On Alberta Separation - so long and thanks for the fish

I'm so tired of hearing about and following the Alberta Separatists movement. I stayed here 35 years longer than intended because I fell in love with a 5th generation Albertan (8th generation Canadian) who could not see living anywhere else in Canada. 

I've always been aware of the movement and I'm sure my view has been shaped by the grade school notion of Alberta being the bible belt (not the bread basket) then a religion course during my university studies that revealed just how hard Alberta residents embraced all the wierd sects that spawned at the beginning of the 20th century. You can see that history with the Mormon Temple. It's telling that during the pandemic, smaller communities responded by self-isolating instead of taking any preventative actions - straight line to being the cause for Canada losing it's measles free status. It's happening again with Prosperity Alberta - ignoring the realities like oil companies enjoying record production, profits and exports due to the TMX pipeline (Liberal project) and recent trade deals (Liberal project) at the same time the Alberta Calling promotion that wooed people from across Canada with a $5000 payment resulted in crushing public services and garnered a high unemployment rate.

Don't get me wrong - it's been great! After a rocky start on graduating from tech school, we managed to be a bust cohort that was too young to be forced offered early retirement yet too old to call a new hire - that golden 3-5 years of experience. And we both did well by the companies we worked longest for, him helping develop one of the most successful chemicals for treating oil and me by helping make a workplace health&safety program easier for workers to participate that was adopted as far away as Poland. Obviously we both had supportive management along the way but we're also collaborative.

And the community we settled in is pretty great as long as you ignore the lack of a view🙂. I know young people get wierd about where they grow up, especially if they haven't moved around so grade one groups can end up being a lifetime millstone, but it was a good move for us. The inability of people to do things outside their clique is annoying but if you just keep showing up, you eventually meet people and make friends. Just like any (Alberta) city - the counsel is juggling services and tax base with little assistance of Alberta municipal support. Luckily our health and education services are through Saskatchewan.

About Saskatchewan. A great province with a diversity of primary resources - Ag, potash and now aluminium. Somehow a better balance of rural independence and community. No one thinks twice about joining the Co-op or using a credit union and TeleMiracle is still going strong showcasing Saskatchewan talent and raising funds.

Here's the thing with the Separatists - they have a grievance held since Alberta was established. The land should have been stolen from the indigenous - as opposed to treatied in bad faith - and Southern Alberta at least should have been a US state. At the kitchen table kids learn how Canada has done them wrong by having accountability for Federal funding. Owning land won't save the farmers as climate change (gasp) results in faster drought cycles. 

Digression - those byo-electricity data centers will not employ many people once built and using natural gas will add to pollution and drive up electricy and natural gas prices for everyone else. Small towns will be hit the worse because they don't have industrial parks to create a physical buffer with residential areas.

Anyway, the home we'd planned on staying in until pretty well death is no longer that. Watching our parent age has shown us it's better to move while we can make that decision than wait until the decision is made for us. We'll be taking our retirement wealth elsewhere - luckily we never trusted boom times and our house is not our primary asset. Will Alberta separate? I think it's unlikely in my lifetime but those separtists will always be there. It's like the Epstein Elite supporters. They'll be working in the background to undermine any progress and be ready to step in once Albertans get complacent about being Canadian.

All to say - hey move here and buy our house when it goes on the market. It has solar panels/EV charger, an urban orchard and green house. But don't get attached if you're Canadian or have Canadian values like accessible healthcare decoupled from employment that doesn't consistently result in overwhelming debt, vacation days as part of employment, over time (Alberta change rules to companies being able to avoid overtime pay but straight time off in lieu), universal taxpayer funded education and an independant judicial system.

Early Morning Thoughts

The other day I was at a meeting. There is always a thought exercise after doing our land acknowlegement. This time it was think of 3 things. One to continue, one to let and one to invite. A lady in my group wanted to invite faith and I asked her if she meant more church attendance or something different. She does amazing work with families...I should let her know of my admiration...so I was unsure. She meant leaning more on God to get her through adversity and using her catholic upbringing for strength. It seems we travelled the same journey of doubt in the RCC version of worship  but ended up in different belief places. 

Or did we.

I decided as a teen that if there is a God there is nothing you can do to sway it in your favour; the addition of God to the Christian commandments and virtues was just a way to make people feel like they're being watched because leaders always look for ways to control behaviour. Risk and chance determine how your actions pan out. There's no genie to pray to and get rewards. Reducing God to a slot machine by throwing money at it's purported representatives seems disrespectful to theology. 

