The Parkade

The Parkade

I've been catchingl the odd ad on TV for a show that lets you hear the wail of a sasquatch.  So much so that I recognized that sound twice now when exiting my vehicle on a high floor of the parkade at my downtown office.  It's either a sasquatch awakening to the cold morning temperatures, or some sort of road construction equipment making a similiar sound way off in the distance.  Whatever,  the noise is mournful and makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck right in the heart of the city!

That parkade is quite the place.  The ceilings are low and there's really only room on the ramps between the many floors for one car at a time.  Because one ramp services two floors,  I travel up 13 flights and down 13 flights every single day...My dad would be horrified that I might get big arms, but it hasn't happened.  Really, one arm doesn't ever get stronger than the other from turning the steering wheel, because its equidistant.  I think it also helps with the batwing problem that many women tend to develop...mine, as it turns out, aren't even as bad as that girl on "The Sweetest Thing" movie...You know, the one that was on the TV show "Married With Children". (Probably because I have much more body fat than she)!  I thought that trek up the 13 flights would get on my nerves, but strangely enough, the parkade does the opposite and soothes me instead for some reason.  The sunlight shines in at all different places and is something new every day.  The pigeons that used to inhabit the place, especially those relieving themselves randomly on my floor and right at the threshold to the elevator/stairwell area, seem to have vacated the premises, at least for the time being.  At times, the wind, rain, and/or snow whip through the open spaces and leave water or ice on the floors. There are barrels of salt and gravel around so the surfaces get these treatments to avoid ice build up.  Overall  though, from first-hand experience, I know you always have to be careful about black ice after September, since the concrete walls and posts are very unforgiving when you hit them.  I am not alone in this.  I witnessed a colleague backing out who peeled off her passenger side mirror on one of the big posts.  She was so embarrassed and worried about what her husband would say. ..especially since it wasn't due to black ice.      :-)   Later when I saw her, she told me the amount of the bill and it was astronomical.  I, sympathized because I myself, had at one time seriously misjudged how much room I had turning left into the vacant spot across from mine.   My vehicle still has a little scratch on it.  I get to park right next to a wall, so usually back in.  That way my passenger door is against the wall, and I can actually get out of my vehicle.

In the last few years, because of car break-ins I assume, parkade attendants have emerged.  These have all been male immigrants who are very respectful, friendly,  and serious about their jobs.  They all have had something in common though...having a hard time staying warm given our prairie winter weather.  Imagine coming from a hot country to here and finding a job where you have to stand or walk around all shift on ice cold concrete.  They are allowed to enter the stairwell where it's warm and watch out the window for trespassers, and that's what you sometimes see.  I absolutely do not blame them.  Not surprisingly, several have come and gone from this challenging position....One used to wrap himself in a blanket in addition to his winter coat and walked around shivering every solid day for months.  One tended to be quite stern and even acted like a traffic cop going out into the busy street, stopping the fast moving traffic in order to help stream the parkade drivers out.   I, for one appreciated it, because we are not far from one of the bridges.  If there is an accident on the bridge, traffic can become grid-locked in short order.  I have sat in my vehicle waiting to get out of the parkade for a couple of hours on more than one occasion.  I know Saskatoon drivers were not ready for his actions, but it was okay by me!   He's gone now and I don't know the details of his departure.  I think a new company may have taken over because there seems to be more than one attendant. The common denominator is that whoever is working stands guard at at a fixed spot close to the entrance moreso than I have ever seen before.  I smile, wave glibly, or nod my head every time I go by and they always make a similiar gesture in return.  They can tell we belong by our colourful parking tag hanging from our rearview mirror.  It's funny to see cars that don't belong.  Generally, they are teens heading for the roof...you can use your imagination.  Other times, they are older folks who try to look nonchalant and think if one stays in the vehicle, the other can just "run in ".  I'm not sure how the new parking guards handle this, but I can imagine.

Electronic doors were installed at the entrance and exit lanes a few years back.  All day they are left wide open, but after hours you have to swipe a FOB to open the entrance door.  On exit the door sensor recognizes the vehicle and the door automatically opens up.  This, however, does not always work as one of my colleagues can attest to.  Last winter, and before the new group of attendants started, more than once, you would go to drive out and see several of the large and long overhead electrical cables ripped out and dangling on the ground just at the exit. This does not give you a good feeling whatsoever.  Had to have been vandals is all I can think.

The parkade elevator is definitely one of a kind.  I have to say, ("touch wood"), that it has most often been quite a reliable unit for me.  For others, maybe not.  It is not the smooth, sophisticated type that you might find elsewhere.  I am not exaggerating when I say it is very rough around the edges.  I say this because it is notorious for bouncing up and down like a trampoline.  It seem like its held together with massive rubber bands. Honestly, at each floor, as it comes to a stop, it physically bounces up and down about three  to four inches, three to four times in rapid succession...with you in it, I might add.  It creaks loudly with every bounce so that no matter what floor you're on, you can hear it coming.  Bouncing and creaking on every stop all the way up to you or back down again.  When you first start riding it, you pray like crazy every trip. Incidentally, people generally only ride it going up...I think we probably hold some sort of record for people using the stairs on the way down and now you know why.  As a matter of fact, I run down 13 flights pretty well every day.  Occasionally, I take the stairs up, but I don't like the feeling that my lungs are bleeding by the time I reach the top.   All the newcomers to the workplaces  in the buildings surrounding the parkade get  started out parking on the top two floors and the fear in them is quite palpable.  You can see it in their eyes on the first bounce.  They laugh that nervous little laugh that people tend to get when they're scared, and you just try not to embarrass them and go about putting them at ease.  Now I know what airline pilots go through.  I don't usually see the same newcomer twice, so I don't know what happens to them.  I do know that they haven't ridden enough to know to press the Ground Floor button when they reach the top floor.  They just get off and forget to send it back down to the rest of us...bless their hearts.  We forgive them though, because we were there once and know they are traumatized.  They soon will learn that the thing takes forever and get the hint without somebody being tempted to put up a sign (like me).  They either quit their jobs or get moved to a lower floor I guess.  I don't know how that happens because my whole office is still relegated to parking on a really high floor. Guess you have to have pull to get moved down, but the last time I had pull was when I was a little kid.  Regardless, I for one have come to enjoy and think fondly of our idosyncratic elevator.  Not only is it not boring, but you get to share it with all types of people you don't even know.  They are every profession you can think of and dressed in all types of different fashion and baggage and it's truly an experience.  Some speak, and some do not, some have flowers or shopping bags full of stuff...but in general, at least 80%, at the end of the day, will wish you a friendly "good evening" and that is a friendly and heartwarming thing to do, don't you think?

The parkade is attached to my building, but you have to go outside the stairwell through a door to the back alley and back in through at least three more doors.  Me, I have three more to go through after that before  I can actually put the key in my personal office door.  All in all, I have to open seven doors between my vehicle and my office.  Do you think that might be just a titch excessive, well...you can get used to anything....As Anthony Hopkins says to Alec Baldwin in "The Edge".... "what one man can do another man can do" and "today I am going to kill the bear"....If you have not seen the movie....do so, it's great!  Out back of the parkade is a back alley area surrounded and shared by several big buildings.  There is a built-in ashtray for smokers and they are often crowded around shivering, catching a quick puff.  At certain times of the day, if you are lucky enough, you will see a street person rifling through the ashtray looking for cigarette butt.  These are some of the joys of parking downtown!  At least you can't say it's boring and I have yet to run into a sasquatch!

 

Kids Teach Us So Much

Kids Teach Us So Much!

These funny little critters say and do the darndest things.  We marvel, we laugh, and moon over their every word and action.  When they first learn how to talk, the sounds of their tiny voices are so soft and sweet, we think it's music to our ears.  We can't believe how smart, lovable, cuddly ... and full of kisses and hugs they are.  We let them fall asleep on us and their warmth is pure bliss that envelopes us and makes us almost fall asleep with them.  They remind of us of things we loved and may have forgotten a long time ago.  They know how to smile and their laughter sounds like something from the angels in Heaven, and we love to hear them laugh. In fact, for a lift, we go out of our way to find videos of babies or little kids laughing because there's nothing to compare it to...it's the best sound in the world.

Kids see things as black and white....there are no shades of grey in their little worlds.  It's either good guys or bad guys.  Their little friend is either sharing with them or not.   Someone is a stranger or not.  In a restaurant, it's hard for a four-year old to understand that all the people at the nearby tables are strangers and that we at our table are not strangers to ourselves but strangers to everybody else.  Confused?  So was the four-year old.  Their dogs bark, go outside, poop, get a treat, and play with them.  They have an imaginary pet dragon living in their back shed with purple and pink polka dots. They know this because grandma tells them so for their bedtime story :-).

In a child's world, late day snacking is not  a half-way deal and demonstrates how persistent kids can be.  If  allowed to get hungry, they're soon going to eat  you out of house and home.  They don't care whether it's too close to meal time or not.  They know where the snacks are and will be like a moth to a flame until they get 'something' into their growling little tummies.  They will fling open every cupboard door and dump out the boxes onto the floor...like crackers and spaghetti for instance.  They will open the fridge and pull out the cheese strings and the beer sticks.  They will shove them in your face and ask that you peel them.  They will ask for the blue Freezee, but if you don't have blue, then any colour will do... Note to parents:  Freezees should be left out to thaw for a little because especially for two-year olds, they don't understand that hanging onto a really cold Freezee will turn their little hand into an ice block.  Certainly, nobody likes a brain or a hand freeze..

