Well, that was a "fun" day.

Just checking in here.  You may have to move your eyes back and forth a bit. 

For years now,  I've been driving around (in several different countries as well,  but you know that)  relatively unscathed when it comes coming into contact with other vehicles.   There have been a few close calls,  like a couple weeks ago when someone (never did see the driver) decided to come out of a parking garage without looking,  and was within about a foot of my driver's door before the light went on,  realising that there was someone there.   I was laying on the horn the whole time.  It was a "retirement residence",  so your guess is as good as mine.

Now,  that was in downtown Burlington.  I think maybe I need to stay out of the downtown or something,  but we need to go there once a week to get to the Pub.   I mean,  there are some things I ain't gonna give up.

Anyhoo,  last Thursday  (Oh and,  Happy belated Thanksgiving to our American friends)  I was once again in the downtown,  tooling along,  minding my own business,   when a garbage truck driver decided to fling open his door to go back and help his buddy do their thing.   Unfortunately,  his timing was spot on.   Well that is,  if he HAD been aiming to drive his door into the side of my truck.   Isn't there a thing about,  "Be sure and check for traffic before opening your door.?    Well,  he didn't.

It's actually kinda hard to make out in those pics,  I suspect due to it being a white truck. 

Anyhoo,  there's a big ole crease on the passenger door,  the mirror is obliterated,  and the window is kinda scratched to shit.  Oh,  and there's the beginnings of a crease on the second door too.   That sticker there is from the cop shop,  letting everyone know that yes,  pictures have been taken.

Funny thing is,  when I called the insurance company,  at some point the young lady on the phone asked,  "Do you have the mirror?". 

*Snort*!  Um,  there was nothing left of the mirror! 
After waiting for "The Supervisor" and sorting out all the information,  we picked up the bits and threw it all in the back of the garbage truck.  The door of the garbage truck?  Well,  it was bent up pretty good as well,  and couldn't be opened.  (So at least the driver won't be opening his door into traffic for the rest of his shift?)
Interestingly,  although most of the handle is missing on the Tundra,  the door was still operable.

One thought that I had was,  "What if I had been riding a bicycle?"   I mean,  I nearly got "doored" once in Vienna,  but that door wasn't at chest height,  such as was the case with the garbage truck.   I suspect I would have been in the hospital,  or worse. 

It's in the shop.  The estimate was thirty-six hundred. 

I know!  I thought maybe a couple grand,  but I suppose it adds up.  The parts have been ordered and should arrive today.  And here's something interesting,  the insurance company only gives the body shop seven days to put it right after the parts arrive.   Maybe that's because I have a rental that they're paying for??   

Speaking of which,  it's a mini-van.   And,  I realise we rented one a couple years ago in Maui,  and that was fine and all,  but I really wanted a pick-up truck.  And I mean,  this mini-van has a lot of little bells and whistles,  (heated steering wheel,  heated seats,  remote start,  remote operable sliding doors and rear hatch)  but just the same,  it's a POS.

There's something sort of rattling around in the rear suspension,  which I find somewhat disconcerting.  Plus,  every time I start it up,  it tells me it's due for an oil change.  Really??

Even Travelling Companion had a somewhat less than complimentary comment in the brief time that she rode in it with me yesterday.  And I hadn't said anything to influence her opinion in any way.

It's built by the people who claim to have "perfected the mini-van"  after having introduced it back in 1984.   Anyway,  I just thought,  "If this is their idea of having perfected it,  I'm not sure what they've been smoking."

Of course,  they're also 58% owned by Fiat,  so now you know what I'm talking about.

I'll be bugging the manager over at the rental company to see if I can trade it for a truck when one shows up.  Apparently they only have so many of them,  and they were all out.

Well,  that's my little missive for today.  And maybe for a while.

Hope all is well with you lot.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Made it another year.

Or at least,  that's the first thought that pops into my pea brain when I pass yet another birthday.  And that was back in October.

Anyhoo,  I probably wouldn't even be on here if it weren't for the fact that I had a "Wile-E-Coyote,  Genius"  moment,  and figured I'd brag about it ever so slightly.

*Ahem*

Here we go.

As is the case with most anyone getting on in years,  there are some things/tools/whatever,  that one has had for some time.   Take,  for example,  this impact driver:

It's air powered which,  these days is a somewhat "old school",  as now you can go cordless electric with just as much oomph as this thing.  But,  the strongest impact driver I have is 18 volts,  and I suspect it wouldn't work when it came to removing lug nuts. 

