorrow-Wish You Were Here-Comfortably Numb, really get to me in a positive way. There is always that touch, sometimes it hits you like a ton of bricks and another time it's only goosebumps. The heavy blow is not very welcome if you drive your car or truck, but turning it off is a no go; cannot do that. So you have to sit it out and that a pretty good thing. Slowly I am getting over Mac. Fortunately there will always be the Echoes......

Oilsands

 

From the Edmonton Journal, Malcom Mayes Cartoon 

Nice wheather on May 5th 2010

Alerts: Leduc Co. near Leduc Beaumont and Kavanagh

Snowfall Warning : Leduc Co. near Leduc Beaumont and Kavanagh

Issued at 11:31 AM MDT Tuesday 4 May 2010

Summary

A narrow band of heavy snow has developed over and just west of the city of Edmonton.

Details

Radar and public reports indicate that a narrow band of heavy snow has formed just west of Edmonton. The snowfall is moving slowly southeastward. Amounts reported as of 11.30 AM range from 2.5 cm in Spruce Grove to 9 cm at the international airport to as high of 16 cm in the town of Calmar. Further accumulations of 5 to 10 cm are possible before the band weakens later this afternoon. In addition strong northwest winds will lead to widespread blowing snow causing near zero visibilities at times.

V-sign(s)

A post on the v-sign. It means victory, right? And wrong too. There are two meanings to this sign. Firstly there is the Churchill one on victory with the palm of the hand towards the receiver(s) of the v-sign. The second meaning is the same as the globally recognized middle-finger-sign, the palm of the hand is directed towards the issuer. I never knew this, always had it mistaken for someone not knowing how to give the middel-finger. So today I gave Andy the v-sign, immediately explaining why; he had a big smile on his face and explained it stems from an ancient war between Britain and France where the archers fired their arrows, the enemy responded with the v-sign grabbing the two fingers as to say "when I get you I will chop of your 2 fingers" hence no more arrows. Somehow through time this has evolved to an obscene gesture used only by the British. Of course it also means the cypher 2, but keep you fingers on a 45 degree angle to be sure not to walk into a British fist.

Een Laatste Poot

Vandaag heeft onze Mac mij een laatste poot gegeven. Afgelopen zaterdag ben ik met haar naar de dierenarts in Leduc geweest, wat ik juist niet wilde horen hoorde ik toch. Een groot gezwel in haar onderbuik en een milt die ook veel te groot was, waarschijnlijk haar lever ook. Exploratory surgery behoorde nog tot de mogelijkheden, maar voor wie? Zou zomaar kunnen dat ze op de tafel zou worden opgegeven. Wat was het vooruitzicht daarna? 3 weken, 3 maanden, 3 jaar? Geen idee, ook de dierenarts niet. Voor Mac was de enige acceptabele oplossing "De laatste Poot". Je kon zien dat ze pijn had, lag alleen nog maar in haar mandje, kon geen voedsel meer binnenhouden. We moesten dus afscheid van haar nemen. En dat is een moelijke beslissing, op zijn zachts gezegd, want het welzijn van Mac MOET voorop komen. Want het ging snel sinds zaterdag, uitstel kon echt niet meer. Vanmiddag om 4:33PM MST hebben wij haar uit haar lijden laten verlossen. Nogmaals de X-rays bekeken met een andere dierenarts; die ons gelijk gaf met de beslissing die we hadden genomen, Joka had ze ook nog niet gezien. Het was een moeilijke rit naar Leduc, viel mij echt zwaar.

Nooit meer zullen we die trouwe oogjes zien, niet meer achter ons aan keutelen, niet meer gewoon aanwezig zijn en effe dollen, iets wat de laatste maanden al niet meer kon. Maar je blijft hopen, eigenlijk tegen beter weten in. Ik zal haar missen, ernstig missen. Maar ze heeft ons 10.5 jaren heel erg prettig gezelschap gegeven en ik weet dat ze bij ons een goed leven heeft gehad. Ik heb menig traantje weggepinkt sinds zaterdag, want het was echt een maatje.

Dually

No not a RAM3500, F350 or HD3500 but a genuine Neway dual clockwork watch, courtesy of Klaas from Nieuwer ter Aa. So now I see in one go the time in Holland, on the left side, and here in Edmonton, on the right side. There is one peculiar thing about theft left dial. Obviously it's Roman digits but look at the 4, usually it is IV but here it is IIII, I expected the IX to be VIIII. Too long I suppose. Maybe its done on purpose, it looks odd nut nice. On the other hand it makes this watch even more unique. Anyways it's a very cool watch and comes in very handy to keep track of both continents, time-wise.

