Month: June 2025

I gave some serious thought to getting up at six to start my day today, but my wrists can only do so much in a day, so I thought it best to start at 8:30 am instead. With frequent breaks I hope to get through my first draft in the next 3 full days. I got nearly 25% of it started on Sunday, which is nice. A good buffer. Only now I wish I had done more. Oh well. Time for breakfast, and then back at it after some wrist exercises! Gotta stay healthy. Ciao Bella.

And they are currently in the hospital waiting to see if the removal surgery can be booked for three months from now, or if it has to go right this minute! Not a good time for us to be harbouring a sick child with a fever of 103°F, and occasional vomiting. So I’m struck off the list as far as visitors. I can’t go into a hospital as a potential carrier of my youngest child’s illness. I’ll have to wish my friend the best via text, and telephone. Maybe I’ll try a FaceTime/Facebook Messenger video chat? I’ll give it a go. Nobody’s answering the call, so I’ve left yet another message.

Finally got around to cutting the grass. What little of it that is growing anyway. Mainly the crab grasses, and various types of weeds at this point. It has been terribly dry as of late, so that means I no longer have to cut twice a week like in May. The taps are off, and the trees are definitely suffering. I’m seeing curled leaves, and dropped leaves too. Not a good sign when we still have 11 or so weeks of actual summer left to go. Might be a real dry one this season.

The grapes are looking strong though, I see the early start to a good deal of bunches on the vine. Perhaps the dog chewing through one whole section early on has diverted much needed resources to the rest of the vine, and potential fruiting elements. Nice. The Cherry tree was heavily decked out in fruit this year, and even the apple trees look to be doing gang busters this year too. No strawberries because the dog rolled on the beds and killed them all, well more likely he stressed them and now they’ve missed the fruit generation part of their cycle. Last to go will be the raspberries. Dog chewed them up real good too, so we will have to see how they do later on this summer.

I do really need to buy a step ladder to be able to harvest the higher branches on my cherry trees. I focus so much on the bottom because I cut the grass underneath them that I don’t look at just how tall & wide it has gotten. The big cherry is made up of five different types grafted onto one trunk, but the newest tree is a single type grown from a digested, and passed single seed. The new single type tree is very tall, and also really narrow. Has been growing fairly well these last few years. The raccoons took out a bunch of smaller low lying branches by climbing on it while it was really young. I do see bare spot on the trunk from where that happened.

No matter. I shall see about scheduling a meet up with my friend once he’s out, and prior to his big surgery. Have a good catch up over a cold beverage, or a hot meal someplace with clean cutlery, and matching dishes. But I digress.

A hot outdoor event with friends followed closely by a sick child with a fever, and vomiting. So that’s our Summer Break 2025 off to a wild start! Boom, we are in the thick of it, believe you me. Official day count of how far we got into Summer Break 2025 without incident — 2. We were on a heater, a full on streak! Ha.

I’m about to get busy with work just as the kids have gotten off school, and my wife is mostly done with work for the next eight or so weeks. Should make for a good couple of months together.

Today we have the last Taekwondo Belt test & promotion ceremony of the school term. I look forward to seeing my eldest move up to a red striped blue belt before we break for summer. Unfortunately many of her friends stay in all summer long and move up ahead of her. But I don’t think she wants to give up cottage time for the sake of two more months of training per year. Now we switch to swimming lessons to expand their activity roster for the year.

I need to go get some updates running on the kids devices, so I best be off about my business. Ciao Bella!

First off, no parking in front of the driveway, for your safety and mine park in the driveway or along the curb side. Don’t make me get your vehicle towed away at your expense. Two, be in bed by 9:00 pm at the latest, except on special occasions where an extension is warranted. Three, fetch your own drinks, and snacks. Your legs are not broken. You know what you like to eat. All items of that sort are kept lower in the pantry. Do it for your damn self – please, and thank you. Four, all old school work has been sorted for artwork, special tests or worth while marks, and a smattering of hand writing specimens. All other items are in the recycling. If you have never gone back to look at anything from the last seven years, then most likely some of that will have gone out to the curb too. Keep only the best, and most choice cuts! Space is limited. Five, don’t get out of bed until 8:00 am, unless you have an appointment, or are being called to the farm to work before the sun becomes too hot. Otherwise, stay the fuck in bed, or be asleep. Too damn hot, and too damn early for a chorus of “I’m bored”. I will send you to camp if I have too. Don’t make me banish you from the house for portions of the summer break. Six, read a god damned book every once in a while. Seven, charge your own damn tablets, and tech in general. If you don’t know where you’ve put it, neither do I. Eight, if you are tired then go rest, do not start a fight because you’re out of sorts (that goes for everybody). Nine, we eat at regular intervals, every single day, choose your snack time with care, and consideration. Ten, pick up your trash, you dirty, dirty beasts. Or you may find those wrappers in your bed at night because I’m sick to death of picking litter up off the floor, couch, hall, bathroom counter, kitchen sink, and bedroom floors. Trash in the trash bins. Please.

