Month: November 2024

Not that we got up to too much stuff yesterday, but I’m tired as all get out today. I went out to watch the Leafs game, where we won – again. Which is real nice. Have to remember these moments once the team hits an away game losing skid that stretches potentially into the double digits, and I start to lose faith. Take the good with the mediocre. Ha.

I had the exact thing which we predicted would happen, actually happen. Once I committed to helping somebody outside of the house just for a few minutes one day early this coming week, I received word of a new large project that I am to start on immediately. Ha. Like clockwork! I guess my skill for rounding up more paid day job gigs is to volunteer outside of the house more often, and I’ll have a steady fourth quarter which might help to even out how quiet this fiscal year has been. It couldn’t possibly save the year, but it would go a fair way towards mitigating the slump. That’s a silver lining that I can get behind alright. Yeah. Positivity. Doing hood things because it makes me feel good. Wholesome energy expression out into the universe. Bask in my warm glow people! Bask in it – dammit.

I thought we were going to have a lazy day watching movies with the kids. But the garlic, she calls out to us. Bellows really. Gotta get next years crop in the ground now before it freezes, if you want scapes, and all new bulbs next year. I don’t think we need to plant 10,000 personally, but it isn’t my circus, and not my monkey. I dig up, water, weed, and pull rocks, I don’t typically plant anything. I do help lay tarps, and set a partial skids worth of bricks to help out though. That is the extent to my helping hands at the farm. I can ferry people about between fields, and move items around. But I’m not much help otherwise. I’m a mover of things, doer of menial tasks at the farm. Busy work that the skilled farmers don’t need to waste their time doing. Split wood, cut grass, move brush. I can do that shit. It’s mindless, and fun. Then I come home to my comfy office and work on my computer with my dog at my feet, and my kids playing in the yard. I like it. Think I’ll keep at it.

Smells like chalk, rubber and sweaty spandex/lycra mixed with concrete forms and dust. Quite the experience my kids will have over the next couple of months. I’ve tried it once, while in Comox B.C. and my forearms felt like bricks the following day because I was grabbing the hand/toe holds too hard because the autobelay system felt too much like falling if it didn’t encounter sudden weight or tension. It’s free flowing when moving slowly. Made me nervous. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. Alas it’s just another hobby to soak up both my time, and my money. I like so many things expenses could just spiral out of control if I tried to do them all. Ha. Such is life. Pick your battles, pick your wagers, pick the things you are willing to pay for.

It’s cold, but that sun sure is bright today. Kids didn’t even pretend to try and sleep in this morning. The dog was barking in my bedroom before seven because he could hear my youngest moving around & talking to herself whilst playing on the tablet. I did not appreciate that at all, not one bit.

Leafs won another big game last night, which is good. I’ll take any wins I get to see on tv. I don’t hold out high hopes for the season, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t harbor any. Who wouldn’t want their home team to finally take it all in an epic win scenario after decades of non-starters, or first round exits. I might even buy myself a jersey this year, if I may be so bold. Depends on whether I have an extra $200.00 just laying around burning a hole in my pocket.

I think the comic book store I used to visit prior to having kids is around here some place. Likely several blocks both south, and east of where I am right now. I thought we’d be closer to the farm, but I don’t really know the ins and outs of Markham city proper very well, or at all really. Not on any deep or meaningful level anyway. To tell you the truth I don’t know Whitchurch-Stouffville all that well either.  Alot of my mental map is still clouded over, hidden like those Diablo maps in the video games.

I’m going to take my turn watching the kids climb soon, so I’ll sign off for now. I hope they are having fun, and making positive memories. Ciao Bella!

Lots of things going on behind the scenes as of late. Never a dull moment when friends of ours are getting divorced, and there are shenanigans afoot. It’s been enlightening to say the least. Eye opening, in a harrowing manner. Yikes. These aren’t the first of our friends to get divorced messily either. I’ve seen it before, but never this close up. I kinda walked into the middle of another divorce already in progress when my oldest child started kindergarten and a best friends parents (whom we eventually began to know more personally) were entrenched in just a ghastly battle. Not for the weak of mind, nor faint of heart. Just brutal.

