The Ouseys in Victoria Page

Just talked to the Dentist and the root canal isn't finished, so it is not only the filling that needs doing. Hmmm.. Starting to hurt somewhat so hope it is soon and get it over with.

Saw "Alexander" last night. Waste of time, if you're thinking of it, don't, there are plenty of better movies and they don't last 3 hours. John Van Shaik gave up half way through and went home, John Hutchins and I perservered and weren't sure why afterwards.

Looks like a week of rain and drizzle, we did manage to get in our golf game yesterday morning before it started tho. Think I'll golf just once more and then give my arm a rest, it really hasn't healed since the bike thing and thought it doesn't hurt when I golf, it is tender afterwards. So time to give it a break, so I can golf down south.

Carolyn has been busy decorating for Christmas. Keeping it light, minimalist, so we can put it away quickly before leaving. Blog On.

Yep, I needed a root canal. Actually wasn't so bad as the nerves were nearly dead anyway. I hate to think what the toothache would have been like, had the nerve not been nearly dead. Anyhow the dentist came out on a Sunny Saturday afternoon to do it, that's gonna cost; thank goodness for my dental plan. He drilled through the gold cap, did the canal, and put in a temporary filling (plug, whatever). So I have to go back to get it finished. It felt sore when the freezing came out last night, but it is OK today, what a relief

I see that the Kirkwoods are in Columbia visiting family. Looks like they are having a grand time. They were also concerned about the motorhome as it got near freezing here (as well as Steilacoom, WA). Cooler there 25 F or -4 C. It only got to zero here, however I too had already winterized so should be OK.

We are off to watch Adam play hockey this afternoon, in fact leaving soon by the look on Carolyn's face. Better go get ready.

There is a picture of my Brother jack at Dennis' blogsite, it was his birthday yesterday. Last year as a pre-50 year old. Jack has posted a new picture of Jamie and Andrew at his blogsite too. Sites listed on the right.

Well that's about it, all the news that's fit to print. I got a toothache under my one and only gold crown (only crown for that matter), so am waiting for the dentist to return my call. Oops there is the phone........ yep gotta go he will be in his office in a half an hour. Wish me luck, yuuuk root canal probably.

Oh yes, forgot to mention in my last blog that I (and the boys) went to see National Treasure, with Nicholas Cage, etc. Not bad at all, not great but watchable (6 out of 10) Usual level incredulity at points but that is common these days. Although I haven't read The DaVinci Code, the plot is similar so I have told.

Today, Carolyn and I are both going to luncheon's, separately, she with some girls she has known for a long time, (almost said old girl friends), and me with some old friends to say goodbye to Rob, who is retiring soon and leaving for a long trip with his motorhome. And later meeting Sue and John for supper. My what social butterflies...

Gotta go read blogs.

I'm thinking of building an ark. Managed to golf Monday morning, but it started to rain near the last hole and hasn't stopped since. Supposed to let up tonight, so will try to golf again tomorrow.

Whoo Hooo, Charlene blogged again. Its great, keep it up Dear, it's good to get the news. Hope Shawnee is feeling better soon. Give her a hug for us.

Talked to me Mom on her birthday, 86, doing pretty well too. She was glad to see Lyn and Rachel the weekend previous.

Not much else happenin round 'ere. What with the rain we have spent a day or two cleaning out the garage, and putting stuff in the crawl space and getting some Christmas stuff up from the crawl space, mainly moving junk around. We put the stuff, that we want to move out of the way of Burt and Marion (our tenants), in the garage. They like we have to park outside.

Carolyn is going lite on the decorations as we have to get them down in short order after Christmas to be on our way on the 28th.

Lets have some sun.

Looky Looky, Charlene has up dated her blog.
mycoffeeshop
Whoopee - News from the North.

Hellloooo
Busy week, for me anyhow. Finished booking the Cruise for Carolyn, myself, Dennis and Catherine. They agreed that the best bet was theRoyal Caribbean Serenade and we will be cruising the Alaska Pan handle from Jun 5 to Jun 12, 2005. Deposit is in, committment made. whoowhee can't wait. But first Mexico.

Saw the movie "After the Sunset" with Peirce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Woody Harrelson, quite enjoyed it. Not the best movie around, but very watchable (read Salma).

