Prairie Dog Blog

It has been a while since I last blogged. I have a good excuse, though. Margot and I have been busy. Above are a couple of pictures of us at the RV. As you can see, Suzie is relaxed. All she needs is a patch of sunlight in which to snooze.

We went out for dinner with Nana. Last weekend we went to the RV in Gimli and opened it up. It seems to have weathered the winter well. The only thing was a small leak in the toilet pipe, but a local Mr. Fix-it is going to fix it for me. It was so strange to be there without him, but we had a good time. Shopping at Tergessons and other little stores, walking on the dock and eating cinnamon buns. He loved those cinnamon buns from Central Bakery.

Back in Winnipeg, we've been out to dinner, gone shopping, done yard work, watched family videos and finished pricing all the items for our yard sale which is tomorrow. I am also performing a wedding tomorrow and we have been invited to the reception and dinner.

The Da Vinci Code is in theatres and I will be going to see it. Here is a link to a very funny Guardian article on the call by fundamentalist religious groups in the US to force theatres to carry a "Fiction" disclaimer on the movie.

Bye, bye for now. Must get busy cleaning house. Friends coming for dinner tonight.


I love acting. It is so much more real than life. - Oscar Wilde
Daughter in Winnipeg, Da Vinci in Theatres

I took Mother to the Conservatory at Assiniboine Park. Here are some pictures of the beautiful flowers. We went for dinner to "Ruby Begonia's", the restaurant there.

Here also is a website about what we really owe our mothers and our foremothers.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers everywhere. Thanks for the phone call, Joel. Love you. Three days to Margot!
What We Really Owe Our Mothers

I am taking a page out of Dennis' book and living up to the purpose of the Prairie Dog Blog: When in danger, prairie dogs will stand on their hind legs and alert the other prairie dogs in the town by yelping.

Here is a website with an article about all the spying the Bush government is doing on its own citizens. When are those people going to recognize what jerks he and his administration are. Imagine spying on cellphone conversations. How can that be legal or moral even?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/opinion/12fri1.html?ex=1147579200&en=cffe765d7f383c50&ei=5087%0A

And how about all those phone companies just going along with it? Where is Congress? Where is the Senate? Why aren't people jumping up and down with anger? This isn't the way a democracy is supposed to work. Americans pride themselves on their democracy. What has gone wrong? Yip, yip, yip.(Prairie Dog talk for "Wake up and smell the coffee.")

That's my rant for the day.

Today I spent the morning driving around town to pick up some prizes being donated by companies to the Afrique 2007 project for a fund-raising silent auction. Then I had lunch with my friend, Diana, and went for a workout. Tomorrow I have to get some yard work done. I can hear the grass in the back yard growing. And the weeds! I just spent hours weeding last weekend and THEY'RE BACK! Scary. I hope the weather cooperates. As long as it doesn't rain I'll be able to get it done.

I saw my friend Joanne who cleans tables at the shopping centre. She said they had big excitement there on Monday. Apparently Ben Kingsley and Kiera Knightley were there. It's not clear whether they were filming or just visiting at the shopping centre, but Joanne got her autograph. I also saw two old friends (I almost typed "fiends" - Freudian slip?), Merle and Ben. Ben used to curl with Dennis. It was nice to see them again. Merle had never heard of Ben Kingsley or Kiera Knightley. Just goes to show, one man's celebrity is another man's ....? I guess they don't get out much.

Tomorrow evening I'm going a Humanist dinner meeting and an invitation to the Trivial Friends' house.

I'm keeping busy. 5 more days to Margot! Whahoo! The hit counter is at 9988. I predict it will go to 10 000 tomorrow. Nighty-nite all.

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized. - Fred Allen
Spying on Americans, Yard Work, Friends, Friends, Friends

I just filled out the 2006 Census form online. There's only one person living here, now. It made me feel lonely just to fill out the form. I suppose I could have put Suzie in as another resident. It makes me laugh out loud to remember how Dennis got his boat operator's license. He took the test online. He was here alone, and you have to have someone to witness that you didn't cheat, so he listed Suzie Beagle as his witness. He was having some trouble with the website, so he called up the relevant Manitoba department and they gave him advice. The bureaucrat on the other end of the line asked him, "Is your witness, Suzie, still there?" "She sure is," Dennis replied, "Right beside me." He didn't say that Suzie was snoozing on the floor right beside him. That might have scotched the test. Of course, he told me the whole story as soon as I got home. He said that it was a good thing he didn't ask to speak to Suzie. God, that man made me laugh. I've still got his boat operator's license.

And on the 2006 Census for the first time I had to identify myself as widowed. Sad...

Now the hit count is 9968 - moving up!

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. - Benjamin Disraeli
Census, Suzie Beagle, Widowed

Six more days till Margot! She arrives at 1:43 on Wed. May 17 and I'll be at the airport with bells on - okay, well, maybe not, but I'll be happy. My friends gave me a big brass bell when I retired. It's LOUD. Maybe I should take that out there. That would wake up a few people.

And the blog hit counter is at 9958! It'll soon be at ten thousand! I predict it will hit the 10 000 mark within two days. Dennis would have been astounded that there are so many hits on it.

I subbed Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. I made a few more bucks.

I now have the estimates on the bathroom work I want done. I'm going to give it a little more thought before deciding and talk it over with Margot when she comes. It is a lot of money, so, I'd better not be too impulsive.

I'm heading out to the Reh-fit Centre for a workout. I went Tuesday. I usually go Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays, but got off routine this week when I hauled all the old lumber to the landfill on Monday. So in the interest of keeping my aerobic fitness up, I'm going today and tomorrow. I always feel so good after a workout, even if I'm tired when I get there. It must be the release of all those endorphins. Whatever. It feels good.