You'll notice however,  that there's a gaping hole there where the trigger used to be?  Um ya,  damned thing broke a while back,  rendering the tool useless.  The "weak link",  so to speak.
On top of that,  the darned thing is so old,  that there's no hint of trying to find the part on line,  as I've had it since the early nineties.  Plus,  any replacement part is still going to be made out of plastic.  That's not going to help.

Today was the day when I was either going to throw the thing in the metal bin,  or possibly try and fix it.  It's a great working gun when it works,  so I've been reluctant to simply toss it. 

Turns out,  the little plunger thingy that opens the air valve seemed to work just fine,  so all I had to do was come up with some way to make that work.

So...I made my own switch out of some maple I had lying around,  and..."Bob's yer Uncle".

The shape isn't quite right,  and one fine day I might mill down some hardwood and cut a new one.  Meanwhile though,  I just saved us a hunnert and fifty bucks. 
Or at least that's my story.

Plus,  I didn't put the split pin back in,  as it wasn't going in without a fight,  and I didn't want to split the wood. 
That would be bad.

So I rummaged around in my junk and found a bolt.   When the wood wears out or breaks,  I've got buckets of scraps hanging around.


That's about it.   Maybe I'll do a little "summer round-up" in the next little while. 

And remember,  keep your stick on the ice.

Thanks for stopping by.

Fun with concrete.

And you'll notice I didn't say,  "cement".  This is I'm sure some sort of character flaw,  but I find it somewhat irksome when concrete is referred to as cement.   Bzzzzt.  Not the same.  There's cement IN concrete,  along with water,  and aggregate (sand and stone),  but cement by itself won't do much.

Anyhoo,  I'm not so sure it was actual "fun",  except of course,  that giddy feeling when the whole ordeal is finally over.
And really,  it's not quite "over"  yet.  I still have to hang a gate there,  and install a panel between that post and the house.

The wooden bits are there to keep things in place until the concrete cures which,  is probably just about....now.  As I was using some of that "quick crete"  kind of stuff that sets up almost instantly.

The "fun" part (and again,  it really wasn't)  was chipping away at the existing concrete that had been poured there by the previous owner.   Oy.   See,  there was this sort of greenhouse type of lean too that was there when we moved in. And right about where I wanted to put that post,  there had been a doorway. The previous owner (that would be my late father-in-law)  had this somewhat goofy idea that he'd be able to grow stuff for most of the year.  All that really happened was that he got a lot of bugs.

Oh and,  if you're hanging around,  thanks.    I have been painfully absent.   Just doing summer stuff.

Ooh look.  Here,  I'm on a boat.

I'm the idiot making with the bunny ears behind the head of one of my crew mates.  I'm sure she's seen that picture.  Surprised she hasn't said anything.  This was a Saturday regatta just last week.  Normally we don't have that many bodies on the boat,  as it's a wee bit tender,  meaning that weight distribution can be a challenge,  but we figured,  what the hell.  The more the merrier.

It's been a pretty good summer so far for sailing well,  with the exception of some of the earlier days when there was no wind.  AND,  we've had some seriously high water levels on the lake.

Here's a good example:

That area is normally ....dry.   This was back in June.   It's by now finally gone down,  but whether they've turned the power on at the slip yet or not is still the question.

This picture was taken after the town had come along and build a boardwalk on top of the existing boardwalk.  Which begs the question,  as this event happened two years ago,  and is likely to happen again,  why not just build a proper elevated board walk?  Then there would be no need to turn off the power?  Maybe?

Couldn't do that of course.  That would make too much sense.



Anyway,  I think that's all I got.   I'm off to grill up some burgers and cook some corn. 

Keep that stick on the ice.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm still here. OR, will it ever stop raining??

If you're anywhere remotely close to the Great Lakes,  you may be aware that once again,  we have very high water levels at this time of year.
We really don't need any more rain.  Really.

There's a boat out there somewhere that I have to get to.  Thankfully,  I carry a pair of rubber boots for just such an occasion.

Unfortunately,  when the R.C. of Sail and I went out last Thursday to try and set out a semi-permanent mark on the Lake,  the boots weren't even high enough.

We ended up taking one of those dinghies and putting all our stuff in and floating it out to the committee boat.

Crazy.


So,  what have I been up to?

