Yesterday was my Uncle Elmer's (it's actually Ilmari, but everybody calls him Elmer) 75th birthday. So, Mrs. TBF and I called him at his home in Beaver Lake, Ontario, Canada to wish him a happy birthday. All I can say is that I hope I'm in as good shape as Elmer when I'm 75 years old. He uses a wood burning stove as the main heating source for his house, and he splits all the wood by hand. And I'm not joking, his wood pile must be the equivalent of about fifty cords of wood. He goes hunting and fishing, rides one of those four-wheel all terrain vehicles, goes curling twice a week...just real active and a real outdoorsman. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still doing all of this stuff when he's 100 years old.
I also spoke with my Aunt Astrid who pretty much sounds exactly like my mom except she has a stronger Canadian accent, and my cousin Ken who was in town for my Uncle's birthday. It was nice talking to all of them. It was actually the first time I had spoken with Ken since our wedding 17+ years ago. He lives on a farm outside of Edmonton with his wife Kathleen and their horses, dogs, and cats. Just for fun, Mrs. TBF checked out flights from Basel to Edmonton. We'd have to fly from Basel to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Calgary, and Calgary to Edmonton - a total of 16+ hours of flying. Plus, Ken told me that it was -38ºC one morning a couple of weeks ago. So, maybe it would be better to go there during the summer months.
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