This past weekend I had to work on Friday, but booked Monday and Tuesday off so that I had my usual four day long weekend. As we move into October I will be reducing my work hours to two days per week. In November it will be reduced further to one day per week. I figure I have about eighteen working days left before I am fully retired.
I headed out to Nordegg on Friday right after work. Shortly after I arrived, my friends Chris and Connie arrived from Calgary. After our hike on Saturday we made our way back to the cottage and put together a big barbecue. Margarit managed to drive out from Edmonton and made it out in time to have a late dinner with us. We stayed up visiting for a while on Saturday night and then on Sunday Morning put together a big brunch for the four of us. We headed out for a hike above the Nordegg townsite on Sunday afternoon. It was a very nice day, with the temperature getting up to about +15C and with mostly sunny skies.
After the hike we headed back to the cottage. Chris and Connie packed up their belongings and hit the road for Calgary. A short time later Margarit also headed for home. Unfortunately our girls are not self sufficient enough to get themselves to school during the week. I stayed out at the cottage for a couple of extra days to relax and catch up on a few chores.
On Monday I kept myself busy with a whole bunch of small projects. I routed and sanded a piece of hickory and then gave it several coats of lacquer. This will eventually become another shelf in the cottage. I also split and stacked a bunch more firewood. Then I loaded up a big pile of garbage and took it over to the dump. That proved a rather annoying experience. The local landfill has always been open on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, with the hours reduced a bit in winter. Arbitrarily, without letting people know, the County changed the hours. The landfill is now open Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, and the gate was locked when I arrived...!!! There were even two signs, one on either side of the gate, with the hours posted. But even the signs didn't seem to know what was going on as one had the new hours and the other had the old ones. Fortunately they now have a small man gate out front so I was able to get rid of all the stuff in my truck, but not without three trips walking back and forth for a hundred yards or so, to carry all the garbage in...!!!
By Tuesday I was beginning to dread the return to work. I lazed around the cottage all morning and had a leisurely breakfast. I puttered around on a few chores inside. Once again it was mild, but mostly cloudy and very breezy. I took down a couple of shelves that I had previously made. I need to relocate them to make room for some braces on the upper glass railing. This resulted in a little drywall damage that needed to be filled. Next time I'm out the filler will be fully dried and I will be able to repaint. I hope to be able to add the braces at the same time.
While I was sitting in the bay window having breakfast a big hawk landed on a tree in the yard. I hope he wasn't hoping to pick off any of the chipmunks that have been coming around! I managed to get one snap shot of him before he took off. Also got a shot of the wounded white tail doe. She was sporting a nasty wound, probably from a cougar, earlier in the year. She survived, and it has healed a lot, but still looks pretty nasty...!
I left the cottage at about 4:00 on Tuesday and got back to the city around 7:00. This time I took a different route home and followed a bunch of backroads and secondary highways. I found a cool old cemetery in Wetaskiwin County that I will need to return to at some point.
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