Post 4095 - Thursday Night Frolics

Well, hello there.

Sorry that I did not write on Wednesday. Turned in relatively early. 

Wednesday I scanned in the second scrap book containing dozens of articles about the long ago Halifax attorney. I knew he had a significant, albeit brief, career, but to see so many of his cases laid out before me like this really goes to show what kind of man he was. A fascinating look at the province's legal system from back in the day.

On Thursday afternoon, I scanned in notes regarding the victim's death and the person's autopsy report. These are legal-sized pages, and my scanner does not accommodate that size paper, so I had to improvise. Each page was scanned in twice. I got as much as I could the first time, adjusted the paper so the scanner could capture that section of the page, and scanned in the rest. I used the crop option to reduce the amount of redundant information. It took a while as you might imagine.

On Friday I will start to scan in the trial court transcript. It is 92 pages. I have decided to break it down into 25 page "chunks", using the method I described above. It will result in four PDF documents. I am being meticulous about this because once I return the documents and the scrapbooks, I will never see them again, as the owner was exceptionally kind to me in lending them to me in the first place but naturally wants them back.

The weekend is starting to shape up. Saturday may lead to a day trip. Friday we have a thing downtown. Sunday is a bit up in the air.

Next week we plan to go to the cottage and shut it down for the year.

I spent some time just now importing bookmarks from an old computer. I did not realize they were this old. Many of them are dead links, giving me 404 errors or pointing to a no-longer-existing website hijacked by someone willing to sell that domain to me. 

I am guessing there is a utility out there somewhere that can check all my bookmarks to see which ones are crap and delete them, but I don't know what it would be called or if it is worth the bother. These old bookmarks were ones I just wanted to have around if I needed to do some research of some kind. The ones that still work can be useful, but back in the day, I used to bookmark everything. I am not certain as to why.

It is nearly 2 in the morning. I want to get a relatively early start on the day, so I will call it an early morning.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4094 - Tuesday Night Fun Times

Well, hello there.

Sorry I haven't written the last few days. Been a little under the weather at night and turned in early. No excuse, though. You know I love you all.

On Saturday we went to the Valley for a day trip. Had lunch in Wolfville at the newest pub there, unless there is yet another newer pub there. It is the one that used to be the men's clothing store. That one. I can tell you that the crab cakes eggs benedict was much better than the meal we had there last year. We will go back.

We drove around a bit, ending up in Kentville to look at the pumpkin people. We took some back roads in the town and people still put them out on their front lawn, which is a gas. And then we went up a hill in the older part of town and kept going and going and going. They are building several new subdivisions up there, which I never knew about. Lovely homes in a part of town that needs them, but too many in the area cannot afford them at all. I guess so-called "affordable housing" is not on anybody's mind these days.

On Sunday I got a lovely email from someone who told me that the scrapbooks about her father had been returned to her, along with a court transcript featuring her father as a defence attorney. We were invited to go to her place to check them out. We went on Monday morning and had a lovely chat. She and her husband were kind enough to let us borrow all those materials. I spent about three hours Tuesday afternoon scanning in every page of one of those scrapbooks. Painstaking work; it is very easy to make a mistake and have the scanner miss something, or take a blurry "picture". I have a second such scrapbook to scan in. I will work on that on Wednesday. Then I will scan in the transcripts. 

These documents amount to a significant historical treasure trove of information that just landed in my lap by pure happenstance. She happened to read the issue of Frank that had the article about a cold case murder which mentioned her father, because he had defended the man accused of killing the victim. She decided to call my editor to comment about the piece and to correct an error that I had made (which I had made because a source I quoted was incorrect). I daresay that if I had not made that error she might not have called the magazine and set these actions in motion. 

I had speculated on the exact location of the place where the victim of the cold case had worked. I had four corners to work with. I knew two of them were something else so I could eliminate them. But I figured it was another corner. I now have a picture of the place where the victim worked all those years ago and believe I was wrong. It is the opposite corner of what I had thought. I think. Not perhaps worthy of a formal correction in the magazine, but something that bothers me nonetheless.

The lady I spoke with on Monday is convinced that the man accused of killing the victim was 100% not guilty. She bases that opinion on having read the transcript. I had already reached that conclusion so I look forward to reading it and having that opinion verified. Still means that the victim's murder has never been solved, but the wrong man did not get convicted of it, which should mean something to you.

