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.