Spent time getting ready for my Lions meeting, Wed. night. Paul is away to France and left me as acting Treasurer, and since I am bulletin editor I had to get the newsletter ready too. You can see the result of that on the "SVI Lions site" link over there on the right in the links, under Vancouver Islanders and before Dave Barry links. Proceed down the page to the newsletters link, click that, and then select the Nov/04 one. That's right! Well done! Fun hey?

Anyhow, I was the proverbial one armed paper hanger at the meeting. Collecting the monies for the previous charter night dinner, for the evenings meal, and a variety of other issues including annual dues, issuing cheques, passing out printed newsletters, and taking pictures of yet more awards to put in the next issue of the newsletter. Surprising the monies all balanced $1,500.00 of it and I got it deposited today.

We haven't been out in the motorhome since we got back late September. Thought we would get out around Nov 11th, but not to be, too many obligations. However, Joyce (that's our nearby neighbour, that lets us use her driveway periodically) is away this weekend so I will bring the rig over to do some work on it, early prep work, if you will. Flush the fresh water tank, clean it up, charge it up, etc. Maybe Carolyn and I will sneak out and sleep in it, and pretend we're camping. Hee hee.

Saw the doctor today. My right shoulder, the one I fell over off my bike on, is still sore and its been 5 weeks. Got Xrays, so we will see what that brings. Carolyn is still have gastro problems. Doesn't appear to serious, just uncomfortable and she is adjusting diet and medication to get the right combination. If this doesn't work she will be back for further tests.

And remember "The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity. "

We spent some time at BCAA and with the brochures and internet sites planning an Alaska Cruies for next June. We will be going with bro Dennis and sis-in-law Catherine. Coincidently just after returning from BCAA Catherine called to ask what the progress was. We couldn't do much earlier as the price lists had only come out recently. Anyhow it is narrowed down to a 7 day cruise leaving June 5th on either the Norwegian Sun or the Royal Caribbean Serenade. Soon as we decide which one it will be booked.

Lyn and Rachel are in Winnipeg and they have completed the first day Lyn's Great-Aunt Merles (95 years young) place with cousin Betty and today they are at Bro Dennis' place visiting them and my Mom (or Nana) as Dennis calls her. A real whirlwind visit. They return tomorrow. Whooosh.

Took Adam out for additional driver training today. Alan lost his helper for an hour. He is laying new floors in their house. Adam did well, still in the parking lots and roads of the University, but he graduated from parking in areas devoid of cars to parking in amongst real cars. He will do well.

Glad to see that the BC Lions are Grey Cup bound after a thrilling nail biter of a game today. Yeah go Lions go.

I came across this link by accident. It concerns a Major Ousey an army signal corp officer. I found it interesting, maybe you would too.The State | 10/27/2004 | Soldier helping Iraqis connect

Picture from Lyn who could put them on her own blog if she knew how. Must show her.

Another one that Lyn sent. She probably doesn't have time to learn to blog pictures, she hardly has time to blog without pictures.

We have a nice sunny day, which is nice for a change. Here is a bit of humour on this fine day.

The provider.

A young woman brings home her fiancé to meet her parents. After dinner, her mother tells her father to find out about the young man. The father invites the fiancée to his study for a drink. "So what are your plans?" the father asks the young man. "I am a Torah scholar," he replies. "A Torah scholar. Hmmm," the father says. ".......Admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she's accustomed to?" "I will study," the young man replies, "and God will provide for us." "And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?" asks the father.
"I will concentrate on my studies," the young man replies. "God will provide for us." "And children?" asks the father. "How will you support the children?" "Don't worry, sir, God will provide," replies the fiancé. The conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father questions, the young idealist insists that God will provide.
Later that evening the mother asks, "How did it go, Honey?"
The father answers, "He has no job and no plans, but the good news is he thinks I'm God."

We had a nice dinner uptown at the Irish Pub. First time there and it is quite a lovely establishment. Built in the old Bank of Montreal building; they kept the outer bank structure but refurbished the interior in grand style, obviously sparing no expense. The food is quite good and plentiful as is the ale.

Happy Birthday Carolyn. She spent a nice lunch with Lyn, did some shopping and then we went to My Chosen with Kathie and Andy (and Chris). She got her free birthday dessert, which we all had to taste. She got a call from Mike and we have been brought up to date on the happenings up north. Noni and Chelsea dropped over to the house afterwards.