Could God be your personal saviour? Sure but what does that mean? In spite of the Church selling dispensations in the middle ages, I don't agree claiming belief is a get out of jail free card for exploiting others. Growing up in the Catholic sphere for me meant recognizing my life is an example to help each other live our best lives. I can see the point of confession, it's an admission that you feel something lacking in your response to life and provide a focus for improvement. I can see reaching out to God because it can help you focus on a problem and possible solutions as well as give you strength to persist.

I struggle with feeling too fortunate in a world with so much sorrow and have never understood people who revel in other's misfortunes. 

My let go was to recognize when there is nothing I can do.

Thoughts on Turning 65

 

I've hit that last landmark year for our culture! Growing up it was 5 for starting school, 16 for driving, 19 for being able to drink. Then there's the informal ones like 21 for drinking in the States and 26 for getting lower insurance rates. 

Being shuffled into the seniors box has been a drawn out process; anywhere from 50 for golf, 55 for restaurants, 60 for municipal discounts. In spite of being assured there would be no CPP for me after paying into it for my entire working life, here I am on the cusp of getting it deposited into my account every month. We are very fortunate to not need any of the low income or disability supplemental funding. 

So did I/we get here as intended? Definitely on the financial end. We made a "Freedom 55" plan in our early 30s and hit that mark due to a lower key lifestyle. I retired at 58 (spouse at 55) to a debt free life. I think we pretty well hit our health goals. We have all our teeth😁and I'm on no daily medications but I do have mild tinnitus and annoying eye floaties. I did regain activity levels after my accident although I shifted away from impact and ankle twisting sports - a convenient out for pickleball.

What now? We've been watching neighbours and family navigate their 80s so we're looking ahead there. We'll be moving out of our house eventually but where is the question. In the mean time I'm looking for more volunteer opportunities. I like to have an anchor activity most days. 

I started this blog when I was 45, in spite of being a very poor at journaling. Life has actually changed very little here although the population has gotten more diverse. Income inequality is more visible as there are lots of high end vehicles like BMWs and Cadiallacs but like everywhere, there's homelessness that long term residents are trying to shuffle away. The City has tried to maintain free/low cost activities to build community as it goes through boom and bust times as an O&G town. I feel like truth and reconcilation is progressing as schools include indigenous liasons and activities, Treaty 6 and Metis fly along side Canada and provincial flags and city events include smudging ceremonies. How does this translate? I don't know. 

Post Election Vibes

Our super short election season is over and we unfortunately did not get a majority government. I say unfortunately because then we wouldn't have to deal with the possibility or another election for 5 years which gives the party leader to show their stuff.

Over all I'm ok with the results. I like the Liberal policies enacted in the last 10 years and the direction they're going. Theyre making plans, and unlike Conservatives, putting money behind their words. Immigration got a little out of hand but with all the complaints, AB and SK are still traveling overseas to try to attract workers so which is it while schools are closing programs because of lack of students. We'll see how it goes. I got the Conservative MPs I expected. I've seen them at Canada Day celebrations and they're not nearly as divisive as their leader. I plan to write them to elect a different leader at the next party review.

It's not that I'm wedded to a party. The most content I've been as a voter was in 2015 when Trudeau (Liberal), Notley was premiere (NDP) and the Starkey (PC) was my MLA even though they didn't really benefit me personally as a solid middle-income voter. Before that I had voted for Leon Benoit (CPC) because I respected Joe Clark (PC). I get the dislike for Carney coming in like a white knight because I hated Ignatioff as the Liberal leader because he parachuted in after living in the US for 20 years while being a prof. But I REALLY hate the small mindedness and divisiveness that Harper and the CPC brought to the table at the end of his Prime Minister-ship. Muzzling scientists and appealing to "old stock" Canadians. And it was obvious all through Poilievre's tenure as leader as he supported the clownvoy and refused to work with the Liberals to at least temper the refugee/immigrant influx. Emphasising his anti-woke rhetoric along with Harper coming back just cemented it for me.

Dealing with affordability will be interesting as I think it does start with housing. Trudeau was right in that crashing house prices suck for existing home owners because it means the economy has crashed and their morgages could be underwater. Someone was talking about how they're being outbid on homes when they meet asking because other buyers are offering 5-10% over asking. It's a tale as old as time of people pulling up the ladder after they go up a level so they can make more money.