Well,  the usual I suppose.  There has been some sailing.  The usual Tuesday nights have been hit and miss.  I was away on a little trip with T.C. (I'll mention it later) for one of the days,  and on another occasion it was too foggy out to race.  So....I think I've only been out once on a Tuesday?

However,  we did out yesterday for the Challenge Cup put on by the Oakville and Bronte Harbour Yacht clubs.   We suspect that the "Challenge"  is trying to figure out just why,  instead of very specific Sailing Instructions (they refer to them as SIs)  outlining where the start line was supposed to be, I had to get on the radio and ask the Race Committee to confirm their coordinates.

Not even close.  Good thing we left the slip in plenty of time.   One guy said he was going to "protest the race".  Not sure how you do that.  Whatever.
For our part,  we did well.  As in,  we got "the gun".  That's a racing term for,  we finished first.  Doesn't happen all that often,  so I'm braggin' just a wee bit.

It was kinda cool, but very sunny,  and in spite of putting on sun block with an SPF of something like a hundred,  I still got a wee bit brown,  and of course,  forgot to do the tops of my feet.  They're red,  but not entirely burnt to a crisp.  Gotta watch that.


Lemme see,  what else?

Well,   we did have a death in the family recently.   My sister-in-law Ruth passed away on the Friday before Palm Sunday.  I have to relate all these dates to Easter,  since that seems to be the easiest way.

She had been in a "facility"  for about three years,  as my brother could no longer keep looking after her.  She has had scleroderma for a couple decades really,  going back to the late 80s,  which is pretty much a death sentence,  but she hung in there and did all the stuff that a lot of retired folks do, like go south in the winter etc.  until she was well into her eighties,  but according to my brother,  the last time they went south (over three years ago)  she never really went outside the trailer,  as she was far too frail.
Anyhoo,  my Nova Scotia brother came up with his wife and we had them here for a little over a week.   Of course,  with Easter coming up,  we had other family members coming by to hang out,  and/or stay over,  so it was a wee bit busy.
I realised at one point that,  there was no way I'd ever be able to run a Bed and Breakfast,  'cause by the end of about 8 days,  I was a walking zombie.


Here's one of my brothers making a little speech at the Godrich Legion at the "Celebration of Life".


 

The only bald guys in the picture are my older brothers.  Oh, and the red haired lady over there is my niece.  I was an uncle at the age of five.  But we won't get too far into the arithmetic.

Needless to say,  it was raining.

Those two older brothers were both Air Force guys.   The third brother who now also resides in N.S.,  much to my dismay,  also gets a Veteran's pension,  as he served in some sort of "After supper soldier"  capacity when he was a young guy.  Who knew?
By the way,  "After supper soldier"  is a term they would use.  I had never really heard that term until they got together and started talking about "old times".  I never joined the armed forces,  and instead went to University.  Had to get that "liberal arts education"!  *rolls eyes*
I mean yes,  I suppose it does give me a rough idea as to say,  how to write a sentence or speak one or two other languages,  so OK then.


Let's see.

Oh ya,  we did take a little trip up to first Kingston to visit with a sister-in-law and her hubby,  just passing through,  and then on to Osgoode for a visit with T.C.'s eldest (and only) brother and wife.

This is their cute little house just outside of Osgoode.

Rudy is a landscape architect,  and works from home.

I decided to blank out his head,  just because.

Now that I think on it,  I built all those cabinets too.  Turns out I do have a few things scattered about here and there that have come out of my pea brain.





T.C. had been working on a dress for their daughter,  which called for a fitting.  It's a bit of a higher end sort of creation,  with "bones"  or some such thing.  I dunno.  Talk to me about woodworking.  I can do that.

I've blanked out her face,  as I certainly am not about to put her pic on the web without her knowledge or consent.

Cool dress though,  don't ya think?  Some sort of fancy schmancy fabric that T.C. bought overseas.

She only had enough for someone who is a "size 0",  or something like that.  Again,  woodworking,  hello?

Speaking of which....(don't ya love them segues?)

 I had been commissioned a while back to do a little project of my own,  as another sister-in-law had been wanting a cabinet built for some time now,  and I finally got started back in April I think it was.   It needed to be warm enough that, if need be,  I could open up the garage.   This was a rather large undertaking,  and the proceeds from which will be going towards the Caretaker Tool Fund.   I've already ordered the thing that I've been seeking,  and it'll arrive some time in July.  I'll update then.

