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April was a quiet month for us.
The first few days I felt blah physically and tried to take it easy, without shirking obvious duties like dragging a scraper around the driveway loop a few times. Mentally, it took over a week before I could look out at the snow without flinching. In addition to the positive self talk of “it will be melted in a few weeks” there was the flip side that if was going to go away soon I didn’t need to put myself out any more than necessary to maintain access to the property.
During our first church attendance after our return everyone looked much older than we remembered. I wonder if we did to them, as well? The sermon had a Palm Sunday theme and centered around things from the point of view of the donkey.
The priority task each spring when we return is to do taxes. Most years in the past there has been a juicy or, sometimes, a modest refund. Not this year. In reaction I cancelled the booking to fix the car hood that had the branch land on it in Texas. That was an expense that could be deferred.
After the taxes were done, I read many mindless mysteries and a couple of novels. Getting up from my chair occasionally to look out at the snow.
In week two we went to Edmonton for a few days. Hugged the grandkids. I shaved for the first time since October and had my annual half-mask respirator fit test. While in Edmonton we took the car to a paintless dent repair shop. Not a perfect repair but a thousand cheaper than the alternative. If you weren’t looking you wouldn’t know. It was an interesting process. They just brought the hood into their work area and worked from above and below.
Earlier this year an email arrived saying it was time to renew our background checks for SOWERS. Early in the online process the system glitched when I could not give it what I didn’t have, a social security number. That got bounced back to SOWERS and the SOWERS Canadian rep. Eventually they came up with an alternative with the Canadian branch of the same background check provider. They turned out to be the same organization I had used for an employment background check a few years ago.
We bought some potting soil and topped up a couple of raised beds and planted some lettuce and kale.
We test drove a couple of vehicles locally. Maybe we can find one at local dealer and not have to try to get to another city for needed repairs. Or, worse yet, have the ailing vehicle trailered to another city. Our neighbours bought locally after experiencing that twice with their Mercedes.
We discovered an aurora forecast site and stayed up to watch the northern lights on April 23. The snapshots I took don’t do them justice.
We went to a music festival at the local high school to watch grandson, Kohen, compete with two piano tunes. Then the following week to another of piano competition at a local church.
I booked a couple of tickets to a union picnic in Edmonton in June. Probably will be a working day for both Nick and I by then, but Juanita will get to go with Becky and the grandkids.
Started walking a minimum of 10,000 steps a day to get back in shape for work in May. One falls out of shape quickly, but so far, I seem to bounce back quickly when I get active. Probably my mom’s genes.
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