Author: greatwallstudios

Yeah – that low hanging cloud of forest fire smoke from Nova Scotia, and Northern Ontario is really unpleasant. Spent a good deal of time outdoors yesterday and my eyes and chest don’t feel so hot right now because of it. When your vistas shrink visibly throughout any given hour of the day, you gotta know you are breathing in some nasty shit. Although the cooler temperatures were a blessing, the burnt incense taste on my tongue and down the back of my throat I could do without.

The kids had to go in directly at drop off today. All school trips were canceled as well, which means no Zoo, and no Track & Field Finals, and I’d be willing to wager that both recess & lunch will be spent indoors today.

Add it to the ever growing list of weird weather patterns and occurrences we’re experiencing more and more frequently. 13°C and sunny in January is not typical for Southern Ontario. Frosts up until the last week of May are not typical. Province wide smoke clouds are usually a West coast thing, so while they are known in Canada, not usually felt in Ontario for days on end. Such fun!

As I think I might have mentioned previously we are in the midst of Recital week. So full throttle on dress rehearsals, dry runs, additional hours of choreography, and soon visits to the venue to learn lighting cues, and staging in place. I’m going to be driving between home and Vaughn at least four times this week. Looking forward to seeing what they have been practicing this whole year. And also the quiet calm that comes once it is all over for a three month stretch.

Oddly enough it is Wednesday. Very strange week. I feel a little out of it given all of the off screen interruptions. Not to mention the birthday planning for my wife’s big 4-0. Even though we added some last minute travel plans into the mix yesterday, we still enjoyed the day, went mini putting as a family into the evening, swam, and had a roast dinner & cake with the in-laws last night. I was exhausted by 8:00pm. Could hardly keep my eyes open.

The campfire breeze is wafting into the house to remind me once again of what is going on outside. I best stop reminiscing and get working. Ciao Bella.

With a significant interruption no less. Should be back to normal by 8:30am tomorrow morning. Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

As soon as I commit to sitting down in the bathroom a kid needs to use the toilet aswell. Every single time. Doesn’t matter if I ask around first or not. You can set a watch to my youngest’s “I need to poop” spoken softly through the door once you’ve set the action into motion, and can not stop. Flabbergasted. Of all the people living under this roof, I would be the last person you want to follow in. Read the room. Take the hint. Go first, or go downstairs. By the time my body says ‘press play’ we have only the merest few moments to manoeuvre about. Every instance is an emergency not to be trifled with. From gut twinge to fall out, a handful of heart beats, and that’s it. The joys of Crohn’s Disease. Also **TMI**.

Which means we are busy, busy, busy shuffling the kids around from event to event. Dress rehearsals, costume fittings, hair sessions, other extracurricular activities that haven’t ended, or that also have their own year end bonanza. It is exhausting. I have to go to Vaughn several times this week, and twice over the weekend. We have a car in the shop for muffler issues, and birthdays, and senior prom which my wife must attend, don’t forget graduation in a few weeks, athletic banquets, and anniversaries, and more birthdays. A crazy month ahead. I’ll come up for air and we’ll be moments away from school ending early on a Friday morning, the Strawberry Festival for the Canada Day holiday, and then July & summer break. Whoosh – as it all flashes by! Insanity. Best to check the tires, gas, and oil levels a few times in the coming days. All the best to you out there doing much of the same, whether it is baseball, soccer, swimming, dance, or whatever else your kids are engrossed in. Take care out there. I’ve got laundry with uniforms going as we speak. I have to run out of town to pick up my wife for her physio appointment, switch vehicles with my in-laws, pick up the kids, send one to 3 hrs of dance rehearsal, take the other to a different city for gymnastics, prep for my wife’s birthday tomorrow, and a potential day trip to Wonderland (maybe?), and get back to pick up my youngest from school. Ugh.

Been out of the house for several hours, and not likely to return any time soon. Did spend the morning servicing all of our bicycles, so we can ride whenever the mood takes us. Washed, greased up, and tires properly inflated, and breaks tested under load. Helmets located. All good for now.

I’m having delusions of spending my time restoring old smaller engine motorcycles, and/or mopeds. I’ve been on a real tear the last month or so watching people work on cafe style bikes, and smaller vintage stuff from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and into the 80’s. Stuff that looks like it’s around 150CC’s or just a little larger than that. Banana seats, short straight handle bars, low volume gas tanks, and most importantly, not a whole lot of electrical beyond the front & rear head lights, and tail light. I think. Oh! I could tear something like that down. I can use rust remover, and paint stripper. I have used a wire wheel before, and to great effect. On a wood working project mind you, but still, I’ve done it to remove bark, i can certainly remove paint & rust pitting. I would want to keep any welding to a minimum as i am very rudimentary in my arc welding. Did a bunch in machine shop class, and not a lick since. I can read a parts catalogue for thrust bearings and things of that nature. I’m not even averse to painting with an air gun, I think I could achieve a half way decent finish given what I know about using an airbrush. My major cause for concern is the engine itself. Like, the reassembly of it. I can pull shit apart, but you need to have some sense of what is what to put gears, and a clutch back together. There I’m not so sure. Hence watching all the videos. I think it’ll pass, like most fixations of late. But I enjoy watching the videos all the same. One slight hiccup is that I do not own, nor operate a metal lathe or milling machine so I couldn’t make some of the fixes I see in the videos without sending out for it to be done by someone else. A dream, little more than that at this point. Perhaps one day.

