Author: Life Unfolding

It has been snowing steadily all day and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.m

I am checking out how well the garage will warm up with the new ceiling heater I installed a few weeks ago.

We are staying home today.

We decided to do some grocery shopping right after our daily Yahtzee challenge and we found that weekdays were the best for doing this. There was hardly anyone in there, so the aisles were clear and it was easy to get around.

The bonus was that we got it all done before the snowfall began.

For the last couple of days we have been busy wrapping Christmas gifts and placing them under our Christmas tree.

We are in very good shape for being ready for a full family Christmas this year.

This morning I had a rare occasion to actually remember my dream from the night before. I made notes and used those notes to get Copilot to interpret that dream. Here’s what AI did:

Dream Narrative, Summary, and Interpretation

Dream Narrative

• Scene 1: The Courtroom
A courtroom filled with seniors, including Gary and his wife Jane. The judge is an OPP officer. Another OPP officer asks the judge twice for a report. Eventually, an OPP sergeant arrives, and the judge’s bench transforms into a glass room. The sergeant and judge enter, exchanging profanity.
• Scene 2: Waiting and Complaining
Gary tells Jane he plans to complain about the long wait. Around 20 seniors are seated, waiting.
• Scene 3: Transformation into a Party Room
The courtroom suddenly becomes a party room. The judge brings beer tickets to Gary’s table. When asked his name, he replies: Bruce Death.
• Scene 4: The Envelope Incident
A lady at the next table grabs Gary’s arm forcefully and asks if he has an envelope. Gary says no, but notices two envelopes on the floor. Another man claims them and takes both.
• Scene 5: The Money on the Floor
Gary finds $20 bills on the floor. The man insists the money is his. Gary ends up with both the envelope and the money.
• Ending
The dream concludes with Gary holding the envelope and the money.

—

Summary

• The dream begins in a courtroom with seniors and OPP officers.
• Authority figures argue, and the courtroom transforms into a party room.
• A judge named Bruce Death hands out beer tickets.
• A dispute arises over envelopes and money found on the floor.
• Despite conflict, Gary ends the dream holding both the envelope and the money.

—

Interpretation

• Authority & fairness: The courtroom and police presence suggest concerns about justice, rules, or being treated fairly.
• Transparency & conflict: The glass room and profanity highlight fragility in authority and conflict among leaders.
• Absurd transformation: The courtroom turning into a party room reflects how serious situations can suddenly feel ridiculous or surreal.
• Mortality & aging: Seniors and the name Bruce Death may symbolize awareness of aging and mortality.
• Pressure & ownership: The lady’s demand for an envelope and the man’s claim over money suggest external pressures and disputes over resources or recognition.
• Resolution & resilience: Ending with the envelope and money in hand points to perseverance and securing something valuable despite challenges.

Overall Theme: The dream blends frustration with authority, reflections on aging, and reassurance that even amid confusion and conflict, you retain something meaningful.

This morning we went to the local Canadian Tire to do some browsing and to pick up some batteries.

We picked up some popcorn and stopped in at Circle K to get milk and a coffee.

After getting home I did some work on creating a Barrie Healthcare Infusion site meant to encourage Health Care professionals to emigrate from the US to Canada.

We’ll see how that goes.

When the snow is clean and free of animal tracks, there’s nothing prettier.

That’s what we have in our backyard today.

It has been snowing all day and the weather network is predicting more for the weekend.

Barrie is known for being in the “snow belt” and this year is confirming that assertion.

Fortunately for us, we do not have to go anywhere and we stocked up on groceries a couple of days ago.

Colter, our next door neighbour, is doing our snow removal on a contract basis again this year.

This morning the two new mattresses from Mike the Mattress Guy arrived and were immediately placed on the bunk beds in the Grandkids room.

Right after that I took down the hot air balloon light and installed the new low profile fixture with a moon and star motif.

We’re in business.

