Well, here we go again, trying to keep the old mind active and sharp (no comment girls!). Anyways, promised to start to bring you up to date so here goes, in a slightly different format:

January/08 - Yahoo! first full month of retirement - seemed a little strange not to have to get up and go into work, but soon got used to it lol. Unfortunately though, still had to get up early, not only because the internal time clock was still ticking away at the old hours, but also in order to drive my wife into work. Yes, that is right - she is working. I mean, after all, she has to keep me in the style I would like to become accustomed to (he he he - yah, right). Also, on a real good note, got my first work pension cheque the last day of the month - wow that was fast - I was told that it could be 6 - 8 weeks to get the first one, then everything would be deposited directly into the bank after that by the end of the month. Deposited the cheque in the bank and lo and behold, had my first CPP cheque in the account as well!!! Felt flush with money, but knew that I had to budget as the pensions would only come in once a month, instead of a paycheque every two weeks. Oh well, like the song says, "I will survive!".

Feb - April/08 - Snow, snow and more snow. And when it wasn't snowing, it was bloody cold! Was sure glad to see Spring arrive at last! Hmmm ...... wonder if I can afford to go south during the winter? I know, I know, Gail still has to get to work - that is what cabs are for, isn't it? I have a feeling that if I went south for the winter, I wouldn't have a place to come back to in the summer lol. Oh well, will have to tough it out I guess. We opened up the trailer the weekend of the 25th of April - looking forward to a nice summer of being there. With Gail being off during the week (temporary, as her shifts change every once in awhile), will be nice as won't have to put up with all the day-trippers over the weekend. Should be nice and quiet.

May - July/08 - Summer? What summer? We have had more rain so far this summer than I can remember, although one year it did rain every weekend - however, coming up from Toronto we put up with it, as it was almost a 2 hour drive back home and seemed a waste. Now we have the luxury that if the weather is crappy, we can be home in 15 minutes or so.

August/08 - Gail took 9 days of vacation and we went to the trailer - overall, the weather wasn't too bad, thank goodness. Would have been real upset if it had rained all the time, as she works hard and looked so forward to the time off at the trailer, although she said at the time that she would have been happy just being off, never mind being at the trailer.

September/08 - AGAIN with the crappy weather! What is up with Mother Nature?? I am beginning to think she has it in for those with trailers or tents - saw some people camping in tents in our transient section and really felt sorry for them, as the entire area was just drenched and the water was sitting on the ground - not draining like normal as the ground was completely saturated. Even the canals were up a good foot from where they would have normally been at this time of year.

October 6/08 - well, went over to the park today and paid the deposit for next year's camping. Hard to believe the season is over already and next Monday is Thanksgiving (that is the time for closeup at the park, although we can still get in for a couple of weeks after that). Doesn't seem like we had much of a summer or time at the trailer at all this year. Sure hope Mother Nature cooperates a little more next year, but time will tell I guess.

There were other things we did or went to during the summer, but I chose to not mention them, rather than bore you all to death with the information. This more or less brings you up to date with the first 9 months of retirement. Prior to me leaving work, had great plans to do several things - funny how things can change - didn't accomplish as much as I anticipated I would. Oh well, that is the beauty of retirement - I have all this time to be able to do what I want, when I want, as long as it is okay with the wife lol. Just noticed the time - better get something to eat before I waste away to a shadow of my former self lol. Until next time,

Grandpa out .........