I guess lenders could refuse to mortgage offers over the property assessment value or CMHC refusing to insure them. Wooing builders would be slow because they still have to make a profit. The government funding a bunch of housing with available long term leases that replace purchasing just might do the trick. Most units as 2 to 4 bdrm, 1 1/2 bath at 750-900 sq ft (70-85 m^2) units and some assisted living/senior units. Rent control on those units along with income qualifications to move in would ensure an affordable supply. Federal crown land so people living in cities in Alberta can still benefit as the UCP is busily clawing back all the Federal benefits they can (dental, disability etc.).

Interesting times. 

I've been thinking a lot about housing

Blind spot - I thought there wouldn't be much of a homeless/housing problem here because this is a pretty transient town (oilfield) and most people would just leave. This was confirmed when oil collapsed in 2015, 3 families I knew just sold up and moved away. I wanted to leave on retirement but our home devalued by 25%, which it has barely recovered 10 years later, while the places we wanted to move skyrocketed in value. Not homeless but immobile. 

Now that I've been retired for awhile I've started volunteering. Did you know volunteering is a great way to meet likeminded people AND find out about issues you have strong feelings about? Like affordable housing and homelessness. My eyes were opened - people do stay here or are from around here! We have at least 250 unhoused people (pop~ 30,000). Like everywhere, 5% prefer to be unhoused but for the rest - there's nowhere for them to go other than the streets. There are months to years of waiting lists for affordable housing. People come out of rehab with nowhere to go and - surprise - relapse more easily. NIMBY is strong along with the rumours that homeless are being bussed in to take advantage of ... what, volunteer served free meals? I'm still in the information collecting phase where I participate in fundraiser but I do want to commit time as well.

Naturally, with a federal election coming up, I'm interested in proposed solutions by the 2 major parties.

One wants to remove GST on  housing costing under $1 million. The other wants to build A LOT (500,000) of new low cost housing to flood the started home market enough to stabilize housing prices rather than push them down and open up existing rental units. 

The latter seems like a reasonable solution. I was working in construction surveying in the early 80s when the Feds had their last housing push. The crew I was on surveyed 500 homes in 3 months and there were several apartments and condos built at the same time in one small city so the goal seems doable if the capital is opened up. The Feds have released crown land, in cities, for housing so there's somewhere to build. They are talking modular housing which is quite common where I am. A wide range of houses are built on a common site then moved to their final location. When we were looking to move, one of our "problems" was we couldn't agree on how much we were willing to downgrade to enter a new housing market - it turned out to be very little and I'm sure we're not outliers.

I would like to see some caveats like a 99 year land lease or coop purchase structure and purchasers cannot own or co-own any other property in Canada and limited ownership in their home country. Futureproofing utility costs with good insulation, 3 pane windows, heat pumps and solar panels on all units. If more rentals are built, they should be rent controlled. If I can think of all these things, I would expect policy makers serious about increasing affordable housing stock to do even better. 

The key is flooding the market with low cost housing with investors prohibited. What do you think?

The curse of interesting times...

I retired from a US mulitnational operating in Canada and live in the most US of provinces🙄 Now I'm reading a CMV on Reddit  about how long it will take for relationships to normalize once the Trump administration is in the past.

I remember the first time a US colleague said something about the US protecting Canada with their military. As a poite person I didn't laugh their face. How big would our military have to be to go up against the country with the largest military in the world? More than our population for sure. Perhaps Canadians aren't really aware that the purpose of protecting Canada is simply to prevent military fallout on US soil in the case of a threat via the north pole. Or maybe I'm just cynical.

I am surprised just how active Canadians are being - and I don't think it's simply that only Canadians can harass our political reps. I hope it's us standing up for us and seeing the yellow vest->freedom convoy->CPC movement for what it is and recognizing the things being Canadian gives them. The Buy Canadian movement seems to truly be grassroots. Some people are hard core, canceling services. Some are medium buying only Canadian made products and cancelling US vacations but I think most of us will just be more circumspect in our purchases, buying US goods only if they are unavailable from anywhere else in the world.

I don't think the US will ever have the same soft power they had. You could say it's the aged politicians holding onto power but it's been shown their constitution is not robust and their checks and balances are meaningless should the leader choose to ignore it as he is. Canada also has gaps that relies on the politician "doing the right thing". I think we're all seeing that the "right thing" is like "common sense" - it needs defining.