They would prefer jelly beans or licorice but will settle for yogurt, milk, or cookies.  Ice cream cones, pudding, and Jello are all-time favorites.  Yet, savvy parents are persistent too.  They know there is a trick to snack time.  Timing is everything, but remember, you may or may not beat them at their own game.  There is no guarantee you will win, but take heart, everyone loses once in awhile.  Parents know there is only a very small window of opportunity to work with.  Snacks have to happen before hunger pangs get sharp.  If not, once you're here, it's all overeating and totally wrecking any chance for the next nutritious meal.  Adults do exactly the same thing, remember?  The better idea is to offer cut up fruit like bananas or apples, along with Cheerios or another healthy cereal much sooner while they're still playing and before they even start to think about their tummies.  Keep them hydrated too because thirst sometimes feels like hunger. Staving off those intense cravings early enough is a parent's persistence at it's best!

Kids generally know no fear and have great imaginations.  They will jump into your arms from half-way up the stairs without even an inkling that they could be hurt by the fall.  They fall backwards onto the bed or couch like nobody's business.  Of course, little by little, trips to the emergency room happen, stitches happen and they learn that they really can get hurt...Since they have a steady diet of superheros, they may tell you that they are a superhero.  They aren't lying....at a certain point in their lives I think they really believe it.   Let's hope they don't think they can fly...  After all, it would make sense since most of them have at least one life-sized red or blue cape in their bedroom.  They wear it playing around the house, visiting at their friend's house, or even out shopping at the mall with Mom and Dad. (This is when someone has to have a serious talk with them about what is in their imagination and what is real).  Their pyjamas are Spider Man or Tinker Bell.  Their t-shirts are Super Man or Hello Kitty.  Everything else is either a Ninja Turtle, Star Wars,  Dora the Explorer, Diego or Batman....you get the idea?. Their sheets and clocks are Thomas the Train, Buzz Light Year, Toy Story, or Cars.  Their blankets,bicycles, helmets, running shoes, back packs and lunch boxes are all something of note too. Is it any wonder that little girls sometimes grow up to think they are princesses who look like Barbie?  After all, they get to dress up any time of the day or night.  Wearing ballerina outfits, princess ball gowns, fairy dust  and make up, they can serve tea to anyone.  How could you refuse whether you're at home, daycare, the neighbour's, or Mom or Dad's work?  They love all things in miniature like Polly Pockets and dinky toys like cars, trucks, motorboats, motorbikes, buses, and semi-trailer units.  I think to begin with all kids like bugs and frogs and other little things they can examine at length.

Wearing something plain is almost unheard of....But, I went ahead and bought all my grandkids matching flourescent green t-shirts with writing that said "I'M KIND OF A BIG DEAL!" Because, yes....you bet they are...they are a REALLY big deal and I hope they never forget it. I want them to feel so good about themselves that they are unafraid and have the strength to grow up and conquer the world.

Kids are nothing if not the product of all the generations that have come before them.  They have the benefit of learning everything we know up until now.  They get to watch either a VHS Pinocchio video or a new show on NetFlix....they have their pick.  They have all the Golden Books and Nursery Rhymes we all had as kids plus a whole pile and I mean a whole pile more that have sprung up since.  They have reruns of Mr. Dress Up, Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street along with Whinney the Pooh, Garfield and all the new shows from today. The kids of today will be nothing but brilliant if they can absorb even a fraction of this tremendous amount of knowledge. Knowledge is key, so if it helps, then good.

Children are great sports and very open to any kind of attempt an adult makes to play with them.  Doesn't matter how silly or goofy, a child will play along and give you the benefit of the doubt that you know what you're talking about.  You can make up anything and they will absolutely play along.  If you don't believe me, just try it some time.  They don't generally tell you you're stupid or give you heck.  They don't do this because they are too busy grinning from ear to ear and enjoying the attention you are giving them, no matter how little it might be. Just go and lay on the floor and see what happens.  Within minutes, they will be crawling all over you and jumping on you and tickling you.

Kids have excellent memories.  Like elephants, they never forget.  They remember every magical story you ever made up.  Every pretend character you taught them.  They don't forget, even if you do.  As they get older, they know every word to every storybook you have ever read to them, especially if you make a lame attempt to try to shorten or fake your way through it.  Remember, as you get older to see, you personally will need more natural light...This could become a bit of a problem for bedtime stories when you're reading by their dimly-lit bedside lamp...(flashlights work wonders and kids love them!)

Kids are very enthusiastic!  Most grandparents can tell you the rush they get from seeing their grandchildren.  These little people are so excited, they're jumping up and down and squealing with delight just because you came to visit them.  They stand at the window and wave you into the house as vigorously as their little arms will let them and do the same thing when you leave.  They are kissing and hugging and blowing kisses and waving with such enthusiasm it takes your breath away.
At the same time, they're dying for you to talk to them and play with them.  They want you to jump into their world and live it right in the moment with them, right now.  Whether it's to play trains or Ninja Turtles, babies, house or the Wii, they'll play whatever you want.  They'll even give you the best toy or controller.  They are always ready for a game of Eye Spy, colouring a picture, painting, cutting with scissors, and making things from pipe cleaners and play dough.  Most of all they love to play outside.  Running in the back yard, and playing in the sand box is the best. 

If anybody can remind you how to play, it's a kid.  They will cause you to laugh and to cry.  You may think you're teaching them my friend, but really, it is the other way around.  Remember, there's still one somewhere inside you....you just have to find it!


 

Spending Time at the Cabin

Spending time at the cabin.

When I was a kid growing up, my own family didn't have a cabin at a lake.  My aunt and uncle, Hazel and Warner, and their family  had one in the Qu'Appelle Valley  about three hours away from us in Hudson Bay.   Every summer for several years, my siblings and I in any sort of combination would go stay with them at Crooked Lake for a couple of weeks.  We walked daily to the beach which was at least a mile one way, swam and played, and bought a treat at the store.  Every summer I lost weight and came home with a nice tan.  Those lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley tended to have alot of green algae.  In fact, depending on what the wind was doing, it could have a thick layer of the green slick sludged up against whatever shore the wind was pushing it.  You always had to shower after swimming because you would be nothing but green slime when you came out...especially your hair.  I am a blonde and green is one of my favorite colours, but that was a look I didn't really go with.

We were exceptionally fortunate to have had this opportunity of going to the lake.  First off, it was a chance for us to get to know our cousins and not only learn how to swim but to perfect the skill.  We would always go when swimming lessons were on.  Little by little, summer by summer,  year after year, we achieved one swimmer's badge after another.  Some years we also took lessons at other places such as at our home lake, of Ruby Lake, and eventually one summer I achieved my senior's badge in Yorkton where I had a summer job. I was taking lessons in the evenings at an indoor pool after working during the day in  my other aunt's corner grocery store.  I remember being really tired and barely able to do the number of laps required by evening...but somehow, I passed.  The feat didn't seem like much at the time, until I was asked to assist with teaching swimming lessons at Ruby Lake.  Word travels fast in small towns I guess.  The lessons weren't Red Cross or anything, but some other type that used different fish and aquatic names like "Salamander" to designate levels of achievement.  I felt quite proud and just hoped nobody drowned while under my watch...Luckily, nobody did.  The only thing I didn't like about Ruby Lake were the bloodsuckers.  I came out of the water one day with one globbed onto my forehead...I forget who saved me, but usually a lit cigarette did the trick.  You can imagine the screaming fit I was having, so it wouldn't have been an easy rescue.

In 1972, I graduated from Hudson Bay high school and moved to Saskatoon. My parents sold the farm south of Hudson Bay in the community of Etomami and moved back to their birthplace - Melfort in 1974 or 75.  They bought the local funeral home, lock, stock, and barrel.  About four minutes later, dad also bought another farm.  The previous funeral home owners also had a cabin at Whelan Bay on Whiteswan Lake.  It's a Northern lake that is big and cold and great for fishing but the water is so cold you can't swim in it.  They get around that little technicality by having a big, pool at the lodge that everybody uses.  I only visited that cabin once, believe it or not.   I remember that it was fully, and I mean fully furnished..right down to the last fork, blanket and cup.  My family just moved in and didn't have to bring one thing.  They bought it that way.  I remember it had a propane outdoor toilet that instantly burned up the excrement.  You didn't spend alot of time sitting and pondering life that's for sure.  You also didn't go out for a walk on your own since there were bears lurking all over the place.  Berry picking took on a whole new meaning ...you knew there was the distinct possibility you were going to be sharing your find with a bruin...that is if he/she let you. 

