It’s been months since I added to the blog, and so much has happened……

At  the end of September, Andy had surgery for his hernia yet again- time# 3.  All seemed to go well, but the wound would not heal.  In late November, he started going to our local walk-in on a daily basis to get it cleaned and bandaged.  After talking to the surgeon and his family doctor, he was referred to the wound clinic on Marion street, and went there daily.  In  mid- January, this was switched to every second day.  In early February, the wound started bleeding, and Andy was hospitalized overnight.  He was released the next day but was re-admitted on the weekend for an additional surgery to remove the infected tissue.

 

  Once released he was back at the wound clinic for his daily bandage changes.  In the beginning I was calling the new hole a crater it was 9 cm across by 4 cm down and 4 cm deep. By early May it had finally closed up, and this chapter is over- or so we hope.

Other excitement:  Brian and Helen Vermeersch from Bancroft came for a visit in August, and Glen and Julie Cavers passed through Winnipeg twice, on their journey to BC and the Yukon in September.

Once again we hosted the McMorland Family Christmas party, and had about 35 people in attendance.

On February 7th , I turned the big 60, and was surprised by my husband with (  two cakes

and  a come and go party) as well as a  1 week trip to Vegas  on February 23^rd.   But there was an issue—Andy’s  latest surgery was on February 16^th– so he couldn’t come with me, and we couldn’t get the ticket and hotel refunded.  I made many phone calls trying to convince someone to come along, but no luck until the Friday the 21^st, when one of my co-workers, Anja Richter said yes.  We had a fabulous time, and walked over 100 km on the strip.  While in Vegas, Andy booked us another trip to Vegas in January of 2021, for the Meridian Cup (Curling). Hopefully we will get to go together this time.

Anja found some deals on tickets, and we were  continuously on the go, also took a trip to the Grand Canyon.

 

I only lost $15 on the slot machines, because that’s all the money I put into them.

Another really exciting event was that once I was 60, I was no longer going to be penalized on my pension, so  I put in my intention to retire, once I used up my vacation credits over the summer- I will be a retired person in early November.

Our summer plan was to take the boat down the St. Lawrence to the Maritimes, down the East coast to NYC and then back up the Hudson and NY canal system.  It was going to take about 3 months.  We had information to friends who had done the “ Down East Loop” last summer, and Andy started studying the routes.

However Covid-19 hit, and the world has become a different place.  Since March 17^th, I have been working mostly from home.  I was assigned the job of sample triage for the Grain Research Lab, so was going into work 2 or 3 times a week to deliver samples to the appropriate labs for testing, and scheduling my staff to come to perform analysis on critical samples related to the shipment of export grain cargoes.

Andy turned 70 this year but no party as it was early April-so it was just the two of us.

He embarked on a  couple of Covid projects while I was working at home- the first was to build this lighthouse which sits in front of our house.

 The fence between us and our neighbors needed to be replaced, so Andy hired his nephew Mike, to assist in this project.

Following that to keep with social distancing protocols, he decided to add a 6 foot addition on our back deck , and again had some help from Mike.

 

The addition has been used most Tuesday’s since, as our golf group comes back to our place for supper and drinks  after playing 9 holes.

My original last day of work was slated for June 5^th, but this got amended to June 26^th. So I am currently trying to finish up a bunch of tasks, clean up my office at the lab, clean up my office at home, as well as the rest of the house, weed the garden, and pack—not  a short list!  It has been raining alot lately so the garden is in good shape, and we should get out of Winnipeg before  the mosquitoes start hatching….

The Plan is to leave  early on June 27^th, and start the drive to Buckhorn. Arriving there late on the 28^th.  We will have a couple of technicians on the boat on the 29^th and 30^th, who will try to complete   upgrades that didn’t happen during the 2019 electronics debacle. ( Of course this was scheduled to happen in early June of 2020, but got delayed because of  Covid restrictions).  On the 29^th,to ensure social distancing we are driving  to drive to Kingston to pickup our new CQR which Andy ordered early this week as a father’s day present for himself.

We hope to leave Buckhorn  as soon as we get the green light that our electronics and compass are working as they  should.   We will take our time traveling through the 28 locks on the TSW to make it to Lake Ontario.  Some of the locks have restrictions on mooring, as the sites are under construction, but we will have lots of choice.  We have always rushed through this area, as I had a limited amount of vacation- but not this summer- our only restriction will be that the boat has to be back in Buckhorn before Thanksgiving as the locks close then.

So our summer boating plan is to be confined to Ontario canal systems and possibly  parts of Quebec and the St. Lawrence River- we’ll see where the water takes us–  dependent on Covid restrictions.

Here’s a view of what is keeping me sane (Thanks to Glen Cavers)…….

Will blog again, once we’re on the water……….