Spring Clean Up

One of the biggest jobs outside is the spring clean up. So this week I began the task of raking up previous years leaves and grass cuttings. I started on Wednesday and the first picture shows how much I accomplished first time out . I began at the Maple on the side of the house, which the City is supposed to be removing for us and managed to get half way down the length of the house on the East side.

The following day I began at the same Maple but this time worked towards the avenue. These photos do not really give a true idea of how much leaves and grass is actually being raked up.

Friday I gave my body a rest and began again today, Saturday. I finished raking under the spruce, again this tree will be removed, and worked towards the Maple in the corner, which the City will prune for us. I cleaned from the sidewalk around the power pole and Maple creating another pile of leaves etc.


My efforts for today were not complete, I began raking the other direction across the front of the property. I cleaned under the Spruce and the other side of the Maple and worked towards the next Maple tree. By this time I was beginning to ache so decided to try another activity.


Still in the front yard. Having no success finding the ice chipper, Richard probably locked it in the shed and I don't have a key, I use the ice chipper in the Spring and Summer as an edging tool, I made do with the spade. We wanted to know how far our front sidewalk went and so I scraped out the overgrown lawn edges only to find out that it does not go very far from the step near the Maple trees. There is a chance there could be another step here and I need to dig down further to find the path but I don't think that is the case.
As I was already in the front with the spade I figured it would be a good idea to the lawn at the front sidewalk. This is my efforts for today, there is a good six to eight inches of grass grown onto the sidewalk. I worked back to the same level as my pile of raked leaves and called it a day. I'll suffer tomorrow for my efforts but seeing the yard beginning to look clean and a little cared for is well worth the pain of the next few days. It's weird but I have always done the raking from the moment I first lived in a house with a garden. Neither my first husband nor Richard have ever been predisposed to do any raking, without my efforts it would never get done. Come to think of it I believe I did a lot of the raking when I was a child too.

A Visit from Ian

This picture was taken yesterday morning (April 16th). At 8:00 am the phone rang; it was Ian "had we had breakfast yet?" No we hadn't so he asked us to wait and he would be here in about and hour and a half.

He had taken the Greyhound bus from Calgary to Saskatoon to purchase a truck he had seen advertised. An acquaintance had checked the vehicle out for him once Ian had a good report he agreed to purchase the truck. So here he was in Saskatoon just over an hour away from us.

I was so excited. Our children do not visit very often and I miss them all so very much. To have one of them, out of the blue, tell us they will be at the house within the two hours was wonderful.

Once here we headed out to Smitty's for breakfast and had a great time visiting. Discussing his work and how happy we are living here in Prince Albert. The shame was he could not stay long as he was on duty the next day. Once we were back at our house he took a short nap and then had a shower. Richard and Ian took a quick spin in the new vehicle going to NAPA for an air filter and Richard needed a replacement for the sledge hammer he had purchase from Canadian Tire just the other day, the handle had split on him. So they took Ian's truck and ran their errands.

It was sad that he could only stay for a short time, but I would take just a short quick visit like that than the years of not seeing any of our children.

This is one happy Mum still basking in the visit from her son.

Work or not to work

My plan, once we had settled, was to find a job where I could work just three days a week, preferably Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

I had seen a bookkeeping position advertised for quite some time, at least since January. The company were looking for someone with just basic bookkeeping skills and about three years of experience. As it was a full-time position I kept passing it by. I got to thinking about it and thought I could probably do the job in three days each week. I decided that I would offer my services but for three days a week. I felt I had more experience than they were looking for and was sure I could do the work in less time. Knowing that the industry they were in would not really have very much work in the winter.

I phoned the company, went for an initial interview. It sounded like they would be willing to make the position part-time. I left the interview feeling very confident, they wanted to check my references before proceeding any further.

I received a phone call the following week asking me to come back to discuss the position and wages. He had spoken to my previous employers and said that to his enquiry they informed him I had left very good manuals for that position. At once bells began to ring. Why would he want to know if I left manuals on how to do my job? What bearing did that have on the position he was offering?

Anyway I went to chat with him again, this time he had me write a test. I was not impressed but took his test. After checking my answers we talked again about the position.

This is what he finally offered me. For $15 an hour he would want me to complete the previous years Financial Statements and clean up the mess that had been left by the previous person. She had left in July and their year end was November. He expected me to complete this in three weeks. He wanted me to write a manual for the position with a completion deadline of five maybe six months. Plus keep the everyday work up to date. All for the grand wage of $15.00 an hour. If I meet his deadlines he would bonus me back $5 an hour for the first deadline and then maybe another $3 or $4 an hour after the next deadline.

