Big day today.

It's garbage day!   Whoohoo!

*snort*

And,  yard waste,  and recycling,  and well,  it's enough to get motivate me to get dressed this morning.

And,  and.

Well,  that's really the extent of it.

T.C. is making masks for members of the family.  I think she's up to around 25 or 30 by now,  most of which have been delivered.   She did get a request for masks from one of our nieces and her gang,  with the query as to "how much?"   But,  T.C. isn't doing this to make any money,  she's just making masks.  She has all kinds of material,  although we're waiting (and waiting) for more elastic to come from God knows where.  Had we known it was on a slow boat from China,  I suspect we might have tried to source some elsewhere. 

She can manage in the meanwhile.

I swear I see more delivery vehicles roaming around the neighbourhood than....anything.
And that's OK,  as I certainly don't miss all the Moms racing around the corner to get their kids to school on time.   I swear we could just take down the stop sign at the corner and nothing would change.

Of course there are the folks out walking their kids to try and either keep them occupied or at least burn off a little energy.   I'm sure many,  many folks with school aged kids have a new appreciation for the teachers in their kids lives.  Just a thought.


Of course,  there's the odd "Covidiot"  out and about. 

Now,  how do I know?   Well for example,  if the neighbour's "kid"  (he's probably in his twenties by now)  is heading out somewhere with his dirtbike on the back of his pick-up truck?   What kind of "essential service"  would he be performing?

Entertaining the medical staff in the parking lot of the local hospital? 

Right.

This was on the front of the local rag that arrived on our driveway yesterday.   And no,  this isn't the "propaganda" one.  Just the local offering that used to have way more flyers,  and now has been reduced to not much of anything.  The big change came after the shut down.

I actually liked the flyers.   But,  now all the stores have that sort of thing "on line". 
 

I didn't have to read the article to totally get the gist.  Of course we want to shop locally.  We (this household,  and the kids)  have been doing that for years.  Trouble is,  not everyone either can or is willing to go to the extra effort. 

And they say that the Farmer's Market might not reopen for quite some time.  Yikes.   That will suck.

I'd be willing to drive around the countryside seeking out all the farms that would have come to the market,  and doing some sort of "end of driveway"  thing.   I mean,  fuel costs wouldn't be a big deal. 

Anyhoo,  I'm still farting around with the table that I'm stripping.   Just not looking forward to sanding the bendy bits.

Had to take it apart to make it a bit easier to work on.

I do some as I feel like it.  It's not like the little project I had last year when I was "on the clock".   This is for my nephew and his wife.   He's the kind of fellow whom you can call for help,  and he'll be there.  Being as he's a fireman,  he was the guy to call to help with putting stain on the front of the house last summer,  way up there at the peak,  where Muggins here has very little desire to be.

Not only am I not crazy about heights,   but being that far up not just a scaffold,  but a step ladder ON TOP of the scaffold to boot. 

No sir.


Meanwhile,   T.C. tried her hand at making some treats for us. 

Because we're wasting away to nothing. 


Hope you are all well.

Thanks for stopping by.

And all the rest.

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.

We're saving money!

I mean,   what else can one say?

So far,  the hair salon and nail salon are missing a few bucks due to the Covid-19.   I shan't attempt to quantify just how much I mean by "a few bucks".   But let's just say,  with the money we've saved,   I'm thinking of buying yet another woodworking tool and having it shipped to the door.

Just a thought.   Thoughts are free.

Mostly.

Haven't quite figured out what I want to do today.   Might just futz around out in the "shop".   Seems the sensible thing to do.  I have enough material to make a couple more book cases for the downstairs,  so that might be an idea.

I haven't run out of material just yet,  although there are a couple other things in my pea brain that I wouldn't mind taking a stab at.   It mostly involves storage ideas.

Now,  speaking of things involving wood,  I did manage to (finally) finish a towel rack that T.C. had asked me to make some time *ahem* last year.   (These things can take time, after all)

Hard to get just the right angle.  I do appreciate that there are those woodworkers who have some sort of photo set-up,  but I have no intentions of selling stuff,  so I've never bothered.  That chest in the last two pics is a cherry blanket chest I made...some twenty years ago?  And the first pic has a bed that I made for Daughter Number Two some....twenty years ago.   I dunno.  Maybe that's a rough estimate.  Twenty,  twenty-five?   I suppose I should sign and date everything,  for posterity or something.