Last day of Ringette for the season. Both of the kids skating has improved a great deal over the last 8 weeks or so. The youngest is up and off her balance apparatus, and the eldest is doing skills training, shooting & passing. At least now we know that they can both skate. Well enough to attend a party or event on the ice and not get stuck holding the side boards or floundering out on the open ice. Glad to see it.

Another glorious Saturday at our disposal. Maybe if the weather cooperates we’ll play some Badminton on the driveway again. Spent some time yesterday doing a trial run of assembling our new second hand tent. Making sure all the poles, pegs, straps and loops are in working order. Getting things wrong now, so we can do them right on the day. Two more weeks until it goes into use with the kids. Plenty of time to set it up & tear it down to get it right.

I look forward to having that night to myself to watch a movie at a reasonable hour, and then sleep in! What passes for excitement these days.

The heavy humid mass of just plain HOT approaches, a little every day as we creep closer to June 21st. The summer solstice, and the near end of open window season. That’s when you move from temperature controlled house, to car, to building, to house. Limiting outdoor exposure to swimming, or walking in the creek at the farm, when at all possible. It’s at this point where I am really happy that I finished both the screen door for the back door of the house, and a window screen for the large picture window over our kitchen sink. That cross breeze blow through is a dream while it lasts. We have a few weeks from end of April to very early June, and again late September to late October that I can have the windows/doors open all day. Brief but worth it. Mind you my wife has allergies so not as much fun for her. But our hepa filters help tamp that down all night long so that she can sleep more comfortably. We will all be sealed shut indoors with the shades drawn soon enough, and the interior air quality will be much cleaner for everyone, with the reduced pollen in our air.

The hepa unit we had that broke when we had Covid was finally replaced while under warranty by the manufacturer, so along with the furnace filters, fans, and hepa unit, our air is better than it has been in a long while. Well, today is a pa day, and we have a tent to test out for a camping trip, and I need to find things to do to keep us all occupied (besides work).

Ah yes, the story of my life. Seriously though, I had planned today to speak about the next two books I want to read this year. Namely a new Adrian Tchaikovsky novel, the third and final book of a series, and one more Mo Hayder book. Thought I’d give her other book a go. Problem with that is, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ve read it already, but nothing specific is ringing any bells. That was my plan anyway, and then…

One of the town work vehicles exploded next to my side yard and that pulled my focus for a good few hours yesterday. It started around 1:25pm. I was walking up my stairs from the basement and I heard a loud fire cracked of a pop. Looking out a side window I could see billowing white smoke. I thought my yard was on fire so I grabbed the kitchen fire extinguisher and ran out my back door, and found a town truck with the front hood blowing smoke. I handed the worker my extinguisher and he used it up. Not nearly large enough to stop an engine fire unfortunately. Plus the truck was running, and they couldn’t open the hood for the flames & heat. I offered to grab my garden hose, but they had 4 inch hoses for use with the town’s fire hydrants. They unrolled one of those and attempted to douse the flames, which poured smoke directly into all of my open windows and doors. I ran inside to seal up the house, as the burning plastic and wiring smelled awful. Then after 10 minutes, or near enough, the fire department came, and support units, and police, and sorted it out. They had to use the jaws of life to open the hood enough to stick a hose in and get at the fire directly. The void left in the engine bay once all the wiring, hoses, and plastic bits were gone was astonishing. So enjoy a gallery of the event now.

It was after all this hubbub that I wanted to turn on my AC unit, to discover the fan had seized. So I soaked it in Jig a Loo for several hours, and with a block of wood manage to get the fan to turn freely, without having to whack it, or reef on it. And what do you know, the ac works once more. Although the air smells of air brush cleaner. Hope that’s not a Freon leak.

There are a few things that I know my wife loves, Spa Day type creams and face masks, fancy cheeses & a fresh baguette, grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, and Europe vacations, and fully functional house hold items. A few of these things I can do, and happy to do so, others, not do much. It’s the BIG 4-0 this year. She doesn’t want a party, and I’m ok with that too. I spent a lot of money, time and effort last year into getting a party up and running for my wife and all bar two people flaked, so it looked really desperate, which made her feel bad, and I wasn’t too keen on a repeat of that. I had ordered pizza, fancy cheeses, charcuterie food stuffs for 12 guests, and their children, so when only 2 people came, it looked really weird. And no, I didn’t leave the invites to the last minute, nor forget. I called, texted, and emailed to get dates, times, and kids programming ready, six weeks out from the event, and still they ghosted us. I was not impressed. So no party this year. Immediate family only. I also picked up a sash, head band, and ribbon for the birthday girl. 40 in candles, a banner topper for the cake, sparklers, and pink balloons. It’s not a party, bit I think it shows we care!

I’m done grocery shopping for today, and I’ve cut the grass all ready this morning. Just having breakfast before I tackle my work day projects, and also send out invoices for the month of May. I’m annoyed now. Having thought about those people flaking on my wife’s birthday party at the last minute on the day of, or just not showing up at all. Argh!

You know what, I think I’m just hot and hungry, and a touch dehydrated. I’ll chill with a cold drink and a bagel and will even out in a moment. Gah!?!