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.

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.

The final application.

I hope.

I was actually starting to write "The final solution",  but that has a whole other meaning.  Not a good one.

Although,  we are talking about...  extermination.  But I'm only talking about wasps.  Honestly.

Man,  I'm digging myself a hole here.


The other morning,  I was out on what was then the shady side of the house knocking back the weeds,  and I realised that the hoe I was using had just the right shape that would allow me to pry off the top area of the trim without getting too close to the wasps.

So,  yesterday morning,  before they got too active,  I did just that,  which allowed me to see just what the heck was going on behind it.


Can't see much,  actually.

The ones that have survived are still going in and out of a tiny gap in the foam up there at the top.






This evening at dusk,  I got up there with a step ladder and sprayed in another dose of Wilson's "One Shot".

Even though really,  it's taken more than just the one shot.  Hate to say it.  I guess you're supposed to be able to get this stuff directly onto the nest,  but like I said, these guys are up in behind the foam insulation somehow.  No bueno.

I'll see if there are any dead bodies in the morning.   There were a few yesterday morning after I removed the trim,  but when I went back out to take another look,  they were mysteriously gone.  Maybe blew off?   Dunno.

Did a little more prep work on the painting end of things today.   I'm on to the next colour,  so I had to go back to one spot where it looked like I had a bit of a thin spot and put on a wee bit more.
Hate when that happens.

Wednesdays can be a bit of a wasted day for me anyway,  as I go to breakfast with a bunch of other old farts and generally complain about whatever is bugging us at the moment.  Right now it's the number of high rise condos that are being built in our downtown core.  Which is one of the reasons that Burlington has slipped way down to number 31 on the "livability"  scale that some group or other put out a while back.  We were ninth in 2017. 
Don't get me started.

Not sure how accurate it is,  but if they use the same criteria year after year,  then I suppose there's some credibility to the study.  Some magazine called Money Sense.

*****

Saw these suspicious looking characters wandering up the street yesterday.  This is what happens when you're painting with no window coverings and the camera is close at hand.

Think they're Jehovah's?

 Maybe Seventh Day Adventist.

    It's been a few years,  or I dare say *decades* since we've had anyone come to our door selling their particular brand of piety.  I think I've got the message across.
I won't elaborate.

Well, except that,  there was this time,  and this was the first summer we were here in 1992, when  two ladies came up the driveway and wanted to "chat".    I said I didn't mind,  but as I was cutting the grass at that very moment and it had to get done,  and they had interrupted the proceedings,  I simply asked which one of them wanted to keep doing the work?  You know,  so I could sit and "chat".
I *love* to sit and chat!

Hey, it's what I was doing this morning at breakfast!

However,  neither of them thought they were up to cutting the grass.  Lazy Bastards.
They looked fit to me.  I mean,  you do all that walking around lugging a bible or whatever,  you have to have a bit of stamina.  Don't you think?


All I know is, I've certainly never shown up at some stranger's door *uninvited*  and asked if we could "chat".   Like,  what are you thinking?

I realise that,  back in the Depression,  when men were truly down and out,  they might show up at a stranger's door asking if there might be a little food to spare,  but times have changed.  And those interlopers across the road look pretty healthy.

I think I'm getting off on a bit of a rant here,  so you can fill in the rest.  Or join in,  if you wish.

I suspect that's it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Here's hoping for a bit of cooler weather.

Well, that was a bit of a fail.

So,  for "Father's Day",  there were a few items that came my way,  one of which was a package containing two of these new fangled "copper cooking sheets"  for the BBQ. 

Now admittedly,  the Weber Q that I use is considered a "Grill"  as opposed to a BBQ,  but I figured I'd try out one of them anyway.

With pizza.

Hey,  there's a picture of them cooking pizza on the box,  so I figured it should work.  Right?

Meh.

Wrong.

It *looks* OK there,  but the bottom is getting burnt.  I had to quickly figure out how to get the pizza up off the grill a bit to sort of help it cook without completely charring the bottom,  so I used a ceramic pizza stone that I had stashed in the kitchen. 
We still ate most of the good parts.   The slightly *more* annoying part was,  this was a "home made" pizza,  which we prefer over most anything "store bought".

Oh well.

Hey,  maybe I'll try frying an egg,  or something...

Not sure why I'd do that,  and as for vegetables,  I already have a pan type of arrangement that works just fine.  I suppose if I had to do more than one thing,  and space was at a premium,  I'd whip out one of these sheets.  I certainly haven't given up on them just yet by any means.