I do have one of those branding iron thingies,  with Handcrafted by....The Caretaker.  (no,  that last part isn't quite true,  but you get the idea)

I did get a call from the fellow who has the "make your own wine"  shop,  as I was due to go and bottle both a batch of red and a batch of white tomorrow (Wednesday)  but he's technically "closed"  due to Covid-19. 
Now,  considering that wine making involves being ultra sanitary,  I'm not sure just how he needs to be closed,  whereas the Beer Store and the L.C.B.O.  are considered "Essential Services"  here in Ontario. 
I mean,  I'm not complaining,  and I do buy beer at the L.C.B.O. instead of the Beer Store,  as then I do get a couple Air Miles to boot. 
But "essential"?   Not so sure.

Oh and,  for those who are reading from afar,  as good as our Health Care system might appear to be,  our "drinking system"  is from the Victorian era.   L.C.B.O. stands for "Liquor Control Board of Ontario",   and every province has their own little quirky system of regulating booze (and beer).

We can these days buy beer in the grocery stores,  but of course,  I never think to buy beer at the grocery store,  some sort of conditioning I suspect,  plus you don't get the variety that's available at either The Beer Store or the LCBO.

Anyhoodle,   T.C. is making Potica,  which is a type of Easter Bread,  although it looks like we may be having Easter by way of Zoom,  or some such internet thing.  Not sure how that will play out.


I was going to put in a link,  but you can Google Potica,  and see what I'm talking about.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.

And wash your hands.

Housekeeping.

I've been remiss. 

Now that I take a closer look,  I see that there have been some comments hanging around in my "waiting for....something or other"  folder,  and at least a couple of them were legit.  So,  if any of you legit commenters out there didn't see your comment show up.  I do apologise.

Turns out,  most of them where just gibberish.  Wondering if I need a car loan,  or some other such nonsense.  Anyway,  I sort of forgot that there was such as thing as comment moderation.  Curiously,  none of them were offering "male enhancement".   Should I feel slighted,  or slightly smug?

Whatever.

Meanwhile,  I'm sure you're wondering in what upside down world we're living,  since I'm on here TWO DAYS IN A ROW. 
O. M.  G....

Well,  there's nothing on TV,  and I thought I'd take a stab at putting the little micro SD card in the side of this here brand new Chromebook that T.C. so very kindly got me for Christmas.   I did use a laptop once upon a time when we lived in Europe,  and lugged it around with me when we made little trips here and there.  But most of my photos are on the PC up in the office,  (which I should be backing up,  I might add)  and I haven't really decided if I want to have pictures on this device as well.   Oh and,  the laptop (an Acer,  I think)  lasted about five years,  and then started making funny noises,  and then ultimately wouldn't fire up.  It was a modified version of "Blue Screen of Death",  and anyone whom I spoke to,  basically said it wasn't worth the trouble to fix.  So off it went,  to Computer heaven.

Oh,  and I have to say,  once I more or less figured it out,  the Chromebook is indeed pretty awesome.  Not nearly as hot as a laptop (better batteries I suspect)  and runs heaps longer on a charge. Just have to get used to the keyboard,  and the "touchpad".  Still not keen on the touchpad.    I might have to suck it up and buy a cordless mouse.   We'll see.

   So,  let me explain that picture.

See,  T.C. wanted me to make her a towel rack.  While I realise that I renovated the upstairs bathroom and there's plenty of room to dry ones towels,  she's not keen on the way that looks.   Don't ask.

Do you think I could find something on "Wayfair"  or Amazon or some such place.   Or even Walmart for that matter?  Nope.

So I've been working on putting one together.  Of course,  I can't find any hint of plans out there (on the net, I mean),  so I had to conjure up something out of my pea brain.
It's painful.

And I realise,  what you see in the picture just looks like a bunch of sticks,  but there's some significance there.

