Going the way of the Dodo.

 

Before I go any farther,  I have to say that I was reminded that we did in fact get some mail on Monday.

So I’m only partly full of sh*t.  Most of the rest is true.

 

*ahem*

 

So I had a little chat with ‘Heather’ from Canada Post yesterday.  (you think that’s her real name?)

You know when you call up a service,  and after pushing the appropriate number of ones and twos to get to whatever menu you *think* you need to be at,  you get that little message that says,  “For quality purposes,  your call may be recorded”?  

I just thought to myself.  “Oh good.”   I had worked up a bit of a head of steam at that point.   I think it was from wading through all those ones and twos. 

 

First of all,  there’s a cheque that was sent out to us from a location in Hamilton,  some time a couple weeks ago.  It could have come by mule train and got here by now.  The thing was though,  I started to realise by about Wednesday,  that we had not received ONE STITCH of mail up to that point.   Not even junk mail.

*except for Monday of course.  D’oh!

 

And we ALL know,  there’s no stopping the junk mail.

When I checked the box on Thursday and it was still empty,  I figured something had to be not quite right.

Here’s what else I noticed.  Our regular postal Dude isn’t here.  Instead,  the mail has been carted around by a replacement.  How do I know this?  Well,  when I hear someone talking on their phone in my driveway,  go around the corner and see some postal chick trucking it down the street,  still talking on her phone,  that’s when I notice.

The thing was,  I’m sure she had just come up the driveway.  Yet, the mailbox was empty. 

What?  Change of heart?  Confused?

 

Did she maybe not like the look of the mailbox?   I mean, it’s the same mailbox we’ve had for nearly twenty years.  I made it to replace the metal one that was showing its age not long after we moved here.  (In 1992!)

It’s been getting mail put in it off and on for the duration.

 

In keeping with the look of the house,  it too is made of cedar. I probably should think about sprucing it up one of these days.   I’ll put it on the list.

 

Now,  I say “off and on”,  because it has been known to happen, that a certain house down the street has received our mail,  simply due to some dyslexia (or maybe just illiteracy?) when the mail gets sorted.   A certain Mr. Helm would stop by from time to time to drop off our mail,  and we’d usually have a couple items of his that we’d exchange.   If it looked really important,  we’d make the trip to his place.  

I don’t at the moment remember his house number,  but it was *close* to ours,  if you were dyslexic, or just stupid. 

But wait. It turns out it wasn’t dyslexia,  now that I just did a google maps searcheroo... 

Yup,  that’s the place.  (click that link above?)  I notice how it says on Google Maps,  “Address is approximate”.   Um ya.  See,  that doesn’t work for mail delivery?

And that’s the thing.   Even IF you don’t know the area,  don’t know the house numbers,  all you have to do is whip out your “smart phone”,  and GOOGLE will tell you where to deliver the mail!   I mean, you don’t even need to be able to *think*.   Although, maybe thinking was never part of the program.

 

The other slight wrinkle too is,  poor Mr. Helm (yes,  that’s a real person) is getting on in years,  and it was really becoming quite onerous for him to deliver our mail.

 

Anyway,  I was nice as pie with Heather.  Not her fault really.  She’s just some poor sap straddled with listening to some irascible old bastard. l was trying to be polite,  (really) all the while telling her just how lousy their “service” is.

I did make sure to point out just how the mail service has been going over the last twenty years and how,  in spite of the fact that their very existence is indeed going the way of the Dodo bird,  it would be prudent to not hasten that demise.  They’ll probably have to start doing what the postal systems in Europe have sunk to,  and that is marketing cell phones and plans,  along with banking and other such services.  Lord knows nobody wants to rely on their ability to actually deliver the mail.  I could tell stories about that lot too. Dough heads.

 

 

Anyhoodle,  we did manage to get some junk mail today.  So that’s a step.  Not sure if it’s in the right direction.  Still looking for that cheque.  Oy.

 

Sad to say,  that’s all I got.

Keep it between the ditches.  Nice weekend.  All that.

 

Thanks for stopping in.

Adding some colour.

My morning project.

Since I had this bright idea to put some colour on the trim that was going along the floor,  of course that meant I really couldn’t neglect the window trim as well.  I *guess* it goes with the cedar.  Meh,  looks fine to me.

The colour before was kind of bland.  You can see just the corner here.

Some sort of beige.  Maybe.  Actually in that light,  it has a bit of a pink tinge. 

 

So now I think I’m “done”.  (I’m never really done)   There will probably be something or other to go on one of the bare walls,  but we’ll wait and see.   I’m sure T.C. will have some ideas.

