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 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.

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.


:)

Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Right. 

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

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

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


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

The cucumber she gave me was perfect.

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


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

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

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

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


Well,  that's lunch.   Back to painting.

Oh joy.

Keep those sticks on the ice.

Thanks for stopping by.

My attempts at clock repair.

File this one under either "Rube Goldberg",   or, "Look Ma,  I'm a Neanderthal!"

I've never actually asked someone who repairs clocks just how they manage to hang a cuckoo clock so the weighs are doing their thing so as to monitor ones progress,  so I came up with this "stick method".

Of course,  I have no bloody idea why the thing actually quits after a very short time except that,  after listening and listening,  I determined that it was labouring at a certain point,  so I tried adding a bit more weight to the drive mechanism,  and that does seem to keep it going.

It's been running for a few hours at this point,  so I changed the clamp (read:weight)  to a smaller one,   and we'll see how that works.

Most of the stuff I see 'on the line'  simply shows replacing the movement.  Well,  not only is that something I'm reluctant to do,  but I don't have a replacement hanging around.

Oh,  and by the way,  this in not OUR  cuckoo clock,  although we have one just like it.  I think this is the "entry level" cuckoo clock,  as I know of at least three in our immediate family.  Well,  the family that came over from Europe that is.
No,  this is my sister-in-law's clock,  that she took down to do some painting,  and then the bugger decided to quit.  The question was asked if we'd take it to one of the clock fixer uppers here in town,  and he wouldn't even look at it. 

It went something like,  "I didn't work on cuckoo clocks back in Germany, and I won't work on them here."   (insert appropriate German accent)

If this seems to be the ticket,  I'll sort through some of my lead weights to see if I can come up with something a little more elegant,  with the knowledge that adding more weight to the mechanism might very well mean that it'll wear out in a few years.   C'est la vie.

I also noticed that one of the bellows for the "cuckoo" sound is kinda pooched,  so I might go so far as to try and fix that.  We'll see.

Meanwhile,  it's been a summer of the usual sailing/golfing etc.   With a ever so brief couple visits to a cottage up in Wasaga where the main activity has been building a shed for their bikes and tools.

I have photo evidence.

But first,  I should put in this one that was from July.   I could call this one,  "Old man with spectacles",  but it looks more like I'm having some digestive issues.

Anyway,  the first photo is from last weekend (oh wait,  that was July too,  wasn't it?)  But,  it's a little more done at this point,  and the openings at the top there are ready for some corrugated Plexiglas type stuff to let in some light.
On the wall immediately below those openings,  there will be a cedar shake detail to add some interest. 

 I had some left over from the shed I build for Daughter Number One.

Here we're doing a sort of "hands on"  evaluation of just how far three bundles of shakes will go.
There should be plenty.

I might not get to see much more of this,  as I'm not sure just when we'll get back up there.   No plans at the moment.


Exciting isn't it?

And you know.  I'd sooner do this sort of thing at a cottage,  than sit around all day.  I mean,  I *can* sit around and read etc.,  but eventually I get a little anxious.  Or bored.  Or....something.

I suspect my mind starts to wander to *stuff* I think I should be doing,  and then it's down hill from there.

Anyhoodle,  that's my missive for August so far.  I'll be back at some point I'm sure.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Home again, and there's gonna be laundry.

Actually,  not all that much,  but I thought that was a catchy title.

T.C. and I took a little jaunt down to Kingston for a few days to visit with her sis and hubby.  And no,  I mean Kingston, Ontario.  Not Jamaica.
Been to Jamaica,  might go back.  Not sure.

Anyhoo,  the weather wasn't really stellar,  as it rained all the way there,  and rained intermittently the whole time we were there.   Looks like the weather here cleared up,  and it also looks like I just might have to fuel up the mower and start cutting grass in very short order.

Kingston is a neat little town,  and sis-in-law and hubby bought a place that allows for walking to almost every possible amenity.
Of course,  the downside is,  they have to park on the street.  So that kinda sucks.  You can see here where I've parked the truck behind their vehicle:

It's the grey one with the green shutters.  Apparently,  Sir John A. Macdonald once lived there way back when he was more of a drunk than a politician.  Although,  he may very well have been both at the same time.   If you do happen to go to that article,  about half way down,  there's a picture of the house before it was divided into two residences.   So sis-in-law and hubby live in one half.  Kind of like a condo really,   except really old.

