Seasons Greetings – 2006

Well it is that time of year again, and we are scrambling to try and get the annual Christmas letter together. Time this year seemed to pass quickly, and it was hard to look back into the blur, as to exactly what we did.

The year started off slowly for Pat. He continued his twice a day walk with Daman, and was building up his strength and endurance, in order to take another heart stress test.   Unfortunately he failed that test and had to go back in to Calgary for another shunt in March. Although he is still not in perfect health, the cardiologist has passed him back to his regular physician. So now it will be a lifetime of monitoring diet, exercise, and what appears to be a handful of medications every day.

Much of this year was spent putting in efforts on the home that we bought when we returned from our trip. With the building boom, finding tradesperson has been a challenge, so we haven’t gotten as far as we would have like (even though we were painting the outside as the snow was falling). So far we have a new roof, new asphalt driveway along with a RV parking pad, redone deck, hot tub moved in and installed, used solarium bought and installed, basement waterproofing system installed (the three pumps are probably overkill for the water leak we had – but we will be successfully able to drop the water table under the house), landscaping and garden put in, etc. We even decided to take one of our weeks of holiday and use it doing renovations – rather than traveling. Unfortunately the remaining list continues to be quite long – and in the next several months we have scheduled – kitchen renovations (adding cabinets, eating nook and new countertop), building a basement bedroom for Keelan, completing basement family room and storage room; expanding Deb’s wine cellar and building a back porch and entranceway.

Our travel this year has been not as extensive as previous years – but we were able to get in a number of great trips – despite the fact that the motor home never left the back yard. We began the summer with a trip to Regina for Canada Day, to see Sammy (the boys cousin on dad’s side) and a 30th year high school reunion for Deb. Yes she is THAT old! She had a great time and she and the girls decided that they had aged more gracefully than most of the guys. Regina beach was an interesting adventure (very busy) but Sammy was a delight and is definitely a little water nymph. In July we made the annual trip to Loon Lake Saskatchewan. Even Dad was able to get a couple of days off to spend an extended weekend up there. Later in the year we made a trek out to Drumheller, then down to Dinosaur Provincial Park where we walked through a Centrasaurus bone bed, and found out how many layers of bug spray it takes to stay sane when there are millions of mosquitoes and black flies around…it almost rivalled the blood bath trail in the Florida Everglades. Then we swung south through Waterton and Glarier National Parks and walked a number of great hikes in dramatically different ecosystems. There were signs everywhere about not leaving any food out due to concerns about bears. Deb thought this was a bit strange considering that the campsite they gave us in Waterton was in the middle of a ripe Saskatoon berry patch. We concluded the trip by circling down to Dickie Lake (Montana) and spent a day with Pat’s co-worker and her family. Deb and her girlfriends went on a nomadic kayak trip and paddled over 50 km in three and a half days. It was a great challenge although they did not enjoy as nice weather conditions as they have been used to on past trips. Our last road trip of the year was on the Remembrance Day weekend.   We headed south to Lewiston / Clarkston for the weekend, and had some great food (Dad really blew his diet but had a great time eating his way through his birthday). There were windstorms, mudslides, floods and snow advisories all around us – but we managed to find nothing but wonderful weather.

In mid December, we will be travelling to Red Deer to Gail’s (Deb’s oldest sister) wedding. Gail’s fiancé, Randy – is a dentist in Innisfail, has attended a number of family functions over the year, and has not run away yet – so I guess that means we have passed the test. About a week later Deb’s family will be coming to our cabin at Moyie for Christmas. It’s a bit cozy (aka crowded) but always feels like an old-fashioned Christmas with no cable or shopping and instead lots of food and games.

Our family has also grown over the last year. First of all, Mick bought Keelan a dwarf Siberian hamster for his birthday. ‘Mini’ is all black and very friendly and seeks to be picked up. Sadly Mick’s grass lizard died and it took his a while to decide on what type of pet he wanted next. He finally decided on a degu (small south American rodent – bigger than a hamster – smaller than a chinchilla.) at the conclusion of a day of checking into a host of pet stores in Calgary and Okotoks. Legolas (Leggo my Degu) was about a year old, and named after the character from Lord of the Rings. Degus are very social in the wild – and part of the reason that Mickey wanted to buy this one – was because he looked lonely and that no one paid any attention to him in the store. Later, he had an opportunity to pick up two young Degus in Cranbrook – (Frodo, and Gimli) and now all three get along wonderfully. (Dad’s only concern is that this happy colony will “grow”). Not to be outdone, Keelan picked up another Siberian Hamster (Dub-dub), but this one is not as friendly as Mini … yet. Therefore we are up to 7 pets (when you include Daman and Chocolate) and we seem to be overrun by cages at times. The boys continue to show great responsibility for taking care of their pets (even though they do not offer to walk Daman when its cold or raining out – seems that is still Dad’s job).

Both boys continue with piano lessons and are again being challenged but also really enjoy it. They are currently in gymnastics and learning new skills but the antics of some of the other boys decreases their enjoyment and may eventually influence a decision to find something else. Mickey is well into his second year of French immersion. He is gaining vocabulary daily and has a great accent. He is in a small 5/6 split but as the grade 5’s are just learning French he is learning how to work more independently. He started band this year but the search for an instrument began in May. Dad once again lucked out in finding a tenor Sax at a garage sale for $5 (a great deal at many times that price) and Mickey is thoroughly enjoying it. Even better he’s getting good and we don’t have to leave the house anymore. Keelan is having a great year in grade 4. His teacher this year is academically minded and he is excelling at math. They began the year with a science project on snails and learned vocabulary that even mom struggles with. He has two new buddies in his class who will go in to late French immersion next year so this will make the transition easier. He continues to have lots of energy and spent many hours on the trampoline that they got at Easter.

Well, the temperature is dropping, and the snow is falling, and the dog is whining to head out on our walk (seems like any time after 6:00 – morning or night is fair game to him), so we will sign off. Hope this letter finds you well.

Take care, stay healthy and have a wonderful year.

Pat, Deb, Mick and Keelan (and Daman, Chocolate, Mini, Legolas, Frodo, Gimli, Dub-Dub)