I had completed all the various pieces,  got it all sorted "mechanically" speaking,  and then set about to start the finishing process.  And by that I mean, I broke out the sander.

Horrible,  horrible job.  Dust mask,  ear plugs.  Messy. Noisy.

You get the idea.

And then it occurred to me,  I do have these fancy schmancy hand planes that I try to keep razor sharp,  and shouldn't I be planing the wood to get it smooth???

When I came in for a tea break and mentioned this to T.C.,  along with admitting that "I'm an idiot",  it should be noted that she did agree with me without a moment's hesitation.

But I let that go.

I still have to sand the curvy bits,   but the hand planing program was heaps nicer.   I promise to take a photo of the finished product in due time.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep that stick on the ice.

And feel free to comment.  I'll make sure to check.

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.

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.

Watching the "show".

Now that we're both "pensioners",  (love that term),  Travelling Companion and I like to sit in the living room in the morning with our coffees and watch the world go by.  There's the usual assortment of basketball bouncing boys on their way to school, mixed in with the dog walkers.  Dog poop picker uppers (we're watching you!)  and others.

Well,  this morning we had a special treat,  as one of our neighbours had a little "off leash"  incident with what will soon become yet another annoying dog in a long line of annoying dogs that they've had over the last 20 years or so.   Maybe longer.

Now,  the dog had a leash attached,  but of course,  didn't know enough to come when called.  Travelling Companion went so far as to say,  "That's a bad dog!".   But, as the dog is really just another pack animal,  and has no idea that the two lunk heads calling her are supposed to be the "alpha dogs",  she just figures it's play time. 

So,  just a "bad dog" in training.

I did have the camera at the ready,  but couldn't seem to capture the hilarity as the two idiots tried to coax, cajole,  threaten the dog to come to them.
And you know,  after having two previous idiot dogs,  you'd think they'd realise that they have no clue that they have no clue.
It's one of the latent human characteristics like,  talking down to someone.  Or,  being stupid and not knowing it.

There's a German expression that comes to mind.   Something about "knowing that you know nothing..."

Wer nichts weiß und weiß, dass er nichts weiß, weiß mehr als der, der nichts weiß und nicht weiß, dass er nichts weiß.

I'll let you look that one up.


Oh and,  in defence of the dog?  She's probably a sweetheart but,  to quote a gentleman I once met in Ludlow, New Brunswick,  "She ain't go no larnin'".    And yes,  if you draw a more or less straight line from The Appalachians on up into the Maritimes,  you get my drift.


Anyway,  life goes on here at the Ponderosa. 

Masts have been stepped.  Boats have been put up.   Leaves are getting raked (well,  blown really)  and gardens are getting ripped up.
T.C. and I have yet to plant some garlic for next year,  and that may happen today or tomorrow.   If you've never had home grown garlic,  you have no idea what you're missing.  See reference above.

I suppose I could relate a little bit about the "fridge saga".  Yes?

See,  back in August,  just before Travelling Companion was to go off to first Paris and then on to Kenya,   our "GE Profile"  fridge decided to take a little holiday as well.
On the plus side,  we did made some discoveries concerning mystery items that had been left in the freezer compartment,  and thankfully we have a full sized fridge downstairs.   And you know,  there had been talk of "getting rid" of that fridge,  but thankfully that never happened.   Plus,  right now it's full of bags of apples.   But I digress.

At the time,  especially  as T.C. was going away,  I figured I would just get by as I wasn't about to go fridge shopping in her absence.  Not prudent.

I brought in the small bar fridge that I have in my garage/shop,  which was handy enough for a few things like milk and cream for our coffee,  along with whatever else I could squeeze in.

Then of course,  after taking a gander on the internet,  somewhere I read that,  if you unplug the thing for 24 hours,  it might work again.  And it did!   For a time.

This time of course,  I had placed a thermometer inside,  as I was having some trust issues,  and sure enough,  along towards the first full week of September,  it started to fail again.  It had to go.


I'm just going to jump ahead here and point out that,  this is the new one:

It's got that whole "bottom freezer"  thing going on,  which is pretty cool.   However,  we do think it's a "stupid fridge".  It doesn't seem to have the room of the previous one,  and one of the drawers for cold cuts or whatever,  can only be accessed if you open BOTH DOORS! 
Right.  Stupid.

