February 17

Today is Saturday, February 17.  We are still experiencing the brownest winter I can remember.  In the past week, Linda and I enjoyed some time at our townhouse in Elk Ridge.  There was enough snow to cross-country ski, our second time cross-country skiing this winter.  

We are definitely looking forward to spending time at Elk Ridge between May and September.  I just purchased an Elk Ridge Golf Club membership for the year.  Linda is planning to get casual employment at Elk Ridge for the summer.  Employees receive free golf so hopefully, Linda will get a fresh air job of some type.  I will likely make weekly trips to Saskatoon to check on our house, mow the lawn, keep appointments, and pick up supplies.

I am also organizing a 50 year reunion for my graduating class of 74 in Kelvington on the August long weekend.  Those who are willing and able will be going to the Kelvington Fair to renew acquaintances 

Linda and I have been busy in January and February playing pickle ball.  We have met many good people and enjoyed the competition.  I have been playing hockey twice a week.  Again, I enjoy the friends I have made in the plus 60 league and I enjoy the exercise. We also spend time most days staying in shape by exercising in our basement doing yoga, dumbbells, and weight bearing activities.

At present, Linda and I are babysitting the grand dogs because Haley and Dustin are on a vacation in Thailand.  On Wednesday, I am joining Mary, Morgan, Morgan's mom, and the grand kids on a one week vacation to Phoenix area.  I am planning to attend at least one spring training game and hopefully, I will get to join some friends for hiking some trails in the Phoenix area.  Another excursion that we have planned is to travel to Sedona, a place I have heard so much about, but have never experienced.  

Since the last blog entry, I attended Luvisa's Ukrainian Dance recital and Malanka event.  This is Luvisa's third year in Ukrainian dance.  This the first year she has performed without an apprentice accompanying her.  She had to remember many steps and cues to complete her dance and she was marvellous according to this proud grandpa.

Gunnar is learning new words everyday.  He is a real neat freak too.  He loves to vacuum and help with the dusting.  Mary took him to an ear, nose, and throat specialist only to discover that he has a huge amount of fluid in his ears.  He will be having tubes placed in his ears sometime in March.  Having his ears drained should definitely help him with language acquisition.

Haley and Mary have both experienced the challenges of job action by the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation as they attempt to iron out a new contract.

To conclude this blog, I will mention that Linda and I are in the process of making plans for a motorhome trip to Vancouver Island and The Sunshine Coast in May.  We have also booked our trip of a lifetime to London, Paris, Lucerne, Vienna, Pisa, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast for September into October of this year.  I will be blogging more about those adventures in future blog entries.