Here we are into November, and on the anniversary after our big trek into the US this time last year. Hard to believe we managed to spend 41 says in Florida between November and April. We arrived out of an ice storm with sub zero temperatures here, into a heat wave in Tampa Bay, where it was consistently in the nineties Fahrenheit. Talk about melting your brain. Holy cow. That was a massive shock to the system. From freezing rain, into swamp ass temperatures. No amount of SPF shirts, hats, and sun screen was able to stop my neck from charring, cracking, and burning to a crisp. We did just about all we could manage over those 41 days. Key Largo, Key West, Miami, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Clearwater, back and forth, again, and again. I did a shit tonne of driving. We visited Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, SeaWorld, Aquatica, Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios, Disney Springs, and also various restaurants, and other such outings. Pools, pools, and more pools to go along with all of the water parks we visited, and a very spectacular beach. Of our first fourteen day trip we spent eleven of them in theme parks, from open until close. It was a weight loss bonanza. Dehydrating too, but all that walking, and swimming did us a world of good. Harnessed the power of direct vitamin D to power through December, January and February.

Not going to lie like our feet, hips, and lower backs weren’t suffering from all of that hot weather walking, and standing in line. The Christmas push had started in all the theme parks we visited that November. It was rather surreal to be sweating so profusely whilst hearing Christmas carols, and seeing magnificent holiday displays, decorated trees, and all the light shows, fireworks etc… shorts and sweat don’t read as Christmas time to me. Florida, and southern countries must have a very different feel to their holiday season, should they observe it. I hate snow after we have it for more than a month, so I’m not opposed to moving someplace warmer that doesn’t get as much all winter long. But with no snow, bitterly cold weather, comes snakes, and bitey bugs that kill. So… there is that to consider.

I just can’t get over the fact it was a year ago. So wild to think about. My how time flies. Not only that, but how much has changed since then! Maybe not directly to us, but around us. What a difference a year makes. In some instances the battles continue even after one party members death. It’s really very upsetting. I can’t believe it’s even true. But I’m sure I’ll know more in the coming months.

Within reasonable standards that is. I just now remembered I wanted to run some things through the wash that I noticed while vacuuming the floors, and just as quickly as I thought of it, I forgot about it, until right now. Back in a sec.

Now I just need to remember to move that washing over to the dryer in about 35 minutes or so. Putting the kids sheets back on their beds would be helpful too. But one step at a time. I have all ready trimmed the dog nails. Clipped one a tad too short which resulted in some blood pooling at the surface. Here I was thinking i was being very conservative with my cuts too. Not trying to limb the tree here, just take an eighth of an inch off the ends. But nope. Still nicked a quick somehow. Poor puppy. He likes the duck bacon though, so I was able to finish without too much fanfare.

Had a big walk already this morning. Worked on some retail stuff that is probing to be like fitting a rectangular peg into a round hole. Taking some effort, time and patience to get it just… right. But I digress.

What else can be said about this Thursday in which we find ourselves situated. I went to bed, and woke up with the same headache. That was fun. The time change hasn’t officially altered my body clock yet. May need another week or longer to get on board with not feeling absolutely wiped by 9:00pm new time. It is far more pleasant to wake up feeling refreshed, than to feel harried, and sluggish. I don’t know if that is a factor of the sun being up as I awake now, or that I’m not getting up until 8:00am old time, which feels like a lie in every more thus far. I’m not mad.

My daughters friend left her cat purse here yesterday afternoon, so I really should go drop that off today, get it out of my hair, and off my mind. Which reminds me, I left my coat at the inlaws last night, because I had planned to walk home, but then had to drive, and forgot my coat which was underneath all of the kids stuff at their front door. I should go run those two errands, and call it a successful morning.

I could try to take on some leaf collection, but I’m nolonger in the mood for that sort of thing. I did somewhere in the vicinity of 12-15 bags over three days previously, so I’m no slouch. I’m just so over it right now. I got the Christmas lights up on the house, and that is giving me a big helping of satisfaction regarding our outdoor situation. If I’m home this weekend I’ll put the patio furniture away, and will call it a day with exterior chores, until the snow comes. Keep on keeping on.

What can I say? Yesterday was lovely and warm, with blue skies, a healthy breeze, and I took advantage of those factors when choosing to put up all of our exterior Christmas lights. I’m glad I took some time on Sunday to check the light strands for dead bulbs, so that I could simply put what I have up without any additional fussing about. Despite tacking on the chore of cleaning the gutters while I was up on the roof top, the whole process went fairly smooth. It still took me nearly two and a half hours, but given how lovely it was outside the puppy and I enjoyed labouring in the sunshine.

