Month: February 2022

After several postponements, we finally had our long awaited visit with our good friends, Annemarie and Jim.

As usual, conversation was non-stop and interesting.

We had a nice lunch and then I did a demo of Flight Simulator at Jim’s request. A fun day.

Yesterday, just for fun, Jane and I made a TikTok video lip syncing to Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

To our amazement, that video had 62,500 views as of 7am this morning and around 11am was up to 85,000 views.

Crazy – but fun.

Sometime ago I pushed the closet door a little too hard causing the glass to crack in a couple of places. We really like this door and considered getting another one but couldn’t find one of the same style. And nowadays, these doors sell for over$500.

So I decided to give a windshield repair kit a try. It was only $20 and I also bought a UV light to speed up the curing of the epoxy.

After the repair, the cracks are only slightly visible when looking closely. I will tweak it a little more tomorrow.

With my surgery date now confirmed, I am making a list of things I need to bring with me to the Shouldice Hospital.

Because they are going to do both hernias, I will have to stay in there for six days. And visitors are not permitted because of COVID restrictions.

But I will be taking my IPAD with me so at least I’ll be able to do video chats and keep up with the world news.

This afternoon, Larry Clifford came back to try out my Flight Simulator arrangement. He was quite interested because he was a licensed pilot many years ago.

He was here for a couple of hours and thoroughly enjoyed himself, so much so that he is looking into getting a setup himself.

I offered to help him get set up if he goes through with it. We’ll see.

Right smack in the middle of a week, Steven turns 39! I remember when Jack Benny turned 39 and never got older in all those later years! Jane is stunned that she is old enough to have a 39 yr. old!

This morning I received a call from the Shouldice Hospital confirming my hernia surgery date of March 9, 2022.

I have already scheduled a date for the required COVID test that Shouldice wants.

Both hernias will be done on this admission.

Looking forward to finally getting this done.

I have been checking out IPTV which is an alternative to subscribing to cable TV like Fibe. Steven told me about this method and how cost effective it is.

This led me to review the cost of my Fibe TV service which resulted in my changing the package I have and a $70.00 monthly saving.

I wil continue to research the advantages of IPTV.

This morning Jane and I checked back on available campsites in Killbear Park. We settled on a site adjacent to the beach and swimming area in an area called Harold Point.

We will be staying for six nights at the end of June. The reservation we had at Oastler Lake will be cancelled.

The site on Harold Point is also close to the rocks that are used for cliff jumping.

After a great breakfast of French toast and bacon, Steve and Chris headed home, this time in much better weather and road conditions.

It was a great visit and a big pick-me-up for Jane and me.

Both guys had a great time playing my flight simulator game.

In the midst of a terrible snow storm, Steve and Chris arrived for a weekend visit. They said they were in whiteout, white knuckle driving conditions coming up Highway 11 and they were glad to finally get here.

After a nice lunch of sandwiches and homemade mushroom soup, they wanted to give Flight Simulator a try.

Needless to say, it was a hit with both of them acting as pilot and co-pilot and flying around for most of the afternoon.

They had a great time and it was fun to watch.

The aerial ladder has been repaired and reinforced as well as having a safety stop chain installed. I added a couple of flat decals.

Chris, who is coming up here this weekend, will take it back to Max when he returns

Jane has been figuring out the menus for the upcoming visit by Steven and Chris. It’s been a long time coming and a long time since both guys have been here at the same time.

Looking forward to it.

Today I have an appointment for an ultrasound to be done in Bradford. There are no appointments available in Barrie for two months.

I was called by my Doctors office two days ago advising of that and suggesting I contact Bradford.

Today I had a friend of mine, Larry Clifford, come over to have a look at my Flight Sim setup. Larry was a boating friend I first met at Alberts Marina on the Holland River in the mid eighties. I later hired him on as a part time Correctional Officer at the West Detention Centre. We have remained friends since then.

Of course, just when I was ready to give him a demo, they started an update and we were unable to get onto the simulator.

