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.

OK so, it's SNOWING!

Note: This was actually yesterday's post,  but somehow (somehow?)  I got lazy and didn't finish what I started.   BUT,  it's snowing again this morning. )


I wanted (like, really) wanted to put the "F" word in there.  But I think you get the drift.  That,  and of course the wind is blowing.
It's flippin' April 21st.

(No,  see above....)

That's about all I have on my mind at the moment. 

Well,  and I did just order some "stuff"  on line just now.  "Free delivery",  or you could order for pick up,  and they'd bring it out to your vehicle.   But then I'd have to,  I don't know,  drive there?

Mind you,  gas is so cheap right now,  that just driving around isn't such a huge deal, but why?  We've been so programmed to try and make every trip count,  and not run around aimlessly,  that it somehow just doesn't feel right to "go for a drive".  I know there are some who do,  and I do appreciate the need to keep from going bonkers,  so I'm OK with that.

Just not my thing.

Now,  speaking of making a trip for nothing,  I did the trip to Costco this morning.

First of all,  Costco has set it up so that "Seniors and those with mobility issues"  can come in on Tuesday,  Wednesday and Thursday from between eight and nine.

Well,  even though the streets of Burlington seemed relatively calm and I dare say deserted,  that was NOT the case this morning at Costco.  And this was at about 7:45.  Somehow I think that every flippin' senior in town was lined up to get in to Costco.   I mean like,  they were lined up around the building. 

And as we well know,  it's a BIG big building.


First of all,  my left knee has been giving me some grief today (weather related?  possibly)  so without a cart to lean on,  that was reason number one why this wasn't the place for me.   The reason number two?   Number Two.
Let me repeat that.   Number Two.

Early in the morning?  Old guy?

I do vividly recall shitting myself when I was about four, maybe?  That sensation of having a nice warm turd just hanging there right below the crack of yer arse is something that one tends to remember for a long,  long time.

Needless to say,  it's a memory that'd I'd prefer to not revisit.  Once was enough.

Now,  I realise there may come a day,  maybe twenty,  thirty years from now?   Let's not even think about it.


Anyhoodle,  T.C.  and I made a little trip to see each of the Daughter Units to drop off some Muffin Mix (it's a Mom thing) .  Plus,  Daughter Number One had been lamenting the fact that,  normally she only makes coffee at home on the weekends,  as she's one of those commuter types,  and she's been going through her really pricey fancy coffee,  so I took her some of the cheap stuff.  I just drink the cheap stuff.    No cat pooped coffee for me.  (There's a bit of a poop theme going on here.)

These deliveries took place some time around three in the afternoon,  so we thought,  "Why not at least drive by the Costco and see how it looks?"   It didn't look that bad!
So we went in.   You can't just wander in.   They're only allowing so many in the store,  but we were maybe only number 10 in line.
Of course,  there are still a few boneheads who still haven't cottoned on to the procedure.  One old guy was either trying to cut in to get a cart or whatever,  and was informed by the staff that he had to get in line and they'd give him a (freshly sanitised) cart.   He then walked past me,  said something or other,  and touched my shoulder!   What the actual fuck!?
That coat is hanging up out in the garage.   Don't fucking touch me! 
Even when there's no Goddamned Pandemic,  don't touch me!

And that's not to say I wanted to knock him on his ass or anything.  I think he was just trying to be friendly.  Plus,  knocking him on his ass would involve having to touch him. Gah!

Well,  out weekly "Meeting"  with my breakfast group is about to start.  So that's it for me.


Hope y'all are well.

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

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.

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.

Observing National Poop Day.

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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

There are others who come to mind:

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

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

Sadly,  they'll all be missed.

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

Oh Baby, it's cold out!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep your stick on the ice.

I'm out.

Well, here it is 2019.

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

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

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

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

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

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

*thinks*

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


Oh,  I have a picture. 

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

And there it is:







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

It did.

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

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

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

Keep that stick on the ice.


I'm out.

A moratorium on dish soap.

It is not permitted,  for the foreseeable future (or at least until the end of 2019 I'm thinking) to buy any more dish soap. 


Oh and,  a belated "Happy Halloween".

Whatever.


So here's the thing.   Once again this year,  Travelling Companion and I leave the house in darkness and go out to dinner on Halloween.  I'm sort of on the fence when it comes to giving out candy.  I don't really mind,  but it usually ends up with me ignoring the doorbell,  and T.C. jumping up to see what little goblin or whatever is out there looking for a hand out.

Plus,  a couple years ago,  I had to dash off to the store to see if I could scare up anything else to hand out,  as we were running low,  and I do seem to recall in previous years having so much candy left over that I'm still struggling to shed the extra pounds that I put on.
So why do this??