I just saw the news (because I was avoiding it) that Donald Trump has been elected president once again. My oh my. That’s a development to wake up to. Jesus.

Had a few steady projects to work on which included Photoshop compositing, among other things. Retail displays and reading die lines has become a larger portion of my day job than I ever thought it would be. It’s pretty cool. I’m no engineer but I can read a die line fairly well. Once you learn the rules between, cut, bend, and removed sections, and what makes up the structural elements.

Took a bit of getting used to, the news out of the US today. I can’t believe it. I honestly can’t.  Is this crazy town? Wildly out of left field here. I wonder if I should have been prepping instead of amassing guitar gear recently. Who knows!?!

So either today, or tomorrow perhaps I will venture outside go put the first batch of Christmas lights up on the house. It is supposed to be warm but rainy today, a bit cooler and sunny tomorrow. I have time to think about it first. My gut instinct is to do it now, so I’m not thinking about it all day long. Get it out of the way. Plus if it is sunny tomorrow,  I can complete this years leaves to the best I care to do, and then all I have to worry about from now until it snows is the patio furniture tear down & removal. I like that plan. I like it a lot.

Going a bit lighter this year too. Blue strands on the house. Red on the big tree, and green beside my Oogie Boogie inflatable. My multicoloured strands have gone to the dump, same with several defunct blue strands, and my oldest, and longest reaching strand of pure white lights. Fare the well my good friend. You illuminated this house for more than a decade and then some.

Now that these beautiful days are few and far between I really need to maximize what I can get done, and what I can get out of them chore wise. Changing tires in freezing rain is no fun. And cleaning gutters with snow covered leaves in them is an awful experience. So while I’m up on the house attaching light strands to the gutters, I will also be cleaning them of leaves a debris. Slows things down a little, but makes it so I have to climb the ladder fewer times per year. That’s still a win in my book.

You never know we could luck out and get another warm spell later in the month, or into December too, but I can’t count on that kind of thing happening, so I’ll plan to do this stuff as soon as I can. One less thing sitting on my mind making me feel panicked. Happy Tuesday.

And let me be the first to tell you, my back aches, my fingers hurt, and my thighs are sore. Ha! Same old song and dance. That was about 90 minutes of excessive bending at the hips, and trudging through wet mud, and dead vines to lug bricks around and palettize them. A solid five layers of bricks on a full sized pallet. At least it wasn’t rainy, nor too hot. It was a balmy 10°C, partially cloudy, and breezy Sunday afternoon in the late afternoon sun. And by late afternoon sun, I mean it was three pm, and the sun was on it’s way down already! Yikes! Time change day is so weird.

I have to go and double check that I have found, and altered all of the clocks in the house today. I think I missed at least one block in the basement. The dog was nonplussed by the time change so that was a relief. He is a free eater, and not on a strict meal time so he wasn’t about to pester me for breakfast. Thankfully. But he might get antsy for his morning walk though, so there is that.

Today is Picture Day at school, so our house is a flurry of activity doing hair, and finding specific clothes. Why my youngest didn’t want to find her outfit yesterday I’ll never know, but my oldest did do that, so we are dealing with just 50% crazy this morning. Fun times!

The dog is a full week out from his surgery, so he is back on the morning drop off routine. Which means my wife’s week off from work is over, and she will be returning to work today. Probably has a staff meeting tonight so I’ll need to keep both girls with me for Taekwondo tonight. Cooking class is over now, so another activity is destined to start some time soon. The life of parents with small-ish kids!

I’m out here in my garage, the sun is shining, the temperature is above zero, and I have a few hours to try to fix these Christmas lights. Time to reduce the number of strands, but increase the number of working bulbs per strand to 100%. It’s probably going to be dull and boring work, but what else can I do on a Sunday before football starts. We walked the dog for an hour at the farm, the time change gave us all a brief lie in, and the kids have a play date in progress.

Yesterday was full to the brim, so today I’m keeping things as low key as possible.

***Editor’s note: fixing most of the lights was a bust. I did complete two full strands but the rest are destined for the garbage heap. Not enough replacement bulbs, fuses, time, effort or money available to fix my pure white strand, or either of my multi coloured strands. I will either have to buy all new ones this year, or next year. Depends on how I feel when I put the exterior lights up on Tuesday when it’s hot out once again. If I’m happy with our set up, then I’ll leave it be for this year, and possibly next year too. Hard to say. I do like a lot of colourful lights at Christmas time. But also not having to put up an addition 12 strands of knotted lights is a time saver, and kind of a boon once it gets real cool & damp here in southern Ontario.