Meanwhile,  the cuckoo clock repair saga continues,  and I think I've come up with a temporary solution.  Well,  maybe temporary in a more permanent way.  You'll see.

First of all,  I should mention that one of my daughter's friends/in laws needed some hair cutting practise,  as she's about to write her exam (there's exams for hair cutting??)  so after the word was put out for willing volunteers,  I figured I'd offer up my old noggin for some practise.

I used to do this sort of thing at the hair cutting class they used to have over at a local vocational school that one of our previous provincial governments in their infinite wisdom forced the local school board to close. 
A bit of a sore spot with me,  but whatever.

This of course,  was complete with a cuckoo clock tutorial. Because now I'm *so* qualified...*snort*!

And,  remember how I said that one of the local clock repair Dudes said that he never worked on cuckoo clocks in Germany,  and has carried on that tradition here in Canada? 
Well....I get it.
It's time consuming.   Like,  I'd have to charge more than a new clock would be worth.   Quite possibly including the cost to fly over to Bavaria and bring one home.

But I mostly looked on it as a challenge.  At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So my "solution" for the bellows problem?   Well,  I stole a working bellows out of the clock that we have here in the house,  and installed it in place of the one that needs work.

You'll notice on the left side there,  that one of the bellows is missing?   It's one half of the "cuckoo"   sound.  So the little bird was only going "coo...coo...coo..."   Not ....OK,  you get it.

So I brought our clock onto the operating table to do a transplant....

Of course,   when these guys (Cuckoo Clock Guys?)  put these things together,  it seems there's a bit of randomness involved when it comes to installing the bellows,  as the screw hole for holding the thing in place was not the same,  so that was a bit of trial and error,  but the patient has been put back together,  is running,  and we'll see if it continues to do so for a day or two before being set free.

Fascinating sh*t innit??

As it's bloody hot out today,  we're off later for a "pool party",  but I've promised to not take along the camera.

Wouldn't be prudent.

You'll just have to take my word for it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep that stick on the ice.

Sorry there, little birds.

And this happens each and every spring.  I wage a battle with the birds that are immediately attracted to the front of the house,  where nest building is their thing.

And I get it.  There are some really great spots up there for nest building.  And I *almost* wouldn't mind too much if it weren't for all the crap that ends up everywhere.  Bad enough to get birdshit on the car,  it's even more annoying when it's just out of reach on the front of the house.

To quote one of my favourite childhood cartoon heros,  "That's all I can stands,  'cause I can't stands no more."

Here,  in case you're still wondering:


Popeye


OK,  where was I?

Right.   So,  in spite of the really crappy weather,  the birds are coming back north,  and they're looking for spot to hang out.

We've had a Morning Dove "nest" on the pillar of the front porch.   We've had Robins do the same.  Now,  I have "nest" in quotation marks,  as it seems that Morning Doves....wait.  I just realised,  they're "Mourning Doves",  not Morning Doves.   Even though that ridiculous cooing sound they make is enough to drive you around the bend in the morning,  that's not a thing.

Their "nest" consisted of a few strands of dead grass,  amongst which they laid two eggs,  which then proceeded to roll off,  breaking on the cement steps below,  making a mess.  I gave them the bum's rush.

The robins however,  managed to get a nest built and had eggs in it before I was able to properly get up there and knock their creation down,  so we watched those little guys hatch and fly away.  Pretty sure I wrote about that once upon a time.
I'm not that cold hearted that I'd knock down a nest that had eggs in it. 
No, really.

So then we have the sparrows.

Holy Moly.

Like I said,  if they'd just not shit all over the place,  I might let them build a nest up under the eves,  but NO.
I mean,  I like birds. 
Again...really.

So,  I had to do some hackin' and hewin'.

The results:

And over on the other side:

Note the snow still hanging around,  even though it's been raining pretty steady for the last, oh I don't know,  20 hours or so?   It's above freezing,  but just refuses to leave.

This isn't just one board though,  it's a multi piece contraption that fits in the opening in such a way as to prevent birds from both sides of the purlin.   A  Purlin , by the way, is basically a roofing member that runs perpendicular to the rafters.  In the case of The Ponderosa here,  the builder fancied things up by having them come out past the front of the building.

There,  you learned something.

And,  as is the norm with this kind of thing,  it never really occurred to me to take a "before" picture. 

Figures.

Travelling Companion couldn't quite get her head around the idea that I did this from inside the house,  even though I explained the use of a sliding T-Bevel to get the angle,  along with only needing three of the dimensions to work with.   Kind of like when she tries to explain to me some sort of special sewing thing or other,  and I try not to let it show that my eyes are starting to glaze over.
Look interested....nod your head,  nod your head.