Anyway,  for what we spent on dinner,  we probably could have just HIRED someone to give out candy.  More cost effective.
Plus,  T.C. was saying that she felt somewhat nauseous in the middle of the night,  and we're not sure what that was all about.  I slept like a rock.

Maybe next year we'll stay home?  We'll see.

The slight wrinkle was,  we both had an appointment at the dentist at three,  and then a whack of time to kill before our somewhat early dinner reservation at 6:30. 

What to do?

There was a stop at Indigo (overpriced books and stuff)  and then on to "Winners"  where T.C. did find a pair of jeans at a decent price.

This,  by the way,  is at the newly revamped "Burlington Centre",  which used to be simply "Burlington Mall".  It's not the centre of anything,  but whatever.
I don't really go there,  except to go to Derringer's once in a while.   They've moved from their previous somewhat inaccessible location to what is now a huge spot the now newly renovated mall.

Next stop,  Costco. 

Well,  I think you know where we're headed.

See,  whenever I stop in at Costco,  which is about every six weeks or so,  I rarely take a cart.  I dash in,  pick up the two or three items that I *know* we need (coffee comes to mind)  and book it for the exit.  Well,  I pay first,  but you know what I mean.

This time,  we took a cart.

Oh boy.

T.C. had her smart phone out,  with it set to the calculator function,  and was dutifully checking to see if it was a "good deal"  and all that,  but now of course,  we have at least nine full containers of Dawn dish soap.   See,  you have to buy a packet of three,  not just one.   And I guess I had bought a packet of three at some point in the last six months,  even though we still had two or three tucked away already. 
I'll be using it to bathe in I guess.
So if you're looking to buy shares of Proctor and Gamble,  I'd say it's a good bet.



I should mention that the Boys and I did our annual pilgrimage to an NFL game on Monday.   Turns out,  it's the first Monday night game they've had in Buffalo for 10 years.

I think the best word to sum it up?   "COLD".

It threatened to rain,  which thankfully didn't amount to much,  but moreover the *wind* was problematic,  shall we say?

Here we are,  somewhat huddled around our campfire.


Which of course,  meant that I had to wash everything that I had been wearing "around the campfire",  as it stunk of smoke.

I had to tie our shelter thingy to the truck to keep it from simply lifting off.

Gotta love the portability and reliability of the Weber for this sort of thing.  Those too came from Costco.    Good eats!

We did have an enjoyable time,  but I did admit at one point when dropping off my passengers that,  there were a couple moments when I was pining for my nice warm couch in front of the fire,  which is my usual NFL game protocol.

The Bills lost,  which was no surprise.  Their quarterback situation is a bit of a clusterf**k,   and in typical fashion,  the Patriots come out after half time,  once they've gone over a few things that they see going on with any opposing team they face,  an proceed to basically crush them.

I also tend to think there's more animosity in the seats than on the field, and the notion of "rabid fans"  did come to mind. 
But I guess that's the nature of that particular beast.

We didn't see anyone getting booted from the proceedings this time around.

For a couple years now,  maybe longer,  they've had a sort of "fan snitch line" prominently displayed for all to see,  and I guess it's been used enough now that the rowdier knobs know where to draw the line.

I guess.   Or maybe it was just too f**king cold to throw the gloves off,  so to speak.

I suspect that if/when we go next year,  we just *might* pick a game a bit earlier in the season?
Either that or I need to buy some mukluks or something.  All of me was toasty warm,  except the feet.  Not completely frozen through,  but borderline uncomfortable.

Sure glad the heater in the truck is a good one.


I suppose that'll be it for me once again for a few days.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep that 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.

Give peas a chance.

That one got a groan from Travelling Companion. 

See,  I had a hankering for a "hot turkey sandwich",  and I don't know about how you do this,   but I'm pretty sure it comes with peas.   If they're frozen peas,  that's fine.   She couldn't find the peas.   And that's not the way things usually go.  Typically,  I'm the one who can't fine things, but our little chest freezer is a wee bit on the full side lately,  especially with Thanksgiving and all.  Since well,  we didn't exactly eat all the stuff that had been prepared and frozen ahead of time,  "just in case".
Because,  even though just about everyone brought a dish,  we were without question,  going to starve to death.  (That's sarcastic font,  by the way.)

And by the way,  I started this last night,  but got interested in a thing about the Ringling Bros. on Public Television and didn't come back.

