Author: greatwallstudios

Having the kids home for two additional days this week didn’t help me out all that much. Could have done without the extra six inches of snow, not the two bouts of shoveling that followed. I’m tired, and I have a long way to go before EOD Friday before I can relax. Dog walk was held up by snow plows, and farm hands running about the grounds with gigantic snow blowers on tractors scaring the dogs. Not my ideal morning. It’s cold again, there’s more snow than ever piled up every which way, and I’m feeling a tad grumpy. Not ideal! Best get to work though before even more stuff piles into my inbox.

It’s been go go go all day today. I’ve had more emails today than for all of November, December combined. It’s been a real blur of a day. Still more things to go back to and edit, but I’m ok with that – for now. Looks as though I’ll have a very full day tomorrow, and likely a new big project to kick off on Monday (though if that wanted to wait an extra few days I wouldn’t complain).

Hard to believe it is Thursday afternoon already. The new snow is melting under the ever so slightly stronger sun. We are definitely drawing closer to the first day of spring. You can feel it in the rays of light. A sense of warmth where there had been little to none in the minus twenty five degree cold snap we had for six or seven weeks there.

Looks like I’ll be helping friends reassemble their furniture on Saturday after their move. Glad to not have to lift things, just assemble them! A bit more technical, but far less physical. I’m all for it. I’ll bring my tool bag, and my knee pads, perhaps a impact driver, and I should be all set to help out for a few hours. Maybe we’ll get beers & pizza! Who knows!?!

Luckily no dogs were harmed by tractors, plows, or snow blowers on our walk this morning. That’s a big plus in my book. Wouldn’t want to have to pick bits of fur and bone out of the snowblowers blades. Would really kill the momentum of my morning. Ha.

Soon it’ll be time to take the kids to their extracurriculars, so I should go tackle my latest round of edits before I run out of day light. Ciao Bella!

Buses, cabs, and vehicular transports are all canceled for schools this morning, but the schools are open. I think we are going to take this opportunity to have a restful mental health day. We’ll the kids more so than me, I have a lot of open projects on the go, so I can’t flake on a work day. The kids however, had excellent report cards, and are looking to cash in with a freebie open day of R & R. I get it. I’m down with it.

The freezing rain is set to hit later on today, so a dog walk is still on the schedule. Luckily it isn’t foggy like yesterday, and hopefully not too chilly either. The subs rays were kinda warm yesterday by the time the afternoon rolled around. It was making me smile, and squint. Far better mood while the sun is out. Today however, is grey, and overcast. Ready to drop all sorts of precipitation on us for long, seemingly unending hours. Cool, cool, cool.

I’m going to eat first, then head out to walk the dog at the farm with the kids. Just not as early as I would normally because my spouse is going to a nearby school in town, instead of up in the Georgina / Sutton area. Means she could be home at a reasonable hour too, if we’re lucky.

By all accounts today is Wednesday. Feels like a long week all ready! And the day hasn’t even started yet. Oh bother.

I passed another accident at the same junction as on Sunday.vsame thing by the looks of it, somebody didn’t want to stop at the sign, and expected the main road travelers to yield to their crossing attempt. But in fig, moving at 60 km that’s an unlikely win for the gambler in you. So more cops, more EMS folks, and another fire truck get parked by the corner for a few hours. Tough luck for those who got blind sided on their morning commute to work. Wrote off a car, and now likely have a sore neck, or some chest injury from the seat belts, or inner car crumple zones throwing gear in their face (i.e. air bag). Hopefully nobody was killed now grievously injured in the collision.

We are sat at the farm waiting on the others to arrive for a brisk walk in the foggy sunshine, and newly wet snow. Still below zero, but not by much. I look to have a busy week ahead, so the faster I get home to eat, the quicker I can tuck into my work. Had a couple emails over the long weekend warning of new projects coming my way today. Can’t say no to paid work!

Short school week at least, so the kids are happy. No trouble getting them out the door for school. Tomorrow is midweek already, so it should move fairly fast. It’s almost March, which means another week long break for the children. Maybe some time spent doing Maple Syrup if the weather plays along nicely.

Drive safely in the fog this morning. Take a beat, and don’t rush when you can’t see what’s coming.