A holiday gift for you🙂

With the new year comes retirement as I resigned from my part-time gig. I've found volunteering to be a great way to meet people and keep things real at a time when SM is really intent on making people feel alone in their challenges. 

The gift is an easy pattern for a gnome! If you are new to crocheting you can follow tutorials from Easy Crochet. I chose this site because it has directions and video links. I've included direct links for the stitches used.

This is a blend of a few patterns I tried. I like making the body first with the hat brim then joining the hat and working to the peak which I tried with this pattern from Passionate Crafter. This is a spiral style so use a marker so you know when you're starting a new row. The nose is separate. I used a 5mm hook with cotton yarn and got a 12.5 cm gnome. 

 

MC - magic circle

SC - single crochet

INC - increase

DEC - decrease

BLO - back loop only

FLO - front loop only

 download a PDF.

I can complete a gnome in an evening and plan on doing some summer colours. Enjoy and I hope they don't take over your space like they have mine. I've stuffed one with a cat toy ball even!

A Health update - getting old does mysterious things to your body. Get used to it.

 

This all started when I had this bizarrely high BP for a few days. My BP today was 111/80 but I'm used to seeing 97/68. My heart rate seems higher than it was but it's in the normal range for my age. 

I have now had a plethora of tests evaluating heart/vascular function and, adrenal glands, because of the calcium buildup on my lens. Apparently, I'm just getting old. I looked at my results and it seems one heart valve is getting stiffer, and another couple are leaky and swishy but, for now, there's nothing urgent. 

On a happy note, the buildup on my lens seems to have resolved itself after a couple of eye pain events at the end of July. I called my optometrist and she saw me the same day. She was curious because very few people have eye pain then better vision😁My neutrophils are back at their normal low level instead of "concerning doctors" low levels.

The only change I was told to make was to drink water and I finally took that seriously upping my water to 1500 mL/day. I also started adding Taurine to my morning oatmeal because ... I don't know why, I read something. I've also been food logging along with my spouse because I want to get my serving size under control and cut back on sugar. I wear a Galaxy Watch so I can see blood oxygen levels and check my BP if I feel overly fatigued.

It seems every 10 years or so I get an extended interaction with the Canadian medical system so the next go should be as I approach 75? Hopefully, I'll have the same level of care and recovery that I've had so far.

Our Ikea Journey

 

It was 1989 when we bought our first home, a half duplex in Calgary. We decided it was time for some grown-up matching furniture we headed off to Ikea for some not bulky solid pine. We bought a bed frame, side tables and a couple dressers. Furniture assembly also got up to purchase our first electric drill, As you can imagine there were a LOT of screws involved with this assembly.

Over time we purchased two more Ikea bed frames but we moved to homes that didn't really mesh with the Ikea style. Somewhere along the line, we got into darker wood in a more mission style. solid wood pieces for the bigger stuff and a lot of less expensive flatpack to fill in spaces. 

But we still have that original furniture. Turns out it's great for spare rooms and the style works in cozier spaces like our basement which has lower ceilings. And Ikea still has great storage solutions. We just bought a shoe bin and put in the the garage in an effort to keep the garage landing clear. The instructions are still as mysterious and metal bits have been replaced with plastic but the end product still looks very finished.

I also took the opportunity to assess my shoe situation. The problem is we need shoes for many weather conditions. It's hard not to have "just in case" deep snow boots. Then there's wet snow vs. dry snow. Eh bien, at least they last a long time.

TIL - that chest tightness and shortness of breath isn't allergies!

This is exciting.~ I've had a health-tracking watch for ages. Mostly I ignore unusual results because they usually return to normal. Lately, I've noticed my resting heart rate has increased a little into the low 70s. I'm aging and working out less intensely so maybe that's why. I've also had some chest tightness so I was using my inhaler since it's been a really long allergy season. It hasn't been working well but it does eventually work. Also, I've been fiddling with the ECG feature on my watch and sometimes it gives an abnormal result. Oh well, it's a watch so the accuracy could be off. Again, things return to normal. 

This time I went to calibrate the blood pressure sensor on my watch and whoa - first time ever I've had a warning light. And not on the traditional systolic number but the diastolic one that generally stays stable. I took a picture of the reading and called my doctor's clinic. I actually managed to get one of the emergency appointments for the next day. Then, after 4 days of shenanigans, my BP returned to normal in time for the appointment🙄.