None of this sat well with me. There was no safeguard for me, he could utilize all my abilities and not like what I do or put other hurdles in the way. There was no guarantee that he would actually pay me a final wage of $23 or $24 an hour. Not only did I feel completely insulted by his offer but felt his intent was to use me. Once he had what he needed that would be the end of the position for me. Of course he did mention other perks such as cost plus 10% on any stock items I purchased; and the company gas credit card once in a while if I used my car for company business. Both of these items I would expect.

He kept telling me he had been burned in the past and did not intend to have that happen again. He also told me he had another person he was thinking of hiring but she would take more training than I would and was looking for full-time work. I told him I don't have to work I was just looking to get out of the house for a few days each week.

My final decision was; thank you but no thank you. I told him $15 an hour was far too low even with the possible bonuses.

I was not putting myself it that sort of position where he held all the cards. As for the other person who he was considering hiring, obviously a fabrication, in the week-end paper was an advert for the bookkeeping position. I'm not so desperate for work that I would take a position that paid me almost $10 an hour under what I believe I'm worth.

What a great day

All my cards and my flowers

Tuesday was my birthday and I had a wonderful day because my darling husband made it special. On Monday he handed me a lovely bouquet of flowers. I love flowers in the house even if I do have to keep them away from our cats. Lucky enough in this house I have a lovely mantel where the cats do not get.

My Birthday morning arrived I awoke to my first treat, a special cup of English toffee coffee nice and frothy and the first of many cards. Once up and about the treats and cards continued to come. I opened the cupboard where I keep my bullet cups for making my morning smoothie and there in the cup was a bag of maltesers, I love maltesers. There was another card on my chair. Richard went off to the church to work and I continued getting ready for the rest of my day.

Richard came home for lunch with the news that he would be staying home for the evening. Tuesday is his night for teaching confirmation class, the class was canceled for that evening, not because it was my birthday,one of the girls was not well. We decided that we would decide during the afternoon if we would go out for supper or stay home.

As I had plans to go out for the afternoon Richard went to the gym to work-out as usual. Jeanette from church picked me up at three and drove me over to Shananigans coffee house. Gerdie met us there and we had special coffee and a fruit cup dessert. Jeanette was disappointed that none of the other ladies from church were able to join us. It was a great afternoon out.

As I had already gone out during the afternoon I was quite happy to stay home for the evening. Before Richard prepared supper he handed me another birthday bag which had a bar of Walker's Traditional Slab Toffee inside. I have been craving this toffee for months and it is hard to find here in Canada. On Sunday we went into Winners, after lunch with Pat and Merv, where Richard saw the English import of my favourite toffee. Of course that wasn't the only item in the bag there was another card.

Supper was Richard's wonderful chili with chopped fresh tomatoes and grated cheese on top. It was so good. I always like something sweet after dinner and Richard out did himself. He had purchased a toffee cheese cake which he served with toffee crunch ice cream, fresh raspberries and blackberries, talk about decadent.

Another bag was handed to me with yet another toffee slab and card. Then came my main gift. I have a brand new Sony Vaio Laptop computer. Of course I am using this evening to type this blog. The first advantage of of having a laptop is that I can sit in front of the TV and type while watching my favourite shows and spending time with Richard.

What made the day so special were the phone messages that I received. Yes it meant I had missed all the calls from the children but each one had left a message for me. First one was Kegan wishing Nanny a Happy Birthday, it was so cute. Next was Ian with a happy birthday wish and a reminder of his phone number. The final message was from Evette with a promise that she would phone later, which she did later in the evening once Zachary was in bed.

I love having birthdays, I never worry and it does not bother me how old I get, I love the fuss that my darling husband makes of me. Many will think six birthday cards a bit overboard but I love cards and love the fact that he puts them where I will find them and be surprised. My last card was on my pillow when I turned in for the night.

Thank you Richard for making my day so special.

5 Pin Bowling

On Sunday the congregation had an afternoon out to 5 pin bowl and pizza afterwards. Richard signed us both up for the fun.

I have not been 5 pin bowling since my kids left to live with their father. Of course I had two good legs back then. Also back then I would pride myself in not being too bad a bowler.

Bowling today is quite a challenge (different from bowling in our living room on the Wii too!). The first hurdle was finding bowling shoes that would fit my prosthesis, no success so they allowed me to wear a clean pair of runners that I brought with me. Verna had mixed up the teams really well, I was with Merv, Mark and Sheila. The two guys were obviously fairly good especially Merv who bowled a 232 on his second game this also was the high score of the afternoon. Sheila and I were fairly evenly matched although by the third game she did a lot better than me.

It was weird not being able to do my old stride forward and let the ball go. I had to walk to the edge of the alley, take a deep breath to focus my mind, aim, and then throw the bowling ball. I couldn't get the correct balance at all, by the third game I was over compensating for my lack of balance first right then left, gutters that is. I only managed one strike and no spare on all three games. I was disappointed I could not break 100.