I will come out and say right here and now that if your parent or uncle or whatever was a defence attorney in Nova Scotia back in the day and defended a person who was found not guilty, and the case has remained unsolved to the present day, please tell me about it. Especially if you happen to have articles or other documents to share with me. I will take tremendous care of them and return them to you in excellent condition. As well, I will share with you the digital copy that I make, at no charge to you at all. You get all your documents back intact, and a free digital copy of them to boot. 

Heck, if you happen to have any Nova Scotia related vintage newspaper articles featuring crime stories from years and years ago, I would like to see those as well. I will scan them in and return them to you along with that free digital copy I just mentioned.

Your best bet is to contact me via email right here. I guarantee your anonymity if you request it. Thank you. 

It is past one in the morning. I think I will turn in. Lots of scanning to do in the morning.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4093 - Friday Night Frolics

Hello again.

Sorry I didn't write on Thursday. Some stuff happened and things got away from me. But we did go for a nice walk in the evening, so there is that. 

On Friday, we also got out of the house and hit a couple of the thrift stores. I remember when the clothing at thrift stores was for people who did not make much money, and was priced accordingly. I cannot get past paying upwards of $15 for a shirt at Value Village, and even at the new Salvation Army store in Bedford, many shirts were $8 or $9. And they had no changing room, so you had to hope that they fit, because while they have a return policy, it is a crappy one, and time limited. I did not buy anything at the Sally Ann, but did find an Alpine Beer drinking stein for two dollars at the Value Village and got that. I did not buy any shirts at VV, either.

We ended up driving over to Bibles for Missions in Lower Sackville. The shirts I looked at were all $5 each. I ended up getting two of them, and because it was red tag day, and there were red price tags on those two shirts, I got them for 25% off, which made me very happy. I got two nice shirts for $8.53, taxes in. I wish they had been a couple of dollars cheaper yet again, but such is life.

I have promised Patricia to cull my shirt collection in the coming weeks. The shirt I am wearing, from Kirkland/Costco, I have had for quite a few years. The collar is becoming frayed, and so are the cuffs. It is a very comfy shirt and I will miss it, but the time is coming for its downgrade. I will strip off all the buttons and put them in a jar. I will cut up the shirt and use the strips for rags until such time as the rags are worn out, at which time I will throw the pieces into the trash. You understand.

There is a thrift store in the Valley that we may go to soon. They have periodic special days when an article of clothing is no more than a dollar. I can only imagine how hectic the store is on those days. 

I know that people think I am a lousy cheap little so and so for doing this, shopping at thrift stores. I did it when I was working and pulling in a good salary. It bothers me on a fundamental level to pay full price for things like shirts, when there are many thrift stores nearby that have perfectly good shirts for significantly less. 

I have purchased used clothing that I can find, but seldom purchased used shoes, and men typically wear their shoes down to a nub. When I need a new printer, I get it for as cheap as I an from a place like Value Village. I got a laser printer last year for five dollars, and it works great. Even has built in WIFI. I also acquired a Brother laser printer for ten dollars a few months ago. Just waiting for my Samsung laser printer to die so I can put it in to action. I got that in 2012 for $40, and it just keeps working.

Ditto for when I need a scanner. I favour the Canon Lide series, which get their power from a computer's usb port.  The earlier ones in the series can be readily had for under ten dollars and "just work" out of the box when you run an OS like Linux Mint or Ubuntu. Maybe not the fastest scanner in the world, but I don't use a scanner that frequently and am not in that big a rush. 

I also buy used computers. I have ranted about the word "refurbished" before, but when you buy a used computer from a reputable dealer, you are in theory buying a good machine from someone whose reputation would be besmirched if they sold someone a crappy machine. In theory. I have been burned by one dealer in the Valley, and I will never give him my business again. 

I got this Dell All-In-One this Spring and I love it. Built-in speakers and webcam. More usb ports than I really need, but I use them anyway. A legacy ps/2 port, so this wonderful 1989 vintage Model M keyboard I picked up a few years ago for fifty cents at a thrift store makes typing on this computer a joy. I know if I were still working it may not do the trick; but I am retired from that job and this machine is perfectly good for what I need it for. Plus, I can hook up an external monitor to it, and do. The monitor and cable were already here and cost me nothing to hook up. It is just grand. 

