Month: February 2025

Glad the snow didn’t interfere with us this morning, as heading out to the car in the pitch black cold was hard enough when it’s this early in the day. Didn’t sleep so well either. I will say this of the Superbowl though, it was excellent to see KC get blown out of the water by the Eagles 40-22 by the end of regulation time. It was 34 nothing for the first three quarters which was so satisfying to see. Glad they didn’t three-peat. Just goes to show how reliant they were on the officiating playing as their twelfth man on the field. The Buffalo Bill’s got screwed — hard, by that KC loss in the play offs. Would have much preferred a Bills/Eagles superbowl, but to see KC lose in such a fashion was a great second option.

I’m off & busy, so have a good Monday.

Came home from climbing yesterday and had a big lunch and thought to myself “just how much stuff is on those wooden racks in the garage?”, and then proceeded to empty them onto a table in the middle of my garage. By the time I had all of the items down I saw just how janky the rack really was and then started to tear it down. Yeah, started and then completed the tear down. I now have no racks, and a big mess to vaccuum up, and I need those metal racks in order to make the space useable once more. I’m fully invested in this process now. Ha. Nothing like starting a dream project to bring it into sharp relief, and make it a reality.

Over did the physicality of it yesterday. My back is really unhappy with all that extra lifting, and hammer swinging, sawing, and wrenching of boards. It very much so was a safety hazard. I never would have put so much weight on it if I had known it wasn’t secured to the wall, or even fully attached to itself with more than just sixteen nails. If that had of come down on me or my kids they’d have been crushed to death, especially when I had them in there with me when they were little-little. Oh my, glad that never happened.

Next steps are cleaning, and then buying the racks I’m after, building them in place, securing the uprights to the concrete pad, and then sorting my bits onto the five shelves, and the extra unused space off to the sides. I could kill a whole day in there no problem now that I have to do a big sort! I do now have far more pieces to send north to the cottage to burn though. Like, a lot more. I might finally have to figure out where the dump is around here and take a load, or two, there for disposal.

Otherwise we have enough cut up scraps for a massive outdoor inferno in the fire pit at the cottage. Looks like alot in my garage, but out in the open pit it’ll look puny, and not at all like the space jogging inconvenience it really is. Perspective! 

Is does look as though I will regain a couple of square feet worth of floor space, and height now that the looming rack structure has been taken down. I hope to move my wood pile to be against the back wall, and make my automotive section all one spot on the new rack, rather than spread out all over the garage a willy-nilly. I’m a tad concerned that a five shelf 90″ by 90″ rack might not cut it for all that I have, but then again a purge of useless crap is where it’s at. I love paring down what I’ve got to just the essentials that I need.  I am so close to having the shop space of my dreams! I’m excited to see this come together between now and spring time.

Other good news, after days of wiping off all of the car sensors, and taking the vehicle through the car wash the AEB finally clicked off the warning, and is back to working again. I fear this new car may have a few too many sensors on it, but it’s just an inkling that I have. We’ll see.

Another side note, I was moving sheet goods around yesterday and decided to through a half sheet of three eights ply wood directly onto one toe. Luckily the opposite toe to the one I dropped a table on in September. I’m still watching the black bruise grow out of that toe nail all these months later. Now I might get to do the same with my other foot! Oh joy! I was not happy with myself for doing that. After that point I pulled out my reciprocating saw and cut the rack to bits, rather than knock it down bit by bit. I had lost my patience once that happened. I also realized the futon I’ve been holding onto since 2001 is a ruined, rotten mess, and will need to be thrown away, along with three doors, and all the smashed up rack bits. I made a mess. A considerable amount of dust too. Gotta clean all that up at some point soon. I’d take some photos, but it really is a gross mess.

Now I don’t know how many sessions my kids have left in them once this second set of classes are done at the end of the month, but I sure would like to keep going back and trying my hand at getting better. I’m finding a good rhythm with the 5.7’s, and the 5.8’s. There is some kind of a skill/technique jump associated with the 5.9’s that just seems beyond me at this point. I think some of it has to do with the much smaller finger holds, and the softer/rounder hand holds where I just cannot for the life of me hold fast with my palm splayed, or cranked on hard. I just bounce right off those.