Of course,  as it was the first day after Thanksgiving,  there's always going to be turkey left over,  and I'm just about at the end of the line when it comes to turkey sandwiches and such.  I think that the "hot turkey sandwich" will be pretty much the end of it.   I'll try and polish off some tomorrow  today for lunch but then,   I'm out.

This year we decided to forgo the trip up to The Kawarthas for Thanksgiving,  as we were not able to find a decent place to stay (too crowded at my niece and nephew's place)  for a half decent price.  The one place that's not too far away is something like nine hundred bucks for the weekend and well,  the owners really need to do a little sprucing up on that place.  So,  when offered,  we had to decline.

Besides,  for a few years now after coming back from Europe,  we've been doing the Kawarthas thing,  which meant that Daughter Number Two and Hubby wouldn't be there,  as they have two dogs and a cat,  and are unable to be away for any length of time.  I have no opinion about that. I'm sure any one of their pet owning neighbours would be quite happy to look in on the pets/walk the dogs/whatever,  but there's some sort of "separation anxiety"  going on there.  I think.

So this year,  we had seventeen for dinner,  including both daughters and various other relations.  No pictures.  Well,  none for the internet at least.

There hasn't been too much else that's been overly excited since you last heard from me.   The sailing season is winding up.  We have one more "thing" this coming weekend called the "Die Hards",   and if it were to happen today,  for example,   we'd be wearing our shorts and sun block.   We're having a couple days of record setting heat here at The Ponderosa.   It's kinda crazy actually.  I know it can get warm in October,  but this is a wee bit nuts.

I don't mind.   But I refuse to put on the air conditioning.

Speaking of Daughter Number Two,  I pressed her into service to help with some grunt work on Friday,  as I had been wanting to split up all of the firewood that I ended up with after the two remaining ash trees were cut down.

So,  from this:

To this:

And no,  we didn't split by hand,  I rented a gas powered splitter from The Home Despot.  It was about 80 bucks (taxes in) for four hours.  Well worth it.

Similar to this:

I'm not entirely sure I'll live long enough to burn up all the firewood that has been produced,  but I'll give it a good try.   Some cold weather would be helpful.   Not that I'm wishing for winter or anything.  Just saying.

I mentioned Travelling Companion earlier.   Did I also mention she took a trip to Africa?

I'm not kidding.   First to Paris for an overnight,  then on to Nairobi,  where she and her sister went to a wedding.   Then a safari run by the Maasai Tribe
Then back to Paris and down to Lyon,  where the two of them stayed for 10 days with friends of her sister in a little place called Barberaz.
Anyhoo,  she was gone from August 14th until September 6th.   Had a wonderful time.
Glad to be home.  I soon realised that life on my own kinda sucked.  Especially at meal time.  "Cooking" for one is a challenge.  Note the quotation marks.


She was going to take a cab/limo home,  but I chose to pick her up at the airport.   Not for the faint of heart,  as their arrival or trip through the airport was somewhat delayed.   You might get onto the ground on time,  but if there's some other issue with baggage handling,  or customs or whatever,  you're still going to be late.   This time it was baggage.  I think.  I don't quite remember.
My arm was getting tired from holding onto the roses I had brought.

Hey,  some times I take pictures of "stuff",  and I have no idea what to do with them.  So there you go.

Now,  don't be fooled.  I normally don't do this sort of thing,  but it was a long trip,  and she likes flowers.  So what the hell.  A feller has to score a couple bonus points from time to time.
They lasted over a week.   And that whole "lasting" thing is the reason I typically don't buy flowers.  At least not roses.  They're expensive,  and they're gone in no time it seems.

Oh,  and by the way,  "Valentine's Day"?   Never.  Not even a box of chocolates.  We just don't go there.


I'm sure there were a few more things that happened,  but I suspect you're eyes are getting tired from moving back and forth,  so I'll pack it in for now.

Thanks for stopping by.


:)

Got yesterday's forecast, today.

I usually check one of the radar sites any time we're about to head out on the water and of course,  today I didn't bother,  as I only had in mind to cut the grass.

Nope.










Um,  ya.   We're right in the line of fire,  so to speak.   Sure wish the folks out west were getting this rain.  I mean,  it saves me from watering the grass, which I'm never keen on doing anyway (it's GRASS!   It'll grow back!)    But we certainly don't need it as much as the folks suffering through wild fires.

Anyhoo,  had yet another "weekend on the water",  as the Yacht Club that we sail out of had it's annual "Bronte Rocks Regatta"  which consisted of three races around the "cans" on Saturday,  and then a point to point race on Sunday.