Oh and,  you'll notice that there are no doors on the cabinet above? 

*sigh*


This,  was essentially what I had to do to fit in a new fridge.

 You can see the old one sitting out there in the hallway.  Even though the fridge body is the same size,  the doors at the front,  and the hinges to which they are attached,  are a couple inches bigger/taller/whatever.

So ya,  that was "fun'.   I'm trying not to curse right about now. 

You're welcome.

The short story is,  we ordered the wrong size fridge since,  unbeknown to us,  the salesman didn't really know what the f**k he was talking about,  and it was only the delivery guy who pointed out that,  even with the doors removed,  the "LG"  that we wanted,  wouldn't make it through the doorway opening leading to the kitchen. "They don't include the stuff sticking out at the back in the dimensions".   Huh?
 I had to go back to the appliance place and purchase a "counter depth" fridge.  I think that's what it was called.

Now the good news was,  it was about five hundred bucks cheaper than the LG however,  we really wanted the LG.  Not another GE Profile.  *sigh*     The GEs are now made in China.  The LGs are still made in Korea.

No bueno.

We'll see if this one lasts as long as the previous one,  but I have my doubts.
  Oh,  and the other thing?   The new fridge was on back order.  We had Thanksgiving here,  with no fridge in the kitchen.  But hey,  it just means one has to be flexible.  Or something.

The appliance place had offered to send us a temporary fridge,  but we didn't really want that,  as then they'd have to take it away again of course. There's always the chance that something is going to get scratched or bumped. 
Nope,  we would just wait it out for the one that's going to stay.

Interestingly,  when T.C. asked if they would charge the fifty dollar delivery charge for the temporary fridge,  they said "no".  So that begged the question,  why did we get charged fifty dollars for a fridge that we didn't receive? 
Needless to say,  T.C. got our fifty bucks back.    Apparently it comes out of the commission of the stupid salesman.   I was quite content to hear that.



I think I had better stop now,  as I'm already on a rant about stupid people.

At some point I suppose I'll have to make some new doors for that cabinet and turf the old ones out.  Just not really looking forward to it is all.

Again,  *sigh*.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep that stick on the ice.

And keep smiling.

Sorry there, little birds.

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

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

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

Here,  in case you're still wondering:


Popeye


OK,  where was I?

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

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

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

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

So then we have the sparrows.

Holy Moly.

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

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

The results:

And over on the other side:

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

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

There,  you learned something.

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

Figures.

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

Like that.

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


Thanks for stopping by.

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

For anyone else where it's warm?

Well,  I'm *happy* for you.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Not much of an "outside" day.

The other day I was trying to decide if I should put away my winter coat,  but was quite comfortable wearing it when I walked down to the store.  You'd think I'd be a little too warm with a winter coat on this time of year,  but nope.
Anyway,  we're getting a bit of a blow,  with an additional forecast of scattered crap,  followed by darkness.
The temperature has been slowly dropping as the day progresses,  and by tonight it'll be about a nine and a half out of ten on the "crappiness" scale. 
At least it's not snow,  although we just got a call from my sister-in-law in Guelph that they are indeed getting snow.  And yes,  it's mid April.
She was due to come down today and stay the night,  but had not only had her winter tires switched out,  but was somewhat reluctant to drive in what will be less than ideal conditions.
Can't blame her.   I ain't a goin' out.
Travelling Companion has a new iron that she ordered waiting for her at some place across town,  but that too can wait.

Meanwhile,  I've been dithering about out in my "shop",  and still haven't made any progress on the towel rack thingy I have in mind,  even though I've bought the material and made up a design.  There's damned little on the net,  so I've had to conjure up something out of my pea brain.
It's painful,  trust me.

So,  rather that do anything remotely useful,  I manage to come up with something "more important" to fill in while I procrastinate.

Procrastination is my speciality.


A while back (a couple years maybe?)  I came up with an idea to have a temporary work surface available that would fold up against the wall.  This allows for handy against the wall storage in order to get the car in whenever necessary.
I soon realised however, that there was a bunch of space behind the thing that was going to waste,  and,  as the bracket that holds the "table" to the wall was just a wee bit too narrow,  there was no way to put anything back there.

