More Summer in Calgary

Returned from our camping vacation and back to work on the duplex.  New carpets, new paint etc then spent a long week-end interviewing prospective new tenants.  Then more play time!

Evelynn came to our house for a sleepover and the following day we took her to the Circus. 
It wasn't quite the circus I remember from when our kids were little, but she seemed to enjoy it !

Next was Evan's 8th birthday.  Evan loves his Grandma's pumpkin pie, (or any pie for that matter) so we celebrated with a birthday pie instead of a cake.

A trip to the Calgary Zoo is always in order, and this year there is a new penguin exhibit that we just couldn't miss.

 Dino the Dinosaur still calls the Calgary Zoo his home, and I'm sure I have pictures of all the kids with him. I even have a photo my Dad took of me with Dino when we visited Calgary 50+ years ago.  Keeping the tradition alive.!

  For those of you who know my niece Kimberly, I just couldn't believe how much Evelynn looks like her in this picture.

Play time is over again, now we have to replace the shingles on the roof at the MacEwan house.  We had a really bad hail storm this summer, and I tried calling many, many roofers, and of course they are all so busy, and we really wanted to have this done before we headed south again.  We were able to talk Greg and a friend of his, who used to be a roofer and still had all the tools etc, to come and help out.  Don and Shannon stripped most of the old shingles, then the boys, and Shannon worked like crazy the whole weekend and got it done...of course, this had to be one of the hottest weeks of the whole summer, so my job was to keep the cold water bottles flowing steady. 

Summer time is here again!

This year we have had some great summer weather! Before heading out camping, we took in the special fireworks event in  honor of the Calgary Stampede's 100th Year.  Fireworks were set off simultaneously in five locations across Calgary....quite spectacular !  Howard was able to get us all tickets to Heritage Park for the evening and we had a great viewing spot.  

We had purchased a tent trailer last fall and had never had a chance to try it out.  So our first camping trip this year was out towards the badlands near Drumheller. 

The trailer went up without any problems, and the screen house was a god send !!!  The mosquitoes were as big as dragonflies and they were ferocious.  The screen house kept us away from the bugs, and gave us a bit of shade from the 34 degree temperatures.  

Next, we spent a few days with Pam & Howard and the boys at a Provincial Park near Brooks.  It was a great location...beautiful views, bird watching, boat rides and a beach !

This is Evan buried in the sand, but it sure reminded me of Greg some 25 years ago!

Next stop Mazenod, Saskatchewan...a town of about 3 remaining residences, but they have a great community hall which is used by many of the neighbouring communities...one of which was Vantage where Don's Dad's farm was located.  This year was the 100th anniversary of Mazenod and they were putting on a big party.  We were able to pull our trailer up onto an empty lot and take part in the free food, entertainment, parade and fireworks.  Apart from Don's brother Bill & Judy, there were very few people that Don recognized....guess he's been gone from the farm for too long !

Free camping site in downtown Mazenod!

Front row seats for the Parade

Jed Clampet move over!!

After the festivities in Mazenod, we took a little side trip to the farm.  Don says he has never seen so much water in the slough, and the crops were huge.  Lets hope the weather holds thru harvest.

The barn, built circa 1920, is still standing

and the house, of the same era, looks a little worse for wear !

 Next it was on to Greenwater Provincial Park in Northern Saskatchewan, where Eileen and Rudy spend the summers at their cabin. 

Then it was back to Calgary and back to work!!.  Our upstairs tenants are moving out, and we will take this opportunity to replace the old carpet, screw down the flooring more securely and get the place painted and ready to rent out again. 

Spring Time in Calgary

May and June found me back at work at BlueGrass and Don tinkering with LED lights for the boat and doing chores around the house.  He painted the ceiling in our suite and brought some of our furniture from the shed.  He found a nice office desk and has set up a "man cave" at the back of our suite where he has his computer toys and a small work bench.  It's finally starting to feel like home !

Our weekly visits with the girls found us baking, swimming, gardening and playing at the park.  Evelynn must take after her great-grandma Ruth...she loves to bake !

Evelynn does the measuring, Grandma does the mixing

and Amelia helps with the clean up!

Every Friday afternoon Evelynn and I have been going swimming while Grandpa stays with Amelia during her nap.  She has learned to put her face in the water and do the dog-paddle, but still is a little hesitant to go down the slide or jump in by herself, but she has already graduated from full life jacket to just little arm bands to keep  her afloat. 

We also like to spend lots of time playing outside and making visits to the park.

The backyard swing set that Grandpa built last year is getting lots of use now.

 But the school park is only a few blocks away, so it makes for a nice walk and a little play time with other kids.

Whenever Pam and the boys find time out from their busy schedules to come to our side of town, we take advantage of the proximity of Nose Hill Park and get out for a hike.  This time, Owen & Evan brought their new puppy, Kipper, and took him for a long walk.

