 July 20th, 2008: The most beautiful of days! Clear skies, light winds, and moderate temperatures.
I went for a long walk this morning south to John Avant Park, by Kerr Road. The park takes up several blocks and encloses a small lake, which I presume looks after drainage for the area. After last night’s heavy rain, the grass was pretty soggy and the creek was running fast. When I got there, a man was loafing in a rubber dinghy; several people were jogging or walking around the outside. (above)
The park is bounded on the north and west by large and very attractive houses and yards, on the south by Kerr Road, and on the east by Kenderdine Road. It is well treed and landscaped and there are several places one can sit down and rest and enjoy it.
Our neighbourhood is about twenty years old, judging by the dates stamped on the city sidewalks. Houses range all the way from small bungalows to pretty elaborate places but they all have one thing in common – their owners take pride in their homes and a walk through the area is a joy.
 We picked up Lucille and made a cemetery tour to Edam and Glaslyn on Thursday.
Doreen’s older brother is buried at Edam and a couple of years ago, we had Lloyd make a grave marker out of Marbletex, a countertop material he was working with. We wanted to see how it weathered stuck out there in the sun and rain, and are glad to see it is just fine.
Doreen’s parents, and Lucille’s son and husband, are buried at Glaslyn and we like to stop in occasionally. The cemetery there is very sandy, so much so that they sometimes have trouble with graves caving in as they dig them. On the plus side, a wonderful assortment of wildflowers grow there,  among them the most beautiful deep blue violets.
We went to Little Loon Lake Regional Park, only about three miles from the cemetery, and checked it out. We have stayed there a couple of times, but a few years ago, before it was a regional park and when Doreen was a child, she learned to swim there. It is a small, narrow lake, a couple of miles long, and very deep. We took our kids there a few times when they were small too. It has a golf course and from the clubhouse, the greens looked superb.
Red Bulls seem to haunt me. On our way to Glaslyn, we stopped at the Red Bull at Radisson for coffee, and I took a picture of their noble beast. Next day, while having coffee at Reggie’s, a Red Bull car parked beside the café. Of course, I had to take a picture of it as well.
 That was some storm last night. The TV said there was over 50 mm. of rain at the airport, a funnel cloud at Dundurn, and a waterspout at Turtle Lake. Intersections in the city were flooded, and a few vehicles had to be pulled out when they stalled. Otherwise, I don’t know of any serious damage. Doreen’s petunias looked pretty sad for awhile, but they’ll perk up. It has been a week of almost daily thunder storms but not a lot of rain until last night.
Next time you go to pay your MasterCard bill, do yourself a favour and check it over carefully – especially for interest charges. Before we left on our Dakotas tour, I sent an early payment to MasterCard which I thought should be pretty close to the true balance. When we got back, we found that I had underpaid by $19.84. On our next bill, there was an interest charge of $52.86, which works out to an annual rate of about 4,000%. When I phoned about it, I was given a rigamarole about how the charges are explained on the back of the statement – I read it, and still don’t understand it. Apparently they reserve the right to charge interest on new charges if the balance is not paid in full. They charged $52.86 on the new purchases. That works out to 32.4% per annum and their posted rate is 18.5%. There is just no way of knowing if and how much they are hosing you. I was prepared to shred all our Mastercards and debit cards and change banks, but they agreed to reverse the interest charge. Did you ever wonder why all those credit card companies are so anxious to get your business?
Next week-end, we are going back to Little Loon Regional Park on an outing with the Sunseekers chapter of Good Sam Club. We won’t be back until Monday afternoon, so will be a day late getting my report sent out. Be patient, though – it will be along eventually. |