Today Jane and I went to a bookstore here in Barrie to pick up a few books for the Grandkids – some to have here and some for Christmas gifts.

Afterward we went to Metro and picked up some groceries before returning home.

I confirmed with Mike the Mattress Guy that the new mattresses for the new bunk beds would be delivered tomorrow. They accept donations for the Barrie food bank in lieu of a delivery charge.

This morning Jane and I decided to put up and decorate our Christmas tree.

It took us a little while but it was nice to look at the special ornaments given to us over the years.

The temperature has risen slightly and this is causing the slushy piles at the end of the driveway. If it got colder, that slush would become solud ice making it impossible to get the car out. I decided to clear it out myself rather than waiting for Colter to do it.

The Weather network is predicting more snow tonight so it’s good to get that done.

I continue proofreading my blog entries working backwards from today. I want to be ready to get all my daily blog posts for 2025 ready for inclusion in a hard copy book that I will have done early in 2026.

They usually have a sale around that time that I’ll be able to take advantage.

Other than that, I have done little else except do several taste tests on Jane’s freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Delicious.

Well the Weather Network predicted it. We had snow all night long and up until noon today.

We got about a foot of snow and it’s supposed to snow some more later today.

Fortunately for us, we don’t have any places we have to go today, so we can just stay home and inside.

We met for the first time with Dr. Majeed, our referred to family physician. He saw both Jane and I at the same time and began by reviewing OHIP coverage and how much time he allocates per visit.

He spent very little time reviewing my health record although he did spend more time with Jane.

I did get him to issue a blood requisition but when Jane asked him about prescription renewals, he left to check and never came back. Not impressed.

We did stop at New Life pharmacy and were assured that our prescription renewals will last beyond our next doctor visit.

We’ll see how this goes.

The weather network is predicting a winter storm with significant snowfall in the next few days, so we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things to avoid going out in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow, though, we do have one thing to do and that is to have a meet and greet with our new doctor. It’s not too far, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

Last night we had a video call with Max and he showed us everything in their house especially all the Christmas decorations. We showed him our decorations here and also showed him the new bunk bed he’ll be using when they visit on Boxing Day.

He ran up to his room and came back on camera to show us a Lego poster he wanted to give us to put up on the wall over the bunk bed.

It was a great call with him.

Yesterday I partially assembled the new bunk bed in the main floor guest room. I had a little bit of difficulty getting the final pieces to fit together but with Jane’s help we finally got it fully assembled.

It takes up most of the room, but it will enable everyone to have comfortable sleeping arrangements.

Later I did some more raking to get rid of the leaves before we get a predicted heavy snowfall.

The new bed arrived today, a day early. It was a very heavy box but I managed to get it into the garage and start unboxing it. The instructions were a bit messed up, but by taking my time, I avoided making a mistake.

The photo above shows one end of the bed and tomorrow I will resume the assembling of the rest of it.

Today Colter gave me a hand to stow the double bed mattress and box spring in the garage.

There is still room for the car to parked inside until we are ready to set it up when we have all the family here.

The new twin over queen bunk bed is coming on Tuesday.

This morning Jane and I had our coffee down at Centennial Beach here in Barrie. There was some walkers out despite the gloomy weather.

I started working on this years annual Christmas newsletter in which I choose one highlight for each of the past months that have been included in my daily blog, Life Unfolding.

I have done some work on tidying up all the cables associated with our internet connections.

Today I disassembled the double bed in the upstairs guest bedroom to make room for the twin over queen bed that we ordered from Wayfair. The new one is supposed to arrive on Nov 25th at which time I will assemble it.

The new mattresses are scheduled to be delivered on December 3, so we’ll be all ready for our Christmas family visit.

This morning we went to see Dr. Cheung for Jane’s follow up appointment after her eye surgery last week. Everything was very positive and Jane may not even need surgery on her right eye after all.

We go back in January for another follow up and in the meantime Jane will just continue with the prescribed eye drops.

It was an easy drive down and back with clear dry roads and sunny weather.