Of course, at the doctor's office, my BP was normal. We chatted a bit then I showed him pictures of my BP reading from the previous day. Well, that changed everything. Lie down for an abdominal exam and there are questions about aneurysms in the family as my aorta feels big. My lungs are clear but my heart sounds a bit swishy. Oh yes, my last ECG was not normal. So now I'm off for more bloodwork to see if anything has changed since October, and an abdominal ultrasound and cardiogram. 

Even with all the monitoring tech, when you have a reasonably healthy lifestyle, it's easy to ignore warning signs when you feel well. I don't have chest pain (my dad found out he needed a quad bypass during a medical and had no chest pain). I don't have increased shortness of breath when exercising. I'm lucky Fred wants me to check this stuff out for his peace of mind.

I hope this is nothing or easily resolved with surgery. TAVI for the valve and some kind of vascular support if a vessel wall weakness is discovered.🤞🏼

Aging Parents #BoomerLife

I read an article the other day about people choosing to retire in their homes rather than going to retirement facilities or care homes. I know my Dad loved his house and didn't want to leave it. Fortunately, he didn't have to. Our neighbours are in their mid-80s and make noise about moving but instead end up changing their yard to make it easier to manage. Like us, they live in a raised bungalow so everything you need is on the main floor.

The in-laws', very reasonably, don't want to leave their home. We don't want them to either but it came out that bills weren't being paid and there was forgetfulness so options had to be explored as none of us live in the same city as they do. They need companionship and a housekeeper more than medical care so that's what was looked for. Despite their hometown being a huge draw for retirees, there are surprisingly few service options...like 1. As part of the service, the elders get audited by Alberta Health Services (or whatever they become) to see what reimbursements they are eligible for.

And we're next - though not for a couple decades with any luck. What will services look like for us? 

End of an Era

Yesterday we sold our two inflatable Hobie kayaks to a nice family in Calgary. They've been great for hauling all over but it's time for a 2 seater. This ends the era of being based out of my dad's house and kayaking different places in the lower mainland with Milo and Duffy. 

As you age, these losses are more drawn out. First Duffy, then Milo, then my dad and selling his house and now our last link, the kayaks.

On to new adventures with the new kayak. Maybe we'll be able to get Bennie out with us when we go to more local lakes.

Worried well or health minimizer. Why not both?

A bunch of stuff has been happening lately that is confounding until I find examples in my life which bring things into focus and help me understand, at least a little.

A lot of it is COVID-based. Because COVID is still a novel virus and we don't have a lot of data on the long-term effects of getting it once or multiple times we continue to get shots, wear masks based on risk assessments based on how crowded a location is and how good the ventilation is and generally take care. This doesn't seem like a big deal - it's very transmissible, I hate to be sick if I could avoid it and if I got others got sick...I would feel horrible.

MIL has COVID - she was sick enough to be bedridden for a couple days but didn't bother to let anyone know. FIL can't drive and doesn't cook so I'm not sure what they actually ate for the couple of days. SIL went to look after MIL. SIL is staying with a friend and not wearing a mask or isolating. SIL has recovered from a mild case of COVID already. All of them take a daily assortment of pills.

A friend had COVID and was bedridden for 5 days while the spouse had barely any symptoms. She also has health problems. She doesn't know if it would have been worse had she not been vaccinated and has no intention of getting any more shots because she doesn't like how she feels after.

Our neighbour. He's well over 80 and his mom is nearing 100. He's getting his flu shot but not the COVID one because he's heard the flu is what's going around right now🤦‍♀️ I don't know where he got that info but not from any provincial site (sparse as it is).

One thing that has been shown with SARS-COV-2 is it's much more contagious than the flu, people can be asymptomatic and contagious and there can be some very bad outcomes. Other than the vascular damage there's an increased risk of Parkinson's Disease.

BUT then...

I have low neutrophils. I have them intermittently and the last time there were noticeable was when I was in my 40s. We did some extra tests but it seemed to be my normal so I left it at that. Fast forward 20 years and my new doctor is concerned my neutrophils seem to have been low for a couple years - I suspect the last time I was a low normal it was close to a vaccination date. He wants to refer me to a Hematologist but it's my decision. I say no, I've had this before and it's resolved itself. I mentioned the neutropenia to the eye specialist and he did a very circumspect side-eye when I said I wasn't planning to be referred. Then he said he'd be writing my GP advising him to suggest a little harder that I take the referral. I've already called my doctor for a phone appointment.

