Retirement and other stories

Well it has been a while since I was on here, it will take a while to catch up. I have been busy working towards retirement, or semi-retirement. It occurred a couple of weeks back, I was laid off from my full time job, not that I was unhappy about that. My wife and I had already decided that when the job finished I would spend some more time at home so here I am.
The last few years have been busy and I was away form home a lot, but the up side it was good for my retirement fund.
The big news was in November / December, My wife Jean and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary by going to Hawaii for 2 weeks, more on that later.

New Job

I have traveled from my home in North Central BC to North East Alberta, Fort McMurray. I have a new safety job at one of the oil sands extraction facilities north of this city. For a middle of winter trip through mountain passes the roads where great bare and dry.

I left home a few days early to ensure no problems or delays. Also I have a brother and family in Edmonton, so I had to visit. I got to see kids that I haven't seen in years. The kids are all great, this includes a few new additions to the family in the form of kids and significant others. The visit was wonderful, my brother Ed and his wife Marilyn where very gracious hosts. I am still eating the "road" snack that Marilyn made for me on the 5 hour trip from Edmonton to Fort McMurray.