Here I'm doing a bit of a test fit for the drawers etc.

Doesn't give a good over all perspective,  but it was,  like I said,  a somewhat large undertaking.

Here are a couple views after installation.  And yes,  it got primed and painted,  but that was before leaving my shop.

The wire situation wasn't quite resolved when that pic was taken,  but it's been tucked away in the meanwhile.

There were a couple "add ons"  that hadn't been mentioned or shown in the drawings.  One was the need for some lighting,  and the other was for the three drawers for jewellery and such.

There was much joy with the end result.  Not too shabby,  if I do say so meself.

I now have a few summer projects,  but first it needs to stop raining for a few days.  Well maybe.... weeks.


Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.

A pie for no reason.

Which is the absolute best kind,  by the way.

I mean, I will (grudgingly) share pie with the kids or, I don't know,  relatives I suppose.  But when the pie has no particular destination in mind,  with the obvious exception of my "pie hole"?

Oh ya,  baby!

Now admittedly,  I could probably put this on the "Book of Face",  but then at least one of my kids would likely see it.

Can't have that.

"Oh,  you don't read the blog?  Well,  isn't that a shame."


Even though it was way too early for it to be some sort of "Easter Pie",  I didn't quite clue in to exactly what was taking place in the kitchen yesterday.

I mean,  T.C. has (or "had" is more like it) bags upon bags of apples in the downstairs fridge that she bought with her sister back in November,  but what I didn't realise was,  they were getting somewhat "long in the tooth"  after so many months in the fridge,  and something had to be done.

So, a pie for no reason.

******

In other 'news' (rolling my eyes here)  I've been busying myself with a little project for one of my sisters-in-law to help with some sort of storage issues.

I naively thought I could upload a PDF to Blogger.  Nope.  So I just took a pic.

There are no dimensions on that "axiomatic" drawing (I think I'd call it 3-D,  but whatever)  but believe me,  it's a little on the large size.   So much so that I had to modify the plans ever so slightly so that we can actually get the parts up the stairs and into the bedroom. 
I'll put it all together "in situ",  which was something I had done a few years back with another project for one of her daughter's rooms.  So long ago in fact,  that that "child" is now not only out of University,  but has been working in the real world for a few years now.

Anyhoo,  one of the reasons why we bought a pick-up truck I suppose.   Gets a wee bit crowded in my "shop" however.

There was no muscling those sheets onto the tablesaw for cutting.  Instead I had to go with a straight edge and my little cordless Makita.  Works surprisingly well I might add.   I have a corded version tucked away somewhere,  but the blade on that thing would make too much of a mess of things.

It's still a bit too cold out to have any notion of doing to much outdoors,  so this will keep me out of trouble for time. Couple weeks,  maybe?

We'll see.


Way back in February,  I said something about mucking around with dust collection,  or trying to improve it I guess it was?

Well,  I've added this contraption to my table saw,   and even though it hasn't advanced past the goofy looking stage,  it works just fine,  and makes a huge difference in the amount of dust that comes off the top of the blade.

And yes,  those are bungee cords,  and no,  I'm not done.

But once in a while,  you have to stop evaporating your time coming up with contraptions and actually make something.

The most expensive part of the whole deal was that hose,  coming in at around 25 bucks.  Or maybe it was closer to 30?   Which is why I haven't cut it yet.   *shudder*. 


I'm putting that off for a time.  In the meantime,  it can just slink about.

I didn't take a picture of it,  but there's a "plenum"  mounted under the wing of the table saw,  allowing me to direct the air flow to either above the blade,  the body of the saw or combination of both,  or to the drill press.  Oh,  and to the top and underside of the router table.

Wile-e-coyote....you know the rest.


Anyway,  I guess that's all I got for the time being.

Keep those sticks on the ice.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Every couple of weeks, it seems.

Which also seems to be how often I sit here and pound out a word or two. 

But I'm actually referring to how often (or seldom?) I knock off yet another mouse from the shed.  I think I'm up to around six or so for the "season".  And being ever so vigilant at keeping them at bay has done wonders as far as keeping the amount of mouse poop down to almost nothing. 

When we came back from our little over seas jaunt,  the loft in the shed was well,  I think "horrid" is the best word to describe it.  So I donned my respirator and,  vacuum cleaner in hand,  set about to clean it all up.  And you know,  I'd leave them be,  if it weren't for the disgusting mess they leave.  But,  somehow I suspect that mice are not easily house trained.