A good day for good news.

Today Jane and I did some more Christmas decorating, mainly in the family Room.

The mantle is done as well as the little “village” on the buffet. Jane did the little table and we got the wreaths hung as well.

We still have the Christmas tree to put up, but we’re in good shape for the family Christmas.

Today I attended the new Doctor’s location to initiate the registration process transferring from Doctor Morin to the new one. We will have a meet and greet on Nov 27.

I called Mike the Mattress Guy to change to Queen mattress to a 10 inch instead of an 8 inch. The delivery date is set for December 3 after the metal bunk bed arrives around Nov 25.

Jane has finished doing the Christmas decorations upstairs and I got the nativity scene set up in the sitting room niche.

Tomorrow I’ll set up the lights for the console and the curio cabinet.

Today I went to Mikes Mattresses and ordered two of them for the bunk beds that are coming from Wayfair at the end of the month.

Later in the afternoon I returned all of the Bell Fibe equipment via Purolator because we have switched our internet service to telMAX.

I did order some shorter Cat 6 cables to tidy up all the wires involved and at some point I will get a range extender to boost the signal on the back deck and in the back yard.

Jane has been doing some Christmas decorating on the main floor a little at a time.

Today I finished connecting all the Wyze cameras to the new WiFi network. They seem to be working quite nicely, even the one at the far end of the back yard.

I have disconnected all the Bell equipment and will pack it up in a box for return to them.

The upstairs TV had an old outdated App,e TV which would not allow apps to be downloaded, so I picked up a new one at Best Buy and spent quite a bit of time getting it to work the way I wanted it to.

I have ordered some short Ethernet cables to make the modem connections a little neater.

This morning telMAX is coming to install a fibre optic connection for our internet. They will also have a TV package included and the cost is about half of what Bell Fibe TV costs.

There will be a lot of connection updates required with all the devices that rely on internet.

Both Apple TV’s, Alexa, our phones and I pads, the desktop computers, the drip irrigation system to name a few.

But the internet connection speed should be fantastic.

Jane had a restful night but this morning had some difficulty opening her eye, the one that had surgery yesterday. But, after a short time, it began to open enough to get drops in it.

Sh went back to bed after a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and ham.

I spent some time taking down the Fall decor and stowing the bins in the garage.

Then I swept up out there and did some research on mattresses for the new bunk bed that I ordered from Wayfair.

Jane and I are at the hospital for Jane’s scheduled eye surgery on her left eye.

The actual surgical procedure was supposed to be done at 1PM, but as of 1:30 there was no progress.

I decided to get a bite at the food court.

On another note we just learned last night that we would be having the whole family at our place for a couple of days starting on Boxing Day.

We are thrilled and have already started planning.



This morning we went grocery shopping at Metro and picked up everything we need for the next while.

Jane got word that her eye surgery is scheduled for 1pm tomorrow afternoon so we won’t need to stay overnight.

The weather tomorrow is calling for rain, but that’s better than snow.

We’ll drop off the cider purchases at Chris’ work tomorrow before we go the Humber River Hospital.

Today is Remembrance Day here in Canada and Jane and I watched the ceremony conducted at the cenotaph in Ottawa.

Later today we are going to the Cineplex movie theatre to watch Nuremberg starring Russell Crowe.

And I topped up the tires with air and the windshield washer fluid.

It’s been snowing off and on since this morning.

The snowfall that began yesterday continues today and is staying on the ground as opposed to melting. Winter has arrived. We were going to go to a movie this afternoon, but have decided to wait until tomorrow afternoon instead.

Jane continues to proofread her journal on Max which consists of memories from his birthday until he was four years of age. She is adding photos as she goes and eventually will get it put together into a book which she will give to Max when he’s older.

She will do the same for Roxana and Royce.

My nephew, Alan Hewick, sent me a couple of photos of my brother Larry taken on his wedding day to Kathleen (we called her Kitty) which was very thoughtful of him.