WE'ER OFF!

January has been a busy month and I do apologize for not updating my Blog in a while - I have lots of time now so we’ll see how it goes.

We left home this morning at 06:10 am, the weather is great and the trees are covered with frost in some areas and snow in others – post card scenery. The sun is shining, the temp is about -5, the roads are clear and dry, it sounds like it is going to be like this all the way to Buffalo. I hope I have everything looked after at home, the house sitter has been fully briefed and knows that Gadget is in charge and the bills are paid.

January was a busy month as I mentioned – most of our time was taken up with renovations to a rental house we own. In the past we hired someone to go in and do the work, this time we decided to do it ourselves, thus spending more money than we originally intended. By doing it ourselves we would see other things that should be done and the list got longer. We finally finished it last Wed. We also went to a local tanning salon 3 days a week and I joined at Fitness Group which meets twice a week. Wow – now I am ready for a holiday!


Events of January 19th were a big surprise – the staff of MSEMS held a Retirement Dinner and Party for me – about 60 people attended and many others sent cards, phone calls and best wishes. It was so nice to see Medics and various managers from departments within the DSSAB again. It was also great to see the many friends – some from the Emergency Health Care field over the years and others just friends because. A good time was had by all. I was honoured with several speeches – some humorous and others sentimental, gifts were plentiful and all was greatly appreciated. Wonderful memories! I was asked to give a speech – since I didn’t have notes to follow like everyone else it was a tacky one and quite emotional for me to say goodbye. I will be putting together an appropriate one and sending it out with my thank you cards when I return from vacation.

5:00 p.m.

We arrived at our hotel in Buffalo at 3:10 this afternoon; it was a good trip all the way. We are close to the airport and all the planes go over us – Allan is in 7th heaven, he can watch them and imagine where in the world they may be going.

Modern technology just amazes me – on the way here we had the cell phone, the GPS to give us specific directions and I was able to work on my Blog with my laptop. Here at the hotel I have internet access so I can do e-mails and post this to the Blog. While away we have digital cameras one for land and one for underwater, a camcorder and to keep in touch with the kids we have connected to yahoo messenger, plus we have a webcam and we signed up for telephone calls from our computer – we can call from Mexico at a cost of 1.9 cents per minute. I really have to give credit to my years with the DSSAB, they allowed me the experience of working with computers and various programs which increased my confidence in the field of technology and in turn gave me the courage to proceed further on my own. I am not a computer wizard by any chance – ask Sonny he will tell you I know just enough to be dangerous, but I believe one learns through mistakes. Besides his visits allow me to spend time with Sherri and Maekiylah, what more can I ask for??

I will close for today; we are going out for dinner – just where - we haven’t decided yet.

Bye for now,

Anne

January 18, 2008

One month into Retirement - WOW ITS GREAT!

Allan and I are finding this retirement is not hard to get used to, we are keeping busy - at what I'm not sure but the days seem to go by fast. The tenant moved out of our Walcot Street house so we have taken this opportunity to do some renovating, I am learning how to use a paint brush and roller and Allan is brushing up on his carpentry skills. We have someone coming in tomorrow to have a look at it, hopefully we have it rented before we leave for Mexico.

The weather has been quite stormy yesterday and today, it is nice to see the increase in snow, hopefully we will get more so the kids can get out on the snowmachines again this winter. They are trying to make a small ice rink in their yard, the recent mild spell was not an asset to them but that is all part of the experience in having an outdoor rink.

The 4th of Feb is fast approaching, that is the day we start out on our vacation. We fly out of Buffalo on the 5th to Cancun, Mexico; we are staying at the Cabanas in Puerto Morelos which is a small fishing village just 15 minutes from the Cancun Airport. We have rented an apartment with one bedroom, bathroom, small sitting room and kitchenette until the 20th.

If any of you are interested in where we are staying you can visit http://www.cancuncabanas.com/; you will find out a lot about the community by visiting http://www.catinmexico.blogspot.com/ and http://www.vivapuertomorelos.com/, when you go into this one there are several tabs you can click on - be sure to try the "New PM Forum" - it is full of questions and answers.