The place is 70 feet from front to back,  with a skinny little back yard to boot.  Oh,  and there just happens to be a ground hog hanging out back there as well.

Not that having a ground hog in your back yard is anything to be too proud of or anything.  I'm sure he's mostly harmless,  although I do recall that (back on the farm)  we'd go out about twice a year and dispatch as many groundhogs as we could find and fill in their holes,  so the livestock would not be stepping in them.   I suggested sis-in-law might get herself a 22,  but discharging a firearm in the city is kinda frowned on.  It's Canada and all.  We do have guns, but there are a few little rules, and we certainly don't hunt with an AR-15.

So where was I?

Right.  Well,  there was a lot of eating and drinking,  so I think I'll be giving my liver a rest this week.  I mean,  it's not like I got blindingly drunk or anything,  but we didn't exactly have "afternoon tea" either.

Took a little jaunt over to Gananoque for lunch at one of the many touristy spots.  I don't think I've been in Gananoque in over forty years,  as the last time I was there was with my parents,  and we took one of the 1000 Island Boat Tours.

Oh,  and for the unsure,  it's pronounced "Ganan-AWK-way".   I think that works.

Of course,  as cute and cool as this place was,  the food was somewhat average,  and I find that having pretty average food at outstanding spots seems to be a little something that I have discovered on more than one occasion.  

It was the The Gananoque Inn and Spa,  by the way.  Just saw how pricey the rooms are.  

Yikes.  

Won't be staying there.  Especially as we have a great spot to stay just down the road in Kingston.  Where the food is great,  by the way.

Our intrepid hosts.  Both quite talented in the kitchen.  I may need to fast for a few days.  Just saying.

Hubby is a retired architect,  but I think he could have done extremely well as a chef.  Sis-in-law is an artist,  and just about every piece of art we have in our house is something she has done.  Ranging from portraits to earlier work when she was doing illustrations for Hallmark Cards and such.

Well, getting close to time for tucky-tuck,  so I think I'll pack it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice. 

Why it's good that some regattas are only two days.

Since that's the maximum number of days I can stay out in the sun.

It's one thing to be "outstanding in your field",  like haying or such,  but being on the water seems to fly me up real good.  No matter how much I slather on sunblock,  and reapply after sweating it off,  I still manage to get ever so slightly toasted.

Anyway,  this past weekend was the "Can-Am Challenge' in Youngstown, N.Y. which,  for us is just across the boarder.   Kind of odd really,  as we go to the States,  and then ended up sailing in Canadian waters both days.

Whatever.   It was a great two days.  A little lumpy on the Saturday morning,  but that was the only glitch.  Well,  and the Race Committee was a bit of a "shit show",  or at least I seem to recall that that was the term we used.  I mean, I've never seen anyone change the course over seven races so much due to the slightest wind shift.   Totally bizarre.   And well,  our skipper signed up (and ponied up a fair amount of cash)  as he was led to believe it was going to be a "pursuit" race,  but instead it ended up being an "around the cans" type of deal.
We were not in the top three,  let's just say.

These two delivered the boat on Friday,  and as it happened,  I decided to go down to the slip before their departure just to see them off.  

Well,   that was well played,  as there was some help needed putting a reef in the main sail and generally helping getting them away.  The wind was a wee bit strong for the rest of Friday,  and I think the skipper said something like "gusting to 29 knots"?  

Neither of them were able to dare leave the cockpit for the entire journey,  which turned out to be almost seven hours!   That's a long time to hold yer bladder.

One of the rare times Brian wore his life vest.

I however,  decided to drive down that afternoon.  Of course,  that means crossing the border in a vehicle which,  once I actually made it to the booth,  went quite quickly,  so I'm not sure what was taking so long for the vehicles in front of me.  The usual questions,  "Citizenship?"  "Where you going?"  "How long?"  and this one I thought interesting,  "Will you be leaving anything behind?",  to which my answer was,  "Oh,  I'm pretty sure we'll be drinking all of the beer."    

Off I went.

I could bore you with boat pictures and such,  but you get the idea.  