So what was I thinking? Referrals aren't offered for nothing. Part of it was the softness of the offer - it's my decision. Part of it was I feel fine - much like the people who've had COVID and got better. Part of it is fear that it will turn into something - much like people who don't go to the hospital when they're really sick.

I've put myself into the referral queue and we'll see what happens. If nothing else, I'll find out that I just don't make a lot of spare neutrophils.

Thoughts on the 6 month Moratorium on the Alberta Renewable Energy Projects

This moratorium is living rent-free in my head even though I am definitely not on board with companies getting to set policy by default. Communities should be able to appeal to the government to regulate the industry - even though it's an industry that I support. I expect they're so used to O&G demanding provincial funding that they didn't realize energy companies could thrive without it and by the time they did - welp a hard brake is a good way to get rid of competition. The UCP is all about perception. The perception they're helping rural communities while forgiving debt owed to them by oil companies. Allowing leaks into the waterways feeding First Nations because they're pretty isolated. Air pollution is no big deal because it's mostly invisible and by the time it's noticeable the polluters can create all kinds of plausible deniability. 

These complaints are from southern Alberta. In Medicine Hat, Smiths's riding, there's a turbine quite close to a road on the edge of town that people regularly see. People who are heavily invested in being Gas City with the accompanying low utility rates. Imagine having a turbine this close to a road you regularly drive on... Plus in Alberta, wind farms have lots of turbines. It seems the standard is lots at different angles so only a few are active at a time. But the perception is the possibility of ALL of them running at the same time.

6 months is actually not long to review material and provide a report and any new regulation will take longer to implement. If Smith's stand on COVID is any indication, the sources they look at will cite a bunch of misinformation so it will be a quick hammer smash making it onerous to comply with new rules. Projects in the planning stages are easy to relocate. This isn't like oil where there are physical constraints - you can do solar anywhere. The US has a big push on and even SK has a range of projects coming online. I hope the Solar industry that remains is ready to capitalize on distributed solar in urban areas because rural projects are likely to be dead until O&G decides to enter the game.

10 years ago today - life changing incident

 

10 years ago today, Fred had left town for a week at an isolated work site and I was looking forward to a week chilling with the dogs. The weather was going to be good, and month-end at work meant a structured week full of "stuff" which I enjoyed. It was not to be. I was hit by a car while walking across the highway at a controlled intersection. When I regained consciousness I called work and Fred's work to let them know what happened - you can use a cell phone without moving your head and neck!

I wrote about the incident as soon as I got out of the hospital and 10 years is long enough to assess the long-term effects. We can start with work. I didn't return to work until October with some restrictions. However, I feel like the lucky one. My Plant Manager at the time started having health issues so July 31 was my last routine day at work. I met up with him at a clinic and he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after that visit. He transferred back to the US and passed away very quickly. I reduced ladder climbing a lot as most locations had been changed to stair access and could do most of my job until my planned retirement date. 

We didn't move as desired because, with the O&G downturn our home lost 30% of its value while our desired location rocketed in value. On the upside - housing is affordable here. One thing that would be hard to match? I can easily walk to the vet, dentist, preferred coffee shop and gym. The city continues to change. There are a LOT more pedestrian-controlled intersections - including the one where my incident occurred - and new trails for bikes and people are being built all the time. There are lots of activities, albeit not on the scale of big cities, including Pride events and Indigenous recognition.

But what about the long-term physical effects. I changed a lot of my activities and stopped spontaneous sports through work after a mud run. I am relieved I don't have to think of running as a pass time - I had a love-hate relationship it. I gave up golf and no longer play any racquet sports, since we used to play squash I could see us trying pickleball or me playing with others. Post-injury, I switched to spin for my cardio challenge but since COVID have given that up. I've been doing Zoom or outside workout classes and don't feel like buying a spin bike. Yoga was impossible to return to as I had to do a lot of adjustments due to uneven abilities. Total flexibility never returned - I'm not sure if I could have done more to get there. While I've been aware of my injury all along, recently it's been stiff all the time. My balance is off but is it age or injury? Can't tell but I'm looking for a resolution to that. I'm also pretty sure I had a longer-term brain injury than recognized. My appetite didn't return for years plus it's always hard to tell if the reaching and not catching words is simply aging but I feel like I've gotten better so...

...that's it. I learned what "you will have arthritis in that ankle" means🙂and don't grumble or yell at the sky too much.

