Hi All,

We are having nice early fall weather. It gets very cool at night and into the low 20s during the day. Just right. The fall stars are bright, the Andramida galaxy is visible to the naked eye. I'm up a lot during the nights to tend to Tracy. As an old dog she is uncomfortable a lot and needs to wiz on short notice. She had me up on Tuesday night and we had the second best northern lights I've ever seen. They covered the whole northern half of the sky. They were a greenish white and so bright you could see them through our skylights. Outside they were brilliant.

I've been on a job site that is at least a bit interesting. The person that owns the company I work for also owns a ritzy camp ground / resort and they are extending the camping sites out into a flood plain of a raging mountain river. We have had to work along side the environment people as we build a dyke, as this is a spawning river. I spent almost a week creating a fish habitat winding through a small wooded area and connecting it into a small pond. Right now the rivers are at they’re lowest as the cooler days and nights have slowed down the snowmelt in the high country. That gives a short window for working around the rivers.

We picked up the freezer Sue bought, it had been on back order. So that meant another trip into Vancouver. I always get her to drive so I can gawk at the scenery. That drive along Howe Sound is always fresh and ever changing. The only time it's not is if it is foggy so you can't see the ocean and mountains. There was a huge bunch of kayaks in the sound, mush have been a hundred of them. I don't know if they were some sort of club on a tour of a gang bent on terrorizing other small boats. Maybe 'Satan's Kayaks'.

Had to order a new burner for our barbeque. The old one rusted out so it was like using a blowtorch to cook burgers. The up side was that it didn't take long to get the bbq hot, like about 10 seconds.

Sue has almost 3000 km on her car already. That will slow down a bit this coming week as she will park at the airport to fly to Regina, on her way to Swift Current. She heads out Sunday after noon, but she will be home Thursday evening with Friday off.

Even though Tracy is showing her age now, this clean air is doing both dogs good. There is more light in Yogi's eyes and bounce in both dogs than there has been in years. Yogi's hair is getting shinny and black again too. And his dandruff is clearing up. He still carries around his teddy bear, usually greeting me at the door with it when I get home from work.

I think the Manz's will be dropping in later this week. That will be nice. They can use our extra rooms when they are in the area.

the doug

PS to Carol = sometimes it feels like 29 years, sometimes like 92 year. Mostly, I don't think about it. And if Al would want to move out here, just get the kids to move as well, problem solved.