Even with only forty miniatures to paint this is taking me a while to do. Glad to have the ring light and magnifying glass combo on my desk to help because some of these details are microscopic, and my failing eyes can’t see them without help. I also bought some mini specific brushes that are teeny-tiny because over painting is a very real issue for me. I’m not well versed in steady brush strokes. I’ve had to go slow over many days because once I start to rush I get sloppy, so it’s best to stop when I start to feel that way. I would like to not have to strip and repaint these for a third time, if I can help it.

I bought these so long ago I don’t even know what regiments they are. I just remember space wolves on a few boxes. I’ve had these for more than twenty years. But I didn’t care for blue, so I’m going grey, with light blue dry brushing, and an icy blue edge highlight (if I ever get far enough to adding that on). I wrote out a list of steps to make sure I don’t forget anything.

Different shoulders, pouches, weapons, trim, purity seals, eyes, furs & pelts, and then basing the models after all the paint, and various washes have gone on. They won’t be box art quality, but they should (hopefully) look more presentable as a cohesive unit. Afterwards I have some 16 Eldar models to touch up too. I got my updated airbrush in on the action to smooth out their look, with priming the models, and zenithal highlights, and base coats.

I think about buying more space wolves models all the time, but the Games Workshop stuff is expensive, and finicky to put together, at least it was back in 2002. I don’t play the game, I collect the models, and paint them, as well as build terrain pieces, but I have not yet played a single game. I have watched a number of tutorials on YouTube, and sat through other people playing all out battle sequences online. I don’t own the Space Wolves codex book, so I don’t really know how to build out an appropriate army, even if I wanted to. Just what I need, an additional offshoot hobby. I have 200 or more D&D models coming from Archon Studios later this year from Dungeons & Lasers so I can wait on plastic bits, because I have a shit tonne coming my way. But that’s for D&D not Warhammer 40K TTRPG. Totally different rules of engagement and story telling. Ha!

It will likely take me until March to complete the 40 Space Wolves models I have on deck, so I’m not in a rush, but I hope they look decent when I’m done. It’s a lot of work, and effort, and hours to put in for them to look just as bad as when I started them. Let us hope I do a better job this go around.

I think the gold trim, Aguila and dark washes should tie them together nicely. Maybe a themed base for all 40 to add some pizzazz. Who knows!

Some of these winter sports would be really fun to try once. Like the skeleton, or the luge, or some type of short track speed skating. I could get a kick out of seeing just how slow I am in comparison, which would give me some perspective on what these world athletes are actually capable of achieving. From behind the camera it doesn’t look all that fast, but then you see over the shoulder drone footage, or they put up the Kmph beside a racer and it’s like the light bulb goes on — finally. Oh! The speed skaters are doing 54 km per hour , that’s pretty quick. Or the Super G folks going 134 km down hill, and still cutting into their edges to get those corners. Flying 60 plus meters beyond the jumps / humps in the track. Adds a new appreciation for the skill that those static zoom view camera sweeps didn’t really offer before. Also the head down camera for hockey is pretty great. Without the Jumbotron and scoreboard you can get more dynamic camera work I suppose. Neato.

So it’s Sunday of the long weekend, which means a lengthy dog walk, and the kids are off having fun with friends while I tidy up around the house, and the dog naps in the sun.

I am now slightly more than halfway through my 900 page Dan Abnett Gaunts Ghosts omnibus, so while I only average about 50 pages a day, I am making progress on the three novels, two novellas, and one short story contained within. I’m either going to start Dungeon Crawler Carl, or The Fourth Wing, because I’m still not sold on trying Mistborn for a third time, and the Mark Carney Value(s) book feels a bit “Mathy” to me. I’ll really need to get in the mood to dig deep into that book. But fear not, I have at least two Dune books to read, and an Aliens Omnibus with two novels contained within it. I have several other books on my shelf I could try too, should I actually get through the twelve books in twelve months challenge I set for myself each year. I know James S A Corey have a new book due out in April, so I keep an eye on my reading interest, if it begins to wane, I’ll order a new book, or scour the shelves to find one I’ve missed, to gauge interest. If I try a book three or more times and it doesn’t click, time to be rid of said book.

This Canada France hockey game is going well for Canada so far. Fun watch!