Besides learning the skills, I have a ways to go in the conditioning department. I’m still about 30lbs heavier than I need to be. I should try to settle onto a 165-175lbs if I really want to make more headway with climbing. The additional bulk I’m carrying around makes my arms tire faster, and my belly makes lifting my legs just a little bit more difficult. Now I don’t think for one second that I would become a dramatically better climber with the weight off, but it can’t hurt.

Even a month after the holidays are over I’m still 195 lbs, so the dog walking and climbing, and smaller breakfast & lunches has gotten me only so far. I need to either diet more harshly, and monitor calories in a meaningful way, or I have to add a whole lot more exercise into my daily routine. Seems like every couple of months I encounter this issue, and as of yet haven’t done much about it beyond the daily dog walking, and the saturday morning climbing. So what’s it going to be? Weight lifting? Elliptical usage?  Cross country skiing? Skate boarding or roller blades? I don’t know. But I need to find an activity that I’ll stick with for good. It’s about habits, not short term fixes otherwise I’ll be back here in a year whining about the same shit.

It’s not a resolution, but a habit I’m trying to form. Happy Saturday. Ciao Bella.

And the results were a tad gruesome. Luckily I managed to get the dog to drip it, and leave it to scamper off and die in peace. Normally he just chases them, and runs around barking like a fool. But now he’s tearing into them, biting & shaking them, and drawing blood. Not cool. Poor fat hibernating squirrel. He never seems able to capture the pests here at home, that pull up our tulip bulbs, and snap our peonies, and attack all manner of flowers we plant yearly. No. The fatted up farm squirrel is the one he snags, and most likely has killed.

After all why not start off your Friday morning with a bone chilling wind, and animal attacks before your very eyes. Snow drifts are a real issue up here in farm country. I don’t think the town has done enough snow fencing, or replacing dying Ash trees. The major roads should be bulwarked by tree lines to stop major snow accumulation in the middle of the roads. Looks a whole lot prettier too, to have some of these bare fields hidden by ever green trees, or any other type of tree/shrub cover. Makes a mess with all the leaves, but for the shade, water management with wetter trees like willows, and wind blocking capabilities I think they are a net positive. Nicer air, carbon capture, and habitat for birds etc. Seems like a winning idea to me.

Also, side note the 2025 Whistler Invictus Games start this saturday, so you should give that a watch if you are sick of Superbowl coverage, but like sports, competition, and military veteran’s getting after it.

Wasn’t expecting any more snowfall this week, but was surprised by a few inches earlier this morning, only to find that the extended family, whilst borrowing our new vehicle for an airport run had surreptitiously removed my snow clearing brush from the car, and locked it away in their house before going on vacation. Thus, leaving me to clear off my windows, and doors with nothing more than my sleeves. Nice touch. Cool-cool-cool-cool-cool.

But, on the other hand it’s all ready Thursday, and the Superbowl is this weekend, and my wife and I found a suitable sitter for the kids, and can attend for three hours like adults, and enjoy our own company. That’s a big ole win right there. I for one hope that the Eagles take it! Not a Mahomes fan. I think the NFL is in the bag for KC and it stinks to high heaven. These calls are going to be one sided as hell, but the tush pushing Eagles can run like the wind, so fingers crossed for those boys in green.

The new propane heater arrived yesterday just as we got home from school pick up. That was pretty handy. I opened the box and gave it a once over just to familiarize myself with it. It is intact the Mr Heater Big Buddy Pro with electric start, and a fan. So I’m happy I received the correct one which I ordered. I have propane, and various batteries ready to go in it once I want to test it out. Depending on how quickly the 1lb bottles get used up, I just might get the hose & filter to be able to use a larger 20/30lb bbq tank, but have the larger tank outside the garage when in use. We’ll have to see about that. No rush at this point, since spring will be here in about six weeks time, roughly speaking.

