THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Well, it has been a very, very busy 3 months.  Dan and I had a number of things planned for this summer including launch the Thunderbird and sell the Thunderbird, two of our children's Birthdays to celebrate in July, and basically seeing to our daughter Tracy Elizabeth's needs with her looming illness as she wants to spend as much time as possible out here at the lake..  But, as they say "The best laid plans. etc, etc."  

I lost my my beloved Dan on June 24th and everything changed, and will remained changed for the rest of my life.  But, as they also say "Life goes on..."   And so, that is what we have tried to do.  With the help of all of my children and the Fire Departments input, we put together a very nice service and buried Dan on July 2nd.  

My children stayed close that first few weeks, and helped me with a number of chores.  We transformed my front porch (a kaos of storage and tools) into the restful sun room that I always wanted out there.   

 

 Then on July 5th we went ahead with the celebration of Tracy Elizabeth's birthday party with Pizza and a campfire. 

 

Then in two short weeks it was my son Jim's birthday as well.  So again we had a get together party and a campfire.  

 

More weeks have passed and I have been dealing with the necessities and the bureaucracies that come with this widowhood thing, and am waiting for the dust to settle. 

 Meanwhile my daughter Elizabeth has taken on the fostering of 3 little orphaned kittens that need mothering until they are old enough for adoption.  They are cute, fluffy and adorable and bring a little joyful distraction into our lives.  

Now I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all of their kindness to me and my family that has helped us all get through this.  From your  thoughts and prayers to the donations to charities.  And the gifts and plants and flowers, the special notes and cards and letters all so helpful at this time.  Plus the help in so many ways from so many people.  From my children, to friends, to mere aquaintances, as I think of it now, it is bringing me to tears again.  I just want you all to know how much it has all meant to us.   

SO AGAIN I SAY, "THANK YOU", "THANK YOU". 

THE THUNDERBIRD IS BACK IN THE HARBOUR

With the help of many wonderful friends in the marina, the Thunderbird has been launched. 

All it needs now is to complete the spruce up that Dan was working on and some "For Sale" signs.  Thank you so much to Boyd and Gayle Halliwell,  John West and Ed Lawrie for getting it there for me.

There is no way I can keep our beloved boat without "Captain Dan".  

TICKING OFF OUR LIST OF CHORES

Every year the old girl needs a refresh on her bottom paint and that is the chore that Dan has accomplished this week. 

It's a big job as it has to be scraped first then masked off and the whole bottom painted and ours is not exactly a small boat.  So that is done for another year.  She is almost ready for the water.  Just a few more chores and we will book our launch date.  

Meanwhile, I have been puttering with some yard sale, lawn furniture I picked up along the way, plus I have been filling planters, etc.  Anything to keep my mind off of my daughter's illness. 

All reno and other plans are now on hold and we will be having a relaxing DO NOTHING except what the mood strikes us kind of summer.  And will be following Tracy Elizabeth's lead.  

SO THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK.  

DAMAGE FROM FRIDAYS STORM

 We took a drive through the Gimli Industrial Park this morning to survey the damage, from Friday's storm, that we had already heard about.

 One huge tree uprooted on our way in.  

But this is hangar 1, that we heard lost it's entire roof.  They are not letting anyone too near so I can't see the damage.  But the road is closed and they are cleaning up stuff strewn everywhere.  

 Moving on to hangar 2, which is where our boat is stored.  It lost part of it's roof and is locked down and no one is allowed in until they get the power restored.  We are told that our boat did not receive any damage and it will be moved outside so Dan can finish prepping it for launch. 

 Down at hangar 4, we are told a boat on a trailer was pushed by the wind right through the fence and into the ditch.  This shows the damage to the fence. 

And last but not least. 

 Look what hapened to the old KA-CHING

 This boat used to belong to Marj and Al Homenick, then it belonged to Gord and Ellie Gowie.  

I don't know who it belongs to now, but that's not going to be a simple fix.  

THAT WAS QUITE A STORM

IT'S A SCORCHER HERE TODAY.

I've been whining and complaining for weeks about how cold it is.  This spring has been an interminable stop and start and stop again.  Well, we have had a few hot days this past week and today it is very very hot.  

My daughter has come out for another visit.  Just a break and a distraction before her surgery on Wednesday.  

This is the kind of HOT that triggers a thunderstorm, and of course, it did.  All hell broke loose Friday night.  It was a noisy windy night.  We got some hail and lost power here for about 5 hours.  But apparently, Gimli got it worse.  The hangars that we all store our boats in sustained some serious damage.  Hangar 1 lost the whole roof and hangar 2 where our boat is, lost part of the roof. Some boats were damaged, but we got lucky ours is fine.  The last we heard, the power is still out in the area, as a few poles are down, so we will wait till tomorrow to take a look.  And I will add any photos then. 

  

Saturday was cool and damp it took a long time for all that water to seep in.  We had puddles all over our whole yard. I got my little stacked pots planted. 

Well today the sun broke through and I got some more bedding plants planted, in my urns and in my little wagon, so at least I accomplished something and the weekend wasn't a complete washout.   

MAYBE SPRING IS TURNING INTO SUMMER