Piss poor packaging results in Pitiful Performance.

Not sure why these kind of thoughts enter my pea brain,  but I figured it would make a half decent post title.

This is the second time that something that could possibly be broken or damaged in transit from Amazon has arrived broken or damaged.   It's a crap shoot apparently.   Most things,  and they're usually things unavailable locally that I order,  are items that cannot possible have anything done to them.
You know,  batteries.   Random replacement cords.  Elastic for masks due to a Pandemic.

Stuff like that.

Just punt it up the driveway.  It'll be fine.

But then,  as all the stores were closed,  there was a "thing"  that was deemed necessary for a birthday present,  and the entire process was just a clusterfuck.

Firstly,  it was "in stock",  so we ordered it.  And mysteriously,  it was then "out of stock",  and "we're not sure when we are expecting this item". 

Huh?

So,  I chatted with somebody or other,  who then cancelled that order and sent another colour.   Which ironically,  turned out to be the colour we wanted in the first place.   But,  instead of arriving some three weeks ago,  it wasn't due to get her until today.

Well,  what you gonna do in a Pandemic?   So that was that.

Then of course,  it arrived chipped.

What the f**k!!

So back it went.

It's one thing to chip the enamel of your Dutch Oven after you've had it for maybe ten years,  but not if it's never seen the inside of an oven even once.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of monkey it is that packs these things,  but the way I packed it to send it back was a better job than their method of throwing one box inside another with a few feet of paper to keep it in place.

That method didn't seem to work.

It should be noted that Amazon keeps looking for more people to come and work at their distribution facilities.   There's no mention however,  as to whether those folks should actually have a brain in their head.   And who knows,  maybe it was damaged before it even got to Amazon?   Do they bother to check on stuff that arrives at the distribution centre?

What ever.


There was no option on the "next...next....next"  Amazon return page for any kind of a replacement,  so after conferring with T.C.,  I slapped on the shipping labels and made a jaunt to the Post Office.

I mean,  the good news is,  We'll get our money back,  and return shipping is free,  but seriously.   All they had to do was put in just a wee bit more paper inside the "outside" box to keep the "inside" box from moving around.  Didn't do that.

Oh and,   the other thing?   "Made in China".

*grumble*

T.C. didn't really want it if it were made in China,  but nowhere on the web page did it say anything about that.   Not sure you can get much of anything that's not made in China these days,  but we'd sure like to get away from that if at all possible.


Other than bitching about that this morning,  I got nothin'.

The weather's perfect.   The grass needs to be cut.

Sailing this summer looks like it's pretty much off the table.   Regattas and racing have been getting cancelled left right and centre.

My understanding is that the boat is in the water,  and I guess that if any ONE of us wants to go out with the Skipper,  that would be fine.   But sailing is more about the company and the conversation than just getting from point A to point B.

This too shall come to pass.

Hope everyone is OK.

Keep that stick on the ice,  and thanks for stopping by.

Don't be fooled.

We get these things from various companies from time to time,  usually letting us know when their shareholder elections are coming up, and just how a person can go about voting.
This is pretty standard stuff. 
I've never, ever even entertained the idea of going off to some city in... (insert State or Province) to vote for some Board of Directors.  AND,  I've managed to tick the boxes enough times to no longer get these silly notifications.   Except for a couple.

Now,  I probably should let them know that we don't really need to read an annual report,  but it's still a pretty good read. 

Like I said,  "Don't be fooled".

These aren't the really pricey shares.  These are the cheap ones. 

Curiously,  they have a fair amount of money invested in Airlines.  I wonder how that's working out for them. 

I'm just going to now put in some random pictures,  as I have very little else to say.  Well,  except that, after taking T.C. to just one more store yesterday,  we probably needn't crawl out of our abode for another six weeks.  Some sort of "ground hog" syndrome.

The other night,  I cooked up some burgers,  and was thinking of George Yates.   Even before his untimely death a while back,  it seemed that he always came to mind every time I fired up the Weber.

T.C. wanted a picture of her daffodils.  Not sure if this will do.

