Stouffville, Ontario Canada (647) 962-1997 gwstudios@rogers.com M-F 8:30am - 2:30pm & 8:00pm - 11:00pm

Month: April 2022

Today’s Task: Build a rustic bench for the orchard.

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Starting off with pressure treated wood, as it will sit out in the open for the foreseeable future, directly on grass, in mixed sunshine and shade. Doesn’t need to be a beautiful work of art, but should be sturdy enough for two adults or four squirmy kids at once.

I’m thinking a 36 to 48″ wide top, that’s at least 11 inches deep, and 2 inches thick. Four struts of about a foot in length/height, also 2 inches thick. And then braces cut at a forty five degree angle to support legs and top. Counter sunk holes and 3 or 4″ wood screws to pull it all together. Also means I can replace parts as they saturate or rot out over time.

Do I split the top bench to help water pour off, or leave it as one big plank? Decisions, decisions. I’m not going to lie, I think it’ll be ugly, but functional. To dress it up, I could round over all edges with the router. I could paint it? But it is pressure treated, so maybe no paint. Do I use mortise and tenon joinery or skip that to get it done sooner rather than later. We’ll see how busy the say gets before I decide.

**Due to work requirements I went for 3 inch wood screws and 45 degree braces only, no mortise or tenon joinery. I used pressure treated that I had on hand, but some of it had a twist, some had cups, and some were just ugly. So no beauty pageants, but it is sturdy as all get out, and should last a few seasons left out in the elements 24/7 – 365. And that’s all that matters. Plus I got it done in an hour or so, which is even better.

Ugly as sin bench, viewed from upside down.

Yesterday I even managed to finish my 45 Degree cross cut sled for my HP Trunk building operation. Nice to have a parallel surface to work off of, and a place to keep your hands safely away from the blade. Plus the sled means I can reliable make repeatable cuts without having to measure each time I make a cut. Or end up have to shave every piece down until I have too little left for what I was aiming for.

I have a couple of minor leather projects I’d like to do, mainly upgrading my shop apron, and adding some more functionality to it. Make getting it on and off easier, and keeping the shoulders where they need to be. Displacing the weight of the tools more evenly, and adding some quick connectors for tying it on me. If I had the money lying around I’d get one of those split legged Savage Industry aprons, but I don’t have $100 USD burning a hole in my pocket at the moment. Plus whatever the shipping is from San Fransisco to Ontario, Canada.

Going Hard in the paint: Until your wrist gives out.

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The sad story of every person everywhere. So I’m about 75% done my big project, and now need to wait for the last quarter from people who are now sick with Covid and/or the flu. I guess I didn’t need to go so hard out of the gate, but I did my portion as quickly as I was able to. Can take a breather, collect my thoughts, rest my wrist for a bit. Perhaps I’ll get outside to enjoy a beverage in the fleeting warmth & sunshine. Who knows. The day is my oyster, until the last sections come in and I have to scramble to add them in. No matter.

Attendance at school is back up to close to normal. On friday my oldest class had seven kids, out of a possible 23. Which is pretty wild if you ask me. My youngest had their class collapsed into another due to teacher absences, and missing kids. Must be very strange school life during these Covid times. I remember a months long teacher strike when I was very little, and all we did was draw all day. From September until Christmas I thought we were still aiming towards Halloween and drew pictures of skeletons and dead people for months. A meeting was had and questions asked. But it turns out, having a grade one student be totally aimless for four months meant I didn’t realize Halloween had come and gone, so I just kept on with that spooky feeling for months after the fact. I even drew a santa claus with dead reindeer, to incorporate the two best things in a child’s mind. Christmas and Halloween. Must be why I like The Nightmare Before Christmas so much. Ticks all of the above boxes for me.

I’m thinking of starting to build our gazebo next week. Just have to pin down where exactly the missus wants it to go, as moving it after the fact will prove very difficult. Plus I get to remove the enormous box from my shed! I don’t recall how many years it’s been in there. But woah Betty! Can’t wait to get it out, and set it up. Next week!

Easter holiday this weekend, means two short school weeks. With warming weather perhaps we’ll get out on our bicycles for a short ride. No big get together again this year. Going on year three of skipped family stuff. For the best. We’ll make bacon instead of ham, how about that! 450 degrees for ten to twelve minutes. Crispy, not burnt bacon! Bam. Delicious.