On the 20th of Feb we are leaving Cancun and flying to Brownsville, Texas where we will meet friends and stay with them on South Padre Island until Feb 27th at which time we fly back to Buffalo. Information on South Padre Island can be found at http://www.spichamber.com/; www.spadre.com and www.springbreak.sopadre.com.

Once back in Canada we will be stopping to visit relatives in Tara, Ontario then heading home. These are new found relatives, actually she found me this past summer while on vacation here on the Island. It turns our that our Great Grandfathers were brothers - now how amazing is that? I have done a great deal of research on my family tree in the past and hope to get back into it this year.



I am going to post highlights of our vacation to this blog throughout our vacation so you will have to keep checking to see what we are up to and where we are doing it.

I have added a short video to the beginning of todays update to bring a smile to your face today, I hope you enjoyed it.

Bye for now,

Dramatic Ice-Water Rescue in MANITOWANING BAY

Is anyone coming to get me? I'm getting cooooold.
The two boats caught in the ice
The Ice Water Rescue Team getting ready
Here they go

Those left on shore are responsible for the ropes attached
to each rescuer

The ice is so broken up they have to crawl on their bellies
this photo shows them resting.

They arrive at the boat and attach a rope to the boat

then get inside with the boater The people on shore are now pulling the rope to

bring the boat and men back to shore

The rescue was completed just as it was beginning to get dark

One afternoon last week at about 4 o'clock the local Fire Dept was notified - their assistance was required as a man was trapped in the ice in Manitowaning Bay with his boat. I can read your mind - I had the same question, "It is January so why would anyone be out in a boat on Manitowaning Bay this time of year?"

Well it seems this man was having trouble with his water line - because the water levels have been so low it has caused many of the private water lines to freeze; the mild weather and high winds also caused the ice to break up bringing more havoc. While he was working on the line the wind caught his 14 foot aluminum boat and took it out from shore, he borrowed a neighbours boat and went after it. Fortunately the neighbour stayed on shore and watched. Soon the drifting ice encircled the two boats causing the man to be trapped, the 9 hp motor was not able to move him. The neighbour put in the call for help, attending the scene were the local Fire Dept, the OPP and the Little Current Fire Dept. who have the training and proper gear for Ice Water Rescue.

The IWR Team did a fine job, the man and one boat was rescued and brought back to shore just as it was getting dark.

Welcome 2008!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR !"

- from our
Progressive Dinner Group.

This was our 19th year together and we celebrated it by having a 4 course Hillbilly Dinner and Brunch.

The evening started at 06:30 with appetizers - riblets, smoked salmon and stuffed mushrooms. The group then moved to the second house for the 2nd course which was Hillbilly Gumbo. Following this awesome dish we left town and drove to the 3rd couple's cottage where we had a delicious Hillbilly Stew (incredible), Baked Beans, Hashbrown Casserole, Biscuits and Corn Bread.

Stuffed to the ears we then moved to our camp for the 4th course, dessert. Our expert dessert cook baked for us a Hillbilly Pie and a Hillbilly Cake - to die for!

Everyone stayed the night, we were packed in like sardines; so close you could see the other's dreams. Bathroom parade started at about 5:00 a.m. - no togetherness here - everyone went separately. The inside door and storm door each have their own special shriek as they opened and closed. The quieter one tried to be, the louder and longer the shriek! Imagine this - for every person going to the bathroom each door squeaked twice - once out and once in, that is 4 times per person - now multiply that by 9. We all got settled by 06:00 for a couple more hours sleep before getting up for the day.

Hillbilly Brunch was served at 10:30, for this we had Sausage Gravy and Biscuits; Hash Brown Brunch Casserole; Chicken, Cheese and Grits Casserole; Mater Pie; Orange Juice and Coffee.

Lets say no one went home hungry.

Some stayed back for a hot tub before going home - Another great New Year's Party!






This is the outhouse at the first cottage, yes that is about 5 inches of snow on the seat. No one volunteered to be the first to warm up the seat. All bribes tried and failed!


