All the best in 2025

Once a year I buy a bottle of Taylor Fladgate Forty Year Old Tawny Port and set it aside to crack open on the last day of the year. Great stuff.

I raise a glass to what was and what will be.

Cheers.

2024 Retrospective

There is one event that dominated my year. My life was changed forever. On February 16, 2024 someone drove over the centreline from the opposing lane on a secondary highway on my way home from work. Slowly recovering from that incident has been my year.

What to do with leftover turkey

Not all that long ago I lived in a town a little outside Calgary. The business I worked at was in a small commercial strip mall. We were the end unit, beside us was a small catering company. The caterer was a red seal chef originally from India. He usually had a very small buffet for take out items on a daily basis, about four items. I got hooked on his butter chicken. The bulk of his business was catering.

Where I worked the owners, three of them, all smoked and took smoke breaks in the back alley. I usually joined them, not because I smoked )as I never smoked a day in my life), but to get out of work for a few minutes. It was a good way to keep informed.

On an infrequent occasion our neighbour the caterer would join us in the alley. One of those times was just after Christmas. He came out and said that he over-ordered turkey for Christmas catering. He had no idea what to do with them all. I made an offhand comment suggesting he make turkey samosas. He kind of stopped, mulled it over in his mind and said to himself “turkey samosas” before disappearing into his shop. A few days later he dropped into our business and had us sample freshly cooked turkey samosas. They were damn good. I bought a bag of them to eat at home. He had his sandwich board out front advertising them and was sold out in no time. 

Personally I will eat turkey leftovers no matter what you do with them. Unless it is turkey a la king. That is just wrong.

Elevator Friday - Kinsey, Saskatchewan

Provided by Dale Redekopp.

We all know what this day is about

Merry Christmas everyone!

Joy to the World

Vince Guaraldi Trio - Linus And Lucy

I can do this now

I mentioned before that I can move the pedals on a stationary bike in a circle. Now I can do it for ten minutes in a reasonably fluid motion. Considering how mangled I was months ago this is a good development.

Elevator Friday - Provost, Alberta

Thank you once again to Dale Redekopp.

Big Ole House

Big ole two storey house on the edge of town.

The property is fenced and now home to some bulls (who were enjoying a freshly broken bale of hay). Breakfast in Robsart, Saskatchewan.

Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

B&B

Barn & Bales near Sunland, Alberta.

Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

Glenn Gould - Goldberg Variations

Windrows

Spotted aweeks ago near Ispas, Alberta.

These windrows of freshly cut hay will soon be baled into those big round bales that everyone loves.

Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

Elevator Friday - Val Marie, Saskatchewan

Thank you Dale Redekopp.

To sleep! Perchance to dream!

Ever since I got home from the hospital on September 11th the hardest thing for me has been to get a decent night of sleep. I could not get comfortable in any position. Lying on my left side I had to deal with my weaker left leg. On my right side I had problems trying to get comfortable due to my hip. A lot of times my knees bother me after a day of activity. I cannot seem to get myself to sleep flat on my back. When I did manage to drop off I was waking up from dreams of something trying to kill me which is disturbing. I am sure the dreams are accident related.

About a week ago I started to be able to sleep through the night. I was starting to be resigned to never sleeping well again. The last few mornings I feeling damn good when I wake up. I hope it continues.

Random sweet thoughts

I was browsing an Internet forum and a few posters were talking about buying candy when they were kids.

When I was a kid my family would visit family in rural Alberta on holidays and at one point we always had a stop at the general store. You would have a variety of stuff in jars or on shelves. Candy ranged from a few cents and up. A few cents would get you a piece of rock hard bubble gum. Kids had strong jaws in those days.

In the store you would head over to the candy rack. There was liquorice whips or pipes in jars. I bought the red ones, I never liked the black ones. Candy sticks in a few dozen flavours in jars. I always got sarsaparilla and root beer flavoured sticks. Dad liked jawbreakers so I get a few of those for him, they came in many sizes. I have not seen jawbreakers in years. You would look over the huge variety of stuff, grab your choices, and head up to the counter. There you would be rung up and your various treasures would end up in a paper sack keeping what you bought anonymous. You might trade some of your stash, you rarely wanted to share it.

As a kid this was an event.

Those were the days.

Elevator Friday

Farion Farms is located in the Vegreville area. This Alberta Pacific Grain Company elevator was moved from Dodds, Alberta. 

From Dale Redekopp.

Updates here! Get your updates!

Had a follow up with my surgeon today.

Great weather yesterday. Great weather forecast for tomorrow. We got a bit of a snowstorm today. My appointment was at eleven this morning. It snowed on the way to the University of Alberta area in Edmonton and on the way back it was snow and freezing rain. I took a cab. My driver on the way in was from Somalia. On the way back I had a different driver from Somalia. They must not mind the nasty weather here, both have been here for years. Both were cautious and drove well.

I had x-rays on both legs. My left femur has metal running almost the full length of the bone. My right femur has metal about half as long. My right tibia has metal. I got to the place half an hour early and they took me in right away. I was able to get on the x-ray table and move around for their various required poses easier than any time  in the past since the accident. After the x-ray session off to see the surgeon after a short wait. Short for the medical profession.

I was told the bone is solid. I will be still healing for a while. Recovery is looking to be eighteen months to two years. He reiterated that I sustained a lot of damage. My progress is where it should be.

Told him I was experiencing some nasty leg pain a few days ago. Waking up that day my legs felt like lead and it was a struggle to get moving. I was informed that there will be periods where I plateau, progress is not linear. Jogging will have to wait.

Spotted today at my doctor’s office

 

Canola

A couple of photos from a road trip through North Dakota last spring. 

A field of blooming canola always makes my day.

Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

Abandoned Alberta

I love abandoned structures with character. I was in the hospital and gave my friend Dale Redekopp the location of an old stone house in the Tofield, Alberta area as he was out on a day trip. I asked him to send me photos.

This was an actual house that a family occupied for years. I have been here before and the house is not very big. There was even an upstairs to this home.