There's not too much else happening out there,  and she's waiting patiently for the weather to warm up just ever so slightly so she can start messing about with her roses.



It's been a cold,  windy and sometimes wet April so far. 
And just you wait,  one day it'll blast up into shorts weather,  and we'll all be wondering just what the hell happened.


On my end of things,  my nephew dropped off a table that I said I'd strip for them.  I remember this table from when he and his new bride lived in our basement apartment back in the early 90s.   It's definitely showing the signs of having raised three kids,  along with a few cats and dogs.

It's been sitting out there since Saturday,  and I only yesterday decided to slap some stripper on one of the leaves.  Just have to do it.  I'll plug away.

I like to pretend that I'm "busy",  but that fits in with the theme of this missive.

They're not in any hurry for it (well,  they'd better not be!)  as they're moving to a new place in May which,  admittedly is coming up pretty soon. 



I guess that's all I got.   We'll be having a little Zoom session this afternoon with our usual Pub bunch,  so we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for stopping by and moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep your stick on the ice.

And wash your hands.

The Good Friday routine.

You know when you're sitting in some random restaurant washroom (OK, "restroom"  for you Yanks)  and you notice how the partitions are held together with these really weird fasteners?   Well,  no matter the fastener,  I've got that bit!
And it wasn't a job related thing either,  although I could understand why you would think that,  in light of that whole "Caretaker"  thing.
No,  I have this thing about,  I don't know,  being able to disassemble just about anything.  Or maybe there are certain tool sellers who rope me in from time to time?  Not sure what it is.

Re-assembly is another story.  But thankfully,  most of the stuff I take apart isn't "rocket science".  Good thing too.

So,  where the fork am I going with this?

Well,  the "routine" on Good Friday is,  T.C. makes "Bean soup",  for her,  and anyone one else who might be here,  as she observes the whole "no meat Friday"  thing.  Only on good Friday.  Although,  admittedly, there have been times when we've picked up fish and chips on the way home from the pub on a random Friday night. 

Ah yes,  the pub on a Friday night.  (sad face)

I will eat the bean soup,  although admittedly it isn't my favourite.  She likes to cut it with a wee dram of vinegar,  and by leaving out that one ingredient,  I can eat it,  and enjoy it.   Helps to be ravishingly hungry too.

The other thing she does on Good Friday,  is cook the Easter Ham.   I didn't think to take a pic of the Easter Ham,  but let me tell ya,  it's mighty yummy.
There's a certain irony there I realise,  as she's cooking something that she cannot eat.

In my case however,  I don't do that whole,  " no meat of Good Friday"  thing.   I was willing to make a peanut butter sandwich,  but when I mentioned that I was still hungry after the bowl of bean soup,  T.C. suggested that I try the ham.  I do think she came mighty close to trying some,  but she resisted.

So here's the thing.  Apparently, if you baste the ham with apple cider,  the ham flavour somehow intensifies.   I have no clue how this works.  Maybe something to do with the acidity in the cider?   All I know is,  mighty good ham.   I'll be having more come Sunday.

The only slight trouble is,  if you happen to get a little carried away with the ham basting,  and squirt cider onto the back of the oven?   Ruh-roh!  No bueno.

BUT!   I sorted it out! 

This is where the whole,  "weird ass fastener" comes into play.  The back panel is held on with Torx screws.   Now,  maybe that's not all that exotic,  but it sure is if you don't have the proper sized bit.

It's so much easier to clean parts when you can do it in the sink.  And surprisingly,  it just wiped right off.  I'm sure the oven was hot,  but whatever.


OK,  maybe that's not that exciting.  But hey,  I was pretty darned stoked.

*******

In other "news",  Daughter Number One,  who now has a whole whack of extra time on her hands,  made us an Easter Egg,  and brought it over today.

Well truthfully,  she knows her Mom has a collection of eggs that she brings out at Easter,  so really it was for the collection.  It had very little to do with me I'm afraid.

Now,  I realise I should have separated it out,  but the black one in there is the one D.N.O made.