I usually walk for about 20 minutes. While I walk, I read a book, usually a British crime novel. People have asked me how I do that. I don't know, I just do it. And I've never bumped into anyone, even though some people head out on the track without doing a shoulder check. One of the regulars said he's nicknamed me Bookmobile. LOL

Then I ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes at an aerobic pace. I watch TV while I bike. I like to time my bike ride to coincide with Wheel of Fortune. It's such a happy show. Then I do some weight machines for arm and back strength. Then it's floor exercises, situps and other abs exercise, a few stretches, and I'm done.

Tata, off to the Reh-fit.

Exercise alone provides psychological and physical benefits. However, if you also adopt a strategy that engages your mind while you exercise, you can get a whole host of psychological benefits fairly quickly. - James Ripp MD
Airport, Hit Counter, Reh-fit Bookmobile

Here are some pics of my new fence. Great job, eh?

I spent the morning loading up the old lumber into a trailer and taking it out to the dump. Two trips. What a dreadful smell! There were two huge puddles (it rained heavily last night) and something (methane gas?) was bubbling up from the depths of the landfill. Absolutely disgusting. We paid four dollars each visit for the priviledge of inhaling the noxious smell. The second time it smelled like a meat packing plant. And the gulls! Hundreds of them! Making as much noise as a crowd at a Blue Bombers football game. But it was fun driving there with my neighbours Dale and Glen. I am surrounded by neighbourhood angels. It is wonderful to have such good-hearted neighbours.

I've been thinking about this house and how it is changing. It was Our House; it is becoming My House. I have been clearing out the old stuff, building and rebuilding. The house is a metaphor for what is happening to me. I am in the process of creating a new life and a new me. I had a life with him before. Now I have to make a single life. I am already a different person than I was before he died. I started with the outside of the house, the part that I present to the world. I learned to deal with tradespeople, something I never had to do before. I have made new relationships with new friends. My exterior has changed, too. But the real job is to come, the inside. The renovations to the bathrooms and, perhaps, the kitchen are next. The inside will be more costly, take longer and be more difficult. I can draw a parallel with my interior. I cannot say how long the interior change will take - maybe a lifetime.

It is difficult to express exactly what I want to say. It would take a lot more time and space than this blog provides and it is getting too long already.

Nice to see that Gary has blogged again. It's always a newsy blog. Happy birthday to Alan! He will have to wait until I get to Victoria in August for a birthday kiss.

Tata, take care and peace.

We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves. - Lynn Hall
Exteriors and Interiors

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody...Wasn't that a song lyric. Was it Ben E. King? I can't remember who did it, but it was in the 60s.

Yesterday I subbed at the Island. It was just as much fun as it always is. Grade 4 class, nice kids. They don't make 'em any nicer. I wish I could sub there or at my other fave school all the time. It's almost not like work.

Today I did work hard. I pulled weeds, planted some new shrubs at the front and cut the grass. Then I worked on the fence. It's almost done. We'll be loading up all the old lumber on Monday and taking it to the dump. The new fence looks really nice. I will take some pictures for the blogsite tomorrow.

I met another neighbour. He's a carpenter and he worked with Glen for about four hours today, cutting the top of the fence even. He wouldn't take any pay for it. I am really grateful for all the help from my neighbours.

It was a beautiful day and I got a bit of a sunburn on my shoulders even through my tee shirt. I worked from 11:00 until 6:30 with just an hour off for lunch. I'm pretty sore in spots. Sometimes it seems that I'll never be able to do it all by myself.

Mother and I have decided to take ourselves out for dinner on Mother's Day. She wants to go to the restaurant at the conservatory at Assiniboine Park. Dennis often took her there. I think I'll get us a couple of corsages. We'll celebrate.

Only 11 more days until Margot!

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh
Saturday Night, At the Island, Mother's Day Plan

I see that Jack has blogged again! Great stuff! Good to hear about Jamie and Andrew and their activities. The final signature is awaited for Jack's tenure job at SOSU. I'm sure it will happen, but it must be hard to wait.

And Gary has blogged again also. The movie "World's Fastest Indian" sounds good. I plan to see it. Great picture of Carolyn's ancestors. Aren't they handsome looking people!

As you can see by the pictures below this post, the big news here is the old fence is gone! The new fence cometh. The fence builders started this morning at 7:30. It is 5:30 now our time and they are just knocking off. Although if Frank had his way, they would work until dark. I have had two people in to measure the bathrooms and work up estimates and another comes this evening.

I went to take Nana some groceries. I will be taking her to the Pacemaker Clinic on Thursday for a checkup. She is still grieving, of course. She found an old rosary that Dennis had given her for Mother's Day when he was still a kid. She was happy to have found that. Whenever I am with her she talks about the days when Dennis was a boy and tells me stories. I like to hear them.

I had some sad news today. A principal who I taught with for many years has cancer in his esophagus, liver and lymph nodes. He has had radiation and will be starting chemotherapy soon. I think it is just to buy him more time. We were quite good friends. He and his wife used to be part of the Trivial Pursuit friends. It's very sad. Another old friend that Dennis used to curl with just died about two weeks ago and a teacher friend's husband has liver cancer and has been given a year at most. All of these people are young - in their fifties. Too many people are dying young. Why is this happening? It is somewhat depressing.

The good news is: 15 days until Margot. And the blog has had 9809 hits. It is getting close to the 10 000 mark!

Dennis wrote: "Life is what you make it. So make it good!" I'm trying to make it good as fast as I can.
News from the Ouseys, A New Fence, Sad News

Firing up the gas auger for the post holes.

A work in progress.

Here are Glen, Frank and Scott, my neighbours pulling up a post.