Otherwise, welcome to Summer Break 2025! Glad to be here with you, happy & healthy. Let’s treat one another with respect, like human beings, and aim to have some fun. Learn a little. Get some exercise. Eat like a healthy human, and not like a vending machine full of crap. Make some effort to include the dog in your walks, games, or outdoor explorations. Ride those bikes. Break in those ball gloves. I can keep the driveway clear if you want to play ball hockey. Also, remember to dry out your bathing suits when we swim, nobody likes a damp, mouldy, smelly suit to swim in, or be near. Likewise, hang up your wet life jackets after water sports outings at the lake.

But most of all, please be safe, use some caution & common sense. Let us all return to school in September  in one piece, and as healthy as we are able to be. We’ve experienced a summer tragedy with friends, and nobody wants a repeat. Take care out there!

Let the games begin. Ciao Bella!

And it is a half day at that. Chock full of things to do, places to be, people to see, and all done in time to be back at the school by noon to grab my two minions, and officially kick off Summer Break 2025! Booyah! W00t-w00t.

My how far we’ve come since September. Hard to believe we have gone a whole school year further along. Both kids keep on getting taller. We took up indoor rock climbing this year, which has gone really well. I’m still sporting my latest friction burns on both my elbows and knees. I definitely think we’ll come back to that in the fall. Taekwondo is done on Saturday after my eldest achieves her red striped blue belt. Very impressed!

We have tournaments, recitals, stage performances, choir concerts and a whole lot more this school year. I look forward to seeing them become independent people with ambitions, and aspirations of their own.

Happy & safe summer break to you all.

We are celebrating yet another birthday around here, so I will be busy doing party prep, shopping, and setting up for the group of kids set to arrive in several hours time. It’s still warm out there, even with it being overcast. The pool should be warm, and the pizza & cake are locked in. I have multiple bags of ice, and juice boxes out the wazoo! We have chips, crackers, and sour keys to get these kids jumping!

Today is the last full school day of this term, so I had best make the most of it. While it was cool enough to enjoy open windows for breakfast, we are warming up, and the AC is back on. Tomorrow is a half day, so it is unlikely that I will get around to doing too much beyond drop off, a brunch meeting with potential new clients, and then racing back to town to collect my kids from school, along with all of their school assignments, indoor shoes, and whatever junk they had stashed in their desks. Next Tuesday’s recycling bin will be full to the brim of old classwork. Looking forward to it.

I need to check the mailbox to see if any letters or cards came for my daughter. I’m going to run over there now before I forget. Take care out there! Ciao Bella.

Humidex takes our local temperatures up into the forties. Whoo boy it’s ugly out there for elementary aged school kids, and their teachers. The un-airconditioned schools are going to be a major issue in southern Ontario as the early summer gets hotter and hotter over the next several years. It’s going to become a huge problem with children fainting, passing out, dehydrating badly, or having heat stroke whilst sat at their desks sweating onto their homework. This heat wave has got to be some kind of a June record, or near enough as to not matter the finer points. Unreal.

No wonder my kids swam for about five hours yesterday to beat the heat. Long sleeved bathing suits, hats, sunglasses, and ice cold drinks in the pool for the win. These temperatures are maniacal. Despicable. Horrendous even. It’s days like this where I am grateful for my indoor job, and lack of any sort of commute.

I do fear that a day draws near where we will have to replace our AC unit. But to upgrade to a bigger size that would offer more air flow, and a stronger cooling ability would not go amiss here. The neighbours took down a gigantic fir tree which used to shade much of the far side of our house. Now that it’s gone, our entire roof is in the full sun 24/7. I’m sure that has an adverse affect on the efficiency of our AC’s cooling ability. Now it has no help whatsoever from the surrounding environment.

