Endurance of the Move

Can't believe it's another Monday after the endurance trip of this weekend versus the island excursion. Still recovering from all that sitting in the vehicle.

We were up early on Sunday and on the road to pick up the baby daughter after her final summer night shift at 7 a.m. A quick stop in Halifax to pick up daughter # 2 and and off again. Good thing this offspring came equipped with snacks and lots of energy as the soon to be student crashed again and wasn't much entertainment. A major thunder and lightening storm with downpour most of the way to Fredericton and lots of wind which shredded the tarp covering the 1/2 ton bed full of Papa San chair, fridge and stacks of 'stuff' but they were mercifully intact and dry in the end. After convincing the Residence Life office that she deserved her super single (double for only one) it was a stiff workout of being pack mules as we schlepped the mountain of stuff up three floors (no elevator in older residences) to Room 312. Whew.

Back on the road again after a quick stop for fuel for the gas monster. We managed to get the crossword mostly completed as a group activity and stop for a viewing of Mom's family home along the way. Stopped back in the city to drop off a ton of exercise equipment to the object of baby daughter's affection and then out to find a place open for supper. After a couple of tries and picking up of daughter # 2s boyfriend who had given
up on a rainy guys weekend. Finally crashed and slept like the dead, it is nice to have a place for a pit stop.

Had a busy week last week which included emails and phone calls from the entertainment agency – I only say “I’ve had a call from my agent” in jest or when I want to impress- trying to convince me that I needed to do destination speaking on the Royal Caribbean, Explorer of the Seas (yes you read that right the one I was on last year) for a cruise out of New York to the Maritimes and on to Bermuda etc. Wow, was it ever tempting! Especially when the agent was telling me that I could piggyback the airfare with the jaunt on the Sea Princess etc. I begged off as the dates conflict with the accreditation surveyors visits to my workplace thus all vacation is NOT approved for that week. Sigh. I think the plan for next fall will be to wait until last minute as the last minute airfares are possible and perks increase with the desperation of the agent ex. this was ½ cost of the agency fee. So just compute for $32.50 per day you and a guest could experience the Explorer of the Seas and all it has to offer!

I’ve been trying to convince the in-house travel partner to look at a South American cruise for February but so far he’s insisting on being practical and talking about things like paying for the airfare etc. It looks like a real good chance as it’s a 12 day Chile around to Argentina cruise on the Star Princess with stops at glaciers, around Cape Horn, Falkland Islands, Uruguay and Buenos Aires. I wrote to our Argentine friend to see when she’ll be back in Argentina by Feb. so we can have a visit either pre or post cruise should we get to go and she tells me that they’ll be back from Germany in October but her husband has applied for another fellowship so….not sure what that means.

Upon returning home on Monday I made a house call to remove staples from the summer neighbours dog and managed to find and extract about 20 of them leaving just a few for the next round. He was very patient with me as a struggled to figure out which were the staples and the silver hairs on his well-healed incision. Slight difference in veterinary medicine care.

Had a call from the western daughter last p.m. who had been out to Lloydminster for the weekend to visit with some locals and had a good down east experience. One of the perks of working for a rental company is the ability to access the product for sure.

Managed to settle down last evening to work on the presentations a bit after getting the son and his girlfriend off to the island to camp. By the time I ran through the checklist of what he’d forgotten to pack – after he admitted to not having water I was understandably skeptical of his planning skills – while supplying the missing staples like milk and butter and his father was convinced to part with a tank of propane and the generator (the man deserves what befalls him) they were good to go when the girlfriend arrived from work at 7:30. The fact that they were heading over in a mossing punt in windy, rough waters at almost dark did not faze them in the least but left his father in pace mode until the cell call came to say they were all settled in. Better to think you are invincible.

The district facility awaits for what is scheduled as a full day. Sigh.