Now,  speaking of respirators,  (this is where the segue comes in,  by the way)  I've summoned up my courage to disassemble the dust collection shroud from my tablesaw and relocate the dust port that was installed at the factory.  Well,  I *think* it was installed at the factory.  Not sure.  One thing I'm sure of though is,  the metal working abilities of the workers at General Manufacturing was considerably better than their skills when it came to fibre glass.
When I took the shroud off and took a look inside,  it was pretty obvious that they had simply blown in some "chop",  and then proceeded to glob on some filler.  It was easy enough to chip it away,  and take out the round part.

Here I've removed the chute part from the bottom and cut a fresh hole on the side.  Seems a bit weird to be doing this I realise,  but that stupid hole never was in the correct spot as far as I was concerned,  and it's bugged me ever since I bought the thing sometime back in about 1992.  Maybe '93. 

And,  that sort of yellow stuff there is lacquer thinner,  which I used to clean up the wound for some fresh fibreglass.


This is the respirator segue part:

Stinky business.  And it's too cold outdoors to open up the garage,  so that's that.

Meanwhile,  I had to make a little side trip over to Canadian Tire for some fresh "Bondo",  as the stuff I had hanging around was from back in the pre internet days,  and was just a wee bit too stiff to work with.  And I thought that,  by the time I spent the money on whatever I'd need to thin it out,  I might as well just buy a small fresh can.

I mostly know what I'm doing.

I figured some fibreglass cloth stuck in there with some hot melt glue would keep things in place until I can get some bondo on there.

Hell,  I don't know,  it could all fall apart in a couple days.  But then again,  who knows?


I'll let you know.  Because you know,  "Enquiring Minds"  and all that,  right?

I mean,  you could read this drivel,  or watch the news.  Either way,  nothing spectacular.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep yer stick on the ice.

Observing National Poop Day.

Which is not really a "thing",  by the way.   But,  bear with me here.

See,  at one of our high level conversations at the Pub on Friday,  someone made mention of the notion that,  on the day after The Super Bowl,  (not sure how I should put this)  the amount of sewage heading off to the various treatment plants goes up considerably.

Like,  if there was a 'high gear'  at the local sewage treatment plant,  like that.

Speaking personally,  I think there just might be something to that notion.

This year once again,  T.C. and I went to our annual Super Bowl party,  and I must say,  there was a lot of food.  Like,  three crock pots of chili,  various snacks,  sweets,  and oh,  someone even brought Perogies.  They were just as good as anything else.
Plus,  there's always at least one birthday,  so we had cake!

We were all stuffed.   Or at least I was.   Didn't have a whole heap of desire to eat much come Monday either.  I won't go into any more details than that.


We're no longer in anything remotely like a deep freeze,  and as a matter of fact,  it was something like plus 14 (Celsius)  at one point yesterday.   I wasn't quite tempted to put my shorts on,  but a few degrees warmer and I just might have considered it.

Then of course,  the temperature has been consistently falling to the point where,  now we're expecting freezing rain over the next day or so.  It has been said that,  if you don't like the weather in Canada,  just wait a few days.


We heard some sad news on Saturday that one of T.C.'s former work associates had suddenly passed away,  so that was a bit of a shocker.   And then today I read that George Lehrer of The adventures of Tioga and George fame had passed away as well.   I know he had changed the name of his blog a few years back,  but that's the short cut that I had put in my browser to find his blog.

I had discovered George way back in 2003 when he first started blogging,  and was quite intrigued by the notion that you could live in a class C motorhome full time.  Not something I have any desire to do or anything, but as T.C. and I had a class A at the time,  there was some sort of commonality there.  Then of course,  one tends to "get hooked",  so to speak,  and when the fellow comes to the end,  it can be a bit tough.

There are others who come to mind:

There was Bruce and Margie Mallon,  who were run down and killed in Pismo Beach, California,  and then Rod Ivers,  who came home one day to discover that his wife Loyce and passed away,  only to then succumb to cancer within what I thought was not so very long afterwards.

Of course,  I do realise that,  none of us are getting out alive,  and I'm not quite sure why I get a little choked up when I hear of the passing of what is essentially a total stranger but,  "Blog Land"  seems to have a way of letting us become somehow more familiar with these total strangers than we'd perhaps like to admit.

Sadly,  they'll all be missed.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.   I'll try and dry mine,  while I'm at it.