Here we are, back at it again – Monday, Monday, Monday!

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Can you hear that folks? Do I need to turn the speakers up? Unless you’re driving and I’ll need to turn the volume down to find my exit. Back into the thick of it. 9:00am on a Monday, how are you feeling? I’ve got lots to do today, and every day this week. It’s a short one with the holiday Friday/Monday combo, so have to do more with less. Ain’t that always the way? Never asked to do less with more than you need. Funny how that is. Last weeks illness has decided to stick around to muddy the edges, but no matter, we press on.

I have an older brother currently at The Hague, competing in the Invictus Games 2020. Two years late, but better late than never. I had plans on going to the Netherlands to watch, in person. But that was before Covid Times, and now it’s going on, and I didn’t go. You couldn’t pay me to sit in an airplane right now with maskless strangers. I’ve been to Amsterdam before, it’s lovely. The bike culture is insane, but the people were great. My wife and I saw some shows, and took a boat/canal tour, drank a bunch of fresh quality Heineken, and had a fantastic time. But weeds legal and good here, so you don’t have to go far for bud any more.

Anyway. I need to eat breakfast, and try to get 20 pages done today (this morning if at all possible). Crack on with it. Earn your daily bread.

Sing 2 : Une belle review.

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What a lovely film Sing 2 is. I know that we are late to the game on this one, as it even had the chance for rerelease to theaters for the March Break. But we aren’t out and about kind of people during these Covid times. So we finally saw it on Bluray at home.

After my third full viewing I have to say it has better flow, and a tighter story through line than the original. Not that the first was bad, but it didn’t come together as organically as #2. The music is pretty great, Halsey as Porscha was lovely. My kids loved her flying around the planets singing “This girl is on fire!” And twirling mid air. The whole thing is a hoot. I particularly enjoyed the Clay Calloway, portrayed by Bono. Rather touching story line.

The animation is superb, bright colours, easy to follow. Not a lot of jump cuts, let’s the story play out, gives the moments a chance to breathe. Fine film. Worth another watch or two. With my kids, it’ll be on the tv another five to ten times at least. Ms Crawley is a fan favourite in our household. Same with Johnny and Meena, Rosita and Gunther. Mr Moon is an adorable fuzz ball in a lamé blue suit.

Fun for the whole family. Though Mr Crystal the wolf does attempt murder by fall from a great height on multiple occasions, so do with that information what you will.

Still busily working away.

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Managed to complete almost 1/4 of the report yesterday. Hit my stride this morning for another chunk completed. Still going to take several days, but I feel more confident about my progress. If I had my druthers, I’d like to get a 100% completed information packet in from the get go, but piecemeal is better than nothing. I can at least start with something, rather than having to sit and wait. I do like to work in a specific order of the sections to get some early wins, which makes me more likely to stick to it, and push through. Not able to work that way this time. Oh well. Will have to create some wins for myself so I don’t push the work off and procrastinate.

So far today it has rained, snowed and been windy. I see some sun shine poking through the clouds now too. I’d prefer it to be at least 10 degrees today if it could manage! Bike rides, and general outside clean up awaits! Walks, scooting and the long board skate board! So many options.

Quietly working away…

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On the third and final massive report. And it’s a doozey. Going to be locked into this bad mamajama for about eight days straight. If I can get a jump on some comments sections, I can reduce that by a day, possibly day and a half. That’s just an awful lot of type setting. Wish those paragraph styles still worked the way they used too. I hate having to adjust by hand.

Anywho, it’s Saturday, so of course it is raining for most of the day, and cooler than it needs to be, by around five degrees. Bah!

Stay strong out there.

I didn’t know she was 115 years old.

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That’s ancient in dog years, holy cow. Today marks continuous writing day 115. That’s not any specific kind of milestone, but I did keep going even while having a pretty dastardly flu all this week. So that counts for something around here. Though it was a light week for paid work, some labels, a display, a meeting through a glass door, a some customized brochures, I did much more outdoors. Spring is in the air! And so is the sun and slightly warmer temperatures.