Mom's cousin and her husband had owned the lodge for decades but have retired and sold it within the past few years.  So getting to reconnect with more family was important for my parents.  This was a cousin my Mom had grown up around so it would have been great hooking up again.  The location was also a draw for my Mom' brother Jerry, and his family as well as her sister, Dianne and her family because the men loved to fish.  My uncle's family still have their cabin there to this day.  Their cabin is one of notoriety because, in fact, it is my grandparents' actual house which they had moved to a lot.  I remember when I visited it once it was moved.  By this time it had been their cabin for years.  It looked so different, and although hard to recognize, I could by closing my eyes and remembering the exact location of the rooms.  My kids had spent the weekend with my uncle and aunt, Jerry and Lorna and their family and we went to pick them up afterwards.  My uncle was entertaining them all with his ghost stories at night and in the morning he taught them how to make pancakes for breakfast.  My kids were totally impressed by their time there.   My parents had long since sold out and bought another cabin at Greenwater Lake.  Greenwater is further south and the water is warmer for swimming and water skiing.  There are much better services such as a fully stocked store, a marina, and golf course.  Unfortunately, because it's a provincial park, it can also be an incredibly busy place.

Mom and Dad's Greenwater cabin was also purchased fully furnished. It was a nice place with a big yard and a fire pit in the back. We four kids were all young adults by then, and there was even a first grandchild.  We had lots of company, friends and relatives flocked for the fun, the novelty, and the camaraderie.  Long weekends we discovered, became a zoo on the water and roads of a provincial park.  Our family's cabin was located on the first street back from the lakefront.  We woke up Saturday mornings to find total strangers who had pitched their tents in the ditch right in front of our cabin.  Sometimes there were several tents and they ended up partying most of the night.  We were somewhat dismayed...well really dismayed to the point of disgust and began to pine for a lakefront property.  There was only one new subdivision at Greenwater that had lakefront cottages, and they were far from the main beach and other services.  Lots for sale were as scarce as hen's teeth and way too expensive.

One day several of us, including Mom and Dad, loaded up in the car and went for a drive.  We wound up about half an hour away at the north end of Barrier Lake, also called Barrier Ford.  It was actually really hard to find.  There was a young guy from Tisdale with his newly-built and almost-finished lake front cabin "for sale". It was so cheap it was hard to believe, but the guy was at the end of his rope.  Dad bought it on the spot and that's when he put the Greenwater cabin up for sale.  Mom and I took a drive over there to visit a friend of mine the summer of 2012, Bonnie, and couldn't believe how much development has occurred.  We had a really hard time finding our old cabin!

My son was the baby grandchild with us that day.  It was 1976 and today is 2013.  The cabin is still there and going strong.  It remains a place to be enjoyed every bit as much as it was almost 40 years ago.  The grandchildren increased in numbers to about a dozen and they all grew up there.  Funny thing was, I don't think any of them attended swimming lessons.  Go figure.  Regardless, they swam and frolicked, skied, knee boarded, fished, went boat riding, sun tanned, canoed, played at the playground, went for walks, rode bikes, went paddle boating, sat and laid in all the floating inflatables and the floating lawn chair, went for walks in the forest, went to the store, to the dump, and one of the biggest attractions was to catch crayfish.  At night, when it's really dark, the crayfish venture out from under the rocks to sit on top just below the water surface.  We had no less than half a dozen flashlights and butterfly nets for our young hunters..  We took an old aquarium from home and let the kids catch to their hearts content, then watch the little creatures with the pinching claws swim around trying to find their way out.  The kids ate all sorts of everything fun, played in the sand, built sandcastles and moats, joined us at the campfire after dark, and slept hard every night from all the fresh air and sunshine. 

A number of years later, this first generation of kids have produced more kids...At last count there was an additional 10 kids or so.  In the last few years, my daughter and son have both bought the cabins next to Mom's.....one beside and one behind.  My Dad passed away in 1992, so he has missed alot of good times at the lake.  We generally take turns going there, but not necessarily, and everybody contributes what they can in physical labour, maintenance, repairs and that sort of thing.  The family cabin although getting old seems golden to all of us.  It is a place where memories were made and where family has had many good times together.  So if somebody tells you they think a cabin is not something for them because it's too much work, or they don't want to go to the same place every summer, or people might fight over it....From my perspective, I think they might want to rethink the joy, the history-making and the getting to know each other that is built when a family enjoys and shares time at the cabin.

Handyman...er...woman adventures

Handyman ...er... woman adventures.

I have great intentions.  I do try very hard, but I am absolutely NOT gifted in doing things that involve drills, screwdrivers, screws and especially those funny-looking plugs they call wall anchors....You get the picture.  A simple little thing like hanging a towel rack becomes a nightmare.   First off, I bought two towel racks at Home Depot probably three years ago.  It took this long to get the equipment I needed all lined up and ready to go and I laid it out on my dresser.  I walked past that grouping  every day thinking I should do something about it... probably for the last month.  Finally, today, as I strip and ready myself to enter the shower, I decided it was time.  Of course, I was under a time constraint because it was after 11:00 a.m. and I had an appointment for 1:15 p.m.  I had to shower, eat lunch and get out the door....Doing things under pressure seemed like a good plan.

I thought it would only take a few minutes so why get dressed?  Well first off, I had Phillips screws which I know are bad with that criss cross pattern, but thought I'd use them anyhow.  If you reef too hard on the little fellows, you wreck them and can't get them back out of the wall if you need to.   I have a stud finder so marked the places on the wall for the screws with my trusty pencil...Then I drew a line that I measured with my little level....It was the straightest line I think I have ever worked with.  I was proud. 

Then I brought out the drill...I needed an extension cord, so that meant running to the broom closet in the hall.  I decided I needed my slippers on at least with the rubber bottoms in case of electrocution.  Then I got to thinking....if I do get electrocuted...considering I'm working in the bathroom where it could be wet, maybe I should have some clothes on after all....Nothing worse than being electrocuted and found with no clothes on.  So I threw my nightgown back on.

I chose a drill bit that was big enough to accommodate the size of the wall anchor which is always bigger than the screw.  I adjusted the drill to open to accept the bit and closed it tightly once it was in place.  I attached the extension cord and plugged it into a power bar close by in my bedroom.  My house is old enough that the bathrooms still have those kinds of plugs that don't take three-prongs...you know...for electric razors only.  Nobody has used a razor of that variety in this house for eons, so quite useless really.   I made a mental note that all the cords leading into that power bar were in extreme disarray and that I should organize and label them better.  Pinterest showed how to use bread bag tabs as labels and I'm happy to say I did get that done later in the day.

I took a look at the towel bar and it's two fancy ends.  It came with a little type of screwdriver shaped like an "L".  I thought that was in case you didn't have one of your own.  That was no problem for me since I have all kinds of screwdriver sets.  Regardless, the backsides of the end pieces of the towel rack had  stainless steel holders with two long narrow openings one above the other for two screws.  I decided this would be a cinch, just hang it up on the screws.  I measured where the two holes should be on either side and marked with my pencil.   I drilled the first hole on the right hand side and started screwing the wall anchor in.  About 3/4 of the way in, it got stuck...As I tried to force it in, the entire end still sitting outside the opening broke off....  Oh brother...  Well, I was just going to have to try to put the screw in anyhow.  Brute force and ignorance does have a place in this world and I used it to my advantage.   I started to screw the Phillips screw in and it got stuck about 3/4 of the way in....  By this time I was starting to sweat.

I decided there and then I needed to go on a hunt for some decent Robertson screws.  I walked out to the garage, in nightgown, slippers, unwashed and uncombed, and luckily found a whole container of them and exactly the right length.  I was overjoyed!  I drilled the second hole, deliberately broke off the stuck wall anchor and screwed in the two Robertson screws. They have a square peg instead of a crisscross, so seemed a little stronger and easier to work with over all.   I grabbed hold of the towel rack end, ready to put it all together but was horrified to find the screw heads were too big to get through the holes on the back.  I couldn't believe it.  It was then I saw a teeny little screw on the outside edge of the round towel rack end and then realized what that little "L" shaped bike tool was for.  You have to take the little screw out so the stainless steel thing will come off.  You have to put the stainless steel thing against the wall first then screw the screws through it.  Maybe these are common sense things to you, but NOT for me.  So, I did all that.  I dropped that little screw at least five times, before I got it done....but eventually thought I was homefree...Only to find, of all the idiotic things, that the stainless steel piece was screwed to the wall backwards....Oh frick...

I straightened that all out and actually considered throwing in the towel for the other half.  I talked myself into continuing on though, because I realized if it took me this long to get going, it would likely take me that long again.  So I forged ahead.  This time I got a stool involved so I would have a little more oomph. I did the very same thing as I had for the first one, including deliberately breaking off the heads of the wall anchors.  It was on my left side so I wasn't quite as strong.  This time, I was a little smarter about what was backwards and what was forwards, so it went faster.  I wasn't any quicker about working with that teeny black screw and dropped it umpteen times.  It was getting so ridiculous, I started to laugh out loud and accused somebody from the other side of playing tricks on me and told them they could quit any time.

Finally the ends were on the wall.  I went to put the bar into the little round holders and was ready to kill somebody when I realized that although I had hit the studs, I had neglected to measure the bar...It was way too long for the actual holder spots.  Luckily for me, there is a curly cue on either side that I could set the bar on.   Take a look and see what you think....I did it all right..., but I think it might be upside down....
OMG!!!

