Paul Alton MBA

We started July in Edmonton with Paul working a turnaround near Fort Saskatchewan and Juanita mostly in Edmonton with a few trips back to Meadow Lake.

July first is Canada Day. It is a national holiday. Nick and I worked, of course. There were rumours of a parade in Sherwood Park, but they turned out to be rumours. The Sherwood Park parade used to be quite the event, but has succumbed to the reaction to Covid and perhaps changes in liability insurance.

No parade but lots of other activities that kept Rebekah and the kids entertained.

Juanita drove back from Meadow Lake on Canada Day. She left before the big Canada Day storm of 2023 hit. Our neighbours said it was the worst wind they had experienced in thirty years. Monday at work somebody I worked with ask if house was affected by the storm. What storm? This storm.

I texted SIL, Ernie. He drove over to our house and reported that there was no damage to the fifth wheel trailer, the house or the solar panels. There was a big spruce down across the lower loop of the driveway, but nothing that would restrict access to the house.

Juanita travelled home on July 6. She reported a total of forty trees downed by the storm. Mostly rotten trees waiting for assistance to the forest floor to continue their rotting, but a few more robust, healthy specimens unable to cling to their roots successfully.

One Sunday Juanita and I went to our first hot pot meal. The table has a built-in hot plate in front of each of you. You make your food choices from a list and it arrives raw. You cook it in the pot of boiling broth. Then you eat it. With chopsticks. Tasty. Great fun. Messy. Not the best choice for a first date.

Meanwhile in my free time (irony alert) we continued checking out cars. We settled on one. On July 10^th we drove a Nissan Rogue. Not one that we could buy. Dealers don’t sell cars on their lots these days. They sell cars in the pipeline to them.

A couple of days later with some back and forth by text and phone we came to a price for a car that will come someday. If it doesn’t come by October, we get our deposit back. The car should arrive from Japan eventually. They sell cars in the pipeline to them. I am reminded of the guy who said he waited all these years for his ship to come in and when it did there was a longshoreman’s strike.

We’ll see if there are any Tru Coat moments when we finalize the paperwork on the car’s arrival. If there are and they are extreme, we’ll walk away.

My last day of work was July 15^th. I rode to work with Nick. Juanita picked me up and we drove home to Meadow Lake.

Arrival home was mixed. A lot of good stuff grows in the six weeks away from home, but the weeds grow more.  With the weeds and the grass grown tall everywhere I feel overwhelmed. I started working on the root of the big spruce on the next day. The driveway clear by the 17^th.  I then turned to the paths and started cutting the trees that had fallen across the walking paths. By the 23^rd  the paths were cleared and double mowed (a pass in each direction with the brush mower).

On the 20^th I took a break from chainsawing and mowing to work on the rust on the rear wheels of Sasha’s car. I finished them with rocker guard and ordered matching paint to cover the rocker guard.

We travelled to Lloydminster on the 24^th for more car shopping. I wonder if car salesmen have the same antipathy to car shoppers. We found one excellent deal on a brand new 2022 Ford that had been stranded by transport issues. It was top of the line but a colour that would always show the dirt. A fatal flaw for a car used on a grid road. It also had the misfortune to look like a cartoon car compared to the 2023’s. The first year hit on depreciation is a downside, but we usually keep our cars so long it becomes irrelevant. It rode and drove like a dream. In the end it came down to not wanting to date somebody you don’t want to be seen with. It was a no.

After our excursion to Lloydminster, we returned to working on the root of some evil. It was cleared up by July 25^th. I could return to more relaxed puttering, packing for Brazil and reading trashy mysteries.

On the last day of July, we travelled back to Edmonton for a couple of safety courses and a tiny bit of family time.