FAMILY - Well here is a picture of everyone who lives at this house.
Myself, my wife Bettina (Betty), my son John. Met my wife when I was stationed in Germany in the 60's. My son works for ADP in the U.S. as a Payroll Systems Analyst. He used to travel back and forth every week, but now he does a lot of work from home. He is going somewhere this week though. Left this afternoon for Ann Arbor MI. And my daughter in the wheelchair is Natasha. Born with Cerebral Palsy, she is now 33 yrs old.

STORMS - Rain off and on for the last three days. Last Fri. was big rain and big wind. Tomorrow is supposed to be bad again. When you turn on the weather channel and the screen is red, means severe weather. Out in parts of B.C. its over 40 C.
LEBANON - Getting worse there. Now everyone wants to get out.
I guess Israel just got fed up. The Hezbollah sitting on their border causing grief. The Lebanonese didn't do anything about it. Not only that, they even elected them to their Parlament. I guess it got to the point that enough was enough.
INTERESTING FACT - The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

TODAY- The weather was warm yesterday and to-day. Right now being 21 C which is 70 F
YARD SALE - Actually there was a street sale yesterday. The more families that take part the better. Lots of peple wandering around and my wife was happy with the results.
VICUNAS - If you don't know what they are, here you go Peruvians Shear Vicunas in Annual Roundup What surprised me was how the population increased from 12,000 to 200,000. Maybe they are related to rabbits. But seriously, here is a national resource that was almost lost. A great example of using what you have available.
MICROSOFT - Paul Allen is the co-founder of Microsoft but you never hear his name mentioned. All you hear about is Bill gates. Why is that ? Vintage Warplanes Going Airborne Again
BIRD FLU - You don't hear much about it anymore. It is still going on and people are still dying. But the mid-east deserves more attention at this time.
More people being killed every day.
What I don't understand is why Americans and Canadians are working and living there. Sure, maybe you have relatives there etc, etc. But your family left there for a reason. And walking around with a Canadian flag and especially American flag on your shoulder isn't going to help much. When you sit on a powder keg, you are asking for trouble. And it is quite possible that soldiers can be killed trying to bring them out.
MOUNTIES - Heard to-day that those two mounties that got shot in Sask. died. It appears to me that more mounties seem to be getting shot. It never used to be like that. And the sad part is that many are shot just trying to break up a family fight.

RAIN - No, not today. Its 22* C and that is equal to 72* F.
MILITARY - One of the airmen killed in that helicopter crash yesterday had a brother who was killed six years ago in a crash. He was a pilot with the Coast guard.
GAS PRICES - The price of gas went up yesterday. The new price is $1.1602 a liter. And that price will stay the same for the next two weeks. After that it will change again, depending on market price. And by the look of things, I don't think it will be down.
The government has control over what the gas station can charge. But they have no control over what the gas company charges them. So if there is a spike in gas prices, the gas station will have to take the hit or just stop selling gas.
COORS BEER - Baron Charged With Drunk Driving Pete Coors, the telegenic beer company executive and chief commercial pitcher, as well as a former Senate candidate, was arrested in May for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol, according to court officials.
Quote
"For years, I've advocated the responsible use of our company's products. That's still my message, and our company's message. I am sorry that I didn't follow it myself." An example of "do as I say not what I do"
MOVIES - Drive-in movies attract new generation What's next ? Roller skates for A & W. Come to think of it, we went to A & W at lunch time. It was in a mall so it didn't feel the same.
INTERESTING FACT - Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