In the morning we have some plans. I am just not sure if we will do them or not. Remains to be seen. 

I will tell you about them tomorrow.

See you then.

Bevboy

 

 

Post 4092 - Wednesday Evening Things

Hello again.

Another day of sleeping in. Another day of doing very little. It is becoming a bad habit.

I did get an email from a potential lead to a potential follow up to a story from some time ago. I hope to hear from this person again, soon.

The article that was posted on the Frank website has already yielded a comment from a reader that may itself lead to a follow up piece. 

And I have two other articles I need to write in the coming days and send off to my editor. One of them will be quite brief as the trail is as cold as they come, and I have not seen an update in many a year. Just the same police updates from time to time. It is these cases which give me the most pause. I can add very little to what has already been written. I can just go back to the original articles and get a picture of the victim or look online and perhaps find some clues that way. Otherwise, there is little to report. This kind of thing happens more frequently than I would like. 

I see where the province today announced that the rent cap will be limited to 2% through the end of 2023. I am of two minds on this. While having a place to live is a human right, full stop, living in any particular location is not. I believe that most landlords are not greedy, avaricious money hounds bent on making a buck at any cost. They have to pay upkeep on a property, plus insurance and property taxes and maintenance and even some utilities. Likely even a mortgage. By the time they pay those costs, what little is left over, is fully taxable, leaving even less profit.

And if the landlord/owner does not live nearby, they have to hire a property manager, who does not work for free. 

I am sure I am leaving out some things. 

If the landlord spends a significant amount of money to upgrade a property, it may take years for them to recoup all those costs and make a profit again. 

I do not see where this is a relationship suffused with unholy profit, especially if the person only owns a few rental units. If they own many rental units, yes, I can see how they can make some good money. But what is wrong with making some money? They are not running a charity.

But if I were still renting, I am sure I would feel differently and be very grateful that the provincial government has decided to extend this rental cap. I just hope that before the end of 2023, that the government can convince developers to construct lots of new housing. Where that housing will go, I have no idea, as the city is starting to fill up. 

It is a difficult conundrum to say the least.

Which gets back to me saying that we will be happy to sell Casa Bevboy here in the city and live somewhere else if someone will but sell us a place we can afford and which has certain amenities that we both need and want. It is a short list, but a firm one. Two bathrooms. Roof in good shape. Doors and windows of a recent vintage. A good back deck. Enough of a back yard for Patricia to go nuts with a garden. Relatively close to a grocery store and a few other places. A few other things I cannot remember right now. Help us find a place like that, and we are outta here.

I think I will turn in. Pushing one in the morning and we really do want to do a day trip on Thursday.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

 

Post 4091 - Tuesday Night Things of Note

 Hello again.

This will be another brief post. We want to hit the road comparatively early in the morning for a day trip. Because we did not to anywhere on Tuesday.

We watched a bunch of stuff on the PVR, including a film shot in Nova Scotia 25 years ago, "Two if by Sea". It starred Denis Leary and Sandra Bullock. Leary had top billing and helped write what I will charitably call the script, and even had a role in producing. He always plays smarmy a-holes. We think it is because he likely is a smarmy a-hole in real life.

It is one of those movies full of unsympathetic characters who try to charm you into liking them, but if you knew such a person in real life you would avoid them at all costs. Leary and Bullock are thieves who stole a rare painting and have to meet up with someone to be paid for the theft. And then the hijinks ensue. 

It was a bit of fun to see the Nova Scotia represented in the film as it was 25 years ago. We recognized a few places here and there.

We will never see this piece of junk again. Leary and Bullock likely will not suggest that their fans check it out, either.

Much more satisfying was this week's episode of "Moonshine", which gets better every week. I am not keeping score, but episode eight must be coming up soon, which would be the season ender. They are either done filming season two, or will be done soon. I am guessing it will run sometime in 2022. No word yet on a season three. Fingers crossed. I hope the show runs for years and years.

It is pushing one in the morning. I think I will turn in so I can get up early so we can hit the road.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4090 - Monday Night Fun Times

After two am. Technically Tuesday.

Slept in yet again on Monday. Getting to be a bad habit, but once again, I think about the decades I got up early to go off to school, or university, or to a job. I am justifying this part of my life, for however much longer I do it. 

