Category: Uncategorized

If I’d of known that a project I was keeping on the back burner was going to go out without any need to retouch it, I would have spent much of yesterday’s warm sunny afternoon cutting the grass, moving brush, and pulling up weeds. Now it’s 5°C and rainy, and I don’t much feel like being out of doors. Not my cup of tea. 16°C like yesterday, and partially sunny is a far better option. I obviously cannot leave the grass untouched until we get some more of that weather, so once the grass dries out I can cut it, provided it doesn’t rain — again.

I have both the Dahlia bulbs, and the Glads ready & waiting in the garage now, to be buried in the front garden. I started to pull some weeds, but I have an hour or two of that to do ahead of me still. I wanted the beds clean before I planted any of the nicer stuff, but I might have to do both at the same time. Planting, and weeding that is.

I could drag the brush to the farm I guess. I’m concerned the vehicle will get stuck in the mud with how wet it has been since last night. All well and good to clear the yard, but getting the van stuck at the farm doesn’t help me at all. I also found out the wood cleaner for the power washer, so that I can tackle the deck at some point soon. I had big plans around here, and I’m being stymied by the weather! D’oh!

In other news the garage is as wide open as it will ever be. Feels pretty good. Can’t wait to build something useful for the house. Or a desk for my oldest child. I have a good quantity of Cherry, so whatever I make it will be pretty nice! I hope. Might put the deck on hold though, as her room is pretty crammed with toys at the moment. Unless I stick a new desk right, smack dab in the centre of the room, there isn’t anywhere to put on just yet. All the toy bins, and toy stacks, and toy piles need to go. She’ll age out of that stuff in another 2 to 3 years, so no rush. She can remain my kid for a while longer. Hold off on moody pre- teen angst for as long as we can!

Took some time yesterday to start going over all of our current layers of junk, waste and excess. I started by tossing out straight up garbage, nobody can be upset by the removal of wrappers, shredded papers, and empty plastic containers. Then I took to the art supplies and recapped a bunch of markers, and put them all back into their respective boxes. I then dug out a handful of broken Mc Donald’s toys, and Wendy’s loot bags and put those in the trash for safe keeping. If I had my way, and a small dumpster I would air out this house, and drastically reduce our amount of stuff. Or at least take items out of their boxes, see them used, and the dregs thrown away. Instead we keep all the packaging and the items until whatever is inside has gone bad, gone off, dried up, or become totally unusable. It’s a real shame. I get not wanting to waste it, but also not using it before it goes bad is a terrible waste as well. Oh what could have been.

I have a three foot stack of homework, and art projects to sort into recycling, or a child specific keep pile. That’s a whole morning in and of itself. We either need more storage, or a lot less stuff in the communal living spaces. I think the “art station” might be at the tail end of its life span as both kids are too big to sit down there any more. Need to keep the art supplies but the two child seats, and the small table could probably go away. These kids grow up so fast!

They both still actively use the doll house(s) plural, so I’m not looking to remove those for a few years yet. I did move a whole slew of Lego creations down to the basement where they belong. That has sufficiently tidied up the living room enough to scratch my itch – for now.

I think if the kids would clean their rooms more thoroughly they could move the new interests into those spaces, and not have them occupy the family room floor. Our house is not large enough to have a separate, equally sized Living room where I could escape the messes created, so I have to be a little firmer about the tidiness of our communal spaces than the kids would like, I expect. Oh well.

I certainly don’t want to erase their presence in the house, or make them feel like their things aren’t important to us. I just constantly need to battle for space in our very small open concept home. Not tripping, or stepping on toys is a big win for me, them having toys at their disposal is important to them. If they would pick it all up, or push it against the wall when taking a break, I would be happy with that compromise, and they don’t have to entirely disassemble every creation each time they play. You clean up a little after yourselves, and I won’t tear it all down and put it back in the toy boxes out of my way. A good compromise!

Problem is our basement isn’t big enough to take all of this stuff and keep it out of view. So much of it has to stay visible up stairs on the main floor. Which means I want it tidy-(ish). If I were heartless I’d toss much of it into a giant garbage bag and run it to the dump, never to be seen again. But that would devastate everybody, and I’d just wind up feeling terrible about it. We have done a lot by way of taking things to the cottage for the young niece & nephew to enjoy them. That’s brought me a fair bit of peace of mind. Not in a landfill, not in my house, still getting used by the littles. Win-win all around.

I could go through my own closet again. Especially the t-shirt section, as I have more than I generally wear. I did give a friend about 12 pair of jeans, and several sweaters. I donated work shirts that I am too fat for. So I’m not exactly running fat in the wardrobe department. It’s not lean by any measure either. I too have a vast collection of sweaters that I wear. I could be more ruthless about my clothes and donate more of them I suppose. I’ll look into it once we get closer to shorts wearing weather.