SINKING - Big rain all night, big rain to-day. Had some rain come in under the cement at my basement door. My wife phoned Permacrete to look at it. There is a drain that runs all around the house. If it gets plugged up, the water may go into the house. And their solution is to dig a trench from the back of the house to the front to drain the water. They would dig this trench right through my basement floor. Picture that. This all happened a couple of weeks ago. Betty thinks we should get it done right away before it gets worse. And my idea is, lets not panic. We first have to check this out better and get more info from people who are not trying to sell us something.
The back door has three steps going down to a cement pad. In this pad is a hole that takes the rain into the drain. This hole filled up with leaves so we had a nice wading pool and the water went under the door jamb. Got rid of all the leaves and Betty put a wire fish into the hole and off to both sides. So far there is no water coming in.
Betty called a friend about it. Her husband works in this area of business. He came by and told us that the best thing to do was break the cement and dig down to the pipe. Then we can probably clean it out. We can do that after the rain stops.
NO GAS - Heard on the news about some gas stations being closed in Alberta. Esso I think. It seems that a refinery was shut down for an upgrade. It took longer than expected and the reserves ran out. There's a wakeup call for you. If something happens to some refineries, after three days you won't be able to get gas. Grocery stores operate the same way. Warehouses only have enough for three days. Our system depends on everything moving at the same time, all the time.
DAY OFF - I love this headline. Shuttle crew takes day off What do they do when they take the day off ? Go for a stroll ?
JOB LOSS - Intel to Slash 1,000 Management Jobs They use that word management very freely. In most cases it is a pay raise. And you feel much better when you are called Manager. The press always makes it look like there are actual management jobs being lost, when in reality its the workers as usual.
After all you have to have the money to pay all those Vice Presidents, because there may be hundreds of them on the payroll.
MILITARY - 3 killed as helicopter crashes during 'bread and butter' exercise
You don't have to go to Afghanistan to get killed. It can happen by just being at work.
INTERESTING FACT - The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour is 61,000.

AS USUAL - Big rain last night, with thunder and lightining. Forcast rain for to-day and tomorrow.
CHORES - It seems like there is a list of chores I have to drive around and do every day. There are some Franciscan Monks that have moved into the area. They have an old house that nuns used to own. Last week I brought them a couple of items of furniture. One of my neighbours has given me a recliner chair, so that will be going out there today.
Since I now have laminate floors in the bedrooms, I will now need some small mats. In this house that means going out and buying new mats, bringing them home to see how they look and if they fail the test, they will have to be returned. At this point we have two sets of mats and one will be going back today. And there may be more yet to test.
To the post office with an e-bay parcel.
Fluorescent light tubes I no longer use, dropped off at church.
And the other chores ? I find out what they are as I drive away from the house.
REGULATE GAS PRICES - Now that's a story. Filled up on the last day of June. Gas was $1.09 a liter. The next day gas became regulated and it immediately went to $1.15 a liter. I always thought regulation meant holding the line on sharp increases. But now being older and wiser, I find out it means holding the line on decreases. Now the question is, who is getting this six cents ?
PATIO - Finished with the patio yesterday. And I guess just in time. Two gal. of stain and not a drop to spare. If Betty could have wrung out the can, she would have. Now we have to do the front wheel chair ramp.
INTERESTING FACT - It is impossible to lick your elbow. Even if you wanted to.

THINGS TO DO - But not yet. There will be no rushing out to finish the patio. What I see is fog and lots of it.
MORNING PAPER - What I see on the front page to-day, as I have seen for the past week, is about the booming economy of Alberta. I swear that Halifax Herald must be getting a bonus from Syncrude. Everything is milk and honey and the streets are paved with gold. From my experience, there is always a bad side to everything.
Remember a few years ago. They didn't want maritimers out there. The Premier at the time , who is still the Premier, was offering free bus tickets to return home. But he has softened with age and he wants us all back. No bus tickets though. We're getting plane tickets to fly back.
The bottom line is that I won't be going out there unless its for a trip. I first wrote,"unless I'm on vacation". But I'm always on vacation. And I am too busy to get a job.
RETIREMENT - A lot of people go out west to make enough for retirement. But I have already done that so no use doing it again. My lifestyle is the same now as when I worked. You get to do the things you want to do and you don't have to rush it. When I worked for security at the airport, half the time I would have to get up at 4:00 am. For the longest time I would still get up at that time, but only on the days that my shift was working.
Stats Canada says that the average Canadian male retires at 61.5 yrs. of age. And that is exactly when I did.