We were slightly slack jawed.  It's...kind of awesome.

When she brought over the Egg,  she let us know what the latest was concerning her job.  Seems she was hoping to be laid off (huh?)  but that didn't happen,  but instead,  she's been cut back to four days a week.   All benefits to continue,  and she can still work from home.   The whole working from home already gives her an additional three hours a day that she no longer has to waste having to take the train in to Toronto.   Same goes for her hubby.   They seem to be able to stay out of each others hair,  and have arranged some sort of "home office"  set-up for each of them that works.
Oh and,  she let us know that she put on a pair of jeans for the first time in three weeks,  and they STILL FIT!   Whoohoo!

Not sure if they'll ever want to do the commute again,  to be honest.  I did it once upon a time,  and can't even fathom ever doing it again.  There are many things that I cannot fathom ever doing again.

Working for a living comes to mind.

Anyhoodle,  hope this finds you well.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep that stick on the ice.

And wash your hands!

And the Self Isolation continues!!

Heh. 

Well,  I think I might have mentioned at some point over the years that I,  in fact,  could quite likely get along just fine living as a "recluse".   Not a hermit,  mind you.  I likes my wifi and all that.  And getting deliveries to the door would be problematic if living as a hermit.  Plus,  if I were to chose to live in some remote gawd fersaken place,  I'm afraid I'd be very much alone. 

Anyhoodle.   There's always something to while away the hours.  At least until my knees start to complain.  And Oh Lordy.

But this isn't a Pity Party,  so let's not go there.

After the bulk of the painting is done downstairs,  and before I starting making some moves in the furniture department,  I figured I'd suck it up and finally put down some baseboard of some sort.

This stuff is actually considered "casing",  but the baseboard that I was looking at was kinda flimsy,  and I wasn't about to blow too much dough on some fancy schmancy stuff made from Oak say,  as it is the basement after all.   I had thought that I'd be painting it one of the colours that would perhaps be a nice contrast to the paint on the walls,  but T.C. took a look at the primed bit that I put down as a bit of a reference/test,  and declared that she thought she'd like it to be white.

So white it is:

Always best to paint it ahead of time I find,  so as not to be forced to spend all that effort on hands and knees trying not to get paint everywhere.

The beauty of the white is (or any colour for that matter) I can caulk any little "issues"  I might find,  and then just paint over it.


Me likey.

None of that has actually been nailed in place,  by the way.  We're still at the "fitting" stage here.


I'll get back to this once my knees stop complaining.

And to think,  there was a time when I could spend a day doing just this,  and then go in to work and carry on until midnight. 

It's been a while.

So if I think of it,  it's been a few years now that I've been "self isolating".

Hope y'all are hanging in there.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.

And wash your hands.

It's not the painting, it's the prep.

There have been many a time when,  lying there semi-comatose on my big comfy couch down in the "Man Cave",   that I've thought that maybe,  someday,  possibly,  I'd give the whole place a paint job.

I like thoughts.   Thoughts are great.  They require minimal effort.

Then along comes T.C. who,  during our trip back from Ottawa (well,  Osgoode really)  last weekend, (no,  a week ago last weekend...) managed to "rearrange the whole house".   Here I thought she was having a little shut eye but NO,  she was THINKING.

There's a big difference,  between the way I "think" about things,  and the way T.C. "thinks" about things.   When T.C. engages in this activity,  it usually means work.

For me.

 So, along with moving random dressers,  beds and desks,  there was going to be some painting.

Ooof.


Oh ya,  forgot to mention.

Took a little road trip last week. (no Bob,  two weeks ago.)

Sister-in-law and hubby who live in Kingston,  had (wait for it) taken the train to Toronto a few weeks back,  stayed overnight at another sister-in-law's place,  and then flown off to San Diego for a visit/vacation.  Her hubby has two brothers in California.  Of course,  they naturally counted on taking the train once again back to Kingston from Toronto.

See where this is going?

They arrived back in Toronto on the Tuesday (a week ago)  and having come to terms with the train issue,  thought they'd take the BUS to Kingston.