To celebrate I put out the patio furniture. The deck carpeting, chairs and kids toys. The solar lights and ornamental garden decorations, the hose ( but didn’t turn the water on yet.) This whole month is one longish rain storm, with intermitten fits of blue sky and sun. The slack line went up. The swing is back in working order. Crab sand box is uncovered from leaves, snow and winter debris. Porch chair, and drinks table put up. Scooters dug out of the shed. Gardening tools brought to the front, and winter shovels and de-icer moved to the back, and away from the front door. I did not uncover the AC unit, as that’s about 6 weeks away from being needed, if at all in the spring. Cleaned the car of snow gear and toboggan etc… a productive morning.

In the shop I built the second peg board and placed that over the lathe. It’s a bit bare, but I wanted it off the floor, and that’s where it was going anyway. I got my large cross cut sled holed so it can finally hang on the wall and get out of my way.

I have a new project from my wife for the farm orchard, a rustic bench. So I’ll move that in front of my adjustable saw horses. I was looking at last years progress on the screen door, trying to see if I can salvage it, or am I putting good money after bad on it. I do need a door there though. So I might press on with it.

I had an hour or two tweaking the kids bikes yesterday, so all good there now too. Cleaned a bunch inside, got the laundry sorted and put away. All in all a good week for having been ill. Still am, but not as bad as last weekend. Maybe I’ll watch Dune again. It’s long enough that I can just phase in and out of attention with it and still enjoy it a bunch. Part two coming next year!

Odd question for you.

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Why is it that all of our local bicycle repair, or sales stores around here open at or after 11:00am? Is this in preparation for warmer weather and a morning ride with no rush to get in to open the stores? I don’t get it. In most parts of Canada, bicycle riding weather is mid April until early November, at the best of times, and that’s not guaranteed. So what do they do the rest of the year? Are these the Peloton people? Anyway. I went to our local bike shop to buy what could have been $100-$150 worth of name brand parts for my kids bikes. Namely brake pads, kick stands, bike pegs, and some much needed bike specific repair tools for chains and tires. But they weren’t open for another 3 hrs. So then I went to Canadian Tire, which had empty spots for brake pads, no kick stands whatsoever, and no service people around. Then off to Walmart, which had most of what I’m looking for, sort of. I might have to put down the break pads they did have, but otherwise I made out ok. The kick stand wasn’t exactly what I was after either, but it’ll work just fine as is. My last hope, in town anyway was a SportChek, but I didn’t have much faith in that store. It’s all glitz and no underlying product strength.

I’m trying to avoid Amazon. Not out of anything worth a damn, but because if I can grab it now, I can do the work now, sort of thing. I hate all the waiting involved. I looked at various other bike related stores but they opened at 10:00am, 11:00am, 12:00pm (noon) or as late as 2:00pm. WTF. I don’t have time for that. Gotta be around for school pick up. Plus I’m not comfortable with how Covid is progressing to have my kiddos tag along when I wander around stores searching for stuff. Maybe after Wave 6 is behind us, or my youngest is finally old enough to have all of her jabs.

Yeah so. Odd start to the day. My Flu is still in me working it’s filthy tendrils deeper into me, but I’m keeping the worst of it at bay with NyQuil brand products. Sleeping well, eating & drinking fine. On occasion I can breath through my nose properly. Feel off, but not horrible. Which is a big step forward from last Friday/Saturday. Still testing negative – so. Yeah.

Going to eat and then work on the bikes for a bit. Ciao.

Tax time – and other uncomfortable truths.

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Looking at the numbers, and last year was not a particularly good one. Lots of events were canceled which meant I had to forgo around six to eight reports and audits. That’s a pretty good chunk of cheddar that I missed out on. I picked up a few extra clients, but they didn’t spend anything close to what I could have hoped for, though I am very thankful for their trust in me and my services. No matter.

I did lots of DIY projects and didn’t go too crazy spending money on much of anything. Save, save, save to pay the tax man, then do as you please.

Attendance at my kids school is a tad light today, more than 60 kids missing from a school with little more than 300. A bit jarring when you see how empty it is. Of a possible 23 kids, my eldest daughters class has 10 today. I will say this though, a few more teachers and EA’s wearing masks today, which is a positive turn of events. Nice to see. This shit is like glitter and herpes, it’s every fucking where. God save us all from our collective stupidity. That and an attention span that quits after two years.