So it had to be changed.

So that pic is after I've rummaged around and found the proper sized hardwood that was wide enough and long enough to do the trick.  Going out to actually buy something would of course be heaps easier,  but I *knew* I had something or other out in the piles of stuff I have stored in the shed.  Like really,  there's enough.   That's all I'll admit to.


Of course,  even though I know this will pay off,  each and every time I get about half way through one of these great ideas that I have,  I start to wish I hadn't ever thought of it,  but it all worked out.
It doesn't look much different than before.  Just farther out from the wall when stored upright.

So now there's a good three inches back there,  and you'll notice that I already have something stashed back there, which is a "turntable"  that I use for spraying/finishing.   It's always been stuck over in a corner somewhere,  and will go much better on the wall.   I haven't figured out just yet what else I'll stash back there,  but I'll work on it.  Most likely things like a few paint brushes? 

We'll see.

The only other thing I had to do was make a new "hook"  to hold the thing up in its upright position. Right up at the top there.   No big deal.


I guess that's all I got.  Just felt like throwing a few words out there.  Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.
Now back to trying to decide on a weed eater purchase.  There's a lot of junk out there apparently,  but I've had enough of the less than stellar performance of the cordless "Black & Decker"  abomination that I made the mistake of buying when we first came back from Europe.
As was pointed out to me by one of my brothers-in-law,  "You do realise that Black and Decker have been making POOH for a number of years now?"   True dat.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Sometimes I'm just mystified.

At what people throw out.

Now,  don't get me wrong,  I don't go around on "toss out your cr*p day"  and start loading up the truck,  but once in a while,  I just can't help myself.

Like the time someone turfed out a Filter Queen, or most of one anyway,  not too far up the street from here and I took the time to stop and hoist it into the pick-up truck I had at the time.
Hence the true meaning of the term "pick-up truck" as far as I'm concerned.
Would I recommend a Filter Queen?
No.   And that's why I was happy to see one from which I could scavenge some parts.

I mean,  it's a pretty good vacuum cleaner until the filter gets clogged,  and then it's pretty average.  We still have one that we bought some thirty years ago,  but the problem is,  they haven't changed the design of their retarded base in like,  forever. 

AND,  when I enquired about replacing the busted up one that we had,  the dealer wanted FIFTY BUCKS!
I don't think so.

Anyway,  I scavenged the base off the one that was dead at the side of the road,  and tossed out the rest.

But I digress.

What I'm talking about is,  the thing that I happened to notice today,  which ended up in the trunk of the car.

I took the car,  as getting the truck turned around in the back parking lot/alleyway/whatever behind where Daughter Number Two and Hubby lives is a bit of a challenge.  I only needed a bag of tools and the gate that I had made for them that I stopped by to install.

Here,  DNT took a picture.

Because,  like a bonehead,  I forgot to take a camera.

This gate is due to the addition of a second dog,  who seems to have no issues with wandering into the kitchen and getting totally underfoot.

Not being the most speedy when it comes to these things,  this has been on my little mental list of things to do for some time now.   They've had the dog for like,  a couple years?   I forget exactly,  but that's my suspicion.

The thing too is,  their first dog knows enough that,  when told to "get out!"  of the kitchen,  he does just that.   Dog number two though?  Well?  He's deaf. 
Deaf as a post.

No really.  The whole time I was there,  he had no idea what was going on behind him.  I didn't bring any food apparently.
Oh ya.  He can smell alright.  Just not hear.  It's a long story.  Previous owners were retards.  He got some sort of ear trouble and they were too dim to get it sorted out.  He lost his hearing.  Poor little guy.  So,  he got adopted and is having a pretty good life chez Daughter Number Two and Hubby.

Anyhoo,  after I had that little job done,  I couldn't help but notice that there were a few cast off items cluttering up the parking area,  and after a very quick look,  I hoisted this thing into the car.

Um,  the fan.   Not the bench or any of those other things.  But you know that.

