It’s the October long weekend … Thanksgiving in Canada, or Columbus Day in the U.S. … either way people have the Monday off work 😊 Here in Southern Ontario we’ve broken the weather heat records that have stood for 75 years … lots of warm weather, thunderstorms, flooding, etc. … and that’s just before what the meteorologists are predicting a very long and nasty winter, probably get snow in the next few weeks ☹And in the U.S. it’s Columbus Day … which a lot of people want to be renamed to ‘First People’s Day’ or ‘Native American Day’. Canada got the jump on the U.S. in that respect … we made September 30 ‘National Day of Truth and Reconciliation’. In Boston they are celebrating Columbus Day by running the 125th Boston Marathon … it’s been delayed since 2019 because of COVID. Strange having it in October, it’s usually run on Patriots Day weekend in April. I’ve run it four times … 1987, 1989 (P.B. 2:49:10), 1990, and 1993 😊 Too old to do that now though … I get winded taking Doug the Dog for a walk. … Half a mile down the road, turn around, go a mile the other way, turn around, and come home. Wave to the new cows across the road … the old ones ended up at the abattoir … new ones will be heading there in December ☹ … And we know this because we met the new neighbours over there … nice people … they came over last week and gave us a chicken (six pounds, cleaned and packaged) as a housewarming present 😊We’ve been living here in the new house for the last five weeks – slowly getting the place sorted out. Still a few things to get done inside … finish off the basement bathroom, put in some shelving for new closets, etc.. Cleaned up the property outside … Kelly and her sister have done a great job landscaping … I’ve got to play with new toys … hedge trimmer, weed wacker, chain saw(s), John Deer tractor … cleaning up the weeds, trimming trees (lots of trees, several over a hundred feet high 😊 ) sweeping up leaves … many, many leaves. We had the contractors build a new interior fence for Doug the Dog so that he can run around without a leash in the back yard … he loves it 😊 He also has learned to bark … never barked over the last year in London, but here won’t stop when someone new comes around – guess he’s getting his ‘Country Dog’ on 😊 We had a new roof put on last week … eight Amish roofers did the job in six hours!! New eaves troughs are being put on today … and the new patio extension will (hopefully) be completed this week. Lots of work … a fair bit of money … but it’s worth it. It’s so quiet and peaceful out here – with the exception of some major thunderstorms – that we don’t miss London at all 😊. Still getting used to the kitchen … pans and utensils, spices and food … are never where you expect them to be. However, slowly getting back into cooking different dishes … and I’ll be smoking that chicken today!! Hopefully I’ll be getting back into a regular routine of doing new recipes and writing up film / series reviews. On the Netflix front I gave up on watching – ‘Sin Senos Si Hay Paraiso’ – it was horrible and still had about 200 episodes to watch ☹ I watched the 3 seasons of ‘Narcos’ – I had tried a couple of years ago but didn’t like it – I wanted to see how it tied in with all the other cartel series I have watched … it was rather disappointing, and as it was really from a U.S. viewpoint, differed a lot from the Columbian view and a much of the story line was fictional and / or guesswork on the part of the writers ☹ I’m going to give myself a break from Spanish language series for a while … there’s some interesting Scandinavian shows on right now … ‘Post-Mortem’, ‘The Chestnut Man’ … that will get me back into listening to Norwegian and Danish 😊 On to golf … the PGA Tour has started up again … last weekend was the ‘Shriners Hospital for Children’ tournament … Sungae Im won easily, Canadian Adam Hadwin finished tied for sixth ($245K U.S.), 3 other Canadians (Connors (40th - $28K), Pendrith and Taylor tied for 47th , $18K) made the cut. ! NFL football is in it’s fifth week … my Seahawks played the Thursday night game … and Russell Wilson got injured … and will miss the next 4 – 8 weeks ☹ This will be the first time that he hasn’t started a game in his ten year career … 146 straight starts, the first quarterback to win 100 games in a 10 year period (week two this year, Peyton Manning won 100 in his 10th week). Geno Smith is the backup; hope he does a good job – NFL West is the toughest division this year 😊 In baseball Toronto Blue Jays almost made the post-season … in hockey the pre-season just finished … I’ll be cheering on the Seattle Kraken this year – after being a Maple Leafs fan for 50 odd years!! Sorry that this update was so late … hopefully will be able to get back on a weekly basis!! Got to go … smoke a chicken, ride around in the tractor picking up leaves, having fun with the chainsaw… have a great and safe week … we will see you in a bit!!