I turn my attention now back to the racking situation. Am I obsessed? Could be. But! But, I say, I have mentioned wanting to do something about the crappy wooden racks in the garage several times before over the last four or five years now. Part of it is how unsafe I feel the current wooden rack is. Who knows, once I start to tear it down I may find it was a better construction that what I can see from the front. But I’ll have to have a go at it with a hammer, pry bar, and reciprocating saw to really see if my concerns were unfounded, and I just had a hankering for retail therapy (I.E. shopping) and making some changes to my work space.

Reminds me of how good it used to feel when I would change my bedroom layout around as a kid. Make you feel like a whole new person. Made the room exciting. Allowed you to maximize the space, and free yourself of things as you grew up, and out of specific toys. If my shop gear wasn’t so damn heavy, I’d have another go at that out there. But I cannot go without any racks. Just too much family stuff, decorations, and sleds, old beds, doors, and whatnot to tear it out without putting something back in its place. I have my eye on a 90″ by 90″ five shelf rack from Home Depot. I don’t have the Tom for two of the 77’s side by side, not a 77 & a 39 either. Plus the smaller ones are only four shelves, and I’ll definitely need the fifth for the long term storage stuff I’d like to move once and then forget about. Not even heavy, just hardly ever used.

Tearing out those racks will force another purge from the garage too. You all know just how much I love a room purge! Glorious! The lighting would get better in there too, with the overhanging section removed. I can move my lumber storage, and do a better job with my wood stains and finishes. It could really be something a bit extra in there if I put up some cash, and a good sweats worth of effort. Sweat equity and all that jazz.

For now I’m just day dreaming about it. I have two larger projects coming in the next few weeks, so I’ll not get to this until March or April depending on taxes, and work stuff. Stay well out there. Ciao Bella.

Seems like every time my wife drives the new van the AEB sensor goes off from snow accumulation, road dirt, or whatever else you can think of. I wipe off the windshield and the sensors on the front bumper and usually it turns itself off after a few minutes of driving with them freshly cleaned. Not so today. I even took the car to the drive through car wash, and that didn’t reset it. Maybe by this afternoon it’ll sort itself out now that the whole shebang is clean as a whistle. Who knows crazier things have happened.

Bit of a cold one this morning for a walk about, and stop off to get gas, and a car wash. Dog didn’t seem to mind being inside the vehicle with me as the wipers, and spray nozzles went to work on all of that accumulated salt, ice, and snow. Probably because it wasn’t that loud, and he didn’t get wet.

Here we are on Wednesday. Last nights Leaf’s game was a late one. Didn’t start until 9:00pm. I made it until three minutes into the third period when we were up 4-2, and went to bed. Woke up to a 6-3 win over Calgary. I’ll take it! A two game heater is better than the five game losing streak! By a country mile. That was exciting. A near miss on an early goal by Tavares that was called back from him using a high stick. Can’t have them all boys!

I have a new propane heater coming later today that “should” make it so that I can work in the garage on off days during the winter. I’m excited. I can’t really use it any time soon, but I will be able to do so in March, and early April so that’s awesome. I might take some time to tear down the shoddily erected shelves in the garage, and put up some higher quality metal racking. Will feel alot safer, and could potentially net me a few more useable square feet of floor & wall space. I will definitely need to get out the measuring tape, and review all of what I have on there, to see if it’s actually doable. I think added shelves, and more open space would be beneficial. But I may just be hyper fixated on it, and not thinking clearly.

I got fixated on the propane heater, but given power outages in our area, both the generator, and the heater are solid investments for the house, and our safety. Those jericho storms came out of nowhere and left us without power for a couple of days that one spring a few years ago. Not doing that again. And incase of a no heat event, now along with the fireplace we can keep one bedroom liveable. I would love to get an Ecoflow Delta 2, battery bank and solar panels to have for emergencies around here too. Bit pricey at $1,300.00 plus tax, but it’s on my list of preparedness items to have should we ever be required to self rescue during a crisis. The Ecoflow would be enormous help from spring through early fall as a power source, and the generator & propane heater for winters. Water & food we have, but my own prescriptions would be my major sticking point. Let us hope it never comes to that.

On to something else. What more can I say about Hump Day. The weekend is nearly here. Valentine’s Day is next friday coming. The Superbowl is this sunday evening. I do believe we have a sitter lined up to watch the kids so that we can go a few houses over to watch the game with friends — sans children. My kids don’t particularly like football so no hard feelings there. Looking forward to it.