Oh god, don’t get me started on the shoes & boots situation. I do have a pair of rubber Wellington boots to throw away, unrepairable holes in soles. I think we could do with paring down the number of coats we all have, as well as footwear. If it doesn’t fit, pass it along!

Sometimes I wonder if I should try to take the kids to hear live music being played. I think that exposure to Jazz, classical, or any other genre of music outside of my personal wheelhouse would be good for them. My tastes are fairly eclectic but I don’t really go in for a number of genres. I’d hate to deprive them of experiencing that stuff just because it isn’t my cup of tea. I do think live music, played by musicians is preferable. I like techno and EDM but I’m more concerned with getting the kids excited about learning an instrument. Feeling something about a style, or a desire to pick something up and learn it. Drums, bass, flute, saxophone, trumpet, violin, piano, guitar, cymbals, bongos I don’t much care. I derive a lot of joy from playing music by myself or as part of a group. Choir was always a lot of fun. Band, and the orchestra took up a tonne of my time and it made me feel connected with people. It’s a worthwhile endeavour even if you aren’t any good at it. Playing is the goal, not being good at it right from the get go. Beats staring passively at a screen watching others do stuff.

Music has always been a big part of my life. I could do the most mundane tasks with the right access to music to keep my blood pumping. I clean with it on. I shower with it blaring in the room. I paint with it. I drive with it. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do without music present.

Thursday is here. Another Leafs game tonight. Can they deal the deal? Or will they go to an ultimately unsuccessful game seven. I think whomsoever faces off against Florida is going to eat shit anyway, so… Let us see if the Leafs can handle their business, and bring some of the regular season back into the mix. Firing on all cylinders! Unity. A sense of urgency. A hearty grit, and a will to win. Come on Blue!

Lots planned for the weekend ahead. Mostly outdoor chores, and a whole lot of property maintenance. I am happy to announce that I did manage to get the air conditioner fan unstuck, lubricated, and spinning under its own power. I greased that puppy down, and unstuck it myself. After a few days of allowing the penetrating oil to work I switched the power on for another try, and it spun up to speed with no further issues. I should check the furnace filter soon, and stuff the vacuum hose down the air vents to try to clear them of settled dog hair, and dust. Add that to the list. I have a bunch of stuff to purge, and papers to recycle. Fun, fun, fun.

That was a disappointing showing last night if ever I have seen one. What’s going on here? A strong season followed by a big fat belly flop. It’s not over, but they have managed to take some of the wind out of my sails, I will tell you that much. I had my Austin Matthews t-shirt on, and my Leafs jersey going real crisp, and SPLAT!, A FOUL TURD appeared on my television screen for nearly three hours straight. Shut out by Ottawa! Madness.

But here we are on this cold, partially cloudy Wednesday. It was below zero and breezy this morning. Didn’t make for a very fun school drop off, not out morning walk. Luckily we did not have the tornadoes they were warning of, at least not directly over head, anyway. We had some torrential downpours, and a bit of win, but nothing too crazy. A couple of twigs fell out of the trees, but no major limbs, or trunk splits etc etc… the grass will need to be cut this weekend, that’s for certain. No escaping the green carpet growth now that “It’s gonna be May!”. Sorry, I had to get that out. It’s low hanging fruit, but satisfying nonetheless. Ha.

Had notice of a few more large reports coming my way in May, and for July, both of which will be welcome. There is a random fifth one floating about, but I don’t have the slightest idea of what is going on with it, so I can’t schedule it, or count on it as part of my earnings estimate. Could be time to do the 2025 version before the 2024 one gets sorted out at this rate. I don’t deal with that side of things, as a sub contracted party, I just make it happen when I get it.

Lots to do around here this weekend. I can as aforementioned cut the grass, and I can power wash the back deck, I can do the second layer of hedge trimming & patio clean up of all the previous trimmings. I can gather up all the twigs and take them to the farm. I can pick up all the winter hidden dog poops. It will be a busy Saturday and Sunday. Woah! Don’t tempt me with a good time. I can wash the exterior windows. I can once again attempt to power wash the faux bloody hand prints off of the brick work by the front porch. I can wash the garage door and driveway. I can wash both cars. Swap over the winter tires for their summer counter parts. You name it, the world is my oyster. Provided it is at least 10°C that is. Can’t have the exterior pipes burst if I turn the water on and it’s too damn cold.

Boy oh boy that Leafs game was disappointing though, wasn’t it? Ugh.