 

Calcitonin Beware

I have had a lousy summer so far on some fronts, but    red letter experiences on others.  We've all heard the expressions about  kicking somebody when they're down and that's exactly how I feel.  I get the last week of June, all of July and the first three weeks of August off.  I had been looking forward to this summer break like none other.   I'd been planning my Mom's 80th birthday since October!  My cousin's son was getting married in Regina and Mom and I were going.  I was stoked to work in my yard and to do some serious deep housecleaning.  I was planning to do some paint touch ups on the trim outside. I was hoping to have my grandkids and kids over as much as possible.

But...everything ground to a halt before I ever got the chance.  On the last day of work I began to have pain in my left rib cage..that was June 25.  Three days later, the pain had not left and I went to the minor emergency clinic first thing...I was the first person in the huge line-up as a matter of fact.    The doctor immediately x-rayed my back and he and the radiologist confirmed a compression fracture to my eighth thoracic vertebrae.  "Strange," he said, "we usually only see this in women in their seventies..." He asked who in my family has osteoporosis...I said, "nobody".  I cocked my head to one side and thought, "Somehow, I don't think osteoporis is it."  He prescribed calcium (1,200 mg/day), Fossamax,and the hormone calcitonin as a nasal spray.  The calcitonin was to help with the pain and would also hopefully help heal the bone.  There was a chance the calcitonin could cause some nasal congestion, and/or irritation and stuffiness.

I doggedly headed to the pharmacy because by this point, I was ready to try just about anything for some relief.  Tylenol was about the only painkiller I could take with the odd ibuprofen thrown in.  I'm not supposed to take ibuprofen because I already take low dose Aspirin, so I took it, but guiltily.  The combined result (synergistic effect) of these two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications is thin, thinner and thinnest blood, so I really do have to be careful.   My daughter and I had had a conversation about how acupuncture helps with pain.  I mentioned it to the doctor and he agreed it would probably help.  The days then between the onset of symptoms and my first acupuncture treatment became quite agonizing (about a week).  From sitting up to laying down.  With the ice pak and without.  Switching off and on to the heating pad...My own beautiful, comfortable bed even betrayed me because I guess it was too soft.  I like to lay on my side and couldn't.  I couldn't even prop my leg up with a pillow in the Sims position...my favorite one.  I had to sleep sitting up on the couch and then finally found the spare bed was hard enough for me to lay flat on my back.  I could lay on my tummy for a short while and that did provide a bit of relief.

At the same time, my mucous membranes started to erupt...probably day two of the calcitonin. Seems calcitonin goes crazy when it encounters my system.  That hormone was more irritating than I can describe and I surmise it left gaping exposed areas on an otherwise healthy mucous membrane.  In it's wake it made room for all kinds of bacteria, viruses and you name it so they could set up housekeeping and take hold of my system.  In fact, I developed a whopper of a sinus and throat infection complete with thick, green phlegm, cough, chills and fever night after night.  I have never had anything like it.  I coughed so hard I could do nothing but vomit.  My other excretory functions were also out of control during some of the coughing episodes, so I really couldn't hardly leave the house.  By day three my voice was almost gone and by July 1st, I lost it altogether. I could do nothing but whisper....the little kids were cute because they would whisper back to me when I spoke to them....I guess they thought it was a game.

I had a regimen of "by the minute" products to keep my throat moist that I used every hour for at least two weeks.  I had a cup of honey and lemon water to sip on.  I had saline nose drops.  I had the humidifier running non-stop.  I ran the hot shower and steamed myself.  I had plain water to sip and lozenges of every shape, size and brand you can imagine to suck on.  Even plain old hard candies worked to make sure my throat didn't dry out.  I gargled with salty water, then I gargled with a crushed aspirin and water.  Then I gargled with a green solution I had prescribed for me by a South African physician long ago "Tantum"  (It had expired in 2012 :-( ,but remember, you'll use anything when you're desperate).  All of these things only gave me minor relief. I decided to try gargling from the huge over-sized bottle of the Listerine Whitening solution I had bought years ago.   It was over three-quarters full when I started and is now empty. (I didn't drink it!!)  Gargling with it, then brushing my teeth, then repeating the steps finally gave me enough relief at bedtime so that I could actually fall asleep and stay sleeping for a short time!  In the middle of the night and first thing in the morning, I repeated the procedure, because I would wake up by the hour with yet another fit of coughing.

By day four, I had had it!  It was 8:00 in the morning and once again, I was the first patient in the line up for the minor emergency clinic.  The doctor was kind and told me it was a virus and said we should stop the calcitonin.  Yes....I like the way this guy thinks!  The big news was, I was stopping it anyhow, even if he hadn't agreed.  I wasn't in the mood to die from pneumonia because of a sore back.  The two just don't go together in my books.

A few days later, by about day seven,  I went back to the clinic and was x-rayed again....I'm starting to glow in the dark.  This time, they were checking to see if I had pneumonia or bronchitis...basically they wanted proof about whether the gunk had moved into my chest or not.  I could have told them, "no"..because it was all in my throat.  So...I was started on Penicillin.  That was a red letter day. 

48 hours later, it was about 2:00 a.m.  I awoke coughing on nothing and so hard I vomited, but could raise nothing more than clear mucous.  You know, you get this guttural noise going on when there's nothing more to give.  This time though, I felt like I was choking and couldn't breathe.  My running nose and coughs were producing clear returns, so I was sure the penicillin was doing its job.

Suddenly, the coughing was so violent I hesitate to tell you what happened...but I will.  It involved coughing up a perfectly formed, soft-ball sized ball of green sticky gunk. If I would have had the wherewithall, I could have sold it for glue.  But suddently, I had relief from the choking.  I was scared!  What on earth was happening?  I have never had such a thing.  I started thinking that maybe I needed a stronger antibiotic, because things weren't looking good. 

I got dressed and took myself straight down to the RUH Emergency Department.  As usual, that place was a zoo...and not because it was really busy with people coming in.  They just seem chronically short of .....physicians? or what I just don't know.  Four hours later, I had another chest x-ray (now I REALLY glow in the dark) and was given a Ventolin Puffer which did seem to help.  The doctor there said the green gunk was from the irritation....not bacteria.  He went through all the things I should do, because I was on the right antibiotic and this he assured me was only a really bad virus.  The things he told me to do were to the letter what I described to you about five paragraphs above incidentally.  He was a nice guy, sympathetic and run off his feet.  I felt for him, just about as much as I felt for myself.

Sitting there in my little room in a chair at a bedside table in the dark, I had a birds eye view of the interactions of the staff and people coming in.  I began to get a glimpse of how Emerg runs....a place I have never worked as a nurse.  A guy came in asking for help.  He had cataract surgery a few days ago and was to take eye drops every few hours.  He had accidentally used something poisonous in his eye when he got up in the night in the dark.  All he was asking for was eyewash solution.  No way.  He had to register and go sit in the waiting room like everybody else.  I wondered if he ever did get the eye wash.  He asked at least twice if they wanted him to go blind and he had the offending poisonous bottle with him so they could read the first aid instructions.  Guess they don't practice first aid in emerg??  From what I could tell there was only one doctor looking after everybody, so it really made me wonder.  Given that I have acted as the first aid person at a post-secondary school and at a paper mill, I was astounded.  Now, I couldn't smell the guy's breath...maybe in actual fact he was totally blitzed...but, it didn't seem like it.

Back to my summer.  By this time, I have copped out on the wedding in Regina for the 7th of July, the one I was supposed to attend with my Mom.  Thank goodness my brother took her half way to Dafoe and my neice from Regina drove out to pick her up so she was able to get there.  Her 80th birthday party was looming for July 13 and I absolutely could not miss it.  Off I went, coughing and snorting, sweating and looking like something the cat dragged in.  Why is it that when I go to have family pictures....the one set we've taken in decades, I have to come off looking like a gargoyle?  This is not a word of a lie....the proofs have arrived and I look like a fish... complete with eyes on the side of my head, and gills.  My hair is absolutely glued to my head.  No amount of curling or hairspray would have helped, except to make it worse.  Believe me, I've tried.  Everyone else looked fabulous by the way.  There was absolutely no colour on earth I could wear that would help with my pale, ashen, and glistening, sweaty skin.  Multitudes commented on how awful I looked and they hoped I would soon get better.  What could I do but croak a thank you back at them.

I returned to the city to a doctor's appointment with my regular physician.  This was really about my quarterly bloodwork done the first week of June.  By this time, my neck was so sore, I asked to have it x-rayed because I decided it was worse pain than my T8 fracture, so it was probably broken too.  Lo and behold it is NOT broken.  Only full of arthritis with very narrowed spaces.  She could see no evidence of osteoporosis in my neck.  Hmmm....I had thought as much, but am still scheduled for a bone density test in about two months.  All my life, I could rival a young calf at a milk drinking contest.  I love the stuff.  I can't get enough of it.  I will be anxious to find out if I do indeed have osteoporosis.   Personally, I think the cause of the fracture is simple wear and tear.  I sit at a computer day after day.  I drive a vehicle..I crochet.  I have had multiple falls in my lifetime.  I would lay bets that I don't have osteoporosis because I am not a small, birdlike woman...I am a big girl...but then again, I've been wrong before.  If I do, the next step is to see a rheumatologist.  In the meantime, I will start physiotherapy.