Yeah – so lots of logging invoices and data entry for today. I have dedicated these last two days to it. Dig up my receipts, colour code them, staple like items in stacks, log them, and move on to the next block. Every year I think I should keep a live document and fill it in as I go, but I never do. Luckily my business is small, and fairly simple to maintain.

I snuck in one extra chapter with Racquelle and Katayna on you! It came from a moment of clarity after my cold & flu meds kicked in, and settled down so I wasn’t so spaced out. Thinking about Covid, like a looming battle helped me feel her despair, and worry. Plus a bit of confusion. Gonna have to hash it out soon though. Or do I?

The news was unwelcome,

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And was not taken in stride. Rather Racquelle receded into herself at the news of the impending Company flotilla. Twelve vessels ranging from city sized behemoths, to mid range ships capable of holding forty thousand or more. Then there are the smaller ships that barely hold more than a few thousand. The behemoths will disgorge a vast swarm of fighters, drop ships, escorts and work vehicles. As far as Racquelle was concerned this was going to be a massacre. A fast, violent and ultimately brutal escapade in her otherwise hard won life. No stranger to storming ships like a pirate to capture crew and cargo for the doctor. But somewhere deep down she always thought she’d retire to a far off colony, to spend the rest of her days turning soil at the hands of a shovel. The rich thick scent of muddy loam firmly entrenched in her nostrils. A patchy cloud covered sky overhead, and a fading sunset a part of her last days alive. The impartiality of the news given by K, and its humanoid companion Katayna, a icy dagger into her heart.

Much to her dismay K had created a massive countdown clock that was visible no matter where Racquelle turned. Whether to torture her, or remove all doubt of the looming invasion, she didn’t know, and didn’t venture to ask. Choosing instead to wrap herself in gluttonous meals, and warm blankets woven from the remains of K’s original crew, when K was not a former human & ship amalgam, but a star faring human from centuries before. The tender soft brush of cool silks against her cheeks were of little solace. The meals, while sumptuous, tasted of ash and decay. Her sleep wracked with despair, and her waking moments drowned under a pall of frozen terror.

Twisted in her sheets, staring blindly out of the windows provided by K, Racquelle sits, motionless waiting for the first signs of contact. A subtle shift in the stars. A blinking out to black as the back drop becomes obscured by the viscious Company flotilla. All the while, the large colorless numbers creep ever onwards towards zero.

“Racquelle dear, would you please open the door. I know enough about you that I don’t wish to break in against your will. Please. I have urgent news.” Katayna whispers through the doors to Racquelle’s quarters. In a fit of humanity, she lays her head against the door with a light thud. The oddly heavy, and dense nanotech make up of her body making her much heavier than one would think. After a pause the door hatch clinks as the locks unlatch. Taking a moment to let the door open entirely before entering Katayna flexes her hands nervously. The intense social interaction with Racquelle has rubbed off on her noticeably. Taking on more and more subconscious ticks, like blinking, pupil dilation, coughs and finding reasons to play with her finger nails, such as they are.

“Racquelle, I have some rather disturbing news.” Whispers Katayna as she glides into the room. “Great!, is there a secondary fleet too?” Shouts Racquelle from within the tangled sheets of her bed. “Well, yes, in a manner of speaking, but that isn’t why I need to talk to you.” Answers Katayna. “What!?!, what do you mean that’s not the news you want to talk to me about, what could possible be more important?” Shrieks Racquelle in a hysterically shrill moan. “I do believe the second grouping to have originated from UB313, and would be classified as friendlies. Potentially. Though I’m sensing more organic material than normal out of that cluster. But based on human DNA. Odd, really.” She says, pulling a face, her head tilting less dramatically to the side while recalling other data. “No – my issue is I have discovered a partition, well several if them in our data banks. They are road blocks we, I, K and myself cannot penetrate, but we estimate they contain the same quantity of data as we have decrypted from the slew of outgoing messages we’ve found. I need you to try to breach the partitions for me.” Whispers Katayna so quietly that Racquelle has to hold her breath in order to hear it entirely.

“Even with all of the new data processing power we’ve managed to plug into, we can’t break the partitions. I think it has something to do with you. Something you did, or are going to do?” Katayna rasps into the darkness of Racquelle’s room.

Part Forty: Ghost of the Dirty Starling.