It’s not all rainbows and sunshine here, but a minority government led by Carney should help guide us through all of the US created financial turmoil over the next couple of years. I don’t expect he can do much to salvage what the Premiers have dismantled in each province, but Federally, country wide, we should be in capable hands. If the Conservative provincial leaders could get their acts together and stop strip mining our education, health care, and other services that would be of great help too. But I don’t see Ford going against his real estate mogul buddies to help every day Canadians any time soon. I did like to see him stab PP in the back with the $10/day child care dig he made. Clutch. But otherwise I’m no fan of the PC’S.

I am not going to lie 8 felt a little I’ll yesterday at the thought of another harsh Conservative Federal Government, even a minority one. I recall Harper doing immense damage, grinding through a surplus to give us a deficit, and then slashing health care & education spending, nuzzling climate scientists, and generally being a robotic simulation of a human being. But I was in my teens at that time, and not paying anywhere as much attention to politics as I do now. I recall him selling off the Wheat Board to the Saudis, and giving ridiculous terms to China on various trade deals (which we are still stuck with to this day). So his protege Pierre wasn’t on my short list of preferable Federal government leaders.

Singh could have been if he’d campaigned on what he had gotten the Liberal Coalition government to grant us, like the dental care thing, and $10/day child care, but he went all negative, attacking, and not highlighting what he got done for us, or how he did it. I’m not looking to vote against who I hate, but for who has a reasonable plan of action, and can show that they can enact those plans successfully. I’m glad you hate so & so, but what is YOUR plan, how do you go about it, whom do you have on your side to get it done. If he’d have shown me that instead of taking every second to sling mud, and campaign, I’d have voted NDP. But he is no Jack Layton, and the NDP needs to find that Beacon of Light again in somebody else, and fast.

But I digress. It is Tuesday and we have potential tornado warnings in the area for this afternoon around the time of school pick-up, and into the early evenings. Could get wild around here. We have water, food, gas, and the generator all here ready and waiting. It’s that time of year. Power outages, wild temperature swings, high winds, and electrical storms with higher than usual amounts of rain. Chaos!

Besides a birthday party, a play date, moving leaves, and working around a family member with COVID we ended up putting the cursed trampoline together in the late afternoon sunlight. Almost moved on to uncovering the pool, but since our third hand was watering at the farm, and unreachable, we opted to wait on that project for a day, or possibly two.

Luckily this trampoline is more forgiving than the salvaged one from the cottage which is missing parts, colour coded dots, and any semblance of intuitive design & construction. It’s a real nightmare. Should be crushed into a ball and sold as scrap metal. Useless piece of junk that it is. The one located at my in-laws is better quality, but still a pain in the ass. I’ve spent many an afternoon baking in the sun, hand stitching the safety net back together when the kids poke finger holes through the mesh. One tiny hole becomes a massive rift in just a few short bounces, and full body weight catches under tension. Believe you me.

The water trampoline at the cottage is the second worse one to assemble. The sand pit trampoline, mentioned previously is the bane of our existence. Pure junk that one is. Followed closely by the 19 year old water trampoline. The vinyl spring covers has been so ravaged by UV rays it’s brittle, hard, and shrunk as to be three sizes too small for the diameter of the ring of springs it is supposed to protect the kids from. I too would like to see this trampoline launched into the sun, never to be seen from again. We have the far more favourable water Lilly pads now, easier to store for the winter, lighter to carry, and simpler to affix to the anchors for the summer. No hard swimming real early, or very late in the season to install/remove it either. No mid year, boat launched, expeditions for inflating a Lilly pad are needed. Far superior product!

After a whirl wind weekend of activity we are back to Monday once more, and a whole new work week laid out before us. I hope it is at least a little calmer than last week, which was, as they say in the movies, “a bit much”. I can do a load or two of laundry, run the dishes again, attack the floors too if need be. Just waiting to see if my inbox will flood with work emails before I commit to anything. Best of luck to you all! Ciao Bella!

My eldest daughter has a three hour long outdoor birthday party to attend today at mid day, so I haven’t decided if I am going to stick around there, or go home to putter around cleaning up my garage shop. I suppose it will depend on if any other parents I know stick around to chit-chat or not. I think now that my eldest is ten years old she probably doesn’t need me to stay, but if she wanted me to I would do so. Maybe I’ll take my book and reading glasses just in case. I don’t know. I need to pop out later this morning to buy his present. I feel bad just handing over cash, but that sort of becomes the norm at a certain age. It allows them to buy whatever specific expensive item they were hoping for. I was never mad at receiving cash money for a present.

It looks like we will have much better weather today for an outdoor event. Yesterday was cold, grey, and incredibly windy. Not conducive of a tree top ropes course out in the woods, that’s for sure. The dust swirls at the farm were wreaking havoc with my eyes. Pummeled my cornea with sand and left over bits of salt debris. Uncool dude!