We will have to do it another time but he lives close by and drives by here quite often.

We have a new Flight Simulator airline. It’s called MAXANA airlines.

The name derived from the names of our two grandchildren – Max and Roxana. That name will appear on every plane in my array of equipment.

Jane and I continue with our efforts to reserve an Ontario Parks campsite at Killbear, near Parry Sound.

Despite both of us being on separate computers at the moment sites become available (7 am) we are routinely beat out by someone quicker than us.

We’ll keep trying though. we do have a backup plan as well.

Next weekend Steve and Chris are coming for a weekend visit. So it’s going to be kind of a guys weekend. I’m anxious to have them try Flight Simulator and just hang out.

Jane has already been busy with menu planning in readiness for their visit. She will make them their favourite foods and desserts.

Always nice to have something to look forward to.

This morning Tonya sent us a picture of Max playing with a firetruck that I made sometime ago.

The aerial ladder needs some repairs so Jane will see about bringing it back so I can fix it.

You can see that he is having a lot of fun with it complete with motor sounds that he is making.

This misguided protest continues. It’s been 14 days in Ottawa and has not eased up. They have blockaded the Ambassador Bridge and today they blockaded a US Canada border in Manitoba.

In Ottawa they have begun flooding 911 with phony calls and the general police number.

A bunch of selfish idiots.

This is how I have my Simulator arranged. I can easily switch from my Desktop PC to X Box by simply activating the appropriate mouse.

I continue to have fun doing these Tik Tok videos. They’re easy to do and take no time at all. My latest one is about my bow tie….a tune I found on a Tik Tok search

Am I cray cray or what?

A very Happy Birthday, CBear! Even though it’s a Monday, ugh. Jane enjoyed her visit with you, Tonya and Max on Saturday.

This morning Jane and I were talking about camping and how it would be nice to go to Killbear Provincial Park again.

We were there last year for a weekend and had a great time. So this year we thought we might stay for a couple of weeks.

Reservations are required and apparently they book up really fast starting five months before your desired date so we have put a reminder in our electronic calendar to remind us when to do it.

Today I decided to try flying a really big plane. So I fired up a Boeing 747 and flew over Cape Town South Africa.

The one problem had though, was not being able to figure out how to deploy the landing gear, so I couldn’t land anywhere.

This morning Jane took a trip to see Chris, Tonya and Max and to deliver an early birthday cake for Chris, and a belated one for Tonya.

For Chris, it ’s a few days early – his actual day is the 7th. and for Tonya, it’s a bit late, but at least we got to see one another.

Jane took New Year’s Eve hats for a party atmosphere, and Chris got the best one!

Max helped by unwrapping the gift and blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday, Chris and Tonya!

This afternoon, on a whim, I decided to send an email to the Shouldice Booking office reaffirming my wish to be on a cancellation list. Lo and behold, within 5 minutes I had a reply and within another 5 minutes I had a scheduled date.

So on March 9th I will be admitted with surgery happening the following day.

I think something this is sometimes referred to as serendipity.

Today I had an appointment to see about this intermittent ache I have been having in my left side. I went for an X-Ray at Georgian Radiology and I will be having an ultrasound done in a few weeks time.

In the meantime I am taking it easy with Flight Simulator and taking Tylenol a couple of times a day.

Fortunately it hasn’t interfered with my sleep, so I am well rested in the mornings.

The monitor I ordered from Best Buy was scheduled for delivery tomorrow. However, Canada Post attempted the delivery today. Because nobody answered the door, the package was not left. Instead, it was taken back to the local Postal office.

I will pick it up tomorrow on my way back from a medical appointment.

Hopefully the weather tomorrow won’t be too bad.

After a lot of research and consultations with the guys, I ordered a 27” Samsung gaming monitor.

This monitor has built in speakers and a headphone jack, two things that I really wanted. It will work well for higher resolution graphics also.

A bonus is the remote that comes with it.