With the slightly warmer sun I took the liberty of uncovering the drive to try to eliminate the slush, and ice patches. So obviously we got another 2 to 3 cm of snow to obliterate the work I just did. That is the way of things. If I hadn’t of done so I’d just have more ice, and snow to clear today anyway. It’s hard to overstate just how done with snow removal I am at this point in the season. What’s worse is that this particular point in time is still really early in the season to even pretend to hope for no more snow. We can have some form of accumulation into early April if the world wills it into being. Makes my desire to lose all the snow now that much more ridiculous. Disheartening at best. With any luck we can see the last of the aggressively cold days that get down into the low twenties or thirties. If it hovers around zero, I’d settle for that right about now. Oh! And more sunshine on average too. That I’d take in a heart beat.

The last few years we’ve had brief warming spells that were accompanied by lots of rain, making a real mess of everything.

Hold up, showers just broken. Gotta go shut off the water to the house, then figure out how to shut it off at the tap.

Found the brass valves behind the cartridge thing / hand valve assembly. Crisis averted. We have water throughout the rest of the house again, and no major running faucet. Bit of a drip though. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.

Last chance to get out and remember Valentine’s Day before it is too late. Also for the Canadians in the crowd we have Family Day on Monday, so a long weekend to either enjoy, or endure depending on whether you remembered it or not. Either way the warming spell we were expecting has pushed back a week, and until I actually start to feel it in my bones, will not believe any news about it hence forth. I keep getting my hopes up for more reasonable, seasonal temperatures, and I hate that. Not cool.

In a linear fashion we meet once more at one of our fifty two Fridays. A Friday the 13th at that! Are my kids too small for a horror film marathon to mark the occasion? Likely. Wait another year or more. Oh, and yesterday I hit day 666 of my newest writing streak stretch. On my way to beat 831 which was the previous longest stretch that I’d had that I can confidently remember. Getting there!

At least the sun is out on this blue skies minus twenty two morning. One of my kids has an outdoor skating field trip today, so she’s going to be very cool in these crisp conditions. I don’t envy them for that today.

Just waiting for the dog walk to start. Need our second dog to arrive!

It was a make do effort which I undertook during the Covid-19 lock downs starting in 2020, and for all bar one, I have cut my own hair this entire time. I’m not particularly skilled at it, with an electric trimmer, and a cheap set of scissors, but I’ve managed to get the job done three or four times a year depending on how I feel. I’m not at the forefront of style so it’s a simple look, and one I have maintained for the better part of a decade now. And at $30.00 a pop plus tip, a non trivial amount of cash saved in the process. Luckily for me I work from home, and I wear a toque due to the cold winter months, and a ball cap to shield myself from the sun in the warmer months. My hair, whilst grey and limp, isn’t all that important. I can say that because while it will definitely grow thin, I will not go bald (without some sort of outside influence, or illness that is.) for the sake of twenty minutes contorting myself in the mirror to get the very back of my head right, it’s a simple enough undertaking. I do enlist my wife to tidy up if she notices anything I’ve missed via mirror, or phone review of my own handy work.

Late last year I went and paid to get my hair done and afterwards I could not see any marked difference between what I am capable of when patient, and what the hair dresser had done with nearly forty of my hard earned dollars in her hand at the end. I don’t style it with “product“, so no need for any fussing, or faffing about in the mirror. I can do that! I thought. So I do. Enough said.

I can hardly believe it is Thursday. This month is nearly half done come Saturday. These extraordinarily busy weeks are making time fly by. These Facebook memories of my children being tiny wee toddlers is making me sad. I definitely don’t want any new children, but I do miss them being really little — on occasion. I still think of them in their tiny little waddling toddler form. Chubby legs. And puffed out cheeks. Oh! They were so adorable. I miss carrying them around. I DO NOT miss diapers, and potty training. Bottle feeding was pleasant enough. A bundled lump with a drink plopped on my chest while I watched movies, or read stories to them. It was a really nice time (mostly). Stressful in other ways, but also more laid back. They didn’t do nine different activities every single week, all over town, requiring evenings driving every which way. Soon enough they will outgrow us, and will go about their business without us in tow.

Oh the dastardly passage of time. You can be cruel. But oh the times we had, the memories we hold because of it all. Love it.

