Posts from — October 2008

Well I tested our Chubb home security system the other day and it wasn’t working quite right. What I mean by that is that the alarm siren was kind of working but it sounded like someone had stuck a sock in the speaker. Normally it’s loud enough to hear on the other side of Kamloops. So, I opened up the control panel and got a high pitched screeching sound and the phone line to the house quit working so I ended up disconnecting the power supply. Anyway the technician arrived early on Tuesday morning and after checking things out he discovered that the siren was faulty and while he had the panel apart he replaced the back up battery and made some minor program improvements. So, our home security systems is back up and running. It’s great to have that peace of mind when we are away……. even with such great neighbors always keeping an eye out for us.

Well today was the final game for 2008 at Eagle Point…….. well for me at least. The course is closing next Monday November 2/08 and we are headed off to Calgary this week, so today was the last round for the year. Now, we may get lucky and get a game or two in at some other courses, but with winter coming that’s about it.

Today we had our usual foursome. From left to right it’s Dave H., myself, Bart B. and Al J. Brian S. joined up with us to make a fivesome, so I got Brian to take a picture on my cellphone. At the end of the day I shot an 82 and my index for the year was an even 9.0…………. which I believe is excellent when you consider where I started this year, which was at a 17.2. Now it’s time to focus on grandkids, curling and other fun activities.

Well it’s getting very close to the end of the golf season and I am trying to squeeze in the last few rounds. This past week we did not golf on Monday, since it was cool and windy. That gave me chance to get the winter tires on our Subaru. On Tuesday Dave H., Bart B. Al J. and I went to Eagle Point and the weather was great, a slight wind but sunny and I shot a smooth 80. On Wednesday the four of us went to Rivershore and the sun was out but the wind was a lot stronger. Rivershore is not my favorite course and I never really play that well there, however on Wednesday I shot an 85 with a triple somewhere in the round, so that wasn’t too bad. Then on Thursday we had a fivesome at Eagle Point and I shot a 78, which could have been a 76 if not for one small pine tree that managed to deflect my ball back into the rough and I ended up taking a double on the 16th hole. I recovered nicely on hole 17 which is the number 1 stroke hole, got my best drive of the season, my approach was just right on the fringe and I 2 putted for an even par, which is really difficult to do on that hole. On Friday just Bart B. and myself went out and I shot an 84 so alright but not great. As it sits now my index is 9.1……. the lowest I have ever golfed. YAHOO!

As far as curling, I am struggling. I guess it’s only my first year and I don’t get a chance to practise, however I am having trouble with my draw weight. On Thursday the ice on the left was faster than the ice on the right and that threw us off for a little while until we got a few rocks down it. Our team has not won a game so far, but we are not expecting too much in our first year. As a team we need to find a time to just go practise throwing rocks, sweeping and getting into a groove. Oh Well, it’s still great to try out a new sport and meet some new folks.

Not a lot of words in this post just some photos of our Family! Enjoy!

Well the Hockey Season in Canada has begun. So without further ado, you are true Canadian if get a real laugh out of this:

TOP TEN REASONS HOCKEY IS BETTER THAN SEX
10. It’s legal to play hockey professionally.
9. The puck is always hard.
8. The protective equipment is reusable, and you don’t even have to wash it.
7. It lasts a full hour.
6. You know you’re finished when the buzzer goes off.
5. Your parents cheer when you score.
4. A two-on-one or three-on-one is not uncommon.
3. Periods last only 20 minutes.
2. You can count on it at least twice a week.
1. You can tell all of your friends about it afterward.