Oh Baby, it's cold out!

Greetings one and all.   If you're anywhere north of ...well,  you don't need to "north"  for that matter.  Just bundle up.  Stay indoors. 

Stole this from one of the weather type sites.  Seems like it's a bit warmer out in the Southwest.   Other than that,  forget it.

We have this little temperature sensing gizmo,  that I really like,  'cause it lets you know just how warm or cold it is outside.   I don't think I've ever seen it that low.

Initially,  I wasn't quite sure where to put the thing,  and had it out on the front step.  Trouble was,  the sun would mess with it,  and you'd get a false reading.   So I had a brief "Wyle-e Coyote,  Genius"  moment,   and it now hangs under the back step.   Now,  having said that,  when the generator does its self test every Sunday at noon,  I do think it messes with the sensor just ever so slightly.  Just a hunch.

In other weather related "news",  it so happens that a few of the "high def"  channels that we get come out of Chicago,  and it would seem that they've had a bit of an issue with their natural gas supply.  There was a fire in one of the natural gas compressors,  which was quickly dealt with,  but then that meant that they're having a heck of a time keeping up with demand. 

So,  the Governor,  Gretchen Witmer,  had the dubious task of asking everyone to turn down their thermostats. 

I'm sorry,  but when I saw this,  I had to chuckle just a bit,  and thought,  "OK wait,   first you're saying you don't know how to manage the infrastructure,  and now you're telling everyone that they should take it on the chin??".    Hm.  Good luck with that.

Anyhoo,   that's all I got for today.   It's a beautiful sunny day,  but I wouldn't recommend lying out there in the sun.   You'll freeze before you get a tan.

Keep your stick on the ice.

I'm out.

Well, here it is 2019.

So,  Merry Christmas,  Happy New Year and all that.

And,  we're finally getting our first taste of real winter.  We've been dodging the weather bullet for a couple months now,  but now we're getting our comeuppance.

I also must say, these days as a "Pensioner",  I don't really mind a good snow storm.  It kind of brightens my mood.   And that would be just weird,  I do realise,  except that when you consider that,  when I was doing that whole "working for a living" thing,  I used to dread going to work after or during a snow storm.  The only exception of course being if the schools were closed.   School closures didn't seem to happen nearly often enough.  Plus,  there were too many occasions when I was thankful to have a four wheel drive vehicle.   So ya,  now that I don't really even need to go outdoors!  I don't mind it at all. 
Funny how that works.

Mind you,  it's one of the rare times when I do wish that I had some way of accessing the garage directly from the house.  But,  it's only on these occasions.  I'll live.

Travelling Companion did mention that the previous owner had talked about some sort of way of doing that,  but it would have involved cutting into the existing garage floor right about where I have cabinets and a sink,  and coming in to the basement that way.   The "previous owner"  was my late Father-in-law of course.   I'm sure he realised at some point that it would have been a major undertaking,  which is precisely why it was only "talk".

I'm trying to come up with anything of interest to share.  It's a challenge.

*thinks*

I did make a cabinet/containment thingy for the bottom of the laundry chute just the other day and it's already in use.


Oh,  I have a picture. 

It's just a melamine "box"  that's not quite built in the traditional "box" like structure.  It had to be open at the top for the clothes to fall through.   The "door"  is actually a panel I had made years ago for the dishwasher that used to be in the kitchen.   It was a "Miele"  (not that that matters)  and was designed in such a way that you had to make a panel to match the other cupboards etc.  When the dishwasher finally fried its brain a few years back,  we (well,  when I say "we",  I mean..."me")  installed one with a stainless steel front,  but I couldn't bring myself to just turf out the panel I had built.    It sat and collected dust at one side of the garage/workshop for the longest time,  and then I had this cunning plan.   

And there it is:







This morning,  I put it to the test by stripping the bed and putting the entire contents down the chute,  and then going down to see if the door would stay closed.

It did.

I could just leave the laundry there until it's time to put it in the machine,  or transfer it to a basket.   Before this arrangement,  the laundry would sort of fly down and end up sometimes in the sink,  sometimes on the floor,  sometimes in the garbage under the sink if it wasn't completely tucked under. 

One time,  and one time only,  I just happened to be at the sink when T.C. fired a towel down the chute,  which then ended up on my head! 
I laughed so hard I was weeping.  Weeping,  I tell you!

Anyhoo,  that's today's missive.   Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep that stick on the ice.


I'm out.