I’ve heard rumors that the wife’s car might cost $2,700.00 to fix for the time being. Not great if true. But not entirely horrendous. Might have to set aside some money to look into a new car after that though, because if anything else goes on it, it’ll become a trade in for sure. It’s not as new as it feels like it is. Ugh.

A rear panel on the engine has blown out due to too much pressure build up from faulty sensors, and janky parts. So I have no wheels today. Oh well. The oil change that took place on Jan 4th had entirely leaked out of my wife’s car. We ran 5 litres of new oil into it yesterday morning, but that has since leaked out too. So now we wait to hear if it can be fixed, and for how much. Depending on the answer we might just have to buy a new car. If the fix is more than $2,500.00 at this point, a second new vehicle may very well be on the books for 2025. Yikes. Dropping more than $3K on a single vehicles repairs in just a handful of weeks is ridiculous. Probably still needs a new exhaust too, as that’s far too loud, and makes the car smell like a machine shop when idling in traffic. Ugh.

I think we will need to find a smaller second vehicle though. Either a reduced sized SUB, or a 4 door sedan with all wheel drive atleast. A Subaru of some sort, or something of that nature. We don’t need a massive second vehicle now that we have the new van for cottage/Ottawa runs. Something great on gas mileage, but road worthy for rural roads, and longer daily commuter distances. Remote start, heated seats, and bluetooth radio would be great too. Oh, and a functional AC unit! Can’t forget about the AC here in Ontario.

Valentine’s day is quickly approaching. Hell spring is coming on quickly too. Before you know it we’ll have Taekwondo belt testing, then the live Newsies shows, dance recitals, track & field days, and then end of school year birthdays. The final five months of the school term come at you quickly around here. Especially once spring kicks off and the weather improves a great deal.

Sucks about my wife’s car though. It used to be the “fancy” car, but it has gone through hell since the Covid induced hiatus on travel. Could always be worse. Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

Buy a new car and the old one decides to shit the bed. Not until after we put seven hundred dollars worth of parts on it though, brakes, brake pads, calipers, rotors, parking break cable, and then an oil change, cabin filters, oil filters, and oil stabilizer. Just to find the oil empty, and a puddle under the car, and a frame just laden down by brand new engine oil. So I don’t know if the oil plug worked itself out, or if a gasket has blown, or if there is an oil pan puncture. I need a lift. My jack is great for changing a tire, but I don’t trust it enough to climb underneath a three tonne SUV out in the snow to look for myself. Also — I’m no mechanic, im6pretty much useless unless it’s swapping bulbs, or topping up fluids. To “fix” anything is beyond me. I can do an oil change (though I did not do the latest one on this vehicle on January 4th, 2025). Plus my youngest child is now sicker than before with a wet cough, and runny nose. That means tears & crying at night, and likely a fever to follow on at some point soon. Poor schmoo.

I did some grocery shopping this morning after drop off for the older child. Bought some additional provisions incase this tariff thing kicks off as something ugly. My new indoor safe propane heater is due to arrive this week, so I picked up propane canisters for that, and a whole bunch of extra batteries, and leaned in pretty heavily on pasta noodles, and minute rice.

Who knows maybe Trump is doing the tariff this as a distraction from emptying out the FBI, and handing the keys to the treasury office over to Musk over the weekend. Make a billion dollar bungle to abscond with trillions!?! Makes sense to me. They voted for it, willingly. But what do I know, who knows what you can trust when reading the news these days. Fun times.

Kicked off sunday evening by doing the kids laundry. Set the Romba off to tackle the dog hair while we were out having dinner at the inlaws last evening. And cleaned the kitchen this morning, so I think the bulk of my Domestic Duties Monday is completed. Got our weekly shop done, as mention above, so I don’t see too much else needing to get done around here, besides keeping the youngest in bed & resting up for school tomorrow.