Like that.

Oh and,  "Sliding T-bevel"?   Just look it up.


Thanks for stopping by.

For those of you for whom this applies:  Bundle up.

For anyone else where it's warm?

Well,  I'm *happy* for you.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Fighting with the wasps.

By that I mean,   the little "yellow jackets" that are out in full force this time of the year looking for...whatever.   Sweets?  Nutrients?  A date with a flyswatter?



Anyway,  I managed to harvest the remainder of our grapes yesterday.  Not as big an offering as we'd like,  due to the incursion of the little masked bandits,  but we (well,  I say "we",  but really mean T.C.)  can make a few small jars of grape jelly.

At least at this point I've figured out what measures I need to take next year in order to keep the critters on the ground.   I'm hanging on to a couple of the contraptions,  that I'll simply re-install at the appropriate time next season.



Then it was time for nine holes of golf with T.C.

That's actually my "happy face".   No,  really.

We didn't completely suck.   I only lost one golf ball,  which is typically the means by which I measure my success or lack thereof.   It's those damned water hazards.   Some sort of mental block.   I did manage to nicely shoot over one hazard on the way out,   only to plunk one in to the adjacent pond on the way back (sigh).


And considering I found a pack of three brand new balls on that course a couple weeks back,  my golf ball inventory count was actually on the plus side.

This is how we measure success.  Lame,  I know.


That's it for today.  Short and sweet.

Thanks for stopping by.

Not giving up just yet.

Because,  we'd like to have some of the grapes,  and not let the raccoons eat all of them,  dammit!

This "phenomenon"  has been going on for a few days now,  with the first visit back in the earlier part of the week.
From where I'm sitting,  and if the windows are open, I can hear commotion coming from outside.  And sure enough,  when I went out to investigate,  there was one of our little "friends",  helping himself (herself?) to our grapes.

I initially started poking away with a mop handle,  at which point I was growled at,  and declared, "This means war".


You all remember Bugs Bunny of course.

But let's not get side tracked.

So on that visit,  the little bandit got a good soaking,  as the hose is handy,  and our water pressure is good.
I knew though,  that he'd be back.
Hence,  over the ensuing days,  my raccoon visit mitigation devices got more and more elaborate.  I think finally last night I might have found the ultimate solution.

Well really,  the "ultimate" solution is frowned on here abouts in the burbs,  and I think you know what I mean.  Not even remotely possible,  as I have no "ordinance"  here at The Ponderosa.




So this:

....utter silliness,  was my attempt to ward off the visitor.

There was evidence of fur ("We have DNA evidence",  according to T.C.)  but this elaborate contraption wasn't completely effective.

Deterred,  little buddy went along and shinnied up the centre divider between the garage doors.   All I had to do was look,  and I could see the little claw marks on the wood.  Bugger!

*grumble*

As they say in Jamaica,  "respect, Mon".   But really?

So that resulted in this:

I stapled old metal lath around the edges,   along with a bunch of nails.

And....AND!  this morning there were NO grapes scattered about on the ground!  So,  until there's some sort of new devious plan,  the grapes *might* be safe for a few more days.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the little bastards setting up a scaffold tonight.   Fingers crossed.

See,  we had a pretty good crop this year,  and there were enough grapes for maybe four or five tiny jars of really, really good grape jelly.

Emphasis on "were".  Not so sure anymore.


Um,  let's see.  What else?

We're having some crazy warm (actually,  hot) weather.   Totally awesome I must say.  Better than most of August,  or half the summer for that matter.  I hear some folks actually closed their pools.  Too early for that for sure.
Anyway,  this weather should continue for a few more days.

This is when I'm really thankful that I don't have to work in a hot school.  It's bad enough in the summer with shorts and a light shirt on,  but when school starts,  the Custodial Staff have to once again don the usual long trousers (blue jeans at least)  and blue shirts.

OK for the late fall,  winter and early spring,  but I run a little hot,  so I'd be sweating like a steer.


I had thoughts of renting a honkin' big log splitter to deal with some of the bigger stuff that's too big for my own splitter,  but then realised it's just a bit too hot...

I'm not sure what I'll do today,  which is why I'm sitting here more or less frittering away my time.

So whatever the heck it is,  I suppose I'd best go and get at it.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Got the bug.

And by that I mean,  the Emerald Ash Borer.

And we're not alone.

The chap I hired to come today and cut down one of the "three sisters" as we used to call them,  has been way too busy cutting down ash trees as fast as folks can hire him.  Not his favourite thing to do, as he'd much prefer to be trimming trees and other general arboreal upkeep.