Um,  this:

...was my sleeping accommodation.  I set it up (last) Monday afternoon (shown here)  just to make sure I could,  and that it was in good shape. We've had this tent for,  oh I don't know,  15 years?  But it's only been used a couple times.
 I also went out and bought myself one of those "self inflating" mats.  Went with three inches.

The first night (Friday night) it did take me a bit to get to sleep,  as it seems that the house here must be really,  really quiet,  since every little sound was waking me up.  And I was wearing ear plugs!

Saturday night was better.   It's been a long,  long time since I've slept in a tent.  T.C. was mocking me ever so slightly for my foolishness,  but it was actually not bad.   Plus of course,  they have showers at the yacht club,  so being able to get cleaned up at the end of the day (all that sweat and sunblock)  was the best thing ever.   I swear,  the "shower"  has got to be one of mankind's better inventions.

The thing is,  with these types of sailing regattas,  there are those who sleep on the boat (not me,  too claustrophobic)  and then everyone else who pitches a tent where ever there is some free space.   There just happened to be a park  (that's a google map link)  where others had pitched tents,  along with a couple motor homes.  I was kinda missing ours,  to be honest.

But,  I had the truck parked nearby,  which allowed me to bring all the "stuff" I needed to make the stay more comfortable.  The most important of which was of course,  a small camp stove,  water,  a kettle,  and coffee.   Gotta have that coffee in the morning,  or forget it!

We then had breakfast on the boat.   The skipper cooked up awesome breakfasts both mornings.

Meanwhile,  I've fixed up both the table and the dresser that I mentioned last week.

Originally I wasn't going to bother with the table,  until we had to get it out of the way.   When I flipped it over,  I was then able to see why it was starting to split.  So,  couldn't let that alone.

This is my alteration:

See,  wood moves,  and the way it was,  the table top couldn't move at all.  So I made some retainers to allow for wood movement.

OK,  gotta go.

Thanks for stopping by.

It's been a great summer so far.

I always think I'm going to somehow "jinx" things when I make those kinds of statements,  like when you're on the racecourse,  and you think you're doing alright,  and you screw up a gybe.  But let's not go there.

Of course,  we did that trip over to Europe.   Took a whack of pics.  I've saved them.  That's about it.

Once you've seen one old building you've sort of seen them all.

Quick recap:   Flew in to Vienna.   Cabbed it to our hotel on Mariahilfer Straße (that funny looking thing is a double "s" by the way.)




Which is now a pedestrian zone.  Which made it remarkably quiet I found.  Turns out motorised traffic is louder than I realised.

Went to the State Opera to see Swan Lake  "Schwannsee"  if you prefer.

Then cabbed it back to the airport to fetch a rental car and drove down to Slovenia.




A Nissan Qashqai,  which we both quite liked.

Drove back from Slovenia after a few days to meet up with some of  T.C.'s former work associates,  took the car back on the Friday and flew off to Dubrovnik.   Stayed there for the weekend to visit yet another former work associate,  who flew in from Serbia.

Dubrovnik is cool.  A "once in a lifetime",  as there were many,  many tourists.  Of a certain ethnic origin.  And forever underfoot.  That's all I'm sayin'.

Looking back to the harbour/gate.

Flew back to Austria.   Picked up yet another car.  Drove to Slovenia.

Tired yet?

I could go on.   T.C. made a couple fabric shopping stops.  One in Vienna at Komolka,  and another in Slovenia at a rather difficult to find place called Gramatex.  And I can't seem to find their website.  Wouldn't matter anyway,  it would be in Slovenian.   You'll notice (if you're brave) that the Komolka site is in German.


Anyway,  good trip all in all,  and we'll just cut to the chase.
 It was especially nice for Travelling Companion,   as she didn't have that Sunday night dread of having to get back in order to go to work Monday morning.   After all,  "Every day is Saturday"  around these parts.

Oh, and I have to say,  I've never been to the ballet,  but Swan Lake was pretty freakin' awesome.  I mean,  it's the Vienna State Orchestra,  the Vienna State Ballet Company.  It's kind of a "go big or go home situation" right?

No sour notes,  and nobody did any face plants or some such thing.