You may or may not be aware that there have been some rail disruptions in this country due to some land disputes with some of our First Nations.  I'm not going to get into it,  'cause I'll just say something I shouldn't.  Even though it may very well be the very thing that every one is thinking.

A while back already,  we had been thinking of taking a wee trip out that way for a visit,  as both the Kingston Party and the Osgoode Parties had come for their usual Christmas visit,  and I was looking forward to showing up at their respective doors and getting fed and lubricated.

Didn't plan on driving though.

It's been a long,  long time since I ever took a bus most anywhere in this country,  and taking a bus to either Kingston or Ottawa has me hearkening back to some time in the 70s.   I was a student then,  and bus fare was something I could afford, and besides, I didn't have a car at the time.

Skip ahead some 40 years.  Um,  I don't take no bus.  And I don't expect anyone else close to my age or older to it either.

Besides, ever heard of The Corona virus?   To me,  a bus would just be a smaller version of a Petri dish,  such as those really big Petri dishes, that on the outside look suspiciously like a cruise ships.



So,  we drove off to Toronto a week ago last Thursday morning to fetch the Travellers,  and continues on to Kingston.   We didn't stay in Kingston,  even though we were invited,  as I know perfectly well that,  when I've been away for any length of time,  the very last thing I would want, would be to play host to a couple folks who,  even though they may have provided some very timely transportation,  are still going need a bed made up and food put on the table. 

Besides,  it was only another couple hours to get to Osgoode,  so as to mooch off the other set of Christmas guests.   Also,  it was my sister's birthday (indeterminate age,  but she's older than me)  She lives in Nepean (part of greater Ottawa)  and we wanted to see her on her birthday.

All well and good.

Skip then ahead to getting home and getting to work.

It's OK.   Really.  I don't mind too much.  Except that,  in "Bob Land",  we don't just prime and paint over the crappy jobs that have gone on before. 

First of all,  back in 1992,  when we built this apartment,  there was a bit of a push on to get it done in a timely fashion.  Took long enough to clean out all the junk,  come up with some sort of layout,  cut up the concrete floor for the plumbing,  and then get on with putting up walls, etc.

As a result,  there were several "hands" at work.  With varying degrees of skill,  let's say?   So there was that.

Then skip ahead to around 2001,  and Daughter Number Two and one of her college buddies thought they'd paint.  Well.  I'll not say much,  except that I'm now taking the time to first of all fix some of the dry walling boo-boos from way back,  and then sorting out some of the other "issues".   Like,  I just spent maybe a half hour scraping paint off of a phone jack that should have been removed,  and not half painted over.

That sort of thing.

And yes,  once upon a time,  we had these things called "phone jacks".   Old school I realise.  But I either keep it in its place,  or patch the ensuing hole once I take it out.  Either way,  pain in the ...

You might notice up at the top of that one window there,  where you can see the corner bead?  Wasn't done properly.  Had to scrap off the very thin layer of drywall compound and fix it by taping it,  and then applying more mud.

So I did get one wall completely done,  and some stuff put back in that corner.  I initially,  naively thought I'd completely remove the cantilevered cabinet where that TV is sitting,  but thought better of it. 

Too many wires.

And,  that's life here at The Ponderosa.

Just when you think you're "retired".

Ha!


Thanks for stopping by.

Keep that stick on the ice.

Up and down like a toilet seat.

The temperature,  that is.   We're finally getting a bit of our "come-upance"  on the Winter end of things.  A few days ago it was plus five,  and this morning it's something like minus 13. (wrote this a couple days ago,  sorry)  I'm not translating to Fahrenheit.  And don't get me started when it comes to the goofiness of Fahrenheit.  Why 32?  Why not,  forty-seven?

On the winter end of things,  so far I haven't really minded.   It's been suspiciously mild.  So much so that I felt compelled to go out and rake up some random leaves that were just way too messy for me to tolerate.   Trying not to slip over the edge here.

This will serve as my once quarterly blog entry.  And thanks to any and all who hang around to read this drivel.

