Preamble

Hi everyone! I’ve been busy this last little while and also have been having computer problems.

Aaron and I went on vacation to Calgary for Stampede, July 10 to 23. We saw the rodeo with bronco and bull riding and calf roping. The next night we saw the Chuck Wagon races and the Grandstand show. Having seen the Calgary Stampede once, we/I don’t feel the need to do it again anytime soon. It certainly is a different culture – cowboy culture which is pretty foreign to a BC girl. Other than the rodeo and the Grandstand show it is just like our PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) here in Vancouver which runs the last two weeks of August every year. It started years ago as an Agricultural Fair but for most it is all about the Midway rides, games and food.

I have so much to write but just no time to sit down and dedicate the time.
I ran into a ‘catastrophic error’ downloading the pictures from the camera so I’m a bit spooked and may not get them done until Bill is in town next weekend for the BC Day long weekend.

We sent Aaron home on Sunday July 16th by himself on the airplane. It’s only an hour and 20 mins flight. He did fine as he has some experience traveling with me and WestJet has a VIP program for unaccompanied minors. Aaron was watched and treated very well. He had fun. The purpose of me staying was so that we could be together for my 39th birthday on July 21st.

I spent the week with Bill and toured rural Alberta with him while he visited some clinics for his work. Lots of driving but it is interesting to me seeing the landscape and rural towns. I even sat in on one of his clinic meetings and had a very nice potluck lunch catered by the clinic staff. (They heard I was out in the car reading and waiting and insisted I come in and eat while they met. The clinics do these meetings on their off hours so as not to cut into patient time.)

There was suppose to be a staff meeting in Edmonton on July 20th and I thought it would be perfect for me to kill time by meeting up with a couple of ‘on-line’ fitness friends who live in the area. Unfortunately Bill’s office changed plans (that the meeting would be in Calgary instead) but he insisted that I stay in Edmonton and meet my friends as planned. He was such a darling and rented a car and got up at 5:30 am and drove to Calgary for his meeting. I met my friends that day (more on that later) and afterward I drove to Red Deer by myself in his brand new VW GTI 2.0 Turbo. (Nice car!) and he met me there in the rental car. We rendezvoused at Tim Horton’s about 5:00.

Bill returned the rental car and we drove to Invermere, BC to Panorama Resort to golf for 2 days at Greywolf Golf resort for my birthday weekend. The golf course was excellent and I highly recommend it. The views are wonderful, the course challenging but I also got some really great shots – it’s nice to use my driver! (a few courses in Richmond are too short for that!). A good time was had by all.

I took Monday July 24th off to recuperate, do laundry, grocery shopping and get back into the work mind-set. It was difficult this time getting back into the work mind set. I could certainly live the retired golf and travel lifestyle – let me tell you!

More to come!

Okay, here's a link to another 40-40-20 fitness program. I use these products and they taste fantastic. They are also available in the States (on-line for sure, but I don't know if they are found in stores.) The recipes available through subscription are great and perfectly balanced. A lot of work goes into their developement.
Check out this introduction I found to Kinetix Living. In this introduction you will find the link to their website.

1-800-PIS-MEOF

I am so glad that I have call display. I can choose the calls I’m going to answer and believe me, it is my choice/right to do so. I CANNOT believe the number of 1-800 calls I get in a day. Today I got 8! Luckily I wasn’t home for them! But as I was always taught – if it's important they will leave a message. These guys never do. Sometimes, I get so sick and tired of seeing the same number on my call display I will pick up the phone. I hear the pause while the telemarketer hangs up all his other auto-dial numbers and tries to get me and I hang up. IF I’M REALLY FED UP, I answer and let them speak and tell them I only answered because I’m sick and tired of seeing their number and disturbing me. Gee whiz! If I want something I’m going to go out and get it! I’m not going to wait for someone to call me out of the blue and sell me something! I DO pity the person who does that job. No apologies. There are other jobs out there. I would never do this job. This is an invasion of my life, let alone privacy.

Congratulations

to all the kids who were born in the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's, & 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because....

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out that we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, DVD's, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms....WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They acutally sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!