However, after the Djericho that blew through here a few years ago, I’m glad that tree was gone before then, as it would have snapped and crushed either our garage and bedrooms, or the neighbours double garage. It would have been potentially deadly as we were all home when the wind storm hit. We didn’t go into the basement until one of our maple tree limbs hit the front porch. Lesson learned.

Let us hope the heat breaks by tomorrow night. Fingers, legs, and toes crossed.

A few moments out of doors and my palms were sweaty and sticky, with a filmy icky sheen of wetness. To put it mildly — it’s gross outside. My kids are going to school today just for the morning. I will likely do the same tomorrow too. Far too hot to be trapped inside a 100 year old three story building with no AC, and not enough fans, or working windows. A hot steamy, moisture laden breeze will not do anything for my youngest stuck up in the peak of the school along with all of that trapped heat.

I sent both kids with thermoses stuffed with ice water, along with a frozen water bottle to run over their palms, wrists, arm pits, neck, face, and lap regions to try and mitigate the effects from such high temperatures, and intense humidity. I do not know how well they will be able to concentrate when so unbearably hot. I do not envy them.

I will free them at noon, and I will immediately take them over to Grandma’s house for a swim. Let them float around in the pool for a spell to regulate their tiny little bodies. It’s the least I can do for them.

Only a few days left of the school term, so they aren’t going to miss any real lessons. Perhaps a movie or a couple of games, but nothing truly detrimental to do without. Let us pray this heat wave goes away sooner rather than later. Ciao Bella!

Health Canada says with the inclusion of the Humidex temperatures over the next couple of days could feel like they have climbed into the 40°C to 45°C range, and that’s nasty. My kid’s school does not run AC, except in the Administration office on the main floor. My youngest whom is located of the top most floor of the 100 year old brick building has no AC, and windows that don’t open more than a few inches. She is going to melt. It will feel like torture to put her up there for seven hour days in this upcoming heat. I need to buy ice, and send them with additional frozen water bottles or something. That type of sustained heat is dangerous, even for short spells, let alone several continuous days of it. Ugh.

I hope that they can rotate the kids through a cooling station, or misters, or a room full of fans every so often because it’s going to get ugly — fast. Or I keep them home with me and give these temperatures a miss. We will see how Sunday goes. If it’s unbearable today before the real threat sinks in, I might just have to pull them out of school for Mon/Tues. We will see.

Glad we completed all of the birthday party preparation yesterday while the weather was milder. Now we just have to wait for the big day. Oh, and get a cake, order the pizzas, get a whole bunch of juice boxes together, napkins, plates, forks etc… almost there. Nearly done.

We had a few spare moments earlier this week so we had lunch at our favourite place a week early in order to celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary in peace. And you know what? The food was great (it always is), and getting there was an adventure because the city was setting up for their Pride Festivities which blocked off 50% of all their parking spots, so we had to entertain ourselves a little while we circled lots in order to get a viable not a tow away zone, nor a makeshift spot. Ultimately we were successful, and the walk to the restaurant was short, and pleasant in nature. Bonus! I saw more of the city than I normally would. I have a better picture of the town in my head now thanks to our drive about session. Funny how that works

A few days prior to this I was in Vaughan with my daughter attempting to do an after school run to Wonderland. But whilst the heavy rains came we ducked into Vaughan Mills for an hour to mooch around, looking at stuff indoors, out of the rain, and away from all of that humidity. We did a circle of the Bass Pro Shop looking at side by side, boats, fishing gear and the fish in the giant tank. And then marched the entire hall from Bass Pro to Legoland, around the bend and back again. I’d love to take a pair of roller blades, or my longboard through there. Under black lights, with decent music blasting over the PA System, it would be a hell of a night. Amazing but of exercise too. You’d definitely get your steps in racing around and around there all night. Add a ten milli tommy to your snack in take, and POOF! blast off. I’d even let somebody go with a scooter, just not battery powered, this is for exercise after all. Foot powered only. I don’t recall the last time I set foot inside a roller rink. I could only guess at this point.

Anyway, after the rains subsided we ventured over to Wonderland in the humid late afternoon steam and rode all three of the big coasters with hardly a five minute wait for each. Tacked on a few Stunt Lot coaster rides, and a Drop Zone session and we were in and out in two hours, plus having had dinner, and had ridden at least 10 rides. Off hours, and off season are so much better than peak times. Walk on rides are so much more fun compared to a 90 minute wait for a 60 second thrill ride/coaster. But I digress.

The week was both busy, and quiet. To my lovely wife, I say “I love you”, and here’s hoping for at least 35 more years together in peace.