For The Chainsaw, By The Chainsaw

Snow gone, it's a clear blue sky today and 22 degrees, no weeds growing yet I was cutting wood in our poplar forest when I came across some wooden planks, 1.5"x5.5"x15'. Cutting all those logs, 10-15 feet long, needs a saw horse to cut them into stubs suitable for splitting. So today I fabricated a saw horse out of the wooden planks. Instead of burning them, my initial plan (not possible because of a fire ban almost for all of southern Alberta), I encountered in my first DIY project. And it was completed successfully on a Sunday afternoon. And all cuts were made with my, bought last week, new Stihl MS270 chainsaw. Fortunately Johan knows about chainsaws and all the add ons, oil-fuel-sharpeners, to have a complete package.
In case you're wondering about the chains: they are my log locking devices; so I can cut both ends of the log, if loaded symmetrical, without the log tipping over. The trestle is wide enough to ensure stability, although the work-points and work-planes are not as they should be, but hey it's only a wood-log-cutting-saw horse. See how environmentally friendly I am!!! Re-use of materials and an afternoon fun earns me a beer, preferably Rickard's Red. Very good tasting.

Emma 21

Today our Emma turned 21. A bit of a bummer is we could not throw a big party as all her friends are back in NL, luckily Johan is here so that makes up for some of the losses. We had a pleasant supper and a couple of beers, Emma a Mojito, at Original Joe's a restaurant on Ellerslie Road in south Edmonton. I remember her coming into this world with a bang and with a beautiful little nose pointing somewhat to the left, impatient to explore the new world and now here in Canada she is also building a career as she likes to work with animals. She even leases a horse for those oh so pleasant horse rides a couple of times a week. What the future will bring is what the future brings, just take it one step at the time. Happy birthday, girl.

Return for refund if applicable

Here in Canada you have to pay a refundable charge on almost every plastic bottle you buy, the small ones and beer cans included, large ones go for half a buck small ones only for 10 cents. Not to worry, it's a nice savings account when you return all those to the bottle depot. And money is literally on the streets here, as is probably also is in NL. Back in 2007, on our RV trip, I saw trucks filled with bottles go by, wtf?. They picked them up from the streets and garbage cans, a now I know a truck load is worth a couple of 100 dollars, and that's easy money, right? British Columbia and the Parks are clean, because of the bears. Here in Alberta it sometimes looks like a bloody junkyard. People throw everything, sofas and garbage-bags included, just beside the roads, just guess what is happening to the bags with all the coyotes we have here and take another guess of what happens to those coyotes when they come too close to or even into the city, Correct, boom-boom, you're dead. I am no environmental geek but this is a step to far, just take the effort to take it to the landfill and dispose of it. In some ways Canada is almost a third world country; you can let an old car rust until it disappears into the ground, nobody cares; with the refundable plastic bottles on the other hand they are ahead of the game; so there is a balance.

Our "new" Ford F250 Lariat Ranger RV

Model year 1981. We were looking for a new truck-camper (also known as a slide on) for 1/2 ton F150, kind of a trailer for a pickup-truck. Problem being the weight of this truck-camper, and there are not that many lightweight models available. So I started to search the Internet on a used one when I came across the one on the picture, found on www.kijiji.ca. For sale as a package for not that much money, this morning we closed the deal with Lori (A handshake is all I need she said, we are on the same page indeed). Now we are the proud owners of an RV, ready to go when we want it to be. The truck needs new tires, a new battery and an oil-change. After that we will see where it takes us. I'm sure we will have fun with it. We will test-run it a couple of times and if approved by us you can rent it for not that much money. Two adults and two kids will be fine, 3 adults also but four will be a bit inconvenient. You just have to rotate every hour or so. But it's doable. The truck has the sound I'm looking for, maybe a bit too loud but we will find out. The RV part needs cleaning a bit of maintenance, it pleasantly surprised me when we looked at it. It is an 1979 Osprey truck-camper in pretty good condition. If it falls apart on our first trip, like in the Louis de Funes movies, its a bad deal. But that will not happen. And look a it this way: it's an F250, one step closer to the F350, right! I will keep you posted on our endeavours. One other big advantage is the fact  Mac and Fox can accompany us on our trips, that makes it even more fun.