Evan is starting to take an interest in the plants and flowers, but his preference is still BUGS!
and the wasp nest that Grandpa had knocked down from under our deck was most intriguing.

Back in Calgary

Our first week back in Calgary was a busy one.  First task was to get the income tax done which went fairly well.  Went out to the storage yard near Innisfail to pick up our van and had a quick visit with Shannon.  We spent a beautiful sunny day with Evelynn & Amelia and had a great home made dinner with Pam & family.

Evelynn sporting her new pink boots and Leon T-shirt

Amelia isn't walking yet, but she sure can climb

. 
 


We found time to take  a walk up on Nose Hill to see the spring crocus in bloom, went for a bike ride around the neighbourhood, and I even got back into shorts & T-shirt to work on my tan. 

However, the next week...not go good.  Hope this is the last snow we see for a long while.

Earthquake!

We were awaken from a sound sleep just after midnight last night by a lot of rumbling and shaking.  Don thought it was a really strong blast of wind, but I was ready to leave the boat and head to the office.  It only lasted about a minute or so, but it really had my heart pounding...especially since we are in the yard, on jack stands, about 12 feet up in the air.  Apparently an earthquake struck about 120 miles northwest of us in the Sea of Cortez, according to news reports this morning it was about a 6.9 on the scale.  Maybe if we were Californians we would  have slept thru it, but this was certainly another new experience for us.  Hurricanes, tropical storms, tsunami and now earthquake...what's next ?  Thankfully, all is well, we didn't fall over, and we continue to prepare Prairie SeaShell for her long summer sleep. We will be back in Calgary next week.

Underway again

Our patience in waiting for the weather has paid off.  When we left Mazatlan, we had a bit of west wind and were able to maintain 6 knots and had very minimal swell.  Early Saturday morning as were passing Altata, the engine alarm goes off.  I wake Don up, but he can’t find a problem.  Seems the alarm sensor must be faulty, so after listening to it buzz for an hour or more, he took the panel apart and disconnected it.  We had a little wind again this afternoon to help us out, and we arrived close to the entrance of Topolobampo around 10PM.  Although we have been in there before, don’t really want to tackle the channel in the dark, so since it was nice and calm, we dropped anchor a little south of the entrance in about a 35 feet of water. 


 The sea lions woke us up at about 5:30 in the morning and we should have pulled up anchor right away, but since we were in no hurry,  we made coffee and started breakfast.  But, as the sun came up, so did the north wind.  Glad we weren’t far from the entrance, because by the time we did the 4 mile stretch, we had 6ft seas and about 15 knots of wind on the nose.

Passing a tug as we are entering Topolobampo

and the load he is towing

  As soon as we started into the channel, the sand bank calmed the swells and we had no problem maneuvering the channel even as we past a tug and tow leaving  the harbour.

  When we arrived at Marina Palmira, Eduardo was on the dock to take our lines and within a few minutes Barbara from Pacific High came to say hello and welcome us back.  Washed the boat down, then went to the office to check in with Rafeal.

Following day was a holiday, so no sense going to town as everything would probably be closed.  Don did a little trouble shooting on the alarm and will have to leave it disconnected until he can get a new heat sensor.   He also discovered while he was down there that the air filter is plugged. 

Next day, we headed into Los Mochis to see if we could find a new one.  Stopped at a Bridgestone Tire store to ask if they knew where we could get an air filter.  The manager made a few phone calls for us, and gave us directions to the filter store…his directions were exactly right, and the filter store almost had the perfect filter, just a little too big to fit in the space we have.  We wandered about town a bit, past several of the many markets, one of which was selling every type of herb, leaves and tree bark you could imagine.  Seems herbal medicine is a very big thing here.  We stopped for lunch then headed back.

I had made some cookies, so took some over to Pacific High and had tea with them while Don borrowed Ralph’s vaccum to blow out the air filter. 

The pelicans have taken up residence on the end slip

When we cast off from Topolobampo, we  had some big  dolphins travelling with us for a bit, the water is so murky that we couldn’t see them until they surfaced, many times, right beside us in the cockpit, not just at the bow as usual. 

The seas were kind today, no swells and just enough wind in the right direction to get some help from the sails.  By sunset, the water was as smooth as glass, and to the east, the horizon turned a deep blue covered by a purple sky.  Even the water was blanketed in a purple glow.  There was a sliver of a moon for a little while, then the sky turned like black velvet covered with diamonds.  The only downfall came later in the night when the dew was so heavy it was raining in the cockpit.  Guess it’s time to replace the sunbrella on the bimini. 

I went off watch around 6AM, it was still cold and wet.  An hour later the sun was shining warm and the first thing a saw was a pod of dolphins playing in the distance.  It was warm enough and calm enough  today to work on my sun tan while lying out on the top of the dingy.  We arrived at our Secret Marina in Guaymas around 5PM…it seems our “secret” marina is not such a secret anymore.  There are already three boats here.