I'm still proud of the fact that I went out and bowled. I didn't just watch because of my amputation, I actually participated. The time after the bowling was great, sharing pizza with everyone who came out. Richard took some time out to teach the teens how to play pool or billiards, not sure which one, they had a blast. This was a good Sunday afternoon of entertainment with our new church family and I look forward to many more.

Sorry there are no pictures but Richard and I forgot to bring our camera and I guess everyone else did to, so no pictures of the wild event.

Outside Jobs Planned

These are not new pictures but old ones I've put notes on to make it easier to explain the work to be done, hopefully, in the Spring. That is, if spring ever comes!

This is the front of our home and as you can see there is so much forest you can barely see the house. The first order of the day is to get quotes to remove four trees and the two cedars from the property. Here I've marked the two cedars to be removed.

I've marked three tress here. Numbers 1 and 2 are probably Elms, although they could be Maples, and they are probably on City property. If they are Elms we have to remove or prune before April 1st as per a City by law; Maples can be removed and pruned anytime.

Now if they do belong to the City and we cut them down there will be a fine. The fine being the value of two fully grown mature trees. Number 1 tree has grown against the house and is beginning to cause moss damage to our roof. If we do nothing to the tree our roof will need replacing a lot sooner than the estimated 6 to 8 years from now.

Tree number 3 is a spruce and is on our property therefore will be removed. Number 4 tree (not in any picture) is a Maple in the far bottom corner of our property. This area we intend to level in order to a place to park our motor home. The dirt from here will be used to regrade the land on the west side of the house.

I've called four tree removal companies and received two quotes to date. The first one is for $1,565, not including stump removal. The 2nd quote for exactly the same trees is for $790, also not including the stump removal. We still have two other companies to give us quotes. The City still needs to let us know if trees 1 & 2 are theirs and if they will remove them. If not both at least tree number 1 by the side of the house.

The next project; the need to replace all the eavestroughing on both sides of the house and along the front of the porch. Again four companies were contacted initially over a month ago, having heard from none of them I recontacted them two weeks ago. So far only one has been out to discuss what we would like and take measurements. No quotes have been received but we should here by Monday from the first company.

With the Eavestroughing we to remove the existing flashing that joins the porch to the house and replace it with flexible flashing. Once this is done the leaks into the porch should stop. We have also requested a quote for a zinc strip to be placed on the porch roof to stop the moss from growing there. The house faces north and this part of the roof will always be prone to moss growth even with the trees taken out. The house inspector informed us that the Zinc strip will impede the moss growth. This quote will also come from the companies who quote on the eavestroughing.

Men and Church Attendance

Over the last ten or so years I have wondered why we see less men attending church. This morning I put the question to my Pastor, who also happens to be my husband, none the less he is my Pastor. Why are men less likely to be faithful attenders to Church services, and why are our services predominantly female? Do men not recognise their need for Christ in their lives?

We would say there is no easy answer to these questions but maybe the answer that my Pastor gave me is the simple answer which should make us sit up and listen. The first answer that obviously comes to mind is that as our congregations age they do become predominantly female as women live longer than men. But, and a big but, this is too simple of an answer. It also becomes an excuse and we do not delve any deeper into the question.

My Pastor believes that we have feminised God. What does he mean by that? So much of Christendom has become about feelings, you know the touchy, feely, stuff. Many written Bible Studies are more about us and what we have or have not done and should do. Are we acting like the people we find in the Bible who we often show to be wonderful role models? Are we reaching out in understanding and love? The 'love' that is so often put out there in Christendom is the touchy feely type of love. The type of 'love' that women understand, but what of the men?

Take a look at contemporary Christian music that has flooded the markets and our Christendom homes in the past few decades. Are they not more like love songs to and about Jesus or God? Don't they talk more as if our Triune God is our boyfriend? As a woman I can understand these lyrics but are they relevant to who our Triune God truly is?

Now lets return to the males of our species. We women know men truly do not understand our touchy feely actions and talk. They just don't get it! But have we not made our Lord and Saviour into a touchy feely person? We talk of a loving God but only in the essence of our feminine understanding. We don't show God as a Judge who hates our sin and cannot have us in His presence, unless we are robed with the Righteousness of Christ. This does not reflect a touchy feely God!

So the next question has to be; how do we return our teachings and actions to reflect our Triune God as he truly is? How do we turn the tables to show Jesus Christ and Him crucified for us and taking the punishment that we deserve from being a touchy feely type of person to a God understood and relevant to men. We so want God to be accessible, to be our friend, that we have placed Him out of reach to the average man, God is no longer relevant or understandable or recognisable as needed their lives.

No the answer is not so simple as an aging population which has become predominantly female but one of placing God out of reach for the male side of creation, making Him no longer relevant to them, because men do not understand touchy feely!