Currently, I am working on day twenty-three where my voice is still affected and  I still have a cough.  My voice is returning little by little.  I sleep all night and am drinking protein drinks to help mend things.  My back is good one or two days and not so good the next.   I would say more good days than bad.  I am resting mostly but doing more little by little, so maybe that's why.  I am also overdue for an acupuncture treatment, but if you didn't know they cost $65.00 a pop.  They are really quite a unique experience and I would really recommend that you try it if you have never had the chance.

So the positives out of all this?  I've had two cute little brothers mowing my lawn all summer.  I had four ladies come today and clean my house from top to bottom and it smells so fresh in here.  Mom was thrilled with her birthday party.  We were all thrilled to see the many friends and relatives who turned out.  Some travelled a fairly long distance just to be there and in ill health.  The biggest thrill?  We finally, after all these years have a set of professionally done family photos and I think everyone couldn't be happier.  And guess what, I still have 27 days before I have to go back to work officially...Surely, I will be much better by then, ya think?

Little Things

Little things

Did you know that in the Chinese culture if your house numbers add up to 8 it's good luck, but not so good if the house is facing north?  Do you know you can get a coloured glass back splash for your kitchen made by a lady in Saskatoon?  Almost any colour, like turquoise or hot pink,but the nice one I saw was a caramel, taffy colour.  Do you know that a new hot water heater has what looks like a motor on the top of it? New houses nowadays have built-in sump pumps and you have no choice in the matter.  Good thing, because even in these new homes, the water table is high and you can hear it running.

Some builders will create door designs to your liking.  They take a plain wood door and set the computer and saw to make whatever designs you choose (basically straight lines, but it's your artistic ideas that count).  One way to personalize your space.  Do you know that some of the new houses may have several different ceiling heights?  A modified bilevel might have a huge entryway with 16' ceilings, then big, 6' wide steps leading into a living room with 9' and 10' ceilings and two levels of recessed lighting.  Do you know about steam showers where you can sauna first to open up your pores then soothe yourself with a shower after?  The controls are digital and light up the enclosure so that for all the world, the thing looks like a space ship.  Today's houses are truly unique.

Let's go back in time.  No such thing as a laminate floor...they had hardwoods and later something called battleship linoleum.  They had big, old rugs and rug beaters that you might see if you go to a museum like the Western Development Museum (WDM) in Saskatoon.  Old houses might have concrete basements without any cracks, dumb waiters (a type of elevator), three storeys with attics full of stored old antiques, verandahs, bamboo outdoor furniture, stained glass windows, beautiful, ornate woodwork and leather furniture.  Does any of that sound familiar today?  Absolutely!

Buildings used to get measured strictly by using a measuring tape....now there's this fancy laser measuring device you can buy at Home Depot or Princess Auto.  I like it :-).   You still want to have a 100' measuring tape and a nail to drive into the ground if you're measuring by yourself and don't have anybody around to hold the other end!  You used to have to pull out the paper map to find a place, but now you can check Google Maps, use your GPS device, or look at the app on your phone.

Did you know that some of the new thermostats are wireless and you can check them remotely?  Sellers and buyers are very sophisticated with technology nowadays...Remember, if you are a buyer, somebody could be recording everything you say to see what is being said about their house.  Babysitters, this also applies to you!

Crime mapping is something you can do to check the crimes in any neighbourhood.  Be sure to check  the city's website for such information.  In my city it's http://map.police.saskatoon.sk.ca

Do you know that the garage footprint cannot be bigger than the house?  This news may be of interest to some guys who would rather forego the big house in favor of a massive garage. No woman should ever hook up with this fellow who wants a teeny little house...so once again, let me say that in fact the garage footprint can only be 30%. :-)    Do you think a woman had something to do with this rule?  This gets you back men for being involved in the invention of high heels and pantihouse...I mean hose.

Have you experienced any random acts of kindness where somebody ahead of you in a line-up pays for your coffee and leaves their business card?  Nice idea to pay it forward, don't you think?

Remember at one time, basements could be dirt,  or plain wood cellars, or concrete.  Then the fad was for treated wood basements, but  that kind of wore off.  Now there are insulated concrete form basements where they pour concrete into insulated blocks.  Apparently, the R value is excellent!  The idea is a little more expensive but the payback is worth it.  A family won a million dollar lottery at our lake and built a brand, new two-storey year-round home/cabin with the insulated concrete...they could afford it.

Sellers, has it ever occurred to you that people might not want your gigantic big-screen TV and your massive deep freeze from sometime prior to the 1950's that both weigh as much as two buffalo's in a sack?  This may not be the gift you thought it was after all.

If your area doesn't have a back alley - remember you don't own about the last three meters up against the back fence.  So, don't build a structure there unless it's movable.  I mean you can, but it could be torn up because that part of the lot belongs to the city.

 

These are just a few of the tips I received from a great teach named Tim....and in some cases embellished...
 

The life of an educator

The life of an educator.

Thank God, the end of the academic year is almost here!  Let me count the days...under twenty to be exact.  I know that from the outside looking in, most of you will think the working life of those in post-secondary education is pretty slack.  Compared to the life of those of you working on the front line, it probably is.  For all of us though, working hard all year to make everybody succeed and to meet their needs, to support and encourage them, to role model for them, to teach, befriend, and take them under our wings (if they will let us...without smothering or creating dependence) is an all-consuming effort. It takes a team of like-minded, enthusiastic and knowledgeable instructors to deliver a program of excellence.  The responsibility is awesome and mentoring and socializing newcomers to the field of health care and nursing takes guts and energy like you can't imagine.   Our preceptors feel it when they take on a student for several weeks.   A preceptor is someone from the front line, such as a nurse.  The person works in the field and buddies up with a student who is on the verge of graduating from the same discipline.  The idea is to provide a transitioning period and to give the student a taste of the front line for real.  Even though the preceptor volunteers to do so year after year, they too know and understand how draining, yet fulfilling, the whole concept can be, so we absolutely identify with them. 

By this time of year then, in June, we are nothing if not bone tired. Yet we continue on.  We've already received the list of accepted applicants for next Fall and you would think that would weigh us down. Strangely enough, it does just the opposite.  We are excited again and chomping on the bit to get everyone jumped into the stream and pointed in the right direction...I guess it's because we must love what we do.  We know that without a continual influx of new graduates, into any field, the system would soon become shaky and possibly crumble.  We know that there have been more years than anyone would like to count when nurses and other health care workers  have foregone their breaks and holidays simply because there was not enough bodies to replace them.  This is the grain of truth that provides a somewhat grim reality.

This is the time of the year then when we are facing grad. Grad is a celebration of achievement and a time to give credit where credit is due.  It is a formalized time to bestow distinctions, usually for any one of the following, certificate, diploma, baccalaureate,  master's, or doctoral degree. Grad is a time for happiness, enthusiasm, and excitement.  Success is in the air for students and their families as much as for the program personnel who put them through their paces.  The idea abounds that a new world has opened for each student.  Where doors were previously closed they are suddenly flung wide open and the sky is the limit for opportunities.  Yet everybody is weary by grad, including the students.  On the one hand, the people involved in their training know what it's like to work in the real world.  We think to ourselves, "look what we've gotten them into... Real World 101!  Here they come, "ready or not".  Don't get me wrong, programs have rigorous standards and upon graduation, we are saying they are qualified to practice because they have passed every manner of testing we could reasonably throw at them.  Does that mean all graduates are created equal?  Of course not.  We all know of exceptional professionals in every field, but we also know of others  who are not quite so brilliant, not so likable, and not so reliable.  It has always been and always will be a facet of human nature, since human beings remain imperfect.

We understand what the new graduates will go through with their "graditis", after all, they've just learned the latest and most up-to-date, evidence-based information available.  Graditis or being a "know-it-all" is a condition that happened to all of us.  More seasoned professionals generally roll their eyes and bide their time until this phase passes.     Ironically, the leap is made.  From yesterday as students, to today as graduates, they now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their former trainers, teachers,and peers.  Suddenly as our new colleagues, they deserve our congratulations and respect.  We knew them only a short time and must say good-bye, but we will meet again somewhere along the line and hopefully it will be as part of their new capacity.   For now, we're off to bring forth the next group to help make sure there will always be enough of you, that new graduate who promises to forever sustain the system.
 

Trees, beavers and gardening

I was sent a forward from a friend not long ago that showed the most beautiful tree tunnels in the world.  Amazingly, many of them were made from the same trees as where I live.  :-)  Shortly after, as a I drove to work one morning, I realized the trees that canopy Spadina Crescent East between 33rd and Queen Street could rival any such spectacle in the world.  The old elms that line the street, just having budded out look pink with their blossoms overhead as you gaze upward to see the sun shining through.  I could slow down and drive at a snail's pace down that street every morning if there was nobody behind me.  You just pass the weir which is so enticing and then you enter into this tree-lined lane.  Every morning I have to fight myself not to stop and just stroll around taking pictures.  I could get so used to that.  See the photo on the right hand side?  That's somewhere in Brazil.  Well Saskatoon's is even nicer ;-).