We watched a bunch of stuff on the PVR. This week's "American Rust", "Chappelwaite", "Dr. Death", "The Rookie", "Jann", "Bob Hearts Abishola", "Jeopardy!", and maybe even some other stuff.

The chicken thighs Patricia cooked last week were shredded, and put in a frying pan along with pasta sauce and black olives and red peppers and garlic and other things, and heated up to a nice consistency. There is plenty for lunch tomorrow, and I hope that will be that with that.

Tuesday I will likely contact that person I was tipped off to about that thing. We may also do a day trip. Haven't done one for a bit, and getting out of the house will be good for both of us.

I think I will turn in.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4089 - Sunday Night Things

Hello again.

We spent many hours today watching all episodes of "Squid Game". It is in Korean, with English subtitles, which are in white text and often on a white background, making them very hard to read; but it was a terrific show. We both heartily recommend it.

Other than that, it was a very quiet day around here. I like quiet days. 

Monday is technically here now. I am not sure what plans we have in store, but something or other will pop up.

Eyes are a bit buggy this evening. Things are a bit blurry, so I will turn in and see how things are in the morning.

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 4088 - Saturday Night Things

 Hello again.

Another quiet day. We went into Bayer's Lake to hang out at Chapters, but did not buy anything, which is unusual to say the least. Perhaps we did not buy anything because we visited a couple of those "Little Small Libraries" in the area and picked up a few books. Like I don't already have enough books.

Checked out Mission Mart for the first time in several months. Patricia got a cashmere-based top, which she would like to wear with a pashmina (also cashmere-based, as you know) whilst reading a book and sipping tea in her favourite chair in the living room. I bought nothing.

We went to Sobeys on the way home, and picked up some food. We also got some TP, as we hear that people are hoarding it again, and we do not want to run out, as we do not have a bidet here at Casa Bevboy. 

We spent the last several hours watching stuff on the PVR, and about half of this week's SNL. When the musical performer came on, we turned off the show as it was the live broadcast and we could not fast forward through it. 

The weekend is half over. What fun things await us on Sunday?

Let's find out.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4087 - Friday Night Fun Times

 Hello again.

Sorry I haven't written for a few days. Turned in early. A couple of days, I did so much running around that I was plumb tuckered out.

First of all, we were in downtown Halifax four times this week, twice on Thursday. Patricia had an appointment on Wednesday, so I bummed around while she was at it. Marvelled at all the new buildings going up, and wondered how people would be able to afford to live in any of them. Thursday, she had a follow up appointment so I went to the archives all morning, and found some things of interest. 

We came home and returned Thursday evening to attend a sort-of wake for a friend to the city, and former colleague of Patricia's. He was a man I knew casually. Robert Devet made his mark after retirement, starting the Nova Scotia Advocate, an online journal discussing the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. He continued this work until his sudden and unexpected death a couple of weeks ago. There must have been a couple of hundred people there, all saying nice things about him; but nobody spoke up for his work as a civil servant, which was also exemplary. The true measure of the man is known to nobody who spoke on Thursday night, and that is a shame.

Afterward, we had some noodles at Star Anise on Barrington Street before returning home yet again.

Friday, Patricia had another appointment, the third this week if my math is correct. I researched some things at the library. Ran in to an old friend from Toastmasters. Patricia and I walked around the downtown and South end, winding up at the former Morris East on Morris Street, recently bought out by the man who owns the Burrito Jax store on Blowers Street, and which has a new name. We had a couple of terrific wood-fired pizzas, eating every scrap, before returning to the car and driving home.

We had a quiet evening. Watched some stuff on the PVR. Also watched that much-maligned Dave Chapelle Netflix special. If the people who have been complaining about it had not complained about it as much as they have, I would not have watched it at all. But now I have, and I am not sure what they are complaining about. 

I have been messing around with the little template I use to record information at the Archives and library.  I think I have it looking the way I want to. Not that you care.

At the mid-afternoon lunch/dinner on Friday afternoon, I took a call from my editor. He had just received a call from someone who wanted to speak to him about one of my recent articles about a very old cold case. I will follow up with her next week. She may have enough information to justify another article on the case, or perhaps I can do a feature about her father, who had a brief but significant legal career in this city back in the day. I am excited by this opportunity.

I scribbled my editor's information on a scrap of paper, but decided this evening to formalize this process a bit and started a "leads" document for potential follow ups with people who contact me. I even created a "leads" subfolder on my Dropbox to keep that document in. I am not perfect and have likely lost track of a few such leads over the years because I misplaced the paper I had written something on. This new process will eliminate this problem. I hope. 

