31st July 2008

More good news this week, Sue got a job and has started already. She is employed by South Eastman Health, the local health authority, as a homecare assistant. A job with good pay and benefits.
This was the second interview she had in 1 week and was more confident going into this one than the first, and it turns out to be a much better and more suitable job for her.
She has only got a few hours a week for now but will be able to build on that as time goes on.

27th July 2008

Sorry I don't have any photos for this posting but I forgot to bring my camera home with me and I don't have anything suitable on my pc.
On Saturday Sue, Craig and I started to tidy the garden up a little. We cut back some of the bushes and trees that were getting a bit out of hand and burned the garden rubbish as we went.
We went to Winnipeg in the evening with Chris, Sally, Jason & Jenn and had a delicious meal in a lovely Italian restaurant called "The Olive Garden".
Once fed and watered we were passing the casino and decided to take a look inside, a fantastic aquarium with marine fish, coral and a tunnel you walk through. It gives you a strange feeling to be walking through the tunnel and the fish swimming all around you.
Today was spent lazing around the house and catching some sun on the decking.

19th July 2008

Sue, Craig, Jacey and I met up with Chris, Sally and Scott today and went to "The Manitoba Stampede", http://www.manitobastampede.ca/, Manitoba's only professional rodeo. The weather stayed dry and hot for a great day watching the cowboys do the usual bronco riding with saddle and bareback, bull riding, steer wrestling and barrel racing for the cowgirls.
The mounties were there with their "Musical Ride", a fine display of precise timing and good horsemanship.

19th July

Yesterday was Hytek's golf day. We all finished work early, I was done on Thursday night again, and went to Quarry Oaks, http://www.quarryoaks.ca/ . This is quite an exclusive golf club east of Steinbach and I am sure Hytek pay a lot of money to book this for the day for its employees although I am not sure Quarry Oaks are very pleased when they see the state of the course.
The way it worked was we were put into groups of 4 and we all started at different holes on different courses and then played nine holes. There were over 200 employees there for the day and a great time was had by all.
Jason, Chris and I played 5 or 6 holes and then found racing the golf carts was much more fun. I have never laughed so much on a round of golf, we had the cars sliding round corners, throwing up sand from the wheels in the bunkers and jumping off teas. We came across another group who had decided it was so hot they stripped to their underwear and were swimming in one of the lakes. During one of our races we even bumped into one of our managers who was with a group of golfers taking it rather seriously, until we removed the key for their cart and hid it in the glove box. They even had drinks carts on the course for refreshments, and we needed them it was so hot. Hytek had provided everything needed for the day, even 2 drink vouchers and a gift for everyone taking part, I got a $25 gift card for walmart
In the evening a meal was provided for employees and spouses so we were much better behaved now our wives were there. There was door prizes in the evening and I won an ipod nano, nice prize.
We all went back to Chris and Sally's later and had a few games of pool, we didn't last long though. We were exhausted by the end of the day.

13th July 2008

I managed to land 1 pike on Sunday morning, the only fish caught that day. We didn't get any fishing done at all on Saturday because of the weather, it didn't stop blowing and raining for most of the day. We spent all of our time on Saturday eating, chatting and playing cards waiting for the weather to clear but still had a great time.

12th July 2008

Have a great 12th July. Remember King William and all that he gave us as a Nation.

To the glorious, pious and immortal memory of King William III, who saved us from rogues and roguery, slaves and slavery, knaves and knavery, from brass money and wooden shoes: and whoever denies this toast may he be slammed, crammed and jammed into the muzzle of the great gun of Athlone, and the gun fired into the Pope's belly, and the Pope into the devil's belly, and the devil into hell, and the door locked, and the key forever in an Orangeman's pocket.


If I had a penny
Do you know what I would do?
I would buy a rope
And hang the pope
And let King Billy through!

11th July 2008

Had another two nights away from home this week. I was parked outside the feed mill in Killarney, Mb on Tuesday night along with three other Hytek drivers. After having our meal I got back to the truck to find a couple of White tail deer feeding close by. Light was starting to fade but you can see their eyes shining in the gloom.
Had my full weeks work done by Thursday this week which now gives me a long weekend. Going away to a cabin at Moose Lake, Mb on Saturday and will be doing a bit of fishing with Jason, he is taking his boat with him.
Craig has now got himself a job at Safeway as a "Courtesy Clerk" and starts on Saturday. He will be collecting shopping carts, pricing goods, stacking shelves and helping load the groceries into peoples cars.

6th July 2008

Sue's weed, oops sorry I mean vegetable, garden is starting to come along nicely. We were very late in planting things this year and then when we did get around to it we had a lot of wind and rain but the veggies are starting to come through.
If you look at the comments on the previous posting you will see one left by Phil, montedarlo, who is another Brit trucker in Canada, see his blog here http://www.montedarlo.blogspot.com/ . Phils comment got me thinking about how much my life, and my families lives, have changed over the last 12 months since arriving in Canada. I have replied to his comment and I don't want to offend or upset anyone when I say this but since I came off long haul I have got a life back again. I have every weekend off and we are actually planing our weekends 3 or 4 weeks in advance now. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy long haul because I did and do miss it occasionally. I would go back to long haul too, if I had to, but we have so many friends now that we are doing things with, and planning things that it would be a tough decision to make.
Our weekends are now busier than my working week ;0). This weekend, on Friday we had Sally & Chris, Jason & Jenn here then Saturday we had a relaxing day on the decking and went to "The Village Green" in the evening for a meal with Jason & Jenn. Today the weather is a little mixed so we are keeping our options open, motocross in Grunthal and maybe baseball in Mitchell in the afternoon.

3rd July 2008

MORE GOOD NEWS

After a very slow start to the week at work and then all the excitement at gaining permanent residency yesterday it just keeps getting better. Gary received his passport request from Canadian Immigration today so in a couple of weeks time we will all have permanent resident status.

I collected a load of barley from a farm this morning, nothing unusual about that, but this farm had it's own grass landing strip and is currently very busy with small planes that are spraying crops for the farmers. I was in this farm for less than 1 hour and 3 planes took off to go about their business.

2nd July 2008

WE ARE NOW PERMANENT RESIDENTS OF CANADA

Today we got our passports back from Canadian Immigration along with our acceptance forms for permanent residency. To complete the whole process you need to leave Canada, return and then there is a little paperwork to finish off then they welcome you as permanent residents of Canada, staple the relevant paper in your passport, give you a little Canadian flag and wish you well.
Just waiting for Gary's passport requests which should be very soon.

1st July 2008

Yesterday was another very sad day, we had to say goodbye to my Mum & Dad all over again and believe me when I say it doesn't get any easier.
We have had a fantastic month with them and the time just went by so quick.
We got home from Winnipeg airport just as the phone was ringing, it was Jason & Jenn to see if we wanted to go for ice cream, I think they understood just how we were feeling at the time and to be honest we did need the company.
Mum & Dad are home safe now but the room is ready for whenever they want to come back.

30th June 2008

Saturday was a bad day for the weather, it rained really hard in the morning. We had planned to go to "Manitoba Highland Gathering" in Selkirk but it was too wet and windy so we went shopping in Winnipeg for the day.

Sunday was a much hotter and dry day. We started the day by going to see the parade in La Broquerie for "Saint Jean-Baptiste Day"

After that we came home and had a snack then went to watch a ball game in Mitchell. We were all getting a little too much sun by the end of the game so went home to cool down a little.

Later we went to "Kowloon Bay" in Steinbach for a Chinese meal. There was so much food none of us managed to finish it.

We had also been asked round to Sue & Marks, so went there straight from the restaurant.