Which brings me to a bit of a sad topic,  and that is the passing of someone who always was willing to put a comment on the blog,  and who will now be missed for that and other reasons.  Of course,  I'm referring to George Yates,  the author of Our Awesome Travels.
I never actually met George or Suzie,  but I did happen to see George a couple years back in Grand Bend,  as I was sitting in my truck waiting for a buddy to come out of Tim Horton's with our coffees.  George was just coming out of Grandpa Jimmy's,  and the first thing I noticed was the big ole hat that he had on his head.
This blogging thing can be a bit of a strange critter,  as there have been others (Rod Ivers of Retired Rod)  who have passed away,  and been sorely missed.    Margie and Bruce Mallin also come to mind.
When you read about it,  it sort of "hits you",  in a way that's hard to explain.

But,  let's not too maudlin here.


OK,  what else was I going to say?

I've been messing about in my "shop",  of course.   Finally replaced a "temporary"  out-feed attachment to my table-saw that I built in (wait for it)  1992.    It was supposed to be temporary.   Plus,  I had to mend it at least a couple times over the years decades.

Here it is:

 Simply a frame with some thin MDF attached.  It was held on with a barrel bolt and a bungee cord.  I could take it off,  fold up the legs and set it aside.

But I wanted something that was on the table saw on a more permanent basis.   Starting with this:

And then another frame attached to that:

Then you end up with this:

Which then becomes this:

I was too lazy to make new legs,  as the ones off the old extension were perfectly serviceable.


And this,  is how I spend my days.  And of course,  as I'm not overly creative/clever/whatever,  this kind of thing not only takes me forever,  but wasn't even my idea.   Stole it off the net.   Now,  in my defence,  the original was built back when cell phones were the size of a brick and the "internet"  was some sort of "inter-netting"  in swim trunks.  You know,  to help keep *things* in place.

In other news,  it's also taken me something like 30 years to finally break my wooden mallet. 
 Dang it.

Supposed to kinda look like this:

I've whaled on the end of a lot of a lot of chisels with this thing over the years,  and now I suspect I'll have to make a new one.  Again.  Dang it.   I'll stick it together with some construction adhesive,  and see how that works.

I originally made it when I was making our blanket chest.  All hand cut dovetails,  in cherry wood no less.  Coincidentally,  it was once again cherry wood that I was whaling on this time when it came asunder.

Oh and,  if you think you can just "use a hammer"?   Well yes,  you can.  Good luck.  It helps to be able to look at where you're actually placing the tip of the chisel,  as opposed to striking the end of the chisel with the hammer.  And not your hand.  A mallet is more forgiving,  that is,  easier to aim.

And there you have it.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

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.

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.

Just running around.

And I've been home now for... a time (too embarrassed to say),  and I still haven't done a damned thing.

There was the weekly breakfast,  and then a side trip to Crappy Tire for some clear plastic totes for more "stuff".   Gotta store your "stuff"  properly.   Mind you,  this is my sister-in-law's "stuff",  but never fear,  we've got our share too.

Then it was off to the clock store/jeweller/whatever,  to drop off a mantel clock that emerged as a result of sorting through the "stuff",   and then on to Costco for a propane refill  (it's like...13 bucks,  as opposed to something like 19 at the gas station!)   and then a quick visit to the local "Liquidation Warehouse"  to look through their "stuff",  and then finally a side trip to Dollarama for well,  "necessary stuff",  like hand soap and such. 

The "highlight" of the day was renewing my membership at MEC.

So,  lemme 'splain.    Mountain Equipment Coop is a supplier of all things outdoors.  Camping,  hiking,  biking,  skiing.  You name it.

Now,  once upon a time,  they were a "mail order"  type of outfit,  something like L.L.Bean,  or at least the way L.L. Bean used to be.  You can order from any of them on line these days.

Back in the day,  you filled out the form in the catalogue,  calculated the tax and shipping,  sent off your cheque with the said form,  and waited for your package to arrive.    MEC had the one and only location on King Street in Toronto way back when,  but now of course,  they're all over Canada.

Note,  I said Canada. 