Oh and,  notice how there's that protective bit of Masonite (or whatever the hell it is) between the bottom of the fan and the bench?  Um, ya.  We'll be a little careful not to do a number on the bench for a wee while methinks.

See,  I've never ever bought one of these fans.  In all the years that I was with my previous oh so illustrious employer,  there would always be one or two that ended up in the garbage at the end of the year.   The kind that are on a stand were notorious for getting stepped on or knocked over,  and something or other would invariably get kinda wonky,  but unless it's been run over by a car,  99% of the time,  with a little TLC,  it can be made to work again.   There are two moving parts!  That's it.  The rotary part,  and the oscillating part.  As long as the rotary part turns,  you got a fan!

This one had obviously not been run over or anything,  so I figured I'd give it a go.

Not sure what was going through the head of the previous owner (if anything)  but they turfed it out.  Annoyingly,  they also cut off the cord.  (rolling my eyes here) 
Really??

Kind of like that Russian proverb.

“There’s a famous Russian proverb about this type of behavior. One day, a poor villager happens upon a magic talking fish that is ready to grant him a single wish. Overjoyed, the villager weighs his options: “Maybe a castle? Or even better—a thousand bars of gold? Why not a ship to sail the world?” As the villager is about to make his decision, the fish interrupts him to say that there is one important caveat: whatever the villager gets, his neighbor will receive two of the same. Without skipping a beat, the villager says, “In that case, please poke one of my eyes out.” 

― Bill Browder, Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice

(as a side note,  that's a good read.  I highly recommend it)

So in other words,  "If I can't figure this out,  I'll just cut off the cord so nobody else can either".
Like that.
Bastards.
Enough to make you want to spit.

Having to deal with that minor issue was only an annoyance, and nothing that a squirrelled away replacement cord and some heat shrink tubing couldn't fix.  I do tend to have "stuff" hanging around,  but only so much.  Never too much.

Now I'll admit,  between figuring out how to get at the severed cord by having to do some disassembly,   along with some cleaning and a good dose of WD-40 I probably frittered away a good hour.  But it was time well wasted.  The little fan works like a charm.

I'll either use it my own damned self,  of bequeath it to whomever I think is worthy.


And like I say,  I just don't get it.

But hey,  one man's junk is another man's rotary oscillator.




Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.

There should be a mercy rule.

Kind of like in Little League.  You know,  when you're ahead by a certain amount,  you just quit and you all go for pizza.

Of course,  the Little League website would much prefer that you refer to it as "The ten run rule",  but whatever.  We wouldn't want to damage anyone with some sort of less than P.C. terminology.

We're raising a generation of snowflakes,  but don't get me started!


So what the hell am I talking about?

Well,  Sledge Hockey of course.

It just so happened that I tuned in yesterday to the Canada/Sweden game in the third period I think it was,  and Canada was already up 13 to 0.   That's nothing, zip, zilch.  A big ole goose egg.

And before I could even get myself nicely tucked in on my comfy couch,  they had scored twice more.  The game ended up with Canada finally scoring 17 goals.

Like,  I was starting to feel really bad for the Swedish goalie. Poor bugger.

Have you ever watched Sledge Hockey?   I can't even grasp how these guys keep from just tipping over all the time.  I mean,  I can barely stand up on skates,  but this is like riding a Unicycle on the ice.

Here,  I'll steal an image from the net for show and tell:

That's Liam Hickey.   He also plays wheelchair basketball.

Note the single skate he's perched on?   How the hell??

Here's the article that the picture came from if you're interested.

Anyway,  it's unfortunate that the coverage of the Paralympics isn't quite as involved as the regular Olympics,  since some of these folks are truly amazing.  There are times when you do a double take,  and realise, "Hey, she's only got one arm!"   And she's hurtling down the ski hill at 70 kilometres an hour! 

Anyway,  I'll watch whatever comes on. 

I haven't really checked if there is figure skating.  If there's figure skating, I'm afraid that's where I draw the line.  Just doesn't much work for me.   Admittedly,  I have sat through a couple programs with T.C.,  but that's sort of like "taking one for the team".




Meanwhile,  today I got a visit from Batman,  as he's working on a little game for the kids when he goes to charity events or say,  to the children's ward at the hospital.

