Talked to Dad just as he and Dorothy were headed into breakfast after finishing up hauling of load of bales. He's been keeping fairly busy and has the second truck on the road as of the beginning of August. Dorothy's kids have given her a new granddaughter, a healthy six pound girl named Nikita. We were laughing and talking about the possibility of all of us stepkids (kinda, sorta .. without legalities getting in the way) getting together and she said she'd always wanted to have 12 kids. Seems her mother had been one of a dozen kids and Dorothy had wanted that warmth and family around her as well. Can you imagine how many bedrooms .. and bathrooms .. the size a house would need to be in order to cope with that much sheer living?
Dad had just been paid for a government job he'd done earlier in the Spring when he helped with some .. I don't recall if it was groundwork or seeding ... at the agricultural research station where Dorothy works part time. They'd taken a couple of months to get him on payroll and he'd - just two days previous to our chat - received his paycheque. He said it was all zeroes. Must have taken the government at least five dollars to cut and mail that cheque for zeroes ... and no one questioned it. Tax dollars in action.
Next call was to Ralph and Debbie who I caught at a car show in Red Deer .. they were down to visit with the brothers as it turns out, so a mini-holiday was in the works. Ralph's had some tough luck with engines in his big Kenworth that cost him a great deal to repair. That, combined with the fact that he's covering for his employee who loves to mud bog on the weekends, keeps him from living the life of the idle almost rich. Hope things pick up up for ya, Ralph.
When I checked in on Jamie, he was in a good mood, but then that's pretty much normal setting for James. Kelly was outside working on Jamie's yard, so I got to have a good banter with both of them. George is considering putting some time in on a pipeline down in Empress. It's a 100(ish) day job, but Jamie's insisted on having long weekends off. We wandered off into chatting about the differences between Alberta's hard-driving agricultural work ethic as compared to BC's generally more laid back beach attitude. James says the difference is diminishing. Darren is working on his final push to get his welding ticket and Hugh, although having some time in the US studying sound engineering, is back at Kal Tire in Eckville working on saving more money for studies. I may have his area of studies a bit wrong .. it's something to do with sound and music.
Kelly's a happy camper too; he's sending me pictures of his house to show off since he's plenty proud of the work he's done there. Says the yards are looking quite nice as well, although he also reports that he's pulled down the trees around the house. Pictures, Kelly .. pictures! He says that our family friend, Hugh Leslie, is living in the house so someone is there to look after things while Kelly's away at camp. Trina has quit her job in Red Deer and moved to Ponoka. Kelly's thinking its time for a trip to Vegas or somewhere with his yearly travel companions, a couple of ladies from the area.
And there you have it ... half of a Christmas card update!
No comments:
Post a Comment