I think I'm just going to skip on up to today, as we just received a replacement Grill delivered to the door.
I had been getting a little frustrated with our 17 year old  (yes,  seventeen!)  Weber Q,  as part of the cast iron grill has gotten a bit rusty,  and I've had to mess around with the little gas opening/port/thingys.    We had been looking at something more elaborate,  couldn't quite pull the trigger on something in the thousand dollar range, and just figured we'd do a "do over" with the Weber.  So,  got a replacement.

I really like having things delivered to the door!  So much less hassle.

Anyway,  you have to put on the lid and add the igniter a such,  but I think I had it back on the old stand (I did spend a few minutes giving the stand a wash at least)  in maybe 20 minutes or so.

Good to go.

I was really trying to think of why I would possibly need anything more complicated (you know,  "infrared" whatever?)  and decided that,  even though I Grill all year around,  I never really get past burgers,  chicken  and a few veggies here and there.  

We'll see if this one lasts as long.   One thing,  they've now changed the cooking surface to some sort of porcelain coated cast iron.  That should make a difference I suppose.

That's it for now.  I'm out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Time for that elusive update.

I didn't really broadcast it all that much,  but Travelling Companion and I just got back from a trip over to Europe.  Had a wonderfl time.  Saw some new countryside.  Also saw some familiar places and faces.
It's hard to know where to begin with the photos.  I took a shit load of them.  Like,  four or five hundred?   Wait,  actually,  I just looked.  634.   I think I have to do some sorting.
And no,  I'm not about to put them all up on The Book of Face.  Some folks do that,  and it's kind of like "Battle Fatigue",  only more like "Photo Fatigue".   No bueno.


The first stop was in Vienna,  where T.C. got wind of a ballet being performed at the State Opera.  Naturally,  we had to go.   It was "Schwannsee" or, for y'all what speaks English,  "Swan Lake".

I have to admit two things:  First of all,  I had never been to a ballet,  and secondly,  I quite enjoyed it.

No photos during the performance of course,  so I did snap a couple during the curtain calls.
If you're going to see a ballet,  and you've never seen one before,  I recommend going to see possibly one of the best ballet companies and orchestras on the planet.  I mean,  why see something that's half-assed?  Plus,  we were in like,  row six?   Go big or don't go I always say.


I'm not about to do a day by day kind of thing here,  so suffice to say that,  we headed back to the airport after a couple days in Vienna,  picked up a car and headed off to Slovenia.

This,  for any of you who have hanging around long enough know,  is a somewhat recurring theme.  When we lived in Vienna,  we figure we were in Slovenia about three times a year.  Summer,  winter,  fall.  Not just tourists,   ya know?

The car was a Nissan "Quasqai",  which looked suspiciously like a Murano,  or maybe a bigger better version of the "Rogue"?   Had a rogue last fall in Nova Scotia.  Didn't like it as much as the Quasqai.
Six speed manual.  Even Travelling Companion was somewhat smitten by it.   Maybe we'll trade the Merc?

Anyway,  I'll be adding some snippets over the next while.   Meanwhile,  I'm back to working on the bathroom.  Took me a couple days or more to get my head sorted out after some serious jet lag.
Needless to say,  I wasn't very peppy.   Managed to cut the grass this morning.  Been rooting around in the garden,  that kind of thing.

Tonight will be my first time on the water again since last fall.   I haven't had a chance to look,  but I suspect that the water level hasn't really gone down that much.  There was a whole bunch of more rain when we were away.

I took this a week before we left for Austria.   That's Lake Ontario.  Think about it.  Lake Ontario is bigger than Puerto Rico.   Dat's a lotta water.   Normally you step down about 10 inches to that floating slip.

At one point I read on the net (when we were overseas)  that the Town of Oakville had closed off some of the access to the walkways and such,  as there was a very real possibility of someone ending up in the drink.  Easily done if you misjudge the edge underwater there.


That's it for today.  (Hey,  I'm really dragging it here,  OK?)

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Feeling a bit guilty.

OK so, I'm not at home, but I'm also not uttering a peep.   And considering that I was just paying a visit to Kevin and Ruth's travel blog AND they still have a link to this site?  Um, ya.   Feeling sheepish.

My only excuse is well, I'm just a lazy sod.

