Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Tuesday July 31, 2018 Excited

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my websites: http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

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THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

******

Tuesday July 31, 2018

Today is the Anniversary of Black Friday in Edmonton (tornado). That is a day that is forever burned in our memory.

Yesterday, I wanted to put some gas in the rental car as an excuse to practice driving here a little. Then we drove out to the Andalucia cemetery for the same reason. It was a dreary day that threatened rain.

Cristina slipped out with Adiela to find a guy that goes to Cali to make doctor's appointments for people with a POA and some money... When they came back it started to rain and wouldn't quit so I finally had to park Adiela's scooter in the house and drove her home..

Today we got early news that my Visa is still in process with good news expected Thursday. I don't hold my breath any more.

Then we got the awesome photo confirmation that our new car is at the dealership so we went over to meet the brother-in-law Miguel there at 2pm. The car looks good, so they now say it will be ready by 5pm tomorrow.

Miguel had told me that he had a good insurance company to use but today he sang a different tune, saying many of his friends were complaining that the company seemed to be in trouble... The dealership has an insurance division and they provided 4 quotes, with one way less than the others, but still around $900 USD and that does not get us the Guaranteed Replacement Cost coverage available in Canada, dammit. The deductible is about $300 USD. The policy gives roadside assistance, on-site accident help, tire rotations, replacement for lost keys, etc. Miguel gave his blessing.

So tomorrow we will be excited to pick up our third new car ever (having sold cars for many years I consider cars a lousy investment) and possibly my last ever. The car comes with a 7 year/150,000 km warranty, which is what weighed heavily in my decision,.. and the reasonable price here.

I questioned the manager and the salesman about installing decent body side mouldings so I guess I get the name of an installer tomorrow as well. I will also need a lot of instruction about all the fancy lights and especially the fancy radio. It will be nice to have the GPS nice and big for viewing.

And it is raining all day today so we haven't heard from Adiela all day about coming for the scooter...

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

******

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

Dealer photo #1

Dealer photo #2

Dealer photo #3

Dealer photo #4

My photo #1

My photo #2

My photo #3

This one is OURS

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Sunday July 29, 2018 Dog Refuge

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my websites: http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

******

Sunday July 29, 2018

I thought that we were going to have a relaxing day today, so while Cristina slept in, I got busy working on more photos.

Then, all of a sudden, Cristina is saying we have to leave right NOW and go pick up food for some dog refuge. So I threw on some clothes, no time to shave or shower, and off we go, and I throw on a hat to hide my unruly hair. We stop at a butcher shop across from the vet from yesterday and she comes with a lot of meat scraps in big bags.

Next we go to Adiela and Miguel's place which my Garmin again does not recognize, even though I used the coordinates setting right at their front door from yesterday. I might have to start using WAZE on my phone instead...

So we drop off the meat at Adiela's, promising to return 2ish to go out to this dog refuge...

Cristina and I slip out for a nice lunch nearby, then kill some more time having coconut ice cones... really tasty stuff!

So we go back and I am chatting with Miguel about some of the books I brought for him to read when Cristina hollers that we are leaving NOW again, and we re-load the meat in the car.

Our first stop is to see a rescued large pitbull called Machina that has skin issues and to introduce it to prospective new owners. On the way I am being directed by Adiela and she tells me to pull over because we are waiting for someone to catch up. When a motorcycle cop comes up behind me, I was glad that Adiela was telling me to proceed, not knowing that the lady cop is one of the rescuers of Machina. This poor dog had such runny eyes which Cristina finally cleared away and he was so much better after that. I am not fond of pitbulls, rottweilers, or bulldogs, but I don't like to see any dog in misery.

Then it was off to this dog refuge and I can't even tell you where we went, except that I think it was south somewhere, and next to a nice large river.

When we got there the gate was locked but then someone came out and gave us the key to unlock the gate. Then we drove in about a kilometer along the river to find that the person we came to see wasn't there at the moment. However we didn't have to wait long. We were along the riverbank and I thought that my eyes were deceiving me because I saw a dog steering a boat...!! Upon closer inspection, the boat was tied up and being moved by the current of the river but, yes, it was a dog in the boat!! Then we could hear a motor coming against the current, and this great bunch of about 30 dogs were getting all excited. 3 more dogs jumped into the boat with the other dog, then two jumped in the river to go meet the other boat. I was afraid that they were going to get swept away in that strong current. Anyway, the incoming boat contained the gal we came to see, and her brother.

We gave them the heavy bag of meat for the dogs and they were very grateful, making a little lunch for Adiela and Cristina (I wasn't hungry).

The little daughter of this lady reminded me so much of the kid that played the young Cataleya in the opening scenes of the movie "Colombiana". Uncanny resemblance...

Driving the automatic KIA is a bit of a treat for now. I really hope I don't regret going for the standard transmission to save about 18% in gas mileage because gas is quite expensive here.

We were to go tomorrow to pay the balance of the house purchase but Cristina informs me that the documentation is not ready yet.... Jeepers, they have only had 2 weeks to get it done...

NeNe is recovering really well from his sterilization. Tomorrow is the turn of Raton, who gets new owners on Friday...

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

******

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.