Started to watch Severance yesterday, and I completed the first two episodes. Thus far I like it, don’t think my wife is sold on it yet though. Seems like an odd commentary on corporate America, or some type of social experiment. I dig it, even if it does cone across as bleak. The 50’s styling of the severed basement floor is kinda neat. I’ll give it a few more episodes. From what I understand there are only two seasons so far, so not a massive commitment if I go for the whole lot. I got three episodes into Chernobyl too, which I liked, but was a slow burn. I might go back to that at some point provided I still have access, and it doesn’t disappear off the streaming sites I use/pay for.

Sat down to watch the Leafs game last night and they beat the Oilers 4-3. But man was it a close game once the Oilers started to score their own goals. Out of the first the Leafs were up  three nothing, which is a curse for the Leafs. They always take their foot off the fas and the lead withers out from under them. And in true fashion that is exactly what happened. Luckily there was an offside goal called back, and the boys in blue were able to hold on by the skin of their teeth, that and Brick Woll doing a stand up job as tendy! He deserves all the accolades for his performance in net last night. Better than the Wednesday night game we went to see down town in person, I’ll tell you that much.

These PA Day long weekends always get me feeling mixed up. What day is it. Felt like Saturday two days in a row, and I was fully prepared for Monday, but my alarm(s) plural! Didn’t go off so it must be Sunday. So weird to lose track of the days of the week. Almost feels like winter break all over again. Two whole weeks of lost aimless living, eating far too much. Ha.

Not too sure what is on the docket for today, so I’m going to cut this one finer than normal. Ciao Bella.

I am excited to see what else AppleTv+ has hidden up its sleeve regarding video content, and perhaps movies too. I doubt they have anything else Ted Lasso like, so I will be switching gears to go mystery thriller, or sci-fi apocalypse aftermath akin to Fallout. A show on Amazon which I got two or three episodes in before moving on. I own the third game, but never opened it, nor played it. Got it as a birthday present to myself many years ago. Looked fun, but complicated. Skill trees only ever make sense once you’ve committed to doing them wrong I find. And by then, whom would ever want to start over again to correct it? Not me.

Saturday means climbing sessions with the kids. I’m excited! Could do without the extreme cold temperature warning though. Yeesh. It’s going to be a tad nippy outdoors today. Not a fun walk from the parking lot to the gym locale. Will need to trot at a good clip to not suffer the worst of it. Fun fun.

Yesterday’s PA Day was mostly uneventful, thankfully. I worked during the day, on & off while I sorted out the girl’s needs. A short lunch with grandpa, then back home for more work, then 2 hours on the back hill tobogganing with friends to wipe them all out. Of course they were both up until nearly 10:00pm waiting on their mum, but that’s par for the course around here. We have a process, but not neccesarily a schedule if you know what I mean. The girls get their particularness from me. Borderline tunnel vision for how their nightly routine ticks off boxes. I apologized all ready. Ha.

Soon I will get rid of the wood cut offs in my garage. Soon the childrens kitchen will head up north. Soon, if I haven’t bought anything else to use the funds, I will buy a propane heater for the garage so that I can in fact work out there if I so choose. But, and here’s the big ole butt! I can’t just be out & about shopping for other things like a dedicated climbing bag, or fitted apparel from the climbing gym, nor books off of Amazon, or any sort of tool that strikes my fancy between now and late February. And here’s why; the heater will be $200.00 plus dollars, and I will need to buy several 1lb propane tanks for fuel, and will need many D batteries or an expensive 6 volt adapter for the wall to run it. That’s a sizable purchase for myself, so if I go picking up bits here, there, and everywhere then I’ll have spent the few bucks I’ve saved to cover it already. Tightening the belt is a state of mind. I still have to get gas for the vehicles, and buy groceries, but the extra spending has to slow to a trickle, if not completely stop. Takes concentration, and dedication. I don’t like debt, nor being broke. So cutting out the frivolous holiday spending attitude, and trimming around where applicable on the “must do” spending. Going off brand for toilet paper, paper towels, or disinfectant wipes is one thing. But staying true to brand names on items we all love is another. Finding coupons, and sale deals, or bulk sales will help too.

I’ve bored you enough this morning. Happy Saturday. Hope your elementary PA Days are getting somewhat easier as the days go by. Ciao Bella.