We had our last climbing session yesterday before the next one starts up in two weeks or so. I had some good clean 5.9 climbs, and I had some bad 5.9 climbs. Fell off a whole bunch and couldn’t get more than half way up the two routes that vexed me the most, both yellow. Hmmm… A conspiracy! No, no. Just weak hands and not enough shifting of my weight to suit the climb. I am still very much a novice. No formal training of any sort as of yet. I could do with some right about now. I think that once we get to July that will be it for a few months at least. Might lose all my strength training but I don’t see myself going much during the summer, not when I can go swimming, biking, long boarding around here, for free.

I should go eat breakfast and find a present for my daughter’s friend. Or maybe cash is the better bet, he is turning eleven and likes tech, so he could buy himself some Raspberry Pie Arduinos, or chips, or breadboards, or whatever.

Holy-moly that was an intense week that just passed. Hard to believe it was a short week either, with it being so chock a block full of projects, requests, reports, labels, and in store retail items. Wowsers, I mean. Phew! Made it through. Fantastic! My phone hasn’t rung that much in a decade let alone a single work week. Felt like being with an agency again. Let us pray the following weeks are more tempered, evenly spaced out, and steady but not over powering. But as a freelancer I know that when it rains, it pours! Quiet for weeks and then BAM! All things, everywhere, all at once. It was rather intense.

But, now here we are on Saturday morning and it’s cold, grey, and threatening rain for the day. I have one last climbing session today before the next one starts up in two weeks time. I am going to bring both kids today because it’s a fun way to spend two or three hours together. My wife’s plans were canceled due to illness (not a new one for her, thankfully) but her friend awoke with a newly sore throat, so no brunch plans in Barrie for them. Which means that the dog walk at the farm will fall to her while I have the kids active, and out of the house for three hours mid day. Cool? Cool.

I picked up my (on sale — deeply discounted) tool chest for all of my wood working tools yesterday morning. So later today I need to pull it out of the box, stack them, attach the wheels and handles, and tear down the wooden cart it is replacing, and also tear down the cheapo crap work bench I first started with fifteen years ago. I have a light to move and rehang, plus some other things to work out. I think pulling the old work bench apart will take longer than expected because it took FOREVER to assemble all those nuts & bolts. Could be a three hour job, or longer. I remember hating my life passionately.

Then I have to break down the wooden cart too, salvage my castor wheels, and take the carcass to the farms burn pile for disposal. And on Tuesday the cardboard will go out for recycling. And I shall have hopefully reclaimed another few square feet of open space next to my work bench which should allow me to build more freely. I cannot move walks so the next best thing is to organize the space, and condense things down to the smallest, yet still easily accessible foot print. I may have finally achieved that feat. We will see. I have a lot more stuff than I realize I do. I learned that the hard way when I tore down that rickety old shelving unit to erect the red steel one. Pretty soon I might even be able to move a 2×4 around the shop freely without having to play interior space Tetris to reorient a bit of wood. Piv-ot! Piv-ot!

I currently have a small cart where my Mitre saw sits, and that will get a slight upgrade. I’m going to transfer the work bench top to the cart so that I have a wider surface for my saw to open into, that will then have nothing around it, on either side, to interfere with cutting planks down to size. Sounds counter intuitive, but I’m going to make it work. My metal vise will get transferred to a wood block so I have clamp it to my bench because I don’t use it all that often. Just to sharpen lawn mower blades, and my loppers, which I do once in the spring, and once in the fall. I don’t fabricate metal things, so it’s in the way the rest of the time. I’ll store it under the Mitre saw cart overhang. Easily accessible, but out of the way. Boom! That’s a win. That’ll be all she wrote as far as the garage goes. I’ve decided that I will simply purchase wood closer to spec rather than buying a bandsaw myself.

I might have to add some support struts to the Mitre saw table top, but I can look into that if it feels tippy or too floppy. For right now I have plans for underneath the overhangs. Nothing crazy, but you never know until you get there if you haven’t done it before. I do have a sneaking suspicion that it will need a frame, struts, or some additional legs out towards the ends of the overhangs. Just a hunch.

I’m not looking forward to unscrewing all of those drawers, drawer slides, legs, and supports for the modular work bench. There are plenty of folks around here whom will pick up scrap metal so the aftermath isn’t a problem. Anywho, best of luck today.

Nothing like file transfer issues to amp up your Friday. Not getting anywhere with the current methods, had to resort to both WeTransfer, and SendThisFile. I’m about ready to give up. I need to eat. I’m annoyed. Good day sir!

Getting kinda crazy around here as of late. Not much time to talk, let alone think or ponder. Good news though, taxes are paid up for another year. Best be back at my business. Game on!