THINGS TO DO - When it doesn't rain for a few days, you can get things done. had to replace four posts for the fence. I thought we would have trouble finding posts but they were available about 2 miles down the road. Cost $3.00 each. Its best to do when the ground is wet. That way you can just pull the old post right out. The bottom part that is left in the ground takes a little effort. But a lot easier when it is wet.
We have three garden plots at the back of the yard, surrounded by mini-ties. Over time they have sunk and so has the garden. Lifted the ties up about a foot and put bricks at each end. Now it has to be refilled with earth, maybe now, maybe later.
PATIO - Made a new patio last year. Have to paint it this year. Betty washed it down on Sat. and it has to dry for 24 hrs. Good plan except it rained on Sun. We painted half of it to-day, the rest tomorrow. On the last deck we had solid stain but this time Betty wanted semi - transparent. Guess what, half done and she doesn't like it. I guess she is just used to the other stain. Anyway that will be the colour for this year.
GAMES - My big project this week is listing on e-bay all the old games we have. I don't think she ever got rid of any. She says that this week they are all gone, one way or another. So I am trying to get my share.
SPEAK CHINESE - It seems that China a launched a new web site ofering free Chinese lessons. Oh! Oh! Are they trying to tell us something. Here's the site in case you want some home schooling. www.linese.com And it is only for English speaking.
SCHOOL - And if you need a school to teach that Chinese, there is one for sale on e-bay.
"We have salmon, halibut, cod, crab, pollock, sablefish that's right outside the front door of the school," said borough spokeswoman Karen Montoya.
They have already built a new school so they want to sell the old one so it can be used for some fishey purpose.
INTERESTING FACT - Coca-Cola was originally green.

HOME - This is the front of my house when the grass is cut, which we were finally able to do. There has been a few nice days . But it was back to normal today, showers.
YARDSALES - Did some yard sailing last Sat. Was looking for a bookcase. Had given my brother a bedroom dresser and now I needed a bookcase to fill the spot. Found one, all wood and in beautiful condition. It was a foot too long but the price tag on it was $2.00. I couldn't buy that wood for that money. While I was looking at it, the lady said, "If you take it, you can have it for $1.00." Couldn't get the money out of my pocket fast enough. Since I couldn't lift it myself, she helped me put it in the van. Got it home and my wife and I cut it down to my size, shined it up and it looks great.
MOVIES - Went and saw the "Superman" movie on Tues. In Imax and 3-D. I must say that it has been a long time since I wore 3-D glasses. The first part of the movie was much more exiciting than the last.
MAGAZINES - Picked up about 15 magazines at a yardsale. The lady said to just take them. They were from the 1980's. Good for my e-bay business, since I sell old magazine ads.
PHYSIO - Did that trick this morning. I didn't know it was exam day. But I must have passed because I only have to go once next week.
DESK - Someone offered me an old sewing machine desk. The type where the machine folds down inside. Has one drawer on the side. Looks sort of antique. Makes a great computer desk. Since it has no machine in it, I may install another drawer. And refinish it.
INTERESTING FACT - Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better. ( I think they also remember better. Especially something you said 20 yrs. ago.)

My visit to the grand canyon.

Entry for July 03, 2006
WEATHER - What else but rain. The forcast says sprinkles. Fitst time I heard that term for weather on the news. Windy yesterday. Nice day last Sat. for Canada Day. But I didn't cut the grass. Too wet. Electric lawnmower and wet grass not a good idea. Have to be truthful. My wife didn't cut it. My sore arm is holding me back.
PHYSIO - My Physio lady says to be very careful and go slow. But I still should give it some exercise. I'll start the lawn cutting and stop when it gets too sore. Went to Physio last week and got promoted. Only have to go once a week now, unless I make it worse. Costs $45.00 a visit. For the first $500.00, insurance pays 80 %. for the next $500.00, I pay all. After that, back to 80%. So right now I am in the I pay part.
LAWN MOWER - You may ask. Why would I have an electric one ? And the answer is because I can fix it. I found the gas mower to be a never ending expense and pain in the neck. My electric one can go for years without doing anything to it. Just sharpen the blade. Which is what I have to do to-day. But first I have to go for my 3 km. stroll. Its 9:10 and the sun is shining. Better go while the going is good.
GARBAGE DAY - Yesterday evening my son looked outside and said he saw more traffic in 10 min. than he saw all day. We live on a small cresent and there is very little traffic. The reason for the influx was garbage pickers. They must pick up half the garbage that is left out. Some of it ends up at scrap dealers and other stuff at yard sales. Better than land fill.

Entry for June 26, 2006
WEATHER
Big rain last night. The grass sure is green. Reminds me of Ireland. And Nelson's Pillar. There used to be a statue of Lord Nelson in Dublin. You could go inside and climb up to the top. Which I did. A few days later, I was back at my base in Germany, reading the morning paper, which was the Stars and Strips. And what did I see. Nelson's Pillar had been blown up. You never know when Death is near your door.
HEARTHBURN
My son told me a sure cure for hearthburn. Eat some yogurt. Tried it and the problem was gone immediately. I was impressed. No more Tums etc.
INTERESTING FACT
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.