This was the beast.

 We estimate at around 75 years old,  which would have meant maybe another lifespan of 25+ years or so?  Needless to say,  no plans to cut it down in the foreseeable future.  Not my future anyway.

There was a certain amount of studying going on even before climbing the tree.  Best to try and plan these things while on the ground I suppose.

I took a mess of pictures,  but you know the drill.   Climb tree.  Tie off.  Cut chunks off.  Lower them to the ground.

Preferably without coming into contact with that expensive roof we had installed a couple years ago.

You can see all the dead branches.

Anyway,  that last pic is early afternoon,  and they're just about done.  Gonna miss the extra shade,  but that particular tree had this one dead branch that extended out precariously over the driveway.  No bueno.

Now,  in case you don't feel like reading that wiki article,  I'll show you first hand what these little buggers do.

More or less self explanatory.  They bore into the "cambium",  and literally choke the tree to death.  Seems to me the cambium sends nutrients down the tree from above, and ultimately makes a new growth ring.

Almost as bad as putting down an ageing pet.  Well, maybe not quite.  But we're seriously running out of trees around here.   Since we moved in over twenty years ago,  we've cut down five mature trees due to disease,  as well as another two as a result of poor location.  (Between the two houses.  Not good.)

So,  that's all I'll be 'sharing' today.   Last week we were in Vancouver.  Maybe I'll go on about that in a day or two.

Thanks for stopping by.

The days of wine and heartburn.

I’ll lay off the former for a time,  and will likely have considerably less of the latter.
We had 22 for Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve.

The usual setup.  Put up an extra table. Set up extra chairs.  We’ve been doing “buffet style” for the last few years.  Much more civilized.  Find your own spot.  No complaints you missed out on something,  it’s all there in the kitchen.
This is the only time we wish we had a slightly bigger first floor. A bit busy.  All adults really,  even though there used to be a “kids table”,  I think the youngest kid is possibly 19 or 20 by now. No more kids table.
Some are now finished University,  and gainfully employed.  Time flies.
And now it’s 2016. 
Happy New Year.
We also had a host of overnight guests.  Thankfully there’s enough bedrooms,  bathrooms etc.  Not everyone is underfoot.  Nice to have overnight guests.  Sometimes nice when they’re all packed up and gone too.
Travelling Companion made a lot of breakfasts.  Some were more prompt at having breakfast than others.  We won’t go there. I appreciate that you like to sleep in, just be reasonable.

We did have a four legged guest on Christmas Day.  Daughter Number Two and Hubby didn’t want to leave our Dog-in-law at home for the day.  He’s excited to see you, even if he’s only gone outside for five minutes and then comes back in again, (what is that with dogs?) but he’s now seven,  and a well behaved dog.  Of course,  he knows exactly where he is in the “alpha dog” order of things.  Way down there,  trust me.
Here’s a little secret, I’m the “alpha dog” around here.  And that’s that.


We had mostly a green Christmas, but then did get a bit of sloppy white stuff on the 29th.

It disappeared,  and hasn’t come back.  Been too warm.
I can dig it.  Winter ain’t over.  Not by a long shot.
We haven’t started the countdown just yet,  but I’ll be digging out the suitcases soon enough.

Meanwhile,  I’ll be mucking around with a couple little projects that never seem to end.

Y’all come back now.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

I minor skirmish.

This is a picture from last year.  Seems we once again have a bumper crop of grapes, and I guess the word got around.  So last night there was another bandit type visitor flummoxing around on the grape vine. 

Not for long!

As one of my sisters-in-law aptly put it a number of years ago,  “They sound like old men in over coats”,  so it’s not like I have super hearing or anything.

So I took to the corn broom and hose.    I think I did get in one good whack over his little noggin’,  but even that wasn’t enough to settle the issue.  I had to break out the hose. 

That was too much,  so he “decamped”. 

Of course, I knew he’d be back,  and I was just riled up enough to make sure I dug through my little “treasures” to find some sheet metal.  Hey,  I have lights in the shed after all.

There was no way I was going to guard a paltry few grapes for the rest of the night.

And yes,  I said a paltry few grapes,  but the little buggers make such a mess.  And it’s the principle of the thing.  My grapes.

Not much metal was needed,  and I found a handy dandy little piece I had removed from one corner of the house that had been used as a squirrel deterrent. 

Worth hanging onto.

There’s a certain evil delight in hearing the sound of little claws on metal,  all the while knowing that the grapes are once again safe.  Bwahaha!

Go away ye little bugger! 

Is that mean?  