So,  I've obviously altered this photo to protect his true identity,   but over the next week I'll be making a frame type of thing to hold this up when in use,   to then be folded down to fit into his vehicle. 
The Joker's teeth are a cut out made of foam core,  and the idea is similar to something like "Cornhole",  where you throw an object and try and knock out the Joker's teeth.

And yes,  there is a game called Cornhole.   But the Joker will be closer to upright,  as opposed to almost lying flat as with Cornhole. 

I always get a bit of a chuckle from the name "Cornhole",  but we won't go there.

Oh and,  as Batman explained,  the object to be thrown will be a Batarang.
And yes,  there is a Wiki article explaining just what a "Batarang" is. 
Who knew?


I think that's all I have for today.

Until next time.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

And well, you know,  stick, ice, etc.

The week that was.

Or something like that.

Title ideas are sometimes a wee bit elusive.

Anyhoo,   Travelling Companion and I took a little jaunt down to the States on Wednesday to check out a place that I'm sure many of you are familiar with.   It's really just another fabric shop,  but apparently has a bigger selection of quilting fabrics?   You've no doubt heard of Joann Fabrics?
Pretty uneventful.  Bought about twenty bucks worth of thread.  Had a look around.  From here it's really just over an hour away.  We then made a stop in Niagara-on-the-Lake for some lunch at the Oban Inn.   Spent way more on lunch than at the fabric place,  including the four and half bucks we had to pay to come BACK INTO CANADA.   Da f*k? 
Are we still paying for a bridge or something?

Anyway,  the food at the Inn was OK.  A little on the salty side if anything,  and T.C.  said her Chicken something or other had an odd taste.   I had the "Oban Burger",  and it was pretty good.  Just too salty.  I don't know what it is,  but a lot of chefs/cooks/whatever like to dollop on gobs of salt.  Like,  to the point where I've actually been able to *feel* my blood pressure rising.  And yes,  that's a thing.  When you can feel your heart rate in your head?  That ain't right.   Didn't happen this time,  but it's happened.

What I mostly recall from out little jaunt was,  at one point we pulled off of the thruway,  where we had to make our exit anyway,  and decided to slip in to a service road just to recheck our directions.  Well,  I couldn't get over the amount of TRASH at the side of the road!  And then I started noticing it everywhere.  Holy moly!  Get them prisoners out there picking up da trash guys!.   And I know I'm biased as all anything,  but there wasn't nearly that much trash on the Canadian side.  Seriously.  And usually when the snow melts is when you start to see it. 
OK,  I guess it must get cleaned up at some point,  since I just took a look on Google Earth View,  and there's no trash to be seen.

Anyway,  sorry I brought it up.

Then on Thursday,  Tree Cutting Dude showed up with his crew to cut down our last Ash Trees.  (sad face).
T.C. and I were on our way to Guelph to see a new arrival,  who came into the world on February eight.
Tree Cutting Dude did say that,  as the weather was worsening,  he might very well pull the plug on the whole event, as it ain't no fun being up a tree when the wind picks up and it starts to snow.

And it did.   But of course, anyone on the East Coast knows full well just what happened over the last few days.   We got hardly anything by the way.  Lucky for us.

So the tree is still there,  minus a bunch of branches that he cut off on the way up.  I know for sure he'll be back next week some time,  as he left two of his "throwing lines"  (for lack of a better term)  so he can get his other lines back up the tree without too much difficulty.

This is the little "noodle",  as my sister-in-law (the Grand-ma)  calls her.   

So there was a bunch of  the usual fussing over a new baby,   but this here blog ain't about little kids,  so we'll move on.

It's taken me a bit of prep to get to this point,  but I've finally put some floor paint on the area where my bench normally sits.  The base of the bench has enough finish on it at this point that I'm reasonably satisfied,  so once the floor paint cures in a day or two,  I'll move the bench back.  I really need to put the top on upside down at first and do some adjusting.  We'll see how that goes.  Even without the shoulder vise and tail vise,  the top is really quite heavy,  and hoisting up just one end is just about all I can lift. 


I guess that's about it.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep that stick on the ice.