Here we are back at it again, with another cold. Or I should say, the same cold just shuffled about within the body. Far less sneezing, not as much of a runny schnoz, but more of a chest cough that activates once I lay down, or recline. Still better than the flu like illness I had back in January. I’m actually functional, and my head doesn’t hurt, and my body doesn’t ache, and, and, and. While this second round cold is not exactly fun, it’s better than what came before it. Call it a win if you must!

Hard to believe that it’s Wednesday already, but here we are! Heading into the long weekend rather quickly. I’m hoping to get the kids to want to go climbing on Saturday, and maybe hit up the mall for more Sephora items, because the gift cards they have from Christmas will get forgotten about otherwise. Not that they need make up, they’re only little, but it gives us a reason to leave the house, and grant my wife some much needed alone time to read comfortably, or watch a show she has wanted to catch up on without interruptions. Something I can do quite easily. Plus I like wandering various malls having a look around while it’s miserable outside. Grab some snacks or food while we are there, and make a real meal out of the outing. Every extra fifteen minutes I can keep them occupied, and out of the house, is another fifteen minutes of quality quiet time for my spouse. She deserves it. Plus I know she hates going to the mall, or anywhere there may be lots of other people, so I take them for stuff like that because I know deep down my wife hates it.

When my kids were really little I would take them to all of the different malls around here for several hours, so that they could waddle about in the dry warmth, and we could walk as slowly as those chubby baby legs would allow. Covid interfered with that for my youngest, but it worked wonders for my first. Pile all our stuff into the stroller, and just follow along wherever she waddled, while babbling and shrieking “DADDA!”. It was a blast. A real hoot. I don’t want any additional kids, but I miss those times a great deal. Hopefully I can do so again with grand kids.

We still have not managed to venture over to Square One, so at some point I’d like to take them there because it’s humongous, and has a massive food court, not to mention a Games Workshop store!?! Not sure if that’s still there or not, but it also had a big comic book store with Bandai model kits too. I wouldn’t say no to perusing the stock they have on their shelves. Just to have a look see. If they have a movie theater there I could waste a whole day just looking, eating, and watching a movie. Just like those good old teenage years from the times before time began.

As I cough all over my phone, I realize I should go back to work now that I’ve finished my breakfast. Take care out there. Ciao Bella.

Welcome to Tuesday morning, wherein I have gone out and procured all of the necessary items for Valentine’s Day. Spouse and both kids are covered, so I am in a good spot. I also used this outing to obtain a micro cutting shredder for my office/business, because I don’t trust people not to steal out financials, or other such details, so it’s best we guard against such things on our own. Ripping, and tearing up papers, and putting them out over different weeks in a number of locations has worked so far, but I’d be happier with confetti sized chaff if it makes any difference to you at all. Far less effort involved with a micro cut shredder. It’s a good minor investment.

We had another 4-5 cm of snow last night, with more on the way since we are drifting into a slight warming spell. That means more shoveling, not only that but as it warms up I will need to manage the piles, and chop them back further, and further to open up the entire width of the driveway. I will need to go find the two storm drains again. The plows have covered them over yet again. If for some reason we get rain, I really do not want a rink at the end of my drive, nor waiting for me at the stop sign on the far edge of my property. That’s how plows skid up off the road, and onto my lawn gouging out huge divots that I then have to mend in the spring. It’s happened before, and I’d rather not have a repeat.

Took the doggo for his walk, but it was a short one with just us. His girlfriend was busy today, so just us boys having a wander around the grounds, checking on the barn, outbuildings, and equipment, and house/shop. No unnecessary foot steps, no extraneous people attempting to take up residence in the hay barn along with the squirrels, and the raccoons, and at least one fat ground hog. Gotta keep an eye out because the conservation park does run through the back of the farm, and weird people walk around, park by the houses, and try to get inside. It is by all means a working farm. Not the place for strange townies to try and come to get something for nothing. Both farm hands are nearly eighty years old, and neither have good vision, nor any peripheral vision left. Nor do they ever look behind them when they back up, so don’t play on the grounds unless you are very aware of what they are doing at all times!

We’re used to it, so I stand near trees or utility poles to save myself, and the dog knows to run for his life in the opposite direction. While the recall training does work, it’s only about 65% effective right this moment. I could do a better job of that. Something to work towards.

Take care out there, some roads are worse than others. Be weary of those driving too fast, or that are distracted.