Her GI problems had eased so she was able to enjoy the food, though I did have to suggest that the Lamb Curry she was considering at the Irish pub was probably not a good idea. She agreed and enjoyed the Shepherds pie instead. All in all she enjoyed her birthday and the gifts and the food, and the emails, and the ecards and the cards.

Spent some time this afternoon taking Adam driving. He needs practice and everyone in the house is too busy to take him out. So Lyn asked me to and today was the first. I'll take him out a few more times until he can drive himself (with a licensed driver) to his hockey games etc. He is good, just needs the time to practice. This was only his second time out.

Quiet weekend otherwise. Looking for some chains for the motorhome. Illegal to go through the mountain passes without them. Narrowed down between Gorge Auto Supply and Crappy Tire. Think I'll go with the Gorge road ones. Only $134 plus taxes. Yeech.

Talked with Mom today. She seems in good spirits, Carolyn talked with her also, thanking her for her birthday card and told her what she spent the money on. Carolyn will have to birthday dinners and a birthday lunch. Sue and John and ourselves are going to the new Irish Pub tommorow night and on her birthday Tuesday, we are going with Andy and Kathie to, you guessed it, our usual watering hole, My Chosin Cafe. Hey she gets a free dessert there on her birthday. woo woo. Lyn is taking her for lunch on Tuesday as well. Hope she can handle all the food with the gastro intenstinal problems she is having. Well, I can help her with the dessert, I think that is the least I can do. lol.

Boy where do the time go. Here it is Friday already. Busy Week. I have been elected to the Strata Council and we had our first Council meeting Monday night. Other than interupting my movie night it went well. Getting to see the inside track on monitoring a strata complex. Tuesday we drove to Tigh Na Mara (thats in Parksville - a round trip of 260 Km) to see the tenants that will be occupying our house Jan - Apr. We had been in contact by phone but needed a lease signed and just talk about things. They had us for lunch. Real nice couple, we are so lucky to have such nice people leasing the place. While up there we stopped in Naniamo and did so shopping and had supper. Gas was 4.4 cents cheaper per litre and Superstore was giving an additional 7.5 cents per litre. That equates to about 45 cents per US gal, almost wished I had the motorhome with me.

Wednesday I went to a VPI luncheon at the Wardroom (Officers Mess). VP is a designator meaning Maritime Patrol Aircraft and the I is International. It is a club of Maritime Patrol aviators that have extensive flying hours, that is Headquartered in Greenwood NS and has chapters around the world. The guest speaker was the Commanding Officer of the HMCS Victoria (yes one of the controversial subs). Very good speaker and we learned a lot about that class of submarine and of the Chicoutimi disaster. He is very confident of the sub, the crew, their training and somewhat critical of the ill-informed political and media coverage. He was very candid and forthright, which is a hall mark of a good submariner most of the time.

Wednesday night was my Lions Club charter dinner. Our club has been chartered since 1953 and thus this was our 51st charter night. I missed the big 50th shindig last year as we were out East at the time. In any event we went to the 4-mile restaurant and they served up a great meal, choice of "forbidden chicken", "cedar plank Salmon", New York Steak, or Prime Rib. Carolyn loved the chicken and I of course had the tenderest Prime rib you can imagine. It was also awards night and I was busy taking pictures of the recipients, for the bulletin and web page. The last award was the "Judge Brian Stevenson Award" for meritous service to the club in particular and Lions in general. Turns out I was the recipient of that one for the many hours of work I put into Lions Cove Senior housing development plus other stuff. I was both surprised and honoured to receive this recognition. The dilemma was how could I take my own picture. Lion Ed came to the rescue and I'll blog the resulting picture as soon as I down load it.

Thursday we got our Flu shots after I golfed. I have managed to get to the Gym 3 times this week, including this morning. Good week. Carolyn is having continued gastro intenstinal problems. The doctor has ruled out heart problems, and currently she is on a clear liquid diet, which will be followed by gradual inclusion of mild foods, until they can determine the cause of the discomfort, which is mostly an indigestion feeling, mostly all the time. She is relieved that it isn't heart problems.

Through all this was the US Election, I feel it is too bad that Dubya's got another four years, but it is a decision that the American electorate has made and will have to live with good or bad. I wish them well. Now all we have to listen to is the pundits hashing out what went wrong, or what went right for that matter.

Gotta go down load those pictures.

Lion Ed presenting the Judge Brian Stevenson award to Lion Gary.

The Pirate and the Fairy Princess