You can judge me,  I don’t care.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Sticks.  Ice.  All that.

The big eat.

Just a couple words before I lay my widdle head down.

We had the big gathering tonight,  and it was a swell time.

The food was awesome, if I must say so myself,  but I wasn’t the only one, and it was very nice to be able to sit and chat with all our friends without being drowned out by say,  several dozen patrons of some pub or other.

Not ALL of the food was prepared in our very own kitchen,  as we picked up the meat from a place in Oakville called Boffo’s,  where they stayed open just long enough for me to get there right at closing time to pick up enough meat to feed a small army.

Here’s me hugging the chef/owner Noel.  Hopefully his wife didn’t mind.

I mean,  I had just hugged Daughter Number Two who works there,  and I didn’t want him to feel left out.  I didn’t hug the rest of the staff, nor his wife.  Didn’t think that would be appropriate.

 

Anyhoodle,  there were 14 of us,  and we managed to all fit in the dining room without having to resort to any sort of “kid’s table”.

 

Also kind of hard to get everyone in the same shot.  No matter.

So that’s it.  Everyone had a fabulous time,  and there were no punch ups.  (are you kidding?)

 

Now it’s off to bed.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

And here I did all that vacuuming.

Well, it’s something that needs to be done from time to time as it is,  and the somewhat perplexing thing is,  where does the dust come from?  

Anyhoodle,  we were going to have some guests for dinner today but alas,  we’re getting more… wait for it….snow.

Pardon the language.

We’d best not complain though,  since they’ve pretty much been having “Snowmageddon”  up and down the Eastern Seaboard.  Can’t say I have anything akin to “snow envy”. 

I’ve never been a big “snow person”. 

I mean,  I’ve tried down hill skiing.  Once.

Cross country skiing.  Once.

Now,  going out on a snow machine,  that was fun.  But I have no desire to have twenty grand worth of snow machines hanging around so we can then trek somewhere north to go out and try and not hit something.

And skating?  Meh,  I can stand up.  That’s about it.  Never did ‘take’ to it.

 

I’m sure you’d just as soon not see another picture of snow,  but it either gives you an opportunity to commiserate if you’re in the same snow belt,  or gloat if you’re somewhere warmer.  I’m reluctant to say “warm” and leave it at that,  since the cold seems to creep quite a ways south it seems. 

Didn’t they have snow in Florida?  Erp.

 

The week sort of went by.  Not too much to write home about.  Travelling Companion did have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday morning,  which was kind of akin to a visit to some sort of bizarro world. 

Actually,  the word that came to mind at the time was “Clusterf**k”,  but whatever.

I’ll try not to belabour the point,  but the first “waiting room”  isn’t.  It’s only where you check in.  THEN you have to wind your way down a somewhat narrow hallway (in my humble opinion) to get to “Waiting Room B”.  Not sure what the “B” stands for,  since I didn’t notice if the first area was “Waiting Room A”.  Maybe the “B” stands for Boredom?   The whole thing only took an hour, (*only*) with pretty much fifty minutes of that spent in the waiting area.  Seriously.

This is T.C.’s “Internist”.   Whatever the hell that means. 

Anyway,  she’s fine.  The blood thinner medication was off by a long shot,  so they changed that.  This was a slight oversight by our family doc,  but that’s another story.  I like the guy,  and we’ve had him since he came out of med school back in the early 80s,  but I told him,  “Stop delivering babies!”.   He’s got over 5000 patients! 

That’s nuts.

 

Forgot to mention.  Bought me a new tool.

AND,  by means of the best kind of shopping imaginable.  Right from this keyboard! 

Anyway,  it’s this oscillating thingy. 

 

I guess I didn’t take a proper picture,  so I stole this one off their site.

There’s a better version here, if you’re remotely interested.

 

As part of my next project,  I really need to remove the flooring and trim from where the cabinets are going to go,  and it didn’t take me too long to remember just how freakin’ tough oak is.   I gave up on trying to cut by hand in a hurry,  and went shopping.

It does an awesome job. 

Noisy little bugger though.  Glad I had earplugs handy.  And I had it on the lowest setting.

The oscillating thingy is good in tight spots,  but you can only really cut the width of that blade on each painfully slow pass. 

To do the rest of the floor,  I broke out the cordless circular saw.

For that of course,  I thought I’d best try and keep the dust confined.

Probably took me longer to do all that than to do the actual cutting.

 

I guess I  have nothing else floating around in my pea brain.  Time to go out and clear the driveway.  Again.

We rescheduled our guests for the 21st of March.  Closer to something resembling spring.

 

Thanks for stopping by.