I seem to recall ordering a rain coat that I kept and used until something like 2001.  I kid you not.  Good value.

Anyway,  as strange as it may sound,  you have to be a "member".   I'm sure there's some sort of legal mumbo-jumbo involved that allows them to call themselves a "Coop",  but the thing is,  I became a member sometime back in either 1975 or 1976.   (Oh wait,  somewhere it says,  "owned by its members".  OK then,  I'm a part "owner".  *snort*!)


 The start of  the conversation with the young lady at the counter went something like,  "Back in the days when your parents were still in school and quite possibly hadn't met yet,  I became a member of this coop."

The trick was,  where exactly was I living when I signed up?   Oh by the way,  the cost of membership?  Five bucks.

I was actually willing to cough up another five bucks if we couldn't find me in the data base.  The membership never expires,  and all of the paper records had been transferred onto computer at some point.   The young lady was pretty certain that I was in there.

We tried a few different addresses.  Hamilton, Dundas,  Burlington.   And she found me.  Dundas!   It was my last year of High School,  and I was paying room and board in Dundas so I could finish up my final year.   The rest of the household had moved to Burlington,  but I wasn't about to tag along.   That's another story.

Anyhoo,  I suppose I can once again buy camping stuff.  Not that I'd be doing a whack of camping.  Or if I did,  I'd be on my own let's just say?   Plus,  half the time the deals on Amazon are somewhat better but hey,  Christmas is coming,  and at least one of the Daughter Units likes to car camp,  so who knows?   Well,  she and her S.O do go skiing too,  so that's also a possibility.


Hope ya learned something.

Thanks for stopping by.

And remember,  keep your stick on the ice.

On a bit of a roll.

I wanted to say,  "on a tear",   but that's a tricky word.  There were no tears (weeping) involved,  but it's the same word used to rip something in two.   Sometimes I feel bad (actually, "badly" but that doesn't sound right)  for those whose Mother Tongue is not English,  and who then have to try and figure it out.   That word "tear",  is not only a homonym,  but are heteronym. 

OK,  confused yet?   I knew it was a "homonym",  but didn't realise there were different types until I looked it up.   Isn't the internet wonderful? 

Well,  mostly.

Anyhoo,  I got it into my pea brain yesterday morning to do a little maintenance around the joint,  and started off by changing the oil in the stand-by generator.  It wasn't due for an oil change,  but I wasn't keen on the look of the oil,  and I have this thing about changing oil in a machine at least once a year anyway,  whether it needs it or not. 

You can see there that the oil looks kind of gross.  I even flushed some fresh oil through the thing,  just because I could.  Oil is cheap,  basically,  and I have damned near half a case of oil left over from when I used do oil changes on the motorhome.   And no,  it wasn't about the money.  Just the inconvenience of getting the thing out of storage,  taking it to some place that had a hoist that was capable of lifting the thing.  The final straw was when the dizzy...whatever at the counter forgot my appointment,  and well,  that kinda turned me off going back there.   Bought a creeper,  a case of oil at Costco,  and picked up filters at Napa.  And that was that.

But I digress.

Oh and by the way,  yes I unhooked the negative terminal of the battery.  If it were to randomly start up due to a power outage (really?)  that would be a definite "no bueno".

As I was in the mood,  I figured I'd do the lawn mower too.  And yes,  I know,  changing the oil in the fall is kinda dumb,  but it's been a while,  and....oil is cheap.

The blue mat is for my ageing knees.

What I have done in the case of each of these thingies is,  I write right next to the oil drain plug the size of the wrench I need.  A "Sharpie" works great.
The generator is 13mm,  the mower is 10.   So much easier than fumbling around.
I think I saw that tip way back when,  in the pre-internet days of "Popular Mechanics".  You could glean a certain amount of useful information to help you do your own stuff.  After having sifted through all the flotsam of course.

Kind of like the internet,  actually.  The flotsam part, I mean.


Now I just have to use up or drain the fuel in the mower and the weed whacker,  and that'll be it for the season.  I *might*  need to cut the grass one last time.  We'll see.