Once Again-

" HAPPY NEW YEAR"

'T Was Another Wonderful Christmas

Our Christmas Party with the Grandchildren was a success, it consisted of games,lots of food, a craft (they all love to do crafts when they come to my house) This year we made Great Grandma's Christmas gift. The day ended with a sleepover.- all in all we had lots of fun.

This is the craft, we made fragrance sachet covers for Great Grandma's Christmas gift, the secret - they are quick, easy to make. The older kids helped the younger ones - it was great fun making them and she loved all 6.

The supplies and instructions are as follows:

Supplies needed:

• one face cloth for each cover
• one packaged fragrance sachet for each cover
• glue gun and glue sticks
• small items for decoration (flowers, insects, animals, etc.)

Instructions:

fold a face cloth in half as shown

the orange stripes and dot indicate areas to be glued; place glue along bottom and approximately 1/2 way up the open side; place a dot of glue on the top right corner of the face cloth then bring that corner over to the left side about half way down. The glued areas should be pressed with your fingers to ensure the glue has penetrated the material allowing it to stick. The children must be made aware of the glue's temperature, if it is hot an adult should do this part to prevent them from getting burned.

Place the sachet in the cover and fold the top half down toward the bottom, now attach your cover decorations - see how easy! I added a card on each with the photo of the Great Grandchild who made the cover and on the other side is written "Made By The Hands Of An Angel"

Dessert for dinner was "Cookie Pizza" the kids had great fun making this - if you haven't tasted one you don't know what you are missing. Nancy came up with this idea and it was a winner.

I have great respect for the "Pillsbury Dough Boy" - We used his chocolate chip cookie dough, flattened it out on a round pizza pan then covered the dough with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, smarties, jelly beans, M & M's and mini marshmallows which are added last. You can go crazy with imagination on this one . The kids all took part in adding the toppings - and sampling of course. Follow cooking temp and time as you would if your cooking the dough in cookies - do not overcook; the only thing that needs to be cooked is the dough. The marshmallows melt and brown nicely while helping to hold the toppings in place.

It was served cold but the next time I will try serving it warm with ice cream.

Christmas celebrations continued with Santa arriving at the Christmas Tree downtown on Christmas Eve. The children were excited to see him arrive on the Fire Truck accompanied by 5 Firefighters. He passed out bags of candy to all then he was quickly whisked away. The children were then treated to hot chocolate as they stood round the tree eating their candy and telling each other of their dreams for Christmas morning. Santa was taken back to the open field beside the Fire Hall where he untethered the reindeer and hurried on his way.

Allan and I spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day with family and friends - by the end we were as stuffed as the Christmas turkey!

" 'T Was A Wonderful Christmas!"

THE RETIREMENT HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED!

This is the Desk Top Photo at some of my the ambulance stations this week - The paramedics have all wished me the best in my retirement following 22 years of service, the last 9 of those years being their "Paramedic Manager". This photo was taken at a recent retirement party held for one of our Medics who retired after 28 years .

Today is a very special day for me:

• 2 days until a Staff Christmas Party
• 3 days until my 6 Grandchildren are here for our "Annual Christmas Party" - sounds like it is going to include a sleep over!
• 4 more work days before retirement, and I'm ready! I am looking forward to living the life of a "kept woman"after 33 years of full time work.

Sunday past 2 of the Grandchildren came by and decorated the Christmas Tree and several rooms in the house after church. Man, I have decorations in places I never had decorations before and lots of ornaments at the bottom of the tree. The kids were happy, they had lots of fun being in charge of decorating. Our visitors over the Christmas Season will be family and close firends who will share in our joy and celebration of the Christmas Season. Many will be envious of our status of "Grandparents" and look forward to the day when they can have their decorating done by "The Hands Of Angels"

Monday this week was the start of training my temporary replacement; John is a full time paramedic with our serive who has recently accepted the newly formed position of "Service Area Lead" for one of my 2 service areas. He later took the temporary position of "Acting Field Manager" until a permanent replacement is found which they hope to be in place by mid January. John is doing a great job - he is taking lots of notes and asking lots of questions. I am convinced he will adequately fill the position in the interim he also has great medics and administration staff to rely on for advise and support when needed.

This week is flying by quickly so 'till next time..Bye for now,

Anne