Entry for June 25, 2006
CONTRIBUTION
Woke up this morning to the pitter patter of rain drops. It gave me an idea for a contribution to the world. I am going to change the sentance "Only the good die young." So it will be "Only the good - die young or have no grand children." Now grandchildess ( is that a word) people have their own retort. Gives grandparents something to think about too.
DEMOTION IN THE RANKS
This proves you can be demoted for walking crooked on parade. just ask this poor ex-Lance Cpl. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13528687/ Oh, the shame of it. And him being from a military family for over 250 yrs. Personally I think they should have promoted him to Officer. Because I know for a fact that when someone is promoted from the ranks to Officer, his I.Q increases at least 20%. But like new medicine, there is a side effect. Amnesia. With the promotion, he won't remember you at all.

Entry for June 24, 2006
TODAY
Rain again. Couldn't go to any yard sales today. Supposed to be the same for the next three days.
TERRORISTS
Arrests in Miami. These guys were supposed to blow up the Sears Tower. After following this for awhile, I have to take this with a grain of salt. They had no weapons, no money, no bombs and no plans. I'm doubtful if they could find the Sears Tower. This info all came from one planted FBI informant. By the way, these were Black Americans. Probably just some poor guys spouting off to each other.
CHOCOLATE BARS
Seems like Cadbury Chocolate in England was passing out more than candy.http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-5908461,00.html Strain of salmonella found, but company didn't make a recall. Not till they got caught.
AAron Spelling
When a celebrity dies, I am usually surprised to find out who they were married to. And in most cases divorced from. His first wife was Carolyn Jones who played Morticia on the Addams Family.
MEETING OF THE MINDS
500 Hells Angels meeting in Windsor. Police will be taking lots of pictures there. And this reminds me when I used to work for airport security. One of my jobs was watching everyone on camera. When the Hells Angels came to town, the undercover police etc, would be taking lots of pictures. When I swung the cameras around, you could see the bikers taking their picture. Do you think they would take the pictures home to show their family? Look, here's Bill. Has a beard this year, but we know who he is. And Tom, shaved off his mustache. What about Frank? Finally gave up those sunglasses.
AND THE MINDLESS
Read this in an article and loved the last sentance. “Some at ABC News are obviously hyperventilating over the election of the first female presiding bishop in the Episcopal Church, and that no doubt led them to package this story with a bogus account about women being ordained as Catholic priests. Joan Clark Houk, and seven other women, will hold an ‘ordination’ ceremony on a boat in Pittsburgh on July 31, but no one save mad feminists will give it any credence. Indeed, this happens every day in the asylum: some actually think they’re the pope."
INTERESTING FACT
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Oh Yuck!

Entry for June 23, 2006
MORNING WALK
08:00 Just finished my 3 km. walk. And it sure was foggy. Try to do my walk every day. Have to keep the blood pressure down. The alternative would be blood pressure pills and that would permanent. An expense that would be totally my fault.
EXERCISE
My next event for the day is to do my arm exercise. Hurt my left arm a year ago. Continuous lifting with it only made it worse. Went to a Chairopractor for a number of months. That didn't work, so I went to the Doctor in Feb. Tried his plan for a month. That didn't work. Next on the list was Physio. Started out at three times a week, then twice a week. Yesterday she told me that maybe after next week, I can probably go down to once a week. Looks like it is working. Just have to be careful.
ACUPUNCTURE
One of my "things to do" in life. So now I can mark that off my list. It is part of the Physio and works well. Checked it out on the web and found out that it has been around for 8000 yrs. Orginally they used small sharp stones to make fine cuts. They have needles on display that are 2500 yrs old. Wonder what the hygiene was like ?
RENOVATIONS
Still ongoing. Laminate floors being put in three bedrooms. My wife decides, since all the furniture is out, it would be a good time to paint. And this is a good idea. It kind of irkes me that with my sore arm, I can't do the floors. But we must move on, because there are always things to do. I'm sure I will have my share.
NEWS ARTICLE
Read this article about neglected Huskies in Que. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060622/quebec_huskies_c... I noticed that the SPCA didn't get involved until there was donations made. Makes me wonder.
INDEX FINGER
Something interesting I read in Readers Digest the other day. If your index finger is shorter than your ring finger, you are prone to having a temper. Oh! Oh! Bad news for me. Well, its not something I don't already know. Anyway, it has to do with what happened in the womb. So there, its not our fault. By the way, this only works for men, not for women.
INTERESTING FACT
Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled
"Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus
the word GOLF entered into the English language