A place of interest from my childhood is found if you drive about four miles north of Melfort and turn left off the highway (which is also west).  There you will find a very old road...It's a trail really  because the farmer whose field it is adjacent to seems to have disced it up, then cultivated it at certain points in time over the years.  I expect he had to due to flooding and a big drastic mess when somebody time after time with a 4x4 thought they could get through right after a rain.  You know those ruts...they are miserable to drive on when things dry up.  This old road too has a canopy of trees that envelope it just as you drive around a nice curve and just before you cross over a small, wooden bridge.  My grandparents always called it lover's lane and I expect that was for a reason.  The little bridge is an interesting place to hang around because of the wildlife.  Beavers generally build their big house somewhere along that little creek and they are usually hard at work trying to dam up the water somewhere.  This of course gets on the nerves of the local farmers at times and they tend to bring out the dynamite or the gun or both...at least my grandpa and some of the neighbours used to.  Poor beavers.

Have you ever seen a beaver's teeth?  If you haven't, honestly they are worth seeing.  If you can find the time, Google a picture.  Their teeth are massively long and extremely yellow.  I almost posted a picture that I found, but when I looked again, it was just too gross.  The poor things, if they don't keep gnawing on wood, their teeth will continue to grow.  These creatures are part of the rodent family and you can recognize the rodent features the minute you get up close.  I mean you don't want a close up when they're still alive and moving.  Their tails are broad and flat and actually the animals themselves can grow to the size of a small dog or larger given half a chance.  I've seen one up close that my brother trapped.  Although I felt very squeamish around him, it was a good experience..and there was no need to fear because he was stiff as a board and wasn't going anywhere..please use your imagination.  I understand even when they're still alive that they won't bother you if you don't bother them. I have never heard of a beaver who was aggressive.  One year when we arrived at the cabin, a few beavers had been busy all winter and mowed down almost every tree along both sides of the lake for probably over half a mile.  Little buggers!  Be that as it may, the Beaver is a part of our Canadian heritage and you will find a picture of it imprinted on the back of Canadian nickels, our five cent coin.  Oh, I thought I could upload a picture of a beaver on the back of a nickel, but it flopped....so you may have to find your own.

I'm amazed to see that the country leading the way this month in reading my blog is France of all places.  The blog keeps stats of the readership.  In the "for all time category" which is since I started writing  December 31, 2011, Canada is first with over 2,300, France surprizes me by being in second place with over 1,900.  The U.S. is third at over 500.  There are probably 10 or 12 countries showing up, with over 6,500 readers....so I remain in awe that somebody wants to read this stuff!  My most popular posting is "Singing the Praises of Christmas".  That seemed to whet the appetite of alot of people in alot of other countries.  They truly seem starved to know how we celebrate an age-old tradition in this part of the world. Who knew?

It's the middle of May and Spring is finally here.  Believe it or not, there are still traces of snow in places that don't get much sun.  I see the evidence of these little white patches across the river on it's banks every day.  It warmed up to 28 degrees celsius one day, but has stayed in the mid twenties for the most part.  At night, I don't think it's freezing any more but the ground still seems a little cool for planting.  Since May 24 is supposed to be when you have your vegetable garden planted, it seems risky to go ahead and plop things into the ground, even though the long weekend is here.  We get a holiday because all of Canada celebrates the British Queen's birthday.  It's called Victoria Day and we certainly look forward to the break.  May long is traditionally a time to open up cabins and for a few years became a weekend for youth to travel to lakes and campgrounds and party hard.  The vandalism and rowdiness got so out of hand that finally the authorities have clamped down and things are somewhat back to normal.

I know there are some die-hard gardeners who will be sure to plant their potatoes or have already done so...you see they are usually the smart ones.  I'm not quite done raking leaves yet and that could have been done weeks ago if the weather would have cooperated.  I won't be planting my bedding plants and flowers until the first week of June.   It's weird, I'm not done raking, yet the grass is growing like crazy and I definitely have to give the lawn it's first mowing soon.

The garage sales have started and they are a huge draw for people.  I should consider having one myself, but I have so many other things to catch up on its ridiculous.   Sleep being one of them, which I'm heading for right now.  Sweet dreams to all!

Ramp Up the Red Tape

Ramp Up the Red Tape

The beuracracy, the red tape, the pure b.s.  Everywhere you go these days it abounds, but try breaking into a thriving and lucrative, well-established industry and see what happens.  The number of announcements coming across the wire for newcomers to the business every week has me raising my eyebrows.  No wonder there is an air of "oh yeah, right" to a few of the first people I have had dealings with.   Now I know what my students go through.  It's old hat for those on the inside and they really don't seem to show alot of patience for newcomers who are expected to come onside and then leave like a revolving door.  Statistics say that apparently.  Although there have been at least a half dozen newcomers since I started, a couple half-day, but mandatory training sessions I was signed up for had the dates changed with no recourse for me.  Apparently, there was a lack of participants and only I could attend then.  Even though the new dates don't work for me whatsoever, that is of no consequence to anybody but me.  In fact, I am told if I don't comply, I will lose my new license.  As you can imagine, I am quite frustrated.  Even so, I can see where these agencies are coming from.  Organizations tend to circle the wagons and over-compensate because they have been burned once too often.  It's basically a sign of the times and what has gone on in the industry in the past.

I finished the course two years ago and now it's time to get going or start all over again.  So, aside from all the glitches and new deadlines I am hanging in there come hell or high water. I have had an electronic key that didn't work and had to leave a house unlocked.  I have been given directional signage that had the arrows pointing the wrong way.  I have had people say rude comments, that I have largely ignored.  I have had pretty much anything that could go wrong, go wrong.   My name tag was spelled wrong.  I just missed the cut-off date to have to do the yearly continuing competency class. So even though I just started March 13, I had to do the 2012-13 review.  Luckily,  I could do it online, but for some unknown reason the whole course refused to load and I had to get help to sort that out.  It was an interesting course and I had it completed not too long after (Did I say about eight hours?).  I couldn't figure out how to turn off one set of the lights at one of the ultra modern new homes after an open house.   It's the little things.  My day job in the last month has been busier than it's ever been and I was also asked to cover another portfolio at the same time if only for a short while I hope.

So what am I talking about?  As you may or may not know, I have always wanted to try my hand at real estate.  I'm telling everybody once they ask if I've left my day job, that this is my "freedom 65 plan", and no, I haven't left my day job at the moment.  I hope you get the irony of the freedom 65 statement. Not that long ago, people pushed for 'freedom 55'.  A year or so ago, there would be no joke to 65 at all, but now it's early retirement. Today,  it's not really a joke, because it's not really funny.  I'ts simply common knowledge that people will be working longer than 65.  I joke that I will have to work until I'm 95, but that's not a joke either, I'm serious. So I hope to be well established in real estate by the time I'm ready to retire from my nursing career.  I couldn't see making that leap after retirement and once I get stymied by a fixed income.  It's an expensive business and they say you can sometimes go the first six months without a sale.   Please friends, relatives and countrymen...lend me your ears.....don't let me go that long!  Surely somebody I know, knows somebody who is looking to buy or sell a home?  If not today, how about tomorrow?

Talking about bureaucracy.   After several decades in the workforce, I'm beginning to recognize patterns,   Back in the day....in the 70's sometime I guess, if you worked somewhere you did a whole lot of different jobs.  For instance, I had worked in an office in a small town and was the receptionist, the typist, the banker, the mail person, the bookkeeper, and everything.  Upon moving into the larger city, I discovered that now there was a single person doing each of these jobs in the same place.  Of course, it was a much bigger organization.   For instance, one person did all the mail, another was the receptionist etc.  Nowadays, almost four decades later, the breaking apart of the workload is much more pronounced. People complain because of "communication problems" in the workplace.  Well no wonder.  There are so many people making up all the links of the chain, so does anybody really know what anybody else does?  Especially if they're in a different department, in a different building, and in a different city than you.  When businesses increase in size and the population continues to grow, you can expect it to happen.

Speaking of an exploded population.  This reminds me of when I visited China in 1998.  The modernization differences between the city of Hong Kong and mainland China were very evident.  Hong Kong had just changed it's status - no longer under communist rule right around then.  I had arrived in Hong Kong after about a 14 hour flight to the oppressive heat and humidity of the airport.  I met a friend and overnighted in a fairly posh hotel. I thought I could handwash a few clothes and hang them to dry, but that would have taken a week if ever, so eventually wrung them out by hand and wrapped them in plastic bags wet as anything for transport.  Hong Kong was glitzy and rich with ultra expensive cars, a Hard Rock Cafe and a beautiful harbor.  It was with the times, but then we travelled by plane to the mainland  city of Hangzhou and that became another world...one living about twenty years in the past. We had flown on the Red Dragon (maybe Golden Dragon)....but some kind of Dragon Air.  (Maybe my memory is being influenced by some of the names of the Chinese restaurants in my own city!)  The colours alone...bright yellow and pink fortrel (I seem to remember, maybe it was red and white) is what the stewardesses had on with little pill box hats. Maybe my memory has been influenced by that movie with Gwyneth Paltrow....hmmm even if that was faulty...I do vividly recall being met by armed guards at the airport and wondering about the long rows of Mig fighter planes. No question about my memory of the words 'knee how' that mean hello as they are forever stamped into my brain.