Rush 2010 Time Machine Tour

Below is the latest on the 2010 Rush Time Machine tour, life gets better by the day over here. There is only one thing that bugs me: they skip Western Canada. Me not likka that. Now I have to travel all the way to Toronto, but it's worth the trip. They will play "Moving Pictures" completely, as well as new songs from their, yet to be released, 20th (!!!!!!!) studio-album.

(Toronto – Thursday, April 8th 2010) - Rush – Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart – is without question one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock history, equally famed for both its virtuoso musicianship and provocative songwriting.

Announced today, The Time Machine Tour is an evening with Rush, where they will perform their classics, give a taste of the future – and for the first time ever – feature the Moving Pictures album live in its entirety.

The band is currently working on their 20th studio album with producer Nick Raskulinecz (co-producer from 2007’s Snakes & Arrows) and in addition to their classics plan to showcase a few new tunes live this summer.

“We were off for a year and a half, and now it's just pouring. Everything is totally crazy and there's not a minute left in the day. We've got these half-dozen songs, and we'll probably go in the studio and work on a couple of them and see how it goes, perhaps release something – and I say perhaps – and then we plan on being on the road,” says guitarist, Alex Lifeson.

This summer’s Live Nation promoted tour will visit approximately 40 cities throughout North America beginning June 29th in Albuquerque, NM and finishing October 2nd in West Palm Beach, FL with stops along the way in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Holmdel, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, and more along the way (complete tour itinerary follows).

Rush has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and garnered untold legions of devoted and admiring fans. According to the RIAA, Rush's sales statistics place RUSH third after The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band.

Released in 1981, Moving Pictures was their most successful album, certified 4x Platinum and features some of Rush’s most well known songs and perennial radio favourites Tom Sawyer, Limelight and the Grammy-nominated instrumental YYZ.

“Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage” a documentary created by filmmakers Scot McFadyen & Sam Dunn (whose filmography also includes: “Iron Maiden; Flight 666,’ “Metal, A Headbangers Journey” and “Global Metal”) will premiere at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival on April 24th followed by the Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival on April 29th. The band was also recently showcased in the comedy “I Love You Man” where they play themselves in a concert scene featuring actors Paul Rudd and Jason Segal as ubra-fans, a performance which has exposed the band to a whole new generation.

Inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame this past March alongside Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot, Rush has also been nominated for multiple Grammy awards and won a number of Juno Awards. They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and bestowed the Order of Canada in 1997. Consistently celebrated and respected worldwide, Rush is the most successful Canadian rock band of all time and they remain one of the biggest grossing arena rock bands ever.

Currently, 04-08-10@6:10PM, it's snowing

The white stuff is falling again, according to the Weather Network we will end up with 10-15 cm of accumulated snow. Cool. It's not the dump, as they the call 1 foot overnight snow over here, but it's a start. I will be gone in a day or so and brings some moisture into the ground, which we need badly. There is no fire-ban in place, yet, won't be long though as it is extremely dry in Alberta in general. Vancouver on the other hand has moisture enough, a couple of weeks ago they had 70 mm in 2 days. No thanks, looks like NL. A trip to the beach will not work for us, its about 1100 km in a straight line, but we got salmon instead of sole (lenguado). Both are extremely tasty and very enjoyable with a glass of white wine, preferably Gascogne.

How much can a rural bridge hold?

I have trouble going to sleep, so I'm boozing and post something stupid. The below listed pictures are a fine example of how not to do it.

Firstly: How much does the, to be transported, house weigh either in lbs or kgs?

 Secondly: How much can a rural bridge hold?

Thirdly: How is going to pay for this stupidity?

HOUSE INSURANCE,
CAR INSURANCE OR,
DOES IT COME UNDER ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE???

Rolly View Logging

It was another clear-blue sky and sunshiny day today and I decided to make a start with clearing out our poplar forest. There are a lot of dead and already downed trees to get busy with. The first few I did by hand and had soon enough of that. So I fired up the lawn tractor, it went in one go, found a chain and began hauling the tree-stems towards the fire pit. Even with a soar and un-cooperative lower back I managed to get a lot out of there. As expected I took it one step to far and broke the chain, never-mind I had enough of it anyways. I still have to get a power saw, preferably the Stihl MS290, to cut all that wood up. But then we can light the campfire again and have a beer and a smoke. It would be ideal to have a log-splitter too, but that's in the future. We will have a couple of wood-cutting weekends with Victor, which are great fun. He has always an odd story or two up his sleeve and usually I laugh my butt of. Couple of beers, good food and the inevitable men talk make a great day and a large pile of split logs. Life is pretty good out here.