On a similar note, the beginning of the hockey season also means that I will be busy assisting the Kamloops Minor Hockey Officials. Check out the Web Page Kamloops Referees. This year, as in the past few years I help with the on ice development of the New and Level 1 Officials. What this involves is an on ice shdaow and then a written report/evaluation to help them improve their skills as officials. We work on the basic positions and procedures toi be an effective referee. For the most part these are very positive experiences for the new official and myself…… it’s great fun to watch the young ref’s improve after a little bit of coaching and support. I always remember my very first game and my first on ice evaluation. My first hockey game was an Inititation “D” at Brock Arena and the other referee was Nick Swaine who is now a linesman in the WHL. I expect Nick will one day be an NHL Official, he’s a very good hockey official. My first on ice shadow/evaluation was done my Steve Kozari. At that time Steve was a WHL referee and now he is a full time referee in the NHL. Actually I ran into Steve in the Vancouver Air Canada lounge and we reminisced about the on ice shadow/evaluation and our time together in the Kamloops Minor Hockey system. The really cool part is that the invited me to visit the officials room if I was ever at an NHL game where he is officiating. More about refereeing and hockey as the season goes on.

A real quick post to remind everyone to check out Jeff & Lindsay’s Web Page. The link is over on the right hand side titled “Uncle & Aunty Sills”, or just click this link www.thesills.net . Their 3 weeks of work/vacation have flown by and they only have a couple days left on their trip to Japan. So the last couple days should be packed with exciting adventures.

Well the renovation is about 85% complete. What I mean by that is all the fixtures have been installed and tested and all that is left is the finishing work which Kevin is doing. Now, as anyone who has done home remodeling knows this is the part that always seems to take the longest. It’s the painting completion, painting touch-up, base boards, mouldings, silicone, etc. etc. that just seems to go on for ever.
No visit to Princeton would be complete without a couple of grandkid pictures……. and here they are.

October is the month for “The Hope Challenge”. Basically it is the same group of guys from the May “Better  Husbands Tour”, plus a few extras from Hope to round out the teams. This year we had 60 golfers, so it was a great turnout.

The format is a team play, Ryder Cup type challenge. The Hope/Clearwater Boys take on the 100 Mile House/Kamloops team for a 2 day, winner take all points challenge. It is Match Play, plus stroke play so everything is putted out and nothing is conceded….. well almost nothing. In addition there are 3 flights and individual prizes for 1st to 4th and K.P., Long Drives and Deuces. This year Hope/Clearwater got 99 points to 100 Mile House/Kamloops’ 88 points! Ouch! Better luck next year.

My game for the weekend was both a low point and a high point. On Saturday we played Rivershore and I shot an even 100 for a net 89. On Sunday I shot a 79 at Eagle Point which was made up of a 35 on the from nine and a 44 on the back nine, for a net 68 and I won 1st place in the 1st flight. My index factor went down to a 9.6 so that is the good news.

All in all it was a great weekend of friends and golf.

Last night was our second game of curling this season. We ended up losing by 1 point as the other team stole 2 points in the 8th end, so that kind of sucked as we had “the hammer”, but none of us threw any good shots in the final frame. We had a lot of fun, a few laughs and we feel we certainly did a lot better.

As far as golf my last two games have been very interesting. Thursday I shot an 87 which is pretty good, however it does not help to get my handicap index any lower. Still had a few laughs and a lot of fun with my regular golfing buddies. Today ( Friday) I shot a 78 which is outstanding. The most interesting part was I started with a double bogie and ended with a double bogie and still shot a 78! After entering this score my index is down to a 9.8, so I have achieved a goal I set at the start of the season and that was to get into a single index factor by year end. The fun part and challenge will be retaining this low index factor.

Renovations are continuing and we got a lot done earlier this week. The good news is that the bathtub we installed last week did not leak around any of the fittings when we water and pressure tested them, so that’s great. The ugly part this week was the drywall/gyproc mudding and pasting. Of all the stuff I have done with home renovations that is the one thing I hate the most. As amateurs we apply way too much mud and then sand like crazy, create a lot of dust and a real mess, then fill some more, sand some more, etc. etc. …….. and the finished job just never looks like the professionals.

Overall we (Kevin and I) have learned a lot about bathroom renovations and are more comfortable in tackling some pretty interesting projects after this one.