Once on land, and after reaching our rural destination, we eventually travelled back to Hangzhou another weekend.  Walking into a big department store in a country under communist rule was quite the experience.    The number of salespeople in that place set me back.  They were young women who each wore a matching flourescent green polyester uniform.  They were nothing if not pleasant.  The merchandise was on shelves in short rows, interrupted with a spot for one of them to stand at either end.  In one row then, there might be eight or ten clerks ready to serve you.  There would be several rows so there would be no less than 50 people expected to spring forward and be available to help at the drop of a hat. (Maybe I'm exaggerating, but you get my drift).  I don't believe there was any sort of high pressure sale tactics going on, just big smiles.  It was inspiring how EVERBODY got put to work there.  I wondered if they had people on welfare and unemployment insurance in that country or not.  I wondered how that concept would fly on my side of the world.  The puzzling part was that with so many clerks available, I was not mobbed when I went to buy my one loaf of bread.  I was left totally alone.  Perhaps they are in such high numbers to act as watchdogs?  To curtail theft?  Who knows?  Is it just that they are given a job to do and do it, no questions asked?  A sort of, "this is my lot in life and that's it?"  At any rate, the place was a dry goods store by the looks of it with food, clothes, small appliances etc.  I remember all the different packaged foods like marshmallowy, pink glazed puffy cookies and that whitest of white bread... maybe made of rice. It tasted good. 

Well, speaking of food..You know the concept of decorating a place with aquariums?  You know all about having all sorts of exotic fish, plants, and other water creatures swimming in and out of sunken ships filled with gold and treasure chests ....all placed strategically around your home or office?  Even restaurant?  There used to be a beautiful one at the now demolished Venice House in Melfort.  As you entered and waited for a table, you could be entertained by watching all the beautiful varieties of fish swimming around or coming up to the glass to take a look at you.  There was one who looked exactly like Nemo and he and I were friends.  Well, at a restaurant in China we also saw aquariums, or better yet, glass fish tanks, some with water, some without.  There were plenty of tanks and they lined the walls.  Some held fish or other shellfish which seemed quite reasonable, but others held snakes, frogs, kittens and other small animals, apparently available to eat... Sheesh!  Yes, I did say kittens and no, I did not make friends with any of the things on the menu.  There was also a daily market in the rural community where you could buy fresh farm produce.  One of the vendors had dog meat for sale.  You've heard the rumours and yes, it's true.  Dogs tended to run at large and in packs in that little town, so if you went for a walk, you had better pick up one of the many large bamboo poles lying around, just to fend off the dogs.  Again, the Chinese joke (at least I thought it was a joke) that they eat anything that doesn't have "Boeing" written on it.

Enough about China, but just one more thing.  If you ever do go to Hangzhou, be sure to go to the Night Market...Haggling is expected and you are laughed at as stupid if you pay full price, so get with it.  Remeber also, that you are nobody if you don't have a trinket with a picture of Chairman Mao on it.  Have you ever been to Arizona in the winter?  It is wonderful, but that will be for another year and another story.  So many places to see...so many cultures to experience.

Back to the real world of today and speaking of the opposite of slotting into a time clock,  I have a pet peeve.  I've noticed a situation changing over time to the point that I think it is an issue.  In several workplaces, including mine are workers who seem to have lost the concept of taking breaks.  They just don't bother.  I tend to be one of the worst offenders even though I don't expect others to work that way.  Some do expect others around them to do what they do, but I don't think that's fair.  What happens is pretty soon everyone in the vicinity has no respect whatsoever for a time during the day to stop or the need to eat.  If you are in your office with the door slightly ajar, and God forbid, eating your lunch, you can expect to be fair game for anyone who has the need to talk to you.  You seem to have to physically remove yourself from the building to get time to yourself.  The other thing is working until all hours of the night because you have so much to do and deadlines looming.  I gave myself an ultimatum a few years ago that sixty hour work weeks were going to be a thing of the past, unless they were for my own business.  I have tried to keep that promise for the most part, but sometimes there's no choice.  If I can give you any advice, I would say that the work will always be there and you will never get to the bottom of it.  Even though you want to succeed and advance in your workplace, remember, you will only live your life once.  If you have a family at home waiting for you, please stop and think about getting some kind of balance into this realm.  You have evenings and weekends scheduled away from work for a reason.  Remember what that reason was.  Try to think about how things went historically.  People didn't get a weekend off and they worked from dawn to dusk and often much longer.  They had to claw their way to get and maintain a forty hour work week, so let's respect what was won for us by previous generations and not throw it away.

Speaking of chickens with their heads cut off, as you can see, this post is totally unfocused and jumping all over the place.  I will try to do better next time.  I want to say that suddenly this week, I have 45 readers from France.  How does this happen?  Do they all know each other or is it entirely random?  How did they happen to find my blog?  The same thing happened with a whole pile from Sweden.  Another time it was Russia and Latvia.  I get a number of posts from people who want me to check out their websites.  They ask me questions and I don't know whether to answer or not, because it could be a scam.  I would rather these anonymous commenters not clog the blog so to speak.  My answer to all these inquiries about how I do the blog and how I set it up is...happenstance.  There is no grand plan and no expert abilities here.  Just basic randomness...anybody can do it.  I hope one and all has a good Spring...that is if it ever gets here.  As I keep thinking to myself every morning and every night as I bump along the roads....holy pothole Batman...


 

Property for Sale? Need to Buy a House?

Property for Sale?  Need to Buy a House?

I need your help.  I'm about to launch myself into business as an independent contractor.  I'm working on a strategy and a marketing plan and a business plan and a GST number to name a few.  I took the education in 2010 and had two years to sign on.  Well the two years are up this Spring and I have to use it or lose it.  You're wondering what I studied?  Well, it was real estate.  Yes, I read and studied and poured over the books to pass Phase I and Phase II - Residential.  I got good marks by the way. I am awaiting a more current criminal record check to arrive and then presto,  off I will trot to the local real estate commission to pay for my license and a bevy of other fees.  That's about a week away.  Right after, I will have my second meeting with my designated broker and off I will go into the wild blue yonder, or is that into the wild blue sunset...either way, I'll be off. 

Recently, I've done a little search of real estate companies to see which one might work best for me.  It seems the best one to fit my needs and theirs is Royal LePage Varsity on 8th Street.  (They used to be Prudential Realty).  Their location couldn't get much better.  Can you believe that back in the 1970's I used to live one block away on 9th Street in a basement suite?  I could walk to the university where I was attending first year university.  Seems like I keep going back to things  and places from my past.  In those days, I also travelled by bus, and the bus stop was on the same block as the real estate office (which wasn't there yet).  I feel like I'm in a movie called "Back to the   8th Street Location".   I feel quite at home in the neighbourhood at the very least.  I see the book store on the corner of Clarence Avenue and 8th Street is still there.  There used to be a big restaurant on the opposite corner called "Tiffany's", if memory serves me.  At any rate, in the next block is the turn off to Tim's, so there is always a steady stream of traffic driving by, reading the sign, deciding if it's worth stopping in.  At least that's my initial impression of the premises.

I'm not sure how long I've wanted to get into the real estate business, but it's been for several decades.  I have always been fascinated with homes and as anybody who knows me or my family will understand, we all like to help people.  I know that when you buy a house, it's probably the most money the majority of us will ever spend at one time on one thing.  We all definitely want to get our money's worth.  You will want to choose a home that matches your family.  We all have needs, wants and desires, and it all comes down to making simple choices.  Make a list of what you want and try not to deviate from it.  That may change based on your mortgage limits, but it sure helps to look at the right properties to start with.   Better yet, start out with the banker and find out how much you can be pre-approved for.  It makes life so much easier than finding out after you make an offer that you can't swing the purchase price.    I have been involved in the buying and selling of a number of homes in my life and always find it exciting.  Over the course of several years, I have talked to a number of people in the business and honestly, they all seem to love it. I haven't met one who said they hated their job and didn't know why they stayed with it.  The concept of house and home is close to my heart, so I can't think working in the industry would be any different. 

I have honed my administrative skills over the years, and got exceptionally good with the Microsoft Office Suite having learned to type on a manual typewriter way back when.  I worked in banks, law offices and other offices with good training as a legal secretary.   I have owned my own retail business, and been involved in home-based businesses over the years when I was a stay-at-home Mom.  My educational training lead me to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and finally a Master's of Science in Nursing.  I have been in the helping profession as a nurse educator and manager for a number of years...I hesitate to say the exact number  lest you think me a dinosaur.  Let's just say I'm seasoned yet I look and feel very youthful. ;-)

Every person I have met lives somewhere.  Some because of life's good fortune live in off-the-charts homes.  Others may be just starting out and finding that with a growing family, their place has become too small.  Some always wanted to live on the riverbank with a river view.  There are millions of scenarios that has ordinary people just like you and I wanting to move to a new home. Maybe you're downsizing and trying out a condo.  I own one so can tell you what I know about the ins and outs of living in one, buying and selling one.  I also own a house, so have many experiences there.