Saturday night,  the club puts out dinner and pitchers of margaritas.  Dinner was what I thought good value at 22 bucks,  while pitchers of margaritas were 25.   I'm not overly keen on margaritas it so happens,  although I did sip on about a half a glass,  just to do a toast.
The club does well selling pitchers of margaritas,  but for some reason they closed down the sale of pitchers by about 8:30.   We were late coming in off the water,  so I'm not sure why they thought to stick to their "schedule"  if in fact,  they had one.  Like I say,  selling pitchers of margaritas makes bags of money for the club.  No idea.
 Dinner was a combination of "cuban" food (can't for love nor money figure out how that was a thing,  but whatever)  and was very tasty.   Often times food served out of a chafing dish at these things can be bordering on horrid,  such as was the case last week at Newport.  And that was thirty bucks a plate.   Dry.  Tasteless.  And with the most useless plastic cutlery you could imagine.  Gawd.
So,  kudos to the team at Bronte for a well put on spread.  AND,  they had decent sized plastic cutlery. 
Hey, it makes a huge difference.  Gotta get it into your mouth somehow!



There were a couple minor,  let's just say,  "issues" on the race course on Saturday,  firstly as the race committee decided to delay the first race due to lack of wind.   Now,  we've experienced "lack of wind" before,  and I have to say that,  there was in fact enough wind to move the boats.   So we couldn't figure that one out.   Plus,  again for some frustrating reason that made no sense whatsoever,  they chose to change the direction of the coarse due to a slight wind shift.   We just figured,  "Know what?  It's wind!  It might shift!"   Sailors can usually figure that out.  If you can't,  well then maybe next time?


The other issue was,  we tore the sh*t out of one of our spinnakers,  and by "we", I really mean "me".   Pissed me off to no end.  The worst part being,  there was nobody to be pissed off at, other than just well...me.   Sucks when I suck.

Not sure if that one can be fixed.  I'll not bother you with details.  suffice to say,  Old Guy here must be having some cognitive issues or something.  I keep saying I'm "too old"  to work the fore-deck,  but our much younger and more agile Fore-deck Guy was unavailable for the weekend.  So that left it up to me.


Like I said, it was pretty much the latest we've ever come in from one of these around the cans type of deals,  with the time approaching 5:30.   I really wanted to get home and take a quick shower before heading back for dinner,  and dinner was supposedly schedule for six.   Just crazy.   I figured dinner would have to wait,  but it turned out that there was boatloads of food to go around.  Is that a pun?
Not sure.



And Sunday?   Much better.  The race was a "point to point",  and we only had a sprinkling of rain,  even though the weather prognosticators were calling for much worse.  Actually,  as I sit here listening to thunder all around us,  an electrical storm was what they had predicted for Sunday a few days back. 
Didn't happen.
I really sometimes wonder about the reliability of some of the weather prognosticators.  It's the only job I know of where you can be dead wrong,  and still keep your job!

Oh and,  Muggins here didn't manage to rip anything. 

I did take a few less than stellar photos,  and a couple of them are actually worth sharing.

At this point,  we had been on the water for well over an hour I would think,  and I was struck by the fact that these three boats managed to end up within the same 200 square meters of water.   I mean,  there were boats spread out over an area maybe a third the size of Rhode Island?   They're all heading for a derrick out in one end of the lake,  which was the turning point.

Lake Ontario is kinda huge,  but you knew that.

You can see that we're at least two thirds of the way to the Hamilton Lift Bridge at this point.  Just found this kind of incredible.


Here's the CCIW "spider" out in the Lake.   (Canada Centre for Inland Waters)   They use if for monitoring water temperature and stuff.  (like I have a clue.)

It's kinda hard to explain where this "mark" is,  and we typically put the coordinates into the onboard GPS,  and then know what landmark to look for when we're sort of getting within sight of the thing.

Point to point racing is heaps easier on all concerned,  so I wasn't quite so beat yesterday afternoon when I got home.   Still nice to get into the cooler air in the house though.
The thing is,  it's ALWAYS cooler on the water,  but then as you head back to the slip,  you're hit with this wall of hot humid air that's just bloody stifling.   For example,  Tuesday night we actually had to put on our jackets,  it was that cool on the water.
Yet murderously hot inland.

Today is the last day before some of my still working teacher friends have to go back to work,  although they've all be in their classrooms setting up over the last week or two.  Mostly in non air conditioned schools.   Bleah!
We have a tradition of getting together at the pub to toast those who are about to set off on a new school year in the morning.

There's really only going to be a small percentage this year,  as there are more and more retirees every year.  And sadly,  the one friend of ours who was one of the co-conspirators regarding this tradition passed away a couple years ago.   We still miss him.


That's it for today I think.

Thanks for stopping by.

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.