Either way, I made the effort, tried to fix multiple strands, and tossed a bunch of old junk. Sorted the old car seats too while I was at it. Slowly but surely I will tame the mess that is our garage. Between outhtown children’s bikes, holiday decorations, wood cut offs, tools, and consumables I use during wood working sessions the place is a real work in progress.

If I had a rocket stove, or fire pit I’d have that thing running 24/7 to rid myself of saw dust, wood shavings, and cut off waste pieces from various projects. But I don’t so I’m stuck waiting to have it taken up north so that we can burn it there instead. Free day burning starts November sixth, if I recall, so it will still be a while before I can get it going.

I am very hopeful that I will get our lights up on the house on Tuesday, and I can do one last push on the fallen leaves to clean everything up. I do need to buy some premium gas to cleanse the mower before I set it away for winter.

Three of them today atleast. Two 10th birthdays and an additional Trick or Treat special for all the little kiddies at my wife’s uncle’s property.  I did sleep in until 8:30am, so I’m pumped to get things jumping. We’re in Vaughan at the moment waiting to get inside The Bubble. I’ll check in later on.

After 30 minutes in the trampoline section my legs feel like Jell-o and I’m as hot as can be. Ready to munch some pizza and be a bit quieter for the next little bit. Party #1 is nearly done!

Spent some time taking down the Halloween inflatables, skeletons, light up pumpkins, and tree hanging ghouls early this morning. Cut the grass to mulch some leaves, and began the long process of stowing our warm months gear away in the shed. I still have the patio furniture to do, but the solar lights, hose, lawn ornaments are packed up. The hose had to be drained first, so that took extra time. I  mulched up the leaves on the side lawn. I got the kids scooters put away. Now the front of the house looks sad, deserted and desolate. Boo-boo.

Very productive day thus far though. I began with my own laundry in the wash. Moved to loading and running the dish washer. Cut 60% of the lawn, where I could get to that is visible to the neighbours. Did the decoration storage, tear down thing. Started on the outdoor chores that need to get done before the snow comes. Next up will be sourcing salt, or ice melt, and finding my snow shovels, ice scrapers, brushes, and remote starter/block heater paraphernalia.

I need my cut offs taken up north and burned so that my wife’s reclaimed blue bench can reside inside my garage for the winter. I’d love the kids kitchen to go too, but I’d be grateful for the lawnmower box of cut offs gone more. I might have a large pine table/bench combo delivered here in the coming weeks to tear down and either refurbish or turn into something entirely new. I vote for an outdoor bar for the back deck! Not that I drink all that much. Mainly over the Christmas holidays is when I’ll get into a Rye & Coke / Rum & Coke combo kind of an evening.

My oldest daughter was sad that Halloween is now done, and we are into a whole other month, Woosh! Just like that. Now her birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve all loom largely on the horizon. Too far away still to get excited about. But close enough with the dreary grey weather knocking on our door. I just hope our new puppy doesn’t decide to try and pee on the indoor Christmas tree. Our other dog never did that, but his wagging tail, and curious nose sure did do a fair bit of damage knocking items off the tree. Reminds me of when the girls were little and I had to put the nice stuff way up at the top, so even while up on the couch they couldn’t reach it, or pull it off the tree themselves. Oh the memories.

Anywho… now that I have the chance to sit down and rest for a second I realize I should go cover the AC unit too. Check that off my list. I broke down the power washer to drain any water in it to store for winter. I will need to service the new mower, but I should have at least one more full cut to do by mid November before I can do that all up properly. I can tackle the weed eater at that time too.

You know what I’d really love to do this year? If I get a warmer day or two. I want to get my Christmas lights out, and condense them down to strands with all working bulbs. I hate when I get individual bulbs, or whole sections that go out. Looks so tacky. I’d rather have fewer strands that are 100% on, that fifteen partials bunched up on the trees trying to hide all the dead/did bulbs. But maybe that’s just a hang up of mine. It’ll take several hours, and in that time span I could just put them up on the house and call it a day. Priorities I guess. It will depend on the day, and how easy/difficult it is to pull old bulbs out, and push new ones into place. If I have a heat source, and some music I’m far more inclined to actually follow through, and do it.

I’m going to vacuum the main floor now, since everyone is gone for the moment. Ciao Bella.