Wednesday, August 30, 2006

James Update:

James made it back to Canada early this morning. He switched loads in southern Manitoba and is now sitting at the Pembina border crossing waiting to head back to the States.

He is now hauling a load of lumber destined for Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

From 'Streets & Trips' that will be about a 10-12 hour trip (700 miles give or take).

Last night was not a great one for trucking. Being overweight cost James and company just over $1000. with penalities and storage fees.

Darn hard to make money that way....

Monday, August 28, 2006

“You are now entering a military exercise area. Proceed with caution”.

It looks like the military will be training out in Wynyard area...

Army Training Event To Be

Be careful if you are out in that area.

Calvin Stone:

http://www.saskatoonhomepage.ca/index.php?option=com_d4j_ezine&task=read&page=9&category=21&article=804&Itemid=86

I talked to Sheila about this and she doesn't know who this guy is. As far as she and Wendall know, there is no relation.

From the news tonite, he is still sitting in jail...

James Update:

I just got a call from James. He has made it down to the States okay and dropped his load. He was able to pick up a DVD player and a power inverter so he now can charge his shaver :-).

James has to depart to northern Michigan and then back to Canada with his load.

It sounds as if he has mucho miles to go, but he figures he will be home for the long weekend.

Our plans (Sam & I) for the weekend are that we are thinking of heading to the lake on Saturday. Hopefully Craig wants to come with us so I can show him the ropes on setting up/closing down the trailer. Mom and Fred are most likely going to come visit us on Sunday for a BBQ steak supper. We'll close up the trailer and head for home on Monday (Labour Day).

New Customer:

Sam and I were sitting on the computers yesterday and Sam thought she heard the door bell. I thought it was the tv so didn't get up. Then we heard it again so I got up and went and checked. Sure enough there was a lady walking away from the house. I asked her what she needed and she said she needed some 'computer help'. I set up an appointment for her today at 1 pm.

I attended to her residence and assisted her in setting up her email, installing an antivirus (and found a couple virus problems), introduced her to her browser (and set up a home page for her). All told I was at the residence for 2 hours. Mind you 30 minutes of this time was doing a virus scan.

The lady was happy & I departed knowing that I had a new customer :-)

Saskatoon PS help the RCMP:

Saskatoon's eye in the sky gets truck-driving guy


Looks like Saskatoon's Eagle 1 is not only helping the city police fighting crime, it is also helping catch the bad guys when they head out into the country...

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Last evening I was making supper and looked out the kitchen window and a big old jack rabbit came tearing down the street. It was funny as the rabbit wanted to turn into Mark and Mindy's yard and when it made the turn it slipped on the pavement. The poor rabbit is probably not acquainted with slippery pavement.

However, I did notice that the tail end of the rabbit and parts around the head had turned white already.

Winter anyone ?

Swallows Depart:

For the last couple days, the swallows (tree, barn, etc) have been congregating in the back part of the property. The power lines down the back alley is just covered with all kinds of swallows. Every now and then something will spook them and the whole flock is off in a shot. They circle over the dry creek bed and eventually settle back on the lines.

I was out the back a few minutes ago and there are no birds to be seen. They may be just out feeding, but I suspect they are starting to move southward.

I still am getting a large supply of purple headed finches, the odd goldfinch and some other plain finches in the back yard. Surprizing enough in the last week we also had hummingbirds showing up at the feeder. I know they are around all summer, but very seldom do they show up in the yard. That could be because of all the other birds flying in and out.

The weather is staying very nice, so hopefully the birds will stay around for a few more weeks.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

New Fan

Approximately 15 years ago, Sandra, myself, Sheila & her (at the time) future husband were shopping at K-Mart in Market Mall in Saskatoon. We got a ceiling fan for a terrific price. The only problem I thought was that it didn't have a light system with the fan.

We trucked this fan system from North Battleford to Regina and then to our house in Hanley.

Finally today I decided I'd install this critter in the master bedroom. Surprise, surprise. There was a light attachment in the box.

So today I removed the ceiling light in the bedroom and installed the fan unit. Not bad in that I started at 1:30 pm and I was done by 4:00 pm. Tested and all is working just ducky.

That is one less box I'll have to move if and when we ever move again. This thing is permamently mounted now so it stays.

Surveys

Well I have received a few of the new surveys and so far they seem interesting. I'm shooting for the $5000. award, however, I must admit that will mean lots of luck and lots of filling out surveys.

Time will tell..

Friday, August 25, 2006

Searching for Survey Sites

It seems like I have managed to be drawn for a $1000 cash prize from Hotspex.com. I have been filling out surveys for Hotspex since 2001. On each completed survey your name is placed into a draw. The company draws out one name as their grand winner for that particular survey.

The company just let me know that I was this month's winner of the $1000 cash prize.

Of course I had a few hoops to jump through including faxing back a form. I also needed a witness of my signature so I had the sis-in-law witness my signature and faxed off the forms.

It did not take long and the whole family was wanting to fill out surveys. So today I did a bit of searching around on the net and found a few good sites to earn money for doing surveys. I sent the list off to Craig who probably could use a few extra dollars in his pockets. I also signed up for a few more surveys myself.

Wish us luck :-)

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Winter is coming :-(

On Monday when I was out for a walk I saw a huge flock of purple martins (60-70) just down the street from the house. I had noticed that there seemed to be quite a few more martins and swallows swooping around the yard in the last few days as well.

On Tuesday when I went outside there was nary a bird in the vicinity. So it looks like the martins have headed south for the winter. Now this isn’t too unnatural. Normally martins start heading south about mid August. So if anything, they are a few days later than normal. However, this event is one of the first indications that the summer is drawing to a close and we will be moving to autumn. I’m hoping we have a nice long warm autumn this year. Up to Christmas would be just about right !

So today (Thursday) I heard a large commotion in the backyard. Looking outside there were about 24-30 martins swooping and diving in the yard. The flock stayed for about an hour and then they were gone.

I was speaking to the sis-in-law and she too has had a large influx of birds to her yard. One minute they are there and the next they are gone. So it looks like they haven't all headed south yet, however, they are getting all together to make the mad dash for warmer climes.

The flock in the backyard today may have been the last of the birds. It looked as if they were just checking out the birdhouse to ensure there were no stragglers still in resident. Then they were gone.

We'll see in the next few days....

Frustrating day today. I had acquired a new satellite receiver from Fred. I tried hooking it up today. The actual running of the RG6 went fine. The attaching the LNB onto the dish went fine. The problem comes in that the setup is not being recognized as coming from the second LNB.

I read through the Bell site and could not find anything about a second LNB. I’ve about had it with that process for today. I’ll study on it and see what I can do….


Well I had some sucess today regarding my new satellite receiver. After 3-4 calls to Bell ExpressVu, I did get my newly acquired receiver up and running.

Start er Off

I have been reading a number of blogs from a variety of sites throughout North America. I felt it was about time that I took it to the next level and started my own blog. As of the moment, I’m just not certain as to what direction this blog will be taking. A little more thought is needed on my part…..

Stay tuned…