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The Tiller

The deer fence is built now so I spent the weekend before last tilling.  The plot is about 4200 square feet. We had to pull a lot of roots and other debris out of it. Backbreaking. I was pretty sore and tired at the end. When I got the tiller

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My Monday Morning Friday Dump

This is for my kids A couple of weeks ago, my daughter commented, with both love and edge in her voice, that she could tell I retired because I was now texting all the time with my real time moments.  I don’t think I was, but I think the contrast

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What’s Next

I turned 65 last year and pulled the trigger on my retirement.  On that birthday, I watched the 2001 Action/Thriller Spy Game.  A veteran CIA agent (Robert Redford), on his last working day before retirement, shrewdly dupes his superiors in order to spring his protégé (Brad Pitt) out of a

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It’s the End of an Era

It was only a matter of time, I guess. My parents’ Whonnock farm where my littles spent much of their early childhood has been sold to make way for a large lot subdivision. I am sure those properties will be lovely. My brother let us siblings know and so Ron

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Say You Live in the Country Without Saying You Live in the Country…

We thought about felling many of the trees ourselves. But in the end we did not. We did our homework.  We window shopped for chainsaws and watched YouTube videos.  Had a sales guy give us pointers on five chainsaw maneuvers to avoid in order to dodge a severed femoral artery. Factored in Ron’s counter fondness for heights, and my old hernia repair which just “happened” to flare up and decided we needed to be “selective” with our DIY projects.

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I Won’t Forget

On May 10, 1940, the war broke out and the Germans were in Groningen before they had declared war.

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Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Our house was woeful when we moved in at the end of April this year. Though the structure was sound the thirty-year-old cobbled, bandaged casework and plumbing fixtures were beyond salvaging. It smelled bad. We thought we knew what we were getting into. And intended to heed strictly to the

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Well, It’s Been a Minute

Where I try to recap the past month and barely scratch the surface…. House renovations are in full play.  Tried listening to the real estate pundit advice to live in a place for several months and get the sense of it before tackling anything major but couldn’t handle the cracked

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Not Eighty Acres

Well, we did it. Not eighty acres. One.  One acre.  Well, a quirky 1.25 acres in Armstrong. It has been an exhausting couple of months. We sold our condo in a whiplash week.  Not expecting that. We thought we would have more time to suss out North Okanagan properties, but

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It’s All the Little Things

I have a great corporate career and I am enjoying the benefits of being in its latter stage having earned good income and the comradery of people I have worked with and served.  I have learned every day on this job from people who are smart and dedicated.  And I

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