Yes. I am anal, and constantly think of ways to try to improve whatever process I am working on. Part of my training over the past nearly 40 years. 

We have been out quite a bit in the last few days, and now the weekend is here, and we may head out yet again. 

People have been writing me to ask how I am doing. I am fine, I think. A lot on my mind these days. Some of those things on my mind, are things I should not have on my mind, which is why I am glad to have been so busy this week.

It is nearly 1:30 in the morning. I think I will turn in.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

 

 

Post 4086 - Monday NIght Things

Well, hello there, young fella.

I had another quiet day. Instead of going to check out the pumpkin people this weekend, we kept the car in the driveway and did not go anywhere. 

It is the end of another Thanksgiving weekend, the second since I retired. Back in the old days, I would be in bed by now, hoping to get some sleep so I could return to work in the morning. Since then, my schedule has gone crazy and my sleep apnea was diagnosed and I have been using a CPAP machine to address the problem, which throws off my sleep pattern, so I am not sure if I could go back to work full time any more. Or whether I want to. Or what I would do if I did want to go back to work. 

Sigh.

I think I need a bit more structure in my life. I can only spend so much time staining a back deck and mowing the lawn and doing stuff around the house. Do I volunteer? Take a part time job? 

Suggestions are always welcome.

I think I will turn in. One ayem here.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4085 - Sunday Night Thingies

Well, hello there.

How was your day?

I did... very little, actually. Slept in. Watched stuff on the pvr most of the day.

It is the Thanksgiving weekend. We should all be grateful for something. Let's see here. I have most of my health. I live in a house whose mortgage is just a few years away from being paid off. I don't have to worry about where the next meal is coming from. 

I can sleep in if I want to. I can write about cold cases as much or as little as I want to. 

I will be appearing in a feature documentary series whenever Covid-19 improves enough for the film to be released. 

There is a good-working car in the driveway. 

I could have things far worse. 

So, let's overlook the crappy things and focus on the good things, like the above, and some other items.

I think I will turn in. Past one in the morning.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4084 - Saturday Night Things

Hello there.

A day spent doing not much. I did go out in the afternoon and used the last of the semi-transparent stain on the parts of the back deck that I had missed. I think I used every last drop of the stuff, applying the last few drops on the raised beam that we store plants and things on. It should be dry by Sunday morning, or maybe yet a bit sticky. Will know in the morning.

As I stated before, I have reached the point in my life where I am concerned about the colour, amount, and even texture of the preservatives I use to keep my back deck, front veranda, and side steps, looking pretty and functional. 

We have discussed seeing some pumpkin people in the Valley on Sunday. It started in the Kentville area the better part of 20 years ago. The main public areas of the town are dotted with these creatures, stuffed with straw or hay, and with a pumpkin for a head. But I remember driving around some of the side streets in Kentville and seeing these things on people's lawns. If we go down there tomorrow, we will do that as well, I think.

Or maybe we will just stay put. Not sure yet.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

 

Post 4083 - Friday Night Things. And Don't Forget The Lobster!

 Well, hello there.

We had a good day.

We went to the Shore Club for the lobster dinner, arriving shortly after five pm. It was a nice experience. I am not sure why we waited so long to go. I guess I got it in my head that it was a ritzy place, too "fancy" for one such as myself. Perhaps that was the case when it opened in the 1930's, and remained a perception for several decades. But by now, it is a place where common folk with a little money in their pockets take their sweeties to dinner. And, if they want to, they hang around to attend the live music, assuming they pay a little extra. 

 

 

The first picture is my dinner. The second, Patricia's. We both got the large lobster with the small steak, the surf and turf. Started off with a pound of mussels and some salad and rolls. Ended with a couple of good desserts. 

Say, I have been telling you about how much we like the new show on CBC, "Moonshine". They have been broadcasting season one, but they have been filming season two. Turns out that one of the stars just finished her scenes for season two on Thursday. She and her hubby celebrated by going out to dinner at the Shore Club, and sat at the table next to us. As her character, she spends a lot of time at the Shore Club, so it seems kismet somehow. 