Rhubarb Pie experiment

We have a couple rhubarb patches so pie and crisp are mainstays during the summer. We have a pastry rhubarb pie recipe but lately we've been trying graham cracker crusts so it was decided to do a streusel crust for the top. To the Duck Duck Go! I found a crust that seemed reasonable on Crazy for Crust and Streusel recipe on Sugar Spun Run. I'm really putting this here so I can import it into my recipe app🤞🏼 I'm using metric weights where possible because I trained as a chemist and it's just way more reliable. I'm using cups and Fahrenheit because I'm Canadian😁 

I find our oven runs cool so you may want to drop the temperature 25F.

RECIPE

Graham cracker crust

154 g crushed graham crackers

50 g brown sugar

2.5 g cinnamon

pinch of salt

99 g melted butter.

Combine and pack well into a 9" pie dish. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes then let cool

Filling 

4 c rhubarb cut into 1-2 cm pieces

2 tbsp flour (60 mL)

3/4c white sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp melted butter/margarine

1 tsp lime juice - or lemon if you have some cut)

Mix flour and sugar then set aside ~1/4 c. Mix eggs, butter and the rest of flour/sugar together. 

Streusel

78 g flour

50 g golden sugar

33 g white sugar

pinch salt

42g unsalted butter/margarine melted

Mix dry ingredients well. Drizzle melted butter into dry ingredients and cut in to make chunks. Do NOT mix them together into a paste.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 425F

Sprinkle reserved flour and sugar on the cooled crust then put rhubarb into crust. Pour the egg mixture over the rhubarb then sprinkle the streusel top as evenly as possible. Place a cookie sheet on a lower shelf under where the pie pan will be then place the pie in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes at 425F then lower the temperature to 350F for 25 minutes.

Serve cool.

Let me know how it tastes as this is a fasting day so I couldn't taste as I went. Should be fine though...right?

Thoughts on Social Media

I've been thinking about social media quite a bit lately. While I've been on Twitter, User groups, and Blogger for a long time, I didn't really get into social media until I was invited to join Google+. It was so cool. Like a HUGE BBS with an opportunity to meet lots of different people. And posting links and different media was seamless.

Unfortunately, G+ tech writers didn't like it for reasons (I believe the phrase was ghost town) and was not easily monetized for Google so 👋🏽 Where would people go? A bunch of platforms but the link seemed to be Twitter. I jumped to Diaspora because...I got an invite. Twitter is making changes that make people want to leave and instead of an open-source they're going where they're invited - BlueSky. And because they're people they want everyone there so they can have content.

And I get the invite thing - people like to fit in. An invite implies you'll have a community where you can be assured you'll fit in with someone. If it's the right place it's easier to initiate conversations because you get a hint of the tone of the place and have common terms of reference.  And you have access to casual help if you need it.

Speaking of help - no wonder people are willing to trade their personal data and being marketed to for ease of use. I want to be in a community where I know I will get casual conversations I can enjoy while expanding my horizons beyond personal experience but...distributed means you have to find all the linking pieces. I like where I am on Diaspora but I'd like to be on Friendrica because it links better with Mastodon and I can use one app for both. I've heard you can autopost between the two. Ideally, I'd like somewhere easily store photos for sharing that would be separate from personal ones and that would self-delete.

Or I can just use separate apps on my phone since that's how I do most social media anyway. Much easier to look for an app for Mastodon than do all this blending - or is it. I would learn that. 

Home Updates complete at last

 

When we last met, the kitchen update had been completed along with the main part of the bathroom renovation. We redid all the window coverings - 2 more large windows than we had planned. 

The guys ensured we could use the ensuite before Christmas, but some finishing touches ended up taking until the end of January. Now it's completed and it is really lovely. Taking a shower is like a mini vacation to what I imagine the Mediterranean to be like (I've never been). The space has been filled with plants as a finishing touch.

I've seen a lot of renos that prioritize a larger shower in the main bathroom. When we built the big thing was a soaker/jacuzzi tub. We doubt we'll be moving and I remember how difficult it was to bathe when I had my broken ankle. While we don't expect another event like that we do expect to have reduced mobility at some point and wanted to build in accessibility. There's lots of room for a support bar should we ever need one.