And....if the weather is anything like it is today for our trip to Buffalo on Monday to see the Bills game,  it's gonna kinda suck.

We're having some sort of apocalyptic rain and wind today,  and it ain't pleasant out there at all. 

Having a bitch of a time with grabbing a screen shot with this f**king Windows 10 that I have.  Crikey.   But here's what I got:

We'll see what Monday brings.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!

Sorry,  but if you didn't spend your Saturday late nights watching the late John Belushi and his wacky interpretation of a short order cook who only knew how to cook one thing,  then I'm truly sad for you.

I tried to find a clip of Belushi, Akroyd and Bill Murray doing that skit,  but it so happens (and I certainly didn't know this) that the skit they did on SNL was based on an actual restaurant in Chicago,  where they've been carrying on with this sort of spiel for many years now.

Anyway,  a few days ago I had frozen up some burgers for future consideration,  and thought maybe I'd cook up a couple on the grill.

Kind of a lousy picture actually. 
I had picked up some lean ground beef at one of the local "Deli" type places here in town  (Denninger's if you must know)  made up a few burgers,  froze them individually,  and then shrink wrapped them in this 'food saver'  shrink wrap thingy that Daughter Number Two gave us.

It's kind of awesome really,  but that's a whole other story.

The curious thing was,  they had different trays of burgers that they had made up,  with the simplest version called "gourmet burgers".   So,  since I'm essentially lazy,  and was considering  just taking a short cut and buying a few,  I asked one of the clerks just what was in these "gourmet burgers"?
Well,  it was only ground beef made into the shape of a patty! 

Right. 

My burgers a just a wee bit more involved,  with chopped Onion,  Worcestershire Sauce,  Bread Crumbs,  an egg,  salt and pepper,  along with another secret ingredient. 
Ok fine.  Not that much of a secret really.  It's Steak Spice.   I've never had anyone complain about my burgers being bland.
Once in a while I serve them with fried onions,  but this time I decided on some "American Cheese".
By that I mean,  those plastic wrapped cheese slices that are really only good for burgers or making grilled cheese sandwiches.  I'm pretty sure it's cheese.

Cooking them from a frozen state isn't too much of a problem.  Just have to make sure they're cooked is all.
I didn't manage to take a picture of the ensuing cheeseburgers,  as by then I was getting kind of hungry and scarfed them down in about two minutes flat.

Along with that,  my sister-in-law had called to ask if I could please come and pick up some beans,  as the garden is just going crazy.   The garden that she has at the back of her place (huge pie shaped lot)  is sort of a joint effort for a few of us,  with me being in charge of fencing and putting up whatever structure required for the pole beans and cucumbers. 
Oh,  and I installed a sprinkler/soaker type of arrangement,  so that she only has to hook up the hose to the one end and turn it on.
The garden is maybe 20 by 60?  Haven't ever really measured it.


So I spent some time blanching and freezing a basket of beans.    Divvied them up into the proper amounts for two or four servings.

The cucumber she gave me was perfect.

I like it cut up with just a tiniest bit of salt.  Yummy.


Mind you,  no need for the elaborate sprinkler/soaker system lately,  as we've had our share of torrential downpours over the last few days.   Didn't sail Tuesday night,  as there was the threat of lightening.  Never a good idea to be on the water with one of them pointy things (called a mast,  hello)  when there's the chance of an electrical storm. 
We went up to the clubhouse for dinner and beer.

There's been a nice break in the weather as a result,  and last night it was actually cool enough that I could keep the bedroom window closed,  and avoid being woke up by the annoying dog next door. 

I swear,  I'm going to have a tee-shirt made up with "How do you like my chainsaw?"  in big letters on the front,  and then right under it in smaller print it'll say,  "I don't have a barking dog to annoy you,  so this'll have to do".

Too much to read I realise,  and I'm sure I'd be the only one to see it anyway.  Maybe a big flag on a huge flag pole?


Well,  that's lunch.   Back to painting.

Oh joy.

Keep those sticks on the ice.

Thanks for stopping by.

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.