Her name is Emma Hunter, and she steals every scene she is in. And she agreed to pose for a couple of pictures with Patricia. Here they are:

Emma has a significant imdb presence, so go ahead and read it for yourself.  

She was really nice and funny and is a big part of the reason why the show is so good. And, when we mentioned the Goler joke that she told on a recent episode, she wondered how locals would accept it. We told her it was funny, but even after all these years, maybe still a little too soon. She did not have a clear understanding of the Goler story, so I told her the name of the book ("On South Mountain") and there is likely still a video about the trial on youtube. 

And I just did a quick look. There are a few videos about the clan. This is the one I was referring to. The host is Claude Vickery, who was married to the assistant GM or whatever her job title was, at the company I went to work for after university. Claude cheated at the road rally one year, and I ended up missing some key parts of the trip until we could get caught up. Grr.

Anyway, Emma did not know the extent of the Goler history but appreciated that many of us took the joke in good humour. After all, it is a show about a bunch of lovable reprobates whose grasp of the politically correct is questionable to say the least. A Goler joke is the least of the things about the show that should be bothering those who make it their business to be offended by every little thing. 

I told her about my part time job writing about cold cases and gave her a business card, because I will not rest until every person in the world has a Bevboy's Blog business card. She said she was interested in such cases and said she would look for my stuff. So, there is that.

We left around 6:45 or so and returned to Timberlea, where I picked up some meds at the drugstore and then came home. Newbie was meowing and wondering where we had been. Totally impatient cat, is he.

The weekend is here. We are not sure what we will do this weekend. Maybe a day trip. Maybe not. Not sure yet.

I think we will sleep on it and decide in the morning.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

 

 

Post 4082 - Thursday Night Things

 Well, there you are! I have been looking all over for you.

We had a quiet day. I had finished my latest column for Frank on Wednesday, so we were a bit out of sorts today. We did go to Dartmouth to the Gateway Meat Market, and then to the bank, and then to Kent Building Supplies in Bayer's Lake, as I did decide to buy a small can of the semi-transparent stain for the back deck, to cover up the small areas that I had missed during my work. 

Around 4pm, I got into my painting and staining clothes and went outside. I used more than half of that quart can, actually the 941ML can if you want to be exact. I went over the posts and beams of the deck, making sure that the areas I had missed now had some stain on them, and the other areas now had two coats on them. There is still about a third of a can left. On Friday I will walk around the deck one last time and see if I might have missed something else. I will use every last drop of the stain on the deck. 

I should have done this long before I did. August was not a dry month, which led us to September when I wanted to do the job but did not always get the chance until toward the end, when I applied the initial coat on the deck, privacy panel, posts, and steps. Then, laziness. Then, more rain, followed by more laziness. The weather improved in the last few days, which is when I decided to take the last can of stain and apply the second coat to the deck. Then, I realized I had missed some spots so I bought the quart can on Thursday. 

I have now officially reached the point in my life when I am overly-concerned about the state of my deck and veranda and side steps, which the carpenters refurbished in 2020 as the original steps were getting to be in poor shape. I have been staining the front and side for many years, but did not spend much time on the back deck over the years because it was in deplorable condition and unusable. Finally, in 2014, I replaced the front steps with the veranda and had the back deck torn down, replaced by a glorified landing. I kept that stained. That was replaced last year by the magnificent deck and privacy panel that I can't stop typing about. You really have to see it.

Sigh.

So, as I mentioned last night, on Friday we will have dinner at the Shore Club in Hubbards. We have heard about their legendary lobster suppers for many years, and have decided it was high time to go. So that is our Thanksgiving present to ourselves. Happy Thanksgiving Day!

I think I will turn in. It is past one ayem. I need my beauty sleep. And, besides, Newbie is giving me that look. 

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4081 - Wednesday Night Fun Times

Well, hello there.

Sorry I haven't written for a few days. Turned in early for a while there, and was feeling a bit under the weather to boot.

But, I have also been busy. The weather was quite clement so I was able to finish staining the back deck and the privacy panel, on Tuesday. On Wednesday I walked around the deck and found some places that I had missed in the staining, mostly a couple of the major posts for the deck. They're hard to get to, and I am now out of stain, so I guess I can buy a half gallon of stain, have it properly tinted, and then use that to tackle the places that I missed. 