Many are renting and would love to stop that and get into being a home owner.  People don't always know that a mortgage payment might be in the cards for them.  Further, they may not realize that a mortage payment could be even lower than paying rent!  As a young person, I was one of those.  I assumed I would never even qualify.  Not all people want to try to pretend to understand the red tape that goes with things like purchasing a home or paying income tax.  They shy away from it, because they don't know a realtor, a banker, an accountant, or a lawyer.  Someone like me can help you through the rough patches as you make one of the best decision of your life.  Buying a house is a great decision. In addition to what I have already studied, I will have excellent additional training available to me upon registering as an agent.  I will have the value of mentors and seasoned administrative people to double and triple check all of my transactions.  That's just the way this particular agency works.  As well, this real estate agency has it's own university training system and tried and true realtors for me to rub elbows with.  If you know me, you know that I work hard no matter what I do.  I hope you know that I will do everything in my power to earn your respect and your trust. My hope is that you will be exceptionally happy with your sale or your purchase.  If you're thinking of making a change, try me.

If you're someone who wants a brand new home, totally or partially finished, you should be able to look forward to shiny and squeaky clean, at least for awhile.  You may run into issues you might not have thought were a problem such as the mud that gets tramped into your house because it rained before the grass you planted even sprouted.   These new houses are usually all in the same boat, so you see every manner of boardwalk path thrown helter skelter on the ground leading from the sidewalk or driveway to the house.  If the place is completely done that's one thing.  If it's not, the more you can finish before moving in, the better.   Those baseboards might lay there waiting to be nailed on for months otherwise.

I have gone to countless open houses over the years.  I look for cracks in foundations, and basements for one.  I look for uniqueness and little exemplary finishing touches.  I have this super-douper sense of smell that has me noticing right away whether there's been water in the basement.  If I have a cold, this might backfire... I may not be an electrician, but I can tell whether the wiring looks like a dog's breakfast or not.  I've been in huge houses that had so many rooms, alcoves, closets and secret passageways that I almost got lost.   Remember when you're finishing basements or renovating that less is usually more.  Kids however do love these hideaways in the making of their forts, so that might be your family's thing.  If there's a closed-in deck outside at the back of the house, it might be the perfect place for a fort...especially if there's a dryer vented into it....that could make it a heated fort!  The only thing is that everything in it will be covered with a fine layer of lint over time.

In the 70's they used to have whole blocks of brand new homes for the public to walk through and admire.  Honestly, each house would be a colour scheme using one colour only.  Can you imagine one house that was entirely decorated in different shades of pink ?  Next door might be all yellow.  Then all purple.  It was certainly fabulous and extraordinary, but not necessarily permanently livable.  I vividly remember the last house I went to on one occasion which was nothing if not gorgeous in green.  Now don't get me wrong, green is one of my favorite colours (the other is purple).  After walking through an entire brand new two-storey house with every shade of green known to man, I was absolutey nauseated.  I couldn't believe a simple colour would make me sick to my stomach, but it really did!  That was the end of looking at open houses that night and I thought I could never have green walls in my own home ever again.  Not true, I have one vivid green wall in my kitchen, believe it or not.  One wall is okay, remember, less is more.

How is the landscaping and slope of the property? Hopefully away from the foundation, not towards it or caving in. How are the eaves?  Separated and springing away from the fascia?  Useless when it rains?  Totally plugged and in need of repair?  Is the property full of overgrown trees whose leaves and twigs constantly keep the eaves full and the downspouts plugged?  If you answer yes to any of these questions, like Ernie from Sesame Street, you may be the one out on the ladder in the middle of a rainstorm hoping not to get struck by lightning.  Remember trimming a tree you can do yourself, but if you're going to pay somebody, it will cost you.  Removal of mature trees can cost several thousand dollars.  They say poplar trees are one of the worst for roots that grow through the underground sewer pipes.  It is said that the amount of root system a tree has is as much as you see above ground.  In other words, they are everywhere!

Does the roof leak?  Are all the pipes on the roof tarred around the base?  Those brand new shingling jobs might not be as great as you thought if the roofers didn't do the fine tuning required.   Again, if water pours into your basement every time it rains, perhaps the chimney didn't get sealed properly when the new shingles were applied.  If you need a whole new roof (i.e. shingles), that could cost about $5,000 just for the front half.  Are the windows in need of replacement because the casings are rotten?  Has the plumbing under the kitchen sink been leaking so long it smells like mildew?  If so, it's probably because it is mildew.  If it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk...it's probably is a skunk.  How much does a new kitchen cost?  I don't know, but I would guess upwards of somewhere between $10,000 - $30,000, depending upon what you want.  I need one.  About two years ago, a new furnace, hot water heater, air conditioner and garage heater would have set you back about $12,000.

A new picture window can cost another couple of thousand dollars especially when you discover you need to replace the window coverings because they no longer match.  Exterior painting which includes heights if you're in a two-storey and mega scraping can also add up to several thousand dollars if you aren't careful.  I expect many people are physically capable of doing these kinds of jobs themselves, so that will save plenty of money.  Look at me, I did my deck one summer and my garage door last summer, all by myself.  Also, all these types of repairs can often be done over time, so that's usually why folks will opt to buy a fixer-upper because they're a little cheaper.  They say the average cost of a house these days in Saskatoon is around $330,000.  That's the average.

If you're the seller, I can team up with you to make your home "presentation ready", tailor-making it to reflect its beauty, but within reasonable limits, of course. We can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but we can certainly try.  We both know your home is like no other.  You are selling homeyness and comfort as much as love.  The buyer wants to fall in love with your house the same way you did.  They want to be excited and have ideas about how to keep on loving it.  You'll know you have captivated them when they start talking about whether their furniture will fit in this corner or that!  Oh joy!  Start to clap your hands then!  Our goal is to make yours the most sought after property on the market because you have worked to make it the most beautiful and welcoming space possible.  I know a few tricks (not all) to share with you that have worked for me and mine.  I can research other ideas too until we find an angle  (I'm dreaming now) that will take the buyer's breath away and have them lining up to make their offer. This is what we strive for!  In turn you can teach me what you know about home decorating and together it will be a thing of beauty!  :-)   I know you want to make the most profit possible, so let's do a proper assessment and don't overprice the place or it could sit like a stone for far too long and that is never a good thing.  Unlike God, neither you nor I can move mountains. 

Buyers who are met with a pleasing aroma for instance, are far more taken than if they're met with the smells of something rotten in the fridge!  Smell is everything.  You can never clean too much when showing your home.  If you can't get all the cleaning done before placing it on the market, just keep cleaning as often as possible and before you know it, the place will be spotless.  You also need to box up a whole pile of trinkets and personal things to make room to breathe.  You can store your treasures in whatever containers you like. It's just for the time being and they will wait for you to get them out again once you move into your new surroundings.  Think of it as getting one step ahead of the packing which will be a huge job!  If you can store the boxes or containers somewhere out of sight or in one corner, it looks better.  Off the property at your relative's or friend's place works too. 

While sorting through your stuff, try to have a pile to donate and definitely hold a garage sale.  You can sell bigger items for free on Kijiji or in the newspaper under classified ads.  Most radio stations have times to phone in with items for sale so keep your eyes peeled.  I know you love your pet, but if at all possible have them out of the house when the home is being viewed.  Your dog especially will do what it takes (like bark his head off) to protect his property when strangers walk right into his domain. 

Many people in rural communities have children leaving home to attend post-secondary educational institutions in Saskatoon.  Some families have kids spaced like stepping stones who go to school one after the other.  Like my family, first it was the son and his friends, then a year or so later, the daughter and her friends.  These families sometimes look into buying a house rather than paying rent.  Smart cookies.  If you are someone from any of the communities where I have lived in the past, (Melfort, Hudson Bay or Prince Albert)...let alone any other  community, please think of me as your connection in Saskatoon.  I will be set up with a new cell phone business number within the next week and would be most happy to hear from you.  Stay tuned.   In the meantime, you could inquire at the Royal LePage Varsity office, 1106 8th Street East and ask if Jean has started with them yet.  The phone number there is (306) 665-3600.

If you are someone who is moving to Saskatoon for a new career, I would love to show you around the city.  Over the years I have lived in Lawson Heights, College Park, Lakewood, Varsity View and Confederation Park. I have come to know many areas of the city quite well and am continually amazed at it's level of continual growth. If you are someone who is associated with one of the hospitals because of illness, think about purchasing a second home if the stay is going to be an extended one.  I can help and I know many families, including my own who have had to scramble to find suitable accommodations at a very stressful time. With the new children's hospital being built, God forbid, but this could be an important decision for you and your family to keep in mind one day.

You may not believe this but I have had recurring dreams about houses all  my life.  I have always pondered their significance and I guess that is the real reason I became interested in real estate in the first place.  I think someone has been trying to tell me something all these years and it's now that I am heeding their suggestion.  For the time being, I will not be retiring from my current job, but one day that too will be a dream I hope to fulfill.