My laptop crapped out not long after we moved home in 2013,  so I requested a tablet for Christmas,  which I used when we went to Maui,  and it not too long ago also crapped out.
"It's the drive" , accoqrding to one local computer Dude.   So here I am on T.C's Ipad,  and I wanna tell ya,  typing on this thing totally sucks.

So....when I get back home...I promise to throw a few photos. up here and offer some sort of missive.
Meanwhile, T.C and her Slovenian cousin are watching the local version of "Dancing with the stars"  Or something like that.  My Slovenian is pretty weak.

See you on the flip side.   Or as they say around here,  "Adio"


And yes, keep your stick on the ice.

Thanks for stopping by.

It's kind of like being a toddler.

A couple weeks ago,  I mentioned taking the train out East.
Well see,  that's the conclusion I came to.
You eat,  poop and sleep,  and anytime you try to look out the window,  you haven't a clue where you are.  AND,  getting from one car to another involves a certain amount of staggering.  No wonder they don't want you to bring your own booze.
There's no need.

And yes,  it was an "adventure".

We had done something similar during our last year in Vienna,  when we took an overnight train from Munich to Paris.  There's video footage somewhere looking out the back of the train.
Wait. I found it. Click here.
Anyway,  there was a certain amount of jostling,  and T.C. knew better this time around than wear two part P.J.s,  as she nearly lost the bottom half that first time around.
With the exception of not getting nearly enough sleep,  that was the only slight misgiving we had about taking an overnight train with a sleeper cabin.

Well,  it turns out that, either the cabins on "Deutsche Bahn"  are slightly bigger (and I think they are) or something else is up with my ability to be in a "confined space",  but at about one a.m.  I had to scramble out of my top bunk,  pull on my trousers and shirt,  grab my key,  and get the hell out of there!   Claustrophobia,  with just a soupçon of motion sickness.  Seems I wouldn't do well hot racking it in a submarine.
No sir.
Made my way to the "Wifi car",  and there was a lone employee there,  who enquired as to my well being,  after which she went and got me some ginger ale.  I did feel better after that,  but couldn't for the life of me get back on that top bunk.  T.C. and I did some sort of sardine impression for the rest of the journey.  On the way back,  I simply resolved to sleep on the floor.  Apparently I'm not yet so old and creaky that I can't do that.

Here, T.C. is enquiring about the overnight train from Montreal to Halifax.  Turns out we got to chill in the Business Lounge,  which was quite nice.

We did eat well.  The meals were included,  but the wine or beer was extra.

Somewhere along the way,  in New Brunswick I seem to recall,  there was a fifteen minute stop.  That's when all the smokers went outside.  I haven't smoked since the mid eighties,  but thought I'd go out anyway,  just to stretch my legs.

I have to be mindful that T.C. really doesn't want her picture on the blog,  so I think I can get away with this one.

Oh,  and the other observation about taking the train?  You get to see all the "underpinnings" of all the places you're going through.   That whole,  "wrong side of the tracks" thing.

Lovely.

But,  enough of that.

Had a fine visit.  Got to play with my brother's saw mill.

I tell ya,  if I had a place for one of these things,  it would be hard to resist the temptation.  Helps that he has a barn.
He needed a couple 2 x 4s to put under the firewood in his basement.  These are actual "two by fours", not whatever it is you get at your local lumber yard.

Oh,  and we did take a little jaunt over to Lunenburg.

That's the "Bluenose".  I'm not even going to "go there" with the latest rudder debacle.  Seems stupidity is rampant all over the place.  That's all I'll say.

And on another day,  we took a little jaunt over to Margaretville (or Margaretsville,  depending on which way you get there) just to have a look around.   It's usually foggy in Margaretville,  so this was pretty rare.

Not a whole helluva lot left to see in Margaretville.  There used to be a big wharf and a small wharf.  Now there's just that small one.   Irving oil also had something going on there,  but no more.    The Bay of Fundy can be tough on Wharves,  and they just get beat to pieces.

Anyhoodle,  I'd best get back at it.   Bathroom reno and all.
Mind you ,  I'm taking the time to straighten out some of the wiring I've put in over the years,  and that's a whole other story.

Maybe next time.

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


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