We keep looking at places to move to, but we have decided that with all that I have spent on this place in the last year or so, that we do not want to move to a house where I would have to spend all that money all over again on doors and windows and a deck and so on. Would be a foolish waste of money. The new owners would have the benefit of my investment, and we would have to spend more money on a house that was new to us. 

I spent quite a bit of time over the last two days working on my latest cold case article for the magazine. This article is a bit different from other ones in the series. It is about a man who likely killed himself, but there are enough mysteries and unanswered questions about his death that give one pause, so my editor and I decided it would fit in the boundaries of the series. I sent the article to my editor late Wednesday afternoon, along with some pictures and newspaper headlines and such. The new issue goes on sale next week. 

This article is rife with politics, so on a whim I spent some time this evening looking on wikipedia at the list of all the men who have been Premier of Nova Scotia. My memory goes back to Gerry Regan, the 1970's. But I had heard of many of the people for quite a few years before that. Going back even further, there are men who were premier who are utterly unfamiliar with me. I read some of their bios, and skimmed through a book I have about the Premiers of the province, but I guess what I am saying is that we do a really poor job of noting who has been in charge of the province over the years.

The Legislature has these names and pictures hanging on a wall, and if you go to the Leg library, there must be information about these men, but I don't see plaques with their names on them, or buildings named after them, or much of anything else. I daresay that in most cases, their hometowns don't have anything to mark that they came from there. 

That is... a little sad, isn't it? Our historical record is being lost bit by bit, every day.

Thursday beckons. We have a few plans for the day. Let's see if we stick to those plans.

And, Friday: lobster supper at the Shore Club. Never been!

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4080 - Saturday Night Stuff

Well, hello there.

It is past 2:30 on Sunday morning, but I have until 4am to get this done to have it count as a Saturday post. Weird, amirite?

We had a quiet day, but went for a drive in the afternoon. We had a nice lunch at Delish! in Tantallon and bought some early Christmas candy, which comes from the U.K., and which tastes much better than the corresponding stuff produced here. Quality Street candy from the U.K. is leagues better than what is produced in Canada. There is no comparison. Costs more, but worth it.

Dennis told me that they had received about 40% of the candy and meat pies and so on that they will get. The store looks very festive. You should check it out. It is in that little plaza in Tantallon past the Superstore and the lights. There is also an RBC and a pizza place in the same plaza. Plenty of free parking. What are you waiting for?

We got home and watched some stuff on the PVR before settling in and watching the first few episodes of The Morning Show, starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell. We have the remaining seven or so episodes of season one, and then can start on season two. We like it a lot so far.

Also watched the season opener of SNL, with Owen Wilson as the guest host. Some country like singer as the musical guest. 

These are quiet days, but the upcoming week will be much busier. I need to finish my next cold case article. Patricia has an appointment downtown on Monday afternoon, so I will likely go to the library to do some research. Then we will return home and... likely watch more stuff on the PVR. What an exciting life we lead.

Late. Nearly three. Think I will turn in.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 4079 - Friday Night Things

Welcome to the weekend!

Of course, when you are all-but retired, every day is the weekend. 

It is now October. I am coming up on two years since I retired from my job in the civil service. I do not miss the job in the slightest. I seldom think about the actual job I did. I am forgetting the names of some of the people I worked with. Some of the horrendous treatment I suffered is fading away like a bad sunburn. But some of it remains with me and flares up from time to time, like an especially bad sunburn.

A regular reader of this blog wrote last year about his own experiences as a civil servant, and how getting over those years and sometimes reflecting on them involuntarily is a form of PTSD. I could not agree more. I still think about how one guy would yell at me as a form of morning greeting. He knew just the right thing to say to upset me and throw me off my game, so he did it a lot. 

I tell myself two things. One: I worked with that so-and-so for ten years. Two: I have not worked with that so-and-so for 23 years. It should mean that all these years that I should have a measure of peace with that pig, but the best I could muster was an attempt at being civil when I saw him around the downtown. 

There were a couple other people over the years who got to me in a special way, who would yell at me and make me feel small just because they were in a position to do so and enjoyed it. I try mightily not to think about those times, and those people, but it is a struggle not to, on nights when I find it hard to sleep or days when things have slowed down to a crawl. 

The more I think about it, the more I think my blog fan is 100% right. Getting over a job that affected your self esteem and very psyche is a form of PTSD. 

I am still trying. I think I will get there one day.

Talk at you tomorrow.

Bevboy