 

Pretty gloomy here today.  Yesterday at some point I heard the boiler come on,  which was not something I had planned.  The convectors make this *plinking* sound when hot water is first pumped through, and I didn’t really take notice right away. The thermostat was set to 65 (F) and I guess it was getting kinda cool in the house.   Hey, I was working.  I didn’t notice.

I shut it off completely. 

It’ll warm up again.  Some day.

The prognosticators who were saying,  “Oh it’s going to be a hot summer”, kind of make me shake my head a little.  When?  That’s what I want to know.

 

Cutting the grass was something I wanted to get out of the way yesterday before the rains come this way,  although we haven’t had much more than a sprinkle so far this morning.   Then as the mower was cooling down,  it was time to do the first oil change.   So I took pictures!   Fun, huh?

*tip*  It’s easier to drain the oil when it’s warm.   Best though to wait at least a few minutes so that it’s not blistering hot.

It’s a new machine,  and the first recommended interval is after five hours.  I think I’m past that,  but whatever.

I figured I had better do this inside the shed,  mostly so that any oil spilt (there wasn’t any) would be easily contained.

 

And yes,  it’s recommended to stick the thing on its side.

I have a handy dandy oil collection pan thingy,  so I just planked the machine on top.   The mower only holds a half litre.

Initially I thought the oil looked fine,  but I could see when it was in the pan,  that it had that certain “look” to it.  Definitely time for a change.

Then of course there has to be a way of getting the oil into a container without having to stand around forever waiting for that last drop.

Go ahead and laugh.  Got a hook and a bungee cord.  Good to go.

 

Then one last thing.

 

Since from now on I’ll only be doing this once a year,  it’ll come in handy to know that the drain plug is 10 mm.  Saves all that fumbling around for the right sized wrench.  I’ve never been good at guessing the correct size of nuts and bolts.  I would have made a lousy mechanic.  

Sometimes it’s the little things.

 

Keep those sticks on the ice.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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More boring stuff.

For the first time in many a year,  the door to what is now the sewing room has all it’s “trimmings”.

 

I’m not going to give any lessons on framing here,  except to mention that a doorway consists of a header, two “King” studs (who comes up with these names?) and two “Trim” studs.   My understanding has always been that the trim stud should be one piece,  but the genius who installed this door used three pieces of leftovers. 

I guess they were getting towards the end of things and he was trying to use up all the leftover bits.

Whatever.  Made it easier to pry the pieces out.   I have a honkin’ big renovator bar (among others).

So now the whole door is about a half an inch closer to the street.  I had to shim it out so far on the hinge side to get it plumb,  that it wasn’t going to fit on the latch side without removing some material.  You don’t get to see that whole business,  since it’s all now hidden by the jamb.

 

I thought at first I’d do some carving with the reciprocating saw,  but then since the trim stud was put in in pieces,  I just elected to remove the three pieces,  rip them on the tablesaw and reinstall them.

 

Today I’ll be hanging around here waiting for the Cable Guy,  since we’ve been having some connectivity issues.   My son-in-law very kindly did some hokus pokus Monday night,  and it’s much improved,  but I think our modem needs an upgrade.  

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

To go along with that,  I got a call from Daughter Number Two yesterday,  as they were at Futile Shop,   and she wondered if they should pick up a new wireless router.   I could be getting mixed up between router and modem,  but the fact is,  the current set-up means I’m not getting a really great signal throughout the house.  And it’s not like I want to take the laptop up to the roof or out to the shed or anything,  but I’ve been told that the wireless router should be doing a better job than it is.  

Point in fact, Daughter Number Two and Son-in-law say theirs gives them a signal even if they’re outside their place on the street!   And yes,  it’s secure.   He made sure of that.

So we’ll see how that goes.

 

Meanwhile,  one of my little jobs for today (other than cutting the grass before the rains come once again)  is to get up on the ladder and clean up the mess left behind by our recent visitors.

The little birds have all flown the coop,  never to return.

Here you can see the last of the three,  getting up his nerve to take the leap.

Mom keeps calling from somewhere close by,  and then eventually it happens.

Not sure how long they hang around together,  since a couple days have gone by and there’s  no evidence of the five of them.  

I don’t think I miss them that much.

And you know,  the car has sat outside for a couple nights now,  with nary a speck of bird crap on it.   Who knew?

 

So I’ll be “fixing” it,  so that no more birds will be up there crapping all over the place. 

 

Riveting stuff,  I know.   Hope you can stand the excitement.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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