Weekend explorers

Once the big day was over we still had the weekend to amuse ourselves, yesterday we went exploring down on the Blood Indian Reservation. Saw some people down ice fishing on the resevoir. The roads were pretty dry although we cam back through the range roads which were pretty slick.

Today we did practically nothing, a nice lie in followed by a soak in the tub, another huge turkey dinner and an hour walking the dog in an effort to burn off some the calories.

Third Christmas in Canada

Christmas morning was our normal routine... unwrapping the presents followed by coffee and breakfast.... later on it was a splash about in the tub and walk the dog. The normal trail that we follow was so funny, in some parts there were no footprints and the snow was about 2 foot deep, the top layer had frozen solid so you were literally walking on top of the snow.... except every so ofter there was a softer spot and you would go right through to above the knee.

Gizmo was running round like a maniac until every so often he would fall through and disapear head first under the snow, his little black legs waving in the air.

Christmas lunch was almost done by the time we got back so it was another couple of Egg-Nogs while we got the stuffing and the yorkshire puddings in the oven (we have yorkshires with every roast whether it is beef, pork, lamb, chicken or turkey)

After lunch and a couple of glasses of wine and a chill while lunch digested then it was back out to the tub..... its so weird when your hair freezes solid, i really need to get some photographs of that.

We watched that District 9 too, now that is a good movie, completely different to what i was expecting though.

New wheels

Finally the new wheels for my pick-up have turned up......

Discovering Canada

This is how i first had the idea about emigrating to Canada. I was delivering to Morrisons depot in wakefield, i made the delivery and had to wait about 2 hours for the paperwork.

I had just bought myself a little 10" TV and i was using the time to set it up. Anyway i got the thing working and the only channel with a decent reception was one with a news program on. They were talking about a new program that was put into place to address the Canadian trucking industry's lack of drivers.

Apparently they were even expediting applications........

I had tried to emigrate to Canada before but Jan & I just couldn't get the required number of points.

A few weeks later i was talking to a couple of the lads back at the depot and they were talking about it, and thats when i decided to give it a try.

So it was thanks to that little TV and its crappy reception that we made the big move.

My first truck

I was just going through some old photos and i found this on of when i drove car transporters, bad memories i hated that job, it was hard work.

I was told it had a sleeper cab and i thought they were joking, it was just a big parcel shelf behind the seats.

Who are you calling a redneck eh?

Elfy Lifestyle In Canada

Third Winter in the Great White North

Well its that time of year again, the temperatures are dropping, the white fluffy stuff is on the ground and the annoying christmas songs can be heared everywhere.  I hope everyone out there is getting ready for the Big day.

So what has been happening recently...... the answer is, nothing much, life goes on as normal

Last weekend we had some seriously bad weather and a blizzard swept through Southern Alberta, roads were closed, visibility was down to almost zero.  Most people battened down for the weekend and all the radio stations were warning people to stay at home if your journey wasnt necessary.

Well we found that all of our journeys were necessary so we were out and about.  After spending 2 hours shovelling snow and digging the cars out were were heading into town, some 18 kms away through the prairie.

On the way in we must have passed about a dozen cars in ditches, abandoned from the night before, the roads were still pretty bad and the blizzard was still blowing.  I have to say that i was very impressed with Jans SUV.... this thing is part car and part snowmobile, nothing could stop it, it just powered even through quite deep snow.

My truck was like driving a European shopping cart in 2 wheel drive with each wheel wanting to go a different direction but as soon as i hit the 4X4 then she dug in and off we went.  i have to admit i have now had a remote starter fitted so i can start the engine from in the house, office or supermarket.... i can let the engine run for quarter of an hour so its nice and warm when i get in.  Another thing that we do over here which might seem a little strange to people over there in Europe is that we plug our vehicles into the mains overnight.  Most cars over here have a block heater which when you plug it into a household electrical supply will warm the engine block and the oil, this serves 2 purposes, firstly it ensures that your car should start in the morning and secondly it prevents the oil getting so cold it turns to treacle and causes excessive wear on your cold engine.

Anyway... i always keep towing and dragging gear in my truck just in case i see someone in trouble or in deed if i get into trouble.  well someone out there was sure glad i did, last weekend wee saw some guys with their car in a ditch literally up to the windshield.  We pulled over and i shouted down to them "What are you doing parked down there"  the one lad just grinned and shook his head.  So anyway i hooked one end of my dragging strop onto the front hitch of my truck and threw the other end down to where they were.  10 seconds later i pulled their car backout of the hole and back onto the shoulder... that was our good deed for the day.   I spent the next few minutes trying to refuse the $20 note that the driver was tryuing to force on me but in the end took it and thanked him... i used the money to buy a 3 million candle power spotlight which i keep in the car, so i can help people at night now after burning their retinas out first (only joking.

Anyway here are some piccies of our saturday morning after we discovered our cars were burried.