There is a next stage of course but it's just appliances. Homes are money pits; maintenance simply delays the replacement of most things. When the washer dies (which will likely be never since we know what we want to replace it with) we'll update the dishwasher and fridge. We just got a new gas stove and, while wasteful, we calculated the cost per GJ of gas vs. electricity and it's orders of magnitude more for electricity. We have good ventilation in our home so we're not terribly concerned about the methane and benzene we could be exposed to.

We were talking about which update makes the biggest cosmetic difference and, hands down it's the blinds. If your only concern is making things pretty, update your window treatments. For energy efficiency, it's hard to choose between the furnace and windows. The windows keep temperatures much more stable but the furnace uses less gas to heat and electricity to circulate the heat. our energy use is down and our comfort level is up so that's also a win. 

The only downside is the counter hides stuff so we end up looking for items like jewelry, spoons etc. Doesn't even rise to the level of first-world problems🙂The upside was we got to support a lot of local businesses and they were great to work with. Any bumps in the road were dealt with quickly and with minimal fuss and there was very little wait considering all the moving parts. The big thing was that people showed up when they said they would and if they didn't it was because they were sick. Which yeah, don't come to our house and be distracted while working because you're ill.

Boox Nova Air C Impressions

 

Nova Air C Backlight off

I like tech and I especially like tech with styli. I had a Note and upgraded to the Ultra. My computer flips and has a pen. Now I have an e-ink tablet ... with a stylus. I do use the stylus on my phone to write notes. I'm hoping to use the stylus on the Boox for making notes when I read books. That sounds like it's a process to learn. For a really good introduction to this device, check here and here. This is an expensive device so make sure you have a specific use in mind.

That said, I wanted to get a larger device and was willing to give colour and a stylus a shot. I have a Poke 3 so I'm familiar with Boox; I have to admit the Kindle Scribe gave me some FOMO. This is a 7.8" screen which was as large as I want to go for a device that may fall on my face as I fall asleep while reading. I'm happy with the experience I got with the Poke 3 - I can get library books and read books from all the stores. I haven't used the default app (yet) because I tend to upload through Play Books. I have to explore upload options (I do tend to get epubs). NeoReader has some features, like page keys, that I'd like to try.

The Nova Air C is quite a bit heavier than my Poke and the included cover is not as "nice". and by nice I mean it's kind of floppy when it folds back because of the wider spine. I've got a pen holder on order that should help how the case folds and store the pen better. The magnet is ok but the pen gets in the way.

So the most important part - reading! I wanted colour just for reading magazines. I'm used to the AMOLED screen of my phone and computer so I would want that quality of display for reading graphic media. These colours are fine but not intense. I find a lot of screens too bright so the contrast for reading works well for me with the settings available. I love the screen size. If you want phenomenal battery life, you'll have to accept screen ghosting. I found the Nova Air C to be much more responsive than my Poke 3.

Backlight on 

Sooo...would I buy again if on a budget? I would stick with my Poke 3. If the Poke 3 broke, I would look at a Leaf but I suspect, from the splash screen that it would be the same speed as my Poke 3 which is mildly annoying so yeah, likely. It would be nice to be able to check performance out in a store before purchasing but that's not available. 

Kitchen Reno complete

 Sometimes I don't know how we got from this...

to this

in terms of deciding to make this change. It slowly snowballed. First, it was just changing the range hood to something with a better fan speed. Then if we were doing that, we needed to do something with the backsplash because of the different style of hood. Then we looked at stuff we just wanted to change. Our blinds were over 20 years old so that was time for an update. And there was the counter. We hated how dark it was even though the one it replaced was a dark green. Something about the dark counter and floor didn't do it for us (the lino we replaced was lighter). I was doing my dream bathroom and the quartz counter wasn't as expensive as expected so why not do the kitchen...welp 4 times the area in the kitchen would be a good reason. But we already have solar panels so here we are.

And we love it. I, of course, started watching kitchen reno videos after everything was done, and don't think we would have done anything differently. It feels like our kitchen is bigger again. I know the colour this year (and last) is green but we really like the blue veining in the quartz. The range hood is out of head knocker range although we have to get used to not opening the cupboards quite so much. We might have gone with a stacked 4-inch tile for the backsplash but I like the offset large tile. It has some different colours and textures that aren't obvious. The big win that isn't visible is the deep double sink.

And everyone was great!

Now for the bathroom - demolition starts Monday!

Counters by Maxwood

Tiles by Midwest Floorcovering

Window covering by Dusk to Dawn

Hood ventilation by Lloyd Plumbing& Heating who also did our new furnace and air exchanger